Thursday, July 28, 2011

The good, bad and the ugly....really ugly

People think they are eating healthy when they cut out fats and/or calories, but do you REALLY read the labels?  Knowing what is in your food is KEY to eating right, healthy.  Many harmful ingredients are hidden by fancy names that give us the warm fuzzies, but if you knew what was really lurking in your food, you wouldn't eat it.  Some cause seizures, neurological disorders and even cancers.  Educate yourself and know what is in your food, because you ARE what you eat, afterall.  ; ) 

I am often perplexed by the question, "What foods do you avoid with your kids' diet?".  It would be easy to just say that they are GFCFSFEF (gluten/cow's milk casein/soy/egg-free) and low oxalate, but that wouldn't be true entirely.  We also avoid artificial sweeteners, food coloring, and well, the list below!

Thanks to Natural News, the dirty secret of each of these ingredients is spelled out for you, so look no further, if you want to start somewhere helathy, avoid these nasties and you will be on the right road.

(NaturalNews) Ever wonder what's really in the food sold at grocery stores around the world? People keep asking me, "What ingredients should I avoid?" So I put together a short list that covers all the most toxic and disease-promoting ingredients in the food supply. These are the substances causing cancer, diabetes, heart disease and leading to tens of billions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs across America (and around the world).

If you want to stay healthy and out of the hospital, read ingredients labels and make sure you avoid all these ingredients:

Acrylamides - Toxic, cancer-causing chemicals formed in foods when carbohydrates are exposed to high heat (baking, frying, grilling). They're present in everything from bread crusts to snack chips, and because they aren't intentional ingredients, acrylamides do NOT have to be listed on labels.

Aspartame - Chemical sweetener that causes neurological disorders, seizures, blurred vision and migraine headaches. (http://www.naturalnews.com/030918_a...)

Autolyzed Proteins - Highly processed form of protein containing free glutamate and used to mimic the taste-enhancer chemical MSG.

BPA (Bisphenol-A) - A hormone mimicking chemical found in nearly all food packaging plastics. Active in just parts per billion, BPA promotes cancer, infertility and hormone disorders. It also "feminizes" males, promoting male breast growth and hormone disruption (http://www.naturalnews.com/032860_B...).

Casein - Milk proteins. Hilariously, this is widely used in "soy cheese" products that claim to be alternatives to cow's milk. Nearly all of them are made with cow's milk proteins.

Corn Syrup - Just another name for High Fructose Corn Syrup (see below). Frequently used in infant formula products (http://www.naturalnews.com/029863_S...).

Food Colors - FD&C Red #40, for example, is linked to behavioral disorders in children. Nearly all artificial food colors are derived from petroleum, and many are contaminated with aluminum.

Genetically Modified Ingredients - Not currently listed on the label because the GMO industry (Monsanto and DuPont) absolutely does not want people to know which foods contain GMOs. Nearly all conventionally grown corn, soy and cotton are GMOs. They're linked to severe infertility problems and may even cause the bacteria in your body to produce and release a pesticide in your own gut. If you're not eating organic corn, you're definitely eating GMO corn. (http://www.naturalnews.com/026426_G...) Learn more at www.ResponsibleTechnology.org or watch my GMO music video (hilarious) at www.NaturalNews.com/NoGMO

High Fructose Corn Syrup - A highly processed liquid sugar extracted with the chemical solvent glutaraldehyde and frequently contaminated with mercury (http://www.naturalnews.com/032948_h...). It's also linked to diabetes, obesity and mood disorders. Used in thousands of grocery items, including things you wouldn't suspect like pizza sauce and salad dressings.

Homogenized Milk - The fats in the milk are artificially modified to change them into smaller molecules that stay in suspension in the milk liquid (so the milk fat doesn't separate) (http://www.naturalnews.com/022967_m...). While it makes milk look better on the shelf, it's also blamed for promoting heart disease and may contribute to milk allergies. Raw milk is healthier, which is why the government had outlawed it (http://www.naturalnews.com/029322_r...).

