Food Additives & Chemicals
The evidence is compelling and conclusive that many food additives are poison.
It has been estimated that we consume about 10 pounds of food additives as preservatives, colors, bleaches, flavors, emulsifiers and stabilizers every year in the food we eat. This not only results in extra work for our body to remove them, but frequently trigger asthma attacks; skin rashes; respiratory disturbances; hyperactivity in children, and in some people, an abnormal sensitivity to prescribed medications, particularly aspirin
Russell Blaylock, MD, a neurosurgeon, has dedicated his life to educating the public on the dangers of food additives. His book Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills
It is therefore advisable to reduce your consumption of all products that contain artificial preservatives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, flavor enhancers, and all products that contain BHT, BHA, Benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, and brominated vegetable oil.
The fact is that more than one billion pounds of chemicals are added to the foods we Americans eat every year.
Chemicals are found in anything and everything you can think of.
These include:
- Colorings to intensify or modify existing colors.
- Dyes to enhance the appearance of certain foods.
- Preservatives to retard spoilage.
- The millions of pounds of pesticides sprayed on our produce each year.
The chemicals found in our water supply such as chlorine, fluoride, and industrial waste.
In other words, WE ARE VIRTUALLY DROWNING IN A SEA OF CHEMICALS!
The list of chemicals used is endless: stabilizers, thickening agents, emulsifying agents, plus a host of synthetic nutrients that are used to replace what was lost during the refining process.
Guess where all these “goodies” end up? That’s right my dear friends, you got it, right inside our bodies!
So then, how do you expect to have good health if you use your body as a toxic waste dump! Yes my friend’s, a TOXIC WASTE DUMP!
Yes!, that’s exactly what all these chemicals are TOXIC CHEMICALS! No matter if the FDA has approved them for human consumption or not.
It is in an absolute sham to read about the constant debate if a particular additive causes cancer or doesn’t cause cancer; it is absolutely irrelevant!
The fact remains that anything that is not a natural compound is foreign to the body, and your body does not want it!
The fact remains that these compounds do not belong in your body period! They belong in the real toxic waste sites.
Keep in mind, that, any chemical the body cannot use directly for energy, repair, maintenance or building, will need to be processed to be made usable or eliminated. This can be a challenge even for a person with normal toxic levels, all the more so for someone with a toxic overload.
It is for the fact that they are of purely man made origin that these compounds are so irritating to the body .
The FDA has banned some of these synthetic colors and flavors but too many of them remain on the loose.
Some of the well-known harmful food additives are:
- Benzoates. These preservatives include benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene). The benzoates can cause chronic skin problems and severe asthmatic reactions in adults. They’re found in bread, milk powder, potato powder, fat, oil, margarine, mayonnaise, jam, chocolate, soft drinks, and instant drink powders.
- BHA & BHT. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are antioxidants that retard rancidity in fats, oils, and oil-containing foods. Used in cereals, chewing gum, potato chips, and vegetable oil, they prevent the color, flavor, or texture changes that occur when foods are exposed to air. They are also used as fillers in vitamin and mineral supplements.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, consider BHA to be possibly carcinogenic to humans. Repeated studies agree that BHA and BHT increase the risk of cancer, accumulate in body tissue, cause liver enlargement, and retard cell development. Some studies show the same cancer causing possibilities for BHT.
BHT and BHA are totally unnecessary. To avoid them read the label. Because of the possibility that BHT and BHA might cause cancer, both should be phased out of our food supply. To play it safe, phase them out of your diet.
Artificial Food Colors: These include:
- FD&C Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine): A coal-tar derivative that is widely used as a food coloring. Reported negative reactions include itching, hives, nasal congestion, and/or headaches in sensitive individuals. Tartrazine is used in foods, beverages, drugs and cosmetics. It has been estimated that about 100 000 persons in the United States are sensitive to this substance. Symptoms of allergy include generalized urticaria, swelling, often of the face and lips, runny nose, and on occasion even life threatening asthma. Since tartrazine is found in a large number of products, tartrazine-sensitive individuals are advised to read labels and avoid food containing tartrazine
- Citrus Red No. 2: A known carcinogen that is still used on the skin of oranges.
- FD&C Green No. 3: A suspected allergen that produces malignant tumors when injected under the skin of rats. (Subcutaneous injection is no longer considered to be a valid cancer test, after a report by the Food and Nutrition Board.)
- FD&C Red No. 40: This color has been found to produce tumors in rats and is undergoing further study.
Artificial coloring is also associated with hyperactivity in children. Dosages only slightly higher than the national average intake of a mixture of eight colors have caused significant increases in hyperactivity.
According to Benjamin Feingold, M.D author of the best-selling book Why Your Child Is Hyperactive
On April 10 2008, Europe’s main consumer watchdog called for an EU-wide ban on six food colorings which a scientific study has linked to hyperactivity in children.
