Day 4
Pre-cleanse Prep Day 4
Nutritional bandits gum up our body signals, confuse our internal conversation, create a toxic overload in the body, and rob us of our health when consumed regularly. Today we take a look at "nutritional bandits" 5 and 6, refined & processed foods and gluten, and an inspirational article, Journey To The Land Of Health.
Nutritional Bandit 5: Refined & Processed Foods
"I don't eat processed foods because I care too much about sustaining my health to risk it on anything that might jeopardize it."
DR. FRANK LIPMAN
“Whole” foods are any food humankind has NOT changed in some way. “Processed” or “refined” foods, then, are any food that HAS been CHANGED in some way. They usually come in packages, boxes, cans or bottles (such as sugar, flour, bread, pasta, cereal, white rice, mixes, sauces, salad dressings, junk food, fast food and more) and are the bulk of what you will find in the center of the grocery store — including HEALTH FOOD STORES!
Processed foods make up 70% of the U.S. diet! They are pumped full of artificial flavors, artificial colors, GMOs, MSG, pesticides, phosphates, and additives and are usually really high in sodium, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup. They also have many important parts (like fiber and nutrients) removed. These "nutrients" (important vitamins and minerals) are NECESSARY to metabolize what’s left, so your body either has to rob nutrients from itself or get them from a different source in order to metabolize the refined food. Over time this leads to nutritional bankruptcy we experience as poor health, sickness, and chronic illness.
In addition, processed foods are SERIOUSLY ADDICTIVE, cause inflammation (one of the leading causes of chronic illness), wreak havoc on your digestion, and contribute to mood disorders and low energy.
The goal is to eat REAL “WHOLE” FOOD — closest to the way that nature made it! Real, whole food is grown, hunted or foraged without refinement, processing or added chemicals. Whole foods are foods in their most natural state, which means they are not processed or only minimally processed. They are unrefined and unadulterated, without additives or preservatives, the way that nature made them.
This category seems to carry the most confusion as to what’s allowed and what isn’t. And there are SO MANY packaged foods that it’s impossible for me to know — especially because I try to stay away from all processed foods in general. Here are some examples that hopefully will help you understand:
WHOLE FOOD SOMEWHAT PROCESSED HIGHLY PROCESSED
Apple Applesauce Apple toaster pastry
Orange Orange juice Orange drink
Strawberries Strawberry preserves Strawberry jello
Peach Canned peaches in juice Canned peaches in syrup
Corn on the cob Corn tortilla chips Corn flakes
Garlic Minced garlic in a jar Bottled garlic marinade
Fresh chicken breasts Deli sliced chicken Chicken nuggets
Brown rice White rice Instant rice
I almost always get asked about almond milk or coconut milk. REAL almond and coconut milk are made with raw almonds or coconut and water blended together and is super easy to make. (Most of the ones you find in the grocery store are actually labeled “milk products”, are highly processed, and have many other ingredients and stabilizers in them.) Three Leaves is the only brand of almond milk I’ve found to be pure, and Forager Cashewmilk is okay as well - although it has more ingredients than just nuts and water. These are both found in the refrigerator section, but they are very expensive. And Trader Joe’s has pure organic coconut milk in BPA free cans. Just be aware that canned coconut milk has a much higher fat content than homemade, so you have to be careful with that.
The BEST tool that I’ve found to help figure out what’s acceptable or not when it comes to packaged foods is the Bobby Approved App. All it takes is scanning the barcode and not only will it tell you if the item is “Bobby Approved”, but if not, it will let you know what ingredients aren’t okay, and make suggestions for healthier alternatives.
Another ingredient you’ll see listed on most food products is “natural flavors” - which is a deceiving FDA approved name for a host of chemical additives. Here’s a link for more information:
HERE ARE SOME LINKS IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION:
HOW PROCESSED FOODS ARE KILLING YOU ONE BITE AT A TIME
DIRTY SECRETS OF THE FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY
Acid/Alkaline Rating: Moderately to highly acid forming!!!
If you are consuming refined foods frequently, begin to reduce the amount to lessen the withdrawal symptoms when you eliminate them completely for your 2 week cleanse.
Does this mean that you can never eat anything that comes in a package, can or box? No, but it does mean that you need to READ THE LABELS on ALL packaged products! This is the single most important step you can take towards eating healthy!
Make sure it’s ORGANIC.
Don’t consume ANYTHING that you can’t pronounce or don’t know what it is.
Definitely don’t consume anything that has ANY of our “nutritional bandits” in it.
Have any parts been removed or is it in its whole form?
