I am always amazed at what is classified as food. Listed are some common packaged “food” ingredients. Try and see if you can guess what the “food” is and then check your answers the bottom.
1. water, soybean oil, sugar vinegar, food starch-modified, salt, cellulose gel (microcrystalline cellulose), mustard flour, egg white, artificial color, sodium casinate, xantham gum, cellulose gum, spice, paprika, natural flavor, beta carotene (color)
What the heck is natural flavor? It was natural why is it added? Modified food starch? What does that mean anyway?
2.enriched macaroni, dried cheddar cheese, corn starch, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, dried tomato, salt, buttermilk, sugar, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and other natural flavors, dried onion, dried corn syrup, disodium phosphate, dried garlic, sodium caseinate, citric acid, dipotassium phosphate, FD&C yellow #5 and other artificial color, sodium sulfite and BHA
Enriched with what? Hydrolized, huh? Lots of other natural flavors, wonder what those are anyway especially since there seems to a number of things that go by that name? Yellow #5? What in the world is that?
3. rolled oats with oat bran, rolled whole wheat, brown sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean and/or cottonseed oil), non-fat milk, dried unsweetened coconut, oat bran, honey, corn syrup, raisins, crisp rice (rice, sugar, salt, malt), brown sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean and/or cottonseed), corn syrup solids, glycerin, high fructose corn syrup, almonds, raisin juice concentrate, sorbitol, salt, cinnamon extractives, BHA, citric acid
How do you not know what kind of oil, and/or? How many types of sugar or items that contain sugar are listed?!?!
4. whole grain wheat flour, unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrite (vit B1), riboflavin (vit B2), folic acid), soybean oil, sugar, cornstarch, malt syrup (from barley and corn), salt, malodextrin, invert sugar, monoglycerides, monosodium glutamate (flavor enhancer), leavening (calcium phosphate and/or baking soda), spices (includes basil and paprika), garlic powder, tomato powder, sun dries tomatoes, onion powder, dried green and red bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, artificial color(contains red 40, yellow 5, blue 1), disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate (flavor enhancers), natural and artificial flavor, sulfur dioxide to preserve freshness
Monosodium glutamate is not a flavor enhancer, it is a known neurotoxin!!! Flavor enhancer, hmmm??? If you have to add vitamins what was it to begin with? Do you really absorb vitamins this way?
5. milled corn, sugar, malt flavoring, high fructose corn syrup, salt, sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid (vit.c ), niacinamide, iron, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vit. b6), calcium pantothenate, riboflavin (vit. b 2), thiamine hydrochloride (vit. b1), vitamin a palimate, folic acid, BHT (preservative), vit. b12 and vit. d.
Sugar, additives, so-called vitamins but who know where and how they got there?
I could go on forever listing so-called foods and there ingredients but honestly my head is spinning! Please just take the time to read a few labels and ask a few questions. Maybe switch to a brand that you don’t have to take a breath while reading the list of ingredients.
1. Miracle Whip
2. Mac and Cheese Hamburger Helper
3. Quaker Chewy Granola Bars- Raisin and Cinnamon
4. Wheat Thins, sun-dried tomato and basil
5. Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes
The first three “food” list were taken out of a cookbook titled; “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon. The book is a rather advanced holistic nutrition cookbook but it really gets back to the basics of eating real foods. It is a great book to have around to really learn about real foods and get some new ideas. You certainly don’t have to use it every day but from time to time or for special occasions.
P.S. The spell check on this was a nightmare. The computer does not know what this stuff is either!
Amy McCae 