The Dangers of Processed Food

Processed food is everywhere. It is hard to avoid and seems to be a staple among young children. We grew up on goldfish and macaroni and cheese, so I used to think it wasn’t that bad. But the more I know about nutrition, the scarier this processed food is becoming. Being gluten and dairy free and soy light eliminates 95% of this processed kid food. But as I read every ingredient on every label on every food that I even consider buying, I have become more aware of how this processed food has changed since we were growing up. Although we don’t eat goldfish anymore, the “goldfish” today are probably not the same recipe that they were when we were growing up. They probably contain additional additives and preservatives that didn’t even exist when we were growing up.

The article: “Surprise Ingredients in Fast Food” I found at NaturalNews really opened my mind to how bad processed food is for developing children and how most processed food contains “six ingredients commonly used to hide free glutamate (MSG): calcium caseinate, hydrolyzed corn, yeast extract, soy protein isolate, spices, and natural flavors.”

“MSG-Hidden Sources” on NaturoDoc also gives a thorough explanation of how MSG is hidden in most processed food. According to the article: “Manufacturers also hide MSG as part of “natural flavorings,” because it is a natural product. But being natural is not the same as being harmless.

For snacks, we try to have fruit, nuts, homemade cookies, homemade muffins, rice cakes, Organic Kettle potato chips, corn chips or organic popcorn which have three ingredients (organic potatoes, safflower or sunflower oil and salt) and are clearly labeled NO MSG, NO TRANSFATS, NO ARTIFICIAL ANYTHING.