Have you ever stopped to think why the foods you buy have so many ingredients in them? I never did before I started my real food journey. Who the heck has time for that? Between getting kids dressed, laundry, work, meetings, sports events and all of the other things I had to do. I was more concerned that my picky eaters would eat something. I assumed that the government was taking care of me and only allowing safe ingredients into our foods.
Then what is the reason for all of these extra non-food ingredients? Certainly, our ancestors were not concerned about food additives. They are a modern world invention. I checked with the FDA. On their website, they list 3 reasons for having food and color additives in our food. Aha! I finally have an answer. The 3 reasons they list are :
1. “To Maintain or Improve Safety and Freshness.”
2. “To Improve NutritionaValue.”
3. “Improve Taste, Texture, and Appearance.”
Well, at least there are some reasons. Improving safety and freshness sounds important. When I buy fresh fruits and vegetables, I know they only last a few days. Might be nice if they lasted longer, especially for the food companies trying to get them to my store and for the stores who don’t want to have to throw anything away. Improving nutritional value. I’m all for that. Not sure how you make a whole fruit more nutritious, but sounds good. Improve taste, texture and appearance. Sounds good to me. I know plenty of folks who don’t eat things if they look “gross”. I may be one of them.
Now, on the other side of the argument, I find the grocery store Whole Foods. I went to their website and found they have a list of more than 70 ingredients that they won’t let into their store. They refuse to sell products with artificial colors, bromated flour, calcium sorbate, high fructose corn syrup, nitrites/nitrates, and MSG just to name a few. Now flip your packages around and look at the ingredients. I bet most of us can easily find these ingredients in the foods we buy, were buying, or are handed to our children on a daily basis. These are the exact ingredients that improve freshness, maintain nutritional value, and improve appearance. Whole Foods has figured out that at the bare minimum these ingredients are not necessary in our food. I’m afraid that it is even worse than not necessary, many of these ingredients are commonly believed to be harmful.
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| Wow! That is a lot of ingredients. |
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| Naturally and Artificially Flavored. Yuck! |
This certainly is not a commercial for Whole Foods. In fact, I’ve only walked into Whole Foods a couple of times. They are just too far away for me to use on a regular basis. What I would like to see is that more grocery stores adopt the Whole Foods model. Why shouldn’t we all have access to foods that won’t harm us. I want us all to have foods that will help us to live long and truly healthy lives. I am getting pretty sick of loved ones having cancer, infertility and even allergies. These are all conditions that are believed to be attributed at least in part to food additives.
If we stick to our 5 ingredient foods, we are likely staying away from most of the food additives. We should embrace ugly food. I bought some really ugly carrots at my organic food co-op and guess what? They tasted like carrots. If we keep insisting that all of our fresh produce look identical and free from blemishes, our grocery store will have to keep giving that to us. And………. food companies, will have to keep inventing in their labs ways to give that to us.
One last thing…………..food companies only have to put nutrition into foods if they first strip out all of the nutrition processing the food. If we eat foods that more closely resemble how they appear in nature, there is less reason to put nutrition back into the food. I couldn’t find who originally used the phrase, but I see it all over the place. The longer the shelf life, the shorter yours. Now that, is some excellent advice!
Have you found any ingredients that surprised you this week? Are you a fan of ugly food or pretty food? Do you think these extra ingredients are necessary? I would love to hear. Drop me a comment below and let me know. Bloggers love comments.
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I wish there were a Whole Foods around here… oh, how I wish. Number 3 on that list up there is insane. They need to just get rid of it. I'm PMSing so this stuff makes me extra angry today… plus I just wrote a long comment and accidentally deleted because that's the kinda sh*t I do when I'm PMSing.
Anyhoo. Keep up the good work!
A little dark chocolate may be what the Dr. ordered. What I wonder is when we got so picky that the food companies had to put artificial color in white cake mixes so it is a more uniform white. What? You are right. Number 3 has got to go.
I am SO GLAD to have found your site! My family is just now making the switch to ALL organic items. I am a vegetarian and have been for years so now, we are substituting great proteins for meat on most days for them as well! I found you through the Thursday Favorite things Blog Hop! I am hosting a party tomorrow at my site http://www.frugalfitfamily.com – if you get a chance, stop by and link up! I can't WAIT to spend more time on your site!
I am thrilled you found us as well. We all need to stick together on our Real Food journey. Makes it a lot easier not to be the only one trying to eat Real Food. Support and information is what we are all about here. I'll be by to check out your party tomorrow.
Christina, that salad up there, oh, that is my favorite! Walnuts and a little raspberry vinaigrette. Strawberries are pricey in the stores here, but I just might have to break down and get a pack after all!
Becky, that is one of my favorite salads. So simple and so delicious. I make a strawberry vinaigrette to go with it. I buy strawberries every week. They are pricey, but I put a priority on good food. My daughter loves them and I love to see her enjoying all of that great nutrition. I cut back in other areas. I don't buy juice boxes, soda, or individual yogurt cups. We drink mostly water and I flavor my own yogurt. It works out in the end.
The process for me to move from unhealthy food to healthy food has been slow. It's all of those unnecessary inexpedient my body has become use too. It took awhile to enjoy olive oil as a dressing instead of thousand island, french, etc. If I could get the whole family involve in the switch it would make things a bit easier.
Love the name of your blog. I'm your newest follower.
http://ravensorganiclife.blogspot.com/
Raven, you are so right! It does take time to switch over. What I found though was once I purged my body of all the extra salt and sugar, some of my old favorites just didn't taste good anymore. That made it easier for me. It would help if the whole family was involved. Check out my Weekly Challenges and maybe try some of them with the whole family. Make it fun. Give prizes at the end of the week.
Thank you for sharing your lovely blog at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop xo
Thanks for stopping by Katherine. It has to be a treat for you to visit your work as well. Thanks again for your support and friendship.
Hi, stopping by from the blog hop. It seems like juggling food is how I spend my life.I like that 5 ingredient guideline. I usually do try to buy foods with few ingredients. Gonna run back up and see how I can follow you.
fitandbeyond40.com
Thanks for stopping by. It looks like we have a lot in common. The 5 ingredient guideline has been important for us to follow. Should we buy this or not? Hmm………it has more than 5 ingredients, so we better put it back. It makes things easier for us at the grocery store.
I love that saying about shelf life. I'm definitely remembering that one. I probably eat a lot less processed foods than the average person, but as far as I'm concerned, processed foods should be banned. They make us sick, and they make us fat. If we all just ate real food, we probably wouldn't have such an obesity problem here in the U.S. Last year, I went to Asia for two weeks. Without trying, I lost 8 lbs. When I came home, I regained it in a week. There is seriously something very messed up with our government for not only allowing this crap to be available, but condoning it as well.
Isn't our culture interesting? Why is it that our food makes us so fat? I can not comprehend how it is even possible to put 1500 calories into grilled chicken like some restaurants do. The only control we have is to make it ourselves and really understand the ingredients we are using. It shouldn't be so hard.