Read Food Labels!

You will be surprised just how much is in your food once you start reading food labels! There are over 14,000 man-made chemicals added to our food supply today. The more foreign ingredients (which names you can not pronounce) in your food, the more likely that it is bad for you. Stick to whole foods and minimize your amount of processed foods. When purchasing packaged, processed foods, read labels and avoid added sugar, MSG, artificial flavorings, preservatives, and food colorings. These harmful food additives are hard for your body to process and often are stored in fat cells, MAKING YOU TOXIC!!! Toxic terrain often leads to disease, possibly even cancer.  A good rule of thumb: the less ingredients the better. 

Think about it, if it can sit on the store shelf for years at a time, it can be stored in your body just as long!

Start with avoiding the most dangerous additives that are often found in many processed foods with low nutritional value.  Here's a list of just a few….

MSG:  Monosodium glutamate is a chemical additive used to enhance flavor.  It's a neurotoxin, excitatory to the neurological system.  Long-term consumption of MSG can lead to MS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, brain lesions, and obesity. 

Aspartame:  This sugar substitute is also a neurotoxin that causes chemical disruptions in the brain.  Aspartame not only can make you fat, but it can cause headaches, memory loss, depression, anxiety attacks, brain tumors, and MS. The same dangers can be said for Splenda (sucralose) and saccharin.

Sodium Nitrite:  Often found in preserved, processed meats, nitrites are potent carcinogens!  Consumption of nitrites has been linked to cancer of the esophagus, stomach, large intestine, bladder, and lungs.

Artificial Colorings:  Consumption of artificial colors has been proven to be carcinogenic.  They are also known to cause excitability and behavior issues such as ADD and ADHD in children.  Be sure to avoid the following:

Oranges: D&C Orange 17
Blues:      FD&C Blue 1
Reds:       FD&C Red 3
FD&C Red 9
D&C Red 19
D&C Red 33
FD&C Red 4
FD&C Red 40
Greens:   D&C Green 5
FD&C Green 3
Yellow:    FD&C Yellow 5
FD&C Yellow 6


A simple general rule:  AVOID PROCESSED FOOD! Eat whole foods!  Less is more!

For more info on additives to avoid in your food and body products, check out my favorite book, What's in Your Food?


There is also great info at http://www.truthinlabeling.org

Check my favorite smoothie recipe that includes healing probiotics. When I had my parasite and battle with Candida, this recipe really helped me rebuild my strength and cure my digestive problems.

Here's a little more info on probiotics and how to chose them.

The Benefits of Probiotics

Intestinal flora is good bacteria that lives in your gut and improves your overall health. The supplement form is called probiotics, meaning “healthful to life.” This good flora helps maintain the intestinal tract helping to relieve the leaky gut response of large food particles passing through the mucosa and causing an allergic response.

It also prevents the overgrowth of harmful pathogens like Candida, parasites, E. coli, H. pylori, and salmonella. It can also ease the symptoms of food poisoning by supporting the intestines.

This good bacteria also aids digestion of foods such as dairy. They manufacture short-chained fatty acids that are essential to your health. They help produce B-complex vitamins while improving nutrient absorption. All of this promotes a healthy metabolism and boosts the immune system.

Shopping for a Probiotic

1. Chose a probiotic with Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria bifidum.

2. Look for probiotics at your local health food store or natural vitamin shop.

3. Many probiotics are refrigerated to extend the life of the living bacteria. Check the date to ensure maximum potency.

4. Chose a probiotic with 8 billion to 50 billion organisms. It is possible that you probiotic will not even have that many living organisms after transport to the store and purchase.

5. Freeze dried probiotics suspend the flora's feeding and growth, keeping them dormant until they enter your body. These products are typically shelf stable and are good for traveling.

6. Them more strains of beneficial bacteria, the better. Read the label and chose a product with a diverse amount of bacteria.

7. Try a product with FOS, inulin, or other prebiotics. This if food for the good bacteria and can help them multiple quicker.

8. Take probiotics on an empty stomach, preferably before bedtime.

Happy New Year Everyone! My healthy and healing cooking show has just launched online!

The recipes are quick, easy, and super nutritious!  All recipes are great for weight loss, detoxing, cancer recovery, diabetes, and illness.

Three short episodes are up but there are many more that we are editing and will be sharing with you soon.  Keep checking the site for more simple solutions to eating healthy.

www.dishinnutrition.com

Cheers to a healthy 2009!

Shannon Schafer, Certified Nutritionist