Eliminating Unhealthy Food

Recently in the grocery store, I ran into a friend I don't see very often. She was focused on reading a food label. Turns out she recently changed to a plant-based diet and found she felt so much better (and looked better I might add).

Influenced by such films as Forks Over Knives, Hungry For Change and Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, many people are making the change to eat less processed food and eat a more plant-based cuisine.

For many, the change to a plant-based diet requires a process, which should begin by eliminating   unhealthy, processed foods.

Read Food Labels
Reading labels is the first step in getting healthy when changing to healthier eating habits. Become familiar with what's real food and what's not. Look for ingredients that you would not mindfully eat.

So let's look at what you can toss out or put back on the grocery shelf as not real food:

Here are 10 food additives to avoid:

1. Artificial Sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, etc.)
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup
3. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)—oftentimes masked as "natural flavors"
4. Trans Fats/Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils
5. Food Dyes
6. Sodium Sulfite
7. Sodium Nitrate/Sodium Nitrite
8. BHA and BHT
9. Sulphur Dioxide
10. Potassium Bromate

I would also add sugar to the list. Sugar should be consumed sparingly. It used to be that sugar was confined to dessert. But when you start reading labels, you'll find a majority of foods contain sugar. Food manufacturers realized that sugar makes everything taste better so they add it to everything. Bread, salad dressings, mixes, even canned kidney beans.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest publishes a comprehensive list of food additives to check out. Their list of Safe additives is a mixed bag. I would classify many as not safe. In addition, the Cut Back, Caution and Certain People Should Avoid category should be lumped into the Avoid category in my opinion.

If you really want to get steamed about all the stuff added to food that's making Americans sick and fat, read how food companies exploit Americans with additives banned in other countries by the Food Babe over at 100 Days of Real Food.

Okay, that's your homework for the week. Clean out those cabinets and avoid those grocery store aisles stocked with packaged items that only pretend to be food. We call it manufactured food. If an ingredient is something you can't pronounce or looks like a chemical, it's likely bad for you.

Read What is Real Food to find out what lurks in a simple condiment that most households use.

Report back: What food did you throw out or put back on the shelf when you read the ingredients?