When talking about best foods for heart health, most people tend to focus the discussion on fat, saturated versus trans-fat or healthy omega-3s. Of course, the type of fat in your diet does make a difference in the health of your heart, but there are a lot of other foods that can also help keep your heart healthy in slightly different ways. Fruits and vegetables contain no fat, but provide powerful nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber to improve cardiovascular health. Here are the five best fruits and veggies to keep your heart healthy.

1) Strawberries. Two recent studies have found that consuming fresh strawberries may reduce cholesterol and oxidative stress that lead to cardiovascular disease. Both studies required participants to consume a diet rich in strawberries before testing different factors in their blood to determine the effect of the increased strawberry consumption. One of the studies, from the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, required that participants eat 500 grams of fresh strawberries daily for 30 days. During that time the participants’ LDL cholesterol fell an average of 13.7% and triglycerides were reduced by approximately 20%. The reason for this drop may be the anthocyanins in the strawberries, a group of phytochemicals that reduce free radicals.

2) Raisins. These tiny dried grapes may be a great snack for people looking to lower their blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease. A paper recently presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Scientific Sessions found that when raisins were eaten as a snack participants’ blood pressure was about 4.8-7.2% less than participants who ate other snacks. It is believed that the potassium, fiber, and antioxidants in the raisins helped lower participants’ blood pressure.

3) Broccoli. This cruciferous vegetable contains a sulfur-based compound called sulforaphane, which has been shown to reduce blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. Sulforaphane is a isothiocyanate, a group of compounds responsible for the health benefits found in all cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. This group of compounds has been shown to reduce inflammation, help improve blood pressure, and may even reduce the damaging effect of free radicals on the heart.

4) Garlic.  Garlic, onions, chives, and shallots are all part of the allium family of vegetables and have shown extensive health benefits, especially when it comes to cardiovascular disease. Garlic, specifically, has been shown to decrease LDL, increase antioxidant levels, and reduce hypertension. It may also reduce enzymes involved in LDL formation and the synthesis of other types of fats in the body.

5) Yams/Sweet potatoes. These powerful potatoes are consistently on the list of “superfoods” due to their high fiber, beta carotene, vitamin B₆, and potassium content. Fiber helps reduce the absorption of dietary cholesterol in the blood stream, by trapping cholesterol and fat in the digestive system so it is unable to be absorbed. Deficiencies in vitamin B₆ have been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which may be related to the role it plays in decreasing levels of homocysteine. Beta carotene is a powerful antioxidant which may help reduce inflammation and lower cardiovascular risk factors.

Reprinted with permission from Experience Life Magazine.

(DrFrankLipman – Cary Neff) Kale, with its frilly leaves and rich colors, is a gorgeous plant. Although officially a “dark leafy green,” it also comes in vibrant purples and dramatic winter whites. And kale’s beauty runs deep: It is packed with powerful phytonutrients, minerals and fiber.

Kale’s complex flavor wins it fans at breakfast, lunch and dinner. It boasts deep, earthy flavors that can range from rich and meaty to herbaceous and slightly bitter. It tastes supremely healthy — in a good way.

Kale belongs to the Brassica family, which also includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and collards. It is an offshoot of wild cabbage, which originated in Asia Minor.

The ancient Greeks and Romans grew kale in their gardens. Europeans brought kale to the Americas in the 1600s. During WWII, it was a recommended plant for Victory Gardens because it provided so many nutrients. And today, this leafy green is enjoying a revival, particularly among the health-inclined.

Kale is easy to find, and it’s a cinch to work into virtually any style of cooking. Read on for more about kale, as well as a few ways to start experimenting with it.

Nutrition Know-How

• Three servings of leafy greens each day has been found to slow cognitive loss by 40 percent.
• Kale is packed with phytochemicals like sulfur-containing glucosinolates and isothiocyanates that help ward off cancer.
• The fiber in kale helps absorb and sweep out DNA-damaging chemicals and other toxins that enter our bodies.
• Open-leafed plants in the cabbage family, like kale, have higher amounts of vitamins C and A and carotenoids than plants whose leaves don’t see the sun. Carotenoids are powerful antioxidants that also support proper functioning of the immune and reproductive systems and lower the risk of cataracts.
• Kale is an excellent source of minerals, including calcium, and manganese, a mineral the body requires for many physiological functions.
• One cup of kale provides 1,300 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin K, which is important for healthy blood coagulation and maintaining bone mass.

