Be a mighty maintainer What do you do when the end is here? When you have lost the weight you wanted to lose and are happy? Where do you go from there? Give yourself Three cheers for all your hard work. But that doesn't mean it's time to put on the brakes. To maintain your weight, you still have to make those smart choices at restaurants, work, and home. Look into getting a health / fitness confidante, who you can chat with once a week about your eating highs and oh-no's. And stick to using the measuring tape so you can be proactive if a few extra inches creep back on. Don't let your exercise routine change, either, because even if you don't have any more pounds to lose, you'll still be working out your ticker.
Be a weekend warrior You've been following your diet plan to the letter, but enter: the weekend. To deal with three nights of eating temptations (think: birthdays, weddings, dinner parties), up your activity level for the week. For instance, try taking an extra 15-minute walk around your office each day. Then, go on and indulge a bit at the soiree, guilt free. Another party trick? Enjoy a 100-calorie snack or shakeology before a celebration, which can help you eat fewer munchies at the event.
CHEAT DAY!!!!!! How to make it all worth it and still wake up feeling good about yourself? You see, you might be “cheating” all wrong, and causing inflammation in your body that lasts for 2-3 days after every cheat meal. This could ruin your health and body. I recommend you follow these three steps to design your ‘ideal’ cheat day, and improve over time: Step 1: Write down all your favorite foods. Make sure to keep this list close to your kitchen, so you’ll have it when you’re craving cheat foods, but you’re not sure what to eat. You’ll be able to use this list to tempt you. Step 2: Eliminate. Eliminate foods that have trans fats or irritate your bowels -- due to inflammation -- within a 24 hour period of time. If you notice straining while going to the bathroom, this counts. If you notice the consistency of your feces changing substantially and no longer in ‘log’ formation, your digestive tract is disturbed, and this is simultaneously hurting fat loss. Step 3: Observe. You may notice you have a minor inflammatory reaction to certain foods, although it may not qualify as a ‘food allergy,’ per say. Examples of this may include puffy eyes, cheeks, or missing definition around bony prominences (i.e. love handles) the day after eating a particular food. Most people focus on ‘letting go’ during a cheat day, when in actuality, this is the time to be more careful; it’s the day that you’re doing the most harm. On a cheat day, there is absolutely no reason to limit your ability to eat delicious food -- and food that is bad for you on an everyday basis, for that matter -- but there’s also no reason to eat poison, ever.
Drinking water is important! We all take it for granted and don't listen to our body when it is telling us it's thirsty.
Swap out your shoes While we've all heard that running shoes break down after logging lots of miles and lifting shoes break down after lifting in them consistently for weeks, you may still be holding on to your fave pair. (They fit just right! They're so cushy!) Not a good idea. Glue has a tendency to break down under ultraviolet light, as do the other materials that make up the shoe. So even if your sneaks have only 150 miles on them or are only 5 months old, recycle them, because chances are they've already started deteriorating. And as a rule of thumb, always keep tabs on how many miles you've logged on them and when you bought them—tedious, but hey, you'll be happy when you aren’t injured from old shoes. One way I know that my shoes are getting worn down (even if they still look new) is my knees start to hurt. So yes, because I work out 7 days I week, I go through workout shoes every 3-4 months.
Relieve those side stitches and prevent them from occurring ever again! Side stitch what? You know it: a sharp pain just below the rib cage that always seems to pop up when you're working out your hardest. It's called the side stitch, and it can be a major nuisance—especially when it keeps you from completing a workout. To ease the ache (so you can get on with your workout), take your fist and press it beneath your rib cage while taking deep breaths from your belly for about 10 steps. In about 30 seconds, the pain should subside, so you can get on back to (fitness) work. To prevent them from occurring you need to treat your body like any well oiled machine, you need the right amount of fuel to avoid side stiches. Pre-workout Meal So before heading out for a run or off to do your workout, make sure your diet consists of something light and clean. My suggestions: Water, Fruits (like bananas), and peanut butter will help. If you don't get them when you don't eat that is okay. I don't eat in the morning before my workout and I don't get them. Excercise Proper stretch techniques are important before your workout. We all know your limbs must be warmed up, but lets not forget about that core! Breathing exercises and light stretches of your abdomen will help prepare itself and make you more durable. Stress Relief The most important step to relieving a side stitch is to SLOW DOWN! Walk if necessary. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll keep the Side Stitch at bay!
It's easy to get in a diet rut, even if you're loading up on flavorful fruits and veggies. The solution? Have plenty of spices, fresh herbs, and lemons at your cooking beck and call. "It's amazing what a little dash of spice, sprinkle of herbs, pinch of lemon zest, or squirt of lime juice can do to liven up a dish—and your diet," says Newgent. The best part: They contain almost no calories. Experiment with your dinner, tonight!
Next time your family or friends decide to make an ice-cream run, don't worry about being left out of the fun! Order a fresh (and super-refreshing) ice cream sundae, piled high with diced kiwi, pineapple, and strawberries. You'll get a serving of delish fruit—no hefty calorie-laden toppings required. Or order a fruit cup and ask for them to put a small scoop of ice cream on it.
Munching on your lunch while at the computer could lead to mindless grazing, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. People who ate their midday meals while playing a computer game ended up eating more cookies 30 minutes later than those who hadn't been gaming. So carve out 20 minutes a day (I know, you've got a million things to do, but … ), and eat in your conference room (or outdoors!). Your whittled waistline with thank you.
Say goodbye to peer pressure Even if you've been eating right on track, it may be tough to stay on track if your partner, coworkers, or friends don't share your healthy-eating habits. What to do? If your partner loves pizza, try ordering a pie that's heavy on the veggies and light on the cheese—then supplement it with a side salad. Or, if your friends are having a girls' night out, suggest a restaurant that's got healthy appetizer options, instead of the typical fare of onion rings and cheese dip. And at work, instead of Friday baked-goods day, suggest a Friday "make it healthy" day, and swap in baked pears with cinnamon or mini fruit-and-nut muffins for brownies and blondies.
Slather up! There's no denying it: Getting the fresh air from exercising outdoors is great! But along with it, you also get the harmful UV rays. Whether you are going for a run or you are pushing play while outside make sure you keep yourself shielded while still having fun in the sun, opt for a sweat-proof screen with SPF 30 or higher, a lip balm with SPF 15 or higher, a lightweight hat, and sports shades. Also consider trading in your white tee and instead going for a shirt with built-in UV protection. And remember, the rays are at their brightest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so try to plan a before-or post-work sweat-session.
Slim Up Your Snack It's hard to avoid that 3 p.m. stomach rumble, when nothing can stand between you and the office vending machine. And while it's fine to eat something to hold you over until dinner (in fact, it’s encouraged), some choices will help you keep on your weight-loss track—while others can surely derail you. So at the vending machine, instead of choosing that ever-so-tempting pack of Twizzlers, try a 100-calorie cookie pack or a Nature Valley granola bar. Better yet, bring a snack from home! I’m a fan of sliced veggies dipped in hummus or shakeology as a snack instead of a meal. Delish!
Workout chafe-free There's nothing fun about chafing. You can get the rash (caused by moisture and constant friction) on your thighs, around your sports bra, and even under your arms, to name a few hot spots! To prevent the next occurrence, try rubbing on an anti-chafe stick like Bodyglide For Her Anti-Chafing Stick in any spots that have the potential to chafe. Moisture-wicking fabrics help, too, so if you have a few quick-dry fit shirts, save those for your long runs or tough workouts, when chafing is most likely to occur.
A New Discovery in Anti-Aging Nutrition
What is it?
It’s a micro-algae called Marine-Phytoplankton. And not to be confused with other “algae’s”, Marine-Phytoplankton is in it’s own realm of life-providing benefits, and may very well be the #1 solution today for achieving optimal health and vitality!
In fact, it contains the world’s HIGHEST BIO-AVAILABLE SOURCE of “Superoxide Dismutase”, or (SOD) for short, which is your body’s greatest internally-produced antioxidant enzyme — protecting you from the deathly-wrath of “oxidative stress”. For this reason, SOD has been tightly proven to be associated with LIFE EXTENSION in a number of irrefutable studies.
But what’s most compelling about Marine-Phytoplankton, is it’s “6-Unique Abilities” to get you healthier than anything else...REASON #1: We Need the Sun’s Energy to Live and THRIVE!
Marine-Phytoplankton absorbs approximately 10% of ALL the sunlight absorbed by all plants on Earth!
Meaning... there is not a better source of living Vitamin D and our Sun’s LIFE ENERGY than Marine-Phytoplankton!
REASON #2: Your Cells Can’t Function Without Clean Oxygen!
Marine-Phytoplankton provides your body and cells with all of these life-giving electrons it needs to function on an optimal basis!
(*This is crucial for your health and longevity!)
REASON #3: Your Cells Can’t Retain-Electrons Without Healthy-Membranes!
Marine-Phytoplankton provides your body with life’s original essential fatty acids, which are used to build healthy cell membranes and replace old damaged ones!
And you’re body knows exactly what to do with these...
When you feed your body Marine-Phytoplankton, it automatically goes to work and begins replacing all these toxic-cell-membranes, with new healthy material!REASON #4: Your Body Can’t Function Without Essential Minerals!
This is another area Marine-Phytoplankton shines…
It contains all the essential minerals your body requires to keep things running smooth!REASON #5: Your Liver Is KEY to Elevating Your Health!
Marine-Phytoplankton is microscopic and bio-available, which means it doesn’t require typical digestive processing through your GI tract and by your liver to get absorbed. (*In fact, it’s 5-times smaller than red blood cells!)
(...Which means your body will be fed the nutritional-fuel it needs to perform it’s necessary functions and produce healthy new cells!)
To put this in to perspective, just a few-drops of Marine-Phytoplankton can trigger your body to replenish BILLIONS of healthy new cells!REASON #6: Your Body Can’t HEAL Without Sufficient Neuro-Chemicals!
Marine-Phytoplankton contains everything you need to restore these crucial neuro-chemicals!
As a matter of fact, world-renowned expert on Brain Health, Dr Eric Braverman states;
“The brain is the most important organ and it impacts every illness. There is no illness that the brain does not impact and help get you better.”
And the best way known to keep your brain tuned in to repair and protect your body’s control mechanisms - such as neurotransmitters, is to nourish it with Marine-Phytoplankton!
This substance’s unique ability to represent all these necessities, make it revolutionary for our health.Marine-Phytoplankton CONTAINS EVERYTHING NECESSARY
to replace things needed to rebuild your body, fuel your brain,
and restore and influence optimal health!
This might sound crazy but you may be making a few common mistakes almost every day that rapidly AGE your body faster than you should be aging.
Biggest Causes of Aging #1
Glycation
This is the first thing you MUST minimize. But what the heck is it?
Glycation is the process in which the sugar you eat gets STUCK to the proteins in your body. This is really, really bad news for the aging of your organs, but also for a part of your skin called collagen.
Why? Because sugar stiffens and cracks the collagen. Too much glycation and your skin will look like an old garden hose – cracked, brittle and wrinkled.
That means fine lines, wrinkles, age spots and yellowing appear on your face.
So how do you avoid the unsightly aging caused by Glycation to both your skin and organs?
Well, there are 2 main ways to minimize glycation:
1. Increase the antioxidant level in your body. Antioxidants protect your body from the nasty effects of glycation. I’ll show you a a little trick at the end of today's email that will help you to get all the antioxidants you need in just 2 minutes in the morning.
2. Keep your blood sugar low and controlled every day without major spikes... this means minimizing excess sugars and grains, which are the worst blood sugar offenders. A side effect of controlling your blood sugar low and steady is that you minimize fat storing hormones like insulin, which helps you to get leaner!
Biggest Causes of Aging #2
InflammationInflammation is a bad word for folks who want to look and feel younger than the number of candles on their birthday cake would suggest.
Inflammation occurs when your body releases harmful chemicals in response to environmental toxins. This is equivalent to Mr. Burns “releasing the hounds” on trespassers that wander onto his property. Those ‘harmful hounds’ in your bloodstream attack your body and cause aging.
Worse, these harmful hounds can silently damage your skin, organs, and your brain, for years before you notice the effects. But by then…
…it’s usually too late.
There are a few ways to deal with inflammation. First, try adding some fresh ginger to a cup of green tea. The ginger herb is an anti-inflammatory powerhouse and the green tea contains EGCG which is another potent anti-inflammatory. You can also take ginger capsules and/or turmeric capsules each day if you don't use ginger and turmeric in your cooking regularly...they are both very inexpensive in capsule form and add a potent whollop of natural anti-inflammatories to your body.
Second – light exercise protects your body from inflammation. You don’t need to do too much but it should NOT be long, slow cardio. That’s been proven to increase inflammation and even cause heart damage over time (that’s why some marathon runners drop dead of a heart attack).
More on that in a minute. (I’ll show you a simple 4-minute daily exercise plan that turns back the clock!)
Biggest Causes of Aging #3
Oxidation
Oxidation is the WORST of the bunch.
This is referred to as the ‘rusting’ of your body, and it’s what happens to your car when salt and water attack it, and when an apple that turns brown after you expose it to air.
Same deal in your body. If you let oxidation take place, you can wrinkle up like an old apple left out in the sun.
The easiest way to avoid oxidation is by eating hefty amounts of fresh, organic fruits and veggies daily. The vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in those protect your body from the harmful effects of oxidation, inflammation, and glycation.
Oxidation is the WORST of the bunch.
This is referred to as the ‘rusting’ of your body, and it’s what happens to your car when salt and water attack it, and when an apple that turns brown after you expose it to air.
Same deal in your body. If you let oxidation take place, you can wrinkle up like an old apple left out in the sun.
The easiest way to avoid oxidation is by eating hefty amounts of fresh, organic fruits and veggies daily. The vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in those protect your body from the harmful effects of oxidation, inflammation, and glycation.
Artificial Trans fats, also known as trans fatty acids, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, are synthetic fats that deserve no place in a healthy diet. They are formed through a processing method known as hydrogenation, in which vegetable oils are hardened to form margarine or shortening. These fats are also found in many baked goods, fried foods and a variety of other processed foods.
FACT: About 80 percent of trans fats in the Western diet come from processed food items.
These imposter artificial fats are well-connected to raising LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol levels, lowering HDL ‘good’ cholesterol levels, and thereby contributing to heart disease, heart attack and stroke. Research has also found a connection between trans fat intake and Alzheimer’s disease, infertility and certain cancers.
Due to the way they are processed, and their synthetic nature, the liver has a very hard time metabolizing trans fats, and therefore consuming them, especially in high amounts, can contribute to liver disease. In fact, most health experts are in complete agreement that there are NO safe levels of synthetic trans fats.
Aside from their many physical health detriments, trans fats have also been linked to behavioral changes, namely, aggressive behavior.
The study’s lead author, Beatrice Golumb, states: “We found that greater trans fatty acids were associated with greater aggression. This adds further rationale to recommendations to avoiding eating trans fats as their detrimental effects may extend beyond the person who consumes them.”
The frightening thing about trans fats is that if a certain food contains less than 0.5 grams of them, they do not have to be listed on a label. Even though this may seem like a small amount, they can quickly accumulate. If you see the terms “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” on an ingredients list, that means trans fat is lurking inside.
****Please note that although synthetic trans fats from hydrogenated oils are quite dangerous to your health, there are natural trans fats that exist in nature that are actually quite healthy...these are generally CLA fats that are found naturally in grass-fed beef, grass-fed butter/cream, and other pasture-raised meats and dairy...and these natural CLA trans fats have been found to reduce cancer risk and also help you lose fat and build muscle.
Super Dark Chocolate (at least 72% cacao content or higher)
It might not be a secret anymore, but yes, dark chocolate (NOT milk chocolate) can be a very healthy food, even though it is technically calorie dense.
Dark chocolate can actually HELP you to burn off more body fat if you're the type of person that has a sweet tooth and likes to eat a lot of desserts. In this case, just 1 or 2 small squares of dark chocolate can many times satisfy your sweet tooth for only 30 or 40 calories as opposed to 500 calories for a piece of chocolate cake or a piece of pie.
Also some brands of dark chocolate that are in the mid 70's in % cacao content or higher, can have a fairly high ratio of fiber content and relatively low sugar content compared to the amount of healthy fats. In fact, that's one of the "tricks" you can use to select a good quality chocolate... look for more total fat than total carbs (or about the same number of grams of each).
The importance of that fact is that it means many dark chocolates will not greatly affect your blood sugar and will have a fairly blunted blood sugar response compared to other "sweets".
Dark chocolate is also very rich in healthful antioxidants, including a powerful compound called theobromine which has been shown to help lower your blood pressure and have other health benefits.
Dark chocolate also contains antioxidants called flavanols with dozens of health benefits... One study found that eating as little as 6.7 grams of chocolate per day has a protective effect on your heart. Other studies show benefits to your digestive system by improving the ratios of good to bad bacteria in your gut, possibly due to the catechins and polyphenols in cocoa.
You can also reap the benefits of the antioxidants and fiber without all of the calories by using organic unsweetened cocoa powder in your shakes or smoothies or other recipes.
Bottom line is that you can enjoy small to moderate amounts of dark chocolate and also cocoa powder daily, and it only helps you to stay lean and fight the aging process in your body.
Coconut oil, coconut meat, coconut flour, and coconut milk
Coconut milk and oil are great sources of a super healthy type of saturated fat called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), including a component called lauric acid, which is a powerful nutrient for your immune system, and is lacking in most western diets. In addition, MCTs are readily used for energy by the body and less likely to be stored as body fat compared to other types of fats.
Eating coconut oil can help improve the health of your skin from the inside out... But in addition to being healthy internally, coconut oil is also known to be great for the health of your skin externally as a skin moisturizer that's healthier for you than most lotions since natural coconut oil allows you to avoid the harmful chemicals found in many lotions.
Coconut oil is even shown to help improve your thyroid function as well as helping to protect your brain from Alzheimers.
There are even direct studies that show that coconut oil can help you burn off abdominal fat more efficiently.
Along with coconut milk and coconut oil as healthy fat choices, we've also got coconut flour as a healthier flour option for baking. Coconut flour is an extremely high fiber flour alternative (almost ALL of the carbs in this flour are fiber and not starch!). Coconut flour is also VERY high in protein compared to most flours and is also gluten free!
#1 – Margarine
Man-made trans fats and hydrogenated oils, otherwise known as Franken-Fats, are laden with artificial ingredients and they are the ones to be avoided—not the naturally-occurring fats. They are some of the most chemically altered foods you can consume.
It is these kinds of “Fake” fats that you need to be afraid of because they are the culprits creating chronic inflammation in your body.
Touted as the “healthier” alternative to butter because it is made from vegetable oil instead of animal or dairy products, Margarine has made its way into every grocery store in the country.
Unfortunately, it is comprised of hydrogenated oils and it’s very high in trans fat versus good old fashioned butter which consists of sweet cream and salt. In most varieties of margarine you will find up to 15 ingredients and usually only 2-3 in REAL butter.
#2 – Nondairy Creamers
For coffee lovers and enthusiasts everywhere, nondairy creamers have become an integral part of the day. Over time, however, they will also add a considerable amount of trans fat to your diet.
Don’t be fooled by the “low-fat” and “non-fat” varieties since they still have partially hydrogenated oils as the second or third ingredient listed.
It’s these kind of foods that are the real ‘ninjas’ in the food war that’s inflaming your body on a regular basis. They sneak their way in quietly leaving you susceptible and vulnerable to attack.
