www.greensmoothiegirl.com Learn to use natural sweeteners as part of a whole foods diet with Robyn from GreenSmoothieGirl.com. In this video, Robyn explains the dangers of artificial sweeteners and processed sweeteners. She then explores the benefits of using natural sweeteners like sucanat, honey, agave, and fruit as part of a whole foods diet.

Diabetes Management Among Native Americans – from A Personal Story

Source: Uploaded by BabyFish1003 on Nov 1, 2011 to YouTube

A native American who has been living with diabetes for 40 years tells her journey with Type II diabetes. She gives advise to those at risk for diabetes to get early testing, tips on preventing and controlling diabetes.

Michael Pollan: Twinkie vs. Carrot

Source: Uploaded by NourishLife on Aug 24, 2010 to YouTube

Visit http://nourishlife.org. Have you ever wondered why a bunch of carrots costs more than a package of Twinkies? Food journalist Michael Pollan connects the dots between food policy, high-fructose corn syrup, and our health.

Aspartame & Diabetes – Dr. Betty Martini – Parts 1, 2 & 3 (Radio) 31:22 min.

Part 1

Source: Uploaded by HealthNewsUpdate on Nov 13, 2011 to YouYube

First hour guest, Dr. Betty Martini shared updates on health problems associated with the artificial sweetener aspartame. She reported that aspartame consumption is linked to diabetes, and can exacerbate the problem. “Doctors have no idea that they’re not dealing with an additive,” she said of aspartame– “they’re dealing with an addictive, excitoneurotoxic, carcinogenic, genetically engineered drug.

Part 2

Part 3

Bio: Dr. Betty Martini

Dr. Betty Martini is the founder of the global volunteer force, Mission Possible International, which is committed to removing the deadly chemical aspartame from our food.

She has been doing this for 14 years with operations in most states and over 30 countries of the world. She works with the world experts who write the reports you will find on their web pages. She spent 22 years in the medical field before this, and created the first health delivery system in the US. She can be seen in the aspartame documentary, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World.

TCOYD: Sex Intimacy and Diabetes

Source: Uploaded by UCtelevision on Apr 10, 2008 to YouTube

Dr. Edelman and Janis Roszler, RN, CDE, renowned expert on diabetes and sexual health, discuss the potential impact of diabetes on sexual health, and ways to maintain a healthy, enjoyable sex life.

Occupy The Food System – Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

President of Farm Aid

Thanks to the Occupy Wall Street movement, there’s a deeper understanding about the power that corporations wield over the great majority of us. It’s not just in the financial sector, but in all facets of our lives. The disparity between the top 1 percent and everyone else has been laid bare — there’s no more denying that those at the top get their share at the expense of the 99 percent. Lobbyists, loopholes, tax breaks… how can ordinary folks expect a fair shake?

No one knows this better than family farmers, whose struggle to make a living on the land has gotten far more difficult since corporations came to dominate our farm and food system. We saw signs of it when Farm Aid started in 1985, but corporate control of our food system has since exploded.

From seed to plate, our food system is now even more concentrated than our banking system. Most economic sectors have concentration ratios hovering around 40 percent, meaning that the top four firms in the industry control 40 percent of the market. Anything beyond this level is considered “highly concentrated,” where experts believe competition is severely threatened and market abuses are likely to occur.

Many key agricultural markets like soybeans and beef exceed the 40 percent threshold, meaning the seeds and inputs that farmers need to grow our crops come from just a handful of companies. Ninety-three percent of soybeans and 80 percent of corn grown in the United States are under the control of just one company. Four companies control up to 90 percent of the global trade in grain. Today, three companies process more than 70 percent of beef in the U.S.; four companies dominate close to 60 percent of the pork and chicken markets.

Our banks were deemed too big to fail, yet our food system’s corporations are even bigger. Their power puts our entire food system at stake. Last year the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Justice (DOJ) acknowledged this, hosting a series of workshops that examined corporate concentration in our farm and food system. Despite the hundreds of thousands of comments from farmers and eaters all over the country, a year later the USDA and DOJ have taken no action to address the issue. Recent decisions in Washington make clear that corporate lobbyists have tremendous power to maintain the status quo.

In November, the Obama administration delivered a crushing blow to a crucial rule proposed by the USDA (known as the GIPSA rule), which was meant to level the playing field for independent cattle ranchers. The large meatpackers, who would have lost some of their power, lobbied hard and won to leave the beef market as it is — ruled by corporate giants. In the same month, new school lunch rules proposed by the USDA that would have brought more fresh food to school cafeterias were weakened by Congress. Food processors — the corporations that turn potatoes into French fries and chicken into nuggets — spent $5.6 million to lobby against the new rules and won, with Congress going so far as agreeing to call pizza a vegetable. Both decisions demonstrate that corporate power wins and the health of our markets and our children loses.

