You are what you eat and drink

There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Anonymous, often attributed to economist Milton Friedman
In this chapter you will learn
• Some of the common sources of toxins in your food • That synthetic chemicals in your food are linked to aging and disease • That your body cannot function properly without high-quality fuel • That sugar in high quantities is not the harmless substance people believe it to be • How thousands of synthetic chemicals find their way into the foods you eat • How plastic, yes plastic, in your food disrupts hormones • That the fats you choose can mean the difference between good health and disease • The importance of choosing pure water over tap water Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
Most of us have heard the old adage “You are what you eat,” but have you ever considered that you are what you eat, drink, breathe, think, and do? Every food you eat, every beverage you consume, every breath you take, every thought you think, and all the actions you take in life are creating you. This may seem hard to believe but it is true, as you will soon discover in the next two chapters.
Consider that the foods and beverages you consume will be broken down by your body into vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, fatty acids, and simple sugars, all of which your body will then use as raw materials to create new liver cells, skin cells, brain cells, bone cells, or whatever your body needs to replenish at that time. But what if you eat foods that your digestive tract cannot break down into the building blocks it needs? Or what if the foods and beverages you consumed had very little nutritional value and therefore very few building blocks for healthy cells and tissue? Worse yet, what if these foods and beverages were also laden with synthetic chemicals which your body had to work harder to eliminate but which did not provide the energy your body needs to do that? Even worse still, what if you exposed your body to synthetic chemicals in such vast quantities that it had to struggled to keep you disease-free?
Now consider that the air you breathe determines whether every cell in your body will be adequately oxygenated or whether those cells will have to overwork to eliminate foreign airborne particles or chemicals that your body may not have been designed to handle.
Every thought you think aff ects your health and well-being. If you think positive, life-affirming thoughts your body will create “feelgood” hormones that will give you greater energy, balanced moods, and overall healing ability. On the flip side, if you think negative, stressful thoughts much of the time, your body will create stress hormones that send messages throughout your body to divert its energy into protecting you from danger—even if that danger is really self-imposed. These stress hormones are beneficial in truly stressful
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
life-and-death situations, but when they are released over long periods of time, they damage your body, as you will soon learn.
The things you do every day affect your sense of well-being. If you work at an office job all day and return home to slouch on the sofa in front of the television, your lack of physical activity will prevent your cells from getting adequate oxygen.Your body’s lymphatic system (comparable to a street-sweeping system inside your tissues) will be sluggish and ineffective at removing waste buildup from your body. Slouching in front of the TV will also affect your posture, in turn affecting the alignment of vertebrae, muscles, tendons, nerves, and blood vessels. Over time, this pattern may create back or neck pain as well.
These are just a few of the ways that what you eat, drink, breathe, think, and do affect you. You will learn more about the eff ects throughout this chapter. You will also learn about the many toxins you are exposed to and the impact they have on your body, mind, and emotions. You will begin to understand how to make healthier choices for your life, the result of which will be improved physical, mental, and emotional health.
THE LINK TO AGING AND DISEASE Aging is one of life’s certainties. Like it or not, we are all aging. It makes no difference whether we are young or old, we are aging. Perhaps the largest factor that determines the speed at which we age is our exposure to toxins. Toxins act as free radicals (highly reactive molecules that bind to and destroy cellular compounds, even our genetic material) in our bodies. We encounter toxins in our foods, beverages, air, cosmetics, personal hygiene products, home, workplace, car, stressful thoughts, emotions, and more. Our exposure to toxins affects all aspects of our health.
Let’s talk about free radicals for a moment. They are derived from our environment, foods, and beverages or are produced within our
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
bodies. They include radiation; air pollutants; fungicides, pesticides, and insecticides; anaesthetics; pharmaceutical drugs; over-thecounter (OTC) drugs; petroleum products; excessive sunlight; fried, charbroiled, and barbecued foods; alcohol; coff ee; sugar; chemical solvents found in furniture, carpets, paint, and offi ce equipment; and stress hormones.
Free radicals have numerous effects in our bodies. Th e way they damage cell walls may predispose people to heart disease and stroke. The way they disrupt internal mechanisms of cells may lead to genetic damage and a predisposition to cancer. Th ey cause reduced immune function leading to increased susceptibility to infection, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis. They speed the aging process and destroy the proteins in skin, which leads to a loss of tissue elasticity and increased wrinkling.