Shopping Tips

• For optimum nutrition, buy kale in season. A light frost sweetens kale, so depending on where you live, fall or winter is the perfect time to enjoy it.
• Choose kale from organic, biodynamic or responsible local growers when possible. Greens grown in better-managed soils help you net maximum flavor and nutrition and minimize exposure to pesticides.
• Whenever you shop for kale, buy lots of it because it cooks down dramatically.
• Keep blanched or precooked leftovers on hand to add to the week’s breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Kitchen Tricks

Washing: Avoid washing kale until just before use, since it will hasten spoilage.

Cutting: To make cutting easier, remove any thick stems (just hold the kale upside down by the stems and pull the leaves off), then stack large greens on top of one another, roll them into tight bundles and slice into desired widths. The stems, finely chopped, can be used in soups.

Blanching: Blanching reduces bitterness and softens thick greens, which is useful if you want to follow up with a quick sauté or freeze the greens for later use. To blanch kale, stir leaves into boiling water for a minute or two, drain, then immediately run under cold water.

Braising: Braising tenderizes and adds flavor. To braise, slow cook 1 pound of greens in a ½ to ¾ cup of seasoned cooking liquid (chicken or vegetable stock or wine) or water for about 20 minutes or until greens are tender and ready to eat.

Sneak-It-In Strategies

• Blend a few chopped-up young kale leaves (but not the stems) into fruit smoothies. It’s a great way to get more greens into the diets of the veggie-averse, especially kids.
• Chop, cook and mix kale with grains to add nutrients and flavor to dishes like barley risotto or rice pilaf.
• Blanched and frozen kale can be crumbled into soups, stews, beans and pasta sauces.
• Substitute sautéed kale for cooked spinach in spanakopita, on pizza, or wherever you typically use greens.
• Whip up a quick summer kale sauté with garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and basil.

Recipes: Kale 3 Ways

Incredibly versatile, kale varieties can be used interchangeably in most recipes, including these classic, easy preparations.

Crispy Kale Chips With Sea Salt

An indulgent side dish for dinner — or a healthier snack alternative to chips. Roasting brings out smoky, buttery flavors and creates an irresistible, melt-in-your-
mouth texture.

Roasting to the point of crispness at high heat does involve some nutritional sacrifices, but it’s such a simple and delicious preparation (and one that has earned kale so many new fans), it’s worth making now and then. You can also cook longer at a lower temperature, if you prefer. And if you’re not afraid of fat, you can be more generous with the oil. For a twist, substitute Cajun spice or lemon pepper for the salt.

Serves two:

4 cups kale (1 large bunch)
1 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. sea salt

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Wash the kale. Fold each leaf in half and tear or cut out the tough stem, then stack and slice into manageable-size pieces.
• Toss pieces in a bowl with olive oil until coated, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.
• Roast for five minutes, then turn carefully with metal tongs and roast another seven to 10 minutes until kale begins turning brown, crisp and brittle.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve promptly.

Asian Greens

This quick sauté works well with kale or virtually any dark leafy green (spinach, Swiss chard, collards, dandelion greens, etc.) to create a healthy, delicious side dish.  By varying the seasonings (subbing in chili-garlic sauce, curry paste or peanut sauce for the soy sauce, for example), you can create an eclectic array of variations.

This basic preparation (sans seasonings) can also work to prep kale for using in other recipes, including a delicious egg scramble (see Web Extra for recipe).

For another classic preparation, sauté kale with small amounts of bacon for flavor, then lightly braise in vegetable stock to soften.

Serves eight:

12 cups kale (3 large bunches)
1 tbs. sesame oil
1 cup diced yellow onions
2 tsp. minced fresh garlic
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tbs. tamari soy sauce
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

• Wash kale, remove stems and cut into 1-inch squares.
• Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil to just coat the bottom of the pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté for one to two minutes. Stir in kale, ginger and vegetable stock.
• Cook until the kale starts to wilt, about two minutes. Stir in tamari soy sauce and pepper. Remove from heat and serve.

