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A Big Mouthful of Poison

A Big Mouthful of Poison

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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18 Comments

  1. Lisa

    I agree with you that it was disturbing to hear that the flavors created are used to enhance real foods. I’ve been making more of a conscious effort to eat unprocessed foods. I figure we are here with everything we need to eat and drink (generations before us somehow survived without soft drinks), there is no reason that we have to eat stuff we have created or manipulated.

    I liked when he asked her if there was real roasted chicken in the roasted chicken powder and she said there may be, but she never said what is really in there! Why not roast your own chicken or buy a real roasted chicken? Why eat vegetarian food that has vegetarian flavorings to make the vegetarian food have a hint of real meat flavor??

    The only way to escape Givaudan would be to make everything yourself – make your own salad dressing, make your own bread, make your own alcoholic beverages. I’m not ready to do that yet, but I am ready to choose when I want to make my own and limit the amounts of processed items.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      You are so right. If I really want to avoid these chemicals I need to be making my own dressing, my own soups from scratch, all of it…It’s a lot of work, it’s a huge investment in time and effort. I think it’s worth it but it seems overwhelming.

  2. Jane at Keepingthepoundsoff.com

    Minute Maid Orange Juice is one of the companies that uses this service. Ever wonder how the OJ can taste the same cartoon after cartoon when orange flavors vary by season? – Givadan.

    I try hard, very hard, to eat whole food items that have not received any tampering. I try to ensure my foods have not received flavorings by Givadan because I GiveADamn about what goes into my mouth – but they do. It is in anything that does not go from the ground to my plate.

    I rant with me. Growl, growl, grrrrr!

    Jane~

    1. Lisa Eirene

      How do you ensure your foods weren’t enhanced by Givadan? Any tips?

      Thanks for ranting with me! I was horrified after watching that show!

      1. jane at Keepingthepoundsoff.com

        Single ingredient foods. All fresh foods that come out of the ground also dried beans, rices. Non-engineered foods.

        Chain foods (brands and restaurant chains) are all suspect

        1. Lisa Eirene

          Yep I rarely go to a chain restaurant. There are too many good restaurants in Portland to waste time at a chain.

          We started buying our meat at Trader Joe’s. It’s much more expensive but the meat isn’t treated with hormones.

          1. jane at Keepingthepoundsoff.com

            I first noticed it in chicken about 15 years ago. I could not understand why the chicken at some entirely different restaurants tasted the same. Then I got some chicken from a supplier – just plain chicken and the taste was similar to the restaurants. It wasn’t until later that I learned WHY they all tasted the same.

            Jane~

          2. Lisa Eirene

            I’m glad you did the research to better yourself. I’m definitely going to be looking into the stuff I consume.

  3. Dan @ Essentials of Nutrition

    I did see it and in fact did a blog post about it on Tues. Besides the obvious things you’ve mentioned, two things really struck me:

    1) The folks at Giauvadan certainly did not seem sinister. Really just geeky chemists who certainly seemed to enjoy their job. Not bad people at all. I’m sure they certainly don’t even consider what they are doing as major problem.

    2) The last bit about making processed foods healthier and just as tasty. While I’m skeptical, I think it’s an interesting argument that the ability to manipulate flavors in that way could be used for good.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      The scientists didn’t seem sinister at all. The process of modifying food with flavors (that could possibly be addicting) felt sinister.

  4. Louise

    Great post. Having lurked for ever you cant shut me up now!!
    I’m from the UK and haven’t seen the program you mentioned. As per my previous reply I feel very strongly that these chemicals and what are basically non foods are dangerous. I also wonder wether some people suffer more from addictions and are more susceptible to these chemicals. Similar to yourself I have started to grow as much of my own as possible and I buy a lot of organic produce, even though I am barely able to afford it. I absolutely will not have anything genetically modified. My philosophy now is I’d rather go without rather than risk my health (hopefully I don’t sound too much of a crank). I think you are right to do as much cooking from scratch as you can manage and to eat at good quality establishments if eating out. There’s nothing more filling and satisfying as real food.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I loved having a garden this summer. It was my first and it was so great eating fresh lettuce from the garden. After being spoiled with AMAZING salads, I hate the lettuce I buy at the store now. It’s limp, flavorless and rots easily. It’s gross.

      You don’t sound like a crank at all. I agree with you!

      Thanks for de-lurking! 🙂 I love reading new points of view from readers.

  5. Lisa

    I didn’t see the piece, so thanks for bringing it up. The food situation in this country is very scary right now. The difference in grocery store food and home-grown food is almost unbelievable. I wish it didn’t take so much time and investment to grow/store all your own food. I am definitely one of those who wishes I could be completely self-sustaining. I read on Yahoo yesterday about how commercial apple juice was tested to have high levels of arsenic. When I read that, I started thinking about how nothing you get from the store is safe.

    Oh, and just a tip about the lettuce…it is SO easy to grow indoors because it grows so fast and doesn’t need a ton of sunlight (but the more sun, the faster it will grow). If you have a south-facing window, just plant some seeds in a small pot and keep moist. You will have lettuce in a couple of weeks! I usually have three or four pots of it going at once and start a new one every month during the winter in case one of my plants decides to bolt. Ditto with herbs. I love rosemary and thyme in everything during the winter and don’t like paying $3 for a tiny bit of it, so I grow it in the windowsill. You could also check out the Aerogarden for growing lettuce/herbs indoors. It’s kind of pricey but makes growing your own salads extremely easy!!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I read about the arsenic in apple juice too. That is really, really frightening!

      I wish Michael and I could be self-sustaining too. We were making progress with our veggie garden this summer but it was A LOT of work. So much more work and time than I was expecting it to be. I had to be out there almost every day tending to the plants. That’s a lot of time and committment.

      I didn’t know that you could grow lettuce indoors! What a fantastic idea!

  6. Samantha

    Oh my gosh Lisa Eirene I haven’t been over to visit for awhile, you’ve got some great stuff up here, especially this post!
    Boy oh boy does this make me sick too. I feel the exact same way you do about feeling like they are making food that causes Cancer. It freaks me out. I am even know scared to buy produce for goodness sakes. But I don’t have the space, time and means to grown my own food from scratch so what can I do?
    Xo
    Sam

    1. Lisa Eirene

      It’s discouraging, isn’t?? 🙁

  7. Aliy

    I only watched the clip… I’ll have to see if I can find the segment online, but Wow! As someone who studies Addictions, the language the use was very disturbing to me. In my house we avoid most things in a box, or pre made. There are a few exceptions.

    Addiction to food is a very real thing. People come into the office where I work with this issue more frequently than anyone would care to admit. I myself love food, but as I’ve started to eat better more natural foods, I don’t have those strong, irresistible, cravings like I used to.

    We grow a lot of our own veggies during the summer, and are regular visitors to the local farmers market. I know some people who wouldn’t even recognize real food.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Hi Aliy, thanks for sharing your experiences. If you can find the piece I recommend it highly. It was so eye-opening. I was disturbed the entire time. I do think that food addictions are real. But I think they can be beaten. I find that if I stop eating certain things cold turkey, I don’t crave them anymore after awhile–like sugar or bread. It’s when I start eating them again that I start craving it again!

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