With our busy lives, many of us eat drive thru’ meals, skip meals, or rely on packaged foods to provide our bodies with nutrients. Its easy to assume that the foods we purchase are going to be good for us. However, this is usually not the case. Ingredients are added to food to increase shelf life, decrease cost for manufacturers, and enhance color and taste. In return, these ingredients cause havoc on our bodies and can be harmful to our health. I would like to offer a few tools to make informed decisions at the grocery store for you and your family.

WHAT’S IN MY FOOD?
To be a smart consumer, it is necessary for you to have knowledge of the additives that are put in your food. I cannot possibly list all harmful ingredients found on food labels. I have identified three main categories that I recommend eliminating from your diet. Consider this a starting point for a lifelong habit of label reading for the food you eat.

WHAT TO AVOID?
CATEGORY 1: SWEETENERS AND SUGAR SUBSTITUTES
Sweeteners and sugar substitutes can stimulate the release of insulin and increase triglycerides leading to weight gain and type 2 diabetes. Below are the sweeteners that I recommend removing from your diet.

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP(HFCS), CORN SYRUP, & CORN SOLIDS are used in soft drinks, jams, condiments, fruit juices, and packaged foods, to name a few. You may be surprised to find how many foods have high fructose corn syrup. HFCS does not raise insulin levels, but is known to increase triglycerides, which is linked to obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.

MALTODEXTRIN is a combination of glucose molecules stringed together through a chemical process. Maltodextrin raises insulin levels and thus promotes obesity and diabetes.

ASPARTAME is an artificial sweetener that is sold as NutraSweet (blue packets). Aspartame is found in diet foods and diet drinks. It is believed to cause weight gain, increases the risk of developing cancer, and decreases memory. There are more than 92 negative side effects of Aspartame. “Sweet Poison” a book by Dr. Janet Starr- Hull lists headaches, memory loss, seizures, vision loss, coma, and cancer as Aspartame side effects. It is also said to worsen or mimic the symptoms of fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, ADD, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, thyroid diseases such as hypothyroidism and Graves disease, chronic fatigue, and depression. To add insult to injury, aspartame makes you hungrier and fatter! Research suggests that it may stimulate a hunger hormone in the stomach. It should definitely be avoided.

SPLENDA is another name for sucralose (yellow packets) and has now captured over half of the $1 billion market for artificial sweeteners. At this point, effects of this chemical are unknown. Headaches, rashes, panic attacks, irritability, nausea, abdominal cramps, joint pains, impaired memory and concentration are some of the symptoms described by patients. I recommend avoiding this sweetener.

SACCHAARIN (pink packets) is probably the safest of the artificial packaged sweeteners, however like all artificial sweeteners, it creates an increased appetite for sweet things.

GOOD SWEETNERS: If you need to use a sweetener, I recommend using raw cane sugar, rice sugar, and beet sugar sparingly. Xylitol, Erythritol, LoHan and Stevia are natural sweeteners that I recommended to patients and use personally.

CATEGORY 2: FLAVOR ENHANCERS Flavoring agents are the largest category of additives and include over 1200 items. A large number of them stimulate appetite by directly influencing the hunger centers of the brain. You eat more to satisfy these cravings. One main flavoring agent, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), aka Yeast Extract releases glutamic acid. Glutamic Acid causes a variety of symptoms: burning sensation in the back of the neck, forearms and chest,numbness, tingling, facial pressure or tightness, chest pain, headache, nausea, rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, drowsiness and weakness. Chronic MSG sensitivity is associated with diseases such as ADD, ADHD, Fibromyalgia, Autism, food and chemical sensitivity syndromes, and a myriad other neuro-degenerative diseases. High blood pressure is associated with chronic MSG consumption. Hidden Names for MSG Foods always contain MSG when these words are on the label:
– MSG
– Gelatin
– Calcium Caseinate
– Monosodium glutamate
– Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
– Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP)
– Textured Protein
– Yeast Extract
– Monopotassium glutamate
– Glutamate Autolyzed Plant Protein
– Yeast food or nutrient
– Glutamic Acid
– Sodium Caseinate
– Autolyzed Yeast

I recommend visiting www.MSGTruth.org for connections between diseases and MSG. It will convince you to avoid using MSG products altogether .

