Most of these are old news for me, but still worth noting. What's sad is when a food additive is scientifically determined to be dangerous to ingest and yet its still allowed anyhow.
What's really in the food? The A to Z of the food industry's most evil ingredients
A story about Skippy recall.
I haven't eaten Skippy in ages since I started avoided hydrogenated oils in foods. I think the "natural" version is a move in a better direction, but salt is still added, when it doesn't need to be.
Good information here about three foods that increase the cancer risk. I've known about the sodium nitrate - pancreatic cancer risk for awhile, and that one is included in the bunch. Hydrogenated oil is also up there as well.
Read more...Another article on the move of some fast food places towards more natural options. Healthy fast food is always a good thing, considering how much hyrdogenated garbage is generally available at these places.
Read more...Wendy's is going to launch a new natural-cut fries with sea salt, which I think is frankly a move in the right direction. I'm sure there will probably still be something troubling about it, like the preservatives, artificial flavors, and whatever oil they use to cook it with (and the age/amount of re-usage of those oils) but all the same, I think this could be a good thing.
Problem is also the comment about "has 0 grams trans fat per serving." When I see this, I'm wary, because they are using FDA-approved lingo to say that the product may or may not have hydrogenated oil in it, but since the hydrogenated oil serving is so small per serving, it gets to sneak under the radar as officially "trans fat free". I'd be much more impressed if these were advertised as being made "without hydrogenated anything" (I've seen words to this effect used on some natural foods.)
Anyhow, I hope this trend continues, and although I do know better, I might try these with a Frosty sometime...
An excellent, and surprisingly thorough, article on Shine listing out food additives to avoid in foods, including potential health side effects. Of course the list could have gone further: I would have included homogenized dairy products and any wheat products with processed, bleached flour, but all things considered, this was a good, comprehensive list.
Read more...
I used to eat tons of Campbells soup growing up, and now I don't touch the stuff. Why? Because, I've learned, I can't pick up a can of Campbell's soup without finding some sort of junk in it. Every single one of their soups has AT LEAST one of the following elements that I routinely AVOID when buying food:
It can be a frustrating endeavor to find taco/burrito wraps that don't have hydrogenated oil or lard. Mission brand is one that I see the most of, and every single variety that I check at the store has the word "hydrogenated" in it. The word hydrogenated, be it partially, fully, or just plain, is an instant indicator for me to put said product back on the shelf again.
What I've found is that H.E.B. (a big Texas grocery chain) has a bakery that makes wraps without hydrogenated oils, and this is impressive, considering that its out of the same bakery that sells hydrogenated pastries galore. But what's odd is that, only ONE of the local H.E.B's actually carries these, and the other two ones near me do NOT! I can't figure that one out.
So the wrap quest continues. Of course, I could just make my own, and it's tempting to just do this from now on and just skip the headache. The mini recipe is along the lines of:
The LA Times has an article on movie theater popcorn and how dreadful this stuff continues to be. I'm surprised, though, that there's no mention of hydrogenated oils, which I would have figured to be the biggest health culprit in the stuff (liquid margarine... yuck...) I stopped eating the stuff long ago - actually, I stopped going to the movies years ago too, and only rarely catch a film (I think the last film I saw was the 'Indiana Jones - Crystal Skull' film, which was just ridiculous and silly.)
The best bet for popcorn is to just invest in an air popper, then lightly salt/lightly butter it at home. Cheaper, healthier, and I think tastier than then microwaved versions.
I was in Walmart the other day and saw Centrum vitamins on the shelf. Just for kicks, I read over the nutritional content label, and was surprised to see that Centrum Silver contained not only FD&C Blue No. 2 Aluminum Lake, FD&C Red No. 40 Aluminum Lake, FD&C Yellow No. 6 Aluminum Lake but Hydrogenated Palm Oil?? Why would they make a multivitamin that contained unhealthy trans fats? That seems counter-intuitive: packing a vitamin with something that's bad for you.
A site called OrganizedWisdom had an article on healthy eating, and Chik Fil A made the list. I've enjoyed Chik Fil A a lot: the food is tasty, the customer service is exceptional (every time I've been there, the people are always extremely friendly) and the attention to extra details (like little containers of cheerios for toddlers, tons of condiments, etc.) make it a fast food place I've enjoyed visiting. In fact, the kids meals, unlike places like McDonalds, actually feature educational material like kid's books or computer software. You go to McD's, you'll get a toy that ties into a movie promotion (generally a PG-13 rated film, too...) I also really respect that Chik Fil A closes shop every Sunday. That's admirable.
The only thing about Chik Fil A, however, that could use changing, is the presence of MSG in some of the foods. I've noticed this on the menu for a few of the chicken sandwiches, and I'd really like to see this food additive taken out. Last I checked, the chicken sandwiches were without hydrogenated oil, which is great, and the lemonade was not made with high fructose corn syrup (another plus.) But I avoid MSG, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, etc, and it would be a good move for Chik Fil A to drop this from their food items.
I visited one of the Houston 'Whole Foods' stores recently, and this place is just remarkable. Almost every thing that I wish I could find at my local grocers (HEB, Walmart, Kroger, etc) I can find at Whole Food. Their selection of meats, including grass fed beef, is amazing. I sampled a chicken noodle soup and was just blown away, not only by how good it was, but that I could find a tasty chicken noodle soup without hydrogenated oils, msg, hydrolized additives, preservatives or nitrates (take note, Campbells... and even your supposedly "natural" soups still have "yeast extract".... the same thing as MSG. Take out ALL the MSG and I'll start buying your soups again.)
