New York Times Best Selling Author, Dr. Robert O Young’s “New Biology(TM)”, simply states that; “acid build up in the body is the single underlying cause of dis-ease”. Most of us can recapture our health and vitality by minimizing acidic intake and maximizing acidic waste release through good diet, proper exercise and stress reduction. Consuming alkaline foods and beverages is a fundamental step in creating and maintaining an alkaline environment inside the body. In addition, a most effective way to alkalize the body is by consuming, alkaline and ionized water.

This study looked at 12,000 children who were exposed to PFOA through their local water supply which was contaminated with PFOA. It does not prove a link between non-stick cookware and cholesterol, although it suggests a possible link that should probably be researched further.

PFOA is on more than just cooking pans

PFOA isn’t merely found on cooking pans, by the way: Nearly all cooking surfaces for electric consumer food prep appliances are made with it: Sandwich toasters, griddles and even popular cooking devices such as George Foreman Grills.

You’ll also get PFOA from most restaurants because non-stick cooking surfaces are commonly used to prepare your omelets, pancakes, pasta sauces and many other menu items. Avoiding PFOA is nearly impossible unless you prepare all your own food at home, and even then, you must be extremely careful with what food prep devices you use.

Even Swiss Diamond pans which claim that you’re “cooking on diamonds” are actually made with PFOA chemicals

I have avoided non-stick cookware for many years and wouldn’t dare prepare any food on such an item made with dangerous chemicals, but most consumers don’t know about the dangers of PFOA, and they continue to cook their food with non-stick pans. It gets really dangerous when people use forks or metal spatulas to stir their food in such pans because this action scrapes off microscopic bits of PFOA chemicals that then become lodged in their food and swallowed.

My advice is to avoid all non-stick cookware. Buy stainless steel cookware with copper plating on the bottom, which helps disperse heat and prevent burning. Better yet, eat more raw foods and superfood smoothies which require no cooking whatsoever.

The mere act of cooking food in a pan, after all, creates carcinogens in the food. The only “safely” cooked food is steamed or boiled. Anything that subjects foods to very high temperatures — frying, broiling, grilling, etc. — results in the creation of cancer-causing chemicals in the food itself. And that’s true whether you’re using a PFOA pan or not. http://www.naturalnews.com/029676_PFOA_non-stick_cookware.html

It is ok to indulge…on occasion. The trap we get sucked into is that “on occasion” ends up being every day! You are in a hurry to get the kids to soccer practice so you swing through a drive thru on your way thinking it is just today next time you will plan ahead better…the next day you get stuck at work a little late and on your way home you realize that Sophie has to be at her piano lessons in 1 hour so you swing in for some finger lickin’ good chicken knowing you don’t have the time to cook a meal and clean up before you have to leave again…you think to yourself tomorrow is your day off and you will be less busy so you will cook, but then tomorrow comes and you are so exhausted from all the errands you had to run, bills you had to pay, then the school calls and little Timmy is sick so now on top of everything else you have to get him-go to the doctor-go to the pharmacy-go back to the store to get 7-up, popsicles, and chicken soup and care for him AND NOW COOK DINNER! So when you see the golden arches you find refuge in their shadow and you don’t even think twice.

Does this sound like a week you have had? And we are only at Wednesday!!! There is hope, it just takes a little bit of planning. Whatever day of the week you choose where you have some time to sit down just grab your calendar and your coupons (if you are like me), and look at your schedule and use these easy ideas-

1. Plan a meal you can prepare in the crock pot on the days/evenings that you know you will be running here and there
2. Make enough that you will have leftovers
3. Make a batch of pasta salad, 3 bean salad, potato salad ect. for a side dish that is readily available and easy to add to a meal
4. Have fresh fruits and veggies that are cleaned and ready to grab
5. When you make a dish like lasagna make a double batch and freeze one

Hopefully these ideas were helpful, it is really all about convenience that makes us turn to the sodium filled, toxic laden fast food restaurants so if we can create our own “drive thru” in our own refrigerators we will be much healthier and will avoid illness, diseases, and cancer not to mention we will have more energy to play with our children and enjoy life to the fullest!

My health journey helped me to understand in a way, that perhaps I never would otherwise, the importance of healthful foods and the impact that bad ones had on my health and quality of life. I know the last statement may seem to be a bit of an exaggeration or overstatement buts it’s not. The foods we eat can either strengthen our bodies or contribute to their destruction.  It is crucial that each person understand this and make whatever changes are necessary to eat healthier.

One of the best ways to improve the quality of food that we eat is to go organic.  Organic foods are much healthier than their non-organic counterparts and consuming such foods is one of the absolute best ways that we can improve our diet. Going organic may take a little more work and planning then non-organic foods. This is because foods of this type don’t last as long (no preservatives). As a result, you will need to consume them faster and replace them more often.  Organic foods may also be a tad more expensive; however, these costs are offset by the future expenses associated with illnesses and diseases, such as medication and hospital stays, which tend to develop because of poor dietary habits.

