Do you know what's in your food? If the food you buy comes with a label, it's vitally important to read the ingredients! If you're not sure what the ingredients are, it's time to question your food choices and perhaps try to buy more fresh wholesome foods. Below are some of the additives and other things to watch out for when trying to buy the best for yourself and your family. Nowadays, being healthy means being a smart consumer! Food Additives:The FDA has approved over 2800 different food additives, which are used to either prevent food from spoiling or to enhance flavors. Although deemed safe, many are causing health problems such as asthma, allergies, mental illness, neurological diseases, hyperactivity, and migraine headaches. The addition of synthetic colors to foods and drugs has provoked many allergic reactions. One of the worst offenders is FD&C Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), which induces a histamine reaction in the body. Artificial sweeteners are additives used by many people who want to avoid the affect sugar has on body weight. Unfortunately, the benefits to these sweeteners are debatable and they may pose much more harm to the body. Saccharin is a known carcinogen and aspartame causes adverse neurological and behavioral conditions and headaches. Another food additive type is antioxidants, which prevent rapid food spoilage. Unfortunately, the most commonly used, BHA and BHT, are also carcinogens in rats. Preservatives also quell spoilage by preventing the growth of microorganisms. They have also been shown to cause cancer and allergies and even death. |
We can choose foods that are environmentally and socially responsible by buying organic foods whenever possible. Plants and animal products certified “organic” by the USDA are produced without pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, ionizing radiation and bio-engineering (they cannot be GMO). They are also not treated with antibiotics or growth hormones. |
Read my article: Organic Foods: Really Worth the Cost?
Source Book: Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine. By Elson M. Haas, Buck Levin.
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I am really confused by GMOs. How can we tell if a food has been artificially modified? Isn't gene modification what happens in natural selection?
My innate reaction is to avoid GMOs, but are they really any worse for me than, say, produce that has been coated with wax? Or, fruit that has been in chemicals?
(I do avoid or vigorously clean these two examples!)
Hi Sharon, you have some really good questions.
Unfortunately in the US, there isn't presently a law requiring GMOs to be labeled. (Which really stinks.) The most common GMO foods are listed above, so I'd definitely buy them organic (because organic foods cannot be GMO).
As far as produce, any sticker that has a number on it starting with 8 is a GMO crop. 9 means organic. 3&4 are conventionally grown and probably sprayed with chemicals.
Genes definitely change naturally, but in the case of GMOs, scientists are engineering them purely to increase profits (not for better nutrition). It's a scary thing!!
As far a what's worse, GMOs, or chemicals, that's tough to know. And sad that we even have to ask. You already are more enlightened than the average consumer, so just do your best. 😊
Virtually all the wheat that is accessible to us is dramatically modified. I wasn't allergic to it as a child, but I am now and I believe that is a direct consequence of genetic modification. Have you ever seen wheat growing? Sixty years ago it was tall and beautiful in the sun. Now it is only abut 18 inches tall and stubby in appearance! From "amber waves of grain" to a very poor imitation of that verse.
Thank you for your reply. You have reassured me that I am on the right track.
Jenny Yelle, MHNE Holistic Wellness EducatorHello lovelies! Thanks for visiting Au Naturale Nutrition and sharing my passion for holistic living and whole foods. I love to help my readers take a natural approach to beauty and aging gracefully. Radiate beautiful health! (read more) |
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