"IT'S NOT COMPLICATEDEATING HEALTHY, WHAT to EAT"

CHAPTER 2- WHAT NOT to EAT-

The system needs to change, or you need to take control of what you and your family are eating.

"One of the reasons for our ultra-processed foods is to embrace food chemistry to make cheaper products with the ability to withstand �me. If it was up to them the shelf life would keep food from going bad forever. So, in other words, we will be inges�ng a slew of chemicals, which have the ability to poison us slowly." Blanch L. Scharf,

Functional Nutritionist

"A key feature of ultra-processed foods is that they contain food substances that are never, or just about never, used in kitchens. This means that they are almost exclusively made by chemical processes. They now amount to at least half of the total foods consumed in highly developed market economies, and their sales in less developed market economies are increasing rapidly. They are a public health menace because they are the leading contributors to the global burden of disease. The end game is to use market strategies to build and consolidate their power to atain profits. We are the end users, so keep that in mind when you go food shopping." Blanch L. Scharf, Functional Nutritionist

"The harms of ultra-processed foods kill over 11 million people a year (the #1 global killer)". Dr. Mark Hyman, Functional MD, and bestselling author

CHARACTERISTICS OF POOR-QUALITY FOOD

Fast food, junk food, and processed food are all food-like substances. Limit sugar and refined carbohydrates in your child's diet and your own Sugar is addic�ve, so limit what they get to eat. Sugar impacts every organ in the body nega�vely, so stay away as much as possible. Refined carbohydrates turn to sugar and therefore are not healthy. Michael Gregor, MD author of the best-selling book, How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scien�fically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

More than 75% of all healthcare costs are due to chronic conditions. Https://nationalhealthcouncil.org

An estimated 133 million Americans- nearly ½ the population, suffer from at least one chronic illness, such as hypertension, heart disease, autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, cancer, and diabetes. That figure is 15 million higher than just one decade ago, and by 2030 this number is expected to reach 170 million people. i The new estimate is 60%. ii https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm

The standard American diet consists of processed boxed foods, prepared foods at the grocer, frozen foods, and fast foods. In addi�on, restaurant foods are now o�en purchased already prepared.

Very few of these foods are real whole foods. Instead, they are fake foods, made to look, taste, sound, feel, and smell like real food but are totally contrived by food engineers. They are highly processed, have litle or no fiber, and are loaded with poor-quality seed oils, sugar, salt, and fake ingredients that are deficient in real vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

To learn more about what Big Food has done by hiring food engineers to create fake ingredients that make them greater profits than they could ever make from real ingredients, I have done videos and writen blogs about it that you can find here:

How Big Food Hijacked our Food and our Health - Cheryl M Health Muse

How to finally win with food and take back your Food Freedom Part 2 of how Big Food Hooked you on Chemicals - Cheryl M Health Muse

Big Food Corpora�ons were owned by Phillip Morris/Altria and used the cigarete playbook to get us addicted to their food. It includes all diet companies- Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and the huge monopoly on processed foods.

This food is fast and convenient in the short run but does nothing to promote health in our bodies. On the contrary, this has led to adverse health.

• Highly processed foods: These have been heavily altered from their original state and typically contain added sugars, unhealthy fats, salt, preservatives, food coloring, and food additives. Examples include sugary snacks, candy, and fast food.

• Sugary drinks: Beverages such as soda, sports drinks, and fruit juice often contain high amounts of added sugars, contributing to weight gain and other health problems. And their heavily lobbied wins have included soda pop in SNAP (food stamps) programs and school programs, all of which have severely exasperated the issue of obesity.

• Trans fats: Trans fats are a type of unhealthy fat that can be found in many processed foods, including baked goods, fried foods, and some kinds of margarine

• Excessive amounts of factory-farmed red meat: While grass-fed grass-finished beef can be a healthy source of protein, excessive amounts of factory-farmed red meat have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and other health problems.

