The Top 7 Ingredients You Should Avoid on a Food Label

Did you know that the healthy food you are eating might not be as healthy as you thought? There are ingredients that go into making food that can a negative effect on our overall health in a small but gradual way. Some ingredients can cause things such as systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, arthritis, or psoriasis. Ingredients like, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, food coloring, and much more. In today’s article I am going to tell you all about what ingredients you need to AVOID! Then I will share healthy alternatives to help you make the changes necessary to optimize your health this new year.

The Top 7 Ingredients You Should Avoid On a Food Label

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup: One of the biggest driving factors of obesity, fatty liver disease, diabetes, and leaky gut. High fructose corn syrup can be mostly found in sodas, candies, some yogurts, salad dressings & other condiments, breads, canned fruit, frozen pizzas, frozen tv dinners, juices, fast food, jellies, preserves, ice cream, syrups, and much more. HFCS is also associated with causing ADHD in young children.

2. Processed Vegetable Oils: Vegetable oils such as canola, safflower, sunflower, soybean, and peanut oil. When these oils are heated they become oxidized which leads to systemic inflammation, and even insulin resistance (diabetes). You can find these in various foods like, trail mixes, granola bars, protein bars, salad dressings, and much more. (pictures of products)

3. Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils: Better known as trans-fats, have been shown to harm the heart. Specifically targeting your LDL cholesterol, and if your LDL cholesterol is to high it can lead to plaque buildup in your arteries. You can find these types of oils in margarine, fried foods, baked goods, coffee creamers, crackers, pizza dough, & vegetable shortening. This is one of the hidden killers. Most of the time you won’t be able to recognize this on the ingredient label. When looking for these types of oils, look at the saturated fat or trans-fat if it is not listed in the ingredient label.

4. Preservatives: Research has shown that preservatives such nitrates, benzoates, sulfites, sorbates, parabens, formaldehyde, BHT, BHA, and many more can cause health issues such as hyper sensitivity, brain fog, anxiety, allergies, asthma, ADHD, and even cancer. Preservatives can cause inflammation in the gut which can cause damage to our gut flora makes up our microbiome. If your microbiome is compromised it can cause leaky gut.

5. Artificial Sweeteners: Sweeteners like Splenda, sweet n’ low, are made up of aspartame. Having these artificial sweeteners in your diet can cause side effects such as increased appetite, headache, depression, and also insulin resistance. You will generally find artificial sweeteners in diet sodas, juices, baked goods, candy, canned foods, energy drinks, jellies and jams, also dairy products.

6. Sneaky Sugars: Sugar alcohols such as mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, aspartame, erythritol, glycerol, lactitol, and maltitol. When consumed in excess, sugar alcohol can cause bloating, inflammation in the liver, and neurological issues such as dementia. You will find these in some protein bars, chewing gums, sodas, cookies, and candies.

7. Wheat (gluten): This is one of the most inflammatory ingredients you can put into your body. When consumed it can cause symptoms such as fatigue, migraines, bloating, constipation, brain fog, long term gut damage, skin rashes, and much more. Gluten has been shown to be one of the leading causes of weight gain in recent years. You will find gluten in many forms, such as, Wheat flour, flour, barley, & rye. You will find these ingredients in products such as pasta, bread, cereal, crackers, beer, gravy, cookies, doughnuts, baked goods, or any products that contains wheat flour.

How Can I Avoid These Harmful Ingredients?

1. All Organic Ingredients: When trying to find healthy alternatives to some of your favorite foods it is best to look for organic products. To be sure it is certified organic you are going to want to read the ingredient label on the back. Look for a short ingredient label and also a list that is all organic ingredients such as.

2. Have Natural Sweeteners: Natural sweeteners are foods such as honey, stevia, and monk fruit. These natural sweeteners will not have a negative impact on your health unless consumed in excess amounts.

3. Gluten Free: There are so many products out now that say they are gluten free. Make sure you pay attention to the label, because it can sometimes be made in the same factory that other gluten containing products are produced. Examples of factories to not cross contaminate with are listed down below. So when reading the label, you want to make sure it is certified gluten free.

a. Red Mills

b. Veggie pasta

c. Lara bars

How These Ingredients Can Lead to Disease?

When we consume these harmful ingredients, we don’t have any immediate symptoms, but over time we can begin to see changes in our body. Some changes you might see is the rise in blood pressure, excess body weight, or you can’t seem to focus like you used to. Preservatives cause damage that go unnoticed and then creates a huge window for disease to take control of your health. The only way for you to the notice the effects these preservatives have on your body, eliminate them for 1 month. When you decide to re-introduce them analyze how they make you feel.

· A study done by the American institute for Cancer research found an Increased cancer risk. A five-year study of over 100,000 people found that every 10 percent increase in consumption of ultra-processed food was associated with a 12 percent higher risk for cancer.

· A 2017 study published in the journal Stroke concluded that “higher cumulative intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks were associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke, all-cause dementia and Alzheimer’s disease-dementia. (Link)

· Studies show that high fructose corn syrup increases your appetite and it promotes obesity more than regular sugar. “High fructose corn syrup also contributes to diabetes, inflammation, high triglycerides, and something we call non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,” says Dr. Hyman. He says it increases all the fat in the liver which now affects over 90 million Americans. (Link)

Summary

As you can see, it’s not all about the food we eat, but the ingredients that go into making the food. Now you know the top 7 ingredients you should watch out for. The take away for today’s article is to read the label, stick to organic ingredients, and do the best you can to stay on the out skirts of the grocery store where all of the fresh produce is.