Vani Hari - The Food Babe way: break free from the hidden toxins in your food and lose weight, look years younger, and get healthy in just twenty-one days

Once or twice in a generation a brave scientist or an ordinary citizen stands up to the status quo and tells the truth about what most of us would rather ignore. It changes everything about how we see the world, about the choices we make and how we live our lives. And sometimes it changes the world. Margaret Mead once said, Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, its the only thing that ever has. Vani Hari, the Food Babe, has done what politicians, mothers, doctors, nutritionists, authors, and advocacy groups could not dosingle-handedly, with her computer, blog, and very clear voice.

Rachel Carson first alerted Americans to the dangers of pesticides and chemicals in our environment and helped launch the environmental movement. Linus Pauling, at great risk to his career, spoke about the dangers of war and nuclear radiation, and this led to the nuclear test ban treaty and garnered for him the Nobel Peace Prize. Martin Luther King, Jr., endured beatings, jail, and even death to open our eyes to the inhumanity of racism and the abuse of civil rights. And there are thousands of other souls in far corners of the world who are inspired to tell the truth at risk to themselves and their families. Most of them are unsung heroes who quietly stand up for what is right, and we are all better for it.

Vani Hari is a modern-day David, facing the Goliath of the trillion-dollar food industry, which in the guise of fun, colorful, hypertasty, easy-to-eat, convenient foods is creating suffering and sickness around the globe.

Most of us are completely oblivious to what we are eating and its impact on our health and our world. We know little about how our food is grown; how our seeds are engineered; how our farming methods harm the soil, air, and water, and contribute to climate change and dead zones in our oceans. We are mostly unaware of the chemicals that are added to our foods and of how the hormones, antibiotics, plastics, and toxins we eat in our everyday foods harm our bodies. How could we know that we are eating Silly Putty in our French fries and yoga mat softeners in our bread; or cancer-causing preservatives such as BHA and BHT, which have been banned in every country but ours; or that dyes and coloring agents in our macaroni and cheese may cause hyperactivity and behavioral problems in our children; or that natural flavorings are made from ground-up animal parts; or that common foods contain secretions from beavers anal glands? How could we know that apart from the calories we eat, many of the chemicals in our food are obesogens, contributing to an obesity epidemic that is weighing down our nation and increasingly the world as we create the worst diet on the planet and export it to every other nation except Cuba and North Korea? How could we know that most of the 10,000 additives in our food supply have never been proven safe and are given a free pass by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)?

There are thousands of health revolutionaries working to change our food system. I consider myself one of them. But very few of us have figured out how to speak truth to power and slay Goliath, the food industry, or even make his knees buckle. The beauty and genius of the Food Babe is not simply that she rails against our toxic food system, or educates us about the dangers of industrial food in general. She goes after the Achilles heel, the one missing scale on the dragon, and shoots an arrow so true and straight, so deadly, that it takes down food giants who otherwise merely laugh at critics, who ignore most of us calling for a change to the food system. Instead, the CEOs and executives of major companies invite her into their inner sanctums and take her advice on how to change for the better. They fear her Food Babe Army, the millions of citizen activists who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.

But Vani Hari doesnt just leave us angry, or save us from azodicarbonamide (the yoga mat ingredient) in Subway sandwiches. No, she goes deep into every aspect of our food system and through tireless, fearless, and stunning detective work uncovers nearly every toxin in our food system. She invites us to take a real look at our food, to read labels like an expert. She has uncovered all the dangerous ingredients in our food and teaches us how to avoid the growth hormones in meat, antibiotics, pesticides, refined and enriched flour, bisphenol A (BPA), high-fructose corn syrup, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, artificial and natural flavors, food dyes, dough conditioners, carrageenan, monosodium glutamate (MSG), heavy metals and neurotoxins, and more.

And Vani doesnt just teach us what to avoid. She doesnt leave us hopeless. She has vigorously investigated what we can eat, what products and foods give health and life rather than take it away. Her detective skills have uncovered an extraordinary, chemical-free, real-food way of eating that makes sense for everyone. It is the seed of a profound revolution, the type that Congressman Tim Ryan speaks of in The Real Food Revolution, a revolution that gets to the root of how our food system destroys our human and natural capital, our health, and our environment.

I am an advocate for a new form of medicine, functional medicine, which addresses the root cause of disease; sees the body as an ecosystem, not a collection of parts; and treats the organism, not just organsthe system, not just the symptoms. One of the fundamental tools of healing is food. If food were just calories, it wouldnt matter where it came from; as long as it had enough energy to sustain us and tasted good, it would be fine.