As a health coach aka super health nerd, who is constantly watching videos and reading health and nutrition articles, I feel like it’s my duty to make you aware of really good videos that you should watch.
This Tedx talk is one that I think everyone should watch. Parents of children with food allergies, people with food allergies, autoimmunity, “seasonal” allergies, chronic conditions, anyone who’s ever been sick (cold, flu, ear infection) … really, everyone in the entire world (ESPECIALLY the USA) should watch this video.
Robyn publicly asks “Are we allergic to food or what’s been done to it?”. And guess what, she’s eliciting responses from major food companies.
I don’t care if you don’t have food allergies. Because, even if you’ve been tested for food allergies, I’d be willing to bet that the food you’re eating is affecting your health. 100% hands down. NO EXCEPTIONS.
So take the time to watch this and leave your comments of what you think below!
I was sitting in my kitchen watching my brother chow down on Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal and I started questioning the “Good source of vitamin D” claim the box was making.
Did you know that if you live in the USA and live above Georgia, you’re more than likely Vitamin D deficient. It’s estimated something like ¾ of the US population is lacking this sunshine vitamin! Knowing this statistic, I was interested if this cereal really was a good option for increasing vitamin D consumption.
There aren’t many naturally occurring foods which contain vitamin d so I knew that this ‘vitamin d’ definitely was an added ingredient in this “food”.
According to the NIH, “Very few foods in nature contain vitamin D. The flesh of fatty fish (such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel) and fish liver oils are among the best sources [1,11]. Small amounts of vitamin D are found in beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks. Vitamin D in these foods is primarily in the form of vitamin D3and its metabolite 25(OH)D3 [12]. Some mushrooms provide vitamin D2 in variable amounts [13,14]. Mushrooms with enhanced levels of vitamin D2 from being exposed to ultraviolet light under controlled conditions are also available.
Fortified foods provide most of the vitamin D in the American diet [1,14]. For example, almost all of the U.S. milk supply is voluntarily fortified with 100 IU/cup [1]. (In Canada, milk is fortified by law with 35–40 IU/100 mL, as is margarine at ≥530 IU/100 g.) In the 1930s, a milk fortification program was implemented in the United States to combat rickets, then a major public health problem [1]. Other dairy products made from milk, such as cheese and ice cream, are generally not fortified. Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals often contain added vitamin D, as do some brands of orange juice, yogurt, margarine and other food products.
Both the United States and Canada mandate the fortification of infant formula with vitamin D: 40–100 IU/100 kcal in the United States and 40–80 IU/100 kcal in Canada [1].”
“Vitamin D has major health benefits. The best source of vitamin D is from the sun, but you also see many foods fortified with Vitamin D. Unfortunately, milk and other foods fortified with vitamin D often contain a synthetic form called ergocalciferol, or vitamin D2.
This synthetic form isn’t as potent and doesn’t last as long in your body. In fact, synthetic vitamin D becomes toxic in your body at far lower levels. Too much synthetic vitamin D2 may be linked to health problems. A number of studies link synthetic vitamin D2 to irritation of the lining of blood vessels.”You can read more and watch a video here!
So Kellogg’s, let’s decode this cereal box.
First off, the ingredients list isn’t the greatest.
Ingredients: Degerminated yellow corn meal, sugar, cinnamon topping (sugar, fructose, dextrose, cinnamon, spice, artificial flavor), whole grain oat flour, whole wheat flour, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of salt, natural and artificial flavor, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1, BHT for freshness, yellow 6.
When I read this I thought GMO, GMO, GMO, maybe GMO, maybe GMO, GMO, maybe GMO, GMO and lots of excitotoxins.
So my thoughts on this cereal are…
MAYBE you’re getting vitamin D from this cereal, but is it worth getting it from something that’s literally made from almost all genetically modified ingredients?
I’m gonna go with a big fat NO on this one. Let’s try this – get your butt outside and try to soak up some sun. Even a few minutes each day can help! And that’s the BEST way to get your vitamin D… not from a ‘fortified’ cereal.
This is a super important post that I hope you read!
I’ve mentioned numerous times before GMOs, but are you looking at your supplements to make sure they don’t include GMOs AND also things you’re avoiding in your diet (i.e. gluten, soy, dairy)?
My sister and I take things extra cautiously when picking out supplements. She’s super critical about making sure there is no soy in her products and we’re both very critical about making sure there are no GMO ingredients in them as well.
