11 Warning Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar

11 Warning Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar

Experiences of eating disorders: "I"ve been to many dark places"

Anonymous, 22
The first time I was depressed, I was 12 and I didn’t know I was ill. I didn’t even know what depression was. After a family feud and several years of being a victim of bullying, I didn’t want to live any more. I remember standing on my balcony, hands on the railing, and thinking: “Should I jump?” I thought that I was a coward, because I was afraid of dying more than I hated living. I began to self-harm, and my mental illness had the sting of a pair of scissors cutting into my skin.

I was 16 when I decided to lose weight, so the boys and the girls wouldn’t laugh any more, and perhaps, just perhaps, someone, one day, would even desire to touch me. Three years later, I was sitting on the toilet bleeding because I had taken too many laxatives, and my mental illness was as red as blood.

At 19, I gained all the weight back and along with it came anxiety and depression and the sense of failure. I had moved in London, away from my family, to study and build a new life. So why wasn’t I happy? Why had the balcony turned into a tube platform and I was wondering again: “Should I jump?”

I lost the weight again at 21, and by 22 things were OK (in a precarious, risky balance). I decided that I needed help before things got worse again. Now, once a week, I meet with a therapist, thanks to the NHS, and she asks me how my week was, and I am as honest as I can be.

I was as pretty

As a flower

Yours to pick

And then left to wither

Now

I want to be as free as the wind

As tall as a mountain

As fierce as a lion

And beautiful

Like the stars

That keep shining

After they’re long gone.

Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart, 23, Hamilton, Scotland, master’s student

Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart: ‘I will always have multiple conflicting sides to myself but I’ve found ways to bring them together more now.’ Photograph: Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart

This photo is called Alone Together, and represents the duality of my identity. I’m a recovered sufferer of an eating disorder, an abuse survivor and I was hospitalised twice before the age of 15 with depression caused by the social effects of Asperger syndrome. I have everything from attention deficit disorder to anxiety and I’m chronically ill with a connective tissue disease. And yet I’m mentally better than I’ve ever been and have found my place at university, but to get there I’ve been to many dark places.

I had two selves, like in this image – the real one that was disgusting, pathetic and deserved to be dead and mistreated, and one that others saw that was normal and good. I will always have multiple conflicting sides to myself, but I’ve found ways to bring them together more now. Recovery is possible. I’m proof.

Anonymous, 29
I have suffered with anorexia nervosa since I was 12 and have been in and out of several inpatient units. As an adult, having been a service user for the past seven years, I have seen a rapid decline in the quality of services available, not just for eating disorders, but across the whole of mental health.

NHS cuts have led to decreased beds being available for desperately ill patients, resulting in more strain on community services. Working hours and staff shortages have also put a huge strain on nurses in this field, resulting in reduced quality of patient care.

Treatment in all areas of the NHS, but particularly mental health, is being severely compromised. I am currently a patient at a hospital in south London, on the eating disorders unit. Staff shortages, lack of trained nurses and increasing demands on the few nurses on the ward, are seriously jeopardising patient care. In some cases patients are being left to deteriorate to such extremes that they have required nasogastric feeding to save their lives.

Suz Hemming, Aylesbury

Suz Hemming: ‘It took six years of my life just to get past the shape and size of the thing I have that keeps me alive – my body.’ Photograph: Suz Hemming

This photo is representative of my battle with mental illness, which I have lived with from a young age. I have borderline personality disorder, that frequently leaves me with this overwhelming sense of identity diffusion and a profound confusion and disparity between my image and my body; my thoughts and who I am. This photo creates a way of capturing who I might be in the one moment, because my rapid mood fluctuations and unstable sense of self often leave me with this idea of my life as a string of photos, disconnected from one another, with no narrative or person a its core. Its black-and-white presentation symbolises the black-and-white, all-or-nothing thinking style that is the cornerstone of my illness. It’s what keeps me stuck, what keeps me searching in the mirror for an answer to the question: “Can I be just one person, a whole, not fractured with flashbacks from my past?”

Also, being in stable recovery from anorexia, the photo asks what is it in a piece of glass that has so much power? Not just over me but over you too. It took six years of my life just to get past the shape and size of the thing I have that keeps me alive – my body. This photo asks me who and what is real. Is it me? Is it her? Is it her image? Or mine? And whether any of those things can be the same as each other – each a part of a bigger part, of a much bigger picture of my journey towards living a life in a “working recovery” from acute mental illness.

In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.

Experiences of eating disorders: "I"ve been to many dark places"

10 Amazing Benefits of Eating Celery Every Evening

10 Amazing Benefits of Eating Celery Every Evening

10 Benefits to Eating Millet

By Karen Brennan, MSW, NC, Herbalist, BCHN ®

What is Millet?

It is a gluten free grain that is tiny in size and round and may be white, gray, yellow or red.  Technically millet is a seed not a grain but it is categorized with grains from a culinary perspective.  It is thought to have originated in North Africa and has been consumed since prehistoric times.

What are the Benefits to Eating Millet?

• Heart protective: The magnesium and fiber content is what makes this such as heart healthy grain. Since it also contains potassium it can aid in reducing high blood pressure.


• Lowers your cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes risk: Adding WHOLE grains (not processed grains) such as millet into your diet has been shown to lower your risk for certain cancers and heart disease and reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes.


• Fiber content: Millet contains insoluble fiber which can help prevent gallstones. The fiber content is also protective against breast cancer.  Eating fiber rich grains also lowers the incidence of colon cancer.  Fiber in millet is ideal for lowering your LDL (your “bad” cholesterol).


• Protective against childhood asthma: This is also due to the magnesium content. Studies have shown that children consuming a diet of whole grains (and fish) have lower incidence of asthma.


• Nutrient Dense: Millet is a good source of protein, copper, manganese, phosphorus, B vitamins and magnesium. One cup of cooked millet contains 6 protein grams, 41 carb grams 2.26 fiber grams, 1.74 fat grams and 207 calories. Of all the cereal grains, millet has the richest amino acid profile and the highest iron content.


• The magnesium content is also beneficial for migraines and high blood pressure


• Contains plant lignans: These are converted by healthy gut flora in our intestines into mammalian lignans which is thought to protect against breast cancer and other hormone related cancers and heart disease.


• Can improve digestive health: Because of its fiber content, millet can aid with elimination and constipation as well as excess gas, bloating and cramping. It is the easiest of all the grains to digest due to its high alkaline ash content.


• Can aid with detoxification: Millet is rich in antioxidants which are beneficial in neutralizing free radicals.


• Helps to fight fatigue: It is considered among the top foods to eat to fight fatigue due to its B vitamin, iron and macro nutrient content.

