Disclaimer:
I found this article on www.living-foods.com
Although I don't agree with everything on this list, I do agree with the premise. Which is eating raw, living food will result in a whole living healthy person. That said I try to ignore the hippie undertones because... I am not one. I don't subscribe to man made global warming or anything that suggest that we are stronger than the God that made the earth.
That aside eating raw is great for you and your family so take in this list and understand that like most of my articles its not perfect.
Thanks,
Terry
Begin article:
The human race learned long ago that cooking meat before eating it would protect them from certain diseases. Since then this practice of cooking has grown to include all types of foods and is now considered an art. Very few meals are eaten which include raw elements, except for the leafy green salad.
One advantage of eating raw is that it brings Nature’s intentions into focus. When I speak of eating raw I am referring to fruit, nuts, and vegetables, which taste good to the majority of humankind in their basic simplicity direct from tree, bush or vine.
I realize it isn’t easy to simply abandon thousands of years of tradition and revert back to 100% raw food. Margaret Mead once said, “It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.” So to the point, there are 10 advantages to a diet of fresh, whole raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which may lead you to find a greater place for them in your diet.
1. Raw foods are better quality, therefore you eat less to satisfy your nutritional needs. The heat of cooking depletes vitamins, damages proteins and fats, and destroys enzymes which benefit digestion. As your percentage of raw foods increases you feel satisfied and have more energy on smaller meals because raw food has the best balance of water, nutrients, and fiber to meet your body’s needs.
2. Raw foods have more flavor than cooked foods so there is no need to add salt, sugar, spices, or other condiments that can irritate your digestion system or over stimulate other organs.
3. Raw foods take very little preparation so you spend less time in the kitchen. Even a child of 5 or 6 can prepare most items for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This gives children a sense of self-esteem and independence, not to mention the break it gives Mom or Dad.
4. When you are eating raw there’s little chance of burns, unless you’re in the middle of a forest fire or out in the sun too long. Just think! No burns to tongues, the roof of your mouth, or fingers, and many fewer house fires.
5. Cleaning up after a raw meal is a snap. No baked-on oils or crusty messes. And any inedible parts go directly to the compost pile.
6. Eating a diet of raw foods can reverse or stop the advance of many chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Remember, cooking creates free radicals, which are the major cause of cancer. When you lower the number of free radicals your cells are bombarded with, you lower your risk of cancer.
7. A raw food diet can protect you from acute diseases such as colds, flu, measles, etc. Raw foods maintain a healthy body and a healthy body will not become diseased.
8. As long as you combine raw food properly according to the rules of Natural Hygiene, you will soon reach a level where you no longer suffer from heartburn, gas, indigestion or constipation.
9. It is environmentally sound. With humanity on a diet of raw foods, the food industry would close up shop and take up organic gardening. This would save us enormous amounts of natural resources used to produce power for these industries. Nuclear power would be clearly unnecessary. And think of how many trees and oil reserves could be saved without the need for the paper and plastics used in packaging our processed foods. There would also be less carbon dioxide released in to the atmosphere when all the cooking stopped and more oxygen produced from all the new orchards and gardens, thus helping to reverse the Greenhouse Effect.
10. Eating raw saves you money on food, vitamins, pots and pans, appliances, doctor bills, drugs, and health insurance.
So don’t waste your food, yourself, and our planet by cooking what you eat. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables which are whole, fresh and raw are brimming with life and have the ability to transmit their life force directly to you.
Susan Jorg, Estacada, OR
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Reform The FDA!
In November 2007, a 60-page report titled “FDA Science and Mission at Risk” was released by the FDA. In this report, the agency admitted that it lacks the competency and capacity to keep up with scientific advances.
The FDA now admits that Americans are suffering and dying because the FDA does not have the scientific ability to ascertain if new drugs are safe or effective or to evaluate scientific claims.
These failures affect the health of all Americans. Good drugs are not approved or approved after interminable delays. Even after new drugs are shown to be safe, doctors cannot use them with terminally ill patients whose cases are otherwise hopeless. Bad drugs are approved -- often on the basis of a recommendation by panels whose members include drug company consultants.
The record with the food supply is almost as bad as with drugs. When fresh food turns out to be contaminated, the only solution the Agency can come up with is to "nuke" it with radiation. What does this do to food? The FDA certainly does not know.
The FDA pushes forward, approving faulty and dangerous drugs and medical devices by the thousands and approving toxic chemicals for use in baby formula, baby bottles, and prescription drugs. Meanwhile, the FDA pursues what can only be described as a harassment campaign against those who want to rely on wholesome foods, dietary supplements, and lifestyle changes to achieve natural good health.
A veritable revolution is taking place in the science of food, food extracts, and food supplements. Food producers would like to tell the American public about it. Millions of lives could be saved as a result. But the FDA will not permit it. The Agency ignores first amendment protections and censors the communication of valid scientific information.
The epidemics currently plaguing this country -- cancer, obesity, diabetes, asthma and allergies, and many other debilitating disorders -- are linked to manmade products and processes that the FDA has approved and promoted. These failures have resulted in the sickest generation in the history of this country. The agency seems to have lost sight of its mandate to protect the public and has instead come to see itself as the guardian of corporate interests. It is time to end the many conflicts of interest linking the FDA to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, conflicts of interest that betray the public and harm so many American consumers.
It is time to reform the FDA!
To persuade Congress to address the comprehensive failure of the FDA, the American Association for Health Freedom has drafted a petition to reform the FDA.
Simply go to ReformFDA.org and add your signature.
The FDA now admits that Americans are suffering and dying because the FDA does not have the scientific ability to ascertain if new drugs are safe or effective or to evaluate scientific claims.
These failures affect the health of all Americans. Good drugs are not approved or approved after interminable delays. Even after new drugs are shown to be safe, doctors cannot use them with terminally ill patients whose cases are otherwise hopeless. Bad drugs are approved -- often on the basis of a recommendation by panels whose members include drug company consultants.
The record with the food supply is almost as bad as with drugs. When fresh food turns out to be contaminated, the only solution the Agency can come up with is to "nuke" it with radiation. What does this do to food? The FDA certainly does not know.
The FDA pushes forward, approving faulty and dangerous drugs and medical devices by the thousands and approving toxic chemicals for use in baby formula, baby bottles, and prescription drugs. Meanwhile, the FDA pursues what can only be described as a harassment campaign against those who want to rely on wholesome foods, dietary supplements, and lifestyle changes to achieve natural good health.
A veritable revolution is taking place in the science of food, food extracts, and food supplements. Food producers would like to tell the American public about it. Millions of lives could be saved as a result. But the FDA will not permit it. The Agency ignores first amendment protections and censors the communication of valid scientific information.
The epidemics currently plaguing this country -- cancer, obesity, diabetes, asthma and allergies, and many other debilitating disorders -- are linked to manmade products and processes that the FDA has approved and promoted. These failures have resulted in the sickest generation in the history of this country. The agency seems to have lost sight of its mandate to protect the public and has instead come to see itself as the guardian of corporate interests. It is time to end the many conflicts of interest linking the FDA to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, conflicts of interest that betray the public and harm so many American consumers.
It is time to reform the FDA!
To persuade Congress to address the comprehensive failure of the FDA, the American Association for Health Freedom has drafted a petition to reform the FDA.
Simply go to ReformFDA.org and add your signature.
