The GAIA Health Blog

I want to finally post an article I saved off some time ago from one of my favorite blogs,  The Food Renegade

Are you convinced yet about the dangers of soy? Many aren’t. “Is soy bad for you? …Really?” I hear the question so often I want to scream.

After decades of hearing marketing spin about how soy is a wonder food, a protein-rich legume able to rescue us from our dependence on meat, I suppose it’s understandable why so many people have yet to understand fully the dangers of soy. Really, you’re not going to get the full story unless you research it on your own. And why would you, when soy is “universally” touted as a health food? Well, it isn’t.

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F.Y.I., I'm EXCLUSIVELY eating Pasture Raised Eggs , I AVOID COMMERCIAL EGGS.

It's been almost 3 years since my my last cholesterol blood test I posted on this blog, and I calculated 150 weeks at minumum 22 eggs a week, subtracting the infrequent days where I miss my eggs, that's well over 3000 eggs, mostly fried in heart healthy coconut oil.

As my email came from the independend blood test lab in Portland Oregon, Any Lab Test Now, opening the email was akin to a kid opening a Christmas present, excited to see the what I got.

3000+ eggs later, cholesterol levels are still AMAZING!!!!

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I try to write about the things that I do for myself….

….and those issues that concern me most, and for me, I'm gonna bring cilantro into my regiment, because of OVERWHELMING evidence that it helps to help remove mercury and other heavy metals from the body.

This is VERY important to me in that I eat salmon almost every day, for health reasons I write about in the blog. Quality, wild caught salmon, is relatively low in mercury (see chart here), but who heck knows what that really means for something I consume almost every day.

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Before I say anything, Let me say I TOTALLY AVOID COMMERCIAL EGGS (I explain why below)

Eggs…..half of us love them, my guess is 70% of the other half don't eat them because of perceptions that eggs are bad for your yealth. I beg to differ, because, for non vegetarians, pasture raised eggs are one of the healthiest things you can put in your body.

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Living part time in Oregon, I got sucked into this story, and it won't let go of my mind. The full text of this article is copied word for word from the NPR website……………..

The strange case of genetically engineered wheat on a farm in Oregon remains as mysterious as ever. If anything, it's grown more baffling.

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Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history, and its approval for use in food was the most contested in FDA history. In the end, the artificial sweetener was approved, not on scientific grounds, but rather because of strong political and financial pressure. After all, aspartame was previously listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent!

It's hard to believe such a chemical would be allowed into the food supply, but it was, and it has been wreaking silent havoc with people's health for the past 30 years.

The truth is, it should never have been released onto the market, and allowing it to remain in the food chain is seriously hurting people — no matter how many times you rebrand it under fancy new names.

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UPDATE 2/12/2016….. Garden of recalls raw meal products to Salmonella outbreak read more here….(just stating opinion here, but I do think Garden of Life did try to straighten up its act and "go clean", but they may have been victims of "Corporate Sabotage", in that when companies try to do the right thing, their healthy products get sabotaged and discredited by covert Big Business entities that wanna keep using unhealthy cheap products, often from China, to increase profits. I think this is what also happened to Chipotle, but let's not get too wrapped up into that here, cause what we have to deal with here is almost too much to for the mind to handle, let's just look at what can be proven……)

UPDATE 11/16/2015….. Garden of life claims its products to now be "Clean" (though page no longer on Garden of Life website)

UPDATE 2/6/2014…..Garden of Life, SunWarrior, Natural News reach industry-leading agreement for the future of brown rice protein…..
read more here

…cheap brown rice protein from Southeast Asia seems to be the culprit, in America's #1 selling Vegan Raw Protein

Note: many of the links in this article may be disabled, because Natural News has removed them, I assume as part of the deal with Garden of Life, they have even removed this article form their website, but I wanted to post it exactly as I copied it before they deleted it.

Well hey, I got burned on this one, although I am lucky to take chlorella everyday to help remove heavy metals from the body, but I will stop using Garden of Life Protien immediately. This is why I stay diligent in understanding what I put in my body……………..

I would also be concerned for any protein powder or smoothie mix, since brown rice protein is in many products and many other products can be affected.

This entire article was pulled totally from Natural News.

(NaturalNews) Natural News has confirmed, via three different laboratories, the presence of significant levels of the heavy metals tungsten, lead and cadmium in Garden of Life "beyond organic" raw protein products. This has been confirmed across multiple lots of Garden of Life Original, Vanilla and Chocolate Cacao and Vanilla Spiced Chai. Tungsten has also been found and confirmed in Garden of Life "Raw Fit" products.