If you drink a lot of coffee and typically use products like this to flavor it, you can be contributing to chronic inflammation and pain without even knowing it.
#3 – Microwave Popcorn
Popcorn has been around for years and was always considered a healthy snack alternative compared to sugary things like cake, cookies and ice cream. Sure, popcorn or “popped” corn is something natural and by itself can be healthy, however, that’s not how most people consume it anymore.
The only thing scarier than the movie you’re watching is the bowl of popcorn on your lap! Now super convenient microwave popcorn has been loaded with gooey toppings like processed cheese and caramel flavors.
There’s no telling what has been added to what was once a smart decision (and we’re not even talking about toxic bag lining). Microwave popcorn is loaded with sneaky trans-fats which are much thicker and harder for your heart to move through your arteries. These trans-fats are like eating sludge. Your body can’t digest it leaving it to rot in your gut.
Poor dietary choices over stimulate the immune system and cause chronic inflammatory responses that deteriorate the body’s overall health, limiting mobility and contributing to painful joints.
There are however, steps you can take today to reduce the likelihood that you’ll suffer from chronic joint inflammation and pain. Getting started is as easy as incorporating anti-inflammatory foods into your diet.
Not surprisingly, these are foods that are rich in immune boosting vitamins, antioxidants, flavonoids, phytonutrients, minerals, proteins, healthy fats or complex carbs.
Pink grapefruit
Grapefruit is teeming with carotenoid antioxidants, including beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, all of which are important for eye and skin health, as well as for preventing oxidative stress damage to the cells. These antioxidants are anti-inflammatory in nature, and can protect the body from a host of chronic ailments. Pink and red grapefruit varieties also contain about the same amount of lycopene as a fresh tomato.
Limonoids are another class of antioxidant found in grapefruit, in a highly digestible form. These phytonutrients have been linked by a body of research to fighting breast, colon, lung, skin and stomach cancers, as well as to helping the liver clear toxins from the body. Yet another antioxidant in grapefruit is naringenin, a flavonoid that has been shown to aid in repairing DNA in human prostate tumor cells.
The vitamin C content of grapefruit is very high, giving this fruit the ability to boost the immune system and fight infections. If you have an existing cold or other seasonal bug, vitamin C may help to reduce the severity of the symptoms that you are experiencing. Vitamin C has also been found to combat inflammatory conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. It also helps to prevent cancers, stroke and heart disease, and keeps skin young-looking and healthy. Grapefruit also contains salicylic acid, which joins vitamin C in helping to prevent arthritis by breaking down calcium buildup in joints.
Random nutrition tip for you today! Do you eat onions? Do you eat them daily?
Body Weight Exercise Tip! Do you do body weight exercises? Do you like them? Depending on the body weight exercise, depends on how I feel about them. Squats love them. Push ups HATE them!! What about you what body weight exercise do you love and what one do you hate?
Watermelon? Are you a lover or a hater? I love watermelon, however, I don't eat it often because I am afraid to cut it!!!
STAY AWAY from plain old refined table salt.
Refined salt is the main reason salt has such a bad reputation. It’s the same terrible stuff you find in processed foods. Our bodies actually need salt, but most research has revolved around refined table salt - and the results have shown that this stuff is not good for you.
In many parts of the world, it is well-accepted that salt itself is NOT the problem ... it's the kind of salt that's causing problems.
Refined table salt is pretty scary, actually. It often contains harmful anti-caking agents, some of which have been linked to heavy metal toxicity and kidney problems. A common preservative in these refined salts, sodium acetate, may cause elevated blood pressure and kidney disturbances.
So what should you use instead?
The truth is that unrefined sea salt is actually good for you. It helps to balance your blood sugar, helps keep your bones strong, regulates your metabolism, boosts your immune system and more. Natural, unrefined sea salt provides a number of nutrients and minerals, in a way that the body recognizes and knows how to use. Over 80 trace minerals found in the naturally filtered salt water used to create unrefined sea salt give it its vital grayish color, and its slight moistness keeps the salt and minerals in a form that the body can use.
You can find many kinds of unrefined salt right in the store but check the label, it must say “unrefined” - some sea salts are still refined.
Refined salt is the main reason salt has such a bad reputation. It’s the same terrible stuff you find in processed foods. Our bodies actually need salt, but most research has revolved around refined table salt - and the results have shown that this stuff is not good for you.
In many parts of the world, it is well-accepted that salt itself is NOT the problem ... it's the kind of salt that's causing problems.
Refined table salt is pretty scary, actually. It often contains harmful anti-caking agents, some of which have been linked to heavy metal toxicity and kidney problems. A common preservative in these refined salts, sodium acetate, may cause elevated blood pressure and kidney disturbances.
So what should you use instead?
The truth is that unrefined sea salt is actually good for you. It helps to balance your blood sugar, helps keep your bones strong, regulates your metabolism, boosts your immune system and more. Natural, unrefined sea salt provides a number of nutrients and minerals, in a way that the body recognizes and knows how to use. Over 80 trace minerals found in the naturally filtered salt water used to create unrefined sea salt give it its vital grayish color, and its slight moistness keeps the salt and minerals in a form that the body can use.
You can find many kinds of unrefined salt right in the store but check the label, it must say “unrefined” - some sea salts are still refined.
Avocados are one of the best flab-fighting fats that help to balance out your hormones, control your appetite and even provide high levels of healthy fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants... but it's unlikely that you'll eat an entire avocado in one sitting. You usually have at least a half avocado leftover to put away.
So how do you keep that leftover avocado from turning brown?
Well, first let's talk about why avocados turn brown. Like apples or potatoes, they oxidize when exposed to air. Once you cut into an avocado, you'll never be able to completely stop the oxidation process, but you can dramatically slow it with a few quick tips and tricks:
1. Cut the avocado with a ceramic or plastic knife. Metal actually accelerates the oxidation process.
2. Try lemon or lime juice. Citric acid is a powerful antioxidant; rub a little juice around the exposed flesh and you'll significantly delay the browning effect.
3. No lemon or lime? Use oil. Oil is another great buffer to oxygen. Use in place of lemon or lime juice when you don't have any handy.
4. Store as air-tight as possible. Again, avocados turn brown due to oxidation and exposure to air, so storing in an air-tight container only makes sense.
5. Water. Huh? That's right! This one works exceptionally well for leftover guacamole. Place your leftover guac in a storage container and press down to remove any air pockets. Add a half inch of water on top and seal with an air-tight lid. The water creates a barrier between the avocado and the air, keeping your guacamole fresh and 100% green for 24 hours or more! When ready to eat some more, just drain the excess water and enjoy. Works like a charm!
So how do you keep that leftover avocado from turning brown?
Well, first let's talk about why avocados turn brown. Like apples or potatoes, they oxidize when exposed to air. Once you cut into an avocado, you'll never be able to completely stop the oxidation process, but you can dramatically slow it with a few quick tips and tricks:
1. Cut the avocado with a ceramic or plastic knife. Metal actually accelerates the oxidation process.
2. Try lemon or lime juice. Citric acid is a powerful antioxidant; rub a little juice around the exposed flesh and you'll significantly delay the browning effect.
3. No lemon or lime? Use oil. Oil is another great buffer to oxygen. Use in place of lemon or lime juice when you don't have any handy.
4. Store as air-tight as possible. Again, avocados turn brown due to oxidation and exposure to air, so storing in an air-tight container only makes sense.
5. Water. Huh? That's right! This one works exceptionally well for leftover guacamole. Place your leftover guac in a storage container and press down to remove any air pockets. Add a half inch of water on top and seal with an air-tight lid. The water creates a barrier between the avocado and the air, keeping your guacamole fresh and 100% green for 24 hours or more! When ready to eat some more, just drain the excess water and enjoy. Works like a charm!
Toxic Fruit #1: Strawberries
Who doesn’t enjoy some fresh and tasty strawberries. The only problem is these fruits are not just loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. According to a new report released from the USDA, strawberries contains at least 13 different pesticides in them.
In fact, 90% of the strawberries in the U.S. comes from California where dangerous chemicals are filling the fields. Studies have linked cancer, neurological damage, hormone disruption, and even birth defects to PESTICIDE EXPOSURE.
Strawberries can make you sick from the toxins and pesticides contained inside of them. These chemicals may alter your thyroid, which is the hormone our bodies use to burn off calories. In other words, you’ll be more likely to gain weight faster.
Solution to Toxic Fruit #1…
Buy strawberries that are Certified Organic. Organic Strawberries are very low in pesticides.
Toxic Fruit #2: Raisins
Raisins have gone through a process where the water is removed in order for the fruit to have a longer shelf life much like other dried fruits. During this process, most of the healthy vitamins also leave the fruit.
Sure, these raisins have plenty of fiber but they also have more than 3 times the calories per serving than fresh grapes due to the preservatives that have been added to them. Yikes!
Even worse, they are LOADED with sugar and sulfur to preserve the raisins and make them last longer. Sulfur gives raisins the brighter color to make it more appealing to the consumer. The extra sugar will obviously cause your belly to gain unwanted fat.
Solution to Toxic Fruit #2…
Always buy “organic grapes” as opposed to raisins. The benefits include more antioxidants to boost your immune system to fight sickness and diseases, plus you’ll lose weight faster.
Toxic Fruit #3: Canned Peaches
Peaches are one of the healthiest foods you can eat only when it is in its natural state. The processing of canned fruits eliminates the rich antioxidants that help our bodies fight off diseases and prevent us from getting sick. When the can is sealed, the container is heated to extreme temperatures to kill all organisms inside which is why the food has a long shelf life and doesn’t expire.
The downside is all of the antioxidants are also killed in the process. This means you lose all of the healthy nutrients needed to fight off diseases but still get all the fake sugars that are added to it that ultimately causes you to gain weight and become sicker.
If this weren’t enough, peaches are 1 of the 12 dirty dozen which means it is one of the most contaminated fruits in the world that is loaded with harmful pesticides that especially toxic to our nervous system. If left unattended, this could potentially cause nerve damage.
Solution to Toxic Fruit #3…
Buy Organic peaches as they contain minimal pesticides. And always ask your local grocery store or farmer’s market when these fruits are “in season” as you’ll save a lot of money. The good news is you can get TONS of other healthy food swaps on the next page to sky rocket your metabolism and give you more energy.
Toxic Fruit #4: Nectarine
This specific fruit is loaded with amazing health benefits! Nectarines help to boost energy levels and fight diseases as it is loaded with rich antioxidants. The problem is a majority of nectarines grown have been compromised and are loaded with dangerous pesticides.
Just like strawberries and peaches, nectarines are one of the dirty dozen. This means even after washing them, up to 67% of the pesticides still remain. Over time, these pesticides can build up toxic stores inside our bodies which makes us more likely to get diseases later on in life.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, pesticides in foods can disrupt our body’s hormones. Not to mention we’ll gain some extra fat in the process.
You simply can’t afford to put your health at risk with long term consumption of pesticides.
Solution to Toxic Fruit #4…
Being that Nectarine is on the Dirty Dozen list, it is best to eat this fruit organic as you’ll eliminate any harmful pesticides that can damage your body in the long term. You can shop at your local grocery store or farmers market to get organic nectarines.
Did you know that DANGEROUS ingredients can be found in a majority of the food items you purchase from a grocery store or any of your favorite restaurants? These ingredients can be harmful and even LIFE THREATENING.
Did you know that as your weight increases, so does the risk of getting cancer?
The REAL problem lies in the fact that most of the foods we eat today have been Genetically Modified. A better definition of a G.M.O. food is “A food in which the gene from one species has been forced into the DNA of another species and the process itself creates all sorts of unpredicted side effects.”
What this means in plain English is that the fruits and vegetables are taken out of their natural state, which is NOT what Mother Nature intended for us to do. The big food corporations created this process in order to produce mass quantities so that we buy more from them.
Negative Side Effects of Eating GMO’s You’ll Probably Eat Today
There have been attempts by scientists worldwide WARNING about the negative side effects G.M.O. foods cause such as cancer, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, joint pain, newborn diseases and nutritional problems, they were IGNORED.
When lab rats were given G.M.O. foods for long periods of time, some of the DANGEROUS and HARMFUL side effects included infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. Other side effects include food allergy symptoms, increased toxicity, negative reproductive effects, negative effects to digestive systems, unknown genetic effects on humans and EVEN DEATH (rats and mice).
Have you ever noticed how certain parts of your body will lean out FAST, while other body parts NEVER seem to change – no matter how hard you exercise or diet? Did you know it’s because of one simple reason: ESTROGEN DOMINANCE. Here are four simple steps you can take to eliminate this problem once and for all. It’s all been attributed to one thing: the increased levels of estrogen in the water we drink and bathe in day after day.
So what is the most effective workout duration? Well, there's no exact answer, because many variables come into play, such as how many days per week you work out, the intensity that you work out, your age, the type of workout you're performing (slow cardio, intense bodyweight training, weight training, etc), and many other factors. Warning: You want to AVOID the typical mistake that most exercise enthusiasts make, and that's doing 1-2 hours or more of slow cardio exercise per day (and for the running or biking enthusiasts, this includes jogging or distance biking for more than 30-60 minutes a day) ...these types of excessively long cardio routines increase the rate of aging in your body, and detrimentally affect your hormones, making fat loss harder. A MAJOR principle is your hormonal response to exercise, principally the growth hormone vs cortisol curve. Growth hormone (GH) is a powerful hormone that is triggered in your body by exercise and helps to burn fat while building lean sexy muscle in both men and women. It's also known as the "youth hormone" for its anti-aging properties. Cortisol, on the other hand, when produced in excessively high amounts from exercising for too long, can destroy your hard earned muscle, lower your metabolic rate, and make it nearly impossible for you to burn fat. Your goal with an effective exercise program is to MAX out your growth hormone production, while minimizing cortisol. And here's how to do this: According to expert exercise scientist, Rob Faigin, author of Natural Hormonal Enhancement... "The greater the intensity, the lesser the duration of exercise need be for growth hormone to be released. Generally, the requisite duration ranges from 10 minutes for more intense exercise to 30 minutes for less intense exercise... In most cases, peak growth hormone levels occur 20-50 minutes after the onset of sufficiently intense exercise; after which growth hormone declines, but cortisol continues to climb."
The government says eat more wheat – what is up with that? The government tells us that we need to eat more grain, which generally means more wheat. In the food pyramid, we are advised to eat 60% of calories from grains like wheat. The new food plate design also tells us to get at least 1/4 of our calories from wheat. Here is why we need to stop listening to what our government is telling us about the food pyramid: Modern Wheat is a Serious Appetite Stimulant It is estimated that up to 10% of the population has a sensitivity to the protein in wheat known as gluten (some experts estimate it may be higher, possibly closer to 30%). However, the other 90% of people who consume wheat really should not be eating it either... Why? Gliadin, part of the gluten protein, when ingested, enters the brain and binds to opiate receptors where it stimulates appetite. In addition, gliadin, acting like an opiate in the brain, has other disastrous effects. For example, people with ADHD become hypersensitive and have behavioral outbursts, people with schizophrenia have major hallucinations, people who are bipolar become increasingly manic and those with eating disorders, such as binge eating, will develop food obsessions. Modern Wheat Destroys Blood Sugar Two slices of whole wheat bread raise blood sugar higher than 6 teaspoons of table sugar. How does this happen when whole wheat is considered a complex carbohydrate that we are encouraged to eat more of? The complex carbohydrate of wheat is called Amylopectin A, which is highly sensitive to amylase, which we have in our stomach and mouth. This makes it very easy to digest and raises blood sugar rapidly -- even more rapidly and to a higher extent than pure table sugar. Wheat for breakfast, wheat for lunch, wheat for dinner, and wheat for snacks results in visceral fat that encircles the intestines, heart, liver and kidneys. Modern Wheat Causes Inflammation When bacteria or a virus enters the body our immune system responds in many ways. The lectin in wheat (Wheat Germ Agglutinin) is a four part complex molecule. Average Americans consume about 10-20 mg of the wheat lectin in a day, that’s enough to do a lot damage.
Spinach – What could be wrong with it? Everybody knows that spinach is great for us, right? After all, spinach is loaded with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, all of which are wonderful for our bodies. However, spinach and other dark leafy greens contain higher amounts of oxalic acid which is known to cause kidney stones or kidney damage if you take in too much for too long. Most information available says that for most people, you’d have to eat very large amounts of spinach and eat it chronically to actually see negative effects, so this seems to be yet another example of moderation is probably best. My takeaway... A small mixed greens salad each night with dinner is probably beneficial to our health, but a massive greens salad 2 or 3 times a day, every single day is probably too much and may cause problems with too much oxalic acid.
What Happens When We Remove Wheat From Our Diet? First of all, taking wheat out of the diet is not as easy as might think (although it IS easy if you simply avoid any and all processed foods) – wheat is in a lot of foods – even ones we would not associate with having wheat. For example, wheat is in Twizzlers, Campbells Tomato Soup, taco seasoning, frozen dinners, cereals, salad dressings, granola bars and a lot more. I am gluten free because I needed to be and 10+ years ago my eyes were opened wide with how much of our everyday foods have wheat in them. Impact of a Wheat-Free Diet Taking wheat out of the diet will result in the following: • Improved weight loss • Reduced appetite • Lowered blood sugar • Reduced joint pain • Reduced inflammation • Improvement in cognitive function • Reduced anxiety • Reduced food obsessions • Reduced blood pressure • Reduced triglycerides • Increased energy • Improved sleep So the questions comes to……What can I eat if I take wheat out of my diet? Most people make eating gluten-free and wheat-free seem too difficult, but it's actually quite simple and enjoyable... Eat real, single ingredient non-grain foods as much as possible... You can focus most of your diet on nuts, healthy fats, organic fruits/vegetables, grass-fed beef and bison, organic chicken and turkey, wild caught salmon, quality aged cheese, organic eggs, coconuts, avocados, seeds, olive oils, grass-fed butter, coconut oil, as well as a variety of other foods that are in their natural state. The more processed and refined a food is, the more likely it contains wheat and other byproducts of the refinement process that are just too dangerous to your health. Enjoy the amazing health benefits of eating wheat-free!
Coconut meat is the super-rich lining found inside the shell of a coconut. This juicy meat contains vitamins A and E, as well as polyphenols and phytosterols which work together to lower dangerous levels of LDL cholesterol. Interestingly, coconut meat is a staple food of the the Kitavans of Papua New Guinea and the Tokelaus of New Zealand – populations that have no incidence of stroke and heart disease. In addition, coconut meat contains high amounts of potassium, copper and manganese. In fact, one cup of coconut meat provides almost 70 percent of the daily recommended amount of manganese for women, and 52 percent for men. Manganese helps to break down proteins and fats and is essential in supporting a healthy immune and nervous system. It is also important for blood sugar regulation.
Coconut milk, like coconut oil, is high in saturated fat; however, it is a healthy saturated fat that the body easily breaks down and uses for energy and other bodily functions. This lactose-free, creamy milk contains antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties that boost the immune system. Recent research also shows that populations that consume coconut milk have low rates of heart disease. The milk, which is extracted from the coconut flesh, contains iron, selenium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, protein, potassium and vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6.
