Feeding a family of five is no easy thing.  Feeding a family of five healthy homemade meals is even harder (kids ages 16, 12, & 10).  It takes extraordinary menu planning, list making, shopping, food prep, clean up … etc., etc.

By now I’m sure you’re aware that my wife Chanya and I are committed to a wellness lifestyle. So, in our efforts to live a healthy life and feed our children organic foods, we are selective as to where we buy our food for both quality and cost savings.  We’re very fortunate that we have Jimbo’s, a fantastic whole foods store, only minutes from our house where we buy the majority of our food.  We also shop at Trader Joe’s to round our pantry supplies.  Then, every two weeks we make a Costco run for large quantity purchases of walnuts, almonds, frozen fish, frozen berries, Australian rack of lamb (our favorite “home date” meal), and of course laundry soap and TP – the things Costco is known for supplying large families with. 

We make a point to keep a stash of oatmeal in those individual packets around for quick breakfasts as well as snacks for the kids. (By the way, a pack of oatmeal, a small baggie of chopped nuts and a banana is the fall back breakfast when travelling – you can make the oatmeal with hot water from a hotel room coffee maker.)  Anyway, there I was in Costco with my list in hand, buying the large box multi-flavor variety pack of Kirkland Organic Oatmeal.  Organic oatmeal is, from what I understand, the only oatmeal that is not cross-contaminated with gluten from wheat.  So there I am at home putting away the Costco load and I notice on the outside of the oatmeal box that one of the packet flavors listed is Chocolate Chip! Yes, THEY NOW MAKE OATMEAL WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!!!!!!

I probably don’t need to tell you that the favorite “flavor” of oatmeal for my kids and – our house is like a youth hostel with non-stop sleepovers – all their friends is of course, Chocolate Chip.

Since when does oatmeal have to be laced with sugar and flavor, out of the box?  What happened to Mom making oatmeal, adding sliced banana and controlling the amount of brown sugar that’s added?  I guess that went out about the time Archie Bunker left TV (I know, I’m old).

I was so livid – I wanted to walk into Costco headquarters – never mind that they’re in Washington State – with a gun that shoots WTF paintball bullets.  The problem is, the Costco execs would probably point the WTF gun right back at me for buying chocolate chip oatmeal for my kids. 

… life is too complicated these days.

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

“These are tough times for our species: evolution is trailing sociology by about 30,000 years.  We’re still tribal creatures with a deep-seated need for security, stability and community.   Instead we get fired and divorced, priests go to jail, our Presidents get impeached, families scatter and we’re digesting more Prozac than vegetables.”   -  Record producer Don Was, in ‘According to The Rolling Stones’*

That mention of “… we're digesting more Prozac than vegetables.” makes me weep, not only because it's such a true statement, but that it represents such a dreadful snapshot of how far off course we’ve veered as a society or culture.  We now have statins and antidepressants being prescribed to children (the statins as a prophylactic strategy, if you can believe that).  Worse, people today are so confused about what they should eat or not eat, studies are showing that they're saying 'The heck with it' and simply giving up all together in their effort to adopt healthier lifestyle habits.  Then, in addition to being burdened with too much of the wrong information, people have a misplaced trust or faith that technology will swoop in and save the day for any health crisis they may develop.

As modern life marches relentlessly forward we’re faced with a harsh reality: technological advancement will not solve many of society's most pressing challenges – selfishness, greed, immorality and disillusionment; that’s not to mention specific societal ills such as starvation, malaria, abject poverty, human trafficking, child pornography and genocide. 

Another thing technology isn’t going to solve – the lifestyle habits that erode our health, creating the chronic disease epidemic we are faced with today.  Although modern science continually speaks loudly and often about advances in drug research, nothing from the technology front will overcome toxicity and deficiency in our lifestyle choices within the domains of eating, moving and thinking that are creating ever increasing rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and of course, the ubiquitous obesity.  

The good news is how simple and easy it is to adopt and live a healthy lifestyle – once you have the right information and the right methods to employ proper habits to bring purity and sufficiency.

