You might be surprised to know that everyday foods in this country are not deemed fit for human consumption in other parts of the world. Living in America, you’ve probably eaten some of these food items. Food companies have made it their mission to sell products with flashy marketing throughout the years that make their foods more appealing to consumers. Unfortunately, many of them include ingredients that are damaging to our bodies and can cause health problems.
You might be asking yourself why these foods are so unhealthy. To put it simply I am going to give you some examples of toxic foods and their ingredients. The reason why these foods are so unhealthy is because of the artificial food dyes and flavors, nasty preservatives, and pesticides that are added to the foods just to name a few. When these things are added into our diets there is a greater risk of health and even behavioral problems.
Speaking of Pesticides
There are two in particular that are worth calling out.
Atrazine, which is made by a Swiss company, but yet it’s banned for use in Switzerland. Yes, you read that right. The company that produces it doesn’t allow the use of it in their own country because it is so harmful. It causes sexual and genetic damage that lasts over generations, even after exposure is eliminated. It is also one of the most commonly used pesticides in the US on crops such as corn and soy.
Glyphosate is another one. “Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the country, yet until now we had very little data on exposure,” said Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., EWG toxicologist. “Children in the U.S. are regularly exposed to this cancer-causing weedkiller through the food they eat virtually every day.”
Food Relation to ADHD?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ADHD is usually diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. In fact, ADHD is among the most common mental conditions in children, with an estimated 6 million children ages 3 to 17 years having ever been diagnosed.
But is there a correlation between ADHD and the food that our children are eating? The Child Mind Institute conducted a study about just that. In a nutshell, ADHD is not caused by eating a sugary diet, but it definitely makes the symptoms of ADHD, and other behavioral issues in children, worse. ADHD is most commonly brought on by or worsened by artificial food dyes.
Let’s continue.
Have you heard of the dirty dozen?
Blueberries and green beans are on the Dirty Dozen list for this year. Both crops still had troubling concentrations of pesticides that can harm the human nervous system, called organophosphate insecticides. Several green bean samples had residues of the neurotoxic organophosphate pesticide called acephate, which the EPA prohibited from use more than 10 years ago from use on green beans grown for food.
Of the 46 items included in their analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides:
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale, collard and mustard greens
- Peaches
- Pears
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Grapes
- Bell and hot peppers
- Cherries
- Blueberries
- Green beans
This is why it is important to buy organic foods. Organic foods are still allowed to use certain pesticides. However, these pesticides are plant based and said to be safer for consumption. I would not take any chances with these though. Even though I buy organic produce, I still soak it and wash it before consuming it. I personally use this produce cleaner for mine, but there are a lot of options out there.
Here are some foods banned in other countries, but allowed in America
I would like to warn you before proceeding, that many of these foods are favorited items here in America. Many of them I used to consume myself until realizing how toxic they are to our health.
1. Twinkies
Twinkies contain high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils, but they also contain Yellow 5. These ingredients are completely toxic to our health.
The EU requires warning labels on artificial dyes. And countries like Austria, Finland and Norway don’t even allow Twinkies on their shelves for consumers to buy.
You can read more about Yellow 5 dye and the horrible health effects here.
Yellow 5 dye can also be found in foods that you would least expect such as: cubed or powdered chicken broth, many breakfast cereals, Jello, Kool-Aid, pasta, pancake mix, frosting, pickles, macaroni and cheese, creamy orange cheeses, yogurt, butter and margarine, popsicles, many sodas, boxed dinners (such as cheese-flavored rice or pasta), and basically anything orange colored.
2. Stove Top Stuffing
This is a family favorite when it comes to holidays especially. However, a combo of beta-hydroxy acid (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) take this off the menu in Japan, the UK and many European Countries.
Read more about BHA and the health effect here. Read about BHT here.
BHA’s can be found in many of the following foods/products: BHA is added to butter, lard, meats, cereals, baked goods, sweets, beer, vegetable oils, potato chips, snack foods, nuts and nut products, dehydrated potatoes, and flavoring agents.
BHT’s can be found in the following food/products: chewing gum, active dry yeast, frozen convenience foods, prepared cereal products, prepared snacks, dried and processed meat, potato flakes, enriched rice products and shortening.
3. Conventionally Grown Corn
Corn here in the US is commonly sprayed with atrazine which is linked to birth defects as well as many other health effects. It is also banned in 44 countries.
If you would like to read more about this pesticide you can go here.
Atrazine is found on some of these common items: field corn, sweet corn, sorghum, and sugarcane.
4. Cereals
Despite the fact that these cereals target children as their main target for consumers, they are anything but toxic. Many brands of these brightly colored cereals such as Fruit Loops for example, contain many dyes and toxic chemicals that are banned in other countries like France, Austria, Norway and Finland all together.
5. Coffee Mate Coffee Creamer
Hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils got Coffee-mate banned in Austria, Hungary and several Scandinavian countries.
You can read further about the health effects of hydrogenated soybean here. You can also read about the health effect of cottonseed oil here.
Hydrogenated soybean oil can be found in food products such as: margarine, fried foods, baked goods, coffee creamers, crackers, pre-made dough, vegetable shortening, microwave popcorn, potato chips, packaged snacks.
Cottonseed oil can be found in products such as: potato chips, cookies crackers, margarine, mayonnaise, and salad dressings to name a few.
