Disguised in Deception.

What you’re about to read is information I have gathered from many public sites that will help the reader make better decisions regarding their health and that of their family. Although some of this information might not be applicable to your location, it will act as a guide for you to do some of your own research. You might not agree with some of the information I have found and shared in this book, but I would strongly encourage you to look for the information yourself.

Introduction

Disguised in Deception will give you a list of the most common ingredients in many of the grocery items sold in the USA. This book informs you about the ingredients and what they are used for, and some to avoid altogether. They are listed by their scientific and common names.

I have spent two years gathering information from many sources to bring you the most up-to-date information about what is really in your food. Some of these ingredients may cause long-term damage to you and your family. I will also show you how to get the toxic ingredients out of your body to become healthy once again.

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Section 1

Saving on Grocery Shopping

To start, here are some fast tips for how to save money. Some are merely common knowledge—however, I find that many people just plainly don’t do them.

Compare prices and save!

People don’t have the time to compare prices at other stores, however there are more effective ways you can manage this. One way is to look online. There are websites that will help you find the best deals and coupons in many states around the USA and the world. A couple of good websites to start off with are mygrocerydeals.com, the Retailmenot app, and mambosprouts.com. Stores now price match their competitor’s products, all you have to do is find a store in your area! Some that I know of are Walmart, Target, Sears, Lowe’s, and Kohl’s. I would call ahead or look at their website for more information on their rules regarding price matching. I know there are several hundred other stores in the country that will price match. All you have to do is look!

Next, it’s time to plan the menu.

This one is easy, but many people don’t really like to do it. By planning out your meals, you only purchase what you need at the store. By having planned out your food menu over a week or two, it is much easier to shop.

Eat something before you go grocery shopping.

Have you ever walked outside and smelled a barbecue or McDonald’s? All of a sudden, you’re craving whatever you smell! When you shop while you’re hungry, you’ll find that everything in the store looks good. You end up getting food that you wouldn’t normally buy, and this can end up costing you much more than if you had eaten a good, filling snack prior to your shopping trip.

Use coupons when grocery shopping.

Use coupons! They can be found almost anywhere. Many companies will accept coupons and better yet they might even have a coupon app like Wholefoods app, so you can scan them right from your smartphone! It is no longer necessary to troll over newspaper after newspaper to find exactly what you need. Here is another benefit—use them to price match! Contrary to popular belief, there are many stores that also use coupons for organic food, so if you’re big into organic, this is the thing for you!

Be aware that not all brands are created equal.

Many people believe that name brands are always the best, but that’sn’t actually true in most cases. The store brand is usually the same quality or sometimes even better. There are many websites that have more information on store brand vs. name brand.

Understand the unit price.

Calculating per pound price is not for everyone, but by comparing the unit prices, it will give you a better understanding of the best deal.

It’s an impulse buy.

Everyone buys on impulse, and that’s okay, but if you’re seeking to reduce the cost of your shopping, this is something you need to adjust. Understand that just because the item is on sale doesn’t mean you have to purchase it. Stick to the shopping list, and only buy what you went to the store for.

Organize your refrigerator.

Did you know that you can prolong the life of your food? All it requires is for you to properly arrange your food in your refrigerator. Keep fruits and vegetables in separate drawers, since fruits will most likely go bad faster than the veggies. Many people are not aware that some vegetables require humidity to remain fresh. Next time you’re at your local market, notice that they spray water on the raw vegetables to maintain freshness.

Section 2

Shopping Local

In this section, we won’t be talking about the reason why people should shop locally or why we should be keeping the money in our local economy or even how we can reduce the cost on the environment. No! In this section, we’ll talk about the effect food cost has on your wallet, which ultimately affects your wellness. When I talk about shopping locally, I’m talking about farmers markets and local ma-and-pa shops. Most locally owned stores and farmers markets will provide better-quality food and even many other non-food-related items. Let’s have a look at some reasons why buying at the local farmers market is better than buying at the large food chains.

Organic fruits and veggies.

GMO-free and organic fresh fruits and veggies can be found at local farmers markets, and are often cheaper than in the supermarket. You can always ask if you’re not sure if a product is organic or GMO-free while you’re shopping, it's easier to get better information face-to-face. Not all farmers grow GMO-free and 100% organic food, so by asking specific questions, you will have better decision-making capabilities.

It’s great to eat seasonally.

When you shop at farmers markets, you’re getting the freshest food, and because you’re eating seasonally, you can taste the difference! Not only is the food fresh, ripe and tasty, did you know major supermarkets pick fruits and veggie far too early, which decreases the overall liveliness.

Safer foods.

Nutrients in foods from the large industrial processing plants can be polluted in many ways. In recent news, a food-processing company out of California had to recall nine million pounds of meat! This number was so high because they mass-produced the food. The preservatives in food are to help extend the lifespan of the product, but the same preservatives that are found in food can cause health risks to the people who consume them. Buying food from your local farmers market is usually safer and guaranteed for freshness. Unfortunately, this would be impossible in a large supermarket.

