5 Foods You Need to Stop Buying Today

This blog may be sad for a few of you. But I promise that my purpose for writing it is to make your life easier, and help you.

The following foods are marketed to us as “healthy” which makes us all believe we are making good food choices.

In reality, we need to stay away from these highly processed foods because they are doing more harm than good. They are all convenient to buy and eat. However, I like to think it’s more convenient to stay as healthy as possible by eating real foods, that worrying about the chemicals I am putting into my body.

Stay tuned as I will provide you with healthy alternatives to these products!

1) Reduced fat Peanut Butter

Nuts naturally have a high fat content. But it’s a good, natural fat. Reduced fat peanut butters have CORN SYRUP SOLIDS as the second ingredient, fully or partially hydrogenated oils, and rapeseed and vegetables oils.  Why take fat out, and then add more fat, and more sugar?

Well, adding these fats and sugars makes the product last longer on the shelf….think Crisco.

 

2)   Granola Bars

I used to love commercial granola bars in college…but now I don’t go near them.

Granola bars are filled with sugar, and 2 of those bars is like eating 2 pieces of bread with sugar on top. The ingredient list looks like this:

Whole grain oats, sugar, canola oil, yellow corn flour, honey (more sugar) and the list goes on. That means sugar is the second largest ingredient. No thank you.

 

3)   Cereal

There are some cereals that are better than others. But, for the most part cereals are filled with processed wheat, and more sugar. Lets look at the ingredients for a Special K PROTEIN cereal….

Whole grain wheat, wheat gluten, sugar, rice, soy protein isolate, defatted soy grits...

The more sugar you eat, the more you will crave it. 

 

4)   Processed Lunch Meat

Processed lunch meat such as turkey or ham contain Sodium Nitrite. The purpose of adding this chemical is to prevent botulism. However, this chemical can be toxic to humans and animals in high amounts. That nice “pink” color your lunch meat has is also a bright pink dye to make it look edible. There has also been a link to processed lunch meat and cancer. Along with the high sodium content, I would much rather cook my own protein at home. Ever notice that doctors will tell pregnant women to stay away from lunch meats?

http://www.cancercenter.com/discussions/blog/the-link-between-sodium-nitrites-and-cancer/

 

5)  Whole Grain Breads

Growing up in Russia for part of my life, I remember our bread going bad in 3 days. Today, most breads can last up to a month in your refrigerator! Here is a clue why…. Lets look at the ingredient label of whole grain english muffins:

WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR , WATER, YEAST, WHEAT GLUTEN, FARINA, SUGAR, SALT, CRACKED WHEAT, PRESERVATIVES (CALCIUM PROPIONATE, SORBIC ACID), GRAIN VINEGAR, CALCIUM SULFATE, SOYBEAN OIL, WHEAT STARCH, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, DATEM, NATURAL FLAVOR, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, ETHOXYLATED MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, DEXTROSE, WHEAT SOUR, GUAR GUM, LACTIC ACID, MOLASSES, FUMARIC ACID, AZODICARBONAMIDE, WHEY, SOY FLOUR*, CARAMEL COLOR, ACETIC ACID, SUCRALOSE, NONFAT MILK. *TRIVIAL AMOUNT OF SOY FLOUR

 

This is not something I would want to be putting into my body on an everyday basis. That really long ingredient Azodicarbonamide is also used for a "blowing agent in sealing caps for food containers such as ketchup bottles" FDA.

What is it doing in our bread?

http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm387497.htm

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I will be giving your alternatives to these foods!