R is for Read Labels to Avoid Chemicals

ABCs for healthy living are quick takes on simple strategies for creating a healthier life.

Commercially manufactured bread contains chemical additives.

I used to think that choosing healthy foods meant counting calories, fat grams, and carbs so that I could lose weight. I gave no thought at all to the ingredients used to create highly processed low calorie foods. I compromised my health every single time I ate something that came out of a box or carton no matter how low the calorie count was.

And then I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. While searching for ways to improve my symptoms, I learned that chemicals we are exposed to every day in common household products, cosmetics, and processed food make us sick. Exposure to these chemicals has been identified a a causal factor in almost all autoimmune illnesses, including fibromyalgia, as well as Alzheimer's Disease, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and many types of cancer.

Our bodies are designed to break down and utilize real food for energy, stamina, and to maintain health. Our bodies are not designed to deal with artificial chemical ingredients used by big food manufacturing companies to increase the shelf life of packaged products. Most food conglomerates are interested in profit margins, not health.

The label in the above picture is from a typical commercially manufactured loaf of whole wheat bread. When I make wheat bread, I use just a few real food ingredients: flour, wheat, salt, yeast, milk, butter, and a little sugar to activate the yeast.

Look at what has been added to the commercially manufactured loaf. And this is a brand that contains fewer added ingredients than many of the others sitting on the supermarket shelves. Consider just one of the added chemical ingredients. Monoglycerides are additives used as an emulsifier to keep oil and fat from separating. Monoglycerides (and diglycerides) often contain trace amounts of trans fats which have been banned for use in food production but don't have to be listed as a trans fat because of the level per serving calculations.They have been linked to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and raising bad cholesterol levels.The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has correlated consuming trans fats to increased rates of death.There is no safe level of them to eat.

I don't always have time to make my own bread. So I have become an avid label reader. When I buy a commercially produced loaf of bread, I read the ingredients labels, understand what each ingredient is, and make an informed decision about the purchase. My goal is to eat real food 90% of the time.That leaves 10% leeway for eating some processed food.

I also reduced my exposure to toxic chemicals by eliminating household cleaners that contain harmful ingredients and switching to safer cosmetics. For more info on how to reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals, check out these five ideas.

Eliminate These 3 Toxic Things Now

How to Clean Your Entire Bathroom Without Toxic Chemicals

How to Find Less Toxic Cosmetics

Why Fragrances are Harmful to Our Health

3 Nontoxic Household Cleaner Recipes

I was so debilitated from the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia that there were many days I could barely function. I stopped eating most processed food, started eating real food with a lot of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients, and switched to cleaning products and personal care items with fewer chemicals.It takes time and energy to make lifestyle changes but it is certainly worth the effort. Next month, I will celebrate four years of being completely symptom free.

Want to join my online community?

Like my Facebook page Practical Priorities 

Follow my blog  Practical Priorities

Follow me on Twitter  @KathyKNorman

Connect with me on LinkedIn  Kathy K. Norman

Check out my Pinterest boards KathyKNorman3

Killing Myself with Food and Chemicals

Research shows that what you eat has a direct effect on your health and well being. Processed food is full of chemicals, dyes, preservatives, and artificial ingredients that our bodies were never designed to consume.  For decades this truth had no impact on my lifestyle at all.  I ate things that came in packages and boxes and cans - Oh my! - without giving it a single thought.  I have been thinking a lot lately about why it didn't occur to me sooner that this type of eating could be harmful.

The only reason I started investigating the relationship between what I eat and how I feel is because I had fibromyalgia complete with just about every symptom associated with this horrible disease: severe pain in multiple muscles and joints, frequent bouts of spiking pain in my knees, elbows, and feet, pain that increased with changes in the weather, pain so severe it woke me up at night, difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, never feeling rested even when I managed sporadic sleep, unremitting fatigue, difficulty completing even the simplest tasks of daily living, loss of focus, an inability to concentrate, and feelings of hopelessness.

The most hopeless feeling of all was that I would have to cope with the consequences of this disease for the rest of my life.  After an entire year of misery and despair, I started looking for a way to feel better.  I got rid of chemicals in my home, cleaning products,and personal grooming products.  I stopped eating processed food that is full of chemicals and started eating whole foods rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.  I read everything I could find hoping to discover a way to feel at least well enough to function each day.  I was amazed that I not only found a way to feel better but my symptoms completely disappeared.

