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I feel like people don’t think that most of what they have in the pantry is that bad for them. I see people in the grocery store with their carts full of bright colored packages of processed foods. Kids today live on snack foods, but parents feel secure because the packaging assures them that there is nutrition in those snacks. Then it struck me the other day – the mere presence of Nutrition Facts labels on packaged food is deceiving people into thinking that there is ACTUALLY nutrition contained in that package. We can thank the FDA for this. I’m sure it started out to let people know about the bad stuff, like sugar grams or fat grams (no, fat is not bad, but the FDA wants you to think it is), but it has evolved into something that says, “Eat me, I’m healthy!” Let me tell you folks, nothing could be further from the truth! This has been a light bulb moment for me. So now that I’ve had this epiphany I think I can address the issue properly. Let me show you a couple of example of why processed foods are unhealthy. We all know ice cream and cookies are unhealthy, but what about these…
Breakfast Cereal
The label says it’s made from whole grain, it’s low in fat and it provides 100% of your daily vitamin and mineral needs. The problem is that it will raise your blood sugar very quickly, causing a crash soon after, leaving you hungry for more. (The whole insulin roller coaster is a topic for another day.) The whole grain that is used is processed beyond recognition. There are different levels of processing, from simply grinding the grain to grinding, mashing, and extruding under very high pressure. Just because a study says that whole grain is beneficial does NOT mean that whole grain in ALL its forms is beneficial. Processing destroys those benefits. Grains have a substance in them called phytic acid that binds with minerals in your body and carries them away, leaving your body depleted. We can take measures to neutralize this phytic acid, but certain processing actually makes that phytic acid more potent. Extruding is one of those processes (this is how we get those neat little shaped Os and stars and such, by high pressure extrusion). There was a test done on boxed cereal and mice. Three groups of mice were tested. One group was given the breakfast cereal and water, one group was given the cardboard box and water, and the control group was fed rat food and water. The rats in the control group stayed healthy. The rats eating the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. This is the interesting part, the rats that were eating the cereal died BEFORE the rats eating the box! Before they died, they exhibited schizophrenic behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. The processing done to grains to become breakfast cereal actually makes them toxic. If that isn’t enough, the vitamin and mineral content on the box is very deceiving. The manufacturer knows that the processing is destroying the grains, so they have added SYNTHETIC vitamins to sell you on it. These vitamins are not recognized in our bodies, doing us no good. Make your family good old-fashioned oatmeal for breakfast, or better yet, eat some eggs – God’s wonder food!
Flavored Yogurt
Yogurt has received a lot of attention in the last few years in the media because of the probiotics (like acidophilus) it contains. Here again, like the breakfast cereal, just because a study says yogurt is healthy does not mean that all FORMS of yogurt are healthy. The typical yogurt consumed is the fruit-flavored variety. I used to eat a lot of these myself! So what’s so bad about them? Let’s start with how they are made. First the milk is pasteurized, which kills almost ALL the vitamins, ALL of the enzymes, reduces the availability of it’s minerals, and damages the fragile proteins. Then the milk is homogenized which makes the fat particles so small they will stay mixed into the milk, but also makes them very susceptible to oxidation and rancidity, contributing to heart disease. Then the milk is usually thickened with powdered milk, which contains oxidized cholesterol, which is harmful to our arteries, and potent carcinogens, like glutamic acid (due to the high temperature drying process), which is toxic to our nervous systems. Then the sugar is added, often high fructose corn syrup, coloring (read here to see where the red comes from, surprising!), fruit and artificial flavors. Don’t think that the sugar-free varieties are better, they are even worse, artificial sweeteners of ALL types are dangerous chemicals.
What about the benefits of yogurt? Do they outweigh these negative aspects? In short, no, the probiotics are there to help fight off the bad bacteria in your gut, but the sugar in the yogurt is actually FEEDING the bad bacteria in your gut. Plus your body can’t absorb the calcium because the vitamin D has been destroyed (it’s often supplemented with synthetic vitamin D, which your body just eliminates as waste) and the fat has been damaged or is absent.
So the bottom line is that flavored yogurts have NO nutritional value. I’m not saying don’t eat them; just know that you are eating a dessert. You will be much better off eating plain full fat yogurt (sweeten with some raw honey, if you like) or better yet, make your own from raw milk.
