By Donna Ryan
Choosing Organic is the Easiest Way to Ensure that your Food is Natural
The easiest way to tell if you are eating foods that are natural is to go directly to the source, consuming organic foods and vegetables that have not been processed. Food manufacturers are in the business to make money, so they are using the consumer’s concern to stay healthy by labeling their foods as natural or all natural products. What’s more, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not govern the advertising ploys that food producers use. As a result, food companies can use both chemicals and processes that do not exactly support the health claims on their packaging.
Avoid Foods that have Ingredients with Chemical-sounding Names
Therefore, consumers are advised to ignore the labeling on the products they buy and review the ingredients to determine what exactly is contained in the “natural” food they are buying. One way to at least ensure that the foods you are buying are, to some degree, natural is to avoid selecting any food items that have chemical-sounding names – a big red flag that the food cannot exactly be natural or healthy.
MSG – Often Added to Foods Sold as “Natural” Products
Watch out too for the natural-sounding names given to monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is found in many “natural” food products. MSG can cause a number of health problems, including nerve damage to fetuses (if it is contained in the food eaten by pregnant women), damage to the endocrine system, and migraine headaches. So, take note of foods that list MSG as hydrolyzed protein, autolyzed protein, yeast extract or torula yeast.
Scrutinizing the Ingredients
Ingredients are listed with respect to their proportion. So, the ingredients that are listed first are what you are mainly consuming. Therefore, if natural-sounding berries or herbs appear toward the end of the ingredient list, their “health” impact is insignificant at best.
Take note too that ingredient listings do not have to include any of the chemicals used to process the food, such as solvents or pesticides. Therefore, again, the best way to make sure that you are safe is to choose foods that use minimal processing or which are classified as organic.
Even sea salt is a processed ingredient and not really natural. In addition, when manufacturers make claims that processed items were derived from nature, it’s more than likely that the foods have been chemically altered. So, while the ingredients may be natural when they are harvested, the processing of the ingredients makes the claim obsolete.
Making a Distinction
Commercial food manufacturers are more interested in appealing to the consumer’s desire to be healthy than actually producing a natural, nutritional food. Therefore, if it’s your wish to eat more healthily, you have to distinguish between the labeling and what’s actually in a product. So, when you are scouting the aisles at the natural health food store, seek out foods that contain ingredients that are termed as raw – often an indicator that the food is better for you. Also, pick whole-grain foods versus enriched grain products. Foods that are sprouted are often higher quality than the non-sprouted kind too. Make the distinction between what is being advertised and what you are actually buying.
Choosing Organic is the Easiest Way to Ensure that your Food is Natural
The easiest way to tell if you are eating foods that are natural is to go directly to the source, consuming organic foods and vegetables that have not been processed. Food manufacturers are in the business to make money, so they are using the consumer’s concern to stay healthy by labeling their foods as natural or all natural products. What’s more, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not govern the advertising ploys that food producers use. As a result, food companies can use both chemicals and processes that do not exactly support the health claims on their packaging.
Avoid Foods that have Ingredients with Chemical-sounding Names
Therefore, consumers are advised to ignore the labeling on the products they buy and review the ingredients to determine what exactly is contained in the “natural” food they are buying. One way to at least ensure that the foods you are buying are, to some degree, natural is to avoid selecting any food items that have chemical-sounding names – a big red flag that the food cannot exactly be natural or healthy.
MSG – Often Added to Foods Sold as “Natural” Products
Watch out too for the natural-sounding names given to monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is found in many “natural” food products. MSG can cause a number of health problems, including nerve damage to fetuses (if it is contained in the food eaten by pregnant women), damage to the endocrine system, and migraine headaches. So, take note of foods that list MSG as hydrolyzed protein, autolyzed protein, yeast extract or torula yeast.
Scrutinizing the Ingredients
Ingredients are listed with respect to their proportion. So, the ingredients that are listed first are what you are mainly consuming. Therefore, if natural-sounding berries or herbs appear toward the end of the ingredient list, their “health” impact is insignificant at best.
Take note too that ingredient listings do not have to include any of the chemicals used to process the food, such as solvents or pesticides. Therefore, again, the best way to make sure that you are safe is to choose foods that use minimal processing or which are classified as organic.
Even sea salt is a processed ingredient and not really natural. In addition, when manufacturers make claims that processed items were derived from nature, it’s more than likely that the foods have been chemically altered. So, while the ingredients may be natural when they are harvested, the processing of the ingredients makes the claim obsolete.
Making a Distinction
Commercial food manufacturers are more interested in appealing to the consumer’s desire to be healthy than actually producing a natural, nutritional food. Therefore, if it’s your wish to eat more healthily, you have to distinguish between the labeling and what’s actually in a product. So, when you are scouting the aisles at the natural health food store, seek out foods that contain ingredients that are termed as raw – often an indicator that the food is better for you. Also, pick whole-grain foods versus enriched grain products. Foods that are sprouted are often higher quality than the non-sprouted kind too. Make the distinction between what is being advertised and what you are actually buying.
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