Debbie Vail, NC
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BVO - Are You Drinking Flame Retardant?  

3/6/2013

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It's on most major news feeds and it was the subject of a recent Dr. Oz show.  I'm talking about BVO, or Brominated Vegetable Oil.  It can be found in sports drinks and in certain soft drinks like Fanta, Mountain Dew, Squirt, Sunkist,  Fresca and Gatorade.  BVO is used to keep the liquid emulsified, otherwise, it would separate out, look gross, and you wouldn't want to buy it.  BVO makes the liquid look cloudy and not see-through clear.  So if you hold your drink up to light and it is cloudy, chances are it contains BVO.  

BVO is in the same chemical family as flame-retardants like polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).

What are the concerns of BVO?  See this quote from Dr. Oz:

"Researchers link brominated vegetable oil (BVO) to organ damage, neurological issues, and even birth defects. Studies have found that brominated flame-retardants (BVO’s cousins) build up in human tissues, including breast milk. Animal and some human studies have linked these substances to neurological impairment, reduced fertility, changes in thyroid hormones, and early onset puberty. Up until the 1940s, bromide salts were used for medicinal purposes until it was discovered that they could cause psychological symptoms and mental disorders in patients and they were pulled off the market." 

In response to a recent petition by a teen to get BVO removed from Gatorade, PepsiCo, makers of Gatorade, will start removing BVO from their product, as per their announcement a few weeks ago (Jan. 2013), but does not plan to remove it from Mountain Dew.  The new non BVO Gatorade will be on the shelves in the next few months, this according to the Chicago Tribune.  I do not know what other companies will do.

It's banned in many other countries already, and while no long term studies have been done, I personally, would not want to keep on drinking this until definitive conclusions have been made.  How much toxin are we willing to allow in our bodies?  We are bombarded by toxins daily.  I think it would benefit us to avoid them when we can.  The FDA originally deemed BVO as safe, but in the 1970s, they called for more testing, which has not been done.  

In 12 ounces of Gatorade, it has 80 calories, 160 mg of sodium, and 21 grams of sugar.  Perhaps the sugar should be of greater concern than the BVO.  

Alternatives:  coconut water, a little lemon or apple cider vinegar with a pinch of sea salt in water, seltzer water or a little fruit juice mixed into water.  My personal favorite:  A glass of filtered water with a teaspoon of raw apple cider vinegar, pinch of sea salt, and two drops of lemon essential oil (make sure the essential oil you can be ingested- doTerra brand lemon essential oil can be ingested.)
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Dr. Oz  3 Day Detox Cleanse

11/23/2012

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I recently watched the popular Dr. Oz show, and was interested in the three day cleanse drinks that he was talking about on the show that day, so I decided to give it a try.  My husband and I both did this together, which makes it so much easier, since we are eating the same thing.  The Dr. Oz 3-Day Detox Cleanse consists of blended drinks containing many fruits and vegetables, along with some healthy fat, as well.  I will tell you of our experience in my post below, and at the end, I will share some helpful tips, along with the results we had.  Go to the Dr. Oz website where you can print out one sheet of directions with shopping list.

Breakfast Drink
1 cup water
1 cup raspberries
1 banana
1/4 cup spinach
1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
1 Tbsp. almond butter
2 Tsp. lemon juice
Photo Credits:  Raspberries, Bananas, Spinach, Flax Seed, Lemon Juice, Almond Butter, water
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This is the drink that was made from the above ingredients.  The breakfast and dinner drinks were our favorite drinks.  I do not think that I could have gotten a good smooth blend without my Vita-Mix Blender.  It does the best job.  I also enjoy my Cuisinart Citrus Juicer.  I juiced the whole bag of lemons and bottled it for fast use in these drinks.  I think it is best to purchase whole flax seed and grind as you need, instead of purchasing already ground flax seed.  Doing this will reduce nutrient loss that occurs with time after the seed is ground.  Grind the seed in a coffee grinder before adding to blender.  See bottom of this post for equipment I used.  

Lunch Drink
4 celery stalks
1 cucumber
1 cup kale leaves
1/2 green apple
1/2 lime (juice)
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1/2 cup almond milk
1 cup pineapple
Photo Credits:  Celery, Cucumber, Kale, Apple, Lime, Coconut Oil, Almond Milk, Pineapple
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This was our least favorite drink but it was still good.  All the drinks actually make more than a glass full and this one is nearly two glasses full.  I had to cut back on the amount of celery called for as well as the cucumber since mine were very large and this helped with the texture of the drink.  The recipe calls for almond milk but we substituted coconut milk for this.  I did not know if the recipe called for the whole lime or just juice, but I used just the juice.  To boost sweetness I added four drops of Liquid Stevia.

