Alicia Sims-Mercado's Blog

Over 7 ½ years ago my husband and I had our 2^nd child Diego Wayne Mercado.  What a precious little bundle of joy, a new addition to our family.  But wait, something was wrong, not quite right…what was it?  Sooner than later we found out he had a genetic defect or a disorder called Menkes Syndrome, and we spent many sleepless nights in and out of the hospital until he went to Heaven a year and 3 ½ months later.

What a precious little boy, he taught us all so much and we are so grateful to have had him in our lives.  I would do it all over again in a second!  It brings tears of joy to my eyes just thinking about what a sweet little angel he was.  Despite his broken, frail little body, I will cherish forever the laughter and the smiles on his sweet face.

Wow, I have to say my husband and I have learned some very tough lessons since Diego was born.  We’ve gone through extreme financial, emotional and marital stress since then and lived to see brighter days.  It’s amazing to me how our lives have changed.  We now see life through a whole different perspective.  I guess that’s one reason why I so enjoy doing my part-time business.  As we grow our business, we help others grow their business at the same time.  It’s a business about helping others with their health and their finances all the while we’re feeding malnourished kids around the world vital nutrients that they’re missing from their diets.

It feels so good to be part of something bigger than ourselves and to make a difference in the world as opposed to just looking out for ‘me, myself and I.’  We don’t know how long we have here in this world and it can be gone in an instant.  I just pray that God continues to bless the work we put our hands to so that we can continue on this journey as I know He will.

I used to drink 1 to 2 diet drinks a day.  I wanted something with carbonation and some flavor, so I thought instead of getting the regular soft drinks, diet would be better for me.  I knew it wasn’t a great choice, but I thought it was an okay exchange for all the sugar.

Here’s what I discovered:  when you see the words diet, light or sugar free on your food or drink beware that you are going to find one or more of the following toxic substances.  They contain excitotoxins or neurotoxins that are by definition poisonous substances for your brain.  They create so much stress that the brain’s nuerons will die off from the stimulation caused from these substances. 

The following lists will help you locate quickly substances that are commonly found in your food supply:

Never purchase a product that contains: 

• aspartame, aspartate, sucralose
• cysteine, cysteic acid
• monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Additives that always contain MSG:

• Monsodium glutamate
• hydrolyzed vegetable protein; hydrolyzed protein
• hydrolyzed plant extract
• plant protein extract
• sodium caseinate
• yeast extract
• texturized protein (including TVP)
• autolyzed yeast
• hydrolyzed oat flour
• calcium caseinate
• corn oil

 Additives that frequently contain MSG:

• malt extract and malt flavoring
• bouillon
• stock
• natural flavoring seasonings
• malt flavoring
• broth flavoring
• natural beef or chicken flavoring
• spices and seasonings

Food additives that may contain MSG or excitotoxins:

• carrageenan
• enzymes
• soy protein concentrate
• soy protein isolate
• whey protein concentrate

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I want anything messing with my brain.  I need all the help I can get!  Plus, there are numerous side effects of these additives, just look it up yourself.  For me, I had headaches and never knew what to attribute it to until I cut out the diet sodas.

Okay, maybe I sound like a broken record here but it just drives me crazy how we have been tricked into thinking the food we’re eating is actually good for us.  Things like ‘All Natural Ingredients’ and ‘No Artificial Preservatives Added’ make us think we’re doing good for our bodies, but are we really?

Let’s look at a loaf of bread for instance.  The ingredients include: enriched wheat flour(wheat flour, malted barley, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin), water, high fructose corn syrup, yeast, wheat bran, vital wheat gluten butter.  Contains 2% or less of each of the following: rye meal, corn flour, molasses, rolled whole wheat, salt, dough conditioners (ammonium sulfate, sodium stearoyl lactylate), brown sugar, honey, vinegar, oatmeal, soy flour, mono and diglycerides, partially hudrogenated soybean oil.

