The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children

by Carol N. Simontacchi

An unprecedented and impeccable report on how American food manufacturers and their products may endanger our minds. Carol takes a hard look at how the pseudo-foods being promoted can, in fact, physically erode our brains

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Food, Nutrition, Science, Parenting, Self Help

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Books Ring Mah Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you one of those people who figures diet soda and "light" yogurt are good alternatives to the stuff with REAL sugar in them? Are you, like my mom, convinced that a Kudos bar is a "healthy" snack?

Well, here's some news: foods that are processed in a big plant on an assembly line and are injected with lab created chemicals are not all that great for you. (Sure, those pills in your cupboard are lab created chemicals. I know, I know.)

In this book, the author calls out companies who have a blatant disregard for public health. She gives out "Crazy Maker" awards to companies that, in her opinion, contribute to mental illness and the increases we see in autism/ADHD and so on.

The makers of aspartame received an award. Go ahead and google aspartame poisoning. (please. choose the real sugar.)

The author gives Starbucks a "Crazy Maker" award for helping produce a culture hooked on caffeine. I thought that was reaching a little bit. I mean, really, coffee is evil? After thinking on it for a few days (between sips of coffee, no less) I decided she has a point. Caffeine is a stimulant. It is known to do crazy things to your system, like increase anxiety and irritability. Hmmm. Anti-anxiety drugs are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the US. Connection?

If coffee shops were shut down and caffeine was banned, you can bet your ass that people would be in some dirty back alley giving hand jobs for a cup of Starbucks!

So by eating a diet that is natural and balanced we can maintain and restore brain health, right?
Not easy to do in a hurried culture.
Much easier to have a doctor fill us up with drugs, right?

Very simply, the old saying covers it : Garbage in, garbage out.

Go have a cup of coffee with artificial sweetener and reflect on it.







Interesting link on sales and abuse of anti-anxiety/anti-depression drugs and children. (scary stats!)
http://www.psychiatricdrugs.net/headl...

[Oriyah N · Rating 2 out of 5]

My relationship with this book is a little complex - On the one hand I completely agree with the author that, generally speaking, Western eating habits are horrible and extremely lacking in nutrition. And her thesis, that this poor nutrition is affecting our minds, and especially brain development, makes complete sense.

However, she presents a lot of speculation as concrete evidence, at least on an emotional level, trying to manipulate her reader into agreeing with her without the hard science to back her up. I can respect when someone says "based on what we know, it's likely that this has an impact, and more research is needed." But Simontacchi frequently takes this one step further, saying that, even though there is not yet research to back it up, this damage IS taking place. And that is a leap of faith, not science.

Another criticism I have is the recipe/menu section in the back. After criticizing sugar, her recipes needlessly contain sugar, and she calls on a number of processed foods as ingredients for her meals. Although what she suggests is likely healthier than the average American meal, it is far from ideal. And there ARE plenty of recipes that compare in taste but contain none of these manufactured foods.

So all in all, I'd consider this book to be alarmist without evidence, and without giving the reader the tools that it claims to give in order to deal with this alarm. Disappointing.

Cute cover, though.

The one thing I DID get out of this book is that I started putting raw beets in my salad (which I didn't know you could do) and they are a delicious and nutritious addition. I'm debating whether this take-away benefit could drag this book up to 3 stars, but I don't quite think it qualifies, even with that.

[Felicia A Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thankfully, I am ahead of the curve on this stuff. I am not a vegetarian or vegan, and do have the occasional Big Mac, but what I read in this book I realized a long, long time ago, and began making changes to my own and my family's diet. No dies, chemicals, hormones, barely any processed food. I grind our wheat, bake our bread, have a food dehydrator, and dry, can or freeze the fruit and vegetables we eat. Those fruits and vegetables come from a local farm; our milk, butter, cheese, etc., comes from a local dairy, and neither the farm nor the dairy uses any chemicals or hormones. The dairy is where we get our eggs and beef, and what chicken or pork we eat comes from a different farm.

Sure, we're gonna die just like everyone else, but we'll be healthier and less crazy while we're here.

[Trena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to raise awareness about the food we eat.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book covers the effects of nutrition on brain development throughout life. Chapters start with prenatal nutrition and continue through adulthood. I would strongly advise parents skip directly to whatever stage their child is at now. Simontacchi is very alarmist and while many of her claims may be true, not all people react the same way to foods. Some people are far more affected by less than optimal nutrition than others. Reading about stages your child has already passed through is only going to cause parents to feel bad about something they cannot change. Unless you ate an exemplary diet while pregnant, breastfed your child for a few years while eating the perfect diet yourself, and followed with all organic, homemade babyfood, trust me when I tell you that you will be happier if you just move on to the sections dealing with where your children are now. However, don't expect a lot of specific advice--just dire warnings of the dangers of inadequate nutrition.

