How to Make Healthier Food Choices?

Is processed food bad and always unhealthy? How can I make healthier food choices?

So often I ask myself the question before I try a new food. Is it processed? Let’s begin with a simple definition from the US Department of Agriculture.It is any raw agricultural (animal or plant) product that has been:

• washed
• cleaned 
• milled
• cut
• chopped
• heated
• pasteurized
• blanched
• cooked
• canned
• frozen
• dried
• dehydrated
• mixed
• packaged

Basically a food is processed when anything done to it alters its natural state.

This list seems pretty clean until you consider that when some food it processed the food producer may add preservatives, flavors, nutrients and other substances which may not be food at all but can hook you into wanting more.  Some of the processed foods may not have started as food at all and can be quite damaging to your body including your nervous system.  One example is Canola oil and another type of food additive is an “excitotoxin.”  Curious…then read “The FDA-Approved Way to Damage Your Brain”  

The FDA-Approved Way to Damage Your Brain

Food is morphing rapidly and the human digestive system cannot keep up.  So What can you do?

Try these tips to reduce highly processed food.

1. Choose foods with a minimal ingredient’s list. Single ingredient foods for human and animal consumption are more widely available.
2. Try a free Smartphone app on the Apple and Google. Scan your food as you buy it.
3. If you cannot eliminate highly processed frozen meals then take a simple step. Cut back. If you eat 5 frozen meals a week, cut back to 3 then to 1 and ideally…none.
4. When dining out or grabbing a snack on the go,  choose whole foods when you can. Some restaurants now report to you the health level of the food for you along with the environmental impact of the food you are eating.
5. Avoid the 5 FDA-approved food additives with brain-damaging effects.  https://www.mdlinx.com/article/5-fda-approved-food-additives-with-brain-damaging-effects

• MSG – Monosodium
• Glutamate
• Aspartame 
• Phenylalanine
• Cysteine

Want more…check out or other articles on this site. http://www.thecleanerplanetplaybook.com