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The Real Food Revivalist!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Mini Corn Dogs and Other Nightmares
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Fructose, high fructose corn syrup may increase cardiovascular risk
Friday, September 16, 2011
Why Sugar is Suing High Fructose Corn syrup
AOL reporting: Why Sugar Is Suing High Fructose Corn Syrup: A Sticky Question of Names
Posted 3:00PM 09/16/11 Health Care, Food
When you need to give yourself a whole new image, there's nothing like changing your name: Just ask Philip Morris, Ralph Lauren and the medication formerly known as Recently, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the scourge of dietitians and dieters from coast to coast, has started down that road by attempting to rename itself "corn sugar." But there's one big obstacle in its way: the sugar industry, which doesn't want to be tainted by connection to the infamous sweetener -- and is willing to go to court to protect itself.
When it was invented in 1957, high fructose corn syrup's name was largely irrelevant. Unknown outside of a small circle of chemists, the compound was an expensive, hard-to-synthesize scientific curiosity. It took another 20 years and the development of a low-cost production method for HFCS to gain ground in America. But between tariffs that drove up the cost of imported cane and beet sugars, and federal subsidies that drove down the cost of corn, HFCS usage quickly exploded. In 1972, the average American consumed about 1.2 pounds of the stuff. Within seven years, that number had increased more than twelve-fold, to 14.8 pounds. And by 1999, the average American was putting away over 63 pounds of high fructose corn syrup.
In the last ten years, HFCS usage has plummeted by more than 20% as consumers have grown increasingly wary of the sweetener.
It has been blamed for a wide array of health problems, including liver damage, diabetes, heart problems and even mercury consumption. The strongest attack against it, however, has come from health advocates who blame the ubiquitous sweetener for America's large and expanding obesity epidemic.
There is debate about the relative dangers of HFCS, and many researchers argue that the fructose-glucose blend's effect on the body is no worse than that of sucrose. But there is no question that the syrup, a popular food additive, is larding the average American diet with empty calories.
Mixed into a mind-boggling array of drinks, cereals, soups and other prepared foods, HFCS has become something of a silent scourge, inspiring many consumers to scour labels in search of its dread name. Meanwhile, many popular brands -- and a growing number of restaurants -- have proudly proclaimed that they no longer use the sweetener.
Fructose By Any Other Name ...
For years, corn producers have fought the downward slide of HFCS. In 2007, the FDA ruled that companies using it could refer to it as "all-natural," noting that HFCS is produced from vegetables. The following year, the Corn Refiners' Association launched a pair of commercials defending HFCS. In one, a smug mother refuses to give her child fruit with punch corn syrup, but is unable justify her decision. In the other, a man refuses a bite of an HFCS-laden popsicle offered to him by his girlfriend, but can't explain why. Both commercials end with the claim that HFCS is "natural," "made from corn," and "fine in moderation."
Other considerations aside, Time magazine contributor Lisa McLaughlin noted a central problem of the pro-HFCS campaign -- "unless you're making a concerted effort to avoid it, it's pretty difficult to consume high-fructose corn syrup in moderation."
Still, despite the campaign, corn syrup has remained Enemy No. 1 in the war for American nutrition. In fact, cane sugar -- which was also reviled, once upon a time -- has vastly increased in popularity, to the extent that many food companies are now touting it in their products as a selling point.
Just Call it Corn Sugar
In context, it's not surprising that the CRA has launched an attempt to rebrand HFCS as "corn sugar." A year ago, the group asked the FDA for permission to use the term. While the government continues to deliberate, however, corn refiners have already begun slipping the new name into advertisements, a move that has infuriated cane and beet sugar producers ... and landed the CRA in court.
According to the CRA, the 1997 report was taken out of context: While the production methods for sugar and HFCS differ, the two "are equivalent as far as how they are metabolized by the body." On Sept. 13, the CRA asked U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall to dismiss the case, claiming that the rebranding is part of an ongoing national conversation about HFCS and, as such, should be protected under the free speech provisions of the Bill of Rights.
Judge Marshall has not ruled yet, but it's clear that -- with sugar refiners, corn growers and a concerned public all weighing in -- the debate over HFCS' role in American life won't end in her courtroom.
