“Today foods are processed in ways specifically designed to get us to buy and eat more by pushing our evolutionary buttons — our inborn preferences for sweetness and fat and salt.  These tastes are difficult to find in nature but cheap and easy for the food scientist to deploy, with the result that food processing induces us to consume much more of these rarities than is good for us.”  Michael Pollan

Where’s the PETA agent when you really need him (or her)?

But suddenly, the food he has eaten turns sour within him, a poisonous venom in his stomach.  (Job 20:14; NLT)

Monday, I wrote about a novel diet idea — eat food. The gist was to avoid the food wanna-bees in the center aisles of the super market and pretty much stick to the outside aisles where the food tends to be fresh and, well…food. The prepackaged manufactured stuff in the center aisles is largely someone’s chemistry experiment with you and I as the guinea pigs.

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“In response to growing awareness about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, what does the manufacturer of one of the world’s most notable artificial sweeteners do? Why, rename it and begin marketing it as natural, of course.”  Ethan Huff

How aware are you of the aspartame in the food you’re eating?

But the result is as bitter as poison, sharp as a double-edged sword.  (Prov. 5:4; NLT)

If you’ve followed any of what I’ve written over the past few years, you know that one of my main “soapbox” arguments revolves around the dangers of aspartame. I will tell all who will listen (and even those who won’t) about this evil, artificial poison. It is now found in nearly 6,000 consumer foods and beverages, including (but not limited to) diet sodas and other soft drinks, instant breakfasts, cereals, chewing gum, cocoa mixes, frozen desserts, gelatin desserts, laxatives, pharmaceutical drugs and supplements, shake mixes, and yogurt.

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“Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other. It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, and integrated wholeness.”  Stephen R. Covey

What steps can you take to be more proactive about living in wholeness?

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.  (2 Peter 3:1; NIV)

Jerry and I talk a lot about wellness.  We’re passionate about educating others on how they can obtain and maintain wellness and walk in optimal health, ultimately fulfilling their God-given destiny while here on earth.  When we walk in wellness, we’re also walking in wholeness.

Dictionary.com states that wholeness is, “The quality or state of being whole, entire, or sound; entireness; totality; completeness.”  Let’s look at seven ways that one can “Live in Wholeness.”

Attitude of gratitude.  When one is thankful, life is better.  The more we think of ways to be thankful, the more things occur for us to be thankful.  A wonderful exercise is to end a day with speaking out loud five or ten things that happened that day that you’re thankful for.

Accept and offer forgiveness.  Offering forgiveness to someone when we’ve been wronged brings freedom to us.  We’re set free from the bitterness that has the potential to destroy us.  Accepting forgiveness from the Lord and from others when we’ve been wrong also will bring restoration and wholeness to us.

Accelerate activity.  Moving more not only helps our physical body become healthier, but our emotions, our ability to handle stress, and our sleep are greatly impacted positively the more we move and develop consistent exercise routines.  Learn what your body loves to do to move more.

Adequate sleep.  Most people don’t get enough sleep nor is their sleep deep and sound.  Sound sleep is essential for living a life of wholeness.  It is the ultimate “pause that refreshes.”  Develop a consistent bedtime, preferably before 10:30 PM and sleep in as dark a room as possible.

Ample hydration.  We all know that water is essential for life.  Water is the single most important nutrient for our bodies.  Without adequate hydration of clean, pure water, no one can walk in wholeness.  Become a serious water drinker, drinking at least half of your body weight in ounces of water per day.

Avoid artificial food and aspartame.  Eat real food.  Eat whole food to become whole.  Eat foods that rot or spoil, but eat them before they do.  Think vegetables, fruits, lean, clean meats and poultry, eggs, raw nuts and seeds, beans, avocados, olive and coconut oil.

Arsenal of supplements.  It’s known science that it is no longer possible to get all of the nutrients we need for life and health from the food we eat.  We must add supplementation to our diets for ultimate wholeness.  Whole foods vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, probiotics, essential fatty acids, and glyconutrients are some of the major players needed.

