the top five ingredients you avoid

Kristen, you really don't need to link the same article on five different threads. That feels spammy to me and I don't like it--it fragments discussion. If people want to talk about your link, that discussion will end up all over the place instead of all together where we can actually see what everyone is saying.

Kerrick wrote:
Kristen, you really don't need to link the same article on five different threads.

Sorry about that. Point taken.

My top five items to avoid are:
In no particular order, just one must be first and one must be last.
1. Hydrolyzed oils.
2. Artificial Sweetners
3. MSG
4. GMO products
5. Over processed items, I prefer as close to homegrown and natural as I can get.

My goal for 2010 is to raise at minimum 25% of all items that my household eats, and 100% of the tobacco that we smoke. You think food has additives, you should google what is in cigarettes, cigars, etc.

In addition to my garden, which is increasing rapidly, I raise my own free range chickens, and milk goats. We also hunt and fish. Occassionally we will raise a calf or pig, but not real often. My goats are bred to boer goats this year, and buck kids will add to the freezer.

I am also learning to make homemade soap and using more natural and healthier cleaners.
I am interested in learning ways to be less and less dependent on the commercial stores. And simply live with what I can produce right here.
Is there a substitute or way to make baking soda? I know we can make vinegar, and I am also looking into soap plants. Did you know that all legumes have saponins? Saponins are what makes suds.. now to put that together in some useful way for cleaning... hmm?

Why is MSG bad for you? I did some preliminary research online and came up with few results. My brother lives in a very health-conscious, vegan co-op in Berkeley and they actually have it as a flavor enhancer in their kitchen. Does it have detrimental affects on your health or is it just bad because you're adding false flavor to your food? Thanks.

MSG can cause headaches in certain people and it is frequently recommended to avoid it when you are pregnant.

I stayed away from it when I was first pregnant 22 years ago. (Oh, I am aging myself!) I remember being surprised at how many canned soups contained it.

You're right, Emma, a quick review of internet information seems inconclusive as to why and whether it is bad for you. It is a highly refined, engineered food. That and the anecdotal stories are enough for me to continue to avoid it all these years.

Here is a search on the dangers of MSG -

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=dangers+of+MSG&btnG=Google+Search

when i found out that my "so called" healthy diet of whole grains fruits and vegetables was killing me...in May..I have not only drastically changed my way of eating and what I eat but my way of thinking

it is better that I not recommend foods to anyone at this point as i'm still experimenting, however I am checking my blood sugar and blood pressure constantly and am at normal now

i suggest watching the film FATHEAD available from yoiur library and reading the book

Good Calorie Bad Calorie by Gary Taubes and making up your own mind, but i feel the information I have gotten from these two sourceds have changed my life

i also agree to stay away from fake industrialized food and stick with the real thing as much as possible

Hey everyone, I don't normally have time to post. I am working my own 3+ acre permaculture food forest SOLO without mechanical equipment. However, this is one subject I couldn't pass up.

What I avoid:

Fish - Like the plague. Mercury is only a small part of it. In areas were DDT has been used in the past (which is now allowed to be used again thanks to the World Health Organization) does show up in fish. Not to mention if you want to learn about mercury poisoning and its effects on people, watch the movie, "The Cove." WARNING - THE MOVIE IS VERY DEPRESSING.

HFCS - I can't begin to state how much I hate this product and what IMO has become of the US infrastructure because of it.

MSG - I know the debates going back and forth and free glutamate and MSG, etc. For me, here is 1 report that made it hands down to be avoided.

Prior to the 1970’s, MSG was routinely added to baby food before the practice was stopped following government suggestions. Commenting on this issue, Dr. Olney, at the Department of Psychiatry, Washington University states,

According to an NAS (National Academy of Science) Subcommittee, in considering the safety of added MSG in baby foods, one must remember that the levels added are small - not higher than 0.6 g%.... This means that one small jar of baby food (130 g) would provide about 0.78 g of MSG or 0.13 g/kg of body weight for a human infant weighing 6 kg. Based on our finding that an oral dose of 1 g/kg in the primate or 0.5 g/kg in the mouse is sufficient to destroy hypothalamic neurons, this leaves a 4 to 8 fold margin of safety for a human infant eating one jar, a 2 to 4 fold margin if two jars are eaten and so forth. This is substantially less than the 100-fold margin generally recommended to accommodate contingencies such as species or individual differences in susceptibility to the mechanism of a toxic compound.

