My Life is Green

What Single Ingredient is Worse than Sugar?

2011-12-05T10:09:00.001-08:00

If you are trying to shed a few pounds, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) might be the single worst ingredient you can put into your body. Not only does HFCS keep you from losing weight, but it actuallyincreases the amount of fat cells that you produce! Even worse, this little ingredient is found in almost all soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, “health” bars, and many different sweet treats. Last month, PepsiCo ditched the controversial sweetener in Gatorade and more soda manufacturers are experimenting with the idea of removing HFCS from their products altogether. You will start seeing “made with real sugar” products hit the shelves soon such as: Dr. Pepper Heritage, Pepsi Throwback, and Mountain Dew Throwback. These products are being manufactured as the forecast for HFCS is becoming worse.

During a March research study at Princeton, one set of rats were given high-fructose corn syrup and another set of rats were given table sugar; guess what they found? The rats given HFCS gained a lot more fat than their counterparts! In fact, whenever researchers want to learn more about diabetes they induce a pre-diabetic state in rats by giving them…you guessed it: HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.

Real sugar—a better solution?

Elizabeth Abbot, author of Sugar: A Bittersweet History, says “The debate about which one is better for you (HFCS or sugar) is a false debate, because neither of them is good for you. By having cane sugar, you’re not doing yourself a great big favor. Not so much sugar is what we should be striving for.”

Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately. Keeping sugar out of your diet will help you burn fat, help your body regulate insulin levels and will do wonders for your immune system.

If you have a sweet tooth, stevia is your new best friend. Stevia is a no calorie, natural sweetener from the stevia plant. It’s also a great option for diabetics too, as it will not spike your blood sugar levels. If you don’t have any stevia in your house, you can use small amounts of agave nectar or raw honey until you are able to purchase stevia.

HFCS may be bad, but it’s not half the problem when it comes to artificial sweeteners. I’m going to talk about one of the biggest sweet deceptions of the decade as my next topic. (Hint: Avoid the little pink, yellow and blue sweetener packets!)

Action Steps:

Skip the sodas! If you are a drink soda, ask yourself this question: “why do I drink sodas?” If your answer has anything to do with cravings, energy or you feel like you “must have it”, that is the addictive nature of HFCS talking and you need to begin a process of permanently removing all soda from your diet.
If you absolutely need a sweetener in your drink, use Stevia instead. Avoid the little pink, yellow and blue sweetener packets too!
Check the ingredient list on all packaged materials. HFCS is in many common foods you may think are “healthy”.

Sugar Found to be More Addictive than Cocaine

2011-12-05T09:50:00.001-08:00

This is not old news, but I thought I might like to refresh my readers' memories before Christmas has you eating every cookie on every counter!

We've known for years that sugar isn't good for us. It promotes tooth decay, provides quick highs and lows and offers nothing but empty, nutritionless calories that pack on the pounds. However, it appears that it is even worse than we previously thought. Researchers recently determined that refined sugar is actually more addictive than cocaine. In a recent study rats were given a choice between sugar water and cocaine, and 94% them chose sugar. Even the rats that had previously been addicted to cocaine switched to the sugar once it was a choice. No wonder it's so hard to give up that 3 pm pack of M&M's, it's more addictive than illegal drugs

Read more: http://www.slashfood.com/2007/08/27/sugar-found-to-be-more-addictive-than-cocaine/#ixzz1fgSMaoqj

Hypoglycemia - A Hidden Hell

2011-11-21T10:58:00.001-08:00

This excerpt (from Chapter 13) tells the sad story of how millions of Americans are plagued by a mysterious constellation of symptoms but don't know what's wrong with them -- and often, neither do their doctors. Unfortunately, the physicians and loved ones of these ailing millions often wrongly assume that they're "hypochondriacs" or that they have a mental disorder. Worse yet, they think these symptoms are indicative of another disease or condition.

Instead, these suffering millions may be victims of SUGAR SHOCK! They're suffering from reactive hypoglycemia, a condition that's often maligned and dismissed by members of the mainstream medical establishment. But cutting-edge nutritionists and medical practitioners contend that hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is rampant today and usually triggered by excessively consuming sweets or processed carbohydrates -- something most Americans do.

Tragically, people who suffer from hypoglycemia are often misdiagnosed for years -- and even frequently advised to seek psychiatric counseling and/or take psychiatric drugs. But usually the best treatment for hypoglycemia is quite simple: Just kick all sugars and processed, "culprit carbs," and eat modest amounts of nourishing, wholesome foods five or six times a day.

More information about the book, SUGAR SHOCK!, and author Connie Bennett follows the excerpt. Thanks for your interest in this important and provocative subject.

Hypoglycemia - A Hidden Hell

by Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C., author, SUGAR SHOCK!From Chapter 13: It Might Not Be "All In Your Head": What Your Doctor Doesn't Know or Believe About Hypoglycemia (pp. 191-213).

"Bipolar II with psychotic episodes." That's the diagnosis a psychiatrist handed Stephanie B. of Chico, California, when she was 23 years old.

By the time a psychiatric hospital rendered the "bipolar" verdict, Stephanie had spent a decade trying to pinpoint the cause of her depression, mania, panic attacks, anxiety, fatigue, temper outbursts, excitability, psychotic-like episodes, confusion, concentration problems, and headaches. These symptoms disabled her so thoroughly that at times she couldn't get out of bed and she had to drop out of school four times.

Physicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists were particularly mystified by Stephanie's strange, scary panic attacks -- like the time when, after skipping a meal and rushing to a physics class, her legs wouldn't budge and she felt stuck in the deep end of a swimming hole. Or the incident when she started to hyperventilate while driving down a six-lane highway, developed "extreme tunnel vision," and had to pull over to avoid collision with an oncoming car.

Doctors prescribed medications to help her cope -- a litany of drugs that reads like a pharmacology manual: Zoloft, Depakote, Risperidol, Imipramine, Klonopin, BuSpar, Paxil, Trazodone, Ativan, and Ambien. But the meds helped to bring about another problem. In a year and a half, the 5-foot, 10-inch Stephanie ballooned from "anorexic looking" to 215 pounds.

Curiously, not one in the succession of doctors she saw ever asked Stephanie about her diet, which included many inferior, fiber-stripped, nutrient-poor, empty-calorie dessert foods and processed carbs and starches such as pasta, corn tortillas, corn chips, blueberry muffins, sweet rolls, cookies, smoothies, croissants, pizza, and bagels.

On several occasions, she even asked her doctors if she had a blood sugar problem. "I'd explain that if I didn't eat at crucial moments in my day, I'd turn irritable and get a devastating headache. But the doctors paid no attention," she recalls. "Once in a while, they'd give me a blood sugar test right then -- when I wasn't having any symptoms -- and, of course, my results would come back normal."

Meanwhile, as her twenties slipped by, Stephanie's distress continued, especially near that time of the month. "I was putting everything down to PMS," she says. "I'd have horrible mood swings, cramps, bloating, and migraines for a week out of every cycle...."

Finally, ...just before her 31st birthday, after some 20 years of anguish and agony, Stephanie learned the cause of her problems, but not from a medical doctor. Instead, a nutritionally savvy acupuncturist who'd been treating her for a dog bite suspected that Stephanie might have reactive hypoglycemia or low blood sugar caused by her diet high in sugars and refined carbs.

Almost immediately, Stephanie stopped eating processed carbs and desserts. Instead she had meals and snacks with protein, healthy fats, vegetables, some low-sugar fruits, and whole grains. Within days, her health dramatically improved.
"Eating right banished all my symptoms including depression and mood swings," she marvels. "It even helped me get rid of my constant hunger and excess weight. And I've discovered a whole new world of tasty, healthy foods."

Hypoglycemia: "The Great Imitator"

Stephanie's story is not so unusual. Quite the opposite.

In fact, I believe, as do a number of medical experts, that reactive hypoglycemia is one of the most common and misunderstood disorders in America today. For starters, many physicians assume that ailments such as mood swings, fatigue, and anxiety are manifestations of psychological problems.

Moreover, hypoglycemia has been called the "Great Imitator" because its strange, startling symptoms -- some experts list as many as 125 of them -- can mimic a frightening array of diseases and conditions, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, neurosis, migraines, Parkinson's syndrome, chronic bronchial asthma, paroxysmal tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), rheumatoid arthritis, cerebral arteriosclerosis (hardening of the brain's arteries), menopause, mental retardation, alcoholism, hyperactive disorder, and senility.

