Best Life? Whoa Oprah, didn't Bob tell you ?

UPDATE: 8 January - Make your own healthy salad dressing:
Oil and Vinegar HERB dressing
4 oz. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 oz. Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp. white or shiro miso (optional)
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vegetable broth powder (Gayelord Hauser's)
2 TBSP. finely chopped fresh dill herb
2 TBSP. finely chopped fresh basil herb
2 TBSP. finely chopped fresh chives
You can use Dijon mustard and omit the herbs. You can use red wine vinegar in place of balsamic vinegar. There are manu options, create your own distinctive blend. Salt and Pepper to taste with freshly ground salt and pepper.
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UPDATE: 6 January - No high fructose corn syrup warns Dr. OZ on Oprah today.
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It is a New Year and of course now it the time you are bombarded with fitness, diet and lifestyle advertising and programming.

I always think this is a little too much and a little too soon to be deluged with all this information. Maybe it is trying to put you on a guilt trip because you over indulged too much during the holiday season. I hope you don't fall prey to it.

About one year ago I posted an article here at Natural Health News about fake foods. I did so because Oprah and her trainer Bob Greene get a lot of free press and backing from major corporate advertising for the products signed up in their plan.

This year there is a new plan and a new push to get you to join in, but little telling you just how some of this year's fake foods might not be so healthy for you.

Today on Oprah we heard a lot about this and about how Oprah has her thyroid under control. I surely hope she isn't on Synthroid and I wonder how it is that who ever is her doctor overlooked her adrenal stress.

One thing she has "right" is that it isn't so much the food, it is really the emotions behind what is going on in your life and what that does to your physiology. She is also correct about the fact that you really do need to exercise, and weight training is more important as you age. Your fitness program has to be adjusted as you grow and so does the way you eat and what you eat.

Now it brings me back to where I was last year - Oprah, Bob and Fake Foods.

And here goes my run down -

These foods are selected from the list because they are highly processed foods or contain ingredients that have negative impact on health

The ad includes this data - "Foods carrying the seal fit right into the Best Life way of eating. They contain one or more of the following nutritious ingredients: whole grains, healthy fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and other essential nutrients."

Bob Greene may approve the foods in this plan, and the money he gets from endorsements but I don't and I'll tell you why -

Whole grains are good but not if they are genetically engineered, over processed or not organic.

Healthy fats do not include Smart Balance margarine and as you will note in other articles on Natural Health News, plant sterols are generally soy and canola oil, genetically modified and have a negative impact on vitamins such as diminishing beat carotene.

Fiber is good but not Benefiber. Benefiber is owned by Novartis, an international pharmaceutical company. Benefiber is Guar Gum, which has not been FDA approved for this use but then Novartis is Novartis. Now a new active ingredient is wheat dextrin, yet the claim is gluten free. Novartis is also that company that brought you the demeaning to women ad for their IBS drug - Zelnorm - that was taken off the market.

Cereals - just refer to my article on Cereal in the Box

Nestle's Pure Life Fruit Water with Splenda
Nestle is promoting this water to schools and has a label campaign. Be wary of Splenda, and read more about the dangers of this insecticide promoted as a sweetener that is known to have serious health effects, seizure being just one.

BetternEggs Egg whites at 98%, water, plus the following chemicals -natural flavors, sodium hexametaphosphate, guar gum, xanthan gum

Flat out - hard to find information on the ingredients but one site states that they contain sugar and soy flour. This brand is also endorsing Lance Armstrong's venture, but recall that soy is an endocrine disruptor and may influence cancer.

Hellman's Best Foods Mayonnaise - now made with soy oil

Wishbone - base is usually canola oil (GMO and toxic to the liver) although some now state olive oil.

Edys Fruit bars - I picked Orange and Cream for an example - INGREDIENTS: skim milk, water, sugar, orange juice concentrate, cream, corn syrup, maltodextrin, whey, stabilizer (microcrystalline cellulose, mono and diglycerides, guar gum, cellulose gum, carrageenan, locust bean gum, polysorbate 80, dextrose), natural flavors, citric acid, orange pulp, ascorbic acid, annatto color, turmeric color

Lean Cuisine - microwaved food causes nutritional depletion and elevated cholesterol, read more here -

Soy milk - Silk is the most advertised brand you can find. Silk is associated with the factory farm brand of "organic" milk from Horizon (Dean Foods). Silk is loaded with thickeners including carrageenan that is toxic and sugar. Soy milk suppresses your thyroid gland and is estrogenic so not good if you have a concern for hormone related breast cancer.