The author does a good job of explaining the importance of certain nutrients to brain development, however she offers very little practical advice beyond advising readers to eat less processed food. It's good advice, but there are no specifics and the recipe and menu sections definitely send mixed messages. The menus do give some clue as to how the author recommends you eat, but there are several recipes using white flour and lots of sugar. Others called for protein powders--it's hard to get more processed than that. One recipe calls for vanilla yogurt with no added sugars. I've never seen a flavored yogurt with no added sugar unless an artificial sweetener was used. Since she strongly advocates against all artificial sweeteners, it appears she is calling for an ingredient which doesn't exist in the current marketplace. Overall I wasn't particularly impressed with the recipes.

My other concern about this book is that some of the claims she makes don't seem to be particularly well documented. She often cites food journals she collected from teachers who assigned them at her request. I have no doubt some of them were pretty shocking, but there is no way to know how seriously students took them, or how well they were able to understand and complete the assignment. Some of the children were quite young. In one example, a child (age 8-11) wrote that s/he had meatloaf for dinner. Simontacchi counted that as a day with no vegetables. While it is possible the child only ate meatloaf, it is equally likely there were side dishes which the child ate and did not record. The author also took some leaps when evaluating the food journals. One child recorded eating burritos for dinner which the author jumped on immediately as a processed food. It may have been a pre-made frozen burrito, but it may also have been homecooked beans and/or meats and/or veggies on a whole wheat tortilla topped with fresh made salsa. Because of the way the food journal project was conducted there is simply no way to know.

I don't want to make it sound like I don't think good nutrition is important. I think it is extremely important. But, I don't think there is much point in scaring people without telling them how to solve the problem. If you are interested in learning more about how nutrition affects brain development, I would recommend this book. If you are interested in practical advice about how to eat well for optimal nutrition, I'd skip this one.

Note: There is an updated edition of this book which came out in 2007 (the edition I read is from 2000). The updated edition may address some of the concerns I've raised. I don't know much about it other than a new chapter was added. I was unable to locate a copy of the 2007 edition and although Amazon sells it, if you click on the preview it shows the 2000 edition.

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book falls somewhere in between three and four stars. I think that the information presented is important information. The author sometimes contradicts herself. I think this is because she is passionate about her subject and wants to make sure people hear her. I disagree with a previous rater who said that the author is trying to blame all the ills of the world on food. I think she's saying "Have we questioned what impact our food may have?" I think anyone who is considering having children, is pregnant, has young children, has any children should read this. There is also a section for adults. Much of what is here I had heard before, but I do wish I could have known all of this while I was having my children.

I thought I was packing pretty healthy lunches for them. Turns out that I need to take a closer look at their lunches and breakfasts. I appreciated that closer look at things. It's amazing the way advertising, grocery stores etc. lull me into a sense of security to buy utter crap (sorry, it's the best word). I plan to make some minor modifications to what I'm doing and then some more modifications over time to boost the nutrition around here.

There are very few companies that really care about the consumer. This title links in well with the book I read recently "Fast Food Nation." Of course there are exceptions, but in general, I believe this is true. We can't rely on the PR companies put out to the consumer. We need to go to other sources to learn what is best for ourselves and our families.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of my reasons for not liking this book may have to do with the fact that it's kind of dated - it was written in 2000, and nutritional science has come a long way since then. I agree with what she says generally - that eating a lot of processed food isn't good for us, that breastfeeding is better than formula, and that we should eat better for a variety of reasons. But I'm not sure I agree with her reasons completely - like I don't think that additives like MSG literally make us crazy. I think they interfere with our good health in the long-term, but are they responsible for things like teenage moodiness and ADHD? Her science didn't prove that for me. I also disliked that she used herself and her family as an example most of the time (it was a little too personal); in general, I couldn't relate to most of the examples she gave.

However, I think what she says is generally a good idea, I just don't agree with why. She raises a few good points (like not only is baby formula not as good as breastmilk nutritionally, when used in the 3rd world, formula may actually lead to an increase in unwanted pregnancy), and the recipes in the back look pretty good and easy. However, the recipes aren't anything groundbreaking and if you picked up a copy of 'Cooking Light' you could probably find similar ideas. For baby food and pre-natal nutrition, there are also better, more thorough books dedicated just to those topics.

I don't think I'd recommend this.

[Madelyn McClatchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Crazy Makers by Carol Simontacchi is a non- fiction book about how all types of food are potentially damaging to all ages. The book discusses why certain groupings of food are bad for humans, the history of how those groupings came to be, the harmful chemicals within those groupings, and the consequences of lacking vitamins/chemicals that the brain uses to function. Simontacchi explains why we turn to things such as coffee, sugar as well as other food groups, and the effect it has on our brain development and growth. Simontacchi made a point to hammer facts into the readers brain, therefore the book seemed to drag on.
At the end of the book, there are two chapters dedicated to how to change your eating lifestyle and recipes for healthy meals. The entire book stresses the importance of home made meals and how difficult it is to find healthy meals anywhere else. Chapter 7 is about how to be optimistic in finding healthy foods. Chapter 8 is a recipe book, and there are 2 appendixes following.
I recommend this book to anyone who has recently started living alone, who has young children, or is thinking about having children, and anyone who is curious about how the brain reacts to chemicals found in foods. There are many scientific terms that will be difficult to understand if you have not taken biology or a similar course, and the facts become somewhat repetitive. I give the book 4/5 stars because of the repetition.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonfiction 1

This was an interesting perspective that our diet directly affects our mood. I liked that it walked through the requirements of the brain through each age (infant, child, teen, adult). It was interesting to note that as child eat more and more sugary foods, attention spans have decreased and test scores have dropped.