Given the vast array of symptoms and the confusion they can generate, doctors often shrug away patients' complaints as the imaginings of a hypochondriac in dire need of psychiatric help.

"Every time I went to the doctor for any reason, he or she would do a few tests and tell me that it was 'all in my head,'" laments Linda K. of Gatesville, Texas. "The doctors would say that I was extremely healthy and then try to get me to set up an appointment with a psychologist or psychiatrist. I would get very mad and hardly ever go to the doctor, because I know they would find nothing... I must have had hypoglycemia all my life, but I wasn't diagnosed until I was 34..."
Stephanie's, Linda's, and my stories are typical of many people with reactive hypoglycemia: We get misdiagnosed again and again in a cycle that could continue for decades unless we're lucky enough to find a knowledgeable, open- minded health practitioner.

Obviously, not all patients with anxiety, depression, heart palpitations, migraines, and other symptoms have hypoglycemia -- they could have other very real conditions -- but if they do have low blood sugar, it can be a revelation and relief to learn about it.

What Is This Condition that Confuses Even Doctors?

So what exactly is this medical condition that fools so many doctors so easily and leaves agonized patients without relief for years? First of all, remember that our bodies -- and especially our brains -- need glucose to survive. Low blood sugar or "hypoglycemia" ("hypo" [is] low and "glycemia" [is] blood sugar) means that your blood glucose drops too low for you to be able to go about your daily activities.

This can happen because your body uses up glucose too rapidly, releases it into the bloodstream too slowly, or calls upon your pancreas to manufacture too much insulin. (Insulin is the vital hormone that removes sugar from your bloodstream.) When any of these things happen, your blood glucose becomes abnormally low, and you become confused, irritable, spacey, lightheaded, and more.

This glucose deprivation also causes many people to become famished. But it doesn't stop at hunger. "Perhaps most importantly, low blood sugar triggers an outpouring of counterregulatory hormones, mostly from the adrenals," observes Ronald Hoffman, M.D., founder of the Hoffman Center in New York City, host of the nationally-syndicated radio program, Health Talk, and author of the book,Tired All the Time?

"These hormones oppose the action of insulin and push blood sugar back up. Unfortunately for the hypoglycemic, these 'rescue' hormones are the very same ones that produce the adrenaline rush of a fight-or-flight reaction. The results are symptoms like heart palpitations, sweaty palms, nervousness, tremor, and sometimes even full-blown panic attacks," Dr. Hoffman explains...

Hypoglycemia: A Potential Prelude to Diabetes [Short Excerpt]
Although it's not universally acknowledged, clinical evidence suggests that people with long-term hypoglycemia are headed toward diabetes....This shouldn't be too surprising, since both hypoglycemia and diabetes are related to blood sugar problems. Whether you're suffering from low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) or diabetes (high blood sugar), you can't properly assimilate or tolerate sugars or starches because of underlying blood sugar imbalances....

Cynthia Geyer, M.D., ...Director of Women's Health at Canyon Ranch health resort in Lenox, Massachusetts, puts it [this] way: "Hypoglycemia can be one of the manifestations of insulin resistance...which may reflect an 'overshoot' phenomenon characterized by a large spike in insulin, followed by a drop in blood sugar. Over time, repeated insulin spikes may lead to a decrease in pancreatic reserve, or more insulin resistance."

Keith DeOrio, M.D., [the integrative physician in Santa Monica who correctly diagnosed my hypoglycemia after I endured years of hellish symptoms], further describes the sequence that could lead to type 2 diabetes: "The brain craves more glucose so you consume more simple carbs to get your blood sugar back up again," he says. "You get into this vicious cycle of low sugar, high sugar, low sugar, high sugar, low sugar, high sugar. And that taxes your pancreas, which then leads to either insulin deficiency or to greater insulin resistance and, therefore, type 2 diabetes. Diabetes really is chronic hypoglycemia."

Hypoglycemia is Rampant, Not Rare [Short excerpt]

Just how many Americans suffer from reactive hypoglycemia? ..."If you ask a conventional physician, hypoglycemia is a rare, practically nonexistent malady," Dr. Ronald Hoffman observes. "...But the truth is that hypoglycemia is far more prevalent than we're led to believe."

Internist and integrative physician Richard N. Ash, M.D., agrees. "Low blood sugar is not rare. It's probably rampant.... Hypoglycemia is basically triggering the obesity epidemic in this country, because people are overeating after their blood sugar drops and they can't stop."

...Integrative physician Keith DeOrio, M.D. insists that "Low blood sugar probably affects 50 percent of the U.S. population, if not more." The authors of "Hypoglycemia: The Classic Healthcare Handbook" also suggest that half the U.S. population suffers from hypoglycemia.

In 1966-1967, the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare found that 49.2 percent of the people interviewed had hypoglycemic symptoms, as cited by William Dufty in his book, "Sugar Blues." Some experts suspect that the figures are still the same, if not higher, with about half of all Americans suffering from low blood sugar.

[Often, the culprit for low blood sugar or hypoglycemia is that you're eating too much sugar and refined carbs.] Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., C.N.S., author of "Get the Sugar Out: 501 Simple Ways to Cut the Sugar Out of Any Diet," warns of the dire consequences that result from downing enticing desserts year after year. "Since almost all Americans eat too much sugar, many nutritionists think that most Americans are on an almost certain collision course with hypoglycemia."

The Doctors of Disbelief [Short Excerpt]

...Why are physicians so reluctant to identify this condition? "We haven't been teaching our physicians correctly," explains endocrinologist Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., author of the popular Schwarzbein Principle books on weight loss. "They're used to identifying diseases with known causes. Doctors have no problem believing in hypoglycemia when it's 'disease related' -- say, liver or kidney failure, or tumors in the pancreas..."

...When asked why doctors discount reactive hypoglycemia's existence, James Chow, M.D., coauthor of Hypoglycemia for Dummies, notes that "part of the reason is that there are no viruses or anything concrete that one can point to, and the symptoms are too general and nonspecific.

"Also, hypoglycemia is not a disease per se, but a condition that is managed through dietary and lifestyle changes -- not something doctors are taught in medical school. If it's not a disease entity for which they can write a prescription, then they don't think it exists," he observes.

Paltry Nutrition Education for Physicians

Interestingly, critics claim that one of the main reasons physicians aren't adept at identifying hypoglycemia, malnutrition, or other nutrition-related illnesses is because the nutrition education they receive in medical school is quite lacking.
"Nutrition training in medical schools is almost nonexistent to substandard," decries renowned alternative medicine practitioner Andrew M. Weil, M.D., author of the national bestsellers Spontaneous Healing and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, and other books.

"I've looked at what they teach. Most of the nutrition is buried in biochemistry courses... The training still lasts just a few hours," says Dr. Weil, who admits that he himself "received essentially no education in nutrition in four years of Harvard Medical School and an internship but pursued further nutrition training on his own. "It's fair to say that the majority of physicians are functionally [nutritionally] illiterate," he concludes.

Physician Fred Pescatore, M.D., [who is also a certified clinical nutritionist] believes that the nutritional training doctors get is "completely inadequate and quite appalling.

"Most physicians are nutritionally unbalanced themselves," contends Dr. Pescatore, who is president of the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists... "When you go to a physician who's not properly trained and expect to get expert nutritional advice, you're only fooling yourself."

NOTE: This chapter about hypoglycemia also reveals other eye-opening information and startling stories. For instance, it explains how patients today are frequently misdiagnosed; how cutting-edge doctors are appalled by their colleagues' ignorance; how hypoglycemia was "discovered" in 1924 by Seale Harris, M.D., but his findings were attacked and ignored; and how in 1973, the condition was dismissed as a "nondisease" by the American Medical Association, the American Diabetes Association and the Endocrine Society. In addition, the chapter tells the tragic tale of blood sugar sufferer Roberta Ruggiero, who was misdiagnosed for years and even wrongly administered electroshock therapy and later founded the Hypoglycemia Support Foundation (HSF), which now helps millions worldwide. The chapter also discusses an intriguing survey showing the hypoglycemia-diabetes connection; cites evidence, which suggests that there's a link between alcoholism and low blood sugar; points out how the incidence of hypoglycemia among our nation's young is skyrocketing; provides a lengthy list of hypoglycemia symptoms; explains how to get a valid diagnosis of hypoglycemia; and more.

