Well we all made it through another holiday season, I hope there where few casualties in the fight to be fit. I know I struggled to get to the gym while I was away in Ohio visiting my family. But I am happy to report that we all came back well and with no sickness thanks to the vacation precautions article I wrote.
This is the biggest season for weight loss, all those empty resolutions about losing weight and being more healthy get there start this month and will probably find there ending here too.
You don't have to quit you know you can do this, nobody said it should taste bad but it will be hard. I encourage you to dig deep and to learn about your food (hopefully thats why you are here reading this) Understand why organic, raw and living foods are your best bet for losing weight, regaining your energy and health all while eating better than you do right now. I find two things to be prominent when discussing weight loss first, is nobody seems to know how to keep it off the second is people feel like the deserve certain foods.
The most important thing here is that you don't deserve anything! You must work for everything and never give up, its a marathon not a sprint. If you are not seeing the results in the gym you want work harder. If you are not keeping weight off then eat better, do it for life not for the year.
Physical training is one of the many ways you can serve the Lord. The body has to be conditioned too, much like the spirit and the mind. This should be a holistic process and you should strive for excellence in each one but keep your spirit first priority. We can serve the Lord with health, everything you have should be a gift to someone else. Everyday you have of health is a gift from God and we should praise Him and give to others the blessing that have been given to us.
I hope you all have a great year and remember to contact me if you want training or just want to talk.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Acai Berries Are They A Superfood?
I get this question all the time, people want to know if the acai berry is good for weight loss or as a health food supplement. I want to let you know that it can be a great source of antioxidants but thats about it. That being what it is it can still be very good, because antioxidants fuel your immune system and will give you a energy boost right off the bat. And being that acai berries carry the most antioxidants than any other fruit they are a perfect source for this purpose. They also have the lowest sugar content than any other fruit this is great news for a diabetic.
That being said you have to watch for a couple of things first is the process, most claim they carry 1,200ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) per gram of acai berry. This is based on the raw berry itself and not after processing, after they are processed the number drops to a staggering 100 ORAC. Like any other food or super food in this case, you need to do your research.
Second, the price is high for this "super food" mainly because of the demand and the fact that they are fragile plus grown in brazil. You can save money by just eating more fruit and vegetables.
Third, Nothing will ever replace a great whole/raw food diet and regular exercise as it pertains to weight loss. You will never find a "fix all" so stop looking for one.
There are many other super foods out there that can help you achieve optimal health without making your wallet lighter.
Blueberries
Concord grapes
Bilberries
Pomegranates
Artichokes
Spinach
Black beans, just to name a few.
So no more questions about the acai berry, and stop spending money on a product that can be replaced with something grown locally for half the price.
I am going to go and enjoy some super foods now you should do the same, I think it would be super!
That being said you have to watch for a couple of things first is the process, most claim they carry 1,200ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) per gram of acai berry. This is based on the raw berry itself and not after processing, after they are processed the number drops to a staggering 100 ORAC. Like any other food or super food in this case, you need to do your research.
Second, the price is high for this "super food" mainly because of the demand and the fact that they are fragile plus grown in brazil. You can save money by just eating more fruit and vegetables.
Third, Nothing will ever replace a great whole/raw food diet and regular exercise as it pertains to weight loss. You will never find a "fix all" so stop looking for one.
There are many other super foods out there that can help you achieve optimal health without making your wallet lighter.
Blueberries
Concord grapes
Bilberries
Pomegranates
Artichokes
Spinach
Black beans, just to name a few.
So no more questions about the acai berry, and stop spending money on a product that can be replaced with something grown locally for half the price.
I am going to go and enjoy some super foods now you should do the same, I think it would be super!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Raw Recipes
Paul Nison, the author of a half-dozen books on raw foods, brings a wealth of information and experience in raw food nutrition to the table. When he speaks on the topic, his passion for raw food and its health benefits canscarcely be contained. Paul believes that consuming live and uncooked foods is the most healthful way our bodies can receive nourishment.
