What's The Difference Between Natural and Artificial?

What's The Difference Between Natural and Artificial?
What's The Difference Between Natural and Artificial?

Q: What is the difference between natural and artificial ingredients? Is a naturally produced ingredient safer than an artificially manufactured ingredient? – Dave

A: Natural ingredients are derived from natural sources – for example, soybeans and corn provide lecithin to maintain a food product’s consistency, and beets provide beet powder that is sometimes used as a food coloring. Many other additives, however, are not found in nature and, therefore, must be synthetically produced as artificial ingredients (in other words, chemicals). While not all of the artificial ingredients used in foods have known health effects, many have not been well-researched, so read labels carefully and avoid foods containing artificial ingredients as much as you possibly can.

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Lisa Tsakos
Lisa has been in her own practice for over 15 years and specializes in weight management. She teaches natural nutrition in both corporate and educational environments and is a shining example of someone who practices what she teaches. Lisa is a nutritionist and educator specializing in weight management. After losing weight several years ago through a more natural diet and by improving her digestion, she committed to sharing her new-found knowledge and returned to school to study nutrition. Over the past decade, her Nu-Vitality Weight Program has helped employees at numerous corporations lose thousands of pounds. In addition, Lisa regularly consults for groups and individuals with unique nutritional needs such as police officers and athletes. Lisa has been featured on the Discovery Channel, numerous radio programs and is a contributor to various publications. Additionally, she teaches nutrition at multiple post-secondary schools, has taught natural food cooking workshops, and authored two books.