Gemma Calzada nutritionist :: Food

If your children don’t like vegetables…

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada Roca) — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 18:43:00 +0100

Most of the the kids don’t like vegetables. In this post you will find some ideas about how to make vegetables more appetising, or hide them in other dishes, or how to provide the same nutrition in other ways.

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In this post you will find several ways that you can try to make you kids eat vegetables: a veggie tomato sauce, a Russian salad, a gratin of vegetables, potato cakes, vegetable spaghetti, vegetable chips, stuffing them in a lasagna, hiding them in an omelette, topping a pizza, filling spring rolls, breading the vegetables, etc.
But neither of these tricks work, then don’t worry. There are two more solutions:
1) Replacing the nutrients of vegetables with supplements. This option is not my favorite, I would only recommend it if the next one is not either successful.
2) Feeding them fruits.
Fruits provide similar nutrients as vegetables do; all the needs in vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytochemicals, antioxidants and organic water can be fulfilled with fruits. It is true that vegetables have a higher concentration of minerals, but we don’t need such a large amount of minerals.
And don’t worry about the sugar of fruits. The main sugar in fruits is fructose, and the metabolic pathway of fructose doesn’t involve insulin, so it won’t lead to spikes in blood sugars (hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia) and consequently the spikes of insulin that sugar does. Another reason is that sugars contained in fruits are accompanied with fiber that slows down its absorption. In fact, many studies suggest that fresh fruits reduce the risk of diabetes.
Try to give the fruits before meals, because fruits are digested quicker than the rest of the food, so we prevent that fruits get blocked in the gut waiting for other food to be broken down and avoiding the risk of becoming gassy.
It is even better if fruits are eaten alone, for breakfast or snack for example, and you can even prepare a whole meal of just fruits, it’s perfectly fine.
Next time your child refuses the vegetables in a plate, give him/her a piece of fruit.

The main error in nutrition

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada Roca) — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 07:24:00 +0100

The main error in nutrition is making nutritionism the base to determine the best way of nourishing our body. I think that the guide we should take as a reference should be grounded in food, and not in their nutrients.

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Nutritionism is the study of the nutrients contained in food. Wikipedia says, “Nutritionism is a paradigm that assumes that it is the scientifically identified nutrients in foods that determine the value of individual food stuffs in the diet. In other words, it is the idea that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components.”
The implications of this approach are:

Only the persons that have studies about nutritionism know how to properly feed ourselves. Then, it considers that anybody who has not a profound knowledge about this subject is unable to discern what is good to eat.
Human nutritional sciences are university studies that include subjects such as human anatomy and physiology, biology, biochemistry, microbiology, psychology, toxicology, pharmacology, statistics, pathology, food quality and analysis, dietetics, food processing and biotechnology, environmental studies, marketing, sanitary and food legislation, among others. It is then considered that it is needed at least 3 years of studies on science of a high level of difficulty in order to know about correct nutrition.

Nutritionism has reach a point in our occidental world that we believe that the reason we must eat certain food is because it contains certain nutrients that are needed for certain parts of our body: milk because contains calcium for our bones; meat and fish because of the proteins for our muscles; blue fish for the omega 3 for our brain; carrots for the vitamin A for eyes; oranges for the vitamine C to strengthen our immune system; and the list goes on; there are many myths about food. That way, they can justify the reason why we must have any kind of product: coffee, chocolate and wine because the antioxydants they contain; soy because the phytoestrogens for women in menopause; artichoke to detoxify the liver… and they can sell yogurts to us for regulating the level of cholesterol; cereals fortified with vitamins and minerals for the children to grow strong; whole bread and biscuits for the bowel movements; sweeteners such as saccharine to loose weight; and any kind of food supplements of vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. But they don’t take into account the harmful substances for our health that these products contain: the caffein of coffee, the theobromine of chocolate, the alcohol of wine, the goitrogens and other anti-nutrients of soy; and that any kind of product destined to a specific health problem is, in fact, a drug, and therefore, producing side effects.
Observing nature, we realise that the animals know perfectly what is their best food for them and they enjoy a perfect health, if they have not been exposed to processed food, as pets do eat. Wild animals don’t need to study a long and complex degree in order to learn how to be nourished; they simply follow their instincts. Then, could we, humans, do the same, this is, follow our instincts? Yes, but in a very special conditions, which are never met in the occidental world:
The same way as wild animals, we should have at our availability natural food, so we could only choose among the ones found in nature in their pure state.

Food should not have been processed in any way: neither cooking, nor grounded, nor extracted from other food such as oil or sugar, nor frozen, etc.
Food should not have been modified in any way. Nowadays, most of the fruits and vegetables have been modified, either by artificial selection, or by hybridisation or genetically. For instance, current banana is very different to the wild one, the original banana had very big seeds inside; nectarine is a hybridisation of peach and plum; and most of corn and soy are genetically modified organisms.
We should have never eaten any of this processed or modified food. Once we have tried it, our taste is disrupted and we can not trust our instincts anymore. For example, once we have had a sugary product, we don’t really appreciate the sweetness of fruit in the same way; if we add salt or pepper to certain food then we don’t like it without condiments.

Since we are babies we are given processed or modified food, so nobody can trust their instincts.
Supposing that adult humans need to take milk for their bones while any adult animal drinks milk, nor need to have it, is a mystery… how can be explained, according to the theory of nutritionism, that gorillas or elephants have such strong bones if they don’t drink milk? How can herbivores develop muscles if they don’t eat any protein rich food; how can a gacela run so fast? From where carnivores extract their vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc., if they don’t eat vegetables? The answer is that is not needed to ingest a high amount of a certain nutrient in order to satisfy its needs. Carnivores get all the minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, fatty acids and proteins from fish or meat. Herbivores get all the nutrients from vegetables. The same applies to frugivores, granivores, etc. In order to obtain all the nutrients, humans don’t need to be omnivores and eat all kind of food. Every species simply has to be fed with the adequate food for that species. Why humans should be different? If we calculate according to the theory of nutrients, numbers does not match.
Like medicine, the present nutrition has a materialistic vision of the humans and food; they are studied like a car, mechanically, divided in parts and components. But humans and food are living beings, much more complex than a machine. We don’t only have a physical part, but also an emotional one, which has been found even in plants. And to believers, we have an spiritual part as well. We can study every part separately, so it is easier to study, but just at a theoretical level, and we will marvel at the perfection of living beings; but we will never succeed to completely understand their functioning.
We will get much more information if we study living beings as a whole, in a holistic approach, observing their behaviour in natural environment. In nutrition matter, we can get to know the answer to the main questions that are raised in this matter - what kind of food constitute human nutrition - simply looking at animals in nature.
We observe that there are herbivores, carnivores, frugivores, granivores and insectivores. Which category does the human fall? If we compare humans from the anatomic and physiological point of view, it is obvious that we are more similar to primates, which are frugivores - they feed on fruit. Yes, we can eat a large variety of other food if fruit is scarce, this is why it is said that we are omnivores: leaves, stalks, roots, nuts, eggs, animals, etc., but it is not our ideal food, and we will bear the brunt of it in our health. The farther a food is from a produce that we can collect from nature, the more treatments have been needed in order to be possible to ingest it, the worse for our health. For instance, nuts are not as good as fresh fruits, because we need a nutcracker in order to eat them; cooked vegetables, such as artichokes, are not as suitable as vegetables we can eat raw, such as lettuce; and this one is preferable to a food that even more, we can not pick up with our own hands, but we need tools to chase, such as meat and fish.
If we abandon the mechanistic and dominant view of humans towards nature, and we take a global, holistic and humble approach, we will realise that nutrition science is very simple. We don’t need long and difficult studies. It is enough just one session where we imagine that we are isolated from our occidental world, and we are placed in a natural environment, surrounded by trees, plants and animals of any kind; and we ask ourselves how we could feed in a easy, quick and effortless way, that gives us big pleasure and satisfies us. We don’t need to be nutritionists, every person should be able to know how to nourish yourself. We only need to connect with nature. And I am a nutritionist, so I am shooting myself in the foot.

The secret of the Mediterranean Diet

gemmac@livingfullynourished.com (Gemma Calzada Roca) — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 12:49:00 +0100

The Mediterranean diet is famous for being one of the healthiest in the planet. Comparing the consumption of different food in central and northern Europe with the southern Europe, we can see that there are clear differences regarding nutrition.
The avantages of the Mediterranean diet are usually associated to the extended use of olive oil, the high intake of fish, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and the moderation on red meat and sugary food.
In order to elucidate what are the true reasons of the success of the Mediterranean diet, we are going to compare the southern countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey with central and northern countries such as Germany, Nederland, Switzerland, Belgium and United Kingdom.

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Fruit vs. sugar and dairy

Fruit: 1) Turkey, 2) Belgium, 3) Portugal, 4) Italy, 5) Greece, 6) Spain

Sugar: 1) Belgium, 2) Switzerland, 3) Nederland, 4) Germany, 5) France, 6) United Kingdom (s ource)

Dairy: 1) Finland, 2) Nederland, 3) Switzerland, 4) United Kingdom, 5) Italy, 6) France

In Spain the dessert is usually fruit. Although having fruit after other food that have a slow digestion, such as meat, fish or grains, is not ideal, it is better than having a dairy product as dessert. For example, the common French dessert is a yogurt or cheese. Fruit is better than a sweet dessert as well, as Swiss or German people do.
Mediterranean countries are found in the list of the top countries of fruit consumption in Europe and at the bottom in sugar consumption, while the northern and central countries are champions in sugar and dairy intake and the last ones in fruit.

Meat vs. fish

In this case the comparison is not so straightforward. Some southern Europe, such as Spain, have a high intake of fish and a low intake of meat. Germany is a clear case or northern Europe that are high in meat and low in fish.
But other countries fall in the opposite category. Italy, for example, is a southern country with a considerably high meat intake compared with the fish one. And a northern country such as Norway, are champions in fish and low in meat.
The high amount of fish is pointed as one of main keys in two of the healthiest diets: Mediterranean and Okinawa (Japan). But there are other countries where the fish consumption is even higher than Mediterranean and Japan.
In this FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) animated graph you will see that the higher consumers of fish per capita from 1962 to 2018 have been Island, Maldives, Kiribati, Hong Kong, Macao and Portugal, exchanging positions depending on the year. Japan has occupied the third and fourth position for many years, but since 2006 it has been losing positions, and last decade it has situated below the top ten. Spain has never been between the top ten consumers of fish, and Portugal is the only Mediterranean country that has been in that list.
So I don’t think the consumption of fish to be one of the most important reasons of the success of the Mediterranean diet.

Vegetables

1) Turkey, 2) Greece, 3) Spain, 4) Italy, 5) Portugal, 6) France

The amount of vegetables eaten in the Mediterranean area is clearly superior to the amount eaten in the central and northern Europe.

Olive oil vs. butter

In the Mediterranean Europe olive oil is the main fat for cooking, while in northern and central Europe butter and animal fat is the preferred fat.
Contrary to most olive oil advertising, proclaiming to be the main responsible of the reputation of the Mediterranean diet to be so healthy, I don’t think that having a high intake of olive oil benefits the health of Mediterranean people. I think that it is because the olive oil replaces butter, margarine and animal fats, which are much unhealthier than oil.

Rice

1) Turkey, 2) Portugal, 3) Spain, 4) Belgium, 5) Italy, 6) France

The consumption of rice in the Mediterranean Europe is generally higher than in the central and northern Europe.
Rice usually replaces wheat as grain source of carbohydrates. In Spain several different main course are rice based dishes, such as paella, instead of wheat based dishes, such as pasta or pizza.

Whole grains and legumes

I couldn’t find free stats about whole grain consumption in Europe, but as Spanish person that has been in different Mediterranean countries and other European countries, I can affirm that the whole grain consumption is marginal; grains are refined.
Neither I couldn’t find specific data about the consumption of legumes, but it is true that in Mediterranean Europe legumes are more frequently consumed than in the central or northern Europe. It is possible that the replacement of wheat or meat by legumes based dishes to be an advantage in the Mediterranean diet.

Nuts

Although I couldn’t find free stats about the consumption of dried nuts in Europe, I have found the consumption of almonds in Europe:

1) Spain, 2) Nederland, 3) Greece, 4) Tunisia, 5) Italy, 6) Germany (source)

Concerning almonds, it is true that their consumption is higher in the Mediterranean Europe. It is possible that the same applies to hazelnuts, pinenuts and pistacchios.
Nuts are used in Spain to make sweet desserts (such as turrón, polvorones, cocas, mazapán, panellets, tarta de Santiago), in snacks, or even as aperitif. They are also included in some dishes (such as Catalan spinach, stuffed chicken, sauces, pesto). So it is usually a replacement of wheat flour in bakery, desserts and snacks, although it can replace fruit in some desserts or snacks.
For example, in Spain the main ingredient of Christmas sweets is almonds, instead of wheat flour found in Italian panettone, German Stollen, or English ginger cookies.
Again, I don’t think that the properties of nuts by themselves are the advantage of the Mediterranean diet, but because they replace other worse ingredients such as wheat flour.

Conclusion

I think that the keys of the Mediterranean diet are the high consumption of fruit and vegetables, of olive oil instead of butter, of fruit instead of sugar and dairy, of rice and nuts instead of wheat, and occasionally, legumes replacing meat or grains.
I would not give so much relevance to the consumption of fish and whole grains in the Mediterranean diet.

The effects of stimulants

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 16:39:00 +0100

Alcohol, coffee, tea, chocolate, … are some of the stimulants that we consume on a daily basis.
We think that they are not harmful, and even some studies even claim they may be beneficial in small amounts. But what is really happening in the body of a person when he/she has these products? Why do they seem harmless if they are so toxic? And what happens when he/she tries to stop having them?
Did you know that some foods containing sugar, dairy and gluten follow a similar process in the body?
This article is a review of Herbert Shelton’s teachings about stimulants, from his book “Human Life. Its Philosophy and Laws”.

Continue reading The effects of stimulants

One of the Laws of Life, the Law of Vital Accommodation, states “The response of the vital organism to external stimuli is an instinctive one, based upon a self-preservative instinct which adapts itself to whatever influence it cannot destroy or control”. This means that when a human is exposed to a stimulant, the organism will try to defend itself from these substances, but if the defense is not possible, then the body will try to accommodate to it.

The intake of a stimulant produces the following phases in the body:

1) Refusal: Reaction against the product by developing a more or less strong acute disease
2) Tolerance and accommodation: Ceasing of the acute reaction. Stimulation and craving for that substance. Desensitization to the substance with the subsequent need to increase the amount. Protective reaction.
3) Exhaustion: Development of the chronic disease and organ failure.

Dr. Shelton explains the process the body undergoes from a strong refusal of the toxic substance to a resignation and tolerance:
“The first effort of the living organism, in response to adverse influences, is to overcome and destroy these. Failing in this it attempts to accommodate itself to such conditions and influences. For, what it cannot overcome, it must learn to endure or perish.
The man who habitually indulges in stimulation would exhaust and destroy himself with but few indulgencies if the organism had no means of curbing its reactions against the stimulation and thereby lessening the expenditure of vital power. The first effect of stimulation is exaltation of function; if it is long continued, or often repeated, exhaustion with an almost total abolition of function results. The repeated use of stimulants would soon result in death. But their repeated use soon brings about a condition in which the organism ceases to respond so readily and violently to the stimulant. If the former amount of stimulation is to be received from the stimulant a larger amount of the stimulant must be used.
All normal individuals are possessed of a natural repugnance to poisonous and injurious substances. The instinctive aversion to any kind of poison may be perverted into an unnatural craving after that poison. Instinct is plastic. If the warnings of the organic instincts are unheeded, and the offending substance is again and again forced upon the body, nature, true to the law of self-preservation, seeks to prolong life by adapting the body to poison.
The first smoke usually occasions a very powerful reaction against it on the part of the organism. The young man or woman is made very sick; there is headache, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, weakness, dizziness, muscular relaxation, tremor, weakness, etc. So long as the physiological powers and instincts are undepraved and unimpaired they instantly perceive the poisonous character of the tobacco and give the alarm to the whole system. A vigorous effort is made to destroy and eliminate it and the user is forced to throw away his tobacco. But if he continues to repeat the performance, the reaction against it grows less and less with each repetition until, finally, he is able to use many times the original amount without producing such results. His system learns to tolerate it and adapts itself to its use as far as possible. The system soon becomes depraved and its power impaired by the use of the tobacco, its poisonous character is no longer detected and no alarm is given; rather a craving for the substance is developed. However, the habitual use of any substance that is injurious in itself cannot in any way render it harmless or beneficial and the habitual presence of any such substance is injurious to life, even, though, no energetic effort is made to resist its action.
What is here said of tobacco is true of other poisonous substances. Ordinarily the user of drugs such as tobacco, opium, alcohol, cocaine, etc., becomes so accustomed to their use that he is able to take at one time enough of his favorite drug to kill several non-users outright, and yet, it only produces in him an apparent normal condition of comfort and strength.
If given time the body is able to adapt itself to all kinds of varying conditions. Only sudden and violent changes become immediately destructive of life. If we suddenly force upon the non-user the amount of alcohol, arsenic or opium used by the accustomed, it may cost his life.
Under natural living conditions, where enervating influences are removed and the organism is gradually strengthened, the body arouses itself to acute eliminating efforts or crises. These, too, occur, apparently, in accord with the law of periodicity and are similar to all other crises. Crises usually last until the disease producing factors have been reduced to the toleration point. this point varies with the individual and with the varying conditions of the individual. Thus the greater the amount of vitality one possesses, the less morbid matter will his system tolerate, and as the vitality of one with chronic disease is gradually raised, his toleration point also rises so that crises occur.
After toleration for any deleterious substance has been established, those acute reactions that followed its initial employment, arise only when one takes an unaccostumed amount of his accustomed poison. I will give a few examples from life to illustrate what I mean by this.
A man who suffers from constipation resorts to epsom salts to force his bowels to move. They work like a charm. He continues to use them until toleration is established and, then, finds that in order to secure the desired movement, he must increase the size of the dose. By using more slats than the body has learned to tolerate he secures bowel action. Similarly, physicians, in giving stimulants to their patients, find that they must continually increase the size of the dose, or, resort to another and unaccustomed poison, to secure the desired stimulation. The body is forced to accommodate itself to such substances, so that it no longer reacts violently against them, or else it will exhaust itself in the frequent reactions.
Arsenic may be taken with food as a seasoning; as freely as table salt, with as little immediate evidence of its poisonous character; and even prussic acid, which kills instantly like lightening, where the body is wholly unaccustomed to its action, may with proper care be gradually brought to act upon the human system, till it can be used with considerable freedom.
This wonderful capability of the living body to adapt itself by physiological depravity to the action of poisons of every kind, has not only led the human race to the excessive use of such substances as means of intoxication, but, almost as a necessary consequence, has also led them to the full belief that those substances are innocuous and salutary.
From an experience of this kind, the poisonous character of tea, coffee, tobacco, opium, alcohol, and all other narcotic substances, has been boldly and vehemently denied, by those who habitually use them as means of stimulation and intoxication.”

Regarding how to stop an addiction to these stimulants, Dr. Shelton says:
“Habits, gradually built and long established, cannot usually be suddenly broken. It is often the sudden breaking off of a habit, long practiced, it is often followed by one or more crises more or less severe as the organism seeks to accommodate itself to the changed conditions.
When a bad habit, like the tobacco habit or alcohol habit, is given up, the individual will lose weight and undergo crises and this will convince him that the abandonment of the bad habit was injurious. What was really happening was the tearing down and casting out of the system of the depraved tissues and substances and this is then followed by a renewal and regeneration of the body. The crises and loss of weight are beneficial measures and should be welcomed, not feared.
The headaches suffered by the coffee user when deprived of coffee, the pams suffered by the drug addict when deprived of his drug; the the unsteadiness of his nerves suffered by the tobacco user when deprived of his tobacco; the depression suffered by the stimulant user when deprived of his stimulant - these are not evidences of the beneficial influences of these substances but are evidences of their deleterious character. Outraged nerves and other tissues are simply coming out from under their influence and making their true condition known. Greater or less suffering and discomfort which are regarded by superficial and ignorant observers as indications of an adverse change, immediately result, but the sequel is a happy issue. “

In the presence of these substances, the body’s most important protective reaction is the hardening of tissues, as Dr. Shelton explains:
“The law of accommodation cushions the bottoms of the feet of bare-foot boys, girls and adults, and guards the hands of the manual laborer by a similar cushion. In the mouth, throat, stomach, intestine and bowel, a similar hardening and thickening takes place to guard the at first sensitive linings of these organs against the constant irritation to which they are ignorantly subjected by those who use tobacco, mouth washes and gargles, alcohol, coffee, tea, salt, pepper, mustard, horse-radish, spices, cathartics, mineral waters, etc. But this is an expensive business - this business of keeping the system accustomed to the action of irritants so that the sensibilities shall not be kept under torture by these. Such protection does not render them harmless.
A similar hardening and thickening must take place in the arteries and veins. Hardening of the arteries is due to irritation caused by toxins and irritants of all kinds.
Alcohol, whether ardent spirits, malt liquors, wines, cider or other alcoholic drinks, is a strong poison. It is highly irritating to every organ and tissue of the body and there is not one of them that is immune to its destructive influence. it coagulates the protoplasm of the cells of the body, just as it coagulates, or cooks, the white of an egg. This coagulation impairs and destroys the cells.
The normal cells are then replaced by a substitute of connective tissue cells forming what is called ´scan-tissue´. This may occur in the brain and spinal cord resulting in paresis, paralysis, insanity and other nervous disease; in the liver producing sclerosis; in the heart and arteries producing hardening and other troubles in these; or it may occur in the lungs, kidneys, muscles or any other organ of the body. The functioning powers of these organs are gradually destroyed and the individual’s resistance to other disease influences is lowered.
Moderate drinkers are not immune to these effects. They receive their full share of them. In fact, the habitual ´moderate´ drinker receives more injury from alcohol than the occasional drinker who gets drunk when he does drink. It is used as a stimulant to digestion, but finally wrecks digestion.”

Don’t forget that a person can have alcohol in their body even if he/she doesn’t drink alcohol at all, if he/she presents some yeasts in his/her gut flora that produce alcohol from the ingested carbohydrates. This results in the same damage as drinking alcohol.

"Tea, coffee, coca-cola cocoa and chocolate shall all be considered together because they all contain very much the same active principles and have very much the same effects. Neither of them have the slightest excuse for existences as beverages. Tea and coffee contain no food value, while the unaltered flavors of all of them are obnoxious to every unperverted taste.
They act primarily as stimulants and secondarily as depressants, or sedatives. Like tobacco, opium, and alcohol they are habit forming, and they are habit forming to exactly the degree in which they are stimulating. And they are stimulating in the degree to which they are poisonous and unfitted for the real needs of the body. The bitter, nauseous tastes of all these substances require the addition of sugar or other substances before they can be used by the undepraved taste.”

Finally, the toxicity of these products leads to exhaustion and chronic diseases:
“Give a stimulant to a man of full-resistance and he reacts to it with increased activity and an increased feeling of well-being. When the period of increased activity ends there sets in, due to the excessive expenditure of energy and substance, a period of depression.
All stimulants enable one to work beyond one’s normal strength. That is, they enable to keep on working long after nature has called for rest. They do this, not by adding to the powers of the body, but by calling out the powers held in reserve. They act in the same way a spur does on a tired horse. Slowly but surely, the reserve powers of the body are consumed under the influence of stimulants and physical bankruptcy follows.
Coffee, tea, coca-cola, cocoa and chocolate, because of their almost universal use, are great offenders in this respect. They produce enervation and sleeplessness in proportion to their use. Those who use them become coffee and tea or cocoa inebriates. They are addicts as truly as the opium user. the habitual user of tea or coffee is tired, irritable and suffers with headache and other discomforts when deprived of his habitual cup. Nervous diseases result from the employment of such nervines.
The body accommodates itself to the habitual use of tobacco, alcohol, opium, etc., to the extent of its ability to do so, but this does not prevent these substances from slowly and gradually undermining the constitution and finally resulting in disease and death.
Likewise, the unnatural and morbid conditions which have been imposed upon the system, which it has not been able to overcome but has been compelled to accommodate itself to, also, gradually and insidiously undermine the system, resulting in disease. If the body is able by the means of a crisis to overcome the disease influence then health is the result of disease. But if it is unable to overcome such influences and is not destroyed by them, it is forced to settle back into its accustomed quiet and make the condition as bearable as possible, This gives us chronic disease.”

Even if sugar, gluten and dairy products are not exactly stimulants, they have addictive properties and it has been suggested in several studies that they may be considered as “drugs”, at least for some persons, i.e. those who have difficulty digesting these products.
The following are some important studies that reveal the addictive character of sugar, which is even stronger than cocaine:
"Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake"
"Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward"
And here you can read more about the opioid effect of gluten and dairy products.
Tolerance to sugar, gluten and dairy products is developed in the organism the same way that tolerance to stimulants or any kind of drugs.
In infancy, from 4 months old, babies are gradually introduced to different grains or cereals, animal dairy products and other food. The organism of most of the babies refuse these foods showing up in different ways: vomiting, regurgitations, diarrhoea, eczema, mucus, etc. But we, parents, believe blindly in our doctors, who never link these diseases with food, and then we persevere giving these foods in increasing amounts and unhealthier forms, until child’s body finally gives up and stops the refusal, an inaction that we interpret as a “tolerance”. But in the same way as stimulants, what really happens in the long term is an exhaustion of the system, damages in body organs, development of chronic diseases, etc.
Later on, as teenagers, the process starts again with other more harmful substances: alcohol, tobacco, and sometimes also drugs. First there’s a rejection, second a tolerance, and finally exhaustion.
And in adulthood, if not before, we need the use of even stronger neurolytic substances, because the softer ones don’t have an effect on us anymore - we tolerate them - , and the real causes of our problems (physical, psychological or spiritual) and diseases have never been addressed.

Has lettuce opioid effects?