Volumes of research continue to stack up in favor of the astounding health benefits of coconut oil. Although coconut oil is about 90 percent saturated fat, it is good for the body. It contains about 50 percent lauric acid, which helps to prevent high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol ratios. The short and medium-chain fatty acids regulate thyroid and enzyme function and help with weight reduction. Coconut oil improves metabolism and takes stress off of the pancreas. This tropical wonder improves digestion and increases the absorption of vitamins, amino acids and minerals. Just the shortlist of the health-promoting benefits of coconut oil includes its potent antifungal, antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiviral properties. It has also been found that this tropical wonder can help to stabilize blood sugar levels, prevent heart disease and protect the brain from neurological disorders.
Known endearingly as the “fluid of life,” coconut water is the nutrient and mineral rich sap that is found within a coconut. The water is protected by the tough outer shell of the nut and is kept sterile and free from fungus, parasites and bacteria. Rich in natural vitamins, coconut water also contains minerals and trace elements including selenium, iodine, sulfur, zinc, manganese, organic acids, enzymes, phytonutrients and amino acids. It is relatively low in calories and sugar (compared to soft drinks), yet sweet tasting and refreshing. One of the best benefits of coconut water is that it is extremely high in potassium. As your body sweats during exercise or vigorous physical activity, your level of potassium drops. According to Nutrition-and-You, coconut water has approximately 250mg of potassium in every 100ml of water. According to Liz Applegate, Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of California, Davis, coconut water is great for replacing potassium if you are doing short workouts.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) High fructose corn syrup, is an isolated, chemically processed type of sugar, in which the ratio of fructose to glucose, is unbalanced, with a higher percentage of fructose content. The molecular structure of HFCS sends the fructose directly to the liver. When fructose is consumed and cannot immediately be used by the body for energy, the liver stores it as fat. High fructose corn syrup also spikes blood sugar quickly, contributing to insulin resistance, and can encourage fatty liver disease even more than regular sugar. It has been found by a significant body of research to be a primary player in America’s growing obesity epidemic, and is a factor in many chronic illnesses, as well, due to its contribution to chronic, system-wide inflammation. High fructose corn syrup appears in many foods on the market today, even those that are not sweet. Besides its obvious presence in sodas and many sweetened beverages, it can be found in soups, salad dressings, cheese products, condiments and microwave popcorns, to name only a few. Also, over 40 percent of the non-calorie sweeteners used in the US are derived from high fructose corn syrup. A 2014 study, performed at the University of Naples in Italy, found that even short-term intake of the typical Western diet, which includes high fructose content, was much worse for the liver than a high fat diet without the fructose. High fructose corn syrup is usually made from genetically modified corn, and has been found to contain contaminants including mercury. The presence of these contaminants places further stress on your liver. HFCS is also highly addictive, making you crave more and more of this dangerous substance. In fact, its addictive nature has been equated to that of cocaine.
If you want to eat truly healthy, support your fat loss goals, protect your body from inflammation, and avoid some of the nasty additives in processed food, one thing you should eliminate is typical store-bought salad dressing.
Here's why:
1. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain fairly significant amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Unless you're in a health food store, it's almost impossible to find a salad dressing that doesn't contain large amounts of HFCS.
2. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain heavily refined soybean oil and/or refined canola oil... both of which are VERY unhealthy. Yes, that's correct, canola oil IS unhealthy, despite the marketing propaganda you've been fed claiming that it's healthy.
Due to the refining process of both soybean or canola oils, the polyunsaturated component of the oils is oxidized and makes these oils very inflammatory inside your body. In addition, soybean oil is WAY too high in omega-6 fatty acids which throws your omega-6 to omega-3 balance out of whack. And as you know, most people already consume FAR too much omega-6 oils to begin with.
We know that olive oil is healthier, but when it comes to store-bought dressings... Even salad dressings that claim to be "made with olive oil" on the FRONT label are deceptive, because if you read the ingredients on the BACK label, they are almost ALWAYS made of mostly refined soybean oil or canola oil as the main oil, with only a very small amount of actual olive oil as a secondary oil.
What is lycopene?
Lycopene is an antioxidant that gives pink and red-colored fruits and veggies their hue. Lycopene has been widely studied for its role in protecting against cancer, and has also been found to improve heart health.
Research from the University of Cambridge found that lycopene improves blood vessel function in patients with cardiovascular disease. Patients who took 7 mg of oral lycopene improved the widening of blood vessels by 53 percent. This improvement was comparable to other studies that found improvement with 20 mg of the drug simvastatin.
Beyond this, lycopene had extended positive impacts beyond statin drugs in patients with atherosclerosis.
Eating a variety of foods that contain heart-protecting lycopene is a great idea for anyone seeking optimal wellness.
Heirloom tomatoes
We know that tomatoes boost heart health, help protect your vision, may lower the risk of some cancers and offer protection against brittle bones and UV damage to skin from burning.
Now we can add a nice surprise to that list: Confirmation that tomatoes and their stores of lycopene lower the risk of all arterial diseases, especially stroke. It seems that they reduce bad LDL cholesterol (a half-cup serving of tomato sauce every day can lower LDL cholesterol as much as statins) and slash overall inflammation.
It is usually a standard recommendation to cook tomatoes in order to make lycopene more nutritionally available. This is because the lycopene in red tomatoes (trans-lycopene) is hard to absorb by the intestines. However, orange heirloom tomatoes contain a type of lycopene called prolycopene, which is two and a half times easier for the body to absorb.
While cooking still releases more lycopene, this important nutrient is much more available to the body when eating raw, orange heirloom tomatoes than any other raw tomato. As lycopene is fat soluble, add a bit of organic olive oil to your tomatoes to get the most benefit.
According to Slow Food USA and Seed Savers Exchange, cultivating heirloom seeds is an ideal way to preserve a crop’s natural diversity. If you’d rather buy the tomatoes themselves, check your local farmer’s markets for exciting heirloom varieties. Your health – and the environment – will thank you.
Watermelon
Tomatoes are often the fruit most often associated with the antioxidant lycopene, yet watermelon accounts for the highest intake of lycopene in the United States. Most red-hued fruits and vegetables get their rich shades from anthocyanins, yet the watermelon can attribute its coloring to a high concentration of lycopene.
A unique aspect of the lycopene content of watermelon is that it doesn’t easily deteriorate. Cubed watermelon can retain its lycopene concentration for several days when refrigerated. Only a six to 11 percent breakdown occurs after seven days of proper storage.
Watermelon is also a very good source of the amino acid citrulline. Once consumed, citrulline is converted into another amino acid, arginine, by the kidneys. Arginine is an extremely important amino acid that some individuals don’t make enough of on their own. It helps improve blood flow and aids in multiple aspects of cardiovascular health.
Along with high concentrations of vitamins A and C, watermelon boasts another key nutrient: choline. Choline aids in numerous bodily functions including sleep, muscle movement and memory and learning comprehension. It also helps maintain the structure of cell membranes and acts as an anti-inflammatory.
The high concentrations of antioxidants and phytonutrients in watermelon certainly qualify it as a healthy summertime snack option. The potency of these compounds is known to increase with ripeness. The deeper red varieties boast higher concentrations than the pink or white-colored melons, yet concentration remains consistent throughout the entire melon, stretching far into the rind as well.
You may have started hearing in the news about some of the hidden chemicals that might be lurking in your canned foods and bottled water and other drinks. Some of them are known as xenoestrogens, which have the potential to cause serious health problems over time, as well as increase abdominal fat from the estrogenic effect.
Here are some important details about one of the MOST problematic chemicals that you're being exposed to specifically from canned foods and bottled drinks, etc...
It's called Bisphenol A (BPA).
BPA can be found as a component of some types of plastic bottles, and also in the lining inside of canned foods.
Since BPA is a known "xenoestrogen", it's been linked in animal studies (at surprisingly small doses) to all sorts of various health issues such as cancer, metabolic disorders, heart disease, diabetes, and fertility problems and birth defects or miscarriages... and of course, any xenoestrogens in large enough amounts can trigger your body to hold onto abdominal fat (aka - stubborn belly fat).
The major offenders to look for are polycarbonate bottles (some plastics with the #7 symbol on the bottom are polycarbonate, but not all) and also canned foods, since the lining of most canned foods contains BPA, which can leach into food. The longer that a can of food sits on a shelf and the higher the temperature, the more BPA can leach into your food. The same can be said for polycarbonate bottles that contain food or drinks.
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), BPA was detected in the bodies of 95% of Americans in one CDC study (this is a worldwide issue though, not just limited to the US). This is nothing to shrug off either... look at this scary finding...
The Environmental Working Group reports, "analysis of our tests reveals that for one of every five cans tested, and for one-third of all vegetables and pastas (ravioli and noodles with tomato sauce), a single serving would expose a pregnant woman to BPA at levels that fall within a factor of 5 of doses linked to birth defects — permanent damage of developing male reproductive organs".
If that didn't get your attention, how about this...
The EWG also reports evidence of... "An investigation demonstrating that low doses of BPA spur both the formation and growth of fat cells, the two factors that drive obesity in humans (Masumo et al. 2002)."
This is not surprising, since as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, BPA is a known xenoestrogen, and any xenoestrogens can contribute to what's been referred to as "stubborn abdominal fat" as well as cancer and other health problems.
It's also important to note that any canned tomato products (canned ravioli, pastas, canned tomato pastes, tomato sauces, etc) are some of the biggest offenders with the highest BPA concentrations due to the acidic nature of tomatoes, which leaches more of the BPA.
The Energy Drink Scam -- Do Energy Drinks Help You, or Can They Actually Make You Fat?
Are these "energy" drinks really any good for you?
Do they actually increase your energy?
Do they really have some sort of magical energy formula?
Will they help you lose weight?
First of all, let's look at what most of these energy drinks are usually made of. Most of them are simply carbonated water loaded with gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup (or other added sugars), caffeine, the amino acid taurine, and some crappy artificially-derived vitamins added for show to trick you into thinking there's something healthy about these concoctions.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or other syrups and sugars have empty calories that will go straight to your belly fat, and that are possibly even WORSE for you than plain old refined sugar. Some energy drinks use other added sugars instead of HFCS, but it doesn't really matter, because they are all gut-fattening empty calories with no nutritional benefit.
Another problem with artificial sweeteners is that there are some research studies that indicate artificial sweetener use leads people to inadvertently consume more calories and gain more weight in the long run... in addition to having a negative hormonal effect in the body.
What about the caffeine?
Well, first of all, caffeine doesn't in itself provide "energy". Technically, the only substance that actually provides energy is calories.
However, caffeine can be an aid for livening or waking some people up, by means of stimulating the central nervous system.
Keep in mind though, if you're a regular daily coffee drinker, and drink more than 1 cup of coffee per day, you probably have some level of addiction to caffeine and probably wouldn't receive too much benefit from the caffeine in an energy drink anyway.
Now what about that so called magical blend of taurine and B-vitamins that they load into these energy drinks?
Well, big deal...you get taurine in almost any protein source. And the vast majority of those artificially added B-vitamins are simply coming right out into the toilet in your pee. Vitamins are best obtained naturally from a REAL food source, not artificially added to some carbonated drink. Your body just doesn't use fake sources of vitamins as readily as natural sources from real food.
Instead, here's my recipe for my own home-made energy drink:
1. Make a big iced tea mixture using green tea, white tea, and yerba mate tea. I like to add a little fruit flavor, so I'll use 1 tea bag of a raspberry or blueberry hibiscus tea, and then use 2-3 green and/or white tea bags, and 2-3 yerba mate tea bags, and make a gallon container of iced tea. I just use a small amount of stevia to lightly sweeten the batch of tea.
2. I buy a container of organic coconut water from a health food store, or buy fresh coconuts to obtain the coconut water from the inside.
3. For my healthy energy drink, I mix a half of a glass of the white/green/yerba mate iced tea mixture and fill the rest of the glass with the coconut water.
This is actually a delicious and truly healthy energy drink instead of the chemical-laden crappy energy drinks that everybody is getting suckered into buying these days.
The green, white, and yerba mate teas contain a small dose of caffeine along with a diverse mixture of powerful antioxidants and synergistic phytochemicals. Plus, the coconut water is a rich source of electrolytes and a diversity of vitamins and minerals, including as much potassium as a banana, but with only 1/3 the amount of carbs and calories as a banana. Coconut water is known to provide a good instant energy source.
So enjoy this natural healthy energy drink, knowing that you're doing your body good instead of filling it with chemicals with normal store-bought energy drinks.
Soy Danger #1:
Hidden Toxins That Make You Store MORE Belly Fat
Hidden Toxins That Make You Store MORE Belly Fat
EVERY living organism in nature has some sort of defense mechanism.
While animals use obvious weapons like claws and teeth to survive, certain plants like soy use special toxins that are linked to several health problems, which can potentially screw up your hormones.
Here are 6 examples…
Natural toxins: Impair your digestive system.
Phytates: Prevent you from absorbing certain minerals.
Enzyme inhibitors: Hinder protein digestion.
Goitrogens: Interfere with your thyroid function and metabolism.
5. Phytoestrogens (Isoflavones): mimic the fat storing hormone estrogen. Also shown to increase your risks of hypothyroidism by 3 fold.
Haemaggluttin: Causes red blood cells to clump together and inhibits oxygen uptake and growth.
Now you can probably see why Asians have been using a process called "fermentation" for years now. It gets rid of most of the anti-nutrients, allergens and hormone-disrupting compounds found in raw soy beans.
But in North America, no one seems to care! And companies carelessly put hormone-disrupting raw soy in soymilk, soybean oil, soy patties and tofu – which increases fat storage, drains your energy, and HARMS your body.
Soy Danger #2:
Genetic Modification That DESTROYS Your Digestive Health & Immune System
Genetic Modification That DESTROYS Your Digestive Health & Immune System
What you may, or may NOT know, is that 93% of the soy grown in the US has been genetically modified by the food giant Monsanto.
You might be downplaying this like it's no big deal, but researchers have discovered that the Bt toxin inside GMO soy that's supposed to repel bugs accumulates inside your gut, slowly leaching TOXIC pesticides into your body.
In fact, latest statistics show this dangerous and fattening toxin can be found in the gut of 93% of pregnant women and 80% of unborn babies...
(It's no wonder GMO foods have been banned from several countries now, even though the FDA does NOTHING about it...)
Soy Danger #3:
Heavy Chemical Processing That Harms Your Body and Ages You FASTER...
Heavy Chemical Processing That Harms Your Body and Ages You FASTER...
Soybean oil, soy protein and other popular forms that are touted as "healthy" are all heavily processed, which presents ALL kinds of problems.
Here's why: natural plant oils inside soy plants are very fragile, so they instantly become damaged and inflammatory the second they're exposed to heat, oxygen, or even sunlight.
That's why soy products contain so many inflammatory compounds like trans-4-hydroxy-2-hexenal (HNE), a byproduct that SPEEDS up the aging process.
This same compound is found in large amounts inside the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease. (4)
This same compound is found in large amounts inside the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease. (4)
And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse: many soy products are processed and extracted with hexane, a dangerous byproduct of gasoline refining.
Soybeans are left soaking in a toxic hexane bath for hours on end in order to squeeze every tiny bit of oil possible. After that, the hexane is completely removed by evaporation.
At least that's what is supposed to happen. In reality, studies by the EPA clearly show that hexane can still be found in soybean oil and isolated soy protein.
Discover The DARK Side of Soy…
Are YOU One Of The 81% Americans Eating This So-Called "Healthy" Plant Food PROVEN To Age You Faster, Increase Belly Fat And Disrupt Your Hormones?
As you'll soon discover, soy foods might be one of the darkest food scams in History.
Over 81% of Americans have been convinced and deceived into believing that soybean oil and other soy products like soy milk, soy patties and tofu can help you burn more belly fat.
In reality it's the complete opposite.
New studies from independent sources now reveal that soy products age you faster, increase your belly fat and disrupt your hormones.
So what steps can you take to minimize your exposure to BPA and it's negative effects on bodyfat and other health risks?
1. Try to always avoid canned foods as much as possible and choose frozen or fresh foods instead. Buy the ingredients yourself and prepare the meal the old fashioned way instead of resorting to canned foods. Also, a better alternative to canned foods is products in glass containers.
2. If you do resort to using canned foods instead of fresh foods, try to find labels that say that the cans are free of BPA.
3. If you need tomato products, always avoid canned varieties and search for tomato sauces, pastes, etc in glass bottles instead (unless the can specifically states that it is BPA-free). Or just make your own tomato dishes from scratch with fresh tomatoes.
4. If you use plastic wrap, plastic ziplock bags, plastic containers for food storage, etc, try to investigate on the label if the product is BPA-free or not. Some brands packaging will label if their products are BPA-free.
5. If you for some reason choose to use a microwave with your food, then by all means, do not microwave the food in plastic containers as it can increase the leaching of chemicals including BPA.
6. If you drink bottled water, or water from reusable plastic bottles, make sure that it is not a polycarbonate bottle, or make sure that the label says BPA-free. Plastic that shows #7 on the bottom will sometimes contain BPA, but not always. If a bottle shows "PC" on the bottom, it is made from polycarbonate, so it will contain BPA. In addition, sometimes aluminum bottles will contain a lining that has BPA, so avoid these.
7. Avoid soda cans, as the EWG states analysis showed that 42% of soda cans contained BPA. Of course, if you care about your health and your body, I'm sure you never drink soda anyway -- it's pure evil for your body... and yes, that includes unhealthy diet soda too, with it's dangerous artificial sweeteners.
8. Never use plastic cups for hot liquids such as hot tea or coffee, as this can accelerate leaching of BPA and other chemicals, depending on the type of plastic.
9. As much as you can try to avoid BPA and other xenoestrogens, you will most likely still be exposed to some levels of xenoestrogens from various chemicals in your foods (from pesticide/herbicide residues, packaging chemicals, etc), chemicals in your water supply, chemicals from cosmetics, lotions, etc.
However, you can help to protect yourself and counteract these harmful xenoestrogen chemicals in your body with certain powerful phytonutrients in foods like onions, garlic, chamomile and green teas, and cruciferious vegetables.
If you stick to most of these guidelines, you can help to protect yourself and your family from the health dangers of bisphenol-A (BPA). And you can also help protect yourself against the issue of "stubborn abdominal fat" that can be caused by the xenoestrogen effect of BPA exposure too... which I'm sure you'd rather avoid!
Did you know that when you eat food at the wrong times, it can literally make ALL the difference between losing fat or gaining fat?
In fact, if you don't understand proper meal timing, it can SLOW down your metabolism, destroy your energy levels, and STOP your body from using fat as fuel, which means the majority of calories you eat TODAY could easily be stored as belly fat making you fatter and fatter with every bite.
Simply put, if you eat food at the wrong times, you'll STORE fat, but if you eat food at the right times, you'll keep your body BURNING fat.
Did you also know that traditional food timing recommendations, like "don't skip breakfast"… or "don't eat late at night"…or "make sure to eat before exercise" are ALL complete myths?
Contrary to popular belief, you should intentionally BREAK all 3 of these traditional "diet rules" if your goals are to look younger, increase your fat loss, and boost energy levels.
As with most weight loss topics, the contradicting information is everywhere when it comes to the subject of food timing and losing unsightly belly fat.
All you have to do is follow these 3 simple steps to ensure that EVERY time you eat your favorite foods you'll speed up calorie burning, STOP your metabolism from slowing down, and keep your body's fat burning hormones at optimal levels day in and day out.
Food Timing Trick #1:
SKIP Breakfast (it INCREASES your fat storing hormones)
SKIP Breakfast (it INCREASES your fat storing hormones)
Breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day - right?
