Silvana Morelli, BScSilvana Morelli

As a retired registered massage therapist, I've always been interested in health.  I grew up loving sports so that carried into my adult life in my chosen career paths and in my personal life. I now stay active with weight training, hiking and biking. My professional life has always been in health care. This has inspired me to seek out and adopt a life of natural health and wellness.

The Connection Between Sleep Apnea and Lifestyle

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Obstructive sleep apnea is not a sleeping problem it is an obstruction in the airway that causes loss of sleep. The typical treatment is the use of CPAP machines. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure, so this means that air is forced into the airways to keep it open. What is happening behind the scenes with sleep apnea is a collapsing of the tissues in the back part of the sinus and throat area and it starts to atrophy. Atrophy is kind of a sagging or drooping of the tissue that can obstruct the breathing pathways and it can come from many different things. Some say it is caused by obesity but there’s plenty of thin people that have sleep apnea and a lot of overweight people that don’t have it so it’s not necessarily obesity. There could be some excess fat in the throat area, but we don’t normally accumulate fat in the back of the throat and sinus area.

Always consult with your healthcare practitioner first but there are some lifestyle changes that could have a positive impact on this condition. The first thing to tackle is a change in diet. You want to avoid milk and any milk products like ice cream, even cheese because dairy products will cause swelling in the throat and sinuses. Anything that creates inflammation will be a problem, so food allergies are a major issue. Sugar is a big problem because it will cause swelling of the different tissues because it is very inflammatory. Wheat or any other grains like bread, pasta, cereals, crackers, etc. can also be inflammatory. Removing dairy and wheat initially before doing anything else would be a good test to see if the sleep apnea clears up.

Seasonal allergies could be another contributing factor because your sinuses will clog up and of course there will be difficulty with breathing. If you have allergies, hives, asthma, or anything like that a good remedy to try would be royal jelly. Royal jelly is a milky secretion made by worker honeybees. It’s rich in carbs, protein, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. Royal jelly gets its name because it is used as food for the queen bee. Its composition varies depending on geography and climate. It is known to help neutralize allergies.

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High cortisol correlates with high stress. High cortisol can also shrink a nerve that’s connected to your brain stem, that goes to the back of the sinuses. So, one of the symptoms of high cortisol, or being on Prednisone, or Cortisol for different conditions is sleep apnea. If this is the problem then try using a supplement that supports cortisol to reduce inflammation, supports the adrenal glands, and helps to support the deeper causes to reduce inflammation.

If you have allergies year around then there could be a fungus growing in  the sinuses. This could be because there might be a history of antibiotic use, but it could also come from other things. So, if that’s the case then working on your gut biome to build up the good bacteria will help.

Another recommendation is apple cider vinegar because just by dropping the pH of your body just a little bit (a teaspoon and some water everyday) will instantly increase your oxygen carrying capacity through your body and therefore you will breathe better.

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One more thing you could try if you are having a hard time breathing at night is to have plants in the room because it will increase oxygen in the room which will help you breathe and sleep better.

The Hidden Cause of Neck and Shoulder Pain

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Have you been experiencing a lot of shoulder and neck pain that just won’t go away.  If anyone has experienced this, you know that it affects every part of your life because that pain is always there.  Of course, there are many reasons why this could be happening, and they should all be explored but did you know that this right-sided pain in your neck and shoulder could be from eating nuts and seeds?

If you consume too many nuts or seeds or nut butter it can be severely aggravating to the gallbladder and the ducts that connect to that gallbladder.  There is a nerve called the phrenic nerve that goes right through that gallbladder to the liver and connects to the shoulder, neck and up to the head. But this little nerve can be irritated down at the gall bladder trying to process the nuts and seeds that were consumed but will refer the pain to the neck and shoulder area.  Irritation of the phrenic nerve at the right shoulder and neck can cause the vertebrae to twist because there’s a spasm in that area.  So, you keep going to the chiropractor or physiotherapist to fix your neck and shoulder pain, but the problem persists because the problem is in the liver or gall bladder.

Why does this happen?

If you have a fatty liver or cirrhosis of the liver then then it cannot function properly causing a back up, if you will.   Also, you can have bile that is very thick and sludge-like, so the concentration of bile is not there to break down cholesterol.  This can cause a back up into the liver which causes irritation because bile is like a detergent causing inflammation in the liver and will cause pain in the right neck and shoulder.

If you’ve had your gallbladder removed, then it’s more likely that you will have a problem because now you just have a little duct that’s always going to be clogged especially if you overload it with too many nuts or oils. Other symptoms of gallbladder problems would be belching, headaches, burping, acid reflux, and bloating.

