However, I think as a society we have overused and abused the whole healthcare system.   I think a huge part of the problem is we’re not getting the proper nutrition as well as relying heavily on pharmaceutical drugs to ‘cure’ us from all that ales us instead of getting down to the root of the problem.  Doctors are taught to treat the symptom and that’s what they do.  They are taught only a small fraction of nutrition during their many years of studies to become a doctor.  Let’s take a closer look at the factors at play that have grown substantially over the past 30 years.

Problem #1: There are 2 types of malnutrition that we see in the world today, kids starving from lack of food and kids starving from lack of nutrition.  It’s not that we can’t have a snack here and there or indulge once in a while, but it’s becoming an everyday thing and we are eating more and more because our bodies aren’t getting the right nutrition.  I picture looking down the grocery aisles seeing a whole aisles of chips, an entire aisle of cereal…cookies, breads, and candy to choose from.  That’s not to mention the fast food chains on every corner just about.  I myself got caught up over this past holiday season starting from Thanksgiving.  I was eating sweets 2 or 3 times a day and it continued through to March.  I realized I had gained 5 pounds in a matter of less than 4 months and decided to cut out all the sweets to detox and reprogram my body for a month.  Most may say, big deal- 5 pounds, but if you let those 5 pounds go, pretty soon you’ve added another 5 to make 10 and it just keeps going up from there.  We’re having a hard time with my 3 year old as well.; not with weight, but he loves sweets. 

Problem #2:  Big Pharma: the pharmaceutical industry

According to Dr. Mercola, a well-known health and wellness expert:  

“As most of you know, the conventional medical system tends to equate ‘health’ with the absence of symptoms of disease. The entire industry is built around treating symptoms with expensive patented drugs, many of which are profoundly toxic and dangerous.  Pharmaceutical companies now rule the entire healthcare system, and they go to great lengths to protect their profits, even if it means sacrificing patients’ health in the long run.”  In Houston where we live the hospitals are popping up everywhere.  We now have major hospitals and specialists in all the major suburbs: Cypress, Katy, Sugarland, Kingwood, etc…

“Few trends highlight the fatal flaws in the U.S. medical system more than our ruthless drugging of children. Not only are kids coming down with chronic diseases once only seen in adults (heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression), but they are being medicated with strong, toxic drugs rather than being taught how to get healthy, naturally.

In a couple of decades, these kids will find out that the medications they’ve been given have done nothing to heal their bodies, and if no changes are made they may suffer an early death as a result.”

One in Four Kids Take Drugs for Chronic Health Conditions

“Some of the largest jumps in prescriptions for kids were for drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heartburn, and acid refulx.   Since 2001, the use of heartburn and acid reflux medications among adolescents has jumped 147 percent, while girls aged 10 to 19 taking medications for type 2 diabetes has jumped close to 200 percent in the last nine years.

Every one of these ‘chronic diseases’ is virtually always the result of an unhealthy lifestyle, namely poor diet, lack of exercise, and stress.  What is distressing is that if a child comes into a physician’s office with high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes or heartburn, they will likely leave with a drug prescription in hand.  Sadly, this is now expected.”

 ”As a parent, it’s important for you to be aware that many of the top diseases plaguing the United States are diet-related, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. The National Institutes of Health even states that four of the six leading causes of death in the U.S. are linked to unhealthy diets.

So giving your child a prescription drug for a lifestyle-related disease is not going to solve the problem. It is not going to help your child and instead may harm them with side effects.

You need to be a role model in this regard, teaching your children the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle instead of relying on medications to ‘fix’ them.”

Does this alarm you?  Are you one of the statistics or is your child?  If you are, there is hope and you can reverse those statistics over time by giving your body the nutrition it wants.  If you’re not, take action and make sure you and your children don’t become a statistic.  I’m not trying to scare anyone but to simply point out reality of what is happening all around us.  God sometimes puts people in our paths to make us aware or warn us, in our case I’m glad he did.  This is your fork in the road or your flashing neon sign saying ‘Danger Ahead!’  Once we know the truth, it’s up to us to make the choice of what path to take.  Here at Fit Full Circle we encourage a whole food, well-balanced diet but we realize many times with our crazy lives we get busy and aren’t able to get all the nutrients our bodies need.  So, we take supplements that are also from whole foods and plant sources to give us optimal health.  Take our advice, you’ll be glad you did and your body and your children will thank you for it.  Give your kids and yourself a fighting chance!

