Grocery Shopping 101: Sugar

In previous posts I've covered some of the chemicals that are added to food that should be avoided.  Now lets looks at some of the foods.

The general rule of thumb is to minimize the "Four Whites":  White Sugar, White Flour, White Rice and Salt.

For this post we are focusing on White Sugar.

Traditional White Sugar is highly refined sweetener with very little taste, no nutrition value and only provides sweetness.  Unfortunately, in today's day and age it is a huge part of most diets.

So what's so bad about Sugar? Well, beside the blood sugar/mood swings and hyperactivity we all know about...

• Sugar is the food cancer eats.  With friends we've known over the years that have battled cancer the first thing nutritionists tell them is to stop eating sugar, period.  It just makes sense then that the rest of us should probably minimize our consumption.
• Sugar promotes inflammation.  Finding ways to decrease excessive inflammation in the body seems to be the key to healthy living.  This is why Chia seeds and other foods that decrease inflammation are getting so much press lately.  A leading cardiologist recently went on record saying that cholesterol levels wouldn't matter if the veins were not so inflamed, its the inflammation that causes the problems.
  
• Sugar suppresses the immune system.  Right after you eat sugar you temporarily tamp down your immune system.  Your body views white sugar as a toxin and spends its defensive energy fighting it instead of germs. The effect can last for several hours.  Therefore, each time you eat sweets during the day your decreasing the effectiveness of your immune system.
• Sugar speeds up the aging process.  It does this by suppressing the release of human growth hormone.  Which this article explains is why people get injections of to stay looking young. This is the article I used to outline my ideas for this post and it goes into a few other issues too.

Many Organic foods promote that they use "Organic Sugar", "Raw Sugar" or "Evaporated Cane Juice/Syrup".  Though there are differences in how they come about the effect on the body is the same as traditional "Sugar". However, the differences in how their processed is worthy of note.

What the alternatives mentioned above gain you is an avoidance of additional hindrances, such as pesticides, herbicides, in the growing process and chemicals like sulfur dioxide (that's why sugar plants smell so bad), and calcium hydroxide in the manufacturing process.  The simple fact that they process molasses out of sugar and then add it back to make brown sugar is a fact that has always blown my mind.  The retention of some of the molasses is why Raw Sugar is not white and why it has more flavor than White Sugar.

Raw Sugar is processed through a pressing process enhanced by lime, then dried/evaporated into crystal form and then put into a centrifuge to separate the solids and the liquids.  Sounds like a much nicer process, personally I'd rather avoid all those chemicals used to process white sugar from start to finish.

All that said it would be really difficult to avoid sugar all together and there's no need to for most people.  What you need to be is aware of how much sugar your eating and try to find ways to minimize it where you can.  One way to do this when choosing between foods; choose the product that has sugar the furthest down the ingredient list.  Another way is to decease the quantity or frequency in which you consume these products.  This can be a life long tweaking process.  I find the more I eliminate sugar from my diet the less I can tolerate it, since sugar is a toxin this makes perfect sense.

Note:  Not all sugars are the same on the body, the sugars found naturally in fruits are different than the white sugar we are talking about here.  Molasses, Maple Syrup, Honey, Stevia and Agave also react more positively with the body.  What we are talking about here is processed sugar from the cane plant.

Grocery Shopping 101 - Be "Free"

I have a few more AVOID-at-all-cost items to add to the list we started. I also want to offer a simple starting point for products to look for when you are shopping and don't have the time or bandwidth to look into all the ingredients. "No Artificial ...." or "Free of ..." are great indicators on a package that it will be at least somewhat "good for you".

So here's the AVOID it list in total:

• ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS (Click here for the post on why)
• MSG and it Aliases (Click her for the post on why)
• HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP - I will do a whole article about "Sugar" soon but this is one form you want to avoid for two reasons:  1) It's a corn product and therefore is likely to come from GMO Corn (Click here for why GMO is bad) and its processed in a way that it can become contaminated with Mercury.  There are plenty of products that do not use it, therefore its easy to avoid and best to do so.
• ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES BHT, BHA, and TBHQ - These ingredients are totally unnecessary and there are much better alternatives, but these are the cheapest for the manufactures so they use them.  In addition to being a petroleum product, they are a carcinogen and are documented to cause hyper-activity.  Kids have plenty of energy and don't need any more.  There are many people out there who believe that ADHD and ADD are frequently caused by a poor diet which are high in chemicals and sugar.  These are ingredients that are easy to avoid and alternative products are widely available.
• ARTIFICIAL COLORS AND FLAVORS - These products are linked to a variety of health issues - tumors in the digestive track and sometimes cancer.  In addition, these products have long been known to cause behavioral issues, including hyper-activity.  These are also easy to avoid, as the European Union's push to eliminate them has caused manufacturers to be creative in how to dye foods naturally.  For instance, "Goldfish" have been dyed with beets and other natural ingredients for awhile. Colorful food can be had naturally in the house, it just takes a little time to read the labels and make sure it comes from natural sources, not Yellow 5 & 6 (especially when combined with Sodium Benzoate), Blue 1, Red 40 etc.

