In Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation calls body fat "The New Tobacco," meaning
that food, not tobacco, is now the leading cause of heart disease. Yes, you read that right:
food is the leading cause of disease. How can that be?

The answer isn't complicated: people are consuming a record volume of refined, pro-
cessed foods that exhibit three critical properties:

PROBLEM #1 Food Nutritionally deplete - This is especially true of all refined grains
like white flour, white rice, instant oats, and other similar items. They've all had their nat-
ural oils, fiber, vitamins and minerals stripped during the manufacturing process.

PROBLEM #2: Food Made with Toxic Ingredients - They are made with ingredients
that cause cancer, diabetes, brain damage and other disorders. These ingredients are
called metabolic disruptors. They include sodium nitrite, hydrogenated oils (found in vir-
tually all margarine products, shortening products and baked cookies or crackers), high
fructose corn syrup (found in most soft drinks), aspartame (found in most diet foods and
drinks), monosodium glutamate (a proven excitotoxin), homogenized milk fats and other
similar ingredients. These ingredients are used to add color or flavor to foods, yet they
directly promote chronic, deadly diseases in the human body.

PROBLEM #3: Food is dead - Simply put, all processed foods have had the life cooked
out of them. They barely resemble foods from nature. They've been over processed, over-
cooked, preserved with chemicals, pasteurized, homogenized, and possibly even irradi-
ated. These are no longer the foods the human body needs, they are "products" that gener-
ate revenues for food manufacturers while adding absolutely nothing to the nutritional
foundation of consumers.

Lack of nutritious food is why the following statistics have come to fruition:

USA Obesity Rates Reach Epidemic Proportions
• 58 Million Overweight; 40 Million Obese; 3 Million morbidly Obese
• Eight out of 10 over 25 is Overweight
• 78% of American's not meeting basic activity level recommendations
• 25% completely Sedentary
• 76% increase in Type II diabetes in adults 30-40 yrs old since 1990

Obesity Related Diseases
• 80% of type II diabetes related to obesity
• 70% of Cardiovascular disease related to obesity
• 42% breast and colon cancer diagnosed among obese individuals
• 30% of gall bladder surgery related to obesity
• 26% of obese people having high blood pressure

Childhood Obesity Running Out of Control
• 4% overweight 1982 | 16% overweight 1994
• 25% of all white children overweight 2001
• 33% African American and Hispanic children overweight 2001
• Hospital costs associated with childhood obesity rising from $35 Million (1979)
to $127 Million (1999)

Childhood Metabolic and Heart Risks
• New study suggests one in four overweight children is already showing early
signs of type II diabetes (impaired glucose intolerance)
• 60% already have one risk factor for heart disease
Surge in Childhood Diabetes
• Between 8% - 45% of newly diagnosed cases of childhood diabetes are type
II, associated with obesity.
• Whereas 4% of Childhood diabetes was type II in 1990, that number has ris-
en to approximately 20%
• Depending on the age group (Type II most frequent 10-19 group) and the ra-
cial/ethnic mix of group stated
• Of Children diagnosed with Type II diabetes, 85% are obese

SOURCE: Wellness International Network Ltd - web.winltd.com