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Wednesday, June 17, 2009








Dangers of Food Additives and Preservatives

Did you know the food you buy from your local grocery store can make you sick or even KILL YOU? It's true. There are additives and preservatives in many foods that can cause migraines, cramping, behavioral and learning problems in children, asthma, and even CANCER!!!

Reading food labels taught me a lot about how our health is being compromised by the chemicals being added to food to give it a longer shelf-life. It's deep, really. The bottom-line is MONEY. Companies like Pepsi pay big money to grocery stores to have them stock their shelves with unhealthy food. We, as consumers, have to educate ourselves on what we're eating, because the GOVERNMENT is certainly not looking out for us!!

Here is a very informative article that I believe everyone should read!

Luvbenet



Food Additives and Preservatives That Should Be Avoided

Many foods could be sabotaging your plan for healthy eating. Chemicals create mutations through chromosome damage, interfere with immune system function, and have been shown to cause a multitude of serious health conditions.


Even if all of the food additives used in our foods were safe individually, rarely does any processed / convenience food have only one additive in it. And nobody knows the effects of the many different additives when they are assembled together in a single product. There are literally thousands of various and potentially dangerous combinations.

Have you noticed that the product labels on many foods today seem to be an undecipherable code of scientific mystery words? That’s because more and more manufacturers are opting to use dangerous preservatives, sprays, and chemicals to increase the shelf life of their products and to enhance taste, texture and visual appeal; all at the cost of our nutritional needs.


Many natural ingredients in processed foods are being replaced with their “chemical taste-alikes” to cut costs. So, not only are we bombarded with the toxic chemicals that are in our carpeting, upholstery, cleaning products, etc., we now have to deal with them in the foods we ingest.

Worst Food Additives

Here is a list of some of the worst food additives. Check food labels to make sure that what you buy does not contain these ingredients.

BHT, legal in the U.S. but banned in England, is associated with liver and kidney damage, behavioral problems, infertility, weakened immune system, birth defects and cancer.

Artificial coloring - contribute to hyperactivity in children; may contribute to learning and visual disorders, nerve damage; may be carcinogenic.

Aspartame and all artificial sweeteners - may cause central nervous system damage, menstrual difficulties, may affect brain and growth development in unborn fetus. Dangerous excitotoxins. Artificial sweeteners: aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), sucralose (Splenda), neotame, saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low), acesulfame-k )Sunette, Sweet-n-Safe, Sweet One)

Brominated vegetable oil - linked to major organ system damage, birth defects, growth problems; considered unsafe by the FDA, can still lawfully be used unless further action is taken by the FDA . (used in fruit juices to give them a long shelf life)

Carrageenan - stabilizer and thickening agent; linked to toxic hazards, including ulcers and cancer; In addition to suppressing immune function, carrageenan causes intestinal ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease in animals and some research indicates that carrageenan is associated with causing cancer in humans. (This is what researchers use when they want to create cancer cells for laboratory experiments)

Partially Hydrogenated vegetable oils - associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis, elevated cholesterol, depressed immune system, allergies.

Nitrates - form powerful cancer-causing agents in stomach; can cause death; considered dangerous by FDA but not banned because they prevent botulism.

MSG - may cause headaches, itching, nausea, nervous system and reproductive disorders, high blood pressure; pregnant, lactating mothers, infants, small children should avoid MSG; allergic reactions common; may be hidden in infant formula, low fat milk, candy, chewing gum, drinks, over-the-counter medications. (
MSG - A dangerous excitotoxin)

Neotame - similar to aspartame, but potentially more toxic; awaiting approval. A dangerous excitotoxin.

Olestra - causes gastrointestinal irritation, reduces carotenoids and fat soluble vitamins in the body.

Potassium bromate - can cause nervous system, kidney disorders, gastrointestinal upset; may be carcinogenic.

Saccharin - delisted as a carcinogen in 1997, however, studies still show that saccharin causes cancer. A dangerous excitotoxin.

Sucralose (Splenda)Tests reveal it can cause up to 40% shrinkage of the thymus gland. It also causes swelling of the kidneys and liver, and liver calcification. Splenda has basically been chlorinated. 3 hydroxyl groups (atoms composed of hydrogen and oxygen) are selectively removed and replaced with 3 atoms of chlorine. The sugar molecule has now been transformed into a chlorocarbon—a chemical agent that has no place in the human diet.

Sulfites - destroys vitamin B1; small amounts may cause asthma, anaphylactic shock; dangerous for asthma, allergy sufferers; has caused deaths; banned on fresh fruits and vegetables, except potatoes.

Sweet 'N Low - contains saccharin. A dangerous excitotoxin.

If the list of ingredients on a package label is long, there are probably a lot of chemical additives in the product, and you're risking your health by eating it.

Children

In children, the organs responsible for detoxifying, or removing harmful substances, are not as effective as those of adults. Unfortunately in many families, children tend to consume more heavily processed foods than adults, (in various snack foods, cookies, cereals, chips, boxed convenience lunches) so these additives have a disproportionately higher impact on them. A parent’s job of providing nutritious foods is made even harder because of the wide array of brightly packaged, tasty, quick and easy foods that are intensely marketed and widely available.

