Reducing Exposure to Heat Induced Carcinogens

Cooked Food Toxins is the unambiguous, accurate label given to the chemicals formed when foods are exposed to high heat. The five categories of cooked food toxins are unmistakably dangerous and should be avoided if not eliminated from your diet. After each toxin you will find easy ways to avoid or lessen your exposure.

Advanced Glycation End Products (AGE’s)
Internal AGE’s are formed when excess glucose molecules adhere themselves to the protein strands wrapped around fats in the bloodstream. This may not sound devastating, but these protein strands enable the fat cells to move easily through the watery blood stream. When glucose attaches to these strands they reach out to yet another protein, adhering the two together. When this happens between multiple fats in the blood stream LDL cholesterol rises. When clumps of fats stick to capillary walls arteriosclerosis begins. When the proteins of the skin are glued together in this way, wrinkles form. AGEs can be kept low in the body by keeping glucose levels at a healthy low so these reactive molecules don’t have the chance to wreak havoc on the body.

According to the leading researcher on AGE’s, Professor Helen Vlassara, M.D. of Mount Sanai Medical School, the most significant sources of AGE’s are from the food we ingest and cigarette smoking. AGE’s are formed in foods by exposure to heat and formation increases exponentially based increasing temperature and length of exposure to heat. The biggest culprits are animal fats cooked at high temperatures, but even plant foods can contain AGEs if they are cooked to the point of browning or crisping.

Lower your exposure to AGEs:

• Avoid foods cooked at high temps; frying, grilling, and baking at high temps.
• Choose cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, or baking under 250?F.
• Refrain from eating foods that are cooked to a crisp, charred, or blackened.
• Eat more plant based, raw foods (uncooked they contain negligible if any AGEs)

Acrylamide
A team of researchers in Sweden studying exposure to acrylamide (an industrial chemical) in the workplace, discovered that acrylamide is present in the bloodstream of those who eat certain cooked foods. Their findings revealed that acrylamide is formed whenever foods that contain the amino acid asparagine and any reactive carbohydrate are heated above 248?F. Acrylamide causes DNA damage, neurological and reproductive damage, and is a probable carcinogen. It is worth mentioning that the EPA deems the maximum safe level of acrylamide in a single liter of water to be 0.12 micrograms. A large serving of McDonalds French fries contain 82 micrograms, more than 683 times the acceptable level. This is due to the high content of asparagine in potatoes.

Lower your exposure to Acrylamide:

• Eliminate acrylamide creation in foods, especially potatoes, by cooking foods at temperatures below 248?F.
• Remember that water boils, or turns to steam, at 212?F which makes steaming or boiling the preferred cooking method for potatoes (and any asparagine-containing foods such as asparagus, wheat, sweet potatoes, etc).
• The smoke point for ALL cooking oils is much higher than 248?F, which means that eliminating ALL fried foods that contain asparagine is advisable.
• Avoiding potato chips, French fries, as well as breads and cereals that are cooked above 248?F will significantly lower your acrylamide exposure.
• Foods on the raw foods diet contain no acrylamide.

Heterocyclic Amines
This cooked food toxin is formed when creatine and amino acids are cooked at temperatures above 302?F. If you know anything about muscles and muscle building, you probably know that both creatine and amino acids are found in muscle tissue. That means that whenever you consume muscle meats from animals, (and what cut of meat isn’t a muscle?) you are being exposed to this mutagenic and carcinogenic toxin. Plant sources occur at much lower levels and only when food is browned or charred.

Lower your exposure to Heterocyclic Amines:

• Eliminate exposure by removing muscle meats from your diet and not cooking foods above 302?F.
• Lower your exposure by cooking meats at low temperatures, for example a beef stew cooked in crock pot at low temps instead of a steak cooked well done on a grill.
• Increase the amount of raw foods because raw fruits and vegetables do not contain any heterocyclic amines AND they have the added benefit of containing cancer fighting antioxidants, and fiber to help your body move foods, such as muscle meats, through the digestive tract more quickly and efficiently.