Bruce Watson is a senior features writer for DailyFinance. You can reach him by e-mail at bruce.watson@teamaol.com, or follow him on Twitter at @bruce1971.
See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/o0Qns1
Calories Consumed Are Not Equal
What Are They and Where do They Come From?
This article was originally published in UltraMetabolism.
So what is a calorie? A calorie is a simple unit of energy. It is defined as the quantity of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree centigrade at atmospheric pressure.
We get calories from the food we eat. We consume food, and the chemical processes that make up our metabolism break up this food and turn it into energy. Burning this energy created by our metabolic machine allows us to do everything from breathing to running marathons.
It's sort of like putting fuel into a car. You have to put the fuel in to make the car run. This is exactly the case with people and food. Food is our fuel. We consume calories so that we have something to burn. It is these fuel-calories that make us run.
We need a certain amount of caloric intake just to keep the basic functions of our body operating. And then we need some additional calories to do things like get out bed in the morning or go for a run. You learned about all this in the last chapter.
A few hundred years ago Isaac Newton proved that all energy in the universe is conserved—this is known as the first law of thermodynamics. Applied to your weight and what you know about caloric intake, this law suggests that if you eat the same number of calories you burn, you will stay the same weight. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight; if you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight. This seems perfectly logical. The problem? It's not true.
Why All Calories are NOT Created Equal: A Lesson From Physics
I certainly wouldn't presume to throw out Isaac Newton's laws. But how they apply to the calories you eat is not as simple as the first law of thermodynamics suggests.
Let's examine a similar physics-oriented example that you probably remember from high school. Take one pound of feathers and one pound of lead and drop them in a vacuum. Which drops faster? Those of you who answered, "lead" need a refresher course in physics.
In a vacuum they both drop at the same rate. They are the same weight -- one pound – they have the same mass, so they drop at the same rate. Now take that same pound of feathers and pound of lead and drop them off the George Washington Bridge in New York City. Which drops faster? If you answered "lead" this time, congratulations.
Why? Air resistance. You can't see it, you can't taste it, and you can't smell it. But air resistance is real and it affects how lead and feathers move through it. Even though the lead and feathers in this example have the same weight/mass, they have different properties that cause them to move through air differently.
Calories behave in the same way. When calories are burned in a laboratory, they are all created equal and release the same amount of energy. There is no difference between a thousand calories of kidney beans, or a thousand calories of a low fat muffin or cola -- until they are metabolized.
Your body's metabolism is like the air resistance in the example above. The calories you eat are absorbed at different rates, have different amounts of fiber, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and nutrients – all of which translate into different complex metabolic signals that control your weight. You may not be able to see, taste, or smell your metabolism anymore than you can see air resistance, but it has an impact on how calories are consumed in your body just the same.
For example, all the sugar from a soda enters your blood very rapidly, while the same amount of sugar from kidney beans enters your blood slowly and some of it may not even be absorbed because of the high fiber content in the beans. If you drink a soda and all the sugar in it goes into your bloodstream at once, the calories you aren't using at that moment will be stored as fat. On the other hand, if you eat the kidney beans and the sugar in them is absorbed over time, your body has a greater chance to make use of those calories. That means more of them will be burned and less will be stored. Also because of the high fiber content of the beans, not all the calories will be absorbed.
Recent studies have turned this idea that all calories are created equal on its head. Studies show that high carb diets comprised of rapidly absorbed sugars can increase blood sugar and insulin levels, causing weight gain, as well as increase cholesterol and triglycerides that lead to a fatty liver, in turn causing even more weight gain. So rapidly absorbed glucose or sugars increase both sugars and fats in the blood and liver, doubling your problems.
In a recent study, leading nutrition researchers, including Walter Willett, M.D., and his group from the Harvard School of Public Health designed a study to determine whether low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets were better for losing weight.
