Little rant about 'unpronounceable' ingredients.

[greenaccord02]

I swear I will snap a neck the next time I hear somebody say, "I won't eat something if I can't pronounce every ingredient in it." Before you health food nuts get your panties in a wad, I'm not speaking negatively about your kind. In fact, I hope you agree with me here. What I'm saying is, if you know or believe an ingredient to be unhealthy, that's fine. That is a good reason not to eat it. But a long name doesn't mean it's bad, it means you need to learn how to read the English language. People who say this sound, and in fact are, very ignorant.

This has bothered me for years, since I first started hearing it on TV in juice commercials. Funny thing was, the juice was full of high fructose corn syrup. I guess that since none of those words have more than two syllables, it's good for you... Idiots.

Anybody else feel the same, or am I just a nut?

 

[brandini]

You are a nut. But we still love you. I don't want diabetes from the over-use of enriched corn in everything (one example).

Same thing for containers, BPA vs. good 'ol stainless steel. The only downside to bpa means my Tervis Tumblers are bad for me :-(

For me I avoid (with minimal effort) crazy ingredients by cooking more vs getting the prepackaged junk. Besides, prepackaged is so high in sodium I usually can't enjoy most of it.

 

[tom slick]

I agree with you. The ice creme thread read like a commercial



Anyone remember the hysteria over Dihydrogen Monoxide? Cities almost banned the substance because people had no idea what it was.

 

[Chuck1986]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
I agree with you.
Anyone remember the hysteria over diHydrogen Monoxide? Cities almost banned the substance.


That's water

 

[Chuck1986]

I wholeheartedly agree. People you describe are usually also the type who believe in complimentary alternative medicine, watch Oprah, and think the swine flu vaccine is a big pharma conspiracy to poison all of us.

The only food ingredients I really, really try avoiding are MSG and trans fat. With those, there's actual research that backs my position.

 

[AlanRebod]

Slow down buddy. You're misrepresenting what I and others are saying.

Obviously just because something has a strange name doesn't mean its bad, and in fact, many of the things that have strange names are just processed derivatives of things that are completely natural.

What I was getting at is that well-known natural ingredients, as opposed to artificial chemicals, tend to produce a better tasting result and as a general rule of thumb help you avoid some of the real problems that are, in fact, associated with SOME of the strange concoctions that get put into foods. These ingredients are often substitutes for natural ingredients for various reasons including cost and product finishing and SOMETIMES bring with them negative attributes.

Here is a list of ingredients that Whole Foods considers unacceptable and will not stock any product that contains them: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/unacceptable-ingredients.php

You can put some of these names into Wikipedia and find out why they are controversial.

 

[AlanRebod]

Originally Posted By: Chuck1986
I wholeheartedly agree. People you describe are usually also the type who believe in complimentary alternative medicine, watch Oprah, and think the swine flu vaccine is a big pharma conspiracy to poison all of us.

The only food ingredients I really, really try avoiding are MSG and trans fat. With those, there's actual research that backs my position.


Stereotype much? Hope you're happy to know I'm none of the above.

 

[AlanRebod]

Originally Posted By: brandini
You are a nut. But we still love you. I don't want diabetes from the over-use of enriched corn in everything (one example).

Same thing for containers, BPA vs. good 'ol stainless steel. The only downside to bpa means my Tervis Tumblers are bad for me :-(

For me I avoid (with minimal effort) crazy ingredients by cooking more vs getting the prepackaged junk. Besides, prepackaged is so high in sodium I usually can't enjoy most of it.



Finally, a sensible person in this thread.

Unfortunately many people have their heads stuck in the sand when it comes to progress in modern society. They believe everything that we have today is better than what we had before in all dimensions.

While we have definitely improved our well-being and livelihoods significantly as a human race, it is not to say that many of the things associated with industrialism and specifically the industrialization of our food production has problems, including the use of artificial or non-traditional substitutes for ingredients in food.

Its not paranoia, its just truth. Get over it!

 

[JohnBrowning]

Well what I do not like is that often they list a chemical name but do not bother to tell you that that 40 letter name is something simple and all natural to begin with. I do not know if they think everyone is a chemist or if they assume no one will care to know what it is. I bought something a few days ago that had the chemical name then what the average person would call it. Like Acetic Acid(Vinager) like that onthe label.

I find the fewer separated ingredients and the total number of ingredients make a huge difference in taste. When I buy French Vanila ice cream with about 5 ingredients in it versus one with 20-40 ingredients guess which one tastes better has the better texture etc?????That is right the one with fewer ingredients that is made from whole foods!

