To gluten or not to gluten? That is the question.

It seems that things must be successful if Hollywood is "doing it".  What do I mean by this?  Well, all "fad" diets usually become popular because a Hollywood actor/actress did it with great results.  All the trends that become a hit in Hollywood, usually become a global hit after that.

Right now there is a big craze in Hollywood to eat a gluten free diet. Gwyneth Paltrow and Miley Cyrus, to name just two, have said they are gluten free and "loving it". But is it good for you?

It is said that celiac disease is one of the major under diagnosed medical problems, with an estimated 99% of people who have either gluten intolerance or celiac disease going undiagnosed.  It is also estimated that 15% of the US population is gluten intolerant.

Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye and barley and wheat related products such as bulgur, farro, kamut, spelt and triticale and some Celiac experts also recommend including Oats in this section too. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy onwards.

Symptoms for Celiac Disease:

• Pain and discomfort in the digestive tract.
• Chronic constipation and diarrhea.
• Failure to thrive (in children).
• Anaemia.
• Chronic Fatigue.
• Vitamin deficiencies.
• Iron deficiency.
• Bone or joint pain.
• Arthritis.
• Depression or anxiety.
• Bone loss or osteoporosis.
• Erratic menstrual periods.

However, lots of people are intolerant to gluten without actually having Celiac Disease.  The symptoms for an intolerance to gluten are as follows:

• Digestive issues such as gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation.
• Fatigue, brain fog or feeling tired after eating a meal that contains gluten.
• Diagnosis of an autoimmune disease such as Lupus, Psoriasis, Scleroderma, Multiple Sclerosis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Rheumatoid Arthritis or Ulcerative colitis.
• Neurological symptoms such as dizziness or feeling off balance.
• Hormone imbalances such as PMS, PCOS or unexplained infertility.
• Migraines.
• Diagnosis of chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia.
• Inflammation, swelling or pain in your joints such as fingers, knees or hips.
• Mood issues such as anxiety, depression, mood swing and ADD.

The solution is easy.  Eliminate all gluten from your diet.  This isn't quite as easy as it sounds as lots of foods contain gluten so you will need to read the labels!  

If you suspect you have an intolerance to gluten then you can test yourself by removing all, and I mean ALL gluten from your diet for 2-3 weeks and then reintroduce it and see how you feel.  If you feel terrible then it is probable that you have an intolerance to it.

Is going gluten free a good way to lose weight if you aren't intolerant?

Lots of the "stars" swear that going gluten free has changed their lives and made them lose vast amounts of weight in the process.  But just stop and think for a while.  Which common food products contain gluten?

• Bagels
• Beer
• Bread
• Cookies, cakes, and most other baked goods
• Crackers
• Pasta
• Pizza
• Pretzels
• Soy Sauce
• Ready to cook rice dishes 
• Salad dressings
• Malted chocolate milk powder
• Sauce mixes

Now, take a long slow look at that list.  Yes, you guessed it, they are all highly PROCESSED FOODS - except for bread which, depending on which one you buy, may be processed or not.

Everyone would benefit from not eating these highly processed foods.  Many gluten containing foods have high amounts of sugar and salt in them and the flour is refined to remove all nutritional value.  So if a Hollywood starlet or anyone else for that matter, removed these gluten products from their diet they would be sure to feel much better and lose lots of weight but more than anything due to the extra sugar and additives from the processing as much as the gluten itself.

Gluten itself doesn't offer special nutritional benefits, however, many whole grains that contain gluten do.  They are rich in a whole host of vitamins and minerals such as B vitamins and iron, as well as fiber which is essential to correct digestive function.  Studies have shown that whole grain foods, as part of a healthy diet, may help lower the risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

Therefore, I will not be jumping on this Hollywood bandwagon and eliminating gluten from my diet, and I would encourage you to do the same, unless, of course you have reason to believe you are intolerant to gluten or have been diagnosed with celiac disease.

