Hidden Health Hazards: 5 Foods You Might Want to Think Twice about Eating
1. Whole Wheat Bread
Most people know by now to be wary of whole-wheat options – whether in breads, crackers, pasta or other food – because they are often laden with additives like high-fructose corn syrup, that make certain whole wheat products deceptively unhealthy. When we order the whole-wheat or multigrain bread at major fast food chains like Subway, for example, especially when it comes with grilled instead of fried chicken and veggies, and all for fewer than 300 calories, we think we’re making a healthy choice.
What you probably weren’t aware of is that one particular ingredient found in the tens of other unnecessary ingredients is a dough conditioner with the common name Azodicarbonamide. The chemical compound with the molecular formula C2H4O2N4 is used as a blowing agent in making products like foam yoga mats. Banned in Europe and in Australia and attached to fine in Singapore of $450,000 if used in food products, the ingredient is still used here in the United States as well as in Canada.
The reason for the controversy is in part due to research findings in studies that ADC may cause asthmatic symptoms and allergies in human subjects, while studies here and here on other biological systems in rodents suggest detrimental effects, but require further research.
Alternatives: Opting for the salad may be easier said than done when you’re craving carbs, although adding a whole avocado would certainly help provide some filling protein and healthy fats without any major toxins. If you can’t imagine giving up bread, then check out brands like Arnold’s. Even better are varieties like Ezekiel bread, whose flour base is made entirely of whole grains and legumes in the way our body was intended to digest grains, providing more energy compared to wheat flour, which spikes insulin levels and promotes weight gain.
2. Agave Nectar
Sugar is not inherently bad, and like most other foods should be consumed in moderation and balanced with necessary nutrients and exercise. When it comes to processed sugars as sweeteners, however, don’t be fooled by fancy marketing, especially the type that equates the color brown to ‘natural’ or ‘healthy’.
Agave syrup (marketed as ‘nectar’) is one such ‘natural’ sweetener commercially produced from several species of the agave plant, including Agave tequilana (blue agave) and Agave salmianais sweetener. It became really popular as a vegan and low-glycemic sweetener. Being a rapidly dissolving liquid gave it the added versatility that made it good for desserts and drinks alike, and an ideal substitution for honey for people who had concerns about infant botulism and a dwindling bee population.
It turns out, however, that the concentration of fructose in agave nectar relative to other natural sweeteners is huge! It is higher than in honey, and almost 80% higher than in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Fructose is largely processed in your liver, where it is converted disproportionately to triglyceride, glycogen, lactate and glucose. The latter two are then used as energy to fuel the body’s cells. Too much fructose and your liver goes from being in its fat burning mode to promoting a growing midsection thanks to the visceral fat that surrounds your internal organs, which contributes to Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer.
Alternatives. Coconut palm sugar is a natural sweetener comparable in sweetness to cane sugar. It is processed from the sap of the coconut tree similar to how maple syrup is produced, and then dried into a granulated form. In addition to containing nutritive vitamins and minerals, it has a low glycemic index, which makes it ideal for people with diabetic concerns. Coconut sugar is comprised primarily of sucrose (70-79%), followed by glucose and fructose (3-9% each).
Even healthier as a sugar substitute is one of two glycoside extracts of the leafy plant Stevia rebaudiana, rebaudioside A, which often reads as ‘Reb-A’ in the list of commercial sweetener ingredients. In its purest form, Reb-A is up to 300 times sweeter than table sugar and has a negligible effect on blood glucose, but is bypassed by those more sensitive to its slightly licorice aftertaste. Just like with coconut sugar, however, there are Stevia product brands that are over-processed with unhealthy or unnecessary additives. Some examples are Truvia and PureVia, owned respectively by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which have a several step patented process that adds things like the corn-derived sugar alcohol, erythritol, and dextrose (glucose). These fillers allow the product to be served in portions equal in volume and sweetness to sugar.
3. Sports Drinks
Gatorade is one of the things your parents probably gave to you when you were hit with seasonal flu or a norovirus, or that your coaches brought out to the soccer or football field sidelines in those big orange coolers to make sure you didn’t get dehydrated. Personally, for as long as I’ve been an athlete and fitness buff, I could never stand the syrupy salty texture and taste of Gatorade. Turns out it’s a good thing I couldn’t, because guzzling the stuff could have been toxic.
