Can you tolerate any processed or convenience foods?

[Rufous McKinney]

I. Am. Speechless.

And, I thank you for this information!

this is rather shocking!!

- I recently learned I'm getting to enjoy a great big dose of Fluoride. They put it into commercial salt in Mexico.

We use sea salt and H-salt but this means any time we get anything from a store or restaurant, I'm getting dosed. Which sucks.

 

[Mary]

Aspergillus niger ferments sugar, producing citric acid.
No mold in end product. But still some people have reactions to citric acid.

I don't think it's quite that simple. See what @southwestforests posted here -

 

[Artemisia]

refried bean that just has beans, jalapenos, lard and salt

what brand please?

Anyways, I did find one U.S. manufacturer - Red Gold - which produces canned tomatoes using "naturally derived" citric acid. I contacted them to find out what that meant and got a very nice response - it's food-derived, not from mold, and I do well with this product.

Thanks! I have actually given up on canned tomatoes since they all have citric acid but I'll try this. I'd been using tomato puree in my homemade chili which doesn't have it but sometimes you need canned tomatoes or paste.

They put it into commercial salt in Mexico.

I lived in Mexico years ago and may move back soonish. Salt situation was hard. I only want plain salt with no anti caking and that's impossible to find. I don't want coarse sea salt or expensive pink salt which has heavy metals in it! I buy plain Morton's Canning salt in the US and had to import it to mexico in my luggage which is difficult and probably impossible for me now. Unless I hire someone to drive me down there so I don't have to try to navigate airports with ME and a cat.

I'm so particular about ingredients, cooking utensils, pots and pans and even dishes that it feels ridiculous to try to recreate my US kitchen in Mex but I'm not into fluoride, lead in painted ceramics, etc.

 

[Artemisia]

Citric acid makes my chronic vocal cord pain flare up. I had no idea what was causing my voice to hurt all the time, for years, until I finally realized citric acid was doing it. I had to quit singing because of this pain, and now I can't sing bc of PEM.

Who knows what other symptoms it could create in others. Or what other poison they put in (especially Americans') food and water supply we're unaware of.

 

[Artemisia]

i avoid "natural flavors" -- also causes symptoms usually

so this means any packaged or restaurant food is mostly out for me.

 

[Mary]

what brand please?

HEB brand - I've been in central Texas for about 2-1/2 years now and HEB seems to have a monopoly on grocery stores. Anyways, HEB has a store brand and it's one of their refried beans which have no bad additives for me. I had to look at literally every product and compare their ingredients - no easy way to do this!

 

[Mary]

Also, the word "organic" means nothing in terms of additives. Hellman's Organic mayonnaise contains "natural flavors". Actually the only mayonnaise I could find without any unnecessary additives was a Texas brand called Hill Country - their cheapest label! All the higher end mayos had natural flavors, "organic spices", etc. When they won't tell you exactly what the spices are, it's a red flag.

 

[Wishful]

I noticed that they "hypothesized" that the MCA had contaminants, but couldn't they have done some actual tests on samples to verify that? I get the impression that it's not that hard or expensive to do those sorts of tests these days. Maybe testing and getting negative results wouldn't be as newsworthy?

 

[Rufous McKinney]

had to import it to mexico in my luggage

we've been able to order good salt and some local stores carry it.

When going Foreign in a country like Mexico, it becomes QUEST for Peanut Butter. You will offer a financial reward to anyone, who can direct you to a decent tasting Not Skippy peanut butter.

Customs Took the Peanut Butter (from Trader Joes)- I watched them throw it out, so devastating.

What you really want to bring with you to Mexico?

I should be civic and write a whole article about that.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Hellman's Organic mayonnaise contains "natural flavors".

A very common natural flavor is Celery Salt.

It used in lieu of Nitrates. And we are supposed to avoid nitrates. (preserve the bacon)

And now I"m forgetting- was glutamate also involved.?

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Citric acid makes my chronic vocal cord pain flare up.

really? my voice and throat are so awful. Not constantly, it tracks my condition and PEM.

I was in PEM for several days on a trip that I was trying to enjoy myself on. I took a few videos and my voice appears on several: its horrifying.

 

[southwestforests]

my voice and throat are so awful. Not constantly, it tracks my condition and PEM.
I was in PEM for several days on a trip that I was trying to enjoy myself on.

