Both hosts were mystified.  The discussion intensified while they kept asking:  “How can overweight kids be undernourished?”   Somehow, they were unable to differentiate between having a full belly and consuming a nourishing diet.

Being overweight, or obese, is a cultural problem that isn’t limited to children.  This confusion of “filling our stomachs” with whatever, as long as it is fast and convenient, is making people fat and malnourished.

Fast and convenient manufactured foods are exceeding the caloric values required to energize the body and not meeting the nutritional values that are required to sustain a healthy body.  The decision to consume that bill-of-fare is making people fat and not healthy.  Suggested reading:   Chemcuisine, the New Standard American Diet

The cry, on one side of the debate, is: “We need a law!” so, Legislators are considering, and in some cases passing, laws that ban the use of certain food additives in an effort to protect people from themselves.  Suggested reading:  Are You Digging a Grave with Your Fork

The likelihood of success, from this fruitless effort, is zero.

 Why?

Until people realize that they are sacrificing their health for fast and convenient, a law is meaningless; there will be another fast and convenient way to “fill the belly” that replaces the last.  Suggested reading:  Hand to Mouth Disease

The cry, on the other side of the debate is: “Promote the balanced diet!” so, researchers, Universities and nutritionists are bombarding the Public information and food-value advertising.

There are 3 sources to read about the balanced diet:  University of Michigan, Harvard University and the United States Department of Agriculture.

 The likelihood of success, from this fruitless effort, is also zero.

Why?

Until these purists accept two practical matters:  first, food isn’t what it used to be and second, the modern society doesn’t provide the time to purchase, prepare and consume their recommendations, they will go heedless.  Suggested reading:  You Get Everything You Need From Your Food

Is There Another Choice?

Of course, compromise.

1. Choose the parts of the balanced diet that you are most likely to follow
2. Then follow it religiously.  From there, fill the gaps in your diet with appropriate supplements

For example:

1. If you fall short on the RDI for green vegetables, fill that gap with a supplement like NUPRO BeneVita™ Green.  It provides the equivalent of the RDI for green vegetables with other supporting nutrients.
2. If you fall short on the RDI for colorful vegetables and fruit, fill the gap with a supplement like NUPRO BeneVita™ Red.  It provides the equivalent of the RDI for that important segment of nutrition.
3. If you can’t find the time to prepare and eat breakfast, fill the gap with a supplement like NUPRO Body Designer™.  It provides a quick, nutrition shake for people on the go.

For help with choosing supplements to fill the gaps in your diet, there is an essay, How to Become the Master of Your Health, for your review.

People are often surprised when they lose weight, once the nutritional thresholds have been met.  Of course, there are other factors that affect weight gain; those issues can often be addressed with supplement as well.  Readers are encouraged to review an essay,  Why Am I Overweight?, to help them understand the different weight loss – weight gain issues.

Conclusion

The childhood obesity conundrum is simply a reflection of adult obesity.  All the hand-wringing and debate is wasted time until the malnutrition dilemma is resolved.  That effort begins with your choices.  And, by the way, your choices will go a long way for resolving the health care crisis as well.  Suggested Reading:  Today’s Choices Are Tomorrows Consequences

 

• You have showered at least 15,000 times . . . .so far,
• You have brushed your teeth 30,000 times . . . so far,
• You have washed your hands . . . on a regular basis.

Most people practice good hygiene.  It is the healthy thing to do and, it minimizes offending appearance and odors.

What About the Inside of Your Body?  Did you know: you have 9 square feet of skin on the outside of your body and 10,000 square feet on the inside?

 Consider this:  Could the very things that affect the cleanliness of the outside of your body affect the inside?

 Have you ever thought about cleansing the inside of your body?  – probably not. Of all the different possibilities, the cleansing of one’s intestines is probably at the bottom of most people’s lists – irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, gas, diverticulitis and colon cancer are simply not things that people think about – until it is too late.

What You Must Know About Regularity

There is an epidemic in America. People are buying laxatives, using prescription drugs and commercial fiber supplements — to no avail — constipation, gas and bloating, weight gain, fatigue, painful, burning stomach, skin problems and a whole host of complaints are taking the fun out of life.

The expression, “Death begins in the colon.” is right on point! Sadly, the debris and toxic wastes that are accumulating between visits to the bathroom produce lots of suffering because that “stuff” is slowly poisoning you from the inside—out.

Don’t believe it? “Autopsies often reveal colons that are plugged up to 80 percent with waste material.”  (Vegetarian Times, March, 1998.)  Most people end up enduring the complaints of constipation when they could put an end to their suffering very simply — become as clean inside as they are outside.

What you Must Know About Pollution

We are all exposed to thousands of toxins and chemicals everyday—–at work, in the home, in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. Plus, we are eating more sugar, preserved and processed foods and taking more medicine than ever before. Our bodies are being overwhelmed trying to eliminate all of the different things that we inhale and ingest every day. Unfortunately, most of this debris simply accumulates—in our cells, tissues, blood, organs (such as the colon, liver and brain), stored for an indefinite length of time, causing all kinds of complaints, leading toward a decline in your quality of life and your health.

What You Must Know About Parasites

Every living thing has at least one parasitethat lives inside or on it, and many, including humans, have far more. In fact, National Geographic, in a documentary called The Body Snatchers reports: “parasites have killed more humans than all the wars in history.”

Scientists are just beginning to appreciate how powerful these hidden inhabitants can be. Their research is pointing to a remarkable possibility: Parasites rule the world. Living undetected in the body, damaging tissue, robbing your body of valuable nutrients and burdening your body with the additional wastes produced by the parasite. Like it or not, you probably have one or more parasites living in your body, living undetected until there are more of them than your body can support. At that point, you will start paying the price extracted by parasites.

