NEWSLETTERS - FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Immunity Building

THE FOUNDATION OF WELLNESS - The health of your body is largely tied into the health of your gut. Beneficial bacteria in your gut can help to boost the immune system, prevent allergic inflammation and food allergy, clear up eczema in children and heal the intestines from a variety of ailments. However, if you are eating as many sugars as the typical American (about 175 pounds per year) then you are feeding the "bad" bacteria, which are more likely to cause disease than promote health. You should rather promote the "good" bacteria that helps protect you from disease. Exposure to chemicals will also contribute to this disruption in your gut microflora, and over time the imbalance will lead to illness.

Every time you lose your health, the road to recovery gets longer and rougher, demanding a growing investment for diminishing returns. By investing in your immunity now, you insure your future health and guard your life at minimum cost.

Immunity building requires self-discipline and personal responsibility in the form of preventive health care. Being proactive is always a good investment in time as well as money. Once you fall ill, it takes much more time and costs much more money to acquire vibrant health again.

Six Ways to Avoid the Winter Flu

Someone sneezes at the office and the next morning you have a sore, scratchy throat. That scenario is not inevitable, but more likely preventable. The answer is not going through the winter hoping and praying that you do not get the flu. You can avoid the flu.
Here are six ways to protect yourself and greatly reduce your chances of getting the flu this year.

1) Avoid Sugar
Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately, and a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness, including the flu. It is especially imperative to avoid sugar if you feel you are coming down with something, but keeping sugar out of your diet for the long haul will do wonders for your health and make your body stronger. Beware of foods such as fruit juice and ketchup.
2) Get Enough Rest
If your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Regular rest will keep you strong and ensure that your body has the strength to fight off any potential invaders. Be sure to get 7 to 9 hours each night, getting to bed by 11:00 pm to ensure quality rest as well.
3) Take Advantage Liquid Concentrate (ALC) Daily
This supplement composed of grapefruit seed extract, green tea, jasmine tea is an all-natural antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal and anti-parasitic. It has broad spectrum activity that is effect against 800 bacterial and viral strains, 100 strains of fungi and numerous single cell parasites, but doesn’t touch friendly bacteria. 6-8 drops diluted in 6 ounces of lemon-water twice daily is very effect armor against any unwanted invaders.
4) Manage Your Stress
If stress becomes overwhelming, your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. It has been estimated that up to 90 percent of illness and disease is stress-related.
5) Exercise
When you exercise you increase the circulation of immune components as well as stimulate production within your immune system. Your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it has a chance to spread. In a sense, exercising helps your immune system become more efficient in ”search and destroy” missions upon viruses and diseases.
6) Wash Your Hands
Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. If your immune system is strong, it should be able to fight off the virus if it does enter your body, but washing your hands provides a bit of extra protection. Antibacterial soaps are not necessary and can cause more harm than good long-term. A simple chemical-free, natural soap is sufficient.

Flu Shot Thoughts
As far as the flu shot, the decision “to vaccinate” or “not to vaccinate” is yours. What you should understand is that the flu shot does not prevent illness--never has and never will, and therefore not an answer to avoiding the flu. The flu can definitely be a killer disease and is not something that should be easily dismissed.
Since the flu vaccine is actually a live virus, it can actually weaken the immune system and make you more predisposed to the illness. The side effects can be “flu-like” symptoms such as a cough, runny nose/nasal congestion, irritability, headaches, chills, muscle aches and fever.
Check the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) website for more detailed vaccine information.

The bottom line is a healthy lifestyle, high quality nutrition, exercise, adequate sleep, and managing stressors throughout all four seasons. Following these steps will greatly reduce your chances of a “Close encounter of the viral Kind”.

THE BITTER-SWEET TRUTH

Some researchers say eating sucralose--brand name Splenda--is like ingesting tiny amounts of chlorinated pesticides. If this sounds unappealing to you, it certainly doesn't to Splenda's marketing team, who say they've done a great job of “redefining sweetness”.

Splenda, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1988 as a tabletop sweetener and sweetener for an array of other products, is a chlorocarbon. Chlorocarbons are known to cause organ, genetic and reproductive damage, which may explain why Splenda has been found to shrink the thymus gland--a foundation of the immune system--by 40 percent.

