Rather Be Healthy

When you order sushi at your favorite restaurant or pick up a pound of coffee from your local supermarket, you assume you’re getting the red snapper or Columbian beans as stated on the menu or label.

But not so fast. A growing number of cases of “food fraud” are occurring in the United States, such that you may not be able to tell what you’re really eating just by looking at the label.

Worse still, most of these cases are not highly publicized incidents like the recent scandal of UK supermarkets selling “beef” burgers that actually contained horse and pig meat. Instead, they’re ongoing cases of blatant misrepresentation among some incredibly common foods.

What Is Food Fraud?

Food fraud, defined as “the deliberate substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or food packaging, or false or misleading statements made about a product for economic gain,”1 is the focus of the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention’s (USP) Food Fraud Database,2 which already has more than 1,300 records of food fraud published from 1980 to 2010.

A recent update, which added in cases from 2011 and 2012, increased the number of records by 60 percent, or nearly 800 new records, and includes some foods you very well may eat every day, like olive oil, honey, seafood and orange juice.

In some cases, the foods were diluted with ingredients not listed on the label. In others, the food was something entirely different than it claimed to be.

Still others contained undisclosed “clouding agents,” including the cancer-causing, reproductive-system-damaging plasticizer Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), which was added to fruit juices in order to make them appear freshly squeezed. USP found that 877 food products from 315 different companies contained fake clouding agents.

In every case, the food fraud revealed that what you think you’re eating may be far from reality, and the manipulation of food and food ingredients may be far more widespread than anyone realized. Dr. Jeffrey Moore, senior scientific liaison for USP, explained:3

“While food fraud has been around for centuries, with a handful of notorious cases well documented, we suspect that what we know about the topic is just the tip of the iceberg.”

The 10 Most Common Fraudulent Foods

1. Olive Oil

Even “extra virgin” olive oil is often diluted with other less expensive oils, including hazelnut, soybean, corn, sunflower, palm, sesame, grape seed and walnut.

2. Milk

Milk was found to contain vegetable oil, whey, caustic soda, cane sugar, detergent and even toxic compounds like melamine and formaldehyde.

3. Honey

Honey is often not “honey” but instead a mix of high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose syrup, invert beet sugar, water and essential oils.

4. Saffron

It’s the world’s most expensive spice, but it often contains adulterants such as glycerin, sandalwood dust, tartrazine (yellow dye), barium sulfate, borax, marigold flowers and even colored corn strings.

5. Orange Juice

Lemon juice, sugar water, paprika extract, marigold flower extract, and a synthetic sugar/acid mixture may all be lurking in your favorite orange juice.

6. Coffee

Coffee, whether ground or instant, is a likely source of hidden “ingredients” like roasted corn, ground parchment, barley, coffee twigs, potato flower, malt, chicory and caramel.

7. Apple Juice

This childhood favorite may contain corn syrup, raisin sweetener, malic acid, beet sugar and other juices, such as grape, pineapple, pear and fig.

8. Tea

Hiding inside your tea bag may be sand, sawdust, starch, China clay, used tea leaves and color additives. Some tea bags, meanwhile, are made with plastic, such as nylon, thermoplastic, PVC or polypropylene. While these plastics have high melting points, the temperature at which the molecules in polymers begin to break down is always lower than the melting point, which could allow the bags to leach compounds of unknown health hazards into your tea when steeped in boiling water.

Even paper tea bags are frequently treated with epichlorophydrin, which hydrolyzes to 3-MCPD when contact with water occurs. 3-MCPD is a carcinogen associated with food processing that has also been implicated in infertility and suppressed immune function.

9. Fish

Seafood fraud is actually very widespread, as according to the nonprofit ocean protection group Oceana,4 nearly 60 percent of fish labeled “tuna” in the US is not actually tuna. A shocking 84 percent of “white tuna” sold in sushi venues was actually escolar, a fish associated with acute and serious digestive effects if you eat just a couple of ounces.

One-third of all fish samples tested across the US were found to be mislabeled, substituted for cheaper, less desirable and/or more readily available fish varieties. For instance, 87 percent of fish sold as snapper was actually some other type of fish, and the USP found that monkfish was sometimes actually puffer fish, which can also cause poisoning.

10. Black Pepper

This spice is often adulterated with juniper berries, papaya seeds, starch, buckwheat flour and millet seeds. Other foods that made frequent appearances in the fraudulent food database include:

Turmeric

Chili powder

Cooking oil

Shrimp

Lemon juice

Maple syrup

Reading Food Labels Is No Longer Enough to Ensure Healthful Food

It seems quite clear at this point that food fraud is on the rise, and while many have started reading food labels, those labels are increasingly being found to be less than truthful. Even if your food is not being illegally diluted with undisclosed adulterants (or being misrepresented as a different food entirely), many corporations hire lawyers to carefully craft words that are just barely on the side of being legal. Each of the following label items are often used in deceptive ways that may lead you to buy a product you’d otherwise avoid:
1.Vitamin and mineral claims
2.The “All Natural” label
3.The “Organic” label
4.Misleading nutritional facts
5.Dangerous ingredients not required to be listed on any food label

For instance, labels like “all-natural” and “organic” can also be sorely misleading. The first means virtually nothing when it comes to processed foods, and the only organic label worth paying attention to is the USDA Organic seal. Nutritional facts, meanwhile, can be off by up to 20 percent before breaking any regulations, and currently you have no way of knowing if a food contains genetically modified ingredients as labeling is not required.

While reading labels on the products you buy is important, when it comes to food, you’re far better off limiting or eliminating foods that require extensive labeling or listing of ingredients in the first place. Whole foods – the kind that have little to no labeling at all – are those that will be best for your health as well as least vulnerable to fraud.

Tips for Avoiding Food Fraud and Finding Safe, Healthful Foods

If you value food safety and authenticity, you’ll want to get your produce, meat, chickens, eggs and dairy from smaller community farms with free-ranging animals, organically fed and locally marketed. This is the way food has been raised and distributed for centuries …

The closer your foods are to the way they’re found in nature, and the closer you are to the actual source of your food, the greater your changes of finding pure, unadulterated food for your family. When you buy the bulk of your food from a local farmer or community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, you can get to know the person who is supplying your food and even ask questions about its growing conditions.

This way, when you pick up a gallon of, preferably raw, milk or a jar of honey, you’ll know it’s pure and exactly as it’s being represented. Most people should be able to find a farmer’s market, local farm or CSA in their area (see the infographic below for resources), but in the event you’re still buying some of your food at chain supermarkets, the following tips can help you to find REAL food:
1.Choose food in the least processed form possible, such as lemons instead of bottled lemon juice and whole black pepper or coffee beans in lieu of ground
2.When buying fish, purchase the whole fish whenever possible, which makes it more difficult to switch species. Also, if the price seems too low, it’s probably because you’re buying a different fish than is actually on the label
3.Stick with stores and brands that you know and trust; while not a foolproof strategy, natural food stores generally have a better track record than big box stores or chain supermarkets

If you want to learn more about the types of food fraud that may be impacting foods you commonly eat, you can both search the USP database and report fraud directly at www.foodfraud.org.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Common backyard weeds for dinner? Delicious and nutrient rich fare at your fingertips that won’t break the bank

Instead of signing over your entire paycheck for organic produce, have you considered the bounty of nourishing fare growing wild right in your own backyard? Not surprisingly, edible weeds have come back into vogue as food prices continue to rise and budgets tighten. Tasty and nutritious, these humble plants ofter exceptional value (as in free) along with substantial health enhancing properties.

Forage and feast
Weeds are often viewed with a wary eye by gardeners as invasive intruders, not realizing these ‘pests’ are actually a terrific source of low-maintenance, healthy food. We can either wage a full out war against weeds with nasty chemicals along with long hours of backbreaking management, or we can simply consume the robust scoundrels. After all, as Andrea Karim of WiseBread notes, eating the bastards is much more satisfying than trying to fight a losing battle. Here are few examples to help inspire a bit of backyard foraging this summer.

Purslane

A hearty succulent herb, purslane resembles plump thyme. Leaves, stems, flowers and seeds are edible and can be harvested throughout summer. Add it to salad or soup. It can also be boiled, sauteed or blended into smoothies. An excellent source of alpha-linolenic acid, purslane provides five times more of this omega-3 fatty acid than spinach. The stems are also high in vitamin C.

Japanese knotweed

Similar in taste to asparagus and virtually indestructible, Japanese knotweed is a plant to be reckoned with. The tender shoots in springtime are best consumed when the leaves are still furled and the shaft crisp. Related to buckwheat, “Japanese knotweed is one of the last plants to blossom in late summer – early autumn in New England. Honey bees use its nectar, mixed with goldenrod nectar, to produce a honey as black as motor oil with a strong, distinctive flavor. It’s good for sweetening baked beans and for brewing unusual beers and mead,” according to Tom Meade of Hobby Farms. It’s also rich in resveratrol, the anti-cancer, neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory nutrient found in the skin of red grapes. Vitamin C levels are impressive too.

Dandelion

Widely consumed throughout Europe, dandelion is just beginning to take a few tentative steps toward the American plate. Bearing in mind this somewhat bitter, yet refreshing green is an outstanding liver and blood cleanser and boasts high levels of vitamin A, a second look at dandelion is in our healthy best interest. The leaves and flowers can be sauteed or consumed raw while roasting and grinding the root produces a nutrient dense, caffeine free coffee substitute.

Other edible weeds include perilla, mare’s tail, lambs quarter, sheep sorrel, stinging nettle and milkweed.

Foraging for food in your backyard is fun, economical and delicious — just make sure to be safe. Erin Huffstetler, author of Edible Weeds, recommends the following harvesting guidelines:

1. Only harvest weeds that you can positively identify and know to be edible. The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, by the Department of the Army is a good reference, if you aren’t sure.

2. Avoid picking weeds close to roadways. They’ll have absorbed exhaust fumes and road run off.

3. Avoid harvesting weeds in areas that may have been contaminated by animal feces.

4. Do not pick weeds from yards that have been treated with pesticides or herbicides.

5. Only eat the parts of plants that you know to be edible. Many edible plants have non-edible – and sometimes poisonous – parts.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.wisebread.com/free-food-in-your-yard-edible-weeds

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/eatforfree/tp/Edible_Weeds.htm

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/crops-and-gardening/edible-weeds.aspx

http://www.livescience.com/21496-5-edible-garden-weeds.html

About the author:
Carolanne enthusiastically believes if we want to see change in the world, we need to be the change. As a nutritionist, natural foods chef and wellness coach, Carolanne has encouraged others to embrace a healthy lifestyle of organic living, gratefulness and joyful orientation for over 13 years. Through her website www.Thrive-Living.net she looks forward to connecting with other like-minded people who share a similar vision.

Follow on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/Thrive_Living

At Facebook, follow here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Thrive-Living/499578863433146

For Pinterest fans, connect here: www.pinterest.com/thriveliving/natural-news/

Read her other articles on Natural News here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/Author1183.html

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

According to the most recent statistics, about one-third of the entire U.S. population, or more than 100 million Americans, suffers from either diabetes or pre-diabetes, a blood sugar condition that can eventually lead to more serious health conditions and even death. And based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projections, this number is expected to double by 2050 if trends continue at current rates. But you and your family do not have to fall victim to this sweeping diabetes epidemic — here are some tips on how to alter your diet and lifestyle to avoid developing diabetes and potentially succumbing to premature death:

1) Eat more foods rich in quercetin. A member of the flavonoid family of antioxidants, quercetin has been shown to help lower blood glucose levels and improve plasma insulin levels, two factors commonly associated with diabetes (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19496084). Quercetin also helps neutralize damaging free radicals and inhibit inflammation, not to mention lower blood pressure in people with inflammation (http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/quercetin-000322.htm).

Foods that are high in quercetin include apples, citrus fruits, onions, parsley, sage, green tea, and red wine. Olive oil, grapes, dark cherries, and dark berries are also rick in quercetin and other flavonoids, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). And if dietary sources are not enough, quercetin is also available in supplement form, including in the Rejuvenate! Plus green superfood formula available at the NaturalNews store (http://store.naturalnews.com/Rejuvenate-Plus-500-g_p_95.html).

2) A teaspoon of cinnamon a day to keep the diabetes away. Cinnamon contains powerful blood sugar-stabilizing compounds that not only increase glucose metabolism by a significant amount, but also mimic the activity of insulin inside the body. Supplementing with cinnamon can also help slow the speed at which food empties from your stomach, inhibiting the blood sugar rush that often comes following a meal high in refined sugar and simple carbohydrates (http://www.huffingtonpost.com).

Most of the cinnamon you will find on grocery store shelves today comes from the “cassia” family of cinnamon, which is not necessarily the most medicinal variety. So-called “true” cinnamon, which is generally not as flavorful or as easy to find as cassia cinnamon, comes from the “Ceylon” family, and has a much lower ratio of coumarin, a blood-thinning compound, as well as higher overall nutrient content. However, all major varieties of cinnamon possess demonstrable diabetes-fighting properties (http://www.naturalnews.com/035642_cinnamon_blood_sugar_regulating.html).

3) Eat more broccoli, cruciferous vegetables. Rich in a cancer-fighting compound known as sulforaphane, broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are an important part of an anti-diabetes diet because they protect blood vessels against cellular damage. Vitamin C, chromium, fiber, beta-carotene, and many other nutrients found in broccoli help protect against free radical damage, high blood sugar, and high levels of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol, all of which are linked to diabetes (http://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/08August/Pages/Broccolianddiabetes.aspx).

4) Exercise more, and cut out the junk food. This one might be a little more obvious, but simply engaging in physical activity regularly can have a huge impact on whether or not your body succumbs to a diabetic condition. Since obesity and poor physical health are major factors in diabetes, it only makes sense that exercising and eating right are important components for staying fit and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. It is best to start with shorter, higher-intensity workouts to get your metabolism going and lower insulin and leptin resistance, and gradually add in appropriate cardiovascular workouts.

As far as diet is concerned, it is best to avoid wheat and gluten-containing foods as these have been shown to interfere with glucose metabolism. Foods that contain ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), enriched flour, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, preservatives, food colorings, and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) should also be avoided if you are serious about preventing diabetes. Stick with whole, organic foods; limit consumption of grains, including whole grains; and consume healthy fats, including saturated fats from unrefined coconut oil and grass-fed butter and pastured meat for optimal health (http://www.charlespoliquin.com).

5) Make sure you are getting plenty of magnesium and probiotics. More than 75 percent of the American population is said to be deficient in magnesium, a mineral your body needs to activate more than 300 unique and necessary biochemical reactions. Your bones, cells, organs, and tissues all rely on magnesium to function properly. Without enough magnesium, your immunity, skeletal system, heart, and circulatory system are all at serious risk. Making sure you intake high amounts of magnesium is crucial for protecting against hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes (http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/).

Similarly, probiotic bacteria, which populate the gut and regulate the immune system, are essential for thwarting the onset of diabetes. A study published earlier this year found that altering the microbiota balance of obese patients at high risk of diabetes can help reverse the metabolic effects linked to diabetes (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22798958).

To learn more about preventing and curing diabetes, visit:
http://www.naturalnews.com/030150_diabetes_Americans.html

Also, check out the book How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days:
http://www.truthpublishing.com/haltdiabetes_p/yprint-cat21267.htm

Sources for this article include:

http://ndep.nih.gov/diabetes-facts/index.aspx

http://www.menshealth.com/spotlight/diabetes/12-powerfoods.php

http://www.deathtodiabetes.com/Super_Foods_for_Diabetes.html

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/issues/Issue_306/cinnamondiabcare.pdf

http://www.ranker.com

According to the most recent statistics, about one-third of the entire U.S. population, or more than 100 million Americans, suffers from either diabetes or pre-diabetes, a blood sugar condition that can eventually lead to more serious health conditions and even death. And based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projections, this number is expected to double by 2050 if trends continue at current rates. But you and your family do not have to fall victim to this sweeping diabetes epidemic — here are some tips on how to alter your diet and lifestyle to avoid developing diabetes and potentially succumbing to premature death:

1) Eat more foods rich in quercetin. A member of the flavonoid family of antioxidants, quercetin has been shown to help lower blood glucose levels and improve plasma insulin levels, two factors commonly associated with diabetes (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19496084). Quercetin also helps neutralize damaging free radicals and inhibit inflammation, not to mention lower blood pressure in people with inflammation (http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/quercetin-000322.htm).

Foods that are high in quercetin include apples, citrus fruits, onions, parsley, sage, green tea, and red wine. Olive oil, grapes, dark cherries, and dark berries are also rick in quercetin and other flavonoids, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). And if dietary sources are not enough, quercetin is also available in supplement form, including in the Rejuvenate! Plus green superfood formula available at the NaturalNews store (http://store.naturalnews.com/Rejuvenate-Plus-500-g_p_95.html).

2) A teaspoon of cinnamon a day to keep the diabetes away. Cinnamon contains powerful blood sugar-stabilizing compounds that not only increase glucose metabolism by a significant amount, but also mimic the activity of insulin inside the body. Supplementing with cinnamon can also help slow the speed at which food empties from your stomach, inhibiting the blood sugar rush that often comes following a meal high in refined sugar and simple carbohydrates (http://www.huffingtonpost.com).

Most of the cinnamon you will find on grocery store shelves today comes from the “cassia” family of cinnamon, which is not necessarily the most medicinal variety. So-called “true” cinnamon, which is generally not as flavorful or as easy to find as cassia cinnamon, comes from the “Ceylon” family, and has a much lower ratio of coumarin, a blood-thinning compound, as well as higher overall nutrient content. However, all major varieties of cinnamon possess demonstrable diabetes-fighting properties (http://www.naturalnews.com/035642_cinnamon_blood_sugar_regulating.html).

3) Eat more broccoli, cruciferous vegetables. Rich in a cancer-fighting compound known as sulforaphane, broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are an important part of an anti-diabetes diet because they protect blood vessels against cellular damage. Vitamin C, chromium, fiber, beta-carotene, and many other nutrients found in broccoli help protect against free radical damage, high blood sugar, and high levels of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol, all of which are linked to diabetes (http://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/08August/Pages/Broccolianddiabetes.aspx).

4) Exercise more, and cut out the junk food. This one might be a little more obvious, but simply engaging in physical activity regularly can have a huge impact on whether or not your body succumbs to a diabetic condition. Since obesity and poor physical health are major factors in diabetes, it only makes sense that exercising and eating right are important components for staying fit and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. It is best to start with shorter, higher-intensity workouts to get your metabolism going and lower insulin and leptin resistance, and gradually add in appropriate cardiovascular workouts.

As far as diet is concerned, it is best to avoid wheat and gluten-containing foods as these have been shown to interfere with glucose metabolism. Foods that contain ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), enriched flour, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, preservatives, food colorings, and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) should also be avoided if you are serious about preventing diabetes. Stick with whole, organic foods; limit consumption of grains, including whole grains; and consume healthy fats, including saturated fats from unrefined coconut oil and grass-fed butter and pastured meat for optimal health (http://www.charlespoliquin.com).

5) Make sure you are getting plenty of magnesium and probiotics. More than 75 percent of the American population is said to be deficient in magnesium, a mineral your body needs to activate more than 300 unique and necessary biochemical reactions. Your bones, cells, organs, and tissues all rely on magnesium to function properly. Without enough magnesium, your immunity, skeletal system, heart, and circulatory system are all at serious risk. Making sure you intake high amounts of magnesium is crucial for protecting against hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes (http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/).

Similarly, probiotic bacteria, which populate the gut and regulate the immune system, are essential for thwarting the onset of diabetes. A study published earlier this year found that altering the microbiota balance of obese patients at high risk of diabetes can help reverse the metabolic effects linked to diabetes (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22798958).

To learn more about preventing and curing diabetes, visit:
http://www.naturalnews.com/030150_diabetes_Americans.html

Also, check out the book How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days:
http://www.truthpublishing.com/haltdiabetes_p/yprint-cat21267.htm

Sources for this article include:

http://ndep.nih.gov/diabetes-facts/index.aspx

http://www.menshealth.com/spotlight/diabetes/12-powerfoods.php

http://www.deathtodiabetes.com/Super_Foods_for_Diabetes.html

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/issues/Issue_306/cinnamondiabcare.pdf

http://www.ranker.com

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Food investigations: Welch’s fruit juice cocktails contain more corn than fruit: 80% water and high fructose corn syrup

If you buy fruit juices at your local grocery store, you might notice the Welch’s brand juices sold in refrigerated cartons. Welch’s calls them “refrigerated cocktails” and offers exotic-sounding flavors like Strawberry Peach, Dragon Fruit Mango Cocktail and Orange Pineapple Apple.

These products are aggressively marketed with pictures of splashy fruit and loud label claims like “Fruity and Refreshing!” But what Welch’s doesn’t reveal anywhere except in the fine print on its ingredients label is that these juice cocktails contain more high fructose corn syrup than fruit.

In fat, they contain so much high fructose corn syrup that the front label should actually show chunks of corn rather than the fruit they currently depict.

Is this corn syrup derived from GMO corn? See below for more…

Deceptively marketed and labeled
A Natural News investigation concludes that Welch’s refrigerated cocktails are deceptively labeled and marketed. The Welch’s website, for starters, hides the ingredients list from consumers, showing nutrition facts but not ingredients. High fructose corn syrup only shows up under ingredients, not nutrition facts.

The front label of Welch’s Strawberry Peach product uses the phrase, “Fruity & Refreshing” in a prominent position on the label. But if this claim were accurate, it would actually say, “Corny & Refreshing” because it’s made more from corn than fruit.

The front label (see picture below) also intentionally leaves out any mention of corn syrup even though high fructose corn syrup is the second most prominent ingredient of the product, right after water. It says:

Strawberry Peach flavored fruit juice cocktail blend made with apple, pear, strawberry and peach juices from concentrate.

No mention of corn.

The back label (see image below) begins with a giant, all-caps “LOVE” statement, jumping on the bandwagon of trying to associate LOVE with its product, even though no rational person would use the word “LOVE” to describe a highly refined liquid sugar that has been repeatedly linked to diabetes and obesity.

Welch’s annual report admits it is aware that consumers seek to avoid HFCS
All this corn syrup is being pushed as fruit juice despite the fact that Welch’s 2012 annual report openly admits the company is fully aware that consumers are attempting to avoid high fructose corn syrup.

It reads:

“Our mid-priced essentials line continued to grow in FY ’12 with its powerful message — no high fructose corn syrup.”

The context of this statement clearly implies that “no high fructose corn syrup” is a benefit of its essentials line of products. Yet, simultaneously, Welch’s continues to promote other products that contain alarming proportions of HFCS while avoiding any mention of corn on the front label.

80% water and corn syrup!
Only when you get to the back label do you learn that these Welch’s fruit juice cocktails — which are heavily adorned with photos and words that describe and imply “fruit” — are actually 80% water and corn syrup.

The first two ingredients are Filtered Water (i.e. tap water) and High Fructose Corn Syrup. An easy-to-miss bit of text admits, “Contains 20% juice,” meaning 80% of the beverage is not juice.

Nowhere does the product claim to be free of GMOs. As the vast majority of high fructose corn syrup produced in North America is derived from genetically modified corn, it is very likely that the HFCS used by Welch’s is actually GMO. A genetic test would not confirm this, however, as the heavy processing of HFCS destroys genetic integrity, rendering genetic ID tests useless.

Here are the photos of the label: (story continues below)

Deceptive labeling pushes more high fructose corn syrup to children
Welch’s fruit juice cocktails are depicted as if they were nothing but fruit juice. The photos, descriptive text and website text all imply they are made of nothing other than fruit juices. Nowhere on the product front label, website or promotional materials is corn depicted at all.

When consumers shop for fruit juices at their local grocery stores, they are easily misled by deceptive labeling practices such as those used by Welch’s. Consumers use the pictures and prominent text on the front of the product as their primary cues to determine the composition of the product, and if that product label primarily depicts fruit and fruit juices, a typical consumer will incorrectly assume the product is primarily made of fruit and fruit juices. That same consumer will typically have no idea the product contains more corn derivatives than fruit juice.

Most consumers — especially parents — are actively trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup. This is often the reason why they choose fruit juice instead of sodas, as a matter of fact. Yet if they reach for Welch’s juice cocktails, they are getting the exact same refined liquid sugar they were trying to avoid by choosing juice instead of soda!

Here at Natural News, we think Welch’s should be ashamed of itself for pushing water and high fructose corn syrup as a fruit juice beverage. Its labeling practices deceive rather than inform consumers.

We urge you to call the Welch’s comment line at 1-800-340-6870 and demand they stop selling high fructose corn syrup as fruit juice.

Corn is not a fruit. And corn syrup is not fruit juice. It is, however, often contaminated with mercury.

Demand that Welch’s stop tricking consumers into thinking corn syrup is fruit juice.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Walking into your kitchen and taking a single multivitamin pill to cover your recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamins and minerals is so convenient. You don’t have to think about nutrition for the rest of the day! You’re covered!

Not so fast…

Sadly, scientists are discovering that pill multivitamins do very little good…and could actually be dangerous to your health.

The Myth of the Multivitamin

We’re told that taking vitamins will protect our bodies from illness. Take this pill to make your bones stronger. Take this pill to sharpen your memory. There is a supplement for everything that ails you…but what does the science prove?

One study from Oxford University followed 20,000 people for five years. Half the study participants were given placebos [pills with no nutritional value] while the other half were given pills that contained a mix of vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene.

At the conclusion of the study – neither group showed any benefits. There was no additional protection from heart disease, cancer, eye health or bone health.

Dr. Jane Armitage, who worked on The Heart Protection Study at Oxford, explained, “The vitamins were absorbed but they did nothing.”

Researchers believe it is due to the synthetic chemistry of the vitamins. Our bodies are unable to recognize – or use – synthetic vitamins.

Biochemist Eric Llewellyn adds that synthetic vitamins can actually cause vitamin deficiency.

He pointed to calcium supplements taken to prevent osteoporosis as an example. “For calcium to enter the bones, it needs to be attached to a phosphate molecule. When the supplement enters the blood, the body takes phosphate out of the bones to stick it to the calcium. The bones end up with less phosphate and no added calcium, so the calcium supplement is actually making the bones weaker.”

What are possible alternatives to multivitamins?

The Power of Vitamin-Rich Food

If you eat a balanced diet, packed with fruits and vegetables, you may be getting all the recommended nutrition you need.
•Eggs, orange and red veggies, and tuna provide your body with vitamin A – crucial to your immune system, vision and skin.
•Peanuts, asparagus and cauliflower give you ample vitamin B1 (thiamine) – needed for optimal brain function and energy.
•Oats, eggs and mushrooms provide vitamin B2 (riboflavin) – needed to convert food to energy and balance your pH.
•Salmon, cabbage and kidney beans boost your levels of vitamin B6 – which acts as a natural anti-depressant and regulates your sex hormones.
•Broccoli, peppers, citrus and berries boost your levels of vitamin C – used to strengthen immunity, fight infection and keep bones strong.
•Seeds, nuts and fatty fish such as salmon and tuna provide both vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids – critical to brain function, a strong immune system and cell membranes.
•Sunshine naturally boosts your vitamin D levels and is required to absorb calcium, protect the heart and preserve the central nervous system.

However, pro-supplement researchers point out that the average person does not consume a balanced diet. They also emphasize the fact that the nutritional value of our food is drastically lower than it once was.

Patrick Holford, founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, said, “Levels of key minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron in our soils, have fallen by almost 50 per cent over the past 50 years.”

The water in many parts of the world test positive for contaminants. Produce can sit in cold storage for months before making it to your grocery store – slowly losing the majority of the vitamins and minerals it once offered due to oxidation.

If you don’t have access to organically grown produce, you also run the risk of chemical pesticide contamination.

The Natural Alternatives to Multivitamins

Before taking any supplement you should consult your doctor to discuss possible reactions with medications you’re currently taking. Children and women who are pregnant or nursing should always include their doctor in nutritional decisions.

Juicing and green smoothies provide raw concentrations of vitamins and minerals in a single serving – much like a vitamin supplement – without the synthetic ingredients. They are easy to customize for taste and caloric intake. They are better for you (and less expensive) when you make them at home.

The Organic Consumers Association says raw supplements are 100% plant-based or food-based – providing you the advertised benefits without the additives you don’t need.

One such raw supplement uses eight superfoods considered to be the most nutrient-dense on earth.

Whether you choose nutrient-rich food, juicing, green smoothies or a raw supplement – all effective and safe alternatives to synthetic multivitamins – getting the nutrition your body needs is the key to total body wellness.

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3 Foods That Drain Your Energy

By Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN

If you’re like most people, you’re intimately familiar with the midafternoon energy slump. While it’s tempting to turn to caffeine or sugar in hope of a quick energy burst, there are better ways to stay awake and productive.

But before we get to those, let’s look at 3 foods that drain your energy. And, in order to understand how these 3 foods rob your energy, you need to remember the following cardinal rules of energy:
1.Because digestion is such an energy-dependent process, any food or process that compromises your digestion will drain your energy.
2.Since your blood carries oxygen to your cells for energy production, any food or process that thickens” your blood or ruins the health of your oxygen-carrying red blood cells will rob your energy.
3.Your adrenal glands help you deal with stress. Any food or process that weakens your adrenal glands will impair your ability to cope with stress and lower your energy.

With those rules in mind, do your body a favour and limit your intake of the following 3 energy-sucking foods.

Energy Draining Food #1:
Wheat and Gluten

For the purposes of this article, we’ll consider gluten and wheat one in the same.
However, the distinction is that gluten is a protein found in many grains like wheat, barley, and rye. And it has now been linked to more than 190 auto-immune diseases…

…most notably celiac disease – a condition where the immune system attacks your small intestines.

Although only about 1% of the population is diagnosed with celiac, the reality is that the human body has NOT evolved to digest wheat/gluten properly.

This poses a big threat to your energy levels because any food that compromises your digestive and intestinal (where most of your nutrients are absorbed) is bound to suck your energy

Continued irritation of the small intestines (by eating grains, for example) can lead to “leaky gut” – a condition in which large food particles are able to pass into the bloodstream via ever-widening pores in the intestinal wall.

When this happens, your body identifies the undigested proteins in these food particles as a threat and mounts an immune response to neutralize them. This is how food sensitivities develop and how your immune system becomes overworked.

You see, grains were only introduced into the human diet during the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago. However, considering that we’d been on the planet for roughly 3.5 millions years WITHOUT them, grain consumption only represents 0.004% of our evolutionary timeline.

This tiny fragment of time hasn’t given the human body enough time to evolve to digest grains efficiently. That’s just one reason that so many of us have issues digesting wheat and other gluten-containing grains.

The second reason that wheat is hard to digest is that it is – by definition – a seed. And the biological role of a seed is to propagate the species. That’s how plants continue to flourish. They spread their seeds, which eventually end up in the soil where they germinate into full-grown plants or trees, which in turn bear more fruits and seeds. And the cycle continues.

However…

In order to survive in harsh environments (like the human digestive tract), seeds contain built-in protective mechanisms. Wheat contains gluten, which attacks the human intestinal tract – making us less able to digest it.

Theoretically, this would allow the seed to pass through our body, into our stool, and back into the earth…allowing the wheat “species” to carry on.

We’ve now seen 2 substantial reasons why wheat/gluten is not fit for human consumption. In spite of all the claims by wheat-pushing lobbyists that we need its fiber for cardiovascular and intestinal health, I’ve never met a single person whose energy and health has not dramatically improved upon going wheat/gluten-free.

NOTE: if you want more fiber, there’s plenty to be had by eating more fruits, vegetables, and nuts. In fact, Paleolithic never ate grains and his reported fiber intake was between 100-150 grams per day by eating those aforementioned foods. Our current average intake 15 grams of fiber per day pales in comparison – even with all those grains in our food supply.

To recap…

Wheat robs your energy for a number of reasons, most notably because of its deleterious impact on human digestion and our eventual (and unwanted) immune reaction to it.

Oh… I didn’t even mention how grains (especially refined ones) wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels, which is a surefire way to drain your energy. But let’s discuss that in more detail as we cover the next energy-draining food…

Energy Draining Food #2 & #3:
Sugar (and Caffeine)

As you can see, I’ve coupled sugar and caffeine here – because they have almost identical effects on your energy levels – but we’ll still consider them energy-draining foods #2 and #3.

Let me explain…

The adrenal glands are your “fight or flight” organs – releasing cortisol and adrenaline during periods of stress.

Interestingly, these same hormones are secreted when STIMULANTS (like caffeine and sugar) enter your bloodstream.

When you become stressed (or ingest stimulants – sugar and/or caffeine), your adrenals start ramping up their activity. They release adrenaline and cortisol – two “catabolic” hormones, which break down your energy reserves for immediate use.

Remember, your body thinks it’s in a state where it needs to FIGHT or FLEE – so it needs that readily available energy.

Cortisol, when chronically present in your bloodstream, is a detrimental hormone leading to quick glycogen (stored carbohydrates) depletion, a rise in blood sugar, and eventually weight gain.

Adrenaline has similar energy-depleting effects. Initially, however, it gives you that feeling we often term the “rush”, as a result of an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and carbohydrate breakdown into blood sugar.

But that quick surge in energy is soon followed by a debilitating crash in which your body does its best to recover from the “stressful” situation, whether it be your morning coffee or a near fender-bender on your way to work.

Having these 2 hormones chronically circulating in your blood is not a desirable situation.

The other problem with having high levels of both cortisol and adrenaline is that since they breakdown your stored carbohydrates for energy, releasing glucose (sugar) into the blood for immediate use, your pancreas is then called into action and eventually into overproduction.

Your pancreas produces and secretes the hormone INSULIN to remove glucose out of the blood to be stored in your muscle, liver, and fat cells.

As blood sugar rises, so do your insulin levels. Over time, your body’s cells can become desensitized to too much insulin, leading to a condition you may have heard of called Type 2 Diabetes (insulin resistance).

But before that dreaded day, something more immediate happens that absolutely shatters your energy levels.

Since insulin removes excess sugar from your blood, high blood sugar levels lead to high levels of removal (via insulin), leading to low blood sugar (or hypoglycemia).

When your blood sugar crashes, all “normal” decision making is thrown out the window as all you can think about is “I need sugar. I need sugar.” This is when you start feeling jittery, anxious, and in desperate need of a quick sugar or caffeine fix.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, chronically high and low blood sugar levels also drain your adrenal glands – setting you up for all-day fatigue in the future.

Elevated blood sugar doesn’t just arise from adrenal stimulation either. Eating sugar (in its basic form) or refined carbohydrates (white bread, pastries, etc…) are TWO catalysts that skyrocket your blood sugar (and adrenal stress) almost immediately upon entering your mouth.

Chronic stimulation (ie. stress, sugar, coffee) of your adrenals wears them down and can eventually lead to adrenal fatigue. That’s one of the reasons many people feel “drained” almost instantly when dealing with stress. Their adrenals simply can’t handle it anymore.

Interestingly, sugar and salt cravings become more pronounced with adrenal fatigue as mineral deficiencies and “out of balance” hormones cause unwanted changes in your body.

As this happens, the health of your blood cells begins to weaken. Your oxygen-carrying red blood cells lose their integrity and begin to stick together instead of freely floating through your blood stream.

The result – you feel more lethargic. Heck, if your blood is sluggish, you will be too.

It’s amazing when you think about it…

Eating sugary foods and drinking caffeinated beverages – the very foods that you’ve been led to believe give you energy – on a daily basis are crippling you from the inside-out.

They are ROBBING YOU of energy because they are slowly and surely wearing away at your blood sugar levels, pancreas, adrenal glands, and most other systems in your body.

When the cells, organs, and sytems inside your body become sick and lethargic…
SO DO YOU.

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The 5 best foods to eat before bed (for a flat belly)

You may have heard some trainers or gurus telling you that eating before bed is a big-time “no no” if you’re looking to lose weight. In fact, you’ve probably even heard that eating late at night will undoubtedly cause you to GAIN weight…even worse!

Well, there’s good news… not every food that you eat past 7PM will be automatically deposited to your belly fat, thighs, and love handles.

In fact, there are certain foods that you can eat as a late-night snack that can actually INCREASE your fat loss results through hormonal improvements! The key is knowing which foods to eat, and which to avoid, as the evening progresses.

Here’s a good rule of thumb: Avoid carbs before bed in favor of slow-digesting high-quality protein and healthy fats. Fiber is ok too as long as it’s low in starch or sugars.

Carbohydrate consumption causes significant rise in the storage hormone insulin, which also puts the breaks on fat-burning. That’s a recipe for disaster in the late evening hours as your metabolism is winding down, but fortunately, slow-digesting protein isn’t.

Instead, slow digesting proteins provide your body with a steady flow of amino acids throughout the night to help you recover from exercise and maintain your calorie-burning lean muscle as you lose fat.

Here are some of my top pre-bedtime food choices:

1. White Meat Protein – White meat animal protein sources such as chicken and turkey are great pre-bed meal choices because they digest slowly and have a very low insulin release. These sources also promote the release of another hormone, glucagon, that assists the body with breaking down stored carbs and fat within your body to be burned for energy…a double win!

Having some cooked ground turkey or chicken handy in tupperware in your fridge makes for a quick late night snack whenever you need it… my favorite way is to warm it up and add to a quick lettuce wrap with a little avocado and hot sauce whenever I need a night time snack. A delicious way to aid your metabolism and fat loss efforts!

2. Cottage Cheese – Cottage cheese is very slow digesting and coats the stomach to be assimilated by the body over many hours. As a protein, it also stimulates glucagon release, which as I just mentioned is great for fat loss, making this a good pre-bedtime choice. Just make sure you’re using plain cottage cheese, not the flavored varieties with added sugars. Add some stevia and cinnamon if you need to flavor it up a little!

3. Green Vegetables – While these aren’t considered a protein, they contain virtually no calories (insignificant), are high in fiber, and they’re very filling. Often times when I get a late night craving I eat a big bowl of green veggies and it completely kills my craving…a diet savior to prevent you from giving in to junk foods late night!

4. Almonds, pecans, walnuts, or pistachios – These nuts are not only great sources of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants, but provide the fiber and healthy fats necessary to control your cravings late at night and make sure you don’t give in to junk.

5. A Slow-digesting, Low-carb Protein Shake – I use a slow-digesting protein shake before bed a lot of times. It’s a great dessert alternative that’s much lower in sugar and better for your body. The vast majority of my clients have grown to love the habit as well…who doesn’t love dessert before bed? 🙂 I normally blend the shake with almond butter to get some healthy fats in there, and oh man, it tastes good with the right protein powder.

WARNING: Avoid taking a simple whey protein powder before bed…research has shown that it causes more of an insulin release than white bread! Instead, try this time-released blend that includes a blend of slow-digesting, high-quality proteins.

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How Can You Tell You’re Eating Real Chicken? And Is It Safe to Eat?

The six decades’ old fast food franchise KFC recently rolled out Original Recipe boneless chicken in its 4,500 US locations.1 The new slogan: “No mess. No fuss. No bones about it.”

The company is so convinced boneless chicken is the way of the future that they’re actually considering eliminating on-the-bone chicken from its menu altogether. According to the featured article:

“McDonald’s execs began experimenting with a range of non-burger options: chicken pot-pies, bone-in fried chicken, deep-fried onion chunks. None of them were successful, until they offered customers deep fried chicken chunks. The McNugget was born.

That was 1980, when about 80 percent to 85 percent of chicken consumed in the US was unprocessed… Ten years later, the numbers had almost reversed…

While the rotisserie chicken made a bit of a comeback in the mid-‘90s, the idea of eating the whole bird was, for the most part, a thing of the past… According to internal KFC surveys, nearly four out of five servings of chicken in the US today are off-the-bone, the inverse of 30 years ago.”

Why might this be “a big deal”? Well, for one, processed chicken nuggets, regardless of brand, are far more likely to contain all sorts of additives and fillers you’d be better off without.

For example, I wrote about the questionable ingredients of McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets back in 2010. Only half of Chicken McNuggets are actual meat. The other 50 percent includes corn derivatives, sugars, leavening agents and completely synthetic ingredients.

In a 2003 lawsuit against McDonald’s, Federal Judge Robert Sweet2 even questioned “whether customers understood the risks of eating McDonald’s chicken over regular chicken.” But there’s yet another reason for my questioning the trend of going boneless, and it’s even less savory than that…

The Future of Food: Bioengineered Meat

Few are talking about this, but scientists have been working on bioengineering “cultured” meat for the past decade. According to a September 2011 Huffington Post article,3 scientists at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands claimed to be as little as 12 months away from delivering the world’s first bioengineered synthetic hamburger.

As of this writing, the hamburger has yet to be presented, although I doubt that means the plan has been abandoned.

The article also pointed out that London’s Royal Society had released a global food supply report, in which they called for a synthetic meat solution to feed the world’s growing population without causing environmental destruction.

“The only barriers? Overcoming the social stigma and the RS scientists say it could take another decade before it rolls out to the masses,” the article states.

Then, in February 2012, The Economist4 followed up on the research. Other Dutch scientists, led by Dr. Mark Post at the Eindhoven University in the Netherlands, expressed hopes of decimating animal husbandry altogether by altering how meat for the masses is produced. The article explains how this laboratory-created meat is created:

“Dr. Post’s cultures, grown from stem cells, are sheets 3cm long, 1.5cm wide and half a millimeter deep. To make the world’s most expensive hamburger 3,000 of them will be needed. The stem cells themselves are extracted from cattle muscle and then multiplied a millionfold before they are put in Petri dishes and allowed to turn into muscle cells.

When they have done so, they are encouraged to exercise and build up their strength by being given their own gym equipment (pieces of Velcro to which they can anchor themselves in order to stretch and relax spontaneously). The fatty cells of adipose tissue, needed for juiciness, are grown separately and then combined with the muscle cells before the whole thing is cooked.

Producing meat in Petri dishes is not commercially viable, but Dr. Post hopes to scale things up—first by growing the cells on small spheres floating in tanks and ultimately by using scaffolds made of biodegradable polymer tubes, which would both add the third dimension needed for a juicy steak and provide a way of delivering nutrients and oxygen to the steak’s interior.”

Sure, companies like KFC may have a point when they say they’re just changing their meals to meet the needs of the “chicken nugget generation.” But a side effect of getting used to the idea that chicken meat doesn’t have bones is that, at any point, the meat used in these processed nuggets could be exchanged for bioengineered meat, and no one would be the wiser…

I sincerely doubt bioengineered meat would be advertised, since it’s hardly a selling point—at least in the beginning. What the potential health ramifications might be from eating such meats are completely unknown, but it’s clearly not going to be identical to meat from an animal.

More Data Ties Human Illness to Farm Antibiotics

Seeing how commercially available bioengineered meat is still a ways away from being a reality you have to contend with, let’s bring the focus back to something more relevant to the present day, namely antibiotics in CAFO meats. Animals are often fed antibiotics at low doses for disease prevention and growth promotion. These agricultural uses account for about 80 percent of all antibiotic use in the US,5 so it’s a MAJOR source of human antibiotic consumption.

According to a recent NPR report,6 data published by a joint government program7 from tests conducted on supermarket meat samples collected in 2011 by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, reveals the presence of several disease-causing bacteria, including the super-hardy antibiotic-resistant versions of salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli. According to NPR:8

“The implications were significant — that the bacteria had become resistant to antibiotics back at the farm because farmers were overusing them. The findings, released through the joint program of the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, got little attention when they were published in February. But this week, the Environmental Working Group, which opposes some of the livestock industry’s use of antibiotics, analyzed the government data and highlighted some of their startling implications in a report.”

The report9 in question, aptly named “Superbugs Invade American Supermarkets,” points out that many of the meats tested contained “startlingly high levels” of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on:
•81 percent of ground turkey
•69 percent of pork chops
•55 percent of ground beef
•39 percent of chicken breasts, wings and thighs

Want Safer Meat? Buy Organic Pastured/Grass-Fed

Writing for the New York Times,10 David A. Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1990 to 1997, also recently sounded warning bells over the rise of antibiotic-resistant pathogens in livestock, urging the FDA to take the matter seriously. So far, the agency has only restricted on class of antibiotics, cephalosporin, from routine use in livestock.11

“While the FDA can see what kinds of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are coming out of livestock facilities, the agency doesn’t know enough about the antibiotics that are being fed to these animals,” he writes. “This is a major public health problem, because giving healthy livestock these drugs breeds superbugs that can infect people. We need to know more about the use of antibiotics in the production of our meat and poultry. The results could be a matter of life and death.”

The misuse of antibiotics in livestock has now become “a direct source of foodborne illness,” EWG points out. Worse yet, because animals are given these antibiotics continuously, in low doses, pathogens are becoming increasingly resistant to the drugs, which means they no longer work to treat human disease either. The end result is that people are dying from infections that were once easily treatable.

Despite this, organic foods, which are by law produced without such pathogen-promoting methods, are the ones being consistently targeted “for safety reasons.” The truth of the matter is, conventionally grown mass-produced foods pose the greatest danger to your health, in multiple ways, and are the ones to be avoided if you’re at all concerned about food safety.

“To be safe, consumers should treat all meat as if it may be contaminated, mainly by cooking thoroughly and using safe shopping and kitchen practices (see EWG’s downloadable Tips to Avoiding Superbugs in Meat),”12 EWG suggests.13

One of the best ways to avoid contaminated meat is to avoid meat from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), aka “factory farms,” and buying organic, pastured or grass-fed meats instead. Growth promoters such as antibiotics are not permitted in organic animal farming, and organically-raised animals are also healthier as a result of being pastured, so overall you’re getting far “cleaner,” healthier meat.

Organic, Cage-Free, Free-Range, or Pasture-Raised?

When it comes to chicken, there are a number of designations floating around, such as “organic,” “free-range,” “pastured” and “cage-free.” But while you may think these are interchangeable, they’re actually not. In many ways these labels are little more than creative advertising.

The definitions of “free-range” are such that the commercial egg industry can run industrial farm egg laying facilities and still call them “free-range” eggs, despite the fact that the birds’ foraging conditions are far from what you’d call natural. For example, regulations on the use of the term “free-range” do not specify the amount of time the hens must spend outdoors or the amount of outdoor space each hen must have access to. Nor do they indicate that the hen must have access to a pasture diet.

True free-range hens (and eggs), now increasingly referred to as “pasture-raised,” are from hens that roam freely outdoors on a pasture where they can forage for their natural diet, which includes seeds, green plants, insects, and worms.

Large commercial egg facilities typically house tens of thousands of hens and can even go up to hundreds of thousands of hens. Obviously they cannot allow all of them to forage freely. They can still be called “cage-free” or “free-range” though, if they’re not confined to an individual cage. But these labels say nothing about the conditions they ARE raised in, which are still deplorable. So, while flimsy definitions of “free range” and “cage-free” allow such facilities to sell their products as free range, please beware that a hen that is let outside into a barren lot for mere minutes a day, and is fed a diet of corn, soy, cottonseed meals and synthetic additives is NOT a free-range hen, and simply will not produce the same quality meat and/or eggs as its foraging counterpart.

Certified organic poultry is also the only poultry product that is 100 percent guaranteed to be antibiotic-free.14

So to summarize, what you’re really looking for is chicken and eggs that are both certified organic and true pasture-raised. Barring organic certification, which is cost-prohibitive for many small farmers, you could just make sure the farmer raises his chickens according to organic, free-range standards, allowing his flock to forage freely for their natural diet, and aren’t fed antibiotics, corn and soy. Last year, I visited Joel Salatin at his Polyface farm in Virginia. He’s truly one of the pioneers in sustainable agriculture, and you can take a virtual tour through his pasture-raised chicken farm operation in the following video.

Shopping Guidelines for Real, Health-Promoting Food

It is very difficult to control the quality of your food if you’re eating in a restaurant, which is why I recommend that you prepare the vast majority of your food yourself. If you’re going to occasionally dine out, you would be best served to avoid fast food places. Reclaiming your kitchen is part and parcel of healthful living, so you know exactly what you’re putting in your body. Whether you are grocery shopping or looking for dining options, the table that follows lists criteria to look for in identifying high-quality, health-promoting foods. If the food meets these criteria, it is most likely a wise choice and would fall under the designation of “real food.”

Grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers (organic foods fit this description, but so do some non-organic foods)

Not genetically modified

Contains no added growth hormones, antibiotics, or other drugs

Does not contain any artificial ingredients, including chemical preservatives

Fresh (keep in mind that if you have to choose between wilted organic produce or fresh conventional produce, the latter may be the better option)

Did not come from a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO)

Grown with the laws of nature in mind (meaning animals are fed their native diets, not a mix of grains and animal byproducts, and have free access to the outdoors)

Grown in a sustainable way (using minimal amounts of water, protecting the soil from burnout, and turning animal wastes into natural fertilizers instead of environmental pollutants)

If you’re “hooked” on fast food and other processed foods, please review my article about how to wean yourself off fast food in seven easy steps. If you’re currently sustaining yourself on fast food and processed foods, this is probably the most positive life change you could ever make.

And if you have children, remember that feeding your children home cooked meals can have far reaching benefits, extending even to your future grandchildren. Yes, that’s right! It is now well known that dietary changes can prompt epigenetic DNA changes that can be passed on to future generations. For instance, pregnant rats fed a fatty junk food diet had daughters and granddaughters with a greater risk of breast cancer. Making wise food decisions can literally “override” genetic predispositions for disease.

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Analysis Identifies Shocking Problems with Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered Corn

I’ve warned you of the potential dangers of genetically engineered (GE) foods for many years now, pointing out that such crops might have wholly unforeseen consequences. In recent years, such suspicions have increasingly proven correct.

One of the latest pieces of evidence supporting the suspicion that GE crops are in no way, shape or form comparable to their natural counterparts is a nutritional analysis that shows just how different they really are.

Inherent differences are essentially implied by the fact that GE crop seeds can be patented in the first place. And in many ways, I believe Monsanto is slowly but surely inching its way toward patenting nature itself, in the same way others are fighting to maintain patent rights for human DNA.1

These companies are trying to patent “life,” and they likely will unless they’re stopped by the courts. But it’s quite clear that humans cannot outsmart nature.

The latest nutritional analysis of GE corn couldn’t be more relevant as the recently passed Agricultural Appropriations Bill (HR9332) included a hotly detested provision (Section 735) that places Monsanto above the law. As noted by the featured article:3

“With the recent passing of the Monsanto Protection Act, there is no question that mega corporations like Monsanto are able to wield enough power to even surpass that of the United States government.

The new legislation provides Monsanto with a legal safeguard against federal courts striking down any pending review of dangerous genetically modified crops. It is ironic to see the passing of such a bill in the face of continuous releases of GMO dangers.”

At present, the only way to avoid GMOs is to ditch processed foods from your grocery list, and revert back to whole foods grown according to organic standards.

Analysis Finds Monsanto’s GE Corn Nutritionally Inferior and High in Toxins

A report given to MomsAcrossAmerica4 by an employee of De Dell Seed Company (Canada’s only non-GMO corn seed company) offers a stunning picture of the nutritional differences between genetically engineered (GE) and non-GE corn. Clearly, the former is NOT equivalent to the latter, which is the very premise by which genetically engineered crops were approved in the first place.

Here’s a small sampling of the nutritional differences found in this 2012 nutritional analysis:
•Calcium: GMO corn = 14 ppm / Non-GMO corn = 6,130 ppm (437 times more)
•Magnesium: GMO corn = 2 ppm / Non-GMO corn = 113 ppm (56 times more)
•Manganese: GMO corn = 2 ppm / Non-GMO corn = 14 ppm (7 times more)

GMO corn was also found to contain 13 ppm of glyphosate, compared to zero in non-GMO corn. This is quite significant and well worth remembering.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “safe” level for glyphosate in American water supplies is 0.7 ppm. In Europe, the maximum allowable level in water is 0.2 ppm. Organ damage in animals has occurred at levels as low as 0.1 ppm… At 13 ppm, GMO corn contains more than 18 times the “safe” level of glyphosate set by the EPA.

This is truly disturbing when you consider the fact that in countries like Argentina, glyphosate is blamed for the dramatic increase in devastating birth defects as well as cancer. Sterility and miscarriages are also increasing. This may be due to its similarity to DDT, which is well-known to cause reproductive problems, among other things.

Another health hazard associated with glyphosate is its effect on gut bacteria. Not only does it promote the growth of more virulent pathogens, it also kills off beneficial bacteria that might keep such pathogens in check—both in the soil, and in the gut of animals or humans that ingest the contaminated crop.

It’s important to understand that the glyphosate actually becomes systemic throughout the plant, so it cannot be washed off. It’s inside the plant. And once you eat it, it ends up in your gut where it can wreak total havoc with your health, considering the fact that 80 percent of your immune system resides there and is dependent on a healthy ratio of good and bad bacteria.

An additional disturbing piece of information is that GMO corn contained extremely high levels of formaldehyde. According to Dr. Huber, at least one study found that 0.97 ppm of ingested formaldehyde was toxic to animals. GMO corn contains a staggering 200 times that amount! Perhaps it’s no wonder that animals, when given a choice, avoid genetically engineered feed.

Next Up: Genetically Engineered Apples, Using New GE Technique

Besides so-called Roundup Ready crops, genetically engineered to resist otherwise lethal doses of glyphosate, there are other types of GE food crops. Another equally troublesome one is Bt crops, engineered in such a way as to contain a toxic protein within the plant itself. These were created by inserting a foreign gene into the plant in question.

Now we’re looking at yet another type of genetic engineering technology: RNA interference (RNAi), also known as post transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS).

According to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA),5 apples modified using this technique are slated for approval by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) sometime this year. The apple will not require approval by the FDA, which is responsible for human food and animal feed. It only needs approval by the USDA, which is responsible for protecting agriculture from pests and plant diseases.

The new GMO Arctic® Apple does not turn brown when sliced or bitten into. For the cosmetic “advantage” of these genetically engineered apples, you get to be a test subject for yet another untested genetic modification technology. How’s that for a bargain?

According to OCA, non-organic apples are already among the most pesticide-laden foods sold. In the Pesticide Action Network’s analysis of the most recent USDA data, apples tested positive for 42 different pesticides, including two endocrine disrupting pesticides (organophosphate and pyrethroid). The additional risk of untested tinkering with the RNA is not a step in the right direction if we want safer, healthier foods. The OCA writes:6

“[U]nlike the case with GMO corn or salmon, scientists aren’t injecting pesticides or genes from foreign plants or animals into the genes of apples to create the Frankenapple. While most existing genetically engineered plants are designed to make new proteins, the Arctic Apple is engineered to produce a form of genetic information called double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). The new dsRNA alters the way genes are expressed. The result, in the Arctic Apple’s case, is a new double strand of RNA that genetically ‘silences’ the apple’s ability to produce polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that causes the apple to turn brown when it’s exposed to oxygen.

Harmless? The biotech industry, OSF and some scientists say yes. But others, including Professor Jack Heinemann (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Sarah Agapito-Tenfen (from Santa Catarina University in Brazil) and Judy Carman (Flinders University in South Australia), say that dsRNA manipulation is untested, and therefore inherently risky.

Recent research has shown that dsRNAs can transfer from plants to humans and other animals through food. The biotech industry has always claimed that genetically engineered DNA or RNA is destroyed by human digestion, eliminating the danger of these mutant organisms damaging human genes or human health. But many biotech scientists say otherwise. They point to evidence that the manipulated RNA finds its way into our digestive systems and bloodstreams, potentially damaging or silencing vital human genes.”

OCA also points out the indirect health consequences. The chemical compound used in the RNA manipulation process is one that also combats plant pests. So what might conceivably happen when you compromise the fruit’s ability to fend off insects? As noted by OCA, most likely, growers will have to start using more pesticides—on a fruit that’s already among the most heavily sprayed. In the end, all those pesticides end up in your body and, certainly, avoiding toxic exposures is important if you want to protect your health.

Despite What You Are Told GE Crops Are NOT the ‘Most Tested’ Product in the World

It’s important to realize that genetically engineered (GE) foods have never been proven safe for human consumption over a lifetime, let alone over generations. Monsanto and its advocates claim genetically engineered crops are “the most-tested food product that the world has ever seen.” What they don’t tell you is that:
a.Industry-funded research predictably affects the outcome of the trial. This has been verified by dozens of scientific reviews comparing funding with the findings of the study. When industry funds the research, it’s virtually guaranteed to be positive. Therefore, independent studies must be done to replicate and thus verify results
b.The longest industry-funded animal feeding study was 90 days, which recent research has confirmed is FAR too short. In the world’s first independently funded lifetime feeding study, massive health problems set in during and after the 13th month, including organ damage and cancer
c.Companies like Monsanto and Syngenta rarely if ever allow independent researchers access to their patented seeds, citing the legal protection these seeds have under patent laws. Hence, independent research is extremely difficult or nearly impossible to conduct. If these scientists get seeds from a farmer, they sue them into oblivion as one of their favorite tactics is to use the legal system to their advantage. Additionally, virtually all academic agricultural research is controlled by Monsanto as they are the primary supporters of these departments and none will risk losing their funding from them
d.There is no safety monitoring. Meaning, once the GE item in question has been approved, not a single country on earth is actively monitoring and tracking reports of potential health effects

Middle School Student’s Brilliant Experiment

Speaking of research; while there’s no research to support the long-term safety of GMOs, studies do show that organic foods are safer than their conventional counterparts in terms of toxic exposure, and likely far more nutritious as well.

Three years ago, middle school student Ria Chhabra created a science fair project to help settle a debate between her parents, revolving around whether or not organic foods have merit. Now 16 and a sophomore at Clark High School in Plano, Texas, Ria’s continued research into the effect of organic food on fruit flies has earned her top honors in a national science competition, and her work was recently published in the respected scientific journal, PloS One.7 As reported by the New York Times:8

“The research, titled Organically Grown Food Provides Health Benefits to Drosophila Melanogaster, tracked the effects of organic and conventional diets on the health of fruit flies. By nearly every measure, including fertility, stress resistance and longevity, flies that fed on organic bananas and potatoes fared better than those who dined on conventionally raised produce.

While the results can’t be directly extrapolated to human health, the research nonetheless paves the way for additional studies on the relative health benefits of organic versus conventionally grown food…

The difference in outcomes among the flies fed different diets could be due to the effects of pesticide and fungicide residue from conventionally raised foods. Or it could be that the organic-fed flies thrived because of a higher level of nutrients in the organic produce. One intriguing idea raises the question of whether organically raised plants produce more natural compounds to ward off pests and fungi, and whether those compounds offer additional health benefits to flies, animals and humans who consume organic foods.”

While the scientific merit of organic food continues to be studied and debated among scientists and laypeople alike, the issue has been settled in the Chhabra household. According to Ria, all the fresh produce the family buys is now organic.

Keep Fighting for Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods

While California Prop. 37 failed to pass last November, by a very narrow margin, the fight for GMO labeling is far from over. The field-of-play has now moved to the state of Washington, where the people’s initiative 522, “The People’s Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act,” will require food sold in retail outlets to be labeled if it contains genetically engineered ingredients. As stated on LabelitWA.org:

“Calorie and nutritional information were not always required on food labels. But since 1990 it has been required and most consumers use this information every day. Country-of-origin labeling wasn’t required until 2002. The trans fat content of foods didn’t have to be labeled until 2006. Now, all of these labeling requirements are accepted as important for consumers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also says we must know with labeling if our orange juice is from fresh oranges or frozen concentrate.

Doesn’t it make sense that genetically engineered foods containing experimental viral, bacterial, insect, plant or animal genes should be labeled, too? Genetically engineered foods do not have to be tested for safety before entering the market. No long-term human feeding studies have been done. The research we have is raising serious questions about the impact to human health and the environment.

I-522 provides the transparency people deserve. I-522 will not raise costs to consumers or food producers. It simply would add more information to food labels, which manufacturers change routinely anyway, all the time. I-522 does not impose any significant cost on our state. It does not require the state to conduct label surveillance, or to initiate or pursue enforcement. The state may choose to do so, as a policy choice, but I-522 was written to avoid raising costs to the state or consumers.”

Remember, as with CA Prop. 37, they need support of people like YOU to succeed. Prop. 37 failed with a very narrow margin simply because we didn’t have the funds to counter the massive ad campaigns created by the No on 37 camp, led by Monsanto and other major food companies. Let’s not allow Monsanto and its allies to confuse and mislead the people of Washington and Vermont as they did in California. So please, I urge you to get involved and help in any way you can, regardless of what state you live in.
•No matter where you live in the United States, please donate money to these labeling efforts through the Organic Consumers Fund.
•If you live in Washington State, please sign the I-522 petition. You can also volunteer to help gather signatures across the state.
•For timely updates on issues relating to these and other labeling initiatives, please join the Organic Consumers Association on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.
•Talk to organic producers and stores and ask them to actively support the Washington initiative.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Only about one-quarter of American adults eat three or more servings of vegetables a day. If you are in the majority who does not, you are missing out on major benefits, as consuming fresh vegetables is one of the key cornerstones to optimal health.

Although I am convinced virtually everyone would benefit from some animal protein in their diet, I firmly believe we all need to eat large amounts of fresh, high-quality vegetables every day to achieve high-level health. Some of us need far more than others.

Most vegetables are not very calorie dense and as a result they probably should constitute the bulk of your diet by volume. Even though my diet is 70 percent fat by calories, if you were to spread out all the food I eat in a day, the largest volume of food would be vegetables.

There is little that compares to the nutritional value of organic, raw vegetables, and according to new research, eating your greens may be even more important than previously imagined.

The Importance of Eating Your Greens

Researchers at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s Molecular Immunology division have discovered1 that a gene, called T-bet, which is essential for producing critical immune cells in your gut, responds to the food you eat—specifically leafy green vegetables. According to the press release:2

“The immune cells, named innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), are found in the lining of the digestive system and protect the body from ‘bad’ bacteria in the intestine.

They are also believed to play an important role in controlling food allergies, inflammatory diseases and obesity, and may even prevent the development of bowel cancers.

… [T]he research team revealed T-bet was essential for generating a subset of ILCs which is a newly discovered cell type that protects the body against infections entering through the digestive system.

‘In this study, we discovered that T-bet is the key gene that instructs precursor cells to develop into ILCs, which it does in response to signals in the food we eat and to bacteria in the gut,’ Dr Belz said. ‘ILCs are essential for immune surveillance of the digestive system and this is the first time that we have identified a gene responsible for the production of ILCs.’”

ILCs are thought to be essential for:
•Maintaining balance between tolerance, immunity and inflammation in your body
•Producing interleukin-22 (IL-22), a hormone that can protect your body from pathogenic bacteria
•Maintaining healthy intestinal balance by promoting growth of beneficial bacteria and healing small wounds and abrasions in the gut
•Helping resolve cancerous lesions

More Reasons to Eat Your Veggies

Vegetables contain an array of antioxidants and other disease-fighting compounds that are very difficult to get anywhere else. Plant chemicals called phytochemicals can reduce inflammation and eliminate carcinogens, while others regulate the rate at which your cells reproduce, get rid of old cells and maintain DNA. Studies have repeatedly shown that people with higher vegetable intake have:

Lower risks of stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease

Lower risks of certain types of cancer, eye diseases and digestive problems

Reduced risk of kidney stones and bone loss

Higher scores on cognitive tests

Higher antioxidant levels

Lower biomarkers for oxidative stress

Further, if you eat your veggies raw, you’ll also be receiving biophotons, the smallest physical units of light, which are stored in, and used by all biological organisms — including your body. Vital sun energy finds its way into your cells via the food you eat, in the form of these biophotons. They contain important bio-information, which controls complex vital processes in your body. The biophotons have the power to order and regulate, and, in doing so, to elevate the organism — in this case, your physical body — to a higher oscillation or order. Generally, the more sunlight a food is able to store, the more nutritious it is.

Naturally-grown fresh vegetables, raw sprouts, and sun-ripened fruits are rich in light energy. Ideally, look for fresh, non-GMO produce that is organically grown on a local farm in your area. Choose the vegetables that appear freshest first, and consume them raw shortly after purchase for optimal benefits.

If you can’t obtain organic, conventionally-grown vegetables are better than none! Just take extra care with non-organic vegetables by washing them thoroughly and removing peels and cores when possible to minimize your exposure to pesticides. Certain fruits and vegetables also tend to be far more contaminated than others simply because they’re more susceptible to various infestations and therefore sprayed more heavily. Some foods are also more “absorbent,” with thin, tender skins. Such foods would be high on your list for buying organic.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) produces an annual shopper’s guide to pesticides in produce3 that you can download. It lists the produce with the highest and lowest levels of pesticide residue, which can help save you money if you can’t afford to buy everything organic.

Reasons to Eat Sprouts, a Living Food with Amazing Health Benefits

Sprouts are a “super” food that many overlook. In addition to their nutritional profile, sprouts are also easy to grow on your own. I started sprouting seeds in ball jars 10 to 15 years ago. A Care2 article published last year4 listed 10 reasons for eating sprouts, including the following. For the rest, please see the original article:
•Sprouts can contain up to 100 times more enzymes than raw fruits and vegetables, allowing your body to extract more vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fats from the foods you eat
•Both the quality of the protein and the fiber content of beans, nuts, seeds and grains improves when sprouted
•The content of vitamins and essential fatty acids also increase dramatically during the sprouting process. For example, depending on the sprout, the nutrient content can increase as much as 30 times the original value within just a few days of sprouting. Sunflower seed and pea sprouts tend to top the list of all the seeds that you can sprout and are typically each about 30 times more nutritious than organic vegetables you can even harvest in your backyard garden
•During sprouting, minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, bind to protein, making them more bioavailable
•Sprouts are the ultimate locally-grown food, and can easily be grown in your own kitchen, so you know exactly what you’re eating. And since they’re very inexpensive, cost is no excuse for avoiding them

Planting and Harvesting Sprouts at Home

I used to grow sprouts in Ball jars over ten years ago but stopped doing that. I am strongly convinced that actually growing them in soil is far easier and produces far more nutritious and abundant food. It is also less time consuming. With Ball jars you need to rinse them several times a day to prevent mold growth. Also takes up less space. I am now consuming one whole tray you see below every 2-3 days and to produce that much food with Ball jars I would need dozens of jars. I simply don’t have the time or patience for that. I am in the process of compiling more specific detailed videos for future articles but I thought I would whet your appetite and give you a preview with the photos below.

About to plant Wheat grass and Sunflower seeds – 2 days after soaking

Wheat grass and Sunflower seeds – 3 ½ days post germination.

Sunflower seeds and Pea sprouts – 3 days until ready for harvest.

Sunflower seed sprouts and Wheat Grass – ready to harvest.

Sprouts as Medicine

Sprouts-as-medicine.com5 is a good source for things relating to sprouts: their health benefits, recipes, and how to grow your own. The British verticalveg.org6 is another. The latter gives helpful growing tips for each month of the year. One of the benefits of sprouts is that you can grow them year-round, even when it’s cold and dark. The article 6 Easy Steps to Sprout Heaven7 teaches you how to grow your own sprouts, from start to finish. While you can sprout a variety of different beans, nuts, seeds and grains, sprouts in general have the following beneficial attributes:
•Support for cell regeneration
•Powerful sources of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and enzymes that protect against free radical damage
•Alkalinizing effect on your body, which is thought to protect against disease, including cancer (as many tumors are acidic)
•Abundantly rich in oxygen, which can also help protect against abnormal cell growth, viruses and bacteria that cannot survive in an oxygen-rich environment

Common Sprouts and Their Superior Nutritional Profiles

Some of the most commonly sprouted beans, nuts, seeds and grains include:

Broccoli: known to have anti-cancer properties, courtesy of the enzyme “sulforaphane”

Alfalfa: a significant dietary source of phytoestrogens. Also a good source of vitamins A, B, C, D, E, F, and K

Wheat grass: high in vitamins B, C, E and many minerals

Mung bean: good source of protein, fiber, vitamin C and A

Clover : significant source of isoflavones

Lentil sprouts: contain 26 percent protein, and can be eaten without cooking

Sunflower: contains, minerals, healthy fats, essential fatty acids, fiber, and phytosterols. It’s also one of the highest in protein

Pea shoots: good source of vitamins A, C and folic acid and one of the highest in protein

My two favorites are pea and sunflower sprouts. They provide some of the highest quality protein you can eat. They have radically improved the nutrition of my primary meal, which is a salad at lunch. They are a perfect complement to fermented vegetables. It is hard to imagine a healthier combination that provides the essentials of nutrition very inexpensively.

I plan on producing some videos on how to grow them later this year but for now you can get instructions on how to grow them by viewing a step-by-step guide at rawfoods-livingfoods.com.8

Vegetarians in Paradise9 offers an in-depth write-up on the history and health benefits associated with sunflower seeds. Of the seeds, sunflower seeds are among the best in terms of nutritional value, and sprouting them will augment their nutrient content by as much as 300 to 1,200 percent! Similarly, sprouting peas will improve the bioavailability of zinc and magnesium. Sprouted sunflower seeds also contain plenty of iron and chlorophyll, the latter of which will help detoxify your blood and liver. The phytosterols in sprouted sunflower seeds can help enhance your immune system. According to Vegetarians in Paradise:

“One of the richest sources of protein, 3 1/2 ounces (100 grams) of sprouted sunflower seeds contains 22.78 grams. The mineral content soars in the sprouted state. That 3 1/2 ounces (100 grams) offers a notable 116 mg of calcium, 5.06 mg of zinc, 689 mg of potassium, 1.75 mg copper, and 354 mg of magnesium.

Vitamins increase during sprouting when the seeds are producing a new life. Vitamin A increases to 50,000 IU, and Vitamin E offers 52.18 mg, while vitamin D provides 92.0 IU for 3 1/2 ounces (100 grams). The vitamin B family offers niacin at 4.50 mg, riboflavin at 0.25 mg, and thiamin at 2.29 mg. Sprouted sunflower seeds are also a rich source of iron, providing 6.77 mg for 31/2 ounces (100 grams) that can be a benefit to people with anemia.”

Simple Ways to Increase Your Veggies

Two of the easiest and most efficient ways to optimize your vegetable intake is to juice your vegetables and add sprouted seeds. Not only will juicing help your body absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables by making them easily digestible, but you’re also avoiding the risk of damaging any of their sensitive micronutrients through cooking. Cooking and processing food destroys many micronutrients by altering their shape and chemical composition. And the sprouting process tends to increase nutrient content and bioavailability of nutrients. Sprouts also contain valuable enzymes that allow your body to absorb and use the nutrients of all other foods you eat.

Another benefit of juicing is that it allows you to add a wider variety of vegetables to your diet that you might not normally enjoy eating whole. This way, you’re working with the principle of regular food rotation, which will lessen your chances of developing food allergies. For more in-depth guidelines and information about juicing, I recommend you review the juicing section of my nutrition plan.

But whatever method you choose, juiced, whole, sprouted or cooked, please make it a point to eat your veggies. This is one food group that is incredibly diverse, so there’s a wide variety to choose from and plenty to suit virtually everyone’s tastes. And mounting evidence shows that eating vegetables every day is a cornerstone of good health, and a habit that can go a very long way toward preventing disease of all kinds, including cancer.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.