All Cooked UP

My Morning Cup of Coffee

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So, you’re sipping your morning joe and reading this blog. Sorry, I may be about to ruin that latte’ for you.

The more I’ve read about coffee, the coffee crop productions, and the decaf process, the less I’m inclined to enjoy my joe now. Let me share some facts with you and let you decide if you’re just as bothered about coffee as I am now…..
The coffee bean crop is typically heavily sprayed. Non-organic coffee can contain herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers right in with your morning cuppa. These substances are known carcinogens and can interrupt normal bodily functions including immune system, fertility, and endocrine system function. The caffeine in coffee can cause a lot of side effects which most of us know and have experienced. But there may be a few that you aren’t aware of including:

1. Make you jittery and shaky
2. Make it hard to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get a good night’s sleep
3. Cause heart problems like making your heart beat faster, cause an uneven heart rhythm , or raise your blood pressure
4. Cause headaches, nervousness, and/or dizziness
5. Make you dehydrated (dried out) especially after a workout and cause you to urinate more often
6. Make you dependent on it so you need to take more of it
7. Increase the release of acid in your stomach causing heartburn.
8. Large amounts of caffeine may stop the absorption of calcium and cause thinning bones — a condition called osteoporosis.
9. It may also lead to painful, lumpy breasts – a condition called fibrocystic breast disease.

The FDA states that caffeine is both a drug and a food additive. You’ll find it in medications and added into foods and drinks. It will peak in your blood about 30-60 minutes after ingesting it and stay in your system for 4-6 hrs. Caffeine isn’t just in coffee, it’s in tea, chocolate, sodas, ice cream, medications (Midol, Exedrin, weight loss pills, Nodoz), energy “water”, breath freshener mints, and the list goes on and on. So, in order to be more health conscious, I went decaf for a while. You probably know where I’m going with this, right?

Is Decaffeinated Coffee better for your body?

The answer is “Not necessarily”. Both decaffeinated and regular coffees have cholesterol raising effects – it doesn’t have anything to do with the caffeine in the coffee. The LDL (low density lipoproteins – the bad cholesterol) can be increased by drinking regular or decaf coffee and the risk is amplified with the more cups you drink. Both caffeinated and decaf coffee also can impede the absorption and increase the elimination of several minerals that we need including calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron. Therefore, coffee in general can be linked to increased risk for health problems. Both decaf and regular coffee also have been shown to increase the pressure on the sphincter at the top of the stomach– which for those with acid reflux (heartburn) would make the symptoms worse.

But, let’s look at decaffeinated coffee by itself. Is it a better choice than caffeinated coffee? A study published in the Journal of Arthritis and Rheumatology in 2002 showed that women who drank decaf coffee had a higher incidence of RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) than women who didn’t drink coffee or compared to women who drank regular coffee. (By the way –the same study also showed that women who drank 3 or more cups of tea per day had a decreased risk for RA.) The study summarized that the process of decaffeinating the coffee (usually chemicals are used) is most likely the cause of the higher incidence of RA with decaf. RA is an autoimmune disease, so we can postulate that the chemicals are doing a number on a person’s immune system. Decaf coffee also is associated with higher metabolic acidity which interferes with bone density. Lower bone density can lead to brittle bones, fractures, and osteoporosis. Also, excess acidity is associated with negative calcium balance. Calcium is needed for healthy heart function and nervous system function so lower calcium levels would affect your heart, brain, and muscles too.

So, you can conclude that the chemicals left after processing caffeinated coffee into decaf coffee, are probably floating in your cup of coffee this morning. And, the decaf coffee you are drinking is right now pulling calcium from your bones and making you a soon-to-be hip fracture patient or making your eye muscle twitch or causing your irritable bowel problems. Then, if you are a purist, if you also consider the removal of caffeine from the coffee bean, then decaf coffee is essentially a processed drink. If you’re trying to be a whole food consumer and not a processed food consumer, then decaf coffee isn’t in your grocery cart. It’s soooooo confusing!$%&#

The best advice I can give is to maybe have ONE cup of regular organic coffee daily and leave it at that. Knowing that you are getting some of the drug caffeine, but there are no chemicals because it’s organic, and it hasn’t been through an unknown process to remove the caffeine which would potentially add in chemicals to your coffee. Also, be sure NOT to add in sugar or some processed, chemical-laden creamer. OR if you really want to help your body… have a cup of organic green tea and switch over to the other side!

