When it comes to eating healthy stop reading the nutrition label. That’s right, this Dietitian said it. Stop being persuaded by the clever food marketing buzzwords on the packages either. What you need to begin practicing instead is reading one thing only… the ingredient list.
Once you begin this practice your eyes will be opened to the reality that our food system is loaded with fake ingredients! We are advocates for REAL FOOD and for good reason. Fake ingredients are harmful to your health. Today we wanted to highlight some of the top offenders in food for you to avoid:
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Dr Mark Hyman’s article for the Huffington Post explains the biochemistry of HFCS. HFCS is a mixture of two sugars (fructose and glucose). It is cheap and not processed by the body the same way sucrose (table sugar) is. Table sugar is glucose and fructose in equal amounts. HFCS is also glucose and fructose but not in an equal amount, which means the chemical bond is unbound. This allows HFCS to be absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream, and the fructose goes straight to the liver where it begins the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol. The rapidly absorbed glucose spikes blood sugar. Both of these reactions lead to increased metabolic disturbances that drive increases in appetite, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and more.
Guess what? Your body can tell the difference between cane sugar and corn sugar. Sugar is not sugar! Do not believe the clever marketing by the corn industry that this stuff is safe. Think again. Millions of dollars have been spent on this clever marketing. Check out: Sweet Surprise.
Be careful of Agave Nectar too. It is marketed as a natural sweetener but it is 90% fructose which makes it similar to High Fructose Corn Syrup.
MSG
MSG stands for Monosodium Glutamate. MSG is a salt that has been chemically converted to act as a flavor enhancer. It is the world’s most widely used flavor enhancer and comes in just about anything packaged or canned. It is also very sneaky in that it comes with a LOT of different names. Use this as a guide to identifying it: Hidden Sources.
MSG has been shown to cause weight gain, cause brain damage, obesity, liver inflammation, depression, and fatigue.
Artificial Sweeteners
These sweeteners have nothing sweet about them. They are chemical formulations made in a laboratory created by some brilliant scientists. The body is smarter though and recognizes that these guys are toxins.
Artificial Sweeteners Include Aspartame (NutraSweet or Equal), Saccharin (Sweet’N Low), Sucralose (Splenda), and Aceslulfame-K (Sunett, Sweet One).
These sweeteners trick the brain into thinking that it is receiving calories. Studies have found that people often feel more hungry and weight gain can become a problem. These sweeteners have also been found to be addictive as they affect parts of the brain that deal with addiction. They have also been linked to cancers.
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