Beetles...yum!

Do we REALLY know what’s in our food? Do we TRULY understand exactly what each ingredient listed is? I’m constantly amazed, not that I should be, at the JUNK that is put into food and considered edible…or safe for human consumption.  And who deems them safe…the FDA.  Aren’t they supposed to be protecting the American people? Yes, but they're not! We need to protect ourselves because only WE have our best interests at heart. 

I think if we completely understood exactly what we were eating, we wouldn’t knowingly eat some of the foods or ingredients that are hidden in our foods. Go here to read some more on hidden ingredients!

This is part of the reason for Raw Foods diets that are huge fads right now.  More and more people are becoming aware of the dangers of some of the ingredients in our food. 

I’ve mentioned before that my daughter has intolerance to gluten, food dyes, TBHQ and BHT.  These are the ones we know about.  There are more, but many times we find that she can’t eat a certain food and we have NO clue which ingredient is causing the problem.  That’s because the list of ingredients is GYNORMOUS.  THAT right there should be a HUGE sign to me.  Take for instance the Great Value Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese.  Its ingredient list is huge.  And there is SOMETHING in there that causes Cassie pain; pain that lasts for days.  So we don't buy that.  We buy Annie's gluten free macaroni and cheese instead.

A commenter on yesterday’s post caused me to begin some research.  She wanted to know if it’s true or not that crushed beetles are used to make food dyes.  Of COURSE I’m going to start looking! Now I want to know more for myself! But the funny thing is, crushed beetles don’t sound as UN-appealing as secretions from a beaver’s butt.  Just SAYIN’! I thought I’d give it a look anyway. 

I found a couple of websites with some interesting information.  This is a little of what one of them said:

Until 2009, cochineal was one of many dyes that fell under the umbrella term "natural color" on ingredients lists. But because cochineal provokes severe allergic reactions in some people, the Food and Drug Administration 
requires carmine and cochineal extract to be explicitly identified in ingredients lists.

Aside from its role as an allergen, cochineal has no known health risks, although those who keep kosher or choose not to eat animal products will want to keep their distance. In addition to food, cochineal is used as a dye in cosmetics products, including lipstick, and at least one person has reported a severe allergic reaction to a cochineal dye used in a pill coating.

Cochineal may be made from bugs, but other synthetic red dyes such as Red No. 2 and Red No. 40, which carry far greater health risks, are derived from either coal or petroleum byproducts. Compared with these sources, bugs might sound positively appetizing. 

(Check out what snopes has to say.)

I have to agree with that! I remember recently when talking with a friend of mine and her kids about avoiding food dyes that her son made a comment something like this, “Who wants to eat gasoline?” I already knew that these artificial dyes were NOT good for us, but do they REALLY have gas in them?  Seriously??? Well, it wasn’t long before I started researching and finding that they INDEED are petroleum or coal based.  Yep.  I don’t want to eat gas or coal! No WONDER they are causing problems for our bodies. HELLO FDA!!! 

To top it off, other countries do not ALLOW artificial colors in their foods.  Why? Because they KNOW how bad they are for our bodies.  And the same companies who are putting food dyes into our prepackaged foods in the US are making the same foods WITHOUT food dyes for the other countries.  We need to make them remove dyes for the American population too!

My determination to make foods from scratch, to eat as many fresh or frozen fruits and veggies as possible, and be EXTREMELY aware of ingredients is stronger than ever before.  The more I read, the more I realize how bad the processed foods are for our bodies.  NO WONDER so many people have ailments, disorders, and diseases that were not as prevalent years ago. 

(You may find this article about food dyes interesting as well!)

Let's take charge of our bodies and what we choose to put into them! 

Is this "natural"?

Who wants more beaver butt?? Yeah…

A few days ago while we were busy in the kitchen, my husband asked me if I had heard of a “natural flavoring” called castoreum. He knows how interested I am in health and wellness and the ingredients that are put into our foods.  Even though he teases me for it, he supports my quirkiness. 

It’s been a long road from eating what I THOUGHT was healthy to where I am now.  I still, once in a while, will consume a food that I KNOW if full of JUNK…just because I want a little.  But I do it knowing FULL WELL what I’m putting into my body.  While SO many people don’t realize the awful poisons and crap that they’re eating on a daily basis, I try to be more aware.  *shrug* To each his own. 

My husband likes to listen to talk radio and apparently he had heard about this “natural flavoring” the other night.  As I’m googling it he starts telling me it’s made from beaver butt.  Um SERIOUSLY??? Are you KIDDING me right now? I mean, come on people.  Why is the FDA allowing such ingredients in our food? I personally don’t trust the FDA and haven’t for a long time.  The ingredients they allow the American people to consume, with the idea that it’s “okay” to eat because they, the FDA, have approved it, is appalling. 

Take for instance cellulose.  It shows up in all kinds of foods like instant potatoes, breads, cheese and many more.  Several years ago, when I was regularly looking into ingredients to figure out exactly what we were eating, so that I could protect my son from gluten and dairy, my sister called and asked if I knew what cellulose was. Um, nope.  I had never heard of it. But maybe I had seen it before and hadn’t paid any attention to it...assuming that it was safe. It can be found in a few different forms: cellulose gel, cellulose gum, and cellulose powder. And guess what it is…tree pulp.  Yeah.  People, you’re eating tree.  I’ve heard, in the past, that bread has “saw dust” in it as filler.  Yeah. Pretty much.  It’s tree pulp ground into a powder.  So, if you don’t care that you’re eating tree…I mean…it IS natural for heaven’s sake…then go ahead and eat it.  It’s up to you.

Looks fairly harmless to me...

Back to the beaver butt…

I started reading about this lovely “natural” ingredient.  So, castoreum is a food additive that is made from the castor sacs of a beaver.  Who was the first person to try this as a food additive? What were they thinking? “HEY! I know! Let’s add some anal secretions from a beaver to this ice cream to make it taste better!” said no one thinking clearly…ever. My husband and I had voiced those thoughts, while laughing, and cringing, just before I read almost the same thoughts on this page. Oh my goodness.  This guy cracked us up.  He said pretty much EXACTLY what we were thinking. 

So the next time you decide you want some vanilla ice cream, something strawberry flavored or anything with the ingredient “natural flavoring” you might think twice about it.

I’m not so sure I want to, KNOWINGLY, eat a secretion from a beaver’s butt.  Shudder...

The worst part is that we can’t control what the manufacturers put into prepackaged foods.  And they only have to report the ingredients according to the regulations of the FDA.  They’re NOT being honest. NOT cool!!!  And that really irritates me. 

If you want to be healthy and eat foods and ingredients that you recognize, read your ingredients lists and educate yourself. Hopefully you'll choose real foods and not...beaver butt...