Monday, February 23, 2009
New Single Nutrient Raw Vitamins
Now Available!
Are you aware that our “advanced” technology and need for speed in everything we do, may just be compromising our health? Fact is, we’ve become a nation of eating fast, processed, prepared foods that are deplete of the vital nutrients we need. Some people are taking steps in the right direction by eating all raw foods or going vegetarian. But this group also is highly susceptible to nutrient deficiencies due to the lack of animal and dairy consumption. So Jordan Rubin, CEO and Founder of Garden of Life® decided to put our “advanced” technology to good use and developed the only raw, vegan, gluten and dairy-free line of specialized single nutrients.
Vitamin Code™ RAW single nutrients are comprehensive, whole-food formulas made with RAW Food-Created Nutrients™. Cultivated with their unique Code Factors™ intact, the RAW Food-Created Nutrients enable natural recognition of nutrients by your body, just as nature intended. Code Factors, compounds found in food, are necessary for proper nutrient delivery. Enhancing these formulas is the addition of a RAW probiotic and enzyme blend along with a RAW organic fruit and vegetable blend for added nutritional support.
Everything you need and nothing you don’t, Vitamin Code delivers the right formula for you - the way nature intended.
This is both a medical and natural break through for all of us. Getting all your daily values of nutrients from a single vitamin source, that is both chemical free and raw is amazing.
You will be getting a premium product from a trusted name Garden Of Life, and Nashville Nutritionals.
Are you aware that our “advanced” technology and need for speed in everything we do, may just be compromising our health? Fact is, we’ve become a nation of eating fast, processed, prepared foods that are deplete of the vital nutrients we need. Some people are taking steps in the right direction by eating all raw foods or going vegetarian. But this group also is highly susceptible to nutrient deficiencies due to the lack of animal and dairy consumption. So Jordan Rubin, CEO and Founder of Garden of Life® decided to put our “advanced” technology to good use and developed the only raw, vegan, gluten and dairy-free line of specialized single nutrients.
Vitamin Code™ RAW single nutrients are comprehensive, whole-food formulas made with RAW Food-Created Nutrients™. Cultivated with their unique Code Factors™ intact, the RAW Food-Created Nutrients enable natural recognition of nutrients by your body, just as nature intended. Code Factors, compounds found in food, are necessary for proper nutrient delivery. Enhancing these formulas is the addition of a RAW probiotic and enzyme blend along with a RAW organic fruit and vegetable blend for added nutritional support.
Everything you need and nothing you don’t, Vitamin Code delivers the right formula for you - the way nature intended.
This is both a medical and natural break through for all of us. Getting all your daily values of nutrients from a single vitamin source, that is both chemical free and raw is amazing.
You will be getting a premium product from a trusted name Garden Of Life, and Nashville Nutritionals.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
What Is Kefir
Easily digested, it cleanses the intestines, provides beneficial bacteria and yeast, vitamins and minerals, and complete proteins. Because kefir is such a balanced and nourishing food, it contributes to a healthy immune system and has been used to help patients suffering from AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, herpes, and cancer. Its tranquilizing effect on the nervous system has benefited many who suffer from sleep disorders, depression, and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
The regular use of kefir can help relieve all intestinal disorders, promote bowel movement, reduce flatulence and create a healthier digestive system. In addition, its cleansing effect on the whole body helps to establish a balanced inner ecosystem for optimum health and longevity.
Kefir can also help eliminate unhealthy food cravings by making the body more nourished and balanced. Its excellent nutritional content offers healing and health-maintenance benefits to people in every type of condition.(www.kefir.net)
I use kefir everyday, I have it in the morning as a shake with berries and primal defense. Kefir is rich in B Vitamins as well as essential amino acids that you need to assimilate proteins as well as other nutrients. The B vitamin complex is great for giving you energy, it can be a great replacement for coffee.
Adding kefir to your diet is a smart move as it will rebuild your internal eco-system or your second brain if I can quote www.ettlt.com and I think I can.
By rebuilding your digestive tract you are helping your body to digest the nutrients you get from your food. Thus you will be less hungry, less sick and full of energy. I have known kefir to also be great at settling the stomach after a indulgence of something I know shouldn't have eaten.
Kefir is better when grown yourself with grass fed organic milk as you are getting even more nutrients from a"safer" source. But it is also a good way to healthy up you milk, and its works great even if you are lactose intolerant.
Have a great day!
The regular use of kefir can help relieve all intestinal disorders, promote bowel movement, reduce flatulence and create a healthier digestive system. In addition, its cleansing effect on the whole body helps to establish a balanced inner ecosystem for optimum health and longevity.
Kefir can also help eliminate unhealthy food cravings by making the body more nourished and balanced. Its excellent nutritional content offers healing and health-maintenance benefits to people in every type of condition.(www.kefir.net)
I use kefir everyday, I have it in the morning as a shake with berries and primal defense. Kefir is rich in B Vitamins as well as essential amino acids that you need to assimilate proteins as well as other nutrients. The B vitamin complex is great for giving you energy, it can be a great replacement for coffee.
Adding kefir to your diet is a smart move as it will rebuild your internal eco-system or your second brain if I can quote www.ettlt.com and I think I can.
By rebuilding your digestive tract you are helping your body to digest the nutrients you get from your food. Thus you will be less hungry, less sick and full of energy. I have known kefir to also be great at settling the stomach after a indulgence of something I know shouldn't have eaten.
Kefir is better when grown yourself with grass fed organic milk as you are getting even more nutrients from a"safer" source. But it is also a good way to healthy up you milk, and its works great even if you are lactose intolerant.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Confused About Fat?
By Jo Robinson
In my Grandma's day, there was no such thing as a bad fat. All fat was "good" simply because it tasted good. My Grandma fried her eggs in bacon grease, added bacon grease to her cakes and pancakes, made her pie crusts from lard, and served butter with her homemade bread. My grandmother was able to thrive on all that saturated fat—but not my grandfather. He suffered from angina and died from heart failure at a relatively young age.
My grandfather wasn't alone. Population studies from the first half of the 20th century showed that Americans in general had a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease than people from other countries, especially Japan, Italy and Greece. Was all that saturated fat to blame? The Japanese were eating very little fat of any kind, while the people of the Mediterranean were swimming in olive oil, an oil that is very low in saturated fat but high in monounsaturated oils.
So, in the 1960s, word came from on high that we should cut back on the butter, cream, eggs and red meat. But, interestingly, the experts did not advise us to switch to an ultra-low fat diet like the Japanese, nor to use monounsaturated oils like the Greeks or Italians. Instead, we were advised to replace saturated fat with polyunsaturated oils—primarily corn oil and safflower. Never mind the fact that no people in the history of this planet had ever eaten large amounts of this type of oil. It was deemed "the right thing to do." Why? First of all, the United States had far more corn fields than olive groves, so it seemed reasonable to use the type of oil that we had in abundance. But just as important, according to the best medical data at the time, corn oil and safflower oil seemed to lower cholesterol levels better than monounsaturated oils.
Today, we know that's not true. In the 1960s, researchers did not differentiate between "good" HDL cholesterol and "bad" LDL cholesterol. Instead, they lumped both types together and focused on lowering the sum of the two. Polyunsaturated oils seemed to do this better than monounsaturated oils. We now know they achieve this feat by lowering both our bad and our good cholesterol, in effect throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Monounsaturated oils leave our HDL intact.
