Is Your Food Safely Packed?

by | Apr 20, 2018 | General Health | 0 comments

Little do you know that the thin plastic wrap which is supposed to protect the fresh tomatoes you bought in the grocery can harbor nonintentionally added substances (NIAS), like reaction by-products and impurities.

A chemical analysis of plastic samples that came into contact with food showed that indeed, unidentified compounds were part of the samples.

The research team found proof that plastic food wraps, bags, clamshell containers and others drain substances that can harm people’s health “at very low levels.”

An online article in Choice.com supports this observation. It explains that plastic can have small molecules that can make its way into the food it ironically seeks to protect.

The article adds that plastic may contain polycarbonate, which in turn can release bisphenol A (BPA). Experts believe BPA can lead to serious health issues.

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Diet Soda Is Not a Healthier Alternative, Here’s Why

by | Mar 28, 2018 | General Health | 0 comments

Research suggests sugary beverages are to blame for about 183,000 deaths worldwide each year, including 133,000 diabetes deaths, 44,000 heart disease deaths and 6,000 cancer deaths. Even drinking one or more 250 ml (about 8 ounce) servings of soda per day raises your risk of Type 2 diabetes by 18 percent. Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a leading source of added sugar in the U.S. diet, with 6 in 10 youth and 5 in 10 adults drinking at least one such beverage on any given day.

Now the idea that diet soda is a healthier option than regular soda is one of the biggest prevailing myths in the nutrition realm today. If you’re one of the nearly half of U.S. adults who consume artificial sweeteners, mostly in the form of diet soda, daily (even one-quarter of kids do so as well), it’s important you’re let in on the truth: Drinking diet soda puts your health at risk of the following conditions…

Trina Felber – The Force Behind Primal Life Organics

by | Jul 23, 2014 | General Health | 0 comments

015Many of us are conscious about what we put in our bodies – but how much thought do you actually give to what you put on your body?

The fact of the matter is that our skin absorbs a huge percentage of everything we put on it – whether that’s soap,
antiperspirant, lotions or even make up.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Trina Felber. She has a business that produces make up using natural ingredients that are suitable for paleo, and low carb followers or in fact anyone who is mindful of their holistic health.

She wanted paleo friendly organic make up – which she couldn’t find already on the market so she set about making her own, and that led to primal life organics.

Mark: So what was it that got you into paleo in the first place?

Read Trina’s answer and full interview here

Managing Your Child’s Severe Food Allergies

by | Jun 9, 2014 | General Health | 0 comments

Allergy

An allergic reaction happens when the body’s immune system thinks something in a food (usually a protein) is harmful. Children are most likely to be allergic to peanuts and cow’s milk. But they can also be allergic to:

  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Shellfish
  • Tree Nuts
  • Wheat
  • Soy

Allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish are usually the most severe and last a lifetime. Your child may outgrow other food allergies.

Severe Food Allergy Symptoms

Your child is likely to have a reaction within a few minutes to an hour after eating a problem food. Symptom of a mild allergy include:

  • Hives
  • Rash
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Stomach pain
Symptoms of a severe allergy can include those listed above, as well as: 
  • Swelling of the lips, tongue, or throat
  • Trouble swallowing or breathing because of throat swelling
  • Shortness of breath or wheezing
  • Drop in blood pressure, causing dizziness and lightheadedness
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Chest pain

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Sugar-Sweetened Drinks Linked With High Blood Pressure

by | May 1, 2014 | General Health, Sugars | 0 comments

Soda Consuming lots of sugary drinks can expand your waistline, but you may not be aware of what it also might do to your blood pressure.

Sugar is added to many food products, but the largest source of added sugar we consume is in sugar-sweetened drinks.

Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages has been linked to obesity, high blood sugar, heart disease and kidney stones. Recently published researched found it was also associated with increased blood pressure and a greater risk for developing hypertension (high blood pressure).

Aaqib Habib Malik, MD, BSc, MPH, from the Department of Internal and Preventive Medicine at Griffin Hospital and the Connecticut Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center of Derby, Connecticut, and a team of researchers conducted this study.

The researchers analyzed 12 previously published studies that reported on the effects of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages on blood pressure. The studies included 409,707 people aged 12 years and older.

The studies showed a 26 to 70 percent increased risk of developing high blood pressure in people who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages compared to people who did not drink sugar-sweetened beverages.

One of the studies on teenagers found an 87 percent increase in risk of developing high blood pressure in those who drank sugar-sweetened beverages three or more times a day compared to teens who did not drink sugar-sweetened beverages.

High blood pressure was 16 to 60 percent more common in the group of people who consumed greater amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages than in people who did not drink these beverages.

The link between increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and hypertension was not dependent on age, and this link became stronger after 18 months of increased sugary beverage consumption.