The results were startling. The researchers fed their group of overweight patients three different diets all carefully controlled and prepared for them daily in a Boston restaurant for 12 weeks. The first group ate a low-fat diet of 1,500 calories (55% carbohydrate, 30% fat, 15% protein) for the women and 1,800 calories for the men. The second group ate the exact same number of calories but from a low-carbohydrate diet (5% carbohydrate, 30% protein, 65% fat). The third group also consumed a low-carbohydrate diet, but they ate 300 more calories a day than the other group: 1,800 for women and 2,100 for men.
The researchers discovered that the low-carb group eating the same number of calories as the low-fat group actually lost more weight. The low-carb group lost an average of 23 pounds compared to 17 pounds for the low-fat group despite eating exactly the same number of calories. That's 6 pounds more in 12 weeks. While the study was only 12 weeks, the findings are worth noting.
The real question is, what type of carbs and fats were used. The "low carb" diet was predominately a diet of whole unprocessed foods – lean animal protein, vegetables, whole grains, and beans – in other words a basic Mediterranean style diet. The low fat group ate foods that were higher in refined carbohydrates. But as we are learning here, the low carb movement will also go by the "weigh-side".
But what was even more startling was that the group eating 300 more calories a day with the low-carb diet lost more weight than those eating the low-fat diet, even though the 25,000 more calories they ate should have amounted to seven pounds of increased weight. They actually lost an average of 20 pounds or 3 pounds per person more than the low-fat group, who ate 25,000 less calories during the 12 weeks.
One final study drives the point home. Harvard professor, Dr. David Ludwig studied three groups of overweight children, feeding each group a breakfast containing the identical number of calories. One group ate instant oatmeal; one group steel-cut oats (the type that takes about 45 minutes to cook) and the third group had a vegetable omelet and fruit.
Their blood was measured before they ate and every 30 minutes after for the next five hours. Then they ate a lunch identical to the meal they ate for breakfast. After finishing lunch, they were told to eat whenever they were very hungry for the rest of the afternoon. What happened was startling.
Many of you would think that the healthiest breakfast would be the oatmeal. But it was actually the omelet. The group that ate the instant oatmeal (the breakfast that entered the blood stream and turned to sugar the fastest) ate 81% more food in the afternoon than the group that had the omelet. Not only were they hungrier, but also their blood tests looked entirely different. The instant oatmeal group had higher levels of insulin, blood sugar, blood fats and adrenalin even though they ate the same calories as the omelet group. Though the steel cut oats were better than the refined oats, the children who ate the steel cut oats still ate 51% more food than the children who ate the omelet.
The conclusion here is that the kinds of calories you consume have a big impact on how much fat you gain, because different types of food are metabolized in different ways.
But what's even more interesting is the fact that the calories themselves actually have an effect on how your metabolism functions. The type of food you eat has a big impact on what your genes tell your metabolism to do. This means that the types of calories you consume have a dual impact on the way you metabolize food. They both act as a source of energy AND a source of information or instructions to your genes that control metabolism. Let's have a closer look at the way food talks to your body.
Food Talks to Your Genes, and Your Genes Talk to Your Body
We used to think the human genetic code —DNA—was simply a set of data that dictated things like what color your eyes are, how tall you are, and what you look like. The old assumption was that this code simply sat in storage somewhere in your cells until it was passed on to your children. The genomic revolution has opened a whole new world of understanding about what our genes really do.
Your genes do control your physical characteristics to some degree. But that is only a fraction of their job. They actually control the day-to-day flow of instructions that regulates every aspect of your biochemistry and physiology. They control the production of hormones, brain messenger chemicals, blood pressure, cholesterol, mood, aging processes, and even play a role in your risk of acquiring diseases like cancer. Essentially they control every function of your body from moment to moment. Your genes play an especially important role in controlling your metabolism and your weight.
What's more, nutrigenomics has revolutionized our understanding of food and calories. We have recently discovered that food is more than just energy or calories.
Food contains hidden information.
This information is communicated to your genes, giving your metabolism specific instructions on what it should be doing. Some of the instructions food gives are: lose weight or gain weight; speed up or slow down the aging process; increase or decrease your cholesterol level; produce molecules that increase or decrease your appetite. The kind of food you eat gives your genes different information helping it make decisions as to what it will tell your body to do in these and various other areas. Food talks to your genes.
