These common additives disrupt your chemistry, hijack your brain, and quietly sabotage your health.
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Refined Sugar (aka: cane sugar, dextrose, glucose, fructose, maltodextrin, corn syrup, etc.) - Strips your body of minerals, spikes insulin, feeds inflammation, and disrupts mood stability.
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Artificial Sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame potassium) - Trick the brain, spike cravings, and are linked to gut dysbiosis and neurological disruption.
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Refined Seed Oils (canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower) - Highly processed, unstable under heat, and promote chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.
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Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) - An excitotoxin used to boost flavor—can lead to headaches, mood swings, and addictive eating patterns.
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Preservatives (sodium benzoate, BHA, BHT, potassium sorbate, nitrates) - Extend shelf life but can impair hormone function, liver detox, and immune regulation.
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Artificial Flavors and “Natural Flavors” - Vague terms often hiding chemical solvents and flavor enhancers with zero nutritional value.
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Food Dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, etc.) - Petroleum-based colors linked to behavioral issues in children and potential carcinogenic effects.
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Emulsifiers and Thickeners (carboxymethylcellulose, polysorbate 80, carrageenan, guar gum) - Can irritate the gut lining and disrupt healthy digestion and microbiome balance.
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Enriched Flours (white flour, bleached flour, enriched wheat flour) - Stripped of nutrients, bleached, then “enriched” with synthetic versions—cause blood sugar spikes without real fuel.
Flavor Enhancers and “Yeast Extracts” - Often MSG in disguise, added to make bland foods addictive and override satiety cues.