Food Fraud Is Everywhere : A Lot of Froth and No Cream

I don't really like to terrify anyone.  That's why we read--to reduce fear, not cause it to go nuclear.  But anywhere you go on the web, you'll find fear.  That's because fear sells.   We pay attention when someone calls out "Fire!" or "Watch out!" So internet articles try to scare us.  Here's a frightening tale from Well and Good.   Terrifying is in the title of its article, "File this under Terrifying Food News of the Day: a new Time cover story says food fraud is everywhere from your morning cup of Joe to the fish you’re eating for dinner (especially the fish you’re eating for dinner)."

Because of my experience with literature, my mind immediately goes to the Friar Laurence scene in Act II, iii of Romeo and Juliet who shares with his audience the fact that there are both good and bad to every element in nature as in people.  

I must up-fill this osier cage of ours 

With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers. 

The earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb. 

And from her womb children of divers kind 

We sucking on her natural bosom find 

Many for many virtues excellent, 

None but for some and yet all different. 

O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies. 

In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities: 

For nought so vile that on the earth doth live 

But to the earth some special good doth give, 

Nor aught so good but strain’d from that fair use 

Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse: 

Virtue itself turns to vice, being misapplied; 

And vice sometimes by action dignified. 

Within the infant rind of this small flower 

Poison hath residence and medicine power: 

For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part; 

Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart. 

Two such opposed kings encamp them still 

In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will . . . .

The author from WellandGood defines her thesis, "Food fraud happens when you think you’re consuming one thing, but it’s really something else, or it includes unsuspecting ingredients."

Okay.  Yes, there is fraud in every industry, and the food industry is no different.  But a choice in any industry, regardless of the industry, involves a benefits/cost ratio. We like our time and we get convenient fast food sometimes precisely because we prefer the extra timed saved by grabbing a pastrami sandwich at the local drive-thru. 

So from that definition, she turns her focus on coffee.

In the case of coffee, the news magazine says that a coffee shortage has led manufacturers to use fillers like wheat, soybeans, rice, brown sugar, starch syrup, and twigs.  Yep, twigs.  This is according to a report released by the American Chemical Society (it should be noted that all of the coffee came from Brazil), which also states that 70 percent of the world's coffee supply is in danger because of climate change.  So don't expect this problem to go away soon.  

So, wait, that hot black coffee I am getting at Denny's or Starbucks is made with other ingredients, is made with wheat?  Well, she doesn't say.  Plus, if coffee is getting diluted it may be in part to market demand, like the health-food industry that might be pressing for coffee with less acidity.  I don't know but I think that sometimes changes in a product are driven by market requests.  She doesn't identify any specific offenders, no names are offered.  Just a general statement to the fact that it is happening.  But how do we know she knows?  Are we to hang on her every word because she's a GMO guru?  Instead of citing a specific offender, our valiant author cites instead a study, or in her case a report, "a report released by the American Chemical Society."  Well what interest, and by interest I mean economic interest, does the American Chemical Society have in identifying offenders?  How do they gain?  Or whom does their report benefit?  The article doesn't say, and so she doesn't say.  And before she does say anything further about coffee, she turns to other instances of diluted food sources, like olive oil. 

Other foods Time warns about? Olive oil (which is often diluted with other oils) and honey (sometimes cut with corn syrup or fructose syrup).

So now with these two instances, she wants to know if we're freaking out.  "Freaking out?" But that's just used to set up her solution.  What is her solution?  An association

Luckily the National Coffee Association is at work on the coffee fraud front, formulating tests to ensure coffee imported to the USA is pure. In the meantime, be an educated buyer. Manufacturers that have gone through the painstaking process of acquiring the non-GMO butterfly stamp are most likely to have a strict eye on their goods from start to finish (and you can search by brand on the Non-GMO Project’s site).

So after not citing a specific offender, after citing only a study and then an association that regulates such offenses and offenders, with no specifics on that type of regulation, and not going the extra mile in her own report, she calls upon the reader to go "the extra step and [do] your research . . . ," reminding us that our efforts will ensure our safety but that it make us feel good about what we're putting in our bodies., ". . . it will make you feel good about what you’re putting in your body, which ultimately, makes for a more enjoyable meal."