When you eat raw foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, all the nutrients and enzymes are present and
intact. If you cook your foods, however, high temperatures may destroy these important nutrients. More and more people are becoming interested in preparing and eating their food raw because they’ve heard that processed and chemically sprayed foods do not offer the best nutrition for the body. Even people who eat “regular” food are realizing that raw foods are packed with necessary nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, phytonutrients, and other nutritive co-factors—all of which can be severely diminished if heated or processed. When that happens, there’s not as much nutritional “oomph” left in the food to nourish the body. That’s why they’re switching their food preparation techniques to include more of this much-easier and more nutritious way of eating.
In addition, the probiotics and enzymes found in raw foods help in the digestive process, allowing the body to break down the food and assimilate its nutrients into the bloodstream.
Paul says eating foods raw may result in:
Increased energy
Weight management
Quicker meals
Lower cost
Great taste
The following raw food recipes from Paul Nison can help make eating raw foods a delicious, fun, quick and simple experience. You can find out more about Paul and the raw food lifestyle by checking out his website at www.paulnison.com.
Mushroom Pizza
Ingredients
1 Portobello mushroom
1 tomato
1 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons of almond butter or tahinidressing (see Paul’s Tahini Dressing recipe below)
Directions
Clean and stem mushrooms so you just have the mushroom caps. Clean mushroom caps and turn upside down. Put lemon juice over them, then add nut spread. Next, make very thin tomato slices and lay them on top.
SERVES 2
Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
4 oz of raw tahini
½ lemon, juiced
1 garlic clove
pinch of cayenne pepper
Namo Shoyu soy sauce to taste
Directions
Blend all ingredients with enough water to make a dressing consistency. Add Namo Shoyu to taste.
SERVES 5
Pesto
Ingredients
2 bunches of spinach
1 bunch fresh basil
½ lemon, juiced
2-4 cloves of garlic
1 cup pine nuts
½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt
½ cup olive oil
Directions
Clean and wash greens. Blend garlic in a food processor, add remaining ingredients, and blend again. Serve as a dip or over pasta.
SERVES 4
Spaghetti Zucchini-Style
Ingredients
2 medium-sized zucchini, shredded in
“spaghetti-like” fashion
Put the zucchini into a saladacco
Tomato-Based Sauce
Ingredients
3 large fresh tomatoes, puréed
1 large green pepper, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
Directions
Place shredded zucchini on plate, which will serve as the “spaghetti.” Blend together tomato-based sauce and pour over the top of the zucchini.
SERVES 2
Cool Summer Salad (Semi-Raw)
Ingredients
3 cups spinach leaves, shredded
1 cup Romaine lettuce, shredded
½ cup shredded organic carrots
2 zucchini, shredded
1 cup of alfalfa sprouts
1 cup of broccoli florets
½ cup diced yellow bell pepper
1 cup red cabbage (chopped)
2 hard-boiled omega-3 eggs (sliced)
2 ounces shredded organic cheese
Dressing
Blend together 2 organic tomatoes, one peeled and pitted avocado, 1 celery stalk, and 2 carrots, 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, and a dash of Herbamare.
Icy Fruit Dessert
Ingredients
Fresh papayas
Strawberries
Blueberries
Pineapple,
Nectarines
Bananas
Or fruit of your choice
Directions
Peel and slice the fresh fruit of your choice. Place freshly sliced fruit in a freezer container and freeze solidly. When you are ready to eat your icy fruit dessert, remove the frozen fruit from the freezer and allow to partially
thaw. Put partially thawed fruit in a blender and puree.
SERVES 1
Chillin' Apple Pie
Ingredients
One baked whole wheat deep-dish pie shell, cooled
Pie Filling
6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1½ tablespoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup raw, unfiltered honey
Directions
Chop apples into small chunks. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the chopped apples, cinnamon, allspice, ground cloves, lemon juice, and raw honey. Spoon the pie filling mixture into the pre-baked whole wheat pie shell. Refrigerate for one hour prior to serving. Can be topped with organic ice cream or organic whipped cream.
