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Everyone wants to be healthy, so when we hear people telling us about the latest health trend that we "must" follow, it can be tempting. The people telling us are usually well-intentioned, wanting to share useful knowledge with the rest of us, but they might not know the dangers of the health fad because it’s such a new thing.
I’ve personally fallen to health fads, but fortunately, I discovered Anthony Williams, also known as the Medical Medium. In his book, Life Changing Foods, he explains many harmful health trends with clear logic and offers useful solutions.
In this post, I will summarize some of those harmful health trends:
Nightshade Fear
Nightshades are vegetables and fruits that prefer to grow in shady areas, and they flower during the night. Examples include potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Historically, people were afraid of nightshades because their leaves are stems are toxic when consumed. But if we stick to that logic, then many other foods would be toxic too, such as oranges and peaches. Later, people realized that the fruits and tubers are fine to eat, even if the leaves and stems are not.
The modern-day fear came from a theory that these vegetables are high in alkaloids that cause inflammation. But in reality, it’s not the alkaloids that are causing inflammation, it’s the other foods that we often eat nightshade vegetables with that cause the inflammation:
Ketchup and tomato sauce often contains high-fructose corn syrup. Tomatoes are often eaten along with wheat crust or sandwich bread.
Eggplant is often baked and served with parmesan cheese.
Bell Peppers are often stuffed with sausage and cheese
Potatoes are often deep-fried in fat and served with bacon bits and sour cream
The real cause of inflammation is the corn, wheat, high dairy fat, and frying. If people ate nightshades with healthy side ingredients, they would find them extremely healing. Examples:
Baked potatoes with salsa and avocado
Steamed eggplant drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice
Red bell pepper sticks with hummus
In the rare case that someone eats a nightshade on its own and experiences symptoms, then it’s almost guaranteed that she or he has symptoms when eating other types of fruits and vegetables too. It’s a sign that the person has too much toxins and virus load inside them, and the fruits and vegetables are causing a detox reaction. It’s classic case of the Holy Four foods getting blamed when they’re actually help us detox. Remember that nightshade vegetables are amazing foods with great nutrients and healing properties.
Vitamin D Mega Doses
Yes, Vitamin D is important, and it’s great that there’s a push for people to get more sunlight, in part because sunlight offers so many benefits other than Vitamin D. But taking mega doses of Vitamin D is not good. When the body is force-fed with a giant dosage of 50,000 IUs, as often happens with the Vitamin D supplement trend, that will be toxic to the body. The body responds by discarding most of it. Most people should not exceed 10,000 IUs of vitamin D per day.
Furthermore, Vitamin D is not the Holy Grail for health. Vitamin D deficiency is not the reason why so many people are ill, and a deficiency in Vitamin D is not life-threatening. Other nutrients, such as Vitamin B12, deserve more attention. A severe lack of B12 alone can lead to rapid deterioration of the nervous system, including conditions such as myelopathy and eventual death. Another nutrient is zinc. Zinc does everything that Vitamin D is said to do. A severe zinc deficiency would lead to grave illness, and getting enough zinc from food (or supplementing with zinc sulfate at normal doses) can offer much relief for a person suffering from chronic illness.
B12 Deficiency
One popular trend focuses on the belief that becoming vegetarian or vegan makes you automatically deficient in Vitamin B12. The truth is, more and more people around the world are deficient in Vitamin B12 regardless of whether or not they eat meat. That’s because the B12 we need comes from the microorganisms that live on the skins and leaves of fresh, raw, unwashed (or lightly washed), chemical-free vegetables and fruits. For example, if you go pick some fruits and vegetables from your garden and eat it shortly after, you’ll get bioavailable Vitamin B12 that your body can use.
If someone gets Vitamin B12 from animal meat, they may have a blood test result that shows they have normal or even high levels of B12, but that doesn’t mean the B12 is helping their health because it’s not in the bioactive form that the body needs, so the organs have trouble using it.
Some people wonder about getting Vitamin B12 shots. These shots usually do not have the right variety of B12 to be helpful. Furthermore, B12 must be taken orally to be effective because our digestive system will “tag” the B12 and make it bioavailable so that when it enters the blood system, it is in a form that our organs can accept.
To get our required B12, we should eat more fresh, raw, unwashed or lightly washed fruits and vegetables from a trusted source that doesn’t use chemical sprays. Another option is to take a B12 supplement. When looking for a B12 supplement, look for a high quality adenosylcobalamin-methylcoabalin blend.
Floating Stools (Poop)
There’s a widespread belief that floating stools in the toilet means ill health because you’re not properly absorbing nutrients such as fat. Many people say that stool that sinks is a good sign. In reality, it’s the reverse. “Floaters” are good, while “sinkers” are bad.
(Side Note: Obviously, diarrhea is bad. The floating pieces from diarrhea are pieces of undigested food. Diarrhea shows that something is wrong in the body to expel waste before digestion was finished.)
Intact stools that float are made of mostly fiber, and that’s a great thing. It means your eating enough fibre and your digestive system is working properly. It means that as food undergoes digestion, all the fats, proteins, sugars, carbohydrates, and other nutrients are being properly absorbed, leaving behind mostly fiber in the waste matter.