This is a disease that ravishes the body and in the end for many it leaves it’s victims lifeless, snuffing out life was too soon. What many of Americans don’t realize is this-Cancer does not strike randomly. The choices we make in our lifestyles, the water we drink the air we breathe and the foods we eat play a key role. Learning which foods to eat and which to avoid might mean the difference between illness and health.

Diet plays a huge role in cancer prevention, fiber is significant factor in helping you dodge the “C” word… The American diet can be summarized by vast consumptions of meat, refined sugars, processed foods and too little fiber. Not eating enough fiber results in the reduction of fecal bulk. The impact of this should not be understated because when individuals don’t eat enough fiber, the motility of the colon is compromised. Carcinogens in the body end up hanging around much longer then is safe or they were intended to. The body then becomes vulnerable to various toxins.

The parts of body most affected by a lack of fiber in relation to cancer are the liver, esophagus, pancreas, stomach, rectum, respiratory system, breasts, ovaries, endometrium, prostate, and the urinary tract.

American cancer rates are amongst the highest in the world. They are dramatically higher than in countries, between 5 and 10 times higher. This is due in large part to the Western diet, which ingests a large amount of animal fat, sugars and only a small amount of fiber. It is important that those who are concerned about the state of their health now, the future of their health, and those particularly interested in decreasing their chances of developing cancer, make changes to their diet now. Increase your fiber intake…keep your digestive system working properly! Eat plenty of organic fruits and vegetables, lean meats, a minimal amount of sugar and drinking plenty of alkaline water, this will all have a positive impact on your health. When combined with consistent exercise and stress management, a person’s chances of developing cancer decreases dramatically, not to mention you will feel better, look better (and who doesn’t want that), and have less colds and illnesses!

A study, conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists before the salmonella recall, asked FDA officials how confident they were in the agency’s ability to protect consumers from food-borne illnesses. BUT, only half of FDA scientists in survey had full confidence in egg safety and that was before the recent salmonella outbreak. “What is scary to me is that this is indicative of a much larger problem,” said Francesca T. Grifo, director of the group’s Scientific Integrity Program. “This is an agency in need of additional resources and authority, and I would add transparency to that list.”

This is our food supply people! For being an intelligent nation and a wealthy one also you would think we would have it together more than we do! However there are safe eggs…Organic Valley has stated their eggs have not been affected by this and “Our hens really have something to cluck about! Raised on family farms, they’re free to roam both inside their sunny, airy hen houses and outdoors as weather permits. Each strong brown egg is nest-laid—a delicious and dense package of essential vitamins, minerals and proteins.”

http://www.organicvalley.coop/products/eggs/?gclid=COKbjqyA16MCFdFO5wodYRAPwA

#1: What type of cancer prevention education does the cancer industry provide if any, and where is it promoted?
#2: If all this money is donated annually for drug research and trials of new drugs for cancer cures why do cancer patients still have to pay for the treatments?
#3: Why does the entire cancer industry so strongly dissuade people from using sunlight exposure to dramatically reduce their cancer risk? (Hint: Follow the money to the sunscreen industry…)

#4: Why have all the really good cancer supplements, clinics and naturopaths been banned, arrested or run out of the country? (Look up the FDA’s oppression of Lane Labs over MGN-3 for a fascinating review of this…)

#5: After the billions of dollars funneled into the cancer industry why are cancer rates not diminishing?
#6: The latest science undeniably shows that cancer tumors are only the symptoms, not the cause, of cancer  so why are western medicine facilities/doctors still continue to use chemotherapy, radiation and other procedures that are toxic to the body to kill tumors when we know that these treatments (i.e. Chemotherapy, Radiation ect.) destroys the immune system not to mention causing  permanent damage to the heart, brain and liver and so on.

#7: The World Health Organization says that 70% of all cancers are easily preventable through dietary and lifestyle changes.. Why won’t western medicine embrace alternatives in preventing cancer?
#8: Herbal cancer remedies, whole foods, super foods, lifestyle changes and dietary changes  are continually discounted by the cancer industry…why are they so opposed to anti-cancer nutrition?

#9: It is illegal manufactures of nutritional supplements to tell about the anti-cancer effects of their products…why? There are many veggies & herbs that have anti-cancer effects such as red clover, Broccoli, garlic, Cat’s Claw, Dandelion root…But companies are censored by the FDA if they utter a mention of cancer prevention products. Do they want us to be ignorant? Why do they not want us to know what natural possibilities there might be to prevent or treat cancers?

