10 Scary Facts About Our Food

I don’t believe that scare tactics make people change their eating habits. At least it’s never worked for me.

But I do believe we all deserve to know what’s in our food, as well as how it’s produced, so we can make the best food choices possible.

That’s why I’m sharing the following scary food facts.

When I read these, I’m repulsed. And also motivated to buy even more whole, unprocessed foods from brands and sources I trust.

10 (Very) Scary Food Facts

1. The average American child consumes over 5 “servings” of pesticides everyday via food and water.

2. An average child also consumes 150mg of artificial food coloring everyday. (Why this is so bad).

3. Over 6,000 additives and chemicals are used by food companies to process and produce our food. Few of these are thoroughly tested for safety first.

4. About 70% of the calories Americans eat come from highly processed foods.

5. More than 80% of all processed foods contain genetically modified ingredients. (Why this is so bad).

6. Chemicals used to make plastic food packaging often leak into our food. The FDA considers these migrated chemicals permissible “indirect food additives.”

7. Nearly 900 million pounds of toxic pesticides are applied to farms every year.

8. About 80% of food in the U.S. comes from huge factory farms, whose practices damage the health of people, animals and the environment.

9. Animals at factory farms are fed things like diseased animals, feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, manure, plastics – plus drugs and chemicals.

10. Only about 10% of the cows in this country EVER graze on pasture, even for a short time. Instead, most spend their lives in crowded cages eating a diet unnatural to them (corn and soy products) and spreading disease.

Now that you’re thoroughly depressed (sorry 😉 ) – here’s what you can do to avoid all this nasty stuff!

How to Ensure Your Food is Safe and Healthy

1. Choose organic food whenever possible. Look for the USDA Organic seal on packaged and whole foods.

2. Eat whole foods. The fewer processed foods you eat, the better.

3. Shop at the farmer’s market or visit some local farms. The more you know about where your food comes from, the more control you have over what you buy and eat.

4. Pay attention to packaging. Buy food in glass containers as much as you can. When choosing plastic & canned goods, look for the phrase “BPA-free” and numbers 1, 2, 4 or 5 in the chasing arrows symbol on the bottom of the package. (The other numbers are more toxic).

5. Store food in glass rather than plastic, and avoid reheating food in any plastic container.

Source for all of these facts, except #10: Healthy Child Healthy World. Source for #10: Organic Valley Cooperative.