How to Read Food Labels and Avoid Toxic Ingredients

Grocery shopping has become hazardous to our health. We are told that whatever is sold from a grocery store shelf has been approved as safe, and the health-isle food is healthy. The truth is that there are actually many harmful additives in processed food and very little nutrition. It’s difficult for the layman to know this when the chemicals are disguised or not labeled. Shopping with an untrained, uneducated eye is becoming detrimental to our health.

In the not too distant past, foods without pesticides and herbicides were the norm. Our soil was rich with nutrients and the ingredients we used for recipes were not enriched or processed. It was easier for families to eat more wholesome and natural foods baked from scratch. Nowadays, the majority of our food supply is manufactured in a laboratory from substances that were not intended for the body. Even cooking from scratch has become a health concern because the individual ingredients going into the freshly cooked food are either genetically modified or loaded with pesticides and herbicides. Without a trained eye and an understanding of how to read labels, even home cooked meals can be hazardous to your health.

Processed Food, Comes In a Package With Ingredients Listed

If you are sick, do not trust anyone else with your health, especially not a corporation. That means you prepare your own food. Processed foods are stripped of many of the natural nutrients, and when fortified, it’s done with synthetic vitamins and minerals that are not bioavailable. Food products are often bleached, pasteurized, deodorized, and have chemical ingredients added to them that are not put on the ingredients label. Often times, artificial preservatives are used in order for the product to taste fresh when it’s purchased a few years later. There are preservatives that do not have to be listed.

But everyone eats processed foods sometimes, so how do we make the best choices? The first dead giveaway that a product is laden with food additives and chemicals is the long list of hard to pronounce ingredients that don’t sound like food. Unfortunately, the food additives lurking in most packaged foods are dangerous to your health. Studies have shown that many of these toxic additives can make you fat, and are a catalyst for the onset of debilitating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, hormonal imbalances, and more.

Related: Foods That Feed Candida

Enriched and Fortified = Synthetic Nutrients

You can be certain that a product will contain synthetic nutrients if the packaging is labeled with the term “enriched” or “fortified” in the description. This ambiguous term describes most of the refined conventional grain products such as pasta and spaghetti, macaroni, white rice, and white breads. Baked goods will also usually contain this indication on the label.  Lately, even the preferred organic versions of these grains also contain enriched ingredients, so be absolutely certain to check the labels and stand clear of “enriched” products!

Be aware that during the processing, all of the much needed natural nutrients are unfortunately stripped out of the grain to make it appear white. Then, synthetic B nutrients known as Niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate and riboflavin are added to the ingredients in order to make the food “appear” healthy. Synthetic B nutrients are chemically derived using formaldehyde and petroleum and as you may have guessed, they are actually very unhealthy! In the long run, it is easy to avoid synthetic nutrients if you want to by purchasing organic whole grains and organic pasta without the “enriched” ingredients. In fact, Basmati and Jasmine rice are naturally white grains that can be found next to the conventional brands on the shelves of your local supermarket. Mix it up a little bit and try other healthier grains such as couscous, nutritious quinoa, organic polenta (corn meal–to avoid GMO), amaranth, brown rice, millet and more.

Genetically Modified Organisms, GMOs

The four primary genetically modified cash crops in the USA and abroad are soy, corn, canola, and sugar beets. Derivatives of these foods can be found in over 70 percent of the products in your local grocery store, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s included. The main reason the plants are genetically modified is so they can handle higher amounts of herbicide. Bacterial genes are inserted that allow them to survive doses of herbicide that would otherwise kill them under normal circumstances. Luckily for us, the current regulation ensures by definition that Certified Organic food cannot be GMO, therefore, it should be fairly easy to buy organic soy milk, tofu, tempeh, cornmeal, polenta, and canola oil if you visit the local health food store. The challenge comes with the packaged food. Most packaged foods contain fillers like soybean oil, soy protein, and high fructose corn syrup. Those packaged foods produced by healthy brands may have all organic ingredients but many do not.

The surest way to protect yourself from eating these foods is by making recipes from scratch from whole foods without fillers and preservatives.

Related: Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High fructose corn syrup, a.k.a. HFCS  is a sugar derived from corn. The corn from which it is derived is almost always genetically modified. Currently, it is unfortunate for the consumer that genetically engineered ingredients are not labeled in the U.S. Just knowing that corn is typically genetically modified will help you choose organic versions of corn products.

High fructose corn syrup has been known to cause gastrointestinal distress and elevated triglycerides. It is also associated with blood sugar problems, depression, fatigue, B-vitamin deficiency, hyperactivity, heart disease, diabetis,  tooth decay, and periodontal disease. Large amounts of HFCS has caused tumors in mice and may cause a similar result in humans if consumed frequently.

Related: Is Agave Nectar Healthy?

Sneaky HFCS Synonyms

  • Maize syrup
  • Glucose syrup
  • Glucose syrup
  • Fructose syrup
  • Tapioca syrup
  • Dahlia syrup
  • Fruit fructose
  • Crystalline fructose
  • Dahlia syrup

MSG – Monosodium Glutamate

MSG is monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer added to most processed food to make it taste good. This substance crosses the blood-brain barrier and quite literally excites your brain cells to death. In infants and children, the blood-brain barrier is not fully developed, sadly making MSG even more harmful to young ones.

The harmful component of MSG is the glutamate. Glutamic acid is an essential amino acid found in protein and required for the human body to be healthy. It is the L-glutamic acid that is the part of the protein that your body needs. When glutamic acid is manufactured, it contains both L-glutamic acid and D-glutamic acid. D-glutamic acid occurs as a result of the manufacturing process only. It is not a part of the protein and your body does not have a need for it. MSG is a neurotoxin, making it highly toxic to your nervous system. There is a loophole in MSG regulation that allows food manufacturers to include some MSG in your food without labeling it. In order for food companies to list MSG as an ingredient, the glutamic acid content in the food must be 79% or greater. If there is 78% or less of glutamic acid in the substance, the food companies are not required to include MSG in the labels. They are also not required to list the chemicals that are used to derive certain ingredients on the label either. Therefore there is loads of MSG in foods that the untrained and uneducated shopper are not aware of.  MSG can be hidden in many ingredients that the average consumer is not aware of. Ingredients that contain MSG but are not labeled MSG are known as clean label ingredients and used to deceive the consumer.

