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Get the Poisons Out of Your LifeAre you putting poisons into your body that keep you from being the best you can be? If you are at a reasonable weight and you are exercising regularly, you should be really healthy. Right? Are you? Not really? Then you may have some other issues that need to be addressed. Maybe you still have some bad habits that you haven't faced up to. Maybe you need to detox. We are not even addressing illegial substances here; just the garden variety of everyday addictions and bad choices. SmokingNicotine is a poison and one of the most addictive substances there is. Most smokers start when they are young because they think it is “cool” and because their friends smoke. Once hooked, it is truly a monkey on their backs. It turns out not to be cool after all. They stink. Their house stinks. Their car stinks. Their children stink. And their habit is slowly killing them.Smokers have been shown to die 11 years sooner than if they didn’t smoke. They die of lung cancer, emphysema, aneurysms, heart disease. They abuse their children by subjecting them to second hand smoke. AlcoholUnlike smoking, not everyone who drinks is addicted. Nevertheless, alcohol has little to recommend it. It can be a poison. It is a depressant. It compromises your immune system. It impairs your judgment.A glass of red wine each day has been shown to be helpful in preventing heart disease. It is the phytochemicals that do the job. You can get the same benefits from dark grapes, which also contains vitamins and fiber. If you have wine, limit it to one or two glasses a day---small glasses. CaffeineThe jury is still out on whether or not this is a poison. You’re probably better off without it. There is some evidence that it causes a decrease in the amount of oxygen to the brain. A 1997 study on dogs suggested caffeine caused heart arrhythmias which could precipitate death. Coffee can raise blood pressure and raises both cholesterol and homocysteine, two risk factors for heart disease.On the other hand, there is no hard evidence that it shortens life. Recent studies suggest that it may help prevent Alzhiemer's Disease. Tea and chocolate contain varying amounts of caffiene. Both have been shown to be beneficial as they contain antioxidants. as does coffee. MedicationsThis may seem like a strange addition to a chapter on poisons, but the truth is, every medication has side effects. However there are times when you must have them. Your challenge here is to take control of your own health and determine if you really need what you are prescribed.Getting your weight down and exercising regularly can help you get off of some medications. Talk frankly with your doctor about the necessity of your meds. Don’t stop taking anything without first discussing it with him or her. Chemicals in Your FoodSometimes it is scary to read food labels. Some of them contain ingredients that are unpronounceable. Try to make the bulk of your diet unprocessed food. Why buy a packaged rice meal when you can cook and season your own in about the same amount of time? If you are pressed for time, make up meals on your day off and freeze them for weekday dinners. Or start a crock pot meal in the morning. It will be done when you get home. You will know exactly what you are putting into your body and those of your children--healthy food, not poisons.Fake FoodsSynonyms for fake are false, pretended, fraudulent, bogus. Do we have bogus foods? Yes! Those are foods that do not come from nature but are contrived by the food industry. What are they?One of the worst is trans fats, also called hydrogenated fats. Natural oils have hydrogen added to them to change them from a liquid to a solid. Hydrogenation increases shelf life and adds flavor and stability. We have been using them for years in the form of shortening. Trans fats can be found in many cookies, crackers, and other baked goods. Trans fats are a heart attack waiting to happen. They raise LDL cholesterol, precipitating clogged arteries, clots, strokes and heart attack. The USDA finally raised the red flag of trans fats, now requiring it being listed on food labels. Avoid it entirely. Anything containing trans fat is poison. Another major fake food is high fructose corn syrup. This bogus food was created in the 1980s, which coincides with the time that Americans began getting fat. Made from corn starch, it contains two types of sugar, fructose and glucose. It came into wide use because it was a little less expensive than sugar and, being a liquid, it mixed better with food. But fructose is absorbed differently than glucose, increasing insulin production. It behaves more like a fat with respect to hormones in the body. It increases hormones that regulate appetite and fat storage. It decreases a hormone in the stomach that tells you to stop eating. It elevates triglycerides putting you in danger of a heart attack. Read food labels and don't buy anything with high fructose corn syrup. It is a poison..
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