This weekend, my husband and I watched an entertaining and educational documentary on Netflix: “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead”. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it! It is about a seriously overweight Australian man who also suffers from an autoimmune skin disorder. He decides to embark on a 60-day green juice fast in the US, and travel around our country meeting and interviewing people about their health and dietary habits. On his journey, he befriends and inspires a truck driver – a lovely man who is also obese and on a multitude of prescription medications. I won’t ruin the movie for you by divulging any more of the story, but (and I know this is clichéd) I smiled, laughed, and got teary-eyed during the film. It definitely motivated us to eat even healthier, and the next morning we both got large organic green juices for breakfast and lunch! And my husband pulled out his bike from storage and went riding for the first time in years! ☺
Speaking of dietary issues, I recently learned about a potentially harmful additive that is being used as a thickening agent in many organic and non-organic foods. Carrageenan is a seaweed (also known as Irish Moss) that is now in many dairy products, dairy alternatives (such as some rice, almond and soy milks and puddings), Applegate turkey breast, frozen desserts and food, beer, Tasti-delight, to name some examples. During the beginning of this year, I was having a lot of mysterious abdominal pains that could not be explained because all the various medical tests and scopes I did came out normal. It was very frustrating and scary to be in pain, and not know the cause. Fortuitously, one of my health-conscious neighbors (who I met during our historic preservation volunteer work on the UWS) emailed me an article by Dr. Andrew Weill regarding the link between carrageenan, inflammation and distressful GI symptoms. This is the article: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401181… After reading the article, I eliminated all foods containing this ingredient (and it turns out, it was in a lot of my favorite foods), and lo and behold, the mysterious abdominal pain went away. As a result of my experience of dealing with pain and a multitude of not-fun medical tests, I now feel I must share this important information with you. Please review the articles and links, and then you can decide if this is a food item you wish to consume.
Here is more information and a petition I signed:
Here is a partial list of foods containing carrageenan:
http://www.cornucopia.org/shopping-guide-to-avoiding-organic-foods-with-carrageenan/
More information:
http://www.cornucopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Carrageenan-Report1.pdf
Please share this information with others. I intend to email my doctors as well with the above links.
