What do you absolutely avoid in the ingredients list on food

KaylaBlu2019

I'm looking for a list of things on nutrition labels to steer clear of.. so far I've got:

Salt
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Trans Fats
and anything refined.

But what is it that you know to be unhealthy and avoid?

Thanks for sharing!

sleepytexan

partially or fully hydrogenated oils
corn syrup / sugar / whatever they want to call it
artificial flavors / colors
msg

I 'should' avoid dairy bc it disagrees with me in multiple ways, but I do give in (and pay for it like a dummy).

KaylaBlu2019

Great thank you, sleepytexan! Do you find yourself eatting mostly organics?

WenYuAugust

If you are plainly trying to lose weight, try to avoid wheat (wheat is not the same as gluten). Wheat causes you to store fat and causes bloating.

As for dairy products, because most of the dairy cows are fed with hormones and stuff, it's easier to avoid them all together and drink milk such as almond or coconut.

Avoid soy as well, it has somewhat similar effects of wheat

2stepz

... I try to avoid anything with chemicals I can't pronounce. Doesn't always work, but I try.

WifeNMama

Artificial sweeteners
Artificial preservatives
Propylene Glycol
And most of the things already posted.

SimpleStepsHealthCoach

Hi there lovetolose100,

A while back I wrote about Yahoo Health's "10 scariest food additives" (http://tinyurl.com/bvwm9up). To this day I watch for these ingredients. They are as follows;

Olestra, Carmel Coloring, Saccharin, Potassium Bromate, Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Sulfites, Azodicarbonamide, Carrageenan, Ammonium Sulfate.

In addition, I also avoid aspartame & Splenda, high-fructose corn syrup, cellulose, and products that I known to be made from GMOs, and/or uses growth hormones (meats/dairy).

While I know my standards are way stricter then most, it's ultimately up to you to figure out what you want to avoid and your reasoning for it. That's exactly what I did and just stuck to it. (http://tinyurl.com/d9dboh9)

Hope this helps,
y.

HMonsterX

If you are plainly trying to lose weight, try to avoid wheat (wheat is not the same as gluten). Wheat causes you to store fat and causes bloating.

Avoid soy as well, it has somewhat similar effects of wheat

Silly me. I thought a calorie excess made us store fat.

So if i eat 1200 cals a day of wheat, i'll store it as fat

NPetrakis

absolutely anything I dont recognize as coming from nature

melsinct

absolutely anything I dont recognize as coming from nature

Same here. No artificial dyes, preservatives, additives, etc. Generally I home cook most meals from whole ingredients and don't eat much in the way of packaged stuff.

cee134

... I try to avoid anything with chemicals I can't pronounce. Doesn't always work, but I try.

this

havalinaaa

Honestly, there is nothing I ABSOLUTELY avoid all the time. That being said, in the foods I eat regularly I steer away from anything that isn't a 'real' food ingredient - eg HFC, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, 'seasoning' - usually msg and the like, partially hydrogenated oils, etc. But I do eat the occasional bag of doritos or other horribly processed delicious thing, and I don't sweat it. I just make sure not to have too many of those things in a week, usually no more than 3.

Most of the foods I eat are home cooked from whole ingredients, and I do tend to buy organic veggies and fruits - especially for the ones on the EWG's dirty dozen report - http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/ - the ones appearing on the clean 15 list I purchase as organic only when they're on sale. About 75% of our meat is local, antibiotic free, and often organic - a lot of the local meat producers will ethically use antibiotics on sick animals (not across the board on all animals like factory farms) but they test their meats for residues before sending to market. Yes it's more expensive, but that just means we eat slightly less meat than before - which is a good thing IMO. I spend a lot of time finding out where my foods come from and how they are raised/produced.

Wynterbourne

I can't resist mentioning this since it just came up in another thread, but all of you people saying that you absolutely avoid artificial colors or anything not coming from nature... Natural Red #4 ( AKA Carmine, Crimson Lake, Cochineal) is a completely natural dye... it's made from Cochineal insects. It doesn't bother me, but I know a lot of people who insist on natural colorings who then aren't happy to find out that this natural coloring is made from an insect.

ShannonMpls

I do not follow this without ever straying, but 90% of the time my basic rule of thumb comes from Michael Pollan: If you cannot find every ingredient on the label in the grocery store, do not eat the food - because it's not actually food but some food-like substance.

I also avoid partially or fully hydrogenated oils and HFCS (easy to do since most of my shopping is at Trader Joe's and co-ops which also avoid these).

UponThisRock

Nothing is avoided, everything in moderation.

Sidesteal

Nothing is avoided, everything in moderation.

^ This.

xLyric

Aspartame, and anything with meat. Especially what you wouldn't expect: LOTS of Hostess cakey things have beef fat. Some beans, rice, soups especially like to use chicken stock a lot.

I imagine this doesn't help you if you're not a vegetarian, but these are the only things I avoid. I'm okay with it if it's not organic.

questionablemethods

I try to avoid ingredient lists. But that's a work in progress.

neanderthin

I try to avoid foods that have lists.:happy:

exacerbe

If you are plainly trying to lose weight, try to avoid wheat (wheat is not the same as gluten). Wheat causes you to store fat and causes bloating.

Avoid soy as well, it has somewhat similar effects of wheat

Silly me. I thought a calorie excess made us store fat.

So if i eat 1200 cals a day of wheat, i'll store it as fat

This is completely false.

HMonsterX

If you are plainly trying to lose weight, try to avoid wheat (wheat is not the same as gluten). Wheat causes you to store fat and causes bloating.

