You're Eating Way More Sugar Than You Think

You're Eating Way More Sugar Than You Think

Health  

Aside from the occasional birthday cake or candy binge, you might think you're a healthy eater most of the time. But sugar lurks in more than just the obvious places, like candy bars and cupcakes. In fact some so-called "nutritious" go-tos are actually packed with enough sugar to satisfy a mouth full of sweet tooths (er, sweet teeth?), and then some. 

SugarScience, a new initiative from the University of California, San Francisco, along with a long list of partnering health departments across the country, is working to educate consumers about sugar. The information on the site comes from 8,000 research papers and warns against the risks of consuming too much sugar, including liver disease, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes.

When it comes to sugar, less is usually more. The World Health Organization recommends adults consume a max of 25 grams (or six teaspoons) per day. With the average American getting more than 19 teaspoons daily, it's safe to say that we could stand to cut back a bit. "[The recommended limit] is not very much at all and a hard goal to meet, considering that most of us consume three times as much added sugar as what's recommended," says Julie Upton, M.S., R.D., CSSD.

But it's not always the obvious sugar bombs that add up—here are some sneaky foods to avoid in the grocery aisles.

Yogurt

When it comes to sugar, yogurt can pack a powerful punch. Some kinds even have more sugar than a Twinkie, and low fat and flavored brands, in particular, might contain as much as 29 grams of sugar per serving. That doesn't necessarily mean we have to kick yogurt out of our diets though. When shopping for it, avoid flavored or low-fat varieties, as those tend to have more sugar than plain yogurt. "Look for brands with no more than 20 grams sugar per single serve container," says Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., NBC’s Today Show diet expert, and founder of Nourish Snacks. "Or buy plain and doctor it up with fresh chopped fruit." You can also add a teaspoon of sugar, honey, or maple syrup so that you control the amount of added sweeteners in your yogurt, Bauer says.

Granola

Sprinkling granola over that plain yogurt can actually add back in the sugar you avoided by swapping out flavors for the original. One half cup can cost you more than 12 grams. Plain, unflavored granola bars are better, but not great, still clocking in at six grams. If you're really craving crunch, replace the granola with a protein-rich nut, like a handful of almonds.

Sports Drinks and Fruit Juice

Think twice before hydrating with a sports drink after a grueling workout. Just one drink can pack five teaspoons of sugar, according to Harvard University. Orange juice is even worse, containing 10 teaspoons, the same as a can of soda. Skip the sugar altogether by quenching your thirst with water next time you hit the gym. If you're not willing to give up juice, Bauer suggests adding in the same flavor of seltzer to drive down natural sugar by 50 percent and give it some fizz.

Salad

Salad itself may be good for you, as long as it's stuffed with a variety of veggies, but it's what you drizzle on top that adds a surplus of sugar. And the seemingly healthy "low-fat" option is often the worst choice, as the fat that gets cut out is often replaced with sugar. So, a two-tablespoon serving of Italian dressing has 2 grams and thousand island and fat-free French have a whopping 6 grams of sugar.

Ketchup

While it's not necessarily a health food, adding a dash of ketchup to your meal isn't as harmless as you may think. Just one tablespoon of the condiment contains a teaspoon of sugar. That's one sixth of your allotted daily amount.

Does this mean we should swear off sugar altogether? No need to panic. It's still OK to indulge in sweet treats and foods that carry natural (and small amounts of added) sugar. "It does mean that we should read food labels and keep tabs on how much added sugar we eat in a day," says Upton.

She also recommends avoiding flavored and processed foods, which are notorious for packing in the sugar. The key is to limit both the amount of sugar that we eat and how often we eat it, says nutritionist Rochelle Sirota, R.D., C.D.N. And Upton suggests learning to recognize the sometimes tricky names for added sweeteners, which include words like "evaporated cane juice" and "dextrin." Steer clear of the food if a sweetener appears in one of the top three listed ingredients, she says.

These Herbal Teas Could Help You Sleep Better

These Herbal Teas Could Help You Sleep Better

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If you can’t easily fall asleep or stay asleep for several hours, try drinking a half-cup to a cup of an herbal tea that has slightly sedative properties. Here are some herbs that are reputed to at least help you relax, and could also make you drowsy.

There’s relatively little scientific evidence that herbs actually help people sleep. However, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence: people self-reporting that a particular herb has helped them get some shut eye. Herbs may have a physiological impact on the body—or perhaps, their effect is psychological. If they get you to sleep, I’m not sure it matters.

Chamomile – This plant, which grows abundantly across the U.S., is a member of the Aster family. You can grow it in your own yard if you have enough sun, then dry the flowers yourself, keep them in an air tight container and brew them the way you would any other loose tea. If you grow your own, use either German chamomile (Matricaris retutica) or Roman chamomile (Chamaemlum nobile). Otherwise, many sleep-focused teas include chamomile, especially Celestial Seasoning’s Sleepy Time and Bigelow’s Sweet Dreams. 

Slippery Elm Bark – I first used slippery elm bark to soothe a sore throat and stop a cough. I discovered it also works well to put me to sleep. I get it in Traditional Medicinals’ Throat Coat tea, which combines it with licorice and marshmallow root for a delicious brew. I let the tea bag steep for a good ten minutes before I drink, which seems to intensify the power of the herbs.

Valerian – There is some scientific evidence that valerian root does help reduce insomnia, and WebMD reports that people who are trying to withdraw from using sleeping pills turn to valerian to help them doze off.  Though valerian pill supplements are available, it’s also available in tea on its own or as an ingredient in something like Sleepytime tea.

Lemon Balm – This perennial herb hails from the mint family, but it doesn’t taste like mint. Its lemony leaves are used to make the tea, and it’s available either on its own or as an ingredient in other teas. People take it for anxiety relief and as a sleep aid, but it’s also been used as aromatherapy for Alzheimer’s patients and to reduce stomach upset. Lemon balm is included in many tea mixes, or you can get it “straight up” from Alvita.

