Things to Consider When Meal Prepping for Pregnancy

There are two types of meal prep you want to consider when getting food ready for yourself. This could include both 1) meal prepping for yourself when pregnancy leaves you too exhausted to pack a lunch and 2) meal prepping for postpartum so that food and nutrition is an easy, streamlined process.

The good news is that both of these meal prep goals involve the same strategies! Meal prepping for pregnancy or postpartum both involve the creation of easy, nutritious, low-toxin meals that are freezer-friendly and reheat with ease.

Two Types of Meal Prep

When meal prepping for pregnancy, you want to make two things happen. The first, is you need to make sure that you have something quick and easy on hand to grab and go when you only have a few minutes for a lunch or late dinner. The second is that you want a real, hearty meal available for when the whole family is sitting down to dine but you don’t have the time or energy to get out for groceries, assemble meals, and cook them all while holding a hungry, snuggly, and possibly crying newborn.

Whether you’re a busy pregnant mama or looking to the future after your little one arrives, you need both meals for yourself to grab and go as well as something that you don’t need to think about when it comes to a sit-down meal for everyone else, too.

Toxins When Meal Prepping for Pregnancy

Nobody wants to think that their food can be harming them, and the good news is that it isn’t, most of the time. Most foods are nutritious and beneficial to include in a well-rounded healthy diet. However, we can run into a few problems when considering toxins with our food, especially considering toxins that may be added to the food, or that may leach into the food through packaging.

Pesticides and Preservatives

The heart behind these food toxins is actually good. Of course we want pests to stay away from our crops, and we want our food to be protected from rot and degradation! However, the chemicals involved in accomplishing these tasks actually harm our health in doing so. In order to make sure that you family has the healthiest meals possible whether you’re eating for two or cooking when your arms are full, look for:

• Foods without preservatives addedd, like sodium benzoate, EDTA, potassium sorbate, nitrates and BHA, BHT or TBHQ
• Pesticides added to non-organic food and animal feed are a huge problem. Look for organic labeling whenever available.

Note: Other food additives, beyond preservatives, also can be harmful. I recommend avoiding artificial sweeteners like aspartame an acesulfame potassium, natural flavors, food dyes, and carageenan to name a few.

The good news is that apart from pesticides, if you are choosing whole foods to cook and meal prep with, you really don’t need to worry about the other additives.

Toxic Packaging Materials

Now, the downside about a grab-and-go meal strategy is that the packaging we sometimes use to do so can also pose risks to our health. Materials like plastic and aluminum leach into our food and can affect neurodevelopment of baby, hormone balance, cancer risks and more. Microplastics have been found in everything from the brain to the placenta, and it’s never something we want more of. Instead of disposable aluminum trays or plastic containers, consider the following ideas:

• Stainless Steel Casserole Dishes: This is the most cost effective product I’ve found on Amazon, comes in a pack of two, and can be reused over and over again. If you stock up on 8-10, you can easily prep several dinners that will last for multiple days for a meager investment and cultivate a habit of doubling any recipes you bake or cook going forward.
• Silicone Freezer Bags: Instead of meal prepping for pregnancy in Ziploc freezer bags, consider reusable silicone ones. While silicone is not ideal for hot food applications, they are safe for cold use, and provide a similar layer of freezer protection.
• Glass Jars: The standard for food preservation is usually Ball Jars, which are available in most grocery and home improvement stores. However, if you’re not actually using them for canning, the metal lids can easily corrode and stop being usable over time. These adorable freezer jars have plastic lids (which won’t be touching your food) and hold up better for repeated use. I recommend using individual serving jars like this for meal-prepped broths and soups. They also come in neutral colors.

Meal Prepping for Pregnancy Recipes

During the postpartum period, or even if you’re meal prepping to eat these dishes during pregnancy, nutrition is more important than ever. Consider the following strategies when meal prepping for pregnancy:

1. Lower Carbohydrate (In moderation)

• Blood Sugar Stability: After childbirth, many women experience fluctuations in blood sugar levels. A lower-carb diet can help stabilize blood sugar, preventing energy crashes and promoting consistent energy throughout the day.
• Avoiding Insulin Resistance: Some women may face insulin resistance or have higher blood sugar levels during pregnancy (e.g., gestational diabetes). Postpartum, focusing on lower-carb meals can support insulin sensitivity and help with long-term metabolic health.
• Weight Management: Postpartum weight loss or maintenance can be supported by consuming fewer refined carbohydrates, which can prevent fat storage and cravings. A more balanced approach helps maintain a healthy weight without drastic spikes or drops in energy levels. While weight loss should not be a top priority postpartum, eating nourishing meals will help your body naturally level out at the rate that is most appropriate for oyu.

