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Cereal Crimes plzchuckle
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This is a reply to # 2,132,699
For more information: http://www.cornucopia.org/2011/10/natural-vs-organic-cereal/
"Natural" claims in the cereal and granola aisle mislead consumers. A new research study from The Cornucopia Institute indicates the "natural" claim is mostly meaningless marketing hype, in contrast to the USDA certified organic label which signifies the food was produced without genetically modified organisms (GMOs), toxic pesticides and other potentially dangerous synthetic inputs. Cornucopia and USDA research finds GMOs, and toxic pesticide residues, in "natural" cereal ingredients... and many "natural" brands are often priced higher than equivalent organic products.
- Dangers of Energy Drinks, The -- Dr.... plzchuckle
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This is a reply to # 2,132,699
Energy drinks have become increasingly popular in recent years. There are many brands on the market such as the 5-Hour Energy Drink, Rockstar Energy Drink, Burn Energy Drink, Full Throttle Energy Drink, Amp Energy Drink, Monster Energy Drink and others. Each contain caffeine and some have added stimulants such as guarana, an herbal form of more caffeine, as well as ginseng. Most of these drinks, in moderation, are probably relatively harmless for healthy people. However, when consumed to excess or by those with certain medical conditions, they can be very dangerous. Younger people, as young as 6 or 8 years old, are also consuming these drinks. In this age group the effects of caffeine are dramatically increased. Energy drinks, such as the 5-Hour Energy Drink, Rockstar Energy Drink, Burn Energy Drink, Full Throttle Energy Drink, Amp Energy Drink, Monster Energy Drink and others, are consumed primarily for the buzz or energy high that the caffeine and other stimulants can provide. Unfortunately, most of these drinks also produce a let down or crash, leaving the user to consume another drink to boost energy again. Repeated use or abuse of these highly charged caffeine drinks could lead to increased side effects. The harmful effects of caffeine, guarana, ginseng and other herbal extracts accelerate at potentially alarming rates when multiple doses of these drinks are consumed. People have been using caffeine in various forms, including Energy Drinks for a long time. What users dont often understand is that the boost of energy obtained from these drinks is temporary and that the crash can last a lot longer than the high. The side effects of energy drinks such as the 5-Hour Energy Drink, Rockstar Energy Drink, Burn Energy Drink, Full Throttle Energy Drink, Amp Energy Drink, Monster Energy Drink and others, can increase in those persons with certain other health challenges such as diabetes, hypoglycemia, heart conditions and other chronic disorders. Caffeine can lower blood Sugar in some individuals causing moderate to severe hypoglycemic episodes, which can be very disturbing and dangerous. If the drinks combine herbal stimulants with the caffeine, this can increase the potential blood Sugar problems. Another factor to also consider is the often very high amounts of Sugar in most of these energy drinks a factor that further complicates diabetes and hypoglycemia.
Individuals suffering from a variety of cardiovascular problems should use caution when consuming these energy drinks. Over stimulation of the central nervous system by caffeine, guarana, and ginseng can lead to a variety of arrhythmias, and other heart beat issues. Those with pacemakers also should be concerned. Another common practice among younger people is the combining of alcohol with their favorite energy drink. Alcohol is a downer and as such provides clear signs of when the consumer has had enough. By using the stimulating effects of energy drinks together with alcohol, the user can often drink far more and not be aware of their degree of intoxication. This can be dangerous for many reasons. If one wishes to use Energy Drinks, they should not combine these with alcoholic beverages of any kind.
Since both alcohol and caffeine are dehydrating agents, their combination can severely lower fluid levels in the body. If this is combined with dancing in a hot nightclub for example the dehydration can reach critical and deadly levels. There are many countries in Europe where high potency energy drinks such as the 5-Hour Energy Drink, Rockstar Energy Drink, Burn Energy Drink, Full Throttle Energy Drink, Amp Energy Drink, Monster Energy Drink and others have been banned completely. This was due to the fact that several athletes have died while exercising or training and using these energy drinks for sustained performance enhancement. Likely many of these fatalities were caused by severe dehydration.
http://www.healthyinformation.com
- Re: Dangers of Energy Drinks, The --... alancarter
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This is a reply to # 2,132,821Energy drinks are some of the most popular beverages sold at convenience stores across the country. They come in various flavors and contain caffeine, taurine, guarana, ginseng, and other ingredients designed to boost energy levels.
The popularity of these drinks has grown tremendously over the last decade. In fact, Americans consume nearly $1 billion worth of energy drinks each year.
However, there are several dangers associated with consuming too much energy drink. Some of them include heart palpitations, anxiety, insomnia, dehydration, and even death. For more information click here https://www.dreamcloudsleep.com/posts/test-post-1/
- Re: Dangers of Energy Drinks, The --... alancarter
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- Don't Eat Enriched Foods plzchuckle
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- Farmed Fish plzchuckle
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This is a reply to # 2,132,699
Why You Should Avoid Fast Food at All Costs
(NaturalNews) Most people today are usually aware that fast food is not the healthiest or "best" food to eat. Typically, the majority of people eat it several times a week or more. People generally eat fast food for a few main reasons, mostly because it's convenient, cheap and usually tastes pretty good.
The cost factor is certainly an understandable reason given the current state of the world economies and everyone's need to tighten up on their spending. But even this is really no excuse to be pumping the tons of toxic chemicals and "dead" food into you or your families' bodies.
Nearly all books and documentaries that have come out in recent years showing how bad fast food is mostly focuses on it's high fat/ high sodium content. Very few of them truly reveal the real dangers of consuming fast food and just why it is totally unfit for human consumption.
Hopefully this article will help you to truly begin to understand why it's not just a "less healthy" food, but something so terrible, so disgusting, and so horrible that you are far better off eating nothing at all than to consume fast food. If most people truly knew what it is that they're putting into their bodies when they go up to that drive through window and place their order, surely the vast majority would rarely if ever consume it again.
Certainly anyone who is interested in overcoming illness and disease and attaining higher levels of health and internal purity must vastly limit or completely eliminate their consumption of these so called foods.
So just what is in fast foods today and why is it really so bad for you? Come along as we cover some main reasons for such a strong stance against fast foods and just why they are to be avoided at all cost. Be warned that some of this information may be quite disturbing to some readers.
Fast Food Nation
In 2002, author Eric Schlosser, a correspondent for the Atlantic Herald, came out with a ground breaking book called "Fast Food Nation" which takes us through a sordid maze of deception, cover up, lies, fraud and both animal and human cruelty that has unfortunately become all too common in the meat packing industry today. This was even turned into a 2006 movie release of the same name.
If you only saw the movie, then you missed virtually all of the "meat and potatoes" of this story because the movie was but a pale shadow of the mind blowing information contained in the book.
The movie mostly focused on the plight of the immigrant laborers who work in the meat packing plants. These plants are the main suppliers of the meat, chicken and other foodstuffs sold in the fast food industry.
The book covers every aspect of the fast food industry. From the truly horrible and inhumane conditions of the animals themselves from birth till death, to the often slave like conditions of the plants where the mostly immigrant and poor workers toil in 12 hour shifts or longer each day and more.
Fast Food nation is a thoroughly well researched book that has won worldwide praise for its author Eric Shlosser. Eric was able to gain access to feed lots, slaughter houses and even the J.R. Simplot plant in Aberdeen, Idaho where millions upon millions of French fries are made on a daily basis. The majority of which are mostly destined for area McDonald`s restaurants.
The fast food industry came out in strong protest against his book saying that they don't agree with his conclusions. At the same time when asked if there were any errors in the book the same industry said "no" that they could not find any errors in his facts or figures at all.
