Choose The Right Weight Loss Program

For some people a formal weight loss program isn't necessary. They can summon the willpower, do the research and carry out the needed actions all on their own. Others will benefit from support, guidance and a helping hand.

When seeking out that weight loss program there are a number of important questions the second type will want answered.

The most essential, and therefore the first question are: What are the facts about diet, exercise and weight loss? There are dozens of food diets, special exercise regimens and all manner of junk science surrounding the subject.

Anyone with common sense and some persistence can fairly quickly find one or more sources of reliable information. Scientific studies don't stand in isolation; they either support or contradict others. Similarly, it is also helpful to find knowledgeable and experienced people at fitness and nutritional centers. Most people can distinguish between those who are trying to give wise counsel and those who just want to sell something that may or may not have any value. People deserve to be paid for their services, but offering something worthwhile is fundamental.

Once find a gym or nutritionist that can offer a good guidance and moral support, people can get added benefits. Such people can help remind, when the going gets tough, of why chose to make the effort in the first place. It's difficult to adhere to a long term program when the progress is slow.

Any wise diet and exercise program needs be oriented toward lifestyle changes that will help lose the weight and keep it off, and keep healthy and fit. One thing that can help to take the first step towards a true lifestyle change is a clean, toxin-free body. Counseling provided by fitness and nutrition professionals can also help to stick to a nutritional program. Nutritional counselors can help unlearn bad habits and learn better ones.
There is a need to monitor the progress, and need to ask where and what are the tests and tools to do that. There is a for need food charts for measuring calories and types of nutrients. Also need a BMI calculator and other tools.

Some of those tools are as simple and inexpensive as a scale, a flexible tape measure and a mirror. Others may be a heart rate or pulse monitor, a device that measures body fat percentage and other things that often accompany a treadmill.

Sugar - a Toxin?

YES! And it's also a very addicting DRUG!

OK, now you think I'm really crazy :)

But let's take a look at the definitions. A toxin is a chemical produced by living organisms that causes harmful effects on the body at high enough concentration. Sugar easily meets that definition. It is plant derived and there are numerous studies that show a variety of harmful health effects from excess dietary sugar. Below are the definitions from Wikipedia.

Toxin:
A poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms.

Poison:
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause damage, illness, or death to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism.

Drug:
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that alters normal bodily function. Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as narcotics or hallucinogens. They may be used for perceived beneficial effects on perception, consciousness, personality, and behavior. Some recreational drugs can cause addiction and habituation.

OK, is sugar a drug? If you've ever had a feel-good high immediately after eating sweet "comfort" foods, it's a psycho-active drug. If you've ever had a "craving" for something sweet, it's an addicting psycho-active drug.

So, my point is that we need to start thinking of refined sugar as a toxin and drug. That makes sugar by far the most common and abundant toxin and drug in the modern food world!

The body needs small amounts of sugar to function properly. But the body can make all the sugar it needs. There is no minimum daily intake requirement for sugar or even for carbohydrates. There are many nutrients that in small amounts are necessary for good health, but in excess are detrimental. Zinc,copper, iron, iodine, and vitamins A and D are examples. Likewise, sugar in small amounts is necessary for health, but in excess causes problems.

When natural sugars are ingested unrefined, as in fruits or dairy, the amounts are generally low enough not to cause problems. However, when the sugar is refined and concentrated as a food additive, it is easy to get too much. Because of it's addicting and feel-good qualities, sugar is often added in large quantities to processed/manufactured foods to make them sell better. So, if you eat a lot of processed/manufactured or restaurant foods, it is very easy to get too much sugar. People eating a lot of these foods commonly get as much as 20 to 30 percent or more of their calories from sugars. What's worse is that most of that sugar is now in the form of high fructose corn syrup, which is even more harmful than table sugar. Most healthy primitive diets had only small amounts of sugar, mainly from raw dairy or from fruit when in season.

Too much dietary sugar certainly won't kill you right away, but it does have short-term harmful effects, like suppression of the immune system, even with relatively small doses. That leaves you more vulnerable to infectious diseases and cancer. One study showed that ingestion of 100 grams of sugar caused about a 40% reduction in white blood cell activity against pathogens and found that it took about five hours for immune function to return to normal.

