The following is a guest post from Sarah at Falk Family Fun!

**Rachel’s thoughts:  While there is certainly disagreement in the scientific community over whether some of these chemicals and substances truly are harmful for our health, the more that I read and look into it the more I would prefer to err on the side of caution.**

Lately, my house has been invaded by ants. Every few hours, we find a new swarm of them on the kitchen counters. I squish them, my husband squirts them with soap, and I’m finally researching a natural way to get rid of them. I share my ant story with you because, for me, getting rid of chemicals in my house and in my food has been a lot like squishing ants.

I do it a little at a time.

You might be the mass exterminator type. You’ll go through your house, and in one fell swoop, get rid of every cleaner, every body product, and every bit of food that has yucky ingredients.

Or you might be more like me. You’ll do a few mass killings, and then do another few rounds as products appear.

Both ways work. The important thing is to get it done. If you missed my first post in this series on why you should ‘get it done’, check out Chemical Intruders – Introduction.

The Big, The Bad, and the Ugly

There are a few chemical ‘Big Bad Uglies’ to look out for as far as food is concerned. I’ll list these out for you, and give you a few examples of places where I found these offenders in MY pantry.

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup

A study at Princeton University found that rats given HFCS gained significantly more weight than rats given table sugar. Professor Bart Hoebel says, “When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.” Obesity rates in the US have doubled since the introduction of this sweetener and the rate of diabetes has increased by 33%. The average American consumes 60 pounds of HFCS a year!

I found HFCS in my cereal, yogurt, bread, ketchup, mayonnaise, applesauce, pop tarts, jelly, canned fruit, colas, oreos, ice cream, and chocolate syrup, to name a few. My husband found me quite entertaining during this period – I was horrified every time I found HFCS in something new. Coke and cookies, I expect it. But yogurt, bread and mayo?

2. Partially Hydrogenated Oils

Frank Lipman explains in his book, Spent: Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Feel Great Again that hydrogenation has serious health consequences because it creates trans fats.  These trans fats increase the level of bad LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream and lower your level of good HDL cholesterol.  Hydrogenated oils are already banned in Europe, by the way.

I found partially hydrogenated oils in my cereal, frozen pizza, flour tortillas, peanut butter, chocolate cake rolls, and boxed brownies, to name a few. Yuck!

3. Monosodium Glutamate (aka MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, yeast extract, etc, etc. )

MSG is BAD stuff.  Dr. Russell Blaylock (a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi) exposes some of the dangers of MSG in his book, Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills, including weight gain, brain damage, chest pain, allergic reactions, seizures, and many more unpleasant side effects.

I found it in salad dressing, dipping sauces, bread crumbs, soup, Hamburger Helper, and chips, to name just a few. MSGTruth.org has a comprehensive list.

4. Aspartame

Also in Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills, Dr. Blaylock quotes an Italian study that found that aspartame increases the mobility of cancer cells, which contributes to metastasis.  And Dr. Mercola, a well respected authority in the natural/organic movement says that “aspartame is, by far, the most dangerous substance on the market that is added to foods.”  I highly recommend reading more about the dangerous consequences of aspartame.

Aspartame is found in diet drinks, gum, and even Koolaid, to name a few.

5. Food Dyes

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says that food dyes pose a rainbow of risks, including hyperactivity in children, cancer (in animal studies), and allergic reactions. These dyes have already been banned in Europe.

Lots of candies, ‘fruit’ snacks, macaroni & cheese, red velvet cake, and virtually anything ‘colored’ contains food dyes.

Now What?

If you feel overwhelmed after reading that list, I understand! I wanted someone to actually walk with me through the grocery store and show me what I COULD eat! Since I can’t go the store with each of you personally, here are a few suggestions to get you started.

1. Eliminate the candy and soft drinks.

2. Simple is good. Pick the products with the fewest ingredients on the label.

3. Learn to make some meals at home from scratch. Heavenly Homemakers was a great resource for me.

4. Remember that the choices you make while shopping send a message to retailers and food companies. I’m already seeing less HFCS and more ‘natural’ options on the shelves.

While making changes can feel difficult and overwhelming, the small steps you take will, over time, can have a large impact on your family’s health.

Sarah graduated from Baylor with a major in bioinformatics and is now making that degree work hard by raising her two kiddos and keeping her husband relatively well fed.  In her quieter moments, she can be found riding her horse and blogging at Falk Family Fun (though not usually at the same time)

Disclaimer: The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources, and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on this website. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.

The following is a guest post from Sarah at Falk Family Fun!

I remember conducting a science experiment as a child on the effect of Coke on rusted nails. It was impressive to watch the Coke eat through the rust, proving to be far more effective than even chemicals specifically designed to remove rust. That was my first hint that something could be amiss in what we eat.

Fast forward 20 or so years. I wasn’t a big label reader. As long as it tasted good, or performed its job well, I didn’t care what was in it. My husband struggled chronically with allergies, and a friend suggested that those allergies might be linked to chemicals in his diet & environment.

Interesting.

I began doing more research and have been astounded at the amount of chemicals we come into contact with every day! After a year of gradually making changes, my husband’s allergies have reduced dramatically and our family is healthier.

Hidden Toxins – Just Hype?

For years, I was convinced that the “Organic” label was just a marketing ploy. Why spend extra money for “organic” produce, when I could get the regular kind for cheaper? It was quite a shock to discover that my favorite strawberries could harbor up to 8 different pesticides, one of which is a known carcinogen.

Cumulative Effects on Our Bodies

Medical science is beginning to shift the way they look at causal factors for cancer and other diseases. Scientists are studying our “Body Burden”, conducting metabolic assay tests that measure the amount of over 214 different chemicals that may be found in our bodies, and compiling medical databases that link each of these chemicals with different sets of illnesses.

Daniel Goleman explains that “One medical model for these chemical invasions holds that ill effects can emerge slowly, over decades, from cumulative chemical exposures at doses so low they are measured in parts per million. For instance, an emerging consensus in oncology holds that a person’s lifetime exposure to many tiny amounts of cancer-causing agents can be just as toxic as a few big doses of carcinogens.”

Exaggerated Effects on Our Kids

Effects of the chemicals can be multiplied in our kids because they are growing so quickly.

Dr. Martha Hubert, a pediatric neurologist at Harvard Medical School, explains her view in Goldman’s book, “One of the greatest human dangers from this slew of molecules comes when a child’s fast-growing organs, budding central nervous system and hummingbird-like rapid metabolism gets exposed to – and voraciously incorporates — small amounts of foreign molecules, doing biological damage that may not surface for years.”

An Impossible Mountain

Eliminating chemicals may feel like an impossible mountain to climb, but most of the changes we made weren’t hard, nor were they very expensive. They boiled down to simply making a few different choices at the store. Together, they have made a drastic difference on our ‘toxin load’.

This week, I want to encourage you to read a few of the labels of common foods & products in your house. We’ll talk in my next posts about some truly healthy alternatives for your diet, personal care products, and cleaning supplies.

Sarah graduated from Baylor with a major in bioinformatics and is now making that degree work hard by raising her two kiddos and keeping her husband relatively well fed.  In her quieter moments, she can be found riding her horse and blogging at Falk Family Fun (though not usually at the same time)