SERVES 4
Pine Nut Pudding
Ingredients
1 cup pine nuts
1 cup soft dates
1 cup water
Directions
Blend all ingredients in a blender. You may sprinkle with nutmeg if you like.
SERVES 4
Body-Ready Brownies (Semi-Raw)
Ingredients
1 teaspoon coconut oil
½ cup raw honey
1½ cups raw almond butter
1½ cup carob powder
1¼ cups of date paste (You can buy date paste in stores, or you can make your own.
Note: 1 lb. of dates makes 1 cup of date paste.)
Directions
Mix all ingredients together and press into a 9x9 glass pan. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, cut into squares.
SERVES 4
Refreshing Fruit Salad (Semi-Raw)
Ingredients
2 bananas
1 cup of white or red seedless
grapes
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 sliced kiwis
Topping
1 cup Greek yogurt (whole fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons raw honey
Directions
Cut up fruit, add topping, and serve chilled.
SERVES 2
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
3 apples
1 banana
4 soft dates
¼ cup water
Directions
Blend all ingredients in a blender. You may sprinkle with nutmeg if you like.
SERVES 2
When you eat raw foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, all the nutrients and enzymes are present and
intact. If you cook your foods, however, high temperatures may destroy these important nutrients. More and more people are becoming interested in preparing and eating their food raw because they’ve heard that processed and chemically sprayed foods do not offer the best nutrition for the body. Even people who eat “regular” food are realizing that raw foods are packed with necessary nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, phytonutrients, and other nutritive co-factors—all of which can be severely diminished if heated or processed. When that happens, there’s not as much nutritional “oomph” left in the food to nourish the body. That’s why they’re switching their food preparation techniques to include more of this much-easier and more nutritious way of eating.
In addition, the probiotics and enzymes found in raw foods help in the digestive process, allowing the body to break down the food and assimilate its nutrients into the bloodstream.
Paul says eating foods raw may result in:
Increased energy
Weight management
Quicker meals
Lower cost
Great taste
The following raw food recipes from Paul Nison can help make eating raw foods a delicious, fun, quick and simple experience. You can find out more about Paul and the raw food lifestyle by checking out his website at www.paulnison.com.
Mushroom Pizza
Ingredients
1 Portobello mushroom
1 tomato
1 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons of almond butter or tahinidressing (see Paul’s Tahini Dressing recipe below)
Directions
Clean and stem mushrooms so you just have the mushroom caps. Clean mushroom caps and turn upside down. Put lemon juice over them, then add nut spread. Next, make very thin tomato slices and lay them on top.
SERVES 2
Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
4 oz of raw tahini
½ lemon, juiced
1 garlic clove
pinch of cayenne pepper
Namo Shoyu soy sauce to taste
Directions
Blend all ingredients with enough water to make a dressing consistency. Add Namo Shoyu to taste.
SERVES 5
Pesto
Ingredients
2 bunches of spinach
1 bunch fresh basil
½ lemon, juiced
2-4 cloves of garlic
1 cup pine nuts
½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt
½ cup olive oil
Directions
Clean and wash greens. Blend garlic in a food processor, add remaining ingredients, and blend again. Serve as a dip or over pasta.
SERVES 4
Spaghetti Zucchini-Style
Ingredients
2 medium-sized zucchini, shredded in
“spaghetti-like” fashion
Put the zucchini into a saladacco
Tomato-Based Sauce
Ingredients
3 large fresh tomatoes, puréed
1 large green pepper, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
Directions
Place shredded zucchini on plate, which will serve as the “spaghetti.” Blend together tomato-based sauce and pour over the top of the zucchini.
SERVES 2
Cool Summer Salad (Semi-Raw)
Ingredients
3 cups spinach leaves, shredded
1 cup Romaine lettuce, shredded
½ cup shredded organic carrots
2 zucchini, shredded
1 cup of alfalfa sprouts
1 cup of broccoli florets
½ cup diced yellow bell pepper
1 cup red cabbage (chopped)
2 hard-boiled omega-3 eggs (sliced)
2 ounces shredded organic cheese
Dressing
Blend together 2 organic tomatoes, one peeled and pitted avocado, 1 celery stalk, and 2 carrots, 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, and a dash of Herbamare.
