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.

 

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

 

This could be the wonder product of the century!

 I’ll bet you are you asking yourself:  “How much does it cost?” and “Where can I get it?”

 Here’s how you can get your supply today:

 Go to your kitchen sink, fill a glass with water and drink it. That’s right – it’s WATER

Incredible as it may seem, water is the most important component of good health known to man.

In fact, 60% – 70% of the body’s weight is water.  Water is the body’s solvent:  it thins blood, carries away toxins, helps metabolize fat, liquefies consumed food, rinses out organs, balances electrolytes to support nerve function, carries hormones for endocrine function – in short it is the body’s magic potion.

However, when the body gets less water than it needs, it perceives the situation as a threat to its survival and begins to conserve every drop. Many of the cleansing functions of water are affected as it reuses and reuses and reuses the conserved, filthy water.

Drinking enough water is the best treatment for a whole litany of things – headache, constipation, digestion, sluggishness, clarity of mind, water retention, weight gain – all symptoms of dehydration.

There is a good rule of thumb for drinking enough water:  divide your body weight by two. The result is the number or ounces of water to consume every day.

Caffeinated beverages such as coffee, soda, energy drinks and certain teas are diuretics, which force the body to expel water. If you consume caffeinated beverages, compensate for their effect by drinking two ounces of water for each one ounce of these beverages

If you are trying to lose weight or are not healthy, increase the amount by 20%. Contrary to popular opinion, juices, soups and other liquids that require digestion do not count! Water is water!

Follow this schedule to utilize water effectively:

• Morning (right after rising):  consume one quart of water during a 30-minute period.
• Noon:  consume one quart of water during a 30-minute period.
• Evening:  consume one quart of water during a 30-minute period.
• Drink the remainder of your requirement throughout the day.

 The body’s signal for hunger and thirst are similar and are often confused. Try drinking a glass of water instead of eating something. Your body just might need hydrating instead of a snack!

When the body gets all the water it needs to function efficiently, its fluids are perfectly balanced. Glands, nerves, and bowel begin to function efficiently. Skin begins to glow, water retention subsides, weight normalizes, endurance increases, concentration improves, and on … and on … and on!

P.S.  Chlorine isn’t good for your body but it kills the stuff that gets in your water pipes that can make you sick. Chlorine is normally a gas … so if you put a one gallon, open topped container full of tap water in your refrigerator before you go to bed, the chlorine will dissipate and your fresh water (without chlorine) will be waiting for you in the morning.

P.P.S.  Most people are deficient in trace minerals because they aren’t eating enough fresh vegetables (5 to 7 baseball size servings – daily).  Add an ounce of a trace mineral supplement to your daily water to fill the gap in your diet.

NOTE:  Are you doing the best you can to stay healthy?   Take the test.

 

Here are two questions for you to consider:

• If eating is so simple, why are there so many people who are overweight?
• Why are so many people experiencing declining health over time?

We know, for example, the biology of science, Senescence, is showing that your body is fully capable of rebuilding a perfect replica of itself, cell by cell, every 7 years.  By producing 300 billion cells every night that are programmed to die, it replaces all of the 750 trillion cells that make
up your body.

Every minute of everyday your body assembles and disassembling all sorts of:

Enzymes to:

• digest your food
• operate your body
• fire nerves
• fire metabolism
• repair and replace damaged tissue

Amino acids to produce:

• hormones to start and stop different functions
• neurotransmitters to operate your brain
• immune cells to protect your body
• blood and lymph cells to carry substances around the body
• repair and replace damaged cells and tissue
• and, there’s even more – suffice it to say – the scope is enormous!

Here’s the rub:
the only way your body can do any of this is if the food you are eating contains the “stuff” the body needs to accomplish the tasks.

This business of eating the food you “like” virtually guarantees that your body won’t get what it needs to rebuild a perfect replica of itself – let alone carry on all of its minute by minute activities that keep you focused, active and healthy.

There are two thresholds, energy and nutrition, that must be met or your body ceases to operate efficiently – the perfect replica starts to become less perfect.

Carbohydrates

Your body burns carbohydrates, fat and water to create energy. The main dietary source to energize your body is carbohydrates.

• If you eat too few, or the wrong kind, you will run out of energy before you run out of day.
• If you eat too many or you are eating the wrong kind – you will get fat.
• If you hit the threshold, you will breeze through the day.

The “wrong” ones are easy:  white flour products, vegetables that grow underground, sweet fruits, sugar and sugars that added to packaged food.

• If you cannotburn these simple carbohydrates within two hours your body will turnthem into fat.
• And, you willget hungry because you need energy again.

The best carbohydrates come from whole grains, vegetables that grow above ground and fleshy fruit.  The Harvard School of Public Health provides guidance to help you select the “right” carbohydrates.

Fat

Fat has been painted with too broad of a brush so, people avoid it at all costs – this is a big mistake!  Granted, there is a “wrong” kind that can turn into plaque and body fat if you eat too much of it.

But, the “right” kind is essential to your body – that’s why they are called essential fatty acids.  Essential fatty acids keep your heart and arteries flexible, fight inflammation and support metabolism.   Harvard, once
again, explains the details if you want more information.

Water

Research has shown that within 10 minutes of drinking a pint of water, the metabolism increases by as much as 30 percent.  Other drinks did not show the same effect.

If you drink too little water and you may be at risk for headaches, muscle cramps, dizziness, constipation and other nasty symptoms.

If you drink an adequate amount of water you gain some great benefits such as a clearer mind, more energy and even help your body metabolize body fat.  

The second threshold is nutrition.  The tissue of all plants and animals are made up from building blocks, called Amino Acids.  Your body disassembles the plant and animal tissue then reassembles their Amino Acids, along with minerals to produce your tissue.

Protein
Protein provides the building blocks your body uses to create all of its cells, tissue and fluids are amino acids – they come from protein.  The source for protein is plant and animal tissue.  If you eat too many of the wrong kinds you will plug up digestion, the heart, arteries and your brain.  If you eat too few, your body will start to gradually deteriorate.  If you hit the threshold, you will be blessed with perfect replacement cells that maintain an efficient, perfect body.

The “right ones are easy:  vegetables, fleshy fruit, fish, poultry and limited
meat from vertebrates (beef and pork).  The Harvard School of Public Health provides guidance concerning meat and plant protein.

Minerals

Particular minerals like calcium have received lots of attention, so, there isn’t much to say about it and the other minerals for which a recommended daily intake has been established.

BUT (and there is always a but), most authorities fall silent when it comes to an entire category of minerals called trace minerals.  Also known as electrolytes, this obscure collection of water-soluble minerals are, in fact, essential for your well being.  They are co-factors in virtually every activity of your body.

The assumption is: you will receive sufficient amounts of these important nutrients when you consume fruits and vegetables.

This assumption is wrong in two ways:

• most people do not consume enough vegetables and even if you do consume the recommended 9 servings of vegetables and fruit
• the soils, on which the plants are grown, have long-since been depleted of these elements due to commercial farming practices.

In fact, this is one area were you must rely on a dietary supplement to support your body’s requirements.  They are marketed as Colloidal Minerals and/or trace minerals, typically liquid and a must if you plan on staying healthy.

Water

Did you notice that water is in both thresholds?  Water is your body’s principal chemical component, making up, on average, 60 percent of your body weight.

Every system in your body depends on water.  Water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells, plumbs your body to protect vital tissue and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Possibly the most important thing you can do for your body is to keep it hydrated.  The biggest mistake most people make is to believe beverages count toward hydrating the body.

Water is . . . water!  Beverages:  coffee, tea, soda and juice are liquid food.  So, don’t get caught in that trap.

Drink at least 8 – 8oz. glasses of water everyday – more if it is hot, cold or your are sick.   There is no substitute for water and it is free from your tap and, if you let the water sit overnight in an open container, all of the chlorine will dissipate.  Fresh, clean, free water.  What could be better? 

You make the choice then you will experience the consequences.

• Too many simple carbohydrates – you will get fat.
• Too much exercise – you will tear up your joints.
• Too few minerals – your body can’t work right.
• Too little protein – your body will deteriorate.
• Too little water – metabolism slows down, you will become a husk, plus your body can’t clean itself.

Let me make it simple:  today’s choices are tomorrow’s consequences.  Too many people, me included, have been sugar coating the facts for too long.

• If you are not healthy, you have bought your own trouble.
• If you are neglecting your body but not experiencing the signs of neglect now, you have agreed to a layaway plan to experience
  those same sign of neglect – later.

You are paying, every day, with the choices you are making about convenient, fast food and adhering to a false paradigm that there is some special person or some magic bullet that can fix what you are breaking.

• The special person who can change the consequences is YOU.
• The magic bullet is the “stuff” you are consuming – everyday.   

You can change the way things are by changing the things you are doing.  The arguments that it is too expensive or you don’t have the time won’t hold water.

You either make time for health or spend time being sick.  The latter is very expensive in both money and the quality of your life.

• Start with an action plan to meet the thresholds your body needs to stay healthy or get healthy.
• Assess what you are eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner – everyday -  to care for the needs of your body.
• Fill the gap in your diet with the best nutraceutical supplements you can buy.  Know this: the better you do with the foods you are eating – the fewer supplements it takes to fill the gap in your diet.
• Do your best.  It is not practical to expect to “eat right” everyday.  There is a principal in health that you can take to the bank:  It is not
  what you do occasionally that hurts, it is what you do everyday.
• Splurge once in a while.   After all, life is worth living.  But, get back on the wagon as quickly as possible. 
• Health is a journey.  You can choose to accept the fact that you are in charge of your own health or cling to the false hope that someone orsomething can fix what you have broken.

It’s Your Life – It’s Your Choice.