In support of their assumption that human infants are invulnerable to MSG-induced brain damage, the NAS Subcommittee pointed to absence of behavioral manifestations in human infants given intravenous infusions of protein hydrolysates providing 0.3 g/kg/day of free glutamic acid. Our demonstration that MSG destroys hypothalamic neurons in monkeys as well as mice at intake doses lower than those required to produce acute behavioral manifestations points to a serious flaw in this line of reasoning. The subcutaneous injection of protein hydrolysate (0.2 cc) produces, in 10 day old infant mice, a hypothalamic lesion unaccompanied by behavior disturbances (22)."

As an avid surfer & beach rat that has had multiple injuries to my body and skull, I think I am gonna avoid this before even more damage is done.

What Else - Pretty much anything not organic. I am trying really hard to grow 100% of my own fruit, veggies, cooking herbs, and medicine plants as well as libations. ((If a town in France can declare all its food must be organic for schools & senior citizens, then why can't I?))

A year ago my wife had a radical surgery and in the course of her surgery we learned about what is really going into our food & water. Everything lead me here, to help both of us return to a healthier lifestyle outside of the big city.

Great post Pakanohida, hopefully you can get more breaks in the future and post more of your insight on the forums.

All the best to you!

The leading cause of heart attacks .. other than side effects from pills .. is lack of silicon in your flour .. it is bad for the heart and veins.

Best #1 Herb .. Capsicum or Red Chili Pepper in a gel cap .. 40,000 btu once a day. Will take blood work to normal in people recommended to have a quad .. in six weeks.

Buy a hand mill and grind your own flour .. I prefer soft white spring as it has won all the taste test. What's on the shelf? Hard Red Winter .. it has the longest shelf life.

When you eat something .. especially just before bedtime .. notice how you feel and react during the night.

Met a truck driver at a diner .. he had seven brothers .. his dad back in the 40's followed deer to a deer lick .. dug some dirt and mixed it with a glass of water and made each boy drink a glassful each morning.

They are all alive and healthy .. he was 78 .. not one cavity or broken bone in the group.

A deer lick beats a Vitamin Store

Number one is meat. I just don't like it.
2 hydrogenated oils
3 weird chemically stuff, guess that means anything in a can, box or carton.
4 colours
5 eggplant and bananas. I know that's two but those both make me throw up or badly nauseous.

I have been paying much closer attention to "country of origin". Certain brands use many different sources. For example, I had been buying a certain type of Polar brand sardines because the package stated "wild caught in Germany". Knowing their standards, I felt comfortable with this. I switched to a different type, same brand, and assumed it was of the same origin. Upon closer inspection, this particular can of sardines were "wild caught from Thailand". Looking into it further, I found China, Brazil and Ecuador as well, all from the same brand, which I guess means they outsource.

I steer clear of all other 'non-fresh' seafood because the majority of it, especially frozen, has been sprayed with trisodium phosphate.

1. Animals I didn't know. I do eat my own sheep, cow from a neighbor, and chickens I've helped butcher. But no mystery meat. The mammals are grass fed. If I can catch some fish, I'll eat it, but I don't fish much. I'm trying to decide if I should get a couple pigs this year.

2. Cottonseed oil. Cotton is a heavily herbicided crop. Most of those herbicides are oil soluble. So that rules out most shortening.

3. MSG.

4. HFCS.

5. Artificial sweeteners.

I am very fond of wheat, but often mix a little barley and/or cornmeal into my pancakes, waffles, and muffins. I'm of Dutch ancestry, so I digest milk very well. I prefer it raw, but will drink pasturized homogenized if that's all there is. And I like chocolate. A lot.