Granola Bars
As I heard Dr. Roizen say once, “These are just candy bars.” Ingredients are listed in descending order so when you see sugar listed second it means there is a lot of sugar in this product. (Nature Valley Oats ‘n Honey) Red flag number two is the third ingredient, Canola Oil. I have mentioned this oil before, it is one of the worst oils for you, very, very high in the wrong kind of Omega-6 and the Omega-3 is damaged. Next is crisped rice, this is overly processed rice like the kind in breakfast cereal; we just talked about why that is so bad. The fifth ingredient listed is a very deceiving one, soy protein. We have been conditioned to think that soy is very healthy, but let’s explore this ingredient and decide for ourselves. The real name of the ingredient is soy protein isolate and it is made by removing the fiber from the soybean in an alkaline solution, then the beans are put in large aluminum tanks with an acid wash. This acid makes the soybeans absorb aluminum, which remains in the end product (big culprit of Alzheimer’s and dementia). After the acid, the beans are treated with many other chemicals including nitrates, which are linked with cancer. Soy is a goitrogen, which means it reduces thyroid function; low thyroid function in kids includes abnormalities in brain development and maturation. Soy is very high in phytates. This is what we talked about with the cereal; phytates actually remove minerals from our bodies. Soy contains natural phytoestrogens (act like estrogen in our bodies), this may be good for menopausal women, but certainly not for kids. Many doctors are now linking the consumption of soy with the early puberty development that has become the norm for young girls. So, as you can see, soy is not our friend. The next three ingredients are sugar, not good, then salt, then soy lecithin, another soy product, need I say more. After some baking soda comes some natural flavor. Now this sounds good, something natural. Ha! Often MSG is included in ingredient listings as natural flavor. Why else would they need to list a natural flavor unless it was a chemical? You have oats and honey listed, you certainly don’t need to list “oat flavor” and “honey flavor”, we can already see they’re there, so this tells me it is a chemical product. Then some nut flours. So to sum up, I agree with Dr. Roizen, these are just candy bars. This goes for energy bars as well. Do your family a favor and make some homemade muffins, even if they aren’t 100% whole wheat, you can avoid the soy, high fructose corn syrup, and chemical flavors at home.
Reading over this post, I really sound like I’m ranting and raving, but I do not apologize. I whole-heartedly believe that packaged food is THE worst thing for your health. There are a few packaged food items I eat from time to time, and I certainly won’t look down my nose at anyone else eating them, but I don’t want you to be deceived into thinking that you are partaking of some nutrition. Think of these items listed above as dessert and nothing more. I could list many more processed foods that masquerade as nutrition, like Lean Cuisine, Baked Lays, Whole Wheat Triscuits, Campbell’s Soup – but I think I’ve made my point. This goes for food items at the local grocery store, but EVEN at the local health food store. The bottom line is that packaged, processed food should not be such a big part of our diet. Things like canned, diced tomatoes or frozen veggies are okay because they have had very minimal processing. It seems to me that the more processed a food is the more advertising is on the package convincing us it’s a healthy food that we should buy. We must be ever conscious of marketing ploys at the grocery store!
So please don’t be overwhelmed by this new information. Take your babysteps; pick one packaged food item at a time to cut out. I will be including more recipes in the future to help you substitute the packaged food for REAL food.
I know what you’re thinking, a blog about health including a recipe for dessert? Sugar IS one of our biggest enemies, but we are taking babysteps away from it. If you cut out all sugar today, I guarantee you would not be able to stick with it for life. It takes time to cut out sugar from our diets. The very first step is to stop buying packaged desserts. All those box mixes, refrigerated cookie doughs, and boxed snack cakes have deadly trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. I’m not telling you never to eat another cookie again, but please make them at home, with butter; they will be better for you!
I don’t “health-up” my desserts. I have memories of whole wheat and honey treats as a child and they just aren’t the same. My answer is to limit myself. We should practice moderation in all areas. Our family enjoys a movie and treats on Sunday nights. We always make popcorn, this helps us eat less sweets. Most of the time we have cookies with it and I only bake as many as I want us to eat. This way there are no leftovers to tempt us to overeat or indulge the next day! We can freeze the rest of the dough for another day. I always freeze my cookie dough in a log shape so I can get it out and slice just as many cookies as I want.
