Things to Leave Behind in 2009 – Sugar! Part 1

We’ve started a new year. This is a great time to start on a new road to health and good eating habits. The next few posts will focus on what to avoid in your diet and things to include instead.

Number 1 thing to leave behind in 2009 is SUGAR! There are so many forms of this sweet, addictive substance inhabiting almost everything we eat. The obvious is candy, cookies, cakes, pop. But the not so obvious is tomato sauce, canned meats, and “healthy” cereals and yoghurt. It’s everywhere!

However, sugar is addictive and actually lowers your immune system making you more susceptible to disease. It also robs your bones of minerals and actually swells your tongue to a larger than normal size. It comes in many different forms and might be seen on your ingredient labels as sugar, brown sugar, fructose, high fructose corn syrup (think sodas), cane sugar, corn syrup. . . . There’s a ton of different forms of sugar out there!

Then there’s the other category of sweeteners - artificial. Aspartame and Saccharin are the top artificial sweeteners. But they can have side effects too and should not be consumed. Headaches, seizures, mood disorders, and even cancer have all been linked to these taste enhancing chemicals. And the new up and coming artificial sweetener which is marketed as being totally safe, Splenda (sucralose), has also been linked to some not-so-nice side effects which include skin rashes/flushing, panic-like agitation, dizziness and numbness, diarrhea, muscle aches, headaches, intestinal cramping, bladder issues, and stomach pain.1 And the hardest research to believe is that these artificial sweeteners can actually play tricks on your body’s natural ability to count calorie intake which can actually cause adverse effects on you trying to loose weight!2

But we all like to splurge every once in awhile! So, perhaps you could make 1 day a week your “sweet” day. Enjoy your favorite soda or piece of cake. The rest of the week try these alternative safe low-glycemic (won’t cause blood sugar spikes) sweeteners:

1 – Stevia – comes in powder or liquid, has zero calories and is 200 – 300 times sweeter than sugar so you only need a little. Try this homemade lemonade with Stevia.
Juice of 1 lemon stirred into 8 – 10 oz. of water; then add a ½ dropper of Stevia. Stir, add ice and enjoy!

2 – Xylitol – a sugar alcohol extracted from the fiber of many vegetables and fruits. It has the same consistency and sweetness as white sugar but with 33% of the calories. A lot of healthy chewing gums are made using Xylitol.

3 – Lankanto – a new sweetener derived from non-GMO erythritol (fermented corn sugar) and the super sweet extract of the luo han guo fruit which is found only in the mountains of China. It is a zero calorie sweetener but is used exactly like white sugar. So you can bake with it, put a teaspoon in your coffee, etc. The downside is that it is very expensive and can only be purchased online at www.bodyecology.com . I buy it once a year around the holidays and bake with it for those special holiday treats.

We all love sugar and I don’t want you to feel guilty about desiring to eat something sweet. After all, we have sweet taste buds. But it’s the choices we make as to how we satisfy our sweet tooth which will make you healthy in 2009 and beyond. The next time you have that craving try reaching for a piece of fruit (they contain fiber which slows down your metabolism of the naturally occurring sugars), homemade lemonade, or a chocolate chip cookie made with Stevia (recipe below). Once you clean refined sugars out of your body you’ll find it much easier to look the other way when you see a Krispy Kreme donut looking you in the face!

Happy Eating!

Stevia Sweetened Chocolate Chip Cookies
(taken from The Stevia Cookbook by Ray Sahelian, M.D., and Donna Gates)

Yield: About 4 dozen

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon sea salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
½ teaspoon white stevia powder
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 cup salted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups good quality chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder, and set aside.
3. Place the egg, stevia, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl, and beat well with a wooden spoon or an electric hand-held mixer. Slowly add the butter, continuing to beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, ½ cup at a time, stirring well with a wooden spoon after each addition. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Drop heaping teaspoons of batter on the cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.

1The Artificial and Natural Sweeteners Health & Safety Rankings – Which are Worst, Which are Best?, www.bodyecology.com, 2009
http://www.bodyecology.com/07/07/05/artificial_&_natural_sweeteners.php

2 Things that Make You Fat. CBS Broadcasting, Inc. December 2004.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/06/earlyshow/series/weightoff/main659299.shtml

Antioxidants

We've heard the term "antioxidant" a lot, but what are some good ways to consume them, and what exactly do they do? According to the American Dietetic Association, antioxidants are substances that can prevent damage to your body cells or repair damage that has already been done. They're a strong fighter of carcinogenic materials that enter your body. Some antioxidants even break down estrogen (estrogen can promote quicker growth of cancerous cells.) Antioxidants also can slow down degenerative processes in body tissue, help blood vessels remain open and flexible, and boost immunity.

So, what are some of the best foods that are antioxidant-rich?1 Here is a list of many which are readily available most or all times of the year:

1. Berries - blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries. Contain proanthocyanidins, which fight cancer and heart disease.

2. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts. Contain indole-3-carbinol. Breaks down estrogen, thereby reducing risk of estrogen-sensitive cancers such as breast, cervical, ovarian.