• Refined grains: Refined grains, such as white bread, pasta, and rice, have been processed to remove the bran and germ, which also removes many nutrients. The processed process also eliminates the fiber which our bodies need. Fiber is important for a variety of reasons. They give a ride from the liver out of the body through excrement, serve as prebio�cs to feed our good gut bacteria and make us feel fuller, so we eat less. In addi�on, fiber is important to maintain a healthy weight. Choosing whole grain op�ons instead can provide more nutrients and fiber. (See my descrip�on of all the benefits of fiber in my What TO eat chapter next.)

These foods have been contrived to "hook us" and addict us to wanting more.

What do these foods have in common?

• They have lots of added sugar.

• They contain ingredients you don't know what they are or can't pronounce.

• They are loaded with excessive hormones and other unhealthy chemicals.

• They are loaded with food additives, food colorings, and fake ingredients.

• Most of these come in a box and have tons of ingredients on the label. You only want to buy foods that have real food ingredients. And you want to be able to pronounce all the ingredients, and you want to know what it is. If you don't know what an ingredient is, your body likely doesn't know what it is either, and can't use it.

• Synthetic vitamins are not utilized well by the body. It is worth noting that some studies suggest that natural vitamins from whole foods may be more beneficial to overall health than synthetic vitamins. This is because whole foods contain a variety of nutrients and compounds that work together synergistically, and these interactions may not be fully replicated in synthetic vitamins.

• Additionally, some synthetic vitamins may not be as readily absorbed or used by the body as natural vitamins and may even be harmful in high doses. Therefore, getting your nutrients from a balanced diet that includes a variety of whole foods is generally recommended rather than relying solely on supplements. iii

• Excessive consumption of omega-6 fatty acids, which are seed oils used in processed foods, especially in the absence of adequate omega-3 fatty acids, can contribute to chronic inflammation and various health problems.

• Unfortunately, the typical Western diet tends to be high in omega-6 fatty acids and low in omega-3 fatty acids, which can lead to an imbalance in the body's fatty acid ratio. Therefore, to promote optimal health, it is generally recommended to consume a balanced diet of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, emphasizing whole foods and minimally processed foods.

• Seed oils are also GMO oils, meaning they either have BT toxin in them or have been engineered to be "Roundup Ready. " They are drenched with Roundup. This gives the grower a larger yield because it places the plant into shock and adds a proven carcinogen to your food because none of this herbicide gets washed off in the processing.

• Bt-toxin produced in GMO corn can create the same type of holes in human cells when applied in large concentra�ons in a laboratory. In addi�on, Bt crops fed to lab animals caused damage to the intes�nal walls. Further, research on the natural toxin produced by soil bacteria elicits immune and allergic responses in humans and rodents

• Anything people from a hundred years ago or more wouldn't recognize as food.

What To Do About It

Calley Means writes: "The science is clear: if we want to keep people healthy and improve our human capital in America – we need to do three things:

1. "Limit sugar

2. "Limit omega-6 fats (seed oils)

3. "Limit processed grains

"We don't need to consider bans or taxes We can start by repealing two of the most destructive crony capitalism policies in America:

1. "The fact that these items are subsidized costs us tens of billions of dollars

2. "The fact that these items can be bought with SNAP benefits, a government nutrition program that 15% of the country relies on. As my TrueMed co-founder, Justin Mares points out, revenue from taxpayer-funded SNAP made up close to 20% of Coke's annual US revenue that year. This is evil." Calley Means Newsletter 2/23/23

"One of the biggest food lies of all time is that all calories are created equal." Dr. Mark Hyman, Functional MD and best-selling author of 14 books on health.

"Food is more than just calories. It's information that our cells need to function, information that our metabolism can use to run efficiently or sluggishly trudge along.

"When you eat a piece of sugar, fruit juice or refined carbohydrates, it goes right to your liver, where it starts manufacturing fat, triggering more insulin-resistance and causing chronically elevated blood insulin levels, driving your body to store everything you eat as even more belly fat.

"Broccoli, on the other hand, is rich in fiber and low in carbohydrates and sugar. You'd have to eat a huge amount of Broccoli to reach the same amount of calories that just one small bag of candy could provide, and thanks to fiber, you'd be full long before that could ever happen.

"Eating well should not be all about watching QUANTITY. You need to be paying attention to QUALITY.