I have searched long and hard to find recipes for cake and brownies that taste as good as box mixes. My husband loves how the box mixes taste; I hate how unhealthy they are, so I was very glad when I found this recipe for brownies that we both agreed on. This recipe is really very easy. I can have the batter mixed up before the oven is even done pre-heating. There are no special tools required and no chopping of chocolate (that’s not fun). These brownies are the type with the crackly layer on top. I adapted this recipe from an Alice Medrich recipe; she is the queen of chocolate. So this Valentine’s enjoy a homemade sweet treat!
Brownies
8 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate chips (on my digital scale this came to 1 1/3 cups in a Pyrex liquid measuring cup)
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
Heat oven to 350°F. Line 8-inch square baking pan with foil. Grease the foil with butter and any parts of the pan that are exposed. Place chocolate chips and 6 tablespoons butter into a microwave-safe dish and heat just until nearly melted, stir to melt the rest of the way (this only takes 1 minute in my microwave, I stir halfway through).
Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in medium bowl at high speed 2 minutes or until thick and light-colored, with a hand-mixer. At low speed, beat in melted chocolate until combined. Fold in flour.
Spoon the batter into pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until edges are puffed and slightly cracked and toothpick inserted 2 inches from edge comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely on wire rack (center will sink slightly).
The flu season is upon us again. You know the signs – the chills, achy muscles, stuffy nose and sore throat. I am hearing reports of people all around me that have coughs and sinus infections and some are turning into pneumonia even! Why is it that the flu is such a bad bug these days? It seems that when I was a kid, the flu was a 24-hour ordeal. I actually don’t remember being sick much as a kid, we were pretty healthy, we had fresh salmon, moose, and caribou meat, no hormones or chemicals there, and almost exclusively ate whole grains. Anyway, the last few years have been a different story for me. I rejected many of the healthy foods I grew up on for about 12 years and have only returned to healthy eating in the last 5. So I think my immune system was depleted. Plus after having 2 kids and nursing, I’m sure any nutrients reserves I once had were now gone. That doesn’t explain why the rest of my family has been getting sick, though. When the flu has hit the last couple of years, it lasts almost 2 weeks! That’s per person mind you.
Why is this? Perhaps those germs are mutating. All the germicides, antibiotics, vaccines, and hand sanitizers in use are only making these germs stronger. One example is MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant strain of Staph. On the flip side of the coin is the fact that our immune systems only get weaker with less exposure to germs. So if we are spending all our time killing these germs, we can’t build up any immunity. We need exposure to germs to build resistance to them. There is a time and place for sanitizing every surface in sight; a hospital for instance, doesn’t want to risk all it’s patients to every germ that people are bringing in. But our homes and our own bodies are another matter. All those antibacterial soaps, sanitizing wipes, and hand sanitizer gels carry a double-edged sword.
Well, I’ve had enough! God does not want us to live like this. He created many wonderful antidotes.
Here is what happened to us February of last year. My 1½ year-old daughter, then my husband, then myself, and finally my 7 year-old son all caught the flu, a few days apart from each other. When I came down with it something I had been recently reading came to mind. In Eat Fat, Lose Fat, Dr. Enig tells of the many benefits of coconut oil – one of them being that it is antiviral! Well, I had some in the cupboard because I already knew it was a healthy cooking fat, so I took a spoonful. Long story short, I took a few spoonfuls over the next 24 hours and dramatically cut the effects of the flu bug short for myself! Then when my son woke up feeling sick I immediately reached for the coconut oil and gave him a dose. He slept all morning and by lunch was feeling better. I gave him some more and by bedtime he was practically 100%! He went from feverish and delirious (he sat up out of his fever nap and was talking nonsense about my ficus tree) to sitting at the table with the family for dinner in less than 12 hours.
So you tell me, was it the coconut oil or just coincidence? My daughter had the flu for 12 days, my husband for 10 (he suffered through with Advil everyday), I had it for 48 hours and my son only for 24 (at most)! So you decide. This is not a case where my son’s immune system and mine were stronger than my daughter’s and husband’s. The year before I had the worst bought of flu of my life; it lasted 2 whole weeks and included a sinus infection and ear infection.