And that's where she ends her point(s).  Her point is quite diluted.  

Want more tips on how to know what’s safe to eat? Michael Pollen has some advice. Plus, have you heard about the whole debate about eating avocado pits?

Want to Be Happier? Eat More [Fruits & Vegetables]

from Instyle

BY: LINDSAY DOLAK

Your parents were on to something when they gently requested that you eat your vegetables—turns out, doing so can make you happier. According to a study in the American Journal of Public Health, your peas and carrots can do more than reduce your risk of health complications like heart attacks and cancer. Recent research indicates that eating more fruits and vegetables can actually substantially increase happiness levels.

"Eating fruit and vegetables apparently boosts our happiness far more quickly than it improves human health," University of Warwick professor Andrew Oswald, who worked on the U.K. study, said in a statement. "People's motivation to eat healthy food is weakened by the fact that physical-health benefits, such as protecting against cancer, accrue decades later. However, well-being improvements from increased consumption of fruit and vegetables are closer to immediate."

Consumers who upgraded their diets from almost no fruit and vegetables to eight servings of the healthy stuff experienced an increase in life satisfaction equivalent to the feeling of getting a job after spending time unemployed. Anyone who's ever experienced a similar milestone can attest that's a pretty major feeling and an excellent reason to get more greens or grapes or green beans.

We officially resolve to not leave the dinner table until all of our vegetables are gone (mom and dad would be proud!).

And, when you think about all the ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into mealtimes, it's actually super easy to reach those eight daily servings. First there's all of the salads, like this totally not basic kale salad, this cool summer salad with a long ingredient list of vegetables, this melon and tomato number, or this smoky avocado dish. Then there's the multitude of smoothies like these surf-inspired mix ups or this Elle Macpherson fave. Finally, there are all the ways to make vegetables the main focus of your dinners like this tomato-heavy pasta or any of these three gazpacho recipes.

We feel happier already!

NOT GOOD:  "The bill has the potential to limit states’ ability to introduce their own labeling laws."

We prefer to know what's in our food.  That's true.  But given the fact that much of our produce comes from big agri-farms it's not that easy to know.  One way we think we're not getting GMO's is by buying "organic."  But what does that mean? Does it mean no pesticides?  Does it mean that the seeds were planted naturally? Again, both terms that are no longer under the common sense of buyers or sellers but under the influence of the FDA and big agra producers.  For purists now there is a tool that allows us to detect if, in fact, any GMO products end up in our foods. But at what costs do we force the issue?  The article below says 

This new development could come in handy depending on the outcome of a GMO labeling bill that just passed in the Senate and is now headed to the House of Representatives. The bill has the potential to limit states’ ability to introduce their own labeling laws. 

Well, does that sound good to you?  If the government forces farmers and manufacturers to label all food, won't this create a huge cost burden?  And to whom do you think that the cost will be transferred to?  That's riiiiight: the customer is going to pay for it.  You think food is expensive now.  Just wait.  The main part of that citation I did not like was this "The bill has the potential to limit states' ability to introduce their own labeling laws."  What's wrong with this? What's wrong is that the federal government is acting like marshal by eliminating local control.  Why should someone in South Los Angeles defer to some government bureaucrat born perhaps in a different country or different state and county tell him how to grow, package, and sell his products?

The article is here.  Continue reading . . . .

The test can focus on the broad picture or on crop-specific GMOs

As the debate over regulating the disclosure of genetically modified foods comes to a head in the United States Congress, the technology around GMO detection continues to evolve. A new test has the potential to identify all known GMOs with minimal cost, Food Safety Magazine reports.

A Bay Area food analytics company called Clear Labs created a test that will allow people to gauge whether food products are, in fact, GMO-free, by determining both the overall percentage of genetically modified ingredients in a product, as well as identifying the specific ingredients themselves.

A broad test will be able to scan for more than 85 percent of known GMOs, while a more focused test will cover crop-specific GMOs, and both will be available to consumers. This is the latest innovation from Clear Labs, which has previously unveiled technology with the potential to end outbreaks of food-related illnesses, and to identify whether purportedly meatless food items actually contain meat.

