- The Evolution Diet Team

Bisphenol A (BPA) is omnipresent in the plastic of common products such as beverage bottles, cans or baby bottles.

The research, published in Human Reproduction, was carried out with a culture of 21,570 in vitro oocytes. Results demonstrated that exposure to Bisphenol A in concentration levels permitted by health authorities is harmful to the fetus. BPA reduces the number of oocytes (cells which develop into ova) and therefore can affect negatively a woman’s fertility and double the risk of chromosome exchange during the cell division process. Specific observations of chromosome 21 in the development of 90 oocytes revealed that exposure to BPA could increase the risk of Down Syndrome in the future offspring of the fetus.

The research provides conclusive data for the debate on how BPA affects the health of individuals. Previous studies on mice and worms demonstrated that reproduction is affected and that exposure to BPA during gestation affects the viability and quality of the cells which later become ova developing in the fetus.

For the first time, human cells were used in a research to analyse the process of cell division of the oocytes — meiosis — in which chromosomes join and exchange material, i.e. meiotic recombination. Oocytes were cultured for 7, 14 or 21 days in different environments, with the presence of BPA and in control cultures without the substance. Data obtained in vitro with human cells was practically identical to that obtained with in vivo animal models, while the effects on meiotic recombination, which could lead to the appearance of Down Syndrome, in humans are even greater than those observed in mice.

“According to our results, BPA does not directly affect the fertility of pregnant women, but that of their daughters and granddaughters. It is a multigenerational effect,” explains UAB professor Montserrat Garcia Caldés, director of the research. She goes on to say that “the increase in oocyte mortality in the fetus could diminish ovarian reserve numbers and the quality of the future mother’s ova. At the same time, alterations in the recombination of chromosomes in the process of cell division increase the possibility of numerical alterations, such as monosomy (only copy of a chromosome in embryo cells) or trisomy (three copies).”

Concentration levels applied in the experiments were within the safety limits marked by European (EFSA) and US (EPA) authorities. The research therefore suggests that staying within legal limits does not imply that exposure to the substance is innocuous.

“We are exposed to BPA on a daily basis, mainly through oral exposure, since we can find it in lunch boxes, beverage bottles and food storage containers,” Miguel Àngel Brieño-Enríquez reminds us. First author of the article, Brieño-Enríquez, from the University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, is now researcher at the UAB Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology. According to him, “although we generally metabolise the substance, pregnant women retain more fluids and the fetus could be affected by high concentration levels.”

If you’re interested in how you may be exposed to BPA, this article may be helpful.

Directions:

• Juice 3 large cucumbers
• Juice 4 small oranges (with or without peel)
• Juice 2 medium apples (with skins)
• Mix and serve cold!

This is a great alternative to sugary drinks kids are used to and they won’t even miss their coke or juice box!

This makes about 6 8-ounce servings:

6 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		74.2
Total Fat		0.2 g
	Saturated Fat	0.0 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		1.0 mg
Potassium		287.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		19.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	4.2 g
	Sugars	13.6 g
Protein		1.2 g

Vitamin A	5.7 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	3.7 %
Vitamin C	81.9 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	1.2 %
Calcium	4.2 %
Copper	2.8 %
Folate	8.2 %
Iron	1.2 %
Magnesium	3.6 %
Manganese	3.0 %
Niacin	1.8 %
Pantothenic Acid	3.1 %
Phosphorus	2.2 %
Riboflavin	2.7 %
Selenium	0.6 %
Thiamin	5.9 %
Zinc	1.1 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Introducing: Dagobah Juice!

Here’s what you do:

• Juice a whole pineapple (without rind)
• Juice 2.5 pounds of red seedless grapes (without stems)

(reintroduce pulp from these two fruits into juice if you like the chewy bits and don’t like to waste)

• Juice 6 large cucumbers
• Juice 2 whole limes (with skin if your juicer can handle it)
• Mix and serve cold!

