More on food additives

Chemicals have long been added to food for a number of reasons, few of which have any relation to improving human health. In fact, too many food additives are harmful, even damaging,

to human health. But the food industry uses more than three thousand food additives in the processing of foods to improve their appearance, their shelf life, texture or consistency, and sometimes their taste.

Look out for these food additives in the products you buy and decide how badly you want that product:

• Sugar (also sucrose, fructose, dextrose, corn syrup, maltodextrin, etc.) - overconsumption may lead to obesity, Type II diabetes, insulin resistance, Candida, and heart disease and has been linked to depression, suppression of the immune system, and a higher risk of certain cancers.
• Aspartame (also mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, saccharine) – is grown from genetically modified E. coli cultures, composed of an isolated – and harmful - amino acid, and has the characteristics of a neurotoxin. Aspartame can cause a host of side effects including headaches, behavioural changes and seizures.
• High Fructose Corn Syrup – this sweetener is usually derived from genetically modified corn. It’s ratio of glucose to fructose is unbalanced, and therefore goes straight to the liver when it is consumed, where it is stored as fat. HFCS has been shown to cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and poses the same other health risks as sugar.
• Natural Flavours – this category can include virtually anything as long as its source was a natural substance. This broad category has the potential to a substances beyond the imagination, the details of which are too gruesome to mention.
• Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) – a natural product originally used in East Asian cooking but whose use has grown to many manufactured foods such as canned vegetables, soups and meats, as a flavour enhancer. MSG is an unnecessary additional source of sodium and can cause allergic reactions. It is a neurotoxin which can throw of the body’s glutamate receptors and interfere with many systems of the body.
• MSG is also labelled as yeast extract and hydrolyzed protein and it can be hidden under the very misleading heading “natural flavors”.
• Artificial colours – are manufactured from industrial chemicals including antifreeze and petroleum. A dangerous class of additives, food colourings are capable of damaging your immune system, speeding up aging and promoting cancer. Foods containing natural colours derived from plants are safe but we need to avoid the words green, blue or yellow followed by a number.
• Nitrates and Nitrites – a type of preservative added to processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon, ham and other deli meats. They can create highly carcinogenic substances called nitrosamines in the body.
• BHA and BHT – synthetic additives which may promote carcinogenic changes in cells.

Safe food additives

• Citric acid and ascorbic acid – natural antioxidants
• Acids: Malic, fumaric, lactic
• Ammonium bicarbonate
• Lecithin
• Xanthan
• Guar gums
• Calcium chloride
• Monocalcium phosphate
• Monopotassium phosphate

Because it can be difficult to differentiate a harmful additive from a safe one given these long lists, as a general rule, it is best to avoid products whose chemical ingredients outnumber the familiar ones.

Chemicals that are toxic to humans (and probably animals too!)

BPA-free plastic bottles have been on the market since 2008

Why should people be concerned about the synthetic chemicals that surround us? As our exposure to synthetic chemicals becomes more widespread, scientific evidence is linking these chemicals to human disease. Last year Canada’s Environmental Defence group released a report that involved testing the umbilical cord of three newborns for the presence of 310 synthetic chemicals. 137 different chemicals, including DDT, PCBs and flame retardants, were detected in the three newborns. This shows that Canadian children are starting life with poisons in their systems!

In order to consciously avoid ingesting poisons, we need to become aware of what to look for in the products we buy. There are over 8,000 synthetic chemicals in commerce today but the following is a list of some of the more common ones and where they are found.

• Bisphenol A (BPA) - found in certain plastics
• Thryoid toxin triclosan – toothpaste, numerous other personal care products, footwear               -used as an antibacterial agent in a host of products
• Aluminum – antiperspirants, cookware
• Mercury – fish and dental amalgams and as a preservative in vaccines
• Paraben - cosmetics
• Phthalates – cosmetics, especially high levels are found in perfume (there are many types of phthalates which are found in dozens of products)
• DDT – a pesticide
• Polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) - electrical equipment, heat exchangers, hydraulic systems
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – rich in phthalates, is found in flooring, pipes, toys, school supplies, shower curtains and packaging
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) – flame retardants, specifically the brominated kind, are in a wide range of common products: building materials, electronics, furnishings, road vehicles and airplanes, plastics, polyurethane foams and textiles
• V6 – a newer flame retardant found in baby foam products and household and automobile dust
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) also known as C8 – used to make Teflon and other non-stick coatings in cookware

While some of these chemicals are banned in Canada, most are not, and those that are continue to have an impact on the environment and our health. While this list is not easily memorized, it is my hope that you can become familiar enough with these chemicals to avoid them when you see them. And further, to investigate what is contained in items that you intend to buy which could contain harmful chemicals. 