Over many years, too much sugar can lead to metabolic syndrome diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. These are the diseases of aging and that's exactly what too much sugar does - speeds up the aging process.

So, how much sugar should we allow in our diet? Probably no more than about 5% to 10% of total daily calories and the less, the better. That means if your normal dietary intake is 2,000 calories per day, you should not get more than 200 calories from sugar. Since sugar has 4 calories per gram, that means no more than about 50 grams (2 ounces) of sugar per day on a 2,000 calorie diet. And that's total sugar from all sources. Here's the amount of sugar you get from single servings of some common "comfort" foods, listed in grams, to the left of the food name (from NutritionData).

Grams of sugar:
96 cake (1/8 slice 9 inch white with coconut icing)
57 candy (4 oz Snickers)
56 milk shake (11 oz vanilla)
39 soft drink (12 oz cola)
39 yogurt (8 oz low fat strawberry Breyers)
37 coffee (12 oz caramel mocha Starbucks)
34 apple juice (12 oz Starbucks)
32 pie (1/8 slice 8 inch pecan)
30 ice cream (1 cup chocolate)
29 orange juice (12 oz McDonald's)
28 muffin (101 g blueberry Starbucks)
24 donut (5 inch)
21 brownie (56 g large chocolate)
18 granola (2/3 cup low fat fruit Nature Valley)
15 cereal (1 cup frosted flakes Kellogg)
07 hamburger (105 g McDonald's)

For comparison - grams of sugar:
19 apple (3 inch with skin)
15 peach (2 3/4 inch)
12 orange (2 7/8 inch navel)
12 grapes (15 red or green seedless)
07 strawberries (1 cup whole)

Breaking the Sugar Addiction
To break your sugar addiction, eliminate foods with added refined sugar and reduce intake of other refined carbohydrates. Increase intake of foods with good quality animal or dairy fat, preferably from pastured animals, and add probiotic foods. Also, try coconut oil. And be sure to eat a variety of foods to get good nutrition. If you have Excel, try out my dietary nutrition calculator. Dropping sugar may seem difficult the first few weeks, but after a few months of abstinence from refined sugar and with intake of more good fat, probiotics, and nutrients, you should lose any cravings for sweets. If you still have difficulty, another tool to try is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a type of accupressure that employs tapping instead of the needles used in accupuncture. Once you have broken your addiction, you can still allow occasional sugary foods, but not very often or you run the risk of becoming addicted once again. You may also find that sugary foods that used to be "treats" no longer taste as good - they're too sweet!

If a food does not taste good without adding sugar to it, then either learn to like it without the sugar, or find other foods that you like that don't have added sugar. You may find as you lose your sugar addiction that many foods that formerly did not taste sweet enough now taste good. Sour and tart foods may become more appealing. You may even develop a new appreciation for all of the wonderful flavors in nature!

Update 12-20-08
Fructose appears to be the worst dietary sugar for causing long-term health problems from excess consumption. Fructose is 50% of table sugar (sucrose) and typically 55% of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Read this interesting editorial from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: How safe is fructose for persons with or without diabetes?

Big Fat Lies

Here's a great new video clip that will be part of a new movie called "Fat Head" by Tom Naughton. The movie is a parody of Morgan Spurlock’s popular movie "Super Size Me". Tom is a comedian and health writer and does a good job of pointing out some of the insane logic that is used to promote sadly mistaken conventional health advice about dietary fat. Tom has several clips from this movie on his Fat Head Movie web page. Enjoy!

Avoiding Harmful Chemicals in Food and Environment

We are constantly exposed to a bewildering horde of artificial and natural poisons and toxins in our food and environment. The human body can properly handle small amounts of most natural poisons and toxins, but there are many new artificial chemicals for which the human body has not had time to evolve effective means of detoxification. All of these harmful chemicals can cause a wide variety of unpleasant symptoms and if exposure levels are high enough, serious complications like cancer or even death can result. The harm level of these chemicals can vary widely among individuals, influenced by health status, genes, and cumulative exposure effects. Most of these chemicals will cause serious harm in everyone at high enough concentrations. Some of these chemicals are actually nutrients that the body needs at low concentrations but become harmful if the intake is too high. The biggest problem, however, is the pervasiveness of these chemicals, such that individually they might not be a problem, but collectively, they can be overwhelming to our body.

