Being a whole food, plant-based eater, whenever I’m with a group of friends the subject of food always comes up. Although it seems that most people are moving more toward plants, there are always those who say, “I don’t eat meat, so I just eat chicken and fish.”
To me anything that has muscle and blood is meat. However, the more interesting aspect is that anything that can be injected with sodium additives is dangerous.
The next time you’re chomping on that think, juicy chicken leg or that mouthwatering, jumbo shrimp, think about how they may have grown to be so plump and irresistible. Often sodium phosphate is injected to “inflate” them and give them a certain “thickness.” It’s found in lots of fast food, deli meat, processed meat, canned meat and baked goods. And, it’s not just found in mass-manufactured red meat, chicken and fish, you may also find it in fine dining restaurants also.
Food manufacturers are concerned about profit and they know the thicker and juicier it is, the more you’ll crave it.
Of course, many sodium additives are considered GRAS (generally regarded as safe) by the U.S. government. It would be hard to ingest enough to land you in the hospital, but over the long haul, they can be harmful.
So, the next time you sink your teeth into some plump, juicy “meat,” remember that it probably didn’t get that way purely from being fed “food” on the farm. It may have had a little booster shot to help it get that way.