If you want to lose weight and/or improve your health and still eat gluten foods then I would suggest reducing your intake of these types of foods (bread, pasta, etc) to a couple of times a week and making them as natural as possible whole grain bread and pasta so that you get as much nutritional value from them as possible.  Also, you can well do without the salad dressings that not only contain gluten but lots of sugar and salt too.  Obviously cookies and cakes, bagels and muffins, crackers and pretzels shouldn't be on anyone's shopping list if they are trying to lose weight and get healthy.

So they choice is up to you... you can follow the Hollywood fad and miss out on some good nutrition or you can wise up and follow what's good for your body.

If you have reason to believe you have Celiac Disease or are intolerant to gluten then you must go and see your doctor.

Social Nutrition:

You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Just how long does it take to burn off the calories from that fast food lunch you just ate?

It is no news that the western world is eating it's self to death out of laziness.  Yes, I know that sounds harsh, but most blame it on lack of time and too much stress.  Yes, we are all stressed with work, homes, kids, schools, after school activities, etc..  So, grabbing a McDonald's for lunch or ordering a pizza for dinner is so quick and easy and it has become the norm.  Moms and Dads tend to take the easy option and avoid planning home cooked meals due to lack of time.

A new study from Texas has found that if information as to how much exercise you would need to do in order to burn off the fast food you just ate is given a long with the calorie information of that meal then the consumers tend to make healthier choices.  It is a plan that has been devised to "scare" people into eating better.

So how long does it take?

We all burn calories in different ways, an overweight person will always burn more than a normal weight person.  The exercise information (based on a 68kg person) should be as follows:

• McDonald's Egg McMuffin - 300 calories - 32 minutes of running at 5mph
• Starbucks Cinnamon Roll - 500 calories and 85 minutes of dancing - nonstop
• Dunkin' Donuts Cholocalte Frosted Donut - 230 calories and 1 hour of walking at 3mph
• Wendy's Large French Fries - 540 calories and 77 minutes of cycling at 10-12 mph
• Taco Bell Beef Burrito Supreme - 410 calories and 70 minutes of dancing.
• Domino's slice of medium cheese pizza - 210 calories PER SLICE and 22 minutes of cycling at 12-14mph for each slice you ate.
• McDonald's Mighty Kids Meal of Double Cheeseburger, Fries and chocolate milk - 840 calories and a solid 4 hours and 3 minutes of frisbee-playing - do you really want to put your child through that?

The study, carried out by the Texas Christian University, to find new ways to help people make better choices, proposed adding the exercise information to the calorie information on the menus.  The principal investigator on the study, Meena Shah says that hers is the first study centered on examining the effects of knowing how long you would have to walk at a fast pace in order to burn off those calories, the results were presented at the Meeting for Experimental Biology 2013 held in Boston in April.

For the study, 300 men and women were recruited between 18 and 30 years of age who were invited to eat at fast food restaurants.  Without explaining the purpose of the study, a menu was assigned to each participant at random.  All the menus had the same appearance and consisted of a hamburger, chicken nuggets, salad, french fries, dessert, soda and water.  However there were 3 things that differentiated them:

1. The first menu was accompanied by calorie information and the amount of exercise needed to burn off what was chosen and then eaten by the participant.
2. The second menu was accompanied solely by the amount of calories associated to it.
3. The third menu didn't have any accompanying information.

I think it is fairly easy to guess that the participants that ate the fewest calories were those who chose from menu Nº1, followed by those who were given menu Nº2 and those that consumed the most calories were those who had menu Nº3.  The reasoning behind this is that for the general public, caloric information for food is difficult to understand, however the minutes or hours of physical exercise needed to burn it off is much easier to apply to daily life as it is easy to visualize the effort needed to eliminate those calories.

Meena Shah said that a lot of the participants were surprised to see just how much physical exercise is needed to burn off the calories from some of the menu options: 

"For example, a woman would have to walk vigorously for about 2 hours to burn off the calories from a double quarter pounder with cheese".

However, the authors have stated that the sample group was made up of people under the age of 30, which means that it would be erroneous to suggest that the results are representative for all the consumers of these types of foods.  Therefore, the team intends to repeat the study with a more diverse group with older people.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Just how dangerous are Diet Sodas?

