10 Ways To Conquer Your Cravings for Sugar, Salt, and Fats

by Mark Hyman, MD | Drhyman.com

Image: http://threeapplesaday.com

According to a recent article in the New York Times, “Food Corporations Turn to Chefs in a Quest for Healthy Flavor,” Big Food companies like PepsiCo, Kellogg’s, and even fast food giants like Taco Bell, are changing their ways in response to the increasing public demand for healthier food options. To improve their image as healthy food manufacturers, Big Food corporations have called upon top chefs to help them create healthy menu makeovers, infusing real, fresh, whole food into old recipe favorites.

Why is this happening now? Intense pressure brought on by politicians and their constituents (you and me!) has given these food manufacturers no choice but to respond to the public outcry for healthier food. It’s no longer enough for these companies to earn a profit by selling food that tastes good. People are beginning to use the power of the pocketbook to show these companies that the food they sell must also be nutritious.

That’s because people everywhere are waking up. They are beginning to see the dangers of genetically modified ingredients and all the sugar, salt, and fats hidden in our food supply. From fancy restaurants to fast food chains, chefs are catching on that people want their food to make them feel good, not just while they are eating it but hours, days, and years afterward.

Really, this news shouldn’t make the headlines. This is common sense! Paying for food that makes us sick is as crazy as shooting ourselves in the foot. It just doesn’t make sense.

Big Food is finally getting the message and getting on board.

But remember, no processed or fast food option will ever be better than a healthy home-cooked meal. The best way to ensure you are eating the highest quality, most nutritious food possible is to prepare your own food in your own kitchen. We are all chefs. You don’t have to be trained at Le Cordon Bleu to know your way around a kitchen. You just need a little knowledge, some imagination, and a sense of adventure.

A desire for real food is a fundamental part of our basic biological blueprint. Given the chance, our taste receptors will naturally gravitate toward the inherent sweetness found in vegetables, fruits, and even nuts and seeds.

So, how do you reprogram your taste buds to ditch the cravings for sugar, salt, and fats? You can start by eating real, fresh, whole foods. Avoid fake, commercialized foods that come in convenience packages or are made in a lab.

Here are 10 more tips to get you excited about ditching the sugar, salt, and fats:

1. Sauté or roast your veggies to bring out their natural sweetness. Properly searing your chicken or meat brings out the inherent sweetness by way of the Maillard reaction. This is a fancy name for what happens when you create that nice, brown crust on your meat.


2. Play with herbs like cilantro, parsley, dill, basil, and oregano to add flavor and phytonutrients! Finish a meal by adding fresh herbs before plating or serving. This last-minute addition kicks the flavor up a notch!

3. Healthy fats found in avocado, coconut, and tahini not only increase the flavor of your meal, they also add that creamy, luscious texture found in many rich foods.

4. Try creating a savory, umami (Japanese for “delicious”) flavor. Add moderate amounts of tamari, umeboshi plum paste, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, dried mushroom, or sea vegetables to your next stew, soup, sauce, or stir-fry.

5. Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and even cayenne or chipotle pepper powder are all extremely flavorful additions to a meal. Spices like these excite your taste buds and grab your attention. This is helpful, because, as studies show, when we are focused on actually tasting our food rather than mindlessly gobbling it up, we actually need less food to feel satisfied.

6. Befriend some kitchen must-haves like real vanilla extract or vanilla bean or coconut butter. Or use common, every-day foods like lemons in some creative ways. For example, use lemon zest to add real zing to any meal!

7. For the most flavor, eat seasonally and locally. Canned or packaged foods or foods that have traveled great distances in the back of a truck just can’t compare to the succulence of a fresh piece of locally grown fruit.

8. Check your hydration. Digestion starts in your mouth with your saliva, which helps us taste all the magnificent flavor in food. If you are dehydrated and not producing enough saliva, you won’t really be able to enjoy your food.

9. Check your medications. Believe it or not, most medications interfere with the body’s ability to taste and smell. Some of them can even create an unpleasant metallic taste in the mouth. Wondering how you might decrease the number of pills you take?

10. Got nutrition? Nutrient deficiency is an important cause of improper taste perception. A lack of certain vitamins and minerals can markedly impair your ability to smell and taste food. Most Americans have several nutrient deficiencies, but there is one in particular that can especially keep you from enjoying your next meal: zinc. Try adding foods like oysters, pecans, sunflower seeds, and lentils to increase your daily intake of this important mineral.