“One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled on the inside.”  - John Lennon

In a nutshell, here are the highlights of living well:

• Eat only foods that have been foods for 10,000 years or more (so that excludes grains, dairy, sugars (especially artificial sweeteners), refined vegetable oils and all processed foods).
• Move vigorously for at least 30 minutes every day.
• Drink copious amounts of purified water every day.
• Sleep a minimum of 7 hours every night.
• Be grateful, thankful, forgiving, joyful, and optimistic.

Any questions?

 *“Man … this world is desperate for heroes like the Rolling Stones!” – This was the first line of the paragraph quote above.  I love how pearls of wisdom (or at least great quotes) can be found in every corner of the earth and across all professional, socio-economic and cultural boundaries.  If it’s not already obvious, I’m a huge Rolling Stones fan – I'm enamored with the Stones' 40+ year commitment to excellence that has produced the most prodigious body of work in the music industry and, that they're still going strong in their 60's.  And of course, who can argue with Mick Jagger being the preeminent entertainer of the last century?  Did I mention I was a Stones fan?

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

Artificial Sweeteners: A History of Lies and Poison
Don’t have time to read this? Want the bottom line, the take away? Artificial sweeteners are extemely toxic and should be one of the foods you never, ever eat. Stay away from artificial sweeteners like you would a drunk driver waving a gun out the window. Yes, they’re that bad for you. Aspartame and sucralose are the ultimate slow poison, toxic, disease-food.

Our world is filled with deception, to be sure. From our presidents’ lying to us to sophisticated advertising about food (such as ‘Milk does a body good’ – the best advertising campaign AND biggest food scam in the past 50 years), it’s become difficult at any given moment to sort out truth. When it comes to filtering out accurate information regarding health, the waters become even murkier.

In the world of sweeteners, the misinformation is not only standard operating procedure within the food manufacturing industry, it is further obscured by the power of lobbying and advertising that is harnessed by the food and chemical industries. For example, I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials today touting how high fructose corn syrup is safe and natural ‘if eaten in moderation; this is patently false - high fructose corn syrup should be called ‘a pipeline to diabetes’.

Another major area of food/health deception is the perceived harmlessness of artificial sweeteners. To the vast majority of people, a Diet Coke^® is a relatively “healthy” beverage choice they think because it has no sugar or calories. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Artificial Sweeteners - A Storied Past Artificial sweeteners have a checkered past dating back to the discovery of saccharin in 1879 which, like nearly all artificial sweeteners, was discovered by accident and later banned, and later again restored. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola in his book Sweet Deception¹, chemical giant Monsanto was formed in 1901 “… for the sole purpose of producing saccharin.” The two big players in the artificial sweetener field today are aspartame (brand names Nutrasweet^® and Equal^®) and sucralose (brand name Splenda^®).

Aspartame - The Perfect Chemical Villain Aspartame, the most widely used artificial sweetener (found in over 6,000 products consumed by more than 250 million people in soda pop, sugarless gum, "sugar-free" foods) has come under scientific scrutiny in journal articles reporting the following neurophysiologic effects following digestion and metabolism of aspartame into the bloodstream²:

• Neurological and behavioral disturbances  
• Headaches, insomnia and seizures
• Compromised learning and emotional functioning
• Neurodegeneration leading to senile dementia (i.e. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease)
• Inhibition of normal brain chemistry function

VIDEO: "Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World"

If you watch this video, and I encourage you to do so, you'll never be the same again - you'll become an anti-artificial sweetener evangelist:

Aspartame’s Deadly Trio
Aspartame (1-aspartyl 1-phenylalanine methyl ester) is broken down into three toxic components upon digestion: phenylalanine (50%), aspartic acid (40%) and methyl ester (10%) - they all enter the bloodstream.

• Phenylalanine, a common amino acid found naturally in foods in small amounts, does not normally pose a risk (except in individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU), the genetic disease marked by the inability to breakdown phenylalanine). However, in normal people, Nutrasweet produces an abnormally high 50% ratio of phenylalanine; this is something not found in nature and when it enters the human body, it causes changes in the ratio of neurotransmitters and interrupts brain function resulting in excessive brain neuron firing and potential cell death. As phenylalanine levels increase, this change in the ratio of neurotransmitters has been shown to cause seizures. Additionally, when exposed to elevated temperatures (think trucks driving pallets of diet soda across the country during spring and summer; all year round in the west), phenylalanine is broken down into diketopiperazine (DKP), a known tumor-forming carcinogen.
  
