Another epidemic is sweeping across the world. According to experts, there are as many as 30 million people suffering from a form of thyroid disorder in the United States alone – and half of them are undiagnosed. That is a staggering 12% of the nation’s total population.
Worldwide, approximately 430 million people are estimated to have a thyroid disorder.
Strangely, there is little concrete information about this problem worldwide since many patients and their doctors mistake the common symptoms for something else.
One serious cause of thyroid dysfunction is iodine deficiency. We get very little of it in our modern diet but iodine is a nutrient obtainable from food. It may seem overly simplistic to use food for thyroid health but it works and could be the answer in your particular case to getting this important gland functioning normally again.
10 Symptoms of Thyroid Malfunction
1. Fatigue: Persistent exhaustion no matter how much sleep you get.
2. Poor Sleep Quality: Being unable to sleep or wanting to sleep all the time.
3. Mood Swings: Feelings of sadness or anxiety.
4. Appetite Changes: Changes to food preferences or altered taste.
5. Brain Fog: Inability to concentrate or difficulty with simple cognition.
6 .Bowel Irregularity: Bloating, gas, constipation, or diarrhea.
7. Temperature Sensitivity: You persistently feel too hot or too cold.
8. Chronic Pain: Aches in joints or muscles for no particular reason.
9. Reproductive Issues: Infertility, miscarriages, or premature births.
10. Menstrual Changes: An increase or decrease in cramps, flow, or length of periods.
What Does Your Thyroid Do for You?
The thyroid hormones thyroxine (T-4) and triiodothyronine (T-3) produced by your thyroid gland – a butterfly shaped gland in your lower throat – are responsible for managing your metabolism, body temperature, and blood pressure. Though this part of the endocrine system is small, it is mighty. It literally effects all of you because every cell and organ in your body use thyroid hormones.
Hyperthyroidism (less common) is the term used when your thyroid produces too much hormones. It is also referred to as an overactive thyroid. This condition can result in unexplained weight loss, feeling jittery or anxious, inability to relax, lack of focus, rapid heart rate, fatigue, marked increase to appetite, deterioration of nails, skin, and hair, heart disease, irritability, sleep irregularity, and intolerance to heat.
Hypothyroidism (most common) is the term used when your thyroid produces too little hormones. It is also referred to as an underactive or sluggish thyroid. You may notice no symptoms initially but they tend to worsen as time goes by. Deficiency in these essential hormones lead to feelings of fatigue, depression, obesity, pain in joints, muscle weakness, deterioration of hair, skin, and nails, heart disease, poor memory and focus, and intolerance to cold.
Hashimoto’s Disease is an autoimmune condition. Your immune system malfunctions and sends out antibodies to attack thyroid tissue. Over time, the thyroid is beaten down and unable to function properly. The majority of patients with hypothyroidism test positive for these antibodies. It is important to keep your immune system strong and lower body-wide inflammation to prevent these antibodies from destroying your thyroid.
Your thyroid is stimulated by signals from your brain (hypothalamus) and your pituitary gland tells the thyroid gland to either produce hormones or to hold back. When the signals are blocked or false, it can result in serious repercussions throughout your system.
-Graves is a genetic autoimmune disease that stimulates thyroid hormone production.
-Plummer’s disease is benign lumps that stimulate thyroid hormone production.
-Pregnancy can trigger thyroid dysfunction.
-Thyroiditis is inflammation that triggers excess thyroid hormone to flood the blood.
-Physical, mental, or emotional stress may affect how your thyroid functions.
-Environmental toxins are thought to play a role in dysfunction of the thyroid.
This condition can affect adults, children, and infants. Newborns tested and treated early respond well and the practice has prevented poor mental development.
There are synthetic hormones available (thyroid drugs are the fourth highest selling in the United States) that can eventually get your thyroid back on track. However, most patients have to have a thyroid that no longer functions for the synthetic replacements to work.
Preventing the destruction of your thyroid in the first place is a far better solution.
5 Best Foods for Thyroid Health
1. Seaweed and seafood (scallops, shrimp, sardines, salmon, and tuna)
Currently, there is no cure for autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s that cause extensive damage to the thyroid and result in conditions such as hypothyroidism. As with most autoimmune conditions, it is crucial to pay close attention to diet and lifestyle habits. It may not reverse thyroid damage completely but it will slow the advance and ease symptoms.
Good choices for your thyroid benefits your entire body. All of your systems are connected and they depend on each other to function properly. Choosing the right foods for thyroid health are also good choices for your heart, brain, and gut. All of you will feel the difference.
With nutrition and wellness information omnipresent, it is important that we follow our inner guide and discover what works for us as individuals.
Forget about the Glycemic Index
We are so saturated with information. With stimulus. With advice. With authoritative edicts on health. A chain of gurus have come before me seeking to guide patients into the light of wellness. People are blinded by it, however. They feel confused, skeptical, and disenfranchised. And then they default to consensus and conformity around FDA standards of disease-care. There is a better way.
It involves awakening your inner guru. Getting in touch with your own inner compass.
This is necessary because there is no one just like you out there. No one has walked your path, accumulated your exposures. Grown and changed in response in quite the same way.
Modern medicine doesn’t acknowledge the vital importance of biochemical individuality. About how we are a unique collective of organisms, an ecology within that is connected to an environment without like a snowflake in a winter sky.
So, it only stands to reason that we would interact with our environments uniquely, and support ourselves through nature in a personal way. Nutrition is, perhaps, our most intimate dance with the living ecosystem of this planet.
Weston A. Price tried to tell us about individualized diets. Francis Pottenger tried to tell us about individualized diets. Dr. Nick Gonzalez tried to tell us about individualized diet. They were, in many ways, speaking a Truth that we weren’t quite ready to receive.
This is because we have been programmed, for decades to believe in an automated universe – one that could be explained neatly through scientific cause and effect – and one that interfaced with our robotic bodies in predictable ways. In this model, nature is “mostly stupid” as Alan Watts would say, in that it could be easily mastered and put in its place of subservience. Germs are tedious annoyances out to get us. Diseases are mistakes. Medications and vaccines are applied to one and all. And food is caloric fuel for our body machines.
When you look at food as part of our relationship with the living world beyond our skin, you understand that it is information, energetic, and complex in ways that we don’t have mechanisms to understand. This is why reductionist concepts like the “glycemic index” have always struck me as a misguided construct.
Now we have a brilliant study, perhaps one of the first of its kind, that decimates this false flag of nutrition consciousness. Published in Cell, an Israeli group of researchers followed 800 people with a prescribed diet for one week, assessing biological parameters from blood sugar to their microbiota. What they uncovered was a clear signal of Truth: the same foods affect different people differently!
Even obese, diabetic patients following formal dietary recommendations for a “healthy diet” found surprising information on the effects of foods such as tomatoes on their blood sugar. Of course, we know that there is more to the benefits of a diet than its benevolent relationship to blood sugar. We know that microbiota have a meaningful role in the metabolism and impact of foods on the body, and that food can directly impact the microbiota, enhancing strains required for its digestion.
We also know that the autonomic nervous system and associated individualized differences in pancreatic innervation can dictate whether one person thrives on a high carb (whole food) diet and another tanks on it. I’ll never forget the feeling of shattered nutrition dogma when Dr. Gonzalez discussed with me a patient of his whose insulin-dependent diabetes had resolved on a prescribed high carb vegetarian diet complete with multiple glasses of carrot juice daily. (We will be publishing this case soon!)