But, if you are still reading this and want to know about the decaffeination process and still want to drink decaf coffee, then let’s review the methods used to remove caffeine from the coffee. Then, when you do buy your decaf, you can make a better choice….

About the decaffeination process

Most decaf coffee is made using a chemical called methylene chloride which is listed as a possible carcinogen by the National Cancer Institute. Methylene chloride is predominantly used as a solvent in paint strippers and removers, as a process solvent to make medications, and as a propellant in aerosols for products like paints and insect sprays and it’s used to decaffeinate your coffee! The beans are first soaked in water and then washed in methylene chloride to absorb the caffeine from the bean. Then, the beans are rinsed, dried, and shipped to the coffee manufacturers. This is the information about methylene chloride from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

“The acute (short-term) effects of methylene chloride inhalation in humans consist mainly of nervous system effects including decreased visual, auditory, and motor functions, but these effects are reversible once exposure ceases. The effects of chronic (long-term) exposure to methylene chloride suggest that the central nervous system (CNS) is a potential target in humans and animals. Human data are inconclusive regarding methylene chloride and cancer. Animal studies have shown increases in liver and lung cancer and benign mammary gland tumors following the inhalation of methylene chloride.”

The EPA states that in animal studies, methylene chloride does cross the placental barrier. So pregnant animals exposed to this substance, passed it on to their baby. The FDA allows up to 10 parts per million (ppm) of methyl chloride for consumption. But, the information I’ve found showed that most coffee blends have a concentration at or below 1 ppm. Which means the chemical is still there but in lower amounts than what the FDA will allow (in most blends). The amount in the coffee does not have to be labeled since it’s part of the processing of the food, not a food additive. This process is preferred by many because it allows more of the flavor to remain in the coffee bean compared to other methods which take out a lot of the coffee’s flavor and some of the oils. The other methods use ethyl acetate, carbon dioxide, or water. They typically are considered more “natural”.

Using ethyl acetate to decaf your coffee

Ethyl acetate is found in ripening fruits. For this process, coffee beans are soaked in water to soften them and to get the caffeine to dissolve. The water containing the caffeine is treated with the ethyl acetate, heated to remove the solvent and caffeine, and then returned to the beans. The flavors in the water are reabsorbed by the beans, which are then dried. Because it’s impractical to gather natural ethyl acetate and because of its cost, the chemical used for decaffeination is usually synthetic. Ethyl acetate is produced commercially from ethyl alcohol and acetic acid, which in turn may be produced from natural ingredients or petroleum derivatives. So you may not actually know what is being used in this process. Even though it doesn’t sound natural, it can be labeled as natural because the solvent occurs in nature.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) Process

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is found naturally in the atmosphere. In this process the coffee beans are soaked in compressed CO2, which removes 97 percent of the caffeine. The solvent containing the extracted caffeine evaporates when the beans come back to room temperature. The use of supercritical CO2 leaves no residue on the beans, is environmentally safe, and there is no toxic solvent waste from this process. It’s more expensive to produce decaf coffee in this way though.

The “Water” Process

The “Water” Process uses hot water, steam, and activated charcoal filters to remove the caffeine from the coffee. Once the caffeine is removed, then the same beans are put back into the decaf solution to reabsorb the oils and flavors. The beans are then dried and sent to the manufacturer. This type of process can make the coffee less flavorful. If your coffee is labeled “decaffeinated using Swiss water process”, you can be assured that no harmful chemicals are used. If you are uncertain, you can ask or call your coffee processor to learn about the method used.
If you choose to drink organic coffee you’ll reduce or eliminate the exposure to toxins in your morning brew but your body will still be exposed to the caffeine in the coffee. If you MUST drink coffee, then use organic, use unbleached coffee filters, avoid adding sugar and creamers, and if using decaf — get the Swiss Water Process decaf.

Hospital Food — Healthy or Not?

