When "free" isn't Actually Free...

I've spent the last 6 months or so really learning about and understanding nutrition, calories and how things affect our bodies. I'd have to say until 6 months ago I'd have said that I knew what "healthy" food was, but looking back now I know I actually had no clue! I've spent most of my life choosing "fat-free" or "sugar-free" or "insert bad food here-free" items under than assumption that this would help me lose weight, or maintain whatever weight I happened to be at at the time. Splenda was always out on the kitchen counter, there was always diet pop in the fridge, and anything we bought was low whatever, or whatever-free. With the reading and understanding I've been doing recently all of this "free" stuff was actually a way for manufactures to tell me how many more chemicals and fake stuff they were introducing into my diet. And sure while these foods (food in the loosest sense of the word here) may have been keeping down the amount of fat or sugar in my overall diet, it turns out they may have been wrecking havoc on my overall health and metabolism!

After having recently watched Food Inc. and The World According to Monsanto I've also learnt about how many chemicals end up in our foods - and how long these chemicals can stay in your body (10-15 years if you really wanted to know!) - it's changing how I look at food, and what I chose to eat or not eat.

So if you're wondering who that freak in the grocery store reading all the labels and ingredient listings is, that's me. I'm actively searching out organic meat, dairy and vegetables and hoping to kick my metabolism back into fighting form again. Now I understand, I have to wonder how anyone ever thought that eating a food that was shelf stable in a cardboard box for X number of years was a good thing...

On a side note, I've got a follow-up appointment with my endocrinologist tomorrow after a whole host of tests on my thyroid - the thyroid gland is located in everyone's neck and controls how quickly the body burns energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body should be to other hormones. A lot of information out there indicates that impaired thyroid function (hypothyroidism, or hashimoto's thyroiditis) is an autoimmune disorder and is generally inherited. However, adding to this it's estimated that hypothyroidism affects 1 in 10 women (1 in 20 men), and as it's a hormone based function it rather makes sense that all the chemicals in our fruits and vegetables, along with all the growth hormones we're feeding our animals would transfer into us and affect our hormones - yet another factor in helping us make the decision to buy organic where we can.