Lots of us, and I mean lots - including me, drink diet sodas on a daily basis.  They are something that have been marketed as a way to help you in your quest to lose weight, maintain your healthy weight or as something diabetics can enjoy or a way to avoid the vast amount of sugar found in regular sodas.

But the truth about diet sodas is far uglier than companies such as Coca Cola or Pepsi Co would want us to know.  Aspartame, the chemical that gives diet soda and other goods their sweet taste, is also called NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure.  It was originally discovered by James Schlatter, a chemist at G.D. Searle Company who was testing an anti-ulcer drug but discovered aspartame instead.  It was first approved for use in dry goods in 1974, but Dr. John W. Olney, a neuroscience researcher and a consumer attorney James Turner filed objections in August 1974 and subsequent investigations of G.D. Searle's research practices caused the FDA to postpone approval of aspartame in December 1974.  However, it was finally approved for dry goods in 1981 and for carbonated drinks in 1983.  Then in 1985 Monsanto bought G.D. Searle and made Searle Pharmaceuticals and The NutraSweet Company separate subsidiaries.

Over the years, it has been found that aspartame accounts for over 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA.  Many of these adverse reactions are actually extremely serious, including seizures and even death.  A report has documented 90 different symptoms caused by aspartame, such as:

• Headaches/ migraines
• Dizziness
• Seizures
• Nausea
• Numbness
• Muscle Spasms
• Weight GAIN
• Rashes
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Tachycardia
• Insomnia
• Vision Problems
• Hearing Loss
• Heart Palpitations
• Breathing Difficulties
• Anxiety Attacks
• Slurred Speech
• Loss of Taste
• Tinnitus
• Vertigo
• Memory Loss
• Joint Pain

But, unfortunately, that's not all.  Researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, say that certain chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by taking aspartame, these are:

• Brain Tumors
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Epilepsy
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Parkinson's Disease
• Alzheimer's Disease
• Mental Retardation
• Lymphoma
• Birth Defects
• Fibromyalgia
• DIABETES
• Systemic Lupus

Why is aspartame so dangerous?

When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 27ºC, the wood alcohol en aspartame converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis.  Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants.  The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.

Systemic Lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers.  The victim usually does not know that the aspartame is the culprit.  He or she continues to drink it, irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become a life-threatening condition.  In the case of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the symptoms disappear and many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly.

The good news is that symptoms from aspartame poisoning including: spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, unexplained depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision or memory loss are reversible.

All you have to do is eliminate diet sodas and other forms of aspartame from your diet.  Diet soda is not a diet product. Diet sodas are a chemically altered, multiple sodium (salt) and aspartame containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates.  It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight than lose it.

These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs, formaldehyde is a toxin and is used primarily to preserve tissue specimens.

Aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxic when take without the other amino acids necessary for a good balance.  Especially diabetics, the aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage, seizures, depression, manic depression, panic attacks, uncontrollable anger and rage.  Aspartame consumption causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well.  Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet.  Children are especially susceptible to neurological disorders and should never be given artificial sweeteners.

A lot of the problem, as always, is political.  Monsanto funds, among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians.  This was recently exposed in the New York Times.  These organizations can not criticize any additives or convey their link to Monsanto because they take money from the food industry and are required to endorse their products.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require warnings on labels of

products containing aspartame, especially regarding pregnant women, children and infants.  The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and behavioral symptoms.  The bill was "killed".  It is known that powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for this - as always. 

As I have stated in many of my posts, the only way to truly look after your body is to eat as naturally as possible and to avoid all processed and chemically enhanced food products.  I admit, I have been an avid Diet Coke drinker for years, in fact it made up a large part of my daily beverage intake.  But, since reading up on the dangers of aspartame I have eliminated it from my life - for good.

Having information like this means that you can make an informed decision as to what goes into your body, and knowing the effects those product might have on your health.  There is no greater power than information.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

I'll be back tomorrow!

I'll be back tomorrow with a new post, I hope you like it!

Closed for Holidays

Hello to you all!

I just wanted to let you know that I am taking a holiday!  I will be back with a new post on Thursday 5th September.  I hope you all have a wonderful summer and remember to keep up with the good habits I hope you have acquired so far this year.