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My husband was in the hospital this morning. After his surgery he was offered several

hospital nutrition

choices for drinks (sodas including diet ones, juice, but no water was offered) and some applesauce to eat. He chose gingerale and applesauce. I’d say, being a nurse and having worked in a hospital, these are pretty standard after-surgery hospital menu items. When I looked at the food labels I found:

high fructose corn syrup (GMO ingredient and refined sugar)
apple juice from concentrate (higher in sugar than the fruit itself, less vitamins due to processing)
citric acid (usually derived from a mold and grown using GMO sugars typically)
natural flavors (who knows what’s in that)
carmel color (potentially cancer causing)
sucralose (artificially manufactured)
sodium benzoate (preservative, known carcinogen and potentially linked to hyperactivity)
potassium sorbate (preservative, considered a genotoxic and mutagenic compound)

I wonder if hospitals are in the business of health promotion and illness cure or in the business of illness causing or perpetuating? I feel very cynical saying this, but if hospitals and medical doctors cured everything and promoted health, then they would be out of business eventually. So maybe treating symptoms of illness and disease and perpetuating the illness is actually what medical care is about rather than cure. Read More→

What Fuel Are You Giving Your Body?

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What kind of gas are you putting into your engine? Just finished watching a TED Talk about the power of dietary change to balance mood, sharpen brain function and improve mental health. The psychiatrist presenting talks about how in his practice he’s helped improve his patient’s mental and emotional health through nutrition.

The food we put into our bodies is the fuel to function. I’ll use the analogy with my patients that our bodies are a fine working engine. If I put sand in my gas tank, guess what happens? My engine doesn’t work well at all. My engine needs “good” fuel to work well. That fuel is the food I put into my stomach. Read More→

Frustration with “Natural” Food Dyes!

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My frustration is at an all time high today. As a family we are doing our best to keep preservatives, chemicals, un-natural ingredients, and food dyes out of our bodies. My children are teenagers and even though they at times get very frustrated with me as I discuss harmful effects of food additives, read food labels out loud to them, tout the benefits of real whole food, and yell like a crazy lady at the commercials for kids junk food on TV, they have bought-in to the concept of real food.

Last week I was doing a little bragging to my friends about my eldest son’s recent shopping expedition. I handed him a grocery list and my credit card and off he went (he’ll do just about anything if you give him a few dollars to put gas in his tank). My husband and I were pleasantly surprised when organic sourdough bread, organic green onions, and non-GMO corn grits were found in the shopping bag! They were just listed as sourdough bread, green onions, and corn grits on the grocery list. We surely sung his praises and thanked him for being so mindful of our health. Read More→

Homemade Fresh Organic Salsa Recipe

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Here’s a great recipe for making Organic Salsa hta’s straight from Auny Sue’s kitchen in Colorado. It uses any peppers you may have ripening in your garden or you find at the farmer’s market. It’s quick and easy to make and can be made in large batches and canned for a special winter treat. My children love eating this salsa and it never lasts long on the pantry shelf.

The longer this sits in the refrigerator or the pantry shelf, the flavors will meld and come together to be even more tasty. The salsa should be good for up to 2 weeks stored in the refrigerator and up to a year when canned.

Feel free to experiment with it and add your own ingredients — then let us all know how it turns out.

Home-made Organic Salsa

Print recipe

Serves	10
Prep time	1 hour
Dietary	Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Meal type	Appetizer, Condiment, Snack
Misc	Serve Cold

A delicious recipe for fresh garden salsa - as hot as you like it.

Ingredients

6 Medium Tomatoes
1/3 cup Onions (Chopped)
1/4 teaspoon Garlic
2 tablespoons Cilantro (Diced)
4 tablespoons Lemon or Lime Juice
1/4 teaspoon Oregano
2 tablespoons Mild Peppers
1 teaspoon Salt
3 pinches Peppers
1/2 Jalepeno (Diced)
1/4 teaspoon Cumin
3fl oz Tomato Paste (If Wanted) (get organic canned paste and look at the ingredients list -- if somethings on it that you can't pronounce don't buy that can.)

Note

Please watch the following 6 Minute video for instructions.

Directions

Step 1

EGGSellent Nutrition!

