Gluten has become the "new evil" in our food supply. Should you avoid it? Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.

True satiety is liberation from the daily struggle to not eat just because you can, it's free, or any other seductive reason. - Bonnie Modugno, MSRD

While the title of this video is Debunking the Paleo Diet, this is a fascinating presentation for all. No matter what your type of diet, from Vegan to Paleo, I recommend watching it.

While the entire presentation is enlightening, the part about sugar cane compared to drinking a soda was the highlight for me.

One of my pet-peeves is overpaying for food and beverage outside of my home - like the $7 can of beer I had at a "fancy" restaurant the other night. So ... while the example below is not specifically about health food, I will present how many of us overspend on coffee.

In the past, I was a Starbucks fan. Now, I rarely indulge. Candidly, I find the coffee to be extremely strong and bitter. Here's a home-brew versus Starbucks comparison.

Of course, I am giving Starbucks the "benefit of the doubt", because the number of cups is far greater for the home-brew. A true comparison would result in annual savings of $682 - (I felt bad for Starbucks).

Bottom-line is this: Using the $445 annual savings, you could prepare about 45 home-cooked meals. So, when people tell me that eating food with health benefits is expensive, I just laugh it off.

P.S. Okay, so you don't like that example. How about this? The cereal I eat costs $2.59 per box. I always have a $1 coupon. So, my net expense is $1.59 for a box of cereal. That's about .32 cents for breakfast. Add the fruit and milk that goes on it and you're up to .50 cents for a breakfast. As I said, eating food with health benefits is not expensive.

My initial motivation for losing weight and leading a healthier lifestyle started when I researched the American food system. I couldn't believe how bad it was (is). I got angry at the American food system and decided to make a change.

Now, after many years of research and observation, I just laugh it off. It's so bizarre that I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. Here are just two examples. 

• The processed food industry is getting some bad PR. There are two new books that have been written (Pandora's Lunch Box and Salt, Sugar, Fat). Both books, by respected authors, take an inside look into the processed food industry. So, the Institute of Food Technologists is fighting back. Take a few minutes to watch the videos. One thing that you will learn: pulling a carrot out of the ground is processing food. And when you chew it, that's processing too! It reminds me of: "It depends on what the meaning of the words 'is' is."
• Coke has a new video that seems to blame chairs for our obesity and health problems. When I first viewed it, I thought it was an early April Fool's joke. However, it is the real thing.

The first video, only one-minute long, is very telling. The second video is incredibly inspirational. When I'm 93, I want to be that guy! I have 35-years to go. And, I'm looking forward to it.

Here's one example. From the name - Nature's Own - to all the "goodness" in it (fiber) to all the "bad" stuff not included (calories, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, sodium, and more), you would think this is the healthiest food on the planet.

However, a closer inspection of the ingredients reflects something called azodicarbonamide. 

Melanie Warner, author of Pandora's Lunchbox states: that azodicarbonamide, is actually used quite extensively in bread and bread-type products, and it’s used as a dough conditioner and a manufacturing aid. And its main use outside of the manufacturing of bread is for creating foamed plastic, so things like yoga mats.

And I encountered some news articles a number of years ago where a tanker truck overturned on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago carrying azodicarbonamide. And city fire officials had to issue their highest hazmat alert and evacuate everyone up to a half mile downwind because of this chemical spill. So you look at something like that, and you wonder: Is this something that we really want in our morning toast and our—the bread that goes on our turkey sandwiches?