One way to determine if this is the problem is to press and hold for about a minute up underneath the right rib cage right over the gallbladder and if your neck loosens up then we know this is the problem.

Solutions

One of the solutions is to take purified bile salts to loosen things up and it will start to help drain the gall bladder.  If you start to feel better, you will know that there is a connection.

Some acupressure over the gallbladder will give a lot of relief. There is also another acupressure point that you can use on the left calf down by the ankle.

Changing your diet will have the greatest affect. One major culprit is unsaturated fatty acids as in omega-6 fatty acids like corn oil, canola oil, soy, cotton seed, etc.  Chemicals in foods will also cause this problem so to try to eat as much organic, unrefined foods as possible, including lots of vegetables.  Cutting back on refined carbs and excess fats will also help.  Increasing omega 3-fatty acids and fasting is also a good idea.

If you do eat nuts, try to limit the quantity, and try to eat roasted nuts. If you eat raw nuts, you will want to germinate them first. Soak raw seeds and nuts overnight then rinse well and dry them in the oven at about 150 degrees or in a dehydrator. Eating nuts and seeds after germinating them will cause less irritation in your gall bladder because when you germinate the seeds and nuts you release certain properties called enzyme inhibitors which basically help digest the nut. These enzyme inhibitors basically block the enzyme in raw nuts which prevents digestion.

 

 

 

5 Incredible Sugar Substitutes You’ll Wish You Discovered Sooner

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If you’ve been following family health advocacy for any amount of time you know that we’ve talked a lot about sugar and its numerous negative effects on the mind and body.  But anyone who loves or is addicted to sugar knows how hard it is to quit.  So, we thought it would help a lot of people if we talked about sugar substitutes that can ease you into reducing your total sugar intake.

Raw Honey

Pure, unadulterated, raw honey is not even technically a sugar, it’s more of a whole food. It contains a lot of different beneficial compounds like powerful antioxidants that can help eradicate free radicals. If substitute your sugar with raw honey, you can dramatically reduce the impact on your blood sugar levels. This is because raw honey is a lower glycemic which means it’s going to have a lower impact on your blood sugar. In general, that means it’s going to give you more of a gentle bell curve with your blood sugar levels and insulin spike versus a big giant sharp spike and drop off. There are some other benefits of raw honey other than the fact that it’s sweet and it tastes good like the fact that it contains bee pollen which has a lot of powerful properties.  Bee pollen can prevent allergies. If you are consuming local honey, you can help your allergies out by simply just consuming that honey because, in a way, it builds up an antibody or histamine blocker, if you will, towards that allergen. Raw honey also contains some electrolytes which can help restore the energy you’re lacking later in the day or after a workout.  When you consume honey, you restore your liver glycogen at a different rate than you would if it was just a simple refined sugar. This means you get all the benefits of restoring liver glycogen without the negative side effects.  The benefits being you’re simply going to help your serotonin levels. What happens is when you consume carbs and your liver glycogen fills up, it triggers the release of tryptophan. This tryptophan cascades and helps the production of serotonin which helps you relax and go to sleep.

Dolcedi

Dolcedi is not that popular so it may be harder to find. It is an apple nectar, and it averages between seven and nine on the glycemic index scale which is very low. There is not a lot of research on the benefits, but it is definitely sweet and a good sugar substitute.

Dates

The reason that dates are so good is simply because they are super high in fiber which means that in addition to getting the carbohydrate’s sweet benefits, it negates a lot of the negative impact by having a high amount of fiber, meaning your overall amount of net carbs is much less than if you were to just have pure sugar. But additionally, dates are high in potassium so if you are trying to restore muscle glycogen or restore yourself after a workout then they are a good option. Another benefit because of it’s high fiber content is bowel regulation.

Coconut sugar

Coconut sugar contains something called inulin.  Inulin is what is called a prebiotic fiber that is essentially the fertilizer for gut bacteria. We need that fertilizer for our gut bacteria to grow, flourish and to proliferate. So, coconut sugar containing inulin gives us one of the most powerful and one of the only natural sources of fiber that we can get to help our gut biome. Coconut sugar also has a large amount of magnesium and potassium.

Agave Nectar

Agave nectar comes from cactus and its benefits include being in the sweet spot on the glycemic index meaning it’s not so low that it’s barely going to have an impact but it’s not so high that it’s going to spike your blood sugar levels. So, it’s just enough to refill your muscles and liver but without having the negative implications. Agave nectar is used in a lot of different recipes because it is very easy for the body to break down and therefore much more bioavailable.  For those with inflammatory bowel disease, agave nectar can be easier to digest.