“Clean Label Ingredients” You Should Avoid

The “Clean label Ingredients” is a marketing phrase to replace “all natural.” There are many MSG “clean label” ingredients identified by Truth in Labelling.org that you should be aware of. The list includes, but is not limited to the following substances:

  • Glutamate
  • Glutamic acid
  • Monosodium glutamate
  • Magnesium glutamate
  • Natrium glutamate
  • Gelatin
  • Calcium caseinate
  • Sodium caseinate
  • Textured protein
  • Hydrolyzed protein (anything hydrolyzed)
  • Yeast nutrient, yeast extract
  • Yeast food
  • Autolyzed yeast
  • Vetsin
  • Ajinomoto

Ingredients That Contain MSG or Create MSG During Processing

According to Truth in Labelling, there are also quite a few ingredients that will often contain MSG or create MSG during the processing:

  • Carrageenan
  • Maltodextrin
  • Malt extract, Malt flavoring
  • Barley malt
  • Citric acid
  • Soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, soy protein
  • Whey protein concentrate, Whey protein isolate, whey protein
  • Seasonings
  • Protease, Protease enzymes
  • Pectin
  • Natural Flavor, flavorings
Related: MSG’s Many Side Effects and Aliases

Some Ingredients Work with MSG

You should also be aware that some ingredients work along with MSG and their use typically suggests that the product has MSG in it. Truth in Labeling notes that these ingredients are not likely to be used as food additives if there were no MSG present in the product.

  • Disodium 5-Guanylate
  • Disodium 5-Inosinate
  • Disodium 5-Ribonucleotides

Hydrogenated oils

Fully hydrogenated oils may not contain trans-fat, but research shows that it may be worse than trans fat in that it lowers the good cholesterol more than trans fats and raises blood sugar levels. Hydrogenated oils are associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis and high cholesterol.

Partially hydrogenated fats and oils contain trans fats and are also associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis and high cholesterol. Even if a package claims that No Trans Fats are used, you must read the label to see if it contains partially hydrogenated oils because the government allows companies say “No Trans Fats” if it contains less than 0.5 g of trans fat per serving.

Related: Everything You Should Know About Fat

Cancer Causing Additives

Nitrites and nitrates are used in processed meats and form powerful cancer-causing agents in your body. The FDA knows they’re dangerous but allows these ingredients in food because they prevent botulism. Nitrite-free meets can be found in your health food store. But be sure to read the ingredients on the label and ensure that the food does not contain sodium nitrite, potassium nitrite or anything that has nitrite or nitrate in the name.

According to trusted sources, sodium benzoate is the most widely used preservative in the world. It is typically used in foods, beverages, foods, liquid supplements, toothpaste, oral care products and pharmaceuticals. Sodium benzoate has caused birth defects in lab animals. It can cause skin rashes, gastrointestinal issues, hyperactivity, neurological problems and more. When Sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate are used in a product that contains ascorbic acid or vitamin C, it can form benzene. Benzene is known to cause cancer and cancer kills.

Aspartame

Aspartame is one of the most dangerous food additives on the market today. Drinks, candy, and chewing gum are potential sources of hidden MSG and/or aspartame and neotame. Aspartic acid, found in neotame and aspartame ordinarily causes MSG type reactions in MSG sensitive people. Aspartame is found in some medications, including children’s medications. Neotame is relatively new and we have not yet seen it used widely in the United States.  Aspartame is commonly known as Equal and Nutrasweet. In Europe, it’s called E951. The FDA stopped monitoring adverse toxicity reactions from aspartame in 1995, however before that 92 different adverse reactions from aspartame were reported. Recent studies have shown that aspartame causes cancer in amounts approved for human consumption and it is genetically modified. It’s best to stay away from any products that lists aspartame as an ingredient. Beware of aspartame in chewing gum, breath mints, cereal, frozen desserts, ice cream, gelatin desserts, puddings, cookies, yogurt, frozen yogurt, fruit spreads, sugar-free maple syrup, hard candy, chewable vitamins, laxatives, supplements, medications, prescription drugs, orthodontic elastics, pediatric antibiotics and more! Read the ingredients on the labels very carefully and make sure you do not use any products that contain aspartame.

Sugar Negatively Affects the Absorption of Vitamins and Nutrients

Contrary to popular belief, not all sugar is created equally and most of us are aware of the dangers of consuming too much sugar, whether it be processed sugar from GMO beets or natural sugars.  Some of these dangers include well-known ailments like obesity, insulin spikes, high blood sugar, diabetes and yes, cancer. Too much glucose, a form of sugar can lead to deficiencies in the nutrients that reach your cells. What actually happens is the sugar reduces the absorption of the vitamins and minerals you are getting from the food you consume. There are a few specific vitamins that are affected by the surplus of sugar in your system. Because vitamin C and glucose use the same transporters to the blood, too much sugar intake will slow down the absorption of this nutrient in your body. This can be detrimental as vitamin C is responsible for cell tissue regeneration and a well-functioning immune system. Magnesium is a nutrient that becomes depleted by an over intake of sugar. This is dangerous as magnesium is utilized by all metabolic functions of the body and too much sugar increases magnesium excretion by the kidneys.

I hope you are getting enough Vitamin D which is essential to protect the body from infections, autoimmunity, dementia inflammation and other diseases like cancer. Eating too much sugar in your diet will definitely increase vitamin D deficiency.

Calcium is another nutrient that the body needs. It’s important for bone health among other things. Interestingly, vitamin D works with the calcium in absorption to the cells. In a roundabout way, too much sugar consumption inhibits the body’s ability to take in this nutrient, because the less vitamin D in your system, the less your body is able to absorb calcium from your food.

Related: Healthy Sugar Alternatives and More

Be Mindful of the Ingredients in Your Food

You can start living a healthier lifestyle today by being more mindful of the ingredients in your food. Unfortunately, there isn’t much help from official sources because they are controlled by big corporations interested in raking in the cash — from government agencies to big agricultural and food companies, to research institutes and even congress. They lie and tell us that something is nutritious as long as it helps corporations make a fortune and keeps government officials in office. As a result, people are getting bad information about basic health information. Take control of your life and your diet today, you owe it to yourself!

