Food Labels
High Fructose Corn Syrup
High fructose corn syrup is a blend of two single sugars; glucose and fructose. Sucrose or table sugar is a disaccharide or double sugar, where two sugars are still connected and contains 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Honey, is also typically composed of 50% fructose and 50% g...
Read more...Review Contest Winners
We had some incredible bloggers review our book, Unjunk Your Junk Food. 5 have been selected to win a gift basket filled with amazing natural and organic products. Check out the winning entries: Fat Girl Wearing Thin - Unjunk Your Junk Food: A Book ReviewApple C...
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Artificial Sweeteners
Acesulfame-potassium, aspartame, saccharin and sucralose, the big four artificial sweeteners have slipped into our food supply largely unnoticed by the public. They can be found in almost anything; cereals, chewing gum, mouthwash, toothpaste, peanut butter, jam, condiments, an...
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Nominate A Worst Offender
Naturally Savvy fans, we need your help:When you find products containing any of The Scary Seven ingredients or misleading labels, we want to know about them! - Does a product tout less sugar but contains high-fructose corn syrup?- Does a company purport to...
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Candy Coated Chemical Additives
Healthy Child Healthy World, an organization that is near and dear to my heart asked me to write a guest post about finding healthier junk food for my kids. I remember when my son was three years old and I watched him gravitate towards a huge table full of candy. My initi...
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Unjunk Your Easter Candy
There’s a lot of talk about managing your child’s post-Halloween sugar binge, but what about all the Easter treats? You might be surprised to learn that in terms of candy sales in the US, the top selling occasion is Halloween followed by – not Christmas, but Easter.This y...
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Unjunk Your Junk Food: Sapporo Ichiban
Worst Offender of the Month: Sapporo IchibanFor less than a dollar a package, it might have been your staple food throughout college or the first year of living on your own, but once you see what’s inside the cheap little bags, you’ll wish that you spent more o...
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Bloggers Review Unjunk Your Junk Food
We are absolutely thrilled at the overwhelming praise we have received for our book, Unjunk Your Junk Food. Here are just a few of the amazing reviews found on the world wide web...Latest ReviewsUnjunk Your Junk Food offers a real-life solution to Americas jun...
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Trans Fat
Trans fat, or trans fatty acids, were created to replace traditional fats used in cooking and food preparation such as lard, palm oil, coconut oil and butter. The earliest product that hit the market was Crisco shortening in 1911 as a means to provide an economical alternative...
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Artificial Food Preservatives
Artificial food preservatives are a group of chemical substances which are used in food production to slow down spoilage, discoloration, or contamination by bacteria and other disease forming organisms or pathogens. Unlike artificial flavors, most artificial food preservatives...
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Lisa Tsakos: Why I Love Junk Food
I was chubby until my early twenties. It wasn‘t from a lack of effort – I exercised daily, ate next to nothing, and ruminated about the next weight loss strategy, but my biggest and daily downfall was my cravings. Sugar was my nemesis, and had my doctor or all the ‘experts’ I ...
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Randy Boyer: Why I Love Junk Food
I couldn‘t imagine life without junk food.Growing up, every hard-earned penny from my allowance went to buying bags of chips or chocolate bars after school. No matter what I ate, I stayed thin, so I never thought about my junk food habit in terms of it being healthy or no...
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Andrea Donsky: Why I Love Junk Food
Growing up, junk food was a frequent cause of conflict in our house.Although I grew up snacking on Lick-A-Maid, PopRocks, and Hubba Bubba bubble gum, my mother outlawed junk food when I was a teenager. It was her way of maintaining a healthy household. Her theory was “out...
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Worst Ingredients In Food
Do you know what's in your foods? Label reading is key for healthy eating, and we believe in it so much we made it a key part of our book, Unjunk Your Junk Food (Gallery Books). If you're just starting to read labels, we want to make it easy for you to recognize the ...
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Artificial Flavor Vs. Natural Flavor
Artificial flavors are almost everywhere in everyday common foods, unless one scrutinizes every bite. Like artificial colors and sweeteners, much debate and concern exists over the safety of artificial flavor ingredients but what exactly are they?According to the FDA, a f...
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Artificial Colors
Anyone who’s trying to live a more natural life, which includes avoiding artificial ingredients, is no stranger to the notion that artificial colors are not as benign as we’ve been led to believe. In the 1970s, pediatrician Benjamin Feingold first proposed the idea that synthe...
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Unjunk Your Junk Food & Keep Kids Healthy
Our sweets and treats are a significant part of our holidays, coping mechanisms (think comfort food), and of course, childrens events. However, overindulging them with junk food can lead to lethargy or the opposite, hyper-active children. The issue with most of the junk ...
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What Does "Natural" Really Mean?
Writing Unjunk Your Junk Food was a real eye-opener. Firstly, we were surprised by how many conventional products still contained hazardous ingredients, trans fats in particular, but also high-fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate, and artificial colors. Secondly, the hund...