The Vitamin Deficiency that Mimics Dementia

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You may be noticing that you or someone you know is having difficulty remembering things, or feeling confused, perhaps having difficulty solving problems.  But did you know that these signs and symptoms of dementia may be due to a vitamin deficiency?

Vitamin B12

The most important vitamin for the brain that if you’re deficient in can create all sorts of cognitive problems is vitamin B12. The best source of B12 is from animal products so if you’re not consuming animal products you will likely be deficient unless you take it as a supplement. However, B12 is also made by microbes in your stomach. But if your stomach is lacking hydrochloric acid it (which happens as we age) then this will affect the microbes in the stomach which then will cause a B12 deficiency.  Taking an antacid can also decrease the hydrochloric acid in the stomach.  But you need strong hydrochloric acid to be able to absorb B12. One symptom of low hydrochloric acid is acid reflux.  This may seem counterintuitive because a lot of people reach for the antacid tablets if they have acid reflux when in fact, they should be working towards increasing the acidity in the stomach.  The reason for this is because when the stomach is low in its natural acidity it responds by overproducing it which leads to acid reflux.  But by taking an antacid to get rid of the acidity the body responds by trying to correct this problem and produces more.

B12 deficiency can also be caused by taking metformin which also causes a vitamin B1 deficiency. Studies show that when they gave participants B12 who are already deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, the B12 didn’t seem to work. But when they had enough omega-3 fatty acids then B12 worked very well. So, in other words, you need omega-3 fatty acids to allow B12 to work.

Medications

Another common cause of dementia are the side effects from medications.  Here is a list of some medications that are commonly linked to dementia:

  • antacids
  • bladder medications
  • sleep aids
  • antidepressants
  • medication for anxiety
  • cholesterol medication
  • blood pressure medications
  • corticosteroids
  • alcohol

If you’re starting to get dementia symptoms, and you’re on some of these medications, consult with your healthcare professional about the side effects. There are many instances where people are on one medication, but they have side effects from it, so they are put on another medication just to deal with the side effects of the original medication.  Eventually some people can be on multiple medications just to deal with the side effects of the other medications they are on.

Vitamin B1

There are several other important vitamin and mineral deficiencies that are related to dementia that you should be aware of. Vitamin B1 is a very common one especially with the area of the brain that’s involved with memory loss which is the hippocampus. Its not known exactly what it does, but they do know that when the hippocampus shrinks and has neurodegeneration or atrophy then you get Alzheimer’s. A vitamin B1 deficiency can cause damage to the hippocampus, and it can cause the same damage as a lack of oxygen. Vitamin B1 is also important as a cofactor in the metabolism of the mitochondria that generates energy for the brain. So, without vitamin B1 the nerves cannot work, and you literally starve off the fuel for the brain. The number one cause of a B1 deficiency is consuming too much sugar or carbohydrates. The more carbohydrates that you give the brain to run on then the more vitamin B1 you need.  Therefore, the high carb diets increase the demand for more B1 which creates more of a deficiency. As a result, the hippocampus starts to suffer and then you’re having problems with memory, locating things, confusion, or coming up with solutions to problems.

Zinc

Zinc is another key nutrient involved with hippocampus. If there is a zinc deficiency you tend to develop amyloid plaques in the brain which you see in Alzheimer’s. How do you become zinc deficient? Probably because you’re consuming too much sugar or carbs but also because of something called Phytic acid, which is found in the grains, breads, pastas, crackers etc.  Phytic acid blocks zinc which can then cause the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Vitamin D

If you’re deficient vitamin D which most the population is, you can go from a mild form of dementia to a severe form of dementia a lot faster. So, vitamin D slows the process of developing damage in your brain.  Of course, vitamin D comes from the sun, it’s very difficult to get if from food but it’s found in fatty fish, dairy, cod liver oil, and mushrooms but not to a large degree.

Recommendations

So, if you have symptoms of dementia then getting on a Keto diet with fasting is one of the healthiest things you can do because running the brain on ketones will bypass the damage in the hippocampus and feed the neurons directly in a different way. This will slow down the degeneration of the brain.  Also, eating fatty fish will give you the zinc and omega-3 fatty acids that the brain needs. Eating red meat will give you the B12 that you need. As for your stomach, if it’s low in the acids it requires, then a very good remedy is betaine hydrochloride. Taking 5 right before a meal will slowly start building up the acids in the stomach as well as allow the absorption of B12.