There is enormous evidence linking these five categories of food additives to autism, allergies, asthma and a wide variety of other health issues.  By eliminating these five things, the path to eating a much healthier diet will be easier.  Best part is it's not too difficult, as the alternatives are many and easy to find, it just takes a little label reading. So just BE FREE!

Grocery Shopping 101 - Two Ingredients to Avoid

I friend of mine recently asked me to start doing some posts to help her change her grocery purchases to healthier alternatives.  As I warned her, this needs to be done in "baby steps". if you do this all at once there is very little likelihood of it becoming a habit, and a very high likelihood you'll go back to your old ways.

For my first post, I'll cover two big things to eliminate from your diet as much as possible.  Among other side effects, both are considered excitotoxins, i.e. things that cause dain bramage (oh, oops brain damage).  I'm only hitting the highlights, and if you want to know more a quick internet search will quickly reinforce why you want to avoid these ingredients.

ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS SHOULD BE ELIMINATED -  TODAY!

That's right and I mean it!  There is absolutely nothing good about artificial sweeteners and list of bad stuff is the longest on the FDA list of complaints.  They are neuro-toxins and have been linked to migraines, kidney stones, Alzheimer, depression and a host of other ills.  Ironically, THEY EVEN CAN MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT.  I hear you saying "How? They are zero calorie.", They are also appetite enhancers, i.e. they make you hungry so you eat more.  That should nail the coffin of excuses as to why you can't eliminate today, so JUST DO IT.

If you are looking for a zero calorie sweetener that is safe and readily available, try STEVIA and if you're just looking for a low-glycemic alternative, try raw AGAVE.  Agave is my personal choice; it works great in warm and cold beverages and also in baking.  For a natural zero calorie soda pop try Zevia, they do a good job of imitating the major flavors (especially Dr. Pepper).

MSG - MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein) YUCK!

This is seasoning used to "blend flavors" in foods to make you eat more. It's the same reason why bars historically have free salty peanuts. Thirsty patrons drink more product. Besides the negative effects on the brain and other parts of the body, its scientifically linked to obesity.  You'll find it most commonly in highly processed foods and fast food restaurants.  Its notorious side-effects are becoming so well known that many restaurants have signs proudly stating that their restaurant is "MSG Free" and even those that don't will usually prepare your meal without MSG if you ask.

It hides under a number of other names (that alone should make you wonder):

' hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed protein; hydrolyzed plant extract, plant protein extract, sodium caseinate, yeast extract, texturized protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed oat flour, calcium caseinate.'  also 'Accent' and 'Natural Meat Tenderizer'

Basically, there is absolutely no reason to eat it, so avoid it whenever possible!  Think of this as the first step to a healthier you.  If you eliminate the foods you buy with MSG in it you'll also be eliminating the foods that have a lot of other ingredients you want to avoid.

Health - Chris' Diet

*DISCLAIMER:  I am not a doctor or health care professional of any kind, please consult your doctor before making any diet changes.

There, now I feel better and that should appease our litigious society. :-/

Diet (noun): food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health.

The word diet has come to have a very negative connotation to it in the past decades. The word is now synonymous with people starving themselves to reach some "weight goal" or by saying "I can't eat that, I'm dieting". A diet for us is merely a food plan to help us reach optimal health.

In a previous post, I explained why we started tweaking our diet and our goal has always been one of "optimum health".  I tweak Chris' diet the most because he is physically active and receptive to it. It gives me someone to experiment on before trying it myself. :-)

MORNING INTAKE: 

ALIVE PEA PROTEIN WHOLE FOOD SHAKE:  He mixes this with about 12 oz of So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk and a serving of Living Harvest Hemp Protein.  This shake provides all his daily vitamins.  I'm pleased to say that they recently improved the formula to include more Vitamin D, more organic foods and less carbohydrates.  I add the extra protein via the Hemp, because with Chris living an active lifestyle and being a vegetarian, protein is important to Chris' diet.  Pea and Hemp are the two most complete and most absorbent proteins as I previously noted.