A little different, but right now my voice is almost gone because a bit after 12 noon I went over to Walmart to do $80 of grocery shopping & I was starting from a point of fatigue after the enjoyable day I had yesterday.
Both the voice impacts and the PEM because you lived life concepts are relatable and understood.

And,
yes,
I did buy some breads, saltine crackers, English muffins,
and a bag of fairly basic yellow corn tortilla chips, Santitas brand.
(their ingredients have not yet said "and/or cottonseed oil")
and did buy some processed food with sugar, seedless raspberry jam & some peach-pineabble-chipotle salsa

Gotta have a little bit of food pleasure in this life.

 

[southwestforests]

& some peach-pineabble-chipotle salsa

Whaaaaat?????????? "pineabble"
I had quite a struggle with dyslexia in 3rd and 4th grade.
As part of it, 3, S, 5, E, were all pretty much interchangeable.
But,
HOW,
do you get p and b mixed up on a keyboard?
ON A KEYBOARD ?!!?!?!?!?

This has been a thing for a couple months now.


We now return to our regularly scheduled topic.

 

[Wishful]

We use sea salt and H-salt

I recently heard that iodine deficiency is becoming more common, because fancy salts (coarse, Himalayan, etc) have become common, and lack supplemental iodine.

 

[Artemisia]

I recently heard that iodine deficiency is becoming more common, because fancy salts (coarse, Himalayan, etc) have become common, and lack supplemental iodine.

I drink lots of low fat milk (lots of iodine) and eat shellfish weekly so that solves the iodine problem.

 

[Artemisia]

really? my voice and throat are so awful. Not constantly, it tracks my condition and PEM.

I was in PEM for several days on a trip that I was trying to enjoy myself on. I took a few videos and my voice appears on several: its horrifying.

yes, it's not just citric acid that causes sore throat/voice for me. Many supplements do too.

I think it's the fillers and crap they put in food and supps (like citric acid) that alters my gut flora and causes silent GERD, which inflames my throat.

I know glycine powder, without any fillers, also causes the throat pain for me. Just about every magnesium product does too. Thus I must make magnesium bicarbonate water, AND mag "oil" spray (just more health related tasks to do on no energy--fun!).

 

[Mary]

A very common natural flavor is Celery Salt.

I don't mind celery salt. It's made from celery and salt. But the generic "natural flavor(s)" is a euphemism for MSG.

And sorry to hear about the peanut butter in Mexico!

 

[Zebra]

Hi, @Artemisia

Like you, I live alone and have zero practical support when it comes to food preparation.

I have learned the hard way to always have at least a handful of "emergency" foods in the freezer or cupboard for the days when I have either run out of groceries because I am too ill to get them ordered, delivered, and put away. Or, maybe I have the ingredients, but I am too sick to cook. Or, maybe I need to use my energy for something else, like a video appt.

I don't want to make assumptions, but I'm guessing you can relate.

I just unpacked some groceries and this is one of the frozen meals I try to keep in my freezer at all times.

IMO, the nutritional balance is good and the ingredients seem to be as clean as they can be for a processed frozen meal.

If this is helpful to you, let me know, and I'll see what other products I might have personally tested and might also work for you.

If it's not helpful, then perhaps you can say so in a gentle fashion as I did take the time to type this up for you and send screenshots.

 

[andyguitar]

and this is one of the frozen meals I try to keep in my freezer at all times.

Well, looks rather splendid! Taste good?

 

[Artemisia]

I have learned the hard way to always have at least a handful of "emergency" foods in the freezer or cupboard for the days when I have either run out of groceries because I am too ill to get them ordered, delivered, and put away. Or, maybe I have the ingredients, but I am too sick to cook. Or, maybe I need to use my energy for something else, like a video appt.

I don't want to make assumptions, but I'm guessing you can relate.

I just unpacked some groceries and this is one of the frozen meals I try to keep in my freezer at all times.

IMO, the nutritional balance is good and the ingredients seem to be as clean as they can be for a processed frozen meal.

If this is helpful to you, let me know, and I'll see what other products I might have personally tested and might also work for you.

Thank you for that, Zebra!! That Amy's dinner does look to have good ingredients. Rice and legumes are a bit hard for me to digest, but I can eat them every now and then, so this sounds like a good option.

You're right-- it's good to have things like this on hand for emergency foods, and it's certainly better than canned soup with MSG. I might add this to my grocery delivery next time.

If it's not much trouble, I'm interested in other products you have had success with, sure! But just the name is plenty--I can look up ingredients. But don't do it if you don't have the energy! Thank you.