What You Must Know About Food

Processing robs food of it’s nutritional value and the chemicals used to preserve foods lead to poor digestion causing a toxic build-up of sludge in the intestines and on the intestinal wall, including the colon.

This build up can slow digestion, block nutritional uptake and, because the sludge is waste material, produce toxins that pour into your blood stream and are distributed throughout the entire body.

Are You Clean – On the Inside?

The answer to the question: “Are you clean inside?” is …  “Probably not.” and, the combination of environmental toxins, an unhealthy diet, internal waste and parasites poses a threat to your health.  

If your next question is:  “Will cleansing help me?“, the answer is a resounding YES!   The environment, the food we eat and the way we live virtually guarantees that everyone needs to freshen up their body.  And, feel better because they did.

The threats to your health are: environmental toxins, an unhealthy diet, internal waste and parasites.  “The secret” to great health can be described in these words:  Cleanse the Inside of Your Body.

Here’s a Quick Overview for Cleansing and Detoxing Your Body

1. Sweep away the barriers that are dragging you down.  Cleanse the colon and digestive tract to clear away the toxic plaque, debris and parasites. Plus, “cleaning up that mess” helps detoxify your liver, blood, brain, tissues—basically the first step will purify your whole body
2. Restore and balance the intestinal tract using digestive enzymes, to help breakdown food and friendly microbes to balance digestion, support the immune system that protects you and, along with enzymes, strengthens the body and supports the elimination of wastes thoroughly and often.
3. Support the body’s ability to cleanse itself with diet and nutraceutical supplements to protect your new lease on life.
4. Address parasites twice each year— spring and fall, once your body is balanced.

Most detoxification experts feel that a one or two-week program is simply not sufficient, especially when you consider that it took years or even decades to accumulate all the parasites, waste and toxins in the colon and in other parts of the body.

A more realistic approach takes at least 30 days or even longer, depending on the level of infestation and toxicity in one’s body.  There are 3 factors to consider:

1. In many situations, depending on the age and lifestyle, targeting specific areas for cleansing is enough
2. If the the debris has accumulated over a longer period of time, a thorough whole body cleansing is in order.
3. If the situation is manifesting symptoms, a more direct approach for restoring the internal hygiene of your body, like the NURPO Radiant Health Plan™, is in order.  (The Radiant Health Plan™, developed by NUPRO, is natural systems that is thorough—yet gentle.  This two step program (each lasting 30 days) offers you a gentle, comprehensive, thorough, all-natural cleansing and detoxification.)

Once you complete cleansing and restoring the balance in your body, you should consider establishing a long term strategy to protect your new lease on life.  (NUPRO Fundamental Nutrition and Special Needs nutraceutical supplements are a trusted by Professionals, effective and an affordable choice to help promote and maintain your health – naturally.

Dr. Paul Bragg is a pioneer of natural medicine and author of dozens of successful books who writes: “The secret to great health can be described in these words:  Cleanse the Inside of Your Body!”.

The question is:  “Do you want great health?“  If so, here’s the tools you need

 

 How about the tried and true resolutions to … lose weight?  … go to the gym?  … starve yourself skinny?  … buy those diet pills/videos/clubs/meals you saw/heard about/read about?

 You’re probably right!  You would look and feel better – if there were “less of you”.

 Sadly, your resolution will likely meet the same fate as it did last year, the year before and the year before that.

 Why are you likely to fail?

 First, there is that knotty issue of trying to lose weight during the winter months.  If you’re not familiar with the problem or need a refresher, you can read about the issue here.

 Second, an article in Nutraceutical World, Consumers Fail to Meet MyPlate Guidelines, December 14, 2011 reports:  “The nutritionally-balanced quadrants of the USDA’s MyPlate, the graphic interpretation of the new federal dietary guidelines that depicts a healthful daily diet, looks very different than what’s actually on the plates of most Americans, according to The NPD Group, a market research company. NPD’s food and beverage market research finds that for the average consumer, only 2% of their days come close to resembling the USDA’s MyPlate.”

 Here’s the way the researchers developed the statistic:  “MyPlate days were calculated based on consumers who, on the same day, achieved at least 70% of the daily recommended intake for dairy, fruit, grains, proteins and vegetables.  For the average consumer, 2% of their days, or about 7 days a year, come close to the USDA dietary guidelines … .”

 Oh, Really – 2% – 70% of the Balanced Diet – 7 Days Each Year?

 Q.  What are people consuming the other 358 days of the year?

 A.  Look Here …

 Q.  Why are people fat, tired and sick?

A.  Look Here …

 Stop Kidding Yourself – Your Diet Stinks!

 If you treated your pets like you treat yourself, and your kids, you would be brought up on charges.

 For years, professionals have been “pussy footing” around an inescapable fact:  98% of adult Americans are lying to themselves about their diets.  People are digging their graves with a fork.

 A Fool and His/Her Money Are Soon Parted

 Trillions of Dollars are being spent by people who don’t get it – there are no magic bullets.  Besides the lost time and the suffering you endure, the expense of traditional health care, to address the symptoms of Hand to Mouth Disease, costs you BIG BUCKS for insurance copays and drives the cost of health insurance up and up and up.  And, don’t forget, the policy limits.   What then?

 To underscore this point, reports are that universal health care, where available, is being overwhelmed and threatening to bankrupt entire countries.  read more …

 Billions of Dollars are being spent on bottles of supplements and “natural easy fixes” searching for an herbal magic bullet.

 Apparently the term “dietary supplement” is confusing to lots of people.  Dietary Supplement does not mean “instead of”.  The term means something that is added to your diet.  Dietary supplements are intended to augment the deficiencies in your diet – to fill the gaps that prevent you from reaching the nutritional thresholds that your body requires to maintain your health.  read more … 

 Losing Weight is so much more than most people think.  Being Over Weight or Obese is just one of the many symptoms of malnutrition – the very same situation described by the NPD group.  And the longer the situation persists – the more challenging the symptoms become.

