Things like white bread, white pasta and white rice have become staples in the Standard American Diet. Even though there is a trend toward seemingly healthy wheat bread or whole grain pasta, these grains are still processed and refined--to the point that I would not even call them food! Refined carbohydrates are fake foods and should be avoided if you want to build health in your body. 

Carbohydrates provide our main source of fuel: glucose. This brain and body form of sugar is created by the breakdown of plant foods. In nature, carbohydrates are linked with vitamins, minerals, protein, fat and fiber.  

Complex carbohydrates are those that resist immediate breakdown and are converted into sugar over time--things like sweet potatoes. Refined carbohydrates are those that have been stripped of other nutrients and have had their structure altered so they enter the bloodstream like an injection of sugar. This injection triggers the release of insulin which converts sugar into stored fat rather than energy, starving the brain of needed fuel. 

Carbohydrates are an important part of the diet, but your main source of carbs should be coming from vegetables rather than refined grains. Refined carbohydrates have been linked to diseases of the heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas. Refined carbohydrates contribute to hyperactivity, learning problems and violent tendencies and are also connected to allergies, anorexia, bone loss, depression, diabetes, Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance. 

B vitamins, in particular, make up the enzymes needed to convert carbohydrates into energy. Refined carbohydrates are often stripped of B vitamins, triggering the conversion of carbohydrates into fat instead which affects cholesterol and triglyceride levels and affects insulin levels. 

Although some food manufacturers “enrich” or “fortify” stripped carbs with synthetic forms of B vitamins; no strong evidence exists that finds this supplementation is healthy or effective. 

Refined Cereals and Grains

Two of every five deaths in the US can be attributed to cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Many research studies have found that insulin resistance is the forerunner of Type II diabetes and coronary heart disease. 

In the past, dietary fat was thought to be the culprit behind rising incidences of these diseases and the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association both recommended increasing dietary intake of carbohydrates for energy. 

During this low-fat diet craze, intake of refined carbohydrates has soared both in the US and around the globe and researchers have come to better understand how the ingestion of refined carbohydrates affect insulin response and fat production in the body. 

Glycemic index is a measure of how quickly carbohydrates are digested. Glycemic load measures the carbohydrate content and the glycemic index of food to give an idea of the blood-sugar-raising potential of carbohydrates. 

Potatoes, processed cereal grains and fruit juices have some of the highest glycemic loads. Grains such as corn, rice and wheat that are milled have a high starch level and greatly reduced fiber, nutrient and phytonutrients levels. Whole grains have less effect on the insulin response than do refined grains such as white rice, white flour and other processed grains. 

Whole grains must be treated in some way to make them digestible however. Sprouting, souring, soaking and fermentation increases the availability of nutrients in whole grains. Untreated whole grains have compounds that can block nutrient absorption. It’s important to remember also that the nutrient density of grains in general is far lower than other foods like vegetables and fruits. 

Extruded Foods 

Extrusion is the process by which food manufacturers “slurry” foods and force them through a machine to make attractive shapes. Extrusion is used to produce a wide variety of foods but cereals take top billing. Those little “O’s,” laden flakes, puffed rice or perfectly shaped potato chips are all examples of extrusion. Grains do not grow from the ground shaped like the letters of the alphabet!

During this process, meat or grains are slurried, compressed, forced through a shape-maker and then sprayed with oil and sugar to seal them. Former corporate biochemist and author of Fighting the Food Giants, Paul Stitt, says that extrusion destroys most of the nutrients in grains, even those vitamins that have been added to enrich the product. 

Stitt describes an unpublished study conducted by a cereal company in which rats were fed a variety of diets. One was fed whole wheat and added vitamins and minerals. One group was given water and a vitamin/mineral solution. Another group was given puffed wheat and the vitamin/mineral solution. A fourth group was given only water. The first group or rats lived for a year. The rats fed only water and vitamin/mineral solution lived for 2 months. The rats that were given only water lived about a month. The rats that ate the extruded cereal and vitamin/mineral solution died within two weeks! 

The researchers discovered signs of insulin shock in the rats that ate the cereals: dysfunction of the kidneys, liver and pancreas and a degeneration of spinal nerves. 

Grains and Sugar

Because grains turn to sugar in our bodies so quickly, we need to look at the effect of refined sugar in our bodies as well. Many refined cereals, breads and packaged foods contain added sugars as well.

The USDA studied the consumption of refined sugars and white flour between 1970 and 1997 and found that dietary intake of high fructose corn syrup, other sweeteners and white flour increased to 144.5 pounds of refined carbohydrates per person per year. This is comparable to 17 pounds of body fat per person every year. Today, the industry produces about 156 pounds of refined sugars per person each year. 

Refined sugars provide calories but no nutrients of any kind. They’re often called “empty” calories but they should be called “villainous” calories. They’re not just empty of nutrients: they debit your health in many ways.

Refined sugars now make up 16% of the average American’s diet, contributing to heart disease, obesity and tooth decay, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This proportion of empty calories means that Americans have to get 100% of their nutrients from only 84% of their food. 

Type II diabetes was once known as “adult-onset” diabetes, but this is no longer true. Endocrinologist Gerald Bernstein says “If you go back 20 years, about 2% of new onset diabetes were in people between 9 and 19 years old. Now, it’s about 30% to 50%.” 

In adults, Type II diabetes (which is primarily due to diet and lifestyle) has increased by 70% in thirty-somethings in America, 40% in forty-somethings and 31% in those in their fifties. 

Although most of the refined sugars we ingest are in processed foods, many people don’t realize that the “natural” or “raw” sugars they might use at home are also refined. Fruit juices, Florida crystals, sucanat and turbinado crystals are sugars that have been stripped of the components that would slow their absorption. “Raw” sugar is often refined sugar with a bit of molasses for coloring.

Stevia leaf, raw honey, maple syrup or molasses are healthier choices, but it’s still important to use them in moderation. 

Sources

The Franklin Institute Staff (2004)

Dr. Gabe Mirkin (2007)

Journal of American College of Nutrition (2002)

Dr. Joel Fuhrman (2006)

Weston A. Price Foundation (2002)

United Press International (2009)

Center for Science in the Public Interest (2010)

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Take inventory of your kitchen cabinets. How many refined carbohydrates do you consume? This includes white and wheat breads, pasta, cereal, rice, baking flour and refined sugars.
2. Remove the refined carbohydrates from your diet. Replace them with vegetables, fruit, and small amounts of wild or brown rice and sprouted grain bread.

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Most of us take it for granted that milk and other foods are pasteurized and homogenized. When certain practices go unquestioned, we accept them as being “just the way things are.” But pasteurization and homogenization denature foods. They alter the chemical structure of food, make fats rancid, destroy nutrients and result in the formation of free radicals in the body.

It’s not just dairy anymore either. Pasteurization is used on everything from fruit juices to shelled nuts.

Many people choose not to “do dairy” at all, but among those that do; you should know that there’s a big difference between pasteurized milk and raw milk and many myths about both.

