Today out scouring the news feeds there was an article of a long term study done in the UK with thousands of people. They said that some processed foods weren't as bad as first thought. That included baked sweets, deserts, and frozen foods. It didn't say what frozen foods were looked at, if they were high salt content or low salt content. I guess when it came to baked goods it was the fiber content that made the distinction different.
After recently discovering that a large variety of spices, which they have claimed for years is better than using salt on food, is loaded full of lead I became more skeptical. Walmart chili seasoning for example has dangerous levels of lead even for adults. Turmeric, which in the last few years has gotten rave reviews for its health benefits, but according to the study done by Consumer Reports just about every container of Turmeric sold in this country, including at health food stores, is loaded with lead. Remember it was so healthy that they started using it in Kraft Mac and Cheese to make it have a healthy rather than dye filled unhealthy effect. But unbeknownst to me it didn't apply to all KM&C, just the ones that aren't the original, the ones most parents will tend to grab. I am getting on about something here in a minute, just hold on...(lol), with that said at first I felt bad going the extra mile (penny wise) to buy the better Kraft product over others after having found out about lead in turmeric. When I found out it was the cheaper versions that had it than not so much because the grand kids don't tend to like the thicker noodles found in those versions.
So all that had me going back to a few years ago about how great spinach was for people when come to find out spinach has more aluminum in it to the point that consuming spinach on a daily basis that over a lifetime one can consumer seventy percent more aluminum than given in (which they've take most out of) childhood vaccines. (which was the raging debate I came upon that discovery)
Okay so now we're on about using spices instead of salt because spices are much healthier for you but finding that a lot of spices can hold dangerous amounts of lead for children, with some even dangerous amounts even for adults. We're on about turmeric being oh so healthy they started using it as a healthier alternative to color Kraft Mac & Cheese....just not healthy enough though evidently to put it in the higher priced versions that most parents will opt not to buy. Talking about vegetables, spinach reigns supreme but will add seventy five percent more aluminum over a life time than all childhood vaccines...but most vegetables also contain unhealthy byproducts like lead....due to the environment having been contaminated from the use of lead based gasolines. The ground is where spinach gets it aluminum from, so though they don't trot out this fact when it comes to vegetables overall, but the ground naturally contains a lot of aluminum, its just for some reason spinach absorbs it more. Now we'll get on about dark chocolate. Dark chocolate, if you listen to them, is probably one of the best things on earth you can eat. (in moderation) If you listen to consumers reports study it has elevated levels of lead above what an adult should consume. Just about every brand, including the most expensive. (Think about the environment that the majority of cacao is grown, it's not a good picture, same with the majority of turmeric coming from India) So you begin to see a pattern develop here, the stuff they really, really, really want you to eat are contaminated with dangerous levels of something or the other, so the big question is does whatever it contain that is good for you outweigh the risk of what's not. Since they don't tell you my guess is that it does not.
I know this lengthy but...I was actually going to do a post on the lead boogey man because our city just implemented that all rental properties will now have to be tested for lead. From what the people at the Health Department stand at a fair giving out literature told me it was going to be an additional cost of about two hundred for the testing. I told them when they come to announce that to me I don't intend upon complying because I had my house tested for lead years ago when I decided to paint it. Back than, I don't know if they still do it, they would come out and test your house for free. They couldn't find any lead paint, not even on the bare wood, as I guess it can absorb into the wood. So why should I have to have it tested time and again. Because of the boogey man. That would be the oil conglomerates and congressional members who let them pollute the environment for years, and the closer you lived to an expressway the more containments that landed upon your ground. So it's everywhere, some more than others. I am not saying there aren't slum lords out there who still have lead paint stuck on their walls that might peel but with my house that's probably long been taken off the majority of places, or as for the outside long done peeled away over the years. My house though is so old there was still wall paper on the walls from the beginning of time, much of that has been removed by me and/or on the other side it was entirely redone with new drywall before I bought it. Like prehistoric wallpaper that looked like brown paper bag with a one color single print design. With natural woodwork through the majority the likelihood of lead paint is slim to none. Now take for example last year when they came through and put in new sewer lines and repaved the road, if they'd come in and swiped their swipe on my woodwork chances are greater than not they'd found lead....because it's in the soil outside. It doesn't matter they carefully took off three, four layers off the top, it's to late for that. Years of remodeling roads, revamping/replacing lines before they started being environment conscience mixed all that dirt up. Chances of there ever being complete removal at this point is slim to none. When they dig that up and the wind blows it all over your house and into the house through your windows, if you don't wash it completely off chances are you could end up with a positive reading. Than you would be subject to remove all tenants and your house surrounded by caution tape and spend thousands upon thousands tearing out all the walls and replacing them. Not to mention you have to hire a professional to remove it off the outside your house. Which they did once to one landlord who was down at a city commission meeting two, three years ago. I was down there for something unrelated but when I got my three minutes I felt I had to speak out on behalf of this landlord who was being tarred and feathered by neighborhood members but claimed he'd done everything requested by the housing authority and the kids living in the property were still testing positive for lead. When I told the commission that those baby snacks cheese sticks, puffs were found to be loaded full of lead their faces about dropped onto the commission desk.
This was one of the reasons I asked those Health Department people if they were testing parents not just the kids, because lead can come from a multitude of places. He said they were not testing parents and they were basing their recommendation on the Cincinnati Ohio study. So I went home and looked up that study. The study done in a highly industrialized area now sitting condemned and empty with contaminates of lead paint feeling away and asbestos wrapped pipes, broken out windows where wind could blow the stuff any which way the winds blows. Doesn't help it was an older run down neighborhood, probably had a lot of slum lords, but the point being is this is all based on kids eating lead contaminated paint chips or chewing on window sills full of lead based paint. The guy even told me that if you so much as have a chip of paint peeling that dust can result from that, land on a window sill and a kid can lap it up. Sort of hard to believe one chipping piece of paint can cause all that havoc but you know it's always got to be another boogey man that isn't the oil conglomerates. Personally, to be honest with you, I can't ever remember a time my kids ever licked let alone bit the woodwork but it must be an epidemic if you listen to them. They come on up into here and find any lead first thing I am going to do is tell them to test the parents first, if they find lead than take inventory of everything they have in their cupboards and test it, once they tell Walmarts they can't sell their chili powder here than I'll pay two hundred for the test. Once they eliminate all turmeric and baby cheese puffs, I'll pay for it. Once they can prove it didn't come from them digging up the road last year, I'll pay for it. Until that time I'll see you at the SC level in appeals.