Rather Be Healthy

USDA caves to food industry pressures, approves three new toxic meat preservatives

After intense lobbying by Kraft Foods Global Inc. and Kemin Food Technologies, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has agreed to reverse existing regulations that prohibit the use of three toxic meat preservatives.

According to Courthouse News Service (CNS), sodium benzoate, sodium propionate, and benzoic acid will now be permissible for use in preserving and treating meat and poultry products, despite having been previously banned. FSIS has long been of the persuasion that major food corporations would attempt to use such additives to “conceal damage or inferiority in meat and poultry,” but the agency’s view has apparently changed.

After Kraft submitted its own company-funded trials claiming that the three preservative chemicals are allegedly safe, and that they supposedly cannot be used to disguise sub par meat and poultry products, the USDA suddenly changed its mind about them. This is all according to its mouthpiece, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which made the announcement recently about the change.

“Kraft submitted data collected from its in-plant trials and from scientific studies that show that these substances do not conceal damage or inferiority, or make products appear better or of greater value than they are under the proposed conditions of use,” says FSIS.

Factory food companies commonly use chemical preservatives, anti-microbials to mask inferior meat
This is a nice story, but according to admissions made by both Kraft and Kemin, use of these additives will indeed be used to disguise inferior meat and poultry products. According to CNS, the two companies admittedly petitioned FSIS to allow use of the chemicals in liquid form to kill pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes, which typically only exist in tainted meat derived from factory farms.

Industrial agriculture is a filthy business, especially when animals are involved. Rather than have access to pasture and the outdoors, cows and chickens from factory farms live most, if not all, of their lives in confinement, where they wallow in their own feces, and sometimes even in the rotting carcasses of other dead animals. As a result, such animals become ill, and their systems infected with harmful pathogens that must be eliminated before human consumption.

The reason companies like Kraft and Kemin exist and thrive is because high-profit factory farms exist and thrive. And the only way these food corporations can “safely” sell their factory-farm food products to the public is to kill it, sanitize it, and smother it in antimicrobial agents like sodium benzoate, sodium propionate and benzoic acid.

So to claim that their goal in seeking approval for the three chemicals is not to conceal second-rate meat products is simply a lie. Low-grade meat products from squalid factory farms have to be disguised, otherwise the public would never purchase them.

Beyond this, the chemical substances in question are not even safe. Sodium propionate has been linked to causing gastrointestinal upset and respiratory problems, while sodium benzoate can cause DNA damage and promote the formation of cancer cells. And benzoic acid, which is often added to processed foods, can promote the development of asthma and hyperactivity, particularly in children.

“The continued ingestion of certain chemicals has been linked to cancer, fatigue, memory-impairment, imbalanced motor-function, diabetes, thyroid problems, confusion and far more,” says Creative Bioscience about food preservatives and additives. “Such food additives can stunt or stall weight loss and even cause more pounds to add on.”

Sources for this article include:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/12/55664.htm

http://creativebioscience.com

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While a case could be made for “clean” vaccines that are manufactured without mercury, aluminum, MSG and formaldehyde, no such clean vaccines are offered to the public. All vaccines offered at pharmacies, health clinics and hospitals contain brain-damaging metals and chemicals by design.

The CDC has openly admitted that vaccines are intentionally formulated with dangerous metals and chemicals. Every scientist knows that mercury is toxic to the neurology of mammals, and they know the same is true for formaldehyde. Yet they all conspire to LIE to the public and claim vaccines have no side effects, knowing full well that vaccines contain metals and chemicals that directly damage the human nervous system.

In this way, all modern-day vaccine pushers are guilty of knowingly poisoning (and sometimes killing) infants, children and senior citizens.

145,000 dead children from vaccines
Over 145,000 children have been murdered by vaccines over the past two decades. Babies that receive the most vaccines are also the most likely to be hospitalized (or die). Furthermore, when pregnant women are injected with flu shots, it results in a 4,250% increase in fetal deaths.

When you encounter a doctor, a nurse or a pharmacist recommending a vaccine and telling you it’s “perfectly safe” with “no side effects,” think to yourself, “That’s a lying child killer!”

And remember, vaccines are pushed in the name of “evidence-based science.” It’s all “scientific,” they say, to inject your child with mercury and watch as they experience convulsions, comas or death. Yet there is actually no science whatsoever to demonstrate that vaccines improve the health outcomes of children. The vaccine pushers are terrified of comparing vaccinated children against non-vaccinated children, because they know the non-vaccinated children are far healthier. So the studies are never done, and the vaccine myths are pushed via propaganda instead of real evidence.

Many parents who are arrested and prosecuted for “shaken baby syndrome” are actually victims of vaccine damaged children. Convulsions and seizures have become so common in the minutes and hours after vaccinations that the medical community had to create a cover story which claims that “convulsions are normal” and nothing to worry about.

This is article #2 in our “murdered by science” special report. Click here to continue with #3.

Learn more:
http://www.vaclib.org/email/seizures.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/033447_Institute_of_Medicine_vaccines.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/028773_vaccines_convulsions.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/029586_Australia_vaccines.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/031469_vaccine_brain_seizures.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/038812_vaccines_childhood_deaths_toxic_che…
http://www.naturalnews.com/038457_vaccine_injuries_infant_deaths_scie…

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Feds raid indoor gardeners, find only tomatoes and squash plants

How insanely out-of-control has the war on drugs become? Apparently now, if all you do is buy equipment to grow plants and vegetables indoors is reason enough to suspect you of conducting illegal drug activity.

Case in point: State police and sheriff’s deputies in Kansas raided the home of Adlynn and Robert Harte, two former CIA employees, in a fruitless search for marijuana as part of a two-state drug sweep in conjunction with Missouri police agencies – all because they had bought supplies to grow vegetables inside their home.

As a result of getting improperly swept up in the operation, the couple has filed suit “to get more information about why sheriff’s deputies searched their home in the upscale Kanas City suburb of Leawood last April 20 as part of Operation Constant Gardener – a sweep conducted by agencies in Kansas and Missouri that netted marijuana plants, processed marijuana, guns, growing paraphernalia and cash from several other locations,” The Associated Press reported.

That date has long been used by marijuana users as a way to celebrate the drug, which remains illegal on the federal level though voters in two states – Colorado and Washington – legalized it for recreational use last November.

‘Public has an interest in knowing’

The Harte’s attorney, Cheryl Pilate, says, however, that she believes her clients’ 1,865-square-foot split level home was targeted because they recently purchased hydroponic gear to grow small numbers of tomatoes and squash in their basement.

“With little or no other evidence of any illegal activity, law enforcement officers make the assumption that shoppers at the store are potential marijuana growers, even though the stores are most commonly frequented by backyard gardeners who grow organically or start seedlings indoors,” says the suit.

The suit was filed under the Kansas Open Records Act, but only after authorities in Johnson County and Leawood denied their initial requests to see records justifying the search of their particular home. Leawood officials went so far as to say they had no such relevant records, but the Hartes’ say that answer isn’t good enough. Per AP:

The Hartes say the public has an interest in knowing whether the sheriff’s department’s participation in the raids was “based on a well-founded belief of marijuana use and cultivation at the targeted addresses, or whether the raids primarily served a publicity purpose.”

Said Adlynn Harte: “If this can happen to us and we are educated and have reasonable resources, how does somebody who maybe hasn’t led a perfect life supposed to be free in this country?”

A great point. Unfortunately, few in power have a good answer to it.

‘It was like Zero Dark Thirty’

In the suit, the couple said their two children, a 7-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, were “shocked and frightened” by assault weapon-armed cops wearing bulletproof vests began pounding on the front door of their home around 7:30 a.m. nearly a year ago.

“It was just like on the cops TV shows,” Robert Harte told AP. “It was like ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ ready to storm the compound.”

The court filing says that, during the drug sweep, the Hartes were told cops had been watching them for months, but that the couple knows “of no basis for conducting such surveillance nor do they believe such surveillance would have produced any facts supporting the issuance of a search warrant.”

The couple said they built the hydroponic garden with their son a few years ago, adding that they chose not to use the powerful light bulbs that marijuana growers typically use, meaning the family’s electricity bills did not change dramatically. Authorities sometimes use changes in a residence’s utility bills as an indicator of illicit activity, AP reported.

When cops searched their home, the Hartes’ had only six plants growing in their basement – three tomato, one melon and two butternut squash plants.

Case could set a precedent on the federal level

In addition to being wrong about the Hartes, the lawsuit says deputies “made rude comments” to them and even went so far as to imply that their son was a dope smoker.

Pilate said the search was ridiculous in the first place because her clients don’t use illegal drugs and because no charges were ever filed:

The lawsuit noted Adlynn Harte, who works for a financial planning firm, and Robert Harte, who cares for the couple’s children, each were required to pass rigorous background checks for their previous jobs working for the CIA in Washington, D.C. Pilate said she couldn’t provide any other details about their CIA employment.

“You can’t go into people’s homes and conduct searches without probable cause,” Pilate said, adding that a successful lawsuit could serve as a basis for a future federal civil rights suit.

