Rather Be Healthy

The government and the media tell you to eat MORE wheat… they call it phrases like “wholesome and healthy”. But more and more scientists, nutritionists, and researchers are finding very troubling health issues related to wheat components that most people are eating in almost every meal.

Is Modern Wheat Making You Fat and Sick?
by TheAlternativeDaily.com

Our hunter gatherer ancestors collected all they could from the ground for food including insects, berries, nuts, etc. In their gathering, they found that the animals were eating grass, and they became curious. They broke it down and somehow incorporated wild wheat into their diet. This grass was called Einkorn and had only 14 chromosomes.

Plants can mate with each other and combine chromosomes. At some point in time, the wild grass Einkorn mated with another type of wild grass and the offspring Emmer ended up with 28 chromosomes – this is the wheat that is mentioned in the Bible. However, this is not the wheat of today, that is for sure.

In the Middle Ages bread was a staple and very common food. Emmer mated with another grass which contributed more chromosomes to result in Spelt, Triticum landraces with 42 chromosomes.

In 1960, when the threat of world population explosion was imminent, there was an investment made in agricultural research where lots of money and time were devoted to new ways to increase wheat yield. At this time, different strains of wheat were crossed over and over again to select certain characteristics and to introduce unique genes.

The resulting wheat yielded up to 10 times more per acre. When this wheat was introduced to many third world countries, famine was greatly reduced within one year. Dr. Norman Borlaug received the Nobel Peace prize for his work creating this high yield strain of wheat.

Because this wheat is so prolific, it has taken over almost all of the world’s wheat supply. There are also about a million acres of what is known as Clearfield Wheat being grown in the Pacific Northwest. It is a semi dwarf strain of wheat that has had its seed and embryos exposed to a chemical, sodium azide, which is an industrial toxin.

The makers of Clearfield wheat claim that their wheat is a result of “enhanced, traditional plant breeding techniques,” making a distinction between genetically modified wheat. However, although no gene splicing techniques were used, many other methods were, such as the purposeful induction of mutations using chemicals, high dose x-ray and radiation techniques to induce mutations coupled with cross breeding. These methods might be far worse than genetic modification, according to Dr. William Davis, author of the book, Wheat Belly.

The government says eat more wheat – what is up with that?

The government tells us that we need to eat more grain, which generally means more wheat. In the food pyramid, we are advised to eat 60% of calories from grains like wheat. The new food plate design also tells us to get at least 1/4 of our calories from wheat. Here is why we need to stop listening to what our government is telling us about the food pyramid:

Modern Wheat is a Serious Appetite Stimulant

It is estimated that up to 10% of the population has a sensitivity to the protein in wheat known as gluten (some estimate it may be higher, closer to 30%). However, the other 90% of people who consume wheat really should not be eating it either. Here are a few reasons why:

Gluten is a two part protein that is comprised of gliadin plus glutenin. Glutenin has a unique elasticity that gives us the ability to stretch our pizza or bread dough or even spin it over our heads, if we are inclined to do so. Gliadin, the other part of the gluten protein, was heavily studied in the 1970′s by psychiatrists who found that if they took all of the wheat out of the diet of their patients with schizophrenia, they improved markedly.

When they put the wheat back, they found that the condition worsened. So the question asked was what was in bread that led schizophrenics to hallucinate? It was traced back to the gliadin protein which, when ingested, enters the brain and binds to opiate receptors where it stimulates appetite.

In addition, gliadin, acting like an opiate in the brain, has other disastrous effects. For example, people with ADHD become hypersensitive and have behavioral outbursts, people with schizophrenia have major hallucinations, people who are bipolar become increasingly manic and those with eating disorders, such as binge eating, will develop food obsessions.

By 1985, everything at the supermarket with wheat in it came from the prolific semi-dwarf strain or a spinoff. Interestingly enough, if you compare what happened to America’s weight prior to and after 1985 it is evident that there was an obesity explosion that is still happening today shortly after the “new” wheat was introduced.

A huge increase in the number of diabetics also followed. Although cause and effect cannot be proven scientifically – it seems evident that we have all been fed an appetite stimulant.