Father, thank You that You have given us all that we need to walk in wholeness.  Direct our steps in acquiring all that is necessary.

UNCOMMON Wellness Coaching

Blessings on you as pursue wholeness.

“A Monsanto declassified file stated that ‘we can’t afford to lose one dollar’ to worries about PCB toxicity.”  Organic Consumers Association

How much GE food are you eating?

They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips. Selah  (Psa. 140:3; NIV)

Talking about this subject will not win me any friends nor will I have my phone ringing off the hook with people wanting more information.  However, those of you who know me, know that I feel “called” to reveal truth (and expose lies) around the food and drug industry.  The issue of GMO foods can no longer slide under the radar.  Today’s link offers a mouth-dropping expose on the company responsible for the rapid demise of our food supply. 

For years I’ve known that Monsanto was responsible for manufacturing and marketing aspartame, the artificial sweetener that is poisoning our nation, one soft drink at a time.  In more recent years, great controversy has arisen around this entire GMO food subject.  I’m not extremely  knowledgeable about this, but there is enough information now available to warrant blowing the whistle of alarm.

According to Wikipedia.com, a genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GEO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.  With this technology, DNA molecules from different sources are combined into one molecule to create a new set of genes.  This DNA is then transferred into an organism and causes it to acquire modified traits.

Another source says it a little more directly. “Genetic Engineering (GE) is a radical new technology that manipulates the genes and DNA — the building blocks of all living things. Unlike traditional breeding, genetic engineering creates new life forms that would never occur in nature, creating new and unpredictable health and environmental risks. To create GE crops, genes from bacteria, viruses, plants, animals and even humans have been inserted into plants like soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton.”  This goes totally against God’s design for life and health.

In his book, Seeds of Deception, Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating, Jeffrey Smith, a former executive with the leading independent laboratory testing for GM presence in foods, documents the serious health dangers of these foods and explains how corporate influence and government collusion have been used to cover them up.  Today’s article merely introduces the subject of GMO foods. There is other valuable information available on the Internet and through published books.  Begin searching out the truth on what you’re really eating.

Prayer Power
Father, we don’t walk in fear but we do want to take care of our bodies in a responsible way.  Thank you for giving us wisdom to discern truth.

Link of the Day
The Most Evil Company on the Planet — Monsanto

Blessings on you as you continue to learn more about what you’re eating and drinking.
 

“Health is a large word.  It embraces not the body only but the mind and spirit as well…and not today’s pain or pleasure alone, but the whole being and outlook of man.”  James H. West

To what lengths are you willing to go to obtain and maintain a healthy body, soul and spirit?

They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.  (Ps 73:4; NIV)

For many of you, today’s DG will not be new information, however it may be a refresher of areas you want to address and work on.  Although there are many facets to living a lifestyle of health and wholeness, today I’ll share five simple things that you can begin to incorporate into your daily life that will reap great dividends for you and your family for years to come.

1.  Begin drinking half of your body weight in ounces of water per day.   For example, someone weighing 128 pounds would need to drink 64 ounces (1/2 of 128) of water per day to provide adequate hydration.  If the number of ounces you need seems daunting, begin by measuring how much water you actually do drink in a day.  If you’re not even drinking 32 ounces of water per day, then make that your first goal.  Then work up to 64 ounces, then 72 ounces and so on until you reach your needed goal.

2.  Begin to move more.  Most everyone knows the value of exercise nowadays.  Exercise is NOT an option.  We have to move more.  Find something you can do and do it, consistently.  Begin walking for 20 minutes, three times a week, then work up to five times a week.  Then increase from 20 to 40 minutes.  Or buy an aerobics, Pilates or kick boxing DVD.  Or join a gym or fitness center.  Don’t be intimidated.  Gyms are full of people like you and me who want to stay fit and flexible.