 

How Do I Cook with Millet?

Basic cooking method

• Before you use your millet grain you should rinse it under running water to remove any remaining left over dirt and debris.


• After rinsing, you can cook it as one part millet to two parts liquid such as water or broth. After it boils, reduce the heat to low and cover and simmer for roughly 25 minutes.  The texture cooked this way will be fluffy like rice. If you want a creamier millet, then stir it frequently and add a little more water to it every now and then.


• If you want a nuttier flavor, then you can roast the grains prior to boiling. Place the grains in a dry skillet over medium heat and stir frequently. When the millet has a golden color then remove from the skillet and add to the water.

Simple Serving Suggestions

• Use as you would quinoa to make a grain/veggie/protein bowl. Add raw or cooked vegetables (use left- over veggies from last night’s dinner) and add a protein such as tempeh, chicken or fish.  Toss it with a homemade dressing and you have a simple meal to take to work for lunch!


• Use with your meal instead of potatoes or rice as your starch


• Use ground millet in bread and muffin recipes


• Add cooked millet to your soups


• Combine cooked millet with chopped vegetables, GF bread crumbs, eggs and seasonings. Form into patties and bake at 350 degrees F. until done.

Buying and Storing your Millet

• When not using your millet, store it in your pantry, in a cool and dark place and it will keep for several months.


• You can also store it in your refrigerator. (I store mine in a mason jar in the fridge)


• If your millet has a harsh aftertaste, this means it is rancid and you should discard it.


• It’s shelf life is not as stable as some other grains so do not purchase this one in bulk.


• I recommend purchasing your millet from small companies. If you don’t have a local source then opt to purchase millet from the refrigerator section of your natural grocery store.

How Do I use Millet Flour?

• Millet flour has a distinct sweet flavor. Purchase in small amounts since it can turn bitter rapidly. If you purchase from a small local company, ask how fresh the flour is.   You can also grind your own millet into flour in a high- power blender.  Store the flour in the freezer to maintain freshness.

What Else Should I know about Millet?

• Millet contains Ignore, which is a substance that can interfere with thyroid hormone manufacture. Thus, if you have a thyroid issue, just don’t eat millet every day. But still feel free to consume it in moderation.


• Although it is a gluten free grain/seed, those with celiac disease should start off with a small amount to see if they tolerate it. This is because millet does contain prolamines that are similar to the alpha-gliadin of wheat.  That being said, millet is usually well tolerated by those with celiac disease.


• Millet is a GMO free grain and is not sprayed according to  Jennifer at CJ Milling in CO.  She stated that millet is a very safe grain to grow even conventionally since it is not a GMO nor sprayed crop.  You may see organic millet in your store-this is where you save your money and buy this grain/seed non organic.

 

Sources

Murray, M. (2005) The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods.  NY: Atria Books

Rogers, J. (1991) The Healing Foods Cookbook.  PA: Rodale Press.

Wood, R. (2010)  The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia.  NY: Penguin Press

http://www.Whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=53

I am a nutrition professional with a focus on mental health and gut health. I am also passionate about getting nutrition information out to the public so that others can take charge of their own health instead of living on meds. I help others who have tried the medical route and who are often are worse off because of it. Nutrition therapy has an individized approach and addresses root causes.

10 Benefits to Eating Millet

GPs are failing people with eating disorders, says charity

GPs are routinely failing to provide adequate care to patients with eating disorders, with one in three not referred for specialist assistance, a leading charity has warned.

Beat, the UK’s primary eating disorder charity, found that half of people with some experience of the condition rated GP care as “poor” or “very poor” and 30% were not referred to mental health services after their appointment.

The charity polled 1,700 people, the majority of whom had sought medical help for an eating disorder. Of the 1,267 who had gone to a GP for help, only 34% said they felt their doctor knew how to treat them.

This is despite National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) guidelines that say patients should “receive treatment at the earliest opportunity”.

It comes amid growing concern about eating disorder services in general and the help available for patients once they are referred. NHS data shows a 36% drop in the number of hospital appointments for eating disorders in England, leaving thousands of children and teenagers forced to wait months for help. Charities warned that some patients were essentially being told they would not get help unless they starved themselves further.

Beat’s warnings will add more pressure on the government to improve care for patients. The charity has called for better training for medical students specialising in general practice, as well as more funding for mental health services once referrals are made.

Andrew Radford, the chief executive of the charity, said: “Unfortunately many of our respondents identified poor care, with many GPs not knowing what the real signs and symptoms are.

“This isn’t about blaming GPs, it’s about enabling the 50% of GPs who didn’t provide good care to be as supportive of eating disorder sufferers as the 50% who did.”

Elizabeth McNaught, 25, a junior doctor who had eating disorders when she was younger, agreed training was not good enough. “Many doctors do not know enough about eating disorders because they don’t feature very highly in medical training. We had just two hours on the subject throughout five years of study.”

Eating disorder numbers among the young have risen over the years. While 658 under-19s in England needed a spell in hospital in 2003-04 to treat an eating disorder, by 2013-14 that number had increased to 1,791, up 172%.

At least 725,000 people in the UK of all ages, genders and backgrounds now have an eating disorder. Research has found 20% of anorexia sufferers will die prematurely from the illness.

Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, dismissed claims that family doctors were not trained to identify and treat eating disorders. She added that Nice guidelines did not recommend immediate referral for all patients who might have an eating disorder. “In some cases the condition can be dealt with effectively in primary care,” she said.

Stokes-Lampard said the figures did show the intense pressure GPs were under. She added that it was not always possible to assess the needs of complex patients in a 10-minute appointment, calling for more investment and longer consultations. She also said better mental health services in the community were needed.

The Guardian heard from several people who had trouble with their GP, including Matt Foster, 28. He said: “I had spoken to my GP before about mental health issues and they were unsympathetic.” Another person, who wished to be anonymous, said: “When I first asked my GP for help, he sounded bemused. He said throwing up your food is bad for you and you are hardly fat, so what do you have to worry about?”

Rhiannon Lambert, a nutritionist, said: “Approaching a GP will always be a vital move in treatment and more needs to be done to support patients. Eating disorders need to be taken seriously. While recovery is possible, they often last a lifetime or sadly take a life.”

GPs are failing people with eating disorders, says charity

"Eating disorders are black women’s issues too" – video

In the second of our three-part Speak your Mind series, we meet Georgia, 22, who suffered from eating disorders through her teenage years. Thinspiration Tumblrs inspired her to lose weight but that spiralled to starvation and bulimia. Now recovered, she wonders why black women are rarely identified as having eating disorders

"Eating disorders are black women’s issues too" – video

My twins couldn’t bear the sound of me eating lunch. Now we know why

When the scientific research backs one’s hunches, when the data strongly suggests that one is on the right side of history in a  family argument, it’s always encouraging, a morale-booster. So I was delighted to read on Friday morning of a report published in Biology Today of research conducted by a team of neurologists at Newcastle University confirming that misophonia does exist. It is that acme of modernity, a thing.

