Can you trust a food label?

A friend of mine, Kaymann Woo, got me to looking at food labels (more specifically, beverage labels) by pointing out that his fruit drink had no fruit in it. I began looking at what I drank more closely, as I was trying to lose weight and was trying to eliminate "unnatural" things from my diet. I found that my favorite drink had the same issues - lots of things I could not pronounce, and questions about what exactly natural extracts and flavorings were.

I found that my "sparkling mountain water, naturally flavored and with vitamins and antioxidants" really was a chemists dream. It has (in order of inclusion) water, natural flavors, malic acid, potassium benzoate, sucralose, and another 10 ingredients. Delicious.

This led to research on flavorings, I found this CBS video segment from 60 Minutes which is informative. But these were just the start. I started noticing that "healthy" foods were not so healthy, like the "Healthy Apple Chips" I bought the other day, "made with real apples." They turned out to be dried and ground apples mixed with high fructose corn syrup, and formed into what looked like apple slices. The first ingredient in them was the corn syrup. Not so healthy.

How about a vegetable juice so many people buy because it gives lots of servings of vegetables in just one can? It is made with 100% vegetable juice! Read it again, it is not 100% vegetable juice, one of it's ingredients is 100% juice from vegetables. There is also 690mg of sodium in one 11.5 oz can (and also natural flavors, and some other goodies). It has plenty of good stuff in it, but it is certainly not healthy with all that salt. Yet they enjoy almost $1 billion dollars in sales per year.

Here is a good article on food labels from the Seattle Times, where they explore food labels a bit. The Mayo Clinic also has a "how to read the label" article.

The big one I have found is serving size. I recently discovered that an Italian ice product I like, which comes in what looks like one of those single serving ice cream containers and has reasonable nutrition information, actually has 2 servings in each container. One serving is just a few spoonfuls, so to eat the whole container is pretty darn unhealthy. Or the prepared Cuban sandwich I love - 1 sandwich, 2 servings, 500 calories.

How about "white meat only" on your chicken? According to the government, it can have no dark meat, but it can have other "stuff." There are a bunch of Federal labeling rules, but they are relatively lax when it comes to the actual packaging of food.  Or, have we discussed "natural flavors" such as vanilla flavoring? It is from castorium, which is beaver excretions from the far end of the animal. Yuk.

Food companies are in business to sell you food, not to make you healthy. But they understand that "healthy," "low fat," "low sodium," and "sugar free" sell. As such, they package things in packages to entice you to buy. Even the color of the label matters - Cornell University found that the color green on the label actually increases people's perception of food being healthy, even when it is not. We are not talking uneducated people, we are talking people who look for healthy food.

Read and understand the labels. You might be surprised at what you are eating.

GMOs and food additives: food for man, or devil in disguise?

I have to admit, I hate the GMO argument. It is too biased for real life. As Stewart Lyman says in his article on the recent GMO labeling debate, "neither side seems interested in discussing the scientific issues involved." It is also interesting to me that the food additive issue gets discussed, but the information is not overly scientific either.

I admit that I fully support growers producing genetically altered foods (GMO). Without these foods, we would be hard pressed to feed our rapidly growing world population. I am not for banning GMO as some countries have, nor do I think a label that says "contains GMO ingredients" is informative enough to be useful. I think a good alternative is the "Non GMO Verified Project" where foods get a "GMO free" label upon verification, like organic foods get. This is a better solution because it is a voluntary certification, and the program already exists and works well. 

Simply put, when you eat real food, your body recognizes the DNA and natural chemical makeup of it. As a result, you are able to metabolize nutrients correctly and you reap the benefits of that food (nutritionally and health-wise). Eat something unnatural (DNA or chemically) and your body is physiologically confused, resulting in stress on the body. Eating corn modified with fish genes, your body just isn't sure if you are eating corn or fish. Pretty simple concept. I know some corn is modified with genes from Bacillus thuringiensis, which is used as a biological pesticide, and commonly grows in animal feces. Sound more appetizing? I have enough medical problems, I don't need to risk more, like renal problems. I will let those much smarter than I figure out the health issues of GMO and stick with a more natural diet.