Dan

Anything that has ever been in contact with anti-biotics. My son can eat as many eggs as he likes but not one if the chicken has had ABs in its feed.... red rash all over. He is harder to get along with if its in the meat too. We buy grass fed from a local farm, side at a time.

That and no preprepared foods.... these are profit based and made to last forever... they last forever because they are poisoned... if it kills micro-biology, it isn't healthy for me either.

1. I don't eat anything I couldn't make myself - rules out hydrogenated anything etc.
2. I don't eat anything wth ingredients I can't spell !
3. I don't eat anything that has a code name - E numbers etc.
4. I don't eat anything that involves animal cruelty - pork from farrowing crates/battery hens etc.
5. I don't eat anything flown in from the other side of the planet - I can live without asparagas at Christmas

Thats my five - is that cheating ??

Roger

RNM35 wrote:
Thats my five - is that cheating ??

yes. you're disqualified.

on the other hand, those seem like wise policies.

Well, this is interesting. It's more than 5 though.

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/7-foods-so-unsafe-even-farmers-wont-eat-them/

paul wheaton wrote:

HFCS: I've never been sure of what the root of the problem is here other than the enormous chemistry/processing involved to extract it. And the weird thing is that the side affects appear to be the opposite of fructose. So, maybe it is some sort of left-handed fructose?

Agree 100 percent that fructose is naturally occurring and is not a bad guy. in context.

I think the biggest problem with the HCFE in terms of human health (apart from the GMO issue) is that it is being added to foods and beverages in amounts and proportions that would never naturally be ingested. Drinking a liter of Faygo or similar introduces as much fructose into your digestive tract in 20 minutes as you would obtain by foraging fruits and berries over, perhaps, an entire growing season. That ain't natural. If you ingested salt in similarly unnatural proportions it would likely kill you.

LasVegasLee wrote:
I think the biggest problem with the HCFE in terms of human health (apart from the GMO issue) is that it is being added to foods and beverages in amounts and proportions that would never naturally be ingested.

Not to worry, the drink industry has a fix.... half the sugar as before:

Leah, right on about the MSG. If you took MSG away from the processed food companies they would CRASH overnight - they cannot exist with out MSG and the world just doesn't understand the massive problems that they are causing.

My top 5? more like a 'combinded' three:

1. Factory Farmed Animal products of any kind.
2. Any ingredient that I cannot pronounce and/or visualize in it's natural state.
3. Refined Sugar.

One that I would add to the list is tofu. I cannot imagine eating a "food" that requires the addition of plaster of Paris to make it solidify.

When my daughter did a HS science project, she chose 'eating habits of mice'. We had 2 (which quickly became many) mice, and in the several years they lived with us, tofu was the only thing they ever refused to eat. That tells me something.

I tend to be an opportunivore, I don't have a hard and fast list of ingredients which are "don'ts," rather a list of practices which are "dos."

1. If I can, make it from scratch. It will be cheaper, taste better, be healthier. This alone gets me away from some of the really awful stuff. Bread, mayo, ham, bacon, sausage, corned beef, these are some of the things I make from scratch rather than buy them.

2. Grow food. I live on a city lot and don't produce all of what I eat, by any means, but it sure is nice to wander out in the back yard and harvest onions, herbs, and fresh fruit in season. My food forest is still in the formative stage, it will get more and more productive as the years pass.

3. If I can't grow it, try to buy it local. I patronize the local farmers market and also get the occasional goat, lamb, pig locally raised and slaughtered.

If all that fails, I buy my food at the supermarket like everyone else, but these three rules help me keep that to a minimum while eating well.

One more "do." Do eat the guts.

Seriously.

Pioneer nutritionist Adelle Davis taught that the body tends to concentrate vital nutrients in vital organs to protect vital processes. There is a reason, Davis said, why lions and other predators will first devour the guts when they take down their prey; that's where the nutrition is.

So if we eat as our ancestors did, and make good use of the liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, etc, we are not only respecting the sacrifice of the animal feeding us, we are eating the most nutritious parts of the beasts.

