It is said if foods with added sugar are removed from a grocery store, only 20% of foods would remain. Added sugars and carbohydrates that turn to sugar in the body are as addictive as opiod drugs. Bill Sardi
In 1998, I began reading Dr. Barry Sears' Zone Diet books, and a lot impressed me about Dr. Barry Sears' Zone Diet and his recommendation of fish oil supplements. In addition to the great science that he provided, I also appreciated his terrific insights on eating behaviors. One thing that he noticed was that, with the exception of vegetables, kids will eat anything their parents put in front of them. And I thought that's because parents, as individuals themselves, never recognized the purpose of certain foods beyond satisfying pangs of hunger or cravings for taste. Put a bowl of Captain Crunch cereal with milk in front of a kid, and the parent feels like their service to their child for that one meal is done. But there was no science, no systematic approach, no knowledge of the kinds of foods one should eat or serve, or even of nutritional value itself, forget foods that promote weight gain or set the stage for metabolic catastrophe. One of the first books I'd read on nutrition recommended olive oil for headaches. So I tried it, and immediately my headaches were alleviated as though I'd never suffered from them. I'll never forget growing up how certain foods were put in front of me that passed for quick energy foods. Inevitably, these were chocolate bars, like Powerhouse, Chunkie, Snickers, etc. Will never forget how Snickers began pitching their candy bar as a nutritional snack packed with protein from all of the peanuts. Well, if Snickers was healthy, wouldn't that make a PayDay bar even healthier? So advertising can be funny; nutrition, on the other hand, is a deadly serious regime. Then I remember being addicted to Corn Nuts. During the morning break period at school, called Nutrition, I'd consume, as would my friends, a large Coke poured from the fountain paired with a HoneyBun. I don't know how much honey it had in it. But these were our nutritional foods. One of my enduring memories of high school came from sports. I ran cross country and track. There was often downtime waiting for the race to start or waiting for your friend's race to finish. Well, some of the kids would inevitably find a bush grown over with fruit, hanging over a fence. And one kid would start in by grabbing an orange or a cumquat, peel it, and consume its fruit. To this day when I bite into an orange, I am transported back to when I was 15 enjoying a "free, fresh-picked orange or the tartness of a cumquat. It was moments like that I had my greatest nutritional awakening: in this case vitamin C and perhaps some Hesperidine from the fruit's skin. Even when we were called to the Christian Breakfast Club at Pasadena's Lake Avenue Congregation Church, they served French Toast, sausage, milk, and orange juice, and coffee to anyone who asked for it. Why not eggs and bacon? Nutrition information in the public sphere was predicated more on fear than any positive information. I heard only about nitrates in bacon, cholesterol in eggs and to limit your intake of them, ignoring completely the nutritional value of cholesterol, the protein in each one of them, or the benefits of saturated fats for young, growing brains and vital organs. And then if you grew up into adulthood in the 1980s, as I did, then you'll recall the craze or insistence with the low fat, high carbohydrate diets. Eat lots of pasta said the nutritional experts. That instruction set the nutritional trends for the 1980s. Again, if you were young and had a healthy metabolism, you could survive the onslaught of highly refined, high-glycemic starches. I ate my pasta with butter and pesto sauce. Not a bad combination. And so I was on the pasta bandwagon. Talk about your metabolic disaster waiting to present itself. Fatty liver is one of the damages from such a diet. Bill Sardi points this out:
Fatty liver was a rarity decades ago. But now that so much refined sugar and carbohydrates (bread, pasta and rice) are consumed, 35% of Americans have a fatty liver condition that is related to over-consumption of alcohol.
I assert that what physicians have
been treating with cholesterol-lowering drugs over recent decades is only
indirectly arterial disease and more directly liver disease. And while statin cholesterol-lowering drugs
are widely used to treat fatty liver disease, they are not particularly
effective and they are a liver toxin.
[Medical Science Monitoring Dec 2009]
Some statin drugs actually increase deposition o fat in the liver.
