The Future of Food Film

It's a sad commentary on our society when even foods that we should be free to assume are healthy, aren't. By now I think most people have heard of GMOs-- or Genetically Modified Organisms, but I wonder how many of us realize what they really are and how they affect us. I know I learned quite a few things I didn't already know when I watched the film, "The Future of Food." If you are reading this, I would request that you would watch the first six minutes of this documentary. In it's full-length it's about an hour and a half. I'm just asking that you watch until the 5:55 time appears on the bottom of the viewer. If you eat food everyday, these issues affect you.



From Hulu:
"The Future Of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade."

Teflon, Aluminum, Silicone and Non-stick Cookware

I found this article online called Safe, Healthy and Non-Leaching Cookware. There are any number of articles written on the web that address this topic, but I felt like this one was fairly concise.

Kitchen plastics

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that people avoid using plastics in the kitchen--particularly plastics labeled 3, 6, and 7, unless they are marked as BPA-free. They recommend that consumers do not use any plastics (whatever the number) in the dishwasher or microwave. The reason? Several kitchen plastics contain endocrine disrupters, which can cause or contribute to disease and certain types of cancer.
If you use plastic spoons or utensils to cook with, don't leave them in the pot while you're cooking (the heated plastic can leech BPA into the food), instead use a spoon rest--better yet, switch out your plastics to glass, wood, stainless steel or other natural materials.

Information reported in Reader's Digest Feb. 2010, pg. 21.

One-line philosophy

When it comes to health, I have a pretty simple philosophy: natural is better. It's amazing how controversial that view can be.

I trust the wisdom of God and nature infinitely more than the "wisdom" of men and science--and sometimes they agree, but when they don't, I'm always on the side of what's natural versus synthetic.

Certainly I am not saying that modern medicine is all bad, but I will be bold enough to assert that there is plenty of bad in it, and it is full of greed-driven practices that have little to do with healing. (Even some M.D.s take a similar view.)

When I write about natural health on this blog, or when I dis on what I consider to be unhealthy, I'm not trying to be obnoxiously preachy or tell others what to do. It is a subject that I am passionate about, and with good reason-- look at all the sickness in our society right now. It's truly alarming. My goal is just to put some information out there, and give people something to consider. For just about any health issue, you can find opposing philosophies and each side claims its own expertise, research, authority, etc. You'll have to use your best informed judgment. My own touchstone is the question: is it natural? (From my own experiences with sickness and being healthy, I've found that natural living and natural medicine are best for keeping me healthy, and for healing when I have a problem.) What do I mean by natural living? I'm talking about being mindful of what we put IN, ON, and AROUND our bodies--which encompasses many things.

It's the time of year that the flu shot is being plugged just about everywhere you look. I'm not going to be getting a flu shot, never have, never plan to. (Personally I think one of the causes of the flu is a belief in seasonal sickness, but that's a topic for another post...I haven't had a flu in years. Can't even remember the last time I had it--which is happy.) In an effort to offer a different perspective and encourage people to be questioning and discriminating consumers, may I suggest that you look at this one page website on flu shots: http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/flushots.html

What do I do in lieu of the flu shot? First of all, I try to lay off the sugar that is rampant from Halloween to Easter. It's not that I don't have any treats during the holiday season, I certainly do, but I also understand that eating lots of garbage is like sending out engraved invitations for illness to come and hang out in your body. So a good diet of natural foods and drinking water is essential. I also wash my hands a lot, and wash every time I come home from a store or public place. I use the winter setting on my ceiling fan, and occasionally open the window in the fall and winter, because stuffy air is an AWESOME breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. Obviously exercise and a healthy emotional state are also important. And as extra defense I use an essential oil called Thieves to boost my immunity and ward-off airborne disease. At the first sign of a cold or a bug I pounce on it with herbs, oils, accupressure, homeopathics, or any number of other natural medicine remedies. I don't get sick as often, I recover faster if I do, and I'm not getting side-effects or doing harm to my body's organs. Sounds good to me. If that's controversial, nutty, and backwards, ah well.

Daily Dose of Mercury?

Yikes! Here's yet another compelling reason to eliminate high-fructose corn syrup from your diet, in spite of the fact that it is an ingredient in so many foods we know and love--or maybe even more so, because it is in so many of the foods we know and love. A study has shown that HFCS contains mercury!

The industry is running scared as people are wising up to how bad for you HFCS really is. The Corn Refiners Association is paying the big bucks for television spots and major magazine ads that claim HFCS is "nutritionally the same as table sugar" (which is also not good for you, but I digress...)

To read the article from Taste For Life Magazine click here
or read it below:

Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Related : bran dairy product breakfast health review ingredient snack chemical plant tea children meat environment lunch

Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.

