“FEEL GOOD about what’s in this bottle. Our Vanilla Chai Tea is a smooth blend of brewed green tea, heart healthy soy portein, chai spices and a hint of vanilla flavor — it’s as nutritious as it is delicious!”
Let’s face it; hundreds of multi-million dollar food corporations will go out of business if even just a quarter of Americans were to suddenly decide to eat more conscientiously in regards to their good health. Eliminating foods and beverages with added sugar, salt or artificial coloring. No flavoring agents, emulsifiers, stabilizers or thickeners. No GMOs, MSG, BHA or BHT, whatever that is!
A health conscious friend of mine brought Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chai Tea beverage to my attention. Just one taste of the drink and I fell in love. Without reading the label (I trusted that my friend had looked it over and give it his seal of approval–wrong lol!) I began chug-a-lugging the drink in short intervals, intending to have the drink as my lunch while I sat at my desk at work. After the relishing in the euphoria from the rich, creamy, vanilla-y smoothiness, I came crashing down off my high 10 minutes later. Then I got a slight headache and was a little light-headed. Checked the bottle and saw the reason: a serving size of 8 ounces of the drink garnered you 26 grams of sugar. I did the math (not quickly, because my head was still a bit foggy): 1 teaspoon of sugar is about 4 grams…. so 26 grams means 6.5 teaspoons of sugar in a 1 cup serving!
“Soymilk from concentrate (water, soymilk concentrate), cane sugar, soy protein isolate, natural flavor, acacia gum, calcium (tricalcium phosphate) carrageenan, salt, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) Magnesium (magnesium oxide), green tea (water, green tea extract, vitamin B6 (pyridozine HCL), zinc (zinc sulfate), iron (ferrous lactate, vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)”…and the green tea (the healthy junk) was actually the 11th list!
I understand that without this toxic mix of chemicals in our foods, by the time our favorite products leave their respective packaging plants and make their way to our neighborhood grocer’s freezer, they’d resemble for the most part, squirming maggots on a corpse. Did you know that there are approximately 3,000 food additives that are classified into six major categories?:
1. Nutritional supplements
Many foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals. The primary reason for this practice is to replace nutrients lost during processing and to prevent deficiency diseases. Some of the common fortifications are: vitamin D in milk, vitamin A in margarine, iron and B vitamins in breads, and iodine in table salt.
2. Preservatives
The safe-use period of many foods is greatly extended through the addition of preservatives, which retard spoilage, preserve flavor and color and keep oils from turning rancid. Preservatives protect foods, such as cured meats, from developing dangerous toxins, such as botulism, a food poisoning illness.
3. Flavoring agents
These are the most commonly used additives. Some, such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), are used to enhance flavor. Others, like chemical concentrates of a flavor such as strawberry, are used to boost flavor. Flavorings are often used when a natural flavoring is unavailable or too expensive to use in a particular commercial product.
4. Coloring agents
These additives are used strictly to make foods more attractive to the consumer. Even some fruits, like oranges, have color added to their skins to make their color match the expectations of consumers.
5. Emulsifiers, stabilizers, and thickeners
A large variety of products from this category are used to improve the texture and consistency of foods. Emulsifiers are commonly used to keep ingredients from separating in sauces and salad dressings. Lecithin, gelatin and pectin are commonly used natural emulsifiers.
6. Acids and alkalis
These additives are used to neutralize the acidity or alkalinity of certain foods. Citric acid, for instance, might be used to add tartness to certain foods.
The best advise is the obvious one; read, moderate intake and outright abstani! Our good health is our own business it seems. Food companies have their own bottom line and we are no where near it.
Here’s to Your Good Health! (however you attain it.)
h/t Food additive listing: Publix
