Avoiding Food Chemicals

 

In the December 2013 issue of Reproductive Toxicology, a study, Data gaps in toxicity testing of chemicals allowed in food in the United States, was published. After extensive research into what manufacturers add to our food, the researchers discovered that about one-thousand additives are in the food supply without the FDA's knowledge. For the eight-thousand additives that the FDA approves, fewer than thirty-eight percent of them have a published feeding study – comprising the basic toxicology test. For direct additives, added intentionally to food, only 21.6 percent of the almost four-thousand additives have undergone the feeding studies necessary for scientists to estimate a safe level of exposure, and the FDA databases contain reproductive or developmental toxicity data for only 6.7 percent. A highlight of the findings was that, “In practice, almost eighty percent of chemical additives being intentionally added to the food supply lack the relevant information needed to estimate the amount that consumers can safely eat in the FDA's own database, and that ninety-three percent lack reproductive or developmental toxicity data – although the FDA requires feeding toxicology data for these chemicals.” To put this in layman's terms, food chemicals are dangerous.

 

On the website foodkills.org, it is noted that, “There are over fourteen-thousand man-made chemicals added to the American food supply today.” If you are buying fresh organic produce and preparing meals at home, you are minimizing your overall exposure to these chemicals lurking in the food supply. A new study published in the July 2014 journal Environmental Research, Reduction in urinary organophosphate pesticide metabolites in adults after a week-long organic diet, found that eating an organic diet for a week can decrease pesticide levels, especially of organophosphates, by up to ninety percent in adults. These phosphates are linked to many cancers and chronic conditions. During pregnancy, organophosphates are known to get into the amniotic fluid and are then passed to the infant, leading to childhood cancers. The best way to avoid these chemicals, as this study clearly shows us, is to eat organic and avoid conventional, processed foods. This mandates us to eliminate most comfort foods.

 

To effectively remove chemicals from our life, we have to avoid the following items:

• Refined sugars and any artificial, chemical sweeteners. This includes corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, aspartame, amino sweet, glucose syrup, Splenda, and any other type of refined sweetener. The only sweetness in our lives should come from fruits, our significant others, and keeping our children happy.

• Partially-hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils and trans-fatty oils. Any type of oil cooked at a high temperature, including in sauteed foods, becomes trans-fatty, even extra virgin olive oil. One of the most common myths here is that cooking with olive oil is the most beneficial to our health. But, what is true is that when you cook these oils over 150 degrees Fahrenheit, they become rancid and equivalent to trans-fats. It is best, and advisable, not to use any oils, cooked or raw, with the exception of organic virgin unrefined coconut oil used sparingly.

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium benzoate, other harmful preservatives, and chemical flavor enhancers. These are also referred to as enhanced flavoring agents and they are so poisonous they can be deadly in high doses.

• Food coloring and artificial dyes.

• Bleached flours and refined flours.

• All types of meat, be it mammal, bird, fish, reptile, or amphibian. When heated, meat produces carcinogenic chemicals known as heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

• Dairy products including whey, casein, ice cream, creamer, yogurt, butter, milk, or cheese. These items are often contaminated with the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH).

• Eggs and egg products. In addition to heterocyclic amines, eggs contain arachadonic acid and the mammalian molecule Neu5Gc.

• Sodas and colas. They are loaded with coloring agents, genetically-modified sweeteners, and phosphoric acid.

 

When you choose to eat processed, or animal-based foods such as these listed above, you degrade your health and set the pace towards illness, even if it takes years for symptoms to show. When taking into consideration that they are also patterns that can be difficult to break, eating sugary, salty, oily, and fast and junk foods can safely be labeled as addictions. When you eat these things, you are not feeding your body nutrients, you are feeding addictions. You are nourishing unwanted microorganisms. Just as heroin, cocaine, and prescription drugs alter body chemistry and brain function, so do toxic foods. By improving your diet, your health also improves. You become much happier, and gradually shift to a healthier overall lifestyle. To successfully cleanse unwanted emotions, you must permanently eliminate these foods.