Non stick pans seem nice as the food doesn’t stick. There is just one drawback; non-stick pans may be hazardous to one’s health — not, as you may think, due to chipping, but to fumes.

When non-stick pans are heated to high temperatures, the coating breaks down and vaporizes, releasing toxic substances into the air. DuPont, the maker of Teflon, admits as much, only the company claims that temperatures must exceed 500° F for “deterioration” to occur, and 660° F for “significant decomposition.” According to DuPont, temperatures don’t even get to 500° F in the course of “normal” cooking, except in the broiler.

Au contraire, says the Environmental Working Group. Non-stick pans do get that hot when preheated on high — a practice many cooks follow. It doesn’t take much time either for temperatures to climb. In tests conducted on ordinary gas and electric stoves, Teflon and other non-stick pans topped 700° F in three to five minutes.

With food cooking in the pan, temperatures stay lower. So people who don’t preheat their pans wouldn’t usually experience temperatures in the danger zone, unless, of course, they left the kitchen for a few minutes and the food burned — say, when a neighbor knocked or a child called.

Bird-owners have known about the dangerous fumes for years. There are many documented cases of birds dropping dead from exposure to “offgases” from non-stick products (including toaster ovens and heat lamps). Significantly, some occurred when the non-stick temperature was in the 400-500° F range. While it’s not surprising that birds, with their sensitive respiratory systems, would be affected at these low temperatures, the fact that it happens does suggest that non-stick coatings can disintegrate below 500° F.

Though people are less susceptible to the fumes than birds, they can still sicken from polymer fume fever — a flu-like condition with symptoms that include chest tightness and a mild cough. In severe cases, lung injury may result. More worrisome is the possibility of long-term damage from several of the toxins found in the fumes. Of particular concern is PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), also known as C8, which causes liver, pancreatic, testicular and mammary gland tumors in rats, as well as immune system problems, reproductive problems and birth defects. According to an independent EPA scientific advisory board, PFOA is a likely human carcinogen. It has been found in the blood of more than 90 percent of Americans — and animals around the globe. In terms of persistence in the environment, it is unrivaled. As far as can be determined, PFOA never breaks down.

Of course, we don’t all have PFOA in our bloodstreams solely as a result of cooking with non-stick pans — or using other consumer products that are made with, or break down to, PFOA, of which there are many. In fact, scientists are rather mystified about how this synthetic chemical has come to be so pervasive, but suspect that manufacturing processes as well as consumption may be to blame.

A skeptical person might point out that Teflon has been in use for 50 years. If it was so dangerous, why was it ever allowed on the market in the first place? The answer is simple. When it comes to approving chemicals used in consumer products (as opposed to food), our regulatory system is relatively toothless. Basically, there are no federal requirements that the chemicals be proven safe for human health or the environment prior to being manufactured or sold. Essentially, the government has to wait till there’s evidence that the substance does harm before it can act. That’s where we are with PFOA right now. The evidence of harm is trickling in and the EPA is finally beginning to study the matter.

It’s the same pattern we’ve seen before. Chemicals — such as PCBs or DDT — are introduced, gain widespread usage, and then are found to be harmful. At that point, the government steps in and bans or controls use of the substance. With persistent chemicals that degrade slowly in the environment, we’re stuck with the ill effects for years. In the case of an indestructible chemical like PFOA, we may be stuck forever.

You may already be breathing air, drinking water and eating vegetables contaminated with PFOA. Until serious study, monitoring and regulation of this chemical occurs, you wouldn’t know it or be able to do anything about it. One thing you can do, however, is to avoid buying products made with it, such as non-stick pans.

And if you already have a non-stick pan in your kitchen, be sure to use it carefully. Never preheat it or use with high heat, and always keep your eye on it while cooking. Watching a pot won’t keep it from boiling, but will ensure it doesn’t burn.

Naturally non-stick . For a great non-stick alternative, try a seasoned cast iron pan. Except for weight (it’s heavy!), it is superior in every respect. It heats evenly, browns food beautifully, keeps cooked food warm in the pan, enables low-fat cooking, can be used with metal utensils and lasts a lifetime, literally. To season: wash with warm soapy water, rub with solid vegetable shortening, and heat in a 300° oven for an hour. Cook high-fat foods in it the first few times to lock in the seasoning. After that, anything goes.

To care for your pan: wash in hot water with a stiff brush. Dry thoroughly and store with the cover off so air can circulate. Do not store food in it. You’ll know it’s time to reseason if rust appears, food acquires a metallic taste or food sticks.

Repellent packaging? PFOA- based coatings are used to repel grease on a variety of fast food packages, including pizza boxes, microwave popcorn packages and french fry containers. There is concern that if the coatings break down when exposed to heat, PFOA might migrate to the food and be ingested. This is one of many PFOA questions requiring research.