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What is Cascara? Coffee, Tea, Superfood?

After walking into a coffee shop in Washington D.C. recently, I was quite surprised that they were promoting a new drink for 2017 on the menu called “Cascara”, with a subtitle stating “Warm and nutty caramel tones made from the skin of coffee cherry blossoms”. I asked the barista if this was tea or coffee. She looked perplexed and said to me, “no, it’s a syrup”. Needless to say I was confused, but intrigued. So I thought to myself, a new drink being showcased at this coffee shop which could seem to be a healthier alternative to coffee, yet it’s syrup. This is the brilliance of marketing, which makes you excited about something new being available as a coffee alternative. I proceeded not to order it because I didn’t fully understand what they were offering.  Was it tea, coffee, syrup, or all of it mixed together? Either way, if I was to order Cascara, I would want the real super food coffee cherry tea version I heard of, not a syrup mixed into a hot drink. My visit to this coffee shop left me wondering, what is this elusive Cascara being offered, and is it really coffee or tea?

After further research, I found that Cascara (translated from Spanish meaning ‘husk’ or ‘peel’) is also known as coffee cherry skins in English. Cascara must not be confused with the herbal plant with a similar first name, Cascara Sagrada (Chittem Bark), which is completely different and has natural laxative properties when consumed. Cascara (coffee cherry skin) is the by-product of the coffee beans after they have been removed from their red skins and dried in the sun, much like raisins. In the past, these skins were usually placed in compost or thrown away during harvest because it was believed to ruin the taste of coffee. However, for centuries Cascara has been brewed in Yemen and Ethiopia before coffee beans were even used as a drink. Recently, this alternative sounding exotic drink has made a big move onto the U.S. market in various forms including everything from beauty products, tea infusions, enhanced waters, sports drinks, sodas, to vodka infusions and other alcoholic beverages.

What still remained unclear was how should this elusive and somewhat confusing drink be classified? It is believed that Cascara is something between coffee and tea, although it is derived from the coffee plant. It should be noted that Cascara does not taste like coffee nor does it contain its high caffeine content. According to Moldvaer, “Cascara caffeine content is fairly low, even at the strongest, longest brew, the caffeine content of Cascara came in at 111.4 mg/L, compared to broad range of about 400-800 mg/L in brewed coffee.”  Cascara comes in an interesting mélange of flavors ranging from sweet, subtle, earthy, to rich, warm, robust and nutty. Its undertones have a fruity flavor with hints of raspberry, red mulberry, currant, cranberry, and cherry.[2] Its classification is neither coffee nor tea, but it remains in its own realm because it does not come from beans or tea leaves, but from the fruit of the coffee plant. However, there is an opposing opinion suggesting that it is indeed coffee with high caffeine content.  According to Megan Wood, “cascara is a tropical, berry fruit that just happens to be coffee,” Wood says, “It’s not tea — it’s 100 percent coffee. But it smells like herbal tea.”  She also goes on to say that “It’s kind of like nature’s Red Bull.” So at the end of the day, you might have to make the decision yourself whether you want to categorize cascara as tea, coffee, or a hybrid, and whether it leaves you feeling caffeinated or not.

Regardless of its disputable classification, I would recommend you be courageous and jump on the trendy drink bandwagon for 2017 and give Cascara and its healing benefits a try. Even though you may not know whether it’s truly coffee or tea, the health benefits are numerous.  Due to its high concentration of polyphenols, Cascara is a true superfood. It will also help boost your immune system, provide antioxidants thus protecting you from free radicals, and offer you a host of anti-inflammatory properties. With extensive research over a decade, FutureCeuticals, has also discovered that Cascara produces BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor), a protein essential for maintaining healthy cognition, and other brain-related processes such as mood and sleep.

Cascara can be consumed as a hot drink or as a cold refreshing infusion. According to 44 North Coffee, Cascara is loaded with flavor, vitamins, natural sugars, and anti-oxidants. Dr. Debbie Palmer states that, “Cascara is rejuvenating because it’s high in polyphenol compounds: proanthocyanidins, chlorogenic acid, quinic acid, ferulic acid and caffeic acid. The coffee berry fruit has been found to be higher in antioxidants than tea, vitamin C and E, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and pomegranate.” In preparing Cascara, Wood and Raftery recommend steeping three tablespoons of cascara in 10 ounces of hot water for four minutes. For a cold brew, they suggest six tablespoons to 12 ounces of water, steeped for 12 to 16 hours. To purchase Cascara, there are a number of coffee roasters making it available online. Let this year be the year where you become an independent taste tester, and you can make your own personal decision on whether Cascara is coffee, tea, or something in between.  Either way, it’s a highly recommended alternative as a superfood drink option. For a great recipe on making a cold brew of Cascara (Coffee Cherry) tea, visit Alma Holistic Health.

Interesting fact: In Yemen, Cascara is consumed as Qishr (a hot beverage containing spiced coffee husks, with ginger and cinnamon) which is usually consumed instead of coffee because it is much cheaper.

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Antibiotics and Rectal Cancer – There’s a Connection You Should Know About

Colorectal cancer rates are more than doubling in a particularly disturbing way. A new study from the American Cancer Society (ACS) analyzing cancer occurrences discovered that diagnoses of colorectal cancer have increased every generation since 1950. Scientists are unsure of the cause. But luckily for them, another new study has discovered that prolonged use of antibiotics can be linked to the increased the likelihood of bowel polyps, a precursor to rectal and colon cancers. Together, both studies make a compelling argument for the long-term consequences of our current antibiotic use and food system.

They Get Younger Every Year

Cancer is now a fact of life. The likelihood that you or someone you know well has been diagnosed with cancer is already high, and the number of cases diagnosed is predicted to rise to more than 21 million people in 2030. Colon and Rectal cancers are some of the most common cancers, 90% of colon and rectal cancer cases occur in people over the age of 50. According to Rebecca Siegel, the lead author of a new study from the American Cancer Society, “People born in 1990…have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer” compared to the risk someone born in 1950 faced at a comparable age.