Here is an analysis of the ingredients (Courtesy of the book Healthy Eating: For Extremely Busy People Who Don’t Have Time For It and an extremely gifted holistic doctor and my friend Dr. Chase Hayden):

• Enriched wheat flour is white flour.  The bran and the germ portion of the whole wheat, which are rich in vitamins and minerals, have been refined out.  To compensate for refining out approximately 20 nutrients, they add back 4 synthetic nutrients, niacin (vitamin B3), reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate (synthetic vitamin B1 derived from coal tar), and riboflavin (vitamin B2).  These nutrient additives are added to mostly refined and processed foods giving a false sense of nutritional value and can lead to nutritional imbalances.
• High fructose corn syrup is basically sugar derived from corn.  It is associated with blood sugar problems, depression, fatigue, B-vitamin deficiency, hyperactivity, tooth decay, periodontal disease and indigestion.
• Dough conditioners, in gneral, can cause mineral deficiencies.
• Ammonium sulfate may cause mouth ulcers, nausea, kidney and liver problems.
• Sodium stearoyl lactylate may be corn, milk, peanut or soy based, and may cause blood pressure and kidney disturbances, and water retention.
• Brown sugar is frequently white sugar with molasses added.  It is assocaited with blood sugar problems, depression, fatigue, B-vitamin deficiency, hyperactivity, tooth decay, periodontal disease and indigestion.
• Mono and diglycerides may be soy, corn, peanut or fat based.  they may cause genetic changes, cancer, birth defects, and allergic reactions.
• Partially hydrogenated soybean oil is associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis and elevated cholesterol.

So, when you see things like All Natural Ingredients and No Artificial Preservatives added to the packaging…DON’T BE FOOLED!

For more information on this subject, check out the book Food Additives: A Shopper’s Guide to What’s Safe and What’s Not and also the movie Food, Inc.  “There are more than 3000 different chemicals that are purposefully added to our food supply.  the testing for the safety of these chemical additives is generally done by the company that wants to produce the chemicals or to use the chemical additives in the foods they produce.”  Also, through my research I’ve learned that the FDA does not regulate these chemicals like they do pharmaceuticals although they have many harmful side effects.

Wow, I have been researching and talking to others about the different types of sugars and the effects it can have on the body and there is so much information out there.  Some is controversial too and it’s hard to know what information to believe and who you can trust.  Let’s start with a little history on sugar.

The discovery of sugarcane, from which sugar, as it is known today, is derived, dates back unknown thousands of years. It is thought to have originated in New Guinea, and was spread along routes to Southeast Asia and India. The process known for creating sugar, by pressing out the juice and then boiling it into crystals, was developed in India around 500 BC.  Its cultivation was not introduced into Europe until the middle-ages, when it was brought to Spain by Arabs. Columbus took the plant, dearly held, to the West Indies, where it began to thrive in a most favorable climate.

Sugar was brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus. At the time, sugar was processed by boiling the cane juice and then harvesting the crystals left behind after the water evaporated. These crystals contained protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. While they were calorie dense, they provided essential nutrients. It was not until a few centuries later that the process of refining sugars, and stripping out many of these nutrients, was perfected and sugar became a profitable industry.

It is interesting to note that raw sugar is already refined. Only evaporated cane juice is truly “raw” sugar (of the cane variety – sugars can come from other sources as well, such as beets and fruit). Once the cane juice crystals are harvested, they are washed, boiled, centrifuged, filtered, and dried. The purpose of this is to remove all of the original plant materials (stalk, fiber, etc.) to produce the pure sugar. This process removes most of the fiber and nutrients that existed in the original crystals. The sugar then becomes refined, and is now a food high in calories with little nutritional value.

