Busting 6 Food Myths to Save Your Health and Your Wallet
#5 will startle you
Healthy Living
With food prices rising every year while incomes continue to stagnate, going grocery shopping can turn into a real squeeze for anyone looking for top nutrition. One thing we can do to make ends meet is to drop the illusions we have been conditioned to think are truths. Most of these illusions have been created for the purpose of selling us a product that we could do quite well without. Slaying these illusions can help save big money over time.
Here are 6 widely accepted food myths that, when busted, will help you not only save your health, but also your wallet.
Myth #1. If the Product Says it’s ‘Healthy,’ it’s a Good Buy
The food company making the product that says ‘healthy’ is using this buzz word to get sales, not because the product is actually healthy. In fact, many of the foods that advertise themselves as being ‘healthy’ are loaded with unhealthy ingredients.
As an example let’s look at canned chicken noodle soup, a simple food in a line known as Healthy Choice. Besides the usual chicken and noodles, this soup contains:
- Monosodium Glutamate – A substance toxic to brain cells.
- Soy and Corn – Odds are great that these are both GMOs, since this soup is not organic.
- Carrageenan – An indigestible gum that replaces real fat and has been found to cause intestinal damage and increased permeability, a condition that leads to leaky gut syndrome.
- Caramel Color – Classified by the state of California as a known carcinogen and shown in animal testing to cause lung, liver, and thyroid cancer and leukemia.
- High Fructose Corn Syrup – Linked to obesity, weight gain, hypertension, liver damage, and mercury exposure.
Compare this to a can of organic black beans that makes no claim about being ‘healthy,’ but contains nothing but organic black beans, water and sea salt, and sells for substantially less than the chicken soup. There is a big difference.
Myth #2. The Most Important Foods to Buy Organic are Fruits and Vegetables
It’s easy to understand why many people think this is true, since articles voicing this notion abound. Though while fruit and vegetables should indeed be organic, buying organic meat and dairy products should also have top priority if you’re on a budget. This is because most conventionally raised cattle used for food have been confined to filthy feedlots that are cesspools of manure and disease. They are fed almost entirely with GMO soy and corn, and may have been given a growth stimulating drug, known as ractopamine, up until just before slaughter and without any clearance time.
The harshest chemicals and pesticides are relentlessly used in producing the corn and soy used as animal feed. The bodies of these animals store their toxicity in their fat, so if you are consuming fatty meats or conventionally produced full fat dairy products (the best kind to consume), you are sharing the toxic load with the animals. Toxicity travels up the food chain.
Myth #3. The Food Sold in Healthy-Image Grocery Stores is All Organic
Whole Foods, Lucky’s Market, Trader Joe’s, and many others are in the healthy image grocery business. These are probably good places to shop once you have lost the illusion that all the items they sell are organic. Whether it is meats, fresh produce, canned goods, cereal, drinks, snacks or any other food category, many of the items sold in these stores are not organic.
The organic items they do sell are clearly marked as ‘organic’ and they carry the seal of the organization certifying them as organic. Most will e ven have the USDA organic seal. If items do not have a label that says they are organic and a certifying seal to back it up, they are not organic, pure and simple, and you will be overpaying for what you are getting.
The bargains in these types of stores are the organic items, once you are able to identify them. They are usually fresher and could be lower in price than organic items found in conventional grocery stores.
Myth #4. Everything Organic is Better
Not always. Organic food from China can be found in many healthy image and conventional grocery stores, but the USDA does not inspect food coming from China. ‘Organic’ food from China may not have been inspected by anyone, and there is no tracking information for it. If it was inspected, nobody knows what criteria was used. Shipments from China are sometimes stopped and inspected by the FDA and found to be contaminated with bacteria and pesticide.
China is currently the most polluted country in the world, with pollution and filth in most waterways.
This is widely known, and the reason why companies selling Chinese organic in the U.S. don’t prominently display that fact on the front of the package. To determine whether a product comes from China requires reading the fine print on the back of the package. This is no bargain!
Myth #5. What’s Pictured on the Front of the Package is What’s Inside
More often than not, the package is the advertisement for the product, not a rendition of what is actually inside. If you want to know what’s really in it, you have to read the ingredients, and this is true of personal care products too.
For example, Sunny D is a group of bottled drinks masquerading as fruit juice, with big luscious looking fruits on the front of their bottles. On the back is the list of ingredients that include water, high fructose corn syrup, synthetic vitamins, GMO oil, gums, flavoring, dyes, and preservative chemicals. Only about 2% of each drink is real fruit juice.