Our culture has bought into the fact that if we don't eat breakfast our metabolism will slow down, we'll get intense cravings, lose energy, and it will be harder to lose weight and burn fat
But published scientific research is now proving otherwise. Here are 3 myths we've all been programmed to believe about eating breakfast for long term health and weight loss.
MYTH #1: Breakfast Increases Your Metabolism
The whole idea that not eating a big breakfast will somehow slow down your metabolism is simply not true.
In a recent paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [1], researchers delved into dozens of studies to uncover the relationship between eating breakfast and increased metabolic rate.
The researchers concluded that breakfast being the most important meal of the day is merely nothing but a shared belief. That's it. In other words, there is ZERO long term research indicating or proving that eating breakfast leads to lower body fat or increased metabolism.
MYTH #2: Eating Breakfast Helps Control Your Hunger
In fact, the exact opposite happens.
Typical breakfast foods like orange juice and wheat toast will spike insulin levels, sending your fat storage hormones soaring SKY high, making you go on a hunger binge—all while putting your body directly into a fat STORING environment.
MYTH #3: Breakfast Helps You Control Weight And Lose Fat
There are tons of studies out there that claim eating a big, well balanced breakfast helps promote weight loss. But in reality there are NO long term studies that show a direct correlation between eating breakfast and weight loss.
In fact, according to Time Magazine [3]….
"...contrary to popular belief, having breakfast every day was NOT tied to an improvement in metabolism. Prior thought—supported by research—has shown that eating early in the day can prevent people from overeating later out of hunger, and it boosts their metabolism early. The new study which examined causal links between breakfast habits and energy balance did NOT prove that."
Bottom Line: Eating Breakfast Does NOT Aid Weight Loss Efforts
In fact, SKIPPING breakfast altogether (a form of intermittent fasting) and eating your calories later in the day, say between 11am to 7pm or 12pm to 8pm, has been shown to increase anti-aging Growth Hormone [4], while BOOSTING your immune system [5] and regulating your hunger hormone (Ghrelin).
It also normalizes insulin sensitivity, balances leptin levels (i.e. your #1 fat burning hormone), and even reduces oxidative stress by decreasing free radicals, helping you LOOK younger.
Mounting evidence also confirms that when you skip breakfast and use some form of intermittent fasting, your body becomes adapted to burning FAT (instead of sugar) as its primary fuel, which can make you LEANER, while dramatically reducing your risk of chronic disease.
And for all you breakfast lovers out there? Feel free to have a "light" breakfast, but make sure you AVOID traditional high carb breakfast foods that spike your insulin like bagels, toast, and orange juice.
Stick with light protein sources, like farm fresh whole eggs, along with some low glycemic fruits (like berries or cherries). This will help keep your body in "fat burning mode" for the rest of the day.
Food Timing Trick #2:
NEVER Eat Food BEFORE You Exercise (it STOPS your body from burning fat)
NEVER Eat Food BEFORE You Exercise (it STOPS your body from burning fat)
Eating a balanced meal before exercise is often HIGHLY recommended and considered a "healthy" choice to help you lose weight, but in reality it can actually STOP your body from burning fat
Even when you eat healthy food before exercise you'll still raise insulin (your body's #1 STORAGE hormone), which BLOCKS your body's ability to burn fat.
Additionally, if you eat before exercise your body will be so busy digesting and burning off the food you just ate, which is great if you're a bodybuilder looking to gain muscle—but it makes it impossible for you use fat as a fuel source.
Instead, the BEST time to eat food is at LEAST 3 to 4 hours before you exercise. This will ensure there is enough time after you eat to allow insulin levels to stabilize, which will KEEP your body in a fat BURNING environment before, during, and after your workouts.
In fact, recent research suggests "fasting" before exercise may help you shed fat. This happens because your body's fat burning processes are controlled by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is "activated" by two things: exercise and lack of food. The combination of fasting and exercising together increases the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.
Food Timing Trick #3:
Eat Late At Night (even BEFORE bed if you want!)
Eat Late At Night (even BEFORE bed if you want!)
Are you paranoid or afraid of eating late at night from the fear of gaining unwanted weight?
Well, there is really only ONE reason not eating after 6pm will help you lose more weight. You automatically end up eating LESS, which creates more of a calorie deficit. It's really that simple. It has NOTHING to do with eating late at night.
As long as you fast for a few hours before bed to let blood sugar levels return to normal levels before going to bed, which helps you release more Growth Hormone while you sleep… you can feel free to eat your biggest meal of the day well after 6pm if you want.
Why Wheat is KILLING you -- Yes, even "whole wheat"
There are 3 main reasons why wheat is a terrible food for your body and does more harm than good...
Reason #1 -- Wheat causes blood sugar disruption, Glycation of your cells, increases AGING, weight gain & boosts Diabetes risk
Before I tell you why wheat can actually speed up the aging process in your body, let's clarify some simple biochemistry in your body...
This deals with "glycation" in your body, and substances called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). These nasty little compounds called AGEs speed up the aging process in your body including damage over time to your organs, your joints, and of course, wrinkled skin.
So with that said, what is one of the biggest factors that increase production of AGEs inside your body? This may surprise you, but high blood sugar levels over time dramatically increase age-accelerating AGEs in your body. This is why type 2 diabetics many times appear that they have not aged well and look older than their real age. But this age-increasing effect is NOT just limited to diabetics.
So, let's get back to how "whole wheat" relates to this...
Here is a little-known fact that's often covered up by the massive marketing campaigns by giant food companies that want you to believe that "whole wheat" is healthy for you... but the fact is that wheat contains a very unusual type of carbohydrate (not found in other foods) called Amylopectin-A, which has been found in some tests to spike your blood sugar HIGHER than even pure table sugar.
Here is a little-known fact that's often covered up by the massive marketing campaigns by giant food companies that want you to believe that "whole wheat" is healthy for you... but the fact is that wheat contains a very unusual type of carbohydrate (not found in other foods) called Amylopectin-A, which has been found in some tests to spike your blood sugar HIGHER than even pure table sugar.
In fact, amylopectin-A (from wheat) raises your blood sugar MORE than almost any other carbohydrate source on earth based on blood sugar response testing that's documented in studies.
This means that wheat-based foods such as breads, bagels, cereals, muffins, and other baked goods often cause MUCH higher blood sugar levels than most other carbohydrate sources. If you don't believe me, here's something you should know... I ran personal blood sugar tests on myself using a blood glucometer about 45 minutes after eating 2 slices of wheat bread vs eating a bowl of oatmeal, with equivalent grams of carbohydrates.
The blood sugar test results of wheat vs oatmeal:
2 slices of whole wheat toast:
45 minutes after consumption: Blood sugar spiked from 86 fasting level to 155
1 Bowl of Oatmeal (equivalent grams of carbs to 2 slices wheat toast)
45 minutes after consumption: Blood sugar increased from 86 fasting level to 112
As you know now, the higher your average blood sugar levels are over time, the more AGEs are formed inside your body, which makes you age FASTER. Clearly, the whole wheat spiked blood sugar MUCH higher than the oatmeal, and if you don't know, 155 is a massive blood sugar reading that will certainly contribute to faster aging if you eat wheat frequently... and most people eat wheat without even thinking about it at almost EVERY meal...Yikes!
45 minutes after consumption: Blood sugar spiked from 86 fasting level to 155
1 Bowl of Oatmeal (equivalent grams of carbs to 2 slices wheat toast)
45 minutes after consumption: Blood sugar increased from 86 fasting level to 112
As you know now, the higher your average blood sugar levels are over time, the more AGEs are formed inside your body, which makes you age FASTER. Clearly, the whole wheat spiked blood sugar MUCH higher than the oatmeal, and if you don't know, 155 is a massive blood sugar reading that will certainly contribute to faster aging if you eat wheat frequently... and most people eat wheat without even thinking about it at almost EVERY meal...Yikes!
Not only that, but the high blood sugar spikes caused by wheat also makes your body pump out more insulin which makes you pack on more body fat... Not fun at all!
These massive blood sugar spikes from eating wheat daily also cause damage over time to your blood sugar regulation system, harming your pancreas, causing insulin resistance, and eventually causing type 2 Diabetes. I think we have a strong case against eating so-called "healthy" wheat!
Reason #2 -- Gluten and other gut-damaging compounds
The topic of gluten is on fire in the media lately... But most people are confused as to whether there's any real health risks with gluten for the average person that doesn't have Celiac disease.
The truth is that even if you are not officially "gluten intolerant" or "gluten sensitive", there are hundreds of published studies that indicate that gluten can cause inflammation in your digestive system, and even cause "permeability" in your gut, which can lead to a health condition that's on the rise lately called Leaky Gut, as well as other digestive issues and autoimmune problems.
Scientists theorize that the reason gluten is causing these digestive system problems is due to the excessive hybridization of wheat over the last 50 years, which has created newly modified gluten molecules that are foreign to the human digestive system compared to the ancient wheat that humans ate for several thousand years historically, and even compared to the wheat that your grandparents ate 50+ years ago.
Reason #3 -- Antinutrients and mineral blockers in wheat
The third reason that wheat is terrible for you is that it contains what's called "antinutrients", which are naturally occurring compounds in the wheat plant, but can cause undesirable effects in humans that eat too much of them. One of these antinutrients is called phytates, which blocks the absorption in your body of certain minerals like zinc, iron, manganese, and calcium if you eat wheat too often.
Again, most people eat wheat with almost every meal (cereal in the morning, bread on sandwich at lunch, and pasta or bread at dinner), so this can cause a mineral deficiency in your body over time that leads to many health conditions.
Wheat has other mineral blockers and antinutrients aside from phytates, such as lectins. Lectins are another constituent of wheat that causes gut irritation. Yet another reason to minimize or eliminate wheat from your diet. There's absolutely nothing "essential" about wheat in the human diet...It simply does more harm than good...period.
Many people often ask me... "But what about the FIBER in wheat? I thought that's why it's supposed to be healthy?"
Sorry, you can get ALL of the fiber you need from fruits, veggies, and nuts, without the digestive system damage and massive blood sugar issues that are caused by wheat.
Why Vegetable oil is KILLING you...
Although vegetable oil has a healthy sounding name, it's NOT made from vegetables...As you might already know, vegetable oil actually comes from any combination of corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, safflower oil, and/or cottonseed oil, ALL of which are absolutely terrible for your health.
In fact, they are downright deadly, and I'm not exaggerating. Here's why...
Reason #1 -- Vegetable oils usually contain deadly trans fats, even if non-hydrogenated
Remember trans fats are deadly, they can kill you and DAMAGE your cell membranes in your body...leading to all sorts of scary health problems like cancer, obesity, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and more.
Even, non-hydrogenated vegetable oils (all vegetable oils are refined) also contain some trans fats due to the extremely high heat, solvents, and pressure they are exposed to during the refining process. And yes, this includes so-called "expeller pressed" vegetable oils as well.
All of this high heat and high pressure processing along with the use of hexane solvents actually forces some of the polyunsaturated content of vegetable oils (yes, even so-called "healthy" canola oil) to be transformed into trans fats.
Reason #2 -- Vegetable oils contain oxidized "mutated fats" that are worse than trans fat & CAUSE heart attacks
All vegetable oils contain oxidized fats due to the refining process and chemical reactions with the polyunsaturated fat content of vegetable oils. Expert Nutrition author, Catherine Shanahan, MD, calls the fats in vegetable oils "MegaTrans", because they are similar in chemistry to trans fats, but even WORSE.
And MegaTrans from vegetable oils are found in almost ALL processed packaged foods, as well as virtually ALL restaurant fryers.
Free radicals formed during the refining of vegetable oils create these "mutant" fats, which damage your cell membranes & chromosomes, and create massive inflammation in your body.The free radicals in vegetable oils also damage your arteries, which can directly lead to a heart attack.
Think about THAT next time you order the fries with that sandwich on the menu! It really is THAT serious. Always ask to replace french fries that come with most meals with side veggies, fruit, or a salad instead. That may very well be the difference between dying tomorrow or enjoying many more years on this beautiful planet.
Reason #3 -- Vegetable oils cause massive imbalances with your Omega-6 to Omega-3 fats ratio
One of the other MAJOR reasons that vegetable oils are killing you is they are mostly made up of inflammatory omega-6 fats, while having very little anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats.
The healthiest ratio from the scientific literature appears to be a ratio of 2:1 or even 1:1 for your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. However, most vegetable oils skew your ratio as high as 20:1 or even 30:1 in favor of harmful inflammatory omega-6 fats.
And worse yet, these omega-6 fats are NOT the innocent type found in nuts, they are the "mutant" damaged MegaTrans type that harm the tissues of your body.
This Omega fat imbalance can be YET another reason why vegetable oils lead to heart disease, cancer, obesity, and many other degenerative diseases that WILL shorten your life significantly if you don't cut out the vegetable oils ASAP.
Why Sugar is KILLING you... You can't just "burn off" sugar...
It's not as simple as just "burning off sugar" -- It's about what sugar does internally to the cells of your body, and how sugar gums up your internal workings, causing disease.
If you knew exactly why sugar is so bad for you and exactly what it does to your cells in your body, I promise that you would think twice about eating that piece of cake, candy, sugary soft drink, fruit juice, or ice cream, or feeding them to your children.
Here are just a few of the reasons that sugar is killing you...
- Sugar causes extreme fluctuations in your blood sugar, and excess blood sugar causes Glycation inside your body, which accelerates the rate of aging of your organs, skin, arteries, and joints.
- Sugar also raises your triglycerides to dangerous levels, which can lead you to heart disease.
- Eating sugar too frequently also causes type 2 diabetes in the long run because you wear out your pancreas and insulin sensitivity.
- Sugar also slows down your white blood cells, making infection more likely, and even allowing CANCER cells a better chance to form in your body.
Scary stuff huh!
Of course, you already know that sugar makes you fat, and gives you excess calories without any beneficial nutrients whatsoever. Small amounts of natural sugar like, honey, are not a problem. The REAL damage occurs when you eat that piece of cake and ingest 40-50 grams of sugar in one sitting, or that bag of candy with 35+ grams of sugar, or that soft drink with 45 grams of sugar or more... Or even that so-called "healthy" smoothie at the local smoothie shop that contains a whopping 80 grams of sugar because of all of the fruit syrups they use in them.
Did you know…..
Soymilk is actually HORRIBLE for your waistline and body’s hormones?
Much of the soy you have access to is actually full of antinutrients that cause inflammation, faster aging of your body, and a whole lot of other health problems.
Alternatives to soymilk? Coconut milk and Almond milk. They are both great sources of healthy fats and protein and they taste AMAZING!!
Trick #1 to Eat Less -- Several studies prove that the size of the bowl, plate, or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume.
Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls had eaten 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. Interesting huh!
Another study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms that were left in the hallway of an apartment building. A sign next to the bowl told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.
People who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.
The lesson -- Use smaller plates, bowls, and silverware and you may inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!
Trick #2 to Eat Less -- You've probably heard before that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and thereby shut off your appetite before you've eaten too much.
However, this study below found a twist on this!
According to Mr. Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:
a) their normal rate
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)
The results were interesting... Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that's weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. Why? I have no idea, but those are interesting results!
Mr. Wiseman stated that the lesson here to eat less is "to start at your normal speed but then savor each and every mouthful".
Trick #3 to Eat Less -- According to the book 59 Seconds, a series of experiments conducted in offices compared putting chocolates right on people's desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars. When the chocolates were placed on the person's desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.
Just shows... out of sight, out of mind! Recommendation: never have junk food around your house at all...that way, you're never tempted by it and you're forced to only eat healthy foods... but then you can use your weekly treat meals to eat junk food out at a restaurant. That way the junk food is never in your house to begin with!
Trick #4 to Eat Less -- This trick was reported based on a Georgia Tech study. The study essentially found that people tend to subconsciously eat bigger portions of food when their plate is the same color as their food.
It seems like an odd association, but remember that a lot of these are always subconscious things that we don't realize are happening. In this particular study, the scientists theorized that less color contrast between plate and food makes our brains work harder to figure out appropriate portion sizes. More color contrast between plate and food would make people eat slightly smaller portions subconsciously.
Trick #5 to Eat Less -- Studies have found that people eat significantly more when they are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions. In one experiment mentioned in the book 59 Seconds, people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly larger amounts of popcorn compared to those that were paying less attention to the movie.
In another experiment, people who actively listened to a detective story during lunch (being distracted by the story), ate 15% more food than those who sat in silence during their lunch.
The lesson -- ditch the TV and other distractions and focus on your food! Enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.
Heart Healthy Vegetable Oil
Have you ever reached for that bottle of vegetable oil on the grocery store shelf because the label read "heart healthy?"
Industrial vegetable oils found in the supermarket typically contain .56 to 4.2% of their fatty acid as trans fats, which are highly toxic. Trans fats are actually "fake" fats. They're known to clog arteries, increase levels of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, and lower HDL, or "good" cholesterol. Eating too many trans fats causes an overload of inflammation, a main factor in many chronic diseases, as well as weight gain.
The heat and harsh chemicals used to extract oil from vegetables, including bleaching and the toxic solvent hexane, actually destroys some of its vitamins and antioxidants. In later stages of processing, even more chemicals are injected in to "improve" the color and odor. Not only that, but overheating vegetable oils - which is typically what's done when cooking with them, releases compounds that can damage lungs and potentially cause cancer.
Not only that, but almost all vegetable oils are damaged and rancid from their processing and also contain high amounts of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids, both of which cause massive inflammation throughout your body that can possibly lead to heart disease, cancer, digestive disorders, and joint problems.
Remember that inflammatory vegetable oils are used in almost every type of fried food at most restaurants, and any type of processed food that contains vegetable oils such as potato chips and many snack foods.
Despite the healthy sounding name of "vegetable oil", the fact is that vegetable oils do NOT come from vegetables... This is a generic term that usually means any combination of soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, or other heavily refined processed omega-6 based oils that are all bad for you.
So what should you use instead?
For high heat cooking, use organic extra virgin coconut oil which contains medium chain fatty acids that are resistant to high heat. They also turn into ketone bodies in the liver which provide energy to the brain and are known to help improve all types of health problems.
Energy/Protein/Breakfast Bars
Those prettily packaged bars advertised to boost energy, provide protein or as a "healthy" substitute for breakfast are another one of the worst offenders. Most are highly processed products - really just a candy bar in disguise - filled with sugar, high fructose corn syrup and even trans fats as well as artificial sweeteners.
If you read the label of a Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Strawberry Yogurt Bar, for example, you'll see that it has just 130 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately not. Many of its ingredients aren't technically food - it packs a ton of sugar and even contains Red Dye #40. While it's a pretty color, its effects are anything but, with just a few of the reported symptoms including migraines, inability to concentrate, nervousness and upset stomach. Children have been found to be especially sensitive to Red 40, exhibiting symptoms like temper tantrums and aggressive behavior.
If you need a boost of energy or are looking to meet your body's protein needs after a workout, grab a small handful of raw, organic almonds instead! They make the perfect convenient snack that you can take with you wherever you go.
"Healthy" Breakfast Cereals
You probably know to avoid sugary cereals like Lucky Charms or Cocoa Pebbles, but most breakfast cereals, even those with health claims like "whole grain," are often loaded with refined blood sugar spiking carbs and sugars. Manufacturers fortify them with a few synthetic vitamins, a small amount of whole grains, and then market the product as "healthy."
