A Dangerous Disguise: Watch Out for These 4 Toxic Ingredients!


Anything that you consume, even water which we all need to survive, can be toxic in excess amounts. However, as you’re surely aware, some foods are much healthier than others. In most cases, natural ingredients are safer than synthetic ones, but many times foods that may appear to be healthy contain toxic ingredients that could contribute, not just to weight gain, but life-threatening health conditions. Make sure you check the food label on any processed foods and find out where everything else is sourced from to avoid these four toxic ingredients!

Trans Fats

Several years ago, trans fats were linked to heart disease, so manufacturers rushed to remove trans fats from their products and display on their food labels that there were zero trans fats. However, there’s a catch: food manufacturers are required by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to list the amounts of trans fats their foods contain per serving, but if the product contains less than 0.5 grams per serving, the manufacturer can list it as containing zero trans fats. So you could be consuming trans fats without even realizing it! Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are the main culprits of trans fats, and they are found in processed foods such as peanut butter- giving it its rich, creamy taste but increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease at the same time. It’s important to carefully read food labels and look for all-natural products that don’t contain partially hydrogenated oils.

Heavy Metals

No, I’m not referring to Metallica or Iron Maiden here, but metals such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium which can be found in trace amounts in your found and are detrimental to your health. Lead, which can make its way into water supplies, is toxic even in the lowest concentrations. To safeguard against lead poisoning, it would be smart to invest in a water filter/filtration system. Mercury also poses a serious health risk and it is most commonly found in seafood such as tuna. In a high enough dose, it can cause brain and nervous system damage, and it is also toxic to the kidneys, liver, and heart. Pregnant women should be especially cautious about their seafood intake because mercury can pass from the mother to the fetus. Arsenic, which can be found in rice, is linked to a variety of health issues such as vascular disease, cancer, cardiovascular and central nervous system disturbances, and bone marrow depression. Cadmium, which is associated with bronchial and pulmonary irritation, kidney stones, and liver damage, can be found in a variety of foods including vegetable oils, potatoes, shellfish, baked goods, and chocolate.

Artificial Sweeteners

I’ve discussed before how bad artificial sweeteners are for your health! Some may claim to be a healthier alternative to sugar, but avoid these anything containing sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, and acesulfame-K like the plague because they contribute to gut dysbiosis, poor carbohydrate tolerance, weight gain, increased hunger, stress, accelerated aging, cognitive decline, and headaches.

Herbicides and Pesticides

Lastly, be careful about the produce you consume and avoid processed foods. It’s best to eat organic whenever possible, because genetically modified (GM) foods or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) raise a variety of safety concerns. Of all the GMOs grown worldwide, 80% are engineered to tolerate the toxic herbicide glyphosate, or “Roundup,” which is classified as a probable human carcinogen linked to Alzheimer’s disease, depression, autism, and Parkinson’s.

The point of this article is not to scare you away from all food, but rather to steer you away from processed foods. Consumed in moderation, none of these toxins will contribute to immediate health issues. What’s important is avoid your exposure to them as much as possible. It’s easy to reduce your exposure by eating natural, minimally-processed foods.

Be Aware of Giant Food Manufacturers

It’s a daunting fact that a lot of people don’t know, but thousands of food items that you commonly find at the grocery store are actually produced by a handful of giant multinational corporations. As you can imagine, these companies are not in the food industry to improve the overall health of the population or educate people about eating right. No, the only thing these 4 or 5 food giants care about is, you guessed it, making money, making a ton of money.

The way these food manufacturers are able to make so much money out of fake food is by adding a bunch of preservatives so the food lasts a really long time in store shelves and by adding a lot of additives that in the end will make the consumer addicted to the food. I know this sounds crazy, but let me take you step by step on how the process works:

Let’s say that that one of these huge food companies wants to come out with a new food product (as if they need anymore, right?). The first thing they will do is commission their food chemists to come up with two versions of said food product. The instructions are simple:

-Make sure the food product has a long shelf life.

-Make the food products as desirable as possible to every individual across the board.

So how exactly do the chemists complete these two requests? Well, first they load the product with a bunch of preservatives and test them out to see which one does the best job of holding the product up through a series of aging procedures. Then, to make the food product “desireable,” which is another way of saying “make it addictive,” chemists experiment with food additives like trans fat, caffeine, MSG, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, artificial flavors, etc. Now something you should keep in mind is that these kinds of food additives alter your brain chemistry. That’s why you become addicted and begin to gain body fat. They also function in a way that you can binge on them and yet not feel super full, so you continue to eat the food product. And lastly sweet food products, for example, can actually alter your tastebuds, thus making you crave sweets more than your body really wants them.

So once the food chemists come up with their best concoction, the food manufacturer then focus on luring consumers through attractive, yet deceiving marketing that will undeniably pull in buyers. Once the food product versions are ready, the food manufacturers then test them with consumer groups and figure out which version of the commissioned food product is most addictive, and will in turn make consumers buy it no matter what. Sound evil enough to you? The end result of this process: consumers have yet another unhealthy treat to binge on and food giants continue to deepen their already deepened pockets.

I know this is a horrible reality to take in, and if this is new news to you I am sorry to break your bubble. But it’s important we educate each other of the unfortunate realities that are taking place in the food industry. We are so used to massive food production that we don’t realize what we are putting in our bodies. I bet there are a lot of food products in your house that you may think are healthy, but unfortunately are tapping into the criteria I just mentioned. So please do me a favor, go home and discard any of these kinds of food products. They are everywhere from sweets, lunch meats, prepared foods, and the list goes on. It’s time you retrain your brain, your tastebuds, and your body and cut the unhealthy addiction these food giants have introduced you to! Also, watch the movie Food Inc and continue to learn about this topic!