CATEGORY 3: HYDROGENATED OILS / TRANSFATS These oils are known to increase your risk of having a heart attack, stroke, developing Diabetes, and clogging your arteries. Hydrogenated Oils are found in margarines, breads, cakes, potato chips, ice cream, etc. Europe banned hydrogenated oils over 40 years ago due to negative health implications. More recently, New York city restaurants were banned from using these oils. Packages can advertise “No Transfats” and the product still contains trans fats. How can this be? They can label the product “No Transfats” if it contains 0.5 grams or less of trans fatty acids per serving. Therefore, food manufacturers are decreasing serving sizes to meet this requirement. This is an example of deceptive labeling. When reading product labels, avoid foods that have hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.

FINAL THOUGHTS Avoiding these three categories of additives will help prevent disease and obesity. Due to space limitation please understand that this is not an exhaustive list. There are many more harmful ingredients that should be eliminated from your diet. I also recommend avoiding Sodium Nitrite, Sulfites, Soy Protein Isolate, BHA/BHT, FD & C Coloring Agents, and Sodium Benzoate. To discuss how this information affects your particular health conditions or for Nutritional counseling, please call my office to schedule an appointment. -Varsha Rathod, M.D.

Smart Food Tips:

1) Buy from local farmers. Local organically grown food is best.
2) If you can not pronounce it, read it, or understand it, don’t eat it.
3) Cook with good oils: rice bran, olive, grape seed, sunflower, safflower, and coconut.
4) Use real butter (in moderation) vs. margarine.
5) Eat fresh produce with a variety of colors. Colorful foods are packed with nutrients (peppers, carrots, almonds,
spinach, blueberries, whole oats, etc.).
6) Do not drink soda, including diet soda. Drink fresh, filtered water, up to half your body weight in ounces.
7) Eat raw foods when possible. I recommend that a minimum of 30% of your diet contain raw foods. Fresh fruit,
vegetables, nuts, and seeds are in this category.
8) Stop eating when you feel full. A good rule of thumb is to eat the amount of food that fits in your cupped
hands.
9) Watch out for deceptively small serving sizes and don’t be fooled by the print on the front of the product, turn
it over and always read the ingredients.
10) Limit your use of sugar and all sweeteners.

Start Detoxing…

Ion Cleanse: Foot Detoxification
Our modern environment exposes us to toxins everyday through food, water, and air. “More than 80,000 harmful chemicals, in the form of pesticides, fertilizers, synthetic additives, and environmental pollutants, assault your body every day.” (Ann Louise Gittleman-The Fast Track Detox Diet). Periodically cleansing these pollutants from the body helps you maintain high energy levels and avoid disease. Without routine detoxification small problems can develop into larger ones as toxins backup into vital organs such as the kidneys or colon. The body is better able to heal and repair itself when it is free of toxins.

Foot detoxification is one of several approaches used in removing toxins from the body. The foot cleanse system works with positive and negative ions to draw out impurities. The movement of water from the basin into your feet and up into the body is supported by a chemical force known as osmotic pressure. This simple technique allows for a safe and non-invasive way to detoxify. I am recommending foot detox for all of my patients unless they have a condition that forbids it. Patients who have slow digestion, fatigue, or suffer from swelling of the extremities may want to consider starting this therapy as soon as possible. It is not necessary to see me to get started with foot detox.

If you are interested, my staff will walk you through scheduling your first appointment. A foot detox treatment is typically 30 minutes long. Some patients schedule sessions before or after seeing me to take full advantage of the time they are here. Please contact my staff at 314- 997-5403 if you have questions or would like to schedule an appointment.

Author Bio: About the Author: Dr. Varsha Rathod is a Board Certified Rheumatologist and Internist. Preventive Medicine has focused on a combination of traditional and holistic medicine since 1967. For more information about alternative solutions, visit http://www.preventivemedicinestl.com or call 314-997-5403.

Category: Medicines and Remedies
Keywords: High Fructose Corn Syrup,Aspartame,Sugar Subsituties,Ingredients,Food Ingredients,