A Healthy Diet Means Avoiding Trans-Fat as well as Saturated Fat
October 7, 2008
We all need fat in our diet on a daily basis. However, not all fats are created equal ? there are healthy fats and unhealthy fats. Many people know that monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the healthier variety, and that saturated fats should be avoided. But did you also know about trans-fats? Read on to learn more about this unhealthy fat:
What are trans-fats?
Trans fats are fats that have had hydrogen added to them in order to make them solid at room temperature and last longer. Many packaged foods, margarines, and vegetable shortenings contain trans fat. If you read the label and see "partially hydrogenated oil" you can be sure that you are eating these unhealthy fats.
Why are they bad?
Trans-fat has come under scrutiny lately because of its harmful effects on our health. These fats can raise your LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, raising the risk of coronary heart disease. In some studies, trans fats have been shown to have an effect on learning and concentration in laboratory animals, as opposed to animals who were given foods containing other types of fat. Trans fat are as bad for you, if not worse than, the saturated variety and should be avoided at all costs. According to the Food and Drug Administration, as of 2006, all food manufacturers will be required to list "trans fat" on their nutrition labels.
Is Dr. Arthur Agatston Fearing the Loss of Popularity of South Beach Diet?
October 3, 2008
Dr. Arthur Agatston, the cardiologist who developed South Beach Diet has stated in a recent interview that the diet is not low-carb, as everybody labels it.
Speculating the wave of decrease in popularity of the low-carb diets, many hastened to say that Dr. Agatston’s recent statement is issued from his fear that the diet would fail altogether taken by this wave. The way I see it, the allegation was made not necessarily as a defense against the popularity fall, but as a reaction against frequent associations with low-carb diets, especially with Atkins diet, with which it shares slight resemblance but of which it fundamentally differs.
What is it that the two diets share? The common points of the diets lie in the carbohydrate restriction during the incipient phases, with the induction of ketosis. But, speaking of the following phases in the diet, unlike the unhealthy recommendations of strict reduction of carbohydrates and foods high in saturated fats that Atkins makes, the South Beach diet recommends replacement of all simple carbohydrates with complex, healthy ones. In fact, South Beach diet recommends consumption of lots of whole grains, brown rice and fruit. Also, it strongly advises against all saturated fat, recommending instead unsaturated fats consumption, stressing on the healthy properties of the olive oil and fish oil.
The Non-Diet Diet
September 29, 2008
Diets don’t work. If they did the U.S. of A. would be the thinnest, trimmest nation in the world, with over 40 million Americans spending billions each year on weight loss products. In fact, the opposite is true. The Center for Disease Control claims that at least 65% of adults are overweight or obese. With the growing list of woes associated with obesity, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, the weight problem in America has become a serious concern. Yet we continue to look to fad diets as the answer to this serious problem - as if living on bacon and eggs, cabbage soup, or low-calorie meal replacement drinks could ever be construed as a healthy solution.
A review of popular diet programs conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, stated that most weight loss programs offered little or no proof that participants were successful in loosing weight or keeping weight off in the long run. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has stated that of the millions of people that diet, less than 5% of those who actually loose weight will be able to keep it off in the years to come. It has been surmised that a dieter may shed approximately 100 pounds in the course of a lifetime, but gain back 120 lbs. One benefit of weight loss organizations, however, was group support. Dieters who joined support groups appeared to loose more weight than those who decided to go it alone.
Sugar Lovers Beware
September 23, 2008
It would be fair to assume that almost everyone on the planet loves sugar and sweet foods. Processed sugar is in many products and is a key ingredient for baking. It seems that everyone has a sweet tooth for some sugar food in one way or another. Most people know to limit their intake of processed sugar, however, what most people don’t know is that sugar is one of the worst ingredients to put into your body. The chemical reaction of sugar in the body acts as a poison. Studies show that sugar has drug like effects in the body.
Processed sugar has many harmful effects throughout the body and can cause major imbalances in the organ systems. You could say that sugar tends to throw off the homeostatic balance of the whole body by increasing the production of adrenaline by many times. In essence, sugar stimulates the nervous system by inducing a flight or fight response.
This is obviously not a healthy process. This intense reaction of the body increases the production of cortisone, which suppresses immune function and can lead to other health disorders.
Why are Free Form Essential Amino Acids Necessary and What to Look For!
September 18, 2008
1. Look for high quality, crystalline, free-form, amino acids (AAs) Most amino acid blends on the market are actually reduced milk or soy proteins. These may contain small quantities of free form AAs but are mostly comprised of whole proteins and peptides. Proteins and peptides are AAs that are linked together in chains and must first be broken down into single AAs by the digestive process in order for the body to create usable systemic proteins. It is because of the nitrogen in these systemic proteins that allows them to heal and repair tissue. Without protein our bodies continue to degenerate.
The Sneak Attack of Trans- Fats
September 14, 2008
If you are like most people, you are probably confused about trans fats. What are they? Which foods have them? What is the health risk?