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:06:00 +0100

Has you ever felt a little bit sleepy after eating a salad? Or lightly constipated when you eat a very large salad?
Lettuce contains a substance called lactucarium that “is known as lettuce opium because of its curative sedative and analgesic properties”, although it’s not an opium derivative.
“The chemical constituents of lactucarium that have been investigated for biological activity include lactucin and its derivatives lactucopicrin and 11β13-dihydrolactucin. Lactucin and lactucropicrin were found to have sedative activity in measurements of spontaneous movements of the mice.” (Wikipedia)
Not every person will feel the sedative effect of this substance; the sensitivity of every person is very different. But if you are a hyper sensitive person, and you react to food-drugs such as coffee, chocolate, tea, coke, spices, herbs, etc., then I recommend you to be careful with lettuce. Have salads preferably in the evening meals, and avoid lettuce if you have tendency to have constipation. But also, if you are highly sensitive, you may use it as a medicine as an analgesic!

Continue reading Has lettuce opioid effects?

Winter foods to keep warm and healthy

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 08:50:00 +0100

When its cold outside we prefer to eat warm or hot food, such as soup, potaje, stew, legumes and chestnuts in Spain; or fondue, raclette and croûte in the Swiss alpine villages. But, are these the best dishes to consume in winter?

Continue reading Winter foods to keep warm and healthy

Traditions are wise and traditional foods usually adapt to the climactic conditions of different countries. But sometimes, other circumstances determine what the traditional food is. For example, the scarcity of food in winter. This would be the case for rösti, fondue and raclette. These dishes originated to make use of the scraps of stale bread and cheese by melting it and softening it with wine. In fact these dishes were often the meals in poor villages and nowadays has become a luxury food!

The wine that is in the fondue and the croûte produces an effect of corporal warmth. And in general warm dishes produce a sensation of immediate internal bodily warmth. However, this sensation does not last long. After a few hours the effect of warmth will not depend on the initial temperature of the food but on the kind of food consumed.

In general, foods that are rich in protein, such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, produce a stimulation of the heart and increases the blood flow to be able to eliminate the metabolic residues from the body, for example uric acid and urea. In the same way, the body tries to dispose of the alcohol toxic sub-products as soon as possible. (1) This activation of the circulatory system produces a sensation of bodily warmth.

When digestion commences, there will always be a sensation of stupor that can be more or less strong depending on the person and the foods that have been consumed. This is why in Spain, it was usual to have a nap after lunch. This is because the blood and the energy from the organism concentrates on the digestive system, reducing the blood circulation in the brain and muscles. So a sensation of coldness is felt during digestion. Therefore, during winter it is better to have the main course after coming back home in the afternoon.

Foods that are rich in complex carbohydrates, like legumes and grains, are known for providing energy slowly. But many studies show that the longterm effect of eating carbohydrates is disrupting blood circulation because of a phenomenon called glycation of proteins (2). Therefore, foods rich in carbohydrates are not adequate for winter. Even though legumes, chestnuts and rösti are very sought after in winter, they do not help us gain warmth, in fact the opposite is true.

Fruits and vegetables first give a sensation of coldness but in the long-run the reaction they have in the body is neutral. They don’t stimulate or reduce the blood circulation. They are the ideal foods for our health. A vegetable soup or potaje can be one of the best dishes to have in winter, because they comfort us when being eaten and are healthy. Regarding fruits, even though the ideal is to eat them raw, it’s possible to prepare some warm foods made of fruits: baked apples, compote, fruit pudding, fruit casserole, fruit soup, etc.

It is true that the larger majority of winter foods, both Spanish and Swiss, help heat us up in winter. But this doesn’t mean that they help to get our health any better.

We have to consider that humans are designed to live in warm or hot regions, like the Mediterranean (1). The cold does bother us humans… and wanting to fix this problem eating foods that are not appropriate is not the best solution. If we don’t live in a warm zone we have two options: we continue with a healthy Mediterranean diet rich in fruits and vegetables and we suffer from the cold temperatures of winter, or we take the typical foods of colder countries and we damage our health. The best alternative is to eat warm foods made from fruits and vegetables that can comfort us when eaten and are healthy in the long-run.

References:

(1) “The Life Science Health System”, T.C.Fry
(2) “Grain Brain”, David Perlmutter

The Avocado

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 21:37:00 +0100

The avocado is a unique fruit because of its high fat content and low sugar levels. It has a high nutritional value, and is very much appreciated by vegetarians due to its high content of high quality protein and fat, in addition to vitamins, minerals and fiber.
This is why avocado is considered one of the healthiest foods, and it is even considered a superfood.

Continue reading The Avocado

Identify when it’s ripen

Pinch the tops and bottoms and when they yield to pressure on both ends they are ripe.
Make the avocado ripeness test: remove the stem, if it’s green inside then it’s underripe; if it’s dark brown then it’s overripe; if it’s yellowish then it’s just right. Watch here the avocado ripeness test.

Source of proteins

Avocados provide all of the essential amino acids (those that must be provided by our diet), with 18 amino acids in all. Avocados contain more protein than cow’s milk, about 2% per edible portion.
The fuel required to digest avocado is less than half of that required to digest meats, and digestion time is dramatically lower as well. (1)
They don’t run the risk of contamination with parasites or pathogens, as meat, fish, eggs and milk may suppose. They are not treated with chemicals, antibiotics and hormones, they are classified between the “clean 15” foods with the lowest pesticide load. (7)
Unlike nuts, avocados don’t have anti-nutrients that may counter the good nutrients.

Source of fats

The fat content (by weight) varies from 7 to 26% according to the variety, averaging 15%. Approximately 63% of the fat in avocados is monounsaturated, 20% is polyunsaturated and 17% is saturated. So the majority of fat is oleic acid, which has been linked to reduced inflammation.
The fat they provide is more digestable than animal fats.
Avocados are the perfect source of dietary fat, appetizing in their raw state, digestible, and pure. (1)

Source of minerals, vitamins, fiber, water

Avocados are busting in nutrients: vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, H, K, and folic acid, plus the minerals magnesium, copper, iron, calcium, potassium, and many other trace elements.
The water content of avocado by weight averages 74%. (1)
They also contain lutein and beta-carotene. (4)
The fiber ccontent of avocado is 7%, which is very high compared to most other foods. 25% of this fiber is soluble and 75% insoluble. Soluble fiber is said to feed the friendly gut bacteria in the intestine.
But the total amount of nutrients is not the only thing that matters. We also need to be able to absorb them. Some vitamins , such as A, D, E and K, are fat soluble, so they need to be combined with fat in order to be utilized. So avocado contains the perfect combination of fat and vitamins. (5)
One study showed that adding avocado to a salad can increase antioxidant absorption by 2.6 to 15 fold (2)

Alkalinizimg

Avocado is an alkalinizing food, i.e., the mineral end products of metabolism have an alkalinizing effect in the blood and other bodily fluids. Because the human body works to maintain a slightly alkaline pH, an alkalinizing diet is the most healthful way of eating. Meat, dairy and most raw nuts create acidity in the body, and excess eating of these causes the leaching of calcium from our bones to buffer the acidity, leading to osteoporosis. (1)
Dr. Douglas Graham states: “Current bone density testing has verified loss of calcium from the bones after the consumption of just one meat meal. A similar meal containing the same amount of protein from plants results in no calcium loss.” (3)

Benefits

All these high nutritional values confer avocado the following benefits: (4)

Healthy for the heart
Great for vision
Osteoporosis prevention
Help prevent cancer
Prevent constipation
Natural detoxification
Help lose weight
Good for skin
Anti-inflammatory

How to eat it

For optimum digestion, eat avocado alone or with any non-sweet-non-starchy fruit or any non-starchy vegetable food. Eating avocado with leafy greens, celery and/or cucumber will enhance the digestive process as additional digestive enzymes are secreted.
Don’t eat avocado with any other kind of oily, fatty or high-protein food such as seeds, nuts, coconut, olives, yogurt, cream, cheese or meat.
The quantity of avocados that is healthful for you is a function of your taste preferences and digestion. Generally, one a day, three to six days per week is a good baseline. For best results, tune in to your body’s senses and observe your energy levels, digestion and elimination. (1)

Allergies and intolerances

Avocados are native to Mexico and Central America, so europeans are not very used to this kind of food, although now it’s cultivated also in some Mediterranian countries such as Spain. At the beginning of introducing this food, some intolerances or allergies may appear.
It’s possible to have allergy or intolerance to avocado, mainly people with latex allergies. Symptoms include a stuffy nose, wheezing, coughing and edema. (6)
Avocados are very high in histamine, so better avoid it if you have histamine intolerance. It’s a medium salicylate content food, so be careful if you follow a low salicylate diet such as Feingold diet.
On the other side, avocado is low in fructose, so it will be a good fruit if you have fructose intolerance.
Overeating avocados can lead to sluggishness, hyper-acid stomach, and skin outbreaks. (1)

Enjoy your avocado with a salad making a delicious guacamole!

Bibliography
(1) “The Vibrant Diet ”, Dr. T.C.Fry & Dr. David Klein
(2) “Carotenoid Absorption from Salad and Salsa by Humans is Enhanced by the Addition of Avocado or Avocado Oil”, http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/3/431.full
(3) “The 80/10/10 Diet”, Dr. Douglas N. Graham
(4) “Avocados: Health Benefits, Nutritional Information”, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270406.php
(5) “12 Proven Benefits of Avocado”, http://authoritynutrition.com/12-proven-benefits-of-avocado/
(6) “Latex allergy”, Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/latex-allergy/basics/risk-factors/con-20024233
(7) “Clean fifteen”, http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

Antibiotic resistance, natural antibiotics and food with antibiotic properties

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 09:47:00 +0100

Nowadays, concern about antibiotic resistance seems to be growing: antibiotics are losing their effectiveness due to new kinds of super-resistant bacteria. This phenomenon exists because doctors prescribe antibiotics too often.
In order to avoid this prescription overuse, instead of antibiotics, natural antibiotics are recommended by alternative medicine as a safe alternative. Is it really possible to have completely side effect free antibiotics that don’t increase the bacterial resistance?
Usually, a person consumes on a daily basis several products that contain antibiotics as medicine, or have antibiotic properties. Are we unaware of being subject to a daily antibiotic therapy?
In this article we will address the problems that are related to the intake of natural and conventional antibiotics as well as food with antibiotic properties.

Continue reading Antibiotic resistance, natural antibiotics and food with antibiotic properties

Antibiotics in animal and vegetable products

Antibiotics are usually systematically administered to livestock in a preventive way against infections and also in order to make them grow bigger so that their value increases. Supposedly about 80% of the antibiotic production worldwide is destined to this purpose.
Farmed fish are systematically fed antibiotics, too.
Subsequently, these antibiotics are found in animal products used for human consumption: meat, fish, milk, dairy products, eggs, etc. And the bacteria that live in these animals also develop antibiotic resistance, which is then transmitted to humans.
Regarding the organic products, antibiotics are banned in most countries in livestock as a preventive measure, however, vets are usually allowed to prescribe them in case it is necessary. Phytotherapeutic antibiotics are allowed in any case. (1)
Pesticides sprayed on vegetables have an antibiotic effect as well.

Natural antibiotics

Among “grandmother’s home remedies” to fight against bacterial infections some of the most traditional ones are raw garlic, raw onion, honey, lemon juice and coconut oil. Concerning naturopathic remedies, there is a wide range of products: essential oils, herbal infusions, homeopathy, medicinal mushrooms, and a long etcetera.
Other products that have been traditionally used for the preservation of food also present antimicrobial properties: salt, sugar, spices and herbs.
Food additives with a preservative effect, although not natural, also have antibiotic properties. All labels between E-200 and E-299 are considered in this group. Moreover, some antioxidants, acidity regulators, flavor enhancers and other additives also may have an antimicrobial effect.

The effects of antibiotics on the gut flora

The word antibiotic means “against life”. As we know, antibiotics are used to fight bacterial infections and they cause unwanted side effects: gut flora damage which can lead to diarrhoea, loss of appetite, tummy ache; possible allergies and photosensitivity; liver and kidney overload, and a long list depending on the medicine.
Gut flora plays a key role in keeping us healthy. In this post you can read why a balanced gut flora is so important.
Natural medicine accuses antibiotics of indiscriminately destroying the gut flora, killing not only pathogenic bacteria but also beneficial bacteria.
Rebuilding the balance of gut flora takes a long time and a lot of effort. Some studies say that it is almost impossible to recover it completely. What is more, the desert that is left after the antibiotics is populated by several opportunistic resistant bacteria, such as Candida and other yeasts and fungi.
Probiotics, both as medicine and in the form of food, a proper diet, and other therapies may help this very difficult process of restoring gut flora, which gets worse with ageing, compromising health seriously in the long term.
Studies about the exact effect of antibiotics on gut flora are quite divergent.
Pharmaceutical companies publish studies which prove that a huge number of antimicrobial medicines do not touch the beneficial gut flora. “ 46 Lactobacillus strains from human and dairy sources were assayed for susceptibility to 44 antibiotics. All strains were resistant to a group of 14 antibiotics…. “ (2)
All the studies about the impact of antibiotics on different bacterial strains have been performed in vitro, that is, in a lab, so it is not clear if the same results can be extended in vivo, that is, on the human gut flora. When an antibiotic in ingested, it must cross different stages of the digestive system until it gets to the intestine, so it is doubtful that the antimicrobial effect could resist until the intestine. Specifically, the action of the hydrochloric acid in the stomach may be the responsible of the supposed lack of effectiveness. This is why antimicrobial medicines are covered by an enteric capsule, which is resistant to hydrochloric acid. However, natural antibiotics that are consumed as food may be neutralised in the stomach because of the lack of protection.
Some doctors have a different opinion. Dr. Campbell-McBride (3) states that the probiotic bacteria that is contained in sauerkraut may reach the intestine better and may be more effective in the gut flora restoration than probiotic capsules. “Supplements of probiotics settle in the upper parts of the digestive system and generally do not make it all the way down to the bowel, while fermented foods will carry probiotic bacteria all the way down to the end of the digestive system.”
Summer Bocks (4) adds that sauerkraut “is one of the only foods that contains natural bacteria that inoculate and live within your intestines.” She argues that the cabbage where the probiotics are carried protects them and gives them a “home” and nourishment to get to the intestine and settle there.
In the same way as probiotic bacteria contained in food may reach the intestine more easily, antibiotic substances may reach the gut more easily as well.
Apart from all these scientific studies about the topic, I personally share the opinion stated by the Science of Life: “Any agent which is so poisonous as to cause immediate death to any other living organism should never be consumed” (5) and by John Brisson “Any anti-microbial natural or otherwise is nondiscriminatory. Therefore it will kill off the good and the bad” (6)
I will expose an example below: the effect of salt, spices and herbs on the gut flora.

Salt, spices and herbs

Salt and spices have been used since ancient times for food preservation: salt cod and salt-cured ham in Spain; sauerkraut and pickled vegetables in Northern Europe; soy products such as soy sauce and miso in Asia; curry and masala in India, etc.
The fact that salt has been used to preserve food is because bacteria and fungi development is stopped when the concentration of salt is very high. The inhibition of bacterial growth begins to be present when the concentration of salt is very low, and there is a proportionally growing effect when the concentration is increased. (7), (8).
The effect of salt on every bacterial species is different. Some of them are more resistant than others, but there isn’t a big difference among the species of bacteria that usually inhabit the intestine. However, undesirable fungi and yeasts that may be found in the gut show a higher resistance to salt. (7) And only some sea bacteria resist a very high concentration of salt (8).
In the sauerkraut, for example, the concentration of salt is enough for lactobacilli to develop to a certain point. The lactic acid produced by these beneficial bacteria avoids the development of other undesirable bacteria. The content of lactobacilli in the sauerkraut is responsible for the beneficial probiotic properties of this food.
Even if the amount of salt in our food is not high enough to kill the gut bacteria, its inhibiting action shouldn’t be disregarded. What is more, it has to be considered that harmful yeasts and fungi in the intestine hold a higher resistance.
Spices and herbs show different antimicrobial properties depending on the type. Cinnamon, clove and mustard have strong antimicrobial properties; cumin, coriander, oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme have a medium effect, while pepper and ginger have a weak effect. Every spice has a specific nature for different type of bacteria. In studies about the subject the action of these substances against pathological bacteria (salmonella, e-coli, aspergillums, staphylococcus, etc.) is described, but there is no information about the effect against beneficial bacteria. (9)

Other issues to be considered

Every antimicrobial medicine, even if it’s natural, has side effects at other levels.
The risks of salt on health are well known: hypertension, renal disorders, fluid retention, etc.
Garlic and onion are extremely irritating for the stomach, interfere with the metabolism of fats in the liver, disturb the thyroid function (they are goitrogens), lead to anemia, they are anticoagulant, etc.
Sugar, once in the intestine, has a completely opposite effect, this is, it feeds every type of fermentation bacteria (lactibacillus, bifidus, enterococcus and streptococcus), and particularly fungi and yeasts. Also, it inhibits the inmune system, it’s demineralizing, and it entails the risk of diabetes. You can learn more about the problems associated with sugar here.
Spices and herbs also have side effects, which depend on the substance. Spices are very allergenic. Pepper, for example, may trigger asthma, it is irritating for the stomach and may cause reflux, heartburn and even ulcers and hemorrhaging. Thyme, for example, decreases the coagulation of blood and has estrogenic effects.

Negative emotions, stress, toxins, hygiene and cleaning products, electromagnetic pollution, etc

Mercury is known for being the most powerful antimicrobial agent. There is mercury in dental amalgams, vaccines, big fish such as tuna, coal industries, mercury thermometers, low energy light bulbs, etc.
Negative emotions and stress have an inhibiting bacterial effect too, as it is explained in this study published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity: “Studies from this laboratory have shown that stressor exposure impacts the stability of the microbiota and leads to bacterial translocation. The biological importance of these alterations, however, is not well understood”. (10)
Cleaning and hygiene products, in addition to the harmful chemical products that they contain, also disturb the bacterial flora that inhabits our skin and the respiratory and vaginal mucosa, which are essential for our health.
Companies that manufacture these products invest a lot of money in advertising them in order to convince us and make us become obsessed, mainly the mothers, about the need of keeping a clean home to the extreme of sterility. However, it has been shown that the contact with dirt to certain degree, that is bacteria, is beneficial for our immune system, mainly children’s, as a way of immunization. Children that live in the country or that have pets develop fewer allergies than the ones that live in cities. (11)
Read this article to get to know more about toxins to which we are most usually exposed to.

An alternative theory

Science of Life states an alternative theory about the role of bacteria in the body. According to their approach, based on the studies of Claude Bernard, a contemporary of Pasteur, all bacteria play an important role in the body, so they shouldn’t be eradicated. Bacteria are in charge of cleaning the organism of toxins, harmful food and other undesirable products that have penetrated into the organism by the respiratory tract, digestive system or the skin.
When there is no source of pollution in our body, bacteria naturally disappear, because there is nothing to feed them with. However, some kinds of bacteria produce toxins as a result of their metabolism, which must be removed from de body.
T.C. Fry states in his lessons of The Life Science Health “When the body has a highly toxic condition such as inflammation, it will absorb bacteria from the intestinal cavity and transport them to the point where deadly materials have been concentrated. The bacteria then symbiotically assist in breaking up these toxic materials for elimination. Of course, the excreta of bacteria are toxic, too.
Bacteria never exist in a proliferating state where there is no food or soil for their propagation. They multiply when there is feast, and they die off when there is famine or adverse environment, hence, bacteria no more create their food supply than flies cause garbage. The garbage must preexist the flies and, on the same order, the garbage or soil on which bacteria thrive in our bodies must preexist their presence and propagation.
At their strongest, bacteria complicate disease because the byproducts of bacterial fermentation or putrefaction are deadly poison. They are toxic within organisms, although the body can normally eliminate these poisons” (12)
So in order to have a healthy gut flora and eliminate undesirable bacteria, a proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle is the key, avoiding every food that does not profit our body and could feed bacteria. This point of view is shared by Dr. Campbell-McBride as well.
Simply by having a balanced diet and an appropriate lifestyle we can do well enough to eliminate all the undesirable bacteria.
When an antibiotic is administered, undesirable bacteria are temporally destroyed, but if an unhealthy diet and lifestyle persists, bacteria will appear again short time afterwards.
Following this reasoning, it is easy to understand why antibiotic resistance is developed. As long as there is food that feeds them, they will continue thriving in the body.
Learn more about this approach on this page.

Conclusions

Every product with antibiotic properties, both natural and chemical, exercises a strain on the gut flora, so that some strains which are more resistant to these products are favoured.
Scientific research doesn’t give enough detailed information about which is the impact of different products with antibiotic properties, so my advice is to avoid them as much as possible, in order to avoid the development of antibiotic resistance when they may be really necessary. None of these products is necessary in our diets anyway, besides they cause other adverse effects.
In order to avoid the need for antibiotics, prevention is preferable, following a healthy lifestyle, with a proper nutrition. Bacteria, as all living entities, do not survive if they are not fed.

Bibliography:

(1) “Principios de producción orgánica”, FAO
(2) “Antibiotic susceptibility of potentially probiotic Lactobacillus species”, J Food Prot
(3) “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
(4) “The Power of Probiotics for Digestive & Immune Healing”, Summer Bocks
(5) “The Garlic Plant”, T.C.Fry
(6) “Fix your Gut”, John Brisson
(7) “Effect of salt content on microbiological properties in processed meat products”
(8) “The Effects of Salt Concentration on Bacterial Growth”, Ryan Marc
(9) “Antimicrobial effects of spices and herbs”, Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management St. Paul, Minnesota
(10) “Exposure to a social stressor alters the structure of the intestinal microbiota: Implications for stressor-induced immunomodulation “, Brain, Behavior and Immunity
(11) “City children far more likely to have food allergies than those living in the country”, The Telegraph
(12) “Toxemia is the universal cause of disease”

Nuts and seeds

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 09:24:00 +0100

Nuts and seeds have many nutritional benefits. They contain great amounts of minerals and vitamins and also valuable proteins and essential fatty acids. But many people are prone to allergies or intolerances to nuts and seeds.
This article discusses the nutritional characteristics of nuts and seeds, the reason why they are so allergenic and gives some recommendations for their consumption.

Continue reading Nuts and seeds

What are nuts and seeds?

Nuts develop from the ovary of flowers, that’s why they are considered fruits, with the particularity of being surrounded by a hard shell and containing less than 50% of water.
However, nuts and sunflower seeds are in fact the seeds of plants. In some cases, such as almonds, walnuts and pistachios, we talk about a type of fruit called drupe, consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed inside. Examples of other drupes are olives, apricots, plums, peaches, mangoes, cherries, dates, coffee, etc. In the case of almonds, walnuts and pistachios, the real fruit is the outer fleshy part surrounding the shell that contains a seed, and it can be seen only when it is still on the tree, before it opens and drops the stone. The difference between drupe type nuts and fruits is that in the first case we eat the seed that is inside the stone, whereas in the second case, we eat the fleshy fruit which surrounds the stone.
Punpkin seeds and other fruits’ seeds such as watermelon and cantelope are a different case. They also derive from edible fruits, however, they are not drupes, but a pepo type of fruit, which are berries with a hard, thick rind; typical fruit of the gourd family.
But most nuts, sunflower seeds and other seeds such as linseed and sesame seed don’t derive from drupes nor from the pepo type fruits, consequently they don’t contain a fleshy pulp around the shell or stone. They are simply seeds surrounded by a hard shell.
We also tend to include some foods such as peanuts in the category of nuts, which in fact are legumes and not nuts.
So almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, cashews, macadamias, Brazil nuts, pecans, acorns and coconut are considered nuts.
Although chestnuts are also classified as nuts, I will not consider them as such in this article due to their very different composition (rich in carbohydrate instead of protein and fatty acids).
As for the seeds, I will write about sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

Source of vitamins and minerals

Nuts and seeds contain very high amounts of minerals. For instance, almonds, containing 234 mg calcium, are one of the plant foods with most calcium, after sesame seeds (1160 mg), seaweed (kelp 1093 mg) and kale (249 mg). (Milk contains 276mg calcium). It is also among the foods with the highest amount in magnesium. Moreover, it contains a significant amount of potassium, iron and phosphorus.
As for vitamins, almond is the second most important vegetable source of riboflavin (vitamin B-2) after dry pepper, and it is also rich in all other B vitamins.
All nuts have similar properties, and are an important source of vitamins and minerals.

Source of fatty acids

Nuts and seeds have a high fat content, ranging from 70% to 88% of their composition (except pumpkin seeds, with only 38%). Most fatty acids are unsaturated. In some, there are predominantly monounsaturated fatty acids (omega 9), such as in almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and macadamias, while in others there are mostly polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega 6 and omega 3), such as in walnuts, pine nuts and seeds. In some others the proportion is 50%-50% such as in Brazil nuts.
For example, 100g almonds contain 49g of fatty acids, of which 31g are monounsaturated, 12g are omega 6 and 3.7g are saturated.
In 100g walnuts, there are 65g of fatty acids, of which 9 grams are monounsaturated, 38g are omega 6, 9 g are omega 3 and 6g are saturated.
We should keep in mind that nowadays omega 3 and omega 9 are considered mainly anti-inflammatory fatty acids, while omega 6 being considered inflammatory. Given this theory, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamia, etc. would be more favorable than walnuts, pine nuts or Brazil nuts.
On the other hand, polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega 6 and omega 3) are considered essential, meaning that the body can not synthesize them and that we depend on a supply of food source, while the other fatty acids can be synthesized in the body. Therefore, the recommended nuts would be the contrary to the above mentioned, that is, walnuts and pine nuts.

Antinutrients

As mentioned above, nuts and seeds are a great source of nutrients, however, at the same time they are also a major source of antinutrients, mainly oxalic acid, phytic acid, lectins and enzyme inhibitors.
The antinutrients are substances that, unlike nutrients, are harmful to health: they are acidic to the organism, they prevent the absorption of minerals and they disturb the digestion in general.
As explained in the article on anti-nutrients, all seeds (including nuts) are equipped with powerful hard shells and antinutrients to protect the "babies" of the plants from predators, unlike fruits, which are specifically produced to be eaten. This is the reason why nuts and seeds are so allergenic.

