Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

While this may not be an issue for the OP, your sweeping generalization is off the mark. Compare the cost of a large jar of corn syrup laced apple sauce with say, 8 fresh apples, or better yet, 8 fresh organic apples from an actual farmer’s market. The price per serving is easily over twice as much for the apples. Now do that with meals for a family of four for a week. So, yeah, we do have plenty of good fresh food in the US — although I’d add that the EU standards are the ones that I’d prefer. It’s not true, though, that “No one in the US has to (eat)processed food”.
I could say more about quality, access, and preparation time, but prices alone are enough to make the point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dextrose, emulsifiers, sugar added to everything, modified cellulose gum and a ton of other food additives. Your food is poison - European here. Also eating non-stop, snack culture, and huge portions.

"Ubiquitous food additive alters human microbiota and intestinal environment"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211130130223.htm

"Common food additive promotes colon cancer in mice"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161107110639.htm

"Common food additive found to affect gut microbiota. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles E171 may impact human health"
Experts call for better regulation of a common additive in foods and medicine, as research reveals it can impact the gut microbiota and contribute to inflammation in the colon, which could trigger diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190513123017.htm

OP here. Thanks for these links. Really interesting.

OP again. Sorry I posted before I finished. One interesting possibility coming out of those links: in the US I chew sugar free gum periodically. Not frequently, but I never do it when I travel. I’m going to cut that out. It’s mostly just chewing plastic anyhow, which I’ve known, but figured as I didn’t do it regularly it was not that big a deal. But I never have gum when I travel.

Anonymous wrote:Dextrose, emulsifiers, sugar added to everything, modified cellulose gum and a ton of other food additives. Your food is poison - European here. Also eating non-stop, snack culture, and huge portions.

"Ubiquitous food additive alters human microbiota and intestinal environment"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211130130223.htm

"Common food additive promotes colon cancer in mice"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161107110639.htm

"Common food additive found to affect gut microbiota. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles E171 may impact human health"
Experts call for better regulation of a common additive in foods and medicine, as research reveals it can impact the gut microbiota and contribute to inflammation in the colon, which could trigger diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190513123017.htm

OP here. Thanks for these links. Really interesting.

Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

OP here. I don’t eat that in the US. As I’ve said multiple times in this thread, in the US I mostly eat home cooked food. I buy ingredients from Whole Foods and our local farmers market. I eat more in restaurants in Europe than I do when I am in the US.

Anonymous wrote:No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

It's easy to avoid those places in the US too.

No one in the US has to processed food. People WANT to. I’m sure when you are vacationing in Europe you aren’t going to the equivalent of Applebee’s, Subway, getting bagged snacks at gas stations, or rolling through McDs. You are making intentional choices to seek out good fresh food. But we have plenty of good fresh food in the US too

Dextrose, emulsifiers, sugar added to everything, modified cellulose gum and a ton of other food additives. Your food is poison - European here. Also eating non-stop, snack culture, and huge portions.

"Ubiquitous food additive alters human microbiota and intestinal environment"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211130130223.htm

"Common food additive promotes colon cancer in mice"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161107110639.htm

"Common food additive found to affect gut microbiota. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles E171 may impact human health"
Experts call for better regulation of a common additive in foods and medicine, as research reveals it can impact the gut microbiota and contribute to inflammation in the colon, which could trigger diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190513123017.htm

Read The Obesity Code.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glyphosate (roundup) is everywhere and in everything and it causes inflammation and kills off the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Europe has stronger protections and they also have more farmers trying to do things the traditional ways rather than dumping toxic chemicals on everything.

Would you believe that here in the states, farmers dump roundup all over the finished crops just so they don’t need to wait a week for them to dry??? Not even for any weed killing reason. It’s insane that we put up with this.

That’s disgusting. Why is this allowed?

Because corporations own Congress.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glyphosate (roundup) is everywhere and in everything and it causes inflammation and kills off the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Europe has stronger protections and they also have more farmers trying to do things the traditional ways rather than dumping toxic chemicals on everything.

Would you believe that here in the states, farmers dump roundup all over the finished crops just so they don’t need to wait a week for them to dry??? Not even for any weed killing reason. It’s insane that we put up with this.

That’s disgusting. Why is this allowed?

Because Republicans and Corporate Democrats don't want the Big GubMint to make any Socialist Job-Killing Regulations, that's why!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glyphosate (roundup) is everywhere and in everything and it causes inflammation and kills off the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Europe has stronger protections and they also have more farmers trying to do things the traditional ways rather than dumping toxic chemicals on everything.

Would you believe that here in the states, farmers dump roundup all over the finished crops just so they don’t need to wait a week for them to dry??? Not even for any weed killing reason. It’s insane that we put up with this.

That’s disgusting. Why is this allowed?

What can we do?

Anonymous wrote:Glyphosate (roundup) is everywhere and in everything and it causes inflammation and kills off the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Europe has stronger protections and they also have more farmers trying to do things the traditional ways rather than dumping toxic chemicals on everything.

Would you believe that here in the states, farmers dump roundup all over the finished crops just so they don’t need to wait a week for them to dry??? Not even for any weed killing reason. It’s insane that we put up with this.

That’s disgusting. Why is this allowed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Our flour is highly processed.
-Our pasta is also highly processed, not made of the same durum wheat as Italian pasta.
-Our soil is extremely depleted of nutrients.
-There's hidden sugars in everything

+1

Also the unchecked pesticides are killing our gut bacteria and cause chronic inflammation.

This, this and this.

It's all the chemicals and preservatives in our food.

My sister moved to London for work right before the pandemic started. We spent hours FaceTiming each other early on in the pandemic because she was 100% alone. She hadn't even made any friends because she had literally just moved and then like 2 weeks later the world shut down. Anyway, I was worried she was depressed and not eating because I noticed her losing weight. No, not the case at all. She was eating the same junkfood that she always ate, but hers was just cleaner.

Also, now that she lives in the UK, she's had no IBS flare ups. According to her, her IBS is pretty much not a thing anymore over there. She visited my parents for the first time this past Christmas and she was so sick during most of her stay here. It was all food-related sickness, too. Her body couldn't handle the US food again!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bread and pasta in the US make me feel very gross and bloated. Bread in Europe and the Middle East do not. I know it’s the flour not the baking process because I bake my own bread. Something is wrong with our flour.

OP here. Interesting. I was just texting with a friend of mine who has celiac disease. She told me that she can eat bread in Europe even though she has celiac. But eating it here makes her very sick.

She thinks there is something wrong with US wheat and flour as well.

American wheat is a different strain than those grown in Europe, and it has higher gluten content. Still surprised that someone with celiac can eat European wheat, but I know a lot of people with gluten intolerances can eat wheat in Europe but not the US.

I do also think that the fructose syrup in everything can't be healthy.

There is some hypothesis that the glycosophate (Round Up) used in agriculture can damage gut flora, but this is somewhat controversial.