Icy Fruit Dessert
Ingredients
Fresh papayas
Strawberries
Blueberries
Pineapple,
Nectarines
Bananas
Or fruit of your choice
Directions
Peel and slice the fresh fruit of your choice. Place freshly sliced fruit in a freezer container and freeze solidly. When you are ready to eat your icy fruit dessert, remove the frozen fruit from the freezer and allow to partially
thaw. Put partially thawed fruit in a blender and puree.
SERVES 1
Chillin' Apple Pie
Ingredients
One baked whole wheat deep-dish pie shell, cooled
Pie Filling
6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1½ tablespoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup raw, unfiltered honey
Directions
Chop apples into small chunks. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the chopped apples, cinnamon, allspice, ground cloves, lemon juice, and raw honey. Spoon the pie filling mixture into the pre-baked whole wheat pie shell. Refrigerate for one hour prior to serving. Can be topped with organic ice cream or organic whipped cream.
SERVES 4
Pine Nut Pudding
Ingredients
1 cup pine nuts
1 cup soft dates
1 cup water
Directions
Blend all ingredients in a blender. You may sprinkle with nutmeg if you like.
SERVES 4
Body-Ready Brownies (Semi-Raw)
Ingredients
1 teaspoon coconut oil
½ cup raw honey
1½ cups raw almond butter
1½ cup carob powder
1¼ cups of date paste (You can buy date paste in stores, or you can make your own.
Note: 1 lb. of dates makes 1 cup of date paste.)
Directions
Mix all ingredients together and press into a 9x9 glass pan. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, cut into squares.
SERVES 4
Refreshing Fruit Salad (Semi-Raw)
Ingredients
2 bananas
1 cup of white or red seedless
grapes
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 sliced kiwis
Topping
1 cup Greek yogurt (whole fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons raw honey
Directions
Cut up fruit, add topping, and serve chilled.
SERVES 2
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
3 apples
1 banana
4 soft dates
¼ cup water
Directions
Blend all ingredients in a blender. You may sprinkle with nutmeg if you like.
SERVES 2
Monday, December 22, 2008
Vacation Precautions
I am headed out or am out on my Christmas vacation right now, so I will be enjoying family and friends while stomaching bad foods.
How I plan on staying healthy is to bring with me an arsenal of vitamins and other supplements as well as as much food as I can take. The list is extensive but, I take my health very seriously for my family as well as myself. We also like to go to the gym while we are on vacation, so we don't lose any progress that we have gained while at home.
Kombucha, is a great health food and is easy to find or make. This cultured tea is full of B vitamins and beneficial enzymes that will boost your metabolism and give you an energy boost to keep up with all of the festivities.
Kefir, another cultured health food and it is a little harder to get a hold of, because it is at its best when made from whole grass fed unpasteurized milk. If you have access to this then you are way ahead of the "game", kefir has a yogurt like texture and is great with berries and bananas. It is easy to digest and is packed full of probiotics even more than the kombucha.
Omegazyme digestive enzymes come with me when ever I think that I might have something that will screw up my system by slowing down my digestion so much that it puts my immune system in jeopardy. Because 85% of your immune system is in your digestive tract. So don't take any extra energy away from it!
Perfect Food Green Powder is in my kefir shake with the berries and the bananas every morning because it is so hard to get your daily greens everyday but especially when you are on a trip. The perfect food powder can also be mixed with water or tea and will make your body feel energized right away.
Primal Defense Powder this is a must for any body including kids. This a highly concentrated probiotic blend that is easily assimilated by the body than the lesser GNC or Walmart brands. This will restore the beneficial bacteria in your gut that you are killing with the bad foods, or antibiotics that WILL compromise your immune system.
Vitamin Code Multi Vitamins, These are a newer addition to my arsenal but it has shown itself as a great fighter and energy restorer. The Vitamin Code multi's are great and by far the best vitamins I have ever taken, simply because I feel amazing after taking them. Your body will tell you whats good when you have it running really clean, it will react to the good and bad with signals that help you to determine what is good and bad, that is if you are listening to the messages your body is sending you.