See you in September!

Myth Busting... again...

For years (and I mean years) most of the studies done on Nutrition were funded by the big corporations. For example... studies on the benefits of milk produce funded by Danone, or the importance of breakfast cereals funded by Kelloggs (I made these up so you get the gist!).  However, luckily for us, more and more money is being injected into nutritional studies by governments and universities.  This is great as we are finally getting an unbiased opinion as opposed to a bought one!  But, this can be very confusing for many as all the new information seems to contradict the old:

"A calorie is not a calorie." for example.

So here I am going to try and dispel some of those confusing statements based on evidence from new studies and I hope to clear up some of those myths:

Exercise does not burn off kilos:

This it TRUE.  Yes, I know, you are all going to start screaming and pulling your hair out wondering why you are paying for that expensive gym membership or "wasting" your time running every day.  Let's just clear one thing up, the fact that it doesn't burn off the kilos does not mean it isn't good for you so keep going to the gym or running as much as you like and you will still reap the benefits - they even say it makes you more intelligent!  But first, here are the facts:

A study with 411 female participants who worked out for over one, two or three hours a week for six months showed that these participants did not lose significantly more weight than those who devoted their time to sedentary pursuits such as video games or watching TV or crossword puzzles.  A review of another 15 similar studies came to the same conclusion: moderate workouts don't lead to weight loss, possibly because they tend to make us hungrier.  But there is also a more scientific explanation.  As with weight loss, one of the ways in which your body adapts to an increase in exercise is to lower your resting metabolic rate by roughly 7%, so you actually end up burning fewer calories - anywhere from 50 to 75 fewer per day, or so the scientists said.

So what are the benefits?  Well while exercise won't actually burn off that spare tyre it does help to reduce your waist circumference and generally tones up the body to make it firmer and leaner, not to mention the other benefits of having an active lifestyle.

Is it better to eat several small meals a day or just the regular 3 - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?

The reasoning behind the myth of eating several smaller meals during the day - about 5 is that your blood sugar level won't drop so much between meals, you will feel less hungry and you won't suffer from cravings when your blood sugar level drops.  

The facts are that in a study by the University of Missouri has found that people who eat 3 square meals a day are often no hungrier than those who eat smaller, more frequent meals. "Often people misinterpret the size of a mini meal and end up taking in far more calories than they realize, "says lead author Heather J Leidy. "Also, more meals means more exposure to food, which creates more opportunities for overeating."

It is my opinion that this is a very personal question.  There are people who feel better eating varias smaller meals per day rather than just 3 bigger ones.  As long as you are aware of what you are eating and you don't go overboard on quantity then go ahead and eat several times if that works for you. 

 Is it best to set more attainable goals or to be more ambitious and set a very challenging goal?

For years, weight loss specialists have said that setting an unrealistic goal for your weight loss means you will become easily discouraged and give up quickly.  In a recent Dutch study of 447 overweight adults, researchers found that the more weight loss the participants strived for, the more effort they made, and the more weight they reported losing after two months.  The theory is that being ambitious about your weight loss has a psychologically energizing effect, fueling your commitment and drive.  If you are over weight and need to shed the kilos set yourself a high goal of losing up to 14% of your current weight, this is the target that, on average, motivated the higher-reaching dieters in the Dutch study.

To lose half a kilo you have to cut back on 3,500 calories!

This is so FALSE!  This is a commonly quoted equation that doesn't account for the slowdown in your metabolism as you drop the kilos, say researchers at the National Institute of Health.  "It drastically overestimates how quickly people will lose weight," says senior investigator Kevin D. Hall.  His team has created a more accurate computerized model.   As an example a 46 year-old woman weighing 77kg by the traditional method she should drop half a kilo a week by cutting back on 500 calories a day and therefore lose 11.8 kg in six months.  The new model shows that the loss is more likely to be approximately 9 kg in the same time frame.  The truth is that where you get your calories from is very important.  The body does not metabolize the calories from protein in the same way it does the calories from carbs and if you add that to the fact that when you have been on a diet for a length of time the body slows down metabolism because it thinks it's going to starve!

