Rather Be Healthy

Unlike the greasy oils that have been heated to insane temperatures and have very little or no nutritional benefit whatsoever. Coconut oil is primarily a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA) that not only does the job of the greasy bad for you oils but it does it so much better and is actually good for you.

Coconut oil is a popular nutritional oil derived from the meat of matured coconuts. Coconut has long been a primary source of food throughout the tropics. Its various industrial and cosmetic applications have made it a very viable commodity. Coconut oil is heat stable, making it suitable for cooking at high temperatures. It is slow to oxidize, resists rancidity and has a shelf life of approximately two years or more; virgin coco creme created through a wet-milling process has an indefinite shelf life.

The composition of coconut oil
The coconut possesses a wide variety of health benefits due to its fiber and nutritional content, but it is the oil that makes it a remarkable source of food and medicine. It has definitely earned its reputation as the healthiest oil in the world despite the fact that its high saturated fat content was once falsely claimed to be unhealthy.

What makes coconut oil different?

Oils and fats are composed of molecules known as fatty acids. They are classified either according to saturation or based on molecular length and size of the carbon chain within each fatty acid. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are an example of the first class.

The second classification is based on molecular size or length of the fatty acid’s carbon chain. Long chains of carbon atoms consist of each fatty acid with an attached hydrogen atom. There are short chain fatty acids known as SCFA, medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) such as coconut oil and long chain fatty acids (LCFA). Whether unsaturated or saturated, the majority of fats and oils in our diet are composed of long chain fatty acids. In fact, a majority of the fatty acids commonly consumed are LCFA.

Coconut oil is predominantly medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) and the effects of the MCFA in coconut oil are distinctly different from the LCFA found in other foods. In fact, the saturated and unsaturated fat in milk, eggs,meat and even in plants and most vegetable oils are made of LCFA. Why is this relevant? It is important because our bodies respond and metabolize each fatty acid differently. It is the MCFA found in coconut oil that makes it special because these fatty acids do not have a negative effect on cholesterol. In fact, they are known to lower the risk of heart disease and atherosclerosis. There are only few dietary sources of MCFA, and one of the best sources by far is coconut oil.

Theliver and gall bladder do not need to digest and emulsify MCFA, resulting in instant energy, increased metabolic rate and subsequently more heat production as well as increased circulation. Anyone with an impaired fat digestion or removed gallbladder will benefit from coconut oil as this oil is easily digested. (http://www.naturalnews.com/022313_fat_oil_coconut.html)

Lauric Acid
Coconut oil has many health benefits which are attributed to the presence of lauric acid. When it is present in the body, lauric acid is converted into monolaurin, a compound that is highly toxic to viruses, bacteria, funguses and other microorganisms because of its ability to disrupt their lipid membranes and virtually destroy them.

Monolaurin is effective for treating candida albicans, fungal infections and athlete’s foot. It also targets bacterial infections and viruses like measles, influenza, hepatitis C and even HIV. In fact, researchers from the Philippines are studying the effectiveness of lauric acid against HIV/AIDS due to its strong anti-viral properties. Moreover, lauric acid is non-toxic, making it a better alternative to modern drugs that are typically prescribed for viruses as well as fungal and bacterial infections.

Without lauric acid, monolaurin cannot be produced by the body. Breast milk is the only other source of lauric acid, which must explain the lesser incidents of infections with breast-fed infants. It has also been observed that regular consumption of coconut oil boosts immunity and reduces incidences of sickness.
(http://www.naturalnews.com)

The health benefits of coconut oil
Hair care – The unique fatty acids in coconut oil have a small molecular structure and pass freely into the hair’s cell membrane, allowing for the oil to penetrate the hair’s shaft; thisliterally brings out the deep conditioning from within compared to other conditioners that work from the outside in.

Massaging the oil into the scalp can offer relief from dandruff. Dandruff is caused by dry skin or an internal fungal condition that reached the scalp. With regular use, coconut oil can kill the fungus and eliminate dandruff issues. For deep hair conditioning, a teaspoon or two on damp hair left for as long as possible can give an ultra-nice shine. Leave it on overnight and see startling results. (http://www.naturalnews.com/029120_coconut_oil_hair_conditioner.html)

Skin care – Coconut oil is an excellent skin conditioner containing medium-chain triglycerides, naturally occurring fats which deeply penetrate, moisturize and acts as a protective barrier against environmental and free radical damage. The oil also provides sun protection by screening 20 percent of ultraviolet exposure.

Coconut oil is rich in anti-oxidants and bursting with the natural microbial and antibacterial agents caphrylic and capric acids. . Its ability to smooth the skin while infusing with anti-oxidants makes it a perfect anti-aging moisturizer. Moreover, it contains vitamin E, another antioxidant popular for hastening the recovery of skin abrasions, burns and other trauma. (http://www.naturalnews.com)

Weight loss – Medium-chain fatty acids found in coconut oil can speed up metabolism faster than long-chain fatty acids because they are easily digested and converted into energy. In fact, a study reported medium-chain fatty acids to be three times more effective in raising metabolism than long-chain fatty acids, leading researchers to conclude that effective weight loss can be achieved by replacing long-chain fatty acids with medium- chain fatty acids. (http://www.naturalnews.com/026808_oil_coconut.html)

Natural remedy for pneumonia – In a study presented before The American College of Chest Physicians on October 29, 2008, coconut oil was found to offer pneumonia patients faster and more complete relief from symptoms. This could be a welcome development for many as this means a reduced stay in the hospital, lower medical expenses and lower exposure for the patient to a hospital environment. Moreover, it is an inexpensive addition to traditional antibiotics and has no known side effects. (http://www.naturalnews.com/025038_coconut_child_oil.html)

Lowers risk of diabetes, heart disease and improves cholesterol levels – In a study made on women subjects ranging from 20 to 40 years old, half of the subjects were instructed to take a 30 ml soybean oil supplement while the other half were instructed to take a 30ml coconut oil supplement while maintaining moderate exercise routine over a 12-week period. Results of the study showed that although both group of women had a decrease in body mass index (BMI), only the women who were taking coconut oil showed a notable decease in waist circumference significantly lowering the risk of conditions like type II diabetes and heart disease.

Furthermore, the study also showed that the subjects who experienced an improvement in their cholesterol profile along with higher HDL levels and higher HDL: LDL ratio were the ones taking coconut oil. Those taking soybean oil did not receive the same benefits but reflected a higher total cholesterol as well as higher LDL cholesterol lower, lower HDL cholesterol and a lower HDL: LDL ratio. (http://www.naturalnews.com/026547_oil_coconut.html)

Assists in bone health and chronic fatigue – Research has found coconut oil to help prevent osteoporosis because it helps in the nutrient absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium – important minerals that fight osteoporosis.