“Measuring such a large cohort without any prejudice really enlightened us on how inaccurate we all were about one of the most basic concepts of our existence, which is what we eat and how we integrate nutrition into our daily life.”
Because nutrition is one of the most basic concepts, our confusion is emblematic of how far we have come from intuitive living. This is why, the most profound healing involves a transformation of consciousness, a reclaiming of agency, a connectedness to the inner and out communities we thrive with, and a relationship to intuition.
I ask my patients, after 30 days of a whole foods, organic diet, to begin to observe their preferences for pastured red meat, fruit, and leafy greens. This observation requires mindfulness around eating and a daily practice of meditation (even a couple of minutes!) to clear the clutter so that you can actually feel what is best rather than reacting from your head. Because you are your own best healer.
Thawed food can be safely returned to your freezer provided it was thawed safely in the first place
Refreezing thawed food may lead to changes in flavor or texture, but its safety will not be compromised
While consuming food fresh is generally best, many frozen foods retain a majority of their nutrients
By Dr. Mercola
Whether or not thawed, if previously frozen foods can be refrozen is one of the most popular questions posed to the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) food-safety hotline.
It’s also one of the most widely circulated myths that refreezing food is dangerous.
While putting a thawed piece of steak or brick of cheese back into the freezer might lead to some changes in taste or texture, it’s perfectly safe and poses no risks to your health. There are a few caveats to consider, however.
It’s Safe to Refreeze Thawed Food
Thawed food can be safely returned to your freezer provided it was thawed safely in the first place. The worst way to thaw frozen food is to let it sit out on your kitchen counter. Tina Hanes, a registered dietitian with the USDA’s FSIS, told The New York Times:1
“… [B]acteria like it warm, like we do, and multiply rapidly at room temperature. Thawing on the counter is not safe, period. You should never do that.”
In fact, it’s said the greatest factor impacting whether your food is “safe” isn’t whether it’s been previously frozen but rather is related to how much time it spends in the temperature “danger zone” (between 40 to 120 degrees F).2
In addition to thawing on the counter, thawing frozen meat, poultry, or seafood by running warm water over it is also risky from a food-safety standpoint. If you need to thaw meat or poultry quickly, it can be run with cold water over it, or submersed in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes until it’s thawed.3
If you use this latter method for thawing, it should be cooked immediately – not refrozen or put back in the fridge. The USDA further advises:4
“Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods.
If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3 to 4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.
If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly.”
Do Frozen Foods Retain Their Nutrients?
It’s generally best to consume foods fresh, as soon after harvest as possible. However, frozen foods aren’t a bad alternative when this isn’t possible. In some ways, frozen foods may even be “fresher” than foods at your supermarket.
This is because produce is typically frozen soon after harvest, whereas fresh produce may be shipped thousands of miles before it actually reaches your local store (with nutrients degrading the entire way).
Research suggests fresh vegetables may lose up to 45 percent of their nutrients from the time they’re harvested to the time they’re purchased at a grocery store.5 On the other hand, research suggests frozen foods may contain comparable nutrients as fresh foods, and at times be even more nutritious. For instance:6
Frozen broccoli had more vitamin C, lutein, and beta-carotene but lower levels of polyphenols (some frozen broccoli has also been found to lack the ability to produce cancer-fighting sulforaphane7)
Frozen carrots had three times more lutein and twice as much beta-carotene, as well as more vitamin C and polyphenols
Frozen sprouts had higher levels of all measured nutrients
Frozen blueberries, green beans, raspberries, and pears also had higher levels of vitamin C and polyphenols
Separate research on frozen versus fresh carrots, broccoli, spinach, strawberries, and more concluded “overall, the vitamin content of the frozen commodities was comparable to and occasionally higher than that of their fresh counterparts.”8
The exception in this case was beta-carotene, which declined significantly in some of the frozen produce.
There’s still no question that the most nutrient-rich food will be fresh, provided you can eat in within a short time from harvest (i.e. produce you either grow yourself or purchase from a local farm or farmer’s market). However, frozen foods are still fairly nutritious and worthy of consumption if locally grown fresh foods are not available.
Freezing Your Food Can Help Cut Down on Food Waste
The other benefit to freezing your food (or re-freezing it) is cutting down on food waste. Organic waste, such as that from spoiled food, is actually the second highest component of landfills in the US. Organic landfill waste has increased by 50 percent per capita since 1974.9
A report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) revealed that 40 percent of food in the US goes uneaten, which amounts to a waste of more than 20 pounds of food per person, every month. This amounts to upwards of $2,275 in annual losses for the average US household of four.10 This isn’t simply a matter of the food itself, as with this waste comes:
$165 billion that is essentially “thrown out”
25 percent of freshwater usage, wasted
Huge amounts of unnecessary chemicals, energy, and land use, also wasted
Rotting food in landfills, which accounts for nearly 25 percent of US methane emissions
“… [F]ood saved by reducing losses by just 15 percent could feed more than 25 million Americans every year at a time when one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables.”
In all, it’s estimated US families throw out about 25 percent of the food and beverages they buy. In the UK, about two-thirds of household food waste is due to food spoiling before it is used. And shockingly, more fruits and vegetables are wasted in the US food system than are actually consumed (52 percent are wasted versus 48 percent consumed)!12
So if you find you’ve brought home more perishable food than you can consume, wrap it up tight and put it in your freezer (with the exception of the foods that follow… ).
Certain Foods Do Not Freeze Well
Most foods can be frozen successfully, provide you store them correctly in your freezer. However, freezing does alter or degrade the quality of some items. Spices and seasonings are particularly vulnerable.
Foods
Usual Use
Condition After Thawing
Cabbage,* celery, cress, cucumbers,* endive, lettuce, parsley, and radishes
As raw salad
Limp, water-logged, quickly develops oxidized color, aroma, and flavor
Irish potatoes, baked or boiled
In soups, salads, sauces, or with butter
Soft, crumbly, water-logged, and mealy
Cooked macaroni, spaghetti, or rice
When frozen alone for later use
Mushy, tastes warmed over
Egg whites, cooked
In salads, creamed foods, sandwiches, sauces, gravy, or desserts
Soft, tough, rubbery, and spongy
Meringue
In desserts
Soft, tough, rubbery, and spongy
Icings made from egg whites
Cakes, cookies
Frothy, weeps
Cream or custard fillings
Pies, baked goods
Separates, watery, and lumpy
Milk sauces
For casseroles or gravies
May curdle or separate
Sour cream
As topping, in salads
Separates, watery
Cheese or crumb toppings
On casseroles
Soggy
Mayonnaise or salad dressing
On sandwiches (not in salads)
Separates
Gelatin
In salads or desserts
Weeps
Fruit jelly
Sandwiches
May soak bread
Fried foods
All except French fried potatoes and onion rings
Lose crispness, become soggy
*Cucumbers and cabbage can be frozen as marinated products such as “freezer slaw” or “freezer pickles.” These do not have the same texture as regular slaw or pickles.
According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, some herbs, such as onion and paprika, change flavor when frozen, while others tend to get stronger (this applies to pepper, cloves, garlic, and green pepper).