Some cereals even contain preservatives like BHA and BHT which are linked to an increase risk of cancer. Not only that, but you may be getting a dose of unhealthy trans fats disguised under a new name: "monoglycerides."
But the WORST thing about most cereals, even so-called "whole grain" cereals is that they ALL cause a significant spike in your blood sugar which results in a cascade of fat storing hormones to be released in your body, and causes more carb cravings later in the day. This is NOT the way to start your day if you care about your waistline!
Not only that, but any cereals with wheat ingredients in them can possibly cause gut inflammation and long term gut damage from too much gluten. Think those corn-based cereals are better than wheat? Think again! Corn-based cereals are almost always made with GMO corn, which has many scientists very concerned about long term health threats. And rice-based cereals (krispies, etc) aren't much better, as they cause just as high of a blood sugar spike as pure table sugar... Ouch!
Instead of cereal in the morning, try a bowl of plain greek yogurt (which is loaded with healthy gut probiotics AND protein) and add in fresh, organic berries, nuts, and a little stevia or vanilla protein for a little added sweetness. This breakfast will leave you leaner, keep your blood sugar and hormones balanced, and give your body much less toxic load than cereals.
Example #1: Product claiming "Better than peanut butter" by being a low-fat peanut butter
What I'm talking about here are the types of peanut butter that claim to be "lower-fat peanut butter"... But remember that "low-fat" many times just means more added sugars and carbs to replace the fats they took out. Not good!
First of all, if you buy a good simple peanut butter (organic is best), it is usually nothing but 2 ingredients... peanuts and salt.
Note: Remember to always avoid peanut butters that contain harmful hydrogenated oils. Peanut butter that contains palm oil is a better alternative than added hydrogenated oils... but natural peanut butter with just peanuts and salt is best.
This counterfeit peanut butter may be lower in fat (by removing the healthy fats), but it's also higher in sugar and total carbohydrates, bringing the calorie total pretty close to regular peanut butter, and having a much higher blood sugar impact than just plain high-fat peanut butter.
Example #2: Product claiming to be "better than eggs".
Better Than eggs, was Basically, just egg whites with a bunch of added chemical colorings, flavorings, and other nonsense, including fake added vitamins.
Again, this product has essentially ruined a good thing by removing the healthiest part... the YOLKS! And yes, the yolks ARE the healthiest part of the egg.
The important thing to look for in quality whole eggs are cage-free and organic, and also the diet that the hens ate.
Your best bet is to find a local farmer that raises hens to roam outside and eat bugs, etc. or look for organic, free-range eggs, and also brands that claim higher amounts of DHA or omega-3's at the grocery store.
Example #3: A product claiming to be "better than butter".
Margarine is NOT better than butter. Margarine is loaded with highly processed and deadly trans fats and refined vegetable oils (known now to be almost as harmful as trans fats).
Even low quality butter is healthier than ANY margarine. One problem with butter can be pesticides and hormones from improperly raised cows in confinement.
For this reason, you always want to choose organic butter, and preferably, if you can find "grass-fed" organic butter, then that is the absolute healthiest butter for you. In fact, a little known fact is that adding a little butter to your steamed vegetables helps your body to absorb more of the vitamins and minerals in the veggies. It's true...having veggies with a fat source aids your assimilation of vitamins and minerals.
Most cereals (even "whole grain" or "high fiber") cause extreme harm to your hormones and create runaway blood sugar in your body
One of the WORST things about most cereals, even so-called "whole grain" cereals is that they ALL cause a significant spike in your blood sugar (regardless of whether they are wheat, rice, or corn based) to dangerously high levels, which results in fat storing hormones to be released in your body, and causes more carb cravings later in the day. This is NOT the way to start your day if you care about your waistline or how much belly fat that you have.
In fact, even cereals that have added fiber (such as bran flakes or raisin bran) have been found to cause just as much of a massive spike in blood sugar as the low-fiber cereals such as rice or corn based cereals.
Those massive spikes in your blood sugar essentially damage your cells in your body through a process called glycation, which accelerates the rate of aging in your joints, skin, organs, and even your brain. Ouch... That tiger on the cereal commercials is never going to warn you about that!
And speaking of hormones, another effect of high blood sugar is that it blunts the ability of your body to release growth hormone (aka, the youth hormone), so if you want to look and feel younger, cereals are NOT helping you in that department!
Note: Regarding the claims that cereals are a "good source of vitamins and minerals", this is actually FALSE... The majority of vitamins and minerals in most cereals are not naturally occurring, but rather, are synthetically added vitamins, which have been proven to be less absorbed than natural vitamins and potentially even harmful in some cases. As an example, synthetic vitamin E is shown in some studies to be harmful to us, while natural vitamin E is beneficial.
Crunching your way to Diabetes and belly fat every morning?
Think about this next time you're gobbling down that bowl of bran flakes, rice puffs, or wheat bisquits while you're running out the door in the morning...
The more cereal you eat, the more you constantly stress your pancreas and other organs involved in controlling your blood sugar. Insulin levels surge every day to try to control your massive blood sugar attacks from all that cereal, and eventually, your insulin sensitivity suffers, leading many people to type 2 Diabetes, and a life of injecting insulin with needles and stabbing your fingers every day for blood tests 3-5x every day of your life.
Not only that, but causing high insulin levels in your body every morning by eating cereal also triggers your body to STORE body fat. So if you want to be lean, cereal is directly going against your goal, and only making you fatter!
Gut Inflammation and even gut damage?
More bad news about cereal...
Any cereals with wheat ingredients in them can possibly cause gut inflammation and long term gut damage from too much gluten and lectins, even if you're not officially gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive.
Think those corn-based cereals are better than wheat? Think again! Corn-based cereals are almost always made with GMO corn, which has many scientists very concerned about long term health threats, since there are no long term studies on the effects of GMO corn to your health, as well as your children's health.
And rice-based cereals (krispies, etc) aren't much better, as they cause just as high of a blood sugar spike as pure table sugar... Ouch!
Cereal causes CRAVINGS for more carbs later in the day, leading to excess calories
The blood sugar spike and subsequent insulin surge from your morning cereal makes your body to try to get all that sugar out of your blood and into cells (usually fat cells), and that causes a big drop in your blood sugar hours later. This makes you CRAVE more carb-based or sugary foods later in the day.
The result of this is a constant wild roller coaster ride of blood sugar and insulin all day long, leading you to eat more calories in any given day.
Healthier alternatives to cereal that are still QUICK (helping you to be a fat-burner instead of carb-burner)
Instead of the typical cereal in the morning, try a bowl of plain greek full-fat organic yogurt and add in a handful of fresh, organic berries (or frozen wild blueberries), a handful of nuts such as either almonds or pecans, and a little stevia or vanilla protein for a little added sweetness if you need it.
This breakfast will leave you leaner, keep your blood sugar, energy levels, and hormones balanced for the day, and prevent cravings for more starchy and sugary carbs later in the day.
Another option is simply any combination of eggs, veggies, avocado, and even organic breakfast meat if you want.
And yet another option is to make a shake. You can add fruits, veggies, healthy fats, to it to make it taste the way you want.
Are you taking a multi-vitamin as a nutritional supplement?
If so, you may be doing yourself more harm than good. And you're not the only one. According to Nutrition Business Journal, more than 150 million people in the U.S. alone take a multi-vitamin every day—not knowing that they're putting their health at risk and wasting their money.
If so, you may be doing yourself more harm than good. And you're not the only one. According to Nutrition Business Journal, more than 150 million people in the U.S. alone take a multi-vitamin every day—not knowing that they're putting their health at risk and wasting their money.
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Multi-Vitamins May be Hazardous to
Your Health—May Even Cause Cancer and Premature Death
According to the world's largest study on multi-vitamins, people who take multi-vitamin supplements are not gaining health benefits. In fact, multi-vitamins could be hazardous to your health… may cause cancer and increase your chance of premature death.
The National Cancer Institute states: "Taking multi-vitamins doesn't solve the problem—it is impossible to capture all of the vitamins, minerals, disease-fighting [nutrients] ... in a pill." |
Multi-Vitamins May Be Killing You Slowly!
New research conducted at the University of Minnesota by nutritional epidemiologist, Jaakko Mursu, recently revealed SHOCKING links between multi-vitamins and increased death rates.
Mursu's research followed a group of 38,000 women, who were studied for nearly 2 decades. The research results were recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showing that women who took multivitamins were 6% more likely to die than those not taking them. Mursu's team also found higher odds of death associated with several other pill-form supplements—showing up to 45% higher risk of death!
Question: If you have a 6% to 45% higher risk of death by taking multi-vitamins, why take them at all?
Mursu's research followed a group of 38,000 women, who were studied for nearly 2 decades. The research results were recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showing that women who took multivitamins were 6% more likely to die than those not taking them. Mursu's team also found higher odds of death associated with several other pill-form supplements—showing up to 45% higher risk of death!
Question: If you have a 6% to 45% higher risk of death by taking multi-vitamins, why take them at all?
The Healthy Alternative to Multi-Vitamins
Chances are, the reason you're taking multi-vitamins is because you're not getting enough nutrition from the food you eat. You're "hoping" that multi-vitamins will make up for your poor eating habits.
Since you simply can no longer accept the health dangers that your multi-vitamin exposes you to, there's a BETTER way to get the nutrition your body needs—and supercharge your health at the same time.
Since you simply can no longer accept the health dangers that your multi-vitamin exposes you to, there's a BETTER way to get the nutrition your body needs—and supercharge your health at the same time.
Shakeology is a meal replacement shake that is full of 70+ super foods. It the most nutrient-dense superfood shake in the world! Unlike multi-vitamins, this whole-food synergistic combination of superfoods (in powder form) is recognized by your body as food—and once absorbed and utilized, is the fastest way to radically transform your health.
The dirty truth about canola oil is...
Yes, it's true that canola oil is high in monounsaturates, but let me explain why canola oil is anything but "healthy".
Canola oil is made from something called rapeseed. Rapeseed actually had to be bred over the years to reduce the percentage of a problematic component of rapeseed, which is erucic acid.
Let's look at the REAL issues with canola oil:
Canola oil typically ranges between 55-65% monounsaturated fat and between 28-35% polyunsaturated fat, with just a small amount of saturated fat.
While we've been led to believe that high monounsaturated fat oils are good for us (which they are in the case of virgin olive oil, avocados or from unprocessed nuts or seeds), the fact is that canola oil has more detriments than it does benefits.
One of the biggest problems with highly processed and refined vegetable oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, and yes, even canola oil, is that the polyunsaturated component of the oil is highly unstable under heat, light, solvents, and pressure, and this heavily oxidizes the polyunsaturates which increases free radicals in your body.
The end result of all of this refining and processing are oils that are highly inflammatory in your body when you ingest them, damaging your cell membranes, contributing to heart disease, weight gain, and other degenerative diseases.
The reason that extra virgin olive oil is good for you is that it is generally cold pressed without the use of heat and solvents to aid extraction, and also contains MUCH LESS polyunsaturated fats than canola oil, so is therefore more stable. EVOO also contains important antioxidants that help protect the stability of the oil.
Canola oil, on the other hand, is typically extracted and refined using high heat, pressure, and petroleum solvents such as hexane. Most canola oil undergoes a process of caustic refining, degumming, bleaching, and deoderization, all using high heat and questionable chemicals.
Does canola oil even have trans fats?
Even worse, all of this high heat, high pressure processing with solvents actually forces some of the omega-3 content of canola oil to be transformed into trans fats.
Canola oil and how it is processed, is barely any healthier for you than other junk vegetable oils like soybean oil or corn oil. The bottom line is that it is an inflammatory oil in your body and should be avoided as much as possible.
The only canola oil that might be reasonable is if you see that it is "cold pressed" and organic. Most canola oil is NOT cold pressed or organic, so you might as well choose oils that you know are healthier.
Your best bets are these truly healthy oils:
- extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) - for lower temperature cooking or used as a healthy salad dressing oil
- Virgin coconut oil - great for all temperatures of cooking due to its super high stability under heat. A great source of healthy saturated fats in the form of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs).
- Organic grass-fed butter - Grass-fed butter is a great source of the healthy fat, CLA, which has even been shown in studies to have muscle building and fat burning properties, along with anti-cancer properties. Grass-fed butter also has a much healthier omega-6 to omega-3 ratio than standard butter at your grocery store.
- Macadamia nut oil & avocado oil - Both of these oils have a high ratio of monounsaturated fat making them moderately stable for use with heat. These are much healthier oils than canola or other vegetable oils.
What does "low carb" vs "moderate carb" vs "high carb" even mean?
According to expert Nutrition author Chris Kresser, below are the differences between low, moderate, or high carb ratios compared to your total calories. Keep in mind that the average person eating a modern western diet consumes a massive 50-60% of their calories from carbs.
- Very Low carb = lower than 10% of total calories (Good for therapeutic uses such as cancer treatment, Diabetes treatment, Alzheimers & other conditions)
- Low carb = 10-15% of total calories (good for weight loss, blood sugar control, digestive improvement, and Diabetes control)
- Moderate carb = 15-30% of total calories (good range for the average person to maintain weight, balance energy, balance hormones, etc)
- High carb = greater than 30% of total calories (Good for people that want to GAIN weight, gain muscle, or are high level athletes)
Note: If you consume 2000 calories per day, then that means 200 calories, or approx 50 grams of carbs for the day would be 10% of your total calories.
Are you struggling to lose body fat? Follow these types of carb guidelines to help you lose the body fat:
1. Reduce or eliminate your grain-based carb products in the diet (cereal, pasta, rice, crackers, etc) and focus more of your diet on healthy grass-fed and/or free-range meats and eggs, grass-fed raw dairy or fermented dairy (kefir and yogurt), nuts, and TONS of vegetables and fruits (for most people, keeping fruit to 1-2 pieces per day is best).
2. Instead of the grains for most of your carbs, try getting most of your carbs from vegetables, sweet potatoes, and a variety of whole fruits and berries (NOT fruit juices, which remove the beneficial fiber as well as other essential parts of the fruit).
3. If you're going to eat any grains at all, focus on sprouted grains if you can, or sourdough on the occasions that you absolutely need to have bread. Since sourdough bread has been fermented, some of the antinutrients have been broken down, and even the gluten is thought to be at least slightly more digestible in a sourdough bread.
If you are choosing sprouted grain breads, make sure that it's 100% sprouted grain, and not regular flour as the main ingredient followed by a portion of sprouted grains. Sprouted grains are healthier than "whole grains" because the sprouting process deactivates many of the antinutrients that can cause digestive problems and prevent certain minerals from being absorbed.
4. To replace the void if you're used to consuming lots of bread, pasta, cereals, and other carb sources... try filling that void with more healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, olives, grass-fed butter and cream, aged cheeses, nut butters, as well as healthy proteins such as grass-fed dairy and meats, whole free-range organic eggs, etc.
Healthy fats and proteins go a long way to satisfying your appetite, controlling proper hormone and blood sugar levels, and helping you to make real progress on fat loss. Consuming more healthy fats instead of carbs also helps to transition your metabolism into a "fat adapted metabolism" instead of being a "carb burner" like most people. Having a "fat adapted metabolism" gives you more stable energy levels, stable blood sugar, balanced hormones, and more. On the other hand, being a carb-burner gives you more energy spikes and dips, blood sugar swings, and cravings.
Cauliflower
Something that is white and still great for you is cauliflower. Cauliflower is loaded with vitamin C, fiber, minerals, and special compounds such as glucosinolates and thiocyanates, which are specifically abundant in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. And a little-known fact is that some of the compounds in cruciferous vegetables help to combat other estrogenic compounds in our food supply and environment and can help prevent excess belly fat. So eat up on that cauliflower!
Onions & Garlic
What about onions and garlic? They are both white and they are chock full of protective phytonutrients, vitamins, and trace minerals that aren't easy to find elsewhere in a normal diet... such nutrients as allicin, quercetin (an important flavonoid), chromium, and other unique anti-inflammatory nutrients.
In fact, onions are so powerful for our health, that one study of centenarians (people that live to over 100 years old) identified that a common thread of these amazingly healthy individuals was that they ate a lot of onions throughout their lives. And we also know that garlic is one of the most powerful substances for a strong immune system, among other qualities.
"White Foods" aren't necessarily always the enemy
It's true that colorful foods are great, but it is a big mistake to specifically avoid white foods! There are plenty of white foods that have specific nutrients that are hard to find elsewhere. Let's look at a few examples...
Mushrooms
Not many people realize this, but surprisingly, even white mushrooms have high levels of unique nutrients and antioxidants. White mushrooms are high in a couple types of antioxidants called polyphenols and ergothioneine. And some types of mushrooms, such as portobella mushrooms, are surprisingly good sources of Vitamin D.
Potatoes
White potatoes (which by the way, can also be found in red, yellow, purple varieties, etc). Many health professionals claim that potatoes are a bad carbohydrate because they are thought to have a high glycemic index.
While a generalization can be made that most low glycemic index carbohydrate choices will help you lose body fat easier than high glycemic index choices, it is not all that it's cracked up to be. There are many other factors that determine how your body will react-to and process the carbohydrates you ingest, such as glycemic load and also how you combine the high GI food with other foods such as protein, fiber, and fats, which all slow down absorption of the ingested carbs.
White potatoes are actually a healthy carbohydrate as long as you eat them in the right form... and please don't ruin them by deep frying them into french fries either! French fries are one of the most evil things ever invented for your health, but only because we ruin them by soaking them in a scorching bath of trans fats in the deep fryer from the hydrogenated oils that are typically used.
The truth is that there is nothing “essential” about whole grains. In fact, they are among the unhealthiest foods you can consume.
One of the most important reasons is that…
Whole Grains Spike Your Blood Sugar
You probably know that high glycemic foods cause a rapid rise in blood sugar and insulin. And it doesn’t make you look very good either…
High insulin levels promote the storage “visceral” belly fat, which surrounds your organs and sends metabolic messages that promote disease.
High blood sugar also causes the formation nasty little compounds that speed up the aging process and damage tissues (especially the skin, in the form of wrinkles and lost elasticity).
According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition eating 2 slices of whole wheat bread spikes your blood sugar more than drinking a can of soda, eating a candy bar, OR just helping yourself to 6 teaspoons of table sugar!!
And that’s not all this health-harming carb can do…
“Heart Healthy” Whole Wheat… Causes Heart Disease!
There is one type of cholesterol closely linked to this killer – small dense LDL particles.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that people with high levels of small dense LDL have a 300% greater risk of heart attack!
Many doctors believe it is the number one risk factor for heart disease in the U.S.
And guess what triggers these dangerous compounds to form more than any other food?
It is the amylopectin A found in wheat!
Have you already givne u the traditional grain-based foods?
Did you replace them with their commercial gluten-free counterparts?
Most gluten-free breads, cereals, pastas, crackers and
cookies use ingredients that are not much better (and in some cases, worse)
than those made with wheat!
Like any processed junk food, these products usually contain
chemical preservatives, soy protein, dough conditioners, industrial seed oils,
corn and rice syrup… and often, GMOs.
And that’s not all!
The Ingredients in Most Gluten-Free Products Will Also Send
Your Blood Sugar Soaring!
