In addition to what types of food you put into your body, you must also be aware of the sources from which this food is derived from. These days there are chemical additives placed into almost anything and everything. This is mainly done for three reasons.
The first reason is that many manufacturing companies try to get their foods and food products to last as long as it possibly can on the shelf. How do they do this? By adding many different chemicals and preservatives that make the food stay edible longer.
The second reason is that these fine companies are in the business to make the best tasting products using the least amount of money possible. So what does this wind down to? Yes, once again, more chemicals.
The final reason is that not only do these companies want their products to taste good; they want it to look good as well. Unfortunately for us, this means another set of chemical additives and artificial coloring is used to make products look more appetizing.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise as to why you can’t pronounce half of the ingredients on a can of soda. How many ingredients do you think is necessary to bake a loaf of bread? You don’t have to be a five-star chef to estimate that it probably calls for four or five ingredients at the most. I would say flour, sugar, salt, butter and yeast. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less but in any case, is this list not short and sweet?
Then why when we purchase bread rolls at the grocery store does the ingredient list contain 20-30 ingredients? There are so many unnecessary additives to even the simplest foods like bread! Go take a look into your pantry and look at all the amazing ingredients that you probably can’t identify, yet you throw them into your body with no problem!
The scary part is, not all of the chemicals are listed on the ingredient list! Many chemicals are added accidently through different packaging and many other ways. In fact, there are many doctors and scientists who have begun to point fingers to the world’s chemical filled diet as one of the main causes of many diseases including cancer.
There are actually a few places that offer programs for cancer patients, or anyone for that matter, where they will be fed a chemical free diet for about a month, and it is claimed that any cancer cells present will be destroyed in this period. Yes, they are claiming that a chemical free diet is the cure to cancer/prevention of cancer! Of course, I can’t say that this is a sure thing, as I have not witnessed it for myself; but I have heard many good things about it.
But for those of us who are well and healthy for now, we should take good care of our bodies by reading and researching ingredients that we aren’t familiar with, thereby becoming more conscious of what we feed ourselves or what becomes of us. I will break down a few of the main chemical additives you have all probably eaten in your life.
Artificial Colors: Many artificial colors that were developed in the 1900’s were banned by the FDA as they were proven carcinogens (cancer-exacerbating agents). The FDA currently only allows 10 colors in foods, four of which are reserved for specific use, meaning that some of the risks still remain.
Artificial Flavoring: Artificial flavoring means chemicals that were developed in a laboratory, that are meant to mimic flavors found naturally in foods. Some vanilla flavors are made from petroleum or paper-mill waste. Many of these artificial flavors are composed of hundreds of different chemicals. Studies have recently shown that the consumption of these artificial flavors can cause behavioral changes.
1-Methylcyclopropene: Ethylene is a natural hormone that ripens fruit at the rate it was meant to ripen in. 1-Methylcyclopropene is a gas that is pumped into containers of apples to stop them from producing this hormone. It’s also used on other fruits such as bananas. Grapes use a different chemical called Sulphur dioxide.
Aspartame: This is a sugar substitute that you can buy in stores, including brands like Equal and NutraSweet. You can also find this in almost any diet or low calorie/no sugar added drink. Unfortunately, certain babies are born without the ability to metabolize one of the two amino acids found in it, phenylalanine.
There are many others including astaxanthin, benzoic acid/sodium benzoate, BHA/BHT, canthaxanthin, emulsifiers, high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (msg), olestra, potassium bromate, etc.
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