Reading labels is muy importante!
Most of the food people purchase is a non-food. This is a food that costs more in nutritional value to digest, absorb and eliminate than it delivers. In other words, processed foods. By reading food labels, you'll discover how many ingredients (those gigantic & strange words) you can't pronounce and don't know. The FDA currently lists 2,800 food additives and about 3,000 chemicals that are deliberately added to our food supply each year!
The FDA is not your friend
The FDA doesn't require any food additive 'Generally Regarded As Safe' (GRAS) to be listed on the label. All you see is "artificial flavor". The FDA allows food & food additive manufacturers to notify them of the GRAS status and provide their own evidence to support their claim. Basically we are being treated as guinea pigs. How could your doctor be expected to determine what it is that caused you to suffer an adverse reaction to a food you ate with all these GRAS food additives missing from food labels? Many food manufacturers use the word 'Natural' to get you to buy their products. Well, insects and mercury are 'Natural' and are just some of the natural items that end up in your food.
What you must do
Commit to spending an evening or afternoon going through your pantry, cabinets and refrigerator and checking labels. If the label has a long list of ingredients you can't pronounce, set it out on the counter. The next step is to separate the perishables from non-perishables. Put the non-perishables in bags or boxes and when you have time, take them to your local food bank or favorite charity. If they take the perishables, great, otherwise throw them away.
Sinister ingredients to BE AWARE of
Particularly harmful ingredients that you should know about are:
Trans fatty acids, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils - structurally TFA's are closer to plastic than fat. Consumption of these fats have been linked to heart disease and elevated cholesterol levels, sexual dysfunction, and paralysis of the immune system.
Aspertame - (also known as 'Nutra-Sweet' or 'Equal') This is an artificial sweetener found in diet sodas and drinks. It has resulted in more complaints to the FDA due to side effects than any food additive ever approved in FDA history. Artificial sweeteners have also been found by researchers to be a neurotoxin that can damage the brain and nervous system. Watch out for it in chewing gum and mints as well.
Sucralose found in 'Splenda' and many food products including OTC Meds like rolaids and in listerine mouthwash, is a known carcinogen. Sucralose is synthesized by a five-step process that involves hydrogen chloride and other deadly chemicals. (Smart to steer clear of ingredients ending in -ose as it is another name for sugar that manufacturers likely hope will go unnoticed)
MSG - Monosodium Glutamate is a neurotoxic substance that causes many adverse reactions like dizziness, diarrhea and anaphylactic shock. Long-term - Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Nitrates - These are usually found in processed meats like sausage, lunch meats and bacon. They are potent carcinogens that have been liked to cancer of the esophagus, stomach, large intestine, bladder and lungs.
High-Fructose Corn Syrup - A highly over used sweetener (1,000 percent increase in consumption between 1970 and 1990) that has been implicated in a rise of type 2 diabetes, obesity and other health problems. A new study suggests that a diet high in high-fructose corn syrup may lead the body to develop a resistance to a protein called leptin which helps control appetite.
Congratulations! Completing this month's N.Y.R is monumental. Now remember to read labels when you shop from now on. Keeping all these non-foods out of your life will give your body more energy to repair and rebuild so you can start feeling your very best!
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