About the Author

Connie Bennett, M.S.J., C.H.H.C. is an experienced journalist and former sugar addict, who now jokingly calls herself an "Ex-Sugar Shrew!" She has helped thousands of "sugar sufferers" around the world to break free of their debilitating, destructive habit. She founded the acclaimed SugarShockBlog.com and SugarShock.com; the online, international KickSugar support group (on Yahoo!); and the 21-Day, Stop SUGAR SHOCK! Diet(TM). Connie's list of credits is impressive -- she has contributed to numerous media outlets, including eDiets.com, SheKnows.com, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She has a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and she is a certified holistic health counselor, who studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

About the Book

SUGAR SHOCK!
How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life --
And How You Can Get Back on Track
by Connie Bennett, M.S.J., C.H.H.C.,
with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
Foreword by Nicholas Perricone, M.D.
Published by Berkley Books
(397 pages, paperback, ISBN 978-0-425-21357-5, $14.95 U.S./$18.50 CAN)
Available through this site or the author's sites:
SUGAR SHOCK! website --http://www.sugarshock.com
SUGAR SHOCK! Blog -- http://www.sugarshockblog.com
KickSugar Support Group -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicksugar
A provocative expose of the negative effects of sugars and simple carbs -- and how to break the addiction.
There's no sugarcoating it: Succumbing to sweets too often could damage your health. But to what extent? You probably already know that eating a lot of sugar and other "quickie carbs" can bring on serious conditions like obesity and diabetes. But did you know that these are only two of a host of maladies -- such as "brain fog," fatigue, mood swings, heart disease, and even cancer -- which millions may be suffering because of their sugar or carb habits?
Once besieged by 44 seemingly unconnected symptoms, former "sugar addict" Connie Bennett learned the truth the hard way. Restored to good health and humor just by kicking sweets and simple carbs in 1998, Connie -- an experienced journalist -- uncovered extensive medical research, which proves that people (i.e., most Americans) who eat too many low-caliber culprit carbs could be in SUGAR SHOCK!
Based on the insights of thousands of physicians, nutritionists, researchers, and "sugar sufferers" worldwide, SUGAR SHOCK! reveals the sour scoop about sweets and shows you how to break free with easy tips and tactics so that you can improve your health, perk up your moods, boost your libido, and regain control of your life.

Praise for SUGAR SHOCK!Dozens of doctors, nutritionists, and celebrities have endorsed SUGAR SHOCK! See http://www.SugarShock.com or http://www.SugarShockBlog.comfor a complete list.
"...trots out a Who's Who of prominent nutritionists who support Bennett's argument that sugar is the road to physical ruin..."
-- TIME Magazine
"Read this book. It could save your life."
-- Mark Hyman, M.D., author of the New York Times bestsellerUltraMetabolism
"...must reading..."
-- Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
"I wholeheartedly recommend SUGAR SHOCK!"
-- Film producer Harvey Weinstein
"Wow! This is an impressive, exceptional expose and self- help work!"
-- "Nutritionist to the Stars" Oz Garcia, Ph.D., author of Look and Feel Fabulous Forever
"You're hooked from the first chapter..."
-- Barbara DeAngelis, Ph.D., author of the #1 New York Times bestseller,Secrets About Men Every Woman Should Know

Copyright (c)2007 by Connie Bennett, founder,http://www.SugarShock.com and http://www.SugarShockBlog.com. From SUGAR SHOCK! (Berkley Books). All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to duplicate or distribute this file as long as you provide all credits and as long as the contents are not changed and this copyright notice is intact.

Kadota Figs from Publix

2011-09-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

Michelle in produce at Publix informed me this morning that they get Calimyrna figs in every day. And every day they are gone. Poof. Just like that my dreams are destroyed. Okay, I shouldn't be so dramatic.

Instead, I picked up one package of Kadota figs and one package of Brown Turkey figs. I can't wait to get home and make some fresh figs with goat cheese!

Publix has their own brand of goat cheese for only $2.99 which is great compared to the competition at $4.99 and even $6.99 in some places!

I'll let you know how the Kadota figs turn out tomorrow!

Eating Nails for Breakfast

2011-06-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I turned on the television and it had been left on CBS from the previous night's viewing of C.S.I. Las Vegas. I caught a segment of The Early Show where they ("they" being the editors of Health magazine) were telling the audience to eat Total cereal to get your iron levels up.

Huh????
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/18/earlyshow/saturday/main20072225.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

How can the editors at Health magazine expect me to believe that I should eat TOTAL cereal to get more iron? I wouldn't touch that processed crap with a ten foot pole. I've said it before and I'll say it again. LABELS are for CANS not for PEOPLE!

But just what is IRON and what does it do for our health? And what are some good sources of iron from fruits and vegetables? According to healthaliciousness.com this is what iron is and what iron does:

Iron is an essential mineral used to transport oxygen to all parts of our body. A slight deficiency of iron causes anemia (fatigue/weakness), and a chronic deficiency can lead to organ failure. Conversely, too much iron leads to production of harmful free radicals, and interferes with metabolism causing damage to organs like the heart and liver. Iron which comes from fruits and vegetables is well regulated by the body, so overdose is rare and usually only occurs when people take supplements. Contrary to popular belief, fruits and vegetables can be a good source of iron, in addition, vitamin A foods, which are mostly fruits and vegetables, help increase the absorption of iron into the body. The current recommended daily allowance for iron is 18 milligrams (mg). Below is a list of fruits and vegetables high in iron.

<><><><><><><><><>#1: Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Iron 100g	Iron in 1 Cup	Iron in 1 Piece
9mg	5mg	0.2mg
51% RDA	27% RDA	1% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts

<><><><><><><><><>#2: Dried Apricots

Iron per 100g serving	Iron in 1 Cup
6mg	7.5mg
35% RDA	42% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts || More about Apricots

<><><><><><><><><>#3: Fresh Parsley

Iron per 100g serving	Iron in 1 Cup	Iron in 1 Tablespoon
6mg	4mg	6mg
34% RDA	21% RDA	1% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts || Recipe: Parsley Salad (Tabouleh)

<><><><><><><><><>#4: Spinach (Cooked)

Iron per 100g Serving	Iron in 1 Cup
3.5mg	6.5mg
20% RDA	36% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts || More about Spinach

<><><><><><><><><>#5: Dried Coconut (Unsweetened)

Iron per 100g	Iron in 1 Ounce
3.3mg	1mg
18% RDA	5% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts

<><><><><><><><><>#6: Olives

Iron per 100g	Iron in 1 Large Olive
3.3mg	0.1mg
18% RDA	1% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts

<><><><><><><><><>#7: Dried Zante Currants and Raisins

Iron per 100g	Iron in 1 Cup
3mg	4.7mg
18% RDA	26% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts

<><><><><><><><><>#8: Palm Hearts

Iron per 100g	Iron in 1 Cup	Iron per Piece
3mg	4.6mg	1mg
17% RDA	25% RDA	6% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts

<><><><><><><><><>#9: Lentil Sprouts

Iron per 100g serving	Iron in 1 Cup
3mg	2.5mg
17% RDA	14% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts

<><><><><><><><><>#10: Swiss Chard

Iron per 100g serving	Iron in 1 Cup Chopped
549mg	961mg
16% RDA	27% RDA

Click to see complete nutrition facts || More about Swiss Chard

BUT WAIT!!! What provides the most iron?

I never would have guessed it...but the answer is CLAMS!!

Surprise! Clams take the top prize for providing the most iron. Three ounces of the shellfish provide 23.8 mg of iron and 126 calories.
Whether you like them raw on the half shell or cooked in your clam chowder, clams are also a surprising king of the superfoods: clams are also a top source of potassium and Vitamin B12.

Clams are unlikely to be contaminated, and according to the Environmental Defense Fund's Seafood Selector, the farming of the most common clams in the U.S. (northern quahogs) does little ecological damage.

Recipes:
Linguine with White Clam Sauce

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/top-iron-sources-44111008#ixzz1Pknxu8nJ

Bread vs. Coconut

2011-06-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Whole wheat bread courtesy of Oroweat, made ridiculously cheap by the US Government. Your tax dollars at work. Coconut courtesy of Mother Nature. The USDA would rather we eat the bread, duh!

We’ve Been Fed a Pyramid Built of Processed Food Bricks

Take just a moment to THINK about this question:

If “Food A” has gone through a factory and been processed from what it once was in nature into something else entirely…
And “Food B” is identical to what it was in nature (with the exception of maybe that now it’s a dead plant or animal)

WHICH FOOD WILL ALWAYS BE HEALTHIER?

Okay, so let’s first look at what our government recommends we eat, better known as the USDA Food Guide Pyramid (or what’s now called MyPyramid).

