With this article I would like to spend some time talking about an area that I feel receives entirely too little attention – whether by patients, or dentists, for that matter.  Possibly, this comes about for the simple reason that by the time many patients arrive at the dentist they are looking for resolution of a specific problem.  In this sense, the market has conditioned both patients and doctors into focusing upon the end-game.

This has its place and fills a need.   Patients who are in pain do not generally want to hear about what they should be eating – they want to handle their pain.   Yet, knowing what foods can repair teeth may be a key element in establishing their future long-term dental stability.

In today’s economic climate, health care has undergone many challenges and the consumer has been faced with high medical and dental costs.  Consequently, health care is not infrequently reserved for the handling of emergencies.  This is actually counter-productive, as emergency dental care is also expensive.  Couple this with efforts by the patient to reduce costs, and the “treatment” may be a decision to remove the offending tooth.  Later, when the patient starts to regret his choice and seeks tooth replacements, he may find that replacement costs are many times more than had they handled the problem once discovered.

Economics can also influence the quality of the food we consume.  In an effort to save money many consumers will also select lowest cost items.  These are typically quite profitable for the producer but are usually highly processed and very unprofitable for your health.

So what do you need to know?

Let’s start with this simple concept:  If what you eat comes out of a box, a jar, a can, or a plastic wrapper, it has been processed.

Your diet is the single most important thing that you can control to create or maintain a healthy mouth.  When you eat too many processed foods – especially those that contain sugars and bleached flour – you create effects that may not be immediately noticed by you.  For example, the level of blood sugar can become elevated and with it a person can experience elevated cortisol.  Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal gland and is responsible for raising blood sugar.   It also affects the flow of parotin (a salivary gland hormone) and, in so doing, can lead to cavities.  Cortisol also counteracts insulin which regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body, and it slows down bone formation.

The inability to metabolize fats, in turn, can keep you from benefiting from the healthy foods that can help you to repair your teeth.

So, you see, it is a little like the children’s song “The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone.  And the ankle bone’s connected the leg bone.”  The bottom line: what we do – or don’t do – can have unseen and unwanted effects when it comes to our diet and teeth.

Maintaining healthy hormones is very important to your dental health as well as to your general health.  The relationship between demineralization and remineralization is balanced when hormones are healthy.  When unbalanced, calcium and phosphorus can be pulled out of the blood and create deficiencies in our bones as well as the teeth.  It can also create a condition wherein your body becomes excessively acidic. An acid environment is more receptive to the growth of bacteria and fungi.   If there is one take-home message that you take out of this article it should be that real food – namely unprocessed food, as nature intended that it be consumed – will not only support your general health, but will also support your teeth.

What foods, then, are good for your teeth?

1.  Proteins:  Eat proteins in order to regulate blood sugar.  As mentioned above, blood sugar fluctuations are one of the key reasons that we lose minerals.  High quality proteins such as grass fed, or wild game are best.  While I realize that this may pose a problem for vegetarians, it doesn’t alter the fact that the most productive stores of minerals, protein, and fats are derived from meats.  Vegetarians must rely on eggs and cheese for their protein.
2. Foods with phosphorus:  Possibly more important than calcium for your teeth, phosphorus can be obtained from milk and cheese.  Raw, unpasteurized milk is best.   Unless, strictly vegan, vegetarians should have no trouble getting their phosphorus from these sources.  Other good sources of phosphorus include organ meats of both land animals and those from the sea.  Muscle meats (most common meats consumed, i.e., not from organs such as liver or kidney, for example) are also a good source, as are beans and nuts.  Organ meats have more phosphorus than muscle meats.  Although present in some grains, the quantities can be insufficient or difficult to absorb, and this may not be the best choice for your teeth.
3. Trace minerals are important:  In addition to phosphorus, the following deficiencies can also lead to problems with tooth decay – iron, copper, magnesium and manganese.  Foods with iron include shellfish and organ meats.  Copper is found in liver and mollusks.  Smaller amounts exist in mushrooms.  Magnesium can be found in fish, nuts, and spinach.  Manganese, also important in the regulation of blood sugar, occurs in liver, kidneys (organ meats), mussels, nuts, and pineapple, to name a few sources.  Other trace minerals may also play a role, but are too numerous to mention here.
4. Healthy fats: These are a great source of energy, but are also important to help maintain hormonal function and balance.  Among the healthy fats are olive oil, butter, beef, chicken, pork and duck fat.  Avocado and coconut oil are also healthy fats, especially if from organic sources.  Vegetable fats do not generally contain the vitamins that help to re-build our teeth.
5. Fat soluble vitamins D and A: Simply put, without adequate stores of these two vitamins, we can’t get the calcium and phosphorus into our bones or teeth.  People with tooth decay are typically lacking these two vitamins.  Seafood is an excellent source of Vitamin D.  If you don’t have easy access to seafood, or if you don’t like it, lard, or pork fat, will help. Suet, or beef fat appears to be more effective, however.  Another excellent (and relatively simple) way to get Vitamin D is with daily exposure to sunlight.  Consuming fermented cod liver oil is still another easy way to get Vitamin D into your diet.

Eating healthy is the single-most effective action you can take to protect your teeth – and your overall health.  It is also one thing that you can control.  Take the time to learn which foods can provide you with proteins, phosphorus, healthy fats, vitamins D and A, as well as trace minerals, and you will be well on your way to healthier teeth and gums!

Known as the Doctor of Dental Wellness, Dr. Richard Walicki is a graduate of the Temple University School of Dentistry. Dr. Walicki is a general dentist with a focus on wellness and has maintained an active private practice in Philadelphia for over twenty years.  His mission is to help people attain practical solutions for their dental health problems through education, prevention and nutrition. Dr. Walicki is a contributor to the LiberationWellnessBlog and a supporter of real food. Additional articles of related interest can be located on his website.  A free newsletter and bonus report are also available.

by
Eric Blair
Activist Post

This week, the United States government, working closely with local authorities, heroically raided and arrested raw-food terror kingpin James Stewart in Venice, California. Stewart, who runs the private healthfood cartel, Rawesome Foods, “posed a major threat to the establishment,” claimed an unnamed but armed, undercover double-agent involved in the arrest.

After two SWAT-style stings in one year, Stewart now faces several felony charges including: conspiracy to sell milk to minors; conspiracy to operate a private club without paying protection money to the authorities; conspiracy to educate the masses; and conspiracy to make people healthy and independent.

The authorities warn that the news of Stewart’s arrest and pending environmental tribunal may awaken his cult of followers, called foodies. These extremists typically come from the political left, once believing that boisterous regulations were actually for the public’s safety. They are generally a peace-loving group, but with their bright smiles, chiseled bodies and fully-functional minds, they may prove to be a formidable threat in the war of ideas against the establishment. These foodies, hopped up on natural vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, no longer believe the FDA or the government is there to protect them. For our safety, such nonconformity must not be tolerated.

The establishment must do everything it can to make an example of Stewart and his accomplices before the contagion of natural health awareness spreads to critical mass. Food choice is a privilege that must be fully enforced with more firearms and badges in order to maintain the corporate-government monopoly over food. Anyone who demands food freedom should be considered a threat — not just to themselves, but to society as a whole. And like animals backed into a corner, foodies who lose their rights should be considered dangerous extremists and monitored like al-Qaeda.

“Without the corporate-state food monopoly, we would all starve,” warned Michael Taylor, former Monsanto executive and current head of the FDA food safety division. He added, “Therefore, these foodies are a direct threat to national and international security, and their freedom must be smoked out. You’re either with us or against us.”

Furthermore, so-called natural health experts challenging the State’s health recommendations should be taken to re-education camps, or have their assets seized for intent to commit crimes against humanity. Likewise, normal citizens growing food for neighborly trade should face felony charges of “intent to sell.” The loss of food freedom is a small price to pay for the safety and rule by the genetically modified majority.

Here are eight reasons why raw foods should be illegal, and foodies should peacefully give up their rights:

1. Big Brother knows best: Citizens aren’t smart enough to make proper health choices. That’s why they gave their rights and authority over to the State in the first place. The FDA protects them from their neighbor’s eggs that come from chickens that eat bugs and worms, not the genetically-approved feed. Gross!

2. Amish farmers have pitchforks: Given the sordid history of peasants fighting their masters with pitchforks, Amish farmers should be considered armed and dangerous if a food revolution takes root.

