{"id":45568,"date":"2016-11-20T09:15:26","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T14:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=45568"},"modified":"2021-05-19T12:23:19","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T16:23:19","slug":"thanksgiving-food-health-traps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/thanksgiving-food-health-traps\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Thanksgiving Grocery Store Health Traps You Should Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"5
Photo: Twenty20<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whipping up a Thanksgiving feast<\/a> is no easy feat \u2014 but taking the time to make your stuffing from scratch might just be worth it (despite the extra dishes). That\u2019s because the store-bought options staring back at you from the grocery shelf might contain some questionable ingredients, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG<\/a>), a nonprofit research organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so much to do during this time of year that we\u2019re often going for the quick option,\u201d says Jose Aguayo, database research analyst at the EWG. \u201cBut more often than not, those quick options are not the best ones out there.\u201d Whether you want to avoid potentially hormone-disrupting chemicals like BPA or just make sure you\u2019re buying the right stuff organic<\/a>, here\u2019s your guide to healthier Thanksgiving<\/a> shopping this year.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Is Tofurky Actually Worse Than the Real Thing?<\/a><\/p>\n

5 Thanksgiving Grocery Store No-No\u2019s<\/h2>\n

1. Prepackaged Stuffing<\/h3>\n

Boxed stuffing might be pubic enemy #1 when it comes to Thanksgiving. If Aguayo had to choose one thing to tell people to avoid, \u201cI would probably have to stay [boxed] stuffing,\u201d he says. \u201cSimply because they seem to carry the most things in terms of ingredients we want to steer clear of.\u201d Based on data from the EWG\u2019s Food Scores<\/a> database, most packaged stuffing has added sugars<\/a>, about a third of them contain the preservative BHA or BHT and many also have partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fat<\/a> (more on that later). Plus, almost all of the boxed stuffings have some sort of natural or artificial flavor, he adds.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> How Bad Is Your Food From 1 to 10? Try This Food Calculator<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Store-Bought Cranberry Sauce
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Consider the canned cranberry sauce at your store synonymous with the phrase \u201csugar bomb.\u201d \u201cAlmost all the ones we\u2019ve seen in our database contain 20, 30, even up to 40 percent of your daily sugar intake<\/a> in added sugar,\u201d Aguayo says. \u201cYou eat even one portion of this and you\u2019re pretty much set for the entire day \u2014 and of course you\u2019re not just going to eat that!\u201d Save some of your sugar allowance for the pumpkin pie (and apple\u2026and pecan) by making your own cranberry sauce at home<\/a> \u2014 that way you can control how much of the sweet stuff goes into it.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> How Much Exercise It Takes to Burn Off Thanksgiving Dinner<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Canned Veggies
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

That green bean casserole might be a staple at your Thanksgiving table, but you\u2019re better off using fresh beans \u2014 or at least taking a good look at where your canned goods are manufactured. \u201cOur main concern with canned items is that they more often than not are lined with BPA\u2026an endocrine disruptor that can mimic a particular hormone in your body and cause havoc in that sense,\u201d Aguayo says. In fact, the FDA banned BPA<\/a> in baby bottles and children\u2019s cups in 2012. Many companies have ceased using BPA in their cans. Luckily, the EWG put together a list of companies<\/a> that don\u2019t<\/em> use the chemical so you can cross reference it before your next stop at the grocery store.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The 30 Best Thanksgiving Turkey Trots<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Partially Hydrogenated Oils
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In June 2015, the FDA banned trans fats<\/a> \u2014 aka partially hydrogenated oils \u2014 from food products due to serious health concerns<\/a>. However, that ban won\u2019t go into effect until 2018, meaning there are still a lot of products out there containing the harmful ingredient. \u201cA bunch of gravy items, prepared or boxed will have partially hydrogenated oils and when it comes to pies, quite a few of them also contain partially hydrogenated oils,\u201d Aguayo says. \u201cThis is something that come 2018 we\u2019re not going to have to worry about, but at this point we have to look at the label itself and if we see it then that\u2019s something we want to try to avoid.\u201d Here\u2019s how to figure out if trans fats are lurking<\/a> in your food.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 15 Sweet Potato Recipes You’ll Crave Beyond Thanksgiving<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Pesticides
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When it comes to buying organic<\/a>, consider loading up on apples for your pie, plus potatoes, celery, sweet peppers, kale, cherry tomatoes and the other items on this list<\/a>. They\u2019re among the most likely pieces of produce to be contaminated with pesticides, according to the EWG\u2019s annual report. If you\u2019re trying to save cash, sweet potatoes can be purchased non-organic \u2014 they\u2019re part of the EWG\u2019s Clean 15<\/a>, along with onions, asparagus, sweet corn and cabbage.<\/p>\n

When in doubt, check the Food Scores database<\/a> while shopping, to see what\u2019s really within the packaging. For more information about Food Scores, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally published November 2015. Updated November 2016. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something to be said for a homemade Thanksgiving feast. Here\u2019s why you should avoid pre-packaged holiday foods and how to shop smarter at the grocery store. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7,18],"tags":[51,189,71,341,388,183,285],"class_list":["post-45568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-weight-loss","tag-food-choices","tag-holiday","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2nutrition","tag-thanksgiving","tag-weight-loss"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}