However, I feel that this book places too much of the blame on our diet and the 'perpetrators' of the Standard American Diet and not enough blame on the individuals themselves. Yes, men in jail might have vitamin or mineral deficiencies, but that does not absolve them from their actions. Teenagers that are suicidal or cut themselves cannot righteously place their blame on the food manufacturers. This book was moderately centered on placing the blame on the food manufacturers for all the ills of modern society.

Some facts are interesting and will encourage any readers to have balanced diets, but this book fell on the side of sensationalism. While lambasting infant formula for containing trace quantities of mercury, it failed to mention that breast milk also contains mercury. I don't know that I would take this book to heart. I have read better books about nutrition and the downfall of civilization.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting because it taught me that there are many chemicals including carcinogens in our food while lacking nutrients, especially processed food and junk food. It was shocking to me that babies who were fed formula milk instead of breast milk were less healthy and had weaker immune systems. It is very sad that companies put toxic chemicals in kid and baby food too! This book also described how what we eat affects how our brains and bodies develop. Basically, you are what you eat. Now I regret very much that I ate a lot of junk food when I was a kid. I am also mad at my mom because she gave me formula milk instead of breast milk. This book encouraged me to start eating more natural and healthy food. However, that is quite difficult in this modern busy society where there's so much artificiality and processing. Ugh, I must move to a forest and become a caveman.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! This is a look at the huge impact that nutritious food can have on a child's life. The author is a dietitian, I believe, and she offers great research about how better nutrition is a relatively simple and achievable route to helping each child fulfill his/her potential. For example, children who receive a healthy breakfast shake have better test scores and better behavior! That's all it takes. Healthy food is a wonderful benefit to a child's development, but so many parents are not aware of that. The author helps spread the news. At the end, she includes super healthy recipes and tips for meals for each stage of development, from meals for a pregnant mother, to the best solutions for infants, toddlers, kids, and teens. Loved this book.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book made me crazy. It had such promise. Then the author just lost her brain some where while she was writing. She talks about how insulin makes you sick. Then she recommends cereal in the morning. You can't demonize cereal and then turn around and say "well, some of it is ok." NO! *exasperated sigh* Then to say that saturated fat is bad - well, that's just laughable. She isn't helping the problem, she's helping create it.

Ugh. I agree that anything processed is bad for you. That's pretty much where my agreement ends.

Sometimes I wish this book hadn't been on my wishlist for Christmas. I think I'm going to have to write the author while I eat my eggs and bacon for breakfast. Crazy? Indeed!

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, and overall I was on board, learning some new things, gasping at others. But then I got to the section about breastfeeding and was completely turned off. I hate people who wax poetic about breastfeeding and go on and on basically about how horrible women are who don't breastfeed their children. After that, I skimmed the rest of the book just to be done with it.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good info if you can get past the poor editing. Redundancies, grammar errors, etc. Overall a good read for parents (current or future).
Favorite Quote: Many of us think of people who lobby for pure water and pure food as food faddists or health nuts. We call a section in our local supermarket the "Health Food Section." What is the rest of the store called, the "Death and Disease Section"?

[Mylinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting view on how the mass produced processed food that we all guzzle is starving our bodies and brains. What I couldn't understand is that the recipes in the book included a lot of dairy, which the author cited as part of the problem. But overall not a bad read and had a lot of well documented facts.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, the author attempts to explain what she believes is causing the ADHD/autism/depression epidemic affecting children these days. I think the book is very similar to Last Child in the Woods, just with the causes switched. An interesting argument.....

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I am still reading this book, I am enjoying it quite a bit. I am on a new health kick and it is amazing what we are letting happen to our food supply. I'll update my comment once I have finished the book.

[Gaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned to read labels on foods better. I learned to question what exactly am I eating here. I also learned that if my grandmother would not have recognized this as a food in her day, then I probably shouldn't be eating it.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great look at the food industry. I think every parent should read this!

[Chelsea Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and enlightening!

[Samantha Shore · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!! The intro to this book is amazing! I got it from the library but I think I may have to go buy it for my collection!!

[Carrie]

This just arrived today. Can't wait to dive in. Don't you want to come to dinner at my house.....?

[Diane Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best book out there why you should eat only homemade food and what all those chemicals are doing to you and your kiddos!

[Ned · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good points made but was expecting more information on how food affects us.

[Hawley]

I didn't finish this book. Just wasn't feeling it... It's been on my nightstand for weeks. I guess it's time to put it back on the shelf and see if it wins my interest again later on.

[RK Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it up until she started providing recipes. that's like those ties that are included with the shirts you buy.

[LWDC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly straight forward when sugar leads to steroid release and steroids damage the hormone factory in the brain; the hypothalamus... Could be a good place to hide if you actually are crazy!

[Amy Numedahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone feeding food to children!

[William Hessian · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely essential!

[Madea · Rating 4 out of 5]

an eye opener to the world of processed food