Do You Really Know What’s in The Food You are Eating?

I began this quest for better health a few years ago, and I am so thankful for the time I have spent investigating this topic. When I began my research, I realized I had not a clue as to how our bodies responded to the different foods we put in our mouth each and every day. Like so many other people, I was influenced by food companies and the media. I believed the commercials telling me that I could have my cake and eat it too, as long as it was sugar-free; or that because my cholesterol is high, I am no longer allowed to eat nuts, seeds, or eggs. I was told to stay away from fats and eat more carbohydrates to lower my cholesterol. Well, I don't know about your body, but mine retaliated in a big way! I gained weight that I could not shed, had hormonal imbalances, and started experiencing other health problems. And to top it all off, I was feeding this stuff to my children. So it became a mission for me to change our family's eating habits.

With information in hand, I headed to the grocery store. I was ready to tackle this! But I became so overwhelmed and frustrated at reading food labels, I found myself walking out empty-handed and angry. Angry at myself that I never paid attention to what I was eating, angry at the store for putting this junk on the shelves, and angry at the food manufacturers for trying to pass this stuff off as actual food!. Many of the ingredients that I read on the labels are not good for us, and could cause health problems further down the road, including cancer. And we know cancer rates are on the rise; so why isn't anyone taking a good look at what environmental factors, such as food, are causing this rise? But that is a topic in itself for a later date.

So, with all of the information about food that we are being bombarded with, how is someone able to dig through it without being overwhelmed? Do what I did.....I decided to take baby steps.

First thing first……Start reading food labels. Don't read the front of the package where it might tell you fat free, but read the ingredients instead. I believe if you cut out these six ingredients, you are on your way to good health.

Partially Hydrogenated Oils (aka Trans Fats) are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. They raise our "bad" LDL cholesterol while lowering our "good" HDL levels. They increase inflammation, which has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Many manufacturers are advertising "Zero Trans Fats", but if you look at the ingredient list, it is still in there. Manufacturers are allowed to state that claim as long as it under .5 grams. One landmark 2006 study found that increasing your intake of trans fatty acids from about one percent of your caloric intake to two percent -- equivalent to going from about two grams of trans fats a day to about four grams -- will increase your risk of developing heart disease by 30 percent. (Boston.com)

High Fructose Corn Syrup is made from corn, and your body can tell the difference between that and sugar. Excess sugar is harmful to the body, but I would choose it over HFCS. If you need to lose weight, or if you want to avoid diabetes and heart disease, fructose is one type of sugar you'll want to avoid, particularly in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. Part of what makes HFCS such a dangerous sweetener is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar. Many people who have cholesterol problems should be aware that this ingredient causes triglycerides in the blood to skyrocket. I know that from experience. Once I cut all HFCS from my diet, my triglyceride counts normalized. This ingredient is in everything: ketchup, snack foods, salad dressings, frozen foods; you name it and it's mostly likely in it. And HFCS almost always is made from genetically modified corn which in itself has been debated whether it is safe or not. But that is a blog post for another time.

Nitrate, sometimes listed as Sodium Nitrite, is a preservative, coloring, and flavoring commonly added to bacon, ham, hot dogs, luncheon meats, smoked fish, and corned beef. Studies have linked eating it to various types of cancer by reacting to the stomach acids to produce nitrosamines. Manufacturers add sodium ascorbate or sodium erythorbate, to inhibit the formation of nitrosamines to reduce the nitrite in the food, but why add another ingredient to prevent the damage of another? I tend to look for uncured varieties of ham or bacon to avoid this ingredient.

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is an amino acid that is added to food to enhance the flavor. It is found in soups, salad dressings, frozen food, and chips. I strongly suggest you read the book, Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board certified neurosurgeon, as he explains how glutamate in MSG causes the brain cells to "overexcite", thus killing them. Manufacturers disguise this ingredient in many of their products by listing them under different names. The link, http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html shows a list of the hidden MSG ingredient in your food.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydrozyttoluene (BHT) are used to preserve common household foods because it protects the fat in the food from going turning rancid. BHA and BHT are often added to potato flakes, dry breakfast cereals, enriched rice, and foods containing animal fats and shortening. These chemicals have the possibility to be carcinogenic to humans, and it is totally unnecessary. Some manufacturers use Vitamin E as an anti-oxidant in the food, instead of BHA and BHT.

Aspartame is a sweetener found in so-called diet foods such as low-calorie desserts, gum, gelatins, drink mixes, and soft drinks. It is also known by the brand names NutraSweet® and Equal®. It is an excitotoxin, and it may cause cancer or neurological problems, such as dizziness or hallucinations. It "accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA." ² Artificial sweeteners in diet foods and drinks ruin your body's ability to count calories, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge. Buying diet sodas to reduce your daily caloric intake in order to lose weight does not work!

I know it's a lot of information to take in, but take baby steps like I did. Make a goal to pick one of the above ingredients to cut out each week, and you will be on your way to better health is a little over a month.

Footnotes:

1. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blog/dailydose/2011/01/trans-fat_free.html

2. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/02/26/artificial-sweeteners-once-again-linked-to-weight-gain.aspx

Zero Waste Lunches

Labor Day usually signifies the end of summer and the start of a new school year for many children.  For parents, it's all about getting back to a routine; and part of the our daily routine is to pack school lunches.

