Iceland’s palm oil Christmas commercial banned

Palm oil plantations are among the biggest driver of deforestation, threatening the orangutan with extinction. — Iceland Foods

Palm oil is bad for people and planet.

There is no such thing as sustainable palm oil plantations, it is an oxymoron.

Palm oil plantations are monocultures devoid of life apart from the plantation trees.

Palm oil plantations are destroying rain forests.

Palm oil is high in saturated fat, higher in saturated fat than pig fat. At room temperature palm oil is solid. It used to be known as axle grease as that was what it was used for. The only reason it is liquid at room temperature is because it has been chemically processed.

Palm oil is used to bulk out products from foods to cosmetics. It is used because it is cheap.

It is ok to advertise and sell products containing palm oil, even though bad for people and planet. Even to mislead people that it is healthy.

Whole Earth peanut butter is padded out with palm oil.

M&S are selling so-called healthy spreads where the main ingredient was palm oil, and yet called olive spread.

Oxfam shops a couple of years ago were selling peanut butter in a plastic jar padded out with sugar, palm oil, and salt.

OK to advertise palm oil products, but try to air an advert that highlights why palm oil is bad, and your advert will be banned for being political, as Iceland learnt when their Christmas advert was banned.

We have an obesity epidemic. We have a type-two diabetes epidemic. But it is ok for McDonald’s to promote their junk food, Coca-Cola their sugary drinks, but not to suggest we eliminate palm oil.

Why not sort out the piss poor service in your stores, the tills not manned, lights turned out ten minutes before store closed, blinds pulled down on chiller cabinets before store closed. the excessive use of plastic? No surprise a failing retailer. #MyMarksFave #mands #plastic

— Keith Parkins (@keithpp) November 8, 2018

M&S have a stupid Christmas advert claiming they went around the country asking people what they wanted for Christmas.

Would it have not been better to have toured their shops, sorted out their piss-poor service, tills not manned, lights turned out ten minute before store closes, fresh produce wrapped in plastic?

But then M&S is a failing retailer, and with this level of contempt for customer service, it is easy to see why.

Oxfam peanut butter

Liberation peanut butter

Oxfam does not only sell second books and clothes, usually overpriced, they also sell produce.

On sale peanut butter.  Plastic jar, padded out with sugar, palm oil, and salt.

Three additives that are extremely unhealthy. Palm oil  is high in saturated fat, so high, it is higher than pig fat. In its natural form, it is solid, and used to be used as axle grease. Until that is someone discovered how to chemically process it.

These ingredients are used to bulk out foods, because they are cheap.

Palm oil is not only on food, it is also widely used in cosmetics.

Palm oil apart from being bad for our health, is also bad for the environment. There is no such thing as sustainable palm oil production.

I took a jar to the counter and expressed my strong disgust. Not that they will care. Oxfam is another Big Business charity, its product aid.

I did not notice a Fairtrade logo, but at a  guess, it was part of the Fairtrade con.

I say Oxfam peanut butter. Strictly speaking it was Liberation peanut butter, and yes, it did have Fairtrade logo. But as we see with this one example Fairtrade is not synonymous with quality, health or good for the environment

If you this peanut butter on sale, please object,

If you see any product with palm oil, please object.

Quality peanuts butter is ground peanuts, nothing added, though occasionally you may find sea salt.

A a lady later in a health food shop said, it is a pity people do not pay more attention to what is on the label.

If you want quality peanut butter, look out for Meridian or Suma. If not on sale, ask why not.  Quality food shops will sell one or the other, sometimes both

Meridian peanut butter

Five Health Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup

It’s no secret that high fructose corn syrup is detrimental to your health. Unfortunately, it’s also no secret that it has replaced other forms of sugar in a disturbingly large number of manufactured foods. Even worse is that most high fructose corn syrup is made from genetically modified corn.

Since the late 1980s, HFCS has replaced regular table sugar, honey, and similar sweeteners in practically everything. Prolonged consumption of HFCS is now the topic of much debate and we are learning that it can cause long-term damage to the body.

A number of studies conducted over the past few decades indicates that consumption of HFCS is connected with a wide range of health concerns. Here are a few of the more important health dangers of high fructose corn syrup you should know about.

Significant Risk of Weight Gain & Obesity

The list of studies that show HFCS to cause increased weight gain over other forms of sweeteners is much to long to put into this post. One of the better, and more recent ones, was conducted at Princeton University, and found that rats that were fed HFCS gained fat 300% more quickly than those fed an equal (or slightly larger) dose of fruit-derived sugar.

Increased Risk of Developing Type-2 Diabetes

Over the years, consumption of high-fructose corn syrup can lead to a huge increase in the likelihood of developing diabetes. The worst part about it is how easily this life-long condition can be avoided in most cases. Excessive amounts of soda, energy drinks and junk-food simply aren’t worth losing a foot or going blind or harming your children.

Hypertension and Elevated “Bad” Cholesterol Levels

High-fructose doesn’t just make your body fat. It makes your heart fat too. There is a strong link between the irresponsible consumption of high fructose corn syrup and elevated triglyceride and HDL (bad cholesterol) levels. Together these can cause arterial plague build-up and eventually lead to dangerous heart conditions including hypertension, heart disease, and even stroke.

High Fructose Corn Syrup & Long-Term Liver Damage

This is a big one that a lot people overlook. Like anything else you eat or drink, HFCS is processed by your liver, gallbladder and kidneys. And it’s especially destructive to your liver. When combined with a sedentary lifestyle, permanent liver scarring can occur. This greatly diminishes the organ’s ability to process out toxins and, over time, can lead to an expansive range of other negative health concerns. Another study suggests that HFCS may also cause fatty liver.

Mercury Exposure from HFCS

Even if you were already aware of previously mentioned risks associated with corn syrup, there’s a good chance that you didn’t know it also often loaded with alarmingly high levels of mercury. In a study conducted just last year they found mercury in over 50 percent of the samples tested. Mercury exposure can result in irreversible brain and nervous system damage – especially in young, growing bodies. This is especially worrisome with the abundance of HFCS in children-target foodstuffs.

There are alternatives. If you really need a sweetener, try honey.

From an original article 5 Health Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

The other bad one is palm oil. Palm oil is bad for the planet bad for our health. Palm oil is high in saturated fat. And by high I mean very high. Hog lard (ie pig fat) 38% saturated fat, palm oil 45% saturated fat! Palm oil is a contributor of Type-2 Diabetes.

Food manufacturers bulk out their foods with fructose, corn starch, palm oil and salt. They do so because these ingredients are cheap. Good for their profit but bad for our health.

Coke is fizzy water sweetened with fructose. Quality peanut butter should be ground peanuts and nothing else, possibly a little added sea salt. Cheap peanut butter is padded out with sugar and palm oil.

Also see

A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

Soda Warning? High-Fructose Corn Syrup Linked To Diabetes, New Study Suggests

High-Fructose Corn Syrup May Raise Bad Cholesterol Levels

High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Liver Scarring, Research Suggests

Comparison of free fructose and glucose to sucrose in the ability to cause fatty liver

Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar

Fat Land

Not on the Label

Belching Out the Devil