Raw almonds are still not raw

Because almonds are one of the most healthy and nutritious nuts, and because in my opinion they make the best-tasting non-dairy milk, I'm personally concerned with the status of raw almonds in America, which is where I live. If you were not aware, since 2007 the USDA has mandated that all almonds be subjected to high temperatures for pasteurization and/or treated with a toxic fumigant before being sold to the public.

The reason for concern over this is that either of these processes makes the almond dead and/or contain a degree of toxicity itself. Besides that health factor, there is also the political aspect to be upset about; here in America which was once the land of the free, you are not even allowed to choose what foods you want to eat. Or more specifically, you may choose whatever you want, but only from the choices some governing official has allowed you to choose from. Finally, there is also the financial aspect to be upset about; these regulations put heavy financial burdens on almond growers, which are especially difficult for local and small growers to pay. This can cause some of the growers to go bankrupt and does cause the price that you pay at the supermarket to go up.

The Cornucopia institute of Wisconsin has a page which you can use to keep abreast of the latest news in the battle for truly raw almonds: http://www.cornucopia.org/almonds/

In the meantime, you can buy imported, raw almonds from sites such as the Raw Food World; http://www.therawfoodworld.com/product_info.php?products_id=1001588

Always remember: You pay for your health now with higher-quality food, or you pay for your health later, with high-priced doctors.

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Vaccine Fillers and Ingredients

From Dr Mercola: (Apologies to Dr Mercola; I provide the link, but I really hate "optional yet mandatory" subscribe popups thus I also provide the content)

(Also credit @JadeSylver for passing it along)

In addition to the viral and bacterial RNA or DNA that is part of the vaccines, here are the fillers:

aluminum hydroxide
aluminum phosphate
ammonium sulfate
amphotericin B
animal tissues: pig blood, horse blood, rabbit brain,
dog kidney, monkey kidney,
chick embryo, chicken egg, duck egg
calf (bovine) serum
betapropiolactone
fetal bovine serum
formaldehyde
formalin
gelatin
glycerol
human diploid cells (originating from human aborted fetal tissue)
hydrolized gelatin
monosodium glutamate (MSG)
neomycin
neomycin sulfate
phenol red indicator
phenoxyethanol (antifreeze)
potassium diphosphate
potassium monophosphate
polymyxin B
polysorbate 20
polysorbate 80
porcine (pig) pancreatic hydrolysate of casein
residual MRC5 proteins
sorbitol
sucrose
thimerosal (mercury)
tri(n)butylphosphate,
VERO cells, a continuous line of monkey kidney cells
washed sheep red blood cells

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

And you thought you were just getting a viral vaccine. In many cases the vaccine additives are far more toxic than the viral component. This is particularly true for thimerosal which is mercury.

Many will say that thimerosol is not in the vaccines any more. Well last summer Congress "strongly recommended" that the Pharmaceutical Company take the thimerosol out of vaccines....it was not mandated; simply recommended. The drug companies were not told to take the existing lots off the market. The recommendations only applies to new product line manufacture. An unknown amount of vaccine was/is still on the shelves.

Now the twist:

Yes, the new vaccines are supposed to be thimerosal-free, but I'm not sure that they are. In addition, it is unknown when you get a vaccination if you are getting a "new lot" or an "old lot." It is unknown exactly when the new thimerosal-free vaccines went into effect and were available in the market. In addition, if you were vaccinated with an old lot, or vaccinated previous to last summer, you got a dose of the mercury.

NOW the 'big marketing push" for vaccines, in 6 color glossy is "this vaccine is THIMEROSAL-FREE!!!!"....as if they had no idea before last summer that mercury was a problem. And, in response to "YOUR CONCERNS (even tho unfounded), oh faithful followers, we are making a new, and safe vaccine."

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A quick note about corn

By avoiding corn, you avoid a typically genetically-modified product. But corn is so pervasive in our society that in order to NOT eat it, you have to be on the lookout for these ingredients, among others:

cellulose, xylitol, calcium stearate, ethyl lactate, maltodextrin, saccharin, xanthan gum, gluten, sucrose, sorbitol, ethel acetate, high fructose corn syrup, citrus cloud emulsion, citric acid, ascorbic acid, di-glycerides, baking powder, fructose, sorbic acid, vanilla extract, starch

It's easier, and better, to just NOT BUY any processed foods. Don't go to fast food restaurants - or most chain restaurants for that matter, and stay out of the center of grocery stores. And while you're shopping at a grocery, try avoiding anything that comes with plastic around it - including the boxes with plastic liners. Those are typically industrially-produced foods and should be avoided anyway. In doing all this, you will be choosing nourishment and not suicide.

sources:
http://twitter.com/Jambutter/status/2098720062
http://twitter.com/realfood2health/status/2099539956

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Food, Inc.

I went to see Food, Inc. last night was really good, informative, and upsetting (of course) all at the same time. The showing was sold out and the audience applauded at the end. This is a movie that everyone - EVERYONE - should watch and learn from.

The moral is that it REALLY matters whether you buy local and organic foods or not. Our LIVES are being destroyed so that we can collectively buy food at a slightly cheaper price. It's a vicious circle from which the only way out is to grit your teeth and buy the slightly-more-expensive groceries. STOP buying processed foods. They are laded with chemicals and preservatives that, while they make the food cheap, they also lead to poor health.They destroy our environment. Think you're green? Not if you buy a hamburger.

Whatever we do — no matter how tight our pocket books — we must not support these operations with our food dollars. - Food Renegade.

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Sorbitol Sweetener: Is It Safe?