To preheat or not to preheat . NEVER preheat non-stick pans, but DO preheat other types for better cooking results — especially cast iron. To preheat, use a medium heat setting, never high.

Writings about the soybean date back to 3000 B.C., when the Emperor of China listed the virtues of soybean plants for regenerating the soil for future crops. His praises centered on the root of the plant, not the bean. These ancient writing suggested that the Chinese recognized the unfitness of soybeans for human consumption in their natural form. Now 5000 years later, we are once again catching on to the anti-nutritive qualities of the soybean, and realizing that the only soybean worth eating is one that has been fermented.



The key to releasing the nutrients of the soybean has been known for thousands of years.

About 1000 B.C. some smart person in China discovered that a mold, when allowed to grow on soybeans, destroyed the toxins present and made the nutrients in the beans available to the body. This process became known as fermentation and led to the creation of the still popular foods tempeh, miso, and natto.

A few centuries later, a simpler process was developed to prepare soybeans for consumption. After lengthy soaking and cooking, the beans were treated with nigari, a substance found in seawater. The end product was tofu. During the Ming dynasty, fermented soy appeared in the Chinese Materia Medica as a nutritionally important food and an effective remedy for diseases.


Unfermented soybeans contain potent anti-nutrients.

In their natural form, soybeans contain phytochemicals with toxic effects on the human body. The three major anti-nutrients are phytates, enzyme inhibitors and goitrogens.
These anti-nutrients are the way nature protects the soybean plant so that it can live long enough to effectively reproduce. They function as the immune system of the plant, offering protection from the radiation of the sun, and from invasion by bacteria, viruses, or fungi. They make the soybean plant unappetizing to foraging animals. All plants have some anti-nutrient properties, but the soybean plant is especially rich in these chemicals. If they are not removed by extensive preparation such as fermentation or soaking, soybeans are one of the worst foods a person can eat.

Unfermented soy has been linked to digestive distress, immune system breakdown, PMS, endometriosis, reproductive problems for men and women, allergies, ADD and ADHD, higher risk of heart disease and cancer, malnutrition, and loss of libido.

Groups most at risk of experiencing negative effects from the anti-nutrient properties of soy are infants taking soy baby formula, vegetarians eating a high soy diet, and mid-life women going heavy on the soy foods thinking they will help with symptoms of menopause.



Soybeans contain high levels of phytates

All legumes contain phytate (also known as phytic acid) to some extent, but the soybean is particularly rich in this anti-nutrient. Phytate works in the gastrointestinal tract to tightly bind minerals such as zinc, copper, iron, magnesium and calcium. It has a particularly strong affinity for zinc, a mineral that supports wound healing, protein synthesis, reproductive health, nerve function, and brain development. It is believed that people living in developing countries are shorter than those in developed countries because of zinc deficiency caused by eating too many legumes. There is also evidence that mental development can be negatively impacted by a diet high in phytate.

In most legumes such as other varieties of beans, soaking is enough to break down most of the phytate content. However the soybean requires that the enzymes be released in the fermentation process to reduce its phytate content to the point where it becomes fit for consumption. This means that fermented soy foods like miso and tempeh have the lowest levels of phytate and are the best choices for anyone wishing to eat soybean products. Tofu is also a good choice, as long as care is taken to replenish loss nutrients.

Whole soybeans, soy milk, soy chips, soy protein isolates, soy flour and all the other myriad of products made from processed soybeans and advertised as health foods have much higher levels of phytate and are not worth eating.



Unfermented soy products are rich in enzyme inhibitors.

When food is eaten, digestive enzymes such as amylase lipase and protease are secreted into the digestive tract to help break it down and free nutrients for assimilation into the body. The high content of enzyme inhibitors in unfermented soybeans interferes with this process and makes carbohydrates and proteins from soybeans impossible to completely digest. When foods are not completely digested because of enzyme inhibitors, bacteria in the large intestine try to do the job, and this can cause discomfort, bloating, and embarrassment. Anyone with naturally low levels of digestive enzymes such as elderly people would suffer the most from the enzyme inhibiting action of soy.



Soybeans can block production of thyroid hormone

Soybeans have a high content of goitrogens, substances that can block the production of thyroid hormone as well as cause goiter formation. Low thyroid activity plagues women in America, particularly middle-aged women. Thyroid hormone stokes the cellular furnaces, known as mitochrondia. When thyroid production is low, energy levels as well as body heat are also low. Low thyroid level is what makes old people move so slowly and seem like every action is a huge chore. Low thyroid means the action of the heart is reduced, resulting in lack of oxygen to the cells, a prime condition for cancer.

Genistein, an isoflavone found in soybeans, can also block thyroid production. Phytate can accentuate these effects because it binds up zinc and copper, leaving little of these important minerals available to make thyroid hormone.

A transport protein called GLUT1 is shut down by genistein. This protein sends glucose into the cells where it is used to generate energy. Slowing the transport of glucose means less energy production not only of thyroid hormone, but of every other action in the body.