The #1 Thing People Get Wrong About Salt

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For the longest time sodium has been given a bad rap.  So many products advertise as low sodium because somewhere along the way we’ve been told that sodium is bad for us. But let’s take a deeper look at this because only one study showed any relationship between high blood pressure and consuming sodium, and it was called the dash sodium study.  This study didn’t highlight the fact that they also lowered the sugar in the participant’s diets which is what really resulted in the lower blood pressure more than the salt. Even a recent study that involved 6000 people showed that there is no strong evidence in relationship between eating salt or sodium and increasing blood pressure. Why would that be? Simply because sodium is an essential mineral which means it’s necessary for survival. But you need to have it the right amounts and we need about 1000 milligrams a day that’s probably 1/4 teaspoon a day of salt. We must understand that salt is sodium chloride not just sodium. About half of that sodium chloride is sodium so you need a little bit more salt than you do sodium. We need this sodium to regulate our heart, our fluids, it acts like an electrolyte that allows the balance of fluid and it controls the volume of fluid through our body. It works with other minerals to maintain that balance and without that essential mineral we would have all sorts of problems with our muscles, our heart,  and our brain.

Low Sodium

Low sodium in the blood leads to a condition called hyponatremia.  This is simply low sodium in the blood due to drinking lots of water and very little salt. When we don’t eat salt and drink lot of water, we are just flushing out the electrolytes. The end result is very low sodium in the blood which could lead to a lot of heart problems, swelling in the brain, or even death. So how do we know if we need sodium? Quite simply if you crave salt then you need it.

Too Much Sodium

If there is fluid retention in the legs, fingers, or body there’s probably too much sodium in the body. But instead of reducing sodium, it’s much more important to raise the other electrolyte that works with sodium and that is potassium. We need about four times the amount of potassium than we do sodium. The best source of potassium is vegetables, and you need about 7 to 9 cups of vegetables daily to get the potassium to balance out the sodium. The average person consumes about 3400 milligrams of sodium and only 1000 milligrams of potassium, so their ratios are off which leads to fluid retention.

What to Avoid

There are a lot of hidden salts like MSG – monosodium glutamate in fast foods and ready made or canned foods. These are the kind of salts to avoid.  Also, eating sugar depletes potassium and retains sodium.  That’s why you can gain a pound of water after consuming some sugar. So, again, it’s the junk food, MSG that that increases the sodium.

It’s not a good idea to consume one mineral by itself but instead you want to consume it in a complex like sea salt versus just taking sodium.

Adrenal Burn Out

If your adrenal glands are burnt out, you’re not going to have the hormones like aldosterone or the mineral corticoids which are hormones that regulate minerals, specifically, salt and potassium. When the adrenal glands are burnt out you lose salt and therefore crave it.  For example, you get home and you’re burnt out you’re tired and you’re craving salt, so you consume something salty. Then what would likely happen is that you’ll crave some sweet and some salt together because people that are low in minerals also have low blood sugar issues. The likely source of these cravings and low blood sugar problems is adrenal gland burn out.

Type of Salt

The best is Himalayan salt because its source is from a mountaintop which used to be an ocean a long time ago. It’s the most pure, unpolluted sea salt. You want to try to avoid getting the sea salt that is in the current environment because there is a lot of sewage and chemicals in it. There is also black Himalayan salt which is high in sulfur. But it tastes like eggs because of the high sulfur content so it may not appeal to everyone. However, sulfur is very good for the liver and skin because it’s a detoxifying mineral.

Think you are feeding your kids healthy food? Think again

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We all know that eating junk food is not healthy for us or our kids.  So, we all strive to eat healthy and that includes feeding healthy foods to our kids.  But there are some foods that are advertised as healthy, full of vitamins and nutrients, when in actuality, they are just junk. These so-called healthy foods will not only lead kids to becoming overweight, but a number of other health issues could follow down the road.

Juice

Perhaps the most common misconception is that juice is healthy for kids.  Parents will pack their kids’ lunch with orange juice, grapefruit juice etc., thinking that it is packed full of vitamins.  But unfortunately, it is just pure sugar. The high sugar content will raise their blood sugars so high that it’s even worse than drinking a soda. This is setting the stage for a cycle of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) in the future. This cycle of spiking blood sugars and subsequent blood sugar crashes is just going to harm the pancreas and it’s going to deplete a lot of nutrition from the body. It will likely also lead to dental problems.  You might be thinking that orange juice is good because it has vitamin C. Unfortunately, there is no vitamin C in orange juice because all of these juices are pasteurized which means they are heated which kills everything in it including all of the vitamin C. The only vitamin C in orange juice is the stuff they add later but it’s synthetic. So, essentially, kids are just drinking sugar water and it’s going to create problems down the road with hyper irritability, ADD, ADHD and so on.  One substitute you can try is carbonated water with flavoured stevia.  Stevia comes in different flavours like root beer, lemon, fruit berry.  Just take 10 drops of liquid stevia and add it to carbonated water and kids will think they’re drinking soda but there is no sugar.