Source: DrHyman.com

Study Shows Bee Venom Can Kill HIV Virus

Scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered bee venom can kill the HIV virus without harming the body. Bees could hold the key to preventing HIV transmission. Researchers have discovered that bee venom kills the virus while leaving body cells unharmed, which could lead to an anti-HIV vaginal gel and other treatments.

Image: www.zimeye.org

Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that melittin, a toxin found in bee venom, physically destroys the HIV virus, a breakthrough that could potentially lead to drugs that are immune to HIV resistance. The study was published Thursday in the journal Antiviral Therapy.

“Our hope is that in places where HIV is running rampant, people could use this as a preventative measure to stop the initial infection,” Joshua Hood, one of the authors of the study, said in a statement.

The researchers attached melittin to nanoparticles that are physically smaller than HIV, which is smaller than body cells. The toxin rips holes in the virus’ outer layer, destroying it, but the particles aren’t large enough to damage body cells.

“Based on this finding, we propose that melittin-loaded nanoparticles are well-suited for use as topical vaginal HIV virucidal agents,” they write.

Theoretically, the particles could also be injected into an HIV-positive person to eliminate the virus in the bloodstream.

Because the toxin attacks the virus’ outer layer, the virus is likely unable to develop a resistance to the substance, which could make it more effective than other HIV drugs.

“Theoretically, melittin nanoparticles are not susceptible to HIV mutational resistance seen with standard HIV therapies,” they write. “By disintegrating the [virus'] lipid envelope [it's] less likely to develop resistance to the melittin nanoparticles.”

The group plans to soon test the gel in clinical trials.

Source: USnews.com & realfarmacy.com

Avoid these 10 things to help prevent breast cancer

Top 10 causes of breast cancer revealed

1. Hormones in meats and milk: Most cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and farm-raised fish are given artificial hormones to make them either bigger, meatier, or produce unnatural amounts of milk or eggs at an unnatural frequency. (HTTP://WWW.PUREFOOD.ORG/RBGH/RACH598.HTML) This causes infections, depression, cancer, and other diseases in the very animals you are putting in your mouth regularly. Get your protein from Superfoods like spirulina and chlorella and reverse the damage.

Image: rawforbeauty.com

2. Mammograms, dental x-rays and airport TSA screening machines: Did the x-ray technician forget to tell you to pull that deflector flap over your chest before running out of the room to escape the deadly cancer rays? Why are you getting an exam that CAUSES cancer in order to check for cancer anyway? Did the dentist and dental hygienist reassure you their new digital x-ray is so safe that you can get them every other visit, just before they dove out of the room to escape the cancer breeding rays? Do you dare walk through that unregulated, unmeasured amount of cancer causing x-rays at the airport, or have you even been told you can opt out and get a harmless pat-down? (HTTP://WWW.NATURALNEWS.COM/027641_MAMMOGRAMS_BREAST_CANCER.HTML)

3. Aluminum in antiperspirants and deodorants: Did you know that most breast cancer tumors originate in the upper quadrant of the breast closest to the armpit, where you apply that aluminum and all those “smell-fresh” chemicals that block in sweat and poisons your body is trying to eliminate? Look for aluminum-free, organic deodorant. Stop using antiperspirants and reverse the damage. (HTTP://WWW.GLOBALHEALINGCENTER.COM)

4. Toxic makeup/cosmetics: The skin is the largest organ. You are most likely applying petroleum and coal tar right on top of your largest organ, which absorbs it all and sends it rushing through your bloodstream, infecting other organs that are trying so hard to filter out toxins from food and water. Your dermatologist also lives in a three story house and owns a few sports cars and won’t be telling you much about parabens and phthalates. Start buying organic cosmetics and reverse the damage you’ve done. (HTTP://WWW.ORGANICAUTHORITY.COM)

5. GMO Soy and Corn: Most soy in America is genetically modified (GMO), processed, and causes extreme health detriment. Do you drink soy milk? Switch to almond or rice milk right away. Why? Soybeans contain haemagglutinin, a clot promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together. Plus, soy consumption increases estrogen. Add that to the artificial hormones from meat and rBGH milk and you can stop wondering how breast tumors originate. Remove soy and corn-based processed foods from your diet and reverse the damage.