Environmental pollution

We frequently hear warnings about toxins in the air we breathe, the food we eat and water we drink. These messages will not go away. Why? Because, like it or not, it is a very real problem. We live in a toxic world. Harmful chemicals surround us, and we all react differently to them. Witness the prevalence of unexplained syndromes, sensitivities, illness and disease, especially among the younger population. These symptoms simply did not exist, or were rare, just a generation ago. I recently read Toxin Toxout by Bruce Lourie and Rick Smith and this fact was brought home in spades.

There are over 80,000 synthetic chemicals in use today and our bodies readily absorb these chemicals. Industrial chemicals are coursing through our veins and lodging in our body fat. Every time you turn around, it seems there is another toxic assault on our health: plastics, resins, sprays, preservatives, non-stick coatings, and the list goes on. Off-gassing chemicals, such those found in carpets sprayed with stain-resistant coating, end up in our bodies, where they have the potential to build up and interfere with cell signalling and other biological processes. Some act like hormones or damage DNA.

Rather than decoding our genes to unlock the secrets of disease, scientists are learning that our genes are fine until the outside world changes how our genes are expressed. It is now believed that a great number of diseases – from autism to allergies to cancer - are caused chemicals in the environment impacting our genes. 

Knowing the problem is the first step. So how do we reduce our exposure to the most dangerous chemicals and how do we get them out once they get in?

• Avoid certain plastics (and never microwave plastics or styrofoam)
• Avoid using heavily scented personal care products
• Buy safe non-stick pans – Teflon contains harmful chemicals that leach during cooking. Look for PTFE- and PFOA-free non-toxic cookware (Also avoid aluminum cookware unless it is anodized)
• Buy toxin-free sunscreens, deodorants, shampoos, toothpaste and other personal care products
• Make informed decisions before purchasing clothes, furniture, cars, etc.
• Use non-toxic cleaning products

Here is the Toxin Toxout top ten list of ways to get toxins out of your body:

1. Use natural personal-care products that don’t contain chemicals like phthalates or parabens
2. Eat more organic food to avoid pesticides
3. Drink the more filtered tap water
4. Use natural fibres and green products like low-VOC paints and avoid products that might off-gas
5. Eat more vegetables and less meat to avoid toxin-grabbing animal fat
6. Sweat more – toxic chemicals like BPA and phthalates leave your body through sweat
7. Exercise
8. Optimize your body’s natural detox mechanisms by adopting a detox lifestyle
9. Buy less, buy green
10. Support politicians who believe in a greener economy and organizations that work for a cleaner environment

The bottom line is: decrease toxins and increase nutrients for a powerful reduction in toxic buildup.

We also need to become informed and outspoken consumers. Toxicity is a new frontier of science and every one of us should be paying attention. And we need to make regulatory agencies pay attention also. The best solution is to avoid polluting substances in the first place; therefore we must demand that manufacturers replace risky substances with safer ones.

Every day we are exposed to a host of toxins some of which we may be unaware. To remove these from our bodies we must take the necessary steps to ensure toxins do not build up in our bodies and cause us serious health problems. And be aware how important our everyday product choices are.

Green smoothie of the month

I had some leftover home-made cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving and because I hate to see food go to waste, I decided to try it in a smoothie. (I should preface this by mentioning that my family had our Thanksgiving a week late.) The sauce does contain some sweetener, so I thought it would taste good in a smoothie. It turned out so well I just had to share!

Whenever I make a smoothie, it goes without saying that there are greens in it because that is my main purpose for making smoothies: to get more greens in my diet. So here is the recipe:

Cranberry-orange smoothie

2 cups of one or any combination of kale, spinach, Swiss chard
2 oranges
1 cup cranberry sauce (or raw cranberries)
1 cup water

Blend ingredients in a blender or vitamix on high.

Nutrients:

Cranberries - good source of vitamins especially vitamin C, A, beta-carotene, lutein, zea-xanthin and folate, and the minerals potassium and manganese
Very high ORAC score for anti-oxidants

Oranges - rich in fiber, pectin and vitamin C
Pectin helps prevent mucous membrane of the colon by decreasing its exposure to toxins as well as by binding to cancer-causing chemicals in the colon
High in flavonoids, calcium and potassium

Kale - very high in vitamins A and C and are a source of magnesium and potassium
Contains 45 different flavonoids which combine both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits

Drink up and enjoy the health benefits and taste of this delicious combination!