In hindsight, it's not surprising, then, that our death rate from cardiovascular disease remained high in the 1970s and 80s even though we were eating far less butter, eggs, bacon grease, and red meat: We had been told to replace saturated fat with the wrong kind of oil.
During this same era, our national health statistics were highlighting another problem, this one even more ominous: an increasing number of people were dying from cancer. Why were cancer deaths going up? Was it the fact that our environment was more polluted? That our food had more additives, herbicides and pesticides? That our lives were more stressful? That we were not eating enough fruits and vegetables? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes.
But there was another reason we were losing the war against cancer: the supposedly "heart-healthy" corn oil and safflower oil that the doctors had advised us to pour on our salads and spread on our bread contained high amounts of a type of fat called "omega-6 fatty acids." There is now strong evidence that omega-6s can make cancer cells grow faster and more invasive. For example, if you were to inject a colony of rats with human cancer cells and then put some of the rats on a corn oil diet, some on a butterfat diet, and some on a beef fat diet, the ones given the omega-6 rich corn oil would be afflicted with larger and more aggressive tumors.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, we were getting a second helping of omega-6s from our animal products. Starting in the 1950s, the meat industry had begun taking our animals off pasture and fattening them on grains high in omega-6s, adding to our intake of these potentially cancer-promoting fats.
In the early 1990s, we learned that our modern diet was harboring yet another unhealthy fat: trans-fatty acids. Trans-fatty acids are formed during the hydrogenation process that converts vegetable oil into margarine and shortening. Carefully designed studies were showing that these manmade fats are worse for our cardiovascular system than the animal fats they replaced. Like some saturated fats, they raise our bad cholesterol. But unlike the fats found in nature, they also lower our good cholesterol—delivering a double whammy to our coronary arteries. "Maybe butter is better after all," conceded the health experts.
Given all this conflicting advice about fat, consumers were ready to lob their tubs of margarine at their doctors. For decades they had been skimping on butter, even though margarine tasted little better than salty Vaseline. Now they were being told that margarine might increase their risk of a heart attack!
Some people revolted by trying to abandon fat altogether. For breakfast, they made do with dry toast and fat-free cottage cheese. For lunch, they ate salad greens sprinkled with pepper and vinegar. Dinner was a skinless chicken breast poached in broth. Or better yet, a soy burger topped with lettuce. Dessert? Well, after all that self-denial, what else but a big bowl of fat-free ice cream and a box of Snackwell cookies. Thank goodness calories no longer counted! Only fat made you fat!
Or, so the diet gurus had told us. Paradoxically, while we were doing our best to ferret out all the fat grams, we were getting fatter and fatter. We were also becoming more prone to diabetes. Replacing fat with sugar and refined carbohydrates was proving to be no more beneficial than replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated oils.
At long last, in the mid-1990s, the first truly good news about fat began to emerge from the medical labs. The first fats to be given the green light were the monounsaturated oils, the ones that had helped protect the health of the Mediterraneans for so many generations. These oils are great for the heart, the scientists discovered, and they do not promote cancer. They are also a deterrent against diabetes. The news came fifty years too late, but it was welcome nonetheless. Please pass the olive oil!
Stearic acid, the most abundant fat in beef and chocolate, was also found to be beneficial. Unlike some other saturated fats, stearic acid does not raise your bad cholesterol and it may even give your good cholesterol a little boost. Hooray!
Then, at the tail end of the 20th century, two more "good" fats were added to the roster—omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, the fat found in the meat and dairy products of ruminants. Both of these fats show signs of being potent weapons against cancer. However, the omega-3s may be the best of all the good fats because they are also linked with a lower risk of virtually all the so-called "diseases of civilization," including cardiovascular disease, depression, ADHD, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, asthma, and autoimmune diseases.
So, some of you may be wondering, what does this brief history of fat have to do with grassfarming? Few people realize that all omega-3s originate in the green leaves of plants and algae. Fish have large amounts of this good fat because they eat small fish that eat smaller fish that dine on omega-3 rich algae and phytoplankton. Grazing animals have more omega-3s because they get the omega-3s directly from the grass. In both cases, the omega-3s are ultimately passed on to humans, the top of the food chain.
Products from grassfed animals offer us more than omega-3s. They contain significant amounts of two "good" fats, monounsaturated oils and stearic acid, but no manmade trans-fatty acids. They are also the richest known natural source of CLA and contain extra amounts of vitamin E and beta-carotene. Finally, grassfed meat is lower than feedlot meat in total fat and calories, making it ideally suited for our sedentary lifestyles.
I don't believe it's a matter of luck or chance that grassfed products have so many of the good fats but so few of the bad. In fact, I'll wager that the more that is discovered about fat in the coming years, the more grassfed meat will shine. The reason for my confidence is simple: our bodies are superbly adapted to this type of food. In the distant past, grassfed meat was the only meat around. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors either brought home a grazing ruminant such as elk, deer, or bison, or a predator that preyed on those animals. Either way, the nutrients found in grass made their way into the animals' flesh, and ultimately, into our own.
Over the eons, our bodies began to "expect" the kinds and amounts of fat found in grassfed meat. Our hearts counted on the omega-3s to stabilize their rhythm and keep blood clots from forming. Our brain cells relied on omega-3 to build flexible, receptor-rich membranes. Our immune systems used the omega-3s and CLA to help fend off cancer. And because wild game is relatively lean, our bodies weren't burdened with unnecessary amounts of fat or calories.
When we switch from grainfed to grassfed meat, then, we are simply returning to our original diet, the diet that is most in harmony with our physiology. Every cell and system of our bodies function better when we eat products from animals raised on grass.
In my Grandma's day, there was no such thing as a bad fat. All fat was "good" simply because it tasted good. My Grandma fried her eggs in bacon grease, added bacon grease to her cakes and pancakes, made her pie crusts from lard, and served butter with her homemade bread. My grandmother was able to thrive on all that saturated fat—but not my grandfather. He suffered from angina and died from heart failure at a relatively young age.
My grandfather wasn't alone. Population studies from the first half of the 20th century showed that Americans in general had a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease than people from other countries, especially Japan, Italy and Greece. Was all that saturated fat to blame? The Japanese were eating very little fat of any kind, while the people of the Mediterranean were swimming in olive oil, an oil that is very low in saturated fat but high in monounsaturated oils.
So, in the 1960s, word came from on high that we should cut back on the butter, cream, eggs and red meat. But, interestingly, the experts did not advise us to switch to an ultra-low fat diet like the Japanese, nor to use monounsaturated oils like the Greeks or Italians. Instead, we were advised to replace saturated fat with polyunsaturated oils—primarily corn oil and safflower. Never mind the fact that no people in the history of this planet had ever eaten large amounts of this type of oil. It was deemed "the right thing to do." Why? First of all, the United States had far more corn fields than olive groves, so it seemed reasonable to use the type of oil that we had in abundance. But just as important, according to the best medical data at the time, corn oil and safflower oil seemed to lower cholesterol levels better than monounsaturated oils.
Today, we know that's not true. In the 1960s, researchers did not differentiate between "good" HDL cholesterol and "bad" LDL cholesterol. Instead, they lumped both types together and focused on lowering the sum of the two. Polyunsaturated oils seemed to do this better than monounsaturated oils. We now know they achieve this feat by lowering both our bad and our good cholesterol, in effect throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Monounsaturated oils leave our HDL intact.