6. Artificial sweeteners: Aspartame would have never been legal if Ronald Reagan didn’t fire the head of the FDA and put Donald Rumsfeld’s right hand man in place to approve it. The pharmaceutical industry has made a fortune off this cancer causing fake sugar criminal. Nearly every chewing gum, breath mint, liquid medicine, and diet food contain either Aspartame, Sucralose, or Sorbitol, which are all artificial and breed cancer cells. The Splenda, NutraSweet and Equal “craze” is just the front end of chemotherapy treatment. Use sugar in the raw and exercise, and you can reverse the damage. (HTTP://TOPDOCUMENTARYFILMS.COM/SWEET-MISERY-A-POISONED-WORLD/)

7. Fluoridated water: No, it’s not the naturally occurring mineral in nature that’s running through your pipes. No, it doesn’t prevent tooth decay, it promotes it. No, it doesn’t clean the water, it pollutes it with a toxic chemical that leaches minerals from your body and breaks down the immune system. Fluoridated water fuels breast cancer. Drink spring water and reverse the damage. (HTTP://WWW.BREASTCANCERCHOICES.ORG/WATER.HTML)

8. Pharmaceuticals: Big pharma wants you sick and dying so you can’t collect social security or use Medicare or Medicaid. Visit your Naturopathic doctor and get some advice on nutrition as prevention and the cure for breast cancer. (HTTP://WWW.NATUROPATHIC.ORG/)

9. Food coloring agents and preservatives: Nearly every artificial food coloring and dye is a chemical cooked up in a laboratory. Food preservatives like sodium benzoate, BHT and BHA strangulate your cells and breed cancer cells. Use colorful organic fruits and vegetables to brighten up your plate and make it beautiful. (HTTP://WWW.NATURALNEWS.COM/033726_SODIUM_BENZOATE_CANCER.HTML)

10. Soaps, shampoos, toothpaste and lotions (including sun tan and sun block): Again, what you apply to your skin, scalp, teeth and gums does penetrate and enter your blood stream. Perfumes, dyes, artificial sweeteners, animal by-products, and just about any ingredient you cannot pronounce is probably a chemical that causes cancer. (HTTP://WWW.SKINNYSKINNY.COM/ABOUT-EZP-1.HTML)
Learn more:

Source: NATURALNEWS.COM & rawforbeauty.com

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Doctor: Why I want my patients off birth control pills

Dr. Kelly Brogan, MD, discusses the little known risks of oral contraceptives, particularly for those with anxiety and depression.

Hawaii Advances First in the Nation Bill to Ban GMOs

"BREAKING NEWS: The Big Island of Hawai'i Council passed the first reading of Bill 113, to BAN NEW GMOs from being grown on the island. The Bill will go to a second reading during the first week of Nov. and on to the Mayor for final approval. There is strong support in the council, currently enough to override a potential veto by the Mayor if that should happen. Hawai'i shows us how it's done. These amazing citizens have exerted relentless pressure on their elected officials to represent the will and the interests of the people, and not corporate interests. Today will go down in history. First Kaua'i and now The Big Island of Hawai'i."

And from Natural Remedies Blog:

"Hawaii is the home of Genetically Engineered Paypaya, Pineapple, Summer Squash, etc. so this IS BIG news!! 

GMO Free Canada announced: “The Big Island of Hawaii County Council Committee passed a GMO prohibition Bill by a vote of 6-2. Bill 133 moves forward to the full Council later this month. The Bill will ban open air cultivation of GMOs, with the exception of the GM Papaya already being grown on the island. Hawaii island is the last without GMO experimentation and the least contaminated island in the state of Hawaii. The future is looking volcanically bright for Hawaii to remain in this pristine state. Sending much Aloha to our amazing food warriors who are fighting hard and doing an incredible job. Good will triumph over evil."

Rumors about Hawaii banning GMOs are untrue for now, but that could change in the very near future if this bill is approved, and it seems that it likely will. Hawaii has been actively opposing GMO crops on all of the islands because they are a threat to the vast bio-diversity on the islands. This news is no doubt a huge win for Hawaiians and food activists. From GMO Free Canada:

Colorado Public Park to be Turned into Edible Food Forest

By Luke Runyon

Imagine turning a public park into a free-for-all of community plants – and snacks. Food forests have been likened to Garden of Eden revelry, or the blissful sampling in Willy Wonka’s chocolate waterfall room.

