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.

Sugar Alternatives (aka The Lesser of Two Evils)

The topic of sugar is a huge one. There are endless explanations in the media and health industry of why we crave sugar. Hormone imbalance, adrenal depletion, food allergies, imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, comfort, and many more. All of these hold some place in the explanation of why sugar can seem to rule many of our lives. For those who truly crave it, it would definitely be worth investigating where the source of the craving is coming from. The best place to do that is with your trusted holistic health care provider, someone who can help you find a better balance. No matter what the source of our cravings however, there are some good general guidelines about what to avoid and which sugars have less serious health consequences.

If you have blood sugar problems, food allergies or sensitivities, or other chronic immune function issues, then the following rules won't apply. There are more specific ways to work with (or rather without) sugar for chronic issues, that would be important to explore.

However, if you are like many people and have sugar at times, currently don't have chronic illnesses effected by sugar, and would like to do your best to keep it that way, then please read on. The following guidelines give some alternatives that can be used for cooking, baking, and for sweet snacks. But please keep in mind, sugar is not healthy, no matter which way you look at it. I prefer to think of sugar like I think of voting for president - I always pick the lesser of two evils.

And with that said here are my sugar do's and don'ts:

First the Don'ts:

1. First and foremost, get rid of that white sugar from the house (this actually includes brown sugar too). Just throw it out. It's simply not good for you, and is just doing lots of harm. White sugar has absolutely no nutritional value, causes huge spikes in blood glucose levels, & can cause nutritional deficiencies. If those aren't enough reasons for you, refined sugars are linked to diabetes, dental problems, digestive disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder, and even cancer.

There are so many great tasting alternatives to cook and bake with in this day and age, there are no longer any good reasons to choose white sugar.

2. Stop eating High Fructose Corn Syrup. This is an introduction to what will eventually be a blog on reading ingredients on all processed and pre-made foods from the grocery store. High Fructose Corn Syrup is a dangerous additive and is pretty much in everything, so learn to start reading the boxes of food you buy. It is in a huge variety of foods that you will buy at the grocery store- including some "health foods." Read this:

A Great Short Article on the Dangers of HFCS

The Murky World of High Fructose Corn Syrup

3. When you simply must have a little something sweet, stop buying candy and sweets from the conventional grocery store, and start buying them from your local natural food store. There are lots and lots of amazing, delectable, make your mouth water treats, that don't contain all that garbage. Start shopping at a natural food store and see what you can find. Read the ingredients of your treats and buy the ones with the least refined stuff in it. There are these things called "NO Cookies." Let me just say...they are Amaaaaaazing, & they have no "refined" sugars and none of the other stuff that's a lot more harmful. Try them & other treats labeled this way. Find which ones you like & eat those when the cravings hit.
(With this in mind, don't trade a whole crappy cookie that you would have otherwise eaten, for a whole natural cookie, or 3. Remember, moderation is everything. These are alternatives to the really really bad stuff, but they are still NOT health food. I know I've said it before and I will probably say it again, but too much of a good thing....right? So try a few bites, and see if the craving passes.)

4. By Golly-stop eating aspartame! This means Equal, Sweet-n-Low, Nutrasweet, and every drink labeled diet. It's cancer causing and essentially causes your body to go into shock every time you ingest it. There is something called an "excitotoxin" - and aspartame is one of them. Sounds scary, huh? Yeah, well it is. I will save the aspartame discussion for another time, but it just didn't seem right not to mention it in this discussion on sweets. (OMG- and don't forget Splenda. That stuff is equally scary, and yet it hasn't been around long enough for us to fully know the true long terms effects. Go here: The Truth About Splenda.)

Though I have only given you 4 sugar don'ts , there are literally endless things not to do when it comes to sugar. These are the few that come to mind that make it simple and not a total lifestyle overhaul, for the time being. You aren't totally off the hook, because I can always elaborate later on what not to do, and I probably will. This blog should be a guide for when you're really craving, given that the cravings are not all day long.

With that said, here are the DO's:

1. Raw Unrefined Agave Nectar: Mmmmm...my favorite. It's super sweet, it's liquid, has very little of its own flavor and can be used in tons of recipes, so it's very versatile. It also is super low on the glycemic index, so it doesn't cause the typical spikes in blood sugar levels, and is considered one of the safer sugars for diabetics.

