4 Common Consumer Choices That Have Backfired On Our Health

EATING VEGGIE BURGERS?!?

Wahhh! Say it ain’t so!!! While the news is still relatively new, the nonprofit organization Cornucopia Institute – intent on  enhancing the safety of our food system through eco-innovations in farming and policy making – determined in a comprehensive study called “Behind the Bean” that various soy-based nutrition bars, protein shakes and 10 major veggie burger brands (among other products) contain the hazardous air pollutant hexane which is linked to nerve damage, arm/leg paralysis and skin disorders. The soy industry typically processes their notoriously healthy and protein packed beans with hexane gas because it helps draw out naturally occurring oils, ultimately making their final soy products lower in fat. This practice is the norm in the conventional and “natural” soy industry (including the manufacture of soy-based infant formula), whereas anything considered “organic” is spared the hexane.

Before you get all worked up and torch all of your stockpiled veggie burgers in a bonfire, it’s worth noting that the amounts of hexane found in the top natural veggie burgers brands (like Amy's Kitchen, conventional Boca Burgers, Franklin Farms, Garden Burger, It’s All Good Lightlife, Morningstar Farms, President’s Choice, Taste Above, Trader Joe's and Yves Veggie Cuisine) were considered to be within allowable limits of up to 0.2% by volume of oil, which oddly enough, still isn’t exactly comforting enough. Those who want to follow a “better safe than sorry” approach might want to consider shifting over to organic, hexane-free versions manufactured by Wildwood, Helen’s Kitchen, Superburgers by Turtle Island, Boca Burgers "Made with organic soy", Tofurky and Morningstar "Made with organic"…or even better than that, avoid the highly processed veggie burgers altogether by making your own.

DRINKING OUT OF A REUSABLE WATER BOTTLE?!?!

After learning that rigid reusable polycarbonate plastic water containers were leaching the hazardous organic chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) into beverages, exposing users to endocrine, brain, behavioral and reproductive disrupting effects, we all dropped our bottles like hot potatoes and ran toward the purportedly “safe” alternative. Ahhh, what a relief…cute little Sigg bottles, available in so many sizes and interesting patterns…and best of all, entirely plastic free!  That’s right…still looking out for Momma Nature and doing it with style, too!

Well, somewhere along the line, we allowed our wide-eyed innocence to get the best of us, failing to conduct a little investigative research of our own. Certain studies claim that prolonged exposure to aluminum is linked to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, and when exposed to temperature extremes or acidic liquids, aluminum is also known to leach chemicals. As it was revealed in the summer of 2009, the inside of dandy looking Sigg reusable aluminum containers were actually coated with what the company referred to as a “water based epoxy liner” which…uh oh…contained BPA.

Back to the drawing board again. While it seems as though everybody and their uncle is now relying on stainless steel containers (which are supposedly toxin free and liner-free), are we sure that even that is the best choice for our health? Now more than ever, using cupped hands or slurping straight from the tap seems like the most appealing, stress-free choice.

EATING CANNED FOOD?!?!

With everyone scrimping, cutting coupons and doing the best they can to maintain a somewhat healthy diet in spite of increasingly tighter budgets and higher grocery store prices, sometimes canned food seems like an attractive option. When a walk through the produce aisle yields nothing more than $2.00 heads of anemic lettuce and $5.00 bags of spinach, 2 for $1.00 cans of anything green can definitely seem like a jackpot option…but bloody hell, even THAT is off limits now, too.

Pray tell…what makes cans so hazardous to our health? How about that old familiar chemical called Bisphenol A? Yes, we’re talking about metal CANS…with a diabolical epoxy liner. This is a widespread practice (among such common brands as Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods/365 Label, Libby’s, Nestle, Coca Cola, Bush Brothers & Co, Muir Glen, Wolfgang Puck, Swanson/Campbell’s, Hansen/Blue Sky, Amy’s, Progresso, Earth’s Best Organic, Con Agra/Rosarita, Thai Kitchen, S&W Organic) designed to prevent acidic foods from reacting with the can and leaching unwanted elements and flavors into the food itself. While consumers can seek out organic brands packaged in steel cans that are sealed with c-enamel, a baked-on pine and balsam fir-based oil and resin coating, they are few and far between at this point in time. Once again, processed food – even veggies – are bad news.

USING THE SUGAR ALTERNATIVE ‘STEVIA’

For 40 years now, a cheap, readily available sugar substitute called high fructose corn syrup has sneakily infiltrated our food supply and triggered major concern about coincidentally burgeoning rates of obesity and diabetes. Last month, the findings of a Princeton University study – in which rats living for six months on a diet of high fructose corn syrup sweetened water & standard rat chow developed higher levels of triglycerides and belly fat than their counterparts eating nothing more than plain rat chow – led to the preliminary conclusion that, as we were long suspecting, high fructose corn syrup does screwy things to the human body.

Not surprisingly, alternative sweeteners continue to pop up in the marketplace, the most touted of the bunch in recent years being none other than Stevia. There’s just one thing…the calorie and carb-free herbal relative of the sunflower, which is 300 times sweeter than sugar, seems a little risky. While the verdict is still out and long term studies are still being conducted, researchers have found that, thus far, in addition to turning into a mutagenic cancer-causing compound, Stevia also lowers blood sugar (which could seriously compromise diabetics), triggers odd side effects like nausea/dizziness/numbness/muscle pains, lowers blood pressure levels and potential triggers a contraceptive effect. Even though it recently received FDA approval (which critics attribute to the insistence of major soda companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi), sometimes, there really is nothing safer than the real thing…in moderation, that is.