Okay, I realize this one is sort of obvious but I was truly inspired by these glowing balls of cheese. (In a weird sort of way.)

I always have such mixed emotions when I see a product like this on the store shelves. I feel horrified and amused at the same time. Amused because they just look so...silly. I mean, Cheese Balls... seriously??? They don't even remotely resemble ANYTHING in the natural world! Is there any better example of a non food item than this? I'm saddened and horrified because there are people who actually purchase these products. Cheese Balls wouldn't be on the market if SOMEONE wasn't buying them, right?

Cheese Balls contain so many disgusting ingredients I don't even know where to begin.

Two of the main ingredients in cheese balls are enriched flour and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Let's look at enriched flour for a moment shall we? Anytime you see the word "enriched" on a product it means essentially that it has been processed to remove all the healthy ingredients. Soybean oil is a genetically modified organism (GMO). GMO's have been linked to obesity, cancer, reproductive problems, food allergies and digestive problems. Some of the other ingredients include ferrous sulfate, tricalcium phosphate, sunflower oil and/or corn oil which are all used in processed foods. In a nutshell, there is absolutely NOTHING in cheese balls that should be going into your body.

Although they are funny to look at.

I used to eat these all the time for breakfast before I discovered clean eating. I thought they were a healthy alternative to cereal. Check out the LOOOOOOONG list of ingredients on these "healthy" cereal bars:

Scary! As you probably already know, the longer the list of ingredients, the more processed the food is and the worse it is for you. Not only do these bars have a large amount of sugar but they also contain high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup has been linked to obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease. This is certainly not a healthy snack by any stretch of the imagination.

So what if you really want a quick snack in the form of a breakfast/snack bar? Larabars! Larabars are considered clean because the only ingredients in the majority of them are fruit and nuts. And yes, they are very tasty too! And if you'd like to make your own, here's a recipe for homemade Larabars.

Ahhhhhh....yogurt. Yogurt is a fantastic, healthy, product which can certainly be a part of your clean eating diet. Yogurt, especially Greek yogurt, is rich in calcium and protein. One 7 oz. container of FAGE low fat plain Greek yogurt has 150 calories, 20 grams of protein, 8 grams of carbs and only 8 grams of sugar.

But the above type of yogurt is most definitely NOT a healthy food. First of all the SECOND ingredient is sugar! Yogurt is supposed to be a healthy food, not another way to get more sugar into your system.

One trend in food products these days is the appearance of a gluten free label. What the food manufacturers are attempting to do now is to slap a gluten free label on items so you'll be fooled into thinking that gluten free= healthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. I've found plenty of products with the gluten free label that are simply loaded with sugar. ALWAYS read labels! It makes me REALLY angry how the food manufacturers continue to lie to us. You really have to be your own advocate and be vigilant about the labels on EVERYTHING you and your family consume.

And please tell me I've misunderstood the label on the right hand side of this product. Does this yogurt container actually GLOW IN THE DARK????? There has been considerable talk recently about how BPA's in plastic packaging can make their way into the foods we eat. I cannot even imagine the horrific chemicals that most assuredly must be in glow in the dark packaging! EEK! It is disturbing to me how they market these products so obviously to children. Their little bodies have a much lower tolerance for chemicals than adults.

A much healthier alternative is to purchase plain yogurt or Greek yogurt and add your own fresh fruit. It makes an awesome snack or breakfast!

This week's nasty food is gross and disgusting bottled bbq sauce. It's amazing how many barbecue sauces are out there. So many varieties! So many processed ingredients! I do not purchase these so it's always a surprise to go down this aisle in the grocery store and see just how large the condiment section is! I know it's convenient but there are extremely unhealthy ingredients in bottled bbq sauce. One particularly awful ingredient found in almost all barbecue sauces is high fructose corn syrup . It's the second ingredient in the one pictured above! Here's an article which highlights the dangers of high fructose corn syrup.

What are the alternatives? Making your own! I promise once you taste homemade bbq sauce you will never go back to the bottled stuff ever again. Here's my recipe for delicious bbq sauce. Try it on chicken, kebobs, hamburgers, or anything else you can think of. The really great thing about this sauce is that there are absolutely no processed ingredients and the only sweetener in it is pure maple syrup. Enjoy!