Food Additives Are Making Us Obese
Are the foods we eat causing our weight gain or is it the food additives that are making us obese? A balanced and nutritious diet of the recommended daily fruits and vegetables as well as dairy, whole grains and protein shouldn’t be causing obesity. But what if the balanced diet we are consuming contains hidden additives that we aren’t aware of?
Busy Lives are Affecting Our Health
If you are like most, we eat a lot of pre-packed and grab-to go meals. As a busy society we don’t always have the time to make from scratch meals and snacks for our families. We do read labels on most of those packages, checking that what we are feeding our families is still healthy. However we don’t always understand what some of the ingredients listed actually are. We rely on our government regulations to monitor this for us, but what if our government is letting us down? What if they aren’t telling us the whole truth and letting us consume products that actually aren’t good for our families.
Something as simple as pre-washed and packaged carrots, might not be as good for us as we think. Baby carrots are washed in a chlorine-water solution, that has been approved by the FDA. The debate over pre-washed carrots has actually been back and forth since their introduction into our diets go-to snack grab. Why don’t we just buy carrots as a bunch and wash and peel them ourselves? Well it would be convenience.
Convenience gets us every time! Again back to our schedules and obligations, whether to our employers, our families or even ourselves, we don’t have enough time in the day to even peel some carrots.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
MSG, it is everywhere! From our chinese take-out, our salad dressings, even to some of the meats we consume, MSG is there. And MSG isn’t always disclosed to the consumer as MSG, there is MSGs that have different names but have the same result.
These ingredients contain MSG:
| Autolyzed Yeast | Calcium Caseinate | Yeast Food |
| Glutamate | Glutamic Acid | Hydrolyzed Protein |
| Monopotassium Glutamate | Monosodium Glutamate | Sodium Caseinate |
| Textured Protein | Yeast Extract | |
| Yeast Nutrient |
These ingredients can OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing:
| Flavors and Flavorings | Seasonings | Natural Flavors and Flavorings | Natural Pork Flavoring | Natural Beef Flavoring |
| Natural Chicken Flavoring | Soy Sauce | Soy Protein Isolate | Soy Protein | Bouillon |
| Stock | Broth | Malt Extract | Malt Flavoring | Barley Malt |
| Anything Enzyme Modified | Carrageenan | Maltodextrin | Pectin | Enzymes |
| Protease | Corn Starch | Citric Acid | Powdered Milk | Anything Protein Fortified |
| Anything Ultra-Pasteurized | Gelatin |
Understanding Refined Sugars
Refined sugar is another culprit in our diets. Refined sugar is added in abundance, again in our processed or take-out foods. Refined sugar provides only empty calories lacking in nutrients and minerals but we become addicted to its sugary taste as a flavor additive.
High fructose corn syrup along with refined sugar are two of the most addictive and harmful substances we can put into our bodies. And like MSGs they are present in abundance. High fructose corn syrup is in our canned sodas, sweeteners and even in some of our cereals that are already full of sugar additives as well as a lot of our pre-packaged snacks, frozen meals and a fries favorite condiment – ketchup.
Aspartame has established itself as an important component in many low-calorie, sugar-free foods and beverages but what about its health risks. We have all heard that products with aspartame can cause Alzheimer’s, but how much truth or fiction is behind this claim. You might be shocked of how many products that are low in sugar and good for our diets contain aspartame.
- Breath Mints
- Carbonated Soft Drinks
- Cereals
- Chewing Gum
- Carbonated Soft Drinks
- Flavored Syrups for Coffee
- Flavored Water Products
- Frozen Ice
- Frozen Ice Cream Novelties
- Fruit Spreads
- Gelatin, Sugar Free
- Hard Candies
- Ice cream Toppings
- Ice Creams, No Sugar or Sugar Free
- Iced Tea, Powder
- Iced Tea, Ready to Drink
- Instant Cocoa Mix
- Jams & Jellies
- Juice Blends
- Juice Drinks
And this is just to name a few of the more than 6,000 products that currently have disclosed amounts of aspartame as an ingredient. Aspartame is a non-calorie artificial sweetener comprised of methanol, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Methanol can also be found as alternative fuel source.
We will discuss aspartame in a more in depth article.
Food additives have been used for centuries to enhance the flavors of our foods, to help preserve freshness of our foods, to even help with the appearance of what we are eating. However it is important to know that some food additives are not good for us and can be causing severe side effects.
Reading the labels of what we are consuming is important to understanding some of the additives present in our store bought frozen dinners. Knowing what some of those additives are doing to our health is something we want to help you with.