Similarly, the label on Minute Maid’s Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored Blend of five juices is very misleading. Pomegranates and blueberries are the only fruits mentioned in the title, and their photos are prominent on the label. But the juice is 99.4% apple and grape-derived, containing only 0.3% pomegranate and 0.2% blueberry juice.
You have to read labels!
Myth #6. Don’t Worry About Nutritious Food, Just Take Some Supplements
We are living through a time period when supplements have become a craze. Although many targeted supplements can be very helpful, the real bargain comes from buying the highest quality food that you are able to buy.
Nutrients from food have a synergy that can’t be found in most supplements. The human body has evolved eating food, not taking supplements, and it is an expert at processing food but a newcomer at processing supplements. If you want the best from the money you spend, take some time to learn what foods provide what nutrients, and how to plan a balanced diet that will provide most of the nutrition you need.
Examples?
- If you think you aren’t getting enough magnesium, add spinach to your diet on a regular basis.
- If you want omega -3 fatty acids, look for the carton of organic eggs that tells you it provides an ample amount.
- If digestion is an issue, add pineapple to your diet,
- And thwart cancer by bringing home some berries every week.
The best bargain of all is to educate your self.
One of the best advantages of living outside of the US is that all that US processed stuff is an expensive import that is almost imposable to fine at your local market. There is nothing like buying fresh locally grown organic produce.
Check your food labels – IMPORTANT!
And don’t forget that Smithfield Farms, the largest pork
producing farm in the USA was sold in September to China with the
unanimous support of its stockholders!! The hogs will still be raised
here, but slaughtered and packaged for sale there before being sent
back here. This includes labels: of Morrell, Eckrich, Krakus, Cudahy,
Premium Hams, Cook’s, Gwaltney. The same with many chickens. They
can now be shipped there, but when they come back all that needs to be
labeled is that they… WERE RAISED IN THE USA. Not that they were
processed in China!!! Our great FDA at work again. The chickens will
be all processed and most sold to fast food restaurants for sandwiches,
along with schools and supermarkets. The China slaughter and processing
are not nearly equal – and, by far – to the requirements here.
Buy USA or Canada only.
BAD FOOD.
We recently learned that Starkist Tuna is now owned by
Korea, and is in big conflict with the U. S. concerning quality, safety,
and records, which Korea refuses to produce.
Read several articles on Google about this, and even one
that was defending the eating of tilapia said to avoid the fish that
came from China? Also, I had just returned home from buying
Albertson’s 4-day special of 4 bags of frozen tilapia for the price of
one? Sure enough, on the top of the bags, it read “farm raised”, and
on the bottom in small print it said:” China “… read all the way
down…
Recently a Food inspector on TV… said he had lived
overseas and he had seen the filthy conditions their foods are raised
and processed in. It is enough to make you throw-up. Some foreign
workers have to wear masks as they work in these places, because the
food is so rotten and filthy, it makes them want to throw up. Many of
their fish on Fish Farms are fed raw sewage daily. He said he has seen
so much filth throughout their food growing and processing that he
would “never” eat any of it. They raise this filth, put some food
coloring and some flavorings on it, then they ship it to the USA &
Canada for YOU to consume and feed to YOUR families. They have no Food
& Safety Inspectors. They ship it to you to buy and poison your
families and friends.
Imported food we eat and the junk we buy:
Green Giant frozen vegetables are from China, and so are
most of Europe’s Best.
Arctic Gardens are Okay. So is Birdseye.
Never buy the grocery store garlic unless it is clearly
marked from USA or Canada, the other stuff is grown in people’s… dung
(even worse than chicken poop). China is the largest producer of
garlic in the world; U. S. is next.
Buy only local honey, much honey is shipped in huge
containers from China and re-packed here.
Cold-FX is grown and packed in China and is full of fecal
bacteria. Doesn’t work anyway, big scam.
If the country of origin is not clearly marked “beware”.
If produce, ask an employee.
Watch out for packages which state “prepared for”, “packed
by” or “imported by”. We don’t understand the lack of mandatory
labeling, especially the produce.
The country of origin should be clearly shown on the item
in the store.
Go to the local farmers’ markets in season and keep a wary
eye open the rest of the year.
Please read this very carefully, and read to the very
bottom. It’s important for all of us.