Modern Wheat Destroys Blood Sugar

Two slices of whole wheat bread raise blood sugar higher than 6 teaspoons of table sugar. How does this happen when whole wheat is considered a complex carbohydrate that we are encouraged to eat more of? The complex carbohydrate of wheat is called Amylopectin A, which is highly sensitive to amylase, which we have in our stomach and mouth. This makes it very easy to digest and raises blood sugar rapidly — even more rapidly and to a higher extent than pure table sugar. Wheat for breakfast, wheat for lunch and wheat for snacks results in visceral fat that encircles the intestines, heart, liver and kidneys. Repetitive high blood sugar over and over results in what Dr. Davis calls a “wheat belly.”

Modern Wheat Causes Inflammation

When bacteria or a virus enters the body our immune system responds in many ways. Plants do not have the same type of immune system, but they have lectins which are proteins that are toxic to mold, fungi and insects. Some lectins are benign to humans like the lectin found in spinach while some are very toxic. The lectin in wheat (Wheat Germ Agglutinin) is a four part complex molecule.

When this lectin is isolated and given to rats in very small amounts, it destroys the small intestine. Average Americans consume about 10-20 mg of the wheat lectin in a day, that’s enough to do significant damage.

When we consume wheat the gliadin protein unlocks the normal intestinal barrier and allows foreign substances entry into the bloodstream – substances such as wheat lectin. This is why people who eat wheat have autoimmune and inflammatory distress such as joint inflammation, bowel inflammation, acid reflux, inflammation of the brain, inflammation of the airways etc. In fact, there is not one system that escapes the inflammatory assault of wheat.

What Happens When We Remove Wheat From Our Diet?

First of all, taking wheat out of the diet is not as easy as might think – it is in a lot of foods – even ones we would not associate with having wheat. For example, wheat is in Twizzlers, Campbells Tomato Soup, taco seasoning, frozen dinners, cereals, salad dressings, granola bars and a lot more. Why is there wheat in so many products?

In 1960, we could find wheat only in things where we would expect to find wheat – breads, pastas, pancake mix, etc. Today is an entirely different story – wheat is in all kinds of foods where we would not expect to find it.

Is it possible that food manufacturers know a little something about wheat as an appetite stimulant (on top of the fact that is it heavily subsidized by our government and therefore artificially inexpensive)?

Impact of a Wheat-Free Diet

Dr. Davis tells us that taking wheat out of the diet will result in the following:

• Improved weight loss
• Reduced appetite
• Lowered blood sugar
• Reduced joint pain
• Reduced inflammation
• Improvement in cognitive function
• Reduced anxiety
• Reduced food obsessions
• Reduced blood pressure
• Reduced triglycerides
• Increased energy
• Improved sleep

What About Gluten-Free?

Although going gluten free is a good thing because you avoid problems with gluten and gliadin, wheat germ agglutinin and amylopectin A, gluten-free foods contain other potentially harmful ingredients, mainly potato starch, rice starch, tapioca starch and corn starch. These are the only foods that raise blood sugar almost just as high as the amylopectin A found in wheat.

Warning: If you choose to be gluten free, avoid the commercial gluten free products, at least until you educate yourself on the differences between the various gluten free products on the market.

(Mike’s note: If you choose gluten-free products, look for products made from nut flours, coconut flour, and bean flours as opposed to rice flours, tapioco, corn and potato starch… my good friend Kelley Herring shows you how to make amazing gluten-free and low-carb desserts here, which all use healthy low-carb, high-fiber flours and natural sweeteners instead of the blood sugar disasters that are most gluten-free products on the market today)

What Can I Eat?

Eat real, single ingredient non-grain foods as much as possible. You can focus most of your diet on nuts, healthy fats, organic fruits/vegetables, grass-fed beef, organic chicken and turkey, wild caught salmon, cheese, organic eggs, coconuts, avocados, seeds, olive and hemp oils as well as a variety of other foods that are in their natural state. The more processed and refined a food is, the more likely it contains wheat and other byproducts of the refinement process that are just too dangerous to your health.

This is my fourth/fifth day of raw food, so far I’ve been limiting my intake of processed foods to one meal per day, the others being comprised of fruits and veggies blended to make a green smoothie.