Alkalinity and acidity

Nuts and seeds are acidifying foods, except for almonds. An excess of acidifying foods is harmful to health because the body needs to counteract the acidity with alkalizing minerals in order to achieve a neutral pH in blood, which is achieved by taking calcium and magnesium from the bones or glutamine from the muscles. This leads to the appearance of health problems like osteoporosis, muscle atrophy, damages to ligament and joints, kidney problems and many other diseases.

Roasted or raw?

When heating food that contains unsaturated fatty acids such as omega 6, omega 3 and omega 9, fatty acids break down, becoming harmful to health. So in this sense, it is not recommended to toast nuts and seeds.
However, the advantage is that roasting makes antinutrients decrease. Another healthy way to reduce antinutrients without destroying the fatty acids is soaking these foods the way it is specified in this article.

Tests

Is there any test that can tell if a kind of nut or seed is not suitable for a certain person? Possibly, but only in some cases.
Tests of food allergies and intolerances examine the body's reaction to the proteins in food. Thus, if a person develops an immune response of the same type as the food intolerances test, for example, IgG or IgE, then the test will result positive to that food. But there are a large number of immune reactions, most of which there are no commercial tests for.
Another possible test to determine the convenience for a person of having nuts, it is the fatty acids test, which analyse the amount of fatty acid in the body, so that an excess of omega 6 and/or omega 9 can be diagnosed.
Oxalic acid, which is in connection with kidney and neurological problems can be analyzed with the so called organic acid test.
Lectins are one of the responsible factors for the leaky gut syndrome. There are different tests to test for this syndrome, though not entirely reliable. In addition, there are many other causes that can originate leaky gut.
But the problem of an intolerance or allergy to nuts may come from other substances contained in our food such as phytic acid, or acidification, maybe a possible enzyme failure to digest the fatty acids or proteins the food contains, etc. In this case, there are no clinical tests that can determine if these foods are inappropriate for that person.
For more information on tests consult this page.

Nuts and raw/vegan diets

People who follow a vegan and/or raw vegan diet usually eat a lot of nuts because they believe that this way they can meet their protein and fatty acids needs. Almond and cashew flour are used to make bread, cakes, cookies, cake doughs and to replace everything that previously contained some kind of wheat flour.
Health problems may arise in the case of those who do not follow any treatment to reduce antinutrients, or those who consume nuts in such quantities that even having undergone a previous treatment, the amount of antinutrients remains high.
Hereby I attach the testimony of Dr. Edward Howell who found himself in the same situation, as described in his book Enzyme Nutrition:
"I thought that raw meat was unsuited for the human diet and that the protein and fat of palatable raw tree nuts would take its place. As near as I can remember, after a period of about two months during which I consumed liberal quantities of raw tree nuts of several kinds, I began experiencing an unpleasant heavy sensation in the abdomen, and a feeling of extreme fullness, and some nausea. The symptoms were pronounced enough to force my giving up this tasty diet. Almost anyone can eat several nuts without feeling any effect. But it is common knowledge that nuts áre heavy on the stomach' if consumed in substanctial quantity. The enxyme inhibitors in seeds explain the mystery".

Conclusion

While nuts and seeds do contain valuable nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, vitamin B and essential fatty acids, the remarkable amount of antinutrients makes them suspicious for causing health problems.
If a person enjoys good health and has never noticed any problems related to the consumption of these foods, it indicates that their body is able to neutralize the inflammatory substances and nutrients. Conversely, if someone suffers from poor health, especially gastro-intestinal inflammatory diseases, allergies or auto-immune disease, they should avoid these foods, or at least do a previous treatment to decrease the amount of antinutrients.

Bibliography:

* “Nutrition Facts”, SELFNutritionData
* “Composition and facts about foods”, Ford Heritage
* “The AAA Diet”, Dr. Paul Fanny
* "Enzyme Nutrition", Dr. Edward Howell

Juicing and Blending

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 12:42:00 +0100

Juicing and blending vegetables and fruits is recommended in several diets. Some of them, such as Gerson therapy, rely almost exclusively on this kind of food. They advocate that it’s the best way for detoxifying the body, as well as providing a lot of important nutrients.
Is it really so important for health to include juices and smoothies? In this article I will show you the benefits and disadvantages of these food, as well as some tests with juices and smoothies that can give you some clues about this question.

Continue reading Juicing and Blending

Benefits and disadvantages of juices and smoothies

The advantages of juices and smoothies for health are numerous. Dr. Sears says: “Juicing is a process which extracts water and nutrients from produce and discards all the fiber. Without all the fiber, your digestive system doesn’t have to work as hard to break down the food and absorb the nutrients. This is especially helpful if you have a sensitive digestive system or illness that inhibits your body from processing fiber. The fiber in produce helps slow down the digestive process and provides a steady release of nutrients into the blood stream. When you remove the fiber from the produce, the liquid juice is absorbed into your blood stream all at once causing a spike in blood sugar. Unstable blood sugar levels can lead to mood swings, energy loss, memory problems and more! Fiber is also filling, and without fiber in the juice, you will be hungry again quickly.
Blending is the process of finely chopping up the entire fruit or vegetable, skin and all, to produce a smooth consistency. Blending produce leaves all the fiber in the mixture, which helps create a slow, even release of nutrients into the blood stream and avoids blood sugar spikes.”
On FoodMatters.com, it is stated that: “Freshly squeezed vegetable juices form part of most healing and detoxification programs because they are so nutrient rich and nourish and restore the body at a cellular level.”
In the GAPS diet, Dr. Campbell-McBride says “Freshly pressed fruit and vegetable juices are highly recommended. They will speed up the detoxification processes in the body and support the liver”.
Other virtues of having juices and smoothies is to be able to consume more vegetables than you normally would. Also, combined with sweet vegetables or fruits, it is possible to eat more bitter-tasting vegetables.
So for people who don’t like the texture of vegetables, such as in the case of some children, juicing and blending can be a good way to include vegetables in the diet.
These are the good news. The bad news is that during the process of juice extraction and blending a significant part of the nutrients are destroyed.

The oxidation process

Dr. Brian Clement, director of the Hippocrates health Institute, states that blending destroys a large amount of nutrients in a smoothie. The explanation is that the oxidation caused by oxygen being sucked into the blender destroys the nutrients.
Oxidation occurs when any food is juiced, cut, chopped, shredded, peeled, chewed, dehydrated and then exposed to air. This is because the cell walls are broken and the cell contents are exposed to the oxygen. Vitamins, minerals and proteins chemically combine with the oxygen and are rendered unusable to us in providing the nutrition they’re supposed to.
The oxidation can be seen in some food for the brown color, for example in apple, although in some food there isn’t any change of color.
There is some controversy about the amount of loss of nutrients when juicing and other kind of food processing. In order to minimize this loss, it is better to use a cold pressed juicer.
In www.coldpressedjuicer.com s stated that “A cold pressed juicer does better on both accounts (taste and nutritional content) because it avoids the oxidation reactions caused by fast moving centrifugal juicers. The fast moving blades do two things: 1) they move quickly thus ‘stirring’ more oxygen into your juice, 2) they heat things up. Heat causes chemical reactions to occur faster, and more oxygen can mean more oxidation reactions” … “A cold pressed juicer avoids oxidation by slowly crushing your produce rather than rapidly chopping it up. This minimizes the ability for oxidation reactions to happen – and thus conserves your nutrients for you and your juice. Drinking your juice soon after you’ve made it will also help reduce oxidization and ensure you are drinking the freshest, healthiest juice around!”

Some experiments

It seems also that blending causes less oxidation than juicing. In www.incrediblesmoothies.com is given as proof of this fact. “Victoria Boutenko conducted an experiment on potatoes where she juiced one and blended the other. After two days, the blended potato had very little oxidation, most of which was at the top of the glass where the liquid was exposed to air. The juiced potato turned brown and oxidized much more rapidly.”
I wanted to find out if there’s any difference in terms of oxidation between juicing and blending. So I tried it with an apple. And this was the result:

As you can see, the brown color indicating oxidation is the same in both cases.
Also, it is said (for example in Sweetnaturalliving) that by using a stick blender (or hand mixer) less oxidation is produced, because there it avoids the vortex such as the one that appears in regular blending machines. The vortex sucks air into the smoothie and exposes food to a greater amount of oxygen and oxidizes it.

The result was positive, the stick blender is slightly better than regular blenders.

Even better: whole produce

There is not doubt of the benefits of juices and smoothies. But it is even better to eat fruits and vegetables in their whole state. For example, if you bite an apple, the amount of oxidation is reduced to the small surface that will be exposed to the air during the short time between every bite.
Furthermore, ingesting a huge amount of fruits or vegetables, as juices and smoothies allow to do, is not a natural way of eating. Eating the nutrients of a juice of 4 carrots all in a sudden could result in a shock for the organism to handle such amount of concentrated nutrients.
And even if in a smoothie we eat the whole product, fiber included, we are skipping the first step of digestion: the action of saliva, which contains a large amount of enzymes to digest carbohydrates. So all the carbohydrates contained in the food will not be digested well in smoothies.
T.C.Fry states on “The Life Science Health” that “Shredding, which produces a greater number of exposed surfaces, is obviously more destructive than cutting up. Grinding is even worse, producing smaller particles. Blending breaks the food down even more, and juicing extracts only the juice, discarding all the fiber.
All these processes deprive the body of part or all of the chewing exercise, which is necessary for the secretion of salivary enzymes and for sending signals for the secretion of gastric digestive juices.
In addition, vital food elements are impaired or destroyed. Oxidation of food is intended to occur within the body, and when it is allowed to occur before the food is eaten, the body is deprived of important elements. Blending, grinding and shredding cause significant losses of Vitamin C as the fragmented foods are exposed to the air, and as much as a 50% loss of Vitamin C within a few minutes after food is juiced
This is one of the dangers of drinking extracted juices. They are so concentrated that it is easy to overload the body with one nutrient or the other. If juices are actively desired, then they should be made fresh, consumed immediately, and used only in the same quantities that you would eat them. For instance, it is quite possible to “drink” twenty or more carrots in a couple glasses of carrot juice. We’re not equipped to handle twenty carrots given to the body in such a short time. It would be better if two or three carrots were juiced and then sipped slowly.
Less Is Better: The less preparation to which foods have been subjected, the better nourishment they provide”

Conclusion

Juices and smoothies are a very good option for children and people who do not enjoy fruit and vegetables too much, or people with dental issues who cannot bite their food. In this case, be careful not to overload your drink with a great amount of fruit and vegetables, make the juice or smoothie from the same amount that you would normally eat if it were in its whole state.
Home-made juice and iced juice lollies may also be an occasional treat.
But keep in mind that it is always much better to eat vegetables and fruits in their whole natural state!

Thank you to my daughter Judit for the English correction.

Milk and dairy products

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Wed, 06 May 2015 20:40:00 +0100

Milk and dairy products are some of the most controversial issues in the science of nutrition. Conventional medicine defends them as some of the most important foods, essential for the calcium in our bones, while many nutritionists and naturopaths have argued for many years that it might be the cause of many diseases.
Numerous books have been written about how milk and dairy products affect health; it is a wide ranging subject overall. This article summarizes some of the pros and cons of milk and dairy products.

Continue reading Milk and dairy products

Nutrients

Pros: It contains both soluble and fat-soluble vitamins, among them vitamins B, C, A, niacin and riboflavin. It also contains calcium, iron and protein.

Cons: The industrial processes that milk undergoes destroy vitamins and alter proteins, making them useless. The calcium in milk is not absorbable and the damage that milk produces in the intestine prevents the absorption of minerals.

Calcium

Pros: Many scientific studies show that dairy products help keep bones stronger and thus prevent osteoporosis. Calcium is well absorbed due to the following facts:
     1.- Milk calcium is found in the form of calcium salts (caseinates and phosphates) which makes it more absorbable.
     2.- Lactose (milk sugar) enhances calcium absorption.

Cons: Many scientific studies show that dairy products are demineralizing and cause osteoporosis, due to the following facts:
    1. Dairy products are acidifying, thus calcium is required to neutralize the acidity. The balance between the necessary calcium and the calcium contributed to acid neutralization is negative.
    2. Calcium from dairy products is not absorbed because of the following:
        * Excess phosphorus, lack of magnesium and vitamin C;
        * The calcium becomes inorganic after pasteurization processes (according to the approximation of Science of Life);
        * Intolerances and allergies to dairy products damage the intestine so that the complete absorption of all nutrients is not possible (according to Dr. Mouton)
    3. In Eastern countries, in populations where people still follow a traditional diet which is devoid of dairy products, the rate of osteoporosis and many other diseases is much lower. These same people develop osteoporosis and other diseases of the Western civilization when they consume this type of food. Whereas in those countries where people have a diet that is rich in protein and calcium, such as the Eskimos, one of the highest levels of osteoporosis in the world can be found.

Comment: According to my observations, calcium makes bones grow and thus makes people grow taller. However, this does not indicate that they become stronger, but quite the opposite. Although bones and teeth are larger, fractures and cavities in these cases are more numerous.
Read this article to learn more about the causes of mineral deficiency.

Lactose

Pros: Medicine states that only a small percentage of the population is lactose intolerant. The fact that people adapt to the consumption of milk in adulthood, continuing lactase production beyond the nursing period supposed great progress for humanity and their settlement in villages.
In any case, nowadays we can find products without lactose in the market.
Dr. Campbell-McBride defends the consumption of home-made kefir and yogurt, fermented for 24 hours to remove all lactose. She also approves of the consumption of very cured cheeses where lactose is virtually nonexistent.

Cons: The enzyme that digests lactose and lactase decreases gradually after weaning, so that adults do not digest lactose. Dr. Campbell-McBride explains that some beneficial intestinal bacteria, such as E-coli, perform this digestion for us. However, if the bacterial flora is unbalanced and lack these bacteria, we suffer from lactose intolerance.

Comment: While it is true that some intestinal bacteria digest lactose, they also produce toxins as digestion residues, which are considered harmful to health in some studies, therefore they can not be regarded as beneficial bacteria.

Casein:

Cons: Some studies claim that some people can not digest casein from animal milk properly, producing the so-called opioid peptides, which are toxins that may cause many neurological and psychological diseases.
Other theories argue that when a person suffers leaky gut syndrome, and at the same time he/she does not have the necessary enzymes to digest casein, then an immune reaction of allergy or intolerance to this protein occurs in their blood. This immune response is responsible for many symptoms associated with various inflammatory, allergic, respiratory, skin diseases, etc.
Dr. Seignalet’s theory is that animal casein is not digestible by humans at all because the domestication of animals occurred very recently in the history of mankind, only 11.000 years ago, compared to the 2 million years that man exists on earth, and our enzymes have not been able to adapt to digesting casein.
The Life Science school of thought argues that while people can adapt to certain suboptimal foods such as milk, when their best food is scarce, their health will not be optimal either. Thus, people can avoid starvation consuming suboptimal food, and although they remain alive, it will be at the expense of suffering from chronic diseases.

Defense: Only a small percentage of people is allergic to casein. People and animals adapt quickly to their environment and 11.000 years are long enough to accommodate a food.

Comment: Animal milk is not one of our best foodstuffs. Some people’s bodies show inability to digest dairy products with a vigorous rejection by developing allergies and gastrointestinal diseases. People who do not show this rejection are thought to tolerate dairy products. But it is a misleading tolerance that might be at the expense of suffering long-term chronic diseases that may range from auto-immune, hormonal, respiratory diseases etc. to neurological diseases and even cancer.

Hormones

Cons: Milk naturally contains growth hormones (IGF-1 and IGF-2) that stimulate cell multiplication. Some studies relate the presence of these hormones in excess with cancer, especially breast and prostate cancers.
Moreover, in some countries such as the US, cows are given an additional hormone (rBGH) to raise their amount of IGF-1 so that they increase milk production.

Fats

Cons: Milk is rich in saturated fats, which favor cardiovascular disease and certain cancer types, especially breast cancer.

Defense: The relationship between saturated fat and heart disease has now proven not to be true. (see this article)

Specificity

Cons: Only domestic animals and people consume milk from animals of other species. Animals may also be wrong when offered foods that are not natural in their environment. An animal shall eat refined sugar when offered, even if it is harmful to its health. However, refined sugar is never found naturally in its environment.
According to the definition of milk in any dictionary, like this one, milk is “The white liquid produced by women and other female mammals as food for their young” .
Therefore, milk is specifically designed to be food for the young of the same species, not for adults or for babies of different species.
Cow's milk contains hormones needed by a calf to become a cow, a significant growth in terms of weight, but reduced in terms of brain development. On the other hand, a baby needs a much more important brain development and less body growth. That is why the composition of human milk contains hormones, fatty acids, sugars, proteins, enzymes, antibodies, etc. for a proper intellectual and physical development. Read more about it in this article.

Defense: It is true that the best food for infants is human breast milk, but milk is a complete food for children who have already finished their feeding, as well as for adults.

Elimination and reintroduction test

Pros: Many people feel worse when dairy products are removed from their diet. Usually they become more tired, and their rate of calcium in blood decreases.
By avoiding dairy products for a while, people develop intolerance to them, as the body stops producing the necessary enzymes for their digestion.

Cons: When dairy products are removed during a sufficient period of time, most people are likely to experience better health. By reintroducing these products, they get worse again.
Some people experience some discomfort at the beginning of the period of elimination. This is called detoxification reaction. This phenomenon is believed to happen due to three possible circumstances. Firstly, due to the addiction caused by milk products, because of the production of endorphins and opioid peptides, so withdrawal symptoms are experienced. Secondly, the free antibodies that could bind to the antigens (casein) earlier, are free now, causing certain symptoms. In the third place, milk is an emotionally charged food with connotations that lead to the childhood, security and maternal well-being. Read more about the possible adverse reactions of detoxification in this article.
The reaction of intolerance experienced by reintroducing dairy products can be interpreted differently. As discussed under the topic Casein, some people seem to experience a rejection or intolerance, and others some misleading tolerance. When someone stops consuming dairy products, the body is healed from its chronic disease and acquires the necessary strength to move from this state of misleading tolerance to a state in which it defends itself against a food that is unhealthy and shows its disagreement with immediate acute symptoms.

Comment: When we are in the mountains and a truck goes by, the smell of its smoke seems really aggressive. However, in a city it is virtually unnoticed. Something similar happens to our body. When we are intoxicated by some substance or harmful food, a little bit of it is not significant. However, when the body is detoxified of this substance, the effects of a small amount of it can be certainly important.

Industrial processes

Pros: Industrial processes are necessary to eliminate pathogenic bacteria that may be found in raw milk. In the past, unpasteurized milk was responsible for numerous epidemics that do not exist nowadays.

Cons: Industrial pasteurization and homogenization destroy properties of milk. Proteins and fats are modified and turned into unusable substances, vitamins and enzymes are destroyed, etc. Moreover, some bacteria resist pasteurization, such as Listeria and Clostridium spores.

Defense: Raw milk that has not undergone these processes is good for health. Raw milk contains white blood cells and is able to defend itself against pathogenic bacteria for two days. If consumed during this time, it does not create problems. However, pasteurized milk does not contain any agents of defense, and is therefore more vulnerable to infections.

Ecology and cruelty

Cons:
1.- In farm-factories the calves are separated from their mothers after 24 hours of their birth in order to take advantage of all the milk for commercial purposes. Calves are fed with artificial milk. This separation is a trauma for both the calves and the mothers, who cry and moo for their young for days.
2.- Cows are exploited to optimize milk production. A cow can naturally produce 500 liters of milk per year, now exceeding 10.000 liters per year. To be able to do this, producers keep cows constantly pregnant by using artificial insemination. Due to these conditions of life, cows die within 4-6 years, long before the 20 years which is their normal life expectancy.
3.- Intensive farming is one of the main responsible factors of the production of greenhouse gases, as well as of water pollution and deforestation, due to logging and burning of forests in order to grow grain to feed cows.
4.- Cattle in farm-factories is subjected to conditions of confinement, inadequate food in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) from grains, protein concentrates and vitamins instead of grass; and over-exploitation of cows for milk production causes them a lack of exercise, lack of sun exposure and a lack of receiving the right nutrients. As a result the animals get sick and must be treated with antibiotics. These antibiotics are found in milk and meat and are a cause that aggravates the problem of antibiotic resistance, in addition to the destruction of the intestinal flora.

Pros: These conditions are not met in the production of organic milk, where cows are treated with respect.

Other health effects

Cons: Some studies link the consumption of dairy products with cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, precocious puberty, constant mucus that some children suffer from, gastroenterological diseases, dermatitis and respiratory allergies, anemia, etc.

Defense: There are no scientifically accepted studies that prove the relationship between dairy products and all these diseases.

Bibliography

* Nathalie Delecroix et Jean-Marie Delecroix, “Le lait, ami ou ennemi ?”
* Thierry Souccar, “Lait, Mensonges et Propagande”
* Dr. Nicolas Le Berre, “Le lait: une sacrée vacherie”
* Dr. Christian Tal Schaller, “La viande et le lait”
* Nicolas Le Berre, Hervé Queinnec , “Soyons moins lait!”
* Dr. Carol Vachon, “Pour l’amour du bon lait”
* Robert Thompson M.D, Kathleen Barnes, “The calcium lie”
* Albert Cohen, “Milk, The deadly poison”, http://www.notmilk.com/
* T. Colin Campbell, “12 Frightening Facts About Milk”
* Dr. Georges Mounton, "Ecosystème intestinal et santé optimale"
* Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, "Gut and Psychology Syndrome"

Foods by their antinutrient content

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 16:01:00 +0100

In the media we can often find information about the thousand virtues of certain foods: omega3 in flaxseed that is good for the brain, phytohormones in soy that are good for menopause, garlic and onion are antibiotics, chocolate, coffee and wine are still claimed to be beneficial due to their anti-oxidant properties... But what about the harmful effects of these foods? Why are the effects of such as phytic acid in flaxseed; lectins, saponins, oxalates, digestive enzyme inhibitors and goitrogens in soy; alicin in garlic and onion; tannins in chocolate, coffee and wine; oxalates and histamine in chocolate and coffee not considered?
In this article we will address the issue of antinutrients, one of the most controversial questions from the point of view of the different nutritionist trends.

Continue reading Foods by their antinutrient content

What are antinutrients?

On one hand, foods contain nutrients, that is to say, substances which nourish the body. On the other hand, all foods contain some antinutrients as well, i.e. substances that do not nourish the body. Among them, we find substances that are more or less harmful to the body, ranging from those that simply do not provide us anything useful to those that might be considered as poisonous
The antinutrients that are found in seeds (cereal grains, grain legumes, nuts), leaves, roots and flowers of plants as well as eggs, are intended to prevent predators from eating them, or to protect them from destruction in the process of digestion in case they are eaten. They can also be of use in order to avoid premature seed germination.
However, animals have developed different systems for neutralizing these substances and thus are nourished by plants. Each species is adapted to feed on different types of plants and/or other animals. The question is; what kind of plants and animals is the human digestive system adapted to in order to neutralize these substances?
Some of the antinutrients are easily digested by or eliminated from the organism of some animal species, but this process is much more difficult in people’s organism and so it happens at the expense of some harm to our organism. It is then necessary that foods with antinutrients are processed prior to their consumption in order to reduce their antinutrient content. However, not all antinutrients are sensitive to any type of culinary processing. Furthermore, such processes may alter the beneficial nutrients of food.
In this article, a very brief index is published in which you can observe what the main antinutrient substances are; what foods are harmful in considerable quantities; how people and animals can neutralize them; and what the potential positive and negative effects on the human body are. The list is not exhaustive but it gives an introductory guidance on the main potential effects of some antinutrients.
For more details on each antinutrient, you may refer to the items found in the bibliography at the end of this article.
Prior to the list, you may find a small food classification index.

Grains: wheat, barley, rye, oat, millet, corn, spelt, kamut, sorgho
Pseudo-grains: quinoa, amaranth, wheat, buckwheat, teff
Legumes: soya, lentils, chick peas, peanuts, beans
Nuts: almonds, hazelnut, cashew, pignola, pistachio, brazil nuts, walnuts, macadamia, etc.
Seeds: sesame, flaxseed, poppy seed, sunflower, pumpkin
Flesh: meat, fish, shellfish
Fruits: sweet, acid and semi-acid fruit
Fruit-Vegetables: tomato, cucumber, egg plant, pepper, pumpkin, squash
Tubers: potato, carrot, sweet potato, Jerusalem artichoke, manioc (or tapioca), yam
Vegetables: leaves (lettuce, spinach, etc), flowers (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage), etc
Nighshades: potato, tomato, egg plant, pepper
Diary: milk, yogurt, cheese, milk cream, ice-cream, etc.

