Poison

Complements of Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: ¹poi·son

Pronunciation: \ˈpȯi-z^ən\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French poisun drink, potion, poison, from Latin potion-, potio drink — more at potion

Date: 13th century

1 a
: a substance that through its chemical action usually kills, injures, or impairs an organism b (1)
: something destructive or harmful (2)
: an object of aversion or abhorrence
2
: a substance that inhibits the activity of another substance or the course of a reaction or process <a catalyst poison>

I have been trying here of late to eliminate poison from my diet. Save, of course, certain poisons that originate from Kentucky or Ireland. What poisons do we digest regularly? Great question. I have become very skeptical of those snake oil peddlers who claim that their food products are good for you, or help you lose weight, or are low in cholesterol. I found out years ago that there is a good portion of poison in "fat free" foods. When you cook fat free cookies you will see that they are plastic poison. Fat free anything has an ingredient list a mile long. No, you cannot pronounce most of the ingredients either. Nasty anti-food is what fat free food is.

As I walked down the grocery isle last night I pondered how much of the food is poison. How many secret ingredients are hidden away in the packaging? Margarine is nasty poison. Most of margarine has a nasty ingredient list. What is margarine? It is fake food. There are no margarine producing cows, margarine trees, margarine fruit, margarine vegetables, or margarine animals. Man made food. Does it spoil, yea probably, like in five hundred years. There have been statements that it is one molecule from being plastic, but I highly doubt that. That statement in and of itself sounds idiotic. Do bugs eat it, no, because it is not food. If it does not spoil, and bugs do not eat it, maybe it is not food. Give some to your cat, no, not your dog, dogs are idiots, they will eat anything. Dogs will eat… well, skip that.

I was buying dinner yesterday. Trout was on sale. Check. Cucumber tomato salad sounded like a good salad that would go well. Check. Rice, yes rice would finish this off nicely I thought. Right. Have you checked out the rice isle lately? Holy cow. Five million rice products were on this isle. I went about trying to decide which one that would go with the dinner. First off the fancy packaging got my eye. When I looked at the ingredient list on each one I had chosen, I reluctantly put it back. I thought I was purchasing rice. No, more man-made food is what most of it was. Salt, sugar, hydrogenated whatever, and "other ingredients" were listed. I do not what "other ingredients" in my rice. I settled on brown rice that had one ingredient; brown rice.

How could rice be so complicated? How can most food on the shelves be so complicated? I perused through the store on the way out and I noticed that most of the food we purchase has been modified in one fashion or another. Most packaging states that it has better taste, or it is better for you, or that it is a great recipe. I started to focus on sugar. Is sugar really good for you? I doubt it seriously. A close friend has been battling weight here of late, and has sworn off sugar. I guess this is why I have been looking at what exactly has sugar in it that I eat. Yikes! A lot of stuff has sugar in it; well most everything has sugar in it.

Looking at the definition of poison I have to rethink food in general. Does sugar or margarine kill, injure or impair my organism? Is it destructive or harmful? Does it inhibit an activity of another substance or is it a catalyst? I am not sure if they actually are poisons yet, but I am more leery of them now than I have been. Do individuals who eat a lot of sugar appear more healthy than those who eat more apples? Are those who gobble up margarine and man-made foods healthier that those who eat naturally made food? I doubt it seriously.


 
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