Over the past few months it seems as if Americans are beginning to take interest in what is in the foods they are eating. While this is great, a lot of research needs to be done by individuals. Today, I’ll help to educate you so you know what’s in your foods!
First, let’s start with meat for the fact it’s pretty simple. Ractopamine is a drug that helps to reduce fat in meat. The drug is used in 45% of pigs, 30% of cattle and a unknown number in turkeys. These arsenic based drugs are used in animal feed to make them grow quicker and make the meat pinker…they say this isn’t used any more, but, Bill Clinton also didn’t inhale! Your option is to purchase GRASS FED meats. Get to know your local farmer and purchase from them. By creating a relationship with your local farmer you’ll have the freshest meat, produce and eggs in town!
However, if you are in a crunch and need fresh organic meats you can pick up Applegate Farms or Hormel Natural choice lunch meats, Laura’s Lean beef or Amish Farms chicken.
When shopping for dairy products do some research. Ensure that the yogurt, milk or cheese items that are filling up your cart are free from rBGH and rBST. These growth hormones are used to increase milk production and been known to cause cancer. Some of my favorite rBGH products come from Organic Valley and Horizon.
For a list of rBGH free dairy products visit psr.org.
Food dyes are VERY tough to avoid while shopping in your local grocery store. They are everywhere! The best piece of advice I have to fight the food dye war is to read the ingredient label. If it mentions Red #40, Yellow #6, etc. move on without placing in your cart. If purchasing a cheese product look for annatto, beat or carrot juice. These are natural color rich ingredients. However, if you are mixing up a icing or need a little color consider Seelect or Nature’s Flavors.
When it comes to clean and healthy eating skip the preservatives. Some BHA and BHT free products that are safe to consume are cereals from Nature’s Path, Kashi, Mom’s Best naturals. If hot dogs are your kiddos thing pick up a package of Trader Joe’s or Applegate Farms. You may want to throw out that oil you’ve been cooking with and replace it with a organic coconut oil, organic grape seed oil or organic extra virgin olive oil. All of these vegetable oils can be found in your local grocer.
Potassium bromate is a additive that is found in baked goods to make them bigger and hold together. If you are a carb junkie this is one of the hardest places you’ll find to replace products in your pantry. However, you can start with Udi’s Gluten free or Ezekiel breads. If a good danish is on your list check out Entenmann’s products and Pepperidge Farm breads and baked goods.
However, I’ve been finding making break is a lot easier than I thought and can be made with King Arthur’s organic flour, Hodgson Mill and Bob’s Red Mill flours.
Did you know that refined oils can oxidize and are high in omega 6 fatty acids? This causes inflammatory and also neutralizes the benefits that Omega 3’s. Therefore by replacing your oils with healing and organic oils your body will begin to feel a lot better. You can replace the vegetable oil in your pantry with a natural organic coconut or grape seed oil.
To begin replacing chemical foods with cleaner options start slowly. This is a process that takes time to learn and will take your family some getting use to. Become an advocate for your family and start reading those labels! To start, if there’s an ingredient you can’t pronounce or a color followed by a number it doesn’t belong in your cart.
Be sure to let me know what some of your cleaner food options are by leaving a comment below!
Did you enjoy this post? Find more money saving tips here.