January 17, 2008

Can Chinese Food Cause Cancer?

Can Chinese Food Cause Cancer?


Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a common ingredient in Chinese food, may cause stomach cancer, according to a study by researchers at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Cancer Research Institute.

Their analysis of 134 patients found that nearly half of those with stomach, rectal and colon cancer were regular consumers of Chinese food from middle- or low-end restaurants. Most of them also had ulcers, which were also linked to MSG.

In 2004, the World Health Organization declared MSG unsafe for human consumption, but it is still widely used.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Chinese food is usually the first cuisine that comes to mind when anyone mentions MSG, and this is because it was commonly added to Chinese dishes to enhance flavors and make foods taste fresher. Even MSG Symptom Complex, which is a term used to describe short-term reactions to MSG, was called “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” for some time in the United States.

It is, however, completely unfair to only point the finger at Chinese restaurants when it comes to MSG.

This food additive, which I can confidently say is one of the absolute worst on the market, is used in canned soups, crackers, meats, salad dressings, frozen dinners and much, much more. It’s found in your local supermarket and restaurants, in your child’s school cafeteria and, amazingly, even in your baby’s food and infant formula (another reason why breastfeeding is vastly superior).

One of the best overviews of the very real dangers of MSG comes from Dr. Blaylock, author of the highly recommended Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills. He explains that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means that it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, acting as a poison.

Aside from harming your brain, MSG has also been linked to:

Obesity
Eye damage

Headaches
Fatigue and disorientation
Depression
Is There MSG in YOUR Food?

Food manufacturers are not stupid. They’ve caught on to the fact that people like you want to avoid eating this nasty food additive. As a result, do you think they responded by removing MSG from their products? Well, a few may have, but most of them just tried to “clean” their labels. In other words, they tried to hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient.

How do they do this? By using names that you would never associate with MSG. Fortunately, you can get a full list of ingredients that contain MSG at MSGMyth.com. For instance, the ingredients below all contain MSG:

Gelatin
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
Yeast Extract
Malted Barley
Rice Syrup or Brown Rice Syrup
In general, if a food is processed you can assume it contains MSG. So if you stick to a whole, fresh foods diet like the one in my nutrition plan, you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll avoid this toxin.

The other place where you’ll need to watch out for MSG is in restaurants. You can ask your server which menu items are MSG-free, and request that no MSG be added to your meal, but of course the only place where you can be entirely sure of what’s added to your food is in your own kitchen.

But to be on the safe side, here is a list of ingredients that ALWAYS contain MSG:

Autolyzed Yeast
Calcium Caseinate
Gelatin
Glutamate
Glutamic Acid
Hydrolyzed Protein
Monopotassium Glutamate
Monosodium Glutamate
Sodium Caseinate
Textured Protein
Yeast Extract
Yeast Food
Yeast Nutrient

And a list of ingredients that OFTEN contain MSG:
Barley Malt
Bouillon
Broth
Carrageenan
Enzyme- modified Substances
Flavoring
Flavors / Flavoring
Malt Extract
Malt Flavoring
Maltodextrin
Natural Flavor / Flavorings
Natural Pork / Beef / Chicken Flavoring
Pectin
Protein- fortified Substances
Seasonings
Soy Protein
Soy Protein Isolate or Concentrate
Soy Sauce and Soy Sauce Extract
Stock
Vegetable Gum
Whey Protein
Whey Protein Isolate or Concentrate

January 16, 2008

MACA



FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is Maca?

Maca is a cruciferous root vegetable indigenous to the high Andean mountain plateaus of Peru. Also called “Peruvian Ginseng” Maca is an exceptionally hardy plant growing where no other crops can survive. At altitudes of 14,000 ft., Maca must endure extreme conditions ranging from freezing cold, fierce winds, to intense sunlight, often all within a period of 24 hours. Herbalists believe that resilient plants are especially valuable from a medicinal perspective and in this category, Maca knows no equal.

Who benefits from Maca?

Everyone! The most exciting news about Maca is that it strengthens and balances the endocrine system of both sexes in the appropriate gender-specific manner. Its action focuses on the hypothalamus/pituitary axis, which governs the intricate and delicate hormonal system of our body. Maca is an ideal addition to the daily diets of both men and women to promote greater energy and stamina improve ability to handle stress and enhance sexual and reproductive health and wellness.

