The poisoned apple looked delicious, rosy red and shinny. It was crispy and tasty. There was a danger in the beautiful apple that sight, smell and taste could not detect. One tasty bite proved to be a death sleep for Snow White. Our children are like Snow White, eating tasty, poisonous fruit…every day.

An apple a day, may not necessarily keep the doctor away…unless it’s organic. Apples are on the top of the recent most-contaminated produce with pesticides list. A report published today by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a public health advocacy group was the topic in a recent USA Today news report.

Even after the fruits were washed and peeled, apples were found to have a high amount of pesticide residue. This is not good news for moms who do their best to offer whole foods to their families. The report analyzed government data on 53 fruits and vegetables. They identified the produce having the most and least pesticides after washing and peeling. For produce found to be highest in pesticides, the group recommends buying organic.

Nicole is getting ready to take a big bite from this juicy organic apple.

Pesticides were measured in six different ways to calculate overall scores:
• Percentage of samples tested with detectable pesticides.
• Percentage of samples with two or more pesticides.
• Average number of pesticides found on a single sample.
• Average amount (level in parts per million) of all pesticides found.
• Maximum number of pesticides found on a single sample.
• Total number of pesticides found on the commodity.

The top dirty produce spot was previously held by celery. They think that more pesticides and fungicides are now being applied to apples after the harvest so the fruit can have a longer shelf life. Pesticides are toxic to the nervous system, can cause cancer, disrupt hormones and cause brain damage in children. Pregnant women are advised to avoid foods containing pesticides. Rankings reflect the amounts of chemicals present on food when it is eaten. Most samples were washed and peeled before testing. Washing with a “produce wash” is unlikely to help remove pesticides because they’re taken up by the entire plant and reside on more than just the skin, the report says.

The Dirty Dozen

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (imported)
7. Grapes (imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

There is a glimmer of good news. When you choose fruit and vegetables from the clean list, most people can lower the volume of pesticides they consume daily by 92 percent, the report says.

Fewer than 10 percent of pineapple, mango and avocado samples showed pesticides. For vegetables, asparagus, corn and onions had no detectable residue on 90 percent or more of samples. You’ll notice that all, but the last mushrooms, have an outer covering that is removed and thrown away before it’s eaten.

The Clean 15

1. Onions
2. Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe (domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

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Kids are drinking caffeine every day. A lot of caffeine. Recently a mom, while purchasing a coffee for herself, purchased café mocha and split it between her two-year-old twins.

Before you feel too superior, you may be allowing your children to consume caffeine as well. Maybe you’re not giving your toddler a café mocha, but caffeinated soda has the same effect.

As many as 75 percent of American children consume caffeine daily. The Journal of Pediatrics reports of a survey with 228 families from an urban outpatient pediatric clinic.

Five to 7 year old children drank approximately 52 mg of caffeine daily. That’s equivalent to a can of caffeinated soda a day.  Eight to 12 year old children drank twice that, 109 mg daily.

Caffeine consumption and hours slept were significantly negatively correlated, but caffeine consumption and enuresis (bed wetting) were not significantly correlated. Spanish-speaking parents reported fewer bed wetting events than their English-speaking peers.

Harper like to pretend to drink coffee.
She has no idea how harmful caffeine is,
especially for kids.

The Food and Drug Administration has not developed pediatric guidelines for caffeine consumption. Do we really need the government to set guidelines for children’s caffeine consumption?

Coffee Not Sole Source of Caffeine
Caffeine occurs naturally in coffee beans, tea leaves, cocoa and cola nuts. It stimulates the central nervous system. It’s classified as a drug.

Parents sometime unknowingly (or even knowingly) serve soda, carbonated beverages, cold drinks, caffeinated soft drinks, chocolates, coffee ice creams, tea, iced tea, hot cocoa and many cold medicines with caffeine.

Effects of Caffeine
Even a small amount of caffeine can affect children in many detrimental ways. Caffeine may cause headaches, stomach upsets, concentration and sleeping problems, nervousness and being hyper, bet wetting, increased blood pressure and increased heart rate.  In addition, nutritional deficiencies may occur, because the vitamins and minerals, which are required for a child’s health, are often replaced by sweetened caffeinated drink containing only empty calories.

The high sugar content in sweetened caffeinated drinks can lead to dental cavities and erode the enamel of the teeth from acidity. What’s worse is a child’s risk for obesity is increased by 60 percent just by consuming 350 ml sweetened soft drink per day.

Caffeine is a diuretic. A glass of water is recommended with every ounce of caffeine consumed, as caffeine causes water loss from the body (through urination). Especially in warm weather caffeine is a very bad choice for children and it may cause dehydration. Bet wetting may be a problem in children consuming caffeine.

Caffeine is addictive and if abruptly stopped can cause many withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, irritability, temporary depression and muscle aches.