Despite all they’re up against, family farmers persevere. Each and every day they work to sustain a better alternative — an agricultural system that guarantees farmers a fair living, strengthens our communities, protects our natural resources and delivers good food for all. Nothing is more important than the food we eat and the family farmers who grow it. Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers, destruction of our soil, pollution of our water and health epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

We simply can’t afford it. Our food system belongs in the hands of many family farmers, not under the control of a handful of corporations.

Source: Willie Nelson from Organic Consumers Association (OCA)/Huffington Post

The Top 10 Foods To Eat if You’re Trying To Control Your Diabetes

By: The Sider Group

While medication and the supervision of a physician are often central components to managing diabetes, one of the most important things any diabetic can do to keep his or her health in check is eat the right foods. Enriching your diet with the following 10 foods, along with exercise and a healthy lifestyle, will help you control your diabetes.

1. Beans With plenty of dietary fiber to keep you full, beans also slow down the digestive process and prevent the blood sugar spikes that often occur after meals.

2. Cereal Sugary cereals are bad for diabetics, but the right cereal can do wonders. Look for cereals made from whole grains that are high in fiber, and add skim or nonfat milk and some fruit.
3. Cinnamon It may sound silly, but this spice can work wonders for diabetics. Simply sprinkling cinnamon in tea, on top of fruit, in baked goods or in recipes such as chicken dishes can help lower blood sugar and insulin use.

4. Fish Any kind of fish is good for diabetics, even the high-fat kinds, which are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. Fish is a much healthier protein than red meat, and offers good cholesterol to help diabetics lower their triglycerides and raise their HDL levels.

5. Fruit Fruits contain lots of nutrients and fiber, and they are typically very low in calories. You also get antioxidants that boost your immune system from many fruits.

6. Nuts This is another source of good fat and protein, as well as fiber and antioxidants in the form of vitamin E. Nuts help diabetics control blood sugar and reduce insulin resistance.

7. Olive Oil When cooking, diabetics should use olive oil as opposed to butter, lard or vegetable oils. Its another good fat that helps fight heart disease and control blood sugar levels.
8. Poultry Breast Chicken or turkey breast, or the breast of any other kind of bird, is a low-fat protein that lowers bad cholesterol and may increase resistance to insulin.

9. Vegetables From asparagus to zucchini, vegetables have tons of nutrients and fiber without a lot of calories. Eating veggies to replace simple carbs (like non-whole grains) and saturated fats is especially advantageous for diabetics.

10. Yogurt This is low-fat protein with a unique advantage: yogurt also offers lots of calcium, which aids in weight loss and reduces insulin resistance.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
HealthDegreesU.com provides the opportunity to research and request free information about top allied health schools and health care degrees program for potential students looking to start or expand their career in the field of health care. Choose best health care programs for you and start your in allied healthcare.

The Real Story on Vitamin D

Source: Uploaded by 1Corinthians620 on Dec 28, 2008 to YouTube

You can get it from the sun, from a pill or in your food, and it can save your life.

Do You Need to Get Diabetes Supplies?

By Carlos Molina Codecido

Diabetes is a condition of high glucose level in the body. Diabetic person also experiences excessive urination and persistent thirst. It is a long time illness that has no permanent solution. Yet, there is no need to get depressed. Technological advancements have made life easy for people diagnosed with blood sugar. Regularly testing of blood sugar level can help to keep it low. A healthy diet and fitness regime can keep the diabetic people energetic and help to lead a normal lifestyle.

People having diabetes might be spending much on the diabetes supplies, testing kits, insulin and medicines. Apart from medicines, diabetic people need to eat special diet and frequently test their blood sugar margin. This can be a bit expensive in the long run while suffering from diabetics. A few simple tips can help to reduce the costs involved in handling expenses related to blood sugar problem.

Diabetic people can request their physicians to prescribe generic diabetic medicines for them. These cost less but work as effectively as the branded varietal ones. One could also opt for generic blood sugar testing strips. These could also be bought for lesser price at a retail pharmacy store. There are few drug manufacturing companies that offer patient assistance. Diabetic patients can request their physicians to refer them for the assistance program to avail larger discounts and free samples of diabetic supplies.

Among diabetes supplies, self testing kits are considered most important. These can be carried on camps and trips to monitor the blood sugar in the body anytime and anywhere. These are quite affordable and cost less than $80. Such glucose testing meters can be bought at any pharmacy stores or even ordered online from stores selling supplies for diabetics.

People with blood sugar problems need to take specified insulin dosage in case of higher sugar level in the body. For this purpose, there are different types of devices apart from normal syringes. A diabetic person could choose from pen injectors, jet injectors, insulin pumps or infusers to take a shot of insulin. These supplies to should always kept in stock to avoid complications and to keep the glucose level in control. While jet injectors and pumps cost from $500 to $1000, pen injectors cost less than $100 and can be considered when on budget.