For instance, did you know that a lot of vitamin c supplements are made from corn. And what’s one of the top GMO crops? CORN! Therefore, unless your supplement is explicitly stating it’s non-gmo, it’s more than likely made from GMO ingredients.
Two of the biggest GMO ingredients in supplements are soy and corn.
I recently reached out to a supplement manufacturer that I was debating on taking. Their answer was that since most corn is GMO, that their product was not certified non-GMO.
I found the following very interesting in a piece published on Natural Society:
An investigator researching for this piece actually got in contact with NOW, a leading supplement producer. They asked about how they extract their vitamin C products when considering the high percentage of GM corn that currently supplies the industry. Concerned for their health and the health of consumers, worldwide, they wanted to know if they were swallowing GMOs — or at least vitamins derived from GMOs. In response to their inquiry, a NOW team member replied:
“All of our C is derived from standard corn not certified to be non-GMO… Many products [in the industry at large] contain soy or corn derivatives which are generally GMO’d. We are motivated towards non-GMO-sourced products.”
The NOW Science & Nutrition Group rep then included some information from their Technical Director Michael Lelah, which talks about how NOW is generally opposed to genetic manipulation of the food supply but does not specifically use non-GMO sources for all of their products. The excerpt from Lelah which the rep said was copied from a blog ‘Natural Is Better’, reads:
“Genetic Modification: NOW is opposed to genetic modification, because there are real and unknown harmful effects. Unfortunately, much of the world’s supply of corn and soybeans is genetically modified which is why we continue to offer more products that are certified GMO-free.”
Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/supplement-brands-openly-contain-gmo-vitamin-sources/#ixzz3S7lnQ4px
When you’re debating a supplement to take make sure that you ask yourself the following questions:
1. Does the product contain corn?
2. Does the product contains soy?
3. Does the product contain sugar or fake sugar (like aspartame)?
4. Does the product contain gluten, dairy or eggs?
5. Is the product certified organic and/or non-gmo?
If the answer to any of these is YES and number 5 is NO, then DON’T TAKE IT!
It’s not a risk that you should be willing to take.
You may be taking a supplement that is helping your joint pain, but is wreaking havoc on your gut! There is so much research linking autoimmune and chronic disease to gut health, is the supplement actually helping you?
I’ve been on a anti-GMO kick lately… and for good reason!
According to our government, there is nothing wrong with genetically modified foods, but there are SO many studies that show that’s ABSOLUTELY NOT the case at all.
Here are 5 reasons why you shouldn’t eat GMOs (ESPECIALLY if you have an autoimmune or chronic illness!):
1. GMOs aren’t properly digested by our bodies.
It has been ‘assumed’ that the pesticides added into the DNA of seeds are destroyed during digestion. It’s also ‘assumed’ that it won’t interact with humans or animals of any kind. This assumption was made on the basis that we don’t have the receptor cell for this added gene, therefore nothing would happen and it would pass right on through.
But, that’s not the case.
It has been shown that the Bt toxin survives the digestion process. An example of this was shown in a small village in India. The buffalo, sheep and goats were allowed to graze on their natural cotton plants whenever they pleased. This went on for about 8 years with NO incidents of death reported. On January 3, 2008, their 13 buffalo grazed on Bt cotton plants for the first time. Within about three days, all had died. They also reported the deaths of 26 of their sheep and goats, after they grazed on Bt cotton plants.
3 DAYS?!?! After 8 years of grazing on these plants all the time, once genetically modified plants were introduced they had animals dying within 3 days?!
The village veterinarian did a post-mortem autopsy on some of the animals. They found undigested food in the first part of the animal’s digestive track, called the rumen. Sheep that grazed on Bt cotton plants also had shriveled intestines, suggesting that the plants never got past the rumen as well. It was then suggested that maybe Bt toxin kills or interferes with the bacteria in the rumen that normally breaks down the plant matter.
In any case, these genetically modified genes do not play well with our digestive system!
2.GMOs can transfer into our gut bacteria or into our own cell’s DNA.
Genetically modified crops are unique because the transgene that is inserted into the seed’s DNA is similar in length to our gut bacteria DNA sequences. This makes it more likely that genes from the GMOs could transfer to our gut flora, colonizing it with the genetically modified gene. And if the transgene continued to function after transfer, it may produce GM proteins continuously inside of us. If these proteins have a survival advantage to the bacteria, it would likely continue over the long term. So, we might have functioning transgenes living in the DNA of gut bacteria long after we stop eating GM foods
There have been studies that have proved that fragments of non-GMO DNA fed to pregnant mice can be found in the brain of their offspring. It’s also been proven that DNA from food can and will travel through our bodies and end up in various organs.