Here is one of my favorite recipes with agave nectar for chocolate milk. This is a completely healthy, no yucky added ingredients, just pure yummy chocolate milk that kids of ALL ages will enjoy.
1 c. Raw milk
1-2 tsp. raw cacao powder (raw cacao powder is bitter dark chocolate and is filled with nutrients and antioxidants, not sweetened at all)
a squeeze of agave nectar to taste
optional: add strawberries or bananas- yum!
**mix all ingredients with a hand blender (because the raw cacao powder doesn't mix easily) and enjoy!

2. Stevia: Stevia is amazing. It is like 1000 times sweeter than sugar- so you need the teeniest bit possible. You can buy it in packets for your coffee or tea- and it comes in a base powder of FOS (a healthy starch from artichokes) or some other starch, so that you can use a normal amount. Be sure to read the ingredients if you buy it in this form. Stevia is also considered completely safe for diabetics and actually has been used as an herb to help people with blood sugar problems. Until recently it was hard to buy outside of the herbal section of your natural food store because sugar companies lobbied the FDA to not let it be sold as a sweetener. They were very scared of its amazingness and they were successful for a long time. Unlike here, it has been used for quite a long time in soft drinks and candies in Japan and other places. It has finally been regulated to be sold as a sweetener in the U.S., so you can now find it in any natural food store. The only downside to stevia is that if you use too much, it can add a slightly funny taste- but using the packets does help to regulate this. I don't recommend it so much in baking unless you have a great recipe, but for teas and drinks its great and for a little sweetening in your cooking it works really well too.

3. Maple Syrup: Yum to the tumtum. But not good on the glycemic index at all, so buyer beware. You can buy it in its unrefined form and a person without blood sugar issues can have it. It tastes good, it's all natural, and is delicious in warm quinoa cereal!

A great healthy gluten free and refined sugar free cereal:
1 c. cooked quinoa
1/2 c. raw milk
maple syrup to taste
cut fresh peaches
dash of cinnamon

YUM!

4. UNREFINED RAW Honey: Honey is like maple syrup, so the basics are pretty much the same. Honey is not as versatile in my opinion as maple syrup, as its not viscous in its raw state - but I like it a lot for sweetening tea and other warm things. It's also very good for people when they have a terribly dry throat or cough and are nursing a cold. Buy local, as honey from your own region has the added benefits of helping with seasonal allergies. You can use it in your cooking as long as you blend it with something warm first to help melt it. Look for good recipes for sweets with honey. Again, high on the glycemic index, but raw natural honey has wonderful health benefits.

My favorite brand.


5. Xylitol: Buy gum with this stuff. Like Xyli-chew. You'll see a lot of the popular brands having xylitol in their gum products now- but be careful. Typically it is not used for the sweetener- rather they often use aspartame. They add xylitol to their products now so that they can claim it helps fight cavities. Which is another beautiful thing about xylitol. You can buy xylitol by the tub and brush your teeth with it - believe it or not. This stuff is awesome & kids love brushing their teeth with it because it's so sweet. You can also use it to sweeten things- but I don't really know how to use it that way. So good luck-and if you find recipes that work let me know!

6. Sucanat (aka Rapadura) Oh awesome Sucanat. I have been making chocolate chip cookies with this stuff for years. It's absolutely hands down the best white sugar substitute there is. Yeah- it's not white- and your cookies come out just a bit darker, but you can substitute it for white sugar in recipes in exact ratios, which is very nice for us less-creative bakers. Sucanat is the unrefined version of sugar cane. It is not separated from the molasses in the drying processing, so it has a caramelly flavor. Again, not so good on the glycemic index, but you can put it in coffee, tea, and baked goods. All-in-all, if you need a sweetener that you can keep in the jar where your white sugar once was- this is it.

(Btw please don't confuse Sucanat with Turbinado Sugar. Turbinado sugar is the browner version of white sugar that is still almost just as refined. Turbinado sugar is the one you can find in coffee shops in the brown packets & it's still not healthy for you.)

7. Last but absolutely not least, eat fruit when you have that craving. Fruit is natural, it's unrefined, and its a great alternative to a candy bar to cure that craving. Strawberries, plums, peaches, they are all so sweet, and sooooooo good. Don't underestimate the power of nature when it comes to your cravings. Experiment with a healthier option, and just see if the craving passes.

Ok that's it. You can be sure that there will be more to come on sugar. For now, you can add this to your home health tool box that is slowly but surely being built. Enjoy this one while you can, because eventually I am going to tell you how to seriously minimize sugars, if not stop them all together, and that one won't be nearly as fun.

