Last week I told you about the worst ingredients found in the foods you eat, every day. These are the “foods” that the FDA says are “ok” to feed Americans. Yet, we are becoming ill faster than ever before. Long, slow deaths by heart disease, obesity and cholesterol.  Reading labels can be tricky and sometimes there are some things in there that we can’t even pronounce let alone spell or know what they are but yet we consume them without asking any questions.

Today I will tell you which of these unpronounceable mystery ingredients are good for you along with some common known ingredients to look for in the foods you eat. These are among the best foods you can eat, and should be included in your daily diet. Let’s take a look at what they are.

Whole Grain–­Before we get to whole grain, let’s fist look at ‘enriched flour’ products. These are the breads, rolls and pastas that are first stripped of their outer grain portion, removed of their nutrients and bleached of their natural color. the product is so poor, so value-less, that they are then “enriched” with vitamins and nutrients. Ridiculous! Forget these products, they are scams and unnatural.

What you should be grabbing for are whole-grain products. These are carbohydrates that are made from the entire grain and contain the original vitamins, nutrients and fiber and are thus good for regularity, blood sugar, lowering cholesterol and optimal brain functioning.

When checking out the ingredients on carbohydrate products, looks for those where the first ingredient listed says whole grain, whole wheat, whole meal or whole corn. These will be in the form of bread, pastas, hot cereals, brown rice, bulger, buckwheat, spelt and wild rice. The USDA suggests that each of us get at least three servings of whole grains every day.

Soy Lecithin—A product of soybean oil and also extracted from soy beans, soy lecithin is used as an emulsifier in prepared foods. It keeps chocolate from crumbling or splintering, helps dough rise in baked goods and keeps spreadable “butters” and cheeses from separating.

This product has passed the muster of the American Dietetic Association. It is found not only safe, but also good for you. As a result, soy lecithin also comes in supplement form. You see, it’s packed with choline, which is found in eggs and is known to boost brain development while also preventing heart disease, lowering cholesterol and helps treat dementia. Not too shabby!

The bottom line is, the USDA says soy lecithin is a safe emulsifier. And keeping your intake below 3.5 grams per day will yield no known side effects. So if you have to grab a bite of a processed food, look for this as its ‘hold it together’ ingredient. Better yet… go for whole, unprocessed foods instead.

Disodium Phosphate—The liver and gallbladder are so important to health and wellness. They help purify blood, breakdown toxins and fats. As far as food preservatives go disodium phosphate is one of the better ones. In fact, it helps maintain proper pH levels in the body as well as metabolizing cholesterol.

Found in such products as frozen hash browns (to keep their brown color), in canned tuna (for buffering and chelating), in poultry and pork as a scalding agent, and in potato products (as a sequestrant).

On the whole, it is best to avoid preservatives in foods as they are generally toxic to the body and harmful to the liver. However, as stated disodium phosphate actually supports liver and gallbladder function and has properties that foster good health. So, go ahead and eat some preserved meats, fish and potato products—just be sure they are preserved with disodium phosphate, and nothing else.

Riboflavin—Who doesn’t know how vital the B-vitamins are to the body? Like magnesium, the B-complex vitamins are essential to so many vital functions of the body. And riboflavin (B-2) is among the most important of the group.

In fact, a deficiency of riboflavin can cause nervous system disorders and lesions on the skin and digestive tract. This water-soluble vitamin is involved in maintaining normal cell function, proper metabolism and cell function and in energy production.

Vitamin B-2 is found in both plant and animal tissue. As such, if you eat a well-balanced diet there will be no need to take a supplement containing this vitamin. No matter what your diet, riboflavin can be found in meat, green veggies and dairy products.

In conclusion, there are many healthy foods out there. But even among prepared foods, there can be healthy options.  As one of the top personal trainers in Virginia, Maryland and DC,  I’m always looking to keep my clients informed on what to look for on nutrition labels.  So next time you are out shopping, or running to grab a quick snack, look for those foods containing whole grains, soy lecithin, disodium phosphate and riboflavin. They’re pretty good for you.

About the Author:  Dennys Passeto is a Certified Personal Trainer and Owner of Achieve Fitness.  Home of the top personal trainers in Maryland, DC, and Virginia and the only… Women’s Only Fitness Bootcamp.  For more information about our programs and services, please call 1-888-872-7961.

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By: Dennys Passeto, CPT

You’re in the food store and get lost in all the claims about what is healthy and not for you. So you make your way to a vitamin shop or Whole Foods and try your luck there. But when you grab a bag of this, or a bar of that, and turn it to check out the label… you are just as lost. What IS all that stuff in there?