"It is unacceptable to leave on the market substances strongly suspected to increase hyperactivity in children while having no added value at all except coloring food," said Monique Goyens, head of the BEUC consumers association.
A study published in September in the British science review, The Lancet, found that a cocktail of artificial colors and the commonly-used preservative sodium benzoate are linked to hyperactivity in children.
The study, conducted by researchers at Southampton University in southern England, recruited 153 local three-year-olds and 144 children aged eight or nine.
The six food colorings in question are Tartrazine (EU reference E102), Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau 4R (E124) and Allura Red (E129).
Practical Tip: Reject food if it lists "flavor" on the label. You are only safe if the word "flavor" is preceded by "natural". No self respecting food manufacturer would risk saying "natural flavor" if it wasn’t so. The fines can be heavy! The ingredient labels are required by law and is the only concession made by the manufacturers to the uninformed consumer. The big food processors and manufacturers would never have even done this if the government had not have forced them! Remember, big business does not care about your health!
Being that the list of artificial chemicals is a long one, obviously not all of them can be mentioned in the space of this article.
For a more detailed list of food additives of all kinds, both toxic and non-toxic, click on:
www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-col2.html
www.sweetpoison.com/food-additives-to-avoid.html
Or read: A Consumers Dictionary of Food Additives by Ruth Winter.
Learn how to avoid harmful additives by reading:
The Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide by Elson M. Haas.
This is an easy read and excellent explanation of how to shop the healthy way. The book explains food additives, chemical contaminants, pesticides in our food, understanding food labels, pathogens, processed foods, comparison shopping and organically grown foods.
It also gives ideas for making nutritious school lunches so that your kids will eat healthy meals when away from home.
If you’re trying to eat healthy and want to start buying organic foods, this is an excellent book to buy to begin your journey.
Nitrite and Nitrate
Reduce your consumption of all foods that contain sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, (commonly found in salami, cured meats, frankfurters, and smoked lox). Nitrates are a proven cancer causer, and absolute poison for the body. It is a scientific fact that nitrates when combined with stomach fluid create a powerful carcinogen called nitrosamine.
There are available some natural brands of smoked lox smoked sausage and cold cuts that contain no nitrates. You must read the package label!
If you reside in the USA you can order organic sausage online from Diamond Organics, and organic smoked lox from: Vital Choice.
By the way, nitrates are by themselves lethal. If you were to ingest a cup of sodium nitrate you would die!
So how do we eat them and survive? It is only because they are used in minimal amounts. That still does not change the fact they are poison!
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Reduce your intake of all products that contain Monosodium Glutamate, more commonly known as MSG.
MSG is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. It is a flavor enhancer that does not have a distinct taste of its own, but can draw out the natural flavorings of other foods. MSG causes cravings that contribute directly to obesity and diabetes. Worse yet, it can damage your child¹s brain by effecting the development of the nervous system so that years later they may have learning and emotional difficulties (ADD/ADHD/Autism), and/or hormonal problems.
It is most commonly found in Chinese food, salad dressings, canned meat, canned fish, chips and pretzels. Fruit juice, Mexican food, Japanese food, baby formulas, and frozen dinners. There is much controversy on the safety status of this compound, as it has been known to cause allergic reactions in many people.
Click on http://www.holisticmed.com/msg/ to learn more about the safety status of MSG.
Sulfites
Reduce your intake of all products that contain sulfites.
Sulfites are sulfur- based preservatives that are used to keep food looking fresh and retard spoilage. They’re used on dried fruits and dried potato products such as mashed potato flakes. Sulfites are sometimes sprayed on raw shrimp while they’re still on the boat. A rash of bad experiences at salad bars, including deaths, led the FDA to clamp down about 10 years ago, forbidding sulfite spray on fresh fruits and vegetables sold or served raw. In addition, sulfites must be included on the ingredient list when used as preservatives in packaged or processed foods.
Sulfites have been implicated as allergens. Approximately 10 percent of people with asthma are sensitive to ingestion of sulfites, which induces asthma. Foods containing sulfur dioxide, as a preservative, should therefore be used with caution.
Although the FDA has banned the use of six sulfite preservatives in fresh fruits and vegetables, the ban still permits sulfites to be added to processed foods such as dried fruits, wines and beers.
Sulfites lurk in many popular foods and beverages, under the names of sulfur dioxide, sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, potassium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, potassium metabisulfite, and ammonium sulfite. They are typically found in dried fruits, wines, and grape juice. {Wine, bottled lemon and limejuices, and sulfur-dried fruits have the highest levels of sulfites}. You must read the package labels.
These are only a few of the thousands of food additives commonly added to our food. For a more complete listing, get a copy of FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper’s Guide to What’s Safe & What’s Not, a handy pocket sized book which classifies over 1000 commonly used food additives as seen above. In just seconds, the average person can find out if an additive in the food they’re buying is harmful. It’s clear, concise and easy to use.
If healthy eating is important to you and you don’t know if the food additives listed on the labels of the foods you buy are safe for you, you need this book. Make it your constant grocery shopping companion and you’ll never again wonder about the safety of the ingredients listed on the package.