• Aspartic acid, is known as a neuroexcitotoxin, a term given to molecules that excite and hyper-stimulate nerve cells, particularly in the brain. This over-stimulation of brain nerve cells eventually causes them to burn out and die.  Due to its neurodegenerative effects, aspartame consumption is now being considered as a contributing cause to the increasing rates of senile dementia such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease seen today.
  
• Methyl ester, once digested is converted into methyl alcohol, a toxin found in paint remover and wood alcohol. Methyl alcohol is highly toxic to the body and is broken down by the liver into formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, which ultimately can lead to methanol poisoning resulting in fatal kidney damage, organ system failure, blindness, and death. Methanol is classified as a narcotic. Making matters worse is that because phenylalanine and methanol increase dopamine release within the brain, it can become addictive due to the “dopamine high” it produces. 

People who swear off diet sodas often experience withdrawal symptoms such as:

• Depression  
• Nausea
• Tremors
• Irritability
• Anxiety

UPDATE - Nov 2009: Aspartame Found To Cause Kidney Damage
Research by Dr. Julie Lin and Dr. Gary Curhan of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston presented at the American Society of Nephrology's annual meeting in San Diego reported "a significant two-fold increased odds, between two or more servings per day of artificially sweetened soda and faster kidney function decline; no relation between sugar-sweetened beverages and kidney decline was noted." [read more]

SPLENDA - The Newest Poison
As the toxic physiologic effects of aspartame are becoming more widely known, a newcomer has emerged - sucralose or Splenda^®, its brand name.  It is the sweetener used today in many “sugar-free” foods.  It’s found in nearly 5,000 food products as well as pharmaceutical drugs and chewing gum.  The makers of Splenda claim sucralose is made from sugar and is therefore 'natural'.  Yes, Splenda is made from sugar, but contrary to these claims, it is not natural.  It seems obvious when the final product is five to six hundred times sweeter than sugar, that it couldn't be 'natural' or healthy. Chemically, Splenda is a chlorinated artificial sugar.  Sucralose is made by switching out three naturally occurring hydrogen-oxygen groups with three chlorine atoms on a sucrose molecule, forming a chlorocarbon – when this is done, it is no longer natural or healthy.

 “…chlorocarbons are never nutritionally compatible with our metabolic processes and are wholly incompatible with normal human metabolic functioning.” - James Bowden, MD³

Just like common table salt (sodium chloride), does not contain the same form of sodium that is found naturally in dark green vegetables, similarly, the chlorine chemically created in laboratories and processed into the creation of sucralose is not the same whatsoever to the chlorine found naturally in soil, water and food. Furthermore, the chlorine found naturally in foods is not the same as man-made chlorine put into our swimming pools and foods. (Chlorine added to municipal water supplies has long been questioned as a cause of cancer; according to the FDA, chlorine is classified as a ‘class-one carcinogen’ in humans.) [If you’re as old as I am, you may recall that organochlorines include the now-banned chemical insecticides, pesticides and solvents such as DDT, Aldrin and Dieldrin, Chlordane, Dioxins, chloroform, Mustard gas, dichloroethane, dichloromethane, trichloroethane, etc.]

Scientific animal studies have shown Splenda to cause the following^1:   

• Genetic mutation/damaged DNA (a precursor to cancer)  
• Decreased fertility
• Chronic toxicity (red blood cells, thymus, thyroid, colon, liver, brain, ovaries, kidneys, cataracts)
• Growth retardation
• Damaged immune system

