How to Get Slim and Healthy? Read What You Eat!

Do you know whats preservative E202 and gelling agent E440?

Have you ever looked at the nutritional labels of the food you eat? If not, you better start looking if you are concerned about your health and want to know how to get slim.

Don’t you find it strange that people will read through and analyse the technical specifications of computers and cars before buying them, but won’t even take a glimpse at what exactly they are putting in their bodies?

Reading food labels should be an instinctive action whenever you are buying a new food product. Not only does reading the food label tell you about the nutritional content, but it also reveals to you how “chemically or artificially enhanced” the food product is.

Many of our food today is filled with artificial flavorings and preservatives. Names like aspartame, monosodium glutamate (MSG), tartrazine are some of the more renowned artificial flavorings out there. But sometimes in place of the above names, we see E621, E102 or E951.

“Uh… so what do these numbers mean? Are those subsets of vitamin E?”

Unfortunately not. Otherwise you will find a lot of food products with vitamin E in them. So what are these E numbers and what do they really mean?

Your E number is Up

E numbers are essentially codes given to a huge and growing list of food additives and permitted to be used in the European Union (E actually stands for Europe). Needless to say, food produced in Europe would need to have such E numbers reflected on their nutritional labels. Countries like Australia and New Zealand are also starting to include such E numbers in their food labeling as well. This is not the case for food produced in US yet.

Why do we even have these E numbers or even additives in our food for that matter? Its mainly used for enhancing taste and appearance and also to prolong shelf life of the food product. The well-known food enhancer MSG (E621) makes practically everything its added taste good. Not necessarily making it healthier, but definitely tastier. Others like sodium benzoate (E211) acts as a preservative so the food gets to stay on super market shelves a lot longer.

As a general rule of thumb, it’s always ideal to avoid food with artificial flavoring or additives for the overall welfare of your health. But I know it’s easier said than done considering how many of the food we eat today have some form of additive in it. While we cannot completely purge the E numbers in our diet altogether, the least we can do is to avoid some of the more harmful additives.

Considering how difficult it is at the moment to remember the chemical names of harmful additives, now they’re coded in mysterious numbers makes it even more confusing. So here are the top 10 list of E numbers that you should watch out for the next time you are shopping for food in the supermarket.

10 Worst E Numbers that you should stay away from

1. E102:  Tartrazine. What are the foods you buy that are in yellow? This is a yellow food coloring is probably present in some of them. Banned in Austria and Norway, this yellow food coloring has been associated to hyperactivity in children. Watch out for these in your jelly, soups, curry, mustard and even yellow sodas.
2. E122: Carmoisine. Another food coloring that’s been known to cause hyperactivity in children and allergic reaction in adults, E112 is an artificial red coloring that’s already banned in countries such as US, Japan, Norway and Sweden.
3. E129: Allura Red. Just like E122, E129 is also a red food coloring associated to hyperactivity in children. Furthermore, it may also trigger skin allergies in adults. And yes, this is banned mainly in European countries such as Germany, France, Austria, Norway, Belgium, and Sweden.
4. E104: Quinoline Yellow. Another yellow food coloring to watch out for. This artificial coloring has been associated to hyperactivity and health problems in children. Countries like Japan, US Australia and Norway have already banned this.
5. E621: Monosodium Glutamate. More popularly known as MSG, this is a well-known food enhancer in Asian cooking that makes almost any food taste good. Although we have probably been consuming these for years without any noticeable side effects, it has been reported that MSG can muscular ache, headaches, dizziness, nausea and palpitations.
6. E951: Aspartame. This is a well-known artificial sweetener found in products for diabetics, like low-fat foods, desserts, low sugar beverages and candies. There have been reports of side effects such as headaches with E951.
7. E211: Sodium Benzoate. People with allergic conditions or asthma might want to stay away from this. E211 is a preservative commonly found in products such as soy sauce, margarine, salad dressing, , candies and sodas.
8. E151: Black PN or Brilliant Black BN. Also known to cause allergic reactions in certain people, E151 is a black artificial coloring used in some food products. E151 is now banned in numerous countries such as Austria, US, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium.
9. E133: Brilliant Blue FCF. Like the name suggests, E133 is a synthetic blue coloring agent used in some products. Not surprisingly, this is also known to cause allergic reaction to some people after consumption. E133 is currently banned in France, Austria, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Norway.
10. E213: Calcium Benzoate. Another good reason for you to stop drinking sodas, this is something that you see in a lot of soft drinks and artificially flavored beverages. E213 is used to preserve the shelf life of the products. Just like the rest of the other E numbers, E213 is also known to cause allergic conditions in certain individuals.

Now that you know which are the top 10 worse E numbers to avoid, you should make it a habit to read the nutritional labels of all the food products the next time you visit the supermarket. You will be surprised at what you have been eating all along.

In addition to reading the ingredients list and looking out for E numbers, reading food labels can be confusing. My 10 Minute Corporate Fat Loss Plan shows you a simple trick to easily speed read a nutritional label and instantly know if the food product is good for you or will make you fat.

Find out more about my 10 Minute Corporate Fat Loss Plan now.

Sources:

http://www.exploreenumbers.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number