Why Prevention is the Best Medicine for Your Baby

Prevention is simply the best medicine. Unfortunately, more often than not people first seek medical attention once they are already sick. As adults we have often played too hard, worked too hard, not slept enough, and eaten too much junk food. Our lifestyles have often allowed the layers of aches and pains, funky digestion, and other chronic ailments to set in and take hold. But with babies, it's different....

Aaaaaaaaah babies. They are like little clean slates, like a do over for our family histories of allergies, asthma, eczema, digestion problems, or immune dysfunction issues. Not to say that most babies aren't sick when I first see them. Because that is normally how it happens. But with kids, the layers upon layers of misuse and abuse aren't there yet. Once I treat a child and they heal the original complaint, all that's left is prevention.

The problem is our western minds think "all done," and I don't see them until the next cold or bout of symptoms takes hold. I've decided it's about time I change my tune, and make sure I am educating as much I can on the all too important practice of prevention.

When it comes to babies the general rule is they get sick quickly, and they heal quickly too. This means that when a child gets sick - they get sick fast. A child that had nothing, suddenly has a 103 fever, and is crying inconsolably. It usually comes in the middle of the night and unless you have your remedies and herbal formulas ready, it moves inward fast. For those in my practice who learned what remedies to have at home and what defenses are actually possible at this hour of the night (that don't include Tylenol or Motrin), they also know that kids heal quickly too. A child that at once was not eating, was burning up, and crying, is now running around the house in a whirlwind, like nothing was ever wrong.

What does this mean to me? It means kids' bodies, with proper treatment and care, and without symptom suppression, have so many chances to get better. Their bodies change so quickly, their energy is accessible and available to work with. So we can deal with symptoms, make them better, and use this large amount of available energy to help build healthy immune function and stop family patterns in their tracks.

Here are some things to do at home to give your children the best start possible:

1. Breastfeed as long as is feasible. Breast milk is the best immune builder there is. Do it solely for a minimum of 6 months and you will reduce the chances of your baby ever getting food allergies 3-fold. Do it for longer and you continue to build immune function, regulate your babies hormones, and provide comfort and connection for your baby.

2. Adopt good nutritional values for you while breastfeeding, and your baby once solids are introduced. This seems obvious, I know. Eat organic when possible, avoid processed foods (especially trans fats and corn-syrups), eat grass-fed meats, and make sure everyone is getting good fats. For more information on fats- you'll have to wait for future blogs or do your own research. A good article on the subject with tons of links and resources is here Know Your Fats. A great website on nutrition for children comes from the Nourishing Our Children Campaign. They offer sound advice with solid traditional principles for wellness.

3. Fevers are good. Let's all stop being afraid of fevers. Fevers are the body's own natural defense against infection. The body heats up to kill viruses and bacteria. When we synthetically reduce those fevers with over the counter fever reducers, we are lessening our body's ability to fight off infection. This gives the virus or bacteria a way in, allowing for the beginnings of chronic illness. It also sends the body a message not to work so hard next time, because...well, why bother? If your child has a fever and you are unsure of how high is too high- don't ever hesitate to call your primary health care provider. And when I receive that phone call in the middle of the night, the biggest concern I hear from parents is regarding the comfort of their child as well as for the rest of the family, who sleep and own wellness can be disturbed. This is a valid concern and leads us to #4.

4. Find yourself a good holistic practitioner for when your child falls sick. Western medicine is great. I do not adhere to all or nothing thinking in terms of our different medicines. I believe in integrative care. Let's utilize what different medicines do best and we will truly have integration. In my opinion, western medicine is great at diagnosis. They are amazing at life saving measures such as emergency medicine and surgery. But let's be honest, they are truly lacking when someone has a cold, an infection, digestive problems, diabetes, etc. They have no real treatment. They have symptom suppression, and that can make people feel better. But that will never give true healing or get to the root or cause of the disease or illness. Alternative medicine, such as acupuncture and homeopathy has actual treatment. Get real treatment for your child when she is sick and she will grow to be a healthier adult. Treat an illness so that it doesn't slip deeper into the body by suppressing the symptoms, and you will have not only successfully treated a cold, but you will have made a stronger body for it.

