Recently, I was at a local chain health food store, doing a little shopping for my children and I. One of the items on my list was peanut butter.

Growing up eating natural and organic, I was taught to always read labels.

So I picked up a popular brand of peanut butter that I used to buy, turned it around and read the label. The ingredients used to read, “Organic peanuts, salt.” To my surprise the ingredients had changed.  They were now “Organic peanuts, organic hydrogenated safflower oil, organic canola oil, organic cane sugar. There were six to eight brands and I was only able to find one that did not have sugar in it.

The USDA’s standards on organic have been a curse and blessing. With that also came the buying out of small companies who were committed to quality and producing a natural product, by big corporations concerned about producing a big profit.

Just because something is organic, or says “natural”, sadly does not mean it is good for you. Organic poison is still poison. When you used to buy a organic or natural product, you hardly ever saw sugar in it.

The problem is, consumers think that just because it is at the health food store, it is healthy. Sadly, that’s not so true. You can eat totally organic and still be eating junk-food. This is causing more people in the natural community to be obese.

All the processed foods that are now available in health food stores are not natural. Next time you go shopping, check your labels. Try to find healthier foods to eat, stay away from highly processed foods as much as possible.