Give yourself the best fuel

How do you fuel your Ferrari?

What? You don't have a Ferrari? Neither do I. But what we do have is much more valuable and precious: our one and only body.

The other day when I picked up my son from school, he was excited to share an analogy that his algebra teacher passed along about fueling "your Ferrari."

The teacher, taking a break from the lesson, asked the class: If you owned a Ferrari, what kind of gas would you put in it? The cheapest, poorest-quality low-octane gas or the best gas you could get your hands on?

The class responded resoundingly with the best quality gas. Makes sense, right? If you could afford to own a Ferrari, one would think you would always put the best fuel in it.

Then the teacher asked: Why is it that we don't always put the best fuel in our own bodies? Do we not place the same value on the human body that we do on a car? The Ferrari has parts that can easily be replaced, yet the human body is irreplaceable.

As a society, we scarf down high-calorie, high-fat, low nutrient, chemical-filled fast food and processed food on a regular basis. Is it because it's cheap? Sure. But if we drill down on the nutrient and chemical content, are we making the best choice for our irreplaceable bodies?

How many of you have ever heard of dimethylpolysiloxane? I hadn't until my son told me it was found in caulking, shampoo and some processed foods.

A June 25, 2010, article published by CNN Health, "All McNuggets Are Not Created Equal," said dimethylpolysiloxane is a form of silicone used in cosmetics, Silly Putty and is used in cooking oil as an antifoaming agent.

Antifoaming agent? This sounds like something the waste water treatment plant would use to keep the suds down during processing ... and yet this is in our food? Yummy.

So where can we enjoy this antifoaming agent locally? Dimethylpolysiloxane is being served up with McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and at Wendy's in their "natural" cut fries. Check the nutrition facts at McDonald's and Wendy's respective websites to verify and see what other fun chemicals in addition to dimethylpolysiloxane we are being served.

Is this really a necessary ingredient — and, more importantly, is it safe? Given that dimethylpolysiloxane is made by DOW Corning Chemicals, I say its probably not the best thing for us to have near our food.

As far as I am concerned, food grown on a living plant is much better for us than chemicals that come from a manufacturing plant.

Feed your body with best fuel you can find. Feed it real food. Feed it less chemicals — unless, of course, you are truly fueling a Ferrari.

Clearly, we are all much more than a Ferrari. We need to treat our bodies to the best and cleanest fuel we can get our hands on. After all, it's the only body we get.

Kevin Cotter is managing general partner at locally owned New Earth Market in Yuba City.