The Top Food Additives to Avoid

Part of leading a healthy and active life style is learning how to buy groceries that do not contain additives. It is best to eat raw, organic and from the farmer’s field whenever possible because additives in foods are very addictive. Furthermore, additives in food can expand your waistline, prevent your body from absorbing minerals and vitamins and encourage a fatty liver and insulin resistance.

Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are combinations of chemicals designed to make food taste sweeter. They are often found in foods that seem healthy or that are labeled hose are combination of chemicals that make food taste sweeter. Beware of finding them in baby foods that are labeled “natural”, “sugar-free” or organic.

These sweeteners cause cravings for more sweeteners and train the brain to mindlessly eat foods full of calories. Most foods that contain artificial sweeteners, like packaged bakery goods are also of poor nutritional quality.

Red dye additives are found in many foods such as Red Velvet Cake

Except for Stevia and Xylitol, that have larger molecules that are not absorbed by the body, it is best to avoid all artificial sweeteners.

Artificial Colors

Artificial colors do not occur in nature. Many are made from coal tar and can contain up to ten parts per million of arsenic or lead and still be met with approval by the FDA.

Here is a list of the worst coloring agents:

Blue #1, found in soft drinks, baked goods, and candy, and soft drinks, has been shown to damage the chromosomes in a cell’s nucleus and lead to irreversible free radical damage

Blue #2, which is found in fruit juices and candy, may cause brain tumours.

Citrus Red #1 is sprayed on green oranges to give them a pleasing orange color and it causes cancer

Citrus Red #2, used to dye the peels of some Florida oranges, can cause cancer.

Red #3 is often added to ice cream, muffins, canned goods and ice cream. Studies have linked this dye to nerve damage and to thyroid cancer.

Red #40 is found in gelatine, soda, candy, pastry, pet food, and it is also used to dye red meat so that it looks fresh in butcher case.

Yellow #5 is the second most widely used colorant, and it contributes to mood changes, and can cause allergic reactions. It is found in gelatine desserts and baked goods.

Yellow #6 can cause tumours in the adrenal glands and kidneys. It is found in baked goods, beverages, meat products, baked goods, candy, and gelatine.[1]


BHA and BHT
These preservatives stop food oils from going rancid. These additives seem may cause insomnia, and have been associated with liver and kidney damage, baldness, behavioural problems, cancer, fatal abnormalities, and premature aging.

Sodium Nitrate and Nitrite

Nitrates preservatives that are added to processed meat products such as bacon, corned beef, ham, hot dogs, lunchmeats, and sausage. They prevent the growth of bacteria in the product. However, hopefully you will be eating organic, grain-fed beef (and not a lot of it) rather than beef strewn with chemical preservatives when you are on the healthy and active program.


For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

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[1] Scotti HHC, Kelly “The Dirty Dozen: 12 Food Additives to Avoid and Why http://fooddemocracy.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/the-dirty-dozen-12-foodsfood-additives-to-avoid-and-why/

Take Control of Your Life By Eating Alkaline Food

You have probably heard the saying that if you don’t have your health, then you don’t have anything in life.  Embarking on a Health & Active program is all about regaining your health in total so that you are back in the “driver seat” when it comes to how well you feel on a daily basis.   

How well we feel on a daily basis depends on what kind of fuel we put in our body.  In many ways, we become what we eat.

Another metaphor that applies here is exercise.  Running your body without exercise is like running a car without a tune-up. Sooner or later your health just breaks down.

Feeling Unwell is a Call to “Go Alkaline”

Whenever your body sends you a symptom, such as weight gain, fatigue and high blood pressure, it is a sign that all is not well and that is time to make some lifestyle changes. It is a biochemical “flag” that is waving wildly to warn you that it is time to change your diet and eat alkaline to prevent your body’s pH from becoming so acidic that your cells begin to suffer from free radical damage. 

An acidic blood pH level causes most disease. This is corrected by eating foods that are considered to be alkaline.  Do not take this idea literally. Just because something is sour, does not mean it is acidic.  This way of looking at food is about biochemistry.  Some foods are simply more alkaline than others and when you embark on a Healthy & Active Program you will begin to learn which foods are acidic and which are alkaline.

For instance, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and colas, and eating refined sugars and starches and lots of fatty red meat creates an acidic amino acid profile in your blood. Eating raw, vegan and fresh as much as is possible for you helps to create an alkaline condition in your body that is repellent to free radical damage to your cells. Disease cannot find a foothold in a body that is mostly alkaline.

Healthy & Active Living Prevents Acidosis

Healthy and active living means getting enough exercise and eating alkaline foods so that you can prevent your body from going into a state of acidosis.  Once the body enters acidosis, you begin to experience issues such as phlegm, inflammation, lowered immunity and joint pain. If a state of acidosis is left to fester than you are at risk of cellular degeneration, premature aging and disease.

Acidosis is a problem that is easily solved because preventing it is all about diligence and making the right choices when it comes to your diet. Many people experience relief from symptoms almost immediately when they switch their diet to alkaline foods. Some people go through what is called a “healing crisis” caused by the body throwing off the poisons and toxins it was storing in the liver, blood and the fat as the result of being in a state of acidosis.

For many individuals all that this entails is cutting sugar, junk food and refined foods and trading them in for fresh raw foods, juices, smoothies, salads and homemade meals.

The good news is that you do not have to embark on this type of program without guidance.  For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.