'Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show' Episode 112: YOU Choose If Your Diet Is Healthy Or Not

We all make choices each and every day that impact our lives for good or bad. Some of those decisions may seem insignificant, but they can add up over time. Think about your diet, for example. How many people just mindlessly eat whatever they can afford to buy or just want to eat as part of their daily menu? And how much of that food is nothing but high-carb junk foods that do nothing but destroy your health and increase your weight?

In Episode 112 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" we take a look at a study from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK that found poor dietary choices are not limited to the low-income segment of the population--it also extends into the wealthy class despite the popular stereotypes. Their conclusion--individuals CHOOSE to eat healthy or unhealthy regardless of their financial means. Hmmmm...

Click on the "LISTEN NOW" link below or download it to your iPod to hear today's podcast:

"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 112 [10:36m]: LISTEN NOW | Download

Yes, we've been constantly inundated with story after story claiming that if only people with modest income were able to afford to buy the more expensive "healthy" foods like fruits and vegetables, then we would have an obesity epidemic. Of course, this premise assumes that if you are rich and can buy anything you want that you will only buy the foods that are best for your health. WRONG!

This study clearly shows there is no connection between obesity and wealth as so many people want to believe. Despite the conventional wisdom about this subject, being in poverty does NOT promote obesity and can actually strike anyone at anytime regardless of their means. STOP THE PRESSES!

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Are you buying this study that says obesity is merely the personal choice and responsibility of the individual? Does your income play a role in how healthy or unhealthy you eat on a daily basis? Do you feel if you had more money that your healthy lifestyle change would be easier to implement? Tell us what you think in the show notes section of Episode 112 and add your voice to the conversation. You KNOW you've got an opinion, so why not share it with us? :)

Don't forget, you can win a FREE E-BOOK COPY of my book Livin' La Vida Low-Carb: My Journey From Flabby Fat To Sensationally Skinny In One Year just for leaving a comment in the show notes section at Episode 112. I have THREE of these to give away on our next show (airing on Tuesday next week instead of Monday because of the President's Day holiday), so be sure to get your comment in before the end of this weekend.

We've got some exciting interviews with some surprise guests coming up over the next few weeks, so be sure to keep listening to "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore." Drop me a line anytime with your comments, questions, and suggestions for the show at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.

UK Health Agency Uncovers Startling Dietary Truth

I came across a brand new study this week from the preeminent UK government health authority that concluded something I really never thought much about: whether it's a healthy or an unhealthy lifestyle change--it's YOUR choice.

Hmm...

Looking at this idea of a weight and wealth connection from an objective position is the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Great Britain--the British equivalent of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

The FSA researchers have been closely observing the specific foods consumed by the members of the lowest 15 percent income bracket since early 2006 to determine what if any differences there are between this group and their wealthier counterparts.

When all was said and done, the FSA noticed that the wealthy and the unwealthy all consumed an excessive amount of sugary sodas, fat, and sugar.

Their conclusion: People are making the conscious CHOICE to eat unhealthy.

Click here for more about this remarkable study and what ramifications it could have on dietary recommendations in Great Britain and quite possibly in the United States.

Sodium Benzoate: The Next Great Health Threat?

After blogging in December 2006 about an ongoing cover-up since 1990 by the Food & Drug Administration over cancer-causing amounts of benzene found in some popular soft drinks, now this Belfast Telegraph story highlights a new UK study on sodium benzoate causing damage to DNA bringing that whole controversy back into the limelight again.

Lead researcher Peter W. Piper, professor of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield, wanted to know what impact a food additive known as E211--the scientific name for the common preservative sodium benzoate used in most soft drinks to prevent molding--has on cells in the body. The cancer connection has already been established when benzene is mixed with vitamin C.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), which is the British version of the FDA, has already removed four brands of soft drinks from store shelves last year for having excessively high levels of benzene. Piper says the concern is worse than first believed.

In a test conducted on living yeast cells in his lab, the sodium benzoate in the soft drinks sampled actually caused damage to the mitochondria--the important "power station" in DNA.

"These chemicals [in the soft drinks] have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether," Piper exclaimed.

Yikes! Is this really as fatalistic as he's making it out to be?

Piper continued: "The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it--as happens in a number of diseased states--then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA--Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of aging."

Okay, so let me get this straight. Sodium benzoate found in many soft drinks and various food products has been found to damage the mitochondria in DNA which then leads to new brain diseases and premature aging. You got all that? Are you buying it? This blogger sure isn't!

Of course, the soft drink manufacturers point to their trust in the approval of sodium benzoate by the Food Standards Agency as their evidence of the safety of this ingredient. However, like the FDA here in the United States, can we REALLY trust that information? The European Union doesn't think so as evidenced by their emergency investigation into Piper's claims.

A representative from that group said they now need to reevaluate the long-term consequences of consuming sodium benzoate since the findings by the World Health Organization in 2000 which found it was safe are likely outdated.

Additionally, Piper said the FDA-approval of benzene needs updating.

"The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they are complete safe," he said. "By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."

Hmmm. This is the same corrupt FDA which refuses to admit they were wrong about the high-carb, low-fat diet being a healthy nutritional approach despite the lack of long-term studies to back that claim up. And let's not forget about their role in the current scandal over the diabetes drug Avandia! What makes Piper think the FDA is gonna start a fact-finding mission on sodium benzoate now?

As you know, I love my Diet Coke with Splenda and I notice it does not contain sodium benzoate, but rather potassium benzoate (aka E212). There was nothing in Piper's study about this similar preservative, so the jury is still out about it. I'm not gonna stop drinking it just yet.

Piper says he hopes parents are cautious about allowing their children to be "drinking large amounts" of sodas sweetened with sodium benzoate. Which ones would that be? Diet Orange Crush, Vault Zero, Fanta Pineapple, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and the new Diet Pepsi Max, among others. The Coca-Cola Company has already settled their lawsuits by agreeing to change the formulations of their beverages containing sodium benzoate.

PepsiCo still has legal action pending against it and a U.S. District judge denied a motion to dismiss filed by the defendants in the case despite the fact that they have already reformulated the offensive products. Stay tuned for more information about these lawsuits.

You can e-mail Professor Peter Piper about this study at Peter.Piper@sheffield.ac.uk.

Read more information about the soft drink/benzene connection in this excellent blog post about it as well as the Wikipedia page on this topic. What say YOU about this controversy?