12 American Foods that are Banned in Other Countries*

12 American Foods that are Banned in Other Countries*

By Amy Goodrich

Americans are slowly waking up to the sad fact that their food supply is packed with hazardous and toxic compounds. 

Many of the American foods you may be eating on a daily basis are banned in other countries because they contain compounds that are known to cause inflammation, growth defects and cancer.

For some reason the U.S. government and FDA allows these toxic foods to end up in our supermarkets while other countries have taken them off the shelves.

1. Pink Slime

Pink slime is a name used for processed low-grade beef trimmings and meat by-products. They use ammonium hydroxide in their processing, which is banned in many other countries outside the US.

This pink slime is often added to processed foods. Products can contain up to 15% without additional labelling.

Banned in: Canada, U.K., and E.U.

2. Farm-Raised Salmon

   Farm raised salmons are fed with an unnatural diet of GMO grains and dangerous chemicals such as synthetic astaxanthin (derived from petrochemical) and antibiotics.

   It causes their flesh to become grey-ish instead of the pink-red of wild salmon. Avoid all Atlantic salmon as these are mostly coming from fish farms.

   Look for the “Alaskan salmon” and “sockeye salmon, both not allowed to be farmed.

   Banned in: Australia and New Zealand

3. Hormone-infused Beef and Dairy

Many of the American cows are fed synthetic hormones to increase meat or milk production. These hormones (rBGH and rBST) end up in the meat and dairy products we consume.

Non-organic meat or dairy has been linked to breast, colon, and prostate cancers.

Banned in: Australia, New Zealand, Israel, E.U., and Canada.

4. Genetically Modified Papaya

   Many of the papayas Americans eat are genetically engineered to be resistant to the ringspot virus.

   Studies show that animals fed GMO food, such as corn and soy, have an increased risk of organ damage, tumours, birth defects, premature death, and sterility.

   Banned in: E.U.

5. Bread With Potassium Bromate

   Commercial baking companies enrich their flour with potassium bromate to reduce the baking time and make the dough more elastic.

   Too much potassium bromate can cause kidney and nerve damage, thyroid issues, digestive disorders, and cancer.

   Banned in: Canada, China and the E.U.

6. Ractopamine-Tained Meat

   Ractopamine is a growth stimulator widely used in the U.S. to increase the weight of pigs, cattle, and turkey. It has been linked to cardiovascular issues, birth defects, and hyperactivity.

   Banned in: 160 countries across Europe, Russia, China, and Taiwan

7. Arsenic-Laced Chicken

   Arsenic-based drugs are used to make the chickens grow faster and it makes their meat pinker which gives it a fresher look. Inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen.

   Banned in: E.U.

8. Drinks With Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)

   Mountain dew and a few other citrus-flavoured sports drinks are emulsified with brominated vegetable oil (BVO).

   Its main compound is bromine, which is used as a flame retardant. Too much bromine can lead to iodine deficiency, skin rashes, acne, fatigue, and cardiovascular problems.

   Banned: E.U. and Japan

9. Preservative BHA and BHT

   Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are often used as a preservative in cereals, nut mixes, meat, beer, butter, and gum. It has been linked to certain allergies and may cause cancer.

   Banned in: infant food in the U.K., parts of the E.U., and Japan.

10. Bleached Flour

    Azodicarbonamide is often used by U.S. food companies to bleach flour quicker. This chemical, also found in shoe soles, has been linked to asthma and some types of cancer.

    Banned in: Singapore.

11. Processed Foods With Artificial Food Colors

    Some of the food flavourings, additives, colours, and preservatives used in the U.S. are banned in other counties because they are made from coal tar and petroleum.

    These include red 40 and yellow 5 which can cause hyperactivity, brain and nerve damage, birth defects, allergies, and cancer.

    Banned: Norway in, Austria and most of the E.U.

12.  Olestra/Olean

    Olestra, aka Olean, is a substitute for fat in fat free products. It depletes essential vitamins and can cause anal leakages.

    Banned in: U.K., Canada and many other countries around the world.

    Always make sure to read food labels and eliminate all processed food out of your diet to avoid all these harmful chemicals. Opt for a healthy fresh, whole food diet instead.