This new development could come in handy depending on the outcome of a GMO labeling bill that just passed in the Senate and is now headed to the House of Representatives. The bill has the potential to limit states’ ability to introduce their own labeling laws.

VITAMIN C & QUERCETIN for DIASTASIS RECTI, AKA, RECTI SPLIT

What is a Recti Split? 

It is the separation of the Rectus Abdominis, the identical pair of muscles that run up and down each side off center of your abdomen. This separation of these muscles can occur in healthy as well as unhealthy bodies.  If you've had some kind of abdominal surgery or weakness in your abdomen, say, from an injury, childhood or otherwise, that might lead to a Recti Split. When someone has a hernia around a previous injury, incision, or weakness, it is called a ventral hernia. For an illustration of a Recti Split, however, see here:

Here is another view:

The white tissue beneath the Diastasis Recti is called the Linea Alba.  That is connective tissue, and it is indeed white when observed in surgery.  According to WiseGEEK

The linea alba is the vertical line that divides the recturs abdominus or "six-pack" muscle into left and right halves.  Actually composed of [8] sections of muscle that are delineated by several lines of connective tissue--three horizontal lines and the linea alba--the rectus abdonimis extends from the sternum to the pelvis.  Like the rest of the body's connective tissue, the linea alba is made up of collagen and elastin fibers rather than muscle fibers and is white in color.  In addition to dividing the rectus abdominis bilaterally, on its deep surface is an attachment point for the other abdominal muscles: the external obliques, internal obliques [the obliques cover the sides of the abdomne], and the transverse abdominis [and here].

That does tend to drive the point home.  If that doesn't, this should: 


So what causes it? 

In women, it's most often caused by childbirth.  This woman, Lorraine Scapens, owner of Pregnancy exercise.co.nz, does a terrific job of pointing to the cause of the Diastasis Recti. She cites the presence of pregnancy hormones that a woman's body produces that start to lengthen, weaken, and relax the stomach muscles.  Just hearing this was good for me.  

In men, age, strenuous lifting, and abdominal obesity are the major factors.  I've never heard of abdominal obesity. I have heard of obesity, the general term but never heard of abdominal obesity.  Hmm.  One guy who was concerned about a hernia because he enjoys lifting weights and exercising wanted to know how to protect himself with a 6" vertical gap between his Rectus Abdominis.  Here is what he asks:

I am a 59 yr. old male with at least a 6 inch diastasis rect running vertically down my abs.  I love lifting weights and exercising.  Do I need to get this recti fixed before it could cause a hernia or become a hernia?  One doctor told me that just repairing it would only be temporary until I started to work out again and I could tear it loose again.  Another doctor said that is not true.  You get it fixed and it will not tear loose when lifting weights. 

Who is right?  

And then a plastic surgeon from San Diego, one Michael Roark, answered him:  

I agree with the other doctors' answers, however, you can test the integrity of your muscle all by the following: lie on your back, bend your knees with feet on the floor, lift head and shoulders off the floor (do a sit up).  If you have a flat abdomen, the supporting fascial layer is intact.  If you have a large outward bulge, you should see a doctor regarding a possible hernia.  The muscle separation and extra loose skin are repaired at the same time a tummy tuck is done.  

 Oh, no, a tummy tuck!  What the hell!  Also called Abdominoplasty.  Something else one will want to know with regard to this topic, linea alba.

EXERCISES for MEN

First . . .

a.  Lie down on the floor with both legs and both feet on the ground.  That's easy.

b.  Put both hands on the lower stomach and point fingers downward.

c.  Breathe in and out in a steady stream. 

d.  Slowly life the head and shoulders off the ground. 

e.  Press down on the lower abdomen using hands and fingers. 

Second . . . 

The more you strengthen the muscles that are involved in diastasis, the more difficult it is to divide the muscular tissue. 

a.  Lie on the ground on the back with knees bent and feet on the floor.

b.  Tighten the muscles in the lower abdomen and life your hip at the same time. 

c.  Do 10 reps or as directed.

See the rest of the exercises here.

