Ross Walter Nutritionist and Naturopath health articles and blog

A Big Mac is a chemical nightmare!

29/3/2018

The answer to the previous article's guessing game to work out what "food" contains a huge list of ingredients, including additives, colourings, preservatives and other questionable ingredients is: a McDonald's Big Mac!

Some of you got the answer, and some were very close!

There are many suspicious, potentially harmful or questionable ingredients listed in the 34 additives in this product. Then there's the GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) it contains: wheat, corn, soy, and in multiple forms. These GMO grains are often laced with the Roundup/Glyphosate herbicide, which causes further health effects. Many other ingredients are known to cause inflammation in many people, and its inflammation which is a causative factor for many of our modern disease epidemics of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer.

The Big Mac also has the following nutritional info:
Calories: 540 (over ¼ of your daily suggested amount of 2000 calories)
Fat: 28g
Carbs: 46g
Protein: 25g

As I've said before, know what you are eating! Use a free food additives app for your smartphone which you can look up the additives to find out what they are and what health effects they may cause.

The huge number of additives and chemicals should be a deterrent to eating this very highly processed product, as I can't really call it a "food". It's ironic that all of the added preservatives and chemicals will give the products a longer life, but have the opposite effect on your health! Or looking at it a different way - if fast food is meant to be produced and eaten within a short space of time, why are all the preservatives needed?!

There are many better foods which CAN help to give you a longer life: whole, fresh real foods, not this processed junk!

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Can you guess this common food? And would you eat this?!

23/3/2018

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I frequently tell clients and the public to check the ingredients of the foods they buy, and to use a food additives application or website for looking further into what some of the additive numbers are and what health issues they cause. Many people, I believe, wouldn’t buy or eat those foods if they really knew what went into them, and their health implications.

Have a look at the picture – it is the ingredients list of a very common “food” product, one which many people and children have daily, or very regularly.

What do you think this product is?

Please reply to comment on what you think this product is! And I’ll tell you what the product is very soon, and highlight some of the questionable and dangerous ingredients…

Would you eat this?!

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Is eating gluten-free a healthier option?

20/3/2018

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This is part 3 of my series about gluten-free diets, as it's Coeliac Awareness week! Coeliac Disease is a severe intolerance to gluten (allegedly). Is gluten really an issue and are gluten-free products actually healthier for you?

In the previous article on this topic, I mentioned that I have noticed different people having different reactions to gluten-containing products, or more specifically, different reactions to ingredients found in many grain products. Sometimes it's gluten, sometimes the grain itself, or the glyphosate/Roundup herbicide or other chemicals used in the production, or other ingredients.

Yes gluten intolerance is a huge issue in some people, but there are many more issues caused by other ingredients in grain products. These issues include the high amount of carbohydrates in grains and the quantity of them which our ridiculous food guidelines say we should eat, the anti-nutrients in most grains, phytates, oxalates, lectins, fructans, heavy metals, moulds, and all of the inflammatory effects and symptoms these cause.

Going gluten-free instead usually means changing from one type of grain to another, which can still cause the same symptoms! Weetbix contains gluten, but gluten-free weetbix (or other similar product) is still high in carbs, sugar, phytates, anti-nutrients, moulds, and other negative effects to your health. Just because some food or drink is labelled as "gluten-free" doesn't make it a healthier option!

I've seen gluten-free lollies, beer, meat, water, chips, clothes, and many other products! All of which have never had gluten in them anyway! It's all just misleading marketing.

For your health and that of your family, you should not only ditch the gluten-free foods, but also any grains and processed grain products. That way you don't get any of the negative ingredients or effects from them! Replace grains with whole, fresh, and preferably organic real foods - mainly vegetables, some fruit, quality protein and healthy fats! There are NO nutrients in grains which cannot be found in these healthier options.

Food labelled "Gluten-free" is just a marketing ploy. It's not healthier for you, unless it's "grain-free". Maybe that should be a new marketing campaign?!

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Is gluten really the problem?

16/3/2018

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This is part 2 of my series about gluten-free diets, as it's Coeliac Awareness week! Coeliac Disease is a severe intolerance to gluten (allegedly). Is gluten really an issue and are gluten-free products actually healthier for you?

