Don't automatically assume anything is safe.

It's common to assume that just because a food product is sold in a store or restaurant, it must have met some standard of health and safety.  On one hand, that assumption is partly true, in that there are regulations prohibiting certain harmful substances.  But on the other hand, the health and safety standards are far, far, far too lenient, and there is a proliferation of unhealthy ingredients.  These factors render the standards unreliable at best, and virtually worthless at worst.  And product labels are notoriously deceptive.  You must operate under the assumption that those who make the standards, and those who make the food products, are incompetent to apply healthy standards, and have zero concern for your health.  You must care about and take responsibiilty for yourself, because nobody else will care as much about you as you do.  Don't automatically assume anything is safe; you have to craft and apply your own standards.  Read the labels carefully before choosing a product.  Below is a general summary of ingredients that you would be wise to filter out.  Unfortunately as a practical matter, this will leave you with very few packaged product or restaurant item choices, but don't let that deter you from preserving your own life.  Don't relax and let the mainstream current sweep you downstream.  Instead, accept the fact that you have to be in the minority in order to be healthy, and adopt a new lifestyle of diligently swimming upstream.

Watch out for:

1.  Animal products in general (they are typically consumed in too great a proportion, which is unhealthy in a host of ways).

2.  Added oils (they are not human food, and cause a host of common, deadly diseases).

3.  Added sugar, by various terminology, including corn syrup (naturally occurring sugar in whole foods, such as fruit, is fine because it is balanced by fiber).

4.  Refined flour (this is ordinary "wheat"/"enriched" flour, which is the equivalent of sugar, and displaces needed fiber; prefer "whole grain"; and furthermore, the "enrichments" contain TOXIC, CARCINOGENIC IRON, a very, very, very underrated problem).

5.  Refined salt (pure sodium chloride disrupts body chemistry; real sea salt, with 60+ natural minerals, is preferred, but it is virtually nonexistent as an alternative additive in packaged or restaurant foods, regardless of the deceptive labeling).

6.  Added chemicals (they are not human food, and may be toxic).