Being Mindful of the Poisons We Consume

Experiencing chronic health issues has brought to my awareness to how many toxins I have been exposing myself (and my family) to over my lifetime. From the chemicals sprayed on food crops, to the poisonous sugar in every grocery store item, and let's not forget the mercury that's been in my teeth since childhood - I've basically been living in a toxic wonderland!

Going "Clean"

The past few years, I've made it a mission to clean up our home with cleaner and safer ingredients in our food, skin care, garden, yard and cleaning products. It's no easy task, as ingredients are extremely confusing, so I have embraced a few apps to help keep me on track. I'm sharing 2 with you, that my friends have been raving about after I introduced them.

1) Yuka

Yuka will be your best friend (or worst enemy...) while you are shopping for food or skincare products. This is a company that that takes great pride in being a 100% independent from the influence of giant brands in their rating system.

Why Yuka? (Click > to view)

Educational

This app has made learning about harmful ingredients and understanding the terminology so easy. Simply scan the product barcode while shopping, and it pulls up the entire list of ingredients, along with what the ingredients mean to you and your body.

Each additive is rated as Risk-Free, Limited Risk, Moderate Risk, or Hazardous, with a description on why. They base this off of scientific research and the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), which I personally trust before our own FDA Standards...

Rating System

Not only does Yuka break down the ingredients, but they also rate the products on a scale of 0-100 (Bad, Poor, Good, or Excellent) based on the additives, calories, protein, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar as a whole.

They even recommend alternative products to those that received a low score, if they have better options in their database.

Using Discretion

Yuka bases their ratings off a set of standards, but we each may have different dietary needs. For example, we all have different needs for daily calorie, saturated fat and sodium intake, and therefore consuming a product that received a Poor rating solely because of the level of calories, may not be an issue for you. Use your own discretion - and don't just go off of the rating without clicking to view the product details.

Bonus Articles

I know you all hate getting newsletters (other than blog updates from yours truly, right??) but Yuka is a rare treat that you will not want to delete. They do not spam your inbox. Every email seems to be thoughtfully curated on a topic that is relevant to the season or super educational to your health. For example, the basics of healthy eating, top recommended products by category, and even survey results (that I participated in) of how the Yuka app has impacted the user community.

Subscription

While the app is FREE, I personally have found so much value in the year-long subscription. The free version allows you to scan any barcode and view the rating, ingredients and alternative products. But the subscription enables you to look up products by name or brand, even when you can't scan. It also allows you to set up food preference alerts (i.e.: gluten, dairy) and keep an unlimited history of what you have scanned in the past. I'm a cheapskate when it comes to apps, and typically refuse to pay - but this one is donation-based and worth every penny.

I guarantee you that this app will change your view on what you put in or on your body. You may even get a little mad at me when you discover your “health” food isn’t quite as healthy as you thought, (as many of my friends did) and that's okay! I can handle it.

Download Yuka

2) Yummly

Yummly is a great go-to for over 2 million crowdsourced e-recipes with user ratings, meal planning and shopping list abilities. This app is my go-to for healthy recipes using my favorite ingredients. It's basically my sous chef!

Why Yummly? (Click > to view)

Customize

The search is easy to customize to your preferences, and even offers searches based on ingredients that you already have on-hand. Customization options include:

• ingredients to include or exclude

• tastes (salty, sweet, bitter, savory, sour, spicy)

• diet (Keto, FODMAP, Paleo, Pescatarian, Vegetarian, Vegan)

• 10 allergies (dairy, peanut, soy, egg, gluten, etc.)

• nutritional needs (fat, fiber, sodium, calories, carbs, sugar)

• cook time (from 5 minutes to 2 hours)

• number of ingredients (5 or fewer, 8 or fewer, no restrictions)

• 24 techniques (baked, slow cooked, pressure cooked, roasted, fried, grilled, etc.)

• 27 cuisine types (American, Cajun, Chinese, Greek, Mexican, Thai, etc.)

For example, I can look for chicken recipes that are gluten and dairy free, that consists of 5 or fewer ingredients and cooked in a slow cooker. (Slow cooker taco chicken!)

Rating System

Each recipe has a rating of how many people have "Yumm'd" it (saved it to their favorites list), a 0-5 star rating of those that have tried it, qty and list of ingredients, estimated cook time, and calories.

Meal Planning & Shopping List

There are quick features that let you add to your meal planner, schedule your meals with reminders, add to your shopping list, order ingredients only, and even compare ingredient prices from various stores in your neighborhood.

Subscription

You can use the desktop version or app for FREE! You do need to create an account in order to save your preferences and recipes.

This has made preparing healthy meals so much easier. And Yummly...if you read this, can we discuss mimicking your algorithm for Skinnly? Same concept, but for DIY skincare and household cleaning recipes? I seriously think I'm onto something here...

Download Yummly

I do NOT benefit in any way by recommending these apps. I'm just passionate about them and wanted to share.

Let's Chat

I'd love to hear from you - what are your favorite food-related apps?

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