It’s like a community garden on steroids. The concept is pretty simple: planners recreate a forest ecosystem with edible plants and trees in a public space. Then, in a deviation from most community garden models, they open it up and allow people to forage for food for free.

Image: awesomenator.com

“It is a forest. It is a park. But it’s all edible, so the whole community can come in and sit under the apple tree and eat from the apple tree,” said Stephanie Syson, manager at the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute.

There are only a few food forests already up and running in the country, with the highest profile projects in Seattle, Wash. and Western Massachusetts. Planners of a new food forest in the tiny mountain town of Basalt, Colo., hope to join their ranks soon enough.

As with any public project, it has hit a snag. Some residents don’t want the park surrounded by a fence, a necessary measure to keep hungry deer and wandering bears from gobbling up all the fruits and vegetables, and causing trouble in town in the process. Officials hope to have approval soon.

In the meantime, they are experimenting with the concept now, trying to figure out how to make a publicly-owned food project work.

Basalt’s food forest is the brainchild of Syson, a plant expert at CRMPI, and the town’s Parks Department staff. Both groups will pay for and maintain the forest, at least until it’s up and running and volunteers start lining up for shifts.

Planted on a half-acre plot on the town’s Ponderosa Park, the forest will mimic a forest ecosystem, with fruit and nut trees, mushrooms, native edibles, a compost pile and a seed-saving garden, meant to stock the public library’s seed lending program.

Basalt serves as a small bedroom community for the affluent ski resort in nearby Aspen. The town’s horticulturalist Lisa DiNardo says she hopes the food forest can serve as common ground within the community.

“This is where we need to go,” DiNardo said. “This is one way to build bridges in communities is through a food network, a healthy food network.”

That robust network plays into the food forest’s location, within walking distance to the town’s elementary, middle and high schools, and across the street from a predominantly Latino trailer park community.

DiNardo says up in the mountains, food security is a huge issue, and that has people thinking about what they eat.

A couple of years ago, a blizzard, and subsequent avalanches, cut off road travel. Produce trucks couldn’t make it into the isolated mountain towns in this small valley of less than 50,000 residents.

“There was a big storm. I went into City Market and literally the shelves were empty,” DiNardo said. “And I think that was an impetus for growers to really start thinking about it, you know, ‘What can we do locally to bridge the gap?’”

Once fruit trees begin bearing apples, plums, nectarines and lemons, Syson hopes town residents will take the Garden of Eden mindset on a walk home from the nearby bus stop and pick what they need, leaving some for their neighbors. Compare that to a community garden which gives growers the mindset of personal ownership.

“The thought in a community garden traditionally is, ‘This is my row, my tomatoes. I tend it. I take care of it. I harvest it. I take it home,” Syson said. “This is just everyone’s.”

Another benefit is the ability to save seeds from native plants and regrow them. Several years from now, tomatoes, potatoes and carrots will be regionally adapted to Basalt’s short growing season and alkaline soil, Syson said.

The forest represents a shift in the way towns and cities think about their public spaces, not just in Basalt but across the country. But it’s still an experiment.

“Trees take a long a time to establish and get both looking nice and producing food,” said Dawn Thilmany, an agricultural economist at Colorado State University who studies local food systems.

“I think that’s why they’re taking a different tact and not having individual owners, but seeing it truly as a community asset to share, similar to a parks system or a trail system or streets and roads,” Thilmany said.

Thilmany says she can’t help but be cynical about the idea of opening up the forest completely. What happens when someone picks all the apples at once? Or teens trample all the tomato plants?

“I do think there will be some challenges from people who wonder, ‘How much of that fruit crop do I own?’” Thilmany said.

The forest’s main proponent, Stephanie Syson, says she’s not worried about the park being overrun by ambitious harvesters. The park will be open 24-7, but Basalt is a small town, and people in small towns talk.

“The more open we are, we can kinda combat the one or two people that might have some malicious intent,” Syson said. “It just won’t be cool. And if it’s not cool, they probably won’t do it. It’ll be cool to come here and eat.”

Plus, Syson says, the trees won’t be bearing fruit for a couple of years. Plenty of time to educate scofflaws about how this food forest actually works.

“Like everything else, it’s an evolving model,” Syson said. “We’ll take it one year at a time and see how it works and adapt if we need to.”

Source: kunc.org