Another way in which soy isoflavones reduce energy in the body is by inhibiting tyrosine kinases, enzymes involved in the transfer of energy from one molecule to another. These enzymes drive cell division, memory consolidation, tissue repair, and blood vessel maintenance and regeneration.

It is this action of regulating cell division that made genistein a popular substance for fighting cancer. When research on this anti-cancer effect of genistein became know, the soy industry feverishly developed products that would appeal to Western women looking for genistein. In the middle of all this excitement, little attention was paid to how the energy reducing effects of genistein lowered cellular energy in normal cells.

The benefits of genistein come at a high cost

Women have been encouraged to use high genistein soy products to alleviate symptoms of menopause and as a guard against bone loss and breast cancer. But given the full range of effects of genistein in the body, high consumption could result in age-related memory loss. Commercial soybean products offer genistein levels as high as 20 to 60 mg per serving. Asians are presented as an example of the benefits of eating soybean products because their incidence of breast cancer and osteoporosis is low. However, the Asian diet of fermented soybean products such as miso and tempeh includes only around 5 mg of genistein a day.

Genistein slows the growth of blood vessels to tumors, another action that makes it popular as a cancer fighter. However, it has the same effect on blood vessels serving normal cells. Eating a regular diet high in genistein could result in the starvation of healthy blood vessels, resulting in a reduced supply of oxygen to cells, setting up a cancer promoting situation.

In a graphic example of how genistein slows cellular energy, a study found that eating high levels of it slowed hair growth by 60 to 80 percent

A decade ago a study of 8,000 Asian men showed that those consuming the highest amounts of tofu had smaller brain size and nearly three times the rate of senile dementia as those who ate the lowest amounts. These results suggest that eating foods high in isoflavones such as soy protein isolates may accelerate the aging of the brain.



Fermentation releases nutrients and transforms soybeans into nutritious food

People filling up their shopping carts with raw or cooked soybeans, soy milk, and other non-fermented soybean products do not realize that the isoflavones they contain will not be available to their bodies. Most of the isoflavones in soy products are bound to carbohydrate molecules called glucosides. In this form genistein is actually called genistin. It is fermentation that transforms genistin into genistein. Many products in the U.S. do not distinguish between genistin and genistein on their labels.

Even with fermented soy foods, a little goes a long way. The nutrients found in miso, tempeh, and natto can be beneficial in the moderate amounts found in the typical Asian diet, but have the potential to do harm in higher amounts. In China and Japan, about an ounce of fermented soy food is eaten on a daily basis.

When fermented soy foods are used in small amounts they help build the inner ecosystem, providing a wealth of friendly microflora to the intestinal tract that can help with digestion and assimilation of nutrients, and boost immunity.

Dr. John Lee, author of several books on the health of women, recommended that women wishing to consume soy production eat only miso, tempeh, natto. Tofu can also be eaten provided it is accompanied by fish or some other protein source and some seaweed or kelp to replenish bound minerals. Eating small amounts of these foods will provide the cancer protective effects of genistein without causing the other potential problems of genistein. Dr. Lee recommended avoiding genistein and isoflavone supplements, and soy protein isolates.

Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle and Emory University in Atlanta, headed by Chensheng Lu, tested urine samples from 21 children in the Seattle area who ate conventionally grown foods and then ate similar organic varieties for five days, before returning to seven more days of conventional foods. To be extra certain, the organic foods were tested and found to be free of chemicals.

Urine samples were collected twice daily for a period of 7, 12, or 15 consecutive days during each of the four seasons. It was found that levels of organophosphates, a family of pesticides resulting from the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II, could be identified in the urine during the time conventional produce was eaten. Within eight to 36 hours after switching to organic versions, the pesticides in the urine disappeared.

Previous studies have found a correlation between pesticides and neurological problems in the brains of rats. Dr. Theodore Slotkin of North Carolina’s Duke University has written up the results of several such studies. He found that brain development and behavior were both negatively impacted after exposure to organophosphates, especially chlorpyrifos, one of the pesticides in the recent study.

Andrew Schneider, writing in the Seattle P.I. quotes Lu, who says “more research must be done into the harm these pesticides may do to children, even at the low levels found on food… In animal and few human studies, we know chlorpyrifos inhibits an enzyme that transmits a signal in the brain so the body can function properly. Unfortunately, that’s all we know.

“It is appropriate to assume that if we – human beings – are exposed to (this class of) pesticides, even though it’s a low-level exposure on a daily basis, there are going to be some health concerns down the road,” said Lu, who is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s pesticide advisory panel.

We do know that toxins affect children differently than adults, as they are still developing and are thus more fragile neurologically. Some pesticides contain potent neurotoxicants, which work by disrupting an organism’s nervous system. There are studies which have found that exposure to pesticides affects growth and neurological development. So it would seem very likely that ingestion of pesticide residue in young children especially would lead to negative effects on health and development. At the very least, there must be an effect to the liver and kidneys for the extra work they are forced to do.

