BPA in milk jugs

So, after making my raw milk google map, I got to thinking about milk containers, and whether they have BPA, and was wondering if after all those phone calls I made if I'd have to make a ton more to ask if they sold in "glass." Well, I googled it, and BPA is a real mess. No one knows what they're talking about when it comes to avoiding BPA. They all contradict each other. I guess I better go to the real sources, like ask Alex (my friend here in Pullman!) or Patricia Hunt, of Washington State University. My husband comes home and says, "Well, after all that hype about BPA, don't you think your milk is BPA-free?" I don't think so. The only things I've seen changed are 1. water bottles 2. baby bottles and 3. home storage containers that all say "BPA free" on them.

Some people in online conversations claimed milk gallons have BPA, others didn't, but those that said they do advised keeping them cool and not re-using them. Then, I thought, what does that mean for recycled milk containers? Does that for sure put BPA (if there is any) in our food?

What really grossed me out is that the cardboard milk cartons are lined with BPA. AAaahh! So, after trying moderately to avoid BPA I get poisoned by WIC and I've totally been eating BPA because they require that you buy milk in "half gallon" and "quart" quantities at times. Thanks a lot, WIC! I went to the fridge, sure enough had a carton, and dumped it down the toilet.

I was doubtful if there was any concern about BPA, and then while watching Homo Toxicus one man stated the biggest danger he sees in our environment is BPA, and that scientific research has shown that harmful affects have been found to occur at 23 parts per trillion.

Other interesting things she points out are flame retardants all over our computers, electronics, couches, furniture, mattresses, etc., and our children are exposed to them all the time. She also visited communities that were highly exposed to toxins, like the Inuit of Canada, and others around industrial plants. She went to the lakes and streams and found deformed frogs unable to reproduce because of all the chemical estrogen-like mimicry polluting the water. Additionally, she found sterility among male agricultural workers that are exposed to dangerous pesticides and herbicides, and there is even a GMO corn that was approved to be used as cattle feed only and banned from human consumption because it causes male infertility in humans, but it actually got into our food supply, which they say was inevitable.

Lead

The following can be found in Healthy Child, Whole Child by Ditchek and Greenfield, both M.D.s.

Children are exposed to lead mostly through dust, dirt, and water. Lead poisoning results in lowered IQ, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, aggressiveness, and criminal behavior. Early exposure to lead shrinks areas of the brain associated with attention, decision making, and emotional control. "The optimal level for lead in the blood is zero. Federal safe blood-lead levels are set at 10 mcg/dL, though it's known that damage occurs at even lower levels. Reducing our children's exposure to lead will be an expensive undertaking that may require government subsidy, but must be done."

Ways to reduce lead exposure:
1. Buy a testing kit with wipes that turn color in the presence of lead, especially if you live in an older home. Move out during any remodels. Wipe down walls regularly and take off shoes to reduce amount of dust tracked in.

2. Have your child's blood-levels checked at 10-12 mos. and at 2 years.

3. Make sure your children eat foods rich in calcium and iron. Pregnant women need adequate calcium so lead is not drawn from their bones into the blood supply.

4. Test household water for lead using an inexpensive screening kit. Replace pipes if they are accessible and appear to be a problem, or get a filter.

5. Dispose of thermometers, batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs, etc., as hazardous waste.

6. Request lead checks of schools, day care facilities, community centers, wherever children spend time.

7. Avoid fish and get omega-3 fatty acids through a purified fish oil supplement instead. Check state-by-state freshwater warnings at www.epa.gov.

8. Do not give your children patent remedies from China, India, Mexico, or the Caribbean, which are responsible for up to 30 percent of all cases of childhood lead poisoning.

9. Some candle wicks contain lead as a stiffener, which put enough lead into the air to exceed children's safe daily lead intake. Look for candles guaranteed to be lead free, and be careful in tightly closed rooms.

Going Green

My husband came home with these Naturecare diapers about a month ago. (Have you noticed he's doing my shopping? Isn't that so nice? Please don't turn green of envy.)