Misophonia, hatred of sound, is a 21st-century ailment, the term first being used by audiologists Pawel and Margaret Jastreboff in a paper in 2000. And it is a modern condition which caused no end of aggravation in my attempts to host a family meal in the new millennium. When our twins, Daisy and Freddie, were in their early teens, the serving of, say, Sunday lunch would be quickly followed by first Daisy – and, often swiftly thereafter, her brother – running screaming from the dining room.

In any list of parenting rules “the family that eats together stays together” is usually in the top five, often on the podium. It provides a reliable, and easy, chapter for the “how to parent” practitioner and reams have been written on the subject. With luck, Dr Sukhbinder Kumar’s report might give them reason to pause.

It certainly provides some solace for those of us whose attempts at starting, let alone completing, a Sunday roast for all the family unravelled – as they used to in our household – with the twins, heads in hands, attempting to evade the cacophony of sound allegedly emanating from my whereabouts as I attempted to complete my first mouthful of chicken.

A ridiculous state of affairs which made for, quite simply, impossible eating conditions and which chipped away at my fragile confidence in my cheffing abilities. No one wants the food they serve up to cause so much, and such evident, physical pain. Sunday lunch is meant to be a convivial affair.

But so it goes. All I was trying to do was serve up a roast chicken for my family, the minimum anyone can demand as their lot in life. But, at its most extreme, simple plating up was sufficient to trigger the twins’ misophonia. The mere prospect of my eating sometime in the near future being more than sufficient for at least one of them to get the hell out of Dodge. And while the twins being absent was preferable to them being present and in pain, the whole palaver was sufficient to render me incapable of eating.

Ninety-three per cent of people who were suffering from it claimed that eating, breathing and chewing were the trigger

Dr Sukhbinder Kumar

They had effectively neutralised what made them anxious, but the anxiety induced by the threat of what had been neutralised was so great that they were incapable of hanging around for long enough to discover that they had nothing to fear any more.

The fear of fear itself was so strong as to prevent them discovering that they had nothing to fear … but the fear of fear itself … of course. And so the mind goes.

Things are much better now that the twins are in their twenties. We merrily have Sunday lunch in front of the telly, watching MasterChef on the iPlayer, plates on our laps. A complete no-no in the parenting manual maybe, but it works for us. Watching other people cooking distracts from any gannet-style sounds that may, or may not, be being made by certain people eating.

Kumar sees further improvements to come. “In my laboratory we are interested in how the brain processes emotions, particularly from sound,” the doctor tells me as his findings are published.

“We started with a study published in 2012 in the Journal of Neuroscience into harsh sounds – like chalk on a blackboard – and recorded the subsequent brain activity in 15 or so people.”

The results were unexceptional: an unpleasant sound sounds unpleasant. It was the response that was interesting, because a swath of people contacted Kumar to ask him if he had also investigated the effect of eating and breathing and chewing. All of which are prime triggers for misophonia.

“My laboratory is headed by Professor Tim Griffiths, who is also a neurologist,” says Kumar. “So as a first step we invited a group of four people to attend the clinic he runs. After the interviews, we were really surprised to see how homogeneous the symptoms were and how similar were the triggers.”

They investigated further. “Ninety-three per cent of people who were suffering from it claimed that eating, breathing and chewing were the trigger, and anger and anxiety the dominating emotion triggered,” Kumar says.

For the misophoniac, someone eating can cause an intense fight-or-flight feeling. With hindsight, I can be grateful that one or other or both of the twins didn’t stave my head in as I was concentrating on my chicken rather than run screaming from the room.

Kumar carried out his tests and the results revealed that “the average age when people notice their symptoms is 12 and it tends to start with the focus on a particular family member, perhaps a daughter with her father, and then gradually expands to other people. It is not the loudness of the sound per se which is the trigger, but the way in which the sounds are interpreted and the meaning attached to them. It is the perception of the sound rather than the sound itself.”

The science is in. Bingo! I am not a gannet.

And, double bingo, neither of the twins’ misophonia is particularly acute, in that it hasn’t expanded to that many other people. They can, for instance, sit happily opposite a boyfriend/girlfriend open-mouthedly chomping away without flinching. Not all misophoniacs are so fortunate. Some cannot even go into work, so great is the distress caused by the trigger sounds that they might encounter. Others cannot go to the cinema for fear that, in the dark, someone might crack open the popcorn. They have no option but to see unpopular films at unpopular times.

They will be relieved, however, that their anxiety has a physical base, that it is caused by abnormal connections between this frontal lobe area and an area called the anterior insular cortex, which means that for sufferers a sound is amplified in both, whereas for others any increase in activity in the anterior insular cortex is balanced by a diminution in the frontal lobe.

“A lot of people will remain sceptical”, says Kumar, “but our data will help convince people that something real is happening in the brain.”

The next steps are to discover the exact nature of the activity being produced and to search for possible therapeutic cures. At present the misophoniac has to self-medicate via canny use of headphones or evasive action. God knows what they did before Sony Walkmans.

All data, of course, is double-edged and Kumar’s findings may well be taken advantage of by the nation’s gannets. There are people who cannot eat softly. And as lunch has moved, depressingly and relentlessly, from El Vino’s to El Desko, some think it socially acceptable to hover over their Tupperware – nearly always containing tuna – making the most godawful sounds. They now have an out: “Nah, mate, I think you’ll find it’s you that’s got the problem. Seriously, have you thought about seeing someone about your misophonia?”

MORE UNUSUAL SYNDROMES

Paris syndrome
A form of depression that affects some visitors to Paris. It is most noted among Japanese tourists, who arrive with a romantic view of the city, only to find it does not meet their expectations and that Parisians can be rude. In 2006 the BBC reported a dozen or so Japanese people having to be repatriated each year as a result of delusional states and depression caused by Paris syndrome.

Alien hand syndrome
Individuals experience sensation in both hands, but find one of them (usually the left) acting of its own accord. The syndrome can happen after brain surgery or a stroke. The “alien” hand can do complex tasks: undo buttons or remove clothes. Some individuals have been slapped or punched by their own hand.

Alice in Wonderland (Todd’s) syndrome
This condition, which sufferers usually grow out of in their teens, distorts perceptions, making objects or parts of the body appear smaller or larger than they are. Episodes normally last less than an hour.

