food rules: ingredient lists

~ ~
Yesterday, when this week of posts started, I talked about reading labels of processed foods you want to bring home. (Not sure what qualifies as "processed food"? It's hard to tell sometimes, & they're not ALL out to get us. Click here to read more about how we define them.)

One of the most important things to look at when picking up anything outside of the produce section is the ingredient lists. We know the four big bad guys, but often the names of these ingredients are changed. You add up the other kinds of fat, & a gram isn't accounted for... This tells you something. It says "vegetable oil" when really it means "palm oil". You only learn what's in the vegetable oil by calling the manufacturer. 

In his book "In Defense of Food", Michael Pollan suggests not buying anything with more than five ingredients. I realize that if your buying frozen pizza or minestrone, you could have five vegetables in there. The rule may not work for ALL processed foods. The rule is helpful when you're looking at things like, say, the standard loaf of bread. Bread is a simple thing to make:
bread, pinch of salt, yeast, water–maybe grains or seeds or cinnamon to change it up
The standard list for a loaf of bread at a grocery looks something like this (Wonder Bread, in this case):
Whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% of less of: soybean oil, salt, molasses, yeast, mono and diglycerides, exthoxylated mono and diglycerides, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium iodate, calcium dioxide), datem, calcium sulfate, vinegar, yeast nutrient (ammonium sulfate), extracts of malted barley and corn, dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, calcium propionate (to retain freshness).
But okay, we know we need preservatives. We know white bread is the devil. So let's look at a healthier example, like Nature's Own. No High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)–which deserves its own post & still has yet to be fully tested for negative effects on human health– & no "artificial" things... but lots of other extras:
STONE GROUND WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, BROWN SUGAR, YEAST, WHEAT GLUTEN, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: SALT, VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN OIL OR CANOLA OIL), DOUGH, CONDITIONERS (SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, CALCIUM, STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, MONOGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM IODATE, ETHOXYLATED MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM PEROXIDE, DATEM), CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, VINEGAR, CALCIUM SULFATE, MONOCALCIUM, PHOSPHATE, YEAST FOOD (AMMONIUM SULFATE), SOY LECITHIN
I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat ammonium sulfate. And I don't have to. "Yeast food"? Yeast don't exactly have discriminatory tastes. They eat sugars. Give them sugar or malts. We adding to our foods to make them stretch, to produce them for less. Over the last fifty years, our priorities have shifted. We've gone from spending almost a quarter of our budget on food to spending less than 10 percent*.

This is not because it takes less money to feed a family, or because it's gotten more affordable. In fact, prices around the world have jumped higher this year*. Millions more are expected to depend on international aid. But we miss the increase, because we're not buying any real corn or wheat or soy beans. We're buying them broken down & mixed with conditioner, chemicals & preservatives. Our foodstuff prices are staying the same.

This means we're getting less of less, instead of more for less. We're giving up real food for the sake of convenience. So this year, take some time & read the labels. Put the food–the grains, real vegetables & nutrients–back into the grocery cart. Look for ingredient lists that are...
1. comprehensible: Can you pronounce the words? If not, does it explain to you what they are?
2. without HFCS: Independent studies (studies NOT funded by the farming industry) show us that it does not satisfy the sugar craving & results in overeating. Our bodies don't know what to do with it. 
3. without colors: Nix, for example, red 40–a natural substance, but not one you want to eat. It's 99 percent coal tar derivatives (and not ticks, like we thought)*

So start there. Start getting the fake things out of your diet. You may be unable to buy things like Pop Tarts or fitness bars, but that means you'll be replacing them with heartier, more energy-packs whole grains–or at least less sugars. Baby step into it. THEN start counting your ingredients. Sift through the canned green beans until you find the one that really is just salt, canned beans & water. It's possible, & the price difference isn't remarkable.

We can do it. We can cut out the chemicals & demand better food. Remeber: it's for us, our own health, the health of future generations &, thank goodness, the farmers. This is how democracy & "free markets" work: they're produce more vegetables & varied crops if we tell them we want it. 

Do you have suggestions for watching what we bring home? How are you avoiding processed foods? Have you finally stopped putting plastic-covered plastic dishes in the microwave? I'd love to hear about your experiences, too! Comment below.

Enjoy what you're reading? I'd love to know that we're on track. Click Follow on the right side of the screen to stick with us.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 
© 2009 - francofile
IniMinimalisKah is proudly powered by Blogger