This Year, May Your Holidays Be Happy And Healthy.

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Beck has been in the news for his summer Washington DC event, “Restoring America,” where half a million people gathered on the mall. As of late, Beck’s health has made headlines. In July 2010, he told his audience he had macular dystrophy. Last week, he announced that he was taking yesterday and today off for extensive testing for a myriad of seemingly unrelated symptoms.

In Beck’s absence, Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere substituted on his radio program. They joked, “Glenn who isn’t here because he’s of course, being tested for, you know, Rumsfeld Plague.”

Ethan is surprised that aspartame has so many side effects.

They mocked Rumsfeld Plague (aspartame poisoning), which was the focus of an article written by Kurt Nimmo “Warning to Glenn Beck: Don’t Drink Diet Coke.”

I should note that Beck is also a recovering alcoholic, who I believe has substituted diet coke for alcohol. Now, Coke Zero is socially acceptable and a giant step up from being a drunk, for sure. Although, an addiction to diet coke has it’s own complications. According to Beck’s own admission, he drinks about four Coke Zeroes a day.

The two commentators compared Beck’s consumption of Coke Zero to their own. Mocking the possibility that aspartame could be the link to Beck’s symptoms. It’s like a fat man saying he’s not so fat, because the other guy is fatter.

Stu concludes, “Numerous authorities including the Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Expert on Committee on Food Additives, the FAO, W.H.O., the European community and the American Medical Association have concluded that Aspartame is a safe product except for with people who already have a rare genetic condition…So maybe Glenn has that rare genetic condition that he would have to have from birth to be affected by this.”

Seems odd that those representing the king of “personal responsibility” would ignore diet. It appears  they didn’t do much research on the subject. Perhaps they went to only one site: Snopes.com, which states there isn’t even one tiny problem with aspartame!

Since when is the FDA our friend? There is a revolving door between the FDA and the largest chemical pusher in the world: Monsanto. It’s not hard to connect the dots.

For people, who supposedly do a lot of research, the display of ignorance about aspartame is astonishing. Stu and Pat may think aspartame poisoning is a conspiracy theory, but there are many credentialed people who have been sounding the aspartame alarm for some time.

Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of Sweet Deception and noted for his health website, is one  of many who is sounding the alarm.

Mercola states the obvious, “Keep in mind that the reason you feel products containing aspartame are safe is a direct result of deliberate deception on the part of big business and government. Remember: If you’re consuming a food or beverage created in a lab instead of by nature, you can be assured your body doesn’t recognize it. This opens the door to short-term and long-lasting health problems.”

There are lots of resources for those who will just look. Dr. Janet Hill, author of Sweetpoison and Aspartame Detox reveals over 96 side effects. And Mary Nash Stoddard, a consumer advocate, wrote Deadly Deception: Story of Aspartame.

For those who want a government study, in 1994 the Department of Health and Human Services released their findings with over 90 symptoms related to aspartame including: migraine headaches, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain. The following chronic illnesses are triggered or worsened by ingesting aspartame: Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.

Beck is experiencing many of those symptoms. Will Beck’s doctors make the link to aspartame poisoning? So far they have missed the obvious. It would be a pleasant surprise, because doctors usually look at each symptom individually. The standard protocol is to treat each symptom usually with a drug that has it’s own side effects. The only way Beck will know which symptoms are related to aspartame is to stop drinking CocaCola Zero for a period of time…before he begins any drug therapy. (Unfortunately, macular dystrophy isn’t reversible.)

In today’s update on Beck’s condition, he’s mugging for the camera, holding a giant milkshake. Doesn’t look like he’s connected diet to disease as yet.

In conclusion, I’ll state the obvious: Children should NEVER consume any product containing aspartame.

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Thirty countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the European Union, have significant restrictions or outright bans on the production of GMOs. Even though most of the world doesn’t consider GMOs proven safe, the FDA approved commercial production of GMOs in the U.S. This was based on studies conducted by Monsanto, who created and profit from their sale. Additionally, it’s difficult to tell which food is a GMO, as there is no mandatory labeling.

Swapping genes between organisms can produce toxic effects and allergies, especially in children. In kids’ fast-growing bodies more of the food they eat is used to build organs and tissues. GM safety tests ignore the effects on children.

Children are three to four times more prone to allergies than adults and “are at highest risk of death from food allergy.” Babies under two years old have the highest incidence of reactions, especially to new allergens encountered in the diet. Even tiny amounts of allergens can sometimes cause reactions.

Children, like Haley, eat more GM foods than adults.

One reason for this sensitivity, according to the EPA, is that: “An immature gut or permeable mucosal epithelium is more likely to allow a higher degree of macromolecular transport and access to the immune system than the intact barrier of a normal mature gut…The immune system must also be of sufficient maturity…Both systems appear to be functioning optimally by age three to five.”