In place of wheat flour, most gluten-free products – and
many online recipes for that matter – use flours with glycemic values that are
off the charts, including:
◦Corn Starch
◦Rice Flour
◦Potato Starch
◦Tapioca Starch
◦Sorghum flour
◦Millet
Here’s what Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly, has to
say about these unhealthy alternatives…
"These powdered starches are among the few foods that
increase blood sugar higher than even whole wheat. It means these foods trigger
weight gain in the abdomen, increased blood sugars, insulin resistance,
diabetes, cataracts, and arthritis. They are NOT healthy replacements for
wheat."
It should come as no surprise that…
Most people GAIN WEIGHT on a gluten-free diet. In fact, one
study showed that 81% of people who adopted a gluten-free diet had gained
weight after two years!
You should also know that…
Some Gluten-Free Products Contain 90 Times More Arsenic Than
the EPA Allows for Drinking Water!
YOU might not know that many gluten free baked goods contain
potentially toxic levels of it!
The problem comes mostly from brown rice flour and brown
rice syrup, often major ingredients in gluten-free baking mixes, breads,
crackers, chips and pasta.
In fact, analysis conducted by Consumer Reports showed that
some popular gluten-free products contain up to 90 times the arsenic allowed in
drinking water!
Of course, the same risk applies if you’re using brown rice
products in your recipes at home.
Most people are aware that a little protein in wheat can
cause BIG problems for some people.
For those with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity (two
completely different conditions), even a small amount of gluten can cause
serious digestive problems… systemic inflammation… autoimmune disease… and the
list goes on.
At least 300 health-related issues have been linked to
gluten.
But here’s the thing…
Gluten is a REAL Problem…
But the Problem is NOT Just Gluten!
Most doctors (mistakenly) believe that any problems with
wheat are problems with gluten. In other words, if you don’t have a problem
with gluten… you don’t have a problem.
However, the protein we call “gluten” actually consists of
hundreds of smaller compounds. Any ONE of these could trigger an inflammatory
or immune response.
According to a study published in Plant Physiology, modern
wheat is capable of producing at least 23,788 unique proteins!
Science has found numerous compounds in grains – besides
gluten – which can cause serious long-term health issues…
Just because you feel fine after eating a bagel, doesn’t mean
it is not damaging your body.
What You Don’t Know (or Notice) Can Still Hurt You…
Studies show that even if you are NOT "gluten
intolerant" these foods can cause inflammation and perforations in the gut
– allowing unwanted substances to "leak" into your bloodstream.
And you might not feel the slightest gurgle in your belly.
In fact, almost 50% of newly diagnosed celiac patients have no noticeable
abdominal distress.
Yet, with each bite you are causing damage to nearly every
tissue, system and organ in your body.
Here are just a few of the symptoms this can cause:
◦Headaches and fatigue
◦Chronic sinus issues and lowered immunity
◦Arthritis, bone and joint pain
◦Nutrient deficiencies, and
◦A VERY long list of skin conditions, including everything
from acne to wrinkles.
This Can Set the Stage for an
Astonishing Variety
of Diseases
Research shows that wheat can trigger a variety of
autoimmune conditions (where the body attacks itself), including: type 1
diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.
It can also cause chronic disease…
The Journal of the American Medical Association published a
report showing that gluten sensitive people who still consume grains increase
their risk of death up to 75%!
The New England Journal of Medicine lists 55 conditions that
can be caused by eating gluten, including:
◦Cancer
◦Heart Disease
◦Osteoporosis
◦Irritable Bowel Disease
◦Inflammatory Bowel Disease
◦Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue
◦Thyroid disorders
◦Anemia
◦Epilepsy
◦Canker Sores
◦Lupus
“Eggs Are Evil”
Eggs get a bad rap because they contain a large amount of cholesterol, therefore people think eggs will increase their risk of heart disease.
Lucky, science is showing that cholesterol in the diet doesn’t really raise the cholesterol in the blood. Eggs actually have the opposite impact. Eggs raise the “good” cholesterol and are not shown to increase the risk of heart disease.
Here’s the truth: Eggs are one of the most nutrient dense foods in the grocery store. They are loaded with a variety of nutrients and even powerful antioxidants to protect your eyes.
Too Much Protein is bad for your bones and Kidneys!
I bet you’ve been warned not to eat too much protein because it may result in both osteoporosis and kidney disease? If so, you’re not alone.
Yes, a higher protein diet excretes more calcium from the bones in the short term, however, long term studies show the opposite effect.
Sustaining a high protein diet throughout your life has been shown to have a strong association with bone health and lower risk of fracture.
Even further, if you are considered healthy, enjoy your high protein diet because there is no association with kidney disease.
Two main risk factors for kidney failure and diabetes are high blood pressure and guess what improves both? High protein!
“Grains Are Great”
The most popular grain in the western diet, easily, is wheat… and wheat is held responsible for a line up of legitimate health problems.
Today’s wheat found in grocery stores contains a protein called gluten and it comes in high amounts. Science supports that a big segment of the world is sensitive to it.
The concerns with gluten are legitimate; it’s not another case of fear-mongering. Studies have shown that gluten can harm the intestinal lining, cause pain, bloating, stool inconsistency and tiredness.
Here are 7 powerful tips to boost your immune system:
1. Focus on Vitamin D (but NOT in "fortified" foods or synthetic forms in pills)
This is probably THE most important of all of these tips!
You might be surprised to know that MOST people have low vitamin D levels (especially in the winter), and a lot of people are surprised to find that they could be dangerously low.
When it comes to Vitamin D, you need to be careful about artificial forms of vitamin D in many vitamin pills, as artificial vitamin forms are almost always either ineffective or possibly even detrimental compared to natural forms. Vitamin D2 is generally the artificial version in multi-vitamins, although natural D2 does exist in some foods like mushrooms. Natural Vitamin D from either cod liver oil and/or an oil-based D3 supplement are the best options in my opinion for the times of the year you're not getting enough sun.
Keep in mind that it's best to get your vitamin D naturally from the sun if you can. The sun is the absolute best source of vitamin D, and leads to a powerful strengthening of your immune system when your body can naturally produce Vitamin D from moderate sun exposure. When the UVB rays (not UVA rays) from mid-day sun hit your skin, it reacts with oils in your skin to produce vitamin D that is slowly adbsorbed by your body. Note that sunscreens block the ability of your body to produce vitamin D, and most sunscreens also contain carcinogenic chemicals that absorb into your blood stream.
2. Garlic to strengthen your immune system!
Garlic is one of the most potent of all superfoods! Recent studies back up the legendary claims for garlic boosting your immune system.
What's best though -- "aged" garlic pills, whole garlic in foods, capsules, etc? Use a variety of sources, including garlic powder on foods, fresh chopped garlic in meals, and also a garlic capsule.
If you feel a possible cold or sickness coming on, start loading garlic into your foods heavily and take a few extra garlic capsules that day too.
3. Kombucha tea, Kefir, Fermented foods (and other sources of probiotics) strengthen your immune system
Kombucha tea is a fermented tea (naturally effervescent) that contains billions of friendly gut organisms (probiotics) that help to strengthen your immune system by bolstering your levels of good organisms in your gut, which provides a first level of defense against pathogens from things you ingest.
Kefir is a cultured/fermented dairy drink that's been used for thousands of years as a health elixer in many parts of the world. Kefir is an even better source of probiotics than Kombucha tea, but keep in mind that variety is best when it comes to probiotics, so use various sources for the best benefits to your digestive system and immune system. Kefir is also the easiest form of dairy to digest due to the pre-digestion that's done by the probiotic microorganisms, and due to this, kefir is generally 99% lactose free.
You can also get beneficial probiotics from fermented foods such as sauerkraut (non-canned), yogurt, kimchi, and other fermented foods.
4. Green tea, Chamomile Tea, and other teas
There is evidence that green tea and chamomile tea can help aid in strengthening the immune system. Even if the effect is small, you can't go wrong because both are loaded with powerful antioxidants unique to each tea.
5. Loading up on antioxidants
We already know how important antioxidants are to overall health as well as immune system support. So load up on them through foods.
6. Exercise
6. Exercise
When you feel a sickness coming on, a super-high intensity workout is not a good idea, as hard training forces the body to do a lot of recovery, this at a time when your body needs all of it's efforts on trying to fight off the oncoming sickness.
When you feel a sickness might be coming on, it's just a good idea to get some light exercise instead.
7. Avoid ALL processed foods, wheat-based foods, and sweetened soft drinks
If you're serious about your health and getting lean for life, this should be an everyday rule for you anyway (except maybe for cheat meals)...
However, when you might have a sickness coming on, this is no time to bombard your body with processed foods, inflammatory omega-6 oils (soybean oil, corn oil, etc), fried foods, high fructose corn syrup, refined sugars, wheat-based foods or chemical additives.
All of these force your body to do extra work to deal with all of this junk and the internal inflammation that they cause in your body. Instead, (especially when you might be getting sick) you need to give your body only wholesome unprocessed foods that are only 1 ingredient and that we were meant to digest most efficiently...fruits, berries, veggies, eggs, nuts, seeds, grass-fed meats, etc.
I also have a daily serving of Shakeology, which is surprisingly delicious, plus contains loads of probiotics and antioxidants, and other immune supporting superfoods (70+ superfoods mixed into one delicious shake!).
These 7 tips will go a LONG way to helping to ward off that sickness that is trying to get a hold of you... Here's to a healthy strong body!
The REAL Truth About Coconut Oil
The coconut - is an abundant fruit that has healing properties, it's referred to as "the tree of life." The coconut is a "functional food" rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber - the essential nutritional building blocks for perfect health.
For generations, island people considered it "The Cure for All Illness" and consumed the meat, milk and coconut oil daily.
Coconut oil in particular has been shown to protect you from viruses, bacteria, infection, cancer, thyroid, brain and heart problems... plus beautifies your skin - and even burns fat!
Coconut oil - a saturated fat - is chock-full of health-promoting properties - and is in no way responsible for high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and the bad effects you've been led to believe.
Finally, modern medicine and science are starting to realize this fundamental truth... and it's been a long time coming. But sadly not before heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and a whole host of other catastrophic diseases have reached epidemic proportions!
The Saturated-Fat Myth
Nothing is further from the truth! Coconut Oil does not produce bad cholesterol. But this “health scare” is enough to push the public away from saturated fats and instead to refined vegetable oils. This is perfect for food manufacturers because they are far cheaper to produce.
Cheaper, mass-produced hydrogenated foods has replaced traditional foods, like the versatile and all-healing coconut oil that had kept people healthy for generations.
Canola Oil
There is no such thing as a canola in nature. Canola oil is actually a modified version of rapeseed oil. Asian and Indian cultures used rapeseed oil for centuries, but it was never consumed in the large quantities that Americans do.
This plant (in the mustard family) contains cyanide-containing compounds and wild animals and even insects avoid it in nature.
The refining process of deodorizing and bleaching to become canola oil involves exposing rapeseed oil to high heat, which greatly reduces the omega 3 content.
Consumption of this "GMO Oil" has been linked to muscular disorders and fatty degeneration of the heart, kidneys, adrenals and thyroid gland. To avoid it, check labels closely - even in so-called healthy products - because it's practically everywhere.
Cottonseed Oil - An industrial plant saturated with pesticides...
Thousands of commercially produced foods contain cottonseed oil; everything from canned foods to chips and other packaged items. It is even in beverages such as Gatorade. However, cotton is not a food crop, and is therefore not treated like an edible crop but an industrial one.
Virtually anything can be sprayed on cotton plants to ward off insects and induce growth. Dangerous poisons such as trifluralin, cyanide, dicofol, propargite and naled are used on cotton crops. These work their way deep into the plants, literally transforming them into toxic organisms.
While it may be ok for making pants and shirts, cottonseed oil is truly not safe to consume. The majority of cotton plants are genetically modified - altered at the molecular level. Even though we are not eating the cotton plant directly, the extracted oil contains the same properties as the plant.
Besides a high amount of omega-6 fatty acids, cottonseed oil has a similar protein structure to peanuts, so people who are allergic to peanuts may have a serious allergic reaction to this oil, as well. However, the FDA does not require an allergy label on the oil - even though peanut oils can be fatal.
Safflower - Studies show an increase of Omega-6 also increases the rate of death by heart disease, reason enough to avoid this oil...
If you still believe that saturated fat and cholesterol are a direct cause of heart disease then safflower oil probably seems like a healthy swap.
Previous studies had found that by substituting animal fats with vegetable oils such as safflower, cholesterol levels would indeed drop.
However, what the earlier studies failed to evaluate was the high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in these oils and that the amount of omega-6 fatty acids in the American diet was growing astronomically.
Researchers now have evidence that it may not be cholesterol that kills, but omega-6's. When a group of individuals replaced animal fats with omega-6-rich safflower oil, their cholesterol levels decreased, however, the rates of death from cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease increased significantly as compared to those consuming the animal fats.
Soybean - The GMO, hormone disrupting nightmare "health" food they keep telling you is safe...
Ninety-three percent of American soy is GMO and most of the soy we consume is in its unfermented state. This highly processed soy has been linked to numerous conditions including thyroid damage and hormone disruption thanks to its large quantities of estrogen-like compounds called phytoestrogens. As for soybean oil, up to 80 percent of the oil we consume today is soybean oil.
It's highly processed and heavily hydrogenated and found in a vast majority of products on supermarket shelves. And don't think choosing organic soy makes you any safer... as some so-called "organic" soy farms have been found to be fraudulent... passing off the GMO-product for the real thing. It's best to avoid soybean oil completely.
1. - Quinoa
Quinoa is a gluten-free seed (similar to a grain, but actually a seed) that contains double the protein of brown rice along with greater fiber content and a lower glycemic load.
Quinoa is a very good low glycemic carbohydrate source, and rich with manganese, magnesium, calcium, copper, iron, phosphorus, vitamin E, and several B vitamins.
Not only that, but quinoa contains complete protein and the full spectrum of amino acids while all other grains are incomplete protein.
Quinoa is a gluten-free seed (similar to a grain, but actually a seed) that contains double the protein of brown rice along with greater fiber content and a lower glycemic load.
Quinoa is a very good low glycemic carbohydrate source, and rich with manganese, magnesium, calcium, copper, iron, phosphorus, vitamin E, and several B vitamins.
Not only that, but quinoa contains complete protein and the full spectrum of amino acids while all other grains are incomplete protein.
It comes in several varieties, including “oatmeal-like” flakes and it’s wholegrain rice-like form. Enjoy it as an oatmeal substitute for breakfast, in salads or casseroles, or as a wholesome whole-grain, high protein side item to any lunch or dinner meal.
2. - Buckwheat (yes, it's gluten-free and has nothing to do with wheat)
Buckwheat is also a seed and not a grain technically. Buckwheat is NOT a form of wheat and contains no gluten, as long as you get 100% buckwheat products and not those which are combined wheat + buckwheat.
Buckwheat has more protein and fiber generally than most grains and a lower glycemic load in general too.
Try buckwheat pancakes! Or better yet, make a batch of pancakes with mixed buckwheat flour, almond flour, and coconut flour for a perfectly balanced taste and balanced carb/protein/fat profile!
3. - Berries & Cherries
Berries like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and cherries are some of the BEST carb sources you can eat. Unlike grains, which contain loads of digestion-harming antinutrients, there's basically no downsides to berries or cherries. They are high in fiber, packed with antioxidants, and score extremely low on the glycemic index.
They give your body reasonable doses of useful carbohydrates with much higher levels of micronutrients than grains... this is a win-win for your belly and your overall health!
I enjoy fresh berries for dessert several times a week and it's an awesome, nutritious way to finish off any meal. Great as a snack, too! Try them on top of greek yogurt... Mmm.
Berries like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and cherries are some of the BEST carb sources you can eat. Unlike grains, which contain loads of digestion-harming antinutrients, there's basically no downsides to berries or cherries. They are high in fiber, packed with antioxidants, and score extremely low on the glycemic index.
They give your body reasonable doses of useful carbohydrates with much higher levels of micronutrients than grains... this is a win-win for your belly and your overall health!
I enjoy fresh berries for dessert several times a week and it's an awesome, nutritious way to finish off any meal. Great as a snack, too! Try them on top of greek yogurt... Mmm.
Lightly sweetened naturally, not artificially:
Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic response than plain sugar, and it does contain some minerals and other nutrients too, so in terms of caloric sweeteners, it's one of the best.
Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic response than plain sugar, and it does contain some minerals and other nutrients too, so in terms of caloric sweeteners, it's one of the best.
A little Vitamin K2 with your cup of joe?
Whatever you do, if you care about your health, never ever ever use those crappy powdered creamers that are typically at hotels and gas stations. They are nothing but corn syrup and hydrogenated oils that will kill you. And never use those fake liquid creamers that most people seem to buy at home... you know, the fancy flavored ones that have tons of added sugar (usually corn syrup) and usually have hydrogenated oils too. Instead, use REAL full-fat cream for the best taste, and surprisingly to most, the best health benefits too.
One important distinction is to use organic cream, because the pesticides and other chemicals used in dairy farming will be found mostly in the fat portion of milk, so organic is important here too just as it is with the beans. Also, if possible, use a grass-fed cream -- Organic Valley brand has a pasture raised cream that is found in many grocery stores across the country.
There are surprisingly some important health benefits with real grass-fed cream, including possible benefits for reducing artery clogging...that's right, the vitamin K2 in grass-fed dairy fat has some evidence that it can help prevent arterial calcification. And that vitamin K2 in the cream, combined with the antioxidants in coffee make for a heart-healthy cup of joe!
Whatever you do, if you care about your health, never ever ever use those crappy powdered creamers that are typically at hotels and gas stations. They are nothing but corn syrup and hydrogenated oils that will kill you. And never use those fake liquid creamers that most people seem to buy at home... you know, the fancy flavored ones that have tons of added sugar (usually corn syrup) and usually have hydrogenated oils too. Instead, use REAL full-fat cream for the best taste, and surprisingly to most, the best health benefits too.
One important distinction is to use organic cream, because the pesticides and other chemicals used in dairy farming will be found mostly in the fat portion of milk, so organic is important here too just as it is with the beans. Also, if possible, use a grass-fed cream -- Organic Valley brand has a pasture raised cream that is found in many grocery stores across the country.
There are surprisingly some important health benefits with real grass-fed cream, including possible benefits for reducing artery clogging...that's right, the vitamin K2 in grass-fed dairy fat has some evidence that it can help prevent arterial calcification. And that vitamin K2 in the cream, combined with the antioxidants in coffee make for a heart-healthy cup of joe!
Natural Thyroid Solutions
There are several natural thyroid solutions for treating thyroid problems; if you’re averse to using pharmaceuticals, these might pose an alternative. Certain minerals and plants can:
- Help maintain the regulation of the thyroid hormone;
- Provide you with a boost in energy levels; and
- Allow you to reduce or even get off those prescription drugs.
Iodine and selenium are well-known remedies for hypothyroidism, but there are other options available. Naturopath doctors will know which plants and minerals will best work with your condition to help your body work its best.
Foods To Support Thyroid Health
Just like with any other condition, the foods you eat can help improve your thyroid health. There are foods you can eat to speed up a slow thyroid gland, and to slow down an overactive thyroid.
Foods For Hypothyroidism
- Sea weed is naturally high in iodine and other trace minerals essential for thyroid function.
- Shellfish are also naturally high in iodine.
- Coconut oil can stimulate the metabolism and thyroid hormone production.
Remember, moderation is key; too much is bad for you, too.
Foods for Hyperthyroidism
- Fermented soy foods are goitrogenic, which suppress thyroid hormones.