Pasteurization

The Industrial Revolution created the first farm factories: dairy lots within city limits alongside distilleries. Unsanitary conditions in the new urban environments led to the development of pasteurization: heating milk to high temperatures in order to destroy all disease-causing bacteria and pathogens. It was a cheap alternative to sanitary inspections and regulation. People in the 1800’s and 1900’s had to be convinced that pasteurized milk was better than raw. A huge marketing campaign that involved industrialists and government agencies began and still continues today. Many people are horrified at the idea of drinking milk in its natural state.  

Conditions, machinery and regulation today make clean milk possible whether it is pasteurized or raw. Pasteurization today, as it did so many years ago, allows dairy cows to be handled and processed in many unsanitary and inhumane ways as long as the milk is pasteurized in the end.

Pasteurization denatures milk in multiple ways. The process destroys vitamin A completely and destroys about 38% of B vitamins. It weakens or destroys vitamin C. It destroys the enzyme phosphatase, which is needed to absorb calcium. It alters or destroys many amino acids, reducing the digestibility of protein in milk by 17%. Alterations in milk proteins can often trigger an immune response.

Beneficial bacteria is destroyed by pasteurization processes too--bacteria that prevents milk from decomposing. Raw milk sours while pasteurized milk goes rancid.

Homogenization

Homogenization is a high-pressure process that breaks down fat into tiny particles so that they stay suspended. This gives milk, peanut butter and other foods a creamy consistency. Fat subjected to high heat and pressure oxidizes—it becomes rancid.

Reduced fat milks are thickened by the addition of powdered milk. Powdered milk is also oxidized fat.

Homogenized products have been linked to rising rates of cancer and heart disease. 

Ultra High Temperature Pasteurization (UHT)

UHT products are especially denatured. You will often see that organic milk sold in stores is Ultra Pasteurized. The very high temperatures used in UHT products alter and destroy proteins and enzymes to a very high degree. UHT milk is so unnatural that bacteria won’t go near it. It can last without refrigeration for up to 50 days in plastic bottles and up to 6 months in aseptic containers. 

When we eat or drink foods that have been pasteurized and homogenized, the increase in unusable proteins forces the body to quickly use up many enzymes and other vital nutrients to process it. Pastereurized milk can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Protein, fat and sugar particles in denatured milk easily pass through the intestinal lining and cause inflammation and allergic reactions.

Every day, more foods are pasteurized to make up for unsanitary conditions, destroying the natural bacteria and enzymes that would normally counteract the growth of pathogens.

Sources

Raw Milk Facts (2010)

Dr. Joseph Mercola (2007)

Real Milk (2003)

Weston A. Price Foundation (2004)

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Try removing all forms of pasteurized dairy from your diet-milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. Replace them with raw forms or dairy alternatives such as almond milk or coconut milk. 
2. You can find raw cheeses in many supermarkets today or you can search for dairies in your area on www.realmilk.com. 
3. Consider removing most fruit juices from your diet as well. They are also pasteurized and often contain lots of added sugar. Make your own with a juicer or powerful blender. 

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You may have heard that eating fish is a healthy option. That’s a true statement, but in most cases today, it’s only a partially true statement. The reality of where our fish comes from is of paramount importance for our health! There is a vast different between wild caught fish and farmed fish.

Fish farms produce supermarket protein with high concentrations of antibiotics, pesticides and lower levels of healthy nutrients. Research has found that farmed fish has less usable omega-3 fatty acids than wild-caught fish and a 20% lower protein content. A USDA review confirmed the findings. Farmed fish are fattier and have a high concentration of omega-6 fatty acids. Imbalances in the levels of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids create inflammation in the body. 

Farm-raised fish are given antibiotics to stave off disease that results from crowded conditions and are also treated with pesticides to combat sea lice. Sea lice from fish farms kill up to 95% of migrating juvenile wild salmon. 

The pesticides used to treat sea lice in fish farms circulate throughout the ocean. Pesticides that have been banned for decades have concentrated in the fat of much marine life.  

This fat is used in the feed that fish farms use, and studies by the Environmental Working Group, along with those done in Canada, Ireland and the UK, have found that cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exist in farm-raised salmon at 16 times the rate of wild salmon.

Dibutyltin is a chemical used in PVC plastics. Dibutyltin can interfere with normal immune responses and inflammation control in both animals and humans. A 2008 study found that dibutyltin may be contributing to the rise of allergies, asthma, obesity and other metabolic and immune disorders in humans. Scientists have found that dibutyltin in farm-raised mussels is more than 6 times higher than that of wild mussels. 

Researchers have also found levels of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), a chemical used as a flame retardant, in high levels in farm-raised fish. PBDEs are endocrine disruptors that are thought to contribute to cancer. Scientists believe that both fish feed and increasing concentrations in the open oceans are contributing to high PBDE levels in fish and humans.

Another study, conducted at the University of New York at Albany found that dioxin levels in farm-raised salmon are 11 times higher than those in wild salmon. 

Dioxins are one of the “dirty dozen,” says the World Health Organization (WHO) because they are highly toxic and are stored for a long time in the body: their half life in fat cells is 7 to 11 years. 

Dioxins impair the endocrine, immune, nervous and reproductive systems and are carcinogens. 

Canthaxanthin is a synthetic pigment that is used to add a pink color to farm-raised salmon. Wild salmon get their color naturally by feeding on krill. Canthaxanthin is a compound found in sunless tanning pills. Studies have found that canthaxanthin can affect pigments in the retina of the eye, leading to a ban of its use in the UK—but not the US. 

University of British Colombia professor Daniel Pauly calls aquafarms “floating pig farms” because tremendous amounts of fish feed and fish waste accumulate on the sea floor because of them, creating a perfect breeding ground for bacteria that threaten other marine life.   

Researchers from the George Mateljan Foundation say that “a good sized salmon farm produces an amount of excrement equivalent to the sewage of a city of 10,000 people.” 

Fish farms threaten other sea life in other ways too. Fish farms don’t really combat overfishing: they contribute to it. Salmon, for instance, are carnivores. It takes about 2 ½ to 4 pounds of other fish to create the salmon chow needed to produce 1 pound of farm-raised salmon. The overfishing of wild sardines, anchovies, mackerel, herring and other fish upset natural ecosystems. “We are not taking strain off wild fisheries,” says agricultural economist Rosamond L. Naylor. “We are adding to it. This cannot be sustained forever.” 

Another fear many scientists have is about dwindling biodiversity of fish. What makes the food supply more sustainable is the wide variety of fish and other species and their genetic make-ups. Diversity=survival.  

About 1 million farm-raised salmon have escaped from holes in nets from farms in the Puget Sound alone. Biologists fear that farm-fish escapees may out-compete wild fish for food and territory, contributing to the demise of many fish species.

Interbreeding between escaped fish and wild may also dilute the wild salmon gene pool.

Drugs that could reduce farmed-fish growing times have also begun to arise. These drugs alter genes in fish so that they produce growth hormones and grow six times faster than normal fish, increasing the danger that wild species will be overcome. 

Benefits of Wild Caught Fish

This information is certainly sobering and should be enough to convince you to stay away from conventional farmed fish. These practices are even affecting the population of fish in the wild. 

