Let’s talk about azodicarbonamide. Yes, it is in yoga mats. Thank you, Food Babe, because now it is not in Subway sammies. Great, one down and how many more to go?
I have my own experience with this ingredient. A few years ago, my ex brought home some bread by a brand I don’t buy. It contained azodicarbonamide so, when I read that, I already hated it and knew, therefore, that my kids would also hate it. If an ingredient has that many syllables, it should be questioned. All the ingredients—except for that one—seemed pure and clean, wheat flour, yeast, etc. Azodicarbonamide was the last ingredient listed. Since ingredients are listed in order of weight, how much could it affect the bread?
But I always look up stuff—even before Google. Azodicarbonamide was not anything I have ever seen in a recipe and I have cooked a LOT of food—like restaurant-like. Yep. I Wiki’d that long before Food Babe spread the word—good spreading, btw. In the US, azodicarbonamide is GRAS or Generally Regarded As Safe (because “they” hate us and want to reduce the population). But, in other parts of the world like Australia, for instance, it is not authorized for use. The WHO linked this crystalline powder to “respiratory issues” and “asthma”. The European Union has banned that ingredient since August 2005. But, HERE, it’s cool, no worries, eat up.
So, back to the bread my ex bought. It set on the counter for days, then weeks and then, yes, it became a science project, stuffed in a drawer. And, at about month 5, mold finally appeared. Hallelujah! I vote with my depreciating dollar and have never purchased that product again. Now, I’m a food geek. But we all should be! How much more intimate can you get than actually ingesting, digesting, assimilating another organism! Pretty intimate, yet we just put stuff in our mouths without regard for the rest of our bodies. And we don’t research what’s in our food. Or we didn’t. But now we can.
Back to Subway, among many of your favorite chains (cough cough, like almost all of them) that sell products containing the same yoga mat ingredient. (Hey, is water also a yoga mat ingredient? Another topic like ‘who needs a ‘script when you have tap water?’) So let’s not slam the ingredient or Subway or any other group that was duped into believing this is Generally Regarded As Safe. GENERALLY regarded—that sounds vague because it is.
But there is a group that knew it was banned in various parts of the world and why that was so. Azodicarbonamide aside, I’d like to say, thank you, FDA, for not informing the public and lying by way of omission. And, thank you, creators of these chemicals that are in our food. Our food still tastes like food. But molecularly? Nutritionally?
Another of my food experiments entailed a fast-food apple hand-pie. After a FULL YEAR of it setting in my desk, open to whatever — whatever didn’t happen. No mold. No bugs, either, because those little bastards know that, nutritionally, it was sawdust. However, after that length of time, critters did make a dwelling in that hand pie so, in the end: home sweet home. Hello? It’s not real food, folks. It has mold inhibitors and aluminum and flavor enhancers and pretty colors (also avoided by those across the pond).
So we need to learn. It’s never too late. Watch Dr. Doug Lisle’s TexEx talk <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX2btaDOBK8>*. You will understand why you are so confused about what foods to eat, why you are overweight and why you are constipated. Seriously. Food is what we need to eat: the best quality food you and I can find, as that is what this organism needs to thrive. Let’s start simply—with our own bodies.
Eat unprocessed foods—recognizable foods from nature and organic if possible but always strive for GMO free (I’ll save that Bitch Fest for another day). These ingredients will be unavoidable until they are unavailable… until we refuse to support them.
Do you realize that 1 decision to avoid just ONE ingredient could result in its removal? Why bother with petitions! Simply, don’t buy those products that fail to meet YOUR approval and what YOU regard as safe. That’s a lot of power we hold—power that could be used to positively change 1 tiny ingredient at a time. And don’t be fooled by marketing—there’s nothing ‘artisan’ about azodicarbonamide.
Nancy Montuoro, author at Ordinary Vegan, wrote last year that azodicarbonamide is in over 500 different products. You know we’re all eating this crap unless we:
• Find out where it’s hiding and
• Avoid buying/eating it.
Don’t ingest ingredients that are not food. Question who is in charge of our food and why we aren’t informed and protected against such products that are potentially harmful, either in the raw state (as is azodicarbonamide) or some other chemical newly created and introduced into our environment and our food supply. We need to get some checks and balances with our food instead of the revolving door we all heard about in movies like Food Inc. and Food Matters.
We need to avoid chemicals that were not meant to be consumed as food… that are, indeed, being consumed as food. And do it as if your life depends on it. Because it does.
Love Mangiare Cibo
http://www.foodbitching.com
* Why does the great male shrike kill bugs and poke them on thorns? Why is it so hard for humans to make the right choices? Douglas Lisle shows us how the answers are related. One of psychology’s most innovative and curious minds, Lisle is the Director of Research for TrueNorth Health Center and co-author of The Pleasure Trap.
FoodBitching.com 