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The nutritional content of eggs varies. It all depends on how the chicken is raised. When you’re at the store it’s difficult through the marketing campaigns to decipher which one is going to be the healthiest for you. There’s also been so much controversy over the last few years about whether or not eggs are a healthy addition to our diet. So let’s look at eggs closely.

First of all, a local farmer’s market is going to be your best bet in getting the healthiest eggs unless you are raising your own chickens!

pastured chickens make the healthiest eggs

When you go to the farmer’s market, ask the farmer how the chickens are raised: Are they in a grassy pasture? Are they fed organic feed? Is their diet vegetarian — which means they are NOT fed hormone filled animal by-products? Does the farmer use antibiotics in the raising of the chickens? If you get “yes” “yes” “yes” and “no” to those questions, then buy that farmer’s eggs.

Here’s a graph (from the 100 Days of Real Food website – giving credit where credit is due!) that gives explanations to some of the wording you’ll see on eggs packaging. Read More→

MSG — A Brain Toxin

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Dr. Russell Blaylock a neurosurgeon, author, and authority on MSG (monosodium glutamate) and aspartame notes that MSG is a very toxic substance to the brain, especially to the developing brain of young children and to a developing fetus.

When compounds called “free glutamates” (glutamate is an amino acid that is a component of MSG) are added to foods to enhance the flavors, they cause the nerves in the brain to fire very rapidly and fire over and over again. This extra stimulation to the brain gets the taste buds all excited and makes the foods taste much better to us. But this rapid firing in the brain that causes excitement in our taste buds also triggers other symptoms too. Symptoms caused by MSG includes: arthritis, depression, sweating, behavior problems in children, headaches, allergic reactions, flushing, chest pain, facial numbness or pressure, heart palpitations, nausea, weakness, swelling, balance difficulties, and asthma attacks. Read More→

Carrageenan

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Carregeenan is added in to processed foods as a thickener and emulsifier. It comes from red seaweed which initially would make you think, this is natural right? However, it has no nutritional value and is actually harmful to humans. Here is yet another additive to our food supply that is harmful yet allowed. Carrageenan should not be in foods.

Dr. Andrew Weil’s site reviews the studies done at University of Illinois by Dr. Joanne Tobacman. She has shown that carrageenan causes inflammatory changes in the human body which can lead to malignancies, stomach problems, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and impairments in insulin leading to diabetes.

Even “Natural” and “Organic” products can contain carrageenan so be sure to read labels. Here’s a shopping guide from the Cornicopia Institute to help you.

Carrageenan is used to de-ice planes! Published in The Buffalo News on June 29, 2013

As a food writer, I stumbled across some research on the effects of ingredients like carrageenan. What I learned was illuminating. Not only is carrageenan used to de-ice planes, when broken down to its most basic elements, it can be used as a “coagulant” for many foods.

When carrageenan is processed with an acid solution it’s called a degraded carrageenan and is unsafe for use in humans and animals. In this form it’s used in experiments with lab animals to cause inflammatory conditions to test drugs.

When carrageenan is processed in alkaline solutions it is called a food grade or “undegraded” carrageenan. In this form it is used in foods including baby formula, ice cream, beer, low-fat and no-fat dairy products, and also for medical tests (barium swallows and barium enemas). Since the 1970’s the safety of this product in the food supply has been questioned.

“The FDA’s full approval for carrageenan in all food products stands even while FDA supportive international groups recommend carrageenan be removed from baby formulas”. (Natural News. Six reasons to avoid carrageenan in your alternative milk products and food purchases. Sunday, September 01, 2013 by: PF Louis).

Read food labels and keep carrageenan out of your food supply. Since the safety of this food additive cannot be proven, it’s best to keep carrageenan out of your body.

Natural food dyes

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When looking at labels, make sure you buy items with only natural food dyes. Artificial dyes are known carcinogens and have been linked to hyperactivity, behavior problems, and migraine headaches. Even at home, decorating a birthday cake or Christmas cookies, make sure you are using natural food dyes to give that festive look.

In the U.S. artificial dyes are widely used in the food supply. In other countries artificial dyes are banned in the food.

Artificial dyes are made from petroleum products. Actually before the 1900’s natural products like saffron, beets, and paprika were used to make foods look colorful. However, the food industry has found it cheaper to use synthetically produced colors.

