Household Hormonal Danger

Carl Lowe, September 11, 2012

An everyday chemical in many cosmetics, supplements, medicines, laundry soaps and air fresheners may be lowering your testosterone, disrupting your thyroid, making you vulnerable to diabetes and adding inches to your waistline. You can and should reduce your exposure to this chemical today before you become another one of its victims.

Research shows that a family of chemicals called phthalates is responsible for a whole host of health problems that besiege Americans. These chemicals are used as plasticizers in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic products to keep them durable and flexible. They are also used in household products with synthetic fragrances like cosmetics, lotions and shampoos to help disperse their scents. Plus, phthalates called dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diethyl phthalate (DEP) are included as inactive ingredients in some medications and dietary supplements. They are used to slow absorption and make these pills and capsules “time release” their ingredients into the intestinal tract.

Reproduction Questions
A large body of research has indicated that exposure to phthalates is connected to the reduction of testosterone in men. Studies also show that these chemicals may be linked to extra inches around the waistline, insulin resistance and an increased risk for diabetes.

“Substantial declines in testosterone levels and sperm quality have been observed in the United States and other countries over the last several decades and it urgently requires explanation. While we can’t say yet that phthalates are a definite cause, I am certain they are on the list of chemicals that demands careful study,” notes researcher Richard Stahlhut, a preventive medicine resident at the University of Rochester.

In Stahlhut’s research, men who had the highest exposure to phthalates had more belly fat and insulin resistance than other men.

Studies on the effects of phthalates on women come up with similar results. When researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston looked at the phthalates in the urine of more than 2,300 women, they found that:

• Women with the highest levels of the chemicals mono-benzyl phthalate and mono-isobutyl phthalate had almost double the risk of diabetes compared to women with the lowest levels of those chemicals.
• Women with higher than median levels of the chemical mono-(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate experienced approximately a 60 percent increased risk of diabetes.
• Women with moderately high levels of the chemicals mono-n-butyl phthalate and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate suffered approximately a 70 percent increased risk of diabetes.

Thyroid Disruption
Phthalates also interfere with the vital functions of the thyroid. When researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed the blood and urine of more than 1,300 adults and 300 adolescents, they found that greater concentrations of urinary phthalate metabolites (as well as BPA, another chemical in plastics) were associated with greater impacts on serum thyroid measurements.

One study showed the strongest relationship between thyroid disruption and DEHP, a phthalate commonly used as a plasticizer. Other studies have shown that most of the DEHP we absorb is in the form of pollutants in our food. Urine samples showing the highest 20 percent of exposure to DEHP was associated with as much as a 10 percent decrease in certain thyroid hormones compared to urine samples at the lowest 20 percent of exposure.

Reduce Your Exposure To Phthalates
While you may not be able to avoid all exposure to phthalates, you can significantly reduce the presence of these chemicals in your personal environment:

• Avoid taking medications or supplements that list the ingredients dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diethyl phthalate (DEP). These may also be ingredients in perfumes, nail polish, lotions, hair treatments, shampoo, deodorants and cologne.
• Watch out for BzBp (benzylbutyl phthalate), which may be an ingredient in cosmetics, flooring and other plastic products.
• Avoid insect repellents that list DMP (dimethyl phthalate) as an ingredient.
• Use unscented, hypoallergenic cosmetics and personal-care products. Any product that lists the words “fragrance” or “parfum” on the package may contain phthalates.
• Instead of a plastic shower curtain, use a cloth one made of cotton or another fabric that you can wash and reuse.
• Store refrigerated food in glass — not plastic.
• Don’t use plastic food containers in the microwave. The high temperatures may cause chemicals from the plastic to migrate to your food.
• Do not use air fresheners unless they incorporate pure essential oils instead of synthetic fragrances.
• Use unscented laundry soap.
• Other ingredients to avoid include: Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, dioctyl phthalate (DOP), and dimethyl phthalate (DMP).