Flavored yogurt

Plain yogurt has 10 grams of sugar per serving!  Flavored yogurt has about 38 grams of sugar per serving size. So, in one of the large tubs of yogurt, for example, there’s probably 4 servings which means that’s 38 x 4 times the amount of sugar.  Yogurt is another one of those foods that is advertised as healthy, and they package them so that it’s easy and portable to pack in a kid’s lunch.  But there’s so much hidden sugar in yogurt.

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Nutritional Shakes

You may have a child who is underweight so naturally you would think that the nutritional shakes like Pedia-sure or Ensure that are supposed to be loaded with vitamins and calories for weight gain are healthy.  Well, this is another item that is just loaded with tons of sugar. The first ingredient is sugar, and all the vitamins are synthetic so you’re really not getting the real deal. If you want your child to gain weight the best foods to give your child are things like potatoes such as red potatoes, yams, or sweet potatoes.  Try to avoid the nutritional shakes because they’re not going to gain weight in a healthy way.

Whole grain Cereal

Firstly, most of the whole grain is made from flour that’s been sitting on a shelf for about six months. When you grind the grain, you lose a lot of nutrition right away and anything that is refined grain like breads, pasta, cereal, crackers, biscuits, waffles, pancakes, etc., should only be consumed in very small amounts. In large amounts, like you see with pasta dinners, it will lead to the child’s insulin being raised which leads to obesity and whole host of other health problems down the road. Instead of grains try proteins and vegetables that the kids like, fruits, nuts and seeds.

Minimizing grains and the other foods mentioned above can be very difficult especially when you have more then one child in an already busy household.  But there are a lot of great resources for recipes that incorporate vegetables and other healthy, nutritious substitutes into foods that your kids will eat.  Here is just one example https://www.freshstartnutrition.com/kid-friendly-ways-to-sneak-in-more-veggies/

 

 

 

Detoxify Your Body Just With Food

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Let’s talk about how to detoxify thousands of toxic chemicals out of your body but doing it in a way that’s very safe. There are many chemicals in our environment like Bisphenol A, PCB’s, heavy metals, certain toxic plastics, and biosolids. What you may not realize is biosolids are treated sewage sludge. It’s very interesting how certain groups use public relations to make something that is normally harmful to the environment sound as though it’s good for you. They came up with this new term ‘biosolids’ and actually redefined treated sewage sludge as a’ nutrient rich organic by-product’. Biosolids contain over 60,000 toxic substances. This is the stuff that exits your toilet, and it goes right into a sewage treatment plant where they are processing this material and actually selling it as an ingredient in your pet food, animal feeds, and in fertilizer. There’s at least 80,000, probably hundreds of thousands of different poisons or toxins called xenobiotics that we are exposed to on a daily basis.

Our bodies have a defense mechanism for these toxins.  It is a series of detoxification pathways that will turn these poisons into harmless particles which is then eliminated through our waste and urine.  This is called biotransformation, where you have these very powerful enzymes called cytochrome P-450 enzymes that are meant to breakdown all these poisons and keep us healthy. So, what should you be doing or eating to keep these toxins from causing disease?

Cruciferous Vegetables

There is a really interesting book called The International Agency of Research on Cancer by the World Health Organization, and it talks about cruciferous vegetables and their ability to induce biotransformation. If there is one thing you should be consuming on a regular basis it’s cruciferous vegetables like kale, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, arugula, and bok choy.

Bile salts

Your body makes its own bile, but you can also take a bile supplement. This is very important because anytime you do a detox you should always start by taking bile salts for a few days and then do a detox because taking purified bile salts helps to start the flow through the liver. When you start to detoxify you start killing off certain pathogens that release endotoxins that then shut down the bile ducts. That’s why you might feel toxic from detoxifying.  So, bile salts help you eliminate xenobiotics naturally. The chemicals from your liver should be coming out with the help of bile salts. Also, the microbes in your gut help you detoxify, and they also have the ability to make this cytochrome P-450 enzyme to help you breakdown these poisons. One recommendation is to combine cruciferous vegetables with probiotics.  For example, if you were to take a prebiotic that has fiber as in cabbage and fermented it into sauerkraut then it is not just cruciferous but it’s a prebiotic and a probiotic. So, sauerkraut is a great food to help you detoxify.  The great thing about doing this with food is it happens slowly so you don’t really feel it. There’s many other different vegetables and herbs that will help you detoxify such as garlic, rosemary, thyme and clove. All of these have the enzyme cytochrome P-450.

