Ignorance is Bliss- or Is It? The Art of Reading Ingredients

What yummy all-American treat do the following ingredients produce when mixed together?

amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.

Scared to know? I was too.

These my friends, are the ingredients to the Strawberry Flavoring of a typical fast food restaurant Strawberry Milkshake. Hmmmm....I wonder what the "milk" is made of.

This is precisely why it is so important that we begin thinking about what exactly is in the foods we eat. We shouldn't all assume that companies producing our favorite yummy snack foods are benevolent in their efforts and really do care if we are healthy. Because actually-- they don't care. The sad truth is that great majority of our food culture is much more about the almighty dollar and the cultural need for convenience, than it is about the overall health and well-being of a people. And this has had serious, serious consequences.

So as to not overwhelm, once again we are all about baby steps in our path to wellness. It's about finding that next step each one of us can take to find a better place for our bodies, and ultimately our minds and spirits as well. One small thing we could begin doing today is to just start being curious about what exactly is in our food. It's not about changing it- that comes later. BUT just finding a bit of curiosity is a great place to begin.

Here is a list to start in your ingredient reading endeavors. It is not exhaustive by any means, but will absolutely get you on your way.

What to Watch Out For:

1. If you can't pronounce it -don't eat it. I have a somewhat silly little rule that if an ingredient has so many syllables that only an engineer or bio-physicist would understand it- I don't think I should be eating it. If you could only have one rule about what not to eat, this is it. So if you can't pronounce it or doesn't seem like a word that makes sense in the context of something edible, perhaps you can begin to say...."hmmmm...what the heck is that?"

2. Just because it says "Natural" on the box- doesn't mean it is. Seeing "Natural" written on the box does NOT let you off the hook for reading ingredients. Depending on the brand of food - those words can very deceiving. "All Natural" can still contain genetically modified foods & irradiated foods. Not much you can do about finding out whether those foods contain things like that- as labeling in the country is not mandated, but it does tell you that you can't always judge a book by its cover, or a food by its packaging. Bottom line: read the ingredients on everything, no matter how natural it seems, it will be an education of sorts. At the very least, it will begin to give you perspective when comparing different foods. "All Natural" only means that the ingredients at some point originated in something nature-like. How they get from there to your table however, is an entirely different story.
**Keep in mind that "Organic" has some of the same problems as "Natural" as it can mean a wide variety of things, not all of them good. However, for a company to claim "Organic" there are somewhat stricter rules than "Natural", so it is in most cases it's least a step up.

3. Avoid any foods with hydrogenated oils and transfats. Hydrogenated oils (or partially-hydrogenated oils) are trans fats. Trans fats are very very bad. The FDA now recommends that no one ever get any trans fats ever. To give you some perspective here, the FDA doesn't make that recommendation about anything- not aluminum, not mercury, not anything. What does this tell you? We all know the devastating effects that aluminum and mercury can have on our bodies, so trans fats must be really bad.

So when looking at ingredients on the packaged foods- be sure to ignore the big bright posting on the front of the box that says "ZERO Grams of Trans Fat" because that doesn't mean very much. The food companies are allowed to advertise as having no trans fats as long as per serving there is less than 1 gram. This is a problem and intentionally deceiving, and in my book good cause to take away someone's good karma points.

So what is wrong with hydrogenated oils you ask? This is a good question - and enough information for another posting entirely. Here is a link to some information that can set you straight on why not to eat them:

Everything you need to know about hydrogenated oils.

4. Cottonseed oil is in Saltines, is a byproduct of where your shirt came from, and not regulated for food consumption. This should really be the end of the discussion. Don't eat foods with cottonseed oil (double whammy when its partially-hydrogenated cottonseed oil). The companies that use this in their products are just plain cheap, and should have to eat only this for the rest of their lives & see how they like it. But seriously folks, the problem with cotton seed oil not being regulated for food consumption is that the amount of pesticides & fungicides used on the crop can be outrageous. Cotton has the additional disadvantage of having many natural predators - thus needing even more chemicals to keep a crop from going bad.

