Updated February 2025

Processed Food not only makes fat, it makes sick and pollutes the environment.

2015, I visited India.  In only 10 years, everything changed. It is a disaster.

In the same year, 2015, I visited with a friend an exhibition in Delhi where they showed food from different parts of India and showed new ways to package and sell it. I was sad to see this but I did not expect that is going to be so bad in a short time.

People got fooled by colorful packages and thought this was progress. By my next visit, I already saw the colorful empty packages and plastic wraps fly around everywhere in the street and fields.

Fast food chains appeared in the cities, and over time, during my next visits, I noticed more and more obese people. In the name of progress,  many seemed to be even proud and not aware of what was going on. Even the next year I visited, the slogan Swatch Bharat appeared, meaning Clean India. So somebody noticed the empty packages flying around? But what about the health of the people?

Now we know that packaged food is unhealthy and makes fat

Finally, 2 Years ago, this came into the news there. A little bit late, and it’s not only for vegans. Now, many are used to eating packaged food as it is sooo convenient.

It is not only in India; it is worldwide

Recently, in Sri Lanka, I noticed the same. Usually, I try to get vegetables and fruits in local shops. Grocery stores look in between the same as everywhere, all colorful packaged. And people seem even to be proud of this “Economic Growth” in the pockets of corporations. Who is interested in small farmers? Or the health of the people? Advertisement makes them believe this kind of Economic growth eradicates Poverty. Nobody seems to pay attention to the outcome, and that it makes sick and pollutes the environment. Proudly the newspapers announce even the opening of Food Factories.

See also > Common Food Additives

If the food prices go up, everybody protests, but nobody is concerned about the infertility of the soil and future generations.

Whistleblowers are not heard or blamed. How convenient.

Sad for a land where the earliest evidence of agriculture dates back to around 15,500 BC that it only depends on synthetic fertilizers.

Vandana Shiva has been known for a long time worldwide for her work, but in India, nobody seems to know her. Why?

I have followed her for more than 25 years, and she has been warning us the whole time.

Why are these processed meals so unhealthy?

Packaged products are high in calories, low in fiber, mostly sugar, and high in salt, flavorings, and additives. Eating too much of it increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, and intestinal diseases. Highly processed food does not satisfy us for long.

A finished product sometimes already contains 1/3 of the daily requirement of salt. We get used to it and eat too much of it, which can lead to high blood pressure. Some processed meals also contain hardened palm fat, which creates trans fats.

Also, there are numerous additives that you can recognize as the E numbers in the list of ingredients. Some are not necessarily harmful, but we do not know how the combination of different additives in larger quantities affects us.

Do You Know About Food Dye?   and > Common Food Additives

See > PHARMA FOOD: Biotech on Your Plate With Elze van Hamelen

Even cooking at home is affected

Still, in India and Sri Lanka, many cook their food at home. But does it still taste if the vegetables are grown with synthetic fertilizers? I notice that the taste is not the same anymore. Bought apples in Canada, for example, taste like water in between. Even the organic ones are not the same anymore.

How the poison reaches our food supply.

These synthetic fertilizers do not only pollute the soil, they are also in our water and are washed out into the environment by rain and get into our rivers and groundwater. These poisons take quite a while until they get into our wells. I remember in 1998, many villages in Germany were not allowed to drink their water anymore because of the chemical fertilizers and pesticides they used after WW2 reached groundwater at that time. The same poison they used during the war and now is used as chemotherapy.

Algae-polluted water  Chemical Fertilizers contain high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which promote algae growth. When it washes into bodies of water, it causes algae to grow rapidly. 

It is the same with the additives in the food; they do not disappear in the air.

Read > The Truth About Nitrates and Nitrites in Your Food & Water

And > Environmental problems derived from chemical fertilizers

Processed food makes fat

India 2015

2015,  I  traveled to India, not as a usual tourist, but to visit friends there. Also, I did tours, but most stayed at friends’ houses and lived with them; even the hotel was a place owned by friends.

I have been there for around 6 weeks and lost weight while eating more than at home and not even doing my regular exercise.

The Indian people mainly are vegetarian and most of them eat what they cook themselves and from fresh ingredients. I did not see processed or Packaged food in the kitchen there.

My first visit was to Mumbai with my beautiful friends Anant Thakur and Rachna. He is always busy designing beautiful websites, and she is an amazing artist and cook, and she is always preparing very tasty food and things like fruits, nuts and…

She liked to feed me like a mummy, and this is what I called her finally. See the pictures and it is visible how much she loved cooking.

From here, I went to Delhi and other places to stay with friends.
All wanted to feed me well 🙂

Here is a photo of my lovely Sangeeta cooking tasty dishes.

The Kitchen on the rooftop

In Delhi, the kitchen staff was always calling me for breakfast and dinner, and they cooked very special and tasty food as well. I was eating with them.

They love what they do. I asked these young cooks what they like most to do and they said cooking.

My only exercise was walking and not using a lift, so I was going up and down the stairs of 6 floors at least 3 times a day when in the hotel. I ate a lot of fruits, like Bananas, Oranges, Apples, Pineapples, and Pomegranates. They tasted real, and I have been drinking every day a glass of fresh juice of Pomegranate, Orange, or Pineapple.

I found a European-style cafe, and I often had fresh ground and brewed coffee and blueberry cheesecake. All was fresh and unprocessed food.

This shows I was really not starving, but lost weight, even though I did not want to, because I have the right weight for myself, only gaining a bit in winter.

 I did not eat any meat.

Is it the meatless food, the unprocessed fresh ingredients, the spices, or the love with which it is cooked?

Indians eat a lot of legumes, like peas, chickpeas, beans and vegetables, and herbs, often with bread (Roti). Sometimes rice and other grains.

Usually no coke and other things like this, more water or tea. Some sometimes eat chicken, goat, or fish. Some eat other meat.

I did not see obese or too fat people like here.

Everywhere in the streets are people who cook street food, this means people over there like to eat and there are enough customers. All are made from fresh ingredients.

On the way home, I noticed that eating food, like on the airplane, even if it does not taste, makes me feel I need more. Also when eating out sometimes, I have the feeling, even when full, I am not satisfied.

What is in our processed food?

See > How Americans Are Tricked Into Buying Fake Food

Do the ingredients make fat?

Read also > Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain

And > It’s Time to Ban These Toxic Chemicals from Our Food

The Toxic Truth About Food and What You Can Do About It

What is your experience with processed food?