 

BLUEBONNET LIQUID CALCIUM WITH VITAMIN D3:  Chris has become lactose intolerant over the past decade, therefore a calcium supplement is in order.  I chose this one because it has the highest ELEMENTAL calcium.  Elemental is a key word to look for in choosing a calcium supplement.  Elemental is the amount of the calcium in the product that your body will actually use.  If they don't list the elemental amount, assume that it's not much.  The product is flavored with fructose, which is not ideal, but it's such a small percentage overall, I'm not worried about it and I think its better than sodium benzoate.

KOMBUCHA - AKA THE ELIXIR OF LIFE:  This not just a drink but a raw food and will fill you up with good stuff and good feelings.  It has the energizing effects of caffeine without the downside, lots of B Vitamins (happy vitamins!) and loads of probiotics and very few calories.  Great for the colon in two ways: decreases food cravings and keeps the internal environment healthy.

CHIA SEEDS*:  Yes, this is the same stuff used to grow "Chia Pets". Who knew it was a really healthy food also!  This serves a similar purpose as the Kombucha but approaches things in a different way.  It fills you up and energizes you at the same time. Nutritionally, it brings different benefits in copious amounts of Omega 3, fiber, and protein.  Most western diets are too high in Omega 6, which increases inflammation in the body, and too low in Omega 3, which decreases inflammation. Chia seeds are a great way to balance out your diet. For weight loss, it's reported to specifically help with eliminating fat along the waist line.  The only downside I've found is that it helps lower blood pressure and when used in conjunction with medication, blood pressure can become too low. Chris mixes 1 tbsp with 8 oz of water and lets it turn to gel (about 5-10 minutes, shaking occasionally), then drinks it down. When cold, it has very little, if any, taste. Chia seeds can also be sprinkled on food of any kind.  We use the Whole Foods brand from the bulk container - it's the cheapest and also raw and organic.

MID MORNING SNACK, LUNCH AND MID AFTERNOON SNACK:

DRIED MANGO AND TRUFFLE ALMONDS (measured/weighed each day to control calories - about 40 grams each): We grab these from the Whole Foods bulk bins. Very yummy.

AMAZING GRASS BERRY BAR:  These are a full serving of veggies, greens, raw, vegan, soy-free, alkaline, etc.

AMAZING GRASS CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BAR:  This is another serving of veggies but does include Whey protein. I'm hoping they'll switch to hemp soon like they use in their other products.  Both bars are very filling, nutritious and low in calories and also very tasty.

HARD BOILED EGG (Organic with Omega 3), an organic apple (fuji or gala), and more Chia soon once he is home. It provides a great boost after his ride home and fuels him for the attack of the kids, baseball, and whatever life throws at him in the early evening.

DINNER: Right now, nursing Amber requires me to eat very, very bland, therefore Chris is eating bland too.  I'll post more about this when the dinner recipes are a bit more interesting :-)  In the mean time, it might be worth your time to sign up for Amazing Grass Two Week Challenge.  They have two weeks of healthy meal ideas and daily emails about different health topics. It's not an MLM and I have nothing to gain from this suggestion. Amazing Grass has great products and awesome customer service.  I wish it was an MLM with all the people I now know using their products at our suggestion. It would supplement our income nicely. :-)

NOTE ON SUPPLEMENTS:  My research indicates that supplements and vitamins are best when derived from whole foods and/or in liquid form.  When not available in that form, look for vegetarian/Kosher capsules, as some of the ingredients in binders and capsules can be animal based and actually hinder absorption or neutralize the effects.

Bottles and Breast Feeding

With each new kid I learn something new.

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on T.V., so please consult with your pediatrician first.  There, now I am free to tell you my observations and opinions as a mother without fear of litigation, and you are free to do with it what you like.

My sons who breast feed completely refused bottles of any kind.  We bought all kinds of bottles, some that even looked like boobs, but no luck.  My boys wouldn't even drink out of sippy cups, they went straight to straws.  I had no expectations that Amber would be any different, and didn't plan on even trying.  If you read breastfeeding literature, this would come as no big surprise, many breast fed babies completely refuse bottles.

Then about six weeks ago I got the 24 hour stomach flu.  First time in my life I had ever gotten one, first time in my life I had ever vomited from illness.  I lost six pounds.  I continued to breast feed through it but it did permanent damage to my supply.  After he recovered, Chris tried to give me some sleep and stay up with Amber.  She got hungry shortly after I laid down and Chris made the decision to try and give her a bottle.