Gatorade is essentially made of a lot of sugar, synthetic chemicals and salt, but until just last year, it also included a controversial ingredient called brominated vegetable oil (BVO), a common emulsifier in citrus drinks and sodas, including Mountain Dew, Fanta and Powerade. BVO is a banned food additive in other countries, not surprisingly because it is commonly otherwise used as a flame retardant! The Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo agreed this spring to phase BVO out of their products, but for now, most commercial citrus drinks still have it.
Alternatives: Look to nature for electrolytes. Coconut water is nature’s perfect electrolyte drink, but you want to be sure to purchase a good quality coconut water because there are so many varieties of the beverage from coconuts from all over the world that use a concentrate, which means most of the valuable electrolytes have been processed out. It is recommended instead that you select raw coconut water such as that from Harmless Harvest, which is not heat pasteurized.
Another really great electrolyte booster is celery. Whether you eat the stalk or juice it and combine it with a little lemon and apple, it’s a great way to obtain electrolytes.
A third source of electrolytes is Chia seeds. Additionally, when chia seeds are soaked in water before eating they may serve as an added means of hydration because they absorb 10 times their weight in water. It is thus no surprise that the Aztecs were able to remain hydrated despite that soaked Chia seeds might have been all that they had eaten throughout the day.
4. Almond Milk
Almond milk in its purest form is inherently fantastic. I learned that it’s actually pretty easy to make at home when my friend, Kelly, gave me a jar of this packed cereal-looking stuff that happened to be the remnants of her latest batch (almond meal itself is great for use in many things, including as flour or added to yogurt, oatmeal, smoothies, etc.). The homemade variety is generally just almonds soaked in water overnight in a 1:4 cup ratio, then blended and strained. Our bodies can assimilate pure almond milk easily, but unfortunately, the almond milk we normally buy at the store in most cases contains an ingredient called Carrageenan.
Carrageenan is derived from a seaweed plant so may at first appear to be a natural and thus ‘healthy’ ingredient. However, during commercial processing it can become contaminated with degraded carrageenan, which can disrupt the entire G.I. tract when consumed. People who have bloating, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other gastrointestinal issues are encouraged to look for sources of carrageenan in their diets, as it is not only in almond milk, but in all kinds of dairy products like cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese and ice cream, too.
Alternatives. The Whole Foods 365 brand of almond milk doesn’t contain carrageenan, so is a decent option, although it has received criticism for its use of dl-alpha-tocopherol-acetate (a form of Vitamin E deemed toxic) and ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) versus cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) . However, if you can stand to wait overnight for preparation, make it at home and you will have an extremely healthy and easy-to-make ‘milk’ that is always fresh, uses only two ingredients, lasts a few days in the fridge, and tastes great.
5. Frozen Yogurt
Frozen yogurt was a weird little invention that hasn’t been in North America very long. Invented in the late 1960s, frozen yogurt was supposed to be a healthy version of ice cream, but everyone started complaining about the taste as it was just, well, frozen yogurt. Its tartness and lack of sweetness was not a suitable alternative to ice cream.
Food manufacturers listened, and so to address the complaints they added more sugar and introduced a process that completely changed the composition of yogurt, adding artificial colors, flavors and fillers. Vani Hari commented that if you asked to look at a commercially frozen yogurt product before it is put into final processing, it looks like Kool-Aid powder. It’s also processed to such an extent that the probiotic content (beneficial gut bacteria), the primary reason why many opted for frozen yogurt in the first place, are significantly diminished.
Alternatives. Companies like Red Mango took note of how much probiotics were in their frozen yogurt and created a freezing process that would retain some of the beneficial bacteria. If you do buy frozen yogurt, I recommend sticking with the plain varieties to avoid the artificial coloring and flavoring, and simply add your own fruit and nut topping. Otherwise, you might as well go for the real deal and eat ice cream, but if you can’t, then try making your own using organic coconut milk like the kind offered by Native Forest. It doesn’t have BPA in the can, another toxin to avoid and which is typically found in canned products.
If you really want something cold, sweet and tantalizing, try what my aunt introduced me to, which is a frozen dessert made with bananas. Simply pre-cut and freeze a few bananas (this doesn’t take long), blend them with as much almond or coconut milk you need to get the consistency you want, add a little vanilla, some cinnamon and maybe walnuts, and WOW! It’s definitely a better use for leftover bananas than piling them up in your freezer for those 20 loaves of banana nut bread you’ll never make in the fall.
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