So what can we do? It's nearly impossible to eliminate exposure to all potentially harmful chemicals. The best we can do is to learn where significant sources lie in our food and environment and try to avoid them. Also, if you can detect cause and effect relationships between symptoms and sources, you can avoid things that bother you.

There are a variety of actions you can take to lessen the toxic burden. Eat organic vegetables and fruits and fully pastured or wild animal foods for starters. Minimize sweets and foods high in omega-6 fats. Minimize highly processed commercial foods that are often full of artificial additives such as artificial preservatives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, and artificial trans-fats. Don't eat spoiled food or any food that does not taste good. Minimize consumption of large fish, like albacore tuna or swordfish, which often have high levels of mercury. Avoid processed meats preserved with nitrites (including those with added "celery juice" that have hidden nitrites). If your water supply has added chlorine or fluoride, get water filters that remove these and other contaminants. Use only plastics with recycle numbers 2 HDPE, 4 LDPE, or 5 PP. Don't use teflon or aluminum cookware. Be very careful in choosing skin, hair, and mouth care products (EWG has excellent helpful information). Don't get "silver" amalgam dental fillings and properly remove any that you may already have. Avoid vaccines and long-term use of medications. Don't use commercial pesticides or herbicides.

For those of you who may do all these things and still have sensitivity issues, an elimination diet may be helpful for determining problematic foods. Some seemingly healthful foods can have salicylates, amines, or other natural food chemicals that cause unpleasant symptoms in sensitive individuals.

Below is a partial list of some of the more common poisons and toxins with links to more information.

Medicines
Antibiotics - a double edged sword
Pesticides - in produce
Herbicides

Food Additives
Artificial Colors
. annatto - yellow food color
Artificial flavors
. MSG (free glutamate) - flavor enhancer
. ribonucleotides - flavor enhancers
Artificial Trans-Fats
Dough Conditioners (mono and diglycerides)
High Omega-6 Vegetable Oils
Sugar-free sweeteners
. aspartame (nutrasweet)
. sucralose (splenda)
. saccharin
. cyclamate
Sugar alcohols
. mannitol
. sorbitol
Sugars - how sugars can ruin your health
. sucrose (table sugar)
. dextrose
. HFCS - health hazard
Preservatives
. BHA/BHT
. EDTA
. proprionates
. nitrites
. sulfites

Toxins
. botulinum
Mycotoxins
. aflatoxin
. alcohol

Natural Plant Chemicals
alkaloids
cyanides
flavonoids
goitrogens
lectins
polyphenols
phytoestrogens
salicylate

Biogenic Amines

Venoms

Metals
aluminum - vaccines, anti-clumping agents
arsenic - pesticides, antibiotics
copper - also a nutrient
lead - glazed pottery, old paint
mercury - hazards, dental fillings, vaccines, large fish
nickel - some stainless steel cookware
selenium - also a nutrient
zinc - also a nutrient

Halogens
bromine - flour, antacids
chlorine - water
fluorine - water, toothpaste, pesticides, tea
iodine - kelp, also a nutrient

Petrochemicals
benzene
butadiene
parabens
propylene glycol
toluene
Plastics
. bisphenol A (BPA)
. polycarbonate (#7 PC)
. polystyrene (#6 PS)
. polyvinyl chloride (#3 PVC)
. pthalates

Other Chemicals
acrylamide - baked and fried starchy/sugary foods
asbestos - insulation and flooring in some older homes
carageenan - thickening agent in foods and skin care products
dioxins - a case for vegetarianism?
formaldehyde - vaccines, plywood, carpets
perchlorates - rocket fuel, fireworks, chlorinated water
polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) - fire retardant
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) - fire retardant
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) - combustion product
teflon - cookware

Comprehensive Harmful Chemical Listing from EWG

Enduring Health Wisdom from a Remarkable Dentist

In the early 1900's this dentist noticed progressively worse dental problems in his patients over a couple of decades - not just dental caries, but also crowded teeth. He also noticed that these dental problems often mirrored the health of his patients. Poor dental health usually meant poor health in general. He theorized that the cause of this dental and health decline might be from the rapid dietary changes taking place at the time, as people began eating more and more of the "foods of commerce" - white flour, sugar, polished rice, and canned goods - and less of the whole foods that our ancestors ate.