Moreover, the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil produce energy rather than body fat, thereby improving metabolism and preventing fatigue. The oil has also been shown to destroy organisms in the body that sap its strength and contribute to the condition of fatigue. (http://www.naturalnews.com/033718_food_miracles.html)

Alzheimer’s Disease – Dr. Mary Newport, after failing to get treatment for her husband’s dementia, discovered that coconut oil contained natural medium-chain triglyceride (MCT). The same substance was used in a drug trial her husband failed to qualify for. So, she gave her husband 1 tbsp. of coconut oil twice a day for a month and a half and saw him almost completely recovered. (http://www.naturalnews.com)

Others – aside from the health benefits mentioned earlier the following health benefits have been attributed to the beneficial use of coconut oil:

• Protects against cancer and HIV and other infectious diseases
• Kills bacteria and parasites like tape worm and liver flukes
• Eases acid reflux, aids in proper bowel function
• Lowers incidence of hemorrhoids
• Heals and relieves intestinal problems
• Soothes earaches
• Deals with symptoms connected with prostate enlargement
• Strengthens the liver and protects against degeneration
• Reduces incidence of epileptic seizures
• Reduces joint and muscle inflammation
• Eases neuropathies and itching from diabetes.
(http://www.naturalnews.com/036028_coconu_oil_health_solutions.html)

How much oil should be taken in to enjoy its benefits?
According to researchers, an adult should consume around 3 1/2 tbsp. of coconut oil daily: an amount equal to the MCFA a nursing infant would receive in one day. The benefits of coconut oil are derived from the nutritional value of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA’s), and the best comparison in nature as to the percentage of MCFA consumed in a diet is in human breast milk. For those who are not used to having coconut oil in their diet, it is best to start out with a lesser amount and see how the body reacts before following the recommended amount.

Does coconut oil have any adverse side effects?
Coconut oil has no known side effects. However, if you are used to a low-fat diet, a common adverse reaction would be diarrhea. It is probably not advisable to start with a large amount right away. Spreading the recommended amount over the course of one day and building up to a larger dosecan help to avoid unwanted effects.

In coconut-producing countries, it is considered beneficial for pregnant and lactating women to enjoy coconut oil;Westerners used to a low-fat diet, however, are cautioned not to experiment with coconut oil while pregnant if the body is not used to it. If you have been consuming coconut oil regularly with no adverse reactions, there is no reason to discontinue consumption.

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Like most people you care about your health and the shape of your body and you try to make healthier food choices. But mainstream media keeps confusing you with conflicting “reports” about what’s bad and good for you…

You’ve probably received no shortage of advice from magazines and TV shows like Dr Oz and others telling you what to eat and what not to eat.

But did you know that most of the popular “health” foods that are being pushed on you in the media and TV ads can actually make you GAIN weight, as well as cause terrible diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

That’s right, the so called “gurus” are falling prey to the same myths as everyone else. And they’re passing their faulty food choice advice on to you.

In fact, on several mainstream popular TV shows (even on the Biggest Loser, which aside from their bad nutrition advice in my opinion, I actually like the show for many other reasons), you’ll hear the advice time and time again that you “need” whole grains. They seem to completely ignore the fact that humans had better health for the 1.9 Million years when we ate virtually no grains at all before agriculture was invented.

Plus they seem to completely ignore the fact that we can obtain ALL of the fiber and micronutrients we need from veggies and fruits without the negatives of grains (excess blood-sugar spiking starch, gluten, and other antinutrients)

But the advice shoved down everyone’s throat to eat massive quantities of “whole grains” every single day of their lives surely equates to MASSIVE profits for the grain industry, as well as HUGE health problems such as diabetes and heart disease for large portions of the population which feeds the medical and big pharma industries too.

But we’re not JUST going to talk about grains in this email…

The truth is, most of the popular “health foods” you see pushed in the media are complete garbage, and will actually increase your waistline instead of making it smaller!

To be honest, I could go on and on about the horrible food choices I see each and every day, even by well intentioned people. But I’ll limit myself to 4 of the WORST offenders below (this relates not just to breakfast, but any meal)

Here are my top four BAD foods that get constant praise for contributing to a lean and healthy lifestyle. And I’ll explain why you want to AVOID them:

1. Whole Grain Cereals or Breads

I cringe every time I hear someone say, “but it’s whole grain, so that means it’s healthy, right?”

I realize this is hard to accept for many people, but I want to go on record and say that in my opinion you should completely remove cereal from your diet. There’s just no valid reason to eat it if you care about your body (aside from maybe 1 cheat meal a week).

Forget the breakfast of champions… forget the picture of a lean, attractive woman in yoga pants enjoying a bowl of cereal, and ditch the cereal for good.

Cereal, even whole grain, is highly processed and often loaded with sugar, chemicals, and harsh additives. Whole grain cereal also contains higher levels of antinutrients than refined grains, which means that BOTH regular cereals and whole grain cereals have more detriments than benefits.

The “health experts” claim that whole grains are necessary for a healthy heart, but the only heart healthy component of cereal is fiber, which can be found in much healthier versions in fruits and vegetables. To be clear, despite the propaganda you hear daily, humans DON’T need the fiber from grains to be healthy… the fiber from veggies and fruits is actually a healthier version.

Cereal is also very high on the glycemic index, which means that it makes your blood sugar rise very quickly — yes, even whole grain cereals — an almost certain recipe for thicker love handles and jiggly arms. And if you missed the explanation in this article, whole wheat contains a unique type of carbohydrate not found in other foods that actually spikes your blood sugar HIGHER than pure table sugar… Ouch!

I can hear you asking,
“Yeah but… what the heck do I eat for breakfast?”

I recommend a good protein source, some fiber, and a good healthy fat source to keep your blood sugar stable and controlled, keep insulin levels low, give you a long lasting energy burn, maintain lean muscle, keep you full for longer, and sustain your calorie-burning efforts.

Having high-carbohydrate breakfasts that are based around cereal, bagels, juices, etc. is a cultural phenomenon, NOT a physiological one.

We eat that way because that’s how everyone else in our culture does it [thanks to the big advertising budgets of the food industry], yet a high-protein, high healthy fat, lower-carb breakfast is what’s best for our bodies.

Eating a high protein breakfast may take some getting used to initially, but you’ll be rewarded with much greater energy, a leaner waistline, and no more mid-morning crashes or hunger pangs caused by carbohydrate abuse!

