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Genetically Modified Foods

You hear a lot about GMO's these days.  What is the best way to avoid GMO's?  Eat whole foods!  What exactly is a GMO?  Genetically modified foods have had foreign genes inserted into their genetic codes.  

"Genes change every day by natural mutation and recombination, creating new biological variations. Humans have been exploiting this for centuries—shuffling genes in increasingly systematic ways and using extensive crossing and artificial selection—to create many combinations that would never otherwise have occurred. Just about everything we eat is derived from livestock, crops, and micro-organisms bred specifically to provide food. Humans have also redistributed genes geographically: the soybean is native to Asia but is now grown throughout the Americas, and the potato, native to the American continent, is grown throughout the temperate world. DNA has never been “static,” neither naturally nor at the hand of people.

Genetic modification is an extension of this. However, unlike conventional breeding, in which new assortments of genes are created more or less at random, it allows specific genes to be identified, isolated, copied, and introduced into other organisms in much more direct and controlled ways (see boxes). The most obvious difference from conventional breeding is that genetic modification allows us to transfer genes between species."  Leighton@campden.co.uk

The average American’s diet relies heavily on corn, not so much in its vegetable form, which is okay in moderation, but in its more toxic forms like high-fructose corn syrup, which is found in a lot of the fake, processed foods available in your grocery store or restaurants.  If you are vegan or vegetarian, you probably get soy in your diet as a protein substitute. 

Potential benefits of genetically engineered food include:

• More nutritious food
• Tastier food
• Disease- and drought-resistant plants that require fewer environmental resources (water, fertilizer, etc.)
• Decreased use of pesticides
• Increased supply of food with reduced cost and longer shelf life
• Faster growing plants and animals
• Food with more desirable traits, such as potatoes that absorb less fat when fried
• Medicinal foods that could be used as vaccines or other medications

Potential risks include:

• Modified plants or animals may have genetic changes that are unexpected and harmful.
• Modified organisms may interbreed with natural organisms and out-compete them, leading to extinction of the original organism or to other unpredictable environmental effects.
• Plants may be less resistant to some pests and more susceptible to others.

 It is easy to see that there are perceivable benefits to genetically modifying our foods.  It is less apparent to many that there can be a huge and detrimental impact upon our health by eating the same.  So...what should we do?

1. Remove processed foods from your diet and eat whole foods.
2. Eat animal protein that is organic and naturally raised.

It’s virtually impossible to provide a complete list of genetically modified food (GM food) in the United States because there aren’t any laws for genetically modified crops!

Some estimates say as many as 30,000 different products on grocery store shelves are "modified." That's largely because many processed foods contain soy. Half of North America's soy crop is genetically engineered!

Rapeseed - Resistance to certain pesticides and improved rapeseed cultivars to be free of erucic acid and glucosinolates. Gluconsinolates, which were found in rapeseed meal leftover from pressing, are toxic and had prevented the use of the meal in animal feed. In Canada, where "double-zero" rapeseed was developed, the crop was renamed "canola" (Canadian oil) to differentiate it from non-edible rapeseed.

Honey - Honey can be produced from GM crops. Some Canadian honey comes from bees collecting nectar from GM canola plants. This has shut down exports of Canadian honey to Europe.

Cotton - Resistant to certain pesticides - considered a food because the oil can be consumed. The introduction of genetically engineered cotton plants has had an unexpectedly effect on Chinese agriculture. The so-called Bt cotton plants that produce a chemical that kills the cotton bollworm have not only reduced the incidence of the pest in cotton fields, but also in neighboring fields of corn, soybeans, and other crops.

Rice - Genetically modified to contain high amounts of Vitamin A. Rice containing human genes is to be grown in the US. Rather than end up on dinner plates, the rice will make human proteins useful for treating infant diarrhoea in the developing world.

Soybean - Genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides - Soy foods including, soy beverages, tofu, soy oil, soy flour, lecithin. Other products may include breads, pastries, snack foods, baked products, fried products, edible oil products and special purpose foods.

Sugar cane - Made resistant to certain pesticides. A large percentage of sweeteners used in processed food actually comes from corn, not sugar cane or beets. Genetically modified sugar cane is regarded so badly by consumers at the present time that it could not be marketed successfully.

Tomatoes - Made for a longer shelf life and to prevent a substance that causes tomatoes to rot and degrade.

Corn - Resistant to certain pesticides - Corn oil, flour, sugar or syrup. May include snack foods, baked goods, fried foods, edible oil products, confectionery, special purpose foods, and soft drinks.

Sweet corn - genetically modified to produces its own insecticide. Officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have said that  thousands of tonnes of genetically engineered sweetcorn have made their way into the human food supply chain, even though the produce has been approved only for use in animal feed. Recently Monsanto, a biotechnology food producer, said that about half of the USA's sweetcorn acreage has been planted with genetically modified seed this year.