Fasting

Another thing to make note of is that a lot of these chemicals create a lot of free radical damage in the body but the foods that you eat have antioxidants. However, your body also makes antioxidants called endogenous antioxidants. This is especially true when you fast. When you’re fasting you are putting your body into state of autophagy which not only accelerates repairing the damage in the body but also the clearing out of pathogens. Fasting will help increase your endogenous antioxidant networks so you will have a lot more antioxidants. Not to mention your immune system will be stronger and the body will resist the stress from the free radical damage.

Read labels

Certified organic foods do not contain biosolids so it would be best to try and eat as much organic food as possible.  It would also be a good idea to make sure when you buy pet food that you read the ingredients to make sure it does not have what’s called “nutrient rich organic by-products” because it sounds like it’s really healthy but it’s not because it’s just another name for biosolids.

Fake Food Secrets Exposed! Here’s the Juicy Details

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It may surprise you to know that most people live on a diet that is comprised of mostly fake foods. This could come as a surprise because the differences between real food and fake food can be very subtle, and often confusing. Knowing this, is it any wonder why there is a link between our diet and chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and some cancer?

You may also be wondering why fake food even exists. There are many factors that contributed to the production of fake food. After World War 2 chemical agriculture grew in response to starvation and hunger, replacing natural organic methods of farming with fertilizers and pesticides. Supermarkets replaced butchers, bakers and farmers and canned and packaged foods predominated.

Farming practices changed dramatically which affected food production and now 10 companies now control the overall food supply some of which are Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Kraft, Unilever, General Mills, Nestle, Mars, Kellogg, Proctor & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson.

In some areas of the world affected by climate, war or other factors, the consumption of fake food has increased by more than 95 percent.

Here is a list of some fake foods that might surprise you.

Fake Steak

Some restaurants and caterers used pieces of meat that have been glued together with something called meat glue. The glue is called transglutaminase. There are a couple of problems with this glue. First, they must re-handle the meat so there is increased risk of adding more bacteria to the meat. Secondly, they don’t have to actually tell you the process of how they make this glue. Originally it came from blood plasma from either a cow or pig and then they combine that with certain things like bacteria. But then they evolved to just fermenting a bacteria to make these enzymes that make this glue. But the problem in all of this is that they are not very transparent. You don’t really know how they’re making it. If you are eating anywhere where there’s bulk filet mignon, you might want to ask them if they use meat glue.

Parmesan Cheese

Unfortunately, most parmesan cheese does not come from Parma Italy. Most parmesan cheese is made with a mixture of cheap cheeses like cheddar cheese or powdered mozzarella cheese with added cellulose, and a mold inhibitor. What is even worse is the FDA makes it legal to sell this fake parmesan cheese and that is because the cellulose is from natural sources.  This source is wood pulp, and it is between 4 to 20% of the ingredients. So, one-fifth of the product is wood.

Crab sticks

Imitation crab meat has another name- surimi. They take random fish flesh or fish leftovers and add some starch whether it’s from potato, wheat, corn, tapioca and mix that with some MSG to add flavoring.  Then they have to add crab flavoring because it doesn’t taste like crab and some protein but that protein is either egg white protein or soy protein. They also put some sugar in like sorbitol and some soy oil or other vegetable oils. Then they sprinkle a little sodium benzoate as a preservative to make it last longer. Then of course they add colouring to make it look like crab.

Fake tuna

Precooked canned tuna or even packaged tuna is another to look out for. One company that did some investigation into this found that 21% of the companies they found did not contain actual tuna. It was mislabeled. Instead of having tuna they had another fish called escuela. This fish is also known as butterfish or oil fish. It was banned in Japan from 1977 because they said it was too toxic. They even have a name for it, “ex-lax fish” because of the side effects of diarrhea or anal leakage. If you see your tuna looking extremely white, almost opaque white, then it is not tuna.

Extra virgin olive oil

80% of extra virgin olive oil is not extra virgin. Extra virgin means it’s processed very quickly and cold pressed.  It’s a high-quality process so it has more antioxidants and when you consume it, it has a completely different taste and smell. It has a fresh smell and a taste that gives you a little tickle in the back of your throat. In the fake EVOO they add canola or just a blend of other oils so it is rancid, cooked, and heated.  It does not have the vital nutrients that real extra virgin olive oil has.

Maple syrup

Most maple syrups that you buy is either made from dark brown sugar or refined white sugar with maple syrup flavoring and artificial colorings. Some are even made with high fructose corn syrup. Because these ingredients don’t have the natural antioxidants as a preservative, they have to add preservatives like sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid to prevent this syrup from spoiling.