I was surprised when he brought them home. I asked him if he knew how much faster these biodegraded than Huggies, and wondered how much they cost. I think they were about 4 times as much. The link above is even cheaper, at 46 cents per diaper, whereas Huggies are about 22 cents per diaper.

My husband said he heard me talking about how we should go green on diapers. I said I wasn't serious, just thinking about it. I think it was a leap, though, into the darkness. We can go green! It is possible. This was a big step in letting go of old ways.

I do still want to know how quickly they biodegrade. They say "compostable," whatever that means. There's also hybrid diapers that are cloth with disposable inserts that biodegrade, and I think that's more what I was shooting for. Cloth would be great, too, even though they have downsides: stinky, require energy for washing, and water.

WIC

WIC is a national food program designed to benefit infants, children, and pregnant or nursing women by giving them checks for specific food items at registered stores. Its not meant to provide all the food that low-income children or expecting women need, but to supplement meager incomes with healthy foods in hopes of improving overall nutrition.

I first noticed WIC food choices were rather interesting about 3 years ago. The items that first struck me as odd were peanut butter and tuna fish. The foods available to buy on the check are pretty limited, and why peanut butter was selected was odd to me. Most children are advised not to eat peanut products until age two because of the risk of allergies.

Tuna fish is on pregnant women's checks, yet, the amount is right at the limit of a pregnant woman's recommended intake of tuna, assuming she's rationing a can per week and not eating more than one. I was told that peanut butter is a great source of protein. Tuna as well, and its high in omega 3s which are essential especially for developing infants. But, why does WIC warn about high mercury consumption, and then have it as a WIC item?

The other available foods through WIC are (See Federal online listing or Washington State specific brochure):

• Select cold cereals
• Milk
• eggs
• fruit juice
• dried beans
• dried beans or peanut butter
• canned meats
  
• cheese
• fruit and vegetable choices
• whole grain choices
  
• soy beverages
• infant formula, cereal, and baby food
  

I won't even go into the quantities of foods that are on the checks, its just weird sometimes, like 1 quart of milk or two separate one pounds of cheese, but lets talk more about the health of these products. Here's Washington WIC:

Select cereals Kix, Special K, Cheerios, Wheat Rice or Corn Chex, Grape-Nuts, Grape-Nut Flakes, Cream of Wheat, Life; I thought it was all great, increasing whole grain consumption. I've lately learned a little about cold cereals, and that due to the level of heat of production, whole grain cereals like Wheaties and Cheerios result in higher insulin spikes than even straight sugar. The high heat also destroys many nutrients, and "creates toxic elements that have caused rapid death in test animals," yet the FDA approves the use of words like cancer and heart-health promoting on the box. (Barbee, 117)
Milk Well, I've learned raw milk from grass-fed cows beats all, including increasing omega 3s, but raw milk isn't allowed. Nor is goats milk, which is fit for those that can't digest cow's milk. Homogenizing milk (all supermarket brands) makes xanthine oxidase (which damages arterial walls) more absorbed in humans. (Read Politically Incorrect Nutrition.) The growth hormone rBST which has been linked to cancer and weakened immune, and is also important to avoid. In Washington state, rBST-free are readily available and labeled.
In the second year of life, children are given whole milk, which fats help in "brain development." At 2 years of age, they are then switched to anything but whole milk. Are we supposed to believe that the brain instantly doesn't need those fats for development anymore, and "dieting" should be higher priority? Low fat, reduced fat, and skim often have milk solids added which increases free glutamic acid.
eggs Organic eggs aren't allowed, which are higher in omega 3s, but I wonder if advertised vegetarian-fed "cage-free" eggs are, which also have higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids and DHA, essential for brain function. If they're not, I'm sure WIC would change if they realized more omega 3s would be available.
fruit juice This is one of the worst. Sure, it gives vitamins, and it comes from fruit, right? Well, its best fresh made at home. Pasteurization of packaged juice destroys a lot of the enzymes and other nutrients. Just sitting on the shelf, it loses nutrients. Its basically just a sugar drink. It also comes in a plastic bottle- BPA threat? or, tin can- aluminum threat?
WIC offers so much juice. Juice is one of the major sources of sugar in children's diets, right next to soda, according to Behavior and Nutrition. Dentists advise not giving these juices in sippy cups for all-day sipping, which leads to tooth decay, as well as hyperactivity, insulin resistance, and further down the road, type II diabetes. Boxed juice also contains lead, but big deal; so does much of our food.
dried beans Sounds good. They give out a cookbook of bean recipes to expand our world of beans. Cheap, great food storage food :), and they say "baby's love beans."
dried beans or peanut butter Who's really going to choose $1 worth of free beans over $3 worth of free peanut butter, even if it is allergenic? Avoid trans fats by buying 100% natural (Adam's) peanut butter.
canned meats Tuna: contains mercury, but excellent for omega 3s.
cheese Great. Gotta love this one. Just trying to switch over to raw milk cheese, rBST free, from grass-fed cows, and annatto coloring isn't great for us, nor are enzymes.
fruit and vegetable choices They just barely started this. Much needed.
whole grain choices choose corn tortillas, bulgur, oatmeal, brown rice, or 100% whole grain bread (all if its the right weight). Many dough conditioners, additives, and preservatives, aren't good for us. Bread is best homemade.
soy beverages, tofu Soy is not a complete protein; also, unfermented soy products can lead to hyperthyroidism
infant formula, cereal, and baby food Infant formula and baby foods often have hidden MSG and/or BPA. Most people I know have an excess of baby foods and cereals from WIC that they never used.

