Food and the chemicals in it
There are countless ways in which junk or processed foods are bad for us, but do people really know what was inside that hamburger they ordered at the nearby fast food restaurant? Most people aren’t properly informed about the contents in their food, and if they knew, I’m sure many of them would probably avoid that kind of diet and make themselves a vegetarian. The food we eat isn’t entirely food anymore; a good amount of it is composed of synthetic ingredients. Not only that, but we are exposing ourselves to numberless diseases. You may not have known, but there are harmful (and disgusting) chemicals in the food we eat, which can lead to hazardous results in our health.
So maybe you've heard about the “pink slime” in chicken nuggets, and that pretty unpleasant. Now imagine having things in your food that are 10 times grosser and more toxic, natural and chemical. But it’s not in our imaginations… it’s in our food. Arsenic, a metalloid, is found in many foods from rice to juice and there have been traces of it found in beer. You can get arsenic poisoning, which may eventually lead to death. There are also natural things in your food that are just as repulsive. You may have wondered what “natural flavoring” is in your vanilla ice cream. No, it’s not real vanilla; it is beaver’s anal and urine secretions. These liquids are collected because the beaver’s diet makes those juices taste/smell like vanilla. In the article, 10 gross ingredients you didn’t know were in your food, the author states that castoreum is an, “FDA-approved food additive popular in ice-creams, and allowed to be called ‘natural flavouring’, meaning you probably don’t know that you are eating it.” So you might want to think twice about eating that ice cream and maybe eat some of your favorite dry cereal…but wait up. There’s food coloring in lots of cereals, and Natural Red #4 is one of them. This particular dye is made out of boiled insect shells…yum! So next time you pick up one of these foods, think of what it might do to your health and taste buds.
Most of what we consume doesn't come directly from the earth. Nowadays all or almost all of our food is packaged, processed, and sprayed with chemicals. Does this nourish us? No, it doesn’t, so why should we eat that? Because it tastes good. Companies don’t care about you, much less about your health. Why would they? They can make money by feeding you chemicals that aren’t one bit natural for a really cheap price. Most of the ingredients they use don’t even come from earth because if they did it would be much more expensive, so instead they replace all of the healthy things that could provide us with nutrients with artificial rubbish. They want the faster, fatter, bigger, and cheaper kind of process. They’re making money by selling products the public likes. In the article, What are we really eating? , by Brenda Cobb, the author says, “some people are more particular about the gas and oil they put into their cars than they are about the food and drink they put into their bodies.” What she means is that lots of people just eat “on the go” foods and are more concerned with other things than eating an all natural meal for the sake of their health, and it’s true, because most people would rather buy a frozen meal than make their own healthy food.
Now you know that the chemicals harm you, we can discuss how severe it the infections and diseases have become. As you know, GMO foods can cause lots of trouble. According to the article, You Are Being Poisoned, by Black Doctor, “ in independent studies GMO food has been linked to organ failure…” Having the knowledge that your organs can fail one time or another, you should take precaution and lower the amount of GMO foods you consume or stop eating them altogether. There are other harmful chemicals like food additives, and it isn’t just one that is harmful, it’s a wide array of the food additives that can harm your system. Even the food dyes that are most widely used have been known to cause cancer, and some of them are even found in infant formula. There is also sodium fluoride, which leads to several diseases such as cancer, neurological problems, gastrointestinal disorders, bone weakening and allergies. This chemical is actually more toxic than lead and almost as toxic as arsenic. Mercury, another metal, is harmful to the maturing of the nervous system of a fetus. It is also responsible for increasing the risk of autism in birth. Mercury can be found in almost anything containing high fructose corn syrup, which is also found in baby food. There are artificial sweeteners in food as well, so lets not leave out aspartame. Called AminoSweet, aspartame has found its way into medications, food, beverages, and even things especially manufactured for children. “Aspartame is… producing a wide range of proven disorders and syndromes” (BlackDoctor.org, 2013). The chemicals in these products, as you know, can have fatal results in your body, so stay away from these foods.
There are many ways in which the chemicals in our food can harm us. There are natural and chemical ingredients that are repulsive and can harm you. In addition, people don’t care much about their health and just eat whatever unnatural food crosses their path. Finally, the chemicals in our food have been linked to almost every disease that we know, and results can be fatal. To sum up briefly, avoid these products at all times. They may seem harmless, but the chemicals found in food are basically the little demons that are waiting to weaken your body.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0 <--- watch the Food Inc. trailer!
WORKS CITED
"10 Gross Ingredients You Didn't Know Were in Your Food." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 13 May 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
"The Living Foods Institute." The Living Foods Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
"You Are Being Poisoned." BlackDoctor RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
"10 Gross Ingredients You Didn't Know Were in Your Food." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 13 May 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
"The Living Foods Institute." The Living Foods Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
"You Are Being Poisoned." BlackDoctor RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.