2. High-Quality Animal Protein

• Muscle Repair & Recovery: Childbirth is physically demanding, and the body needs to repair and rebuild muscle tissue after the exertion of labor. High-quality animal proteins (like chicken, beef, turkey, eggs, and fish) provide essential amino acids that support muscle recovery and tissue healing.
• Breast Milk Production: Protein is also critical for producing breast milk. Amino acids from protein-rich foods are the building blocks of the milk, supporting both quality and quantity for breastfeeding moms.
• Hormonal Balance: Protein helps in balancing hormones, including the ones responsible for mood regulation (like serotonin and dopamine). Postpartum hormonal shifts can cause mood swings, so supporting hormonal health with protein is crucial.

3. Complex Fiber

• Gut Health: After childbirth, many women experience changes in digestion, including constipation or slower gut motility. Complex fiber (found in vegetables, legumes, and some whole grains) promotes regular bowel movements and supports gut health, which is vital for overall health during recovery.
• Blood Sugar Regulation: Fiber helps to slow the absorption of sugars in the bloodstream, preventing sharp spikes and crashes in blood sugar. This is important for postpartum recovery, especially if the body is recovering from insulin imbalances.
• Satiety: High-fiber foods also help keep you feeling fuller longer, reducing the tendency to snack on less nutritious foods or overeat. This is especially useful if you’re managing weight while also needing more energy for breastfeeding or caring for a newborn.

4. Slow-Cooked Meals

• Nutrient Retention: Slow-cooking, especially when using methods like stewing or braising, helps retain more nutrients in foods, particularly minerals and vitamins that are sensitive to heat. The longer cooking time at low temperatures allows for better extraction of nutrients, especially from tougher cuts of meat, bones, and fibrous vegetables.
• Digestibility: Slow cooking also breaks down proteins and fibers, making them easier to digest, which is helpful for a postpartum body that might be more sensitive to foods.
• Ease of Meal Prep: Slow-cooked meals are perfect for batch cooking, which is a huge benefit when you’re short on time during the postpartum period. A large pot of stew, soup, or curry can be made in advance, stored, and reheated as needed, saving time and effort. I recommend a slow-cooker with a latch-on lid for easy transport, and programming like this Crock Pot Cook & Carry.

5. Additional Benefits for Postpartum Health

• Anti-Inflammatory: Many slow-cooked dishes, especially those featuring bone broth or grass-fed meats, contain nutrients like collagen and gelatin, which help repair tissues and reduce inflammation. After childbirth, inflammation is common, and foods that support recovery can promote healing and comfort.
• Hydration: Slow-cooked meals like soups and stews can be rich in water, which is vital for hydration—important for breastfeeding and overall recovery.
• Comfort & Healing: Comfort foods are often slow-cooked, providing not only nourishment but also emotional support during a time of physical and emotional stress. The act of eating well-cooked, hearty meals can be soothing and help mothers feel nurtured during a challenging recovery period.

Meal Prepping Recipes

Here are some of my favorite recipes, to be prepared during pregnancy and enjoyed postpartum, or any time that you’re in need of a nourishing meal. Any soups or stews can easily be prepared ahead of time and frozen in individual servings, or ingredients can be stored together in freezer bags to easily throw in a pot or crockpot at a later time.

