Wait, Natural Flavors Ain’t Natural?

By definition, “natural” means something NOT made or caused by humans; it means something is unaffected, spontaneous, inherent in nature. Literally anything NOT artificial, manufactured, or processed…

So OFCOURSE you see “Natural Flavors” listed as an ingredient and start to imagine something similar to freshly picked berries, juice squeezed from lemons, ripe tomatoes off the vine, seeds scraped right off the vanilla bean, or any other straight-from-the-ground ingredient. Who could blame you for using so much common sense?

NOBODY — which is exactly why “Natural” Flavors are one of the best kept secrets being used in almost every food product. They know we’re glancing over the word “Natural” assuming it’s healthier than “Artificial” flavors, and it’s making the companies & chemists who create these flavors a billion dollar industry).

First of all, what is “flavor”?

The short answer: CHEMICALS — because everything is a chemical and the flavors we taste in our food are no exception… every flavor we taste is just a unique combination of elements, atoms, molecules, and compounds. Different chemical combos create different flavor profiles (sour, sweet, salty, bitter, unami) and make every food taste unique.

Most interestingly: the same chemical combos that give food flavor are the same chemical combinations our body recognizes as nutrients! Yall this means FOOD HAS FLAVOR FOR A REASON: we’re wired to associate flavor with nutrition; we’re designed to taste the flavor of a specific food and identify the nutrients it has inside… flavor serves a purpose; it’s like the cue that tells our body what food has the nutrients we need. It’s why fresh, natural, real food tastes amazing: the flavor is like a chemical message to our brain that says, “eat me.” We’re not designed to dislike the taste of real food… we’re designed to instinctually enjoy, want, and crave the foods that give our body the nutrients it needs to function. Naturally, flavor is a part of nutrition.

Artificial vs Natural Flavors

If you read ingredients, then you’ve seen these Artificial and Natural Flavors EVERYWHERE. listed as an ingredient even on popular foods we assume are healthy.

Foods are made with these flavors left and right. Whether you shop at Food Lion, Martins, Whole Foods, online, or your local market… our stores are full of “foods” that taste like all kinds of things (peep flavored pepsi, sour cream and onion potato chips, biscuit and gravy potato chips, made with these flavors left and right. we’re eating foods that taste like [insert whatever food they’re trying to mimic] — but don’t actually have the nutrients of that food. For example: veggie straws, strawberry yogurt, butter popcorn, maple bacon, cheese crackers, etc) — but don’t actually have the nutrients. Meaning: they’re creating a “food” that tastes like real food — without the nutrients from real food.

And while sugar, stress, poor planning or lack of willpower is commonly given credit for binging a whole pint of ice cream of bag of chips… we think a big missing piece of the conversation are BOTH of these synthetic, fake flavors being used to mimic the real thing — with a lot of us thinking Natural Flavors are the better option.

destroying our taste preference for real food/prefer fake

creating abnormal cravings

ruining our gut

kiling brain cells/excitoxins