It would also be advisable to check for online stores that deliver diabetes supplies. These websites have all medications related to diabetics. Some online stores also provide great discounts, free of charge delivery and no claim forms. One can call them on the given phone numbers, do a little background check and order for their medications to be conveniently delivered at their doorstep for no additional cost.

Final Tip: by researching and comparing the different => free diabetes supplies companies <= you will get the one that is right for you at little or not cost. Fortunately, we have already done the work for you and listed a company where you can get totally free supplies for diabetics..

Carlos Molina runs the Free Diabetic Testing Supplies website – where you can see his recommendation of the best company to get completely free diabetic supplies. Visit for further information and read her full reviews of the best guides and treatments for diabetics, plus articles and video assistance.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carlos_Molina_Codecido

Benefits Of Omega 3 For Type 2 Diabetes

By: Sandy Sachs

You should be aware that you could fall in the high risk category for type 2 diabetes if you are obese, prone to having high blood pressure or are a lazy couch potato. It is estimated that 9 out of 100 people that are over the age of 20 will develop type 2 diabetes. There has been new research done on the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids from cold water fish. The research indicates that addition of omega 3 to the diet could indeed be helpful in warding off diabetes 2. The EPA and DHA present in fish oil could possibly show positive results within 7 months.

In medical terminology, presence of excessive sugar in the blood is known as diabetes. It’s a disease related to carbohydrates. Type 2 is the more common type of diabetes. A person with type 2 diabetes does have insulin but it can’t process the sugar to convert it into energy.

A person with diabetes has a higher risk factor of having a heart attack. It is 6 times more than the people who do not have diabetes. They also have a risk of developing heart disease which is 3 to 8 times higher than someone with out diabetes. If they include omega 3 in their diets, it could be very helpful in maintaining their healthier heart.

Cardiovascular mortality could be reduced by over 30%, if just 1 gram of omega 3 is included in the diet either by eating the food rich in omega 3 or through omega 3 supplements. That could be reducing the risk of a heart attack by 45%.

The omega 3 fatty acids are present in fish such as tuna, salmon, rainbow trout, mackerel and sardines. They are the fatty fish. This type of fish are loaded with polyunsaturated fatty acids that are helpful in lowering your triglycerides. They will also help you maintain a healthy heart rhythm, reduce your blood pressure by small decreases and help with blood clotting. Taking omega 3 fish oil or other supplements may also be helpful for the statin drugs you may already be taking for cholesterol to do an even better job.

As with most diseases, doctors first advise you to change your lifestyle such as your diet and adding exercise in your daily regimen. Normally weight loss is an important factor. 80% of people who have diabetes are obese. Loosing weight will also help you control your blood pressure. Exercising on a regular basis will help improve with glucose control, blood lipid levels,helps the flowing of your blood, helps you to remain physically fit and can reduce your chance of heart disease. Shedding extra flab also will reduce your chances of catching diabetes.

People living in Alaska and Greenland have healthier hearts as compared to Americans and also have fewer cases of diabetes. They consume a lot of fatty fish that contain omega 3 fatty acids. The Japanese too consume large amounts of fish and also have lesser cases of heart disease and diabetes.

Getting omega 3 in your diet if you are a diabetic may help you live a healthier and longer life. Lower your risk of dying of heart disease by eating fish twice a week or getting a daily amount of omega 3 in your diet.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Come visit www.whatsomega3goodfor.com for more information on Omega 3 Benefits

U.S. food policy turned Americans to fattest people in developed world

Source: Uploaded by ProtectSouthOssetia on Oct. 24, 2010 to YouTube

American food policy has resulted in increasing rates of obesity, particularly among lower-class and minority populations.

"My father swears by this, he said back in the day, poor people were skinny, now poor people are obese," said Dr. Rani Whitfield of Family Practice and Sports Medicine.

In of one of the very few black neighborhoods in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, nearly everything on the shelves is made with genetically modified products. You can literally pick up anything and see the same genetically modified ingredients like "high fructose corn syrup."

In a higher income neighborhood, outside Whole Foods Market, customers balked at the thought of buying genetically modified products.

"It doesn’t look healthy," said one shopper.

"I can’t read half the ingredients on that thing and if I can’t read it, I won’t eat it," said another.

At the introduction of her Let’s Move campaign to reduce obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama said: "Between what’s in our food and how much we eat, Americans now consume more calories, fat and sugar today than ever before."

Obama has made childhood obesity her main issue to tackle during her time as First Lady. With one in every three kids obese in the US, childhood obesity is becoming more serious than adult obesity. She is encouraging Americans to plant gardens and eat healthy foods.