Jerusalem syndrome
Visitors to the city experience religious delusions, such as the belief that they are a Bible character. In one case an Irish teacher arrived at a Jerusalem hospital convinced she was about to give birth to Jesus, when she was not even pregnant. The phenomenon can affect individuals of various religious backgrounds, but they normally recover after leaving the city.

Glass delusions
Sufferers believe they are made of glass and at risk of shattering. It was common in the 17th century, when clear glass was new and considered magical, but there are still rare cases today.

Foreign accent syndrome
Individuals suddenly find their voice taking on a foreign accent, usually as a result of a stroke. Between 1941 and 2009 there were 62 recorded cases.
Rebecca Ratcliffe

My twins couldn’t bear the sound of me eating lunch. Now we know why

Amazing Things That Happen To Your Body When You Stop Eating Meat

Amazing Things That Happen To Your Body When You Stop Eating Meat

Tackling cancer treatment myths, from clean eating to cannabis

Cancer is a topic with high emotional resonance – there is hardly a family in the world that has not been touched by this complex family of diseases. Yet cancer is still widely misunderstood. Given the sheer volume of information available on the internet and elsewhere it is often difficult to separate fact from fiction.

This can leave patients, friends and family confused and vulnerable to dodgy information at best, and ready to undergo dangerous “treatments” and “cures” at worst. Just over three years ago, I tackled six common cancer myths; but as new myths arise and information moves on, it seemed a good idea to start the year off by debunking some new myths – as well as some that have refused to disappear.

Cancer can be beaten or avoided with certain special diets

The idea that one can directly influence cancer through something as simple as diet is an alluring one. After all, a cancer diagnosis can be extremely frightening, and the thought of being able to take some personal control is comforting. The promotion of “cancer-beating” diets has become especially prominent on social media in recent years.

The alkaline diet is one of the most popular “anti-cancer” diets. Proponents of the diets believe that an acid diet encourages cancer formation, and that an alkaline diet is therefore the solution.

The reason that acidity is seen as an issue is because while healthy cells get the majority of their energy from oxygen respiration, cancerous cells tend to inefficiently use glucose at a higher rate than healthy cells. This consumption of glucose (a process called glycolysis) results in acidic waste products, and consequently a higher acidity around cells which use this mechanism. This increased reliance of cancer cells on glucose even when there’s enough oxygen is known as the Warburg effect.

In 1924, Otto Warburg suggested this metabolic switch to glycolysis might drive cancer. Subsequent investigations showed that in fact the switch actually stems from the very mutations that give rise to cancer – basically, it’s a consequence of cancer rather than the cause.

This means that an alkaline diet can’t affect cancerous cells. Even if it could, there’s another wrong assumption here: that one can change tissue acidity or alkalinity through diet. Tissue acidity is tightly regulated by our blood and brains, and cannot be altered by anything we consume – almost the only acidity diet can influence is that of urine.

Deeply intertwined with this myth is the notion that certain foods “feed” cancer, with sugar typically listed as a culprit. However, while obesity is linked with cancer risk, the idea that sugar specifically fuels cancers is wrong. Glucose is a simple sugar, but one required by every cell in the body, cancerous or not. All carbohydrates, whether from vegetables or chocolate, are broken down to glucose, but there’s no preference for “sugary” carbs to gravitate towards cancer cells.

Related to this is the ketogenic diet for cancer, or the suggestion that cutting out carbohydrates can throttle glucose production and starve cancers. In fact, some advocates have even asserted that ketogenic diets eliminate the need for chemo and radiotherapy. This understandably sounds attractive, but there is no evidence for this claim. In fact, there’s an overall lack of credible of data to support claims made on the diet’s behalf, a subject explored in some depth by Professor David Gorski.

The bottom line is that while good nutrition is important in cancer (and indeed to health in general), the reality is that no diet can cure cancer – no matter how glossy the pictures might look in a diet book or on Pinterest.

Homeopathy, cannabis oil and natural remedies can treat cancer

Faced with the prospect of chemotherapy, many patients wonder if there is a more “natural” option. The hope is that cannabis, homeopathy or a herbal supplement will eradicate cancer whilst sparing the patient the potentially unpleasant treatment effects of chemo and radiotherapy. There’s also always the prospect that something “natural” might be more efficient that something manufactured by a drug company, who are surely only interested in profit (more on this later).

Cannabis and derivatives such as cannabis oil are pretty much top of the list when it comes to non-chemotherapy “treatment”. This is not surprising as cannabis has been used recreationally and medicinally for centuries. THC in cannabis has known anti-emetic properties, and for decades agents derived from it have been used in the clinical management of pain and nausea.

Beyond this, however, claims that cannabis has any efficacy as a cancer treatment are unsupported by evidence, as a wide-ranging US study recently concluded. As these extremely comprehensive reviews by the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research UK also show, the weight of evidence to date simply doesn’t support the use of cannabis as a cancer treatment.

Cannabis may not have an impact on cancer, but at least THC has some helpful effects. Homeopathy, however, is a different story. In multiple studies, homeopathy has been shown to have no effect beyond placebo. In fact, its central tenets are completely at odds with known physics and are demonstrably wrong . Yet homeopathy remains popular. While the preparations might be in themselves biologically inert, there is a serious danger that patients will cling to the false hope offered by them and reject medical intervention that could be beneficial, which can have fatal consequences

Deodorants, artificial sweeteners and cell phones cause cancer

There are certain things we do know contribute to cancer. Smoking is perhaps the most well-known example, with about 90% of all lung cancers directly attributable to cigarette smoking. Yet cancer often arises in individuals with no obvious risk factors, giving it a seemingly capricious nature and leaving people struggling to find an explanation.

In lieu of a clear villain, suspicion can turn on all manner of common household chemicals. Deodorants, for example, are frequently an object of concern, given their proximity to sensitive areas of our skin. In particular, the idea that antiperspirants might cause breast cancer gained traction throughout the 1990s. Alarming as such rumours are, numerous studies have shown this supposed link to be entirely fictitious.

Artificial sweeteners too have a long history of being the target of dubious claims. A now infamous e-mail hoax falsely claimed they were neurotoxic poison, despite being debunked by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Over a decade later, such rumours persist – sustained pressure by activists in 2015 even led Pepsi to remove aspartame from its products – a decision quietly reversed in 2016. Inevitably, it was only a matter of time before a link to cancer was alleged. However, numerous studies on sweeteners including saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose and neotame show no evidence of such a link.

