The Truth About Eating Broccoli #1

Stop eating broccoli you will discover the truth that cruciferous vegetables are a major cause of obesity, cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses.

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Did you know that BV's (brassica vegetables) can cause stunted body growth in

children? That BV's exert a strong and harmful feminizing effect on the body that is bad for

both men and women? And that BV's inhibit testosterone and slow down the thyroid,

causing a host of health problems?

Solid new evidence is emerging, showing that BV's are a major cause of obesity. the regular consumption of BV's affects the thyroid. This in turn

affects the adrenal glands. And this in turn prevents weight loss. In the USA alone it is

estimated that there are more than 50 million people with thyroid-based weight problems.

What about cancer? A big myth in the food industry is that BV's fight cancer. In fact, as you

will discover in the following pages, brassica vegetables actually cause cancer.

BV's inhibit testosterone; all the latest research shows that this significantly increases

the risk of cancer in men and women. BV's increase the level of estradiol in the

blood and this in turn feeds cancer, like throwing fuel on a fire.

• Hypothyroidism

According to the American Thyroid Association, hypothyroidism is usually caused by the

immune system going awry and attacking the thyroid. Other causes include inappropriate

medications, the genes you inherit, viral infections, faulty pituitary glands, and insufficient

dietary iodine. Various blood tests can be done to diagnose definitely whether or not you

have hypothyroidism. The consumption of brassica vegetables is not known to cause

hypothyroidism unless consumed in very substantial amounts.

The usual treatment for hypothyroidism is to administer thyroid-related medication and/or

iodine supplementation under medical supervision.

• Underactive Thyroid

An underactive thyroid occurs when the thyroid slows down (performs under par) as a result

of receiving goitrogens from the diet. Goitrogens are high in brassica vegetables, but are

also high in certain other foods such as soy and millet. If you are medically diagnosed with

hypothyroidism, doctors will usually advise you to avoid goitrogenic foods, among other

things. An on-going underactive thyroid can be mild and virtually undetectable in any blood

tests, yet still cause serious health problems. Equally, an underactive thyroid can be severe

and be detected in blood tests, yet not amount to full-blown hypothyroidism.

The usual treatment for an underactive thyroid (as defined in the previous paragraph) is to

give up brassica vegetables, i.e. to reduce consumption of goitrogens in the food you eat. As

explained later in the book, in the case of an underactive thyroid, you cannot treat the

condition with iodine supplements because goitrogens prevent the thyroid from accepting

iodine. So however good the diet with respect to iodine, if you consume BV's the thyroid will

continue to suffer.

• Is Broccoli Nutritious?

There are over thirty types of BV's (brassica vegetables) but most people only eat a fraction

of these on a regular basis, namely cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Of

these cabbage and broccoli are consumed the most (source: Statista.com).

Out of these four vegetables, broccoli is highly (albeit mistakenly) regarded as being the

most nutritious and beneficial. But to be clear all brassica vegetables should be avoided.

• Is Broccoli Healthy?

Broccoli is said to provide special cholesterol-lowering benefits by binding to bile acids in the

digestive tract. The theory is that such bile acids are then excreted, thus lowering

cholesterol. The evidence for this is scarce, but ironically if broccoli does indeed lower

cholesterol this goes against your good health.

A widespread myth of our age is that cholesterol is bad for health and that you should keep

cholesterol low in both your food and in your body. This is nonsense; all the latest research

shows that we need a high level of cholesterol in the body for optimum health.

There is indeed a relationship between the level of cholesterol in the blood and the risk of

heart disease. But this relationship is the opposite to what you may think.

Here's the truth:

The higher the level of blood cholesterol, the lower the risk of heart disease

The lower the level of blood cholesterol, the higher the risk of heart disease

Clogged arteries are not caused by high blood cholesterol. Clogged arteries are formed by

damaged LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) particles (among other things). LDL is the 'wrapper' and inside the wrapper there is cholesterol. LDL carries cholesterol to where it is needed in the body. The evidence that we need plenty of cholesterol is now overwhelming. 

"The body uses cholesterol to help build cell membranes, the covering of nerve sheaths, and it makes up much of the brain. It’s a key building block for our hormone production, and

without it you would not be able to maintain adequate levels of testosterone, estrogen,

progesterone and cortisol". 

Source: Mark Hyman, MD, Why Cholesterol May Not Be the

Cause Of Heart Disease.

"Cholesterol is a desperately important brain nutrient and is critical for the function of brain

neurons. It acts as a brain antioxidant and also a precursor to important brain supportive

elements like vitamin D, as well as the steroid hormones. Most importantly, cholesterol

serves as an important fuel for neurons. Neurons themselves are unable to generate

significant cholesterol and rely upon delivery of cholesterol from the blood stream". 

Source:

Dr. David Perlmutter, MD, Grain Brain, Little Brown and Company, USA, 2013.

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When the LDL wrapper is damaged (by free radicals) it gets waylaid into arteries and

becomes stuck to artery walls; this is how LDL contributes to clogged arteries. The

cholesterol inside the LDL wrapper 'unwittingly' gets caught up in arterial plaque by virtue of

being inside damaged LDL particles. So cholesterol is an innocent party with regard to

clogged arteries and heart disease.