Unfortunately, phthalates are part of the ocean of chemicals that surround us in daily life. And recent studies even link these chemicals to asthma. So if you want to breathe a little easier and lower your risk of many of the illnesses that modern flesh is heir to, avoid these toxins as much as you can.

The Astounding Health Benefits Of One Simple Action

One simple activity can exert a tremendous influence over your health, lowering your risk of Alzheimer’s, protecting your heart, defending against cancer, decreasing your risk of disability, controlling your weight and increasing your life expectancy. Scientific research proves the health-power of this activity, but most people don’t seem to understand how much it can improve their lives.
Medical researchers have been astonished by the health-promoting effects of simply walking every day. While most Americans seem addicted to a couch potato lifestyle, scientists have proven that a daily walk (or, even better, several walks a day) improves the health of just about every part of the body.

The benefits of walking go from head to toe.

Brain Protection
Research at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania shows that walking can slow the development of memory problems and even slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“We found that walking five miles per week protects the brain structure over 10 years in people with Alzheimer’s and MCI (mild cognitive impairment), especially in areas of the brain’s key memory and learning centers,” says researcher Cyrus Raji, Ph.D. “We also found that these people had a slower decline in memory loss over five years.”

Raji’s study showed that physical activities like walking are associated with larger brain size. Cognitively impaired people needed to walk at least 58 city blocks, or approximately five miles, every week to prevent brain shrinkage volume and slow cognitive decline. People with normal brains needed to walk at least 72 city blocks, or six miles, per week to maintain brain volume and significantly reduce their risk for cognitive decline.

Heart Protection
An exercise like walking also supports the health of the cardiovascular system and keeps the heart and arteries functioning better.

In a study where doctors worked with overweight heart patients, they found that long walks were the perfect way to lose weight and improve cardiovascular health.

“The higher-caloric exercise, consisting of almost daily long-distance walking, resulted in double the weight loss and a greater fat mass loss than standard cardiac rehabilitation exercise,” says researcher Philip A. Ades, M.D., director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington. “And probably most importantly, these patients improved their insulin sensitivity to a greater degree.”

Weight Loss
If other people in your family are overweight, you may have inherited a tendency to gain weight. But that genetic inheritance doesn’t have to be your immutable destiny. A walking program can cut that genetic liability by 50 percent, according to a study at the Harvard School of Public Health. On the other hand, if you bury yourself in the couch all day, watching television and snacking, you’re just telling your obesity genes to pack on the pounds.

“While previous studies have looked at how physical activity affects genetic predispositions, this is the first study that directly looked at the effect of the sedentary behavior of television watching on the body mass index (BMI) of individuals with a genetic predisposition to obesity,” says Qibin Qi, Ph.D., study author and a postdoctorate research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard.
“In our study, a brisk one-hour daily walk reduced the genetic influence towards obesity, measured by differences in BMI, by half. On the other hand, a sedentary lifestyle marked by watching television four hours a day increased the genetic influence by 50 percent.”

Walking Toward Health
A wide range of research on walking has established other impressive benefits:

• A study at Vanderbilt University shows that walking can reduce a woman’s risk for endometrial cancer by as much as 40 percent. “This adds to the growing body of literature indicating that high levels of physical activity are associated with reduced risk of some cancers, including endometrial cancer,” says lead author Charles E. Matthews, Ph.D.
• Older adults can decrease their risk of disability and increase their likelihood of maintaining independence by 41 percent when they walk regularly, according to research at the University of Georgia.
• Brisk walking can lower the risk of cancer progression in men diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a study at the University of California, San Francisco and the Harvard School of Public Health. “The important point was the intensity of the activity — the walking had to be brisk for men to experience a benefit,” says Erin Richman, Sc.D., the first author on the study. “Our results provide men with prostate cancer something they can do to improve their prognosis.”

One Foot In Front Of The Other
The human body needs to walk and exercise every day to stay healthy. In contrast, the couch potato lifestyle kills. As one scientist who has researched the benefits of walking puts it, you should “walk often and walk far.”

