Jump to content

Learn from others (sneaky not-W30 foods)


Emily

Recommended Posts

Mods, if this isn't the best place for this, please move :)

I've done three Whole30s with wonderful results... but I am still learning! And I hate learning that during my Whole30s I've been (unintentionally) eating off-plan items in spite of my best attempts! I thought I would start a thread of the things that have tripped me up... if anything has tripped you up, add it!

Things that turned out to not be Whole30 friendly (otherwise known as "mistakes I've made")

  • Chipotle cooked foods other than carnitas (I just learned on this forum that they use soybean oil!)
  • grape seed oil (we thought we had found a cheaper oil for mayo, but too high in PUFAs)
  • some herbal teas have soy lecithin (why?)
  • cane sugar in broths
  • cane sugar in regular Sunbutter (the organic one is okay, it doesn't have cane sugar)

*side note: I do find it interesting how hard it is to avoid yuck-o stuff, even when trying hard!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

since i started eating whole30 (in january), i've come to just expect NOT to be able to eat any pre-prepared sauces, condiments, and so forth. even at Whole Foods, it's rare to find a label (including on organic products) that doesn't at least have cane sugar written somewhere in small print. this drives me mad, because i honestly see no good reason to put sugar in so many foods that would be lovely without it.

my advice is to always make sure to read the label, because sugar (among other things) is usually there.

as a result, my condiments, etc., are mostly various versions of EVOO or coconut oil + herbs & spices. i either do quick, thrown-together concoctions or look up a recipe in Well Fed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

Sugar is added to make lower quality foods taste better. I figured that out one day when I found that the only canned clams in the store without sugar were the expensive ones. All the cheap brands added sugar... to CLAMS.

I checked every package of SALT at my local grocery one day and found SUGAR in 30 percent of them! I don't know why they put sugar in salt. I like my salt salty, not sweet.

 

Note added on 26 August 2013: I learned why they add sugar to salt - http://www.wholelifeeating.com/2012/05/morton-iodized-salt-whats-in-it/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

in salt! good grief! i hadn't been checking those labels, but will now.

i'm guessing all the sugar-adding also caters to the average modern-day palate, which is probably largely desensitized to natural, subtle sweet due to the cultural onslaught of obscene extreme sweet. most people today would never, for instance, consider a carrot sweet, but it totally is.

i've found eating a primal diet (and whole30, in particular) really restored and heightened my sensitivity to subtler sweets. but it also heightened my sensitivity to and disgust with added sugar!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was just discussing the sugar in beef and chicken stocks with someone the other day. For some reason, perhaps a holdout from my vegetarian days, I always buy vegetable stock. So far, I haven't found sugar in the veg stock, but sure enough...once I started checking at the store...it was in almost every brand of beef and chicken stock. What in the world is up with that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tom, you worried me! I had to check my salt... whew. No sugar. Sugar in salt is stupid.

Tiffany, I've found the same thing with the broths... often the organic chicken or beef doesn't have sugar. We make broth as we can, but we can't always get it made.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this has been the most eye-opening aspect of whole 30 for me. No wonder I couldn't get enough sugar. It was in every single thing I was putting in my mouth. Even at work, where the cafeteria is really good about cooking whole foods (http://www.cafebonappetit.com/), sugar is in their vegan balsamic (agave), red pepper puree (why not just puree a dang red pepper) and house made lemon aioli.

soy, too. my favorite chicken spice, called kickin chicken (and made by weber grill, so i figured it wouldnt be great), is just a rub/spice and has soy and sugar and a few other unpronounceable things. i made my own rough version and it was tasty.

it's crazy to see how it sneaks into your diet. that said, post-whole 30 i will see how i do on the housemade balsamic dressing and such. interested to see if it triggers cravings for sugar-laden treats or if it's okay..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just found out this evening, to much effing & blinding, that Shwartz five spice seasoning #1 ingredient - sugar, last ingredient vegetable oil. God forbid it would actually be you know a blend of 5 spices!!! :angry: So my chinese style omlette wasn't chinese-y at all, oh well it was still tasty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ahhh i didn't even check to think the balsamic! and i just bought a huge bottle yesterday! i also recommend getting aged balsamic to use in tiny doses. omg. so good.

yeah, the 365 one with sulfites even makes a big to-do on its label about being aged in wooden barrels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a quote from my log today:

"Meal 2 consisted of an appy of olives & pistachios followed by a 6-egg omelette with red onions & shrooms, cooked in EVOO (i only ate half it); salad drizzled w/ more EVOO; half an avocado; half a package of smoked salmon--which BTW was the one kind in my nearby safeway that didn't contain sugar and/or other horrid crap; sparkling water with lemon.

I was a bit sad because i couldn't eat the super-fancy extra-special non-nitrate all-natural organic bacon i bought at WholeFoods 2 weeks ago. but, you guessed it, more sugar."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

soy in tea bags? in tuna? sheesh.

My brother just told me the FDA is asking somebody (I don't really know who he was talking about) to self regulate themselves in regaurds to nano-technology in food. I said What? He said they use some kind of nano technology into food to keep them from spoiling. He said he always thought of nano technology as mechanical but guess there is organis also. I asked in what food, meat? vegetables? fruit?...he said he didn't know...just said food. Begs the question what is considered food now a days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Watch out, too, for the ingredients in the nut bins at the bulk food stores. Yup.... ingredients in the nut bins. I was so surprised to find that in a bin of almonds, for example, there can also be wheat gluten and sometimes vegetable oil. These are not the roasted or the fancy kinds, this was in the bins of regular, very plain, bare-naked nuts. I had to look hard to find nuts that were, well, just nuts. Good grief.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I posted this elsewhere, but I went to shake some cinnamon into my coffee at 7-11 and it contained sugar. Had it been labeled cinnamon-sugar, I wouldn't have been so peeved but one expects cinnamon to contain, well, cinnamon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...