Lavender – This tea is very floral and fragrant. I will confess that I prefer lavender in shampoo or body lotion, not tea. However, it is reputed to help some people go to sleep, and it’s often included in a mix of other teas packaged together to help promote sleep. Here is a recipe to make your own lavender tea using either fresh or dried lavender flowers, boiling water, and honey and lemon if that suits you. 

10 Conspiracy Theories About Famous People Converting To Islam

10 Conspiracy Theories About Famous People Converting To Islam

Health  

There is a long tradition of crypto-Muslims who escaped from Christian persecution by following their faith in secret. At one time, people also faced persecution if they were suspected of being secret Catholics, Jews, communists, heathens, or Satanists.

In the modern West, however, influential people may be accused of converting to Islam as part of a wider conspiracy theory in which they are painted as cultural outsiders or even traitors.

10The Dalai Lama

Dorje Shugden, a Tibetan trickster spirit, has been at the center of a cult in Tibet since the 17th century. In the last several decades, Shugden followers have spread throughout the world based on the teachings of rogue monk Kelsang Gyatso.

These followers claim that the Dalai Lama is not actually a Buddhist but rather a Muslim in disguise who is a theocratic dictator obsessed with the Nazis. Among other reasons, Shugden followers believe that the Dalai Lama must be Muslim because he has never expressly admitted to being a Buddhist.

According to the long Shugden polemic entitled The False Dalai Lama: The Worst Dictator In The World, the boy who would become the 14th Dalai Lama was found in the Muslim village of Taktser. Although he came from a non-Buddhist background, he was deemed good enough. Soon, his parents were informed that he had been recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama.

Despite some political tension, he assumed the role, although he was jokingly referred to as the “The Saffron-Robed Muslim.” However, the truthfulness of this account is doubtful because the author has chosen to remain anonymous and only cites other anonymous sources and lost texts to confirm his claims. As it currently stands, nothing can be independently verified.

The anti–Dalai Lama faction is a somewhat dubious lobby group. They are linked to an ideology called Geluk supremacy, which seeks the domination of the Geluk Tibetan Buddhist sect over the other four sects—the Sakya, Nyingma, Kagyu, and Jhonang. This ideology has caused sectarian strife in Tibet for centuries.

Although the Geluk sect claims that the Dalai Lama is a dictator, their leader bans Geluk members from reading books that aren’t written by him. Their front group, the Western Shugden Society, has been referred to as a Buddhist version of the Westboro Baptist Church.

The Geluk sect is tacitly supported by the Chinese government, and their ranks are made up primarily of white American and European men. Their claim that the Dalai Lama is a secret Muslim is an attempted insult that draws from the cultural influence of global Islamophobia.

9Thomas Jefferson

President Thomas Jefferson’s religious views often offended Protestants in the late 18th century. When he and James Madison proposed the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom in 1779, the preamble began: “Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free.”

Christian delegates tried to have “Almighty God” replaced with “Jesus Christ” but were overwhelmingly voted down. Jefferson saw this as the representatives declaring that the law would “comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahomedan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination.”

Although Jefferson probably had a skeptical view of Islam, he insisted that “neither pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion.” Many Protestant Christians resented this notion, fearing infiltration by enemy aliens. Comparisons were often drawn between the deism of Jefferson and Islam, which both held to the notion of one God.

The Connecticut Courant complained that they couldn’t determine “whether Mr. Jefferson believes in the heathen mythology or in the alcoran [Quran]; whether he is a Jew or a Christian; whether he believes in one God, or in many; or in none at all.”

According to historian Denise Spellberg, this made Jefferson “the first in the history of American politics to suffer the false charge of being a Muslim, an accusation considered the ultimate Protestant slur in the 18th century.”

8Prince Charles

In 1997, an article in the Middle East Quarterly entitled “Prince Charles of Arabia” explored the idea of whether the Prince of Wales was a secret convert to Islam. Much of this was linked to Prince Charles’s public statements praising Islamic institutions, the role of women in Islamic society, and the role that Islamic values could play in solving British problems.

The authors also pointed to positive links between the British royal family and many Islamic governments as well as the prince setting up a committee of wise men to advise him on Islamic culture. The article concluded with a dark warning that the prince’s infatuation with Islam could usher in a “different kind of monarchy” in Great Britain.

Other supposed evidence came from the prince’s 2003 visit to Oman, where he spent two hours exploring the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and toured an exhibition on Islamic calligraphy. He also “broke fast with a large congregation of people from different nationalities as he sat with folded legs on the floor in the open. He ate date and drank juice at the call of Iftar.” All this pro-Islam behavior was even said to have caused tensions with the archbishop of Canterbury.

Anti-Islamic writers see the prince’s interest in Islam and Islamic culture as rooted in an attraction to its authoritarian, reactionary, and antifemale attitudes. However, the Catholic Herald pointed out that Queen Victoria had presented a Quran to the first purpose-built mosque in Woking in 1889.

The Religion News Service thinks that the whole business is much ado about nothing and that the prince just has an interest. Besides, there is some evidence that the British royal family may be descendants of Muhammad through thecomplicated web of marriages among European and Mediterranean royalty.

7Neil Armstrong

According to a popular urban legend in the Islamic world, Apollo astronauts on the Moon heard the strange sounds of an unfamiliar language. Years later, Neil Armstrong heard the sounds again while in Egypt, which he supposedly described as a “spacey something similar [to what] I heard while I was on the Moon.” After he was told that it was the Islamic call to prayer, the legend says that he immediately converted to Islam.

Armstrong denied these claims. Also, the audio of the Moon landing does not contain any references to a strange language or unknown sounds. The US State Department even issued a statement: “While stressing his strong desire not to offend anyone or show disrespect for any religion, Armstrong has advised department that reports of his conversion to Islam are inaccurate.”