3. Health Effects: Raw milk, like many other raw foods, is a “superfood,” loaded with vital antioxidants. Healthy food makes strong independent humans who are difficult to control.

4. Economic Threat: The sick-care industry is about 20% of the U.S. economy. Big Ag and Big Pharma are utterly dependent on keeping the public away from healthy foods. Supporting underground organic food cartels is a risk to economic recovery.

5. BGH and GMO: Bovine Growth Hormone and GMO-fed milk creates more patients for Big Pharma than grass-fed raw milk. Dairy farmers that use BGH and subsidized GM feed maximize profits the American way. Natural dairy farmers hate technology and advancement.

6. Contagion: If more people are allowed to discover the benefits of raw milk, they may get addicted to other natural health foods and remedies not offered by central controllers. As such, raw milk should be treated as a gateway food.

7. Black Markets: Some food cooperatives operate as private clubs, or through barter systems. In other words, they operate outside of the reach of the corporate government. This is a shadowy world where illegal currencies are traded and tax revenues are difficult to extort for the public good.

8. Regulators: The staff of the FDA and CDC are people too. They need to pay mortgages and put processed food on the table. They wouldn’t have such a generous budget without taking away the rights of small farmers and foodies. Naturally, this angers foodies and may cause them to revolt.

Known as the Doctor of Dental Wellness, Dr. Richard Walicki is a graduate of the Temple University School of Dentistry. Dr. Walicki is a general dentist with a focus on wellness and has maintained an active private practice in Philadelphia for over twenty years.  His mission is to help people attain practical solutions for their dental health problems through education, prevention and nutrition. Dr. Walicki is a contributor to the LiberationWellnessBlog and a supporter of real food. Additional articles of related interest can be located on his website.  A free newsletter and bonus report are also available.

Before I go on it must be said that, while good food does cost more in the short term, a diet rife with processed, devitalized “food” is far more expensive in the long run when one considers where it leads in terms of poor health, disease, and loss of production due to low energy and illness. It is for this reason that our family is committed to a healthy diet, no matter what!

This past winter is an excellent case in point. My husband is a very talented, self-employed high-end designer and carpenter who does not always get paid on time. In fact, when facing unexpected obstacles on a job, he may not get paid for weeks or months at a time, which is exactly where we found ourselves this year. We had very little money trickling in and found ourselves falling way behind on everything. Week after week we would have only a few dollars, if any, that we could spend on food, and so we had to be very frugal and creative to make every penny and every morsel count!

The main thing that got is through this tough period was bone broth. Do you have any idea how much you can do with this wonderful food?! By itself it is a wonderful, warming breakfast with a little egg mixed in. Add vegetables that are past their prime (CHEAP!) or leftover and you have an endless variety of soups! A little rice or brown rice pasta, beans (soaked for 24 hours with a little vinegar, of course) and you have a filling meal. I was able to empty my freezer of garden leftovers as well as purchase wilting or scarred organic produce, slice it up, toss it in the pot, and then puree everything into one delicious concoction, meal after meal. No need to throw away any veggie peels (nutrients!)  as my Kitcehn Aide stick blender works wonders for this. Add a little potato, or arrow root flour if you want your soup to be thicker. Sometimes I would even pour in souring cream or milk. Nothing need go to waste!

It is of the utmost priority to us that we have raw dairy daily in the form of fresh, raw milk, yogurt, and cheese. Thankfully at this point in time we have our own family cow to supply most of this, but even in times past when things have been rough we

"Lady" gives us plenty of fresh milk, cream and butter

have always made sure to have enough raw milk on hand to make yogurt and kefir, as well as for drinking. We might have a limit as to how much is available for general consumption, but we will have our raw, grass-fed milk, even if it means searching for pennies in the sofa! And raw milk cheese is a relatively inexpensive, filling source of nutrients that we always keep on hand. As with the fresh milk, quantity may be limited, but it is always available.

We can make a big pot of chili and really stretch it out by using a lot of beans (I prefer pinto) and less meat. Top it off with some of that cheese and some homemade sour cream and you have another cheap but nutritious and filling meal. I just made a stock pot full yesterday as a matter of fact, and it has already fed my large brood 3 times with still more left for later!

Making your own bread using whole grains is a great way to stretch the food dollar. I also make biscuits and muffins for my crew often, which helps them feel satisfied and pleased with their meal.

Eggs are a relatively cheap source of protein, and I work our supply into quiche, frittata, and scrambled eggs daily. By varying the form in which I serve eggs my kids don’t often get bored with the same old thing. Cheese of course helps with this as well, and having several varieties on hand changes flavors dramatically. We almost always keep Montery Jack and Cheddar on hand, but also Blue and Parmesan. The Blue & hard, Italian cheeses I find at the supermarket or Trader Joe’s in the specialty cheese aisle, where I always look for lack of the word “pasteurized” in the ingredient list. These are more expensive and so I can’t always purchase them, but a little goes a long way so a 1/2 lb. block can actually last for several weeks if I’m careful (and the kids don’t raid the fridge ).

I make stock pots full of pinto beans about once a month and keep them in quart jars to pull out for an easy, and cheap!, meal. They may go with Mexican-seasoned ground beef and be served over rice; or stuff a tortilla, along with cheese, to make quesadillas. Filling, quick, nutritious, and inexpensive! We enjoyed many such meals this past winter and never grew weary of them!

Potatoes are nourishing and cheap, so once the supply from our own garden ran out I sought organic potatoes in bulk direct from the farm. Appearance does not matter once food is pureed, put in a casserole, or simply in your mouth, so seconds are fine and again a money saver.

Don’t forget to have lots of butter and other good fats on hand, as I did, to help satiate and nourish. We will not be without butter or olive & coconut oils, but I take advantage of sales and “Bent-and-Dent” stores to load up on these important foods.

Buying all of these ingredients in bulk always saves you money, often lots of it, and stocking up in times of plenty helps pull you through the lean months. Because this is how we normally buy food, we did have quite a lot of staples in storage to see us through most of the winter.

We are currently working on a very full garden and plan to dehydrate, ferment, and freeze large quantities of vegetables to see us through next year. Even if all you have is a patio there is much that you can grow in containers which helps to stretch the food budget immensely, so go for it! Otherwise produce such as cabbage and potatoes are penny savers and can be fermented and/or stored for long periods of time with no loss of value.

Also, even in the city one can often raise a few chickens for eggs and/or meat. You can check your local regulations and may be surprised to find that it is perfectly legal to raise hens, at the least! But even if it is not technically legal, with understanding and friendly neighbors you may be able to get away with more than you think… We are raising the majority of our own poultry this year, both for meat and eggs.

One method of acquiring food not to be overlooked is by barter. At one point when we were without two pennies to rub together, quite literally, I was able to trade some of my home made goods for meat and bones with a farmer friend (Thanks so much, Jonas and Judy!). If you have a product or service to offer you may be happy to find a farmer who would be thrilled to make a swap!

Also, because we try to treat our farmers well, they have become our friends. Our family has a great deal of respect, admiration, and love for these fine, hard working people! And so from time to time when one has known we are struggling, or because they also know that I am willing to take what others reject and make something good of it, we will be sometimes be offered extras or freezer overload. This winter we were blessed with more good beef bones, dried beans, rice and a few other things which added up to a lot. It pays to treat people well! I am so grateful for our farmers and friends!

One thing which I haven’t addressed is the fact that much of what I mention is rather high-carb. This was problematic for me over the winter months, and I am still working on taking off a few of those extra pounds which I picked up from too much rice and beans. I will say that, generally speaking, I was able to avoid much of the carb-rich foods by just eating everything else, but at times this just could not be helped. So for those of you needing to restrict your carbohydrate intake for one reason another, bear in mind that if you can load up more on non-starchy vegetables and plenty of fat, along with the bone broth, you will fare much better. I am making sure to have far more vegetables, bones, and inexpensive cuts of meat in the freezer for next year. (We would have had much more meat in the freezer this past winter, had it not wondered off on four legs shortly before time to butcher )

Our family can not thank the Weston A Price Foundation and Sally Fallon Morell enough for the education which we have received that has helped get our family through this very rough time. Without Nourishing Traditions, Wise Traditions, or the opportunity to learn from others at events such as the annual conference, I would not have known the virtues of bone broth, real milk, fermented foods, or pastured eggs! How would I have known to replace soda with kombucha, or “whole grain” bread with sourdough? And would I have realized the importance of nutrient-dense, sacred foods, even when it was most difficult to acquire them? No, all of this information was acquired from hours spent with Sally and others in books, lectures, workshops, videos, and one-on-one. These lessons are far beyond any tangible value I could assess, and we are grateful!

