Avoid Harmful Additives In Your Holiday Meals
The holidays are around the corner and it can be super stressful. EWG just put out some great information on holiday shopping and avoiding dangerous chemicals. Here is a recap.
There’s enough to worry about with cooking, cleaning, spending time with relatives, and staying safe during the Covid-19 pandemic for the second year in a row. The last thing you want to think about is whether potentially harmful food additives are lurking in your stuffing and pie.
But many of the foods commonly found on the Thanksgiving table contain three additives that can increase your risk of cancer and cause hormone disruption.
1. Butylated hydroxyanisole, or BHA
2. Butylated hydroxytoluene, or BHT
3. Glyphosate (found in round-up and used on GMO foods)
These additives are used as preservatives in processed foods because shelf life is more important than human life. They can be found in so many foods you eat, so please read the ingredients.
Why are they in your foods you ask? Because the FDA created a loophole that allows companies to decide if an ingredient is safe or not called GRAS, “generally recognized as safe.”
Companies like Kellogg, Proctor and Gamble, General Mills, Quaker Oats Company, and Post to name a few use these ingredients.
This holiday season, scan the labels and make sure the foods you are serving your loved ones do not contain BHA, BHT, and Glyphosate.
Common foods we serve at parties loaded with additives include:
- Snack mix – make your own if possible or read the labels carefully. Paleo Snack Mix is great!
- Crackers and cheese – read the cracker labels in depth, simple mills is a healthy option
- Mashed potatoes (make fresh not instant)
- Boxed stuffing – this can have a lot of additives, I recommend reading labels very carefully or making it from scratch.
- Pre-made pie crust is also full of additives so make your own or make a crustless pie, that is my favorite.
Click Here to see more about harmful ingredients from EWG.