I do not like man made super processed foods in general! Their is a bunch of bad stuff in our food.

 

[d00df00d]

I think this is an example of a good idea that is being mis-applied. The idea is simply skepticism of the unknown, which is fine. The problem is, skepticism shouldn't mean discarding something out of hand. Instead of avoiding products just because they contain ingredients with unpronounceable names, people should be trying to educate themselves and then making the decision based on the information.

Dihydrogen monoxide is a great example. If you didn't know what that was, and you heard it could do things like corrode steel, of course you'd be scared. But if you looked into it for five minutes, you'd discover that it's water...

 

[AlanRebod]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
I think this is an example of a good idea that is being mis-applied. The idea is simply skepticism of the unknown, which is fine. The problem is, skepticism shouldn't mean discarding something out of hand. Instead of avoiding products just because they contain ingredients with unpronounceable names, people should be trying to educate themselves and then making the decision based on the information.

Dihydrogen monoxide is a great example. If you didn't know what that was, and you heard it could do things like corrode steel, of course you'd be scared. But if you looked into it for five minutes, you'd discover that it's water...


This is valid, but in general, food producers are not going to put obscure names for common things on the label. Nobody puts dihydrogen monoxide on bottles of water!

In general though, if you do some research on common food ingredients, many of them are questionable in various regards (taste, quality, health effects).

Sticking to plain and simple ingredients helps a lot, but isn't the whole picture.

 

[Vilan]

Tend to agree. If you don't know what xanthan gum or polyglycerol polyricinoleate are, go to a library (or Wikipedia) and find out. A lot of unpronounceable ingredients get hidden as "flavour" or "spices" anyway.

Honestly, they're just saying they prefer to eat minimally-processed foods. They think the evil corporate food machines are adding all these nasties to their food. Which is fair enough, but education about the meaning of those long names would turn it into an informed decision.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: AlanRebod
Slow down buddy. You're misrepresenting what I and others are saying.


No, you're misrepresenting yourself. Say what you mean or you run the risk of sounding ignorant.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
I swear I will snap a neck the next time I hear somebody say, "I won't eat something if I can't pronounce every ingredient in it." Before you health food nuts get your panties in a wad, I'm not speaking negatively about your kind. In fact, I hope you agree with me here. What I'm saying is, if you know or believe an ingredient to be unhealthy, that's fine. That is a good reason not to eat it. But a long name doesn't mean it's bad, it means you need to learn how to read the English language. People who say this sound, and in fact are, very ignorant.

This has bothered me for years, since I first started hearing it on TV in juice commercials. Funny thing was, the juice was full of high fructose corn syrup. I guess that since none of those words have more than two syllables, it's good for you... Idiots.

Anybody else feel the same, or am I just a nut?


Not getting my nickers in a knot... But I try to stay away from those ingredients. I try to eat only things that have been prepared from scratch and stick to water, carbonated water or green/chamomile tea. It sounds borring but since doing this on my ND's advice I have never felt better. I'm up every morning before the alarm at 7 and have full energy until 1am each day. It's crazy. Now I'm to the point that if I'm in a pinch and eat a burger and fries or something "less good" for me than what my body is now used to it throws the system into a fit and I feel tired, slugish and can't get out of bed or can't sleep when I go to bed.

You are what you eat... To each their own, but I'm eating good to feel good. It's not more time intensive once you get used to it and I look forward to rice, chicken, veggies and fresh fruit for lunch as most of my daily lunches.

I'm convinced that all these preservatives, additives, or whatever you want to call them isn't good and our bodies have hard times for the most part dealing with them and poor energy levels, obesity, health problems are a result. I'm sure our ancestors didn't have chicken fingers that came in a box.

to good health.

Steve

 

[greenaccord02]

¡Salud!

 

[sprintman]

I could say something but this time I'll just watch. Most here know my position.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02

¡Salud!

¡Salud!

 

[Lurch]

Originally Posted By: sprintman
I could say something but this time I'll just watch. Most here know my position.


Me too. Some posts tend to sound like they encourage an argument.

 

[Lurch]

But a long name doesn't mean it's bad, it means you need to learn how to read the English language.

I can read the English language quite well.

In general, a long name is not good, unless you either have a chemistry degree and/or like to eat chemicals and processed foods..

 

[d00df00d]

You were quoting greenaccord02 there, not me.