Refined Sugar

Refined Sugar

Refined SugarWith Halloween just ended its safe to say the holiday season is officially here. Along with the normal family reunions, laughter and lots of food that follows the year’s most festive occasion is the dreaded flu bug that has conveniently picked the happiest time of year to cause the most sadness, or is it? When you look at it though its no surprise that the flu would raise its ugly head around Christmas. We have Halloween the 31’st of November, Thanksgiving less than a month after that, Christmas about a month later, within a week New Years upon us, and if that was not enough Easter coming in less than four months after that. So when you look at it, its not a surprise that this time of year is the time when we are the sickest because it’s also the time when we consume the most sweets.

Of course we know it’s not rocket science to come to the conclusion that refined sugar is the cause of the most colds. Simple deductive reasoning will prove this. But you may ask yourself how much of those little white crystals can really affect my immune system to the point where it’s unable to fight even the simplest of bacteria. All it takes is 24 teaspoons of sugar. And believe me most of us consume double that in a day. According to the US Department of Agriculture the average American consumes 147 pounds of sugar a year. That equals to over 46 teaspoons of sugar a day. Almost double the amount it takes to knock out the immune system for the next sixteen to eighteen hours.

Should it be any wonder than why it’s so easy for us to pick up a cold and so hard to get rid of it? But just to drive the point home lets look at some common foods we indulge and the sugar content of them. Sugar is measured in teaspoons.

SUGAR’S EFFECT ON THE WHITE BLOOD CELLS

Teaspoons of sugar

Number of bacteria destroyed

 

0

6

12

18

24

 

14.0

10.0

5.5

2.0

1.0

Malted Milk        -              120z       -              42

Soft Drinks          -              12oz       -              10-12

Canned Fruit      -              1 serving               8

Chocolate Cake -              1 (4oz slice)          8

Chocolate Candy              1oz         -                7

Fruit Pie               -              1 slice    -               7

Ice Cream            -              1 scoop -                5

Donut (glazed)  -              1 each   -              4

Jam, Jelly             -              1 Tbs.    -              3

 

Starting to get the picture? No matter how many flu shots you or your family takes it will not help to do what your body is unable to. And sometimes the shots makes matters worse because the body has to be tied up with too viruses foreign to it thus it cannot deal with the getting over the flu.

So what’s the solution? Why not lay off that coke for a week or so. Next time you stop a Starbucks, get a smaller cappuccino or better yet none at all. Not only will you be doing yourself a favor but those who are around you not to mention keeping some extra money in your wallet or purse from that excess sugar which was not needed or the trip to the doctor, and not to mention the pharmacy.

It might also be a good idea to boost your immune system. A good way to do this is take vitamin C (1,000mg) two times daily. A glass of lemon water in the morning is also good as it kills over 19 different bacteria. And of course your best medicine is to help out your body by not loading it with junk.

FUN FACT: Did you know that according to the medical definition of a drug (which contains no nutritional value, addictive and can cause withdrawal symptoms) refined sugar fits right in with that. It might be good to think about this next time you’re tempted to pick up that colorful cereal for you or your child which is 60-70% sugar. Don’t believe me? Check the label and see how many types of sugar you can find in just one cereal.

Grapes

Grapes

GrapesWe are probably well familiar with the phrase “a little wine is good for the stomach”, and while much debate surrounds Paul’s actual meaning there is little debate about whether grapes, either solid or liquid, contain substantial health benefits.

Being the second most cultivated fruit around the world, surpassed only by oranges, we probably wonder why we pay such a high price for such an abundant product. Fact is only a small amount of the fruit is actually grown for whole consumption. The rest is for…you guessed it, wine and other alcoholic beverages.

Grapes are among the top 10 antioxidant (cancer fighting) fruits in the world, red grapes being the best out of the bunch. This is due to the large amounts of Vitamin A, C and E along with Potassium and Iron. Grape seed extract is also a powerful colon cleanser. When combined with other herbs and minerals this can be one of the most effective ways of giving your colon a good detoxification.

We are probably used to seeing the “Heart Healthy” sticker on a lot of products including Welch® Concord grape juice. But what really makes it heart healthy? The main one is flavonoids. These are responsible for keeping the arteries free from spasms while increasing blood flow at the same time. Combine this with the other rich contents in grapes it is no wonder why it’s part of a “heart healthy diet”.

Grapes are also a laxative and can provide very good results when combined with a natural diet. In fact one of the best ways to free up the bowels is a cup or serving of grape juice every day.

Raisins, which are dehydrated grapes, are the highest in iron. Iron is especially for pregnant mothers and of course those suffering from anemia. In fact grapes are richer in iron than lamb.

A surprising fact about grapes is that there might be a link between the consumption of grapes and prevention of arthritis. The reason behind this is grapes are very good at eliminating uric acid from the body. Uric acid eats out the synovial fluid in the bones which acts as the grease between bones. When the synovial fluid is gone arthritis sets in

There are many other substantial nutrients in grapes but these are the some of the most and least common ones. And as usual the best way of consuming any food is in its natural form. That includes grapes also. But in case you are not able to get the fresh grapes a glass of pure grape juice (not drink) will do just fine.

Got Milk?

Got Milk?

