What's really in your food?
This is a topic we've investigated on the show
for many years now,
exposing ingredients like anti-freeze,
chemicals in some of your favorite foods.
Potential carcinogens in others.
And much, much more.
But now, for the first time,
the American Academy of Pediatrics
is calling for urgent reform
from the FDA.
Also warning parents that food additives
may harm their children.
This is a wake up call for everyone.
(audience applauding)
And right now we're lucky to be joined
by the vice president of the AAP's Orange County Chapter,
pediatrician, Dr. Katherine Williamson.
I'm so happy that the AAP
is now coming out and saying that we need
to pay attention to this.
Why now?
So there's been growing evidence
that chemicals that are in our foods
either directly through additives like colored food dye,
or preservatives,
or either leak in there from packaging
can be really harmful to kids and adults.
And what we found is that there's about 10,000 chemicals
that are in these food additives,
and many of them could be potentially harmful,
and we don't even know.
In fact, there was a study recently that looked at
half of these,
and the majority of them never had any research done
to see if they're even safe for human consumption.
So the question is what should we be looking out for?
Let's go through a few
of the things, starting with nitrates for instance,
that people need to be looking out for?
Absolutely.
So nitrates are something that are,
it's used as a preservative,
and it's found in a lot of processed meats,
as well as some other foods.
And what we found, nitrates among
many of the other chemicals,
they actually can be harmful
to the endocrine symptoms.
And so for that it can increase the risk
of obesity, diabetes,
even reproductive functions.
And not only is this harmful for adults,
but as a pediatrician,
speaking about kids,
kids are at a much more vulnerable state
for these harmful effects.
Really for two reasons.
One, pound for pound kids ingest more
of these chemicals
than adults do,
and they're developing.
Their brains are developing,
their organs are developing
so they're very fragile
to these toxic effects of these chemicals.
So let's go down the list
of some of the others,
'cause phthalates is another one.
You're saying that these phthalates that can be found
in plastic packaging,
we know this can have an impact on kids.
Yeah, absolutely.
So phthalates is a similar thing.
All of the chemicals that can be found
in packaging and can leak into foods,
can cause endocrine problems.
Phthalates also can be carcinogenic,
as well as nitrates.
Nitrates also can.
PFCs is one that a recent study came out.
And it showed that it can actually
decrease the strength of your immune system.
So that's huge.
And those are used in other packaging as well?
So yeah, so plastics tends to be the biggest one,
but also aluminum cans.
And plastics, there's many different chemicals
that are in plastic.
So there are some that make them more bendable, right?
So PFCs do that.
They make it more stretchy.
So if you have a plastic water bottle, for example,
right, you can squeeze it, make it make noises,
the ability for the plastic to be soft like that
is the PFCs,
and that's what can harm your immune system.
Obviously parents are a little bit worried.
What are things that they can do
to protect their kids?
So one big thing is to avoid plastic containers
that are labeled three, six or seven
on the bottom of the container.
Just flip your container over, look at it.
If it has those numbers, choose a different one
or choose glass,
or some other type of container.
And then two other things.
Food dyes.
If your kid's tongue is turning blue
with their candy, there's probably chemicals in there
that they really shouldn't have.
Read the ingredients.
And if you start reading,
there's all these red number this,
yellow number that,
I would choose a different product,
that's just me.
Look at that red 40, yellow five and six,
blue one.
I'm sorry, but when I eat food,
I don't wanna eat blue one, red 40.
It sounds like a football play.
Yellow five, six, blue one.
That's not food.
(audience applauding)
And last but not least.
You always hear pediatricians say
eat real food, eat fruits and veggies.
Fresh and frozen is going to be best.
Obviously fresh tastes the best.
Frozen is also safe,
but try to avoid canned when you can.
An American family of four
will spend about $240 per week on groceries.
That can be expensive.
And here to reveal saving secrets
to help you cut that crazy grocery bill,
the krazy coupon lady herself,
our friend Joanie Demer.
(audience applauding)
Thank you.
I mean we all want to save
and be healthy,
and sometimes they feel like
you can't do both at the same time.
So when to buy organic,
and when not to buy organic is often the question.
So, here I've got another set of questions for you.
We've got apples, strawberries,
cabbage, asparagus and seafood.
Pick two of these items
that are important too buy organic.
What do you think?
(audience shouting)
Seafood and apples is what I'm hearing.
Strawberries.
Oh I'm also hearing strawberries.
You picked three, I told you to pick two.
(laughing)
In those three you did get the two correct answers,
and that is apples and strawberries.
So apples, conventionally grown apples,
actually contain more pesticide residue
than any other fruits and vegetables.
And while soaking them
with baking soda and water for 10 to 15 minutes
is the best way to get rid of that
other than peeling them,
it's still not gonna get rid of everything.