A fatwa published on the Islam Q&A website by Shaykh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid categorically stated:

If the story of such a famous person becoming Muslim was really true, you would see him calling people to Islam, and you would see the scholars and daa’iyahs and the Islamic media meeting him and talking to him, none of which happened in this case. If you compare the story of Armstrong supposedly becoming Muslim with the story of Yusuf Islam (the former Cat Stevens, the famous British singer), you will see the difference between lies and truth, imagination and reality.

6Paul Ryan And Anthony Weiner

Although President Barack Obama has been falsely accused for years of being a Muslim (as well as an atheist, communist, black supremacist, and Nazi), Republicans have also faced such accusations. In 2015, Republican presidential candidate Paul Ryan decided to grow a beard, which Twitter users and some in the right-wing press referred to as his “Muslim beard.” They also suggested that he had secretly converted to Islam.

Ryan mentioned it in a conversation with President Obama and was rewarded with a knowing chuckle. According to Twitter user Joe Cunningham: “It’s a late entrant, but the ‘Paul Ryan Is A Muslim Sleeper Agent Because Look At That Beard’ theory is the best conspiracy theory of 2015.”

Another US political figure who was accused of converting to Islam was Anthony Weiner. His wife, Huma Abedin, was born in Saudi Arabia and is rumored to havelinks with the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda. Supposedly, Weiner had to convert to Islam from Judaism to convince her to marry him.

According to Fox News, the real scandal is not “Weiner’s weiner.” It’s the fact that Abedin had these Islamic links while possessing a high security clearance and being close to presumed presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

These claims are ultimately unfounded. They originate in Islamophobic conspiracy theories but have been adopted by fringe elements of the right-wing press as well as iconoclastic politicians like Michele Bachmann.

5Michael Jackson

In 2008, UK tabloid The Sun claimed that Michael Jackson had converted to Islam while wearing Arab garb in a ceremony at a friend’s house. Supposedly, this occurred under the guidance of an imam with Canadian songwriter Dawud Wharnsby (formerly David Wharnsby) and British singer Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) in attendance. Jackson was said to have changed his name to Mikaeel (after rejecting the suggestion of “Mustafa”).

However, the article was not based on verifiable evidence. Also, the information about the so-called conversion ritual didn’t match anything in actual Islamic tradition. Both Wharnsby and Islam denied involvement in any such ritual.

Still, rumors flourished on the Internet as YouTube videos of Islamic nasheedprayer songs allegedly composed by Jackson were uploaded and shared. These were usually songs performed by nasheed singers Zain Bhikha and Irfan Makki, who may have sounded similar to Jackson.

More video proof was offered with an edited clip of Jackson saying “inshallah” (“Allah willing”). This was taken out of context from a 1996 promo that Jackson recorded for his fans in Tunisia, where Muslims, Jews, and Christians all use the expression “inshallah.”

Other supposed evidence was that several members of his family are adherents of the Nation of Islam, which is distinct from mainstream Islam, and that he dressed in an abaya (a dress for Muslim women) while in Bahrain. Some who believe that Jackson converted to Islam have offered even more ludicrous examples of proof, such as claims that Jackson’s brain was checked during his autopsy and memories of becoming Muslim were discovered inside.

4Jacques Cousteau

Rumors swirled that famed French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau converted to Islam after his discovery of two distinct water layers in the Strait of Gibraltar. Supposedly, this discovery could not be explained by modern science but was prophesied in the Quran 1,400 years earlier. A similar situation occurred with the Bab el Mandeb when German scientists noted two separate water layers corresponding with the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

According to an article on the Arab News website, Cousteau was guided to the Quran by an Islamic friend and was quoted as saying, “I swear, that this Quran, which 1,400 years ago lagged behind modern science, cannot be the speech of a person. It is true speech of Almighty. [ . . . ] I am indefinitely grateful that Heopened my eyes for Truth.”

Apparently, the relevant lines in the Quran are:

It is He (Allah) Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, and the other salty and bitter; yet has He (Allah) made a barrier between them, a portion that is forbidden to be passed. (Surah 25 Al-Furqan: verse 53)

And He (Allah) made a separating bar between the two bodies of flowing waters. (Surah 27 An-Naml: verse 61)

He (Allah) let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together: between them is a barrier which they do not transgress. (Surah 55 Al-Rahman: verse 19–20).

The Cousteau Foundation and his family rejected all claims that Cousteau had converted to Islam. He was given a Roman Catholic funeral when he died in 1997. The supposed quotes can be traced solely to a series of Turkish books called The Reasons Why They Become Muslims, which are published by the Islamic Waqf Ikhlas Publications. There are no verifiable or reliable sources that confirm these quotes.

3John Brennan

When President Obama nominated John Brennan as the new head of the CIA, there were initial objections due to Brennan’s role in the expanding use of drones. But a bizarre conspiracy theory also emerged that Brennan had secretly converted to Islam while stationed in Saudi Arabia in an official US posting.

The accusations were first made by former FBI agent John Guandolo, who had been dismissed from the bureau for allegedly having a sexual relationship with an informant in a corruption investigation. Since then, he has made a career out of identifying Islamist threats to national security, despite his dubious history.

Guandolo had no real evidence for his claims aside from a vague reference to Brennan once marveling in a speech at the “majesty of the hajj.” Still, the accusations were quickly picked up by far-right websites. Glenn Beck referred to it as “plausible.”

However, Muslim groups, which tended to oppose Brennan’s nomination due to his role in the deaths of civilians in bomb strikes, rejected Guandolo’s claims and said that they had no information about Brennan ever converting to Islam.

Brennan caused more upset when he insisted on being sworn in by placing his hand on a copy of the US Constitution rather than the Holy Bible. However, Snopes pointed out that it is unlikely that Brennan could have hidden a secret conversion from the vast US intelligence network. Snopes also suggested that swearing on the Constitution seemed more likely to suggest that Brennan had no religious affiliation at all.