The hospital had given us three different types of formula.  Knowing that Amber didn't let me eat or drink any kind of milk, he chose the "Similac - Sensitive for Fussiness & Gas Due to Lactose Sensitivity" Formula.  Wonder of wonders, she drank it!

Since it worked, we decided to keep it up.  I started going to bed early so I could get a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.  She was still only going about four hours between breast feedings so it seemed like a good and harmless plan.  

Then one day out of curiosity, I read the ingredients in the formula, "Corn Syrup Solids, Sugar(sucrose), milk protein isolate...".  I stood dumb founded.  I remember people my grandmother's age talking about feeding babies Caro Syrup and being appalled.  Here I was, standing in my kitchen, realizing that's basically what we were feeding Amber.  Caro Syrup with "Less than 2%" vitamins added.  

I immediately went into research mode, looking for an organic lactose free infant formula.  To my frustration, my original search turned up nothing but recipes for making your own infant formula.  Since I was still breast feeding, powdered goat milk was a viable option.  By itself you would need to make sure you supplemented certain nutrients that were missing from goat's milk alone but as a supplement it appeared the easiest alternative.

I picked up the powdered goat milk, brought it home and gave it a try.  This is when I had my epiphany.  She totally refused the bottle.  Maybe my sons had not been refusing the bottle, maybe they had been refusing the formula in the bottle! Duh. *forehead smack*.

Next, I tried mixing a little in with the Simliac and still she refused to drink.  When I gave up and made a bottle of pure Similac she drank it right down.  So I was back to square one, looking for a better formula.

Then I came across "Baby's Only Organic Lactose Free Formula".  Problem was it was labeled as a "Toddler Formula".  What did that mean?  So I read around, and ended up at the "Nature's One" website where they warned in typical legal fashion to "consult your pediatrician" before feeding to children under 12 months old", then they added "and when you do bring this print out".  The print out is a point by point nutritional comparison between Similac, Baby's Only and breast milk.  The three are essentially the same, I was a bit amazed, and comforted.  So why was it labeled "toddler"?  They didn't say exactly, they even said they meet the FDA guidelines for infant formula, so I figure its one of two things, their commitment to breast feeding or the FDA not allowing the label.  Either way I was satisfied, I had found a better alternative. 

I quickly ordered Baby's Only from Amazon and gave it a try.  SHE LIKED IT! SHE LIKED IT!  Ironically the Similac had made her rather gassy but she had no such issues with the Baby's Only.  My guess is its the the use of Organic Brown Rice Syrup* instead of processed sugars.   They say they use the Brown Rice because it is a more nutritious carbohydrate, and easier to digest.  Based on our experience, this formula is great no spit-ups or excess gassiness and the ingredients don't make me cringe, especially after learning what they do to non-organic corn.

*There has been some concern recently about Brown Rice Syrup containing arsenic but this page should alleviate those concerns:  www.naturesone.com/brown-rice/

Health - Killer Profits

I've read a lot of about nutrition over the years but the accountant in me was blown away by this video.

Did you know that most breast cancer is environmental not genetic?  

Did you know that tests have not been done for the new proteins that have been introduced into food production since the 1990s, and food allergies have increased exponentially?  

That these created proteins are not allowed in Europe, Australia, New Zealand or Japan.

That if you move to the United States you are four times more likely to get cancer?

(Think there's a connection?)

Did you know Starbucks spends more on health care costs than they do on coffee?

Got your attention?  I knew we were getting sicker as a nation despite improved health care but I never understood why.  Taking the 15 minutes to watch this video might change the way you shop forever.

 

I'm not sure about the plug for Erin Brockovich but the money trail makes perfect sense.  

I've been meaning to post more nutrition blogs since my first blog on the concern over Soy.  This is the motivation I needed.  I will start outlining what we do nutritionally and what the logic was behind our decisions.  

The more I learn, the more I want to have a farm of my own and grow all my own food.

Health - Is Soy really healthy?

I'm going to start writing some short posts about one of my passions....researching ways to help my family achieve optimal health.  Its been a slow journey, over decades, and it's still continuing.  In each post I'll try to narrow the topic into small digestible chunks :-)

My search for the perfect protein began when my husband, whom is an athlete, also started to become a vegan.  