So the number one thing I say
is important to buy organic is apples.
And the cool thing is that the price,
the difference between conventional and organic isn't huge.
Organic apples are still $0.99 to $2.99 a pound.
That's about $0.50 to $1.50 per apple.
So you can do the math based on how many
your family uses
and determine whether that's something
you think you can fit in.
You just have to accept
that the organic apple
isn't always going to look as pretty,
as pristine as the conventionally grown one.
And strawberries,
I'm assuming cause all the pesticides.
You know that rough texture,
they work their way in,
and it's hard to wash that out, right?
Greatly porous,
there's no skin, you can't wash it up.
They consistently top the dirty dozen list.
They have more than 20 pesticides on them.
Now there is some controversy
because the pesticides used on strawberries,
not all of them have proven to be toxic,
but still topping that list, 20 different pesticides.
I'm choosing to buy organic there.
And nothing bad with the frozen bag
of organic strawberries in the freezer, right?
It's true.
Is that a crazy coupon lady trick?
That's another,
grab that at the wholesale club
while you're there for the vanilla.
In any case, always wash those fruits and vegetables.
Always, always.
And water's not enough.
So whether it's vinegar water wash
or baking soda water wash,
do more than just water, it's not gonna be enough.
Any parent knows navigating the world
of keeping kids healthy,
it can be a little tricky,
so I have pediatrician
and author of "What to Feed Your Baby,"
Dr. Tanya Altman here today.
(audience applauding)
And what I love is we're gonna go through some things
that parents think are healthy
but maybe not so much.
You're right, I have three foods here
that we moms used to all think are healthy,
but it's actually quite the opposite.
First up.
What do we got here?
White rice cereal,
which used to be a staple,
but no longer.
White rice has no fiber,
little protein, no flavor,
and it simply primes young palates
for a lifetime of eating white carbs,
which we now leads to poor nutrition and obesity.
So what do I give instead?
Peanut butter oatmeal.
And with the new research out,
we know that peanut protein now
in a young infant's diet,
if given regularly,
can actually decrease their chance
of developing a peanut allergy later in life.
And that's what I feed my boys
after they have soccer practice.
It's much healthier than going to the driver thru.
All right, so no white rice cereal
or cut back on it.
Now, second in terms of
things that we think are good for kids,
but maybe not so much.
Teething biscuits.
But the truth is teething biscuits,
teething wafers have no nutrition in them.
You're simply teaching your baby to gnaw
on a sweet tasting cookie whenever they want.
So what's a healthier snack?
Whole grain oat cereal.
Or, for teething discomfort,
take a cube of melon
or zucchini,
put them in one of those teething nets
so it's not a choking hazard,
and let your baby gnaw on it,
and they'll get used to those
real healthy natural flavors.
This is good.
(audience laughing)
You can see why the babies like them.
Oh heck, this is a cookie.
Give me more.
(audience laughing)
I like those.
They are good.
All right, what do we got here?
Pouches.
Pouches are a huge turned in baby food.
Yes they are.
Just because it comes in a pouch
doesn't mean it's healthy for your baby.
And it also teaches kids to overeat
as they just slurp down their fruits
and veggies.
And slurping down fruits
and veggies, they don't actually get used to
eating real fruits and vegetables.
And they don't learn when they're full.
And use a spoon so that way
your child can learn to control portion size.
I like that.
And it's not to say that all pouches are bad, right?
No.
I'm sure some are better than others,
but I just glanced at one where all the calories
were from carbohydrates pretty much.
So you gotta be a little careful.
My label rule is less than five is best,
more than 10 think again.
(audience applauding)
Fleeing the seasonal blues
and want a secret to brighten your days
now and for the rest of the year?
Today's doctor's prescription has the answer.
Switch to a healthy diet of whole foods.
Your depression related symptoms might be eased
in less than a month
according to a new study,
Australian researchers evaluated
76 depressed college students
whose daily meals were mostly made
of processed foods, high in sugar, high in saturated fats,
they found that giving them more fruits,
veggies, fish, as well as lean meats
triggered significant improvements
in their mood after just three weeks.
The brain, we know is your most important organ
in some many ways.
These foods, when they're real, whole foods,
they have all vitamins, minerals,
fiber, proteins, good carbs,
all the things your brain needs,
and it can lower inflammation.
Also we don't talk enough about stress.
And crazily enough,
when you're eating a lot of bad foods,
and you build up visceral body belly fat
and your body releases more cortisol,
it's the chronic stress hormone,
it's this feedback loop.
And you're, quite honestly you feel a little more depressed,
you may become a little more food dependent
on unhealthy processed foods,
and you just go down a path.
Comfort food, that's an oxymoron,
it's gonna bring you down.