Now don’t let money, or lack-there-of, be an issue in how you feed your family or yourself; if our family can survive and thrive on a tiny food budget, so can yours. I say, “Go for it!”!

Maureen Diaz is a homeschooling mother of 9, a WAPF chapter leader, and a certified LW Nutritionist. She also has produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest, Liberation Wellness Home Cooking. Check out & order her DVD’s on her website, www.nourishingtraditionalcook.com 

The latter recommendation re trans fats makes perfect sense, given that Mary Enig, PhD proved in the early 1970′s that they were essentially poison to the body and totally shut down the prostaglandin pathway, among other metabolic insults. It then took the FDA a modest 26 years to determine that she was right and that trans fats are, indeed, “harmful” and required “labeling” so that the ever expanding fat-consuming public could be better informed about their toxic diet.

Trans fats, as many of you know, are a relatively modern invention (circa 1905 when Crisco — the ultimate trans fat — was 1st introduced into the marketplace) which are created by hydrogenating or partially hydrogenating a vegetable oil. In today’s vernacular, the processed food industry refers to these trans fats as High Palmitic Vegetable Oils (aka, HPVOs) Sounds really enticing, doesn’t it? Trust me, this is not a natural oil, nor is the process to make it, and certainly the human species knew that, which is why heart disease took a decided trend upward starting in 1920. It has been the nation’s #1 killer for the last three generations.

What is sparking this blog, and a heightened interest in fats, is a recent announcement that the Illinois House voted this week to “ban Trans Fats” by Jan 1, 2013. On one hand, that’s certainly a step in the right direction, but HB 1600 has yet to pass the Senate, and how many folks honestly think Gov. Quinn wants to be the only other Governor in the nation to ban this toxic substance on the heels of California? Illinois is a mega-grain state — me thinks the Farm Lobby will kill it. Only time will tell. And lest you think I’m being too cynical about this legislation, this bill also assures that trans fats will continue to be served in Illinois schools until 2016!, and the proposed law places no restrictions on the sale of pre-processed foods across the State. Whew!… Thank goodness, for a minute there I thought I was about to get healthy…

In any event, trans fats are a no-brainer for elimination. However, it gets far more complicated with saturated fats. Fact: 60% of our brain is comprised of Lauric Acid, a saturated fat. Fact: whenever we store fat on our body — it’s saturated fat. Fact: the very fats that nourish our heart – are saturated fats—principally Palmitic and Stearic!!! What I find utterly fascinating is that somehow “saturated” animal fat became demonized in the 50′s & 60′s and really picked up a head of steam in the early 70′s.

But then I just read something fascinating in Dr. Mark Hyman’s book, Ultra-Metabolism. He points out that grain-fed beef has 5X more saturated fat than grass-fed beef. 5 TIMES?!? I didn’t know that — did you know that?!?… Where have I been? I was utterly stunned. What you may find interesting is that it wasn’t until 1946 (about the time that Animal Fat Consumption starts to plunge, note the slope…) that cattle & pig farmers realized that they could feed their critters Corn & Soy which would cause them to fatten up much, much faster — as fast as though they were taking hormones. Hmmmm?… Could there possibly be any connection with obesity in America?!?… Nah, that’s too obvious.

This then prompted me to dig a bit further into saturated fats. It turns out that there are four (4) key types of saturated fatty acids: Lauric, Myristic, Palmitic and Stearic. And back in the 70′s when nutritionists, physicians, and politicians were all going postal on “saturated fats,” they basically trashed ALL saturated fats. That’s like saying that ALL teen-agers are drug addicts. No, just some are, and the same is true of saturated fats – just some are a problem. (Of course that’s the case, given that our body is made of and depends on saturated fats to function properly!) In any event, it turns out that THE saturated fat that got trashed the most — Stearic Fatty Acids – which are principally found in beef and beef products, have now been proven in numerous research studies to be neutral as it relates to any kind of elevation of total cholesterol, or LDLs. Imagine that… Would that rustling you hear be Ancel Keys, PhD turning over in his grave?…

And then I realized something critically important: ALL the studies addressing the “nutritional content of food” that have been done in America since 1946 are completely invalid, unless they specifically state that they are based on animals eating their natural diet — which Corn & Soy is NOT! So in the same way that you can no longer say “meat” in America — it must now always be “lean meat”– any time writers, doctors, nutritionists,  TV commentators, etc. make any reference to “trans fats,” they must always say “saturated fats and trans fats.” And this is where the confusion lies. Animals being fed industrial-grade, grain slop to accelerate attaining their market weight is not at all natural. It creates a very unnatural form of saturated fats – that do wreak havoc in our bodies. Imagine that. As Michael Pollan so eloquently states: “You are what you eat eats!”

In fact, given what Hyman references about a dramatic difference in Saturated Fats — based upon what the animal eats — tell me again why we shouldn’t eat the very fats that fuel and nourish our body — especially our hearts and our brains – when they are produced naturally?!? The tragedy of all this is that the public can’t follow this exhausting, and confusing shell game — and I don’t blame them. I’ve been working on this one issue for the last 18 months and am only now beginning to fully understand the game of deception that has plagued our nation over “dietary fats.” In a word: it is shameful. Shameful that Ancel Keys, PhD created this mess following Ike’s heart attack in 1955, shameful that lipid researchers were soooo casual and myopic in their dietary research trying desperately to link saturated fat to both cholesterol and heart disease, shameful that physicians who don’t know the first thing about food and nutrition continue to be cast as the “authority” on diet, and shameful that the food industry that created the whole “trans fats” fiasco, as a cheap, unnatural “saturated” fat, has been allowed to perpetrate this poison on the public and perpetuate this lipid confusion without consequence. (Yeah, I know, why don’t I tell you how I really feel…)

I share this with you all as you are among the select souls on this planet that are smart enough, compassionate enough and driven enough to do something with this knowledge. And that’s the truth! And what I’ve outlined above is the absolute truth — despite the relentless attempts by everyone and their brother to declare (i.e. deceive) otherwise. And this is what leads me to use my signature tag line: “We have been misled, we have been misfed…”

Until next time, thanks for taking the time to read, absorb, and share this “infatuating” essay.

A votre santé…

Food Day will be observed on and around Monday, October 24, 2011, and will likely include a series of major events in Washington, New York City, San Francisco, and other major cities, and thousands of smaller events around the country.

The idea is modeled on Earth Day, say organizers, and they hope Food Day will inspire Americans to hold thousands of events in schools, college campuses, houses of worship, and even in private homes aimed at fixing America’s food system.  Like Earth Day events, a Food Day event could be as small as a parent organizing a vegetable identification contest at a kindergarten class—or as massive as a rally in a city park, with entertainment and healthy food.

According to the organizers, the campaign has five central goals:

• Reducing diet-related disease by promoting healthy foods.  The CSPI believes that the American diet is too low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and too high in fatty meat, soft drinks, and salty packaged and restaurant foods—contributing to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year due to heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer.

• Supporting sustainable farms and stopping subsidies to agribusiness.  Billions of federal dollars a year would be better spent helping environmentally conscious family farmers than huge agribusiness operations.

• Expanding access to food and alleviating hunger.  Far too many Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from, or have access to fresh produce in their neighborhood.

• Reforming factory farms to protect animals and the environment.  Farming of animals can and should be done without cruelty, and without degrading the quality of life in rural America.

• Curbing junk-food marketing to kids.  Food companies should not be targeting children with foods that promote tooth decay, obesity, and other health problems.

“Food Day will bring together a lot of people with common interests in food issues, but who otherwise haven’t worked all that closely together,” said Michael F. Jacobson, who founded CSPI 40 years ago.  “So whether your primary concern is human health, farm policy, or the quality of life in rural America, Food Day can be an opportunity to start solving local and national food problems from the ground up.”

Besides Jacobson, Food Day is led by honorary co-chairs Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and an advisory board that includes food author Michael Pollan; prominent physicians Caldwell Esselstyn, Michael Roizen, and David Satcher; nutrition authorities Walter Willett, Kelly Brownell, and Marion Nestle; public health expert Georges Benjamin; and chefs Dan Barber, Nora Pouillon, and Alice Waters.

