Margarine--The Butter Copycat

Photo Credit: www.enjoymargarineeveryday.com 

Is your grocery store decision between butter and margarine ever a difficult one? If it is, it won't be for long.  We've got a copycat on the loose, and its name is margarine.  This look-a-like can fool anyone.  Look to your left, even the ants don't want anything to do with margarine! 

Essentially, margarine was created to replace butter. But the "replacement" also added artificial color, artificial flavor, and trans fat. It, unlike real butter, goes through a hydrogenation process, which isn't good for any food to go through (high heat, pressure, and exposure to metals). It adds time to the shelf life and turns essential oils into trans fat.  Even the margarines labeled "trans-fat free" aren't always truthful! Any brand can use this label if there is less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Make sure you're reading labels, but you're better off just staying away from this heart disease prone substance.

Make sweet choices--in food and in life.

Ce"real"

Photo Credit: The Huffington Post

I could bet that most of the time, you start off your day with a nice big bowl of cereal and milk.  What you probably didn't know, is that regardless of what you've been told over the years, that probably isn't the smartest way to get your day going.  So, the question: is the cereal you're eating real? The answer? Probably not. But don't get me wrong, it highly depends on what kind you're choosing to indulging in.

As most of you reading this probably already know, cereal has an insanely long shelf life.  Most foods with a shelf life over a year have one thing in common: preservatives.  Two specific preservatives, BHA and BHT (Butylated Hydroxyanisole and Butylated Hydroxytoulene), are the ones that you should be keeping an eye out for.  Yes, their use is still allowed through the FDA, but that could be changing in the near future.  A study was done on pregnant mice to see the effects of these two extremely common preservatives.  Guess what? The offspring of the moms exposed to BHA and BHT were born with brain malfunctions.

The always-appealing cereal isle definitely isn't appealing to your insides. It's better to stick to the cereals that are all natural, and stay away from the ones that have ingredients that you can't pronounce (or spell!).

Make sweet choices--in food and in life.