What's in Your Food??
Millions of us Americans eat junk food every day without giving it a second thought.

Did you ever stop to wonder what was inside your afternoon snack? How about beef jerky? Do you think it's perfectly safe? Well, think again!! Beef jerky is high in nitrates, a chemical that can cause cancer if you have too much of it.

Even if you read the list of ingredients on the labels of food and drink, you'd most likely know no more than you did before you started. And forget about trying to pronounce the names of them!! Do you know what "thiamine mononitrate" and "soy lecithin" is? Or what about "annatto extract"? It is definitely a language all of its own!

• Thiamine mononitrate - another name for Vitamin B-1
• Soy lecithin - fatty deposits from steamed soybeans used to thicken foods
• Annatto extract - a natural food coloring that comes from a tropical fruit seed

Some ingredients might be familiar words to you, like caffeine, but do you know how they affect you? Red Bull helps you stay awake, but did you know that Red Bull is full of caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it makes you pee a lot and dehydrates your body. It can also cause problems such as headaches, agitation, insomnia, and stomach cramps. Caffeine can hurt you when you drink too much of it.

Thanks to man, and factory-made foods, chemical additives are a big part of our diets.

Food Additives to Avoid!!
Acesulfame K

• Artificial sweetener: found in baked goods, chewing gum, gelatin desserts, diet soda, Sunette.

Artificial Colorings

• Blue 1 found inn beverages, candy, baked goods.
• Blue 2 found in pet food, beverages, candy.
• Green 3 (rarely used) found in candy, beverages.
• Red 3 found in candy, baked goods.
• Yellow 6 found in beverages, sausage, baked goods, candy, gelatin.

Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) and Saccharin

• Artificial sweeteners: found in diet foods, no-sugar-added products, soft drinks, drink mixes, gelatin desserts, low-calorie frozen desserts, sweetener packets.

Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)

• Antioxidant: found in cereals, chewing gum, potato chips, vegetable oil

Olestra (Olean)

• Fat substitute: found in Lay's Light Chips, Pringles Light chips. (Products made with olestra should not be called "fat free," because they contain substantial amounts of indigestible fat).

Potassium Bromate

• Flour improver: found in white flour, bread and rolls.

Propyl Gallate

• Antioxidant preservative: found in vegetable oil, meat products, potato sticks, chicken soup base, chewing gum.

Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate

• Preservative, coloring, flavoring: found in bacon, ham, frankfurters, luncheon meats, smoked fish, corned beef.

Trans Fat

• Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil
  
  • Fat, oil, shortening: found in stick margarine, crackers, fried restaurant foods, baked goods, icing, microwave popcorn.

Cut Back
Caffeine
Salt (Sodium Chloride)
Sugar (Sucrose)
Corn Syrup
Dextrose (Corn Sugar, Glucose)
Fructose
High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Hydrogenatated Starch Hydrolysate
Invert Sugar
Lactitol
Maltitol
Mannitol
Polydextrose
Salatrim
Sorbitol
Tagatose
Xylitol

That's a lot of food additives to avoid. Aren't alot of those in junk type food like candy?

Yep, factory made foods, and usually foods of low nutritional value. It's always a good idea to check the ingredients on the food labels though, if you are concerned about all these additives.