All of this for the cheap production and use of Palm Oil. An oil our bodies are having a difficult time beneficially utilizing for the good of our health.

We can start by saying NO to Palm Oil and the many names it is being hidden under on food-labeling.

Two of the most bio-diverse regions of the world are Borneo and Sumatra and yet the list of endangered species is the longest in those two South-East Asian islands.

The Orangutan is just one species of the 300,000 animals and thousands more being discovered there every year. There are around 20,000 flowering plant species, 3,000 tree species. Every minute in Indonesia and Malaysia about 6 football field size areas of precious rainforest are being cleared to make way for this one vegetable oil called palm oil. It is found in hundreds of products people use every day, like baked foods and confectionery, as well as cosmetics, cleaning agents and now biofuel.

The health of our bodies, planet and future is at risk

This palm oil is a high saturated fat like cheddar cheese or bacon.

It contains five different saturated fats. These types of fats will raise your blood cholesterol levels and can lead to heart disease. All oils have some saturated fat in them but palm oil is very high in saturated fat relative to corn, soy or olive oil.

If you’re concerned about your heart health and the health of your arteries, stay away from palm oil. Choosing fresh natural foods and avoiding highly processed food-like products found in the the main big chain grocery stores is advisable. Natural Health Food Stores can be a good source for healthier products. Read the food labels!

Food processors have recently replaced the “trans fats” which are hydrogenated oils that cause a serious health risk in terms of heart disease, stroke and other problems with palm oil and yet it poses the identical risks as those “trans fats”.

Because Corporations are cutting down the native forests in Malaysia, Columbia, Indonesia and Ghana, the loss of native plants and animals is releasing large amounts of CO2 and Methane in the atmosphere. This is a big problem adding to the already worsening climate change.

Get involved or just learn more about what is really going on by checking out saynotopalmoil.com.

By the way, it’s NOT JUST FOOD!

If you have some information about palm oil or other deadly food-like additives, we’d love to hear from you.

image source: schristia, didbygraham

The post Do More Than Say No To Palm Oil appeared first on Kale University.

Here is a great infographic and a link to the source article that gives you a good list of foods to avoid like the plague, including a few you might not have even crossed you mind!

10 Ten GMO Foods to Avoid Eating by Natural News

Non-GMO Project

EWG’s Shopper’s Guide

The post Top 10 GMO Foods to Avoid appeared first on Kale University.

What Sugar Does to Us

Researchers at UCLA have just released their findings on sugar and the effect it has on our brains. The study involved two groups of mice being fed high fructose, one of the most common sweeteners in our food. One group of mice were also fed some brain supporting Omega-3′s to see if the sugar could be counteracted.

Before the mice were fed the sugars and fatty acids they spent five days learning their way through advanced mazes. Once they had figured the mazes out they were put on this high fructose diet for six weeks. They were then put through the mazes again to see how much was retained and if any of their learning ability had waned.

“The DHA-deprived [Omega-3] animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats’ ability to think clearly and recall the route they’d learned six weeks earlier.”

A closer look at the brain activity revealed the non omega-3 group showed signs of resistance to insulin which helps control blood sugar and regulates brain function. Eating too much sugar can hinder the insulin’s ability to regulate how our cells use and store sugar which is crucial for processing thoughts and emotions.

What Can We Do?

The best way to keep the effects down is to reduce the amount of sugar and high fructose corn syrup we consume. This means cut down on soda, chips and other snacks that contain sugar. There are many healthy alternatives that can be found at health food stores.

Start drinking kombucha or non-dairy kefir. These are two great digestive aids that will help reduce cravings of sugars and salts. When your digestive tract is happy the rest of your body is flying high.

Be sure to get enough of your essential fatty acids. There are plenty of great ways to get enough omega fats in your diet.

Try to find foods that are less processed. Look at the label and see how many ingredients there are and if there are chemical preservatives or “natural flavors,” beware. Find the foods that just have a couple of ingredients that you know and understand.

Try to think of whole foods rather than food isolates like sugar and salt. Nature has already given us perfectly wrapped fruits and vegetables that are sweet and have everything you need to digest and use their sugars perfectly.

Be patient. Your taste buds have been assaulted by sugar and other flavor enhancers for so long that your brain has developed a dependency on them. After a few weeks of getting away from these flavors your taste buds will change and you will enjoy a nice juicy peach more than you ever thought you would. It took me about 4 weeks to kick the sugar cravings and now I don’t have those cravings anymore.

Ask us for advice on lowering your sugar intake. We have all gone through the process of getting away from the more refined sugars and have found some great alternatives.

Learn More

The Bitter Truth About Sugar

This is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. It is just a lecture but it is packed with so much mind blowing information from Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology.

Big Sugar

This is another great one to check out for a background of the whole sugar business.

The post Sugar’s Negative Effect on Our Brains appeared first on Kale University.