In today’s article I have chosen the top four unhealthy ingredients my clients ask me about most frequently. (The top healthy ingredients will be covered in (Part 2). I hope you will find this information helpful in your healthful shopping adventures!

MSG—These initials mean Monosodium Glutamate, and are the main flavor enhancer in your local Chinese take-out place. Like Mrs. Dash, MSG enhances flavor especially in frozen and processed foods… and causes people who are allergic to it to experience headaches, rashes and muscle pains. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics removed MSG from all products for infants under the age of one, after injections into lab animals showed nerve cell damage!

Despite the fact that MSG has been proven a poison substance, it is so widely used that you might not even think where it might be. Cans of tuna? You bet! Turkey breast cold cuts? Absolutely, in some brands! And the result: an increase in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, serious rise in cases of asthma, Parkinson’s disease, migraine headaches and heart trouble.

Bottom line: Stay away from MSG. Check the label of everything you buy and avoid the brands that include it. And when ordering food from a restaurant, they are obligated by law to NOT include MSG if you specifically tell them you are allergic. Sounds like a plan.

Maltodextrin—Maltodextrin is essentially a powder derived from potatoes or corn and when combined with other spices and things becomes a tasty coating for snack foods. This powder food additive is found in such things as flavored potato chips, pretzels and crackers.

While the FDA says this chemical is “safe,” it does not really count it as healthy or unhealthy. That is, the content amount found in food is so low that it barely counts. Yet, in large quantities it is not healthy. So what is “non toxic” in one bag of chips may not be so healthy when one eats several bags of chips, pretzels, crackers in the course of a week, month or year.

And while the maltodextrin processed in North America is derived from potato and corn, the Asian equivalent is manufactured from wheat and is thus not gluten free. This means that if you are prone to migraine headache, Candida or have Celiac disease… you should stay away from snacks imported from Asia.

Again, check the labels. If an item contains maltodextrin it will say so and if it contains the wheat-based form, this must also be noted on the package. In moderation, the sweet or savory aspect of this additive can be delightful. But over-consumption is unhealthy. Not just because it is a chemical, but because the foods it is used to flavor are, themselves, not on the diet plan of any serious fitness program!

High Fructose Corn Syrup—This sweetener has been called the main culprit in the rise in youth obesity in the United States… and later has been given a clean bill by the FDA. Talk about bi-polar! No wonder we don’t know what is going on with our health. Well, here’s the scoop…

High-fructose corn syrup is corn syrup that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert its glucose into fructose. This fructose has then been mixed with regular corn syrup, which is 100% glucose, and the result is a sweet liquid known as high-fructose.

This liquid is the sweetener found in just about every cold beverage in your local convenience store, including iced tea, sodas and energy drinks. Not only that, but it is also found in so-called healthy foods like tomato soup and yogurt, and less healthful items such as salad dressings and cookies.

Yes it’s true that the FDA did a 30 year study and found a correlation between HFCS and obesity, and that it is worse for your health than plain sugar. Yet the Corn Refiners Association has launched an aggressive advertising campaign to counter these criticisms, claiming that high fructose corn syrup “is natural” and “has the same natural sweeteners as table sugar

Well, if you have any question, just look to two of the largest-consumed beverages, Pepsi and Snapple. Both have ditched the nasty stuff and gone back to sweetening their drinks with plain old sugar. Stay away from the HFCS, it will make you fatter than sugar!

Partially Hydrogenated Oils—whatever you do, stay clear of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. They are unnatural and very unhealthy. You see the original oil is subjected to hydrogenation which changes its molecular structure. This allows the oil molecules to harden thus giving it a longer shelf life, which is why manufacturers like it. But the changed oils are actually closer to plastic than to oil, and the hydrogenation process kills the Omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids, which are the healthy parts of the original oils!

What all this means is that the body does not get the desired anti-oxidant affect of consuming oils, and the new hydrogenated oils are then treated in the body as fatty foods that the bloodstream can’t process. The result is fat stored in the body. Excess storage of fat in the body and arterial plaque build-up, then, are the big issues with partially hydrogenated oils.

Avoid foods containing partially hydrogenated oils at all costs. Check the labels on spreads, crackers, cookies, cakes, and even some so-called fruit snacks.

The bottom line is to eat naturally, to eat fresh, and to always read the label. When in doubt, write down the ingredient and do an on-line search. You just might be surprised at what you find!

About the author:
Dennys Passeto is a Certified Personal Trainer and the owner of Achieve Fitness.  The top personal training company serving Maryland, Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia.  Mr. Passeto along with Achieve Fitness’ trainers have helped hundreds of clients reach their fitness goals.

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