[custom_adv] FAST FOOD CHICKEN NUGGETS Chicken nuggets all start with chicken but also contain several synthetic ingredients from diglycerides to Red #40 to carrageenan. These chemicals help make overly-processed foods like chicken nuggets possible because that's what keeps the (very few) organic materials in the nuggets from going bad (or looking weird) after days spent traveling on the road or months in the freezer. [custom_adv] WHITE SUGAR According to the CDC Americans eat a whopping 82 grams of added sugar a day—which is 37 grams above the recommended intake! There’s a gross factor to white sugar, too. [custom_adv] DIET SODAS Harmful Ingredients: Caramel coloring, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), Bisphenol A (BPA), aspartame What do cancer-causing artificial colors, flame retardants, and waist-widening fake sugars all have in common? They’re ingredients in all your favorite diet fizzy drinks. [custom_adv] FROZEN ENTREES Harmful Ingredients: Sodium, trans fats. From preservatives and artificial fillers to mountains of sodium that wreak havoc on your mood, frozen entrees are not to be trusted. [custom_adv] CHINESE FOOD Harmful Ingredient: Monosodium glutamate. Chinese food is often loaded with MSG (monosodium glutamate), a flavor enhancer found in other types of food such as soups, processed meats, and more. [custom_adv] HOT DOGS Harmful Ingredient: Orange B. There are plenty of good reasons not to eat hot dogs—their high levels of sodium and cancer-causing preservative nitrates are just two—but if you need another, here you go. The casing of many hot dogs is colored with a food dye called Orange B. High doses of it are bad for the liver and bile duct. [custom_adv] TURKEY Harmful Ingredient: Arsenic. You may know arsenic as a toxic chemical, but it’s also handy at staving off parasitic infections in poultry. As recently as early 2011, a drug called Roxarsone—which was later found to contain traces of inorganic arsenic—was still being used in chicken feed for this reason, and because it made chicken meat appear pinker and fresher. Since then, the National Chicken Council has said that it is no longer using arsenic-based drugs. [custom_adv] BOTTLED WATER Harmful Ingredient: BPA (Bisphenol-A). BPA (one of these Scary Toxins Hiding in Your Cookware and Storage Containers) is a hormone-mimicking chemical found in nearly all food packaging plastics, and it’s potentially bad news. Active in just parts per billion, one of the things BPA is known for is causing men to grow breasts by disrupting their hormones. It can also promote cancer and render people infertile. [custom_adv] CHEWING GUM Harmful Ingredient: Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). If you don’t swallow it, can chewing gum count as a food? Yes, because BHA is being released into your mouth. Used as a food preservative, BHA is commonly found in chewing gum, butter, cereals, snack foods, and beer. [custom_adv] CANNED SOUP Harmful Ingredient: Monosodium glutamate. Typically dubbed a healthy, soothing meal, soup truly is one of the least suspicious diet saboteurs of them all. What makes it so addicting? Besides being appealing because of its low cost, many popular brands add monosodium glutamate, a flavoring agent that increases appetite and causes migraines. While we weren’t too shocked to learn that all of Maruchan Ramen Noodles—a popular college staple—are laced with the ingredient, we were miffed to learn that some of Campbell’s condensed soups are loaded with it, too.
