Striving4Zen

The only things as important as eating the right foods for brain health are limiting your toxic exposure and enhancing your detoxification system.

Avoid Brain-Damaging Foods

The list of brain-damaging foods you need to avoid is short:

1. Processed, refined carbohydrates and sugar
2. High-fructose corn syrup
3. Toxic fats—especially trans fats
4. Food additives and preservatives
5. Alcohol
6. Caffeine
7. Food allergens (the two most common are gluten and dairy)

Eat Detoxifying Foods

If you want to enhance your detoxification and develop an UltraMind, you need more glutathione, a sulfur-like substance that transports toxins out of your body via your urine and stool. To naturally increase your glutathione, increase your intake of the following foods:

• Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, collards, kale, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, arugula, radish, wasabi, watercress, kohlrabi, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnips)—at least one to two cups, cooked, daily
• Curcuminoids (turmeric, curry)
• Garlic (a few cloves a day)
• Green tea, one to two cups a day (boosts liver detoxification)
• High-quality, sulfur-containing protein (eggs, garlic, onions)

Take Vitamin D3

In addition to what is in your multivitamin, you should take vitamin D3 because it is significantly deficient in so many people.

Reduce Your Heavy Metal Exposure

Heavy metals are some of the most toxic chemicals in our environment. The two biggest culprits are lead (from lead paint, leaded gas, and coal-burning factories) and mercury (from dental fillings, vaccinations, and industrial pollutants).

Avoid Environmental Petrochemicals

Limit your exposure by doing the following:

• Do not dry clean your clothes.
• Avoid the use of garden chemicals.
• Buy furniture that has been built without the use of formaldehyde or other preservative agents.
• Eliminate your exposure to secondhand smoke and car exhaust.

Source

Labels: brain, cruciferous vegetables, detox, detoxify, Dr. Mark Hyman, formaldehyde, garlic, lead, living holistically, mercury, toxins

Does canned fish (salmon or tuna) have any sort of nutritional benefit when compared to fresh fish?

Canned light tuna, ordinarily made from skipjack tuna, actually poses a substantially lower risk in terms of mercury exposure than fresh yellowfin or albacore tuna. So this type of tuna-canned light tuna-is the type that's best for you to buy if you want to eat tuna relatively often, for example, about one meal per week. While canned light tuna might not provide you with more nutrients than fresh light tuna, it is still likely to be saving you nutrient supplies by allowing your body to avoid processing unwanted mercury.

A second type of fish that can have some surprising benefits when canned is salmon. Because canned salmon is often packed in its own oil, you may be getting the benefit of some extra omega-3 fatty acids. Canned salmon also includes the bones (which are safe to eat since they soften during the canning process) and these bones can provide you with some added nutritional benefits as well. For example, a 3-ounce serving of salmon has over half the calcium found in an 8-ounce glass of cow's milk.

Full article here...

Labels: calcium, canned salmon, canned tuna, fish, healthy diet, mercury, nutrition, Omega-3s

I always like to recommend foods as close to their whole, natural forms as possible. Yet, in the case of tuna, it is difficult for me to stick with this principle 100% due to the types of fresh (and frozen) tuna most widely available in the marketplace and their relative risk of mercury toxicity.

Canned light tuna, ordinarily made from skipjack tuna, actually poses a substantially lower risk in terms of mercury exposure than fresh yellowfin or albacore tuna. So this type of tuna - canned light tuna - is the type that's best for you to buy if you want to eat tuna relatively often (for example, about one meal per week). If you are only interested in eating tuna about once per month, other options include yellowfin or albacore tuna (that is either fresh or frozen, troll or pole caught), which I would describe as having a medium mercury exposure risk. While from an ecological standpoint, I would rank these tuna as "best choices" most of us will probably want to consider the mercury and health risks right alongside of the ecological ones when deciding upon our food purchases.

While canned light tuna is my "best choice" recommendation when it comes to canned tuna, it's important to take a close look at the "canned light" label as skipjack, yellowfin, bluefin, and tongol can all be sold as "light" tuna. Skipjack is your best choice among these light tuna options for lowering your risk of mercury exposure.

I also recommend water-packed versus oil-packed tuna whenever you are buying canned tuna. In addition to questioning the quality of non-organic oils used in oil-packed tuna (and the unnecessary, lower-quality fat calories they provide), water-packed tuna, on average, contains a slightly higher omega-3 fat content than oil-packed tuna. However small it may be, it is yet another important benefit that it offers.

