The Four White Horses of the Nutritional Apocalypse

In our culture, white is typically thought of as a color denoting purity and goodness, but in nutrition, more often than not, white is “evil.” That's because whole foods are typically loaded with color, which is an indication of the wonderful variety of nutritional compounds they contain. When food is refined and processed, it usually winds up becoming an isolated “white” substance. So, the four white horses I'm about to talk about are the four major groups of processed food that are destroying people's health. To dramatize the harmful impact of these processed foods, I've borrowed a metaphor from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Revelation is an apocalypse or “vision” of the end times and contains a reference to four “horses” that are supposed to bring destruction on mankind. Traditionally, these four horses (white, red, black and pale) are thought to represent conquest, war, famine and death. Now, don't worry, I'm not preaching religion to you. I'm just trying to stress how many millions of people in the world are suffering and dying because of these harmful influences. With 80% of our population dying of degenerative diseases that are directly linked to the consumption of these processed foods, they are truly causing an apocalyptic destruction of our health.

So, what are these “four white horses of the nutritional apocalypse?” They are (in order of the severity of their destructive influence on our health):   

1. Refined carbohydrates (table sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour, polished rice and other refined carbohydrates);
2. Processed vegetable oils (partially hydrogenated oils, margarine, shortening and trans-fatty acids);
3. Refined salt (and other food additives)
4. Commercial dairy foods

If you take a look at the top ten most popular foods for most Americans—soft drinks, pastries, hamburgers, pizza, chips, rice, bread, cheese, beer and French fries—you'll see that nearly all of them contain these four nutritional evil-doers.

Besides being the primary culprits in the major killers—heart disease, cancer and diabetes—these processed foods also contribute to obesity, tooth decay, osteoporosis, arthritis and a host of other ailments that destroy the quality of life for millions of people.

It's time to expose these four destroyers of mankind, clothed in “innocent” white, for what they really are. It's not too late to defeat them, at least in our own lives, and perhaps we can even help others to join in the battle. Let's get to know our enemy and what we can do to win the battle for our good health.

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