Carrageenan: What Is In My Food??!!

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I saw an interview once with a nutritionist who said the way to determine what you should and should not eat could be easily determined by following one simple rule: “avoid anything with a label.” In other words…eat real, whole food that does not come in a box or a can. Now that may be all well and good, but it is not that simple for the average person who is juggling a thousand things a day and may not have time to make their own almond mild or cook everything from scratch. There are times convenience is a must!

 

But have you ever looked closely at the labels of some of the things your are buying? Sometimes people think they are buying a health food and take for granted that there won't be any not so healthy additives. Having found out that I have a dairy allergy about 6 months ago, I have fully embraced the alternative non-dairy products; namely almond and coconut milks and yogurts. However I recently learned about an additive that is commonly found in these products that may potentially be carcinogenic.

 

Carrageenan is a common food additive that is extracted from a red seaweed, Chondrus crispus, which is popularly known as Irish Moss. Carrageenan, which has no nutritional value, has been used as a thickener and emulsifier to improve the texture of ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk and other processed foods.¹

 

A number of studies have shown that Carrageenan can cause inflammation in humans and chronic inflammation puts us at risk of several diseases; i.e. heart disease, Alzheimer's, as well as several cancers. It can be particularly detrimental to people with digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome. A recent article in the Chicago Tribune highlights the submission of a petition back in 2008 to the FDA by a researcher, who has studied Carrageenan and its effects for many years, asking them to prohibit the use of Carrageenan in foods.²

 

Unfortunately this request was denied, despite significant evidence as the dangers of this common food additive.

 

Sadly several foods that I regularly eat contain Carrageenan...luckily there are a number of non-Carrageenan options!  See the Cornucopia Institute Guide to Avoiding Foods With Carrageenan.

 

¹ http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401181/Is-Carrageenan-Safe.html

² http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-18/health/ct-met-carrageenan-0318-20130318_1_carrageenan-fda-scientists-food-additive-safety

 

Additional Information:

http://www.cornucopia.org/carrageenan-2013/

http://www.naturalnews.com/039384_organic_food_carrageenan_additive.html

http://www.rodale.com/carrageenan

http://ohsheglows.com/2013/01/07/carrageenan-in-our-food/

 

Another Reason to LOVE the Coconut!

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Besides it’s yummy taste when eaten raw or as a milk and all the amazing benefits of coconut oil, I recently discovered yet another reason to love the coconut, namely coconut sugar! It is a versatile sugar that can be used as a substitute for sugar in recipes (1:1) and I have even read that people use it as an alternative to brown sugar.

In addition to being a natural sweetener, it is also a low glycemic sugar; therefore I have a read a lot about it being a good choice for diabetes (in moderation of course). However one interesting benefit is that it is high in mineral content; when compared with brown cane sugar it contains 20 times the nitrogen, 26 times the phosphorous, 16 times the potassium, 4 times the amount of magnesium, twice the amount of nitrogen and is also very high in natural B vitamins.¹

Lastly, coconut sugar is a sustainable sweetener, in that you can produce 75% more sugar per acre as compared to cane sugar.¹ As always, any sugar (even natural ones) should only be eaten in moderation, but I plan to give coconut sugar a try when I make my next batch of my favorite treat!

¹ http://www.naturalnews.com/028897_coconut_sugar.html

Treating Myself…

So in the spirit of Valentine’s Day I am treating my body to some self love! Although I still curse the mounds of chocolate yummies in every store I pass, I am going to do something much more decadent this year…and its HEALTHY!!! I am sure I am not alone when I say that I am totally an emotional eater. When I am stressed out or upset, I easily can inhale a bag of Doritos or allow one glass of wine turn into 3 or 4…you see where I am going with this. Although I have found much healthier outlets for my emotions/stress in recent years, I still have times when I struggle to stay on track. And once off, reining it back in can be a challenge!

 

This is particularly true when coming off of a holiday or a vacation when I may have indulged a bit more than usual or perhaps a prolonged period of stress in my life. For me, if I can get in a solid week of super healthy eating, that tends to break the cycle. But let’s face it, I am not a cooking extraordinaire and in the winter there is just not as great of a variety of fresh and interesting produce, so I tend to get a bit bored (or lazy!!!) with my choices.