Got Milk?You’ve heard that saying over and over again and the likes of it also. What you have not heard is the truth behind the saying “Milk has something for everyone”.
Now we all know that the dairy industry is big in America, in fact one out of every seven food dollars is spent on dairy products, five cents is spent on milk advertising per 100 pounds of dairy products sold and the shocker; and one out of every seven congressmen receives election support from the dairy industry. That should be no surprise considering how milk is ‘preached’ in our school system.
So with that being said you might ask what the truth is. I can assure you the statistics are not pretty. We are told that milk builds strong bones yet here in America we suffer from the highest rate of osteoporosis. No doubt about it milk carries lots of calcium, but you see for calcium to be absorbed by the body Magnesium and Vitamin D has to be present which Milk lacks so in fact 75% of the calcium in milk is in absorbable by the body, couple that with the hundreds of pounds of sugar which we consume each year (which leaches calcium from the bones) it should be no wonder why we American’s suffer from the highest osteoporosis rate.
Asthma which so many of us suffer from is mainly due to dairy products, milk forms mucus which affects asthma greatly and therefore is one of the main causes of asthma. Here are ten other health problems that milk has been linked to.

coronary artery disease
cancer
neurological diseases
juvenile diabetes (milk causes leaky gut syndrome which leads to juvenile diabetes)
digestive problems
infectious disease
acne
rheumatoid arthritis
dental decay
hyperactivity

And the list is still counting. Another thing that I have not mentioned is milk even after pasteurization is allowed contain up to 20,000 bacteria per milliliter by FDA standards plus along with the milk comes viruses, prions, antibiotics, hormones and organic pesticides and yet we hardly hear this over the evening news.
Now back to the school issue, the US government recommends that the diet contain less the 30% fat yet the Federal law requires schools to provide fatty whole milk and school lunches are over 40% fat. Butter and cheese amount to ⅓ of the money the government spends on lunches for school and the mind boggling one; only 1% of fruits and vegetables provided for our schools are fresh and 90% are canned.

So you may ask yourself what should I do and are there any alternatives? Well there are, for one instead of using dairy milk use a good wholesome soymilk and please read your labels to make sure that it contains no refined sugar, in fact most soymilk’s on the market contain more calcium then whole milk. Kale, turnips and sesame seeds are better sources of calcium then milk, in fact sesame seeds contain ten times the amount of calcium that milk contains per serving and it comes with all those little goodies to help your body digest the milk. At this point I must stress that you should try to get 20 to 30 minutes of sunlight a day preferably in the early morning or late afternoon to avoid the midday and mid afternoon ultraviolet rays, this will give your body the Vitamin D it needs to absorb the calcium. And last but not least try to use the vitamins in their natural state, supplements are fine but nothing beats a fresh cup of carrot juice over a pill of vitamin A.

In closing, milk has its “good things” but would you want to risk that tiny amount of good for a whole host of other problems? Here is a thought to ponder; did you know that we humans are the only mammals who consume milk after weaning? Makes you wonder what they have been teaching us all these years.

P.S If you would like to get the source for these statistics or any others that I have mentioned email me I will be more then happy to supply them.

Chocolate

Chocolate

ChocolateChocolate! Can we ever get enough? Apparently not, the average American consumes 12 pounds of chocolate a year and that has rising. In fact most major holidays have some sort of chocolate product associated with them, from Easter all the way down to Christmas. And although we were not the first to use it (the Mayan’s were over 500 years ago) it seems to have become just as much a part of American culture as blue jeans and hamburgers.

What might not be so American about chocolate? Maybe it’s the fact that salmonella can be found in your Hersey’s bar. Or that although caffeine is not present in chocolate yet its cousin happens to make an appearance among the ingredients. Or the fact that most of the times chocolate products are loaded with sweets which has been proven to break down the immune system, cause obesity and on top of that a very effective carcinogen.

Studies have shown that as little as 20mg of theobromine a day can increase a man’s risk of prostate cancer by two fold. Now twenty milligrams might like a lot to get out of a serving of chocolate, but two tablespoons of chocolate syrup (1 fl oz) can easily go over the 89mg mark. Cadbury milk chocolate (one ounce) contains 44mg and chocolate flavor mix (2-3 heaping teaspoons in 8 ounces of milk) hovers at the 120mg range. Even a moderate dose of theobromine (10mg) can increase the risk of cancer dramatically. But theabromine is not the only carcinogen in chocolate. Alpha-methylbenzyl alcohol is another carcinogen found naturally in chocolate and used artificially to flavor other foods.

Salmonella is also a risk in chocolate since one of the main ingredients in most chocolate products is milk. Salmonella generally occurs in chocolate that is not heated or warmed. But it should be noted that even when it is warmed there is still a risk because of the contamination which might be present in the milk used in the product.

But probably the most striking fact about chocolate is the fact that you just might be consuming some of your everyday household pests in your favorite bar or cake. According to the FDA manufactures are allowed to have no more than 60 insect fragments per 100 grams. Also the FDA allows 1 rodent hair per 100 grams of chocolate. If the samples should exceed this amount it is considered unfit for human consumption. The reason why the FDA allows a certain amount of contamination in a lot of processed foods especially chocolate, is when it is manufactured on such a large scale basis it is almost impossible to keep out every single piece of contamination out of the product. Thus the FDA tells manufactures to keep the contamination to a certain level. Of course this is no console to you the consumer not knowing if you might be munching on a rats tail or roach wing while enjoying your Snickers bar.

So before you are tempted to pick up another ounce of chocolate give this article some thought. I’m sure if you are a man you don’t want to be lousy in the bed, and I’m almost positive that mothers would not like to know that their children might be munching on the same types of roaches she is trying to exterminate. In any case there are always substitutes and one of these happens to be carob. It tastes just like chocolate without the side effects. And since it is manufactured on such a small scale the possibility of bug wings and rat hair ending up in a packaged bar is almost nonexistent.