Junk Health Food

My Advice:  Be Wary... Be Very, Very Wary

I was inspired to write this after shopping in a health food store a couple of hours from home. I am a people watcher and a health educator. I can't help but notice the things people buy. The person in front of me at the checkout had a cart loaded with what I call Junk Health Food: [I observe from a space of love... wanting so badly to reach out and do some community education... but only when asked Paula, only when asked! :) ]

• organic, refined, white flour bread and rolls
• chips of every kind
• natural soft drinks and fruit juice flavored drinks
• organic, sugary cereals
• organic pop tart™ type toaster pastries

Be wary of anything that comes in a box, bag, can, jar, etc.  If it is a packaged food product, made in a factory and not your home, be a savvy shopper and consumer. Just because it is sold in a health food store does not mean it is cell nourishing food.

WHY?

1.  Most food products are manufactured for the corporate bottom line, not your health.

This means that the cheapest ingredients go into the "product" so the company manufacturing this product can make the highest profit margin.  Profits before people is the name of this game.

Now keep in mind, there are companies out there creating quality products.  Real food, in packages, that are healthy alternatives to what you would make in your own kitchen.  These products are sold on the shelves of health food stores, food coops, and in the healthy section of grocery stores.

BUT, just because a product is on the shelves in these healthier places, do not assume that the product is healthy (see below on being self-responsible).  Even products you have found to have healthy, 100% whole food ingredients; be aware... the ingredients can be changed.  Big corporations love to buy out these smaller "health conscious" companies because the healthier products are money makers.  Most people do want healthy food and healthy bodies so the sale of organic, whole, non-GMO foods has soared. Corporate America wants their piece of this pie. But... as soon as a larger corporation owns the food, the food label, the product suddenly changes.  Cheaper ingredients are now used to make the very same products. This "ingredient switch" pads the bottom line of the large corporation, not your health!.

You have to be the responsible one in the grocery store... this means reading labels very, very carefully.  (This is what I teach in my book and in my workshops; self responsibility around your own health restoration... you healing you!)  Read the ingredient list, on anything you are contemplating purchasing, that comes in a package.  Your health, your life, depends on this.

Ask yourself questions about the product:

-Is every ingredient in the product a whole food? (organic? non GMO?)

-Could you assemble all the ingredients, in your own home, to make this same food item?

Answering yes to these questions? Then move forward, feeling comfortable that the food will nourish, not deplete, the health of your body cells.  Depleting body cells means you are depleting you; creating degeneration in your body.

Answering no to these questions?  Put the "product" back on the shelf; your health and your life depend on this.

2.  Most manufactured products are full of fake stuff:

Fillers (to enhance textures without using real food, i.e. whole food ingredients. MOST Greek yogurts are one of these filler enhanced foods, read more here: 13 Health Foods That Are NOT So Healthy),

Preservatives,

Artificial colors and flavors,

Fake sweeteners,

GMOs

Fake fats...

the list of fake things, that go into factory made food, is never ending.

Bottom Line:  Fake ingredients, factory made substances, do not belong in the human body.  They do not create cellular health. Cellular health IS created when we eat whole food.

   Fake Food     vs      Real Food

Have I convinced you to nourish each and every one of your beautiful body cells with 100% whole foods?  

Be well; feed your body well.    You will lose weight, feel better every day, and restore your body's natural health!

Comparing Your Health To An Antique Table

Antique table and your health? What could they possibly have in common?  

You Do NOT Need Me is another thought I had for this post's title. What possible connection could these 2 titles have? I will get back to all of this and hopefully the concepts will be clear.

To heal your body from most of the ills we suffer all one has to do is switch to a whole food diet. Eventually the body will recover its health:

• your gut flora will return to normal,
• blood chemistry profiles stabilize to normal,
• body cells recovery their health,
• hormone levels balance,
• DNA & RNA repairs itself,
• and the list goes on & on.

All of this repair stuff happens just by feeding your body real food*.

Most packaged food stuff, made in factories, is loaded with

• artificial ingredients
• genetically modified organisms
• preservatives
• chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, and
• so many more unnatural ingredients that were never meant to be part of your body's cellular health.