The American Cancer Society expects to see 13,500 new cases of colon and rectal cancer in people under 50 in 2017. At this point, someone under 50 is more likely to be diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer than the likelihood of anyone of any age is to receive a diagnosis for a less common cancer like Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The conventional Western diet induces and intensifies inflammation in colonic mucosa within two weeks of being on a conventional Western diet, and that inflammation is one of the precursors of cancer. While the study from the ACS does address diet briefly, it also gives the impression that cancer is something that is just going to happen. But this is where that other study comes in.

Polyp, Polyp, Polyp

For every disease or condition that develops in the body, there are warning signs as it develops. For rectal cancer, one of those signs is small growths on the lining of the bowel known as polyps. Not all bowel polyps are cancerous, but they can develop into cancer later if the issue isn’t addressed.  But how do the polyps get there? A study looking at data from a long-term nurses’ health study found that nurses from ages 20 to 39 who had taken antibiotics for at least two months were later in life more likely to be diagnosed with adenomas (a specific type of bowel polyp) than nurses who had not taken antibiotics for a sustained period of time.

Polyps are not the same thing as rectal or colon cancer. It’s likely that if you have polyps that you will never notice their presence. But imagine you took antibiotics for a prolonged period from the ages of one to twenty. Then you took antibiotics for a prolonged period of time from ages twenty to thirty. You also have to contend with the possibility that you are ingesting a steady stream of antibiotics if you consume conventional meat regularly. Each time you come into contact with antibiotics for an extended period of time, the likelihood of developing adenomas increases.

The Steps Are There

These two studies make a compelling argument for the management of cancer risk through lifestyle. Choose to limit antibiotics in the food you eat and medicinal purposes, either through vegetarianism, veganism, natural remedies, or informed consumption. Replace typical health pitfalls like a sedentary lifestyle and a conventional western diet with regular movement and load up on fresh, raw organic produce. With each positive choice, the likelihood of rectal cancer (or any cancer at all) decreases. There is no cancer treatment available that can replicate the benefits of taking care of yourself first.

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USDA Drops Glyphosate Testing Plans, Makes Monsanto’s Life Easier

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is no longer planning to test samples of corn syrup for glyphosate residue. Plans to test for the herbicide were coordinated between the USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency and scheduled to begin in April of this year.

The cancellation of this program is good news for Monsanto. The company is currently embroiled in litigation, with plaintiffs in the case alleging that Roundup caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The extent of the EPA’s involvement in the lawsuit is not known, although the federal judge presiding over the case has indicated he is likely to subpoena the chair of the EPA’s Cancer Assessment Review Committee. Regardless of the lawsuit, the decision by the USDA to drop scheduled glyphosate testing is disheartening and further erodes their food integrity credibility.

Agencies in Disarray

The USDA’s failure to properly test for glyphosate residue is baffling. The agency’s reasons for not testing for the world’s most used pesticide center around that process being too expensive and inefficient. If that argument sounds familiar, that’s because it echoes Monsanto’s own thoughts on glyphosate tests. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t necessarily agree. Last year they set in motion a testing program that found glyphosate in every sample of honey tested. Launched in February, it was indefinitely suspended by November.

When Demand Isn’t Enough

Europe and Canada have glyphosate testing programs in place, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency planning to release their findings in the near future. This is the most used herbicide in the world, with over 250 million pounds of it used in the U.S. every year. Any layperson looking for it has only to walk into the nearest supermarket, restaurant, or convenience store. But we don’t know for sure, although we definitely want to.

The entire motivation behind the FDA’s short-lived was public demand. The American public and the U.S Government Accountability Office both have issues with the current ill-advised and unsustainable system. For a brief, shining period the USDA got it. The taxpayer need and demand for testing didn’t change. So what did?

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Eliminate Road Rage, Control Your Temper – Avoid the Amygdala Hijack of Your Brain

What do these three scenarios have in common?

  1. Road rage when someone cuts you off
  2. Running away from a hungry lion
  3. Reacting to criticism about your most deeply held beliefs

Surely road rage can’t have anything to do with being chased by a wild animal that weighs 2-4 times more than you. And how could either of the first two scenarios have anything to do with being criticized? Let’s think about it.

Our Top Priority

Our top priority is survival. In order to ensure survival, we rely on portions of our brain, like the amygdala, to identify threats and respond to them quickly. Our response to a threat is estimated to take only 12 thousandths of a second. The response is so fast that your heart starts racing, your blood pressure rises, and you start reacting emotionally before you even can consciously realize what is happening. You may even do things that leave you asking yourself, “What was I thinking?”

The Amygdala Hijack

In his bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman refers to this response as the “amygdala hijack”. One of the most famous amygdala hijacks was when worldwide soccer role model, Zinedine Zidane, headbutted Italian soccer player, Marco Materazzi, in the 2006 World Cup Finals.

Zidane shows us a perfect example of what happens when our rational mind is hijacked by our amygdala. But how can a man go from calmly jogging away to headbutting another man in the chest just a couple seconds later?

It’s the same thing that makes you want to get revenge on the person who cut you off or run away from imminent danger. It is also the same thing that activates when your deeply held beliefs are criticized and condemned.

The (Not So) Sympathetic Nervous System

You are driving on the highway, listening to your favorite song. You’re dancing, singing, and doing whatever it is that you do when no one is looking. Then someone merges into your lane without warning. In less than a second, you go from a state of bliss to wanting to kill the person who just threatened your life. Your heart beats harder and faster, your blood pressure and breathing rate increase, your adrenal glands secrete the stress hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine, and you are ready for battle!

This is what happens every time your sympathetic nervous system is activated. This reaction is commonly referred to as the “fight or flight” response, and it is activated when your brain registers something as a threat.

This response seems overly exaggerated, especially in the context of modern life, but if you consider the environment that we evolved to survive in, it becomes clear why we are wired this way.

