I’m Calling Out Whole Foods For What It Is: Deceptive

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You know, for being such a health guru, one would think that I would be in love with Whole Foods… but I’m not. As a matter of fact, I hate Whole Foods.

I sincerely believe that Whole Foods rips people off. Their prices are exorbitant only because they’re selling this idea of “designer food.” It’s where all the cool kids shop—you know—all the Pilates instructors, fitness trainers, naturopaths, etc.

They do an excellent job of marketing themselves as a top-notch health food source. Except, a lot of their products aren’t even healthy…

Take, for example, their 365 Chocolate Sandwich Cremes. In reality, this is nothing more than a glorified Oreo. In fact, when compared side-by-side, they have nearly the same amount of sugar.

And these kinds of hypocrisies are all over the place! There’s the Nature’s Path Mmmapple Brown Sugar pastries (the equivalent of Poptarts), the Whole Foods Two-Bite Cinnamon Rolls that are loaded with sugar, the 365 Cheese Curls (a knock-off of Cheetos), the Glutino Milk Chocolate Coated Wafers, and the list goes on and on.

Sure, some of these products may be made with organic ingredients, but at the end of the day, it’s all overly processed junk food. And people are buying into this!

Don’t fall for the marketing folks, because at the end of the day, that’s all that it is. It’s all one big, fat corporate lie that’s being used to make money off of you.

And if you still don’t believe me, consider this: back in March of 2016, Whole Foods was selling peeled oranges in plastic containers. Twitter user Nathalie Gordon said it best, “If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn’t need to waste so much plastic on them.”

So here’s what I propose instead: go to a grocery store with affordable prices and stock up on fruits, veggies, meats, nuts, and seeds. Your waistline and your wallet will thank you for it.

Study Shows that Tea Helps Prevent Dementia

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According to a study from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in China, drinking tea can help elderly individuals reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Based on a study of almost 1,000 Chinese aged 55 and older, researchers found that drinking tea daily can reduce cognitive decay by as much as 50%. What's more is that cognitive decay can be reduced by as much as 86% for people with genetic predispositions towards Alzheimer’s.

Researchers began the study in 2003 and followed up every two years until 2010. Though there has been a lot of research and drug trials, effective therapies for cognitive decline have been difficult to develop so far. The hope is that this study will help researchers develop a new drug that can be used to either prevent or reverse the effects of cognitive decay. 

The more we learn about Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders, the better we’ll come to understand the human brain. That could also help us to develop ways to better understand developmental issues that arise in younger people as well. 

While cognitive decline is generally a problem faced by older people, children can face a variety of cognitive impairments, too. There's even evidence to suggest that since the bioactive ingredients of tea aid healthy brain development, tea can provide cognitive benefits to children as well.

The issue of giving kids caffeine at an early age could be problematic, but this is a situation in which the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Plus, the amount of caffeine present in tea isn't nearly as high as the amount of caffeine in coffee. In fact, in many parts of the world, it's not uncommon for children as young as five to drink tea.

Either which way you look at it, this is a pretty safe and low-cost alternative to modern medicine. Better yet, there are little to no risks associated with drinking tea, so those who want to try it don't have much to lose.