Everyone knows about the major food groups, eating a balanced diet, and following USDA’s My Plate. Here are some healthy  food options that we have read about that help people avoid harmful chemicals.

Food Labeling

Here are some food labels that actually have meaning:

• Organic
• No antibiotics used, raised without antibiotics, never ever added antibiotics
• American grass fed
• Food alliance certified grass fed

Labels that are possibly meaningless

• Natural
• No antibiotic residues, no antibiotics growth promotants
• Antibiotic free

Organic Food

Organic fruits and vegetables are an obvious option and our post concentrates on buying just the ones that have the most pesticide residue. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has found that even after you wash certain fruits and vegetables, they still contain much higher levels of pesticide residue than others.

Super cancer fighter vegetables per a Stanford Doctor include: soy, onions, broccoli, tomatoes and blueberries.

Organic Milk

Buy milk that is USDA organic to avoid hormones like bovine growth hormone (rbST or rBGH), antibiotics, pesticides, and other additives. Most industrialized nations and all 25 members of the EU have not approved rBGH because it can sicken cows. Organically raised cows are also given access to pasture.  Some believe that these benefits are not real because milk is tested for antibiotic and pesticide residue.  Others believe that these hormones produce milk with higher-than-normal levels of the insulin-like growth factor called IGF-1. Where is my milk from shows where your milk is from.  Did you know that skim, whole, reduced fat milk all have similar amounts of protein,  calcium, and vitamin D?

Processed meats like cold cuts, hot dogs, bacon, and sausages have lots of sodium and nitrates which may cause heart risks or cancer.  Buy nitrate free meats instead.

Organic Eggs

Organic Eggs have better flavor and the chickens laying them have been feed organic feed. Eating them is a good way to  help minimize risk of exposure to antibiotics, or synthetic hormones and pesticides while obtaining a healthy dose of nutrients.

Eggs need to be fully cooked properly to prevent food poisoning and salmonella contamination. Bacteria can exist inside an uncracked, uncooked whole egg. Avoid eating raw cookie dough with egg or making ice cream with egg or Caesar salad dressing with raw eggs. Cook eggs until the egg yolk and the egg white are firm. Cook egg custard used in eggnog, homemade ice cream, and quiches to at least 160 degrees. Bake egg meringues at 350 degrees for at least 15 minutes on the lower rack of your oven.

Buying Local Food

There has been a movement to purchase food grown locally, in order to support local farmers as well as combat global warming. While this practice does help nearby farms, transportation from a farm makes up a tiny, roughly 4%, amount of the emissions generated from food production.

Noticed a new product at the grocery store last week. Hormel Natural Choice Natural Deli Meat is now available with no nitrates or nitrites, no preservatives, no MSG, Raised without added Hormones, and Gluten Free. We need to salute a mainstream manufacturer for moving in the right direction. Ask your local supermarket for it.

Processed meats like cold cuts, hot dogs, bacon, and sausages have lots of sodium and nitrates which may cause heart risks or cancer.

We primarily buy an small local brand’s Heidi’s Hens Organic deli meat that also has no nitrates, antibiotics, growth hormone, etc.. They have them at Whole Foods but not mainstream markets like Safeway.

NY Times had an interesting article about the rise in CO2 emissions as more people eat meat. I knew that meat consumption affected the environment, but did not understand the magnitude.

From the chart, you can see what the alternatives to meat cost. Time to eat more chicken instead of beef. Yes becoming a vegetarian helps, but that is a difficult step for most to make.

Be sure to read Healthy Food Options to avoid Chemicals

Organic Beef and Poultry

80% of antibiotics sold in the USA are used on animals. They are utilized to increase growth rate and prevent disease. Because many of the animals we consume are raised in unsanitary conditions, these drugs are used as stop-gap measures. Antibiotics are either placed in animal feed or water. Some veterinarians and cattle folks argue that small amounts of antibiotics cuts the risk of animal sickness by 25% – 50%. Scientists believe that feeding animals antibiotics when they are not sick, causes more drug resistant super bugs or infections. 99,000 people died in 2002 due to hospital acquired infections, most of those from super bugs.

Avoid hormones and antibiotics in Beef and Poultry buy purchasing Organic products and grass fed beef. American livestock routinely get antibiotics to promote growth and to prevent possible illness. The problem is that this practice to germs to mutate and possibly generate antibiotic resistance in humans. In Denmark, they track livestock antibiotics and require a prescription before any is applied. Perhaps the United States should join this approach. The United States is six times more antibiotics than Denmark to produce meat. An additional problem with antibiotics is that they can wipe out almost all bacteria in a person gut, leaving them more susceptible to an infection.

A recent public health study from Harvard University found that eating one additional serving of processed red meat each day can increase your risk of death by 20%. When examining this statistic, it equates to two more deaths per 1 thousand people per year or an actual increase of 0.2% points. A BBC analysis said that this is equivalent to a 40 year old person living to 79 instead of 80.