According to mypyramid.gov, a healthy diet is one that:

Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products;
Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and
Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars. (source: http://www.mypyramid.gov/guidelines/index.html)

I’m all for fruits and vegetables, lean meats, poultry, eggs and nuts. I’m not even saying that everything in that short list of recommendations is wrong. However, if you look at the LARGEST section of the Pyramid, which now that they’ve turned the slices sideways is a bit tougher to discern, it’s asking us to get the most servings per day of a food group that’s not only largely subsidized in this country, but one that requires THE MOST PROCESSING TO MAKE IT EDIBLE. We’ll talk more about the notion that “whole grains are healthy” in another post, but for now let’s just keep it to the basics of whole foods versus processed foods. The USDA even recommends that we eat fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products. Really? Come on, are they trying to tell us that milk that comes straight from the cow isn’t recommended but milk that’s been processed and something has been removed from it is actually healthier? Is the government smarter than mother nature?! Just THINK about it.
Upon a bit more digging, I discovered that the USDA’s Dietary Goals report that comes along with the Pyramid goes on to recommend:
“that Americans:

Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains;
Decrease consumption of:
- refined and processed sugars and foods high in such sugars;
- foods high in total fat and animal fat, and partially replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats;
- eggs, butterfat, and other high-cholesterol foods;
- salt and foods high in salt; and
Choose low-fat and non-fat dairy products instead of high-fat dairy products (except for young children).” (Source: History of the Dietary Guidelines: page E4-1 – PDF)

Wait, didn’t they just tell us to include eggs in our diet, but then they went on to tell us to reduce our consumption of them? What gives? Clearly they’re confused.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the Dietary Goals for the United States (aka: The McGovern Report) have been around since 1977. Has anyone noticed that this country has gotten a bit fatter, sicker and that people are being diagnosed with autoimmune conditions earlier and more often than ever before? Hasn’t it become a bit of commonplace knowledge that the current generation of children will be the first to NOT live longer than their parents did? I guess the government is going to need to step aside and let those of us who actually care about the health of other people do some of the educating and guiding about WHAT TO EAT. If you’re unclear as to how the government even comes to a decision on what to tell us to eat, Marion Nestle’s book “Food Politics” is an interesting resource to peruse. While I’m not a huge fan of the foods that Nestle tends to recommend that people eat, she’s certainly a leading authority in the US on the inner workings of how politics affect what’s on your plate every day.

Nestle’s exposure of
the political landscape
of food in the US is
worth reading.

With regard to changes that have been made to the Dietary Guidelines, Nestle states that “In an effort to achieve consensus on these innovations, the USDA invited leading nutrition authorities in government, research, the food industry, and agricultural commodity groups to review preliminary drafts because it ‘felt that the food industry groups would have a vital interest in any food guide sponsored by the government.’ Indeed they did.” (Nestle, 36) Well OF COURSE the food industry and agricultural commodity groups will be interested! It’s their bottom line, well, on the line if the government starts telling people to eat LESS of anything that they produce.
Inevitably, changes are made over the years, and as the food guide has shifted and changed, and some food groups were recommended to be eaten in lower quantities, Nestle states that “the AMA (American Medical Association) noted that ‘the recommendations carry with them the underlying potential for…discouraging the agricultural production of certain food products which may not in the view of the government be supportive of the dietary goals.’” Nestle goes on to say that “although opposition to the Dietary Goals often was expressed as skepticism about the quality of the underlying science, it derived more directly from the profound economic implications of the advice. (Nestle, 41)

Are you confused, too? Maybe because it actually
DOESN’T make sense to eat this way for your health!

Did you read that? Opposition to the pyramid that was developed was NOT mostly based on science that may or may not have supported it, it was based on the economic implications of the advice! I’m sorry folks, but I don’t see any nutritionist making money off of telling you to eat more of the foods in the diagram I’m recommending you follow. In fact, the more closely you follow my guide, the less help you’ll need from a nutritionist! On the contrary, the more you follow the USDA’s recommendations, the more processed foods you have to buy to keep up with what they want you to eat. You can’t possibly get in all those servings of grains and low-fat dairy without your breakfast cereal or your sugar-free yogurt for a snack, can you? Those foods are highly processed and large corporations are making loads of money when you buy them. Oh, and they’re made with pretty much the lowest common denominator when it comes to ingredients: corn, wheat and soy. Yes, even that innocent looking Yoplait Light Yogurt with the alluring ads describing the fantastically indulgent flavors (I should know, I used to down these puppies like crazy) include high fructose corn syrup in their ingredients. Ick.
Okay, so after all this discussion about why the USDA Food Guide Pyramid is not based on helping you to understand which foods will promote health, you’re probably wondering what the heck you ARE supposed to eat.
To explain my REAL FOOD PYRAMID in words:

Click to view larger & print.

Lean meats, eggs and fish/seafood are ideal sources of protein for human health. By lean meats I am talking ideally about grass-fed, pastured, wild forms that contain far less fat than commercially raised options and the fat that they DO contain has a healthy profile high in Omega 3s. If you’re going to consume commercially raised meats, opt for the leanest cuts possible to avoid the unhealthy fats that result from grain-feeding and stressful living conditions of the animals.
Vegetables and fruits are an ideal source of nutrient-dense carbohydrates and are easily digested by most people. There is no reason to consume grains or legumes in an effort to get carbohydrates or fiber into your diet. I promise you, you will get plenty of carbs and fiber from what mother nature allows you to pick from the face of the earth without further processing. From the ground to your mouth, it’s that simple. (Okay, maybe give it a rinse first if it’s got some dirt on it!)
Naturally occurring fats and oils are healthy. Period. We needn’t avoid those fats which can be found in nature including that which is associated with well-raised meat, avocados, coconut, etc. Processed fats and oils are all to be avoided (canola, corn, soybean and “vegetable” oil). See my post on “Fats: Which to Eat and Which to Ditch” for more on that.
Sugar has no place in my model. If you’re going to eat it, refer to my post “The Dish on Sugar and Sweeteners” to figure out which are the lesser of the evils. Artificial sweeteners are not food.

All I’m asking you to do here is to THINK. If you don’t want to follow the guide I’ve set forth, that’s okay by me. Do I think it’s what makes the most sense from a whole food / what’s appropriate for human consumption viewpoint, of course. If you disagree with me, that’s okay. All I want you to do is think about whatever report, guide or recommendation that is set forth in front of you and really consider the source of it and what they stand to gain or lose by your deciding to follow or ignore it. THINK and then decide for yourself.

Enjoy & be well!

Diane Sanfilippo

San Francisco Nutritionist & Paleo Nutritionist serving the Bay Area and beyond via phone & Skype consultations.

BS, Certified Nutrition Educator, C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach

Source cited:Nestle, Marion. Food Politics: How the food industry influences nutrition and health. Berkeley, CA. University of California Press. 2007

GRILLED CALIFORNIA AVOCADO WITH FRESH GARDEN SALSA

2011-06-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Preparation: 15 min

Cook Time: 3 min

Total Time: 18 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2.0002 Medium vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice
2.0002 Tbsp. Julienne-cut and quartered orange bell pepper slices
0.500½ clove garlic, minced
2.0002 small green onions, sliced
1.0001 Tbsp. chopped red onion
1.0001 Tbsp. drained, sliced black olives
0.500½ tsp. fresh orange or lemon zest, minced
1.0001 tsp. minced fresh dill
0.250¼ tsp. sea salt, or to taste
1.0001 tsp. fresh orange or lemon juice, plus extra for drizzling
2.0002 Fresh California Avocados, halved and seeded
0.000 Olive oil spray

Instructions

In a medium bowl, gently combine the tomatoes, pepper, garlic, green and red onions, olives, zest, dill, salt and juice. Set aside for the flavors to blend while you grill the avocados.
Drizzle the avocado halves with a little juice, then spray with olive oil spray. Gently place cut side down on grill over hot coals for 2-3 minutes. Remove to a platter or individual serving plates.
Stir the salsa, then fill the hollows of each grilled avocado half with the salsa. Serve immediately with remaining salsa on the side.

Super Spicy Variation: Protecting your hand with rubber gloves, trim two to three thin slices from a habanero pepper. Mince and stir into the salsa.

Tip: To easily peel the tomatoes, slice an “X” across the top of each tomato. Using tongs, submerge the tomatoes into a pot of boiling water for 10 seconds. Cool, then peel the tomato skins starting from the center of the “X”.

