Processed Food Can Cause Liver Disease in Children

You've probably heard that processed foods are bad for you. You may have even cut back or cut them out for the most part.

New research, published in the Journal of Obesity in September, shows that eating processed food is causing liver disease in children.

"According to an article from CanWest News Service, a 10 year old girl became the first child diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 2000. Now in 2007, liver disease is being found in 5-7 year olds with the youngest child reported being two years old. Fatty liver disease is now showing up in approximately one in every three obese children."

Read the full article here.

Learn more about healthy eating and how to get your kids to eat healthy food.

One Good Reason Why You Should Eat Organic Foods

The government agencies that are supposed to be protecting us are doing just the opposite!

I have always recommended that when you buy strawberries, you should choose organic because of the pesticides used on strawberries.

The EPA has just approved a new pesticide and fumigant, methyl iodide, to be used mostly in fields growing strawberries in California and Florida. It is also approved for use with tomatoes, peppers, ornamentals, turf, trees and vines.

Methyl iodide is a carcinogen; it causes cancer. It is a neurotoxin; it causes damage to your nervous system. "In a letter sent last month to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, 54 scientists, mostly chemists, warned that "pregnant women and the fetus, children, the elderly, farmworkers and other people living near application sites would be at serious risk."

Full story...

More healthy eating information...

Genetically Engineered Sugar to HIt Grocery Stores in 2008

Watch out! Here comes more genetically engineered (GE) ingredients, UNLABELED, on the grocery store shelves and in your food. If you buy processed foods containing sugar, if they are not organic, it's very likely that they will contain GE sugar in 2008. The processed food on the grocery store shelves already contain UNLABELED GE soy and corn ingredients. Now they'll also have the addition of GE sugar from biotech beets.

Take action now to stop Genetically Engineered Sugar.

Discover how to choose food with safe, non-GE ingredients in FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper's Guide...

Beware: The definition of raw is about to change when it comes to almonds!

The USDA Says that almonds labeled as "raw" or "organic" must be pasteurized, effective September 1, 2007, unless thousands of consumers take action NOW!

This law will effectively eliminate the availablity of raw almonds in the U.S., while still labeling them as raw.

Pasteurizing almonds will reduce the nutritional value that is obtained from truly raw almonds.

One of the proposed methods for pasteurizing almonds involves using propylene oxide, a possible carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. This chemical is banned in Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

Let the USDA know that you want your raw almonds really raw! Take action here.

Get more information on healthy eating here.

Healthy Eating in a Fast Food World

New class taught by Dr. Christine H. Farlow, D.C. in Escondido, CA on July 11 and 18, 2007.

Read more about Dr. Farlow in the right hand column of this blog.

If you live in San Diego County or will be visiting at this time come and join us. Get information on how you can attend here.

Healthy Eating For Kids Essential To Your Children's Wellbeing

Teach your kids to eat healthfully and they will learn healthy eating habits that will reward them with a lifetime of good health. All kids can be taught to be healthy eaters. The best time to start is when they are infants. But even older children, with the proper encouragement and motivation, can learn to eat healthfully and enjoy healthy food. More...

McDonald's New Marketing

McDonald's is starting a new marketing campaign, emphasizing their "healthy" foods... their salads.

Let's take a look at one of their salads, the Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken and see how healthy it really is. This is a good representative example of the salads on their menu.

Ingredients:
Salad Mix, Grilled Chicken Breast Filet, Southwest Vegetable Blend, Cilantro Lime Glaze, Shredded Cheddar/Jack Cheese, Limes, Chili Lime Tortilla Strips, Liquid Margarine.

Just looking at these ingredients, you might say, not bad, except for the liquid margarine.

Let's take a little closer look at the individual ingredients:

Salad Mix. This is the best part of the salad. It contains a variety of different lettuces and greens.

Grilled Chicken Breast Filet. It's amazing that grilled chicken could have so many ingredients. It contains a variety of ingredients that are hidden sources of MSG, like maltodextrin, spices, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed proteins, chicken broth and natural flavors. It also contains the heart "unhealthy" trans fats from hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated soy and cottonseed oils. There's a few other chemical food additives, artificial flavors and preservatives too.

Southwest Vegetable Blend is good. It contains corn, black beans and a few other ingredients that are fine.

Cilantro Lime Glaze contains sugar, soy, spice (potential hidden MSG) and some nasty food additives, including propylene glycol alginate and sodium benzoate.

Shredded Cheddar/Jack Cheese has various different cheeses, un-named enzymes and natamycin, an antifungal drug to prevent mold.

Limes. Plain and simple lime wedges.

Chili Lime Tortilla Strips contain various hidden sources of MSG. They also contain two food additives, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, that are used ONLY when MSG is added to food. In addition, they contain soy.

Liquid Margarine contains both hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated soy and cottonseed oils, artificial flavors and preservatives.

The Salad dressing choices are Newman's Own. Although I think that the concept Paul Newman uses in donating the profits from the sale of his products to charity is wonderful, I don't like the ingredients he uses. They all contain soybean oil and spices (source of hidden MSG). Some varieties contain even more objectionable ingredients.

So, don't be fooled by McDonald's "healthy" marketing. Their so-called "healthy" selections are still full of MSG, trans fats from hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, soy and other harmful food additives.

Learn what's really healthy to eat.

Find out why soy is not a healthy food.