Breakfast

• Breakfast Burritos (make with almond flour or cassava tortillas)
• Low Sugar Baked Oatmeal (consider adding 1/2 cup collagen to the recipe)
• Paleo Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut Muffins (use unbleached muffin liners and a toxin-free, stainless steel muffin pan)
• Paleo Breakfast Casserole
• Almond Flour Cheddar Biscuits (high protein, low carb)

Lunch/Dinner

• One Pan Chicken Fajitas (prepare and freeze ingredients separately. You can even freeze a pack of tortillas together with the bag of chicken and veggies. Or, serve with rice)
• Veggie-Rich Taco Casserole (make with rice or quinoa)
• Ratatouille Soup (add diced grilled chicken)
• Pasta E Fagioli (omit pasta, if you wish)
• Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken (serve with bagged salad)
• Beef Stew (sub tapioca starch for Paleo)
• Thai Chicken Curry Soup (store rice noodles separately in pantry, or serve with fresh rice/quinoa instead)
• Indian Curry Soup
• Chicken Potato Soup
• Zucchini Lasagne
• Chicken and Broccoli Casserole (no canned soup in this recipe! can omit cheese, and use bone broth instead of milk)
• Shepherd’s Pie
• Cabbage Roll Casserole (can substitute rice with quinoa for higher protein)

Snacks

• Protein Popsicles (made with silicone popsicle molds)
• Protein/Oat Balls
• Pistachio Date Balls (can omit oats)
• Low Carb Peanut Butter Bark

To sum it up, meal prepping for pregnancy is a smart, effective way to ensure that you and your growing family are nourished with wholesome, nutrient-dense meals. By focusing on simple, healthy recipes that are rich in high-quality protein, complex fiber, and slow-cooked goodness, you’ll be setting yourself up for smoother days, both during pregnancy and postpartum. Whether you’re meal prepping for pregnancy to manage your energy levels or preparing meals that support recovery after childbirth, the right foods will help you feel your best. So, take the time to plan ahead, minimize toxins, and create meals that are easy to grab, heat, and enjoy—your body and your baby will thank you.

I’m Dr. Alexandra MacKillop, a functional medicine doctor, food scientist and nutrition expert.

I specialize in women’s nutrition & hormonal health, addressing concerns like longevity, fertility, postpartum, PCOS, endometriosis, and gut symptoms like bloating, constipation, diarrhea and more.

If you’re looking for a new way to approach your health, I’m here to help you through it.

Become a Patient

Don’t miss out! Join the email list.

Sign Me Up!

Love this post Share it!

• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Instagram

Want more Grab a copy of my new book, The Postpartum Check-In !

Reminder: The information on this post or anywhere else on this blog or other writing is purely educational, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any health condition.

The post Your Guide to Meal Prepping for Pregnancy appeared first on Dr. Alexandra MacKillop.

In this post, we’ll explore the most important foods to avoid for each type of PCOS from a functional medicine perspective, while also offering evidence-based supplements and beneficial foods to help balance your hormones naturally.

Types of PCOS

1. Adrenal PCOS

Adrenal PCOS is driven by excess androgen production from the adrenal glands. This type of PCOS is typically associated with high stress levels, poor adrenal function, and imbalances in cortisol. Women with adrenal PCOS may experience symptoms such as excess body hair (hirsutism), scalp hair thinning, acne, and irregular periods.

Foods to Avoid for Adrenal PCOS

• Caffeine: Excessive caffeine can stimulate cortisol production, exacerbating adrenal stress. It’s best to avoid caffeinated beverages like coffee and energy drinks.
• Refined Sugars: Refined sugars and processed carbs cause blood sugar spikes and crashes, which can lead to further cortisol imbalances.
• Alcohol: Alcohol places additional stress on the liver, impairing its ability to detoxify and regulate hormones.
• Processed Foods: These often contain trans fats and additives that may disrupt hormone function and contribute to inflammation.

Beneficial Foods for Adrenal PCOS

• Adaptogenic Herbs: Foods like ashwagandha, maca root, and holy basil can help regulate cortisol levels and support adrenal health.
• Healthy Fats: Avocados, olive oil, and omega-3-rich foods (like salmon and flaxseeds) nourish the adrenals and promote hormone balance.
• Leafy Greens: Rich in magnesium, spinach, kale, and Swiss chard help calm the nervous system and reduce stress.

Supplements for Adrenal PCOS

• Ashwagandha: Known for its adaptogenic properties, ashwagandha can help lower cortisol and support adrenal function.
• Vitamin C: High-dose vitamin C can reduce cortisol levels and improve adrenal function.
• B Vitamins: B5 and B6 are especially helpful for adrenal support and stress management.