I constantly see sorbitol listed as an ingredient for things and can never remember anything significant about it. I always have the feeling that it isn't all that bad, but it's not something I would choose either. This article seems to back that concept up. In a nutshell it's a sugar-derived sweetener. It occurs naturally but the form manufacturers use as an ingredient is created artificially. It does have fewer calories than regular sugar and is metabolized more slowly, but could cause digestion problems. I will continue to generally avoid it, which is easy for me because I don't like chewing gum or mints which is where sorbitol is used most.

Link:http://www.healthmad.com/Nutrition/Sorbitol-Sweetener-Is-It-Safe.426699

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IntraMax - Organic Liquid Vitamins

I've tried this stuff. I believe it's the best liquid vitamin you'll be able to find out there, however at $80 per bottle, it's kinda off the scale of affordability. This is the only liquid vitamin that has really tasted good, for what that's worth. Usually you have to just get used to the taste, but I recall this was good. Global Healing Center also gets the thumbs-up from NaturalNews, a site I well respect.

Alternatively, there's the Peter Gillham brand (http://snipurl.com/aief7) They're pretty good but I did once react to the niacin (vitamin B3) in there. That could happen to anyone with any vitamin mix, though. The taste is okay, and I feel good about the quality. Incidentally, that CALM product they sell here is awesome. It's essentially magnesium, of course, but it WORKS.

Finally, we often buy the Buried Treasure brand, and we get it from VitaCost (http://snipurl.com/aieo9). It's a good price, generally good quality, and tolerable taste.

http://www.ghchealth.com/liquid-vitamin-mineral-intramax.php

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High fructose corn syrup ad

Amazing what the Industry implies with this. They try to say that it's simply EMBARRASSING to deny HFCS by showing some random chick that hasn't studied up properly. If they really wanted to give an honest review of HFCS, they'd prop up someone who DID know their stuff and try to defend against it. And of course, they can't. In a way, it's pretty cool to see that someone has put the effort in to create such an ad as this because it shows that the truth about this highly processed by-product is finally coming out!

Link:http://snhbw.blogspot.com/2008/09/high-fructose-corn-syrup-ad.html

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Cascadian Farm's "Cinnamon Raisin Granola"

With the amount of sugar added, degree of processing, and quality of oils used in the production of Cascadian Farm's "Cinnamon Raisin Granola" cereal, this should NOT be qualified as an organic food, nor should it be listed as good for your body.

Ingredient analysis, taken from the Nutrition Information (10) on cascadianfarm.com:

organic whole grain rolled oats
naturally milled organic sugar

• SUGAR (8)

organic crisp rice
(
organic rice
naturally milled organic sugar

• SUGAR (8)

sea salt
organic malt
)

• Puffed grains are, in fact, NOT healthy. They are "very" processed grains and have little or no nutritional value to them. They are "dead" foods. 70% or more of your daily food intake should be from raw, or living, foods. (7)

organic raisins
organic whole grain oat flour
organic honey

• SUGAR (8)

organic sunflower oil

• Polyunsaturated oils, such as sunflower oil, contain long-chain fatty acids, which are extremely fragile and unstable. (9)
• Polyunsaturated fatty acids or PUFAs in vegetable seed oils are the bane of human health - they actually cause cancer, diabetes, obesity, aging, thrombosis, arthritis, and immunodeficiencies. (9)
• See also the notes about canola oil below.

sea salt
organic molasses

• SUGAR (8)

baking soda
organic cinnamon
soy lecithin (an emulsifier)

• Extracted from soy beans using a solvent such as hexane. A by-product of soybean oil.

• Nearly all soybeans in America (89% in 2006) are from genetically modified (GM) sources. (5) This means that not only have these plants been injected with strange or unusual substances (like bacterial genes), but they have also been grown under the heavy use of pesticides. Note that more countries outside the US implementing bans on GM foods.
• Polyunsaturated oils, particularly corn oil and soybean oil, cause numerous health problems, including and especially cancer. (6)
• Hexane is a mild anestheic and is used as a solvent in industries such as shoe manufacturing, furniture restoration, and automobile construction. (4)

• Soy Myths and Truths: (3)
• Read the comments about soy in this article: (2)

organic canola oil

• Typical oils such as canola oil are processed with heat and high pressure, and are often exposed to sunlight for lengthy periods after processing. Contemporary vegetable oils (like canola oil) contain omega-3 fatty acids; Since omega-3 fatty acids rapidly become offensive smelling and subject to rancidification when processed with high heat and oxygen, the oil is then subjected to a deodorizing process which removes much of the Omega-3 and replaces it with trans fats.(1)
• Canola oil is not permitted in infant formula by the FDA due to concerns about inhibited growth in human infants. (1)
• See also the notes about sunflower oil above.

organic vanilla extract



(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola_oil#Health_effects
(2) http://www.chow.com/stories/10701
(3) http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstruths/mtsoy.html
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexane
(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean
(6) http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/conola.html
(7) http://www.living-foods.com/articles/environmental.html
(8) While not listed as the first ingredient in the list, SUGAR is essentially listed four times. This is a devious practice by major corporations to hide the amounts of sugar in a list. It's probably a good idea to qualify THIS cereal as a "sugar cereal"; according to the nutrition facts label, 29% of this cereal is made of sugar. (55g serving size / 16g sugar)
(9) http://thescreamonline.com/essays/essays5-1/vegoil.html
(10) http://www.cascadianfarm.com/products/product_detail.aspx?cat=8&upc=0-21908-13334-8

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