 

This is when I rely on the awesome people at Sakara Life! I discovered this company about a year ago and have been an avid fan (and customer) ever since. Based here in NYC (sorry for you non-New Yorkers, but I am guessing there are similar services elsewhere)…so for any of you locals I would definitely recommend giving it a shot! Sakara Life provides an organic food delivery service. It is based on a whole food, plant based diet that can be catered to your dietary needs and they offer a variety of delivery packages. This week I am doing the “LOVE Cleanse” and it is as amazingly delicious as always. It is astonishing how healthy food can feel so decadent! If I could afford it, I truly would have them feed me every day! Luckily I can treat myself once in a while.

 

I know a lot of people boast about juice cleanses and although I have nothing against them, they have never really worked for me. I have tried several and I definitely do believe in all the benefits associated with adding juicing to your life (hence my fantastic Vitamix purchase), but living on liquids alone is just not for me. With juice-only I felt deprived and spent my whole day waiting for when I was able to drink my next juice! I never felt satiated, despite how yummy they were, and I definitely felt like I was dragging (no energy boost felt by me!!). I also found that when it was over, I was so excited to have real food again that I did a poor job of slowly easing back into it (although I must admit it did kill my cravings for crap!) and I ended up overdoing it. One of the most amazing things that my nutrition program promotes is the idea of bioindividuality; they don’t promote a certain diet or lifestyle, it is all about providing people with the knowledge and letting each person discover what truly works best for them. So if juice cleanses help to recharge you or get you back on track, go for it! There are definitely some great benefits and I have friends who swear by how fantastic it makes them feel! For me, I prefer the whole food approach and being lucky enough to live here in NYC, I have Sakara Life to support me when I need it. On Day2 and loving every minute of it!!!!

Contentious Coffee

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There seems to be an ongoing controversy around coffee. One day the news is telling me its killing me and the next day it’s supposedly protecting me against deadly cancer. Which is it?! There is an overwhelming amount of information out there on coffee, with seemingly good arguments both for and against it. For every cleanse or detox I have ever tried or read about, coffee is always on the list of things to give up completely. I spent a weekend at a well-known yoga and wellness center in western Massachusetts and was told by one of the instructors that drinking my regular store-bought coffee was tantamount to drinking poison! Really? Aren’t we maybe being a tad bit dramatic?

I will grant you, not all coffees are created equal and I do now buy higher quality beans, which I grind myself, but what about all the studies that tout all the benefits of drinking coffee? (Assume you know I am talking about plain coffee minus the milk and sugar - none of those grande mocha frappucinos with whipped cream!) A number of research studies have shown evidence that coffee can protect us from deadly diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's. Coffee is chock full of antioxidants, which considering how much we Americans LOVE our coffee, it is one of the greatest sources of antioxidants in the American diet!¹ Coffee also contains chlorogenic acid, which has been shown to reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes.²

Super food Alert: Have you “Camu’ed Today?

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I recently have been reading about super foods. These foods are nutrient dense and are believed to provide significant health benefits to the body. There seems to be an endless number of lists from various experts, which include more common things like salmon, blueberries and green leafy vegetables (who would ever think kale would become all the rage?!) and ones we have come to know like acai and goji berries, but there are some less common ones that are worth exploring.

Camu is one that I recently discovered. It is a berry, primarily grown in the rainforests of Peru, which contains unusually high levels of vitamin C. In fact it has the highest concentration of vitamin C of any berry. In similar weight comparisons, the camu berry provides nearly 50 times the vitamin C than your everyday orange.¹

The health benefits of vitamin C cover a wide range of areas from preventing cancer and heart disease, and promoting eye health, to curing the common cold. Vitamin C packs a powerful immune boosting punch, making it even more important during the winter cold and flu season.

A nasty cold bug has made its way through my office and my entire family. Although I thought that I had avoided it unscathed, it finally caught up to me just this past weekend. So I reverted to my usual routine of making myself rest (such a challenge for me!), lots of broth based soup, juicing as much as I can and tea with honey. However this time I added some camu camu powder to my juice and I definitely felt a boost! I only had one really bad day, but woke up the next day feeling like a new woman. The cough is still persisting and I am sniffling, so I can’t say I am fully recovered, but I definitely think the addition of the camu camu powder to my regimen speeded up my recovery. I even managed a spinning class yesterday! I went from not getting off the couch to buzzing around feeling fantastic in 24 hours. I hate being sick, so I figured why not give it a shot…what could be bad about a little vitamin C boost?

¹ Natural News: Camu Camu