stuff in our food
Post on 07-May-2015
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Stuff in Your Food
Be an educated consumer – learn what’s in your food and
how you can change it
What’s in our food?
• There is a lot of stuff in food
• Food can be simple – containing less than 10 ingredients
• Food can be very complex – containing a list of 70+ ingredients
• Food that you eat can either be supportive to your health or be detrimental to your health
What we are talking about…
• Good stuff in our food• Reading food labels• Food ingredients• Scary stuff in our food
Life-giving stuff in our food…
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Energy (calories)
• Other healthy compounds – fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, water, antioxidants, phytochemicals
Water Soluble Vitamins
B-Vitamins– Thiamin – whole grains– Riboflavin – milk products and whole grains– Niacin – animal products and whole grains– Biotin – whole grains, made in GI Tract– Pantothenic acid – widespread in foods– Vitamin B6 – meats and legumes– Folate – whole grains– Vitamin B12 – animal products and nutritional
yeast
Vitamin C – fruits, fresh vegetables
Vitamin B12
Works very closely with folate in DNA synthesis and red blood cell
Deficiency – results in anemia, fatigue, degeneration of nerve tissue resulting in paralysis
Food sources:– Animal products (meat, milk, cheese, eggs)– Root vegetables– Fortified cereals– Nutritional yeast
Folate (Folic Acid)Folate is extremely important for women of child-
bearing age
Folate deficiency can affect the neural tube development of fetuses
Folate is great for preventing heart disease!
Food sources:– Whole and enriched grain products– Leafy greens– Legumes– seeds
Fat Soluble Vitamins
Vitamin A – dark yellow orange vegetables, acne medicine Accutane
Vitamin D – sunlight
Vitamin E – oils
Vitamin K – synthesized in GI tract
Minerals
Sodium Calcium
PotassiumPhosphorous
Chloride Magnesium
Take a look at potassium and sodium in processed
foods
Energy (Calories)
Carbohydrates
Proteins
Fats
Dietary FiberGreat for your digestive system – gut bacteria feed off of
it!
Great for your blood cholesterol level – soluble fiber binds cholesterol.
Diets high in fiber have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer.
Foods high in dietary fiber:– Whole grains and whole grain products– Fruits– Vegetables
Foods low in fiber:– Meats and animal products– Processed foods like candies, cookies, bread, crackers,
snacky foods.
Why Whole Grains?High in FIBER!High in vitamins and mineralsGreat for weight
management – foods high in fiber tend to fill you up and keep you full.
Great for your overall health!
Non-whole grain foods:– White rice– White pasta– White bread– Some wheat breads– Cookies, crackers, etc.
Fats, fats, fats, oh My!Good Fats
Monounsaturated fats– Olive oil, canola oil, peanut
oil, avocadosPolyunsaturated fats– Vegetable oils – sunflower,
safflower, sesame, soy, and corn
– Nuts and seedsOmega-3 Fatty Acids– Fatty fish – salmon, mackeral,
sardines– Grass fed beef, pastured eggs– Walnuts, flax seeds, soybeans
Omega-6 Fatty Acids– Vegetable oils– Poultry fat, eggs, meats– Nuts, seeds
Not so good fatsSaturated fats– Animal products– Coconut oil– Palm oil
Trans fats– Partially hydrogenated
vegetable oils found in processed foods like cakes, cookies, snack foods and candies.
Fats, fats, fats, oh My!Good Fats
Monounsaturated fats– Olive oil, canola oil, peanut
oil, avocadosPolyunsaturated fats– Vegetable oils – sunflower,
safflower, sesame, soy, and corn
– Nuts and seedsOmega-3 Fatty Acids– Fatty fish – salmon, mackeral,
sardines– Grass fed beef, pastured eggs– Walnuts, flax seeds, soybeans
Omega-6 Fatty Acids– Vegetable oils– Poultry fat, eggs, meats– Nuts, seeds
Not so good fatsSaturated fats– Animal products– Coconut oil– Palm oil
Trans fats– Partially hydrogenated
vegetable oils found in processed foods like cakes, cookies, snack foods and candies.
Decoding an ingredient list:
INGREDIENTS: Enriched flour [wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid], vegetable shortening (partially hydrogenated soybean and/or canola oils), skim milk cheese (skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, annatto extract color), salt, paprika, yeast, paprika oleoresin color.
Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils – Trans Fats! Avoid these…
Other good stuff in our food…
Water!– Found in most food that we eat– Fruits and veggies are made up of 70% or more
water
Phytochemicals and antioxidants– Found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, some
animals (very few)– Great great great!– Examples: lycopene, vitamin A, vitamin E,
vitamin C
Moving on…
What is the key to unlocking the secret
about the stuff in your food?
Reading a food labelServing Size - what is considered a “serving”?
Servings per container – no, serving size isn’t actually how much that package of food contains
Calories – good ‘ol energy!
Calories from fat – yep, pretty just that!
Total fat – things with >4g of fat you should be worried about if it is coming in a package in processed form
Saturated fat – check out the label – how much of this saturated fat counts towards your daily recommendations?
Reading a food label…Carbohydrates – fuel for your brain!
Dietary fiber – good sources of fiber have >5g per serving.