2Princess Diana

According to The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown, Princess Diana had considered converting to Islam after falling for Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan. Brown wrote that Diana’s Kensington Palace apartment was soon “fragrant with the scent of burning joss sticks.” The relationship was apparently going swimmingly until Khan’s mother intervened, shocked at the idea of her son marrying someone who wasn’t a Pakistani Muslim woman.

The veracity of Brown’s claims is unknown. But they closely resembled ideas that had already been floating around in the world of conspiracy theorists. Diana’s later relationship with Egyptian Emad Mohamed al-Fayed (aka Dodi) only exacerbated the rumors.

Her 1997 death in a car crash led to lurid speculation in Egypt that she had been killed by British intelligence to prevent her from marrying al-Fayed and making a Muslim the stepfather to the heir of the British throne. Books with titles like Did She Die a Muslim? and Diana’s Conversion to Islam were soon flying off the shelves.

Some news headlines appeared to convey the same sentiments, such as “Recite the fatiha [the opening chapter of the Quran] for the soul of Diana” and “Murder was the easiest solution for the British government to deal with a Muslim princess.”

Mohamed al-Fayed, Dodi’s father, was a major proponent of this particular theory. He claimed that Diana was pregnant at the time of her death and that the royal establishment was horrified at the idea of Prince William having a half-Muslim sibling. Supposedly, the hit was organized by Prince Philip. Fayed later named Tony Blair, the CIA, and Diana’s older sister as having possible involvement in Diana’s death.

1Adolf Hitler

According to the memoirs of architect Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler believed that the German people practiced the wrong religion. He preferred Islam, which he viewed as a “religion of men” with better standards of hygiene and a doctrine of a “warrior’s heaven.” He compared this with the “Jewish filth and priestly twaddle” of Christianity with its “meekness and flabbiness.”

Supposedly, Speer once mused at a dinner: “Had Charles Martel not been victorious at Poitiers . . . then we should in all probability have been converted to Islam, that cult which glorifies the heroism which opens up the seventh heaven to the bold warrior alone.”

There is evidence that the Third Reich tried to recruit Muslims as Aryan soldiers. Early Islamists shared with the Nazis an opposition to liberal democracy, communism, and the Jewish people. However, there is little evidence that Hitler converted to Islam, although the notion has become popular among the anti-Semitic Islamist fringe and the Islamophobic right-wing fringe.

In reality, the issue of Hitler’s faith is heavily contested. In a 2012 debate between Richard Dawkins and Cardinal George Pell, they argued that Hitler was a Catholic and an atheist, respectively. Hitler never renounced his Roman Catholicism, but his policies reflected the influence of social Darwinism.

He largely manipulated the doctrines and dogmas of the Catholic Church for his own benefit while replacing traditional religion with a secular nationalistic cult. Converting to Islam during all of this would have been rather out of character for Hitler, and there isn’t any real evidence that he ever considered such a thing.

6 Supplements That Can Cure Common Ailments

6 Supplements That Can Cure Common Ailments

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Doctors recommend that we take vitamin supplements, but many of us don’t know where to begin. A recent study showed that most U.S. adults don’t meet half of their daily nutrition requirements, and instead consume far too much sodium and fat. This is not all too shocking considering Americans don’t have the healthiest eating habits.

There are some guidelines to consider before blindly taking vitamin supplements. Always ask your doctor before regularly taking any vitamins and consider if you truly do need these vitamins. Although many Americans don’t get enough nutrients from the foods we eat, there are certain foods that, if eaten regularly, can fulfill some nutrient needs.

To be clear, vitamin supplements should never replace healthy foods. “They can plug nutrition gaps in your diet, but it is short-sighted to think your vitamin or mineral is the ticket to good health – the big power is on the plate, not in a pill,” says American Dietetic Association spokesperson Roberta Anding, MS, RD, to WebMD.

It’s easy to forget to take supplements, but when combined with a healthy diet, remember to take these supplements every day for optimum health.

1. Magnesium
Magnesium is lost from the body through alcohol, caffeine, some medications, grains, and soy. Magnesium has so many healing properties, it’s almost too hard to count. First, magnesium encourages better sleep. When there is a magnesium deficiency, it disturbs the production of melatonin. It also allows the body to develop bigger, stronger muscles because it helps produce more Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF-1) which is a major contributor to muscle growth. Magnesium alkalizes the body (creating a more balanced pH) and reduces lactic acid build-up in the muscles, which is responsible for post-workout pain. It also enhances insulin secretion for those with diabetes, hydrates the body, relieves constipation, remineralizes teeth, increases bone strength and flexibility, and helps relax the nervous system.

2. Zinc
This is a  nutrient that people need to stay healthy. It helps the immune system by fighting off bacteria and viruses. It is optimal for when you feel a cold coming on, but to prevent sickness, take this every day, as it will work better if taken 24 hours before the onset of a cold. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that gradually causes vision-loss. Studies show that zinc can actually slow down this process or prevent it.

3. Vitamin D3
Vitamin D comes from sunshine, but many people don’t get enough sun. Vitamin D helps regulate calcium and phosphorous absorption, maintains healthy bones and teeth, and applies a protective effect against multiple diseases and conditions, like cancer, type 1 diabetes, and MS, according to Medical News Today. It also supports lung function and cardiovascular health. When sun hits the skin, Medical News Today explains that the skin produces its own vitamin D through sunlight. Sun exposure on bare skin for 5 to 10 minutes 2-3 times a week is a sufficient amount of vitamin D, but it has a half-life of two weeks. This means that in the winter, especially, we need all of the vitamin D we can get. Take that in a supplement form. Studies have shown that adults and children across the world are vitamin D deficient.