You’ll be glad you did.

Carl Lowe -  Sep 04, 2012
About the Author: has written about health, fitness and nutrition for a wide range of publications including Prevention Magazine, Self Magazine and Time-Life Books. The author of more than a dozen books, he has been gluten-free since 2007

Vitamin B3 may be the cure for drug-resistant superbug infections

Tuesday, September 04, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer - Natural News

While the pharmaceutical industry is busy trying to conjure up new drugs to tackle the antibiotic-resistant "superbug" epidemic, a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation explains how simple vitamin B3, also known as nicotinamide (NAM), taken in high doses may effectively thwart staph and other potentially life-threatening infections without the need for drugs.

Researchers from both Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California and the Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) at Oregon State University (OSU) collaborated with one another to test the effects of high doses of NAM administered to both live mice and human blood infected with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). What they found was that vitamin B3 significantly boosts the number and effectiveness of neutrophils, or white blood cells that target infections.

It turns out that, when taken in doses far higher than those recommended by the federal government, vitamin B3 is capable of significantly boosting the body's own natural immune system to the point where many diseases simply cannot survive. According to the study, vitamin B3 is capable of increasing immune capacity by 1,000 times, allowing the body to naturally fight MRSA and other deadly pathogens.

"This could give us a new way to treat staph infections that can be deadly," said Adrian Gombart, an associate professor at LPI, about the dramatic findings. "It's a way to tap into the power of the innate immune system and stimulate it to provide a more powerful and natural immune response."

NAM is not just effective against S. aureus, though. Several other virulent pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), also seem to respond favorably to NAM's dramatic immune-boosting capacity. By bolstering the immune system's natural defenses, NAM appears to facilitate the destruction and elimination of a host of deadly pathogens and viruses.

"NAM is not only effective against S. aureus, it also has demonstrated efficacy against other major human pathogens, such as K. pneumoniae (Klebsiella pneumoniae) and P. aeruginosa (Pseudomonas aeruginosa), in our human peripheral blood killing assay," wrote the authors in their discussion. "We have demonstrated that NAM, as an HDAC inhibitor, can improve host defense and thereby promote bacterial clearance."

And unlike antibiotic drugs, vitamin B3 does not destroy all the beneficial bacteria in the gut along with the harmful bacteria. So for most people, taking mega-doses of therapeutic vitamin B3 is preferable to taking immune-destroying antibiotics that can later promote the growth of Candida albicans and other harmful yeast overgrowths and bacterial imbalances within the body.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/62070?key=a39ce7efc2f764ede04

http://www.feedstuffs.com

http://www.foxnews.com

6 Natural Ways To Reduce Muscle Spasms And Pain

Dr. Mark Wiley
Aug 29, 2012

Why is muscle pain so prevalent today when hundreds of hands-on therapies, over-the-counter medications and do-it-yourself techniques for pain reduction are available almost any time of day? The reason is not that the pills, pain patches and therapies don’t work. Rather, the answer can most likely be found in your habits — known or unknown. The little things in your life, when combined day after day, can cause chronic muscle pain. Change those little things, and you can get big pain relief.

Muscles cramp, spasm and become painful for a number of reasons. Most of the more serious reasons, like serious medical illness and traumatic injury, are less common and certainly need proper diagnosis and treatment. For many people suffering with chronic muscle pain, inflammation, cramps and spasms, the reasons are less serious. However, they are nonetheless vital to address in order to stop the pain-and-inflammation cycle and reduce the frequency, severity and duration of attacks.

Essential things to do and keep in mind to help prevent muscle pain include:

Stay Hydrated With Plenty Of Pure Water
Water is one of the three essential things needed for life. (The others are oxygen and sunlight.) Water is so vital to life that life would not exist without it. While the human body is meant to be about 70 percent water, most people are chronically dehydrated. It is true that many people drink fluids throughout their day, yet they remain dehydrated. This happens when one consumes liquids that are diuretics.