In the 1920's he decided to risk life and limb to find and study remote peoples still eating their native diets to determine which foods provided the best dental and thus overall health. He made arduous trips to far reaching locations across the globe, including North and South America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Pacific Islands. He documented the dental health of thousands of people, including thousands of photographs.

He found many remote "primitive" groups eating their native diet who had little evidence of dental problems. He also found that when peoples of these same groups abandoned their native diets in favor of the modern foods of commerce they very quickly developed dental problems and these problems were worse in succeeding generations. He was unable to find any healthy native groups eating an exclusively vegetarian diet. The healthiest groups included animal seafoods or organ meats or dairy or a combination of these foods in their diets, along with a wide variety of plant foods. He brought food samples back to his laboratory for analyses and found that the foods eaten by the healthiest groups were much higher in many key nutrients than typical foods from the civilized world.

His friends encouraged him to write a book about his findings. The book was first published in 1939 and can be read online: "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration". The book is also available in hard copy from the Price-Pottenger Foundation. Oh ... and the dentist's name was Weston A. Price. He was a renowned dentist of his time, but unfortunately he has been largely forgotten.

Today, Price's "foods of commerce" have turned into modern foods of convenience - highly processed, chemical laced, nutrient poor fake foods that are cheap and fill the stomach but leave the body with insufficient nutrition and added toxic loads that lead to declining health over time. Add to this dubious vaccines, over-used antibiotics, and grossly over-rated medicines that all have serious side effects and you have a recipe for major health problems. We need to return to the traditional foods that nurtured our ancestors and kept them healthy.

Here is Price's recommendation for dental and overall health:
"A first requisite for the control of tooth decay is to have provided an adequate intake of the body-building and repairing factors by the time the hunger appeal for energy has been satisfied. A sufficient variety of foods must be used to supply the body's demand for those elements which it needs in large quantities, that is, calcium and phosphorus, and the other elements which it needs in smaller quantities, though just as imperatively. One of the serious human deficiencies is the inability to synthesize certain of the activators which include the known vitamins. This makes necessary the reinforcement of the nutrition with definite amounts of special foods to supply these organic catalysts, especially the fat-soluble activators, including the known vitamins, which are particularly difficult to provide in adequate quantities. I have shown that the primitive races studied were dependent upon one of three sources for some of these fat-soluble factors, namely, sea foods, organs of animals or dairy products. These are all of animal origin. I have indicated in Chapter 16 the nutritional programs that have proved in clinical testing adequate for providing the body with nutrition that will not only prevent tooth decay, but check it when it is active. The stress periods of life, namely, active growth in children and motherhood, do not constitute overloads among most of the primitive races because the factor of safety provided by them in the selection of foods is sufficiently high to protect them against all stresses. I have indicated the type of nutrition that is especially needed for these stress periods in our modern civilization. Also, that it is not necessary to adopt the foods of any particular racial stock, but only to make our nutrition adequate in all its nutritive factors to the primitive nutritions. Tooth decay is not only unnecessary, but an indication of our divergence from Nature's fundamental laws of life and health."

As a final footnote on the work of Weston Price, be sure to read Interpreting the Work of Weston Price which discusses his findings and what they mean for health.

Brisk Walk 20 minutes Everyday

Walking is literally the best exercise you can do. For a normal person with no great aspiration of athletic greatness, brisk walking is the best. It will lower your stress, help you to maintain or lower your weight and will make you feel just great! Walking is also a gentle exercise that won’t torment you too much if you hate exercise. Even if you start out with a gentle walk and work up to brisk walking, the walk itself will energize and uplift you. It will help lower your stress and give you a clearer mind to conquer the difficulties you encounter.