Salt
Refined salt (Table Salt) is 99.9% sodium-chloride. It almost always contain additives, like 0.01% of Potassium-Iodide (added to the salt to avoid Iodine deficiency disease of thyroid gland), Sugar (added to stabilize Iodine and as anti-caking chemical), Aluminum silicate.
The Food and Drug Administration requires food grade salt labels to show all additives. Thus, you can check the salt container to determine if additives are present.
All food grade salt available in the U.S. must comply with the National Academy of Science’s Food Chemicals Codex Sodium Chloride Monograph (1996).
It specifies that salt may contain up to 2% of suitable food-grade anti-caking, free flowing, or conditioning agents. Included in the 2%, salt may contain up to 13-mg/kg sodium ferrocyanide (YPS, yellow prussiate of soda) or up to 25 mg/kg of green ferric ammonium citrate (seldom used),, either of which prevents caking in table salt.
Unrefined Sea Salt
As an alternative , use Unrefined Celtic Sea Salt
Sea salt contains many trace minerals that are vital for proper health, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium, chloride, sulfate, phosphate, and many other trace minerals.
Yes! natural salt is necessary for proper health! Sodium is one of the primary electrolytes in the body. All four cationic electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium) are available in unrefined salt, as are other vital minerals needed for optimal bodily functio
To learn more about the supreme health benefits of Celtic sea salt, click on http://curezone.com/foods/saltcure.asp.
Drugs, Alcohol & Caffeine
Drugs. We are a society that has become almost totally dependant on drugs, and have in effect become a “pill-popping” society. Take a walk down the first aid aisle of your local drug-mart, and you will find drug-based remedies for any kind of conceivable ailment. There are pills to put you to sleep, pills to help you get up in the morning, and anti-histamines to help you breath better. If you suspect that you have caught a cold, have no fear; you have many choices of remedies to choose from. The list goes on and on.
The only ones that benefit from all these drugs are the pharmaceutical companies who make billions every year marketing these so-called “remedies.”
The fact remains that drugs are chemicals that play havoc with your liver and therefore do not belong in your body period!
It is therefore important that all non-essential drugs be eliminated or reduced to an absolute minimum.
Natural remedies such as nutrients, herbs, and homeopathic medicines are many times just as effective and much safer than standard drugs.
To learn more about healing with natural medicines read:
The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Your comprehensive, user-friendly A-to-Z guide to treating more than 70 medical conditions–from arthritis to varicose veins, from cancer to heart disease by Michael T. Murray N.D.
Please note: It is absolutely vital to check with your doctor before discontinuing any medication.
Alcohol. Reduce your alcohol intake. Excessive alcohol consumption is a surefire way to harm your liver since alcohol puts great strain on the liver.
The liver can normally process about one once of alcohol per hour, which is equivalent to approximately 4 ounces of wine and 12 ounces of beer. If you consume more than this amount in one hour, your liver will have to work harder to filter out the excess alcohol.
Small amounts of alcohol should not be of any concern. There is even some evidence to suggest that small amounts of red wine can be beneficial.
Alcohol can also be very irritating to the intestinal tract, and as we will see, achieving and maintaining proper intestinal and digestive health is a very important step in the recovery process.
Note: If you were a heavy alcohol drinker and are working on restoring normal liver function, starting a Milk Thistle regimen can be very beneficial. Many studies have confirmed Milk Thistle’s unique abilities with regard to aiding in the correction of various different kinds of liver disorders.
Caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that is found in Coffee, Cola drinks, Tea and Chocolate. There has been much debate concerning the effects of caffeine on human health. When you drink a cup of coffee, the caffeine in it is absorbed almost immediately. The caffeine stimulates the brain, and blood flow is increased to the heart.
When used in moderation caffeine can be beneficial since it stimulates the various body functions, but ingesting too much caffeine will cause havoc in your system. In addition, Caffeine contains tannic acid, which increases the acidity in the gastrointestinal tract, therefore leading to increased inflammation and itching.
Common sense dictates that one or two cups of coffee per day will in most cases not do much harm, but overdoing it on coffee is a surefire way to ruin your health . [Of course if at all possible eliminate coffee altogether, but obviously for many people this is extremely difficult].
Find out the real truth about caffeine and how to kick the habit by reading:
Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America’s #1 Drug: by Stephen Cherniske.
Be aware, that, there is absolutely no difference between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee. Consumption of both of these coffee products should be reduced. This is due to the fact that (a), not all of the caffeine is removed in the process, and (b), the decaffeination process is usually achieved through toxic chemicals such as methylene chloride (an acknowledged carcinogen), which then leach back into the coffee.
As an alternative to standard coffee, try the many varieties of grain-based beverages that you can enjoy without reservation.
Natural Teas, such as Green tea, or Oolong tea has much lower caffeine content, and therefore should not be of any concern.