The Processing Line
Twenty years ago the standard number of cattle processed per hour in a typical meat packing plant was 175. The older meatpacking plants in Chicago slaughtered about 50 per hour. Today the workers at many plants are required to kill up to 400 cattle per hour. At the rate worker injuries are all too common as the workers stand close together in one spot for hours a day performing the same task over and over again. Mostly this involves swinging a large sharp knife over and over again to carve up the animal into smaller pieces for processing. Mistakes and injuries to other workers are common as they struggle to keep up with the fast pace of the line in constant fear of falling behind or being fired.
The pace of the line that these workers are forced to work at is a major cause of many serious injuries to workers and has even led to several deaths. How do these workers die exactly...well this is where the story gets downright grizzly. Many times these workers are near the meat grinders when some get limbs caught in them or simply fall into the larger machines completely. By the time the machine can be shut down, there is nothing of the worker left to recover.
That means that along with the meat from the cattle, there is at times, human meat mixed in with the animal meat itself. Fortunately it doesn't occur all that often, but the author is surely not taking any chances on putting such meat into his body or that of his family and I strongly suggest that you don't either. There are other things mixed into with the meat as well which we'll cover shortly.
The speed of the cattle line not only producers a danger to the workers themselves, but it causes them to make a much higher percentage of mistakes in the cutting of the meat itself. What this means is that, because these workers are being forced to do the same motion up to 10,000 times per day, they can and do make mistakes and end up cutting the wrong part of the animals.
Instead of cutting the meat parts that are to be sold, they can end up hitting the bowels which often causes a "mixing" of the animals waste to be mixed in with the meat that is eventually sold to restraints and the public. This is a main source of various E-coli outbreaks that we hear about on the news from time to time. How many more people get sick from such "food" but never report it?
Animal Cruelty
With the terrible and inhumane way in which the animals themselves are treated which causes the meat to lose any of it's health benefits, coupled with the contamination of the meat itself during processing, you now have a situation where this meat is not only providing very little nutrition or bio-energy, but it can be quite dangerous and deadly.
"Every day in the United States, roughly 200,000 people are sickened by a food borne disease, 900 are hospitalized and fourteen die. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), more than a quarter of the American population suffers a bout of food poisoning each year. Most of these cases are never reported to authorities or properly diagnosed" - Fast Food Nation, page 195
Not only are these animals often killed while they're in poor health, as a recent investigative film by the human society showed that even animals that are too sick or weak to walk are being picked up by forklifts and led to the slaughter anyway. This is against current animal welfare policies but is rarely enforced due to a loophole in the laws.
Aside from the obvious reasons for animals to be sick and weak such as hormone injections and cramped feedlots which stresses animals out just as it does humans, there are other more stomach churning reasons for their ill health.
The animals are not only unhealthy due to how they're treated in terms of actual abuse or crowded and stressed conditions, but what they're being fed is absolutely disgusting a crime against nature itself. These cattle are ruminants, meaning that they're designed to eat grass and perhaps some grain. They have four stomachs because they're meant to eats things with high cellulose content.
So what is it that these animals are being fed that further contributes to their being in such ill health and overweight? Until 1997, about 75% of the cattle in the US were being fed livestock wastes, the rendered remains of dead sheep and cattle. They were also fed millions of dead pets from animal shelters. The FDA banned such practices after evidence from Great Britain suggested that this might be responsible for a widespread outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) also known as "mad cow disease"
However, current FDA regulations do allow dead pigs and horses to be turned into cattle feed, along with dead poultry too. They also allow the poultry to be fed to dead cattle. Other constituents of cattle feed include cattle blood, metal fragments and sawdust.
Is it any wonder then that these poor animals are sick and weak and some are unable to even walk to their own slaughter?
Many such animals go to the slaughter with their bodies wracked with tumors, viruses, infections and some reports indicate that a majority of them have cancer throughout their bodies. Meat packers are taught how to cut around the cancers and tumors to avoid infecting the meat itself. But this means that even the "uninfected" parts are so weakened of nutrients, oxygen, energy and life force that it is still unfit for human consumption.
Because of their low nutrient content, higher levels of diseased tissues, bacteria, weak and impure electromagnetic and life force energies along with little to no exercise and not being allowed to eat the grasses that they are designed to eat and other reasons constitute why these animals are unfit for human consumption and a horrible choice of food to be putting into your body.
The Chicken is No Better
If you think the chickens that are sold at fast food places are treated any better, then please take a look at this 48 minute video recently featured on Mercola.com
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...
How Science is used to Deceive
The meat and other foods sold at fast food restaurants bears little to no resemblance to actual freshly cut meat. Food scientists employ a number of very deceptive and clever techniques to fool the senses into thinking that such foods are tasty and healthy. Science has discovered many chemicals that can exactly emulate the smells of fresh foods found in nature.
For example; Ethyl-2-methyl butyrate smells just like an apple. Adding methyl-2-peridylketone makes something taste like popcorn. Ethyl-3- hydroxybutanoate makes something taste like marshmallow. On and on these combinations go and it can all be done without effecting the appearance or nutritional value of the processed foods. These ingredients can be listed as "natural flavors" on the labels, even on foods that are listed as "organic"
At the Lamb Weston plant in American falls, Idaho, Eric Shlosser saw how the French fries undergo an amazing amount of scientific testing and chemical tweaking to attain just the right taste, consistently, mouthfeel, cooking time and even after taste. At one point they had him close his eyes and he was asked to identify various foods just from their smell. When the first sample was brought him he said "hmm… apples". When the next sample was brought to him he said "French fries", the third smelled just like a hamburger. Upon opening his eyes and expecting to see each of the foods present, all he saw was a scientist in a lab coat holding small white pieces of paper under his nose. These were the samples of the chemicals used to make fast food taste and smell so good.
This process is certainly not limited merely to fast food or French fries. At the IFF (International Flavor and Fragrances) plant in Dayton, NJ, Eric saw how chemicals that make nearly every single food or product sold on the market today taste and smell just as they do. Some of these products include; toothpastes, colognes, pop tarts, frozen and restaurant foods, ice cream, snack cakes, cookies, mouthwashes, antacids, potato chips, corn chips, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, sports drinks, bottled teas, beer, wine coolers, all natural juice drinks, frostings, dishwashing detergents, floor waxes, shampoo, soaps, furniture polish, and the list goes on and on.
Why such a focus on the aroma of food, because up to 90% of the taste of a food is actually linked to its aroma. Of course if the food is healthy and fresh, why do they need to add aroma and taste back into the food? Simple, because the food sold at most if not all fast food restaurants is so degraded, so old and of such poor quality that if you actually were to see it's color and smell it before all of this chemical processing, you would never put such foods into your stomach. This is especially true of the meats that are sold at fast food restaurants.
This is a major reason why reading those labels and eating as much organic, unpackaged and unprocessed foods as possible is so incredible vital to health and longevity. Too often even foods that are labeled as "natural" or "organic" will contain many of these chemical potions. Eating as much raw real foods such as fruits, vegetables and locally grown meats is about the only way to make sure that you're not consuming foods with these myriad of chemicals in them.
What Color is the Food?
Aroma is not the only tweaking that goes into fast foods. The color of food also has a lot to do with it's perception of flavor. This is by design because we know that color often indicates whether a food is ripe or rancid. In the early 1970's an experiment was done where people were given an "oddly tinted" meal of steak and French fries that appeared normal under the colored lights they were subjected to. Everyone thought that the food tasted fine that is until the lighting was changed. As soon as people saw that the steak was actually blue and the fries were green, people were shocked and several even became ill.
