We all know pretty well that our food has been invaded by artificial colors, preservatives, emulsifiers, and sweeteners for over four decades, and we are certainly beginning to see the effects on our health.
However, there is some hope as more and more people search for healthy alternatives and wonder where our food comes from and how it was produced. Here is a list of 25 ingredients to avoid when shopping. Next time look for them on the back of the products:
1. Artificial flavors: These are made from chemicals produced in a laboratory and do not offer any nutritional content. You can find them in almost everything, from candy, cereals, yogurt and soups. The effects they can cause are: neurotoxicity, organ toxicity and cancer.
2. Enriched flours: To “enrich” the grains, they add niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, and iron, but remove other nutrients during the refining process. Enriched flour is basically flour that has had a few nutrients added to it after having them removed through a chemical process; and in any case it does not contain enough nutrients to make it a healthy food.
3. Hydrogenated or fractionated oils: The fractionation process takes palm or palm cob oils and heats them up, then cools them down so fast that it fractionates them. When fractionated, the liquid parts are separated from the solid parts, leaving only the part with the most harmful fats concentrated for human consumption. Similarly, hydrogenated oils are the result of heating healthy oils (coconut, palm, kernel, corn, or canola) up to 1,000 degrees Celsius to turn them into preservatives. Consuming them is comparable to consuming a liquid plastic.
4. Monosodium glutamate: Also known as MSG, Natural Flavor, Yeast Extract, Disodium Guanylate, Textured Protein, and many more, it is not a nutrient, vitamin, or mineral – it has zero nutritional value. The harmful part is glutamate, a derivative of corn, molasses or wheat, which is broken down into a crystal. Many scientists and doctors think that it could cause neurological disorders such as migraines, seizures, infections, certain types of obesity, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease (among many more).
5. Sugar: the main source of calories in many countries. You can find it in soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and almost all processed foods from potatoes to cheeses. What’s more alarming is that baby formula contains the sugar equivalent of a can of Coca-Cola.
6. High fructose corn syrup: causes insulin resistance, diabetes, hypertension, and weight gain; it is also made from genetically modified corn.
7. Sodium Potassium Benzoate: Sodium benzoate becomes a carcinogenic poison when combined with ascorbic acid as it causes alarming damage to the DNA of cells, according to studies conducted by Professor Peter Piper. Similarly, potassium benzoate appears in foods Light or diet and is just as lethal.
8. Artificial colors: some deadly dyes are still included in many products: blue 1 and 2, for example, cause cancer; red 3 causes thyroid problems; green 3 causes bladder cancer, and yellow 6 causes tumors in the kidneys and adrenal glands.
9. Sucralose: Splenda or sucralose is chlorinated sugar and is not compatible with our metabolism.
10. Soy: although it is promoted as a cheap and healthy protein, if it is part of any food it will not be. It is proven that it affects estrogen levels in women, decreases sexual desire and triggers early puberty. The only soy we should eat is fermented and organic, but this type is not included in processed foods.
11. Corn: We have reached the point where most corn has been genetically altered. Any corn product (oils, starch, dextrose) could cause cancer, inflammation and heart disease, plus it contains alarmingly high levels of omega 6s.
12. Soy lecithin: One of the most used ingredients in processed foods, and additionally sold as a dietary supplement, it is made from the leftovers of a chemical process that separates edible soybeans from lecithin. Contains many pesticides and solvents.
13. Potassium sorbate: Although the food industry has tried to defend this ingredient, the fact is that tests have shown that it is carcinogenic and affects the reproductive and non-reproductive organs.
14. Sodium chloride: artificial salt, which has nothing in common with sea salt. The grain salt that we put on our tables is sodium chloride, and we should avoid it.
15. Aspart me: This artificial sweetener was popularized for its low calorie content, however, it has been proven to cause cancer.
16. Acesulfame-K: A sweetener used in processed foods that is believed to cause thyroid tumors.
17. Polysorbate 80: weakens the immune system and causes anaphylactic shock; it has also been associated with fertility problems and changes in the female reproductive organs.
18. Canola oil: an industrial oil that can be used as an insect repellent and to kill plants and animals—it shouldn’t be an ingredient in our food, but it is. Avoid at all costs foods with this ingredient.
19. Butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene: preservatives used in many foods such as cereals, chewing gum, potatoes, and vegetable oils. They are oxidants that form carcinogenic compounds in the body.
20. Propyl gallate: another preservative, you can find it in powdered chicken broths, meats and chewing gum. Studies suggest that it could cause cancer.
A long list, but if we managed to reduce the number of toxins we consume daily, our lives would improve immediately and in the long term.
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