“Why Food Day? It is time to make real food the number-one priority in our country,” said Alice Waters, proprietor of the acclaimed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, Calif.  “The choices we make about food affect our health, the health of the planet—and the way we live our lives.”

“Food Day is an opportunity to celebrate real food and the movement rising to reform the American food system,” the author Michael Pollan said.

However, let’s put to rest all the chatter about the ”natural”  sweeteners  and artificial sweeteners that may sound as if they are actually good for you or okay to ingest.

Let’s start with the artificial sweeteners:

SWEET’N LOW (SACCHARINE/CYCLAMATE)–Here’s theme that is recurring – Perform laboratory tests using toxic hazardous chemicals,  spill it on your hand, taste it, give it a name and use it in processed foods as a sweetener!  Sounds like the “Crisco” model!

Saccharin - In 1879 researchers were at Johns Hopkins University were working on toluene derivatives. Toluene is produced in the process of making gasoline from crude oil and in making coke from coal.  Exposure to high levels can cause unconsciousness and even death according to the U.S. Government’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry under the classification of hazardous.

One of the researchers spilled some of the toluene derivative on his hand while doing his research that day and later that night while at dinner noticed that his food tasted oddly sweet.  He traced the taste back to the chemicals he was researching that day and named the substance “saccharin” after the word saccharide, which means complex sugar.

Saccharin–a toluene derivative?  A Derivative of the same toluene used to make nail polish, rubber, paint, and paint thinners, etc., just to add no calorie sweetener to food?  Seriously?

Cyclamate – In 1937 a graduate student from the University of Illinois was trying to synthesize fever reducing drugs in the lab.  He laid his cigarette down on a lab bench and when he took another puff he discovered the sweet taste of cyclamate from the antipyretic drugs he had on his fingers.

Sweet’N Low was originally the first powdered no calorie sweetener and blended 10:1 ratio of cyclamate to saccharine.  After all of the disputes over cyclamates, Sweet’N Low today is a blend of saccharin and dextrose.

SUCRALOSE SPLENDA): Splenda was invented by scientists trying to find a better pesticide. One Scientist said to the other , “test it,” but the other scientist thought he said “TASTE II” and so he did and found that it was sweet.

A very dangerous new chemical — because in order to make sucralose, chlorine is added to sugar!  Research by the Sucralose Toxicity Information Center showed that years of sucralose use can lead to serious compromise of the immune system and neurological disorders.

Splenda is only “made from sugar” because they took a sugar molecule and substituted three of its atoms with chlorine. Chlorine when ingested in your body turns to methanol then in turn gets absorbed as formaldehyde.  Isn’t that interesting?  Formaldehyde–that’s for embalming, right?  Just think you can preserve yourself while you kill yourself!

“The manufacturer’s own short-term studies showed that very high doses of sucralose (far beyond what would be expected in an ordinary diet) caused shrunken thymus glands, enlarged livers, and kidney disorders in rodents. A more recent study also shows that Splenda significantly decreases beneficial gut flora.

As a side note, more than 90% of my clients have compromised guts (intestines).  Whether parasites, candida, toxicity, or poor bowel function, your health does begin in the gut.  In fact, at least 80% of your immune system is in your intestines!  Why would you want to do anything to compromise that?

“But in this case, the FDA decided that because these studies weren’t based on human test animals, they were not conclusive. Of course, rats had been chosen for the testing specifically because they metabolize sucralose more like humans than any other animal used for testing.

In other words, the FDA has tried to have it both ways — they accepted the manufacturer’s studies on rats because the manufacturer had shown that rats and humans metabolize the sweetener in similar ways, but shrugged off the safety concerns on the grounds that rats and humans are different.”

Sucralose has been implicated as a possible migraine trigger, for example. Self-reported adverse reactions to Splenda or sucralose collected by the Sucralose Toxicity Information Center include skin rashes/flushing, panic-like agitation, dizziness and numbness, diarrhea, swelling, muscle aches, headaches, intestinal cramping, bladder issues, and stomach pain. These show up at one end of the spectrum — in the people who have an allergy or sensitivity to the sucralose molecule. But no one can say to what degree consuming Splenda affects the rest of us, and there are no long-term studies in humans with large numbers of subjects to say one way or the other if it’s safe for everyone.

ASPARTAME (NUTRI-SWEET, EQUAL)

Aspartate (main ingredient in Nutrisweet/Equal) in simplistic terms, causes the brain neurons to constantly fire – that’s why it’s called an excitotoxin – these neurons actually keep firing and are literally excited to death.

Aspartame is so much sweeter than sugar that frequent consumption can lead people to actually consume more calories.  I’ve always said, “fat people drink diet-coke!” The truth is… “phenylalanine and aspartic acid, the amino acids which make up the bulk of aspartame, are known to rapidly stimulate the release of insulin and leptin, which are hormones that signal the body to store fat…”  Sweet Deception by Dr. Mercola

Glutamate (MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, Glutamaic acid, etc.)is also an amino acid and does exactly the same thing as Aspartate with respect to brain cells.  “Likewise, exposing neurons to glutamate or aspartate can induce paired helical filaments very similar to those seen in naturally occurring Alzheimer’s disease…” (Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills by Russell L. Blaylock, MD)

Sadly in a child’s brain, the constant firing of neurons and death of brain cells causes irreversible damage!

“Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death.(1) A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain.

According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame:(2) Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson’s disease, alzheimer’s, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes…”  Mercola

Don’t you just wonder why people keep drinking toxic chemicals every time you see someone drinking a diet soda??? They are better off with HFCF!!!!

NEOTAME – Monsanto developed a new version of aspartame which is 72 times sweeter than aspartame and called neotame.  Neotame is chemically related aspartame and is 7 to 13 thousand times sweeter than sugar, stable at high heat and not broken down in the body into the amino acid phenylalanine.  Neotame is aspartame plus 3-di-methyl-butyl, which is on the EPA’s list of most hazardous chemicals.  Wow!  What an improvement over aspartame!  I just bet that it is being used in processed foods under some mysterious ingredient name…

SUGAR ALCOHOLS – XYLOTOL, MANNITOL, SORBITOL, MALTITOL, ISOMALT, LACTITOL, TAGATOSE ERYTHITOL-Sugar alcohols are found naturally in low levels in some raw fruits and vegetables and don’t cause problems in their raw state.

However, the sugar alcohols (Polyols) manufactured are quite different in the way the body reacts to them.  Most sugar alcohols are not considered GRAS (generally regarded as safe) under food and beverage law, but are allowed under the American cosmetic, flavor, and pharmaceutical regulations. They can cause the following adverse side effects at only 1½ teaspoons per day and some polyols have been linked directly to malignant tumor activity:

Bloating

Gastrointestinal distress

Diarrhea

Anal leakage

These symptoms are particularly dangereous in infants, children, diabetics, hyperinsulinemics of hypoglycemic, pregnamt women, seniors and many other health compromised people.

Don’t sugar alcohols sound too good to be true?  You would think it’s a miracle sugar substitute in all the hype.  From Dr. Mercola in Sweet Deception,  “… However, even though sugar alcohols do not raise your blood sugar levels as much as table sugar, they do raise them.
Sugar alcohols can also be converted to fat, and may contribute to an increase in blood triglyceride levels and weight gain.  The exception to this rule is erythritol, which does not appear to raise blood sugars, but unfortunately also has inferior sweetening power.”

Studies have shown that of the sugar alcohols xylitol is probably the best because of the health benefits associated with it, such as the benefit of preventing tooth decay and ear infections, however, it is still a manufactured,  manipulated product.

Let’s face it – sugar is sugar and the food industry is constantly trying to “candy-coat”  the fact that sugar is still sugar, no matter what you call it and it still is and always will be very harmful to the body.

SUGAR - Table sugar, cane sugar, etc. is made of 50% glucose and 50% fructose.  It is recognized by the body as a simple sugar, and it can deal with it, albeit it is stressful to deal with but it does nonetheless.  Too much sugar can lead to diabetes, which will lead to heart disease, renal disease, pripheral vascular disease, diabetic retinitis (blindness), diabetic peripheral neuropathy , etc.