Can Maca help with my menopause symptoms?

Currently, Maca is gaining worldwide attention as a safe, natural, and highly effective alternative to HRT. Many health professionals are integrating Maca into their practices and promoting it as an excellent treatment for menopause since Maca offers an entirely different and completely safe approach to hormones. Maca is a tonic (strengthener) and rejuvenator for the entire endocrine system, thereby encouraging the body to manufacture it's own natural hormones - and in the correct proportion to each other. The results speak for themselves as thousands of women report relief from symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, fatigue, vaginal dryness, and loss of libido.

How is Maca different from menopausal herbs like black cohosh?

Even herbs containing phyto-hormones have a suppressive effect on the glands, which would naturally otherwise produce that hormone. Unlike soy products, black cohosh, licorice root, wild yam, and others containing hormone-like substances, Maca contains no plant hormones. By regulating the hypothalamus/pituitary axis to help insure balanced and healthy hormone levels in the body, Maca works on the root of the problem rather than just the symptoms of the problem.

Will Maca interfere or disrupt my natural hormonal rhythms?

Maca feeds and nourishes the glandular system. It in no way imposes or acts as an aggressor in the body. Rather, it works with the vital life force by giving it the proper tools to ensure optimum health and balance. Maca is a superfood that revitalizes the entire endocrine system, thus allowing the innate wisdom of the body to control the hormonal system from within.

How does Maca benefit andropause?

Andropause, also referred to as male menopause is a decline in, or an inability to utilize testosterone. When levels of this hormone become depleted in a man’s body, the results can be devastating--both physically and emotionally. Thankfully Maca can restore the aging hormonal system back to that of its younger years by strengthening and toning the entire endocrine system. Benefits can include an increase in libido, sexual potency, fertility, energy and stamina.


How much Maca should I take?

A common misconception about herbs is that there is a standard dosage. In actuality, the proper measure is in relation to size, sensitivity, age, and gender. In general though, a typical daily-suggested intake could be anywhere from 1,500-10,000mg daily, split into two or three doses. Remember that Maca is a food; less than 1500mg will likely not deliver desired results. We recommend starting at 1,500mg per day and regulating your own dosage to achieve your personal goals.

Can I take Maca with other supplements/medications?

To date there are no known toxic side effects to Maca. It is a very safe food and just as a common potato or turnip would not interfere with medications or supplements, neither will Maca. In fact, Maca will assist the body in utilizing supplements to their optimum capacity as it helps to further digest and assimilate the nutrients.

Can I give Maca to my children?

Maca has been consumed as a staple food in the diets of Native Peruvians for thousands of years. It has proven to be very safe and it is most definitely beneficial for children.
In today’s world of devitalized and highly processed foods, high sugared snacks and drinks, and demineralized soils, it’s nice for parents to know they have a highly nutritious alternative. Maca has no known side effects and is non-toxic. Maca powder can be added to beverages or food, including yogurt, porridge, applesauce, or pudding.

Can I give Maca to my pets?

The Native Peruvians fed Maca to their livestock to promote endurance, strength, and fertility. It is recorded that the use of Maca in their domesticated animals greatly enhanced their health. It may be of particular interest to breeders to know that Maca absolutely increases fertility, and to further its appeal, Maca also builds strong and vital offspring.

What is the best form of Maca to take?

Look for brands that use pure, certified organic Maca that is grown traditionally in the Peruvian highlands. Make sure that only the root of the Maca plant is used, as this is where the medicinal value resides. For best results, choose gelatinized Maca for greater potency and optimal absorption. Gelatinization is an extrusion process that removes the starch from the root leaving a more concentrated powder that is easier to digest. Maca is available in powder, tablets, and capsules. Powder is the most economical form and tablets and capsules are the most convenient.

January 7, 2008

Fava Beans: Great For Hormone Replacement With Anti-Cancer Potential

Originally published January 7 2008
Fava Beans: Great For Hormone Replacement With Anti-Cancer Potential
by Kal Sellers

(NewsTarget) Two years ago this month a good friend of ours joined us for a humble beginning of our natural nutrition and whole food preparation classes. She was one of those students who just took everything and ran with it. She lost about 15 pounds, her bowels started moving better and she looked ten years younger.

