Are you concerned with what's in your food other than calories?

LannyMixon
LannyMixon Posts: 30 Member
edited December 3 in Food and Nutrition
Over the past year or so I have been doing a lot of research into the artificial substances that are allowed in many foods in the US. I was shocked to find out the number of foods that have petrochemicals added, foods that you would never think like milk, cheese, flour and even cooking oils.

Do you concern yourself with these issues or am I the only one here that is doing their best to eliminate these artificials and petrochemicals from my diet?
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Replies

  • grubb1019
    grubb1019 Posts: 371 Member
    I'm more worried about the fat, carb, and sodium content.
  • LannyMixon
    LannyMixon Posts: 30 Member
    OK folks I won't bring it up again, certainly not my place to tell anyone what you should and shouldn't eat.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    No you aren't the only one

    But in my honest opinion you are concerned about something that is completely unconcerning, you are being pulled into the faddish bollox of the multi-million dollar health & fitness industry and idiotic beauty / fitness bloggers and celebs who all try to find a point of differentiation

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    LannyMixon wrote: »
    OK folks I won't bring it up again, certainly not my place to tell anyone what you should and shouldn't eat.

    Letting go of the "should and shouldn't eat"s is one of the main reasons behind the majority of MFPers' success.

    This is absolutely spot on in my experience ..fads and belief systems get in the way of progress and commitment
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
    Currently yes, because I'm doing LCHF. So in order of importance - Ingredients > Carb count > Net carbs > Calories.

    Not too worried about chemicals though, as long as they don't bust my carb goal. Lol
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    Aecetic Acid is a petrochemical. It's also the main ingredient in vinegar.
    Ethanol is a petrochemical. That's just booze.

    if booze is a petrowhatsit, count me in! :laugh:
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    What sorts of sites did you find your "research" on? Sites with peer reviewed scientific studies with well documented research that considered context and dosage in humans when discussing these ingredients?

    Or blog articles and sites wrtitten by people like the Food Babe who thrive and profit on creating unnecessary fears in the population by using scary sounding science terms and appealing to emotion like "would you really feed an ingredient that's also in antifreeze to your children"?

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited July 2016
    I eat mostly whole foods, so no, not worried about it. I do read labels carefully when I buy packaged stuff and like to know what things are.

    I'm not concerned that the approved ingredients are "toxic" in the relevant amounts or anything (more concerned about overall nutrient profile), but I do tend to prefer not to eat most of that stuff anyway, and plus I think whole foods cooked at home (and combined and processed as I like) tend to be tastier.
  • minniemoo1972
    minniemoo1972 Posts: 295 Member
    kazminchu wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    using scary sounding science terms and appealing to emotion like "would you really feed an ingredient that's also in antifreeze to your children"?

    My favourite thing. I've seen some good examples of this. Including "You don't water your plants with this, so WHY would you let your children drink it??" *photo of various fizzy soda drinks*

    Well, I also am happy to feed my plants rotted down horse****, but somehow I feel like my theoretical children wouldn't be too happy with that.

    Emotive language. Ugh.

    Best quote EVER
  • witchy_wife
    witchy_wife Posts: 792 Member
    With regards to what chemicals are in things....nope....I don't worry too much.

    I have a protein goal I try to hit so I like to pick high protein foods. Other than that I try and get some veggies in and let the other macros fall wherever they land but aim to stay within calories.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Life is too short to be worried about the fearmongering you read on the net.

    This!
  • CaptainJoy
    CaptainJoy Posts: 257 Member
    The title of your post is "Are you concerned with what's in your food other than calories?"

    Personally I cringe when I find hair in my food. I can't stand bugs in my food either. I had a roach run across my plate at a Japanese restaurant. My appetite disappeared. I found a large piece of plastic in a taco at a Mexican restaurant and received my money back. I'm just happy that I've never found any human body parts in my food.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    CaptainJoy wrote: »
    The title of your post is "Are you concerned with what's in your food other than calories?"

    Personally I cringe when I find hair in my food. I can't stand bugs in my food either. I had a roach run across my plate at a Japanese restaurant. My appetite disappeared. I found a large piece of plastic in a taco at a Mexican restaurant and received my money back. I'm just happy that I've never found any human body parts in my food.

    i found some plastic in my cookie dough chocolate brownie stack... still ate it though!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Yes and no. I avoid artificial sweeteners. Other than that... *shrug*
  • LannyMixon
    LannyMixon Posts: 30 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    What sorts of sites did you find your "research" on? Sites with peer reviewed scientific studies with well documented research that considered context and dosage in humans when discussing these ingredients?

    My research began with my then kindergartner was having severe behaviour problems in school. We have since found out that he has a sever allergic reaction to a number of petrochemicals that you find in many common foods, dyes are some of them he also has reactions to TBHQ which is a petrochemical used to preserve anything from cereal to milk to cooking oil. He also reacts to BHA and BHT. These are clinical diagnosis not some blog entry.

    We no longer have behavioural issues at school and he is a straight A student.

    The problem is that since these additives are considered "preservatives" they are not required by the FDA to be individually listed on packaging. This is what began our search to find out what is really in our foods.

    Much of the research we did came from the Mayo Clinic, The Center for Science and Public Interest as well as National Library of Medicine. The WHO also has some pretty extensive research on those preservatives. I could go on and list you a lot more sources. I get it I was the skeptical one in our family before I saw the positive results we had removing these additives from our kids diet.