If you’re not sure whether it’s okay, THEN DON’T CONSUME IT!
Nutritional Bandit 6: Gluten
"The scariest finding is that 99% of people that have a problem with eating gluten don't even know it."
DR. MARK HYMAN
Gluten (from the Latin word meaning "glue") is the composite of two proteins called gliadin and glutenin. Wheat, rye, barley, kamut, spelt, couscous and oats all contain gluten. Oats are actually NOT a glutinous grain. However, they are grown next to or rotated with glutinous grains, and processed on the same equipment as glutinous grains so are cross-contaminated, and are usually included in lists of glutinous grains. (Gluten-free oats can be purchased at most health food stores.) It’s also found in soups, salad dressings, sauces & gravies, rice mixes, some ice creams, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, frozen vegetables with sauce packets, imitation bacon bits, beer, barbecue sauce, anything with malt flour, chocolate bars, farina, sausage products, imitation crab meat, meat marinades, candy coatings, and even lipstick, medications, glue on envelopes & stamps, and hundreds more!!!
Gluten "intolerance" is a well-known and mostly undiagnosed food sensitivity that causes a mucotoxic inflammatory reaction in the intestines. This inflammation may go undetected for years, but the ultimate effect of this hidden wear and tear is the slow destruction of the healthy mucosa, or lining tissue of the small intestine which ultimately leads to all kinds of health problems.
The term gluten intolerance refers to three types of conditions:
Celiac disease (occurs in 1 out of 100 people) - an inflammatory autoimmune disease caused by genetic or environmental factors.
Wheat allergy - an abnormal immune response to specific proteins in wheat.
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (occurs in 1/3 of the population) - when a person doesn’t have either of the above conditions, yet still experiences intestinal symptoms, headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and more when consuming gluten.
It’s important to understand that modern day gluten is not the same as our grandparents ate. Scientists have developed hybrid strains containing new forms of gluten that our bodies are unfamiliar with.
In 1943, in a world-wide effort to increase the yield of corn, soy, and wheat, hybridization took over and soon many different strains of wheat were being planted and harvested. By 1980, thousands of new strains of wheat had been produced - with no regard to possible alterations to gluten proteins. These new varieties were geared toward making the plant resistant to environmental conditions, greater resistance to pathogens such as fungus, and increased yield per acre - tenfold greater than farms of a century ago. Increased yield meant top-heavy plants and grain losses occurred as plants could not withstand the weight. Continued manipulations produced smaller plants considered "dwarf" wheat. More than 99% of wheat crops are now "dwarfed", growing to only 18" tall compared to non-hybridized wheat that grows naturally to 4.5 feet tall. These modified strains have a much higher gluten content and have now affected nearly all wheat strains in America.
Unfortunately, no animal or human safety testing had been conducted on these new strains of wheat. Geneticists were confident that hybridization yielded safe products for human consumption. So, all products were released into the food supply unquestioned. Assumption was that altered protein structures, enzymes and gluten content would have no human consequence ~ but they were wrong. It has now been discovered that these new, never-before-seen gluten proteins are actually foreign to the body.
“Gluten is an umbrella term that refers to a family of proteins know as prolamins. These proteins are resistant to human digestion.”
~ HEALTHLINE.COM
Research suggests that human digestive systems haven’t evolved to digest the kind of proteins common in this modern wheat. The simple truth is that humans can’t digest gluten anymore. While we can consume some foods that we can’t digest in small quantities and not have a problem, the danger comes into play when we consume large amounts (every day and sometimes every meal), and especially if we have a genetic tendency to react to gluten.
So it’s no coincidence that, at that same time, we experienced a huge increase in health challenges. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 “diseases” that can be caused by eating gluten. Ingestion of gluten triggers an immune response that causes inflammation in the intestinal mucosa. This breaks apart the tight junctions in the intestines and allows unwanted proteins or other large molecules to gain entry directly into the blood stream. This is known as Leaky Gut Syndrome and is associated with inflammatory and infectious bowel diseases, and can ultimately lead to a variety of intestinal dysfunctions such as food allergies, malabsorption, anemia, vitamin & mineral deficiency, chronic diarrhea or constipation, abdominal distension, and celiac disease.
In addition to inflammatory and infectious bowel diseases (such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, etc), conditions that have also paralleled this process and are related to gluten are several types of arthritis (including Rheumatoid Arthritis), acne, psoriasis, AIDS, chronic liver disease, pancreatic disease, thyroid disease, insulin resistance & diabetes, lupus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, MS, intestinal cancers, heart disease, Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, acid reflex, osteoporosis & osteopenia, muscle weakness, bone or joint pain, migraines, accelerated aging, infertility, miscarriage, numerous hormone related problems, and more. Ingestion of gluten has also been linked to a multitude of neurological problems including schizophrenia, bipolar disease, seizure disorders, Bell’s palsies, neuropathy, nerve pain syndromes, depression, ADD/ADHD, autism and other developmental disease.
