X ~ Xanthan Gum

  I'm supposing that after you read the title you must have thought something along these lines "Oy, a health post." Or maybe you thought something more like, "A heath post, goodie, let me go fetch my note book."  Whatever you might have thought, rest assured that I shall not spend hours and hundreds of paragraphs raving about the wondrous glories of xanthan gum, in fact, for that matter, I shan't even spend a second talking up xanthan gum, but rather I shall bash it most heartily.

  If you are a loyal user of xanthan gum then I apologize in advance for any offense I might inflict but I simply needed to let more people know about my discovery. Prepare yourself, for here I go, about to rant.

  My Mum agreed to join me for forty days (I wanted much more, but that was all she committed to) of an extreme health adventure, we ate absolutely no gluten, no soy, no sugar, you name it. What we did eat was many strange things, we used much oat flour, countless egg whites (I know they're not strange, I'm just listing things here) coconut flour, neufchatel cheese, kale, zucchini, coconut oil, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, turmeric, and yes, xanthan gum. You name it, if it was "healthy", we were there. And amidst all of that crazed health pursuing, we became obsessed, it was pure insanity. We couldn't go a minute without thinking about food, and our bodies began to pay the price for such extreme "health". Our minds felt very fragile, like a single sharp poke could break us.

  Eventually my Mum and I got a major reality shock upon realizing that this wonderful life that God had given to us was being wasted, on obsessing over food. Reading scriptures brought to light how absolutely insane it was to concentrate so much on food, which is meant to be but just a trivial necessity in our lives, it doesn't hold a candle to the life God has planned for us.

  After that realization, my Mum and I converted back to eating food, real food. We ate gluten, we ate dairy, and we ate sugar. We enjoyed every bit of it and still do. My Mum and I discovered the absolute secret to eating for optimum health and happiness. You can eat absolutely everything (junk food is not that terrific though, so we avoid that, but that's just common sense) the only catch (and it's insanely easy, not really a catch at all) is that you must simply eat everything in small portions. Like our motto which is "Eat everything, just not everything of everything."

  Our happiness and zest for life returned with eating normally again. And best of all, obsessing over food is no longer in existence. We didn't realize just how much food had taken over our lives until we started eating anything again.

  I know that so many people have very many fads that they follow, (don't get me wrong, I don't think that all food studies are bad, though most are extreme) and my Mum and I followed them all, and we are taught by nutritionists everywhere that the fads we follow are for optimum health, but think on it. So many people say Stevia is good for you ( I'm sure I've really plunged into the deep end by bringing up this subject) but it's along the lines of serious drugs. If you ever research it a little you'll notice that people stopping Stevia had extreme withdrawal symptoms, but they say that it's so much better for you than sugar since it comes from a plant. Well, sugarcane is a plant. Now I will readily agree that raw sugar is most definitely better for you than just regular old sugar, but my point is that Stevia can no longer hold it's plant prowess over sugar.

  And more about Stevia. Many, many, many (I can't even stress how many people) think Stevia is the only way to go and they rave about it's weight loss benefits but I did a little research myself and it happens to be that Stevia DOES mess with you. Here is what I found, and I'm quoting it. "Our bodies don’t quite know what to do with these calorie-free sugar substitutes. Tricked by the sweet taste, the body activates the insulin response and ushers out glucose from the bloodstream to make room for the incoming sugar load…but no sugar ever enters. To stabilize blood sugar levels, the body then releases the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which set to work retrieving stored sugar (in the form of glycogen) from liver and muscle tissue.  When this process is continually activated, our adrenal glands burn out, our immune system is weakened, inflammation increases, and thyroid function is disturbed. If your body doesn’t have enough glycogen stored, it can’t convert the inactive thyroid hormone T4 into the active thyroid hormone T3. What happens when your thyroid function is out of whack? Weight gain…hair loss…and fatigue! In fact, numerous studies have shown that rather than contributing to weight loss, artificial sweeteners like stevia actually cause weight gain!"

  So now that I've vented myself on that I shall actually get to the point of my post. Xanthan Gum. My Mum did research on it and came up with horrifying results. I'm sure a lot of you how black molded vegetables look. And the fact is that to make Xanthan Gum, the producers let just such mold grow on corn, and certain beans and scrape off the slime from underneath (also known as the feces from bacteria.) Then they dehydrate it, grind it into a powder and sell it labeled as a gluten free baking assistant and thickening agent sourced from plants. That bacteria isn't even good for you though and it's proven by how you aren't allowed to feed Xanthan gum to children as it may prove fatal, or at least inflict severe damage. I don't know about you but that was enough for me and I was left terrified because I had eaten a good bit of Xanthan gum, the fact that it was bacteria feces didn't help to settle my stomach either.

  So if you're wondering what my Mum and I did about the whole "gluten is horrible for you deal," well, we laughed in its face. One of my friends (who has a gluten intolerance) went to a doctor recently and he told her that for most people all a gluten intolerance is, is just a deficiency of magnesium and certain vitamins. With such deficiencies you can't digest gluten. The cure? You can reap healing, life changing results by simply eating a well balanced diet. Think the old-fashioned food pyramid. And adding missing vitamins.

  I had read an article written by a woman who claimed that the rising of gluten intolerance is because of hybridized grains. I couldn't believe how obvious the actual reason is. Think on it, in most cases gluten intolerance is merely a nutrient deficiency. That deficiency comes from not eating as God made us to. With so many crazy fads out there with whole swarms of naive people following them it's obvious that we have many many more deficiency possessed people who think they're doing themselves good by eating the way they do. With those deficiencies they can no longer digest grain because they have harmed their digestive system unbeknownst to them. So how could they fix those deficiencies? By healing their gut and eating as God made us to.

  Food is not complicated, God made it that way so we can follow him with a whole heart, soul, and mind. Savoring every bite will likewise let you savor every moment of life.

  Please know that I honestly, from the bottom of my heart did not mean offense to anyone at all, trust me, I've been there, done that, with fads. I just hope that I can open at least one person's eyes to the  greater picture in life. To go from dreaming to waking up and seeing all of your glorious surroundings. If I can do that to one person through this post, than I shall feel that my life's purpose has been fulfilled.  I had no intentions of rambling on for so long (and getting heated various times) so now I think it would be a wise time to bow out gracefully with a few scripture verses. (Please know that Jesus said the following words.)

  Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment.

  Mark 7:18-19 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.


There are more Bible verses, but this post is quite long enough. Maybe someday I'll share my Bible study on food, eating, and sickness.