In hindsight, it's not surprising, then, that our death rate from cardiovascular disease remained high in the 1970s and 80s even though we were eating far less butter, eggs, bacon grease, and red meat: We had been told to replace saturated fat with the wrong kind of oil.
During this same era, our national health statistics were highlighting another problem, this one even more ominous: an increasing number of people were dying from cancer. Why were cancer deaths going up? Was it the fact that our environment was more polluted? That our food had more additives, herbicides and pesticides? That our lives were more stressful? That we were not eating enough fruits and vegetables? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes.
But there was another reason we were losing the war against cancer: the supposedly "heart-healthy" corn oil and safflower oil that the doctors had advised us to pour on our salads and spread on our bread contained high amounts of a type of fat called "omega-6 fatty acids." There is now strong evidence that omega-6s can make cancer cells grow faster and more invasive. For example, if you were to inject a colony of rats with human cancer cells and then put some of the rats on a corn oil diet, some on a butterfat diet, and some on a beef fat diet, the ones given the omega-6 rich corn oil would be afflicted with larger and more aggressive tumors.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, we were getting a second helping of omega-6s from our animal products. Starting in the 1950s, the meat industry had begun taking our animals off pasture and fattening them on grains high in omega-6s, adding to our intake of these potentially cancer-promoting fats.
In the early 1990s, we learned that our modern diet was harboring yet another unhealthy fat: trans-fatty acids. Trans-fatty acids are formed during the hydrogenation process that converts vegetable oil into margarine and shortening. Carefully designed studies were showing that these manmade fats are worse for our cardiovascular system than the animal fats they replaced. Like some saturated fats, they raise our bad cholesterol. But unlike the fats found in nature, they also lower our good cholesterol—delivering a double whammy to our coronary arteries. "Maybe butter is better after all," conceded the health experts.
Given all this conflicting advice about fat, consumers were ready to lob their tubs of margarine at their doctors. For decades they had been skimping on butter, even though margarine tasted little better than salty Vaseline. Now they were being told that margarine might increase their risk of a heart attack!
Some people revolted by trying to abandon fat altogether. For breakfast, they made do with dry toast and fat-free cottage cheese. For lunch, they ate salad greens sprinkled with pepper and vinegar. Dinner was a skinless chicken breast poached in broth. Or better yet, a soy burger topped with lettuce. Dessert? Well, after all that self-denial, what else but a big bowl of fat-free ice cream and a box of Snackwell cookies. Thank goodness calories no longer counted! Only fat made you fat!
Or, so the diet gurus had told us. Paradoxically, while we were doing our best to ferret out all the fat grams, we were getting fatter and fatter. We were also becoming more prone to diabetes. Replacing fat with sugar and refined carbohydrates was proving to be no more beneficial than replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated oils.
At long last, in the mid-1990s, the first truly good news about fat began to emerge from the medical labs. The first fats to be given the green light were the monounsaturated oils, the ones that had helped protect the health of the Mediterraneans for so many generations. These oils are great for the heart, the scientists discovered, and they do not promote cancer. They are also a deterrent against diabetes. The news came fifty years too late, but it was welcome nonetheless. Please pass the olive oil!
Stearic acid, the most abundant fat in beef and chocolate, was also found to be beneficial. Unlike some other saturated fats, stearic acid does not raise your bad cholesterol and it may even give your good cholesterol a little boost. Hooray!
Then, at the tail end of the 20th century, two more "good" fats were added to the roster—omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, the fat found in the meat and dairy products of ruminants. Both of these fats show signs of being potent weapons against cancer. However, the omega-3s may be the best of all the good fats because they are also linked with a lower risk of virtually all the so-called "diseases of civilization," including cardiovascular disease, depression, ADHD, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, asthma, and autoimmune diseases.
So, some of you may be wondering, what does this brief history of fat have to do with grassfarming? Few people realize that all omega-3s originate in the green leaves of plants and algae. Fish have large amounts of this good fat because they eat small fish that eat smaller fish that dine on omega-3 rich algae and phytoplankton. Grazing animals have more omega-3s because they get the omega-3s directly from the grass. In both cases, the omega-3s are ultimately passed on to humans, the top of the food chain.
Products from grassfed animals offer us more than omega-3s. They contain significant amounts of two "good" fats, monounsaturated oils and stearic acid, but no manmade trans-fatty acids. They are also the richest known natural source of CLA and contain extra amounts of vitamin E and beta-carotene. Finally, grassfed meat is lower than feedlot meat in total fat and calories, making it ideally suited for our sedentary lifestyles.
I don't believe it's a matter of luck or chance that grassfed products have so many of the good fats but so few of the bad. In fact, I'll wager that the more that is discovered about fat in the coming years, the more grassfed meat will shine. The reason for my confidence is simple: our bodies are superbly adapted to this type of food. In the distant past, grassfed meat was the only meat around. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors either brought home a grazing ruminant such as elk, deer, or bison, or a predator that preyed on those animals. Either way, the nutrients found in grass made their way into the animals' flesh, and ultimately, into our own.
Over the eons, our bodies began to "expect" the kinds and amounts of fat found in grassfed meat. Our hearts counted on the omega-3s to stabilize their rhythm and keep blood clots from forming. Our brain cells relied on omega-3 to build flexible, receptor-rich membranes. Our immune systems used the omega-3s and CLA to help fend off cancer. And because wild game is relatively lean, our bodies weren't burdened with unnecessary amounts of fat or calories.
When we switch from grainfed to grassfed meat, then, we are simply returning to our original diet, the diet that is most in harmony with our physiology. Every cell and system of our bodies function better when we eat products from animals raised on grass.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Fun With Fasting
Well its that time again, yes time to fast. Why? Because fasting is a great way to reset your body after a holiday or a life of bad diet decisions. Whatever you reasons to fast it is a great idea, no matter if you are mass building or striving for weight loss. Fasting resets your bodies ph levels, and helps to boast your metabolism. Your body needs short fasts as a way of assisting in detox and delivery of nutrients to the blood.
For example the body will feed on stored fat and if nutrients are there the body will use these nutrients as fuel all while you lose weight and recharge. If you are mass building a fast day will also keep the body running lean helping you to assimilate the protein and give you an energy boost.
Boosting you energy is a great thing about a fast when you are not trying to lose weight, you are giving your body a chance to catch up in its digestion. For example your body (if you are not eating raw whole foods) uses a lot of energy to digest synthetic and sterile foods. Taking any time away from doing that will result in added energy for your fitness goals as well as other daily tasks.
I fasted once a week during my mass building and it gave me that little bit more of a push as far as my energy was concerned, to get the work out that I needed. As a result I gained lean muscle and mass rather quickly. I think that fasting is also a great way to get your mind and spirit into a place where they can handle some things that they may not have otherwise .
If you are a believer in God as I am spending time away from your normal thoughts and worries is indeed a great way to get back too a place that you can hear the voice of wisdom and clarity.
So you see any way you look at it fasting is a great way to reset your mind, body and spirit to get geared up for your goals and maybe find out something about yourself that you didn't know before.
Just a thought from your friend and trainer, now go and have a great week!
For example the body will feed on stored fat and if nutrients are there the body will use these nutrients as fuel all while you lose weight and recharge. If you are mass building a fast day will also keep the body running lean helping you to assimilate the protein and give you an energy boost.