To make this point even more scary, there has only ever been ONE HUMAN FEEDING STUDY that was conducted to verify this hypothesis. And guess what it found? It found that a portion of the Roundup Ready soy transgene NOT ONLY transferred into human gut bacteria, but CONTINUED TO FUNCTION!
The study used 7 human volunteers with colostomy bags. They had their lower intestines removed. One of the things they were testing for was the biotech industry’s claim that genes were destroyed during digestion. After feeding the volunteers GM soy burgers and GM soy milkshakes, they found a significant amount of GM soy transgenes in the colostomy bags. The GM soy had survived passage through the stomach and lower intestine, overturning the myth that digestion of genes made gene transfer impossible. More importantly, in the gut bacteria of 3 of the 7 volunteers, the transgene from soy was integrated into the DNA of their gut bacteria BEFORE they had the meal. This means that it was integrated from a previous meal. Thus, genes do transfer to gut bacteria and they continue to function. We don’t know under what conditions transgenes transfer to gut bacteria and we don’t know its medical implications or treatment. [Netherwood et al, “Assessing the survival of transgenic plant DNA in the human gastrointestinal tract,” Nature Biotechnology 22 (2004): 2.]
The following is from a presentation created by The Institute For Responsible Technology”:
What can transfer?
The promoter or “ON switch” might transfer. It can permanently turn on some random gene, forcing it to overproduce a protein around the clock. That protein may be an allergen, toxin, anti-nutrient, or carcinogen produced inside our gut bacteria or possibly from within our own cell’s DNA.
In the soy burger study mentioned earlier, the promoter transferred with the soy transgene, into human gut bacteria. If antibiotic resistant genes transfer, they might create super diseases, resistant to antibiotics.
We know the roundup ready gene transfers from soybeans.
There are virus resistant genes that could transfer from zucchini, papaya, and crookneck squash. Their viral proteins might suppress own body’s viral defenses, or the proteins may be toxic.
What if the Bt gene transfers? It could theoretically turn our intestinal flora into living pesticide factories, possibly for the long term. It is a good excuse to avoid eating GM corn chips, made from pesticide producing Bt corn.Institute For Responsible Technology
3. GMOs cause allergies and immune responses.
There have been studies, conducted by Monsanto, that have shown that their cooked genetically modified soy contained as much as 7 times the amount of a known soy allergy!
“Their study suggests that the cooking process, which normally breaks down this allergen, did not function as expected in their GM soybeans. Monsanto chose to leave out this data from their publication which was entitled, “The Composition of Glyphosate-Tolerant Soybean Seeds Is Equivalent to That of Conventional Soybeans.” They also left out data showing that GM soy has about twice the amount of soy lectin, which can block nutrient absorption, as well as other significant changes. The data was recovered by an investigator from the archives of the Journal and made public.
Stephen R. Padgette and others, “The Composition of Glyphosate-Tolerant Soybean Seeds Is Equivalent to That of Conventional Soybeans,” The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 126, no. 4, April 1996 (The data was taken from the journal archives, as it had been omitted from the published study.)Institute For Responsible Technology
Dr Arpad Pusztai was given $3 million to conduct research on rats using genetically modified potatoes which produced their own insecticide. The study was funded to establish whether GMOs were harmful or harmless.
They had 3 different groups
First group was fed a balanced diet and the genetically modified potatoes.
The second group was fed a balanced diet and potatoes sprayed with a pesticide.
The third group was fed a balanced diet and regular, non-gmo potatoes.
What were the findings?
Group 2 and 3 were shown to have no problems. The group that ate the genetically modified potatoes had serious health damage. It was concluded that the problem was most likely NOT the insecticide, but the genetic engineering process the potatoes had gone through.
“When fed to mice, the lower part of their small intestines suffered tissue damage. There were fragments of cells, damaged cells, and potentially pre cancerous growth. Further, mice developed an immune response as if they had been fed Cholera toxin. They also develop an adjuvant response. This means they are sensitized to other compounds that they never reacted to before, as in the case of the condition called multiple chemical sensitivity.