You are exposed to many different toxins in an average day. The food and beverages you eat and drink are often full of sugar, synthetic chemicals, and hydrogenated fats. You may be eating excessive amounts of trans fats or animal protein that have a negative impact on your kidneys. The soap, skin-care and hair-care products, and perfumes and colognes you use are typically loaded with toxic chemicals you absorb through your skin or lungs. If you are frequently stressed out, your body secretes hormones that wreak havoc on your body over time. If you use pharmaceutical or over-the-counter medications, they often contain chemical fillers, heavy metals, and substances that have to be filtered by your body’s detoxification systems. Depending on your lifestyle, you may be adding further toxins to an already overloaded system. Th ese may include household cleaning products, building and furnishing materials in your home, cigarette smoke, recreational drugs, or excessive alcohol consumption.
Our bodies have developed sophisticated detoxification mechanisms over many thousands of years to eliminate most of the
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
naturally produced toxins they encounter on a regular basis. Th e Industrial Revolution and its resulting synthetic chemicals found in places such as food, water, soil, air, household and workplace materials, and medicine have created a new dilemma for the human body. Our bodies simply cannot handle the onslaught of synthetic chemicals we throw at them.We may be able to handle some of these toxins but over time, the large amount consumed, drunk, inhaled, or absorbed by the average person greatly exceeds his or her body’s capacity.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT AND DRINK Let’s say that you just bought a beautiful new vehicle. It looks fabulous and you are so proud to own it. What would happen if you used poor-quality gasoline as fuel? It contains residue and useless by-products of the drilling and refining processes. Over time, that gorgeous new vehicle would get poorer and poorer gas mileage, it might start having engine knock and excessive wear, and eventually the engine would likely malfunction.
Your body is similar to a vehicle in that it requires high-quality fuel to function properly. By high quality, I am referring to food that Nature provides that is loaded with plentiful amounts of vitamins, minerals, fibre, enzymes, and many other building blocks to great health. These are the things holistic health practitioners are talking about when they refer to “nutrition.”
Before we discuss what high-quality fuel for humans consists of, let’s take a look at the standard North American diet— something that is more adequately referred to as “no-trition.” Th e average person eats large amounts of fatty foods; animal protein; sugar; and packaged, prepared, or fast foods. While this may be average, it is by no means normal. To help you understand what I am suggesting here, let’s take a look at these dietary excesses and shortcomings one by one.
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
A SWEET LIFE? To misquote Shakespeare: sugar by any other name would taste as sweet. Sugar may taste sweet but it is hardly the harmless substance many people believe it to be, especially in high doses. Th e average North American consumes 149 pounds of sugar every year. Stack 149 one-pound bags up in your kitchen and you’ll have a good idea just how much that is. You will barely have room for anything else.
“Not me,” you may quip, or “I couldn’t possibly eat that much sugar, someone else is making up for me.”While that may be possible, it is not very likely. Even if you rarely consume desserts, you may be surprised to learn some of the ways that sugar sneaks into your diet. Of course there are all the obvious places, such as soft drinks (the average North American drinks 486 ten-ounce cans of soda pop every year; each one contains about eight teaspoons of sugar), ice cream, cake, and cookies.
Nancy Appleton, author of the best-selling book Lick the Sugar Habit, identified some of the following lesser-known sources of sugar. What about that hamburger you ate last weekend? Shockingly, the meat was most likely injected with a sugar solution to prevent it from shrinking. Many meat packers feed sugar to animals prior to slaughter. This “improves” the fl avour and colour of cured meat, at least according to the food industry. The average bottle or package of “juice” may not even contain a single drop of juice from any fruit. More likely, it is loaded with sugar, colours, and artificial flavours to give it that“natural” fruit juice flavour. The breaded coating on most prepared foods contains sugar, and salmon is usually glazed with a sugar solution before being canned. Sugar is used in the processing of luncheon meats, bacon, and canned meats. It is also found in such unlikely items as bouillon cubes and dry-roasted nuts. Peanut butter and many dry cereals (even many of your so-called healthy favourites) contain sugar. This one may shock you: some salt contains
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
sugar! Almost half the calories found in most condiments, such as ketchup, come from sugar.