Skinny Cow - cones are made from skim milk, cone [wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, soy lecithin, salt], sugar, corn syrup, cone coating [sugar, coconut oil, salatrim, cocoa, soy lecithin, vanillin-artificial flavor], fudge topping [high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, cocoa processed with alkali, sugar, modified corn starch, salt, mono and diglycerides, vanilla, natural flavor, vanillin-artificial flavor], water, cocoa processed with alkali, whey protein, polydextrose, fructan (dietary fiber), stabilizer [microcrystalline cellulose, cellulose gum, mono and diglycerides, locust bean gum, calcium sulfate, polysorbate 80, carrageenan], vitamin A palmitate

Slim Fast - Optima as an example - Fat free milk, water, sugar, cocoa, canola oil, fructose, calcium caseinate, gum arabic, cellulose gel, hydrogenated soy oil, mono and diglycerides, potassium phosphate, soya lecithin, cellulose gum, carrageenan, artificial flavor, isolated soy protein, maltodextrin, Contains Sucralose and Acesulfame K, dextrose, potassium carrageenan, citric acid, sodium citrate. (I'll put low glycemic, chocolate, high fiber, protein based, blood sugar balancing shake mix I use up against Slim Fast's pap any day.)

Most of the products contain synthetic vitamins which are inexpensive and not well absorbed.

Splenda (sucralose) and Aspartame make you gain weight just like high fructose corn syrup. Somehow all of these fake foods being promoted as the "Best Life" partners leave a lot to be desired. But of course this is my opinion, and I really wish people get it.

My point is that getting in shape and maintaining a healthy weight (for you) is very important for your health. One way to undermine all this hard work is to ingest foods full of artificial sweeteners and other ingredients that - over time - undermine your efforts and your health.

I've been a student of nutrition since the 1960s. I was fortunate enough to have in depth nutrition education as part of my college experience. I haven't stopped reading about and researching this subject. My best advice is to use organic, whole foods, and real foods that are not full of additives and preservatives.

And here are some of my comments on the new Oprah and Bob Fake Food Folly.

First let me start by saying that dark chocolate is a very good supplement for health. I am not sure I would promote candy bars to achieve this but that is based on my concern over the sugar and fat in the candy. A better suggestion would be to have a quality brand (NOT YOPLAIT)of plain or vanilla yoghurt with a tablespoon of organic cocoa powder or cacao nibs stirred in. You will be amazed at just how good this is, even without sweeteners.(Contact us if you'd like to order our healthy chocolate options.)

A few years ago Hershey's pushed its shareholders to approve the use of genetically modified ingredients such as cocoa and beet sugar. In some countries the GMO ingredients are not used but they are in the US. Genetically modified foods like beet sugar grown with Monsanto's Round-Up. Read more...

What you may not know is that processed foods containing inorganic phosphates could be making you sick. This study also suggests that dietary changes to avoid these chemical additives may play an important role in cancer treatment. Women seem prone to developing lung cancer, and of course we all know of the massive campaign-in-pink that hasn't found the 'cure'.

In research reported in the January issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society, scientists from Seoul National University conclude that a diet high in inorganic phosphates, found in a host of processed foods including meats, cheeses, beverages, and bakery products, might spur the growth of lung cancer. Further the researchers suggest the food additive may contribute to the development of malignancies in people predisposed to, or already diagnosed with cancer.

Soy and Canola oils, passed off as "plant sterols" now seem to deplete other necessary nutrients. Soy is a negative food, it is often genetically modified. Canola is a trans fat because of the processing and it is toxic to your liver.

And, while this is no means complete, I thought I'd let you know that Polysorbte 80 has been connected with infertility.

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/dangers-of-hfcs.html

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2007/11/congress-undermines-health-with-support.html