- Millet and raw cruciferous vegetables are also goitrogens. Eat cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, turnip, and rapini with millet for the best effects.
Foods To Avoid For Thyroid Health
Just like there are foods that help support thyroid health, there are also foods that won’t do you any favors if your goal is to optimize thyroid hormone production.
Coffee is a stimulant and it can also inhibit hormone formation, making it best avoidable for people with either hypo- or hyperthyroidism.
Unfermented soy foods are linked with autoimmune thyroid disease. Choose fermented soy if you must eat it, and keep it in moderation.
Gluten is another substance linked with autoimmune diseases. There’s also evidence that there may be a connection between thyroid disease and celiac disease.
Example #1 when veggies are NOT always great:
Some people that have a damaged digestive system, leaky gut, IBS, or other digestive issues may actually do more harm by eating TOO much insoluble fiber that's found in a lot of vegetables [Btw, grains can have TOO much insoluble fiber many times too, such as wheat bran].
Some people that have a damaged digestive system, leaky gut, IBS, or other digestive issues may actually do more harm by eating TOO much insoluble fiber that's found in a lot of vegetables [Btw, grains can have TOO much insoluble fiber many times too, such as wheat bran].
This is a case when cooked vegetables might be better than raw, or eliminating certain types of veggies may be beneficial, and there's no one answer for every type of person...It all depends on the type of digestive ailment that a certain person has. That's why it's important for people with digestive system ailments to work closely with a holistic Nutritionist or Naturopath in these cases.
Keep in mind that in many cases, a traditional MD does not have enough nutrition knowledge to prescribe the right type of diet for digestive ailments... you really need to work with a Digestion expert directly for your individual case... this may or may not be an MD or an ND. But make sure to seek out someone with more of a Holistic approach to nutrition instead of someone that just wants to prescribe a barrage of potentially dangerous drugs to you. There may be important uses for some drugs in certain cases, but most traditional MDs will overprescribe drugs compared to a Naturopath or Holistic Nutritionist.
Keep in mind that in many cases, a traditional MD does not have enough nutrition knowledge to prescribe the right type of diet for digestive ailments... you really need to work with a Digestion expert directly for your individual case... this may or may not be an MD or an ND. But make sure to seek out someone with more of a Holistic approach to nutrition instead of someone that just wants to prescribe a barrage of potentially dangerous drugs to you. There may be important uses for some drugs in certain cases, but most traditional MDs will overprescribe drugs compared to a Naturopath or Holistic Nutritionist.
Example #2 when veggies are NOT always great:
Some veggies contain certain toxins or antinutrients that you CAN eat too much of... for example, spinach is thought of as very healthy, but if you eat it at almost every meal, you can eat too much oxalic acid that can cause kidney stones or damage if eaten too often and too much quantity.
NIghtshade vegetables (such as tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc) are another example of veggies that are normally "healthy" but if overconsumed, can possibly have some links to Arthritis and other problems with inappropriate calcification in soft tissues of the body.
Example #3 when veggies are NOT always great:
Certain types of veggies (and also whether they're cooked or not) can have negative impacts for certain people on Thyroid function. One reason is certain veggies have iodine blocking characteristics.
Certain types of veggies (and also whether they're cooked or not) can have negative impacts for certain people on Thyroid function. One reason is certain veggies have iodine blocking characteristics.
Some of these veggies are: Bok Choy, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kale, Kohlrabi, Mustard, Radishes, Rutabagas, Soy (anything), and Turnips.
Example #4 when veggies are NOT always great:
This one has to do with gut health and the quality of your POOP. As gross as it sounds, it's one of the MOST important indicators of your health, so if you don't pay attention to your poop on a daily basis, you're missing out on vital health information about yourself...
As you know, a really good indicator of overall health is the regularity of your bowel movements (do you go at least 1-3x per day?), but also the consistency of your poop, and whether you have constipation, diarrhea, or that "perfect" texture in the middle.
Oftentimes, people are eating certain foods that give them constipation, or other foods that make their stools WAY too loose and runny. When you are eating TOO many veggies, and they will give you runny poop, which means the excess veggies are irritating your gut or negatively affecting your digestion in some way.
This one has to do with gut health and the quality of your POOP. As gross as it sounds, it's one of the MOST important indicators of your health, so if you don't pay attention to your poop on a daily basis, you're missing out on vital health information about yourself...
As you know, a really good indicator of overall health is the regularity of your bowel movements (do you go at least 1-3x per day?), but also the consistency of your poop, and whether you have constipation, diarrhea, or that "perfect" texture in the middle.
Oftentimes, people are eating certain foods that give them constipation, or other foods that make their stools WAY too loose and runny. When you are eating TOO many veggies, and they will give you runny poop, which means the excess veggies are irritating your gut or negatively affecting your digestion in some way.
Food #1 that HARMS your brain: Fructose
In a 2012 UCLA study published in the Journal of Physiology,
researchers found that a diet high in fructose over time can damage your memory
and learning ability.
Beyond the harm to your brain, it's well known in the
research world that a high fructose diet can also cause insulin resistance in
your body over time, and possibly lead to type-2 diabetes and extra body
fat. If that's not enough, a high
fructose diet also detrimentally affects your triglyceride levels in your blood
as well as small dense LDL particles that cause plaque in your arteries.
So what we have here is high-fructose intake = impaired
memory and learning in your brain, increased risk of diabetes, and increased
risk of heart disease. Oh, and we forgot to mention extra belly fat too... Yum - who wants another can of soda pop or a
large bowl of corn syrup sweetened ice cream!
The average person eating a modern western diet of processed
food consumes a LARGE quantity of fructose without even thinking about it from
all of the soft drinks (high fructose corn syrup typically), sweetened juice
drinks, orange juice, processed junk foods such as cakes and candies, as well
as the HFCS that's added to store-bought salad dressings, breads and cereals,
and even condiments like ketchup.
Many sports drinks, even though marketed as
"healthy", can have large amounts of corn syrup or even crystalline
fructose as their main sweetener. These
sports drinks can be equally as bad as a soda for your body and your
brain. Don't be fooled by the clever
marketing showing pictures of pro athletes guzzling this stuff.
Agave syrup (aka, agave nectar) which is marketed as a
"healthy" sweetener as well, is one of the most concentrated forms of
processed fructose in sweeteners as well.
I personally stay away from agave sweeteners as much as possible unless
the amounts are very small.
All of these fructose-laden foods and drinks are easy to
avoid though if you choose to eat consciously... for example, make homemade
salad dressings from your favorite olive oil and vinegar with added spices, or
choose to drink unsweetened iced tea with lemon instead of sweetened drinks or
juices. If you use a lot of ketchup, try
to reduce the quantity by mixing with mustard or hot sauce, which typically
don't contain HFCS sweetener in any significant quantities.
Last thing to note about fructose... Yes, natural whole
fruits do contain fructose, but generally contain MUCH smaller quantities of
fructose than you would consume in a sweetened juice drink, soft drink or
sweetened junk foods. Also, the
phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber that's contained in most whole fruits
counteracts any negative effects of fructose.
I personally try to keep fruit intake to no more than 2 pieces a day due
to the sugar and fructose content of larger amounts of fruit.
Here's a trick: Did
you know that limes and lemons contain virtually zero fructose, and only 3-4
grams of total carbs in a whole lemon or lime, whereas a typical orange
contains 6 grams of fructose and 25 grams of total sugar per fruit. I squeeze lemons and limes daily into either
water or teas for a healthy flavorful drink. Fresh lemon juice has even been
shown to control blood sugar response from a meal...another bonus!
Other Foods that HARM Your Brain:
You probably already know some of the harmful health effects
of these foods, but long term effects on your brain are yet another...
Trans fats -- strongly inflammatory in your entire body
including damage to cell membranes throughout your body. Avoid hydrogenated oils in processed foods
and deep fried foods.
Mercury -- studies show that mercury from pollution (coal
burning plants are the biggest source of mercury pollution to air and water)
and from fish that are high on the food chain such as tuna, shark, swordfish,
tilefish, etc can possibly cause long term negative effects on your brain. Limit these types of fish to a couple times a
month and focus more on fish such as salmon, trout, and many other types of
smaller fish to reduce your mercury load.
Wheat-based foods -- In the groundbreaking book, Wheat
Belly, Dr William Davis makes a very convincing argument that wheat has addictive
properties in the brain. Wheat contains
compounds termed "exorphins" that have an effect in your brain
similar to opiate drugs. This explains
why people have such a hard time giving up their beloved breads, cereals,
pasta, and muffins because these foods are mildly addictive.
The good news is...
There are plenty of superfoods, herbs, and spices that can
protect your brain and your other organs too!
In fact, did you know that turmeric is one of the highest
antioxidant spices that also exhibits brain-protecting effects? In India, where
curry containing turmeric and other spices are eaten daily, rates of Alzheimers
disease is among the lowest in the world, proving some of the brain-protecting
effects of turmeric.
In addition, the powerful DHA and EPA omega-3 fats in fish
oil has been proven in countless studies to protect your brain from damage over
the years.
When you think of foods that CAUSE type 2 Diabetes or even
foods that make Diabetes worse, most people immediately think of
sugar...whether it's table sugar, sugar added to candy or ice cream, or the
high fructose corn syrup that's in most soft drinks and processed foods.
It's fairly common knowledge that these sugary foods and
sugar additives are one of the many causes of Diabetes and also make blood
sugar management VERY hard.
Here is a little-known fact that's often covered up by the
massive marketing campaigns by giant food companies that want you to believe
that "whole wheat" is healthy for you... but the fact is that wheat
contains a very unusual type of carbohydrate (not found in other foods) called
Amylopectin-A, which has been found in some tests to spike your blood sugar HIGHER
than even pure table sugar.
In fact, amylopectin-A (from wheat) raises your blood sugar
MORE than almost any other carbohydrate source on earth based on blood sugar
response testing that's documented in studies.
This means that wheat-based foods such as breads, bagels,
cereals, muffins, and other baked goods often cause MUCH higher blood sugar
levels than most other carbohydrate sources.
The higher your average
blood sugar levels are over time, the more advanced glycation end products
(AGEs) are formed inside your body, which makes you age FASTER. This is one reason that type 2 Diabetics show
faster signs of aging than non-Diabetics.
Essentially, high blood sugar accelerates the rate of aging in your body
to extreme levels, which is another reason you NEED to get control of your
blood sugar and do it NOW, before it's too late!
The case against wheat gets even worse...
You've probably also heard about the potential
health-damaging effects of gluten (another problematic compound found in wheat
that can cause inflammation in your digestive system, and even gut damage or
leaky gut in the long term) in the news recently, but this blood sugar aspect
we just covered is not talked about that often, and is yet another reason to
reduce or eliminate wheat-based foods in your diet. Your body will thank you by aging slower and
looking YOUNGER!
And of course, eliminating wheat-based foods in your diet
can also help you get control of Diabetes!
The #1 fruit that KILLS joint pain & inflammation
If you have any joint pain and aches, DO NOT resort to taking pain killers! They can actually cause MORE harm to your health over time (as is the case with most drugs, since drugs almost always have side effects) ...
The good news is that there are plenty of natural superfoods with powerful anti-inflammatory properties that can ease your joint pain and kill inflammation in it's tracks. One of the single MOST powerful anti-inflammatory foods actually ranked #1 is...
Tart cherries! (or tart cherry extract or concentrate)
Studies have shown that the anthocyanins and phenolics in tart cherries have a powerful effect in reducing the inflammation that can cause joint pain. In fact, according to researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University, tart cherries have the "highest anti-inflammatory content of any food".
Tart cherries also have a long history in helping people get relief with Gout or Osteoarthritis.
Note that sweet cherries can have some benefits as well, but tart cherries have been identified in research to have larger quantities of the anti-inflammatory phytonutrients.
The good news is that there are plenty of natural superfoods with powerful anti-inflammatory properties that can ease your joint pain and kill inflammation in it's tracks. One of the single MOST powerful anti-inflammatory foods actually ranked #1 is...
Tart cherries! (or tart cherry extract or concentrate)
Studies have shown that the anthocyanins and phenolics in tart cherries have a powerful effect in reducing the inflammation that can cause joint pain. In fact, according to researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University, tart cherries have the "highest anti-inflammatory content of any food".
Tart cherries also have a long history in helping people get relief with Gout or Osteoarthritis.
Note that sweet cherries can have some benefits as well, but tart cherries have been identified in research to have larger quantities of the anti-inflammatory phytonutrients.
A "super-oil" that's possibly healthier than olive
oil?
Pretty much everybody these days has heard the news about
how healthy olive oil is for you... It's good for your heart, lowers blood
pressure, cools inflammation and extends life span -- it's one of the reasons
why the Mediterranean lifestyle is so good for you.
But there's ANOTHER
oil that runs circles around olive oil in terms of health benefits, but almost
nobody knows about it for some odd reason.
It's native to the rainforests of Australia and was used by the
Aborigines for thousands of years before being "discovered" by
European settlers.
It's got a smooth,
buttery, almost sweet taste with a beautiful, golden appearance -- you can even
drink it straight. Let's see you try THAT with olive oil! In fact, it's SO delicious and versatile that
famous chefs from all around the world are using it as their secret weapon.
Use this oil and
you'll get a HUGE metabolic advantage when it comes to boosting energy,
thinking faster and getting rid of those extra inches that seem to keep piling
on as you age. This "super
oil" has 3 MAJOR metabolic advantages that are just as good, and possibly
even better than olive oil!!!
Metabolic Advantage #1
It's is loaded with a
fat that's SO healthy that even the low-carb AND low-fat authors agree you
should get more of it. I am talking
about monounsaturated fat or MUFA... the SAME beneficial fat found in olive
oil. However, this "super oil" comes out on top containing about 10%
MORE monounsaturated fat.
While the
monounsaturated fat is where much of the blood-pressure-, cholesterol-lowering
and life-extending benefits come from, this special fat is also a metabolic
SUPER-fuel. That's because of its relatively
simple chemical structure, allowing it to be burned in your mitochondria (your
cellular energy-producing factories) MUCH more easily.
That means MORE
energy, better mental performance, a more stable mood, less hunger and less
unwanted fat in those trouble spots.
Metabolic Advantage #2
Most people now know that having a proper balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fats is CRITICAL to staying healthy, young, full of energy and keeping those aches and pains at bay. Too many omega-6s sets off a rampaging wild fire of inflammation that wreaks havoc on virtual every organ, tissue and cell in your body, totally destroying your metabolism and forcing you to get fat.
And while olive oil is decent in this department with only 9.8% of its content being omega-6s, this "super oil" comes in at a puny 1.7%! That's important because the average person gets TWENTY TIMES more omega-6s than they should, so the LAST thing you need is more.
Most people now know that having a proper balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fats is CRITICAL to staying healthy, young, full of energy and keeping those aches and pains at bay. Too many omega-6s sets off a rampaging wild fire of inflammation that wreaks havoc on virtual every organ, tissue and cell in your body, totally destroying your metabolism and forcing you to get fat.
And while olive oil is decent in this department with only 9.8% of its content being omega-6s, this "super oil" comes in at a puny 1.7%! That's important because the average person gets TWENTY TIMES more omega-6s than they should, so the LAST thing you need is more.
Metabolic Advantage #3
Olive oil's Achilles'
heel is that it can be very vulnerable to oxidation and rancidity under the
wrong conditions -- everything from heat to light to oxygen can damage the
precious fats that it contains, killing some of the nutritional value and
ruining its taste a bit too.
If this occurs in any
oils, these rancid, oxidized fats also create free radicals that damage your
cellular membranes, blood vessels and even your DNA -- none of which do ANY
favors for your metabolism. Those pesky
free radicals literally "rust" you from the inside out, much in the
same way an apple or guacamole turns brown when exposed to the air.
This "super
oil", however, is light resistant and doesn't turn rancid over time and is
very shelf stable due to the tremendous amounts of antioxidants it has. For example, this "super oil" has
nearly 5x the amount of tocopherol, a powerful antioxidant, when compared to
olive oil.
To be clear, olive
oil isn't bad for you at all -- it's actually fantastic -- but pound for pound,
macadamia nut oil is possibly even better for you -- it tastes great, it's more
versatile for cooking and is much healthier and tastier for baking uses. I absolutely LOVE a fresh extra virgin olive
oil, and it will ALWAYS have a place in my kitchen almost daily... but
macadamia nut oil is the new "secret agent" healthy oil that most
people don't know about.
Plus, it also gives you an enormous metabolic advantage --
very important if you've had trouble getting rid of stubborn fat, particularly
around your belly, hips, thighs and butt.
It’s no surprise to some that sugar is actually really not
that good for you. Is sugar really that
bad?
Sugar comes in numerous forms, and it’s almost impossible to
avoid if you eat any type of processed or already-prepared foods. So what’s one
to do? Are some sugars worse than others? And how do you avoid it?
Why You Should Avoid Sugar
There are many reasons why you should avoid the sweet stuff:
•It provides fuel for
cancer cells
•It impairs the function of white blood cells
•It promotes weight gain
•It makes the body produce less leptin (needed for appetite
regulation)
•It disrupts how amino acids transfer to muscles
•It spurs insulin resistance, which can lead to Type II
diabetes
•It induces oxidative stress
Not all sugar is terrible for you. Natural sources like that
from fruit, honey, and maple syrup aren’t as bad as from processed sugars and
HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) but it’s still possible to overdo it. There’s
no reason to cut all fruit out of your diet in an attempt to remove all sugar;
you’d be giving up all those antioxidants, phytochemicals, fiber, minerals, and
vitamins at the same time.
So now you know WHY you should avoid sugar and which types
are worse.
1. Stop Buying Processed Foods
This is probably the hugest change you can make in your diet
when it comes to cutting out sugar. Practically everything you buy that comes
in a box, bag, or can has added sugars. Sometimes one food item has four or
five different types of sugar added!
2. Make Your Own
Spaghetti/Tomato Sauce
If you can’t quite take the step to cut out all processed or
ready-made foods, at least cut out store-bought tomato sauce. These often have
really high amount of sugar and you just don’t need it. It’s easy to make your
own: simmer some canned or fresh tomatoes in a pot with some fresh herbs. Even
if you add a bit of sugar to taste, it will still be way less than what is in
the store-bought stuff.
3. Choose Whole, Fresh Fruit Over Juice, Dehydrated, or
Other Fruit Products
Juice, fruit roll-ups, and dehydrated fruit taste great, of
course: they’re almost pure sugar! Added to this is the fact that all or most
of the fiber is gone. Treat your body to the natural benefits of fruit and eat
it fresh and whole. Choose berries, cherries, grapefruit, lemon, and limes over
apples, bananas, and other fruit; the former are higher in glucose and lower in
fructose and tend to have a lower overall content.
4. Avoid Flavored Yogurt
News flash: most commercial yogurt has just as much sugar in
most of a candy bar (or more!) Don’t eat it! Instead, buy or make your own
plain yogurt and add fresh fruit and maybe some honey if you still need some
sweetness.
5. Make Your Own Salad Dressing
One of the most common places sugar will hide is in your
store-bought salad dressings. Make your own; this way you control the amount of
sugar (as well as the salt and soybean/canola oil). It’s easy to make your own!
Remember: for most vinaigrettes, the ratio is three parts oil to one part
vinegar. Great oils to use are extra virgin olive oil, walnut oil, and avocado
oil. You can use Balsamic vinegar or other flavored vinegars. Plain white
vinegar or cider vinegar works as well in a pinch. You can also add a bit of
lemon juice, a pinch of salt and pepper, maybe some dried herbs, and a dab of
honey if you want a bit more sweetness. Start with all ingredients at room
temperature for the best emulsion.
