5 Ingredients You Should Avoid To Improve Your Health Now

Added extras could be creeping into your diet and damaging your health, so Chassidy Smothers show you the additives you should keep a suspicious eye out for on your food’s packaging.

What if I told you that taking less than a minute to read the nutritional labels of the foods you eat could save you from obesity, brain damage and, potentially, cancer? Well, it’s possible, just as long as you know what to look for.

1. Surcalose

Sucralose is a staple ingredient in the low-calorie sweetener Splenda. But a study on animals, published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, showed it actually increases weight gain and reduces good gut bacteria by 50%. OK, so those were animal studies, but if it’s not good for them, imagine what it could be doing to your insides. Until more research has been done on this product, it’s probably best to err on the side of caution.

2. Artificial Colors

These are found in many products from candy to cereal to baked goods, and they’re used to give food a fun and attractive look. Many food dyes currently approved for use have been linked to health issues ranging from hyperactivity in children, allergy reactions and even cancer, found research in Environmental Health Perspectives. So be sure to avoid excessively colored foods because even in nature, bright colors are often used to denote poison.

3. High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

This is a commercial sweetener used by companies as a cheap  eplacement for sugar or sucrose. HFCS is typically found in foods that don’t have the micronutrients you need to help metabolize the sweetener properly, which has led to several studies linking it to obesity, heart disease, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay and more. Don’t think it’s limited to your food because it’s in many things including soda, other sugary drinks and processed snacks.

4. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

This is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids. MSG is a flavor enhancer used to give foods a sweet, salty, bitter or sour taste. It’s found in many canned soups, processed meats and frozen dinners.

What’s more, people who use it in their food are more likely to be obese, even if they exercise as much as people who don’t use it, found research at the University of North Carolina.

It’s an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites our cells potentially to the point of damage or death. This can trigger or worsen learning disabilities, or even cause brain damage.

5. Aspartame

What do milk drinks, breath mints and laxatives all have in common?

Answer: they all contain aspartame. This ingredient is made up of aspartic acid and phenylalanine and though it can be found in more than 6,000 products available on the market, it’s been proven to be one of, if not the most harmful additive on shelves. Dr. Woody Monte, professor emeritus at Arizona State University in food and chemistry, found aspartame accounts for more than 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious, including seizures and death.

Taking Action

Taking less than a minute to look on a nutritional label to ensure you avoid the above ingredients in your food can make it easier to endure your busy lifestyle. Avoiding sucralose, artificial coloring, high-fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate and aspartame is a small nutritional step that will make a big difference in your health over time. Fortunately, none of these are found on foods you can grow, pick or hunt. Yet another good reason to go all-natural.

Find nutritional information and more in every issue of TRAIN for HER magazine.