The finger of blame is often pointed in the direction of powerlines, microwave ovens and cell phones . I’ve covered this in depth before, but essentially the concern that there might be of a link between household electromagnetic radiation and cancer is based on a misunderstanding of the term radiation and unfortunate conflation with radioactivity. And while high-energy electromagnetic radiation can damage DNA (a fact exploited in x-ray therapy for cancer), this isn’t the case for lower energy light. The microwave energy at which most domestic appliances operate completely lacks the ability to ionize DNA and damage cells, a fact confirmed by years of experiments and observations.

There is a cure for cancer, but it’s being suppressed for profit

Readers of my original article on cancer myths might notice this one was tackled there too, but the repetition here is not accidental. The idea that big pharmaceutical companies are secretly suppressing a cure for cancer is a zombie myth, refusing to die no matter how many times it is killed by the sheer force of evidence against it.

Firstly, cancer is not a single monolithic entity, but rather an entire family of diseases with wildly differing characteristics. Therefore the idea that there is a single “magic-bullet” cure is far-fetched in the extreme. Even if such a cure did exist, it seems highly unlikely that if profit is the motive that pharmaceutical companies would sit on such a goldmine rather than exploit it. After all, cancer would still exist – and a cure would still be needed by millions of patients.

Secondly, were a cancer cure conspiracy to exist, it would be massive, requiring collusion on a staggering scale. This is something I explored in a paper published in Plos One last year, which concluded that even if conspirators were amazingly skilled secret-keepers, the sheer number of people involved make such a conspiracy supremely unlikely to stand the test of time.

So why then does the cancer conspiracy theory refuse to die? The cynical answer is that it provides a useful get-out for those pushing alternative cures, supplements, seminars and diet plans. Crying conspiracy gives charlatans an easy way to either dismiss scientific evidence opposing their claims or to explain away a lack of supporting data.

In any case, there’s another reason why conspiracy theories are attractive. Psychological research suggests that belief in conspiracy theories is intricately linked to a human need for control. It’s therefore unsurprising that a disease feared by many would become a focus for conspiracy theories. What is shocking is the extent to which these views are held – an estimated 37% of Americans believe that the FDA are so beholden to drug companies that they are suppressing ‘natural cures’ for cancer.

At the end of the day, these myths centre on the idea that there is a simple cause or cure for cancer. The reality is that cancer is complex illness, and simple narratives should be treated with scepticism. It can be difficult to pick out accurate information, and the sheer density of bogus claims risks ensnaring even discerning individuals. But almost inevitably such claims either distort reality completely or worse, commercialise false hope. Cancer is frightening, but accurate information is of paramount importance – and organisations like Cancer Research UK have excellent and impartial patient guides.

Tackling cancer treatment myths, from clean eating to cannabis

What is the real cancer risk from eating roast potatoes or toast?

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The Food Standards Agency has warned that overcooked starchy foods can contain acrylamide, a chemical liked to cancer. But should you be worried?

The Food Standards Agency has warned that eating overcooked potatoes or burnt toast could increase the risk of cancer. They are urging people to reduce their intake of overcooked foods through a public health campaign, dubbed “Go for Gold” – essentially advising people to turn off the heat once your toast, potatoes or other starchy foods are lightly browned.

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What is the real cancer risk from eating roast potatoes or toast?

Bad fad – Ruby Tandoh on how clean eating turned toxic

‘I think we have an obsession with diets. With fad diets.” This was Ella Mills, the food writer behind Deliciously Ella and bestselling author of arguably the most successful fad diet cookbook series in recent years. Her eponymous first book was the UK’s fastest-selling debut cookbook ever, and she has since gone on to launch two central-London delis, create her own range of “energy balls” and even release a skincare range in collaboration with Neal’s Yard. Speaking on last Friday’s Today programme, the blogger was keen to distance herself from so-called “clean eating” and, cleverly, from the crescendo of criticism surrounding the trend.

“I’ve never described myself as ‘clean’,” said Mills, nimbly shadow-boxing with a litheness that probably shouldn’t surprise us, coming from a 25-year-old yogi. She described her frustration at being dubbed the “queen of clean”, and was quick to point out the moralistic overtones that language such as “clean eating” ascribes to food. It was a smart move, preempting the backlash that would come from that evening’s premiere of the BBC documentary Horizon: Clean Eating – The Dirty Truth.

Ella Mills was dubbed the queen of clean, but now she shuns the term. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

It wasn’t long ago that clean eating seemed untouchable. This new philosophy, popularised by bloggers such as Mills, the Hemsley sisters and Amelia Freer, was roughly the idea that we should eat less processed food and more fruit and veg. It was about doing away with junk food, and staging a return to a more thoughtful way of eating. So far, so sensible, you might think. Although not all of the bloggers used the exact phrase “clean eating”, their approaches fell into step with its core beliefs: slimness is health, health is everything, and – crucially – diets are bad.

Cannily dodging the restrictive and judgement-laden overtones of the dreaded D-word, this generation of cooks was vocal in eschewing old-fashioned diet terminology. The Hemsley sisters’ grain-free manifesto, The Art of Eating Well, wasn’t a diet book, then, but a way to achieve some kind of seductively slinky “wellness”. Healthy-eating guru Madeleine Shaw encouraged us not to count calories, but to “get the glow”. “This isn’t a diet for me; it’s a lifestyle,” Mills told us. It was a world of beauty, happiness and self-love, all bundled lucratively together under the vague banner of wellness. It was worth a fortune.

With their profits and media presence blossoming, however, it wasn’t long before these self-appointed health gurus came under scrutiny. The Hemsleys were incriminated by their support of Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride’s gut and psychology syndrome (Gaps) diet which is as credible as a fortune teller on Southend Pier.The sisters had praised the doctor’s book – Gaps: Natural Treatment for Autism, ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Depression, Schizophrenia – in a feature on their publisher Penguin’s website about the five books that shaped their food philosophy. (The article in question has since been deleted.)

Natasha Corrett, author of the bestseller Honestly Healthy, was embarrassed last week by the revelation that the inspiration for her alkaline diet, Dr Robert O Young, is facing jail time for practising medicine without a licence. Horizon revealed that Young took more than £62,000 in payment from the family of cancer patient Naima Houder-Mohammed in return for a “cure” of injections of bicarbonate of soda solution. Houder-Mohammed’s condition worsened during her time in Young’s care and she died at 27. Alongside such outright crooks and villains as Young, the hapless Mills doesn’t look so bad.

The Hemsley sisters have been linked to the controversial Gaps diet. Photograph: Channel 4

With the wellness movement coming under fire, it is no surprise that the big names in clean eating are beginning to worry. Across dozens of perfectly glowing, smooth-skinned brows, a glimmer of sweat is beginning to prickle: it’s time to rebrand, or duck out.