Avoid soy as well, it has somewhat similar effects of wheat

Silly me. I thought a calorie excess made us store fat.

So if i eat 1200 cals a day of wheat, i'll store it as fat

This is completely false.

Which part, the wheat or the excess calories?

dls06

Anything with White flour and artificial sweetners.

Coyla

I avoid soy, because I have a soy intolerance. I see no reason why it would be a problem for other people, however. I also have to avoid milk, because of a lactose intolerance.

Other than that, I think everything in moderation is your best bet. Most people will be fine with whatever they eat as long as calories in is less than calories out.

chocolateandvodka

Lard
lizard tails
baby brains
roach feces
feces of any kind actually.
nutmeg.

exacerbe

If you are plainly trying to lose weight, try to avoid wheat (wheat is not the same as gluten). Wheat causes you to store fat and causes bloating.

Avoid soy as well, it has somewhat similar effects of wheat

Silly me. I thought a calorie excess made us store fat.

So if i eat 1200 cals a day of wheat, i'll store it as fat

This is completely false.

Which part, the wheat or the excess calories?

The wheat and soy part. If you eat excess calories, it will store as fat. But 1200 is the bare minimum -- you should be eating more than that if you're active.

SimpleStepsHealthCoach

I can't resist mentioning this since it just came up in another thread, but all of you people saying that you absolutely avoid artificial colors or anything not coming from nature... Natural Red #4 ( AKA Carmine, Crimson Lake, Cochineal) is a completely natural dye... it's made from Cochineal insects. It doesn't bother me, but I know a lot of people who insist on natural colorings who then aren't happy to find out that this natural coloring is made from an insect.

Greetings Wynterbourne,

You make a great point about natural coloring. For those who don't know, artificial dyes are considered Blue 1 & 2, Green 3, Red 3 & 40, Yellow 5 & 6, and Caramel Coloring. The natural dyes are Annatto, Beta carotene, Carmine, Saffron, Turmeric, and Indigo (however now Indigo is made synthetically).

Carmine, as Wynterbournemention before, is a colored pigment extract from a female insect that is commonly found in Mexico. When processed, Carmine (Red #4) displays a deep magenta color while the cheaper alternative, Red 40, displays an orange-red color. Carmine is primary used in certain candy, jams, yogurts, milk, sausages, marinades, sauces, and colas. However, due to the cost of Carmine, most manufactures will use Red #40 over Red #4.

As Wynterbourne stated, Carmine does indeed come from a natural insect that born from the Earth. I believe, the main reasons people avoid it is because it comes from a bug. Most consumers have a problem with consciously consuming an insect, however, what they typically don't know is that most of their processed food contains insect parts which definitely do not make it on any labels. Depending on the ingredient, the FDA allows a certain percentage of insect parts and bug filth fragments that are acceptable during the processing of the ingredient. Processed chocolate is one of the large players that most people do not know contains bug & bug filth fragments.

It's fun learning what is exactly in your food, but for some, it can easily gross them out.

Until next time,
y.

Sidesteal

The wheat and soy part.

HMonsterX was being sarcastic, just FYI

vs1023

I rarely eat anything packaged that has more then a couple of ingredients. For instance diced tomatoes I buy the Pomi brand (no can, in a box) so it's just tomato.

Primarily I avoid for myself and my daughter: HFCS, any GMO, soy lecithen (sp?)..really I just look to see how long the ingredient list is. I really try to eat a whole food diet only.

lilac67

I also avoid, white bread, artificial sweetners--I stick w/ truvia or generic truvia, sodium nitrate, high frucrose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and alot of the other things listed here.

vs1023

I can't resist mentioning this since it just came up in another thread, but all of you people saying that you absolutely avoid artificial colors or anything not coming from nature... Natural Red #4 ( AKA Carmine, Crimson Lake, Cochineal) is a completely natural dye... it's made from Cochineal insects. It doesn't bother me, but I know a lot of people who insist on natural colorings who then aren't happy to find out that this natural coloring is made from an insect.

Greetings Wynterbourne,

You make a great point about natural coloring. For those who don't know, artificial dyes are considered Blue 1 & 2, Green 3, Red 3 & 40, Yellow 5 & 6, and Caramel Coloring. The natural dyes are Annatto, Beta carotene, Carmine, Saffron, Turmeric, and Indigo (however now Indigo is made synthetically).

Carmine, as Wynterbournemention before, is a colored pigment extract from a female insect that is commonly found in Mexico. When processed, Carmine (Red #4) displays a deep magenta color while the cheaper alternative, Red 40, displays an orange-red color. Carmine is primary used in certain candy, jams, yogurts, milk, sausages, marinades, sauces, and colas. However, due to the cost of Carmine, most manufactures will use Red #40 over Red #4.

As Wynterbourne stated, Carmine does indeed come from a natural insect that born from the Earth. I believe, the main reasons people avoid it is because it comes from a bug. Most consumers have a problem with consciously consuming an insect, however, what they typically don't know is that most of their processed food contains insect parts which definitely do not make it on any labels. Depending on the ingredient, the FDA allows a certain percentage of insect parts and bug filth fragments that are acceptable during the processing of the ingredient. Processed chocolate is one of the large players that most people do not know contains bug & bug filth fragments.

It's fun learning what is exactly in your food, but for some, it can easily gross them out.

Until next time,
y.

Oh i definitely try to avoid food coloring especially for my daughter. I really find that it makes her a bit crazier then usual.

cabaray

Peppers and olives, because I don't like them. Anything else is fair game as long as it fits into my calories and macros.