Bad Ingredients

Could Bad Ingredients be the source of health problems and weight issues?

When I first got into fitness and health, I really wasn’t too sure about diet. I would hap-hazardly determine what to eat based on what “looked good” on the Nutrition Facts on the back of my favorite box of foods. It wasn’t until recently I realized that there are bad ingredients that are the source of most of the issues, even though they don’t make up for the problems noted in the Nutrition Facts.

What does this mean? Simply put, you could have a Candy Bar that has 2% Total Fat, 0% Saturated and Trans Fat, which looks good. But then, you look at the ingredients and notice High Fructose Corn Syrup, Red #40, Blue #2, and Hydrocloride. OH NO!!! What does this mean, and how can it affect you???

The bad ingredients are the single source why you can’t get those last few pesky pounds off. Or, the source of why you went to the hospital at an early age. It’s time to stand up and know the FACTS, so we can avoid these problems!!!

Ok…so what are the Bad Ingredients to watch out for?

If you want to have energy, live a healthy life, and avoid the hospital at all costs, read on! I will provide the Bad Ingredients to Absolutely Avoid! There are many different bad ingredients out here to limit, but these are the “avoid at all costs” ingredients:

ACESULFAME-POTASSIUM – (Artificial sweetener found in Baked Goods, chewing gum, gelatin desserts, diet sodas). This stuff is sweeter than normal sugar, and manufactured by a German Chemical Plant. As of right now this is mainly used in sodas as the United States has banned most use of Acesulfame-Potassium.

Artificial Food Colorings: BLUE 2, GREEN 3,ORANGE B, RED 3,YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6 – This sounds like a mouthful of shenanigans, but it really leads to a lot of problems. In fact, ingredients containing any of these food colorings have been known to lead to thyroid and testes tumors. In a 1983 review by the FDA, thyroid tumors found in Rats made this very convincing of the problems with the artificial food colorings.

BUTYLATED HYDROXYANISOLE (BHA): (Found in Cereals, chewing gum, potato chips, vegetable oil). This sounds like a scary ingredient, right? Butylated?? 🙂 While some tests have shown this to be safe according to the FDA, it has shown to cause cancer in rats, mice, and hamsters. This can easily be left out and replaced with a safer vitamin (Vitamin-E), or even removed from potato chips all together since they don’t use an antioxidant.

CARAMEL COLORING: (Found in Colas, baked goods, pre-cooked meats, soy and Worcestershire sauces, chocolate-flavored products, beer). The U.S. National Toxicology Program found in a study in 2007 that Caramel Coloring caused cancer in male and female mice. Caramel Coloring is made by heating a solution of various different sugars, often mixed with ammonium compounds, acids, or alkalis.

CYCLAMATE: This was banned in the 1970s as a result of cancer-causing materials. In the years ahead, it was found that it wasn’t as much involved with cancer as it was with harm to testes in male subjects. If you come across this when travelling, run away!

OLESTRA (Olean): Found specifically in Lay’s Light Chips and Pringles Light Chips. This ingredient cannot be absorbed by the digestive system that well. It then leads to poor bowel movements, flatulence, and stomach cramps like there is no tomorrow! Unless you like spending time in the bathroom with pain and agony, avoid this one!

PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (Trans fat): There is a big craze out there about TRANS FAT and how you should avoid it. But what does that mean? Why is Trans Fat so bad? Well first of all, look at the heading of this bad ingredient. It mentions Hydrogenated Oils (that is the secret code name of trans fat :-)). Don’t let it fool you! Some foods try to hide their traces of trans fat by naming this bad ingredient as Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil. Trans fat is bad because it not only gives you irregularity and poor digestion, but it will pack on the pounds faster than you can think about going on a diet!

POTASSIUM BROMATE: Used to improve flour (white flour, bread, rolls, etc). Why would you want to put bromate in something like bread? Because it gives a fine crust and makes the bread look amazing. The cost of that? Cancer (notice the trend of a lot of cancer-causing ingredients here). In fact, in California, you will rarely find Bromate because it is required to have a cancer warning on the label!

PROPYL GALLATE: (Found in vegetable oil, meat products, potato sticks, chicken soup base, chewing gum). This bad ingredient basically works to prolong the spoilage of different fats and oils in food products. What has been the study to how this is related as part of the bad ingredients? You probably guessed it, Cancer. 

SACCHARIN: (Found in no-sugar added products, soft drinks, sweetener packets). While we like to disguise healthy alternatives like no-sugar added, if it contains the bad ingredient of Saccharin, we might as well avoid it! Primarily found in Sweet ‘N Low, this ingredient has been shown to cause cancer of the uterus, ovaries, skin, blood vessels, and other organs.

SODIUM NITRITE, SODIUM NITRATE: (Primarily found in bacon, ham, frankfurters, meats, smoked fish, corned beef). This is a preservative that prolongs the life of different meets as I mentioned in the parenthesis. Pregnant women especially should avoid any product with nitrite in it at all. Mainly because of the link of birth concerns and cancer causing problems for both the mother and the baby.

Bad Ingredients: The underlying concern

There are two major issues in all of the bad ingredients in our food today. The first is CANCER and the second is PRESERVATIVES. In our world today we are trying to preserve and prolong food as much as possible (think about it from a business perspective…more shelf life means more MONEY!). The cost? Cancer….

There are many bad ingredients out there in the market today, but the ones I listed above are the absolute worst that you should avoid!

Where exactly can I find the bad ingredients on the nutrition label?

See my image below. Most ingredients are found in small print underneath the nutrition facts. Either way, they are more than likely located in the same area as the nutrition label:

Are there any alternative out there to healthy eating? – Bad Ingredients

If you are worried after reading this article, Don’t be!!! The main thing in any fitness and nutrition/diet journey is to eat in moderation. If you eat something that contains an unhealthy or bad ingredient from time-to-time, that is OK. It’s when it becomes a habit that the WEIGHT will start adding up, and the Risk of health problems will increase.

Alternative #1 – Get good Nutrition Supplements: Whether you are taking a multi-vitamin everyday or you are drinking Shakeology, you are fueling your body with the right vitamins and minerals to ward off and/or prevent certain diseases.

Alternative #2 – Cleanse and Reset: Are you at a point where you know you’ve been consuming way too many bad ingredients? Maybe you have weight to lose, you are sluggish, or you feel that you need to hit the “reset” button on your internal computer that’s called your life! If that is the case check out the Beachbody Ultimate Reset Reviews to see if taking a 21-day reset is right for you.

In closing, keep a close eye on those bad ingredients I noted above. With this, you can live a healthier life by fueling your body with the right foods it needs to fire on all cylinders!

Yours,

Bob Sharpe