For a long time, authorities have known the health risks associated with and side effects of aspartame. In fact, the FDA refused approval of this toxic substance for 16 years after its accidental discovery (it was originally a peptic ulcer drug) due to compelling evidence of its role in brain tumors and several other health disorders.

Interestingly enough, shortly after current Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, became CEO of G.D. Searle Company and the day after Ronald Reagan took office, FDA commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes approved aspartame over objections by the FDA Board of Public Inquiry. Hayes was appointed to the post by the Reagan Administration. Shortly after its approval, he went to work for Monsanto subsidiary NutraSweet on a 10-year contract for $1000 per day.

Today, 75% of food additive-related health complaints to the FDA are concerning aspartame. At one point, the NIH estimated about 170 side effects associated with it. Currently the FDA only recognizes 92 side effects of aspartame.

Adverse reactions and side effects of aspartame include:

Eye

• blindness in one or both eyes
• decreased vision and/or other eye problems such as: blurring, bright flashes, squiggly lines, tunnel vision
• decreased night vision
• pain in one or both eyes
• decreased tears
• trouble with contact lenses
• bulging eyes

Ear

• tinnitus – ringing or buzzing sound
• severe intolerance of noise
• marked hearing impairment

Neurologic

• epileptic seizures
• headaches and migraines
• dizziness/unsteadiness
• confusion and memory loss
• severe drowsiness and sleepiness
• paresthesia or numbness of the limbs
• severe slurring of speech
• severe hyperactivity and restless legs
• atypical facial pain
• severe tremors

Psychological/Psychiatric

• severe depression
• irritability
• aggression
• anxiety
• personality changes
• insomnia
• phobias

Chest

• palpitations,
• tachycardia
• shortness of breath
• recent high blood pressure

Gastrointestinal

• nausea
• diarrhea, sometimes with blood in stools
• abdominal pain
• pain when swallowing

Skin and Allergies

• itching without a rash
• lip and mouth reactions
• hives
• aggravated respiratory allergies such as asthma

Endocrine and Metabolic

• loss of control of diabetes
• menstrual changes
• marked thinning or loss of hair
• marked weight loss
• gradual weight gain
• aggravated low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
• severe PMS

Other side effects of aspartame

• frequency of voiding and burning during urination
• excessive thirst, fluid retention, leg swelling, and bloating
• increased susceptibility to infection

Additional Symptoms of Aspartame Toxicity include the most critical symptoms of all
, death

• irreversible brain damage
• birth defects, including mental retardation
• peptic ulcers
• aspartame addiction and increased craving for sweets
• hyperactivity in children
• severe depression
• aggressive behavior
• suicidal tendencies

Additional side effects of aspartame, which may trigger, mimic, or cause the following illnesses:

• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Epstein-Barr
• Post-Polio Syndrome
• Lyme Disease
• Grave’s Disease
• Meniere’s Disease
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• ALS
• Epilepsy
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• EMS
• Hypothyroidism
• Mercury sensitivity from Amalgam fillings
• Fibromyalgia
• Lupus
• non-Hodgkins
Lymphoma
• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

Now that you’ve read the dangers of aspartame, I hope you have resolved to eliminate it from your diet once and for all. Be patient because aspartame just happens to be highly addictive as well.

When ending your love affair with aspartame, switching to another artificial chemical compound such as saccharin or Splenda,® is not a good idea. Highly refined sweeteners like agave syrup, corn syrup, white sugar (including organic sugars like Florida Crystals) or fruit juice concentrate are not the answer either.

So what are some healthy foods to eat instead of aspartame and these other synthetic sweeteners? One excellent choice is stevia, which comes from the dried leaves of the South American plant of the same name.  It has been used for centuries without ill effects and does not cause blood sugar to spike.

If tolerated or not contraindicated by your health regimen, small amounts of whole food sweeteners like raw honey, real maple syrup, Rapadura and molasses may be occasionally used.

Is Aspartame Safe for You? Side Effects of Aspartame is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

Over the past decade, more and more health-conscious people are starting to ask “Is soy milk bad for you?” This question comes as more and more former vegetarians work hard to repair damaged health that seems to have resulted from years of relying on this bean to replace high quality protein in their diet. Here is how soy became so popular in the west.