Beverage Pairings: Try with a cold beer or fresh fruit drink.
*Large avocados are recommended for this recipe. A large avocado averages about 8 ounces. If using smaller or larger size avocados adjust the quantity accordingly.

Nutrition information per serving

Nutrition Information Per Serving: Calories 170; Total Fat 14 g (Sat 2 g, Trans 0 g, Poly 2 g, Mono 9 g); Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 270 mg; Potassium 470 mg; Total Carbohydrates 12 g; Dietary Fiber 7 g; Total Sugars 3 g; Protein 2 g; Vitamin A 371 IU; Vitamin C 30 mg; Calcium 32 mg; Iron 4 mg; Vitamin D 0 IU; Folate 80 mcg; Omega 3 Fatty Acid 0.1 g

% Daily Value*: Vitamin A 8%; Vitamin C 50%; Calcium 4%; Iron 20%;
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 Calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Burning Questions

2011-06-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

I recently landed myself in the ER due to heat exhaustion. It was a very unpleasant ambulance ride and needless to say- embarrassing for someone who really should know better. The recent heat wave had gotten the best of me, but how? I'm part Native American and I don't sweat a lot, therefore, besides being uncomfortable, I can tolerate heat quite well, even though you'll hear me grumbling about it constantly. I hate the heat. I'd rather bundle up like this; and run when it's below zero. But hey- that's just me.

-01 below in Chicago (2010) Now that's MY kind of running weather!

Seven ways to gauge your readiness to run in the heat

By John Hanc
Image by Robbie McClaran
Published 07/05/2007 in Runner's World magazine

According to William Roberts, M.D., medical director of the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis-St. Paul, ambient temperature is only a small factor in predicting heat stress. "At Twin Cities, we've had cases of heatstroke at 50 degrees," he says. "And there have been marathons in Rio de Janeiro without any problems. So much depends on your acclimatization levels." Dr. Roberts has researched cases of fatal heatstroke among athletes and found that the runner's general health and use of medications were contributing factors, just as important as dehydration and weather conditions. He offers this checklist to determine if you're ready to run in the heat. If you answer "no" to any of questions 1 through 6 or "yes" to question 7, Dr. Roberts advises either exercising indoors or keeping your run very short and very easy.

1. Are you acclimatized--have you been in similar temperatures during the last two weeks?

2. Are you well rested (having gotten at least seven hours of sleep last night), and have you been in cooled/air-conditioned environments for some part of the last 24 hours?

3. Are you hydrated? (If you are hydrated, your urine will be pale yellow in color. If it is dark like apple juice, you're dehydrated.)

4. Are you healthy--no recent illnesses?

5. Are you well nourished?

6. Have you avoided alcohol in the last 24 hours?

7. Are you taking medications with ephedrine or other prescription medicines that might interfere with your thermal regulation (information you can find in the literature that comes with the medication or get from a pharmacist)?

Wake up to Water

2011-05-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Imagine not drinking all day at work—no coffee, no water, no diet soda. At the end of an 8-hour shift, you'd be pretty parched. Which is precisely why you should start rehydrating immediately after a full night's slumber. From now on, drink at least 16 ounces of chilled H₂O as soon as you rise in the morning.

German scientists recently found that doing this boosts metabolism by 24 percent for 90 minutes afterward. (A smaller amount of water had no effect.) What's more, a previous study determined that muscle cells grow faster when they're well hydrated. A general rule of thumb: Guzzle at least a gallon of water over the course of a day.

Read more: http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/ab_strategies/Wake_Up_to_Water.php#ixzz1LDRieE1f

Below is my article on WATER for WEIGHT LOSS published in Bella magazine, 2010.

CLICK PICTURE to ENLARGE ARTICLE

10 Reasons to Buy Your Fruits & Veggies at Your Local Farmer’s Market

2011-04-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

There Are Many Good Reasons To Buy Locally Grown Food

You'll get exceptional taste and freshness.

Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances from other states or countries. Local farmers can offer produce varieties bred for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and long shelf life.
You'll strengthen your local economy.

Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating in your community. Getting to know the farmers who grow your food builds relationships based on understanding and trust, the foundation of strong communities.
You'll support endangered family farms.

There's never been a more critical time to support your farming neighbors. With each local food purchase, you ensure that more of your money spent on food goes to the farmer.

You'll safeguard your family's health.

Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown or raised enables you to choose safe food from farmers who avoid or reduce their use of chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified seed in their operations. Buy food from local farmers you trust.

You'll protect the environment.

Local food doesn't have to travel far. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions and packing materials. Buying local food also helps to make farming more profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive.

When you buy local food, you vote with your food dollar. This ensures that family farms in your community will continue to thrive and that healthy, flavorful, plentiful food will be available for future generations.

SOURCE:

Are you enjoying your daily chemical cocktail?

2011-04-28T06:53:00.001-07:00

by Kristin Wartman

27 Apr 2011 7:40 PM

Chemicals and additives found in the food supply and other consumer products are making headlines regularly as more and more groups raise concern over the safety of these substances. In a statement released this week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked for reform to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. The group is particularly concerned about the effects these substances have on children and babies.

Last month, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) held hearings on the safety of food dyes but failed to make a definitive ruling. The most recent study on Bisphenol-A (BPA) added to growing doubts about its safety; but the FDA's stance on it remains ambiguous. Meanwhile, in 2010, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported [PDF] that the FDA is not ensuring the safety of many chemicals.

Yet while the FDA stalls and hedges on the safety of these substances, Americans are exposed to untested combinations of food additives, dyes, preservatives, and chemicals on a daily basis. Indeed, for the vast majority of Americans consuming industrial foods, a veritable chemical cocktail enters their bodies every day and according to the GAO report, "FDA is not systematically ensuring the continued safety of current GRAS substances."

The term GRAS refers to "generally regarded as safe," the moniker the FDA uses to regulate food additives, dyes, and preservatives. The trouble is, this system is not effective. Dr. Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union, said in an interview that many additives in our food supply are never even tested. That's because the GRAS designation is a voluntary process -- instead of being required to register food additives, companies can notify the FDA about their product, but only if they so choose. Hansen added that even for those additives considered GRAS, he didn't have much faith in the designation.

So just how many of these largely untested and unregulated chemicals is the average American consuming every day? As of yet, no study has determined this number nor has looked at what the effects of the various combinations might be. But according to the Body Burden website, there are 80,000 chemicals in commerce and the site says that, "No one is ever exposed to a single chemical, but to a chemical soup, the ingredients of which may interact to cause unpredictable health effects."

There are only a few studies that evaluate the combined effects of food additives. One 2006 study published in Toxicology Science concludes that the combination of several common additives appears to have a neurotoxic effect: "Although the use of single food additives at their regulated concentrations is believed to be relatively safe in terms of neuronal development, their combined effects remain unclear." Of the four additives looked at, only one is now banned in the U.S., while the rest remain in the foods on our grocery store shelves. In a 2000 study, researchers looked at the combination of four major food additives or a mixture of six typical artificial food colors and found indications of toxicity in both.

And perhaps the most alarming study dates back to 1976 from the Journal of Food Science. In this study, young rats were fed a low-fiber diet along with sodium cyclamate, FD&C Red No. 2, and polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monostearate individually and in combination. While the study found that any one of the three food additives given individually had little negative effect, the combination of all three additives resulted in weight loss and the death of all test animals within 14 days. Sodium cyclamate is an artificial sweetener now banned in the U.S., but FD&C Red No. 2, a food dye, and polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monostearate, an emulsifier, are still in regular use in the food supply, according to the FDA's website.

You're probably ingesting a wicked chemical cocktail every day before tea time.BPA, another regularly used chemical, has raised a number of concerns. The most recent study found that when participants switched to a diet with minimal amounts of canned foods or plastic food packaging, urinary levels of BPA decreased by more than 60 percent after just three days. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly all Americans have detectable levels of BPA in their bodies, which has been linked to breast and prostrate cancer, infertility, early puberty in girls, obesity, and ADHD. This study indicates how quickly the body will excrete BPA if given the opportunity, but here's the key: The body must be given the opportunity to do so. Many Americans don't take three-day fresh food breaks from a diet based largely on packaged and processed foods. What's more, BPA is just one of the chemical compounds with potentially harmful effects entering into our systems.