Boosting you energy is a great thing about a fast when you are not trying to lose weight, you are giving your body a chance to catch up in its digestion. For example your body (if you are not eating raw whole foods) uses a lot of energy to digest synthetic and sterile foods. Taking any time away from doing that will result in added energy for your fitness goals as well as other daily tasks.
I fasted once a week during my mass building and it gave me that little bit more of a push as far as my energy was concerned, to get the work out that I needed. As a result I gained lean muscle and mass rather quickly. I think that fasting is also a great way to get your mind and spirit into a place where they can handle some things that they may not have otherwise .
If you are a believer in God as I am spending time away from your normal thoughts and worries is indeed a great way to get back too a place that you can hear the voice of wisdom and clarity.
So you see any way you look at it fasting is a great way to reset your mind, body and spirit to get geared up for your goals and maybe find out something about yourself that you didn't know before.
Just a thought from your friend and trainer, now go and have a great week!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Your Genes Remember a Sugar Hit
www.mercola.com
Human genes remember a sugar hit for two weeks. What’s more, prolonged poor eating habits could be capable of permanently altering your DNA.
A team studying the impact of diet on heart tissue found that cells showed the effects of a single sugar hit for 14 days. The cells switched off genetic controls designed to protect the body against diabetes and heart disease.
Regular poor eating could amplify the effect, with genetic damage lasting months or years, and potentially passing through bloodlines.
Sources:
Journal of Experimental Medicine September 2008, 29;205(10):2409-17
Tehran Times January 18, 2009
What to do from Dr. Mercola a trusted source here at Food For Fitness.
This finding lends even more credence to the phrase “you are what you eat.” When you eat sugar, not only do your genes turn off controls designed to protect you from heart disease and diabetes, but the impact lasts for two weeks!
Even more concerning, if you eat poorly for a long time, your DNA may become permanently altered, and the effects could be passed on to your children and grandchildren.
While you may not feel the effects of a poor diet immediately, in time health problems like diabetes, heart disease and others begin to surface.
What this all points to is even more support for the emerging field of epigenetics, which is the study of how environmental factors like diet, stress and maternal nutrition can change gene function without altering the DNA sequence in any way.
In other words, you are born with a set of genes, but the expression of those genes is not set in stone. Your genes can be either activated or silenced by various factors including your diet and even your mind. It is not your genes that dictate your future health, but rather the expression of those genes that matter.
So in the case of eating sugar, it’s now known that this switches off good genes that protect your body from disease. This is just one of many reasons why you may want to seriously limit or eliminate sugar from your diet.
Human genes remember a sugar hit for two weeks. What’s more, prolonged poor eating habits could be capable of permanently altering your DNA.
A team studying the impact of diet on heart tissue found that cells showed the effects of a single sugar hit for 14 days. The cells switched off genetic controls designed to protect the body against diabetes and heart disease.
Regular poor eating could amplify the effect, with genetic damage lasting months or years, and potentially passing through bloodlines.
Sources:
Journal of Experimental Medicine September 2008, 29;205(10):2409-17
Tehran Times January 18, 2009
What to do from Dr. Mercola a trusted source here at Food For Fitness.
This finding lends even more credence to the phrase “you are what you eat.” When you eat sugar, not only do your genes turn off controls designed to protect you from heart disease and diabetes, but the impact lasts for two weeks!
Even more concerning, if you eat poorly for a long time, your DNA may become permanently altered, and the effects could be passed on to your children and grandchildren.
While you may not feel the effects of a poor diet immediately, in time health problems like diabetes, heart disease and others begin to surface.
What this all points to is even more support for the emerging field of epigenetics, which is the study of how environmental factors like diet, stress and maternal nutrition can change gene function without altering the DNA sequence in any way.
In other words, you are born with a set of genes, but the expression of those genes is not set in stone. Your genes can be either activated or silenced by various factors including your diet and even your mind. It is not your genes that dictate your future health, but rather the expression of those genes that matter.
So in the case of eating sugar, it’s now known that this switches off good genes that protect your body from disease. This is just one of many reasons why you may want to seriously limit or eliminate sugar from your diet.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Food For Weight Loss www.ettlt.com
www.ettlt.com
A couple of blogs ago I mentioned that I was going to start a series with regard to foods for weight loss. Well here it is. I have given it some thought and decided that 1. I want to start with some foods that you SHOULD be eating if you are serious about eating the right foods for weight loss and 2. I didn’t want to limit any post to a certain format but would just keep adding parts… after all this is not a book, it’s a blog. I will provide links though to all of the parts. Also, I wanted to mention that the series will not only be about losing weight… but more about losing weight from fat, since you can gain good weight from muscle. Now, on we go with part 1.
One of the first things I want to touch on is something I mentioned in that earlier post, and that is CLA. CLA stands for Conjugated Linoleic Acid. After seeing “linoleic” many of you may realize that CLA is a fatty acid. It is found mainly in meat and dairy products from animals that graze. So if the animals do not graze then the amounts are greatly diminished.
CLA is not only an anti-carcinogen (cancer fighting compound) but it also reduces body-fat. I believe it reduces body fat by accelerating the metabolism as well as slowing the body’s conversion of dietary fats into body fat. Animals that graze on grass are leaner and healthier than animals that are grain-fed. The effect is the same on your body when you eat from grass-fed sources. You become leaner and healthier.
It is most important to note that you should not take a CLA supplement. You should obtain it in whole food form from grass-fed meat and dairy products. As I mentioned in an earlier post, grass-fed lamb is an excellent source of CLA. Also, there are non meat sources like whole raw milk from grass-fed cows or goats. Raw milk cheeses like parmesan and eggs can also be good sources of CLA.
Before I move on, I want to first point out one of the keys to losing weight from fat: You need to eat good fat to lose fat. Do not subscribe to the unhealthy lowfat diet. Certain fats are excellent for you and your body needs fat to survive. All fats are not created equal. Just the fact that I am even discussing it shows how far astray our culture has gone in the United States with regard to food.
One of the healthiest fats that you can consume is unrefined extra virgin coconut oil. Coconut oil is a saturated fat that is stable even when cooked with high heat. It does not go rancid easily like so many vegetable oils and has an excellent shelf life. It also is burned very easily by the body due to its medium chain fatty acid makeup. It also contains lauric acid which is anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-microbial. Do I need to repeat that? It is anti-viral! You know how you get sick from the common cold and it is cause by a virus (most of the time). Well, ahem, coconut oil is anti-viral. Point made. It also speeds up the metabolism and is good for digestion. So you can look around but it doesn’t matter if you look at avacodo oil, grapeseed, walnut, olive, palm, peanut, sesame, flax, or any other oil… none of them pack as many benefits into one as does coconut oil.
Having said the above, certainly there are other good cooking oils and fats you can use. Butter from grass-fed cows is not only a great source of CLA but is also an excellent fat that is easily metabolised. If the butter is clarified (the milk solids taken out) it is even better for high heat cooking (since the milk burns at lower temperatures). This is also called ghee.
Olive oil is another excellent oil. It is a classic oil, used by mediterranean cultures for thousands of years, that has excellent health benefits. One may be more prone to gain weight with excessive use, however it is extremely healthy for the heart and has a high concentration of antioxidants.