Hydrochloride - When you see anything hydrochloride, such as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride or Thiamin Hydrochloride, those are chemical forms of B vitamins that companies add to their products to be able to claim higher RDA values of vitamins. But these are synthetic, chemical forms of vitamins, not real vitamins from foods or plants. Nutritionally, they are near-useless and may actually be bad for you. Also watch out for niacinamide and cyanocobalamin (synthetic vitamin B-12). (http://www.naturalnews.com/032766_c...)

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein - A highly processed form of (usually) soy protein that's processed to bring out the free glutamate (MSG). Use as a taste enhancer.

Partially Hydrogenated Oils - Oils that are modified using a chemical catalyst to make them stable at room temperature. This creates trans fatty acids and greatly increases the risk of blocked arteries (http://www.naturalnews.com/027445_f...). It also promotes what I call "sludge blood," which is thick, viscous blood that's hard to pump. This is usually diagnosed by doctors as "high blood pressure" and (stupidly) treated with blood-thinning medications that are technically the same chemicals as rat poison (warfarin) (http://www.naturalnews.com/023149_d...).

Phosphoric Acid - The acid used in sodas to dissolve the carbon dioxide and add to the overall fizzy-ness of the soda. Phosphoric acid will eat steel nails. It's also used by stone masons to etch rocks. The military uses it to clean the rust off battleships. In absolutely destroys tooth enamel (http://www.naturalnews.com/021774.html). Search Google Images for "Mountain Dew Mouth" to see photos of teeth rotted out by phosphoric acid: http://www.google.com/search?q=moun...

Propylene Glycol - A liquid used in the automotive industry to winterize RVs. It's also used to make the fake blueberries you see in blueberry muffins, bagels and breads. (Combined with artificial colors and corn syrup.) See shocking "Fake Blueberries" video at: http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=7...

Sodium (Salt) - The processed white salt lacking in trace minerals. In the holistic nutrition industry, we call it "death salt" because it promotes disease and death. Real salt, on the other hand, such as "dirty" sea salt or pink Himalayan salt, is loaded with the trace minerals that prevent disease, such as selenium (cancer), chromium (diabetes) and zinc (infectious disease). Much like with bread and sugar, white salt is terrible for your health. And don't be fooled by claims of "sea salt" in grocery stores. All salt came from the sea if you go far back enough in geologic time, so they can slap the "sea salt" claim on ANY salt!

Sodium Nitrite - A cancer-causing red coloring chemical added to bacon, hot dogs, sausage, beef jerky, ham, lunch meats, pepperoni and nearly all processed meats. Strongly linked to brain tumors, pancreatic cancers and colon cancers (http://www.naturalnews.com/007024.html). The USDA once tried to ban it from the food supply but was out-maneuvered by the meat industry, which now dominates USDA regulations. Sodium nitrite is a complete poison used to make meats look fresh. Countless children die of cancer each year from sodium nitrite-induced cancers.

Soy Protein - The No. 1 protein source used in "protein bars," including many bars widely consumed by bodybuilders. Soy protein is the "junk protein" of the food industry. It's made from genetically modified soybeans (often grown in China) and then subjected to hexane, a chemical solvent (http://www.naturalnews.com/026303_s...) that can literally explode.

Sucralose - An artificial chemical sweetener sold as Splenda. The sucralose molecule contains a chlorine atom (http://www.naturalnews.com/027491_a...). Researchers have repeatedly found that artificial sweeteners make people fat by actually promoting weight gain (http://www.naturalnews.com/024543_h...).

Sugar - The bleached, nutritionally-deficient byproduct of cane processing. During sugar cane processing, nearly all the minerals and vitamins end up in the blackstrap molasses that's usually fed to farm animals. (Blackstrap molasses is actually the "good" part of sugar cane juice.) Molasses is often fed to farm animals because every rancher knows that farm animals need good nutrition to stay alive. Amazingly, conventional doctors don't yet realize this about humans, and they continue to claim that eating sugar is perfectly fine for you. Sugar promotes diabetes, obesity, mood disorders and nutritional deficiencies.

Textured Vegetable Protein - Usually made of soy protein which is extracted from genetically modified soybeans and then processed using hexane, an explosive chemical solvent (see Soy Protein, above). Widely used in vegetarian foods such as "veggie burgers" (most of which also contain MSG or Yeast Extract, by the way).