If you know what to expect, you will not become so easily discouraged when the weight loss seems to slow down.

If you have been a yo-yo dieter for years your chances of weight loss success are ruined.

This is also FALSE.  This comes from way back in the '80s when studies on rats found
that those forced to yo-yo with their diets became more efficient at gaining weight.  Humans, however, are much better off.  The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, has found that a history of losing, then gaining, then losing weight wasn't linked to any negative effects on metabolism.  Even serial yo-yo dieters who reported losing 9 kg or more on three or more occasions, were able to follow a new diet and exercise programme as successfully as non yo-yo dieters.

Women are more prone to yo-yoing by trying crash diets one after another.  The way to go is to make healthy lifestyle changes that lead to slow and steady weight loss, and stick to them.  Become more active it will help tone up as the kilos come off.

Milk drinkers lose more weight!

Those of you who have followed this blog know that I am dead against milk and milk produce, which makes it so great for me to be able to say that this myth is FALSE!!!!  Harvard researchers analyzed 29 studies on this subject.  They found that while dairy MAY help dieters lose weight in the short term, ultimately it's not a successful strategy.  In most of the studies that had lasted a year or longer and that didn't restrict calories, found that adults who drank extra glasses of milk or ate more dairy actually gained more weight than those participants who didn't.

Another thing I will add to this from my own findings with patients I have treated and conversations I have had is that people that don't diet specifically to lose weight but do suddenly cut out dairy from their diets for other reasons, find that they lose weight suddenly for apparently no explanation.  I was talking to the mother of an adolescent with severe dermatitis last week, she had taken her daughter to loads of different doctors to try and find a solution to the child's terrible dermatitis.  She had finally given up on the traditional doctors and taken her daughter to a Naturopath who instantly cut out milk produce and provided a specific plan.  Within a week the dermatitis was notably better and the mother commented on how her daughter, although not over weight at all, had slimmed down.

You have to watch what you eat forever.

I'm sorry to say that this is TRUE.  Once you have lost weight and reached your goal, you'll want to stay there - I hope.  So many people make the mistake of thinking that now they have lost the weight they can come off the diet and go back to eating the way they did before, many don't stop to think that the way they ate before got them over weight in the first place.  However, I hope that whatever regime you choose to follow that works for you, your journey to your ideal weight will TEACH you how to eat healthily and you will therefore maintain your weight loss forever more.  This does not mean that every now and again your can't enjoy a piece of birthday cake or a yummy ice cream on your summer holiday, but it does mean controlling what you eat on a daily basis so that piece of cake or ice cream doesn't stay with you forever.

Controlling your carb intake is the best way to keep the pounds off.

Lots of you will be pleased to know that this is FALSE.  At the beginning of a weight loss regime it is better to limit your intake of REFINED carbs and go for a high protein diet BUT with lots of fresh vegetables and some fruit, water and exercise.  But once you are at the maintenance part of the diet a proper healthy balanced diet with all the food groups is essential.

Now, most people when they hear the word carbs think of bread, pasta and rice.  But carbohydrates are found in fresh vegetables, legumes, fruits, and nuts too.  The most damaging carbs are the white refined type - bread, pasta and rice.  

A balanced diet plan was found to be better than the usual technique of counting carbs or fat grams in a study of adults who had recently lost a significant amount of weight.  The least successful method was the one that counted fat grams.  Healthy fat is essential for a healthy body, eliminating it from your diet is not going to do you any good at all.  Fat counting caused the biggest slowdown in metabolism, leading dieters to burn an average of 423 fewer calories a day.

The carb-counting plan was problematic because it caused and increase in cortisol and C-reactive protein levels - factors that may elevate your risk of cardiovascular disease.

However, the balanced plan caused a less extreme drop in metabolism (under 300 calories a day) and didn't trigger any heart harming consequences.  The plan included lots of whole grains, fresh vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, healthy fats like olive oil and lean fish and meats.  It excluded heavily processed foods like white bread and instant rice.  This is a low-glycemic diet and is based on regulating blood sugar and hormone levels and does not restrict entire food groups so it is easier to stick to.