2. Post-Pill PCOS

Women with post-pill PCOS develop symptoms of PCOS after discontinuing birth control pills. The synthetic hormones in birth control pills can suppress natural hormone production, and once the pill is stopped, the body may take time to rebalance itself. Common symptoms include acne, hair thinning, and irregular cycles.

Foods to Avoid for Post-Pill PCOS

• Soy: While soy is a good source of plant-based protein, it can interfere with estrogen levels and disrupt hormonal balance, particularly in women who have just stopped taking the pill.
• Dairy: Some women find that dairy exacerbates acne and hormonal imbalance due to its potential to increase androgens.
• Refined Grains: White bread, pasta, and other refined grains can spike blood sugar, which in turn elevates insulin levels and can worsen hormonal imbalances.

Beneficial Foods for Post-Pill PCOS

• Cruciferous Vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts help the body detox excess estrogen and promote hormone balance.
• Flaxseeds: Rich in lignans, flaxseeds help balance estrogen levels by supporting estrogen metabolism.
• High-Fiber Foods: Fiber-rich foods like oats, quinoa, and chia seeds can help regulate insulin levels and improve digestive health.

Supplements for Post-Pill PCOS

• Inositol: A combination of myo-inositol and D-chiro-inositol can help improve ovarian function and regulate insulin.
• Zinc: Zinc supports healthy skin and can reduce acne related to hormonal imbalances.
• DIM (Diindolylmethane): Found in cruciferous vegetables, DIM supports the body’s ability to detoxify estrogen and may help with hormonal acne.

3. Inflammatory PCOS

Inflammatory PCOS is marked by chronic low-grade inflammation throughout the body. This type of PCOS is often associated with symptoms like weight gain, acne, fatigue, and insulin resistance. Chronic inflammation can exacerbate the symptoms of PCOS and interfere with hormone regulation.

Foods to Avoid for Inflammatory PCOS

• Fried Foods: High in trans fats, fried foods can increase inflammation in the body and contribute to insulin resistance.
• Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Sodas, energy drinks, and even sugary fruit juices can spike blood sugar and increase inflammation.
• Processed Meats: Bacon, sausages, and hot dogs are often high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids and preservatives.
• Artificial Sweeteners: These can disrupt gut microbiota and promote inflammation.

Beneficial Foods for Inflammatory PCOS

• Turmeric: Contains curcumin, a potent anti-inflammatory compound that can help reduce inflammation in the body.
• Berries: Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries are packed with antioxidants that reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Fatty fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel are rich in omega-3s, which help reduce inflammation.

Supplements for Inflammatory PCOS

• Curcumin (Turmeric): An anti-inflammatory powerhouse that can help reduce systemic inflammation and improve ovarian function.
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Supplements like fish oil can significantly reduce inflammation and support overall hormone balance.
• Vitamin D: Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with inflammation and insulin resistance in PCOS.

4. Insulin-Resistant PCOS

Insulin resistance is one of the most common underlying factors in PCOS. When the body becomes resistant to insulin, it leads to higher levels of circulating insulin, which can worsen hormonal imbalances, increase androgen production, and contribute to weight gain, fatigue, and acne.

Foods to Avoid for Insulin-Resistant PCOS

• High Glycemic Index Foods: Foods that spike blood sugar, such as white bread, pastries, and sugary cereals, should be avoided.
• Trans Fats: Found in many packaged snacks and fried foods, trans fats can worsen insulin resistance and increase inflammation.
• Refined Grains: These foods cause rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels, exacerbating insulin resistance.

Beneficial Foods for Insulin-Resistant PCOS

• Low-Glycemic Index Foods: Non-starchy vegetables, legumes, and whole grains help stabilize blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity.
• Magnesium-Rich Foods: Spinach, pumpkin seeds, and almonds are great sources of magnesium, which can help improve insulin sensitivity.
• Cinnamon: Known for its ability to improve insulin sensitivity, cinnamon can be added to smoothies or oatmeal.

Supplements for Insulin-Resistant PCOS

• Berberine: An herbal supplement that has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and regulate blood sugar.
• Magnesium: Magnesium supplementation can help improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• Alpha-Lipoic Acid: A potent antioxidant that can enhance insulin sensitivity and improve metabolic function.