Now part of the problem is "how natural is a natural diet?" Because chemicals in foods tend to cause adverse reactions in my body, I try to avoid chemical additives in or on my food, whenever I can. I decided that if I cannot pronounce it, it probably does not belong in my body. Since I have a reduced auto-immune system, I need as few reactions in my system as possible. This is why I started researching clean eating. But you still need to use your head. I have seen clean eating sites recommending eating "power bars" and "liquid Stevia only." I have not seen too many natural power bars, and I have seen plenty of Stevia liquids on the supermarket shelf with questionable ingredients. I personally use a powered Stevia that is 100% natural, so read labels and know what the ingredients mean.

And what exactly are "artificial flavors" and "natural flavors?" They are both chemical flavorings, which supposedly use the "same" chemical makeup. There are arguments about artificial flavors being more healthy, but I prefer something more natural. But keep in mind that any flavoring that is from a natural source can be called "natural flavors."  Natural raspberry, strawberry, and vanilla flavors can come from castoreum (or other natural sources), but it still does not sound pleasant to eat something with an excretion of a beaver butt as an ingredient.

And artificial sweeteners have a bunch of debate around them. My personal view is that the "pink," "blue," and "yellow" sweeteners are all chemical or chemically modified sugar substitutes. Again, I stick with Stevia, but I also watch those carefully. Be careful what you buy, and read the labels.

I do want to say that eating natural should not be a dogma. In our world, one cannot avoid eating some “unnatural” things, or things with additives. As I said in previous articles, our bodies are smart and they do adapt. We just do not live in a "natural world." 

However, a more natural diet is much less stressful on the body, and knowing what we are eating allows us to control the negative reactions our bodies have to “bad” things we eat (and I define “bad things” as things which each individual does not, or cannot, tolerate). Natural foods help alleviate symptoms (not, I do not say "cure") from many maladies, like reduction of inflammation, lowering of blood glucose levels, and reducing pain from headaches, which ultimately allows us to live healthier lives.

Unnecessary drugs vs. natural healing

In writing another blog post, which was getting much too left brained, I went down a few rabbit trails. One of them was prescription drugs, and how some can be replaced with real foods that give the same results in a healthier way.

Note: I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. See your physician before you modify your lifestyle, or change any treatments. 

Where do I get off saying many medications are not necessary? Look, I am a diabetic, and my pituitary gland does not produce most hormones. I understand needing certain medications. Without hormones and insulin, my lifespan would be quite short. But the fact is, regular doses of medications do not work in the body in the same way as if they are produced naturally by a human body. Our bodies are smart. They know when we need more, when we need less, and they adjust accordingly throughout the day. When you need to use regular doses of drugs, you are working contrary to how the body was designed to work in its natural state. You force your body into an unnatural rhythm - "eat exactly at these prescribed times, and these prescribed amounts, instead of when you are hungry." It is kind of like using regular gasoline in a vehicle that requires premium. It works for a while, but eventually you will have engine knock.

Drugs are also cyclical animals. 

You can take one to resolve a problem, and it may cause a side effect. Another drug is taken to resolve the side effect, but it's side effect may exasperate the original problem you had. I was having headaches in 2012, and was prescribed a drug to treat the headaches. One side effect of that drug was nausea. The nausea drug I was prescribed had a potential side effect of causing headaches. In my book, it was better to find a natural way to resolve the headaches. 

Another cyclical example is that, in a diabetic, increased insulin use causes resistance to insulin. Resistance to insulin means increased insulin needs. Increased insulin use causes weight gain. Increased weight causes insulin resistance. See the cycle? For me, eating real food lowers blood sugar levels. In turn, I use less insulin. Resistance is decreased, weight can be lost (with proper diet and exercise), resulting in less insulin, causing greater sensitivity to insulin, resulting in weight loss and less use of insulin... you get the point. Doing this, I have reduced my insulin usage by nearly 50% since July 2013, and have lost some weight.