Kids Eat More GMO Products
What’s worse, they can react to much smaller doses of toxins than adults. Exposure to hormones or endocrine disruptors may also severely affect normal development. And children who are prone to infections may be severely impacted if antibiotics lose their effectiveness due to antibiotic-resistant genes in GM food and the overuse of antibiotics in Growth Hormone-treated cows. Children drink milk from cows treated with the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone. Infants are sometimes nursed on soy infant formula.

Among the potential side effects are changes in soy’s natural estrogen mimickers, which may influence sexual development. Children consume a disproportionately large amount of milk compared to adults. In the United States and elsewhere, dairy products may come from cows treated with the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH). The milk contains increased amounts of hormones and antibiotics and an altered nutritional content. Click Here to view a 5-minute video on GMOs and kids.

Industry-funded studies often use mature animals instead of the more sensitive young ones, in order to mask results. Biologist David Schubert warns: “Since children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems, if the GM food is given to them without proper testing, they will be the experimental animals. If there are problems, we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.”

Samuel Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and an expert on the health effects of rbGH, says that risks of high exposure to IGF-1 are “of particular concern … to infants and children in view of their high susceptibility to cancer-causing products and chemicals.”

You vote with your dollar. Every time you purchase a GMO food you vote for genetically altered food. Every time you purchase organically grown produce your dollar is cast for organic food. Food is a business. It’s supply and demand.

Unveiling the Barcode Mystery
Check out the digit code on all produce. This can be a bit confusing to figure out, but once you understand the code it’s not difficult. If the produce has four digits, it’s conventionally grown, but not organic. If it has five digits and begins with a 9 it means the produce was organically grown. A five digit code beginning with an 8 indicates the produce is a GMO.

Avoid products made with ingredients that might be derived from GMOs. Unfortunately, GM processed food is NOT labeled. The FDA doesn’t require information labeling concerning GMOs for the consumer! Unbelievable, but it’s true. You can avoid most GM products by checking the label for three ingredients: Corn, soy and cottonseed oil. These are the top three foods which are most often genetically modified in the U.S. Any processed product containing corn, soy or cottonseed oil is most likely genetically modified. On the other hand, organic food is GM-free by definition, so that’s always safe. (The eight common GM food crops are Corn, Soybeans, Canola, Cottonseed, Sugar Beets, Hawaiian Papaya and some Zucchini and Yellow Squash.)

Dairy Products may be from cows injected with GM bovine growth hormone. Look for labels stating No rBGH, rBST, or artificial hormones.

If you need one more reason to stop eating sugar here it is: Once you know that corn is a GMO crop, it’s obvious that High Fructose Corn Syrup is a GMO. High Fructose Corn Syrup is added in most processed foods. Not so obvious is “sugar” on the ingredient label. If a non-organic food product made in North American lists “sugar” as an ingredient (and NOT pure cane sugar), then it is almost certainly a combination of sugar from both sugar cane and GM sugar beets. This is a concern for parents as October is the U.S. annual celebration of candy (Halloween).

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We are aware that toxins from paint, plastics and chemicals, inks and dyes, building materials, lead-based paint from walls and windowsills are not healthy. Even imported food has the potential for lead poisoning, but food processed in the U.S.?

I’m as tired as you are hearing about the list of processed foods, which are not healthy. Fifteen million pounds of SpagettiOs have recently been recalled because of possible under-processing. The latest news is that there are toxic metals in kids’ drinks and snacks.

Eighty-five percent of kids’ drinks and snacks that were tested were found to contain high levels of lead. Most scientists agree there is NO safe level of lead exposure, especially when it comes to babies and children.

Hannah is sipping home-made lemonade.

Children are especially vulnerable to toxins. Their brains, nervous systems, and organs are not mature and are rapidly developing.

Quantities of lead in bottled juice, juice boxes, and packaged fruit could exceed federal limits, according to the Environmental Law Foundation. The Bay Area-based environmental nonprofit tested nearly 400 samples from 150 branded products marketed to children, including apple juice, grape juice, packaged pears and peaches (including baby food), and fruit cocktail mixes. The results are alarming. More than 85 percent of the 146 products tested contained enough lead in a single serving to warrant a warning label under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.

In California’s Enforcement Act of 1986, the state publishes a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. The group said under the law, agencies were given 60 days to decide whether to launch prosecutions against the alleged violations. If, after this period, no such prosecutions had commenced, it pledged to file its own lawsuit.

The environmental group says it undertook the testing to see if the kid-friendly juice and food products complied with a California law requiring manufacturers to post safety warnings on products if they exceed lead levels set by state scientists. The group has sent notices of suspected violations of state law to California Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Many individual servings of apple juice, grape juice, packaged peaches and pears and fruit cocktail—all lunchbox staples—contained lead above the daily limit for young kids. Those limits were established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

More troubling is that the results included both organic and conventional products: Earth’s Best Organic 365 Everyday Value Organic, Trader Joe’s, and Walnut Acres, Welch’s, Minute Maid, Gerber, Del Monte and Dole.