Since then, there have been numerous studies which show increases in IgG, IgA, IgM responses (which cause allergic reactions) and increases in cytokine counts (immune cells which have been shown to be factors in numerous diseases).
Here are a few of the diseases which have been proven to be a result of increases in these immune responses:
Rheumatoid arthritis
Inflammatory bowel disease
Osteoporosis
Multiple sclerosis
Various types of cancer (multiple myeloma and prostate cancer)
Allergy
Allergic rhinitis
ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)
Autoimmune disease
Colitis
4. GMOs cause leaky gut.
For the past few years there has been a TON of research done surrounding whether leaky guts cause autoimmune or chronic disease. Within my studies, I whole heartedly believe that a leaky gut = chronic illness. And sure, maybe we won’t be able to completely cure an autoimmune disease, BUT we can take steps to cleaning up our diets, healing our guts, and stopping the progression of our diseases in their tracks.
Well, guess what. The toxins in our food and the process that GMOs undergo CAUSE LEAKY GUT AS WELL!
The picture on the left is the intestinal wall of a rat who was fed non-GMO potato. Picture on right is from a rat who was fed GMO-potato. (Source: Institute for Responsible Technology)
You’ll notice that the rats who were fed genetically modified potatoes have expanded intestinal walls.
The tight junctions between our epithelial cells (our immune system cells which create the lining of our gut) begin to open. The ‘glue’ that holds these cells together begins to disappear and a hole opens up in the lining of our digestive track. Our digestive track now has an open doorway right into our body.
And that, my friends, is exactly what leaky gut is.
5. There are so many alternatives out there, there’s no reason we need to be buying GMOs!
One of the best ways we can force GMOs OUT OF HERE is to vote with our dollars!
In order to avoid eating GMOs, you must:
Buy organic, which is not allowed to use GM inputs
Buy products that are labeled Non-GMO
Buy products listed on a Non-GMO Shopping Guide
Or read labels and avoid the at risk ingredients, such as soy protein isolate, lecithin, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, and all corn derivatives, canola and cottonseed oil, etc.
www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com has a guide which spells out brands and foods to choose and avoid! There is also an app you can get for your phone that will allow you to keep this information with you wherever you go!
If we show retailers we’re serious about taking a stand, then they’ll start stocking different products!
And also, make sure to support your local and state governments by supporting GMO labeling bills. There is a movement right now trying to get all food companies to label genetically modified ingredients in their foods. The problem is, 9 out of 10 people have said they wouldn’t buy it if they knew it contained a GMO. Therefore, the food industry is throwing millions upon millions of dollars at the bills trying to prevent them from being passed. We have a right to know what’s in our food!! Don’t you agree?
Here is an example of a petition that’s currently circulating online. General Mills is changing the names they use in their ingredient lists to hide these GMOs from the general public! It’s absurd!! Click here to urge them to stop doing this!
Have any other reasons you believe that GMOs should be avoided? Write them in the comments below!
Wishing You A Pain Free Day!
Not sure what to do next? Here are some steps you can take to help get rid of GMOs!!
1. Pin this blog post so others can read it too!
5 Reasons to avoid GMOs especially if you have an autoimmune or chronic disease!
If you follow me on Facebook, you probably noticed I’ve been posting a lot about GMOs lately.
The more I’m learning about them, the angrier I’m getting. It’s no wonder that autoimmune diseases are on the rise!!!
Do you have any idea what these genetically modified foods are doing to our systems?
Probably not . . .
AND NEITHER DO SCIENTISTS!
And that’s the scariest part of it all.
I was scrolling down my Facebook feed when I came across this post:
My first thought was – this is great! My sister recently decided that she was going to go 100% soy free. Soy, soy lecithin and other by products of soybeans are found in a lot of foods. Neither of us realized it until she started scrutinizing the ingredients of all of our favorite products.
Foods we thought were healthy contained these hidden GMO ingredients.
I started reading the article and was happy with what I was seeing. But then I remembered something I had heard in a school lecture a few weeks back about Omega 3’s and Omega 6’s.
