The more I think about eating without Additives as much as possible the more I feel this is the right thing for me to try. So the first thing I need to do is look at what I eat now to see what can stay and what needs to go.
The obvious things are the junk food and take away, the Diet Coke, the caffeine etc. No brainers there.
So what else is there to eat?
Well, turns out my usually breakfast is fine. Oats with rice milk. The rice milk I use is organic and contains no nasties at all. I sometimes add honey. I do not currently have organic honey which is usually additive-free. But I will finish the containers I have (1 at home 1 at work) before buying more.
So what sorts of things do I eat?
Tofu – organic tofu contains small amounts of Mineral salts 509 and 511 which are Calcium Chloride and Magnesium Chloride. These are not considered to be dangerous and unlikely to cause reactions. (Fed Up With Food Additives website). Not sure about that. I love tofu and use it in place of meat quite a bit. Needs some thought.
Eggs – completely natural
Soy “bacon style rashers” – these contain some chemicals but nothing listed as a number. Perhaps small quantities only. Need to think on it.
Pasta – nothing wrong with pasta
Pasta Sauce – imagine my surprise to find my favourite brand of pasta sauce – Dolmio – is additive-free. Yay!
Stir-fries – nothing wrong with the veggies I use – need to examine the different sauces.
Bread. Oh how I love my bread. Full of preservatives though. Need to find an alternative (or learn to use my bread maker)
Cheese - hard to say what is in it. There are no additives listed however it contains “cultures”. Need to find out what exactly this is.
Dijonaise – my fave salad dressing and sandwich spread. It has about 9 of those nasty numbered additives. Buggar. That one is out (although to be honest I only have it about once a month). But still….
Legumes – I mostly cook these from dry, so they are completely fine. If I get canned I get organic and they do not contain additives.
Well… This is okay. It is a learning experience really. My biggest issues to start with are going to be the caffeine and Diet Coke, and the junk foods. So these are what I am going to work on first.
I have also started a journal I call “Food Feelings”. This is not my feelings about food, rather how each food/meal makes me feel. Got some very interesting reactions already. Amazing what your body tells you if you actually shut up and listen to it…
I would love to hear other peoples views on all this.
xox
2 comments:
I think listening to your body can always be a good idea:)
Even though I don't eat many foods with additives I realise not all of them are synthetic substances. The ones that are generally don't affect me because I eat them very rarely and in small amounts. My liver is healthy and eliminates them so I don't fear they are accumulating in my system.
Perhaps if I ate them more often and was having reactions that were definitively because of them, I would be more concerned.
You have really been doing lots of thinking!
There's a wonderful potato bread recipe in Nigella Lawson's Domestic Goddess cook book - very easy to make!
We really need to try eating tofu. It's got huge amounts of protein. I did used to eat it a bit, generally in stir fries, but would love to know what else you do with it
xx
K
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