Since fresh, unprocessed foods spoil more quickly than processed, preserved foods, high nutritional value is at cross-purposes with the goals of today's food industry. Our present economic system of food production, transportation, and distribution makes ease of shipping and long shelf life its most important considerations. Not only are foods grown in depleted soils enriched with chemical fertilizers, they are heavily sprayed to avoid insect attack and spoilage from molds. In preparing foods for the grocery produce department, moreover, the industry again sprays, waxes, and sometimes irradiates our fruits and vegetables, all in an attempt to retard spoilage and increase eye appeal. Consumers would rather have a bright orange-colored orange" that has been dyed orange, rather than eat a lighter-colored orange with more true orange taste that is free of additives and preservatives. People are turned off by the sight of a non-chemically treated apple with a tiny brown spot, preferring instead to buy a picture-perfect fruit that has been waxed and polished - and tastes it. These waxes on our apples and cucumbers are actually plastics, which cannot be removed and can never be digested. You must peel them to remove them. But even peeling them doesn't remove the toxins that have seeped through the skin into the fruits or vegetables themselves.

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