Lab to Table

Lab to Table

with Cyndi O'Meara

Ingredients like “natural flavorings & colorings” and “rosemary extract” sound benign…until you dig deeper and find out how these terms misrepresent the ingredients that are actually in our food. Today, nutritionist Cyndi O’Meara of Changing Habits, and author of “Lab to Table,” peels back food labels, revealing the dark underbelly of the food industry: how our health is being sacrificed for profit.

Cyndi defines terms and explains how we’re in a new age of biotechnology that allows chemists to genetically modify micro-organisms (not just crops) and insert them into our food. And then said micro-organisms are labeled with familiar names like “citric acid.” Cyndi discusses questionable ingredients in synthetic meats and foods labeled “natural.” And she also offers suggestions for how to avoid becoming lab rats in this grand experiment. The first step is to take our health into our own hands. This includes buying local food, from trusted farmers, and getting back into the kitchen, making meals out of single-ingredient foods.

Notes:

Highlights from the conversation include:

How additives are considered GRAS: “generally regarded as safe”
The public’s lack of awareness of the chemicals in food
Marketing ploys and the renaming of chemicals in food, such as BHA/BHT renamed “rosemary extract,” that affect our perception of the ingredients
Which additives are of the most concern
How there are no standards in place for what can be labeled “natural flavors/colorings”
The importance of getting back into the kitchen to nourish our families
Why Cyndi recommends single-ingredient foods
Why the health we seek is worth the effort
How Cyndi’s own family has flourished—her kids have never taken antibiotics
While companies look to turn a bigger profit, many decision makers are unaware of ingredients’ side effects
The importance of regenerative and biological farming
The role of animals in sustainable agriculture
The dangers of the vegan movement
How people also produce methane, particularly if they have fructose malabsorption
How micro-organisms are genetically modified
How citric acid is developed from genetically modified mold
How soy leghemoglobin (used in synthetic meat) may lead to heart failure
How fake meats are made using biotechnology and synthetic biology
Cyndi’s Nutrition Academy and the principles that are the root of her approach