Personalizing Your Diet for PCOS

Whether you have adrenal, post-pill, inflammatory, or insulin-resistant PCOS, a functional medicine approach focuses on addressing the root causes of your hormonal imbalance through diet, lifestyle, and targeted supplementation. By avoiding inflammatory foods, refined sugars, and processed carbs, and by incorporating hormone-balancing foods, you can help mitigate the symptoms of PCOS and support long-term health.

Remember that everyone’s experience with PCOS is unique, so it’s important to work with a functional medicine practitioner or healthcare provider to customize your diet and supplement plan for optimal results.

By understanding the type of PCOS you’re dealing with and adjusting your diet accordingly, you can reclaim your health, balance your hormones, and feel empowered to manage your symptoms effectively.

I’m Dr. Alexandra MacKillop, a functional medicine doctor, food scientist and nutrition expert.

I specialize in women’s nutrition & hormonal health, addressing concerns like longevity, fertility, postpartum, PCOS, endometriosis, and gut symptoms like bloating, constipation, diarrhea and more.

If you’re looking for a new way to approach your health, I’m here to help you through it.

Become a Patient

Don’t miss out! Join the email list.

Sign Me Up!

Love this post Share it!

• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Instagram

Want more Grab a copy of my new book, The Postpartum Check-In !

Reminder: The information on this post or anywhere else on this blog or other writing is purely educational, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any health condition.

The post How to Use Supplements for PCOS appeared first on Dr. Alexandra MacKillop.

Prior to becoming a functional medicine doctor, I started my career in the field of food science working as a flavor chemist to make natural flavors. Frankly, I loved it, but much of what I learned and saw there ultimately led me to exit the field and transition to working in natural health.

How can both of those things be true How can I love something that ultimately led me away?

Read on to learn the story of how I entered, and then left, the field of food science to become a functional medicine doctor.

I chose to study food science in college because it seemed like the perfect mix of science, creativity and fun. I mean, who doesn’t love the idea of “playing with food” all day and calling it science

For much of my adolescent life, I was already doing food science on my own. I was interested in eating healthy and cooking, and certainly appalled by the diversity and breadth of food items on the market that were completely unhealthy. It was not hard to see, even as a young person, that ultra-processed food items were not the way to long, vibrant life. As a teenager and athlete, I enjoyed concoting “alternative” recipes for “healthified” versions of common processed foods, inlcuding those that had taken on nostalgic appeal.

Sometimes I was successful, sometimes I wasn’t, but I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

After starting my college career in engineering and quickly learning that the computer programming lifestyle was not for me, I took a turn in my study of science to pursue food science. I describe food science as a specialized form of chemical engineering that is focused on food. Food scientists, I’d explain, were responsible for finding recipes to keep cereal crunchy longer in milk, and come up with new, alternative protein sources. I was a vegan at the time, so I loved to wax poetic about meat alternatives.

Oh, how the times change.

As a hopeful young person, I envisioned myself working in R&D at a food company, designing formulations for healthier versions of popular products. I daydreamed about the next fast company like Annie’s Organics, or Morningstar Farms. I got involved in the local food office and connected with farmers and those who shared my passion for sustainable food growing practices. I interned in a lab where we used blueberry-derived antioxidants to kill cancer cells. I entered into R&D food competitions and won awards for “functional foods,” like a pea protein-based sausage alternative and a color-changing salt for those with hypertension. I was on a roll, and nothing was going to stop me. That is, until I graduated.

Through the end of my senior year and after graduation, I started working for a flavor company. First of all, I want to be clear that I have very fond memories of my time there, think well of the company owners/my bosses, and value the relationships I formed. It was a wonderful experience, I was treated very well, and I learned so much. The criticisms I carry from my time there have nothing to do with my team in flavor chemistry and everything to do with government regulations, marketing, and the food industry as a whole.

There are a few things to understand about flavor chemistry that I also want to cover, first. Food flavorings are built by mixing together individual chemicals to round out a flavor, kind of like how we combine rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano to make “poultry seasoning,” for example. It’s like filling in pieces of a puzzle to round out the flavor of a food. The chemicals chosen for this come from a process called gas chromatography, which is a chemical testing method that detects the presence of volatile compounds in food to figure out what is contributing to the flavor profile. These are complex processes and the gas chromatographer (GC) can’t do it all on its own; a trained flavorist fills in the gaps by identifying what might be missing from what the GC reports. Think about this role as like a sommelier who can identify the “grassy notes” in a young Pinot Grigio or “black pepper flavor” in a spicy zinfandel. The chemicals we mix together are ingredients, not reactants, meaning that they retain their characteristics and form even after being mixed together. They don’t form a chemical reaction like what occurs when mixing baking soda and vinegar; it’s more like, as I mentioned, mixing spices. They’re all there, together.

