Labels, Labels, Labels

     One of the most common aspects you hear about being health conscious, is reading the labels on what you're eating. And if you're the casual American, you'll think "Egh, I don't really want to" or "I don't care to" or you plain just don't do it because it's a chore to you, or your lack of interest on the subject. Everybody knows this feeling I'm talking about; it's not one I can explain in words well. Labels though, why are people telling you all the time to read them all? Well, for one, it's on your food, the stuff you eat and consume. I mean, that's a pretty good reason right? Well, that's a very baseline reason - the common sense reason, if you will. There are more serious reasons that you should be aware of; like the one's that they would rather you not to know. Do I have your attention yet?

     Companies are forced by the FDA to provide labels about what's in their products. For example, when you eat cereal, you can look on the side of the box and look at the ingredients of the cereal. These ingredients are put in descending order of how much of that ingredient is in that product. If it's the first ingredient, then it's the most abundant ingredient and vice versa for the last ingredient. A lot of times, when people try and be 'health conscious', they'll look at the ingredients and won't be able to pronounce or know what a lot of them are; so they drop the subject and continue consuming it. That's where a lot of people go wrong! Don't people realize, that if you can't pronounce or are knowledgeable about what they're reading, it should send up red flags?! Or at least make you research what that item is. This should concern people to a high degree. Some people figure it's above what they should know, so they don't worry about it. That's not true, you should always know what you're consuming, or at least have an idea.

     These foreign items you can't read are more than likely Genetically Modified or commonly known as GMO's. The original, natural food has been tampered with in some way; maybe added to, taken from, or has chemicals in it. One of the most common chemicals now, that's in absolutely everything is MSG, or Monosodium Glutamate. Another is Aspartame, that's in my mother's beloved Diet Pop. Chemicals like these are extremely hazardous and toxic to your body, and should be cautioned. Personally, they should be banned. They have no benefits to them, and do nothing but harm your body in a multitude of ways (In which I will cover in their own posts).

     Companies definitely have "tricks of the Trade" however, and they can make their food seem harmless. One of these is the distribution of sugar between the ingredients. Sugar has a million different names, and tons of different compositions. A few are Sucrose (Table Sugar), Fructose (Fruit/Honey), and Dextrose (Corn Sugar/Grape Sugar). Some ingredients are High Fructose Corn Syrup, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup, Refined Cane Sugar, Saccharine, Aspartame, to name just a few. Companies will add ingredients that have all have sugar in them; so "Sugar" isn't the first one on the ingredient label. A lot of times, they will put exotic or 'healthy' extracts, so they can put it on the face label and make their product seem beneficial to you. The truth is these are at the end of the list, meaning they have little to none of the ingredient. You're not going to benefit even a little bit from such a minuscule amount. For examples, Tocopherols, or Vitamin E, which is known to be powerful antioxidant is added to a lot of things. The front of the box will say "With Powerful antioxidants!" and people will flock to it, not knowing it's just a ploy. These 'better foods' are like a padding for the real hurt that's included in your morning breakfast. Companies will also 'hide' the bad ingredients, most of the time because people are uneducated about what they are. Nobody's going to see "Monosodium Glutamate" and think "Holy crap! I'm not going to eat this!!", they're going to say it's another chemical put in, and think nothing of it.

     A lot of chemicals put into food are preservatives, dyes, and hormones that are lethally toxic to your health. If people left the food alone, and in it's natural form, we wouldn't have to do anything to it, and we would get all the nutrients we need. On top of that, we wouldn't have all the horrible side-effects, health problems, and epidemics that exist now. Plus once more, eating right actually cures a lot of things. Why don't we do this? Because companies like Monsanto want to keep producing the addictive products that people consume daily, and making that cha-ching. People like them are taking the 'American Dream' and abusing it to the point where it shoves people in the ground. They are the makers of the dreaded "Aspartame" that's in Diet Pops and other items as a synthetic sweetener. All of these different chemicals and synthetic materials are incredibly toxic and cause such serious effects on your body. I could go on for years about how bad these chemicals and fake nutrients are! It really grinds my health nut gears.

   
     In future posts, I will explain these different chemicals, items on the labels like, Trans fats and Monounsaturated fats for example. I don't want to cram everything into one post, that's pointless, and my followers (if I have any) won't get anything from it.

     Read the labels that's on the food you consume, be educated about what you're reading,  and be aware of what is really going on in the world. Not everyone is out to do good, for everyone's benefit. Greed is a powerful force, and one that is hard to overcome. Don't be fooled by another's greed, spoil their mission, and make decisions for your own behalf. Don't be a sheep that follows the wolves, be a wolf that follows it's instincts.

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian