Category Archive

One Week Raw

Well, I’ve decided to take tRAWnsformation pictures every Tuesday night to document the changes in my body.  I guess I should have done measurements…ah well.

Weight: -6.5 lbs in 7 days!  Incredible. 

Exercise:  I went for two 5K runs this week and only made it to 1 hot yoga class.  This week I’ll be back on my regular schedule which includes 4-5 days of hot yoga, so I can’t wait to see next week’s results!

One Week Raw - Front

One Week Raw - Side

This Week’s Challenge:

Today we were at the Rogers Cup, and although we brought some raw chocolate and some cashews, we were starving for something different.  Amongst all the crap that other people were eating, I found a yummy fruit salad, but I needed to buy about 10 of them to be fully satisfied!  Which would have cost about $50…  Just a reminder that if you’re out of the house all day, you had better be prepared! 

It’s amazing the effect that eating raw has on my desire to exercise.  Last night I took the dog for a 5 k run.  Today after work I went to a hot yoga class, and after I biked home I went for another run with a friend.  It’s really nice to have a running partner because you have that little bit of added motivation.  When you have someone calling you and asking if you want to go running, it’s like an alarm going off and motivation calling you!  If you get several running partners, there’s a guarantee you’ll be running a few times a week!

I haven’t had much to eat today, which is kinda weird considering the amount of exercise I’ve had, but I don’t feel much like eating anything right now.  When you eat raw, natural, good quality foods, you are more in touch with your nutritional needs, wheras when I eat cooked foods, I think I need food all the time!  I’d eat late at night all the time when I was on cooked food. 

When I eat raw, I only go into the kitchen when I am truly hungry…or if I can’t wait to try a new raw recipe!  Also, on cooked I always cleaned my plate, but on a raw food diet, I just stop eating when I’ve had enough.  I eat raw dessert for breakfast if I feel the desire!  And when I have dishes that are rich in nuts or other heavy raw ingredients, my body steers me clear of them for a few days.  Never, ever on a cooked diet did my body tell me anything!  I remember years ago when I didn’t have any idea the effects that food had on my mood or energy level.  Now, I know the second I have eaten something that doesn’t agree with me.  I can just feel it. 

And since you only eat when you’re hungry on raw, there is no breakfast, lunch, dinner schedule…you eat on your own hunger schedule…that being said, I think my hunger level just rose…so apparently “dinner” tonight is going to be around 11pm!

Marinara Salad

Dinner: Marinara Salad

Time To Make: About 3 minutes

Would I Make It Again: Yes!

Ingredients: 1 cup leftover Marinara Sauce, (recipe in Eating for Energy) an avocado, 6 stalks asparagus, 1 yellow pepper, 3 green onions, and 1/2 a cucumber.  Variations:  Whatever you have in the fridge!

I had a little bit of a challenge tonight. I opened up the pantry door and a jar of Nutella called me on…but I won the mental battle. I just thought about what Nutella had done for me lately. It gave me a stomach ache the last time we had crepes, and it gave me a killer sugar buzz that left me in a coma. No thank you Nutella. I don’t like you anymore! 

I started thinking about how addicted we are to the foods we eat. Heavily processed foods with loads of sugar and salt and chemicals we can’t even pronounce!  I remember when I thought milk did the body good - now milk isn’t allowed in the house.  I remember when I used to drink 4 diet cokes a day….or more! I haven’t had a diet coke in 2 years. Once you learn that aspartame causes brain tumors, you don’t feel like quenching your thirst with a can of nail-dissolving formaldehyde!

I got into a conversation with a guy a few months ago who stated proudly that he would continue to drink aspartame until they found evidence it harms humans…I was absolutely speachless.  There are hundreds of studies, and thousands of people that have nerve damage, migranes, vision problems, and 89 other side effects caused by aspartame! I just left him there floating in his fantasy bubble. I am continually amazed at the ignorance in our society! I used to think the government wouldn’t pass a drug that would hurt us, but that was when I was a little naive girl from Rodney, Ontario, before I realized that obscene amounts of money can blind anyone to anything.

IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS. IGNORANCE CAN KILL YOU. The take-home message in my little rant is that it’s important to know what’s in your food!  One of my friends recently said to me “ignorance is bliss” while she was eating a sandwich stuffed with bacon and cheese.  I got an uneasy feeling right away and thought “ignorance is NOT bliss! It’s going to make you fat!”  Worse yet, it’s going to make you sick and diseased over time. 