“If someone is making unfortunate choices in the brands that they’re buying and serving their children, this could be a cause of concern because they might be getting more lead than is healthy for them,” said David Schardt, a senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group which tracks food-safety issues.

The warning did not indicate where the lead was coming from. Why are some brands free from lead? Is the lead coming from the manufacturing process? Is it being leached from the container?

Kids will be healthier, when moms return to squeezing their own fruit for juice, have their kids chug plenty of fresh water (stead of sodas) and pack picnics with homemade foods.

LEAD-TAINTED PRODUCTS:
1. 365 Everyday Value Organic 100% Juice Concord Grapes
2. Beech Nut 100% Apple Juice
3. Best Yet Bartlett Pear Halves in Heavy Syrup
4. Best Yet Chunky Mixed Fruit in Pear Juice
5. Best Yet Yellow Cling Peach Halves in Heavy Syrup
6. Chef’s Review Fruit Cocktail
7. Del Monte 100% Juice Fruit Cocktail
8. Del Monte Chunky Mixed Fruit in 100% Juice (peach, pear, grape, etc.)
9. Del Monte Diced Pears in Light Syrup
10. Del Monte Freestone Peach Slices in 100% Juice
11. Del Monte Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup (peach, pear, grapes)
12. Del Monte Fruit Cocktail No Sugar Added
13. Del Monte Lite Fruit Cocktail in Extra Light Syrup
14. Del Monte Pear Halves in Heavy Syrup
15. Del Monte Pear Halves, Bartlett Pears in 100% real fruit juice from concentrate
16. Del Monte Sliced Yellow Cling Peaches in 100% Juice
17. Del Monte Sliced Yellow Cling Peaches in heavy syrup
18. Dole Diced Peaches, Yellow Cling in light syrup
19. Dole Mixed Fruit in Light Syrup
20. Dole Pear Halves in Juice
21. Earth’s Best Organics Apple Juice
22. Eating Right Fruit Cocktail packed in Sucralose
23. Eating Right No Sugar Fruit Cocktail
24. First Street 100% Apple Cider from concentrate
25. First Street Apple Juice from concentrate 100% juice
26. First Street Diced Pears
27. First Street Fruit Cocktail in heavy syrup
28. First Street Grape Juice from concentrate 100% juice
29. First Street Sliced Bartlett
30. First Street Yellow Cling Peaches in heavy syrup
31. Full Circle Organic Apple Juice
32. Full Circle Organic Bartlett Pear Slices
33. Gerber 100% Juice – White Grape Juice
34. Gerber 100% Juice Apple Juice
35. Gerber 3rd Foods Peaches
36. Gerber 3rd Foods Pears
37. Golden Star Mixed Fruit in Light Syrup (peach, pineapple, pears)
38. Golden Star Peach Halves in Heavy Syrup
39. Great Value 100% Grape Juice
40. Great Value 100% No Sugar Added Apple Juice
41. Great Value Bartlett Pear Halves in 100% Juice
42. Great Value Bartlett Sliced Pears in Heavy Syrup
43. Great Value No Sugar Added Fruit Cocktail
44. Great Value Yellow Cling Sliced Peaches
45. Hansen’s Natural Apple Juice
46. Kedem Concord Grape Juice 100% pure grape juice
47. Kroger 100% Juice Apple Juice
48. Kroger Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
49. Kroger Grape Juice 100% Juice
50. Kroger Lite Fruit Cocktail in Pear Juice
51. Kroger Value Fruit Mix (Peaches, pears, grapes)
52. Langers Apple Juice 100% Juice
53. Langers Grape Juice (Concord)
54. Langers Red Grape Juice
55. Libby’s Fruit Cocktail No Sugar Added (Sweetened with Splenda)
56. Libby’s Yellow Cling Peach Slices No Sugar Added (Sweetened with Splenda)
57. Market Pantry Diced Peaches in light syrup
58. Market Pantry Diced Pears in light syrup
59. Market Pantry Mixed Fruit in light syrup
60. Maxx Value Fruit Mix in Light Syrup (peach, pear, grape)
61. Maxx Value Pear Pieces in Light Syrup
62. Minute Maid Juice Apple – 100% Apple Juice
63. Motts 100% Apple Juice
64. Mrs. Brown’s Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup (peaches, pears, grapes)
65. O Organics Organic Grape Juice from concentrate
66. O Organics Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice Not From Concentrate
67. Old Orchard 100% Apple Juice
68. Parade 100% Juice Apple
69. Polar Mixed Fruit
70. Polar Peach Slices
71. Polar Pear Halves in light syrup
72. R.W. Knudsen Just Concord Grape Juice
73. R.W. Knudsen Organic Just Concord
74. Raley’s 100% Grape Juice
75. Raley’s Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
76. Raley’s Premium 100% Apple Juice not from Concentrate
77. Raley’s Sliced Yellow Cling Peaches in Heavy Syrup
78. S&W Natural Style Fruit Cocktail in Lightly Sweetened Juice
79. S&W Natural Style Pear Slices in Juice
80. S&W Natural Style Yellow Cling Peach Slices in Lightly Sweetened Juice
81. S&W Premium Peach Halves Yellow Cling Peaches in light syrup
82. S&W Sun Pears Premium
83. Safeway 100% Juice Apple Cider
84. Safeway 100% Juice Apple Juice
85. Safeway 100% Juice Grape Juice
86. Safeway Diced Peaches in Light Syrup
87. Safeway Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
88. Safeway Light Sugar Fruit Cocktail
89. Safeway Lite Bartlett Pear Halves in Pear Juice
90. Safeway Lite Fruit Cocktail in Pear Juice
91. Safeway Organic Grape Juice
92. Safeway Pear Halves in Light Juice
93. Safeway Yellow Cling Peach Slices in Pear Juice
94. Santa Cruz Organic Concord Grape Juice
95. Simple Value Yellow Cling Peaches in light syrup
96. Stater Bros. 100% Juice Apple Juice
97. Stater Bros. 100% Juice Grape Juice
98. Stater Bros. 100% Juice White Grape Juice
99. Stater Bros. Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
100. Stater Bros. Yellow Cling Peach Halves
101. Stater Bros. Yellow Cling Sliced Peaches in heavy syrup
102. Sunny Select 100% Apple Juice
103. Sunny Select 100% Grape Juice
104. Sunny Select Fruit Cocktail in Juice
105. Sunny Select Pear Halves in Pear Juice
106. Sunny Select Yellow Cling Sliced Peaches in Pear Juice
107. Trader Joe’s Certified Organic Apple Juice, pasteurized
108. Trader Joe’s Concord Grape Juice made from fress pressed organic concord grapes
109. Trader Joe’s Pear Halves in white grape juice
110. Trader Joe’s Yellow Cling Peach Halves in while grape juice
111. Tree Top 100% Juice Apple Cider
112. Tree Top 100% Juice, Grape
113. Truitt Brothers Pacific NorthWest Bartlett Pear Halves, in pear juice from concentrate
114. Valu Time Grape Drink from Concentrate
115. Valu Time Irregular Bartlett Pear Slices
116. Valu Time Yellow Cling Peach Slices
117. Walgreens Apple Juice from concentrate 100% juice
118. Walgreens Grape Juice from concentrate 100% juice
119. Walnut Acres Organic Concord Grape
120. Walnut Grove Market 100% Apple Juice
121. Walnut Grove Market Grape Juice
122. Walnut Grove Market Natural Peaches Sliced Yellow Cling in Light Syrup
123. Walnut Grove Market Natural Pear Halves in Heavy Syrup
124. Welch’s 100% Grape Juice (from Welch’s Concord Grapes)
125. Welch’s 100% Red Grape Juice from Concentrate