Refined sugar, in the large doses we consume, may be one of the worst poisons we put into our bodies. Sugar blocks your body’s immune response for between four and six hours. That means your body is more likely to fall prey to the thousands of viruses, bacteria, and other infectious diseases present in our environment and in our bodies during that time. Although we are quick to blame those pesky pathogens, we rarely look to that decadent triple chocolate cake or that scrumptious sundae. How could anyone fault something that looks and tastes so sweet?
The proper functioning of white blood cells is integral to a healthy immune system. Research shows that both sugar and alcohol consumption inhibit white blood cell activity. The amount of sugar in one soft drink will stop white blood cell activity within thirty minutes and normal activity will not resume for four to fi ve hours. You are more vulnerable to bacterial and viral infections after consuming sweets because your white blood cells are unable to function properly to fight these foreign invaders.
Our sugar addiction is having detrimental effects on our health. Plenty of studies link sugar consumption to cancer, hormonal disruptions, arthritis, osteoporosis, cataracts, and many other degenerative diseases, the list of which is massive.
In one study hamsters were fed diets high in sucrose (refined white sugar). Some were also fed calcium supplements in their food. The calcium made no difference—the hamsters developed osteoporosis, regardless of how much calcium was in their food. Researchers credited high sugar consumption as the primary cause of osteoporosis in this study.
Sugar makes the pH in your body very acidic. Countless studies link acidic body chemistry with disease. The same diseases that thrive in an acidic body rarely exist if the body is returned to a more
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
neutral pH. In the case of osteoporosis, your body recognizes that acidic blood can cause damage to your arteries, organs, and central nervous system. In its wisdom, your body recognizes that drawing calcium from the bones neutralizes the body’s pH. This mechanism is fine for short-term amounts of acidity but it is a contributing factor to osteoporosis over the long term.
Sugar also contains over sixty synthetic chemicals left over from the many processes it endures to transform a thick, fi brous, brownish stalk of sugar cane into the white crystalline substance we call sugar. Although you will not find bleach, deodorizers, and all kinds of other garbage listed on the label, you would find it present in small amounts if you took some sugar to a laboratory for analysis. Not to mention that government regulations insist that white sugar must have all the vitamins and minerals removed so that it can be labelled “sucrose.” These nutrients and fi bre “waste” products are the substances that help your body digest sugar without massive blood sugar fluctuations.
Pseudo-Foods and Chemicals in Disguise
Forget aspartame and saccharin and the myriad other artifi cial sweeteners—they are worse than refined sugar. Countless studies show that they are powerful health destroyers. Of course, the research that is conducted by the manufacturers of these chemicals never indicates any link to health concerns. Research done by independent organizations that do not have a vested financial interest in these synthetic sweeteners links these products to many serious health problems, including birth defects, brain tumours, menstrual irregularities and premenstrual syndrome, migraines and headaches, epilepsy and seizures, psychiatric disorders, blindness, and even death. Which studies would you believe?
Artificial sweeteners are synthetic chemicals your body has to break down, chemicals your body may find it impossible to break
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
down, chemicals your body was never designed to digest. Th e manufacturers of these products know this information and twist it with slick marketing campaigns to make you think that something that travels through your body undigested (and therefore has no calories) is good for you. According to them, foods sweetened with these chemicals are just a fabulous way to eat sweets without paying the price. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
No matter what the slick advertisements or product packaging might suggest, there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Nature in its infinite wisdom designed your body to perform many functions on the food you ingest as part of the overall digestion process. You will learn more about these processes later in this book, but for now you need to know there are many organs that interact with every morsel of food you ingest. Each one is designed to break that food down to extract any goodness it offers and eliminate the leftovers. If something cannot be broken down, your body wastes energy in a futile effort to do its job. These chemical substances clog your body’s natural detoxification mechanisms and make them less eff ective.
Imagine if every day you poured bacon fat down the drain of your kitchen sink. The drainage pipes were designed to handle water and small particles of food. If you keep pouring bacon fat into the drain, it will clog and become ineffective at allowing water through—the very substance it was designed to handle.
