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Never eat this!

When I read this article, the introduction caught me off guard. It was almost like someone had written down the thoughts I have in my head, only in a much more organized manner. Read on for some great info that everyone should know and think about when making decisions on what to put in your bodies. Enjoy!

Portions of the original article by Brett Blumenthal has been used and shared all over the internet, but it still bears publishing here for those who have not seen it yet. It talks about the nine worst ingredients in processed foods, and why we should “Never eat this!”  That chart will follow, as a reminder of what you should not give your family, ever.

Whole foods, with the least amount of processing, are the healthiest for our bodies. Nothing is better for us than an orange fresh off the tree, or a fresh-picked tomato. These are the things our parents and grandparents ate on a daily basis, and one of the reasons why they were thinner and typically in better shape than most of us are today. In the United States today, two-thirds of adults are overweight and a full third are obese.

Time is one of our biggest enemies, and it is often blamed for not eating healthfully. Out of habit, many of us turn to pre-packaged and convenience foods, or grab fast food on the way home from work. Candy bars sometimes substitute for real meals when we are working and haven’t the time to take a break and prepare something, and some people just hate cooking. Processed foods are a big part of our daily diets, and the challenge is to significantly reduce them or eliminate them altogether. This is definitely a huge challenge when you consider that 90% of our food dollars go for processed and fast foods today.

Blumenthal’s article also touched on reading labels and knowing what you are getting in your food. If there are ingredients you cannot pronounce, you should not eat it. It belongs to a category I call “Frankenfoods”–less healthy and natural food and more chemically made or altered “stuff.” If it says hydrogenated-anything…step away from it and move on. As a general rule, the least amount of ingredients the better.

Tomorrow’s article will talk about how to make healthy substitutions, painlessly, until you get to the point where all of your choices are good ones. In the meantime, here is Brett Blumenthal’s list of foods to avoid like the Plague:

Ingredient	Why it is Used	Why it is Bad
Artificial Colors	Chemical compounds made from coal-tar derivatives to enhance color.	Linked to allergic reactions, fatigue, asthma, skin rashes, hyperactivity and headaches.
Artificial Flavorings	Cheap chemical mixtures that mimic natural flavors.	Linked to allergic reactions, dermatitis, eczema, hyperactivity and asthma. Can affect enzymes, RNA and thyroid.
Artificial Sweeteners such as Acesulfame-K, Aspartame, Equal®, NutraSweet®, Saccharin, Sweet’n Low®, Sucralose, Splenda® & Sorbitol	Highly-processed, chemically-derived, zero-calorie sweeteners found in diet foods and diet products to reduce calories per serving.	Can negatively impact metabolism. Some have been linked to cancer, dizziness hallucinations and headaches.
Benzoate Preservatives known as BHT, BHA, and TBHQ	Compounds that preserve fats and prevent them from becoming rancid.	May result in hyperactivity, angiodema, asthma, rhinitis, dermatitis, tumors and urticaria. Can affect estrogen balance and levels.
Brominated Vegetable Oil aka BVO	Chemical that boosts flavor in many citric-based fruit and soft drinks.	Increases triglycerides and cholesterol – Can damage liver, testicles, thyroid, heart and kidneys.
High Fructose Corn Syrup aka HFCS	Cheap alternative to cane and beet sugar – Sustains freshness in baked goods – Blends easily in beverages to maintain sweetness.	May predispose the body to turn fructose into fat. Increases risk for Type-2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer. Isn’t easily metabolized by the liver.
MSG aka Monosodium Glutamate	Flavor enhancer in restaurant food, salad dressing, chips, frozen entrees, soups and other foods.	May stimulate appetite and cause headaches, nausea, weakness, wheezing, edema, change in heart rate, burning sensations and difficulty in breathing.
Olestra	An indigestible fat substitute used primarily in foods that are fried and baked.	Inhibits absorption of some nutrients. Linked to gastrointestinal disease, diarrhea, gas, cramps, bleeding and incontinence.
Shortening, Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils such as Palm and Soybean	Industrially created fats used in more than 40,000 food products in the U.S. – Cheaper than most other oils.	Contain high levels of trans fats, which raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, contributing to risk of heart disease.

“B” sure to get your B12 daily!

B12 deficiency can begin to naturally occur as early as the forties, and as many as 40% of people are found to have a deficiency of B12, usually after complaints of some physical problem. B12 deficiency has been getting a lot of publicity lately because of studies being done at top universities.

B12 is important for producing red blood cells that transport oxygen, so a B12 deficiency might also lead to anemia, which can magnify symptoms like tiredness and weakness. Deficiencies in B12 are also thought to be related to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, neurological problems like MS, mental issues like psychosis and bipolar disorder, heart disease, autism or learning disorders in children, autoimmune diseases, infertility, and even cancer. It is vital to ensure you are getting enough B12 on a daily basis!

Ten Essentials in a Home Emergency Kit

Thanks to Neil Street for this guest post about things we all should have ready in our homes…

As we all know, an emergency can strike at any time. Sadly, they usually come when we least expect them. While you can’t protect yourself against every eventuality, you can take some sensible steps that should give you and your loved ones a measure of security if the unthinkable happens.

What should you stash in a home emergency kit? The answer depends to a certain extent on what kind of emergency you are preparing for. If you are trying to plan for World War III, you might need a concrete bunker and a purified air supply for the next twenty years. But for most of us, we have to be a bit more realistic. So for the sake of this checklist, imagine you are preparing for an event that knocks you off the grid for 2 or 3 days. Most domestic emergencies probably fall in that time range, or less.

Some of the events that could trigger this emergency include wind storms that knock out power, snow that leaves you housebound, floods, regional power outages, or blistering heat that creates ozone alerts that make going outside dangerous for anyone with asthma. The list could go on and on, but the ten essentials in your emergency kit remain the same.

Keep your emergency supplies in a part of your house or apartment that is easily accessible, at least with the help of a flashlight. Don’t stash it in a corner of the attic behind a ton of other items. If the time comes when you need to access it, you will want to get to it easily.

Home emergency kit is a necessity--be prepared.

There are other items not on this list you may want to consider, depending on your personal situation. You should customize it as you see fit, but here are ten core items that are likely to be important to most people.

 

• Flashlights for everyone. This is basic. When the power goes out on a cold winter night, you have to be able to move around and gather supplies. Keep enough flashlights for everyone in a very handy place, along with fresh batteries.
• Battery-operated lamps. There are many affordable kinds of lamps at your local big-box store. They are much safer than candles. Have at least two for each room you may occupy during a blackout, and one for each bathroom.
• A two or three day supply of food. It should be non-salty (you won’t have water to waste) and non-perishable. Good foods to store include canned foods, especially those with a high liquid content, and salt-free crackers.
• A supply of paper plates and plastic forks, even though they are not eco-friendly. This is a good time to use them. You won’t have water to spare to wash cups and dishes.
• A gallon of fresh water per person, per day. This is easy to keep in stock – just get the big gallon jugs from your local grocery.
• Battery-operated radio for emergency news and updates. The electricity is most likely cut off, so battery-operated gadgets are key. Keep it tuned to local stations for news about what is happening in the outside world.
• Basic first aid kit. A small kit could include bandages, band-aids, scissors, tweezers, antiseptic, thermometer, latex or latex-free gloves, and non-prescription pain reliever, antihistamine, and maybe antacid.
• Alternate heating source. If you are fortunate enough to have a fireplace in your home, you have an alternate heating source ready to go. Just make sure you have a supply of firewood at all times during the winter. If you don’t have a fireplace, you will need to check with a local heating expert to see what kind of alternatives might be best for you. Beware of bringing outdoor equipment, such as a propane camping heater, indoors. It is likely to release carbon monoxide or other toxic by-products, which may be fatal.
• A charging unit that will be fully-charged when the lights go off. It should be powerful enough to keep your cell phone charged.

Last but not least — the all-important manual can-opener, for opening your canned food. It’s the one that people ususally forget!

Neil Street is a freelance blogger and author. Most recently he has written about personal protective equipment, including heavy duty work gloves.

Like we suspected, Carbs are the Culprit

healthy whole foods

Those of us who believed somewhat in the theory behind the Atkin’s diet– basically that white sugar and refined flour and other simple carbs cause spikes in insulin within the body–will agree with this “new” scientific evidence that carbs are more to blame than fats in our diets for excessive weight.

Fats, and especially trans-fats, have been demonized lately, as the government pointed to the fact that we, as a nation, have gotten fatter since they were created and have been used in our packaged foods. While certainly anything that is a lab creation is not something we should be eating, it seems that just seemed to coincide with the fact that we’re all eating too much and sitting on our rumps instead of getting outdoors and getting some exercise.

The LA Times goes into the science behind it in depth, in this article, A Reversal on Carbs, but suffice it to say that human bodies have not adapted well from the original “caveman” diet. People were originally hunters and gatherers, eating all-natural and non-processed foods. Only the last several hundred years have seen the introduction of these newer, processed foods, and quite possibly our bodies are not capable of handling these things in the proper way.

The best way to eat healthy is to stick to natural and whole foods. Raw fruits, lean meats, and steamed vegetables constitute an extremely healthy diet.

When needed, we can combine foods ourselves, and opt out of the whole convenience, franken-food cycle. Set aside one day as a cooking day, and store things in the refrigerator or freezer for the week’s dinners.  Instead of grabbing a jar of Prego at the supermarket, we need to chop those tomatoes, onion, and garlic–besides the health factor, fresh foods taste so much better.

Healthy whole grains, like rye and wheat, can also help with a healthy diet. They have been shown in medical studies to help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of diabetes. Some people simply do not like the taste, but I believe weighing the benefits can make those foods much more palatable.

It is difficult to switch overnight from what we have been conditioned to eat, back to those things which can keep us the healthiest. Why not make a game of it and challenge yourself to include one new and healthy item in your eating plan each day? You will likely be amazed how much you actually enjoy some of the “new” foods and will add them to your regular daily plans.

Healthy Foods to help you burn fat

Healthy foods taste great and help you get fit!

Guest blogger Gail Golembiewski gives us a list of healthy foods that also help with weight loss.

Dieting seems to be a difficult route for many of us to take. The plans are confusing, the exercises difficult to imitate and the motivation too hard to find – what’s a dieter to do?

Thankfully, science has tried to make it a little easier on us by discovering that some foods are actually good for burning fat – even without a special diet plan.

Adding foods that burn fat to your diet can not only help you achieve a slimmer physique, but they can also ensure that you don’t have to work too hard.

Fresh Food Diet

My husband calls this diet the “Caveman Diet.”

It’s really very simple. You do not eat anything that has more than one ingredient to start with, no processed foods, no bread, no artificial sweeteners, and -GASP- no margarine!  The more our food is altered, the less nutritious it is, and at times it is truly toxic.  So with this plan you eat nothing but very simple, extremely fresh, and nourishing food.

So, what do you eat on this diet? Any fruits or vegetables, all cheeses, nuts, grains, herbs, spices, lean meats and fish in unlimited quantities. You can have fatty meats or fish once a week.  You are also advised to use butter in reasonable quantities, as well as real sugar, in the form of sugar in the raw.

The idea behind this diet is to eat as our ancestors did.  They grew fruits and vegetables, and picked those and the ones which grew wild in their area. They rounded out their diet with fresh meat.  Sounds simple enough, right? And we don’t even have to hunt for our meat:)

I am starting this way of eating today. I am hoping that the fresh food diet will be easy to adhere to, since I’m hoping to lose 20-30 pounds and get my blood pressure and the pain in my left knee, from surgery on a torn meniscus and severe tendon damage, in check.  I’ll post about my progress as I go.

The Dangers of Splenda

I’m trying to get back in shape after a dismal year with a knee injury, surgery, a thirty pound weight gain and sleep apnea issues. (Funny how one problem causes so many others in our bodies.) While I can say that my knee is finally healing and I can now sleep blissfully with the aid of a CPAP machine, losing weight is a little more difficult.

Motivational Quotes for a Healthy Lifestyle

courtesy of SparkPeople.com

If you haven’t yet seen the website SparkPeople.com, and the affiliate site, SparkRecipes.com– you need to check them both out.

Raw Honey is a Super Food

Raw honey is one of the world’s super health foods. It contains all of the B-complex vitamins, protein-building amino acids, and vitamins C, D, and E. It also contains ample amounts of plant pigments, proteins, and healthy acids like citric acid. Along with simple sugars like glucose that go directly into the bloodstream, raw honey also has beneficial enzymes like diastase, inulase, and invertase to aid digestion and the assimilation of vitamins and minerals into the body’s cells. All of these things make raw honey a great blood builder when used regularly. The combination of all of enzymes, acids, and vitamins contained in raw honey soothes the entire digestive system, absorbs easily, and keeps out bacteria. Honey also keeps the body regular because of its lubricating abilities.