Each time we eat this unnatural food stuff we are chipping away at our body's health. The food we eat is responsible for the health of our body cells. Doritos and soda (or any packaged foods with fake ingredients) every day and you are seriously chipping away at your innate health.

Real Food = Real Healthy Cells

Crap Food = Crappy Sick Cells

If I was to take a vegetable peeler and every day chip a tiny bit of my antique table away what would my table look like? After days, weeks, months, and years of slowly chipping away on my table, the table's value, beauty, and function would suffer. 

The same thing happens to your health every time you chip away at it with food stuff that nature never intended us to take into our bodies under the pretense that it is real food. You read about this in my 80/20 Eating Plan Deception. You are chipping away at your health and your innate beauty, function, and vitality suffers.

So why is it You Do Not Need Me (possible post title #2) and my Wise Woman Nurse educational services?  

Just eat real food. It is that simple.

Feed your body food that nature gave us and avoid the stuff made in factories. If you must buy some factory made foods: read labels and make sure every ingredient in the product is natural, unrefined, non GMO, etc.

Be good to your body cells.  If you want to speed up the healing process... there are many ways to aid the body in recuperating from a non-whole food diet. This is where I can help you weave a bit of magic and make the whole food eating and healing plan happen faster, accelerate the body's return to health! 

Toss out the junk food and the vegetable scraper. 

Save your body cells and the antique table today!

*real food: food in its whole state

1. If a plant based food, the food is grown:

• as it would have grown in nature
• without GMO seeds
• without use of agricultural chemicals: fertilizers pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, etc.
• preferably with crop rotation and biological methods of maintaining soil fertility

2. If an animal based food, the animal is raised:

• in open space free to roam, eat, play, love, and live as closely as it would have if it was a wild animal
• not fed unnatural foods (grains and soybeans to cows, goats, pigs, etc.)
• no steroids, antibiotics, growth hormones, and/or agricultural chemicals
• treated with loving care by the farmers

Because I have used the words... "You CAN heal your own health problems," I will add this disclaimer to CMA.  Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.  

RACK-ing Up Great Health!

I recently created the above image and idea I am calling R-A-C-K-ing up Health to remind people how easy the return to vibrant health is. When we follow life's plan, the natural laws of the earth and universe, our health flows freely.

I was thinking about this very concept as I was picking black raspberries at my Mom & Dad's home on Saturday morning. I began picking them planning to take them to my home and share the bounty. My kids were gone for the weekend so instead the hand to mouth experience began.

By the time I left my parent's home I bet I had picked and eaten, sharing with my good buddy Basil of course, a quart of these juicy delicacies. That is some powerful and colorful nutrition based upon the stains on my hands, face, tongue, lips, and teeth!  (The picture below is Basil and I on a little north country Hornbeck canoeing excursion.)

The thoughts of vibrant, live food kept passing through my mind and how much nutrition and life force energy our bodies receive when we pick and eat food immediately. Ah yes, the grace of local food, raised by ourselves or a conscious thinking farmer, brought to our tables within a short time frame to fill our body cells with nutrition and our entire being with chi energy.

When we pick plant based food from its life source, its source of life force energy, that plant based food begins to die.  The longer the time span between plucking or pulling the food from its source, the less nutrition and life force energy remain available to nourish your body. Grow, pick, and buy local for the most cell enhancing nutrition and life force energy infusion you can gift your body with.

To find local farmers here in Northern NY State: www.gardenshare.org

To find local farmers wherever you are: www.localharvest.org

Jump down below those gorgeous berries for a bit more life enhancing advice and a yummy, iced coffee recipe.

Eating fresh food is but one way we can enhance our life force energy and cellular health. Try these natural habits for increasing your vibrancy:

• deep breathing in a relaxed and peaceful way
• yoga
• meditation
• walks in the woods and time spent in nature (remember, you are nature)
• laugh
• acupuncture and energy healing methods
• take a swim in an Adirondack lake
• love with your whole heart

Added July 16th...

• Fun Loving Spontaneity increases Life Force Energy. See the words of wisdom, below, from Shelby Connelly, Five Elements Living, Colton, NY

Ingredients for spontaneity:

• The ability to let go:  Take a deep breath and jump. The chores and routine will await your return.
• Knowing life is short:  No one ever lays on their death bed wishing they had worked more.
• A friend to push you off the edge:   Every women needs a "Thelma" to her "Louise". Oh girls just wanna have fuu-un! (Cindy Lauper is my hero.)

