Why You Shouldn’t Buy juice Boxes…or Juice!

From the Website Why Don’t You Try This

A patient came to my ER after noticing green slime coming up the straw from her Juicy Juice box. Her mom cut open the box – and brought her straight to the doctor. Here’s what we found in the unexpired juice box:
Her juice box was full of mold—green slime that lined the edges of the box. Apparently moldy juice boxes and juice pouches (such as those made by Capri Sun) are nothing new. If even a tiny bit of air gets into the container molds can grow. Air can get into a juice box through a hole that’s so small you can’t see it, and it doesn’t cause leaking. Such a tiny puncture also permits the sugars in the juice to ferment, turning the product into a form of alcohol.

Juicy Juice and many other kid’s juice products are made without preservatives, permitting mold to grow even more easily.

The good news for my patient is that moldy, fermented juice is usually not very dangerous to drink. An upset stomach and a totally grossed out mom are the most common complications.

But I recommended she cut out the juice, anyway. Why? Because juice is so full of sugar and calories that some have called it a gateway drug. Sugar ingestion can actually cause release of natural opiates (really). Opiate release stimulates the desire for other sweets and junk food. High salt and high fat foods can also trigger release of pleasure-inducing opiates. This is why so many people binge on ice cream, potato chips, and other favorite junk foods like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

The more sugar-laden juice your kids drink, the more opiates flood their system, and the more they will beg for another juice box. After drinking all those calories and stimulating their sweet tooth, chances are your kids won’t be interested in dinner. Some high sugar, high fat, high salt food might sound good, though. Sound familiar?

Too much fruit juice can also cause tooth decay, diarrhea, and flatulence. There are plenty of other healthy foods that contain the vitamins your kids need, and without the high sugar and calories. Kids just don’t need juice.
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers this guidance regarding kids and fruit juice.

• Juice should not be introduced into the diet of infants before 6 months of age, unless directed by your physician. Occasionally small amounts of fruit juice may be recommended as a treatment for constipation.
• In children ages 6 months -6 years, fruit juice offers no nutritional benefit over whole fruit. Whole fruits also provide fiber and other nutrients.
• If you do let your kids drink fruit juice, do not allow your child to carry a sippy cup, bottle or box of juice throughout the day. Intake of fruit juice should be limited to 4 to 6 oz/d for children 1 to 6 years old. For children 7 to 18 years old, juice intake should be limited to 8 to 12 oz or 2 servings per day.
• Never serve your kids unpasteurized juice.
• These recommendations are for 100% fruit juice, which differs from juice drinks. Fruit drinks often provide little to no nutritional benefit.

OK, I admit it, I’ve bought juice boxes for birthday parties and soccer games. They are convenient, they keep kids happy, and they’re probably healthier than soda. But you just can’t tell from looking at a juice box if it is moldy—you won’t know until you start drinking, and sometimes you won’t know until you get to the bottom… So as for my family, we’re going back to the cooler of ice water for soccer games. If the kids complain, we’ll hand out good snacks.
Sincere thanks to the patient and her mother who permitted the photography of their juice box and gave permission for the publication of this story.

There are Nanoparticles in Your Food

Study Looks at Particles Used in Food

By STEPHANIE STROM

Published: February 5, 2013

Nanomaterials, substances broken down by technology into molecule-size particles, are starting to enter the food chain through well-known food products and their packaging, but there is little acknowledgment by the companies using them, according to a new report from a nonprofit group that works to enhance corporate accountability.

Some companies may not even know whether nanomaterials are present in their products, the corporate accountability group As You Sow said.

Only 26 out of 2,500 companies, including PepsiCo, Whole Foods and the corporate parent of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, responded to a survey from As You Sow about their use of nanomaterials.

“Only 14 said they don’t use nanomaterials, and of those only two had any policies on the use of nanomaterials,” said Andy Behar, chief executive of As You Sow. Various food companies have said they are interested in nanotechnology, which can help make products creamier without additional fat, intensify and improve flavors and brighten colors.

Their small size allows nanoparticles to go places in the body where larger particles cannot and enter cells. They have been found in the blood stream after ingestion and inhalation, and while research on their health effects is limited, studies have shown them to have deleterious effects on mice and cells.

“We’re not taking a no nano position,” Mr. Behar said. “We’re saying just show it’s safe before you put these things into food or food packaging.”

He noted that the European Union requires labeling of foods containing nanomaterials and that the European Food Safety Authority has published guidance for assessing nanomaterials in food and animal feed.

Last April, the Food and Drug Administration issued an unusually emphatic statement on nanomaterials, saying it did not have enough data to determine the safety of nanomaterials in food.