If you have bought stand supermarket meats at anytime, you probably noticed that it has that bright red "healthy" looking color in it. Well that meat is not much better than your typical fast food meats. The bright red color is from the same kind of chemical food coloring and chemical wizardry of sight and aroma as the food coloring s used in the fast food industry.
The processing of these foods whether it's the beef, chicken, other meats or French fries has not only destroyed its chemical and nutritional value, but the energetic and phytonutrient or light energy of these foods long before they get to the dinner table.
Understanding how this food is processed, what the animals are eating, how they're treated and what effect all of this has on the animals that you're consuming is critical to understanding why fast food is something that you want to avoid at all costs.
The Quick and the Dead
At the very least you want to limit your consumption of this convenient food to no more than once a week, making sure to take digestive enzymes with every meal to ensure proper digestion. Since these foods are enzymes, nutrient and energy dead, that means that you will use up far more of your own digestive enzymes to process this food. This is why fast food equals dead food and the more dead foods we consume, the faster we end up dead ourselves. We truly are what we eat.
Most natural raw foods contain their own natural enzymes which helps the food to digest itself in the stomach and intestines. This takes a big load off of the pancreas which makes most of our digestive enzymes. This is very important since digestion is the number one drain on our store of enzymes. What's not well known is that enzymes are also a major part of our immune system and are responsible for every process that occurs in the human body, even the beating of your heart.
This is why eating foods high in natural enzymes, which means eating raw, fresh and minimally processed foods as much as possible along with sufficient enzyme supplements, can go a long way to not only aiding in digestion and absorption of nutrients, but can even help boost the immune system and ward off disease.
When enzymes are not busy digesting our last meal, they travel around the body dissolving tumors, killing bacteria, viruses and germs, absorbing dead tissues and rebuilding new ones along with strengthening the entire system. This is the main reason why juicing is so effective at helping people at overcoming and eliminating their serious diseases
We get a plethora of these natural vitamins, nutrients and enzymes when juicing or making natural smoothies with plenty of raw, fresh ingredients. Their natural enzymes are released in the juicer or the blender in the same way that cutting up a fresh salad also releases and activates the nutritional and enzymatic contents in the leaves.
Hopefully you can now see more clearly why it's vital to avoid fast foods. This truth extends to just about all packaged and processed foods. Food that is packaged and processed is almost totally enzyme, nutrient and energy dead. These foods use up and drain the human body of tremendous amounts of enzymes required to digest and assimilate their nutrient content while giving very little in the way of true life giving energies back.
The longer we keep putting these denatured and energy dead processed foods into our bodies, the faster we're using up our own limited stores of these life sustaining substances. This can not only hasten the onset of disease, but can accelerate the arrival of our own demise. It for these and other reasons why you should avoid fast food at all costs.
If you want to read more about this, the author highly recommends the book "Fast Food Nation".
Sources;
"Fast Food Nation", Eric Schlosser
"The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing" Daniel Reid
About the author
Richard Stacel is a network engineer and practitioner of Chinese martial arts, medicine and chi-gung for over twenty four years. Having learned many Chinese health and healing arts from old world gung-fu and healing masters and practitioners, Rich has helped many people to overcome their health issues and achieve their fitness goals. Through diligent study and experience he has taken this knowledge even further over the years including reading scores of books on Chinese medicine, health, nutrition, supplements, meditation, martial arts, physics, Science and many other subjects. Utilizing the web, health and fitness videos, newsletters, articles, teachings and lectures, Rich is passionate about spreading the true knowledge of health, healing, fitness and spiritual truths. I'm proud to be writing articles for NaturalNews.com You can learn more about the Chinese Health and Fitness video by visiting his website at www.chinesehealthandfitness.com
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Why You Should Avoid Fast Food at All Costs
- Chicken Which Should be Banned, The plzchuckle
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This is a reply to # 2,132,863
Do you put dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent made of silicone, in your chicken dishes?
How about tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you?
These are just two of the ingredients in a McDonalds Chicken McNugget. Only 50 percent of a McNugget is actually chicken. The other 50 percent includes corn derivatives, sugars, leavening agents and completely synthetic ingredients.
Organic Authority helpfully transcribed the full ingredients list provided by McDonalds:
"White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid , rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary).
Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch.
Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent."
Sources:
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Related Links:
Read this article and/or sign up for Dr. Mercola's FREE NewsLetter click here.
© Copyright 2010 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format.
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Fast Food Advertising
plzchuckle
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This is a reply to # 2,132,863
by: Jon Barron
There has been a veritable bonanza of news stories over the past few weeks concerning the fast food and junk food industries. We're talking about studies detailing the influence of cartoons, advertising, and internet promotions for fast food, government subsidies and infiltrated nutrition committees, and city bans on fast food toys -- not to mention studies showing how you can lose weight and improve your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers on a pure junk food diet. And since one of my primary functions in life is railing against junk food, it's been like Christmas come early. Over the course of this newsletter, I'm going to tie together all of these disparate stories and explain the good, the bad, and the unmentionable about junk food and fast food. So without further ado:
Cartoons, advertising, fast food
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity released their study evaluating fast food nutrition and marketing to youth. At 208 pages, the study serves as a damning indictment of the fast food industry. Among other conclusions, the study found:
- The fast food industry spent more than $4.2 billion in 2009 on advertising.
- The average preschooler (2-5 years) saw 2.8 TV ads for fast food every day in 2009; children (6-11 years) saw 3.5; and teens (12-17 years) saw 4.7.
- McDonald's web-based marketing starts focusing on children as young as age 2 at www.Ronald.com. In fact, McDonald's and Burger King have created sophisticated websites with 60 to 100 pages of advergames and virtual worlds to engage children (www.McWorld.com, www.HappyMeal.com, and www.ClubBK.com).
- Nine restaurant Facebook pages had more than one million fans as of July 2010, and Starbucks boasted more than 11.3 million fans.
- McDonald's and KFC specifically targeted African American youth with TV advertising, websites, and banner ads. African American teens viewed 75% more TV ads for McDonald's and KFC compared to white teens.
- Forty percent of parents reported that their child asks to go to McDonald's at least once a week; 15% of preschoolers ask to go every day.
- Just 12 of 3,039 possible kids' meal combinations met nutrition criteria for preschoolers; 15 met nutrition criteria for older children.
In its executive summary, the study asserted. "Young people must consume less of the calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods served at fast food restaurants. Parents and schools can do more to teach children how to make healthy choices. Above all, fast food restaurants must drastically change their current marketing practices so that children and teens do not receive continuous encouragement to seek out food that will severely damage their health. In addition, when young people visit, the restaurants should do more to encourage the purchase of more healthful options."
So what's not to like about the study? As it turns out, plenty!
Benjamin Radford, professional skeptic and critical thinker, blasts the study for one glaring omission in his article for Discovery News, tellingly titled, Junk Food Studies Ignore Parent Responsibility. As Radford says:
"Do ads make kids want things? Of course they do. But parents, not fast food chains, have near-total control over what their kids eat. If parents can't say no to little Billy when he says he wants a Happy Meal, that's not McDonald's fault; that's poor parenting.
"It's obvious why these reports focus almost exclusively on the fast food business. People hate advertisements and big corporations, and the fast food industry is a big target. The reports are written for parents, and those parents are unlikely to accept and embrace a study that blames them for what their kids eat (‘our best advice is to not feed your child junk food')."
The facts stated in the Rudd study actually support Radford's conclusions, even though the study's authors ignored those facts in their recommendation. According to the Rudd study:
- Eighty-four percent of parents reported taking their child to a fast food restaurant at least once in the past week; 66% reported going to McDonald's.
