Healthy, Allergen Free Raw Mock Peanut Butter Cups
Okay, I have to admit it. I used to love, love, love Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. I couldn’t get enough. But then I got all healthy and somewhere along the way read the ingredients and they were quickly and efficiently but not deliciously eliminated from my diet: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Nonfat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, and Soya Lecithin and PGPR), Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, and TBHQ and Citric Acid.
Reeses indicates a risk of gluten cross-contamination and besides that with the milk, peanuts, soy, corn (from dextrose) and preservatives, this is an allergenic, autistic and ADHD kid’s (or adult’s) worse nightmare! Add to that the excessive sugar (sugar, sugar and dextrose) use in it and my blood sugar starts rising just thinking about it? And hmmm…. what exactly is PGPR and TBHQ?
Hersheys is pretty smart, propaganda wise, PGPR and TBHQ sound almost cute, but their full names tip us off that these are additives of the worse sort. PGPR or Polyglycerol Polyrcinoleate is a food additive experiment. Read about its chemical composition here. It’s a chemical used to decrease the amount of cocoa butter needed in a chocolate product while still allowing for the chocolate flavor and texture. Mmmm… Just what I want, less chocolate and more chemicals!
TBHQ or Tertiary Butylhydroquinone is really, really scary. It’s a metabolite of BHA or butane, and according to Schilderman (1993) it “appeared to be a strong inducer of oxidative DNA damage.” And according to Naturalnews.com “Consuming high doses (between 1 and 4 grams) of TBHQ can cause nausea, delirium, collapse, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and vomiting. There are also suggestions that it may lead to hyperactivity in children as well as asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis. It may also further aggravate ADHD symptoms and cause restlessness. Long term, high doses of TBHQ in laboratory animals have shown a tendency for them to develop cancerous precursors in their stomachs, as well as cause DNA damage to them. It is also suggested that it may be responsible for affecting estrogen levels in women.”
Okay, so what’s a healthy, chocolate loving, allergen and chemical avoiding girl to do??? Well make her own healthy, allergen free, and raw (if desired) version of course!