Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman Page B

they try to stop this? Some do.
    But many politicians are in bed with the evil industries. McDonald’s alone has made close to $2 million in campaign contributions; the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association nearly $1.5 million; and the National Restaurant Association more than $3.1 million.190 Hate to sound like a broken record player, but trust no one.
    Is Everyone in the FDA on Drugs?
    This greed-induced immorality isn’t applicable just to Congress or the USDA. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a pathetic facade, too. In 1990, the Monsanto Company sought FDA approval for Posilac, a commercialized form of bovine growth hormone (BGH, used to increase cows’ milk production). Even though the test study linked the hormone to prostate and thyroid cancer, the FDA still approved Posilac. Of course, these damning test results weren’t made available to the public until 1998, when a group of scientists conducted an independent analysis of the study.
    They found that the FDA never even reviewed Monsanto’s findings! More recently, BGH has been linked to increased levels of Insulin Growth Factor-1, a cancer promoter. But the FDA has no interest in these findings, either. Or the fact that both the World Trade Organization and The United Nations Food Standards Body refuse to endorse the hormone’s safety. And they certainly don’t mind that BGH milk is banned in all of the European Union, Canada, Japan, and every other industrialized country in the world.191 Fucking Dumb Asses.
    Why would the FDA knowingly allow a cancer-causing hormone into our milk supply? One theory highlights the fact that the FDA Deputy Commissioner at the time of the Posilac approval was a former Monsanto lawyer. And, during his tenure at the FDA, this same deputy commissioner wrote the policy exempting BGH from special labeling. Yet, fingers also point to a former top scientist with Monsanto, who was hired by the FDA to review her own research, conducted while she was working for Monsanto. This little beauty also allowed a hundred-fold increase of antibiotic residues in milk.192
    Fear not. The FDA’s bad behavior isn’t singular to the dairy industry. It also has a sketchy history with monosodium glutamate (MSG). One former FDA Commissioner testified before the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition that MSG was safe, citing four sources. It was later discovered that two of the studies were nonexistent, and the other two were incomplete!193
    Secrets and lies. It’s just too much to bear. So let’s also play the “I’m not telling” game. Ever see the words “natural flavors” on food packaging ingredient lists? Yeah, that’s because the FDA allows companies to be vague and doesn’t require them to tell us exactly what we’re eating. The FDA has a list of approximately 300 foods that meet a “standard of identity,” meaning, companies aren’t required to spell out their ingredients. For example, ice cream manufacturers can use any of twenty-five specified additives without listing them in their ingredients.194 Who wants to put something into his or her body without even knowing what it is? By now, Chapter 9, you better fucking not!
    You Are Your Only Chance
    If you want to get skinny, you can only rely on yourself. If you adapt only one practice from this book, let it be this: Read the ingredients. Forget counting carbs, adding calories, and multiplying fat grams. Just read the ingredients. It doesn’t matter how many calories or carbs or fat grams something has. It just doesn’t matter.
    You don’t need the government’s asinine recommended daily allowances (RDA) to tell you how to eat. Just read the ingredients.
    If they are healthy, wholesome, and pure—dive in. If there is refined sugar, white or bleached flour, hydrogenated oils, any animal products, artificial anything, or some scary-looking word that you don’t know—don’t eat it. We can’t make it any simpler. Just read the ingredients and completely ignore