So, overall, is WIC helping or hurting? I'm not anti-government-choosing-for-us what we eat, so its not Twinkies and Ho-hos, especially when we've got an obesity epidemic and we're undergoing universal healthcare. I think WIC is pretty helpful in many ways (whole grains, fruits and veggies). A real problem is just our food system in general, so how can you blame WIC when its got poor food to choose from?

But, money is voting power, and whoever decides what WIC can and cannot buy has a lot of power to choose a lot of votes in our food supply, for good or ill. What really kills me is the bottled fruit juice and the no-raw no-goats now no-organic milk, and, well, you can see what else I wrote above about the other items.

Developing Brains II

Fetuses exposed to high levels of MSG won't appear to have birth defects. The affects will come much later on in development, perhaps decades later.


See developing brains first post

Out of the Mouth of Babes

I wasn't going to post this, but here it is. My husband and I just cracked up at this video, and unfortunately we were laughing at him not with him. So cute, and informative.

Fast food nuggets

Meet my son

And then my son on McD's Chicken Nuggets
He didn't eat very many; in fact, he fell asleep and was still clutching one in each hand (asleep) at the end a long drive. He swelled up for a few hours, and I believe this is after it had subsided a little. We don't know what caused this; no idea. It first baffled me that someone would have a reaction to breaded chicken.








Side note: virtually every restaurant carries MSG on it's plates (Denny's, Sharis, etc.)

Behavior and Nutrition

Watch Behavior and Nutrition by Dr. Russell Blaylock, M.D. neurosurgeon

Highlights of this video:

Pregnant women can influence the life of their child to the point of determining their hypertension or breast cancer risk, by their diet in utero.

Relation of sugar and hyperactivity. The two biggest food sources that contribute to our sugar consumption are sodas and fruit juices.

The brain is constantly rebuilding itself. Some parts of the brain rebuild in decades, some as fast as two weeks. DHA fatty acid is essential for brain function, and if the brain has a deficiency of DHA for two weeks, it has an affect on how the brain rebuilds itself.

Hypoglycemia can imitate neurosis, hysteria, neurasthenia, and even psychosis. Associated with anxiety schizophrenia.

Crime and nutrition: change diet, probation violations decreased 86%. The more violent offenders, the more deficient the diet. Even marginal deficiencies in nutrition can lead to behavioral problems. Change the diet, and behaviors and drug use are dramatically reduced.

Consuming high calorie, high sugar diets, results in lots of free radicals= every cell in your body will age faster. Leads to Alzheimer's.

Treat an alcoholic for hypoglycemia, and get a 71% rate of recovery from alcoholism. Treat an alcoholic with Alcoholics Anonymous and get a 25% rate of recovery. Ninety-seven percent of alcoholics are hypoglycemic, vs. 18% for controls. Most of the crimes, most of the auto accidents in U.S. are connected to alcohol.

