Andrew Weil:”Saturated Fat IS NOT associated with an Increased Risk of Heart Disease, Stroke or Vascular Disease.”

For many years I’ve been trying to educate people on the importance of fat in our diets. I try to explain that, one, fat is not the devil and , two, not all low fat-high carbohydrate (sugar) foods are good for you.

I admit, I’m not pushing the right buttons to be seen by the big guys but now Andrew Weil, one of the big guys, has spoken and I am sooooo happy to see that saturated fat is not being vilified as usual.

Here’s what Dr. Weil has to say, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-weil-md/healthy-eating_b_629422.html.

Two points that stick out and should be considered:

He is not promoting meat consumption and that’s fine be me. Hey, I’m all with eating meat that are grass-fed and natural vs. those pumped with antibiotics. Read my book, The Stubborn Fat Fix and you’ll understand how the food supply affects our health, http://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Fat-Fix-Metabolic-ebook/dp/B002E6IJWY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1292253814&sr=8-2 . However the reason most people avoid meat is to cut saturated fat from their diet. If there is no link between eating red meat and heart disease then we can start eating meat to help supply our bodies with important vitamins and minerals like iron and B12 that we are not nourishing our bodies with when we omit red meat from our diet.

The other point worth paying attention to is that he underscores the fact that carboydrates can upset hormonal balance, fructose and glucose can overload the liver and raise insulin levels and “refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes.”

Now that you know that saturated fat is not a one way ticket to death and that sweets/added sugars and sweeteners are at the top of the evil food list, what foods will you choose to consume?

 

Dr. Oz’s “And My” Guide to Anti-Aging

Dr. Oz spent an entire show on aging, www.doctoroz.com/videos/decade-decade-guide-anti-aging. The show describes the aging process starting in your 30’s through your 50’s. His show was interesting. Here’s what I liked:

• No need for thousands of creams and face products

• The introduction of a homemade remedy for healthy skin: using a mixture of coffee and honey on your face. I forgot the details I should have taken notes, but the general recipe was: coffee granules to help exfoliate and honey to add moisture.

• The idea that sex can give your skin a healthy glow.

• A heads up on the natural elements that damage skin: cigarette or other types of smoke, the sun, alcohol, excess stress, lack of sleep.

• The physiological rationale for aging including hormonal shifts, decreasing estrogen stores, less skin cell turnover, collagen and oil production.

What was not mentioned during The Dr. Oz show was that adding nutrient dense foods (whole eggs, avocado, nuts and seeds, berries etc…) and taking vitamin supplements can help defy the process of aging too! I suggest speaking with your doctor about which of these or any of the many others may help your specific anti-aging needs:

Multi-vitamin to give your body “across the board” coverage for the minimum amounts of micronutrients, especially vitamin A, B-complex, C, E, Copper and Zinc.

Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to support more than just your skin when it comes to health and longevity. There are more than enough studies that link omega 3’s to boosting the immune system, heart and brain health, pain and inflammation and much more.

Vitamin C ester is fat-soluble and helps protect fats in the cell membrane of the skin it is also associated with collagen production.

Biotin (Vitamin H) like Omega 3 and vitamin C ester helps ensure the right amount of fat in the cell membrane.

CoQ10 is an enzyme found in every cell in your body. Along with its many anti-aging activities, it helps lessen wrinkly sagging skin. As we hit our mid 30’s it is unlikely we produce enough to keep stores in a normal range.

Alpha lipoic acid may help to counteract free radical damage associated with Advanced Glycation End products (AGE’s are produced by chemical reactions between sugars and proteins that are associated with reducing the elasticity of the skin and the general aging process).

Here are 2 articles, you may find interesting: www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/features/skin-nutrition www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=42

Don’t just focus on topical treatments to help slow down the process of aging, nourishing (by eating healthy foods and using vitamins) the inside of your body is equally as important.

 

For All The Soda Drinkers (Part II)

Both adults and children drink soda. Studies show that:
• over 60% of adults who drink at least one soda a day are overweight or obese.
• More children and adolescents drink soda than adults (41 percent of children, 62 percent of adolescents and 24 percent of adults).

So I thought you might find it interesting to understand how soda affects you.

WARNING: The material below may contain material that is alarming but definitely worth reading. The information gives you a better understanding of why it is important to understand the foods and ingredients you put into your body. You miss the boat if you only pay attention to calories, fat or carbohydrates.

How can soda affect your health and weight?

1. Both citric acid and phosphoric acid affects blood PH and natural stomach acid secretions interfering with digestion, increasing risk of kidney stones, yeast overgrowth and bowel disease and leaching calcium from bone (especially teeth, spine, pelvis) causing weak bones and mineral imbalances.

2. Caffeine is a diuretic that can facilitate vitamin/mineral depletion, dehydration, fertility issues, sleep problems, anxiety, irritability, and depression.