Some estimates suggest that the hybridization and genetic engineering of wheat has resulted in an up to 500 fold increase in wheat gluten produced today. This may be one of the primary reasons behind the massive rise in incidence of wheat gluten intolerance, celiac disease and other autoimmune conditions in recent decades. In fact, today’s gluten has the potential to create an autoimmune epidemic.
And, if all that wasn’t enough, common wheat and other glutinous grains harvest protocol in the United States is to drench the wheat fields with Roundup (glyphosate) several days before the combine harvesters work through the fields as the practice allows for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest!!! YUCK!!!
HERE ARE SOME LINKS IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION:
WHEAT IS THE PERFECT CHRONIC POISON
THE REAL REASON WHEAT IS TOXIC
Acid/Alkaline Rating: Moderately to highly acid forming!!!
If you are consuming glutinous grains frequently, begin to reduce the amount to lessen the withdrawal symptoms when you eliminate them completely for your 2 week cleanse.
Journey to the Land of Health
BY MARCI ZAROFF
Although the majority of the population would enjoy the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of eating a healthier diet, many people wouldn’t know how or when to start. The result is that they take the easy yet unhealthy road, and keep eating a “standard American diet” (S.A.D.) consisting of an overemphasis on meat, dairy, sugar, fried fatty foods and chemical-laden and refined products.
It is truly a shame that a deterioration in the quality of life is readily accepted in our society as the norm. We have witnessed a dramatic increase in everything from chronic fatigue and arthritis to cancer and heart disease. If people would seek the proper guidance necessary to make the transition to a healthier diet and lifestyle, not only would individuals be more balanced and harmonious within themselves, have more energy and less illness, but the environmental and ecological benefits to our planet would be innumerable.
Most people wouldn’t dare feed their car diesel fuel if it takes unleaded, but would readily fuel their bodies with foods comprised 90% of unpronounceable chemicals. The first rule of thumb to buying healthier foods: If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. If people would learn to take more responsibility for their health, not only would they experience a freedom far surpassing the freedom of choice, but they would see life from a different level.
Understanding the freedom to live without the fear of illness or being at the mercy of a doctor of medicine is a privilege that one could only experience while eating healthy, nutritionally valuable foods.
It is important that the transition to eating healthier and more naturally takes place gradually and carefully, allowing the body and mind some time to adjust to these new choices. The primary goal in eating healthier, whole foods is to bring the body to a state of balance, or equilibrium, and to provide the body with basic nutrients in their natural proportions. Eating extreme foods such as meat and cheeses or sugar and alcohol will cause our bodies to swing like a pendulum seeking the opposite extreme in order to find balance. Refined products such as white breads, pastas, white rice and sugar have been separated from the bran, germ, water and pulp, leaving them void of essential nutrients. As our blood sugar levels rise and drop, as our acid-alkaline levels are thrown out of balance, we create feelings and conditions of fatigue, un-centeredness and illness.
By eating a diet consistently of more natural foods which are already in a balanced state, we can avoid these strong cravings, strengthen our immune systems, and discharge toxins efficiently, enabling us to ward off illness and disease.
Think of the road to health as a journey up a mountain. It may or may not be a struggle for you to “give up” certain foods, but as you climb higher up the “mountain”, you will feel freer and stronger with each step. Once you get over the top, you will probably never want to go back to the bottom. The benefits which you achieve are so life-changing and so profound that you will be amazed at the differences in your body, your mind, your spirit, your energy levels, your ability to focus, to think, to be.
Check-in:
Again, if you have the time, I encourage you to read the additional links provided today to really get a clear picture of how “industry” has affected our food and how that impacts our health. Tomorrow we’ll look at dairy and beef & pork, and what it means to eat REAL FOOD.
Continue to GRADUALLY reduce the “nutritional bandits” and focus more on fresh organic vegetables and fruits, non-gluten whole grains, raw nuts & seeds, legumes, and good quality protein and fats. We’ll get into more specifics about those next week, but for now just start moving in that direction. If you want to get some ideas for “cleanse friendly” foods and recipes in the meantime, visit:
Feel free to comment below or email me to ask questions or share your thoughts and experiences ~ I’d love to hear from you!
Blessings, JoAnn