Here are a few breakfasts that would fit the bill nicely:

-Whole organic eggs (cooked any style), veggies, kimchi or kraut, and organic bacon
-Bison steak, veggies, kimchi or kraut, and cashews
-Chicken sausage, spinach cooked in coconut oil with garlic, and a couple Brazil nuts
-Protein shake with almond butter, berries, raw cacao powder, and stevia
-A vegetable smoothie with added fat such as nuts and avocado (fat increases absorption of nutrients in veggies)

2. Most Yogurts, with this exception…

C’mon. Everyone knows yogurt is a heathy diet snack. Hey, it’s fat-free, so it couldn’t possibly be unhealthy or derail your diet plan, right?

Wrong!

Most yogurt, even if it’s fat-free, is chock full of sugar! I see some yogurts with only 5 grams of protein and more than 30 grams of carbs from sugar… yuck, I asked for yogurt, not syrup!

To make matters even worse, many times the sugar added is high-fructose corn syrup, which actually signals your genes to store body fat.

This means that what you think is an innocent snack is actually sending messages to your very DNA to stockpile fat deposits all over your body!

This doesn’t just apply to “desserts” like frozen yogurt either. Most of the “healthy” yogurt tubs you can find in the store, and that are advertised heavily on TV as great diet foods, are loaded with fat-storing sugars and additives.

Do you have to completely give up yogurt?

No, thankfully you don’t. There is one kind of yogurt that will help you with your fat-burning efforts. And that is organic Greek yogurt, or plain unsweetened yogurt.

I prefer to eat my Greek yogurt with a handful of organic blueberries or raspberries and a tablespoon or so of chia seeds mixed in. You can also add a dash of natural stevia sweetener if you like. The end result is a yogurt meal with more protein than carbs, and a good dose of healthy fiber too, with a nice delicious lightly sweet taste.

Be cautious, however, because not all Greek yogurt is created equal…

Sadly, once word got out that Greek yogurt can actually be quite good for you, yogurt manufacturers started loading their Greek yogurt with sugar to make it taste better than their competitors.

Before you purchase Greek yogurt, make sure you turn the container over and look at the ingredient list. If you see sugar, high fructose corn syrup, agave, honey, or evaporated cane juice on the label, then put it down and find yourself a PLAIN greek yogurt.

3. Energy bars

I must admit, I used to make this critical mistake years ago back when I first started trying to really eat healthy.

I loaded up my pantry with every variety of health bars, energy bars, and protein bars that I could find.

“Now, I’ll be able to eat on-the-go and still get the body that I’ve always wanted” is what I thought as I plowed through box-after box of these little treats. I mean, it is what the advertisement promised, isn’t it?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most energy bars, health bars, meal replacement bars, and protein bars are simply glorified candy bars.

Most of them are chock full of sugar, corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, gluten, chemical additives, and soy protein… all things that are certain to add girth to your waistline! Not fun.

I realize that you’ve got a busy life and need to have some convenience foods. While planning ahead and cooking in bulk will help you in this arena, there are some times when you might just get stuck and need some food on-the-run.

For these instances, I recommend organic nuts and seeds, a little bit of high-fiber fruit, and vegetables. If you’re in need of a bit more protein, try some hard boiled eggs or organic preservative-free deli meat wrapped around avocado slices or veggie sticks for a high protein, high fiber snack that will keep you fueled, smash your cravings, and keep you lean.

The only truly healthy bars that I’ve found were just released about a month ago and I am in LOVE with these bars. They have 20 grams of protein, a whopping 14 grams of fiber, loaded with healthy fats and antioxidants, and have ZERO gluten or soy.

4. Diet version of […insert any food here…]

In an effort to lose fat, you may have found yourself reaching for the “diet” versions of your favorite high-calorie foods.

Diet sodas, diet ice cream, diet candy, fat-free this, sugar-free that….. It’s all a nightmare for your body composition.

The diet, sugar-free, and fat-free trend began because people were led to believe that calories were the ONLY thing responsible for weight gain, and that by minimizing them, you could ensure fat loss.

Food manufacturers jumped on this concept and created a way for you to enjoy all your favorite junk foods all the time, and still think you would lose fat.

But here’s why it doesn’t work: Calories are not the ONLY reason why you have excess body fat.

Of course too many calories, even from healthy foods, can cause you to sport a thicker midsection, but another reason for stalled fat loss is because of toxins and hormonal problems.

Any time your body senses toxins in the blood stream, it tries to neutralize them by wrapping them up in fat cells to protect your body from the harmful molecules.

While this is a good thing (I mean, nobody wants toxins entering the brain, reproductive organs, etc) to some extent, it is also why you may not be dropping the pounds despite your best efforts.

So why are diet, fat-free, and sugar free products cause for concern? It’s because when they remove the fat, the sugar, and the calories, they need something to make the products taste good, so they use nasty chemicals.

Many common chemicals that are used to sweeten or to flavor food and beverages are highly toxic, especially if you consume them every day.

Because of this, your diet foods and drinks are causing you to create fat cells to trap the toxins for protection.

Rather than relying on diet versions of food, it’s best to just eat the real thing but reserve your favorite “junk food” ONLY for your cheat days or cheat meals, when you want to have high calories to revamp leptin and boost your metabolism.

Getting in shape and losing fat should be an enjoyable process. You don’t have to deprive and starve yourself. Simply making better food choices, and avoiding some of the false “health” foods that are blocking your progress is the first step.

As we all know food is so important in our lives, I believe in the adage “you are what you eat” so making the transition from “fast food” to healthy natural food will pay dividends in the long run.

Life in the western world has changed over the past 30 or 40 years, it was normal for a family to sit down together to eat a meal. Now however it’s normal for families to grab a bite to eat on the run, to jump into the car and stop at the Mc D’s on the way to wherever you are going.

People are always hungry, ever wonder why, it has a lot to do with the nutritionally bereft food you are throwing down your throat. Your body is crying out for nutrition not just bulk, something that fills your stomach then passes through without providing your body, your temple with what it needs to function correctly.

Ignore the so-called experts who are on the payroll of the billion dollar giants when they encourage you to eat their so-called healthy foods, look at the labels….if you are buying a basic food that has 20 added things to it then don’t eat it. When they say “enriched” it means that the goodness that was in it was removed in the processing then they have added more crap to bring it up to a slightly higher level than cardboard.

I can’t emphasize this strongly enough, Sugar is the main problem, when it says on the label that it is healthy because there is no fat or its fat-free. You are meant to think it’s healthy, well no it’s not, your body needs fat, the right kind of fat obviously, but they pile in the sugar to make it tastier.

Just stop and think, how many people to you know that are sick and often sicker now than they were five or ten years ago. We live in the most powerful nation in the world, you’d think this would be at the top or near the top of the healthy league. Well if you look at the World Health Organization’s list of the country’s around the world, the US is in the bottom half of the 175 country’s listed.

There is something wrong with this, this should be a healthy country not one that is driven by the media, sickness insurance and the pharmaceutical giants.

