Unless you’re making 100% of your meals and snacks every day, then you will be shocked at these spooky food facts that might change the way you eat.
Unless you’re making 100% of your meals and snacks every day, then you will be shocked at these spooky food facts that might change the way you eat.
I love food. I also love convenience. Unfortunately, most of today’s convenience foods might be packing way more than just the food listed on the label!
If you’ve ever seen documentaries like Food Inc, Forks Over Knives, Cowspiracy, or Vegucated, then you might have been shocked, disturbed or even horrified at the crazy and sometimes insane studies that have revealed what is included in some of our favorite foods.
I’m not here to scare you. As a health coach, I have seen many coaching clients struggle with the diet mentality that marks food as “good” or “bad”. That tells you to “eat this, not that”, or forces you to forbid certain foods for life.
However, a little bit of knowledge can change not just your world, but also your health. While I have written before about what to look for on a food label, here are some creepy food facts that might not appear on a label at all.
Buyer beware when it comes to these surprisingly common foods!
Meat
My head was literally spinning like Regan in the Exorcist when I watched Food Inc, because it exposed some of the horrors of corporate farming and agribusiness– not just from a consumer standpoint, but from an employee standpoint.
Truth be told, I went vegetarian for at least a year after watching that movie, and found it more difficult to ethically purchase pork products.
While I am back to meat-eating on a regular basis, I now focus most on organic or grass-fed varieties (when the budget allows) or gravitate towards vegetarian meals during the day, and meat at night.
Let’s look at some food facts about three types of meat you may enjoy.
1. Are you chicken? The USDA projected in 2016 that Americans will eat nearly 92 pounds of chicken per person in the coming year. Many of the most popular ways to enjoy the fowl was from fast food establishments.
According to Forensic Science Technician, some fast food chicken can actually contain beef additives which are labeled as “extract” or “essence”. Watch out for Wendy’s and KFC’s grilled chicken sandwiches!
2. You may have heard that lunch meat is not recommended for pregnant women, due to dangers from listeria. The FDA’s solution to this concern was to approve the use of bacteriophages (i.e. viruses) in lunch meat, sausages and hot dogs. It is now “safe”.
3. Not even fish, which is a great source of healthy Omega 3s and fatty acids, is free from processed perils. Farm-raised salmon is actually grey in color- so the fish are pumped up with coloring agents for the distinctive pink color of their wilder counterparts.
Unfortunately, this could cause some zombie-like changes to your body, such as retinal damage caused by the artificial dye, Canthaxathine.
Drinks
A common way to cheer to your health is to raise a glass! Yet, some of what we put in our glass may best be followed by a trip to the doctor.
4. Regardless of what name shows up on your Coke bottle, it is NOT your bestie. Nutrition information shows that Coke has more sugar per serving than Red Bull, Powerade and Lipton Iced Tea. It cannot; however, dissolve a nail in 4 days. However, it does prove quite useful in removing bloodstains.
5. You may feel better about drinking juice, since at least it is derived from fruit, and has less sugar, right? Unless it’s grapefruit juice, which gets it pink color from cochineal extract (aka carmine aka the Dactylopius Coccus Costa insect), or orange juice, which has “flavor packets” added in order to keep them tasting “fresh” after sitting in large storage vats for up to a year.
Juice is not nearly as tasty as fruit, and much effort is used by food manufacturers to have them both tasting and looking fresh. Try home-pressed juice or avoid it altogether.
6. I’m a big fan of hydration, and have even written several articles on how to drink more water without feeling like a fish. Yet, if that water comes in the form of a gazillion water bottles, you might consider getting a reusable, BPA-free water bottle or glass with a straw instead.
In a study of over 900 bottles and 100 store brands that were tested by the National Resources Defense Council, over one third of bottled water contained synthetic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic.
Last I looked, arsenic is used in rat poison. You don’t need to spend $4 on a bottle of SMART water. Get smart and stick to non-bottled varieties or use a filter at home.
Sweets
Before we dive into some dangers in your favorite treats, why not join me for 31 Days of Treats? Every day in my Weight no More Facebook group, you will get a recipe for an easy, homemade treat that is FREE from scary or surprising ingredients.
7. Them bones, them bones…might be in your sugar. Sugar derived from pure cane sugar goes through a purification process using bone char. These bones might come from India, Afghanistan or Pakistan. I am not opposed to the occasional dose of sugar, say in my coffee or tea, but this is one type of processing I would rather do without.
8. What about some of our favorite candies this time of year, like candy corn and jelly beans? They get their classic shine from shellac, which is derived from the Kerria lacca insect. Shellac is a wood finishing substance also used in furniture, guitars and even AK-47s.
Um, no thanks. Check out these non-shellacked Halloween treats here.
For the Salad-Lovers (Bonus foods for you)
If you’ve read my blog for any time, you have probably heard me say that I don’t care for rabbit food. However, even if you love salad or leaf-type lettuce, here is some information you should know.
According to Babble, food manufacturers might add titanium dioxide in salad dressing, creamers, and icing to make them appear whiter. Titanium dioxide is used in paint, and has potentially been linked to cancer when inhaled or ingested.
What if you simply avoid the dressing and go straight for the lettuce? Well, that is trickier than you know! Fit Tip shares that your healthy fast food salad is colorful and green through the application of propylene glycol— a chemical that is not legal to use in cat food because its safety has not yet been proven.
Other fun uses for propylene glycol– as a laxative in electronic cigarettes, and as the chemical to capture ground beetles.
When I was a kid, the biggest scare (now revealed as an urban myth) around Halloween was that some dastardly sociopath might put a needle in one of our trick-or-treat candies. Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about a bloody bad holiday due to spooky surprises in our food.
…Or do we?