Food additives - beware of the dangers
By telzzz
@telzzz (66)
Spain
January 15, 2007 3:35am CST
I am very wary of what goes into the food I cook. When I shop, I always read the labels to make sure there are no dangerous additives in the food. Do you?
Things like monosodium glutamate, aspartame, sorbitol, artificial colours, flavourings and sweeteners etc all get put back on the shelf. I'm also conscious of the amount of salt and sugar added to foods, so try to avoid things that are high in those. So, as you can imagine, the majority of packaged or canned stuff never gets to the checkout ion my trolley!
I mainly go for fresh vegetables (organic where possible), fresh meat and fish and fresh baked wholemeal bread over pre-packed pre-sliced stuff. I only use extra virgin olive oil to stir-fry food. Veggies get steamed, fish grilled, lots of olive oil and cider vinegar on salads and I use a lot of garlic which is a good blood cleanser - cuts down on the cholesterol! I don't worry too much about the garlic breath, because I live in Spain most people eat garlic here and it is well documented that Mediterranean people live the longest! Bon appetit!
4 responses
@faylinn_chaeli (1619)
• Philippines
15 Jan 07
Sometimes monosodium glutamate in foods is really hard to avoid most especially if you love chips. Yes it is really harmful to the health but as for me, what can I do, I love those foods. Anyway I also eat some fruits so I guess that's one way to balance the amount of preservatives consumption, I hope so.
@telzzz (66)
• Spain
15 Jan 07
If you love chips and hate MSG, the best way is to make them yourself! Its easy and much more healthy than buying them ready-made. Just get a common potato, slice it to whatever thickness you like, heat some olive oil with a good pinch of sea or rock salt added in a pan. When the oil is hot, put the raw chips in the oil. Be careful in case it spits! They fry really fast, so you have to watch them all the time. Then get a plate, put a piece of kitchen towel on it to soak up the excess oil, then take the chips out and put them on the paper. You can eat them straight away or let them cool. They taste great and no nasties!
@shoelover (896)
• Australia
15 Jan 07
My husband has a condition called Aggression/Depression. Whe have narrowed down a flavour enhancer that makes his condition get worse. Whenever I do grocery shopping anything that contains Flavour Enhancers is out of my list. It makes my husband behave very very aggressive. Twisties and most chips even contain this enhancer. The have also worked out this flavour enhancer can cause aggressive behavior in children suffereing with ADD, ADHD ect. I make all my own gravies and have fresh fruits all the time. Meat from the supermarkets contain this flavour enhancer also so I buy my meat from a butcher. I have checked with them to ensure no flavour enhancer is used in any meat products from there.
@telzzz (66)
• Spain
15 Jan 07
There's a big stink being kicked up about the term "flavour enhancer" being used in foods. More often than not, that flavour enhancer is MSG (monosodium glutamate! They disguise it as simply "flavour enhancer" because lots of people are now aware of the dangers of MSG. I have a blog I recently started about food additives - the link is in my profile if you're interested.
1 person likes this
@parassiniprashob (479)
• India
15 Jan 07
we should take care of our daily food needs , we should reduce fats, carbohydrate etc as it need in a certain amount, we need good proteins essential aminaoacids, minerals and vitamins
@CTHanum (8234)
• Malaysia
31 May 11
I love to eat but what most important is to have it in moderation size. I eat at late at night even if some might think that it is not good too but since I will wake up till late so I don't have reasons to not to take any healthy snack to fill my hunger. As far more important is to have it everything in medium and moderation intakes.
@CTHanum (8234)
• Malaysia
31 May 11
There is no way for me not to read the labels every time I buy my foods. Every one of my family were taught to read the labels, the manufacturers and for sure the date as well. But it does not mean that we need to buy all the organic products since they are much expensive. I loved steamed and grilled foods rather than fried or spicy but my family can't live without spicy foods. Hehe..thank god we are all healthy because we eat more homemade foods than processed foods. When we cook homemade menus we tend to control every ingredients size so we don't worry to much about the MSG, sugar, falvourings etc.