Source*

Related Topics:

Here’s Why Most of the Meat Americans Eat is Banned in Other Industrialized Countries*

Brazil Has Now Refused All Imports of U.S. Grown GMO Crops*

How the U.S. Blocked the E.U. Ban on Animal Testing in Cosmetics*

Nestlé Removes GMOs from South African Baby Foods not U.S. Baby Foods*

Russia Sanctions Food from the West*

The GM Ban List is Getting Longer!

Worried About Your Cucumbers!

You Don’t Wanna Eat This Chicken!

China Bans American Shellfish over High Levels of Arsenic*

Fifth US Corn Cargo Rejected by China*

Accusations, Trade, Politics and E. Coli

 

Here’s Why Most of the Meat Americans Eat is Banned in Other Industrialized Countries*

Here’s Why Most of the Meat Americans Eat is Banned in Other Industrialized Countries*

By Martha Rosenberg

Recently, Organic Consumers Association, along with Friends of the Earth and Center for Food Safety filed suit against chicken giant Sanderson Farms for falsely marketing its products as “100% Natural” even though they contain many unnatural and even prohibited substances.

Specifically, Sanderson chicken products tested positive for the antibiotic chloramphenical, banned in food animals, and amoxicillin, not approved for use in poultry production. Sanderson Farms products also tested positive for residues of steroids, hormones, anti-inflammatory drugs—even ketamine, a drug with hallucinogenic effects.

This is far from the first time unlabeled human drugs have been found in U.S. meat. The New York Times reported that most chicken feather-meal samples examined in one study contained Tylenol, one-third contained the antihistamine Benadryl, and samples from China actually contained Prozac. The FDA has caught hatcheries injecting antibiotics directly into chicken eggs. Tyson Foods was caught injecting eggs with the dangerous human antibiotic gentamicin.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has reported the presence of the potentially dangerous herbs fo ti, lobelia, kava kava and black cohosh in the U.S. food supply as well as strong the antihistamine hydroxyzine. Most of the ingredients are from suppliers in China.

“Animal Pharma” still mostly under the radar

Many people have heard of Elanco, Eli Lilly’s animal drug division, and Bayer HealthCare Animal Health. But most big Pharma companies, including Pfizer, Merck, Boehringer Ingolheim, Sanofi and Novartis operate similar lucrative animal divisions. Unlike “people” Pharma, Animal Pharma largely exists under the public’s radar: drug ads do not appear on TV nor do safety or marketing scandals reach Capitol Hill.

Still, conflicts of interest abound. “No regulation currently exists that would prevent or restrict a veterinarian from owning their own animals and/or feed mill,” says the Center for Food Safety. “If a licensed veterinarian also owns a licensed medicated feed mill, they stand to profit by diagnosing a flock or herd and prescribing their own medicated feed blend.”

Because the activities of Animal Pharma are so underreported, few Americans realize that most of the meat they eat is banned in other industrialized countries. One example is ractopamine, a controversial growth-promoting asthma-like drug marketed as Optaflexx for cattle, Paylean for pigs, and Topmax for turkeys and banned in the European Union, China and more than 100 other countries. Also used in U.S. meat production is Zilmax, a Merck drug similar to ractopamine that the FDA linked to 285 cattle deaths during six years of administration. Seventy-five animals lost hooves, 94 developed pneumonia and 41 developed bloat in just two years, Reuters reported.

The European Union boycotts the U.S.’s hormone-grown beef. The routinely used synthetic hormones zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengestrol acetate pose “increased risks of breast cancer and prostate cancer,” says the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures.

“Consumption of beef derived from Zeranol-implanted cattle may be a risk factor for breast cancer,” according to an article in the journal Anticancer Research.

The European Union has also traditionally boycotted U.S. chickens because they are dipped in chlorine baths. In the U.S. it’s perfectly legal to ‘wash’ butchered chicken in strongly chlorinated water, according to a report in the Guardian:

These practices aren’t allowed in the EU, and the dominant European view has been that, far from reducing contamination, they could increase it because dirty abattoirs with sloppy standards would rely on it [chlorine] as a decontaminant rather than making sure their basic hygiene protocols were up to scratch.

Other germ-killing or germ-retarding chemicals routinely used in U.S. food production include nitrites and nitrates in processed meat (declared carcinogens by the World Health Organization in 2016), the parasiticide formalin legally used in shrimp production, and carbon monoxide to keep meat looking red in the grocery store no matter how old it really is. Many thought public revulsion at the ammonia puffs used to discourage E. Coli growth in the notorious beef-derived “pink slime” in 2012 forced the product into retirement. But the manufacturer is fighting back aggressively.