3.  Eat more God-foods or superfoods.  Research has shown that certain foods really do offer a power punch when it comes to providing our bodies with necessary nutrients.  They’re often called superfoods.  I call them God-foods, as most of them are created by God and not man.  Examples of superfoods are fresh, raw fruits such as apples, pears, and berries; vegetables such as broccoli, beans, garlic, onions, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans and cashews are other superfoods along with wild caught salmon, halibut and clean meats such as free-range chicken and turkey and grass-fed beef.

4.  Stop using, (notice I didn’t say minimize) artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or nutrasweet and sucralose or Splenda.  They will never contribute to living a healthy life. Begin reading food labels and if you see those ingredients in a product, pass it by.  Also avoid hydrogenated fats and oils such as partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil.

5.  Take note of your bedtime.  Ideally be in bed by 10:00 PM;10:30 at the latest.  If you’ve been accustomed to staying up late, begin a process of going to bed at least 30 minutes before your usual time and then eventually get to bed by the ideal time.  Examine the reasons why you’re not getting to bed earlier and realize that one can never be totally healthy if they’re staying up past midnight, even if doing all of the other things necessary for optimal health.

Prayer Power
Lord, we’re so blessed with the bodies You have created for us.  May we honor You with how we take care of them.

Link of the Day
SuperFoods

Blessings on you as you examine how you can make improvements in your health.
 

“Artificial sweeteners such aspartame and sucralose–the kinds of chemical sweeteners found in diet soft drinks and many low-carb food products–actually promote obesity by tricking the body into thinking that sweet-tasting foods and drinks don’t contain as many calories as they really do.”  International Journal of Obesity

What would you do if you learned that your “lack of knowledge” was causing you bodily harm?

Destruction is certain for those who say that evil is good and good is evil; that dark is light and light is dark; that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. (Isa. 5:20, NLT)

I realize that today’s Daily Gram could make me very “unpopular” with some folks…and many may say I’ve gone from preaching to meddling.  As many of you know when I’m passionate about something, I’ll speak what I believe to be truth, even if it means someone may take offense.

I’m often asked about Splenda.  Splenda, is the brand name for sucralose, which is chemically converted from cane sugar to a no-calorie sweetener. It isn’t recognized as sugar by the body and therefore is not metabolized.  Splenda is marketed as a “healthful” and “natural” product since it is derived from sugar. However, its chemical structure is very different from that of sugar, and sucralose is actually a chemical substance.  As of 2006, only six human trials had been published on Splenda. The longest trial at that  time had lasted only four days, and looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay, not human tolerance. No studies have ever been done on children or pregnant women.

Sucralose is a synthetic chemical that was originally discovered in a laboratory. In the process of making sucralose, three chlorine molecules are added to a sucrose or sugar molecule. The chemical process to make sucralose alters the chemical composition of the sugar so much that it is converted to a fructo-galactose molecule. This type of sugar molecule never occurs in nature and therefore your body does not possess the ability to properly metabolize it.

There were a number of side effects noted when Splenda was tested on animals.  A few of those side effects included a decrease in red blood cells; enlargement of  the colon, liver, brain and kidneys; shrinking of the thymus gland and ovaries; and an increase in cataracts.

People who use Splenda have reported having abdominal pain, gas, bloating, nausea, blurry vision, headaches, shortness of breath, frequency of urination at night, depression, joint pain, heart palpitations, and dizziness.

There is much more information available on the dangers of Splenda.  Most of what I’ve written here has come from Dr. Joseph Mercola, Dr. Russell Blaylock, Dr. Don Colbert and Mike Adams.  May I challenge you to rethink your use of this sweetener?  Begin to read food labels to determine if sucralose is in your diet…and if is, get it OUT!

Prayer Power
Lord, thank You for showing us truth and giving us the grace to walk in what You show us.

Link of the Day
Taco Soup

Blessings on you as you read your food labels.