12 Food Additives you and your body could do without

From SixWise.com's article 12 Dangerous Food Additives: The Dirty Dozen Food Additives You Really Need to be Aware Of:

In the United States, more than 3,000 substances can be added to foods for the purpose of preservation, coloring, texture, increasing flavor and more. While each of these substances is legal to use (at least here in the States), whether or not they are all something you want to be consuming is another story all together.

The 12 worst additives that you would do well to avoid are:

1) Propyl Gallate
2) BHA and BHT
3) Potassium Bromate
4) Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
5) Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet)
6) Acesulfame-K
7) Olestra
8) Sodium Nitrite (Sodium Nitrate)
9) Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil
10) Blue 1 and Blue 2
11) Red 3
12) Yellow 6

You can read the complete article and how the above ingredients can compromise your health here.

I've worked hard to have Amira's snacks not be easy, out-of-the-box kinds of foods. Sometimes I wish for something more "instant", especially when she's pulling at my pantleg and crying for food NOW! But, that added few minutes of peace and quiet aren't an equal exchange for her health.

We all know it - the closer to raw food we get - the better off we are. Fruits and vegetables are especially our friends. Organic produce is best. If you have to economize, these are contaminated produce items that you should buy organic if at all possible:

1) Apples
2) Bell Peppers
3) Celery
4) Cherries
5) Imported Grapes
6) Nectarines
7) Peaches
8) Pears
9) Potatoes
10) Red Raspberries
11) Spinach
12) Strawberries

These are the least contaminated, and if you have to pick which ones not to buy organic right now - these would be the ones:

1) Asparagus
2) Avocados
3) Bananas
4) Broccoli
5) Cauliflower
6) Corn (sweet)
7) Kiwi
8) Mangos
9) Onions
10)Papaya
11)Pineapples
12) Peas (sweet

Additional information/resources on organic foods:

--Handy walletguide to help you pick the most important organic foods to buy. ::Environmental Working Group || foodnews.org

--"Organic Produce - When it pays to buy organic" ::Consumer Reports, Feb '06 || consumerreports.org

--Buying organic on a budget ::Garden & Hearth || gardenandhearth.com