That’s why I don’t recommend eating fish--even wild caught fish--on a daily basis. But the health benefits of certain wild caught fish like salmon just can’t be ignored. 

Wild caught salmon is very high in Omega 3 fatty acids. These fats are known as essential fatty acids. Our bodies don’t produce them, so must obtain them through our food. Wild caught salmon also has a healthy balance of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids. When you have too many Omega 6 fatty acids in your body, inflammation occurs. 

Cold water fish such as salmon are a good source of Vitamin D-an extremely important nutrient that is essential to wide variety of bodily functions. The sun is your best source of Vitamin D, but since most people don't get enough sun in the winter months, wild caught salmon is a great way to add more of it into your diet. 

Also found in wild caught salmon are healthy protein, selenium, niacin, vitamin B12, phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin B6. 

Sources:

The George Mateljan Foundation 2010

Environmental Health News 2008

CBS News 2004

World Health Organization 2007

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Avoid farm raised fish at the grocery store and at restaurants. If it doesn’t say it’s wild caught, chances are it is farm raised. 
2. Find a high quality wild caught canned salmon and try out one of my favorite recipes: Salmon Patties

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Doctors and scientists have long been telling us to reduce our salt intake, so it may be hard to swallow when I tell you research shows that a low-salt diet doesn’t reduce high blood pressure. But the type of salt you are consuming does make a world of difference for your health. 

Nutritionist Sally Fallon reminds us that all traditional cultures have used salt in some form. But they didn’t, of course, use the refined table salt we find in our salt shakers. They used salt from the sea.

Refined Table Salt vs. Sea Salt

Refined salt is produced from sea salt originally. It starts as a ‘real food’ then quickly becomes a ‘fake food.’ Manufacturers harvest this salt with methods that strip it of all its naturally-occurring minerals. They then use a number of additives (including aluminum) to dry it and heat it to temperatures of about 1,200 degrees, which alters its chemical structure. The stripped iodine is replaced with potassium iodide in potentially toxic amounts. The salt is then stabilized with dextrose, which turns it purple. Finally it is bleached white. 

Sun-dried sea salt, on the other hand, is laced with marine life (organic forms of iodine) and many essential minerals. This type of salt remains in the body at work for several weeks. Refined salt passes through the body quickly and may be why researcher Henry Bieler found signs of sodium starvation in people who ate lots of refined salt. 

Celtic sea salt, that which is farmed with ancient methods from the salt marshes of Brittany, is one of the best varieties that are readily available in the US. It is light grey in color and carries 80 trace minerals and 14% of it is composed of macro-minerals. Red sea salt from Hawaii is superior to Celtic sea salt but is much harder to obtain.

What Sea Salt Provides

Aside from seasoning our food and adding taste, sea salt provides us with sodium, chloride, iodine, and a host of other essential minerals.

Sodium

Every bodily fluid contains sodium. Why? It is needed for many biochemical processes including (but not limited to): adrenal gland function, cell wall stability, muscle contractions, nerve stimulation, pH and water balance regulation. 

Chloride

Chloride works in concert with sodium and potassium to regulate pH in the blood and the passage of fluids across cell membranes. Chloride is the basis of hydrochloric acid which is needed to digest protein. Chloride also activates enzymes that digest carbohydrates and is necessary for the proper growth and functioning of the brain. 

Trace amounts of chloride can also be found in celery and coconut.

Iodine

Iodine is needed for many biochemical processes including: fat metabolism, mental development, muscle function, the production of sex hormones and thyroid function. 

Iodine is found in most foods from the sea including fish broths, kelp and seaweed. It is also found in butter, asparagus, artichokes, dark green vegetables and pineapple. 

Salt and Science

A study published in the 1985 British Medical Journal involved people that had a family history of high blood pressure. The participants restricted their salt intake for eight weeks. At the end of the study, no differences were found in their blood pressure readings. 

Award-winning researcher Gary Taubes published a report called “The (Political) Science of Salt” in a 1998 edition of Science Magazine. In the report, Taubes concluded that “After interviews with some 80 researchers, clinicians, and administrators around the world, it is safe to say that if ever there were a controversy over the interpretation of scientific data, this is it…”

“After decades of intensive research, the apparent benefits of avoiding salt have only diminished. This suggests that either the true benefit has now been revealed and is indeed small or that it is non-existent and researchers believing they have detected such benefits have been deluded by the confounding of other variables.”

Salt and Processed Food

Professor Lichtenstein of the American Heart Association nutrition committee says, “If people eat a diet like the one we recommend that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish, they probably won’t be consuming a lot of sodium.”

Therein lies the rub. 

Most of the salt that people consume in the United States doesn’t get sprinkled on our food from a salt shaker. It is already present in the large amounts of processed foods the average American consumes. 

This is a big deal when you realize that we spend over 90% of our grocery funds on processed foods in the US.

Dietician Katherine Zeratsky explains that salt is used to prevent spoilage and kill bacteria in processed foods. It also adds flavor and disguises unwanted tastes in food. The American Heart Association recommendation that we limit our salt intake to 2,300 mg per day is the amount of salt we eat in just an average amount of processed foods every day. 

Raw vs. Cooked Foods

One of the most important roles of salt is an enzyme activator, says Sally Fallon. This is why, she theorizes, that enzyme researcher Edward Howell found that cultures that eat large quantities of raw foods need very little salt while those that eat mostly cooked foods ingest large quantities of salt. 

Raw and fermented foods contain high levels of enzymes which help to digest our food and boost the immune system. Enzymes are deactivated by heat and cause the pancreas to work overtime.  

Edward Howell found that low enzyme ingestion causes a “shortened life span, illness and lowered resistance to stress of all types.” He also found that people who ate mostly cooked foods, especially grains, had enlarged pancreases and smaller glands and other organs. 

The health disparity of many Asian cultures as compared to ours is most likely due in part to the amount of raw and fermented foods in their diet. Ke-tsiap was an enzyme and mineral-rich condiment borrowed from the East by Dutch traders. The English added mushrooms and walnuts to this fermented fish sauce, Americans added tomatoes, and this once tasty and nutritious condiment is the forerunner of our highly processed favorite today: ketchup, which is now mostly cooked tomato and high-fructose corn syrup. Yet another example of a ‘real food’ becoming a ‘fake food.’

Sources

Nourishing Traditions, 2001

Weston A Price Foundation, 1999

British Medical Journal, 1985

CBS News, 2006

Science Magazine, 1998

Univ. of California at San Francisco, 2010

Mayo Clinic, 2008

Dr. Joseph Mercola, 2010

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Throw away your refined table salt and replace it with a high quality Celtic or Himalayan sea salt.
2. Then continue to salt your food as needed for seasoning. 
3. Make the transition from consuming packaged, processed, fake foods that are laden with refined salt to eating more raw vegetables and fruits. 

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"With the proper diet, no doctor is necessary. With the improper diet, no doctor can help."

