DEATH BY DOUGHNUTS

ENRICHED FLOUR, WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID, WATER, PALM OIL, MODIFIED PALM OIL, SUGAR, YEAST, DEXTROSE, SALT, DEFATTED SOYA FLOUR, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SOYBEAN OIL, DRIED WHEY, SOYA SUTHIN, SODIUM BICARBONATE, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, CALCIUM PROPIONATE, DIACETYL TARTARIC ESTERS OF MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, WHEAT STARCH, DRIED HONEY, DEPROTEINIZED WHEY, NONFAT DRY MILK, CALCIUM CASEINATE, AMYLASE. ASCORBIC ACID, I-CYSTEINE HYDROCHLORIDE, ANNATTO AND TURMERIC EXTRACT, AZODICARBONAMIDE, EGG, CALCIUM CARBONATE, AMMONIUM CHLORIDE, CALCIUM SULFATE, SUGAR, WATER, MODIFIED PALM CARBOSHORTENING, MALTODEXTRIN, CORN STARCH, CALCIUM FLAVINATE, AGAR, SALT, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

Wanna take a guess what this long list of ingredients represents?  It is the make-up of one glazed doughnut prepared by a grocery store bakery.   Fifty-three ingredients!   I didn't know that was even possible!  I lost my place three times typing this outrageous list!  Let me tell you something.  If you are buying and eating baked goods from your groccery store bakery, you are well preserved by now!  As in, better than a frog awaiting dissection in a seventh-grade science class!

It continues to get worse.  I am a bit of a food additive expert, and there are some new things on this list that even I don't recognize.  Grocery store bakeries are not your friend!  They are in business to turn out cheap goods laced with chemical fillers and preservatives that they can sell at a profit.  They do not care about your health.  They don't even care about taste, as I can tell you that this was the worse doughnut I've ever eaten!  They care only about convenience; a ready made product in a plastic container that you can quickly throw in your cart.  There are plenty of signs in the bakery area promoting "hot and fresh, " but not a single claim of "natural and delicious!"  Has anyone ever returned one of their baked goods due to lack of quality??  I was highly tempted to march this six-pack of doughnuts back to the bakery counter and sight, "horrible taste," as my reason for return with the synthetic list of ingredients as my proof!

The other popular bakeries that stock their snack cakes and muffins on supermarket shelves aren't much better.  Pick-up a box of Tastykakes, Entenmann's, Little Debbie's and see if anything in the list of ingredients would be found in your pantry.  If you want a dessert item you are best off to bake it yourself or buy from a reliable small business where gourmet still means flour, butter, and sugar.  What is found in these products goes way past just fat and calories.  These items contain things that will literally shorten your life.

I have and will continue to campaign for more natural foods, but other consumers must do their part by not buying these items.  I have said it before, and I will say it again.  Cheap food, means cheap ingredients.  You get what you pay for!  Everyone hates the cost of buying groceries these days, but I would sooner give a dollar more to a company producing products that have all-natural ingredients, than save myself the dollar but be giving my money to a giant corporation who is getting rich off of poisoning my family.  That dollar or two you think you are saving is going to have a bigger cost to you at some point later in your health.  If you don't think so, I want you to go back to the top of this post and re-read that list.  Than ask yourself if there is any way feeding this to your family could be healthy?

I am very passionate about this and hope that everyone will begin to spend as much time reading the labels on their food products, as they do the price-tags. I promise this is the last grocery store produced baked good you will find in my shopping cart, and not because I am on a diet.  It was a moment of weakness, but a great reminder of why I choose not to spend my dollars on tempting convenience items.  Tomorrow I will share with you an article that will put you on alert for some of the ingredients you should be cautious of, and some of the common tricks food producers use to disguise your awareness.

-We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.  ~Alfred E. Newman