Imagine you are foraging for some fresh fruit and suddenly you hear the crumbling of leaves behind you. In less than a second, your amygdala receives the message from your thalamus (the part of the part the brain that relays sensory signals), defines it as a threat, and activates the sympathetic nervous system. As you turn around to see whether if it is a lion or a mouse, your heart is already racing to prepare your body to sprint for your life. If it’s a lion, your body is ready to run away. If it’s a harmless little mouse, you may feel anxious for a couple minutes, but at least you are still alive. You are much better off reacting as if “that’s an animal that will kill me” than “it’s probably just a little mouse.”

Related: The Gut-Brain Connection – How it Affects Your Life

Perceived or Real, It Is Still a Threat.

For most of us who are reading this right now, our safety is almost always guaranteed. So why do we still get stressed?

Let’s go back to the beginning of the article. Each scenario we discussed has one thing in common – a threat. A threat is anything that we think could be threatening to our well-being.  This can include anything from an unexpected noise to a negative criticism about our work. Even a random thought that we have while we are on the verge of falling asleep can be perceived as a threat. As soon as a threat is perceived, our brain fires up our sympathetic nervous system so that we can take action now.

The Origin of Our Perceived Threats

In the first couple years of life, around 1,000 new neural connections are formed every second. This is a fancy way of saying that when we are babies all we do is learn. We learn how to use this sack of meat, bones, and organs that we call a body. We learn about our environment and the people in it and how to get food and safety from them.

From birth through our teenage years, our limbic system (the emotional center of the brain) is constantly undergoing development. This development is shaped by our genes and our past experiences whether they are vicarious or personal. Our future emotional responses are shaped primarily during this phase of development.

Survival First, Happiness Second

As we are developing, our brain is constantly looking for threats to our survival. When there is a risk involved with a certain stimulus, like a thought, sound, taste, or feeling, our amygdala will be triggered so that we can have a fighting chance to survive. Unfortunately, the rational part of our brain is not fully developed until our mid-20s, so the threats that we react to rarely have a rational basis. This is why a seemingly abstract stimulus like the sound of rain may trigger relaxation for one person while the same sound activates the sympathetic nervous system in another.

Anything can be perceived as a threat and trigger a sympathetic response. Many of us live in this state of fight or flight all day long without realizing it, continuing to react to perceived threats as if they are life threatening. On top of that, most of us start our day with a caffeinated beverage like coffee, which activates our sympathetic nervous system even more. Adding caffeine to a body that is already chronically reacting to threats is the perfect recipe for chronic stress, chronic tension, and chronic pain.

Chronic Stress and Chronic Pain

According to the CDC, as of 2012, about half of all adults have one or more chronic diseases. Most, if not all, of these chronic diseases are partially caused by and worsened by chronic stress. Chronic stress is also one of the major causes of chronic pain.

However, stress is necessary for health. For example, exercise is a way of stressing the body that is essential for our well-being. Being exposed to the cold is another stress on the body that leads to positive health benefits. But if you go to the arctic circle and run without stopping, you will quickly perish.

Related: Understanding Stress, Chronic Stress, and Adrenal Fatigue

This is because stress is only good when it is followed by relaxation and recovery. Stress is bad when it becomes chronic. Stress becomes chronic when the body has no opportunity to rest and recover because it is too busy responding to threats. If the body is constantly responding to threats, it can never heal, adapt, and grow, which leads to chronic disease and chronic pain.

Related: What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

Your Body’s Natural Healing System

To balance the effects of stress that are caused by the sympathetic nervous system, we have another branch of the nervous system that triggers our body to rest and digest called the parasympathetic nervous system. When our environment is free from potential threats, our parasympathetic nervous system takes over.

One of the most important aspects of the parasympathetic nervous system is the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve. It wanders through the center of the body, innervating most of the major organs. When your vagus nerve is active, it reduces your heart rate, improves your digestive function from your mouth to your large intestine, and increases your sense of safety and comfort with yourself and others. Combine this with the benefits of not feeling stressed, and a sense of peace washes over you, peace that you would never feel if you listened to that angry voice that said to headbutt that terrible driver in the chest.

Reacting to your triggers will only lead to an even greater stress response now and in the future. The best way to control your stress response is by consciously activating your parasympathetic nervous system.

How to Activate Your Parasympathetic Nervous System:

Mammalian Dive Reflex & a Bowl of Water

All mammals have the mammalian dive reflex. This automatic reflex activates as soon as our face is immersed in water. Its purpose is to prepare us for extended periods of time underwater by activating the parasympathetic nervous system via the vagus nerve while restricting blood flow to the major organs. To take advantage of the benefits of this natural reflex, all you have to do is submerge your face in water for as long as you comfortably can.

Smell an Essential Oil

Obviously, carrying a bowl of water around isn’t practical. Fortunately, there are other options. Smell is the only sense that isn’t processed by the thalamus (the gatekeeper of the brain). This is why certain smells can bring up vivid memories and change how you feel in an instant. Some smells that are known to increase relaxation are from the essential oils chamomile, rose, patchouli, and lavender, but there are tons of essential oils to choose from. Find what works for you and carry these with you to help handle stress throughout the day. You can also diffuse essential oils before you sleep and while you meditate.

Start Meditating!

Meditation is a powerful antidote to stress and suffering because it shows you that you do not have to react to your every thought and emotion. By taking the time to meditate, you give yourself permission to stop reacting, which keeps you from firing up your sympathetic nervous system. With enough time, meditation can give you the ability to choose what you react to, sparing your sympathetic nervous system for when you need it most.

Human Connection & Oxytocin

Intimate conversation, hugs, massages, kisses, and sex all trigger the release of a hormone called oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone that plays a variety of essential roles in the body, most of them related to love and connection. When we are connecting with people we trust, oxytocin is released. This makes us feel safe and close with them (much more so when physical touch is involved). Oxytocin also decreases the stress response and inhibits the amygdala’s response to threats.

Sound

Singing, humming, and laughing all stimulate the parts of the vagus nerve that innervate your larynx and pharynx, which will trigger a parasympathetic response. If you don’t want to sing, hum, or laugh, you can receive the benefit of sound through music instead. Listening to music can completely change your subjective experience. Some of the profound effects that music has on us can be attributed to how it activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Obviously, choosing the right music is paramount to this technique.

Breathing

Changing how you breathe is something you can do right now to relieve stress and pain. Slow, controlled diaphragmatic breaths stimulate the vagus nerve and decrease sympathetic activity.

