Best Fitness Blog

You are what you eat ... by Karli Taylor
Have you ever hears the saying "You are what you eat"? Being an American in the 21st century, these words should really scare you...

Before you read any further, go to your cupboards and refrigerator, and take a look at how many packaged food items you have in your kitchen. Pull out one or two items and read through the label. After reading the ingredients list, ask yourself:

• How many words am I unable to pronounce?
• Which of these ingredients have I never heard of and/or have no idea what it is?

If you did this little exercise, you may be surprised at the number of multi-syllabic words that look more like they should be the ingredients of a science experiment than of something you’re eating. Most of these foreign looking substances are concoctions used to color, stabilize, emulsify, bleach, texturize, soften, preserve, sweeten and flavor your food!

In case you were wondering just how many of these little chemicals were sneaking into your mouth each year, current statistics say that the FDA lists approximately 2800 international food additives and about 3,000 chemicals, which are deliberately added to our food supply. When considering the number of chemicals used in the process of growing and processing food, by the food to the time it reaches our stomach we have consumed between 10,000 and 15,000 chemicals a day!

While some of you may be thinking, “I don’t eat that many food additives,” I have news for you. The FDA doesn’t require food additives considered to be Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) to be put on an ingredients label. Instead, all that is required are the words “artificial flavor” or “artificial coloring” or “natural”.

The use of the term "generally" scares the trans fat right out of me! The fact is, the average American eats approximately 150 pounds of additives each year.

So if we really are what we eat, we should all be making an effort to eat more whole grains, fresh produce and when possible, free range meats. I often hear that eating this way is more expensive- but you only get one body- isn't it worth a few extra dollars to keep it running for a long long time???