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It is time for another post about a recommended read, but this came across my desk today. This is a video clip, but I think the book mentioned will be my recommended read for this month. I know I want to check it out. This is a prime example of my basic philosophy–that processed food is not as nutritious as we are led to believe and it certainly isn’t equal to the unprocessed counterpart.
Check it out.
Little late here with my update on the trans fat challenge–been busy!
Well, trans fat is probably the number one thing I look out for. I avoid it like the plague. I don’t just look for the grams of trans fat listed on the label (it’s often not correct), I look at the ingredients list and check for partially hydrogenated oils. That’s the true tell. So, I don’t have a lot in my house that contains it. The only staple I can think of is flour tortillas. Some day I will get around to making my own, but for now I still buy them. However, I abstained during the challenge. 
My family wanted Oreos with our movie night. In the past I bought Newman’s Own Newmanos, because the cream filling was trans fat free. Since companies are now required to label trans fat, Oreos has reformulated their product. They couldn’t risk everyone knowing just how many grams of trans fat their product contained. So now I will buy them about twice a year. The other night I indulged in one cookie.
Other things that come to mind are peanut butter. I buy Smucker’s Natural because it truly only contains peanuts and salt. Don’t be fooled by the other brands that try to say they don’t contain trans fat. They do, and they’re loaded with sugar.
Many bread products have trans fat added to soften them–sandwich bread, hamburger buns and hot dog buns. Packaged cookies, cakes, and chips contain trans fat. Packaged cookie dough is a big one–it’s loaded, and also packaged biscuits and rolls. Make your own cookies and use real butter. Believe me, they will be much better for you!
I used to buy crescent rolls in a tube. Pampered Chef recipes call for this ingredient all the time. Well, not any more! Not since I found out about the trans fat! Packaged pizza crust, too. Make your own with my french bread recipe. It’s so very easy and much, much more delicious!
Boxed cake mix contains trans fat and canned icing is pure trans fat and sugar. Think of it as a can of Crisco with sugar and flavoring added. I do not eat store-bought cakes anymore and trans fat is the reason. If you invite me over for a party and see that I do not partake of the cake, don’t think I have immense will power to avoid junk food. I have just read about trans fat and what it does to your body and it totally turned me off to store cakes. I make my own and enjoy them fully! Click here for my chocolate cupcake recipe.
I could go on and on about trans fats. Learn to check your labels. Cook with butter, coconut oil, and olive oil. Start making more things at home from scratch. Take your babysteps and checkout The Trans Fat Solution by Kim Severson for more information. I don’t agree with everything in this book (she mentions using soy protein, for example), but her information on trans fat is wonderful. And she has good information about coconut oil, too. The informative part of the book is only 31 pages, the rest are recipes. It’s available at my local library, it might be at yours, too.
…of my motto here at All Things Health.
If God created it, it is good for me; if man has changed it then it is bad for me.
If we start to think in those terms choices become clear and we can end all this confusion. The more you read about nutrition the more you will see contradicting opinions. One group says saturated fats will kill you, another group says they will heal you. Who do you trust?
I Timothy 4:1-5 says that in the last days a great apostasy will take place and people will preach that we should abstain from foods that God created. Well, the vegetarian/vegan movement has been preaching that for a while now, that we shouldn’t eat meat, some go as far as abstaining from anything remotely associated with animals such as honey (because it’s made by bees). That really narrows your choices. Doctors are telling us that saturated fats and cholesterol will clog our arteries and that we shouldn’t eat red meat very often. Many people won’t eat eggs because of the cholesterol. Nutritionists will tell you that you can increase your protein intake with protein powders and protein bars. If we have ailments we are given pills, be they drugs or mega-vitamins. How can we cut through all the nonsense? Verse 4 and 5 – EVERY creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Now I think that a lot of people have taken these verses to mean that they must pray at every meal and ask God to bless the food they are about to eat and they think that this means it won’t harm them. There are natural laws of sowing and reaping, just like the natural law of gravity. We can’t throw a ball up into the air and pray that God will keep it up there. It’s going to come down because of the natural law of gravity. We can’t ask God to bless our processed non-food and expect that we won’t reap unhealthy lives from consuming it.
Deuteronomy 6:16 says, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”. Jesus quoted this verse when the devil tempted Him to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple. We can not knowingly do things that we know will hurt us (or bring us bad health) and expect God to protect us. God will not be mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (Galatians 6:7).
When we choose foods, we must ask ourselves, “How far has this food (or supplement) come from God’s creation?” In your babysteps toward healthier eating, try to start thinking in those terms.