~ Gabriel Cousens, author of Conscious Eating

Some “raw foodies” may seem extreme and obsessive, but there’s a lot to be said for increasing the amount of raw food in your diet. As naturopath Dr. Humbart Santillo says, “A human being is not maintained by food intake alone, but rather by what is digested.” ¹

Contrary to popular belief, cooked foods are harder to digest than raw.

Enzymes

Alissa Cohen, author of Living on Live Food, says that cooking food over 112 degrees destroys vital enzyme content. ¹ Nancy Lee Bentley, co-author of Dr. Mercola’s  Total Health Program, says that newer research suggests enzymes can become de-stabilized at temperatures as low as 72 degrees. ²

Naturopath Dr. Humbart Santillo explains that enzymes are used to break down food to smaller and more operable nutritional units. The pancreas and other cells produce enzymes within the body (endogenous enzymes), and raw foods are the source of exogenous enzymes, those found outside the body. ¹

“The more one gets of the exogenous enzymes,” says Santillo, “the less will have to be borrowed [from the body.] One can live many years on a cooked food diet, but eventually this will cause cellular enzyme exhaustion, which lays the foundation for a weak immune system and ultimately—disease.” ¹

University of California researchers measured the digestion of bread that had been cooked three ways: mildly, normally and over-baked. The longer the bread was cooked; the longer it stayed in the stomach. The over-baked bread caused an immune response in the bloodstream: it was treated as a foreign invader. ⁴

Scientist Francis Pottenger discovered that every food has a heat labile point. A heat labile point is the temperature at which the chemical configuration of food changes. Nancy Appleton, author of Suicide by Sugar, says we digest food in certain chemical configurations. Cooking styles that heat food to high temperatures create chemical configurations that the body is unfamiliar with and doesn’t have the enzymes to digest easily. ⁴

The Digestive Tract

As food sits in the digestive tract; it begins to ferment. Proteins putrefy and fats go rancid, irritating the mucosal lining and causing inflammation. The irritated cells of the digestive lining spread, allowing undigested and partially digested foods to pass through. This is leaky gut syndrome, which is linked to many allergic, autoimmune and digestive conditions. ⁴

In an article on Dr. Mercola’s website, “Raw Food--One of Your Keys to Outstanding Health,” Wes Peterson writes about some of the research that has been done concerning raw versus cooked food. ³

The first doctor to test and document the effects of cooked versus raw food on the immune system was Dr. Paul Kouchakoff of Switzerland. In the 1930’s, Kouchakoff found that food that was cooked until it was well done initiated a white blood cell rise called “digestive leukocytosis.” ³

Digestive leukocytosis resembles a stress response to infection or trauma. This increase in white blood cells had been observed by others but was thought to be a normal reaction to eating. At The Institute of Chemical Chemistry, Kouchakoff and others found that unaltered food (food that was raw or heated at very low temperatures) did not cause this immune reaction. They found that only food heated at very high temperatures or food that was processed and refined caused this rise in white blood cells. ³

They renamed the phenomenon “pathological leukocytosis” because they deemed it abnormal--or a response to abnormal food. The strongest food triggers of this reaction, heated or not, were processed and refined foods such as pasteurized and homogenized milk and margarine, and refined chocolate, sugar, candy, white flour and table salt. ³

Nancy Appleton reports that the average cancer risk due to amine exposure in cooked foods rises from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 50 in people who regularly eat large amounts of well-done and flame-broiled conventional meats. ⁴

Leif Busk, of the Swedish National Food Administration, says that overcooked starchy foods cause the formation of cancer-causing acrylamide. Acrylamide, says Appleton, forms not only in baked and fried starches but in meats cooked at high temperatures. As many as 20 identified cancer-causing heterocyclic amines (HCAs) have been found in such meats. ⁴

Published research has found a connection between well-done meats and stomach cancer and increased risk of breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer with barbequed, fried and well-done meats. ⁴

Acidity & Alkalinity

Besides enzymes, the second most important benefit of raw foods is their effect on the acid/alkaline balance in our bodies, says Alissa Cohen. ¹

Dr. Robert Young, author of The pH Miracle, describes “The New Biology.” Disease, Young says, is not caused by external sources such as bacteria. Disease occurs within the body when acidity undermines the immune system. When our bodies are at the proper acid/alkaline balance, we can combat and defeat any invader, correct any imbalance, roll with all the punches. Acidosis, due to environmental pollutants and stress, processed and refined foods, lack of biogenic or “life-giving” foods and mineral-deficient water, contributes to disease and disorder within the body. ⁵

The major cause of acidity is diet. Cooked foods create acidity in the body. Raw foods neutralize acid and are loaded with antioxidants.

Cooking does degrade some nutrients but it also makes others more digestible. Lightly cooking food at temperatures less than 100 degrees, steaming, juicing, sprouting and using slow cookers are ways to gently cook food.

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. I don’t recommend an entirely raw/vegetarian/vegan diet. Instead, aim for a 70/30 to 80/20 ratio of cooked versus raw foods.
2. When lightly cooking your food, avoid the microwave! Regardless of how long food is in the microwave, using this method will alter the chemical structure of the food. Use the stovetop or oven to lightly steam vegetables or re-heat leftovers. 
3. To increase your intake of raw foods, begin the day with a Berry Smoothie, adding kale, spinach or red cabbage to the mix. Eat a large salad for lunch and load it up with other raw vegetables like bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots or tomatoes. 
4. Share your raw recipes with the DrAxe.com health community below!

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The crazy thing about those numbers is they are preventable. The Western diet and lifestyle is linked to growing numbers of allergic and autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity.^{1, 2} Worse yet, these trends are spreading across the globe.  

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) has developed what they hope will become a new trend we can share with our global neighbors.  It’s called “The New American Plate.”² Based on an expert panel report conducted by scientists in the US and UK, these dietary and lifestyle recommendations could help dramatically reduce overweight, related diseases and cancer cases worldwide.

How Your Digestive System Works 

The digestive system begins in the mouth and ends at the anus. The organs involved in digestion are lined with a mucous membrane that contains digestive enzymes. These enzymes help you break down and absorb nutrients. The nervous system, the hormonal system and the circulatory system are also involved in digestion.

Food goes through four stages of breakdown, the first of which begins in the mouth. Salivary enzymes play a large role in digestion. Chew, chew, chew!

After swallowing, smooth muscles in the digestive tract moves food through wave-like contractions called peristalsis. The stomach stores food in its upper portion, adds digestive enzymes to food in its middle portion, and the lower portion does the majority of the mixing of food and digestive juices and then propels food along to the small intestine.

The pancreas, gallbladder and liver contribute to digestion in the stomach. Carbohydrates spend the least amount of time there, protein requires more work to break down, and fats need the most work.

Absorption of released nutrients occurs through the intestines and waste is pushed into the colon, where fluid and electrolytes are absorbed and the rest excreted.

Villi, small finger-like projections, cover the lining of the small intestine. It is here that the transfer of nutrients occurs. ³

Carbohydrates and Fiber

Digestible carbohydrates are starches and sugars. They are easily broken down and absorbed. Indigestible fiber moves slowly through the digestive tract, scrubbing the walls as it goes and slowing the movement of food so that it can be digested and the nutrients absorbed.

