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Monday, June 28, 2010

We gotta read the labels... ALL labels

As I opened a new jar of jam for this morning's breakfast I was able to read the label's "ingredients" list - quite possibly because I had my reading glasses handy. Yes - I am having a hard time reading the fine print of labels. My vainness completely attributes this to my laser eye correction which cost me my close up vision - not at all to the fact that certain eye muscles are feeling the effect of time.
But that's another blog.

Back to the labels on our foods. I am an avid label reader. Dorky? Yes, absolutely. Smart? That, too. If you read labels, you know why.  For one, there is stuff in our foods that is really not meant for human consumption! Rule of thumb is - if you can't pronounce it - don't eat it. I like that.
This morning's surprise was a simple read: HFCS - High Fructose Corn Syrup. I expected sugar - no  better than HFCS in terms of health-effects - but less likely to cause allergic issues to someone who is allergic to corn. (Corn is one of the top 4 foods that people are allergic to!)

A while back I saw a new kind of cheese at the store. Extending my arm all the way I gathered that it wasn't a processed cheese - from the length of the list of ingredients. Bought it. Looked at it more closely at home. And was shocked - yes, shocked - when i read the name of an antibiotic on the list. In my cheese!

The last example I would like to bring up here are artificial sweeteners. Are you aware of the fact that virtually all regular chewing gums, bubble gums contain Aspartame or Splenda, not just the sugar free kinds? The last kind to succumb just recently was Big Red. And kids' liquid medicines... Aspartame. A neurotoxin in kids' products... shameful!

So I hope this is enough encouragement to read labels and then make informed choices about what you put into your body. Cause it does matter. Stay tuned for more. I'll be adding links and  references soon.


Dr. Marie

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