Each day so far I’ve been feeling great upon waking and for the early part of the day. When I first wake which tends to be around 6.3o am I’m starting with a couple of pint glasses of warm lemon water before I get out of bed, Thermos is wonderful.

Next I’m having a couple of glasses of water with Sole…..So-lay which is made from Himalayan crystal’s.

My first shake consists of Spinach, Kale, Carrot, Tomato’s and Apple, doesn’t sound good but actually tastes fine.

My lunch shake is similar but a higher content of spinach and kale.

Now I mentioned ealier that I was feeling really good for the first half of the day, but inexplicably I’ve felt quite weak from mid afternoon for a few hours. My thoughts have revolved around limited water and the temperature. When my limited brain function thought this I rectified this and within an hour felt a lot better.

I’ve had a HBOT this morning so I limit my water knowing when I’m in the chamber, I’m in for 90 mins so there is no chance of a loo break.

But all in all I’m optimistic about the therapy and diet…

Next week will be interesting as I’m going to have 19 out of 21 meals will be raw food, wish me luck..

Stefan..

Over the years I’ve come across a lot of people telling me they were “Raw foodist’s” so it’s not new to me, however working as I did for Dr. Hal Huggins for three and a half years I was able to expand my knowledge of nutrition and disease’s in a way very few people can.

I studied and read Huggins, Levy and many other well respected and knowledable experts in this field, my opinions were based on the incredible work done by these people and I believe now I have a good understanding of health in general.

However the problems and health issue’s I’ve been struggling with for fourteen years are frustrating and very limiting to me, I’ve had the dental revision by one of the best dentist’s in the world, I’ve been through body chemistry rebalancing and yes they have enabled me to continue with life. So although I’ve kept my MS at bay to a certain extent, it’s slowly becoming more and more debilitating as the years roll on.

So a few days ago I started researchin the raw food diet, I was quite amazed at the information I was reading and even more so watching video testimonials from MS sufferers who had experience quite amazing changes by eliminating all processed food. I decided on Sunday  (3 days ago) that I would make the changes necessary to do this and see for myself if this is the best way to go.

I firmly believe that you can do anything you want if you truly want to enough, yes I’ll miss some foods initially but if only takes a matter of weeks for the body to become totally accustomed to differrent foods.

At the end of the day I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. This first week I’m two meals raw each day then next week I’ll only have processed food in the evening on three days then the third week will be all raw food all week.

In two days since I’ve started I’ve noticed suble improvements so physically I’m feeling good and mentally feeling so optimistic.

I’ll update this blog several times each week or more.

The following post is about the horrible and ridiculous situation that now infests a lot of  countries around the world.

The US is the main culprit when it comes to allowing our children to constantly eat empty calories, or foods with no nutritional value whatsoever. Actually it’s worse than that it’s poisoning our kids and condeming them to a shorter and less rewarding life.

How are we doing this…simply by reading and watching and believing the lies constantly told through advertising. Not only allowing our kids to eat what they demand but believing the words recited from kids who have been completely brainwashed.

We constantly hear…Sugar is safe or sugar is sugar irrespective of where it comes from…Lies.

Calories are calories..as long as you restrict the amount or calories you eat you’ll be ok..Lies

People will eat foods that proudly proclaim Zero fat as being good for you…NO, it’s not the fat per se it’s the sugar and sugar substitutes.

The US started this but other countries have fallen into the trap, the UK, Brasil and Australia and just as guilty.

Be a parent to your kids not a buddy or friend..

In the documentary Way Beyond Weight, childhood obesity around the globe is explored via interviews with parents, government officials, school representatives, nutrition advocates and the children themselves

• Childhood obesity is a global epidemic; in both the US and Brazil, one-third of kids are overweight or obese and at risk of health problems like heart disease and diabetes
• Soda and fruit drinks are one likely culprit, with many kids drinking them daily, and some parents unaware that the latter is harmful
• The processed-food industry targets kids using toys and animated characters, luring them in from a very young age and hooking them on their addictive junk foods
• Many families also struggle with a lack of access to fresh whole foods, and a lack of education about which foods are truly healthy

Processed foods are typically loaded with excess sugar, salt, unhealthful fats, preservatives and other additives.

But you probably know this already. What you may not know about processed foods is the extent of the havoc they can wreak on your body, a closely guarded secret that the processed food industry doesn’t want you to know.

