For the Love of Yellow....

So, a whole week has passed since my last blog post.  And, in that week, I've managed to keep it fairly real, as far as food goesl!  Don't get me wrong, there were a few tempting times such as pizza delivered to work for a team lunch and a 60th Anniversary party complete with beautiful, wonderful cake.  But, for the most part, I've stuck it out and will be hitting this third week a little healthier than before.  My official "Biggest Loser" scale has a dead battery so I can't be sure that I lost weight, but I can feel it in my clothes and my chin!  And, as far as how I feel?  I've had more energy.  So, I'd say we are off to a good start.

My biggest milestone this week was finally breaking my love affair with what I've affectionately started calling "Yellow #5".  Yes, I am talking about my former friend and loving companion, DMD (name not included for libel reasons, even though everything I will say about it is true!).  When I first made the decision to go real, I knew that DMD would be on the chopping block.  But, I procrastinated...I told myself that I would drink only what I had left in the house, about 10 cans.  As those were dwindling, I prepared myself for the end.  But, then my husband, nice guy that he is, bought me another 12-pack!  I hadn't communicated to him that I was going to quit and I couldn't be rude since he'd done such a nice thing for me!  So, I decided to drink those, too.  But, on can number 11 from that last 12-pack, I decided I'd had enough.  That can is still sitting, unopened, on my desk at work.  And, can #12 is still sitting on the bottom shelf of my refrigerator, unopened.  Would I like to go out to the kitchen right now, crack open that refreshingly cold can and drain every last precious ounce into my mouth?  About 6 days ago, I would have said yes....and, even now, after that description, I'm wavering a bit.  But, instead, I'm going to go get it, but only so I can peruse the ingredient list and share what I find with you, my blogees!  As we say at work, "Hold Please", while I go retrieve the final can...

Well, as fate would have it, the last can of DMD is, in fact, missing from the refrigerator.  I'm glad because I no longer have to rely on will power alone to keep me from drinking it down while I finish typing this.  But, this also poses a problem as I now have no way to read the ingredients.  So, I will resort to looking into the one that I know for sure is in DMD, Yellow #5.  And, with that, I will give my not-so-scientific overview below of what exactly we eat/drink when we consume Yellow #5.

 

Yellow #5

 

According to Wikipedia, Yellow #5 is also known as Tartrazine, FD&C Yellow #5, Food Yellow 4 and many other names.  It is a lemon yellow dye and is primarily used in the food industry.  Ok, great, I'm sure if it's used in food, it's fine right?  Let me keep reading...it is in fact synthetic (man-made) and is used in many processed foods.  It's also used in cosmetics, medicines, crayons and cleaning products.  The interesting thing I noticed on the Wikipedia site right away (and you can chalk this up to my recent OSHA required safety training) is that it has the little, multi-colored National Fire Prevention Association Haz-Mat diamond over on the right hand side.  Yes, the symbol that Fire Fighters and EMT's look for when responding to emergency situations....that diamond!  That gave me an immediate warm fuzzy (not!).  I work in a manufacturing facility so I know what this symbol means....hazard, danger, be careful, stay away.  I couldn't help but click in and see what the NFPA diamond had to say about Yellow #5.

 

For those who don't know, each of the four colored areas within the NFPA Haz-Mat diamond mean something different.  I was glad to see that the red, yellow and white sections didn't amount to much(thankfully, as red is related to flammability!).  But, I found the blue section, the code relating to Health information, interesting.  Yellow #5 is given a "2" under blue.  Per Wikipedia, a "2" means that "Intense or continued but not chronic exposure could cause temporary incapacitation or possible residual injury".  Really?  That's great....because I used to drink DMD like it was water.  I definitely fell into the "continued" category. 

 

So, what is Yellow #5 made of?  I'm still not sure I know so I typed that exact question into Yahoo.com.  And, apparently, I'm not the first person to ask this question.  Ask.com had just the piece of information I was looking for.  Apparently, Yellow #5 is made from coal tar.  Coal tar is a petroleum derivative.  Can we use the Socratic method here to make a deduction?  Is Yellow #5 really petroleum based?

 

So, that was my next question for Yahoo.com.  And, with that, I found an interesting article from a website called Fitness Quests.  This guy, noted only as Kris, has done his research.  I think I finally found what I was looking for.  He takes much of his information from the book "Twinkie Deconstructed" by Steve Ettinger (I plan to peruse Amazon immediately after publishing this post!).  Ettinger's goal was to trace all 39 ingredients found in the now deceased Twinkie (may it RIP) and find out what they really were.  And, what he found on Yellow #5 was interesting....it originates from Benzene, a crude oil by-product.  Benzene is carcinogenic and while the author of the Fitness Quests site goes on, I think I can stop my research right there...enough said.  Why would anyone want to put that in their body?