Namaste'

80/20 Deception

I compare this 80/20 eating plan to a license to kill.  I know, I am harsh, but let's look at the reality of this bold eating statement:

Essentially what this 80/20 statement is saying is:

• eat good food - real food - whole food 80% of the time AND
• 20% of the time just let it all hang out and eat anything you want (food products, fast food, and junk food that are not even real food, yikes!). 

This equation, in most people's hand, seems like it could be dangerous. Let me explain.

Questions:

1. Do you want to heal and thrive or just survive 80% of the time?
2. Do you want health professional who hold you accountable to good cellular health or health professionals who say, "Hey, go ahead, poison your body cells 20% of the time?"  (I warned you I am harsh. Achieving health is not something to sugar coat. This reminds me of My Holistic Momma's Dilemma post.)

If you were diagnosed with lung cancer would you want to be told?:

"Hey, 80% of the time... give up those cigarettes but 20% of the time, well just go for it. Smoke whatever you want."

Liver disease...

"80% of the time avoid alcohol but 20% of the time enjoy all of the drinks you want."

Car Care: Would you put gasoline in your car's gas tank 80% of the time and corn syrup the other 20% of the time? (This is just for perspective on this 80/20% thought line.)

Hang on good people, stick with me on this one... here comes the positive, loving, there may be some interim usefulness to this 80/20 thing.

Now do not get me wrong, if a person was on "the reverse 80/20 eating plan" and consumed 80% processed, packaged, and junk food... swapping out the eating habits to an 80% whole food and 20% not so whole food eating plan would be a huge improvement. This person would notice major shifts in their energy, sleep, colon health, mental alertness, digestive ease, moods and happiness... their 80/20 eating plan's healthy side effects would on and on.

For example: I have clients who give up eating any & all sugar for just 3 days. This means reading each label carefully for every conceivable form of sugar that food manufacturers use to hide the real sugar content of food. Truthfully, most clients will just go on a 100% "no packaged food" for 3 days to rid sugar from their lives.

100% of the time I get emails or phone calls with this general message: 

     "I cannot believe how much better I feel just from this one change in my eating habits. (Now remember, in getting sugar out of the diet they have also removed all packaged foods. Bonus healing effects happen with this double shift in eating.) I have better energy, fall asleep with ease, wake up feeling more refreshed, have no sugar cravings; the mid afternoon slump and moodiness has eneded, I just feel so much better."

Natural foods start the cellular healing process immediately! This is a 100% win win.

80% Junk vs. 20% Real Food?

Shifting to 80% Whole Food & 20% not so whole foods might be the shift that pushes one over the edge to get even healthier. Feeling good begets wanting to feel great!

Quite frankly, I know I am not saying anything that most people do not already innately know: Your body needs real food to thrive. This is nature's plan. Being reminded of these cold, hard facts is a story that not everyone wants to hear. Learning, relearning what we innately know, means something has to change. A shift in lifestyle has to be made. This creates discomfort.

Try this fun field trip to take on a cold, cloudy, North Country day: 

1. slowly wander through your local grocery store and take 1 item per food category off the shelves in each section of the store,
2. read all ingredients carefully, and
3. decide if any or all ingredients seem like anything nature intended to be in your body contributing to (or detracting from) your body's cellular health.

What are your thoughts on the 80/20 Eating Plan?

Soda: To Drink Or Not To Drink...

The average American drinks 44 to 56 gallons of soda yearly, depending on the survey results one looks at. (This is a whopping 101 to 128 cups of sugar a year, just from soda!)

Open a 12 ounce can of soda and be prepared to be ingesting 10 to 12 teaspoons of sugar.  Yet, despite admitting knowing about the high sugar content and that this very sugar is not good for health, 48% of Americans still admit to drinking soda every day. (Reported in a Huffington Post article about a Yale University study on obesity.)  Average consumption is 2.6 glasses of soda a day. Much liquid sugar is being ingested.

Where is this soda and sugar consumption taking Americans, their waist lines or their overall health?