Nitrosamines
These known carcinogens are an accepted evil in processed foods, especially in meats like hot dogs, sausages, bacon and sandwich meats. Nitrosamines are formed when the preservatives nitrites or nitrates combine with amino acids and are exposed to high heat such as grilling or frying or to the acid in the stomach. The formation is known, but accepted because the nitrites and nitrates prevent botulism, a highly deadly bacteria to humans. Nitrates and nitrites are also found in processed cheese products, pickling salts, no-fat powdered milk, beer, and livestock feed.

Lower your exposure to Nitrosamines:

• Eliminate nitrate and nitrate containing foods from your diet, including animal meats that are not exclusively grass fed.
• If you choose to eat nitrosamine forming foods, do so with foods that are high in vitamin C and or Vitamin E which can offset damage and possibly block formation of these toxins in stomach acid.
• Eat a high raw diet with more raw foods, living produce, nuts and seeds.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Called PAHs for short, these toxins occur naturally from volcanoes or fires and from man-made sources such as automobile exhaust, trash burning, cigarette smoke, fumes from cooking fires or cooking oil. We may not be able to control exposure to these carcinogens from natural sources, but we can control our exposure by reducing or eliminating the consumption of grilled or charred meats and exposure to cooking fumes.

Lower your exposure to PAHs:

• Refrain from eating meats that are grilled, blackened or charred.
• Avoid areas of high exposure to exhaust, smoke, coal, or fresh tar or asphalt.
• Do not exercise in or near any of the conditions above.
• You guessed it, eat more raw foods! Fresh fruits and vegetables are a better choice and help offset the damage PAHs can cause.

In summary…
You can avoid or eliminate exposure to ALL five major cooked food toxins by switching to a raw foods diet or a high raw diet. You can decrease your exposure and increase your body’s ability to remove toxins you are exposed to more efficiently by incorporating more fresh, organic fruits and vegetables into your diet. You can also decrease exposure by choosing steaming, boiling, stewing or baking at low temperatures over frying, grilling, and baking at high temps. Decrease your exposure to carcinogenic toxins while increasing your energy and loosing weight by incorporating more raw food recipes.

If you think a raw food detox diet might be for you…

…Take a tour of Rocking Body Raw Food. This 14 day course is guided by your raw food video chef, Joy Houston and includes hundreds of video tutorials, menu plan, shopping lists, and recipes as well as comprehensive training videos and education on the science behind raw food nutrition.  If you are ready for a weight loss detox diet that works, tastes great, and involves eating delicious foods and no starvation, this may be the program for you.  What will you do in your new Rocking Body

As summer weather gets hotter, zucchinis are coming on faster.  That means you’ll have a lot in the garden , or if you have ot buy them they should be very well priced.  To make delicious use of zucchini, try this fast, raw food recipe.  It is sure to please AND since you don’t have to boil a stock pot of water, you’ll keep the kitchen cool.

Ingredients:
2-3 zucchini (spiral cut)
2 ripe tomatoes
1 cup sun dried tomatoes
½ red pepper
10-15 fresh basil leaves
¾ to 1 teaspoon sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
½ cup olive oil

Directions: Start by using a vegetable spiralizer (complete list of raw food kitchen tools – including the spiralizer) to transform the zucchini into gluten free pasta.  Drizzle with olive oil and a dash of garlic powder then toss to coat well.  Set noodles aside.

Make marinara by putting all ingredients except olive oil in the Vita-Mix and blend.  Once misture is smooth add olive oil through the top of the blender while the blades are turning.  Blend well.

Top spiral cut zucchini with  marinara and chopped fresh basil. Serve.

This recipe is featured on the raw food detox diet, Rocking Body Raw Food, along with a wide variety of other ways to prepare this gluten free, fiber rich version of pasta with various sauces. Take a tour of this weight loss detox program and you’ll see that this 14 day course is guided by your raw food video chef, Joy Houston and includes hundreds of video tutorials, menu plan, shopping lists, and recipes as well as comprehensive training videos and education on the science behind raw food nutrition.  If you are ready for a weight loss detox diet that works, tastes great, and involves eating delicious foods and no starvation

Why A Raw Food Diet Part 1 (9 minutes)

Why A Raw Food Diet Part 2 (7 minutes)

Are you ready for the Rocking Body Raw Food 14 day cleansing diet?

