Steer Clear from These 5 Common Food Additives

Newsflash! Food manufacturers put a ridiculous amount of junk into the food you eat.

Okay, so that’s old news. You’ve known this for a long time, right? Billions of dollars are spent every year to find out what chemicals and minerals cause a positive response in your brain when you consume them.

When manufacturers find chemicals (man-made or natural) that are inexpensive, have a long shelf life AND lead to an addiction response, you can bet they are going to cram them into your food. In most cases, these are unnatural, lab-created, nutritional nightmares that can cause very serious damage to your brain and your body.

Building upon last week’s post of 5 Hazardous Foods You Must Stop Eating, (add link) here are 5 of the most common food additive health offenders you should avoid at all costs.

1 – Sodium Nitrites

Sodium is almost like a fancy way of saying ‘salt’. Salt is so good at preserving food that it’s dumped into many processed food products. Sodium nitrites help offer a uniform color and flavor to meat. They stabilize meat and prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. That all sounds good, right? Unfortunately, common foods which contain sodium nitrites (like hot dogs) usually must be heated. High heat turns nitrites into effective promoters of pancreatic and colorectal cancer. In addition, the dangers of sodium nitrites include an elevated risk for developing heart disease.

Avoid sodium nitrites like the plague!

2 – Trans Fats

The FDA in the United States has banned trans fats in foods. However, it’s still found elsewhere around the globe, and even in food sold in grocery stores and restaurants in the US. How disappointing!

Why are they so bad? Trans fats dramatically increase the odds that you will develop heart disease. Trans fats pump up your LDL cholesterol level (the bad kind of cholesterol) and lower the amount of HDL cholesterol (the good kind) in your body. This means that if you eat trans fats, you are likely to have a stroke, a heart attack or in the very least your heart has to work harder than it should.

Manufacturers love trans fats because they are super flavorful and cost next to nothing. Oils that contain trans fats can be used over and over again, and this additionally reduces cost. They give food a wonderful texture and an addictive taste. Trans fats are found in baked goods like cakes, pies and biscuits, margarines and some other spreads, cookies, crackers and pizza. If you see the phrase “partially hydrogenated oil” on a food label, you are looking at trans fats.

3 – Sulfites

Sulfites are found in many foods. Their use as a preservative for fruits and vegetables is banned in the United States, but not everywhere. Even with the US ban, it is still sadly found on non-produce food. Sulfites aggravate and trigger asthma and have been linked to other significant health problems, so best to stay far away from them.

4 – High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

HFCS is sugar, plain and simple. The average American consumes between 5 and 10 times the recommended maximum level of sugar every single day. Eat too much sugar and the side effect is a higher probability of developing heart disease, having a stroke or heart attack, becoming obese, developing diabetes and suffering from neurological disorders. That’s quite a nasty list, don’t you agree?

5 – Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

This chemical is found in a lot of Asian foods. It boosts flavor and texture; but unfortunately, it’s not good for your health. It adds so much extra sodium to your meals that it can immediately elevate blood pressure after eating. There is a medical term called MSG symptom complex, and its symptoms include headaches, tingling, weakness and muscle tightness, and numbness in the extremities.

A very small amount of people are not sensitive to MSG. On the other hand, many people experience nausea and breathing problems soon after eating food with MSG. Even if you don’t experience any noticeable side effects, it’s best to avoid for the other health reasons. 

The Food Additives Wrap-Up

The takeaway here is to avoid highly processed foods! Every time you swap nutritious fruits and vegetables for chemically altered and processed food, your body benefits. Start cooking for yourself and your family more often. Eat as close to the garden as you can, which means eating fresh vegetables and fruits raw whenever possible. Buy organic produce. Choose wild-caught seafood over farm-raised, and grass-fed beef over industrially grown and harvested beef. The further you move away from nature as far as your diet is concerned, the more likely your health is going to suffer.

If all of this seems daunting to you, don’t feel overwhelmed. I’m here to help, and this is an area I have a lot of background it. Contact me for more info on my Healthy Living Jumpstart Program, (add link??) which is an easy, cost-effective way to get you going in the right direction!

Also try these FREE 15 Paleo Recipes that steer clear from these terrible additives above and let me know what you think of them after you do!

Wishing you well,

Dr. Jessica