[Journal Physiology Pharmacology June 2013]
Know what eradicates fatty liver? Eggs. [See the list of references under "The Single Nutrient that Eradicates Fatty Liver Disease." Sardi also points out that Choline, Inositol, Betaine, IP6 Rice Bran, Garlic (or the allicin in garlic), and Resveratrol eliminate fatty liver.
We've learned, too, that limiting your intake of food actually extends life, but I don't think that the scientific and government community proposing restrictions on bacon or eggs actually had your longevity in mind. A lack of healthful nutrition ran through every meal. Does nutrition, or lack thereof, have an effect on us as adults? It seems so. Dr. Barry Sears did say that any one of us can turn things around with our next meal. So, if you've got kids, try to steer them clear of junk food. A junk food diet on kids can generate erratic feelings and thought, including behavior, you know--those actions that our friends and coworkers remember quite easily. Some can do it, but try getting your child on task with productive habits at home after feeding him a whole day of junk food--French Fries, donuts, pizzas, etc. And if one's feelings are erratic, then he's not going to have the wherewithal to make smart or beneficial decisions; instead, he'll automatically hand that over to those in authority in his environment. Imagine if your son's breakfast consisted of pancakes, bacon, syrup made with HFCS, and lunch is a cheeseburger, and dinner is a Swanson's TV dinners in the form of a Salisbury steak? Not the best, but the protein contained therein isn't horrible for young, growing kids.
Large Study Reveals That Junk Food Really Does Increase Your Risk for Cancer
We all know that junk food is terrible for us, but there may be occasions when you’re tempted to give in. Perhaps the vending machine is the social center at your office and you find yourself chatting and snacking more often than not, or you’ve given in to your kids’ requests that you buy the same trendy chips their friends eat. Or maybe you think that you can get away with eating junk food because you’ve got your weight under control. If you believe that eating some junk food can’t do that much harm, you need to know that a sizable European study recently found that eating such food raises your risk of cancer.
The study used a system that was developed by the British Food Standards Agency known as the Nutri-Score, in which foods are scored based on their nutritional quality, with A representing the most nutritious and E signifying the poorest quality in terms of nutrition.
Under the guidance of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, the scientists used the scale to grade the diets of almost half a million people in ten different European countries. Then they looked for trends by comparing the rates of cancer noted among participants during a follow-up period that spanned roughly 15 years.
They made adjustments for other factors that can influence your risk of cancer, such as family history, BMI, and smoking, and they found a link between a diet of nutritionally-poor food and higher risk of developing some types of cancer.
In particular, those who ate the most junk food had a higher risk of stomach, respiratory tract, and colorectal cancer. In men, a diet of junk food was strongly associated with lung cancer; in women, it was linked to higher risks of post-menopausal breast cancer and liver cancer.
Consumers need to be more informed and make better choices
The Nutri-Score and similar systems can be handy tools for helping consumers quickly determine the nutritional quality of food so they can make better choices. It uses colors and grades to show foods that are high or low in sugar, saturated fat, salt, and other ingredients. It has been used in the U.K. since last year to regulate food advertisements.
Although the Nutri-Score has gained the official support of French and Belgian health authorities, EU labeling regulations mean that its application can’t be made compulsory. Nevertheless, 33 food manufacturers have already voluntarily adopted the system. The EU plans to review and debate implementing a standard nutritional labeling system for its member countries, the study’s authors say that similar discussions are taking place in North America, South America, and Australia.
The study is supported by different research that was recently published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that showed a link between a high-calorie diet that is devoid of nutrients and a high risk of cancer – especially in women older than 50 of a normal weight. After examining the data of more than 92,000 women and following them for 15 years, they found that those who ate a lot of junk food had higher risk of cancer.
Even if you’re blessed with a fast metabolism and weight isn’t a concern, you should still avoid junk food like the plague. Cancer is a devastating illness that will strike many people in their lifetime, and nutrition is one of the biggest risk factors that you can control. You owe it to yourself and your family to cut junk food out of your lives right away.