For all of this, she complained that she was being driven crazy with hot flashes and did not want to go on hormone therapy. She decided to come see me professionally.

I spoke with her and quizzed her about her diet. She had been following our health program exactly. I figured that she just needed an infusion of plant based hormones.

I explained to her that plant hormones are the best protection in the world. They are large, weak structures that will fill up all the hormone binding sites and keep them satisfied as needed without ever reaching toxic strength. When your body releases hormones erratically (as happens during many times of life but especially during menopause) those hormones can be absent or can be at toxic levels. With plant hormones binding up the receptor sites all the time, you never even know that the levels are up or down and the potential toxic levels (which can cause estrogen-dependent cancer) are never reached.

The best part of all this, I told her, is that your body will stop working so hard at meeting hormonal needs and will get to rest and re-set itself to a new level of health.

I explained that if we all ate natural diets all the time, that we could not avoid huge amounts of plant hormones every day and that our bodies really are designed to get most of their hormone needs from the diet.

She, of course, wanted to know what to do.

I told her about fava beans. These are the most estrogen-dense food known. When sprouted, they become far more so, 3-30 times more.

I had her sprout dry fava beans (which took one afternoon in a bowl of water) and then low-heat them. Low heating is a technique perfected in Traci's Transformational Kitchen Cookbook and Traci's Transformational Health Principles, which allows the bean to stay alive (in fact it will grow during the process and in the fridge thereafter) while softening the hard exterior.

She was then to blend them with a little extra virgin olive oil and seasonings to make a smooth savory "soup". She was to eat at least 1/4 cup every day.

She actually blended them with tomatoes and onions when she did it for real. She had it for dinner and then that night she got sick. I have never seen this before or since. She stayed sick for that night and was a little queasy the next day. After that she stopped having hot flashes. She went a whole year without having hot flashes and then, when they began again, she began eating 1/2 cup of edamame three or four times per week. She has been hot-flash free since that time.

Often today I read articles that are leading the readers to believe that soy is the premier source of phyto-estrogens. Not so at all. Further, many people are reacting to soy as a food reaction and their health gets damaged by it. Besides this, soy protein (which is what many people are using) is a by-product of making soybean oil and is very chemical rich.

Edamame, a green soybean, has none of the drawbacks and most people will not react to it even if they are allergic to dry soybeans and soy products.

Still, fava beans are the best source. They are usually experienced as tasty and are easy to digest. When sprouted, they become the best phyto-estrogen supplement known.

I have given fava beans to many people having hormone problems and I find them reliable relief. As with all sources of phyto-estrogens, fava beans are also somewhat anti-inflammatory.

Herbally (after all, this is an herbal medicine column), we use blessed thistle, black cohosh, kudzu root, wild yam, sarsaparilla, wheatgrass, red clover blossoms, alfalfa, vitex, dong quai and many others for herbal hormone foods. Most of these contain phyto-estrogens, wild yam and sarsaparilla contain steroidal saponins which are hormone building blocks.

I no longer reach first for the herbal aids, however, but recommend sprouted, low-heated fava bean soup.


About the author
Kal Sellers, MH is a lifelong student and practitioner of the natural healing arts.
Kal is a Master Herbalist, a Massage Therapist, Technician of the Rolf Method of Structural Integration, Iridologist, Mind-Body Medicine Practitioner, Mental Re-programmer, Life Coach, Natural Nutritionist, Reflexologist and more.
Kal is currently attending Life University in preparation for chiropractic school.
Kal currently operates and maintains www.KalsSchool.com, an on-line school for natural healing and herbal medicine.
Kal also maintains www.BestFoodist.com as the website for the distribution of his and his wife's books on natural nutrition and companion recipe book (Traci's Transformational Kitchen Cookbook and Traci's Transformational Health Principles).
Kal and Traci have five children, the last three of which were delivered at home, the last by Kal. They live now in Powder Springs, GA where they maintain live classes on food and medicine for anyone choosing to master medical independence and life-long optimal health!




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January 4, 2008

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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! Let's make 2008 a great one. Peace, knowledge and love to all.