the top five ingredients you avoid

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.



"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.

#1 red meat because I'm a blood type A, and don't have the stomach acid to process it, but soy is OK but only organic which I can buy in my coop
#2 sugar and artificial sweeteners
#3 anything canned
#4 boxed cereal, but once a year I gorge on 5 or 6 bowls because it's still my favorite treat
#5 basically, almost anything sold at the grocery store which I place in the category of convenience stores now, everything is brightly colored, and wrapped, and junk, and overpriced.

I try to avoid all of these but I’m not religious about it.
Soy
Omega 6 oils, hydrogenated or not.
HFCS
All grain and grain products
Artificial sweeteners
Farmed fish
Nitrites and other preservatives
pop or any soft drinks
Sugar

heil food nazis'!

While it is good to be aware of the negative health effects of obsessing over dietary purity, some foods don't deserve to be included in the philosophy of "everything in moderation." Want to know three foods that will destroy your health the quickest? Here they are:

1. Doughnuts

Doughnuts are moist paddies of sugar, trans fat, and white flour. The sugar and white flour will fill you up but provide little nutritional benefit. Trans fats are known to cause cancer and contribute to every chronic degenerative disease known to man. Finally, frying carbohydates causes acrylamide formation, known to contribute to cancer development.

2. French Fries and Potato Chips

Both usually contain lots of trans fats. Some potato chip companies are coming out with varieties that contain no trans fats, but all chips that are cooked in oil have cancer-causing acrylamides. Ounce for ounce, a French fry is worse for your health than a cigarette.

3. Soda

Like doughnuts, soda will give you lots of calories but almost no nutrients. The sugar, caffeine, artificial colours, and sulfites in soda contribute to tooth decay, heart disease, obesity, and osteoporosis. Think diet soda is a better choice? Sorry. Aspartame and other artifical sweetners are neurotoxins and will increase your chances of developing neurological disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis.

this info was quoted from this link http://drbenkim.com/articles-worst.html & hope it serves you well in your dietary planning. best of luck - and long live the work of the fascist foodies!

I will not lie. I eat like a pig. Due to my work I am on the road a lot. You eat what you can. With that said.

In my kitchen I use butter, olive oil and bacon grease. Yeap! I said Bacon/pork grease. I try to get local sourced. But it is hard to find and very expensive. I get eggs from the local guy down the street and eat a lot of them. There are no boxed or pre done food in my kitchen. I do not buy bread. I will admit to pasta, but as of late I think it too will go by the wayside. I am starting to have trouble with it. AT least the sale pasta. I think it is being altered. The worst of the wheat. I have though on this and will say no more.

I avoid

Corn Syrup
Canola (poison)
veg oil
non cane sugar
any margarine
flavor enhancers
canned or powdered broths
hydrolyzed proteins
boxed mixes and such
Fluoride or Ionized salt
formed meats (I do like salami once in a while and the old German makes it, yum)
Ingredients I can not pronounce, grow or source
Note, I do use natural supplements here and there.

Meats I try to find locally and it is easy here. But any organic or such is cost prohibitive as is organic cheese. I love cheese. I feel with good nutrition and such I can avoid issues as best I can. This part of the Midwest I do have options often and do try.

I am seeing that the chickens most people have are fed what they call crumble. Try to talk them into making their own feed out of grains and such. Or other sources. Chickens will eat a lot of different stuff. I feel the corn is not good for us anymore in bigger amounts.

I have noticed the pictures pf people from 40-30 years ago. The population looks very different. Go back to the 60's. Look at the crowds and general pictures of the era. The people look thinner, healthy and I will go as far to say very different. Think of this my friends. Here in my area I interact with Amish and others who have shunned modern things. Especially food. The children look clean in the eyes. There is a healthy look to the skin and I see few blemishes on the skin. I have noticed this for a while. I said something to one of the more open minded Amish men. He did not disagree. I think he knows a lot. There is none of this ADD crap. Yes, teaching and having parents around help. But there is more here going on. God help us all.

Now, to go to kook zone further. Pet food.

Pet food is nasty disgusting stuff. I feed my dogs people grade food. I use a high quality dog food as all day food. It smells good to me. My dogs are in great shape and live for a very long time with no health issues. Vastly what we eat they will. Make them a plate too and don't be so stingy. They are your children and probably more productive. I don't meter it too much. They are trim and healthy. You all have been fed a bunch of garbage. It is disgusting. Tonight I went to a pot luck/practice. I had left over pork roast and chicken to bring home. That made a great rice and egg noodle dish. They loved it and so easy to make. Put in lots of chopped veg. I will feast on it for lunch tomorrow also. They need them too. Just like us in many ways. Like us. What you put in them comes out. They love my scrambled eggs and spinach, and yes with bacon fat. It fries up sooooo well. The only drawback are the farts. OY! Egg farts are the worst, so are mine.

The landmines in the way back yard have little smell and go away quickly.

One more note. I lost over 130 pounds since I started these rules. I am maintaining and feeling great. No cholesterol or blood sugar issues. Mood swings are minimal and other stuff. Now to have that face lift (just kidding).

I avoid nutritionally empty foods such as white bread, soda pop and rice and poisoned foods such as bacon, hotdogs and other nitrate soaked over processed meat products. I hate almost all condiments and only use hummus and tzaziki.

My mother put me off of slop and swill forever since it was served far too often when I was a child. I am thus limited to non putrefied foods.

You have to be careful with juices too, commercial ones.

A guy did a study , and found that nearly every boxed, bottled or canned drink that had Vit C in it, and used sodium benzoate as a preservitive, had 40-1000 times legal limit of benzene.

Benzene is pretty darn toxic.