Now I am going to tell you one of the most powerful fats for losing fat. Are you ready? Ok, here it is: Omega-3 fatty acids. Most people do not get near enough omega-3 fatty acids and get far too much omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3’s help your blood circulate and decreases the blood insulin level. High insulin levels not only promotes the storing of excess fat but also negatively affects the lipase enzyme in your blood (lipase is the enzyme that helps to metabolize fat).
By adding these fats to your weight loss plan you will see tremendous differences over time. They must be a part of the rest of your plan though. So to summarize:
INCLUDE:
1. Omega-3’s (naturally occurring, one of the best sources is sardines, then salmon, then other fish)
2. CLA (naturally occuring from animals that graze on grass, minimally processed meat and dairy products)
3. Cooking with coconut oil, olive oil, and butter. Occasionally using avacado oil, sesame seed, flax, walnut, etc.
AVOID:
Vegetable oils like:
1. Canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, corn oil, and rapeseed oil.
2. Heavily processed, refined, deodorized, bleached oils (they will not say but you can tell if you know what to look for, also, the ones that are not refined will say “unrefined” and “extra-virgin” and “unbleached”, etc)
Lastly, I want to mention that when oils are oxidized they become dangerous for plaque buildup - arterial build-up that can cause heart-attacks and heart disease. Remember that - oxidized. So many oils oxidize with heat, oxygen, and light. Such is the case with vegetable oils and even good oils like avacado oil can rapidly oxidize when too high of heat is used in cooking with it. Olive oil even goes bad over time or when used with too high of heat.
Just look at the trend of heart attacks and heart disease over the last fifty years and see how drastically it has increased right along with recommendations to switch to margarine and crap like that. At the same time Mediterranean cultures are using olive oil and butter and are not having near the rates of heart attacks and heart disease.
Sorry this was so long… once I get going… shoot. I will be surprised if you actually made it this far. And this is only part 1…. haha. Later this week I will start part two on more foods for weight loss and sooner than you know it you will be a lean, mean, uhuh.
www.ettlt.com
A couple of blogs ago I mentioned that I was going to start a series with regard to foods for weight loss. Well here it is. I have given it some thought and decided that 1. I want to start with some foods that you SHOULD be eating if you are serious about eating the right foods for weight loss and 2. I didn’t want to limit any post to a certain format but would just keep adding parts… after all this is not a book, it’s a blog. I will provide links though to all of the parts. Also, I wanted to mention that the series will not only be about losing weight… but more about losing weight from fat, since you can gain good weight from muscle. Now, on we go with part 1.
One of the first things I want to touch on is something I mentioned in that earlier post, and that is CLA. CLA stands for Conjugated Linoleic Acid. After seeing “linoleic” many of you may realize that CLA is a fatty acid. It is found mainly in meat and dairy products from animals that graze. So if the animals do not graze then the amounts are greatly diminished.
CLA is not only an anti-carcinogen (cancer fighting compound) but it also reduces body-fat. I believe it reduces body fat by accelerating the metabolism as well as slowing the body’s conversion of dietary fats into body fat. Animals that graze on grass are leaner and healthier than animals that are grain-fed. The effect is the same on your body when you eat from grass-fed sources. You become leaner and healthier.
It is most important to note that you should not take a CLA supplement. You should obtain it in whole food form from grass-fed meat and dairy products. As I mentioned in an earlier post, grass-fed lamb is an excellent source of CLA. Also, there are non meat sources like whole raw milk from grass-fed cows or goats. Raw milk cheeses like parmesan and eggs can also be good sources of CLA.
Before I move on, I want to first point out one of the keys to losing weight from fat: You need to eat good fat to lose fat. Do not subscribe to the unhealthy lowfat diet. Certain fats are excellent for you and your body needs fat to survive. All fats are not created equal. Just the fact that I am even discussing it shows how far astray our culture has gone in the United States with regard to food.
One of the healthiest fats that you can consume is unrefined extra virgin coconut oil. Coconut oil is a saturated fat that is stable even when cooked with high heat. It does not go rancid easily like so many vegetable oils and has an excellent shelf life. It also is burned very easily by the body due to its medium chain fatty acid makeup. It also contains lauric acid which is anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-microbial. Do I need to repeat that? It is anti-viral! You know how you get sick from the common cold and it is cause by a virus (most of the time). Well, ahem, coconut oil is anti-viral. Point made. It also speeds up the metabolism and is good for digestion. So you can look around but it doesn’t matter if you look at avacodo oil, grapeseed, walnut, olive, palm, peanut, sesame, flax, or any other oil… none of them pack as many benefits into one as does coconut oil.
Having said the above, certainly there are other good cooking oils and fats you can use. Butter from grass-fed cows is not only a great source of CLA but is also an excellent fat that is easily metabolised. If the butter is clarified (the milk solids taken out) it is even better for high heat cooking (since the milk burns at lower temperatures). This is also called ghee.
Olive oil is another excellent oil. It is a classic oil, used by mediterranean cultures for thousands of years, that has excellent health benefits. One may be more prone to gain weight with excessive use, however it is extremely healthy for the heart and has a high concentration of antioxidants.
Now I am going to tell you one of the most powerful fats for losing fat. Are you ready? Ok, here it is: Omega-3 fatty acids. Most people do not get near enough omega-3 fatty acids and get far too much omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3’s help your blood circulate and decreases the blood insulin level. High insulin levels not only promotes the storing of excess fat but also negatively affects the lipase enzyme in your blood (lipase is the enzyme that helps to metabolize fat).
By adding these fats to your weight loss plan you will see tremendous differences over time. They must be a part of the rest of your plan though. So to summarize:
INCLUDE:
1. Omega-3’s (naturally occurring, one of the best sources is sardines, then salmon, then other fish)
2. CLA (naturally occuring from animals that graze on grass, minimally processed meat and dairy products)
3. Cooking with coconut oil, olive oil, and butter. Occasionally using avacado oil, sesame seed, flax, walnut, etc.
AVOID:
Vegetable oils like:
1. Canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, corn oil, and rapeseed oil.
2. Heavily processed, refined, deodorized, bleached oils (they will not say but you can tell if you know what to look for, also, the ones that are not refined will say “unrefined” and “extra-virgin” and “unbleached”, etc)
Lastly, I want to mention that when oils are oxidized they become dangerous for plaque buildup - arterial build-up that can cause heart-attacks and heart disease. Remember that - oxidized. So many oils oxidize with heat, oxygen, and light. Such is the case with vegetable oils and even good oils like avacado oil can rapidly oxidize when too high of heat is used in cooking with it. Olive oil even goes bad over time or when used with too high of heat.
Just look at the trend of heart attacks and heart disease over the last fifty years and see how drastically it has increased right along with recommendations to switch to margarine and crap like that. At the same time Mediterranean cultures are using olive oil and butter and are not having near the rates of heart attacks and heart disease.
Sorry this was so long… once I get going… shoot. I will be surprised if you actually made it this far. And this is only part 1…. haha. Later this week I will start part two on more foods for weight loss and sooner than you know it you will be a lean, mean, uhuh.
www.ettlt.com
Monday, February 9, 2009
Is Your Food Sterile?
Too many of us in America are consuming more and more sterile foods or food with little or no nutritional density what so ever. If you are are taking in these empty calories then you are not giving your body any fuel in turn you are either very tired or lacking focus or even worse your body thinks its starving and stores everything it takes in.
What are some sterile foods? Well I bet you could guess on some of them but I will make a list here for you.