Diuretics are substances that cause the body to excrete water. These include coffee, black tea, sodas and alcoholic beverages (particularly beer). When too many of these beverages are consumed, the body expels them quickly via urine and sweat. However, the body needs to retain enough purified fluids to maintain proper organ function, to remove toxins from the blood and to keep the skin moist. When water is low, toxins are not as easily processed or removed from the body and can begin recycling in the blood. This can cause pain, spasms and inflammation in the muscles.

Drinking eight to 10 glasses of pure or filtered water per day should bring you back to healthy levels within a few days. Some studies suggest people are habitually 2 quarts of water low. Others demonstrate that as long as your urine is clear, then your water levels are good. Start with counting how many glasses of water you consume, then check your urine. You will feel the difference and discover the levels you need.

Maintain Your Magnesium Levels
Magnesium is one of the essential minerals in the body that, when left unchecked, can lead to muscle pain, cramping, spasms and twitching. Magnesium helps all your organ systems function properly. Low levels of magnesium are a known cause of muscle pain. Most people need 300 mg to 400 mg of magnesium daily to help maintain proper functioning of the body. If supplementation is not your thing, then eating plenty of foods high in magnesium can do wonders. These include green leafy vegetables, whole grains and bran, soy beans, and pumpkin.

Here’s the scoop: Even if you get enough magnesium through diet or supplementation, your levels can still be decreased by internal causes. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), other gastrointestinal (GI) issues, diabetes, kidney disease or pancreatitis can be the cause of your decreased magnesium levels.

Maintain Your Potassium Levels

Like magnesium, potassium is essential to body function. When the body’s magnesium levels are low, they can negatively impact potassium levels. When potassium levels drop below 3.7 mEq/L, the body has what is known as hypokalemia, which causes one to become weak and feel fatigued and causes muscles to twitch and cramp. This is because potassium is necessary for nerve signals, muscle contractions and fluid balance.

Potassium is best ingested in natural food forms. It is found in fruits (most notably apricots, bananas, raisins and figs), wheat bran, wheat germ, dried fruits, mixed seeds, beans and vegetables. Most common cereals and breads are fortified with this mineral. If you think low potassium may be a cause of your muscle ailments, contact your local healthcare provider for the recommended blood screening.

Exercise And Stretch Every Day

Exercise is another simple thing that you can do every day to become healthier and prevent needless pain and inflammation. I know it is difficult to think about exercising when you are in pain. However, the main purpose of exercising for pain relief is to bolster blood flow. Even simple walking will help reduce your levels of muscle imbalances.

Walking for 30 minutes at an even pace, engaging in a simple stretching routine or participating in a yoga class will all help align the spine, keep the muscles supple and engender blood flow. When the blood is flowing well, a fresh supply of oxygen and nutrients move in the body, helping reduce pain and inflammation, repair the effects of stress and strain, and move toxins out of the body. Think of muscle spasms as stagnations of blood trapped in the tissue and causing pain.

Reduce Stress With Mind-Body Techniques

Do you rub your neck or low back constantly while at work or around certain people or events? This is stress making itself felt. Stress is a necessary part of life and of our survival. However, unhealthy stress can lead to excessive worry, anxiety, insomnia, improper breathing, muscle spasms and pain. While it is easy to suggest that you evaluate your life and remove all things and people that cause too much stress, this is not easily (or practically) done.

The good news is that there are quite a few simple mind-body techniques that can help reduce the effects and severity of stress. These include methods like biofeedback, mindful meditation, yoga, qigong, visualizations and hypnotherapy. Looking into some of these and putting them into daily practice will go a long way to reducing the negative effects of stress on the body.

Get A Good Night’s Sleep

Sleeping well is another essential element the body needs in order to repair and rebuild. Even with a diet rich in magnesium and potassium, plenty of water and exercise, and stress-reduction techniques, lack of ample deep sleep keeps the body from fully repairing itself. Sleeping at least seven hours in a position that will not cause you pain is necessary.