Dinner Drink
1/2 cup mango
1 cup blueberries
1 1/2 cup coconut water
1 cup kale
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 avocado
1/4 Tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
Photo Credits:  Mango, Blueberries, Coconut Water, Kale, Lemon Juice, Avocado, Cayenne Pepper, Flax Seed
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In this drink, the fibrous mango gave a texture to the drink that felt like tiny hairs.  We did not like this so we substituted either pineapple or banana for the remainder of the days.  I think that if you do not cut the mango too close to the seed you may not get the fibrous hairs.  Eating the mango by itself does not produce a texture of hairs in your mouth but it did when blended in this drink.  We also used Zico Coconut water as pictured.  We thought we would not like the cayenne pepper in this drink, but was pleasantly surprised, as it imparted a spicy taste, but not too hot.  Instead of 1/4 avocado, we used 1/2, since that way we did not have to refrigerate any unused avocado, as it quickly turns brown once cut.

Helpful Tips: 

 1.  When shopping for your ingredients, remember to take into account the items that are on the Dirty  Dozen and Clean Fifteen list according to the EWG's Shopper's Guide.  That means to keep the pesticide exposure low, you should buy organic when it comes to the apples, celery, spinach, blueberries, cucumbers, and kale.  But you can buy conventionally when it comes to the rest of the ingredients.  

2.  A drink for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are called for on this program with an additional drink of your choice as a snack.  I did not know which drink we would like the best so I did not buy extra for that extra drink of the day so we did not have but three drinks per day.  The Dr. Oz shopping list does not include the extra ingredients you would need for this drink since of course, they do not know which one you will pick.  So take this into account if you want to purchase extra ingredients for this drink.

3.  Prepare all your vegetables in advance by washing them all and having ready to make.

4.  If you can't find some of the organic fruits, check the frozen fruit section.  These work great.

5.  Start your blender off slow to mix all, and then increase to full speed.

6.  To the drinks, I added 4 drops of Liquid Stevia.  We liked this added sweetness.

7.  If too many carbs are an issue, then cut back on the fruit content and rely a little more on the liquid stevia for sweetness.

8.  Don't be discouraged if you can't do three days - how about trying just one day?

9.  The detox bath called for in the cleanse was nice.  Since we take showers, I only did this one night, but did enjoy it.

Our Results:

It's just not fair that men who eat the same thing as women will lose more weight.  Jealously, I report that my husband lost 5 pounds.  I lost one. We both felt good and energized on this cleanse.

This post is featured on GNOWFGLINS, Simple Lives Thursday
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Pigs' Noses That Glow in The Dark?

6/16/2012

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It seems like the subject of genetically modified foods is being brought up more and more these days as more and more people who have never heard of this are now being informed.  

Genetically modified (GM) food is to say the least a very controversial subject. Many foods on the market contain ingredients derived from these foods and of the most concern to me is infant formula and baby food and foods.  The highest percentage of GM foods are corn, soybeans, canola, sugar beets, rice, papayas, farmed raised salmon, aspartame, dairy and cotton.   If you do not buy organic dairy products then the products will most likely have been injected with the GM growth hormone and the animal possibly fed GM grains and hay.   You may think you are safe with cotton but cottonseed oil and canola oil are used in margarine and processed foods.  If you live in Europe, avoiding GM foods is easier since laws require labeling, but in the US and Canada food manufacturers are not required to label GM foods.  

Here is something I did not know until doing research for this post.  Produce will have a PLU (price look up) number (that little sticker you find on fruit and vegetables).  A 4 digit number means it is conventionally raised (not organic and sprayed with chemicals and pesticides), a 5 digit number will mean that it is either organic or genetically modified.  If the number begins with an 8 it is GM but this cannot be always counted on since this labeling is optional.  If the number begins with a 9 it is organic.   Be aware that foods labeled "made with organic ingredients" can contain up to 30% GMOs so the best buy would be a label that says "100% organic."
Examples
4139: Conventional Papaya
94139: Organic Papaya
84139: GMO Papaya 

Doesn't it just leave your head spinning?  Isn't it hard enough to come up with the money to purchase these foods, let alone trying to get an education as to how to buy them?