You can learn how to breathe properly and discover the 10 profound effects that breathing has on the body.

Food

What we eat changes how we feel. If we eat food that we are allergic to or food that is overly processed and full of toxic chemicals, our sympathetic nervous system will be triggered to deal with the threat of the food.

On the other hand, when we consume a nutritious meal that is full of vitamins and minerals, healthy fats, protein, fiber, and carbohydrates, we feel satiated and happy due to the increased parasympathetic response.

We can also relieve chronic stress by complementing our diets with the natural supplements and herbs mentioned here.

Nature

Nature is a powerful antidote to stress and a parasympathetic nervous system activator. Although one of the best ways to get a dose of nature is to go hiking, just looking at pictures of nature increases vagus nerve activation.

Self Awareness

What do you do when you are on the verge of headbutting that guy in the chest? You can’t meditate.  You don’t have food on hand. You ran out of your favorite essential oil.  You have no music. Hugging him is not an option, but you can use the power of your prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex provides you with the ability to be conscious of your decisions and their consequences. While your amygdala is mobilizing all weapons for war, you can use your prefrontal cortex to bring awareness to the situation.

To develop self-awareness, direct your focus with specific questions. Dr. Relly Nadler suggests asking yourself five simple questions to keep your body from being hijacked by your amygdala:

  1. What am I thinking?
  2. What am I feeling?
  3. What do I want now?
  4. How am I getting in my way?
  5. What do I need to do differently now?

These questions will help you shift your focus and find a better way to act. If you can’t remember these questions, simply remind yourself of the “future you”. Every one of your actions comes with consequences that the “future you” will be responsible for.

As you change the way you react to perceived threats, the way your brain perceives those threats will change. Eventually, you will only react to circumstances that legitimately threaten your safety and survival.

Other Brain Hijackers to Watch Out For

There are some important things to mention that hijack your brain that are not addressed by activating the parasympathetic nervous system. Three of the most prevalent (and stealthy) brain hijackers are heavy metals, B-vitamin deficiency, and chronic pain.

Heavy Metals

Mercury, arsenic, manganese, cadmium, lead, and aluminum are among many metals that are toxic to the body. Each metal disrupts the body in different ways by creating oxidative stress and deactivating our antioxidant defense processes.

Metals like mercury and lead easily cross the blood brain barrier and create chaos by impairing the function of genes and enzymes related to the health and communication of brain cells. This means that heavy metals can impair almost every function of the brain from memory to decision making and impulse control.

Fortunately, we can counteract the negative effects of heavy metals with natural foods and supplements. Allicin from garlic, anthocyanin/flavonoids from cherries, grapes, and berries, catechins from tea, cocoa, peach, and berries, and circumin from turmeric all act as antioxidants and can either chelate or deactivate heavy metals. Vitamins A, B1, B6, C, and E, as well as spirulina and chlorella also have potent antioxidant effects that can deactivate these heavy metals.

Related: Top 5 Foods that Detox Heavy Metals and Toxins – With Protocol

B-vitamin Deficiency

The brain accounts for 20% of the body’s energy expenditure and B-vitamins allow the brain to use this energy efficiently and effectively. When we are low in B-vitamins it dramatically changes how we live our lives. For example, just a mild deficiency in vitamin B1 can cause irritability, emotional disturbance, and memory loss, a deficiency in vitamin B3, B6, or B7 can cause depression, and a lack of vitamin B9 and B12 accelerates cognitive decline.

If you consume meat, fish, eggs, leafy greens, and green vegetables as part of your diet then you are probably getting enough B-vitamins. However, it may be best to have a vitamin B complex on hand if you are feeling depressed, fatigued, or not as sharp as usual.

Related: Mental Health, Physical Health & B Vitamins – Nature’s Valium

Chronic Pain

Pain changes the brain. When we experience pain our decision-making abilities plummet and dealing with the pain becomes top priority. As pain becomes chronic, it creates subtle changes in our medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. This causes a minor change in personality that may be characterized by reduced adaptability and resilience and poor decision making.

To learn more about chronic pain and how to relieve it, read our article on chronic pain.

Save Your Brain from Being Hijacked

Your brain is designed to keep you alive. It will jolt you out of a relaxed state to save your life from a perceived threat, even if it’s just a snake that you saw on a YouTube video. By activating your parasympathetic nervous system, you will be able to control your sympathetic nervous system and prevent amygdala hijack. With practice, you will only use your sympathetic nervous system when it is legitimately warranted.

Heavy metals, a deficiency of B-vitamins, and chronic pain can also stealthily hijack your brain. Foods like garlic, turmeric, berries, and chocolate and vitamins A, B1, B6, C, and E can keep heavy metals from damaging your body and brain. It is also important to ensure adequate B-vitamin intake by eating meat, fish, eggs, leafy greens, and green vegetables and supplementing with a B-vitamin complex if you feel depressed or fatigued. And for those who have chronic pain, even if it has been around for decades, it can be relieved and function can be improved with the guidance of the right health practitioner.

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How Health Affects Body Odor

What do people smell like? If you live in a developed country, your answer is likely to mention a perfume or a soap or some variation of a product designed to keep people from smelling. The modern person is terrified of smelling “bad.” The personal care market in the U.S. is projected to take advantage of this fear to the tune of 11 billion in revenue by 2018. But these products merely cover up the way we smell. None of them address or fix the way we smell.

Why Do We Smell?

We smell because of our bacteria.  The sweat produced by the apocrine glands at our armpits, genital area, and other select body locations is largely odorless until it’s broken down by our bacteria into thioalcohols. These thioalcohols are sulfur based compounds, which helps explain why some people smell strongly of onions or garlic. Scientists have identified the bacteria that breaks down into largest amount of thioalcohols, Staphylococcus hominis, but they aren’t sure about the role of the other bacteria on the skin.