As in any argument where money and pride are at stake, it has become a game of semantics. “What even is clean eating after all? I never said I was clean! I’m about purity, not eating clean!” It’s Ross and Rachel going on a “break” all over again. The only way to stay afloat is redefine. When the Hemsley sisters spoke out against clean eating at the launch of their Good to Go food pop-up in Selfridges earlier this month, they were doing just that. “It is a media-coined term,” Jasmine Hemsley insisted. “We have never, ever used the phrase ‘clean eating’.”

This shape-shifting shouldn’t come as a shock. The big players in the wellness movement are just following the principles that drove wellness into the mainstream in the first place: they’re putting a bright new face on the diet industry. When a fad wears thin, you give it a new name. It’s the logic that sent the wholefood 70s careering into the lean and low-fat 80s. It’s how the Atkins diet shed its tired skin to become Wheat Belly, Grain Brain and the multi-million dollar renaissance of low-carb cooking. It’s the constant ebb and flow of diets, precarious health claims and a trend-driven food press, all underpinned by an unfaltering disdain for fat bodies.

Behind the pretty public face of wellness is a far bigger beast. With the exception of fitness guru Joe Wicks, the overwhelming majority of wellness personalities are young women, and it is these women who rise to and eventually fall from grace in the public eye. And yet the machinery of these fads is constructed largely by a small group of men. These are the doctors – self-styled or otherwise – who spin questionable academic studies, patchworks of data and sometimes little more than fanciful anecdotes into best-selling diet industry manifestos.

With the exception of fitness guru Joe Wicks, the overwhelming majority of wellness personalities are young women. Photograph: Channel 4

In contrast to the wellness cooks on our TV screens, these men have credentials to lend weight to the claims they make. There is cardiologist William Davis, whose bestseller Wheat Belly set into motion the anti-grain brigade. There is also “renowned neurobiologist” David Perlmutter, a dull facsimile of Davis. His cynically samey Grain Brain, another low-carb polemic. In a touching display of tenderness, Dr Michael Greger named his 2016 diatribe against junk food How Not to Die. If the science behind wellness is suspect, the blame falls at the feet of these men.

That is not to say that wellness personalities are undeserving of the criticism they face. Those who peddle these nutritional myths ought to be held to account, no matter where in the food chain of bullshit they stand. But hitting out at the salespeople of this pseudoscience without looking to the producers is like buying stocks and shares in the wizard of Oz. It could be that these young women – all perky, pretty and privileged – are the easy targets of our lazy misogyny, or simply that it is easiest at which to level our ire at the most visible proponents of the wellness fad. Either way, it is clear that, unless it is hit at its core, the movement will trundle on, evolving into new and noxious forms of diet culture in different guises.

A share of the blame lies with publishers, too. At a time when money is rare in publishing, editors are digging deep to offer book deals to wellness gurus, no matter the credibility of their claims.

Teenage ballerina Saskia Gregson-Williams’s debut endorsed a needlessly restrictive diet. Photograph: PR

In 2015, Ebury Press published Naturally Sassy by then 17-year-old ballerina and food blogger Saskia Gregson-Williams. The meat-, dairy- and wheat-free cookbook was her debut. She describes having found comfort by learning to cook when she was living away from home as a young teenager while studying at the Royal Ballet School. It was a route out of fixation on the low-fat, low-calorie diets that the other dancers espoused. There is no doubt that Gregson-Williams believes in the healing powers of clean eating. What is less clear is how the publishers were able to justify endorsing a needlessly restrictive diet, from a ballerina (a profession notorious for fostering eating disorders) and then marketing it to impressionable teenage girls.

There are many toxic layers to the wellness phenomenon. It is no coincidence that the faces of wellness are unfailingly young and thin, overwhelmingly white and all the talk of purity against that backdrop of privilege leaves a rather unsavoury taste in the mouth. Wellness is also the unprincipled driftings of the publishing houses with whatever currents lead them to a quick buck. It is the evangelism of wellness bloggers, picking up and shrugging off whatever label will give them the most page views. At its core, it is idea that food is medicine.

It all sounds silly when the fictions of wellness are brought together: gluten is poison; sugar is crack; acidity is cancer; terminal illnesses are no longer terminal. But these sensational claims reach us by insidious means, and those who suggest we ought to just use some common sense underestimate just how muddled the truth about food really is. So, many of us will, at some point or another, turn to the false prophets of the diet industry to cure the ills that our health service is too stretched and too underfunded to deal with. We might become evangelists for wheatgrass for a while, or sing the praises of some superfood that “cured” a dodgy knee. We might laugh these fads off, in time, just as the wellness personalities slip out of their skins and into the next big craze.

We have an obsession with diets. With fad diets. There is no miracle cure, but there is a way to push back: call them as you see them. Wellness is a fad diet. Clean eating is a fad diet. If it promises salvation on a plate, it is a fad diet. Hold the wellness gurus accountable, let them know that their diet is a diet. Make them eat their words.

Five wellness superfoods that aren’t actually that super (according to dietitian Helen Bond)

Coconut oil “One of the few plant oils that is loaded with saturated fat – it has more saturated fat than butter. While advocates argue that it doesn’t have the same detrimental impact on blood cholesterol levels, it still raises total and LDL (bad cholesterol) in our blood.”

Matcha powder “No health claims have been approved for matcha or green tea by the European Food Safety Authority, so it cannot be advertised as having any proven health benefits.”

Coconut water “A 200ml glass would provide the same amount of potassium as one medium banana. Tap water will hydrate you just the same and it is calorie, sugar and cost free.”

Goji berries “The antioxidants in goji berries don’t seem to arrive in our circulation in high enough quantities to have an effect. Plus, the berries are not as high in vitamin C as other fruits.”

Spirulina “This is a rich plant source of vitamin B12, usually only found in animal foods – but spirulina is only eaten in very small amounts, so it won’t contribute much to your overall vitamin B12 intake and it is not absorbed well by the body.”

In numbers

• £627m The value of the free-from market in 2016, according to market research firm Mintel. Growth of 52% is predicted over the 2016-21 period, to see the market reach £952m.

• 27,595,369 The number of posts on Instagram with #cleaneating

• £3tr Estimated value of the global wellness economy in 2015

• 495,191 Books sold by Ella Mills, AKA Deliciously Ella

• 219,158 Books sold by Amelia Freer, author of Eat. Nourish. Glow

• 186,477 Books sold by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, authors of The Art of Eating Well

• 122,123 Books sold by Madeleine Shaw, author of Get the Glow: Delicious and Easy Recipes that will nourish you from the Inside Out, and Ready, Steady, Glow; Fresh, Fast Food Designed for Life

• 100, 247 Books sold Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson, authors of Honestly Healthy: Eat with Your Body in Mind, the Alkaline Way

Bad fad – Ruby Tandoh on how clean eating turned toxic

Like many older women, I have an eating disorder. Time to remove the stigma | Gillian Harvey

As the cookie crumbles in my mouth, delivering a shot of much-needed sugar, a sudden urge flashes across my mind. I am tempted to grab another, and another, before dashing to the loo to purge. Stilling myself, I engage rationally with my feelings and manage to move on without giving in.

