Did you KNOW

My dictionary defines food as "any NOURISHING substance that is eaten or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth etc. Did you Know? Most of the ingredients in convenience foods don'tb meet this definition. maybe the general public has forgotten this( or maybe don't have a clue), as convenience foods, which people buy in large amounts, list mostly non food ingredients. The ingredients in most convenience foods are usually not any recognizable whole foods. Even though I am a culinary school grad college, I still don’t understand the ingredients. Its kinda scary. I am convinced a college degree with a major in chemistry is required to understand label ingredients.

In a day and age when organic foods are rapidly becoming a big chunk of the food market, most convenience foods offer the lowest quality ingredients which consumers purchase without a thought. Baked goods/sweets are the biggest and worst offenders. Instead of butter of cream, the fats I found listed in convenience foods are polysorbate 60, 65 or 80, partially hydrogenated coconut, palm, soybean, cottonseed, rapeseed and corn oil. You would be better off eating a stick of butter...yum! Have you ever tried to buy partially hydrogenated oils? These are cheap low quality oils that grocery stores don’t stock because ( except for margarine) of lack of demand. Why does the consumer who wouldn't buy these items at a grocery store, purchase and consume these non food ingredients in commercially prepared food for the sake of a simple quick bite to eat.

Besides cheap oils, ingredients list the use of sucrose (sugar is a non food since it is not a nourishing substance) white flour (too processed to have any nutrition) a variety of FD&C yellows, blues and reds to color the food, ethyl glycol ( did you know thats antifreeze) propylene glycol, all kinds of gums such as gum arabic, xanthin gum (extracted from toxic organic solvents, totally gross), locust bean gum, guar gum and cellulose gum, agar, glyceryl lacto-esters, carrageenan, carnuba wax, titanium dioxide (added to paints and vinyl products to prevent fading), monosodium glutamate, sodium phosphates, sodium propionate, sodium benzoate, sodium casenate, sodium stearoyl, sodium bisulfite, sodium nitrate, disodium phosphate, sodium citrate, calcium sulfate, calcium caseinate, calcium peroxide, calcium propionate, potassium sorbate, mono and diglycerides, corn syrup solids and high fructose corn syrup. (All that stuff above..I have no idea what it really is for the most part?) Only god and the company chemist knows what artificial flavorings mean( Key word artififical remember that means fake). And yes, it is chemists who formulate (not bake or cook) these convenience items. Their mission is to make foods cheaply that have a long shelf life. Home cooked food has a very short storage period before spoiling.

These are just a few things that came to my mind. Since i began my quest for better health, I think about many food issues. The more I learn the more I can't believe how ignorant we are when it comes to eating...

This is scary?Companies that use non food ingredients, are required to provide HAZMAT (hazardous material) training for their employees by either the Department of Transportation for the storage or transportation of these ingredients or by the Environmental Protection Agency for manufacturers. ( We eat this stuff?) Think about this for a moment. Why would you eat ingredients that if spilled on a highway would require a fully suited HAZMAT Team to clean up?

This makes me think. I guess that why they say ignorance is bliss?

Eating should provide the body with nourishment, not poison it. You should be able to recognize and understand the ingredients in food items without an advanced chemistry degree. The sensible thing to do if buying prepared foods is buy only foods that list ingredients you recognize, understand or that provide good nutrition Today’s acceptable additives and ingredients may become a problem of our future.

Just think about it before you grab food off the shelf. Food labels can be very handy if we take the time to use them.