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  • Haley Haskin
    • May 20, 2020
    • 3 min read

Sneaky Ingredients to Watch Out For

Updated: Apr 30, 2023


This blog is meant to go hand in hand with my sneaky foods blog, but before you read about sneaky foods, I wanted you to be informed about what ingredients are sneaky and what it is that makes them so.

There are three main ingredients you want to be wary of when you are checking your nutrition labels, and those are: corn syrups and sugars, enriched flour, and hydrogenated vegetable oils. These three things should be like little red warning flags to you when you are grocery shopping, ordering, or rummaging through your pantry, and here is why.

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup

High fructose corn syrup is the reason we promise ourselves a taste and end up eating a whole cake. Studies have shown it is more addictive than cocaine. But it isn’t the only culprit of food addiction and obesity. Also be wary of corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, maltodextrin, and just plain old cane sugar.

Okay … but we know sugar isn’t good for us. That is a tale as old as time. It isn’t shocking information. No, but these sugars are sneaky ingredients, because they aren’t just in the cookies, candies, brownies, and ice creams you’d expect them to be in. These sugars pop up on nutrition labels you wouldn’t even suspect to see them on, including wheat bread, cereals, canned foods, and more.

2. Enriched Flour

Enriched flower is just as bad. It is a frequently used flour that has basically had all its natural vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fibers extracted from it. It is addictive, and its lack of fiber doesn’t make you feel full, thus leading to overeating and weight gain. And it is in everything. White bread, wheat bread, crackers, donuts, bagels, Poptarts, canned goods, boxed meals, cookies, croutons, you name it.

3. Hydrogenated Oils

I cannot describe how dire it is that you heed this point. So many people have no idea that the cooking oils they use even matter in their diet, much less that they could be harmful. They think that vegetable oil is vegetable oil. Vegetables are good for you, so this oil probably is too. NO! No ,no, no! I am begging you, if you have vegetable oil, canola oil, margarine, Crisco, soybean oil, safflower oil, rapeseed oil, or cottonseed oil in your kitchen right now, stop what you’re doing and go throw it away. I’ll wait.

…

Ok, great, you have returned. Here is why I’m so glad you just did that: All of these oils are unnatural, unsaturated, hydrogenated oils that can only be made through high heat extraction, and they have officially as of June 2018 been determined by the FDA as unsafe. These hydrogenated oils are the “trans fats” you’ve heard so many horror stories about. These oils are detrimental to our cell membranes, which are made up of saturated fats and cholesterol, and need good fats to survive. Giving our cells a fake fat substitute, just because we are uninformed, paves the way for future health problems.

I could not explain all of this more eloquently than the doctor himself from whom I learned. If you’d like more information on these oils and the detrimental effects they have on our bodies, check out Ken D Berry MD here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPlHuXYI8v0&t=27s

The wonderful news is, according to the FDA, foods containing partially hydrogenated oils will be filtered from the shelves by June 2021. Even this doesn’t remove the risks of fully hydrogenated oils (solid oils like margarine and Crisco), but it is a giant step in the right direction! Until then, just be wary of which oils you are using in your kitchen, and which foods contain these fake oils.

Oils to use instead of these chemically engineered liquid plastics are olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, and real butter. Not only are these not harmful, but they actually incredibly good for you. They contain the kinds of fats your body needs and have a myriad of other health benefits. Replacing your old cooking oils with these oils is a win – win!

 

So why am I telling you all of this? Well of course these harmful ingredients are going to be found in all fast foods, candy, chips, syrups, puddings, cookies, cakes, ice creams, and other bakery items. If you are going to eat something bad for you, you are going to eat something bad for you. But what foods have we been eating for most of our lives that we had no idea also contained these hidden sugars, preservatives, and harmful ingredients? What foods have been lying to us all along with false advertising? Click here to find out.

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