This article was originally published on this blog on August 20, 2007.
Are you ready for another challenge?
This month, the challenge is to cut out hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils for 7 days. Check your labels, you might be surprised to learn what foods contain these oils.
Partially hydrogenated oil is the same thing as trans fat. The problem is that a lot of packages claim 0g of trans fat per serving, but it really is anywhere from 0 to .49g. The FDA allows the manufacturer to claim 0, if it is less than .5. Well, half a gram doesn’t sound bad, does it?
Let’s think about it this way, though. When was the last time you just ate 1-oz. of chips. If you have a scale, try weighing out 1 ounce. It isn’t much. Most of us eat more than one serving of most foods at a time. The manufacturer makes that serving size so small so that they can hide how much trans fat and/or sugar the item really has. So, then you are really eating possibly 1.5g of trans fat, every time you enjoy those chips. Studies show that even 2 grams of trans fat a day are dangerous.
If you normally cook with Crisco, use butter instead. Butter is a very healthy fat. It has had such a negative connotation for far too long. Click here to read about that.
Click here to learn more about hydrogenated oils.
I will check back in at the end of the 7 days and report my results. See you then!
Well, our first challenge has concluded, going without high fructose corn syrup for seven days.
How did you do? Was it difficult? Was it easy? Were there any food items that you were surprised to see HFCS on the ingredients listing?
Well, on day 1, I noticed that the sandwich bread I buy for the family (I don’t eat it), contains HFCS. It’s really hard with sandwich bread. Most of them contain trans fat. This was one I found without trans fat, but they put HFCS in it.
I tried making homemade bread for my family. I even compromised and made it mostly white. (I figured mostly white, made at home, was better than a loaf with HFCS, trans fat, and numerous dough conditioner chemicals and preservatives.) It was delicious! But after about two days, it gets crumbly and stale tasting. It doesn’t stay soft as long as store-bought bread. So my family refused it.
On day 2, I was feeding my kids yogurt with their breakfast. We make our own yogurt from raw milk. I eat it plain, my daughter has recently switched from plain to having it with honey, and my son likes strawberry jam in it. I buy all-fruit jam, specifically to avoid sugar and HFCS. I checked the Yoplait label at the store and sure enough, it contains HFCS. I’m so glad we cut that out years ago. The kids do get it as a treat once in a while. But that’s what it is, a dessert, not a healthy breakfast.
On day 5, I goofed! We were having homemade hamburgers, french fries, and strawberry shortcake. I kept thinking, we’re doing good, because we’re making the shortcake from scratch, no HFCS there! Well, I was in the middle of my meal and it dawned on me that I was dipping my fries in Ranch dressing and I had ketchup on my burger!!!!!! Yes, both of those items have HFCS in them. And guess what else?!? The hamburger buns. It just goes to show how many items contain HFCS these days. It is hard to escape. I am not at the place, yet, of making my own salad dressing and ketchup. Some day, but not yet. Occasionally I do drizzle my salad with red wine vinegar and olive oil. This encourages me to do that more often.
Well, the rest of the week, we were in the clear. Let me know how you did!
If you haven’t noticed already, I highly recommend Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, with Mary Enig. This book is available at my local library, it just might be available at yours.
This book opened my eyes to a lot of things. But I must say that the first time I checked it out, I was overwhelmed and didn’t even read it. It is so thick. Then I learned that it is mostly recipes. The portion on nutrition is only the first little bit, maybe 60 pages. That was doable to me. I have read that portion, now, over and over, each time gleaning new information.
The authors cover everything you need to know on the subject of fats, carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, and more.
This is a general resource that everyone should check out, whether you’re just starting to eat healthy, or you grind your own wheat and make your own bread.
This is something new I’m doing. I am going to issue a new challenge every month. The challenge will be for 7 days.
This month’s challenge is to cut out High Fructose Corn Syrup. Now this is only for 7 days. You will want to start checking your labels to see what foods have HFCS in them.
Why? Why do we care if there is HFCS in our diets? Isn’t it just sugar? A little sugar does no harm, right?
Well, all sugars are not equal. The closer a food is to how God created it, the better it is for you. Natural sugars contain enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Refined sugars are stripped of all that and rob your body of those things as they’re digested. If we’re going to chart things on a Great-Good-Bad-Worse chart, sugar would be bad, but HFCS is worse. You can’t make this stuff in your home kitchen. It actually takes battery acid to make and is reported to contain levels of mercury. Read this article on that subject.
