Many diseases of the 21st century are produced by toxic materials in our meals.
What would happen if some of the supplements, spices or ingredients that claim to be healthy and organic were contaminated?
In the United States, there is now more emphasis to control the quality to supplements, vitamins, condiments and powdered foods that are supposed to help us improve our health due to their special properties, but in many cases it has been found that some of these products are contaminated.
California is the State that has a great demand for organic foods, regenerative supplements, and to avoid artificial and processed foods at all costs. In California, Proposition 65 is in place to verify that food quality is at the right standard levels and to make sure certain types of contamination is not in your foods!
I recently worked for 8 months with a law firm in Beverly Hills California, dedicated to supporting public health that fights against contaminated products sold by companies irresponsibly.
The key heavy metals found in foods today that can affect your health are cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic and other chemicals that have become part of the content of some foods we consume.
After my experience realizing the contamination happens for manufacturing waste in some foods, I really felt I had to share this matter, since my work focuses on improving the quality and lifestyle of the people around me. For instance, there are also cases that occur with some foods like spices that have added a certain amount of lead to create more volume and density in the amount of the content which makes it cheaper and are sold in simple packages without a table of contents.
Food is all about enjoying a meal with our family and friends, eating what we like, and taste foods that have been part of our culinary culture. Could these great foods that were ate by our ancestors be contaminated with heavy metals?
In theory we try as much as possible to improve our eating habits moderately, which means less processed sugar, low carbohydrate or gluten free, avoid saturated fat, less dairy, all in order to avoid altering the most common diseases of today such as diabetes, cholesterol, cancer, high blood pressure or obesity.
But what do we really know about the process of our food?
How do we know that the kind of healthy foods we buy are not contaminated with manufacturing waste? Here, I suggest two basic points:
1 | Read calmly
Take the time to read carefully and calmly everything written on the packaging and its labels, In this way you can recognize the warning of Proposition 65 in California which will help you to know which products have gone through the courts and are warned for having contained a high level of these heavy metals exceeding the rate that regulates what is toxic and harmful to the health of our children and family.
2 | Pulverization could affect the product
Buy whole fresh products and avoid pulverization. Powdered products are used to prepare meals easier but the manufacturing process could affect the product and contaminate it with lead, cadmium or arsenic at a level that is not deadly. The accumulation of heavy metals in our system for years can partially perforate your kidneys and brain, and trigger health problems such as Alzheimer’s, tumors, dementia, and cancer, among others…
The products you should give special attention at the time of purchasing are:
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Nutmeg
- Cumin
- Turmeric
- Curry
- Oregano powder
- Ginger powder
- Pepper powder
- Sage powder
- Saffron
- Chocolate powder
- Sumac
- Vegetable protein powder
- Maca
- Supplements
- Vitamins
- Seaweed
- Dried shrimp
- some vinegars (found contaminated with Arsenic and Lead).
Try to find ingredients that are whole and natural such as cinnamon sticks, ginger root or cumin seeds. In this form they are less exposed to being contaminated.
Learn to read all the information presented in the packaging, you have the right to know what you consume, and you should always demand quality and health control as a consumer. It is your decision and responsibility to not choose a product with a Warning, no matter how economic the product can be it is not worth it. Now by being informed you have the opportunity to choose and become a better buyer.
My passion with Cocina Healthy is to help you eat and live better, that’s why I feel responsible for generating this information as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and consumer, especially when we are at many times looking to save on our foods.
As mentioned before, you can now recognize which foods have a Warning with Proposition 65 when you area buying. Also, choose whole and less processed ingredients in their natural form. If you have young children, what I recommend is to prepare food at home, think about 25 years in the future, those young people will be healthy adults with a lower rate of illnesses.
A healthy lifestyle starts by choosing good quality and additive-free products.