The American Food Pyramid doesn’t distinguish between easily digested carbohydrates and indigestible fiber. French fries, processed breads and white rice are instantly converted to blood sugar and wreak havoc on your health. Fibrous carbohydrates clean you out, fill you up and help you to combat bacteria and toxins as they increase the absorption of nutrients.

It is ironic that scientists first broke down food through processing and refinement to aid digestion and improve health. Once only available to the wealthy, these unhealthy food choices are now some of the cheapest foods we can buy.

The American College of Gastroenterology reports that most Americans eat only 10-15 grams of fiber a day while the recommended intake is 20-35 grams per day and I personally recommend 30-50 grams of fiber for optimal health.⁴ When you increase fiber, added fluids are also necessary to move them through your system. 

Probiotics

Besides fiber, one of the things missing from the Western diet is healthy doses of probiotics. We live in a world of bacteria and if it weren’t for some of them, we wouldn’t be able to adequately break down food and absorb nutrients. Probiotics, beneficial bacteria, also improve the immune system.

Traditionally, every cultural cuisine in the world contains daily doses of probiotic bacteria. Fermented food and drink are universal staples in traditional diets, whether they are the fermented dairy drink kefir, sourdough breads, fermented soybean, pickled cabbage, cured meats or cultured cheeses.

Research has found that probiotics can ease irritable bowel syndrome, prevent allergies and infections and even shorten the duration of the common cold.⁵ They compete for space with bad bacteria, promote the release of natural antibodies in the digestive tract and can even attack unhealthy bacteria directly in some cases.⁵

Gary Huffnagle, researcher at the University of Michigan Health System says that there is also a link between probiotics and obesity, a connection that the agricultural system has recognized for many years. Livestock are routinely dosed with antibiotics, which kill both good and bad bacteria, to fatten them up.⁵

Cultured dairy is one of the best sources of probiotics, and many people who have problems with lactose find that naturally cultured products don’t bother them. That’s because processes like pasteurization and homogenization destroy probiotic bacteria, which normally help to break down milk sugars and proteins, making them more digestible.

Foods that encourage probiotics to grow are apples, beans, berries, red wine, spices and tea.

The New American Plate

Research has shown that the American preoccupation with diets is a faulty one. Diets don’t work and as the American Institute for Cancer Research says, “they distract us from the larger issue of overall health.”²

The New American Plate isn’t a diet but a life change. It’s not a temporary measure meant to make you look better in a bathing suit; it’s a recommendation to slowly transform the way that you eat so that you get healthy and remain healthy for the course of your life. Its emphasis is on increasing plant foods, reducing meat intake, avoiding processed foods, and educating ourselves about portion sizes. 

Many of us grew up thinking a healthy meal was a “square meal:” a large portion of meat, a large portion of starch and a smaller portion of (usually-over-cooked) vegetables. That old American plate is definitely square: square as in old-fashioned, out-of-date and decidedly unhealthy.

The AICR gives an easy visual cue for eating better: when you look at your plate, two-thirds of it should contain plant foods and one-third or less should be made up of meat, dairy or other quality protein sources.

They’re not talking about white rice or instant mashed potatoes when they say plant food either. They’re talking about a wide variety of fruit and vegetables and a smaller portion of carbohydrates like brown rice, quinoa, beans and sprouted whole grain bread.

Eating the minimum of five servings of fruit and vegetables is easy this way. A single serving is only ½ a cup.

Diversity is important and the way you prepare your food makes a difference as well. Non-organic, grain-fed grilled meats contain cancer-causing carbon, and raw vegetables or lightly steamed vegetables contain larger portions of vitamins and minerals than cooked.

Meat should be the side dish; not the central star of your meal.  

The AICR recommends that you slowly transition to The New American Plate so that your body can adjust to increasing amounts of fiber and your eyes and taste buds can get a rich education. Small changes made over time are more long-lasting than radical transitions.

One of the best things about The New American Plate is that it’s still a “super-sized” meal but the AICR also recommends that you become familiar with proper portion sizes. Measuring your portions just once or twice can help you better “eyeball” portions.

The USDA has provided guidelines for “eyeballing” proper serving sizes:

• A half cup of chopped vegetables looks like half a baseball
• A full cup of green, leafy vegetables looks like a complete baseball
• A medium fruit is about the size of a baseball and a ½ cup of chopped fruit looks like half of a baseball
• A quarter cup of dried fruit is about the size of a golf ball
• A half cup of rice is about the size of half a baseball
• A 3-ounce serving of meat looks like a deck of cards
• 2 ounces of cubed raw cheese resembles 4 dice

Physical Activity and Stress

The amount of exercise you get has a big influence on digestive health. Both the AICR and Dr. Andrew Weil recommend that you get at least 30 minutes of physical activity in daily and make stress management techniques common practice.

“Exercise does more than tone your heart and muscles,” says Weil; “it also tones your intestines and is essential to bowel movements.”

“Stress,” he adds, “can interfere with relaxation of the whole body, including the bowels.”6

Many digestive disorders are stress-related. Try breathing exercises, massage therapy, relaxing music, prayer or nature walks. 

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Follow this daily 8 rule: 6 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit.
2. Stay away from processed meat and only eat organic meats like wild-caught fish, organic poultry, grass-fed beef, organic eggs, and wild game.
3. Supplement your diet with high-quality probiotics
4. Aim for 40 grams of fiber daily (1 can of beans has 20g, 1 cup of raspberries 8g, and 1 avocado 10g)

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Gluten-free diets and gluten-free menus at restaurants have become more and more prevalent. So what is gluten and what’s the big deal?

Gluten is a sticky protein found in wheat. The prevalence of wheat and wheat products, especially processed and refined varieties, have led to a greater percentage of the population developing gluten intolerance or an allergy to gluten. 

Celiac Disease

This gluten allergy is known as celiac disease and is a serious digestive disorder that is increasing around the world. 

According to the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK),¹ celiac disease affects 1 in 133 people in the US. Having a first-degree relative with the disease increases the rate of celiac disease to 1 in 22.

Around the globe, 1 in 200 people have celiac disease and because of its genetic component, it’s likely that the incidence of the disease will continue to climb as it is passed down through the generations. That is, unless something is done to change the diet in the family tree.

Celiac disease exists in higher rates in cultures that eat a lot of wheat: the Italian culture for instance. It’s been climbing in America due to the high proportion of wheat gluten in a multitude of our food products, supplements and health and beauty products.

In celiac disease, gluten causes an immune reaction that targets the intestinal villi. These finger-like projections are responsible for nutrient absorption. The damage flattens the villi over time so malnutrition is a serious result of celiac disease.

Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. It is sometimes triggered or activated by childbirth, pregnancy, severe emotional stress, surgery or a viral infection, according to the NIDDK.²

Because celiac disease is linked to malnutrition; it affects every system in the body. The symptoms are so diverse that many people (and their doctors) are unaware that the disease is present.