The truth is, trans fats are everywhere. They are lurking on the shelves in almost every aisle of our grocery stores. Just when you think that bag of microwave popcorn was a healthy choice for a snack… it might not be. Not because of the popcorn itself but because of what has been added to it.
So what are they? Trans fats are the result of a process called hydrogenation where they take relatively healthy oil and turn it into a solid form to help prolong the shelf life and freshness of the product. When these fats become solid, our bodies treat them more like saturated fats. Evidence shows that consumption of both saturated fat and trans fat can increase our LDL ("bad") cholesterol that increases the risk of coronary artery disease. There is also some evidence to support that trans fats may actually decrease our HDL ("good") cholesterol. Nearly 13 million Americans suffer from coronary artery disease and more than 500,000 die each year from causes related to coronary artery disease. Heart Disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States.
Aggressive Behaviour Seems To Be Triggered By Early Age Diet
September 10, 2008
The fact that diet directly affects behaviour is no news, on the contrary, this reality has been perceived a very long time ago, as the old saying “a man is what he eats” proves.
Studies have been performed to ascertain the degree in which this happens. A study of the scientists and researchers from the University of Southern California shows that a lack vitamin B, zinc, iron from the diet during the first years of life seems to influence behaviour later on.
Malnutrition in early ages, shows the study, predisposes to neurocognitive deficits. These deficits will lead to behavioural problems, such as antisocial and aggressive behaviour, during childhood and adolescence.
It is common knowledge that the lack or the insufficient intake of certain substances influences body development and all the resulting aspects. Nutritive substances have certain specific nurture targets, namely they feed particularly some body parts. Thus, the nutrients for the brain play a crucial role in the subsequent development of the neural activity, affecting brain health and mental performance. The mental state is also influenced by nutrients, as they are essential ingredients in the biochemical processes that produce brain neurotransmitters. Serotonin and dopamine which are known to affect mood are such neurotransmitters.
Toxic Metal Removal Through Restored Protein Anabolism. Focus: Mercury Toxicity
September 4, 2008
Toxic metals exist in our environment as pollutants in our air, soil, water and consequently our food supply. We face the added challenge of the toxic metals in our fillings (silver/mercury amalgams) and the thimerosol mercury compound that has been used as preservative for over half a century in our vaccinations. These metals build in our tissues causing our systems to malfunction on many different levels
Mercury has basically two forms: Organic and inorganic, and both are toxins. Inorganic mercury is found in or near: thermometers, barometers, dental fillings, batteries, electric wiring and switches, fluorescent lights, pesticides, fungicides, vaccines, paint, skin-tightening creams, spills, antiseptic creams, pharmaceutical drugs and ointments. Organic mercury becomes methyl mercury when combined with carbon by water or soil organisms. It can bioaccumulate and pass up the food chain. This occurs in marine life and can be found in farm animals and produce. Humans can convert inorganic to organic forms. The concentrations in the body are highest in the brain and kidneys. It has also been reported in the red cells, liver, muscle tissues, and gall bladder.
Functional Foods: What They Are And How They Work
August 31, 2008
In the brain, a typical protein can live for approximately ten days. The thoughts, feelings and memories of a human being are made up of what was in the stomach only a few days before. As you can see, in choosing one’s diet, you actually can determine who and what you are going to become.
About 2500 years ago, Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals are designer foods and supplements that are combined with nutritional value that are disease-preventative and have medicinal benefits. These are usually natural products which may reduce or prevent chronic and acute disease or promote good health.
Many chronic and acute diseases are caused or irritated by nutritional imbalances or deficiency. The link between diet, disease and the ability to process thought are sometimes subtle and complex. Many studies suggest that some 40% of cancers are linked to dietary choices. Unhealthy eating habits are sometimes caused by farming practices, lack of money, and a manufacturing industry that promotes the ignorance of true, beneficial nutrition.
Glutamates
August 27, 2008
Approximately 30 years ago, food manufacturers were competing against the American Homemaker for consumable dollars. Women, traditionally prepared food fed to the family and the food prepared came fresh and cheap!
Food scientists knew then that we have glutamate receptors on our tongues. Humans are driven to eat foods containing glutamates, even when we can’t taste them. Glutamates can enhance taste or the sensation of taste, but it also causes a chemical reaction soon after the glutamate receptors are activated.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and other glutamates (called free glutamates) can appear naturally in foods or may be included as additives by manufacturers in order, among other reasons, to increase the popularity of their products.
When glutamates are added to foods, they can release high levels of insulin, which cause changes in the metabolism. In a report written by Drs. N.A. Togiyama and A. Adachi and published in the medical journal Physiological Behavior, applying monosodium glutamate to the tongues of animals will release high levels of insulin within three minutes.
The hunger that follows such an insulin response could increase cravings, cause weight gain, and if repeated over tine, increase the likelihood of adult-onset diabetes.