DISCLAIMER:  Now let me clear the air here, we are not fundamental about our eating choices, we make them 100% based on health.  Over the years Chris has found that his body just doesn't process milk well at all and it generally doesn't like meat.  The rest of us are generally vegetarians, more based on ease of making family meals and my concern when the boys were young of dealing with raw meat with a baby around (I.e. needing to pick them up before you had a chance to sanitize).  By "generally" I mean that Lance and I do eat chicken and tuna occasionally.  The only reason Jared and Titus don't is because they don't like it.  However, when we go to friends houses we (including Chris) eat whatever is served.  Remember the goal is simply "optimal health" for us, nothing more.

As I started to share my findings, a couple friends “whey”ed in on the protein controversy, pointing out some potential dangers of soy. “Soy” I did some more “hemp”y research into proteins. “Pea”cause of what I found I’ve decided to make some revisions to his “Diet”.

The short story is this: no one seems to know if Soy is the perfect protein or if it will kill you. Even the experts admit to being clueless. Concerns over soy include: its very high in allergens, the more you eat, the more likely you are to develop an allergy to it; it blocks the absorption of minerals i.e. calcium; the high levels of phytoestrogens that can be harmful to children; and as proteins go its not very efficient which can lead to pancreas issues.  However, when I found out that most soy is processed using "Hexane" I became really concerned. Hexane is a by-product of gasoline production and certainly not something you'd want to eat or even come into contact with. Most of the information I found said that it is seldom found in the soy after processing, but seldom is far from never.

Here's a few tips to keeping soy intake as safe as possible: 

• Tofu and Tempeh are considered safer than other forms of soy because they are less processed and seldom processed with Hexane.   
• The safest sources of soy are said to be "Pacifica" and "Westsoy".  
• Keep Soy protein to under 30mg a day.

I've decided to err on cautious and look for other sources of protein wherever I can.  I don't lose sleep about the little that is found in things like "Clif bars" and in trace amounts in other foods, I just avoid soy when I can.

Thankfully, finding alternatives, that are even better than soy, was simple.

This is the best article I found on protein (meat and vegetable sources): http://www.nutribodyprotein.com/protein-types.php 

Here's some of my top pics:

Milk Alternatives:  

• Almond Milk (Original Blue Diamond Brand) - I find this is best with cereal, especially nutty tasting cereal like Kashi.  We use the original because we found the Vanilla was too sweet.
• Coconut Milk (Unsweetened So Delicious Brand) - I use this for everything I mix milk with, from Mac&Cheese to smoothies.  By itself, it's a little bland (like skim milk), but it is full of Medium Chain Fatty Acids, B-12 and Magnesium.  They also make these delicious So Delicious Ice Cream Sandwiches taste just like when we are kids but have nothing bad in them (they even use Agave instead of Sugar).
• Goat's Milk - Many people who cannot tolerate Cow Milk can tolerate Goat Milk.  We use Goat's Milk Kefir, Yogurt and Raw Cheese.  I use the Redwood Farms brand - they haven't paid for the certification but its basically organic.  For the boys, the Coconut Milk version of Kefir and Yogurt didn't have enough fat and protein and for me I prefer the taste of the yogurt.

Protein Supplements/Powders:

• Pea Protein - Many of the meal shakes now come in Pea Protein version, such as Chris' morning "Alive Whole Food Multi-Vitamin Shake". Pea Protein is processed naturally with water, has a mild flavor and has a high protein efficiency ratio.
• Hemp Protein - Chris also uses this in his morning shake to pump up his protein intake and this is what I use in my breakfast shake and the boy's smoothies.  This type of protein is a great immune builder, it contains a ton of Amino Acids (something lacking in a vegetarian diet), lots of fiber, Omega-6 and its easily digestible.  I've found that all Hemp Protein powders are not equal, so this is a place where brand matters.  We use Living Harvest Hemp Protein because it's raw and seems to pack the biggest nutritional punch.  Taste wise it has a mild nutty flavor.

Other Items:

• Chicken Alternative - Quorn - this is a multi-fungus, now don't run-away!  Its also the most popular meat alternative in Europe.  Ironically, it looks like chicken and tastes like chicken.  When I serve it most people have no idea its not chicken.  It can be stir-fried, or eaten in nugget form.  Nice part is its already cooked so you just need to take it out of the freezer and warm it up.
• Burger Alternative - Garden Burgers - These are vegetable and mushroom based.  I really like the Original version and Chris prefers the Black Bean Chipotle.  I'm not a big Veggie Burger fan but these are really good (especially with Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries).
• Butter/Margarine - Earth Balance Soy Free - They use Pea protein and expeller-pressed oils.  It has a great buttery taste, melts well and bakes well.  Really no reason to use anything else.