What goes into natural flavors?

And that is precisely the problem. My job in the lab involved making samples of these natural flavors sold by our company for manufacturers to try out before buying. Our flavorist-formulated flavors were built by yours truly and sent off to see if someone wanted to buy them. When they did, the warehouse guys would mix up large-scale portions of the flavors to send out for industrial use in everything from fizzy drinks to soft serve ice cream, to candy, popcorn and more.

My first problem with the job was that it was kind of boring. The end product was fun (mixing up two different types of strawberry flavoring was a fun experience for sure) but I didn’t love the solo work in a lab, with goggles and a ventilation hood and gloves to avoid chemical burns.

But, the second problem which ultimately led me out of food science was that when I traveled into the warehouse to refill my sample bottles in the lab, I was met with alarming warning labels on the drums of “natural” acetaldehyde and “natural” furfural. They said things like “do not ingest,” and “harmful if swallowed” and had skulls and crossbones on them. And there I was, using a pipette to mix them into a solvent (alcohol or MCT oily, or propylene glycol, for example) and then literally spooning it into my mouth to taste test the final product. Was I poisoning myself? I wondered.

The tipping point came when, while in the warehouse, I accidentally spilled natural methyl butyric acid on my shoe. It was so extraordinarly potent! It made my eyes water and my lungs spasm just being around my own foot. But the bottle in warehouse carried those alarming labels: “harmful if swallowed,” and “do not ingest.” If the spill on my shoe was making my eyes water, what was it doing to my insides? I wondered. My questions became even more important when I went home to where I was staying, with my pregnant sister, and I became concerned that I could potentially be exposing her and her unborn baby to harmful volatile chemicals.

I’d thought that by entering the food industry that I would be doing something good. After all, I was working with “natural” flavors, and wasn’t natural supposed to be better But I also knew that alcohol can be considered “natural” even though it’s a carcinogen. Aspirin is naturally occurring in plants but can permanently damage children through Reye’s syndrome. Was my work with “natural chemicals” really in line with my desire to make healthier products to feed the world?

The problem with natural flavors

The more I looked into these chemicals, the more I became aware that they were not safe, not at all. Sure, I was diluting them down in the lab, but I also knew that the chemicals I was mixing up to make, say, strawberry flavoring were not the same as eating a fresh strawberry that grew in the ground. Moreover, I was starting to experience some concerning symptoms for myself, like weight gain, acne, and bloating. I also started experiencing cramping with my periods, which I had never dealt with prior.

Unsurprisingly, these symptoms disappeared when I left the office and entered graduate school instead. It wasn’t stress because again, the job was low-key and pretty fun. But chemical toxicants profoundly influence hormones, liver health, and inflammation, which were all systems of my body that were struggling because of my job.

Moreover, “natural” flavoring is exactly the same as artificial flavoring, which most consumers are already plenty wary of. The only difference is that the consitutent chemicals, such as furfural, for example, are derived from “natural” starting materials rather than synthesized through chemical reactions in a laboratory. Natural furfural comes as a byproduct from the biodiesel industry, derived from chaff. Synthetic furfural, on the other hand, is synthesized using catalysts like sulfuric acid in a laboratory setting. Regardless of formation, however, both are distilled and purified to be, truly, pure furfural. It’s the same thing just a different origin.

The flavor industry isn’t the only defunct area of our food system that concerns me, however. Even starting in my college program, our professors were honest about the fact that money, not consumer wellbeing, drives the industry. If we were to work in R&D, the #1 thing our bosses would be asking us to do was cut costs to cheaper ingredients. To model this, our capstone design project involved our professor immediately handing the projects back to us after submission, and instructing us to reformulate to cut costs by 30%. The way to do that was to transition to ultra-processed, refined, shelf-stable ingredients like corn and soy derivatives instead of fresh ones sourced from whole foods.