Per 8-ounce serving:

14 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		69.2
Total Fat		0.9 g
	Saturated Fat	0.2 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.2 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		4.8 mg
Potassium		311.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate		16.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.0 g
	Sugars	13.9 g
Protein		1.2 g

Vitamin A	3.3 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	9.7 %
Vitamin C	36.2 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	4.0 %
Calcium	3.3 %
Copper	10.5 %
Folate	6.2 %
Iron	3.8 %
Magnesium	6.3 %
Manganese	34.9 %
Niacin	2.4 %
Pantothenic Acid	3.9 %
Phosphorus	4.1 %
Riboflavin	5.7 %
Selenium	0.8 %
Thiamin	10.3 %
Zinc	1.9 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Now that’s a drink Luke and Yoda can agree on!

Expert guidelines recommend runners drink only when thirsty. But the Loyola survey found that 36.5 percent of runners drink according to a preset schedule or to maintain a certain body weight and 8.9 percent drink as much as possible.

Nearly a third of runners (29.6 percent) incorrectly believe they need to ingest extra salt while running. And more than half (57.6 percent) say they drink sports drinks because the drinks have electrolytes that prevent low blood sodium. In fact, the main cause of low sodium in runners is drinking too much water or sports drinks. “Many athletes hold unscientific views regarding the benefits of different hydration practices,” researchers concluded. The study was published in the June, 2011, issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Drinking too much fluid while running can cause a potentially fatal condition called exercise-associated hyponatremia. It occurs when runners drink even when they are not thirsty. Drinking too much during exercise can dilute the sodium content of blood to abnormally low levels.

Drinking only when thirsty will prevent overconsumption of fluids. “It’s the safest known way to hydrate during endurance exercise,” said Loyola sports medicine physician Dr. James Winger, first author of the study. Symptoms of hyponatremia can include nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion, loss of energy, muscle weakness, spasms or cramps. In extreme cases, the condition can lead to seizures, unconsciousness and coma.

In recent years, there have been 12 documented and 8 suspected runners’ deaths from hyponatremia, said Loyola exercise physiologist Lara Dugas, PhD, a co-author of the study.

The International Marathon Medical Directors Association recommends that runners drink only when thirsty. The Loyola researchers surveyed 197 runners who competed in the 2009 Westchester, Il. Veterans Day 10K and 5K runs and two other runs on Chicago’s lakefront.

The 91 male runners, on average, had been running for 13 years and had run an average of 1.9 10K races and 0.9 marathons. The 106 women, on average, had been running 8.3 years and had run an average of 1.3 10K races and 0.7 marathons.

In the survey, the runners generally said advertising by sports drink manufacturers had little or no influence on their beliefs. But the behaviors of many of the runners indicate otherwise.

During the 1980s and 1990s, sports drinks ads warned about the supposed dangers of dehydration, and recommend that runners drink as much as 1.2 liters (five cups) per hour. Sports drink manufacturers generally have stopped promoting overdrinking. But the unscientific beliefs persist that runners should drink as much as they can or according to a preset schedule.

“We have been trained to believe that dehydration is a complication of endurance exercise,” Dugas said. “But in fact, the normal physiological response to exercise is to lose a small amount of fluid. Runners should expect to lose several pounds during runs, and not be alarmed.”

Winger is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Dugas is a research assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The third co-author is Jonathan Dugas, PhD, director of clinical development at The Vitality Group.

If you ask the common person about fluoride in the water, they either won’t know what you’re talking about or will say, “of course we have fluoride in the water—to help prevent tooth decay. Just look at all the pearly whites out there now compared to decades ago.” After all the Center for Disease Control and the American Dental Association approve of fluoridation. You should too! Granted, we have better teeth than we used to, but was it the fluoridation of the water that caused it or is it just correlation?

Fluoride is naturally occurring in water and there have been studies that showed improved tooth health from fluoridation of the water supply, but some of these studies have been debunked and there are a whole host of other studies that show harm done but fluoridation. Fourteen countries have actually banned the process.