Antinutrient and food	Neutralization	Positive effects	Negative effects
Acid uric from break down of Purines present in: • Food: Flesh, organs, eggs, diary, legumes, some vegetables • Organism: Recycle of genes of died cells.	• Carnivorous(not humans): uricase enzyme • Liver and kidneys	• Purines are part of the chemical structure of our genes. • Antioxidant, prevent damage to our blood vessel linings	• Gout, cardiovascular diseases, kidney stones. • Vegetarians say: Plant proteins do not increase gout risk, while the high-protein organs and flesh of animals do.
Sulphur in methionine and cysteine amino acids: Flesh, eggs, soy, some nuts and seeds, some vegetables	- Calcium	• Antioxidant • Detoxification of heavy metals and all xenobiotics(some vegetables also contain big amounts of sulphur) • Sulphur atomsare needed in various body chemical processes,specially in the brain.	• Calcium deficiency: osteoporosis **
Phytic acid: bran of grains and pseudo-grains, all kind of seeds, nuts, legumes, potatoes	• Birds and ruminant animals: phytaseenzyme • Partially by soaking, cooking, fermenting, sprouting	• Antioxidant and anticarcinogenic • Reduce cardiovascular diseases • Reduce glycemicresponse, so diabetes • Binding of heavy metals	• Binding with minerals of food in the gut: deficiency of iron, zinc, calcium and other minerals • Reduce the digestibility of starches, proteins, and fats.
Lectins: Grains, pseudo-grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, nightshade vegetables, diary, eggs.	• Cooking with seaweeds and mucilaginous vegetables (okra) • Partially by soaking, boiling in water, fermenting, sprouting.Wheat, soy, peanuts and dried beans are the most resistant to neutralisation.	• Anticarcinogenic(research is still in the preliminary stages)	- Leaky gut, - neurodegenerative disease, - inflammatory diseases, - infectious and autoimmune diseases - blood clotting
Saponins: Legumes, pseudo-grains, potatoes, red wine	• Different results in studies for soaking, cooking and fermentation. • Cholesterol • Bile	• Decreasecholesterol • Anticarcinogenic	- Leaky-gut, - disturb digestive enzymes
Oligosaccharides: Legumes	• Other animals: alpha-galactosidase • Sprouting, fermentation • Bacteria in the colon	• Prebiotics	• Gas production
Avidin: Egg white	Cooking	• Antibiotic	• B8 deficienc
Oxalates: • Food: Gains bran, nuts, soy,spinach, rhubarb, swisschard, chocolate, black tea, some fruits and vegetables. • Metabolite of fungus and dysbiotic flora. • Metabolism of the amino acids glycine and serine, vitamin C and sugar.	Partially by cooking	***	• Binding with calcium: Calcium and magnesium deficiency, kidney stones, disturb digestive enzymes. • Hyperoxaluria may play a significant role in autism, COPD/asthma, thyroid disease, fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia, depression, arthritis. • A study said people following a plant-based diet had a lower rate of kidney stones. • Researchers believed that "Oxalate hyperabsorptionmay be the main reason for stone formation in more than half of the idiopathic calcium oxalate stone formers"
Cyanide: beans, manioc, and many fruit pits (such as apricot kernels and apple seeds)	• Cooking • phase II liver detox	May be anticarcinogenic	Cerebral damageand letharg
Canavanine: alfalfa sprout	• Cooking • phase II liver detox and kidneys	Alfalfa sprouts (not canavarine) is good for: • Treatment of kidney stones (Traditional Chinese medicine) • May reduce cholesterol	- Abnormal blood cell counts, - spleen enlargement, - Lupus (if big amount of juice sprouts is taken)
Goitrogens: soy, peanuts and cruciferous vegetables	Cooking, fermenting (#)	Cancer preventative if food is eaten whole, goitrogensare doubtful.	Hypothyroidis
Tannins: legumes, some fruits and vegetables, tea, chocolate, wine, coffee, vinegar	- Tannin-binding salivary proteins - Partially by soaking and cooking. About 90% by germination.	• Antioxidant and anticarcinogenic • Antimicrobial	(if taken in excess): - Zinc and iron deficiency, - decrease in both growth rate and body weight gain, - perturbation of mineral absorption, - inhibition of digestive enzymes, - accelerate blood clotting, - produce liver necrosis
Trypsin inhibitor: grains and legumes	Partially bycooking, sprouting	May be anticarcinogenic	Growth inhibitionand pancreatitis
Alpha-amylase inhibitor: grains, legumes, nuts skin, stevia leaves	Partially bycooking, sprouting	Antidiabetic and weight loss for reducing carbohydrate absorption	• Dysbiosis(candidiasis) • In research on animals: deleterious histological changes to the pancreas
Allicin and mustard oil: Onions, shallots, leeks, chives, scallions, and garlic	• cooking • phase II liver detox	• Cholesterol-lowering • Treatment for hypertension and atherosclerosis	- Mal aliento, mal olor corporal • Bad breath, and bad body odor • Indigestion,acidreflux, diarrhea, stomach pain, gas • Anemia, reduced blood clotting of open wounds. • Allergic reactions • Accidental abortions in humans. Disturbs a baby's ability to breast feed.
Salicylates: berries and dried fruits, some vegetables, herbs and spices	sulfotransferase enzyme	- May prevent certain diseases such as colon cancer.	Same as medicines (aspirin): - bleeding of the stomach and gastrointestinal tract, - dyspepsia, - skin reactions, - liver toxicity, - prolonged bleeding time, - impaired kidney function, - dizziness, - mental confusion - allergic reactions
Calcitriol, solanine, nicotine: green potatoes, egg plant, peppers, tomatoes, gojiberries	• Liver and kidneys	• Lowers cholesterol • Anti-diabetic • Anti-allergic • Anti-itching • Anti-inflammatory • Antibiotic(bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses) • Anticancer	- Calcinosis, - muscle pain and tightness, - morning stiffness, - poor healing, - arthritis, - insomnia - gall bladder problems

* Not found in literature
** This subject is very controversial. It will be dealt with in great detail in a future article.
# There aren’t conclusive studies about the degree of neutralization of the antinutrient in these processes.

Not all antinutrients of all foods have the same effects. For example, saponins in spinach and oat may increase and accelerate the body’s ability to absorb calcium and silicon. What is more, the amount of these antinutrients in each food can be very different. Phytic acid content varies greatly among plants. It may depend on the type of seed, environmental condition, climate, soil quality, how phytate is measured in the lab, and so forth. For example, phytates in sesame can range from 1.44 to 5.36 and in almonds from 0.35 to 9.42. In many cases there are not many studies that specify the reduction.

Antinutrients as medicine

All antinutrients have beneficial and detrimental health effects, since any toxic substance, whether natural or chemical can be used as medicine, have their corresponding side effects.
We should distinguish between the intake of these antinutrients as part of the food and the intake as concentrated supplements, medication, juices or smoothies.
Some antinutrients are found in fruit and vegetables in such small amounts that their detrimental effect on health is not noticeable if you consume the food in moderation. This applies, for example, to psoralens that are found in figs, parsnip and parsley; or sulforaphane in broccoli and cabbage; or allicin in garlic and onion.
However, these substances are used medicinally in their concentrated form to treat certain diseases. For example, psoralens are used to treat psoriasis, but they may also cause skin cancer if a person is exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Sulforaphane is greatly antioxidant and detoxifying, and it is thought to be able to help in cases of autism, cancer and other diseases caused by heavy metal poisoning. However, it may have side effects such as seizures and liver inflammation. Allicin helps fight cancer and hypertension, but also prevents the healing of wounds, causing anemia and it is contraindicated in pregnant and lactating mothers. Cyanide is used to cure cancer, but at the same time may cause brain damage.

Efficiency in reducing antinutrients

As you can see, it is important to respect the right food processing (soaking, fermentation, cooking, sprouting) in order to destroy these antinutrients, although in most cases these processes remove them only partially. For example, there is a 57-58% reduction in phytic acid after cooking beans that had been soaked 12 hours prior to cooking. And a 84% phytic acid degradation can be observed in the case of rye and 58% in the case of barley after soaking and germination.
There is a significant loss of soluble oxalate in almost all test vegetables by boiling, ranging from 30 to 87% A non-significant reduction in trypsin inhibitor was observed on soaking and dehulling in legumes, while tannins showed a reduction of about 50% on soaking. Dehulled seeds showed a decline in tannin content by 70%. There was a significant reduction in trypsin inhibitor (75 per cent) and tannin (80%) by cooking. Germination of seeds for 48 h led to a reduction of 65% in trypsin inhibitor and 90% in tannins.Most antinutrients can be reduced by cooking, but some of them, such as saponins and oligosaccharides are only reduced through fermentation. Such loss of antinutrients during soaking is also associated with loss of desirable nutrients, such as proteins, minerals and vitamins are denaturalised in these processes.
It is also importante to keep in mind that there is contradictory information about these issues in literature. For instance, some studies claim that fermentation allows the inactivation of saponins. Some vegetarian nutritionists argue that cooking and soaking also allow it, while paleo diet supporter nutritionists claim that there is no process that allows to neutralize them. Obviously, vegetarians tend to minimize the effects of antinutrients in vegetables and enhance the effects of flesh food; unlike the supporters of the paleo diets.
In some foods, there is no method of culinary processing to eliminate antinutrients, and it is the body which must, at the expense of minerals, overload the function of the organs of detoxification and immune system.
On livingglutenfree.com you can find more information about how to remove phytic acid of grains, nuts and pulses.

Intolerances or antinutrients?

Certain antinutrients are well tolerated by the general population and may be properly metabolized and eliminated by the digestive and detoxification organs (mainly by the liver and kidneys) without any effect on health, provided they are not taken in excessive quantities as well as being naturally conained in a food, i.e., without being concentrated. This is the case of most antinutrients that appear in fruits and vegetables, such as salicylates, solanins, alkaloids and allicine. Only in the case of people with impaired detoxification system may an allergy or intolerance to these substances with serious health effects occur. If you have symptoms that appear as negative effects of an antinutrient, the cause could be the intolerance to a food that contains the antinutrient. In that case, the best way to be sure is by avoiding the food for at least 15 days, but sometimes the effect is not noticed until after months. Another possibility is to make a food intolerance test, although the result is not always conclusive, as IgG antibody production against intolerant food does not occur for some people, but other kind of immune reactions take place.
In any case, if there is a food intolerance whose antinutrients should be eliminated by the organs of detoxification, a liver or kidney detox as well as a subsequent diet may be the solution, in order to avoid overloading these organs again.
But certain other antinutrients such as phytates, oxalates, saponins, lectins, etc; which appear in the seeds (grains, nuts, pipes, etc.) and tubers (potato) are not completely eliminated with the culinary pre-processing, so they must eventually be neutralized by the body. For phytates, oxalates and tanins, such neutralization occurs at the expense of the minerals in food or in the body, which causes demineralization. Lectins and saponins can not be neutralized and cause leaky gut, among other possible diseases. Trypsin and amylase inhibitors can not be neutralized either, thereby causing a harmful effect on the digestion of other foods; while others, such as goitrogens affect thyroid function.
Therefore, a healthy person can neutralize potential antinutrients in fruits and vegetables without any problems, but antinutrients in seeds will gradually worsen health conditions.
In addition to the antinutrients discussed in this article, there are other substances in legumes and cereals that may harm health, such as gluten in cereals, phytoestrogens in soy and sprouted grains, cafeine in coffee, theobromine in chocolate, etc.

In summary, foods classified by their antinutrient content

Generally speaking, the foods with major content of antinutrients are legumes, especially soya, followed by the rest of seeds (grains, pseudo-cereals, seeds, nuts). The next ones on the list are tubers, especially potato and manioc. At the other extreme, foods that seem to create fewer problems are fruits. Interestingly, legumes even cause health problems in animals.
Almost all beans, legumes and grains are either inedible, poorly digestible or toxic in their raw state. Hence until humanity acquired the technology to create fire at will, legumes were not on the original menu that helped to shape our present day genome. Fruits are the only foods that are specifically designed by nature to be eaten, as the plant gets the benefit of spreading their seed either being rejected by the animals that eat them, or when they are removed as the waste of digestion.As for animal products, the fact that they contain less antinutrients than plants, does not mean that they are the ideal food for the human species. There are many other factors to consider when deciding what kind of food is best. These will be discussed in later articles.

Conclusion:

The best option is to consume food the way nature offers it to us. The fact of creating healing remedies by processing food, ingesting concentrated food or exorbitant amounts of it involves along with the sought "healing" effect, the occurrence of harmful effects as well.
It is true that food processing has enabled us to be eat certain foods that otherwise would be unfit for human consumption. However, the fact that we are not naturally adapted to these foods and that their processing usually can not completely remove all antinutrients, thereby causing certain adverse effects, should make us reflect on the desirability of consuming such foods.

Bibliography:

Refined sugar and its alternatives

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 16:46:00 +0100

It is a well-known fact that refined sugar is unhealthy: it causes tooth decay, obesity, diabetes, some studies also relate it to cardiovascular, rheumatological, neurological diseases and even to cancer. So it is better to use healthier alternatives to sweeten desserts.
There are endless alternatives to white sugar: different types of sugar like brown sugar, coconut sugar or palm sugar; different types of syrups such as rice syrup, maple syrup and agave syrup; fructose, honey, xylitol, or sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, stevia, ... So, which are the best options?

Continue reading Refined sugar and its alternatives

White sugar health effects

White sugar is pure sucrose. It is given the nickname "white death" because of the disastrous way it affects our health. The main reasons it is so harmful are:
1.- Demineralizing: Sugar is acidifying. In order to metabolize it, we need to resort to reserves of minerals of the body such as calcium, potassium and above all magnesium. These minerals buffer the acidity of the metabolites produced by sugar such as uric acid, oxalic acid, phytic, oxaloacetic, sulfuric, lactic, etc. We need 54 molecules of magnesium for each sucrose. It also increases the risk of kidney stones and gallstones, arthritis, rheumatism, etc. (1)
2.- Defenses: Ingestion of sugar weakens the immune system. The mobility of the white blood cells is affected: 30 minutes after the ingestion the activity of neutrophils decreases by 50%, which lasts for 5 hours. Lymphocytes are also reduce their activity. When we eliminate sugar from someone’s diet, the impact of recurrent respiratory and skin diseases diminishes considerably. (1)
3.- Dysbiosis: Sugar feeds undesirable gut bacteria, such as yeast bacteria: Candida or Escherichia coli, causing intestinal dysbiosis, which is the source of many diseases. It also promotes bacterial growth (streptococcus mutans) which is responsible for tooth decay.
4.- Fat: Excess sugar turns into fat reserves and increases the level of blood triglycerides.
5.- Hyperglycemia/hypoglycemia cycles: Sugar consumption causes a sudden increase in blood glucose (hyperglycemia), resulting in excessive production of insulin which causes a drop in blood glucose below normal level (hypoglycemia). These repetitive cycles of hyperglicemia/hypoglycemia cause irritability, fatigue, migraines and sugar addiction. Finally, insulin resistance or diabetes may also be produced.
6.- Glycation: Excess glucose bonds to proteins, forming glycated proteins, inhibiting the function of these proteins, and producing a high level of oxidative stress, which can damage the walls of blood vessels. This damage is repaired by platelets, white blood cells, cholesterol, collagen and other substances, forming the famous plaques, which are the cause of cardiovascular diseases. (8)
7.- IGF-1: Sugar stimulates the production of growth hormone IGF-1 in an excessive way, causing swelling and therefore, a number of diseases from cancer to migraine. (9)
8.- Addictive: Sugar stimulates the production of endorphins, the substances of well-being. But after a while the body decreases the production of endorphins when the same amount of sugar is ingested, or the receptors for endorphins decrease, so a greater amount of sugar will be needed in order to experience the same feeling of satisfaction. This creates a vicious cycle of increased sugar consumption and depression/euphoria, just as it happens in the case of alcohol and all other drugs. (10)
White sugar is commonly made from sugar cane or sugar beets. Through heating and mechanical and chemical processing, all vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, enzymes and, indeed, every nutrient is removed until only the sugar (sucrose) remains.

Other sugars and syrups

Maple syrup, rice syrup, kitul syrup, molasses, brown sugar, coconut and palm sugar.
These sugars undergoes highheating and adulteration in its processing and manufacture.
Besides being concentrated and deadened by high heat, maple syrup may also be contaminated by paraformaldehyde which is used during the tapping process to destroy bacteria. Formaldehyde compounds are poisonous and certainly should not be eaten in food. The sugars present in the syrup have become concentrated beyond their naturalstrength by the introduction of heat in its manufacture
Brown sugar is just white sugar colored with a little molasses and raw sugar is simply white sugar that may be missing one of the many refining steps that all sugars go through. Molasses are the chemicals and deranged nutrients that are a byproduct of sugar manufacture.
All these sugars and syrups do not pose the problem of demineralization that white sugar implies because they also provide minerals. However, in the studies it is not clear whether the amount is enough to meet the needs for their metabolism. Some nutritionists classify syrups and other sugars as acidifying, while others say agave syrup and brown sugar are not demineralizing.
Their composition is mainly sucrose in all except rice syrup which is mainly composed of maltose. Some of them also contain fructose and glucose in varying amounts.
However, their effect from other points of view is the same as that of sugar: they favour dysbiosis, weaken the immune system, and are rapidly absorbed with the consequent problem of hyperglycemia / hypoglycemia and diabetes, tooth decay, addiction, etc..

Honey

Unlike sugar and syrups, honey is composed of monosaccharides such as fructose and glucose, that is, in their simple state, so that they can be directly absorbed by the body. That is why diets that prohibit certain sugars and carbohydrates, such as the GAPS diet, do allow small amounts of honey.
Honey is said to have medicinal properties due to the antibiotic and healing substances that it is composed of. It is also rich in vitamins, minerals and Enzymes.
As a drawback, many nutritionists mention that when heating honey to over 40 ºC, not only its beneficial properties are destroyed, but even its components could degrade HMF, a toxic substance. So it is better not to use it for baking and to buy it in organic food shops where the honey has not been pasteurized. Also, if the bees are fed on flowers that are contaminated with pesticides, the honey will be a concentrate of these chemicals.
As it will be discussed subsequently, HMF can also be generated by heating all types of sugars.

Fructose, fruit syrups and agave syrup

Fructose is highly controversial, especially in countries like the USA, where the use of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is widespread, being one of the main causes of obesity in the country.
Fruit and vegetables contain fructose along with fiber, pectin, minerals, vitamins, Enzymes, etc. The problem is when we consume pure and refined fructose in much higher doses than it is contained in fruit. (2)
Fructose follows a different metabolism process from glucose. It does not need the insulin production, but goes directly to the liver where 50% is metabolized into glucose, 25% into lactate, 17% into CO2, 15% into glycogen and the remainder (2-3%) is converted to fat (fatty acids, cholesterol and triglycerides), which are also components of our cells, and in case they are not required, they are stored. The residue of the metabolism is uric acid.
Fruit syrups and agave syrup are concentrated fructose. Agave syrup goes through a similar chemical extraction procedure to which corn is subjected to in order to extract HFCS. These syrups have a high fructose content, along with some amount of sucrose. Like their other sugar substitute counterparts, they are not as harmful as refined fructose, however, they also cause the same kind of problems.
While fructose contained in fruit does not cause any major problems, unless someone has an intolerance to it, in the end the effects of refined fructose and concentrated fructose on health are almost identical to sugar: obesity, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

Xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol and yacon syrup

Maltitol, sorbitol and xylitol are sugar alcohols. Tey are not absorbed by the body, so they have a negligible glycemic index. Antibiotic properties are also attributed to xylitol, moreover, it does not feed any undesirable bacteria.
Yacon syrup is mainly composed of fructo-oligosaccharides – which is a sugar that can not be absorbed – in addition to sucrose, fructose and glucose in smaller amounts.
Most people do not tolerate this type of sugar because it irritates the intestines and has a laxative effect when a certain amount (which depends on each person) is exceeded. There are people who do not even tolerate half a teaspoon.

Artificial sweeteners

Aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, cyclamate, neotame, etc.
Artificial sweeteners are the product of different chemical compounds artificially produced in laboratories.
Aspartame produces methanol as a result of the metabolism performed by the body, so it is the most controversial sweetener. It is associated with many diseases: migraine, memory loss, dizziness, nausea, convulsions, numbness, muscle spasms, itching , depression, fatigue, irritability, vision problems, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety, joint pain, fatigue, depression, epilepsy, chronic fatigue, etc.
In addition, there is evidence that these sweeteners do not help you lose weight, but quite the opposite.

Stevia

Refined stevia is also an artificial sweetener. It is only natural as a plant (herb), but its texture and taste remind many people of licorice, which is not very palatable when used for baking purposes. However, the stevia plant seems to be one of the best choices as a sweetener for its zero calorie content and completely natural sources.

Sugars in baking

When glucose or fructose are heated in the presence of some acid, it leads to the Maillard reaction and a molecule called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is produced, which is toxic. Healthy people can easily remove it through the urine, however, some studies classified this substance as carcinogenic. (5)
The allowed HMF limit for honey for sale is 40 mg / kg. For example, it takes about 2 hours at 80ºC to raise the HMF in honey up to 30 mg / kg. (6) Even in nougat, which is roasted almonds with honey, HMF does not reach the maximum level allowed.
The amount of HMF is greater in baked goods when sweeteners with free glucose and fructose are used, rather than in those where they are found in the form of sucrose. For example, cookies made with sucrose contain about 9.9 mg/kg, while cookies made with glucose and fructose contain about 35 mg/kg. The highest concentration of HMF in sweeteners is found in grape syrup (up to 11000 mg / kg). (7)
The amount of HMF produced by heating the usual sweeteners is well below the amount that is contained in bread (151.2 mg/kg), particularly when it is toasted (up to 2024.8 mg/kg), or in coffee (up to 2900 mg/kg). A surprising fact is that dried fruit naturally contains a lot of HMF, such as dates contain about 1000 mg/kg and plums about 2200 mg/kg!
As to the result of different sweeteners in baking, keep in mind that rice syrup becomes liquid when heated, so it is not recommended for cookies, cakes, etc.
For the preparation of cookies, sugars work best. Kitul syrup is particularly suitable if we want to replace the egg when baking cookies.
Honey and dried fruit are the only sweeteners allowed in the GAPS diet. When honey is subjected to high heat, the water evaporates from it and consequently it crystallizes and hardens, and therefore it is not very suitable for baking biscuits and cakes.

Conclusion

The healthiest sweeteners are honey and fresh fruit when not heated or baked in the oven. In the case of heating or baking, from the viewpoint of toxicity, it seems that sugars that have a high content of sucrose, such as brown sugar or maple syrup, are the most suitable ones. However, we must consider the disadvantages to health of sucrose intake: demineralization, intestinal dysbiosis, cycles of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, weakness of the immune system, tooth decay, etc. Consequently the best option is to make sweets that do not need to be heated or baked. On this other page you can find some recipes of raw desserts.

Bibliography

(1) “L’équilibre glycémique”, Jacques Fontaine

(2) “Sugar May Be Bad, But This Sweetener Called Fructose Is Far More Deadly” , Dr. Mercola

(3) “Ask Chris: Is Fructose Really That Bad?” , Chris Kesser

(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxymethylfurfural

(5) http://www.airborne.co.nz/hmf.shtml

(6) “Acrylamide and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF): A review on metabolism, toxicity, occurrence in food and mitigation strategies”, LWT - Food Science and Technology

(7) 1“5-Hydroxymethyl-2-Furfural (HMF) – Heat-Induced Formation, Occurrence in Food and Biotransformation – a Review” , Pol. J. Food Nutr. Sci., 2013, Vol. 63, No. 4, pp. 207-225

(8) “Put your heart in your mouth”, Dr. Campbell-McBride

(9) “Anti-Cancer Nutrition: Sugar and Carbohydrates 101”, Integrative Oncology Essentials

(10) “Processed Sugar Can Cause Addiction and Depression”

Excesses that cause deficiency of nutrients

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 17:03:00 +0100

In our modern and developed Western society, most people have plenty of food. Even the poor can go to community centers where they do not lack food. How do we explain then that there are so many nutrient deficiencies?

Continue reading Excesses that cause deficiency of nutrients

My mother, just like many people who have lived through a war, suffered from hunger in her childhood. For almost a year all she ate were Jerusalem artichokes. However, she was never sick at the time, her growth was completely normal and even until her eighties she had good teeth that many children and adults could envy. On the other hand, today most children suffer tooth decay and dental malformations, recurrent gastro-intestinal and respiratory diseases, allergies, scoliosis, fatigue, anemia, problems at school as well as with their behavior, etc. These children usually have a lack of calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin D, B vitamins, etc. How can this paradox be explained?

Soil depletion

While nowadays in our world children do not lack food, the amount of minerals and vitamins of current products is lower than it used to be, especially in fruits and vegetables, mainly due to intensive farming which depletes soil reserves.
However, we can find many people of excellent health eating the same kind of products. Of course, it is preferable to consume organic products, as their nutrient content and quality is far superior. But this does not seem to be the main reason for the deficiencies.

Excess, products that lack nutrients and junk food

The aspect that has drastically changed regarding our ancestors is the type of food: fast-food, industrial and pre-cooked food, additives, increase in the consumption of sugar and carbohydrates such as pizza and pasta. Most children are addicted to foods that are rich in carbohydrates, dairy products and sugars, and their vegetable, fruit and fish intake is very low or almost zero. So their diet usually has a high caloric value and very low nutrient density in terms of vitamins, minerals and proteins.
Furthermore, we eat an excessive amount of food. Everyday there is an excuse to eat some extraordinary and unhealthy thing: parties, celebrations, meetings, outings, excursions, restaurants, visiting friends, etc. Eating and drinking frequently to excess are always linked to the decline of a society or culture and this is something we seriously must think about these days.
All these factors have an impact on intestinal health by favoring the development of undesirable and/or pathogenic bacteria in the gut, which are a major cause of the lack of nutrients. Junk food is not recognized as food by enzymes and overeating exhausts the enzyme system, so in both cases the food is not well digested, and as a consequence it feeds undesirable bacteria in the gut.

Malabsorption and intestinal dysbiosis

The main reason for the current deficiency is poor absorption of nutrients in the intestine.
1.- The first circumstance that explains an incorrect absorption is when due to different causes, intestinal villi are damaged. Intestinal villi increase the surface of the bowel as well as its ability to absorb nutrients. One condition that damages such villi is celiac disease, or when there is an intestinal dysbiosis due to the lack of lactobacilli protecting intestinal enterocytes of the intestinal villi. (2)

2.- Another major cause of nutrient deficiency is intestinal dysbiosis, which involves abnormal development of certain undesirable or pathological bacteria. Some of these bacteria have a preference for certain nutrients, such as sulfate-reducing bacteria feed on sulfur, which is one of the most important minerals for the body to properly perform detoxification. Others, such as Actinomyces, Mycobacterium, some strains of E-coli, etc feed on iron. (2)
3.- Numerous studies relate intolerance to dairy products and gluten to demineralization, osteoporosis and anemia. This is explained by the damage caused in the intestine due to the inflammatory reaction of the immune system against such foods. (1)
4.- Lack of magnesium is due to the consumption of sugar because the body needs to use a large amount of this mineral to metabolize sugar (56 molecules of magnesium for each one of sugar). (2)
5.- Anti-nutrients such as phytates, oxalates and lectins, which exist in many foods, such as whole grains, legumes and nuts, also inhibit the absorption of minerals. (5)
6.- Bifidobacteria which should live in a healthy intestine, perform the synthesis of amino acids, protein, vitamin K, B vitamins and help the absorption of calcium, iron and vitamin D. If these bacteria are not present in sufficient quantity, then this work can not be performed. (2)
7.- Sun exposure, exercise, rest and sleep, clean water and air, etc., are also other important factors that are needed in order to have a good absorption and synthesis of several minerals and vitamins.

