Hello! I am glad you are here!
Have you noticed how many products are offered as "natural"?
Do you eat them comfortably & without guilt when they are "natural"? Or do you buy foods/products that are "natural" when you want to keep yourself in a healthy path?
Today I want to educate you on this subject so you don't fall into the trap! The real definition of the word "natural" by the U.S Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is: "The term "natural" to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in that food".
Analyzing this definition, A LOT of products that are sold as "natural" don't fit the description.
For example, I tend to see a lot of people offering "natural pills" on social media & as I understand they are making a living out of this, it is completely incorrect to say you are selling natural pills. Why? because even if these pills contain something natural like: green tea, turmeric, fish oil, cranberry, etc. they are not sold in their natural form, untouched form, they are in a form that has many additives in order to ensure a long shelf life & to be in a pill form. You don't get pills from trees, do you?
Another great example is... "natural sugar". Naturally occurring sugars do exist & are found in fruits. But when I tend to read or listen people saying that a specific recipe is healthier because they added "natural sugars" to it, I always read the ingredients and find: honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar. How are these natural sugars over cane sugar? Isn't cane sugar found in sugarcanes? If I am not mistaken, that is also a plant. So, why do people shame cane sugar so much if all of these sources of added sugars come from plants? Cane sugar is always criticized by the "processing" it goes through in order to be packaged, but aren't the other added sugars processed in order to be found in the grocery store aisles?
This goes on with many other products. The bottom line here is that if the product or food you are buying isn't in its natural form like: leaf, root, fruit & needs additives to be in a different form from the original... then it is NOT natural.
Hope this is helpful to you and if you do have additional questions feel free to DM on IG or send me an email to andrea@thblissfuldietitian.com
Reference:
Comments