I love packing my children's lunches because it makes me feel better knowing they are getting the necessary nutrients needed in a well balanced lunch, but I didn't like the fact that I would be using plastic bags that would be ending up in the trash can at the end of the lunch period.  So right before school began, I was on a mission to research lunch boxes that would elimate waste.  I fell in love with bento-style boxes, because it provided sections that I could place different food in. This is an important feature if you have a child that does not like when food is touching. 

Once I decided to go  with this style, I began searching the different styles of lunch systems many websites sell.  Most were made from plastic, while others were stainless steel.  I was salivating over the stainless steel ones, until I spotted the price.......$60 for the entire system, which included the bento box and the lunch bag!  Multiply that price by 2 (or more if you have a larger family), and you are taking out a small loan just to pay for them. Other lunch system I found were slighty cheaper in price, but still over my budget. 

 I could not justify spending over $100 on lunch boxes, so my children can eat lunch with no waste, and I could feel better knowing I am not contributing to more trash in our landfills.  So with this style of lunch box in mind, I began my search for a more economical type bento box. Lo and behold, I found it!  Ziploc makes a divided plastic container that fits in a standard rectangular lunch box.  For about $3, I was able to buy 1 package that included two containers. And the  best thing is, these containers do not contain BPA (Bisphenol A) which can imitate estrogen in the body and possibly cause adverse health effects. 

I purchased stainless steel water bottles for about $3 each, and the lunch bag for $7.  Add a cloth napkin and silverware from your kitchen drawer, and you have your own zero-waste lunch system for the low price of about $13.  This is a price that I can handle!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I never thought of myself as having a green thumb.  Of course, I knew where fruits and vegetables came from, and I would gladly take whatever excess a family member had grown in their own garden.  It was just easier for me to drive to the local grocery store and buy them than to take the time to learn about gardening and have the patience to what until the harvest.

But my mind changed when I learned about the different pesticides that are being used on crops to keep bugs and weeds away, and that some of the residues from the pesticides remain on or even in the produce.  Yuck!  So in order to reduce my family's intake of these pesticides, we buy mostly organic produce and supplement some of it by container gardening.  Yes, I garden in containers.  Our backyard is full of rock, and until we can build a large raised garden, my plants are just as happy growing in containers strategically placed around my yard based on each plant's need for sun and my need for aesthestics. 

My children love when it's time to harvest whatever we need for that evening's dinner.  Whether it is fresh basil from the herb garden tucked between the fence and the patio or lettuce from one of the containers, they are more than happy to take a bowl and scissors and cut the needed amount I have asked for.  One day, my son came in from clipping lettuces for our dinner salad, washed it, put it in a bowl, and exclaimed, "take that food stores"! They will even take the daily stroll around the yard with me to water the plants or to see if any new changes have taken place since the day before. 

We still buy much of our produce from farmers markets, local produce stands, and from natural health food stores.  My thumb is slowly changing to a shade of light green as I continue my quest for supplying healthy, organic food for my family straight from my own backyard!

How our Healthy Life Came to Be

I guess I am officially a blogger.  I enjoy writing and sharing information with others about our healthy lifestyle and how it came to be, so one day a friend suggested that I write about it.  I have so much information and research I have gathered over the years about living a healthy life in balance with oneself and with nature.  I wanted to be able to share it with people that may be able to use it in order to help them make mindful choices for themselves and their family.  So here I am. 

This story starts with me and my health.  Long story short is, I have a medical issue, or so I've been told.  Not a bad one, but one that over many, many years my well-meanings doctors have prescribed medications for me to help this ailment; and being the good patient that I was, I took them because I was young, uniformed, and plain scared considering the doctor told me I would have a heart attack within 10 years.....I think that would scare anybody!  I was otherwise a very healthy person, but I felt like this ball and chain of having this problem caused me daily worry.  It wasn't until I began experiencing multiple, very problematic side effects to these prescriptions, that I started to research the medication. The medical issue that has been perceived as the villain in all of this was.....................cholesterol.

As soon as my fingers typed up different combinations of words about my nemesis, my world changed. All the past "situations" surrounding my health came into focus, and I realized that I needed to find out as much as I could about how the way we live, what we put on and in our bodies, and how we treat our environment is interconnected.  It has become my passion ever since then.

After learning about how there could be long term side effects I may experience from years on these medicines and how not having the proper nutrition can affect one's health for many years to come, I became angry.  My children were just beginning to start elementary school and everything I thought I was doing right for them in terms of being healthy were wrong.  Apparently the yogurt I bought for them was full of sugar and artificial colors, and I can't tell you how many times we would come home to me opening up boxes of processed food and calling it a dinner.  Had I missed out on that "window of opportunity" in making sure their brain development was given the utmost attention?  Or was I too late?  But then I realized that they were happy, growing, and had rarely gotten sick, and I began to understand that I must have done okay in making choices for them in terms of food and well being.   So I didn't dwell on the past and concentrated on the future; and the future was changing how we live, and making sure I provide them the tools they need to be healthy today and for years to come.  

Now, I feel empowered knowing that when I am mindful of what I choose to bring into our home, whether it be what we put in and on our body, and creating a home that surrounds itself in keeping in balance with nature.  

I am truly creating a healthy life for my family and I.