    Because of the difficulty finding what folds and brands use these chemicals and a couple of other issue, we pretty much subscribe to the Feingold Diet program.

    For 90%+ of the population you probably don't see any adverse reactions to any of these additives, I never did persnoally but I can tell you this I feel better, even before I began losing weight, since we removed many of the processed foods and thus the additives from our diets.

  • LannyMixon
    LannyMixon Posts: 30 Member
    bagge72 wrote: »
    LannyMixon wrote: »
    OK folks I won't bring it up again, certainly not my place to tell anyone what you should and shouldn't eat.

    Is that why you started this thread? To actually tell people what they should and shouldn't eat?

    Not in the least, I was hoping to have a constructive conversation about the different chemicals and additives that it's ok to put in foods in the US but are banned in many countries around the world, but I figured out pretty quick that nobody cares so I stepped back and won't be starting any more threads on the topic.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    But you're quite right there though...if someone has an intolerance to an ingredient they should absolutely avoid it

    That's not the same as conspiracy fearmongering though
  • LannyMixon
    LannyMixon Posts: 30 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    But you're quite right there though...if someone has an intolerance to an ingredient they should absolutely avoid it

    That's not the same as conspiracy fearmongering though

    I wasn't aware that is what I was doing, see ya learn something everyday.
  • helene4
    helene4 Posts: 120 Member
    I don't worry about chemicals in food because I make all my food from scratch, so I don't have to worry as much as someone might who eats processed foods. I do worry about the pesticides used on the veggies I get. A lot of them are known carcinogens. Studies show farm workers who spray pesticides have an average life span of 40 and many have children with disabilities. It's no joke! I have many friends in the farming industry.

    Heck no I don't want chemicals in my body! I stay away! Not about to be a Guinea pig to the corporation.

    I think some people are more trusting of corporations that add chemicals to food. I'm not. But that's me. Why would a company that is focused on its bottom line care about my health?

    I also stay away from foods that might have antibiotics or hormones. I notice that if I eat meat that has had hormones added to it to make the animal grow faster messes me up! And it's harder to lose weight. For me, hormone balance and weight loss go hand-in-hand.

    We all are on our own food journey and have to figure out what works best for us :)

    These are the important topics we should talk about, glad you brought it up!
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    helene4 wrote: »
    I don't worry about chemicals in food because I make all my food from scratch, so I don't have to worry as much as someone might who eats processed foods. I do worry about the pesticides used on the veggies I get. A lot of them are known carcinogens. Studies show farm workers who spray pesticides have an average life span of 40 and many have children with disabilities. It's no joke! I have many friends in the farming industry.

    Heck no I don't want chemicals in my body! I stay away! Not about to be a Guinea pig to the corporation.

    I think some people are more trusting of corporations that add chemicals to food. I'm not. But that's me. Why would a company that is focused on its bottom line care about my health?

    I also stay away from foods that might have antibiotics or hormones. I notice that if I eat meat that has had hormones added to it to make the animal grow faster messes me up! And it's harder to lose weight. For me, hormone balance and weight loss go hand-in-hand.

    We all are on our own food journey and have to figure out what works best for us :)

    These are the important topics we should talk about, glad you brought it up!

    Wow. So much fear mongering in one post. So you don't buy ANY processed food? No cheese, milk, pasta, meat etc?
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    helene4 wrote: »
    I don't worry about chemicals in food because I make all my food from scratch, so I don't have to worry as much as someone might who eats processed foods. I do worry about the pesticides used on the veggies I get. A lot of them are known carcinogens. Studies show farm workers who spray pesticides have an average life span of 40 and many have children with disabilities. It's no joke! I have many friends in the farming industry.

    Heck no I don't want chemicals in my body! I stay away! Not about to be a Guinea pig to the corporation.

    I think some people are more trusting of corporations that add chemicals to food. I'm not. But that's me. Why would a company that is focused on its bottom line care about my health?

    I also stay away from foods that might have antibiotics or hormones. I notice that if I eat meat that has had hormones added to it to make the animal grow faster messes me up! And it's harder to lose weight. For me, hormone balance and weight loss go hand-in-hand.

    We all are on our own food journey and have to figure out what works best for us :)

    These are the important topics we should talk about, glad you brought it up!

    You know the flour you use, the sugar, the baking soda, and the oils you used are processed by big corporations. I have lots of friends who are farmers and their parents as well as grandparents were all farmers. None of their kids have disabilities and they all have passed the age of 40, most by double that.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    helene4 wrote: »
    I don't worry about chemicals in food because I make all my food from scratch, so I don't have to worry as much as someone might who eats processed foods. I do worry about the pesticides used on the veggies I get. A lot of them are known carcinogens. Studies show farm workers who spray pesticides have an average life span of 40 and many have children with disabilities. It's no joke! I have many friends in the farming industry.

    Heck no I don't want chemicals in my body! I stay away! Not about to be a Guinea pig to the corporation.

    I think some people are more trusting of corporations that add chemicals to food. I'm not. But that's me. Why would a company that is focused on its bottom line care about my health?

    I also stay away from foods that might have antibiotics or hormones. I notice that if I eat meat that has had hormones added to it to make the animal grow faster messes me up! And it's harder to lose weight. For me, hormone balance and weight loss go hand-in-hand.

    We all are on our own food journey and have to figure out what works best for us :)

    These are the important topics we should talk about, glad you brought it up!

    How do the hormones in meat mess you up exactly? And why would it be harder to lose weight? How do you know when you are in hormone balance? This does not make sense,
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