And on the surface, it doesn’t make much sense. Fluoride is supposed to be topical—in other words, it only has an affect when it’s in contact with the tooth (that’s why you probably had to sit in the dentist office with a mouth guard full of the stuff while you vacuumed up fluoridated saliva dripping out of your mouth for 5 minutes every time you went to the dentist). But if it’s topical, why are we putting it in drinking water? We don’t keep drinking water in our mouths for 5 minutes, we drink it! And what happens when we ingest so much fluoride? It could lead to thyroid cancer and other conditions. This is likely why so many countries have stopped fluoridation.

So, if there’s a question about the efficacy and safety of fluoridation, why is the default to err on the side of too much fluoride? Even if it was good to ingest fluoride, why should we be forcing people to drink it as a community? Why not simply let people make their own choices about ingesting fluoride . . . you know like we let people make their own choices about ingesting vitamins, supplements, toothpaste, and other healthy things. Why should fluoride be an obvious choice to force upon everyone? It doesn’t make any sense. If you disagree, please feel free to comment. Otherwise, I recommend you look into the case and question your water authority.

It’s important to contrast this with the old USDA food pyramid, which consisted of varying degrees of processed foods at the base that would make anyone in Big Ag happy:

That whole government-sponsored bottom row was condensed into a small portion in the bottom row in the LoS Hi-Fi section of The Evolution Diet pyramid. And the cookies and chips region was completely removed (come on, you can do better than that!).

It’s important to note that the USDA has gotten rid of the food pyramid altogether, however. They’ve replaced it with the myPlate which looks like:

That, unfortunately runs contrary to one of the central tenants of The Evolution Diet, which is to appropriate one’s food in the manner of our evolutionary ancestors: separating the food groups based on natural eating habits.

For more great tips on living naturally, check out:

The Evolution Diet: All-Natural and Allergy Free

Here’s what you do:

- Juice half a watermelon (without rind).
- Combine watermelon pulp with drink (should be chopped enough for the drink)
- Juice 3 large carrots
- Juice 3 lemons (with or without peel)

Soon you will be a Watermelonade-drinkin’ fool like me!

Nutritional information per 8 ounce serving:

16 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		162.5
Total Fat		2.2 g
	Saturated Fat	0.3 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.7 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.6 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		34.2 mg
Potassium		691.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate		40.6 g
	Dietary Fiber	6.1 g
	Sugars	29.5 g
Protein		3.8 g

Vitamin A	114.3 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	36.1 %
Vitamin C	149.3 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	3.9 %
Calcium	8.2 %
Copper	15.5 %
Folate	3.9 %
Iron	7.1 %
Magnesium	14.3 %
Manganese	10.1 %
Niacin	6.5 %
Pantothenic Acid	11.6 %
Phosphorus	6.0 %
Riboflavin	7.6 %
Selenium	0.6 %
Thiamin	26.2 %
Zinc	2.9 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Hundreds of gallons of raw milk were thrown out today in an early morning raid on two of Southern California’s most prominent raw milk providers. This morning at 7:15 a.m., officers raided Rawesome Foods, a “members only” raw foods club on Rose Avenue in Venice, arrested the store’s owner, James Stewart, and began pulling product off the shelves. One volunteer estimated that 500 gallons of dairy were tossed.

Amy Scattergood

The sign outside Rawesome Foods after an early morning raid on the raw foods club in Venice, Calif.

The authorities were still tossing out items three hours later at 12:30 p.m. when another volunteer, Danielle Fetzer, showed up for her regular Wednesday shift. (Rawesome is staffed entirely by volunteers.)

“I came in to make coconut cream like I do every Wednesday,” Fetzer said. “[The cops] were pouring all the dairy down the drain, taking all the produce. It’s been hours. They disconnected the surveillance cameras. This is the exact same thing as last time.”