"It’s ironic that on the one hand, Michelle Obama is planting an organic garden, on the other hand President Obama has put Michael Taylor in charge as the US Food Safety czar. Under Michael Taylor’s watch, the FDA said no testing necessary at all, no labeling on GMOs. He later went on to become the vice president for Monsanto and now he is in charge of the safety of the US food supply. In addition, Obama has placed many key pro Monsanto or key GMO people in key positions in the USDA and elsewhere," said biotech analyst Jeffrey Smith.

These former Monsanto executives are the people making key decisions, not only for the American food supply but also for the American products exported to the world.

"They are supposed to be protecting the people, but what it seems to me is the Department of Agriculture is protecting and promoting Monsanto," said Phil Geertson.

What’s left of America’s organic farming industry is familiar with Monsanto’s stranglehold on the US market. Phil Geertson of Geertson Seeds in Idaho took Monsanto to the Supreme Court because of claims its Roundup Ready Alfalfa seeds were contaminating his farm lands.

David Snively, the general counsel for Monsanto, said: "This product will be out there, so farmers need to coexist."

Geertson lost the case and Monsanto won. Winning means losing to the world market, especially when the European Union and other Western nations like New Zealand refuse American food products because of their ingredients and the lack of labeling.

"It’s incredible what is going on," said Geerton.

Obesity, corporate takeover and the future of America’s health…these are all looming concerns as Americans continue to bite into genetically altered foods. It’s a lot to swallow for a country where there’s an abundance of food and an increasing waistband stretching from high echelons of the government to your dinner table.

Why obesity is a national security threat.

"An army travels on its stomach," said Napoleon Bonaparte.

But what happens if the stomach gets too big to drag?

Congress is passionately debating whether open homosexuality is compatible with military service. But even as this particular culture war seems headed to resolution, a new emerging cultural divide is tearing at military efficiency: obesity and overweight.

In 2008, some 634 military personnel were discharged for transgressing "don’t ask, don’t tell." That same year, 4,555 were discharged for failing to meet military weight standards.

Young adults "too fat to fight"

Military weight standards are not especially demanding. Male recruits younger than 27 must have a body-fat percentage below 26%. That’s twice the fat you’d expect in a young man in peak physical condition.Yet even the relaxed 26% standard is too stringent for modern America. More than 9 million young Americans — about one in four — are too overweight to enlist, a recent report found.

Serving personnel who exceed military limits are offered counseling, nutritional programs and other weight-control assistance. Discharge is very much a last and unwelcome resort.

By the military’s own numbers, some 61% of active-duty personnel were above ideal weight in 2007, up from 50% in 1995.

The U.S. military reflects the society of which it is a part. Americans are gaining weight, and the gain is steepest among the young.

Normal Blood Sugar Level Charts

Source: Uploaded by taulandi on Jan 4, 2010 to YouTube

http://www.all-about-beating-diabetes.com/normal-sugar-blood-level.html

After you notice diabetes symptoms, your next step is to measure your diabetes blood sugar levels. Your doctor will prescribe you HbA1c test.

Drinking This “Popular Poison” is Worse than Smoking

Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 21 2011 | 206,111views | Disponible en Español

Story at-a-glance

• The soda industry engages in many of the same marketing tactics as Big Tobacco, including forming “independent” front groups, funding research to discredit links to health problems, and making large donations to health organizations
• Soda is linked to numerous health problems among children and adults, including obesity, liver disease and even violent behavior; frequent soft drink consumption is associated with a 9-15% increase in aggressive behavior, according to new research
• Processed foods and junk foods are heavily marketed to kids and promoted to schools; manufacturers of sugar-laden processed foods pay “rebates” (aka “kickbacks”) to food service companies that serve school districts across the United States
• You can fight back against soda and junk-food giants by purchasing healthy, locally grown organic foods instead of processed foods and beverages

By Dr. Mercola

Soda, which is loaded with sugar primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup, is a leading contributor to the rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases facing Americans.

So when I say that drinking a can of soda is just as bad for you as smoking a cigarette (and maybe even worse) it is not an exaggeration.

Drinking soda is in many ways worse for you than smoking, and it is only because of massive marketing campaigns from the industry that these sugary beverages are deemed acceptable for our most vulnerable members of society – our kids.

In the 21st century there would indeed be an uproar if tobacco companies attempted to target our kids, but the soda companies do it everyday.

It’s time to wake up and face the facts: the soda industry is out for your children, and the message they send is every bit as damaging (and manipulative) as the one spewed by Big Tobacco.

Striking Similarities Between the Soda Industry and Big Tobacco

If I asked you to quickly recall a commercial or slogan from leading soda companies, like Coca-Cola or Pepsi, could you do it?

Chances are you’d have no trouble recalling the friendly polar bear commercials or “the real thing” logo, and if you asked your kids, they’d probably come up with a few too.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for how beverage big-wigs have gotten their products firmly embedded into the homes of millions of Americans and others worldwide. Coca-Cola, for instance, spends close to $3 billion a year on advertising. With that amount of money it’s no wonder the company has managed to hold on to its wholesome reputation.