Seems the Vit C releases the sodium or potassium on the front of the salt, and frees the benzene.

this is also prob a problem with canned tomatoes, and the non carb canned veggies too.

Here I am resurrecting the old stuff again. When I get bored, I read old stuff, and then I find myself commenting.

My hard and fast rules are, as follows:
1) I don't eat anything that cannot be cooked in a kitchen. If it requires a laboratory, I'm out.
2) I don't eat soy. I'm not a post-menopausal woman, and neither is my dh. If I were to eat soy, it would be fermented and it would be an exception and not the rule. (Heck! You even have to avoid laboratory vitamin C.)
3) I don't eat anything genetically modified. That means that I don't eat non-organic sugar, corn, high fructose corn syrup, canola oil, or (as previously mentioned) soy.
4) I avoid eating animals/animal products that have eating products that can't be cooked in a kitchen, that contain soy, or that are genetically modified. Sometimes I have to compromise though. My backyard flock doesn't produce enough eggs to support my flock of children, and we're the only family I know around here that ship in GM-free feed.

I used to avoid salt, but my body fought back. I suddenly realized that by making my own breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and condiments I had precluded all salt from my diet. After reintroducing an unprocessed salt into my diet, I'm good to go now.

BTW, I may look like a 90 pound weakling, but I still eat like a pig.

~Peace~

We tend to eat what we grow, we don't tend to eat what we don't. Since we live in the tropics, that isn't that hard. Lots of starchy stuff (bananas, plantains, sweet potatoes, yuca, etc) available and wheat tends to be a problem for me.

We have goats, so milk is goat milk, but the only milk I consume, is in my coffee. But we make our own cheeses and yogurt.

I eat a lot of chayote, because I have 5 vines which produce enough for the entire town, or so it seems. I really enjoy it, and it is easier than squash, though I have found a squash that is so agressive a grower it is nearly invasive, so we eat that too.

Our meat is from animals we raise, and I tend to try more and more to buy no feed, and every year, I do better. Eggs are from a neighbor that we swap abundance with. Actually they take wood shavings in trade for their eggs.

I will have some white wine occassionally, like perhaps every two weeks I will buy a bottle and finish it in about three days.

We eat very little processed foods, no cereals, no bread.

I love that you have only one item on your list. We only avoid what we don't produce. Such a laudable goal.

I, too, am impressed by folks who avoid eating anything they didn't produce, or don't know where it came from. And by the folks who avoid all restaurant food.

Unfortunately, I still eat out more than I would like. When I do, I try to stick to meat and veggies to avoid the overly processed foods and more bothersome ingredients. This video indicates that might not be enough.

It's a news report about meat glue. I didn't know there was such a thing.



Not only is the glue questionable, but eating a rare "steak" made with meat glue might mean you're risking bacterial infection that isn't possible in a non-glued "steak."

Ugh.

1. - Artificial Ingredients & Preservatives (aspartame, MSG, food colorings, etc.)

2. - G.M.O.s (HFCS, soy products, etc.)

3. - Hydrogenated Fats & Polyunsaturated Oils (safflower oil, margarine, vegetable oil, etc.)

4. - Most sugar

5. - Wheat

I have two avoid top-5 lists:

What I HAVE to avoid / string choice for health:

- Gluten is the only absolute + most grains/seeds, even gluten-free

- Dairies especially cow/homogenized/non raw

- Transformed fats + Omega 3 or 6 rich oils and veg-butters (whole seeds are ok)

- Additives (including caraghenans and other thickeners from beans)

- Cooked food with "a change in color" (brownish/caramelized/roasted)


What I choose to avoid, for health and mostly ethic reasons:

- farmed fish/sea-shells

- Eggs and chickens from caged origin

- GMO and raised on GMO corn animals

- Ready-to-eat or processed foods

- Far away produced food that can grow where I live (like chilean cherries for christmas/frozen meat from Holland or Brazil, with an exception for having free range sheep from NZ!)


The + equivalent are :

- 1st my production (veg, fruits, avocados, babanas, sweat potatoes, some meat, some herbs and turmeric)

- 2nd my neighbours production (eggs and other fruits and vegs)

- 3rd my islands' production (organic meat from another island, some fruits)

- Organic products from a store and some non organic, from Spain and Europe - including point 5:

- Some far-away exception for those reasons: super quality like NZ free range sheep, useful but non available locally (examples: almost all my fats, olive oil, butter, coconut, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds). Spices.

My basic premise is no fake food. Which basically is stuff that has been processed or adulterated in an unnatural way. I don't have dairy animals and raw milk doesn't exist in my town, in fact it is difficult to find half and half or cream that is not ultra pasteurized so I do the best I can. I buy a brand of plain yogurt that is milk, cream 4 cultures and a bit of pectin. I buy sour cream that contains only cream and culture.  I don't do HFCS in anything. I think real sugar in small amounts is better, just don't go overboard. I avoid wheat as much as I can, it makes me tired and sleepy.


I really haven';t figured out why whole beans are canned with sugar. or some brands of tomatoes. Those are the 2 commercially canned product most likely to be found on my shelves, mostly for making quick pots of chili when life i crazy.

My basic diet is simple: vegetables, fruit, meat, small amounts of dairy and eggs. real butter and olive oil.

90% of the meat I eat is home grown chicken.

Things I avoid:
1. soy
2. hydrogenated oils
3. added sugars of any kind
4. peanuts and legumes (only eaten if sprouted or soaked)
5. artificial coloring

My list of foods to minimize are:

sugar/carbohyrates (high-glycemic-index foods in general)
oils high in omega 6 fatty acids (soy, corn, cottonseed, peanut, canola, sunflower, etc)
Wheat
Fast food
Processed foods

Personally, I feel healthiest and most vibrant when I am eating a paleo/keto lifestyle.