Dense, heavy stool that sinks quickly to the bottom of the toilet means it’s full of undigested fats and proteins. This can indicate that someone’s liver is overloaded and unable to absorb the fats from the food. But we don’t need to stress out too much about sinking stools. Sometimes, the liver intentionally gets rid of excess fat to protect you, not because it’s having trouble. Other times, dense stools are just a sign that resulted in your gut getting tight, which then compacts the stool. Just do your best to eat plenty of fiber and the Holy Four.
The main takeaway here is to not fear floating stools. The healthier your diet gets by incorporating the Holy Four, the more likely you are to experience floating stools that are submerged but not sitting on the bottom.
Dairy
Many people feel they can’t live without dairy, whether it be milk in coffee, a morning cup of yogurt, butter on toast, or cheese in all its delicious forms. Dairy can make life and healing with challenging though because it bogs down the liver, thereby preventing toxins from leaving the body. Dairy also stresses the pancreas, which creates insulin resistance. Dairy also feeds pathogens that are behind so many illnesses. Examples of diseases and conditions that dairy can affect are
Liver disease
Skin problems like acne, eczema, and psoriasis
Common colds
Osteoporosis
All autoimmune diseases
Poor digestion, constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain
Food sensitivities
If you’re experiencing chronic illnesses, it’s best to cut back on dairy, or even cut it all together while you attend to your health.
Cheese deserves a special mention because it’s been marketed as a longevity food. That’s an example of science being bent by profit-driven companies. In reality, cheese is the ultimate diabetes-creating food. If you’re a cheese lover, stick to enjoying it on rare, special occasions only, or try nut cheese instead.
Eggs
We often hear that eggs are the perfect food, and eggs are ingrained in our cultures. It’s true that eggs used to be great for us, but that was before viruses like Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) became so common. Now, our world has so many pathogens responsible for so much of the chronic illness affecting people, and eggs feed those pathogens. How did this all happen?
At the start of the 20th century, people in the medical industry began testing which foods were best for feeding viruses, bacteria, and pathogens. They tested sugar, meat, fruits, and vegetables, but none of those helped these pathogens grow. Then, these labs found the one common food that help pathogens not just survive, but reproduce rapidly: eggs.
The pathogens that are so common now and causing so many people to be sick today love to eat eggs (both the yolk and the egg whites). Why? Unlike in meat, the proteins in an egg are not mature, so it’s easy for pathogens to absorb those proteins and enzymes through their membranes.
If you’re not dealing with any health challenges, then sure, keep eating eggs, but make sure they are pasture-raised (not factory farmed). But if you are dealing with any health challenges, it’s just to take a break from eggs at least until you are healed. Otherwise, it will be harder to heal.
Corn
Corn was excellent for humans for over 2000 humans. It used to be nutritious and healing. Then, in a short span of time, corn was destroyed by GMO engineering. Corn’s DNA got altered in such a way that it now feeds all kinds of pathogens that contribute to our modern-day epidemic of chronic illnesses. If you’re trying to recover from a health challenge, keep corn out of your diet at least until you’re recovered. And be careful to read food labels to see if corn is an ingredient in the food.
If after you get better, you want to consume corn, make sure it is organic and heirloom variety. Even then, it is still likely GMO-contaminated, so keep a limit on how much corn you consume.
Wheat
Many people feel better when they take wheat out of their diet. That’s because wheat, like corn, has been changed over the years. Since the 1950s, wheat has been altered in a way that makes it a highly inflammatory food that feeds pathogens. It’s not just gluten in wheat that’s the problem, there are other substances in wheat that feeds pathogens.
If you can eat wheat and feel fine, then chances are you don’t have the viruses (and sometimes bacteria) that feed on wheat, in which case it’s fine for you to eat wheat. But if you do have any health troubles, try taking out wheat until your condition improves. After you get better, try adding wheat back and monitor how you feel as you reintroduce it into your diet.
Canola Oil (Rapeseed Oil)
Canola oil has become a staple in restaurants, used mostly as a “healthier” replacement for lard and corn oil, and as a cheaper option to olive oil. Don’t be fooled into thinking canola oil is good for you. It is damaging to the immune system and eats away the linings in the body, from the stomach lining to the intestinal tract linings to your veins, kidneys, and even the linings of the reproductive system. While more expensive, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil (in modest amounts) are much better options for our health.
Natural Flavors
When food labels say “natural flavors”, including “natural cherry flavor”, “natural fruit flavor”, “natural vanilla flavor”, and the like, it is actually MSG (monosodium glutamate). MSG is a neurotoxin that builds up in the brain and destroys brain cells. It is also very harmful to the central nervous system. If you want to be safe, be very careful when reading food labels. If it says anything along the lines of “natural flavor”, then don’t eat it.
Conclusion
The world of nutrition can be very complex and confusing, and I’m very thankful to the Medical Medium for clearing up a lot of that confusion for us. He reminds everyone that no matter what trends happen, we can always rely on fruits, vegetables, herbs, and wild foods as the foundation for our health.
“Remember, as new fads and trends crop up and cycle through popularity, always hold onto this enduring piece of ancient wisdom: The Holy Four of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, and wild foods are foundational for health. The importance of these foods will never be superseded by new discoveries.”
—Medical Medium