SSR drugs for depression are supposed to make serotonin levels go up, but in some people it makes serotonin levels go down, and these are kids that end up getting suicidal.

A study removed food dyes and had dramatic results. The biggest behavioral reactions to food dyes are to Yellow 5 and sodium benzoate. Another common behavioral reaction is to soy.

People are consuming lots of soy, thinking it prevents breast cancer, and it doesn't.

Serotonin helps repress aggressive acts, controls suicide and depression. Corn is very low in tryptophan (serotonin).

National Nutritional Survey of Adolescents
60% deficient in iron
57% in vitamin A
43% in vitamin C
39% in vitamin B1
30% in protein
16% in riboflavin

Niacin has a lot to do with mental illness. Other nutrients associated with behavior are vitamins C, D, E, K, A, B, and carotenoids.

Food allergies affecting the brain. Many symptoms are subtle or purely neurological and people don't even know they have them. Lists many symptoms. (Lethargy, stupor, disorientation, paranoia, delusions, hallucination, agitation, rage, panic attacks, criminal behavior, and even seizures) Also lists common food allergens.

Schizophrenic study:
88% schizophrenics allergic to wheat
60% to milk
50% to corn
100% to either gliaden or gluten
As long as they avoided gliaden or gluten they were normal. When they got back on it, even a small amount, all their schizophrenic symptoms came back and they had to be hospitalized.

Vaccinations. Create an immune reaction that will not subside for years. Create an inflamed brain. Causes autism, etc.

Animal saturated fat impairs brain function; omega 3-fatty acids, DHA, and arachidonic acid improve brain function.

Rage and violence occurs with deficient levels of DHA, with MSG, or even very small amounts of lead.

We're getting way too many omega 6 fats and not enough omega 3 fats, but the ratio between the two is very important. At the turn of the century our diet ratio was about 1:2, and now its about 1:46. Omega 6 comes from corn oil, canola, peanut, safflower, etc. Omega 3 from walnuts, flax, fish.

Artificial estrogen is a brain toxin.

Toxins: Aluminum, Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Fluoride, MSG, Aspartame, Pesticides, Herbicides, Industrial Solvents, Food Dyes, Excessive Vaccinations

You'll just feel so smart after finishing this video, and feel there's so much more to learn! He's a great speaker, knows what he's talking about, and a well-researched brain neurosurgeon. He has a short sum-up at the end.

He has also written a book Health and Nutrition Secrets, and I don't know what parts of that book play here in this video.

Fluoride

"In November of 2006 the American Dental Association instituted an interim policy and advised that parents and caregivers using an infant formula that needs to be reconstituted should consider using water that has no or low levels of fluoride (less than 0.3ppm). The fluoride content in many American cities is much higher than would be considered safe for infants. In Boston, MA, the fluoride concentration consumed in a day by infants would average 60% above the safe level of 0.7 mg/day for formula fed babies. While in Philadelphia, New York City and San Francisco over exposure for formula fed babies would average 44.6%. In Los Angeles the over exposure of formula fed babies would average only 15.5%." -ADA Recommendations for fluoride in Infant Diets

Ninety-percent of the fluoride we use in our water is silicoflourides, basically industrial waste. "Aluminum and fertilizer factories are heavy polluters. They attempt to recover many of the contaminants that would otherwise escape through their smokestacks with devices called scrubbers. The highly toxic junk collected from the scrubbers would cost corporations about $8000 a truckload to properly dispose of (almost $600 million per year). Besides fluoride, this poisonous soup contains varying amounts of lead, cadmium, mercury, radium, arsenic, and other contaminants. So instead of paying to dispose of this material in a toxic dump site, the aluminum and fertilizer industries actually get paid for it... The FDA calls it an 'unapproved drug.' If it is unapproved, how can they allow it in our water?"