So this year I decided to take a more proactive approach. The kids and I started taking Cod Liver Oil; vitamin A really boosts the immune system and it’s probably the vitamin we are most lacking in our modern diet. We also started drinking Kombucha Tea in the fall; this is a fermented drink that naturally cleanses the liver of toxins. This winter I have cut back on sugar as sugar really impairs your immune system. A bug recently tried to take hold, but we fought it off. My son had a slight cold that was over before he had much time to complain. A sore throat tried to get me, but I pulled out the coconut oil again and resolved it within 24 hours.
One thing I have noticed while trying these natural remedies is that the bug may try to creep back. It was a Saturday when I started feeling the sore throat and by Sunday afternoon I was 100%, but on Wednesday I started feeling slightly icky again. I took some more coconut oil, I wasn’t going to wait and see if this was real or not. In a couple hours I felt great. Then on Friday it tried one more time, I woke up with sinus congestion and could tell it was trying to be a sinus infection. Once again I pulled out the coconut oil and later in the day I ate a couple cloves of pickled garlic because garlic is a natural antibiotic. By bedtime I was 100%, but I think the true testimony is that on all three of these days I mentioned, I never felt that bad. I never felt bad enough to stop my normal routine, never had to rest; these germs did not disrupt my life!
I give glory to God for all the wonderful remedies He created! What is so exciting to me is that God created these things before there was ever any sickness in the world. He knows the end from the beginning. He knew before He created the earth and all that is in it that Adam would choose to rebel and let sin enter into the world. When sin entered in, so did death, sickness, disease and decay. But as a Christian you don’t have to suffer with sickness and disease. Jesus bore our sicknesses on Himself at the cross (Isaiah 53:5 and I Peter 2:24). Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). He came and died so that we could have eternal life (Romans 6:23 and John 3:16). If you are saved then your spirit has been born-again, but your body has not; sicknesses can still try to attack you, but doesn’t have to keep you down! Our bodies will one day die because the law of decay in the earth has yet to be abolished, but while we are here on the earth, we don’t have to suffer through sicknesses, we can have a prosperous and healthy life! (3 John 2) God created things like coconuts, codfish, garlic, lavender, and cows, to name a few; these things are natural sources of potent vitamins and have anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties.
So when you choose supplements to keep your body healthy or choose remedies to fight off germs, keep my motto in mind – If God created it, it is good for you; if man has adulterated it, it is bad for you.
Scientists are trying to wrap their brains around these natural substances, but if they don’t have God in the picture, they come up with a less than perfect product, a drug that has undesirable side effects. They try to isolate these substances and duplicate them and make chemical versions, but none are going to work like God’s own medicines and vitamins that He created, present in the foods God meant for them to be in.
To do further research, check out these links:
As far as I can tell*, potatoes give us a nice amount of potassium, but did you know that butternut squash has almost the same amount of potassium, plus it has more fiber, calcium (almost 4 times as much, 10 times if you skin your potatoes), magnesium, vitamin C, folate, and it’s real claim to fame is that it is high in vitamin A. If you’re watching your carbs, butternut squash is lower than potatoes. The vitamin A contained in butternut squash is in the form of beta-carotene. Your body converts the beta-carotene into retinol, but it won’t do that unless you are eating plenty of fat with your meal. (Read more here.) So eat your squash with butter or try this recipe that calls for olive oil.
2 Tb olive oil
1 Tb minced garlic – yes, a tablespoon, mmm!
1 ½ pounds butternut or other winter squash, peeled and cubed (1/2 to 1-inch)
¼ cup chicken, beef, or veggie stock, or water (I used water)
salt and pepper, to taste
Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish (I just used dried Italian herbs)
Place olive oil and garlic in a large, deep skillet and turn the heat to medium. When the garlic begins to color, add the squash, stock or water, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and turn the heat to low. Cook, stirring once or twice, until the squash is tender, about 15 minutes.
Uncover the pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally and stirring somewhat less often, until all the liquid is evaporated and the squash has begun to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Turn the heat to low and cook until the squash is as browned and crisp as you like. I was using a stainless steel pan and my squash kept sticking to the pan so it didn’t get very brown, but was very good anyway. I think I had the heat too high, though; I kept it on med-high. I also used more than 1 ½ pounds of squash; I should have used more oil. Anyway, it was great.
Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish, and serve.
*I got the nutrition information from the USDA nutrient database.
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