2013, a Year Full of Achievements to help improve our Health.

  For many that are always caring for their health and where they food really comes from may already know this, but some may not. In this article I'll list a couple of great achievements and discovery on 2013 that are very helpful to know in order to maximize Our Health. Although they are numbered, they are not in a particular order since everything is equally important.

 Discoveries or Rediscoveries. 

1. Fats are actually good for us: After a few year debates about Fats, which many people scientists and nutritionist said that it is bad for the heart. which lead to reduction in fat and more process in many foods. There are however Good and bad fats, and contrary to the popular belief, not all saturated fats are bad, there are some saturated fats which are actually good for our heart. The type of Fat that are really bad for us and should be avoided are artificially trans fats, which are created by using Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils. As always, the key to good nutrition is not to eliminate or limit, but rather to have a healthy balance of fats, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. 
2. Eggs are actually a good superfood: For a few years people start eating only egg whites due to the fear that egg yolks increase cholesterol., however, recent studies show that the kind of cholesterol it raise is the HDL, or so call Good cholesterol, although it does raise some of the LDL as well, still  the benefits are more than negative effects and it also has a lot of vitamins there is more information on this webmd website http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/good-eggs-for-nutrition-theyre-hard-to-beat .
3. Grass - Fed Beef, Milk, and Free-range chicken are better, more nutritious and higher in Omega-3  than so called "conventional" raised animals and CAFO": Many nutritionist had said and many people knew for year that animals fed their native diet rather than corn and other not native diet will have a better nutrition, hence, when we eat the meat, drink the milk or eat the eggs we will have higher nutritional value. For example, by eating grass fed beef and drinking grass fed milk, our omega -3 will intake will be higher. There are several studies about this . However, the one that is the most important because it was officially confirmed is one made by plosone nationwide study which shows the results that many people knew for years. Here is the link to the study. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0082429#abstract0
4. Organic Food is better than Non-Organic Food: Organic food has increase in consumption due to their safety, and nutrition. Although there are still many debates whether organic and non-organic food are different in nutrition. there is a clear danger on the use of pesticide on conventional food and how many foods are overly sprayed with pesticide and how they absorb them pass their skin. There has been studies in children which shows pesticide over toxic levels and also test on produce that where high in pesticide and it has been on the news. Therefore, even if the nutrition difference is not yet fully known, although in my opinion they are, there is clearly a safety issue. 
5. Sugar and carbohydrates can be worst than saturated fats: Although still in early stages, and there are studies being done.. The excess of sugar and carbohydrates, can be worst for the heart and raising cholesterol than saturated fats themselves. The excess consumption was the effect of lowering fat consumption, hence replacing them with carbohydrates.

New Laws, rules, and changes in known brands.

1.  FDA Finally bans Trans fats from process food: After many years of preliminary studies and debates, FDa Finally decides what many people knew for year and bans artificially trans fats from process foods. Which is a good News. There are however natural trans fats in meats and diary. HOwever, those can't be banned because they are naturally occurring, but those are in small amount and many people say that they are actually good (CLA) which helps the heart.  
2. FDA Recommends farmers to reduce the use of antibiotics voluntarily:  Although this is not 100% the best resolution it is a step forward hoping for a more strict law, after seeing the break of antibiotic resistant bacteria emerging last year more on this on this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/bittman-the-fdas-not-really-such-good-news.html?_r=1&
3. Cheerios finally stops using GMO Ingredients: a couple month ago there was a sign-in to request cheerios to stop using GMO Ingredients in their cereal, and at the beginning of this year they announced that they stopped using it.

As we see, many good news for an approach to a better, more organic , natural and Healthier Diet for this year. We still have much to go, but definitely we are going in the right direction. Many companies are opting for simpler natural ingredients and less process. Remember we can make a difference by organizing and contacting the companies if many people ask for it, they'll listen and do something about it. In my opinion, it would be good to ask the government to start subsidizing more organic farmers and less conventional food industry, this way organic food will be more affordable and people will be healthier. Healthier people means, less expenses on medical bills, a big problem in the U.S. 

 

My Opinion on the New Superbugs or "nightmare bacterias"

   As many of us have seen lately on the news, there are new strains of common bacteria that are antibiotic resistant. There are many speculation of why this is happening. What had been said on the media and even on Doctor Oz Show is the misuse of antibiotic as well as the doctors prescribing antibiotics when not really necessary. While this contribute to the problem, there are other reasons too. This include use of antibacterial soap, and the use of antibiotic on the food we eat.
     Although it is normal for bacteria to adapt and become antibiotic resistance, there where always new more potent antibiotics that will kill those bacteria and we will always be one step ahead. However, in the past decade there was no new antibiotic development and antibiotic resistant bacteria has been on the rise.
    While part of the problem is that pharmaceutical companies haven't come with more potent antibiotic to combat the new bacteria that are resistant to current antibiotic, in my opinion the main reason of the new crisis is the use of antibiotic in the food/meat we eat.
   The reason for this is because when food companies give antibiotic to livestock, to supposedly kill bacteria such as e.coli, which can be true at the beginning, however, they keep giving those antibiotics to them for a long time, hence, creating antibiotic resistant bacteria because they evolve to resist the antibiotic, and when we eat the meat, we might inadvertly  take the antibiotic resistant bacteria, if the antibiotic resistant bacteria makes us sick, when we are treated with antibiotic they won't work. Also, there are some bacteria that can spread from human to human in several ways.