Based on the anecdotal information I see in my clients' food journals, people eating processed and packaged foods are taking in exorbitant amounts of artificial ingredients and additives. Typically, a client will say something like, "I eat a bowl of cereal with low-fat milk, have yogurt for a snack, and a Subway sandwich for lunch." While this sounds relatively harmless, here's what it might actually look like based on some popular "health food" items:

One serving of Kellogg's Fiber Plus Antioxidants Berry Yogurt Crunch contains more than 13 different additives, preservatives, and food dyes, including Red 40 and Blue 1, which are known to cause allergic reactions in some people and mutations leading to cancer in lab animals. It also contains BHT, monoglycerides, and cellulose gum. In addition, conventional milk often contains residues of artificial bovine growth hormones, known endocrine disruptors as well as antibiotics used in industrial milk production.

Dannon Light & Fit Peach yogurt contains more than 11 different additives including Red 40, aspartame, potassium sorbate, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium.

A Subway sandwich of turkey and cheese on nine-grain bread with fat-free honey mustard, peppers, and pickles contains more than 40 different additives, preservatives, and dyes. The pickles and peppers have Yellow 5 and polysorbate 80, the bread has 10 different additives including dough conditioners, DATEM, and sodium stearoyl lactylate, and the turkey contains 10 additives as well.
The person in this example has consumed more 60 food additives eating breakfast, a small snack, and lunch alone, to say nothing of dinner, dessert, further snacking, and drinks. Consumers Union's Dr. Hansen told me, "I wouldn't be surprised if it were up to 100 additives or more that people are taking in on a daily basis."

And it's not just food. A number of additional toxins also enter our systems from other industrial sources and often come in the form of phthalate plasticizers and parabens -- both of which are used in personal care products, some medications, and even foods and food preservation. Most Americans use some form of shampoo, soap, lotion, and antiperspirant every day, and these toxins, applied to the skin, are absorbed dermally.

According to a 2010 study, like BPA, parabens and phthalates can clear our bodies relatively quickly but only if we aren't exposed to them on a regular basis. The study states, "For serious health problems to arise, exposure to these rapidly-clearing compounds must occur on a daily basis." Phthalates are associated with infertility, obesity, asthma, and allergies, as well as breast cancer; parabens are a cause for concern regarding breast cancer.

So what if it's not the dyes alone, the preservatives alone, or the BPA alone, but some haphazard combination thereof that has yet to be studied or evaluated properly? Jason August, with the FDA's Office of Food Additive Safety, admitted as much in his defense of food dyes in relation to ADHD recently when he said, "There were other factors in most of these studies that could have been the reason or could have gone hand in hand with the dyes to create these problems in these particular children, including preservatives."

This is precisely why the FDA needs to be more rigorous with its testing of individual additives and start evaluating the combined effects or "other factors" that August so blithely refers to here.

Chemicals used in all of these industrial products are big business -- food corporations own some of the largest personal care companies and they're profiting on multiple fronts with cheap, industrial ingredients. For example, Nestlé owns 30 percent of the world's largest cosmetic and beauty company L'Oreal -- tightly regulating these substances and evaluating potential harm would be a financial hardship for these corporations.

But the real hardship is placed on the American people who trust that the foods they eat are properly regulated by the government and safe for themselves and their families. How long will the FDA continue to put the health of the American people at risk with its antiquated policy? Let's hope with pressure from groups like the AAP, changing consumer demand, and continued headlines, the FDA will finally do its job.

Kristin Wartman is a food writer living in Brooklyn. She has a Masters in Literature from UC Santa Cruz and is a Certified Nutrition Educator. She is interested in the intersections of food, health, politics, and culture. You can read more of her writing at kristinwartman.wordpress.com.

Subway Sandwich: Lettuce, Tomato and High Fructose Corn Syrup?

2011-04-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Photo: sameold2008, Flickr

When it comes to fast food, Subway is supposed to be the healthy choice – we all feel a little bit angelic when we skip high-fat burgers and fries in favor of a six-inch sub loaded with veggies and lean meats. And while the sandwiches are a better bet when it comes to calories and fat, Subway has a hidden dark side: The "healthy" 9-grain bread is a nutritional wasteland packed with high-fructose corn syrup.

David Zinczenko, author of the "Eat This, Not That" series, exposes the truth in his series The Truth About Your Food. While the bread does technically have nine grains, he says that you might as well choose white. Eight of those nine grains are basically trace amounts, listed at the bottom of the ingredient list under "contains 2% or less." The number one ingredient is regular white flour.

"Essentially this is a white-wheat hybrid with trace amounts of other whole grains like oats, barley, and rye," says Zinczenko.

As for that high-fructose corn syrup, well, there's more of it than any of the grains. With the requisite soda on the side, you're talking about a major corn-syrup overload.

But what about the brown color of the bread? It's not from grains: Zinczenko reveals that it actually comes courtesy of a compound called ammonium sulfate. If the name sounds familiar, it's because it's a commonly used plant fertilizer. It helps the bread achieve that golden hue by nourishing the yeast. Whether it's good for the human body is up for debate.

So what's a sandwich lover to do? Zinczenko says there isn't a better bread choice at the chain, so consumers should consider an alternative that's worked for generations: Make your sandwiches at home.

Read more: http://slashfood.com/2010/06/22/subway-sandwich-lettuce-tomato-high-fructose-corn-syrup/#ixzz1KeJlaup6

Curried Butternut "Noodles"

2011-04-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is an easy raw food recipe--aside from peeling the squash--with big flavor. And the squash is surprisingly delicious [raw] tossed in a little olive oil and sea salt; the additional ingredients are an added bonus. This dish also satisfies cravings for salted crunchy foods, like tortilla or potato chips. And it’s nutritionally superior.

Please visit http://www.meamoeba.com/ for the complete article and more raw food recipes.

Ingredients:

½ medium butternut squash
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp shredded coconut
½ tsp curry powder
¼ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp ginger powder, or fresh minced
splash of water
1 tsp agave nectar
sprouted green lentils for garnish

Preparation:

Seed one half of a medium butternut squash and remove the skin--either with a sturdy peeler or skin it with a knife. Then use a spiralizer or peeler to make noodles. Place the squash “noodles” in a mixing bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and add salt. Toss to coat and set aside.

In a small bowl combine shredded coconut, curry, chili, and ginger. Stir to mix. Add a splash of water and mash mixture with a spoon or fork.

Add coconut mixture and agave to the squash noodles. Toss with a fork to mix evenly.

Serve Curried Butternut Squash à la carte, or alongside a simple salad of romaine lettuce tossed with a sweet and sour dressing (olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and agave).

Serves 2.

Delicious!!

{SOURCE: Gone Raw }

More Body Mass Index Nonsense

2011-04-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to my doctor's office I was asked to get on the scale. Since this was a visit to a mental health practitioner, I asked what my weight had to do with anything.

His answer was that he was tracking my Body Mass Index. I said, "Well, that's pretty useless because I'm an athlete. I run. I bike. I have a lot of muscle."

And here's another example of BMI silliness.

The woman on the left (5'4'', 170 lbs, BMI 29.2) is five pounds shy of obese. The woman on the right (5'6'', 155 lbs, BMI 25) is officially overweight — never mind that she's a triathlete.

Sleepy Sundays...

2011-04-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to make my protein shake and realized that my beloved Jillian Michaels Pure Protein powder has...oh noes....FRUCTOSE in it! No freakin' wonder I gained four pounds when I switched from Body Fortress. The only reason I purchesed the JM brand is becuase I quickly glanced at the label and thought it was sweetened with Stevia. But upon closer inspection, I realized it has that dreaded fruit sugar in it. Hey, my body doesn't like fructose from strawberries, I'm insulin resistant and can't metabolize the crap. Oh well. Back to the drawing board!~

Is Sugar Toxic?

2011-04-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

By GARY TAUBES

On May 26, 2009, Robert Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which was posted on YouTube the following July. Since then, it has been viewed well over 800,000 times, gaining new viewers at a rate of about 50,000 per month, fairly remarkable numbers for a 90-minute discussion of the nuances of fructose biochemistry and human physiology.

Lustig is a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, which is one of the best medical schools in the country. He published his first paper on childhood obesity a dozen years ago, and he has been treating patients and doing research on the disorder ever since.

The viral success of his lecture, though, has little to do with Lustig’s impressive credentials and far more with the persuasive case he makes that sugar is a “toxin” or a “poison,” terms he uses together 13 times through the course of the lecture, in addition to the five references to sugar as merely “evil.” And by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”

READ THE ENTIRE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE HERE

Addicted to Food

2011-04-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of the first articles I wrote for Bella magazine.

CLICK on the PICTURE to ENLARGE so you can read it!