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Candy Canes
Right up there with Santa and Frosty, candy canes are a symbol of Christmas. Whether they’re enjoyed as a minty treat or hung as decorations, over 1.76 billion candy canes are made each year. National Candy Cane Day is celebrated on December 26 in the United States, but ...
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Artificial Colors & Health Concerns
Pretty red and green frosted Christmas cupcakes grace the bakery window, so moist and creamy you can hardly wait to sink your teeth into them. Snowflake-shaped cookies glisten with blue and white sparkles. Nearby, stacked boxes of candy canes swirling with red and white, among...
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Unjunk Your Junk Food Facebook Contest!
Want to win a copy of our new book Unjunk Your Junk Food signed by the authors + a huge gift bag filled with healthy alternatives to the junk food you love, including chips, cookies, candies, chocolate, and soda?Of course you do!To enter, go to our facebook pag...
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Is Kashi All It's Cracked Up To Be?
Kashi has become a popular so-called healthy brand, marketed as “natural” with “nothing artificial.” But, do their fancy catch phrases like “seven whole grains on a mission,” really match up to what’s inside their boxes? According to Michael Bates of Texas and the FDA’s ...
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Why Are Additives Used In Food?
According to a survey, 55 percent of consumers admit that they dont recognize half of the ingredients in food these days! (1) This is because packaged food is often loaded with additives, many of which have chemical or scientific names. Although the amount of additives i...
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The Truth About Trans Fats
Trans fats are hidden in your foods, even in products claiming that they are “trans fat-free”!According to the FDA, a product containing less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving may state “Trans fat 0 g” on the Nutrition Facts panel. This gives manufacturers permissio...
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Emulsifiers & Additives
Emulsifiers are widely used in “low fat” foods. They are used to help blend water and oil together. This is done to keep consistency and homogeneity of processed food such as mayonnaise, cake mixes, gelatin desserts, doughnuts and salad dressings. Emulsifiers also act as...
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Sweeteners
There are both natural and artificial sweeteners used in your processed food. Fructose (derived from fruit), lactose (from milk) and maltose are natural sweeteners, which are derived from real food. These sweeteners contain four calories per gram. Natural Sweet...
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The High Fructose Corn Syrup Debate
On an episode of Oprah, I watched in disbelief as Dr. Oz dipped his hand into a beaker of amber-colored liquid as thick as molasses. As he pulled his hand out of the thick syrup-like goo, he stated quite confidently that ‘it’ was responsible for the increasing rates of o...
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Decoding Organic Labeling
Ever wondered what goes behind the little "certified organic" label on what you eat? Organic certification is a complex process involving many agencies to ensure that you get the difference in quality. Who decides what's organic? All the products labelled "o...
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Potassium Bromate: Additive
Banned in almost every country in the world except for the United States and Japan, this additive is used in refined flour to strengthen dough, increasing the volume of bread and rolls. As an oxidizing agent, most of the bromate used rapidly breaks down to form innocuous bromide...
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Citric Acid: Additive
Citric acid is a natural preservative, flavoring, and antioxidant. It exists naturally in citrus fruits, pineapple, berries and cherries, tomatoes, and cheese. Lemons and limes contain particularly high concentrations. In the food industry, citric acid adds a sour taste to sodas,...
Read more... Annatto color
Annatto is a natural red plant extract used to dye foods, textiles, and body care products. The food additive number for annatto is E160b. Annatto’s primary use is as a red food coloring in a wide assortment of foods. It appears in cereals, preserved meats, cheeses, sweets, and n...
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BHA & BHT: Additives
BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) & BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) Two closely related chemicals, BHA and BHT are added to foods containing fats and oils. BHA is used to prevent fats from becoming rancid. It is found in cereals, dehydrated potatoes, chewing gum, baked goods, sn...
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Carmine: Additive
Carmine is an artificial coloring extracted from dried cochineal beetles. Carminic acid is the substance that provides its red color. It is often used to color fruit-bottomed yogurt; red, pink, and purple candy; juices and other beverages; Campari; lipsticks and other cosmetics;...
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Carrageenan: Additive
Carrageenans are a family of polysaccharides extracted from seaweed. Their shape allows them to gel at certain temperatures, making them useful as stabilizing and thickening agents in infant formula, chocolate milk, cottage cheese, ice cream, jelly and diet soda.Carrageen...
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Nutrition Facts
Foods in the grocery store list nutrition information on the package in a section called the “Nutrition Facts”. This is where manufacturers must declare the nutrition (both good and bad) in each serving of their product. Nutrition Facts are broken down into easy-to-read sections...
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Nutrient Content Claims
The United States Government has defined certain claims that can be used on food packaging. Manufacturers are allowed to make these claims if the foods meet specific guidelines. Some of the popular claims are: Calorie Free Less than 5 calories per serving Low C...
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How to Read Food Labels
Reading food labels can be one of the most confusing and frustrating exercises. Their primary purpose is neither to educate nor inform, but rather to get you (the customer) to buy their products. Information on labels can help you make wise food choices, if you know what to spec...
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