HFCS has replaced sugar as the sweetener in many beverages and foods such as breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS, but teens and other high consumers can take in 80 percent more HFCS than average.

"Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply," the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Dr. David Wallinga, a co-author of both studies, said in a prepared statement.

In the first study, published in current issue of Environmental Health, researchers found detectable levels of mercury in nine of 20 samples of commercial HFCS.

And in the second study, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), a non-profit watchdog group, found that nearly one in three of 55 brand-name foods contained mercury. The chemical was found most commonly in HFCS-containing dairy products, dressings and condiments.

But an organization representing the refiners is disputing the results published in Environmental Health.

"This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance," said Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association, in a statement. "Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two re-agents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years. These mercury-free re-agents perform important functions, including adjusting pH balances."

However, the IATP told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that four plants in Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia still use "mercury-cell" technology that can lead to contamination.

IATP's Ben Lilliston also told HealthDay that the Environmental Health findings were based on information gathered by the FDA in 2005.

And the group's own study, while not peer-reviewed, was based on products "bought off the shelf in the autumn of 2008," Lilliston added.

The use of mercury-contaminated caustic soda in the production of HFCS is common. The contamination occurs when mercury cells are used to produce caustic soda.

"The bad news is that nobody knows whether or not their soda or snack food contains HFCS made from ingredients like caustic soda contaminated with mercury. The good news is that mercury-free HFCS ingredients exist. Food companies just need a good push to only use those ingredients," Wallinga said in his prepared statement.

Cell Phones

I've read about cell phone health hazards for several years. Here are the basics for reducing your risk:

*Don't believe that cell phones "can't hurt" or think that it's hoakey to be concerned. (As a side note, I once held up a cell phone to each of my ears at the same time and immediately felt dizzy and weird-- and I got a bit of a headache. After that experience I was convinced that they could adversely affect health.)

*Don't let children use cell phones (if you must, use an ear piece-- research has shown detrimental effects that children are especially prone to because their brains are developing.

*Use an ear piece or speaker phone yourself.

*Don't carry your cell phone on your person as much as possible. Particularly avoid wearing it on your hip (where bone marrow is produced.) Don't carry your cell phone in your pocket especially if you are a male, as cell phones-- I am not making this up-- can cause the production of abnormally shaped spermatozoa.

*Don't sleep with your cell phone in your bedroom at night. It can interfere with your quality of sleep. Charge your phone in another room of the house.

* Purchase an electromagnetic chaos protection chip for your cell. Purportedly these chips will neutralize the negative emissions from your cell.

*Don't walk around with a bluetooth on your head. Bad for your health. Bad for your social life.

*Pay attention to your body. If you think you feel an unwanted stimulus from your cell phone- don't use it, or switch to a phone model you are less sensitive to.

For further information that reiterates the information I have written, read the following recent article from KSL.com:

New warning about possible link between cell phones and cancer

November 7th, 2008 @ 6:37pm

By John Hollenhorst

The cancer risk from cell phones is unproven, but Dr. Devra Davis, with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Environmental Oncology, says new studies in Europe are raising fresh concern.

"If these projections are true, we could have a massive global epidemic of brain cancer, and we can't afford for that to happen," Davis says.

She's a leading expert on environmental causes of cancer. She spoke at the University of Utah's Institute of Human Genetics. She said, "Let me be clear about something. I can not tell you that cell phones are dangerous, but I have very good reasons for concern."

A worrisome study by the University's Dr. Om Ghandi found that phone signals are absorbed very deeply into the brain, and they are absorbed much more deeply into the head of a 5-year-old than they are into the brain of an adult.

She asked, "Now, would you allow your child to smoke? Would you allow your child to play Russian roulette?"

She said precautions are in order until science has answers. She said use a speaker phone or an ear-piece and don't keep the phone on your body all the time. She said that keeping the phone on your hip was a concern because that's where bone marrow is made...

She's calling on cell-phone companies to release billing records so scientists can do proper exposure studies but, instead, the companies offer a two word response: trust us.

Davis said, "I trust in God, but all others have to provide data."

She said right now, in this country, there are no studies being done. She says that's unconscionable.

She believes the industry can design safer cell phones but, so far, it hasn't felt enough pressure to do it.

Prescription for Disaster

I don't mean to be insensitive to people with depression, keep that in mind as you read.
Lately I've seen magazine and television ads for a new prescription drug called "Abilify." It is a drug to take in addition to an antidepressant such as Zoloft, Prozac, Paxcil CR, etc. Why? Because people who are taking these and other antidepressants are still having symptoms of depression!
(No kidding, really?)