Understanding what specific foods are telling your genes is what the new science of nutrigenomics is about. What you eat directly determines the genetic messages you are given. These messages, in turn, control all the molecules that constitute your metabolism; the molecules that tell your body to burn calories or store them.
If you can learn the language of your genes and control the messages and instructions they give your body and your metabolism you can radically alter how food interacts with your body, lose weight, and optimize our health. You can either learn to speak this language or suffer the consequences of serious miscommunication—weight gain, fatigue and disease.
Teaching you to speak the language of your genes is what The Daniel Plan is all about.
Living in Harmony with Our Genes: Eating a Whole Foods Diet
We need to eat in harmony with our genes. Because each of us starts with a different set of DNA, living harmoniously with your genes will mean something different to everyone.
Some of us need more fat, protein, or carbohydrates than others. There is no one perfect diet for everyone. You need to find out what works for you. But your metabolism has some basic operating principles that we all share in common, and there are specific tests and clues to discover what affects them.
A whole, unprocessed, real food is one that is as close to its natural state as possible when you buy it at the grocery store—a whole avocado, a whole apple, a whole grain, a whole almond or whole tomato. Almost anything made or packaged in a factory (i.e. anything with a label) is not a whole food.
Whole foods evolved with mankind over thousands of generations. Our bodies adapted to them and they adapted to our bodies. The calories you consume that come from whole foods speak to your genes in its native tongue. Your DNA knows exactly what to tell your metabolism to do to use these foods in the most efficient and healthy manner possible.
Whole foods are not tainted with unhealthy fats and refined carbs, or manmade elements that your body has no idea how to properly process. Whole foods were designed by nature to keep you at a healthy weight.
If there is one thing I would recommend you start doing right now, it is this: Start eating a whole foods diet.
If you do that, you don't need to worry too much about calories. Focus on real, whole food and your body will take care of itself.
Greene P. Pilot 12-week feeding weight loss comparison: Low fat vs. low carbohydrate diets. Abstract #95. Presented at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity's 2003 Annual Meeting. Ludwig D. High Glycemic Index Foods, Overeating and Obesity. Pediatrics, Vol 102, No. 3 Mach 1999, p.e26 Kaput J, Rodriguez RL. Nutritional genomics: the next frontier in the post-genomic era. Physiol Genomics. 2004 Jan 15;16(2):166-77. Review.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Cardiologists Embrace Natural Methods to Help Lower Blood Pressure
Cardiologists Embrace Natural Methods to Help Lower Blood Pressure
Cardiologists at the Outpatient Cardiology unit of the University of Rochester Medical Center are warming up to the idea that many patients would like to use natural options to help regulate their blood pressure and that many of these options may actually work. In a new review article they have summarized the science behind how many of these nutrients can help.
They are particularly fond of
- coenzyme Enzyme in its most active form that assists with biochemical transport and is considered an active constituent. Q10, calling it the shining star among supplements. “Coenzyme Q10 has a pretty profound effect on blood pressure,” said Kevin Woolf, study coauthor.
This review goes over many nutrients, including
- potassium,
- calcium,
- vitamin D,
- folic acid,
- fish oil,
- garlic,
- flavonoids - Plant compound that is associated with pigmentation. Flavonoids have been shown to modify allergens, viruses, inflammation, and various carcinogens. Found in green tea, citrus, berries, onions, parsley, red wine, dark chocolate, and others., and high-fiber diet. The researchers didn’t mention
- magnesium,
- tocotrienol - Specialized form of vitamin E. Powerful antioxidant showing positive benefits for cholesterol, cardiovascular, neurological health and cancer risk reduction. E, or many other helpful nutrients. The review suggests that more research needs to be done, but that these nutrients can safely be incorporated into the patient’s plan and may in fact be helpful.
I would say this study is a step in the right direction, similar to someone placing a foot in unfamiliar water and testing it out. For those of us in the field of nutrition, the science is overwhelming in support of natural options to help blood pressure along with a good diet and exercise. The last thing in the world you want to do is get stuck on blood pressure medication, which over time makes many aspects of your metabolism worse and becomes the gateway drug for a long list of toxic garbage.
Your blood pressure rising does suggest you have a health problem.