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Peer-reviewed studies don’t always tell the truth. We need to wake up and smell the coffee. Who do you think pays for many of the “studies”? The very industry that wants the public to believe the additive is safe. Experts assured us for 30 years trans fats were better for us than naturally saturated fats like butter. Boy, were they wrong!

Try telling a person, who gets a migraine after ingesting something with MSG, that MSG is “safe” (Chinese Restaurant Syndrome). It took 30 years for the government to admit trans fats were unhealthy. I believe MSG is the next additive to have required labeling/warning. It may take a while, but it will.

Mae is astonished that someone said Nonna quoted a ‘quack.’ (Photo by Frozen Exposure)

MSG is Naturally Occurring
MSG is a flavor enhancer commonly used in processed foods and restaurants, especially Chinese and fast food restaurants. MSG enhances your ability to taste a savory flavor called umami. This is the flavor found in protein-rich food.

My critic has drunk the Kool-aid, “MSG metabolizes in your body the same way foods with naturally occurring glutamates do – milk, tomatoes, mushrooms, seaweed… consuming either MSG or milk will cause you to digest the exact same glutamate. The only thing special about MSG is it’s just been stabilized with sodium so you can easily sprinkle it on foods.”

Oh really? Just because MSG is naturally occurring in food is a misleading statement. Cocaine and the poppy flower are naturally occurring. So are opium and heroin. For that matter, so is marijuana.

MSGTruth.org is a site with the latest independent research regarding the animo-acid based food additives, Monsodium Glutamate and Aspartame. Carol Hoernlein, a former food process engineer and food scientist says,  “MSG sellers argue that MSG is exactly like the glutamate in the human body, therefore it must always be good. It is not so simple.  There are contaminants in processed MSG…The food industry’s claim that free glutamate is as harmless as bound glutamate is disingenuous at best.”