Consider what a teacher’s curriculum guide from Yale University states:

“-A young child’s renal system is not fully developed. For example, a newborn’s kidneys are immature compared to an adult’s, making it more difficult for the infant to eliminate toxic waste. This can lead to a greater buildup and increases their vulnerability.

-A young child’s brain, nervous system, immune system, and other organ systems are still developing and are therefore most susceptible to abnormalities and malfunctions.

-When children are exposed to toxins, there is more time for resulting damage to occur than when adults are exposed. To elaborate, if a series of events have to occur before the toxic effects of chemicals present, then it is more likely that those events will occur someday if the children are exposed early in life as opposed to exposure much later.

-Due to the rapid cell growth in children, they appear to be more susceptible to some carcinogens than adults are.”

Because of such concerns, the Food Quality Protection Act required that by 2006, the EPA was to complete a comprehensive reassessment of the 9,721 pesticides permitted for use. They were to determine safe levels of pesticide residues for all food products.

Even though this law’s passage resulted in a lowering of pesticide amounts applied to foods intended for children, many critics still consider the levels too high for safety. The other concern is that there are no restrictions on imported foods.

This effect was born out by the study, as higher levels of pesticides were found in the children’s urine in the fall and winter, when consumers rely more on imported fruits and vegetables.

Other critics point out that because of this and the EPA’s too lenient restrictions, more needs to be done. They state that it only makes sense to strengthen the limits on such exposure to pesticides at a time when children are evidencing more behavior, learning and neurological problems.

According to Schneider, Lu does not believe children should only eat organic. For Lu’s family, which includes two sons, about 60 percent of the diet is organic. “‘Consumers,’ he says, ‘should be encouraged to buy produce direct from the farmers they know. These need not be just organic farmers, but conventional growers who minimize their use of pesticides.’”

To help consumers make choices as to which foods to buy as organic, the Environmental Workers Group produced a ranking. In this list, the higher the item is ranked, the lower the amount of pesticides to be found in that item. So if a family can only buy some organic produce, the priority would be peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines and strawberries, etc.

The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies

RANK FRUIT OR VEGGIE SCORE

1(worst) Peaches 100 (highest pesticide load)

2 Apples 96

3 Sweet Bell Peppers 86

4 Celery 85

5 Nectarines 84

6 Strawberries 83

7 Cherries 75

8 Lettuce 69

9 Grapes – Imported 68

10 Pears 65

11 Spinach 60

12 Potatoes 58

13 Carrots 57

14 Green Beans 55

15 Hot Peppers 53

16 Cucumbers 52

17 Raspberries 47

18 Plums 46

19 Oranges 46

20 Grapes – Domestic 46

21 Cauliflower 39

22 Tangerine 38

23 Mushrooms 37

24 Cantaloupe 34

25 Lemon 31

26 Honeydew Melon 31

27 Grapefruit 31

28 Winter Squash 31

29 Tomatoes 30

30 Sweet Potatoes 30

31 Watermelon 25

32 Blueberries 24

33 Papaya 21

34 Eggplant 19

35 Broccoli 18

36 Cabbage 17

37 Bananas 16

38 Kiwi 14

39 Asparagus 11

40 Sweet Peas-Frozen 11

41 Mango 9

42 Pineapples 7

43 Sweet Corn-Frozen 2

44 Avocado 1

45 (best) Onions 1 (lowest pesticide load)

Note: A total of 44 different fruits and vegetables were ranked, but grapes are listed twice because they looked at both domestic and imported samples. – Pesticides in Produce by Environmental Working Group

I think anything above a 28 score should be eaten organically.

(and how sugar can change intestinal bacteria)

A high-fat, high-sugar diet does more than pump calories into your body. It also alters the composition of bacteria in your intestines, making it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it, research in mice suggests. And the changeover can happen in as little as 24 hours, according to a report Wednesday in the new journal Science Translational Medicine.

Many factors play a role in the propensity to gain weight, including genetics, physical activity and the environment, as well as food choices. But a growing body of evidence, much of it accumulated by Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon of Washington University in St. Louis, shows that bacteria in the gut also play a key role.

Humans need such bacteria to help convert otherwise indigestible foods into digestible form.

Ninety percent of the bacteria fall into two major divisions, or phyla: the Firmicutes and the Bacteroidetes. Previous research had shown that obese mice had higher levels of Firmicutes, and lean ones had more Bacteroidetes.

Analyzing the genomes of the bacteria, Gordon and graduate student Peter Turnbaugh concluded that the Firmicutes were more efficient at digesting food that the body can’t.

Animals that have a higher proportion of Firmicutes convert a higher proportion of food into calories that can be absorbed by the body, making it easier to gain weight.