Organic crops must be grown in safe soil, have no modifications, and must remain separate from conventional products. Farmers are not allowed to use synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), petroleum-based fertilizers, and sewage sludge-based fertilizers.   That last phrase "sewage sludge-based fertilizers" does not sound appetizing at all.  No wonder this country's hospitals are full and ill health abounds.  The curse placed upon us was that it would be hard to grow our crops and by the sweat of our brow we would produce them and eat.  I think man has placed an additional curse upon himself by all the toxins he puts in his foods and especially how he has of late been genetically modifying his foods.  

What exactly is genetically modified foods?   Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are plants or animals whose DNA has been altered. For instance the gene of a bacteria can be taken and placed within the gene of corn to produce a certain desirable trait.  These products have undergone only short-term testing to determine their effects on humans and the environment so we do not know the long term effects.   

If you purchase corn it is most likely genetically modified.  The corn has a gene that expresses a protein that is toxic to corn earworms.  This is the type of corn that is produced commercially on a wide scale in the U.S.  The bacteria that was used in the gene splice is naturally found in the soil and many organic farmers use this to spray on their gardens for insect control.  The insect dies but the vegetable can be washed and rid of it so you won't be eating it  This natural insecticide is called BT (bacillus therigiensis). 


 It is one thing to use it organically as a spray but it is a whole different thing for it to be combined with an entirely different organism like corn, thus the name BT Corn.  Corn is no longer corn but a cross between a bacteria and a corn.  

Why should you be concerned about GM foods?  Genetically modified foods have been linked to toxic and allergic reactions, sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals. The effects on humans of consuming these new combinations of proteins produced in GMOs are unknown and have not been studied.

In all fairness I will say that there are many who take the stance that GM foods are safe and that we should not worry at all about it.  Personally, I don't think we need to be gene splicing different species together.  Who knows where this will lead.  And I do not like that there are no long term studies.  I think it would be best to leave each species of organisms to themselves and not tamper with cutting and pasting their genes.

Genesis 1:12 - "And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good."

God created everything and placed within His creation the certain genes that would always reproduce after their kind.  This is reason enough for us to leave His creation as it is.  There may be long term ill effects of this gene tampering.  


What combinations have been tried?

It is now possible for plants to be engineered with genes taken from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. Scientists have worked on some interesting combinations:
  • Spider genes were inserted into goat DNA, in hopes that the goat milk would contain spider web protein for use in bulletproof vests.
  • Cow genes turned pigskins into cowhides.
  • Jellyfish genes lit up pigs' noses in the dark.
  • Artic fish genes gave tomatoes and strawberries tolerance to frost.
Field trials have included:
  • Corn engineered with human genes (Dow)
  • Sugarcane engineered with human genes (Hawaii Agriculture Research Center)
  • Corn engineered with jellyfish genes (Stanford University)
  • Tobacco engineered with lettuce genes (University of Hawaii)
  • Rice engineered with human genes (Applied Phytologics)
  • Corn engineered with hepatitis virus genes (Prodigene)
  • Potatoes that glowed in the dark when they needed watering.
  • Human genes were inserted into corn to produce spermicide

Sources:  http://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-basics/the-ge-process
http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Genetically-Modified-Foods 
http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/04/how-to-decode-plu-stickers-on-produce.html 

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You Are Being Medicated Without Your Consent.

6/12/2012

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"WARNING: Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately."   
This is the warning label that you will find on all toothpastes containing fluoride.   

One of the little-known facts about fluoride toothpaste, is that each tube of toothpaste - even those specifically marketed for children - contains enough fluoride to kill a child. 

 Did you know that 97% of western Europe has chosen fluoride free water and that fluoride is the only chemical added to drinking water for the sole purpose of medication (to prevent tooth decay).   Fluoride has nothing to do with water treatment. 

Is it right for someone to add medication to our water without our approval? 

Ingestion of fluoride has little benefit and many risks with possible damage to the brain with adverse effects on IQ, reduction of thyroid function, increased risks of bone fracture and bone cancer especially people with impaired kidney function since the kidneys cannot excrete the fluoride so the fluoride accumulates in the bones.  Other side effects are dental fluorosis, joint pain and skin rash.  

The main fluoride chemical added to water (hydrofluorosilicic acid) is an industrial by-product from the phosphate fertilizer industry (toxic waste is barreled up and sold, unrefined, to communities across the country). Communities add hydrofluorosilicic acid to their water supplies as the primary fluoride chemical for water fluoridation.