"When old and/or faulty research (by today's standards) is tossed out, including that from other countries, there remain no reliable studies confirming the safety of water fluoridation. None. Zero. There are not even any double-blind studies showing fluoride's effectiveness. There are, however, over 500 peer-reviewed studies showing adverse effects from fluoride." -Michael Barbee, C.D.C. in his book Politically Incorrect Nutrition. Fluoride causes dental fluorosis, or white spots on the teeth, brittle bones, and in areas that are fluoridated the dental revenue is greater than in areas that are not fluoridated.

Here's a company that sells filters for flouride, chlorine, MBTE, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals and other contaminants. They have great material on their website Friends of Water.com, and it may seem odd to seek for information on the safety of flouride from sellers of fluoride filters, but I don't believe it invalidates them and I recommend reading their site.

The amount of fluoride in our water, 1 ppm, is not what we're actually ingesting. Fluoride gets absorbed into plants, thus all the fluoride we're giving them in waterings we get back, with fluoride in our tomatoes and other produce, in our milk from the water given to cows, in our sodas, we breathe it in in the shower, etc. We get multiple doses each day. No one is going to be fluoride free by using a water filter.

Take action to stop fluoridation: on-line petition to political representatives

Public School House Rock

Super Size Me states that the healthy school lunches actually cost the same as the commercialized ones. What's holding up the system? Junk food companies don't want to be kicked out of school lunch programs, and they latch on. Watch Supersize Me and Killer at Large to see more about our public school lunch program.

Public School House Rock warning: crude language.

Assault on Babies

Babies and infants are highly vulnerable to all the toxins and poisons we have in our food and water. They are being damaged even before they are born, with neurological damage from MSG, fluorisis before their teeth even rupture, and chromosomal defects from BPA damaging a female child's eggs even before she is born. The damage continues after birth from MSG- and BPA-laden formulas and foods marketed to children.

I really wanted to have a special post on how to avoid these things and keep babies safe for friends using formula, but it takes research. I finally found it! I found a site on MSG in infant formulas. Keep in mind MSG is also in vaccines (along with lots of other toxins). Also read Dr. Blaylock's book on the Effect of Excitotoxins on the Developing Brain.

Developing Brains

The following excerpts are from Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills Chapter 4"Glutamate type-neurons control every neuroendocrine function of the hypothalamus. This neuroendocrine function is designed to control the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, reproductive functions, gonadal function, body growth, and certain aspects of metabolism. But in addition, glutamate controls all the other functions of the hypothalamus, such as the biological clock, the autonomic nervous system, sleep-wake cycles, hunger and satiety, the emotions of anger and rage, and even consciousness itself.

"So we see that anything that disrupts or impairs the normal functioning of the hypothalamus can have devastating effects on the organism as a whole. Early exposure in life to high doses of glutamate, or the other excitotoxins, could theoretically produce a whole array of disorders much later in life, such as obesity, impaired growth, endocrine problems, sleep difficulties, emotional problems including episodic anger, and sexual psychopathology.

"Whether such changes would be reversible or not depends on the dose of excitotoxin given, the timing of the dose, and how long the child was exposed to high doses of excitotoxins. As for timing, we know that for glutamate, the earlier the exposure to the toxin, the more likely is permanent damage. If exposure is delayed until several years after birth, the injury may be less severe. It is also possible that some neurons are injured but not killed. We know that subtoxic concentrations of glutamate can alter the function of hypothalamic neurons without destroying them. Also, earlier exposure would increase the likelihood of abnormal wiring of the circuits within the hypothalamus. So parents, it is important to stop your child's exposure to excitotoxins now!" (Blaylock, 88)

To read more, see Developing Brains II



Crazy kids!

Fish Crackers: Thorn in my side

I don't know what your kids get for a snack when they're at childcare, but its universal in my church that children are fed fish crackers. So, I decided to check what's in them, ducked behind the counter and started reading labels on the pretzels, animal crackers, and goldfish crackers. Well, I knew Goldfish crackers had autolyzed yeast (see hidden MSG list), but all the snacks were pretty much tainted.

So, I thought, should I refuse my child getting these snacks? I hesitated, and it was soon too late.

I go home, and read this: in a study, rats given MSG in the first 9 days of life become obese; they were then taken off MSG and the obesity remained and it was very hard to diet or exercise off. Make me barf.