Possible symptoms include:

• Abdominal bloating and pain
• Anxiety
• Arthritis    
•  Bone or joint pain
• Canker sores
• Chronic diarrhea
• Constipation
• Delayed growth and development
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Infertility
• Irritability
• Miscarriage
• Missed menstrual periods
• Numbness in the extremities
• Osteoporosis
• Mucous excess
• Pale, foul-smelling or fatty stool
• Seizures
• Skin rashes
• Tooth enamel defects
• Unexplained iron-deficiency anemia
• Weight loss
• Vomiting

People that don’t exhibit any symptoms can still suffer the consequences of malnutrition and develop anemia, cancers, liver disease and osteoporosis. The length of time someone was breast-fed can influence the severity and first appearance of celiac disease, with shorter periods (and sooner exposure to formulas and cereals) leading to earlier incidences. 

Gluten Intolerance

Gluten intolerance is 30 times more prevalent than celiac disease. 1 in 7 people are sensitive to gluten but test negative for celiac disease. They suffer many of the same symptoms and are known as Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitive (NCGS).

People of European or Anglo-Celtic ancestry are more likely to have gluten intolerance or celiac disease in their families.

Some people can avoid gluten for awhile so that their intestinal villi can recover and then slowly introduce wheat products again to a lesser degree. The NIDDK estimates that it takes 3 to 6 months for the intestinal villi in children to heal but repair can take several years in adults.

Others, however, may have irreversible damage or a strong genetic sensitivity. Refractory celiac disease is what people with severe intestinal damage have. 

Using ancient grains and fermenting them for a long time before cooking decrease the likelihood of gluten problems.

Causes of Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance

In 1996, celiac disease and gluten intolerance were considered rare and uncommon genetic disorders. Today, the National Institutes of Health say that the celiac disease is still “widely unrecognized” and “greatly under-diagnosed.”

Wheat is a highly subsidized crop and hybridization methods and genetic engineering have been used to grow wheat that is fungal-resistant, easy to harvest and process and of high yield. It is also much lower in nutrients.

White bread was once considered a symbol of wealth, with the poor eating rye and darker grains they had threshed and pounded themselves. By the 1800’s, no one was baking bread at home from scratch and the advent of processed and refined wheat products took over the US in the 1900’s. Industrial methods of preparing bread and other wheat products demanded high-gluten and low-husk grains.

The traditional methods of soaking, sprouting and souring grains in order to make them digestible and nutritious has been abandoned for a fast and convenient method of mass producing food.

In 1924, Rudolf Steiner commented that “under the influence of our modern philosophy of materialism…agricultural products on which our life depends have degenerated extremely rapidly…Even farmers…can calculate in how many decades their products will have degenerated to such an extent that they no longer serve as human nourishment. It will certainly be within this century.”³

Researchers are investigating the possibility that traditional preparation methods and the probiotics they generate may alter the toxic peptides responsible for gluten intolerance and celiac disease.

Chris Masterjohn, editor of the website Cholesterol and Health, outlines three theories about the development of gluten intolerance:⁴

1) Some of us may have a gene that causes our immune system to look on gluten protein as a microbial invader.

2) Antibiotic use and indigestible food intake may damage intestinal probiotic bacteria. Feeding infants grains before they are able to truly digest them may increase the risk of dysbiosis: damaged gut flora.

3) Low-nutrient diets may interfere with the suppression of certain immune cells that attack harmless proteins.

Processed and refined foods commonly contain gluten, but it’s not just bread and pasta!

Avoiding Gluten

To allow intestinal villi to recover; stay away from:

• Wheat—including barley, einkorn, emmer, rye, spelt and triticale
• Wheat Products: bran, bromated flour, durum flour, enriched flour, farina, phosphate flour, plain flour, self-rising flour, and white flour.
• Beer, ale, etc.
• Malt

Gluten is added as a filler and binding agent in many, many processed food products. 

Hidden sources of gluten include:

Gluten hides on food labels as:

• Hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP)
• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
• Modified food starch (source is either corn or wheat)
• Mustard powder (some contain gluten)
• Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
• Gelatinized starch
• Natural flavoring, fillers
• Whey protein concentrate
• Whey sodium caseinate
• White vinegar or white grain vinegar
• Rice malt (contains barley or Koji)
• Rice syrup (contains barley enzymes)
• Dextrin, malt, maltodextrin

Non-food items that contain gluten are:

• Glue on stamps and envelopes
• Laundry detergent
• Lip balms
• Lotions
• Makeup
• Medications
• Mouthwash
• Playdough
• Shampoo
• Soap
• Sunscreens
• Toothpaste
• Low quality vitamins and supplements 

So what can you eat? 

If you are familiar with my Healing Foods diet, you know that I recommend staying away from any grains as much as possible. Vegetables and fruits are far more nutrient dense. 

The following grains, the flours made from them, these binders and other carbohydrates are gluten-free:

• Arrowroot
• Legumes
• Buckwheat
• Amaranth
• Seeds
• Millet
• Nuts
• Sorghum
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Tapioca
• Flax
• Quinoa
• Wild rice
• Indian rice
• Non-refined rice
• Yucca

New Research

Scientists have found a link between celiac disease and Type I diabetes. As many as 10% of children with Type I diabetes also have celiac disease and evidence is growing that Type I diabetes may be triggered by gluten exposure.⁵

This genetic susceptibility is important because it might mean that cereal and gluten consumption is an environmental factor in the development of Type I diabetes.

Testing for Gluten Intolerance

Gluten intolerance doesn’t show up on blood tests. The best way to determine your sensitivity to gluten, says Randy Horowitz, director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, is to use avoidance and provocative testing: the elimination diet and gluten challenge. You eliminate all gluten sources in your diet and then try adding it back to see if symptoms reoccur.

Food intolerances differ from full-blown food allergies so antibodies may not show up in blood tests. Some people swear by the pulse test, applied kinesiology or “live blood” analysis but Dr. Horowitz says that none of these have proved uniformly reliable and that some are “downright useless.”⁶

He advises his patients to keep a log of all the food they eat and the symptoms they might experience for a few weeks. Then he helps them to identify possibly problematic foods which are then eliminated from the diet for four to six weeks. After that, the suspected food is eaten to see if symptoms re-develop. In some cases, people are able to gradually build up their tolerance to foods that previously bothered them.

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Read ingredient labels! I can’t stress this enough. Stay away from things like MSG or hydrolyzed plant or vegetable protein. 
2. Do a kitchen inventory. Toss out any white rice or enriched pastas. Replace grains with loads of raw vegetables and fruits, and some occasional wild rice or sprouted grain pasta. 
3. Even if you are not experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned above, it’s not a bad idea to try eliminating grains and other sources of gluten from your diet for a period.

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Do you eat on the run? Have a drive-thru habit? Grab a daily snack from the vending machine? We’ve heard repeatedly how important breakfast is, but lagging lunches are certainly an overlooked health danger in these times. What about your kids?

Some of the worst meals around are school lunches and those from vending machines. We take it for granted that our kids are getting a square meal when we send them school to eat meals established by government guidelines, but our trust is ill-placed.