I hope I have managed to dispel some of those nagging doubts you may have about dieting and healthy eating.  See you next week!

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Cancer in your food

It's nothing new if I say that our diet is made up of a high amount of processed foods.  I quite often hear people say, "It seems that nowadays everything gives you cancer!"  It may seem that way, especially if you consider that "everything" refers to the processed foods in our diet.  If your diet is heavily based on processed foods then your chance of getting cancer is much higher than if your diet is based on whole foods and generally a plant based diet with a little animal protein.

Just over 10 years ago, scientists discovered that a cancer-causing and potentially neurotoxic chemical called acrylamide is created when foods that are carbohydrate-rich are cooked at high temperatures and the cooking method doesn't matter, whether they are baked, fried, roasted, toasted or grilled the result is the same.

A chemical reaction is formed between sugars and an amino acid called asparagine during high temperature cooking.  Acrylamide can form in many foods cooked or processed at temperatures above 100ºC (212ºF), but the most vulnerable are the carbohydrate-rich foods and on the whole the chemical is formed when food is cooked enough to produce a fairly dry and browned surface.  Therefore, it can be found in the following foods:

• Potatoes: chips, crisps and other roasted or fried potato foods
• Bread crusts, toast, crisp bread, roasted breakfast cereals and a variety of processed snacks
• Coffee: roasted coffee beans and ground coffee powder.  Chicory based coffee substitutes aren't free of it either and have a surprisingly 2-3 times more acrylamide than real coffee.

According to a study carried out in 1988 by the Agency for Research on Cancer considers acrylamide a "probable human carcinogen"

“The data show that acrylamide is capable of inducing genotoxic, carcinogenic,

developmental, and reproductive effects in tested organisms. Thus, acrylamide may pose more than a neurotoxic health hazard to exposed humans.

Acrylamide is a small organic molecule with very high water solubility. These properties probably facilitate its rapid absorption and distribution throughout the body. After absorption, acrylamide is rapidly metabolized, primarily by glutathione conjugation, and the majority of applied material is excreted within 24 hours... Acrylamide can bind to DNA... which has implications for its genotoxic and carcinogenic potential.”

A study published in 2007 associated a higher intake of dietary acrylamide with an increased risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women, particularly among non-smokers.  It has also been associated with nerve damage and other neurotoxic effects.

There are currently no guidelines limiting the amount of acrylamide in food itself, although the EPA regulates acrylamide in drinking water and the FDA regulates the amount of acrylamide in materials that can come into contact with food.

So, how much acrylamide is actually present in the foods we eat?  Well the federal limit for acrylamide in drinking water is 0.5 parts per billion, or 0.12 micrograms in a standard glass of water (213 ml approx).  However, a serving of chips (French Fries) about 170mg can contain 60 micrograms of acrylamide - thats roughly 500 times the permitted limit.  Crisps (Potato chips) are very high in acrylamide.  They are, in fact, so high that in 2005 the State of California actually took potato chip makers to court for failing to warn consumers about the health risks of acrylamide in their products.  A settlement was eventually reached in 2008 when Fito-Lay and several other crisp makers agreed to reduce the levels of acrylamide to 275 parts per billion by 2011, that is low enough to avoid needing a cancer warning on the package but still does not eradicate the problem.


A report published in 2005 titled "How Potato Chips Stack Up: Levels of Cancer-Causing Acrylamide in Popular Brands of Potato Chips," by the California-based Environmental Law Foundation (ELF), underlined the dangers of these foods.  The report states that ALL the potato chip products tested exceeded the legal limit of acrylamide by at least 39 times, and as much as 910 times the limit.  Surprisingly, baked chips which are considered more healthy, can contain MORE than 3 TIMES the level of acrylamide in regular chips, according to data from the US FDA.

So, as I have said many many times before, it's time to get back to basics.  Back to our ancestors way of eating... lots of fruit and vegetables, raw nuts, a little animal protein here and there and keep it all as raw as possible.  Forget anything processed and that includes bread!  The flour has been so refined before it is turned into bread that there is very little nutritional value left - if any.