Even if you don't live in a community where fluoride is added to water, you'll still be getting a dose of it through cereal, soda, juice, beer and any other processed food and drink manufactured with fluoridated water.  I especially kept seeing many sources saying that infant formula was a big source of fluoride for babies.  Children are at a greater risk of fluoride overdose than adults. Unlike the fluoride used in toothpaste, hydrofluorosilicic acid is not pharmaceutical-grade quality. It is an unpurified, industrial-grade, corrosive acid which has been linked, in several recent studies, to increased levels of lead in children’s blood. 

I called my local water company to inquire if fluoride was added to our drinking water.  The answer was no but since that time I  found a website listing the water systems and the fluoride levels in the water and found that my water company does indeed add fluoride to the water system.  I was very disappointed.  I urge you to find out about your water system and hopefully have some influence to get your water supply free of added fluoride.  Here is a website that you can use to look up your specific water supply and find out whether you have fluoride added to your water.    http://thyroid.about.com/library/articles/blfluoridefinder.htm 

Other than reducing your fluoride intake, it will be important to maintain a healthy diet. The importance of a healthy diet has been suggested by the repeated observation that humans/animals with poor nutrition are more severely impacted by fluoride toxicity than those with adequate nutrition. 

See this latest post from Fox News:  In a surprising reversal, last month EPA’s announced that it intends to lower the maximum amount of fluoride in drinking water because of growing evidence supporting the chemical’s possible deleterious effects to children’s health.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/02/22/epa-reverses-fluoride/#ixzz22yI8HBek 

Here are the 10 top tips for reducing fluoride from the Fluoride Action Network:  See their website for more information on each tip.  I have the abbreviated version here.

1) Stop Drinking Fluoridated Water:  Tap water consumption is, on average, the largest daily source of fluoride exposure for people who live in areas that add fluoride to the water. Avoiding consumption of fluoridated water is especially critical for infants.  Click here to get their advice about water filters.

2) Don’t Let Your Child Swallow Fluoride Toothpaste

3) Do NOT Get Fluoride Gel Treatments at the Dentist

4) Eat More Fresh Food, Less Processed Food.  When water is fluoridated, it is not just the water that is fluoridated, but all beverages and foods that are made with the water. As a general rule, therefore, the more processed a food is, the more fluoride it has.

5) Buy Organic Grape Juice and Wine.  In the United States, many vinyards use a fluoride pesticide called cryolite. As a result, the levels of fluoride in U.S. grape juice and wine (particularly white grape juice and white wine) are consistently elevated.  Also if you are a heavy consumer of raisins, then buy organic.

6) Reduce Your Tea Consumption (and/or Drink Tea with Younger Leaves)  Be careful of drinking too much tea, particularly bottled and instant varieties. The tea plant accumulates high levels of fluoride, and excess intake of tea is known to cause a painful bone disease called skeletal fluorosis. Some teas though contain high levels of health-boosting anti-oxidants. Not only are anti-oxidants good for health in general, they also help to protect you from fluoride toxicity.  
If you love tea, therefore, try to purchase varieties that are made from young leaves (e.g., “White tea”). This will allow you to maximize tea’s known benefits, while reducing its known harm.  
Another option is to drink yerba matte – a caffeinated herbal tea from South America that contains very low levels of fluoride (< 0.2 ppm) 

7) Avoid Cooking with Teflon Pans

8) Don’t Take Cipro and Be Mindful of Other Fluorinated Pharmaceuticals.  Many pharmaceuticals are fluorinated, which means they contain something called a “carbon-fluorine bond.” Although the carbon-fluoride bond is strong enough to resist breaking down within the body, this is not always the case.

9) Minimize Consumption of Mechanically-Deboned Chicken:  Since bone is where fluoride is accumulated thus mechanically processed chicken will contain greater quantity of bone in the product.

10) Avoid fluoridated salt.  If you live in a country which allows fluoridated salt to be sold, make sure that the salt you buy is unfluoridated. 

I have been in the market myself for a water filter to remove fluoride.  I checked Amazon filters for this and found some that I have listed in this post but I do not have experience with them.  Here is an in depth review of filters from the Fluoride Action Network.  Many food bloggers recommend the Big Berkey Filtering system. 

Sources:   http://www.fluoridealert.org/   Picture credit:  Flickr


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Detoxify, Rebalance and Strengthen

6/2/2012

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High levels of this vitamin will help detoxify the body, rebalance intestinal flora, and strengthen the immune system.  Our bodies cannot produce this vitamin so we need to replenish our supply daily.  

