My daily food menu growing up wasn’t too different from other Americans. I had my days of bologna, frozen burritos, cheese hotdogs and of course, Mc Donald’s. All so good at the time, until you find out what it’s actually made out of, even worse, when you find out what it does to your body.

Sometimes food is so good, you don’t want to know what’s in it or where the meat comes from, but even after finding out, we still go back to it or continue eating. Like bologna, Vienna sausage or Pâté, made of meat scraps, including organs and other parts of a pig or cow, but together with other ingredients, like bread and cheese, tastes good.

Aside from the scrap meat, the more unhealthy part are the additives, just to name a few: modified corn starch, sodium erythorbate, mono-sodium glutamate, sodium nitrite, wheat flour. Other lunch meats or bacon typically contain nitrates.

Table salt contains more than sodium chloride, but other ingredients to prevent it from sticking together like sodium aluminosilicate. Sea salt is less processed and typically does not contain additives.

Flavored coffee contains antifreeze which is used to get the flavor into the beans. Flavoring added to brewed coffee is typically artificial and contains corn syrup for sweetness. Coffee creamer usually contains highly-processed ingredients and chemicals, including the powdered version. Half in half from the grocery store’s refrigerated section usually contains only milk and cream, but some have additives for flavoring for longer preservation, like sodium citrate or disodium phosphate.

It can sometimes be a nuisance to constantly check ingredients, but to have a food allergy, it becomes essential. It seems the easier way to avoid food with preservatives or harmful chemicals is to eat food that’s closest to its raw state, unprocessed, organic and fresh.