by Anna Hunt, Awareness Junkie

To many people, news and research about the positive effects of superfoods are sufficient motivation to eat healthy. Yet, sometimes we need a stark reminder of the dangers of processed foods to stay on track with our diet goals.

When you go into the grocery story, an overwhelming majority of the foods sold have been altered form their natural state. Typically, this is done to make things more convenient for the consumer.

One can categorize processed foods into groups. First, there are minimally and semi-processed foods. These include frozen vegetables, fruit juice, roasted nuts, white rice, etc. These are typically very similar to natural foods and are most-often an acceptable part of a healthy diet.

The second category are ultra-processed foods. In this category, producers use chemicals, food additives, nitrates, salts, food dyes, etc. in the production of food products. Five of the most-commonly eaten foods in the U.S. are all ultra-processed: sugary soft drinks, cakes and pastries, burgers, pizza, and chips.

Below are three pieces of recent research that emphasize what might happen when your diet consists of too many of these ultra-processed and chemical-ridden foods.

by Ulonda Faye, Faye Naturales

There is a special energy that surrounds each and every one of us.  Special, in the sense, that it is an energy of our very own.  Each one of us carries a unique energetic vibration with specific codes and patterns.  We journey into the path deeper as we awaken these dormant codes and energy fields.  Knowing that everything around us is alive and filled with energy, we walk the path with great humility and respect for all.

“How do we tap into this energy?”, you may ask.  At each moment, we can connect with our greater energy field as well as with the energy field of the collective.  Most often, it happens as we set an intention to make it an important aspect of our day and life path.

Specific rituals can help us tap into and balance this energy as well.  We set the intention to flow with it and connect with it, and we create specific rituals to encourage a deepening of this process.

I start and end my day, with this very intention, along with others, and I have specific rituals for my specific soul journey.

by Anna Hunt, Awareness Junkie

The relationship between the breath and the brain is very powerful. We know that much. Yet, we’ve understood very little about the mechanics behind this relationship. Until now. In a new study, neuroscientists were able to identify exactly how breathing changes the brain.

Breathing and the Brain

Our ability to control the breath is one way we differ from other mammals. Most animals do not alter their breathing. Instead, activities such as running or resting are responsible for changes in breath patterns. Thus, human capacity to alter our breath volitionally, in addition to our ability to suppress thoughts and control emotions, makes our brain unique.

This extraordinary ability regarding breathing is the foundation for therapies that focus on and regulate the breath. For example, a common technique used during Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is square breathing. This method involves slowing and pausing the breath. Consequently, this exercise helps patient suffering from anxiety to relax.

by Dr. Mercola

• Sugar has become a daily habit in the past 100 years, during which rates of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and other chronic illnesses have skyrocketed
• Recent research demonstrates cancer cells use sugar as their primary fuel and are functionally starved when sugar is withheld, upholding previous research by German biochemist, Otto Warburg
• The metabolic theory of cancer holds sugar damages mitochondrial function and energy production, triggering cell mutations that are then fed by ongoing sugar consumption
• Your healthiest choice is to avoid or eliminate refined sugar from your diet by eating whole, organic foods, and carefully reading labels of any packaged foods you buy

Refined sugar was not consumed on a daily basis until the past 100 years. Before that, it was a treat afforded only by the very rich as sugar cane was a difficult crop to grow. In the past 100 years, rates of obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and numerous other chronic diseases have skyrocketed.

by Mae Chan, PreventDisease.com

Researchers have developed a device that can switch cell function to rescue failing body functions with a single touch. The technology, known as Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), injects genetic code into skin cells, turning those skin cells into other types of cells required for treating diseased conditions.

Although cellular therapies represent a promising strategy for a number of conditions, current approaches have faced major translational hurdles, including limited cell sources and the need for cumbersome pre-processing steps.

A new device developed at The Ohio State University can start healing organs in a "fraction of a second," researchers say.

The technology has the potential to save the lives of car crash victims and even deployed soldiers injured on site. It's a dime-sized silicone chip that "injects genetic code into skin cells, turning those skin cells into other types of cells required for treating diseased conditions," according to a release.

In the study published in Nature Nanotechnology, first author Daniel Gallego-Perez of Ohio State demonstrated that the technique worked with up to 98 percent efficiently.