Canned Food: Can It!

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been the topic of discussion for many years now with the concern of this chemical in plastic water bottles.  It’s now show to be in the lining of canned goods which are heated during the canning process at 250°.

“According to the Environmental Working Group, cans are the primary source of human exposure to the chemical. (Most metal food cans have plastic linings that prevent spoilage but are rich in bisphenol A.)” writes Adam Voiland of http://health.usnews.com

Some great information was available courtesy of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science at http://www.niehs.nih.gov

Q:  What is BPA?

A: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical produced in large quantities for use primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins.

Q:  How does BPA get into the body?

A: The primary source of exposure to BPA for most people is through the diet. While air, dust, and water are other possible sources of exposure, BPA in food and beverages accounts for the majority of daily human exposure.

Bisphenol A can leach into food from the protective internal epoxy resin coatings of canned foods and from consumer products such as polycarbonate tableware, food storage containers, water bottles, and baby bottles. The degree to which BPA leaches from polycarbonate bottles into liquid may depend more on the temperature of the liquid or bottle, than the age of the container. BPA can also be found in breast milk.

Q:  If I am concerned, what can I do to prevent exposure to BPA?

A: Some animal studies suggest that infants and children may be the most vulnerable to the effects of BPA. Parents and caregivers, can make the personal choice to reduce exposures of their infants and children to BPA:

• Don’t microwave polycarbonate plastic food containers. Polycarbonate is strong and durable, but over time it may break down from over use at high temperatures.
• Polycarbonate containers that contain BPA usually have a #7 on the bottom
• Reduce your use of canned foods.
• When possible, opt for glass, porcelain or stainless steel containers, particularly for hot food or liquids.
• Use baby bottles that are BPA free.

Education is the key to anything.  We count on others (experts) to know what’s best for us, but in all fairness, people are fallible; they have bias and motives as we all do.  Although the FDA and corporations involved know plastic is dangerous for human consumption, they are heavily invested and not about to walk away.

You do have a choice.  You can choose to educate yourself, research what you hear and make the decision for yourself.  Make small changes such as throwing out plastic containers and using glass instead.  Cook only what you need, thus eliminating left overs and don’t purchase bottled water.

If you choose to make the switch from plastic, share what changes you are making.  If you have tips to getting through the switch easier, please pass them along.  Plastic has become a staple for many and it will be difficult to let go.  Any suggestions are welcome!

It’s Takes A Village To Raise A Child

But it only takes one man to make a difference!

Healthy Community Initiatives shared this inspiring video of   DC Central Kitchen’s humble task of changing the world one meal, one man and one day at a time.

DC Central Kitchen “Bringing School Food Home” from Dave Adams on Vimeo.

What did you do today to make this world a better place?

More video’s about DC Central Kitchen:

Tags: food, kids, kitchen, lunch, market

Are we addicted to the sweet taste of….

Can we not eat food without adding a sweetener to it?

1st off I heard the recent High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) commercial has been removed.  Kudos, to whom ever wised up.

Secondly, I’m an avid “Biggest Loser” watcher and recently thought to myself, why are they promoting Subway Restaurants when they don’t offer anything without processed flour or HFCS?

So I thought before I go running my mouth, I better research their ingredients.  Well, to my surprise, it’s worse than I thought.  They add Corn Syrup to the Roast Beef.  Why in the world would you do that, its meat.

So I started digging further.  They add it to the vinaigrette.   What else?

What other eating establishments do we find healthy?

I have many friends that are major advocates of Panera Bread, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, etc… let’s see what their menu’s are packed full of.

Here is Panera’s whole wheat bread:

Ingredient List

Whole Grain Loaf

Water, unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), stone ground whole wheat flour, whole grain base (spelt flour, millet, flax seed, rye meal and cracked wheat), grain mix (cracked wheat, rye meal, corn meal, oats, rice flour, soy grits, triticale, barley flakes, millet and flax seed), honey, special blend (organic wheat sour, whole wheat flour, guar gum, defatted soy flour, malted barley extract, soy lecithin, enzyme, wheat gluten, ascorbic acid), wheat gluten, rolled oats, salt, yeast.

Remember in a previous post when I noted not to be tricked by the “WHOLE WHEAT” scam… all flour is wheat unless they state it’s from almonds or rice. It’s the process that’s bad.  Look for ONLY 100% whole wheat and no enriched wheat flour in the ingredients.

Jenny Craig doesn’t offer a list of ingredients on their website.  So I’ll go in at some point and get a list and post it.

Weight Watchers.…

I found this statement when I searched “ingredients” on the site:

Evaluating the Ingredients in Foods

Discover how and why seemingly unhealthy ingredients can actually be safely used in foods that bear the Weight Watchers name.

I can’t believe what I’m reading but this is the 2nd paragraph of the article linked to the above statement:

Not everyone always agrees with the FDA’s experts’ opinions. A case in point is aspartame and, to a lesser extent, other non-caloric sweeteners including sucralose, acesulfame K, and others. Weight Watchers has evaluated the numerous studies conducted on these sweeteners and is of the opinion that they are safe. This has also been the conclusion of other expert groups, including the American Dietetic Association.¹

FRIGHTENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so Weight Watchers endorses Aspartame so it must be safe.  I can see the logic in this.  Please read the rest of the article, it’s horrible.