**I quoted Dr. Mercola who is an expert in health and wellness because I wanted you to read it from an expert, not just from me.  To read more from his article, click on his name.

Ready to start swim team practice 2012-Aidan, Mattheas, Sofia, and Liam

Are you giving your kids a fighting chance?  A fighting chance you might say…well of course I am.  What I mean is in this modern world we live in there are no real guarantees to avoid sickness, diseases, disorders, or even death.  What I mean is are you fueling their bodies with the right kinds of nutrients for them to attempt to live a long and healthy life??  Or are you taking the path of least resistance and settling for convenience?  Mac-n-cheese, Ramen noodles, and the all mighty McDonalds Chicken McNuggets–oh but the Fred Flintstone multivitamin from your local pharmacy is going to save the day.  Are you kidding me?  (By the way, with 4 children of our own we choose the lesser of all evils when it comes to nuggets, Chick-Fil-A!)

For most of us who are working parents just getting through the day is a challenge and we are supposed to give our families the recommended servings of a healthy balanced diet of fruits and veggies???  I’m sorry but we don’t live in ‘Leave it to Beaver’ times anymore.  Supplements, the right ones (which there are only a few out there), and an attempt to eat right is the only fighting chance we have in these times.  ‘Oh, but me and my family are as healthy as a horse.’  Really?  Did you know you can only get a clean bill of healthy after an autopsy’s performed?  Good luck with that one. 

Recently we had one of my dearest friend’s dad have triple by-pass surgery that had gone undetected.  He had excellent blood pressure, passed all the cardiologist tests with flying colors; I mean this larger than life man is no spring chicken, but he is not old by any means either.  He has been eating extremely healthy for the last 18 years or so, working out at 5am, looks better than most 30, 40 year olds (and is taken by the way).  His healthy lifestyle for the past 2 decades is probably what saved his life but the damage was done in his earlier years along with other factors like family history, etc.

That’s what I mean by giving them a ‘fighting chance,’ when they are young and you have protection over their God-given little bodies because once they grow up guess what?  It’s their choice.  (Train a child up in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  Proverbs 22:6) 

For the ‘kid chasers,’ you know who you are, the ones that have their kids in sports all year round, special leagues, professional training, etc, etc.  By any means of the imagination, we do our fair share of chasing with 4 kids and promote sports but choose not to chase them all year round and push their bodies to the limits(we still have mixed feelings about this).  I mean you can’t deny that a lot of us live vicariously through our children but how much is too much?  My husband had an off-record conversation with a friend of ours who’s a pediatrician and he asked my husband if our oldest is still playing baseball.  My husband’s reply was ‘no, I’m giving him a break this year.’  Mind you, that was a decision frowned upon by friends and even family.  To me it was a surprising decision from my husband because like most fathers in this wonderful Cypress, Tx area  they envision their kids as the next MLB player, race car driver, PGA golfer, soccer star, rodeo champ and not to mention ‘Friday Night Light’ star.  And to clarify, that was our sons decision as well.  Much to my husband’s surprise the pediatrician said ‘good for you’ which baffled my husband so he asked ‘why?’  Our friend replied that he had just had a conversation with some colleagues and stated the fact that children’s sports injuries are astronomically on the rise(of course a good business to be in, but at what cost).  Look at all the clinics and emergency centers going up in this area, and a lot of the kids are going to be out for the count by the time they reach high school.  He stated these sport injury doctors said the trend in the coming years for Major League pitchers, if not already, that there are going to more pitchers coming out of states where the elements (cold weather, extreme heat) does not allow the kids to play all year round; in essence, saving their arms.  I’m not a big baseball fan, but to me this is logic and it can happen in any sport.  Almost anyone has seen a MLB game and we often see a pitcher with ice on their shoulder or have heard the term ‘saving their arm’ for the next game.

In either of your personal cases, I’m not here to judge, but mainly to serve and support by bringing this topic out in the light and making people aware.  We choose to take the approach of mixing it up with sports (organized) and promoting outside activities letting them be kids.  But if you are going to be the all year-round parent give them a fighting chance because in this competitive sports market the only edge in my view is keeping their bodies healthy through nutrition and supplementation and I’m not talking about the Fred Flintstone vitamin approach.

For my household, we began to question these things and did a lot of research after our second child was born sick and passed away at a year and 3 1/2 months.  Let me share a little about our 4 other children and what we have found that has been working for us for the past 6 years.