Antibiotics—the least of the unlabeled animal drugs

According to the Center for Food Safety, Animal Pharma uses more than 450 animal drugs, drug combinations and other feed additives “to promote growth of the animals and to suppress the negative effects that heavily-concentrated confinement has on farm animals.”

The revelations about Sanderson Farms should come as no surprise given that despite new antibiotic regulations rolled out in 2013, and even more recently, antibiotic use in farm operations is on the rise. Sanderson Farms revelations are no surprise.

Last year I asked Senior Staff Scientist at Consumers Union Michael Hansen how the 2013 FDA guidance asking Pharma to voluntarily restrict livestock antibiotics by changing the approved uses language on labels was working out. Dr. Hansen told me “growth production” had been removed from labels but the drugs are still routinely used for the new indication of “disease prevention.”

After the guidance was published, a Reuters investigation found Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms, George’s and Koch Foods using antibiotics “more pervasively than regulators realize.” Pilgrim’s Pride’s feed mill records show the antibiotics bacitracin and monensin are added “to every ration fed to a flock grown early this year.” (Pilgrim’s Pride threatened legal action against Reuters for its finding.) Also caught red-handed using antibiotics, despite denying it on their website, was Koch Foods, a supplier to Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. Koch’s Chief Finanical Officer, Mark Kaminsky, reportedly said that he regretted the wording on the website.

But antibiotics are the least of the unlabeled drugs and chemicals lurking in meat. According to the Associated Press, U.S. chickens continue to be fed with inorganic arsenic to produce quicker weight gain with less food (the same reason antibiotics are given) despite some public outcry a few years ago. Arsenic is also given to turkeys, hogs and chickens for enhanced colour. Such use

“contribute[s] to arsenic exposure in the U.S. population,” says according to research in Environmental Health Perspectives.

The appealing pink colour of farmed salmon is also achieved with the chemicals astaxanthin and canthaxanthin. In the wild, salmon eat crustaceans and algae which make them pink; on farms they are an unappetizing and unmarketable gray.

There are legitimate reasons to use drugs, primarily to treat disease. Cattle host stomach-churning liver flukes, eyeworms, lungworms, stomach worms, thin-necked intestinal worms and whipworms, all of which are treated with parasiticides. Turkeys suffer from aspergillosis (brooder pneumonia), avian influenza, avian leucosis, histomoniasis, coccidiosis, coronavirus, erysipelas, typhoid, fowl cholera, mites, lice, herpes, clostridial dermatitis, cellulitis and more for which they are also treated with unlabeled drugs. (The Federal Register says the anti-coccidial drug halofuginone used in turkeys “is toxic to fish and aquatic life” and “an irritant to eyes and skin.” Users should take care to “Keep [it] out of lakes, ponds, and streams.”) The endocrine disrupter Bisphenol A (BPA) has even been found in fresh turkey meat.

Food animals are also routinely given antifungal drugs and vaccines. Porcine epidemic diarrhea, which killed millions of animals in recent years, is treated with a vaccine. And a vaccine for the flock-killing bird flu is in the works. In fact, Big Food is working with Big Pharma to replace the widely assailed antibiotics with vaccines.

Drug use in food animals will get worse, not better

There are two reasons drug residues in food animals will soon grow worse, not better. In exchange for China agreeing to accept U.S. beef after a long hiatus, the U.S. agreed to import cooked chickens from China. China’s food safety record is abysmal, including rat meat sold as lamb, gutter oil sold as cooking oil, baby formula contaminated with melamine and frequent bird flu epidemics. Globalization dangers already exist with seafood, most of which comes from countries that use chemicals and drugs banned in the U.S.

The second reason is the U.S. meat industry’s increasing move toward privatization and corporate self-policing—phasing out U.S. meat inspectors in favor of the “honor system.” USDA’s “New Poultry Inspection System” (NPIS) shamelessly allows poultry producers to switch to a voluntary program that allows for non-government poultry inspections. Such privatization deals are the wave of the future as federal meat inspectors are ignored and phased out by the government.

After all, we are living with an administration that sees regulations as nothing more than an impediment to Big Ag’s cheap meat agenda.