Preventing breast cancer with nutrition

October has been designated breast cancer awareness month. I think everyone is aware that breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women and the second leading cause of death in Canadian women. Most likely we all know someone who has been touched by this disease. In my own case, it was my mother who was diagnosed in 1969 and succumbed to the disease in 1971, two months before her 40^th birthday. Since then I have known a neighbour and numerous women in the cycling community, including one who is fighting cancer right now, who have fought the disease. Thankfully the survival rates in this group have been high.

Although the cause is not known, there are powerful foods, supplements and herbs that can help prevent the disease and in some cases save your life if you get breast cancer. And while breast cancer dietary guidelines can be specific to the particular type of breast cancer – women with high estrogen, postmenopausal women with lower estrogen levels, and women with a family history of the disease - there are general recommendations we can all follow to help stave off this disease.

12 steps to prevent breast cancer:

1. Block the estrogen receptor with:

                Soy – 35 grams /day (dosage is critical: too much or too little can have the opposite of the desired effect)

                Flax – 25 grams /day of ground flax seed (meal). Flax blocks the estrogen pathway and the estrogen booster effect

2. Change fats – the wrong fats are dangerous; getting the right fats can be preventive

                Avoid omega-6 and saturated fats

                Omega-3 and omega-9 reduce the risk of breast cancer: fish oils and olive oil

3. Make good estrogens – cruciferous vegetables contain indole-3 carbinol, which diverts estrogen into more “good” estrogens.

                Eat 2-3 servings a day or take 500 mg of indole-3 carbinol supplements if you at high risk (or DIM, diindolylmethane)

4. Lower insulin – insulin is the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels and can also act as a growth factor for cancer development. To lower your insulin level, avoid saturated fats and reduce your glucose load.

5. Drop glucose overload – avoid foods with a high glycemic index, eat more protein and more soluble fiber.

6. Increase fiber – Fiber interrupts most steps of the estrogen pathway. Fiber builds more estrogen carriers, traps estrogen in the bowel and then recirculates it, decreases glucose load, cuts hunger, and speeds weight loss.

                Recommended dose: 35-50 grams per day

7. Lower oxidative load – fruits and vegetables are the most powerful antioxidants

                Eat 5-9 fruits and vegetables per day

                1 ½ cups of green tea per day

8. Avoid chemical estrogens – the most powerful estrogen imitators are in pesticides!

The combination of three common pesticides – endosulfan, found in fruits and vegetables, and dieldrin and chlordane, found in contaminated beef, chicken, lamb, and fish – together produce an alarming effect on cancer cell production.

9. Decrease body fat – the recommendation is to get within 12 pounds of your ideal body weight (use the “pinch an inch” method to make this determination)

10. Limit alcohol – No alcohol is the safest dose. If you do drink, choose organic products such as champagne, wine, beer, tequila, and vodka because they have the least risk of contamination or carcinogens.

11. Increase vitamin D – vitamin D is a potent inhibitor of a cell’s ability to divide and grow.             

Vitamin D also helps breast cells mature so they are less vulnerable to cancer-causing toxins

Sources should come from sunlight or food as there is no evidence that a vitamin D supplement has any effect on breast cancer.

12. Exercise – exercise intercepts the estrogen pathway at several critical junctures

Recommendation: 4 or more hours of vigorous aerobic activity each week

For more information on breast cancer prevention, I recommend reading Dr. Bob Arnot’s book The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet. I hope you will incorporate some or all of these recommendations into your regime and not only save yourself from breast cancer, but live a healthier, more energetic life in the process!

Mountain biking

And now for something completely different…

Each year on Thanksgiving weekend, we take out the mountain bikes and drive up the Ottawa valley to Madawaska Kanu Centre (MKC) for some mountain biking, good food and quiet times in the woods. MKC is situated halfway between Barry's Bay and Combermere on the Madawaska River. The MKC crew opens up their lodge in the woods to cyclists for this weekend only as they have done for the past 42 years.

Although I am 99 per cent roadie, I choose to mountain bike because the trails up there are so perfect for my level and it’s a unique opportunity to explore the gorgeous mountainous terrain in the Madawaska region.

