Get The Best Out of Your Food: Part 1

Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be posting some things about food, what's in it, what is good for you to eat, and definitely what is bad! A while back I watched a movie called Food INC. It opened my eyes to so much. From then on I became obsessed with knowing what I was actually eating.

So many of the things we put into our bodies are unknown. We shouldn't let our food be one of them. We buy canned vegetable and boxed dinners without ever bothering to look at the ingredients. I bet if we did, we would all be shocked at the number of them that we don't know!

I've been sitting here researching the ingredients of different processed foods that the majority of people will consume in their lives. I was terrified at some of the things I found out. For example, in Kraft Mac n' Cheese there are FOUR preservatives. After doing some reading I officially believe that if the world ends the Mac N Cheese will survive!

I went on a hunt to learn what every ingredient listed on the back of the box. Some of them were hard to find, and some of them were normal items such a milk. Here are a few of the ones I couldn't believe were in it and some facts about each of them...

Sodium Tripolyphosphate:

• Used as a preservative in a lot of seafood, meats and pet food.
• It is also used in many other things around the house, other than food. Such as: toothpaste, soaps, detergents, ect... 
• The US food and drug admin lists it as "generally recognized as safe." 
• In foods it is used to retain moisture. 
• The government regulates the amount allowed in foods because it can substantially increase the sale weight, especially in seafood. 
• A lot of people believe that STPP makes foods taste soapy, and because of its water holding ability it tends to give food a diluted flavor.

Calcium Carbonate: 

• A chemical compound that can be used as a preservative 

Sodium Phosphate: 

• Is added to a lot of foods as an emulsifier to prevent separation. 
• Adding phosphates to food will increase the shelf life. It allows it to keep it's texture and appearance. 
• It is also an ingredient in cleaning products. 

Citric Acid:

• Organic
• Can be used as a preservative. 

 Yellow 5 (Tartrazine):

• Is a synthetic yellow dye. 
• It has the highest allergic and intolerance reaction rate of all the azo dyes. Especially if you have asthma and/or aspirin sensitivities. 
• There are many everyday problems that have been associated to tartrazine ingestion. some of them are as follows: anxiety, migraines, clinical depression, blurred vision, itching, general weakness, heatwaves, feeling of suffocation, purple skin patches, and sleeping problems. 
• In children, there have been links to asthma attacks, hives, as well as thyroid tumors, chromosomal damage, and hyperactivity. 
• When tested on young mice (which i do not condone) it had a noticable effect (this was published in the Brazilian Journal of Biology) . 
• The government has done extensive studies on yellow 5 and have now mandated that the presence of tartrazine be made known on the packaging of food and drug products. 
• The use of yellow 5 is banned in Norway, and a ban was previously lifted in Austria and Germany. 
• The UK is phasing it out.

Yellow 6 (Sunset Yellow): 

• Everything I read about this dye was exactly the same as the Yellow 5. 
• Although it is banned not only in Norway, but in Finland as well.

 I couldn't believe all of this when I read it. Check back soon for the next part to this series on buying fresh produce.