When the researchers transferred bacteria from obese mice into so-called gnotobiotic mice, which were raised in a sterile environment and had no bacteria in their guts, the mice gained more weight than did those receiving a similar amount of bacteria from lean mice, even though they were fed the same diet.

Gordon and Turnbaugh found that they could transfer bacteria from human intestines into gnotobiotic mice, which were fed a low-fat, plant-rich diet in the weeks before the bacteria were transplanted and for a month afterward.

After the bacteria were transplanted from a lean human donor, the colonies in the mice had a high proportion of Bacteroidetes and a low proportion of Firmicutes. But within 24 hours after the mice were switched to a high-sugar, high-fat diet, the proportions of the two phyla were reversed.

With time, the mice also grew fatter than their littermates who did not receive the human bacteria.

A Hidden & Growing Danger!

Flame retardant chemicals are in almost everything: Not only in our TV’s, clothing, furniture, carpets and electronic equipment; they are also in our air, water, food and our own bodies. Their levels are especially high in our babies and children, because children eat, drink and breathe more than adults. These chemicals disrupt our thyroid function, immune systems, brain development and can possibly cause cancers. Human blood and tissue levels of these toxins have been doubling every two and a half years in the USA. What are these chemicals and what can you do to protect yourself and your family from their effects?

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE’s), also known as brominated flame retardants, have been added to many common products found in the home. Plastics and textiles are usually treated with PBDE’s before being made into carpeting, furniture, casings for electronic equipment, circuit boards and clothing. PBDE retardants have been in use since the 1970’s when their counterpart, PCB’s, were BANNED from production due to their undeniable negative effects on human health. PBDE’s are very similar to PCB’s in many ways, particularly in the damage they do to our thyroid function, immune system, brain development and in our growing cancer rates.

PBDE contamination is most prevalent in the USA. New York, New Jersey, Denver, Austin, Chicago and California areas have the highest observed levels of PBDE’s in women’s breast milk in the world. San Franciscan and New York women have levels up to 25 times higher than their European counterparts. Animals both wild and domestic have PBDE levels from 2,000 to 47,000 parts per billion. THIS IS A HUGE Problem! The highest concentrations are in freshwater fish downriver from industrial plants using these chemicals, however PBDE’s have been found in marine life as far away as the Northern Arctic Sea. Significant levels of PBDE’s are present in both outdoor and indoor air environments, particularly in homes where PBDE-treated products can be found, such as carpeting, furniture and clothing (such as most children’s pajamas), plastics and electronics. {TV’s, Computers, Stereos}

What can you do to protect yourself and your family from the growing threat of PBDE contamination? The use of PBDE’s was cut significantly in Sweden and Europe in the late 1990’s due to their increasingly strict indoor air quality laws. Since then the level of breast milk contamination in those countries has declined. They have also developed a number of products that use alternative flame retardants. Here in the USA we can follow their example by demanding PBDE-free products and by telling our political representatives how important this issue is. Until the indoor air quality laws change for the better in the United States, we need to clean up and reduce these contaminates in our immediate environments by using alternative fire retardant products, eating more consciously and by cleaning our own contaminated indoor air quality with proper HEPA air cleaners and HEPA filtered vacuum cleaners. Be Pro-Active! Keep your family and employees healthy!

When Unhealthy Foods Hijack Your Brain

In a recently published book, former FDA chief Dr. David Kessler brings to consumers the disturbing conclusion of numerous brain studies — some people really do have a harder time resisting bad foods.

At issue is how the brain becomes primed by different stimuli. Neuroscientists increasingly report that fat-and-sugar combinations in particular light up the brain’s dopamine pathway — its pleasure-sensing spot.  This is the same pathway that conditions people to alcohol or drugs.

The culprits foods are “layered and loaded” with combinations of fat, sugar and salt, and they are often so processed that you don’t even have to chew much.

Overeaters must take responsibility, too, and basically retrain their brains to resist the lure, says Kessler.

Many people can relate to what David Kessler, the former FDA chief, calls “conditioned hypereating” — a drive to eat sugary, greasy processed foods that has nothing to do with hunger.

It can happen when you walk by a vending machine, drive by one of your favorite restaurants or bakeries, or even when you’re sitting at home watching TV. Suddenly you get a craving for something you know isn’t good for you — cookies, French fries, ice cream, potato chips, that sort of thing — and your willpower seems to crumble.

This is an epidemic problem, as in the United States 90 percent of the money Americans spend on food is for processed food, and junk food is available just about everywhere, including in hospitals and schools.

It’s clear that something about these foods is able to wield an incredibly strong force over many of us, to the point that obesity has been named the fastest growing health threat in the United States, and two-thirds of adults are already overweight or obese.

So what is going on here? What about these foods compel people to overeat them at the expense of their waistline, and more importantly their health?

