Posts Tagged ‘healthy eating’
Is Your Protein Powder Toxic?
Consumer Reports Sounds the Alarm! 
Consumer Reports, one of the most trusted guides for buying reputable products, has found heavy metals in protein supplements and is warning you to use caution.
Officials for consumers says it purchased 15 protein powders and drinks mainly in the New York metro area or online and tested multiple samples of each for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury.
The results were very disturbing, considering how many people consume these highly processed food products and how MUCH they consume per day.
The results showed a considerable range, but levels in three products were of particular concern because they exceeded the daily exposure limits proposed by USP for arsenic, cadmium or lead. This is if you assume 3 servings per day which is the average for most consumers. Some eat more some eat less. For many products, levels of those contaminants were in the ‘low to moderate range’.
Personally I would not find even “low to moderate” exposure acceptable considering how many other toxic products we find in our environment. We have enough health considerations just dealing with life without wondering about a product we specifically consume for health or fitness!
Cadmium exposure is particularly scary because it accumulates in and can damage the kidneys, the same organs that can be damaged by excessive protein consumption. It can take 20 years for the body to eliminate even half the cadmium absorbed today.
Imagine what will happen to the large group of teenagers and twenty somethings wanting to ‘bulk up’ today. They are the ones who eat a LOT of these products and who may be in for a very unpleasant surprise some time from now.
”This (Cadmium) is a highly toxic metal, and while there are some cases where decisions have to be weighed against relative risks, accepting that you have to be exposed to any cadmium at all in your protein drink after your workout is definitely not one of them.” says Michael Harbut, M.D., director of the Environmental Cancer Initiative at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Royal Oak, Mich.
Even some plant sources can contain cadmium by the way. This is because of the heavy use of cadmium-containing phosphate fertilizers in commercial farming. Potatoes, rice, sunflower seeds, spinach, and other leafy greens are suceptable to this but of course this is not a problem IF you are eating organic.
Below is the average finding for three serving of the protein drinks.
You can see that Muscle Milk and EAS were the most toxic brands while the whey products faired better than the rest generally. This is just a small sampling of products. The protein powder you buy from the store may be better but it may be worse.
You can read the complete findings (5 pages) at consumer reports.
Why Bother?
Many health experts argue that very few people need to be eating high quantities of protein to begin with, and consumer report points out there are many protein sources from the grocery store which can supply all the protein you need that are NOT toxic.
Protein is essential in the body for our muscles obviously but also for most cell functions since it makes up enzymes, hormones and even DNA. Most protein is recycled though, so unless you are growing rapidly or are breaking down the body a lot with extreme physical exertion, there is not the need for a LOT of new protein. Very few people in North America are protein deficient.
At Real Food for Life, we like to remind everyone that you can get all your protein requirements from whole real food. Every single whole plant food has protein.
Beans, grains, seeds and sprouts have high levels of proteins but even fruits like oranges, banana, and even watermelon have complete protein. You just have to eat more of those foods which have lower levels. In North America, most people are generally eating a LOT of food. If that food was whole, there is an abundance of ALL NUTRIENTS.
Copyright © Randy Fritz You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page ww.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
Do You Want to Help the Environment?
UN researchers reveal: One quick solution to lower our effect on the environment.
Do you know the United Nations calculated the combined climate change emissions of animals bred for their meat and found it was more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together?
In a recent article published in July 2010 by the Guardian.co.uk, leading journalist John Vidal reported how vegetarianism may help save the world by eating less meat.
Behind the majority of the joints of beef or chicken on our plates is a phenomenally wasteful, land and electricity hungry system of farming that devastates forests, pollutes oceans, rivers, seas and atmosphere.
We mostly breed four species (chickens, cows, lambs and pigs) which need vast amounts of water and food, emit methane as well as other greenhouse gases and produce mountains of physical waste.
During the past year, the United nations calculated the combined climate change emissions of animals bred for their meat were about 18% of the global total – more than cars, planes and all other kinds of transport put together.
A Bangladeshi family living off rice, beans, vegetables and fruit may live on an acre of land or less, while the average American, who consumes around 270 pounds of meat per year, needs 20 times that.
Academics have calculated that if the grain fed to animals in western countries were consumed directly by people rather than animals, we could feed at least 2 times as many people – and perhaps far more – as we do now.