Frozen curry may develop a “musty off-flavor,” while salt may lose its flavor and even increase rancidity of foods containing fat. If you know a food will be going in the freezer (such as a big batch of tomato sauce), your best bet is to season it lightly prior to freezing and then add your finishing touches after it’s been thawed and re-heated.13The National Center for Home Food Preservation has also posted this useful chart of foods that generally do not freeze well:14
How to Best Freeze 5 Common Foods
By taking a few moments to properly wrap and prepare your food for the freezer, you can extend its freezer shelf life and ensure a higher-quality product once thawed. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a comprehensive guide on how to best freeze common foods.15 Examples are as follows:16
Butter: Mold into the shape of your choice (squares, patties, etc.), wrap tightly in aluminum foil or freezer paper, and then seal in moisture-vapor resistant containers. Recommended freezer storage time is six to nine months.
Cheese: Hard or semi-hard cheese should be cut into 1.5 to one-pound sizes the packaged in moisture-vapor resistant material. It may be crumbly and mealy when thawed but will still be flavorful. Cream cheese, cottage cheese, and ricotta cheese generally do not freeze well.
Blueberries: Do not wash blueberries. Pack them dry into containers, leaving headspace; this allows the food to expand without breaking the packaging. You can also freeze them flat on a tray then pack them into containers once frozen.
Meat (beef, lamp, and pork): Package the meat in freezer paper or wrap. Store-bought meats should be over-wrapped with freezer paper (unless it is wrapped in a newer heavy-duty film, which needs no overwrap).
Tomatoes: Wash the tomatoes and dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds to loosen skins. Peel and core the tomatoes, then pack into containers, using one-inch headspace (the tomatoes can be frozen whole or in pieces). Once thawed, the tomatoes will no longer be solid so plan to use them in cooking.
More Freezer Pointers
If you’re wondering how long food will keep in your freezer, it’s not forever. Fruits and vegetables will last longest, about eight to 12 months, while ground meat maintains its quality for about three or four months. Fish ranges from three to six months while poultry will keep for six to nine months.
Keep in mind that food will still be safe to consume after these storage times, but it may not be as high in quality (i.e. its texture or flavor may change). Additional pointers to help you successfully store food in the freezer include the following from The National Center for Home Food Preservation:17
Freeze foods at 0°F or lower. To facilitate more rapid freezing, set the temperature control at -10°F or lower about 24 hours in advance.
Freeze foods as soon as they are packed and sealed.
Do not overload your freezer with unfrozen food. Add only the amount that will freeze within 24 hours, which is usually 2 to 3 pounds of food per cubic foot of storage space. Overloading slows down the freezing rate, and foods that freeze too slowly may lose quality.
Place packages in contact with refrigerated surfaces in the coldest part of the freezer.
Leave a little space between packages so air can circulate freely. Then, when the food is frozen, store the packages close together.
These five facts will inspire you to ditch refined, processed flour for good.
Refined, white flour is one of the main perpetrators to many modern-day diseases of affluence. It is now well known that white flour spikes the blood sugar, is devoid of most nutrients, and can block the internal villi in the intestinal membrane, contributing to ailments such as leaky gut syndrome (a root symptom to many ‘diseases’ today).
But those aren’t the only ill effects caused by consuming a diet high in refined foods which include white flour. Following are 5 shocking facts about white flour that will inspire you to switch to whole, unprocessed foods for good.
1) White Flour Has NO Nutrients
Because foods have been processed and refined, manufacturers have to fortify certain nutrients (which your body does not metabolize and utilize as efficiently as when derived from whole foods) because they no longer contain them! Concerning white flour and bread(s), when the wheat seed’s bran is removed, it’s six outer layers and the germ (which contains 76%) of the vitamins and minerals is lost. 97% of the dietary fiber is also removed, which is why constipation and cancer of the bowel are so prevalent in ‘developed’ nations.
In addition, processing and bleaching white flour removes ALL of its vitamin E, 50% of its calcium, and 70% of its phosphorous, iron, magnesium, and B vitamins.
So what you’re paying for when you spend less on white bread and baked goods is… literally nothing. Except a hefty healthcare bill down the road if you don’t start consuming real foods right now.
2) Carcinogen Potassium Bromate Is Added – You Don’t Want This
Once all the layers, nutrients, and fiber are removed, flour is bleached, preserved and aged with chlorine dioxide. Manufacturers continue to further refine it by adding chalk, alum, and ammonium carbonate to make it seem more appealing texture-wise and visually.
Unfortunately, they then add potassium bromate to the mix. This ingredient is a very powerful oxidizer that damages cells. Potassium bromate is also considered to be a category 2B carcinogen (= possibly carcinogenic to humans), as classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Banned in most developed countries in 1994 (including all countries in the European union, UK, and Canada – but NOT in the United States), it is an ingredient every household should avoid.
3) White Flour Is A Natural Insecticide
Like harmful glyphosate-containing insecticides produced by Monsanto, white flour will KILL bugs that creep into bags of it and begin to consume it.
It KILLS bugs that attempt to live off of it. What could make one think it’s ideal for human consumption, then?
4) Contains The Amino Acid L-Cysteine
Yes, you need amino acids (the building blocks of protein) to survive, but this non-essential amino acid is introduced to most conventional baked goods only to speed industrial processing. Perhaps this is also another link in the huge allergy epidemic many people experience in the US when they consume baked goods, but not in Europe where more quality and care is given to producing food.
L-cysteine is found in most pizza doughs, cookies, pastas, pastries, and fast food buns. While it can be produced for cheap, more economical sources include duck feathers and human hair. Other L-cysteine sources include chicken feathers, cow horns, and petroleum byproducts. Most L-cysteine sources also come from China, where there is a history of poor regulation.
We don’t know about you, but that’s disgusting.
5) White Flour Is A Known Contributor To Diabetes
Diabetes has quickly become a global epidemic, and it is now predicted to become the 7th leading cause of death by the year 2030. The ‘disease’ is largely caused by a diet high in refined foods (including baked goods made from white flour and artificial sweeteners), not enough fiber, and less than the daily recommendation of unprocessed fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens.
One way white flour is a main contributor to this disease of affluence is that it contains the ingredient alloxan, which is what makes bread look fresh and clean. Studies show, however, that alloxan destroys the beta cells of the pancreas. In fact, the effects of alloxan are so severe, the Textbook of Natural Medicine calls the chemical “a potent beta-cell toxin.”
Unfortunately, the FDA still deems this ingredient to be “safe,” and, therefore, companies continue to use it and include it in many foods. Yikes.
According to research done by Dr. Gary Null, however, which is documented in the Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing, vitamin E effectively protected lab rats from the harmful effects of administered alloxan. That means, fortunately, that it is possible to reverse the dreadful effects caused by alloxan production.
First step: ditch all white flours from your diet; second step: start eating more almonds, avocado, and healthy sources of fat with abundant stores of Vitamin E. You’ll likely notice your skin improves from these added nutrients, as well.
All in all, refined, white flour is utilized in many products of today because it is cheap. But if there’s anything that should be common sense by now, it should be the understanding that there are no shortcuts in life. The human body hasn’t even fully adapted from the inclusion of grains in the last 10,000 years; and now, it’s quite evident that a diet of processed, refined junk (including refined sugar and white rice) is devastating to the system.
For many middle-class families, choosing to eat well is a financial decision as well as a health decision. When fast-food chains offer 99-cents meals and buying produce for a home-cooked meal can cost a lot more than one dollar, convenience and cost make fast food a colossal temptation. So how can you get the most out of your produce? Well, one way is to use all of the plant, instead of letting it rot or throwing a lot of it out. It may surprise you to discover that most seeds, skins and greens inside and surrounding a plant are actually edible. Here we will show you how to stop throwing money down the drain and maximize the potential of your produce.
