Everywhere you look people are starting a new health program; perhaps they are embracing minimalism or trying to save money. They could be trying all of the above after finding themselves with excess bellies and tight pants but skinny paychecks and empty wallets. Meal planning is all the rage with people preparing freezer meals ahead of time in carefully parceled portions. They are brown-bagging it to work in hopes that they are saving their health along with some spare change.

The sad irony is that in the effort to get healthier some people are actually exposing themselves to more toxins that are messing with their brain, weight, hormones, and reproductive health. If not from their food storage containers than certainly the food itself.

This article isn't going to make judgement calls on foods that Crunchy-Granola-Hippy-Mamas might deem bad, i.e.,  flour, dairy, alcohol or caffeine. No way! Those items are more preferable in a real food diet than the nasty hidden ingredients we're about to talk about below.

And don't get us wrong. In this economy, we're not suggesting you throw things out and go hungry. Just replace the items below with a better alternative in the future, as you're replenishing your food.