They, and other beverage giants, are also in the habit of forming strategic alliances with health organizations that make it appear as though they are looking out for your health, which is about as laughable as Big Tobacco sponsoring a marathon. And like Big Tobacco, they also create front groups to fight anti-soda legislation and science.

For instance, as Time magazine reported:

• The American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other soft drink producers, has attacked suggestions to tax soda as “discriminatory.” Their organization is touted as a “neutral forum,” but in reality is devoted to discrediting negative press against soft drinks. For instance, in relation to obesity, ABA states, “All of our industry’s beverages can be enjoyed as part of a balanced lifestlye.”
• The soda industry has created the front group Americans Against Food Taxes, which runs anti-tax campaigns. As Kelly Brownell wrote in Time:
  

  “The name of the group implies a patriotic, grass roots movement, not a highly financed entity initiated and organized by industry.”

• Another industry-created front group, Foundation for a Healthy America, recently donated $10 million to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to research and prevent childhood obesity! Diet Coke has also teamed up with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to raise awareness for women’s heart health programs and was the official “Beverage of Choice” for the 2010 winter Olympics.
• The soda industry funds research to discredit links between soda drinking and health problems. Brownwell writes:
  

  “The tobacco industry paid scientists who did research disputing links between smoking and lung cancer, the addictive nature of nicotine, and the dangers of second-hand smoke. The soda industry funds scientists who reliably produce research showing no link between SSB [sugar-sweetened beverage] consumption and health. The tobacco industry bought favor from community and national organizations by giving large donations. In an ironic twist, Coca Cola and PepsiCo are corporate sponsors of the American Dietetic Association.”

The Coca-Cola Company Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness (isn’t that name an oxymoron?) even creates continuing education courses for registered dietitians!

The Top Reason to Give Soda the Boot …

Some of you reading this are undoubtedly thinking, how bad could soda really be? From my perspective, there is absolutely NO REASON you or your kids should ever drink soda. If you were stranded in the middle of a desert with no other fluid available, then maybe, but other than that … none, nada, zip, zero. No excuses.

From a health perspective, drinking Coke or any soft drink is a disaster. Just one extra can of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year, not to mention increase your risk of diabetes by 85 percent. The primary reason why soda is so dangerous to your health?

Fructose.

The fructose content of the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) used in many popular soda brands has been sorely underestimated. Around 100 years ago the average American consumed a mere 15 grams of fructose a day, primarily in the form of fruit. One hundred years later, one fourth of Americans are consuming more than 135 grams per day, largely in the form of soda.

Fructose at 15 grams a day is harmless (unless you suffer from high uric acid levels). However, at nearly 10 times that amount it becomes a major cause of obesity and nearly all chronic degenerative diseases. Instead of consisting of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose, many soda brands, including Coke, Pepsi and Sprite, contain as much as 65 percent fructose, nearly 20 percent higher than originally believed.

According to one study, the mean fructose content of all 23 sodas tested was 59 percent — higher than claimed by the industry. When you consider that Americans drink an average of 53 to 57 gallons of soda per year (depending on the source of your statistics), this difference in actual fructose content could make a huge difference in your health.

The Down and Dirty About Fructose

The American Beverage Association and other front groups will try to persuade you that fructose in high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you than sugar, but this is not true. ABA also claims there is “no association between high fructose corn syrup and obesity,” but a long lineup of scientific studies suggest otherwise.

For example:

• Dr. David Ludwig of Boston Children’s Hospital did a study of the effects of sugar-sweetened drinks on obesity in children. He found that for each additional serving of a sugar-sweetened drink, both body mass index and odds of obesity increased.
• The Fizzy Drink Study in Christchurch, England explored the effects on obesity when soda machines were removed from schools for one year. In the schools where the machines were removed, obesity stayed constant. In the schools where soda machines remained, obesity rates continued to rise.
• In a 2009 study, 16 volunteers were fed a controlled diet including high levels of fructose. Ten weeks later, the volunteers had produced new fat cells around their hearts, livers and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. A second group of volunteers who were fed a similar diet, but with glucose replacing fructose, did not have these problems.

Fructose is also a likely culprit behind the millions of U.S. children struggling with non-alcoholic liver disease, which is caused by a build-up of fat within liver cells. Fructose is very hard on your liver, in much the same way as drinking alcohol.

• Liver burden number one: After eating fructose, 100 percent of the metabolic burden rests on your liver—ONLY your liver can break it down. This is much different than consuming glucose, in which your liver has to break down only 20 percent, and the remaining 80 percent is immediately metabolized and used by the rest of the cells in your body.
• Liver burden number two: Fructose is converted into fat that gets stored in your liver and other tissues as body fat. Part of what makes fructose so bad for your health is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar. For example, if you eat 120 calories of fructose, 40 calories are stored as fat. But if you eat the same amount of glucose, less than one calorie gets stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat!