That isn’t a typo, it’s sickness insurance not health insurance.

Think about what is happening..

You may also be interested in my ebook, Dentistry and how it’s damaging your health, is only $2.99 and you can buy it here and be reading in two minutes.

3 Simple Steps That Transform Your Kitchen From Fat STORING Foods To Fat BURNING Foods In LESS Than 24 Hours…

Picture the foods that are in your fridge at this very moment.

Did you know that almost every single one of these foods contain “hidden” fat-storing ingredients that can slow down your metabolism, sap your energy, and block your fat burning potential by a whopping 82% – even the ones you think are “healthy”?

Did you know that there’s a super simple way to rid your life of these “fattening” foods and SWAP them with delicious foods that BOOST your metabolism and dramatically accelerate your fat loss?

In fact, once you uncover the so-called “healthy” foods inside your kitchen that STOP your body from burning fat, you’ll instantly be able to create your own fat burning kitchen loaded with foods that will automatically make stubborn belly fat your body’s daily “go-to” energy source.

All you have to do is to read through the short article below and you’ll discover the easiest way to transform your kitchen and FIX your slow fat-loss – and you’ll do it in LESS than 24 hours.

This isn’t another quick fix or diet scam where you’ll end up being sold some miracle weight loss pills. It doesn’t require you to buy expensive organic foods or shady supplements. In fact, this information is CRITICAL for everyone to understand – even those who shop at health food stores and farmers’ markets all the time.

It doesn’t matter if you’re young, old, or anything in-between…or what your current goals are. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have OR how good you think your diet already is. If you eat food, this information will revolutionize your nutrition plan AND help you burn more stubborn fat.

My name is Nick Pineault, but people call me “The Nutrition Nerd” because I’ve spent the last 7+ years relentlessly researching, reading articles, and analyzing studies to master my knowledge on nutrition and the unique power of fat burning foods.

What I’ve uncovered is startling and it exposes the hundreds of dirty little tricks the big food industry, the diet industry, and even Governments try to hide from you because they don’t want you to know the real truth. These dirty little food tricks age you faster, block your body’s ability to burn fat and prevent you from feeling great.

Even though all the “bad guys” hate me for being honest, I’m on a mission. And now dozens of renowned fitness experts, nutritionists and fat loss coaches from all around the world endorse my work.

Just read the short article below and you’ll uncover a few of the most shocking discoveries I made so you can STOP being scammed into buying the wrong fat storing ingredients.

But I do have to warn you. What you’re about to read is often considered highly controversial and goes against the grain of the mainstream diet and nutrition industry.

In fact, you’ll see how these little-known truths are the exact opposite of what you’ll hear from your local dietician, your family doctor, and almost all old school nutritionists and personal trainers.

So if you’re ready to uncover the REAL truth about fat burning foods and you’d like to burn 82% more fat every single day, with just a few small tweaks in the foods you eat, then keep reading.

But if you still believe everything you hear in the media is true and you can’t accept the fact that you’ve probably been force fed dozens and dozens of food lies, then this article is definitely not for you.

However, if you choose to continue reading you’ll finally discover ALL the “healthy” foods that are making you store more belly fat – WITHOUT you even knowing it.

These 3 reasons reveal what you MUST STOP doing the next time you shop for “healthy” food because it’s DAMAGING your metabolism… and EXACTLY how you can “transform” your diet to quickly burn off belly fat – in 24 hours or LESS.

Just follow the 3 simple steps below and you’ll discover which foods can “shut off” your cravings and “turn on” your body’s fat-burning switch with each and every bite making it IMPOSSIBLE for you NOT to burn MORE stubborn belly fat.

Below, you’ll find all 3 steps, and you’ll also discover an easy and delicious way to “fix” your broken diet and KEEP your body in a consistent, fat burning environment 24 hours a day – all while eating MORE of your favorite foods.

Step #1: STOP Trusting Food Labels (They’re NOT trustworthy)

Everyone believes reading labels is a good way to determine if a food is healthy or not – but that’s only partially true.

To make more money from uneducated consumers, most food manufacturers use dirty little tricks to hide dangerous and fattening ingredients in common foods that you eat everyday. And worst of all, these fake ingredients are specifically designed to make you ADDICTED to their stuff.

One of many examples is “trans fats”. If you don’t know by now, this is one of the most dangerous foods in existence.

Eating just a tiny amount of this nasty ingredient can increase your risk of heart disease and promote accumulation of visceral fat – a dangerous kind of belly fat that’s almost impossible to get rid of.

Well, believe it or not, MANY of the foods that show “Zero Trans Fat” on the label actually contain a TON of it.

Thanks to the FDA, manufacturers are allowed to label ANY food, even so-called “healthy” ones, with less than .5g of trans fat per serving as “Trans Fat-Free”. Almost every manufacturer lowers their portion sizes on the labels to hide their claims on their products while filling them with this dangerous and fattening ingredient.

Here’s a powerful, eye-opening example. When you eat just ONE handful of “Zero Trans Fat” crackers you poison your body will a couple grams of toxic, fat-storing trans fat – WITHOUT even being aware of it.

But wait. It gets even worse. There’s one common food in particular that’s probably in your pantry, right now, and it contains loads of trans fat that don’t appear ANYWHERE on the label.

That’s right. NOT on the ingredients list, NOT in the nutrition facts, and not even on your favorite Internet food database. Nowhere.

Very few people know this, but vegetable oil (made from fat-storing corn, soybeans or canola) has to go through an extreme 5-step processing method before it ends up on your supermarket shelves.

This high pressure, high temperature process destroys all the “heart-friendly” fats originally contained in the oil and transforms it into dangerous trans fats.

According to a shocking study by the University of Florida at Gainesville, your vegetable oil can contain up to 4.6% hidden trans fat that’s not on the label. Kind of scary, I know.

But there’s a super easy way to avoid these hidden and dangerous fats. You can read all about it on the next page.

Step #2: STOP Avoiding Saturated Fats (You’ve been lied to)

The media, doctors and the big food industry spend millions of dollars every year trying to convince all of us that red meat is “fattening” and why you should avoid it if you want to lose belly fat. After all, it does contain a lot of dangerous saturated fats – right?

Don’t fall for it. It’s just another nutrition myth that prevents you from eating some of the BEST fat burning foods on the planet.

In fact, the RIGHT kind of saturated fat is actually good for you and can even help you lose belly fat. Recent studies actually prove that saturated fat REDUCES your risk of heart disease and supports weight loss. (Reference: Ann Intern Med. 2005 Mar 15;142(6):403-11)

That’s because “healthy” saturated fat sources like grass-fed beef and pasture-raised eggs contain a natural fat burner called CLA – plus a ton of other essential nutrients that can BOOST your metabolism and accelerate your fat burning.