 

Multiple web sources note that Yellow #5 can be the culprit behind anything from migraines to depression in adults and ADHD in children, but I think I can safely say I'm not going to have to worry about that anymore....good-bye DMD.  We had a good run.....

 

Works Cited

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartrazine

2. http://answers.ask.com/Food_and_Drinks/Other/what_is_yellow_5_made_of

3. http://www.fitnessquests.com/2010/06/what-is-fdc-yellow-5-tartrazine.html

Starting out Real!

Over the past few weeks I've become increasingly conscious of what I have been putting into my mouth.  Chalk it up to ageing, with the big 40 looming in the not so distant future.  Chalk it up to the fact that I just don't "feel" very well a great part of the time.  Or, chalk it up to the fact that I went Organic with my dog food but not with the food I eat or feed my family!  Whatever the reason, I've  started taking a hard look at what I put into my mouth and why.  And, in the few short weeks I've been paying attention, I've learned some pretty scary things!  The goal of my blog will be to share with you what I learn, interesting facts I find along the way and, hopefully, keep a public log of the changes I see in my health, weight, outlook, etc. 

The first step to any healthy, real eating plan is to take a good look at what you have in your pantry, read the ingreadient labels, try to pronounce ALL of the ingredients, shake your head in frustration and then realize you have a problem!  Now, I won't say that I went to my pantry and started throwing things out.  What I did do, was do a general review of what I had, figure out ways to get it used up and agree with myself to not buy anything UN-real again! 

The second step to eating real was to go shopping!  I did some internet research, found a few recipes and made a grocery list to be proud of.  I went to the store, certain that I would not only find everything I needed to eat real but also, that I would have fun in the process.  What waited for me instead was frustration...  Labels I had only skimmed in the past to find calories, fat or sugar content, now needed to be scrutinized to the very end.  And, what I realized was that, while I thought I knew a lot about what I was eating, I really had a lot to learn when it came to the "ingredients" that appear in America's commercially available food.

With that, I will try to research a different food additive/preservative/strange ingredient with every blog post.  I learn best when I write things down, so, without further preface, my first ingredient to research will be "Carageenan".

Carageenan

Wikipedia defines carageenan as a "a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red seaweeds. They are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening and stabilizing properties. "  Ok, great!  I'm not entirely sure what a polysaccharide is but when I read "extracted from red seaweeds" I think to myself that it must be natural, right?  So, I keep reading.  In the second paragraph on Wikipedia, the first bit of bad news comes out.  Apparently, scientists have raised concerns over the use of carageenan in our food supply.  Why?  Well, it seems that, based on studies of laboratory animals (a blog post for another day...), it's been found that carageenan can cause gastrointestinal inflammation.  Wait, what?  Would "they" really put something in our food that causes gastrointesntinal inflammation? 

So, I decided that I should branch out from Wikipedia.  While I think Wikipedia is awesome, I wanted to see what WebMD had to say about our new friend Carageenan.  WebMD classifies carageenan as a "Vitamin or Supplement".  Apparently, people use carageenan for medicinal purposes...anything from cough to constipation although WebMD does note that more evidence is needed to validate these medicinal claims.  They do mention that the amounts used in food are deemed safe for most people. 

Hmm.  No mention of the gastrointestinal issues brought up by Wikipedia.  So, I went back to my internet search to see what else I could find.  The Food Network popped up with their two cents about carageenan.  I guess if anyone should know food, it's the Food Network!  So, I clicked in and learned that they, as part of their Label Decoder blog say that the Center for Science in the Public Interest consider carageenan as "safe in small amounts".  However, they also go on to say that "Your best bet is to be mindful of the ingredient—and choose alternate products without it when possible."

So, I've looked at three different resources and they all seem to say that, while carageenan may come from something that occurs naturally in our environment, it may not be the best thing to put in our bodies.  And, while it may be "safe" in small amounts, it sure has done some damage to some defenseless lab animals!  I think it is safe to say from my quick internet look at carageenan, that I won't be bringing home any foods containing carageenan.  I think it might be best to leave it in the ocean where it belongs!! 


Resources used:
1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan
2.http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-710-CARRAGEENAN.aspx?activeIngredientId=710&activeIngredientName=CARRAGEENAN
3.http://blog.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/2012/03/13/label-decoder-carrageenan/