Doing research, I also found that certain foods reduce inflammation and resolve the resulting pain. My favorite is pineapple, which contains bromelain and gives pineapple its anti-inflammatory properties. Instead of using anti-inflammatory drugs that are dangerous to my kidneys, I can get the same results eating real foods, and knowing what is in them.

What I am saying is research what you need, and you might find natural remedies for what ails you. Drugs of any kind, legal or otherwise, just aren't healthy. 

The thorn in my side: my medical journey

The content here was actually part of another post I was writing, but I decided to break it into two posts to separate the subjects a bit. This is more of a chronological list of recent events. Look to some of the links to my previous posts for the stories behind these things.

My medical history started back when I was 3 years old and I was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes Mellitius. My family on my father's side is predisposed to diabetes, and 2 of my 3 siblings have it as well. I had a great mother who taught me much about the disease, but my control was awful. Despite being a "brittle (labile) diabetic", I enjoyed exceptionally good health for a diabetic compared to my sister and brother. I started on a Diesetronic insulin pump in 1993 to try to control my blood glucose, but even 20 years later, my brittleness is a horror to my endocrinologist, Dr. Mandana Ahmadian.

During the summer of 2009, I had unusually excessive thirst, and I started having to urinate excessively. My doctors attributed it to my diabetes, since thirst is a common side effect of high blood sugars. However, my blood sugars had been relatively sane during that time. I did find that drinking Dr. Pepper quenched the thirst, but I still was getting hardly any sleep. Remember this paragraph; it will come into play later.

On November 15, 2009, I went to Evergreen Urgent Care after having severe headaches for almost a week. I was referred to the Evergreen Health ER, where they loaded me up with happy juice, did a CT scan, a spinal tap, and blood work. They diagnosed me with viral meningitis, gave me a bottle of Oxycontin, and sent me home with the information that it would resolve itself "in about 10 days."

A couple weeks later, I was back at the ER, where we went through the same procedures again. Same diagnosis, same treatment, except they gave me  oxycodone because I had started hearing things that just weren't there. This was my first experience with the shift in healthcare to convincing people that nothing is wrong with them. For the record, Oxycontin's generic name is "oxycodone HCL." One in the same drug (I did not know that at the time). For the record, I began having sleep paralysis (seen in only 6% of the general population - remember this, it will come up again), extremely ugly nightmares, as well as seeing and hearing things while awake.

My wife took me back to the ER 5 times between 11/15 and 12/31/09 when she lost it with the ER doctor who insisted I still had meningitis. WARNING: do NOT peeve a Russian woman - she insisted on an MRI and she won the battle against "We have already done 3 CT scans. An MRI will not show anything different." They discovered I had pituitary apoplexy (like a tumor on the pituitary gland), and I discovered what having a great partner was. They told her I would have been dead within 2 weeks, from lack of hormones, had she not forced their hand. I was given prednisone, dilaudid, testosterone, and sent on my way.

Fortunately, I was referred to Swedish Neuroscience Institute in February 2010 for treatment. They did further testing and found that the tumor on my pituitary gland had bled out into my spinal fluid and dried up (rare), and that is what the ER had detected as meningitis. They also did testing and found I had Diabetes Insipidus (a "rare disease" - remember this, and the 6% having sleep paralysis), which is what caused my severe thirst and urination (told you it would come back up). When asked by my wife if I would ever regain function of my pituitary gland, the specialist said "99.9% chance no." (So 0.1% I would - remember this.)