Is this a cure or is the disease just in remission?  All I can tell you is that when I made these changes in my life I got well.  I have been symptom free and feeling great for over six months.

Researchers are studying the relationship between exposure to chemicals in our environment and chemicals in our food and have found links to a host of illnesses including almost every inflammatory illness such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, lupus, Sjogren's syndrome and other illnesses like heart disease, depression, and cancer.

So why isn't every person with fibromyalgia or another chronic illness getting rid of chemicals in their environment and food and eating whole foods?  I suspect it is for the same five reasons I was slowly killing myself with food and chemicals for over half a century. 

Habit.  When you are used to doing things a certain way, it seems simpler to keep on doing them that way than to change. So we keep using the same cleaning products and personal grooming products.  We keep eating things out of packages and boxes.  We drink soda and stuff our faces with candy, cookies, and chips.  It is what we are used to doing.

Lack of Information.  We don't educate ourselves about the harm processed food and environmental chemicals can cause.  In the past maybe this information was hard to find.  Now it is everywhere.  You can get on the internet, type whatever you want to know in your favorite search engine and have hundreds of scientific articles right in front of you in a matter of minutes. The truth is out there.  

Disbelief.  Even when we have the information and read every article and book about the harm environmental chemicals and processed food cause our bodies, we just don't want to believe this could be true.  We had rather believe there is some other cause, pop a pill, and hope for the best. Even some physicians are still not paying attention.  I am grateful to have met many who are wholeheartedly behind the movement to eat well to live well. Wondering where you are in the process?  Check out this list and see how many of these foods you are currently eating.

8 Foods We Eat In The U.S. That Are Banned In Other Countries
This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "food poisoning." Original list found in Dr. Jayson Calton and certified nutritionist Mira Calton's new book, Rich Food, Poor Food.

False Sense of Trust.  If it is available on our grocery shelves, we think it must be safe to eat. Nothing could be further from the truth.  Giant food corporations have only one motivation for producing processed food products.  And it is not our well-being.  It is profit.  Read the book
Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss for an eye opening look into the world of manufactured food.

Unwillingness to Change.  Even when we know the truth and believe the truth, sometimes we just don't want to change our lifestyle.  We don't want to give up soda or packaged cookies.  We don't want to switch to safe organic chemical free cleaners.  We just don't want to change our ways.  It took me six months after I started finding out the truth to be willing to make the changes I needed to make.

If I had not made those changes I would still be dragging myself out of bed every morning just hoping for a low pain day, glad if I had the energy to take a shower and make it to the couch. Instead I am traveling, writing, camping, playing with my grandchildren, and living each day with joy and gratitude.  Don't let chemicals and processed food rob you of a life that is full of hope, promise, and possibilities. 

Do Not Put That Processed Food into Your Mouth!

Processed food is full of chemicals

I was on a mission to deal a knock out blow to my  fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.  I was committed to getting as many chemicals out of my life as possible.  I had already eliminated scented products, started using more natural ingredients in my cleaning routine, and changed my personal grooming supplies in an effort to get toxic substances out of my life.  Check out my previous blog entries if you would like more information.

Now I started thinking about the things I was putting into my body every time I ate.  I examined the labels on all of the processed and packaged foods in my pantry and refrigerator.  These products were loaded with artificial dyes, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and chemical additives with names I could barely pronounce.  I grabbed a garbage bag and started the great food clean out.  I tossed everything that was processed and/or had added chemicals.

 I made a list of foods to remove from my daily diet.  Here are a few examples:

lunch meat and bacon - full of nitrates 

hot dogs - chemicals, dyes, nitrates

sodas - little more than chemicals in a can

packaged cookies and candies - dyes, preservatives, additives

artificial sweeteners - not a natural product

Some of these items I liked - a lot.  Sometimes I was tempted to consume them.  Then I reminded myself that I wouldn't eat arsenic or drink strychnine.  For me, chemically laden foods were potentially just as toxic.  I confess that over the past two years I have eaten an occasional hot dog and washed it down with a soda at a picnic. I have taken a small bite of something else on my forbidden foods list at a party.  But this happens only once every few months, not once a day.

By this point in my quest to get better, my fibromyalgia pain was improving.  Some days I had only slight discomfort. This encouraged me that I was heading in the right direction.  But I was still having acute flareups in which the pain became quite severe.  There had been no improvement in my chronic fatigue symptoms.  Most days I was still having difficulty putting one foot in front of the other. I had taken a lot of things out of my life. I discovered I was going to have to put some other things into my life before I got better.



.