Could it be because hormones primarily drive your sense of emotional well-being, and prescription drugs, and a diet of processed, artificial, non-nutritional "food" disrupt your body systems, including your hormones?

The second greatest factor in mood and emotion is brain chemistry-- again, if the chemistry you put into your body isn't good (poor food, drugs, chemicals) then it is to be expected that the internal chemistry will be messed up as well!

Depression is one of the most naturally treatable ailments. To begin to balance the hormones and adrenal system: eat natural, healthy foods; take Omega-3s; exercise-- everyday; get sunlight; look at your life stressors and possible solutions or resources; and do something to feel good about.

When I was sick as a teenager, I had my own bout with depression-- my body was out of whack, including my hormones. The M.D.s didn't know what to do to help me recover from feeling sick and exhausted all the time, but they offered antidepressants to help with the feeling like crap.
I'm happy to say (no pun intended) that I never took any. As I started doing healthy things for my body, the depression was alleviated and then gone. I think most people on antidepressants continue to have problems if they stop taking the drug. Obviously taking an antidepressant is not a cure, it's a symptom cover-up. Sometimes it doesn't even treat the symptoms! According to Abilify's own ad, 2 out of 3 people have unresolved symptoms of depression when taking an antidepressant.

I find it ironic that the side effects of antidepressants can include being more depressed, and suicidal. In violent crime cases such as the Columbine High School shootings, the perpetrators were on antidepressants. What most people don't realize is that studies are suggesting that the antidepressants can actually cause these incidents. (See Ann Blake Tracy's book, "Prozac: Panacea or Pandora.") You see, the anti-depressants aren't smart enough to distinguish "good" emotions from "bad" ones. They may block feelings of sadness, but they can also block feelings of joy, love, and empathy for others.

In a 2002 study (Penninx and others) depression patients were told to do aerobic walking exercise, and they were given a tricyclic antidepressant. Another group did aerobic walking exercise only. The study found that the treatment that included the antidepressant was no more effective than exercise alone. And there were no side effects!

As for the side effects of Abilify, it can effect behavior, create uncontrollable movements that may become permanent, cause seizures, and impair judgment and motor skills. It increases the risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, stroke, coma and death. More than 10% of Abilify users experienced nausea, vomiting, constipation, headache, dizziness, an inner sense of restlessness, anxiety, and insomnia. Hmm... I mean, this is all in the fine print right on the ad! Somehow we still think this is an ok thing to have on the market? Then again, I guess it's about the same as all other prescription drugs. As a society we've come to accept these effects-- I shouldn't call them side effects, they are effects.

I understand myself the discomfort and fear of being sick, and of having depression. There are times that a prescription drug may be necessary, even life-saving-- but I think that 95% percent of the time, we as a nation are popping pills rather than taking responsibility and doing something for our own health. ("Effort-- waaaahh!") We put our trust in medical doctors who may be well-meaning, but also get a kick-back for each Rx they write up, and seem to either not know or not care about what makes the body function at its best and heal itself.

Illness is not fun whether is is physical, mental, or emotional, but there are things we can do to truly be cured with nature, not just to be "treated" with bad science.

Plastic-- For Your Health's Sake

We've been hearing about more lately about how using certain plastics can be detrimental to your health. I learned a few things I didn't know from this month's Healthy Utah magazine.

Check the bottom of your water-bottles, baby bottles, and any plastic containers you use for food or water. In a small triangle on the bottom, each container has a printed number. If the number is anything other than a 2, 4, or 5, ---TOSS IT!

Plastics with other numbers contain BPA (Bisphenol A) which can affect normal human development and reproduction. Plastics have also been linked to hormone disruption, and cancer--via the carcinogens in their chemical makeup.
Keep in mind that styro-foam and plastic cling-wrap are considered health no-no's. :(

It is best to limit using plastic as much as we can, because when we toss "bad plastic" it usually ends up being burned at a landfill, which can release toxic chemicals into our environment-- which in turn, affects our health.

As a general rule: try to use glass, wood, stainless steel, and good quality ceramic when it comes to the kitchen.

We live in an age of convenience, but it comes at a costly price.

To read the article my information came from, click here.

Slow Poisoning the Public

I assigned my sophomores and juniors at Clearfield High to write a persuasive paper; and since I don't ask my students to do something I'm not willing to do myself, I wrote one too. Here it is: my rant about putting flouride in the water. (It's about three double-spaced pages long.)