5. High fructose corn syrup is in EVERYTHING, and should never be ingested. High fructose corn syrup has no nutritional value what-so-ever, and can cause serious harm to your body. Please see my previous posts on The Do's and Don'ts of sugar for more information.

Sugar Information and Alternatives

6. Natural Flavors and Artifical Flavors are the same thing. Only slightly different. Artificial flavors and natural flavors are all made in the same laboratory as perfumes, on a remote stretch of highway in New Jersey. The difference between the artificial and natural flavorings is that at one distant point in history the natural flavor's ingredients all came from something that came from the earth. But again, how it got to be in its final state of natural flavors - is something else entirely. And yet one more massive deception by the food technologists (or as they are officially known "flavorists") of America. Bottom line- don't eat them if you can help it. I highly recommend the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Shlosser to read more about this. Here is an excerpt I found from his book - pay close attention to paragraph's 8 and on.

** This will be a hard rule to start with - as half of everything in Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and other "natural" food distributors have natural flavors. Be ware: read ingredients.

7. Avoid foods with artificial colors. This is great general rule that really just falls under the "if it doesn't sound like something you should eat- then you probably shouldn't" rule. However, there are some specific colors that have been linked to some serious diseases including cancer and thyroid problems. The ones that should absolutely be avoided are FD&C Red #3 & FD&C Yellow #5. Other highly suspect colors are FD&C Red #4 & FD&C Yellow #6. My suggestion however is instead of memorizing a bunch of toxic color numbers, just avoid them all. I personally don't think the Kool-Aid is worth it, but hey that's just me.

Remember, if it seems like reading ingredients is going to mean that you will have to suddenly change everything you have ever eaten, I can understand why you wouldn't want to start this process. So don't think like that. Just know its ok to be curious, to begin just wondering what might be in there. It definitely does not mean that a complete overhaul is necessary-- right now. Begin with something small like- switching from frozen peas with natural flavors to frozen peas without natural flavors. Peas that are just peas are readily available and still taste like peas. And asking the question "why do those peas not taste enough like peas that we have to add flavor" is really good.

Good luck - and baby steps are the only way to a truer path of wellness for most of us & I commend you for your courage.

Fevers : Exercise for the Immune System

Let's all stop being afraid of fevers, ok? Fevers have gotten a very bad name for themselves in this country. I don't exactly know how this got started, though I have a pretty good guess. I believe we have a very bad habit in our medical culture of developing wonderful life saving measures and then grossly over-prescribing them. Often this causes more problems then we began with, and I believe this is the case for the widespread use of over-the-counter fever reducers.

The truth is, for most of us fevers are a wonderful service to our health and immune function. We need to begin recognizing this and really using it to our benefit. In my opinion a nice size portion of chronic illness in this culture could be prevented just by allowing ourselves to fever when necessary.

A fever comes from the innate wisdom of our amazing bodies. When the temperature of your body rises it is working to kill bacteria and viruses. A fever is your body's way of giving unwanted guests the boot. So when we falsely take a fever down with over-the-counter drugs- in one big swoop- we are greatly lessening our own ability to fight infection.

In addition to the benefits of getting a fever, there are also harmful effects to using over-the-counter fever reducers. The use of Tylenol has now been linked to pediatric asthma. It also reduces a very important liver enzyme used for detoxification in our bodies. For immature baby's livers, this is significant, and a cause for serious concern. Motrin has been connected to chronic digestive disorders.

This is an important piece of information when we think about the chronicity of illness for so many of us. I feel as a society we have kind of given up and given in to living with disease. So often in our culture I see this kind of acceptance that diabetes, asthma, thyroid disease, anemia, constipation, allergies, food intolerance, acid reflux, low immune function, back pain, are all just a part of living, and thus we go on our merry way. I don't see it this way & I refuse to just let it be. I know there are simple, accessible, effective, and safe things to do to help keep us healthier, we just need more access to them. Fevers are just one more answer that may be able to help get us back in our bodies and feeling good.

