For many years one of my favorite writers on Alternative Medicine has been Dr. Joseph Mercola at www.mercola.com. You can sign up to receive emails on health related topics, or search his website for specific foods, supplements or disease prevention articles.
In this article from Dr. Mercola’s website he gave several recommendations that I thought were sensible, and a couple of surprising ones. I will give a brief synopsis of the article about 9 Foods You Should Never Eat, and you can go to the website to get the full list.
1. First mention was Canned Tomatoes, but aren’t we supposed to be getting more lycopene? It turns out that most canned food contains BPA – a chemical that causes disturbing neurological effects, reproductive abnormalities and cancer. So we want to buy our vegetables fresh, frozen or canned in glass jars.
2. Processed meats are high on the list with hormones, antibiotics and the cancer-promoting chemical sodium nitrites and nitrates. All processed meats should be avoided to be on the safe side.
3. Margarine has trans fats, free radicals, emulsifiers and preservatives and hexane as well as using hydrogenation to solidify the fats and that’s what happens in your blood stream. Butter, on the other hand melts and is a much better choice with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and saturated fat which is actually good for you.
4. Vegetable Oils made with heat are not healthy for us at all. When you cook with random vegetable oils like canola, corn and soy oils you increase the oxidized cholesterol in your system. After the oil is heated it goes rancid much faster. A much better choice is coconut oil for cooking and organic olive oil for cold salad dressings.
5. Microwave Popcorn has been off my favorites list since it first came out due to the chemicals they use to line the wrappers – perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). Gross. Does not sound appetizing at all. Even worse, they are part of chemicals known to be ‘gender benders’ because they can disrupt your endocrine system and affect your sex hormones and reproductive system. Associated risks are infertility, thyroid disease, cancer, immune system problems and increased LDL cholesterol levels.
6. Non-Organic Potatoes and other Fresh Produce Known for High Pesticide Contamination which is bad news – apparently potatoes absorb a lot of pesticides from the soil. I do try to buy organic, whenever possible, and ask for it at the grocers so they get used to hearing it requested. Other fruits and veggies that absorb chemical more readily are: apples, celery, cucumbers, grapes, peaches, nectarines, spinach, strawberries, peppers, kales, collard greens, tomatoes, peppers and squash. Check Dr. Mercola’s list for the ‘safe bets’ with the lowest residual pesticide load.
7. Table Salt is not always a good choice if it is processed or has additives. Try to get natural table salt with 84 percent sodium chloride and a lot of other minerals. We need salt to maintain some important bodily functions.
8. Soy Protein Isolate or Unfermented Soy Products sounds healthy but most of the soy we see on the supermarket shelves are Genetically Engineered (GE) and are used to produce soy protein isolate. GE soybeans are designed to be Roundup ready’ which means they are engineered to withstand lethal doses of herbicide. The active ingredient, glyphosate, messes with the female reproductive cycle and is toxic to the placenta. Once the placenta is damaged the result can be miscarriage and birth defects including autism which is increasing rapidly. Even avid label readers need help deciphering the confusion so Dr. Mercola mentions soy expert, Dr. Kaayla Daniel, who offers a free Special Report, “Where the Soys Are,” on her Web site. It lists the many “aliases” that soy might be hiding under in ingredient lists — words like “bouillon,” “natural flavor” and “textured plant protein.” Fermenting soybeans makes them more digestible so most of those are allowed.
9. Artificial Sweeteners such as aspartame and neotame, can actually stimulate your appetite, increase carbohydrate cravings, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In one of the most recent of such studies8, saccharin and aspartame were found to cause greater weight gain than sugar. The methanol in aspartame is like a Trojan Horse and can carry the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme converts it into formaldehyde, which wreaks havoc with sensitive proteins and DNA.
If that is all confusing just remember to eat your food as fresh as you can, and cook up meals with as few chemical additives. Shop the outside of the supermarket to save money and save your health!
Creative Paradigms 