How is it possible to ship food from China cheaper than
having it produced in the U. S. or Canada?
FOR EXAMPLE THE “OUR FAMILY” BRAND OF MANDARIN
ORANGES SAYS RIGHT ON THE CAN ‘FROM CHINA’. SO, FOR A
FEW MORE CENTS, BUY THE LIBERTY BRAND.
GOLD BRAND OR THE DOLE IS FROM CALIFORNIA.
Beware, Costco sells canned peaches and pears in a plastic
jar that come from China.
ALL “HIGH LINER” AND MOST OTHER FROZEN FISH PRODUCTS COME
FROM CHINA OR INDONESIA. THE PACKAGE MAY SAY “PACIFIC SALMON” ON
THE FRONT, BUT LOOK FOR THE SMALL PRINT. MOST OF THESE PRODUCTS
COME FROM FISH FARMS IN THE ORIENT WHERE THERE ARE NO REGULATIONS
ON WHAT IS FED TO THESE FISH.
Recently The Montreal Gazette had an article by the Canadian Government on
how Chinese feed the fish: They suspend chicken
wire crates over the fish ponds, and the fish feed on chicken dung.
If you search the Internet about what the Chinese feed
their fish, you’ll be alarmed; e. g, growth hormones, expired
anti-biotic from humans? Never buy any type of fish or shellfish that
comes from these countries: Vietnam, China, Philippines.
Check this out personally.
Steinfeld’s Pickles are made in India – just as bad!
Another example is in canned mushrooms. No-Name brand came
from Indonesia…
Also check those little fruit cups. They used to be made in
Canada, in the Niagara region, until about 2 years ago. They are now
packaged in China. Most sold in Aldi stores.
While the Chinese export inferior and even toxic products,
dangerous toys, and goods to be sold in North American markets, the
media wrings its hands! Yet, 70% of North Americans believe that the
trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended.
Well, duh! Why do you need the government to suspend
trading privileges?
SIMPLY DO IT YOURSELF, CANADA AND THE U. S.
Simply look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if
it says ‘Made in China’ or ‘PRC’ (and that now includes Hong Kong),
simply choose another product, or none at all. You will be amazed at
how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally
amazed at what you can do without.
THINK ABOUT THIS:
If 200 million North Americans refuse to buy just $20 each
of Chinese goods, that’s a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in
our favor… fast! The downside? Some Canadian/American businesses
will feel a temporary pinch from having foreign stockpiles of
inventory.
Just one month of trading losses will hit the Chinese for
8% of their North American exports. Then they will at least have to
ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness are
worth it.
START NOW and don’t stop and tell your friends.
Send this to everybody you know. Let’s show them that we
are intelligent, and NOBODY can take us for granted.
Start reading labels more closely and buy something else even if
it cost a few cents more…
What about mexican avocados and peppers?
I am not aware of any health issues in regards to organics. My
understanding is that Mexican organic avocados and peppers fall under
similar organic regulation but I could be wrong.
I live in ca and we gave lots of produce from mexico, chile and lately, peru during the winter. The peruvian and chilean avocados never get ripe so I never buy them but I find the mexican produce excellent quality but I have never researched the farming methods. I do buy the imported produce from whole foods and my local produce from the farmers markets. I have a suburban acre suzed yard and keep trying to grow my own but it is hard work for me. I’ll get there one day, I think.
I love to garden but here in Eastern Canada we have a very short growing season so it is difficult to eat healthy on local all year long. I found the best way to grow food without chemicals and extend the growing season is with a greenhouse. It’s much less work. Very inexpensive to throw up a piece of plastic on some 2x4s.
This is NOT entirely true. The stock holders from China have employed more Americans than the American ones ever did. Everyone got raises and more benefits. My friend’s husband was working with Smithfield until just a couple of months ago. The meat is being raised, butchered and packaged here on U.S. soil. There are packaging plants all over the country. Plus this happened 2 years ago now.
I have no problem if you want to support the Chinese poverty process. That’s your right. For me I am all for human rights and American sovereignty. But sure go ahead and support this anti- human regime
I’m not supporting anything. Just stating facts. Facts that can also be found if one looks this up in Google.
I mean honestly, think about it. It would not be cost effective at all, to send the animals all the way over there, to slaughter and package them, just to send them back here?
Thank you Barbara for your article. You raised a question about authentication of advertisement. Really it is difficult to identify the honesty. But manufacturer should be honest for food. It is a matter of morality.