Canola - Canola oil. May include edible oil products, fried foods, and baked products, snack foods.

Potatoes - (Atlantic, Russett Burbank, Russet Norkatah, and Shepody) - May include snack foods, processed potato products and other processed foods containing potatoes.

Flax - More and more food products contain flax oil and seed because of their excellent nutritional properties. No genetically modified flax is currently grown. An herbicide-resistant GM flax was introduced in 2001, but was soon taken off the market because European importers refused to buy it.

Papaya - The first virus resistant papayas were commercially grown in Hawaii in 1999. Transgenic papayas now cover about one thousand hectares, or three quarters of the total Hawaiian papaya crop. Monsanto, donated technology to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, for developing a papaya resistant to the ringspot virus in India.

Squash - (yellow crookneck) - Some zucchini and yellow crookneck squash are also GM but they are not popular with farmers.

Red-hearted chicory - (radicchio) - Chicory (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum) is popular in some regions as a salad green, especially in France and Belgium. Scientists developed a genetically modified line of chicory containing a gene that makes it male sterile, simply facilitating the production of hybrid cultivars. Today there is no genetically modified chicory on the market.

Cotton seed oil - Cottonseed oil and linters. Products may include blended vegetable oils, fried foods, baked foods, snack foods, edible oil products, and smallgoods casings.

Tobacco -The company Vector has a GMO tobacco being sold under the brand of Quest® cigarettes in the U.S. It is engineered to produce low or no nicotine.

Meat - Meat and dairy products usually come from animals that have eaten GM feed.

Peas - Genetically modified (GM) peas created immune responses in mice, suggesting that they may also create serious allergic reactions in people. The peas had been inserted with a gene from kidney beans, which creates a protein that acts as a pesticide.

Vegetable Oil - Most generic vegetable oils and margarines used in restaurants and in processed foods in North America are made from soy, corn, canola, or cottonseed. Unless these oils specifically say "Non-GMO" or "Organic," it is probably genetically modified.

Sugarbeets - May include any processed foods containing sugar.

Dairy Products - About 22 percent of cows in the U.S. are injected with recombinant (genetically modified) bovine growth hormone (rbGH).

Vitamins - Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is often made from corn, vitamin E is usually made from soy. Vitamins A, B2, B6, and B12 may be derived from GMOs as well as vitamin D and vitamin K may have "carriers" derived from GM corn sources, such as starch, glucose, and maltodextrin.

Sources

 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-313X.2001.01119.x/full 

 http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/002432.htm

 http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/gm-foods.php#ixzz1urCkFYvD

 http://www.bmj.com/content/318/7183/581.short

 http://archlinux.arch.ttu.edu/w/images/d/d8/Genetically_Modified_Foods.pdf

 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/285/5426/384.short

 http://promitheas.iacm.forth.gr/lm/?p=2463

~Cathy Sykora

Evolving

Diet and health seems like it is ever evolving.  As soon as we figure one thing out...another challenge pops up.  For me, it is weight.  While I spent the last year and a half eating healthy, I somehow got stuck in a low calorie...low metabolic spot.  Which some doctors say is good, but if you want to lose a little weight...forget it.  There is a problem with eating totally raw for some of us.  I am back to blogging to share my progress.

I ate almost anything I wanted when I was in England and I did not get sick.  Isn't that funny.  I have been back for less than a week and clearly that approach is not working for me.  Pure raw is not the answer either...unless I just want to say...I am healthy and not worried about energy and weight.  So, I am making some changes effective today.  

Exercise daily for 25 minutes HIIT

Walk at least 5 miles per day

50% raw

Lean meat one meal daily

Eggs every 3 days

No sugar

No wheat

No dairy

Daily wheatgrass

Daily green juice

Daily immunity drink

That will be a lot of calories for me, so I will have to maintain the exercise without fail.

Tomorrow I will post my meal plan.

I am grateful for 

sunshine

clean thinking

a bright future

energy to grow and learn

hugs

angels

Monday 2/27/12

Somehow I got a late start to eating today.  I didn't eat until 1:40.  I know it isn't good...but sometimes that happens.  I did get a lot done.  My newsletter is almost complete and I worked with a lot of clients today.

Focus

Today I am focusing on being the change I wish to see in the world.  

Prayer

Allow me to help others find their core vitality.  Help me to share my knowledge in a way that people can understand.  Though I am excited, I realize that people don't like being bashed over the head.  Help me to teach with patience, kindness and compassion.

Affirmation

I have the amazing ability to clearly communicate my wisdom to others.

Nutrition

I will do better tomorrow on my nutrition.  I ate 1 smoothie and some popcorn.  I know...it was bad.  This is how I get when I am writing.  I focus and don't come up for air...or food.


Exercise


I had a nice ubwo.