Peels
How often do you throw away the peel of your oranges after eating the fruit? Did you know that you can use the zest to sweeten curries, salads and muffins? The same is true with lemons and limes. Lemon zest is great for adding a fruity acidity to meals and for heightening flavors. Lime zest is especially good in Latin cuisine. You can even make candied fruit peels by taking a lemon, lime or orange peel and boiling it in water with organic cane or coconut sugar.Skins
Most people know that you can eat apple or pear skins, but what else can you eat? Peach, pineapple and apricot skins are high in vitamin C and are safe for regular consumption. Watermelon rind is also really good for you. It’s very tart, but contains high amounts of the amino acid citrulline, which can boost blood flow, reduce blood pressure and promote overall cardiovascular health. Mango skins should also not be tossed out. They are high in antioxidants and phytochemicals. Peanut skins are also high in antioxidants and can improve cardiovascular health. Vegetable skins that pack a punch of nutrition include sweet potato skins, yellow squash skins and zucchini skins.
Seeds
Pineapple seeds are relatively small and can be eaten. When making a smoothie, many people will spit out the blackberry seeds. Resist the urge and you’ll reap the benefits from omega-3 fatty acids, protein, fiber, carotenoids and antioxidants. Watermelon seeds are also high in nutrients, including zinc, fiber, vitamin B, beta carotene, lycopene, iron, protein, phosphorus, potassium and unsaturated fats. Cantaloupe seeds have been enjoyed as a healthy snack in Iran and China for centuries. They are high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and vitamins A, B6, B12, D, E and K. Next time you roast pumpkin or spaghetti squash, save the seeds and toast them later.
Shells
Kids that are raised to eat healthily often enjoy picking peas from their pods, but did you know you can actually eat the pods? Snap peas and snow peas are both podded legumes that can be eaten whole. Broad beans and their pods can also be eaten whole. Almonds are another plant-based protein that can be eaten whole. When almonds are green and covered in fur, you can eat the whole thing, including the shell. Another protein that you can eat whole is the hemp seed. You can buy them shelled for a softer, nutty texture, or enjoy them whole and reap the benefits of the added crunch and fiber.
Greens
When people think of leafy greens, they typically think of the conventional lettuces available in the supermarket. Little do they know how many nutritionally-dense greens they are throwing away. The tops of carrots, sweet potatoes, celery and leeks are packed with vitamins and minerals.
You can easily save money by making a salad with these or adding them to a stew. Leek leaves help prevent oxidative damage to our cells. Carrot tops are high in vitamins A, B6, C and K and are loaded with minerals as well. Sweet potato greens are harder to come by in a grocery store, but if you grow sweet potatoes, eat the greens too.
Squash leaves are also often neglected. Celery greens are perhaps the easiest to incorporate if you love celery. That’s because the greens actually taste like celery too!
Stalks
On the flip side, many people will only use the greens on the ends of some foods and throw away the stalk. Parsley and cilantro are delicious greens that are used in many Latin and Mediterranean dishes. Unfortunately, the stalks are often thrown out when they also contain the same nutrients and flavors as the leaves. Broccoli and cauliflower are other examples.
People love the florets but are less enthusiastic about the stalks, which contain the same vitamins and minerals as the florets. If you don’t like the texture, soften them up by boiling them, steaming them or adding them to a soup or stew.
Wasting food is wasting money. Thinking outside the box can help you find new ways to get the most out of your food so you can save money and live better. What are some ways you have thought outside the box when preparing produce? Share your ideas below.
A groundbreaking new study published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research titled, “Interspecies communication between plant and mouse gut host cells through edible plant derived exosome-like nanoparticles,” reveals a new way that food components ‘talk’ to animal cells by regulating gene expression and conferring significant therapeutic effects. With the recent discovery that non-coding microRNA’s in food are capable of directly altering gene expression within human physiology,[1] this new study further concretizes the notion that the age old aphorism ‘you are what you eat’ is now consistent with cutting edge molecular biology.
Exosomes: The ‘Missing Link’ In How Plants and Animal Cells Communicate and Collaborate
This is the first study of its kind to look at the role of exosomes, small vesicles secreted by plant and animal cells that participate in intercellular communication, in interspecies (plant-animal) communication.
The study explained the biological properties of exosomes as follows:
“Exosomes are produced by a variety of mammalian cells including immune, epithelial, and tumor cells [11–15]. Exosomes play a role in intercellular communication and can transport mRNA, miRNA, bioactive lipids, and proteins between cells [16–19]. Upon contact, exosomes transfer molecules that can render new properties and/or reprogram their recipient cells.”
While most of the research on exosomes has focused on their role in pathological states such as tumor promotion, they were recently found to play a key role in stimulating regeneration within damaged cardiac tissue,[2] and are known to be found in human breast milk, further underscoring how irreplaceable it is vis-à-vis synthesized infant formula.[3]
The New Study
The investigators isolated plant derived exosome-like nanoparticles (EPDENs) from ginger, carrot, grape and grapefruit, and observed their behavior in mammalian cells (mice).
They chose these commonly consumed edible fruits and vegetables because,
“It is well established that a plant-derived diet has great influence on regulation of mammalian host cell homeostasis, in particular, cells in the digestive system [1–3]. Deregulation of plant-derived diet regulated host cell homeostasis leads to increased susceptibility to infections, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, and cancer [4–10].
They noted, “the cellular and molecular machinery regulating such interspecies mutualism between a plant-derived diet and the mammalian gut is not fully defined.” Their new study aimed to gain new insight into defining the mechanisms through which cross-kingdom crosstalk occurs.
Plant Exosomes Affect Mammalian Cells Intimately
After isolating and characterizing exosome-like nanoparticles from all four edible plants, the researchers discovered they possessed remarkable similarity in size and structure to mammalian-derived exosomes. Furthermore, the study showed “that these exosome-like nanoparticles are taken up by intestinal macrophages and stem cells, and have biological effects on the recipient cells.”
The biological effects were described as follows:
-Ginger exosome-like nanoparticles strongly induced heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and IL-10 expressed in macrophages, an indication of anti-inflammatory and antoxidant properties.
-Fruit-derived exosome-like nanoparticles including grape and grapefruit induced Wnt/TCF4 activation, which is a key component of the anti-inflammatory response
-All tested foods activated nuclear translocation of Nrf2, a key regulator of the HO1 gene, which has an important role in anti-inflammation and antioxidation; ginger was found to be most potent, followed by grapefruit, carrot and grape
Notably, EPDENs were found to be resistant to gastric and intestinal enzymatic digestion, further indicating they are capable of exerting significant biological effects by escaping digestive degradation, which has also been found with lectins and microRNA’s within edible foods.
The researchers discussed their results:
“Our findings show that exosome-like nanoparticles are present in edible fruits and vegetables and reveal a previously unrecognized strategy by which plants communicate with mammalian cells via exosome-like nanoparticles in the gut, and in particular intestinal macrophages and stem cells. We found that edible plants contain large amounts of nanoparticles. Like mammalian exosomes, further characterization of the plant nanoparticles led to identifying them as exosome- like nanoparticles based on the nanoparticles being com- posed of proteins, lipids, and miRNAs. EPDENs from different types of plants have different biological effects on the recipient mammalian cells. This finding opens up a new avenue to further study the molecular mechanisms underlying how the plant kingdom crosstalks with mammalian cells such as intestinal macrophages and stem cells via EPDENs. This information may provide the molecular basis of using multiple plant-derived agents for better therapeutic effect than any single plant-derived agent.”
