Another Study Exonerating Red Meat

I’ve written numerous times about why red meat is not the villain many experts would have you believe. This post will be short and sweet. If you are a vegan or vegetarian and have strong feelings about eating animal foods and that lifestyle works for you – more power to you! I am not trying to change your mind. However, I do feel real, well conducted studies that tell the truth about a matter should be shared. We all have freedom of choice.

This new study very clearly contradicts the assertion that red meat (beef, pork and lamb) is bad for your health. The researchers found there was no significant causal link between eating red meat and the risk of heart disease, stroke, heart failure or atrial fibriliation. The study went as far as to include processed meat which has long been considered very unhealthy.

Even though some observational studies seemed to indicate the opposite, this study indicates that those associations may be due to other factors rather than direct cause and effect. This was a very well designed study and the data which involved 1.5 million participants held up. In my opinion meat from properly raised animals is one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

What is your opinion on this controversial issue?

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These are NOT for Kids

Who isn’t familiar with the commercial showing that rabbit and the colorful cereal in the bowl that says, Trix are for kids? Well that actually couldn’t be further from the truth. This is a big concern for me as I have young grandchildren. These commercials are geared toward children to get them to ask their parents to buy whatever they see. Thankfully none of my children feed their children junk food like this but many parents do. Children are vulnerable because they don’t know the whole story and are dependent on adults to make good choices for them. But what happens when adults don’t know?

Version 1.0.0

On February 1, 2024, General Mills launched “LOADED,” a new cereal line with enlarged squares of popular cereals filled with artificially flavored vanilla crème. All kids see are the cool colors and the sugary taste. Unless a parent reads labels or does any research, they might just figure – how bad could it be?

Pretty bad actually. Trix LOADED contains more than double the EPA’s allowable level for lead, 400% higher levels of cadmium, and up to 1,650% higher aluminum levels than EPA standards for drinking water! If that’s not bad enough, glyphosate and as many as 8 different pesticides were also detected. Studies have confirmed a link between glyphosate and numerous health conditions, including cancers and nervous system disorders.

Never mind that these cereals are the epitome of junk food and have no nutritional value, they are also a major source of PUFAs (toxic seed oils) that are now believed to be the biggest contributor to chronic health problems. Exposing young, developing children to these fake foods is criminal in my opinion.

How do you feel about these junk cereals being marketed to young children?

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Is Your Breakfast Setting You Up for Success?

In Today is Still the Day I recommend eating a protein rich breakfast to begin your day, whether you are trying to lose or maintain weight. According to this study in the journal, Nature,  if you have a high carb, blood sugar-spiking breakfast, it will be followed by a giant glucose crash, that sets you up to crave carbohydrates and be hungrier for the entire day.

So instead of pancakes and syrup, or a bagel and cream cheese or a big bowl of cereal, a protein rich, balanced breakfast will set you up for a successful day of healthier eating. As I share in Today is Still the Day, creating the morning meal from foods like eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, a protein smoothie, uncured turkey sausage, smoked salmon or even a grass fed burger will set you up for a day of healthy eating rather than constant cravings and hunger. If you need some ideas, there are some easy recipes on my website.

What is your typical breakfast?

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Is Snacking Good or Bad?

Many people eat their main meals, whether two or three a day, plus numerous snacks. If you are trying to lose weight or are finding yourself gaining weight and not sure why, maybe this is something to pay attention to.

This study analyzed dietary data from 20,000 adults and found that two snacks per day contributed to 19.5%-22.4% of their daily energy intake. Americans consume an average of 400-500 calories per day from non-nutritive snacks, which is like essentially adding an extra meal to the day. Please especially note the words non-nutritive.

While I recommend not snacking in between meals and stopping eating by 7 pm or at least 3 hours before bedtime, I realize there are times when you may feel the need for a snack. Choosing some real foods to create a balanced snack from will be more satisfying and not completely derail your meal plan or diet. Instead of a bag of chips and a soda how about cucumber slices or carrot sticks and humus, a cheese stick and a few seed crackers, celery sticks with almond butter or even a small palmful of pistachios.

So if you are finding your efforts at healthy eating or weight loss are not as successful as you think they should be, perhaps taking a look at what, if anything, you are snacking on in between meals may offer the clue you need.

Do you snack often throughout the day?

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Can We Trust Dietary Guidelines?

When we read about certain dietary guidelines they come from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). This report revealed that 9 out of 20 (almost half) of the members have ties with food, pharmaceutical or weight loss companies. An additional 4 members may have possible conflicts.

Trust, Colorful words hang on rope by wooden peg

Why is this a problem? When a member has a direct tie to a food company they will be affected by that company’s agenda, whether consciously or unconsciously. It’s rather easy to see it happening in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines as they push and recommend less nutritious, processed foods that produce a profit for the company over nutrient-dense, whole foods that are healthier for people.

This is nothing new and actually has been going on for many years. The low fat craze in the 1960’s was based on a flawed hypothesis that said saturated fat caused heart disease and polyunsaturated fats were healthy. This led to the demonization of eggs, butter and animal foods, touting cereals as the healthier breakfast alternative and has since been disproved. Unfortunately these low fat diets only made people fatter and did nothing to improve heart heath.

A University of California researcher recently uncovered documents that revealed that the sugar industry had paid scientists to whitewash the role of sugar in heart disease and instead to blame saturated fat. In 1964, top sugar executive John Hickson planned to use forged science to change sugar’s image.

So next time you read about a new dietary guideline, drill down to find out who is behind it. More often than not it is a bid to boost profits for some industry rather than help you get healthy.

Do you trust and believe all the dietary guidelines?

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Healthy Soil = Healthy People

Nutrition is the foundation of a healthy life. We all have to eat so depending on our makeup and food choices, that is the one variable that will pertain to everyone. We are encouraged to make plant foods the star of our plate, so then this becomes even more important. Food grown in healthy soil will translate to healthier people.

