This week’s program is focused on the toxins that are deliberately included in recipes developed by food product manufacturers and how these substances make us fat and sick. Food manufacturers routinely and legally use controversial and toxic ingredients for many reasons: to make foods grow faster or bigger, to make them taste better, to make them last longer without spoiling, and of course to make foods look better. The basic idea is that a small amount of toxins is harmless and negligible. However, that said, no one tracks the cumulative effect of these toxins, how they interact with other substances, or the empirical reports of side effects by consumers who are exposed to them. Even more, because of age or pre-existing health condition, some people are more sensitive to toxins than others. Our guests this week, Cori Brackett and Raymond Francis, both have expertise in this field. Cori is the independent documentary film producer of Sweet Misery and Sweet Remedy, two films that explore how aspartame, MSG, food coloring and genetically modified foods are producing unintended weight and health effects. Cori also talks about her personal story as someone who lost 70 pounds and cured herself of multiple sclerosis by getting toxic substances out of her diet. Our second guest, Raymond Francis, is an MIT-trained scientist, a vitamin chemistry expert, the founder of Beyond Health, and the author of Never Be Fat Again and Never Be Sick Again. Raymond explains how all disease, including the disease of obesity, is a result of cellular malfunction and why deficiencies and toxicity are the two conditions that lead to cellular malfunction. He also discusses the need for supplementation and food combining. Host Karen Bentley uses the example of MSG to explain why it’s very hard to isolate and identify problems related to toxins in our food supply.