Showing posts with label Food Additives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Additives. Show all posts
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Not Soy Good After All?
I've always heard that highly processed ingredients from soy are bad for you. Things like soy-protein isolate and the like. It is in a surprisingly large amount of familiar products. Conversely, I've always heard that natural forms of soy are good for you. (Like soy milk and tofu.) This article I read today makes me rethink that. It scares me to think that an ingredient in gasoline may have been used to process my soy milk this morning! Be safe. Buy organic. It's not perfect, but it does help limit the amount of chemicals you are ingesting. Check out this article and tell me what you think.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Vegetable Glycerin as a Sweetener?
I have been following the Yeast Connection diet for the past few weeks and I have been using the "Candida Control Cookbook" to help me come up with yummy, legal meals. There are several recipes in there that call for "100% vegetable glycerine" to be used as a sweetener in muffins, pies, etc.
"What!?" I thought, "Isn't that the stuff they use in soap? Is is safe to eat?" Well, after researching it on the internet, it seems as though it is safe it eat. (Although yes it IS what they use in soap as well as cosmetics and things.) They use it as a sweetener in toothpaste and in low carb foods (like Atkins bars), so apparently the FDA has approved it for human consumption. From what I read, it is safe for diabetics as well since it doesn't affect blood sugar. I'm still dubious about it though. Especially in light of my previous post.
Vegetable glycerin is derived from coconut or palm oils. Since it does seem to be a natural substance, I decided to try it. However, I am still following my "s" rule and won't have it during the week. I figure that if I only have it on the weekends, in small amounts, it probably won't hurt. Besides, on my diet there is no other allowed sweetener.
I tried a bit by itself just to see what it tastes like. It tastes sweet, but kind of has a weird almost bitter foretaste. (Apparently, you don't notice it when you use it in recipes though.) I made a "Mock Margarita" (which I have dubbed "Mockarita") with it last night and was pleasantly surprised. It really did taste surprisingly similar to a margarita! (Since I can't have any alcohol either, it was quite a treat.)
Here is the recipe from the Candida Control Cookbook if you want to try it for yourself:
Mock Margarita (or Mockarita!)
makes 2 servings
5 fresh limes, scrubbed and cut in half
sea salt
1 1/2 cups crushed ice
2 tablespoons 100% pure vegetable glycerin
Using 2 large Margarita or wine glasses, rub 1/2 lime around rims. Pour salt on a small, flat plate. Roll rims of glasses in salt. Squeeze juice of rest of limes into a blender, reserving 1/2 lime for garnish. Add ice and glycerin. Mix until foamy. Pour beverage into glasses. Cut reserved lime half into 2 wedges; garnish.
Note: If you don't have a yeast problem and you want to make it alcoholic, go ahead and add a couple of shots of tequila! I put a shot of it in my husband's and he liked it. It's still healthier than most margarita mixes.
"What!?" I thought, "Isn't that the stuff they use in soap? Is is safe to eat?" Well, after researching it on the internet, it seems as though it is safe it eat. (Although yes it IS what they use in soap as well as cosmetics and things.) They use it as a sweetener in toothpaste and in low carb foods (like Atkins bars), so apparently the FDA has approved it for human consumption. From what I read, it is safe for diabetics as well since it doesn't affect blood sugar. I'm still dubious about it though. Especially in light of my previous post.
Vegetable glycerin is derived from coconut or palm oils. Since it does seem to be a natural substance, I decided to try it. However, I am still following my "s" rule and won't have it during the week. I figure that if I only have it on the weekends, in small amounts, it probably won't hurt. Besides, on my diet there is no other allowed sweetener.
I tried a bit by itself just to see what it tastes like. It tastes sweet, but kind of has a weird almost bitter foretaste. (Apparently, you don't notice it when you use it in recipes though.) I made a "Mock Margarita" (which I have dubbed "Mockarita") with it last night and was pleasantly surprised. It really did taste surprisingly similar to a margarita! (Since I can't have any alcohol either, it was quite a treat.)
Here is the recipe from the Candida Control Cookbook if you want to try it for yourself:
Mock Margarita (or Mockarita!)
makes 2 servings
5 fresh limes, scrubbed and cut in half
sea salt
1 1/2 cups crushed ice
2 tablespoons 100% pure vegetable glycerin
Using 2 large Margarita or wine glasses, rub 1/2 lime around rims. Pour salt on a small, flat plate. Roll rims of glasses in salt. Squeeze juice of rest of limes into a blender, reserving 1/2 lime for garnish. Add ice and glycerin. Mix until foamy. Pour beverage into glasses. Cut reserved lime half into 2 wedges; garnish.