 Malnutrition isn’t the starvation you see on the television.  It is a consistently poor diet, described in the study reported earlier.  Malnutrition sets up a gradual, almost imperceptible decline in your health that will result in health challenges that no one wants to consider:  cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gastric reflux, … well, you get the picture.  read more …  At the end of this predictable circumstance, obesity is, or will be, the least of your worries.

 Q.  Can You Lose Weight without dieting and working out?

 A.  Yes, but 1^st you need to resolve the difference between what you are consuming and what you need to be eating to stay healthy in your diet.  Once you begin feeding your body at the thresholds it requires with real food and filling the gaps with fundamental dietary supplements, you can evaluate your state of health.

 Then, you can start ”fixing” the things you have broken with dietary supplements or natural systems for specific needs, like the one’s NUPRO offers. 

 After that, if weight is still an issue, resolve it then.  read more … 

 Otherwise, continue managing your radiant health with a real food diet and dietary supplements.  read more …

 Remember this:  if you are bringing home bags full of boxes, bags and cans after you’ve shopped for food – you should throw away the contents and eat the packaging.

 

The NUPRO personnel are busy planning their family time, but before we started, we finished the training outline for our affiliated Natural Health Consultants (NHC).

By way of background: NUPRO was conceived and organized, almost 20 years ago, to offer nutraceutical supplements (combinations of natural ingredients, one complementing another, that historical use and/or scientific evidence has shown to be beneficial for human wellness) as an alternative to single ingredient supplements and “miracle pill” claims that disappoint so many people.

Since then, we have progressed to include natural nutraceutical systems (combinations of nutraceutical supplements that complement one another to expedite the health objective). 

The NUPRO nutraceutical supplements and systems have become the cornerstone of professional tactics and strategies to help people promote and maintain health and healing.  The systems, developed in practice, augment the outcome and experience of natural health and healing.

I thought you might enjoy reading the training paper.  It is a concise, practical approach for maintaining and promoting healing – naturally.

Rather than posting the paper at Americanutra.com, we elected to provide you a link to the Natrual Health Consultant Library at the NUPRO Corporate site.  The paper‘s title is:  How to Become the Master of Your Health.   Your link to How to Become Master of Your Health is here.

We hope you enjoy reading it and that you keep it in your favorites for future reference. 

Americanutra reaches many people around the world, with many different beliefs and holidays, if you celebrate Christmas, we would like to extend our tidings for a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year.

 

The first time we read the term, we were researching this article.  On the site, Center for Science in the Public Interest, the publishers proclaim:  “Shopping was easy when most food came from farms. Now, factory-made foods have made chemical additives a significant part of our diet.”

In previous articles, we discussed the Balanced Diet:  what it is, how it affects your health, your heath care and the fact that the people are consuming a “Balanced Diet” is  an illusion.  The publishers at the Center for Science in the Public interest drive the point home on their site.

To start the analysis, and If you are interested, here is a listing, from the FDA, of all the additives (3,000 in all) the FDA knows are in the NEW Standard American Diet: Chemcuisine.

The following analysis is a synopsis of our research on the subject of what most people, and their children, are consuming each day.  

Processed, Junk, and Fake Foods

Processed food is made from real food that has been put through devitalizing chemical processes and is infused with chemicals and preservatives. Beef jerky, canned tea, jam, hot dogs, and low-fat yogurt with sugar or aspartame are a few examples of processed food.

Junk foods contain very little real food. They’re made of devitalized processed food, hydrogenated fats, chemicals, and preservatives, and include anything made with refined white flour. Canned breakfast drinks, cold/sugary cereals, doughnuts, drive-through foods, and soda are examples of junk foods.

Fake foods are made primarily of chemicals, and often contain gums and sugar fillers. Examples include bacon bits, bottled salad dressing, dehydrated soups, and instant coffee.

The Energy Output Exceeds Nutritional Input.  These non-foods have one thing in common; it costs your body a great deal more to digest, absorb, and eliminate them than they offer your body in nutritional value – an extremely poor return on your investment that leaves your body sluggish and depleted.

Toxins, Poisons, Processed Food – And The Body

Our ancestors preserved foods naturally, using salt, fermentation, and sun drying. Food processing has evolved away from these simple practices into more complicated and dubious methods.

Today, food companies use nearly three thousand known additives and chemicals to process our food. Many of them can have a devastating effect on our health.

It is important to note that additives and preservatives cannot always be painted with a negative brush. The addition of vitamins to bread and milk has helped to stamp out diseases such as pellagra and rickets.

Unfortunately, the good intentions that characterized the processed food industry during the early days have now de-evolved to finding ways to cheaply process food and manipulate buyers, regardless of the detrimental affects on the health of Americans.

Today, many additives and preservatives are harmful toxic chemicals that are as problematic as the decay they are used to prevent.

Preservatives

 Perservatives are a type of additive used to help stop food from spoiling.

Nitrates and nitrites are used to preserve meats such as ham and bacon, but are known to cause asthma, nausea, vomiting, and headaches in some people in addition to allergic reactions.

The same is true for sulfites (sulfur dioxide, metabisulfites, and others, which are commonly used to prevent fungal spoilage, as well as the browning of peeled fruits and vegetables.

Sodium nitrite in some foods is capable of being converted to nitrous acid when ingested by humans. While animal testing showed that nitrous acid caused high rates of cancer, it is still in use.

Sulfur dioxide is a toxin used in dried fruits and molasses as well as to prevent brown spots on peeled fresh foods such as potatoes and apples. Sulfur dioxide bleaches out rot, hiding inferior fruits and vegetables. In the process, it destroys the vitamin B contained in produce.

Antioxidants

While antioxidants such as alpha-carotene are recommended by health specialists to prevent premature aging, some of the antioxidants used as food preservatives may be unhealthy. Contained in nearly every processed food on the market, antioxidants prevent fatty foods from spoiling when exposed to oxygen.

For example, BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) are two of the most widely used, yet controversial of all antioxidants. So alarming were the results of BHT and BHA in animal testing, that a number of countries have severely restricted their use.

Some people have difficulty metabolizing these chemicals, which is thought to result in health and behavioral problems, and hyperactivity. They cause allergic reactions, may also contribute to the development of tumors and cancer, as well as be toxic to the nervous system and liver.

In spite of these findings, the use of BHT and BHA has increased, rather than decreased, in the U.S.A.

Coloring

Each year, the American food industry uses three thousand tons of food color. Many coloring agents are derived from coal tar, and nearly all coloring is synthetic. Norway has a total ban on all products containing coal tar.

Though some artificial food dyes have been banned because they are believed to cause cancer, most dyes used today are of the artificial variety. They are also linked to allergies, asthmas, and hyperactivity.

The long list of foods and beverages in which color is altered includes butter, margarine, the skins of oranges and potatoes, popcorn, maraschino cherries, hot dogs, jellies, jellybeans, carbonated beverages, and canned strawberries and peas.

Even the chicken feed on large-scale egg farms is colored so that chickens will lay golden-yolk eggs similar to those laid by free-range chickens.

Sweeteners

Most processed foods contain sweeteners, many of which are artificial sugar substitutes containing no natural sugars, such as saccharine and aspartame.

Artificial sweeteners are linked to behavioral problems, hyperactivity, and allergies. Because saccharin was shown to increase the incidence of bladder cancer in animal testing, all foods containing this sugar substitute are required to carry a warning label.

Emulsifiers, Stabilizers, and Thickeners

These additives alter the texture of foods. Emulsifiers, for example, prevent ingredients from separating into unappealing globs in food such as mayonnaise and ice cream.

A first cousin to anti-freeze, propylene glycol is a synthetic solvent used as an emulsifier in foods. Although it is recognized as toxic to the skin and other senses, and is considered a neurological toxicant, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed it generally recognized as safe (GRAS).

Flavorings

The most common food additive, flavorings – of which there are over 2000 in use – may be natural or artificial, and are usually comprised of a large number of chemicals.

Artificial flavors are linked to allergic and behavioral reactions, yet these ingredients are not required to be listed in detail as they’re generally recognized as safe.

MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a common flavor enhancer. Found to cause damage in laboratory mice, it has been banned from use in baby foods, but is still used in numerous others. It causes common allergic and behavioral reactions including headaches, dizziness, chest pains, depression, and mood swings, and is also a possible neurotoxin.

Refining

Refined flour has had the brown husk of the grain stripped away, leaving the white, refined starch that is found in white bread, white rice, pasta, cookies, and numerous other junk foods.

Without the fibrous husk, refined starches are broken down quickly into sugar and absorbed immediately into the bloodstream causing glucose levels to rise, and increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes and a host of other “not so nice” health complaints.

In contrast, whole grains – such as whole grain bread and cereals, brown rice, and barley – retain the bran surrounding the starch, so they’re absorbed more slowly into the bloodstream than refined starches. This slows sugar absorption from the intestine, and reduces the risk of consuming refined food.

Refining Destroys and Devitalizes Most of Foods’ Goodness

Healthy unsaturated fatty acids – high in food value – are lost during the milling process. Half the vitamin E is destroyed when the wheat germ and bran are removed. Refining wheat into white flour removes between 50 and 93 percent of wheat’s magnesium, zinc, chromium, manganese, and cobalt.²

Additionally, approximately 50 percent of calcium, 70 percent of phosphorus, 80 percent of iron, 50 percent of potassium, 65 percent of copper, 80 percent of thiamin, 60 percent of riboflavin, 75 percent of niacin, 50 percent of pantothenic acid, and about 50 percent of pyridoxine is lost.³

Refining sugar cane into white sugar depletes it of 99 percent of its magnesium and 93 percent of its chromium. Polishing rice removes 75 percent of its zinc and chromium.  Refined table salt has had most of the trace minerals removed during processing. It contains no sodium chloride, sugar as filler, and may even contain aluminum.⁵

Bleaching

Part of the process wheat undergoes to become the white flour in popular baked goods involves bleaching. Various chemical bleaching agents are used including oxide of nitrogen, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl, and benzoyl peroxide mixed with a variety of chemical salts.

Chloride oxide – which catalyzes a chemical reaction that destroys beta cells in the pancreas is now being linked to diabetes.  This toxic effect is common scientific knowledge in the research community. In spite of this, the FDA still allows companies to use chloride oxide in processed food.

A Healthier Lifestyle

Eradicating every guilty pleasure in life is not the end goal here, nor is it a particularly realistic approach to making changes because everyone enjoys the occasional cheeseburger, order of fries, or bag of chips.

But if you understand the consequences of making what ought to be an occasional treat into the mainstay of your diet, you can begin to make wise choices about how many of these things you are willing to eat.

When it comes to avoiding many of the questionable – and possibly deadly – additives contained in processed foods, you’re only human after all so, taking baby steps toward change is usually the best approach.

If you can accomplish just one of these 10 steps, you’re moving in the right direction.

Try implementing one change a month …

1. As a general rule, if you don’t recognize – or can’t pronounce – the words on a label, don’t buy it, or eat it. Instead choose the real thing!

2. Avoid products containing

• Nitrates and nitrites (including sodium nitrite)
• Sulfites (including metabisulfites)
• Sulfur dioxide
• Benzoic acid (aka sodium benzoate)
• BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)
• BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole)
• Coloring
• Coal tar
• Propylene glycol
• MSG (monosodium glutamate)
• Refined or bleached flour (i.e. whitened using chloride oxide)

3. Don’t eat partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated trans fats

4. Don’t eat products containing sugar substitutes such as saccharine and aspartame.

5. Avoid products with a long shelf life – the better they do on the shelf, the worse they are for your body.

6. Avoid products that have been “enriched“. They have been completely devitalized during processing.

7. Avoid food that has been genetically modified or engineered. Nearly all processed food contains GMOs.

8. Avoid products made with ingredients euphemistically described as “natural flavoring” or “natural coloring.”

9. Avoid products with added sugar – watch for words with “-ose” endings, such as fructose.

10. Incorporate a high quality multi-vitamin into your health regimen.

If you’ve had a history of eating products high in sugar and are concerned about diabetes, incorporate disease-fighting foods such as garlic, onion and quality Aloe vera juice into your diet. Natural phytonutrient supplements can also protect your body from the harmful effects of eating refined products that have been bleached with chloride oxide.

As you begin to eliminate processed food from your diet, and start to enjoy eating real food that has not been processed to death, you will be on your way to optimizing your health, making an investment in your body’s future and, ultimately, feeling better.

Processing Food Facts

In addition to the more than three thousand chemicals and additives in our food, preserving processes have changed beyond recognition from the simple use of vinegar, salt, and sunshine. Many processed foods are stripped bare, rendering them of little or no nutritional value.

Worse, foods are deliberately tampered with to create the desire for more. And the health effects of certain processing methods – such as the very controversial irradiation – are not yet known.

Irradiation

Irradiation is the use of x-rays or gamma radiation on food to kill bacteria mold, viruses and parasites. Unfortunately, its effects are also harmful to test animals. Those fed a diet of irradiated wheat developed increased numbers of cells with chromosome abnormalities. As well, there were unexplained stillbirths in the offspring of test rats.

So unpleasant is the mere sound of the word “irradiation” that euphemisms such as “Cold Pasteurization” and “Picowaved For Your Protection” are being used on labels because food companies fear that using the term “irradiation” may hurt sales.

Junk Food

Junk food – high in fat and sugar – is one of the leading causes for the soaring number of cases of type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and tooth decay. It is also linked to hypoglycemia and yeast overgrowth.

Did you know that cravings for processed foods are initiated by eating processed food? It’s a vicious, addictive cycle.

Food scientists know that it is necessary for certain nutrients to be present in the blood stream in order to feel full. While it is not fully understood how this process works, food companies know enough to use this knowledge to manipulate consumers into eating more by subtracting various nutrients, and adding others such as fat, sugar, and salt.

This manipulation creates a desire for processed foods – one that can never be satisfied – no matter how much of it you consume.

Natural Flavoring

“Natural flavoring” can be just about anything, from the cells of yeast extract and nucleic acid from cell chromosomes, to waste bi-products from cattle. Some reports suggest that the ingredients in so-called “natural colors” have been known to contain products as unlikely as monkey intestines; others note that some “artificial flavors” are comprised of ingredients as unappealing as minced cat.

How is it possible to determine exactly what “flavorings” are comprised of when the list of items from which they are concocted often includes a long ramble of unrecognizable chemicals?

Here is an example from the ingredient list for the strawberry flavoring in one popular fast food outlet’s strawberry milk shake.

It contains:  Amyl acetate, Amyl butyrate, Amyl valerate, Anethol, Anisyl formate, Benzyl acetate, Benzyl isobutyrate, Butyric acid, Cinnamyl isobutyrate, Cinnamyl valerate, Cognac essential oil, Diacetyl, Dipropyl ketone, Ethyl butyrate, Ethyl cinnamate, Ethyl heptanoate, Ethyl lactate, Ethyl methylphenylglycidate, Ethyl Nitrate, Ethyl propionate, Ethyl valerbate, Heliotropin, Hydroxyphrenyl-2butanone (10% solution in alcohol), A-Ionone, Isobutyl anthranilate, Isobutyl butrate, Lemon essential oil, Maltol, 4-Methylacetophenone, Methyl anthranilate, Methyl benzoate, Methyl cinnamate, Methyl heptine carbonate, Methyl naphthyl ketone, Methyl salicylate, Mint essential oil, Neroli essential oil, Nerolin, Neryl isobutyrate, Orris butter, Phenethyl alcohol, Rose, Rum ether, G-Undecalactone, Vanillin, Solvent!

And this is just the stuff in the flavoring.

 Do you want to know what’s in the “milk” part of this so-called milk shake? 

It contains:  Milk fat and nonfat milk, Sugar, Sweet whey, High-fructose corn syrup, Guar gum, Monoglycerides and diglycerides, Cellulose gum, Sodium phosphate, Carrageenan, Citric acid, E129, Artificial strawberry flavor.

MMM, MMMM!  yummy and so good for you – NOT!

Packaging

There are also concerns regarding the materials used to coat and package foods.³ The protective wax on produce such as cucumbers, peppers, and apples may trigger allergies, and can contain pesticides, fungicide sprays, or animal byproducts. Further, the plastic (vinyl chloride) some food is wrapped in is considered carcinogenic, and has been linked to immune reactions and lung shock.

Dioxin

A by-product of whitening, especially of food containers, Dioxin has become a health concern. It has been reported, for example, that certain ice creams contain high levels of dioxins, reportedly leaked into the product through the whitening used in its containers.

A known carcinogen, dioxin is associated with genetic and reproductive defects as well as learning disabilities.⁴ Dioxin exposure is a possible cause of endometriosis – a painful condition that can result in fertility problems and/or hysterectomy, as well as chronic pelvic pain and other conditions.

Conclusion

After reading this, one could conclude that the situation is hopeless.

Quite the opposite is true – because knowledge is power.  Simply use this knowledge to make different choices. 

 It makes good sense to pay attention to the food you are buying, especially if it has been processed. One thing is for certain – most of these added ingredients have nothing to do with nutrition and everything to do with increasing food sales by keeping addicted, depleted consumers coming back for more.

Besides adequate rest and moderate exercise, the fundamental nutritional thresholds must be consumed, if you have any expectation for staying healthy.  Your body needs copious amounts of: (in descending order) clean water, protein from vegetables with a limited quantity from animals, minerals, carbohydrates from whole grain, healthy fat from fish and a smattering of vitamins to stay healthy.  You can choose to consume them or take fundamental supplements to fill the gaps in your diet.

If you are experiences any of the likely complaints associated with failing to meet these thresholds, you may want to consider choosing supplements help you address your specific needs to expedite your restoration.

We’re all in this together – I’m pulling for you. (Sorry Red Green, I left out the attribution)

Notes:
1. Hanley, J.L., M.D. and Deville, N., Tired of Being Tired, Berkley Publishing Group, NY, 2001. (p. 66)
2. Wilson, Lawrence, M.D., F.I.C.B., Why Take Nutritional Supplements, article on www.drlwilson.com.
3. Hull, Janet, M.D., Bleaching agent in flour linked to diabetes, from The Idaho Observer, July 2005, cited on www.detoxprogram.net.
4. Wilson, Lawrence, M.D., F.I.C.B., Why Take Nutritional Supplements, article on www.drlwilson.com.
5. Hanley, J.L., M.D. and Deville, N., Tired of Being Tired, Berkley Publishing Group, NY, 2001. (p. 220)
6. Hull, Janet, M.D., Bleaching agent in flour linked to diabetes, from The Idaho Observer, July 2005, cited on www.detoxprogram.net.
7. Chek, Paul, excerpted from the CD/Workbook Program: You Are What You Eat! at www.chekinstitute.com.
8. The New York Nerd: Eat Fast, Die Young, April 24, 2006, at www.nynerd.com.
9. Hass, Elson M., M.D., Food Additives and Human Health, excerpted from Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide: Feed Your Family Safely, cited on www.healthychild.com.
10. Hass, Elson M., M.D., Food Additives and Human Health, excerpted from Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide: Feed Your Family Safely, cited on www.healthychild.com.

 

Newscasts, Talk Shows and the newest craze, “TV Doctors”, happily share their disdain for “those expensive, unnecessary concoctions” based on this idiom.

 Whether it is your doctor, your mother or your friend, who is advising you that “You’re wasting your money on those things, your food gives you everything you need. ” says so, because this paradigm is a commonly held belief.

 So, what exactly is this balanced diet that these people assume you’re eating?

Do you know?

The USDA (United State Department of Agriculture) reports it is: My Plate.  Harvard School of Public Health reports it is: The Nutrition Source.  The University of Michigan Integrative Medicine Department reports it is: The Healing Food Pyramid.

 Still confused?

I subscribe to a version of “the balanced diet”, too.  It is eating 5-7 servings of differently color, fresh vegetables, that grow above the ground, 2 – non tropical fruits, drinking 8 to10 – 8 ounce glasses of water each day, consuming a deck of cards sized serving of oily fish 3 times per week, of chicken 3 times per week and of red meat, once a week.

 Do you eat like that?

In fact, “consuming a balanced diet” is a mythical construct. – hardly anyone eats a balanced diet.  And, because this false paradigm is so prevalent, what you are eating is the last thing anyone, including doctors, ever considers when someone’s health begins to slip away.

 A recent study, reported in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, concludes that:  “ … use of supplements significantly improved the status of several vitamins in elderly people. Due to age-related problems concerning the intake and digestion of nutrients, a moderate, regular supplementation might be a useful option for older people who are otherwise unable to satisfy their micronutrient requirements.”

 In people-speak, the study shows that if you aren’t consuming the nutrients your body needs, taking supplements can fill the gap.  The study was well constructed, peer-review and duly reported in a professional journal.

 Did you get the memo?  … No?
Did you hear a peep from the talking heads?  … No?
And, I’ll bet your _________ (doctor, friend, mother) didn’t read it either!

 Here what the memo should say:

 “If you’re not eating enough vegetables, fruit, chicken, fish, meat and drinking enough water to satisfy the minimum nutritional needs of your body or taking supplements to fill the gaps in your diet – you will get fat; and sick; and grow old too fast.”  And, regardless of your age, if you’re neglecting to feed your body properly, ditto!

 There are epidemics of degenerative diseases that:

• Threaten to overwhelm the finances of the industrialized world
• Overwhelming people and families with expense, heartache and suffering

 There are:  Telethons, Drives, Walks, Runs; Gold-Ribbon Panels; academic and pharmaceutical research and … , orgainized to:

“Wipe Out  fill in the blank
(obesity, cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease or …)
In Our Lifetime” 

And yet, the numbers keep growing.

 Composing or Decomposing

The body (and all living things for that matter) possesses an orderly process that replaces worn out cells, the ability to accelerate repairs to damaged tissue (due to accidents or otherwise), to ward off infection, infestation and to energize itself.

 The process is wholly dependent on the raw materials that are garnered from the environment.   Those raw materials are the nutrients in the food you are consuming.

 This Isn’t Brain Surgery

• The raw materials are there, or they’re not. 
• The process works or it doesn’t.
• The body composes or it decomposes.

What you eat controls the equation, and you know what you’re consuming.

 The revelation of the study, reported in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, says it all:

Do the best you can with your diet, then take fundamental supplements to fill in the gaps and, if need be, support them with supplements for any specific needs.

Conclusion

 So the next time you hear someone say, “You can get every thing you need from your food.” you know what that really means:  you should probably be taking supplements.

Quoting Red Green:  “We’re all in this together, I’m pulling for you.”

 P.S.  Please, read our BAM (Blatant Advertising Message):  NUPRO Nutraceutical Products – Advancing Beyond Vitamins™

 

 Likewise, the connection between maintaining your healthy weight and consuming a wholesome diet, drinking water, moderate daily exercise and adequate, restful sleep is irrefutable. 

 Weight Issues are a Symptom

That’s right, the weight, bulges and girth that define you, are your body’s way of compensating for a deficiency in one, two, three or all four of the conditions necessary to maintain your healthy weight.

 The Problem is Habits and Addictions not Willpower

Addicted to Food?  How to Break Your Habit (Daryn Eller Prevention Magazine, TODAY) discusses, in length, the controversy surrounding manufactured food.  “… “we live in an environment perfectly designed to nurture food addictions.”

 “For decades, food-industry scientists have been working hard to figure out how better to hook people”, claims David L. Katz, MD, MPH, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, CT, and author of The Flavor Point Diet. “Manufacturers now excel at hitting the sweet spot — making us crave more and more of a food.

 In a supermarket recently, I actually found a pasta sauce that, serving for serving, contained more sugar than a chocolate fudge sauce, though the sweetness was hidden because the pasta sauce was so salty,” Katz says.  “The question is, why would anybody pour a packet of sugar over their pasta?

 And the answer is that if you get used to that much sugar, another pasta sauce will taste too bland. The food industry wants us to need more and more of the substance to feel satisfied, so we’ll go out and buy more and more of it.”

 “ … Animal research at Princeton University has also shown that the way you indulge may have consequences. Bart Hoebel, PhD, a professor of psychology, placed rats on an alternating schedule of 12 hours with no food, followed by 12 hours of access to both rat chow and a solution of 10% sugar (about as sweet as a soft drink) — a pattern that results in binge eating.  As the days went by, the rats began upping their intake of the sugar solution, drinking more and more at a time.

 Hoebel found that after about a month, the rats’ brains were producing surges of dopamine during their binges. “In rats, binge eating promotes addiction just like binge drinking promotes alcohol addiction,” says Hoebel. “It’s possible that repeatedly bingeing on sweets could actually change the circuitry of your brain” — and make you want ever-increasing amounts.”

 When Hypcorates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” 2,500 years ago, it is unlikely he considered the lengths that Manufactured Food Companies would go to” build brand loyalty”.

 People Are Digging Their Graves With Their Forks

… and setting themselves up to suffer mightily before they meet their maker – and they don’t even know it.

Plus, they are setting their spouses and children up for heart ache and financial ruin.

 The number of books, articles and seminars designed to help people “feel OK” about their weight is staggering.  They’re right about one thing, “What others think about you doesn’t matter, just feel good about yourself.”

What they fail to point out the profound selfishness in the choice to subject your loved ones to the grief and financial implications of this predictable outcome – prolonged suffering, profound medical intervention and premature death – when people fail to manage their weight.

 The Truth Hurts

If this view is too harsh, then ignore it.

Just know this:  Everyday, people ask themselves or a loved one, “Why me?”, when they are diagnosed with Cancer or Diabetes, experience a heart attack, a stroke or suffer some incurable set of symtoms that destroy their finances and quality of life.

 There is a old saying, “When you find your self in a hole, stop digging.”, that sums up this commentary nicely. 

 Breaking the addictions that are turning you into a statistic is hard, but the reward are great.  In the end, it is your life, it is your choice.

 Editor’s note:  First, thanks to all of you who are informing us about the quick fixes, various exotic fruits and their possible application for weight loss.  While many of the claims are unlikely, the sheer numbers of them serve to confirm our conviction that being overweight or obese is the number one health challenge on people’s mind.

 NUPRO is ever vigilant for natural applications to augment our position on the cutting edge of natural health and healing modalities.  And, since weight loss occupies the top priority, we have been developing and now announcing The ThinRite Weight Management Program.

 

Those of you who have been following our blog understand our deep appreciation for how remarkably the human body is created.

Our position regarding health is straight forward – if you take care of your body, it will take care of you.

Caring for the body is more than keeping the outside clean – it is treating the body kindly, with respect and attending to the nutritional needs that support the efficient functioning of the body that manifests in health.

 Health is path one follows; it is not a quest for a procedure, potion, lotion or pill that you initiated once your health begins to decline or falter.

Living has an inevitable end – death.  One hopes life ends in a peaceful repose; however, that is, often, not the case.

To that end, we have prepared a commentary, Keep Life Simple, for your examination, and, if you desire, links to further readings to help put you on a path that allows you to prosper in the bounty of health.

Enjoy

 

1. Pestilence
2. Famine
3. War (Since we limit our commentaries to issues of health, we won’t be commenting on the third factor – war.  This plague continues to take its unimaginable toll throughout the world.)

The advances during the 20^th Century were remarkable.

Regarding pestilence, the availability of clean water and vastly improved sanitation practices have dramatically decreased the toll of pestilence on humanity.  Plagues, like the Bubonic Plague, and water borne diseases like cholera have been relegated to history books.

Antibiotics and vaccines have significantly reduced the likelihood of dying from an infection or communicable disease.

The fear of famine has been erased from the memory of people living in the Industrialized World due to changes in transportation, farming practices, refrigeration, packaging and distribution.

We’ve Come a Long Way – Baby.

• Pestilence and famine has virtually disappeared in the lexicon of health for the Industrialized World.
• Clean water is on tap, 24 hours everyday.
• Abundant quantities of every imaginable kind of food are stocked on the shelves of the nearest Super Market, 24 hours everyday.

 Big Advertising Budgets and Pretty Labels

A study, Heart Health and Fiber Drive Consumers to Health Products, released by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Prevention Magazine, published by Rodale Inc. is revealing.

