Happy Monday, sugs.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!
For us, this weekend was all about relaxing, catching up with friends who were in town, and enjoying a few good movies. The 4th of July was a rough day/night in our house. Turns out Monk absolutely hates fireworks and goes absolutely ballistic every time one goes off. We did our best to comfort him, keep the TV turned up ridiculously loud in hopes of drowning out the constant BOOMS, and continuously promise him that everything was going to be okay ... but our efforts were all for not. He was not having it. Honestly, I'm just glad it's over.
Now that the holiday weekend is over and it's back to the grind of reality, I'm all about getting a meal plan for the week worked out and getting back into a normal (healthy) routine. My favorite part of every weekend is sitting down on Sunday, researching a couple new recipes to try for the week, and making my grocery list. Seriously, it's like weekly therapy for me. Love it!
As I was making my list this week I stumbled upon a very interesting article from Healthy Bitch Daily. The article, titled "5 Foods Nutritionist Won't Eat", talks about just that ... 5 foods nutritionists won't eat. I thought it was pretty interesting and definitely worth sharing.
The list includes the following 5 foods:
1. Canned Tomatoes: for those of you who don't know, canned tomatoes are the absolute worst food to buy in a can. Tomatoes contain very high levels of acidity and most cans contain BPA (a very harmful chemical). The acidity from the tomatoes causes the BPA to leach from the lining of the can. To avoid this, be sure to purchase your tomatoes and tomato sauces in glass jars.
2. Microwave Popcorn: I won't lie. This one surprised me. I had never really thought about microwave popcorn being harmful to my health. Boy was I wrong. According to Olga Naidenko, PhD, a senior scientist for Environmental Working Group, "chemicals in the lining of microwave popcorn bags, which include perfluorooctanoic (PFOA), are linked to infertility and possibly even certain cancers. When you pop the kernels in the microwave these chemicals are released and end up in the food." Yikes.
*According to the article, the proposed year for removal of these chemicals is 2015. Until then, avoid this stuff like the plague and/or pop your popcorn the old fashioned way.
3. Non-Organic Potatoes: I don't eat a whole-lotta potatoes, but after reading this, when I do eat my next tater you better believe it will be of the organic variety. Here's what the article had to say ...
"Jeffrey Moyer, chair of the National Organic Standards Board, confirms that potatoes get their nutrients directly through the skin – they’re roots, after all. This makes them prime targets for soaking up any and all toxic chemicals that come down their food and water pipeline.
Moyer, who is also Farm Director at Rodale Institute (publishers of Prevention magazine) goes on to say, 'I’ve talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals.'"
4. Farm Raised Salmon: farm raised salmon are confined to extremely small, crowded spaces and fed a bunch of crap they would never normally eat. This disgusting list includes: chicken poop, soy, and hydrolyzed feather. GAG. BARF. YUCK. The article also touches on the fact that not only are they high in mercury but farm raised salmon also contain high levels of PCBs, brominated flame retardants, carcinogens and pesticides like dioxin and DDT. Unfortunately, the majority of salmon sold in restaurants is this very kind.
My advice? Make sure you are buying wild caught salmon from a reputable source.
*“You can only safely eat one of these salmon dinners every five months without increasing your risk of cancer,” says David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany.*
5. Conventional Apples: apparently, out of all of the fall fruits, apples are the most pesticide-laden (by far). According to the article, this is because they have a much harder time naturally resisting pests. Because they are so heavily saturated in pesticides, it's a really good idea to pay a little extra for organic.
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I believe it's vital to know and understand where your food is coming from and what it might contain. I hope this list shed some light on a few foods you may not have had on your radar. I know it did for me!
Enjoy the rest of your Monday!
xo
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