But if you continue listening to all the nonsense and false information everybody tells you about this “friendly” fat-burning fat, you’ll be missing out on one of the most powerful fat-burning foods you could ever eat.

You’ll learn exactly what kind of fats you can eat to burn MORE fat using the system on the next page.

Step #3: STOP Using Fake “Health” Foods (They’re in your kitchen right now)

If the first two reasons didn’t surprise you, this one surely will.

Thanks to the relentless greed of most food manufacturers, that obviously could care less about your health, some of the healthiest foods in your kitchen may be fake.

Here’s proof.

In 2010, Consumer Reports – one of the most credible non-profit organizations fighting for consumer rights in the US – revealed that around 20% of ALL olive oils are fake and have been mixed with other cheap oils, while still claiming they are 100% pure.

This food hoax was uncovered once again in 2012, when the UC Davis Olive Center found out that only 27% of all olive oils passed the quality test to be labeled “extra virgin” – the best and most nutritious kind of olive oil there is.

So the olive oil you have in your kitchen RIGHT NOW might contain up to 100% vegetable oil, even though the label “says” it’s healthy. And don’t forget, vegetable oils are LOADED with dangerous, fat-storing trans-fat.

You can go ahead and TRY to find a manufacturer who actually cares and delivers a legitimate olive oil to support your weight loss goals, but it’s a crapshoot.

Another piece in the complex puzzle of what causes autism and other related behavioral disorders appears to have been identified by a new study published in the open-access journal PLoS One. Researchers from Columbia University in New York found that wheat, and particularly wheat gluten, triggers a unique immune response in autistic children, and especially those with gastrointestinal problems. And this response, it turns out, produces an array of symptoms commonly associated with autism.

For their study, the team from both the Columbia University Department of Medicine and the Celiac Disease Center set out to assess how children diagnosed with autism respond immunologically to gluten consumption. Since previous research on the subject has been largely inconclusive, the researchers felt it was important to investigate the matter further using strict evaluative guidelines and research criteria in order to arrive at a solid and trustworthy conclusion.

After comparing the effects of gluten consumption among autistic children both with and without gastrointestinal problems to their unaffected siblings and age-matched healthy controls, the team learned that the autistic children had significantly higher levels of the IgG antibody, which targets a gluten protein known as gliadin. And based on the way this antibody functions within the body, many now believe that high levels of it can also interfere with proper neurological function.

“It has been theorized that when the immune system forms antibodies against gliadin, these antibodies cross react with self-structures within the nervous system,” writes Sayer Ji for GreenMedInfo.com about the process. “Known as molecular mimicry, this breakdown of immunological self-tolerance can contribute to a wide range of neurological problems including neuropathy, ataxia, seizures, and neurobehavioral changes including mania, schizophrenia and autism.”

“Anti-gliadin antibodies are therefore a possible cause of autoimmune neurological damage,” he adds.

In other words, many of the symptoms exhibited by individuals diagnosed with autism could actually be the result of an antibody response caused by exposure to wheat gluten. Regardless of whether or not the blood markers of actual Celiac disease are present, wheat gluten appears to greatly elevate levels of this anti-gliadin antibody within the body.

“A subset of children with autism displays increased immune reactivity to gluten, the mechanism of which appears to be distinct from that in Celiac disease,” wrote the authors in their conclusion. “The increased anti-gliadin antibody response and its association with GI symptoms points to a potential mechanism involving immunologic and/or intestinal permeability abnormalities in affected children.”

Eliminating wheat has helped many people with autism
The obvious takeaway from all this is that eating wheat is probably not a good idea if you fall anywhere on the autism spectrum, and especially if you suffer from GI disorders. Though conventional wheat is technically not good for anybody, it appears to be distinctly harmful for people with autism, and something worth avoiding.

As far as the specific benefits associated with cutting out gluten, a recent study published in the Journal of Child Neurology documents the case of one young child with autism and epilepsy who went completely symptom-free as a result of cutting out both gluten and casein, a type of milk protein. Others have reported similar improvements as a result of going gluten-free, including Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, M.D., creator of the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet, also known as GAPS diet, which she used to essentially cure her son’s autistic condition.

You can learn more about Dr. Natasha and the GAPS diet by visiting:
http://www.gaps.me

Sources for this article include:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://youtube.com

http://www.gaps.me

Now this article by Mike Geary is great in informing people about the misinformation spread by the food industry about what fats should be avoided and which fats are important to eat every day. However the big issue I feel has been ignored for too long is what actually makes people put weight on and put their lives in danger. It’s not fat, animal or vegetable, no it’s sugar. Sugar especially refined, processed sugar is the worst natural food you can put into your body…period.

For decades now, people have falsely feared dietary fats. But in recent years, there’s finally a shift where most people are starting to understand that eating dietary fat doesn’t make you fat. And in fact, eating more good fats (yes, including some animal fats!) is actually a more stable energy source that doesn’t cause the wild blood sugar swings, insulin resistance, and hormone imbalances that fueling your body with too much carbs causes.

So let’s look at THREE powerful fatty foods that can actually HELP you to flatten your stomach:

Fatty flat-belly food #1. Avocados — Even though avocados are typically thought of as a “fatty food”, they are chock full of healthy fats! Not only is this fruit (yes, surprisingly, avocados are actually a fruit) super-high in monounsaturated fat, but also chock full of vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients, and antioxidants

Avocados have even been shown in studies to improve your good HDL cholesterol levels. Not only that, but including avocados on a salad increases your absorption of certain vitamins and antioxidants in the other veggies in the salad by as much as 5x or more… this is due to the healthy fats in the avocado that are necessary for the proper digestion and absorption of some vitamins and antioxidants in veggies. So don’t have a “fat-free” salad… include healthy fats like avocado and olive oil with your salad and you’ll absorb MUCH more nutrients from the veggies.

Also, in my opinion, guacamole (mashed avocados with garlic, onion, tomato, pepper, etc) is one of the most delicious food toppings ever created, and you can be happy to know that it’s also one of the healthiest toppings you can use on your foods. Try sliced avocados or guacamole on burgers, eggs or omelets, on salads or with fish, or as a delicious side to just about any meal.

The quality dose of healthy fats, fiber, and micronutrients that you get from avocados helps your body to maintain proper levels of hormones that help with fat loss and muscle building. Also, since avocados are an extremely satiating food, eating them helps to reduce your appetite in the hours after your meal. Say goodbye to junk food cravings and bring on that fat burning! I personally eat anywhere from a half to a full avocado DAILY and it only helps to keep me lean.

