I have 5 non-food items that we would do well to make sure are outside our boundaries. Boundaries allow us to understand what belongs to us and what does not.
When it comes to the 40,000+ items in the grocery store, walking in with boundaries in place equals total freedom. If you walk into a grocery store without boundaries and you permit the grocery store to direct your food choices, you are sure to walk out with a whole lot of calorie-rich, eternally shelf stable food items that are nutritionally defunct because a grocery store is created to make money for its owner.
Non-Food Items to Avoid
Artificial sweeteners/flavors (aspartame, sucralose, Splenda, acesulfame potassium).
Why? Because the artificial ingredients increase cravings, disrupt bacterial balance, raise glucose levels, overload the liver, and cause increase fat accumulation. Not to mention all the behavioral and cognitive problems associated like migraines, seizures, anxiety, depression, learning difficulty. For a better understanding of artificial sweeteners, watch this video.
Look for food items sweetened with honey, maple syrup, stevia, monk fruit, molasses, or fruit.
Corn syrup
Corn syrup is made from the starch of corn. There is a 100% chance it is genetically modified and loaded with pesticide residue. Studies show that corn syrup increases liver fat and decreases insulin sensitivity.
It also causes gut flora imbalances that are associated with many chronic diseases. This is one reason I do not consume ketchup at restaurants because corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup will be one of the main ingredients.
Soy, corn and canola oils
These fats decrease activity of antioxidant enzymes and oxidative damage in arteries. These fats are also 100% genetically modified and loaded with pesticide residue. They retard growth, cause abnormalities in blood platelets and are a massive contributor to degeneration in humans, from the nervous system, cardiovascular system, to joints and eyes.
They make cell membranes less capable of withstanding stress. For more on vegetable oils and why you want to avoid them, check out this post.
Food coloring
Amazingly, people still buy Gatorade for their children and drink Gatorade when they’re sick even though artificial food coloring is linked with increased inflammation and disrupted immune function. Even as hyperactivity disorders, the inability to focus and finish a task are at an all-time high, food coloring continues to be consumed. The very thing that is shown to put the brain into a tailspin.
Pass on the food colorings, they are there to make your eyes think a food item is strawberry flavored when it is actually, Red dye #40, a gene toxic food coloring.
Propylene glycol and polysorbate 80
These food additives are often found in yogurts, dressings, soups, ice cream and of course fast food. These substances are shown to worsen kidney and liver function promoting acidosis. Acidosis is when your body cannot remove acid fast enough.
If your body is having to deal with these poisons multiple times per day, you are going to be hard-pressed to see your health blossom and accumulate, let alone overcome chronic disease.