Fast forward a year to May of 2011, and all of a sudden I was bloating up like a blueberry around my neck, back, and head. After seeing all my usual doctors, and visiting the ER a couple times, I was referred to an allergist who found nothing I was allergic to, but decided he should kill off my immune system because my body was "fighting itself for no reason." On that, I decided to get a 2nd opinion, and went to Dr. Garrison Ayars. He looked at all my records over a 2 week period (literally, all of them), and suggested that maybe one of the pituitary specialists I was seeing might consider that maybe they were over-treating me. 3% of the population is apparently ultra-sensitive to prednisone treatment... and even my 5mg dose (considered "nothing" by endocrinologists) was causing Cushing Syndrome. This also led to more testing by Dr. Ahmadian, and as of today, I produce enough cortisol for normal daily living, but not for stress (remember the 0.1% I mentioned above?) I have gone from taking 22 drugs to small doses of only 7.

Summer of 2012 came with headaches. Again, lots of doctors and nurse practitioners, and suggested "remedies" ranging from practicing yoga to reducing spinal fluid pressure. A year and a half later, and I have figured out that a rise in barometric pressure likely has something to do with it. Still looking into this one.

Recently, I have been struggling with a weight  loss plateau, and myalgia caused by antibodies attacking good cells in my joints and muscles. That is a still unresolved story to be resolved.

I still have a variety of issues, but I am finding great solace in understanding the drugs I need to take, diets, GMOs, and chemical foods. But that is left for the next post. Let us leave it as the apostle Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 - "Thank you, God."
  

Lazy writers do not write

What more can I say. With the help of the One up above, I was encouraged to dust off the blog and share some thoughts. Something that comes to mind every morning when I am in the shower is "Gee, I should be writing about that." But I quickly ignore that "thought." What happened this week is someone I am doing some investing with, and some business with, asked me for one of my stories. Ok, God, I get the hint.

My Mate: My Gift from God

As a pastor, I often had young people question the Christian teaching of waiting for "the one" God had for them. Quite honestly, I can only infer this from scriptures such as Matt 7:7 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" and "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14).

I do not believe God has necessarily pre-picked a perfect mate for everyone on earth. But I believe God knows who is best for each person. When you leave things to God, He will bring the right person into your life at the right time, the relationship will be blessed, and a happy marriage will result. I myself did not fully understand this until I met my lovely wife.

Our story starts with my wife's mother sending her to Egypt to escape an abusive relationship, but God's hand was guiding us together long before that.

God's Hand #1: She was a young girl who attended Music School in the former Soviet union, and she was drawn to the "Italian-ness" of music. She loved the romance of Italian, and all things Italian. Her desire was to learn Italian, and grow up to be an Italian teacher. However, her monther could not find a teacher of Italian for her, and her mother opted for English, instead. The implications of this in the Soviet Union were that my wife would be destined for a life working for the KGB.

God's Hand #2 and #3: When she was old enough to attend University, she was immediately accepted into the "Transportation University" where she would become an engineer for the State run railway system. However, she took an entrance exam at the premier English teaching university in the region and was accepted there. This was exactly 1 year after the Soveit Union collapsed, and the last year that Ukraine paid for the education of university students from government funds. Had she not been accepted to this particular teaching university, nor had her tuition paid, we likely would have never met.

Back to Irina going to Egypt... She visited the site of the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, long a Russian Orthodox pilgrimage location for those seeking spiritual direction in relationships.

God's Hand #4: They have a ceremony at St. Catherine's where they hand out rings to visitors, which are symbolic of relational strength. As my wife's turn came up, they ran out of women's rings and they gave her a man's ring. At first offended, she then saw this as a sign of renewal of her life directly from God.

2 months after her trip to Egypt, she was at the university looking at a bulletin board where they post jobs. She was looking for a 3rd job to help support her and her daughter. She already worked full time as an English professor ($125/mo) and taught private students English ($50/wk), but she needed more income to afford to eat.

God's Hand #5: There were two flyers posted looking for English language interpreters. She decided she would check one of these jobs out. When she went to pull the little tab with the phone number off the posting, the one she wanted suddenly slipped down behind the glass and landed behind another posting on the board - well out of reach and view. So she ended up taking the number of the second flyer which led to her 3rd job as a interpreter for a position that served English speaking clients.