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Having lived in both Portland Oregon  and Seattle over the past couple of years, I tell friends back in my hometown of Chicago that the great Northwest is in many ways "Greener" than Chicago and much of the country. I've lived and worked in 5 states in 6 years, so I can give an unbiased opinion.

It is physically green in the winter, which was inconceivable to a Mid-Westerner like me , but also, there "seems" to be more of a "Green Sustainability" mindset, not saying my beloved Chicago doesn't have it, but put another way, you will actually feel out of place up here if you are not recycling…….although those recycling bins at work still confuse me.

Anyhoo, here is the latest amazing project going on up here in Seattle, a massive food forest……

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This whole "Manuka Craze", that even I have found myself caught up in, had led me to do another journey into what I call "The Project" Series in my blog, where I dive into finding the quality version of products I love…..and exposing the bogus ones

Real Manuka production is down in New Zeland, perhaps as much as 80%, but more and more [supposed] Manuka is popping up on the shelves in America….something ain't adding up.

Those "hustlers" know consumers have a tendency to eyeball a "latest craze" word on a product label, grab the product, throw it in the shopping cart, and do very little research on what it really in the jar or bottle…….no worries, I love putting in the work to see who's real and who's fake.

I love putting together a stylish and visually appealing Health Blog for the "Social Media Masses", but this kind of research……..well, this is what I really do!!!!

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“After water, cacao is the single healthiest substance you can put in your mouth. It can easily replace a number of psychiatric drugs for mood, plus it produces the same chemistry in the brain that occurs when we fall in love.”
– Chris Kilham (a.k.a., "The Medicine Hunter")

This is one of those quotes I truly believe, because the more I get into this wellness research, the more Cacao Chocolate pushed its way up to one of the "Kings of the Nutrition Hill".

And for me, Cacao is one my personal top four or five superfoods that is "head and shoulders" above all others, for health, wellness, and longevity….so I consume it everyday in my smoothies…………

Cacao, The Quick, Nutrition Science bla-bla-bla…….

Before you make Hershey Bars bars a staple in your diet, it's important to understand that the health benefits of chocolate are mainly due to its rich Flavanoid content. And the more chocolate is processed, the fewer Flavanoids it retains.

Fewer Flavanoids translates to less antioxidant content and less potential health benefits.
Raw chocolate is naturally rich in Flavanoids, which are natural nutrients with antioxidant properties; the same nutrients that make berries, grapes, and green tea health-promoting foods.

Food of the Gods?    …..it just might be

The ancient Mayans knew a good thing when they saw it and worshiped the cocoa bean as an idol. The Aztecs also held the cocoa bean in high esteem, and their delightful story about its origins involves their creator and god of agriculture, Questzalcoatl.

They believed he traveled to earth on a beam of the morning star carrying a cocoa tree from Paradise, and that wisdom and power came from eating the fruit of the tree.

Cacao was so revered it was used as currency…….

……. as one European explorer noted of cacao beans that "that four cocoa beans could get you a pumpkin, 10 a rabbit and 100 would buy you a slave".

Columbus' son Ferdinand wrote about a Cacao bean encounter. He was struck by how much value the Native Americans placed on cacao beans, saying……..

……."They seemed to hold these almonds [referring to the cacao beans] at a great price; for when they were brought on board ship together with their goods, I observed that when any of these almonds fell, they all stooped to pick it up, as if an eye had fallen."

Flavanoid Power!!!

Flavonoids that are abundant in raw chocolate can protect your cells against damage by free radicals, which can help to prevent premature aging.

Flavonoids in raw chocolate are good for your heart, as they can help to prevent stickiness of platelets, which are cells that play an important role in blood clotting. Flavonoids can help your body produce nitric oxide, a compound that promotes a healthy cardiovascular system.

There is volumes more on Flavanoids on the web….take a look……..

Flavanoids….the latest craze

I'm sure we'll start hearing that word everywhere, just like antioxidants, Omega-3's, and all the other "latest crazes".

Flavanoids are heavy hitting antioxidants, that have since been credited with most of chocolate’s health benefits. Flavanols affect the way nitric oxide is produced in the body, helping blood vessels to relax, and thereby improving blood flow to the heart, the brain, and extremities.