In my experience, I have seen clients who have tested negative for Coeliac, but they react badly when they have gluten-containing foods. But some of them will be fine when they have "gluten-free" products but some won't be, while others are fine on "certified organic" wheat/rye products, but others won't. In believe there are several groups of people who react to wheat products, including some people who have:

1) A gluten intolerance - ie, Coeliac disease confirmed by multiple pathology tests, or
2) An intolerance to other nutrient components of wheat, such as lectins or fructans, which in susceptible people can cause the same symptoms, but not testing positive to a Coeliac test, or
3) A sensitivity or toxicity to glyphosate (ie, Roundup herbicide) which is sprayed on GMO wheat and many other food products, but which doesn't come out in the processing of such products.

The use of Roundup/glyphosate, I believe, is a huge and hidden cause of many digestive and other physical health issues, because it can cause a dysfunction in your digestive bacteria, as shown in a lot of recent research. Roundup/glyphosate is linked to causing many symptoms, including headaches and migraines, digestive pains, infertility, toxicity and even cancer and autism.

Will eating a gluten-free diet help in these situations to improve your health? The answer is... probably not! If you have an intolerance to wheat, eating gluten-free will do nothing good for you - it may cause the same symptoms! And if you have Coeliac Disease, you need to do far more than just avoid gluten - you must also avoid some other foods, and work on healing your digestive system, and reducing the damage that the autoimmune component of Coeliac Disease is causing.

Some research shows that completely cutting out foods to which you may be intolerant can actually cause you to become intolerant to MORE food ingredients, and cause nutrient deficiencies to make your health worse.

So what should you do? See me for advice!

Sensitivities or allergies to certain foods or environmental substances can be reduced by retraining your body to become less reactive to those substances. This can be done with a combination of improved nutrient intake, healing the digestive system, and togother with other treatments. If allergies and intolerances are a problem for you or someone you know, I can help!

See part 3 of this topic coming soon!

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Is EATING GLUTEN-free FOOD a good choice for your health?

14/3/2018

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This week is Coeliac Awareness Week in Australia, so I have written a series of short articles on gluten, gluten-free foods and Coeliac Disease. This first article gives some background on this condition and how gluten can affect your health.

There has been a massive growth in the amount and choice of gluten-free products in our shops over the past few years. This is due to more and more people having reactions and symptoms to eating gluten-containing foods. Considering that many of the "gluten-free" foods have never actually had gluten in them, is this all a fad or just clever marketing?!

Firstly, what is gluten? Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley grains, that's all! The word gluten comes from Latin, meaning "glue", as it gives dough its elasticity, helping it to rise and giving the end product its chewy texture. There's no gluten in oats or rice, but these grains do have similar proteins to which some people can still react to. Some people can react with coeliac-like symptoms with other foods, probably because of cross-contamination in food processing factories of gluten getting into other foods.

Different people can have a different reaction to wheat or gluten in foods - an allergy, an intolerance or sensitivity, an autoimmune reaction, or nothing noticed at all. Those who are "sensitive" or "intolerant" to gluten can have reactions ranging from mild to severe and which can include extreme digestive pains, headaches and migraines, diarrhoea, brain fog, skin conditions, mucus congestion, reflux and more symptoms. A severe intolerance to gluten can be diagnosed as Coelic Disease after several pathology tests are performed with the results showing a positive reaction to gluten AND specific antibodies, or a genetic test, and an endoscopy with biopsy to confirm. Coeliac Disease is an autoimmune condition, where the immune system is attacking the body's tissues.

An intolerance is not an allergy, and the blood test for Coeliac disease is NOT accurate and often comes back negative, which is why several different tests are needed. None of the Coeliac blood tests I know of check for all of the known antibodies for gluten - some check for 1-4 known gluten antibodies, but not for all of them. Hence why you can have a negative Coeliac test result, but still react in exactly the same way when you have gluten as someone who tests positive for Coeliac disease! As such you will get diagnosed instead as having "non-Coeliac gluten sensitivity" instead. Which in other words really means, you ARE intolerant to gluten, but because of the faulty test, you aren't officially a Coeliac, but you should still avoid all gluten-containing grains.

The next gluten related article will look at whether eating gluten-free foods is helpful for you, or not!

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does all disease start in the gut? NO!

8/3/2018

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There is a very common saying in Nutritional Medicine and Naturopathic circles, or amongst people who are trying to get healthier, that “all disease starts in the gut”. Perhaps this quote has become popularised from social media memes, but it is generally attributed to Hippocrates, a Greek Philosopher and physician about 2500 years ago.

The trouble is that this quote is wrong!

Or at the very least, it’s not entirely correct in all people.

