protect your health

Well I am going o natural from now on.

I just got my sega games in the mail (I played them all and was sort of disappointed) so now my focus has shifted 100% to finding and buying more health-friendly cosmetic products and drinks and foods - primarily soft drinks and gum.

I can obtain these products from the health food aisles at Loblaws and Wal-Marts as well as natural health food stores if need be. The cost in obtaining these products will not be insignificant but I believe it to be well worth it for the sanctity of the body and for guarding against future cancerous diseases. After some extensive research, I discovered a host of unsavoury benzoates, sulfates and other ingredients in my toothpaste, mouthwash, face scrub, shampoos, skin scream, shaving cream. I am attempting to convert to such brands as Tom's of Maine, Jason Natural Cosmetics, Aubrey Organics and if I really open up the wallet, Anthony Logistics For Men. A good source to identify what sort of products you are using is cosmeticdatabase.com. Many products have been rated. I am quite suspect of the Body Shop as they do not list out all their ingredients on the website.

The other arena I will be making a big change in is soft drinks/gum/breath mints. All commercial brand (regular) soft drinks contain High Fructis Corn Syrup, known here in Canada in the ingredient list as Sugar/Glucose-Fructose or Sugar and/or Glucose-Fructose. This is the sweetener used in the place of sugar. In the early 1980's, soft drink manufacturers switched from sugar to this liquid form of refined sugar, HFCS. Of course all sucrose that we know in our households is refined but the difference apparently happens in the metabolization process. The composition of Sugar vs. HFCS is quite similar but there is an inherent difference. Sugar from sources such as cane or beet is known to be absorbed by the pancreas and as such, it liberates insulin which accompanies the glucose to the body's cells.
In contrast, HFCS is known to be fully absorbed by the liver, and thus the body is tricked because it skips the natural insulin process. (It is said that the use of HFCS as a sweetener in virtually many products has contributed to a drastic increase in Type II diabetes; this should be more pronounced in the U.S. since a greater number of their products are sweetened with HFCS or as known here Sugar/Glucose-Fructose). However, Canada is not immune to the use of HFCS and it is most apparent in beverages (soft drinks), low priced snack cakes, certain cereals etc. Why did the use of HFCS become so prevalent starting in the 80's? Economics my dear Watson. The U.S. imposed high sugar tariffs resulting in an inflated price for sugar. As a result, producers who relied on sugar as a main component in their food products substituted towards the relatively cheaper - much cheaper actually given that corn was subsidized in addition to the inflated sugar price - sweetening ingredient. So what does this have to do with Type II diabetes? Well Type II is closely linked to obesity, and people are getting bigger by drinking HFCS. Two reasons for this: first, the body is storing all the fat content from the HFCS rather than it being delivered as energy to the rest of the body by being burned; second, HFCS also plays a trick with the mind whereby the signal is not being sent from the body that fat is being stored. Thus, people are said to over-indulge when drinking HFCS sweetened beverages.

And why do Canadians have to worry about U.S. sugar prices and the use of HFCS in products? Because many of our imported food products come from the U.S. Even if soft drinks are bottled here, the mixing syrup certainly comes from down South.
Anyway, I will have more updates on this as I learn more. I can say though that I will be buying Blue Sky Natural Soda (w/ cane sugar). Be careful because Blue Sky also makes a version with HFCS. These are at Loblaws but cost $1 each so I am trying to find a cheaper source.

As far as the gum, that is a separate nightmare altogether. The problem here is that most all gum is sweetened with Aspartame, aka, rat poision to humans. This is a pure chemical compound that was discovered by complete fluke. It never should have been passed by the FDA in the 1980's and there is a complete controversy surrounding this. Monsanto ended up acquiring G.D. Searle (who held the patent to Aspartame) but the man who was appointed to Searle in order to get the job done of getting aspartame approval was Donald Rumsfeld, the neo-con asshole among all assholes. He lobbied the FDA hard and was even able to overturn the board of independent FDA scientists who had voted 3-2 in favour of rejecting the sweetening agent. Aspartame has a host of problems associated with its regular use, including headaches, vision blurring, diabetes, symptoms of Parkinsons and multiple sclerosis etc. Others don't immediately feel these effects but may experience serious consequences down the road. You will find aspartame in all diet soft drinks and many yogourts and most gum. I have already noted my suggestion for the soft drinks and will let you know on the gum. I have some prospects such as Glee and Dr. Ken, and now it is a matter of tracking them down. I am almost finished with my horrible supply of Dental Care gum (which I thought was ok) that contains Acesulfame Pottasium, an awful sweetener. I ordered it from ebay more than a year ago and am down to only 4 packs left. As some of you know, I traded the last carton for two Dirienzio sandwiches.
For yogourt I eat a hearty balkan yogourt every day. Beatrice Fruit Bottom (175 g). Astro also makes a similar yogourt at 113 g. I have reviewed all the ingredients for Beatrice lately and approve.