“The average consumer eats about 140-150 pounds of food additives in a year. ”
Marilu Henner, Total Health Makeover
Learn to read labels. Certainly there are chemicals, additives and preservatives in many of the foods you eat. They improve the appearance and lengthen the shelf life of many products, but they add nothing to the nutritional value. A great many of them can be detrimental to your health.
A good rule of thumb is to avoid any product with an ingredient whose name you can’t pronounce or an ingredient list that says “continued on the next package.” If it’s not recognizable as food, chances are it’s just merchandise.
Leave it on the shelf and head to the produce aisle.
Sodium has it’s place in ensuring proper nerve and muscle function but many Americans are consuming far too much salt, increasing their risk for osteoporosis, kidney stones, gastric ulcers and high blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic Food and Nutrition Center.
The salt shaker is NOT the culprit here. 80% of salt consumed comes from packaged foods and restaurant meals.
Reading labels and cooking whole foods at home are two of the most effective ways to take control of how much salt you’re getting in your daily diet. Don’t be passive about your health.
Unless your breakfast cereal is loaded with marshmallows and neon colored cartoon characters the words “healthy”, or “natural” are probably featured prominently on the packaging. Know what these terms mean….and what they don’t.
Healthy is a relative term and if challenged a manufacturer can argue that the ingredients are comparatively healthy.
Many people believe that “natural” means “clean” but a cereal that’s labeled natural can contain genetically modified ingredients (GMO’s) and pesticides. This is especially common in products made with corn and soy.
Some products that were previously labeled “organic”, or “made with organic ingredients” (meaning at least 70% of the ingredients are organic) have changed their formulas. If you’ve been buying a product for some time you may want to revisit the label. Brand recognition is great but don’t assume that it remains organic, dairy free or gluten free. Whatever your priorities are in choosing a product it’s wise to check the ingredients periodically to see if it still conforms to your standards.
Labeling something “natural” or “low fat” does not mean that it’s healthy (truly healthy, not comparatively healthy) , that it’s processed without pesticides or fumigants, or that it doesn’t contain dairy, sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
There are some great products on the market and you don’t need to feel guilty about reaching for an easy breakfast or snack from time to time…provided you do your homework beforehand and find out what’s going in that package.
Reading labels is a practice you can never give up. Even when you’ve found a product you love (love!), the manufacturer can change the ingredients at any time, and the only notice they have to give is that ingredient label.
One of the ingredients you may see on a label – particularly for any food marketed as “high fiber” (and especially when you know it’s not made almost completely from whole grain and vegetables) – is cellulose, which also comes to us as cellulose gum, powdered cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, etc.
Cellulose is virgin wood pulp that has been processed and manufactured to different lengths for functionality, though use of it and its variant forms is deemed safe for human consumption, according to the FDA, which regulates most food industry products. The government agency sets no limit on the amount of cellulose that can be used in food products meant for human consumption.
~ Food Freedom
Cellulose also extends the shelf life of foods. Think about it: wood pulp doesn’t rot as fast as food. (Not very appetizing, though.)
It’s also less expensive than actual food products as a binder or filler, which is no doubt the real reason food manufacturers use it. That still doesn’t make it good for humans to eat.
Check here for a list of foods that contain a lot of cellulose. And keep reading labels. You never know when they’re going to change.
Perhaps the most disgraceful aspect of our agricultural system — I say this as an Oregon farmboy who once raised sheep, cattle and hogs — is the way antibiotics are recklessly stuffed into healthy animals to make them grow faster.
The Food and Drug Administration reported recently that 80 percent of antibiotics in the United States go to livestock, not humans. And 90 percent of the livestock antibiotics are administered in their food or water, typically to healthy animals to keep them from getting sick when they are confined in squalid and crowded conditions.
The single state of North Carolina uses more antibiotics for livestock than the entire United States uses for humans.
This cavalier use of low-level antibiotics creates a perfect breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The upshot is that ailments can become pretty much untreatable.
~ Nicholas D. Kristof, When Food Kills, June 11, 2011
Read more – it’s not long.
If you buy conventional (non-organic) produce, thoroughly wash it under cold running water, then scrub potatoes, peel carrots, stem strawberries, and so on. Washing reduces the amount of pesticide residue on produce by half, according to one study, and where residue remained, levels declined significantly after washing.
You don’t need a special product to wash your produce. Running water is good. If you’re concerned about not getting into the leaves, fill a sink with cold water, add a splash of distilled vinegar, and soak the produce for 5 minutes. Then rinse and spin greens dry, or pat dry with towels.
Peel any produce with a waxy finish that you can’t otherwise remove. Things like parsnips and (regular) cucumbers are almost always coated with wax.
The following lists are provided from the USDA and Environmental Working Group.
HIGHEST PESTICIDE RESIDUE * Apples, Bell & hot peppers, Carrots, Celery, Cherries, Grapes (imported), Green Beans, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Potatoes, Red Raspberries, Spinach, Strawberries
MODERATE PESTICIDE RESIDUE * Apricots, Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Collard Greens, Cucumbers, Grapes (domestic), Honeydew Melons, Kale, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Oranges, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes, Turnip Greens, Winter Squash
LEAST PESTICIDE RESIDUE * Apple Juice, Asparagus, Avocados, Bananas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kiwi, Mangoes, Onions, Orange Juice, Papayas, Pineapple, Plums, Sweet Corn, Sweet Peas, Tangerines, Watermelon
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) developed a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides that you can download to keep in your purse or wallet – or get the iPhone app.
A group of experts tested and ranked 50 popular fruits and veggies for pesticide levels and came up with the following handy list.
The Dirty Dozen – should buy organic!
1. Apples
2. Sweet bell peppers
3. Blueberries
4. Celery
5. Cherries
6. Peaches
7. Strawberries
8. Nectarines
9. Spinach
10. Collard greens/kale
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (imported)
The Clean 15 – can buy conventional!
1. Onions
2. Avocados
3. Sweet corn (frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mangoes
6. Sweet peas (frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet potatoes
15. Honeydew melon
The use of pesticides in farming has been linked to immune system diseases, nerve damage, and disruptions in the endocrine system, which regulates hormones and fertility.
~ Marilu Henner
How important is it to buy organic produce?
Is it worth the extra expense?
A recent article in VegNews answered these very questions. “Organically grown produce identifies a method of farming that is sustainable, earth-friendly, and pesticide-free. Several studies have found that certain nutrients including calcium, iron, vitamin C, magnesium, and phosphorus, tend to be greater in organic produce when compared to their conventional counterparts. Further, conventional produce might actually be harmful to your health. The chemicals sprayed onto the crops are potentially cancer-promoting and toxic to your central nervous system. It’s a win-win situation for your body and the planet to select organic whenever possible.”
Eating fruits and vegetables – organic or not – is of the utmost importance! Don’t avoid them because you can’t afford the organic variety. Because of strict government-mandated restraints on organic farming, production costs more which means the produce is more expensive. Use common sense when choosing organic vs. conventional. To protect yourself from the potential dangers, go organic for the following:
- Any item you intend to eat with the skin (potato, berries)
- Produce you will use the skin of (zest of citrus fruit)
- A food you consume a lot of on a regular basis
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