Three problems with the US food supply that is making food a source of disease rather than optimal health include: the way our food is raised; the way it's processed; and the routine use of hazardous drugs and chemicals.

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that produces and processes food in a way that defies both science and common sense.

As noted in the featured TED lecture, 86 percent of every dollar you spend at the grocery store goes toward paying for processing and marketing of the food. A mere 14 percent goes to the farmer that actually grows the food ingredients in question.

This alone should tell you that that inexpensive processed food item you buy is hardly a bargain. Not only are you getting very little real food, as there are so many fillers and additives tossed in, you're also getting very little in terms of healthy nutrition.

This is important, as your body is not designed to process and thrive on a base of disease causing ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable oil.

EU Balks at US Foodstuffs

A recent Washington Post1 article reports that many Europeans are now worried that a new “free-trade” deal (it’s as free as the Patriot Act was patriotic) that will introduce “culinary nightmares” like hormone-treated beef, chlorine-washed chicken, and glyphosate soaked genetically engineered ingredients.

Many other nations have shunned food manufacturing practices that are routinely used in the US, and for good reason.

As noted by one organic French farmer: "In France, food is about pleasure, about taste. But in the United States, they put anything in their mouths. No, this must be stopped." According to the Washington Post:

"In October, tens of thousands of people from 22 E.U. countries took to the streets to protest the deal. The protests included flash mobs in Belgium and a demonstration in Copenhagen that used a 24-foot Trojan horse to symbolize the hidden risks of the trade deal.

Even in Britain — a nation hardly known for the glories of its national cuisine — fear and loathing of modified American foods, and the trade deal in general, appear to be running surprisingly strong…

'It's possibly one of the most dangerous agreements,' the British TV chef Jamie Oliver told the Times of London. He added: 'We don't have hormones in our meat; that's banned. But not over there. We don't have hundreds of poisons  and pesticides that have been proven to be carcinogenic. They do.'"