"Real foods like colorful vegetables, low-glycemic fruits, healthy fats (like nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, etc.), gluten-free whole grains, legumes, and responsibly-sourced animal proteins and seafood the foods I recommend in my Pegan diet are going to give your cells the information they need to function at their very best.

"So, choose kale over candy and focus on quality more than quantity; it will change your relationship to food, and your health will thank you." Mark Hyman, MD 2/2023 Facebook post

"If you're worried about nuts being fatening, know this: Not all calories are created equal. Two hundred calories from nuts and seeds are en�rely different from 200 calories from a box of cookies." Mark Hyman, MD 5/18/21 Facebook post

TO SUM UP, WHAT FOOD TO AVOID:

1. Skip the labels. Whenever possible, do not buy foods with labels. Avoid foods in a box, package, or can.

2. Avoid restaurants that are not farm-to-table. Unfortunately, they, too, are now serving processed food.

3. Keep it simple If the food has a label, it should have fewer than 5 ingredients or at least it should only have real ingredients. Also, beware of food with "health claims" on the label. As an example, Cola is "fat-free, " which is true, but that in no way makes it a healthy food.

4. Recognize your ingredients. Throw out any food with ingredients you don't recognize or can't pronounce. If you don't know what they are, your body doesn't either.

5. Steer clear of all the white menaces Avoid white sugar and white flour, which act like sugar in your body. Learn the numerous disguises for sugar and get rid of any food that contains them.

6. Dump the lethal sugar. Throw out any food with high fructose corn syrup on the label. You already know that this is NOT good for you. ("High fructose corn syrup has been found to be used by breast cancer cells. The increased u�liza�on influences the development of breast cancer. Data shows that fructose can be used by breast cancer cells and suggests that it could accelerate the progress of breast cancer. Exposure to fructose is one component of the diet that's modifiable. However, that would mean giving up most processed foods as they now are the major source of high fructose corn syrup." Blanche Scharf, Func�onal Nutri�onist.)

7. Avoid this bad fat. Eliminate any food with the word hydrogenated on the label. This translates into trans fats.

8. S�ck to healthy omega-3 fats. Throw out any highly refined cooking oils such as vegetable, corn, canola, and soy Choose olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, and ghee instead. You could also choose pastured organic buter.

9. Watch for these red flags First, toss foods with preserva�ves, addi�ves, coloring, dyes, or "natural flavorings," o�en MSG. If you really want to eat a food product with "natural flavorings," call the company and have them iden�fy what that ingredient is. MSG is now sold under 39 different names, and it is a neurotoxin, so if that's what is iden�fied as "natural flavorings" and it o�en is, don't eat that item.

10. Ditch the ar�ficial sweeteners. I am not talking about stevia or monk fruit. I am talking about the pink, blue, and yellow packets with chemicals that harm the body. The pink and blue packets are neurotoxins. The yellow packet destroys your good gut bacteria.

11. Eliminate all soda. It is loaded with sugar and chemicals or ar�ficial sweeteners and chemicals; you don't need to use that stuff or put it into your body.

12. Avoid drinking most fruit juice. Instead, only drink unsweetened fruit juices Fruit juice can have as much sugar in it as colas and pop. It is pure "rocket fuel".

13. Buy your nuts raw and dry roast your own. Most nuts are roasted in harmful omega-6 oils.

14. Buy organic whenever possible. You don't need an unhealthy dose of chemicals and toxins with every bite.

15. Start with the Dirty Dozen list and only buy organic items. Then, as you progress, u�lize What's On My Food and decide what to buy organic and what not to buy organic for your family and your health.

16. Avoid all of the foods on the GMO list unless you are buying organic.

17. If you are ea�ng dairy, make it organic full-fat dairy. You don't need the hormones, puss, or chemicals found in dairy products. Instead, make it European or organic whole milk cheese if you s�ll eat cheese.

18. Avoid processed meats. My only excep�on is to eat Applegate organic meats.

19. Stop ea�ng when you are 70% full. Your body will catch up with you and feel completely full within 20 minutes.

i htps://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm ii https://www. cbi,nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5876976/ iii htps://nutrigold.com/blogs/ar�cles/10-reasons-to-steer-clear-of-synthe�c-isolates