Ok, lets not talk about disease - let’s talk about “Cheese”cake!

Raw White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

I know what it looks like, that I’m dissing some bad food and promoting other bad food - but that’s the beauty of raw food.  It’s vegan and fresh.  Whole, unadulterated, and exploding with nutrients - even dessert is heathy!

It was so fun to make a raw dessert again. No oven required, thankfully, because it’s so damn hot in here already!

I’ve made something similar to this before, using coconut butter instead of cacao butter, but it is definitely worth the time, effort, and money to get raw cacao butter!  So very worth it!  The ingredients in this dessert are so decadent and the fresh raspberries taste unbelievable.  Every single bite kind of pops in your mouth.  You can find the video about how to make it on the G Living Network website.  I used cashews instead of almonds for the crust just because we love cashews so much in our house.  This could quite possibly be breakfast tomorrow morning!

Go raw!

Got Greens?

Green Supersmoothie

1 tbsp spirulina
1 mango
1 tbsp bee polin
1 cup strawberries
few cubes ice
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 dates
1 tbsp sesame seeds
water to desired consistency

Then it was off to pick berries at Whittamores Farm on Steeles Ave.  So many delicious berries!  I think we picked for a couple of hours, and I got sunburnt but it was worth it.

 

Raspberry Picking

 

Mango, cucumber, hemp seeds, green onion, red pepper, and avocado.

Nori Wraps For Dinner

To make these wraps, simply cut up your favourite veggies, like the ones to the left, and get some Nori (seaweed) sheets to wrap them in.  I also made an easy almond butter paste to spread on the sheets before I filled them.  The paste gives the wrap a nice salty kick!

Almond Butter Paste

2 tbsp raw almond butter (or other nut butter)

2 tsp tamari, braggs, or soy sauce (add to taste)

I ate three of these wraps and I am so full!  I was going to make the raw cheesecake tonight but I am so tired that I’m afraid it’s going to have to wait until tomorrow.

The term trans-fat is short for transformed fat.  And transformed fats have no place in your body.  They are artificially created by scientists in laboratories when they hydrogenate liquid oils to make them solid so they can withstand longer shelf lives.  Trans-fats are created anytime fats are heated.  Saturated fats are more tolerant to heat treatment than mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, so if you’re thinking of cooking something, it’s best to use butter or coconut oil to avoid minimize the creation of trans-fats.  And don’t be fooled by restaurants that boast “trans-fat free” signs.  As soon as their “trans-fat free” oil is heated, it has become trans-formed! 

Margarine

Margarine is a synthetic, man-made chemical, alien to our bodies.  Hard stick margarine is loaded with trans-fats.  Hydrogen is forced into vegetable oil to turn it into a saturated fat, solid at room temperature.  Hydrogenation changes the shape of oils at the molecular level, and the shape of a molecule s extremely important.  Think of your body like a moving jigsaw puzzle.  The billions of processes that occur every second are all little parts and pieces of your body puzzle.  If any piece has been altered in any way, it will not be able to fit in where it should…and could even fit in places it shouldn’t!  Newer margarine is made from vegetable oil and modified palm and palm kernel oil.  It boasts non-hydrogenation, but I’ve never been a fan of the word “modified,” and palm oil is liquid at room temperature.  Somebody messed with it, for definite.  Would you like your body to be “modified” or all-natural?  Remember to read the labels of any food you’re planning to consume.

Did you know?  Margarine is one molecule away from being plastic!

Product Dissection: Becel Margarine:

Ingredients: Canola and sunflower oils 74%, water, modified palm and palm kernel oils 6%, salt 1.8%, whey protein concentrate 1.4%, soy lecithin 0.2%, vegetable monoglycerides, potassium sorbate, vegetable colour, artificial flavour, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3, alpha-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E).