Fasting

Fasting is recommended in various religions: Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox, etc. Although the purpose of this kind of fast is meditation and the deepening of faith, fasting is based on the most ancient traditional health practices, already practiced in indigenous Aztec civilizations as well as in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
People used to fast when the "pantries" were emptied at the end of winter and the earth had not yet yielded its first fruits of spring, a period that coincides with the Catholic Lent.
Fasting has always been used in the triple way of body cleansing, mental decontamination and search for spiritual clarity. In Islam, Muhammad’s precept is "Fasting means health." (4)
While fasting, all the organs of our bodies reduce their activity. Only the organs of elimination and excretion work more actively. Fasting allows the body to get rid of the accumulation of toxic waste. (3) Fasting does not cause deficits, it rather detoxifies the body so that nutrients can be absorbed better.
Scientists at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore (9) claimed to have found evidence showing that periods of almost total fasting for one or two days a week could protect the brain against certain degenerative diseases such Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
It is well-known that a hypocaloric diet increases longevity. Rats that are restricted from food increase their longevity by up to 40%. A similar effect has been observed on humans. But in this institute they went even further. They claim that experiencing hunger could prevent not only a poor state of health and an early death but also delay the onset of certain diseases of the brain, including cerebral vascular accidents.
According to this institute the ideal way of fasting would be intermittent calorie restriction, that is, semi-fasting or fasting two days a week, followed by five days of eating normally.
So we should not be afraid of skipping meals during the day, it is not always necessary to have breakfast or dinner if we are not really hungry. For adults it is beneficial to do 24-48 hour fasts once a week, or at least once a month, and longer fasts of up to 3 days maximum without medical supervision once a year.
There are many different types of fasting: water fasting, juice fasting, fruit fasting or semi-fasting, etc.
It is not advisable to fast if someone has never detoxed previously for a certain amount of time, and does not have a diet that takes into account intolerances and avoids junk food. Fasting when someone’s daily diet is completely wrong will definitely not bring the desired effect, moreover, it may cause a too strong „clash” to the body. It is also useless if somebody starts gorging on food and continues eating unhealthily after a fast, because the body will become intoxicated again in a few days’ time.
You may go to a center where you can be guided and you may have a medical follow-up of the fasting period. A nutritional therapist will tell you about the various options and help you plan the fast properly.

Picky eaters

When a child refuses to eat we should not be alarmed. The human body is very intelligent, and will not starve itself.
The important thing in these situations is to look for the cause of poor appetite:
1.- Does the child have any kind of disease? Does the body need rest to recover from it?
When we are sick, especially if there is a gastro-intestinal disease, the body needs to do a detox, concentrate its energies on the immune system and not on digestions or any type of physical activities
2.- Is this lack of hunger selective, ie, does the child lack hunger to eat healthy foods like fruits and vegetables but not for other foods, such as pasta, bread, pizza, candy, hamburgers, etc.?
If so, it means that the child has an addiction to carbohydrates, dairy products, sugar, meat, etc. These products stimulate the production of endorphin, a substance of pleasure when ingested, so that the body looks for this gratification. In contrast, the vegetables and fruits do not produce endorphins, conversely, their antioxidant and detoxifying effects may cause quite pronounced discomfort in people with a major toxic load.
3.- Does the child always eat very little of all kinds of food? Is his or her weight low?
The reason for this may be that his/her gut is inflamed, so most of the food produces discomfort, and as a consequence the child avoids food. Furthermore, this inflammation causes intestinal damage that prevents proper absorption of food, producing significant deficiencies, and thus a very low weight.
4.- Does the child never want to have breakfast or dinner?
It is in the morning when the body performs the most important detoxification, so it is normal that a person is not hungry in the morning until he/she has defecated and is in a position to start to accept food again. So we must never impose breakfast!
As for lunch or dinner, sometimes a person eats too much between meals (snacks), or the previous meal has been too heavy and has not yet finished its digestion, or there may be other reasons. In general, it is good to respect the body and not to eat when one is not hungry. What matters is that at the end of the day we have eaten nutritious food and we have not eaten unhealthy food, it is not that important what time we ate them.
The way you will need to act is different, depending on everyone’s personal situation. It is necessary to analyze each case carefully in order to find the solution. A nutritional therapist can guide you on your way.
We should not become worried and give him/her whatever kind of food, even if it is harmful, just for the sake of not leaving him/her hungry. It is always better not to eat foods that affect the body as toxins if there is an intolerance and especially if we are talking about junk food.

Dietary supplements

I do not recommend taking vitamins or minerals as food supplements for numerous reasons. On this link you will find a detailed explanation of how they create a dependency, of how there is insufficient research on dosage and side effects, as well as of the potential imbalance that the fact of supplementing onlysome vitamins or minerals – which are substances synthesized in laboratories (even if they are made of natural products) – may involve, etc.
Deficiencies can be supplemented by restoring the function of the body, especially repairing the intestine.
Only in a few specific cases where the situation is very serious and it is not possible to restore the body naturally, may supplements be considered.

Change Your Mindset

When we become ill, for example we catch the flu, usually the first thing we think of is that it is a contagion, infection or cooling. Some people think of other causes, such as the fact that the body is weak due to the lack of some nutrient. But virtually nobody thinks of a food that has possibly weakened him/her: a celebration? too much sugar? some intolerant food hidden in a meal when eating out? a recent vaccination? air or water pollution? negative emotions? ...
Other examples are cramps. When cramps are experienced for a period of time, we normally tend to think that there is a lack of magnesium, calcium and potassium, so we often try to solve the problem by increasing the intake of these minerals, either in their pure state as supplements, or through foods that are rich in these minerals. However, we usually do not realize that a lack of these minerals may be due to the intake of any other food that reduces the reserves of these minerals in the body, such as foods that contain sugar, but also syrups, honey or dry-fruit that contains a high concentration of sugar.
During the season of Christmas festivities , ie. the months of December and January it is the time when most diseases show a peak (8) and greater sickness absence is experienced (6). Might it happen because virus work more in holiday season? Or because it is colder? Because there are not enough nutrients, ie. food? Or rather, because there is an excess of food and beverages? And also because there are more family arguments?
Curiously, WHO,which collects statistics of all kinds of diseases, does not carry out studies of this kind.(7)
We have to change the mindset and reflect on what substance could have intoxicated the body instead of focusing on which nutrient is lacking or what microbe could have invaded the body.

Bibliography:

(1) “Ecosystème intestinal & santé optimale”, Dr. Georges Mouton
(2) “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
(3) “Le jeüne. Meilleur Remède de la Nature”, Albert Mosséri
(4) “Historia del ayuno”
(5) ¿Cereales integrales, ¿son tan sanos como dicen?"
(6) “NHS Sickness Absence Rates“
(7) “Estadísticas sanitarias mundiales 2012”, OMS
(8) “Increased winter mortality from acute myocardial infarction and stroke: the effect of age”
(9) “Jeûner pour protéger son cerveau ?”

Fruits

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:26:00 +0100

In summer we often feel like eating fruit: it is refreshing, sweet and a healthy choice for snacks and breakfast. Fruits provide valuable vitamins, minerals; they are detoxifying, antioxidant and help to regulate the digestion, etc.
It’s a very valuable food, furthermore, some people can suffer some discomfort and even more serious gastro-intestinal disorders when eating some kind of fruits, they can have some intolerances or allergies.
However, there are many questions that arise when it comes to eating them. How should we eat them: with or without their peel, before or after meals, fruit juice or whole fruit, etc.?

Continue reading Fruits

… when the fruit is ripe

We should eat fruit at the right moment: at its full ripeness, neither when it is still too unripe nor when it is already too ripe. You can determine that it is perfectly ripe when its perfume smells at its maximum. You can smell this wonderful odor easily when the fruit is at room temperature.
When it is unripe, it has a greater content in complex carbohydrates. As it ripens, these carbohydrates are converted into sugars, which are digested much more easily.
When perfectly ripe, the number of lactobacilli in a fruit is at its maximum and so there is greater digestibility.
When the fruit is too ripe, certain species of fungi start decomposing it, and there may be visible fungal spots under the peel. The smell begins to be slightly alcoholic, due to the fermentation effect of fungi.

... bad fruit combinations

Fruit is the food that we digest most quickly, in about 30 minutes. This is due to the fact that it contains a high percentage of water and because fructose does not require digestion but it is absorbed directly and we only need to digest the fiber.
According to Herbert Shelton, creator of the food combining diet or dissociated diet, we should not eat fruit, carbohydrates and proteins together at the same meal. These three products should be eaten separately. The explanation given is that the acid that most fruits contain prevents the action of amylases, the enzymes that digest starches or carbohydrates. Moreover, fruit sugar inhibits the gastric acid secretion, this way hindering the digestion of proteins, too. So fruits must be eaten separately from other foods: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, etc. Otherwise, the digestion of fruit is slowed down because it must "wait" for the digestion of other foods in the stomach, during which time we may start experimenting fermentations.
So muesli, bread with raisins and duck with orange sauce are not very good ideas for meals.
An acceptable combination with fruit could be honey and nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, etc).

… the particularly problematic ones

Some types of fruit may cause many problems to certain people, especially if their intestinal flora is unbalanced.

1.- Nuts
Almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pine nuts, walnuts etc., contain numerous anti-nutrients, substances that prevent the proper digestion of food and absorption of nutrients. Therefore, it is recommended to previously prepare them in a traditional way.
In addition, people with food allergies or intolerances are often prone to experience these allergies or intolerances to nuts as well.

2. Banana
Banana and plantain come from tropical countries, they are collected when still unripe, and in order not to be damaged during their journey, they are often treated with chemicals to be preserved. When they arrive at the destiny, they are gassed with ethylen in order to trigger their ripening.
Furthermore, according to Mosseri, who created the Natural Hygiene diet, bananas naturally contain a toxic substance in their peel which is used as a drug. This substance also remains on the surface of banana in small amounts, so that the most sensitive people who can not neutralize this substance may experience problems eating bananas.

3.- Apricot and plum
Just like bananas, these fruits also contain toxic substances and some people can suffer some intestinal problems with this fruit. That is why plums are used as laxatives.

4.- Citrus
Most fruit contains some acidity, but citrus are extremely acidic. The body needs to offset this acidity in the intestine during the digestion with its existing alkaline substances. Once neutralized, fruits always produce a lot of blood level alkalizing minerals that compensate for the loss during the digestion. But if the digestion of these fruits is not properly performed, which may happen for different reasons, then the overall balance is acidification, and therefore, a loss of minerals in the body. This is what usually happens to people who abuse of fruit.

5.- Tropical fruit
Tropical fruit such as mango, pineapple, papaya, etc., similarly to bananas, are treated with chemicals to withstand the long journey from the producer country.
Moreover, most of them are very acidic, so we run the same risk of acidification as with citrus.
There is another problem for people who do not come from tropical countries: they are not adapted to this type of food, that is, their enzyme system usually does not contain enzymes to digest these fruits.

6.- Tomato
Tomato is considered a fruit, also a very acidic one. It is one of the few fruits, along with avocado and lemon, which may be combined with salads without any problem.

7.- Dried fruit
Dried fruit, such as dates, apricots, figs, plums and raisins contain a much larger amount of sugar than fresh fruit. Some people with intestinal dysbiosis, candida or yeast overgrowth should avoid eating dried fruit. In any case, when dried fruit is not well tolerated, you may get flatulence and abdominal distention.
Select only fruit which has been sun-dried, and which does not contain sulfur dioxide or other additives. Fruit which has been dried by artificial dehydration (heat evaporation) is usually dipped into a sulfur dioxide bath to keep it from darkening. Golden raisins,and any dried fruit that is light in color, have been treated with sulfurdioxide. Almost all dried fruit is fumigated during storage or shipping. Preservatives are not necessary in these products, but some processors add sorbic acid as a preservative, and some add corn syrup or honey to keep them from drying out.

Whole fruit, fruit juice, smoothies, cooked fruit…?

There are different effects to eating whole fruit and drinking juices or smoothies. Juice contains vitamins, minerals and sugars in a more concentrated way than whole fruit, so you can consume more of these nutrients. As they do not contain fiber, people who can not tolerate fiber can benefit from fruits this way. Juice may be considered medicine, which may have therapeutic effects and be beneficial for some time, but fiber is necessary, so I usually advise that it is best to eat the whole fruit.
Smoothies contain the same nutrients as whole fruit, but crushed, so by drinking smoothies we skip the first phase of digestion, which is chewing and salivation. Saliva contains precious enzymes which begin the first phase of digestion. And although these enzymes are mainly amylase and lipase which digest carbohydrates and lipids, some fruits also contain a certain amount of these nutrients.
With regard to cooking fruits, they become more digestible and certain substances of the fruit that may be offensive to some people and may create allergies or intolerances, are inhibited. However, at the same time important vitamins and enzymes are destroyed. So overall, if well tolerated, it is best to eat the whole raw fruit, as nature gives it to us. Juices and smoothies can be taken from time to time, or because of a therapeutic goal.

… with or without peel?

The peel of fruits contains many nutrients, especially vitamins, but also toxic substances to insects and other predators. This is because the peel must protect the fruit inside it from the aggression of these predators and from the inclemency of the weather. So, eating the peel may cause a big problem to sensitive people.
Also, pesticides spayed on fruit are concentrated on skin.
Moreover, the peel is not digested but is expelled in the feces. So the valuable nutrients it contains are not taken advantage of.
Once fruit has been peeled, it must be eaten quickly, because vitamins are lost and fruit is oxidised.

… local and seasonal

Fruits that have to be transported long distances are picked unripe and often treated with chemicals in order to preserve them. It is best to consume locally produced fruits.
Although nowadays most fruits are available throughout the year, this is not what nature offers to us. Nature offers fruit that is best suited to the needs of each season: citrus that is rich in vitamin C in winter, watery fruit to increase fluid intake in summer, berries in spring to help detoxification after the winter, etc.
Eating the same type of fruit all year round can create intolerances in addition to being anti-natural.

… intolerances and allergies

When there is an intolerance to all types of fruit it is usually because there is a fructose intolerance. As explained in this previous article, fructose is absorbed directly in the small intestine and it does not require any digestion. So, if there is a fructose intolerance, it is due to a bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine. If we address this intestinal dysbiosis through a nutritional treatment, this kind of intolerance usually disappears.
Allergy to certain fruits, such as strawberries and other berries exists because there is an increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut). By treating this bowel condition, allergies tend to disappear.

To sum up:

It is best to eat the whole fruit, when perfectly ripe, without peel, local and seasonal. If you have some disconfort when eating fruit, try to be eaten alone or mixed just with nuts.
Fruit is an important food, so if there is any intolerance it’s because there’s a gut dysbiosis, who creates a fructose intolerance. And allergies are due to a leaky gut. Both intestinal disorders can be treated and healed.

Bibliography:

“Food Combining made Easy”, Herbert M. Shelton
“La Nourriture idéale et les combinaisons simplifiées”, Albert Mosséri

Saturated Fats: necessary or harmful to our health?

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 20:22:00 +0100

Saturated Fats get a very bad press. In general, they are associated with arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases, as well as having a reputation for making you fat. But some nutritionists have a completely different opinion, and believe that saturated fats are necessary for good health. Which of the two opinions is right? What are the arguments supporting each of the two opinions?

Continue reading Saturated Fats: necessary or harmful to our health?

It seems that there is a strong consensus when it comes to Omega 3 fatty acids (such as fish oil) and omega 6 (such as sunflower oil). The first are considered anti-inflammatory, while the latter are inflammatory. Omega 9 fatty acids (such as contained in olive oil) are also largely considered anti-inflammatory, although there are divergent views on whether you can cook with it or not. For example, in the GAPS diet, olive oil cooking is prohibited. In my opinion, as I come from a Mediterranean tradition, it can be used for cooking, as long as it is not subjected to high temperatures, and that it does not reach the smoking point.
But this controversy is more important when talking about saturated fats.

Arguments against saturated fats

The American Heart Association says in a post on May 30, 2014 that “Eating foods that contain saturated fats raises the level of cholesterol in your blood. High levels of blood cholesterol increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Be aware, too, that many foods high in saturated fats are also high in cholesterol – which raises your blood cholesterol even higher”. (8)
Dr. Galland says that “the impact of being a meat eater on your risk of coronary artery disease is pretty well established, it’s because of the saturated fat that raises cholesterol.” Also, “a high fat diet increases the flow of bile. Bile alters the gut micro flora because there are organisms that are killed by bile and bile acids and bile salts, and there are others that thrive in bile” (1). So Dr. Galland thinks that meat fat create a dysbiosis (unbalance in gut flora) and increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Several studies have demonstrated that saturated fatty acids (SFAs) stimulate adipose tissue inflammation by a process that involves Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). SFAs also stimulate inflammatory molecules in macrophages. (3), (9)
Chang and his colleagues traced how saturated fats, particularly those from dairy, which are also present in many baked goods and processed foods, can change the composition of naturally harmless bacteria communities in the gut. As the balance of species shifts, it can trigger an immune response that results in inflammation and tissue damage. (10), (11).

Arguments in favour of saturated fats

Numerous doctors have changed their minds about saturated fats over time, and are currently in favor, as Dr Weil wrote in 2011: “You're correct that my thinking on saturated fat has evolved. One catalyst was a scientific analysis of 21 earlier studies, which showed "no significant evidence" that saturated fat in the diet is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease.” He is referring to studies such as one that was published in 2010 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (7), where it is concluded that “A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD”
Now, a new study (4) indicates that a diet low in carbohydrates is also more effective than a diet low in fat in reducing in the blood and reducing markers of inflammation.
One possible explanation for this change of opinion is the consideration that not all animal fats are equal. Animal fats are more inflammatory when the animal has been fed with grain, so that the amount of omega-6 is more important. However, the fat of grass-fed animals contain other anti-inflammatory substances. (6)
Typically, in the studies that indicate an inflammatory effect of saturated fats, the type of food that is fed to the animals which the proteins used on in the study is not specified.
The laboratory studies often use refined products, not natural products. In studies where it is concluded that saturated fat is unhealthy, as published in Nature (10), “milk fat” is used, “a powdered substance that remains when fat has been separated from butter and dehydrated“. This fat is very different from the fat that exists naturally in milk, yogurt, or butter made from raw milk. The health effects of these fats can also be very different.

The cholesterol myth

The myth that high cholesterol foods cause heart disease is being rejected by numerous scientific studies. First of all, 75% of the body's cholesterol is synthesized in the liver, so only 25% comes from food intake. So there is not a direct correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol. In fact, a study conducted in 1948, discovered that the correlation was actually reversed, meaning that, the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person's serum cholesterol. weighed the least and were the most physically active. (13)
By contrast, it has been shown that diets low in saturated fat are link with increased mortality involving cancer, suicide, cerebral haemorrhage and violence. (14)
Dr. Weston Price studied indigenous civilisations that maintained good health and high longevity, and found that the diet was very different. Some of them had fish as staple food, others were hunters, others were vegetarians with diary products, etc. But they had all in common a very high fat intake.(15)
Dr. Mercola says: “Remember that 75 percent of your cholesterol is produced by your liver, which is influenced by your insulin levels. Therefore, optimising the insulin level, cholesterol will be automatically optimise and risk of both diabetes and heart disease will be reduced. There is no magic pill to cure heart disease, as the underlying cause is insulin resistance caused by eating too many sugars, grains and especially fructose.” “Elevated triglycerides in the blood have been positively linked to proneness to heart disease, but these triglycerides do not come directly from dietary fats; they are made in the liver from any excess sugars that have not been used for energy” (12)

Animal and vegetable saturated fats

The terms saturated fat and animal fat are often confused. All fats and oils, whether of vegetable or animal origin, are some combination of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated linoleic acid and linolenic acid. In general, animal fats such as butter, lard and tallow contain about 40-60% saturated fat and are solid at room temperature. They also contain 30-50% of monounsaturated fat and the rest is polyunsaturated. Interestingly, it is precisely the composition most similar to human milk fat: 48% saturated, 33% monounsaturated and 16% polyunsaturated, and this proportion is the human need for life in our food supply. (12) (2)
Coconut oil, for example, is 92% saturated. These fats are liquid in the tropics but hard as butter in northern climes. Of particular interest is lauric acid, found in large quantities in both coconut oil and in mother's milk. This fatty acid has strong anti-fungal and antimicrobial properties.
Fats and oils harmful to health are those who have undergone the following processes:
1 -. Vegetable oil extraction in processes that require heating, or using chemicals.

2 -. Hydrogenation of vegetable oils
3 -. Homogenisation of fats, usually those in milk.
As a result, these processes produce fats with an inflammatory effect, such as trans fats from hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, which are used in the food industry: baked goods (pastries, biscuits, muffins, cakes, pie crusts, doughnuts and cookies) and fried foods (French fries, fried chicken, breaded chicken nuggets and breaded fish), snack foods (popcorn, crackers), chocolate, ice-cream, mayonnaise and other foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, traditional vegetable shortening or stick margarin.
This damaged or oxidised cholesterol seems to promote both injury to the arterial cells as well as a pathological buildup of plaque in the arteries. Damaged cholesterol is found in powdered eggs, in powdered milk (added to reduced-fat milks to give them body) and in meats and fats that have been heated to high temperatures in frying and other high-temperature processes.

Functions of saturated fat in the body

Every cell of every organ in our body contains cholesterol in its structure. In many cells, almost half its membrane comprises of cholesterol.
Saturated fat is required for the brain, eyes, production of hormones, cortisol, vitamin D, and bile salts. In the nervous system, for example, myelin is a substance that covers the entire cell and nerve fibre. The myelin is composed 20% of cholesterol. The synapses, or connections between neurones needed for memory, also need cholesterol.
Saturated fats also play many other important functions in the body:
1.- It transports fat soluble vitamins: A, D, E and K
2.- They are necessary for the functioning of the immune system
3.- They slow down digestion, so they give a feeling of fullness after eating that lasts for a long time, which prevents the need to eat frequently
4.- They withstand the conversion of carotene into retinol, the vitamin A that will be used, for example, in the eyes and in all epithelial cells
5.- They contribute to the binding of calcium in the bones
6.- They protect the liver from alcohol and other toxic substances
7.- They protect the walls of the digestive system
8.- They Intervene in the reparation of the damaged tissues of the body
9.- They are an antioxidant against free radicals

The role of the liver and pancreas

The liver produces bile which emulsifies fats and dietary lipids. But if the liver is not working properly due to toxic overload, it can not perform this function. Therefore fats are not digested properly, and then fats feed undesirable intestinal bacteria, which proliferate and produce more toxins, increasing the toxic load of the liver. It is an endless cycle.
It can also occur, that there is a deficiency of lipase produced by the pancreas, an enzyme responsible for digesting lipids. The cause of this dysfunction is, according to Dr. Campbell-McBride (2), intestinal bacterial dysbiosis which also infects the organs and prevents proper functioning. In the end, as a result of maldigestion of lipids, fatty acid deficiency in the body occurs, which leads to malfunction in various parts of the body: brain and nervous system, eye, hormones, cardiovascular system, etc..
To know if one is suffering from a problem of this type, it is enough to observe whether the faeces float on water or sink. If it is the first case, it is a good indicator that there is not a proper digestion and absorption of lipids.
Thus, in the case in which fats can not be digested, it will be harmful to health, although the lack of them will also involve multiple deficiencies. So, do not try to avoid fats in food, but to repair the body, mainly the liver and pancreas so that fats can be tolerated and can nourish the body.

Interests

I will not go into detail; on the Internet you can find lots of information about the interests of the pharmaceutical industry to sell drugs statins to lower cholesterol level, and of the food industry to sell margarine.

Conclusion

The problem of protein and fat depends mainly on the type of animal from which it originates; if it is of good quality meat, meaning that, the animals are grass-fed and outdoors, or are raised in factories.
Industrial fats or fats that are under processes that denature them, are also harmful.
Perhaps the main problem is not whether to eat fats or not, but rather if the body is able to digest and absorb these fats and address to the needs of the organism. When the liver or the pancreas does not secrete enough bile and pancreatic juice, problems with digestion of fats and other nutrients appear, resulting in cardiovascular disease, hormonal, inflammatory, gastroenterology, cancer, etc..
Then, it is necessary to undergo a treatment that will allow it to regain function.

Sources :
(1) Conférence Future of Nutrition http://futureofnutritionconference.com/conference/future-of-nutrition/?_ga=1.99153630.1319473935.1388612888
(2) « Put your Heart in Your Mouth », Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD
(3) « Modulation of obesity-induced inflammation by dietary fats: mechanisms and clinical evidence » http://www.nutritionj.com/content/13/1/12
(4) « Low-carb Diet Reduces Inflammation And Blood Saturated Fat In Metabolic Syndrome » http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203091236.htm
(5) http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400919/Rethinking-Saturated-Fat.html
(6) « What Causes Inflammation? A Comprehensive Look At The Causes and Effects Of Inflammation » http://www.thedoctorweighsin.com/what-causes-inflammation-a-comprehensive-look-at-the-causes-and-effects-of-inflammation-part-2/
(7) « Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease » http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract
(8) « Saturated Fats Q&A », http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/FatsAndOils/Fats101/Saturated-Fats_UCM_301110_Article.jsp
(9) « Saturated Fatty Acids and Inflammation: Who Pays the Toll? » http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/30/4/692.full
(10) « Dietary-fat-induced taurocholic acid promotes pathobiont expansion and colitis in Il10−/− mice », http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7405/full/nature11225.html
(11) « Western diet changes gut bacteria and triggers colitis in those at risk » http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2012/20120613-milkfat.html
(12) « The Cholesterol Myths that May be Harming Your Health » http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/22/debunking-the-science-behind-lowering-cholesterol-levels.aspx
(13) « The Framingham Heart Study: The Town That Changed America's Heart » http://www.framingham.com/heart/backgrnd.htm
(14) http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00000487
(15) « Nutrition and Physical Degeneration », Weston A. Price, MS., D.D.S., F.A.G.D.