Some other items I take with me are,
Ezekiel 4:9 Bread
Free Range Turkey Bacon and Eggs.
Honey
Whole Milk Butter.
And my wifes' great organic chocolate chip little pieces of heaven cookies.
You can find all of these items with some exceptions on my webstore
www.nashvillenutritionals.com
What do you do to stay healthy while on a trip?
How I plan on staying healthy is to bring with me an arsenal of vitamins and other supplements as well as as much food as I can take. The list is extensive but, I take my health very seriously for my family as well as myself. We also like to go to the gym while we are on vacation, so we don't lose any progress that we have gained while at home.
Kombucha, is a great health food and is easy to find or make. This cultured tea is full of B vitamins and beneficial enzymes that will boost your metabolism and give you an energy boost to keep up with all of the festivities.
Kefir, another cultured health food and it is a little harder to get a hold of, because it is at its best when made from whole grass fed unpasteurized milk. If you have access to this then you are way ahead of the "game", kefir has a yogurt like texture and is great with berries and bananas. It is easy to digest and is packed full of probiotics even more than the kombucha.
Omegazyme digestive enzymes come with me when ever I think that I might have something that will screw up my system by slowing down my digestion so much that it puts my immune system in jeopardy. Because 85% of your immune system is in your digestive tract. So don't take any extra energy away from it!
Perfect Food Green Powder is in my kefir shake with the berries and the bananas every morning because it is so hard to get your daily greens everyday but especially when you are on a trip. The perfect food powder can also be mixed with water or tea and will make your body feel energized right away.
Primal Defense Powder this is a must for any body including kids. This a highly concentrated probiotic blend that is easily assimilated by the body than the lesser GNC or Walmart brands. This will restore the beneficial bacteria in your gut that you are killing with the bad foods, or antibiotics that WILL compromise your immune system.
Vitamin Code Multi Vitamins, These are a newer addition to my arsenal but it has shown itself as a great fighter and energy restorer. The Vitamin Code multi's are great and by far the best vitamins I have ever taken, simply because I feel amazing after taking them. Your body will tell you whats good when you have it running really clean, it will react to the good and bad with signals that help you to determine what is good and bad, that is if you are listening to the messages your body is sending you.
Some other items I take with me are,
Ezekiel 4:9 Bread
Free Range Turkey Bacon and Eggs.
Honey
Whole Milk Butter.
And my wifes' great organic chocolate chip little pieces of heaven cookies.
You can find all of these items with some exceptions on my webstore
www.nashvillenutritionals.com
What do you do to stay healthy while on a trip?
Learning How To Eat Again
Hormone Influences Your Sweet Tooth
In fact, your sense of taste may be little more than the result of a poor diet to begin with, rendering it a symptom, not an underlying cause, for overeating and obesity.
Here’s how this works: The hormone leptin has been shown to target taste receptors on your tongue, thereby increasing or reducing cravings for sweet foods. It is believed that leptin is a sweet-sensing modulator (suppressor), and therefore a contributor to the process that regulates food intake.
It is likely that either a lack of leptin, or your body's failure to respond to the hormone due to defects in your leptin receptors, contributes to the so-called 'sweet tooth' that affects so many people.
It’s already been discovered that animals and humans with low leptin levels, or with defective leptin receptors, tend to become obese. Leptin -- a hormone produced by your fat cells -- is directly involved in weight regulation by signaling your brain when your fat cells are full; instructing your body to reduce hunger, increase fat burning, and reduce fat storage.
So, in addition to increasing cravings for sweets, low leptin levels (or conversely, excessive leptin levels due to leptin resistance) also diminish your feelings of satiety, leading to continued intake of sweet foods.
But, what causes your leptin levels to go haywire in the first place?
If you eat a diet that is high in sugar and grains, the sugar gets metabolized to fat (and is stored as fat in your fat cells), which in turn releases surges in leptin. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant to it (just as your body can become resistant to insulin).