Fatty flat-belly food #2. Nuts: Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachios, Pecans, Brazil Nuts, Macadamias, etc — Yes, this is yet another “fatty food” that can actually help you burn belly fat! Although nuts are generally between 75-90% fat in terms of a ratio of fat calories to total calories, this is another type of food that is all healthy fats, along with high levels of micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Nuts are also a good source of fiber and protein, which of course, you know helps to control blood sugar and can aid in fat loss.

Nuts also help to maintain good levels of fat burning hormones in your body (adequate healthy fat intake is vitally important to hormone balance) as well as helping to control appetite and cravings so that you essentially eat less calories overall, even though you’re consuming a high-fat food. My favorite healthy nuts are pecans, pistachios, almonds, macadamias, and walnuts, and by eating them in variety, you help to broaden the types of vitamins and minerals and also the balance of polyunsaturated to monounsaturated fats you obtain.

Try to find raw nuts instead of roasted nuts if you can, as it helps to maintain the quality and nutritional content of the healthy fats that you will eat.

Also, try to broaden your horizons beyond the typical peanut butter that most people eat, and try almond butter, cashew butter, pecan butter, or macadamia butter to add variety to your diet.

One of the little “tricks” that I’ve used with clients when trying to cut down body fat is to have them eat a handful of nuts such as almonds or pecans about 20 minutes before lunch and dinner. This ends up being a perfect time to control your appetite before lunch or dinner and helps you to eat less overall calories on that meal instead of going into your meal famished and overeating.

Fatty flat-belly food #3:

This one could possibly be the MOST powerful “fatty” food that helps to boost your metabolism and flatten your stomach… It contains some VERY unique nutrients that cause a shift in your fat-burning metabolism. My friend and Nutritionist Josh explains all about this powerful food here:

The #1 MOST powerful belly-flattening food? (plus a unique 21-day rapid fat loss trick)

Enjoy! I’ll be back soon with more Lean-Body Secrets.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

A staggering two-thirds of Americans are now overweight, and one in four are either diabetic or pre-diabetic.

Carb-rich processed foods are a primary driver of these statistics, and while many blame Americans’ overindulgence of processed junk foods on lack of self-control, scientists are now starting to reveal the truly addictive nature of such foods.

Most recently, researchers at the Boston Children’s Hospital concluded that highly processed carbohydrates stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, promoting excess hunger.1 As reported by Science Daily:2

“These findings suggest that limiting these ‘high-glycemic index’ foods could help obese individuals avoid overeating.”

While I don’t agree with the concept of high glycemic foods, it is important that they are at least thinking in the right direction. Also, the timing is ironic, considering the fact that the American Medical Association (AMA) recently declared obesity a disease, treatable with a variety of conventional methods, from drugs to novel anti-obesity vaccines…

The featured research is on the mark, and shows just how foolhardy the AMA’s financially-driven decision really is. Drugs and vaccines are clearly not going to do anything to address the underlying problem of addictive junk food.

Brain Imaging Shows Food Addiction Is Real

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition3 examined the effects of high-glycemic foods on brain activity, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). One dozen overweight or obese men between the ages of 18 and 35 each consumed one high-glycemic and one low-glycemic meal. The fMRI was done four hours after each test meal. According to the researchers:

“Compared with an isocaloric low-GI meal, a high-glycemic index meal decreased plasma glucose, increased hunger, and selectively stimulated brain regions associated with reward and craving in the late postprandial period, which is a time with special significance to eating behavior at the next meal.”

The study demonstrates what many people experience: After eating a high-glycemic meal, i.e. rapidly digesting carbohydrates, their blood sugar initially spiked, followed by a sharp crash a few hours later. The fMRI confirmed that this crash in blood glucose intensely activated a brain region involved in addictive behaviors, known as the nucleus accumbens.

Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, weighed in on the featured research in an article by NPR:4

“As Dr. Robert Lustig… points out, this research can’t tell us if there’s a cause and effect relationship between eating certain foods and triggering brain responses, or if those responses lead to overeating and obesity.

‘[The study] doesn’t tell you if this is the reason they got obese,’ says Lustig, ‘or if this is what happens once you’re already obese.’ Nonetheless… he thinks this study offers another bit of evidence that ‘this phenomenon is real.’”

Previously, Dr. Lustig has explained the addictive nature of sugar as follows:

“The brain’s pleasure center, called the nucleus accumbens, is essential for our survival as a species… Turn off pleasure, and you turn off the will to live… But long-term stimulation of the pleasure center drives the process of addiction… When you consume any substance of abuse, including sugar, the nucleus accumbens receives a dopamine signal, from which you experience pleasure. And so you consume more.

The problem is that with prolonged exposure, the signal attenuates, gets weaker. So you have to consume more to get the same effect — tolerance. And if you pull back on the substance, you go into withdrawal. Tolerance and withdrawal constitute addiction. And make no mistake, sugar is addictive.”

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

Previous research has demonstrated that refined sugar is more addictive than cocaine, giving you pleasure by triggering an innate process in your brain via dopamine and opioid signals. Your brain essentially becomes addicted to stimulating the release of its own opioids.

Researchers have speculated that the sweet receptors located on your tongue, which evolved in ancestral times when the diet was very low in sugar, have not adapted to the seemingly unlimited access to a cheap and omnipresent sugar supply in the modern diet.

Therefore, the abnormally high stimulation of these receptors by our sugar-rich diets generates excessive reward signals in your brain, which have the potential to override normal self-control mechanisms, thus leading to addiction.

But it doesn’t end there. Food manufacturers have gotten savvy to the addictive nature of certain foods and tastes, including saltiness and sweetness, and have turned addictive taste into a science in and of itself.

In a recent New York Times article,5 Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat, dished the dirt on the processed food industry, revealing that there’s a conscious effort on behalf of food manufacturers to get you hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive to make.

I recommend reading his article in its entirety, as it offers a series of case studies that shed light on the extraordinary science and marketing tactics that make junk food so hard to resist.

Sugar, salt and fat are the top three substances making processed foods so addictive. In a Time Magazine interview6 discussing his book, Moss says:

“One of the things that really surprised me was how concerted and targeted the effort is by food companies to hit the magical formulation. Take sugar for example. The optimum amount of sugar in a product became known as the ‘bliss point.’ Food inventors and scientists spend a huge amount of time formulating the perfect amount of sugar that will send us over the moon, and send products flying off the shelves. It is the process they’ve engineered that struck me as really stunning.”

It’s important to realize that added sugar (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is not confined to junky snack foods. For example, most of Prego’s spaghetti sauces have one common feature, and that is sugar—it’s the second largest ingredient, right after tomatoes. A half-cup of Prego Traditional contains the equivalent of more than two teaspoons of sugar.