The same is true of your body. It was never designed to handle the artificial chemicals used by the food-processing industry.You may be surprised to learn that more than three thousand additives and preservatives are found in our food supply today1 before that food reaches your table. It is inundated with artificial colours, flavours, flavour enhancers, bleach, texture agents, conditioners, acid/base balancers, ripening gases, waxes, firming agents, nutrient enrichers, preservatives, heavy metals, and other chemicals that find their way into your food.
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
Even before that food is processed, your food has been sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, most of which are linked to health problems in humans.
An apple a day might have kept the doctor away prior to the industrialization of food growing and preparation. According to research compiled by the United States Drug Administration (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service, Pesticide Data Program, today’s apple contains residue of many toxic chemicals used during the growing process. In only one category of chemicals, known as organophosphate insecticides, this federal government agency found residue of many different neurotoxins: azinophos, methyl chloripyrifos, diazinon, dimethoate, ethion, omethioate, parathion, parathion methyl, phosalone, and phosmet. That doesn’t sound too appetizing, does it? Neurotoxins are substances that medical research has proven to be toxic to the brain and nervous system of humans.
You may be thinking,“Well, in minute amounts maybe pesticides are okay.” Think again. The average apple is sprayed with pesticides seventeen times before it is harvested. A study by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified more than fi fty-five pesticides that can leave cancer-causing residues in food.2 According to the Natural Resource Defense Council, the use of pesticides has risen more than tenfold since the 1940s. Currently, over 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used in agriculture every year in the United States alone.3
Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald cites a study by the Pesticide Action Network in her book Th e Detox Solution, showing that more than fi fty million pounds of fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and soil fumigants were applied to farmland in California alone in 1998.4 One year. Every year over 2.5 billion pounds of pesticides are dumped on crop lands, forests, lawns, and fi elds.5
Pesticides are not water-soluble. That means they are not easily washed off apples or any other food. The same is true once they are in
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
your body—they are hard to eliminate. Fat-soluble pesticides are actually attracted to the fat stores in your body. Don’t have much fat? Your body will start to hold fat to prevent these toxins from running rampant throughout your bloodstream. In your body’s innate wisdom, it recognizes that these substances cause damage if they travel through your blood so it attaches them to fat in your body. That spells weight gain and difficulty losing weight at best. At worst, these dangerous neurotoxins attack your body’s organs, tissues, brain, and nervous system.
Consider one well-known pesticide that was banned in Canada and the United States three decades ago—DDT. It is still being manufactured and exported around the world to appear in our imported foods.6 According to Dr. Fitzgerald,“Each year, the EPA performs a study of the chemicals found in human fat tissue samples. DDT continues to be found in 100% of the tissue examined.”7
Dr. Jozef Krop, a leading environmental medicine physician in Canada, asks a poignant question in his book Healing the Planet One Patient at a Time:“When the food we eat is grown in nutrient-poor soil, watered with acid rain, sprayed with pesticides, and treated with food additives, and when the water we drink and the air we breathe are also contaminated, is it any wonder that chemicals have been detected in human blood and fat tissue?”
Not only is today’s apple not adequate to keep the doctor away, it is more likely to keep the doctor on call. Virtually every food item that is grown using commercial (non-organic) farming techniques contains these or other neurotoxins.
And what if that apple is processed into a frozen apple pie or the fast-food apple pies we consume in droves? There is a good chance that this apple will transform from a nutritious food into a toxic food-like substance we call “food.”Any of several thousand chemicals will be added to this apple during the many stages of processing.
Have you ever noticed that the incidence of food allergies and sensitivities seems to be higher than ever? I believe that many people
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
are reacting to the potentially thousands of chemicals used in the growing and processing of foods, rather than the foods themselves. Of course, some people are reacting to the food. But, considering that the average person eats 124 pounds of food additives every year,8 toxic chemicals definitely play a role in our health.
Farmed fish, particularly salmon, is one source of an especially nasty group of chemicals: PCBs. You may have read about the high amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (more commonly known as PCBs) found in salmon. Salmon isn’t the only culprit. PCBs have shown up in other types of fish and in chicken, beef, pork, eggs, and even milk. This is quite an alarming discovery because research showed that PCBs were (and still are) powerful carcinogens and as a result were banned in the 1970s in both Canada and the United States. Some government organizations claim that trace amounts of PCBs are fine. But one organization’s trace amounts are another’s poison. Consider that Health Canada and the United States Food and Drug Administration argue that foods with less than two thousand parts per billion (ppb) of PCBs are fine to eat. On the other side of the coin, the United States Environmental Protection Agency states that levels as low as fifty parts per billion are associated with an increased risk of cancer. Yikes! So if the experts can’t agree, what’s a person to do? Limit your consumption of animal products and, of course, limit your consumption of farmed fish. During The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan you’ll be avoiding these items anyway. The break will do you good.