February 23, 2012

Nutrition
lemon water and 4oz Wheat grass with some green tea

1 glass green juice
1/2 smoothie
cucumber/avocado salad w/hemp seeds and braggs
1/2 smoothie
1 glass green juice
1/2 smoothie
lemon water almost all day.
Wheatgrass
For Focus...
3 things I did right.
1.  hiit
2.  took time to pray and blogged

3.  I ate really well
Tomorrow

I will do lbwo

roll

take a prayer break

My prayer break 

Allow me to notice the miracles and majesty in my life, noticing the magic helps me notice myself.

My affirmation today
"I love how wonderful I feel and I am so incredibly proud of myself...right now and today." 

Fitness
HIIT run

I Love

1. hoodies
2. old running shoes
3. my bed with lots of pillows and blankets
4. Kora who wants my sacrifice for Lent to be spending more time with her...hahaha
5. drawing and coloring with prisma color markers
6. bright ideas
7. learning
8. sunshine
9. having my whole family together, smiling and laughing...and sometimes not
10. going to church and seeing all the children sing in praise with their smiles, exuberance and hand gestures
    

LIGHT FOR GOOD: It all came to this....

LIGHT FOR GOOD: It all came to this....: So, you may ask...what is an Interior Designer with a successful business and 30 years experience in her industry doing starting out in a ...

It all came to this....

So, you may ask...what is an Interior Designer with a successful business and 30 years experience in her industry doing starting out in a new business as a health coach? 

Like many of you, I found myself facing weight gain and health obstacles.  It wasn't until I got fed up with feeling sick and without energy that i decided to do something about it.  One step at a time is the key.  I started exercising and eating more nutritious foods.  After about 4 months I was at a comfortable weight and feeling pretty good about myself again.  In 10 months I walk/ran a half marathon and in 20 months I ran 2 more 1/2 marathons.  

Even though I had improved my exercise and nutrition, I still suffered from inflammation and gastrointestinal problems.  I had what my doctor called "leaky gut".  I had food allergies that included dairy, wheat, green beans, almonds, honey and a whole list of other foods.  The more I ate something, the more likely it was that i would develop an allergy to it.

After every medical test available and trying almost every drug to solve my problem, I finally gave in and made very drastic changes to my diet.  I gave up every food i was allergic too.  It was difficult but not impossible.  One year after making those changes, I was retested and every single one of my allergies are gone.  My body is no longer a battleground fighting off the foods that were meant to nourish.

When I changed the way I ate I also invested time and money in research.  I knew that I didn't know enough to give so many foods up and still get everything I needed in my diet.  I wish i would have known about health coaches back then.  I amassed a library of books.  I spent hours on the internet looking up answers to my questions.  When i finally felt like I knew what I was talking about, I became impassioned to help others who were suffering like me.

During my research i met people like me.  They were looking for answers or had already found some and were sharing their success and failures.  One of the people I learned the most from was Kris Carr, "Crazy Sexy Cancer".  My husband had suffered from cancer.  When he was finished with radiation he was weak and had no immunity.  Nutritional guidance was not available through his oncologist.  The one thing i know without doubt after all my research is that we have immense control over our health just by adjusting what we eat.  All we have to do is stop eating for entertainment and start eating to fuel and support our bodies.  Further, 3 years after he finished radiation they found more tumors during his pet scans.  He changed the way he ate, cutting sugar out of his diet and the third time he went back the tumors were gone.  He avoided the need for chemo completely.

I received my formal training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I was trained in more than one hundred dietary theories and studied a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods. Drawing on this knowledge, I will help you create a completely personalized “roadmap to health” that suits your unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and goals.

My teachers included Dr. Hyman, Dr. Fuhrman, Dr. Weil, Dr. Katz, Deepak Chopra, Brendan Brazier, T. Colin Campbell and many other experts in the field of nutrition.  I have additional training from David Wolfe with certification in raw nutrition from The Body Mind Institute.  My goal is for you to find health and happiness again.  I spent 3 years learning everything there was to know from Body For Life author Bill Phillips and received a Certificate of Achievement in Transformation.  I am a Stephen Minister and was lucky enough to be trained for a year in Stephen Ministry.  All of these lessons and experiences have come together to form an unusually strong background for health coaching.

The graduates from Integrative Nutrition are diverse and close knit.  There are doctors, nurses, personal trainers, dental hygienists, journalists and others like me...who were unlikely students.  My team of health coaches have different specialties, including but not limited to weight loss, health and wellness, anti aging, children's nutrition, sugar addiction, food as well as alcohol and drug addiction.  We do not intend to take the place of your physician.  We work in conjunction with your physician.

Email cathy@thehealthcoach.net or call today 402.551.2000 to learn more about our training and my unique approach to health coaching.

Are you curious about how health coaching can help you? Let’s talk. Schedule an initial consultation with me or one of our health specialists today.