I’m not always so successful.

As a mother of five, and at 38 years of age, I’m under no illusions: I know I’m never going to be strutting down the catwalk; time has taken its toll on my once toned body and I’ve been through four stressful pregnancies. I want to be healthy, not excessively thin. But my anorexic and bulimic urges have always been more about control than any misguided notions of vanity.

That’s why I was unsurprised to read that recent research by UCL revealed that around 3% of women in their 40s and 50s have suffered from an eating problem in recent years. The number, which equates to tens of thousands, is probably just the tip of the iceberg – many sufferers, like myself, do not seek help when they experience problems. Instead, I have learned over the years, that I have to forgive myself when I slip up, pick myself up and focus on something else until the feeling passes.

My first foray into extreme dieting came at the age of 15 when, over the period of a few months, my weight plummeted from a healthy 55kg (8st 7lb), to just under 38kg (6st). What started as a vague wish to compete with my skinnier friend became an obsession that led to me skipping breakfast and lunch, and throwing most of my dinner into the bin.

I have come to believe that eating disorders, like a virus, lie dormant in our system, waiting to strike

Although I was initially motivated by the desire to be thin, looking back I can see that there was more to my illness than simple vanity. A combination of GCSEs, financial worries and feelings of inadequacy led me to focus on the one thing I felt I could control. And once on that path, the feeling of triumph I experienced every time the scales revealed weight loss was addictive in itself.

Despite the fact that I believed I’d beaten my anorexia back in the 1990s, it has resurfaced in various guises throughout my life: at university in my early 20s as an obsession with exercise; as bulimia in my mid-20s when I struggled with the stress of my first teaching post; even in my 30s, when adjusting to the demands of motherhood, I had to fight against the desire to make myself sick.

Since my original bout of anorexia, I’ve never weighed less than 44kg (7st). Something – my long-suffering husband, the thought of my children, or the realisation that I am hurting myself – always drags me back from the brink. The thought of passing on any tendencies to my children also plays on my mind, and I make sure I eat a healthy diet and encourage them to do the same.

But I’ve come to believe that eating disorders can never truly be cured; instead, like a virus, they lie dormant in our system, waiting for the right moment to strike. For me, the urge to diet excessively or – more commonly now – to binge and purge, comes when I’m moving house, am overworked or stressed. The disease is not a silly childhood blip that I can grow out of, but something that I will struggle to keep at bay throughout my life. Like an alcoholic, I am “on the wagon”, never free.

For women like me, the perception that anorexia is a disease of the young and is linked to narcissism is damaging. It’s embarrassing to admit, when teetering on the brink of your fourth decade, that you’ve just gorged on chocolate and found yourself hunched over the toilet bowl. But it shouldn’t be. Eating disorders are a mental illness; and while they may start with a wish to have the perfect body, the pattern of damaging behaviour that emerges is akin to a drug addiction.

The knowledge that disorders can flare up repeatedly throughout life, or even appear for the first time at middle age, should not lead us to despair, but give us greater understanding of what drives the anorexic brain and how sufferers can be helped. Eating disorders are often hidden, only noticed when a sufferer displays obvious physical signs; this is something acknowledged by the report’s lead author, Dr Nadia Micali, who noted that many of the women questioned told her that this was the first time they had ever spoken about their eating difficulties.

But bringing them out into the light, admitting that we have suffered or are suffering, is one of the keys to addressing the problem. Removing the stigma and challenging the assumptions that persist about eating disorders is the route to greater understanding and better health for those of us who struggle.

Like many older women, I have an eating disorder. Time to remove the stigma | Gillian Harvey

Alkaline Eating: How To Test and Improve Your pH Levels

Alkaline Eating: How To Test and Improve Your pH Levels

Here’s the real recipe for healthy eating: a big fat serving of education | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

We’ve all done it, us serial dieters. Browsing the aisles, bored of our regimens of deprivation, we crave something sweet. And so we grab the low-fat yoghurt, or the 80-calorie chocolate mousse, or the can of diet cola, convincing ourselves that we can have a little bit of what we fancy and that it doesn’t matter, because sugar and fat, not artificial sweeteners, are the real enemies in our constant war against obesity.

But now, scientists think that artificial sweeteners might be fattening us up. Dr Chee Chia, a clinician scientist at the National Institute on Aging at the US Department of Health and Human Services, has conducted research that found that people who broadly ate the same diet – and the same number of calories – became fatter if they consumed low-calorie sweeteners. One possible explanation is that these sweeteners affect our metabolism, triggering it to lay down more abdominal fat. Research from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel suggests that sweeteners disrupt the body’s ability to regulate sugar. And a recent report by researchers at Imperial College London and two Brazilian universities argued that diet drinks might be no better for weight loss than their full-sugar counterparts.

If true, it doesn’t surprise me. Anecdotally, I have friends who have cut out their daily diet drink and have lost half a stone seemingly overnight. The science of nutrition is complex and conflicting – we are constantly being told to cut out whatever dietary scapegoat is currently held responsible for our thickening waistlines – fat, sugar, carbs, gluten, meat. But most of us know in our disobedient guts that eating as naturally as possible in combination with exercise is the healthiest way to stay slim. It’s just that we can’t resist sweetening the bitter pill with a quick artificial fix.

We have a terrible food culture in Britain, an addiction to sweet things and processed foodstuffs; harassed workers lunch “al desko”, slaves to office cake culture, and mainlining biscuits to overcome the 4pm slump; after-work boozehounds guzzle kebabs and chips as they stagger home from the pub; middle-class gout-magnets down red wine with their slices of pâté; and overworked parents feed their kids from Iceland’s freezer cabinet (not knowing they already stopped at the chicken takeaway on their way home).

To browse the supermarket with its aisles and aisles of processed rubbish is to conclude that it’s no wonder so many British people are fat (eight in 10 middle-aged Britons are overweight or exercise too little, according to Public Health England). It’s embarrassing, when you think about it. (I say this as someone who, having decided to get healthy this year, found herself at the weekend devouring an entire chocolate Santa.)