Recent research shows that food colourings cross the blood-brain barrier.9 There is a lock-and-key type of mechanism in your brain that allows some substances (such as nutrients) to go into the brain while preventing damaging substances from attacking the brain. Th is is referred to as the “blood-brain barrier.” The term “barrier” creates a false sense of security, because chemicals such as food dyes trick
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
the brain into allowing their entry, putting them in a position to do harm to perhaps the most delicate organ in your body.
Consider one very common and well-known food additive: monosodium glutamate, better known as MSG. This pervasive chemical is added to food to enhance its flavour. It is frequently found in Chinese food, as well as in the following food ingredients, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see it labelled as MSG on ingredient lists:
autolyzed yeast
calcium caseinate
gelatin
glutamate
glutamic acid
hydrolyzed protein
hydrolyzed soy protein
monopotassium glutamate
sodium caseinate
yeast extract
yeast food
yeast nutrient
Many people react within forty-eight hours of ingesting even a small amount of MSG, making it sometimes diffi cult to trace back to the originating food item. Symptoms commonly suff ered include headaches, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, burning sensation of the skin, changes in heart rate, and diffi culty breathing. According to Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald,“Ingesting MSG over the years has also been linked with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.”10
A Cup of Java
I know this is probably the last item you want to see in a book about toxins. After all, what if it means giving up your morning (or
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
mid-morning, afternoon, or after dinner) coffee? Some detox programs on the market will tell you coffee is good for you. Truthfully, coffee beans that are shade- and organically grown, properly harvested, stored, and roasted, and drunk in moderation may even have some beneficial properties (for people who are not sensitive to coff ee or don’t have an illness that is aggravated by it). The amount of pesticide-laden coffee that is consumed in North America is the primary problem. Most often, coffee is grown in third-world countries where toxins such as DDT are used. Coff ea arabica tends to be from Central or South America while Coff ea robusta is usually grown in Indonesia or Africa. Also, states Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald,“the farming methods used to grow non-organic coffee are rapidly altering ecosystems, especially in the rainforest.”11
Coffee is a source of caffeine, which in large amounts is linked with cardiovascular disease, fibrocystic breast disease, cancer, and behavioural problems in people. It is also linked with ulcers and heartburn. In sensitive individuals, coffee can have detrimental eff ects on psychiatric disorders.
Women who take oral contraceptives have an impaired ability to eliminate caffeine from their bodies, making them more susceptible to the effects of caffeine (even in moderate consumption).
For non-sensitive people, drinking shade- and organically grown coffee, even one to two cups per day, is typically fine.
Paper filters used in the extraction of coffee from ground coff ee may be a culprit in the negative effects associated with coff ee. Numerous studies found dioxin residues in bleached paper coff ee fi lters. Dioxin has been linked to suppressed immune function, decreased vitamin A in most organs, decreased vitamins D and K, and bleeding in babies. Dioxin also seems to negatively affect the thyroid hormone regulatory system and has carcinogenic potential.
Various chemicals such as trichloroethylene, trichloroethane, ethyl acetate, and methylene chloride are used in many decaff eination
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
processes to extract the caff eine from coffee. One exception to this is Swiss water-processed decaff einated coffee, which is the best option if you drink decaf coffee. Not enough research has been carried out on effects of the chemicals used to decaff einate coffee, so it is best to go the route of Swiss water-processed to avoid consumption of these potentially harmful substances.
Alcohol
Alcohol taxes the body’s detoxification systems because it has to be processed by the liver, which reduces the liver’s capacity to perform the other five hundred functions it has to do. Excess alcohol is stored in the liver, and binge drinking can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis.“Research has also shown an association between alcohol consumption and cancers of the mouth, esophagus, liver, and breast.”12
Even moderate drinking in people with slightly impaired liver function can be a problem, not to mention that even in people with no known alcohol-related problems, alcohol can decrease the liver’s ability to detoxify the body. As you learned earlier, alcohol inhibits white blood cells, preventing them from performing their important tasks to keep your immune system strong.