Fixing the source of that problem and getting your blood pressure back to normal because you are healthy is representative of your health IQ and your ability to consistently implement a healthy plan of action.
There are no short cuts to being healthy, but there is such a thing as good health that you can experience and preserve as you grow older—making your life a lot more fun.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Drink to burn fat, lose weight, balance Blood Sugar
Dr. Axe’s secret detox drink recipe not only tastes great, it will help you burn fat, lose weight, balance blood sugar levels, and get your body healthy!
1 glass of water (12-16 oz.) 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 dash cayenne pepper (optional) 1 packet steviaListen HERE to my interview with Dr. Axe: Belly Fat, Be Gone!
Prostate Nutrients
- tomatoes,
- Vitamin D3,
- Zinc,
- selenium,
- licorice root,
- cruciferous veggies,
- Spirulina, Nutrex-Hawaii
- Carlson Vitamin E,
- garlic, Kyolic
- turmeric,
- saw palmetto,
- green tea,
- Carlson cod liver oil!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Ketogenic Diet for Epilepsy
That is a diet with very low cabs (coming mostly from vegetables), no grains.
High natural fat, moderate protein.
The fats to eat are raw, unrefined coconut oil (Nutiva), Cod Liver Oil (Carlson's or Nordic Naturals), organic butter, organic heavy whipping cream, Extra virgin olive oil. Avocado, nuts. Also mayonnaise that you make yourself with olive oil and egg (store bought always has inflammatory oils). Almond butter, cream cheese, plain full fat yogurt, organic uncured bacon/sausage, grass-fed meat/organ meat, raw milk if you can get it.
Check out U.S. Wellness meats
or
Beyond Organic
I don't recommend any "super market oils" including canola, sunflower, safflower, corn, peanut, and soy oils. There are inflammatory oils because they are industrially processed.
It means having gobs of natural fat - and low carbs so that the body switches from being a sugar-burner to a fat-burner, running on ketones - proving to be a wonderful source of fuel for the brain for epilepsy and Alzheimers.
Google "ketogenic diet, epilepsy" Here are some articles to read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/magazine/21Epilepsy-t.html
http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/treatment/ketogenic-diet
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583429,00.html
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/High-Fat-Diets-Effectively-Treat-Absence-Epilepsy.aspx
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474442204008075
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110623130144.htm
A 4-year-old epileptic Minnesota boy, who used to suffer more than 100 seizures a day, has been cured — thanks to an extremely high-fat diet, wcco.com reported.
Medication wasn't even touching Max Irvine's condition, and his parents watched hopelessly as their son's condition worsened.
But Dr. Elaine Wirrell, a pediatric neurologist at the Mayo Clinic, suggested Max try the Ketogenic diet, which is low in carbohydrates and very high in fats. Wirrell said research hints the high-fat diet stabilizes brain cells and alters neurotransmitters.
Max's meals consisted of butter and bacon; he was drinking Canola oil as a beverage, and to his parents' amazement, the diet worked.
"I just remember having tears, and thinking how can I be giving my child so much fat," said Kristine Irvine, Max's mother.
Wirrell said she monitors Max's cholesterol, but that kids on this diet do not typically have cholesterol or lipid problems. Today, Max is not taking any medication and he is not suffering any seizures.
CBS Story – A new study shows a controversial diet plan may actually be the quickest way to safely shed pounds.
After the explosion in popularity of Atkins and similar diets that advise more meats and fewer carbohydrates, doctors went on the defensive saying this was one recipe not to follow because it could lead to heart disease.
According to the study, participants who exercised on a high-fat diet also lost weight faster — 10 pounds in 45 days. Those who exercised on a low-fat high-carb diet took 70 days to lose the same amount of weight.
Researchers say they’re going to test the study participants again in six months to find longer term results.
“What will affect your arteries may take a long time to build up,” said nutritionist Karen Congro. “So, in the beginning it all seems well. But eventually, if you remain on a very high saturated fat, we know for a fact you probably will have a problem.”
High fat diet Effectively Treat Epelipsy
Monday, September 12, 2011
Why Are Men & Women Losing Bone Strength
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