80% of American pre-packaged foods BANNED

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greentart
greentart Posts: 411 Member
in Food and Nutrition
http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/80-pre-packaged-foods-america-banned-other-countries-135100604.html

I found this article to be rather insightful and a bit unsettling. We KNOW, in the back of our minds, that processed foods are not good for us. Yet somehow we still find a way to convince ourselves that it's okay. The lower calorie packs are easy and convenient, and boy do we love easy and convenient.

I have to say that I've eaten non-processed foods as much as possible for the last week... and have lost 6 lbs. O.O. I changed NOTHING else. That has got to speak VOLUMES. VOLUMES!

I know a good majority of people here agree that processed foods should be kicked to the curb, but I know a lot of people also try to use that processed food in order to lose weight. I mean, coal tar, plastic, bleach, petroleum... how are these things okay? How have they made their way into our food??

Alright, discuss my friends. Do you eat processed foods or avoid it like the plague? Trying to switch over? Or do you simply... not care?
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Replies

  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
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    Depends on what I feel like eating that day.

    Usually, I don't eat a lot of processed foods. The other day though, I went to Wendy's twice.

    Mmmmm, Wendy's.....

    /Homer Simpson drool
  • gogoyubarino
    gogoyubarino Posts: 104 Member
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    I avoid pre-packaged, pre-made and overly processed food like the plague. For me there's nothing better than making things from scratch, knowing exactly what has gone into what my family and I are eating.
  • thewordwarrior
    thewordwarrior Posts: 73
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    Holy crap, that article was disturbing. I was aware that the European Union had long ago banned additives linked to breast cancer that are commonly allowed in American health and beauty products (parabens and pthalates), but I feel silly to say that it had never occurred to me that there might be similar cases with food. I've recently made the decision to start eating clean(er) after my friend's mom died of cancer in her fifties. It was just a wakeup call about mortality and my health. I don't think it's the end of world to indulge in a little processed food occasionally, and I don't think it has to be either/or, but I think eating clean is ultimately the way to go. Thanks for the article share.
  • cmstraut
    cmstraut Posts: 15
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    I'm one of those ppl that grew up on processed foods. Both my parents worked and we had little money to spend on more expensive fresh food. My husband grew up with a stay-at-home mom who made everything from scratch.

    I have tried to make changes in what I buy for cooking. Not necessarily about the chemicals in the food but the nutrients you get. Processed food are cooked and treated to death, so by the time you get the canned veggies, there really isn't all the nutrients from steaming them your self.

    For me it is small changes and finding ways to make the delicious fast food meals healthier at home. However, this takes a lot of time and is not always easy for busy, on the go, families. What I have done is take Sunday as my weekly cooking day. I prepare breakfast and packed lunches for the family so we can avoid the quick fast food meals. Its the first step to a healthier life style.
  • Meggles63
    Meggles63 Posts: 916 Member
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    I just had to reply with this link I found, posted at a chemistry blog, which addresses the extreme exaggerations made by the writers of the book referenced by this article.

    http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2013/06/21/eight_toxic_foods_a_little_chemical_education.php

    C'mon folks, at least think about what people are presenting to you, please!
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    C'mon folks, at least think about what people are presenting to you, please!
    Meggles, that is exactly what I think when people try and tell me this stuff is safe to consume in the amounts we're eating them. Real food is best.
  • thewordwarrior
    thewordwarrior Posts: 73
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    This isn't about wholesale buying into an argument that all chemical processing is bad. I appreciate his article just as much as the first. Thinking of eating as an either all fresh and natural or all processed itself is a fallacy. Sure, the second source is written by a chemist, whose expertise I can more likely rely on, but the very fact that so many countries have banned certain substances in American foods is also telling about the nature of other scientific studies (which the author of the second articles doesn't address, because they don't support his argument), which may link those chemicals, even in trace amounts, to other health problems, which have lead countries around the world to ban them, even if we haven't in the United States. Science is a process, not an endpoint, and hence there are always new studies coming out and many different perspectives. So just because there's one article contradicting the claims of chemicals like bromide affecting human health doesn't mean you should discount all the arguments of the other side. I think it's significant that so many countries have banned these chemicals.