4. Vitamin B-Complex
B-complex refers to all of the essential water-soluble vitamins, except vitamin C, including: Thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), biotin, folic acid, and cobalamins (B12). These are all extremely important for cell metabolism. Sometimes, B-complex vitamins are linked to an improved mood. B12 is known to increase energy for those deficient of the vitamin. According to eVitamins, vitamin B can reduce your risk for heart disease, stroke, and colon cancer and helps prevent connective-tissue disease.

5. Vitamin C
It is a myth that vitamin C helps cure the common cold, but it does have plenty of other useful properties. Vitamin C, according to experts, is one of the safest and most effective nutrients to take. It helps protect immune systems from deficiencies, protect against cardiovascular disease, eye disease, and even wrinkling. You can get plenty of vitamin C from healthy fruits and vegetables, including cantaloupe, orange juice, broccoli, red cabbage, green and red pepper, kiwi, and tomato juice. Vitamin C also helps reduce stress.

6. Fish Oil
Sounds gross, but fish oil is a form of fatty acid derived from the tissues of oily fish. This supplement contains the famous omega-3 fatty acids. If you eat plenty of oily fish, fish oil supplements may not be necessary. Keep in mind, many fish do contain mercury, so fish oil may be a safer alternative. Fish oil helps promote healthy ratios of HDL and LDL cholesterol and also promote good bone health and a good mood.

The Supplement That Can Improve Your Blood Sugar

The Supplement That Can Improve Your Blood Sugar

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Resistant starch (RS) is one of the panacea supplements that seem too good to be true. It’s cheap, easy to take, dramatically improves gut health, and has a noticeable affect on stabilizing blood glucose. But what is resistant starch, and how can you improve your blood sugar with it?

 There are four types of resistant starch:
 Type 1: This RS is bound in fibrous walls of plant foods like grains, legumes and seeds, and oats.
 Type 2: This is found in foods like plantains, unmodified potato starch, raw potatoes, and unripe bananas. This starch resists digestion because of its high amylose content, which can be digested when cooked.
 Type 3 (also known as retrograde RS): This kind is formed when starches are cooked and then cooled in a process known as retrogradation, which renders starch less digestible. You’ll find retrograde RS in foods like cooked and cooled potatoes, beans, rice, and even bread.
 Type 4: Man-made by a chemical process, this starch is known as industrial RS.
Resistant starch is required by beneficial gut bacteria as a food source; without RS, the good guys become outnumbered by pathogenic bacteria. In exchange for RS, our gut bacteria produce a short-chain fatty acid known as butyrate, which is the primary fuel source for intestinal cells. It’s a nice little relationship.

Blood sugar
One of the most exciting aspects of this decidedly plain-looking supplement is its ability to modulate blood sugar. Elevated, fasting, blood glucose levels are associated with everything from nerve damage to poor circulation and diminished eyesight. The research on resistant starch indicates that it helps lower fasting blood sugar levels, which is a ray of light for people with type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Studies have also shown that RS is effective in lowering blood glucose levels after a starchy meal in average and overweight people; the effect was increased when used in conjunction with soluble fiber.

Diabetes
People with type 1 diabetes are experiencing significantly reduced fluctuations in blood sugar readings over months of test comparisons. If you have diabetes (or know of friends or family with the condition), taking 1 to 4 tablespoons of resistant starch per day could help you sleep more soundly and without worry of slipping into a coma. Studies have shown that RS actually increases insulin sensitivity via fatty acid metabolism, meaning that diabetics could lower their overall amount of insulin intake.

Second-meal effect
Research has demonstrated that the colonic fermentation of resistant starches balances blood glucose both at the time of intake and during the next meal. If you have issues with crashes after meals, RS could be just the thing you need.

Where to find it
Bob’s Red Mill produces the best supplement-able form of resistant starch available at a very reasonable price: under $3 a pound for the most part. The best places you can purchase resistant starch are at Natural Grocers, Sprouts, and Jimbo’s Natural Foods. You can also purchase it on Amazon.

Getting started
Reduced meal frequency has been associated with optimized blood sugar levels, according to recent research. That’s all fine and good, but what does it have to do with RS? Lucky for you, more studies have been conducted demonstrating the efficacy of resistant starch for increasing satiety; the more RS you consume, the fuller you feel and longer your fullness stays.

RS also promotes the oxidation of fat molecules; it helps you burn fat and even increases body composition.

Begin experimenting with ¼ to ½ a teaspoon at a time, and see how your gut responds. Optimal levels of RS intake are between 15 and 30 grams per day, which is between 2 and 4 tablespoons. But don’t rush — people who start RS supplementation too quickly report unpleasant side effects like cramps, fast bowel movements, and excess gas.

The resistant starches found in Bob’s Red Mill Unmodified Potato Starch, raw potatoes, unripe bananas, plantains, reheated and cooled potatoes, and rice and beans have a dramatic affect on blood sugar and metabolism. Considering that our ancestors thrived on many raw foods like roots and tubers, it makes sense that RS would be a missing link in the modern diet. If you want to improve your blood sugar levels, don’t forget about resistant starch.

9 Reasons to Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup like the Plague

9 Reasons to Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup like the Plague

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If you take a look at most candy, cereal, bread, frozen food, yogurt, baby food, granola bar, salad dressing, cracker, condiment or other processed food package, you’re sure to see high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) on the ingredients list. It might even be easy to equate commonality with safety, assuming that that if high fructose corn syrup really was damaging to your health surely the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would ban it, right? Wrong.

The average American currently consumes 55 pounds of HFCS every year, which is a higher per capita consumption than any other country. If you’re currently consuming high fructose corn syrup (and most people are without even realizing it), you might want to reconsider after reading the following reasons to avoid it like the plague:

Diabetes—Research at the University of Southern California and Oxford University found that high fructose corn syrup is linked with diabetes, which may explain the rapidly growing rate of diabetes. Their research, published in the medical journal Global Public Health, showed that HFCS consumption is linked to a 20 percent higher prevalence of diabetes than those who don’t consume it. They also determined that this higher incidence of diabetes occurred regardless of the total amount of sugar consumed or obesity levels.