Prepared foods and mixes offer convenience, but remember with convenience comes the use of at least some of the 3000 various food additives.

Read Ingredient Labels

Start reading labels, and chose products that are labeled "preservative-free." Scrutinize convenience, or pre-packaged products that claim "no added preservatives." They may nevertheless contain ingredients that were already preserved prior to inclusion in the final product. For example, almost all lard, used in baked goods, is treated with BHA or BHT.

Eating healthy may require some lifestyle adjustments. You’ll probably have to shop more often because all-natural foods will spoil sooner. Most foods are not meant to last months and months. Many people erroneously consider it completely normal to keep their pantry shelves and freezers full of a wide array of ready to eat food choices.

Just because you’ve always done it this way doesn’t make it the best choice for your family. Fresh food is plentiful in America—do you really need to re-create an unhealthy, mini grocery store in your kitchen for the sake of convenience?

Eliminate Toxins From Your Foods

You can eliminate many of these toxins from your life by changing how you have choose to manage your meals. Make the time to start cooking foods from scratch. Eat raw fruits and veggies instead of processed snack foods. DON’T BUY CONVENIENCE “SIDE-DISH” MIXES! If you want a delicious rice dish—cook rice (preferably brown rice) in some broth and flavor it with seasonings!

Most people don’t believe that it can actually be less expensive to eat more natural, but it’s true. Try it. Get back to eating the natural foods our bodies were intended to eat.

Cravings:

High doses of sugar, salt, and trans fat, which are cheap fillers in convenience foods, cause cravings because they disrupt the brain’s natural chemical balance. The more processed foods you eat, the more you crave them...and the vicious cycle continues. Natural hunger becomes distorted when the body’s chemical balance is upset.

Supplying the necessary substances required for chemical balance is the key to overcoming unhealthy cravings. Adding supplements to your diet can be very effective in both removing toxins as well as helping to restore chemical balances.It’s absolutely imperative that you try to limit processed and pre-packaged foods, because unless you’re eating organic, you may still be exposed to dangerous toxins on the foods you probably consider to be the most healthy!

Organic packaged and processed foods have little or no added synthetic colors or preservatives, and of course, organic fruits and vegetables are always your best choice. Non-organic produce is sometimes exposed to various forms of detrimental processes. For example, sulfur is used to keep dried fruit fresh, formaldehyde is added to disinfect frozen vegetables, and potatoes are coated with maleic hydrazide to inhibit their natural “sprouting” tendencies.

Sodium nitrate, a suspected cause of stomach cancer, is used as a preservative for bacon, sausage, ham, and bologna. Even some bagged lettuce is sprayed to extend it's shelf life. Do you like ice cream? You have carboxymethylcellulose, to thank for that super creamy, smooth texture. It has produced tumors in 80% of rats injected with this chemical “stabilizer”.

Not even bottled fruit juices can escape profit driven chemical interference. Brominated oils are added to bottled juice to maintain a look of freshness even after months of storage. Aluminum compounds, which are added to baking powder, aspirin, antacids, beer, and table salt, have been discovered in high concentrations in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.

It's nearly impossible to eat completely "toxin free", so just do the best you can...

Unfortunately, it’s not realistic to expect to totally eliminate all toxins from the foods we eat...not unless you live apart from normal society and raise all your own food! But you can at least try to minimize them whenever possible.

About the only time we can consistently assure healthy choices is by the foods we prepare in our homes. Restaurant food is typically packed with artificial, processed ingredients. Make the meals you prepare at home the one place you know you are doing the right thing for your family.

How can you counteract the damaging effects of preservatives, additives and chemicals?

Many nutrients have the ability to counteract the damaging effects of toxic substances, so one of the best defenses for maintaining good health in our “toxin filled” society is by adding supplements to your daily routine. Fulvic has the power to attach itself to harmful toxins and flush them from the body. In addition, when you supply your body with proper co-factors, like the ones in Super Multi Liquid Vitamins, you will significantly increase the absorption of the nutrients in your food.

Right now your body’s resources are waging a daily battle against preservatives, additives, toxins, and chemicals. Help protect yourself against disease with products and lifestyle choices that support and enhance natural immune system function to its fullest capacity. With some thoughtful changes you can create lasting health, energy, and well-being for your family.
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3 comments:

ChocolateOrchid said...

Awesome post!!

Miss GTS said...

Does this mean I have to chuck my 100 calorie "snack pack" puddings?? lol. no this was a very informative post, i have struggled with healthy eating my whole life so posts like these are what I need to get on the ball...The hard thing is that I don't even cook and am the queen of fast and convenient food, so I'm really gong to have to do a 180...

Luvbenet-- said...

@ Chocolate Orchid... thank you!!

@ Miss GTS... I know, I eat those too!! LOL.. this article is making me re-think everything I eat!I'm in the same boat as you. I don't cook, but my bf does, so when he's not here, I HAVE NO IDEA how to eat healthy.

Pretty much, he told me to try to eliminate jars,cans, bags and boxes,and if it has a long list of unknown ingredients, as a rule of thumb, it's processed!(full of chemicals)

In a way, I wish I didn't know what I know! Ignorance is bliss! (just kidding) It only makes it harder to know what's acceptable to eat, though.