FRUCTOSE – It’s natural sugar found in fruits, right?  So it should be okay to use as a sugar replacement.  WRONG!  Any type of fructose is very dangerous – it essentially sends the message to the liver to store fat.  That’s why we eat fruit in season and with some type of a fat for a buffer.  The fruit is complete with fiber as well as the fructose.  Please see my earlier blog, Fruit will make you Fat. Remember, fructose raises triglyceride levels and lowers HDL levels among other things.

FRUCTO-OLIGOSACCHARIDES (FOS) – a type of soluable fiber and is not very sweet and is usually mixed with other more intense sweeteners.  Since it is indigestible, it can cause digestive distress including gas and bloating when eaten excessively.

Sadly, because of the misleading labeling in  the health foods industry, generally when you see FOS on the label it’s probably really fructose mislabeled in order to deceive you into believing the product is sugar free.

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP – We all know it is bad, and to reiterate, in addition to being genetically modified corn, it is anywhere from 42% to 45% glucose and 55% – 58/% fructose. The acid enzyme procedure used to manufacture it aside, your body doesn’t readily recognize the new structure, and that’s where the mayhem  begins—that extra punch of fructose.

AGAVE NECTAR – Can be 55 percent to 90 percent fructose, depending on brand!

In spite of manufacturer’s claims, most agave “nectar” is not made from the sap of the yucca or agave plant but from its pineapple-like root bulb[i]. The root has a complex carbohydrate called inulin, which is made up of fructose molecules.

The process which many, if not most, agave producers use to convert this inulin into “nectar” is VERY similar to the process by which cornstarch is converted into HFCS1.

Though processing methods can differ among manufacturers, most commercially available agave is converted into fructose-rich syrup using genetically modified enzymes and a chemically intensive process involving caustic acids, clarifiers, and filtration chemicals [ii]. Here is a partial list of the chemicals many producers use:

• Activated charcoal
• Cationic and ionic resins
• Sulfuric and/or hydrofluoric acid
• Dicalite
• Clarimex
• Inulin enzymes
• Fructozyme

How natural does this sound?

Anyway, of the “good” agave syrups here’s a breakdown of three:

Fructose is Fructose, People!

GLUCOSE- (dextrose) – You can get dextrose for about $1 a pound at the health food store.   It does not affect the liver the way fructose does.  Glucose does not cause insulin resistance or trick your body into persistant hunger the way fructose does.

Except for individuals with full blown- diabetes, glucose does not trigger harmful metabolic changes!  It is okay to use sparingly, and is only about 70% as sweet as sucrose so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose—but still well worth it for your health as it has ZERO grams of fructose.  You need to get from reputable source, as it is can be a corn derivative and you want to make sure it is not genetically modified.

Remember, glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is far safer than the metabolic poison fructose.

HONEY –  Don’t be fooled and misled – honey packs a punch in that it can contain as much as fructose or more than HFCS.

MOLASSES – has a high fructose content, though not as much as honey.   Molasses has 5.5 grams of fructose per 1 tablespoon and honey for same amount is 8.8 grams of fructose!  If you are trying to keep your total daily fructose consumption down at 25, this is pretty high at 1 tablespoon!

PURE MAPLE SUGAR SYRUP,–By composition, this sugar is about 90% sucrose (remember sucrose is 50% glucose 50% fructose), the remainder consisting of variable amounts of glucose and fructose.  Extreme caution should be taken when choosing a maple syrup, using brands that are  organic or guaranteed not to use formaldehyde .  Formaldehyde is used in the production of mose commercial brands of pure maple syrup!

FRUIT  JUICE CONCENTRATE, ETC. – When I see these sweeteners, I cringe –concentrated fructose as main component. The juice is particularly bad because it is almost pure concentrated fructose without the benefit of the fiber of the fruit!  How is that healthy?

BROWN RICE SYRUP – made by fermenting brown rice with chemical enzymes, followed by centrifuging, filtering and purifying to a dextrose consistency.  As you can imagine, all nutrition has been stripped and it is mostly maltose with half the sweetness of sugar.

LO HAN KUO – fruit of the momordica grosvenori, a plant in the cucumber and melon family the extracts of which can be 250 time sweeter than sugar and tastes like black licorice.

Lo Han has been used for centuries I Traditional Chinese Medicine to improve skin conditions, sore throats, coughs, purifying the blood and regulating the digestive tract.  Lo Han is actually processed less than stevia, can be heated, can control food and sugar cravings, and like stevia has no calories or sugar.

STEVIA – Stevia rebaudiana A plant whose leaves when dried are very sweet—up to 300 times as sweet as sugar.  It is a genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family and native to tropical and subtropical regions from western North America to South America.

Stevia gives almost no glycemic response and has been used in Japan for decades.  The US banned Stevia in the early 1990s unless labeled as a supplement, but in 2008 approved rebaudioside A extrct as a food additive.

From Wikipedia, “In terms of weight fraction, the four major steviol glycosides found in the stevia plant tissue are:

• 5–10% stevioside (250–300X of sugar)
• 2–4% rebaudioside A — most sweet (350–450X of sugar) and least bitter
• 1–2% rebaudioside C
• ½–1% dulcoside A.

Rebaudioside B, D, and E may also be present in minute quantities; however, it is suspected that rebaudioside B is a byproduct of the isolation technique. ^[2] The two majority compounds stevioside and rebaudioside, primarily responsible for the sweet taste of stevia leaves, were first isolated by two French chemists in 1931…

Rebiana is the trade name^[4] for a zero-calorie sweetener containing mainly rebaudioside A (also called Reb A).^[5] Truvia is the consumer brand for Rebiana marketed by Cargill and developed jointly with The Coca-Cola Company.^[6] PureVia is PepsiCo‘s brand of Reb A sweetener. Enliten is Corn Products International‘s brand of Reb A sweetener.”

Stevia is the preferred sweetener to use, but only in the natural “supplement” form, not isolated, manipulated and manufactured by a company as cited above!

DATE SUGAR – dehydrated dates ground into powder and is 85% sucrose.  See maple syrup above.

SUCCANT AND TURBINADO SUGARS –  Succant is a contraction of “Sucre de canne naturel”, which was introduced by Pronatec in 1978 and is a brand name for whole cane sugar. Unlike refined and processed white sugar, Sucanat retains its molasses content; it is essentially pure dried sugar cane juice. The juice is extracted by mechanical processes, heated and cooled at which point the small brown grainy crystals are formed.

Sucanat may be confused with turbinado sugar; however, the two are fundamentally different. Turbinado sugar contains only a trace amount of its original molasses content, making it similar to refined sugar except with a golden color and a hint of molasses flavor. Sucanat, on the other hand, retains its full molasses content and flavor, thus making it, as stated above, pure dried cane juice. Its grainy form also contrasts with the clear, crystalline form of turbinado.  BUT IT IS STILL SUGAR!

I think that when you look at the pros and cons of the choices of sweeteners, the best choices are self-evident.

Resources:

Mercola.com

The sugar fix, Dr. Richard Johnson

Douglassreport.com

Wikipedia.com

Sweet Deception, by Dr. James Mercola

Excitotoxins, the Taste that Kills by Dr. Russell Blaylock

Janet Stuck is a Doctor of Naturopathy, Certified Nutritional Counselor, Certified Wellness Nutritional Counselor, Master Herbologist and Certified Natural Health Professional. Janet writes for

www.LiberationWellnessBlog.com and her website www.onestopherbshop.net.

Money & Science

How is this possible? The bottom line is that there are no truth police. Scientists are entirely self-regulated. They are in the truth manufacturing business. Worse yet is the fact that we live in an authoritarian society so often the experts point of view gets put into public policy (low fat diets) or law (vaccination)–even when they are wrong. For example, there have been calls to add statins to public water supplies–even though they cause birth defects.

The other major factor is money. If you are a researchers, there is lots of money to study margarine and seed oils and very little to study butter and virtually none to study raw butter. The same is true for pharmaceutical drugs and well understood cure alls like gelatin and cod liver oil. Iowa farmers have a joke, “If you have $10,000 you can get Ames to ‘prove’ anything you want” (Ames is the main agricultural research university). Despite the bluster and sanctimony to the contrary, I believe that scientists are much more likely to get the results they want, than figuring out what’s actually true.

Another major problem is that the vast majority of people do not have the time, money, energy or intellectual capability to go off on their own. Reading technical journals and conducting experiments on yourself or your family is risky and difficult The only other choice is to trust the “experts”. There is also the herd mentality. If the experts are telling you to do or not do something and most people are listening, it seems like madness to go against the flow. Everyone is just assuming the experts are usually right–when they are in fact usually wrong.