Sources:

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com

http://www.naturalnews.com/Marijuana.html

http://www.kctv5.com

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Why Afternoon May Be the Best Time to Exercise Do you often feel sluggish when the clock rolls around to 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon? A psychiatry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles’s Brain Research Institute may have an explanation about why many people hit “the wall” shortly after lunch hour. Circadian rhythms, or circadian cycles, affect nearly every living organism, including plants, bacteria, insects and human beings. Circadian rhythms, largely based on signals of light and darkness, are your body’s internal clock sending signals to all of your cells directing how and when to conduct certain physiological processes. The reason newborns wake up in the middle of the night isn’t because they aren’t yet “trained” to their parent’s schedule — it’s because their internal clocks haven’t yet developed1. Your sleep and wake cycles are governed by this internal clock, which acts like a “choreographer” so that all your body’s systems can work together smoothly. How does it do this? By altering genetic expression, which controls the protein messengers your body sends to your heart, brain, liver and other vital organs. These proteins are vital to internal communication and coordination — and for staying healthy. The featured study, appearing in the December 2012 Journal of Physiology2, found that exercise helps regulate your circadian rhythms, and the effect may be most profound if it’s done in the middle of the day. A Broken Internal Clock Comes with Serious Health Risks If you have trouble sleeping at night or staying awake during the day, your internal clock may be broken. This is a growing problem in today’s world of ever-present electronic devices, globalization, and around-the-clock media. Your circadian rhythms may become confused, for example, by sleeping in a lit room when your body expects darkness, or by working the night shift. Or by jet lag, which is a common temporary disruption. Aging appears to worsen people’s internal clocks, according to Dr. Colwell3: “By middle age, most of us start to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, then we have trouble staying awake the next day.” The problem is, research shows there are potentially serious health consequences of disrupted circadian rhythms, such as increased risk of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, memory loss, headaches, indigestion, mood disorders, learning problems, and even certain types of cancer. Disrupted sleep cycles have the potential to stimulate cancer growth by altering the hormones your brain makes while you sleep, such as melatonin. Melatonin is known to suppress tumor development. For help getting a good night’s sleep, refer to our comprehensive sleep guide. Lack of sleep and altered circadian cycles can exacerbate other serious diseases such as: 1.Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases 2.Multiple sclerosis 3.Gastrointestinal tract disorders 4.Kidney disease 5.Behavioral problems in children Decreased melatonin can even accelerate the aging process of your brain. For more about the importance of melatonin and how to optimize your melatonin production, please watch the following video. Your Circadian Clock Switches Genes On and Off Scientists at the Salk Institute have actually determined the specific genetic switches that synchronize liver activity to your circadian cycle, which sheds some light on how a damaged internal clock predisposes you to health problems. The headquarters for your circadian clock is located in your brain, in a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus4, a tiny area sitting just above your optic nerves. However, there are other clocks in your body, including in your visceral organs, which tell specific genes when to make certain proteins. The switching on and off of genes is regulated by your “epigenome,” a set of molecules that signal to your genes how to direct your body’s physiological processes. According to research scientists Satchidananda Panda of the Salk Institute, your liver’s clock regulates genes that control the timing of your metabolism of fat, glucose and cholesterol. You can’t control what genes you’re born with, but you CAN help control their expression, and exercise is one of the ways you can stack the deck in your favor. Panda explains : “We know that when we eat determines when a particular gene turns on or off; for example, if we eat only at nighttime, a gene that should be turned on during the day will turn on at night. In response to natural cycles, our body has evolved to make glucose at nighttime. But if on top of what you eat, you’re creating excess glucose and that damages organs, which leads to diabetes. It’s like over-charging a car battery. Bad things will happen.” Exercise May Help Fix a Broken Clock Since a broken internal clock can wreak havoc on your health, researchers became interested in how one might repair it. Exercise seemed a viable possibility. They designed a study comparing the circadian rhythm effects of exercising at various times of day, using two groups of mice: one healthy group, and one group with biologically induced circadian disruptions. He found that all of the mice showed positive benefits from exercising, regardless of what time of day they exercised (for mice, exercising meant running on a wheel). But the benefits were much higher for the mice whose internal clocks were impaired in the first place. For those discombobulated mice, after several weeks of running, their internal clocks were much more robust, particularly among the mice that exercised in the afternoon. This finding was a real surprise to researchers who expected to see the highest benefit from morning exercise, which tends to be favored by athletes. Mice exercising in the late evening showed the least benefit, some developing even more circadian disruptions, including poor sleep (which was not a surprise). Exercising in the Morning Versus Afternoon: Good Arguments on Both Sides It is interesting that this study favors afternoon exercise over morning exercise, at least when it comes to circadian rhythms. There is a good deal of evidence to the contrary — that exercising first thing in the morning is preferable in several ways. Many, including me, prefer exercising in the morning for a couple of reasons. First, it gets the task done early in the day, before time pressures invariably tend to interfere with your best intentions. Secondly, there is strong evidence that exercising in a fasting state, which is easiest to do before breakfast, offers the highest metabolic benefits. A 2010 study in the Journal of Physiology5 showed that exercising in a fasting state improved insulin sensitivity, which has great implications for weight loss/fat loss and prevention of type 2 diabetes. The metabolic benefits of exercising are, of course, some of the strongest motivators for getting people to the gym. Could it be that exercise has different types of benefits, depending on the time of day it’s performed? From a circadian point of view, it makes sense to see higher benefits from afternoon exercise. Circadian rhythms control your body temperature, which has an impact on your workout. Your body temperature tends to be a degree or two warmer in the afternoon than in the morning, resulting in better muscle performance and decreased risk of injury. You are also generally more alert in the afternoon. Plus, if you tend to hit that wall around 1:00 or 2:00pm, going to the gym might be a good way to get over it. However, on the other hand, the argument Ori Hofmekler makes strongly favors pre-breakfast workouts. Ori is a fitness expert and author of several books, including The Warrior Diet. He is a huge proponent of the combination of calorie restriction with exercise as the best way to optimize our health. In a nutshell, Ori explains that your body has a preservative mechanism that protects your active muscle from wasting itself. So, if you exercise without fuel in your system (i.e., before breakfast), you’ll tend to break down tissues other than your active muscle, which is what you want. In other words, your body spares the active muscle during exertion. Instead, your body burns up the worn out tissues for fuel. It digests and recycles damaged proteins, tumors, sick cells, etc., into the amino acid building blocks for new and stronger muscle tissue. Not only is the timing of your exercise important, but what you eat after exercise is also important if you want to maximize your benefits. For more about this, please listen to my interview with Ori. Total Video Length: 22:49 Download Interview Transcript The Bottom Line… Listen to Your Body to Decide Even though there are discrepancies in the scientific literature about the best time of day to work out, most experts will agree that the best time for YOU to exercise is when you will do it consistently! One thing is certain: any exercise is better than none, regardless of when you do it. If you enjoy exercising in the morning and have successfully organized your schedule around it, then don’t change it. The most important thing is to choose a time of day you can stick with, so that exercise becomes a habit. I would generally discourage exercising in the evening, IF you have an alternative, especially if you struggle with your sleep. Exercise raises your heart rate and body temperature, which are not conducive to sleeping. The researcher of the featured study, Dr. Colwell, admits it’s too early to conclude that afternoon exercise is more beneficial to circadian rhythms in humans, since his study involved mice. But it’s possible afternoon sessions may produce stronger benefits for your internal clock. It seems to me that, until new research answers the remaining unanswered questions, you can do some experimentation on your own. Perhaps try a month of exercising in the morning, followed by a month of exercising in the afternoon, as your schedule allows. Maybe you can exercise on your lunch hour — you might even convince a couple of friends to join you. Then see how you feel, and let your body be your guide. If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Strength training is an integral part of a well-rounded exercise program, and is recommended for both sexes of all ages, including kids and seniors. In the video above, Skyler Tanner, the youngest Superslow™ certified instructor in history, discusses how to make intense exercise safe, effective and efficient. Unfortunately, many ignore weight training when devising their exercise plan, thinking they don’t want to “bulk up.” But gaining more muscle through resistance exercises has many benefits, from losing excess fat to maintaining healthy bone mass and preventing age-related muscle loss as you age. The intensity of your resistance training can achieve a number of beneficial changes on the molecular, enzymatic, hormonal, and chemical level in your body, which will also help slow down (and many cases stop) many of the diseases caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Therefore it’s also an essential element if you want to prevent common diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, or weakening of your bones (osteoporosis), limited range of motion, aches and pains. Strength Training Beneficially Impacts 10 Biomarkers of Aging As explained by Tanner, above, biomarkers of aging are “the 10 determinants of aging that you are capable of controlling. They are things that tell you how old you would be if you didn’t know how old you were.” This includes the following — all of which strength training has a beneficial impact on: Strength and muscle mass (which results in greater balance, as you get older) Body composition Blood lipids Bone density Cardiorespiratory fitness Blood pressure Blood glucose control Aerobic capacity Gene expression, and telomere length Why Those with Heart Disease Should Not Shun Strength Training According to Tanner, strength training may be of particular benefit for those with heart disease, and here’s why: “Chronic congestive heart failure is the inability of your heart to supply your body with a sufficient amount of blood… [In one study] they put these individuals on a leg press [and] inserted the central catheter to measure exactly what was going on, on a moment-by-moment basis. What they found was that at the highest intensities on a leg press, over 80 percent of their one rep max… the more the vascular system opened up and allowed for blood flow to occur. This in part is because in order for the heart – again, it’s a closed hydraulic system – to pump, it has to be getting blood back. The way this works is that your left ventricle, the largest, pumps [the blood] out. It comes back to the right aorta, which then moves the blood into the right ventricle (which pumps it through your lungs), and then back in the left aorta (which moves in to the left ventricle), back to move out of your body. That’s why the left is larger. It’s got to move the blood the larger distance, rather than just front and back to your body. What happens is with these smooth, controlled contractions of a leg press… the muscle’s actually constricting on the vascular system and shortening the amount of blood that’s moved each repetition. If you think about running, it’s a series of [short] repetitions. More smooth, heavy effort leg press [exercises] is pumping huge amounts of blood back to the heart, so it’s more efficient. If you don’t have to pump very fast, if your rate of [exertion] is smooth and consistent, you don’t have to constantly adjust to these changes in a pressure. That’s why strength training shows a slight increase in arterial stiffening, an increase in vasodilation, and a reduction in blood pressure while working. People with heart failure, you guys, you just need to work out hard leg press, and your heart’s going to be in great shape.” Strength Training for Blood Glucose Control Normalizing your blood glucose is also very important if you want to avoid, are at high risk, or have already been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. By controlling your glucose levels, you can reduce your risk of a cardiovascular disease event by a respectable 42 percent. Strength training can be very beneficial for glucose control. According to Tanner: “Strength training drains glucose like you wouldn’t believe. Two sets of 10… use about five grams of glucose, or to keep it simple, carbohydrate. So, a workout might use 35 to 60 grams of carbohydrates, depending on how long it is, with weights. It’s not nearly as aggressively draining those muscle tissues with a cardiorespiratory-type training. The thing about your muscles is they do not like losing any glycogen at all, so there’s a process called super compensation. When you drain them, they make room for more glycogen to be stored. If you’re constantly somewhat emptying the tank, you always create a headroom to take on any amount of glucose – or not any. There’s a limit. It’s something to the effect of 1,200 grams for 180-pound person. That’s about the maximum amount of intramuscular glycogen only for short periods of time, and only after fully unloaded tissue. We’re talking about endurance athletes big time. [For] your average person, maybe it’s about 500 grams. But if you’re constantly pulling out of this tank and reinvesting, pulling out and reinvesting, your body makes room for more of this. You don’t have to ever have abnormal blood glucose levels, because it always has somewhere to go.” Intense Exercise = A Potent Anti-Aging Strategy While it’s never too late to start exercising, the earlier you begin and the more consistent you are, the greater your long-term rewards. Having an active lifestyle is really an investment in your future well-being. Interestingly, strength training has been found to have a beneficial impact on your gene expression — not only slowing aging but actually returning gene expression to youthful levels in seniors who start using resistance training. According to Tanner: “…they showed that strength training in the elderly reversed oxidative stress and returned gene expression in 179 genes to a youthful level. It moved them back to about 10 years. Let me repeat that. The genes got 10 years younger. That’s impressive.” Biological aging, and eventually death, can be defined as “the changes in structures and functions of humans with the passage of time that does not result from disease or gross accidents.” Tanner believes that under the right conditions, you can live indefinitely, as long as you can prevent or recover from biochemical, cellular and physical accidents. Diet accounts for the majority, about 80 percent, of the health benefits you reap from a healthy lifestyle, but exercise is a crucial component and adjunct to a healthy diet. As Tanner states, exercise, and strength training in particular, from his point of view, is a force multiplier and the great leveraging agent. I couldn’t agree more, although I believe that, overall, high-intensity interval training may give you even greater payoffs than strength training. Ideally, you’ll want to incorporate both. One of the Best Ways to Fight Osteoporosis A recent article in Forbes magazine1 highlighted the benefits of strength training for the aging population, rightfully asserting that it plays a far more important role than aerobic exercise. As Tanner joked, what good is a healthy heart if you don’t have the muscle strength and stability to get out of your chair? According to Forbes: “[T]he average 30-35 year old person will experience roughly a 25 percent decline in his or her muscle strength and tone by the age of 70-75, and up to a 50 percent decline approaching the age of 90. Simply doing aerobic exercise such as walking or light treadmill workouts will not be adequate to preserve muscle tone, bone health, balance and posture. If you are not engaging in strength or resistance training, the chances are high that you will lose strength and become less functional as you age. … Research has clearly shown that strength training can help to reduce the pace of bone loss, while some studies have demonstrated that such training can actually help to build bone… Movements and exercises that place stress on bones help to form additional calcium deposits and stimulate bone forming cells.” Weight-bearing exercise is one of the most effective remedies against osteoporosis. For example, a walking lunge exercise is a great way to build bone density in your hips, even without any additional weights. The last thing you want to consider is to take a drug to improve your bone density, as without question, that is more likely to cause long-term harm than benefit. Weight Training IS Cardiovascular Training… Research over the past several years has really revolutionized the way we look at exercise. Not only have researchers found that traditional aerobic exercise is one of the least effective forms of exercise, it’s also one of the most time consuming, and could even be counterproductive. You’re really getting the least amount of bang for your buck when you spend extended amounts of time running on a treadmill. High intensity interval training on the other hand, has consistently risen to the top as the most effective and efficient form of exercise. While the fitness industry divides exercise into categories such as anaerobic, aerobic and cardiovascular training, fitness experts like Dr. McGuff and Phil Campbell point out that in order to actually access your cardiovascular system, you have to perform mechanical work with your muscle. How you do that is up to you; you can do that on an elliptical machine, on weight training equipment, or using free-weights. So truly, weight training isn’t just strength training, it’s a cardiovascular workout. To better understand this, you need to know that your heart has two different metabolic processes: 1.Aerobic, requires oxygen for fuel, and 2.Anaerobic, does not require any oxygen Traditional strength training and cardio exercises work primarily the aerobic process. High-intensity interval training, such as Peak Fitness, on the other hand, work your aerobic AND your anaerobic processes, which is what you need for optimal cardiovascular benefit. You’re actually getting MORE benefits from high-intensity training than you do from aerobic/cardio, in a fraction of the time — all because you’re utilizing your body as it was designed to be used. You can literally be done in about 20 minutes, compared to spending an hour running on the treadmill. Similarly, you can turn any weight training routine into a high intensity routine by slowing it down. Besides Tanner, Dr. Doug McGuff is another proponent of Super-Slow strength training. You only need about 12 minutes of Super-Slow type strength training once a week to achieve the same growth hormone production as you would from 20 minutes of Peak Fitness sprints. The key to make it work is intensity. The intensity needs to be high enough that you reach muscle fatigue. If you’ve selected the appropriate weight for your strength and fitness level, that would be somewhere in the neighborhood of just seven or eight repetitions. Furthermore, when the intensity is high, you can also decrease the frequency of your exercise. In fact, in order to continue to be productive, the higher your fitness level, the more you can decrease the frequency without losing benefits. This is because, as a weak beginner, you can exercise three times a week and not put much stress on your system. But once your strength and endurance improves, each exercise session is placing an increasingly greater amount of stress on your body (as long as you keep pushing yourself to the max). At that point, you’ll want to reduce the frequency of your sessions to give your body enough time to recover in between. To learn more, please see my previous interview with Dr. McGuff on his Super-Slow weight training recommendations. Keep Yourself in Motion! Optimal health is dependent on an active lifestyle; eating fresh, whole foods, avoiding as many processed foods as possible, exercising regularly, and addressing the stress in your life. Ignoring any of these basic tenets of health will eventually lead to a decline in health and any number of diseases. Ideally, you’ll want to include a variety of exercises for a well-rounded fitness regimen. Strength training is an important component as it’s the number one way for you to remain strong, young, and independent well into old age, and what good is living long if you’re too decrepit to enjoy it? If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis is one of the most unnecessary surgeries performed today, as it works no better than a placebo surgery. Proof of this is a double blind placebo controlled multi-center (including Harvard’s Mass General hospital) study published in one of the most well-respected medical journals on the planet, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)1 over 10 years ago. Despite this monumental finding, some 510,000 people in the United States undergo arthroscopic knee surgery every year.2 And at a price of anywhere from $4,500 to $7,000 per procedure, that adds up to billions of dollars every year spent on this surgery. Osteoarthritis of the knee is one of the primary reasons patients receive arthroscopic surgery. This is a degenerative joint disease in which the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones in your joint deteriorates, causing bone to rub against bone. Arthroscopic knee surgery is also commonly performed to repair a torn meniscus, the crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that acts like a cushion in your knee. Many might think that this problem, surely, would warrant surgery. But recent research3 shows that physical therapy can be just as good as surgery for a torn meniscus, adding support to the idea that when it comes to knee pain, whether caused by osteoarthritis or torn cartilage, surgery is one of the least effective treatments available… Physical Therapy as Good as Surgery for Torn Cartilage and Arthritis The featured study, also published in NEJM,4 claims to be one of the most rigorous studies yet comparing treatments for knee pain caused by either torn meniscus or arthritis. According to the Washington Post:5 “Researchers at seven major universities and orthopedic surgery centers around the U.S. assigned 351 people with arthritis and meniscus tears to get either surgery or physical therapy. The therapy was nine sessions on average plus exercises to do at home, which experts say is key to success. After six months, both groups had similar rates of functional improvement. Pain scores also were similar. Thirty percent of patients assigned to physical therapy wound up having surgery before the six months was up, often because they felt therapy wasn’t helping them. Yet they ended up the same as those who got surgery right away, as well as the rest of the physical therapy group who stuck with it and avoided having an operation.” Another study6 published in 2007 also found that exercise was just as effective as surgery for people with a chronic pain in the front part of their knee, known as chronic patellofemoral syndrome (PFPS), which is also frequently treated with arthroscopic surgery. The study compared arthroscopy with exercise in 56 patients with PFPS. One group of participants was treated with knee arthroscopy and an eight-week home exercise program, while a second group received only the exercise program. At the end of nine months, patients in both groups experienced similar reductions in pain and improvements in knee mobility. A follow-up conducted two years later still found no differences in outcomes between the two groups. In an editorial about the featured study,7 Australian preventive medicine expert Rachelle Buchbinder of Monash University in Melbourne urges the medical community to change its practice and use physical therapy as the first line of treatment, reserving surgery for the minority who do not experience improvement from the therapy. “Currently, millions of people are being exposed to potential risks associated with a treatment that may or may not offer specific benefit, and the costs are substantial,” she writes. “These results should change practice. They should also lead to reflection on the need for levels of high-quality evidence of the efficacy and safety of surgical procedures similar to those currently expected for nonoperative therapy.” Placebo Surgery Works as Well for Osteoarthritis as Arthroscopic Surgery Buchbinder points out the importance of sham surgery to determine the true value of operative treatments. Unfortunately, many surgeons are reluctant to take on such research. Many doctors consider them unethical because patients could undergo risks with no benefits. But it has been done. The study I mentioned at the start of the article that was published in 2002,8 evaluated arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis. A total of 180 participants were randomly assigned to either have the real operation or sham placebo surgery in which surgeons simply made cuts in their knees. Those in the placebo group received a drug that put them to sleep. Unlike those getting the real operation, they did not have general anesthesia to avoid unwarranted health risks and complications. In the end, the real surgery turned out to be no better at all, compared to the sham procedure. According to the authors: “At no point did either of the intervention groups report less pain or better function than the placebo group. For example, mean scores on the Knee-Specific Pain Scale were similar in the placebo, lavage, and débridement groups… at one year [and] at two years… Furthermore, the 95 percent confidence intervals for the differences between the placebo group and the intervention groups exclude any clinically meaningful difference. In this controlled trial involving patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, the outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic débridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure.” Outcomes in Tennis Elbow Significantly Improved by Novel Therapy People suffering from chronic tennis elbow may also want to consider the alternatives to arthroscopic surgery. According to the largest multi-center study to date on the use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment for lateral epicondylar tendinopathy (“tennis elbow”), 84 percent of patients reported significantly less pain and elbow tenderness at six months following the treatment, compared to those who received a placebo. What is PRP? Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is a component of whole blood that contains a number of growth factors that takes advantage of your body’s natural healing process. A small amount of your own blood is drawn, and using a centrifuge machine, the blood is spun to separate and concentrate the specific platelets and growth factors sought. The PRP is then injected into the site of injury to help jumpstart the natural healing process. The treatment has garnered some attention for its potential in treating problems such as: Osteoarthritis of the knee Shoulder injuries Hip, spine and neck injuries Rotator cuff tears Chronic plantar fasciitis Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries Ankle sprains Tendonitis Ligament sprains The research was presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). According to Medical News Today:9 “In this study, 230 patients suffering from chronic tennis elbow who had failed traditional therapies were treated at 12 U.S. medical centers. Patients were randomized and received either an injection of PRP made from their own concentrated blood platelets, or a placebo, administered with an analgesic at the site of pain. At 12 weeks, 55.1 percent of PRP patients reported improved pain scores compared to 47.4 percent in the control group, and 37.4 percent reported less elbow tenderness versus 48.4 percent in the control group. At 24 weeks, 71.5 percent of the PRP patients had improved pain scores compared to 56.1 percent in the control group, and 29 percent reported less elbow tenderness compared to 54 percent in the control group. At six months, 83.9 percent of the PRP-treated group reported significantly less pain and elbow tenderness, compared to 65.9 percent of the active control group.” If You Have Joint Pain, Exercise is an Important Must The notion that exercise is detrimental to your joints is a misconception, as there is no evidence to support this belief. Instead, the evidence points to exercise having a positive impact on your joint tissues — if you exercise sufficiently to lose weight, or maintain an ideal weight, you can in fact reduce your risk of developing joint pain due to osteoarthritis rather than increase your risk. Exercise can also improve your bone density and joint function, which can help prevent and alleviate osteoarthritis (a major cause of joint pain) as you age. For example, previous research10 has shown that people with rheumatoid arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness and deformities, who did weight training for 24 weeks improved their function by up to 30 percent and their strength by 120 percent. Unfortunately, many with joint pain are missing out on these potential benefits. Research11 published in 2011 found that over 40 percent of men and 56 percent of women with knee osteoarthritis were inactive, which means they did not engage in even one 10-minute period of moderate-to-vigorous activity all week… Exercise, along with a healthy diet, can help you to jumpstart weight loss if you’re overweight, and this can lead to tremendous improvements in your joint pain. According to a 2012 article by Harvard Health Publications:12 “Each pound you lose reduces knee pressure in every step you take. One study13 found that the risk of developing osteoarthritis dropped 50 percent with each 11-pound weight loss among younger obese women. If older men lost enough weight to shift from an obese classification to just overweight — that is, from a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher down to one that fell between 25 and 29.9 — the researchers estimated knee osteoarthritis would decrease by a fifth. For older women, that shift would cut knee osteoarthritis by a third.” Special Considerations for Exercising With Joint Pain There are some factors to consider, particularly if your pain worsens with movement, as you do not want to strain a significantly unstable joint. Pain during movement is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of osteoarthritis, and typically this is the result of your bones starting to come into contact with each other as cartilage and synovial fluid is reduced. If you find that you’re in pain for longer than one hour after your exercise session, you should slow down or choose another form of exercise. Assistive devices are also helpful to decrease the pressure on affected joints during your workout. You may also want to work with a physical therapist or qualified personal trainer who can develop a safe range of activities for you. Your program should include a range of activities, just as I recommend for any exerciser. Weight training, high-intensity cardio, stretching and core work can all be integrated into your routine. My most highly recommended form of exercise is Peak Fitness, and this program can be used by virtually everyone. However, if you’ve already developed osteoarthritis in your knee, you’ll want to incorporate exercises that strengthen the quadriceps muscle at the front of your thigh. And, rather than running or other high-impact exercise, you may be better off with non-weight-bearing exercises like swimming and bicycling. Natural Tips for Pain Relief and Cartilage Loss Cartilage loss in your knees, one of the hallmarks of osteoarthritis, is associated with low levels of vitamin D. So if you’re struggling with joint pain due to osteoarthritis, get your vitamin D levels tested, then optimize them using appropriate sun exposure or a safe tanning bed. If neither of these options are available, supplementation with oral vitamin D3 along with vitamin K2 can be considered. Sun exposure is your best option though, because when your skin produces two types of sulfur in response to sun exposure: cholesterol sulfate, and vitamin D3 sulfate. Sulfur plays a vital role in the structure and biological activity of both proteins and enzymes. If you don’t have sufficient amounts of sulfur in your body, this deficiency can cascade into a number of health problems, including impacting your joints and connective tissues. In addition to making sure you’re getting high amounts of sulfur-rich foods in your diet, such as organic and/or grass-fed/pastured beef and poultry, Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a senior scientist at MIT, recommends soaking your body in magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) baths to compensate and counteract sulfur deficiency. She uses about 1/4 cup in a tub of water, twice a week. It’s particularly useful if you have joint problems or arthritis. Methylsulfonylmethane, commonly known by its acronym, MSM, is another alternative that may be helpful. MSM is an organic form of sulfur and a potent antioxidant, naturally found in many plants, and is available in supplement form. As for glucosamine and chondroitin, two animal products marketed as food supplements for the relief of joint pain, the results from studies evaluating these supplements have been mixed, and many do not appear to be getting any significant relief from either of them. Pain Relieving Supplements For joint pain, I recommend avoiding anti-inflammatory drugs like non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) and analgesics, like Tylenol, which are often recommended to osteoarthritis patients. Chronic use of these types of medications is associated with significant side effects such as kidney and/or liver damage. Safer, and very effective, options to help relieve joint pain include: •Astaxanthin: An anti-inflammatory antioxidant that affects a wide range of inflammation mediators, but in a gentler, less concentrated manner and without the negative side effects associated with steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. And it works for a high percentage of people. In one study, more than 80 percent of arthritis sufferers improved with astaxanthin. •Eggshell membrane: The eggshell membrane is the unique protective barrier between the egg white and the mineralized eggshell. The membrane contains elastin, a protein that supports cartilage health, and collagen, a fibrous protein that supports cartilage and connective tissue strength and elasticity. It also contains transforming growth factor-b, a protein that supports tissue rejuvenation, along with other amino acids and structural components that support the stability and flexibility of your joints by providing them with the building blocks needed to build cartilage. •Hyaluronic acid (HA): Hyaluronic acid is a key component of your cartilage, responsible for moving nutrients into your cells and moving waste out. One of its most important biological functions is the retention of water… second only to providing nutrients and removing waste from cells that lack a direct blood supply, such as cartilage cells. Unfortunately, the process of normal aging reduces the amount of HA synthesized by your body. Oral hyaluronic acid supplementation may effectively help most people cushion their joints after just 2 to 4 months. •Boswellia: Also known as boswellin or “Indian frankincense,” this Indian herb is one treatment I’ve found to be particularly useful against arthritic inflammation and associated pain. With sustained use, boswellia may help maintain steady blood flow to your joints, supporting your joint tissues’ ability to boost flexibility and strength. •Turmeric / curcumin: A study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that taking turmeric extracts each day for six weeks was just as effective as ibuprofen for relieving knee osteoarthritis pain. This is most likely related to the anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin — the pigment that gives the turmeric spice its yellow-orange color. •Animal-based omega-3 fats: These are excellent for arthritis because omega-3s are well known to help reduce inflammation. Look for a high-quality, animal-based source such as krill oil. Make Surgery Your Last Option Rather than Your First… The steps outlined above should help to significantly slow down any further deterioration or loss of motion in your joints, and provide you with drug-free pain relief. And remember, whether you have osteoarthritis in your knees or a torn meniscus, arthroscopic knee surgery has been shown to be no better than placebo surgery, and physical therapy and exercise has repeatedly been shown to be just as effective as surgery, and perhaps even more so in some cases. So please, carefully weigh your options; the risks and the benefits. As reported in the featured article,14 NOT resorting to the “fix” promised by surgery may actually be the magic you’re looking for: “Surgery costs about $5,000, compared with $1,000 to $2,000 for a typical course of physical therapy… Robert Dvorkin had both treatments for injuries on each knee several years apart. Dvorkin, 56, director of operations at the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, had surgery followed by physical therapy for a tear in his right knee and said it was months before he felt no pain. Then several years ago he hurt his left knee while exercising. ‘I had been doing some stretching and doing some push-ups and I just felt it go ‘pop.’’ he recalls. ‘I was limping, it was extremely painful.’ An imaging test showed a less severe tear and a different surgeon recommended physical therapy. Dvorkin said it worked like a charm — he avoided surgery and recovered faster than from his first injury. The treatment involved two to three hour-long sessions a week, including strengthening exercises, balancing and massage. He said the sessions weren’t that painful and his knee felt better after each one. ‘Within a month I was healed,’ Dvorkin said. ‘I was completely back to normal.’” If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

All those who promote the addition of fluoride into municipal water supplies are conscious liars. They know that the so-called “flouride” pumped into the water is actually a deadly chemical used as an insecticide, often imported from China. It’s called hydrofluosilicic acid, and it’s not “naturally-occurring fluoride” as they claim. They are fully aware of this, but they choose to lie and deceive the public by stating they are only “rebalancing” the water with a natural element. In truth, the chemical fluoride used in water fluoridation is also derived from phosphate mining operations as well as nuclear fuels processing. Doctors and dentists who promote fluoride actually hope to see people harmed by it because it means more business for them. A fluoride-damaged dental patient can produce thousands of dollars in revenue for a dentist, and a fluoride-damaged hospital patient can generate millions of dollars in medical procedures. Chinese exporters of fluoride chemicals describe fluoride as follows: It is used in the manufacture of effervescing steel, and the smelting and refining of light metals. It is also used in fluorination of drinking water, as a wood preservative, an adhesive preservative. An insecticide, a protective coating for metals, a pickle for steels and other metals, a flux for soldering and welding, as well as a flux and pacifier for ceramic, glass and porcelain enamel. (SOURCE) Here are two images take from the website of Chinese fluoride exporters. Notice all the industrial uses for this insecticidal chemical? Fluoride pushers know they are pushing poison I have met lots of doctors and dentists who advocate water fluoridation. Every one of them is fully aware that it isn’t “natural” fluoride being pumped into the water. They know it’s a harmful chemical, but they push it anyway. That makes them all “science” criminals who are knowingly harming people. Just like GMOs and vaccines, water fluoridation poisoning is all conducted in the name of “evidence-based science.” But all the evidence actually shows hydrofluosilicic acid (flouride) is a deadly poison. This is article #3 in our “murdered by science” special report. Click here to continue with #4. Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/037024_sodium_fluoride_insecticide_proof.h… http://www.naturalnews.com/038217_fluoride_tap_water_side_effects.htm… http://www.naturalnews.com/037138_food_crops_irrigation_fluoride.html http://www.naturalnews.com/037267_fluoride_selenium_protection.html If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Is “Whole Wheat” Damaging Your Body? Can eating too much wheat be a factor in causing visceral abdominal fat, acne, joint problems and arthritis, IBS and acid reflux, cravings, addictive behaviors, increased overall calorie consumption, diabetes, heart disease, accelerated aging, and autoimmune diseases? Let’s have a look… by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist Author of the best-sellers: The Truth About Six Pack Abs & The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging One thing you may know about me is that I believe in continuing to educate myself on nutrition and fitness, and passing that information onto you, my reader. I feel that regardless of how much we’ve already studied over the years, there’s always new things you can learn that can help improve your health for a higher quality of life. That’s why I try to always read at least 2 new books every month on nutrition, to keep learning new things all the time. Despite how much we already know, there’s always new things to learn. I’ve found this to be especially true of a new book I’m reading right now called Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis… there are lots of gems inside this book that I will be sharing with you over the next couple weeks. There’s a lot to discuss about this topic, so I wanted to start with just a few of the most important points in the book… This is a topic that you should pay close attention to, as wheat is one of the biggest sources of calories in the average person’s diet (along with corn and soy, which are equally bad). The average American eats a whopping 133 pounds of wheat per year, which includes babies in that average, meaning that the average adult eats well over 150 lbs of wheat per year. Most people eat wheat at every meal…bagels, muffins, or cereal at breakfast… a sandwich at lunch… crackers, pretzels, and other wheat-based snacks all day long… bread on the side at dinner… and maybe even some cake or brownies for dessert. Yes, a day in the life of the average consumer makes most of us look like “wheat-a-holics”. First, as you know, I’ve talked a lot in past newsletters about why I believe that grains in general, and also wheat in particular, should not be a large part of your diet as government guidelines recommend. We’ve talked about the negatives of anti-nutrients — compounds in many grains that prevent some nutrients/minerals from being absorbed in your body, leading to possible deficiencies in some nutrients if you eat grains at most meals. We’ve also talked about the possible negative effects of gluten on not just celiacs, but a large % of the population that can experience chronic gut inflammation from too much gluten, too often. And we’ve also talked about the negative aspects of many grains on your blood sugar cycle, the caloric density of grains, and the weight control challenges that grain-based foods can give you if you’re not a super-active athlete. From all of my research, I see grains on a scale like this: * oatmeal and rice — Not the most ideal food, but not so terrible (only if you’re VERY active) * wheat and corn — Not much healthy about these at all (regardless of your activity level) …with many other grains somewhere in the middle. It’s all about the different anti-nutrients that each contains, the gluten factor, and whether they are genetically modified. As a generalization, there are many more negative health aspects to wheat and corn than there are in rice and oats. We’ll discuss all of this in more detail in future newsletters. But let’s start today and focus on wheat… Why in the world does Dr. William Davis conclude in his book that “whole wheat” is terrible for your health? Well, let’s start with a few of the topics Dr. Davis talks about in his book, Wheat Belly: 1. The wheat we eat today is very different biochemically than the wheat even just 50 years ago First and foremost, Dr. Davis goes through the history of wheat in the human diet, which goes back to only about 10,000 years ago. He talks about how the type of wheat that was eaten 1000’s of years ago is biochemically not the same wheat we are eating today. And in fact, even the wheat our grandparents ate just 50 years ago is a far cry biochemically from the wheat that is used today. This is because wheat has been hybridized heavily over the years to increase crop yield and to increase certain baking characteristics or taste. Dr. Davis states: “Small changes in wheat protein structure can spell the difference between a devastating immune response to wheat protein versus no immune response at all.” The take-home message… today’s wheat is quite different than even just 50 years ago, as today’s wheat has different levels of anti-nutrients and gluten with overall biochemical differences. Essentially, big agra has hybridized wheat heavily over the last 5 decades to improve things such as crop yield and baking characteristics, but never once thought about the impacts on human health of changing the biochemical structure of wheat. Although the biochemical differences may seem small, it can have a major impact on how the human digestive system processes the food. Dr. Davis points this out with this passage… “Wheat gluten proteins, in particular, undergo considerable structural change with hybridization. In one hybridization experiment, 14 new gluten proteins were identified in the offspring that were not present in either parent wheat plant.” This means that modern wheat contains new “foreign” gluten proteins that the human digestive system has not adapted to properly digesting. Because of all of this, Celiac disease, an autoimmune disease with complete gluten intolerance, has increased fourfold in the last 50 years. Dr Davis also believes that gluten sensitivity has increased in similar levels in the last 50 years. The message is that even if you haven’t been diagnosed with Celiac or Gluten Sensitivity, it doesn’t mean that constant daily gluten intake isn’t causing chronic gut inflammation and some sort of possible long term digestive system damage, along with other possible autoimmune diseases. And remember that chronic gut inflammation can also possibly lead to cancer later in life. 2. Wheat has addictive properties similar to opiate drugs Dr Davis makes a very convincing argument that wheat is addictive. Wheat contains compounds termed “exorphins” that have an effect in your brain similar to opiate drugs. This explains why people have such a hard time giving up their beloved breads, cereals, pasta, and muffins because these foods are mildly addictive. I know personally from past experience that if I have have a pasta dinner, I’ll go back for seconds and thirds as I just can’t seem to stop eating the stuff. And then hours after dinner, I’ll get cravings for more carb-based foods or sweets. But if I pass on the pasta and just have meat, veggies, and salad, I find myself totally satisfied after dinner with no cravings later at night. 3. Wheat makes you consume more calories Possibly due to the additive nature of wheat products, and the subsequent cravings for more carb based foods, Dr Davis cites studies in his book showing that wheat eaters eat more calories overall than people on a gluten-free diet. One study he cited showed 14% higher caloric intake in wheat eaters than those on a gluten-free food plan. Dr Davis also notes: “It might be due to the lack of exorphins, reduction of the insulin-glucose cycle that triggers hunger, or some other factor, but elimination of wheat reduces daily calorie intake by 350 to 400 calories — with no further restrictions on calories, fats, carbohydrates, or portion sizes. No smaller plates, prolonged chewing, or frequent small meals. Just banishing wheat from your table.” The message… it’s a LOT easier to control your total calorie intake by avoiding wheat based foods like cereals, breads, muffins, and pasta (with the exception of 1 cheat day per week if you can’t fathom giving up wheat altogether). 4. Wheat raises your blood sugar even more than table sugar The type of complex carbohydrate that comprises wheat is called amylopectin A, which is a type of carb that is unique in that it is digested so fast that it highly affects blood sugar more than most other carb sources. Dr Davis cites studies in his book that prove that wheat bread can raise blood sugar HIGHER than table sugar, due to it’s amylopectin A content. Dr. Davis even states: “Aside from some extra fiber, eating two slices of whole wheat bread is really little different, and often worse, than drinking a can of sugar-sweetened soda or eating a sugary candy bar.” Dr. Davis discusses the fact that the amylopectin A which is uniquely found in wheat and not other sources of carbs raises blood sugar to a much higher degree than most other carbohydrates sources, regardless of whether they are simple or “complex” carbs. He continues, “In fact, the degree of processing, from a blood sugar standpoint, makes little difference: Wheat is wheat, with various forms of processing or lack of processing, simple or complex, high fiber or low fiber, all generating similarly high blood sugars.” 5. Excessive wheat consumption leads to visceral fat in the abdomen If you don’t know the difference, you can read my article here about the difference between visceral fat and subcutaneous fat. There are many causes of visceral fat in the abdomen and Dr Davis isn’t trying to fully lay the blame on wheat, but he makes a case that shows that wheat is a heavy contributor to visceral fat. Through a combination of wheat’s trigger on the blood sugar and insulin process in your body, the ability of wheat to automatically increase calorie consumption, as well as the digestive system inflammation characteristics of some of wheat’s contituents, including gluten, this all leads to a greater chance of developing visceral fat in your abdomen. And as you know from my article above, visceral fat is particularly dangerous as once it accumulates in your gut and around your organs, it continuously releases inflammatory molecules into your system. We’ve talked before about how high fructose corn syrup and other junk foods can increase visceral fat, but Dr. Davis makes a strong case for how wheat can also contribute to visceral fat accumulation. The message… Eliminate the wheat (aside from one cheat day per week if you absolutely must), and you’ll lose the belly much faster. 6. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Acid Reflux may be linked to wheat consumption Dr. Davis makes a good argument in his book showing links between gluten consumption and IBS and acid reflux. He states, “Eliminate wheat, acid reflux improves, symptoms of IBS improve. Unfortunately, this effect has not been quantified, though investigators have speculated on how large a role gluten plays in non-celiac sufferers of IBS and acid reflux.” Dr. Davis also states that hundreds of his own patients have seen complete or partial relief from IBS and acid reflux with gluten removal from their diet. If you have IBS or acid reflux, you should at least consider removing wheat from your diet for 2-3 weeks and see if the symptoms go away. It certainly can’t hurt anything to eliminate wheat for a couple weeks (after all, there’s nothing “essential” about eating wheat), and if anything, you’ll lose some body fat as well in the process. You can also watch this video showing natural cures for acid reflux. 7. Wheat consumption leads to accelerated aging Eating too many wheat products such as bread, bagels, muffins, cereal, crackers, etc increases compounds in your body called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). I talked in a previous article here about how sugar can make you age faster and how to prevent this. But it’s not just sugar and corn syrup that cause this problem… as we’ve already mentioned in this article, the main starch in wheat products is a very unique and fast digesting starch called Amylopectin A, which raises blood sugar even more significantly than table sugar. Due to the significant blood sugar effect of wheat products (yes, even “whole wheat”), this means it increases those nasty AGEs in your body which contribute to premature aging and wrinkles. If you’re concerned about aging and want to stay looking youthful, make sure to read this article: >> 5 tricks for looking 10 years YOUNGER 8. Too much wheat in the diet can cause ACNE problems According to Dr. Davis, pimples (aka, acne) affects up to 95% of 16-18 year olds in western cultures, and even affects 50% of adults over age 25 with intermittent bouts. But Dr. Davis provides evidence that acne is NOT caused by genetics, but rather almost entirely by diet. He discusses how cultures that rely on a basic hunter-gatherer diet, or some other form of diet that does not include wheat or sugar, have been curiously acne free (until western diet influences came in of course). Dr. Davis talks about how acne is nearly universal in young Americans, but does not occur at all in other cultures. He states, “Some cultures display no acne whatsoever. Cultures as wide ranging as the Kitavan Islanders of Papua New Guinea, the Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay, natives of the Purus Valley in Brazil, African Bantus and Zulus, Japan’s Okinawans, and Canadian Inuit are curiously spared the nuisance and embarrassment of acne.” Dr. Davis then cites research that shows that once Western influence introduced wheat, sugar, and other processed foods into the diets of the Okinawans, the Inuits, and the Zulus, acne soon followed. 9. Wheat consumption contributes to heart disease risk Another interesting chapter in the book Wheat Belly is where Dr. Davis makes a strong case that frequent wheat consumption increases your heart disease risk. As you may have heard before, the LDL particles in your blood stream can be characterized as large puffy LDL types (which do not contribute to heart disease) or small dense LDL particles (which do contribute to plaque buildup and heart disease). Dr. Davis states, “Foods that increase blood glucose the most therefore translate into both greater quantities of small LDL and increased glycation of small LDL. So heart disease and stroke are not just about high cholesterol. They are caused by oxidation, glycation, inflammation, small LDL particles … yes, the processes triggered by carbohydrates, especially those made of wheat.” Make sure to read my article on this exact topic here: How bread and cereal can CAUSE heart disease 10. Eating wheat adds a large acid burden that your body must deal with Your body is hard wired to keep a very precise pH level in your body of approximately 7.4. What foods you consume either contribute acidifying compounds or alkaline compounds. A natural hunter-gatherer diet is well balanced with the acid compounds of meats being easily counteracted by alkaline producing fruits, nuts, and veggies. But when you add the acid burden of grains to the equation, the acid-alkaline balance shifts towards acid. The more acidifying compounds that you eat or drink (soda, grains, sugar are examples), the more your body needs to pull calcium compounds out of your bone to regulate pH in your body. This can cause weak bones and osteoporosis as you age. According to Dr. Davis, grains such as wheat account for 38% of the average American’s acid load. Dr Davis states, “Around 10,000 years ago, the formerly alkaline human diet pH balance shifted to the acid side with the introduction of grains, especially the most dominant of grains, wheat. The modern human diet of plentiful “healthy whole grains” but lacking in vegetables and fruit is highly acid-charged, inducing a condition called acidosis. Over years, acidosis takes it’s toll on your bones.” Dr. Davis also cites a University of Toronto study that showed increased gluten intake increased urinary calcium loss by 63%, along with increased markers for bone weakening. So even if you’re not Celiac or gluten sensitive officially, this is yet another reason to consider reducing or eliminating gluten and wheat from your diet. 11. A link between wheat consumption and joint degeneration, including arthritis Dr. Davis also includes a chapter about how eating too much wheat over the years is linked to joint problems and pain, including arthritis. Dr. Davis states: “The more wheat products you consume, the higher and more frequently blood glucose increases, the more glycation occurs. Glycation represents an irreversible modification of proteins in the bloodstream and in body tissues, including joints such as the knees, hips, and hands. The cartilage in joints is uniquely susceptible to glycation, since cartilage cells are extremely long-lived and are incapable of reproducing.” Dr. Davis continues… “The damage of glycation is cumulative, making cartilage brittle and unyielding, eventually crumbling. Joint inflammation, pain, and destruction results, the hallmarks of arthritis.” The message… if you want healthy joints for life (I know I still want to be enjoying skiing and mountain biking, two of my favorite things in life, for decades to come) then Dr. Davis makes a strong case that eliminating or greatly reducing wheat in your diet can be an important step to help protect your joints as you get older. And if you already have arthritis, it’s a worthy test to eliminate wheat from your diet for a full 3-4 weeks and see if you notice some relief. After all, what could it hurt… if anything, a side effect of eliminating wheat is that you’ll drop some body fat. Summary and Choices — Do we eliminate or reduce wheat in our diets? As you can see in the 11 major points we’ve discussed above, there are a lot of negative consequences to your health of eating too much wheat. And I’d be hard pressed to find any benefits whatsoever of eating wheat. Fiber content may be the only possible benefit of wheat, however you can easily get more than enough fiber in your daily diet from fruits, nuts, and veggies instead, without the harmful health effects of wheat. So you have a choice at this point… if you’re the type of person who will do anything to improve your health and have a better body, both in looks and internal health, eliminating wheat is your best bet. But if you’re like most people, the thought of never eating wheat cereals, breads, muffins, pasta, and crackers is just too hard to bear. If you’re this type of person, you can still reap the benefits of greatly reducing wheat in your diet, but minimize your consumption to one weekly cheat day. It helps to only have this cheat day which might include your favorite wheat products at restaurants, so you keep all wheat foods out of your house and not be tempted by them during the week. Remember that one very pleasant side effect of eliminating wheat at least 6 days a week is that most people reduce their body fat significantly after making this choice and sticking to it. And as we’ve talked about in this article, reducing or eliminating wheat can also prevent acne, reduce heart disease risk, slow down the aging process, reduce symptoms of IBS or acid reflux, help stabilize your blood sugar (assuming you’re not still eating loads of sugar and wheat-free junk food), reduce diabetes risk, reduce visceral fat in your abdomen, and more! Considering the possible benefits to our appearance and health, I’ll choose to continue to reduce wheat in my diet! For me, I’ve chosen to not completely eliminate wheat, but rather to never have it in my house, and only indulge in wheat products on once-weekly cheat days or while on vacation. Do you want a healthier and better looking body? The choice is yours! Although we still need to consider major health killers such as sugar, HFCS, processed soy foods, processed corn foods, trans fats, and other junk foods, the case has been made that wheat is one of the biggest culprits in our health problems If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

The TRUTH about Gluten by Kelsey Kale – Natural Food Chef & Nutritionist One of the most common objections I get from people when I mention about the benefits of going gluten-free or grain-free is, “Well, yeah, I would cut it out – but I don’t have a problem with gluten.” While this may be true for a small percentage of the population, more studies are showing that even those of us who think we “don’t have a problem with gluten,” are actually experiencing life-depleting side effects from eating it – but we just don’t know it. It’s not that these symptoms are hidden necessarily (though sometimes patients with celiac disease have no visible symptoms right after they eat gluten) – more often we blame our symptoms on something else, and we forget to consider gluten as the source of the problem. The Secret Ways Gluten Is Hurting You Consider these facts: >> Responses to the ingestion of wheat can be divided into three types… Let’s start with some basics. There’s a difference between being “allergic” to gluten, having celiac disease, and just being gluten sensitive. Allergic responses like skin rashes and breathing problems appear to be related to a variety of wheat proteins. Studies done with purified wheat proteins that tracked specific autoimmune antibodies in patients’ blood showed that 60% had antibody responses to α-gliadins and β-gliadins, 55% to γ-gliadins, 48% to ω-gliadins. On the other hand, certain wheat reactions, like WDEIA or “Wheat Dependent Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis” (a tongue twister, I know!) are syndromes that are known to be caused by a specific type of grain protein, ω5-gliadins. It’s important to note that those with gluten sensitivity don’t experience their reaction in the same way that those with celiac disease do (though it may feel like it) – gluten sensitivity is not the same autoimmune response as celiac. People with gluten sensitivity have more of a reaction such as “set up a barrier to fight this one time irritant”, while those with celiac disease start building an internal army and develop specific antibodies to gluten so they’re constantly prepared. >> Celiac Disease is 4 times more common today than it was 50 years ago. Doctors and scientists are seeing that the popularity of gluten free diets isn’t just a fad – the actual number of people with a real autoimmune response to gluten is going up. An autoimmune response is more serious than an intolerance because this response causes your body to begin to attack its own cells. An intolerance or sensitivity to gluten is less severe and is more like your reaction to a cold or parasite, which attacks the “invader” but not your body. This increase in celiac disease is likely due to a combination of the constant experimenting and hybridization of the wheat plant in an attempt to increase growth rate and the amount of grain each plant grows. There’s also the fact that wheat and flour based products now make up a large majority of the average person’s diet (even in countries like China where rice was a staple, wheat-based products are beginning to take over and instances of gluten-related illness are beginning to rise). Also, because there are no testing measures in place to determine if these newly developed “franken-grains” are safe for human consumption (or if the newly created plants present any side effects when eaten by humans), we’re being served something called “wheat” that’s actually a far cry from the original plant that our grandparents knew and loved. >> As many as 29% of us may have a gluten allergy or intolerance and do not know about it. In a study published in 2007, researchers took gut biopsies from celiac patients as well as patients with no gluten-related symptoms. Five out of six of the patients “without symptoms” showed inflammatory autoimmune blood proteins when they were exposed to gliadin (a component of gluten). Similar studies done on populations in the UK and Germany showed that when tested, 3 times more people were sensitive to gluten than they originally thought. These “autoimmune blood proteins” are markers that tell the body to create a system-wide inflammation response (especially in our intestines). This happens for two reasons: One, it helps our body get rid of the offending gluten as quickly as possible; And two, it sends us a painful message telling us not to eat that food again. This full-body inflammation creates stress in our digestive tract and can lead to tiny holes in our intestines (known as “leaky gut syndrome”) that allow small particles of undigested food to pass into our bloodstream. This causes even more inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation also kills the specialized cells in your intestines that are designed to absorb nutrients, which can lead to malnourishment and “nutrient starvation” – even if you’re overweight. It’s even been thought by some researchers that for every 1 person with celiac disease (an estimated 1.8 million Americans) there could be at least six or seven people with “non-celiac gluten sensitivity”. This means that gluten sensitivity may affect upwards of 10-12% of the general population (that’s another 10.8 – 12.6 million people!). Eating Gluten Can Lead To Other Allergies >> Gluten sensitivity can also cause dairy intolerance. This is because the enzyme we need to digest the milk sugar lactose (an enzyme called “lactase”) is created by the cells in our small intestine, and these cells can be killed by inflammation caused by eating too much gluten. >> Lastly, celiac disease is determined by the number of antibody markers found in your stool or blood. The benchmark for beginning to diagnose celiac disease using a blood test is an antibody count of 30+. If you meet this number or higher you are likely to be diagnosed with celiac disease. If you score even 1 point below this number, you technically don’t have celiac – but you will definitely still feel all the painful effects of gluten. NOTE: Having a high inflammatory blood protein count doesn’t always mean you have Celiac, so it’s best to consult your doctor and participate in a panel of tests before diagnosing yourself. The Effects Add Up… Your reaction to gluten may not be strong enough to worry you. A little bit of bloating here, mild swelling in the joints there – no big deal, just a little embarrassing… right? Wrong. Over a period of time (let’s say a few years) low levels of inflammation in the body start to add up. Even if you don’t experience any immediate negative effects from eating gluten (or your reactions are “tolerable”), you could be doing long term damage to your body. For example, remember that this inflammation may be killing off the cells in your small intestine that are designed to absorb nutrients, which can leave you both fat and starving. And chronic inflammation anywhere in the body has full-body effects — chronic inflammation has even been linked to terminal illnesses like cancer and heart disease. Every bite counts. *** Mike’s Note: Beware of many new “gluten-free” packaged and processed foods that are on the market these days… Most times, these gluten-free processed foods just simply contain highly refined flours such as rice flour, tapioca flour, and corn starch which have severe effects on your blood sugar and insulin levels. Many “gluten-free” processed foods also still contain very high sugar levels. Kelsey shows you her exact method of eating gluten-free, but doing so in a way that HELPS you control blood sugar and lose fat in this video she prepared for you: Video: Kelsey’s EXACT plan to remove gluten but still ENJOY delicious food (plus lose fat) If you don’t have time to watch Kelsey’s video, you can also grab her super-awesome new cookbook on how to eat grain-free while enjoying amazingly delicious meals: Kelsey’s cookbook: Enjoy grain-free amazing meals & get a flat stomach faster Can you HEAL gluten-damaged intestines? A couple things on this… 1. There’s a unique ingredient called Actazin in this powerful probiotic supplement that shows strong promise at being able to help HEAL and regenerate gluten-damaged gut-lining cells. You can read about it at that page. 2. It’s also well known that Kefir (kefir is generally more powerful than yogurt in terms of both probiotic quantity and variety of strains) can have a powerful healing effect on the digestive system when used regularly because of the unique probiotics. Kefir is also generally 99% lactose-free since the microbes consume most of the lactose in the fermentation process, making kefir one of the easiest to digest dairy products. 3. If you’re like me and you stay gluten-free most days of the week, but still eat wheat based foods when traveling or at restaurants, there’s a new and very interesting ingredient called GlutenGone in this enzyme product that I use on the 1 or 2 days a week when I might dine out and eat some foods high in gluten. I see it as a sort of “protection” against gluten damage for those occasional days when I do eat grains. PS — if you liked today’s article, please fwd this email on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that would enjoy it. Mike Geary Certified Nutrition Specialist Certified Personal Trainer If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

By Dr. Mercola I’ve been warning you of the dangers of soda since I started this site over 16 years ago, and the list of reasons to avoid this beverage just keeps getting longer. Americans in particular get most of their daily calories from sugar, primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in soda and other sweetened beverages. Half of the US population over the age of two consumes sugary drinks on a daily basis,1 and this figure does not even include 100% fruit juices, flavored milk or sweetened teas, all of which are sugary too, which means the figure is actually even higher. Many people mistakenly believe that as long as you are drinking fruit juice, it’s healthy even though it’s sweet, but this is a dangerous misconception that is fueling the rising rates of weight gain, obesity, fatty liver disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes in the United States and other developed nations. It’s important to realize sugary drinks, soda and even fresh squeezed fruit juice, contain fructose, which has been identified as one of the primary culprits in the meteoric rise of obesity and related health problems—in large part due to its ability to turn on your “fat switch.” So-called “enhanced” water products are another source of hidden fructose, and/or artificial sweeteners, which can be even worse for your health than sugar. I recommend drinking plenty of pure water as your primary beverage of choice instead. Sugary Drinks Linked to 180,000 Deaths Annually Preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions suggests sugary beverages are to blame for about 183,000 deaths worldwide each year, including 133,000 diabetes deaths, 44,000 heart disease deaths and 6,000 cancer deaths. Among the 35 largest countries in the world, Mexico had the highest death rates associated with sugary beverage consumption. There, the average consumption of sugary beverages was 24 ounces per day. Bangladesh had the lowest death rates. The US ranked third, with an estimated 25,000 annual deaths2 from sweetened drinks.3 (Many might have expected the US to come in first place, but remember that American processed foods contain far more sugars than other nations, so Americans also consume a lot of “hidden” sugar in products other than beverages.) Interestingly, and quite disturbingly, the death rates associated with sweetened beverages were highest in those under the age of 45. According to the featured article:4 “[W]hile the connection between excess sugar and chronic disease is well-known, the latest research is the first to quantify deaths correlated with sugared drinks worldwide. …To reach their conclusion, the scientists analyzed data from the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study and recorded how much sugar-sweetened beverages people drank, dividing up the data by age and sex. Then, they figured out how the various amount corresponded to obesity rates. Lastly, they calculated how much obesity affected diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers and determined the mortality rates from these diseases, ending up with the number of deaths that could be attributed to consuming sugary beverages by age and sex.” Co-author Dr. Gitanjali Singh told Time Magazine: “Our findings should push policy makers world-wide to make effective policies to reduce consumption of sugary beverages, such as taxation, mass-media campaigns, and reducing availability of these drinks… Individuals should drink fewer sugary beverages and encourage their family and friends to do the same.” As you may recall, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently tried to ban the sale of sugary beverages over 16 ounces in restaurants, food carts and theaters, but the day before the ban was scheduled to go into effect, a Supreme Court judge overturned it.5 Bloomberg has stated he intends to appeal the decision. Personally, I believe the most appropriate strategy is to educate people on the facts about sugar consumption, and encourage personal responsibility. Taxation and eliminating sweet drinks from schools and other venues may have a beneficial effect, but to really put a dent in the problem, you need to be properly informed about the consequences of your choices. Voting with your pocketbook and avoiding purchasing these products will cause them to disappear from the marketplace as companies will not produce items that don’t sell. Scientific Statement from American Heart Association about Sugar Consumption and Heart Disease Risk In 2009, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a scientific statement6 about sugar intake and heart health, pointing out that there is evidence for a relationship between the two. According to the abstract: “High intakes of dietary sugars in the setting of a worldwide pandemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease have heightened concerns about the adverse effects of excessive consumption of sugars. In 2001 to 2004, the usual intake of added sugars for Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per day (355 calories per day). Between 1970 and 2005, average annual availability of sugars/added sugars increased by 19%, which added 76 calories to Americans’ average daily energy intake. Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in Americans’ diets. Excessive consumption of sugars has been linked with several metabolic abnormalities and adverse health conditions, as well as shortfalls of essential nutrients… [T]he American Heart Association recommends reductions in the intake of added sugars. A prudent upper limit of intake is half of the discretionary calorie allowance, which for most American women is no more than 100 calories per day and for most American men is no more than 150 calories per day from added sugars.” How Much Sugar Do You Eat or Drink Each Day? Let’s start with soda. One hundred calories isn’t much. Just one 12-ounce regular soda contains about 140 calories; the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar. Similarly, one eight-ounceglass of orange juice has about eight full teaspoons of sugar, and at least 50 percent of that sugar is fructose. Drinking just one eight-ounce glass of orange juice will wallop your system with about 25 grams of fructose, which is more than you should have the entire day… Fructose has been identified as one of the primary culprits in the meteoric rise of obesity and related health problems, and while the majority of the problem is caused by the large quantities of high fructose corn syrup added to so many processed foods and sweetened beverages, naturally-occurring fructose in large amounts of fruit juice is also a problem. Fructose is also a likely culprit behind the millions of U.S. children struggling with non-alcoholic liver disease, which is caused by a build-up of fat within liver cells. Fructose is very hard on your liver, in much the same way as drinking alcohol. Around 100 years ago the average American consumed a mere 15 grams of fructose a day, primarily in the form of whole fruit. One hundred years later, one-fourth of Americans are consuming more than 135 grams per day (that’s over a quarter of a pound!), largely in the form of soda and other sweetened beverages. Fructose at 15 grams a day is unlikely to do much harm (unless you suffer from high uric acid levels). However, at nearly 10 times that amount it becomes a MAJOR cause of obesity and nearly all chronic degenerative diseases. As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day. However, for most people it would actually be wise to limit your fruit fructose to 15 grams or less, as it is virtually guaranteed that you will consume “hidden” sources of fructose from most beverages and just about any processed food you might eat. Did You Know? Embed this infographic on your website:

Discover the fructose content of common foods, beverages, sauces, and even sugar substitutes in our infographic “Fructose Overload.” Use the embed code to share it on your website.

Discover the fructose content of common foods, beverages, sauces, and even sugar substitutes in our infographic "Fructose Overload."

Click on the code area and press CTRL + C (for Windows) / CMD + C (for Macintosh) to copy the code. Don’t Fall for the Latest ‘Designer Water’ Fad… As a general rule, I advise using water as your primary form of beverage. Many simply do not drink enough water these days. But don’t be fooled by slick marketing. There are a number of “designer water” products available, and none of them can really beat plain, pure water. For example, on April 1, Coca-Cola released its latest enhanced water product called “Fruitwater,” described as “a great tasting, naturally flavored zero calorie sparking water beverage.”7 Despite its name, the product does NOT contain any juice. Rather it’s sweetened with sucralose and “natural fruit flavors.” Sucralose (Splenda) is an artificial sweetener that, like aspartame, is associated with a host of side effects, including: •Gastrointestinal problems •Seizures, dizziness and migraines •Blurred vision •Allergic reactions •Blood sugar increases and weight gain Artificially Sweetened Water is a Recipe for Poor Health Different artificial sweeteners have been found to wreak havoc in a number of different ways. Aspartame, for example, has a long list of studies indicating its harmful effects, ranging from brain damage to pre-term delivery. Sucralose has been found to be particularly damaging to your intestines. A study8 published in 2008 found that sucralose: •Reduces the amount of good bacteria in your intestines by 50 percent •Increases the pH level in your intestines, and •Affects a glycoprotein in your body that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you’re on certain medications like chemotherapy, or treatments for AIDS and certain heart conditions In response to this study, James Turner, chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health issued the following statement:9 “The report makes it clear that the artificial sweetener Splenda and its key component sucralose pose a threat to the people who consume the product. Hundreds of consumers have complained to us about side effects from using Splenda and this study … confirms that the chemicals in the little yellow package should carry a big red warning label.” That was nearly five years ago, yet many are still in the dark about these health risks. Having healthy gut flora is absolutely vital for your optimal health, so clearly, any product that can destroy up to half of your healthy intestinal bacteria can pose a critical risk to your health! Many are already deficient in healthy bacteria due to consuming too many highly processed foods. This is why I recommend eating fermented vegetables every day, or at the very least taking a high quality probiotic. Believe me, if you continuously destroy up to 50 percent of your gut flora by regularly consuming sucralose, then poor health is virtually guaranteed. So please, do not make “Fruitwater” a staple drink thinking you’re doing something beneficial for your health… Remember, pure water IS a zero calorie drink. You cannot find a beverage that contains fewer calories. If you think about it, why on earth would you choose artificially sweetened water over regular mineral water? If you want some flavor, just squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon or lime into mineral water as they have virtually no fructose in them. Unfortunately, most public health agencies and nutritionists in the United States still recommend these toxic artificial sweeteners as acceptable and even preferred alternatives to sugar, which is at best confusing and at worst seriously damaging the health of those who listen to this well-intentioned but foolish advice. Contrary to popular belief, research has shown that artificial sweeteners can stimulate your appetite, increase carbohydrate cravings, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In fact, diet sodas may actually double your risk of obesity. So much for being an ally in the battle against the bulge… The Case Against ALL Bottled Waters… While we’re on the subject of commercially available water products, let me remind you that bottled water in general is a bad idea. Not only are you paying about 1,900 percent more for the same or similar water you get straight from your tap, water stored in plastic bottles have other health risks as well. The plastic often used to make water bottles contains a variety of health-harming chemicals that can easily leach out and contaminate the water, such as: •Cancer-causing PFOAs •PBDEs (flame retardant chemicals), which have been linked to reproductive problems and altered thyroid levels •The reproductive toxins, phthalates •BPA, which disrupts the endocrine system by mimicking the female hormone estrogen If you leave your water bottle in a hot car, or reuse it, your exposure is magnified because heat and stress increase the amount of chemicals that leach out of the plastic. So the container your water comes in needs to receive just as much attention as the water itself, and plastic is simply not a wise choice from a health perspective … not to mention the extreme amounts of toxic waste produced! What’s the Healthiest Beverage You Can Drink? Sweetened beverages, whether it’s sweetened with sugar, HFCS, naturally-occurring fructose, or artificial sweeteners, are among the worst culprits in the fight against obesity and related health problems, including diabetes, heart- and liver disease, just to name a few. Remember that sweetened beverages also include flavored milk products, bottled teas, and “enhanced” water products. Ditching ALL of these types of beverages can go a long way toward reducing your risk for chronic health problems and weight gain. So what should you drink? Your best most cost effective choice is to drink filtered tap water. The caveat though is to make sure you filter your tap water. I’ve written a large number of articles on the hazards of tap water, from fluoride to dangerous chemicals and drugs, to toxic disinfection byproducts and heavy metals, so having a good filtration system in place is more of a necessity than a luxury in most areas. Remember, nothing beats pure water when it comes to serving your body’s needs. If you really feel the urge for a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of lime or lemon juice. Another option to consider is to bottle your own water from a gravity-fed spring. There’s a great website called FindaSpring.com where you can find natural springs in your area. This is a great way to get back to nature and teach your children about health and the sources of clean water. The best part is that most of these spring water sources are free! Just remember to bring either clear polyethylene or glass containers to collect the water so no unsafe chemicals can contaminate your water on the way home. If you choose to use glass bottles, be sure to wrap them in towels to keep them from breaking in the car. If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.