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Beating the Food Giants
1982 by Paul A. Stitt- The author reveals the processes by which the food giants determine what you eat and how much you eat. He lays bare the greed and cover-ups taking place in board rooms and laboratories across the nation.
- GenresHealth
300 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 19, 2022
Oh wow...where to start with this review?? I have so many things to say about this book!
At the very beginning, the first few chapters, I had found the author's experience working with the huge food companies, like Quaker Oats, very interesting. He wanted to design a very nutritious food for people to eat but the big food giants had no interest in that at all. Instead they were only interested in making cheap, sugary addictive "foods" like cereal that was mostly empty calories but that the general public loved. In time he lost his job and went off on his own.
The first place where I knew I disagreed with the author was where he stated he was trying to sell some bacteria protein that had been grown on some waste material from cheese making (the stuff often containing pesticides, antibiotics and fecal matter). How does he think you can sell that stuff? They should not be making cheese from dairy that contains pesticides or fecal matter either! But there is something seriously wrong here if he doesn't see a huge problem with that going into food!
His next project was a bakery. And this is where he had much success. Apparently his bakery was quite popular here in Wisconsin in the 1970s. And it sounds like he was the first person to be baking 100% whole wheat bread and then he added different seeds to the mix. He was also running a health food store too.. In fact I am sure I probably ate some of his breads back then... I certainly remember buying "fancy breads" that were 10 or 12 grain breads that had all stuff added.
But I think this book is bias. He is running a company that bakes and sells bread & seed products (like trail mixes) and his book tells you that is what you should eat as part of a "healthy diet". So his book I believe encourages one to buy his products. That means the arguments in here are geared towards his own sales. Towards the back of the book he advises that one should eat ten servings of whole grain products a day and five servings of fruit a day. He claims that because it is whole grain you won't gain weight from it. I believe that is false. Many years ago I was practically living on whole grains (very similar to the diet he recommends with many serving a day of fruits & veggies and I was obese! And yes, I was doing lots of walking back then too). The whole grains over rode any walking I was doing. Grain turns into sugar in your gut! The more grain you eat, the more sugar you are getting. I ended up over 200 pounds! Now on a meat based diet with added fruit I am 108 pounds.
He also states that one acre of wheat, rice, corn, flax, etc can feed 6.25 people.. Well what about the people who cannot actually eat that stuff? There are people out there who cannot tolerate ANY grain in their diets. I am one of them.. I believe it is eating all of those grains (and bread baked with vegetable oils back in the 70s & 80s & 90s) that gave me gluten sensitivity & celiac. He certainly believes that vegetable oils are healthy too! Well I don't. I say they are one of the worst things you can eat. In fact they were one of the first things I had cut out of my diet back around the early 2000s...
He also has a big thing against eating meat! He wrote on page 249: "The difficulty is that, for Americans, protein means meat and meat has a very high fat content". Which is definitely the opposite of what I believe. I eat a lot of grass fed meat. I practically live on it. And I feel great. Have tons of energy. I can walk 12 miles no problems. My low resting heart rate at night is in the 40s. I am lean and muscular. I don't catch colds or flu. There is nothing wrong with eating saturated fat especially if you avoid sugar. Its what our ancient ancestors ate. Grass fed red meat has all the nutrition in it that you need. Its certainly more healthy than those grains. Most grains are also high in oxalates. Meat fills you up and you are not hungry. But eat grain and a short time later you are hungry again. I also believe that the fat helps my joints.
And he certainly doesn't mention anything about gluten sensitivity in here. He did mention that he used high gluten to make the whole wheat bread though. That is, his bread had extra gluten added to it.
So I had expected the majority of this book to be about his experience with the big food companies but most of it was actually about his own products and how it all came about. Which was very disappointing. And as someone who sees any grains as poison (as I react to it & it certainly destroys my gut) I am not going to agree with anyone saying that grains are healthy!
He is correct that eating processed foods are linked to mood issues. But he forgot to mention so is grain and gluten! Many people react very badly to those too.
There is no year at all on this book so I wonder if this was published before celiac became so common? So basically his recommendation in here is to eat a diet high in wheat, soy, flax and other grains. And my reply is if you want to be sick then eat that stuff...but I certainly do not agree with his advice in here at all.
Oh and at the very beginning of the book his goal was to help the starving people in India and Africa. But he seems to have forgotten those goals and instead had built a bread based empire just like the big food giants had done. And his noble goals to feed the poor starving people in the third world countries was forgotten.
At the very beginning, the first few chapters, I had found the author's experience working with the huge food companies, like Quaker Oats, very interesting. He wanted to design a very nutritious food for people to eat but the big food giants had no interest in that at all. Instead they were only interested in making cheap, sugary addictive "foods" like cereal that was mostly empty calories but that the general public loved. In time he lost his job and went off on his own.