Fatty Liver Disease—Consumption of high fructose corn syrup has also been linked to fatty liver disease. The sugary substance must be metabolized by the liver, which puts a tremendous strain on this already hard-working organ.

Reproductive Disorders and Cancer—High fructose corn syrup is largely made up of genetically-modified corn since it is inexpensive to grow and has a high crop yield. But GMO foods have been linked in research to reproductive disorders and cancer.

Obesity—Because high fructose corn syrup requires little to no digestion, it is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. As a result, the sugar causes rapid spikes in insulin production, which is the body’s fat storage hormone. Not only does your appetite increase, so does your weight. It’s no surprise that the high consumption of high fructose corn syrup is linked to obesity.

Energy Depletion—Sugar found in high fructose corn syrup requires greater amounts of energy to be absorbed by the gut than other types of sugar. Each molecule requires two molecules of phosphorus from our body’s ATP, which is our body’s energy currency. The result: energy depletion.

Chronic Inflammation—According to Dr. Mark Hyman, high fructose corn syrup perforates the gut lining, allowing partially-digested food, fecal matter and harmful bacteria to cross the intestinal wall directly into the blood. The result: inflammation and an overactive immune system caused by the body’s own immune system attacks on these substances perceived as foreign invaders.

Learning Impairment—In another recent study by the University of Southern California, researchers found that daily consumption of beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, impairs learning and the ability to remember information, particularly when consumption occurs during adolescence.

Increased Blood Pressure and Heart Disease Risk—A study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology found that even people who eat an otherwise healthy diet but consume high fructose corn syrup are at risk of an increase in blood pressure by up to 32 percent. The study, conducted at the University of Colorado, found that the inflammation caused by HFCS leads to inflammation in the bloodstream, which causes the blood vessel walls to tighten, resulting in blood pressure increases. 

The Shocking Truth About Corn. Six Reasons to Never Eat Corn Again

The Shocking Truth About Corn. Six Reasons to Never Eat Corn Again

Health  

Corn is the most produced grain in the world, and America’s top field crop (nearly 80 million acres). Unknowingly, people eat more corn every day in one way or another than they’d probably ever can imagine. Did you actually know that corn is a not a vegetable? Corn is a grain; and a pretty bad one. In fact, it has the worst Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio out of all grains.  Omega 3s produce hormones that are anti-inflammatory. Omega 6s produce hormones that support inflammation. When omega 6s start to outnumber the omega 3s, they disrupt the body’s ability to control the inflammatory response. This inflammation can result in many health issues such as immune disease, diabetes, cancer, increased cholesterol, asthma, cardiovascular disease, and depression.

According to  Dr. Sanjay Gupta  

“We’re like corn chips walking because we really have a very, very large fraction of corn in our diets, and we actually can’t help it because it’s an additive in so many of the foods we find on the market shelves,” Dawson says.

Foods like ketchup, salad dressing, soda, cookies and chips all contain corn, usually high fructose corn syrup.

“I think where the danger comes in with corn is that much of the corn grown now in North America is going into making high fructose corn syrup,” Dawson says. “So it’s not that corn per se is bad, but it’s the sweetener made from corn that gets into many of the foods that Americans are probably consuming too much of, and we now see that showing up as obesity and heart disease and potential for type 2 diabetes.”

Six Reasons to Never Eat Corn Again

Corn is NOT a Vegetable!

Corn is a very unhealthy grain because it’s the most sugary, starchy, empty grain.  Corn was domesticated and cultivated by humans more than 6000 years ago in central Mexico from a plant known as teosinte. Corn was the first genetically modified food and continues to be re-engineered in ways you never imagined possible. 

Corn Can Activate an Autoimmune Disease

Even though corn doesn’t have gluten, it can be very irritating to the gut lining.  This is because your body actually thinks the proteins in corn are gluten which can disturb your immune system.  Additionally, corn has a high glycemic index, meaning it easily converts to sugar in the body which can cause an insulin response and can contribute to inflammation.

Corn Can Not Be Digested

According to Health.com, humans cannot fully digest corn because it contains the fiber cellulose. The human digestive system cannot completely break down cellulose because it lacks the enzyme to do so, leading to the trouble people often have fully digesting corn.

Like all grains, corn contains prolamins, which are a class of proteins that your body can’t properly break down, thus leading to such conditions as leaky gut.

Corn Contains Lectins

Lectins are proteins that we can’t digest. We normally digest proteins into amino acids  where they are absorbed through the small intestine wall and used by your body to build cellular structures and components. However, since we can’t digest lectins, they pass through the wall of our gut undigested as complete proteins. This damages the gut and causes inflammation.

Today’s corn is loaded with pesticides

Most of the corn being sold today is not organic, which means it is loaded with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) insecticide and other harmful poisons.

A 2011 study out of Canada, found that Bt toxin accumulates in human blood.  Once in the blood system, Bt toxin can disrupt proper organ function and cause long-term health problems.

85 % of all corn is Genetically Modified

Unfortunately, some 85 percent of all corn grown in America is genetically modified. In a study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers discovered that agricultural giant Monsanto’s GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats.

After Reading This You Might Never Eat Commercially Made Ice Cream Again

After Reading This You Might Never Eat Commercially Made Ice Cream Again

Health  

Monsanto’s dream is to control the world’s food supply, and that includes the ever popular perennial summertime treat, ice cream. How certain are you that your favorite ice cream is actually Monsanto free?   Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know your ice cream could be made from milk or milk products derived from cows injected with Monsanto’s genetically modified rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), sweetened with GM beet sugar, made with milk or cream from cows fed genetically modified soy and corn mush feed or “enhanced” with a HIDDEN  array of toxic additives.

