3. Food additives are substances added to food
to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance.
Some additives have been used for centuries; for
example, preserving food by pickling with vinegar,
salting as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur
dioxide as with wines. With the advent of processed
foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many
more additives have been introduced, of both natural
and artificial origin.
4. Whether you like fast food or not, you
cannot ignore the inviting fatty and salty aroma that
flows through the air as you drive by a fast food
restaurant.
Something is triggered in your brain that makes
you crave foods that contain salt, sugar, and fats, but
don’t fall victim to these foods and their addictive
ingredients!
5.
6. Fast food items are cheap and mass
produced, so they are pumped full of flavor enhancers
and colorings to make this cheap food appealing and
edible to consumers. Below is a brief guide to
understand what these addictive ingredients are and the
effects they have on your body.
9. Sugar, Fat, and Salt
These ingredients often come highly processed in
fast food in the form of high fructose corn syrup and
hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. Both
high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated
oils contribute to weight gain and leads to increased
bad cholesterol.
10. Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is a
flavoring agent. It is a form of concentrated salt
added to foods to enhance the flavor that is present in
a variety of fast food and convenience food items.
As MSG in fast food is highly processed, there
has been numerous reports of skin rashes, itching,
hives, vomiting, asthma, heart irregularities,
depression, seizures, headache, migraines, chest pain,
nausea, and weakness
11.
12. Due to the fact that MSG is super cheap, the food
industry can use low quality foods and add MSG as a
flavor enhancer to mask the cheapness. This flavoring
agent may also interfere with appetite suppression and
cause you to feel hungry even after you’ve eaten a large
amount of food.
13.
14. Casein is often referred to as the “nicotine of
fast food.” Although this protein compound naturally
occurs in milk (80% of the proteins in cow milk), in
fast food it is transformed to a refined and
concentrated form created by adding calcium
hydrogen phosphate to concentrated milk solids.
Common fast food items that contain casein
are cheese, french fries that contain milk-derived
ingredients, buns, milk shakes, drive-thru-window
baked goods, other types of desserts, creamy salad
dressings, whipped toppings, sausages, and more.
15. The problem with addictive foods like
cheese is that they are acidic, and acidic foods tend to
be fatty and sugary. These two food characteristics,
fatty and sugary, when consumed in excess can have
negative effects on you health by promoting problems
such as weight gain.
16.
17. Caffeine is one reason people get
hooked on soft drinks. Constant exposure to caffeine
makes your brain compensate by decreasing the
number of receptors for its own "stimulant,"
norepinephrine, which makes you seek the stimulation
from an outside source.
18.
19. To be sure you are not ingesting any addictives,
make your own meals at home and only add your
favorite natural spices like fresh or dried herbs and
spices, sea salt, garlic, and ginger.