Reported side effects in people using Splenda include the following:¹ 

• Skin irritation (redness, itching, swelling, blistering, eruptions, rashes)  
• Lung irritation (wheezing, tightness, cough or shortness of breath)
• Head: dry mouth and sinuses; swelling or inflammation of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue or throat
• Headaches and migraines
• Nose: congestion, runny nose, sneezing
• Eyes: bloodshot, itchy, swollen or watery
• Stomach: bloating, gas, pain, constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
• Heart: chest pains, palpitations or fluttering
• Joints: joint pains or aches
• Neurological: seizures, anxiety, anger, panic, insomnia, dizziness, mood swings, depression
• Other: blood in urine, menstrual irregularity, night sweats, numbness of the limbs

“Sugar-Free” – The Final Lie
Finally, Splenda is advertised as a “No Calorie Sweetener”. However, to make it taste better and easier to handle and bake with, ninety-nine percent of a packet of Splenda is bulking agents such as dextrose and maldodextrin which are corn-derived sugars which elevate blood glucose levels, leading to diabetes and obesity. The manufacturers of Splenda can get away with calling it "sugar-free" due to food labeling laws which allow a product to be called “sugar-free” if it contains less than .5 grams of sugar per serving, and “calorie-free” if it contains less than 5 calories per serving.

Artificial sweeteners are one of the FIVE FOODS I NEVER PUT IN MY BODY; the other four are deep fried foods, hydrogenated oils, cured meats, and MSG (monosodium glutamate, also labeled as hydrolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed vegetable protein).

¹Mercola J, Pearsall KD, Sweet Deception: Why Splenda, Nutrasweet and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health, Nelson Books, Nashville, TN, 2006 

²Humphries P, et al. Direct and indirect cellular effects of aspartame on the brain. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008; 62:451–462 [view abstract][view full article pdf]

³James Bowen, MD The Lethal Science of Splenda, A Poisonous Chlorocarbon, 2005. [view article]

I often feel like I’m swimming upstream in my attempt to navigate my family through the rapids of a culture that is terribly misinformed about what to eat and the consequences of choosing wrong.  This never-ending revelation reared its ugly head on Friday when I attended our daughter Hope’s school barbeque where the food provided was the typical disease-food banquet common to all family-centered activities these days.  As you can see by the photo, it was hamburgers with processed American cheese served on white bread buns, chips and soda pop or juice boxes.  What prompted me to take the photo was I sat staring at the table in front of me realizing that not only was everything being served at this family event things I never eat (I had eaten before coming), but that each food item was known to promote the development of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity - - and everyone of all ages were eating them at this school event.

I am so sick of the prevailing attitude amongst parents: (1) “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with giving the kids (or myself having) a soda now and then.” or “A little won’t hurt anybody – after all what’s more All American than grilled hamburgers, chips and soda?”; and/or (2) that  healthy nutritious food means unappetizing food.  Regarding (1), what’s becoming “All American” is rampant lifestyle diseases in the form of epidemic heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer at all ages, brought on by those exact attitudes and the food choices that follow.  There’s nothing wrong with organic pasture-fed hamburger meat; it's when it comes from feedlot grain-fed, hormone-, chemical- and antibiotic-laced cattle; AND then when it’s combined with white flour, one of the most harmful food choices one can make, the value of the beef protein and fat becomes a non-issue in the face of the insulin spiking and inflammation promoting characteristics of white bread (actually, even whole grain breads have the same effect; eating a gluten-free diet is one of the most powerful health decisions a person can make, without question).  As for (2), I’ve personally experienced picnics where the food served was nutritious and delicious – so the idea that “health food” is yucky food is simply wrong and/or lazy thinking.

Next up – same weekend – was when I dropped Hope off at a birthday party that was already in full swing (she was coming from another birthday party), where I was ushered into the kitchen and asked if I wanted anything only to be confronted AGAIN with pathetic food choices – pizza, ice cream and soda pop!  Nothing new there, right?   After all, next to hamburgers and chips, what’s more American than to serve kids pizza, soda pop for their birthday meal, followed by ice cream?  And we wonder why Adult Onset Diabetes had to renamed Type 2 Diabetes – because it’s now a disease of childhood – A LIFESTYLE DISEASE BEING FORCED UPON UNKNOWING CHILDREN BY IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTS!  (Those ALL CAPS - that’s me screaming.)