How to choose the best diet for you: Getting to know yourself

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 16:13:00 +0100

Your best doctor is no one else but you.
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride says: "There is no universal rule, and anyone who tries to prescribe us when we should fast when we should eat and should not be listened to. No scientist, no doctor in the world and no laboratory can tell you what you should do personally. The only authority that everyone should listen to is his own body, because Mother Nature has taken billions of years to draw it".
Our body knows exactly what is best for it, we only need to be able to listen to it. Every animal knows perfectly what to eat, for example cows instinctively eat medicinal herb when they are sick, without being told to do so. Why are we humans the only ones who don't know what is best for us? Why do we consume food that is harmful for us? What kind of factors stop us from listening to our body?
This article will be on the subject of the second principle of Living Fully Nourished method: how to get to know yourself in order to take your health into your own hands.

Continue reading How to choose the best diet for you: Getting to know yourself

Jonathan Bailor says "The more someone claims to know everything there is to know about food and nutrition, the less they know about food and nutrition, because for any of these extremely complicated areas of life like nutrition, exercise, psychology, quantum physics, actual experts will be the first to tell you there’s a lot we don’t know. When you don’t know that much, you err on the side of practicality. Practicality tells us very simply, what do healthy cultures eat consistently? Healthy cultures eat foods found directly in nature."
As the titles of Michel Dogna’s books state: “Prenez en main votre santé” (take your health into your own hands), it is necessary for everyone to take charge of their health. Doctors and therapists are there to help and advise you, but you shouldn’t blindly obey them out of fear. Stress caused by the doctor’s or therapist’s judgement is precisely what prevents us from recovering. The feeling that should fill the patient is hope and modesty when facing the extraordinary perfection and complexity of the human body. Apart from that, the patient would need positive energy, encouragement and support.

Recovering the natural instinct for food

We must listen to our body, but we are disconnected from our body for different reasons:
1.- Our mind. Our mind is more powerful than our body, it can control or disable any physical need. Fortunately, this is one of the features that differentiate us from animals. Mentally balanced people can control their physiological needs, sex drive, violence and of course, their hunger. However, this distinction is a result at the expense of losing our instinct about what food is benefitial for the body at any given time and excessively retaining physiological needs, which may result in constipation. Furthermore, we may drink excessive amounts (for example when the doctor tells us to drink three litres a day) or too few liquid.

2. Our beliefs. From an early age they breed into us what is beneficial and what is harmful. Teachers at school, parents, advertisements and television programs, religion, culture of our times in general, friends, doctors, and nowadays the Internet too. As well as our mind, having a belief also elevates us as people, but we are disconnected from our physical needs. We no longer listen to our body, we listen to doctors, nutritionists, friends, family members, our dogma of faith, etc.
Because of these factors, we can find a situation where for example, a person needs meat and fish protein, but because of his beliefs and mind, he thinks that being a vegetarian is better for his health. Or conversely, a person needs to go through a time of cleansing to remove toxins from the body with a vegetarian diet, and yet continues eating a lot of meat because his nutritionist suggests that in order to lose weight he should follow a high protein diet, or a person that follows a high grains diet because he has converted to Buddhism and follows a macrobiotic diet.
It's very important to question every dietary dogma, mostly the ones we find on Internet or other sorces. Dr. David Katz gives a very wise advice: "Don’t just read opinions that confirm your own. If all you read is the stuff that agrees with what you want to believe in the first place, you’re taking a biased approach and not likely to wind up with a balanced perspective. You’ve got to read the best stuff that disagrees with what you’re hoping is true. Then, if you can still believe what you wanted to believe, it may be robust."
Sometimes the problem is not listening to our body, but that the body sends false messages. In this case the body is in a state of dependence of certain foods. We might even talk about an addiction. This may happen for several reasons:
1.- There is excessive proliferation of undesirable or pathological bacteria in the gut, which produce certain neuro-toxins that activate the receptors of well-being. This happens, for example, in case that there is a yeast infection such as Candida, which causes these pleasurable substances when they are fed with sugar and carbohydrates. Therefore, it is very difficult to cut down on sugar and carbs when there is a yeast infection. But as mentioned above, our mind is much more powerful than our body, so we can achieve the goal! Many people manage to do so, even though it is hard.
2.- There is an enzyme defect which prevents proper digestion of certain foods, such as gluten and casein. In this case, these proteins become opioid peptides that alter brain neurotransmission, and also cause an addiction. This situation can even lead to certain psychological and neurological diseases.
In both cases, external control of the body is necessary: the mind or an other person who is a close friend could help us to go on a diet. In the case of children the parents can help, adults may need the intervention of their partner or a close family member.
But when it is the mind that has wrongly decided for our body about our diet, the problem is that we would need to get rid of all preconceived ideas about nutrition and put them all in doubt, which is not evident. How can we achieve it? How can we reconnect to our bodies?

Conscious eating

To begin with, you need to relax before eating. Disconnect from the environment: work, news on TV, phone, friends, colleagues or family. Eating alone for a few days, almost in a state of meditation, is what is called conscious eating. In order to do this:

Perform some breathing exercises to relax before eating. You can even do a bit of meditation.  
Focus on the sensations of the body before, during and after the meal. Ask the following questions:
-  Am I really hungry? Analyze whether the stomach is moving and making "noises" indicating that it is hungry, or you are simply going to eat because it's time to eat.  
- What am I hungry for? What kind of food do I feel like eating? Maybe just a salad, meat, or rice? Is it really my body that is asking for this food or are my preconceptions telling me to eat it?
Once you have identified that the body really needs to eat, as well as what you need to eat, then you can proceed to prepare. For the preparation of the majority of healthy food there is no need to spend much time in the kitchen. You can always have some cooked rice or legume in the fridge, it will keep for two or three days. Even if you don’t have much time, you can prepare some salad, vegetables, meat, fish or eggs as it is all fairly quick to make.
Cooking our own food opens the senses and helps stimulate the digestive system. Also, if done consciously, and prepared with love, having positive thoughts in the meantime, vitamin L (love) is also added to food. 
If you believe in any religion or simply in the power of mind, giving thanks for the food you are going to eat and blessing it increases the positive energy or the vitamin L of the meal even more. 
Eat consciously : taste the food, focus on the smell, texture, presentation (color, shape), taste and temperature. Chew slowly.
Be aware so that you notice when you are full and stop eating at that moment. If there is still some food on your plate, just store it in the fridge, there is no need to eat it all up. 
Again, give thanks for the food that has been eaten. Visualize how food is digested properly to its elemental parts (for exaple, imagine some scissors that are cutting food up to elementary substances), and how these are then distributed throughout the body transported by the blood to feed all cells of your body. 
After eating, pay attention to the reactions of your body: are you starting to have gases, pain or noise in the belly, or is there a sensation of satisfaction and renewed energy? Be aware of all the possible symptoms (pain anywhere in the body, immune reactions, heart, etc.), both immediately after eating and a few hours later. In case any symptoms occur at any point, write down everything that you have eaten in the past 48 hours.  You should perform this exercise for some time until you are able to eat consciously without much concentration, being accompanied by others.   Once you have reconnected to your body and you can free yourself from preconceived ideas and try new styles of eating with an open mind and receptive body, you can start to distinguish which foods are beneficial and which are harmful for you.

Testing different diets  

From this point we can doubt all types of diets: vegetarianism, raw food, hyper-protein diet, paleo diet, macrobiotic diet, etc. There are valid arguments that defend all of them, so how to choose which is the best? In addition, within each type of diet, there are so many different variants as nutritionists exist on earth.  
A suggestion is to simply try it for a while. If that style of nutrition improves your physical and psychological health, that indicates that it is a good diet. If it gets worse, it might be a detoxification reaction, a temporary worsening before improving, which happens in numerous therapies. So it is necessary to test them for a while. Typically, if the worsening lasts too long and gets worse and worse it is an intolerance, but if it is only temporary, then it is simply a detoxification reaction.
In the opposite sense, just because something makes you feel good (at first) does not mean it is good for you. It could be that it’s stimulating and enervating you and setting the stage for disease. Amphetamines, also know as “uppers,” definitely give a feeling of well-being. Yet, they do not bring health and, in fact, are extremely detrimental to the health.
A nutritionist-therapist can guide you in order to find out if it is a detoxification reaction or a diet that does not suit you. If there doesn’t occur any change with the new diet, it usually indicates that it is not the appropriate one.
Intolerances and nutritional needs evolve in life. A person does not have the same needs in childhood, adolescence, adulthood or in old age. Sometimes it can happen that during a phase of life a certain diet is more adequate, for example, a vegetarian diet when the body needs a detox, or a hyper-protein one when the body is malnourished. The necessary diet changes for everyone throughout life. While a person has a certain disease, whether chronic or acute, a therapeutic diet is required, which may be different from the maintenance diet that is adequate when the person is healthy.
Dietary therapy also depends on the type of disease. For example, Dr. Campbell - McBride designed the GAPS diet for people with neurological diseases, which is a diet where sugar and cereals are removed; while the most famous diet for cancer patients is the Gerson diet based on vegetable juices; diet for people with epilepsy is the ketogenic diet which is high in fat, or the Failsafe diet, where most fruit and vegetables are removed because of their phenol content; etc.
It may also be that a person thinks that a change to his/her daily diet might do good. For example, you may decide to eat vegetarian food one day a week for a weekly detox, or the same way you can fast once a month, which I would personally recommend doing.
Your best doctor is you. If we talk about children, their best doctors are their parents. The best option in order to become healthy is to study nutrition ourselves, so we can decide what foods are best for us and for our children. But for this it is necessary for the person to be properly instructed on different approaches to nutrition, to know "where to start" and what foods/substances could be suspected. A nutritional therapist can help make these decisions, especially when we do not have time to study nutrition. However, the number of variables and factors that have an influence in finding the adequate diet is so extensive that our certain participation in the process is always required.

Variables to consider in the process of getting to know yourself

1.- Different diets suit different people.
Different diets are best for each one of us. Surely members of the same family, for example a parent and the children keep a greater similarity compared to another person, but even so it will differ due to different genetics and a different environment.
2.- The traditions and the country we come from.
The children of parents who come from different countries and races have it much more difficult to determine what type of food is best for them. We should also consider whether distant ancestors come from a different area of the planet. For example, if you come from a Mediterranean country the best for you is olive oil, fruit and vegetables such as citrus and artichokes; while if you come from northern Europe for you it is better to consume canola oil or animal fat; apple as fruit; and cabbage as vegetable. And if you come from Asia then rice, seaweed and fish will likely be your staple food.
3.- The country where you live and its climate.
If you have grown up in a Mediterranean country perhaps fruit suits you better, but if you currently live in a Central or Northern European country, fruit might not be the best choice anymore, but you may need more fat.
4.- The season of year:
the food which is available in winter is not the same as in summer. In summer we usually eat more vegetables and fruit, especially raw ones, while in winter, due to the shortage of vegetables and fruit during the cold season, it is preferable to eat meat or fish broth which are rich in fat and protein.
5.- Medical conditions you have undergone:
vaccines, exposure to heavy metals, drugs, etc. Furthermore, stressful conditions, hospitalization, illness, etc., which may have influenced the appearance of different kinds of intolerance. Certain conditions of fatigue, stress, emotional conflicts, etc. can influence the intolerances so that they become more or less severe, depending on the day.

The difference between unhealthy and intolerant food

The barrier between unhealthy and intolerant food is very diffuse. There are certain foods which virtually all nutritionists describe as unhealthy foods, but most of the foods can be healthy for certain nutritionists and unhealthy for others.
Absolutely all foods have beneficial and harmful properties. Think of any kind of food, for example the healthiest one there is, broccoli. Broccoli is one of the foods with most virtues: one of the richest in antioxidants, it can detoxify heavy metals, it contains numerous vitamins and minerals, etc. But phenoles and flavonoids that act as antioxidants are substances in plants that help protect against insects, so they are also toxic and there are many people who do not tolerate this kind of substances. Broccoli also contains a lot of sulphur needed in the detoxification process, but when there is an overgrowth of sulphate-reducing bacteria then sulphur is metabolised into sulphites, which is toxic. Another example is apple, also an ultimate healthy food. So many people suffer from flatulence when eating apples, due to an intolerance to soluble fibre which are highly fermentable, or due to a fructose intolerance.
In general, the higher the nutritional content of food, the greater its anti-nutrient content. In the plant world, these precious nutrients are protected with anti-nutrients. Other examples are spinach, with very high content of oxalates, or chocolate containing a large amount of oxalates, histamine and alkaloids, or whole grains and pulses that contain oxalates too and phytates, lectins, saponins and agglutinins.
So we can not say that some kinds of food are beneficial for everyone. Each one of us needs different foods, different foods suit different people, thus we should follow different diets.
That is why I prefer to classify foods that are not harmful as tolerant and intolerant foods.

Classification of food according to intolerances and unhealthy food

First of all, we can start by excluding certain food products from our diet that are undoubtedly harmful to health:

Processed or industrial food: hydrogenated oils or margarine; additives: colourings, preservatives, anti-caking agents, thickeners, flavor enhancers (monosodium glutamate); artificial sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame, sorbitol, sucralose, acesulfame, neotame).
Products that have been chemically treated with pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, or genetically modified products
Products that have been roasted or burnt at high temperatures: vegetable oils at high temperatures (fries and chips), breakfast cereals, toast, popcorn, roasted meat on the barbecue, coffee, etc.

Then there are certain foods that are more likely to be problematical because of their tendency to cause addiction such as alcohol, sugar, chocolate and coffee.

We also have to consider foods according to their probability of creating different kinds of intolerance:
High probability: grains with gluten, legumes (including soybeans), dairy products, seeds   
Medium probability: eggs, gluten free grains, nuts, fruit, some vegetables such as nightshades (potato, eggplant, pepper, tomato) and cruciferous (cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, cress, canola, mustard, radish, turnip) and seafood   
Low probability: meat, fish, most vegetables   

So first of all, you must eliminate all the food that is unhealthy, and then, the food that you are intolerant. Then it will remain a basic staple products for you.

The problems they can create are not only gastrointestinal, but any kind of inflammatory disease (ENT diseases, rheumatic diseases, fibromyalgia, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune and allergic diseases) and neurological or hormonal diseases, etc. are likely to be caused.
In this article you can read different strategies for identifying intolerances.

Other factors that need to be identified when analyzing our diets

So far the questions of what foods to eat and what foods not to eat have been addressed. However, there are many other factors that influence good nutrition:

When: how often to eat, how many times a day, what time, how many time spend in a meal?
How much: what amount should we eat in each meal?
Where: which is the most appropriate place, what should be the environment like where you eat?
How: what is the attitude like when you eat, how do they influence the company, what utensils are used?

Most of the answers to these questions are too personal, so you would have to reflect on their solution personally. Some people, when there is a malabsorption of food for example, need to eat every three hours, while others only need to eat once or twice a day to the fullest; some people prefer to eat at home quietly and alone, while others prefer a restaurant accompanied by her best friends; etc.

Conclusion:

In order to know yourself it is important to challenge your body, dare to make dietary changes, to question all preconceived ideas and try different diets.   Combining all strategies usually gives better results: it can involve doing analyses, seeking the advice of a nutritional therapist and embarking on elimination/reintroduction diets.

Strategies for identifying intolerances

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 15:31:00 +0100

Identifying intolerances is one of the most important issues in order to find the diet that suits better for a person.
Almost every person that suffers some kind of disease, chronic o repetitive acute sickness, is affected by some kind of food intolerance. In some cases, avoiding this intolerance can even heal the person.
The symptoms of a food intolerance are delayed, from some hours to some days, to the contrary of an allergy which develops an immediat reaction. This is why intolerances are so difficult to find out.
 It is difficult to test all foods that have some chance of being problematic. However, you can use different strategies to identify whether you have any kind of intolerance.

Continue reading Strategies for identifying intolerances

1.- Elimination and reintroduction diet
It consists of eliminating a certain food for a while and seeing if symptoms resolve. Then we reintroduce the food and we check if symptoms improve. If that is the case, it is certain that this kind of food is harmful.
The problem with this approach is that you need to have enough willpower to eliminate a certain food, especially considering that the food you have intolerance to can also create a dependency with the consequent withdrawal symptoms when they are avoided. The necessary time of exclusion of a food before you start noticing results depends on the type of disease. For allergies and digestive disorders the time is usually quite short, for example one week, but in the case of chronic inflammatory diseases a trial period of about three months is often required, while in the case of neurological diseases it may even be six months. 
This type of test is particularly suitable for small children and babies, this way we can avoid having to inject them.
Similarly, in the reintroduction phase it can occur that no symptoms are present at first, but after a few months of consuming the food again the symptoms reappear. This happens because the antibodies decline during the elimination phase, and then gradually increase during the reintroduction. As a consequence, until you reach a sufficient amount to notice the symptoms again, the intolerance goes unnoticed.
So ideally, you should embark on an elimination/reintroduction diet with one food at a time, and with a period of about three months on average for each. That is, eliminating a food during three months, plus three months’ reintroduction time of the same. Then, the same process can be done with a different food. As you can imagine, this process is often not feasible.  As mentioned, the reaction with the introduction of a food may take some time (weeks or months) to begin to manifest after a clearance time, but when it does, the reaction occurs shortly after ingestion, usually from a few hours to maximum two days’ time. However, the effects of a food may take several days to manifest. For example, the time from ingestion of sugar to the development of intestinal worms usually takes about five to seven days.
The guidelines I would recommend to follow during the reintroduction phase are as follows: 
1.- Start the reintroduction very slowly, with small amounts of food, for example, a teaspoon. 
2.- Wait two days to see if there is any reaction. If there is no reaction, then gradually increase the quantity of food and wait two more days.
 3.- When you have reached a normal amount of food, and there has not yet been any reaction, continue eating it but only once or twice a week. Take this precaution for at least three months. 
4.- At this stage, you can reintroduce another food in the same way.
 5.- Avoid taking two suspected foods which can create reaction on the same day, leave a two-day gap between two suspected foods. This way, you can reintroduce up to three different foods in three months.
 6.- If there is a reaction, identify which suspected food was the last to be eaten. Return to eliminate that food to check. 
7.- After three months of reintroduction of a food without problems, you can increase the frequency of consuming it if desired. In any case, continue checking, during a time, one month for example, if there is no reaction when increasing frequency.
 8.- Once you are sure that the food is tolerated without any problem, you can move on to introduce a different food.
It may also be useful to write a diary noting down everything you eat every day as well as your health status.
For each person a different pace could be recommended: at the elimination phase, for some people it is best to start eliminating all suspected foods at once from the beginning, in other cases it is better to go slowly eliminating the suspected foods one by one. The reintroduction phase may go faster in some cases, especially when the amount of food that had to be removed is reduced and diseases that trigger are mild, and in other cases it is better to go slower, especially when associated diseases are serious and there are several intolerances.

2.- Provocation diet
This diet is about increasing the amount of suspect food taken very slowly and at the same time observing if the symptoms improve.
It might be dangerous in the case of certain acute diseases. But it may be the only option if you are not able to remove foods from your diet in order to do the elimination/reintroduction test.

3.- Analysis of medical intolerances
There are several food intolerance analyses: blood antibody test for immune intolerances; respiratory analysis for sugars such as lactose, sucrose and fructose; stool sample analysis for the imbalance of intestinal flora; urine test for opioid peptides from gluten and casein, etc. To learn more, please read this page.
The disadvantage is that you usually do not find all intolerances, due to the fact that science is not advanced enough. These intolerances that can not be found with analyses are called "food sensitivities". It is known that there is some kind of intolerance because the person feels better when avoiding a specific food, but there is no reaction to any analysis (neither immune, nor bacteriological, nor enzyme reaction).
In most cases the analyses usually find major intolerances, but then, it is you who must continue to investigate the details of what your diet should be like.

4.- Energetic therapies
There are many energy therapies to detect energy blocks to different foods: kinesiology, NAET method, bioresonance, etc. Methods are time-consuming, since few food is tested in each session. Usually there are some intolerances found, but I believe that medical tests are more accurate, reliable and faster as well. In contrast, during the same session, a treatment is done to try to heal this energy blockage. Before trying it, I advise you to speak with someone who has followed the treatment. Personally, my doubt is whether this is a natural method which, like conventional medicine, only "turns off" alarm signals that the body sends in order to indicate a problem, while the real cause of the problem still remains there.
The advantage is that it is noninvasive, so it can be interesting in the case of children.

Issues to consider when going on an elimination/reintroduction diet

1.- Bowel transit time
Bowel transit time from ingestion of food until it reaches the anus, may differ greatly depending on the type of food and how fast or slow the bowel transit of the person is. It takes much longer to digest meat than carbohydrates, and it takes longer to digest carbohydrates than fruit and vegetables. Normally for a meal containing vegetables, carbohydrates and proteins it takes between 12 and 24 hours to be fully digested, but for some people, especially women, it may take up to 48 hours. So the reaction to food may take more than two days to produce.
But the effects of a food may take several more days to show. For example, the time from ingestion of sugar to the development of intestinal worms usually takes about five to seven days.

2. – Intolerance to certain substances
Food intolerance can be caused by substances that can be found in different kinds of food, for example, histamine can be found in fish, pork, some fruit and vegetables, all fermented products (such as meat, vegetables, milk, etc.), chocolate, seafood, etc.
Another example could be when due to a yeast infection there is intolerance to all carbohydrates and sugars present in milk products, cereals, legumes, fruits and nuts.  In other cases, intolerance is as specific as to a certain range of a food, for example, only to red potatoes or green beans.  You could also be intolerant to the way food is prepared, for example, fried, or to the oil used for cooking or dressing.
Similarly, there may be an allergy to any of the materials used in the kitchen or for the packaging of food. For example you could be hypersensitive to aluminum, which is one of the adjuvants in vaccines, or mercury, the most toxic heavy metal, which is present in big oily fish, in vaccines, amalgams, broken thermometers, some industries, etc. 
Regarding toxins, fortunately the body has the ability to remove them. However, due to certain circumstances, for some people it is more difficult to eliminate toxins or they can develop a hypersensitivity to certain products, especially when the exposure is chronic. It is really difficult to identify this type of poisoning. We can even be talking about an electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
There are also some analyses to determine intoxication or hypersensitivity to a substance, but thereafter, finding the source is a very difficult task, since we are surrounded by heavy metals. Read this article to know more. Sometimes there is only one solution: to go and live in a cabin in the country, raising our own cows and growing our own vegetables!

3.- Quantity, frequency and combination
The intensity of the diseases caused by some intolerances often depend on the amount and frequency of food eaten during the week. Also, it's better avoiding eating proteins and carbohydrates in the same meal to improve digestion, and fruits must be eaten alone, as snack for example.

4.- Food addictions and intolerances
Normally, our bodies develop an addiction to foods which we are intolerant to. When you start the elimination diet of the food you are intolerant to, you may undergo a period of feeling worse at first, which may last from a few weeks to months, depending on the person. This is known as withdrawal syndrome and extinction syndrome. These syndromes are explained by several theories:
4.1. Some of the foods which we are intolerant to, mainly gluten and casein produce dependence due to the fact that they produce opioid peptides that act like morphine or opium.
4.2. Intolerance leads to swelling, which counteracts the intrinsic production of endorphins, which are substances that cause well-being. When the inflammation no longer exists, there is no production of endorphins and so no sense of well-being.
4.3. By avoiding intolerant foods that were feeding undesirable gut bacteria we manage to kill these bacteria. They starve to death and by dying they release large amounts of toxins, which cause symptoms to worsen. This is the the die-off reaction.
4.4. Undesirable bacteria that live on intolerant food send signals to the brain so that the person continues eating those foods that nourish the bacteria.  As a general rule, food that is not intolerant produces no significant effect on health when removed. For example, when we no longer eat some fruit or vegetables because their season ends, we do not feel any improvement or worsening. Instead, most people experience a major impact on health shortly after removing cereals that contain gluten, dairy products, sugar, coffee, chocolate, etc. from their diet.

5.- Eliminating addictions and intolerances
Eliminating food addictions and intolerances is very difficult. Habitually, when food is removed from a child’s diet, which he/she is addicted to, then he/she begins to like most other food, which makes it easier for the parents. Children often just want to eat carbohydrates, sugars and dairy products, which are the most addictive kinds of food. When these products are removed, children begin to accept vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, etc. 
The techniques that can be used to eliminate an addiction are numerous. In the case of children simple parental authority is sufficient, it only requires courage from the part of the parents. In the case of adults it is more complex, usually support of family members is needed, and other kinds of support can be of use as well, such as psychotherapeutic therapies, hypnosis, NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), etc.

6.- Hidden food intolerance
Some intolerances may hide others. For example, cereal intolerance often results in intolerance to other foodstuffs, such as good fats.This is due to the fact that microbial growth resulting from excess carbohydrates also inhibits proper liver function and causes a deficiency in lipid digestion. So, many people think they have an intolerance to fats and oils, while in fact the cause may be an intolerance to cereals.  Many times a certain food does not make you feel well and the cause is not the food itself but other circumstances that cause a greater sensitivity to that food. Factors that influence this can be quite varied: stress, fatigue, other food intolerances, but also the way food is prepared, as well as the quality of food, or the oil, fat or sauce that is used, etc.
Most of my patients complain that when avoiding gluten they begin to have more gastro-intestinal problems, while other health problems such as pain, allergies, infections, etc. decrease significantly. The exact reason is unknown, however, probably what happens is that by eliminating gluten the body "wakes up", stops being "drugged" and notices much easier when other foods are harmful. For example, fruit may start causing digestive problems with bloating and gas, while previously there were no similar problems. Surely there has been a fructose intolerance previously as well, the person just did not realize.