EXERCISES for WOMEN

Exercises that help repair a Recti Split.  With women, it occurs during pregnancy.  It can occur during pushing or when the abdomen expands quickly.  With men, it occurs with obesity.  As the belly grows and the pelvic floor is weak, the stomach muscles can separate.  Test to prove whether you have it or not is the same for men and for women.  This woman (her YouTube Channel is here) does a nice job of explaining the terms and what to work.  She is helpful and has a decent following. Good for her.  

She says you want to work the internal abdominal muscles, called the Transverse Abdominis.  

See her test for a Recti Split at the 4-minute mark. She says that if you detect a Recti Split that you'll need to strengthen your pelvic floor (the muscular base of your abdomen, attached to the pelvis) before you start in on any abdominal exercises.  This is a good illustration of the male urogenital system.  

Then she mentions the kegel muscles and kegel exercises before her segue into talking about her "really nice nurse."  I like her voice, and she's smart.  But perhaps, for men, you'll need something that exerts the muscles more.  That's my opinion.  You'll need to test it yourself.

#1  Starts with the Pelvic Tilt.  She recommends 2 sets of 50; 3 sets of 50 is better.  

#2  Leg Extension Heel Slide with Pelvic Tilt.  You're sliding your heel along the floor as you extend. Wow!

#3  Elevated Leg Extensions.

#4  Towel-Assisted Raises.  Wouldn't a hernia belt prove beneficial as well as the towel to keep the abdominal muscles tight?

Do this every day.  Build a good interior foundation on your abs--that's what pulls them in and flattens them out.  And that's what gives you support for your whole life.  It's also great to support your back.  Any back problems, this is a great workout.  

Okay. We'll see.  

It looks like exercise is the ticket to any kind of improvement unless you want a tummy tuck, which is not completely out of the question.  But what about food?  Can food remedies play a role in improving a rectus split?

Perhaps. 

FOOD REMEDIES
Start with Resveratrol and Quercetin.  They help burn fat and ease the burden of weight on those stomach muscles.

IP6 will chelate the unbound iron in your bloodstream along with some calcium, zinc, and magnesium.  The benefit of this is that it helps to resolve prior injuries.  Seriously.  

YOUR DIGESTION

Metamucil was recommended as a good form of insoluble fiber. But what is in it?  That description of Metamucil says that it is BOTH a laxative and a fiber supplement.  A laxative purges.  I don't want that.  A fiber supplement regulates you: that's what I want.

Here is another description from Drugs.com.

Metamucil contains psyllium husk (from the plant Plantago ovata), a bulk forming, natural therapeutic fiber for restoring and maintaining regularity when recommended by a physician. Metamucil contains no chemical stimulants and does not disrupt normal bowel function. Each dose of Metamucil powder and Metamucil Fiber Wafers contains approximately 3.4 grams of psyllium husk (or 2.4 grams of soluble fiber). Each dose of Metamucil capsules fiber laxative (5 capsules) contains approximately 2.6 grams of psyllium husk (or 2.0 grams of soluble fiber). Inactive ingredients, sodium, calcium, potassium, calories, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, and phenylalanine content are shown in the following table for all versions and flavors. Metamucil Smooth Texture Sugar-Free Regular Flavor and Metamucil capsules contains no sugar and no artificial sweeteners; Metamucil Smooth Texture Sugar-Free Orange Flavor contains aspartame (phenylalanine content per dose is 25 mg). Metamucil powdered products and Metamucil capsules are gluten-free. Metamucil Fiber Wafers contain gluten: Apple Crisp contains 0.7g/dose, Cinnamon Spice contains 0.5g/dose. Each two-wafer dose contains 5 grams of fat.

Dr. John Kiel does a nice job of covering the benefits and explaining why psyllium fiber husks are used in Metamucil.

ACTIONS

The active ingredient in Metamucil is psyllium husk, a natural fiber which promotes elimination due to its bulking effect in the colon. This bulking effect is due to both the water-holding capacity of undigested fiber and the increased bacterial mass following partial fiber digestion.  These actions result in enlargement of the lumen of the colon, and softer stool, thereby decreasing intraluminal pressure and straining, and speeding colonic transit in constipated patients.  

What does this mean?  

Is Metamusil the best fiber for regularity?  I don't know.  Let's see what other sites say, like HealthWyze.