Eating a steak or a chicken points to an extreme water consumption, that the animal has required to live and grow. Vegetarian author John Robbins calculates one pound of beef needs around 20,000 lbs of water.
Farming, which uses 70% of water available to humans, is already in direct competition for water with cities.
Industrial scale agriculture now dominates the western livestock and poultry industries, and a single farm can now generate as much waste as a city.
Farming animals generate manure and urine which is funnelled into massive waste lagoons sometimes holding as many as 40 m gallons. These cesspools often break, leak or overflow, polluting underground water supplies and rivers with nitrogen, phosphorus and nitrates.
A meat diet is normally considered twice as expensive as a vegetarian one. According to the Vegetarian Society, meat eaters get increased probabilities of obesity, cancer, heart diseases and other illnesses as well as a hole in the pocket.
So what now? How can we start contribute save our world?
Here a quick and simple recipe to find a good meat substitute:
Tofu and Green Onion Veggie Burger
This healthy tofu based veggie burger receive an extra nutritional boost from wheat germ. This recipe is both vegetarian and vegan.
Ingredients:
* 1/2 container firm or extra firm tofu, mashed
* 1 onion, diced
* 3 green onions, diced
* 2 tbs wheat germ
* 2 tbsp flour
* 2 tbs garlic powder
* 2 tbls soy sauce
* dash pepper
* oil for frying
Preparation:
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Form into patties.
Fry patties in oil in a large skillet until brown and crisp, about 10 minutes.
Now it's all to you…
About the Author – Martha Volz writes for the http://www.vegetariansupplements.org her personal passion blog related to vegetarian healthy eating ideas.
P.S. from Randy - Martha contacted Real Food For Life after reading our Nice Cow, Baaad Cow article . You can see it contains many of the same ideas. I'd like to hope that great minds think alike!
Greens Are Good for Us Recipes
The very simplest place to start with getting greens into our diet is to eat one big salad each day and make sure it is filled with mostly greens.
Greens are full of vitamins A, K, D, and E which are fat soluble. To absorb these vitamins make sure to add a teaspoon of dietary fat, such as butter, olive or coconut oil, nuts, cheese or salad dressing. This will make sure your body absorbs all of the vitamins in the greens. Vitamin K helps calcium and phosphorus bind onto the bone protein matrix.
MIXED SUMMER GREEN SALAD
Ingredients:
1 handful, Spinach
1 handful, Arugula
½ head, Red Leaf Lettuce
½ head, Green Leafy Lettuce
1 medium bunch of Parsley
3 Celery pieces, chopped
1 medium Cucumber, sliced in rounds
¼ cup pine nuts
Directions:
1. Mix greens together in a bowl.
2. Top with celery, cucumber and pine nuts.
3. Serve with Mint salad dressing.
TIP: If you are planning on this lasting for the next day, do not mix the cucumber in. Put it in a bowl on the side and add to each serving of salad. A mix of the basic ingredients without the cucumber will last 3 days in the fridge.
Here is a salad dressing with greens already in it! This is a refreshing tasty dressing with a little mint flavour.
LEMON-MINT SALAD DRESSING
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh mint (or 2 tsp. dried)
Salt to taste
Few drops of stevia
Directions:
1. Blend all ingredients.
2. Add salt to taste and stevia to taste and re-blend.
Copyright © Diana Herrington You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
CHILI CON VEGIE
Here is my version of Chili, which is always enjoyed whenever I make it.
1 onion, finely chopped
½ mushrooms, sliced
1 – 3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. coriander
1 tsp. oregano
¼ – 1 tsp cayenne pepper*
1 tsp paprika
3 carrots, thinly sliced
3 cups cooked kidney beans and water (cook according to recipe: http://realfoodforlife.com/cooking-beans/)
4 tbsp. soya sauce
1 green pepper, sliced
3 tomatoes, chopped
Directions:
- Sauté onion, mushrooms, garlic, cumin, coriander and oregano.
- Add carrots, cooked kidney beans with 1 cup of the bean water, soya sauce and green pepper.
- Cook till vegetables are tender.
- Add tomatoes, cayenne pepper, and paprika.
- Cook on medium heat until thick like consistency of gravy, adding more water if necessary.
*