7.- From major to minor intolerances
It may take several years to make a list of intolerant foods. It starts with the great families: gluten, dairy, nuts, eggs,... and afterwards we may find more little details, such as apple and pear, red cabbage, etc. 
Changing daily routines can help find intolerances. You can take advantage of weekends, holiday periods or trips to see if the symptoms change in intensity, if they increase or decrease. It may give you a hint about the cause or origin of disease to which you are exposed to day by day, as it changes while on holidays.

8.- The progress of intolerances
Once intolerances are identified, they can evolve over time, especially if problems of the bowel are not resolved. This is what usually happens when replacing for example gluten for other gluten-free cereals. The possible cause is a celiac disease when eating gluten-free grains like corn or rice. After consuming these cereals for some time an intolerance to these may appear as well. The explanation for this occurrence is that intolerances, especially immune ones appear due to the leaky gut syndrome. This is the condition in which the gut is "leaky" and lets partially digested proteins through, which are identified as invaders and activate the body's defenses. Consequently, we can become intolerant to more and more foods over time. So it is necessary to overcome the leaky gut syndrome to end intolerances, taking certain therapeutic foods such as lacto-fermented foods, meat and fish broths, vegetable juices and fruit, and perhaps some supplements like probiotics and essential fatty acids.

9.- Food intolerance in children
If a child is sick, there is a double problem. On one hand having to inject a child in order to do intolerance analyses is not a pleasant experience. On the other hand, children are exceptionally resistent to changes in their diet and especially in the case of an addiction (such as to sugar, carbohydrates, sodas, etc.) which is quite a common occurrence in their case. Parents would like to know in advance which diet is best for their child, to be sure that such a difficult process as the change of the diet will be worth it. Unfortunately, nutrition science is not advanced enough so that the therapist-nutritionist can confidently predict the success of a diet. However, there are certain diets that usually work for most diseases that children may have, supported by hundreds of successful cases, such as the GAPS diet in the case of psychological and neurological conditions. These are always worth a try.
Sometimes we are blinded eating a certain food because we believe it is very beneficial to health, such as the myth of drinking a lot of milk is good for us to get plenty of calcium. On the contrary, if there is a milk intolerance, the development of undesirable bacteria causes that calcium can not be absorbed, and conversely, the milk is feeding these bacteria. In this way, we force children to take certain foods because we believe those are beneficial to health, regardless of the possibility that it can be rejected because they have an intolerance. For example, when children reject certain fruits, vegetables, or dairy products, etc. Rejection may also be due to an addiction to other products such as gluten and milk. In those cases we must investigate which of the two possibilities is true.

Whole grains, are they so healthy?

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 20:19:00 +0100

Whole foods are currently fashionable. Most diet food for loosing weight made of cereal is rich in bran, which comes from the same cereal or from added bran.
A part of the claim to keep the silhouette, are whole grains really so healthy? What are the benefits of whole grains, like whole rice or whole bread, versus the white ones?

Continue reading Whole grains, are they so healthy?

Beneficial properties of whole grains

Grains have three main parts: bran, germ and endosperm. Bran is very rich in fiber, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Germ contains proteins, B vitamins, antioxydants and phytonutrients. Endosperm or starch contains carbohydrates and proteins.
The bran of grains is composed of cellulose, pectins, lignin, wax, inulin, oligosaccharides and mucilages, substances that can’ be digested nor absorbed by our body, so they get to the large intestine to be eliminated. In the large intestine they suffer a fermentation by some bacteria, and some beneficial substances are produced: short chain fatty acids and gas such as carbon dioxyde, methane and hydrogen. The short chain fatty acids help avoiding colon cancer. And it’s very well known that bran helps defecate, by absorbing water and adding bulk to stools.
There are two different types of fibers: soluble and insoluble, depending on their capability of water solubility. Most of soluble fibers attract water and form a gel which is fermented by gut bacteria. It also slows down digestion of starch and prevents spikes in blood sugar, so avoids the hypoglycemia-hyperglycemia cycle due to the fluctuant level of insuline. Insoluble fibers don’t dissolve in water, most of them are not fermented and speed up the passage of food and waste thought the gut, helping prevent constipation.
All plant foods contain both types of fiber in different degrees, but mainly starchy food such as pulses, some fruits and tubers contain a higher proportion of soluble fibers, while most of cereals, vegetables, fruit and nuts contain more insoluble fibers, so they help fighting against constipation.
Upon this information, whole grains are presumably higher nutritional value. And this is true in healthy people, but it’s not the case in people with an unbalanced gut flora.
People that suffer some kind of chronic disease, even the ones that are sick from time to time, have a overgrowth of undesirable bacteria in the intestine (yeasts, fungi, clostridium, coliforms, etc.) and decreased amount of beneficial bacteria (lactobacilli, bifidus, etc.). In this case, fiber, mainly the soluble one, isn’t fermented by the beneficial bacteria, but by the undesirable bacteria, resulting in the production of toxins and gas that poison the body.
Insoluble fibers can be irritant to persons that have soft stools, diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome and crohn’s disease.

Anti-nutrients

Grain bran contains an anti-nutrient called phytic acid. Humans, opposite to ruminant animals, don’t produce phytase, the enzyme that digests phytic acid, excepting people that possess a perfect gut flora that can produce a little bit of this enzyme. Phytic acid binds to minerals such as iron, magnesium, calcium and zinc, to form phytates, allowing the flush of this substances by urine. So phytic acid is a demineralising substance, this is, avoids the proper absorption of minerals in the body. And even more, phytic acid also inhibits the action of some enzymes, which are needed to digest food, such as pepsin and trypsin to digest proteins and amylase to digest starch. Also, it prevents also the absorption of vitamin B3 or niacin present in germ, which deficiency is the origin of a disease called pelagra.
On the other hand, some experts suggest that phytic acid protects against diabetes, caries, atherosclerosis and heart disease. Also, phytic acid inhibits free radical formation, acting as antioxidants. It seems to chelate the heavy metals off the intestine, too. (5)
Other anti-nutrient substances that exist in the grain bran are the oxalates, which are demineralising substances too, tannins, polyphenols, hemagglutinins and lectins. These substances are part of the natural protection of grains against insects and fungi and the preservation of grains for germination.
Some scientific experiments have shown that although whole grains have a higher amount of minerals, the final amount of absorbed minerals by the person is lower in whole grains, because of the action of the phytic acid and the other anti-nutrient substances.
To reduce these substances in grains, you may soak or sprout them before cooking them. Fermentation, such as traditionally made sourdough bread, also helps reducing phytates. Also it does roasting grains or nuts. Thanks to these processes, it’s possible to increase the absorption of minerals in these foods up to 12 times for the iron, for example.
These methods were traditionally used in most of cultures with a grain based diet: sourdough bread, idli, miso, tapai, etc. The explanation is that phytase naturally existing in grains allows the break down of phytic acid when they are soaked, sprouted or fermented before cooking them. But cooking destroys this enzyme.
Concerning oxalates, these are considerably reduced too when soaking grains, but the process that better removes oxalates is boiling with water.
These anti-nutrient substances are also present in nuts, pulses, cocoa and all kind of seeds, so the same process can be made to them to decrease the anti-nutrient content: soaking, sprouting, fermentation and roasting. Potatoes and sweet potatoes have lower content of phytates, but it’s not possible to apply the traditional methods to reduce the phytates. Also some fruits, such as dates, avocado and mango have phytates in smaller amount. The kind of fertilisers have also an impact on the amount of phytates of vegetables and grains, depending on the amount of phosphate in the composition.
On livingglutenfree.com you can find more information about how to remove phytic acid of grains, nuts and pulses.

Refined grains

Refined grains have been submitted to an industrial process to take fiber and germ away of the grain, keeping just the starch. In the XVII century grains began being refined with the goal of increasing the conservation time and caloric content, because the fatty acids present in fiber and germ suffer a quick oxidation. As natural, products with higher nutritional content spoil faster than empty nutritional products. And sweet taste of carbohydrates is better appreciated than the fibrous texture of bran, so humans have been easily adapted to refined grains.
The problem of refined grains is that they lack vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and antioxidants, so it’s not a whole nutritional food and they can’t be the base of the nutrition of a population, in contrast to whole grains. Some refined grains are enriched with certain vitamins, however, refined grains still lack some nutrients found in whole grain (for example, fibre, fatty acids and magnesium). (1)

Other substances in grains

Another important issue to take into account are pesticides. Bran is the part of the grain that concentrates all pesticides that the grain has been submitted to, so non-organic grains have a very much higher rate of this chemical substances.
So both whole grains and refined ones seem to have disadvantages. What about all grains in general? May we call into question the myth of grain being healthy?
One fact about all grains is that the type of fatty acid they contain is omega6, which is an inflammatory fatty acid. Occidental population have an excessive intake of omega6. Ideally, the ratio of omega6 vs. omega3 should be 1:1, but nowadays the average ratio is about 15:1. Too much cereals, pizza, pasta, bread, cakes, grain feed or non-pasture raised meat and omega6 rich oils in cooking such as corn, sunflower, soy, sesame and peanut. Al this together with a deficiency of wild cold water fish and vegetables, which are rich in omega3, an anti-inflammatory fatty acid. Omega6 is related with cardiovascular diseases, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, diabetes, psychiatric disorders and other inflammatory, auto-immune and neurological diseases.(6)
Another fact to take into account is the possible enzymatic intolerance to carbohydrates due to a deficiency of the amylase family of enzymes which digests carbohydrates. Or an overgrowth of yeasts such as Candida in the intestine, which produces toxins such as ethanol when is fed by carbohydrates and sugars. Some of this toxins are responsible of a wide range of health problems that goes, again, from neurological to auto-immune diseases. (7) (8)
If the main reason for consumption of whole grains is fiber, then it’s better to have fruit and vegetables, they are a more suitable kind of source of fiber. Fruit and vegetables don’t contain anti-nutrients and they are higher in fiber, minerals, vitamins, omega3 and antioxidants. And they are also a source of energy because their fructose, saccharose and starch content.

Conclusion:

Whole grains have some pros and cons. Probably, people that enjoys good health can have it without major problems, only if they are organic and they follow the traditional process to prepare them before cooking. But I don’t recommend them for people that present any kind of gastrointestinal disease or suspect a gut flora unbalance.
In case of suffering any kind of disease, I would advice considering avoiding all kind of grains.

Sources:

(1) “In defense of food”, Michael Pollan

(2) “Living With Phytic Acid”, http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid

(3) “Functional properties and anti-nutritional factors in cereal bran” http://www.ajofai.info/Abstract/Functional%20properties%20and%20anti-nutritional%20factors%20in%20cereal%20bran.pdf

(4) “Phytic Acid. Tips For Consumers From Food Science” http://www.phyticacid.org/

(5) “All About Phytates” http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-phytates-phytic-acid

(6) “The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12442909

(7) “Grain Brain”, David Perlmutter, MD

(8) “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”, Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD

Lacto-fermented food

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 19:55:00 +0100

The process of lacto-fermentation is the conversion of food sugars into lactic acid. All kind of food can be lacto-fermented: vegetables, fruits, cereals, milk, meat, fish, etc.. Through this process, food gains many virtues:

Continue reading Lacto-fermented food

1 -. Richness in lactobacilli is beneficial to restore or strengthen the intestinal flora, even more than probiotics drugs because the good bacteria in probiotic supplements can only be installed in the upper part of the digestive track because they are destroyed by stomach acids, while fermented foods will bring probiotic bacteria until the end of the digestive system, to the intestine.
The intestinal flora is important for several reasons:

1.1.- Strengthens the immune system. Lactobacilli prevent bad bacteria to settle in the gut and they support the production of IgA antibodies in the mucosa.

1.2.- Performs the transformation of vitamins B and K. Without lactobacilli are likely to have a deficiency of these vitamins.

1.3.- Protects the cells of the intestine, the enterocytes, which make many enzymes for the digestion of starches and sugars and absorption of food. Without lactobacilli enterocytes can easily weaken and therefore the appearance of intolerance and malabsorption of food.

1.4.- Produce substances (butyrate) which protects the colon.

1.5.- Produce enzymes that help in digestion of different foods, such as the lactose in milk, when somebody don’t have enzymes to achieve this digestion.

1.6.- Also, it normalizes the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, therefore, reflux, ulcers, etc., and active the secretions of the pancreas and liver..

2.- Lacto-fermented foods are more digestible because the process makes a pre-digestion of starches and proteins. Lactose milk yogurt has been transformed into lactic acid, so lactose intolerant people can eat yogurt (there are left only a few traces), and casein is transformed so that often people with milk allergies can tolerate yogurt. Also fiber foods became less irritating for the bowel.

3.- Phytates present in the envelopes of grains and legumes, which are enzyme inhibitors and demineralizing, because they prevent the absorption of minerals, are destroyed. This is the advantage of sourdough bread.

4.- Fermentation also releases nutrients from the food, which make them more bio-available to the body: for example, sauerkraut contains 20 times more bio-available vitamin C than fresh cabbage.

5.- Lacto-fermented foods can be stored for very long. This is the ancient procedure that was used by our grand-mothers for storing vegetables and meat in winter.

6.- Commercial lacto-fermented products (yogurt, sauerkraut, ham, sausages, etc..) are not properly fermented, because fermentation is too short and, for example in yogurt, there are still many lactose. And sausages, it is almost impossible to find without preservatives, indicating that they need to resort to this type of additives to preserve meat, probably because of poor quality.

Lacto-fermented foods are, therefore, more digestible and have a therapeutic effect in treating the damaged intestine. But it must be home-made, because you can not trust the commercial products.

10 Reasons to Avoid Gluten and Modern Cereals

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:23:00 +0100

When we talk about gluten-free products we think rather in wheat, barley and rye, because the protein that they contain is the origin of celiac disease. But in fact, the definition of gluten is "a substance present in cereal grains, especially wheat, that is responsible for the elastic texture of dough" (Oxford dictionary), that is to say, that all grains contain gluten in more or less quantity.
But is that the gluten in all kind of grains as bad?
Can the gluten represent a problem not only to celiac persons but also others?
What is gluten sensitivity?

Continue reading 10 Reasons to Avoid Gluten and Modern Cereals

A little bit of history ...

1. - The prehistoric man did not eat cereal, he fed on hunting and gathering. Cereals were introduced with agriculture about 11,000 years ago, to say it’s very recent in the history of humanity that begins 7 million years ago. This time is not enough for men to be adapted to this food, according to Dr. Seignalet.

2. - The decline of the great civilizations of the past, like the Egyptian, can be attributed to agriculture of wheat and intensive milk consumption. According to Michel Dogna, post-agricultural human bones were brittle, damaged teeth and suffered chronic diseases. On the other hand, the pre-agricultural, was tall and thin, had strong bones and dense, healthy teeth and showed no signs of disease.

3. - Wheat is a mutated plant from its origin. It comes from the hybridization of wild grass and small spelt. In the last twenty centuries they have undergone many transformations to increase productivity and gluten content in order to improve the baking properties. Original wheat had only 2 sets of chromosomes = 14 chromosomes. Nowadays, the durum wheat and bread wheat, have 4 sets of chromosomes and 6 sets respectively (28 and 42 chromosomes), as the result of several mutations. Our digestive enzymes do not recognize these mutated wheats. Corn, barley, rye, oats and millet suffered the same fate. The only one that humans have not succeed to mutate is rice.

Properties of gluten

4. - The word gluten comes from the root "glue", so it is a glue that is used in many industrial applications such as stamps, envelopes, labels for glass, adhesive for wood, paper and films for food, etc..

Effects of gluten on the body: immune system and neurological system

5. - Gluten produces mucus in the intestine, a sticky mass which has several effects:
It prevents proper absorption of nutrients.

6. - This mucus is made of several strains of bacteria which are fed on proteins of gluten that haven’t been digested by enzymes and serve as food for undesirable bacteria of the intestine and lead to intestinal dysbiosis or intestinal flora imbalance, with an excess of bad bacteria and lack of lactobacillus or good bacteria. Intestinal dysbiosis is the origin of many diseases, because lactobacillus are part of the body's defenses and bad bacteria have a neurotoxic effect, overloading the liver and can migrate to all other parts of the body and create any kind of diseases.

7. - The body must excrete the mucus. But if elimination organs (liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs, skin) are already overworked, elimination is not possible and then it appears the respiratory diseases: colds, nasopharyngitis, bronchitis, flu, etc..

8. - Gluten is the origin of celiac disease, a disease because a reaction of IgA antibodies against gliadin in wheat, secalin in rye and hordein in barley and self-transglutaminase antibodies. People affected by this disease have a damaged intestine villi and consequently, a very reduced absorption of ingested food.
Celiac disease is diagnosed with IgA antibodies blood test and an intestinal biopsy.

9. - Gluten also produces opioid peptides, pieces of undigested gluten that pass into the bloodstream and reach the brain. There, these peptides can bind to opioid receptors in the brain and affect the communication of neurotransmitters. As Pr. Karl Reichelt discovered, the result of the opioid peptides is the development of several neurological diseases and disorders. Also, immune cells (lymphocytes or white blood cells) have receptors for opioid peptides from food (gluten) so that lymphocyte response against infections is reduced. In concrete, the mobility of leukocytes is inhibited. Then, diseases come easily with a weakened immune system.
To detect if attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression, dyslexia, phobias, etc.., are caused by opioid peptides the Peptidury test developed by Pr. Reichelt is advisable.

Gluten sensitivity

10. - Celiac disease has been known for a long time, in the nineteenth century, but it was not too very much known by modern physicians, since some years ago, when the diagnosis of celiac disease seems to be increasing.
But "gluten sensitivity" disease had never been recognized in medicine until 2011, when it was celebrated the first consensus on gluten sensitivity.
So it is clear that for a large number of persons: celiacs, intolerants and gluten sensitive persons, health is significantly improved when the ingestion of products with gluten stops. Gluten sensitivity, which touch a 10% of the population, in contrast to the intolerance and allergy, has no immunological response to gluten, but people are recovering their health with the elimination diet.
To find out if you are sensitive to gluten you can test IgG and IgA antibodies to gluten. But still, it is possible that the results of these tests are negative but still have a health improvement with a gluten free diet.

Bibliography:

"Prenez en main votre santé", Michel Dogna
"L'alimentation ou la troisième médecine", Dr Jean Seignalet
"Wheat", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat
"Gluten Causes Gastrointestinal Symptomes in Subjects Without Celiac Disease: A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial", http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21224837
"Naissance d'une nouvelle pathologie: la Gluten Sensitivity", Dr. Schar Institute, http://www.drschaer-institute.com/smartedit/documents/yourlife/dsif_03-2011_fr_internet.pdf
"Celiac Disease vs. Gluten Sensitivity or Gluten Intolerance", David Greenberg, http://www.celiac.com/articles/23091/1/Celiac-Disease-vs-Gluten-Sensitivity-or-Gluten-Intolerance/Page1.html
"Opioid Receptor Ligands Derived from Food Proteins", H. Teschemacher,http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/18630837/685088275/name/Exorphins.pdf
“Can the pathophysiology of autism be explained by the nature of the discovered urine peptides?”, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12608733
“Urine peptide patterns in children with milder types of autism”, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16732341
“The Effect of Gluten-Free Diet on Urinary Peptide Excretion and Clinical State in Schizophrenia”, http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1990/pdf/1990-v05n04-p223.pdf
“Genetic and dietary factors related to schizophrenia”, http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=16560

Newest Research On Why You Should Avoid Soy

gemmac@gemmacalzada.com (Gemma Calzada) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:30:00 +0100

From Mercola.com

Dr. Mercola gives detailed information about why Soy is not good for health, all based in scientific studies and stadistics of effects of soy in animals and humans.

Continue reading Newest Research On Why You Should Avoid Soy

by Sally Fallon & Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.

Cinderella's Dark Side

The propaganda that has created the soy sales miracle is all the more remarkable because, only a few decades ago, the soybean was considered unfit to eat - even in Asia. During the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 BC) the soybean was designated one of the five sacred grains, along with barley, wheat, millet and rice.

However, the pictograph for the soybean, which dates from earlier times, indicates that it was not first used as a food; for whereas the pictographs for the other four grains show the seed and stem structure of the plant, the pictograph for the soybean emphasizes the root structure. Agricultural literature of the period speaks frequently of the soybean and its use in crop rotation. Apparently the soy plant was initially used as a method of fixing nitrogen.

The soybean did not serve as a food until the discovery of fermentation techniques, some time during the Chou Dynasty. The first soy foods were fermented products like tempeh, natto, miso and soy sauce.

At a later date, possibly in the 2nd century BC, Chinese scientists discovered that a purée of cooked soybeans could be precipitated with calcium sulfate or magnesium sulfate (plaster of Paris or Epsom salts) to make a smooth, pale curd - tofu or bean curd. The use of fermented and precipitated soy products soon spread to other parts of the Orient, notably Japan and Indonesia.

The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybeans as they did other legumes such as lentils because the soybean contains large quantities of natural toxins or "antinutrients". First among them are potent enzyme inhibitors that block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion.

These inhibitors are large, tightly folded proteins that are not completely deactivated during ordinary cooking. They can produce serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement and pathological conditions of the pancreas, including cancer.

Soybeans also contain haemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together.

Trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinin are growth inhibitors. Weanling rats fed soy containing these antinutrients fail to grow normally. Growth-depressant compounds are deactivated during the process of fermentation, so once the Chinese discovered how to ferment the soybean, they began to incorporate soy foods into their diets.

In precipitated products, enzyme inhibitors concentrate in the soaking liquid rather than in the curd. Thus, in tofu and bean curd, growth depressants are reduced in quantity but not completely eliminated.

Soy also contains goitrogens - substances that depress thyroid function.

Additionally 99% a very large percentage of soy is genetically modified and it also has one of the highest percentages contamination by pesticides of any of our foods.

Soybeans are high in phytic acid, present in the bran or hulls of all seeds. It's a substance that can block the uptake of essential minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in the intestinal tract.

Although not a household word, phytic acid has been extensively studied; there are literally hundreds of articles on the effects of phytic acid in the current scientific literature. Scientists are in general agreement that grain- and legume-based diets high in phytates contribute to widespread mineral deficiencies in third world countries.

Analysis shows that calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc are present in the plant foods eaten in these areas, but the high phytate content of soy- and grain-based diets prevents their absorption.

The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume that has been studied, and the phytates in soy are highly resistant to normal phytate-reducing techniques such as long, slow cooking. Only a long period of fermentation will significantly reduce the phytate content of soybeans.

When precipitated soy products like tofu are consumed with meat, the mineral-blocking effects of the phytates are reduced. The Japanese traditionally eat a small amount of tofu or miso as part of a mineral-rich fish broth, followed by a serving of meat or fish.

Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a substitute for meat and dairy products risk severe mineral deficiencies. The results of calcium, magnesium and iron deficiency are well known; those of zinc are less so.

Zinc is called the intelligence mineral because it is needed for optimal development and functioning of the brain and nervous system. It plays a role in protein synthesis and collagen formation; it is involved in the blood-sugar control mechanism and thus protects against diabetes; it is needed for a healthy reproductive system.

Zinc is a key component in numerous vital enzymes and plays a role in the immune system. Phytates found in soy products interfere with zinc absorption more completely than with other minerals. Zinc deficiency can cause a "spacey" feeling that some vegetarians may mistake for the "high" of spiritual enlightenment.

Milk drinking is given as the reason why second-generation Japanese in America grow taller than their native ancestors. Some investigators postulate that the reduced phytate content of the American diet - whatever may be its other deficiencies - is the true explanation, pointing out that both Asian and Western children who do not get enough meat and fish products to counteract the effects of a high phytate diet, frequently suffer rickets, stunting and other growth problems.

Soy Protein Isolate: Not So Friendly

Soy processors have worked hard to get these antinutrients out of the finished product, particularly soy protein isolate (SPI) which is the key ingredient in most soy foods that imitate meat and dairy products, including baby formulas and some brands of soy milk.

SPI is not something you can make in your own kitchen. Production takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution.

Acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The resultant curds are spray- dried at high temperatures to produce a high-protein powder. A final indignity to the original soybean is high-temperature, high-pressure extrusion processing of soy protein isolate to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP).

Much of the trypsin inhibitor content can be removed through high-temperature processing, but not all. Trypsin inhibitor content of soy protein isolate can vary as much as fivefold. (In rats, even low-level trypsin inhibitor SPI feeding results in reduced weight gain compared to controls.)

But high-temperature processing has the unfortunate side-effect of so denaturing the other proteins in soy that they are rendered largely ineffective. That's why animals on soy feed need lysine supplements for normal growth.

Nitrites, which are potent carcinogens, are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during alkaline processing. Numerous artificial flavorings, particularly MSG, are added to soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein products to mask their strong "beany" taste and to impart the flavor of meat.

In feeding experiments, the use of SPI increased requirements for vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid remaining in these soy products greatly inhibits zinc and iron absorption; test animals fed SPI develop enlarged organs, particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and increased deposition of fatty acids in the liver.

Yet soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein are used extensively in school lunch programs, commercial baked goods, diet beverages and fast food products. They are heavily promoted in third world countries and form the basis of many food giveaway programs.

In spite of poor results in animal feeding trials, the soy industry has sponsored a number of studies designed to show that soy protein products can be used in human diets as a replacement for traditional foods.

An example is "Nutritional Quality of Soy Bean Protein Isolates: Studies in Children of Preschool Age", sponsored by the Ralston Purina Company. A group of Central American children suffering from malnutrition was first stabilized and brought into better health by feeding them native foods, including meat and dairy products. Then, for a two-week period, these traditional foods were replaced by a drink made of soy protein isolate and sugar.

