Think You Know What's In Your Food? Think Again.

Recently a friend of mine and I were chatting online about health and nutrition and we both had the same general idea....to keep ourselves and our family as healthy as possible and cancer free!  What I've learned in the last five years that has helped me make better choices in food is one - when shopping at a grocery store, always do majority of the shopping along the perimeter of the store.  When you consume majority of your diet from the center of the store, which are all boxed items that have a shelf life of basically FOREVER, you can bet that there are a ton of preservatives allowing that food item to stay on the shelf for so long and as we know, preservatives are not good for you or your children.  Two - when struggling with whether or not to buy conventional fruit and veggies or organic, go by the "Dirty Dozen" Rule of Thumb.  The "Dirty Dozen" is a great way to determine which foods are really important to buy organic and which are less important.  It's a list of the top 12 vegetables and fruits that are sprayed the MOST with pesticides.  Here's a great website to refer too - The Dirty Dozen List.

My friend, Michele from Stamford, is also into living in a very Holistic way and follows a lot of great websites for information to stay updated on what's happening in the food world.  This is a great idea for everyone, because the more you know, the better choices you're able to make for you and your family.  One great website is http://www.naturalnews.com/.  What Natural News' Editor's did was find these amazing facts about food.  When I was reading through this PDF, which will be available at the end of this post, I was shocked at the information about food they had found.  So shocked, that I thought it was important to share with all of you.  I'm going to list 5 out of the 25 Amazing Facts About Food; the ones that surprised me the most.  So enjoy and get ready to learn a little more about what you're putting into your body.

• Amazing Fact #1 - U.S. law grants the Coca-Cola company a unique exemption to import coca leaves while prohibiting anyone else from importing what might otherwise become a popular superfood.  Coca leaves have been chewed and consumed as tea for thousands of years in the high Andes.  They are rich in many essential nutrients; they ease respiratory and digestive distress and are a natural stimulant and painkiller. Indigenous tradition and scientific studies have both confirmed that in their natural form, the leaves are completely safe and non-addictive—it takes intensive processing and toxic chemical ingredients to produce cocaine. That’s why more and more coca containing products have started to hit the market in Andean countries in the past few years.  Yet the United States still aggressively pursues an eradication policy that encourages Andean governments to spray their forests with toxic chemicals to eliminate this medicinal crop. It is illegal to import or possess the leaves under U.S. law—unless you’re the Coca-Cola company.  In an effort to preserve the traditional flavor of the best-selling drink, the company long ago convinced the U.S. government to exempt it from the law. But don’t worry: the chemicals that can be used to make cocaine—and that provide many of the leaves’ benefits—have all been removed from Coca-Cola.  Coca-Cola, by the way, used to literally contain cocaine in its original formula. The practice was halted in 1903, but the name persisted. The “coca” part of “coca-cola” is derived from the coca plant, and the “kola” comes from the kola nut which also flavored the original beverage.  {Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/026713_Coca-Cola_teeth_caffeine.html}

• Amazing Fact #2 - Chicken McNuggets contain an industrial chemical.  According to the McDonald’s Corporation, its famous Chicken McNuggets are made with ingredients including sodium phosphates, “partially hydrogenated soybean oil and cottonseed oil with mono -and diglycerides,” sodium acid pyrophosphate, ammonium bicarbonate, monocalcium phosphate, “hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness” and “Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an anti-foaming agent.”  At least two of these ingredients are artificially synthesized industrial chemicals. TBHQ, a petroleum derivative, is used as a stabilizer in perfumes, resins, varnishes and oil field chemicals. Laboratory studies have linked it to stomach tumors. Dimethylpolysiloxane, a type of silicone, is used in caulks and sealants, as a filler for breast implants, and as key ingredient in Silly Putty.  Not that the other ingredients are any better. It is also almost always genetically modified. Hydrogenated oils, of course, typically contain trans fats, the artificially produced fats that are unusable by the body and that drastically increase your risk of heart disease and death.  {Source: http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/ingredientslist.pdf, http://www.slashfood.com/2010/06/29/the-silly-secret-about-chicken-mcnug...}