The Bitter Truth……………..

Good news….flavanoids also may reduce inflammation, and the proliferation of dangerous free radicals produced in regular cell metabolism.

Bad news……at this stage, cocoa powder remains quite bitter. As a result, it’s often processed by treatment with alkali — most commonly sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda — to make it darker, less acidic, and easier to mix into beverages. Unfortunately, this 200-year-old method, also known as "Dutch-processing," has been shown to destroy the active flavanol content by as much as 80%.

Thus, the percentage of cacao contained in a piece of chocolate, whether it’s 60%, 70% or higher, is no indication of its flavanol content, argues Hollenberg in a 2007 editorial in the journal Circulation. He and other nutrition researchers have argued for labeling chocolate products with flavanol values instead.

Any living proof of Cacao Power? The Kuna Tribe in Panama

The Kuna Indians in Panama, who are immune to hypertension, live a good long time, do not gain excess weight, and seem to have less cardiovascular disease and cancer than most of the world,  and lower cancer rates than their city-dwelling cousins. They drink 40+ oz of hot cacao/cocoa per day.

An interesting article on the Kuna and Cacao can be found here

Old School Cocoa 

The word chocolate is said to derive from the Mayan xocolatl which meant bitter water.

The Kuna Indians drink largely homegrown, unprocessed cocoa powder, containing very high flavanol levels There’s a big difference between the cocoa the Kunas drink, and the cocoa and chocolate people usually purchase in a grocery or specialty store — mostly due to how it’s processed and its formulation. Cocoa beans grow as the seed of the berry-like fruit of the cacao tree, hand picked and shelled…….

After shelling and roasting…..

….the beans are ground into a suspension called cocoa liquor, made up of cocoa butter (fat) and solids. Pressing removes most of the cocoa butter, resulting in a hard, dry cake, which is ground into what we use as cocoa powder.

The traditional Kuna process….get fresh cacao beans, ferment and dry, grind them up….take a pot of water, add 8-10 banana to sweeten, add the ground up cacao/cocoa, strain, drink.

Sometimes, Mayan people added a few grains of black pepper…….

……..to add some taste. Once the powder is obtained, a little bit of water is poured from a calabash bowl to make a paste. The paste is mixed in a bowl of water consumed hot or cold and with or without sugar according to preference. It was very similar to the hot cocoa we know (minus the milk), but few us will fancy the bitter beverage made without a sweetener.

The Aztecs also consumed large quantities of xocolatl as a luxury drink. However their version was described as 'finely ground, soft, foamy, reddish, bitter with chili water, aromatic flowers, vanilla and wild bee honey,'….slightly more inviting than the Maya concoction!

Why can't I just eat a chocolate bar everyday?

Why?……

* questionable sweeteners and other added ingredients
* very expensive (real cacao bars can be over $8 a piece)
* amount of favanoids may be diminished through processing
* even bars that tout over 70% cacao may have little flavanoids
* there is always a tendency to gravitate to best price as opposed to best quality
* lower price means less Flavanoids
* less bitterness means less Flavanoids
* Hershey Bars means no flavanoids 🙁

I do occasionally grab one of quality cacao bars at Whole Foods when the mood hits me, since I consume so little sugars these days so I can take the hit,  but it is something I do maybe once every 2-3 months. With smoothies, its very simple to get my Cacao benefits everyday.
Read my article on choosing Chocolate Bars

As always, my smoothies to the rescue…

……since real Cacao chocolate is very bitter. As I learned with many superfoods that I love, they may not taste so great on their own, so my solution is to throw them into my smoothies.

And trust me, I can make a smoothie that is so scrumptious and fruity and delicious, with sweeteners like Wild Raw Honey and Ripe Banana diced and frozen, it's like  milkshake of pure heaven and health 🙂

The Mayans would be proud of me I think…….

above and below

Homemade Artisan Chocolate Raw Cacao,   Lucuma   and Goji Berries

Click photo above or below for recipe

Read Chris Kilham's ,  a.k.a., "The Medicine Hunter"  Cacao article here

an article I wrote on a 110 year old's top 5 foods for his wellness, one of which is cacao, read article here

IMPORTANT: As I learned from a commenter below, a lot of cacao is being tested to have excessive lead and other toxins so be careful. Since I consume cacao every day, I'm going to have to address this for myself. I'll Keep readers posted, but you can see some of the results of popular brands from Natural News Cacao Testing here 

(My Nativa Naturals Cacao obtained a grade of "B" from from the "Heavy Metals Verified Ratings Network", though I am going to switch to one of the companies that had a rating of "A" such as

Peruvian Cacao Nibs (Essential Living Foods)           Rated A++
  Balinese Cacao Nibs (Earth Circle Organics)     Rated A++
  100% Organic Cacao Nibs (Health Ranger Select)      Rated A+

~stay healthy~

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check out  all my articles in "Eat Smart"

So what is with all the dying bees? Scientists have been trying to discover this for years. Meanwhile, bees keep dropping like… well, you know. Is it mites? Pesticides? Cell phone towers? What is really at the root?

