Cutting Chemicals Isn't Just for the Kids.

8/29/2014

I recently read a blog post from Food Babe about her campaign to expose the ingredients in a popular Autumn/Fall beverage. Her contention was that the drink in question, A Spiced Pumpkin Latte was full of everything but surprise ... pumpkin! Furthermore, it contained cancer causing chemicals in it's flavorings.

This got me thinking about what us adults consume on a daily basis. Starbucks and their lattes are clearly marketed towards adults and although we all don't go around drinking Starbucks everyday we do consume an alarmingly high percentage of our foods from fast food convenient outlets or from pre-packaged goods.

So, have you ever thought what this could be doing to you? For instance, have you ever woke up one morning after a very sound sleep but felt like you had the hangover headache from hell? Feeling a little nauseous as well? Think back to the night before, you didn't consume one drop of alcohol, but you did get stuck into the lollies and chocolate in front of the tv after the kids were finally put to bed. All those chemically laden, colored goodies, swimming around in the blood stream aren't going to be consumed quietly.

This happens to children too when they consume too many sweets, but it accumulates more in their little bodies, so you can imagine why it is they are so grumpy and sick feeling.

What about when you grab that sneaky burger in the drive-thru on the way home from work?

Well according to this blog post 9 Scary-Sounding Chemicals Lurking in Your Fast Food there are many chemicals in your favorite fast foods that can cause reactions in adults that include (but not limited to) asthma, vomiting and diarrhea ... delicious!

Many foods that have a lot of additives and preservatives are often accompanied by high levels of sugar and salt as well. For example a jar of pre-made pasta sauce can easily have 1/2 a cup of salt. Furthermore it's often just a tomato paste (prepared and imported from an obscure overseas factory) mixed with water, a little dried herbs and dried garlic powder. No fresh herbs or whole tomatoes here and certainly not the best for your heart health.

As an alternative make you own from a jar of Passata mixed with your own fresh herbs and garlic, quick, convenient and most importantly ...yum!

4 Comments

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Violeta

11/25/2014 07:35:14

Oh - I think us grownups are every bit as susceptible to chemicals, particularly since we are more likely to be swayed by other claims such as, "low fat", and "light". It takes a lot of vigilance to avoid them.

I'm currently in the process of inventing something that's a replacement for the one item I truly object to in my pantry: chicken salt. It's woefully bad for you, it's not what you call "good food" (and we're serious about good food in this family), but it's my son's weakness. I had a look at the contents the other day and... HOLY MOLEY! It's one item I didn't check the ingredients of, and now I have to deal with it. Fun times. ;)

Rebecca

2/4/2015 14:32:43

Hi Violeta

Thanks for your comments. Did you ever nail that replacement for chicken salt? I would like to make my own onion salt. That is the one that I am addicted to when it comes to cooking. I add it to everything!

Simão Lagoá link

11/26/2014 03:20:10

I´ve come across your website sometime ago through my partner who is a big proponent of your philosophy. We have become little kids, ignorant and gullible in what concerns what we ingest. It is therefore no wonder our kids do what their parents do! This needs to be more spread out, as with advancements in the technology seem to be inversely proportional to food quality these days.

The food industry has become more saturated with low cal / fat / sweeteners than ever before, yet we as people are fatter than ever before. It makes no sense. Good post, if I may suggest, how about teaching people to read food labels and learning what ingredients and elements (preservatives and additives) to avoid at all costs?

Our generation and the previous one grew up on grandma made sweets and foods, but it was all natural! We have never had the level of toxicity found in food today, we need to start turning down all this poison we pay so much for.

Incredibly enough, it´s become more expensive today to buy organic / natural food than it is to buy a processed version full of chemicals.

2/4/2015 14:38:40

I couldn't agree more with you on all the points that you raise Simao. If you go to the Get Educated tab on the homepage there is some information there on reading labels. I also go into the effects of the preservatives and flavours and which ones to avoid. This is also done in more detail in my cookbook. Other than buying from myself I find the best advice for foods to buy and cook is to go back to basics, think about how people created flavour in their very basic foods before the onset of supermarkets and try and copy this. We have tried to buy organic only in the past but my family budget doesn't allow it. This year I'm attempting to grow my own. It's an experiment, but one worth trying!