In short, though they may taste good and be easy to prepare, when you eat processed foods you’re exchanging convenience for your health.

10 Processed-Food Secrets the Food Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

In the featured article,1 Donna Gates, author of The Body Ecology Diet, explains 10 reasons why you might want to think twice the next time you’re tempted to eat processed foods.

1. They’re Addictive and May Cause You to Overeat

Processing modifies or removes important components of food, like fiber, water and nutrients, changing the way they are digested and assimilated in your body.

Unlike whole foods, which contain a mix of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fiber and water to help you feel satisfied, processed foods stimulate dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter, making you feel good even though the food lacks nutrients and fiber. This artificial dopamine stimulation can lead to excessive food cravings and, ultimately, food addiction.

2. They’re Linked to Obesity

Processed foods are virtually guaranteed to contain additives that are linked to obesity. This includes monosodium glutamate (MSG), high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and more. Plus, refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar.,

This increases your insulin and leptin levels, and contribute to insulin resistance, which is the primary underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.

3. They Break Principles of Food Combining

Some nutrition and health experts, such as Wayne Pickering, believe that eating foods in certain combinations helps your body’s digestive processes to work more efficiently and absorb more nutrients. Wayne actually constructed a very useful food combining chart that can be obtained on his website. According to one such premise, eating proteins and starches together, which is common in processed foods (such as a pepperoni pizza), inhibits digestion leading to putrification of your food, acidic conditions in your blood and supports disease-causing pathogens in your gut.

4. Processed Foods Lead to an Imbalanced Inner Ecosystem

The microorganisms living in your digestive tract form a very important “inner ecosystem” that influences countless aspects of your health. Processed foods disrupt this system, suppressing beneficial microflora and leading to digestive problems, cravings, illnesses and chronic disease. Beneficial organisms in your gut thrive on whole, unprocessed foods.

5. They’re Detrimental to Your Mood and Brain

Mood swings, memory problems and even depression are often the result of a heavily processed-food diet. In fact, the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain! Your gut and brain actually work in tandem, each influencing the other. This is why your intestinal health can have such a profound influence on your mental health, and vice versa – and why eating processed foods that can harm your gut flora can have a profoundly negative impact on your mood, psychological health and behavior.

6. Processed Foods Encourage ‘Eating on the Run’

Processed foods are quick and easy, making them ‘perfect’ to grab when you’re on the go. But eating on the go, or while you’re multi-tasking, can cause you to lose touch with your body’s natural signals telling you you’re full, leading to overeating and weight gain. It’s also more difficult for your body to digest properly when you’re busily engaged in other tasks.

7. Nutrition Labels Can be Misleading

A processed food may be labeled ‘natural’ or ‘sugar-free,’ but that doesn’t make it healthful. For instance, the natural food label on a processed food has no standard definition and really no meaning at all. A “natural” product is meaningless as it can legally be genetically modified, full of pesticides or made with corn syrup, additives, preservatives and artificial ingredients.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also allows processed food manufacturers to use absurdly tiny serving sizes on their labels, which can lull you into a false sense of security when it comes to determining how much of each stated nutrient or toxin, like trans fat, you’re actually consuming.

8. Processed Meats Are Linked to Cancer

Processed meats are those preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or the addition of chemical preservatives, which includes bacon, ham, pastrami, salami, pepperoni, hot dogs, some sausages and hamburgers (if they have been preserved with salt or chemical additives) and more. Particularly problematic are the nitrates that are added to these meats as a preservative, coloring and flavoring.

The nitrates found in processed meats are frequently converted into nitrosamines, which are clearly associated with an increased risk of certain cancers. Meat cooked at high temperatures, as many processed meats often are, can also contain as many as 20 different kinds of heterocyclic amines, or HCAs for short. These substances are also linked to cancer.

9. Processed Foods May Increase Your Risk of Infertility and Malnutrition

Because processed foods are stripped of nutrients your body needs, you could be eating a large number of calories but still become malnourished. In just three generations, a nutrient-deficient diet can lead to infertility, which is on the rise in the US.2 Plus, processed foods often contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients, which are also linked to reproductive problems.

