Firstly, wheat is the common food found in most pastries, cakes, breads, buns, pancakes, waffles and other baked goods, as well as gravies and sauces. As it’s everywhere, wheat can be tricky to avoid but it can be done through choosing non-GMO, wheat-free flour or ancient grain flour, such as gluten-free flour, spelt, kamut, chickpea, brown rice or other wheat-free flour. Kamut and spelt are wheat’s non-altered relatives, so they aren’t advisable if you’re trying to cut out gluten. Also, corn is found in most foods now so be wary of foods that contain high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, corn starch, corn flour, cornmeal, corn oil, dextrose, fructose, glucose and ‘modified food starch.’
Franken-food number 3 is soy as it is largely genetically altered too. This means soy milk, soybeans, soy flour, soy oil, tofu, miso, tempeh, soy sauce and other soy-based foods, as well as food or supplements containing lecithin, protein isolate, vegetable oil, vegetarian protein and isoflavone, so if you choose to eat soy make sure it’s ‘Certified Organic’ soy. Also, most canola, which is found in canola oil, vegetable oil and rapeseed oil, is grown from GMO seeds so choose coconut oil or organic extra-virgin olive oil instead.
Number 5 is a weird one: cotton. You may not eat it, but if any of the processed, packaged, or prepared foods you’re eating contain cottonseed oil, that means that it is likely derived from GM-cotton. Finally, unless it’s 100% cane, evaporated cane or organic sugar, sugar has likely come from GMO sugar beets and so you might want to consider coconut sugar or coconut sap instead. It’s a great-tasting, healthier option as it reduces your sugar intake by 25%, without reducing your portion size.