A Brief History of Ice Cream

It’s been almost 20 years now and approximately 1 in 6 US dairies have been injecting the controversial, synthetic hormone rBGH into their cows every two weeks to boost milk production 10 to 15%, or about one additional gallon per day.

First let’s dispel some potential confusion: the genetically engineered, bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is also known as Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST); In other words, two different names that refer to the exact same bovine growth hormone. 

BGH  MORPHS INTO MONSANTO’S rBGH

For many years (BGH) or natural bovine growth hormone was used by farmers to increase milk production in dairy cows.  But Monsanto had a better idea.  They created a genetically engineered version of this natural hormone under the brand name: Posilac (rBST aka rBGH) and it’s now routinely injected into more than a quarter of all U.S. dairy cows.

Maybe you’re still wondering, what’s the real harm from having a little genetically modified, bovine hormone in your ice cream anyway?

Dairy from cows injected with rBGH contain:
-Genetically Engineered Hormones
-Antibiotics
-Puss and Blood

Dr. Richard Burroughs, a veterinarian deeply conversant with rBGH stated: “It [rBGH] results in an increase of white blood cells,” he  explains, “which means there’s pus in the milk!” The antibiotic use, he adds, “leaves residues in the milk. It’s all very serious.”

In the book What’s in Your Milk? by Samuel Epstein, MD, a scientist at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, expert on cancer prevention, and outspoken critic of rBGH, nicknamed “crack for cows”, explains:

 This [rBGH milk] contains very high levels of a natural growth factor known as IGF-1… . IGF-1 stands for Insulin-like Growth Factor 1. So growth factor 1 is a natural growth factor and is responsible for normal growth but when you drink rBGH milk, you have very, very high levels of this natural growth factor.

 When you drink it, the IGF-1 survives digestion and is readily absorbed from your small intestine, into your blood. Increased levels of IGF-1 have been shown to increase risks of breast cancer and we have about 20 publications showing this; risk of colon cancer [shown] by about 10 publications; prostate cancer by about another 10 publications.

 And a further concern: increased levels of IGF-1 block natural defense mechanisms against early cancers, [mechanisms] known as ‘apoptosis [cellular suicide].’”

In a Huffington Post article entitled: Is Your Favorite Ice Cream Made with Monsanto’s Artificial Hormones?, John Robbins, son of the founder of the Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Empire states:

“… [I]njecting the genetically engineered hormone into cows increases the levels of a substance called IGF-1 in their milk. Monsanto’s own studies found that the amount of IGF-1 in milk more than doubled when cows were injected with rBGH. Studies by independent researchers show gains as much as six-fold …”

 A May 9, 1998 article featured in the medical journal, The Lancet reported: pre-menopausal women with even moderately elevated blood levels of IGF-1 are up to seven times more likely to develop breast cancer than women with lower levels.

Robbins also noted that studies found men (age 60 and over) with high blood levels of IGF-1 to be at an eight times greater risk for prostate cancer compared to men in the same age bracket with low levels of IGF-1.

Correspondingly, premenopausal women with elevated blood levels of IGF-1 had up to a seven times greater risk of breast cancer.

The poor cows injected with Monsanto’s hormone suffer a 25% increase in mastitis (udder infections) and a 50% increase in lameness. Luckily for Monsanto they also sell the antibiotics that they recommend to counteract health problems among rBGH treated cows.

Milk from conventional cows is loaded with antibiotics. If you’re determined to eat healthy, you’ll soon discover that pasteurized milk is not nearly as healthy as raw organic milk from pastured cows. But that’s another article.

The majority of dairy cows in the US are living on corporatized industrial farms, or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). They’re fed a steady diet of mostly GMO crops such as corn, soy, alfalfa, cotton seed, and/or sugar beets.  Shockingly, 98% of GM soy and 49% of GM corn is allocated to feeding livestock and poultry.

Truth in advertising,Huh?

Reality check: if you live in the United States the vast majority of conventional milk and dairy products lining those refrigerated shelves in supermarkets across the country are derived from cows that eat GMO feed and could contain Monsanto’s rBGH or rBST.

Once Monsanto conceived and perfected their GE hormone (rBST) they proceeded to carve out a nice, fat market for it and then sold it to Elanco, a division of the Eli Lilly drug company in 2008.

“Of course, Monsanto (and now Elanco) wants us to think the hormone is in every way completely satisfactory and safe. Monsanto’s party line has consistently been that there is “no significant difference” in the milk derived from cows who have been dosed with the hormone compared to those who haven’t.” – John Robbins

Well then, if it’s so safe why is this genetically engineered, bovine growth hormone banned in Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and all 27 nations of the European Union but is still available in the U.S.?

AN INCONVENIENT HISTORICAL TRUTH

Even more revealing, the need to induce cows to produce more milk was never really a genuine problem in the first place! In fact, since the 1950’s America has been seriously awash in milk. Dairy farmers were consistently producing vast quantities of fresh milk, much more than Americans could possibly consume.

Eventually, the U.S. government decided to tackle the milk problem. The government strategy involved a two prong approach: pay farmers to slaughter their dairy cows and pay them more to stop all dairy farming for five years! Sadly, over 1.5 million cows were needlessly killed.

IS YOUR STORE BOUGHT OR RESTAURANT ICE CREAM REALLY MONSANTO FREE?

BACKDOOR MONSANTO ICE CREAMHave you noticed the marketing blitz afoot with several beloved, ice cream giants flooding the airwaves with press releases boasting that their ice cream is now made exclusively from milk and cream from rBGH free cows? That’s good news -kinda. But what about backdoor GM ice cream?