A great pedometer will significantly enhance your walking experience. The pedometer will give you some measurement that will cause you to walk more and try harder in order to get more steps or use more calories. Just wearing a pedometer will help increase your everyday movement without any extra effort on your part. Everyone can find 30 minutes in their day to do a good healthy walk. If the weather is an issue, either too hot or too cold, you can use a treadmill indoors. Make the time. Make yourself a priority. You will find that these three improvements to your daily routine will pay huge dividends in how much better you feel and how much better you can cope with the stresses in your life.

Exercise in moderation is necessary to live a really healthy life. If you don't like exercise, a brisk walk isn't really too difficult to learn to cope with. Everyone has the time for a 30 minute daily walk, so make it a priority and it will give you so much more energy to make the rest of your day superb.

Selecting Fats and Oils for Health

One very important influence on our health is our choice of fats and oils in our diet. In general, we should look for oils and fat that are close to what is found in our bodies - mostly saturated and monounsaturated, with only a small amount of polyunsaturated fat. Below is a table showing the percentage of these types of fat in various fats and oils that we eat. The omega-6 and omega-3 fats are also included in the polyunsaturated total in this table. We need small amounts of omega-6 fat, but most people eating a Standard American Diet (SAD) get way too much of this type of fat and that depresses your immune system and increases your chances of getting cancer and heart disease. It's best to avoid fats/oils that have more than about 20 percent as omega-6 and use sparingly fats/oils that are more than about 10 percent omega-6. Oils high in omega-6 are commonly used in processed/packaged foods and in restaurants because they are inexpensive and because of misguided advice to avoid saturated fats. Because of the polyunsaturated bonds, the high omega-6 oils easily go rancid and are easily damaged in processing and cooking. Also be sure to read "Some Typical Questions and Misconceptions on Fats and Oils" by Mary Enig, PhD nutritionist and "The Great Con-ola".

Percentage of Classified Fats for Different Fats and Oils

Fat/oil	Omg-6	Omg-3	Poly	Mono	Sat
Cod liver oil	1.0	20.5	24.5	50.9	24.6
Palm kernel oil	1.7	0.0	1.7	12.1	86.2
Macadamia oil	1.8	0.3	2.1	81.5	16.4
Coconut oil	1.9	0.0	1.9	6.2	91.9
Butter	2.9	0.4	4.0	27.9	68.1
Beef fat (tallow)	3.2	0.6	4.2	43.7	52.1
Sunflower high oleic oil	3.7	0.2	3.9	86.1	10.0
Mutton fat (tallow)	5.7	2.4	8.2	42.4	49.4
Palm oil	9.5	0.2	9.7	38.7	51.6
Olive oil	10.0	0.8	10.8	75.0	14.2
Goose fat	10.3	0.5	11.5	59.4	29.0
Pork fat (lard)	10.7	1.0	11.7	47.2	41.0
Duck fat	12.6	1.0	13.5	51.7	34.8
Avocado oil	13.1	1.0	14.1	73.8	12.1
Flax oil	13.3	55.8	69.0	21.1	9.8
Safflower high oleic oil	15.1	0.0	15.1	78.4	6.5
Almond oil	18.2	0.0	18.2	73.2	8.6
Canola (rape seed) oil	19.2	9.2	28.5	64.1	7.5
Chicken fat	20.4	1.0	21.9	46.9	31.2
Peanut oil	33.6	0.0	33.6	48.6	17.8
Rice bran oil	35.5	1.7	37.2	41.8	21.0
Sesame oil	43.2	0.3	43.6	41.5	14.9
Soybean oil	53.0	7.1	60.0	23.7	16.3
Cottonseed oil	53.9	0.2	54.3	18.6	27.1
Corn oil	56.2	1.2	57.4	29.0	13.6
Sunflower oil	68.8	0.0	68.8	20.4	10.8
Grapeseed oil	72.8	0.1	73.1	16.8	10.0
Safflower oil	78.4	0.0	78.4	15.1	6.5

Compiled from USDA Nutrient Database
Note: about 4 to 6 percent of total fats were unclassified

Table Abbreviations
Omg-6: Omega-6
Omg-3: Omega-3
Poly: Polyunsaturated (including both omega-6 and omega-3)
Mono: Monounsaturated
Sat: Saturated

Avoiding Heart Disease and Cancer

Heart disease and cancer have become the top killers in the most affluent nations of this world. So, what can we do to avoid these killers? Following these simple dietary guidelines should greatly reduce your chances of facing these killers.