Fructose metabolism is very similar to the way alcohol is metabolized, which has a multitude of toxic metabolites that, if consumed in excess, can lead to non-alcoholic liver disease. For a complete discussion of fructose metabolism, see my comprehensive article about this.

Diet Soda is NOT a Safe Alternative to Regular Soda

If you think you’re better off drinking diet soda, think again. In fact, if I had to choose between the two, I’d take regular soda over diet. Instead of fructose, diet soda contains artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame or sucralose (Splenda). With all the research now available on aspartame and its various ingredients, it’s hard to believe such a chemical would even be allowed into the food supply, but it is, and it’s been silently wreaking havoc with people’s health for the past 30 years.

Just to refresh your memory, aspartame has been linked to the following health concerns, and Splenda is associated with many similar problems:

Lymphomas, leukemias, and brain cancer
Asthma

Neurological symptoms including headaches, depressed and anxious mood, seizures, memory loss, hallucinations, and dizziness
Visual changes

Weakness and fatigue
Joint pain

Sleep disorders
Weight gain and diabetes

Abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
Rashes and hives

Does Soda Actually Cause Violence?

It’s a well-known fact that poor diet, particularly one high in sugar, exacts a toll on your emotional health.

For example, one recent study published in the journal Psychology Today found a strong link between high sugar consumption and the risk of both depression and schizophrenia. It’s also a well-known fact that chronic inflammation plays a major role in heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. So consuming excessive amounts of sugary beverages can truly set off an avalanche of negative health events — both mental and physical.

A diet high in sugar, fructose and sweetened beverages like soda also causes excessive insulin release, which can lead to falling blood sugar levels, or hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia, in turn, causes your brain to secrete glutamate in levels that can cause agitation, depression, anger, anxiety and panic attacks.

One 1985 study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology found that reducing sugar intake had a positive impact on emotions. And another, the Los Angeles Probation Department Diet-Behavior Program: An Empirical Analysis of Six Institutional Settings, published in 1983, documented the results when juvenile delinquents were given a reduced-sugar diet. They saw a 44 percent reduction in the incidence of antisocial behavior during the subsequent 3 months, after the implementation of the revised diet.

So can drinking soda affect your child’s behavior?

Yes, it can.

A new study further supported this point, and revealed that frequent soft drink consumption was associated with a 9-15% point increase in the probability of engaging in aggressive actions, even after controlling for gender, age, race, body mass index, typical sleep patterns, tobacco use, alcohol use and having family dinners.

Researchers concluded:

“There was a significant and strong association between soft drinks and violence. There may be a direct cause-and-effect relationship, perhaps due to the sugar or caffeine content of soft drinks, or there may be other factors, unaccounted for in our analyses, that cause both high soft drink consumption and aggression.”

The effect is not a new finding, as in 1979 the now notorious “Twinkie Defense” was used in a murder trial for the first time.

As Discovery News reported:

“In a notorious 1979 San Francisco murder trial, lawyers blamed the killer’s actions on his recent switch from a health-food diet to one filled with Coca-Cola and other junk food. Their argument worked. Instead of a homicide ruling, the defendant was convicted of a lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. The legal strategy became known as the “Twinkie Defense,” and the precedent raised a number of questions that persist, despite years of research on the subject.”

Processed Food “Rebates” Dominate School Cafeterias

Soda manufacturers are not the only ones scheming for a permanent share of your child’s diet. In an article published on La Vida Locavore, Ed Bruske revealed, possibly for the first time, that manufacturers of sugar-laden processed foods pay “rebates” (aka “kickbacks”) to food service companies that serve school districts across the United States.

Bruske obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act that revealed more than 100 companies paid rebates to Chartwells, a food service management company hired by D.C. Public Schools. As you might suspect, the “rebates” present a conflict of interest that could prompt Chartwells to order food for your children based on the amount of rebate it will receive, versus the food’s nutritional value.

The end result?

School lunches that contain heavily processed foods like muffins, pizza, tator tots and flavored milk in lieu of fresh produce.

According to Bruske:

“Manufacturers pay rebates based on large volume purchases — literally, cash for placing an order. Rebates are said to be worth billions of dollars to the nation’s food industry, although manufacturers as well as the food service companies who feed millions of the nation’s school children every day — Chartwells, Sodexo and Aramark — treat them as a closely-guarded secret.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that food service companies engaged in “cost reimbursable” contracts with schools credit any rebates they receive to their school clients. For more than a year, attorneys for D.C. Public Schools refused to make public an itemized list of rebates collected by Chartwells, claiming the information constituted “trade secrets.” The schools were overruled by Mayor Vincent Gray’s legal counsel after I filed an administrative appeal.

