Maggi Cubes: More Harm Than Good?

Are you cooking with these stock cubes this Ramadan? Perhaps they burst your soup with flavor, or make it easier not to worry about measuring spices. Nonetheless, I urge you to recognize that spending a few extra minutes preparing food is far better than using unhealthy ingredients like Maggi Cubes. 

Let's put the very famous MAGGI CUBES on the spot. Where do I begin? Back in high school, I would put these in many dishes I cooked, from watching them melt and color up the rice, to tossing them into the soup to do the “flavoring” for me. Right around then, I decided to look into the ingredients, and the friendship all went downhill from there. Alhamdullilah, I recognized it is NOT needed to make food taste good, and with all bragging rights included, my family and friends can attest to the taste of my food. Tayeb, moving on.
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On the website this company says, “MAGGI® products are made with quality ingredients from around the world, and vary product by product.” Are you kidding me?! “quality ingredients?” You will be wondering the same thing by the time you finish reading this.
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Here is their ingredient list (this is for the chicken flavor, but I assure you the vegetable is not any healthier):
“Salt, vegetable oil (palm oil and hydrogenated palm oil), cornstarch, monosodium glutamate, chicken fat, sugar, and less than 2% of onion powder, spices, dehydrated chicken, natural flavor (wheat), disodium inosinate, caramel color, tbhq and citric acid (to preserve freshness).”
 
SALT: First of all, it is LOADED with sodium. I’m pretty confident the salt used is not Himalayan Pink Salt. The most commonly used table salt is heated to almost 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, thus destroying all of the benefits. Additionally, some brands contain more preservatives and chemicals to act as anti-caking agents than salt itself.

VEGETABLE OIL (PALM OIL AND HYDROGENATED PALM OIL): okay my friends, if you were to take one piece of advice it’s this: if you ever see HYDROGENATED or PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED – I don’t care if it’s olive oil—put it back on the shelf and run. These oils are what damage your heart, lead to obesity, are toxic to your liver, and cause your body to slowly develop internal inflammation- the root of most disease. Now you see why this blob of what smells like the most perfect mélange of herbs and oils is nothing more than chemicals and man-made oils, dolled up in spices and flavorings. I promise you, you can make delicious food without poisoning your body. Oh, and if you care about the environment, you wouldn’t eat palm oil.

CORNSTARCH: most likely derived from genetically-engineered corn; no thanks! Way too much to say about this topic, and if you’ve attended my lectures or have a copy of my book, you are probably well aware. In a nutshell, don’t eat corn (or anything made of corn) if it’s not certified organic. It’s a recipe for damage.

MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE: Ahhh the famous MSG. You probably heard the war on MSG; “eat it,” followed by, “it’s extremely detrimental to your health and should be avoided,” followed by some more, “it’s safe in small amounts,” arguments. Let me put it this way, I personally wouldn’t want to eat something that solid research proved could cause sensitivity in people, with symptoms including headaches, muscle tightness, numbness, tingling, weakness, or flushing. Other research found that asthma attacks are possible with large dosages of this Chinese salt. So long story short, you either see MSG as an evil health killer, or something safe in small amounts, and one you can’t eat your food without. The choice is yours, but frankly, so are the consequences.
Let’s fast forward through the ingredients, not sure how you feel, but I’m pretty confident you are convinced these innocent-looking flavor cubes are really harmful to the health of you and your family.
 
TBHQ: If you prefer the full name, Tertiary butylhydroquinone, is what this stands for. It is used to preserve processed food, and banned in many other countries. Studies found it increases the growth of TUMORS, cause liver enlargement, has neurotoxic effects, can cause convulsions, and just like BHA (another additive) it is found to impact human behavior., thus recommended to be avoided in diets for ADHD. Come again, you see why this is banned in other countries? Don’t take a 4-letter chemical so lightly. 

Caramel color: How exciting [all sarcasm included]. Caramel color might sound nice and sweet, but in fact, it’s pure poison. “Some types of this artificial coloring contain a potentially carcinogenic chemical called 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI).” If you spend enough time in the kitchen you know very well you don’t need no caramel color to make your soup look good! It’s all about the natural spices. Make homemade bone broth my friends!!! That’s where the good stuff lies. 

CONCLUSION: If you’ve made it this far, congrats on caring for your health. My advice: Make homemade bone broth; it’s one of the simplest and quickest things to make, and best of all is LOADED with health benefits. Many of my clients attest to how important it becomes in their life. 😉 Bone broth is a superfood and you can find my mom’s delicious recipe in a previous post. For now, please go toss out those cubes!
 
Read about other detrimental ingredients in your food in my book, SUNNAH SUPERFOODS. Grab a copy for your or a loved one on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2XHvfmZ
 
 
Hoping to have full support during Ramadan in terms of healing your symptoms naturally, feeding your family healthy, and reaching your health/weight loss goals? Join our Ramadan Health Transformation Program and make this your BEST Ramadan yet! EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ENDS SOON.