Delicious Revolution readers have advance access to the book for only $35 by clicking HERE.  For less than the cost of one raw food class you get recipes for a full two week menu, shopping lists, a day by day guide and loads of helpful information on cleansing and making the most of  your raw food diet.

You deserve to loose the extra weight, get your body back into a state of ease, and return your form into the vibrant energetic being that you naturally are.  To do that you need to eat natural, whole, living foods.  The Rocking Body Raw Foods diet is actually more of a 14 day class than a cleanse.  Sure you are  giving your body a HUGE break by being off all processed foods, meat, dairy and soy- but you won’t notice what you are not eating!  You will be too busy enjoying the delicious foods you ARE eating! You will be learning how to transform veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds into everything from breakfast scrambles to decadent caramel. The un-cooking skills you learn in this 14 day Diet will empower you to make a healthy revolution that lasts your extended lifetime.

Let’s Cleanse!

The two week diet is a cleanse that focuses on enzymes and alkalization for loosing weight and gaining energy, natural byproducts of “going raw”.  It has a full video tutorials available for each and every day, making it easy to follow.  After completing 14 days on the raw diet, not only will you guys have Rocking Bodies, but you will also have the know-how to make basic raw meals.  You will know how to make pates, cheese and milks from nuts and seeds.  You will be able to make mouth watering desserts with no processed sugars, dairy, gluten, wheat or soy.  You will master salads and soups that are quick, easy and nutrient dense. You will replace processed pasta with unbelievably simple veggie noodles.  And, you will have the skinny on all my favorite veggie juices and smoothies that make it too easy to consume ample fresh greens everyday.  I am thrilled to share this project with you.  The release date is April 15th, so mark your calendars.

Feeling hot in a Rocking Body is just the beginning.  The energy, the unbelievable hum of your body operating at it’s peak efficiency is a joy this book will introduce you to.  It takes more than diet alone to reach the crescendo of wellness that I speak of here. It takes a balanced fitness program as well.  For many, Rocking Body Raw Foods will be the gateway drug to the natural “raw foods” high that is possible on whole foods and proper exercise.  Get ready to RAWk.

My gorgeous, generous, perfect man got me an early birthday gift. It’s a Kodak ZI8 digital video camera. It is as user friendly as the Flip but it also has an audio input jack. That means I can get great audio even on the short videos I’ve been wanting to make for the blog. Check it out. In this video I make a delicious Walnut Pesto Paté. Since walnuts are not my family’s favorite nut (that would be Drew- oxxo), this is one way I can include these little health gems in our diet.

What is your favorite walnut recipe?

Recently the raw foods movement has been getting attention for it?s ability to help you look younger, feel more energetic, loose weight, and live longer. Some even claim it can reverse diabetes and other degenerative diseases. Whether you agree with the claims or not you may be curious about the diet. A healthy curiosity is what brought me to raw foods, well that and a gorgeous book.