MSG Dangers
The naysayer trusts the FDA’s recomendations, “It should also be mentioned that MSG appears on the FDA’s ‘Generally Recognized As Safe’ listing with a detailed explanation as to why it is considered safe for consumption.” I image being reminded that MSG is on the GRAS list was supposed to put me in my place. It only fired me up!  The FDA was wrong about trans fat, BPA safety and red dye #2 which was banned in 1976 after a link to cancer was found. ( Artificial food colorings are highly controversial as they have been linked to allergies, asthma, hives, and ADHD. They are often derived from petroleum.)

The FDA is wrong about MSG, too! Think for just a moment that MSG is able to pass from the mother to her unborn baby. Those most vulnerable are the elderly, children and infants. Studies in the 1970s found 25 percent (some say today it’s up to 40 percent) of the population react negatively to MSG.

Russell Blaylock, M.D. is a surgeon, author of Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, lecturer and educator. This is the person the comment-writer referred to as a “quack” in my previous blog about MSG. Dr. Blaylock serves as the medical consultant for the Fluoride Toxicity Research Collaborative. He was recently awarded the Integrity in Science award by the Westin Price Foundation. The playground isn’t the only place that name-calling occurs.

My challenger’s conclusion, “The bottom line is that there’s little reason for adults to avoid foods with glutamates/glutamic acid.”

Come on, he can’t be serious! The Mayo Clinic warns that MSG may cause “headache, flushing, sweating, sense of facial pressure, numbness, tingling or burning in or around the mouth, rapid heartbeats, chest pain, brochospasm, shortness of breath, nausea and weakness.”

Check out these links for more information about MSG (for my critic a little do-diligence might be a good idea before you call someone a quack):

[1] The Silent Killer

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/21/MSG-Is-This-Silent-Killer-Lurking-in-Your-Kitchen-Cabinets.aspx

“The Shocking Dangers of MSG You Don’t Know,” video Part 1

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/08/28/dangers-of-msg.aspx?aid=CD12

[2] Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Samuels, Jack “MSG Dangers and Deceptions”

http://www.mail-archive.com/sustainablelorgbiofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg69736.html

[3] MSGTruth.org “What Exactly is MSG?”

http://www.msgtruth.org/whatisit.htm

[4] eMediaWire “Athlete Alert: Renowned Neurosurgeon Identifies Aspartame & MSG in Sudden Cardiac Death” April 15, 2005

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/4/emw225071.htm

[5] TruthinLabeling.org “This is What the Data Say About Monosodium Glutamate Toxicity and Human Adverse Reactions”

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Proof_AdverseReactions_AR.html

[6] Food Inc.

http://robertkennerfilms.com/films/files/detail_current.php

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Do you know what percentage of food dollars is spent on processed foods, most, if not all, which have added chemicals to enhance flavor?

Kids are conditioned to these psychedelic flavors. The additives like food flavorings,  high fructose corn syrup, MSG and salt are almost always ingredients in processed foods, especially junk foods. Salt is added to processed foods for longer shelf life as well as taste.

Zachary and Angel love psychedelic colors… not chemical- altered flavors.

MSG is added to food to give it that indescribable taste-explosion that’s found in fast food. These additives become additive. That’s why MSG is found just about everything, including French fries. But you’ll be hard-pressed to find MSG on a food label as it has many aliases.

What about those yummy fruit flavors? Today, chemicals can give candy and gum a strawberry or an apple flavor, but it’s really petroleum. Do you really want your kids to eat petroleum?

Add sugar, especially High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) to the mix and it’s very hard for whole foods to compete with the psychedelic flavors. HFCS fools the brain. It interrupts the signal that your stomach has received enough, so you over eat. Once HFCS is no longer in your diet, you will find that you’re satiated with less food.

Your child’s body craves real food, even if you have a picky eater. Yes, even picky eaters, who refuse to eat whole foods, need them for health. To be successful in transforming a picky eater to a healthy eater, whole foods must replace fast foods and junk foods. ( Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater onto a Healthy Eater explains how you can accomplish this in about a week.) You’ll be fighting an uphill battle if cookies, crackers, chips, candy and sugar-filled drinks are found in your pantry and you regularly purchase fast foods.

Psychedelic flavors alter our perception of food. It changes our sensory expectation of what is tasty. Because of marketing highly processed foods, kids expect a taste-sensation when they eat.

Adjust Your Taste Thermostat
It will take a week or so for your kid’s taste buds to adjust to whole foods. Be assured, they will adjust. Yes, you need to be patient and hold the line.

Your thermostat adjusts your furnace or air conditioner when you change the temperature control. Once the new temperature is programmed in the thermostat the temperature in the room eventually alters.

