Subtract the Additives

Top 10 ingredients you don't want in your food:

1)Aspartame/Sucralose/AcesulfameK/Saccharin- all artificial sweeteners are bad. I think high fructose corn syrup is a better option than any of these...and high fructose corn syrup is nasty. Plain 'ol sugar is the best option. Did you know aspartame breaks down into formaldehyde? Saves the embalmer some time in the future.

2)MSG (monosodium glutamate) - MSG is a flavor enhancer originally developed to help malnourished elderly patients increase caloric intake. Turns out it worked! The food tasted better and the elderly patients ate more food. As a business, the food industry decided that this was a good thing. So they added MSG to MANY foods, and guess what?? Everyone ate more! Foods that contained MSG tasted 'better' so people ate more. This is/was a great thing if you are/were a food manufacturer. However, from a health standpoint, ingesting MSG has been associated with asthma, migraine headaches, food allergies, obesity, and hyperactivity in children. A 2001 study published in the journal Neurology by Nicholas J. Maragakis, MD and Jeffrey D. Rothstein, MD titled 'Glutamate Transporters in Neurologic Disease' stated, "Glutamate is the primary excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter in the human brain. It is important in synaptic plasticity, learning, and development. Its activity at the synaptic cleft is carefully balanced by receptor inactivation and glutamate reuptake. When this balance is upset, excess glutamate can itself become neurotoxic. ... This overactivation leads to an enzymatic cascade of events ultimately resulting in cell death." Excess glutamate has been associated with condition such as Parkinson's Disease. Glutamic acid is aslo found in hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast, yeast extract, and soy extracts.

3)Hydrogenated and/or partially hydrogenated oils - hydrogenation converts unsaturated fats (healthy) into saturated fats (unhealthy). Hydrogenated oils often equal trans-fats. Ingestion of these fats increases the risk for heart disease. It is faster to just stuff your arteries with cotton.

4)Sodium Nitrates/Nitrites - food preservatives also used as fertilizer, rocket propellant, and in smoke bombs. Form nitosamines which are known human carcinogens that cause DNA damage. Increased levels of nitrates in the diet have been linked to increased deaths from Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, and Parkinson's disease. Delicious! :\

5)Tartrazine (yellow#5) - all colors are bad but this one in particular seems to cause more problems. Studies have shown ingestion of tartrazine has been associated with childhood asthma, hyperactive behavior (ADD/ADHD), migraine headaches, anxiety, clinical depression, blurred vision, itching, general weakness, sleep disturbance, and thyroid tumors.

6)High fructose corn syrup - HFCS was first widely used in 1984 . Since that time the rate of diabetes and obesity has increased dramatically. That said, high fructose corn syrup does not cause obesity, eating it does!

7) Modified food starch - anything modified is bad news bears

8)BHT/TBHQ - chemicals added for "freshness" = product really isn't fresh

9)Maltodextrin - Matdextrin breaks dwn int gucse sugar) It can be derived corn, potatoes, and wheat. Individuals with wheat sensitivity and/or celiac disease should avoid products containing maltodextrin. FYI, sucralose (fake sugar) contains maltodextrin.

10)Natural Flavor - natural flavors are still chemicals made in a lab...they can be found in nature but there is nothing natural about them.