The nutritional values of some popular vegetables, from asparagus to spinach, have dropped significantly since 1950. A 2004 US study found important nutrients in some garden crops are up to 38% lower than they were in the middle of the 20^th century.

What is healthy soil? Well the dirt food is grown in must be full of life with a diverse and complex microbiome. Just as we have healthy bugs in all areas of our bodies (that’s what the microbiome is), healthy soil must have a robust microbiome. There are more microorganisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on this planet.

The human microbiome is made up of trillions of microbes such as bacteria, fungi and protozoa. It regulates important bodily processes including digestion, immune system function and brain function. Our microbiome and soil microbiome function similarly. The soil is essentially the stomach of the plant.

Think about it this way, when you have to take a round of antibiotics, they may kill the bug you are fighting, but they kill off beneficial bacteria as well and often can cause digestive distress. You still eat and digest your food but not nearly as effectively. This is why you replace those beneficial bugs with probiotics.

In the same way, chemical fertilizers won’t stop the plant from growing but they will deplete these microorganisms and without all the diversity of microorganisms in the soil, the health of the plants grown there and then eaten by animals and people will lack the true vitality and health they are meant to have.

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Is Life or Death Coming out of Your Mouth?

The Bible tells us:

Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinks, so is he.”

Proverbs 18:21, “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.” Msg.

Proverbs 15:4, “ The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.”

These are not just pretty, poetic words, they are truth and now proven by science.

According to Dr. Caroline Leaf author of  “Who Switched Off My Brain?, “Negative words can be more harmful to you than the person you say them to, because your mind formed the toxic thought, meditated on the words and spoke them – reinforcing them in your mind. Because you created a stronghold, your body reacts with stress. If the stress chemicals flow in your brain longer than 30 seconds, your thinking, your intelligence, body and everything else are all going to be negatively affected.”

I don’t think we realize just how powerful what we think and what we say is. Not just to the person we may be speaking to, but to ourselves! Stress is the underlying cause of all chronic disease. According to research by Dr. Fred Luskin of Stanford University, a human being can have around 60,000 thoughts per day—and 90% of these are repetitive! Pay attention to your thoughts for even just a day or two and you will see they contain a mixture of negative, positive and inquisitive thoughts. Further research found up to 80% of our thoughts are negative.

What you continually think about affects you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Words are powerful – they can be healing, encouraging and give life to what is spoken or they can bring death to it. So I urge you to pay attention to those thoughts running through your mind and be careful what you give life to with your words. You may just be poisoning yourself!

What kind of thoughts are you speaking into your life?

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Easter Blessings 2024

We are days away from celebrating Easter, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In this chaotic, upside down world we find ourselves, celebrating this joyous and victorious event is such a blessing.

I don”t know what your beliefs are but I do know we can all use some positive, uplifting news right about now and this is the best news I know.

So I wish you a blessed Easter and a happy spring and I thank you for taking the time to read what I post.

Ann

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Sugar Alternatives: Healthy or Not

This post is in response to a request from a reader. Many people already know the negative health effects of eating too much sugar. Besides tooth decay and obesity, diabetes has become epidemic in our country. Consider these statistics: 38.4 million people (11.6% of the US population) have diabetes; 22.8% of adults (8.7 million) are undiagnosed; 97.6 million people (18 years and older) or 38% of the adult population have prediabetes. Those are alarming statistics for sure. Eliminating added sugars, mostly from packaged, processed and ultraprocessed (junk!) foods is the first step to changing this.

Many people resort to artificial sweeteners thinking they are making a better choice. But are they? Most people know that sweeteners like Equal and NutraSweet which contain aspartame have serious health problems associated with them including kidney, liver and brain damage. Studies have also shown it slows metabolism leading to obesity.

Enter Splenda. It is marketed as being made from sucrose – sugar, which technically it is. However the sugar is chlorinated and becomes sucralose. Chlorine is a toxic irritant to the cells of the body. So then ingesting Splenda in your coffee or tea and eating cookies and other sweets made with it would be the opposite of a healthy substitution!

There are some very serious health risks associated with Splenda including leukemia, increased appetite, obesity, weight gain, metabolic dysfunction, diabetes, decreasing insulin sensitivity and damaging DNA!

Clearly, you would do less harm to your body eating real sugar! There are some more natural sweeteners you may consider using to replace sugar in your diet without risking these alarming side effects. I did a newsletter detailing them that you can access here.

Have you been using Splenda thinking you were doing something healthy for your body?

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Generational Cells

I found the information in this article fascinating. Family is very important to me. I have three children I love more than life and now 6 grandchildren who are the lights of my life. I took (and still do since, once a mom always a mom!) my responsibility in raising my children very seriously and now I take the privilege of being able to take care of and speak into my grandchildren’s lives very seriously.

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We know that we are related to our loved ones by blood. But what these researchers found is pretty amazing. They found that women still had their sons’ cells circulating in their blood over 20 years after giving birth and children had their mother’s cells circulating in their blood even in young adulthood!

We can even have cells from older siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents! That means if a mother absorbed cells from her son and then gave birth later to a daughter, the daughter could have those cells passed on to her. Then when she gives birth her child could have some of their uncle’s cells!

So what does this mean? Well apparently we could have cells from our grandparents and other relatives living in us that could possibly influence our future health. My maternal grandmother was a very robust, strong, faithfilled woman. The thought that I could have some of her cells in my blood protecting me is a wonderful thought!

What this says to me is that we are more deeply connected than maybe we have ever realized! And what we do and how we live can have an impact on future generations in ways we never realized.

How does it make you feel to know you may have cells of your mother or grandmother circulating in your body today?

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