The same is true for taste buds. Once they’re programmed to whole foods, the sweetness of an orange or a ripe peach will be unbelievable. A sip of soda pop will become excruciatingly sugary. The craving for salty chips will be replaced with desiring the crunch of julienne veggies and dip. Canned soups will become too salty. Boxed macaroni and cheese will loose its appeal. (By the way, the processed dried cheese in mac and cheese is loaded with colorings and MSG.)

Do your children have psychedelic taste expectations? We spend 90 percent of our food dollars on processed foods. Not until you change that statistic for your family will your children begin to appreciate the taste of whole foods.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

Our food supply has become so polluted that it’s difficult to discern what’s a whole food and what’s not. I’ve divided my ‘Top 10 Worst Foods of the Decade’ in half. Today’s blog contains the second half: 5 through 1. Click Here to see Part One. I’ve listed them in descending order. The most obvious foods, which we regularly eat, are mentioned in my previous blog. The not-so-obvious unhealthy foods we often believe are healthy are covered in today’s blog, ending with the one food parents really believe is a health food, but it’s full of sugar.

#5 — Fried Chicken (A popular kids’ menu item.)
Fried chicken comes in many forms for kids: chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches, etc. Parents often think this is a better choice than a hamburger. There’s six to ten grams of trans fat in each order of onion rings or chicken fingers.  KFC Original Recipe Chicken Dinner has seven grams of trans fat, mostly from the chicken and biscuit.

#4 — Microwave Popcorn
A report from the FDA indicates that a chemical coating used in microwave popcorn bags breaks down when heated into a substance called perfluorooctanoic (PFOA). The Environmental Protection Agency has identified PFOA as a “likely carcinogen.” Another study has found an acid that can be extracted from the chemical causes cancer in animals and is “likely to cause cancer in humans.”

Why is cereal on ‘Nonna’s Top 10 Worst Foods’ list? Madison’s not sure.

A second potential danger in microwave popcorn is diacetyl, an FDA-approved chemical found in the fake butter flavoring. There’s even a debilitating respiratory disease called “popcorn workers lung,” (the medical name of the condition is bronchiolitis obliterans) suffered by microwave popcorn factory workers caused by extended inhalation of the chemical’s fumes. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (NIOSH) concluded that diacetyl needs further study so that workers in the flavorings and snack industry are no longer at risk. Do your family a favor and purchase a hot-air popper! It’s just as fast as the microwave variety and when you use organic popcorn and real butter, it’s a healthy snack.

#3 — Processed Lunch Meats
Hot dogs are considered “kid food.” You’ll find them on many children’s menus and are considered a summer staple. Most cured meats, expecially breakfast and other sausage, bacon, luncheon meats, and hot dogs, contain nitrites and nitrates. They’re added to processed meats to prevent botulism and enhance the taste and color of the meat. Without nitrates processed meats would be brown, just like cooked hamburger. Once inside the body, they can form nitrosamines, a cancer-causing chemical. These carcinogenic compounds have been associated with cancer. They have also been linked with leukemia and ADD/ADHD in children.

#2 — Boxed Cereal (including instant oatmeal)
More than 2.7 billion packages of cereal are sold in grocery stores each year. It’s the third most popular supermarket product (behind soda pop and bread). This translates to an average of 10 pounds, or 160 bowls, of cereal per American each year.

Extruded grains are industrially processed foods, including “healthy” breakfast cereals, which really aren’t so healthy. For all boxed breakfast cereals, grains are extruded — forced out of a hole at high temperature with pressure in order to make them into the various shapes typically found in breakfast cereals. The extrusion process destroys most of the nutrients in the grains, including fatty acids. Boxed cereals end up being empty calories. Cereals marketed to children are even worse as they are loaded with added sugars. Even the organic oatmeal pictured has 3 teaspoons of sugar per serving. Make your own hot oatmeal, it’ll cost less, taste better, and have less sugars.

#1 — Fruited Yogurt
The number one food parents believe is a healthy food and it’s NOT…is fruited yogurt. Yogurt is full of probiotics. Probiotics live in the tube that runs right through the middle of us. It includes our nose, sinuses, mouth, upper airways, lungs, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, rectum and anus. We no longer eat a healthy diet with natural foods containing good bacteria, so the bad bacteria proliferate. We think we’re eating healthy foods with probiotics, such as fruited yogurts. But fruited yogurts have up to 7 teaspoons of sugar in a serving. The sugar feeds the bad bacteria, so we’re not better off than when we started. The solution is to eat PLAIN yogurt with active ingredients and add fruit-only jams for flavor. (Vanilla flavored yogurt is not the answer, either. There’s more added sugar in the vanilla yogurt!)

Click Here for The Decades Top 10 Worst Foods…items 10 through 6.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures. For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

I must admit this list was harder to put together than I first thought. Our food supply is mostly processed and when you’re talking about processed anything, well, it’s just not healthy. I decided to pick the most common horrible foods I could think of. Ones we regularly eat and many times think of as healthy food choices.