10. Processed Foods Lead to a Long Shelf Life, Not a Long Human Life

Processed foods can last a long time on the shelf without going bad, thanks to their chemical cocktails of preservatives and other additives. Unfortunately, their makers put a lot of money and time into strategies to increase shelf life and create attractive packaging, with little attention put on the foods’ nutrient value or how it will actually detract from lasting health.

What Are the Worst Processed Food Additives?

When foods are processed, not only are valuable nutrients lost and dietary fiber removed, but the textures and natural variation and flavors are also lost. After processing, what’s left behind is a bland, uninteresting “pseudo-food” that most people wouldn’t want to eat.

Additives are added back in not only to slow spoilage, prevent fats and oils from going rancid, prevent fruits from turning brown, and fortify or enrich the food with synthetic vitamins and minerals to replace the natural ones that were lost during processing, but also to improve taste, texture and appearance. When reading product packages, here are some of the worst offenders to avoid if you want to protect your health (many of these are already banned in other countries due to health risks):

Ingredient

Found in

Health Hazards

Coloring agents: blue 1, blue 2, yellow 5, and yellow 6

Cake, candy, macaroni and cheese, medicines, sport drinks, soda, pet food, and cheese

Most artificial colors are made from coal tar, which is a carcinogen

Olestra (aka Olean)

Fat-free potato chips

Depletion of fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoids. Side effects include oily anal leakage

Brominated vegetable oil (aka BVO)

Sports drinks and citrus-flavored sodas

Competes with iodine for receptor sites in the body, which can lead to hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease, and cancer. The main ingredient, bromine, is a poisonous, corrosive chemical linked to major organ system damage, birth defects, growth problems, schizophrenia, and hearing loss

Potassium bromate (aka brominated flour)

Rolls, wraps, flatbread, bread crumbs, and bagel chips

See bromine above. Associated with kidney and nervous system disorders, gastrointestinal discomfort

Azodicarbonamide

Breads, frozen dinners, boxed pasta mixes, and packaged baked goods

Linked to asthma

BHA and BHT

Cereal, nut mixes, gum, butter, meat, dehydrated potatoes, and beer

BHA may be a human carcinogen, a cancer-causing agent. BHT can cause organ system toxicity

Synthetic hormones: rBGH and rBST

Milk and dairy products

Linked to breast, colon, and prostate cancers

Arsenic

Poultry

EPA classifies inorganic arsenic as a “human carcinogen”

A Simple Step-by-Step Guide to Ditching Processed Foods

When it comes to staying healthy, avoiding processed foods and replacing them with fresh, whole foods is the “secret” you’ve been looking for. This might sound daunting, but if you take it step-by-step as described in my nutrition plan it’s quite possible, and manageable, to painlessly remove processed foods from your diet.

Remember, people have thrived on vegetables, meats, eggs, fruits and other whole foods for centuries, while processed foods were only recently invented. Many of the top executives and scientists at leading processed food companies actually avoid their own foods for a variety of health reasons!

I believe you, too, should spend 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods (unfortunately most Americans currently do the opposite). This requires that you plan your meals in advance. Ideally, this will involve scouting out your local farmer’s markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and planning your meals accordingly, but you can also use this same premise with supermarket sales. You can generally plan a week of meals at a time, make sure you have all ingredients necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that dinner is easy to prepare if you’re short on time in the evenings (and you can use leftovers for lunches the next day).

Further, by cutting out these high-glycemic foods you can retrain your body to burn fat instead of sugar. However, it’s important to replace these foods with healthy fats, not protein—a fact that’s often not addressed. I believe most people may need between 50-70 percent of their daily calories in the form of healthful fats, which include:

Olives and olive oil

Coconuts and coconut oil

Butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk

Organic raw nuts, especially macadamia nuts, which are low in protein and omega-6 fat

Organic pastured egg yolks and pastured meats

Avocados

If cravings are a problem for you, please review my article about how to wean yourself off processed food in seven easy steps. If you’re currently sustaining yourself on fast food and processed foods, this is one of the most positive life changes you could ever make.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve learned the unsavory truth about “pink slime,” reconstituted meat, and how the use of meat glue cheats you out of your hard-earned money at the grocery store and threatens your health.

