Clean up What You Eat

Person holding a container with blue and white labels.

Clean up what you eat

Have you noticed that now, more than ever before, children and adults are developing food allergies and health problems at an alarming rate? Foods are not grown, cultivated or manufactured the way they used to be.

Ten years ago, Europe and many other countries cut out all food dyes from foods, including candy. The Good ‘01 USA is very behind the times and Americans are suffering. Recently, many American companies are finally waking up and have plans to rid some foods of chemicals, and dangerous ingredients.

Besides allergies, ADHD and other conditions are soaring. People need to look at the food that they are eating. We keep hearing that we need to eat the way our grandmothers ate and prepared food. Why are people, who care about what goes into our bodies, saying that? Easy, look at these ingredient lists:

This is what is in common/popular vanilla frosting in the US:

SUGAR, PALM OIL, WATER, CORN SYRUP, CORN STARCH, CANOLAOIL, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SALT, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL COLOR INCLUDING YELLOW 5 AND RED 40, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, POLYSORBATE 60, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), SOY LECITHIN, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID, ANTIOXIDANTS (ASCORBYL PALMITATE, MIXED TOCOPHEROLS, CHAMOMILE AND ROSEMARY EXTRACTS).

This product is filled with a variety of chemicals and ingredients that are very unhealthy. First, it has artificial flavors, colors and preservatives and words you can’t even pronounce (this is always a key to realizing this is not real food). Corn syrup is never good and has been proven to assist in causing obesity and an unhealthy body. You can buy 100% natural vanilla frosting, with only REAL food on the ingredient list from stores in the US that do not carry chemical-filled foods. Look at the ingredients of this vanilla frosting produced by Cherrybrook Kitchen, which has a wonderful line of mixes and frostings, which have zero chemicals and also boasts that they are free of all of the top eight allergens!

Now look at these ingredients:

CONFECTIONARY SUGAR (CONTAINS CORNSTARCH), PALM OIL, WATER, TAPIOCA, GUM ARABIC, VANILLA EXTRACT, SALT, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID.

NOTICE that the “common/ popular” product does not have any vanilla at all! The Cherry brook product is thickened with natural gums, from plants and uses real vanilla extract.

Which product would you rather purchase?

Let us look at cake mixes. This is a popular chocolate cake mix’s list of ingredients:

ENRICHED BLEACHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE), CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: WHEAT STARCH, CANOLAOIL, CELLULOSE, CORN STARCH, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ESTERS OF FATTY ACIDS, SALT, DISTILLED MONOGLYCERIDES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, XANTHAN GUM, SODIUM STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, CELLULOSE GUM, COLORED WITH (RED 40, YELLOW 5, BLUE 1), CITRIC ACID AND BHT (ANTIOXIDANTS)

Do you ever ask yourself why chocolate cake mixes would have artificial colors in red, yellow and blue? They even add artificial flavors and preservatives (BHT)

Lookat Cherrybrook’s ingredients for their chocolate cake:

POTATO STARCH, NATURAL COCOA POWDER, WHITE I RICE FLOUR, TAPIOCA STARCH, GRANULATED BROWN [SUGAR, BAKING SODA, XANTHAN GUM, SEA SALT.

Which product would you prefer to buy and serve to your family and guests? This is real food; no chemicals, no gimmicks, no toxins. Ask yourself why the FDA allows these poisons in our food? These ingredients cause a host of mental and physical ailments. What might happen if you only bought and serviced chemical free foods, with real ingredients?

Here is a web site that states what some chemicals in foods can do to your body: www.feingold.org/effects.html Sweets are not the only foods with chemicals added.

What about quick meals? There are a variety of products in the US to purchase. More and more companies are realizing that fake ingredients are chemicals, which cause damage to the human body and they are coming out with dye free, chemical free, artificial free products.

What sounds better to you?

CookSimple Sloppy Joe Mix

INGREDIENTS: PINTO BEANS, ONION, CARROTS, EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, SPICES, TOMATO, IDENTITY PRESERVED BALSAMIC VINEGAR (BALSAMIC VINEGAR, IDENTITY PRESERVED MALTODEXTRIN), PEPPERS, RICE CONCENTRATE (ANTI-CAKING AGENT), SEA SALT, SUN FLOWER OIL, GARLIC*, CITRIC ACID

A ground hamburger “helper” beef pasta mix lists the following ingredients:

ENRICHED PASTA (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS ‘ SULFATE, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), CORN STARCH, MALTODEXTRIN, SALT, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), ONION, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, COLOR (CARAMEL COLOR, YELLOW 5 LAKE, YELLOW 5) , HYDROLYZED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (CORN, WHEAT, SOY), POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, YEAST EXTRACT, NATURAL FLAVOR, SPICE, MONOGLYCERIDES, SUGAR, BEEF STOCK, CORN SYRUP, DISODIUM INOSINATE, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, BEEF FAT, SULFITING AGENTS, CITRIC ACID, GARLIC, SOY SAUCE (SOYBEANS, WHEAT, SALT), SILICON DIOXIDE (ANTICAKING AGENT).*DRIED

Again, why does food have to have so many artificial and foreign-sounding ingredients? Why are people still buying this product? It is loaded with potentially harmful ingredients. But as long as the products are profitable, the companies will continue to sell them. Read labels; know what you are eating and serving. Think twice about where you do your grocery shopping.

Many people mention that the cost is so different, but this is not a valid excuse. Why spend more at the doctors and on medicines, if perhaps some of your family’s symptoms might just be food related! You have choices: where you shop and what you buy. By reading labels, purchasing healthy, natural, REAL food, you can show the other companies that you are fighting for a healthier lifestyle away from disease, allergies, behavioral issues and just not feeling well!

Experiment, try new, healthy options and see if your family can tell the difference. Food that is REAL tastes great. Food filled with chemicals does not taste like food and will destroy your body!

Barrie Silberberg is the author of The Autism & ADHD Diet: A Step-by-Step Guide To Hope and Healing by Living Gluten Free and Casein Free (GFCF) And Others Interventions. Her web site is: www.puttingyourkidsfirst.com

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This post originally appeared on our March/April 2016 Magazine

Clean up What You Eat

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