Raw Kale Salad

Combining finely chopped kale with lemon and olive oil — then gently massaging them together — breaks down kale’s stiffness and bitterness, leaving you with tender greens bursting with flavor. Don’t skimp on the chopping: Not having to chew through large chunks of raw kale will increase your eating pleasure.

Serves four:

1 large bunch of kale, stems removed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
1 tbs. finely shredded basil

• Place the kale in mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, oil, garlic and salt. Massage the kale to soften for about one minute.
• Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine.
• Allow the salad to rest and soften for about 15 minutes before serving.

Kale Glossary

A quick overview of the most common types of kale:

Green Kale: With vibrant green wrinkly leaves, this is the most common kale found in grocery stores, and you can add it to just about anything!

Red Kale: Similar in texture and flavor to leafy green kale, red varieties — which are actually more purple — add a splash of exotic color, whether raw or cooked.

Tuscan Kale: Discovered in Italy in the 19th century, Tuscan kale (also called dinosaur kale or lacinato kale) has deep green, smooth stems and a rugged, wrinkly texture. It’s great for braising or sautéing and it’s terrific finely shredded and tossed into stir-fries.

Ornamental Kale: Also known as salad savoy, ornamental kale — often green, purple, pink or white — is popular in flower gardens and makes a great garnish. But it’s edible too, as long as it hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides. It’s best harvested when still small and tender.

WEB EXTRA

More Kale Cooking Tips

• Blend a few chopped-up young kale leaves — but not the stems or very thick leaves — into fruit smoothies. It’s a great way to sneak greens into the diets of the veggie-averse, especially kids.
• Add kale to breakfast egg dishes. Try an omelet with par-cooked potatoes, caramelized onions and steamed kale — or a scramble made with tomatoes, bell peppers, green onion and kale sprinkled with feta cheese.
• Whip up a quick summer kale sauté with garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and basil. Sauté kale with small amounts of bacon for flavor, then lightly braise it in vegetable stock to soften. Great with roasted turkey, meatloaf or grilled tofu.
• Chop, cook and mix kale with grains to add nutrients and flavor to dishes like barley risotto or rice pilaf.
• Kale is wonderful in miso soup or tossed with rice noodles.
• Kale’s earthy flavor pairs well with hearty meats, beans and sausages. I particularly like kale with braised pork. I often substitute sautéed kale for cooked spinach in spanakopita, on pizza, or layered with ricotta cheese in calzone.
• Blanched and frozen kale is great to have on hand. If you gently break it in the bag, it can be easily added to simmering marinara sauce, soups, stews and beans.

WEB EXTRA

Kale, Mushroom and Cream Cheese Scramble

Conscious Cuisine®

Sautéed, steamed or braised kale (especially refrigerated leftovers) is an easy and delectable addition to your breakfast eggs — or just about any other meal.

Serves one: 

1/2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 cup julienned kale
1/4 cup diced fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 tbs. finely chopped green onion
1/4 cup small diced tomatoes
2 eggs, lightly whipped
1 tbs. milk
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tbs. cream cheese

• Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Add vegetables and sauté until they begin to sweat, about five minutes.
• Whip the eggs with the milk and season with salt and pepper. Slowly pour into the pan with vegetables. With a heat-resistant spatula, gently push one edge of the egg into the center of the pan, while tilting the pan to allow the uncooked egg to flow in underneath. Repeat with the other edges, until there’s no liquid left.
• Turn off the heat and add the cream cheese, gently stirring and turning the egg until all the uncooked parts become firm. Place on plate and serve with fresh fruit.

Reprinted with permission from Experience Life Magazine.

(NaturalNews – John Phillip) Just in case you needed yet another reason to stay away from added dietary sugar sources, nutritional scientists now confirm that our obsession with consuming sweets is killing us by dramatically increasing risk of death from cardiovascular disease and heart attack. A host of known risk factors including elevated blood pressure and triglycerides, along with cholesterol abnormalities such as oxidized LDL cholesterol and poor HDL/LDL cholesterol ratios are all attributable to a diet filled with empty calories fueled by sugar consumption. Interestingly, researchers have determined that the increase in cardiovascular risk factors is not attributable to weight gain commonly associated with excess sugar intake; sugar directly raises heart disease risk independent of weight gain.