Teens between age 14 and 18 get more calories from soda than any other single food or drink.

I often wonder why we drink soda- of course, I used to do it too. As a kid in high school, it was there, it tasted good, none of my friends batted an eye about drinking it, and it seemed to make a meal more fun, more social somehow. Looking back I’m glad I was raised Mormon because soda was never in the house when I was a child, and the occasional soda out was a real treat. But I wonder even what that amount of soda does to a child. When we did buy the occasional 2-liter of Pepsi for a party and it was leftover, it was such a prohibited item in my mind that it tempted me to taste it- I would literally sneak out of my room at night to take a swig, taste the harsh and sweet at once, and feel the fizzy bubbles on my face. As I got older and started paying more attention to what I ate and drank, it was largely about quantities and calories because I didn’t want to sabotage my efforts at exercise and gain weight. But I still had no idea how dangerous both soda and diet soda are. Even when I drank soda, and even when I was “watching my figure,” I thought diet soda was gross and developed a theory early on about it’s addictive nature. All my friends who drank Diet Coke would crave it to the point of distraction, to the point of getting on their shoes and going to the store with nothing else on the list. (click on this infographic to get a slightly higher-res pic so it’s easier to read)

Taking Responsibility For Your Own Body and Mind

While I think it’s purely despicable what the FDA, the government, the giant corporation and media have done to create this monster, I know that all I can do is make my own choices and protect my own body from these chemicals and protect my mind from their constant marketed lies. They are lies. And they know it. The more we believe marketing claims, the more these companies sit back and count their money, chuckling that they’ve indoctrinated us so well for so long that we are willing to pull the wool over our own eyes. They know it’s especially easy to hook kids, but now that kids are getting so hugely overweight at such young ages, it’s undeniable that something has gone horribly wrong and people are finally starting to wonder what is going on.

So.. What Is Going On?

Well, it’s not just one thing, of course it’s not that simple. I like this video because it explains that the chemicals in soda are just a few of the food additives that contribute to an acidifying diet. There are so many aspects of the modern diet and lifestyle that tend to put our bodies in a more acidic state. The balance between acid and alkaline in the body is extremely important and there are theories that an imbalance in the body’s pH is the cause of most chronic diseases and conditions (especially the “diseases of affluence” like Type II diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer, and coronary heart disease.)  The aspartame and high fructose corn syrup are extremely acidifying and extremely common in the American diet, but hopefully we can start to spread the news that this stuff isn’t just junk, it doesn’t just make you fat, and it isn’t totally harmless. It’s nothing short of poison.

What is Aspartame Anyway?

Here’s a great article on what aspartame really is- because of course it’s too long to get into here! According to Dr. Mercola, aspartame is suspected to cause cancer, it’s chemical makeup more closely resembles DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a banned insecticide) than an edible substance once the manufacturing process is completed and can destroy up to 50% of your beneficial gut flora. In case that hasn’t shaken you up, it also doubles your risk of gaining weight.

Aspartame accounts for 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Aspartame has been linked to 92 health concerns including brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, lymphoma, diabetes, and fibromyalgia. It is also known to cause headaches, migraines, dizziness, seizures, weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety attacks, tinnitus, joint pain, and depression.

I found kombucha and herbal tea to be helpful when I was quitting soda. What are some of your favorite tips to help kick the soda habit?

The post Effects of Soda Pop on Health appeared first on Kale University.

• Skin, eye, & lung irritation
• Nerve disorders
• Birth defects/toxicity to a fetus
• Reproduction effects
• Cancer
• Blood disorders
• Hormone disruption
• Brain & nervous system toxicity

Thanks to EcoMom.com for creating this infographic and GreenWala for sharing it.

The post Pesticides to Organics, Make the Switch appeared first on Kale University.

1. Genetically Modified Foods
2. Pesticides in Your Food
3. Bovine Growth Hormone
4. Chlorinated Chickens
5. Food Contact Chemicals
6. Stevia, the natural sweetener
7. Planned Ban: Food Dyes

The post 7 Foods Banned in Europe Still Available in the U.S. appeared first on Kale University.

I found that using acidic water from my Ionizer water system is very powerful against bacteria and I also use the Ozone water from my veggie-wash machine to clean the counters and cutting boards. Ozone (o3) water solution is 500 times stronger than bleach and completely safe for us since it has an extra oxygen molecule and has to be used within a half-hour, after which it dissipates.
No one needs to go out and buy an ozone machine or ionizer system but read those labels and stay away from the fragrant products.

It’s time we all knew the truth about those things that we use around us and have always thought was safe and tested. If you don’t look out for yourself and your family then no one will. Kale U. is doing its best to bring these things to light along with the great work of Dr. Michael Greger and his site: Nutritional Facts.

This next video is a must see if you want to be a little more aware of what poisons are sitting in the cabinet.