We’ve also learned that fast food fare such as McDonald’s hamburgers contain so many chemicals and so few real food ingredients that a burger fails to show signs of decomposition after more than a decade…

The famous McDonald’s McRib also came under closer scrutiny, and turned out to be something less than mouthwatering. The McRib sandwich is a non-standard item on the fast food restaurant’s menu;1 its annual return is always advertised with great fanfare — last year it even made the headlines on ABC News.2

The pork sandwich is described as a tasty fan favorite slathered in tangy barbecue sauce, slivered onions and tart pickles, served on a hoagie style bun. Sounds perfectly normal, but what’s it made of, really? In a November 2011 article, CBS Chicago news3 spilled the beans on this seasonal favorite:

“More than 70 ingredients make up the McRib and, yes, one of them is pork. But as CBS 2’s Vince Gerasole reports, there’s also an ingredient that can be found in shoes… [Registered dietician Cassie] Vanderwall gave the McRib a closer look and found the McRib has azodicarbonamide, which is used to bleach the flour in bread. It has other uses. ‘It could be on your yoga mat, in your gym shoes, in your anything that’s rubbery,’ Vanderwall said…

Then there’s the pork – which is really restructured meat product. In other words, it’s made from all the less expensive innards and castoffs from the pig… Vanderwall said the McRib ingredient list ‘reminds me of a chemistry lab.’”

To see pictures of a ‘deconstructed’ McRib sandwich, check out foodfacts.info’s McRib page.4 It sure doesn’t look so appetizing anymore once the sauce is washed off and the meat sliced in half. In fact, it can barely pass meat, which was the point CBS news tried to make in the first place.

What is “Food” Anyway?

Two years ago, the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine singled out McDonald’s in their advertisement against obesity-related deaths. As the ad claimed, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and heart attacks are hallmark diseases associated with a fast food diet – a clear indication that it does not provide the appropriate nutrition for your body.

So, is McDonald’s fare really food?

When you consider the fact that a large number of the ingredients in a fast food meal exist nowhere in nature, but are rather concocted in a lab, the answer would have to be ‘no.’ Unfortunately, and to our severe detriment, ever since the advent of the so-called TV dinner back in the 1950’s, the concept of “food” has expanded from meat, vegetables, raw dairy products, fruit and other such natural items to include the highly processed, preserved, artificially flavored and often brightly colored chemical concoctions. But man simply was NOT designed to thrive on man-made chemicals.

Sadly, store-bought foods you might not recognize as processed, such as ground beef, are oftentimes no better. As reported last year, approximately 70 percent of the ground beef sold in U.S. supermarkets contains “pink slime” added in as a cheap filler.

The Pepto-Bismol-colored concoction consists of beef scraps and cow connective tissues, which has been treated with ammonium hydroxide (basically a solution of ammonia in water). It can legally make up 15 percent of any given beef product, which shaves about three cents off the cost for a pound of ground beef. The trimmings used come from parts of the cow that are most likely to be contaminated with dangerous bacteria like E. coli — which is why it must be treated with ammonia to kill off the pathogens in the first place. It’s really industrial food practices like this that pose very real threats to your health, not raw unpasteurized dairy products and other non-processed whole foods…

Russia Throws Poisonous Meat Back to U.S.

In related “questionable food” news, Russia has recently banned U.S. meat supplies after discovering it contains ractopamine — a beta agonist drug that increases protein synthesis, thereby making the animal more muscular. This reduces the fat content of the meat. As reported by Pravda,5 Russia is the fourth largest importer of US meats, purchasing about $500 million-worth of beef and pork annually.

The drug is banned for use in 160 countries, including China and Russia, but allowed in 24 countries, including Canada and the United States. According to the New York Times,6 the ban took effect as of December 7, 2012, and Russian health regulators stated that while they will initially conduct their own testing, foreign countries will soon be required to certify their meat as ractopamine-free if they want to export it to Russia. While the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers ractopamine safe and doesn’t test for it, Russia’s chief health inspector, Gennady Onishchenko, claims there are “serious questions” about the safety of the drug. He told the New York Times:

“For instance, use of ractopamine is accompanied by a reduction in body mass, suppression of reproductive function, increase of mastitis in dairy herds, which leads to a steep decline in the quality and safety of milk.”