Why

They’re cheap. They don’t “go bad.” They can be used as fillers to crowd out the expensive ingredients, only they come at the cost of diluting the flavor, too. They’re subsidized by the government and there are incentives for food companies to use them.

Well, friends, that’s where flavoring comes in. And coloring. “Natural” aside, those colors and flavors are designed to cover up the cover up. The food industry, contrary to what I was hoping to do, was all about tricking consumers into eating “junk food” and truly, toxic chemicals rather than helping to bolster up the health of Americans. Nobody was working to clean things up and make it healthier. Going agains the status quo would invariably get me fired. Yikes.

So, where does that leave us?

I personally consume processed foods still, from time to time. Even as a functional medicine doctor who has had personal experience working in the food industry and knowing all the crazy things that go on behind-the-scenes. But I try to strike a balance, for both myself and my family, between pursuit of “perfection” which does not exist, and enjoyment of life and novelty. That being said, I try not to let those ultra processed foods make up too teribly great of a proportion of my diet, instead emphasizing whole foods and fresh ingredients whenever I can. Not only do I feel better this way, but I’m naturally minimizing and displacing ingredients like those used to produce flavoring, which are truly harmful.

But what about you How can you know what goes into these flavoring ingredients How do you know what harm can be caused by them

This is what natural flavors are made of, straight from my work in food science:

Natural flavoring is made from volatile organic compounds, things like aldehydes and -enols and -enals and other types of carbon-based molecules that can get really toxic, really quickly. The exact chemicals in different food items differ based on the construct of the flavor, whether the food has been cooked, etc.

Food companies don’t list out the ingredients in their flavoring because these recipes are considered to be “proprietary.” McDonald’s Vanilla Ice Cream has its own distinct flavor profile, separate from Breyer’s Vanilla Ice Cream, or what the food would taste like if you made dessert yourself from real cream and vanilla beans. However, many of the fundamentals are the same.

To find out what might be individual flavorings, start with Google. Search “VOC chemicals in __________” and fill in the blank with the food you’re looking for. Take strawberry flavoring, for example:

Then you’ll want to get the industrial-level safety information on these individual chemicals, such as furaneol, mesifurane, linalool, ethyl butanoate and more.

I recommend searching the database of real US flavor ingredient suppliers, such as Advanced Biotech, which offers a database of hundreds if not thousands of different chemicals that fall under the guise of “flavoring” ingredients. This is one of the major suppliers of industrial-level fragrance and flavoring chemicals that are food-grade, which I personally worked with when I was working as a food scientist in the flavor industry. Navigate to their website, hit the search function, and search these compounds by name. Here’s an example for the safety data sheet for acetaldehyde, which is found in many fruit flavors, especially citrus:

Keep in mind that if you don’t have a chemistry background, this can be confusing at times because the same chemicals can go by different names. For example, mesifurane which is listed as a VOC in strawberries, does not show up on the Advanced Biotech database. However, mesifurane also goes by the name 2,5-DIMETHYL-4-METHOXY-3(2H)-FURANONE. So, if you can’t find a particular chemical, look up (Google can again be a resource for this) other names for that chemical.

At the end of the day, you’re the one who ultimately gets to make the decision about what you put in your body. And, when food companies hide the ingredient list under the guise of “natural flavors,” it’s hiding information and getting in the way of informed consent. I take issue with that, which is why I’m sharing my experience and knowledge here, today.

Let me know in the comments: Did you know the truth about natural flavors What are you comfortable consuming when it comes to natural flavors

I’m Dr. Alexandra MacKillop, a functional medicine doctor, food scientist and nutrition expert.

I specialize in women’s nutrition & hormonal health, addressing concerns like longevity, fertility, postpartum, PCOS, endometriosis, and gut symptoms like bloating, constipation, diarrhea and more.

If you’re looking for a new way to approach your health, I’m here to help you through it.

Become a Patient

Don’t miss out! Join the email list.

Sign Me Up!

Love this post Share it!

• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Instagram

Want more Grab a copy of my new book, The Postpartum Check-In !

Reminder: The information on this post or anywhere else on this blog or other writing is purely educational, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any health condition.

The post The Truth About “Natural Flavors” appeared first on Dr. Alexandra MacKillop.