They also offered that their results may explain why those who consume a greater variety of edible plants are healthier:
“It has been known for decades that people eating a variety of edible plants daily are the recipients of many beneficial health effects when compared to subjects that ingest fewer types of edible plants. Ingesting EPDENs from a variety of fruits and vegetables daily would be expected to provide greater beneficial effects for maintaining gut homeostasis than ingesting EPDENs from single edible plant.”
Discussion: Deeper Implications of the Study
As part of the fascinating new fields of epigenetics and nutrigenomics, this new study’s findings promise to expand the relevance of food in the practice of medicine and the prevention of disease. We have crossed a critical threshold in the past few decades where food can no longer considered simply as a source of caloric content, minerals and vitamins, and building blocks for the body-machine. Rather, food carries very specific forms of biologically meaningful information (literally ‘to put form into’), without which our genetic and epigenetic infrastructure cannot function according to its intelligent design.
The discovery of plant-dervied exosome-mediated modulation of fundamental mammalian cellular pathways, lends powerful support to the concept that ancestral nutritional practices handed down for countless generations are critical in maintaining our health. With the advent of the post-industrial diet, based largely on ‘food-like’ synthesized nutrition, and the novel introduction of grain-based nutrition in only the past 500 generations, our present diet suffers from a series of profoundly biological incompatible foods.
Millions of years of co-evolutionary processes have generated a wide range of interspecies, cross-kingdom co-dependencies. For instance, mammals and angiosperms (which comprise about 250,000 species and include most of the flowering plants that provide the modern world its diet) co-evolved for at least 200 million years together, and are today two of the most dominant forms of life on the planet. The very molecular and informational fabric of our bodies evolved to intimately depend on the presence of various key food components in the human diet, and the absence of others which may be detrimental to our health. Food components like exosomes may be as important to our health as vitamins and other classically defined ‘nutrients,’ and may even be more important in modulating a wide range of complex genetic- and epigenetic-mediated cellular processes within the body. This may also explain the mystery of how certain fruits, such as pomegranate, have been found to replace the function of the mammalian ovary in an ovariectomy induced models of premature aging. While pomegranate is one of nature’s most concentrated source of bioidentical estrone, exosomes may be the ‘missing link’ as to how a plant food can support complex hormonal processes within the animal body, along with exerting such a wide range of additional therapeutic health effects. This is all the more evidence with plants like turmeric, which have over 600 health benefits and has been found to modulate the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously.[4]
With exciting research now available, the famous quote attributed to Thomas Edison rings truer today than ever:
“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
[2] Ahmed Gamal-Eldin Ibrahim, Ke Cheng, Eduardo Marbán. Exosomes as Critical Agents of Cardiac Regeneration Triggered by Cell Therapy. Stem Cell Reports, May 2014 DOI:10.1016/j.stemcr.2014.04.006
There is no shortage of health advice out there, and no shortage of bad advice to go along with it. Some misguided notions are harmless—but others are outright dangerous and can lead you down the road to chronic health problems and may even trim years off your life.
It is critically important to decipher fact from fiction. Many nutrition myths get repeated over and over until they are mistaken for truth, especially when perpetually spread by public health authorities.
But the good news is that slowly, the real truth finally appears to be reaching mainstream audiences, as evidenced by the eagerness of satirists to take a jab at the food industry, as in the clever Coca-Cola parody featured below.
In an article addressing destructive nutrition lies, Kris Gunnars of Authority Nutrition[1] is among those admirably trying to bust the dangerous dietary myths that continue being spread by so many nutritionists.
I agree with the majority of his points, but have added a few others that I believe to be important. Read on for my own top 10 list, which builds upon his.
Lie #1: Breakfast Is the Healthiest Meal of the Day, and You Should Eat Many Small Meals a Day
There is now a good deal of research supporting the health benefits of intermittent fasting—which is what you are really doing whenever you zip out of the house in the morning without breakfast.
Recent studies suggest that intermittent fasting can provide the same health benefits as constant calorie restriction which many studies have shown to dramatically increase life span in animals. It may also be helpful for those who cannot successfully reduce their everyday calorie intake.
Besides turning you into an efficient fat burner, intermittent fasting can also boost your level of human growth hormone production (aka the “fitness hormone”) by as much as 1,200 percent for women and 2,000 percent for men.
Intermittent fasting and continuous calorie restriction have both been shown to produce weight loss and improve metabolic risk markers. However, intermittent fasting tends to be slightly more effective for reducing insulin resistance.
Other benefits include reducing inflammation, improving blood pressure, and increased lean body mass. Intermittent fasting can also improve your brain function by increasing levels of BDNF, a protein that protects your brain cells from the changes associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
There are several types of intermittent fasting to choose from, so I recommend experimenting to see what style works best for you. One of the easiest, however, is to simply skip breakfast, and limit your eating to a narrow window of time each day—say between 11am and 7pm, to start. You can review my more comprehensive article on intermittent fasting for more details.
The advice to “eat six small meals per day” comes from seemingly logical principles (portion control, keeping your energy up, stabilizing blood sugar, etc.), but in reality, eating this way has not been shown to provide these benefits. We seem to need periods of fasting for optimal metabolic function.
And if you think about it, our ancient ancestors never had access to a grocery store 24/7 and they went through regular periods of feast and famine. The problem is that most of us are in 24/7 feast mode. Implementing intermittent fasting is the quickest way I know of to jump start your body into burning fat as its primary fuel again.
Lie #2: Saturated Fat Causes Heart Disease
The dangerous recommendation to avoid saturated fat, which arose from anunproven hypothesis from the mid-1950s, has been harming people’s health for about 40 years now. As recently as 2002, the “expert” Food & Nutrition Board issued the following misguided statement, which epitomizes this myth:
“Saturated fats and dietary cholesterol have no known beneficial role in preventing chronic disease and are not required at any level in the diet.”
Similarly, the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine recommends that adults get 45-65 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 20-35 percent from fat, and 10-35 percent from protein. This is the polar opposite of an ideal fat to carb ratio and virtually guarantees you a heightened risk of disease.
Most people benefit from a diet where 50-85 percent of daily calories are derived from healthful fats. However, you need very few, if any, carbohydrates for optimal health. Although that amount of fat may seem like a lot, fat is very calorie-dense, and will therefore still constitute the smallest amount, in terms of volume, on your plate.
The truth is, saturated fats from animal and vegetable sources provide the building blocks for your cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormone-like substances, without which your body cannot function optimally.
Fats also serve as carriers for the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K and are required for converting carotene into vitamin A, absorbing minerals, and a host of other important biological processes. Saturated fat is also the preferred fuel for your heart! Good sources of healthy fats to add to your diet include:
Avocados
Butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk
Raw dairy
Organic pastured egg yolks
Coconuts and coconut oil
Unheated organic nut oils
Raw nuts, especially macadamia, and raw seeds
Grass-fed and finished meats
Lie #3: High Omega-6 Seed and Vegetable Oils Are Good for You
Of all the health-destroying foods on the market, those made with highly processed vegetable and seed oils are some of the worst. When consumed in large amounts, as they are by most Americans, they seriously distort your important omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. In a perfect world, this ratio is 1:1—but the average American is getting 20 to 50 times more omega-6 fats than omega-3 fats. Excessive omega-6 fats from processed foods significantly increase your risk for heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and many other illnesses.