The first place where I knew I disagreed with the author was where he stated he was trying to sell some bacteria protein that had been grown on some waste material from cheese making (the stuff often containing pesticides, antibiotics and fecal matter). How does he think you can sell that stuff? They should not be making cheese from dairy that contains pesticides or fecal matter either! But there is something seriously wrong here if he doesn't see a huge problem with that going into food!
His next project was a bakery. And this is where he had much success. Apparently his bakery was quite popular here in Wisconsin in the 1970s. And it sounds like he was the first person to be baking 100% whole wheat bread and then he added different seeds to the mix. He was also running a health food store too.. In fact I am sure I probably ate some of his breads back then... I certainly remember buying "fancy breads" that were 10 or 12 grain breads that had all stuff added.
But I think this book is bias. He is running a company that bakes and sells bread & seed products (like trail mixes) and his book tells you that is what you should eat as part of a "healthy diet". So his book I believe encourages one to buy his products. That means the arguments in here are geared towards his own sales. Towards the back of the book he advises that one should eat ten servings of whole grain products a day and five servings of fruit a day. He claims that because it is whole grain you won't gain weight from it. I believe that is false. Many years ago I was practically living on whole grains (very similar to the diet he recommends with many serving a day of fruits & veggies and I was obese! And yes, I was doing lots of walking back then too). The whole grains over rode any walking I was doing. Grain turns into sugar in your gut! The more grain you eat, the more sugar you are getting. I ended up over 200 pounds! Now on a meat based diet with added fruit I am 108 pounds.
He also states that one acre of wheat, rice, corn, flax, etc can feed 6.25 people.. Well what about the people who cannot actually eat that stuff? There are people out there who cannot tolerate ANY grain in their diets. I am one of them.. I believe it is eating all of those grains (and bread baked with vegetable oils back in the 70s & 80s & 90s) that gave me gluten sensitivity & celiac. He certainly believes that vegetable oils are healthy too! Well I don't. I say they are one of the worst things you can eat. In fact they were one of the first things I had cut out of my diet back around the early 2000s...
He also has a big thing against eating meat! He wrote on page 249: "The difficulty is that, for Americans, protein means meat and meat has a very high fat content". Which is definitely the opposite of what I believe. I eat a lot of grass fed meat. I practically live on it. And I feel great. Have tons of energy. I can walk 12 miles no problems. My low resting heart rate at night is in the 40s. I am lean and muscular. I don't catch colds or flu. There is nothing wrong with eating saturated fat especially if you avoid sugar. Its what our ancient ancestors ate. Grass fed red meat has all the nutrition in it that you need. Its certainly more healthy than those grains. Most grains are also high in oxalates. Meat fills you up and you are not hungry. But eat grain and a short time later you are hungry again. I also believe that the fat helps my joints.
And he certainly doesn't mention anything about gluten sensitivity in here. He did mention that he used high gluten to make the whole wheat bread though. That is, his bread had extra gluten added to it.
So I had expected the majority of this book to be about his experience with the big food companies but most of it was actually about his own products and how it all came about. Which was very disappointing. And as someone who sees any grains as poison (as I react to it & it certainly destroys my gut) I am not going to agree with anyone saying that grains are healthy!
He is correct that eating processed foods are linked to mood issues. But he forgot to mention so is grain and gluten! Many people react very badly to those too.
There is no year at all on this book so I wonder if this was published before celiac became so common? So basically his recommendation in here is to eat a diet high in wheat, soy, flax and other grains. And my reply is if you want to be sick then eat that stuff...but I certainly do not agree with his advice in here at all.
Oh and at the very beginning of the book his goal was to help the starving people in India and Africa. But he seems to have forgotten those goals and instead had built a bread based empire just like the big food giants had done. And his noble goals to feed the poor starving people in the third world countries was forgotten.
July 9, 2007
To think that a worker for Quaker ended up being the mastermind behind the startup company Natural Ovens is reason enough to read this book. An insider has a hard time not exposing the truth and his account will not disapoint. While it can be dry at times it holds its ground as a good book.
Another first timer. This one is now offically rated and reviewed.
Another first timer. This one is now offically rated and reviewed.
September 10, 2024
Great book and changed my life forever. I recommend to have and share with friends.
Thanks Paul for this great effort and keep shining.
Thanks Paul for this great effort and keep shining.
June 1, 2025
What a waste of my time. This book is too repetitive and adds no value. This guy thinks that soy and corn oil are healthy and that most of my diet should consist of bread- breakfast, lunch and dinner. And of course, not just any bread but his bread, which I’m sure is made with soy oil.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews