Category Archives: healthy-cooking

What is BPA and Why is it Bad for You?

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Woman Inspecting Oil Bottle With Magnifying GlassBPA is an industrial chemical that is added to many products.

These days, BPA-containing plastics are commonly used in food containers, baby bottles and other things.

BPA is also used to make epoxy resins, which are put on the inner lining of canned food containers to keep the metal from corroding and breaking.

 

Canned FoodsCommon products that may contain BPA include:

  • Items packaged in plastic containers.
  • Canned foods.
  • Toiletries.
  • Feminine hygiene products.
  • Thermal printer receipts.
  • CDs and DVDs.
  • Household electronics.
  • Eyeglass lenses.
  • Sports equipment.
  • Dental filling sealants.

Many manufacturers have now switched to BPA-free products, in which BPA has been replaced by bisphenol-S (BPS) or bisphenol-F (BPF),but these may disrupt the function of your cells in a way similar to BPA. Thus, BPA-free bottles may not be the solution.

The main source of BPA exposure is through your diet.

Another study had participants eat one serving of either fresh or canned soup daily for 5 days. Urine levels of BPA were 1,221% higher in those who consumed the canned soup.

Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that BPA levels in breastfed babies were up to 8 times lower than those measured in babies fed liquid formula from BPA-containing bottles.

Scientist Holding Plastic Water Bottle

BPA’s Biological Mechanisms

1. BPA has a similar structure as the hormone estrogen. It may bind to estrogen receptors and affect the function of your body.

2. Several studies have shown that BPA can negatively affect many aspects of both male and female fertility.

3. BPA exposure during early life may influence birth weight, hormonal development, behavior and cancer risk in later life.

4. Higher BPA levels seem to be linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

5. BPA May Raise Your Risk of Obesity

6. BPA May Cause Other Health Problems

  • Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
  • Premature delivery
  • Asthma: Early childhood exposure to BPA was linked to wheezing in later childhood.
  • Liver function: Higher BPA levels were linked to a 29% higher risk of abnormal liver enzyme levels.
  • Immune function: BPA levels may be linked to worse immune function.
  • Thyroid function: Higher BPA levels were linked to abnormal levels of thyroid hormones.
  • Brain function: African green monkeys exposed to BPA levels judged safe by the EPA showed loss of connections between brain cells.
How to Minimize Your Exposure to BPA

Glass Bottles

  • Avoid packaged foods: Eat mostly fresh, whole foods. Stay away from canned foods or foods packaged in plastic containers, especially if labeled with recycling numbers 3, 7 or the letters “PC.”
  • Drink from glass  or metal bottles and use glass baby bottles instead of plastic ones.
  • Stay away from BPA products: As much as possible, limit your contact with receipts, and do not use plastic wrap to store or transport food.
  • Don’t microwave plastic: Microwave and store food in glass rather than plastic.
  • Be careful when washing plastics: Avoid using harsh detergents when washing plastic containers, and do not wash them in the dishwasher.
  • Don’t buy plastic baby toys: Opt for toys made from natural materials rather than plastic, especially for toys that your little one is likely to suck or chew on.
  • Buy powdered infant formula: Some recommend powders over liquids from BPA containers, as liquid is likely to absorb more BPA from the container.
  • Switch to organic toiletries: These include organic shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant and cosmetics. EWG’s Skin Deep database is a good resource to help you find products free of BPA or other dangerous chemicals.
  • Purchase safe hygiene products: Replace conventional tampons and sanitary pads with safer alternatives, such as the organic ones from Natracare.

Adapted from Alina Petre, MS, RD

Be Informed, Stay Healthy.

Processed food – why we must avoid it

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What is “processed” food anyway? We’re talking about foods that have changed form, and are therefore different from how they occur in nature.

The more processed foods you eat, the less nourished you become.

Why are foods processed? To protect them from bad bacteria and to make them more visually appealing, packageable, marketable, and shippable. It’s all a matter of convenience.

American “cheese” isn’t made from curds and whey – it’s a nightmarish mix of what was once milk, along with artificial flavors, colorants, preservatives, and gummy texturizers.

White bread is made from flour so processed that it is almost pure starch, and it is barely recognizable as a wheat product – but it’s fluffy and white, and that’s what everyone uses to make PB&J!

These products are so fake that classifying them as “food” is quite a stretch.

Even whole healthy foods are processed. Vegetables are sprayed so that they can be stored longer – potatoes may be six months old before you eat them!

They’ve been treated to stop them from sprouting “eyes.” Chicken is dipped in chlorine bleach to kill surface bacteria and make it turn white when cooked. Apples are waxed for storage and shine.

Read the ingredients list – how many things do you recognize? How many are “extracts,” “from concentrate,” or just scary scientific words?

Processed foods are bad for the body and mind in so many ways. For one thing, they contain all sorts of artificial ingredients like preservatives and colorants that cause reactions in the digestive, immune, and nervous systems.

Furthermore, processed foods lack many crucial nutrients found in whole foods.

Common Highly Processed Foods

Bleached and Highly-refined Flour

Refined grains are devoid of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, leaving nothing but starch and a small amount of protein in these products. White bread, pasta, and baked goods are the main culprits. It’s these refined, simple, high glycemic carbs that you need to avoid. They’re quickly digested and cause your blood sugar to spike, and your body immediately either uses or stores them (as glycogen and/or fat).

A better option is to opt for whole, complex, quality carbohydrates such as bajra, rajgira, buckwheat, or you can try minimally processed whole-grain breads and pastas.

Refined Sweeteners

Too much sugar stresses your body – your pancreas struggles to produce insulin, and your body stores excess glucose as fat. Artificial sweeteners exacerbate cravings, disrupt gut bacteria, and cause glucose intolerance.

Minimizing your sugar intake is the first step, but changing the way you choose to appease your sweet tooth can make a big difference in how you feel! Ditch the aspartame, high-fructose corn syrup, and even agave nectar.

Refined, Trans-fat or Partially-hydrogenated Vegetable Oils

Many oils are hydrogenated, a process that makes them solid, but also creates trans-fats. These are the unhealthy fats that increase bad and decrease good cholesterols and cause heart disease and diabetes. They’re unsaturated, cheap, and processed, and they are used in most fast foods, take-out, and fried foods.

A better option is to toss the canola. Stick to extra virgin olive oil (which is extracted by machine only), animal fats like butter, lard, ghee, and unrefined coconut oil.

Processed Meat

The main culprits are salt and nitrates, which are used to preserve pinkness. These two items have been extensively linked to an increase in risk of colorectal cancer. Processed lunch meats have so many other bulking agents, additives, and preservatives that it’s better to avoid them altogether.

The Bottom Line

By focusing on consuming whole foods with little processing, you will minimize your intake of artificial additives and preservatives, some of which can be dangerous.

The best advice I can give you is to make time to read ingredient labels and make sure you understand what you’re eating.

If you don’t recognize something, don’t buy it! Go to the store more often and stick with the KISS method – minimally-processed, natural, whole foods. Your body will thank you for it.

Non-stick cookware – Are they safe to use?

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 Dr. Mercola

Non-stick cookware – are they safe to use?

According to ‘The Intercept’:

“Concerns about the safety of Teflon, C8, and other long-chain perfluorinated chemicals first came to wide public attention more than a decade ago, but the story of DuPont’s long involvement with C8 has never been fully told…

[A] long trail of documents has emerged that casts new light on C8, DuPont, and the fitful attempts of the Environmental Protection Agency to deal with a threat to public health.

This story is based on many of those documents, which until they were entered into evidence for these trials had been hidden away in DuPont’s files.

Among them are write-ups of experiments on rats, dogs, and rabbits showing that C8 was associated with a wide range of health problems that sometimes killed the lab animals.”

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, also known as C8), was an essential ingredient in DuPont’s non-stick cookware for decades.

The chemical is also used in hundreds of other non-stick and stain-resistant products, from microwave popcorn bags and fast-food wrappers to waterproof clothing and soil-repellant carpet and furniture treatments.

It’s also found in flame retardant chemicals, and hence items treated with flame retardants, which run the gamut from children’s items to furniture and electronics.

PFOA is a fluorinated chemical — it’s the fluorine atoms that provide that hallmark slipperiness.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR):

“Once in your body, perfluoroalkyls tend to remain unchanged for long periods of time. The most commonly used perfluoroalkyls (PFOA and PFOS) stay in the body for many years. It takes approximately four years for the level in the body to go down by half, even if no more is taken in.”

While there’s a dizzying array of chemical names in this group of chemicals, if an item is either non-stick, waterproof, or stain-resistant, it has some type of fluoride-impregnated coating that provides the slipperiness, and you can assume it can be problematic.

PFOA is now the subject of about 3,500 personal injury claims against DuPont, including 37 claims for wrongful death.

In 2005, a panel of three scientists was convened as part of a settlement to determine the chemical’s effects on people. After seven years of research, the results of which are detailed in more than three dozen peer-reviewed papers,5 the C8 Science Panel linked PFOA to:

  • Ulcerative colitis
  • High cholesterol
  • Pregnancy-induced hypertension
  • Thyroid disease
  • Testicular and kidney cancer

Its health effects were deemed to be widespread and occurred even at very low exposure levels. According to The Intercept, DuPont was aware of many of these risks, yet kept its knowledge secret — even from its own workers, who came into direct and prolonged contact with the chemical.

PFOA Pollution May Be Permanent

A man-made compound that didn’t exist a century ago, C8 is in the blood of 99.7 percent of Americans, according to a 2007 analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as in newborn human babies, breast milk, and umbilical cord blood.

Although DuPont no longer uses C8, fully removing the chemical from all the bodies of water and bloodstreams it pollutes is now impossible. And, because it is so chemically stable — in fact, as far as scientists can determine, it never breaks down — C8 is expected to remain on the planet well after humans are gone from it.”

According to the article, if DuPont and the seven other chemical companies (including 3M) responsible for the global C8/PFOA pollution were actually forced to clean up their mess, the costs would be “astronomical.”

PFOA Dubbed the ‘Tobacco of the Chemical Industry’

Like tobacco, C8 litigation may forever change how people view these chemicals. In fact, PFOA is now being called the “tobacco of the chemical industry” because of the decades-long corporate cover-up of its health effects, the lawsuits pending, and how difficult it is to make companies accountable for producing disease-causing products, even after the evidence is clear.

6 Charts That Show How The War On Fat Was A Gigantic Mistake

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bacon-7.png

The war on fat is the biggest mistake in the history of nutrition.

As people have reduced their intake of animal fat and cholesterol, the incidence of many serious diseases has gone up. We are now in the midst of worldwide pandemics of obesity, metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.

Studies conducted in the past few decades conclusively show that neither saturated fat nor dietary cholesterol cause harm in humans. Scientists are now beginning to realize that the entire low-fat dogma was based on flawed studies that have since been thoroughly debunked.

Here are six graphs that clearly show how incredibly damaging it has been to advise people to reduce their consumption of animal fat.
1. In Europe, the Countries that Eat the Most Saturated Fat Have the Lowest Risk of Heart Disease

saturated-fat-heart-disease-in-europe
Saturated fat heart disease in europe – Data from: Hoenselaar R. Further response from Hoenselaar. British Journal of Nutrition, 2012.

 

The reason for this is simple, actually … the truth is that saturated fat simply has NOTHING to do with cardiovascular disease. There is no paradox. It was a myth all along.

Thanks to Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt for the enhanced graph.
2. The Obesity Epidemic in the USA Started at Almost The Exact Same Time the Low-Fat Dietary Guidelines Were Published

low-fat-guidelines

Low fat guidelines – Kris Gunnars – Source: National Center for Health Statistics (US). Health, United States, 2008: With Special Feature on the Health of Young Adults. Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics (US); 2009 Mar. Chartbook.

Although this graph doesn’t prove anything (correlation does not equal causation), this does make sense because people started giving up traditional foods like butter in place of processed “low-fat” foods high in sugar.

Since then, many massive studies have been conducted on the low-fat diet. These studies show clearly that the low-fat diet does not cause weight loss and has zero effect on cardiovascular disease in the long term.

Despite the poor results in the studies, this diet is still recommended by nutrition organizations all over the world.
3. Diets that Are High in Fat But Low in Carbohydrates Cause More Weight Loss than Diets that Are Low in Fat

weight-loss-graph-low-carb-vs-low-fat

weight loss graph low carb vs low fatKris GunnarsSource: Brehm BJ, et al. A randomized trial comparing a very low carbohydrate diet and a calorie-restricted low fat diet on body weight and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2003.

If animal fat was as bad as they say, then diets that contain a lot of it should be both fattening and harmful to your health. However, the studies do NOT back this up.

In the study above, women eating a low-carb, high-fat diet until fullness lost more than twice as much weight as women eating a calorie restricted low-fat diet.

The truth is, diets that are high in fat (but low in carbs) consistently lead to much better results than low-fat, high carb diets.

Not only do they cause more weight loss, but they also lead to big improvements in pretty much all the major risk factors for diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
4. The Diseases of Civilization Increased as Butter and Lard Were Replaced with Vegetable Oils and Trans Fats

fat-consumption-in-usa

fat consumption in usa – Kris Gunnars – Source: National Center for Health Statistics (US). Health, United States, 2008: With Special Feature on the Health of Young Adults. Hyattsville (MD): National Center for Health Statistics (US); 2009 Mar. Chartbook.

In the 20th century, several serious diseases became common in humans.

The heart disease epidemic started around 1930, the obesity epidemic started in 1980 and the diabetes epidemic started around 1990.

Even though these diseases were almost unheard of before, they have now become the biggest health problems in the world, killing millions of people per year.

It is clear from the graph above, that these diseases have skyrocketed as animal fats have been replaced with shortening, margarine and processed vegetable oils.
5. The Obesity Epidemic Started as People Reduced Their Intake of Red Meat and High-Fat Dairy Products

fatty-food-consumption-from-1980-1990

fatty food consumption from 1980 to 1990 – Kris GunnarsSource: Hu FB, et al. Trends in the Incidence of Coronary Heart Disease and Changes in Diet and Lifestyle in Women. The New England Journal of Medicine, 2000.

It amazes me that some people still blame traditional foods like meat and butter for the diseases of civilization. These foods have sustained humans in good health for a very long time and blaming new diseases on old foods just doesn’t make sense.

All the data shows that people actually reduced their consumption of these foods as these diseases went up.

The graph above, from the Nurses Health Study, shows that Americans were reducing their intake of red meat and full-fat dairy at the same time the obesity epidemic was starting.
6. In the Framingham Heart Study, Heart Disease Goes up as People Replace Heart-Healthy Butter with Toxic Margarine

butter-vs-margarine-stephan-guyenet-larger

butter vs margarine

Stephan Guyenet  Kris GunnarsSource: Gillman MW, et al. Margarine intake and subsequent coronary heart disease in men. Epidemiology, 1997. Photo source: Whole Health Source.

In the graph above, based on the Framingham Heart Study, you can see how heart disease risk goes up as people eat less butter and more margarine instead.

For some very strange reason, many health organizations are still recommending that we avoid heart-healthy butter and replace it with processed margarine.

It’s simple: eat the way grandpa and grandma used to. And you’ll enjoy the health quality they did.

From Kris Gunnars

Cooking with vegetable oil releases toxic chemicals linked to cancer

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Robert Mendick

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Vegetable oil could be one of the most unhealthy cooking oils.

Cooking with vegetable oils releases toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases, according to leading scientists, who are now recommending food be fried in olive oil, coconut oil, butter or even lard.

The results of a series of experiments threaten to turn on its head official advice that oils rich in polyunsaturated fats – such as corn oil and sunflower oil – are better for the health than the saturated fats in animal products.

Scientists found that heating up vegetable oils led to the release of high concentrations of chemicals called aldehydes, which have been linked to illnesses including cancer, heart disease and dementia.

Martin Grootveld, a professor of bioanalytical chemistry and chemical pathology, said that his research showed “a typical meal of fish and chips”, fried in vegetable oil, contained as much as 100 to 200 times more toxic aldehydes than the safe daily limit set by the World Health Organisation.

In contrast, heating up butter, olive oil and lard in tests produced much lower levels of aldehydes. Coconut oil produced the lowest levels of the harmful chemicals.

Professor John Stein, Oxford’s emeritus professor of neuroscience, said that partly as a result of corn and sunflower oils, “the human brain is changing in a way that is as serious as climate change threatens to be”.

Because the vegetable oil is rich in omega 6 acids, it is contributing to a reduction in critical omega 3 fatty acids in the brain by replacing them, he believes.

“If you eat too much corn oil or sunflower oil, the brain is absorbing too much omega 6, and that effectively forces out omega 3,” said Professor Stein. “I believe the lack of omega 3 is a powerful contributory factor to such problems as increasing mental health issues and other problems such as dyslexia.”

He said sunflower oil and corn oil were now banished from his own kitchen, replaced by olive oil and butter.

Professor Grootveld, of De Montfort University in Leicester, who carried out a series of experiments, said: “For decades, the authorities have been warning us how bad butter and lard was. But we have found butter is very, very good for frying purposes and so is lard.

“People have been telling us how healthy polyunsaturates are in corn oil and sunflower oil. But when you start messing around with them, subjecting them to high amounts of energy in the frying pan or the oven, they undergo a complex series of chemical reactions which results in the accumulation of large amounts of toxic compounds.”

Health concerns linked to the toxic by-products include heart disease; cancer; “malformations” during pregnancy; inflammation; risk of ulcers and a rise in blood pressure.

Saturated fats, including butter, ghee and coconut oil are a healthier option.

Stay Healthy.