So why did the study not hold parents accountable? Radford summed it up quite nicely in his article, "It's much easier (and more socially acceptable) to place the blame on corporations and advertisers."
Unfortunately, like the study itself, Radford ignores some underlying truths that make reality far more nuanced than either: "blame the fast food marketers" or in Radford's case, "blame the parents."
The problems with fast food are nuanced
It is important to understand that fast food companies do not lead children to bad habits. They follow them there -- and then exploit those habits to maximize profits. To put it simply, corporations follow the money. In that sense, advertising is more reactive than proactive. For example, fast food advertisers followed the market into the inner city -- then exploited it. The reason fast food corporations specifically target African American youth with TV advertising is because they "emerged" as ready buyers of their product. As Walter Pitchford, a McDonald's manager on Chicago's West Side said in the book Black Enterprise, "In the inner city, a McDonalds ceases to be a restaurant and becomes more like a supermarket. You see some of the same children five or six times a day, and adults, too, drop in twice or three times. The store is more of a necessity to the community than a place for treats." A company would be fiscally irresponsible not to chase after a market that dedicated.
There is nothing new here. I've stated for years that stores and markets offer what we buy. They feature sodas and snacks in their power aisles, not because they are trying to destroy the world's health, but because they are high profit items that people can't seem to get enough of. Supermarkets sell soft drinks because soft drinks are a $61 billion dollar a year business. If people stopped buying soft drinks and snacks and opted en masse for kombucha tea and sun-dried vegetable chips, that's what you'd find in your supermarket power aisles.
Even now, organic has become a hot marketing term. So, as if on cue, mega-corporations like Heinz, PepsiCo, and Kraft are busily gobbling up small, dedicated, organic food producing companies. McDonald's has turned itself into the world's biggest seller of salads. And as more and more consumers now view high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) with a jaundiced eye, companies like Pepsi and Snapple have announced that they are going HFCS free…at least on some of their products. They won't actually abandon HFCS completely until consumer buying patterns tell them it makes sense to do so. And despite the salads, McDonald's is now pushing the McRib sandwich with its 26 g of fat because people buy it. Just add a large order of fries and a Coke to that and you've got a killer meal.
The bottom line here is that consumption of fast foods is the fault of neither corporations nor consumers alone. They are locked together in a symbiotic Danse Macabre. Like a drug pusher and a heroin user, neither can exist without the other. And while we're at it, let's not forget the role of government in this affair. Even as politicians make pompous noise about taxing and banning unhealthy foods (more on that later), they subsidize the very industries they excoriate.
- Government corn subsidies push HFCS down your throat because subsidies make the foods made with HFCS that much cheaper to buy.
- Even as the government tells us that cigarettes are harmful and spends hundreds of millions of dollars trying to convince us not to smoke, it supports the tobacco industry with hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies that help keep smoke pouring into our children's lungs. Oh, in case you thought tobacco subsidies are a thing of the past, you're wrong. They're back and scheduled to continue to at least 2014.
- And then there's the fast food industry. As Eric Schlosser said in his book Fast Food Nation, "The fast food industry has worked closely with its allies in Congress and the White House to oppose new worker safety, food safety, and minimum wage laws. While publicly espousing support for the free market, the fast food chains have quietly pursued and greatly benefited from a wide variety of government subsidies. Far from being inevitable, America's fast food industry in its present form is the logical outcome of certain political and economic choices."
And right on cue, the US Government has just granted an exemption to the fast food industry out of the healthcare reform act so they can continue to offer less than minimal healthcare to their workers. This will ultimately save them many millions of dollars -- so they can continue to offer you unhealthy food at a discount not shared by the manufacturers of healthy food.
Fox in the henhouse
But the problems don't stop there. The fast food industry has managed to finagle its way into the heart of the debate on healthy food and health in general. It's not just a matter of having the political muscle to force the US Government to grant them an exemption from the healthcare reform act. No indeed! In fact, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), McDonald's and the snack food industry managed to get their PR firm, Porter Novelli International, positioned as the designer of the USDA Food Pyramid. Incidentally, the PCRM actually filed suit against the USDA because six of the 11 members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee have financial ties to the food industry. And if that's not enough, just a few days ago, the UK Department of Health announced that it has invited McDonald's and KFC, along with PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars, and Diageo, to suggest government policy measures to help reverse obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease in the UK.
San Francisco Happy Meals ban
Not all government actions support the fast food industry. Some definitely attack it. For example, earlier this month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance requiring meals that include toys with their purchase (can you say Happy Meals) to meet specific nutritional guidelines.
Under the ordinance, a restaurant may not provide an incentive item [that is, toy] linked to the purchase of a single food item or meal if the single food item or meal includes any of the following as defined in the ordinance:
- Excessive calories -- more than 200 for a single item, 600 for a meal). Well that pretty much rules out 99% of all menu items from fast food chains from McDonalds to Panera.
- Excessive sodium -- more than 480 mg per single item, 640 for a meal. Again, that rules out 99% of most fast food menus.
- Excessive fat, including saturated fat, and trans fat exceeding 0.5 grams. (This is waived for fats from nuts, seeds, nut butters, individually served eggs, and low fat cheese.)
In addition, a meal must also contain at least 0.5 cups or more of fruits and 0.75 cups or more of vegetables. (By the way, sweetened applesauce counts as fruit and French fries count as vegetables.)
So what's the problem? This certainly seems reasonable, and many in the alternative health community support it.
My problem is the same as I've always expressed. It's not that I'm inherently against the state inserting itself into health and nutrition in our lives. Hey, if they could do it well, I wouldn't oppose it. There's no question but that it would be helpful to have a powerful, well-financed entity working to counteract the billions of dollars corporations spend marketing deadly "food" to the world. But as little as I trust medical doctors, the media, and corporations to get things right when it comes to our health, I trust politicians far, far less. As a rule, they know nothing about health and nutrition. They are merely bandwagon jumpers, looking to score political points and find yet another way to pick our pockets. And like the proverbial camel, once they get their nose in the tent, it's impossible to get rid of them.
I expressed this frustration in my Counting Camels newsletter that responded to the NYC Health Department ban on trans fatty acids in foods (a ban since replicated in a number of other cities and states). So what's the problem with banning trans fats; they're bad, aren't they? And the answer is not necessarily. Synthetic trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are bad, but natural trans fats such as MCT's and CLA are extremely healthy -- a distinction lost on publicity seeking legislators. A general ban on trans fats means that a restaurant can't add these oils to foods or cook with coconut oil (one of the healthiest oils for cooking) for that matter. Politicians do not understand the nuances of health. In addition, by forcing restaurant to use more refined, high Omega-6, commercial vegetable oils in their cooking, government is actually promoting heart attacks by increasing NEFA levels in the human body. The imbalance caused by excessive consumption of high Omega-6 vegetable oils is at least as great a health threat as saturated fats and trans fatty acids. So forget nuance, politicians and their medical advisors don't even understand the basics of health and nutrition.
And it gets worse. Once the door is opened, politicians then look to top each other by proving that they're more concerned about your health than any other politician. At that point, you truly see signs of government grossly overstepping its boundaries. A case in point is Cocaine Soda, which came out in 2007. Yes, it tasted horrible and was offensive in concept, but it was perfectly legal. Nevertheless, the FDA came down on them claiming that they presented themselves as an "alternative to an illicit street drug." That's utter nonsense. We're talking about a caffeine and Sugar drink that played off the "name" cocaine. But then so does Coca Cola. In fact, Coca Cola doesn't just play off the name; the original formula actually contained a significant hit of cocaine. The "live" coca leaves were removed from the formula in the early 1900's, but to this day, Coca-Cola uses as an ingredient a cocaine-free coca leaf extract. Talk about the "real thing." If you're not just trying to score political points by going after Cocaine Soda for connecting with cocaine in their marketing, then you have to come after Coke too. But no, it was just about using health as a political football -- about trying to score some of those political points, some of those newspaper headlines, that the NYC Health Department scored when they came down on trans fatty acids.