5. Tune ups. In between illness, don't forget to see your holistic health practitioner. This can be hard in our busy western lifestyles. But just schedule it, make it part of your monthly life. Your doing all you can for your babies wellness through diet and nutrition, don't forget there are gentle and yet totally effective practices that can help a child's digestion, sleep, & immune function even when life gets busy and everyone is already healthy. For babies once a month health maintenance is standard in Chinese Medicine. Sho Ni Shin is a Japanese technique used just for this. It is a painless, often comforting, light scratching of the acupuncture meridians and points used for nourishing children's energy. Find an acupuncturist in your area that practices on children and go. Your child will thank you for it for years to come.

These are just a handful of ideas that parents can do at home to help prevent illness. As simple as I may think they are, I realize that some of these ideas can seem a bit overwhelming at first, especially if it's the first time someone's hearing them. How do we allow our children to fever at 104 degrees without a sense of fear or hesitation, if we have never thought this way before? This is a real concern, and one that should not take be taken lightly. Find yourself a trusted holistic practitioner to include in your arsenal of people and tools that you already have for your child. Talk to this person. Talk to people who are already doing it, look online, find like minded parents (there are lots of them), and slowly one can ease into a new way of thinking about their child's health. Good luck!

Got Raw Milk?

In my practice, nutrition is one of the main treatments for my patients on their path to wellness. I see food as medicine, and the more healthy, natural, and unprocessed foods we put in our bodies, the better we feel. On the same note, the more processed and impure foods we eat (which is by far the bulk of the typical American diet), the more symptoms and disease we learn to live with.

I've found that beginning to think about changing one's diet can be an overwhelming and scary endeavor for many people. That's why I strongly believe in finding simple & accessible things people can do to begin the process of making these changes. Starting slowly can make this feel possible, and we do it one step at a time. And the proof is in the pudding. Literally. The truth is, over time people start feeling better when they start to change their diet. I have watched the cravings for people's most stubborn comfort foods fall away as people get used to feeling better in their bodies.

This brings me to the conversation on raw dairy. Over the past several years dairy has gotten a bad name for itself. More and more people are finding dairy is causing all sorts of health problems and are removing it from their diet. This is fine for a small number of people, but the far majority of us could use the health benefits of dairy - just in its more natural, more digestible state. I recommend the switch to raw dairy on a daily basis in my practice. With a bit of education, it is one of the simple changes we can make to feel much better in our bodies.

The current norm for consuming dairy products is that they are all pasteurized and homogenized. For those who don't know, pasteurization is the process of killing off bacteria that causes illness. This is done by heating milk at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. The problem with pasteurization is that it not only kills the bad stuff - but it kills all the good too. All the vitamins, nutrients, enzymes, and healthy cultures die in the process as well.

Homogenization is the process by which the consistency of milk is made uniform. For anyone who has had milk with the cream left on top- this is non-homogenized milk. The homogenization of milk is another process that again changes the chemical make-up of the milk proteins. It breaks down the proteins in such a way that it becomes very difficult for our bodies to process and metabolize. This can cause histamine reactions, produces phlegm in our bodies, and can lead to other inflammatory responses.

Here is a informative video explaining how the pasteurization and homogenization process happens:




These 2 processes are what have led to this wide spread belief that many of us are lactose intolerant. A better way to describe this, in my opinion, is that many of us are actually "pasteurized and homogenized dairy-intolerant." I can not tell you how many times I have recommended to my "lactose-intolerant" patients to experiment with drinking raw milk. And the countless times the same people have come back with none of digestive and inflammatory symptoms they once had.

Raw milk & cheese are readily available in the San Francisco Bay Area- as well as many other places around the country. Once you know where to go - it's easy to find. Locally, we are lucky to have two major producers, Organic Pastures & Claravale Farms. Both are delicious and I highly recommend either. Here are a few links to help you find your local distributor of raw milk, and some additional resources to begin your raw dairy education.

Where to Find Raw Milk in Your Area

A Great Website all About Raw Milk

Is Raw Milk Safe For Babies?

"The Revolution Will Not Be Pasteurized" : A great (but somewhat long) article on the Raw Milk industry. Please note the final few paragraphs are some of my favorite.

I'll leave you with a couple of videos of a conversation between the owner of Organic Pastures, Mark McAffee & Chiropractor Dale Jacobson. These 2 videos are not in order, but I thought the most ineresting segments of the ones I saw. If you are interested in more chapters, you can double click on the video below and search for more on youtube. Enjoy!