Let us look at some of the impact soda, and the sugar, has in the human body.

1.  Soda is empty calories.  This means your body is taking in calories that have no nutritional value.  Your body needs calories, dense with nutrition, to support the replication of healthy cells.  Empty calories = empty cells.  This is cell degeneration... this is degenerative disease happening slowly but surely to your body.  Empty calories means weight gain, as well.

2.  One can of soda contains at least 10 teaspoons of sugar.  This causes an immediate blood sugar spike which causes an insulin spike.  The physiological reaction in your body is a sweet (no pun intended) set up for diabetes and all the other diseases that diabetes invites into your life.

3.  Soda contains phosphoric acid.  Phosphoric acid contributes to tooth decay and osteoporosis (cellular health thing again), both of which are also exacerbated by the empty calories and sugar content. It is a triple whammy to your cellular health.

Phosphoric acid interferes with digestive activity and inhibits nutrient absorption. Not what you want to happen if you want strong, healthy, nutrient dense body cells.

4.  Soda is loaded with liquid corn syrup; high fructose corn syrup.  Corn syrup comes from corn, genetically modified corn.  Corn syrup is harsh to your liver. Love your liver; feed it whole foods.

5. Got diet soda?  You then get aspartame or another synthetic sweetener (Aspartame's name has been changed to Aminosweet.  Do not be fooled!)  No calories, yes, but it is a fake substance with many inherent health issues.

Artificial sweeteners:  contribute to headaches and migraines, fake your body into thinking sugar is coming and this leaves you actually craving and eating more sugar and calories than you normally would, the before mentioned sugar consumption increases your risk of diabetes, and is linked to many health problems (look it up!).

6.  Erodes tooth enamel contributing to decay from the outside, on the actual tooth surface.  The phosphoric acid and empty calorie issues contribute to decay from the inside, de-mineralizing your teeth from inside.

7.  Soda, sugar consumption, is linked to higher rates of depression.  I would be happy to go into cell physiology with you and sugar's effects on the nervous system (your brain & mood health) if you want to chat.

Depression is certainly an issue in our culture.  Perhaps moving away from sugary drinks would lower the numbers of anti-depressant prescriptions written daily in this country?  Just a preventative health thought....

8.  The base of soda is tap water and is most likely not from pure sources.  You are getting a dose of chlorine and fluoride and the health issues that go along with ingesting chlorine and fluoride.

9.  Soda and obesity are linked; walking through life hand in hand.  I think it is about that sugar and empty calorie thing again.

10. Back to your teeth... soda consumption causes plaque to build up on your teeth.  Plaque contributes to cavities (Another whammy to the teeth from the outside; the surface of your teeth.) and can lead to gum disease.  All that plaque creates space for harboring bacteria...

11.  Soda contributes to de-mineralization of your body / body cells. (See #6 above.) Empty calories, refined sugar in your blood stream, and phosphoric acid all contribute to minerals being pulled from bones, teeth, organs, muscles... every body cell is affected by this mineral leeching.  Mineral deficiencies (as this is what de-mineralization does) cause many health problems: osteoporosis, tooth decay, bone spurs... any and every degenerative disease process is contributed to by mineral deficiencies.

Action To Take:

1.  Drink pure water that is free of chlorine and fluoride.

2.  Make herbal teas using the above mentioned pure water.

3.  Mix high quality fruit juice with above mentioned pure water to make a fruity flavored drink.

4. Mix that high quality fruit juice with seltzer water to create your own healthier version of a fizzy drink.

5. Drink beer!   : )     If you opt for this one, do so in serious moderation. Also, find craft brewed beers from ingredients that are good for you and good fo the Earth. Avoid beer produced in the typical mass production methods.

13 Health Foods That Are NOT So Healthy

13 Health Foods

That Are NOT So Healthy...

Proceed with

1. Brown Sugar:  Brown sugar used to be sugar that did have the molasses intact.  Modern brown sugar is merely refined "white" sugar that has added caramel coloring to make you THINK it is real brown sugar.  Action to take: Use sucanat, read the label and look for sugar that is simply dehydrated, sugar cane juice... nothing added, nothing removed. Another good brand is Rapunzel Rapadura Sugar.