And to top it off, the State of Connecticut actually seized cases of Cocaine Soda off the shelves, claiming the water used in it wasn't certified. At that point, we were looking at government run amok, trampling on legal rights, and the camel no longer just had his nose in the tent; he had taken over the tent.
Twinkie defense
And then there's the study just announced a couple of weeks ago that showed that you could lose weight, and dramatically improve your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers while eating nothing but the worst junk foods -- as long as you limited the total number of calories.
You might want to reread that last paragraph again since it turns everything you thought you knew about junk food upside down.
For 10 weeks, instead of meals, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate a Twinkie, a nutty bar, or a powdered donut every three hours. For variety, he also munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos. Two-thirds of his total intake came from junk food. He also took a multivitamin pill, drank a protein shake daily, and ate a can of green beans or three to four Celery stalks each day. Despite subsisting primarily on junk food and not exercising, he limited his calories to a maximum of 1,800 a day. After two months, the result:
- He lost 27 lbs.
- His body mass index dropped from an overweight 28.8 to 24.9, considered normal for his size.
- His bad LDL cholesterol dropped 20 percent.
- His good HDL cholesterol increased 20 percent.
- And his triglycerides dropped 39 percent.
So, just when you think you know everything about junk food, high glycemic foods, saturated fats, and trans fatty acids, surprise! In the end, calories in VS calories out (as I've been saying for years), turns out to be a primary factor not just in obesity, but in overall health as well.
That said, there's still a world of long-term health issues that make it clear that you don't really want to live long-term on junk food. But still, it's amazing to see how much of the negativity associated with junk food primarily comes down to calories.
Conclusion
In the end, junk food is still junk, and eating it is not conducive to long term health. But calories count even more, so start counting them and get the extra weight off. And if you don't think you can survive on a diet of Twinkies, Big Macs and Duncan Hines Brownies, then go for a Mediterranean diet high in nutrient dense fruits and vegetables -- that is, foods low in calories, but high in nutrition.
Be highly suspicious of government programs designed to regulate your behavior. Be suspicious of trans fatty acid bans. Be suspicious of Happy Meal toy bans. And be suspicious of government programs to levy a special tax on sugared sodas, which will merely encourage more people to drink deadly sugar-free sodas. And even worse, it's incredibly hypocritical.
- The government uses your tax dollars to subsidize the corn industry so they can produce high fructose corn syrup at a discount.
- The beverage companies then use this discounted sweetener to make their sodas that they sell to you. So again, you're paying.
- And now the government wants to charge you a premium tax to help with budget deficits if you buy the drinks they've discounted to encourage you to buy them in the first place. Bottom line: you pay yet again.
If they truly want to raise the cost of sugared sodas to discourage you from buying them, why not just cut the corn subsidies. That will save you double tax payments and raise the cost of the soda so you'll buy less of it. This is a much simpler solution that saves you money, gets government out of your life, and improves your health. And that, of course, is why you are unlikely to ever see it happen.
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- More Reasons to Avoid Fast Food plzchuckle
11 y
6,314
This is a reply to # 2,132,863
Most people are aware of the many health issues associated with the regular consumption of fast food. It's now common knowledge that the meats at such restaurants are some of the poorest quality and are unfit for human consumption. This apparently applies not only to the meats but also to the so-called "cheeses" as well. According to an article at Sweetliberty.org, Pizza Hut has been spraying the cheeses used on their pizza with Silicon, which is a toxic cancer causing chemical. Some of those pizzas have even been sold to local districts for use in their school lunch program.
In January 2009 I wrote a Natural News article titled `Why You Should Avoid Fast Food at All Costs` which covered some of the major reasons why most of the food sold in fast food restaurants are of such poor quality and not fit for human consumption. But what has recently come to the author`s attention is even more disturbing.
Silicon on your Pizza from Sweetliberty.org
Polydimethylsiloxane is a substance that is primarily used in manufacturing as a de-foaming agent for commercial boilers. It is not approved for use as a food additive; yet, a major pizza restaurant chain is using this silicone-based chemical as a stabilizer for cheese on its patented pizza products.
In order to preserve their frozen pizzas, this major chain of pizza restaurants claims that their silicon emulsifier is a necessary preservative. Although the package does not list the formula in the ingredients list, it does list "other additives" under the guise of Patent # 4894245.
A review of the United States Patent Office website confirms this story, first reported on page 5 of the February, 2006 issue of Pete Hardin`s "Milkweed":
"A silicone emulsifier (Dow Corning FG-10) is mixed with water to form a 0.05% emulsifier solution. This solution is sprayed on the frozen cheese granules at a rate of 1.75 parts of solution per 100 parts by weight of cheese."
This is what some children may be eating when buying pizza for lunch from their school cafeteria. Silicon is not approved for use as a food additive and even if it were is this something that you want your kids to ingest on a regular basis? Silicon is the same chemical currently being used in breast implants.
When this silicon-based chemical (polydimethylsiloxane) is heated in excess of 150 degrees centigrade (302 degrees Fahrenheit) it breaks down into formaldehyde which is a known cancer causing carcinogen. Exposure to formaldehyde vapors have been known to damage the eyes, nose, and throat at levels as low as 1 part per million parts of air (1 "ppm"). Low-level exposure can cause teariness, redness, and burning of the eyes, as well as sneezing and coughing, and sore throat.
Repeated exposure to formaldehyde has been linked to asthma and may increase your chances of contracting pneumonia or bronchitis. Formaldehyde`s long-term effects on the lungs are not fully understood but may cause permanent damage.
The destructive and deadly chemicals that are being added to foods today and passed off as necessary ingredients are truly shocking. This is made even more shocking when they`re being served to children in schools without the slightest regard for both the short and long term health effects to their growing bodies and minds. If this does not convince people to avoid fast food at all costs, then I do not know what will.
Best of health,
Richard Stacel
- Pharmaburger plzchuckle
11 y
6,278
This is a reply to # 2,132,863
Pharmaburger is episode one of "Food Investigations," the new mini documentary series that reveals shocking truths about foods. See FoodInvestigations.com for all episodes. Created by Mike Adams the Health Ranger.
- Chicken Which Should be Banned, The plzchuckle
11 y
6,265
- Food We Eat could have Poison in It,... plzchuckle
11 y
6,264
This is a reply to # 2,132,699
(NaturalNews) If someone were to tell you that there was an element of poison in your plate of food, what would your reaction be? Truth is, we do eat poison. Regularly if not every day. Unless we are informed and aware to begin with, that is. Our food is poisoned with pesticides and other types of chemicals, which have serious implications for health.
Even our kids are exposed to the worst kinds of chemicals in food specially targeted at them. Chemicals in food kill a child`s developing taste buds. Therefore, she won`t know the difference between a natural taste, (or how strawberry yogurt ought to taste), and an artificial but deceptively good taste.
Food for children tends to be full of color, additives, Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) and artificial sweeteners.
