Food Ingredients! A Cause For Concern!

The general lack of health seen in our society has a direct connection to the products produced by the food manufacturing industry and the pharmaceutical companies. It appears that we humans are the testing ground, eating foods that cause and/or contribute to disease, then taking drugs to mask our health issues instead of getting to their underlying cause.

We have become a society of over-eaters, ingesting these so called safe and approved ingredients for years, not knowing the detrimental health robbing effects they have on our health and longevity.

Today, processed foods line the grocery store shelves. These food products are beautifully boxed, canned, or packaged with large add campaigns to entice the consumer. Most of these so called foods are convenient and easy to prepare, but are generally not healthy for us. Have you ever heard of the term overfed and undernourished? Well, that about covers it when we consume these nutrient deficient foods.

During the manufacturing process many vital nutrients are lost. Then additional ingredients have to be added to "fortify" or make these foods more palatable, and with a longer shelf life. These dead foods not only fill our stomachs, but contain ingredients that over time can be detrimental to our health. These include, artificial preservatives, flavorings, trans fats and hydrogenated oils, processed sugar or artificial sweeteners, and many other fake ingredients as well. Is there any wonder why cancer, diabetes and other life altering diseases are a epidemic proportions.

Lets take a look at just a small sampling of ingredients commonly used in to boxed, canned or package foods.

Sodium nitrites/sodium nitrates: These preservatives are used in processed meats like hot dogs, bologna, ham, bacon, and sausage, etc. to enhances flavor and stabilize color. They have been shown to contribute to some forms of cancer, with a large emphasis on pancreatic cancer.

MSG (Monosodium Glutamate): MSG, also known as "hydrolyzed protein" "yeast extract" or even "natural flavors" is not a preservative, it's only purpose is to enhances the taste of food so that it is more appealing and addicting to the consumer. Yet it is an excitotoxin that over stimulates nerve cells until they are damaged or killed. MSG has been linked to brain cancer and seizures.

Aspartame (Nutra-Sweet and Equal): Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that entered into the food supply in the early 1980s. Its use in diet sodas and other diet products accounts for 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. It too is an excitotoxin.

Sucralose (Splenda): Sucralose is another artificial sweetener used in many boxed and canned products today. It is hyped as "natural" because it is made from sugar, but it is not really natural at all. This synthetic chemical consists of two molecules of sugar (sucrose) and three molecules of chlorine. Some experts believe that this "so called sugar substitute" more closely resembles the chemical composition of pesticide than it does sugar.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: A substitute for sugar, high fructose corn syrup is considered by some to be even more detrimental to our health. The fructose however, in HFCS is metabolized differently by the body. Fructose, does not enhance leptin production, a hormone that regulates appetite and fat storage and it doesn't suppress another hormone, ghrelin that helps regulate food intake. Hunger normally declines after eating carbohydrates made up of glucose. Not so, with high fructose corn syrup. For this reason, eating it may also contribute to the over consumption of calories.

Limiting these as well as other artificial ingredients may not be easy, but well worth the effort. Eating a clean diet of fresh organic fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds goes a long way in turning around are health.

Are you worth it?