Consider some of these statistics:

• Most schools use nutritional guidelines that haven’t been updated since the 1970’s.
• An average cafeteria meal contains 31 grams of fat.
• “Fruit-on-the-bottom” yogurt gives your child 30 grams of sugar, not to mention the negatives associated with pasteurized dairy.
• 80% of the foods offered in vending machines are candy, chips and pastries.
• Most granola bars have 15 grams of added sugar.
• 75% of the drinks in school vending machines are made with artificial juice, high fructose corn syrup and sugar. 
• 75% of high schools and 65% of middle schools have exclusive soft drink contracts.
• “Natural” Capri Sun Pacific Coolers have 100 calories and 26 grams of sugar.
• Ketchup and salsa count as vegetable requirements in schools.
• The USDA reimbursement to schools covers only one vegetable per meal.
• 2002 data showed that 70% of schools met the nutritional guidelines for some nutrients, 6 to 7% of meals met all the guidelines and 42% of schools offered no fruits or vegetables for lunch.
• As of 2007, less than 20% of our nation’s schools met dietary guidelines.

Even if your school assures you that the lunches are healthy; that doesn’t mean your child eats them! They can get a bagel and a yogurt instead, a substitute loaded with processed flour, calories, fat, sugar and pasteurized dairy.

Because schools have so many kids to feed, the food is often prepared hours ahead of time. Preservative-laden food holds up much better under these conditions than fresh. And after lining up in their classrooms, lining up at the cafeteria entrance and lining up to be served and cash out; kids are often left with as little as 10-15 minutes to eat, socialize and empty their place of trash—and line up again.

The National School Lunch Program is inextricably entwined with government-subsidized foods and food service lobbyists.

So what’s subsidized? Corn, soy and wheat of course. Highly processed and refined. Orange cheese, processed chicken…schools get a break on these commodities. Industrial lobbyists end up determining what is subsidized. 

The commodity processing system allows schools to divert the subsidized food to food processing companies. They turn it into heat-and-serve, unhealthy foods for the schools. The companies get cheap chicken for their nuggets and our kids get gypped. Schools divert about half of their government surplus this way.

Schools also make money from contracts with fast food suppliers, food preparers and purveyors, and vending machine companies. The lowest bid wins. 80% of a school’s food budget goes to outside vendors who provide ready-made meals three-quarters of the time. Vending machine foods are not regulated by any nutritional guidelines.  

Nutritional guidelines? Those for schools don’t even match the USDA posted daily requirements for all of us. Schools are required to provide foods that fulfill a minimum nutrient level over the course of a week. There is no maximum limit. Foods high in calories, preservatives and sodium are no-holds-barred.

In 1994, a School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children was passed that required schools to conform to US dietary guidelines by 1996. Many schools were given a 2-year waiver. In 1996? Nothing happened because no enforcements were built into the initiative.

In 2004, another law was passed. This one mandated that schools create health and wellness policies. Some did, but no committee was established to enforce their implementation.

One amazing study found that when healthy foods were substituted for unhealthy options; kids chose the good over the bad and the swap did not reduce sales. 

Another “field study” was conducted by Vice Principal Bryan Bass in Minneapolis. The school district wanted to keep their profitable vending machine contract with Coca-Cola no matter the negative effects on their kids.

Bass kept the contract but he stocked 12 of the 16 machines with water only for 75 cents a bottle; 3 machines carried $1 juices and sports drinks; 1 machine carried $1.25 cans of soda. Bass also banned juice and soda from classrooms.

The school’s profits from the machines nearly tripled in two years. “Water,” Bass says, “has become ‘cool’.”

Eat This, Not That! authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding say that only 2% of our kids are getting their daily food requirements and that the USDA recommendations lack qualifiers.

For instance, they point out that “a serving of white rice and quinoa both count toward the daily recommended six servings [of grains], despite the fact that one is packed with fiber, healthy fat and essential amino acids (quinoa) and the other is a nutritional black hole (white rice) and one-quarter of all vegetables consumed by kids are French fries.”

Brain work requires brain food. You’ll save money and teach your kids healthy eating habits by packing them lunch. Be patient and perseverant. And remember that ‘dessert is a treat, not a staple.’

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Plan your next trip to the grocery store with brown bag lunches in mind. Choose whole foods over packaged foods. 
2. Avoid artificial food coloring and preservatives in foods, as they are linked to ADD/ADHD, hyperactivity and reduced cognition.
3. Look for nitrite and nitrate-free cold cuts at the deli counter.
4. I would recommend staying away from the vast majority of grains in general, but if you are going to make your child a sandwich, opt for a sprouted grain bread like Ezekiel bread.
5. Read the labels on everything, but especially fruit drinks. Even organic juice boxes can have tons of sugar and additives. Water is your child’s best option. 
6. Be creative. We eat with our eyes first. Make food fun by including lots of colorful veggies (like carrots, celery and bell pepper sticks) with hummus or guacamole and packing a wide variety of nuts, seeds and dried fruit.

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What’s in our water? Most of us don’t even want to know. If it’s the public water supply, then it has to be regulated, right? And we can just buy bottled water instead.......Well the public water supply is regulated, but not very well at all. And bottled water? It’s barely regulated at all! 

It’s important to know what is actually coming out of your kitchen faucet. Ignorance isn’t always bliss. Sometimes what you don’t know can really harm you. 

Tap Water

Tap water is regulated, but the regulations are affected by industrial, military and pharmaceutical lobbyists.

So the “legal” water we drink? The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found 316 chemicals in tap water throughout the country, 202 of which aren’t regulated. And over 60 million of us have been exposed since 2004 to concentrations of chemicals or contaminations that don’t even pass outdated guidelines. And then the guidelines get tricky too.

Bromates, for instance, are on the list but they only require measurement if they leave a water treatment plant. Sunlight can cause compounds to form bromates. When the director of Los Angeles’ water quality division covered the city’s reservoirs with sunlight-blocking black plastic; residents objected. When the 2004 head of EPA’s Environmental Risk Analysis department found dangerous compounds from dry cleaning solvents, manufacturing degreaser and rocket fuel in our water; he was blocked every step of the way by legislators, industrial lobbyists and the military from changing water regulations. He was even called “unpatriotic” for wanting to do so and threatened with dismissal.

“It’s hard for me to describe the level of anger and animosity directed at us for trying to publish sound, scientific research that met the highest standards,” Dr. Preuss said. “It went way beyond what would be considered professional behavior.”

New research has also found that many chemicals bind to cells in our body and accumulate. The effect of this is still unknown as is what the combination of many different chemicals may do.

One of those chemicals is arsenic. When the EPA attempted to lower the allowable limit of arsenic in our water; they were prevented from doing so. L.A.’s Water Quality Division’s director says that today, arsenic poses more risk to the city’s residents than any other contaminant in the water.

A few more facts:

• “Each year in the U.S., lead in drinking water contributes to 480,000 cases of learning disorders in children and 560,000 cases of hypertension in adult males.” (EPA—Environmental Protection Agency)
• William K. Reilly, EPA administrator under the 1^st Bush administration, classified drinking water contamination as one of the top 4 public health risks due to environmental problems.
• 560,000 people become ill each year from water.
• 10,700 bladder and rectal cancers may be associated with trihalomethanes (THMs) in water.