The internet has created an entirely new dynamic though. People with every conceivable malady are now able to compare notes and share experiences and results of personal experimentation. I’ve personally read countless posts from people who are openly ignoring the best advice of their doctors and none the less curing themselves of whatever allies them. Mainstream medicine is losing market share every year to alternative treatments. If they were to objectively look at the cause they would find that it is their rigid, dogmatic wrongheadedness that is the primary cause. But they are making way too much money with the current system to want to change.

Based on my research I don’t believe the medical system will ever figure this out and remake themselves in a cathartic revolution. Instead, one group will slowly lose relevance over the next couple of generations and eventually be replaced by a different group entirely. Every generation of doctors and scientists eventually becomes the old guard, out of touch and stuck on out dated ideas. The young turks come along with “crazy” new ideas and eventually replace the old guard. Only to eventually become the next old guard. Its a perpetual cycle with a long sad trail of sick and dead bodies and wasted time and money.

So what should you do? The short answer is to talk to your doctor, if they won’t listen, get another doctor. Money is the only thing that will get their attention. Also realize that many people have stopped seeing their doctors and stopped taking their meds because they’ve figured out that a nutrient poor diet was all that was wrong with them.

If you have a health problem start following the Liberation Diet and see if it goes away. We’ve had many success stories. I personally believe that the vast majority of health problems are caused by poor diets. Cod liver oil, butter oil, raw dairy, sprouted & fermented grains, pastured meat and eggs, organic veggies, gelatin & mineral rich bone broths will cure virtually any health problem. Vitamin C and iodine also can work wonders for a variety of specific health problems.

Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness.
-Hippocrates

Another thing to do is to stop paying attention to the “latest study” or the “newest research” or anyone who talks about these things. Our great grand mothers already knew everything we need to know to be healthy (eat real, home made food). We all just stopped listening and started listening to the jokers in the lab coats and buying refined, pasteurized food in boxes and cans.

Please let me know what you think about this.

Paul Ericson is a certified Liberation Wellness Educator

Come on; let’s take a playful pass at our national obsession with “losing weight” and look at it from a contrasting point of view. Let’s explore: “What do I need to do to make sure that I gain weight?” The research is actually quite compelling, but chances are you may have missed it, so here’s a refresher course on ten proven steps you can take in your daily routine to maximize your fat gain, as much as possible.

1. Start your day with a cup of coffee, the bigger the better: This is actually very cool. Caffeine sends an “alarm” signal to your brain that you’re under attack! Actually, what it does do is override the Adrenal glands to make sure that there’s enough blood sugar to start the day. And what it will also guarantee is that your blood sugar levels will become really low (a.k.a. hypoglycemia), so be sure to eat something sweet with that cup of Joe, that way you’ll ensure a false sense of security, as well as a false sense of energy. Better yet, this daily routine will add to your growing Adrenal fatigue and help make sure that you can’t possibly generate energy without artificial stimulants in your daily diet (i.e. caffeine and simple carbs).

2. Do not eat any protein in the morning: One of the best ways to get fat is to absolutely flood your body with carbs – the simpler, the better. If you introduce protein into your breakfast, it only slows down your body’s ability to deal with all that carb-based sugar, as well as all that Insulin raging through your body seeking to store all that excess sugar. Whenever possible, do what you can to cause the greatest spike in your blood sugar (and subsequently your levels of Insulin) as this will ensure that you develop Insulin Resistance which will guarantee optimal fat storage and really help you pack on the pounds. Don’t worry about how this happens – just do it! And after you do this long enough, it will be a true “sweet surprise” to your waistline and your wardrobe.

3. Be sure to eat a lot of small meals throughout the day: Truth be known, our bodies are designed for surviving starvation. But over the last 50 years in America, we have cast our Paleolithic heritage goodbye and are now able to eat 24/7 – it’s the very best thing you can do under this protocol. In addition, this eating strategy is a proven way to clog up an overworked Liver by never letting it rest. What you truly don’t want if you’re trying to put on “max fat” is allow your Liver to detoxify the challenging ingredients from all your meals, not to mention the 80,000 environmental chemicals. Graze whenever and wherever possible. If necessary, keep that nursery rhyme humming in the background: “Good, better, best – never let the Liver rest!” Giving your Liver more time in between meals is the worst thing you could possibly do if you want to make it on Biggest Gainer! Remember, isn’t that what our diet is all about…

4. Seek out food additives “designed” to cause weight gain: Be sure to fill your cupboards — and your stomachs — with products that contain as much of the following three food additives as possible:

a. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG): Now, don’t be fooled into thinking that this can only be found at Chinese restaurants. Relax, it’s everywhere in the American food system. What makes it more fun is that it’s disguised under names like: “hydrolyzed protein,” “autolyzed yeast,” “calcium caseinate,” “magnesium glutamate,””textured protein,” and 35 other names you don’t know about. You get the idea… Have fun finding it and putting as much of this excitotoxin into your tummy as you can stand. The amazing part about this additive is that it tweaks your Hypothalamus (it’s in the center of your brain…) into letting you eat more and more and more. No cause for alarm, relax, it’s automatic.
b. Aspartame: This, too, is an amazing product for packing on the pounds. Despite what you may think, the FDA actually rejected this food additive for 16 years, until President Bush, Sr. (the one who was a member of Yale’s Skull & Crossbones Society…) took office. Until this past year, it was manufactured by that most trusted chemical corporation, Monsanto; is sold as “NutraSweet” & “Equal;” and is found in countless food products. It might as well be called “NutraFat!” It’s unparalleled in its ability to also trick your brain (yup, you guessed it, it’s that Hypothalamus thing, again…) into weight gain mode and has demonstrated its fatso effectiveness in countless research studies – at least those not sponsored by Monsanto.
c. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): Now, this is the granddaddy of all fat stimulating additives. Rush to the store to buy all the sodas, cake mixes, breakfast cereals, candies, cough syrups, sauces, etc. that you can afford. The best part about it and the main reason why it’s everywhere – it’s so incredibly cheap to make! Consequently, it won’t cost you too much as you focus on ”Let’s Get Fat!” And the fact that the Corn Refiners Association now wants to rename it: “Corn Sugars” only guarantees that you’ll buy more foods with it under a new name — you’ll never know what you’re eating then.

5. Discipline yourself to a “low-fat” diet. Your body has a natural ability to burn fat. Not to worry, this metabolic pathway works like a muscle: “use it or lose it.” The fastest way to lose it is to eliminate fat from your diet. This guarantees that your body will lose its fat burning ability at a cellular level, and thus preserve as much adipose tissue (a.k.a. fat) as possible on your ever-expanding chassis. And the best part about this dietary strategy — there’s only so much protein that you can eat in a day. Consequently, the balance of your calories must come from carbs – absolutely locking in the Insulin Resistance (noted in #2 above) and thus assuring your weight gain takes place, almost effortlessly. If you remember nothing else, please remember this: “low-fat” means “high-carb” – it’s a lock, and the research is compelling, despite what you have been told otherwise.

6. Focus on foods “designed” to cause inflammation: At its essence, fat is the body’s way of protecting you from ALL the toxins in your diet and/or your environment. The more toxins in your diet and the more offensive they are, the more fat you absolutely need. To remain vigilant, visualize your body as a raging ball of fire. Be sure to eat plenty of the following foods to ensure that this inflammation is at its peak throughout your body:

a. Foods that are highly processed & refined. Be sure to look for products that come in a box, a can, or a white lunch bag – these are the best!
b. Foods that still have trans-fats. Wherever possible, be sure to select foods that have the word: “Hydrogenated” or “Partially Hydrogenated” on them. Margarine is a favorite, but relax, you’ll find trans fats everywhere even though they were banned 15 years ago.
c. Foods that have an outrageous amount of Omega-6 Fatty Acids. These are best found in most, if not all, of the industrialized vegetable oils. Make sure that they come in a clear bottle as this will ensure a greater likelihood of the oil being rancid, which only adds to the likelihood of it causing more inflammation. The best examples for this “food group” are: Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Canola Oil, Safflower Oil, or Cottonseed Oil. Btw, the Baby Boomers have a distinct advantage here — you all grew up on Crystallized Cottonseed Oil, which was sold many years ago as CRISCO…
d. Foods that contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Now this is a bit more difficult due to the FDA barring any labels on these foods (again, brought to you by President Bush, Sr. — good ol’ Skull & Crossbones…) Nonetheless, be on the lookout for any produce that has an “8” on the little white sticker or buy only processed food (again, think “box,” “can,” or “frozen”) that has corn, soybean, canola or cottonseed as a main ingredient. These four genetically modified staples now constitute about 80% of the foods we eat as Americans, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find GMOs. Remember, if your food has the Non-GMO Label on the product — put it back! You are only delaying your weight gain by succumbing to organic foods, and spending a fortune in the process. Btw, the latest research with rats has now proven that even with minute amounts of pesticide (a known toxin) in their diet, these laboratory critters become obese. How cool is that?!?… Now to put your mind to rest, when you’re eating GMOs, like Bt Corn or Bt Soy, you’re actually eating pesticide – that’s what “Bt” is code for. And one last dimension, as an added bonus, this eating strategy also works wonders if your goal is to become sterile, but I’ll save that for another post.