Truffle oil

Truffle oil comes from a very expensive mushroom. Instead, they use a flavoring molecule to make some other ingredients taste like truffle oil. They use this in restaurants a lot because it is a way to save money.

Powdered instant coffee

Some of the blended ingredients include cereal, caramel, starch, malt and figs. In addition, instant coffee has something called acrylamide that is a potentially very harmful chemical. This chemical is created when the beans are roasted. Instant coffee has more than double the amount as other types of coffee. It can affect the nervous system and increase the risk of cancer if you are consuming it regularly.

Wasabi

The vast majority of wasabi in the US is simply a mixture of horseradish, hot mustard, and green dye. It doesn’t actually come from the wasabi plant.  A report showed that up to 95% of the wasabi sold is not real wasabi. This is because wasabi is very difficult to grow and it’s extremely expensive. Also, when you take fresh wasabi and pulverize it, it only lasts for about 15 minutes meaning it loses its flavor. So, horseradish is used because it lasts a lot longer.

Commercial guacamole

The impostors are made with skim milk vegetable oil, water, emulsified egg yolks and a slew of gums and gels. It’s even created with isolated soy protein.  Of course, to make it look green they add food dye. Some commercial guacamole only has 2% avocado!

9 Triggers of Inflammation You Need to Know

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inflammation, foods that cause inflammation, bladder inflammation, heart inflammation, what is inflammation, how to reduce inflammation in the body fast, inflammation diet

There are many reasons why inflammation should be a concern but most importantly we should note that cancer tends to travel and migrate to areas of inflammation.  Also, if you’re in an inflammatory state you will have a histamine reaction and too much histamine in the body will cause fatigue.  Other symptoms of too much histamine are mucus build up and congestion.  Thankfully there are all sorts of things that you can do to reduce inflammation.  But first we should identify the triggers so let’s look some things that can cause inflammation.

Food allergies

The most obvious trigger is when you eat something you’re allergic to and you become inflamed which is usually in the gut.  What’s very interesting is that certain parts of your body could be allergic to certain things but not other parts. Some examples of conditions of inflammation of the gut are colitis and diverticulitis. The most common food triggers are dairy, nuts.

Insulin resistance

When you have this condition, you’re going to have higher levels of inflammation, stiffness, and pain in your body, especially in your joints.  Insulin resistance is the result of eating too much sugar which is highly inflammatory. You may say that you don’t eat sugar, but we must be aware of the hidden sugars like in juice, bread, pasta, cereal, and sweeteners. All of these can potentially cause a lot of inflammation and it’s the most common reason why people are inflamed.  In fact, as soon as they change their diet inflammation goes away.

Cortisol

Cortisol is normally an anti-inflammatory hormone produced by the outer portion of the adrenal glands.   But when you have lower amounts of cortisol, for example, cortisol resistance, and you have a situation where it’s low in certain parts but high in others or you run out of cortisol because you have adrenal fatigue you can develop inflammatory conditions. There’s a condition called Addison’s disease where the person has inflammation everywhere in their body.  People with this condition must take a steroid like Prednisone which is basically a synthetic version of cortisol.  There are so many inflammatory conditions such as autoimmune diseases, skin problems, arthritis that basically involve low cortisol. If you have low cortisol levels the goal is to strengthen the adrenals.  A natural cortisol replacement is licorice root.

Old injuries

If you have an old injury whether it’s a sprained ankle, a fall on the tailbone, breaking a bone or any other injuries it can come back to haunt you.  You may notice low grade stiffness and inflammation happening especially in the joints because it’s been damaged and potentially not a lot of circulation to the area.  However intermittent fasting can greatly reduce inflammation even from old injuries.

Infection

Inflammation will occur with infections because it’s part of the immune response. You could have an overgrowth of yeast or candida, viruses in certain parts of the body, bacterial infections, and overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria. Even an infection from a damaged tooth can leak bacteria into the body and go to the heart and settle there.  So, you can develop all sorts of inflammatory conditions in different parts of the body which is why it’s important to start clearing out the old infection from the body.  Of course, you want to avoid the sugar that feeds it. These infections are very common but it’s a low-grade infection that’s not showing up as a as a major problem but it’s a hidden infection and the major symptom you’re going to notice is fatigue.