Yeast Extract - Hidden form of MSG that contains free glutamate and is used in many "natural" food products to claim "No MSG!" Yeast extract contains up to 14% free glutamate. You'll find it in thousands of grocery store products, from soups to snack chips. I even once spotted it used on fresh meat!


Food label tricks

Here's a trick food companies frequently used to pack more sugar into their products without making sugar look like the first ingredient:

Ingredient labels, you see, must list the most prominent ingredients first, and some consumers might freak out of they saw a box of cereal that said, "Sugar, whole grain wheat, corn" and so on. Instead, the company uses 3 or 4 different forms of sugar to distribute them farther down the label, like this:

"Whole grain wheat, sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids..."

This way, the first ingredients looks like "whole grain wheat" when, in reality, the cereal might be over fifty percent sugars!

How to buy honest food

• Shop are your local farmer's market, food co-op or CSA.

• In the USA, look for the USDA Organic label on foods. This is a legitimate claim to being certified organic. It's one of the few programs run by the USDA that actually has integrity.

• Read the ingredients labels! If you see names of chemicals you can't pronounce, don't buy it.

• Buy more unprocessed food ingredients and make your own meals rather than buying ready-to-eat, processed foods, which are almost universally formulated with disease-promoting ingredients.

• GROW some of your own food! The best food you can ever eat is food from your own garden.

How to learn more about what's really in your food

Read NaturalNews. I'm the editor of NaturalNews, and I cured my own borderline diabetes, high cholesterol and near-obesity using nothing but healing foods.

The more you read NaturalNews, the more you'll learn about what to avoid in your foods and what to BUY that's loaded with nutrition! We cover natural cures, superfoods nutrition, juicing, raw foods, nutritional supplements, healing herbs and much more. You can subscribe to our free email newsletter using the form below.

We teach you what the mainstream food industry doesn't want you to know (and what the mainstream media won't dare report).

If you want to learn the truth about food, read NaturalNews. Lots more to come...

Some of my favorite nutrient-rich superfoods include...

(No, these are not sponsored links. Just stuff I personally enjoy and purchase on a regular basis to blend into superfood smoothies!)

• Boku Superfood (www.BokuSuperfood.com)
• LivingFuel (www.LivingFuel.com)
• Enerfood (www.EnerHealthBotanicals.com)
• Pure Synergy (www.TheSynergyCompany.com)
• Rejuvenate! (www.IntegratedHealth.com)
• Healthforce Nutritionals (www.HealthForce.com)
• X-Balance (www.SGNNutrition.com)

Monday, July 25, 2011

A review of camel milk chocolate!

What is it about knowing that you can't have something, that makes us want it more?  I never liked chocolate, that is until my nursing baby couldn't tolerate dairy and I had to completely avoid milk chocolate.  Then even after he was done nursing and I tried to reintroduce dairy back into my diet....there was no way my body was having it.  Yup, it was then the chocolate cravings began.  I began searching for the perfect chocolate, my husband even spent big bucks buying specialty chocolates online to appease my new desire.  To my dismay, all of these chocolates contained unhealthy ingredients like soy and hydrogenated oils.  Then when I learned that I had hypothyroidism, gluten and soy were also out the window, along with any last shred of hope that I would ever enjoy a tasty chocolate again.

In my quest for information about camel milk, I learned about camel milk chocolate.  Cool, but I didn't really think I could get it here in the States, because the company that makes it is in Dubai, UAE.  Then I met Nancy and Gil Reigler of Oasis Camel Dairy through our Facebook page on Healing with Camel Milk.  They actually sell this very chocolate in the United States!!  Mr. Gil Reigler generously sent me a bar to try!!


The package arrived this afternoon, but I knew that if I wanted to sit and thoroughly enjoy this luxurious candy bar, I would need to wait until the kids were in bed.  Patience.....

Now, here I sit with my candy bar.  The dishes are washed, kids in bed and it's just me, the candy bar and the silence.  It smells like milk chocolate, mmmmmm.  Wow, it's smooth and creamy, very rich tasting!!  YUM!!  Uh oh, I like it a bit too much.  I might eat this whole bar, no wait....I need to save some for my dairy-free sweets-loving husband to try and he's not here, darn!  I would be evil not to.  All joking aside, this chocolate bar conjures up memories of rich, velvety Swiss chocolate, good quality chocolate and not a hint of cow's milk to speak of, totally and completely cow-casein-free!!  The ingredients are very simple: sugar, cocoa butter, whole camel milk powder, cocoa mass, honey, and bourbon vanilla.  That's it!  No soy, no gluten, no cow's milk!