Sugars – these tend to be added sugars in processed foods, so anything >10g is questionable…
Protein – yep, this is good stuff; proteins in processed foods typically come from the additives that they use (like whey, soy protein, etc.)
Vitamins and Minerals! – only ones listed are A, C, calcium, and iron
Reading a food label…
The Ingredient List Scale of Scariness:
< 7 items – great!
7 < items < 15 – okay
>15 items – getting scary
>30 items – NO WAY!
Ingredients:Whole corn, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: corn, soybean, and/or sunflower oil), cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), salt, corn maltodextrin, whey, monosodium glutamate (MSG), tomato powder, Romano cheese (part-skim cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), onion powder, disodium phosphate, garlic powder, lactose, natural and artificial flavor, dextrose, spice, citric acid, sour cream (cultured milk, nonfat milk), sugar, nonfat milk, lactic acid, buttermilk, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate.
Contains: Milk ingredients
This item contains 35 ingredients!
Lets take a look at some food labels/ingredient lists:
Can you guess?Ingredients:
Whole corn, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: corn, soybean, and/or sunflower oil), cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), salt, corn maltodextrin, whey, monosodium glutamate (MSG), tomato powder, Romano cheese (part-skim cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), onion powder, disodium phosphate, garlic powder, lactose, natural and artificial flavor, dextrose, spice, citric acid, sour cream (cultured milk, nonfat milk), sugar, nonfat milk, lactic acid, buttermilk, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate.
Contains: Milk ingredients
Can you guess?
Ingredients:
Water, white rice, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar
Horchata – a traditional rice milk
drink made in Mexico
Can you guess?
Ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, sugar, water, non-dairy creamer (partially hydrogenated coconut oil), corn syrup solids, sodium caseinate, mono- and di-glycerides, dipotassium phosphate. Contains 2% or less: Sodium silicoaluminate, soy lecithin, whey protein, cinnamon, vanillin, natural caramel color, rice flour, potassium sorbate
Moving on…
What is even more scary than a long ingredient list?
… what those ingredients are!
Chemical AdditivesThings added to our food to preserve
them, make them taste good, make them a different color….
Chemical Preservatives
Artificial Coloring
Artificial Flavoring
Chemical Preservatives - BHT and BHA -
Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)
Most widely used antioxidant in food/drug industry
Not permitted in infant foods
Top 10 of most commonly used preservatives in cosmetics
Chemical Preservatives- Benzoic Acid -
Where does it come from?– coal tar– resin– may be derived
from animals
Artificial Colorings- Red No. 40 -
Concerns:– behavioral and
neurological effects– hyperactive
behavior in children– lower IQ
Artificial Colorings- Carminic Acid -
Comes from:crushed bodies of the female Dactyolpius coccus – an Indonesian scale insect
Also known as carmine
Artificial Flavorings- Aspartame -
Concerns:– Headaches– Cancer
Artificial Flavorings- Saccharin -
Concerns:– Causes cancer in
laboratory animals
Other ingredients thought or
known to cause cancer:Sucralose
Sodium nitrate and nitrite
Artificial and natural flavorings
Acesulfame-K
Potassium bromate
Propyl Gallate
Genetically Modified Organism
Seen by many scientists as the new food revolution of the future
70% of the processed foods in America now contain GMO ingredients
What is it?– Genes from completely different species can
be inserted into each other– Scientist in Taiwan have succeeded at inserting
jellyfish genes into pigs in order to make them glow in the dark
- Genetically Modified Organism -
Concerns:– allergic reactions,
gene mutations, antibiotic resistance, loss of nutrition, damage to environment, social implications
– superweeds, terminator seeds
– CORPORATE OWNERSHIP
Hormones- rBST or rBGH -
Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST)
Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH)
Concerns:– Animal health– Increase in insulin-like
growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in cows – identical in humans
- Antibiotics -Used in meat and
animal production to keep animals “healthy”
Traces found in meat and animal products
Risks – increased tolerance to antibiotics; antibiotic resistant SUPERBUGS!
- Biomagnification -
What is it?
What foods have the highest levels of biomagnified pollutants?
What is being done about it?
- Metals: Mercury -
Food Sources:- Fish- High Fructose
Corn Syrup
Concerns:- harmful to the developing brain
- Metals: Arsenic - Sources:
Chicken WaterOther poultryRiceFish
Concerns:CancerDiabetesHeart disease Arsenic has been a gov.
approved additive in chicken
feed for years!
- Pesticides and Herbicides -
• Organophosphates• DDT• Dioxin
Concerns:CancerKidney diseaseBirth defectsPoor healthPremature deathHormone disruptionNervous system disordersReproductive damage
- Mad Cow Disease / BSE -Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Infectious disease of the brain of cattle
If humans eat the tissue of a cow with ‘mad cow’ disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Prions – infectious proteins
- E. Coli o157:H7 -
Source: Cow Manure
Found in:- beef- raw veggies
Concerns:intestinal discomfortbloody diarrheadeath
- Bird Flu -
Tips to avoiding nasty things in foods…
• Stick with whole food products• Skip processed foods• Read the ingredient list• Limit/avoid contaminated
animal products• Eat foods grown without
pesticides/herbicides• Cook animal products
thoroughly
There is Hope!
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