A research study team from New Zealand’s University of Otago, publishing in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has conducted a review and meta-analysis of a large cohort of dietary studies comparing the effects of higher and lower added sugar consumption on blood pressure and lipids, both of which are important cardiovascular risk determinants. Lead study author, Dr. Lisa Te Morenga and her students have uncovered solid and documented evidence that eating sugar has a direct effect on risk factors for heart disease, and is likely to negatively impact blood pressure and blood lipids. Dr. Te Morenga noted, “Our analysis confirmed that sugars contribute to cardiovascular risk, independent of the effect of sugars on body weight.”

Sugar and refined carbohydrates increase risk of hypertension and cholesterol abnormalities

The scientists analyzed a total of 49 nutritional intervention trials conducted between 1965 and 2013. Comparing diets where the only intended differences were the amount of sugars and non-sugar carbohydrates consumed by the participants allowed for the measurement of the effects of these diets on lipids and blood pressure. 37 trials reported the effects of dietary sugars on lipid metabolism while another 12 yielded results on blood pressure. The team then pooled the available data to determine the impact on measurable risk factors that affect human health.

The team noted that some of the data provided by the studies was skewed as the research was funded by the food/sugar industries. When they factored out those biased results, they found a startling pool of data conclusively demonstrating the negative impact of high-sugar diets on cardio-metabolic risk factors. Small increases in blood pressure, as little as 20 mm Hg systolic and diastolic, can double the risk of a heart attack, while changes to cholesterol metabolism can alter the delicate endothelial lining of the arteries affecting plaque formation and blood clotting.

While the food industry and media outlets continue to promote a wide spectrum of processed, sugar packed foods as a means to boost their bottom line profit margins, millions of uninformed people continue to consume 156 pounds of added sugar each year. Recently, sugar has been making news as it has been associated with increased risk of many forms of cancer, as well as stroke and Alzheimer’s dementia. The evidence should be clear to any health-minded individual — eliminate all sources of empty sugar and refined food products in favor of foods in their natural form to dramatically lower the risk of heart disease and most chronic illnesses.

Sources for this article include:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2014/05/07/ajcn.113.081521
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/uoo-sii051414.php
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140515095633.htm

(NaturalNews – Zach C. Miller) Ever wondered why citric acid is listed in almost every food or drink ingredient label? This little product is found in everything from iced tea to hummus and organic salsa. Let’s take a look at what citric acid is and what it’s used for so universally in the food industries.

Citric acid defined

When I first scanned an ingredient label and saw citric acid, I pictured lemon or lime juice extract or something benign and citrus. But actually, modern-day citric acid is made by fermenting glucose. Citric acid appears as a white, powdery substance which tastes similar to lemon juice. It is made by fermenting Aspergillus niger mold, which produces citric acid as a byproduct of metabolism. This peculiar and cheap method of acquiring inexpensive citric acid (as opposed to squeezing actual lemons and limes which is too expensive) was discovered in 1917 by American food chemist James Currie.

Why is it used in so many foods?

Citric acid is used as both a flavor enhancer and a preservative ingredient. It provides a tart, citrus taste to foods to give a more potent flavor, while at the same time balancing the pH of foods and increasing acidity levels to preserve it for longer. In short, it increases the acidity of a microbe’s environment, making it harder for mold or bacteria to survive and reproduce. So it makes sense that citric acid is found in so many modern products when you consider the positive attributes it provides. But these positives don’t come without a price, as you’ll see below.

The problems with citric acid

The problem with citric acid is that it can potentially be produced with GMOs. Citric acid is made with the use of sugar beets or corn, which, if you follow the GMO issue, you know that these two are some of the biggest offenders of GMO foods in the US. There are also some GM versions of A. niger which are used to produce citric acid.

There are also other health implications that can arise from consuming citric acid separate from the GMO issue. Citric acid has been known to irritate the digestive system (ascorbic acid has similar attributes), causing heartburn and damage to the mucous membrane of the stomach. The eyes, skin and respiratory organs can also suffer scratchy, itchy sensations from overconsumption of citric acid. There have also been European studies which suggest that citric acid could be responsible for promoting tooth decay as well.