MILK FROM COWS FED GM-GRAIN IS “MONSANTO” MILK“According to the Non-GMO Project, an organization that certifies ingredients as non-GMO, (1) milk from a cow fed GM-grain cannot be certified as non-GMO. GMO Inside, one of the organizations leading efforts to label, also abides by this definition.(2) The USDA’s Organic label also adheres to these standards. (3) TheFood Babe used the same criteria in her campaign against (4)“Monsanto Milk” in Starbucks beverages. However, Ben & Jerry’s, an ice cream company and one of the first large organizations to declare that it was going GMO-free and (4) supports labeling, sources its milk from cows fed GM-grain.” – Biology Fortified

GM-BEET SUGAR?
Green America reported that GM sugar beets were introduced into the market back in 2005. By 2009 “95 percent of the US sugar-beet crop was genetically modified, according to the USDA.  Currently around half of the sugar produced in the US comes from sugar beets. 

Beware: If a product contains sugar as an ingredient but does not specify “pure cane sugar,” the sugar is probably a mix of actual cane sugar along with GM sugar beets.

Beware: If a product contains sugar as an ingredient but does not specify “pure cane sugar,” the sugar is probably a mix of actual cane sugar along with GM sugar beets.

For example, in 2015  ice cream giant, Breyers proudly announced it’s no longer using milk or cream from cows treated with the artificial growth hormone rBGH, which by the way is genetically engineered in a lab from E. coli bacteria. What about accepting milk from cows fed GM feed?

Here are the nutritional facts from Breyer’s “homemade” vanilla Ice Cream:

MILK, CREAM, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, WHEY, EGG YOLKS, CAROB BEAN GUM, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR, VANILLA EXTRACT*, ANNATTO (FOR COLOR), GUAR GUM, TARA GUM. Ingredients and Nutrition Facts are current as of 2/11/15. Please see shelf packaging for any changes.

Not a very healthy list of ingredients by any measure, but let’s just focus on probable GE ingredients.

MORE RED FLAGSAre you starting to wonder if the eggs in the above ingredients list are from unhealthy, confined chickens massively injected with antibiotics and forced to eat a GM diet?  What about that corn syrup? It’s likely from GMO corn.

Let’s take a look at Breyer’s Butter Pecan ice cream ingredients.

MILK, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, BUTTER PECANS [PECANS, COTTONSEED OIL, BUTTER (CREAM, SALT), SALT], CREAM, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: WHEY, CAROB BEAN GUM, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT, NATURAL FLAVORS, CARRAGEENAN, TARA GUM, GUAR GUM, CARAMEL COLOR, LACTASE ENZYME, ANNATTO (FOR COLOR), VITAMIN A PALMITATE. Ingredients and Nutrition Facts are current as of 3/1/15. Please see shelf packaging for any changes. Nutrition Facts may vary in high altitude areas.

Like the vanilla ice cream, Breyer’s Butter Pecan is also laden with a stunning array of unhealthy chemicals and questionable additives, but did you notice the cotton seed oil – which is almost guaranteed to be a produced from GMO cotton seeds.

What about the pinnacle of decadent ice cream Haagen-Dazs, you may ask?

Not to be left out in the cold, Haagen–Dazs has also recently, heavily promoted that it no longer uses rBGH dairy in its ice cream.

Here’s what Haagen–Dazs states on their FAQ’s page:

“rBST is a synthetic hormone given to dairy cows to enhance milk production. We do not source any milk or cream from cows that have been treated with rBST”.

“†No significant difference has been shown between milk from rBST treated and non-rBST treated cows. The suppliers of our other ingredients cannot guarantee that the milk they use comes from non-rBST treated cows.” [emphasis added]

The cows they source their milk and cream from most likely eat GMO feed, as do the chickens they get their eggs from.

BEN AND JERRY’S ICE CREAM – ALMOST GM FREE…

Ben & Jerry’s website explains:

But to be clear, the fresh Vermont milk and cream that our family farmers supply to us is not organic. This means that in the US, it is common practice for the cows’ feed to contain GMO ingredients such as corn. Current regulations in most countries with mandatory GMO labeling requirements do not require milk to be labeled as GMO when derived from cows fed GMO feed. This is also consistent with proposed state-level legislation for GMO labeling, specifically dairy from cows fed GMO feed would not be required to be labeled as containing GMO ingredients. This is the current position that Ben & Jerry’s are adopting with regard to animal-derived ingredients.

Under these regulations, this does not make the dairy genetically modified. We think a good analogy is this: if you eat a corn chip containing GMO corn, it doesn’t make you a genetically modified human.

Uh Oh!

According to a 2014 article in the DailyMail UK: “This week, it was revealed that Unilever, who own Wall’s, Magnum, Carte d’Or, and Ben & Jerry’s have applied to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for permission to add to a diet range of frozen fruit ices a protein created using GM technology from the blood of an ocean pout, an eel-like creature that lives in the North Atlantic.”

HIDDEN INGREDIENTS COMMONLY FOUND IN STORE BOUGHT ICE CREAM

Did you know ice cream manufacturers are not required by law to list all the additives they put in ice cream sold in stores. Here’s a sampling of some “flavoring” ingredients found in store-bought ice creams:

-Diethylglycol— a chemical used instead of egg yolks. It’s also used in antifreeze and paint removers.

-Piperonal— it’s used in place of vanilla. It’s used to kill lice.

-Aldehydec-17— a cherry flavoring. It’s inflammable and also used in aniline dye (aniline: a colorless, oily, poisonous benzene derivative, used in the manufacture of rubber, dyes, resins, pharmaceuticals, and varnishes), plastic and rubber.

-Ethyl Acetate— a pineapple flavor. It’s used as a cleaner for leather and textiles. If you are unlucky enough to inhale Ethyl Acetate vapors, well, it’s been known to cause chronic lung, liver and heart damage. One wonders what ingesting it does to one’s body and systems.

-Butyraldehyde— a nut flavoring. It’s one of the ingredients in rubber cement.

-Amylacetate— a banana flavoring. It’s also used as an oil paint solvent.

-Benzyl Acetate— a strawberry flavor. It’s a nitrate solvent.