John Carroll, an assistant New York State attorney general investigating rebating practices there, has said rebates pose “an inherent conflict of interest” in school feeding programs because they favor highly processed industrial foods. In cases where schools pay a food service company a flat rate to provide meals, the companies are not required to disclose the rebates they collect. In those cases, Carroll recently told a U.S. Senate Panel, rebates tend to drive up the cost of food, cheating children out of nutrition they might otherwise have on their lunch trays.

Carroll also described cases where rebates discouraged the use of local farm products in school meals. Produce vendors can’t afford to pay a rebate for local apples. But in at least one case, a produce distributor raised the prices of his goods so that he could pay a rebate to a food service company. A Homeland Security sub-committee in the U.S. Senate is investigating possible rebate fraud in contracts across the entire federal government.”

The top contributors to Chatwells’ rebate dollars included Performance Food Group, which paid more than $400,000 over the last three years, followed by General Mills, Kraft Foods, Country Pure Foods and Jenny-O Turkey. Other companies who made the list include:

ConAgra
Otis Spunkmeyer
Kellog’s

Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up
FritoLay
Tyson

Nestle
Cargill Meat Solutions
Campbell’s Foodservice

Raising a Life-Long Healthy Eater

Food and beverage companies spend $2 billion a year promoting unhealthy foods to kids, and while ultimately it’s the parents’ responsibility to feed their children healthy foods, junk food ads make this much more difficult than it should be. As a result, the state of most kids’ diets in the United States is not easy to swallow.

As The Interagency Working Group on Foods Marketed to Children (IWG) reported:

• Nearly 40% of children’s diets come from added sugars and unhealthy fats
• Only 21% of youth age 6-19 eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day

This is a veritable recipe for disease, and is a primary reason why today’s kids are arguably less healthy than many prior generations. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure — these are diseases that once appeared only in middle-age and beyond, but are now impacting children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that by 2050, one in three U.S. adults will have diabetes — one of them could be your child if you do not take steps to cancel out the messages junk-food marketers are sending and instead teach them healthy eating habits.

Make no mistake, the advertisers are doing all they can to lure your child in, just as Big Tobacco did generations ago.

So you need to first educate yourself about proper nutrition and the dangers of junk food and processed foods in order to change the food culture of your entire family. To give your child the best start at life, and help instill healthy habits that will last a lifetime, you must lead by example. Children will simply not know which foods are healthy unless you, as a parent, teach it to them first.

My nutrition plan offers a step-by-step guide to feed your family right, and I encourage you to read through it now to learn how to make healthy eating decisions for you and your children.

If you want to get involved on a larger scale, the Prevention Institute’s “We’re Not Buying It” campaign is petitioning President Obama to put voluntary, science-based nutrition guidelines into place for companies that market foods to kids. You can sign this petition now. I also urge you to go a step further and stop supporting the companies that are marketing junk foods and beverages to your children today.

Ideally, you and your family will want to vote with your pocketbook and avoid processed food and sugary sodas while instead choosing unprocessed raw, organic and/or locally grown foods as much as possible. These are the foods your child will thrive on, and it’s important they learn what real, healthy food is right from the get-go.

This way, when they become tweens and teenagers, they may eat junk food here and there at a friend’s house, but they will return to real food as the foundation of their diet — and that habit will continue on with them for a lifetime.

 

Source: Dr. Mercola, Organic Consumers Association (OCA)

Typefreediabetes.com – Diabetes Menu Planner

By: Type Free Diabetes

A diabetes menu planner is very important for people with Type 2 diabetes. That is because Mediterranean Food Pyramid the foods they eat to be as healthy as possible. The food you eat has a direct impact on your blood glucose, body fat, and overall health. That is why it is so important for diabetics to create a realistic diabetes diet plan. Insulin-resistant people have special diet needs.

The Need for a Diabetic Diet Plan

As a Type 2 diabetic, you need to be careful about the excess fat on your body. But, more importantly you need to be careful about the amount of sugar (from sugar added in processed foods, and from starches like white rice or white potato or white bread) that you eat with each diabetes type 2 recipes and meals.

For example, simple starches like white rice may spike blood sugar levels very high, very quickly for a diabetic and non-diabetic. The speed of the rise of sugar in the blood is predicted by the glycemic index rating. So, for a diabetic, eating simple starches like white rice may require careful planning.
People with diabetes must really understand the value of using the glycemic index and glycemic load concepts as important tools for eating healthy. If you must eat white rice or white potato or white white bread, plan to have protein/meat and vegetables (complex carbs), with a small amount of rice on the plate. Therefore, diabetics should always make good choices of the foods that they eat. Good choices in carbs include what you eat (on the glycemic index list) and how much you eat (as measured by glycemic load).