I’ve divided my ‘Top 10 Worst Foods’.  Today’s blog contains the first half of my Worst Foods List: 10 through 6. I’ve listed them in descending order. The most obvious foods, which we regularly eat, are mentioned in today’s blog. The not-so-obvious unhealthy foods we believe are healthy will be covered in my next blog, ending with the one food parents really believe is a health food, but it’s full of sugar.

“According to a recent report, due to the recession, Americans are eating cheap, unhealthy, fatty foods. So apparently, the recession started in 1957.”
…Conan O’Brian

Angel’s tongue is blue from the dyes in birthday cake frosting. You can’t readily see the effects of trans fat in the icing.

#10 — French Fries
French fries come in at number ten, because we really know this is an unhealthy food. Still, 21 percent of toddlers eat French fries EVERY DAY! French fries are potatoes, so what could be bad about that? Most French fries are purchased out. They are cooked in altered fats and seasoned with salt and many times with MSG (a hidden toxin). There is between 4 and 7 grams of trans fat in a single serving of fries.

#9 — Soda Pop
More than 15 billion gallons of soda pop were sold in 2000. That’s least one 12-ounce can per day for every man, woman, and child in America. But, kids drink more soda pop than their parents. In the past 10 years, soft drink consumption among children has almost doubled in the United States.  Most parents are in denial about the amount of soda pop their children regularly drink. Studies have found over half, 56 percent, of 8-year-olds down soft drinks daily. Soda has been dubbed, “liquid candy” and rightly so, as soda pop is the number one source of sugar in our kids’ diets. A single can of soda pop has between 14 17 teaspoons of sugar!

#8 — Birthday Cake
Kids go to parties all the time. Birthday cake is made from white flour, sugar and altered fats. The icing is primarily trans fat and food coloring. Trans fat has a half-life of 51 days, so if your child goes to a party every 2 months, then trans fat is continually in his body!

#7 — Non-Dairy Whipped Topping (like Cool Whip)
Cool Whip is made of water corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated coconut and palm kernel oils (“hydrogenated” IS trans fat). Trans fat molecules are absorbed into your cells, compromising the cell’s metabolism. Trans fat lowers the HDL (good cholesterol) and increases the LDL (bad cholesterol), leading to heart disease. In pregnant women, trans fat, like alcohol, drugs, carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke, and pesticides, pass through the placenta to the baby, affecting the baby’s metabolism in direct proportion to the amount ingested by the mother. In addition, there’s a correlation between trans fat and Type 2 Diabetes. To make matters worse, trans fat inhibits the absorption of vitamin K (vital for bone growth). Trans fat is a toxin interfering with all membrane function.

#6 — Store-Bought Cookies and Crackers
Cookies and crackers range from 30 to 50 percent trans fat. Many baked goods are moving away from trans fats and using interesterifed fats. Interesterified fats are like trans fats raising the blood levels of the “bad” LDL cholesterol. At the same time, lowering the “good” HDL cholesterol levels. Just because the package boasts, “No trans fats” doesn’t mean that it’s a healthy product. Look for interesterifed fat on the nutrition label.

Click Here for The Decade’s Top 10 Worst Foods…items 5 through 1.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

The latest food experiment began in the mid-90s. New crops were derived from genetically modified organisms, called GMOs. The genetic modifications produce living organisms, which are not possible through natural means. We have no idea what the eventual outcome will be for people eating these foods. So, the nickname “Frankenfoods” stuck.

Franken Foods scare Kaylee.

Genetically Modified foods often resists pests. Now, the bugs just don’t stay away from the GMO, not the plant “resists” the bugs with it’s own built-in pesticide. Yes, pesticide. When a bug eats a GM plant, the toxin splits open their stomach and kills them. Now what happens when people (babies and children) consume modified plants. We don’t know, but your ingesting pesticides.

The most common Franken crops are soy, corn, cotton, and canola. They’re used in hundreds of processed foods. The introduction of Frankenfoods has caused concern around the world. Some believe they might pose a danger to human health. They’re banned in Europe.

Most of the scientific community says there’s no evidence that Frankenfoods poses a threat. They’re right. There have been no long-term studies on humans, so there’s no evidence. The only evidence is antidotal. Although, Frankenfoods have been linked to food allergies, low fertility and birth weight, increase in autoimmune diseases, heart disease, respiratory illness, anemia, and cancer.

There is no telling what the consequences of using these genetically modified foods will be. Already, investigators have found that rats fed genetically modified potatoes had an increased thickening in the lining of their stomach and intestine and a weakening of their immune system. Read more about GMOs…Click Here.

You can do three things to limit your exposure to GMOs:

*Read food labels.

*Reduce the amount of processed food you purchase.

*Buy organic

For info about the FREE Baby Bites Ezine, Click Here.

For a synopsis of Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, Click Here.