When Plastic Gets in Your Food
Just what is plastic doing in a chapter about foods and beverages? Toxins found in plastics and plastic wraps frequently find their way into our foods. Once there, they “mimic the estrogens that are linked to breast cancer and other hormone-related illnesses.”13 According to Leslie Crawford in her February 2004 article,“Containing Plastics” in Alternative Medicine: “Many of the chemicals used to make and treat the plastic we wrap and bottle our food in may be carcinogenic, hormone-altering, and, at the very least, a cause of allergic reactions ranging from skin irritations to breathing problems. What’s more,
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
a growing body of studies shows that many of these same toxic chemicals are migrating directly into our food.”14 Activist groups such as Greenpeace and government agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are closely watching some of these chemicals. Unfortunately, no long-term studies have been conducted on the effects of plastic exposure on humans, even though it remains the most widely used packaging material in North America.
The range of plastic-type substances in our food supply ranges from plasticizers (which soften hard plastic), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (which is hard plastic), and others. Dozens of animal studies conducted in the last few years demonstrate that many of these plasticizers are harmful to pregnant mice and their babies. One plasticizer in particular, bisphenol-A (BPA), is linked to chromosomal (that is, genetic) abnormalities. According to research reported by Leslie Crawford,“Exposure to the chemical, which creates hormonal imbalances, resulted in everything from high rates of spontaneous abortions to decreased sperm counts in male mice and early onset of puberty in female mice.” While that does not necessarily imply the same effects for humans, it is cause for concern.
According to Ned Groth, a senior scientist for Consumers Union, in Yonkers, New York, when plastic is exposed to high heat or harsh soaps or when plastics are simply used repeatedly over time they can degrade and make their way into our food.15
Crawford cites several plastics that are culprits to be wary of: vinyl or PVC, polystyrene (PS), and polycarbonate (PC). PVC is used in cling wrap in grocery stores and delis, bottles used to store cooking oils, and some water bottles. It contains substances that are suspected carcinogens and hormone disruptors. Polystyrene is found in disposable plastic cups and bowls and opaque plastic cutlery and usually contains substances that are also suspected carcinogens and hormone disruptors. Polycarbonate is used for clear plastic baby bottles, fi ve-gallon
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
water jugs, clear plastic “sippy cups” for babies and children, and clear plastic cutlery. Many plastics of this kind contain unknown plastic ingredients that are linked with hormone disruption.
According to some experts, all the studies that show plastic is safe for use in the food industry have been conducted by the plastic industry itself. If you are unsure, I go with glass containers.
Health Risks on the Barbie
Because barbecuing does not involve cooking meat and vegetables in oil, it might seem like a healthy alternative to stove-top frying. Sadly, this is not the case.“Drippings from chicken, beef, or fish can splash down on hot coals during barbecuing and create a carcinogen called benzopyrene. This chemical is returned to the food through smoke.”16
The high temperatures involved in barbecuing food can create mutations in the food, especially if the food becomes charred. Th ese “mutagen” compounds have been linked to cancer and birth defects.17 Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald cites studies that found when PhIP (a substance produced in high-temperature cooked meat) was fed to rats, tumours developed in the animals’ mammary glands. She also cites a German study of nine hundred women that showed those “women who ate plenty of charred and grilled meats had a two-fold greater risk of breast cancer than female participants who rarely or never consumed these foods.”
Hydrogenated and Trans Fats
Even if you don’t know much about hydrogenated fats or trans fats, you would probably agree that they sound like some kind of experiment gone awry in a science fiction movie. These fats seem like some experimental food produced in test tubes by evil scientists that come to life at night and start attacking everything in sight. Well, that’s actually not far from the truth.
Hydrogenation is a process using high temperatures to change the structure of fat molecules from a liquid to a solid. Th e food
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
industry benefits from this unnatural process because it prevents the oils from becoming rancid. People respond positively to the marketing campaigns that tell you the product will last longer. But what is the human cost of this experimental food substance? Hydrogenation turns healthy fatty acids (cis-fatty acids) into harmful ones (transfatty acids). Cis-fatty acids, which are sometimes called essential fatty acids, trigger healthy fat metabolism in the human body. Th ey are critical to a healthy brain and nervous system, immune system, organs, tissues, and cells.