-White Flour
Flour is taken from wheat which in its whole form is healthier than the processed white stuff that we use so commonly. The wheat is dually processed with heat and bleaching agents neither of which I want in my food nor support quality of content. It is stripped of its enzymes, peptides and any other beneficial nutrient. It is at its healthiest when consumed sprouted and organic.
-White Sugar
Sugar is not good for you either way you look at it, because it feeds bacteria and it lingers in your system for longer than you would suspect. This lingering is why we get sick a week or weeks after we have been in contact with any virus. Sugar is ripped down much the same way as flour and they both are fortified or injected with synthetic vitamins and minerals. Although sugar is never really "good" for you, you can get it with its minerals and enzymes still intact by buying rappaderra or cane sugar.
-Lunch Meat
Lunch meats, hot dogs and a lot of other foods are sterilized using irradiation which is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation to destroy microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, or insects that might be present in the food. Further applications include sprout inhibition, delay of ripening, increase of juice yield, and improvement of re-hydration. Irradiation is a more general term of deliberate exposure of materials to radiation to achieve a technical goal (in this context 'ionizing radiation' is implied).
Yes you read correctly food exposed to radiation! Despite what you are told or made to believe, anything exposed to radiation is not good for you! So get it out of your mind, it changes the molecular structure of our food while it "cleans" our food. So stay away from anything irradiated.
-Salt
-Yeast
-Milk
There are others food but for lack of time I will just tell you to do your research and know what you are eating, when something says "white corn, salt and vegetable oil" then alludes to this being good ingredients based on its simplicity they are dead wrong.
Salt is another over sterilized food and would be WAY better for you if it was raw from a safe source. As far as white corn goes, well... there is not enough time in the day to address that.
Thats all for today now go eat your colors!
What are some sterile foods? Well I bet you could guess on some of them but I will make a list here for you.
-White Flour
Flour is taken from wheat which in its whole form is healthier than the processed white stuff that we use so commonly. The wheat is dually processed with heat and bleaching agents neither of which I want in my food nor support quality of content. It is stripped of its enzymes, peptides and any other beneficial nutrient. It is at its healthiest when consumed sprouted and organic.
-White Sugar
Sugar is not good for you either way you look at it, because it feeds bacteria and it lingers in your system for longer than you would suspect. This lingering is why we get sick a week or weeks after we have been in contact with any virus. Sugar is ripped down much the same way as flour and they both are fortified or injected with synthetic vitamins and minerals. Although sugar is never really "good" for you, you can get it with its minerals and enzymes still intact by buying rappaderra or cane sugar.
-Lunch Meat
Lunch meats, hot dogs and a lot of other foods are sterilized using irradiation which is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation to destroy microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, or insects that might be present in the food. Further applications include sprout inhibition, delay of ripening, increase of juice yield, and improvement of re-hydration. Irradiation is a more general term of deliberate exposure of materials to radiation to achieve a technical goal (in this context 'ionizing radiation' is implied).
Yes you read correctly food exposed to radiation! Despite what you are told or made to believe, anything exposed to radiation is not good for you! So get it out of your mind, it changes the molecular structure of our food while it "cleans" our food. So stay away from anything irradiated.
-Salt
-Yeast
-Milk
There are others food but for lack of time I will just tell you to do your research and know what you are eating, when something says "white corn, salt and vegetable oil" then alludes to this being good ingredients based on its simplicity they are dead wrong.
Salt is another over sterilized food and would be WAY better for you if it was raw from a safe source. As far as white corn goes, well... there is not enough time in the day to address that.
Thats all for today now go eat your colors!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Eating For Optimal Health
I get mixed feelings all the time about the way I eat, some is good but most are glazed. Not like a donut more like misunderstanding such as "I eat healthy, why are you any different?".
I have to say I don't mean to make anyone feel bad but I have to stick to my diet not because I want to lose weight (quite the opposite) but to also sustain optimal health. That doesn't mean you have too as well, it just means that I am not going to go places and eat what you eat and enjoy it because my body acts different. Why does it act different?
Well when you re-educate your body by giving it living nutrients, change the way you react to toxins. Your body is much easier to listen to when this happens, you will know what is dangerous and you will feel worse when consuming bad foods. This is different than most diets because we are treated to mass production. Trying to feed more people for less money, this is what happens in restaurants, this means poor quality food. The food becomes sterile and life less, it fills you up but without any substance.
Despite what you might think I eat raw, organic and grass fed foods, I don't lean toward any fad diet. I just eat the best I can with the money I have, meaning sometimes I will compromise due to money. When I do it will still be with in my budget but still high quality contents. Doing this has helped a lot of my clients lose weight but I have also gained 45 pounds of muscle doing it too.
When dealing with muscle gain and raw and grass fed foods, you will notice a higher amount of muscle density along with the mass, if that is what you are shooting for. You will also notice lasting strength, you will sustain the muscle longer when on a break or vacation from working out.
Losing weight will work too, but you have to be more disciplined towards the fruits and vegetables and less to the complex carbs and meats.
You do this because chances are you body has already stored this from many years of simple carbs and bad sugars or simple sugars. So eat living foods to reach your goals, it will take less time, but it will still be hard because you are re-learning how to eat, the struggle is worth it in the end.
Once you have reached your desired weight you can eat more meats and complex carbs i.e. anything sprouted and grass fed. Its about quality of content more than calories, this is not the "standard" but trust me it works.
Remember you can do this and you don't have to do it alone, get your family on board, inspire somebody to live a healthier life. Not just for themselves but to be an example to others and to better serve others. Do your research!
I have to say I don't mean to make anyone feel bad but I have to stick to my diet not because I want to lose weight (quite the opposite) but to also sustain optimal health. That doesn't mean you have too as well, it just means that I am not going to go places and eat what you eat and enjoy it because my body acts different. Why does it act different?
Well when you re-educate your body by giving it living nutrients, change the way you react to toxins. Your body is much easier to listen to when this happens, you will know what is dangerous and you will feel worse when consuming bad foods. This is different than most diets because we are treated to mass production. Trying to feed more people for less money, this is what happens in restaurants, this means poor quality food. The food becomes sterile and life less, it fills you up but without any substance.
Despite what you might think I eat raw, organic and grass fed foods, I don't lean toward any fad diet. I just eat the best I can with the money I have, meaning sometimes I will compromise due to money. When I do it will still be with in my budget but still high quality contents. Doing this has helped a lot of my clients lose weight but I have also gained 45 pounds of muscle doing it too.
When dealing with muscle gain and raw and grass fed foods, you will notice a higher amount of muscle density along with the mass, if that is what you are shooting for. You will also notice lasting strength, you will sustain the muscle longer when on a break or vacation from working out.
Losing weight will work too, but you have to be more disciplined towards the fruits and vegetables and less to the complex carbs and meats.
You do this because chances are you body has already stored this from many years of simple carbs and bad sugars or simple sugars. So eat living foods to reach your goals, it will take less time, but it will still be hard because you are re-learning how to eat, the struggle is worth it in the end.
Once you have reached your desired weight you can eat more meats and complex carbs i.e. anything sprouted and grass fed. Its about quality of content more than calories, this is not the "standard" but trust me it works.
