What am I eating?

photo property of: www.flickr.com/wisely-chosen

Some of the food that we eat is garbage. Some of the things that I have eaten over the years are garbage, but things have changed at our house (for the most part).  Fortunately it is not difficult to educate yourself before it goes into your mouth.

Preservatives are in all kinds of foods.  They help to prolong the life (in the fridge or out) of the item for months or years or in the case of Twinkies, a lifetime. To name a few, BHT(keep oils from going bad), aspartame, nitrates(preserves flavor of meat), MSG(can cause headaches and nausea), High Fructose Corn Syrup[HFCS] and potassium bromate (increase volume in breads).  Some of these are even know to cause Cancer, steer clear!

Artificial Colors are relatively obvious (check out the bright colored fruit loops). They are in yogurt that is blue or soda that's not clear or M&Ms or jelly beans or frozen ice pops.  Mischievous companies put color in all kinds of things to entice our children to beg for them. Things like goldfish, cereal, crackers, jelly, hot dogs, snack food, and juice.  Artificial colors are usually the last thing listed on the ingredient label as FD&C Red 40 or Blue 2 or any variety of combinations, it's usually obvious.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are scary. They are seeds that are manufactured to resist pesticides and/or herbicides and they are mainly used to grow corn, soybeans, cotton and canola.  There are so many reasons why we don't want these engineered seeds in our bodies and on this planet.  First of all, they are hard to avoid, because 70% of processed foods contain them.  Second, scientists say that side effects of eating GMOs are allergic reactions and gene mutations.  Not to mention we are basically eating foods that have more pesticides than a non-GM crop and it is killing the soil. 

What to do? Eat certified organic (they are not allowed to use GMO for use with the organic label), look for foods that are GMO-free (Trader Joe's private label products are already GMO-free), and download this list of how to eat GMO-free from The Center for food Safety.

Making these changes or even a few is wonderful. It has taken our family years to get there and sometimes even we fall off of the bandwagon.