The Low down: 

• Remember what happens to canola oil before it hits the shelves?  This product is 74% rancid, bleached, artificially coloured vegetable oil. 
• It contains 6% “modified” oils.
• It contains dairy in the form of whey protein.  Milk is the #1 allergen.  Humans have difficulty digesting cow’s milk, whether they are aware of it or not…and I must say that many of us are painfully aware. 
• Monoglycerides are a common food additive used to combine two things that wouldn’t normally mix such as water and oil. 
• Potassium sorbate is a preservative used to discourage the growth of molds and yeasts, thereby increasing shelf life.  Apparently since it is used in such small quantities, there are no known adverse health effects.  Comforting.
• Vegetable colour is a tricky one.  My instincts are to say that it likely comes from Yellow dye #5 which is known to create a myriad of problems within the human body, especially known to exacerbate autism and other behavioural problems.  But to be fair to Becel, it could be turmeric, which has a vibrant yellow colour, but since I think Quebec would let turmeric into their province since it is a cleansing herb…so it must be something else that Quebec’s government is afraid of, and I think we should be too!
• Becel contains artificial flavour.  I’m not a big fan of eating anything artificial, especially if it’s there to trick my brain into thinking plastic tastes good.
• The next 3 ingredients are added vitamins.  Vitamins are best obtained from whole foods as found in nature, and not in a tub of chemically processed margarine…
  • Vitamin A palmitate is a common pre-formed Vitamin A supplement.  Better sources include apples, apricots, beets, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, collard greens, mango, peas, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.
  • Vitamin D3.  15 minutes of sun on your hands and face will get you the same amount of vitamin D, so go for a walk and get some exercise!  Go for a longer walk in the wintertime as the sun is not as vibrant then.
  • Vitamin E.  Better sources include walnut oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, (make sure all oils are cold processed) nuts (raw), sunflower seeds (raw), whole grains, and green leafy vegetables. 

Always remember, quality matters! 

I just recently started reading A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle, and I’ve got to say it is an unbelievably good read. At one point, Eckhart makes a statement about Bulimia, and how sufferers often make themselves vomit so they may continue eating. 

“Their mind is hungry, not their body.”

Now, not everyone suffers from bulimia, but if you or someone you know is struggling with a weight issue, you will know that there is a large body-mind connection to which you or they are not aware.  Unless every effort is made to strengthen this connection, any effort to lose weight will be in vain.

It may take some time to become aware of your body’s true needs, but you can do it.  The trick is simply to pay attention.  There is a connection between the foods you eat and the way you feel.  If you’ve ever had a hangover, you know what I’m talking about! 

Once you start paying attention, you will notice subtle changes in the way you feel, expecially if you are eating foods to which your body is particularly sensitive.  For most people, this will include dairy and wheat products as they comprise the top 2 allergens.  You likely eat some form of dairy or wheat every single day, multiple times a day, without awareness.  Try going 4 days without eating dairy or wheat products.  On day 5, indulge in some ice cream or pancakes and note how you feel afterward.

I say 4 days because that is roughly the amount of time it takes the body to work through, process, and eliminate foods from the cells of your body.  You may feel symptoms of ”withdrawal” after the first or second day, and it may not let up through the 4th day.  In this case, I challenge you to keep on with this little experiment, perhaps going beyond the 4th day, because the fact that these symptoms exist is your body telling you that it is indeed sensitive to these foods, and it needs extra time to expel them from your body due to years of toxic build-up brought on by eating these foods every day.

The results may suprise you.  It wasn’t until I did this exact experiment on myself that I realized my body had been telling me for years to stop eating dairy foods.  Once I became aware of my body’s needs, I drastically cut down on my dairy intake, and I have never felt better!  If you have eczema, psoriasis, acne, or any other dis-ease, I encourage your participation even more because your body is screaming and you are not paying attention.

Once you start paying attention to the messages your body relays, over time it will become easier and easier to tell when you are truly hungry and when you are not.  You may become aware that you eat in social situations, whether you are hungry or not - just becasue others are eating.  You may find the courage to say no to your eyes when they see ice cream, and listen to your body when it says ”I don’t like ice cream, it makes me feel sick.”

I’m sure by now that you’ve heard of or seen “The Secret”.  Among its many teachings, it tells you this: What you think about you bring about.  What you focus on expands.  If you spend your days thinking about how upset you are with a particular person, how fat you’ve become, or how depressed you are over your financial situation, you are only digging yourself a monstrous hole to lay in.  You will get even more angry, fatter, or more depressed…or all three! 