7. Plan your biggest and most nutrient dense meal, for as late in the night as possible. You probably already know this (given that you’re committed to “pounding” yourself), but this is actually how Sumo wrestlers achieve their extraordinary weight gains. And who doesn’t want to go toe-to-toe with those guys? The timing (Late!)and the size (Super!)of this meal is a necessity given our plan to overwhelm our digestive system, and again, compromise our liver’s ability to do its critical job. Remember, the more time you give that Liver before bedtime, the more effective it can be in storing all that glucose and detoxifying your system of the toxins – there’s no way, I mean “no weigh…” (Please, pardon the pun…) Bring your liver to its knees, so you can guarantee that you will, as well.

8. Limit your sleep each and every night. Now this is really important. Stay up as late as you can every night possible. Watch David Letterman, get engrossed in thriller movies or just surf the web for as long as your eyes can stand the toothpicks. The less sleep you get, the better. Please don’t tell anyone, but while you’re sleeping, you actually burn fat to provide energy to keep all your countless metabolic processes going. But given that we shut down that fat-burning pathway (see #5 above), we don’t need to worry about that, now do we? And as an added bonus, be sure to sleep with a light on – this will totally confuse your body. In effect, this will make you have a low appetite in the morning, but a high one at night, thus ensuring success with both #2 and #7 above – isn’t this cool how it’s all coming into focus? Just do your part to prevent any true restorative sleep, thereby keeping your body on alert at all times. And btw, if you find you’re always waking up between 1-3 am, well that means one of two things: 1) either your Liver is working way too hard, or 2) you went to bed way too early!

9. Spend as much of your food dollar in restaurants, preferably “Quick Service” ones: As a nation, we currently spend 50% of our food dollar outside the home – that’s about $2,500/person. A little known secret: if you would spend just a few thousand more, you, too, could own the Crave It! Study sponsored by McCormick Spice Co. (2001) Contained in it will be a guaranteed process for “enhancing” your food to ensure maximum visits and thereby, maximum weight gains for patrons. This process makes food “Hyperpalatable,” and with an amazing mixture sugar, fat, and salt, as well as other food additives (see #4 & #6 above), you will learn how to tweak your “hedonic hotspot” also located in your brain (this time it’s the Nucleus Accumbens – neighbor to the Hypothalamus). Once the “hotspot” gets compromised, you’ll never feel satiated, and you will keep coming back for more and more and more food. You can’t help it – you have just become a victim to the central wiring of our brain: the cue-urge-reward-habit cycle that fuels ALL addictions. And best of all, the added bonus to this step: you lose total control over the foods that are going into your body. This is your failsafe strategy: Eat out >>> Get fat… Trust me, it works like a charm. Try it regularly, and let that food eatertainment industry stimulate you to your ever expanding core.

10. And finally, do not, under any circumstance, exercise: Don’t even think about it! What are you trying to do? If you exercise, you’ll only build more muscle and then there’ll be that many more places (i.e. muscle cells) to store all that excess glucose. Now, I’m only going to say this once more, the less muscle, the more Insulin Resistance. And the more Insulin Resistance, the more your body is forced to store that “food” as fat. Insulin Resistance guarantees a faster and greater weight gain. OK? Remember, lose it – don’t use it! So let’s lose as much muscle as possible to ensure optimal fat storage and weight gain. And best of all, if you really harness yourself to #2 and # 5 above, refined foods will absolutely melt in your mouth – you won’t even have to expend all that needless energy chewing your food. How’s that for a true winning step to our getting fatty strategy.

So there you have it! A sure fired, 10-step program to maximize your fat gain. Why I’m so confident, I’ll even guarantee it!

And for those of you who think I’ve totally lost my mind, relax. I’ve just decided it’s time to inject some levity into the relentless din of dietary recommendations seeking to address the nation’s most pressing chronic illness: Obesity. This condition is absolutely out of control across the country and it reflects the abominable state of our food system, our complete lack of commitment to real, restorative food, as well as our unwillingness as a nation to believe the simple truths about what foods, and what food additives, actually cause the creation of or the burning of fat.

A sobering statistic: in the time it took you to read this article (~15 min), 12.5 people died from Obesity-related diseases in America. (Please, let that sink in for a moment – that’s one very 72 seconds…) Even more sobering is the accelerated rate of this condition in infants and children… A rather bleak future, unless we wake up from our processed food stupor and come to our senses about our individual and collective responsibility to reverse these easily correctable dietary trends.

Now, take a deep breath… we’re almost done, but this is the most important part. If you “master” all ten of the steps outlined above, and I’m deadly serious now, it will very likely assure you of becoming what is called Leptin Resistant. What in the world is that, you ask? Well it’s relatively “new” on the research scene (~1994), but Leptin Resistance has now been identified as the leading cause of our ever increasing waist lines, and is repeatedly being shown to be the underlying force behind the growing tsunami of chronic disease crippling America.

Truth be known, Leptin is your body’s master hormone, and is produced by your fat cells, of all places. And much to everyone’s surprise, it keeps the Hypothalamus and all its many, many homeostatic processes running properly. (Btw, the Hypothalamus is the “Intel chip” running your body’s countless metabolic and bodily functions!)

The proper functioning of this critical part of your brain is absolutely affected by the foods, and especially the food additives, that we eat each and every day. And for those of you who are thinking: “Well, there’s no way I’m Leptin Resistant…” Here’s the acid test: Do you have any noticeable fat on your bod? If so, you’re more than likely Leptin Resistant. What this means is that the signaling between your Hypothalamus, your Liver, and your fat cells is blocked likely due to excess sugars in your diet, the “communication” is likely dysregulated, and as a result, your body is forced to store more and more of your food energy as fat — and that’s a fact! To think and eat otherwise is to buck three million years of programming in that “Intel Chip” running your body…

If I could wave a magic wand, my wish would be to have you truly understand the absurdity of following steps #2 and #5 and the devastation that this excess sugar is having in our bodies. Each year, the average American consumes 160 pounds of refined sugar, coupled with 50 pounds of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), and another 20 pounds of artificial sweeteners, to boot. And yet, we profess innocence. I’m well aware of the fact that YOU don’t add it to your food, trust me, it is absolutely being done for you and to you. The biggest impact from this annual binge of sugar consumption — it’s wreaking havoc with our Insulin production, and consequently is the primary dietary culprit in the accelerated rise in chronic disease – far, far worse than the saturated fat you’re so terrified of eating! Continued use of excess sugars in our foods is a crime against humanity and we are all innocent bystanders – it’s high time we “Just say ‘No!’ “

Now, for those of you who would like to stop this ever growing madness and learn how to de-engineer each and every one of these 10 steps, and thus avoid the devastating challenge of Leptin Resistance, please contact me as noted below. We have a proven process and several programs designed to make sure you are able to: 1) let go of the dietary mythology slowly killing Americans, 2) learn how to “let go of fat,” and 3) learn how to keep it off.

Give us a call… What have you got to lose?!?…

A votre santé!

Morley M. Robbins
“Health Futurist”
wellness@chiropractic1st.com
847.922.8061 (M)

Frito-Lay pledged in 2010 to make over half of their product line “healthier” by removing the MSG, artificial colors and flavors, as well as most of the salt in their products which include Lay’s potato chips, Sun Chips, Tostido’s, and more. Additionally, they’re cutting the fat in these products by 40 percent with a goal of making the saturated fat content of all of their products less than 1 gram per serving. The president and CEO of Frito-Lay Al Carey made the following statement at this news conference that exemplifies why I’m so jaded about the future of health in the United States: “My objective is in three years that all of our products will be either ‘better for you’ or ‘good for you.’”