After a fat has been chemically altered to become a trans-fatty acid, it no longer offers any of these benefits. Instead, the human body does not even recognize it as food. It treats trans fats as toxins and searches for dumping sites in the body—fat stores. In some cases, trans fats get dumped into organs, like the liver, which usually cannot filter all of them over long periods of time.18 Trans fats can also clog the liver and prevent healthy fatty acids from being absorbed from healthy foods. I refer to trans-fatty acids as “plastic fats” since they really do not resemble food any longer.
The melting point of trans-fatty acids found in today’s margarines and most prepared and packaged foods is 46 degrees C. Th ese fats do not melt or break down at body temperature (37 degrees C).
Stick margarine is up to 30 percent trans-fatty acids while shortening is up to 50 percent of these harmful fats.19 Most oils found on grocery store shelves contain trans fats as well. This is because of the high heat used to extract the oils from nuts and seeds during the manufacturing process.
Cooking oils to high temperatures, as in home cooking or industrial cooking, can cause the healthy fats to turn into trans fats. Th at includes most fried foods, potato chips, commercial salad dressings, baked goods, candy bars, breads, cookies, and chocolates, all of which can contain between 30 and 50 percent trans fats. If you check the
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
ingredient list, you will typically find items such as “partially hydrogenated oil” or “hydrogenated vegetable oil” or “shortening or vegetable oil shortening.” These all indicate the presence of trans fats. Within the next few years, Canadian and American laws will require the amount of trans fats or hydrogenated fats to be listed on the label.
Cold-pressed oils or extra-virgin olive oil are better choices than commercial cooking oils, margarine, and shortening.
Water, Water Everywhere, Is it Safe to Drink?
You might think Samuel Taylor Coleridge had transported himself from the eighteenth century into the present time using a time-travel machine when he wrote,“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Our water supply has increasingly become contaminated with various pollutants and shows no sign of improveing in the near future. According to Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald, “Th e Environmental Working Group and Natural Resources Council have jointly estimated that one-fifth of the American population drink tap water containing lead, fecal material, toxic waste and/or other pollutants.”20
You might be surprised to learn exactly what is found in your water supply. Over a hundred studies on tap water worldwide found that pharmaceutical drugs often escape water treatment. These studies found cholesterol reducers, painkillers, chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics, beta blockers, Prozac, and anti-seizure medications in tap water after it had been purified by city and town water treatment facilities.21
One of the main substances found in water is chlorine. It is not the safe stuff most people believe it to be. We are so accustomed to hearing that our water supply is chlorinated that we think nothing of it. Yet in numerous studies conducted by Harvard University in conjunction with the Medical College of Wisconsin, researchers linked the consumption of chlorinated water to 15 percent of all rectal cancers and 9 percent of all bladder cancers.22
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
Even if you purify your drinking water, you are at risk of absorbing chlorine through your skin. In a study published by the American Journal of Public Health and conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Energy researchers found that 50 to 70 percent of exposure to water pollutants in adults occurs through the skin.23 That’s right—you absorb water pollutants through your skin while showering or bathing. Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald cites a New Jersey study that showed elevated breath levels of chloroform in people hours after they had taken a shower. She adds,“Taking a shower exposes you to as much as six times the chloroform (a toxic compound in chlorinated water) through steam as you would absorb from drinking treated water.”
And what about that lovely bleachy smell we attribute to pool water? You guessed it: swimming in chlorinated water is another way that we absorb toxins through our skin. If you own a pool, ozone is preferred to toxic chemicals to purify the water.
If you live in an older home that has lead pipes or lead solder used on copper pipes, the lead can leach into your drinking water.
“In a classic study, John Yiamouyiannis, Ph.D., compared cancer death rates in the largest fluoridated and non-fluoridated cities in the U.S. The rates were similar in both cities before fluoride was first introduced in 1953, but then rose noticeably in the study areas where fluoride was used. Indeed, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute has concluded that fluoride causes more cancer deaths than any other chemical—blaming it for an estimated 61,000 cases of cancer in 1995. Other scientists warn that additional sources of fluoride (toothpastes, pesticide residues, etc.) in combination with treated water can result in toxic levels of exposure and a weakening of teeth and bones.”24
In 1996, over 45 million pounds of chemicals were discharged into surface waters, including lakes and rivers that supply drinking water.25 By 2000, that amount had risen to 260 million pounds26—
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
six times as much! This ongoing and voluminous amount of water pollution threatens our water supply. If you are counting on city water filtration systems to eliminate these toxic waste products, think again. Most city and town water purification facilities are not capable of eliminating the thousands of different chemicals now readily found in water.