Novel Flavor-Enhancers May Also Contribute to Food Addiction

Another guiding principle for the processed food industry is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” Moss describes this as “the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm your brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more.” The greatest successes, whether beverages or foods, owe their “craveability” to complex formulas that pique your taste buds just enough, without overwhelming them, thereby overriding your brain’s inclination to say “enough.”

Novel biotech flavor companies like Senomyx also play an important role.

Senomyx specializes in helping companies find new flavors that allow them to use less salt and sugar in their foods. But does that really make the food healthier? This is a questionable assertion at best, seeing how these “flavor enhancers” are created using secret, patented processes. They also do not need to be listed on the food label, which leaves you completely in the dark. As of now, they simply fall under the generic category of artificial and/or natural flavors, and they don’t even need to be tested for safety, as they’re used in minute amounts.

This is a Flash-based video and may not be viewable on mobile devices.

How to Combat Food Addiction and Regain Your Health

To protect your health, I advise spending 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods. It’s important to realize that refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.

By taking the advice offered in the featured study and 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 not addressed in this research. 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, organic grass-fed milk

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

Organic pastured eggs and pastured meats

Avocados

I’ve detailed a step-by-step guide to this type of healthy eating program in my comprehensive nutrition plan, and I urge you to consult this guide if you are trying to lose weight. A growing body of evidence also suggests that intermittent fasting is particularly effective if you’re struggling with excess weight as it provokes the natural secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), a fat-burning hormone. It also increases resting energy expenditure while decreasing insulin levels, which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel. Together, these and other factors will turn you into an effective fat-burning machine.

Best of all, once you transition to fat burning mode your cravings for sugar and carbs will virtually disappear, as if by magic… While you’re making the adjustment, you could try an energy psychology technique called Turbo Tapping, which has helped many sugar addicts kick their sweet habit. Other tricks to help you overcome your sugar cravings include:
•Exercise: Anyone who exercises intensely on a regular basis will know that significant amounts of cardiovascular exercise is one of the best “cures” for food cravings. It always amazes me how my appetite, especially for sweets, dramatically decreases after a good workout. I believe the mechanism is related to the dramatic reduction in insulin levels that occurs after exercise.
•Organic black coffee: Coffee is a potent opioid receptor antagonist, and contains compounds such as cafestrol — found plentifully in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee — which can bind to your opioid receptors, occupy them and essentially block your addiction to other opioid-releasing foods.7 This may profoundly reduce the addictive power of other substances, such as sugar.

Heat-Induced Acrylamide May Be a Primary Hazard of Processed Food

Approximately 90 percent of the money Americans spend on food is spent on processed foods, and food marketers do a masterful job at making it seem like fast foods and junk foods are the obvious choice.

Some even manage to make you believe such foods are a healthy option. But not only are these processed foods “dead” and devoid of any natural nutrition, they can also be loaded with potentially carcinogenic substances.

Just over a decade ago, researchers discovered that a cancer-causing and potentially neurotoxic chemical called acrylamide is created when carbohydrate-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures, whether baked, fried, roasted, grilled or toasted.

The chemical is formed from a reaction between sugars and an amino acid (asparagine) during high-temperature cooking. The answer, of course, is to limit or eliminate processed foods and increase the amount of whole, raw foods in your diet. I typically aim for 80-85 percent raw food in my own diet.

Acrylamide May Be a Primary Hazard of Processed Food

Acrylamide can form in many foods cooked or processed at temperatures above 212°F (100°C), but carbohydrate-rich foods are the most vulnerable to this heat-induced byproduct. As a general rule, the chemical is formed when food is heated enough to produce a fairly dry and “browned” surface. Hence, it can be found in:
•Potatoes: chips, French fries and other roasted or fried potato foods
•Grains: bread crust, toast, crisp bread, roasted breakfast cereals and various processed snacks
•Coffee; roasted coffee beans and ground coffee powder. Surprisingly, coffee substitutes based on chicory actually contains 2-3 times more acrylamide than real coffee

Acrylamide is not the only hazard associated with heat-processed foods, however. The three-year long EU project known as Heat-Generated Food Toxicants1 (HEATOX), identified more than 800 heat-induced compounds in food, 52 of which are potential carcinogens… For example, the high heat of grilling reacts with proteins in red meat, poultry, and fish, creating heterocyclic amines, which have also been linked to cancer.

Humans are not the only victims here. As discussed by holistic veterinarian Dr. Barbara Royal, pet foods also contain acrylamide and heterocyclic amines, courtesy of commercial pet food processing methods.

Exposure to Acrylamide Increases Your Cancer Risk

Animal studies have shown that exposure to acrylamide increases the risk of several types of cancer, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer considers acrylamide a “probable human carcinogen.” According to a 1988 study2:

“The data show that acrylamide is capable of inducing genotoxic, carcinogenic, developmental, and reproductive effects in tested organisms. Thus, acrylamide may pose more than a neurotoxic health hazard to exposed humans.

Acrylamide is a small organic molecule with very high water solubility. These properties probably facilitate its rapid absorption and distribution throughout the body. After absorption, acrylamide is rapidly metabolized, primarily by glutathione conjugation, and the majority of applied material is excreted within 24 hours… Acrylamide can bind to DNA… which has implications for its genotoxic and carcinogenic potential.”

A study3 published in 2007 linked higher dietary acrylamide intake with an increased risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women, particularly among non-smokers. It has also been linked to nerve damage and other neurotoxic effects, including neurological problems in workers handling the substance.

While the EPA regulates acrylamide in drinking water and the FDA regulates the amount of acrylamide residue in materials that may come in contact with food, they do not currently have any guidelines limiting the chemical in food itself.

How Much Acrylamide Are You Getting from Your Diet?