And so far you will not find cautionary statements of any kind on any products warning you about citric acid. If you choose to try and avoid citric acid, good luck; you’ll find it in almost every food product imaginable, organic or not.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.sciencedaily.com
http://www.alive.com
http://girlmeetsnourishment.com
http://science.naturalnews.com

(NaturalNews – Julie Wilson) The food industry is a sophisticated, calculating and very profitable enterprise that preys on consumer weaknesses, ones they’ve strategically created.

Food sellers have one priority when it comes to consumers, and it’s not their health, but rather assurance. They need you to keep coming back for more, and they achieve this by constructing foods, especially processed foods, with three critical ingredients.

The perfect combination of salt, sugar and fat makes food taste irresistible, triggering intense cravings in the brain. “Salt, sugar and fat are the three pillars of the processed food industry,” said Michael Moss, a New York Times reporter who has investigated the secrets of the food industry’s scientists.

“And while the industry hates the world ‘addiction’ more than any other word, the fact of the matter is, their research has shown them that when they hit the very perfect amounts of each of those ingredients… they will have us buy more, eat more.”

Teams of chemists, physicists and neuroscientists work diligently to develop foods that we can’t stop eating. These perfectly engineered products don’t just leave us craving more but can change the way we feel about healthy foods.

Proof that junk food makes us want fruits and veggies less

Excessive consumption of junk food can change behavior, weaken self-control and lead to overeating and obesity, according to a study by the School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Australia.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers discovered that feeding rats junk food made them fat and reduced their appetite for “novel foods.” Led by Professor Margaret Morris, experts taught young male rats to associate two different sound cues with flavors of sugar water — cherry and grape.

The rats raised on a healthy diet stopped responding to the cues linked to a flavor after having recently indulged in one of them. This biological signal is hardwired into animals, protecting them from overeating and promoting a balanced diet.

Rats that ate a diet filled with junk food for two weeks, including cookies, cakes, pie and dumplings, increased their weight by 10 percent and changed their behavior “dramatically.”

The rats “became indifferent in their food choices and no longer avoided the sound advertising the overfamiliar taste. This indicated that they had lost their natural preference for novelty,” the study observed.

Even after being back on a healthy diet, the behavior continued for quite some time, leading researchers to suggest that junk food causes lasting changes in the reward circuit parts of the rats’ brains.

The orbitofrontal cortex, an area of the brain containing the secondary taste cortex, is responsible for representing the reward value of taste. The food industry has learned to manipulate this decision-making process by using tactics that enhance food appeal.

The “crunch” factor is an important one. Studies show that people associate crunchy food with being more fresh or crispier. The louder the crunch, the better — at least in the food industry’s mind.

Food texture in general plays a big role in our desire to eat. Scientists working for Nestle developed oval-shaped chocolate, designed to melt more smoothly in the mouth, as opposed to rough-edged chocolate bars.

Flavor enhancers are one of the industry’s biggest secrets. Designed to keep their texture, boxed foods contain many ingredients that have nothing to do with taste, but instead preservation.

“Ingredients like that are kind of bundled under what may seem like relatively innocuous labels like ‘natural flavours’ or even ‘artificial flavours,’ when truly they are much more surprising when consumers really understand what it is,” said Bruce Bradley, a former food executive who worked for General Mills, Pillsbury and Nabisco.

“There’s tremendous amounts of money spent behind creating tastes and smells that feel real but in reality are completely artificial.”

Additional sources:
http://www.cbc.ca
http://www.eurekalert.org
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.nytimes.com
http://science.naturalnews.com

(DrFrankLipman – Frank Lipman) Though America still eats more meat than any virtually other country in the world, consumption at home has been on a downward slide for the past several years. Concerns about factory farming methods and its environmental impact; animal welfare; potential health risks as well as the Meatless Monday movement, all have helped fuel the slide. And while some have cut out meat altogether, many people have simply swapped cows for chicken, thinking it a healthier or earth-friendlier option. Not surprisingly, the switchover to chicken has increased demand and the poultry industry has answered the call, in a way that’s anything but healthy for man or bird. In short, chicken’s got problems – and if you’re a poultry-eater, so do you. Let’s break it down:

Factory-farmed Chicken – It’s For The Birds

Factory-farmed chicken, aka Big Chicken, is the stuff of nightmares: over-stuffed coops, floors covered with excrement and thousands of live animals packed so tightly they’re barely able move, much less engage in comfort behaviors like pecking, wing-stretching or simply walking. The result: stressed-out chickens with reduced immunity to the illnesses that rip through over-crowded facilities. The sick birds (and often the well ones) receive multiple courses of antibiotics, traces of which eventually wind up in our bodies, and over time contribute to antibiotic resistance. In short, nothing good is happening down on the ol’ Big Chicken farm.