And when you become leptin-resistant, your body can no longer “hear” the messages telling it to stop eating, burn fat, and maintain good sensitivity to sweet tastes in your taste buds -- so you remain hungry, you crave sweets, and your body stores more fat.
Leptin-resistance also causes an increase in visceral fat, sending you on a vicious cycle of hunger, fat storage and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and more.
So in essence, whether or not you have fewer, or less sensitive, taste buds may be inconsequential. That’s NOT the underlying problem. Being leptin resistant is the problem; one that can be fixed, as I’ll explain in just a moment.
Sugar Cravings is an Addiction!
Making matters worse, refined sugar has been found to be far more addictive than cocaine -- one of the most addictive substances currently known! So, if you think quitting tobacco is tough, giving up sugar can be even harder.
And, it’s important to remember that refined sugar is not the only culprit you have to contend with if you’re craving sweets.
Starch, in the form of grains and potatoes, metabolizes into sugar in your body and should therefore also be limited within your diet if you want to lose weight and feel better. Following my nutrition plan is a simple way to automatically reduce your intake of both grains and sugars.
How to Re-Sensitize Your Taste Buds and Restore Optimal Health
All of that said, it’s important to remember that your taste buds are likely not the best indicators of what foods are good for your body.
Many people, especially those who are overweight, have developed a link between their taste buds and their brain that cause their body to produce leptin and insulin, the moment they eat anything sweet. And due to the rise in leptin levels, you keep craving more sugar and grains.
Fortunately, there are ways to remedy this problem and put an end to the evil circle. Here’s how:
Modify your diet – A strategic diet that emphasizes good fats, and avoids blood sugar spikes will re-sensitize your cells' ability to hear hormonal messages correctly.
But I recommend taking your dietary modifications even one step further. Though increasing healthy fats and limiting sugar and carbs will benefit everyone, understanding your nutritional type is equally important when losing weight. Just as you are unique in all other respects, your body has a unique biochemistry that requires certain proportions and types of healthy carbohydrates, fats and proteins that differs from other peoples' requirements.
Learning your nutritional type will help you get started on an eating plan that is right for you (and your taste buds).
Reeducate your taste buds -- This is simply a matter of "cleaning" your palate of grains to eliminate your body's learned response to sugar. Once you’ve abstained from grains for awhile, you'll notice that foods will taste better than ever.
Battle the physical aspects of your sugar cravings -- Anyone who exercises intensely on a regular basis will know that significant amounts of cardiovascular exercise is the cure for sweet cravings.
It always amazes me how my appetite, especially for sweets, dramatically decreases after exercise. I believe the mechanism is related to the dramatic reduction in insulin levels that occurs after exercise.
Elevated insulin levels are one of the primary reasons for food cravings and if insulin levels are reduced, many of these cravings simply disappear.
Sources:
Dr. Mercola
In fact, your sense of taste may be little more than the result of a poor diet to begin with, rendering it a symptom, not an underlying cause, for overeating and obesity.
Here’s how this works: The hormone leptin has been shown to target taste receptors on your tongue, thereby increasing or reducing cravings for sweet foods. It is believed that leptin is a sweet-sensing modulator (suppressor), and therefore a contributor to the process that regulates food intake.
It is likely that either a lack of leptin, or your body's failure to respond to the hormone due to defects in your leptin receptors, contributes to the so-called 'sweet tooth' that affects so many people.
It’s already been discovered that animals and humans with low leptin levels, or with defective leptin receptors, tend to become obese. Leptin -- a hormone produced by your fat cells -- is directly involved in weight regulation by signaling your brain when your fat cells are full; instructing your body to reduce hunger, increase fat burning, and reduce fat storage.
So, in addition to increasing cravings for sweets, low leptin levels (or conversely, excessive leptin levels due to leptin resistance) also diminish your feelings of satiety, leading to continued intake of sweet foods.
But, what causes your leptin levels to go haywire in the first place?
If you eat a diet that is high in sugar and grains, the sugar gets metabolized to fat (and is stored as fat in your fat cells), which in turn releases surges in leptin. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant to it (just as your body can become resistant to insulin).