Ractopamine is also known to affect the human cardiovascular system, and may cause food poisoning, according to Pravda.7 It’s also thought to be responsible for hyperactivity, muscle breakdown, and increased death and disability in livestock. While other drugs require a clearance period of around two weeks to help ensure the compounds are flushed from the meat prior to slaughter (and therefore reduce residues leftover for human consumption), there is no clearance period for ractopamine. In fact, livestock growers intentionally use the drug in the last days before slaughter in order to increase its effectiveness.

According to veterinarian Michael W. Fox, as much as 20 percent of ractopamine remains in the meat you buy from the supermarket. Despite potential health risks, the drug is used in 45 percent of U.S. pigs, 30 percent of ration-fed cattle, and an unknown percentage of turkeys.

Mexico and Brazil have announced that they will comply with Russia’s demand for ractopamine-free meats.8 The US has shown no sign of coming to an agreement, however. Instead the US has accused Russia of violating World Trade Organization (WTO) rules — an accusation Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich has dismissed as being part of business as usual, since “all WTO members break these rules.”

How to Identify REAL Food

There are major incentives to center your diet on real foods as opposed to “food-like” products, the primary one being that real food is essential for optimal health. Real foods also taste delicious, and when bought from sustainable sources help to protect the environment. But with all the sneaky tricks being employed, how can you tell the difference? Here’s a listing of the characteristics and traits of real food versus processed “food products.”

Real Food

Processed Food-Like Products

It’s grown, and sold “whole”

Produced, manufactured in a factory, and sold in neat, convenient packages

Variable quality

Always the same (no quality or taste variance)

Spoils fast

Stays “fresh” for extended periods of time

Requires preparation

No preparation required, just heat and serve

Vibrant colors and rich textures

Contains fillers, additives and preservatives to make otherwise dull and bland mixtures appetizing

Authentically flavorful

Artificially flavorful

Strong connection to land and culture

No connection to land or culture

Shopping Guidelines for Real, Health-Promoting Food

As the U.S. agriculture industry now stands, antibiotics, pesticides, genetically engineered ingredients, hormones and countless drugs are fair game for inclusion in your food. So if you purchase your food from a typical supermarket, you’re taking the chance that your food is teeming with chemicals and drugs — even those that have been banned in other countries due to adverse health effects.

So please do your health a favor and support the small family farms in your area. You’ll receive nutritious food from a source that you can trust, and you’ll be supporting the honest work of a real family farm.

It all boils down to this: if you want to optimize your health, you must return to the basics of healthy food choices. Put your focus on WHOLE foods — foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state — food that has been grown or raised as nature intended, without the use of chemical additives, drugs, hormones, pesticides, fertilizers, and “mystery concoctions” of discarded scrap parts.

It’s really as simple as that!

And it’s not nearly as daunting a task as it may seem to find a local farmer that can supply your family with healthy, humanely raised animal products and produce. At LocalHarvest.org, for instance, you can enter your zip code and find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, all with the click of a button. Once you make the switch from supermarket to local farmer, the choice will seem natural, and you can have peace of mind that the food you’re feeding your family is naturally wholesome. That said, regardless of where you do your grocery shopping, these are the signs of high-quality, health-promoting foods you want to look for:
1.It’s grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers (organic foods fit this description, but so do some non-organic foods)
2.It’s not genetically modified
3.It contains no added growth hormones, antibiotics, or other drugs
4.It does not contain any artificial ingredients, including chemical preservatives
5.It is fresh (keep in mind that if you have to choose between wilted organic produce or fresh conventional produce, the latter may actually be the better option)
6.It did not come from a factory farm
7.It is 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-range access to the outdoors)
8.It is 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 the food meets these criteria, it is most likely a wise choice, and would fall under the designation of “real food.” Keep in mind that reclaiming your kitchen is part and parcel of healthful living, so you know exactly what you’re putting in your body. If you need help to get started, see Colleen Huber’s helpful tips on how to eat healthier organic food on a budget. And if you’re “hooked” on fast food and other processed foods, please review my article How to Wean Yourself Off Processed Foods in 7 Steps. It’s one of the absolute most positive life changes you could make!

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