Why It’s So Easy to Be Addicted to Junk Food and Fast Food

Taste, convenience and cost certainly play a role in making junk foods appealing, but there’s more to it than that. The large amounts of sugar, salt and grease in junk foods are clearly addictive.

In one study, rats fed a diet containing 25 percent sugar became anxious when the sugar was removed — displaying symptoms similar to people going through drug withdrawals, such as chattering teeth and the shakes.

A link was found between opioids, or your brain’s ‘pleasure chemicals,’ and a craving for sweet, salty and fatty foods. It is thought that high-fat foods stimulate the opioids, as when researchers stimulated rats’ brains with a synthetic version of the natural opioid enkephalin, the rats ate up to six times their normal intake of fat.

Further, long-lasting changes in rats’ brain chemistry, similar to those caused by morphine or heroin use, were also noted. According to researchers, this means that even simple exposure to pleasurable foods is enough to change gene expression, which suggests an addiction to the food.

Your Genes Remember When You Eat Sugar

When you eat sugar, not only do your genes turn off controls designed to protect you from heart disease and diabetes, but the impact lasts for two weeks!

Even more concerning, if you eat poorly for a long time your DNA may become permanently altered and the effects could be passed on to your children and grandchildren.

In other words, you are born with a set of genes, but the expression of those genes is not set in stone. Your genes can be either activated or silenced by various factors including your diet and even your mind. It is not your genes that dictate your future health, but rather the expression of those genes that matter.

So in the case of eating sugar, it’s now known that this switches off good genes that protect your body from disease. This is just one of many reasons why you may want to seriously limit or eliminate sugar from your diet.

Sugar is Incredibly Addictive

Another reason we know that people’s love for sugar goes far beyond taste is because of its addictive properties.

Refined sugar is far more addictive than cocaine — it is one of the most addictive and harmful substances currently known. In fact, an astonishing 94 percent of rats who were allowed to choose between sugar, water and cocaine, chose sugar.

Even rats who were addicted to cocaine quickly switched their preference to sugar, once it was offered as a choice.

The researchers speculate that the sweet receptors (two protein receptors located on your tongue), which evolved in ancestral times when diets were very low in sugar, have not adapted to modern times’ high sugar consumption.

Therefore, the abnormally high stimulation of these receptors by our sugar-rich diets generates excessive reward signals in your brain, which have the potential to override normal self-control mechanisms, and thus lead to addiction.

Your Emotions Play a Major Role, Too

As Kessler said, “Once you know what’s driving your behavior, you can put steps into place” to change it.

What this means is whenever you feel the desire to binge on junk foods, it’s necessary that you have a system in place to help curb those cravings.

A mammogram can expose your body to radiation that can be 1000 times greater than that from a chest x-ray. Moreover research has shown that high risk women who have gotten mammograms are at a 1.5 times elevated risk for breast cancer than high risk women who were not exposed to low dose radiation. What’s more, women at high risk for breast cancer who had been exposed to low-dose radiation before age 20 or who had five or more mammograms were 2.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer compared to those who were not exposed.

Fortunately there is a never and safer cancer screening tool. It a technique that can visualize inflammation which has now been shown to be a precursor to cancer and many other diseases. This new diagnostic tool is called thermal imaging or thermography. Basically it crates a digital map of your body that illustrates heat patterns. The images created will show if there is a hot spot or thermal asymmetry in the body. Thermography can detect irregular patterns in the breast, conditions that occur before a noticeable lump s formed.

Since on in eight women will get breast cancer at some point in their life, it behooves you to do something that can detects this scourge as early as possible. You can get a baseline of your “thermal signature” then get annual thermograms to allow you to map changes in your body’s heat patterns over time.

You can also get a scan done of your whole body. It is the best methods to find hidden inflammation such as painful areas or hidden sinus or digestive inflammation, or dental issues. It can detect inflammation in areas like the carotid arteries, which can help prevent a blood clot or stroke.

Here are the simple steps you’ll follow when you get a thermogram:

Step 1: You sit in a temperature-controlled room to allow your body to cool from any external conditions. At that time, you’ll complete some simple paperwork, including a health survey.

Step 2: You’re positioned in front of a Thermal Imaging Camera, and the technician takes digital pictures (5-15 minutes). You will be able to see yourself “live” on the computer screen, which can help give you a better understanding of your body.

Step 3: Your pictures are sent out to a certified physician for analysis of 1) the amount of heat and 2) the symmetry of the heat patterns. Heat patterns may indicate inflammation, infection, or a variance from your body’s norm.

Step 4: You’ll receive a report of findings in your mail shortly thereafter. This will help you and your doctor determine any next steps. We also provide recommendations for ways to reduce inflammation, if present, and provide personal health coaching programs if desired.

Step 5: It is recommended that you return for thermograms annually to monitor your health and watch for changes. Since everybody’s body is different, the best way to detect problems is to measure changes from your own body’s norm.

