What's In Those Chicken McNuggets You Feed Your Kids?

Did you know that McDonald's Chicken McNuggets are less than 50% chicken?

They are 56% corn, from corn starch, partially hydrogenated corn oil, numerous food additives derived from corn and the chicken being fed corn.

But that's not all.

There are other syntheric ingredients derived from petroleum in Chicken McNuggets to keep them fresh ... like sodium aluminum phosphate, mono-calcium phosphate and sodium acid pyrophosphate.

In addition, "there are "anti-foaming agents" like dimethylpolysiloxane, added to the cooking oil to keep the starches from binding to air molecules." This chemical "is a suspected carcinogen and an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it's also flammable."

"But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to "help preserve freshness." According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse." Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill."

Now the next time you think about stopping at McDonald's for Chicken McNuggets or any of their other highly processed and preserved chemical concoctions, ask yourself ... "Is this what I really want to feed my kids?"

Just imagine what these chemicals are doing to yours and their health.

Read more.

Learn more about healthy food and healthy cooking.

Umami Is Not U-Friend!

Umami, also known as Taste No. 5, is a flavor enhancer. It is free glutamic acid; i.e. hidden MSG. As you may already know, if you've read anything about the adverse effects of MSG, it is a neurotoxin and excititoxin. It excites your brain cells to death.

Something you might not know is that umami is hidden in certain foods. You can guess that it might be in the product if you read the label very carefully. For example, from the Umani website...

•  Parmesan cheese is one of the most umami rich foods in the world
• The condiment Marmite, contains even more umami than Parmesan cheese
• Cheddar cheese also contains umami

The ingredients in Kraft Parmesan Cheese are ...
Parmesan Cheese (Pasteurized Part-Skim Milk, Salt, Less than 2% of Enzymes, Cheese Culture, Cellulose Powder to Prevent Caking, Potassium Sorbate to Protect Flavor)

Unless you know other names of hidden MSG, you might not guess that Parmesan cheese contains MSG at all. The clue here is "enzymes."

According to the Truth in Labeling website, enzymes often contain free glutamic acid, which is a hidden source of MSG. What I find astounding is that parmesan cheese has such astronomical levels of MSG with enzymes being the main indicator of it's presence.

Make sure you check for hidden MSG in everything. AND ... Don't underestimate the amount of MSG potentially in a product by the ingredients list. It can be very deceptive.

Learn more about harmful food additives and get free food additives tips here.

Soy in your Food

If you eat packaged processed foods, you are most likely eating soy, whether you want to or not. That is, unless you're checking ingredients lists to make sure the packaged products are free of soy.

Why would you want to avoid soy?

Most soy these days is genetically engineered and soy is not health food that food manufacturers want you to believe it is. In fact, soy is listed in the FDA's Poisonous Plant Database.

There are a large number of soy ingredients that are added to your food - soy oil, soy protein, soy lecithin, soy isolates, soy concentrates, hydrolyzed soy protein - to name just a few.

To learn more about the dangers of soy, click here.

To learn about other dangerous chemicals added to your food, click here.

Artificial Flavors

Do you ever wonder what gives artificially flavored foods their orange, grape, cherry or pineapple flavoring?

These flavors may taste somewhat similar to the real thing, but in terms of safety, watch out!

You'll find some of these fake flavors in processed foods like beverages, baked goods, ice cream, candy, gelatin desserts, puddings, ices, chewing gum, icings and even in vitamins.

Most of these artificial flavors have not been adequately tested.

With the little bit that is known about their safety, many are "harmful if swallowed or absorbed through the skin." Some are "toxic if ingested." At least one that I know of "can be fatal if inhaled." It's also toxic when you eat it.

Because manufacturers are not required to disclose the chemicals used in creating their artificial flavors, you don't know which toxic chemicals are in the flavorings in the packaged foods you buy, or how toxic they are.

Make sure there are NO artificial flavors in the foods you buy for yourself or your famly.

Click here to get Free Food Additives Tips and learn more about the safety of the additives in your food.

Is Splenda a Healthy Sweetener?

Splenda is chlorinated sugar. It's an artificial sweetener that can actually be made totally from chemicals, without any sugar.

The manufacturer claims that it is not metabolized by the body. However, according to the FDA it is partially absorbed and metabolized by the body, 11-27%. And according to the Japanese Food Council it is 40% absorbed and metabolized.

It's promoted as a safe sweetener with zero calories. However, there have been no long-term human studies on the safety of Splenda, and no studies on its safety for children and pregnant women.

Animal studies have shown Splenda to cause shrunken thymus gland, enlarged liver and kidneys, miscarriage and diarrhea. Small amounts of dangerous contaminants have been detected, such as heavy metals, methanol, arsenic and more.

Those with chlorine allergies may suffer severe reactions to splenda.

Bottom line, although Splenda is not as harmful as aspartame, it is definitely NOT a safe sweetener.

Learn more about food additives and get FREE Food Additives Tips here.

Food Additives Tips

Do you check the food packages before you buy to see if the ingredients contain any harmful food additives?

If you've ever looked at an ingredients list, you probably found that there were a lot of words that you didn't recognize. Those are the chemical additives that food manufacturers add to the food they produce to make it look better, give it a better texture and give it a shelf life of a year or more.

Many of these chemicals that manufacturers add to your food are harmful. Some even cause cancer.

Learn more about protecting yourself and your family from harmful chemicals in your food with Free Food Addtives Tips.

Sign up now! You'll be glad you did. Remember, it's free and you'll be doing your health a BIG favor.