… “About half of shoppers have bought cranberry juice, dark chocolate or almonds in the past year, probably because there have been marketing campaigns and news coverage touting the health benefits of these so-called “superfoods,” so dubbed because they contain large quantities of specific nutrients. Shoppers are also purchasing green tea (43%), pomegranate juice (25%) and Greek yogurt (21%).”

… “Certain health claims are also proving to be attractive to customers. When purchasing food, heart health (73%) is the top health claim on packaging that matters to consumers. More energy (71%), digestive health (66%) and improving mind health (65%) follow closely behind.”

But, Here’s the Rub

… “Despite this attention to healthy foods, lack of planning is trumping health in the decision-making process at the American dinner table, as 72% of shoppers decide what to have for dinner that day. When same-day decisions for dinner are made, health (52%) falls well behind taste (73%), quickness of preparation (60%) and craving (52%).”

… “Lack of meal planning is so pervasive that one-in-four shoppers (24%) decide what to have for dinner within one hour before eating.”

… “Half of shoppers say they don’t actively monitor their calorie intake on a daily basis but do make an effort not to consume too many calories at a time.”

 What’s in Your Pantry?

Are there cans, boxes and bags, with pretty labels, that taste creamy and sweet, quick and easy to prepare, that you’re hungry for when you’re shopping, or perhaps some Super Food that contains a magic bullet that you heard or have seen advertised, or are you planning to eat something you pick up on your way home?”

 Invest in Health or Pay to be Sick

You choose the food that’s in your kitchen.  And, there is a direct correlation between the food on your table and your state of health.  If you are confused about what your body needs to stay healthy, here are 4 resources to help clear up your confusion:

• We’ve published an article, How to Take Care of Your Body
• The Harvard School of Public Health published an article “What Should You Eat?”
• The University of Michigan published an easy to understand food pyramid
• The USDA published the My Plate program

You choose to endure the inconveniences of declining health or not:

• Digestive issues
• Achy joints
• Weight gain
• Hormone imbalance
• And a whole litany of other issues

You choose  to set the stage for, or endure, the symptoms of neglect or not:

• Stroke
• Heart attack
• Cardiovascular disease
• Diabetes
• Cancer

You choose to consume, or not to consume, food that respects your body.  It is a choice whether to live life to the fullest and die healthy or to suffer the indignities of failing health and dying sick.

But, before you flip the coin, you should read this report and take this health test.

In the end, staying, or becoming healthy if you’re not, boils down to 4 Simple Truths.

Is there an answer?  Yes!

• Stop doing that!  The task may seem daunting, but it is just an exercise in changing habits … in creating new ones, one habit at a time.
• Before you buy something, ask yourself:  “Will my body thank me for this later?”  If not, don’t buy it and don’t eat it!  And, for goodness sake, stop feeding your kids junk food.
• Get help.  Read and Ask Questions … Just be sure of your sources.
• Do the best you can, then, fill the gaps in your diet with supplements.  But, avoid short cuts and magic bullets.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• If you’re comfortable with choosing supplements, to fill the gaps in your diet, please consider NUPRO supplements.
• If you want or need help, we will help you.

As Red Green says:  “Remember, we’re all in this together, I’m pulling for you.”

 

Hooray for us!

 But, if you read the article, Colorado’s obesity rate has doubled since 1995.  And, its top ranking rate of obesity is 19% compared to the national average of 25%.

Well, whoop-de-doo!

 49 States Are Worse

 They’re not talking just about the people who are morbidly obese (they’re the moo-moo people who need help – immediately).  They’re talking about 15 to 20 lbs.  Take a look around you the next time you’re shopping, it is amazing what you will see!

 And, while you’re at it, take a look at your own reflection in the window or a mirror.  Better yet, look at yourself in your mirror at home – without clothes.  What do you think of that?  How many clothes have you stored away in your archival closet waiting for the time when they will fit again?

 What is the matter with you people? 

 The time is past for being politically correct, or for that matter, sensitive.  It is time for tough love!  Forget the fact that your cloths don’t fit and you look unhealthy – focus on the fact that you are unhealthy. 

 We have written extensively about the health risks associated with being obese.

•  Cancer, stroke, heart attack, arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes are just a few of the things you have to look forward to if you maintain your current state of being overweight.
•  We’ve dedicated more time writing about being overweight on the Americanutra blog, and in articles on the NUPRO website, than it’s worth.  If you can’t find inspiration in them, then all is lost.
•  Federal and State governments are considering, and in some cases passing, laws to protect you from yourselves forcing restaurants to post nutritional fact, that  few people will read and, in some cases,  banning certain cooking ingredients that are in foods people know are fattening.
• Even more frightening than that, these same bureaucrats are considering empowering Child Protective Services to remove overweight children from their homes!

 You Do Not Have Big Bones

 This study clearly point out your problem – you’re suffering from hand to mouth disease.

• Stop eating the crap that is making you fat. 
• And, stop feeding it to your kids, too!
• If you think there is some potion, lotion or pill that will magically make you thin – you’re delusional!

 We can help you overcome the habits that have, or will, put you in this predicament, but if you don’t stop sitting around and don’t stop putting chips, sweets, soft drinks and fast food in your mouth, you can’t change anything.  And, the same goes for your kids.

 No more excuses, delusion and, no more whining.

 Studies repeatedly show that people are far more critical of other people than they are of themselves.  Live Well Colorado is conducting a project on that very subject – helping people with an honest self-evaluation. 

 If you want help, we can and will help you.  But, you must decide.

• Do you want to spend the last 25% to 35% of your life struggling with declining health because you are too weak to stop eating crappy food, or can you stop?
• What about explaining why CPS took your kids?
• And here’s a final thought:  Based on the way things are going with insurance and in Washington, will you be able to pay your Doctor’s bills out of your own pocket once you reach your inevitable, and predictable, state of poor health?

 It’s Your Life – It’s Your Choice.