The cholesterol found in arterial plaque is oxidized, damaged cholesterol, which your immune system identifies as bacteria. In response, your immune system sends out macrophages to attack it, which creates inflammation inside your artery walls. A major factor driving heart disease is this oxidized cholesterol, which you introduce into your body every time you consume vegetable oils, or foods cooked in them.
Many vegetable and seed oils are also genetically engineered, which only compounds their health risk. More than 90 percent of US canola oil is GE. So what’s the best oil to cook with? Of all the available oils, coconut oil is the one of choice for cooking because it’s close to a completely saturated fat—meaning, much less susceptible to heat damage. And coconut oil is one of the most nutritionally beneficial fats. For more information about coconut oil, please see our special report. Olive oil, while certainly a healthful oil, is easily damaged by heat and is best reserved for drizzling cold over salad.
Lie #4: Artificial Sweeteners Are Safe Sugar Replacements for Diabetics, and Help Promote Weight Loss
Most people use artificial sweeteners to lose weight and/or because they are diabetic and need to avoid sugar. The irony is that nearly all of the studies to date show that artificial sweeteners cause even MORE weight gainthan caloric sweeteners. Studies also show that artificial sweeteners can be worse than sugar for diabetics.
In 2005, data gathered from the 25-year long San Antonio Heart Study showed that drinking dietsoft drinks increased the likelihood of serious weight gain much more so than regular soda.[2] On average, each diet soda the participants consumed per day increased their risk of becoming overweight by 65 percent within the next seven to eight years and made them 41 percent more likely to become obese. There are several possible reasons for this, such as:
Sweet taste alone appears to increase hunger, regardless of caloric content
Artificial sweeteners appear to perpetuate a craving for sweets, and overall sugar consumption is therefore not reduced, leading to further problems with weight control[3]
Artificial sweeteners may disrupt your body’s natural ability to “count calories,” as evidenced by multiple studies. For example, a Purdue University study found that rats fed artificially sweetened liquids ate more high-calorie food than rats fed high-caloric sweetened liquids.[4]
The list of health risks associated with artificial sweeteners, particularly aspartame, continues to expand. I maintain an ongoing list of studies related to the detrimental effects of aspartame, which I recommend you review for yourself if you are still on the fence. I invite you to watch my aspartame video, as well.
Lie #5: Soy Is a Health Food
The meteoric rise of soy as a “health food” is a perfect example of how a brilliant marketing strategy can fool millions. But make no mistake—unfermented soy products are NOT healthful additions to your diet, regardless of your age or gender. I am not opposed to all soy—properly fermented and preferably organic soy, such as tempeh, miso, and natto, offer great health benefits, courtesy of the beneficial bacteria (probiotics) the fermentation process produces.
Thousands of studies have linked unfermented soy to a number of health problems, however. More than 90 percent of American soy crops are also genetically engineered, which only compounds its health risks.[5] If you find this information startling, then I would encourage you to review some of the articles on my Soy Page. The following table lists a number of the damaging health effects science has linked to unfermented soy:
Breast cancer
Brain damage and cognitive impairment
Heart disease
Thyroid disorders
Kidney stones
Immune dysfunction
Severe, potentially fatal food allergies
Malnutrition
Digestive problems
Problems with pregnancy and breastfeeding
Reproductive disorders and impaired fertility
Developmental abnormalities in infants
Lie #6: Whole Grains Are Good for Everyone
The use of whole grains is an easy subject to get confused about, especially for those with a passion for health annutrition. For the longest time, we’ve been told that whole grains are highly beneficial. Unfortunately, ALL grains can elevate your insulin and leptin levels, even whole grains and organic varieties—and elevated insulin/leptin increases your risk of chronic disease. This is especially true if you already struggle with insulin/leptin resistance, which would manifest as high blood pressure, distorted cholesterol ratios, being overweight, or diabetes).
It has been my experience that more than 85 percent of Americans have trouble controlling their insulin and leptin levels and have one or more of the symptoms listed above. You may be one of those if you struggle to maintain an ideal body weight and body composition, tend to accumulate fat around you belly, or have a suboptimal lipid profile. In fact, insulin/leptin dysregulation is a common indicator for many of the diseases so prevalent today, such as diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and cancer.
Many whole grains also contain gluten, which is a common trigger for allergies and sensitivities. Subclinical gluten intolerance is far more common than you might think, with symptoms that are not always obvious. I strongly recommend eliminating or at least restricting grains from your diet, as well as sugars/fructose, especially if you have any of the conditions listed above. As a general rule, the higher your insulin levels are, the greater your grain restriction should be.
#7: Genetically Engineered Foods Are Safe and Comparable to Conventional Foods
Genetic engineering (GE) of our food may be the most dangerous aspect of our food supply today. I strongly recommend that you avoid ALL GE foods. Since more than 90 percent of the corn and 95 percent of the soy grown in the US are GE, then you can count on virtually every processed food having at least one GE component if it doesn’t bear the “USDA 100% Organic” or non-GMO label. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of them is that the crops are saturated with one of the most dangerous herbicides on the market, glyphosate, to the tune of nearly a billion pounds per year. This toxic chemical can’t be washed off as it becomes integrated into nearly every cell of the plant, and then gets transferred into your body.
No one knows exactly what will be the ultimate impact of these foods on your health, particularly over the long term. Animal studies have pointed to increased disease, infertility, and birth defects as the top contenders. The first-ever lifetime feeding study showed a dramatic increase in organ damage, cancer, and reduced lifespan. It’s important to realize that, unless you’re buying all organic food or growing your own, you’re probably consuming GE foods on a daily basis. In order to avoid as many GE foods as possible, be aware that the following common crops are likely to be GE unless otherwise labeled:
Corn
Canola
Alfalfa
Soy
Cottonseed
Sugar from sugar beets
Zucchini
Crookneck squash
Hawaiian papaya
Lie #8: Eggs Are Bad for Your Heart
Eggs are one of the most demonized foods in the US… thanks to the cholesterol myth. The misguided belief that cholesterol, such as in egg yolks, will give you heart disease is simply untrue (see Lie #1). Studies have shown that eggs do NOT have a detrimental impact on cholesterol levels and are actually one of the most healthful foods you can eat. In one Yale study,[6] participants were asked to consume two eggs daily for six weeks. Researchers found that this egg consumption did not spike cholesterol levels and did not have a negative effect on endothelial function, a measure of cardiac risk.
Choose pasture-raised organic eggs, and avoid “omega-3 eggs” as this is not the proper way to optimize your omega-3 levels. To produce these omega-3 eggs, the hens are usually fed poor-quality sources of omega-3 fats that are already oxidized. Omega-3 eggs are also more perishable than non-omega-3 eggs. Some of the many nutritional benefits of eggs are summarized for you in the table below.