Remember you can do this and you don't have to do it alone, get your family on board, inspire somebody to live a healthier life. Not just for themselves but to be an example to others and to better serve others. Do your research!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
YOUR ENZYMES & YOUR WEIGHT
www.rawfoodlife.com
If you know anything about me you know that this is just more evidence of raw food being what our bodies are designed to eat. Just another person (with scientific evidence) that agrees with me.
Here’s the bottom line for weight loss: with a healthy digestive system, it is virtually impossible to be gain weight on with whole, raw, live foods!
Imagine that! You can eat anything you want, as much as you want (as long as it is raw, whole, live food) and not gain an ounce in most cases. Exceptions include people with digestive or glandular disorders - though they will probably do better on raw, live foods. (When you first start eating more raw foods, you may need awhile to cleanse, detoxify and rebuild your digestive system before noticing substantial weight loss.)
A weight problem is not an isolated issue, but is part of your "whole being.” An imbalance in one part of the body effects your entire system. Weight is a symptom of what is going on with your elimination system, glandular system, emotions, sleep patterns, stress levels, liver, colon, skin, lungs, blood, spirit and chi or energy levels.
The enzymes found naturally in whole, live, raw foods help with obesity at the "whole being" level. You see, enzymes do much more in your body than hel;p digest food. Enzymes are responsible for every single chemical reaction in every single cell of your body. All your minerals, herbs, vitamins and hormones cannot do their jobs without enzymes. Your can’t lift an arm or think one thought without the help of enzymes. In fact, you could say that enzymes are, biologically speaking, the source of life. A diet without a source of live enzymes is removed from the source of life. Things removed from their source of life slowly begin to die. For us, that leads to dis-ease, excessive weight gain, depression - many of the maladies that plague us today.
One of the magic bullets for easy weight loss is simply the action of enzymes. For example, lipase, a fat splitting enzyme, is found abundantly in raw, live foods. However, few of us eat enough raw foods to get enough lipase to burn even a normal amount of fat, not to mention any excess. Lipase helps your body in digestion, fat distribution and fat burning for energy. Lipase breaks down and dissolves fat throughout the body. Without lipase, fat stagnates and accumulates. You can see it on your hips, thighs, buttocks and the stomach.
Protease is another enzyme for maintaining a healthy body. Protease helps break down proteins and eliminate toxins. Eliminating toxins is essential when you are burning fat. Your body stores excess toxins in body fat. As your body begins to burn this fat the toxins are released into your system. This can sometimes cause water retention and bloating. Since Protease attacks and eliminates toxins, it is crucial to have plenty of protease during fat loss.
Also, common sense tells us that if you cannot get enough nutrition from the food you take in, which is what happens when you cook food, your body receives a signal that it needs to store fat to prevent starvation and will hold on to even more fat. It will also send a signal that you are hungry. This results in a vicious cycle of eating more and more and still feeling hungry. Combine the physical effects with the mental effects of poor digestion and insufficient enzymes with your natural reaction to all of this emotionally and It can lead to eating disorders, depression and anxiety as well.
if you eat close to 100% fresh raw, whole foods, then you get adequate nutrition and enough enzymes to digest your foods properly. if you eat cooked foods, you’ll be eating dead foods that have NO enzymes. That means your body must scavenge enzymes for digestion from other metabolic processes in your body, wasting energy and resources. However, living food enzymes will over time restore energy and stamina and rebuild your healthy metabolism of all nutrients, including fats. When you feel better physically, you’ll feel better emotionally, too.
Today’s modern lifestyle KILLS enzymes in more ways than just cooking food. Stress can damage enzymes. Food additives can kill them. Frequent air travel, work outs, coffee breaks, air pollution, food irradiation and poor sleep - all kill enzymes. No wonder we are enzyme deficient! So eating raw, live, enzyme-rich foods is more than just a weight loss or digestion issue - it affects your whole life, your whole being. In fact, you’ll even be happier - and have more fun!
If you know anything about me you know that this is just more evidence of raw food being what our bodies are designed to eat. Just another person (with scientific evidence) that agrees with me.
Here’s the bottom line for weight loss: with a healthy digestive system, it is virtually impossible to be gain weight on with whole, raw, live foods!
Imagine that! You can eat anything you want, as much as you want (as long as it is raw, whole, live food) and not gain an ounce in most cases. Exceptions include people with digestive or glandular disorders - though they will probably do better on raw, live foods. (When you first start eating more raw foods, you may need awhile to cleanse, detoxify and rebuild your digestive system before noticing substantial weight loss.)
A weight problem is not an isolated issue, but is part of your "whole being.” An imbalance in one part of the body effects your entire system. Weight is a symptom of what is going on with your elimination system, glandular system, emotions, sleep patterns, stress levels, liver, colon, skin, lungs, blood, spirit and chi or energy levels.
The enzymes found naturally in whole, live, raw foods help with obesity at the "whole being" level. You see, enzymes do much more in your body than hel;p digest food. Enzymes are responsible for every single chemical reaction in every single cell of your body. All your minerals, herbs, vitamins and hormones cannot do their jobs without enzymes. Your can’t lift an arm or think one thought without the help of enzymes. In fact, you could say that enzymes are, biologically speaking, the source of life. A diet without a source of live enzymes is removed from the source of life. Things removed from their source of life slowly begin to die. For us, that leads to dis-ease, excessive weight gain, depression - many of the maladies that plague us today.
One of the magic bullets for easy weight loss is simply the action of enzymes. For example, lipase, a fat splitting enzyme, is found abundantly in raw, live foods. However, few of us eat enough raw foods to get enough lipase to burn even a normal amount of fat, not to mention any excess. Lipase helps your body in digestion, fat distribution and fat burning for energy. Lipase breaks down and dissolves fat throughout the body. Without lipase, fat stagnates and accumulates. You can see it on your hips, thighs, buttocks and the stomach.
Protease is another enzyme for maintaining a healthy body. Protease helps break down proteins and eliminate toxins. Eliminating toxins is essential when you are burning fat. Your body stores excess toxins in body fat. As your body begins to burn this fat the toxins are released into your system. This can sometimes cause water retention and bloating. Since Protease attacks and eliminates toxins, it is crucial to have plenty of protease during fat loss.
Also, common sense tells us that if you cannot get enough nutrition from the food you take in, which is what happens when you cook food, your body receives a signal that it needs to store fat to prevent starvation and will hold on to even more fat. It will also send a signal that you are hungry. This results in a vicious cycle of eating more and more and still feeling hungry. Combine the physical effects with the mental effects of poor digestion and insufficient enzymes with your natural reaction to all of this emotionally and It can lead to eating disorders, depression and anxiety as well.
if you eat close to 100% fresh raw, whole foods, then you get adequate nutrition and enough enzymes to digest your foods properly. if you eat cooked foods, you’ll be eating dead foods that have NO enzymes. That means your body must scavenge enzymes for digestion from other metabolic processes in your body, wasting energy and resources. However, living food enzymes will over time restore energy and stamina and rebuild your healthy metabolism of all nutrients, including fats. When you feel better physically, you’ll feel better emotionally, too.
Today’s modern lifestyle KILLS enzymes in more ways than just cooking food. Stress can damage enzymes. Food additives can kill them. Frequent air travel, work outs, coffee breaks, air pollution, food irradiation and poor sleep - all kill enzymes. No wonder we are enzyme deficient! So eating raw, live, enzyme-rich foods is more than just a weight loss or digestion issue - it affects your whole life, your whole being. In fact, you’ll even be happier - and have more fun!
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