Factory-farmed Chicken Poisons People and the Environment
The U.S. raises roughly 10 billion chickens a year, which generate billions of pounds of excrement annually. While some is used as fertilizer, there’s literally tons more waste, which, no matter how well-managed, still tends to “spillover,” contaminating air, land and water. And poultry processing is pretty tough on people too.

Workers face daily exposure to the toxic chemicals used to clean and disinfect poultry, which often trigger severe respiratory problems, sinus troubles, rashes and burns. If that weren’t enough, poultry production is also indefensibly and insanely wasteful: it’s estimated that it takes roughly 700 gallons of water and 6 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of chicken meat. Is this any way to spend our precious resources?

What the Cluck? Your Chicken’s Going to China – And Back

In what must be one of the looniest pieces of legislation ever, late this past August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, perhaps thinking everyone was on vacation and wouldn’t notice, cleared the way for your birds to go on an all-expense paid trip from the U.S. to China and back. In China the chicken will be cooked, packaged, and then shipped back to the U.S for sale. Given China’s questionable track record on food safety, this seems like one of the most wasteful and potentially dangerous chicken-processing schemes ever devised. I urge you to fight back by refusing to buy pre-cooked, ready-to-serve or heat ‘n eat, processed chicken products – no matter how much the kids protest!

Connect With Your Chicken – And Look For Pasture-raised

While raising your own chickens is fantastic for those who can, chances are you’re not one of them. The next best thing is to get to know a local chicken producer from whom you can source fresh, pasture-raised birds. You’ll find them through your local farmers market, health food store, food cooperative or CSA – or visit localharvest.com for lists of small-scale, local and organic farms. An added bonus with these types of extra healthy birds: feel free to eat the skin! For years we’ve been brainwashed into thinking skin is bad but if it’s from healthy, pasture-raised chickens, it’s all good, as they say. If it comes from one of the aforementioned good, clean, toxin-free sources, the saturated fat found in chicken is not bad for you – so enjoy that chicken skin you’ve been denying yourself all these years.

Know Your Chicken Lingo!

If you must go the supermarket route, then bone up on the sometimes confusing terminology and buy the best chicken you can afford:

Certified organic is top of the supermarket health heap and pricey, in part because it means no drugs, antibiotics, chemical additives or pesticides. It also means feed without animal by-products and some daily exercise.

Certified humane and handled means your chicken’s been raised according to standards that require ample space, shelter and gentle handling to limit stress, and it prohibits the use of antibiotics and additives.

Free range means the chickens get to go to an outside, fenced-in pen every day, though there’s no requirement for how much time they spend outdoors.

Raised without antibiotics means just that, but it doesn’t mean drug-free – these chickens are allowed to be dosed with other meds.

Raised without hormones is a label you may often see, but it’s fairly meaningless, as the USDA doesn’t allow their use in chicken in the first place. (Hormones are more commonly used in beef.)

Natural or farm-raised are fairly useless terms, which tells consumers nothing about the way the chicken was raised, what it was fed or if it was treated with meds and antibiotics. Assume these chickens are the most industrial of all!

Take a Page From Grandma and Lighten Up

With the rise of Big Chicken and availability of cheap, plentiful, low-quality factory-farmed birds, we’ve come to expect a chicken in every pot, every day. Look back just a generation or two and you’ll see that for some of our parents and many of our grandparents, poultry was a special occasion treat, not an every day event. Perhaps it’s time we take a page from Granny’s book and start cutting back on chicken consumption to help the environment, the animals, the workers and ourselves. Here are a few suggestions on how to get the ball rolling:

Consider taking part in the Meatless Mondays movement, and add your own Chicken-free Thursdays to help broaden your culinary horizons, be kinder to the earth and to support healthy gut bacteria.

Think of chicken as the side show, not the main event….when you do eat chicken, eat smaller amounts.

Remember, if you are scaling back on animal products, do so without trying to fill up on processed non-meat alternatives, which tend to be full of health-sapping additives and preservatives.

