Had a great question today: ” Debbie, I think you’re slightly exaggerating when you say there are NO neutral foods, that all foods either heal or hurt. ” , there’s more, but that’s the gist of the email.

I get this line of thinking; after all, you can eat pop tarts, pasta, ice-cream, bagels, and processed, refined foods for years, and feel pretty normal.  Trust me though:  damage is happening; little by little, irritation and inflammation are adding up, and it will hit you – and your kids – eventually.  Look around you at the disease, poor health, lack of energy, and sky rocketing levels of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, ADHD, autism, auto-immune, endocrine disorders, liver disease, and so on and so on and so on.  70% of America is overweight, 70% of America is on at least 1 prescription drug.  We are a sick, unhealthy, overweight nation, and it’s because of the food we eat.

No one really struggles with the  belief that toxins from cigarettes will eventually harm you.  Who questions that?   If any of us saw our kids or a loved one smoking, we’d say that their lungs are being damaged; we’d say that eventually, they’re going to get lung cancer or lung disease. Unfortunately, the same line of thinking doesn’t happen with a lot of the foods that are harming you and your children.

Those cereals that have the AHA stamp of approval?  They’re sending blood sugar/glucose levels way over what’s healthy.  Every single time you go above 100mg/dcl of sugar in the blood, DAMAGE OCCURS.  Every. Time.  Every time you eat trans fats, damage occurs.  Every. Time.  Every time you eat chemicals that our own FDA says are potentially cancer causing (BHA, BHT, etc), damage occurs.  Every. Time.   Every time you eat a big plate of “whole grain” pasta, you’re sending your blood sugar way over 100 and causing damage.  Every. Time.  Seriously.

The evidence against sugars, flours, bad fats, and chemicals isn’t new and it isn’t insignificant.  It’s massive; and researchers and scientists have been beating the drum for a long time, it’s just that Big Food and Big Pharma beat their drums louder to convince you that you’ll be okay:  eat the foods, then just take their drugs.  Everything will be fine.  But it’s not, is it.

Everyone I work with has done just that: eaten the food and taken the meds.  The result is the level of sickness and fatigue increases.  More drugs are needed to deal with the initial drugs side effects.  Your energy and vitality are stolen from you.  Please, take back your health!  Give your children the foundations to keep or improve theirs.

Our body is a master at trying to fix, maintain, and patch.  Those clogged arteries?  They take an average of 20 years to develop.  Cancers?  Pancreatic cancer is supposed to kill quickly, right? Because the average length of time from detection to death is 3 years,  BUT,  research shows that the average length of time for pancreatic cancer to develop to the point of symptoms and detection is 20 years!    Auto-Immune conditions??  Yes the body is “attacking” itself, but actually, it’s “defending” itself: the immune system is in overdrive from it’s initial attack on a foreign substance: heavy metals, molds, infections, and very very often, there’s a response via chronic inflammation due to food sensitivities:  gluten, casein, etc.   (We’ve talked a lot about “leaky gut”).  Think of the immune system responding to flour and sugar day after day, year after year.  The damage accumulates.  There’s no getting around this.

Oh!  What about more sudden onset conditions, like a cold, or the flu?  They happen when your immune system is either run down or suppressed. Eat sugar, and within one hour your immune system is suppressed 56% for about 24 hours!  Sugar:   reduces white blood cell activity; it reduces antibody activity; it interferes with the transport of Vit C; it causes mineral imbalances; and it inhibits the actions of fatty acids which would normally strengthen cell walls, but instead leaves cell walls more permeable to virus and bacteria.

Use the above scenario and imagine your child sitting down in school, eating their sugary meal, and then being sneezed on by the kid sitting next to them.  Or you having your dessert drink (a la Starbucks) and treat, and then touching a door handle at the office a sick person just touched.  You’ll get sick NOT because “someone at the office got you sick”, but because you didn’t take care of your immune system. You actually inhibited your immune system with your food choices.

Yes, I’m laying Your health on Your lap.  We all have to be our Own Best Health Advocate, and our children’s Health Advocate.  No one else cares as much as we do. My next post will focus on Boosting the Immune System, because you can.  Take control of your health, use your power. Want to learn even more?  Come to my Switch Your Metabolism Class.  Eating for a strong, healthy body leads to a lean body.  Eat for health, and weight loss happens.

Switch Your Metabolism Class: set for Mondays: Oct 7,14,21, 6 – 7:30pm;  and Wednesdays: Oct 9,16,23, 1 – 2:30.  The goal: to teach you how to be a Fat Burner and not a Sugar Burner.  We’ll cover the Paleo Diet, Digestion, Blood Sugar (you HAVE to understand your biology to lose weight and get healthy), Ketosis, Power Cooking, Compliance Strategies and much more.  The class will be held at the Marshall Community Center (4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall Va), which is right off Rt 17 and Rt 66 – it’s easy to get to.  The total cost: $100.  My goal:  to help you understand that your weight and your health are a matter of your Biology, not a low cal/low fat diet that never works, ever; and that you have the Power to change yourself.  Email me if you can attend, or just show up at the door.  Phone and Skype sessions are available if you’re long distance.