I think that the modern trend to eat only the anonymous hunks of muscle in the styrofoam trays and make ickyface about the organ meats is part of our denial of where meat comes from; A steak or roast is one thing, but when you look at a kidney, or a heart, it is apparent that it is a vital organ of a living animal and I think that freaks people out because it makes it difficult for them to eat meat in willful ignorance of the process which put that meat on their table.

I have one simple rule.

If my great-great-grandmother would not recognize it as food, it's not food. That pretty much covers everything.

nice topic, i couldnt read all but i agree with most of answers, heres my list of "no's":

- industrially proccessed and packed food unless theres no other option which rarely happens
- animal products (just sometimes i use yogurt and honey as starters for fermented food)
- corn (always sprayed)
- soy
- salt
- sugar
- wheat
- tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables usualy grown in plastic-houses and sprayed (unless i found organic or something like that)
- sea food

this is when im in town. in nature, if theres no polution around, i eat what i find (no meat so far, maybe in future....)

- All grains
- almost all vegetable oils
- legumes
- non-fermented dairy
- larger quantities of nuts

I'm in my first weeks of eating Paleo Diet style, and loving it.

for me:
1 not whole
2 not organic/naturally raised
3 don't prefer grains
4 don't prefer dairy
...this leaves me with fruit, veg, meat, eggs. whole organic and naturally raised.

Fascinating topic! Thanks for all the input, everyone!

As for me, my 5 are going to be radically different from "normal" people - (do those exist?) - because of a genetic condition. I have a medical diagnosis that necessitates a very narrow diet. I must eat for healing, eat for nutrition, not for pleasure. Obviously that means I will never be able to eat with another human being again because people eat to socialize and experience pleasure. They are not necessarily considering the nutritional content of the food, or the biological appropriateness to human anatomy. But my experience has taught me a lot about nutrition over the years; about what people can and should eat based on human anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. Nope, I'm not a doctor. Just living with a very tricky issue that requires I never deviate from a "perfect" (can I use that word?) diet. Here are my 5:

1) artificial/chemical ANYTHING - if it doesn't exist in nature, I don't eat it! Artificial flavors, colors, preservatives; chemical pesticides, herbicides, additives; GMO's, etc. Your body only digests food, it's not designed to be a chemical treatment plant.

2) processed ANYTHING - if it doesn't exist in nature in that form, I don't eat it! The usual suspects - flours, sugars, fats& oils, etc. If it spent any time in a factory, receiving more than just a wash and a wrapper, it's been processed. Your body only recognizes food in its original form. (I must also be gluten-free due to an entirely unrelated genetic disorder from my "biggie". Gluten intolerance has increased 400% in the ten years since a chemical form of folate has been added by government regulation. The chemical form of folate has a backbone of glutamic acid chain, thus increasing the level of gluten within the flour well in excess of its natural level.)

3) ANYTHING that is not from plants - if it doesn't grow in the ground, I don't eat it! This includes salt, meat, fish, dairy products, etc. Human digestive tracts are not equipped to handle anything not plant-based. (I can hear you screaming at me now.) I may not like it. You may not like it. Because my body only works when I eat the way it's designed, and I notice the difference immediately. "Normal" people get away with so much more before they feel the damage. I can't cheat without ending up in the hospital. A toxic overload of acidity and ammonia occur when you follow an animal protein diet. It might take a "normal" person 40-50 years to feel those effects, but they are doing damage the entire time. Your digestive tract is only designed to process plants.

4) Anything excessively heated/burned/charcoal, etc. If it's burned beyond recognition, guess what, your body won't recognize it! Heat caused chemical changes to occur, most of which your body does not know how to process. Every living thing in nature eats a diet both biologically appropriate for its species, and entirely raw. It's not because they lack opposable thumbs and can't lift a pot handle. It's because raw food contains enzymes which assist in digestion. If you cook the living hell out of something, create chemicals within it that didn't exist in the first place, or remove nutrients that were originally there but now are not, then you have substantively changed that food from a true food to a non food/chemical. Yes, you can gently heat, warm, etc. Just don't char, burn, caramelize, etc.