Is Soy Milk Bad for You? is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

So keep in mind that cholesterol IS good for you. Your body and real foods particularly those that are rich sources of cholesterol, are on your side. Beware of slick advertising gimmicks that promise to synthetically reduce your cholesterol by peddling a highly processed (and expensive) food substitute, drug or even supplement. Instead, realize that your elevated cholesterol might be an indicator of an underlying illness that is stressing your body in other ways and strive to eliminate them. With those factors removed, your cholesterol levels should balance out in no time.

Is Cholesterol Good for You? The Truth about Cholesterol is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

There are many reasons why women and men today suffer from infertility. Unfortunately, when people seek the cause of infertility from their doctors, they are told that diet has nothing to do with it. Instead they are often given options that entail dangerous drugs and artificial manipulation of their hormones.

If you’ve been reading this blog, then you realize that our modern diet has a lot to do with the current infertility epidemic. The way we eat has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. But it’s not only whether or not we eat meat, fat or vegetables that contributes to the epidemic. And the problem goes even farther than eating junk food. In fact, what I’m about to tell you will demonstrate how we often harm our fertility by making what we believe to be eating a healthy diet.

So what healthy foods cause infertility? You may not recognize them as healthy foods when I tell you what they are because you aren’t told to look at them that way as a group, but you’ll see what I’m talking about when I break it down.

In a word, GMOs are a major cause of infertility. GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are patented seeds developed by chemical companies such as Monsanto to resist anything from drought to the most potent herbicides. Part of the profile of many of these seeds is that they cannot reproduce. Furthermore, in animal studies, they have found that upwards of 20% of all animals studied were infertile. Infant mortality was increased five times in second generation animals and by the third generation, many animals were sterile!

Since humans have a longer lifespan we haven’t seen the sterility yet, but we are seeing an increase in infant mortality in the US — even though we haven’t gotten into the second generation of people eating these GMOs.

So where can you find this cause of infertility? The major GMO crops are soy, corn, canola, and cottonseed as over 80% of these crops grown now are genetically modified. The percentage is rapidly approaching 90% as it is a well-known fact that these crops cross-breed with conventional crops.

But it doesn’t stop there, now crops such as Hawaiian papaya, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and crookneck squash are also being grown as GMO. Like their other GMO cousins, these crops are also a known cause of infertility in animals and so, in humans as well.

So if you do nothing else for your fertility, make sure you avoid these foods. You are not paranoid to question GMO safety in light of all the deleterious effects they are known to cause. Note that soy, corn and cottonseed are often used as feed for animals, so be sure that your source of meat, eggs and dairy is also free of these harmful substances.

One Major Cause of Infertility Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

Microwaving has been a widely accepted method of cooking and heating meals, but few of us stop to think how ‘nuking’ affects the otherwise nutritious foods that we strive to incorporate into our diets.

Nearly two decades ago, a German study reported that microwaving food is actually a major cause of the dramatic increases in cancer experienced in the industrialized world. The researchers found that microwaving, which unlike traditional cooking heats from the inside out, creates unique life forms called radiolytic compounds. Radiolytic compounds are unknown in nature. These compounds dramatically and progressively reduce red and white blood cell counts.

The lowered red blood cell count leads to anemia. Fewer white blood cells decrease immune system activity. Both conditions allow disease to invade the body without a fight.

Microwaved food also increases levels of LDL (the so-called bad cholesterol carrier) while decreasing the “good” HDL cholesterol carriers.*

This study didn’t even look at the fact that food microwaved in plastic contains 10,000 times more carcinogens than the FDA allows! It does, however, support the more current research showing the dangers of feeding babies microwaved formula or breastmilk.

So what should you do, if you’re a woman on the run who’s planning for pregnancy, but doesn’t have a lot of time?

• Thermoses are a great tool to rediscover. They pay for themselves in just a few weeks. I often heat up leftovers from dinner in a small pot while I’m having breakfast. Then I pack the thermos and go.
• Convection or toaster ovens are a fantastic addition to any kitchen or office space. One can be purchased for as little as $30 new, less at a garage sale. You may need to invest in a few small Corningware-type dishes to heat up your meals, but they are well worth the $4 investment.
• Picnic! The French are known for their easy “charcuterie” plates: little pickles, (nitrate-free) cold cuts, pates, cheese, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, fruit and a cold potato salad. These are all excellent, nourishing foods that barely need any prep and easily make a meal in themselves.

