Give Us This Day Our Daily Dead – Ingredients
by Marco G.
I am continuing my article series about what nutrition actually is, not what the industry has reduced it to be; all in the name of profit.
Today, I implore you to stay with the lengthier article before you, because frankly, what is in it can completely shock you, as it certainly did me!
Imagine you are making an effort to eat clean and nourish your body and then, perhaps one of THE cleanest sources you believe you are consuming, turns out to be a toxicity bomb that can cause side effects that are downright frightening!
As far as nutrition and clean eating goes, I like to consider myself fairly knowledgeable. However, in the last few months I’ve gone way deeper into research as I make changes to my style of eating, yet again. Neither Susan or I, buy things in boxes, nor eat out much, we take the time and effort to pack homemade lunches and snacks, and we are avid nutrition label and ingredient information readers. Susan also points out, “ever notice ingredients are almost always in fine print and nearly impossible to read?”
In my book, “Starving to be Fat,” which is undergoing a rewrite, I made a pretty big deal about how to correctly identify whole grain/whole wheat bread. The fact is that unless the bread contains 100% whole grain whole wheat flour including the germ, it is not 100% truly whole wheat. That’s fine, however, what if it does contain that and it’s still really bad for you? Why does it have Ammonium Chloride in it, which is used as a prescription medication? WHY IS THAT IN YOUR BREAD? WHY ARE YOU EATING IT? (Read about the potential side effects below). The other ingredients in that “healthy bread” can cause ulcers, ruin your stomach lining and so on.
Ugh, I feel like throwing up!
Yes, today a lot of you may wind up going to the cupboard to throw out that so-called “healthier“ bread. Know what? I had basically stopped reading the ingredients list after I had found that the bread I was buying did, in fact, include whole grain whole wheat flour including the germ, but I should have read farther.
This weekend I changed the bread I buy. Here are the ingredients: Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour, Pure Filtered Water, Unpasteurized Honey, Yeast and Sea Salt. This is from a company called VegeHut. (see image.)
There is also a leading, big name company that sells a whole wheat bread with over 20 ingredients. The question is WHY? Why on earth would bread need to have over 20 ingredients?
Here is an analogy I like to use. You go out and buy organic spinach, organic tomatoes, everything is super clean and at the end of it all, you throw bottled salad dressing that contains trans fats all over it. Meaning you, or more likely, a company can claim on the label, that this is an organic salad and in fact, those organic ingredients are very good for you, but the health benefits stop there. The bread I’m going to tear apart below contains the coveted whole wheat germ, but like the salad, the goodness ends there. These are some of the ingredients that are in that same bread with that earthy-good for you looking label (see image to the right) and that farmer lovingly cradling a basket of grains and wheat, like a baby – except that baby is more like Chucky of the famous horror movies.
IN YOUR 100% WHOLE WHEAT BREAD INCLUDING THE GERM IS:
AMMONIUM CHLORIDE: POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS
➢ confusion
➢ drowsiness
➢ frequent passing of urine
➢ headaches
➢ increased thirst
➢ muscle stiffness or twitching
➢ muscle weakness
BENZOYL PEROXIDE – This is the primary ingredient in acne medications!
If your motivation for buying whole grain bread is higher nutritional value, you might be surprised to learn that benzoyl peroxide is a powerful oxidant that destroys nutrients in flour, especially vitamin A and the B vitamins (which include folic acid). This is ironic, because those ‘in the know’ buy whole grain bread for B vitamins!
CALCIUM AND SODIUM PROPIONATE
Calcium and sodium propionate have the potential to permanently damage your stomach lining by exacerbating gastritis and inducing severe ulcers. You should avoid fast-food products that have a higher ratio of calcium propionate, such as buns, pastries and pizza. Typically, freshly baked bread products avoid the addition of calcium propionate, which is why they tend to spoil more quickly.
GLUCOSE/FRUCTOSE
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)—also called Glucose-Fructose in Canada! DID YOU SEE THAT? See last week’s newsletter about the awful side effects of HFCS.
SOYBEAN OIL
The majority of soybeans grown in the US are genetically engineered, and as a result saturated with dangerous levels of the herbicide, glyphosate that may likely have additional health consequences.
CONCLUSION? DO NOT STOP AT THE CALORIE or MACRO INGREDIENT levels (Fats, Proteins and Carbs) in your label reading. Again, do not trust what you read on the shiny label with the nutritious looking pictures and claims! Think nutrition!
P.S. I was able to find VegeHut at our local Whole Food Market store.
Sources, Marco Girgenti, Dr. Mercola, LiveStrong.com, WebMD.com, Dempsters.com, University of Utah and VegeHut breads.