Source*

Related Topics:

Artificial Meat Warning*

Study Finds Clear Differences between Organic and non-Organic Milk and Meat*

Investors Demand that McDonald’s Ban Antibiotics in its Meat*

Denmark bans Kosher and Halal Meat*

Organic Food and Meat Shortages Hit a Morally Unstable Drought-Ridden America*

Poisoned Meat Returned to Where it Comes from – the U.S!

It’s Time to Get Real About Halal/Kosher Meat!

Meat By Any Means

 

Starbucks, Caffè Nero, Costa Coffee Caught Selling Drinks Infected With Faecal Bacteria*

Starbucks, Caffè Nero, Costa Coffee Caught Selling Drinks Infected With Faecal Bacteria*

Drinks sold by U.K.’s top three coffee chains — Starbucks, Caffe Nero, and Costa Coffee — contain traces of faecal coliform bacteria, an undercover investigation by BBC has revealed.

Faecal coliforms, which contain several disease-causing pathogens, can cause ear infections, dysentery, typhoid fever, viral and bacterial gastroenteritis, and hepatitis A. E. coli is a type of fecal coliform bacteria commonly found in the intestines of animals and humans.

Seven out of 10 ice samples at Costa Coffee were found to be contaminated with bacteria found in feces. Starbucks and Caffè Nero tested positive for fecal coliforms in three out of 10 ice samples. The presence of faecal coliform bacteria in ice is a strong indication of sewage or animal waste contamination.

Rob Kingsley, an expert in food-borne pathogens and a research leader at Quadram Institute Bioscience, told The Guardian the findings were alarming:

“Coliforms are an indicator of faecal contamination which means that essentially anything which is in faeces could be in that ice, meaning other, more dangerous bacteria could be present.

“It is an indicator that somewhere there has been some kind of breakdown in hygiene or the source of the water used for this ice. I would certainly think twice about eating something which may contain faecal contamination at that level, where it is detectable.”

Tony Lewis, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, told the BBC’s consumer-affairs “Watchdog” program the results are concerning:

“The level of contamination of faecal bacteria concerns me a great deal. The bacteria found are opportunistic pathogens — the source of human disease. These should not be present at any level — never mind the significant numbers found.”

A “disappointed” Costa Coffee reviewed its food safety procedures, updated its ice-handling guidelines, and is in the process of introducing new ice equipment storage.

Starbucks is conducting its own investigation into the claims saying the coffee chain takes hygiene “extremely seriously” and “nothing is more important than customer safety“.

A Caffè Nero spokesman asserted “a thorough investigation is now under way and the appropriate action will be taken”.

Margarita Gomez Escalada, a microbiologist and senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University who carried out the analysis for the BBC program, admitted that other pathogens might also have been present in the ice samples, but would not have been picked up in the analysis:

“It was most likely that ice was contaminated by being touched by unclean hands, but ice machines and ice buckets might have compounded the issue if they were not properly cleaned. The fact that we have found so many bacteria, it just increases the risk [of getting sick].

“Some of the bacteria we identified were actually what we call opportunistic pathogens, which are bacteria that to healthy people do not often cause disease, but they cause disease to people [whose] immunity is reduced.”

Should you think twice before you order a chilled drink at these award-winning coffee chains? Lewis says no:

“The public should not give up their iced coffees. It is not something to panic over. The companies take hygiene seriously and have taken action, and environmental health had been notified. The public should be reassured, this will have been dealt with.”

Source*

Related Topics:

Pepsi by Law Can Keep Adding Carcinogens to Your Soda*

Your Body Cries Out for Water*

Bacteria Resistant To ALL Antibiotics Now In the U.K.*

When Man Thinks He’s God, he Releases GMO Cholera Bacteria into our Environment*

Is Your Stomach Reproducing GMO Bacteria?

The Silver That Destroys 650 Different Pathogens and Heals Inflammation In 72 Hours*

Gluten is not The Real Reason Wheat is Toxic*

Pacific Islands Just Banned Western Junk Food to Promote Health*

Pesticide Residues Detected in Almost all European Foods*

Quaker Oats Sued Over Glyphosate Found in ‘All Natural’ Foods*

Canada’s New Food Labels won’t Include GMO Info.*

Artificial Meat Warning*

Artificial Meat Warning*

By Mike Adams

Artificial meat is positioned as “saving the planet” but it’s almost all made from the very same GMOs and toxic herbicides and pesticides that are killing the planet.

While I’m a strong opponent of the cruel and inhumane treatment of animals in CAFOs and confined meat factories, the greenwashing of the artificial meat propagandists needs to be exposed, too.