Below is a list of natural food dyes being commercially produced:

Annatto (E160b) comes from the seed of the achiote it’s a red-orange color
Betanin (E162) from beets
Chlorophyllin (E140) comes from chlorella algae and is green of course!
Paprika (E160c)
Tumeric (E100)
Saffron (E160a)

Or, you can just use real foods and spices that are colorful to decorate or color the food. Use some strawberries in your frosting recipe to make pink cake icing. Beets work really well for a darker pink/red. Kale and spinach will give a great green tint. Even a sprinkle of spirulina will give a green color to your food but be sure to use just a little of this or your food will smell like a fish tank!

For specific ideas on using real food for natural food dyes in baking and decorating see www.100daysofrealfood.com website or click here to follow a link. You can also find CANDY and NATURAL FOOD DYES for sale on-line at www.naturalcandystore.com.

Food coloring: Is it worth “Dying” for?

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Food coloring: Is it worth “Dying” for? Food dyes are known carcinogens! Artificial dyes are chemicals added to many foods to enhance the looks of the food and increase sales. They do not enhance the foods nutritionally they are added to increase sales only. Then why do you ask, when cancer rates are sky-rocketing, is a known carcinogen allowed in the food supply without a known health-related benefit? Food is our body’s fuel to live on right? Shouldn’t the food we eat be pro-health? Having a food coloring in something you are eating just to enhance the looks of the food is not worth the risk.

Food coloring also leads to hyperactivity, behavior problems, headaches, rashes, allergic reactions, bladder irritation, sleep problems, and attention difficulty. According to Dr. Oz:

“ …avoid these products altogether. This involves avoiding foods that have unnecessary preservatives, additives or chemicals, like artificial dyes. If there is a mysterious ingredient you can’t pronounce or if it evokes images of scientists in white lab coats, you probably shouldn’t be eating it. “ http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/food-dyes-are-they-safe

A petroleum product called aniline was used to make artificial colorings starting in the early 1900’s. These chemically synthesized colors are used in our foods even today – that’s right a petroleum product is in our food supply! Before the 1900’s natural food sources (like saffron, beets, paprika) were used to make foods look nicer and more appealing. However, it’s cheaper to produce the colors synthetically using petroleum products, so that’s what the food industry uses. In the U.S. artificial colors are widely used. Other countries have banned them and require food companies to use natural food sources. It’s a crime that the U.S. FDA does not ban these ingredients.

For specific ideas on using real food for dyes in baking and decorating see www.100daysofrealfood.com website or click here to follow a link.

On a food label you’ll want to look at the ingredients list and avoid the following:

A common low-fat diet food

FD&C Blue No. 1 – Brilliant Blue FCF, E133 (blue shade)
FD&C Blue No. 2 – Indigotine, E132 (indigo shade)
FD&C Green No. 3 – Fast Green FCF, E143 (turquoise shade)
FD&C Red No. 3 – Erythrosine, E127 (pink shade, commonly used in glacé cherries)^[20^]
FD&C Red No. 40 – Allura Red AC, E129 (red shade)
FD&C Yellow No. 5 – Tartrazine, E102 (yellow shade)
FD&C Yellow No. 6 – Sunset Yellow FCF, E110 (orange shade)
Citrus Red 2 (orange shade) – allowed only for use to color orange peels.
Orange B (red shade) – allowed only for use in hot dog and sausage casings

According to a publication by the Center for Science in the Public Interest dated 6/29/10:

The three most widely used dyes, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6, are contaminated with known carcinogens, says CSPI. Another dye, Red 3, has been acknowledged for years by the Food and Drug Administration to be a carcinogen, yet is still in the food supply. Despite those concerns, each year manufacturers pour about 15 million pounds of eight synthetic dyes into our foods. Per capita consumption of dyes has increased five-fold since 1955, thanks in part to the proliferation of brightly colored breakfast cereals, fruit drinks, and candies pitched to children.

The medical journal The Lancet in 2007 published a conclusion that “artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population”. This was a carefully designed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Food coloring –something to “dye” for because they are carcinogens! Read labels and keep them out of your family’s food supply. Use natural food coloring to brighten up your foods instead.