Have you ever heard of the “Bliss Point”? Or wondered, what’s the big deal about processed foods? Well, in his book, “Salt, Sugar, Fat”, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Moss explains in great detail exactly what the “bliss point” is, and how it became the holy grail for the food industry when developing or reformulating their products. In general terms, it’s the point at which food products go from being liked to being craved. “Smart”, some would argue, or “merely giving the consumer what they want” others might say. Yet, when you consider the outcome of all this “smart” food production, you may think of some other words to describe the process.

Processed foods have become the major source of excessive amounts of salt, sugar and fat in the Standard American Diet (SAD). So the solution is to eliminate processed foods, thereby eliminating excess salt, sugar and fat. Oh, and there are good fats and bad fats. Trans fats and saturated fats are bad and should be avoided.

Consider this, according to Michael Moss, author of “Salt, Sugar, Fat”: “Every year, the average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese (triple what we ate in 1970) and seventy pounds of sugar (about twenty-two teaspoons a day). We ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt a day, double the recommended amount, and almost none of that comes from the shakers on our table. It comes from processed food. It’s no wonder, then, that one in three adults, and one in five kids, is clinically obese. It’s no wonder that twenty-six million Americans have diabetes, the processed food industry in the U.S. accounts for $1 trillion a year in sales and the total economic cost of this health crisis is approaching $300 billion a year.” (“Salt, Sugar, Fat”, by Michael Moss, published 2013)

You’ll have to decide if you think we’ve been sold out or not, but there is good news. It is possible to eat good, healthy food by making a few changes. We can change what we eat, and even enjoy the changes!