Diabetes Menu Planner

One of the best ways for diabetics to control the quality of their meals is to plan their diabetes menus. diabetic diet meals planning means that you create a menu for the day, week, or even month that you stick to. A good diabetes menu plan will include diabetes snack options that will help to control your appetite as well as different diabetic meal options so that you don’t get bored by eating the same foods over and over again.

We at TypeFreeDiabetes.com prefer the Mediterranean food pyramid because it includes higher glycemic index carbs that most food pyramids. Obviously, the larger amounts of food and activities start at the bottom suggesting daily use, and gets smaller as you move up (weekly) toward the top which suggest monthly use.

Diabetes Menu Planning Goals

The goal of every diabetes menu plan should be to ensure that you have a balanced diet with an appropriate amount of:

Diabetes carbohydrates (45%-65%) – Use more low Glycemic Index carbs than high
Proteins (10%-35%) – Keep it lean
Unsaturated fats (20%-35%) – Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated

Diabetic diet menu planning is an also an excellent way to keep track of calories.
The average person should consume about 2,000 calories per day to ensure that their body functions properly and they have enough energy to be active. It is also recommended that the average person consumers about:
100 grams of protein (at 4Cal/gram)
275 grams of carbohydrates (at 4 Cal/gram)
56 grams of fat (at 9 Cal/gram) each day (yes – it is actually important to consume fat – that is monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats from plants and fish). Eat as little saturated fats as possible. Saturated fats mostly come from non-fish animals, like birds, cows and pigs.

http://www.typefreediabetes.com/ is dedicated to providing you the tools and resources to help you build your diabetic diet plan. A good Diabetes menu plan will not only provide information that is based on careful research 2000-Calorie-Meal-Plan, but we also provide a range of recipes for diabetes (including diabetes snacks, vegetarian recipes, and even diabetes desserts) that are suitable for any healthy diet.

Check out our Nutrition and low fat dessert recipes sections for more information about how you can plan your tasty diabetes menus and live a healthy diabetes life style by eating well! Remember, the food choices you make will have a major impact on your blood sugar. Bad food choices will raise your blood sugar, that will cause you to use more diabetes drugs, or make you suffer severe diabetes complications. The choices are yours to make. Prevention is much more pleasant that the cure.

Typefreediabetes offers a full line of diabetes diabetic supplies online, including; diabetic socks for men, durable diabetes medical equipment, and blood glucose test meter and facts about diabetes. Typefreediabetes offers quality products at discounted prices on a wide selection of quality name brand equipment and supplies.
Check out for Body Fat Measurement and Body fat weight scale

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
TypeFreeDiabetes.com is the premier source for your diabetic needs on-line. At TypeFreeDiabetes.com, you can enjoy a balanced diabetic lifestyle by learning about – how to control blood sugar, lower body fat, diet to prevent diabetes, reduce diabetes medications and reverse diabetes complications.

Milk The Deadly Poison

Uploaded by armanddarke on Sep 20, 2006 to YouTube

For More Information about Milk go to: http://www.notmilk.com/
Read Robert Cohen’s book Milk The Deadly Poison Available at Amazon.com or other major bookstores.

About the Author

Robert Cohen performed research in the 1970′s on the hormonal effects on the brain and behavior. Twenty-five years later, this father of three became concerned about the most controversial drug approval in FDA history, the genetically engineered hormone that is now in our milk supply. Along the way, Cohen discovered that milk is implicated in causing breast cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, and chronic childhood illnesses. Cohen’s skills as a researcher, and his passion for the safety of his family, led to his single-minded pursuit to expose the truth about milk.

Based on his exhaustive and comprehensive research over the past six years, Cohen predicted the Mad Cow Disease outbreak. His dogged determination has set the American dairy industry on its ear. To insure that all citizens of the world learn the truth, Cohen founded and is executive director of America’s Dairy Education Board, a group of nationally prominent doctors dedicated to dispelling the myth that milk is nature’s perfect food.
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This is a 1998 Hard Copy Special on MILK. What the government doesn’t want you to know about milk. Don’t drink milk, we know it contains fat and cholesterol but did you know it contains the protein CASEIN (which is basically a glue which leads to a lot of mucous build up and other health problems like asthma and congestion), milk also contains.. powerful growth hormones, viruses, a host of deadly chemical and biological bacterial agents, bovine proteins that cause allergies, insecticides, antibiotics, all this can trigger the growth of cancer and contributes to today’s problem of obese children (ever notice why young girls breasts develop faster?).

Cow’s milk is the number one allergic food in this country. It has been well documented as a cause in diarrhea, cramps, bloating, gas, gastrointestinal bleeding, iron-deficiency anemia, skin rashes, atherosclerosis, and acne. It is the primary cause of recurrent ear infections in children. It has also been linked to insulin dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, infertility, and leukemia. Milk and refined sugar make two of the largest contributions to food induced ill health in our country.

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