Here are some guidelines to help you or your child fever safely:

1. Know the facts about fevers. People are under a lot of misconceptions about fevers. Here are some important pieces of information:

a. Babies under 3-4 months with a fever should go to their pediatrician. Don't try to treat it at home.

b. Children fever higher than adults. Kids are warmer by nature- thus a child with a 102 fever and an adult with a 102 fever can look very different, and shouldn't be worrisome.

c. Brain damage from a fever doesn't occur until 108 degrees. The body has good internal mechanisms to keep a fever below 106 degrees, so a child with a 104 fever will typically not go much higher. Just because a fever is rising doesn't mean it won't stop where it should.

d. A child can safely fever until 105 degrees without need to call your doctor or health care provider. At that point, I suggest contacting your trusted health care provider. This doesn't mean you will be necessarily taking the fever down, but at this point I think its always just good to check in.

e. Fevers can sometimes lead to convulsions in some kids - AND that's ok. As scary as this sounds- and as some parents know- can be very scary to look at, it's ok & is not harmful to the child. The usually last less than 5 minuntes and don't increase your child's risks of epilepsy or developments delays.

2. Know where the fever is coming from. Any fever of unknown origin is one to check in about. This just means that if you have a fever from the flu or a cold- you know where it's coming from and this is most common - and it's totally appropriate to care for at home. If it seems random or you are unclear about the the reason- call your trusted health care provider. This doesn't mean that you will want to bring the fever down necessarily- but rather it's good to know why you're fevering.

3. How a child looks and acts is much more important than the number on the thermometer. Please keep this in mind. This is one of the most important things I ask a parent when they call me. How does your child look? Most children are alert and awake through a 104 fever. I am much more concerned about a glassy-eyed lethargic child at 99 degrees than one with 104 who is alert and running around.

4. At about 103 degrees, the patient with a fever is bound to feel uncomfortable. It's the middle of the night, everyone is exhausted and you have a screaming child on your hands. This is the time when people typically grab the tylenol or motrin. This is the time I recommend naturally reducing the fever enough to help the patient feel more comfortable, and leads us to the next topic.

How to Naturally Reduce a Fever:

1. Lots of fluids. For a breastfed baby- keep feeding- as often as the baby will take it. Staying hydrated is key. Natural electrolytes can help the body stay hydrated. I highly recommend Electro-mix by the brand that makes Emergen-C. It comes in a box of single serve packets- and is all natural with no added sugar. I do not recommend sports drinks as they are filled with harmful ingredients.

2. A lukewarm sponge bath. Not a cold bath. A cold bath will make someone shiver. Shivering raises the body temperature, which is what we don't want. A lukewarm bath is comfortable and can help bring the fever down just enough to help with the discomfort. You can place your child in the bathtub in a couple inches of water or just use a washcloth. Either way be sure the water is warm.

3. Familiarize yourself with Homeopathic remedies that are appropriate for home care and fevers. There are a handful of them that are easy to have on hand, are inexpensive, and work wonders. There are tons of websites and great easy to read books that give you information on the appropriate use of homeopathic remedies at home. Homeopathy works to NOT reduce the fever, but rather it helps the body process through it more quickly and efficiently. It allows the body's natural responses to take hold and fight like heck. And it works very very well.

In my private practice - all the parents are asked to purchase a home care kit with about 30 different homeopathic remedies in it- so when illness strikes- they have their arsenal of natural and safe medicine to help. I won't recommend specific remedies here, without knowing that my readers have a professional person to call or what their own level of personal expertise is. However, this of course leads us to my next recommendation...

4. Get a holistic practitioner that works with children and families and takes phone calls in the middle of the night. In my opinion, until you are comfortable addressing a fever on your own, this is the number one answer to avoiding using fever reducing medicines. I answer kid related health questions 24 hours a day- and there are others like me. This way when parents are anxious about their baby's first fever - they have a professional who will give them advice other than a panic induced tylenol/motrin solution.

Well there you have it. I hope this helps ease some of the fear around fevers and helps you find a bit more willingness to experiment in going through one. This is just one piece that can allow us to get back into our bodies and explore the amazing innate wisdom we have to conquer illness and to keep us healthy. Good luck!