When I started my treatments for my spine, my chiropractor put me on this vitamin, because without it, our bodies cannot make collagen, and collagen is what is needed to maintain strength and flexibility of joints.  

The picture of the cherries has given you a hint.  I'm talking about Vitamin C and the ascerola cherry is packed with vitamin C. 

 In her book, Digestive Wellness, Elizabeth Lipski, (Ph.D., CCN, CHN), describes a technique called Vitamin C Flush that she has used with herself and her children, and with her clients for the past 20 years.  Vitamin C has been well researched to help detoxify bacterial toxins, drugs, environmental toxins, and heavy metal toxins. 

If your immune system is weak, or you have a cold or infection, or you've been exposed to a lot of toxins, you may want to do a Vitamin C Flush once a week for a month or two.  On days when you are not doing a vitamin C Flush, take a minimum of 2,000 to 3,000 mg.   I personally have done the Vitamin C Flush several times, and I'm currently taking the recommended amount of 3,000 mg. daily.  I have found an added benefit to taking this recommended dose, it keeps your system regulated.  

To do a Vitamin C Flush, take Vitamin C to the level of tissue saturation.  You'll know you have reached it because you will have watery diarrhea.  You may want to purchase powdered mineral ascorbate C (instead of the ascorbic acid C)  which is easily tolerated by most people, because it doesn't change your pH balance.  Take about 1500 mg. of Vitamin C powder, mix with water or fruit juice, and drink.  Repeat in 15 minutes.  Keep taking 1500 mg. every 15 minutes until you have watery diarrhea.  As soon as watery diarrhea is produced stop taking the Vitamin C. 

 Keep track of how much Vitamin C you have taken.  This will help determine your optimal dosage.  In divided amounts, take daily one-half to three-quarters of the amount it took to produce the Flush. 

Over time your needs may increase but then substantially decrease as repair occurs.  Adjust your dosage accordingly.

I met Dr. Lipski and have a signed copy of her book, Digestive Wellness.  I highly recommend it since it gives a great understanding of how the gut works and ways to optimize quality of life.  Many digestive problems are addressed with recommendations of how to bring about a cure.
Source:  http://www.innovativehealing.com/
Picture credit:  Flickr

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Potassium Bromate - A Controversial Ingredient

5/9/2012

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Does this slice contain potassium bromate?
According to the Daily Beast in a March 2008 post, potassium bromate was one of the top Five Controversial Food Additives.  So what is potassium bromate?  You might want to know so that you can avoid it because in the post is a quote from the FDA which says "it is reasonable, based on an extensive database, to assume that bromate induces tumors via oxidative damage."   

 It was first found to cause cancer in 1982.  So if the FDA knows and believes this, why do they still allow its use?  I went to the FDA website and searched for bromate and found that they do indeed allow bromate in specified amounts.  This was according to their revised regulation dated April 1, 2011.   While it is banned in many countries, it is not banned in the United States, but California has approved a warning label on products containing potassium bromate so this has caused many manufacturers to do away with the additive.   
The FDA has discouraged its use but has not put an end to it because bromate was sanctioned for use before 1958.  This is the year that made it possible for food additives to be banned if they caused cancer but since bromate was accepted before 1958 then it will be harder to ban.  

Now you may be wondering where bromate shows up in our food supply.  Mostly, it is added to flours.  Bromate suppose to break down during the baking process but if the product is not baked long enough or hot enough there could still be remaining bromate.  Bakers add bromate to the flour to improve dough quality since it strengthens the dough and allows it to stand up to dough hooks and it reduces the mixing time.  Your health takes a back seat to time and money.  

Bromine is used as an additive in the forms of potassium bromate and brominated vegetable oil. See my post on Brominated Vegetable Oil, or BVO for short, to see if your drink contains this additive.

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MSG - How Many Names Does it Need Anyway?