And endocrine-disruptors? Patricia Hunt, of Washington State University explains: “Birth control pills, hormone therapy medications, and a host of contaminants can all get into our water supply, and we haven’t figured out a way to affordably filter them out.”

Why Bottled Water Isn’t Always a Better Option

How much do we spend buying bottled water every year? The Environmental Working Group (EWG) says that the cost of bottled water can be up to 1,900 times that of tap water, and the worst thing is: we really have no way of knowing what we’re getting for our money.

Bottled water manufacturers aren’t required to disclose the level of contaminants in their water, and in many cases, it’s simply tap water anyway. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimate that at least 25% of bottled water is really just tap water and 22% of the brands they tested contained contaminant levels above state health limits.

In a study of 10 leading brands of bottled water; EWG found 38 toxic pollutants overall with each brand containing an average of 8.

The chemicals they found included arsenic, chlorine byproducts, fertilizer, fluoride, fuel propellants, heavy metals, industrial solvents, pharmaceutical drugs, plasticizers and radioactive isotopes. Four of these leading brands also contained bacteria.

More than a third of these chemicals are not regulated whatsoever in bottled water. Two thirds are regulated on a “voluntary” basis, but some of the water tested contained known carcinogens that exceeded even those “voluntary” set limits. A study at the University of Missouri found that one of these leading brands of water increased breast-cancer-cell multiplication by 78%.

Another reason to be wary of bottled water is the amount of chemicals that leach from the plastic bottles.

TEDX is the acronym for The Endocrine Disruption Exchange. It is an agency compiled of doctors and scientists committed to informing the world about the dangers of low-level and chronic exposure to endocrine disruptors.

They believe that ADHD, Alzheimer’s, autism, cancer, diabetes, infertility, intelligence and behavioral problems, obesity, and Parkinson’s are due to the endocrine-disruption epidemic.

They posit “hormone disruption could pose a more imminent threat to humankind than climate change.”

When does bottled water make sense? Certain kinds of bottled water will be a far better option than drinking tap water. If you are on the go or are traveling, look for bottled spring water, NOT purified water or drinking water. Also stay away from bottled water from soft drink manufacturers.  

Filters

There are 6 different kinds of water filters and 8 different filtering methods.  

You can use a pitcher, a faucet-mount, a faucet-integration, a counter-top filter, an under-sink filter or a whole-house water filter.  

Filtering methods include: carbon-activated, ceramic, ion exchange, mechanical filters, ozone, reverse osmosis, UV light and water softeners.

Carbon/Activated Carbon Filters

Activated carbon binds with many contaminants and removes them from water. It can remove asbestos, chlorine, lead, mercury and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). But, carbon filters cannot remove arsenic, fluoride, nitrate or percholate. Their effectiveness varies widely by manufacturer--some may only remove chlorine.

Ceramic Filters

Ceramic filters work like spaghetti strainers, blocking sediment and large particles. They do not remove chemicals.

Deionization/ Ion Exchange Filters

An ion exchange filter can remove heavy metals, minerals and charged ions. It cannot remove chlorine byproducts, microorganisms or VOCs.

Mechanical Filters

These strainers can remove large particles from water but do not remove chemicals.

Ozone Filters

Ozone can kill bacteria and microorganisms but does not remove chemicals.

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis filters use a semi-permeable membrane that can trap any molecule bigger than water. They are more effective than carbon filters since they are able to remove fluoride. A reverse osmosis filter is my personal recommendation for the kind of water filter that is best. 

UV Light

Ultraviolet light kills bacteria and microorganisms but does not remove chemicals.

Water Softeners

These ion exchange filters remove barium, calcium, magnesium and radium. They do not remove other contaminants. They also add sodium to the water.

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Invest in water filters for your sinks and shower heads. Look for reverse osmosis filters that will remove the chlorine, fluoride, arsenic and other chemicals from the water. 
2. Try adding lemon, lime or a pinch of baking soda to your water to balance the pH.
3. Never reuse plastic water bottles. And never heat up plastic containers. Heating plastic causes chemicals to leach out. This also means you should not leave plastic water bottles in a hot car before drinking from them.

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Usually thought of as a vegetable, a mushroom is a fungus that is full of nutrients that can boost the immune system and combat many diseases and conditions.

Mushrooms are low in carbohydrates and calories and high in B vitamins, chitin, fiber, iron, niacin, potassium, protein, riboflavin, selenium and zinc. They also contain high levels of beta-glucans, compounds that keep immune cells alert, and ergothioneine, an important antioxidant. Mushrooms also contain germanium, a nutrient that boosts oxygen use in the body and fights free radical damage.

Over 200 mushroom species are used in Chinese medicine and 25% have been found to fight tumors.  

Cordyceps

Numerous studies are finding that cordyceps mushrooms can fight cancer by inhibiting cancer cell division and growth. Cordyceps interfere with how cancer cells make proteins and stop metastatic spread of cancerous tumors.

Maitake

Maitake mushrooms have improved the health of AIDs patients and the blood sugar levels of diabetics. They may also reduce hypertension. Maitake enhances the immune system and stops the growth of tumors

Oyster

Oyster mushrooms ease tendon tightness and strengthen blood vessel walls. They are very rich in iron and can help combat anemia.

Reishi

Reishi mushrooms have been getting a lot of attention. Their beta-glucans increase T-cell levels in the immune system which can help people suffering from immune disorders.

This immune boost can help reduce cancer cell growth and the spread of tumors.

Reishi mushrooms contain ganoderic acids that lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of blood clots and even help to correct arrhythmia.

Reishi also contains lanostan, a natural antihistamine that can treat arthritis and muscle aches.  

This “medicine of kings” can improve memory and concentration and act as a sleep aid and calming stress-buster.

Reishi, however, is a bitter and woody mushroom.

Shiitakes

Shiitakes contain lentinan, a substance that can heal chromosome damage caused by anti-cancer treatments. 

The eritadenine in shiitakes can help reduce cholesterol levels.

Lentinula edodes mycelium (LEM) in shiitake mushrooms helps prevent and treat cancer, heart disease, hepatitis, high blood pressure and infectious diseases.

White mushrooms

White mushrooms have more copper, potassium, protein and selenium than either oyster or shiitake mushrooms.

Porcinis, portabellas and morels are also mushrooms loaded with nutrients and antioxidants.

Mushrooms and vitamin D

Your best source of vitamin D is the sun, but there are very few good food sources of vitamin D as well. Vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to everything from depression and osteoporosis to heart disease and cancer.

Foods fortified with vitamin D usually have a form that isn’t easily metabolized in the body. Mushrooms contain a form of a vitamin D precursor that can be transformed into usable vitamin D with the addition of ultraviolet light.

Exposing mushrooms to UV light for just five minutes creates 100% of our recommended daily allowance of vitamin D.

You just can’t go wrong going mad for mushrooms.

Dr. Axe's Action Steps

1. Try something new today. Pick up a variety of mushrooms from the store that you have never tried before. 
2. Then start cooking! Some of my favorite recipes are Chicken Bryan and my Florentine Omelete. 

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