Throw out all of those expensive skin creams because the answer to your skin issues lies within your nutrition. Science has made amazing advances in our understanding of nutrients that the body needs to thrive, but at the same time, science has brought us chemical concoctions that merely resemble food. The quick-to-market products have even blurred the lines from what seems like healthy alternatives to something quite different.
Circumstances have brought these issues front and center for many. For instance, Chef Jamie Oliver’s battle with the fast food industry publicly unveiled some dirty little secrets like meat being washed with ammonia to make it “suitable” for human consumption.
Have you heard of pink slime? Pink slime is a filler used in ground beef. Ground beef cannot contain more than 30% fat, so manufacturers of pink slime get around this by taking the cuttings from cattle carcasses, heating the trimmings to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, putting them into a centrifuge to separate the fat and muscle tissue, and then treated with ammonia to stop bacterial growth. Yum.
This was once known as “lean, finely textured beef.” Today, it is known simply as ground beef. The food industry uses hydrogen ammonium as an antimicrobial agent. These chemicals are considered legal components of the manufacturing process and are okayed by health authorities around the world. Once people catch on to what the labeling means, food companies get permission to change the labeling. Let’s go through a few examples.
Most people recognize the acronym GMO or genetically modified organisms. According to B.M. Chassy from the University of Illinois, “Plants such as strawberries, wheat, cabbage, corn, and almost all the rest of our crops descended from ancestors that are not recognizably similar to the plants we grow today.”
GMO foods have been modified in the lab, combinations of plant, animal, bacterial, and virus genes that do not occur naturally and have been modified using genetic engineering or transgenic technology. If something is labeled as “GMO,” it has either been engineered to be a pesticide or resist herbicides, which are in 85% of our foods. As more people have learned about GMOs, it has become a dirty word. Unlabeled as such, the term now being used is “bioengineered.”
Many people are familiar with MSG or monosodium glutamate. This is a flavor enhancer associated with health issues such as fibromyalgia, obesity, fatty liver, high insulin and blood sugar, high cholesterol, liver toxicity, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, disturbance to the gut-brain connection, and neurological brain damage. More notably, researchers found that MSG would kill brain cells in a laboratory. As the population started catching on, the rules changed. Unless it is 99% MSG, labeling is not required. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, textured vegetable protein, and yeast extract all create the byproduct of MSG but do not require a warning label since the MSG is not added directly. These ingredients and additives will be found readily in “health” food products as well as other manufactured food products.
Want health? Read labels. Understand what these chemical concoctions are doing to your body. Preservatives are used like BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) or BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene or dibutylhydroxytoluene), and it appears in many products because it is an antioxidant. They prevent the oxidation within the food that starts the breakdown process. However, these preservatives are also known to alter neurological behavior and be carcinogenic.
Have you tried buying foods without sugar? There are so many different types you may not even recognize the ones that you are getting. Four artificial ones that every person should be aware of are aspartame (brand name of Equal), acesulfame potassium, sucralose (aka Splenda), and saccharin. These sweeteners will change your microbiome (directly linked to your brain) and increase your risk of diabetes. In love with things like microwave popcorn? Diacetyl is the artificial, synthetic butter flavoring that inhibits amyloid destruction. Why is this important? Because these amyloids are found to create a plaque that is found in Alzheimer’s disease.
Reading this and still willing to eat conventional foods?
Well, there is more…hydrocarbons may be the kicker that makes you stop and reconsider. These are pesticides like PCB, DDE, or DDT… both carcinogenic and hormone-disrupting. Consider that over 40% of women will end up with a hysterectomy or that, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), about 2 out of 3 cases of breast cancer are hormone receptor-positive. That is, estrogen receptors on the surface of the cell bind to estrogen due to the receptors being filled with xenoestrogens (fake estrogens). To scare you a little further, that’s 67-80% of breast cancers in women and 90% in men.
Now that your head is hurting, I will not go further into the seed oils contaminated glyphosate that degrade into toxic aldehydes when heated or the dyes found in everything including your common pickle jar. The dyes and tartrazine are known to increase hyperactivity in kids… are your kids struggling in school?
Whole, organic foods will change your skin and your life. Find local farmers committed to good farming practices, start a garden (even if it’s pots that line your front sidewalk), but most of all, put down the easy, convenient foods and opt for things that will actually nourish your body and skin. You will glow on the outside and inside!
Source: The Shocking Truth on America’s Food Industry – America Out Loud News