Smells are incredibly useful in ways we aren’t even aware of and don’t fully understand. Smells help you recognize family, find a mate or partner, and identify stress or potential danger. In the face of stress, signals from the nose change the way you react to visual cues. The sensitivity to negative facial expressions, for example, increases when the nose smells stress signals. The nearness to stress signals also increases the body’s startle reflex and instinctively causes us to avoid or withdraw from the stressful smell. If you’re a lady, smells can also influence your monthly cycle. Women who smell signals from other women in the ovulatory stage of their cycle are more likely to experience lengthened menstrual cycles.

Smells and Your Health

Sick people have a different odor. Dogs know it. An organization called “Medical Detection Dogs in the U.K.” is using dogs and their noses to detect early warning signs of both prostate and breast cancer. Dogs can also smell changes in blood sugar levels. While humans may not be able to smell illness on that level, unhealthy smells do register. Researchers in Sweden elicited an immune response in volunteers to see if the smell of the response could be detected later. Those who smelled both the T-shirts worn by the volunteers experiencing the immune response and an unworn T-shirt reported that the worn shirt smelled less healthy and less pleasant.

The body gives off multiple warning smells for a variety of conditions. Since your smell is determined by your bacteria, and bacteria determines your overall health, paying attention to these smells can serve as an early warning system. The type and location of the smells can tip you off as to potential health issues.

A persistent sweet or fruity smell in the mouth can be a sign that the body is releasing large amounts of ketones, a sign of diabetes. On the other side of the smell spectrum, “bad” breath smells can indicate that the body is having difficulties processing out toxins properly, releasing them through the mouth instead.

Smells in the groin area, while potentially embarrassing, can also be excellent indicators of a health issue. Pee that smells like ammonia could indicate a urinary tract infection. Especially strong fishy or musty smells are evidence of a bacterial infection, although the actual infection could run the gamut from various sexually transmitted diseases to yeast or Gardnerella infections. Most people have a subtle smell down there, but noticing a stronger than usual musty, fishy, or sour smell allows you to do something about it, like ramping up the cranberry lemonade and the raw veggies and cutting back on the sugar (see Detox Cheap and Easy).

Now let’s talk some shit. While there are lots of caveats and exceptions, for the most part, how gross a bathroom smells after a #2 is dropped is indicative of how poor one’s health is.

Related: Natural Cure for Yeast Infection

Smell also plays a role in how other people perceive you. We’re subconsciously able to smell and identify immune responses. We’re more attracted to the smell of a healthy person. People are more inclined to identify with or seek out a person who smells healthy.

The Impact of Deodorant

If smells tell us so much, why do we cover them up? Because we’ve been conditioned to be terrified of the way we smell. Early deodorant advertising campaigns capitalized on the fear of rejection, first telling women they couldn’t get a man due to their smelly underarms and later convincing men their smell was unprofessional. Deodorants and other scented personal care items are considered a must in the modern world.

There is the distinct possibility that the products that make us smell acceptable in society actually damage our bodies. The lymphatic vessels that enable the spread of breast cancer are located in the armpit where aluminum and paraben-laden deodorants are applied. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin. Parabens are known to have estrogen-like effects and encourage cells in the breast to grow and split. Deodorant may not be the cause of cancer, but an overloaded and toxic lymphatic system is never going to result in good things.

In addition to exacerbating health issues, deodorants wipe out defenses. They don’t discriminate; they kill both the smelly and the beneficial bacteria. Matters are not helped by the increasingly sterile environment we live in, where antibacterial soaps and handwashes ensure that good bacteria is gone before it has a chance to do anything.

Related: How To Make Your Own Natural Deodorant at Home – Recipe

Making Better Choices

Nothing is going to improve your smell like eating well. Upon hearing that bacteria is the reason you smell, it’s easy to want to get rid of it for causing bad smells, but the flip side is the important part. The bacteria causes the good smells, too, and that can be cultivated. A diet consisting of mostly organic, fresh, raw produce with minimally processed food and refined sugars will feed beneficial bacteria. Better bacteria leads to better body odor. Products with aluminum and parabens kill all of that good bacteria and leach into the body, disrupting the body’s working and potentially leading to serious disease. Reading labels and choosing better products or making your own chemical-free products are solutions that will not only leave you smelling better, you’ll feel better.

The Smelly One

No one wants to be the smelly one. But the definition of smell can be relative, as someone who is used to the natural, healthy smell of the body will find perfumes and scented deodorants overwhelming. These products will also never be able to completely mask the body’s natural signals, leaving the user to forever bandage a wound that won’t close.

It all comes back to the bacteria. Treat your microbes right, and you just might save a lot of money on colognes and antiperspirants. And if somebody ever says about you, “He thinks his shit don’t stink!” you can know with confidence that it probably smells a lot better than theirs. Check out the recommended reading below for more on your microbes.

Recommended Reading:
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Sulforaphane – Why Your Cells Need Cruciferous Vegetables

Sulforaphane is a miraculous compound that enhances brain function, promotes healthy fat distribution, and greatly reduces the risk of cancer, brain diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It is like a health insurance policy for your cells. And guess what? It’s all natural. Sounds like another supplement sales pitch, right? That’s what I thought when I first heard about it, but then I dug through the research.

In a scientific article published by Dr. Thomas W. Kensler and his colleagues, sulforaphane is described as one of…

…the most potent naturally occurring inducers of Nrf2 signaling.”

Nrf2 is a cytoprotective (cell-protecting) pathway that protects your cells from oxidative stress and removes toxins from the body. This means that nrf2 plays a key role in preventing and reversing common health issues like:

  • Heart disease
  • Diabetes
  • Cancer
  • Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury and other brain diseases
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • ALS
  • Autism and other behavioral disorders
  • Chronic pain
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Asthma

The best part is that you won’t have to climb to the top of a mountain or scavenge the Amazon jungle and sit through a 6-hour ceremony to reap the benefits of nrf2. All you need to do is eat cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage. Sulforaphane will be yours.

Related: Foods, Vitamins, and Herbs That Kill Cancer

Where Does Sulforaphane Come From?

Technically, sulforaphane does not naturally occur in cruciferous vegetables. A healthy, mature broccoli plant, for example, will contain no sulforaphane. However, as soon as the plant is damaged an enzyme called myrosinase is released that reacts with glucoraphanin, a compound that is sulforaphane’s precursor.