5) Anything not given or received in love! Love is the most healing force in the universe! We all need it! Receive each meal in humble gratitude for your existence. Share/give a meal to another in the same way. Live in peace with all beings everywhere. Co-exist; cooperate; share; speak in peace, kindness, and gentleness to all. This is love. This is healing. This is grace.

Peace to all who dwell "here".

moni,

I used to eat exactly like you (except all organic, too) but recently added flesh and eggs back into my diet because of terrible fatigue and brain fog, and b12 supplements (not that I agree with those as healthful, but I tried) weren't helping. I was a vegan for 7 years.
"Picky" eaters unite!

paul wheaton wrote:HFCS: I've never been sure of what the root of the problem is here other than the enormous chemistry/processing involved to extract it. And the weird thing is that the side affects appear to be the opposite of fructose. So, maybe it is some sort of left-handed fructose?

The problem with HFCS is how it breaks down in your body. Sugar can be used as fuel for muscles. HFCS cannot: it immediately is broken down into triglycerides (immediately turned into fat and heart disease) and spikes your blood sugar (which makes you crash 30 mins later and contributes to diabetes). It has been clinically linked to Liver scarring, Fatty liver disease, obesity, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, Metabolic Syndrome, cancer and diabetes. And now they're going to hide it on labels as "corn sugar"... and can call it "all natural"!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805058/
http://wrightnewsletter.com/2010/04/05/HFCS-deaths/

We avoid:

HFCS (see above)
Plastic-packaged foods
Soda/Diet soda = 60% chance of dying early (48% increase of Metabolic Syndrome)(43% increase of vascular incident [heart attack, stroke])
http://www.preventdisease.com/news/12/020112_New-Research-Shows-Diet-Soft-Drinks-Cause-Stroke-Heart-Attack-and-Vascular-Death.shtml
http://www.foodproductdesign.com/news/2012/02/study-links-soft-drinks-to-heart-attack-stroke.aspx

We like to:
eat animal fats (650,000 people can't be wrong)

I avoid pop or any soft drinks.

I avoid instant coffee.

I avoid any and all fast food from chains, and will not eat at chain restaurants, period.

I avoid any liquor or brandy that is less than 100 proof.

I avoid mass-produced beer.

Everything else is up for grabs.

I avoid "diet" or "non-fat."
I avoid all soda pops.
I avoid as best I can all soy products unless it's a 'fermented' soy. Natto, tempeh, miso... they are good. Soy meat or milk? No way, Jose.
Artificial colours, aromas or flavouring.
Smoked or cured meats.

I eat a lot of veggies, home-made, from scratch and 'real', slow foods. I love to cook, bake and can stuff.
I probably have 15 to 19 years as a professional cook under my belt.

A very good lecture on sugar by Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

"Sugar isn't just 'empty calories', it's a toxin."

When it comes to food, I do AVOID certain things, but I am not a fundamentalist about it. IE, set me down in front of a greasy fried fatback pizza and give me a big ole bowel of lard (seasoned with MSG) to swirl it around in and I'll be happy as a clam. (deep fried ice cream for desert) j/k lol

The way I see it, this is the only life I get, and eating is one of the pleasures of life- Eating healthy is great, but sometimes allowing myself something nice and unhealthy is one of those things that makes life enjoyable. I think worrying over every little morsel is probably more unhealthy than just going ahead and indulging once in a while. (Obviously this does not apply to allergies !)

Here is my general list:

1. Processed foods: Canned, boxed, encased in plastic, microwave dinners,etc. I make most of my meals from mostly scratch ingredients, very rarely eat out.

2. Meat- I tried vegetarianism, but to paraphrase an old joke "If God didn't mean for us to eat meat, why did he make it so tasty??"
I mostly use meat for flavoring or very sparingly. I do make my own homemade meat substitutes at times (seitan, bean patties, veggie patties,etc)

3. Sugar / candy / sweet stuff- I was terrorized by dentists as a child and developed a general preference for savory foods over sweet. (chocolate and pecan pie are my weaknesses.

4. Soft drinks / cokes / sugary drinks (same reasons as #3, and also the high concentrations of sugar and caffeine make me feel edgy)

5. Liver (because its disgusting lol)

I agree with your liver comment, Cris.