2.  Greek Yogurt: Real Greek yogurt is truly just cultured milk that has been strained to make it thicker, creamier, and higher in protein.  If refined ingredients have been added to thicken the yogurt, it is not real Greek yogurt.  Most Greek yogurts, on the market, are not real.  Action to take:  Read labels on everything that a food manufacturing facility makes for you.  Read those labels for 100% whole food ingredients.  Do not settle for less; your cellular health depends on this.

While I am on the subject, eat plain yogurt*, not the flavored varieties.  Again, read labels, flavored yogurts are loaded with crap ingredients and sugar.  These crap ingredients and sugar do not create vibrant, healthy body cells.

Real yogurt should be milk and active cultures, period.  No thickeners, no flavorings, no sugars, etc!  Want a recipe for making a yummy snack with yogurt, fruit, and nuts... email me!  pyoumell@gmail.com

3.  Frozen Yogurt:  OK, so this is a fun one.  People order frozen yogurt instead of ice cream... well, because "it is yogurt. Yogurt is good for me,  so frozen yogurt is a healthy treat, right?"  No, it is not.  See above info on plain yogurt.  No good gut microbes survive freezing, so thinking frozen yogurt is good for gut health is a flawed thought (yes, perpetuated by marketing, but flawed none the less).  Action to take:  *Eat plain yogurt you have made yummy and fun with fruit, berries, cinnamon, vanilla.  Want a recipe? Email me, pyoumell@gmail.com.

4. Ginger Ale: "Ginger ale is good for me when I am sick, have a fever, correct?" "It settles my stomach if I have a nasty, gut bug sickness, correct?"  No, sorry. Modern sodas are just a source of liquid corn syrup, artificial flavors, and other artificial ingredients.  Action to take: Make ginger tea, use the ginger tea with seltzer water to make your own ginger soda; buy a natural brand of ginger soda that has real ginger in it!

5.  Bran Muffins: Running late for work or an appointment, no time for breakfast, so one stops at the mini-mart and grabs a bran muffin.  It is the health option in the mini-mart, correct?  NO, it is loaded with refined and toxic ingredients: white sugar, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, white flour, artificial flavors, fillers, dough conditioners, etc., and a small amount of bran.  Action to take:  Make your own and have them handy.  Want a recipe, email me.  Take the time for a real breakfast.

6.  Wheat Bread:  Lots of issues here:  modern wheat is not all it is cracked up to be, most wheat breads have minimal whole grains in them, and most manufactured wheat bread is loaded with refined and crap ingredients.  Again, read labels.Action to take: Read labels and make certain breads are 100% whole grains for 100% whole cellular health.  Sprouted whole grain breads are another nourishing option.

7.  Commercial Fruit Smoothies: Ok, so the fruit does not exist in powdered smoothie mixes.  Many are artificially fruit flavored or have dried fruit powders in them.  Action to take: Make at home with 100% whole food ingredients, whole fruit, and only buy fruit smoothies in shops that make them the same way.  If the fruit smoothie is a powdered mix, RUN, fast, get away from the powdered world crap.  I don't care how healthy they say their protein powder fruit smoothies are for you.  They are not real food!

8.  Vitamin Water: One word: crap.  Ok, so vitamin water has a marvelous marketing campaign. This is a big clue here, any product with a marketing campaign most likely is worthless and not nourishing to your body cells.  Fresh produce does not need to be marketed as healthy.  We all innately know it is! Action to take: Drink water from your tap, if it has not been poisoned with chlorine and fluoride.  If it has, filter it.  If you think you need to have added vitamins in your water, go to Nature's Storehouse and find a 100% whole food liquid vitamin supplement and add it to your water.  Your health and cells will be grateful.

9.  Non-Calorie Sweeteners:  Nature did not make many non-calorie sweeteners. Food laboratories do; that is your clue to avoid them.  Nature makes real food, "food" labs do not.  These sweeteners are toxic to your liver and toxic to all of your body cells.  Now stevia... yes, if you are using real, green stevia.  The powdered green herb form of stevia is a real non-calorie sweetener.  Stevia that is the white powder or clear liquids, refined in food labs, in not healthy cell food.  Action to take:  Get a hold on your sugar usage.  Is it really something we were meant to eat every day?  Nah... it's not!