There are also more expensive, specialty brands of canned tuna available in the marketplace that may serve as a good option. Some of these specialty products give you better flavor and more omega-3 fatty acids due to higher-quality production methods.

They may also involve more sustainable fishing methods than many other forms of canned tuna.

Source

Labels: canned tuna, health and safety, healthy diet, mercury, Omega-3s, tuna, world's healthiest foods

In a new study published Monday in the scientific journal Environmental Health, mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup. The news is disturbing given that this ingredient is present in a large portion of processed American foods. According to David Wallinga, M.D., co-author of the study,

"Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply."

A separate study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where high fructose corn syrup is the first or second highest labeled ingredient-including products by Quaker, Hershey's, Kraft and Smucker's.

Source

Labels: Hershey's, HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, Kraft, mercury, Quaker, Smucker's, study, toxic

On Friday, December 12, the Environmental Working Group made public internal government documents disclosing the Food and Drug Administration's secret plans to reverse federal warnings that pregnant women and children limit their fish intake to avoid mercury, a neurotoxin especially dangerous to the fetus and infants. EWG obtained both the FDA plan, stamped "CLOSE HOLD," and memos by senior Environmental Protection Agency scientists attacking FDA's rationale. The Washington Post broke the story, and other national stories followed.

Reaction from Capitol Hill was swift and sharp. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT., denounced the FDA: "Now, in the administration's 11th hour, they are quietly trying to water down advisories for women and children about the dangers of mercury in fish, disregarding sound science on this issue. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin capable of impairing childhood development at very low levels."

Read the Washington Post story here.

Labels: EPA, EWG, FDA, fish, mercury, toxic, toxic metals, toxins, tuna

It may seem like a fight you’re destined to lose, however I firmly believe you can reduce your exposure to heavy metals quite dramatically, thereby giving your body a fighting chance to eliminate accumulated toxins and restore health.

These guidelines can help limit your exposure:

• Use glass, cast iron, carbon steel, titanium, and enamel cookware. Both aluminum and Teflon are well known for their toxic dangers, and stainless steel can expose you to carcinogenic nickel.

• Minimize consumption of restaurant food as restaurants are required to use stainless steel pots and vats.

• Avoid stainless steel thermoses; the glass lined kinds are best.
  
  
• Avoid cosmetics with aluminum bases, mineral powders that contain bismuth, and aluminum-laden antiperspirants, which have been shown to increase your Alzheimer’s risk by as much as 300 percent!

• Avoid vaccinations that inject mercury or aluminum directly into your bloodstream.

• Avoid and remove dental amalgam fillings.
  
  
• Avoid stainless steel orthodontics such as braces and palate wideners.
  
  
• Avoid costume jewelry if you are sensitive to metals.
  
  
• Avoid smoking and second hand smoke as it causes cadmium poisoning.
  
  
• Make sure you purchase your natural herbal remedies from a reputable source with strict quality testing. Some colloidal silvers can lead to silver poisoning, and some folk remedies can be high in mercury, lead and arsenic, either due to alleged medicinal properties or through unintentional contamination.
  
  
• Avoid conventional household cleaning products.
  
  
• Avoid conventional insecticides and herbicides. Also be VERY cautious when using the “natural alternative” Borax (boric acid), which can also cause serious health problems, including death.

Source

Labels: cleanse, Mercola, mercury, toxic, toxic metals, toxins

Dental Fillings: They are toxic, world’s largest health regulator admits

Amalgam fillings in our teeth are toxic and harmful to our health, America’s health regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has finally admitted after claiming for years that they were safe.

This unprecedented about-turn marked the sudden end of a lawsuit that had been mounted by advocacy groups, such as Moms Against Mercury, who are seeking to ban the use of mercury in amalgam fillings and children's vaccinations.

In an official statement, which has been posted on the FDA website, the regulator admitted that mercury-containing dental fillings “may have neuro-toxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.”

The statement puts the US in line with a handful of other countries that already ban the use of mercury fillings in pregnant women. The FDA is calling for further research, and may announce a complete ban on amalgam fillings next year.

As we exclusively reported in an earlier E-news bulletin, Denmark imposed a complete ban on amalgam fillings this year. In the meantime, pregnant women, and people with “a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure”, or with high levels of mercury already, should talk to their dentists about safer alternatives, the FDA has announced.

Mercury has also been traditionally used as a preservative in children’s vaccinations, although the process of removing it began in 2000, and current stocks contain no mercury-based thimerosal.