A limitation of the analysis by Dr. Malik’s team was that it could only show an association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and blood pressure and not that sugar-sweetened beverages were the cause of the higher blood pressure.

The researchers explained the significance of small differences in blood pressure by saying that lowering the upper number in a blood pressure reading by two points can reduce stroke deaths by 10 percent. The upper number, called the systolic pressure, in a blood pressure reading measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats. A normal systolic pressure reading is less than 120.

“All 12 studies showed positive relation between increased [sugar-sweetened beverage] intake and hypertension,” the study’s authors wrote.

These authors put forth several theories of how sugar-sweetened beverages might increase blood pressure. Sugar-sweetened beverages can lower nitric oxide in the body, causing blood vessels to constrict and blood pressure to rise. Sugar-sweetened beverages can contain extra salt, and studies have also shown that people with increased sugar consumption also tend to eat more salt. Salt can cause changes in the body that raise blood pressure.

Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, from the Medical Advisory Board Member of the non-profit Nutritional Magnesium Association, commented, “A fascinating and little-known fact about sugar metabolism is that 28 molecules of magnesium are required to metabolize one molecule of sucrose (table sugar) and 56 molecules of magnesium are used up to metabolize one molecule of fructose (fruit sugar).

“When magnesium is diminished to that extent, the resulting magnesium deficiency can contribute to raising the blood pressure because magnesium is required to relax the muscles of the body, including the smooth muscles of the blood vessels. If there is tension in the smooth muscles of the blood vessels, then blood pressure rises,” Dr. Dean explained.

“Studies have shown that diets deficient in magnesium will produce hypertension — sugary drinks contribute to creating a magnesium deficiency in the body and and a corresponding rise in blood pressure. And 75 percent of Americans do not get nearly the [recommended daily allowance] of magnesium from their diets,” she said.

“Other studies have shown that increased levels of minerals such as potassium and magnesium in the diet have a suppressive effect on calcium-regulating hormones, which helps lower blood pressure,” she explained.

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4 Ways to Instill Healthy Eating Habits in Kids

by | Apr 9, 2014 | Sensible Eating | 0 comments

Mediterranean Kids are notoriously finicky, but it’s not entirely their fault. We humans are naturally inclined to dislike unfamiliar flavors. Imagine for a moment that you have to forage for food in the wild rather than at the Safeway. If you’ve eaten it before and lived to tell the tale, chances are good that it’s not poisonous. Eating some berry or mushroom you’ve never had before is considerably riskier. So, if your kids wrinkle their noses at new foods, it may just be a hold-over from the old poisonous berry days.

#1. Don’t Wait to Train Your Kids to Eat Healthy Foods

One tip is to have a house rule that kids have to try a new food on three different occasions before they decide they don’t like it. Often, as a food becomes more familiar, kids are less resistant to it. It also helps to introduce them to a wide variety of foods and flavors from an early age.

There’s no reason that small children need to eat a bland diet. Try adding a little curry powder to the tuna salad; toss some arugula in the macaroni-and-cheese; or try almond or cashew butter once in a while instead of peanut butter. Kids who learn to appreciate — or at least tolerate — a wider palette of flavors will be less put-off by a vegetable or herb with a strong or unfamiliar taste.

Now, if your kids are already older, that particular ship may have sailed. But all is not lost. There are still ways to get your kids to expand their repertoire to include, yes, even vegetables.

#2. Get Their Buy-in

Teaching kids about nutrition can make them more enthusiastic about eating healthy foods. As you’ve probably already figured out, just telling kids that sugar is bad for them doesn’t seem to hold much sway. But you can get them fired up about the fact that antioxidants neutralize “bad guy” free radicals, for example. Then, you can make a game out of guessing which vegetables have the most antioxidants.

You can find suggestions for how to teach your kids basic nutrition concepts with games and other fun activities, and find materials for improving nutrition programs in your school and community at TeamNutrition.usda.gov.

Kids are also much more likely to eat foods that they had a hand in bringing to the table. If your child is with you when you do the grocery shopping, let him or her pick out some fresh vegetables. Kids love farmer’s markets by the way — which also eliminates those arguments in the cereal and candy aisles. You know the ones I mean.

Most kids also enjoy cooking and are a lot more interested in eating things they made themselves. Teach your kids how to make a salad dressing from scratch and they’ll be more willing to eat their salad. (Here’s a quick video demonstration on how to make the perfect vinaigrette.) Or, let them thread vegetables onto a skewer for the grill and paint them with a marinade or some olive oil.

Perhaps the most effective way to get kids invested in a vegetable is to turn them into gardeners if possible. You want to see a kid excited about squash? Give them a corner of the vegetable garden and a packet of seeds. Beans, peas, and lettuce are particularly child-friendly because the time to harvest is relatively short. Kidsgardening.org has some great resources to help you introduce your kids to the pleasures and rewards of gardening.

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