Note: If you don't have a yeast problem and you want to make it alcoholic, go ahead and add a couple of shots of tequila! I put a shot of it in my husband's and he liked it. It's still healthier than most margarita mixes.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The First Big Step
In my opinion, the biggest thing you can do for your health is to stop eating processed food. As chef Jamie Oliver said on his recent show, "It's not what the food is, it's what's IN the food". He is so right. You know those unpronounceable ingredients that we have all come to ignore? They are killing us and are making us fat!
Dr. Mark Hyman says that our bodies don't know what to do with all the man-made chemicals in food these days. For example, transfats are actually worse for you than animal fat. If you eat a bit of animal fat you're body says, "I know what this is, and I know exactly what to do with it!" (Of course, we shouldn't eat too much b/c it's still bad, but at least your body can handle it.) With transfats (and by transfats, I mean any hydrogenated oils), your body does not recognize it and does not know what to do with it. It is designed not to break down (so food doesn't spoil) and so the body can't get rid of it easily. Some of it ends up lining our arteries and some of it ends up begin stored as fat on our bodies. Transfat is just one example. There are literally hundreds of manufactored ingredients that don't exist in nature in processed food. Our fat is actually saving us in some cases because the body uses it to store the toxic soup that we force it to deal with all the time.
Most of these diabolical (as in from el diablo!) ingredients are derived from corn. There is a plague of cheap corn in our country. Why? Because of government subsidies! (Don't get me started on this. If you want to know more, read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollen. If you only read chapter 6, it's worth it.) We have to do something with all this corn so basically, the food companies are slipping corn into our food without us knowing it. We all know about high fructose corn syrup, but did you know the following ingredients can also come from corn? citric and lactic acid, glucose, maltodextrin, xanthan gum, modified and unmodified starches, dextrins, cyclodextrins, and MSG. (To name only a few!) Even though these things are derived from corn, there is nothing natural about them because of the processing they go through. By the way, corn derived ingredients started being used in processed food right about the time we all started having a rise in obesity in this country. Coincidence? I think not!
The good news:
The good news is that you can still have delicious food and be healthy. I love Audrey Hepburn's quote, "I don't eat health food, I eat healthy food." Have that hamburger or fries or milkshake, BUT - make sure they are made from real, natural ingredients. This usually means you have to make it yourself but these days more and more places are starting to use fresh, non-processed ingredients. (Sadly, not fast food or most restaurant chains.) I can tell you that eating real food is not only healthier, but MUCH more tasty! Sure it costs more time and money, but it's an investment in your health.
Dr. Mark Hyman says that our bodies don't know what to do with all the man-made chemicals in food these days. For example, transfats are actually worse for you than animal fat. If you eat a bit of animal fat you're body says, "I know what this is, and I know exactly what to do with it!" (Of course, we shouldn't eat too much b/c it's still bad, but at least your body can handle it.) With transfats (and by transfats, I mean any hydrogenated oils), your body does not recognize it and does not know what to do with it. It is designed not to break down (so food doesn't spoil) and so the body can't get rid of it easily. Some of it ends up lining our arteries and some of it ends up begin stored as fat on our bodies. Transfat is just one example. There are literally hundreds of manufactored ingredients that don't exist in nature in processed food. Our fat is actually saving us in some cases because the body uses it to store the toxic soup that we force it to deal with all the time.
Most of these diabolical (as in from el diablo!) ingredients are derived from corn. There is a plague of cheap corn in our country. Why? Because of government subsidies! (Don't get me started on this. If you want to know more, read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollen. If you only read chapter 6, it's worth it.) We have to do something with all this corn so basically, the food companies are slipping corn into our food without us knowing it. We all know about high fructose corn syrup, but did you know the following ingredients can also come from corn? citric and lactic acid, glucose, maltodextrin, xanthan gum, modified and unmodified starches, dextrins, cyclodextrins, and MSG. (To name only a few!) Even though these things are derived from corn, there is nothing natural about them because of the processing they go through. By the way, corn derived ingredients started being used in processed food right about the time we all started having a rise in obesity in this country. Coincidence? I think not!
The good news:
The good news is that you can still have delicious food and be healthy. I love Audrey Hepburn's quote, "I don't eat health food, I eat healthy food." Have that hamburger or fries or milkshake, BUT - make sure they are made from real, natural ingredients. This usually means you have to make it yourself but these days more and more places are starting to use fresh, non-processed ingredients. (Sadly, not fast food or most restaurant chains.) I can tell you that eating real food is not only healthier, but MUCH more tasty! Sure it costs more time and money, but it's an investment in your health.
Monday, March 1, 2010
MSG Update
A friend of mine found this article about MSG. I'm glad she did because it has some good information and also points out that not everyone has a problem with it. I know that I do because I get distinctive symptoms every time I eat it. I would suggest giving it up for two weeks for so, then try adding it back and see what happens. I think the natural form that comes from seaweed is probably not too harmful. However, highly processed and concentrated forms of it should be avoided in my opinion.
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