So I've eaten three of the five strips already and am contemplating one more, is that greedy?  I haven't had chocolate like this in YEARS, heck, I am going for it, one more strip....

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Tick testing update

I completely forgot to provide an update on the tick testing for Lyme, Ehrlichia and Babesia.  We chose to use Quest because it is covered by insurance, but we did confirm that they use DNA PCR testing, which is preferred.

I kept checking the mailbox with excitement to know, but anxiety to know....fearing the worst and hoping for the best.  The day it came, I couldn't wait to tear that envelope open, it was like I just had a feeling.  On all accounts, "not detected" was the result!!  Happy dance!!  It doesn't mean we are in the clear, testing can be wrong, so I will keep that in the back of my mind and will always consider this an open door to Lyme disease.

This whole experience did get me thinking more though.  When he was 12 months old, we went to visit my mother in Connecticut, it was right after having him vaccinated with 4 live viruses.  When he began having odd symptoms for a month afterwards, we thought it could be the vaccinations, especially considering all the other things we have been dealing with.  But now that I think back to the details, Lyme is still a possibility!  The week before things started, I recall seeing a large red spot, not quite like a "rash" per say, but a red circle, pretty large, on his head.  It resembled the very same rash as discussed in Lyme called erythema migrans.  I wish I thought back then to take a picture of it.  It was because of this rash and all the following symptoms that we saw for an entire month that a Western Blot was ordered as part of all of his testing, which came back negative.  Now, I am learning why this isn't necessarily true.  Timing of testing after the bite is specfic and the Western Blot has high false negatives.  The symptoms that phased in and out over a month were: swollen glands (one remains swollen still to this day, on the side of his neck), various full body rashes throughout the month, fever, he wouldn't bend one knee for a day, swelling around one eye, hives and an ear infection. These symptoms literally either overlapped or were one after the other and doctors kept telling me that they were coincidental circumstances.  I think not....and now, it's probably very possible he was bit by a tick.  We never saw one, but that doesn't mean anything and there are too many symptoms that fall into place for Lyme...and then after this was when things really started to fall apart for him.  The Lyme Induced Autism Foundation has been established for very good reason.  I even learned that over 90% of autistic patients that were tested properly, have Lyme Disease.  I would love to test him properly too, but we just can't afford it right now.  It's close to $1000 for proper testing with Igenex, one of the most reputable labs who specializes in Lyme testing with the most cutting-edge technology.  It is definitely something we will be doing in the future.

In the meantime, we will be using Stephen Harrod Buhner's protocol (from the book Healing Lyme) for treatment/prevention.  I also bought a homeopathic Lyme/co-infection nosode which I can't wait to get and use on everyone!  It has also been known to help treat those with the infection already.  We will be going to the Poconos and Maine this summer, both are filled with woodsy escapades.  I also researched the many essential oils that ward off specific buggers and made my own natural bug repellant in a natural base of aloe vera and witch hazel.  We are READY!!

GREAT video from Dr. Klinghardt on autism which he attributes to Lyme and mold.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

More camel milk GAINS

Normally when you see the word "gain" in my blog, it refers to progress being made with skills or behaviors.  Not this time.  This time, the gaining I am referring to is quite literal!

Just a few months ago, both boys were severely underweight and extremely low on the growth chart.  Gavin had been labeled "failure to thrive" on a few occasions and Grayson was even more recently given this same title, because he crossed over two percentage thresholds on the growth chart, in the wrong direction.  And these boys could EAT.

I started noticing that Grayson, who was always ahead by a few clothing sizes as an infant, was suddenly falling behind in his clothing sizes.  He wasn't growing and as he aged, the gap increased.  He was still able to wear 4T pants up until he was 5 1/2 years old!  Gavin on the other hand was born small and grew slow, right from the beginning.  When we took him to an allergist regarding his sensitivities to dairy and soy, the paperwork I was handed clearly spelled it out in black and white, he was failure to thrive, not even 3% on the growth chart!  So when I share the changes we have seen, keep these little details in mind.