Oxidants

These could be many things from too much sugar to junk food, or alcohol. But let’s look at free iron. Free iron is very corrosive and oxidative in the body. It can go to the brain to destroy and oxidize. It oxidizes the arteries and basically creates a rusting effect.  The body’s response is to repair it with calcium and cholesterol which is called plaque. This happens is the brain, the heart, and other places. But oxidants can create an inflammatory condition because this is the body’s immune reaction.  By the way, microbes, both good and bad, eat iron which is a good thing.  But when you have inflammation, the body starts to hide and pull the iron in for itself as a survival mechanism so the pathogens can’t eat it. As a result, you could have this sudden drop of iron that can cause even anemia. So anytime you have too much iron, you’re going to have more infection, more oxidants, and more problems. So how would you be exposed to iron?  The number one way would be to a supplement and there’s all kinds of low-quality supplements that are the wrong kind of iron.  Ideally you want to get iron from grass-fed liver extract that comes as a pill or powder or grass-fed spleen extract.  These sources have bound iron not free iron called elemental iron which you want to stay away from.  Also, elemental iron is found in wheat products because they enrich the wheat with elemental iron.

Alcohol and junk food

It goes without saying that alcohol and junk food will create damage to the body and create inflammation and damage the liver.

Omega-6 fatty Acids

Things like soy and corn oil are highly inflammatory so you want to avoid foods high in Omega-6 fatty acids.

Raw nuts and seeds

Raw nuts and raw seeds have enzyme inhibitors which tend to create a problem with digestion especially in the gallbladder.  When you consume too many nuts, especially if they’re not germinated or soaked in water overnight, cleaned up and dried out then you’re going to have more irritation and inflammation.  This is not true for everybody but for some people it can be a problem.

 

The Frightening Affect of Cell Phones on Kids

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cell phones, EMF Radiation, how do I protect myself from EMF radiation exposure?, what are the health effects of EMI radiation, what causes EMF radiation, what is EMF radiation

It’s no surprise that most people in the developed world have a cell phone or some type of device and that number keeps growing. It’s no wonder that these devices are having harmful affects on kids. Experts suggest that tablets and smartphones can have an impact on children’s social and emotional development. A study done in 2016 involving 1240 parents found that 50% of teens felt addicted to their smartphone.  59% of parents believe that their kids were addicted to their devices. 77% of parents feel their kids get distracted and lose attention.  72% of teens feel they need to respond to texts/social media immediately.  78% of teens check their devices at least hourly.

Physical Changes

When someone is looking down at their phone, their spine angle is equivalent to that of an 8-year-old child sitting on their neck which is fairly significant considering that people spend an average of 4.7 hours a day looking at their phone.  This combined with the length of time spent in front of computers has led to increase in the prevalence of myopia or near-sightedness in North America.  In the 1970’s about ¼ of the population had myopia whereas today nearly half of the population does.  In some parts of Asia, 80-90% of the population has myopia.

Addiction

Cell phone addictions are similar to drug addictions in that they do influence the size and shape of the brain, particularly in the area of the brain called the grey matter.  The insular and the temporal cortex, which is involved with emotion, speech, hearing, sight, memory, and self control are affected. When playing games, one achieves small goals causing their brain to be rewarded with small bursts of dopamine and winning more games is rewarded with more content.  This novelty also gives bursts of dopamine and together creates what is known as a compulsion loop which happens to be the same loop responsible for the behaviours associated with nicotine and cocaine.  Our brains are hardwired to make us novelty seeking.  This is why apps on our phones are designed to constantly provide us with new content making them hard to put down.  As a result, 93% of young people aged 18 – 29 reports using their phone as a tool to avoid boredom as opposed to other activities like reading a book or engaging with people around them.  This has created a new term called no mobile phobia – the fear or anxiety of being without your phone.

Changes in the Brain

We also see a change in brain patterns.  Alpha rhythms are commonly associated with wakeful relaxation, like when your mind wanders off.  Whereas gamma waves are associated with conscious attentiveness.  Experiments have shown that when a cell phone is transmitting, like during a phone call, the power of the alpha waves is significantly boosted, meaning phone transmissions can change the way our brain functions.

Sleep Disruption

Cell phones can also disrupt your sleep.  A lot of people experience insomnia and fatigue because of cell phone use.  Blue light from these devices affects melatonin levels which will affect sleep.  Blue light will also affect the circadian rhythm and therefore negatively affect your sleep.  This lack of sleep has been linked to diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

EMF Radiation

EMF radiation affects the brain and heart mainly, but it affects other areas of the body as well.  It can even affect fertility.  The problem, at this time, is that there is not a lot of safety testing.

How can we reduce the effects of EMF?

  1. Avoid contact with your brain. Try not to hold the phone up to your head.  You can use anti-radiation air tube headphones with a microphone and also use the speaker phone as much as possible.
  2. Don’t use your phone 2-3 hours before bed.
  3. Get EMF protection case to limit the amount of EMF exposure.

Check out this in depth list of preventative measures https://familyhealthadvocacy.com/emf-radiation/