Sucralose in animal research has been shown to cause:

• Swelling of the liver and kidneys
• Calcification of the kidney
• Fertility issues in male rates
• Gastrointestinal problems in pregnant rats

It is especially important to stop using Splenda immediately if you experience kidney pain, cramping, swelling, an irritated bladder, or blood in your urine, she says. It is also interesting to note the information taken directly from a statement from the manufacturer of Splenda:

'Sucralose is made from sugar, but is derived from sucrose (sugar) through a process that selectively substitutes three atoms of chlorine for three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sucrose molecule. No artificial sweetener made in the laboratory is going to be neither natural to the body nor safer than unprocessed sugar.'

Although corporations say Splenda is safe, they have said the same thing about aspartame, which is now linked to disease and obesity.

Food Additives To Avoid

Here is a list of a few food additives that will give you some idea of the inherent dangers of additives in our food:

Artificial Flavorings

• Coumarin--Used for 75 years in imitation vanilla before it was found to produce liver damage in animals.
• Piperonal--An inexpensive substitute for costly vanilla flavoring. It is used industrially to kill lice.
• Butyraldehyde--Used for a nutty flavor. Industrially, it is an ingredient in rubber cement and synthetic resins.
• Aldehyde C-17--Used for a cherry taste. It is a flammable liquid used industrially in aniline dyes, plastics, and synthetic rubbers.
• Ethyl Acetate--Used for a pineapple flavor. The vapor can cause chronic lung, liver, and heart damage. This chemical is used industrially as a solvent for plastics and lacquers.
• Mesityl Oxide--Used for color and flavor. This is a petroleum-based compound found in lubricating oils, insecticides, plastic wrapping material, can linings, adhesives, inks, and varnishes.

Artificial Colorings

• Red Dye No. 2 (Amaranth)--One of the many coal tar dyes; but Amaranth has gained universal acceptance. Principal uses have been in beverages, but it is also widely used in candy, confections, pet food, dessert powders, bakery goods, sausages, ice cream, sherbet, dairy products, cereals, snack foods, etc. Allergists have reported cases of Amaranth sensitivity. The Russians have done extensive research on this synthetic food coloring and have found that it not only tends to produce cancer, but could cause malformed and softened fetuses (unborn babies). It was finally banned in 1976; however, it is supposed to be replaced by Red Dye No. 40, which is as bad or worse than Red Dye No. 2.
• Alginic Acid--Used in cheese spreads to give uniformity of color and flavor. It is used industrially in making artificial ivory and celluloid.
• Beta-Naphthylamine--This is used to make two coal-tar dyes to color butter and oleomargarine. Has caused bladder cancer in animals.
• Butter Yellow--A coal-tar derivative used as a food coloring. Has been found to produce cancer of the liver in animals. (As a point of information, any coal-tar derivative is carcinogenic and most of the food additives are coal-tar derivatives.)
• Disodium EDTA--Used to promote color, flavor, and texture retention in canned carbonated soft drinks, distilled alcoholic beverages, vinegar, canned white potatoes, clams, crabmeat, and shrimp. Also in cooked canned mushrooms, various canned beans, pickled cucumbers and cabbage, and in liquid multi-vitamin preparations. It is also used in beer, mayonnaise, margarine, potato salad, and sandwich spreads, etc. In the human body, it inhibits enzymes and blood coagulation, causes gastrointestinal disturbances, muscle cramps, and kidney damage.

“My People Are Destroyed For Lack Of Knowledge” — Hosea 4:6

DON’Ts - Refined products that contain sugar, salt, saturated fats, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are extremely detrimental to the human being. Realize that excessive intake of animal proteins (especially red meats) places a tremendous burden on the digestive system. Stay away from low-vitality foods, overcooked or processed foods, fried foods, junk foods, etc.

DO s - Our bodies need live foods for optimal vitality - fresh fruits, raw vegetables and whole grains. These foods contain the necessary enzymes to assist in proper digestion and assimilation of nutrients, as well as important fibers to expedite intestinal transit time.
The old saying, "you are what you eat," is a fundamental truth.

THE SWEET SOLUTION

The answer is Stevia. There is a God, and He thinks of everything. His gift is the Stevia leaf, all-natural sweetener, which is some 300 times sweeter than sugar and contains not a single calorie. How's that for small miracles? Stevia is nutritious, containing magnesium, niacin, potassium, and vitamin C. It has been shown to stabilize blood sugar levels. Refined sugar can throw your blood sugar out of whack and then suppress your immune system by up to 50%. And you completely avoid the range of side effects associated with the artificial sweeteners. Native to Paraguay, Stevia is one of the most beneficial plants on Earth. What Stevia does both inside the body and on the skin is incredible!