Food, Inc.

2011-04-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of watching Food, Inc. and I am crying. I feel terrible that I ever ate meat! I am so overjoyed that I have made the decision to switch to a plant based (mostly raw food) diet.

This is what a fellow blogger had to say about the film on her blog: Where My Heart Resides

Upon watching this film, I realized my own level of naivety while casually strolling down the aisles in the grocery store. Being the self-proclaimed health nut that I am, I take grocery shopping very seriously and was somewhat appalled at the amount of information that is being hidden from me as a consumer. I always try to make the best decisions when I shop for food, choosing organic when it’s available and making sure that the meats I buy have been raised naturally. However, this film brings a whole new perspective to where our food comes from; the bottom line being– we need to buy food from companies who treat their employees, animals, and the planet with respect.

The most alarming part of this film was the testimony of Barbara Kowalcyk, whose two year-old son died in twelve days after eating a hamburger infested with E.coli. Hearing her speak about her little boy brought tears to my eyes and I was shocked to learn that he went from being completely healthy to dying in twelve short days. Can you even imagine losing your child from a hamburger? Barbara and her mother are now active advocates fighting for stronger food safety legislation. According to the CDC, approximately 76 million Americans are sickened, 325,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die each year from foodborne illnesses. To learn more about current legislation fighting for food safety, check out the Center for Foodborne Illness.

In addition to Barbara’s story, there were a number of other issues presented in this film:
1. The practices of factory farming (which essentially made me want to become a vegetarian)
2. Pesticides in your food
3. Genetic engineering
4. Cloning livestock
5. The environmental impact of transporting food around the country
6. Diabetes and obesity

Although 75% of the film focused on exposing the truth and raising awareness for everything that is wrong with the food industry, the last 25% of HOPE is what caught my attention the most– we all have a choice in what we eat. Every time we buy a product, we are casting a vote for that company and everything they believe in. Without even realizing it, we are supporting hormone-fed animals, genetically modified foods, and companies who treat their employees poorly. Despite the high amount of corruption in our food system today, the power resides in the hands of the consumer–YOU can make a difference and YOU can change this system for the better.

Buy local. Buy organic. Cook dinner. Visit your farmer’s market. Read your labels. Fight for healthy lunches in schools. Support the passage of laws related to food safety. SEE THIS FILM.
You are what you eat– so eat healthy, be healthy, and spread the word.

Check out the following links for more information:

Food Inc.

Take Part- Hungry for Change

Discombobulated!

2011-04-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Day before yesterday I consumed a coffee, a half can of NOS and a double shot of espresso. Well, guess what? I haven't slept since that day!

As someone living with Bipolar Disorder, I walk a very thin line and once I cross that line, it gets dangerous.

Consuming things (like N.O.S.) with High Fructose Corn Syrup in them is tantamount to brain suicide for me.

So here I sit. Grumpy. Tired. Stressed and just basically wanting to go back to bed.

Tell me, what is it about human beings that lead them to do things they know are not good for them, but do it anyone just because it tastes good or feels good for one fleeting moment.

Time for another 12 hour nap and an attitude adjustment!

Rethink Your Drink

2011-04-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

A Strange Brew May Be a Good Thing

By MALIA WOLLAN

SAN FRANCISCO

NAOMI MOST, a devoted brewer of a fermented tea called kombucha, keeps her “big momma” in the garage. The big momma in question is a 20-pound pancake of gelatinous and, well, rather gross-looking bacteria and yeast floating atop a vat of kombucha, a drink that enthusiasts tout as a tonic for digestion, hair loss and all manner of bodily ailments.

It’s not for everyone.

“I live with my boyfriend and he finds it really weird,” said Ms. Most, 30, a manager for a nonprofit group in Palo Alto, Calif. “He doesn’t like the smell.”

Looks and aroma notwithstanding, kombucha is gaining popularity among those who favor organic beverages, and it is showing signs of turning into a gold mine for some companies. While the poor economy and worries about health and the environment have diminished the national thirst for soda and bottled water, sales of kombucha and other “functional” juices in the United States topped $295 million last year, up 25 percent over a two-year period, according to SPINS Inc., a market researcher.

In 2009 Americans bought more than a million bottles of GT’s Kombucha, the leading commercial variety made by Millennium Products. The chief executive, G. T. Dave, started the company as a teenager in his parents’ kitchen in Beverly Hills, Calif., but the drink has grown beyond the mom-and-pop scale. Recently major companies like Red Bull and Honest Tea (of which Coca-Cola owns 40 percent) began distributing their own brands.

In the Bay Area, many fans have taken to making their own kombucha, trading recipes and selling good brews. Craigslist, for example, is full of those selling fermented patties. Several foodie groups organize regular swap meets for fermented cultures.

To make kombucha, brewers rely on what’s called a starter — a bit of already fermented tea—passed between makers and referred to reverentially as “the mother.” Once the mother is added to sweetened tea and allowed to sit in a glass jar unrefrigerated for 7 to 14 days, a glop known as a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast grows over the surface.

This “mother” will expand and split into smaller patties called “babies,” which brewers often give to friends or sell online. “I have kombucha babies available in several different types of tea (pu-erh, oolong, white tea, some others),” reads a post by Ms. Most on the Kombucha Exchange, an online forum catering to kombucha brewers worldwide who want to exchange recipes, fermentation techniques and viscous offspring.
Ms. Most gives her babies away free with an explainer pamphlet. Similar offers can be found from Argentina to Luxembourg.

The rise in kombucha’s popularity is part of a larger trend in “probiotic” foods containing bacteria, which some studies suggest benefit digestion and boost the immune system.

“It’s become incredibly trendy lately in the 20-to-30-something, foodie, intelligentsia set,” said Dr. Daphne Miller, a family practitioner and professor of nutrition and integrative medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “Kombucha is like their Coca-Cola.”

Kombucha is said to have originated in ancient China, but various forms of fermented tea exist in many countries, said Dr. Miller, who traveled the world researching healthy traditional diets while writing her book, “The Jungle Effect.” Some medical professionals, however, think the drink is dangerous.

This most recent growth in popularity is actually the tea’s second act in the United States. In the early 1990s, before commercially bottled varieties were available, the drink became popular with health food enthusiasts and those with H.I.V. and AIDS who believed it would help compromised immune systems and increase T-cell counts. Several mail order companies shipped “mothers” across the country.

In 1995, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report linking kombucha to the death of an Iowa woman and the illness of another woman. Both experienced severe metabolic acidosis, excessive acid buildup in the body that health officials thought may have been related to their daily use of kombucha. Though the federal center did not definitively cite the tea as the problem, the incident put a damper on kombucha consumption.

But kombucha has cycled back into vogue. The tipping point in the tea’s return came around 2003 or 2004, pushed by the low-carbohydrate craze that had those people on the Atkins diet looking for a healthy, fizzy drink to replace sugary soda and juice.

In 2003, orders for GT’s Kombucha surpassed the company’s production capabilities. The next year Whole Foods supermarkets began distributing the tea nationally.

These days in college towns and cities like Portland, Ore., around the country small-batch kombucha brewing has become something of a cottage industry.

The Bay Area has at least a half-dozen kombucha start-ups, selling their products at farmers’ markets, health food stores, yoga studios, on blogs and on Twitter. Flavors range from cayenne and mango to fennel and watermelon jalapeño. It’s not uncommon to overhear people talking about their devotion to the products, all of which prompted a San Francisco food blogger, Tamara Palmer, to say recently that kombucha was on its way to becoming “the new bacon.”

But the drink’s standing as the cure-all of the moment was not the attraction for some..

Lev Kilun, 51, was an unemployed telecommunications engineer when he bought his first bottle of kombucha several years ago. He immediately recognized the distinct effervescent tang. “I called it tea kvass,” said Mr. Kilun, who emigrated in the late 1980s from what is now Uzbekistan. “In Russia it was very popular. It was like an old women’s drink. My grandmother used to make it.”

Seeing a business opportunity and feeling something akin to a birthright, Mr. Kilun started his own company, Lev’s Original Kombucha. He now bottles and sells six flavors brewed with green tea and distributes kegs to restaurants and cafes around the Bay Area. Mr. Kilun says the tea is thought to help cure a hangover, which he says makes for brisk sales in liquor stores.

Kombucha’s popularity has also attracted home brewers. Tim Anderson, founder of a 3D printer technology company, moved from Boston to Berkeley, Calif., with his “mother” — passed on to him from a friend who got it, as the story goes, from gypsies in Russia.