According to an article published in The Guardian (Saturday May 15, 2004), the following list of ingredients are a big no-no, and should never be given to kids:
Monosodium glutamate (E621); disodium 5`-ribonucleotide (E635); artificial sweeteners; sodium benzoate (E211); sulphur dioxide (E220); the colourings Quinoline Yellow (E104), Brilliant Blue (E133), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau 4R (E124), and Indigo Carmine (E132). Even vanilla essence is bad, bad, bad. The label on the ice cream container must say vanilla extract, if not, don`t eat the ice cream. Vanilla essence is a chemical.
There have been reports to even suggest that vanilla essence is nothing but industrial effluents, bottled and distributed as the sweet smelling spice. At this point, it is worthwhile acknowledging what seemed like an anti-advertisement for m&m-type sweets: it ran a caption that said "food additives are as harmful as lead". Now, if that doesn`t tell us a thing or two then what will?
Chemicals have almost become accepted as part of life and normal, or maybe we don`t ask enough of the right questions. Whatever the reason, the time has come for us to take stock of what we put on our plates.
Even so-called fresh produce is laced with pesticides. And other healthy foods such as yogurt, are slowly sliding down the scale into the "supposedly healthy" category. This is because the list of ingredients is not only suspect, but outright harmful in many cases.
For example, according to the same article in The Guardian, "Suspect the worst when ingredients listings mention loose terms such as `flavorings` or `colorings`. Likewise, with the word `flavor`. The difference between snacks that are `cheese flavor` and `cheese flavored` is that the latter actually has cheese in it."
Pick your snacks and packed foods with utmost awareness. Eat produce that is fresh, seasonal and organically grown. Eating organic could mean a drain on your wallet. It could also be carbon footprint intensive (like eating organic strawberries flown in from Peru, for example). In either case, one could opt for produce from a local farm that doesn`t spray its produce. This means being informed and aware when you buy your food and knowing where to buy your food too. It also means participating actively in one of the most important aspects of your survival: gathering food and eating it. In other words, take responsibility for the food you eat.
Most animal products such as milk and eggs are under the scanner now and rightly so. If you love your toast with egg on it, then make sure the egg is certified organic and has a seal to that effect on the box. Recently, however, there has been a campaign against eggs, organic or not, because there is evidence of growth promoting hormones in it. So you just may be better off giving up eggs altogether. If you can`t do that overnight, then the least you can do is switch to the organic variety.
Educate your kids to eat more fruit and vegetables rather than sugary treats at the end of the school day. Teach them when they are very young the value of eating healthy and what it really means to do so. Even babies these days can`t escape the chemical onslaught. Diapers and baby products are made using the harshest of chemicals such as dioxins, for example. Search for alternatives. Babies deserve it. Besides, you will be doing the earth a big favor by supporting chemical-free products, be it packaged food, soap, baby lotion or carrots.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/chemicalw...
by: Nanditha Ram, citizen journalist
About the author
Nanditha is a freelance journalist and writer with more than just a passing interest in heath and wellness, food safety and environmental impacts on children's health. She is a yoga and wellness coach living and working in London, UK.
Her blogs can be found at http://www.bindumandalayoga.blogspo...
http://www.look-before-you-eat.blog...
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The Food We Eat could have Poison in It
- Foods with Scary Surprises plzchuckle
10 y
4,568
This is a reply to # 2,132,894
The FDA has established
guidelines
for a number of contaminants that it will allow in our food supply. Mainstreet.com has assembled a list of some of the most common products for which the
FDA has set contamination thresholds. Here's just a taste of what they found:
Potato Chips
The FDA only takes action when 6 percent or more of chips show rot from pre- or post-harvest infection.
Tomatoes
Acceptable levels of mold contamination go as low as 15 percent in canned tomatoes to as high as 45 percent for ketchup. And the FDA allows up to 30
fly eggs per every 100 grams of tomato sauces, or up to two maggots per every 100 grams of tomato juice.
Raisins
The FDA won't mandate action unless 10 or more whole or equivalent Drosophila flies and 35 of its eggs are found per 8 ounces of raisins.
Macaroni
To take action, the FDA must find either an average of 225 insect fragments per 225 grams in six sub-samples, or an average of 4.5 rodent hairs per 225
grams in six sub-samples.
To learn more about what Mainstreet.com found, you can click on the link below.
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
According to the article above, there are acceptable levels of maggots found in US canned tomato juice, up to two whole maggots
per 100 grams, before the FDA sees a problem and gets involved. Up to 45 percent of a company's ketchup samples can contain
mold before the FDA cares. And if you're eating raisins, you better be on the lookout for flies and fly eggs, because they're
also allowed in small amounts according to the FDA rules.
These aren't even as bad as the acceptable levels of mammalian feces allowed in peanuts or sesame seeds (up to 5 mg per 100
mg). Folks, that means rats are crawling around in your processed peanuts and sesame seeds and leaving behind feces that end up
in your food.
Processed Food Manufacturing Requires Leeway with "Defects"
The problem here isn't so much the pests in the field, or "defects" as the FDA calls insect and animal invaders (along with
invader feces). In fact, a few bugs on your food from the fields probably means your produce has been grown organically,
and is
>
not saturated in pesticides as is so common today
with Monsanto's pesticide resistant genetically modified crops that are sprayed with double or possibly many multiples more
of normal pesticide levels because they are
>
genetically altered to resist pesticide
.
And some strains of GE (genetically engineered) corn and soybeans produce their own pesticide internally,
>
which can actually turn your gut into a pesticide factory
!
No, the real problem here is food storage and processed food production. Because let's face it, processed food is not fresh
food. It sits around in storage facilities to the point of potatoes rotting before they're transformed into salty, oily
potato chips and to the point of mold overtaking the tomatoes waiting to be canned or pureed into sauces or juices.
And while these whole, fresh foods wait around to be processed, the flies and the rats get to them and leave eggs and hair
and feces behind.
As the article above points out, most people would say the acceptable level or mammalian feces or fly eggs in your food is
zero.
But not according to the FDA! I encourage you to read the entire list of acceptable "defects" that the FDA allows into your
processed food in the article above, and then try eating some processed food without thinking about how many rats have
walked across your peanut butter or how many pus pockets are in your frozen fish (from the acceptable number of parasites
that have burrowed deep inside the fish flesh, and while this last example isn't necessarily a "processed food" problem, an acceptable number of "pus pockets" in fish really is quite disgusting).
Isn't it?
Processed Food is Not Fresh Food, and Labels May Deceive You
The food labels found today on everything that's canned, packed, packaged or wrapped fall into a realm of "anything goes".
While the FDA does check food labels, they only check to see whether or not the Nutrition Facts panel is present, rather
than whether or not it is true and accurate, and of course the label will never mention the "acceptable" number of rat
hairs that may be found in the food.
Beyond this, the FDA also does not look for deceptive "0 trans-fat" claims (when serving sizes are so small they escape the
need to label these dangerous fats) and they don't do anything about misleading "made with real fruit" (used to describe
added-sugar fruit pastes) or "all natural" statements.
The FDA also doesn't check very often for mammalian feces, rat hairs or fly eggs in your food. When they do check it's
usually a small batch, and in the case of tomato ketchup a full 45 percent of samples are allowed to contain mold
before the FDA considers action necessary. Does this mean we can assume that 44 percent of all tomato ketchup contains some
traces of mold? It wouldn't surprise me, given the
track record of processed food companies caring about your health
.
Folks, you shouldn't be eating French fries anyway, but if you're putting processed tomato ketchup on your fries you can
add mold to the list of problematic ingredients in those fries.
And let's not forget about acrylamide.
Acrylamide, Your Baked and Fried Food Nerve Poison
Acrylamide was once believed to be only a product of industrial waste; it was not until 2002 that it was discovered to be
almost everywhere in the human diet. It is a tasteless, invisible chemical byproduct formed when foods -- particularly
high-carbohydrate foods -- are fried or baked at high temperatures.