    Therefore, I believe the best practice is to buy organic grass-fed meat that is not treated with antibiotics. Doing so will reduce the amount of antibiotic resistant bacteria, and it would be great that food companies would start good practices and feed livestock regular food without the antibiotics.

The Myths of Natural/Herbal Medicine.

   Many People prefer natural/herbal  medicine because they believe or have been told that there are no Side Effects, and that you take as much as you want.
   Although natural herbal medicine of the time seems safer than conventional pharmaceutical medicine, we still need to be careful, as with anything we ingest, including food,. too much can be harmful. here are a few myths of Natural Herbal Medicine. These would include positive and negative myths.

1. Natural/Herbal medicine has no side-effects. False, some medicine may not have side effects, but some may, it is important to know all the pros and cons before taking a medicine. Also, some herbal medicine may interfere with some medications, as well as some food also interfere with medications. Also, they can interfere with people that have certain conditions. For example, some herbal medicine can lower blood sugar, which could have an effect on diabetics, or people going to have a surgery or recently have surgery.

2.  You can take as much natural/herbal medicine /teas as you want. This is another myths that it is a little bit worrying. As we normal medicine, and even food dosage is very important and most of the time it depends on the person health, age, and other characteristics. After all, even drinking too much water can be lethal.

3. All Natural Herbs are safe to ingest. False, some people think that because it is from nature, it is safe to ingest, However, Nature also produces some poisonous plants. hence, we should always be careful what we eat and not believe everyone selling natural medicines. Always do a research before trying something new.

4. This myths is what mostly doctors believe. Natural/Herbal Medicine Do not help at all in healing. This is false, as I will show in another article there had been proven evidence in personal experience and other people that herbal medicine works, and although there is no enough scientific evidence, the reason is because they did not take the time to experiment with it, or simply do not want to do it or admit it.

There are more myths about herbal medicines that I would cover at a later post. However, what is very important to note is to be very careful about "natural/herbal" medicine that come in pill forms. For those who like to take the herbal in pill form should be very careful. Personally, I believe these Herb medicine are meant to be taken natural, for example, in teas, soups, infusions, etc. and not be altered in any way, but for some people it is more convenient. For those that prefer the pill form of herbal medicine, should do a research and always read ingredients, there have been cases that the pills are not  what they say they are.!

   Hope this blog has been helpful. Below are some Helpful Links to check.

Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine by Chevallier, Andrew/ Emerson-Roberts (Google Affiliate Ad)

Medical Herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine by Hoff (Google Affiliate Ad)

Chinese Herbal Medicine: Modern Applications of Traditional Formulas b (Google Affiliate Ad)

Encyclopedia of Islamic Herbal Medicine by Morrow, John Andrew [Paperb (Google Affiliate Ad)

Herbal Medicine Trends and Traditions By Kane, Charles W. (Google Affiliate Ad)

Where Did the Real Food Go?.

    I remember a classmate from Europe/Asia  area when I was in college once told our professor that he did not understand why was he gaining weight here in the U.S while eating the same type of food that he was eating in his country. The professor told him it was because of the extra unnecessary additives that is add to food here. Although by then i used to not look at the label, I did had an idea that yes, they add a lot of unnecessary additives. On top of that, some of them are harmful to our body.
     Why do Industries do this?
          Although they would not admit it, or it wouldn't be discuss., the answer is more than obvious, MONEY. Some additives are there to preserve shelf life, hence, they would be able to sell more with an extended expiration date, other additives are there to enhance flavor because of long storage would change the flavor. However, the most disturbing reason why they would do this is so consumers would be come addict to their products and hence by and consume more and more.  Although it makes common sense that companies want to sell more of their product, these tactics are just unethical. What is more worrying however is not the artificial products themselves, which there are well documented research that it is really bad for humans. After all, humans were meant to eat organic real food, grown on soil, using natural growing methods, not food grown on a lab. Although this is my opinion, and i would love to some day be able to do a research, I believe that Artificial ingredients Can Alter your DNA, mutating cells, and be one of the causes of several disease human have today that didn't exist before, for example, Cancer. what is more worrying is that some fast food restaurant , and yes, even some package food use polypropylene, an ingredient used in anti-freeze, derive from oil(petroleum). This is use to keep the lettuce crisp in fast food restaurant for example. These changes is what have getting people sick.
   Also, another reason is the use of GMO, or Genetic Modified Organism,. This is one of the main reason why is hard to find real food today. The GMO's are manipulated from the seeds on the lab where they make it "disease resistant" or "weed resistant" and puting pesticide inside the seed, but by doing this they alter the structure of the plant /vegetable, fruit of themselves. Therefore, even if you choose to eat healthy and eat produce, you are still not sure how natural this product is, and  even though study on GMO products has not been extensively done yet, the current results are  alarming because they had been link to the cause of cancer and tumors. GMO's are particularly dangerous because of cross contamination. when Animals, wind, etc, move the offspring seeds from one place to another it converts other NON GMO plants to GMO plants and it also contaminates other farmers that are doing the right thing.  In my opinion, we should go back to the way food used to be before. I remember when I didnt need to watch at labels, that I knew that i was getting real food, not copy-cats artificial dyes that are bad for us. It would be good to organize and sign petition to ask the Government to make food companies re-design their products with more natural ingredients. After all, Europe is already doing it. Also, they should put in the label all ingredients and indicate which one are dangerous.   However, the most important of all, ask the FDA to Ban many ingredients that are already Banned in other countries do to their danger to our health.