The secret to pain-free deep sleep is to set a standard sleep- and wake-time cycle. Not reading or drinking before bedtime also helps reduce insomnia and waking to urinate during the night. Sleeping on your back or on your side with a pillow between the knees will keep the spine in a supported position to decrease chances of pinched nerves or muscle spasms from poor sleep posture. The key is to get into the habit of regular sleep that allows you to wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day — not stiff, tired and anxious.

In Summary

While some of the issues that can cause us to experience acute and chronic muscle pain and inflammation are beyond our control, many of them are completely within our power to change. If you experience daily muscle discomfort, the best thing you can do to help yourself is to get into a pattern of caring for yourself. In other words, be nice to yourself by not doing the things that can cause you more pain or discomfort and by doing the simple things that will help reduce and prevent a painful body. The six things mentioned in this article are keys to less pain. Incorporating them into your daily life will help in many ways.

 

Babies are born pre-polluted with as many as 300 industrial chemicals in their bodies.

Personal care products found to increase diabetes risk by 60 percent in women

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 by: John Phillip

(NaturalNews) Would you continue to liberally apply personal care products including moisturizers, nail polishes, soaps, hair sprays and perfumes if you knew that your risk of developing diabetes was dramatically increased? Many healthy-minded individuals are aware of endocrine-disrupting synthetic chemicals known as phthalates that are commonly found in plastic toys, electronics and adhesives, but few understand how these dangerous compounds can leach through our skin from the application of a host of common sprays, polishes and cosmetics.

A team of researchers from the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has published the result of their work assessing the health dangers of phthalates in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. In the past, scientists have closely monitored how the ingestion of the petrochemical, BPH disrupts metabolic homeostasis to increase risk of digestive disorders and certain lines of cancer. Less research has been published to document how the chemicals in common household products pass through our skin and nails to increase risk of cancer and diabetes.

To conduct the study, researchers analyzed urinary concentrations of phthalates in 2,350 women who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They found that women with higher levels of phthalates in their urine were much more likely to have diabetes. Specifically, it was determined that women who had the highest levels of the chemicals mono-benzyl phthalate and mono-isobutyl phthalate had almost twice the risk of diabetes as compared to women with the lowest levels of those chemicals.

Synthetically produced personal care products disrupt homeostasis to promote metabolic dysfunction

The most startling finding in this research was that women with higher than average urine levels of mono-3-carboxypropyl phthalates (commonly found in soaps, cosmetics and skin care products) had approximately a 60 percent increased risk of diabetes. Women with moderately high levels of the chemicals mono-n-butyl phthalate and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (primarily from the application of hair spray and gas-propelled products) had approximately a 70 percent increased risk of diabetes.
The study leader, Dr.Tamarra James-Todd concluded "This is an important first step in exploring the connection between phthalates and diabetes... we know that in addition to being present in personal care products, phthalates also exist in certain types of medical devices and medication that is used to treat diabetes and this could also explain the higher level of phthalates in diabetic women."

We are under constant assault from a barrage of synthetic chemical compounds that have infiltrated many common household products and personal care items that are 'generally regarded as safe' by regulating authorities. This research only scratches the surface in an attempt to uncover the many health concerns surrounding many seemingly safe products that millions use every day. Always select products manufactured using natural ingredients and read product labels to avoid chemicals that are shown to dramatically increase risk of metabolic disorders and chronic illness.

Sources for this article include:
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1104717
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120713083103.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/247852.php

About the author:
John Phillip is a Health Researcher and Author who writes regularly on the cutting edge use of diet, lifestyle modifications and targeted supplementation to enhance and improve the quality and length of life. John is the author of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan', a comprehensive EBook explaining how to use Diet, Exercise, Mind and Targeted Supplementation to achieve your weight loss goal.  Visit My Optimal Health Resource to continue reading the latest health news updates, and to download your Free 48 page copy of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan'.

Did You Have ANY Idea this Happens at Fast Food Restaurants You Eat At?

