When was the last time that you checked the ingredient label on the foods that you are eating? If it’s been awhile, then you might be surprised to find out what they’re putting in food these days. Grandma sure wouldn’t recognize any of these ingredients!
Do you know what you are really drinking?
Skeptical that food ingredients have become unrecognizable? Here’s a little trivia: Read the ingredient list below (that is, if you can even read/pronounce it), and name what food it is.
INGREDIENTS: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLID ACID), CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, DEXTROSE, SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL (WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS), SUGAR, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF CRACKER MEAL, WHEAT STARCH, SALT, DRIED STRAWBERRIES, DRIED PEARS, DRIED APPLES, CORNSTARCH, LEAVNING (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), MILLED CORN, CITRIC ACID, GELATIN, CARAMEL COLOR, SOY LECITHIN, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, XANTHAM GUM, MODIFIED WHEAT STARCH, COLOR ADDED, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, RED#40, NIACINAMIDE, REDUCED IRON, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), YELLOW#6, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), TUMERIC COLOR, FOLID ACID, BLUE #1.
So, what’s the answer? **drumroll** Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts! Surprised? Don’t worry…who would recognize a list that sounds more like a science lab creation?!
If Pop-Tarts are such a simple, easy and convenient food, then why are there so many unfamiliar and unhealthy ingredients in it? There are loads of unhealthy ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils and artificial (means not natural) colors like Yellow #6, Red#40 and Blue#1.
Good for you?
An important fact about ingredient labels is that the ingredients are listed in order of the most prevalent ingredient by weight. That means, in these Pop-Tarts, enriched flour is the most prevalent ingredient followed by corn syrup (a sugar) and then high fructose corn syrup (an unhealthy, artificial sweetener). Basically, the bulk of these Pop-Tarts is fiberless flour and unhealthy, unnatural ingredients!
We all like to enjoy sweet treats once in awhile (and we should!), but we can enjoy these treats without eating so many unhealthy ingredients! What is your favorite natural sweet treat?
Check back next week for the next part of this series to find out which ingredients you should avoid!
I try to stick to dark chocolate when I’m wanting something sweet, but sometimes when I want something else I’ll make cookies. I like to make them as opposed to buy them because that way I know for sure what goes in them, and I can use whole grain flour, and apple sauce instead of oil.
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It’s just gross what these companies are passing off as food these days. Our latest favorite sweet snack is banana “ice cream”, which we make by putting frozen organic bananas through our juicer. Tonight we will be adding organic strawberries to it as well. It will be a whole two ingredients and my kids have declared it the best “ice cream” ever!
oh my goodness. i knew they were really bad and don’t ever buy them but my grandson talked me into yesterday. so today the grandkids were eating them like they were grapes or something…………when my daughter picked up my granddaughter she broke off a piece and saw the inside and couldn’t even eat it. then later send me this link. well, this time it will be longer than a year before i buy them again!! perfect timing!! thanks for the awareness, i knew there was a reason i don’t buy stuff like that often!! what a waste of money and calories!
wow!!! I guess since we don’t eat pop-tarts & have booted HFCS it’s OK that my husband and I just laughed at this trivia.
Thankfully, we’ve become accustomed to reading labels ever since our daughter was diagnosed gluten intolerant. It really opened our eyes!
I always read labels and avoid any foods with MSG or corn syrup.
If I am out and happen to be given a food containg corn syrup in about 30 minutes I will notice the joints in my hands are swelling.
Because of this I have become very conscious and read all labels and avoid some of my once favorite foods.
Frances
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
I find it hard to believe that we feed this kind of stuff to our kids. What is even more upsetting is the way unhealthy foods are marketed so heavily that we, the parents, have to continually say “no” to our children, which makes us feel like the “bad-guys”. One of the nice things about shopping Earth Fare is that I don’t have to use the “no” as often because I know that they have already done the hard work of figuring all of this out for me. If my kids ask for cookies, then every once in a while I can buy them knowing that there is no HFCS, no artificial colors, no trans fats…and they taste great.
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
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’twas not until recently that I seriously contemplated the ingredients in bottled ketchup (my mom used to make ketchup but alas! that is not one of my talents)….nearly every one contains sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup, not to mention a lot of other unnecessary glop. Now, we buy organic. The cost is about the same or minimally higher. We are worth it!
a a kid I never really liked those things. And now as a college student I always try to purge my friends to mke healthier choices. I have always liked granola with fresh fruit for dessert. It’s awesome!
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
Lately I have really been enjoying Watermelon as a sweet treat. If that is not sweet enough then I think the idea of making cookies at home is a smart idea. Macaroons is a good idea. They use very little flower, you can limit the sugar and it only calls for egg whites. I tried the dark chocolate but I like it to much and tend to go past the serving size!