Besides the health advantages for you and your baby, eating foods that are naturally prepared allows you to truly enjoy the wonderful flavors you may not even have realized were there. You’ll be astonished at how different it is! And like my husband, you just may find yourself the envy of your office!

*This is yet another fact that should make us rethink the cholesterol theory which blames animal foods for rising cholesterol rates.

No Nukes: the Dangers of Microwaves is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

As a former belly dancer, people (both men and women) were always in awe that my husband “allowed me” to “dance for other men.” This is where their belly dance education began.

The term ‘belly dance’ is a distortion of the Arabic term raqs al baladi, meaning ‘dance of the people.’ When a dancer named Little Egypt performed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, Victorian audiences were appalled by her rapid hip movements and uncorseted (although fully clothed) body and determined that baladi simply meant ‘belly’. And so the term ‘belly dance’ was born.

Although the origins of belly dance are not completely known, historians agree that it is not an uncontrolled hoochie coochie dance that enslaved women performed for the sexual pleasure of their masters. Rather, the art of belly dance is considered a social tradition performed by both men and women for weddings and festivals. In the Middle East and Northern Africa, the sexes often celebrated events separately. Therefore, men danced for men and women danced for women.

In family circles, it is said that mothers, aunts and female friends would perform various movements to show a young bride which muscles would be useful in childbirth. For example, hip twists, lifts and drops would loosen the pelvic floor. Abdominal undulations would help a woman push the baby out. In short, belly dance may have been one of the earliest forms of Lamaze. Judging from my 55 minute labor, I would say that these movements are very effective too!

In my recent pregnancy this year, I pushed my baby out within 2 minutes! Quite literally, I got the urge to push, which broke my water, called the midwife and by the time she got on the phone the baby was completely out and crying! Luckily my husband was awake to deliver her.

But back to the story of belly dance, even in the sultan’s harem (the women’s quarters in the palace), women performed the dance for one another to pass the time away. It was a form of entertainment by women for women in a time when illiteracy was widespread. Surely these women also noticed its advantages in childbirth as well as some sultans were known to have dozens of children.

To thousands of modern belly dancers across the globe, raqs al baladi is a sacred, empowering dance. It represents a sisterhood that all women share by connecting us to our earthy past and honoring us as creators of the future. When we choose to dance for men, it is not to submit, but to let them know who is really in charge!

The Best Pre-Pregnancy Exercise is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

Many parents-to-be worry about the dramatic increases in asthma rates among children and there is good reason for concern. Many doctors cite environmental factors such as mold, cigarette smoke, and car exhaust for these rises. Others consider certain foods such as eggs, milk, and nuts to be incompatible with the human body. But more and more evidence shows that not eating certain foods may, in fact, be a significant contributor.

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom followed 1,861 pregnant women throughout Scotland. Results showed that women with low vitamin E intake during pregnancy were five times more likely to have asthmatic children than mothers with high vitamin E intake. Furthermore, regardless of the child’s diet at age five, children whose mothers consumed higher amounts of vitamin E during pregnancy were likely to remain asthma-free. In previous studies, higher intakes of vitamin E during pregnancy resulted in fewer instances of wheezing in two-year olds without colds.

According to head researcher Dr. Graham Devereux, vitamin E consumption during pregnancy influences both lung growth and levels of airway inflammation. Asthma is the result of inflammation in the lungs. Vitamin E is known to protect the mucous membranes in the lungs and reduce inflammation by mopping up dangerous free radicals, which cause damage. The study followed children for five years to provide a more accurate prediction of long-term asthma risk.

Dr. Devereux concludes that lowered vitamin E intake over the past 50 years is a likely contributing factor in today’s skyrocketing rates of
asthma. In addition, low-fat diets and increased consumption of processed foods increase vitamin E requirements. He recommends that women consume more vitamin E-rich foods rather than rely on supplements. Meat, oily fish, seafood, green leafy vegetables, avocados, nuts and sunflower seeds are all good sources of vitamin E.

“E” Is For Asthma is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

I cook darn near everything from scratch and so people are always asking me where I get my recipes from. Let’s just say that I have a collection of over 400 traditional and antique cookbooks. These contain some of the best recipes. Until the 1900s, when food gradually became slave to food processing, the authors of these books didn’t worry about things like fat, meat and salt. People ate for pleasure and for health.

