Happy Healthy Gut (15 page)

These fourteen ingredients are almost always present in any processed food, unless you pulled it off a shelf from the health food aisle. Even then, read the label to make sure. The less processed a food is, the less of these ingredients you will encounter. Hence, the “whole food” approach. When you eliminate processed foods, you automatically, without even thinking about it, eliminate loads of crazy chemicals from your diet.

Don’t forget: what you put on your skin in absorbed into your body; and although less directly, your digestive system too. The following statement was taken from the David Suzuki Foundation’s website:
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“Some of the ingredients in beauty products aren’t that pretty. U.S. researchers report that one in eight of the 82,000 ingredients used in personal care products are industrial chemicals, including carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, and hormone disruptors. Many products include plasticizers (chemicals that keep concrete soft), degreasers (used to get grime off auto parts), and surfactants (they reduce surface tension in water, like in paint and inks). Imagine what that does to your skin, and to the environment.”
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The Dirty Dozen

The David Suzuki Foundation has been a respected charitable organization since 1990, and is a familiar name worldwide. The top goals of the foundation, as stated on their website, are to protect climate, transform Canadian economy, protect and reconnect with nature, and build community.
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Recently, the foundation surveyed Canadians to see how many of what they call the “Dirty Dozen” ingredients made appearances in their cosmetics. Apparently, that number is upwards of 80%. That means that four out of five beauty products that are on your shelves and in your drawers at home contain chemicals that have been proven toxic and carcinogenic.
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You might want to grab a garbage bag . . . this applies to the United States, too.

The following twelve ingredients (all taken from
www.davidsuzuki.org
) are ones that should never make it into your home, especially in something that can be ingested or absorbed by you and your family. These substances are all capable of having effects on digestion, as well as other important body systems, whether by being absorbed through
your largest organ (your skin), being ingested through food or water, or inhaled. Keep these away from you, and you will be healthier for it:

1. BHA and BHT. That’s right—the same preservatives used in your food are used in beauty products, too. Gross. They are used mostly in lotions and cosmetics, are considered cancer-causing, and harmful to fish and other wildlife. Why do manufacturers think they could be okay for humans? They’re not.
   
2. P-Phenylenediamine and colors listed as “CI” and followed by a number. These are coal tar dyes, and they possess the potential to cause cancer. They are also often contaminated with heavy metals, which can be absorbed through the skin and be toxic to your brain and central nervous system. An example would be FD&C Blue No. 1, or CI 75000.
   
3. DEA-related ingredients. These are used in foaming and creamy products, such as moisturizers, shaving creams, facial cleansers, and shampoos. They may be cancer-causing. Again, they are knowingly harmful to other wildlife, so wouldn’t it be safe to assume that they would be harmful to us, too?
   
4. Dibutyl Phthalate. This ingredient is commonly used as a plasticizer in nail care products. They are suspected endocrine disruptors, and may be toxic to our reproductive systems. As far as our country’s increasing infertility issues go, you have to wonder if chemicals might be a very strong contributor.
   
5. Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, methenamine and quarternium-15. They are used in a variety of cosmetics, and slowly release small amounts of the highly-toxic chemical formaldehyde. You know, the chemical commonly used to preserve corpses.
   
6. Parabens. Parabens are used in a variety of cosmetics as preservatives. They are often present in kids’ bubble bath and shampoos. They are suspected endocrine disrupters and may
   interfere with male reproductive functions. When I looked to see if my kids’ shampoo and bath products had parabens in them, they all did. Five out of five. Needless to say, they were quickly disposed of, and replaced with ironically cleaner, organic products.
   
7. Fragrance. Present in almost all beauty products, soaps, laundry detergents, and cleaning products (sometimes even in those marked “unscented”), fragrances are highly toxic and can create allergic reactions such as a rash, itching, and sneezing. They are known to trigger asthma, which is why many workplaces now have a “no fragrance in the workplace” rule. Some fragrances are linked to cancer, and most are toxic to other forms of wildlife, also. If you are going to buy something that is scented, opt for an earth-friendly product that is scented with pure, organic essential oils.
   
8. PEG Compounds. These substances are cancer-causing, and are present in cosmetic cream bases and toothpaste. Ingredients with the letter combination “eth,” such as polyethylene glycol, are often toxic ingredients and should be avoided.
   
9. Petrolatum. This toxic ingredient is used in hair products, lip balms, lipsticks, and moisturizers. By the name, you can probably deduce that it’s a petroleum product. This particular one has been found to often be contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can be cancer-causing.
   
10. Siloxanes. This substance is used in a wide variety of beauty products to help smooth, soften, and moisten. It’s toxic to the reproductive system, and harmful to other wildlife and fish. Ingredients ending in “methicone” or “siloxane” are examples.
    
11. Sodium Laureth Sulfate. This ingredient is used in foaming cosmetics, such as shaving cream, foam bath, cleansers, and shampoos. It can be contaminated with dioxane, which
    is cancer-causing. “Sodium Lauryl Sulphate” or “Sodium Laureth Sulphate” are two such offenders to watch out for.
    
12. Triclosan. This toxic substance is used in antibacterial beauty products, such as antiperspirants, face cleaners, and oral hygiene products. It is a suspected endocrine disruptor and can contribute to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Again, like every other ingredient on this list of the Dirty Dozen, it is proven to be harmful to other wildlife.
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I was completely floored when I began comparing my products at home with this list. I have always been somewhat health conscious, and have always purchased what I thought were better quality products. Every single product that I possessed, at the time, had on average, four out of these twelve chemicals. Kid products are the worst, by the way. They are more colorful, more highly scented, and absolutely laden with chemicals off the Dirty Dozen list. Anyone else feel like we are being used as guinea pigs?