According to research conducted by the American Chemical Society, exposure to chemicals by inhaling air in and around the shower is up to a hundred times greater than by drinking water. As you will learn in the next chapter, the chemicals that you inhale in the shower are not the only ones to be concerned about.
Drugs, Drugs, and More Drugs
Move over, Rolaids and Tylenol. Step aside, Tums and Seldane. If you spell relief D-R-U-G-S you may wish to reconsider.
Drugs are made of synthetic chemicals that must be filtered by your liver, kidneys, and other detox organs. They also deplete vital nutrients required for detoxification. Basically, they add to your body’s toxic burden while reducing its capacity to eliminate them.
I am not suggesting that you discontinue taking any medications that your doctor has prescribed. Doing so can be very dangerous. I am asking you to rethink the necessity to pop a pill for everything that ails you. After all, what did people do only a hundred years or so ago, before there were prescription and OTC drugs?
Repeated use of medications can weaken your detoxification organs and your body’s ability to detoxify. Drugs do not eliminate the underlying causes of the symptoms people take them for; instead, they merely mask them. The cause of the original problem that was covered up by drugs may rear its ugly head somewhere down the road in a much nastier form.
Harvey Diamond, the best-selling health book author of all time with his book Fit for Life, adds:“When the cleansing eff orts of
Chapter .: You Are What You Eat and Drink ..
the body are suppressed with drugs, the level of toxicity increases until other organs become affected as well, not only with the toxins already in the body but also... with the added toxicity of the drugs that are administered.”27
Th e Journal of the American Medical Association reported,“Every year more than two million Americans become seriously ill and 106,000 of them die, all from prescription drugs.”28 The study to which they are referring clearly indicates that these deaths are from the correct use of prescribed medications, not from incorrectly mixing medications or taking them incorrectly. That means that more than one million people died in the nineties from the correct use of their prescribed drugs. Drug side effects are the third highest cause of death.29 The pharmaceuticals that millions of people turn to for relief from pain, inflammation, and other symptoms are not only causing side effects, they are actually killing many people.
By some estimates, six thousand people die every year from “simple” non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Th e side effects of these drugs contribute to congestive heart failure, kidney disease, suicidal depression, cataracts, ulcers, macular degeneration, hearing loss, tinnitus, memory loss, fatigue, and liver disease. Whew! You might want to think twice before popping a painkiller.
The average senior citizen, over age sixty-five, takes thirteen prescription drugs per year. You guessed it: they start out taking one drug for one problem but need another medication to counter the side effects of the first drug, and so on, and so on. Th at number does not even include the number of over-the-counter medications people are taking. Research has not been conducted to determine all the possible harmful effects of taking so many toxic pills at once.
Medications deplete many of the vitamins and minerals needed to ensure proper detoxification channels in your body. Over-thecounter pain relievers such as Aspirin, Advil, Aleve, Tylenol, and the countless others on the market deplete your body of vitamin
.. The .-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
C, folic acid (vitamin B9), iron, zinc, and many other nutrients. All these nutrients are needed for effi cient detoxification and to build healthy cells and blood.
All medications need to be filtered by your body’s detoxifi cation systems. These detox systems may already be overburdened by the various toxins mentioned earlier. What happens when the organs don’t have the nutrients they need to do their jobs because these vitamins and minerals were displaced by drugs? You guessed it: toxin overload. So what’s a tired and toxic body to do? The Ultimate Body Detox Plan.
In this chapter you learned
• Some of the most common sources of toxins are found in your food in the form of pesticides, food additives, sugar, trans fats, and other toxic chemicals • Synthetic chemicals in your food have been linked to aging and disease • Plastic in your food disrupts hormones and is linked to cancer • Medications add a burden to the detoxification organs while depleting your body of vital nutrients needed for efficient cleansing