Fetzer is referring to a raid last summer by local, state and federal authorities who shut down Rawesome for selling raw milk, a persistent source of conflict between organic food advocates and government agencies. “In the case of Rawesome, regulators allege that the group broke the law by failing to have the proper permits to sell food to the public,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

Natural News describes today’s raid as “a multi-agency SWAT-style armed raid” conducted by “agents from the LA County Sheriff’s Office, the FDA, the Department of Agriculture and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).”

At the same time, a separate group of agents raided Healthy Family Farms in Ventura County and arrested owner Sharon Palmer. She is currently in jail on a $120,000 bond, reports Info Wars. Victoria Bloch, an L.A. county liaison for the Weston A. Price Foundation was also arrested.

Located in Santa Paula, Healthy Family Farms provides all the diary products for Rawesome, according to Fetzer. Like the store, it was targeted in last summer’s raid.

This isn’t the first run-in with the law for Palmer (a.k.a Sharon Palmer-Ross), who was featured in the documentary Farmageddon. In 2000, she and her partner, Edward Rostami of Polo Financial Services, were indicted on fraud, conspiracy, bank fraud and other charges in what authorities labeled a real estate swindle.

Rostami and Palmer fled the country to avoid charges but were captured near the U.S.-Mexico border in April of 2000. Rostami was sentenced to a year in federal prison, while Palmer received three years probation including four months of home detention, according to the LA Times.

Rawesome is a private membership club that sells raw and unpasteurized foods like nuts, honey, dairy products and other items to “pure foods” advocate. “You sign a waiver,” Fetzer says. “It’s your choice.”

We’ll follow this story as it develops.

[Additional reporting on this story contributed by Amy Scattergood and Felicia Friesema.]

Rawesome Foods: 665 Rose Ave., Venice. (310) 452-2244.

NaPro is a natural method of preventing or achieving pregnancy through basic education of the woman’s natural physiological status throughout her monthly cycle. She tracks her natural bodily status (bleeding, vaginal mucus) and charts it to determine when she is fertile. Most women have predictable cycles of menstruation, dry, and fertile stages (seen in the example below). Understanding when one’s body is fertile is the key to birth prevention and achievement.

According to the NaPro site:

NaProTECHNOLOGY uses the Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System biomarkers to monitor easily and objectively the occurrence of various hormonal events during the menstrual cycle. NaProtracking provides valid information that can be interpreted by a woman and by physicians who are specifically trained in this system.

Unlike common suppressive or destructive approaches, NaProTECHNOLOGY works cooperatively with the procreative and gynecologic systems. When these systems function abnormally, NaProTECHNOLOGY identifies the problems and cooperates with the menstrual and fertility cycles that correct the condition, maintain the human ecology, and sustain the procreative potential.

NaPro can be used to treat a whole host of fertility and sexual conditions; it is more effective than all other forms of birth control; and there are absolutely no side effects. Imagine that—an effective, natural method for preventing (or achieving) pregnancy that works without altering the woman’s physiology—what’s the catch? Why isn’t this method being promoted by any mainstream women’s health organization and getting scant attention in the medical field? The benefit-of-the-doubt answer: because it’s a new technology (NaPro is a recent development). The cynical answer: there’s no money in it.

Whereas “the pill” will cost (either the patient or the insurance company) $35-55 a pop ($1,000-$1,700 a month), NaPro costs nothing (that’s right: $0) unless you want a snazzy iPhone app (free to download but comes with a $3/month charge for data service). Of course, if there are infertility problems, hormone supplements  may be recommended to achieve pregnancy, but the charting itself and pregnancy prevention is free. So, clearly, there is a monetary benefit to the medical and pharmaceutical industry to push hormonal birth control and suppress NaPro. There are other benefits to the pill (improved complexion, cycle regulation), but the reproductive benefits can be addressed using NaPro and without fighting the natural cycle of the woman.

If you are sexually active, you owe it to yourself to research NaPro and Natural Family Planning. Your health and the health of your loved ones is too valuable to trust in the hands of a single-minded corporation.