Victor Mattheas

Mattheas is our first-born son.  He was born healthy and grew quickly but was plagued with ear infections off and on from the time he was born to about age 4.  He was also really colicky for about 4 weeks.  I remember him suffering through an ear infection for 6 weeks; he finally got well, and then turned around to have another ear infection only days later.  I asked his pediatrician at the time, “What can we do to help prevent this?”  He answered me by saying ‘that’s the million dollar question.’  He tried to tell me it was because I worked and my son went to daycare, but I knew that wasn’t right either because I had friends that stayed home with their kids and they had the same issues.  Needless to say, I changed pediatrician soon after, but the question still remained-why was he getting so many ear infections and what could I do to help?  When Mattheas was 4 years old, I was introduced to the Mannatech products and since then he has rarely gotten sick.  He is now 10 years old and has not been to the doctor since before he turned 4 for being sick, only for well checks.  He is a super athlete, great at any sport he tries and is a straight A student and loves to read.  Maybe he simply grew out of those early childhood issues, or it’s just coincidence, but I don’t think so. 

Sofia Elise (named after a good friend of mine for her beauty and strong character)

Sofia was born almost exactly a year after our son Diego passed away.  She was the biggest out of all my children, weighing in at 9 lbs. 9 oz. and I had her naturally.  Most might same I’m crazy for having her natural, but actually it wasn’t so bad.  I only had really hard labor and pain for an hour and 15 minutes and she was out.  She was healthy and a good baby.  We went through about 4 weeks of colic with her too.  She got sick for the first time around 5 months with her first ear infection and a barking cough, runny nose…you name it, she had it.  Right after she got sick, I started giving her some of the supplements in her bottle and she cleared up really quickly and didn’t get sick again.  Wow! I was hooked because a healthy baby is a happy baby and less work for mom…especially when I found out at the same time I was pregnant with number 4.  Sofia is now in 1^st grade; again she has not seen a doctor for being sick since she was 5 months old.  She is super smart and loves a challenge but only if she thinks it will be fun.  When she first went to Kindergarten I was a little worried because she had no interest at all in learning the alphabet and numbers prior to starting no matter how much I tried.  Plus, she had just turned 5 a couple of weeks before starting, but maturity-wise she seemed to be ready.  Once she started school she loved it and she learned the alphabet within a matter of weeks after seeing all the other kids knew it.  She has remained a straight A student, her reading level is far beyond the average and I have had to give her very little guidance with her school work.

Aidan Diego

Aidan has been taking the supplements as well since he was in the womb.  I started taking them a month before I was pregnant with him and made the decision after doing a lot of research to take them instead of the typical prescription prenatal vitamins given to me by my doctor.  Aidan was born 14 months after Sofia weighing 8 lbs 13 oz and was a super sweet, healthy baby.  He rarely fussed and was just super calm.  We moved down to Mexico when he was 5 months old and I remember all our relatives there passing him around like a hot potato and remarking at how good of a baby he was.   There was only one time in Mexico when he was a toddler that we had to call the doctor.  I had run out of my supplements and hadn’t had a chance to make a trip to the border because they weren’t available there at that time.  He started with a runny nose and his tonsils got infected.  His tonsils are really close together so the runny nose turned into an infection really fast.  Plus, later I found out he has a milk allergy.  At first I didn’t know what to attribute the almost constant runny nose, but I gave him an extra supplement just for allergies because of it until I did more research and discovered how cow milk is not good for you.   I took it out of all my kids’ diets and Aidan stopped having the runny nose.   Aidan is now 5 years old and he only knows the doctor as giving shots for his check-ups.  He’s really smart, always asking questions to find out why things work the way they do and is very athletic.

Liam Eduard

Liam is now 3 years old.  He has been on the products since he was in the womb as well.   He has only seen a doctor to get his check-ups and shots.  He is super smart, funny and a joy to be around.

 We are so grateful for each and every one of our children, blessed to have them in our lives.  They have taught us so much in such a short time, but it’s our job as parents to protect them and give them the best, the best on the inside as well as the outside.  Join us in giving our kids a fighting chance.

