~Ritz Crackers Ingredient Label Overview~
To read the complete article on ingredients, labels, chemical additives, and which to avoid…click here: Ingredients and Ingredient Labels: Be Sure to Read the Fine Print!
Ingredients: Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron), Thiamine Mononitrate {Vitamin B1}, Riboflavin {Vitamin B2}, Folic Acid, Vegetable Oil (Soybean and/or Canola and/or Palm and/or Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil), Sugar, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda and/or Calcium Phosphate), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Soy Lecithin, Malted Barley Flour, Natural Flavor.
Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron)—this type of flour is heavily processed in a way that makes it extremely unhealthy for us to eat. In fact, ingredients like this one are what started the gluten-free trend. People began believing the myth that gluten is the culprit behind their weight gain thus kick starting an entire million-dollar industry. Never once, do they stop to consider the role other ingredients could be playing. If they did, people would soon realize that gluten isn’t the real culprit, ingredients that actually cause the body to store bread as fat (like Unbleached Enriched Flour) rather than energy are (ahealthiermichigan.org).
Thiamine Mononitrate {Vitamin B1}—an ingredient that gives the impression of being the true, blue natural version of Vitamin B1 (and, therefore, healthy), but is actually a synthetic and chemical form of “Vitamin B1.” Your digestive system will thank you for avoiding this ingredient!
Riboflavin {Vitamin B2}—it acts in the same stealthy way as Thiamine Mononitrate where it both poses to be something healthy and realistically is composed of synthetic/chemical compounds. If you consume too much of this ingredient, which is easy to do due to the fact that it is found abundantly in processed foods and common dietary supplements, your liver could be in danger (smart-publications.com).
Folic Acid—an oxidized synthetic compound that is neither whole food nor is it nutrient rich in any way. It is used to fortify foods, in other words, it strengthens and protects certain products so that they will have a longer shelf life, therefore, increasing sales for the given food company. An ingredient that has the sole purpose of “strengthening” and “protecting” food may sound like a good thing, but by digging a little deeper you will discover that it is completely synthetic, formed through chemical processes, and through the conduction of scientific studies it has been found to cause cancer (chriskresser.com).
Vegetable Oils (Soybean/Canola/Palm/Cottonseed)—Unnatural production process using many synthetic and toxic chemicals (authoritynutrition.com).
Sugar—most likely refined sugar and, therefore, overly processed and stripped of any natural nutrients it may have contained pre-refinement process (globalhealingcenter.com).
Salt—iodized salt (not sea salt) is also known as a leeching agent, meaning it sucks all of the nutrients and minerals out of your body similar to the way an actual leech will suck the blood from its host (Gross, I know).
Leavening (Baking Soda & Sodium Phosphate)—preservative and stabilizer, linked to kidney disease, heart disease, high blood pressure. “Scientists in Vienna found that large amounts of phosphates can kick start the production of a hormone called FGF23 in the bones, which puts strain on the heart and can lead to h.b.p.” (huffingtonpost.ca).
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)—the worst kind of sugar out there for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because it is linked to many other health problems beyond obesity. “Through massive advertising campaigns by the Corn Refiner’s Association’s attempt to dispel the myth that HFCS is harmful and no different than cane sugar. It is a “natural” product that is a healthy part of our diet when used in moderation. Except for one problem. When used in moderation it is a major cause of heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay, and more” (drhyman.com)
Soy Lecithin—most do not know that soy or soy byproducts (such as soy lecithin) are actually code names for MSG (you know, that horrible ingredient found in the majority of processed foods. I mean, who’s idea was it to add an ingredient to food that is literally “worse for your health than alcohol, nicotine and many drugs” (articles.mercola.com)?) Someone who cares more about the money in their pocket than the state of our health, that’s who! Soy Lecithin, like most of the other ingredients found in Ritz Crackers, is highly processed and contains many toxic chemicals due to this process. Read more about Soy Lecithin and why you should avoid it here.
Malted Barley Flour—codename for MSG and contains enough MSG to cause anyone with a sensitivity to this ingredient to have a mild-severe reaction depending on the person. “This is sprouted barley…it is only added to flour when the wheat quality that season is poor…it does contain some MSG, but the problem is that the enzymes released in sprouting begin to break down the protein of the wheat flour it is added to, creating more MSG” (naturalnews.com). Fantastic, a product that not only contains MSG but produces it, as well! Here’s my advice, even if you do not have a sensitivity to MSG (like myself, for example) avoid it like the plague!
Natural Flavor—another codename for MSG, may contain up to 20% MSG, not even Organic products containing this ingredient are safe! “MSG, Aspartame and bugs in your food are all considered “natural flavors” and “natural colors”…the line of distinction between foods labeled “all natural” and cancer causing food is not only blurred, it barely exists…regulations for the word ‘natural’ only apply to flavors; anywhere else you find it on food packaging means absolutely nothing regarding quality. Secondly, the FDA definition of ‘natural flavors’ and ‘natural flavoring’ allows for the substance to be extracted from plant or animal ‘matter.’ So when you buy something organic, vegetarian, or vegan, and it has ‘natural flavoring,’ you could be eating a pig, cow, turkey, chicken, or lamb which was shot up with growth hormones, fed GMO pesticide-laden corn and grain – probably mixed with other animals of it’s same breed, then shot up with antibiotics due to infections and diseases from living in confined quarters on slats covered in feces” (naturalnews.com). Some people might consider this quote to be “TMI,” but people need to know the truth about ingredients like Natural Flavoring because the sooner you make the decision to cut it completely from your diet, the closer you will be to getting healthy from the inside out.
Sources:
2) www.livestrong.com/article/313249-the-side-effects-of-thiamine-mononitrate/
3) www.smart-publications.com/articles/excess-vitamin-B2-riboflavin-can-be-toxic/
4) http://chriskresser.com/folate-vs-folic-acid/
5) http://www.authoritynutrition.com/6-reasons-why-vegetable-oils-are-toxic/
6) http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/sugar-problem/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all
7) http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/05/07/unhealthy-ingredients-phosphates_n_5280250.html
8) http://drhyman.com/blog/2011/05/13/5-reasons-high-fructose-corn-syrup-will-kill-you/
9) http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/18/soy-can-damage-your-health.aspx
10) http://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-soy-lecithin/
11) http://www.naturalnews.com/039109_MSG_hidden_ingredients_taste_enhancer.html
12) http://www.naturalnews.com/036308_natural_flavors_MSG_aspartame.html