The chemical is present in 40 percent of the caloric intake of most Americans (in the form of fried and baked processed
food), although French fries and potato chips contain the highest concentrations.
So why is acrylamide a problem?
High-level exposure to acrylamide has caused cancer in lab animals and neurological problems in workers handling the
substance. Avoiding acrylamide comes down to avoiding fried and baked carbohydrates, like potato chips, French fries, pork
rinds and all manner of backed and fried snack products.
But What About "All Natural" Labels on Processed Foods?
What does an "all natural" label really mean when it comes to processed food?
Zero. Zilch. Nada. Zip.
The natural food label on a processed food has no standard definition and really no meaning at all. The term is only
regulated on meat and poultry, for which an item labeled natural may not contain any artificial flavors, colors or chemical
preservatives . But in the processed food arena, a "natural" product can be virtually anything -- genetically modified, full
of pesticides, made with corn syrup, additives, preservatives and artificial ingredients.
It is because of this very vagueness that
7-Up is able to claim it's "100% natural"
and is still within its legal rights. It's also due to this misleading label that many consumers are fooled into buying
foods labeled as "natural" in the belief that these foods are better for your health, when in reality these processed foods
are more or less complete junk and are most likely filled with "acceptable levels" of fly eggs and rat feces.
But you can expect that food manufacturers will continue to use the "All Natural" label claims for as long as possible.
Products labeled as "natural" or "sustainable" account for $50 billion in sales annually, or 8 percent of total retail
grocery sales, so don't expect them to disappear from your grocery store anytime soon.
Now, you may be asking how an "USDA Organic" label is any assurance there won't be feces or fly eggs in your food? That's a
fair question and I'll just point out that USDA Organic farmers (
and many small, local organic farms working without certification
) must use different standards when growing their vegetables.
These standards include never using:
Pesticides
Synthetic Fertilizers
Sewage sludge
Genetically modified organisms
Ionizing radiation
So first of all, you are avoiding those unwanted and unhealthy things when you buy organic. Beyond this advantage, I would
advise you to wash your fresh produce to remove any bugs or dirt that may have traveled from the field to your kitchen.
A properly washed organic fruit or vegetable
presents the most nutritious and least harmful food item you can put into your mouth, and
is certainly better for you in so many ways
than any processed food or
conventionally grown fruits and vegetables
available at your grocery store.
How to Choose High-Quality Foods for You and Your Family
Processed foods containing cheap, chemical-laden ingredients (and bugs and feces) will eventually take their toll on your
body, and you'll pay for your dietary choices with both your quality of life and your pocketbook when you get ill.
As I'm fond of reminding you, 90 percent of the money Americans spend on food is spent on processed foods, which is a
disaster for your health even if you're buying "natural" processed foods. And these processed foods are filled
with acceptable levels of bugs, eggs and feces besides all of the nutritionally void ingredients as well.
When it comes to raisins, whether organic or conventional (especially golden raisins according to the article above) your
best bet is to carefully inspect those raisins for flies or fly eggs!
Of course, most raisins are perfectly fine, but a quick visual inspection of that handful of raisins might save you from a
surprise in your mouth!
And again, how healthy can you really be if you're routinely ingesting pesticides, Antibiotics , hormone-disrupting
chemicals, genetically modified organisms, chemical additives, colors and preservatives , and an untold amount of other
chemically-derived byproducts and toxins that are routinely found in processed foods, regardless of a label on the package
that may say "All Natural"?
First and foremost, you'll want to avoid these processed foods by purchasing items that have no labels at all … namely
fresh vegetables, preferably organic and locally grown. Grass-fed, organic meats and
raw dairy products
are also staples your family can safely invest in.
Next, whether you're shopping at a supermarket or a farmer's market, here are the signs of a high-quality, healthy food:
It's grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers (organic foods fit this description, but so do some
non-organic foods)
It's not genetically modified. You can get your free Genetically-Modified-Organisms shopping guide here.
It contains no added growth hormones, Antibiotics , or other drugs
It does not contain artificial anything, nor any preservatives
It is a whole food, and this means it will not have a long list of ingredients (for instance, high-quality almond
butter should contain almonds (preferably raw) and maybe Sea Salt -- no added oils, sugars, etc.)
It is fresh (if you have to choose between wilted organic produce or fresh local conventional produce, the latter
is the better option)
It did not come from an
>
Animal Feeding Operation (AFO) farm
It is
grown with the laws of nature in mind
(meaning animals are fed their native diets, not a mix of grains and animal byproducts, and have free-range access
to the outdoors)
It is grown in a sustainable way (using minimal amounts of water, protecting the soil from burnout, and turning
animal wastes into natural fertilizers instead of environmental pollutants)
By educating yourself on what 'healthy food' really is, you'll easily avoid the myriad of processed foods on the market,
allowing you to put your family's food money toward purchases that will not only satisfy your appetites but also nourish
your health.
Disclaimer:
The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles
are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is
not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical
advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his
community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership
with a qualified health care professional.
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- Foods with Scary Surprises plzchuckle
10 y
4,568
- Foods You Shouldn't Touch With a Ten... plzchuckle
11 y
6,416
This is a reply to # 2,132,699
Scientists compared youngsters from a rural African village with another group living in Italy and found a dramatic difference. The African children had less obesity-linked bacteria, and more fatty acids which protect against inflammation.
The diet of the African children was similar to that of people living in the modern Western world thousands of years ago. Of the Italian children, only those who were still breast-feeding harbored bacteria resembling the African children's.
The trillions of microbes that inhabit your gut help you to digest food, protect against disease-causing bugs and limit inflammation.
The Telegraph reports:
"Pediatrician Dr Paolo Lionetti … and colleagues said children in industrialized countries who eat … 'Western' diets may reduce microbial richness — potentially contributing to a rise in allergic and inflammatory diseases in the last half-century."
Sources:
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Obesity is not the only health risk your child faces if he eats a diet consisting mainly of processed foods and snacks. As illustrated by this study, a junk food diet – with is a largely denatured diet, devoid of "live" nutrients such as healthy bacteria – can also set the stage for asthma, eczema, and a variety of allergies, inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases.
Sadly, as the Western-style diet spreads across the globe, much of the natural microbial diversity that is so crucial to good health is actually starting to disappear! Here, the authors stress the importance of "preserving this treasure of microbial diversity from ancient rural communities worldwide."
Indeed, the importance of eating a gut- healthy Diet cannot be underestimated. Your gut plays a major role in your physical and even mental health, and having a healthy gut entails maintaining a balance of "good" and "bad" bacteria – something you simply will not accomplish by eating highly processed, "dead" foods.
Until recently, most doctors dismissed the notion that your digestive system did much of anything outside of breaking down food, but in recent years scientists have revealed just how inaccurate this thinking was.
For example, an estimated 80 percent of your immune system is actually located in your gut, so supporting your digestive health is essential to also supporting your immune system, which is your number one defense system against ALL disease.
Therefore, it should come as no major surprise to find out that lack of beneficial bacteria in your intestines will also allow allergies, inflammation and autoimmune diseases to flourish where they might not otherwise.
Common signs and symptoms that you may need to address your intestinal balance include:
- Gas and bloating
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Sugar cravings, and cravings for refined carb foods
Chances are, if you or your entire family eats a lot of processed junk foods and fast foods, this list may be a description of a more or less an everyday "normal" state for you
So What Foods Should You Avoid Like the Plague?
Soda.
