The Chemical Maze.. going healthy& organi

So a girlfriend of mine has read this book called the chemical maze and has talked to me about it a little bit, so I have managed to find a PDF online of the shopping guide. Its all about the chemicals in our foods and what issues they can cause.

So out of curiosity I am looking at the ingredients of the mother earth baked fruit sticks which I've given DD before and found that they have antioxidant 320... checked the guide and it says this 320

E320
Butylated
hydroxyanisole (BHA; banned in
some countries)
Antioxidant

Potential effects:
Headache; asthma;
insomnia; wheezing;
fatigue; depression;
DNA damage;
animal carcinogen

Possible Uses:
Food: edible
oils (may not
be listed)
Other: perfumery,
cosmetics

Edited because DD pushed enter lol

Oh and Iphone and Itouch uses you can get an app through itunes to have with you when you go shopping

Edited by HoneybunsMa

Food AdditivesThis is the full list

Shopping ListCondensed list.

Go through your cupboards with it...quite shocking when you do it for the first time.

You know, I wouldn't really give two tosses what things have in them if my kids could eat them without being UTTER monsters...so it might be going over board for some but for others not so much...

Although in saying that, food tastes completely different without additives & also I feel better without having them, although I am known to fall off the wagon at times, BUT food additives affect us, so yes I notice the difference.

I think your example isn't very well rounded, yes Italians might use a lot of oil but what is the rest of their diet like, I think you'll find that it's not full of processed crap like the american way of eating.
Same as - Yes I use a lot of salt in my cooking but we don't receive salt in any packet form so I'm probably having less than most people are in the grand scheme of things.

It's amazing how many foods that are portrayed being healthy are not in reality. There are lots of good food choices out there that have less additives in them, it's just a matter of looking else where other than the eye level shelves at the supermarket.

Additives both ok and not ok are everywhere because we've got such a wide range of food that is accessible at times of the year when it's not normally accessible. They're in all those packet items that have been developed cause people just don't have the time to cook from scratch any more.

Also one way to reduce your chemical intake is to wash chicken before you use it. It's put through a bleaching agent to help stop campylobacter(sp).

Ah I have seen that list before, tho I havent been through the pantry yet.

I would love to have a diet full of whole foods but I have no idea how to go about it or what to buy. I kinda need someone there telling/showing me what is possible.

Thanks for the tip on the chicken, I shall do that from now on

Im not the best cook, but I do try to make new stuff. I have been meaning to do a mean plan for a while now, should get a folder to put some recipies in. Most of our food is not to processed, I would say that bread, crackers, rice and pasta were the worst ones.

I love making jam, I made a ton last year, but I dont eat it! Far too sweet for me!

As a general rule, I'm a firm believer that fresh whole produce is best, and I try and use that whenever I can.

On the other hand, I think some people take concerns about additives overboard without proper research. Not that I'm entirely innocent myself since I haven't done a lot, but I'm always so reluctant to just believe it when someone I don't even know anything about says something's unsafe and has this long list of side effects but no actual proof listed. For example, if you wanted to be a scaremonger, you could talk about water like that - if consumed in excess, it causes headaches, personality changes, changes in behavior, confusion, irritability, drowsiness, and in some extreme cases, death. And that's 100% true, but not an actual reason to avoid water. The cynic in me pipes up saying that it's possible you'd have to consume equally stupid amounts of E320 to get the effects they list there...

Edited by Hopes

Hopes, some people react to small amounts, others don't react at all. It's really hard to pick some times. It's all basically down to tolerance levels. So have really high tolerance so never go above that & therefore never react. Others like my son have extremely low tolerance levels and react to lots of things.

I agree, you need to be informed & do your research, otherwise you are actually just making things difficult for yourself.

Linzy, I get your point, if you think about it all at once it does make it a mammouth task. I have just read 'Take Control of your Health and escape the Sickness Industry' and some was what I already knew and the rest was eyeopening but believable for me. Buuuttt, if I did everything the book said, yes it would be a hugely radical transition, and our household is pretty good as it is. So long story short, pick out a few things to change in your diet etc and concentrate on them until not having that product, additive is the norm then carry on doing that as and when it works for you. I carry limited amounts of processed food in our pantry compared to the average, but I still got a ways to go, but happy with what I do. Have just started in the last months to make my own DW powder, laundry detergent and conditioner, which are working really well.

AND OMG....don't anyone jump in and change things full hog...you get withdrawal symptoms about 3 days in and all you want to do is eat sweet stuff.....easy does it is definitely the best step.