Image Source: ginnylgorman

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I’m ready to bust through the embarrassment and squeamishness get into some subjects that tend to make us bashful out on the table in an open, fun, conversational way.  I am frustrated lately with the tendency our culture has to scoff at, giggle over, and put aside any topic that is considered uncomfortable.  Our bodies are not weird.  Things that happen to our bodies shouldn’t be taboo- they should be understood.  The more we disconnect from our bodies, the less we will be in touch with what they need and how to heal them.  Sex, genitals, daily bodily functions, childbirth, breastfeeding- these are all things we should be talking about like mature, relaxed adults.  Instead we skirt over the subjects and stay silent and shy.  Come on people, join me. Let’s talk about sex baby. Let talk about poop and pee…  Ok, so as you can see- while I think these topics are important, I also think we need to relax and have a little fun when we talk about them.  Being repressed and uptight in our lives is not exactly ideal.

Let’s Start With… Breasts

Even though women love to be and feminine often want to wear the “sexy” things we see on tv, it’s really important that women stop and think about the heath of the body and think about the reasons we have breasts, and the natural state that our bodies are meant to live in.  Corsets and underwires are fun for a couple hours, but it soon becomes uncomfortably apparent that our bodies are certainly not meant to be compressed, poked and restricted.

In our health quest here at Kale U, we are always working on detoxifying our bodies. It’s a continual process of removing old existing and new environmental toxins from our systems and refraining from adding any new ones into our bodies.  There are only as many ways to detoxify as there are to eliminate the toxins- otherwise they are just reabsorbed after being released.  What are the body’s main channels of detoxification then?  How do solid and fluid wastes exit your body?

1. urination (pee)
2. defecation (poo)
3. perspiration (sweat)
4. respiration (breath)

The human body is an incredible machine made up of multiple systems working together. The lymphatic system helps the immune system filter and remove wastes, pathogens, defective cells, and toxins from cells. The lymphatic system also delivers nutrients, oxygen, and hormones from the blood to cells.  It is extremely important that our lymph system is a) not overloaded with toxins to sift through (which includes excess protein!) and b) that it is allowed to do it’s work and take out the trash, not just pile it up around the trash can.

Breasts contain tiny lymphatic capillaries that grow into a network of tubes which increase in size as they move deeper into the body. It is really important then not to bind up the tissues with the tiniest vessels that carry fluid- the tissues furthest out toward our skin.

Getting quality hydration, exercising, rebounding, dry skin brushing, massage and taking off your bra are great ways to get out of the way of our amazing lymphatic system and let it do it’s job.  Yes, removing your bra as soon as you get a chance during the day can really help prevent stagnation of the fluids that should be circulating. Bras can also make it hard to breathe when they are tight, which puts a cap on how well we can utilize the elimination channel of our breathing and oxygenate the body.

Yes, we live in a society where in most cases and places we have to cover our bodies.  Breasts that sag, droop, are asymmetrical or imperfect in any way are not considered perfect- but 99.9% of breasts are not perfect. We have to remember that when we see models on tv, it is completely probable that we are seeing surgically and/or digitally enhanced bodies. All bodies are beautiful, big or small, imperfect or model-like. Life is an amazing gift and we must learn to love ourselves as we are if we are to be truly healthy!

Here is a great resource for breast heath and the scary truth about bras. And check out this post called 8 Reasons You Should Burn Your Bra- it’s full of vitally important information from one woman to another, including this claim: “The correlation between breast cancer and bras is four times higher than the correlation between smoking and lung cancer.” That seems to have referenced this page on bras and breast cancer, which sealed the deal for me. I am now typing sans bra.

This video does a great job of explaining that breasts are actually meant to be free!

I’ve found some great tops that let you go braless in style and a few bra tops that are a little more minimal and then some that offer a bit of support but without tight cups or underwires.  I know it seems strange to be showing you bras on a “go braless” post, but I doubt you’re actually planning to go to work or the gym without a bra tomorrow is you’re over a b-cup.  If you do, that’s great- even better!  But I would guess most ladies are looking for a healthy compromise- something light and pretty that covers up the girls but still lets them have a little room to breathe, and something minimal for lounging around the house. Just click on a picture to for more info and pricing.  I want them all!  I also love my barely-there little sleeping bras from Patagonia, though they really aren’t much good for anything more than a tiny step up from naked, but that’s the point.

Update: Right after this post was published, we got a fantastic email from Sydney Ross Singer explaning his similar views not only on taboo subjects, but on the dangers of bras.  He explained that he and his wife wrote a book called Dressed to Kill, on breast health and breast cancer correlations with bra wearing!  I noticed this title as I was looking around the web, but I didn’t realize just how packed with truth and information it is!  I can’t wait to learn more and connect with Sydney and his lovely wife and coauthor, Soma Grismaijer.  They are living the life on the big island of Hawaii.  Perhaps a field trip is in order.

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Image Source: epsos

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