Now I’m sure Mr. Carey was well-meaning when he said this, but can anyone else see the irony of it all? We’re talking about potato chips here and the way they propose to make them “better for you” or “good for you” has everything to do with reducing the salt and fat in them. But does this make them healthier for the consumer? I think not. In fact, I remember back in the 1980s when Lay’s had a famous television commercial featuring NBA legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Larry Bird making a bet that “you can’t eat just one.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRzcjw9l6xo

The theme song of the marketing back then was, “No one can eat just one.” Man how times have changed! In 2011, the consumer is attempting to be more health-conscious and Frito-Lay is now transitioning their efforts in this regard to meet that growing demand with a brand new series of television commercials attempting to paint the picture that their chip products are somehow “better” by featuring the voiceover acting skills of Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Early Edition). If you’ve been watching television at all in the past couple of months, then surely you’ve seen these:

FRITO-LAY “CHEF” COMMERCIAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2093wkKQEg

FRITO-LAY “ANTHEM” COMMERCIAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho-FVukWUPQ

FRITO-LAY “QUALITY” COMMERCIAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SyKF2-yjsc

“We make them natural…you make them fun.” Cutesy tagline, right? But did anyone else catch the slick marketing slight-of-hand in these ads? I guess because my life is so dedicated to the subject of health and nutrition that this stuff is more obvious to me than most people. But the average Joe and Jane sitting at home watching the boob tube might watch any of those commercials and say, “Hey, they’re making those ‘all-natural’ chips healthier and by hand. I need to go get me some of them there chips the next time I go to the grocery store since I’m trying to lose weight and be healthy.” Sound preposterous? Maybe to you and me, but not to the people who still think salt and dietary fat are the problem with weight and health. And that’s why this new campaign from Frito-Lay is so insidious. Just because these chips are “all-natural,” that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good or healthy for you. BAMBOOZLED!

Admittedly, back in my low-fat dieting days I happily went to my local Subway restaurant to get my low-fat turkey sub without mayonnaise and made it a combo meal with a bag of Sun Chips and a Diet Coke. The Sun Chips were and are still promoted as healthy because they have whole grains in them and are low in fat. And I even tried some of the now infamous Lay’s WOW potato chips with the fake fat olestra which resulted in some not-so-desirable gastrointestinal side effects. I fell for the low-fat marketing scheme that is now befalling a whole new wave of consumers with this effort by Frito-Lay to move towards the “natural” branding of their products. Here’s a CBS News story about the dramatic change in focus by Frito-Lay in 2011.

Did you catch that in the CBS story? They can’t make Cheetos or Doritos without artificial ingredients! Sheez, that’s quite telling…but they’re working on it. Oh joy! And I don’t mean to sound ugly or anything, but did you see what that Chief Marketing Officer for Frito-Lay Ann Mukherjee looked like?

I’m empathetic with anyone who struggles with their weight, but it does appear that the person directly responsible for marketing at Frito-Lay desperately needs to find better information about what is causing her own weight struggles. Unfortunately, if they think it’s the fat and salt causing the problems then they are sorely mistaken. But that’s EXACTLY what they’re doing as Frito-Lay Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Scientist Danielle Dalheim brags about in this promo video pushing “sensible snacking” with Frito-Lay chips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhcINatFL88

Our chips are not cooked in saturated fats–”the bad fats”–and instead we use monounsaturated vegetable oil fats. Incredible! Again, the average consumer doesn’t know any better that these “choices” aren’t even close to being ideal for anyone attempting to eat a healthy diet. And yet that’s how they’re being marketed with this new “Naturally Delicious” advertising push. You’ll get a better feel for what Frito-Lay thinks “healthy” snacking is all about in this Q&A section on their web site dedicated to explaining it all in great detail. From demonizing saturated fats, promoting the “calories in, calories out” mantra, claiming their products are real food, worrying about salt as if it’s some health hazard, pushing MORE snacking as a means for losing weight, and finding a reason for virtually everyone to buy their chips. Well, after taking a look at the nutritional info on some of their new “All Natural” branded chips that are supposed to be the healthiest, I’ll never be buying this stuff again for the rest of my life:

TOSTIDOS ALL NATURAL SCOOPS

What’s bad about it: Made with starchy corn (maybe genetically modified, too!) and cooked in omega-6 loaded vegetable fats with a whopping 19g carbohydrate for the one-ounce serving size of chips. Who do you know that just eats ONE ounce of potato chips? Me neither! Betcha can’t eat just one serving!

LAY’S ALL NATURAL GARDEN TOMATO & BASIL

What’s bad about it: Besides being made with the very starchy potato and then cooked in omega-6-rich vegetable oils, the seasoning has sugar, brown sugar and dextrose in it and the ingredients show there’s also nonfat milk in this chip. Sugar, sugar and more sugar–OH MY! So is that supposed to be part of what makes it “all-natural?”

LAY’S ALL NATURAL BARBECUE

What’s bad about it: In addition to the potatoes and vegetable oils, did you catch what they put in the BBQ seasoning that’s anything but “all-natural?” It’s this innocent-sounding ingredient called “corn sugar” that you might know better as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They can change the name of the ingredient, but that doesn’t change what it is!

LAY’S ALL NATURAL CLASSIC

What’s bad about it: This one passes the Michael Pollan “5 ingredients or less” test since it only has three ingredients in it. But look at what those three ingredients are: potatoes (starchy carbs), vegetable oils (inflammatory omega-6 fats), and salt (probably man-made and not the more natural sea salt). This gives you a one-ounce snack that provides a total of 15g carbohydrate and not much nutritionally for you. How can they sucker people into thinking this is “healthy” with a straight face?

I could go on with Tostidos All Natural Multigrain, Rold Gold All Natural Everything Bagel Pretzels, Sun Chips All Natural Garden Salsa, Sun Chips All Natural Original, and Sun Chips All Natural Harvest Cheddar. No matter what Frito-Lay tries to say about their revamped potato chip line-up, I’ve gotta call a spade a spade–this stuff is pure unadulterated junk garbage that doesn’t even deserve to be called “food.” Anyone who buys into this ploy by them that they’re eating “better” or “healthier” with these new products is merely fooling themselves. There’s nothing redeeming about consuming this as sustenance for your body and the sooner you stop eating them the better. That’s the cold hard truth and something people need to hear. You cannot be healthy when you make Frito-Lay chips a regular part of your diet. Period.

I don’t expect food companies like Frito-Lay to stop attempting to fool the general public into thinking they actually care about the health of their consumers. That’s not their job. Their job is to sell more products and they’ll pretend to care about your health just to get into your pocketbook for your hard-earned cash. But people who genuinely care about health should vote with that same pocketbook by NOT buying this junk food and instead opting to funnel your food budget dollars towards more genuinely nutritious real foods such as grass-fed beef, pastured eggs, and organic, locally-grown non-starchy vegetables, for example. Think about all the money that’s been wasted on Frito-Lay chips over the years at $3 per bag. For the price of two bags, you could have gotten at least a pound of grass-fed beef or a couple dozen fresh local eggs from a farmer.

We make choices every single day about how we feed ourselves and our family. Isn’t it time we chose better rather than being fooled into thinking the big food companies care about your health? For more information on locating a local farmer near you, visit EatWild.com. Let’s send food companies like Frito-Lay a message that rings loud and clear: WE DON’T WANT WHAT YOU’RE SELLING IF IT’S GONNA KEEP UP FAT AND UNHEALTHY! Now let’s put words into action.

Jimmy Moore is the popular blogger, podcaster and author of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb who lost 180 pounds on the Atkins diet in 2004 and quickly established himself as a highly influential layperson in the field of health and nutrition. His wildly successful Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Blog has been educating, encouraging and inspiring readers since 2005 and his accompanying iTunes podcast The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore is one of the most listened to health broadcasts online today featuring hundreds of enchanting interviews with the leading voices in the world of diet and healthy living! Jimmy’s latest book compiling all the knowledge he has learned along his journey is called 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: How The Health Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew. He lives in Spartanburg, SC with his beautiful wife Christine and their four crazy cats!