Day 58

Thoughts: My sister commented that I have smaller boobs now. I have noticed this too. And it's because I am eating foods with no hormones. There are articles about hormones in food causing early puberty. I developed faster than my mother, who developed faster than her mother, and my younger sister developed faster than all of us. There are more hormones in our foods today then there was 50 years ago.

-History of hormone use in food production

As early as the 1930s, it was realized that cows injected with material drawn from bovine (cow) pituitary glands (hormone secreting organ) produced more milk. Later, the bovine growth hormone (bGH) from the pituitary glands was found to be responsible for this effect. However, at that time, technology did not exist to harvest enough of this material for large-scale use in animals. In the 1980s, it became possible to produce large quantities of pure bGH by using recombinant DNA technology. In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rbGH), also known as bovine somatotropin (rbST) for use in dairy cattle. Recent estimates by the manufacturer of this hormone indicate that 30% of the cows in the United States (US) may be treated with rbGH.

The female sex hormone estrogen was also shown to affect growth rates in cattle and poultry in the 1930s. Once the chemistry of estrogen was understood, it became possible to make the hormone synthetically in large amounts. Synthetic estrogens started being used to increase the size of cattle and chickens in the early 1950s. DES was one of the first synthetic estrogens made and used commercially in the US to fatten chickens. DES was also used as a drug in human medicine. DES was found to cause cancer and its use in food production was phased out in the late 1970s.

-What are the different hormones used now by the meat and dairy industries?

There are six different kinds of steroid hormones that are currently approved by FDA for use in food production in the US: estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate, and melengestrol acetate. Estradiol and progesterone are natural female sex hormones; testosterone is the natural male sex hormone; zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengesterol acetate are synthetic growth promoters (hormone-like chemicals that can make animals grow faster). Currently, federal regulations allow these hormones to be used on growing cattle and sheep, but not on poultry (chickens, turkeys, ducks) or hogs (pigs). The above hormones are not as useful in increasing weight gain of poultry or hogs.

-Can steroid hormones in meat affect the age of puberty for girls?

Early puberty in girls has been found to be associated with a higher risk for breast cancer. Height, weight, diet, exercise, and family history have all been found to influence age of puberty. Steroid hormones in food were suspected to cause early puberty in girls in some reports. However, exposure to higher than natural levels of steroid hormones through hormone-treated meat or poultry has never been documented.

A concern about an increase in cases of girls reaching puberty or menarche early (at age eight or younger) in Puerto Rico, led to an investigation in the early 1980s by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Samples of meat and chicken from Puerto Rico were tested for steroid hormone residues. One laboratory found a chicken sample from a local market to have higher than normal level of estrogen. Also, residues of zeranol were reported in the blood of some of the girls who had reached puberty early. However, these results could not be verified by other laboratories. Following CDC's investigation, USDA tested 150 to 200 beef, poultry and milk samples from Puerto Rico in 1985, and found no residues of DES, zeranol or estrogen in these samples.

In another study in Italy, steroid hormone residues in beef and poultry in school meals were suspected as the cause of breast enlargement in very young girls and boys.

http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/Factsheet/Diet/fs37.hormones.cfm

Challenges: Society has us think that we need to eat 3 meals a day and snacks in between. I sometimes forget and get caught up in this. And this is not true. If we listen to our bodies, and get connected we will know exactly what to eat and when to eat. And we believe it. We eat too much. We consume too much. The food companies are making billions.

Triumphs: Remembering this.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Green tea leaves with Ginger and lemon. A cup of water and lemon. Oats.

Lunch:Lunch: 4 nectarines and a beetroot, Ginger, carrot celery and pineapple juice

Dinner:Dinner: Prawns in olive oil with garlic and chilli. Salad with green and purple lettuce, spinach, advocado and olive oil with lemon chilli and chia seeds. Potatoes cut as chips and cooked on the BBQ. MMMM love a BBQ!

Dessert: Chocolate balls

Snacks: walnuts and macadamia nuts

Recipe: Soak prawns in olive oil, chopped garlic and chilli. You can also cut up apple and even juice some apple into the suace to make it a sweet chilli dish. Grill on the BBQ.

Exercise: 12 km bike ride with the best ocean view and a swim at the beach and jumping off the jetty ;)

307 Days To Go!!!