Diseases of the digestive tract (ie, the gut) can contribute to a lot of chronic health conditions, if the digestive system cannot break down your food correctly, or if you cannot absorb the nutrients from your food, or if you cannot detox or eliminate wastes efficiently. This leads to nutrient deficiencies, toxicity, and chronic diseases.

But does ALL disease START in the gut? No!

I will give examples of other root causes…

Stress – this is an external root cause to many health conditions. Stress affects the digestive system by slowing down its function, as stress stimulates the body’s “flight or fight” survival mechanisms. Digesting and absorbing your food isn’t a priority in a survival mode, hence stress over a long time will lead to nutrient deficiencies and disease. Stress also directly weakens the immune system, so you become more susceptible to infections. Stress leads to high blood sugar, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, poor sleep, mental health issues, and plays a part in most chronic diseases.
Exposure to toxins and chemicals – these are more external factors which can affect your health. These can be absorbed into your body via the skin, lungs, in your food and water or even via radiation. Toxins and chemicals can have widespread effects to cause many health conditions too.
Your food – What you eat plays the biggest part of any health condition or disease, and is another external causative factor. Your food is far more than just something to prevent hunger! Your food is broken down and built back up into new cells, chemicals, proteins and more. Your food BECOMES you! Hence eating a good quality nutrition intake will mean a better functioning body, or eating junk food will not help your health at all.

There are other non-gut causes of diseases too. Yes, the digestive system function is critical to your overall health, but it is not the initial cause of many (or all) diseases as certain social media quotes suggest! But in a holistic treatment plan for any condition, the digestive system function must be investigated via questioning of signs and symptoms, with any issues improved or treated as necessary. And all other root causes of one’s health conditions need to be investigated and treated too. This is what I do!

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Is red wine or alcohol really good for you?

5/3/2018

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Alcoholic drinks may seem to be, at least when you are younger, something that cool, fun, confident or successful people partake in, and therefore its something to have more of. Younger people have a belief that "a little is good, but more is better", especially when it comes to alcohol. But is alcohol really all that bad?

There are some who promote red wine for it's possible benefits - that it contains resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant which can protect the body against oxidative damage which is common in chronic health conditions. Some studies show that for health benefits, you need to have 500mg of resveratrol per day. Since a glass of red wine contains at most 12mg of resveratrol, you would need to drink over 41 litres of red wine daily to get any benefits! But you would have died of alcohol poisoning only after a couple of bottles. The studies which suggest the benefits of resveratrol are often then misrepresented or the truth stretched a little by the sensationalist media, and further misunderstood (but believed anyway) by the general public who haven't read the actual research.

Alcohol is a poison, simple. It is a legal, addictive, and toxic drug, which causes far more deaths, chronic health issues and injuries than most other substances. And then there's the family and social damage caused by excessive drinking too. Alcohol is so toxic to your body that the liver will prioritise the breakdown of alcohol above the many normal functions of metabolism, to get alcohol out of your body quicker. This is why regular alcohol intake will cause nutrient deficiencies and poor general health, with many symptoms and side effects.

Alcohol contributes to a high daily calorie intake, as there's actually more calories in alcohol than sugar or protein per gram. Hence this is why alcohol leads to weight gain, obesity and diabetes too. Other major health issues caused by regular or excessive alcohol consumption include fatty liver disease, cirrhosis (thickening and scarring of the liver), liver cancer, liver failure, and even death.

Alcoholic drinks also have a diuretic effect - they make you lose more water in urine. The combination of too many carbs in alcohol, mineral deficiencies, and the dehydrating effect contributes to your hangover the morning after. Simple techniques or even supplements can prevent these!

I like a nice red wine from time to time. A subtle hint for my birthday, or any occasion really! But I don't have one every day, or even each week, or even some months! Having the occasional beverage isn't going to be a big problem, but a very regular intake will be.
The Australian guidelines for drinking alcohol suggests drinking no more than 2 standard drinks per day, if you are over 18, and not pregnant or breastfeeding. Of course less is better!

In short, will red wine help you with your health and alive for longer? Nope, sorry! The very limited benefits of red wine won't outweigh the negative effects of the alcohol and damage caused.

Cheers! (Have a glass of filtered water instead! ;-)

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A Big Mac is a chemical nightmare!

Can you guess this common food? And would you eat this?!

Is eating gluten-free a healthier option?

Is gluten really the problem?

Is EATING GLUTEN-free FOOD a good choice for your health?

does all disease start in the gut? NO!

Is red wine or alcohol really good for you?

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