    And there's also a bit of the ew factor here too. For many people, I would imagine that discovering there's formaldehyde (the chemical used to preserve dead bodies) found in your food would turn many off. Hence, I think articles like the first one are good for educating the general public about what's in their food, even if, as the second article says, it may not necessarily be that bad for you (in small amounts).

    Knowledge is power. That's why you should look at a lot of sources of different perspectives.
    C'mon folks, at least think about what people are presenting to you, please!
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    I thought the article was about banned foods . It's about a book listing specific food ingredients that are banned. :yawn:
  • TwinkieDong
    TwinkieDong Posts: 1,564 Member
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    AMMURICA. And FREEDOMZ.....
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    AMMURICA. And FREEDOMZ.....

    Give me your tired, your poor, your Fruity Pebbles...
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 7,816 Member
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    Makes me proud to be an American!
  • tinak33
    tinak33 Posts: 9,883 Member
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    AMMURICA. And FREEDOMZ.....

    Give me your tired, your poor, your Fruity Pebbles...

    I love Fruity Pebbles...... :love:
  • Joannesmith2818
    Joannesmith2818 Posts: 438 Member
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    That.....is.......distuuuuuurbing. I still eat several ready meals a week. I use them on the day when i no I will get super late. It stop me getting a takeaway. I may try make my dinner the day before myself and reheating it :/
  • SpecialSundae
    SpecialSundae Posts: 795 Member
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    I was brought up in a home where convenience foods were a rarity and almost everything was cooked from scratch. I intend to do so when we have children of our own.

    So if EU approved pre-packaged food is a bit iffy by me, you can imagine what I think of the toxic sludge that passes for convenience foods in the States.

    I don't pretend to know the full consequences of eating pre-packaged foods all day, every day (or even what they contain) but I prefer to know what I am putting in my mouth.
  • nlewis22
    nlewis22 Posts: 107 Member
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    Good article, thanks for posting. I had no idea, well maybe I had no idea. I think down deep, all 'Muricans KNOW our food is wrong. I try to keep a garden, and buy organic when I can, but yes I fall victim to the "fast, cheap, & easy".
  • WifeofPJ
    WifeofPJ Posts: 312
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    I avoid processed foods as much as I can. I always have individual serving sizes of soups and chilli in my freezer for a quick fix. Cook more than I can eat so I can have left-overs as well for variety. I eat either fresh or frozen vegitables. That being said there is still some processed foods in my diet, cheese, yogurt. I don't know if I could get rid of processed food entirely but I try as much as I can.
  • bonniecarbs
    bonniecarbs Posts: 446 Member
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    It pisses me off that everything is knocked out of foods when they are processed, everything but the doggone salt. I'm old, but as a child I remember seeing commercial on TV about the changing of foods, and remember My mom saying - "they are messing with the foods". Can you imagine how frightened I was? Now I hate myself because I eat that crap, because its so convenient. I buy a chicken that is the only chicken I can eat because of my gums - Tenderbird breast. Its a frozen chicken with almost 500 mg sodium in it before I even cook it - raw chicken! Its hell out there.
  • thewordwarrior
    thewordwarrior Posts: 73
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    Your huddled masses yearning to eat...a lot of crap. And lots and lots of cheese. Mmmmm...cheese.
    AMMURICA. And FREEDOMZ.....

    Give me your tired, your poor, your Fruity Pebbles...
  • thewordwarrior
    thewordwarrior Posts: 73
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    This. Exactly.
    I don't pretend to know the full consequences of eating pre-packaged foods all day, every day (or even what they contain) but I prefer to know what I am putting in my mouth.
  • SpecialSundae
    SpecialSundae Posts: 795 Member
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    It pisses me off that everything is knocked out of foods when they are processed, everything but the doggone salt. I'm old, but as a child I remember seeing commercial on TV about the changing of foods, and remember My mom saying - "they are messing with the foods". Can you imagine how frightened I was? Now I hate myself because I eat that crap, because its so convenient. I buy a chicken that is the only chicken I can eat because of my gums - Tenderbird breast. Its a frozen chicken with almost 500 mg sodium in it before I even cook it - raw chicken! Its hell out there.

    What is it about that processed chicken that means you can eat it? There are ways to tenderise natural chicken.

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