4/24/2012

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It was first produced in Japan in 1909 so it's been around for over a100 years.  
MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) is a flavor enhancer that is found in most processed foods.  It is added to ice cream, meats, sauces, soups, broths, vegetables, and other foods.  Since it is a flavor enhancer then if the food does not taste that great, MSG can come to the rescue.  If you were an industry producing processed foods and you did not use MSG but all your competitors did, how do you think this would effect your sales?  People purchase food products mainly for taste so the brand that tastes the best will sell the most.  I am all for making a product better but does adding MSG to a product make it better?  Better, yes, for sales but what about better for your health?  Tests are still being conducted on MSG safety but there is big controversy over this at present.  MSG was in baby foods until 1969.  I would like to know more about this and why they pulled it from baby foods then.  Could it be that it was unsafe for babies?  If so, even as an adult I would not want to ingest something that was not good for babies and what about a pregnant woman ingesting MSG - how would this effect her baby?  

You  might can avoid purchasing foods with MSG if you know all the names that it has been given.  However somewhere I read that the food industries will just keep changing the name as many times as it takes to keep people buying their products.   MSG is named by many as a neurotoxin  or excitotoxin and excess MSG in the brain can result in rapid, uncontrolled firing of synapses which can lead to brain cell death.  A synapse contains a small gap separating neurons and is a region where nerve impulses are transmitted and received.   MSG will effect everyone differently depending on their blood brain barrier.  The blood brain barrier protects certain toxins from reaching your brain but stress, poor diet, head trauma, infections, age, drugs, and other illnesses and diseases weakens this barrier.  So why don't we all try to help our brains and bodies out a little and learn a few names for MSG so that we can avoid this neurotoxin.  Here are a few.

Photo Credit 

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Heavy Metal Toxicity

4/18/2012

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Do you know  your heavy metal toxicity score?  I wonder how many people are suffering from chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, migraines, depression and other problems and have been to the doctor numerous times only to be given a pill to fix the problem.  And then have to go back later and get another pill to fix the first pill's side effects.  There are so many ailments and so many doctor visits and so many pills - I'm sure a healthy diet would cure many illnesses but all those pills are the number one reason for toxicity according to a talk I recently heard last week.  I  wonder how many doctors think about testing their patients for heavy metal toxicity? 

 Here's a word from Naturopath Connect at their website:    Heavy metal toxicity can produce vague symptoms that sometimes are mistaken for other chronic conditions such as Autism, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, depression, Multiple Sclerosis, and a host of other serious disorders.  Discuss heavy metal toxicity with your healthcare professional before receiving any diagnosis or treatment for a serious chronic condition.

So the suggestion is to ask your doctor to discuss metal toxicity before receiving a further dose of toxins from the pill he is about to give you.  I know many of these mentioned illnesses have been blamed on poor diet, antibiotics, and vaccines and I don't disagree with that but I wonder too if it's not a combination of things.  Every person is different in their makeup as well so what might push me over the edge would not with another person or vice versa.  

Photo Credit:  Flickr 

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What's My Name?

4/18/2012

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What's my name?  I'm a thief but I'm in high demand.  You don't have to travel far to find me as I'm probably in your house right now.  Even though I have my faults, people tend to put up with me anyway.  I'm cheap and addicting but by nature I'm really pretty sweet regardless of all my faults and I tend to hang out in breads, cereals, breakfast bars, salad dressings, ketchup, yogurt,  pudding, and fruit juices just to name a few.  Those are healthy, right?

 Do you know who I am?  Did you guess, sugar?  No, sugar got the boot a long time ago by most processed food industries.  I'm really number one now.  Some say that I upset the normal appetite function and that I could be a source for mercury, a known neurotoxin, and that I have the ability to destroy your memory.  Am I being slandered?  

They say that  I have no nutritional value and can't be metabolized unless I rob you of a few nutrients and I tend to be stored in your liver and may contribute to cardiovascular disease.   I'm mostly extracted from genetically modified corn.  But don't look at all my faults, remember I'm really sweet and that should make up for all my faults, right?  My name is much more impressive than just plain old sugar - why I'm High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)!  I think people love me so much mainly because I'm cheaper than sugar and we all know that in today's world it's all about money.  I can help fast food producers and processed food plants by allowing them to make their product cheaper and get it out there to all you good folks just waiting for me, regardless of what effects I may have on your health.  Some people like me so much that  they have added me to honey to stretch that product. 

 If you can't find my long name on the food label then maybe you will know me as just plain old corn syrup or corn sugar.  

Author's note:  This blog is not written in defense of sugar.  Sugar also has many unhealthy effects but I would have to say that HFCS takes the cake!  

Photo Credit:  Flickr

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    Debbie Vail, NC
    ​Greetings from east central Alabama and welcome to my site.  I am a graduate of Hawthorn University, a leader in holistic education.  
    See more​ ​about me and my educational experience.
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