Turns out the real issue really scary, because it is more complex and pervasive than thought. Quartz reports: Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years.

Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives.

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….another reason to buy local

"Chinese chicken" will soon have a whole new meaning, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently gave the green-light to four chicken processing plants in China, allowing chicken raised and slaughtered in the U.S. to be exported to China for processing, and then shipped back to the U.S. and sold on grocery shelves here. 

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"Let thy food be thy medicine" –Hippocrates, circa 420 BC

below…. Smoked, Omega-3 rich Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon and Herbed Goat Cheese Tartine (click photo for recipe)

Disease prevention is the result of a series of interconnected wellness habits and activities, of which, I am convinced that eating habits is of the utmost importance.

Overwhelming evidence is starting to surface that one of the "major players" in what is causing all the cancer in the USA, is the imbalance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids ratio in out diet.

My blog readers depend on me to give them "the scoop" without out all the scientific "mumbo-jumbo", so let me break this thing down in an easily digestible manner……pin intended………

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“Growing your own food is like printing your own money”  –Ron Finley

“FOOD IS THE PROBLEM, FOOD IS THE SOLUTION!!!”, Says Ron Finley, a.k.a. the “Gansta Gardner” of South Central Los Angeles.

The story in one sentence…Ron started planting gardens and growing food in vacant lots all over South Central Los Angeles, which I’m sure most of us know…”South Central ain’t Beverly Hills”

Now he has “human waves” of volunteers, Black, White, Hispanics, young people, old people….. and they are starting a FOOD REVOLUTION!!!

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I have a love/hate relationship with Whole Foods (amazing produce and meat selections, but they replaced Olive Oil with toxic Canola Oil in almost EVERYTHING 🙁 at their Food Bar and Prepared Foods)

However, I gotta give them credit for this idea, although I think they should step up the timeframe………….

Early last month, Whole Foods Market, the nation's largest grocery chain focused on organic and natural products, made a major announcement: It will require all vendors to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients by 2018 [I wish it were sooner, but I’m thinking more of  the “bandwagon” effect with other companies]. The responses have been all across the board from extremely supportive to highly critical.

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Potatoes are one of the “safe starches” for those who are gluten and grain free. One of my favorite healthy snacks is organic potatoes fried in unrefined coconut oil sprinkled with ultra health/tasty Pink Himalayan Salt

Simplot Company in Idaho has officially asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve five new varieties of genetically engineered potatoes, named Innate™, which the company has patented. Simplot is also seeking approval of its engineered potatoes in Canada, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.

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…..including “beaver butt”, or crushed bugs 🙁

Sorry about the shock value but it’s true, it could be either of these, or literally anything the product manufacturer can “sneak in” to your product . Let me digress a second.

I don’t drink soda anymore, I was drinking the incredibly great tasting Izze Soda, made from fruit juice, carbonated water, and a few other acceptable miscellaneous ingredients. However, it’s this miscellaneous ingredient called “natural flavor” on the label that has me obsessed.

I’m meticulous about the ingredients in all my food, and researching what this “natural flavor” thingie-gingie is seems to be taking me into a dark abyss…….and I have no idea how deep this rabbit hole goes.

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….as a storage bin for my healthy foods!!!!!!!

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I knew this day would come. I suppose it's been here for a while, but this is the day I researched it and came with so much evidence, it was nauseating.

Bottom lime, GMO's is starting to show up in our organic food supply, in various forms. For example, organic farms can find their product cross pollinated by GMO farms nearby, and also through other means, like downright deceit.

Deceit in the sense of, as an example, a truckload of supposedly organic corn is expected to be delivered to an organic wholesaler. Upon analysis of the corn kernels, it was found that 1/5 of the corn kernels are GMO. And no one knows how they got there.

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