What the world eats - You will be surprised!!

"You are what you eat", not just an old cliche, but pure fact. Unfortunately however just because you east highly "preserved" processed foods does not mean you are going to be "preserved" as well. Actually its pretty much the opposite. Many preservatives and food additives have been linked to Cancer, Asthma and Hyperactivity.

Here is a list of additives to avoid, carry it with you to the grocery store, you will be shocked and amazed what products carry these additives. One of the most popular and common is E128 Red 2G (Red food color) and it has be proven to cause all the items listed above, Cancer, Asthma and Hyperactivity. 

From Natural News:
You may be shocked to see the significant variation even between relatively ‘similar’ nations when it comes to diet. While many families within the United States and Mexico include fast food and soda into the core of their nutritional program, families from nations like Bhutan survive off of traditional base food items like vegetables and grains. It is easy to see why disease rates are skyrocketing in many developed countries, where nutrition is not held to a very high regard.

Amazingly, the United States also spends more on healthcare than any nation in the world. Despite spending $7,960 per capita, the United States has been ranked dead last when it comes to the quality of care. The fact of the matter is that when food intake is ignored — along with the subsequent toxic ingredients that go along with the processed food addiction — disease will arise. In the telling pictures below, taken from the book ‘Hungry Planet: What the World Eats’, you can see what the average family from each nation eats over the period of one week.

This family in the picture above is from North Carolina eats a diet almost entirely of processed and pre-prepared foods with heavy amounts of junk and fast food. Consuming mostly sugar-laden ‘fruit’ drinks and mega-sized sodas from Burger King and McDonald’s, this average American diet will ultimately lead to chronic disease and rampant sickness. Some favorite foods include pizza and fast food.

Mexico

Families in mexico also tend to consume sugary sodas and processed foods, though their fruit and vegetable intake is higher than the United States families observed. The family lists their favorite food items as pizza, pasta, and chicken.

Canada

Enjoying some of the same processed items as families from Mexico and the United States, Canadian families do consume processed chips and meats, though you will notice a more prominent display of vegetables and fresh fish on the table. An increased amount of yogurt and cheese is also featured.

Italy

Italian families enjoy their bread, pasta, and assorted fruit. With grains a major part of the diet, along with other carbohydrate-rich foods, Italian families tend to forfeit some meal options high in protein for ‘traditional’ Italian dishes like pasta with ragu. While many of these items are fresh or even baked at home, Italian families still consume large amounts of sodas like Pepsi. You can see that this family drinks about 6 larger-sized bottles per week.

China

This Chinese family prefers fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce, listed as their favorite dishes. Eating processed food items mixed with packaged meats and fish, this Chinese family eats more fruit than vegetables, and their produce selection is one of the smallest besides the United States.

Chad

This family resides in the developing nation of Chad and spends only the equivalent of $1.23 per week on food to feed the entire family. Their favorite food is soup with fresh sheep meat.

Japan

It may surprise you, but this Japanese family consumes a diet high in processed junk and sugary treats. They list their favorite food items as cake, potato chips, and sashimi.

Germany

This German family has adopted an American-styled nutritional regiment, stating that their favorite foods are pizza, vanilla pudding, fried potatoes, and fried noodles. You may also notice the largely increased amount of beer and other alcoholic drinks over the other nations.

Great Britain

Spending over $250 per week on food, the average family in Great Britain is eating mostly processed meals and candy. This family’s preferred foods include chocolate fudge cake, mayonnaise sandwiches, and prawn cocktail.

Are Certain Foods Making Your Spring Allergies Worse?

www.SixWise.com

Do you suffer from hay fever or other seasonal allergies yet find that when you eat certain fresh fruits and vegetables, you get a strange, tingly, itchy sensation in your mouth?

For some people with pollen allergies, taking a bite of an apple or other fresh fruits and veggies can cause an allergic reaction that makes their mouth tingle and itch.

If so, you could have food-pollen allergy syndrome, also known as oral allergy syndrome.

Evidence suggests that in some people with seasonal allergies, their immune system mistakes a plant protein in certain fruits and vegetables for pollen, resulting in sometimes strange symptoms like:

• Itching in your mouth, lips and back of throat
• Tingling in your mouth
• An itchy tongue
• Throat and lips that feel swollen

"They're not identical proteins, but they're similar enough to confuse the immune system to have these reactions," Dr. Robert Wood, chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, told CNN.

Allergy specialists call this a “cross-reaction,” and say that about 25 percent of people with a pollen allergy may suffer from food-pollen syndrome. However, many who experience are completely unaware that their itchy mouth upon eating an apple or cantaloupe has to do with their seasonal allergies.

Food-Pollen Syndrome is NOT a Food Allergy

In the case of a food allergy, you are allergic to a protein in a food, such as peanuts, and the corresponding immune system reaction impacts your whole body.

With food-pollen syndrome, however, your allergy is to pollen. It’s only when you eat a food with a similar protein structure to pollen that you have a reaction, and the reaction is short-term and confined to your mouth and throat because the offending plant proteins cannot survive the acids and enzymes in your digestive system. Only in rare cases will food-pollen syndrome lead to anaphylaxis, with can cause blocked airways and high blood pressure, and may be life-threatening.

There are two ways to determine if your allergy symptoms are due to food-pollen syndrome:

1. The symptoms are confined to your mouth, lips and throat, and they go away in 10-30 minutes
2. You only have the problem when you eat raw fruits and vegetables, as opposed to cooked versions (cooking appears to destroy or inactivate the allergic proteins)

Which Foods are Cross-Reactive to Which Allergies?

According to the Mayo Clinic, if you’re allergic to birch pollen, you may also have a reaction to:

• Apples
• Carrots
• Celery
• Hazelnuts
• Peaches
• Pears
• Raw Potatoes

If you’re allergic to ragweed pollen, you may react to:

• Bananas
• Melons (cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon)
• Tomatoes

If you’re allergic to grasses, you may react to:

• Kiwis
• Tomatoes

If you’re allergic to mugwort pollen, you may react to:

• Apples
• Carrots
• Celery
• Kiwis
• Peanuts
• Certain spices (caraway seeds, parsley, coriander, anise seeds, fennel seeds)

How to Cope With Food-Pollen Syndrome

Remember, not everyone with a seasonal allergy experiences food-pollen syndrome, but if you do cooking fruits and vegetables can help you avoid a reaction. If your symptoms are confined to your mouth and you don’t want to give up on raw produce, either for the taste or the health benefits, you don’t have to.

"Patients will typically decide on their own, without any discussion with a doctor, whether they enjoy the apple [or other offending food] enough to put up with an itchy mouth, or whether they hate the itchy mouth enough to avoid the apple," Dr. Wood said on CNN.com.

There are other tricks, too, that can help to reduce your food-pollen syndrome symptoms:

• Try removing the peel from the fruit or vegetable
• Opt for freshly picked varieties (storing foods increases the amount of allergen)
• Try a different variety of the food
• Rinse your mouth with water after you eat the offending food

You may also notice that you only react to raw fruits and vegetables during the season your pollen allergy is most active. In fact, typically as your pollen allergy improves, so will food-pollen syndrome. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to keep seasonal allergies from interfering with your health, and we’ve listed some of the top ones below.

Click here for the rest of the article and 10 Simple Ways to Fight Seasonal Allergies

Is your child have a food allergy, did you know that Food allergies among children have risen 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, causing more than a few raised eyebrows among researchers and health officials. The first federal study of the issue found that one in 26 children now have food allergies, compared to one in 29 in 1997. Click Here to read more.