A decade of flat-sharing has taught me that, as humans, our eating habits are incredibly varied and personal. I have observed various flatmates’ diets at close range – the single lads who eat only tortellini, the strictly vegan girl with lists of ingredients as long as her arm, the American with a special pan for his grilled cheese, the friend whose freezer bags of cheap, bloody cuts of meat gave me the chills, the Ottolenghi addict, the Italian who cooked everything from scratch, and the guy whose kippers stank out the whole house. Not to mention my boyfriend, who was once caught in the act of consuming five, yes five, jacket potatoes. It’s sad, but many of my friends and flatmates have spent most of their 20s trying to re-educate themselves about healthy eating, having been taught bad habits at home as they were growing up.

While it’s important to note that junk food is full of crap that keeps us addicted to it, I’m afraid I’m also going to blame the parents. We are all products of our circumstances. I can cook, for example, because as a young carer, I had to, and I eat vegetables because I was raised vegetarian. Parents shape our attitudes to food in ways that we are not even conscious of. Some are overzealous, banning all additives or ruthlessly assessing their children’s weight. Others bring their offspring up on chicken nuggets.

Many fail to teach their children to cook, so that when they are released into the world they head straight to the ready meal aisle. None of these parents are bad people; but they are inadvertently passing on bad habits. It would be useful if health, cookery and nutrition was a fuller part of the school curriculum, but so much of the way we approach our diets begins at home. Yet parents are in denial. Last month the Health Survey for England found that 91% of mothers and 80% of fathers of obese children are blind to the fact their offspring have a weight problem.

The trick to maintaining a healthy weight, as Simon Stevens, the NHS chief, said last month, is simply to “eat less rubbish”. Education is key. The NHS has just announced plans to put 50,000 people at risk of diabetes on a diet. Lifestyle coaching and cookery classes are part of the initiative. But adults also have a duty to educate themselves, and to take a long, hard look at how their bad food habits are affecting their children’s health.

Here’s the real recipe for healthy eating: a big fat serving of education | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Eating the muscle of a creature is a health destroying habit

Right now you are probably saying that you don’t eat muscles. Well, muscle is a euphemism for flesh, or for anything that had a face or a mother.

When you eat meat or flesh, you are eating the dead carcasses of dead cattle, dead pigs and hogs, dead sheep, dead lambs, dead chickens, dead turkeys, dead fish, and every other creature that has been murdered so it could be put on your plate.

The cows for example, which are vegetarian by nature, are fed the ground up remains of the dead, dying, decaying and diseased cows that are unfit to be killed so you can eat them.

Not only that but they are fed GMOs, growth hormones, antibiotics, and other contaminated grains unfit for human consumption.

The fish are polluted with mercury, toxic wastes that make their way to the ocean, radiation, fluoride, PCBs and oil spill pollutants.

And the poultry is ok to sell, according to the FDA and USDA, as long you can’t see the doo doo through the clear wrap.

That being the case, allow me to give you more yummy info about eating flesh.

Meat is full of toxic chemicals and decaying cell nuclei, contains poisons from the dead animal cell tissue, biological waste and by-products. The meat of dead animal carcasses is full of pesticides from their food sources, and is passed on to you when you eat them.

The blood in the muscles of dead carcasses that you eat is clogged with toxic poisons, animal wastes and impurities.

Pesticide poison residue, percentage wise, is highest in dead meat, dead poultry and dead fish, and is loaded with poison, unhealthy additives and sickening chemicals.

Meat becomes putrefied filth in the human body and should be outlawed for human consumption.

Eating dead poultry is a health hazard. Most dead poultry meat is loaded with the chemical stilbestrol, and can cause cysts, tumors, cancers, fibroids, excessive menstrual pain and bleeding, as well as impotency and sterility.

Maybe if you visited a slaughter house and could at least handle the smell, it might provide incentive to stop consuming it.

Most of the meat producers perpetuate deliberate fraud on the American people by selling their hormone-induced fat for high protein, and chemically doctored putrefying, filthy, putrid, over-ripe black meats, so that the stink of the dead carcasses can be deodorized and then the meat is colored so that it appears fresh and pleasing.

Understand, that the nature of a dead body is to rot and stink. So, how come when you go to the market to by flesh, it is all rosey red and you don’t get bowled over by the horrific stench?

Meats and meat products cannot be completely digested. Because of this your kidneys and other eliminative organs get over worked, which allows uric acid deposits to settle in the body tissues and joints, which causes chronic disease.

Your middle and lower digestive tracts, when elongated, measure around thirty feet. Since you cannot chew the muscle so it blends with the saliva, like what happens with plant-based foods, you swallow it.

It will sit in your body for between four and seven days before you can finally crap it out. Where do you think all those poisons and pollutants go?

By replacing flesh protein in your diet with protein from plant sources, you reduce toxin levels in your body, reduce illness, sickness and disease and live a longer, healthier, happier life.

If you think that flesh is the richest source of protein, dream on. Plants rank much higher in quality and quantity and they provide more than twice the amount of vitamins and minerals than flesh.

A high protein diet of flesh usually causes a decided increase in your appetite, adding unwanted excess weight and is also responsible for damaging, poisonous residues settling in the tissues.

On top of that, excessive protein in the diet from flesh sources definitely causes constipation, over-acidity, body poisoning and reduced strength, which brings about arthritis, heart trouble, kidney malfunction, and so much more.

Except for vitamin B-12, a person can receive all vital nutrients from vegetables and fruits. For vitamin B-12, nutritional yeast flakes, fresh bee pollen and organic sulfur crystals fulfill that.

So, a plant-based diet including peas, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, will provide you with all the food nutrients essential to vibrant health.

The good, clean, highest form of protein that we should be eating is fed to livestock. Then we wind up eating the poisoned, colored, chemicalized, hormonized, putrid, rotting flesh of the dead carcasses.

And yet people wonder why they become ill, sick and diseased.

Muscles are used to build your body strength. If it works for you and it works for the animals, why eat it?

Aloha!

Sources:
www.prevention.com
www.bustle.com
www.badass.net

To learn more about Hesh, listen to and read hundreds of health related radio shows and articles, and learn about how to stay healthy and reverse degenerative diseases through the use of organic sulfur crystals and the most incredible bee pollen ever, please visit www.healthtalkhawaii.com, or email me at heshgoldstein@gmail.com or call me at (808) 258-1177. Since going on the radio in 1981 these are the only products I began to sell because they work.
Oh yeah, going to www.asanediet.com will allow you to read various parts of my book – “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”, containing a wonderful comment by Mike Adams.
In Hawaii, the TV stations interview local authors about the books they write and the newspapers all do book reviews. Not one would touch “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”. Why? Because it goes against their advertising dollars.

Eating the muscle of a creature is a health destroying habit