Natural Cures For Dummies. Joe Kraynak

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dairy products contain hormones and other potentially harmful substances, such as D-galactose, a carbohydrate associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, and neurodegeneration. Dairy can make you fat and may contribute to insulin resistance and osteoporosis (weak, porous bones). In addition, dairy is highly allergenic and addictive. Contrary to the ads, it doesn’t do a body good.

      Replace dairy with high-calcium foods that are actually good for you: Brazil nuts, broccoli, flaxseeds, kale, sardines, spinach, walnuts, and wild Alaskan salmon. Replace cow milk with unsweetened, fortified oat, almond, hemp, or rice milk. Try dairy-free coconut yogurt and kefir; look for products with less sugar and additives. Switch to vegan-style rice milk cheeses as substitutes.

       Eggs

      Eggs may be good or bad for you. To find out, take a break from eggs for 28 days and then start eating them again once or twice a week. (Be sure to read labels carefully, because many food products contain eggs.) Journal how well you feel on and off eggs. If you feel better without eggs, you may have an egg allergy or sensitivity and may want to avoid them entirely.

      However, don’t be too eager to eliminate eggs altogether from your diet. Eggs are a super food. The yolks, which many anti-egg people suggest you throw away, are a nutritional gold mine. And contrary to popular belief, eggs aren’t the prime culprit in raising serum cholesterol or increasing the risk of heart disease.

      

If you can eat eggs, buy eggs collected from pastured chickens that haven’t been fed a diet of corn and soy. Don’t be fooled by eggs labeled “free-range” or “organic,” because these labels are part of a marketing ploy by big agricultural producers. Although they might be allowed a small space to range and may be fed organic grain-based feed, these chickens are not pastured as nature intended. They’re better than conventional in that they don’t contain GMO-feed and hormones, but eggs from farm-raised pastured chickens are best.

       Corn

      Nearly 90 percent of all corn is genetically modified. The DNA in the corn marries the DNA of gut flora, contributing to microbial imbalance and leaky gut (see Chapter 13).

      Corn also contains aflatoxin, a known carcinogen (cancer-causing agent); lectins, which can cause inflammation and interfere with absorption of nutrients; and zein, a kind of gluten that is okay for people with celiac disease but is still inflammatory to many and may also contribute to autoimmune and gut-related health issues.

      

Replace corn with healthier alternatives, including organic beets, green peas, snow peas, sweet potato, and winter roots or squashes (acorn or butternut squashes, parsnips, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and turnips). If you do eat corn, eat it sparingly, and eat only non-GMO varieties. Eliminate from your diet high-fructose corn syrup, a known toxin that raises triglyceride levels and blood pressure; fails to stimulate insulin production, resulting in overeating and contributing to obesity; increases intestinal permeability, enabling food particles and other large molecules that are supposed to stay inside the intestines to leak out into surrounding areas; and causes inflammation.

       Peanuts

      Even if you’re not allergic to peanuts, avoid them as much as possible. Peanuts and peanut butter are likely to contain aflatoxin, a carcinogen produced by the Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus molds, and lectins, indigestible proteins that commonly trigger an immune response. In addition, most commercial peanut butters are high in sugar and trans fats (see upcoming sections covering these items).

      Replace peanuts with healthier alternatives: almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, coconut (unsweetened), macadamia nuts, walnuts, and pecans (and butters made from these nuts), but read the labels carefully to make sure these healthy nuts don’t contain unhealthy added ingredients, such as cottonseed oil.

       Sugar

      Sugar is a major factor contributing to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, and the average person in the U.S. consumes a whole lot of it – 152 pounds of sugar and 146 pounds of flour (which quickly converts to sugar in the body) per year.

      Don’t add sugar to foods or beverages, and avoid foods or beverages with added sugar. Read labels closely to identify added sugar. Most ingredients that end in -ose are sugars, including sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, lactose, high-fructose corn syrup, and glucose solids. Sugar goes by other names, as well: agave, barley malt, brown rice syrup, buttered syrup, caramel, carob syrup, corn syrup, dextran, dextrin, diatastic malt, ethyl maltol, fruit juice, golden syrup, honey, malt syrup, maltodextrin, maple syrup, molasses, refiner’s syrup, sorghum syrup, and turbinado.

      

Taper sugar consumption gradually. Sudden elimination of sugar is likely to make you feel exhausted, irritable, and famished. To ease the transition, replace the worst sugars (agave, brown rice syrup, corn syrup, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, and sucrose) with lower impact sugars – brown sugar, cane sugar, cane juice, coconut nectar, raw honey, grade B maple syrup, and stevia (not Truvia, which is primarily a GMO-corn-based sugar alcohol combined with a small amount of stevia extract and “natural flavors,” whatever those are).

      

Be very careful of foods advertised as low-fat or nonfat. In almost all cases, the fats have been replaced with sugar.

       Artificial sweeteners

      Steer clear of artificial sweeteners, which stimulate insulin production, increase sugar cravings, and stimulate glycation, a major cause of premature aging and cognitive decline. Artificial sweeteners include aspartame, NutraSweet, saccharin, Splenda, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium (Acesulfame K or Ace K). Truvia is another sugar substitute to avoid.

      

Try using xylitol as your sugar substitute. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol extracted from birch trees and other plant sources. It helps prevent cavities and plaque formation on teeth and is used in nasal sprays to reduce ear infections in children. Start slowly (less than 15 g daily), because xylitol may cause gastric distress if you take too much too quickly.

       Trans fats

      Although some meat and dairy products contain trans fats (trans fatty acids), most trans fats are manufactured through a process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil, creating a product that’s solid at room temperature. Food producers love trans fats because they’re inexpensive, improve the texture of food, and increase a food’s shelf life.

      Unfortunately, trans fats are linked to numerous chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and brain and cognitive disorders. In addition, trans fats replace the healthy fats that the body requires to function optimally. Your goal is to reverse this trend by reducing your consumption of trans fats and increasing your consumption of healthy fats – omega-3 fatty acids found primarily in fatty fish and in olives, nuts, and seeds.

      

Read labels closely and eliminate anything that contains trans fat, hydrogenated oil, or partially hydrogenated oil – even if the label claims “0 grams trans fats.” (Government regulations allow manufacturers to claim that their products contain no trans fats if they contain up to 0.5 grams trans fat per serving.) Trans fats are often found in margarine, shortening, fried foods, peanut butter, store-bought snack items (cookies, crackers, chips, microwave popcorn),

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