Instead of focusing on what is bad in your life, focus on the good!  Trust me, you’ll be a whole lot happier!  If you want to change your eating habits and sculpt your body, keep a mental picture of what you want to look like!  Spend at least 5 minutes looking at a picture of the body you desire every morning.  Go through the feelings you would have if you were in that position.  What could you do?  Think of the confidence you would enjoy!  Be sure to do the same thing right before you go to bed.

But, because pain is probably the best motivator I know, I would also like you to think about what not changing will cost you.  If you keep going where you’re headed, what will it cost you physically, mentally, emotionally and financially?  What will not changing cost your loved ones?  If you keep smoking, drinking, overeating, doing watever it is that is causing you your discomfort, what will you feel like?  What will you look like?  What will the quality of your life be?  Theses are all great questions to ask yourself to light that fire deep inside.

So light the fire right now and look at that inspiring picture every day to keep it burning!

If you constantly feel tired, find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, are overweight, or suffer from headaches, migraines, digestive upset or constipation, you are in desperate need of some cleansing action. It’s time to reduce the digestive load on your body and cleanse!  Toxins are stored in fat, so if you’ve got a lot of it, you’ve got a lot of toxins just waiting to be released!  The good news is that our dietary plans are designed to both cleanse and slim your body!

You don’t have to be overweight to be in need of a detoxification program either - some of the unhealthiest people I know are quite slim!

Whenever it has the energy to do so, your body will repair damaged cells and get rid of unwanted toxins.  A toxin is anything that irritates and pollutes your body.  Internal organs are strained because they have to work hard to process and get rid of these threatening particles. We have little control of some toxins, so we must take special care to deal with the ones we can reduce.  If you live in a city, for example, you cannot control the quality of the air unless you wear a mask everywhere you go.  Not many people are willing to go that far, so by making you aware of the toxins in your environment, I hope to help you make better choices in your daily life. Toxicity in your body is created by contact with irritants.  This includes everything from the soap you use in the shower, toilet bowl cleaner, dish soap, fabric softener, and especially the food and drink you put inside your body. Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and other toxic chemicals used in food production are making people sick. Farmers have been hospitalized due to using these chemicals on their farms for heaven’s sake!  I don’t want these chemicals anywhere near my body!

Every night while you sleep, your body is hard at work putting nutrients where they belong and exiling anti-nutrients to areas where they can exit your body through urine and solid waste.  When you get up in the morning and eat breakfast or drink coffee, you put an end to this detoxification process (and incur a lot more toxins for your body to sort through). Most people do not allow their bodies the time it needs to detoxify.  They eat too much food too often and don’t drink enough water to flush out their systems. If you’re not hungry in the morning, don’t force yourself to eat, but be prepared for when hunger strikes by bringing food with you if you’re on the go.

Once you begin to decrease the digestive load on your body, you may feel worse before you feel better. This is a good thing! It means that your body is finally getting a chance to work through old toxins and get them out of your body. Symptoms of detoxification include dizziness, lack of appetite, fatigue, nausea, headaches, increased body odour, rashes, hives, skin outbreaks, increased allergic symptoms, and a general feeling of sickness.  It is important to drink plenty of water in order to flush out any toxins you may stir up.

So, how do you detox exactly?  Here are some steps you can take:

• Eat as Organic as Possible
• Eat Plenty of Fruits and Vegetables
• Drink Fresh Smoothies and Juices Daily in Place of Solid Food
• Limit Meat and Dairy Consumption During (AND After!) the Cleanse
• Exercise on a Daily Basis
• Eat Only When Hungry and Stop When You’re Full!

Simply put - disease cannot exist in an alkaline environment. This alone can be great motivation to increase your body’s alkalinity by adding more alkaline foods to your diet while decreasing overall consumption of acidic foods. Try it for yourself - you can FEEL the difference.

Image from www.truthaboutsplenda.com 

Sometimes I find inspiration, and sometimes it finds me.  I was recently contacted to endorse a product that flavours and sweetens water.  Product names such as natural lemon and natural peach seem legit and at first everything was just, well, peachy! Then I stumbled upon that nasty little “sweetened with sucralose” line that makes me cringe! There is nothing natural about sucralose, otherwise known as Splenda. Use your brain on this one:  

Artificial sweetener = Substance messed with using chemicals = Not fit for human consumption!