The Environmental Protection Agency is evaluating various nanoparticles used in consumer products, like sunscreens.

As You Sow tested 10 varieties of powdered doughnuts for the presence of nanoparticles. With the help of an independent lab, it found that Hostess Donettes and Dunkin’ Donuts Powdered Cake Donuts tested positive for the presence of titanium dioxide materials of less than 10 nanometers. Titanium dioxide is used to brighten white substances. The nano variety is under investigation by the E.P.A.

Michelle King, a spokeswoman for Dunkin’ Donuts, said the company was working with its supplier to validate As You Sow’s findings. Hostess Brands went out of business during the test and closed its factories.

A version of this article appeared in print on February 6, 2013, on page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: Study Looks At Particles Used in Food.

Everyone SHOULD Eat Gluten Free

The NYTimes had an article today exploring gluten intolerance named “Gluten-Free, Whether You Need It or Not”.  It says that many proponents are claiming that everyone should avoid gluten containing foods and products.  Most agree that people do feel better and get healthier but they are puzzled as to why.

I have been eating gluten free for 27 years, as well as teaching others to do the same.  My experience as a Nutrition Coach is that everyone feels better, loses weight, has far more energy and their health is improved dramatically. 

The debate goes on as to whether this is due to celiac disease, allergies to gluten or intolerances.  I believe, as many others do, that it is simply that we are not designed to eat grains.

Read this from the article- 

“As with most nutrition controversies, most everyone agrees on the underlying facts. Wheat entered the human diet only about 10,000 years ago, with the advent of agriculture.

“For the previous 250,000 years, man had evolved without having this very strange protein in his gut,” Dr. Guandalini said. “And as a result, this is a really strange, different protein which the human intestine cannot fully digest. Many people did not adapt to these great environmental changes, so some adverse effects related to gluten ingestion developed around that time.”

The primary proteins in wheat gluten are glutenin and gliadin, and gliadin contains repeating patterns of amino acids that the human digestive system cannot break down. (Gluten is the only substance that contains these proteins.) People with celiac have one or two genetic mutations that somehow, when pieces of gliadin course through the gut, cause the immune system to attack the walls of the intestine in a case of mistaken identity. That, in turn, causes fingerlike structures called villi that absorb nutrients on the inside of the intestines to atrophy, and the intestines can become leaky, wreaking havoc. Symptoms, which vary widely among people with the disease, can include vomiting, chronic diarrhea or constipation and diminished growth rates in children.

The vast majority of people who have celiac do not know it. And not everyone who has the genetic mutations develops celiac.

What worries doctors is that the problem seems to be growing. After testing blood samples from a century ago, researchers discovered that the rate of celiac appears to be increasing. Why is another mystery”.

I do not believe there is a mystery here, it seems obvious that if we all feel better without grains…then it is toxic, a poison…not an allergy.

I challenge you to try it for a month.  Very few people go back to eating it after experiencing the difference in appearance, weight and energy!

Monsanto’s Roundup Devastating Gut Health

And Contributes to Overgrowth of Deadly Bacteria.

From The Nation of Change

Much of the public forgets the gut when it comes to warding off the flu and other more threatening diseases, but the gut—and its army of beneficial bacteria—are essential in protecting us from harm. That’s why eating genetically modified and/or conventionally farmed food could be a direct assault on your own health. Most recently, research has shown that Monsanto’s herbicide, known as Roundup, is destroying gut health, threatening overall health of animals, people, and the planet significantly.

The journal Current Microbiology recently published a study that caught Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide’s active ingredient, glyphosate, suppressing beneficial bacteria in poultry specimens. Given that gut health is directly linked to chronic illnesses and overall health, this isn’t exactly welcome news for people who can’t always afford or who lack access to organic, locally grown food.

But it gets worse. While good bacteria died, highly pathogenic bacteria were unaffected by glyphosate. These pathogens include several strains of Salmonella and the class Colstridia, anaerobic bacteria known to be some of the deadliest known to us, including C. tetani (tetanus) and C. botulinum (botulin). Although botulin is used to ease overactive muscles and in Botox, America’s most popular cosmetic procedure, it takes but 75 billionths of a gram to kill someone weighing 75 kg (165 lbs).

“A reduction of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract microiota by ingestion of glyphosate could disturb the normal gut bacterial community,” the authors of the study wrote. Glyphosate, they added, “could be a significant predisposing factor that is associated with the increase in Clostridia botulinum-mediated diseases by suppressing the antagonistic effect of these [good] bacteria on clostridia.”

