ARE YOU REALLY GONNA EAT THAT?

Writing about food the day after Thanksgiving might not be my greatest idea, but it's what's on my mind today.  I've been trying to make some changes in my eating habits and diet, which might be rubbing off onto other family members.  Yesterday I noticed that my husband didn't use the microwave.  Instead he reheated some Thanksgiving leftovers from Wednesday night on the stovetop.  This amazed me because I've been saying for years that microwaving isn't healthy and he would just laugh at me.  I gave up using the microwave years ago after reading that the molecular structure of food is drastically changed in a microwave oven and the food is left depleted of vitamins and nutrients.  I never did feel good about microwaving food.  It's one of those things that just seems too good to be true. Heating food that quickly can't be healthy.

Apparently my hubby has come around to my way of thinking after reading about the downside of microwave cooking. So now I'm wondering what we could do with that space above the stove.  Perhaps I could remove the door, disconnect the unit and use it as a space to put some potted herbs.  Or maybe a book shelf.  Hmmm.

It doesn't take much effort to educate ourselves about the food we eat and the best way to prepare it.  Yet how many people really think about what goes into their stomachs.  How many of us realize that there is a direct connection between our health and the foods we eat?  And how many of us are willing to read labels, give up certain foods or make the changes necessary to live a healthier life?  For some people it's just not worth the effort or maybe they just don't know where to start so they put it off and pretend it doesn't matter.

I discovered a good place to start if you're looking for a simple guideline on what to eat and what to avoid.  One of my favorite blogs, Hallee the Homemaker, is a treasure chest of all kinds of information in an easy to read format.  You can find a link to this blog under "Home and Health Links" on the right side of my page.  Today Hallee posted an interesting article about the health benefits of cinnamon.  If you hit the "Our Diet" button at the top of Hallee's blog, you'll discover some excellent suggestions about what we should and shouldn't eat and why.

Hallee and her family adhere to the Levitical Diet which is based on three principles that make total sense.  One of those principles is to eat only substances that God created for food. Another is to eat foods as they were created before they were changed or converted into something humans think might be better.  I especially like this principle because our food supply is polluted with food that is anything but natural.  Humans have taken the food God gave us and converted it into unhealthy substitutes.

They tell us sugar is bad for us, so they add chlorine to it, call it Splenda and tell us it's a healthy substitute for sugar.  Or maybe you prefer aspartame, which causes cancer in laboratory animals.  Equal, Nutrasweet, Sweet N Low, it's all the same processed chemicals that make us believe we're doing something good for ourselves when we may as well drink poison.

Margarine is another example.  I grew up on Blue Bonnet margarine in the sixties and seventies.  Back then it was touted as a "healthier" alternative to butter and our parents believed it.  Margarine is simply an artificial animal fat substance.  It's fake butter.  If you set margarine outside in the sun, it doesn't melt.  It reminds me more of plastic than food. Probably does a great job of coating the arteries. Everything's better with Blue Bonnet on it?  Thanks, but I'll pass.  God gave us butter and I trust Him more.

The latest health craze is soy. The soy industry spent millions of dollars putting out stories that soy is a miracle food.  What they don't tell people is soy has one of the highest concentrations of manganese.  Dr. Russell Blaylock advises people to avoid all soy foods.  In an interview with Suzanne Somers for her latest book Knockout,  Blaylock explains that soy also has very high concentrations of fluoride and glutamate.  "Manganese, flouride, and glutamate are terrible brain toxins," said Blaylock.  "Giving soy formula to children is associated with Parkinson's because of the manganese.  Women have been lulled into thinking that eating and drinking all this soy is good for them, but it is loaded with all this manganese, which is a powerful brain toxin and has been shown to cause brain atrophy."

Unless the label says otherwise, you should assume that the soy you eat is genetically modified.  The National Institute of Environmental Health Services states that unfermented soy is an endocrine disrupting chemical.  It contains natural hormones that emulate human hormones.  In case you're wondering why your son or daughter went through puberty at 11 when you went through puberty at 14, read some food labels.  Soy is in everything.  And precocious puberty isn't the only thing that results from the consumption of soy.  Cardiovascular disease, brain abnormalities, miscarriage, and various cancers are also on the list, among others.

Genetically modified food (GMO) is another example of humans messing with the natural food God provided.  These foods are scientifically engineered to behave a certain way.  If you splice a tomato with DNA from an arctic flounder, you have a tomato that can withstand cold temperatures.  Yum!  They've even created seeds that contain their own pesticides.  Isn't that clever?  And the reason they don't label genetically modified foods is because they're afraid you might be turned off by it and not purchase it.  Imagine that!

There are currently eight major GM food crops on the market, so memorizing them will help you avoid any and all food products that might contain GMO's.  Avoid soy, corn, cottonseed, canola, sugar from sugar beets, hawaiian papaya, some varieties of zucchini and crookneck squash.  You'll also want to avoid any derivative of these such as high fructose corn syrup and cooking oils.

Who knew eating healthy was so darn complicated?  Yes it's a hassle to learn these things and try to avoid the garbage out there that's being passed off as food.  You could throw up your hands and say I'm nuts and I read too much. But if you look at all the diseases that are present today, diseases that were unheard of 200 years ago, before people got the bright idea of messing with the natural forms of food, then you might start to think I have a point.  Whether you believe it or not, check out Hallee the Homemaker.  Her site just won a 2010 Best Blog Award.