Have I got a thing against my kids being fat? I'll love them however they are, and I'm quite resigned to the fact that fat is a part of life and I'll never look like a supermodel. But, purposely, avoidably, causing our kids to be obese? Please, no.

So, I'm now on a bring-my-own snack plan, and its working okay so far. Just got to keep it up. And even if I do create upheaval, at least I'll be making a political statement.

If this sounds bizarre, I agree, but its serious how harmful MSG is. More on how excitotoxins affect developing brains from the book Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills by Dr. Russell Blaylock, M.D.

Eat what you store, store what you eat

It is quite sad to throw food away that's gone bad, or that you find you don't like, especially a years supply of it. The following excerpt is from survival-center.com

"An unfortunate number of people in our society have developed allergies to one kind of food or another. One of the more common food allergens is wheat. Even more unfortunate is the fact that of those with an allergy to this most common of grains, many of them are not even aware of it. They won't become aware of it until they try to live with wheat as a large part of their diet. This is the reason you should store what you eat and eat what you store: So that ugly surprises such as this don't come up when it's too late to easily avoid them.

A second reason to think about providing a variety of grains in your food storage is appetite fatigue. There are many people who think providing variety in the diet is relatively unimportant and that if and when the time comes they'll eat what they've got and that will be that. For healthy, well-adjusted adults under ordinary circumstances this might be possible without too much difficulty. However, the entire reason for having a long term food storage program is for when circumstances aren't ordinary. Times of crisis produce stress -- possibly physical, but always mental. If you are suddenly forced to eat a diet that is both alien and monotonous, it is going to add just that much more stress on top of what you are already dealing with. If your planning includes the elderly, young children and infants they might just quit eating or refuse to eat sufficient amounts and become unable to survive. This is not a trivial problem and should be given serious consideration. Consider the positive aspects of adding some "comfort foods".

In his book, Making the Best of Basics, James Stevens mentions a post WWII study by Dr. Norman Wright, of the British Food Ministry, which found that people in England and Europe were more likely to reject unfamiliar or distasteful foods during times of stress than under normal conditions. When it's wheat, day in and day out, then wheat's going to start becoming distasteful pretty fast. Far better to have a variety of foods on hand to forestall appetite fatigue and, more importantly, to use those storable foods in your everyday diet so that you'll be accustomed to them."

So, to keep grandma and the kids from "failure to thrive" in an emergency, be sure to have foods they'll eat! And remember that may be one of the more stressful times to find out you don't know how to cook using food storage, or have to try something new like cooking over a fire. This is one of the reasons to go with methods 2-4 of starting a food storage post because it incorporates foods the family is eating.

Top ten (17) reasons to Homecook

The top reasons to do home cooking are

17. Time
16. Dishes
15. Its when you've got pizza dough all over your fingers that you realize you still need to get the pan ready and grease it.
14. Its almost time for dinner and an ingredient or two is missing or rotten.
13. Dinner flat-out ends up all over the floor.
12. Planning and shopping for meals
11. Your significant other always comes home on time.
10. The kids don't eat it.
9. You always know where you'll be at 4pm.
8. Its always kind of a mystery what time it will be ready.
7. You get to pick it up off the floor in bits after dinner's over.
6. After the infant's been crying for an hour and a half because she's a) been neglected and b) smells the really good meal your making for the family that just had a baby, you get all packed in the car and drive off to deliver it when you hear glass shattering. You look in the rear-view mirror and realize that that was their dessert that just slid off the roof of the car (oops) and your 7x11 Pyrex pan is in tiny pieces.
5. The oversized serving spoon gets a little top-heavy in the little 1.5 qt. saucepan and flips out onto the baby. The sauce that was "boiling" runs down his head, through his shirt, and the skin peels off his little chest.
4. Its more nutritious (but still has MSG in it. See pitfalls of homecooking)
3. Get to choose what you eat, make it your way, try something exotic
2. Save money
...and the number one reason to make homemade meals is:
1. You'll be self reliant and ready to cook in an emergency

Unnarrated MSG Video

I like this one 'cause its in Spanish.