As I have said in previous posts the best you can do for your body is to eat whole foods and avoid processed food. But eating a diet based exclusively from the produce isle can be difficult. I find myself buying lots from the canned good isles and even some cereals.

For soy milk there are some options. Silk uses primarily organic, non-GMO soybeans. However, Silk is also attached to a major cow’s milk distributor. This may be a conflict of interest for vegans. There are also other brands of Organic soy milk. President’s Choice, for example, has an organic soy milk. This would also be a conflict of interest because PC also makes products that include meat and cheese and all sorts of animal derived ingredients. I suppose you have to sort out your priorities. My family’s health is number one and the welfare of animals and the environment rank a very close second.

In the canned good isle there can be some healthful options but that is where label reading is important. I try to buy beans that contain beans, water, salt and just about nothing else. Some have calcium chloride, Disodium EDTA and other like ingredients. These aren’t particularly healthy for you, especially the EDTA. There are certain cheap cans of beans that will have the natural ingredients but there are differnt varieties of beans that I have to buy organically to escape chemical additives. I find that when I can’t get away from the additives, even in organic beans, that I can go to the Eden Organic brand and they are always safe.

Cereal is an iffy one. I prefer not to buy it but my hubby and kids love it. I let the hubby pick out whatever crappy cereal he wants but I choose the children’s cereal. I have been buying organic cereal because of the GM issue. Not only are they packaged more safely and with healthier ingredients they also have less sugar. I can still buy “corn pops” without all the garbage.

 When buying produce I want to you to refer to my “clean/dirty” list in the previous post. All grocery stores carry a decent supply of organic food and that makes your consumer choices easier.

As for bread I have no idea! I make my own bread with grains I buy from Planet Organic. It is pretty easy to do this with a bread machine but some people still don’t have the time to make bread. I would advise to buy something with whole grains and probably bakery fresh. The stuff that is travelling from Colorado and still smells fresh will undoubtedly have additives.

I want to talk about common additives/ingredients in processed food that non-vegan (as in coming from animal sources). Here is the list (this was obtained from The Vegan Sourcebook):

 Albumin, calcium stearate, carmine/chocineal, capric acid, casein, clarifying agent, diglycerides, disodium inosinate, emulsifiers, flavour enhancers (see MSG), some folic acid, gelatin, glycerides (mono, di, tri), glycerol, isinglass, lactose, lactic acid, lanolin, lard, lecithin, magnesium stearate, myristic acid, some natural flavourings, oleic acid, plamitic acid, pancreatin, pepsin, propolis, Royal Jelly, sodium stearoyl lactylate, stearic acid, suet, tallow, Vit A1/Retinol, Vit A2, Vit D1, D2, D3 and Whey.

Alive magazine printed a great article this month taliking about MSG (unami). MSG is very bad for you. It is associated with obesity, lethargy, headaches etc. Unfortunately, it’s very common in a variety of food such as chips, Chinese food, cookies, salad dressings and canned soups etc.

Labels have all sorts of sneaky names for MSG. If you see any of the following I would put the food back on the shelf. I ate a bunch of Pringles and ended up with MSG wheezies for the rest of the night.

Other names for MSG: Ancoma, autolyzed yeast extract, L-glutamic acid, monosodium salt, D02280, disodium guanylate or inosinate, DL-monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed yeast, monoammonium glutamate, monohydrate, monopotassium glutamate, monosodium glutamate (NF), monosodium glutamate monohydrate, MSG monohydrate, protein isolates, sodium glutamate, sodium glutamate monohydrate, sodium hydrogen glutamate, soy extracts and whey protein.

Obviously making educated food choices is not only confusing but it will also take time and perseverance. There are ingredients that sound healthy but really aren’t.

Who would have guessed that “sucralose” would not actually be sugar (sucrose) but rather a pharmacy lab-made chemical sweetener. Splenda states that sucralose is made from sugar and that’s why is tastes like sugar. This is ridiculous. By the time that Splenda hits the shelves it has little resemblance to nature made sugar. If you are diabetic and eating Splenda you should seriously consider switching to Stevia. Stevia is plant derived and natural. It is insanely sweet and doesn’t alter blood sugar levels. Not only that but artificial sweeteners have been accused of being improperly digested meaning that there are concentrations of aspartame or sucralose or whatever floating around in your body doing who knows what! Also, artificial sweeteners have also been linked to weight gain. When you factor in the fact that most diabetic diagnoses are a result of obesity is seems stupid for fat people to drink diet pop because they don’t alter blood sugar levels! Why not put down the pop and have a cup of tea instead? I am very passionate about artificial sweeteners. Splenda is still new but studies on aspartame have revealed extensive lists of side effects and have even caused tumours in rodents. Happy drinking/eating!