One egg contains six grams of high quality protein and all nine essential amino acids
Beneficial for eye health due to lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants in your lens and retina that help prevent eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts
Good source of choline, a member of the vitamin B family (essential for nervous system, cardiovascular system, and prenatal brain development)
Vitamin D: eggs are one of the few foods that contains naturally occurring vitamin D (24.5 grams)
Sulfur (essential component of glutathione, also promotes healthy hair and nails)
Many other vitamins and minerals (B vitamins, vitamins A and E, calcium, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium, and zinc)
Lie #9: Low-Fat Foods Prevent Obesity and Heart Disease
Conventional recommendations over th
e past 40 years or more have called for drastically decreasing the overall fat in your diet, but this fat aversion is a driving force behind today’s metabolic dysfunction, obesity, and ill health. As discussed earlier, most people need between 50 and 85 percent of their calories from fats—a far cry form the less than 10 percent from saturated fat recommended by the USDA!7 Kris Gunnars stated it quite nicely:8
“The first dietary guidelines for Americans were published in the year 1977, almost at the exact same time the obesity epidemic started. Of course, this doesn’t prove anything (correlation does not equal causation), but it makes sense that this could be more than just a mere coincidence.
The anti-fat message essentially put the blame on saturated fat and cholesterol (harmless), while giving sugar and refined carbs (very unhealthy) a free pass. Since the guidelines were published, many massive studies have been conducted on the low-fat diet. It is no better at preventing heart disease, obesity or cancer than the standard Western diet, which is as unhealthy as a diet can get.”
Let’s face it, if low-fat diets worked, the United States would be the healthiest nation on the planet—folks have been following them since the late 1970s! But if you look at the following graph, you can see that America’s waistline has done nothing but expand since then. There’s no telling how many people have been prematurely killed by following these flawed guidelines. Yet, despite mounting research to the contrary, low-fat diets are stillbeing pushed as “heart healthy” by the majority of nutritionists, cardiologists, and the like.
Lie #10: Carbs Should Be Your Biggest Source of Calories
I have already covered how insulin resistance is a key factor in disease (see Lie #4). A diet high in non-fiber carbohydrates—particularly processed grains and sugar—leads directly to insulin and leptin resistance. When your highest percentage of calories comes from healthful fats, these problems just don’t exist. Most high-carb diets are high in sugar and starch, not vegetables. When the low-fat mantra swept over the country, the high-carb craze soon followed. When fat was removed from foods, something had to be added back in to make foods more palatable—and that something was sugar. Particularly, highly concentrated forms of fructose, such as high fructose corn syrup, which spell metabolic disaster for your body.
With fat being the identified villain (albeit falsely accused), sugar was completely ignored—even though sugar was the real culprit behind inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, diabetes, and heart disease. America’s love of sugar was a boon to the processed food industry—which added fructose to practically everything from soup to nuts… literally. If you want to see what effects this had on the country’s health and belt size, just turn on your national news.
A high-carb diet disrupts your insulin and leptin signaling, and over time may very well result in type 2 diabetes. By contrast, a diet higher in beneficial fats corrects these metabolic issues. Recent research has demonstrated that the ketogenic diet—one marked by carbohydrate restriction and substantial healthful fats—extended the lifespan of mice by 20 percent, because it optimized their insulin sensitivity and other metabolic processes. There is evidence that low carbohydrate diets, combined with appropriate amounts of protein, can even slow down Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.
Now for the #1 Truth…
The more you can eat like your ancestors, the better—fresh whole foods, locally and sustainably raised, and foods that are minimally processed or not processed at all. These are the types of foods that your genes and biochemistry are adapted to and will provide you with the ability to reverse and prevent most diseases. You will find these at your local farmer’s market, food co-op, or in your own backyard garden. And you will be amazed at the positive changes you’ll see in your health when you “clean up” your diet! Be wary of nutritional advice from mainstream “experts” as it may not be based on science—or based on bad information that is several decades outdated. Truthful, accurate information is your number one weapon in taking control of your health.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), based in Rome, Italy, is an international organization jointly created by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WTO) of the United Nations. The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Use (CCNFSDU) is responsible for Dietary Supplements and Medical Foods and is one of some 27 separate Codex committees. The CCNFSDU meets once yearly in Berlin, Germany (its host country) and the National Health Federation is a Codex-recognized organization with the right to attend and speak out at these meetings.
The purpose of Codex is to provide a forum to facilitate global trade in foods and promote consumer food safety by developing science based standards and guidelines for use by member countries. Codex guidelines and standards are automatically implemented by the General Agreement on Trade & Tariffs (GATT) of the WTO and become binding for all international trade among GATT signatory countries. The CAC process calls for proposed committee standards and guidelines to be forwarded and approved by the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s Executive Committee.
When the proposals reach final approval (after an eight-step process), they then become binding on all GATT signatories, including the United States. Thereafter, no GATT-signatory country may use as a trade barrier any standard or guideline that disagrees with a Codex guideline or standard. According to some, it does not mean that all GATT countries must adopt Codex standards for their own domestic use. According to the NHF, we think that Codex guidelines and standards will inevitably supersede domestic laws, including the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.
The National Health Federation supports Codex guidelines and standards that are based on a free-market approach that maximizes freedom and health. In a free-market approach, the consumer is king and can choose to purchase and consume any foods and dietary supplements that he or she wishes. History has shown that the safest food products do not come from a top-down driven, controlled-market economy where an elitist select few decide what is “best” for all of us. Rather, the safest and healthiest individuals are those who are free to choose for themselves what is best for their health. The National Health Federation does not say that a free-market system is perfect.
No system is perfect. Instead, the goal is to minimize health errors and disease and a free-market system inevitably leads to such minimization. Recent history has shown centralized, planned economies to be among the unhealthiest for their citizens. And the more that free-market economies themselves are seduced into allowing health-care decisions to be made by elitist planners, the more health and health freedom will suffer. Therefore, the National Health Federation supports a decentralized system of health choices; and the most decentralized system is one where each individual consumer is free to choose what to put into his or her own body.
In the case of Codex, the National Health Federation opposes the current Codex member states who wrongly believe that consumer health will be enhanced by: (1) denying that dietary supplements can benefit normal, healthy people; (2) incorrectly defining dietary supplements as only those vitamins and minerals that the body cannot manufacture itself; (3) restricting the upper-limit amounts of vitamins and minerals, particularly by referring to currently-crude and archaic medical beliefs about nutrients; (4) restricting any physiological benefit information for consumers; (5) restricting the lower-limit amounts of vitamins and minerals that may be consumed by individuals; and (6) creating “positive” and “negative” lists of dietary supplements.
The current direction of Codex is off course and is unfortunately driven by a statist and elitist mentality that thinks it knows what is best for consumer health and protection. Unfortunately, such a mindset comes from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s kind of “brave new world” thinking that elevated central planners into a form of “God on Earth.” That kind of out-dated thinking has caused more misery, death and disease than can possibly be imagined. That is why the National Health Federation supports a Codex process that will free up health knowledge and products for the entire World.
A free-market system of choice and knowledge will avoid the errors of central planning that sets standards, however well intentioned, into stone. With the doubling time of knowledge constantly accelerating, mankind cannot afford the “luxury” of getting stuck in health standards established in the 20th Century while new health knowledge and products are discovered almost daily. We also wish that such discoveries continue. The best way to ensure such progress and advancing health is to keep the planners and bureaucrats from strait jacketing dietary supplements with medievalist thinking and restrictions.
In order for us to tap into our deepest states of intuition, intelligence and spiritual enlightenment, it is necessary to unlock and activate our brain’s Pineal Gland. Commonly referred to by ancient cultures and mystics as “the third eye,” our pineal gland sits in the center of our brain between our right and left hemispheres and is responsible for producing neurotransmitters such as serotonin and melatonin.
Yet, the pineal gland wasn’t bestowed the name “third eye” for just any random reason. Rather, when dissected from the brain, it is found that the pineal gland actually contains photoreceptors just like our own two seeing eyes and is activated by light transmitted through our two eyes. This sunlight transmitted through our eyes stimulates the pineal gland’s production of serotonin and further works to strengthen the gland’s ability to break free of specific harmful chemicals that can encrust it. As well, the pineal gland is also stimulated by darkness, in which the gland responds by producing melatonin to help induce us into sleep.
Sun -> Serotonin
Moon -> Melatonin
Decalcify and Detoxify Your Pineal Gland
As a result of our natural biological make up, the pineal gland is not protected by the blood brain barrier and therefore does not have an extra line of defense against harmful toxins that enter the bloodstream. Specific toxins, such as synthetic fluoride and synthetic calcium, are specifically shown to have an affinity for the pineal gland, weakening its abilities to produce our neurotransmitters and receive photons of light from the sun, moon and stars.
However, it is important to distinguish the difference between synthetic fluoride and synthetic calcium versus organic fluoride and organic calcium. If received from plant sources, such as vegetables and other organic foods, calcium and fluoride are healthy essential minerals. Yet, when fluoride and calcium are synthetically manufactured through industrial processing and added to tap water, vitamin supplements, toothpastes, fortified cereals and various other products, these synthetic minerals are shown to have detrimental affects to the pineal gland as well as numerous other organs of the body.
Before beginning to activate one’s pineal gland, it is to necessary to remove the toxic chemicals that prevent it from working, such as synthetic fluoride, synthetic calcium, pharmaceutical medications and other toxins mentioned above. If you are drinking tap water, then look to replace this with purer and safer options, such as natural spring water, well water, reverse osmosis water, or carbon-filtered water. From there, one can work to remove any vitamin supplements, mineral fortified foods and toothpastes containing added fluoride or calcium. Last but not least, one can take five minutes out of their day to install a carbon shower filter which works to remove chlorine, fluoride, used toilet paper particles and other impurities from tap water that can enter our bodies through the skin, pores and lungs when we shower.
How to Activate Your Pineal Gland
After one has begun removing the impurities that prevent the pineal gland from being activated, they can start implementing practices that work to stimulate and grow their pineal gland’s functioning and abilities. A great practice that one can do throughout their life is that of meditating. The act of meditating works to stimulate the chakra system of our brain and body that’s responsible for conducting and generating life-force energy. Meditating specifically guides bioelectric and zero-point energy to the pineal gland allowing for greater states of clarity and intuition to come into our conscious life.
After meditation, a more advanced exercise modality which works to activate the pineal gland as well as all of the body’s chakra points is that of Kundalini Yoga. The Kundalini which rests coiled in the lowest chakra of our spine is a transducer of energy which rises farther up the spine through the practice until finally reaching the pineal gland/third eye chakra. Upon activating the Kundalini and growing its pathway to the pineal gland, one is able to merge the photon celestial energy of the sun and cosmos with that of the physical body which roots to the Earth. Being that the bones of our skeletal system are technically piezoelectric crystals at the core, the Kundalini energy rises and flows through the crystal bones of the spine, activating the 33 vertebrae points one by one until reaching the crown and pineal gland energy points at the top levels of the upper spine.
Nutrition for Your Pineal Gland
In the food category, numerous options are available for accelerating and detoxifying our brain’s pineal gland. As a foundation, one should look to comprise the percentage of foods in their diet to a highest degree of organic plants and animals as possible. Eating organic adds a buffer to protect oneself from pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, GMO’s and other harmful chemical laden substances that can wreak havoc on our mental and physical health.
Foods that specifically support and activate the pineal gland are tumeric (tea and raw), cacao beans, green plants and vegetables, wild harvested spring water, reishi mushroom tea, grass juices, beets, apple cider vinegar and others. Supplements one can use to help detoxify and activate the pineal gland are zeolite tinctures, bentonite clay, organic MSM powder and ormus gold. Begin activating your pineal gland today and tap into levels of your higher self that lay dormant, calling to be awakened.
In today’s society, our grocery stores have become a means for obtaining more than just common food. The grocery store is, in fact, a place of competition: of store against store, brand against brand and, strangely enough, labels against the consumer.
Of all the messages we receive during our time at the grocery store, which are, admittedly, more like bombardments on our neurological processes, there is one message that tends to call to us more insistently than the rest. It’s the message that dictates how and when we consume our food, dispose of our food, and come back to the store to replace our food.
Think about it: the expiration date, sell by date, manufactured on date, etc., can stand as the deciding factor between taking that scoop of mayonnaise and using it on your deli sandwich or throwing the whole container in the trash.
What Your Labels Aren’t Telling You
The truth, however, isn’t exactly in the label. Recent studies from the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, in conjunction with the Natural Resources Defense Council, suggest that the dated imprints on our food labels are one of the leading factors in food waste in America. According to the study, a misinterpretation of the expiration dates on food is causing Americans a loss of both money and provisions – provisions which, if used correctly, could have helped in the fight against hunger.
What this means for you as the consumer is that the date on the package is merely a guideline to be used to help you determine the freshness and longevity of the product. It does not mean that the egg carton that has yesterday’s date on it needs to hit the trashcan instead of being used.
Decoding the Terms
As the dates on your food are not strictly regulated, except in the case of baby formula, many of the terms that companies tend to use can seem to contradict one another or get muddled into a transmogrification of food terminology resembling an alien script that no one can hope to decode.
So, to help you decode, here are a few of the most common terms and what they really mean:
Sell by – If you see “Sell By” on a food carton, recognize that this date is meant more for the store carrying the product than for you as the consumer. The date refers to the last day that the product should be placed upon the shelf as required or requested by the manufacturing company. It doesn’t mean that the product has gone bad or is no longer safe to consume. However, your best bet is to simply reach for the product in the back, as most stores tend to place the newest batches behind the ones with upcoming sell by dates.
Best if used on or before – Dates with this terminology are, in many cases, flexible. All this means is that the quality of freshness in taste and consistency that the manufacturer wants to provide to the consumer is at its peak if used on or before that date. The product is still safe for consuming after the date, but the consumer may notice a slight alteration in the taste of the product. Something akin to an A+ going to an A or A-.
Use by – The “Use By” date is another quality control measurement that is determined by the manufacturer. It is, as you may have guessed, the final date that the company wishes the food to be consumed by to retain their level of desired quality. It, too, has nothing really to do with the safety of consuming the food after that date.
To further help you decipher when and how to safely consume your food, check out this great article from Star Lawrence at WebMD. Lawrence does an excellent job going through expiration date terminology in more detail, as well as explaining food safety tips and how long items generally last once you’ve purchased them.
In short, the dates on your food have very little to do with any sort of federally regulated safety requirements or health care laws, but instead refer to what companies have determined to be the best “shelf life” of their product in terms of consistency in taste and freshness.
By being aware of the varying terminology, American consumers can greatly decrease confusion resulting from expiration dates and can become more efficient in their consumption, thus providing America with lower costs in food waste and production.
Another epidemic is sweeping across the world. According to experts, there are as many as 30 million people suffering from a form of thyroid disorder in the United States alone – and half of them are undiagnosed. That is a staggering 12% of the nation’s total population.
, however, which is documented in the 
When people think of leafy greens, they typically think of the conventional lettuces available in the supermarket. Little do they know how many nutritionally-dense greens they are 