1) Minimize sugars and refined carbohydrates and maximize nutrition
2) Minimize omega-6 fats and eliminate artificial trans-fats
3) Get plenty of vitamin D from sunshine and/or diet

Minimize Sugars and Refined Carbohydrates
and Maximize Nutrition

Modern society is so addicted to sugars and refined carbohydrates that most people are in complete denial that these foods could be bad. This problem has only gotten worse because of the pervasive misguided advice to reduce fat and increase carbohydrates in the diet. Even if you want to quit, the addiction is so strong it is very difficult. However, once the addiction is broken, the cravings will end. Getting adequate amounts of good dietary fats and nutrients is the key to breaking sugar addiction. The good fats are mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat - just like the composition of our bodies. These fats help to promote satiation for a longer time and help to reduce the blood sugar spikes and resulting insulin spikes from carbohydrates in the diet. When insulin levels are raised too high too often, insulin resistance begins to develop and can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Be sure and read "Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects" by Dr Ron Rosedale MD for more details. Elevated blood sugar also suppresses the immune system and accelerates aging by increasing the glycation of important molecules. Our immune system is our front line against cancer as well as harmful microbes - so decreasing our immune function is definitely not a good thing! And here is what Dr Rosedale says about glycation:

"Remember, you are what you eat and you most certainly do not want your arteries to become sugarcoated. That is in fact what can happen. Glucose, as it turns out, is a very sticky molecule. It readily combines with many types of critical molecules in our body causing them damage and to malfunction. The process of glucose combining with other molecules is called "glycation" and glycation is now being recognized as one of the most important molecular causes of heart disease and contributing to most, if not all diseases of aging. In fact, when a molecule in your body combines with glucose and that now damaged molecule is not readily replaced by an undamaged molecule, it can turn into what are called advanced glycated end products with the acronym called purposefully and appropriately "AGE's", since they are now thought by scientists to contribute greatly to the damage that we know as "aging". Sugar is used by chefs to "caramelize" cream and other foods. That is, in fact, what happens to us as we age. Ultimately we turn rancid (oxidize) and caramelize (glycate). It is our goal to slow that down."

Eating a variety of nutrient-dense foods will also help to reduce sugar cravings. It may actually be nutrients that the body is craving. Most people don't get enough nutrients from their diet and taking supplements may not be a reliable way to get those nutrients. Foods full of sugar and refined carbohydrates generally have much lower nutrition. So it can be a vicious circle if not broken. Make your calories count!

So, where do you get good fats and good nutrition? The best sources are meat, organs, dairy, and eggs from pastured or wild animals, as well as organic vegetables and limited amounts of heritage whole grains, fruits, and nuts. These are the foods that our healthy ancestors ate. Pastured animal fats are mostly saturated and monounsaturated with only small amounts of polyunsaturated fat. Grain-fed animals have higher amounts of polyunsaturated fat, so it is best to find meat and dairy from pastured animals that eat little or no grain. Meat and dairy from grass-fed ruminants also have more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), the only good trans-fat, that helps to fight cancer and heart disease.

Minimize Omega-6 Fats (Linoleic Acid)
and Eliminate Artificial Trans-Fats

Our modern society has also been misled about which types of fat are best for our health. For about the last 30 years we have been told to avoid saturated fat and eat more polyunsaturated fat. Unfortunately this advice has made our health worse, not better. In fact, our healthy ancestors typically ate no more than about 4% to 10% of their calories from polyunsaturated fat and this is a good goal for us today. Saturated fats strengthen our immune system. We need small amounts of polyunsaturated omega-6 fat in our diet, but too much suppresses the immune system and promotes cancer and heart disease, as discussed in more detail by health researcher Barry Groves, PhD in this article: "Polyunsaturated oils increase cancer risk".