Oh my gosh!  This is really disgusting but it is important to post and spread the word.  Even though I am very health conscious about ingredients and what I put on my skin and very alternative in health care, I hate to admit that years ago I developed an addiction for fast food drive-ins.  I do believe that they are putting something in the food to make people addicted.  It is fast and easy and when you are super busy it can become a habit very easily.  For some time, I feel like a slightly overweight person dying of "malnutrition".   If this doesn't cure my fast food addiction, I guess nothing will!  The key for me is planning meals so I know exactly what to buy at the grocery store and have a plan of what I am going to eat each day.  Because of our busy lifes, we never know from day to day what we are going to eat, then no food in the house, busy all the time and suddenly having low blood sugar and needing food fast.   

By Dr. Mercola

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at fast food restaurants? Fast-food insiders (i.e. former employees) reveal a slew of nasty secrets that may make you think twice about ever eating in one of these restaurants again …

Black Oil, Blood and “Melted” Chicken

The featured article has quite a few doozies, such as a former worker from Burger King who describes the restaurant’s oil rotation policy:¹

"Here is how the oil rotation went. You had four vats of oil that you cooked fries in. And boy did you cook fries. Tons of them. After about 2 days worth, the oil got too dark for fries. So we switched it over to the ones for chicken. Since it was darker, it was ok.
Then that goes on for a week. After a week of massive frying. The oil is black as motor oil. At that point, it's switched to the Fish Filet vat. That's the only thing you cook in that vat."

Another former worker, this one from McDonald’s, recalled what happened when a bag of chicken nuggets was left out on the counter for too long:

"They melted. Into a pool of liquid. I never understood why. But they were completely indiscernible as being the nuggets I once knew."

Other unsavory confessions revealed by these fast-food whistleblowers include:

• Large chunks of mold in ice-cream machines and ice dispensers (which are rarely cleaned)
• A worker continuing to handle food with an open, bleeding wound on her hand
• “Recycling” overcooked burgers into chili, or stripping chicken patties of their breading and passing it off as chicken salad

Startling discoveries like these are all too common when it comes to fast-food … it was several years back when 12-year-old middle schooler Jasmine Roberts won the science fair at her school when she discovered that the ice used in the drinks of fast food restaurants had more bacteria than the toilet water. And in 2010, nearly half of soda fountains at fast food restaurants tested were found to contain coliform (bacteria that grows in feces) while 11 percent also contained E. coli!²

And Then There’s the Food …

Even under the best circumstances, fast-food restaurants fail when it comes to your health.

Eating the food at nearly every fast food chain (except maybe Chipotle and a few other restaurants committed to sustainable, organic suppliers) means you are likely consuming feedlot animal meat – flesh that comes from animals raised in crowded unsanitary conditions, fed massive doses of antibiotics and unnatural "frankenfeed" full of GM crops and some other truly disturbing ingredients.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the decidedly unhealthy practices that go on at a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation). The problem begins at the massive CAFOs where the beef, chicken or pigs are fed genetically modified corn and soybeans and excessive grains in general (which are not the natural diet of these animals), along with the following almost unbelievable feed ingredients:

• Plastics -- for the many animals whose digestive systems need roughage to pass food through them, the CAFOs now use plastic pellets.
• Meat from members of the same species -- CAFOs turn farm animals into cannibals. Scientific research has linked this practice to the spread of both mad cow disease and avian bird flu.
• Manure and animal feces-- this can include cattle manure, swine waste, and poultry waste. It also includes wood, sand, rocks, dirt, sawdust and other non-food substances.
• Roxarsone -- more commonly known as arsenic, which until last year was put into chicken and pig feed to control intestinal parasites that might cause them to eat less and grow slower. Chicken litter (containing the arsenic that passes through the birds) is also collected from chicken CAFOs and fed to feedlot cattle, for some apparent reason that defies common sense.
• Animal byproducts -- categorized as "animal protein products," this includes rendered feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, internal organs, intestines, beaks and bones, dead horses, euthanized cats and dogs, and road kill.

