When it comes to purchasing food, protecting our bodies often goes hand-in-hand with protecting the environment … so if you follow a few simple rules, everyone wins!
Here are ten shopping rules that will boost your health and cut down on damage to the environment:
1. Eat at home instead of eating out.
Most eating establishments don’t use quality ingredients to prepare their food. The majority use genetically modified ingredients (GMO), with pesticides and chemicals and “bad oils.” For example, restaurants will use vegetable, canola, corn, cottonseed oil (usually GMO), peanut oil, hydrogenated oil, and palm oil. In order for the restaurants to make a profit, they usually buy the cheapest ingredients available. Concern for your health is not one of their top priorities. Eating out should be a “treat” and a cautious exercise in moderation.
2. Purchase ingredients and brands that care about you and about the environment.
Avoid, or at the very least minimize, your intake of ingredients and foods that have GMOs, are riddled with pesticides and chemicals, have monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners and colors, and any other ingredients you don’t recognize or are unable to read. These are all toxic ingredients.
Brands that contain these ingredients don’t care about your health. They care only for their bottom line. Also avoid brands that usually advertise on TV. In most cases, these brands contain GMO, chemicals and pesticides.
3. Buy locally grown ingredients.
Buying from the local farmers markets is not only a fun adventure, but an opportunity to buy directly from the grower, who will be there to field questions about whether their ingredients contain any harmful add-ons. Buying at the local markets means you’ll also be supporting local farmers!
4. Stop or minimize your intake of processed food.
When we make a daily choice of eating processed foods and supporting the companies who make the products, we’re directly contributing to factory farmed animals, caged chickens and ultimately contributing to the destruction of our environment. Many of these foods are also riddled with the GMOs, pesticides and chemicals.
5. Write to the government and ask them to stop feeding us toxic food.
If you care about your health, why not write to your local representatives or even the major food safety agency in your country (such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) and ask them to stop the use of chemicals and pesticides in our food, to stop the approval of the use of GMO ingredients in our food; to stop the toxic fluoride in our water and foods, to stop the use of other dangerous ingredients in our food.
Let them know that you value your health and that truthful and genuine food safety is important to you. You no longer want to be a part of their experiment.
6. Drink less sodas and sweet drinks or eliminate them from your diet.
Most sodas and sweet drinks, especially diet and sugar-free drinks, contain many chemicals. Most of these drinks contain harmful chemicals such as aspartame, white processed sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and other chemicals.
7. Minimize or eliminate your intake of meat, fish and poultry.
Meat and poultry contain high levels of antibiotics that are injected into the animals. These animals are also mostly fed grains and corn (likely, GMO) to make them fat more quickly and ready for sale. In their natural environment, they eat grass and not grains. They’re factory farmed in small, confined spaces and not treated with respect and love.
We then ingest the entire animals and everything it was treated with, including the antibiotics, cruelty, pain, toxic grains, toxic corn, toxic soy into our bodies which, ultimately affects our health. Always choose certified organic.
8. Avoid buying and eating farm-raised fish.
Companies produce farm raised fish to make a profit. These fish are fed unnatural feed that could include GMO ingredients to fatten them up quickly and they can be highly toxic compared to their wild counterparts.
9. Stop buying unhealthy oils.
Eliminate vegetable, canola, corn, cottonseed oil (usually GMO), peanut oil, hydrogenated oil, and palm oil. These bad oils are detrimental to your health. Ensure you use good oils, such as extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil. By avoiding some of the bad oils, like palm oil, you are also minimizing the destruction to the environment.
10. Learn to read and understand product labels.
Make a point of knowing what’s in your food and where your food comes from.
Most labels are aimed at deceiving and confusing people. If you don’t recognize the ingredient, or you can’t pronounce it, then it probably isn’t good for you.
Avoid labels that also claim to be fat free, sugar free etc. Fat free or low-fat doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Many of these products are loaded with sugar and chemicals like aspartame.
Also exercise caution with labels that say, “made from imported ingredients.” These labels often use toxic ingredients. Only buy products that are truthful and clear about the country of origin, so you’re therefore able to investigate that country’s methods and food practices.
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