All nitrogen taken in and all nitrogen excreted was measured in truly Orwellian fashion: the children were weighed naked every morning, and all excrement and vomit gathered up for analysis. The researchers found that the children retained nitrogen and that their growth was "adequate", so the experiment was declared a success.

Whether the children were actually healthy on such a diet, or could remain so over a long period, is another matter. The researchers noted that the children vomited "occasionally", usually after finishing a meal; that over half suffered from periods of moderate diarrhea; that some had upper respiratory infections; and that others suffered from rash and fever.

It should be noted that the researchers did not dare to use soy products to help the children recover from malnutrition, and were obliged to supplement the soy-sugar mixture with nutrients largely absent in soy products - notably, vitamins A, D and B12, iron, iodine and zinc.

Marketing The Perfect Food

"Just imagine you could grow the perfect food. This food not only would provide affordable nutrition, but also would be delicious and easy to prepare in a variety of ways. It would be a healthful food, with no saturated fat. In fact, you would be growing a virtual fountain of youth on your back forty."

The author is Dean Houghton, writing for The Furrow,2 a magazine published in 12 languages by John Deere. "This ideal food would help prevent, and perhaps reverse, some of the world's most dreaded diseases. You could grow this miracle crop in a variety of soils and climates. Its cultivation would build up, not deplete, the land...this miracle food already exists... It's called soy."

Just imagine. Farmers have been imagining - and planting more soy. What was once a minor crop, listed in the 1913 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial product, now covers 72 million acres of American farmland. Much of this harvest will be used to feed chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows and salmon. Another large fraction will be squeezed to produce oil for margarine, shortenings and salad dressings.

Advances in technology make it possible to produce isolated soy protein from what was once considered a waste product - the defatted, high-protein soy chips - and then transform something that looks and smells terrible into products that can be consumed by human beings. Flavorings, preservatives, sweeteners, emulsifiers and synthetic nutrients have turned soy protein isolate, the food processors' ugly duckling, into a New Age Cinderella.

The new fairy-tale food has been marketed not so much for her beauty but for her virtues. Early on, products based on soy protein isolate were sold as extenders and meat substitutes - a strategy that failed to produce the requisite consumer demand. The industry changed its approach.

"The quickest way to gain product acceptability in the less affluent society," said an industry spokesman, "is to have the product consumed on its own merit in a more affluent society."3 So soy is now sold to the upscale consumer, not as a cheap, poverty food but as a miracle substance that will prevent heart disease and cancer, whisk away hot flushes, build strong bones and keep us forever young.

The competition - meat, milk, cheese, butter and eggs - has been duly demonised by the appropriate government bodies. Soy serves as meat and milk for a new generation of virtuous vegetarians.

Marketing Costs Money

This is especially when it needs to be bolstered with "research", but there's plenty of funds available. All soybean producers pay a mandatory assessment of one-half to one per cent of the net market price of soybeans. The total - something like US$80 million annually4 - supports United Soybean's program to "strengthen the position of soybeans in the marketplace and maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets for uses for soybeans and soybean products".

State soybean councils from Maryland, Nebraska, Delaware, Arkansas, Virginia, North Dakota and Michigan provide another $2.5 million for "research".5 Private companies like Archer Daniels Midland also contribute their share. ADM spent $4.7 million for advertising on Meet the Press and $4.3 million on Face the Nation during the course of a year.6

Public relations firms help convert research projects into newspaper articles and advertising copy, and law firms lobby for favorable government regulations. IMF money funds soy processing plants in foreign countries, and free trade policies keep soybean abundance flowing to overseas destinations.

The push for more soy has been relentless and global in its reach. Soy protein is now found in most supermarket breads. It is being used to transform "the humble tortilla, Mexico's corn-based staple food, into a protein-fortified 'super-tortilla' that would give a nutritional boost to the nearly 20 million Mexicans who live in extreme poverty".7 Advertising for a new soy-enriched loaf from Allied Bakeries in Britain targets menopausal women seeking relief from hot flushes. Sales are running at a quarter of a million loaves per week.8

The soy industry hired Norman Robert Associates, a public relations firm, to "get more soy products onto school menus".9 The USDA responded with a proposal to scrap the 30 per cent limit for soy in school lunches. The NuMenu program would allow unlimited use of soy in student meals. With soy added to hamburgers, tacos and lasagna, dieticians can get the total fat content below 30 per cent of calories, thereby conforming to government dictates. "With the soy-enhanced food items, students are receiving better servings of nutrients and less cholesterol and fat."

Soy milk has posted the biggest gains, soaring from $2 million in 1980 to $300 million in the US last year.10 Recent advances in processing have transformed the gray, thin, bitter, beany-tasting Asian beverage into a product that Western consumers will accept - one that tastes like a milkshake, but without the guilt.

Processing miracles, good packaging, massive advertising and a marketing strategy that stresses the products' possible health benefits account for increasing sales to all age groups. For example, reports that soy helps prevent prostate cancer have made soy milk acceptable to middle-aged men. "You don't have to twist the arm of a 55- to 60-year-old guy to get him to try soy milk," says Mark Messina. Michael Milken, former junk bond financier, has helped the industry shed its hippie image with well-publicized efforts to consume 40 grams of soy protein daily.

America today, tomorrow the world. Soy milk sales are rising in Canada, even though soy milk there costs twice as much as cow's milk. Soybean milk processing plants are sprouting up in places like Kenya.11 Even China, where soy really is a poverty food and whose people want more meat, not tofu, has opted to build Western-style soy factories rather than develop western grasslands for grazing animals.12

FDA Health Claim Challenged

On October 25, 1999 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to allow a health claim for products "low in saturated fat and cholesterol" that contain 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving. Breakfast cereals, baked goods, convenience food, smoothie mixes and meat substitutes could now be sold with labels touting benefits to cardiovascular health, as long as these products contained one heaping teaspoon of soy protein per 100-gram serving.

The best marketing strategy for a product that is inherently unhealthy is, of course, a health claim.

"The road to FDA approval," writes a soy apologist, "was long and demanding, consisting of a detailed review of human clinical data collected from more than 40 scientific studies conducted over the last 20 years. Soy protein was found to be one of the rare foods that had sufficient scientific evidence not only to qualify for an FDA health claim proposal but to ultimately pass the rigorous approval process."

The "long and demanding" road to FDA approval actually took a few unexpected turns. The original petition, submitted by Protein Technology International, requested a health claim for isoflavones, the estrogen-like compounds found plentifully in soybeans, based on assertions that "only soy protein that has been processed in a manner in which isoflavones are retained will result in cholesterol lowering".

In 1998, the FDA made the unprecedented move of rewriting PTI's petition, removing any reference to the phyto-estrogens and substituting a claim for soy protein - a move that was in direct contradiction to the agency's regulations. The FDA is authorized to make rulings only on substances presented by petition.

The abrupt change in direction was no doubt due to the fact that a number of researchers, including scientists employed by the US Government, submitted documents indicating that isoflavones are toxic.

The FDA had also received, early in 1998, the final British Government report on phytoestrogens, which failed to find much evidence of benefit and warned against potential adverse effects.

Even with the change to soy protein isolate, FDA bureaucrats engaged in the "rigorous approval process" were forced to deal nimbly with concerns about mineral blocking effects, enzyme inhibitors, goitrogenicity, endocrine disruption, reproductive problems and increased allergic reactions from consumption of soy products.

One of the strongest letters of protest came from Dr Dan Sheehan and Dr Daniel Doerge, government researchers at the National Center for Toxicological Research. Their pleas for warning labels were dismissed as unwarranted.

"Sufficient scientific evidence" of soy's cholesterol-lowering properties is drawn largely from a 1995 meta-analysis by Dr James Anderson, sponsored by Protein Technologies International and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A meta-analysis is a review and summary of the results of many clinical studies on the same subject. Use of meta-analyses to draw general conclusions has come under sharp criticism by members of the scientific community.

"Researchers substituting meta-analysis for more rigorous trials risk making faulty assumptions and indulging in creative accounting," says Sir John Scott, President of the Royal Society of New Zealand. "Like is not being lumped with like. Little lumps and big lumps of data are being gathered together by various groups."

There is the added temptation for researchers, particularly researchers funded by a company like Protein Technologies International, to leave out studies that would prevent the desired conclusions. Dr Anderson discarded eight studies for various reasons, leaving a remainder of twenty-nine.

The published report suggested that individuals with cholesterol levels over 250 mg/dl would experience a "significant" reduction of 7 to 20 per cent in levels of serum cholesterol if they substituted soy protein for animal protein. Cholesterol reduction was insignificant for individuals whose cholesterol was lower than 250 mg/dl.

In other words, for most of us, giving up steak and eating vegieburgers instead will not bring down blood cholesterol levels. The health claim that the FDA approved "after detailed review of human clinical data" fails to inform the consumer about these important details.

Research that ties soy to positive effects on cholesterol levels is "incredibly immature", said Ronald M. Krauss, MD, head of the Molecular Medical Research Program and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.He might have added that studies in which cholesterol levels were lowered through either diet or drugs have consistently resulted in a greater number of deaths in the treatment groups than in controls - deaths from stroke, cancer, intestinal disorders, accident and suicide.

Cholesterol-lowering measures in the US have fuelled a $60 billion per year cholesterol-lowering industry, but have not saved us from the ravages of heart disease.

Soy And Cancer

The new FDA ruling does not allow any claims about cancer prevention on food packages, but that has not restrained the industry and its marketers from making them in their promotional literature.

"In addition to protecting the heart," says a vitamin company brochure, "soy has demonstrated powerful anticancer benefits...the Japanese, who eat 30 times as much soy as North Americans, have a lower incidence of cancers of the breast, uterus and prostate."

Indeed they do. But the Japanese, and Asians in general, have much higher rates of other types of cancer, particularly cancer of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas and liver. Asians throughout the world also have high rates of thyroid cancer. The logic that links low rates of reproductive cancers to soy consumption requires attribution of high rates of thyroid and digestive cancers to the same foods, particularly as soy causes these types of cancers in laboratory rats.

Just how much soy do Asians eat? A 1998 survey found that the average daily amount of soy protein consumed in Japan was about eight grams for men and seven for women - less than two teaspoons. The famous Cornell China Study, conducted by Colin T. Campbell, found that legume consumption in China varied from 0 to 58 grams per day, with a mean of about twelve.

Assuming that two-thirds of legume consumption is soy, then the maximum consumption is about 40 grams, or less than three tablespoons per day, with an average consumption of about nine grams, or less than two teaspoons. A survey conducted in the 1930s found that soy foods accounted for only 1.5 per cent of calories in the Chinese diet, compared with 65 per cent of calories from pork. (Asians traditionally cooked with lard, not vegetable oil!)

Traditionally fermented soy products make a delicious, natural seasoning that may supply important nutritional factors in the Asian diet. But except in times of famine, Asians consume soy products only in small amounts, as condiments, and not as a replacement for animal foods - with one exception. Celibate monks living in monasteries and leading a vegetarian lifestyle find soy foods quite helpful because they dampen libido.

It was a 1994 meta-analysis by Mark Messina, published in Nutrition and Cancer, that fuelled speculation on soy's anticarcinogenic properties. Messina noted that in 26 animal studies, 65 per cent reported protective effects from soy. He conveniently neglected to include at least one study in which soy feeding caused pancreatic cancer - the 1985 study by Rackis.In the human studies he listed, the results were mixed.

A few showed some protective effect, but most showed no correlation at all between soy consumption and cancer rates. He concluded that "the data in this review cannot be used as a basis for claiming that soy intake decreases cancer risk". Yet in his subsequent book, The Simple Soybean and Your Health, Messina makes just such a claim, recommending one cup or 230 grams of soy products per day in his "optimal" diet as a way to prevent cancer.

Thousands of women are now consuming soy in the belief that it protects them against breast cancer. Yet, in 1996, researchers found that women consuming soy protein isolate had an increased incidence of epithelial hyperplasia, a condition that presages malignancies. A year later, dietary genistein was found to stimulate breast cells to enter the cell cycle - a discovery that led the study authors to conclude that women should not consume soy products to prevent breast cancer.

Phytoestrogens: Panacea Or Poison?

The male species of tropical birds carries the drab plumage of the female at birth and 'colors up' at maturity, somewhere between nine and 24 months.

In 1991, Richard and Valerie James, bird breeders in Whangerai, New Zealand, purchased a new kind of feed for their birds - one based largely on soy protein. When soy-based feed was used, their birds 'colored up' after just a few months. In fact, one bird-food manufacturer claimed that this early development was an advantage imparted by the feed.

A 1992 ad for Roudybush feed formula showed a picture of the male crimson rosella, an Australian parrot that acquires beautiful red plumage at 18 to 24 months, already brightly colored at 11 weeks old.

Unfortunately, in the ensuing years, there was decreased fertility in the birds, with precocious maturation, deformed, stunted and stillborn babies, and premature deaths, especially among females, with the result that the total population in the aviaries went into steady decline.

The birds suffered beak and bone deformities, goiter, immune system disorders and pathological, aggressive behavior. Autopsy revealed digestive organs in a state of disintegration. The list of problems corresponded with many of the problems the Jameses had encountered in their two children, who had been fed soy-based infant formula.

Startled, aghast, angry, the Jameses hired toxicologist Mike Fitzpatrick. PhD, to investigate further. Dr Fitzpatrick's literature review uncovered evidence that soy consumption has been linked to numerous disorders, including infertility, increased cancer and infantile leukemia; and, in studies dating back to the 1950s, that genistein in soy causes endocrine disruption in animals.

Dr Fitzpatrick also analyzed the bird feed and found that it contained high levels of phytoestrogens, especially genistein. When the Jameses discontinued using soy-based feed, the flock gradually returned to normal breeding habits and behavior.

The Jameses embarked on a private crusade to warn the public and government officials about toxins in soy foods, particularly the endocrine-disrupting isoflavones, genistein and diadzen. Protein Technology International received their material in 1994.

In 1991, Japanese researchers reported that consumption of as little as 30 grams or two tablespoons of soybeans per day for only one month resulted in a significant increase in thyroid-stimulating hormone. Diffuse goiter and hypothyroidism appeared in some of the subjects and many complained of constipation, fatigue and lethargy, even though their intake of iodine was adequate.

In 1997, researchers from the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research made the embarrassing discovery that the goitrogenic components of soy were the very same isoflavones.

Twenty-five grams of soy protein isolate, the minimum amount PTI claimed to have cholesterol-lowering effects, contains from 50 to 70 mg of isoflavones. It took only 45 mg of isoflavones in premenopausal women to exert significant biological effects, including a reduction in hormones needed for adequate thyroid function. These effects lingered for three months after soy consumption was discontinued.

One hundred grams of soy protein - the maximum suggested cholesterol-lowering dose, and the amount recommended by Protein Technologies International - can contain almost 600 mg of isoflavones, an amount that is undeniably toxic. In 1992, the Swiss health service estimated that 100 grams of soy protein provided the estrogenic equivalent of the Pill.

In vitro studies suggest that isoflavones inhibit synthesis of estradiol and other steroid hormones. Reproductive problems, infertility, thyroid disease and liver disease due to dietary intake of isoflavones have been observed for several species of animals including mice, cheetah, quail, pigs, rats, sturgeon and sheep.

It is the isoflavones in soy that are said to have a favorable effect on postmenopausal symptoms, including hot flushes, and protection from osteoporosis. Quantification of discomfort from hot flushes is extremely subjective, and most studies show that control subjects report reduction in discomfort in amounts equal to subjects given soy. The claim that soy prevents osteoporosis is extraordinary, given that soy foods block calcium and cause vitamin D deficiencies.

If Asians indeed have lower rates of osteoporosis than Westerners, it is because their diet provides plenty of vitamin D from shrimp, lard and seafood, and plenty of calcium from bone broths. The reason that Westerners have such high rates of osteoporosis is because they have substituted soy oil for butter, which is a traditional source of vitamin D and other fat-soluble activators needed for calcium absorption.

Birth Control Pills For Babies

But it was the isoflavones in infant formula that gave the Jameses the most cause for concern. In 1998, investigators reported that the daily exposure of infants to isoflavones in soy infant formula is 6 to11 times higher on a body-weight basis than the dose that has hormonal effects in adults consuming soy foods. Circulating concentrations of isoflavones in infants fed soy-based formula were 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than plasma estradiol concentrations in infants on cow's milk formula.

Approximately 25 per cent of bottle-fed children in the US receive soy-based formula - a much higher percentage than in other parts of the Western world. Fitzpatrick estimated that an infant exclusively fed soy formula receives the estrogenic equivalent (based on body weight) of at least five birth control pills per day. By contrast, almost no phytoestrogens have been detected in dairy-based infant formula or in human milk, even when the mother consumes soy products.

Scientists have known for years that soy-based formula can cause thyroid problems in babies. But what are the effects of soy products on the hormonal development of the infant, both male and female?

Male infants undergo a "testosterone surge" during the first few months of life, when testosterone levels may be as high as those of an adult male. During this period, the infant is programmed to express male characteristics after puberty, not only in the development of his sexual organs and other masculine physical traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of male behavior.

In monkeys, deficiency of male hormones impairs the development of spatial perception (which, in humans, is normally more acute in men than in women), of learning ability and of visual discrimination tasks (such as would be required for reading). It goes without saying that future patterns of sexual orientation may also be influenced by the early hormonal environment.

Male children exposed during gestation to diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen that has effects on animals similar to those of phytoestrogens from soy, had testes smaller than normal on manturation.

Learning disabilities, especially in male children, have reached epidemic proportions. Soy infant feeding - which began in earnest in the early 1970s - cannot be ignored as a probable cause for these tragic developments.

As for girls, an alarming number are entering puberty much earlier than normal, according to a recent study reported in the journal Pediatrics. Investigators found that one per cent of all girls now show signs of puberty, such as breast development or pubic hair, before the age of three; by age eight, 14.7 per cent of white girls and almost 50 per cent of African-American girls have one or both of these characteristics.

New data indicate that environmental estrogens such as PCBs and DDE (a breakdown product of DDT) may cause early sexual development in girls. In the 1986 Puerto Rico Premature Thelarche study, the most significant dietary association with premature sexual development was not chicken - as reported in the press - but soy infant formula.

The consequences of this truncated childhood are tragic. Young girls with mature bodies must cope with feelings and urges that most children are not well-equipped to handle. And early maturation in girls is frequently a harbinger for problems with the reproductive system later in life, including failure to menstruate, infertility and breast cancer.

Parents who have contacted the Jameses recount other problems associated with children of both sexes who were fed soy-based formula, including extreme emotional behavior, asthma, immune system problems, pituitary insufficiency, thyroid disorders and irritable bowel syndrome - the same endocrine and digestive havoc that afflicted the Jameses' parrots.

Dissension In The Ranks

Organizers of the Third International Soy Symposium would be hard-pressed to call the conference an unqualified success. On the second day of the symposium, the London-based Food Commission and the Weston A. Price Foundation of Washington, DC, held a joint press conference, in the same hotel as the symposium, to present concerns about soy infant formula.

Industry representatives sat stony-faced through the recitation of potential dangers and a plea from concerned scientists and parents to pull soy-based infant formula from the market. Under pressure from the Jameses, the New Zealand Government had issued a health warning about soy infant formula in 1998; it was time for the American government to do the same.

On the last day of the symposium, presentations on new findings related to toxicity sent a well-oxygenated chill through the giddy helium hype. Dr Lon White reported on a study of Japanese Americans living in Hawaii, that showed a significant statistical relationship between two or more servings of tofu a week and "accelerated brain aging".

Those participants who consumed tofu in mid-life had lower cognitive function in late life and a greater incidence of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. "What's more," said Dr White, "those who ate a lot of tofu, by the time they were 75 or 80 looked five years older". White and his colleagues blamed the negative effects on isoflavones - a finding that supports an earlier study in which postmenopausal women with higher levels of circulating estrogen experienced greater cognitive decline.

Scientists Daniel Sheehan and Daniel Doerge, from the National Center for Toxicological Research, ruined PTI's day by presenting findings from rat feeding studies, indicating that genistein in soy foods causes irreversible damage to enzymes that synthesise thyroid hormones.

"The association between soybean consumption and goiter in animals and humans has a long history," wrote Dr Doerge. "Current evidence for the beneficial effects of soy requires a full understanding of potential adverse effects as well."

Dr Claude Hughes reported that rats born to mothers that were fed genistein had decreased birth weights compared to controls, and onset of puberty occurred earlier in male offspring. His research suggested that the effects observed in rats "...will be at least somewhat predictive of what occurs in humans.

There is no reason to assume that there will be gross malformations of fetuses but there may be subtle changes, such as neurobehavioral attributes, immune function and sex hormone levels." The results, he said, "could be nothing or could be something of great concern...if mom is eating something that can act like sex hormones, it is logical to wonder if that could change the baby's development".

A study of babies born to vegetarian mothers, published in January 2000, indicated just what those changes in baby's development might be. Mothers who ate a vegetarian diet during pregnancy had a fivefold greater risk of delivering a boy with hypospadias, a birth defect of the penis. The authors of the study suggested that the cause was greater exposure to phytoestrogens in soy foods popular with vegetarians.

Problems with female offspring of vegetarian mothers are more likely to show up later in life. While soy's estrogenic effect is less than that of diethylstilbestrol (DES), the dose is likely to be higher because it's consumed as a food, not taken as a drug. Daughters of women who took DES during pregnancy suffered from infertility and cancer when they reached their twenties.

Question Marks Over GRAS Status

Lurking in the background of industry hype for soy is the nagging question of whether it's even legal to add soy protein isolate to food. All food additives not in common use prior to 1958, including casein protein from milk, must have GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status. In 1972, the Nixon administration directed a re-examination of substances believed to be GRAS, in the light of any scientific information then available.

This re-examination included casein protein that became codified as GRAS in 1978. In 1974, the FDA obtained a literature review of soy protein because, as soy protein had not been used in food until 1959 and was not even in common use in the early 1970s, it was not eligible to have its GRAS status grandfathered under the provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.71

The scientific literature up to 1974 recognized many antinutrients in factory-made soy protein, including trypsin inhibitors, phytic acid and genistein. But the FDA literature review dismissed discussion of adverse impacts, with the statement that it was important for "adequate processing" to remove them.

Genistein could be removed with an alcohol wash, but it was an expensive procedure that processors avoided. Later studies determined that trypsin inhibitor content could be removed only with long periods of heat and pressure, but the FDA has imposed no requirements for manufacturers to do so.

The FDA was more concerned with toxins formed during processing, specifically nitrites and lysinoalanine. Even at low levels of consumption - averaging one-third of a gram per day at the time - the presence of these carcinogens was considered too great a threat to public health to allow GRAS status.

Soy protein did have approval for use as a binder in cardboard boxes, and this approval was allowed to continue, as researchers considered that migration of nitrites from the box into the food contents would be too small to constitute a cancer risk. FDA officials called for safety specifications and monitoring procedures before granting of GRAS status for food.

These were never performed. To this day, use of soy protein is codified as GRAS only for this limited industrial use as a cardboard binder. This means that soy protein must be subject to premarket approval procedures each time manufacturers intend to use it as a food or add it to a food.

Soy protein was introduced into infant formula in the early 1960s. It was a new product with no history of any use at all. As soy protein did not have GRAS status, premarket approval was required. This was not and still has not been granted. The key ingredient of soy infant formula is not recognized as safe.

The Next Asbestos?

"Against the backdrop of widespread praise...there is growing suspicion that soy - despite its undisputed benefits - may pose some health hazards," writes Marian Burros, a leading food writer for the New York Times. More than any other writer, Ms Burros's endorsement of a low-fat, largely vegetarian diet has herded Americans into supermarket aisles featuring soy foods.

Yet her January 26, 2000 article, "Doubts Cloud Rosy News on Soy", contains the following alarming statement: "Not one of the 18 scientists interviewed for this column was willing to say that taking isoflavones was risk free." Ms Burros did not enumerate the risks, nor did she mention that the recommended 25 daily grams of soy protein contain enough isoflavones to cause problems in sensitive individuals, but it was evident that the industry had recognized the need to cover itself.

Because the industry is extremely exposed...contingency lawyers will soon discover that the number of potential plaintiffs can be counted in the millions and the pockets are very, very deep. Juries will hear something like the following: "The industry has known for years that soy contains many toxins.

At first they told the public that the toxins were removed by processing. When it became apparent that processing could not get rid of them, they claimed that these substances were beneficial. Your government granted a health claim to a substance that is poisonous, and the industry lied to the public to sell more soy."

The "industry" includes merchants, manufacturers, scientists, publicists, bureaucrats, former bond financiers, food writers, vitamin companies and retail stores. Farmers will probably escape because they were duped like the rest of us. But they need to find something else to grow before the soy bubble bursts and the market collapses: grass-fed livestock, designer vegetables...or hemp to make paper for thousands and thousands of legal briefs.

Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 7, Number 3 (April-May 2000)

About the Authors:

Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (1999, 2nd edition, New Trends Publishing, tel +1 877 707 1776 or +1 219 268 2601) and President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Washington, DC (www.WestonAPrice.org)

Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., a nutritionist widely known for her research on the nutritional aspects of fats and oils, is a consultant, clinician, and the Director of the Nutritional Sciences Division of Enig Associates, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland.

She received her PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1984, taught a graduate course in nutrient-drug interactions for the University's Graduate Program in Nutritional Sciences, and held a Faculty Research Associateship from 1984 through 1991 with the Lipids Research Group in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Dr. Enig is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and a member of the American Institute of Nutrition. Her many years of experience as a "bench chemist" in the analysis of food fats and oils, provides a foundation for her active roles in food labeling and composition issues at the federal and state levels.

Dr. Enig is a Consulting Editor to the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition" and formerly served as a Contributing Editor to "Clinical Nutrition." She has published 14 scientific papers on the subject of food fats and oils, several chapters on nutrition for books, and presented over 35 scientific papers on food and nutrition topics.

She is the President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association, past President of the Coalition of Nutritionists of Maryland and was appointed by the Governor in 1986 to the Maryland State Advisory Council on Nutrition and served as the Chairman of the Health Subcommittee until the Council was disbanded in 1988.