Slow Poisoning the Public (April 2008)

Doctors and nutritionists recommend drinking several glasses of poison a day. Well, actually they recommend drinking several glasses of water a day, but if you’re drinking fluoridated tap water, it could amount to the same thing. Many cities in the United States now add fluoride to public water supplies, with the intent of preventing tooth decay. Not only does fluoridation of drinking water have little impact on reducing cavities, it actually contributes to a plethora of diseases and abnormalities.
The topic of fluoridation has become a heated debate, and is the subject of numerous articles, reports, studies, and publications. Promoters of fluoridation use non-profit web sites as a platform to refer to their opponents as “poison mongers” or “quacks” and suggest that the so-called “scare tactics” of those opposed to fluoride are comparable to the techniques of Adolf Hitler (http://www.fluorideinfo.org). While these parties name-call and refute current medical evidence, they fail to produce substantial support for the benefits of fluoridated water. Professor Albert Schatz, Ph.D. (Microbiology), the discoverer of streptomycin & Nobel Prize Winner declared, “Fluoridation ... it is the greatest fraud that has ever been perpetrated, and it has been perpetrated on more people than any other fraud has” (http://www.apfn.org/apfn/poison.htm).
Simply put, fluoride is a chemical compound that combines of the basic element of fluorine with another element. The naturally occurring fluorine is defined as “a corrosive, toxic, greenish-yellow gaseous chemical element” (Agnes, 545). The main fluoride chemical added to water is called hydrofluorocilic acid, and it is an industrial waste product from the phosphate fertilizer industry! The National Academy of Sciences has stated that fluoride is not an essential nutrient. In other words the body doesn’t need fluoride for any of its functions, and tooth decay is not caused by a lack of fluoride (http://www.fluoridealert.org).
Even if fluoride could guarantee the consumer would never have another cavity, which it certainly can’t, an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) scientist, Dr. William Marcus, called fluoride “a carcinogen by any standard we use” (http://www.apfn.org/apfn/fluoride-expert.htm).
Cancer or cavities, which is worse? Fluoridation has been linked to bone cancer, but there are several other health risks as well.
Studies published by scholarly medical journals have linked low and moderate doses of fluoride to bone fracture, joint pain, arthritis, skin rash, reduced thyroid activity, and decreased IQ. Perhaps the most common disorder that results from too much absorption of fluoride is dental fluorosis, which creates stained, mottled, brittle teeth. (http://www.fluoridealert.org). While fluoride can do something to prevent tooth decay, it provides the greatest benefit when it is in direct contact with the teeth, not when it is ingested. The United States and Canada have been slow to discover what Europe has already learned about water fluoridation. Most Western European countries have rejected this procedure, including: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland (http://www.fluoridealert.org).
The American Dental Association (ADA) is a major proponent of fluoridated water,
(although increasingly dentists are renouncing this practice) however even the ADA has admitted that it is unsafe for infants to drink formula mixed with fluoridated water. Babies have a greater risk of developing dental fluorosis, and the U.S. National Research Council reports that fluoride can interfere with the functions of the brain (http://www.fluoridealert.org).
Should people stop drinking fluoridated water? Absolutely! “Is it really that bad?” Yes!
Fluoridation has been easy for the public to ignore, because most people don’t experience the
negative side effects immediately. They might drink a glass of water and say, “I feel fine.” just as a smoker might light up and say, “That didn’t hurt me.” Over time fluoride builds up deposits in the bones. Young adults who don’t care today, will pay dearly tomorrow.
The growing number of Americans who don’t want fluoride in their water have been
greatly imposed upon. Standard water filtration systems, such as Brita, cannot eliminate fluoride from water. Only expensive reverse-osmosis or activated alumina filters will effectively remove fluoride. It is relatively easy for those who want to take fluoride internally to swallow a tablet, or otherwise add it to their water, but families who don’t want fluoride have to purchase a costly filter, or buy all their drinking and cooking water. That still doesn’t keep fluoride from invading them at local restaurants, or public drinking fountains, and they still have to shower and water their lawn and garden with the chemical.
When it comes to something as basic and necessary as water, people should not be forced to have an additive in the water that comes into their home. The Past President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Charles Heyd said, “I am appalled at the prospect of using water as a
vehicle for drugs. Fluoride is a corrosive poison that will produce serious effects on a long range
basis. Any attempt to use water this way is deplorable” (http://www.apfn.org/apfn/fluoride-expert.htm).
Those who value their own health and rights can begin today to reduce or eliminate their
consumption of fluoridated water. Those who value the health and rights of their family,
friends, and neighbors can inform them of the danger that exists each time they turn on the
faucet, or fix a bottle for their baby. It’s also time to let local and national representatives know
that this is an important issue for the 170 million Americans who are subjected to fluoridated water. The risks immensely exceed any possible benefits, and forcing fluoridation on the
American public violates medical ethics and denies freedom of choice.