Rid Your Diet of Unwanted Mold!
By Sara Butler
A food doesn’t have to look green and fuzzy in order to contain mold. You might be getting more mold in your diet than you realize. Mold isn’t really something you should be eating because it can make you sick, and you might be eating it without even realizing it! Here are a few of the foods that might be sneaking mold into your diet.
What’s the Big Deal?
Some mold is good for you, right? That’s not entirely true. While mold unlocked the key to penicillin, the mold you eat doesn’t have the same impact on your body. The toxins in the mold can cause allergic reactions, from mild to severe, and even food poisoning. That’s why you have to be diligent in throwing out expired food and know what foods you have in your pantry that might be making you sick.
Bread
Have you ever found a slice of bread with mold on it, thrown that slice away and then used other slices from the package to make a sandwich? Most people have, but it’s important to note that just because bread doesn’t look moldy doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat. The Food and Drug Administration says that if there’s mold on just one piece of bread in a package, you can bet mold has contaminated the entire loaf.
The reason this happens is because it takes a while for mold to become apparent to the naked eye. When mold does finally make an appearance, you can be sure it has taken root and released its toxins through the entire loaf. So throw it away and get a fresh loaf.
Juice Boxes
You want to give your children healthy food, which is why you buy juice boxes without all those yucky preservatives in them. But, you have to be diligent in checking the expiration date on preservative-free juice boxes because they are at high risk for developing mold. If you want to serve your kids preservative-free juice, your best bet is to serve them juice from a cup instead of a pouch.
Berries
Berries are really good for you, so you want them as a part of your diet. But make sure you’re on the lookout for mold in berries with a hollow center, such as blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. To avoid unwanted mold you should cut them open and check them out before popping them into your mouth.
Cereals
Those corn and wheat-based cereals you have in your home may be hiding a fungus that isn’t very good for your health called mycotoxins. You could buy them off the shelf at your local grocery store and they could contain mold because there is mold in the grain crops used to make the cereal. This scary news should be all the motivation you need to kick cereal to the dietary curb, which is better for your overall health anyway!