If you have been reading my blog, you know that we started the camel milk at the beginning of May, the 2nd to be exact (gotta love my journal!).  Unfortunately, the last time I personally documented Gavin's growth chart was in March, but I can tell you that his growth was at a standstill for close to a year, and I had been weighing him just about daily right up until we started the camel milk and he was STILL the same weight, at minimum.  On March 25th, he was just under 34 inches tall and 27 pounds, a number that is etched into my mind, because of how long he remained there, with no fluctuation whatsoever.  And if I could tell you how much this child would eat, he was NEVER satisfied.  It was disturbing really.  He would get down from having two full bowls (adult sized) of oatmeal and blueberries with coconut oil and nectar on top just to run around the table and tell me he was still hungry.  Before we stopped giving him eggs, he could eat 4 eggs, numerous pieces of bacon and still ask for more, at TWO years old.  He had numerous snacks between meals and I was even adding oils to just about every meal to increase his calories by 300 per meal.  I couldn't understand how a child could eat SO much and gain nothing.  When we learned of his parasitic infection, that had us believing it could be related, and perhaps it was, we haven't retested recently.

So here is what we saw when we added the camel milk.

Gavin at a standstill of 27 lbs for ages, almost 34 inches tall last documented in March.  He was actually finally up at a whole 10% for weight and 2.2% for height.  Still failure to thrive in terms of height.  The doctor even talked to us a bit about short stature at his last appointment.

Grayson's growth had noticeably slowed, he was floating around 39-40 lbs for a while and his height didn't seem to change for over a year, just based on his clothing.  He didn't need anything new for SO long, and we actually found ourselves reusing clothes from the previous year in the last few seasons, that was the ultimate shocker!

On May 2nd, Gavin was still 27 lbs, I know, because I was weighing him nightly as part of our bedtime routine.  On May 4th, he felt incredibly heavy to me suddenly so I plopped him on the scale out of curiosity and the number glaring back at me was 30 lbs!  THIRTY POUNDS!  He gained 3 pounds in just days!  I was sure he would lose it, that it was temporary and would retreat.  It never did!

Grayson didn't grow in the first weeks of the milk, at least in weight, we never thought to check his height, but I started noticing that both boys were growing out of their pants suddenly, and I mean like highwaters.  And their shoes were suddenly too tight to wear.

On May 23rd Gavin weighed in at 31 lbs and 34.5 inches tall!

On May 29th he was still 31 pounds, but was now measuring at 35 inches!  His percentages on the growth chart went from, are you ready for this....10% for weight to 46%!!!  His height went from 2.2% to 7%!!  He quadrupled his weight percentage and tripled his height percentage!!  That is all in less than a month. 

On May 29th I also measured Grayson since I was noticing his clothing shrinking on him by the day and he was 43 inches tall and 41.5 lbs, which means he had started also gaining weight.  We were so shocked by Gavin's gains we were all focused on him, meanwhile, Grayson was growing in the shadows now too!  It was more steadily, but it was definitely happening!  He was now 10% for height and 23% for weight.  Still on the lower side of the scale, but obviously better than he had to have been before his gains.

Today I measured them both again and in about a week, Grayson has jumped from 10% for height to 13% (43.5 inches) and from 23% in weight to 33% (43.5 lbs)!  Oh and I should clarify that I always use the same website for these calculations so I am comparing apples to apples.

Gavin has slowed down in his growth, but is still growing steadily.  Today he was 31.5 lbs and 35.5 inches!  The new percentages are 47% for weight and 8% for height!  His eating has significantly slowed since starting the camel milk and this is what I am in awe of....he went from eating like a man and still not growing, to barely finishing any of his meals or snacks, skipping snacks and GROWING rapidly!!

So to recap, in just over two months, two boys who were at a complete standstill in growth, jumped significant growth chart percentages and with nothing to blame except camel milk!  Just take a look at those dates and numbers highlighted above, I am nothing short of amazed.  Do I think it's worth the cost and the drive to obtain the milk?  What do you think?