Most of the junk food my generation grew up on was loaded with sugar, but the same foods today are loaded with HFCS instead. Could there be a link with this change and the rise in obesity rates?
So check your labels. I challenge you to cut this one ingredient out for just 7 days. Let me know if you have questions. Get creative. Remember, I didn’t say you had to cut out all sugar. If there is a food that you like that contains HFCS, make it from scratch with sugar instead.
I will report back here at the end of the 7 days and let you know what I’ve had to cut out. (Yes, I’m sure I’m ingesting some HFCS, too!) See you then!
I will not be a guinea pig tester for the upcoming swine flu vaccination and neither will my children. You need to be informed.
What kind of testing has this new swine flu vaccine gone through?
What are the ingredients of this new swine flue vaccination? Does it contain the highly controversial ingredient Thimerosal? (Thimerosal is mercury, by the way. Highly toxic.)
What were the side effects of the 1976 swine flu vaccination?
What are the symptoms and effects of the swine flu on your body?
Click here to read and watch videos.
I just read an awesome article in this month’s issue of Prevention magazine. I have read about Omega essential fatty acids before, but this article brought some new things to light.
We’ve heard of Omega-3 essential fatty acids, but what about Omega-6? We hear we should eat fish to get Omega-3s, but is it found in other food?
Please read here and then you can read my notes.
The Vanishing Youth Nutrient by Susan Allport
Notes-
The author makes an excellent point that we need to get back on grass-fed meat and dairy, like our great-grandparents. Here are some sources:
In the Tulsa, OK area – Swan Brother’s Dairy
Also for Oklahomans – Oklahoma Food Co-op
In the Tulsa area – Natural Farms (two locations–4th & Utica or 91st & Yale)
Also check out Eat Wild for a list of sources in your area.
Or you can order from US Wellness Meats
(I have not been paid to promote any of the above businesses.)
We see in this article that a big portion of the Omega-6s in our diet come from vegetable oils, soybean, cottonseed, corn, etc. If you will remember from my earlier article, But Isn’t It Natural?, that these oils are very difficult to extract from the beans/seeds. Chemicals are involved, as is high heat, both of which damage the oil tremendously. If we would just eat these seeds in their whole form, we wouldn’t be overdosing on Omega-6. Remember–If God created it, it is healthy, but if man has adulterated it, it isn’t.
I cannot agree with her recommendation of Canola oil for two reasons. Canola oil has a 2:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3. This means that for every gram of Omega-3 you’re getting, you are still getting 2 grams of Omega-6. I don’t see how this helps anyone. We are supposed to be getting a ratio of 1:1 of Omega-3s and 6s. Chances are, if you are using Canola oil, you are still eating some packaged food, so you are still getting too many Omega-6s. The other reason is that the oil you buy in the store is already damaged, like mentioned above, by the heat and chemical process. Ingesting damaged oils is toxic to your system. But let’s say you are going to buy expeller-pressed Canola. Then what? If you are heating it, you are damaging it. If you want to drizzle it cold, on your salad, I suppose it would be okay. I, myself, will stay away from Canola. Want more information? Click here.
On page 115 (in the magazine) and page 6 (online), I take issue with point #6. Butter is not bad. You can read my article on that topic, here. And did you know that butter has antioxidants in it?!? Click here to read more.
So, overall, the information in this article was great and I hope it helps you. It basically just comes down to the fact that if we were all eating food that hasn’t been processed, we would be getting plenty of the right Omega-3s and Omega-6s, in the right ratios.
I have heard that most honey sold in the stores is cut with corn syrup, but I had NO idea that olive oil is often adulterated, too!
I read this post by Cheeseslave, that details how olive oil manufacturers are cutting their oil with other oils, possibly soybean oil, hazelnut oil, and who knows what other oils.
One way to test your oil is to place it in the refrigerator and see if it solidifies. A true olive oil should become solid. If your olive oil doesn’t solidify, it could mean that it has been cut with other oils, OR had the waxy portions of the olive oil removed. Read the post by Cheeseslave and also the comments, too. Someone mentioned that Bragg brand didn’t solidify when cold. I think that Bragg is a great brand overall and they are probably selling pure olive oil, but they are just removing the waxy portion of the oil. (I personally want my oil as unadulterated as possible, including all the components of the first pressing.)
I started buying Star brand from Walmart because it was labeled “organic”. Well, I put it in the refrigerator and it did not solidify. I knew it had to be too good to be true. It was such a great price. I will be looking elsewhere now.
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