Obesity additives... the bane of processed foods

Many of the chemicals all too commonly found in today's foods can be just as addictive as alcohol, cigarettes, and even various street drugs.

The stuff they are putting in our food to keep it artificially "fresh" for years and even decades, can actually make changes in our brain chemistry...causing us to become addicted to gaining body fat. 

Furthermore, in order to make you crave what they have, the industry spikes your food with: Trans fats, caffeine, MSG, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavoring, extra salt, and sugar. What you get is a food time bomb disguised as a healthy treat. 

No wonder we all struggle so much... 

With all of this in mind, here are three ways obesity additives work to make our bellies bulge: 

1. Two of these obesity additives interfere with a hormone called leptin that tells the brain we are full while eating. 

2. Other obesity additives add fat by changing how our bodies use the calories we eat. They do this by increasing a fat-storing hormone called insulin. When this happens, calories are converted to fat instead of being stored as "muscle energy." This leads to fat deposits in all of our trouble areas—like under the chin, the backs of the arms, the belly, and the lower body. 

3. Still other obesity additives actually make us addicted to them and cause us to eat uncontrollably. They do this by altering brain chemicals called neurotransmitters—just like a highly addictive drug does. 

A Short List of Obesity Additives to Stay Away From... 

Stripped Carbohydrates (listed as sugar, flour, enriched white flour, white flour, enriched bleached flour, enriched wheat flour, wheat flour, semolina flour, white rice, maltodextrin, glucose, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), fructose, sucrose, dextrose, and levulose)

Artificial Sweeteners (listed as Splenda (sucralose), NutraSweet (aspartame), Sunette (acesulfame K), and Sweet ‘N Low (saccharin). The scientists believe that artificial sweeteners may “short-circuit” the body’s natural ability to sense how much it has eaten.)

Added Caffeine in soft drinks and energy drinks (a few cups of green tea or coffee each day are fine)

High Saturated Fats (also listed as partially hydrogenated oils and trans fats)

MSG (also labeled as monosodium glutamate)

Excess Alcohol (if you must, one to two drinks per week)

Excess Salt/Sodium (in chips, crackers, canned food items, pickles, various cheeses, pretzels, condiments, and salted nuts.)


This note came from Michael Lovitch, Co-founder of The Hypnosis Network, describing information povided by Josh Bezoni in a new class he is offering. 09-30-10

Opportunity or Suffering

I deeply enjoyed this wisdom teaching offered by Richard Rudis, an expert Tibetan Singing Bowl healer, in his recent newsletter, Dharma Tapestry.  -jd An old beggar has been sitting by the side of the same road for thirty years asking for hand outs - for he had nothing. A stranger walked by: "Spare some change?" the beggar asked. "Sorry, I have nothing to give you," said the stranger, “ but what's that you're sitting on?" "Just an old box,” replied the beggar, “I've been sitting on it for as long as I can remember.” “It appears to me to be a curious thing - have you ever look inside?," asked the stranger. "No," said the beggar, "What's the point, there's nothing in there." "How can you be so certain," insisted the stranger. So the beggar, reluctantly, managed to pry open the lid and find, to his astonishment, it filled with gold. (based on a parable told by Eckhart Tolle) In my life, from time to time, I have been both the stranger and the beggar - I imagine we all have been. I sometimes find myself rooted in place, certain of my surroundings, my lot-in-life, my past - present & future, disregarding (or even worst un-recognizing) the many opportunities that are naturally presented to me daily. Recently I was confronted with a change that was unexpected, unwanted and undesirable. Fixed in my position I mentally ranted at the situation while physically accepting and halfheartedly moving forward. Life is a funny old place - isn’t it? I know better yet lost in the unwanted I attached myself to the apparent suffering of change and failed to ask myself; what treasure am I ignoring? How can I pry open this lid? I am still looking for the gift but hopefully now I’ll see it as it presents itself. Namaste, Richard Rudis (Karma Sonam Dorje)

Problem-solving, Norman Vincent Peale

"Believe that problems do have answers. 

Believe that they can be overcome. 

Believe that they can be handled. 

And finally, believe that you can solve them."

- Norman Vincent Peale

Letting Go, 10 affirmations by Melody Beattie

"EACH DAY, we can ask for and accept the healing energy of God and the Universe. Open your hearts and let that energy flow to you, through you, and on to others. When you live in the here-and-now, you can allow life to happen instead of trying to force outcomes. When you relinquish regrets over the past and fears about the future, you can truly make the most of each present day."

Here are 10 affirmations to help you let go and let life happen!

.... these affirmations take on such topics as change, fear, self-esteem, risks, forgiveness, peacefulness, & allowance. Here is one sample:

Today I will be open to the process of change. I will trust my Higher Power and believe that the place where I’ll be dropped off is better than the place where I was picked up. I know that change is necessary to take me wherever I need to go.

Melody Beattie - the best-selling author of The Language of Letting Go, has written 12 books.

© 2010 HAY HOUSE

Music is a powerful healing therapy

Take two concertos and call me in the morning-
Why music is winning a wider audience in medicine.

excerpt:

"For decades, psychotherapists have used music to treat people with psychological and behavioral problems. More recently, though, music-based therapy of the kind experienced by Richter has become a popular complement to surgery and drugs. In the U.S., doctors use music to help stroke victims relearn to talk. In Canada, it’s employed to make surgical procedures involving spinal anesthesia more bearable. German physicians use it to ease migraines. In Israel, it has been shown to improve cognitive function in schizophrenics. And in Switzerland, music is used as a treatment for geriatric patients with -cognitive problems.

Music and medicine share a long history. The oldest evidence of musical therapy goes as far back as the third millennium BCE, when Sumerians composed temple hymns to cure the sick. Healing incantations and musical instruments were also prescribed in ancient China and Egypt. In The Odyssey, Homer describes how a healer’s chant stopped a wound from bleeding. Music remained part of the curriculum for aspiring physicians until the 17th century, when it was employed to treat disorders. It was only in the 19th century that music lost its link to medicine.

But music’s physiological effects are as pronounced as its psychological effects..."

© Ode Magazine USA, Inc.

Read on, by clicking the title link, about the Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians’ Medicine (IMMM) and more innovative uses of music (both listening and active playing) as a path for healing.

Manage Stress with Love...