by Sean Croxton
Don’t eat beaver butt.
Only in a food system this weird would the above recommendation be necessary.
Seriously, who would ever imagine that vanilla and raspberry natural flavorings were derived from secretions from the anal glands of beavers?
Maybe an even better question is who discovered this. And how?
It is a little-known fact that the natural and artificial flavors listed on ingredients labels are a whole list of chemical nastiness themselves.
Unfortunately, you don’t get to see them since they are protected by trade secret laws. To be honest, if I were a food manufacturer I’d want to keep the whole beaver anal glands thing a secret, too.
Maybe that’s the solution. Maybe we should push for the elimination of these trade secrets, thus requiring companies to include what their flavorings are really made out of. Reading a label and stumbling upon the words “beaver ass” may be exactly what we need to get people to think about what they’re putting into their bodies.
Just an idea.
Anyway, my main man and fellow podcaster, Abel James (a.k.a. The Fat-Burning Man), stopped by the show this week to discuss a ton of topics from his fantastic ebook The Wild Diet, including…
* How dairy consumption may stall fat loss
* Clean carbs to eat after a workout
* The importance of visualization in achieving long-term fat loss
* The role of genetics in body composition
* Beaver butt juice (of course!)
This was a GREAT show. I’ve been having a lot of fun doing the show lately, engaging in more discussions rather than just firing off questions.
Abel was also kind enough to answer your questions from the audience. Good questions, gang!!!
Click the player below to listen to the entire show.
You can also check out a video teaser clip of our beaver discussion below.
Oh! If you missed my appearance on Abel’s show last week, check it out HERE.
Enjoy!
And don’t eat beaver butt.
Out.
Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss
Funny (and scary). If something is Natural it doesn’t mean it’s good. I read somewhere someone saying (I hope I got the quote right) “uranium is natural” wouldn’t want it flavouring my food. When I came here (from the link on the side bar in Maria Emmerich’s blog) I thought this article was going to be about beaver tails (that sweet pastry type thing sold mostly in Canada I think?)… Thanks for the interesting (albeit disturbing) post !
Nothing like checking out your favorite convenience foods and seeing some “natural flavoring” on the label. I feel we are all missing the most important question, which is how in the world food scientists figured out that the anal glands of beavers could be used to produce a base for natural flavorings.
-Matt