Every day Americans consume pounds of aged foods without realizing the damaging effects they have on our health and weight. “Aged foods,” or foods cooked at very high temperatures, lack any of the healthy antioxidants or minerals they might once have contained, but do not lack when it comes to fat and calories. Although we may love to eat French fries, chips, and donuts, the extremely high temperatures used to get them to taste so delectable causes harm to our bodies. High temperatures cook away any nutritional value by converting nutrients to trans fats and denaturing molecules, which leads to cancer and obesity. Yet it is not the oil that makes aged foods unhealthy, but simply the denaturing effect of high temperatures on naturally existing foods.

Take the potato, a starchy vegetable that can be cooked in endless ways – baked, mashed, roasted, and fried. The potato itself provides antioxidants, vitamins, fiber and potassium1. Yet when it is sliced thin and thrown in the deep fryer, the potato suddenly becomes an addictive yet unhealthy stick of calories dipped in ketchup. On the other hand, a baked potato cooked slowly at low temperatures in the oven serves as an excellent alternative – because of the low temperatures, the potato retains much of its nutrients while still being more enticing than a raw, starchy-hard rock covered in brown skin.

Why Eating Raw May be the Best Way to Stay Young

A new trend in nutrition following the science of evolution supports research against aged foods. Our dental structures say a lot about our dietary needs. Humans have dental similarities with the modern ape, the ape that only eats nuts and berries. The absence of cooked foods in the modern ape’s diet suggests a similar need by humans – the highest super foods are nuts and berries, such as walnuts, almonds, Acai and Gac, a Southeast Asian fruit that looks like an orange with spiky bumps. Research on aged foods also supports the cliché that “you are what you eat.” Aged foods are denatured, and when our body contains denatured protein molecules, our body starts producing cancer. On the other hand, super foods such as Gac contain proteins that might inhibit the production of cancerous cells. If we eat foods closer to nature, our body thanks us by staving off destructive diseases, and building a healthier and younger body.

1 “Nutrition.” Idaho Potato Commission. 3 Aug 2008. www.idahopotato.com/nutrition