The question is: what causes LDL particles to become damaged, and hence waylaid into arterial plaque? 

The answer in fact is quite simple:

Processed carbohydrates and/or stress cause glucose spikes in the blood. The glucose spikes

cause LDL cholesterol to become damaged and oxidized. And the damaged/oxidized LDL

cholesterol accumulates in arteries to cause arterial plaque.

Note: processed carbs (as opposed to real, natural food) include sugar, pastries, bread,

waffles, chocolate, sweets, ice-cream, bagels (you get the picture). 

Stress becomes harmful when it is sufficiently severe to make you breathless and/or sweaty, however little.

Harmful stress has a direct impact on the body, causing LDL particles to become oxidized and damaged, thus contributing to arterial plaque.

How exactly does a glucose spike in the blood (as a result of eating processed carbs) cause

clogged arteries? Technically what happens is that when blood glucose goes up, some of

those glucose molecules stick to protein molecules without the involvement of an enzyme

(referred to as glycation). 

This damages the protein molecules by making them unrecognisable to the brain and other body organs.

"Glycation is the bonding of a protein or lipid molecule with a sugar molecule, such as

fructose or glucose, without the controlling action of an enzyme" (Wikipedia).

Glycation causes a cascade of free radicals in the blood stream. These free radicals bump

into LDL particles in the bloodstream causing them to become damaged. Once LDL is

damaged, the LDL package with its cholesterol is doomed. 

Oxidative stress (oxidation) will eventually set in. What happens is that highly oxidizing side-products (as a result of glycation) will starve the LDL package of oxygen by breaking down its tissue, hence the term 'oxidative stress'. 

The damaged LDL continues cruising the arteries until sticking to any slight imperfection, point of inflammation or even a sharp bend in an artery or vein.

Coming back to broccoli, the point here is that if this nefarious vegetable robs your body of

cholesterol (as is widely claimed), this is in fact is bad for health.

To summarize this point, the amount of cholesterol in the blood has no impact on clogged

arteries; in fact the higher the level of cholesterol in the blood the better for health. What counts is the amount of LDL particles that become damaged by free radicals. The main cause of free radicals comes from the diet, i.e. from the consumption of processed carbs.

Cholesterol in the body is never harmful, under any circumstances. But when the LDL

carrying the cholesterol becomes damaged and oxidized, the LDL gets caught up in plaque

formation. 

At this point the cholesterol is still intact inside the damaged LDL. So the cholesterol gets taken into arterial plaque by virtue of being inside the damaged LDL (not because the cholesterol itself has somehow gone rogue).

This is why so important: As the plaque builds up over time, the cholesterol inside the plaque becomes hardened or 'crystallizes' with age. This crystallized cholesterol can eventually make the plaque break off from the arterial wall and become stuck in a smaller artery or vein, thus blocking blood flow (known as a heart attack or stroke). So although the hardened cholesterol may be blamed somewhat for the plaque breaking away from the arterial wall, such cholesterol cannot be blamed for the presence and build up of plaque.

Eating broccoli will not detoxify anything. If you feel your body is full of junk and that you

need a good 'spring clean', you should avoid junk food, smoking, drinking, drugs, and

environmental pollutants. In other words, you should avoid junk food and toxic substances

and let your body take its natural course to clean you out. You clean out your body by what

you avoid, not by eating some particular food, and certainly not by following some

particular kind of 'detox diet'.

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• Brassica Vegetables to Avoid

You should avoid consuming all types of brassica vegetables, period. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that an occasional small amount can do no harm. When you eat BV's you feed harmful goitrogens into your thyroid, however little. This makes the thyroid perform underpar even though full blown hypothyroidism may not set in.

Note: what follows is not a complete list of all known brassica vegetables but it represents

those most commonly consumed throughout the world. Clearly, the amount of goitrogens

and antinutrients will vary from item to item.

As mentioned, the sprouted seeds of these brassica vegetables are fine to eat, provided

they are consumed sparingly (because they will contain a low level of goitrogenic glucosinolates) and so long as they are harvested (cut from their roots) at less than three weeks growth. The sprouted seeds of non-brassica vegetables are generally a better choice.

To summarize, you have a wide choice of plant-based foods that exclude BV's. Consider the

following:

1. * Any kinds of fruit, both sweet and culinary.
2. * Great variety of many types of nuts and seeds.
3. * A wide range of sprouted seeds and baby shoots under 3 weeks growth.
4. * Many kinds of herbs, edible leaves, beans, vegetables and legumes that are non-brassica.

If you are perfectly healthy and slim, a resilient body quickly recovers from the occasional

consumption of small amounts of BV's and an underactive thyroid will not come about.

But if you are not slim and not perfectly healthy (who is?), the body will not recover so quickly from such consumption. So regardless of your state of health you are urged to simply avoid all brassica vegetables and enjoy a very wide choice of non-brassica plant-based food.

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