BOTTOM LINE: I encourage you to buy the best, healthiest, freshest, pasture-raised, organic poultry (and meats, too!) possible – and savor every bite.

(NaturalNews – Cindy L. Tjol) For those living in US, about 70 percent of the processed foods one consumes daily actually contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Should this be of concern? Yes! Studies, few as there are, show a strong link between GM-foods and cancer. And it is time to learn about them.

Proponents of GM-foods have been claiming that these “new foods” are safe, but they are actually backed by little or no evidence, except the argument that GM-foods are “substantially equivalent” to non-modified foods so they can be regarded as safe as the latter. At the same time, studies indicating the ill-effects of GM-foods on human health are often hijacked before their completion, or denounced if leaked into the open. It is no wonder that many people are taken aback by the horrendous findings on GM-foods below.

GM-foods and nutritional deficiency

The GM process often results (unintentionally) in the disruption of functioning genes in the genetically modified organism. In other words, while the GM-tomato may look like the “real” thing, it could actually be totally different in substance and nutritional value from its original form, because the genes that give the tomato its very nature have been altered.

Indeed, the existing few studies that analyzed GM-foods already on the market found that these modified foods were significantly lower in nutritional value than non-GM-foods. This means that the long-term consumption of mainly GM-foods in one’s diet could bring about nutritional deficiencies. And when it comes to cancer, nutritional deficiencies have been found to be a major contributing factor.

GM-foods and toxic genes

The only human feeding study on GM-soybeans found that a gene inserted into soybean to make it herbicide-tolerant spontaneously transferred out of the soybean into the DNA of intestinal bacteria in the human subjects. This means that even if the subjects stop eating GM-soybeans, the bacteria in their guts will continue to produce the herbicide-tolerant protein in their bodies.

Imagine what happens then when GM-corn with a gene inserted for producing a pesticide are eaten. One’s gut bacteria could ensure a lifetime supply of the pesticide, even if one diligently keeps away from crops grown with chemicals. And if this pesticide can kill insects, over the long-term, it is not inconceivable that it can kill a human, if not bring about degenerative diseases like cancer.

Indeed, there had been many reports of farm animals dying from consuming GM-crops inserted with the Bacillus-thuringiensis-pesticide-producing gene.

And in what is considered the first ever published study on the long term effects of consuming GM-foods, Gilles-Eric Seralini (from the University of Caen) and his team found that rats developed huge tumors, incurred widespread organ damage and eventually died prematurely, after ingesting GM-corn and trace levels of a chemical fertilizer (known as Roundup) often used with GM-crops.

GM-crops and farming chemicals

Designed to be tolerant of larger quantities of herbicides and other farming chemicals, GM-crops actually allow for more of these chemicals to be used to increase yields. A study on more than 8,000 university-based field trials found that farms cultivating GM-soybeans (known as Roundup Ready soybeans) actually use 2 to 5 times more herbicides (i.e. Roundup) than farms using traditional weed control.

This means that even if the above harms of GM-foods were not consequential (but they are), the amount of farming chemicals used in growing GM-crops would be enough to poison a person. And not surprisingly, farming chemicals like herbicides and pesticides are found to directly cause cancer, if not death.

Moral of the story: Stay as far away from GM-foods as to lower the risk of cancer.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://truthwiki.org
Bollinger, Ty. Cancer: Step Outside The Box. 5th ed. USA: Infinity 510 510 Partners, 2011. Print.
Mercola, Joseph, Dr., and Pearsall, Kendra, Dr. Take Control of Your Health. Schaumburg, IL: Mercola.com, 2007. Print.
Murray, Michael, ND., Pizzorno, Joseph, ND., and Pizzorno, Lara, MA, LMT. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. New York, NY: Atria Books, 2005. Print.

Recommended Supplements (These supplements help detoxify GMOs):

• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula
• FloraMend Prime Probiotic – Thorne Research
• Fundamental Sulfur Powder (MSM Powder) – Douglas Labs
• Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse Formula
• Shillington’s Intestinal Detox

Further Reading:

• How to Avoid GMOs
• Foods That Are GMO
• The Difference Between Heirlooms, Hybrids, and GMOs
• The Unspoken Link Between GM-Foods and Cancer
• GMO-Bananas are Going Into Human Trials