Most Fast Food is a Mixture of Chemicals, Sugar, Flavoring and Salt …

From there, fast food is often nothing more than a slew of chemicals, sugar, high fructose corn syrup and salt … for instance, only about half of a Chicken McNugget is actual chicken. The rest is a mix of corn-derived fillers and additives (most likely genetically modified), along with a slew of synthetic chemicals, including:

• Dimethyl polysiloxane, a type of silicone with anti-foaming properties used in cosmetics and a variety of other goods like Silly Putty
• Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product with antioxidant properties

Even the seemingly healthy menu items are loaded with surprising additives like preservatives and inordinate amounts of sugar (in a salad, no less!). A burger or a chicken sandwich from a fast-food restaurant is not equal, nutritionally, to the equivalent you would make at home … nearly always the fast-food version will contain a staggering variety of additives, flavoring, coloring, and other chemicals that give it that “fast-food” flavor … For instance, even the hamburger buns used at McDonald’s, which you may think would be relatively “safe,” allegedly contain:³

• Calcium sulfate (aka Plaster of Paris) and calcium carbonate (limestone; antacid medication)
• High fructose corn syrup
• Ammonium chloride (Causes irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea)
• Calcium propionate (Preservative) and Sodium propionate (Mold inhibitor)
• Artificial flavors

Studies have shown that eating fast food just twice a week DOUBLES your risk of developing insulin resistance and can make you gain 10 pounds, compared to eating it just once a week, for example.⁴ Insulin resistance, as I've discussed on many occasions, is one of THE primary driving factors behind most of the diseases many currently struggle with, from diabetes to cancer and heart disease...

Three Tips for Breaking Free of the Fast-Food Trap

There is just no way around it -- if you want your family to be healthy, someone in your household, or someone you pay, must invest some time in the kitchen preparing your food from scratch, using fresh, whole ingredients. Avoiding processed, fast food requires a change in mindset, which is not always an easy task. It CAN be done, however. Rather than looking at fast foods as a convenience that tastes good or saves money, try thinking of it as:

• Extra calories that will harm your body
• A toxic concoction of synthetic chemicals and artificial flavors that will lead to disease
• A waste of your money
• Likely to lead to increased health care bills for you and your family
• Not something to give to children, whose bodies are still developing and in great need of nutrients

Your goal should be to strive for 90 percent non-processed, whole food. Not only will you enjoy the health benefits—especially if you buy mostly organic—but you'll also get the satisfaction of knowing exactly what you're putting into your body, and that in and of itself can be a great feeling. The following three tips can make it easier to eat well without resorting to fast food:

• Identify someone to prepare meals. Someone has to invest time in the kitchen to prepare your meals, or else you will succumb to costly and unhealthy fast food and convenience foods.
• Become resourceful: This is an area where your grandmother can be a wealth of information, as how to use up every morsel of food and stretch out a good meal was common knowledge to generations past. Seek to get back to the basics of cooking -- using the bones from a roast chicken to make stock for a pot of soup, extending a Sunday roast to use for weekday dinners, learning how to make hearty stews from inexpensive cuts of meat, using up leftovers and so on.
• Plan your meals: If you fail to plan you are planning to fail. This is essential, as you will need to be prepared for mealtimes in advance to be successful. Ideally this will involve scouting out your local farmer's markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and planning your meals accordingly. But, you can also use this same premise with supermarket sales or, even better, produce from your own vegetable garden.

You can generally plan a week of meals at a time, make sure you have all ingredients necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that dinner is easy to prepare if you're short on time in the evening.

References:

---

• ¹ Shine from Yahoo! July 9, 2012
• ² International Journal of Food Microbiology January 31, 2010, Volume 137, Issue 1, Pages 61–66
• ³ McDonald’s Ingredient Listing
• ⁴ Lancet. 2005 Jan 1-7;365(9453):36-42.