In my mind this is where most people will get the biggest bang for the effort involved. The average person is consuming more than one gallon of soda per week. This is one of the easiest shifts to make. Most diet sodas are worse than regular sodas as you can read in my recent review on aspartame. When people ask me what is safer to drink diet or regular soda I ask them what would they rather be hit in the head with, a baseball bat or a sledgehammer?
While many of you are not likely consuming many sodas it is vital to understand the importance of this simple change on your friends and family who are not as health inclined as you. So gentle persistent encouragement of this principle will have massively profound implications on their health.
Fortunately there are simple alternatives that are relatively easy to implement. The best is pure clean water. I just completed a four hour video interview with a leading water industry water expert and hope to share that with you in the next few weeks for more details.
For those who are really struggling you can purchase carbonated water and use flavored liquid stevias which tastes very close to most sodas. You can also use Turbo Tapping which is a highly effective free EFT tapping technique.
Doughnuts and Pasties
Overall these foods are worse than soda as they not only have Sugar typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup, but they also have dangerous trans fats. The reason I did not list this one first is that they are not as consumed by as many people
French Fries
Oh they taste so good but are ever so bad for you as they are loaded with the worst types of fat on the planet. Typically highly refined Genetically-Modified-Organisms omega 6 oils that are bad enough if you eat them as unheated salad dressing but then they are heated to a high temperature to transform them into a health destroying mixture that is guaranteed to drag your health down.
Avoid these like the plague. Be particularly careful when ordering hamburgers and other similar foods in a restaurant as most will include fries as the default and once they are at your table they are very difficult to resist. So please sure and tell the server that you want an alternative.
Nearly All Breakfast Cereals
Breakfast is, without question, the single most challenging meal to eat outside of your home. Nearly all typical breakfast offerings will drag your health down. The most common one that many people use are breakfast cereals which are merely disguised forms of high fructose corn syrup loaded with Genetically-Modified-Organisms grains. But pancakes, French toast, waffles, scrambled eggs and rolls don't do much to improve your health.
The Many Health Benefits of Maintaining Healthy Gut Flora
The ideal ratio between the bacteria in your body is 85 percent "good" and 15 percent "bad." That's right – you need FAR more beneficial bacteria (probiotics) than you might think in order to maintain the right balance.
The key here is to avoid as many processed foods as you can. This is a challenge because over 90% of the foods that Americans eat are processed and the number source of calories is high fructose corn syrup. So the general principle is to avoid processed foods, but some foods are more particularly pernicious than others so let me give you some examples.
This ratio is essential for:
- The proper development and function of your immune system
- Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease
- Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
- Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins
As you can see, probiotics perform a wide variety of functions, which renders them useful and beneficial for a number of health concerns, including the prevention or control of:
- Food and skin allergies in children
- Vaginitis
- Premature labor in pregnant women
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Recurrent ear and bladder infections
- Chronic diarrhea
One of the ways friendly bacteria help prevent allergies, infections and inflammatory conditions is by training your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately.
When you're deficient in these healthy bacteria, your immune system is ill equipped to address the many pathogens and antigens entering your system on a daily basis, and health problems can easily ensue.
Your Gut's Microflora Also Impacts Your Weight
The microflora in your digestive system is also emerging as a major player in weight management, and needless to say, junk food and weight gain typically go hand in hand.
Your gut flora is by no means the only underlying reason for this, but it does play an important part.
Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and it appears that the microbes in an overweight body are much more efficient at extracting calories from food.
Researchers have also suggested that certain bacteria may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, further contributing to obesity and difficulty to lose weight.
One such study found that the bifidobacteria counts taken from infants at the age of 6 months and 12 months were twice as high in healthy weight children as in those who became overweight, while S. Aureus levels were lower.
Interestingly, this finding may explain why breast-fed babies are also at a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.
The breast-fed Italian babies in the study above were also the only ones harboring bacteria resembling the African children's, which indicates your "diet may dominate other factors such as ethnicity, sanitation, geography or climate," the researchers said.
Two previous studies found that obese people had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called bacteroidetes than lean people. (Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat.)
This latest study confirms those results, as here too, the African children had significantly higher levels of Bacteroidetes and far lower levels of the firmicutes linked to obesity.
How to Optimize the Bacteria in Your Gut
Fortunately, influencing the ratio of bacteria growing in your body is relatively easy. One of the most important steps you can take is to stop consuming processed and sugary foods. This includes cutting down on grains, as most grains are quickly converted into Sugar in your body.
Keep in mind, of course, that if you or your children need to lose some excess weight, balancing your gut bacteria is only one part of the equation. Regular exercise and addressing any emotional blocks are also very important.
When you eat a healthy Diet low in sugars and processed foods, one of the major benefits is that it naturally causes the good bacteria in your gut to flourish.
Yet, even with an extremely low-sugar diet, there are other factors that influence your gut bacteria. Antibiotics -bacteria.aspx"> Antibiotics , chlorinated water, antibacterial soap, agricultural chemicals, pollution -- all of these things help to kill off your good bacteria. This is why it's a wise choice to "reseed" your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.
In the past, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut to support their digestive health, as these foods are rich in naturally beneficial bacteria. This is still the best route to optimal digestive health.
Healthy choices include:
- Lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner)
- Fermented milk, such as kefir
- Various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots
- Natto (fermented soy)
If you were to eat a diet rich in fermented foods that have NOT been pasteurized (as pasteurization kills the naturally occurring probiotics), then you would likely enjoy great digestive health without any additional supplementation.
However, if you simply do not like any of these types of fermented foods, your next best option is to use a high quality probiotic supplement.
I have used many different brands over the past 15 years and there are many good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in which I incorporated everything I have learned about this important tool over the years.
Keep in mind, however, that processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast, so you can't use the drug approach to probiotics -- meaning, you can't maintain a diet high in processed foods while taking a probiotic supplement to counteract the ill effects.
You may be able to temporarily suppress some of the troublesome symptoms caused by that kind of diet, but it won't work in the long run.
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- General Mills Total Mind Games - com... plzchuckle
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General Mills Total Mind Games - comedy skit about Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal, which contains NO blueberries and NO pomegranates.
Character voices by Mike Adams, editor of http://www.NaturalNews.com
Enjoy this skit, and when you want to see more from Adams, check out these cartoons, songs and more:
http://www.CounterThink.com
http://www.NaturalNews.com/Music
http://www.Facebook.com/HealthRanger
The actual ingredients of Total Blueberries and Pomegranates Cereal are:
Ingredients
Whole Grain Oats, Whole Grain Wheat, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Brown Sugar Syrup, Wheat Flakes, Malt Syrup, Rice Flour, Salt, Oat Flour, Whole Grain Rice, Canola Oil Natural and Artificial Flavor, Red 40, Blue 2 and Other Color Added, Soybean and Corn Oil Sucralose, Molasses, Honey, Corn Starch, Almond Flour, Nonfat Milk, Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols) and BHT Added to Preserve Freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate), Zinc and Iron (Mineral Nutrients), Vitamin E Acetate, a B Vitamin (Niacinamide), a B Vitamin (Calcium Pantothenate), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Mononitrate), a B Vitamin (Folic Acid), Vitamin A (Palmitate), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.
- Healthy School Lunches plzchuckle
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We get the inside story on an all-natural nutrition approach in Wisconsin that could revolutionize the way kids eat in school. One leading physician group says this program is what every school district in the country should emulate.
- How the food industry is deceiving y... plzchuckle
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Terrific Peter Jennings video exploring how billions of dollars are spent to sabotage your health. http://www.herbspecialists.com
- How the food industry is deceiving y... plzchuckle
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