Flavorings and the naturally artificial truth!!

A bare assertion is not necessarily the naked truth.

George Dennison Prentice

So since I’ve gotten back to the United States, back to the land of plenty and more than enough choice when it comes to food products to buy, I’ve found myself almost daily picking up a bottled of the NAKED brand’s green machine smoothie. The first time I tasted it I fell in love, despite it’s slimy green appearance, and when I read the ingredients list everything seemed pretty healthy and good for an ELAA Body. Or so it seemed!

Apple Juice, Mango Puree, Pineapple Juice, banana Puree, Kiwi Puree, Natural Flavors, Spirulina, Chlorella, Broccoli, spinach barley grass, wheat grass, parsley, ginger root, blue green alagae, odorless garlic ….. all these ingredients sound like a power smoothie designed to keep any body in tip top shape ... all except for one… the “natural flavors”. That has nagged at me everytime I bought one of these smoothies, as I wondered why exactly they had to say “natural” flavors and not exactly name the ingredient or ingredients??

So finally I sat down and took the time to look this up and low and behold the first thing I find is that NAKED (owned by Pepsi Cola co. ) were being sued for using GMO’s  and synthetic substances in their claimed “Non –GMO” “All Natural” products.. (like my darling smoothie)!

Apparently there are many loopholes as to what companies can deem “Natural” and the legal crackdown on the term is only beginning to take place now.

While we might believe, upon seeing or hearing the term “Natural”  that the product must be good for you  the truth is in fact that “Natural” usually means man-made.

Robert L. Wolke, at the Washington Post, sums it up:

“In simple terms, a natural flavor is defined as a substance extracted, distilled, or otherwise derived from plant or animal matter, either directly from the matter itself or after it has been roasted, heated or fermented . . .  Note also that a natural flavor need not come from the very food it is flavoring. For example, a flavor chemical derived from chicken — and it need not taste like chicken — can be used to flavor a can of beef ravioli.”

And then artificial flavors are any flavoring substances that do not fit the definition of natural flavor.

But whats the point to using the flavors? Well, it is not possible to recreate the flavors naturally occurring in nature, exactly or cheaply so companies concoct chemicals in the lab to flavor our foods and make them taste more like the real thing.

The scary thing is the side effects that these chemicals can create; As I read on another blog things like Benzaldehyde causes central nervous system depression and convulsions.  Vanillan (the widely used vanilla flavoring) causes allergic reactions, Amyl acetate (pear and banana oil) which many artifical flavors are made with causes nervous system depression as well, indigestion, headaches, fatigue and irritates the mucus membranes. And Butyric acid has even caused cancer in lab animals!!

So the moral of the story here is to not just assume that “natural” means healthy or good for you as more often than not, it doesn’t! if they aren’t naming every ingredient by it’s real name… be suspicious. Be very suspicious!

So I think im going to stick to making my smoothies at home from now on (although i need to go buy a blender), which really sucks because I love that Naked Juice!! In Europe though a brand called Innocent smoothies which make equally as delicious drinks, seem to not have any “Natural Flavors” in their products. It seems to be all the real deal!

(So really, I wouldn’t be having Naked smoothies if you’re trying to look good naked!!)

Unfortuantely NOT ELAA approved :(

Traveling the healthy way!

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”
 – Robert Louis Stevenson

I recently took a long flight back to the U.S with my sister and nephew. It was an hour flight to London and then and 8 hour flight to Philadelphia. And then a few days later we flew from Philadelphia to Tampa and Tampa eventually to our final destination New Orleans! So we did quite the bit of traveling in a few short days!

And one of the big things for me about traveling is what to eat. I’m usually not the biggest fan of airplane meals as some of them really taste like cardboard with some tomato sauce thrown in, but I am always a fan of those little snack bags they give you with chocolate pretzels or cookies. Problem is they are so ridiculously bad for you and contribute big time to that horrible stodgy feeling you get after flying for too long. 

At the end of last year I flew to Miami, and I think it was the first time I consciously packed healthy snacks, stayed away from alcohol and caffeine and drank lots of water on the flight from Ireland to Florida and I was amazed at how good I felt in comparison to every other time I had flown across the Atlantic (and this was an 18hr journey with stops) ! I realized that what I ate and drank had a lot to do with how I felt after the long trip and it wasn’t just because I was in and out of the air for almost a day.

I know its often hard to avoid eating food at the airport, (which sucks because its usually ridiculously overpriced) but you can definitely help the matter by packing healthy snacks in your carry on which should keep you from having that starving feeling that usually has you running to the nearest junk food stop when you are waiting for your flight or when you have a long layover.

Here is a list of snacks that’s make traveling a little healthier

• ·      Nuts and Dried fruit Mixes
• ·      Fresh fruit (apples, bananas) and a Jar or small container of peanut butter or other nut butter
• ·      Veggies (celery, baby carrots, broccoli) with hummus
• ·      Healthy bars like that made by Larabar (in the U.S) or Naked (in Europe) They have all kinds of yummy flavors.
• ·      I would say you could bring boiled eggs in a little lunchbox but I wouldn’t recommend opening them on the plane as I’m sure your fellow passengers  scent senses wouldn’t appreciate it!!
• ·      Yoghurt (if you aren’t dairy intolerant)
• ·      Some good quality dark chocolate (for a treat)
• ·      Some healthy popcorn (Tayto makes a great brand in Europe with just coconut oil)

And of course the beverage of choice is water as being up in that high altitude can leave you severely dehydrated! Or bring some herbal teas with you and just ask for some hot water from the air host/ess.

Worth a mention:  

Im a really big Starbucks fan, I 'm not sure why exactly, it’s not like I drink that much coffee  or anthing but there something about seeing that symbol that makes me just feel warm and safe and loved ! (Good marketing I suppose!!)

But apart from that they are one of the best stops when traveling as they are usually in every airport and they do have a good selection of “healthier” options.

They usually have fairly good quality fruit and nut bars up by the counter, they also do vegetable and hummus trays, and fruit cups.  As far as airport food goes I’d sooner give into a bout of starvation by chowing down on a Starbucks sandwich than hitting up McDonalds or Burger King or any other chain restaurant! Just my preference!!

And of course this doesn’t just apply to airports but to any kind of long distance traveling where snacks usually keep one energized and satiated!!

Anyway if any of you have any yummy traveling food tips you know of please feel free to share in the comments below!

Happy Healthy and Safe Traveling from ELAA!