Valerie Zumbusch will be in my office periodically for anyone interested in getting thermography done. Call the office at 952-930-3575 to set up an appointment.

There is nothing more refreshing when you are hot and thirsty than clear, cold spring water. Water is not only refreshing but absolutely essential to life. The only nutrient that is more important to the body than water is oxygen. Our bodies are made up of about 80% water.

Water is the crucial ingredient in our body’s self-cleansing system. We are very aware of the body’s normal elimination processes, but may not realize that unwanted substances are also eliminated through perspiration, which also require water. Certainly our kidneys will not be able to cleanse efficiently if there is not enough water in our system to carry away the waste.

Finding pure drinking water is becoming a challenge. Our increasingly polluted world has made it necessary for the Environmental Protection Agency to set water standards. The EPA screens for the presence of suspended solids, oil and grease, fecal coiform bacteria, chemicals and heavy metals. Unfortunately, the major source of pollution (65% in 1990) comes not from industrial sites which can be regulated, but from storm water run-off. Rainfall coming in contact with pollutants from agricultural operations absorb these chemicals and transports them into lakes and rivers. Only 9% of water pollution came from actual industrial sites in 1990.

Municipal water should be avoided if possible. Most municipal waters have a high ppm (parts per million) concentrations of aluminum due to the use of aluminum hydroxide as an accepted method of water treatment. Moreover, the addition of chlorine results in the creation of cancer-causing chemicals when dissolved organic solids are chemically altered by chlorination. While there is a trend toward replacing chlorination with peroxide treatment of water, it will be decades beforeperoxide is adopted as a standard. Fluoride is another toxic chemical added to most municipal water supplies. Chlorosporidium is a parasite cyst commonly found in tap water. Recently a law was passed that the consumers are to be mailed a copy of lab finding of toxins in the water. In my district it said that due to copper pipes, there was excess copper in the tap water so they were going to add a chemical to help reduce copper. MBTE is a chemical gasoline additive that has been found in most city water and is a potent carcinogen.

We may turn to expensive bottled waters, but regulation in this industry is vague. Regardless of cost, the bottled water you buy may simply be tap water put through a filtration process. You may wish to invest in a water purifier for your home.

The ideal amount of water to consume is half your body weight in ounces per day. That means if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink 80 ounces of water (or about ten 8-ounce glasses per day). Avoid drinking any chlorinated water.

I find that reverse osmosis water tests the best on most people for general health, some minerals are retained, and it has more life force than water sitting in plastic jugs. Bottled spring water is can also be good, the large 5 gallon bottle seem to leach less plastic. Chippewa Springs is a great local brand. Do not use Britta filters, they tend to harbor microorganisms. Water is best drunk warm or at room temperature; cold, chilled or iced water tends to shock the stomach and stop digestion. It is hard to carry enough bottles or filtered water from a store to have enough to use in cooking also, so a filter is a worthwhile investment.

Ninety percent of modern households have microwave ovens. Microwave ovens vibrate at over 2 million cycles per second (compared to 60 cycles for electric stoves), and the intense vibration can affect the cellular integrity of food as well as be absorbed by those who eat it. Salmonella bacteria , a main cause of food poisoning, have been found to survive in cold spots that do not fully cook.

In a study by Dr. Radwan Farag of Cairo University, it was discovered that just two seconds of microwave energy destroys all the enzymes in a food, thus increasing our enzyme deficiency and altering the frequency of the food. Heating proteins in the microwave for 10 minutes or more may create a new, harmful species of protein. Research showed that microwaved food produced major changes in the subjects’ blood and immune function. These included a decrease in the red blood cells that carry oxygen and take out carbon dioxide; an increase in the percentage of red blood cells and eleukocytes; higher cholesterol; and a decrease in lymphocytes. You may decide that this is a high price to pay for convenience.

And then there is this to think about: the University of Minnesota warned that microwaving a baby’s bottle can cause slight changes in the milk. In the case of a hip-surgery patient in Oklahoma, microwaving blood for a transfusion killed the patient. California scientists found that microwaved cow’s milk grew E. coli bacteria, associated with food poisoning, 18 times more than regular milk.

In another research project, two groups of subjects were fed steamed food or microwaved food. After 10 days, stool samples were taken and analyzed. The group given the steamed food had normal stools while the group given the microwaved food showed stools with a plastic -like texture, altered enzymes, and protein with altered molecular structure which could not be absorbed. Furthermore, ultrasound scans showed adhesive food particles stuck to the stomach wall.

Also, the chemicals used in plastic containers or other microwave packaging can migrate into the food. Dimethyl terephthalate, a suspected carcinogen, is commonly used for microwaved popcorn, pizza, French fries, fishsticks and Belgian waffles. There is also the danger of radiation leaking out of the microwave which could disrupt the delicate balances in our cellular growth. Our bodies are regulated by electrical frequencies and electromagnetic fields. It would be wise to avoid disrupting these frequencies.

