Story on the Gold Coast health movement after Christmas and New Years. Vegan fitness model Amanda Fisher. Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS Source: News Limited

THE Gold Coasts health lifestyle craze is set to spur people into going vegan and vegetarian to combat post Christmas kilos.

But experts warn people not to go cold turkey after stuffing themselves with turkey, saying going vego in the wrong way can actually make your health worse.

The citys healthy lifestyle movement has got more people turning to paleo and clean eating diets, eating out at raw food cafes opening up across the city.

NEWS: AIRASIA GOLD COAST PASSENGERS DIVERTED TO BRISBANE

Vegan fitness model Amanda Fisher. Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS Source: News Limited

The latest Roy Morgan Research revealed that the number of vegetarians was on the rise with 1.6 million non-meat eaters in 2009 increasing to 1.9 million in 2013 almost 20 per cent growth over the four years.

Fitness model and personal trainer Amanda Fisher, who has been a vegetarian for 10 years and a vegan for the past three, said while many people chose to go meat-free as a new years resolution, they often suffered dire health consequences.

Going vegetarian the wrong way can actually make your health worse off, warned Miss Fisher, of Bangin Bodz Personal Training.

You dont get immunity and added health benefits just because you switch to vegetarianism when I transitioned to vegetarian I actually became overweight and unhealthy not quite what you would expect.

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Fitness fads to shift festive fat

Today I posted an article my cousin sent me on my Facebook wall. She had just read my post about Cornucopia Institutes recent investigation dubbed the Organic Watergate (rightly so) and the harmful ingredient carrageenan that is allowed in organic foods. The article I posted was entitled 38 Non-Organic Ingredients Found in USDA Organic Foods. Although dated 2007, I found the reasons for allowing these ingredients to be fascinating. A majority of the foods were allowed because no other substitute from an organic supplier was widely available or for economic reasons. Majority of the foods were allowed only after companies submitted specific petitions to the USDA to include them.

Because the article was outdated a bit, I thought it would be prudent to easily make available the whole list of ingredients that are currently legally allowed in organic food. While most of the agriculture and non-synthetic substances are not harmful to your body some of them along with synthetic ingredients do alter your bodys alkalinity, making you more acidic. This matters, because an alkaline body avoids disease, repair cells, and removes free radicals/toxins more effectively.

I could spend days discussing each ingredient, but one synthetic ingredient that jumped out at me is cellulose otherwise known as wood pulp. The amount of cellulose food companies can put in your food is not regulated by the FDA. Cellulose is used as filler to processed foods because it doesnt contain calories or fat content and is cheap. Some common products that contain it are frozen waffles, shredded cheese, and salad dressings. Your body simply cannot use this ingredient at all nutritionally and lacks the enzymes to digest it. I dont know about you, but I certainly dont want to eat things that my system cant process. I cant believe companies are allowed to sell food we cant even digest as humans!

This list hopefully serves as a reminder why it is so incredibly important to avoid overly processed foods even when they are certified organic and to check every single label on everything you buy. The products I share and support on my shop and the ones I use on a daily basis rarely if ever contain any of the below ingredients. And for the record I will ALWAYS choose an organic product vs. a conventional one.

I obtained this list from the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations ECFR and is current as of May 22, 2012. Please feel free to share it how ever you like.

You can view all the other ingredients that are allowed in actual production of organic products here, dont get too crazy looking at that list either.

* List provided by Electronic Code of Federal Regulations May 22, 2012

Non-Organic Agriculture Products Allowed:

Non-Synthetic Allowed:

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Full List of Non Organic Ingredients Allowed in Organic Food