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Food Purity Frustrations


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My olives have lactic acid in them. I didn't realize walnuts were on the "limit' list until today. My chicken is not organic. My tuna may have soy in it (!) etc etc etc.

Does it still count if I make mistakes like this?

Just frustrated because I'm an all or nothing perfectionistic type of person. I know it is illogical to eat 50 crackers because my olives have lactic acid.

I want to do this right and I feel like I'm already not. :)

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don't let perfect be the enemy of the good, just do the best you can. If you didn't do as well as you hoped, do better the next time.

the more you can choose whole fresh foods (the kind without ingredients labels) the less you have to worry about it.

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How far in are you?

This is a very valuable learning lesson in label reading. You can't trust anything a corporation is trying to sell you as "healthy".

Lindsey's Naturals is the best brand for olives.

Don't fret about chicken not being organic, get the best you can afford (remember the scale good-better-best)

Look for Tuna Light - it's packed in water only!

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Reading labels is really vital, especially because the food manufacturers are very deceptive. Take the words, "natural," or, "no preservatives." What does that mean anymore? Practically nothing!

I eat olives from Mediterranean Organic. The only ingredients are water, sea salt, and vinegar

I eat tuna from Wild Planet. The only ingredients are water and sea salt.

So it is possible to find these things.

The biggest advice I can offer you is if you can afford it, skip the "regular" grocery store and try to shop at a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Then, when you find a food or a brand you like, look it up on amazon. They have some great deals on things like tuna if you want to buy in bulk. Also, iherb.com and vitacost.com carry food.

In my opinion, the average supermarket has way too many products with way too many ingredients, and most of the stuff in there isn't really food. When people like us who are health/food conscious, enter a typical grocery store, it is like stepping into a minefield. Standing around and reading ingredients is a pain, but the food manufacturers do not care about our health, they care about selling food and preserving it with nasties to keep it on the shelf.

No, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are not perfect, by all means. In a perfect world, we'd all be shopping at Farmer's Markets exclusively. But these days even Farmer's Markets are loaded down with breads, cakes, cookies etc.

It is VERY frustrating. I've been a label reader for many years, and I tend to talk to myself in the grocery store while reading labels. But taking the time to do that and to find a store that offers more good stuff than bad is well worth it. I've had to cut back on a lot of other things to be able to afford decent food. But we only get one body... :) Whether you are doing Whole30 or not, reading labels is important to maintain health.

Good luck with it!

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Keep going and keep reading! It is a process and part of the process is realizing how much weird stuff is in our food (sugar in everything!).

I tend to be a perfectionist also, but I had to accept "moving more towards healthy than towards unhealthy." Your olives are more healthy than the crackers, even considering the lactic acid. You will find more and more acceptable items.

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Lactic acid is not a problem. If you eat anything properly fermented like sauerkraut or kimchi or olives, they contain lactic acid. Don't sweat it about those. ISWF specifically mentions lactic acid as OK in olives.

Otherwise, I agree totally with it being easiest to avoid additives by going with whole totally unprocessed foods. And read the label on any minimally processed foods that you do eat.

Walnuts are ideally limited, not banned. Organic is ideal, but not essential. Lots of people can't afford or can't obtain totally organic. "The perfect is the enemy of the good" = Important words to remember and far more elegant than saying don't toss the baby with the bathwater.

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  • 1 month later...

Lactic acid is not a problem. If you eat anything properly fermented like sauerkraut or kimchi or olives, they contain lactic acid. Don't sweat it about those. ISWF specifically mentions lactic acid as OK in olives.

Can I resurrect this thread?? I can't find the section in ISWF that mentions the lactic acid/olive topic, and a search in the forums didn't yield any more info. Can someone please clarify whether lactic acid is a go?

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