Every artificial meat project I’ve seen so far is steeped in chemical agriculture, non-organic ingredients and toxic herbicides like glyphosate. Why won’t anybody make artificial meat with organic ingredients?

To explore all this, I’ve put together a mini-documentary video that everyone needs to see, including vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters. This video is a rational exploration of the artificial meat industry and why it utterly fails to produce clean food or a clean environment. Right now, locally raised, free-range beef is more ecologically sound than the chemical-based artificial meat ingredients being grown with GMOs.

If any company out there is interested in producing organic artificial meat without MSG and other toxins, and without GMOs or herbicides, definitely contact me because we would love to learn about your project and potentially support it, including lab science support. Until that day comes, everything I’ve seen so far from the artificial meat industry is nothing but greenwashing and deception.

Source*

Related Topics:

Study Finds Clear Differences between Organic and non-Organic Milk and Meat*

Investors Demand that McDonald’s Ban Antibiotics in its Meat*

Denmark Bans Denmark bans Kosher and Halal Meat*

Poisoned Meat Returned to Where it Comes from – the U.S!

It’s Time to Get Real About Halal/Kosher Meat!

Meat By Any Means

Cloned Cattle Entering the E.U.*

Biotech’s Dark Promise of Involuntary Cannibalism for All*

U.K. Gov’t Teams up with Mosques to Produce Healthy Eating Guide*

The U.K. Gov’t Teams up with Mosques to Produce Healthy Eating Guide*

The government is teaming up with mosques in the U.K. to promote a healthy lifestyle throughout communities.

Islam considers health to be one of the greatest blessings provided by God. Prophet Muhammad said,

“There are two blessings which many people do not appreciate: health and leisure”.

Preservation of health is essential in making the most of our lives and this requires us to make healthy choices and decisions.

Historically places of worship were at the heart of the community; they were a centre for prayer, a meeting place, an educational institute, a place of social activities and a place of rest. Even today, mosques play an important role as they bring people together and can provide a great way to share important health information with the community that can help people live healthier and prevent disease.

Many prominent health problems that are seen today are easy to prevent by a simple change in behaviour. These changes can include eating in moderation, stopping smoking, and increasing physical activity. As such, it is important for mosques and Islamic centres to inculcate ways and promote methods of minding health and looking out for any problems.

It is with a realisation of this obligation that Public Health England have teamed up with Birmingham City Council and KIKIT Pathways to Recovery to produce ‘A Guide to Healthy Living: Mosques’

This document consists of consistently arising health problems that need to be tackled and also cites examples of ways in which mosques and Islamic institutions are aiming to eradicate these health problems.

During the month of Ramadhan for example, The KSIMC of Birmingham encouraged congregants to bring in salads from home to be shared communally when opening the fast. This initiative proved so popular that it led to an informal competition for the best salad of the month. This encouraged everyone to participate through swapping recipes and promoted an ethos of sharing and engaging the community about what they are eating and making healthier food choices.

Along with obesity, the guide tackles issues such as later life, cancer, and mental well-being. The full guide is available here.

Source*

Related Topics:

Inner Dimensions of Ramadhan Fasting*

Slow Ramadhan Foods: Health Benefits of Yoghurt

25,000 Free Ramadhan Meals for Syrians Chechen Leader Promises*

Regular Fasting Increases a Longer Healthier Life*

No Increase in Preterm Delivery With Ramadhan Fasting

Slow Digesting Foods and Ramadhan

Ramadan and Healthy Eating

 

Inner Dimensions of Ramadhan Fasting*

Inner Dimensions of Ramadhan Fasting*

By Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

It should be known that there are three grades of Ramadhan Fasting: ordinary, special and extra special.

Ordinary Fasting means abstaining from food, drink and sexual satisfaction.

Special Fasting means keeping one’s ears, eyes, tongue, hands and feet – and all other organs – free from sin.

Extra special Fasting means fasting of the heart from unworthy concerns and worldly thoughts, in total disregard of everything but God, Great and Glorious is He. This kind of Fast is broken by thinking of worldly matters, except for those conducive to religious ends, since these constitute provision for the Hereafter and are not of this lower world. Those versed in the spiritual life of the heart have even said that a sin is recorded against one who concerns himself all day with arrangements for breaking his Fast. Such anxiety stems from lack of trust in the bounty of God, Great and Glorious is He, and from lack of certain faith in His promised sustenance.