This process is not a gift from nature to ensure human health, it is actually the plant’s defense mechanism. Sulforaphane is designed to be toxic to the plant’s predators. In fact, it can be toxic to humans in large quantities. For example, when we ingest the majority of our calories from raw cruciferous vegetables, we can impair our thyroid function.

However, in small quantities, sulforaphane creates a hormetic effect. A hormetic effect is what happens when we gain beneficial effects from something that would be toxic or lethal in higher doses. For example, daily cold exposure triggers brown fat production. This is a healthier version of fat that increases our energy and heat production. This means that cold exposure has a hormetic effect on our bodies, but if we are exposed to frigid temperatures for too long, we will begin to accumulate frostbite instead of brown fat.

Although you won’t get frostbite from eating too many cruciferous vegetables, very high intakes of these vegetables have been found to cause hypothyroidism. This is because compounds in cruciferous vegetables called glucosinolates can be broken down into goitrins in the body. These goitrins interfere with the production of thyroid hormones causing hypothyroidism. However, if you maintain an adequate iodine intake, you will need to eat a lot more cruciferous vegetables to experience adverse effects. Fortunately, you won’t have to eat a tremendous amount of cruciferous vegetables. The benefits of sulforaphane can be experienced by eating just 3 to 5 servings per week. In fact, doing this may prevent cancer.

Cancer Prevention? Yeah, That Too

If you dig through the literature on sulforaphane, you will find an abundance of studies on cancer. Sulforaphane has been found to prevent the formation of breast, prostate, colon, skin, lung, stomach, and bladder cancer. One study found that a diet of three to five servings per week of cruciferous vegetables is sufficient to decrease the risk of cancer development by 30% to 40%. It was also found that consuming one portion of cruciferous vegetables per week is associated with a significantly reduced risk of oral cavity and pharynx, esophageal, colorectal, breast, and kidney cancer.

These profound effects are not only due to sulforaphane’s cell protecting properties. Sulforaphane also has the capacity to be selectively toxic to malignant cells, while simultaneously enhancing the detoxification of aflatoxins and airborne toxins like smoke. It also has been shown to have potent affects on the brain.

Brain Transformation

Sulforaphane is essential for brain health, especially in healing damaged brains. In cases of traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease, sulforaphane has been found to improve memory and learning abilities. Scientists think that this may be associated with its ability to promote neurogenesis and reduce the aluminum load in the brain.

Autism is also positively affected by sulforaphane. In one study, autistic children that supplemented with sulforaphane showed an improvement in social interaction, abnormal behavior, and verbal communication.

Related: Increase your IQ with the Right Foods, Herbs, Vitamins

Fat Loss & Gut Health

Studies have found that sulforaphane triggers the creation of brown fat in mice. Brown fat is a healthier form of fat storage that actually increases energy consumption.

Sulforaphane also improved the gut flora of mice compared to other mice that were fed the same diet without sulforaphane. This may mean that sulforaphane can change our body composition by promoting brown fat storage and a healthy gut flora while staving off unhealthy, inflammatory white fat.

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

And There’s More

Studies have also found that sulforaphane aids in the reversal of fatty liver disease, preventing lung damage from inhaled toxins, reducing hypertension, and improving mood.

Okay. That’s it.

I am sure there is more, but that is enough of the science for today. Let’s get practical.

How to Get More Sulforaphane

Simply eating cruciferous vegetables is not enough to guarantee that you are getting sulforaphane in your diet. Many different environmental factors can cause glucoraphanin to not be converted into sulforaphane. And glucoraphanin is useless to the body.

One environmental factor that reduces the production of sulforaphane is heat. Studies have found that exposing cruciferous vegetables to temperatures higher than 158 degrees Fahrenheit deactivated the myrosinase enzyme leading to a sharp decrease in sulforaphane production. This suggests that cooking your cruciferous vegetables will rob you of the benefits of sulforaphane. But before you make a raw kale salad or have some raw broccoli to get your daily dose of sulforaphane, it is important to note that myrosinase activity decreases as the cruciferous vegetable matures. Luckily, there is a much easier and tastier way to increase the amount of sulforaphane in your meals.

The Best Source of Sulforaphane

Even if you eat raw broccoli or cauliflower, you are still getting 10 to 100 times less sulforaphane than when you eat 3-day-old broccoli sprouts. In fact, one ounce of broccoli sprouts can convert to as much sulforaphane as one-and-a-half pounds of mature broccoli. This is mainly because myrosinase activity is increased in young sprouts compared to adult plants. This increase in enzyme activity helps ensure that the vulnerable sprout can protect itself into adulthood.

The increased activity of the myrosinase enzyme in broccoli sprouts also helps you to convert the glucoraphanins from other vegetables in your meal to sulforaphane. You can reap these benefits with every salad by garnishing it with broccoli sprouts. Dr. Rhonda Patrick suggests adding around 2.5 ounces of broccoli sprouts to your daily smoothies, salad, or snack.

Supplementing with Broccoli Sprouts

Buying a broccoli sprout supplement may seem like the best option, but don’t let the tempting price of $10 a month fool you. This will cost you 20x more than buying broccoli sprouts in the store, and supplements can’t even guarantee that the myrosinase enzyme will be present or active.

When you buy fresh broccoli sprouts you can at least guarantee that you are getting sulforaphane in your diet. Store bought broccoli sprouts will cost you about $1 per ounce or you can easily grow them at home for the cost of around 9 cents per ounce.

Related: You Need Sulforaphane – How and Why to Grow Broccoli Sprouts

Conclusion

Sulforaphane is a compound that comes with a list of beneficial effects that gets longer as we continue to study it. You can reap the benefits of sulforaphane by eating around 5 servings of raw or minimally cooked cruciferous vegetables a week. However, the simplest and most effective way to consume sulforaphane is by eating broccoli sprouts.

Just one ounce of broccoli sprouts converts to as much sulforaphane as one-and-a-half pounds of mature broccoli. A reliable source of broccoli sprouts is your local organic food store, but this added expense can easily break your grocery budget. The cheapest way to supplement your diet with broccoli sprouts is by growing them at home. After 5-7 days you can have up to a half pound of sprouts for 10x less than the cost of broccoli sprouts in the store.

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