The following is a letter I wrote to my children’s school when they were considering a no sugar policy. A a result children are encouraged not to eat sugar at school. Even birthday parties are celebrated with skewered fruit, which the children enjoy more than the old birthday cakes.

I was very excited to read your letter asking for a discussion of sugar, a topic very important to me, the children at school, and truly to this entire society and future. As a practitioner of natural medicine I treat children practically every day and I have hardly found one that can tolerate that white purified chemical we sweetly call sugar.

Maria Montessori developed a wonderful system that enables us to bring out the fullest potential of children, which is nothing less than genius. But that genius absorbent mind must work through a physical brain and body. I would think that parents who would place their children into a specially prepared environment with specially trained teachers, instead of regular nursery or public schools, are expecting their children to become something more than ordinary. So it makes sense that we would want our children at the peak of health, mental acuity, and emotional stability so that can maximize their growth and learning. Sugar is one of the key factors that prevents just these things. Can you imagine investing in a very expensive thoroughbred stallion and put coke, and cakes and candy in it’s feed bag, instead of the oats that it was made to thrive on.

Simple sugar, which we think of as white table sugar has many forms: corn syrup, corn sweetener, lactose, fructose, dextrose, brown sugar, turbinado sugar, organic cane juice, honey, and molasses. Simple sugar is absorbed very quickly into the blood stream, giving a precipitous rise in blood sugar, resulting in the feel of a surge of energy. This signals the pancreas to pour out insulin, making the level plunge again. In turn the adrenals respond by releasing epinephrine as a signal to the liver to break down it’s stored starch, glycogen, and pump out more sugar, raising the blood sugar again.

These sudden drops in blood sugar evoke the condition known as hypoglycemia, in which messages from the brain controlling mood, motivation and learning are perpetually disrupted. The result may be a sudden burst of temper, aggression, antisocial behavior, as well as depression, changes of mood, confusion, fatigue and irritability. As an attempt to balance this chronic body and brain chemistry imbalance the person will resort to caffeine, alcohol (fermented sugar), cigarettes (approximately 30-50% sugar), or legal (prozac, ritalin) or illegal drugs (usually starting with marijuana).

Sugars require various vitamins and minerals for their digestion. These refined sugars, being stripped of other complementary nutrients found in naturally occurring foods, must borrow from other parts of the body to aid in digestion. Therefore the simple sugars contribute to the depletion of calcium, magnesium, manganese, chromium, and zinc, as well as the B- complex vitamins. Over time this can result in osteoporosis, irritability and stress, heart rhythm problems, elevated cholesterol and obesity. Hypoglycemia can proceed into diabetes if the pancreas gets overworked enough. Sugar paralyzes white blood cells for many hours after ingested.

Eliminating it from the diet may prevent colds, flus, ear infections, etc….

From birth to age 20 the average American child consumes between 2 and 2 and 1/2 tons of refined white sugar and numerous tons of junk food. The average soda contributes 7 to 8 tsp. of sugar to a person’s diet. Can you imagine putting 7 teaspoons or more of sugar into a glass of water and drinking it. Not to mention the caffeine in sodas to counteract the down the drinker would receive in 20 minutes without it. Many of our teens are now coffee addicts which will have devastating effects in the years to come as we see an entire generation of chronic fatigue syndrome cases.

The brain consumes 25 percent of the body’s glucose, it’s only food, but it requires it delivered in a calm and steady supply. This is ensured by consuming a diet high in complex carbohydrates, amply supplied in whole grains like brown rice, oats, rye, barley, millet, etc., sweet vegetables like carrots, winter squash, and onions, beans and fruits, especially the non-tropical fruits like apples and berries. Too much juice can also be a source of sugar, and children should get used to drinking pure water as the main source of liquid.

Children are often raised to associate pain, pleasure, reward and behavior modification with sugar and treats. Adults often use treats to pacify, discipline, or bribe children. Chocolate is especially pernicious due to it’s unique drug content, caffeine with theobromine (meaning ‘food of the gods’). The brain produces theobromine when we are in love or being loved. Can a box of chocolates on Valentine’s day substitute for the real thing? When I help adults lose weight and regain their health, it is very hard to work against a lifetime of these addictions, especially due to the association of sugar and chocolate with love. What a cheap substitute, the exact opposite of love…disease and fatigue.

Of course children need the sweet taste. Most healthy food, especially if grain and vegetable based is sweet. I have hundreds of recipes for any kind a dessert using wholesome natural ingredients. Cookies, cakes, pies and puddings can all be made with whole grain flour, and fruit, fruit juices, rice syrup, barley malt or maple syrup which enter the blood stream at a more even rate than regular sugar.

These children deserve a clear brain and body. Let us start this next generation off right. Let them know they are loved by not giving substitutes, but giving real love, and the food that God has made to feed his children, of whom we are caretakers that this earth might head in a new direction of wholeness.