To this third degree belong the Prophets, the true Auliya and the intimates of God. It does not lend itself to detailed examination in words, as its true nature is better revealed in action. It consists in utmost dedication to God, Great and Glorious is He, to the neglect of everything other than God, Great and Glorious is He. It is bound up with the significance of His words: ‘Say: “Allah (sent it down)”: then leave them to play in their vain discussions.’ [al-An’am, 6:91]

Inward Requirements for Ramadhan Fasting

As for Special Fasting, this is the kind practiced by the righteous. It means keeping all one’s organs free from sin and six things are required for its accomplishment:

1. SEE NOT WHAT DISPLEASES ALLAH (SWT)

A chaste regard, restrained from viewing anything that is blameworthy or reprehensible, or that distracts the heart and diverts it from the remembrance of God, Great and Glorious is He. Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: ‘The furtive glance is one of the poisoned arrows of Satan, on him be God’s curse. Whoever forsakes it for fear of God will receive from Him, Great and Glorious is He, a faith the sweetness of which he will find within his heart.’

Jabir relates from Anas that Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: ‘Five things break a man’s Fast: lying, backbiting, gossiping, perjury and a lustful gaze.’

2. SPEAK NOT…

Guarding one’s tongue from idle chatter, lying, gossiping, obscenity, rudeness, arguing and controversy; making it observe silence and occupying it with remembrance of God, Great and Glorious is He, and with recitation of Holy Quran. This is the fasting of the tongue. Sufyan Said: ‘Backbiting annuls the Fast.’ Layth quotes Mujahid as saying: ‘Two habits annul Fasting: backbiting and telling lies.’

Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: ‘Fasting is a shield; so when one of you is Fasting he should not use foul or foolish talk. If someone attacks him or insults him, let him say: “I am Fasting, I am Fasting!”‘

According to Tradition: ‘Two women were Fasting during the time of Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace. They were so fatigued towards the end of the day, from hunger and thirst that they were on the verge of collapsing. They therefore sent a message to Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, requesting permission to break their Fast. In response, Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, sent them a bowl and said: “Tell them to vomit into it what they have eaten.” One of them vomited and half filled the bowl with fresh blood and tender meat, while the other brought up the same so that they filled it between them. The onlookers were astonished. Then the Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: “These two women have been Fasting from what God made lawful to them, and have broken their Fast on what God, Great and Glorious is He, made unlawful to them. They sat together and indulged in backbiting, and here is the flesh of the people they maligned!”‘

3. HEAR NOT…

Closing one’s ears to everything reprehensible; for everything unlawful to utter is likewise unlawful to listen to. That is why God, Great and Glorious is He, equated the eavesdropper with the profiteer, in His words, Great and Glorious is He: ‘Listeners to falsehood, consumers of illicit gain.’ [al-Ma’idah, 5:42]

God, Great and Glorious is He, also said: ‘Why do their rabbis and priests not forbid them to utter sin and consume unlawful profit?’ [al-Ma’idah, 5:63]

Silence in the face of backbiting is therefore unlawful. God, Great and Glorious is He, said: ‘You are then just like them.’ [al-Nisa, 4:140] That is why the Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: ‘The backbiter and his listener are copartners in sin.’

4. DO NOT…

Keeping all other limbs and organs away from sin: the hands and feet from reprehensible deeds, and the stomach from questionable food at the time for breaking Fast. It is meaningless to Fast – to abstain from lawful food – only to break one’s Fast on what is unlawful. A man who Fast like this may be compared to one who builds a castle but demolishes a city. Lawful food injurious in quantity not in quality, so Fasting is to reduce the former. A person might well give up excessive use of medicine, from fear of ill effects, but he would be a fool to switch to taking poison. The unlawful is a poison deadly to religion, while the lawful is a medicine, beneficial in small doses but harmful in excess. The object of Fasting is to induce moderation. Holy Prophet Mohammad, on him be peace, said: ‘How many of those who Fast get nothing from it but hunger and thirst!’ This has been taken to mean those who break their Fast on unlawful food. Some say it refers to those who abstain from lawful food, but break their Fast on human flesh through backbiting, which is unlawful. Others consider it an allusion to those who do not guard their organs from sin.