6. Ritz Crackers
These favorite snack crackers are banned in other countries such as Australia, Switzerland, Hungary, Iceland, Norway and Denmark due to the hydrogenated cottonseed oils.
You can read above about the dangers of hydrogenated cottonseed oils.
7. US Chicken
US chicken is banned in the EU because it is washed with chlorine. American chicken processors do it to “protect consumers from food-borne diseases.”
When chlorine enters the body as a result of breathing, swallowing, or skin contact, it reacts with water to produce acids. The acids are corrosive and damage cells in the body on contact. You can read more about that here.
Chlorine can be found in food products such as: tomatoes, celery, olives, lettuce and seaweed. It’s also found in many canned vegetables due to the salt added to help preserve them. Ham, bacon, corned beef, organ meats, salami and sausages, prawns, canned tuna, scallops, called salmon, raw oysters, mussels, lobster, crab, cod, milk chocolate, toffee, peanut butter, canned soups, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, French dressing, dried coconut, roasted and salted peanuts and many baked goods.
8. Mountain Dew
Dew used to contain Brominated Vegetable Oil. Consuming bromine has been linked to headaches, memory loss, skin issue and more. It is banned in Japan and the EU. BVO is no longer used in Mountain Dew (unless they do a “Mountain Dew Throwback” beverage), but it is still found in Sun Drop, made by the Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group.
Bromated vegetable oil can be found in: Numerous generic citrus sodas including; “Mountain Lightning”/Walmart sodas, “Clover Valley”/Dollar General sodas, “Orangette” and Stars & Stripes.
9. US Pasteurized Milk
rGBH, also known as rBST, is a man-made growth hormone fed to dairy cows to boost milk production. US milk is banned in Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the EU. Always buy organic when it comes to milk. What would be even better is if you could find a local farm to get fresh raw milk from. Contrary to what we were told, raw milk is actually very healthy for you. You just want to make sure that the source can be trusted and that the cows are taken care of properly and are healthy. Did you know that pasteurized milk is the reason for people developing lactose intolerance? Milk naturally contains lactose and lactase. Lactase is needed for the body to more easily digest lactose. When milk is pasteurized lactase is removed thus leading to digestive problems.
sBST can be found in milk products that are then turned into cheese, ice cream, dairy products, butter, yogurt.
10. Skittles
Skittles contain Yellow 5 an Yellow 6 (both very bad), but the country of Norway banned Skittles because the candy contains Titanium Dioxide. California has recently also banned this candy. Even a state in our own country no longer permits this candy from being sold, but yet it is still allowed in the rest of the country.
If you would like to learn more about the health effect of titanium dioxide go here.
Titanium dioxide can be found in products like: Milk, Coffee creamer, salad dressing, candy and sweets, chocolate, chewing gum, many snacks, sauces, vitamin supplements.
11. Farmed Fish
Farmed fish are fed a chemical cocktail of feed including methyl mercury and dioxins. Not to mention antibiotics. Countries like Austria and New Zealand don’t go near farmed-raised fish, so why do we?
There is more information about the health issues of methyl mercury here.
Methyl mercury can be found in products such as: fluorescent lights, batteries, and polyvinyl chloride.
12. US Pork
Ractopamine is an animal feed additive used in U.S. pigs. It’s linked to several major health issues in humans and animals. US pork is banned in China, Russia, and the EU.
Read about ractopamine and the health effects here.
Ractopamine is the active ingredient in products marketed in the US as: Paylean for swine, Optaflexx for cattle, and Topmax for turkeys.
13. Maraschino Cherries
These cherries are crafted from real cherries but are anything but natural and healthy. After the cherries are bleached, they’re soaked in another solution with sugar, red food dye, and bitter almond oil for about four weeks. This treatment provides them with bright red color and sweet taste. Red 40 has been linked to allergies, migraine, and mental disorders in children. Why would we EVER give our children food items with Red 40? Maraschino cherries are banned in Austria, France, Finland, Norway and the UK for these reasons.
14. Pre-packaged Ground Beef
The pink slime that you find in the pre-packaged beef is a beef by-product prepared with ammonia gas and used as a filler in ground beef. The beef that you see in stores that is still bright red is not natural! This bright red color is because of the ammonia gas and nitrates added while packaged to make it look more appealing. Real, natural meat once hit by air starts to turn a brown color and people associate that meat as being “bad” and not appetizing or safe to eat. This is why they started adding the gas and nitrates. US beef is banned in the EU.
Go read more about the pink beef slime here.
Ammonia gas can be found in: Ground beef, cleaning products, some Kraft Foods that turn milk into cheese (think Velveeta).
Last but certainly not least.
15. Swiss Rolls
This was a childhood favorite treat for our family as I was growing up. Little did we know at the time how bad it really is for you. Swiss Rolls, while they are brown and white in color, include dyes like Yellow 5 and Red 40. There is literally no reason to add in these dyes except to cause addictions in children to increase sales. In turn they can have some toxic effects on your health. They are banned in Norway and Austria.
There you have it my friends! I did not create this post to scare anyone, but to bring awareness to the many foods that do contain harmful ingredients. It is very important to read food labels and know what you are putting into your body and those of your children. If you would like more help with this you can visit here for more information on reading food labels.