3. Excess sugar leads to excess calories, increased weight and blood sugar problems like diabetes. Research studies also support a link with the following health hazards:

a. Pancreatic cancer: University of Minnesota conducted a study with individuals who drank approximately two regular sodas/day. The conclusion was that there was an 87% higher chance of having cancer than those who drank beverages without sugar/corn syrup.

b. Diabetes and heart disease: At the American heart association’s Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Annual Cardiology Conference there was a presentation by a professor from the University of California, San Francisco who made the association of approximately 200,000 new cases of diabetes and heart disease/year with soda drinkers.

c. Immune system: sugar has also been shown to lower the immune system due to damage of white blood cells.

4. Artificial sweeteners can lead to eating more because they do not provide the calories to signal to your body that it is satisfying your hunger. They breakdown to methanol and formaldehyde affecting the immune and nervous system and may even be involved in destroying brain neurons leading to headaches/migraines, nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue with an inability to fall asleep. Other associated symptoms include vision problems, anxiety attacks, depression, and asthma/chest tightness. Recently diet soda, like regular soda, was linked to a 50 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome — a cluster of risk factors such as excessive fat around the waist, low levels of “good” cholesterol, high blood pressure and other symptoms.

5. Sodium can throw off electrolyte balance. Sodium benzoate is a preservative in many foods. The combination of sodium benzoate and vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in soda can react to form benzene. The major health effects of benzene include damage to bone marrow and decreases in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can cause damage to DNA. Damage to DNA will contribute to aging and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. Benzene is known to lead to cancer in both animals and humans.

6. Caramel color may suppress the immune system and has been linked to increase blood pressure.

So you see with all the attention focused on calories, fat and carbs, all these other harmful ingredients fall under the radar. And while most experts insist on scratching the surface by focusing on calories, I will urge you to dig a little deeper and really get a handle on the big picture—all the elements of a food or beverage product that can affect your health.

If you have any questions about what you are really eating and drinking, let me know and we can share it to help make the world a healthier place.

 

Fats: Essential Nutrients For You

Many of us have been brainwashed into thinking that eating fat automatically translates into a fat body. This is not true. And there are too many people who cut fat out of their diet and suffer consequences that they may not attribute to cutting fat from their diet.

1. Loss of motivation to lose weight because eating too many calories from carbohydrates can interfere with weight loss.

2. Inability to lose weight because fat helps keep you full. Cutting out fats and eating more carbohydrates can cause people to experience an increase in cravings/appetite.

3. Contribute to hormonal imbalances associated with a lack of fat and excess insulin production due to eating more carbohydrates(infertility, PCOS, yeast overgrowth).

4. Increase health concerns that have been associated with high triglycerides (heart disease), high insulin (diabetes, cancer, metabolic syndrome and many more).

5. Lower stores of fat soluble vitamins and minerals that contribute to healthy skin, hair and nails. 

Fats are essential nutrients that enable our bodies to work efficiently. Here are just some of the benefits fat provides, healthnews.ediets.com/diet-weight-loss/the-facts-on-fat.html

So enjoy real food that provides healthy fat for a healthy you! My book , “The Stubborn Fat Fix” can guide you to make better food choices and help you bring balance to your way of eating.

 

Sensational Sex for Your Health

The next time your partner makes an advance that you are not ready for, you may want to think twice before your response is, “I have a headache”.

Here’s why:

1. A vigorous bout of sex can burn about 200 calories, some of us have to spend 30-45 minutes on the treadmill working up a sweat all by ourselves…certainly not as much fun as “doing” it together

2. Hormones are released during sex that contribute to good health and a positive state of mind. These hormones are:

a. oxytocin and endorphins natures way to relive pain (from headaches and PMS) and create a sense of exhilaration
b. prolactin affects neurons in the brain that increase the sense of smell
c. Prostoglandins (found in semen) may be absorbed by a woman reducing symptoms of depression

3. For men in particular having sex 3 or more times/week has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer and cut the risk of heart attacks and stroke in half

4. Semen contains nutrients (protein, Vit. C , zinc, calcium and other minerals) that have been shown to boost your immune system

5. An orgasm is relaxing and can improve the quality of sleep

6. Immunoglobin A raises the body’s immunity to the common cold and flu

7. Deepens emotional bonds between partners

8. Sex costs nothing, unless you want to use props, and it’s fun

9. Boosts self-esteem

10. Responses to stress improve after sex vs. responses to stress after other types of sexual behaviors or by people who completely abstain from sex, emotional bonds

Anyone want to share some benefits that I may have not mentioned?

For those of you who are concerned with what happens to sex as we get older there is good news. A 2007 study that interviewed over 3,000 people 57-85 years old was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It found that “the proportion of sexually active couples that engage in oral sex, for example, hovered at around 50 percent for those under 75. More than half of men and a quarter of women, whether they had a sexual partner or not, acknowledged masturbating.”
Another important outcome of the study revealed that “many men and women remain sexually active–participating in vaginal intercourse, oral sex and masturbation–well into their 70s and 80s.”

How’s that for good news?!