3. Tomatoes. Contain lycopene, helpful in fighting prostate cancer. The heating process for tomato sauce or cooked tomatoes makes the lycopene more available to be absorbed in the body.

4. Red grapes. Contain resveratrol and quercetin, good for heart and blood vessel health.

5. Garlic. Its antifungal properties are good for asthma and yeast infections. Also fights against heart disease, cancer and the effects of aging.

6. Spinach. Contains lutein, which fights free radicals that attack the eyes, also protects the retina from sun damage.

7. Tea - both green and black. Contains theaflavins, which fight free radicals and prevent degenerative processes in body tissues.

8. Carrots. Contain beta-carotene, which protects against many cancers and slows the progression of arthritis. Cooking carrots causes the nutrients to be most readily absorbed by your body.

9. Soy. Contains genistein, which fights against breast, colon and prostate cancer. We're talking about the whole food here, not soybean oil.

10. Whole grains - whole wheat, whole grain oats, brown rice. Contain vitamin E, which helps fight prostate cancer, boosts immunity, and slows the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

1 www.crumcreek.com

Sweet!

I have learned a lot about bees and honey this year. I went to visit a beekeeper, and I also went to a honey festival - that was fun! I have had severe hay-fever type allergies since I was a teenager. I did NOT know until this year that eating honey can help me! However, regular store-bought honey has been strained and processed and is therefore not as beneficial.

If I purchase raw, pure honey that was made by bees locally in my area, in that honey are trace amounts of the very allergens from my environment that make my body overreact and start sneezing. So it works just like the allergy shots I used to get for years, which gave me trace amounts of allergens. That exposure from the honey helps my body learn not have an allergy-type reaction. And, I am becoming less and less dependent on my allergy medication, which is also better for me!

Look into purchasing raw local honey. In the Canal Winchester area, you'll find The Beeman on Route 674 just south of town, who sells the good stuff. For those of you in other places, try to track down some beekeepers or health food stores in your area that sell it. If you have young children, it would be best to ask a health professional's advice on what age it's safe to give them the honey.

You can enjoy a daily (yummy!) serving of honey AND enjoy the allergy immunotherapy benefits as well. Now that's sweet!

Your toxic wardrobe

Chilly days are fast approaching! I've never been a fan of winter, but I do so love my winter wardrobe! I just love the warmth and softness of sweaters. As I have spent the last few years researching healthy choices for my family, I was curious to know what I might find out about fabrics and clothing. It didn't take long to come to a conclusion: I have to make careful, healthy choices about clothing the same as with food! Here is some of what I have learned:

• You like sweaters too? Most sweaters these days, especially for girls and women, are made at least partially from acrylic. Acrylic is made from polycrylonitriles, which is "reasonably anticipated to be a carcinogen."
• Flame retardant clothing, i.e. children's pajamas, are treated with formaldehyde and therefore emit formaldehyde gas, which is a carcinogen.
• Wrinkle-free clothing achieves that "wrinkle free" result by being treated with perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs). Teflon, used to make some clothing stain resistant, is one such chemical, and PFCs are carcinogens.
• All manmade, synthetic fabrics use varying amounts of chemicals in the fabrication process, often times to make them more soft. These chemicals can outgas even long after you buy them.
• Even natural cotton, though, is not completely innocent. Cotton growers use a lot of pesticides on the plants, which remain in the fibers when the clothing is made. Wash your cotton clothing several times before wear! Organic cotton may be an option.
• Dryer sheets load up the surface of your clothing with additional chemicals. Read your dryer sheet ingredients.
• Dry cleaners use perchlorethylene, a VOC that has caused cancer in animals. A few dry cleaners out there are now using "wet cleaning" with a different, nontoxic substance.

So, what can we do? First, try to buy clothing that is made from natural materials - cotton, wool, linen, silk. Avoid synthetic materials whenever possible - polyester, acrylic, rayon. (I have become a compulsive tag-reader when clothes shopping!) My personal view is that if you purchase flame-retardant, wrinkle-free or stain-resistant clothing, the risks far outweigh the benefits. When you buy clothing, wash the item a couple of times in a nontoxic detergent before first wear to avoid further exposure to chemicals through the skin or respiratory system. Now, pull out your family's winter wardrobe and check the labels, and reevaluate the healthiness of each item. Then get ready to bundle up!

Stress!

There is a lot of money in my mouth! I have 2 gold crowns on my back molars and it’s all due to stress. Believe it or not, clenching my teeth at night has caused so much pressure on my back teeth that they literally cracked! I am not the only mom who suffers from teeth clenching or grinding during our supposedly restful, nights sleep. I have many friends who have the same complaint.

Do you wake up with a sore jaw? Do you have headaches throughout the day? Do you have pain in your shoulders and/or neck? All of these may be a sign that you are clenching or grinding your teeth at night. They may also be a sign of something more serious called TMJ (temporomandibular joint syndrome) which afflicts 10 million Americans. Here’s a simple test to see if you have TMJ: place your little fingers in your ears so that your hearing is hindered. Then slowly and steadily open and close your jaw. If at any point you hear a clicking, popping, and/or grinding noise, the jaw joints may be out of alignment, and it’s time to see a professional!

