Bad Chemicals In Foods - Toxic Food Additives (No.5)

No. 1)  Major toxic food additives
No. 2)  What "catches" on food labels to watch out for
No. 3)  What food labels says - (1) Nutrition Facts   (2) Ingredients
No. 4)  Cancer Testing

Now we know many of these toxic food additives make us sick, so I'll focus on how to avoid the bad chemicals in foods this time. You'll check back blog No. 1 and No. 3 for which food additives to avoid.
The best bet is "get fresh wholesome foods and cook at home". You can skip reading the label part :) 
Not only you can have delicious and healthier foods, but also you can save your $.


Tip 1 Read labels.

You heard me so many times by now (lol), but it's really important!! Don't be fooled by catchy advertisement and complicated names. If you can’t say it or spell it, don’t eat it!! This is a sure way to avoid the toxins :) Check No. 2 and No. 3 for what to look for and how to read them. You need to read your food labels carefully and check them against the lists I provided for you. 

The worst offenders: Aspartame, Blue No.1 Dye, BHA, Olestra, Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, sodium nitrate, and propyl gallate. 

Tip 2 Go farmer's market. 

Most of the food in your grocery store comes from far places. Because of that, preservatives are added to last longer. Many processed meats, such as hot dogs and polish sausages, have a preservative called nitrate. This helps with the meat’s red color and preserves its flavor. But studies have linked nitrates to cancer. To avoid preservatives, buy food that isn’t meant to be stored. That means you’ll only have a few days or so to consume them. You can do this by shopping at a butcher’s who gets his meat from inside your state. Or go to a farmer’s market to buy fresh vegetables and fruits grown locally. If you want them for later you can pickle them yourself at home. We lived for centuries without preservatives - we can do without them now.

Tip 3       Stay in the grocery suburbs.
When you shop at the supermarket, stay in the grocery suburbs – the outskirts of the center of the store. You’ll find fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products. These foods will be less likely to contain toxic food additives.


Tip 4       Eat home cooked meals.
Most of us enjoy fast foods or ready-to-eat packaged foods. It is the easiest and convenient way to prepare a meal. But eating out leads to more processed foods and more processed foods leads to more toxic food additives. But if you just follow tips like cutting up veggies in advance, using slow cookers to cook while you’re gone and buying meat and putting it into daily use bags and sticking it in the freezer, you can save time on meal preparation and eat real food without added toxins. Start slow for you busy bodies. Home cooking recipes usually contain real food. Try one day a week with nothing but real food. If it gets easy then jump to two. Pretty soon you’ll eat home cooked meals every day.

Tip 5     Don’t Swallow Your Nutrients. 

Vitamins became the rage in the 1970s and many people still swallow their nutrients. But vitamins can also contain unnatural substances such as Aristolochic acid, which the FDA issued a warning about. It has been associated with permanent kidney damage. Get your nutrients through real food. Experts say there is no research to prove that vitamins are helpful to your health.

Tip 6    Wash Your Produce. 
Many fresh vegetables and fruits, no matter how fresh and natural they look, often have residues of pesticides on them. Foods to be watch out for include grapes, celery, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage and green beans. Fruits like apples and pears are coated with paraffin wax to make them look shiny and delicious. Not to mention the fact that the food you are about to eat has been handled by produce clerks, shippers, pickers and other shoppers. E. Coli, Listeria, and Salmonella can live on fruits and vegetables whether they are organic or not. So wash them by gently rubbing them under cold running water without soap.

You don't need to study chemicals to avoid bad chemicals in foods. Just pay a little more attention to what you eat. If you follow these tips, you will avoid some of the toxic food additives. But you’ve already taken the first step - you’ve gotten educated. Now the rest is up to you :)