• Amazing Fact #3 - High-fructose corn syrup, found in many foods, is made using a toxic chemical catalyst.  High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is used as a sweetener in nearly all mainstream packaged foods in the United States, from bread to soda and even breakfast cereal. It has been blamed for increasing the number of empty calories in the U.S. diet, and researchers have even linked it to diabetes and obesity.  Another danger from this ubiquitous ingredient comes from the toxic chemicals that are used to turn corn into corn starch and then into HFCS. One of these chemicals glutaraldehyde, is so dangerous that small quantities can burn holes in the human stomach. Like other chemical disinfectants, it can severely irritate the lungs, eyes and throat and can cause headaches or dizziness if inhaled.  Because two of the chemicals used in HFCS production introduce mercury into the mix, a recent study found that between one-third and one-half of all HFCS-containing products on the market tested positive for mercury contamination. In some cases, the level of mercury was high enough that a woman eating an average amount of HFCS as represented in the American diet could ingest more than five times the maximum recommended upper limit of mercury.  {Source: http://www.slate.com/id/2216796}

• Amazing Fact #4 - Microwave popcorn gives off a toxic, lung-damaging gas when cooked.  You might be reassured to learn that the buttery flavor in microwave popcorn typically comes from a chemical actually found in butter, but you shouldn’t be. This chemical, called diacetyl, is so toxic that it commonly destroys the lungs of workers in microwave popcorn factories, afflicting them with the crippling and irreversible disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans. Bronchiolitis obliterans is so rare outside of this context that it has become more commonly known as “popcorn lung,” after the primary cause of the disease.  People whos of microwave popcorn every day was diagnosed with popcorn lung, proving that diacetyl enters the air and lungs when microwave popcorn is cooked. Anxious to reassure consumers, most microwave popcorn companies phased out diacetyl—only to replace it with chemicals that have the exact same effects.  {Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/024460_popcorn_disease_diacetyl.html, http://www.naturalnews.com/023771_popcorn_diacetyl_lung.html}

• Amazing Fact #5 - Many processed foods are made with a derivative of coal tar that has been linked to hyperactivity in children.  Would you knowingly feed your children an ingredient derived from coal tar? That’s exactly what you may be doing, if you let them eat any orange or yellow artificially colored products including sodas (e.g., Mountain Dew), cheese-flavored products (e.g. Kraft Dinner), flavored chips (e.g. Doritos), pickles or a myriad of other foods and beverages. The industrial waste-derived coloring tartrazine is a common ingredient in all these foods, underscoring once again the need to read food labels religiously. Why would anyone put artificial colors into pickles?  Tartrazine, also known as E102 or Yellow 5, was one of the colorings linked to childhood hyperactivity in a landmark 2007 study conducted by the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency. As a consequence, products containing it must carry a warning label anywhere in the European Union. The United States has no such law—even though the coloring has also been linked to asthma, migraines and cancer.  {Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/029886_industrial_waste_pickle.html}

A little scary, huh?  These were my top 5 for either really shocking facts or I just felt they were important to put out there before some of the others.  To look at all 25 of the Amazing Facts About Food, please go to - http://www.naturalnews.com/specialreports/25-Amazing-Facts-About-Food.pdf.  NaturalNews.com also has an e-newsletter you can receive with updates on the latest information.  I really hope that from this little bit of information, it helps get you started in the right direction of making some better choices of the foods you eat. Many people are surprised when the subject comes up about food and children's behaviors and how it has a direct effect.  Try getting rid of all the processed foods and artificially flavored snacks and soda's and give them more fruit and vegetables.  I bet you'll see a difference....but that's a whole other topic!

So go for a visit to your local farm, farmers' market or even get your meat from a butcher that has been grown locally without hormones and antibiotics.  Start your own little garden in pots.  Go back to the basics and you'll be feeling more energetic and doing something great for your health.

If you a business that has a product made here in Connecticut that you would like to have on our website for consumer's to see and purchase, please contact me, Carissa at 203-223-0127 or by email - carissa@buylocallyct.com.  Please visit us on Facebook and "LIKE" our page, so you can stay updated on new products on the website and new blog posts!  FB - BuyLocallyCT.com by Carissa Algeri-Gulyas.  If you would like me to blog about you or your farm or business that has to do with something local, I would be happy to do that as well!  Thank you for visiting us on BuyLocallyCT.com!