Mr. Anderson, an advocate for all things do-it-yourself, made step-by-step kombucha brewing instructions complete with videos for Instructables.com (one of over 200 tutorials he has made on everything from tire sandals to wheelchair shopping carts). Nearly 60,000 people have viewed the kombucha guide to-date, according to the site’s page-view statistics.

“I’m surprised people would pay to get this stuff,” Mr. Anderson said. “The kind you can buy tastes vinegary and dry, whereas the one you can make yourself is so incredibly delicious.”

Mr. Anderson has given kombucha culture to dozens of friends and strangers. Recently he put out a call to get some back after he neglected his brew and let the fermented patty dry out. “You can’t go around saying you killed your mother,” he said. “It freaks people out.”

Would You Bathe in High Fructose Corn Syrup?

2011-04-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

No, of course you wouldn't. Neither would I. The only time I go near the stuff is when I drink a half can of N.O.S. which is only about once every 4-6 months. Other than that I won't touch it.

Every time I drink it I get the same result. The next day I feel like pure shit.

Startling NEW Evidence: This Drink Causes Your Neurons to Stagnate for 20 Minutes...

The latest Public Service Announcement warning New Yorkers about the dangers of excessive soda consumption shows exactly how much sugar you might be inadvertently drinking.

Glucose and fructose are both simple sugars, but scientists have long suspected there are differences in the way your body processes them.

In a new study, researchers scanned the brains of nine subjects after they got an infusion of equal volumes of glucose, fructose or saline. The brain scans were looking at activity in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain which plays a key role in setting appetite levels and controlling production of metabolic hormones.

According to the Chicago Tribune:

“The researchers ... found that ‘cortical control areas’ -- broad swaths of gray matter that surrounded the hypothalamus -- responded quite differently to the infusion of fructose than they did to glucose. Across the limited regions of the brain they scanned ... glucose significantly raised the level of neural activity for about 20 minutes following the infusion. Fructose had the opposite effect, causing activity in the same areas to drop and stay low for 20 minutes after the infusion.”

Sources:

Chicago Tribune February 10, 2011
Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism March 2011; 13(3): 229-234

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

People everywhere are finally waking up to the indisputable fact that all simple sugars are not the same when it comes to the physical end results they create. The latest Public Service Announcement warning New Yorkers about the dangers of excessive soda consumption is a powerful illustration of this increasing level of awareness.

When these differences are understood, it's easy to see how and why fructose—mainly in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—is in large part responsible for the meteoric rise of obesity and its related health problems.

It's a staple ingredient in a vast majority of sweetened beverages and processed foods of all kinds, from pre-packaged meals to baked goods and condiments. And the number one source of calories in America is soda, in the form of HFCS!

Your Brain Reacts to Fructose and Glucose in Very Different Ways

This latest study is intriguing, as it shows that the difference between fructose and glucose is not just limited to how they're metabolized in your body; your brain also reacts to these two sugars in entirely different ways.

Nine healthy, normal-weight subjects received either glucose, fructose, or saline (as the control). Their brains were then scanned to evaluate activity around the hypothalamus, which is a key player in appetite control and production of metabolic hormones.

Interestingly, the researchers discovered that the "cortical control areas" surrounding the hypothalamus responded very differently to each substance:

Glucose significantly raised the level of neural activity for about 20 minutes
Fructose reduced neural activity in the area for about the same amount of time
Saline had no effect on neural activity

So, what does this mean?

At this point, the implications of these differences are unclear. The Chicago Tribune reported that:

"At this point, said [lead researcher] Purnell in a phone interview, it means nothing more than that the two substances did prompt different responses in the brain--that the brain did not respond to them identically. Within some of the "cortical control areas" where differences were seen, lie some important neural real estate, including regions where notions of reward and addiction are processed.

As scientists have a closer look in future studies, they should be able to zero in on which specific areas are affected differently by the two forms of sugar."

So, time will tell what these latest findings really mean, but we already know that fructose has a detrimental impact on two hormones involved with satiety and hunger, namely leptin and ghrelin, and that this influence sets in motion a vicious cycle of hunger, increased food intake, and increased fat storage.

Fructose Packs on the Pounds Faster than Any Other Nutrient

Part of what makes HFCS so unhealthy is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver, and it promotes a particularly dangerous kind of body fat, namely adipose fat. This is the fat type of fat that collects in your abdominal region and is associated with a greater risk of heart disease.

Additionally, because most fructose is consumed in liquid form (i.e. soda and sweetened beverages of all kinds), its negative metabolic effects are magnified. Because while HFCS has about the same amount of fructose as cane sugar, the fructose in HFCS is in its "free" form and not attached to any other carbs.
The fructose in fruits and in cane sugar is bonded to other sugars which results in a decrease in its metabolic toxicity.

Consuming foods that contain high amounts of fructose—even if it's a natural product—is, to put it bluntly, the fastest way to trash your health. Among the health problems you invite with a high-fructose diet are:

Obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes
Elevated triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels
Elevated blood pressure
Liver disease
Depletion of vitamins and minerals—Unbound fructose, found in large quantities in HFCS, can interfere with your heart's use of minerals such as magnesium, copper and chromium.
Cardiovascular disease, arthritis, gout, and cancer

Adding insult to injury, HFCS is most often made from genetically modified (GM) corn, which is fraught with its own well documented side effects and health concerns, from an increased risk of developing food allergies to the risk of increased infertility in future generations.

Let's Grow!!!

2011-04-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

The “Let’s Grow” project, initiated by the Leadership Pensacola class (LeaP) of 2011, is a program that provides children an opportunity to cultivate healthy foods through school gardens and gain real world knowledge about nutrition to achieve greater health and wellness.

The group so far has raised over $30,000 in funds to support its project. These funds have gone to create gardens in five area schools. The group’s goal is to have all of gardens built by the end of March 2011.

With childhood obesity at 37 percent in Escambia County (a figure that is 20 percent higher than the national average), this challenge is a perfect fit for the current LeaP class. Research on the growing problem of obesity sprouted into a project with a mission to foster the growth of Fit Kids through the nutritional side of a fundamental health equation, Good Health = Regular Exercise Plus Good Nutrition.

Leadership Pensacola is committed to breaking new ground in the fight against childhood obesity through school gardening projects. The goal is to feed our children’s hunger with knowledge and opportunity to grow with good nutrition and plant healthy roots for their future health and wellness. Our children are looking to us for guidance in making responsible choices, saying “Let Us Grow.”

If you need information about Leadership Pensacola, give us a call or look us up on Facebook.

If you’d like to help with this very worthy cause, please become a fan of our Let’s Grow page on Facebook or contact Andre Hall at 850-206-6678.

Running in the Rain

2011-04-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

I love this picture because I truly do love running in the rain...especially when there are rainbows and unicorns waiting at the finish line. Okay, maybe not so much the unicorn.

Fit for a Good Cause

2011-04-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Below you will find an article I wrote for Bella magazine last October for our annual BREAST CANCER AWARENESS issue.

CLICK on the picture to ENLARGE.

The Importance of Water in Weight Loss

2011-04-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is an article I wrote for Bella Magazine last summer when I started running.

CLICK on the PICTURE to ENLARGE the Article so you can read it. 

My Life is Green

What Single Ingredient is Worse than Sugar?

Sugar Found to be More Addictive than Cocaine

Hypoglycemia - A Hidden Hell

Hypoglycemia - A Hidden Hell

About the Author

About the Book

Kadota Figs from Publix

Eating Nails for Breakfast

Bread vs. Coconut

We’ve Been Fed a Pyramid Built of Processed Food Bricks

GRILLED CALIFORNIA AVOCADO WITH FRESH GARDEN SALSA

Preparation:15 min Cook Time:3 min Total Time:18 min Serves:4

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition information per serving

Burning Questions

Wake up to Water

10 Reasons to Buy Your Fruits & Veggies at Your Local Farmer’s Market

Are you enjoying your daily chemical cocktail?

Subway Sandwich: Lettuce, Tomato and High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Curried Butternut "Noodles"

More Body Mass Index Nonsense

Sleepy Sundays...

Is Sugar Toxic?

By GARY TAUBES

Addicted to Food

Food, Inc.

Discombobulated!

Rethink Your Drink

By MALIA WOLLAN

Would You Bathe in High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Let's Grow!!!

Running in the Rain

Fit for a Good Cause

The Importance of Water in Weight Loss

Preparation: 15 min

Cook Time: 3 min

Total Time: 18 min

Serves: 4