Here are the top 12 reasons I am thankful for mountain biking:

1. No cars
2. Being in the woods
3. Fresh air
4. It’s warmer than being on the road
5. Single track = no ATVs
6. Steep slippery inclines
7. Steep rocky descents
8. Sunlight filtering through the trees
9. Coloured leaves
10. Puddles of unknown depth
11. Roots and rocks
12. Soft landings

It was really fun to be a mountain biker for the weekend. The fall is the perfect time for off-roading because the weather – wind, rain, and cold – out on the open road can be a drag. The woods provide protection and warmth from the elements.

Pedalling a mountain bike on a trail is such a different experience than riding skinny tires on the road. It takes a while to find your legs… and your balance. But once you get in the groove, it is a ton of fun. It is necessary to shut out all distractions, like one of your mates falling before reaching the top, if you have any hope of making it up successfully. Learn from their mistakes and/or just do your own climb. Some of the toughest climbs can be achieved with laser focus and steely determination. Breathing (and sometimes grunting) your way up and over obstacles helps a great deal too. These successes are the most gratifying. But the gnarly descents are more fun and almost as gratifying.

In Madawaska, the lookouts are very difficult to get to by bike. Sometimes we have to push our bikes up. But the work is worth the effort. From Tom’s Lookout and Madawaska Mountain, you can see for miles; the panorama is more than 180 degrees overlooking a sea of orange, gold and green spotted with shimmering lakes. On the road, getting to the top is all about fitness: lungs and legs. Off-road there’s fitness plus finesse: maintaining your balance as you are constantly being jostled by the terrain. It really is a wonderful thing.

I hope everyone had the opportunity to spend time outdoors this Thanksgiving weekend, enjoying nature in your favourite way, while getting fresh air and some physical activity!

Pass the pumpkin please

This Thanksgiving, if you have pumpkin pie on the menu, go for it!High in protective carotenoids, pumpkins are one of nature’s superfoods.  In fact, pumpkins are one of the most nutritionally valuable foods known to humankind. Inexpensive, available year-round in canned form, they are high in fiber and low in calories making this superfood hard to ignore. Pumpkin packs an abundance of disease-fighting nutrients including pantothenic acid (B2), magnesium, vitamins C and E.

Pumpkin, a type of squash, is a fruit not a vegetable, and like melons are a member of the gourd family.

Pumpkin is so rich in bioavailable carotenoids, just half a cup pumpkin gives you more than double the daily requirement of alpha-carotene and 100% of the daily requirement of beta-carotene. Carotenoids are the deep orange-, yellow-, or red-coloured, fat-soluble compounds that occur in a variety of plants. Just as they protect the plants from sun damage, so they also protect human skin and eyes from the damaging effects of ultraviolet light from the sun.

Higher concentrations of beta-carotene and other carotenoids obtained from foods are associated with lower risk of several chronic diseases. Foods rich in carotenoids have been shown to decrease the risk of various cancers, particularly breast cancer. Beta-carotene has been shown to have very powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These fat-soluble carotenoids are needed to protect fatty areas in the skin, heart, eyes, brain and liver. 

When you consume foods containing carotenoids, the human body converts them to vitamin A. Unlike animal sources of vitamin A, these plant sources cannot deliver a toxic amount of the vitamin. Carotenoids are concentrated in a wide variety of tissues, where they help protect us from free radicals, modulate our immune system response, enhance cell-to-cell communication, and possibly stimulate production of naturally occurring detoxification enzymes.

North Americans tend to over-sweeten pumpkin in desserts, masking the flavour. Experiment with less sugar if using sweet recipes, and enjoy the many health-giving qualities of the powerful pumpkin! Oh yeah, and they're also great in smoothies!

Doing and undoing

Training isn’t just done inside the gym. The way we walk, sit, stand and move throughout the day has a huge bearing on our ability to move well inside the training hall and out. Of course, it also has a huge bearing on how you age. It strikes me that a lot of people are walking around injured or hurt. While a small percentage of these injuries are sustained in accidents, the truth is, a majority are self-inflicted.

If you realize that we are in training 24 hours a day, then you can understand that how we “train” our bodies when we are not working out is just as important as when we are. Whenever you move in a certain way, the body adapts. Knowing this should change the way you move, sit, stand and live. Take a simple thing like posture. If you have poor posture and expect to perform well doing a pushup, you will find it very difficult. If you spend all day at a computer with your neck lurched forward and your shoulders hunched, you are setting yourself up for trouble later on. You are training this position for several hours a day. It will take some time and effort to undo those bad habits, but it can be done. Becoming aware of it is the first step.