The creation of sucralose involves substituting 3 hydroxyl groups (hydrogen + oxygen) on the sugar molecule with 3 chlorine atoms. Have you ever felt the need to drink chlorine? Alternatively, sucralose can be made from ingredients that don’t even include sugar! Sucralose was intentionally and improperly named with the suffix -ose, a move that serves to fool you into believing it is natural (such as fructose, sucrose, and glucose).  The reason sucralose contains no calories is because the molecule has been changed so much that the body doesn’t even recognize it as food!  Manufacturers claim that this alien molecule passes through the body unchanged.   Animal researchers have found that it does not, in fact, just pass through the body.  And, some of it breaks down into a molecule known as 1,6-dichlorofructose (just think chlorine + fruit sugar). There have only been a handful of human studies on sucralose, and no long-term studies at all. Better yet, there have been no long-term independant studies.  This means that most studies have been controlled by the manufacturers, who desperately do not want to show that sucralose is harmful to the body! Before sucralose was even approved for human consumption, animal studies indicated potential toxicity! It’s aspertame all over again.

Adverse effects reported in pre-approval research include:  Shrunken thymus glands (by up to 40%!)(E056), enlarged liver and kidneys (E057 and E161), atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus (E051, E056, E0151), increased cecal weight (E151), reduced growth rate (E057), decreased red blod cell count (E055), extension of the pregnancy period and aborted pregnancy (E134), decreased fetal body weights and placental weights (E032), and diarrhea. 

I believe most of these adverse effects are due to the body expelling this toxic substance. (Note: liver and kidney enlargement and atrophy of cells in the lymphatic organs,the spleen and thymus)  Diarrhea is obvious…the body is saying “GET OUT!” The body knows when it is in a good enough state to produce a body, and since it is trying so hard to rid itself of this toxic substance, it will have less energy to grow a baby!  If you’re having trouble conceiving, I suggest you get yourself to a holistic practitioner straight away, and get your body healthy before heading to a fertility expert.

There are many alternatives to drinking poisonous diet drinks that will keep your waistline slim.  Water is the most hydrating and slimming thing I know! But what if you don’t like drinking water, you ask?  Well, do you like being alive? Then I’m sorry to say you’re going to have to suck it up and drink up!  

But seriously, try these tricks to jazz up your water:

• A squeeze of lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit.
• Cut up some cucumber and marinate it in a big jug of water.  So yummy!
• Got a blender?  You can obtain natural peach, kiwi, mixed berry, etc. just by throwing some fruit into the blender with your water.
• On the run?  Throw any of the above into a water bottle and you’re good to go!

Personally, I am not willing to be a guinea pig and wait 10 or 15 years to see what this toxic substance does to my body! I’ve already felt the effects of aspartame, so I’m on a chemical-free diet these days.  Are you?

Sources:

Food and Drug Administration “Final Rule” for Sucralose, 21 CFR Part 172, Docket No. 87F-0086.

Hull JS. Splenda - Is it Safe or Not? The Pickle Press, New York: 2004.

Lord, GH, Newberne PM. Renal Mineralization - A Ubiquitous Lesion in Chronis Rat Studies. Food Chem Toxicology 1990 June; 28:449-455.

Labare MP, Alexander M. Microbial Cometabolism of Sucralose, a Chlorinated Disaccharide, in Environmental Samples. Applied Microbial Biotechnology. 1994 Oct;42:173-178.

Hunter BT. Sucralose. Consumers’ Research Magazine, Oct 1990,Vol. 73, Issue 10, p.8-10.

Maudlin RK. FDA Approves Sucralose for Expanded Use. Modern Medicine, Oct 1999, Vol. 67, Issue 10, p57.

Sucralose - A New Artificial Sweetener. Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, 07/03/98, Vol. 40, Issue 1030, p.67.

Q&A: Is Newly FDA Approved Sweetener Sucralose Good For You? Executive Health’s Good Health Report, Nov. 1998, Vol. 35, Issue 2, p.6.

Gain B. FDA Approves J&J Sweetener. Chemical Week, 04/15/98, Vol. 160, Issue 14, p.27. 