Saw this amusing sign at Whole Foods. Friends Don’t Let Friends eat meat with Drugs. Whole Foods is the only large supermarket chain to carry meat raised without antibiotics.

We like Chipotle Mexican Grill and their food, but noticed that our local location has had a “We are not serving Natural Chicken” sign on the counter for a number of months. They advertise that they attempt to use meats without hormones or antibiotics. We decided to investigate and found some interesting details. Chipotle endeavors to use as much natural chicken as possible, but does not guarantee this. We have seen figures showing that 66% of the chicken meets the standard. This is sort of false advertising, when pure, natural ingredients are promised, but rarely used. What are the issues behind this, supply, profits?

One interesting issue is the fact that they only use chicken dark meat and not chicken white meat. Local vendors have trouble just supplying dark meat, as demand for natural chicken has waned with the economy. Granted, Chipolte serves up a lots of chicken, given its numerous locations and high demand, but needs to upholds its principles. How about switching to white meat or better yet, a blend of white and dark meat, which is how chickens come!

Pink Slime Beef

The TV celebrity Jamie Oliver recently brought to light the common ground beef filler now known as Pink Slime or lean finely texture beef. This material is made from beef scraps left over in the cutting process, fat is removed from these trimmings and in many cases, ammonium-hydroxide gas is used to kill bacteria.

This Pink Slime is mixed in with ground beef, often to make it more lean. The controversy has caused many supermarkets to stop use of this filler product. This just shows another food production techniques are not known to the general public. If we knew how all our food was grown and processed, we would demand more healthy products.

Positive Aspects of Pink Slime

• Less cattle is slaughtered (1.5 million more animals would have to be used)
• Leftovers from slaughter do not need to be burned, disposed of, or used as pet food
• If not used for pets, food equivalent to feeding 42 million people would be required
• Hamburger is more lean because of this
• School hamburgers are less likely to have E. Coli

Perhaps the ultimate answer is to require every manufacturer to label products containing pink slime or lean finely textured beef. While pink slime is definitely gross, consider that sausages and hot dogs are made from a slimy, slurry solution also. This whole controversy has led to more restaurants stating whether their beef contains pink slime or not.

Antibiotics Ban put off

photo credit: shimgray

Keep Antibiotics Working covers the quiet FDA withdrawal of a ban of extralabel use of an antibiotic used for animal production. Industry has once again prevailed. We’ve all read about superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics.

In April 2012, the FDA finalized plans to ask drug companies to limit the use of antibiotics in animal feed. Two hundred drugs used to promote cattle growth will be used only to treat and prevent diseases. A veterinarian would have to prescribe these items. This is a win although the FDA could have just banned the use of antibiotics to help cattle grow.

They have a good page on how to help end misuse of antibiotics. Buy organic meat or poultry raised without routine use of antibiotics.

Stick to whole wheat bread and bread products.

Foods to avoid

• Avoid sugary foods especially ones with added high fructose corn syrup.  Diet soda does not help much as they are still empty calories. Avoid Protein Drinks with heavy metals.
• Avoid foods from cans and plastic containers that may have BPA.
• Do not watch TV during meals.
• Say no to foods with Trans fats.
• Avoid artificial colors and dyes
• Avoid anything with sharks fin in it

Avoid microwaved popcorn because to the inside of a microwave popcorn bag is usually coated with a perfluorinated chemical (PFC) called a fluorotelomer that can break down to form perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). PFOA has been linked to cancer and birth defects in animals and preliminary epidemiological studies suggest that a pregnant woman’s exposure to PFOA may reduce her baby’s birth weight.

Get as much fiber in your diet as possible.  Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes are some great sources.

Cooking your food Safely

• Cook on non teflon cookware
• Avoid microwaving food in plastic. Use ceramic or glass containers
• Cooked eggs and products with eggs, carefully
• Buy only high-quality ground beef
• Stick to sustainable seafood
• BBQ your food safely
• Go easy on proteins drinks
• Buy sustainable seafood

Be sure to watch the sunscreen and cosmetics you use.

Healthy Wheat Bread

Wheat bread is another one of those meaningless terms because most bread is made from wheat. Some wheat bread is ‘faked’ by using brown packaging or dyeing the bread with molasses or brown sugar. White bread is made using refined grains that are not as healthy.

Most people should equate whole wheat to including both the inside wheat germ and outer wheat bran. USDA Certified Organic wheat is even better. This type of bread will have more fiber than other breads. Look for whole wheat, whole oats, or 100% whole wheat as the first ingredient on packaging, not wheat flour. Some items have the Whole Grains Stamp making whole grain products easier to identify.

Fast Food grilled chicken – Carcinogen PhIP

photo credit: VirtualErn

I read an article about Doctors suing KFC over the carcinogen PhIP in grilled chicken and decided to look into the situation. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine accused KFC of violating California’s Proposition 65. This law requires businesses to warn customers if they are being exposed to substances that cause cancer or birth defects.

