Hydrogenated oil is an ingredient in an overwhelming number of foods, and despite the fact that it’s a serious health risk, most people don’t know what it is or that it even exists.

David Burton, a cardiac nurse, was shocked when he learned that hydrogenated oil is trans fat and that it’s a major risk for heart disease. As a nurse who treats patients suffering from heart disease, he was disappointed and frustrated by the fact that his training didn’t provide him with this information and that his fellow nurses and doctors weren’t aware of it either. Most unsettling was the realization that he was feeding this dangerous ingredient to his two year old daughter. He responded by making an informative documentary about trans fat that everyone should see.

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Although milk is one of the most common foods in the modern diet, pasteurization and modern dairy farming practices pose a number of concerns. In addition, many people are unable to properly digest dairy and it’s also one of the most common sources of food sensitivities which can cause a number of seemingly unrelated symptoms. As if this isn’t enough to worry about, there’s unfortunately another important and potentially harmful aspect of milk to consider.

Two varieties of proteins exist in milk. The most prominent is casein which represents 80% of the protein in milk, and the other, which is much more widely recognized, is whey. The digestion of a specific type of casein has been found to produce an opioid byproduct that can be very problematic for humans as well as animals. There’s strong evidence that links this casein and its opioid derivative with heart disease, mental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, type 1 diabetes, and a number of other autoimmune disorders. Fortunately, there are simple ways to avoid these risks.

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Agave nectar has been marketed as a natural and healthy alternative to common table sugar and is becoming a popular ingredient in many so called health foods. Unfortunately, many of the marketing claims associated with agave nectar aren’t true, and it’s arguable that this trendy sweetener actually poses more of a health risk than the sugar that it’s used to replace.

Given the health concerns associated with sugar and its tendency to cause weight gain, many people are going out of their way to avoid it. Those who are conscientious about their health are less likely to use artificial sweeteners, and as a result, are more likely to be influenced by the misleading marketing that depicts agave nectar as a healthier and more natural alternative to table sugar. Although agave nectar is commonly found in health food stores and is an increasingly common ingredient in so called health foods, this is by no means an indication of its safety or nutritional quality.

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Despite the prominence of milk and other dairy products in the modern diet, many people are lactose intolerant and experience uncomfortable digestive symptoms from not digesting them properly. Fortunately, there are some simple measures that can make lactose intolerance much less of an issue.

Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose which is the form of sugar found in milk and the dairy products derived from it. As many as 75% of adults worldwide are believed to be lactose intolerant and symptoms can range from mild to severe and include flatulence, bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. In addition, undigested lactose can allow undesirable species of bacteria and fungi to proliferate in the intestines and lead to an imbalance that can compromise digestive function and overall health.

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It’s extremely common to see recommendations for specific foods that will improve energy, endurance, strength, recovery, or some other physical aspect, but is such advice worth paying attention to?

I recently read an article in Tennis Magazine with the subtitle “Six foods that could make or break your workout.” Although I think that some of the recommendations in the article are good, they’re also an excellent example of why so many people are confused about healthy eating.

In general, I typically don’t like advice that recommends a certain food for a specific benefit because I think it neglects the most fundamental reason why it’s important to follow a healthy diet. Whether the benefit of such a recommendation is improved energy, increased capacity for physical activity, or faster recovery, these are nothing more than characteristics of optimal health that are achieved from a well rounded healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, many people are experiencing these types of issues because their health isn’t what it could be, and the idea of a single food resolving the problem is a compensation that rarely works and fails to address the true problem. Although certain food choices can provide benefits beyond the basics of optimal health, trying to obtain these benefits without actually having optimal health is like buying high performance tires for a car with a malfunctioning engine. Basic health should come first!

With this in mind, here are the six foods that can supposedly make or break your workout.

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Despite dairy being a major staple of the modern diet and often being promoted as an excellent source of nutrition, it’s also one of the most common sources of food sensitivities and is associated with many disorders and diseases. However, as with most foods, there’s a significant amount of variation in the quality of milk, and this is a critical factor to consider.

More than 2000 years ago, Hippocrates, often referred to as the father of medicine, promoted the healing effects of milk. Since then, many doctors have continued to do the same. Milk is essential to the survival and development of baby mammals, including humans, and even the adult members of traditional tribes such as the Masai and Samburu continue to thrive on significant amounts of it. In addition, anecdotal evidence as well as published research supports its numerous health benefits. If this is the case, then how can milk be associated with so many health problems? One of the most compelling reasons is the difference between pasteurized milk and raw milk. However, to understand why pasteurization is not the great idea that it’s widely believed to be and why it destroys many of milk’s inherent health benefits, it’s necessary to consider the history of milk and the politics behind pasteurization.

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Although diet has an obvious association with body weight and health, you may be surprised by the possibility that it can also have a significant influence on your character.

While it might initially be difficult to believe that your diet can have such a strong influence on your behavior, it’s well established that adequate nutrition is critical to proper brain development and function. Based on this, it should be reasonable to expect that altered brain function can influence your thoughts and emotions, and in turn, influence the actions that define your character.

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Many people mistakenly believe that weight loss and healthy eating require torturous effort. Fortunately, this isn’t the case, and with the right perspective, pursuing either goal can be a pleasurable process.

Two very important factors that most people fail to consider in regard to weight loss and health is how they perceive themselves and how they perceive the food they eat. Perception has an undeniable influence on physiological function, and because of this, the negative connotations that people develop toward themselves and their diets can promote weight gain and have an undesirable impact on their digestion and health. As such, approaching weight loss and healthy eating with a positive, rational, and inspired perspective is just as critical to success as choosing nutritious foods. The following 7 tips will help you develop this perspective.

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Good health is dependent on properly digesting and absorbing the food we eat, and in turn, this ability is dependent on the availability of digestive enzymes. Although you’ve probably heard of digestive enzymes, chances are that your diet is deficient in them and that your potential for optimal health is being compromised as a result.

Enzymes are proteins that facilitate chemical reactions. Nearly every biological function of a cell depends on enzymes, and as such, they’re critical to our health. Similar to the theory that mammals are limited to approximately 1 billion heartbeats, it’s also believed that we have a limited capacity for enzyme production. Based on this theory, anything that puts unnecessary demand on the body to produce enzymes, such as a diet that’s deficient in them, could compromise health and shorten lifespan.

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Organic food is an important part of a healthy diet, but because of its growing popularity, large corporations are taking advantage of the opportunity and are deteriorating the reliability of the USDA’s organic certification requirements in the process.

The USDA’s organic seal is the most widely recognized and trusted marker of organic foods. For this label to be used on food products, they should be free of unnatural ingredients, should not be genetically modified or irradiated, and should be from crops that are grown without chemicals and livestock that are raised without antibiotics or hormones. Despite the many benefits of certified organic food, it’s unfortunately not always as healthy or pure as you may think.

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