Let’s take for example the issue of ‘pink slime’ that came out recently.  My family and I have known about this for several years and I have mentioned it before in previous blogs and we have tried to stay away from it as much as we can.  I’m glad the media is finally taking note of it although some may think they go a little overboard.  In simple terms, the meat is by-parts of the cow which may be some trimmings from other cuts but it also may be mixed in with parts you really don’t want to know about.  Also, the reason the meat is cleaned with ammonia gas (what you would clean your bathroom counter with) is because the cows are so packed into these facilities that they are standing up to their bellies in their own manure.  So, in order to not spread salmonella and other bacteria’s the meat has to be cleaned with an agent as powerful as ammonia gas.  That’s not even to mention that they are eating corn(not their usual diet of grass which creates a whole host of other problems),  and they are injected with hormones as well as antibiotics which are passed on through the meat to those of us who eat it. 

Second, let‘s take a look at this wax covering on many organic fruits and veggies.  Many many years ago wax was used to extend the shelf life.  Now, we must beware of the covering because it may not be made of wax but of chemicals, animal parts, and who knows what else and it’s even on organic fruits and vegetables.  Once again the FDA is approving this and it’s not common knowledge. 

Or how about the vitamins and supplements industry.  This is a trillion dollar industry and the FDA does not evaluate them because there is just not enough time, money or manpower.  However, there have been numerous studies that show that the majority of vitamins and supplements on the shelves are man-made chemicals that your body doesn’t recognize and they are made with coal tar.  I mean coal tar for crying out load!  Who would knowingly put that in their body?  Basically, 95% of the vitamins and supplements out there are bad for your body, causing more harm than good and the FDA does nothing to prevent it. 

That’s not to mention the pharmaceutical industry, all the chemicals and additives in our foods that are approved, artificial sweeteners, GMO’s, and the list goes on.  If you want to know more information, and/or the science behind some of these issues, follow the links I’ve provided.  Now, I am not formally educated in these areas, but I have been educating myself over the past 6 years.  However, if you’d like to know more from a doctor, I can recommend you to 2 Dr. Chase Hayden or Dr Cassie Schuster.  Dr. Hayden is an amazing holistic doctor and quantum neurologist in the Northwest Houston area.  While Dr. Cassie Schuster is a doctor of naturopathy and a master herbologist, specializing in equine rehabilitation and people alike.  Follow the links to learn more about each one.

Well, I’m sure you already figured this out but I’m here to tell you that it’s a myth, a lie, milk does not do a body good.  In fact, it does more harm than good. 

Your body doesn’t actually get the 300 mg of calcium per cup from cow’s milk and we actually end up loosing calcium when we drink it.  Milk is acidic and calcium is a neutralizer.  When we drink milk the calcium, richest in our bones, begins to neutralize the acidic milk and then leaves the body through our urine.  So, that calcium we just consumed ends up leaving our body and maybe even some we had stored in our bones that tried to neutralize the milk or animal protein.  Are you kidding me?

Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., states that:

“The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk and have the most calcium in their diets. The connection between calcium consumption and bone health is actually very weak, and the connection between dairy consumption and bone health is almost nonexistent.”

So, not only is there a biological reaction in our bodies that negates the ‘health’ benefits of milk, but lets take a look at the cows.  ‘Fifty years ago an average cow produced 2,000 pounds of milk per year. Today the top producers give 50,000 pounds! How was this accomplished? Drugs, antibiotics, hormones, forced feeding plans and specialized breeding;
that’s how.’  And there has been little if any research on the effects of these chemicals on the humans consuming them.  I don’t know about you, but that’s a little scary.

I am just touching the surface here, but if this has gotten you at all curious or made you mad, do your homework.  Back just 20 years ago, this information was not widely available to us and I believe that’s part of the problem and why so many people have been blindsided by this myth that milk is good for you.  Today we have the internet and the information is available to you at the click of a button.  

So, what’s the alternative–Almond Milk. 

 

Here’s an excerpt from his article, The Shaft of Life:

“Wheat, bread and pasta are often referred to as ‘The Staff of Life.’  In reality, wheat is one of the unhealthiest foods that we use as a staple in the Western diet, next to sugar.  We all know that sugar has a high glycemic index; it rots our teeth, suppresses our immune system, and contributes significantly to ill health and disease.  Can wheat products really be as bad a table sugar?  The facts are clear, and wheat is negatively affecting your health.”

For the rest of the article, click here.

As in one of my previous posts, the definition for a vitamin is a group of chemically related compounds. This consists not only of the nutrient contained in the vitamin but essential enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants, trace elements, activators and other unknown factors that enable the vitamin to go into biochemical operation. When the main nutrient is separated or isolated our bodies don’t know how to process them.

