In the U.S., everyday foods may contain additives, hormones and antibiotics that have been banned in other countries.
During the holidays, we can sometimes lose our sensibility when it comes to eating right. Now that the New Year is upon us, it’s time to get back into a smart and healthy routine. Although you may be eating the right kinds of food, you may need to look further into the nutritional choices that you are making. Some healthy foods are laced with substances that are illegal in other parts of the world.
Here's a list of banned foods that you should look out for when working to fulfill your New Year's resolutions:
Meat Marked "Lean"
To make meat leaner and reduce fat content, ractopamine is used in American livestock, creating a poisonous meat product. The drug ractopamine is a repartitioning agent that increases protein synthesis, responsible for hyperactivity, muscle breakdown and other harmful effects. Meat with ractopamine is illegal in 160 countries.
Most of the meat containing this drug comes from the United States.
Eating food containing synthetic drugs is always a danger. In the United States, most grocery stores include genetically modified ingredients and hormones that could harm your health.1
Human side effects of this drug include tachycardia, which will quicken your heart rate up to 100 beats per minute, also systolic blood pressure, which measures the pressure in the veins when your heart beats.2
One of the most healthy and nutritious ways to consume meat products without the dangers of eating ractopamine is to try grass-fed meat. These foods can be found at local farms and in health food stores.
rBGH Dairy Products
Milk, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products are commonly laced with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH).
The hormone is injected into cows to increase the production of milk, but the dangers associated with rBGH include risk for colorectal, prostate and breast cancer.3
In 1993, the FDA in the United States approved the hormone, but it is not legal in the European Union, Canada and other countries. The hormone, also known a somatotropin promotes growth and cell replication.4
Consuming products with bBGH is a danger to your health due to the risks for colorectal, prostate and breast cancer. Promoting a conversion of normal tissue cells into dangerous ones causes this. In 1997, a Fox news team broadcasted a news story that shared the dangers of this hormone, but only after a messy legal battle. The FDA still continues to back the product despite its risks.5
The alternative to rBGH injected dairy products would be to consume raw milk that comes from untreated cows. Look for labeling that says "rBGH-free" or "No rBGH."
Raw milk is a living whole food that actually helps protect against allergic reactions and boosts the immune system, providing you with nutrient-absorbing living enzymes, unprocessed, cell-nourishing, cell-repairing raw fats and proteins. These nutrients are exactly what your body needs to function. When your cells receive the proper amount of nutrients, your body becomes more functional, giving you more energy to lose weight.
Chemically Altered Food
We are told to eat salmon due to their nutritional value and omega-3 fatty acid content. Typically, you'll find beautiful pink pieces of salmon at your local food market, but you may notice traces of discoloration, including grey spots. This is because they are raised in farms.
Throughout the Untted States, salmon are raised in farms, in which they are fed dangerous chemicals and unnatural diets. The fish within the farms consume genetically engineered varieties of grains, antibiotics and other chemicals that could be harmful to humans.
In Australia and New Zealand, farm-raised salmon are banned due to the associated toxicity, which has been linked to eyesight damage.
Wild-caught salmon are pink, fed a diet of fish, and contain zero drugs or chemicals. In order to stay healthy and avoid disease, look for wild-caught salmon at your local grocer.6
Another example of mass-produced, chemically altered food is the Hawaiian papaya. Papaya is generally considered a healthy fruit, but Hawaiian papayas are genetically engineered to be resistant to the ring spot virus, one of the most widespread and harmful diseases found in the fruit.
Research has shown that genetically modified papayas have viral transgenes that produce viral proteins. These proteins suppress your defense against viral infections or have toxic effects on your body.7
The fruit is banned from the European Union, but somehow still legal in the United States since the cautionary study is only about 10 years old.
Flame Retardant Drinks
Most American households are filled with various soda beverages that contain brominated vegetable oil (BMO), a synthetic chemical that has caused skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders. The oil originally comes from corn or soy, along with the element bromine. It's added to soft drinks as an emulsifier, but consumers cannot see or taste it. It is used to emulsify citrus oil in fruit-flavored beverages like Mountain Dew, Fanta and Powerade.
Bromines are common endocrine disruptors, part of an elemental family that includes fluorine, chlorine and iodine. What makes it so dangerous is that it competes for the same receptors that are used to capture iodine. If you are exposed to a lot of bromine, your body will not hold on to the iodine that it needs. Iodine affects every tissue in your body and that’s where the BVO builds up within your system. Ingesting these products can result in skin rashes, acne, loss of appetite and abdominal pain, fatigue, metallic taste and cardiac arrhythmias.8
The only way to truly avoid drinks with BOV is to avoid soda altogether. Drinking soda on a regular basis could add up to 15 pounds each year. By keeping soda out of your diet altogether, you can promote overall nutritional health and keep your weight down.9
Taking the Toxins Out of Your Diet
Fad diets don't work, in part because they don't focus on eliminating harmful chemicals from your daily meals. Foods that come from clean, healthy sources can be the difference in creating a lifetime of health for you and your family—and help you overcome weight-loss resistance.
To learn more about keeping chemicals and additives out of your body, check out Essential #5: Minimized Toxins .