First, I will explain the title..

My mom, born and raised in Ohio never bought into the non fat, artificial sugar, diet fads...ever! For that, I'm extremely thankful. I will explain in more detail, but here's a little background.

In case you didn't know, I'm from a family of 8 kids and I'm beginning to understand how difficult it must have been to be my mom. I'm going to focus on the difficulty of just preparing meals on a daily basis for all of us. My mom isn't necessarily a health nut, but she has done her fair share of reading and research and she realized very quickly there could be dangers in certain foods. Some things we never had growing up are: soda, white bread, artificial sweeteners, fat free cheeses and other things fat free, veggies from a can and the list goes on! We always had fresh fruits and vegetables sitting out as snacks(many actually from my dads garden, which I hated growing up because I had to tend to it, but appreciate it now). 90% of the time, we had home cooked meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cereal was never really an option for breakfast and if we wanted to have 'junk food' as a snack, we would have to accompany it with 'good' foods. Because my mom didn't actually have eyes in the back of her head and was unable to monitor us 100% of the time, she was great at hiding foods we weren't allowed to have access to. When we had dessert, it was mostly freshly baked by her and without preservatives. They truly taught us how to eat like our grandparents.

JOB WELL DONE, Mom and Dad!

Now that you have a little background on us, I want to take you to my next point, that is regularly brought to my attention, but more in this past week! I strongly believe that if we payed more attention to what we put in our bodies, we wouldn't be paying so much for medical research!!! Think about it next time you go to the grocery store to look at the food labels on every thing you buy, even foods that you would think are in the safe zone. If there is a list of ingredients 30 words(that you can't pronounce) long, then you should think twice about buying it.

When food is made in factories, it's made with chemicals. We're conscious of other chemicals we expose our bodies to, so how about becoming more aware of what we actually let enter our bodies. Here is a list of some commonly used additives & preservatives:

Benzoates can trigger allergies and may cause brain damage. Foods include pickles, flour, margarine, fruit purees, fruit juices, and beer.
Bromates can destroy nutrients and cause diarrhea. White flour and bread are common foods that contain this preservative.
BHA and BHT (butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene) are the two most widely used synthetic antioxidants in foods. These preservatives have caused cancers in rats; however, some studies show they may actually protect against the development of cancers. BHA can be found in meats, baked goods, cereals, snack foods, and beer. BHT is often found in pre-packaged food.
Glutamates may cause headaches, palpitations, dizziness, and cancer. Almost all convenience foods contain this harmful preservative.
Mono- and Di-glycerides may cause birth defects and cancer. You can find these preservatives in many foods, such as cookies, cakes, pies, bread, peanut butter, dry roasted nuts, vegetables packaged with sauce, shortening, and margarine.
Nitrates and Nitrites are known carcinogens. These harmful preservatives are used to preserve meat.
Propyl gallate may cause birth defects and damage the liver. This preservative is mostly found in meat products, vegetables packaged with sauce, pickles, vegetable shortening and oils, and even in chewing gum.
Sulfites are also common food preservatives and may cause headaches, joint pain, heart palpitations, allergies, and cancer. Foods include fruit, dried fruit, jarred olives and peppers, corn syrup, cornstarch, wine vinegar, and wine.
(taken from http://www.brighthub.com)

I hope not to overwhelm or offend, but just bring forward some hidden language in food labels. Please be aware of what you try sending through your digestive system and the serious side affects they have!

xoxo

Cara
caraclarknutriton@gmail.c