Here are a couple examples from a book I recently read Going Back to the Basics of Human Health by Mary Frost: “Take, for example, ascorbic acid as Vitamin C. If a person has sufficient reserves of the other components of the C complex (enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants, trace element activators, and other unknown factors) to recombine and process an intake of ascorbic acid, then that person will experience some improvement for a time. When these reserves are drained, the ascorbic acid will no longer benefit that person. The very symptoms that the person was trying to eliminate will return, and the person will then have a full-blown Vitamin C deficiency. This is what occurs with all synthetic vitamins: the body treats them as toxins.”

“Vitamin E ‘loses up to 99% of its potency when separated from its natural synergists.’ When you take just the tocopherols, you are throwing out the real vitamin E. The tocopherols are nature’s way of protecting and preserving Vitamin E, like the peel of a banana. In one test study, the vitamin E-deficient laboratory animals fed tocopherols died sooner than the control animals that received no vitamin at all.”

Here’s another example with vitamin B: “Dr. Sure studied two groups of pigs, feeding one group twice the daily requirement of synthetic B and the other group the same amount of natural B. ‘The results: ALL of the first generation offspring from the pigs fed the synthetic vitamin were STERILE.’ It is obvious that synthetic B, in addition to NOT being a nutrient, is a genetic poison. Humans, unlike pigs, take more than one generation to reap this genetic damage. A 1981 report from The University of Florida stated that the American male sperm count in 1929 was at approximately 100 million sperm cells per milliliter of semen. By 1973 the sperm count had dropped to 60 million/ml. Then seven years later, in 1980, the average count had dropped to 20 million/ml.” “Since World War II the American people, and people of other countries as well, have had a daily ration of a genetic poison in most of the bread, flour products, cereals, and other food items that are forced, by law, to enrich with the only cost-feasible enricher: synthetic vitamins.” (Hmm, think about that one for a minute. I know a lot of people that have dealt with fertility issues, how about you?)

 So, how can you tell the difference? Look at the label on the back. If it sounds like a chemical, it most likely is. Whole or real food supplements list the food source that the vitamin/nutrient comes from because you need the whole thing with all the components for it to be effective. Also, look at how many milligrams or micrograms are listed. For whole food supplements, a minute amount is far more effective nutritionally than a large amount of a synthetic one.

Last, but certainly not least…synthetic vitamins are made with coal tar. Seriously, if you and your family are taking synthetic vitamins please reconsider.  You’re better off not taking anything.  Don’t just take my word for it, do your own research. Your body will thank you for it!

Over 7 ½ years ago my husband and I had our 2^nd child Diego Wayne Mercado.  What a precious little bundle of joy, a new addition to our family.  But wait, something was wrong, not quite right…what was it?  Sooner than later we found out he had a genetic defect or a disorder called Menkes Syndrome, and we spent many sleepless nights in and out of the hospital until he went to Heaven a year and 3 ½ months later.

What a precious little boy, he taught us all so much and we are so grateful to have had him in our lives.  I would do it all over again in a second!  It brings tears of joy to my eyes just thinking about what a sweet little angel he was.  Despite his broken, frail little body, I will cherish forever the laughter and the smiles on his sweet face.

Wow, I have to say my husband and I have learned some very tough lessons since Diego was born.  We’ve gone through extreme financial, emotional and marital stress since then and lived to see brighter days.  It’s amazing to me how our lives have changed.  We now see life through a whole different perspective.  I guess that’s one reason why I so enjoy doing my part-time business.  As we grow our business, we help others grow their business at the same time.  It’s a business about helping others with their health and their finances all the while we’re feeding malnourished kids around the world vital nutrients that they’re missing from their diets.

It feels so good to be part of something bigger than ourselves and to make a difference in the world as opposed to just looking out for ‘me, myself and I.’  We don’t know how long we have here in this world and it can be gone in an instant.  I just pray that God continues to bless the work we put our hands to so that we can continue on this journey as I know He will.

*3 out of every 4 Americans will get heart disease—2 out of every 4 will die from it.

*According to the American Diabetes Association, the number of diabetics has increased from 6 to 16 million in the last 15 years, and another 21 million have “impaired glucose tolerance.”

*Some form of depression, anxiety, or fatigue affects over 50% of the population.

*200,000 Americans die yearly from high blood pressure and stroke.

*Roughly 25% of all adult Americans are “significantly overweight.” 