“A PCRM scientist visited six different KFC stores, obtained two samples from each location, and sent them to an independent testing laboratory. All 12 samples were found to contain PhIP, a chemical classified as a carcinogen by the federal government, the state of California, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. PhIP, part of a chemical family known as heterocyclic amines (HCAs), has been linked to several forms of cancer, including breast cancer, in numerous scientific studies. No safe level of ingestion has been identified. Every sample also tested positive for at least one additional type of HCA.”

““Grilled chicken can increase the risk of cancer, and KFC consumers deserve to know that this supposedly healthy product is actually just as bad for them as high-fat fried chicken,” says Neal D. Barnard, M.D., the president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). “KFC should post warnings because its aggressively marketed new product harbors a chemical that increases the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other forms of this lethal disease.”

This issue is not limited to KFC, other fast food places have the same problem.

It is great that someone exposes this area. We have covered the health problems with grilling meats at high temperatures in the past.

This study from the NIH concluded: “Our results suggest that dietary interventions targeted at lower consumption of grilled red meats may reduce prostate cancer risk via the PhIP prostate carcinogenic pathway.”

Clearly there are issues with PhIP. We would rather not get exposed to it.

Sulfuryl Fluoride Fumigation and Food

Fluoride Action Network is a site that is building public awareness of problems with the EPA’s approval of using Sulfuryl Fluoride to fumigate raw and processed food commodities like barley, bran, wheat. Dow AgroSciences seeked approval because methyl bromide was being banned because of ozone depletion problems. Fluoride residue can result on the food that is consumed. There are no labeling requirements. This fumigant is also used when tenting building to kill termites. Science Daily reports that it is also a potent Greenhouse Gas that stays in the atmosphere for at least 30-40 years.

Stay tuned for more information.

Time to eat mostly organic?

Go for orange oil instead of Sulfuryl Fluoride when fumigating?

It is getting colder by the day, which means the cold and flu season approaching rapidly. People are stocking their medicine cabinets with vitamins, medicine, and other cold remedies. Hand washing is happening much more frequently, as is the use of hand sanitizers, and the avoidance of crowded spaces. We will examine some remedies that you may not have considered.

Vitamins and Dietary Supplements

Vitamins and other dietary supplements may not offer health benefits and may even cause harm to some people. Recent data has prompted people to conclude that vitamins are a waste of money unless you have a specific nutrient deficiency, medical condition,  or illness. The research seems to indicate that vitamins don’t make healthy people healthier.

An article sheds some light on the need to make sure you have a balanced diet with the right nutrients to fight infectious diseases like influenza.  Some key information in the article:

Vitamins and minerals are necessary to produce immune cells. If you do not consume enough vitamins and minerals, the immune cells you produce may be compromised, making it more difficult to respond to infections.

Obesity and diet play a key role in not getting sick.

Where to get Your Vitamins

Getting vitamins and minerals from food is the best way for your body to absorb them. Multivitamins are a good addition for many people’s health regime.  Always consult your doctor before changing your diet.  Some supplements can be toxic especially if taken in large doses.

Dr. Beck of the University of North Carolina performed the study of mice infected with the flu virus. He found that obese mice infected with the flu were more prone to die, as compared to lean mice. He is expanding his trials to test this result in lean and obese humans. Here is another reason to lose weight.

Popping a pill does not work as well as eating right.

We are now looking at expanding our diet to incorporate some of the foods high in vitamins and minerals that we previously ignored.

Nasal Sanitizers

Being near a person who coughs or sneezes can infect you with their cold. Recently several products have been released that help clean the nose and reduce the amount of bacteria in nostrils. These products include:

• Nozin Nasal Sanitizer
• GermBullet 

You can also wear a scarf or other anti-bacterial winter covering to achieve the same effect.

Sambucus, Natural Cold Care, Elderberry Extract

It is cold and flu season. We have been taken Sambucus for years and find it really helps to shorten the duration and intensity of a cold. We take it at the first sign of when we feel that something is coming on, a scratchy throat or slight headache.  This supplement contains black elderberry extract.

We’ve tried many other items from Airborne to Iscillococcinum to Chinese herbs. This product is also sold under the trade name Sambucol. It comes in versions for kids and in pill form. Amazon and Whole Foods sell this product.

NIH Medline has information on Sambucus and gives it a grade B for Influenza. As always, check with your doctor before you take any medicine.

Migrastick for Headaches and Migraine Headaches

Migrastick contains 100% pure and natural, steam-distilled peppermint and lavender essential oils and is used on the temples to relieve headaches or migraine headaches.  We swear by it and find that it allows us to avoid taking too many pills.  Be sure to apply it at the first sign of a headache and not when the headache is raging full strength. Costs less than $6. Whole Foods also carries it.

Of course you should always check with your physician or health care provider regarding any medical condition or treatment. It would be nice to understand what side effects there are to this.

General information on Aromatherapy.