Obviously, reducing the stress in our lives would help this painful situation but I’ve found that mission is almost impossible. And if I’m sleeping I have no control over what my teeth are doing! So, here is some help for those of you with clenching problems and it can also be helpful for those with TMJ. The help comes in the form of calcium supplements. I’m a big proponent of getting the vitamins and minerals you need from the food you eat but sometimes you need a little extra. For me, every night before I go to bed is one of those times that I take a little extra calcium.

To me, calcium has been a wonder drug. It’s essential in proper muscle function and has a calming effect. It also prevents bone softening and relieves stress. So, instead of clenching my teeth, my muscles are more relaxed and my bones are not deteriorating.

When choosing a calcium supplement, keep the following in mind:

1 – Your body cannot absorb more than 500 mg of calcium at a time.
2 – Choose a whole food supplement (that goes for all supplements you may be taking) not a synthetic, man-made supplement which have been proven to be possibly more harmful than helpful.
3 – Take magnesium with the calcium which balances the calcium and aids in absorption (most calcium supplements have magnesium already added to them)
4 – For added benefit, take them an hour before bed. Calcium can make you sleepy!

I use Garden of Life Living Calcium Advanced. However, there are many other good calcium supplement choices out there. Therefore, give this therapy a try. It might take some stress away, relieve teeth clenching and help you get a good night’s sleep!

Baby Mattresses

What age group spends up to 20 hours a day in bed? What age group stands to gain the most benefit from healthy bedding? The answer of course is babies! They spend most of their time each day with their faces just a few inches from their mattresses. Baby mattresses have come under scrutiny because of the materials and chemicals used to make them. Let's talk about the birth of a baby mattress:

1. First comes the shell, the vinyl surface of a baby mattress, which is made from polyvinyl chloride or PVC (remember dangerous plastic #3?). Then phthalates are added to the PVC, making the mattress more flexible. Phthalates are hormone disruptors and considered by the EPA to be probable carcinogens.
2. Next, the mattress is filled with polyurethane foam. This foam eventually breaks down into tiny particles called VOC's, which can irritate the child's airways or mucosal linings. These VOC's can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and allergic reactions.1
3. Lastly, a cocktail of chemicals is dumped onto the mattress to make it flame retardant, as required by law. The most widely used ones are PBDE's, which have been banned in Europe because they are hormone disruptors.

You can find many places online that sell mattresses made from organic cotton and wool. The layer of wool, which is a naturally flame-retardant material, meets the standards of "flame retardancy" required by law, rather than using chemicals. I purchased mine online about 3 years ago and have been very pleased with it. These natural or organic mattresses are rather expensive, usually running around $250-300, but I felt it was well worth the money to prevent potential health problems in my daughter. The Healthy Child, Healthy World organization also recommends an organic wool mattress pad if you simply cannot afford the cost of a mattress, as the pad will help shield the child from the toxins of a regular mattress. Check out this site for more info on the dangers, as well as one of many places to shop online for products: Natural & Organic Crib Mattress.

1 - http://www.healthychild.org/, Emily Lynne Ion, "Do you know what's in your baby's mattress?", updated August 2008.

Controversial Plastic #7

I mentioned in my last blog that I would be tackling plastic #7 separately. The chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is present in many plastic #7 products. BPA was developed in the late 1800's as a synthetic estrogen, but in the 1950's started being used as a plastic-hardening chemical. You will find it in many baby bottles, sippy cups, water bottles, and in epoxy resins found in some food cans and dental sealants. BPA has been a subject of much controversy this year. Dr. Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist in the Natural Resources Defense Council, has stated this about BPA:

Harmful effects in the laboratory animals exposed to even the low levels of BPA that are commonly found in the blood and urine of Americans include an increase in prostate and breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, reproductive abnormalities, reduced semen quality, recurrent miscarriage, obesity, and neurobehavioral problems similar to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 1

An FDA draft report on BPA released last Friday, August 15, 2008 has declared the chemical to be safe at typical human exposures. However, testing apparently was funded largely by the industry and therefore is suspect in my opinion. The National Toxicology Program, which reports its findings to the FDA, had not yet released its final report on BPA when the FDA decided to put out its draft report.

I have great concern over the possible danger regarding BPA pointed out by scientists such as Dr. Sass and other independent scientists. I am greatly limiting my exposure to BPA and plastic #7. Take a walk around your grocery store bakery and look at the plastic containers they use. I found #7 everywhere. There is a very helpful website which lists all the companies that make baby bottles and sippy cups, informing you of the level of BPA used in their products. Please check it out for your family. Click here: Z Recommends: The Z Report on BPA In Children's Feeding Products, Third Edition

1 - www.nrdc.org, Press Release August 8, 2007, quote by Dr. Jennifer Sass.