Over the years, sugar has gotten a bad reputation and many people avoid it at all costs.  Now instead of reading sugar on the labels of many foods, you might see high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose, sucralose, aspartame among others.   I like what Dr. Janet Hull says in one of her articles; “Sugar is like a two-sided coin: heads – if natural, it can be useful to the body, and tails – if altered by man, it can be harmful to the body.”  Have you ever heard of someone getting fat by eating too many fruits?  I haven’t.  I think the real enemy here is the mass consumption of refined sugar as well as these sugar-like substances.  Once you start reading the labels, you’ll be astounded at the sheer quantity of products that have them in them.

 I’ve seen commercials on high fructose corn syrup touting it as something natural.  According to the SF Gate, “The body processes the fructose in high fructose corn syrup differently than it does old-fashioned cane or beet sugar, which in turn alters the way metabolic-regulating hormones function. It also forces the liver to kick more fat out into the bloodstream.  The end result is that our bodies are essentially tricked into wanting to eat more and at the same time, we are storing more fat.”  Research from universities like Princeton have confirmed these findings.

I could keep going on and on, but there is just way too much information and I don’t want to overdo it.  I just hope to keep you informed and to get you thinking.   Do your own research and educate yourself, for you and your families sake.  With everything, moderation is the key and remember if it came from the earth, eat it.  Your bodies will thank you!

If you read my previous posts on the ‘Business of the 21st Century’ you may be wondering what it is, or you’ve already figured it out.  It’s network marketing.  Wait, wait a minute…I know what you’re thinking.  Here’s many common things  I’ve heard regarding network marketing: it’s one of those pyramid schemes, it’s a scam, only if you get in on the beginning or on top can you do really well, it’s a waste of time, only certain types of people do well in those.  The list goes on, but give me a little time to explain and have an open mind please.

It seems network marketing has a bad connotation.  In everything, there’s the good, the bad and the ugly.  Unfortunately, there have been some bad and ugly companies and people in this industry that have done a disservice to the industry and to you and me.  They have blinded us to seeing the value in it and only thinking negative when hearing those words.  Now I will say that network marketing is not for everyone.  It takes someone with perserverance, someone that’s teachable and someone who has a strong desire to make changes.

With that said, let me tell you what is truly good about this industry.  Robert Kiyosaki points out 8 assets of network marketing in his book “The Business of the 21st Century.”   I would love to go through them all, but there is just too much information.  Basically, you learn on the job how to build a big business from the ground up, a ‘B’ quadrant business that is(refer to my previous posts on the quadrants).  Here are some of the assets: leadership skills, personal development-the more you work on yourself the more your business grows, the power of your own network, a fully duplicatable business, genuine wealth creation and the capacity to live out your big dreams.

“A network marketing system is set up to make it possible for anyone to share in the wealth.  This is a very democratic way of wealth creation.  The system is open to anyone who has drive, determination, and perseverance.  The system does not really care what college you went to or whether you went to one at all.  It does not care how much money you are making today, what race or sex you are, how good-looking you are, who your parents are, or how popular you are.  Most network marketing companies care primarily about how much you are willing to learn, to change and to grow, and whether you have the guts to stick it out through thick and thin while you learn to be a business owner.” 

The problem is, most people quit before they get to that point.  Kiyosaki says to give it a good 5 years just like any other business and to build it to 500+ people.  Then you have a true wealth creating asset.  However as I stated previously, “the business is not without its detractors.  And it has had its share of hucksters and flim-flam artists, unethical people trying to make a quick buck.  But by its very nature and design, network marketing is a strikingly fair, democratic, socially responsible system of generating wealth.” 

Like I said, network marketing is not for everyone.  It’s for people who want to grow both personally and financially and who want to help others in the process.  Just remember to choose wisely, your company and your leaders.  They’re your support team and you want to make sure they’re both in it for the long haul.

My friend Marla Finley has been in the health and wellness industry for over 10 years.  She is an amazing wife and mom of 2 beautiful boys, a wealth of knowledge when it comes to food and nutrition, and an incredible business women.  She has written a great blog on how to choose the right supplements for your body.  She also mentions why we need to take supplements.  I couldn’t have said it better myself and thought I would pass it along to you.  Enjoy!

Marla’s the second from the left.