Food Additives That Cause Chronic Disease

(Article first published as Top Food Additives You Really Need to Avoid on Technorati.)

Read Nutrition Labels to Avoid Unhealthy Additives

When was the last time you closely looked at the ingredients inside of your favorite packaged food? The vast majority of foods bought at your local grocery store are the creation of food chemists, not Mother Nature. Most include a long list of synthetic chemicals and modified food components that are designed to enhance shelf life and provide flavorings that appeal to your sense of taste for sweetness, salt and fat.

The vast majorities of processed foods are packed with calories and have been stripped of any nutrients that we require to maintain optimal health. Over the course of years and decades, the lack of vitamins and minerals from natural foods slowly leads to chronic disease conditions such as diabetes, cancer, dementia and heart disease. The artificial chemical compounds in processed foods (all those items in the ingredients lists with names you can’t pronounce) become packed away in your fat tissue and lead to systemic inflammation and depleted antioxidant resources.

Food Additives Lead to Chronic Illness

There are more than 3,000 food additives approved for use in the US and considered ‘Generally Regarded as Safe’ (GRAS) by the FDA. More than 90% of the typical diet is composed of processed foods, meaning that very little food is eaten in its natural form providing nutrients that are properly absorbed by the body.

Food additives include preservatives, sweeteners, artificial colors and flavors as well as flavor enhancers, all designed to provide maximum calories with very little nutrition. The publication Food Matters lists the top food additives you must avoid to preserve your health.

Aspartame Causes Neural Excitation and Brain Aging

Artificial Sweeteners: Most commonly found in diet or sugar-free drinks, gum, baked goods and even toothpaste, foods that contain aspartame have been shown to contribute to brain aging. Aspartame is neurotoxic and causes loss of memory and difficulty learning new tasks. Researchers believe it may be linked to increased incidence of brain tumors and diseases like lymphoma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: High Fructose Corn Syrup has been infused into most processed foods since its inception in the early 1970’s. Extensive scientific research has linked the sweetener to increased levels of obesity due to the way fructose is metabolized in the body and lipid abnormalities that cause diabetes and increased risk of heart disease.

MSG is Commonly Listed as a Natural Flavoring

Monosodium Glutamate: MSG is used in many processed foods as a flavor enhancer. It is known to cause neural excitation as it overloads neurons through increased electrical stimulation. The most common side effects are depression, disorientation, eye damage, fatigue and headache. MSG is rarely listed by its common name, and frequently hides as a ‘natural flavoring’. It is far from being natural and should be avoided.

Trans and Hydrogenated Fats: Trans fats have been chemically altered through hydrogenation or cooking at high heat. These synthetic fat molecules are unnatural and cause problems at the cellular level when being used as a component for cell wall synthesis. The most common foods are deep fried, processed and commercially baked products. They are known to increase the risk of death from a heart attack by 25%.

Health minded individuals are experts at deciphering food nutrition labels. The best way to avoid these dangerous additives is to eat nothing that has more than one ingredient on the label, or has no label at all (fruits, vegetables and minimally cooked meats). Reading nutrition labels to avoid a wide array of unnatural food additives will lower your risk of chronic illness and extend your natural lifespan.

Food Mislabeling Leads to Obesity

(Article first published as Are Nutrition Labels the Real Reason You Can’t Lose Weight? on Technorati.)

Manufacturers Mislead Consumers with Food Labels

We all pick up food items in the grocery store and quickly glance at the nutrition label to see how many calories are in our favorite meal. Some make it down to the fine print to check out the carbs, sugar, fats and sodium. The problem is most people don’t make the connection between the misleading serving sizes listed.

Manufacturers know that their customers examine the required labels before they make a purchase, and do a good job to make you think you can eat more and consume fewer calories. Even the portion size on the nutrition label can influence whether you view the product as fattening. And we all know this has a direct impact on how much you eat and your ability to lose weight.