What about the
actual
guinea pigs?!

These substances are dangerous, and it’s horrendous that they are permitted to be sold to unsuspecting consumers. If they can react with our endocrine, reproductive, and central nervous systems, why not our digestive systems? They just add to the high amount of garbage that our bodies are fighting to expel. Do yourself and your family a favor, and buy organic beauty products without these top twelve offenders. Try out some new products. Swap out your scented bubble bath for epsom salts or some pure essential oil. Get healthy in every aspect of your life, and you will feel better. I promise. By removing as many laboratory created, chemically derived, fake ingredients that we can from our lives, we can improve our health in countless ways, while making a statement to the producers of these products that they are completely unacceptable. The more we all lean towards demanding organic, clean products, the more those products will become available, and hopefully, the products
that are chalk-full of carcinogens will slowly fall by the wayside and cease to be produced.

One of my favorite things to make on my own is a salt scrub. If you are into body exfoliation (which is great for improving circulation and sloughing off dead skin cells and toxins), stop buying commercial products. You can make your own with three ingredients: olive or jojoba oil, fine-grind epsom salt or medium-grind sea salt, and a few drops of pure, organic aromatherapy oil. I use lavender usually, but you can also try citrus, rosemary, peppermint, or whatever other scent you may enjoy. The ratio of oil to salt is up to you. I just take about a cup of salt, add oil and mix until I get the consistency that I like, and then add a few drops of lavender. Store the scrub in an airtight, glass container, like a used and washed jam jar. Voila! Easy body scrub that you can even make and give away as a gift. Just make sure that if you use epsom salt, that the salt is broken down a bit, and not in huge chunks.

I like to call sugar “disease provoking.” It is well known that the consumption of sugar wreaks havoc on our immune systems. Is the cold and flu season we all dread (especially if you have small children around) as much as an inevitability as we think? It coincides with Halloween, Christmas, New Years, and Valentine’s Day, which
all happen to be highly sugared-out holidays. Between the candy, chocolate, baking, and booze, our immune systems have no chance. Simple sugars (the kinds that are heavily processed and make our kids high, such as refined, white sugar and white flour), are so incredibly bad for us. They are highly addictive, and ultimately make us tired, cranky, and gain weight. Complex sugars that are present in whole grains and fruit provide long-lasting energy, and those are the sugars we should be indulging in.

Everybody knows that sugar has a bad reputation, because it is highly associated with diseases such as diabetes, candida (an overgrowth of yeast), and obesity. It is also known to completely disrupt the environment of your digestive system, by throwing off the balance of good-bad bacteria.

But what about sugar-like substances? Ingredients that are injected into food in order to account for its low levels of actual sugar when advertising its product as “sugar free,” “low sugar,” or “no added sugar?” I’m talking about the following culprits: “high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, dextrose, honey, corn syrup, invert sugar, invert sugar syrup, molasses, brown sugar, evaporated cane juice, sugar cane crystals, treacle, demerara sugar, fruit juice crystals, dehydrated fruit juice, corn sweetener, fruit juice concentrate, malt syrup, raw sugar, turbinado sugar, syrup, muscovado sugar, glucose syrup, barbados sugar, sorghum syrup, refiner’s syrup, beet sugar, carob syrup, table sugar, malt, buttered syrup, maple syrup, rice syrup, agave nectar or syrup, powdered sugar, confectioner’s sugar, corn syrup solids, d-mannose, sorbose, galactose, organic raw sugar, golden sugar, date sugar, castor sugar, golden syrup, and raisin syrup.”
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Believe it or not, there are more of these. The problem is, the general public does not recognize these ingredients as sugar, so when examining a nutrition label, as we are all encouraged to do, clever marketers have substituted plain, old sugar for the above ingredients; many of which are chemically derived, which means that they are
probably worse for you than the regular type of sugar we are all trying to avoid in the first place!

Are you frustrated yet? Your digestive system is.

The Glycemic Index (GI) ranks specific carbohydrates from zero to one hundred. This numerical value is based on how they affect your blood sugar levels after you eat them. Eating foods that have a high glycemic index number, such as soda, white flours, and candy, typically causes a major spike in blood sugar levels, which in turn results in a crazy energy crash. The goal of this plan is to eat carbohydrates that keep your blood sugar on a consistent level, therefore preventing spikes and crashes. You get more predictable energy this way, and you don’t feel as hungry or desperate to eat at any given time. (Generally, the higher the GI number, the harder it is for your body to try and process.) The following is a list of different sweeteners, and where they fall on the GI list, ranking from worst offenders to least:

1. Glucose: 96
   
2. Sucrose (white sugar): 64
   
3. Brown sugar: 64
   
4. High fructose corn syrup: 62 (Sooo processed - don’t ever eat this stuff!)
   
5. Evaporated cane juice: 55
   
6. Black strap molasses: 55
   
7. Maple syrup: 54
   
8. Lactose: 46 (The sugar in cow’s milk)
   
9. Sugar cane juice: 43
   
10. Barley malt syrup: 42
    
11. Raw honey: 30
    
12. Brown rice syrup: 25 (This is great to bake with)
    
13. Fructose: 22 (Fruit)
    
14. Agave
    syrup: 15 (Great for drizzling on pancakes or over oatmeal)
    
15. Stevia: 1
    

Try and substitute refined, white sugar for something like brown rice syrup or agave syrup. They are lower on the glycemic index, and won’t make your body work overtime.

On several different occasions, I’ve had an acquaintance or two feel the need to point out to me that human beings have always eaten meat, and we are now unhealthier than ever before, in the midst of the current “health movement.” In other words, there must be a correlation between the recently increased interest in health (in which a vegetarian diet has increasingly become more common), and the higher rates of disease than ever before.