The final straw came early the next day, when I was out walking our dog Cooper, only to stumble across my neighbor’s Sunday paper laying in his driveway that today included three “free” diabetes bombs masqueraded as “strength and bone building” cereals – Trix Swirls, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Golden Grahams with “Whole Grain & Calcium – Guaranteed” and “Grow Up Strong” call-outs on the packaging. The only guarantee you’ll actually get from feeding your kids these cereals is you’ll be setting them on the course for insulin dysregulation leading to diabetes and abnormal blood lipids leading to heart disease, not to mention the neurotoxic effects of the food colors in the Trix Swirls (we have personal experience to this common effect – our son Timmy is very sensitive to any blue foods – his brain function and behavior becomes predictably irrational within 20 minutes of eating any foods containing blue food dyes, such as blue Gatorade, Fruit Loops, or blue Popsicles).

Yes, I want to scream.  Yes, I’m known as the food Nazi.  But isn’t our job as parents to look after the best interest of their kids’ health and future.  As a doctor, scientist and parent, I’m acutely aware of the old adage, we are what we eat.

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

If you’re a homeowner, it’s very unsettling to be hanging Christmas lights or cleaning windows and stumble across holes in the fascia boards or a pile of what looks like sand on the window sill.  You realize the holes in the wood aren't rust (yes, wood doesn't rust - I know, I'm pretty smart), and it isn’t sand you're seeing on the sill – it’s … termite poop.  By the time you see that pile, you know it’s too late – the termites have done their damage.  They’ve been insidiously and silently chewing up the inside of the wood for a long time until it eventually is showing as holes in the wood and piles of … termite poop.  At this point you have two problems to solve – not only do you have to attack the termite problem, you also have to assess the structural damage to determine if reconstructive repair work needs to be done. 

It got me thinking about the termites in our bodies. No, I’m not talking about E. coli, parasites, H. pylori, tapeworms or some other creepy critter that can take up residence in your body.  But what are the figurative termites that are eating away at our innards – the things we know that “eat” our bodies from the inside out?  Because nearly all disease processes take years, if not decades, of slowing, silently and dangerously destroying the cells of our bodies to the point where the disease becomes detectable or manifests with outward symptoms, the termite analogy is spot on.

However, the similarities stop there.

First, our food supply has changed so drastically in the past 50 years that we now find ourselves consuming ‘termites’ – we actually choose to ingest termites in the form of lifestyle choices by eating things that are known to cause disease.  Whether it’s in the form of soda pop (and dozens of other processed foods) that contain high fructose corn syrup*, a direct pipeline to diabetes and obesity, or snack foods made with heart disease and cancer-causing hydrogenated oils and which are laced with neuroexcitotoxins such as MSG that are known to kill off brain cells leading to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, we’re dumping termites into our bodies.  These foods that we are choosing to eat are eroding our health just like termites erode the integrity of the wood they live in.  

Second, when we make the decision to stop ingesting ‘termite foods’, we solve the two problems at the same time.  One, by not eating any more termites, we no longer have a termite problem – we don’t have to engage in a ‘pest control’ project (you don’t have to “tent” your body, other than choosing to avoid bad food choices); by virtue of eating whole, fresh, natural, health-promoting foods, we by default, eliminate the processed, toxic, disease-promoting termite foods.  Two, because of our body’s inborn or innate intelligence that’s built into our genetic code, when provided with purity and sufficiency combined with the avoidance of toxicity and deficiency, the body will heal and rebuild itself - so there’s no need for reconstruction.  That’s right – when we provide the body with optimal nutrition and avoid destructive food choices, our bodies are programmed to return to health.  We just need to not interfere with this perfect innate intelligence. 

So the next time you’re about to eat some deep fried food or drink a diet soda, just visualize that you’re eating termites (or better yet, termite poop).

*If you haven’ watched this video about high fructose corn syrup and its direct causation to obesity and diabetes, do so now – it’s powerful: 

This blog was inspired by a sermon I heard on KWAVE radio this morning by Pastor Barry Stagner of Calvary Chapel Tustin called Termites and Toadstools.  It never fails that when I listen to a spiritual message I immediately process it into a natural healthy living perspective message – thanks Pastor Barry!