This is a segment from the AP report “Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, even more than folks in other rich countries. The U.S. accounts for half of the most advanced procedures that use radiation, and the average American’s dose has grown six fold over the last couple of decades. Too much radiation raises the risk of cancer. That risk is growing because people in everyday situations are getting imaging tests far too often. Like the New Hampshire teen who was about to get a CT scan to check for kidney stones until a radiologist, Dr. Steven Birnbaum, discovered he’d already had 14 of these powerful X-rays for previous episodes. Adding up the total dose, “I was horrified” at the cancer risk it posed, Birnbaum said. After his own daughter, Molly, was given too many scans following a car accident, Birnbaum took action: He asked the two hospitals where he works to watch for any patients who had had 10 or more CT scans, or patients under 40 who had had five — clearly dangerous amounts. They found 50 people over a three-year period, including a young woman with 31 abdominal scans. When other radiologists tell him they’ve never found such a case, Birnbaum replies: “That tells me you haven’t looked.”

CT scans are extremely detailed and fast results but the use of these has soared over the last decade, usually replacing other tests that could be preformed that don’t require radiation like a ultrasound or MRI. Radiation is a hidden threat to us, you don’t feel it and damage won’t show its ugly face for sometimes years. You think “One test here and there is ok, it won’t hurt me right?” WRONG! Tests that use little radiation pose little risk however over time the dose accumulates in your body.

The medical professionals are not tracking the radiation their patients are receiving they are just ordering the tests and not adding up the doses of radiation you have received.

Except for mammograms, there are no federal rules on radiation dose. Children and young women, who are most vulnerable to radiation harm, sometimes get too much at busy imaging centers that don’t adjust doses for each patient’s size.

That may soon change. In interviews with The Associated Press, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials described steps in the works, including possibly requiring device makers to print the radiation dose on each X-ray or other image so patients and doctors can see how much was given.

The FDA also is pushing industry and doctors to set standard doses for common tests such as CT scans.

“We are considering requirements and guidelines for record-keeping of dose and other technical parameters of the imaging exam,” said Sean Boyd, chief of the FDA’s diagnostic devices branch.

A near-term goal: developing a “radiation medical record” to track dose from cradle to grave.

“One of the ways we could improve care is if we had a running sort of Geiger counter” that a doctor checked before ordering a test, said Dr. Prashant Kaul of Duke University.

He led an eye-opening study that found that U.S. heart attack patients get the radiation equivalent of 850 chest X-rays over the first few days they are in the hospital — much of it for repeat tests that may not have been needed.

How much radiation is risky?

It’s hard to say. The best guess is based on the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and studies of Japanese atomic bomb survivors who had excess cancer risk after exposures of 50 to 150 millisieverts (a measure of dose) of radiation.

A chest or abdominal CT scan involves 10 to 20 millisieverts, versus 0.01 to 0.1 for an ordinary chest X-ray, less than 1 for a mammogram, and as little as 0.005 for a dental X-ray. Natural radiation from the sun and soil accounts for about 2 millisieverts a year.

A big study last year estimated that 4 million Americans get more than 20 millisieverts a year from medical imaging. Two percent of people in the study had high exposure — 20 to 50 millisieverts.

Another study by Columbia University researchers, published in 2007, estimated that in a few decades, as many as 2 percent of all cancers in the U.S. might be due to radiation from CT scans given now. Since previous studies suggest that a third of all tests are unnecessary, 20 million adults and more than 1 million children are needlessly being put at risk, they concluded.

Headline reads “Flunking lunch: under pressure for money, many schools are offering students unhealthy alternatives to the school-lunch program”  Sounds like we may have the answer to my question just in the first sentence! Here is a section of the article that is fascinating to me… During a lunch hour at Albert Einstein High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, not long ago, students bought 440 servings of french fries–the most popular item by far. Another 360 students bought the fully prepared lunch. The cafeteria also sold 187 snack cakes, 118 slices of pizza, and 56 bags of potato chips. At the bottom of the list were three bowls of soup and three fresh salads.

With an epidemic of obesity among the young–the proportion of overweight children is now 15 percent–experts say changes in school lunches offer the best chance of weaning youths from the sugar and fat that is ruining their health.

In a report on obesity in 2001, Dr. David Satcher, who was then the Surgeon General, pinpointed school meals as one of the eight major areas where Americans should begin to battle fat. The report also discussed another culprit–the disappearance of daily exercise from school programs.

School officials have been cutting physical-education classes and recesses to make time for academic courses. As a result, high-school students taking daily physical-education classes dropped from 46 percent in 1991 to 29 percent in 1999.

Eric Bost, undersecretary of agriculture for food and nutrition, says exercise is often the forgotten part of a health program. “For me,” he says, “the solution is threefold: Increase the overall consumption of fruits and vegetables, increase physical activity, and reduce consumption of other foods.”

Improving students’ eating habits will require significant changes in what the Agriculture Department permits schools to serve, and in the laws Congress is willing to pass.

The department buys surplus foods from farmers, many of which are high in fat, especially saturated fat, and turns them over to schools. For school meals in 2002, the Agriculture Department spent $338 million on surplus beef and cheese, but only $159 million on fruits and vegetables, mostly canned and frozen.

Maybe we should just all pack lunches for our kids so we know they are getting healthy choices, after all they are the future of our country-how important is their health?