Unjunk Your Junk Food. Have you seen it at Barnes & Noble or Amazon? What a terrific book! I received it at no charge from those wonderful folks at NaturallySavvy because they’re so excited about this book, they want to get the word out. That’s my job: to honestly let you know my thoughts about this book.
To get started, lets talk about the purpose of such a book. Most of us healthy foodies believe we eat a clean diet. We are sure our food and snack choices are the best options available. But we can make mistakes. There is a lot of contradictory information out there, you need to be able to read and understand food labels to make informed choices. “Unjunk Your Junk Food” offers and easy guide and easy to understand reference for making better choices from products that might contain harmful ingredients although mislead us into thinking they are nutritionally sound. It’s not a sermon, just clean, hard facts that we should know if we care about what goes into our bodies.
The first part of the book introduces us to the food label and what to look for in order to identify “junk”. It discusses good nutrition by means of a well balanced diet and then, on page 25, offers a pull out worst ingredient and beware of ingredient chart. It’s easy to read and a valuable source to take grocery shopping while checking those food labels. You’ll probably only need to pull the chart out a few times before you come to recognize the ingredients harmful to our healthful ways.
The remainder of the book covers specific products which we all may have believed to be good for us or at least not that bad for us. The “Bad Choice” is listed on the left side page and the “NaturallySavvy” choice is listed on the right. Chapters include party foods, frozen treats, cookies, cakes, on the go snacks, candy, and soda.
The biggest shocker to me was that my wonderful sugar free chewing gum made the BAD list. It’s loaded with artificial flavors, aspartame, BHT (a preservative), and more. It never occurred to me that I needed to read the label on GUM!?! The best news is that I can still chew gum but make a healthier option. It’s called “Xylichew”. You can find out more about that when you get the book.
There are 7 Scary Ingredients to look for in the cupboards:
- HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)
- Trans Fat
- MSG
- Artificial Flavors
- Artificial Colors
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Preservatives
Yes, I’m guilty and these things can be found in my cupboard.
The most important information I gained from this book was a possible explanation as to why so many people are now diagnosed with 1. Diabetes 2. ADD/ADHD 3. Food intolerances, 4. Food Allergies. There are too many chemicals and toxic additives in our food. It’s no wonder our bodies are rebelling.
Since reading through “Unjunk Your Junk Food”, I’ve tweaked my grocery list and I read the labels a little bit more wisely than before.
Let NaturallySavvyknow that this book is a good resource for becoming food wise. We’re responsible for ourselves and this is step one on the road to success. Like Naturally Savvy on Facebook and fan them on Twitter for your chance to win great prizes.
Oh boy, I should look into this book. I’m actually hardly surprised at all. Most food you buy is really crap and the more I read, the more I subscribe to the theory that you should eat food as close to its natural state as possible – limiting the processing and all the added stuff. It’s hard though!!
Great info in this book. There’s a guy at work who is into body building. He was so excited to read it.
have you heard possibly a “rumor” about Kashi cereal? You should google and check it out. Apparently the rumor is that it is full of carcinogens. I don’t eat it, but I know a lot of people do. Not sure if this is true or not but thought if you were a consumer you might want to check it out.
Thanks Peggy. I know about the article from 2011 found here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/033838_breakfast_cereals_GMOs.html
Since I’m not big on cold cereal, I’m a whole grain girl (oatmeal all the way), it didn’t really sink in.
But thanks for the update. Good to know and spread the word.
Wow! That book seems to be a must-have one for all the moms who cares about the food! I am a little bit afraid that I could be shocked by the huge amount of the poisons we eat with our everyday meals.
It is shocking. But turning a “blind eye” won’t make it better.
Sounds like an informative book! I think even my hubby might be interested in reading it; he’s really interested in how foods affect us lately, which I am happy to encourage. 🙂 I’ll check it out!
Thanks Jenn – Hey! Exciting lunch date you had with the Paul’s 🙂
I am a firm believer in everyone knowing what is in their food. I too feel that there are way to many chemicals in our food supply and natural ingredients are best for health.
The sad part is we have to pay more to get a more natural, good for us product.
I think it’s incredibly scary what is in food now a days. I have always said, especially since my DD has a severe peanut allergy, that it’s all the crap in the food we eat that is causing all these allergies and diagnoses that were no existence or minimal when we were kids. I NEED to get this book bc I try very hard to eat clean but I am sure there are things I have missed. Thx for posting!
Thanks for sharing – that’s good to know about the gum.
When you see desserts, candies, cereals full of artificial colors, additives and “natural flavors” this can be an explosive cocktail in the long run, for allergic persons.
No case, the more natural food is the one just cooked with organic products 🙂
Cheers,
Gera
I’ve never checked or read any food labels. I never though that it is that important. Thanks for the advice!
This sounds like an interesting book. I know I’m guilty of having products in my cupboards containing these items.
That must be such an interesting book! I think that it is a must-have one for all the organic people. It would be nice if t was a book for educating children.
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