Better taste.

Food bought at local farmers markets just plainly tastes better! Of course, there are reasons for that too—by the time the food has made it to your table, it has had a chance to grow and mature all the way and it gathers all the nutrients that it needs to make your body healthy and strong. Supermarkets pick the food before it has a chance to mature, this not limits the nutrients, precious vitamins, and minerals. Fruits and veggies decay before they can even get ripe. You are eating food that has little to no nutritional value.

Section 3

Organic vs. GMO

What are GM foods?

Process of changing the genetics or altering the genetic makeup of any food crop or animal product is called genetically modified. Foreign proteins are infused into food crops, making them genetically modified, the DNA of different plants are combined to create new species of foods. Other names used in describing these products include genetically engineered (GE) and genetically modified organisms (GMO). Soybeans, corn, canola (rapeseed) and cotton are the most common GMO crops. Most of these crops are either insect resistant or herbicide tolerant.

There’s a great deal of debate between organic and GMO foods, it’s common to see GMO products also being called GE—this stands for genetically engineered. These words and meanings are interchangeable, and mean virtually the same thing. The creation of GMO animal's the subject of  controversy, Frankenstein’s monsters are now being created! Consider genetically modified goats, this happened at a farm located at Utah State University—they mixed the spider gene with the goats’ DNA, which produced milk with a silk protein, which is then removed and spun into silk thread.

The Daily Mail quotes Dutch bio-artist Jalila Essaidi as saying:

Now, let’s take this one step further. Why bother with a vest: imagine replacing keratin, the protein responsible for the toughness of the human skin, with this spider silk protein. This is possible by adding the silk-producing genes of a spider into the genome of a human: creating a bulletproof human. Science-fiction? Maybe, but we can get a feeling of what this transhumanistic idea would be like by letting a bulletproof matrix of spider silk merge with an in vitro human skin.

Even though this will stop a bullet fired at reduced speed, it was unable to stop a bullet from a .22 caliber gun shot at normal speed. .22 bullet at a normal rate is one of the requirements for today’s bulletproof vests. The skin was on display at the National Natural History Museum Naturalis in Leiden, Netherlands, until Jan. 8, 2012.

Many genetically modified foods have a bacteria called (Bt), also known as Bacillus thuringiensis. This bacterium is found naturally in dirt; it’s lethal to insects. The Center for Food Safety estimates that 70% of processed foods contain genetically-altered elements. The first two (Bt) modified foods that were approved in the United States are potatoes and cotton. Research have shown that insects are building resistance to genetically modified crops and bio-pesticides that are now found in the human bloodstream.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), when ingested, produces a crystalline protein that kills cells and makes holes in the insect’s stomach, therefore killing whatever ingested it. The Monsanto Corporation is putting up to six different genetic material (Bt) genes and glyphosate-tolerant genes into one of their corn crops. She states Rather than prevent insect resistance, this approach will probably accelerate it, according to Shannah Schmitt, in Aug 29, 2011. In 2011, the EPA granted approval for Syngenta’s Agrisure 3122, which is corn seed stacked with multiple GMO traits. According to the USDA, corn seed prices rose 146% from 1999 to 2011. GMO corn is about 86% of the nation’s crops.

Science knows very little about the effects of consuming food with (Bt) genes. Short-term studies have exposed signs of toxicity in the kidney and liver. A 2009 study in the International Journal of Biological Sciences found a clear negative impact on the function of these organs in rats consuming GMO corn varieties for just ninety days. - Shannah Schmitt on Aug 29, 2011.

Ask yourself this question. The study shows the negative impact after only ninety days, what could happen after a lifetime or generations of eating GMO and (Bt) corn? Research has shown that (Bt) toxins are showing up in the bloodstream of humans, researchers in Canada have found (Bt) in the blood of women. A study published in Reproductive Toxicology in February of 2011 found the (Bt) toxins in 93% of pregnant women’s blood samples, 80% of fetal blood samples, and 69% of non-pregnant women’s blood samples. This study shows that (Bt) from the mothers can be passed on to the unborn infant.

Pigs fed a combination of genetically modified soy and corn suffer more frequent severe stomach inflammation and enlargement of the uterus than those who eat a non-GM diet, according to a new peer-reviewed long-term feeding study published Tuesday in the Organic Systems Journal. In pigs eating genetically modified crops, the average rate of severe stomach inflammation was nearly three times as high as that for other pigs (32 percent vs. 12 percent). Among male pigs eating a GM diet, the rate of severe stomach inflammation was four times higher. - Monica Eng, Tribune reporter, June 11, 2013

The results indicate that it would be prudent for GM crops that are destined for human food and animal feed… to undergo long-term animal feeding studies, preferably before commercial planting, particularly for toxicological and reproductive effects, concluded Carman and her colleagues, who include Iowa-based farmer as well as crop and livestock advisor Howard Vlieger.