One modern cookbook that I treasure is called Nourishing Traditions. It is the master-work of researcher Sally Fallon and world-renowned lipid biochemist Mary Enig, PhD. The book not only contains traditional recipes and techniques from around the globe, it contains an excellent overview of the importance of animal products, salt and fat (for example).

One thing you should bear in mind is that if you suffer from serious food allergies, not all of the recipes will be suitable for you, but with over 500 pages of gourmet, easy-to-prepare recipes, you are bound to find many tempting and useful recipes to feed yourself and your family. Other nice features about Nourishing Traditions?

• Recipes for superfoods — foods that boost your immune system or over time may help to reverse or at least halt certain medical conditions
• Raw foods recipes
• Info on feeding babies and children
• Recipes for fermented foods like sauerkraut, ketchup and sourdough breads and pancakes
• Sprouting recipes (how to sprout and how to use those sprouted nuts and grains)
• Tidbits of information in the margins of every page including ancient knowledge on the benefits of eating certain foods as well as the conspiracies that have us believing in fake foods
• Quizzes on the mystery ingredients contained in common “health foods”
• And much, much more

Until I finish writing my book, this is the best you’ll be able to find!

What’s my favorite cookbook? is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

Fish consumption is definitely a example of where people need to be properly educated before making any drastic dietary changes. Over the years, we have been told by government agencies such as the ADA (American Dietetic Association) that our diets should reflect those of healthy societies such as the Japanese, Italians and Greeks who presumably eat a practically vegetarian diet with the addition of lots of “heart healthy” fish (this actually isn’t true, but we’ll leave that revelation for another article).



As a result, people have been avoiding red meat like the plague, basing their protein consumption mainly on fish, especially oily fish, which is known for its favorable omega 3 fatty acid profile. The result? Widespread mercury toxicity in consumers of fish pulled from toxic waters!

Heavy metals have always been present in our oceans, but the past 150 years or so have seen widespread pollution of the world’s water supply due to manmade activity. And clearly, the fish who swim in these waters absorb this mercury at a rate proportionate to their size. The mercury in these fish, plus the mercury in vaccines and dental fillings are definite contributors to the rising autism epidemic.

In true fear-based fashion, the authorities are now contradicting their own advice and telling women that they shouldn’t eat any fish at all during pregnancy! But instead, should take omega 3 supplements (something that they otherwise advise against). While I do think that supplements are often necessary as a boost to good nutrition, avoiding real food in favor of supplements  is not the way to go.

That’s why I got really excited when I learned of Randy Hartnell’s company Vital Choice. Randy is an environmentally-minded fisherman who was put out of business 20 years ago by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Several years later, he started this company to bring the finest quality high omega-3 fish to market (at a very reasonable price). He only hires small fisherman that he knows well who fish in the cleanest waters of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Fish (ranging from wild Alaskan salmon and Alaskan halibut to crab legs and mussels) are frequently tested to ensure low mercury and PCB levels, well below that required to pass muster with the Dept of Environmental Protection. Then it is flash frozen to preserve freshness.

Don’t be fooled by so-called “organic salmon”, “farm-raised salmon” or “vegetarian-fed salmon”. Fish are meant to roam wild which is where they pick up all kinds of plankton, smaller fish and seaweeds that are converted into the healthy substances you want in your body. These farmed salmons are essentially caged fish. Which translates into fish that swim around in enormous cages, lowered into sea water, where they are allowed to swim around in a pool of their own excrement. Their vegetarian feed consists of corn and soybeans (besides not being the natural diet of fish, it is often the genetically engineered variety).

Randy’s fish is simply the best which is why it has been endorsed by celebrities and health gurus such as Christiane Northrup, Andrew Weil and Martha Stewart. Vital Choice seafood also makes an excellent salmon gift for people who have everything!

Frozen Salmon That’s Low in Mercury is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs

I guess it could be safe to drink an occasional Coke depending on what you mean by occasional. But keep this in mind. Coca-Cola is not a benign substance. It’s not as if you simply don’t get nutrition by drinking one. In fact, your body must strip calcium from its bones to metabolize the Coke and get it out of the body. The sugars — and worse, high fructose corn syrup– lower the immune system dramatically contributing to diabetes, adrenal exhaustion, infertility, autism, allergies and plaque in your arteries. If this isn’t enough to convince you, consider that Coca-Cola is an excellent agent for stripping rust off of cast iron and paint off of your car!

Curse of the Cola is a post from: The Pre-Pregnancy Diet Your Baby Needs