Dangers of Pesticides To Read More

Feeding Your Pet It’s Natural Diet

Domesticated dogs and cats get the same diseases that we humans do…but not when they are fed their natural diet.  The dry food and canned food that contains meat “by-products” and cereals are unhealthy for you pet.  You can save money and vet bills..and your animals health by making their food and feeding them a raw foods diet.   it takes me about an hour to make my cats food for the month.  I freeze it in portions and take out enough for the next day and place it in the fridge to defrost. 

Here’s the recipe for cat food;

3 pounds of poultry thigh meat/bones/skin
2.25 lbs. of whole carcass ground rabbit + 0.75 lbs. of boneless chicken or turkey meat/skin/fat (see reasons above):
1 cup water (or, preferably, more if your cat will eat it with more water)
2 eggs – use the yolk raw but lightly cook the white
5000 mg fish oil (a good source of essential fatty acids   Do NOT use cod liver oil!
400 IU (268 mg) Vitamin E (powdered E in capsules is the easiest to use)
50 mg Vitamin B-complex (capsules or tablets)
2,000 mg taurine (use powdered – either in capsules or loose)
3/4 tsp Morton Lite salt with iodine when using chicken.
Liver – If using chicken legs, thighs or a whole chicken carcass minus the organs, add 4 ounces of chicken livers per 3 lb. of meat/bones/skin.
Vitamin E – I prefer using the d-tocopherol (natural) versus dl-tocopherol (synthetic) vitamin E.
I find dry vitamin E capsules easier to work with.

Bone meal powder - for use if you are not going to use a grinder to grind the bones with the meat. Please note that different brands of bone meal powder vary in their composition. This is one option; I save eggshells, let them dry completely and grind them very fine in the food processor.

Use this recipe to get your pet used to a raw food diet. After a few months, when their jaws are stronger, you can give who pieces with the bone in, UNCOOKED! Cooked bones will splinter and are dangerous for your animal. You will see that your pet will eat every single morsel of the meat and connective tissues and alsop get the marrow out of the bones…just like they would be doing in nature.

I cut the raw chicken after I have frozen it for about an hour, it makes it easier to slice. I dice it in about a ½ to 1 inch dice. I place the hearts, gizzards and livers in the food processor and grind them to mix in to the diced meat.

Mix all ingredients well. I use empty coconut milk yogurt containers to freeze the right amount for each day, then I pop them out and put them in large Zip-loc bags and back in the freezer.

For more info;

How To Transition Your cats to a Raw Food Diet

Raw Food Diet for Cats: A Natural Solution

Making Cat Food Lisa A. Pierson, DVM

The Raw Food Diet for Pets

Homemade Raw food Diet for Our Domesticated Animals

The Whole Soy Story, by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN

Just Eat Real Food

THE WHOLE SOY STORY blows the lid off nutritional dogma!
Soy is NOT a miracle food.
Soy is NOT the answer to world hunger.
Soy is NOT a panacea.

Soy has NOT even been proven safe.
Hundreds of epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies link soy to:
Malnutrition
Digestive distress
Thyroid dysfunction
Cognitive decline
Reproductive disorders
Infertility
Birth defects
Immune system breakdown
Heart disease
Cancer
Isn’t it time you learned the truth about soy that scientists know, that you need to know and that the soy industry has tried to suppress? The Whole Soy Story presents and interprets the often contradictory evidence on soy and disease to determine what studies are valid, which justify hope, which are mere hype – and why.
Do YOU need to read The Whole Soy Story?

YES! If you are one of the two hundred million Americans who is eating soy foods whether you like it or not…
YES! If you are a concerned parent who wants to know whether soy formula is good for your infants and whether soy foods are good for your children…
YES! If you are a homemaker or dietitian who thinks the price is right but wonder how “the bean supreme” stacks up against meat nutritionally…
YES! If you are a vegetarian who is not enjoying radiant good health and have begun questioning whether the “meat without a bone” is as good at taking care of their nutritional needs…
YES! If you are one of the millions of Americans at risk for cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and painful menopausal symptoms who wonder if it is true that soy might offer protection…
YES! If you are one of millions of people afflicted with those diseases who wonder if soy might offer a cure…
YES! If you are one of the millions of people suffering from diagnosed or as yet undiagnosed thyroid disease who fears that soy might be the cause…
YES! If you are a baby boomer who has heard that soy is the dietary fountain of youth…
YES! If you an environmentalist who is alarmed by the growing numbers of estrogens and estrogen mimickers in the environment and have begun to wonder about the phytoestrogens in soy…
The Whole Soy Story, by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
http://amzn.to/RSWy4O

[hardcover]
http://amzn.to/Y5aKLy

[kindle]