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“More and more companies are looking for non-GMO oils; demand is very high for non-GMO,” says Brown whose company’s oils are Non-GMO Project verified. Sunflower oil is also light in taste and appearance, supplies more vitamin E than any other oil, and is non-allergenic, another advantage over soybean oil.” (The Organic, Non-GMO Report)
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Upon entering our body, omega 6 fatty acids and omega 3 fatty acids are created into eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are either pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. Omega 3’s create anti-inflammatory eicosanoids, whereas omega 6’s create pro-inflammatory eicosanoids. I remember hearing Dr. Barry Sears talk in great detail about this process and their reactions in the body. I was FASCINATED with this lecture. When I was in high school I absolutely loved biology. It was one of my favorite classes. Chemistry, not so much. His explanations of all the bonds and the structures of the cells went way over my head, but his detail about how these cells helped regulate the inflammatory reponses in our body did not.
Autoimmune diseases all have an inflammatory factor. Our doctors judge our diseases by our inflammation markers in our blood work and our swollen joints. At one point or another we’ve all been on anti-inflammatories, whether it be an over the counter aspirin or a prescription strength naproxen.
All over the internet you read articles urging you to take fish oil supplements. And they’re right! Omega 3 fatty acids, which are found in fish oils and certain plant and nut oils, create those anti-inflammatory cells in our body which can help reduce our swelling. BUT, along with those fish oil supplements we need to be regulating our omega 6 fatty acids.
The most prevalent sources for these omegas are the oils above. Our bodies need BOTH omega fatty acids to survive. The problem is that the standard western diet is consuming large amounts of omega 6’s and not enough omega 3’s to balance it out. There are a lot of ratios out there regarding the amount of each you should consume. In school we’ve been taught that when talking about autoimmune diseases the best ratio to consume is a 1:1. Omega 6 fatty acids interfere with the health benefits of omega 3’s, therefore if you’re trying to keep a balance of inflammation in your body you’d want them to counterbalance each other.
Chris goes on to state “In plain english, what this means is that the more omega-3 fat you eat, the less omega-6 will be available to the tissues to produce inflammation. Omega-6 is pro-inflammatory, while omega-3 is neutral. A diet with a lot of omega-6 and not much omega-3 will increase inflammation. A diet of a lot of omega-3 and not much omega-6 will reduce inflammation.” (How too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3 is making us sick, Chris Kressner)
Why are we consuming large amounts of Omega 6 fatty acids?
Well, if you notice, corn contains a large amount of omega 6 fatty acids. Back before our food industry dominated our food sources, the animals we consumed grazed on plants and insects found in the wild. Now, our cows are fed corn, our chickens are fed corn, pigs are fed corn – and you don’t even want me to go into what else they’re fed. Since these animals are consuming mass quantities of omega 6 fatty acids, these acids are now passed to us through our hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches and chicken fingers. Before we didn’t get these pro-inflammatory fats from this source and now we do.
And, to make matters worse, all of these oils are then used in the preparation of these foods, they’re used to help preserve packaged foods and so on and so forth.
As you can see, you can’t take one step without being exposed to these fatty acids.
That’s not to say that these fats are bad for you. Like I mentioned before, our bodies need both of these fatty acids. We all need to be cognizant about the amounts of these fats we’re consuming, in relation to each other.
In order to tone down the omega-6 in your diet, you should stop using vegetable oils like sunflower oil, safflower oil, soybean and corn oil, which are all high in omega-6 acids. These oils are also commonly used in most prepackaged, processed foods – yet another reason you should exclude these garbage foods from your diet.
The oils you should include in your diet are fish oil, hemp oil and flax oil, which are high in omega-3s. If you are vegetarian or vegan and want to stay away from fish oil, you can stick to flax and hemp. You can also try algae oil, which is very high in EPA and DHA sources of omega-3.
If you want to do more than just switch out oils in order to level out your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, you can increase your intake of fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, anchovies and sardines. These fish are all sources of omega-3 fatty acids.”
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So back to the Sunflower Oil . . .
It’s awesome that the sunflower industry has been holding their ground and steering clear of GMO seeds. I think that’s absolutely wonderful news! The less genetically modified food we consume, the better off we will be.
But, is sunflower oil healthier and a better alternative?
I think that if you’re steering clear of soy and GMOs it’s a good alternative, but you need to make sure you balance it out with omega 3’s in your diet.
As with anything – everything in moderation!
Wishing You A Pain Free Day!
SOURCES:
If you’d like to read more about healthy fats, here are the resources I used for this post, and some other great ones:
As a health coach aka super health nerd, who is constantly watching videos and reading health and nutrition articles, I feel like it’s my duty to make you aware of really good videos that you should watch.