Source

Labels: amalgam fillings, ban, FDA, mercury, study

Going against the opinion of America’s top public health agencies, John McCain has suggested that autism may be linked to thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury that used to be common in children’s vaccines.

“It’s indisputable that autism is on the rise among children,” McCain (pictured) reportedly said while campaigning recently in Texas. “The question is, What’s causing it? And we go back and forth, and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.”

The New York Times reported on the comment this morning; an ABC News blog reported it a few days ago.

Some vocal parents’ groups, among others, have argued that thimerosal is linked to autism. But most medical experts say the evidence doesn’t suggest such a connection.

“No scientific data link thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines with any pediatric neurologic disorder, including autism,” says the American Academy of Pediatrics. The CDC has come to a similar conclusion, as did a a report by the Institute of Medicine.

Nevertheless, partly in response to parents’ concerns, use of thimerosal in children’s vaccines has been radically reduced in recent years.

Source

* I'd rather be safe than sorry! I'm with McCain!

Labels: autism, McCain, mercury, thimerosal, vaccines

Just last month an article appeared in the New York Times dining section warning readers of the dangers of eating too much fish. Yes – you read correctly – the article written by Marian Burros warned readers that eating more than three servings of fish per week, particularly sushi grade fish, would increase your blood mercury to dangerously high levels.

Needless to say Ms Burros’ article, which was based on a July 2007 report by the New York City Department of Health, drew quite a stir.

Is there a real problem with eating too much fish? The original report issued by the NYC Department of Health concluded that 1 in 4 New York City adults has elevated blood mercury levels. Specifically, those with the highest levels are Asians and higher income New Yorkers. The reason ... they eat more fish.

The study also found that compared to the rest of the country’s population – New Yorker’s have higher blood mercury levels (a fact that may be due to our addiction to Japanese take out).

Source

Labels: fish farming, mercury, sushi, toxins

New Yorkers put a fork in sushi yesterday after a study found some city restaurants had sold raw tuna with extremely high mercury levels.

"It's kind of scary," said Frankie Coburn, 25, of Manhattan, outside Nobu Next Door in TriBeCa.
"I was actually looking forward to getting some of their sushi. Now I don't know about that. I may have to change my mind."

The study, by The New York Times, found excessive amounts of the dangerous element in tuna sushi purchased last October from restaurants and markets around the city.

"Some of the levels were so high, it violated the Food and Drug Administration's action levels for mercury and seafood," which is 1 part per million, said Dr. Rebecca Goldburg, a scientist at Environmental Defense, a research and advocacy group.

"It's a level of mercury that the FDA considers so high that the food is legally adulterated."

NY POST

Labels: eating out, mercury, sushi, toxins, tuna

The omega-3s in fish are known to boost brain power, but it's time to get smart about which type of fish you're eating. Mercury contamination isn't something we'll leave behind in '07, so remember to skip predator fish like shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel and tuna.

This pocket seafood selector comes in handy, too.

Labels: healthy dining, mercury, seafood

The New York City Health Department recently analyzed blood samples for mercury and other heavy metals and found significantly higher levels in people who ate more fish. Levels were also notably higher among wealthy New Yorkers, presumably those who eat more expensive fish such as that found in sushi.

A non-profit environmental group known as the Turtle Island Restoration Network, also analyzed samples of tuna purchased from New York City sushi restaurants, finding nearly half of the 13 samples analyzed contained levels of mercury that exceeded the levels that the FDA considers safe for some women and young children. Some samples even exceeded 1.0 ppm, the level that FDA considers unsafe for human consumption.

Mercury has been used in a wide range of products including dental fillings, electrical switches, thermometers and batteries. Mining metals and the burning of fossil fuels, primarily coal, are among the greatest causes of mercury releases in the environment. Disposal of mercury-bearing consumer products also releases a substantial amount of mercury. While there’s little that can be done to clear the oceans and fish stocks of mercury that’s already out there, cutting back on energy consumption, finding alternative energy sources, and getting mercury out of consumer products are all important ways to help keep the problem from getting much worse.

Consumer Reports

Labels: fish farming, mercury, sushi

The Health Department has created a mercury-education brochure, "Eat Fish, Choose Wisely," available through 311.

It advises choosing fish lower in mercury, like clams, oysters and catfish, and to avoid fish high in mercury, like Chilean sea bass, mussels and canned light tuna.

They also advise choosing smaller fish, eating smaller servings and eating a variety of fish.

New Yorks have high mercury levels says The Post.

Labels: fish oil, mercury, New Yorkers