You Are What You Eat!

According to a recent poll done by CNN 76% of Americans have set a New Year's Resolution to lose weight.  

The problem?  We are what we eat!  

The solution?  Know what you're eating.  It's as simple as that. 

If you knew what was in those chips, you would probably NOT feed them to your children.  If you knew what was in McDonald's chicken nuggets you would NEVER allow your children to eat them again. 

Have you ever stopped to consider that your store bought meat, eggs, cheese and milk have other things in them?  Like hormones and other preservatives??

Your chips are probably loaded with MSG which causes thousands of problems for thousand of Americans and they aren't even aware of it!  They complain of head aches, inability to lose weight, hormone imbalance and a whole host of other problems!  {Don't even get me started on MSG!!!} 

You can go here and see what Sarah the Healthy Home Economist has to say about it all. 

And what about your bread?  Does it have vegetable oil?  Hydrogenated oil? High Fructose Corn Syrup? White wheat?  Soy?  These are all things to stay away from.

Unless you make everything at home - which isn't as hard as it sounds - you have to read ingredient labels to know what's in your food.

photo credit

Check out these ingredients!  This is a label on a jar of powdered baby food.  Scary.  Soy ingredients....that's pumping them full of estrogen and then wondering why girls as young as 7 and 8 are getting their periods. 

That alone {and the MSG argument} should be reason enough to start reading ingredient labels.

When reading ingredient labels, remember that the first item on the list is the most important because it's the main ingredient.  In other words, if "water" is the first ingredient, then there's more water in that food item than anything else.

If high fructose corn syrup is the second ingredient, you know that high fructose corn syrup is the second largest ingredient in that food item.  

Reading ingredients can be daunting.  When I first started I did more reading in the grocery store than shopping!  It took me forever!!  But it was well worth it.  Now, I know what brands I like and which I want to avoid.  I still recommend reading the labels on those items every once in a while though.  Just in case.  Don't be shocked if a company tries to pull a fast one on ya!

If there's an ingredient listed that you don't recognize, let alone know how to pronounce, you probably shouldn't be eating it.

Simplify is the best advice I have on this issue.  Do your homework.  

Know what you don't want in your food, like MSG {which can be labeled under other names as well}, high fructose corn syrup, soy, and hydrogenated vegetable oils and avoid them. 

Try to buy foods that only contain 5 ingredients or less.  It's a fun challenge {in my opinion} and quite possible.  

You will reap many healthy benefits by simply reading labels!  Your family is worth it!

For tips on avoiding MSG {a neurotoxin that literally kills brain cells}, feel free to check out some of my other posts:

• Make your own Ranch Dressing
• Taco Seasoning
• Homemade Convenient Food
• Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
• Other Recipes

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This post is linked with:

Raising Homemakers
Hearts for Home
Natural Living Link Up
Raising Mighty Arrows