Label Size Influences Caloric Perception

Study Confirms Food Labels Fool Dieters

It appears that people are easily misled when it comes to interpreting food labels, and will eat more of an item if they believe it is a small portion. Information from a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that the way a manufacturer listed the portion size on the label influenced how much a consumer would be likely to eat.

Researchers provided consumers with different food items and determined how much people would eat based on the food label. Large portions were intentionally labeled as small, and participants ate more and felt less guilt in their choices. The study authors called this ‘guiltless gluttony’. Similarly, when the large serving was labeled correctly, people ate less and experienced a higher level of guilt if they overate.

Manufacturers Use Food Labeling as a Marketing Gimmick

Food manufacturers have been slowly altering the portion sizes on many food products to intentionally fool the consumer. The result is the expanding American waistline and the problem we know as the obesity epidemic. People want to make the right food choices by selecting lower calorie fare with less sodium and no hydrogenated fats. Food selection becomes much more difficult when manufacturers use their marketing tricks so we purchase products that are unhealthy and laden with excess calories.

Be Vigilant When Grocery Shopping

Calculate the Calories for Your Real Serving Size

The key to winning the food labeling battle is to become an empowered consumer. Examine every label and scrutinize the serving size and calorie content. Do the math to determine the total calories in the serving that you will actually eat, not in the small serving size listed on the label. Most people will eat at least twice as much as listed for one serving, and feel the calories they consumed is the amount listed on the label for one serving. This type of miscalculation rapidly leads to weight gain and obesity.

Food manufacturers utilize focus groups to find ways to compel you to buy their products and eat more than you intend. Deceiving food label practices are just another way being used to drive sales and encourage over consumption. Read nutrition labels carefully, determine the actual calories in a real serving and use that information to your health and weight advantage.

Misleading Nutrition Labels Lead to Weight Loss Failure

(Article first published as Are Nutrition Labels the Real Reason You Can’t Lose Weight? on Technorati.)

We all pick up food items in the grocery store and quickly glance at the nutrition label to see how many calories are in our favorite meal. Some make it down to the fine print to check out the carbs, sugar, fats and sodium. The problem is most people don’t make the connection between the misleading serving sizes listed.

Manufacturers know that their customers examine the required labels before they make a purchase, and do a good job to make you think you can eat more and consume fewer calories. Even the portion size on the nutrition label can influence whether you view the product as fattening. And we all know this has a direct impact on how much you eat and your ability to lose weight.

Label Size Influences Caloric Perception

It appears that people are easily misled when it comes to interpreting food labels, and will eat more of an item if they believe it is a small portion. Information from a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that the way a manufacturer listed the portion size on the label influenced how much a consumer would be likely to eat.

Researchers provided consumers with different food items and determined how much people would eat based on the food label. Large portions were intentionally labeled as small, and participants ate more and felt less guilt in their choices. The study authors called this ‘guiltless gluttony’. Similarly, when the large serving was labeled correctly, people ate less and experienced a higher level of guilt if they overate.

Manufacturers Use Food Labeling as a Marketing Gimmick

Food manufacturers have been slowly altering the portion sizes on many food products to intentionally fool the consumer. The result is the expanding American waistline and the problem we know as the obesity epidemic. People want to make the right food choices by selecting lower calorie fare with less sodium and no hydrogenated fats. Food selection becomes much more difficult when manufacturers use their marketing tricks so we purchase products that are unhealthy and laden with excess calories.

Be Vigilant When Grocery Shopping

The key to winning the food labeling battle is to become an empowered consumer. Examine every label and scrutinize the serving size and calorie content. Do the math to determine the total calories in the serving that you will actually eat, not in the small serving size listed on the label. Most people will eat at least twice as much as listed for one serving, and feel the calories they consumed is the amount listed on the label for one serving. This type of miscalculation rapidly leads to weight gain and obesity.

Food manufacturers utilize focus groups to find ways to compel you to buy their products and eat more than you intend. Deceiving food label practices are just another way being used to drive sales and encourage over consumption. Read nutrition labels carefully, determine the actual calories in a real serving and use that information to your health and weight advantage.