And when you become leptin-resistant, your body can no longer “hear” the messages telling it to stop eating, burn fat, and maintain good sensitivity to sweet tastes in your taste buds -- so you remain hungry, you crave sweets, and your body stores more fat.
Leptin-resistance also causes an increase in visceral fat, sending you on a vicious cycle of hunger, fat storage and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and more.
So in essence, whether or not you have fewer, or less sensitive, taste buds may be inconsequential. That’s NOT the underlying problem. Being leptin resistant is the problem; one that can be fixed, as I’ll explain in just a moment.
Sugar Cravings is an Addiction!
Making matters worse, refined sugar has been found to be far more addictive than cocaine -- one of the most addictive substances currently known! So, if you think quitting tobacco is tough, giving up sugar can be even harder.
And, it’s important to remember that refined sugar is not the only culprit you have to contend with if you’re craving sweets.
Starch, in the form of grains and potatoes, metabolizes into sugar in your body and should therefore also be limited within your diet if you want to lose weight and feel better. Following my nutrition plan is a simple way to automatically reduce your intake of both grains and sugars.
How to Re-Sensitize Your Taste Buds and Restore Optimal Health
All of that said, it’s important to remember that your taste buds are likely not the best indicators of what foods are good for your body.
Many people, especially those who are overweight, have developed a link between their taste buds and their brain that cause their body to produce leptin and insulin, the moment they eat anything sweet. And due to the rise in leptin levels, you keep craving more sugar and grains.
Fortunately, there are ways to remedy this problem and put an end to the evil circle. Here’s how:
Modify your diet – A strategic diet that emphasizes good fats, and avoids blood sugar spikes will re-sensitize your cells' ability to hear hormonal messages correctly.
But I recommend taking your dietary modifications even one step further. Though increasing healthy fats and limiting sugar and carbs will benefit everyone, understanding your nutritional type is equally important when losing weight. Just as you are unique in all other respects, your body has a unique biochemistry that requires certain proportions and types of healthy carbohydrates, fats and proteins that differs from other peoples' requirements.
Learning your nutritional type will help you get started on an eating plan that is right for you (and your taste buds).
Reeducate your taste buds -- This is simply a matter of "cleaning" your palate of grains to eliminate your body's learned response to sugar. Once you’ve abstained from grains for awhile, you'll notice that foods will taste better than ever.
Battle the physical aspects of your sugar cravings -- Anyone who exercises intensely on a regular basis will know that significant amounts of cardiovascular exercise is the cure for sweet cravings.
It always amazes me how my appetite, especially for sweets, dramatically decreases after exercise. I believe the mechanism is related to the dramatic reduction in insulin levels that occurs after exercise.
Elevated insulin levels are one of the primary reasons for food cravings and if insulin levels are reduced, many of these cravings simply disappear.
Sources:
Dr. Mercola
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Sugars And Cancer
Originally printed by The Alternative Research Foundation
By: Dr.Mercola
It puzzles me why the simple concept "sugar feeds cancer" can be so dramatically overlooked as part of a comprehensive cancer treatment plan.
Of the 4 million cancer patients being treated in America today, hardly any are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to "just eat good foods." Most patients I work with arrive with a complete lack of nutritional advice.
I believe many cancer patients would have a major improvement in their outcome if they controlled the supply of cancer's preferred fuel, glucose.
By slowing the cancer's growth, patients allow their immune systems and medical debulking therapies -- chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to reduce the bulk of the tumor mass -- to catch up to the disease.
Controlling one's blood-glucose levels through diet, supplements, exercise, meditation and prescription drugs when necessary can be one of the most crucial components to a cancer recovery program. The sound bite -- sugar feeds cancer -- is simple. The explanation is a little more complex.
The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells.
The crux of his Nobel thesis was that malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis -- a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic byproduct -- compared to normal tissues.
The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup. Thus, larger tumors tend to exhibit a more acidic pH.
This inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy per mole of glucose, compared to 38 moles of ATP in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose.
By extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 moles of ATP) of the available energy in the food supply and the body's calorie stores, the cancer is "wasting" energy, and the patient becomes tired and undernourished. This vicious cycle increases body wasting.
It is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition, or cachexia. Hence, cancer therapies should encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements, non-oral solutions for cachectic patients who lose their appetite, medication, exercise, gradual weight loss and stress reduction. Professional guidance and patient self-discipline are crucial at this point in the cancer process. The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function.
The glycemic index is a measure of how a given food affects blood-glucose levels, with each food assigned a numbered rating. The lower the rating, the slower the digestion and absorption process, which provides a healthier, more gradual infusion of sugars into the bloodstream.
Conversely, a high rating means blood-glucose levels are increased quickly, which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. This rapid fluctuation of blood-sugar levels is unhealthy because of the stress it places on the body
To read the rest of this article please go here.
Mercola
By: Dr.Mercola
It puzzles me why the simple concept "sugar feeds cancer" can be so dramatically overlooked as part of a comprehensive cancer treatment plan.
Of the 4 million cancer patients being treated in America today, hardly any are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to "just eat good foods." Most patients I work with arrive with a complete lack of nutritional advice.
I believe many cancer patients would have a major improvement in their outcome if they controlled the supply of cancer's preferred fuel, glucose.
By slowing the cancer's growth, patients allow their immune systems and medical debulking therapies -- chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to reduce the bulk of the tumor mass -- to catch up to the disease.
Controlling one's blood-glucose levels through diet, supplements, exercise, meditation and prescription drugs when necessary can be one of the most crucial components to a cancer recovery program. The sound bite -- sugar feeds cancer -- is simple. The explanation is a little more complex.
The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells.
The crux of his Nobel thesis was that malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis -- a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic byproduct -- compared to normal tissues.
The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup. Thus, larger tumors tend to exhibit a more acidic pH.
This inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy per mole of glucose, compared to 38 moles of ATP in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose.
By extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 moles of ATP) of the available energy in the food supply and the body's calorie stores, the cancer is "wasting" energy, and the patient becomes tired and undernourished. This vicious cycle increases body wasting.
It is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition, or cachexia. Hence, cancer therapies should encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements, non-oral solutions for cachectic patients who lose their appetite, medication, exercise, gradual weight loss and stress reduction. Professional guidance and patient self-discipline are crucial at this point in the cancer process. The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function.
The glycemic index is a measure of how a given food affects blood-glucose levels, with each food assigned a numbered rating. The lower the rating, the slower the digestion and absorption process, which provides a healthier, more gradual infusion of sugars into the bloodstream.
Conversely, a high rating means blood-glucose levels are increased quickly, which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. This rapid fluctuation of blood-sugar levels is unhealthy because of the stress it places on the body
To read the rest of this article please go here.
Mercola
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Christmas Time Clearance!
I hope you are having a great weekend! I also hope that you are all in good health, I understand that there is a "bug" going around. If you got this message in a email I apologize for the bad spelling, I just realized that I made a mistake there.
With that, I trust you all are well and ready for the holidays, but if not get well soon and take your probiotics!
I have a couple of deals to give you fro this the last week before Christmas. If you are like me I like to take some good foods and supplements with me out of town to ensure my health while I enjoy my family. If this is you then you are in luck!
I have Perfect Weight America (PWA) Protein bars on Clearance this week.
2 boxes for $52.25
If you are trying to keep your weight in check this holiday season or you want to give the gift of weight managment to a friend or family member then your deal is right here.
The PWA and Nashville Nutritionals has come together for a special package just in time for Christmas.
PWA Weight Managment Kit!
1 Box PWA protein bars
FucoThin Fat Burner Supplements
PWA Vitamin Code, vitamins
Perfect Meal Shake Mix
PWA paper back book
Detoxifiber Powder
MSRP-$215!
Your Price Is $159.95
$55 in savings !!!
If you want this offer please to the contact section and I will help you out. If you want to laugh then you shouldread this.
Have a great day!
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