5. AVOID OVEREATING

Not to over-indulge in lawful food at the time of breaking Fast, to the point of stuffing one’s belly. There is no receptacle more odious to God, Great and Glorious is He, than a belly stuffed full with lawful food. Of what use is the Fast as a means of conquering God’s enemy and abating appetite, if at the time of breaking it one not only makes up for all one has missed during the daytime, but perhaps also indulges in a variety of extra foods? It has even become the custom to stock up for Ramadan with all kinds of foodstuffs, so that more is consumed during that time than in the course of several other months put together. It is well known that the object of Fasting is to experience hunger and to check desire, in order to reinforce the soul in piety. If the stomach is starved from early morning till evening, so that its appetite is aroused and its craving intensified, and it is then offered delicacies and allowed to eat its fill, its taste for pleasure is increased and its force exaggerated; passions are activated which would have lain dormant under normal conditions.

The spirit and secret nature of Fasting is to weaken the forces which are Satan’s means of leading us back to evil. It is therefore essential to cut down one’s intake to what one would consume on a normal night, when not Fasting. No benefit is derived from the Fast if one consumes as much as one would usually take during the day and night combined. Moreover, one of the properties consists in taking little sleep during the daytime, so that one feels the hunger and thirst and becomes conscious of the weakening of one’s powers, with the consequent purification of the heart.

One should let a certain degree of weakness carry over into the night, making it easier to perform the night Prayers (tahajjud) and to recite the praises (awrad). It may then be that Satan will not hover around one’s heart, and that one will behold the Kingdom of Heaven. The Night of Destiny represents the night on which something of this Kingdom is revealed. This is what is meant by the words of God, Great and Glorious is He:

‘We surely revealed it on the Night of Power.’ [al-Qadr, 97:1]

Anyone who puts a bag of food between his heart and his breast becomes blind to this revelation. Nor is keeping the stomach empty sufficient to remove the veil, unless one also empties the mind of everything but God, Great and Glorious is He. That is the entire matter, and the starting point of it all is cutting down on food.

6. LOOK TO GOD WITH FEAR AND HOPE

After the Fast has been broken, the heart should swing like a pendulum between fear and hope. For one does not know if one’s Fast will be accepted, so that one will find favor with God, or whether it will be rejected, leaving one among those He abhors. This is how one should be at the end of any act of worship one performs.

It is related of al-Hasan ibn Abil Hasan al-Basri that he once passed by a group of people who were laughing merrily. He said: ‘God, Great and Glorious is He, has made the month of Ramadan a racecourse, on which His creatures compete in His worship. Some have come in first and won, while others have lagged behind and lost. It is absolutely amazing to find anybody laughing and playing about on the day when success attends the victors, and failure the wasters. By God, if the veil were lifted off, the doer of good would surely be preoccupied with his good works and the evildoer with his evil deeds.’ In too full of joy to indulge in idle sport, while for one who has suffered rejection laughter will be precluded by remorse.

Of al-Ahnaf ibn Qays it is reported that he was once told: ‘You are an aged elder; Fasting would enfeeble you.’ But he replied: ‘By this I am making ready for a long journey, Obedience to God, Great and Glorious is He, is easier to endure than His punishment.’

Such are the inwardly significant meanings of Fasting.

Source*

Related Topics:

The Healing Power of Fasting*

Neuroscientist Shows Fasting Bolsters Your Brain, but Big Pharma Won’t Study It*

Fasting Where the Sun Doesn’t Set*

The Right of Fasting

Many Forms Of Fasting*

No Increase in Preterm Delivery With Ramadhan Fasting

The Self Control Gland and Fasting

Fasting for Change

Fasting and Pregnancy

Fasting in Shawwal

How Enslaved Muslims in the Americas fasted in Ramadhan*

European Company sells Miswak for £3.90 Calling it a ‘groundbreaking’ Raw Toothbrush*

Ramadhan in Kenya*

Working and Staying Sane in Ramadhan*

God-consciousness After Ramadhan

Prophet Muhammed (SAW) on Ramadhan

No Increase in Preterm Delivery With Ramadhan Fasting

Ramadhan Reflections: How Do I Find The Balance To Do What I Should Say

Ramadhan Reflections: Every Soul Shall Taste of Death are You Ready?

Ramadhan Reflections: I Am Just Too Busy Right Now‏

Slow Ramadhan Foods: Health Benefits of Yoghurt

This Ramadhan, I will …

Slow Digesting Foods and Ramadhan

Keep Ramadhan Simple!