This just proves my point.  All the things we are being told are healthy, safe and nutritious are not.  We struggle to lose weight daily and we are eating the one thing that makes us fat, processed food.

Check the ingredients on everything you put in your shopping cart and take a piece of paper with you and put a mark for every time you see “HFCS” or enriched flour in the list.  You will be amazed.

The best part is, that you CAN find a competitor that offers the same thing without the added chemicals and processed ingredients.  You just have to look.

Please comment.  I’d like to hear your opinion.

And In The Beginning There Were Carbs…

Where you one of the millions of people who lost tens of pounds on the famous Atkins Diet?  Did you gain the weight back?  Did you find it impossible to not eat carbohydrates?  Do you know someone who died while on that diet, related or not?

I saw articles over the years about teenagers, adults, men and women that died from taking this diet to the extreme and I know people who still believe in it.  In this post I want to discuss what it is that happens with carbohydrates and why they are vital, how to consume the healthy ones and what to look for in carbohydrates.

Lets start with the basics and what is a carbohydrate and why is it so vital to your very existence.

Instead of copying the content from Wikipedia like I did last time, I’ll just going to link it and explain it in layman terms.

There are four basic carbohydrates:  The carbohydrates (saccharides) are divided into four chemical groupings:  monosaccharides,  disaccharides,  oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides.  None of the aforementioned are healthy in large doses, but each are extremely vital to your existence.

Monosaccharides are also known as sugar:  Glucose, Fructose, Galactose, etc… You find these in fruits and vegetables.  Each of these has a more complex name and much more confusing definition.  One thing is certain and simple; what they do for you.  They serve to store energy, a component in ATP (energy), RDA, fertilization, immune system and blood clotting just to name a few.

These are not to be taken lightly.  Image years of depriving yourself of important carbohydrates just to impress Mr. Right.  You meet him, fall in love, get married and find out you can’t have children.  Your hormones are not functioning correctly and you are infertile.

Ever thought you were killing brain cells.  Well deprive your self of Oligosaccharides and you will kill them and more cells. “Oligosaccharides can have many functions; for example, they are commonly found on the plasma membrane of animal cells where they can play a role in cell-cell recognition” Oligosaccharides are found in many vegetables and plants.  Try steaming or eating your vegetables raw to get the most from them.  Over heating can break down the components and potentially be just as bad for you as processed foods.

They even have therapeutic benefits.  ”Clinical studies have shown that administering FOS, GOS, or inulin can increase the number of these friendly bacteria in the colon while simultaneously reducing the population of harmful bacteria.^{[2]”  Click here for an explanation of FOS and GOS}

Now, where can I find them and how can I make sure that I eat these carbs and not unhealthy carbs.   First and foremost… read the ingredients on the back of the package.  If it had to be manipulated to create it, its not natural and you’ll be consuming mutated substances that your body is not familiar with and will see as an enemy.

There is something to be said for that in reference to cancer and that’s a whole other blog.  But food for thought here… Cancer is mutated DNA, that’s a fact.  DNA is made up of codons that are transcribed millions of times and meant to never vary from their specific pattern.  Processed food is natural food (which has DNA) and is manipulated to be something else.  In short, it’s DNA is changed.  When you tan, you are changing the DNA of your skin.  Some people will get skin cancer from tanning.

Just a thought.  I’ll blog on that more another day.

So with all that said.  Stick to what’s natural.  Eat things that are in their original form as often as possible.

Watch for marketing tricks. Manufacturers will play on what ever fad is popular at the time and trick you into thinking they are what you’re looking for.  An example:  Bread.  For one, bread, unless otherwise noted is made from wheat.  Has been for hundreds of years and will be for hundreds more.  So please don’t fall for the (MADE FROM WHOLE WHEAT) sure, they all are.

Read the back panel.  It needs to be made from 100% whole wheat.  You want the manufacturer to use 100% of the entire wheat bran.  Splitting the bran and eliminating parts for easier manipulation removes vital components of the wheat bran and is not digested the same way.  This is what causes confusion in the metabolic process, can cause over or under production of insulin and eventually lead to diabetes, obesity and other diseases.

So, with that said.  In a perfect world you wouldn’t eat processed foods containing enriched flour, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), parboiled ingredients…

Here is a list:

• White bread (any bread made with anything other than 100% of the product.
• soda, juices, flavored waters (when choosing ask yourself if you know what each ingredient is, if you do, then it’s ok)
• syrups
• BBQ sauces or condiments made with HFCS
• instant rice
• macaroni and cheese (unless you make it from scratch)
• over-cooked pasta (try using egg noodles or 100% whole wheat pasta)
• imitation/substitute sugars
• margarine
• vegetable oil

Basic rule of thumb is if it’s been manipulated to be created it’s not meant for human consumption.

As always, please comment if you know I’m wrong on something, have an opinion, agree or disagree.  I’m not perfect and I love to learn.

 

 

 

 

 

The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook

Dinner: The Natural Vaccine

The title is just to get your attention.  Your dinner, alone, doesn’t actually keep you from getting sick, but the foods you eat can help prevent illnesses.

My boyfriend, his 6 year old daughter and her mother have recently battled and passed a nasty chest cold back and forth for the past month.  I have not had even a sinus infection in over a year nor have I had the flu in 21 years and have never had a flu shot.

Why?