What’s really crazy about this is that as a society we really don’t take notice of this unless we’re directly affected by it but if we equated it into jumbo jet crashes, I think we would.  That would be 10 jumbo jets a day, packed with 300 passengers, falling out of the sky 365 days a year.  Can you imagine?

Although there does seem to be a trend of people trying to eat right and taking vitamins and supplements, but still we are getting sicker and sicker.  $9 billion a year or more is spent on over-the-counter vitamins.  So why we are still fat, fatigued, depressed, sick, and spending more time in the doctor’s office and/or hospitals?

Here’s my take on it:  

1-90% of the food in the grocery store is filled with chemicals and preservatives.  If you’ve read any of my previous posts on food labeling you know that our foods are pumped with chemical additives, preservatives, and artificial colors that our bodies don’t know how to process.  For example, our bread is stripped of 17 vital nutrients during processing and 2 artificial nutrients are put back in along with other harmful things.  The same is true for our milk.

2-Our fruits and veggies are devoid of vital nutrients.  Here are just a couple examples of how our fruits and veggies are falling short:  In order to get the iron that was available in one cup of spinach in 1945, you would have to consume 65 cups today.  An orange that contained 50mg of natural vitamin C complex in 1950 now contains 5 mg.

 3-Synthetic vitamins do more harm than good.  I have seen the argument many times on synthetic versus whole food vitamins that there is not much of a difference, but your body definitely knows the difference. “Vitamins are ‘groups of chemically related compounds.’  There is a part that is identified as the organic nutrient of the vitamin, i.e., ascorbic acid as Vitamin C.  But then there are enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants, trace elements, activators, and other unknown factors that enable the vitamin to go into biochemical operation.” (Going Back to the Basics of Human Health, by Mary Frost)  Our bodies were made to eat whole foods, plants, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and meats…not chemicals.  One more thing, these synthetic vitamins are made with petroleum distillates, so it’s like you’re putting coal tar in your body.  Umm, Umm good right?!

So, what’s the answer?  Eating as well as you can, avoiding processed foods and taking whole food supplements.  We must supplement in order to get the nutrients our bodies need to stay well and feel great.  If you need help knowing what supplements are right for you, connect with me and I can help.  Or you can check out my link on supplements that are actually good for you.

Check out what’s really in a chicken mcnugget (from Dr. Mercola’s website):

“Do you put dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent made of silicone, in your chicken dishes?

How about tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you?

These are just two of the ingredients in a McDonalds Chicken McNugget. Only 50 percent of a McNugget is actually chicken. The other 50 percent includes corn derivatives, sugars, leavening agents and completely synthetic ingredients.

Organic Authority helpfully transcribed the full ingredients list provided by McDonalds:

“White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary).

Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch.

Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.”

I wouldn’t even consider this real food, would you??  And if this is the chicken mcnuggets, I’d be curious to see what’s in the burgers…something equally bad, if not worse.  Remember this, real food lives and dies.

If you’d like to read more on the article this was taken from, click here.

Here’s what I discovered:  when you see the words diet, light or sugar free on your food or drink beware that you are going to find one or more of the following toxic substances.  They contain excitotoxins or neurotoxins that are by definition poisonous substances for your brain.  They create so much stress that the brain’s nuerons will die off from the stimulation caused from these substances. 

The following lists will help you locate quickly substances that are commonly found in your food supply:

Never purchase a product that contains: 

• aspartame, aspartate, sucralose
• cysteine, cysteic acid
• monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Additives that always contain MSG:

• Monsodium glutamate
• hydrolyzed vegetable protein; hydrolyzed protein
• hydrolyzed plant extract
• plant protein extract
• sodium caseinate
• yeast extract
• texturized protein (including TVP)
• autolyzed yeast
• hydrolyzed oat flour
• calcium caseinate
• corn oil

 Additives that frequently contain MSG:

• malt extract and malt flavoring
• bouillon
• stock
• natural flavoring seasonings
• malt flavoring
• broth flavoring
• natural beef or chicken flavoring
• spices and seasonings

Food additives that may contain MSG or excitotoxins:

• carrageenan
• enzymes
• soy protein concentrate
• soy protein isolate
• whey protein concentrate

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I want anything messing with my brain.  I need all the help I can get!  Plus, there are numerous side effects of these additives, just look it up yourself.  For me, I had headaches and never knew what to attribute it to until I cut out the diet sodas.