10.  Diet Soda and Diet Drinks:  Toxic to liver and body cells. See Non calorie sweetener above.  Action to take: Always put your body cells first and foremost in your mind when choosing foods and food products.  Make herb teas and enjoy them sweet free or use a tiny bit of raw, local honey.  Make "soda" with seltzer water and a wee bit of organic fruit juice concentrate.

11.  Gluten Free Food Products:  A word of caution:  when a health problem arises, manufacturers are quick to respond with ' "food products" to help solve your problem.  Many gluten free products are HIGHLY processed and full of junk ingredients.

Gluten free does not mean it is healthy.  There are thousands of gluten free products on the market:  cakes, cookies, breads, pizza crusts, boxed mixes; processed food heaven!  Learn to read labels.  Many of these products are full of fillers.  Yes the “fillers” in question are gluten free, but they are also refined, nutritionally devoid foods.  If the natural, whole food nutrition is not in the food, the refined food product will rob your body cells of nutrients and contribute to degenerative diseases. You are trading off one huge health problem for another of equal degenerative quality.

Things to look for are:  white rice flour, corn starch, potato starch*, tapioca starch*, tapioca flour*, potato flour*.  Basically these are cheap, filler ingredients not real food, not food that nourishes your beautiful body cells. These fillers create a host of health problems in your body including blood sugar and insulin issues that contribute to inflammation and exacerbate health issues.  

Action to take:  

Keep refined ingredients out of your diet for vibrant health. Read labels, buy food products that are 100% whole food ingredients only, including gluten free products.

Want to learn more?  I do gluten free workshops, contact me: pyoumell@paulayoumellrn.com 

Want gluten free bread & pizza dough recipes?  See my recipes under FREE STUFF link at the top of my web page. Or contact me for more suggestions.

*Note: Some brands of tapioca flour and potato flour are the whole roots ground into flour.  Check with the individual companies to know that what you are buying is a whole food flour, not a refined food flour.

12.  Fat Free Dairy: There are many reasons to avoid animal fat.  My big issue is that they are contaminated with all the toxins that have been created on this divine planet.  So, I advise buying organic and naturally raised animal products.  I even try to avoid animals products from animals that are fed GMO foods: corn and soybeans.  These are no easy tasks, I admit, and can leave one throwing up their arms in despair.  With this said, fat is needed in your body!   The manufacture of your bodily hormones depends on ingested fat.  Action to take:  Get to know your farmers, ask them how they raise their animals, what they feed them, if the corn /soy is GMO free, if they get fed very little corn and soy and mostly have access to pasture.  (Yes, winter in the north country complicates the pasture grazing issue!)  www.gardenshare.org  Go ahead, click the link, and start finding local farmers to grow your food!

13.  Chocolate: Ok, I know there are people who will want to strangle me for adding this one to the list.  Let's get serious, anti-oxidants aside, we all intuitively know that eating processed chocolate, every day, is not what nature intended.  It has been well marketed to us as a healthy superfood.  (Please see the above comments about marketing campaigns and food.)  Yes, I am certain chocolate, cocoa beans, have antioxidants, why wouldn't they?  Nature did make them.  But humans take those beans and process them into 554 million different chocolateproductsand then market them as a necessary daily food.  Our culture has certainly bought into this food campaign: hook,  line, and sinker.  Perhaps we could all thrive ingesting just chocolate, red wine, and coffee... all are loaded with antioxidants, right?!  Ok, ok, I know I am being a smart ass.  Action to take:  See it for what it is;  a tasty, fun, occasional treat.  Buy organic and fair trade to support the farmers that grow these amazing beans and enjoy it, with a smile, on occasion.

Questions to ask yourself about a food product: 

Was this nature made or man-made?

Were the ingredients nature made or man-made?

Was this made in a food factory?

Does this product have a huge marketing campaign?

If you would like to know more about how to heal your body with real food, how to incorporate healing-whole health strategies into your life, enter your name (above and on the right side of the page) to subscribe to my blog newsletter.  Come to a class I teach or give me a shout and we can work one on one.  Your health will soar, you will feel great, your cells will bounce with amazing energy!   Blessings, Paula