6. Give Yourself A Quota
If you are weaning yourself back off of sugar, one of the
easiest ways to do it is to give yourself a “quota” when it comes to sugar, and
use it on dessert. If you normally eat dessert every day, then cut out all
sweets besides dessert. Over the next few weeks, cut back the amount of
desserts you have per week. Another way to help is to replace half of your
desserts with fresh fruit.
7. Give Yourself Rules About Dessert
Leading in from the last point, once you’ve cut your sugar
intake back to just desserts, you should then start weaning yourself off of
desserts. Give yourself certain days of the week to eat desserts (and no, don’t
say “every day that ends in ‘day.”) Say, for example, you only eat them on even
days, or on weekends, or on special occasions.
8. Don’t Keep Treats In The House
This one should be a no-brainer. If you have a huge bucket
of ice cream in the freezer, you’re going to eat it. Just don’t buy the sweet
stuff. If you really want something really badly, you’ll have to go to get a
single portion, and half of the time you might decide it’s not worth it.
9. Try Xylitol or Stevia
Not everyone can tolerate xylitol, and not everyone likes
the taste of stevia. But if you can, and do, then they make acceptable
substitutes for sugar. Just don’t overdo it with them. You’re better off just
lowering your sweetener intake entirely rather than trying to find an
acceptable substitute.
10. Try Dark Chocolate
If your sugar addiction comes in the form of a chocolate habit,
then switch to dark chocolate. It’s better for you, all-round, and you probably
won’t be able to eat an entire bar of dark chocolate like you can milk
chocolate.
11. Avoid Mixed Alcohol Drinks
Do you know how much sugar is in a rum and coke? A cosmo? A
gin and tonic? A lot! If you must drink, choose wine, straight spirits, or mix
with soda water.
12. Cut Out Soda
Trade soda for water with lime or lemon in it and you’ll cut
your sugar intake in a huge way. If you still need something bubbly, drink soda
water, either plain or with lime or lemon.
As you've probably noticed in the last couple of years,
probiotics are all the rage as one of THE most important factors that helps
control your immune system (an estimated 70% of your immune system resides in
your gut), as well as your digestive system health.
Most people
"think" they get enough health-boosting probiotics from yogurt (the
average person eats yogurt several times a week). Unfortunately, there are some problems with
yogurt that you need to be aware of...
1. First problem with
yogurt:
Some brands of yogurt
actually contain live cultures and some do not.
Almost all yogurts found in the US start with pasteurized milk... that's
not such a problem because once the live cultures are added and the milk fermented,
you once again have a live and active food that's easier to digest than regular
milk and has a reduced lactose content due to the consumption of lactose by the
microbes.
However, some brands pasteurize the yogurt AFTER it's been
fermented (cultured) which kills the beneficial probiotics. On the other hand, most good brands of yogurt
do NOT pasteurize after fermenting, so the probiotics are still alive for your
benefit.
The amount of probiotics in yogurt varies widely based on
the brand and type. The KEY is that you need to look for "live and active
cultures" on the label, or another labeling that indicates the probiotics
are still active.
The Problem with Yogurt?
2. Second problem
with yogurt:
Most yogurts in the
US are sadly adulterated with way too many sweeteners, whether sugar, corn syrup,
or artificial sweeteners.
Remember that
sucralose kills probiotics, so any yogurt that's been sweetened with sucralose
(aka, splenda) will most likely have a greatly reduced probiotic content or
possibly even be fully dead.
And most other
yogurts are produced to appease the overly aggressive sweet taste buds of
American consumers, so they simply contain too much sugar to be considered
healthy.
Recommendation:
Choose a unsweetened plain yogurt or plain greek yogurt and add your own
stevia or other natural sweetener if you need extra sweetness beyond the
addition of whole fruit.
Also choose FULL-fat
yogurt and not all of this silly skim 0% yogurt that's out there these
days. Remember that the extra fat in
full-fat yogurt satisfies your appetite and cravings so that you eat less
calories later in the day. If you eat
these 0% fat yogurts, you'll end up hungrier in an hour or two. Also, if you can find yogurt from grass-fed
cows, the fat portion of the yogurt is VERY healthy and contains powerful
vitamin K2 (shown to reduce heart disease risk) as well as CLA (found to reduce
cancer risk and help to reduce body fat), and also omega-3 fats, which you also
know are vital to your health.
Third problem with yogurt:
The last problem with
yogurt is that it is not necessarily the best source of probiotics, both in
terms of quantity and also variety of strains. Variety is KEY when it comes to
the overall power of probiotics for your immunity and digestion
Most yogurts only
contain 3-4 strains of probiotics. On
the other hand, Kefir is a fermented dairy drink that contains anywhere from
10-20 strains of probiotics depending on the brand and type.
In terms of quantity of probiotics, yogurts generally
contain between 1 Billion to 5 Billion CFU's per cup, whereas most Kefir
contains anywhere from 7 Billion to 50 Billion active CFU's per cup depending
on the brand and type. Most yogurts are
only cultured for 2-3 hours, whereas kefir is generally cultured for 12-16
hours, increasing it's probiotic content and making it easier for digestion.
Also, most Kefir is
99% lactose free and is by far the easiest to digest type of dairy on the
market due to the "predigestion" that the active cultures perform on
the kefir before you drink it. The
active cultures predigest BOTH the lactose and the casein, making both
components of milk MUCH easier to digest in a good kefir. I see so many people make the mistake of
lumping all dairy products as "bad", when in fact, a good grass-fed
kefir is one of the best gut-healing nutrient-rich superfoods on earth, that's
actually very easy to digest in the world of dairy.
Kefir is a GREAT
addition to any smoothies that you make instead of using water or almond milk
because you get the immune system and digestive system benefits of the
probiotics in Kefir, which you can't get in almond milk.
The TRUTH about Bacon
Most people think
that their favorite "fatty" foods, like bacon, should only be an
occasional treat because they've been told that it will "clog up"
your arteries and kill you because of the saturated fat.
In reality, scientists have begun to collectively agree in
recent years that highly processed polyunsaturated fats from vegetable oils
like corn and soy are the REAL killers (along with too much sugar and starch,
both of which also cause arterial stress if blood sugar levels are too high,
too frequently).
However, what most people don't realize is that pork fat
(aka, lard) is actually only 40% saturated, 48% monosaturated, and 12%
polyunsaturated (varies based on what the pigs ate), while coconut oil is 92%
saturated fat, and we all know that coconut oil is super healthy for DOZENS of
reasons for our bodies!
This isn't to say that bacon fat is always bad or good per
se... it really all depends on what the pigs were fed and how they were
raised. Confinement factory-raised pigs
that never saw the light of day and ate nothing but GMO soy and corn based feed
will have a more unhealthy fat profile than free-range pork that grazed
outdoors, got a lot of sunshine (which increases the vitamin D content of the
pork fat), and ate a wide variety of natural foods.
In fact, free-range (or pasture-raised) pork fat can even be
a really good source of vitamin D if the pigs really did see a good amount of
outdoors time and sunshine...and we all know how vitally important vitamin D is
for our immune systems and overall hormonal balance. Unfortunately, the vast majority of pork and
bacon sold these days is from confinement factory conditions where the pigs get
very little sunshine, if any at all.
So make sure to look for pasture-raised or free-range pork
if you decide to eat bacon or other forms of pork. At the very least, look for organic bacon if
you can't find pasture-raised, because at least you know they didn't eat GMO
feed in that case.
Are Nitrates and Nitrites Really Dangerous? (Do we really
need to fear bacon?)
Well, the consumers fear it so much that companies have
started selling "nitrite-free" products in grocery stores. After all,
even the Mayo Clinic says that sodium nitrite could possibly increase your
risks of heart disease.
But is the fear of nitrites overblown?
Veggies contain way more naturally-occurring nitrites than
processed meats like bacon. In fact, one
serving of arugula contains more nitrites than 467 hot dogs!!!
"Nitrite-free" Is Misleading
If you’re paying more for "nitrite-free" meats,
you’re getting mislead.
Instead of being cured with sodium nitrite, these meats are
cured with celery salt. And guess what?
Celery salt gets transformed into nitrites during the curing process.
In plain English… the "nitrite-free" meats
probably contain way more nitrites that the regular version.
Nitrites And Nitrates Are NOT A Threat
The fear of nitrites and nitrates is overblown. There are a ton of other things you should
worry about more when it comes to food, like GMOs, trans fats, and high
fructose corn syrup.
- On the science side, there’s a ton of research showing
that nitrites and nitrates do not accumulate inside the body, and are quickly
flushed in the urine:
- 25% of the nitrates we consume is converted into salivary
nitrite, 20% converted into nitrite, and the rest is excreted in the urine within
5 hours of ingestion.
- Any nitrate that is absorbed has a very short half-life,
disappearing from our blood in under five minutes.
- Some nitrite in our stomach reacts with gastric contents,
forming nitric oxide which may have many beneficial effects.
What About Nitrosamines?
The fear of nitrites and nitrates comes from the fact that
some of them can transform into nitrosamines while cooking. Nitrosamines are
potentially carcinogenic, so that’s definitely a legit concern. But that’s
exactly why manufacturers use vitamin C (ascorbic acid) when curing their
meats.
It turns out that vitamin C or even vitamin E offers a
protective antioxidant effect on the meat, and prevents the formation of
nitrosamines.
On top of that, my recommendation of sticking to
pasture-raised pork as much as possible still stands, for many reasons... One
of them being the fact that grain-fed, commercially-raised pork has been shown
to create way more nitrosamines when cooked than its pasture-raised cousin.
The reason is simple in my mind: lard from pasture-raised
animals that eat a highly variable diet outdoors contains a healthier fat
profile than the fat from grain-fed confinement animals.
It's that time of year again when most people are looking to
shed holiday weight gain and get a healthy fresh start to make this year the
best one yet.
WELL……there are many foods that will make you fat and sick
in less time than it takes to read their ingredient lists.
However, there are many foods in your local grocery store
that can thwart disease, speed weight loss, and give you the energy and
vitality you’re after.
What are thesee 3 foods?
For the next 3 days I will be sharing with you these 3 foods
and letting you know why they're so important for your health and waistline..
So let's get to it...
Fat-Flushing Food #1: Blueberries and other berries
Having a healthy
functioning liver is critical for good health and easier weight loss. The liver
is your body's main filtration system. It detoxifies every single toxic poison
and food ingredient that comes into your body.
Some of these you put into your body willingly such as
alcohol, supplements, medications, food chemicals (like those found in
non-organic and processed foods) and some are found in the environment like exhaust,
smoke, hazardous chemicals and heavy metals.
Due to the amount of toxins present in the world today your
liver is working double time to keep you alive.
One simple thing you can do to help your liver out is
increase the amount of foods you eat that support it. Blueberries are loaded
with important antioxidants that assist your liver in detoxification. This is
important because antioxidants reduce oxidative stress inside your body.
Oxidative stress is associated with damage to many systems
in the body which leads to inflammation.
Eating blueberries will help to boost your antioxidant
defense system so you can keep those free radicals at bay.
One antioxidant blueberries are loaded with is called
quercetin. Quercetin not only boosts immunity but it is also helpful for liver
function.
Another reason blueberries are so great is the plethora of
unique phytonutrients they contain.
For this reason more
and more scientists are studying their effects in the treatment of liver
diseases in order to reduce the amount of side effects caused the medications
patients take.
Fat-Flushing Food #2: Hemp seeds
These little protein
powerhouses contain all 20 amino acids that our body requires, and a boatload
of vitamins and minerals.
They also contain the perfect ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of
which is 3:1. This reduces inflammation in your body.
These essential fatty acids help to strengthen your cell
membranes. Having strong cell membranes is key because they are the barrier
that keeps toxins out of your cells and keep you looking young and healthy.
Hempseeds also contain both soluble and insoluble fiber,
which are imperative for keeping your digestive and intestinal system happy,
and you regular.
Fat-Flushing Food #3: Garlic
When it comes to
garlic the question really should be, “What isn’t it good for?” It helps
balance cholesterol, inhibits rheumatism, and has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal,
anti-viral, and anti-cancer properties.
Garlic is super high in sulfur, a mineral that supports
Phase II of the detoxification process. The bottom line is garlic is an amazing
food that should be an integral of your diet.
The allyl sulfides found in garlic have been found to play a
key role in cancer-prevention as well. Allyl sulfides activate an important
protein called nuclear erythroid factor (Nrf2) – which triggers
anti-inflammation and antioxidant activity in our cells.
Antioxidants fight off free radicals. This is important
because when free radicals outweigh antioxidants in our body it will go into
oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress causes chronic inflammation and an inflamed
body is a toxic and overweight body.
That’s why increasing the amount of these 3 foods in your
diet will help to SPEED the removal of fat-loving toxins from your body.
Food is really where it's at if you want a clean and lean
body...
Super-Spice #1: Cinnamon - This ancient spice has one of the
highest antioxidant levels of any spice.
Cinnamon is highly effective at helping to stabilize blood
sugar levels, making it very effective for those with diabetes (type 1 and type
2) to help control blood sugar response from a meal.
In one study of people with type 2 diabetes, just two
teaspoons a day reduced blood sugar as much as 20-30%, as well as lowering LDL
cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Cinnamon also has powerful anti-inflammatory properties, and
has been known to relieve pain and stiffness in muscles and joints, including
arthritis.
It has a positive effect on brain function, and smelling
cinnamon, or chewing cinnamon flavored gum, can possibly help improve memory
and attention.
Cinnamon also reduces inflammation in blood vessels that
leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease, as well as having anti-fungal and
antibacterial properties.
Simple ways to add Cinnamon to your daily routine:
Try cinnamon in your smoothies, yogurt, oatmeal, mixed with
berries, sprinkled on your sweet potato or as a healthy addition in your coffee
or tea.
Super-Spice #2: Cumin - Cumin is another spice that is
especially high in antioxidants, but cumin is known for being especially good
for digestion. It stimulates the gallbladder and pancreas to secrete enzymes
and bile that break down food into usable nutrients your body can use.
Due to the high antioxidant content, Cumin can help fight
inflammation throughout the body, and thereby helps in slowing down the aging
process.
Cumin also helps detoxify the body, and is highly effective
for respiratory disorders like asthma and bronchitis.
Cumin, like cinnamon, helps keep blood sugar levels stable,
which means cumin is great for diabetics or pre-diabetics for post-meal blood
sugar control, and it means less chance of weight gain and excess body
fat. This super-spice has been proven to
work as well as some commonly used diabetic drugs at regulating insulin and
blood sugar. Cumin is also a very good source of iron, vitamin C and vitamin A,
which benefit the immune system.
Simple ways to add Cumin to your daily routine:
Cumin goes great in chili, or really any Mexican style
dish! You can also add it to your
sauteed vegetables, stews, or make some warm, soothing cumin tea
Super-Spice #3: Ginger - Ginger is VERY powerful for your
health! Ginger contains over 25
different antioxidants, which makes it extremely effective at fighting free
radicals in many different body systems.
Ginger is best known for its ability to reduce nausea and
vomiting, as well as motion sickness. In fact, ginger may even be more
effective than Dramamine, one of the most common drugs used for motion
sickness.
And because ginger does not have harmful side effects like
many drugs, it is very good for nausea from pregnancy. Studies actually show
that just 1 gram of ginger before surgery is more effective than the standard
anti-nausea medication given for post surgical nausea and vomiting.
Ginger is also a soothing remedy for sore throats from colds
and flu because of its antiviral properties. Ginger also helps coughs and is an
effective expectorant. Try a tea made with hot water simmered with a few slices
of ginger and a small amount of honey and lemon for a soothing tonic when you
are sick.
Because ginger is such a strong anti-inflammatory, it helps
reduce the pain and swelling of arthritis, and muscle aches. Ginger also fights
cancer, reduces cholesterol, and prevents blood clots that lead to strokes or
heart disease.
Simple ways to add Ginger to your daily routine:
I like to use a slice of ginger root in my hot teas and,
sometimes, in our batches of iced teas.
I also love piling ginger on top of sushi! I take a couple capsules of ginger daily
since it's not as frequently used in dishes as some other spices. If you do vegetable juicing, adding some
ginger to the juicer also adds great flavor!
Super-Spice #4: Oregano - This herb contains an oil that is
a very potent anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral agent, rosmarinic acid
(also found in rosemary). Oregano oil
has been used to treat a wide range of conditions from bacterial and viral
infections, to parasites and stubborn fungal infections. Although the oil of
oregano is most often used for medicinal purposes, the herb itself can provide
many of the same benefits when consumed regularly.
Oregano also relieves inflammation, internal or external,
and can offer relief from allergies, aches and pain, without side effects. Oregano is very high on the ORAC scale of
measured antioxidant value, making it powerful at fighting free radicals and
quelling inflammation.
Simple ways to add Oregano to your daily routine:
Oregano makes dishes like burgers, eggs, chili, stews, and
meatballs delicious; it’s also a GREAT addition to any dish using tomato sauce
as a base.
Super-Spice #5: Turmeric - Turmeric’s yellow-orange pigment,
curcumin, is the main active ingredient in this super spice. Amazingly,
curcumin’s anti-inflammatory benefits are comparable to drugs like
hydrocortisone and over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicines like Advil and
Motrin. But, unlike the drugs, curcumin is not toxic at all, nor does it have
the dangerous side effects.
Curcumin is more effective at slowing down the development
of Alzheimer’s disease than many medications, because it decreases inflammation
and oxidation in the brain. This spice also speeds up the recovery time from
strokes as well.
Turmeric and its active ingredient, curcumin, are also
highly effective against diseases like irritable bowel disease, ulcerative
colitis, Crohn’s, and arthritis. Turmeric also improves liver function, lowers
homocysteine and prevents heart disease.
Turmeric is so highly anti-inflammatory that it can help reduce joint
pain and aid in healing joint problems over time.
Most importantly, turmeric is one of the most potent
anti-cancer spices available. In fact,
Turmeric and it's derivatives (such as curcuminoids), are currently being
studied in alternative natural cancer treatments.
Simple ways to add Turmeric to your daily routine:
Try using black pepper along with turmeric, helps to
increase the absorption of turmeric's curcumin in the body. You can also mix it in with sauteed veggies,
stir fries, or the obvious, any curry dishes. Tumeric is also a great
compliment to any recipe that features lentils.
You can also find turmeric root in some stores and use the fresh root
just like you would ginger to make teas.
Most Vitamin C Sold in Stores isn't “Real” Vitamin C!
Did you grab your bottle of Vitamin C?
Look on the nutrition label and you'll probably see the
words, “Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid).”
Do you know what ascorbic acid is?
Well, it is NOT vitamin C. In fact, it is just ONE of the
many nutrients that make up the complete Vitamin C molecule.
Think of the complete Vitamin C (well, ANY vitamin really)
molecule as an egg. If all of those other nutrients make up the yolk and the
egg whites, ascorbic acid would just be the shell surrounding it.
The complete Vitamin C molecule contains P, K, and J
factors, the tyrosinase enzyme, at least 14 known bioflavonoids, various
ascorbagens, five copper ions, iron, manganese, zinc, selenium, phosphorus,
magnesium and yes, ascorbic acid.
If you're just getting ascorbic acid when you buy Vitamin
C...
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