Over several years Kaity, a 24-year-old women, has bought food that has multiple additives, that most people are unfamiliar with. Due to health concerns Kaity has experienced, she has decided to take charge of her health, starting in the kitchen. Kaity purchased a cookbook that was for beginners and decided she will be making her own food free from harmful additives. Have you ever considered creating your own meals free from additives and/or harmful ingredients?

The Launch of Cooking

At 19years-old, Kaity began to suffer from severe stomach issues, such as bloating, belching and nausea. These ailments began to interfere with her quality of life.After seeking help from western medicine, Kaity still has not been diagnosed nor treated for her symptoms. Under much consideration, Kaity decided that she wanted to take charge of her diet and health. She began researching and found that many companies started to modify sources of protein by using soy plant, as it was relatively inexpensive (Richer, 2009). More research led to the discovery of how much of her daily diet included modified foods. For the past few centuries, the additives that have been included in our food were harmless such as salt and saffron (Ungvarsky, 2023). However, later there was an addition of harmful additives such as iodine, humectants and emulsifiers to help with preservation of food (Ungvarsky, 2023). Unfortunately, many individuals do not know what additives are substituted in our foods as they do not legally need to be listed on the ingredient list (Ungvarsky, 2023, p.,1).

This is a list of harmful ingredients that can potentially be found in our daily diets (Harrison, 2024).

At this discovery Kaity decided to take charge of her own health as she was tired of living with her symptoms. At first Kaity was unsure of where to start therefore she decided to make a list;

-Buy a cookbook

-Pick a recipe with simple ingredients (Kaity ended up 7choosing French toast)

An image of a simple recipe of French toast. The French toast was fluffy, browned on the edges and full of a sweet and savoury flavor (Harrison, 2024).

-Determine which ingredients can be made from home, and which ones need to be purchased at a grocery store.

-Buy necessary ingredients, reading the labels to ensure there are no harmful additives

The Cooking Follow up

Once Kaity completed her list, she began her cooking journey. Kaity was able to accomplish a simple first meal such as French toast for breakfast. She baked her own bread, using simple ingredients such as flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and water. She was able to purchase eggs that were range free, with no hormones used. After eating, Kaity felt less bloating and nausea. She felt as though she could centre her day around activities she enjoyed and not by the symptoms that would occur due to what she had eaten that morning. By researching her food before consuming, Kaity was able to enjoy eating again and she felt the decline of her symptoms shortly after.

A simple photo of Kaity mixing the eggs, milk, and cinnamon for her French toast (Harrison, 2024).

Conclusion

In this generation it is not uncommon for individuals to purchase convenient pre-made food from their local grocery store. Over the years it has become apparent that our society has traded our health for convince when it comes to fueling our bodies with nutritional foods. For generations we will continue to experience ailments with our bodies if we continue to consume harmful ingredients. It is our decision what we decide to fuel our bodies with, hence why we need to be aware and understand the ingredients in our daily diet.

References

Ungvarsky, J. (2023). Food Additive. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science.

Richer, A. C. (2009). Food allergies. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.