Day 16 - Are "Natural Flavors" Really Natural?

When you are raw for a time, your body becomes cleansed and your senses are heightened. Today I drank a glass of raspberry lemonade that is supposedly "natural" but my taste buds screamed otherwise.










The drink left an aftertaste of artificial sweetener. Maybe it was the 26 grams of "natural" sugar or the "natural flavors" but whatever it was, it didn't taste "natural" to me. The drink actually tasted pretty good, it was the after taste that killed it for me. Too bad because I really liked the name.

I read recently that if the label contains any of the following ingredients, they ALWAYS contain MSG:

Autolyzed yeast
Calcium caseinate
Gelatin
Glutamate
Glutamic acid
Hydrolyzed corn gluten
Hydrolyzed protein (any protein that is hydrolyzed)
Monopotassium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate
Sodium caseinate
Textured protein
Yeast extract
Yeast food
Yeast nutrient

The following OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing:

Anything enzyme modified
Anything fermented
Anything protein fortified
Bouillon and Broth
Carrageenan
Citric acid
Enzymes anything
Flavors(s) & Flavoring(s)
Malt extract
Malt flavoring
Maltodextrin
Natural beef flavoring
Natural chicken flavoring
Natural flavor & flavoring
Natural pork flavoring
Pectin
Protease
Protease enzymes
Seasonings (the word “seasonings”)
Soy protein
Soy protein concentrate
Soy protein isolate
Soy sauce extract
Stock Barley malt
Ultra-pasteurized Soy sauce
Whey protein
Whey protein concentrate
Whey protein isolate

Ahhh! Well lookie there.

It's amazing to me how you can detect something that is not natural when your diet is high raw; however, for those who eat SAD (Standard American Diet) which includes processed foods that contain Aspartame and MSG, it wouldn't even be noticeable because of the desensitization factor.

Okay, so here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: Organic Reishi Mushroom Coffee (Not raw, but organic. It's an occasional indulgence.) Veggie Omelet ... Veggie WHAAAT? Yes, that's right, it says "omelet". The veggies were raw, only the egg wasn't. Okay, so it's another occasional indulgence.

Lunch: Green Smoothie: Kale, Peach, Strawberries, Coconut oil, water.

Mid-Afternoon: Red grapes.

Dinner: Garden Salad, Buchwheat Bars, Raspberry Lemonade, more Smoothie to wash the after-taste away, Water to wash the after taste away!

I guess I'll just have to come up with my own version of a Simply RAWesome Lemonade.

[10.17.2009 Edited to add: Last night I could not get to sleep until 4:30am! After only four hours of restless sleep, I woke up feeling like I had overdosed on ephedra. Now what *natural* ingredients would cause a reaction like that?!! Very curious.]