I was drawn to the raw foods movement by the book RAW by Roxanne Klien and Charlie Trotter. It?s beautiful cover beckoned to me from it’s well merchandised shelf.  The forward and the introduction made the concept of eating raw foods sound positively enlightened. The section on local, sustainable farming and eating seasonally sealed the deal and I was ready to dive deep into raw cuisine. It seemed like the dietary path most aligned with what I wanted for myself and the planet. Then came the practical application of the concept, the recipes. The ingredient lists and the instructions (which called for a batch of something else on some other page, which in turn called for a half batch of yet another recipe) were overwhelming. The time and organization required to make the majority of the dishes was nothing less than shocking. My romance with raw food ended abruptly after a few ego-crushing attempts to make dishes that tasted, at
best, mediocre.
Luckily during my enthusiastic first days of infatuation, my supportive husband loaded up our library card with books, new and old, on raw cuisine. Turns out the concept need not be as glamourous or challenging as keeping up with Trotter and Klien. It was really simple, eat whole, raw foods in their natural state. Easy. A quick review of how I was already eating, lots of salads, fresh veggies and fruits, had me thinking, “I?m half way there. A few changes and I can go raw- no problem.” I embarked on a two week raw adventure and, since I?m the only cook in our house, I took my family along
for the ride. The raw cleanse was fantastic, we all loved the food. My husband thought we were “eating like kings”.  My daughter was showing off our raw crackers and nut cheeses at school. I was feeling energetic and clear headed without coffee. A beautiful side effect of the cleanse was that the pesky little bit of cellulite on the back of my thighs that somehow hangs on despite regular exercise disappeared. That was it, I was sold. Although I love my raw food results, I?m not going 100% raw. I?m not a believer in exclusive, restrictive diets and raw can definitely be both if you let it. Truth be told, roasted garlic and sautéed onions are just too delicious to exclude from my diet in the name of adhering to an absolute protocol. I love broccoli steamed, sweet potatoes baked, and a host of other cooked foods. Instead of being a purist, I see raw foods as a significant source of healthy dishes in my diet, a new culinary frontier that challenges my creativity, and a delicious way to eat more vegetables than I ever have. The pious can judge me for failing to go fully raw, and while they do pass me their portion of pan seared ahi. That?s right, I?m not even a vegetarian. Judge away! The bottom line is raw foods is not the path to health, it is a path to health. Take from it what works with your body and carve your own dietary path through this life.
There is no doubt in my mind that raw foods are beneficial, that they are worth the trouble, time and expense. Raw food recipes perfect the art of getting more vegetables in our diets in more delicious ways than I ever thought possible. The most amusing part of my raw foods experience is seeing veggie-haters gobble up “neat balls” or BLTs made with eggplant bacon and ask for seconds without even knowing their whole meal is composed of all raw foods. Give raw foods a shot. If you want the full experience, try a week long or fourteen day raw cleanse. If you have a social life, a job, and a family that you cannot (and why would you want to) put on hold during your adventures in raw food, here are some tips.

• The real key to a successful raw diet is to keep it simple. Save the challenging recipes for special occasions and learn how to make everyday meals special with easy, time saving tricks.
• If done well, you will spend less time and money on your raw meals than you do on a Standard American Diet (which raw foodists refer to as SAD). Processed foods, meat and dairy are expensive compared to in-season vegetables and fruits.
• You will need to spend more time planning meals and be more organized, unless of course you outsource that to menu plans, which are fabulous for saving time, money and trips to the store. If you are serious about going raw you can even hire a raw foods coach (this gal is awesome, and not a raw elitist!).
• You won?t need to eat as much as you normally do. At first we overate and felt uncomfortably full. Be aware that the food is more nutrient dense, you?ll need less to feel full. Eat, chill out and chat a while, then eat more if you are still hungry.
• Try new things! Before our adventures in raw food we never ate beets, kale, chard, and a host of other nutrient rich foods that we now enjoy on an almost daily basis. Raw recipes boast delicious ways of incorporating foods that are generally unpopular. If you discount recipes whenever you see a vegetable that you normally don?t enjoy, you will miss out on massive dietary benefits.
• Don?t feel pressure to go raw and stay raw. Try it out and see what works for your body. After our raw adventure we stuck with about an 80% raw plan with great results in energy level, appearance and over-all health.  The recipes I created during the cleanse will be available in January in the new book: The Delicious RAWvolution.

My search for a tasty coconut oil available in eco-friendly glass jars has come to a happy end thanks to the far reaching customer service hand of Whole Foods.  I sent an inquiring tweet and got a prompt answer back; try Spectrum brand. They explained that availability might vary between store locations but that the rep believed they provided coconut oil in glass jars.  Sure enough they did, I tried it and YUM.  It’s delicious.  Happy me and happy planet!

If you don’t have a Whole Foods near you (so sorry),  you can try ordering Spectrum brand Coconut Oil through Amazon.   Today it is $5.99, but their prices change all the time so check first before you order.

I love hummus, but I’m not down with sprouting garbanzos to make a raw version because it doesn’t come out very tasty.  This hummus is made with zucchini as the base.  It works perfectly, comes out creamy, smooth, and is absolutely addictive.  Mix up the flavors and try a basil & garlic version too.  If your veggies have a high water content you may need to add a little extra sesame seeds.

½ cup sesame seeds
1  zucchini, peeled
½ cup tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 large clove of garlic
½ sweet red pepper
dash of red chili flakes or Sriacha if you like a kick

Peel the zucchini. Put the sesame seeds in the Vita-Mix and blend until nearly powdered.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.  Serve with pita bread, flax crackers, or veggies.