In drinking water, the federal limit for acrylamide is 0.5 parts per billion, or about 0.12 micrograms in an eight-ounce glass of water. However, a six-ounce serving of French fries can contain 60 micrograms of acrylamide—about 500 times the allowable limit! A 2002 food analysis published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry4, found moderate levels of acrylamide (5−50 μg/kg) in heated protein-rich foods and higher levels (150−4,000 μg/kg) in carbohydrate-rich foods. Unheated or boiled foods showed undetectable levels (<5 μg/kg) of acrylamide, leading the researchers to conclude: "Consumption habits indicate that the acrylamide levels in the studied heated foods could lead to a daily intake of a few tens of micrograms." Potato chips in particular are notoriously high in this dangerous chemical. So high, in fact, that in 2005 the state of California actually sued potato chip makers for failing to warn California consumers about the health risks of acrylamide in their products. A settlement was reached in 20085 when Frito-Lay and several other potato chip makers agreed to reduce the acrylamide levels in their chips to 275 parts per billion (ppb) by 2011, which is low enough to avoid needing a cancer warning label. Still, that’s a far cry from the allowable limit of 0.5 ppb in drinking water! The 2005 report6 "How Potato Chips Stack Up: Levels of Cancer-Causing Acrylamide in Popular Brands of Potato Chips," issued by the California-based Environmental Law Foundation (ELF), spelled out the dangers of this popular snack. According to their analysis, ALL potato chip products tested exceeded the legal limit of acrylamide by a minimum of 39 times, and as much as 910 times! Interestingly, baked chips, which are often touted as a healthier chip, can contain more than three times the level of acrylamide in regular chips, according to US Food and Drug Administration data7. How to Avoid Heat-Induced Toxins in Your Diet Acrylamide levels vary greatly among processed foods, even among different batches of the same food item. The chemical has so far only been found in foods heated above 250 F/120 C, which includes most processed foods. Basing your diet on whole foods, with the majority or a significant portion eaten raw or only lightly cooked is therefore one of the best ways to avoid this cancer-causing cooking byproduct. Aside from creating potentially toxic byproducts, cooking and processing also depletes the food of valuable micronutrients, which is another reason for eating as much raw food as possible. Another important aspect of raw foods is the energetic aspect. Dr. Johanna Budwig from Germany has stated that live foods are electron rich and act as high-powered electron donors and “solar resonance fields” to attract, store, and conduct the sun's energy in your body. The greater your body’s store of light energy, the more energy you’ll have available for healing and the maintenance of optimal health. For the times when you do cook your food, keep the following tips in mind: •Frying, baking and broiling appear to be the worst offenders, while boiling or steaming appear to be safer •Longer cooking times increase acrylamide, so the shorter the duration of cooking, the better •Soaking raw potatoes in water for 15-30 minutes prior to roasting may help reduce acrylamide formation during cooking •The darker brown the food, the more acrylamide it contains (for instance, dark brown toast compared to light brown toast) •Acrylamide is found primarily in plant-based foods, such as potatoes and grain products (not typically in meat, dairy or seafood) According to the findings by the HEATOX project, you're far less likely to ingest dangerous levels of acrylamide when you eat home-cooked foods compared to industrially or restaurant-prepared foods. And when you do eat at home, the best advice they could give was to avoid overcooking your food. For more in-depth information about acrylamide, I recommend reading the online report: "Heat-generated Food Toxicants, Identification, Characterization and Risk Minimization"8. Take Control of Your Health with Whole, Raw Food While many foods – from coffee and breakfast cereal to bread – contain acrylamide, the highest levels have been detected in starchy plant-based foods, particularly French fries and potato chips. As a general rule, just remember that cooking food at high temperatures is ill advised, and that most processed foods will contain acrylamide as a side effect of high-heat processing. Ideally, consume foods that are raw or minimally processed to avoid these types of toxic byproducts—the more raw food, the better. My nutrition plan emphasizes the need for at least one-third of your foods to be consumed raw. Personally, I consume about 80-85 percent of my food raw, which I believe is one of the most important factors that help keep me healthy. For a step-by-step guide to make the transition to a healthier diet as simple and smooth as possible, simply follow the advice in my optimized nutrition plan. Remember, eating fresh whole foods is the "secret" to getting healthier, losing weight and really enjoying your food. Once you get used to it, you'll find you can whip up a healthful meal from scratch in the same amount of time it would have taken you to drive down the street to pick up fast food. The main difference will be greater satisfaction, both physically and mentally, and perhaps even financially, as processed foods typically end up being more expensive than cooking from scratch.

Most people who don’t tune into Natural News eat bug and weed killer every day, maybe even every meal of their lives. Many Americans, namely one in every three or more, get cancer and can’t figure out why. Their doctors won’t tell them the truth, and they just can’t believe that it came from the food they ate, but 90% of the time, it does. Since the early 1990’s, Americans have been secretly fed bug and weed killer in their fruits and vegetables, and in their cereals, bagels, chips, oils and bread. Most innocent folks who don’t spend any time doing research on what they put in their mouths think that if they take their fruit and vegetables home and wash them off, or cook them well, that they are getting rid of toxins and they don’t have much to worry about.

On top of all of that, most consumers love their meat and dairy, and wouldn’t quit it for the world, but they don’t realize that the hormones in most conventional meat and milk are overwhelming their bodies, leading to the development of tumors and cancer cells, which is just more fuel for the bug and weed killer they eat with every meal, causing inflammation and breaking down their immune and central nervous system. (http://www.infowars.com) The animals most Americans feast on are fed bug and weed killer food all day, including alfalfa, corn, soy, and even candy. That is what causes the massive digestive illnesses during the animals’ lives, and this is exactly why they give them so many antibiotics. Add in horrific disease breeding conditions and you compound the toxic “meat and milk” health nightmare. This is standard in the USA on the big farms that are owned, manipulated, operated and turned into CAFO-style nightmares run by Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Syngenta, Bayer and more “Big Ag” Biotech dirty giants.
(http://www.naturalnews.com)

Average American eats 60 lbs. of High Fructose Corn Syrup annually
What kills more Americans than anything else, including guns, drugs and medicine? Bug and weed killer tops the chart! Are you eating bug killer corn sugar (HFCS) daily? Are your children or siblings eating weed killing soy daily? This is food politics and the war on cancer, except in this case it means the war to SPREAD CANCER instead of trying to prevent or cure it. (http://www.foodpolitics.com)

Almost all processed foods and refined sugars come from GMO corn, which is now deadly in America. Most processed foods also contain GM soy and GM canola, which are also deadly. Let’s talk bluntly here: Eating Monsanto food causes cancer. Have you ever smelled bug killer, like ant or roach spray? Have you ever smelled RoundUp weed killer? GMO means food contains bug killer and/or weed killer, did you know? You can’t wash it off. And what does bug killer do? Bug killer kills the bugs from the inside out, by dissolving their digestive system. It’s like acid to the bugs.
(http://www.naturalnews.com)

GMO; the Trojan Horse of Food Toxins
The big death cover up is upon us. The biggest cancer nightmare, food which changes your DNA by inserting DNA from insects, mixed with chemicals of all sorts, including herbicide and insecticides, which form in the human stomach and eat you alive from the inside out, just like a bug. This breeds SUPER INSECTS in your gut also known as PARASITES.
(http://www.motherjones.com)

Humans are becoming the weeds of the healthcare industry, and cancer is being fed and bred from the inside out. The only escape is to be educated about GMO weed and bug killer, so you know which foods, drinks and skin care products contain it. (http://www.fooducate.com)

Attention all Natural News enthusiasts, “Don’t Eat Cancer” and it won’t eat you alive: (http://programs.webseed.com)

Sources for this article include:

http://www.foodpolitics.com

http://www.infowars.com

http://www.motherjones.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://programs.webseed.com

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. 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.