Stopping the Menstrual Flow During Ramadhan

The Ramadhan Reminder: Taking Time Out With God

Justice or Just Us?

Justice or Just Us?

Some might question how exactly this is “Spirit Science”… So before I go any further, I’ll explain. “In the simplest sense, I wish to change the world. Revolution of light and colour, healing, transformation, spirit cities, people working together – global realization of Christ Consciousness.” – Jordan

I once asked Jordan what his original intent was when he began his spiritual journey and that is what he said. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, lets move forward!

After nearly a month, we finally got word from Facebook as to why our pages were unpublished…

“Hi,

Your Page has been unpublished for causing people to like or engage with it unintentionally in a misleading way. Our Page Terms state that: ‘Pages must not contain false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive claims or content.’ All Pages must comply with the Facebook Page Guidelines.

For more information, please read the Pages Terms:

https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

For Pages you’d like to launch in the future, please first make adjustments to ensure you’re providing a good user experience and meeting our policies.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team” 

Our page was wrongfully unpublished exactly 20 days before this (see my previous article about it here). Between the 4th and the 24th, nothing changed. That being said, there are only so many possible reasons for our pages to have been unpublished this time. Between all of the pages that we know of, we had well over 15 million followers and our content reached hundreds of millions of people in a week. How could that much traffic not bring them money? So if it’s not money related, why?

Which leads me back to something I mentioned in the article I posted the first time this happened…

“Let’s say this has something to do with the spiritual movement… Why would anybody want to remove/attack the pages/websites and why now? Well, at face value, it doesn’t seem that bad. However, when you look at other facts and then consider the possibility, it becomes rather interesting. If you’re going to attack a large group of people (a country), one of the first things you’d do is disable their means of communication. But why go after spiritual groups? Perhaps it’s because we are one of the largest and most tight-nit groups that have the mantra “if not us, who? If not now, when?”

Unfortunately, it seems as if my theory was correct after all… We are in fact under attack and being censored. Here are some facts that support this statement.

The day after this video was published, our page was unpublished (the first time).

There is a very interesting documentary that I highly recommend you watch called “Fed Up”. If another country were doing this to us, we would, without a doubt, go to war with them. Also note worthy is a particular episode of “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver where he talks about the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)… I feel as if now is a good time to remind you of something a wise man by the name of Martin Luther King once said. “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.”

Here’s something you probably haven’t seen, but is very important.

In case you still can’t see it, here are a few videos that should make things a bit more clear…

You thought Idiocracy was just a movie? I guess it’s not so funny when you realize you’re living it?

1961… Reminds me of something my father always told me. “If you forget your past, you are sure to relive it.” I recommend you pay very close attention and listen very carefully. Don’t just hear, but understand everything that is said.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Remember what I said about government in my last article? I’m not calling you a slave, I’m pointing out a fact in hopes of helping you to understand why I am as I am and maybe inspiring you do stand with us to actually do something about it.

If money is no longer backed by gold, what’s it really worth? Who way back when gave value to gold? It’s not as if we had much use for it back then, right?

Also noteworthy is that Donald Trump did not win the popular vote and yet still became president of the United States Of America. Don’t take my word for it, here’s his tweet about it. He’s also under investigation for what amounts to treason… When I just googled “treason” the president of the United States Of America was the first search result. Kinda feeling as if I’ve opened the X files, in which I found a map that lead me through the twilight zone to the outer limits…

The issue isn’t so much that he was selected instead of being elected, the issue isn’t that our food is killing us or that our rights are being taken away one by one exactly as Hitler did or even that we’ve been at war for over 15 years for reasons still unknown. The issue is what we’ve done about it… We are the 99% but that doesn’t do us any good if we never stand together.

(S)he who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.
Aim not to become a (wo)man of success, but rather aim to become a (wo)man of value.
Actions speak far louder than words. Many say they care, but very few show it.

I don’t mean to fearmonger and I don’t like to present problems without also presenting solutions when possible. “All that is required for good to prevail is that good men and women stand together. The dark has no defense against the shining of light.” – Ray

If it’s light you seek, you need not look further than the edge of darkness.

Remember the thing I mentioned that we were building in my last article? There’s still much to do, but it’s live now! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, a solution. www.panictofreedom.com & www.designoffreedom.com are both live now, but there is still much work to be done. We’ll let you know when we’re ready.

For now, share this as if your life depends on it.

Source*

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