God's Hand #6: Exactly one month after she started her new job, guess who ended up on the other end of her interpreting? You guessed it...

When I spoke with "Diana", I flirted (hey - I'm Italian - I can't help it!) and she turned out to be an exceptionally well spoken, educated, and interesting person. I asked if we could speak again outside her work, and told her I wanted her phone number. She told me of the rules against giving out phone numbers (not to mention her fear of giving it out to some bozo from another country), but I persisted and she gave me a number... the wong number.

When I called at 5:30am my time the next morning (3:30pm hers - when she was "after class") the gruff male voice that answered hung up on me. Thinking I had misdialed, I called again. What I did understand of the conversation was "stupid American", and my heart sank. I did, of course, keep talking to "Diana", invited my good friend John M to talk with her, and got her warned by her employer not to give personal information to us and waste time on us.

God's hand #7: Exactly one month to the day after she started her job, at 4pm in the afternoon (2am her time) I was making an international phone call and misdialed the phone number. Guess who answered with a sleepy "allo?"

I did not know it was her at first. I asked "what are you doing?". The unknown woman replied in perfect, but sleepy, English: "sleeping". We continued to talk, with her thinking it was one of her students playing a joke on her and trying to figure out what student it was, and with me trying to figure out how this woman could sound so much like "Diana", but realizing the impossibility of it happening by chance.

As they say, the truth is stranger than fiction. We spoke for several hours, and within a week she decided it was worth spending time talking to me to improve her English. Within a month she had quit her interpreting job, I had plans to fly there to meet her, and shortly thereafter we married in Ukraine and here we are today.

Our relationship is filled with many other exciting signs of God's hand, which helped bring us together after that first series of events. There is the "gas incident" where, against my constant warning, she left the "cooker" (stove) light at night to heat the apartment. After she and our daughter fell asleep, the flames went out and the apartment filled with natural gas. A "hand" woke my wife and a voice told her to turn off the gas... but when she opened her eyes there was nobody there.

Then the "permission incident", the "passport incident", the "border patrol incident", and the "ticket purchase incident". These I will not discuss, due to family privacy, but they were clearly God's hand in our lives allowing us to come together. If you know me personally, ask - I'm always glad to share these stories, just not on the internet.

Till next time, I leave you with this:

"But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously." (Micah 6:8 The Message)

Alas, those darn Catholics (or Protestants)

It is interesting to me when I hear the phrase "Christians are their own worst enemies."

We often have battles between denominations, and even label some as "cults". In my eyes, we need to couple the words of Matthew, "if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt 5:19a), with the words of James that "for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (James 2:10).

If you do couple these two verses, you find that although what others believe does not always mesh with your beliefs, a) you are as guilty of sin as they are, and b) they'll still be in the Kingdom of Heaven. But for the Grace of God... I don't know about you, but least in the Kingdom is far better than not being in the Kingdom at all.

That said, I heard a comment today about how "Catholics are not Christians, because they do not know they can talk to God themselves", referring to the sacrament of Confession. They wanted to know why Catholics go to a priest for confession, when Protestants talk to God directly.

Well, simplifed answer is that it makes a person set aside time and focus on their sins. No magic involved. It is no more right than asking God forgiveness directly, it is just a means to an end. If you are disciplined enough to remember to talk to God about your sins, and ask His forgiveness, you will be forgiven. Yes, Catholics do trim it in tradition a bit... you need to go go confession to take communion... but hey, all religions practice traditions.

We could also talk about "Jesus on the cross" and "the empty cross" disagreements (one is a reminder that Jesus died for our sins, the other that he rose from the dead); "the golden trimmings" of the Catholic church" versus "the bare necessities" of the Protestants; "Sunday keepers" and "Sabbath keepers"; "tongues" and "no tongues"; "musical instruments in church" or "not in the church"; and everything in between.

No matter these, the only requirement for being a Christian is told in John 11:25:26 "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and he who lives and believes in me will never die" (See also: John 6:35, John 7:38, John 12:46).