You’re in the food store and get lost in all the claims about what is healthy and not healthy for you.
So you make your way to a vitamin shop or Whole Foods and try your luck there. But when you grab a bag of this, or a bar of that and turn itover to check out the label… you are just as lost.
What IS all that stuff in there?
Let’s face it processed foods aren’t the best for us. Their full of food additives that can be harmful to our health.
4 food additives to avoid
You should eat fresh foods your prepare yourself whenever possible, of course. But if we’re being honest there are times when every one of us needs to rely on some prepared foods.
So when you do flip over the package and scan the ingredients. If you spot one of these 4 toxic food additives put the package back on the shelf.
1. MSG:
Monosodium Glutamate or MSG is the main flavor enhancer in your local Chinese take-out place. MSG enhances flavor especially in frozen and processed foods… and causes people who are allergic to it to experience headaches, rashes and muscle pains. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics removed MSG from all products for infants under the age of one after injections into lab animals showed nerve cell damage!
Despite the fact that MSG has been proven a poisonous substance, it’s still so widely used that you likely have no idea of some of the foods it’s hidden in. Cans of tuna? You bet! Turkey breast cold cuts? Absolutely, in some brands! And the result could be an increased risk for neurodegerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, and a serious rise in cases of asthma, Parkinson’s disease, migraine headaches and heart trouble.
The bottom line is stay away from MSG. Check the label on everything you buy and avoid the brands that include it. And when ordering food from a restaurant, they’re obligated by law to NOT include MSG if you specifically tell them you’re allergic. Sounds like a plan.
2. Maltodextrin:
Maltodextrin is essentially a powder derived from potatoes or corn and when combined with other spices and ingredients it becomes a tasty coating for snack foods. This powder food additive is found in items like flavored potato chips, pretzels and crackers.
While the FDA says this chemical is “safe,” it does not label it as being either healthy or unhealthy. That is, the overall content found in any given food is quite low, so it’s basically ignored.
Yet, in large quantities it’s definitely not healthy. So what’s consdiered “non toxic” in one bag of chips may not be so healthy when you eat several bags of chips, pretzels crackers or other snack foods in the course of a week, a month or a year.
And while the matodextrin processed in North America is derived from potato and corn, the Asian equivalent is manufactured from wheat and isn’t gluten free. This means that if you’re prone to migraine headaches, candida or have Celiac disease… you should stay away from snacks imported from Asia.
Again, check the labels. If an item contains maltodextrin it will say so and if it contains the wheat-based form, this must also be noted on the package. In moderation, the sweet or savory aspect of this additive can be fine. But over-consumption is unhealthy. Not just because it is a chemical, but because the foods it is used to flavor are, themselves, not on the diet plan of ANY serious wellness program!
3. High Fructose Corn Syrup:
This sweetener has been called the main culprit in the rise in childhood obesity in the United States… but has been given a clean bill by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Talk about bipolar! No wonder we don’t know what is going on with our health. Well, here’s the scoop…
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is corn syrup that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert its glucose into fructose. This fructose has then been mixed with regular corn syrup, which is 100 percent glucose, and the result is a sweet liquid known as HFCS.
This liquid is the sweetener found in just about every cold beverage in your local convenience store, including iced tea, sodas and energy drinks. Not only that, but it is also found in so-called healthy foods like tomato soup and yogurt, and less healthy items such as salad dressings and cookies.
Yes it’s true that the FDA did a 30-year study and found a correlation between HFCS and obesity and that it is worse for your health than plain sugar. Yet the Corn Refiners Association launched an aggressive advertising campaign to counter these criticisms, claiming that HFCS “is natural” and “has the same natural sweeteners as table sugar.”
All added sugars should be curbed, but make sure you stay away from the HFCS, it will make you sicker and fatter than sugar!
4. Partially Hydrogenated Oils:
Whatever you do, stay clear of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. They are unnatural and very unhealthy. You see, the original oil is subjected to hydrogenation, which changes its molecular structure. This allows the oil molecules to harden thus giving it a longer shelf life, which is why manufacturers like it. But the changed oils are actually closer to plastic than to oil, and the hydrogenation process kills the omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids, which are the healthy parts of the original oils.
What this means is that the body does not get the desired antioxidant affect of consuming oils, and the new hydrogenated oils are then treated in the body as fatty foods that the bloodstream can’t process. The result is fat stored in the body. Excess storage of fat in the body and arterial plaque build-up, then, are the big issues with partially hydrogenated oils.
Avoid foods containing partially hydrogenated oils at all costs. Check the labels on spreads, crackers, cookies, cakes and even some so-called fruit snacks.
The bottom line on food additives
You should eat natural foods and fresh foods and always read the labels. When in doubt, write down the ingredient and do an online search. You just might be surprised at what you find!
The four listed above are among the worst ingredients found in the foods you eat. These are the “foods” that the FDA says are okay to feed Americans! Yet, we’re becoming sicker faster than ever before and suffering long, slow deaths from heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Mark V. Wiley is unique. As a doctor of both Oriental and Alternative medicine, best selling author, martial art master and international seminar instructor… no one does for wellness what he does!
Dr. Mark’s interest in holistic and natural health practices was not just a mere curiosity; he was looking for long-lasting relief from the debilitating migraines and chronic pain that plagued him for nearly three decades.
His passion for wellness has led him to become an innovator in the field of holistic health with the creation of the self-directed wellness model called The Wiley Method. This Method is unlike other healing systems that look at the individual symptoms and diseases and work toward managing them. Instead, it takes a systems view of health as being intimately tied to ones body, worldview and lifestyle choices.
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