  To learn more about how the Food Industry in the U.S works I recomend watching this DVD/Blu-RayFOOD INC BY KENNER,ROBERT (Blu-Ray) (Google Affiliate Ad)

More on GMO Food can be found here: Food Fray: Inside the Controversy Over Genetically Modified Food by We (Google Affiliate Ad)Genetically Modified Foods By Edt (NA) (Google Affiliate Ad)FOOD INC BY KENNER,ROBERT (Blu-Ray) (Google Affiliate Ad)

if you want to know more information about Same products between the U.S and Europe this article is very helpful:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/02/11/food-companies-exploit-americans-with-ingredients-banned-in-other-countries/

and to see more on how bad fried food is for us, this video is great: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-33816_162-57569746/fried-foods-have-similar-impact-to-your-liver-as-hepatitis/

I hope this article was helpful!.. Stay tuned, next article probably be revealing the best home remedy for kidney stones, proven to work!. 

The Power Of the Brain

    A lot of people must have heard by their relatives, it could be their mothers, grandmothers, aunt or others that the Mind is very powerful, and it has the potential to either cure you or make you sick, all depending on how you handle situations, and basically how positive or negative you are. For some people this are just myths, or urban legends. For others, these phrases are just phrases. However, there is recent scientific proof that Yes, the mind has the power to cure all your illness. Therefore, there might be something to that saying. 

   Although Scientist do not know exactly why they work yet, they have an idea on how to put the body into this "healing" process, and as we all know, the mind or brain is what controls the body. Also, they have some machines that would help you achieve that state. 

   Some people may think that these could be some kind of miracle, some may even think is some kind of witchcraft or some other spiritual type of healing, but is not. Others may also think that this is only a placebo effect, but is not.  Like all medicine, it is not 100% effective, it is also the fact that the person must enter the healing state, which at the beginning it could be hard, and for some people might be even harder. However, although for some may be harder than for others, it is something that everyone is able to do.  Spontaneous Healing is something that happens all the time on our bodies, A great example is healing of wounds that happen naturally. As our body heals wounds, it also has the ability to cure some terminal diseases such as incurable types of cancers and there are proof of that. 

   Although spontaneous healing of cancer are extreme examples, these methods can also be used to prevent diseases. The best way to achieve spontaneous healing is to put your body in coherent mode, or healing mode as Dr John Nicolai MD calls it. This Healing mode is when the person feels "in sync", where all the system of the body(mind body and spirit) go in alignment. The best way to do this is to reduce your stress and stressful lifestyle. Also, if necessary to get rid of toxic relationships, and by that I do not mean to get rid of the person, but rather work out differences, and go to therapy if necessary. Also, reduce the daily stress with some meditation exercise and a anti-inflammatory lifestyle to help the body cope with the stress. 

    In Conclusion, by reducing unnecessary stress, and combining meditation and anti-inflammatory lifestyle would help you achieve this healing mode. Therefore, besides the anti-inflammatory lifestyle involving the anti-inflammatory foods, the rest, is all achieve by the mind and brain, and for this reason the brain is a very powerful organ we have and we must take advantage of it as it most, specially if it means for our better well being. 

     To help you achieve this healing mode, now there are books that teach you in detail on how to do it. Also, there are commercially available machines to help you achieve this mode. 

     Below I provide  a 3 part video of a Doctor Oz episode that shows you the basics and some testimonials. Also link to an  example of available books.  

 

 Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Embrace Your Body's Natural A (Google Affiliate Ad)

Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance by Oschman, Jame (Google Affiliate Ad)

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/spontaneous-healing-your-bodys-power-heal-within-pt-1

I Hope this article is helpful for many of you!. Comment below your ideas, opinions, thoughts, or Ideas for new articles, recipes, how-to, etc.