I hate to break it to you, but I am hard core against coffee for many, many reasons.   If you “just have to have it,” enjoy a cup of organic joe once and a while, but try to make those occasions few and far between.  As a holistic practitioner, my goal is to get you flinging out of bed full of energy in the morning, without the coffee! 

First of all, most of us have to mask the taste of coffee with cream/milk and sugar just to get it down our throats, especially if it’s not organic.  When I stopped eating dairy, my coffee consumption fell dramatically because my tastebuds just wouldn’t have it!  Thank you taste buds.  The result: consistent energy and avoidance of the caffeine blues.

If you proudly say that you don’t do drugs, but you “do” caffeine and coffee, then you are a drug addict my friend, plain and simple!  After all, caffeine is a stimulant drug that acts on the central nervous system.  Have you ever felt the effect of caffeine withdrawal?  Exactly.  Don’t think that because you drink decaf you are off the hook – I’ll deal with you later!

What does abstaining from coffee have to do with weight loss?  PLENTY!  When you drink anything containing caffeine (especially when you load your coffee with sugar) the adrenal glands are stimulated to increase adrenaline (by an average of 40%) into your blood stream, which increases your heart rate, blood pressure, nervousness, irritability, and releases your energy stores by breaking down glycogen into glucose.  This increase in blood sugar signals the release of insulin to take glucose back into the cells.  At this stage, hypoglycemia may set in, which is characterized by dizzines, light-headedness, and blood sugar so low that you’ll grab anything to bring them back up.

Odds are you will grab something sweet during this time – such as candy, a coke, a doughnut, or a white bagel, and continue the up and down cycle since these highly processed and refined products quickly dissolve into your blood stream like cotton candy in water, spiking your blood sugar and setting you up for a big fall once again.

But the problem with coffee doesn’t stop there!  Caffeine also depleats the “feel good” brain transmitter known as GABA.  GABA blocks nerve impulses in the brain, and has a calming influence.  Without it, nerve cells fire too easily and far too often.  This is yet another reason you may find yourself reaching for the snacks after having a coffee.

Caffeine is also a diuretic.  For each cup of coffee you consume, you should drink 3 cups of water to even things out.  Since we should already drink approximately 8 cups of water a day, if you add 2 cups of coffee, you’ll have to drink 14 cups of water, which you and I both know is not likely to happen!  Most people drink an average of 2 glasses of water each day!  Some people drink none at all.  I know someone who drinks about 8 diet cokes a day, and calls it water consumption…not so! 

Water is essential if you want to lose weight.  Not water in the form of coffee, diet coke or juice, but pure water.  Pure spring water has feelings.  It is alive.  Think of it like this: if you were water and someone boiled you, threw in some carbon dioxide or other toasted, roasted chemicals, would you be happy about it?  No, you’d likely be very angry water.  You are what you eat, consume, assimilate, and digest.  It’s all energy.

If your cells are in a constant state of dehydration, they will not perform efficiently.  Cell function will be slow, like a  low river pushing pebbles along its bottom.  Fill the river up, and things will move much, much faster.  You can therefore raise your metabolism by properly hydrating yourself!

Other negative effects of coffee include an increased risk of ovarian, bladder, and kidney cancers, a 50% higher risk of heart attacks, a reduction in fertility (more than one cup a day makes a woman half as likely to conceive),  a significant loss of nutrients, especially magnesium, potassium, calcium, zinc, and B vitamins (especially inositol and biotin), and an interferance with iron absorption.  Coffee also contains cadmium, a carcinogenic heavy metal that supresses the immune system and promotes growth of the prostate and growth of cancer cells.  And caffeine contains polycyclic hydrocarbons, a carcinogen that one of the most widespread organic pollutants.  A quick definition of carcinogen: anything directly involved in the promotion of cancer!

If you drink decaf coffee you should know that it could contain methylene chloride, (Dichloromethane) a toxic solvent.  Methylene chloride is metabolized by the body into carbon monoxide.  It may be carcinogenic and has been linked to cancer of the lungs, pancreas, and liver in laboratory animals, and is able to cross the placenta having direct access to unborn babies.  If you buy decaf coffee make sure that it is swiss water processed as it is a much safer method of caffeine removal. 

I admit that I have the occasional cup of organic coffee, as I often recommend if  my clients enjoy coffee, but after writing this article, I think I may just reach for a glass of filtered water instead, and I think you may do the same!