Herbicide resistance and pesticide production go hand in hand, as much as 86% of corn, 90% of all soybeans, and 93% of cotton are GMO varieties. Genetic modification is now used in more than half of all planted crops in the U.S. You’re consuming genetically modified foods almost daily, unless you produce and grow all your food. Genetically modified crops—none of them are labeled—now include sweet corn, peppers, squash, zucchini, rice, sugarcane, canola oil, flax, chicory, peas, and papaya. Over 70% of the milk in the United States comes from cattle injected with a GM hormone or are eating GMO alfalfa. Bees use GMO pollen from crops, and even some vitamins include GMO ingredients. Some sources conservatively estimate that more than 70% of processed foods in the United States contain GMO ingredients because most processed foods contain corn or soy.

GMO foods are not labeled within the United States, because the biotech industry has convinced the FDA that genetically altered crops are no different from organically grown crops. The FDA, however, doesn’t perform any independent testing for human or animal safety, and relies strictly on research produced by the makers of the genetically engineered crops. The main GMO producer in the USA, Monsanto, is the same manufacturer that made Agent Orange, and Roundup, the weed killer. Of course they would have a biased opinion of their own product!

Many nations around the world have laws in place that demand GMO products to be labeled, while some countries and regions have banned genetically modified crops and animals entirely. Some countries and regions have only banned certain chemicals and bacteria found within GMO-produced foods. A research study shown that GMO milk could be the cause for puberty starting earlier in girls, some young girls are experiencing puberty around the ages of eight and nine years old. Even in the last three decades, children (especially young women) have matured at younger ages—precocious puberty is ten times more common in young girls than boys. Just two generations ago, the average age of puberty was about fourteen to sixteen years old. Nowadays, girls start puberty around the age of seven.

Research point to the the added growth hormones found in genetically engineered crops and farm-raised cows. In my personal opinion, adding growth hormones to animals that we eat, cook with, and drink from will only pass on the growth hormones through our bodies. Early puberty can set the stage for emotional and behavioral problems, early puberty is tied to low self-esteem, depression, eating disorders, alcohol use, earlier loss of virginity, more sexual partners, and of course, an increase in potential of sexually transmitted diseases. The evidence suggests that early puberty can also cause diabetes, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancer in young women.

Although early puberty is more prominent with young females, early puberty does affect young males as well. About thirty years ago, males’ puberty used start between fifteen to seventeen years old, now, studies have shown that boys are starting puberty at the age of ten years old. Research has linked early puberty in young males with diabetes, infectious diseases, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.

New York Times article reported, Animal studies show that the exposure to some environmental chemicals can cause bodies to mature early. Of particular concern are endocrine-disruptors, like ‘Xeno-estrogens’ or estrogen mimics. These compounds behave like steroid hormones and can alter puberty timing. For obvious ethical reasons, scientists cannot perform controlled studies proving the direct impact of these chemicals on children, so researchers instead look for so-called ‘natural experiments,’ one of which occurred in 1973 in Michigan, when cattle were accidentally fed grain contaminated with an estrogen-mimicking chemical, the flame retardant PBB. The daughters born to the pregnant women who ate the PBB-laced meat and drank the PBB-laced milk started menstruating significantly earlier than their peers.

Research indicates that GMO foods may be responsible for obesity in children and adults. Various animal studies indicate some serious health risks linking GMO foods to infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin resistance, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. More and more health professionals and even allergists are recommending that their patients get on a GMO-free diet. Animal testing on rats has demonstrated that genetically modified food can cause tumors and possibly early death. States such as California have tried unsuccessfully to create laws that force GMO foods to be labeled. GMO giants rebut by stating, If they had to label the GMO products, that would increase the overall cost of the labeling, and increasing the monetary value for the consumer.

Organic food is, by definition, supposed to be free of genetically modified ingredients. Organic crops are required to be isolated from other non-organic crops. GMO companies have blurred the lines of what is and is not organic. The new standard of organic foods is unchanged, unaltered, pesticide, herbicide, and growth-hormone-free. It is becoming increasingly harder to find 100% organic food. GMO plants cover approximately 80% of the United States. Bees and other insects, animals, and birds take genetically modified pollen from genetically altered plants to organic crops, which change over time from organic to genetically modified organisms. GMO plants and animals are not natural. They are not even considered to be part of the known list of species or part of the food chain associated with the human diet.

Current USDA regulations allow food products that contain 95-100% certified organic components and require 100% organic feed for organic livestock to use the USDA organic seal. Products labeled made with organic ingredients require 70% of the ingredients to be organic, but 100% must be non-GMO. The new policy, passed on September 16th, 2013, stated that an exempt ingredient such as synthetic fertilizers, pesticide, sewage sludge, and GMO can