If you do something long enough, you need to undo it or pay the consequences. If you sit at a desk for eight hours a day and do nothing to open the chest, arch the back, stretch the legs, move the elbows, wrists and fingers through their full range of motion, it is going to come back to haunt you. Similarly, if your chosen sport has you maintain one position for long periods, like riding a bike for example, you are going to walk around like you’re still on the bike. You may have low back pain, shoulder and neck pain, tight wrists and forearms, immobile hips and/or feet. Your heart may be strong and your legs – specifically quadriceps, hamstring, hip flexors and glutes – as well but your upper body is probably disproportionately weak.

To compensate for a position maintained in one direction, we must move it's functional opposite direction. Most sedentary office workers have tight hamstrings from sitting. To undo this pattern, try sitting with your legs extended instead of bent. This may reveal a weakness in the lower back. The answer comes back to strength training. 

The forward position of the shoulders is another commonly trained trait. Try reaching your hands under the desk (if there is ledge to grip onto), palms supinated (facing up) with your chest facing away. Be sure to externally rotate your hands (arms outwards) which will externally rotate the shoulder. This will work to undo the internal rotation of the typical desk-sitting position. Do it with one or both hands depending on your flexibility. Bands work best for this but stretching while you are at work is a good idea too. Always start by moving the joints first.

If this is what the average office worker or student has to do to compensate for training a seated position, the athlete has to do even more. Cyclists should be training their spines to bend the opposite way, opening the shoulders, opening the hips beyond the longitudinal plane and moving the elbows, wrists, hands and feet.

When you train a movement without training its functional opposite, you create a compensation. The trained movement tightens, compensating for the untrained movement which loosens, becoming compensated. This process of training a movement’s functional opposite, is what will make you strong! Are you aware of any compensations your body is making for certain trained movements? Start by noticing your posture in all positions. Make use of downtime to loosen the smaller joints. Pay attention to what you are doing inside and outside the gym and you will start to notice improvements in your mobility. Then you can start to strengthen those neglected muscles.

Meatless Mondays

Meatless Mondays have become a trend in recent years among health-conscious foodies. So where does this come from and why do it? If you don’t choose organic meat you are consuming hormones, pesticides, antibiotics and who knows what else big agriculture is feeding their livestock. As a pseudo-vegetarian (flexitarian!), I consider myself lucky that I do not have a taste for meat. As a nutritionist, I do not push this diet choice onto others but simply emphasize the importance of a plant-based diet. I recognize that humans are historically, carnivorous beings.

There is also a nutritional theory that holds that one should choose what macro-nutrient they eat more of, depending on metabolic type, of which there are three: protein-, carbohydrate-, and mixed type. While it is still a theory, the research is based on the fact that, for hereditary reasons, your metabolism is unique. I have mentioned this before: that no single diet works for everyone.

Okay, so the truth is that non-organic meat bought from a supermarket, contains lots of junk that is harmful to our health. Therefore, we can make one of three choices: choose organic meat or meat from a known local farmer (or go hunt it yourself!), limit your intake of meat, or eliminate it entirely. For protein types, the second option is the most common. Which leads to the idea of meatless Mondays.

In addition to avoiding the crap that is fed and injected into livestock, there is also the proposition that we as a culture consume far too much meat for our needs and our health. And this high demand has placed a heavy burden on the environment.

"If we would reduce meat consumption by just one day in a week, we could save some 9 million tons of CO2. We would need to reduce 75 billion kilometers driven by car to have the same effect," said Tanja Dräger de Teran who is responsible for WWF's climate protection and nutrition division.

Never mind the devastation to the forests and wildlands! No wonder big agriculture has the animals penned up feeding off scrap body parts of their own kind.

Perhaps this discussion will motivate some to consider eliminating meat from their diet one day (or more) a week – it doesn’t have to be Mondays! But it’s as good a day as any. So if we are not going to eat meat, what do we eat? Here is a list of high-protein foods that do not come from the flesh of an animal.

• Eggs 6 g
• Cottage cheese 13g/ ½ cup
• Quinoa 8 g / cup
• Beans 12 g / cup
• Legumes 9 g / 100 g
• Greek yogurt 15 g/ 6 oz
• Nuts 6 g / oz (almonds)
• Pumpkin seeds 7 g /oz
• Peanut butter 8g/ 2 tbsp
• Tempeh 19 g / 100 g

Try a vegetable stew with lentils, black bean chili, or if you don't feel like cooking, there's nothing wrong with a big green salad sprinkled with hemp and pumpkin seeds and sliced almonds for dinner. Will you consider going one day without eating meat?