Artificial trans-fats are made from hydrogenating polyunsaturated fats. Now, even the "health authorities" agree that trans-fats are bad, even though not long ago they were promoting margarines laden with trans-fats. Even small amounts of artificial trans-fats can increase your chances for heart disease, so eliminating them from your diet is ideal. They are found in many packaged and processed foods and also in many fried foods and deserts at restaurants. Ideally, make your own food from fresh ingredients. However, if you do buy packaged or processed foods, reject any foods that have "hydrogenated" in the ingredients list. When you eat out, don't eat fried foods or most deserts. The deserts are high in sugar anyway :)

Get Plenty of Vitamin D from Sunshine and/or Diet

Most people are deficient in vitamin D, but adequate vitamin D is critical for our health. Recent research has shown that people with low levels of vitamin D are much more prone to cancer. Additional research also indicates that vitamin D deficiency is associated with greatly increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Adequate Vitamins A, D, and K2 are also necessary for proper calcium metabolism, so that calcium goes to our bones and teeth and not in excess to our blood vessels and tissues. Together, vitamins A and D also help to strengthen our immune system.

Our bodies can produce vitamin D from cholesterol if we get enough sunshine. At higher latitudes, this may not be possible most of the year. The best dietary sources of vitamin D are animal fats from pastured or wild animals. One of the best sources is cod liver oil, which is also high in vitamin A and beneficial omega-3 fats. However, not all cod liver oils are created equal. Most have lost most of their natural vitamins in processing and have artificial vitamins added back. If you are interested in taking cod liver oil, be sure to read more about it here.

Shocking Dietary Advice?

For those of you who think cholesterol and saturated fats are your enemy and a low-fat diet is your salvation: THINK AGAIN!

Modern "health authorities" are dishing out poor advice based on garbage "science" pushed by big business interests. Money talks and money is the root of all evil when it comes to these misguided conventional dietary recommendations.

The cholesterol theory of heart disease is based on shoddy "science" that has been promoted by big food companies and pushed by big pharmaceutical companies - the biggest drug pushers in the world! Anthony Colpo's excellent book, "The Great Cholesterol Con" exposes this flawed "science" as a sham. The first major proponent of the cholesterol theory, Ancel Keys, selectively chose six countries that fit his theory to show a correlation between cholesterol and heart disease. However, he conveniently ignored data from eight other countries that did not support his theory. And this is just the beginning tip of the iceberg. Read Anthony Colpo's book for more details on how this unfortunate myth was perpetuated.

Cholesterol is vitally important to our health. It is involved in the body's immune and repair processes and is the precursor to many important hormones as well as vitamin D via sunshine. Elderly people with higher cholesterol levels live longer than those with lower cholesterol levels! There is no real evidence that cholesterol and saturated fat "clog" our arteries to cause heart disease. Evidence more strongly points to oxidation of unsaturated fats and glycation of associated lipoproteins as important factors in heart disease. These lipoproteins also contain cholesterol, but there is no evidence that the cholesterol itself causes any harm. Glycation is aggravated by excess blood sugar that can result from diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates.

Saturated fats have been falsely accused of causing problems that are more correctly blamed on artificial trans-fats, another recently-invented processed-damaged food. Can you say "hydrogenated"? If you see that word on a label, that food has artificial trans-fats in it. Now even the "health authorities" have finally recognized that artificial trans-fats are bad. Just a few years ago, they were touting margarines loaded with trans-fat as "healthy".

The real culprits in heart disease and even cancer and diabetes appear to be huge increases in sugars and often rancid refined vegetable oils in the modern diet. Our ancestors did not eat these foods. One hundred years ago, heart attacks, cancer, and diabetes were rare - even in the elderly. Lots of sugars and vegetable oils are packaged with modern foods of convenience and heavily advertised, often as "healthy" foods. Low-fat diets for many people contribute to cravings for sweets and ironically, excess sugar is converted into saturated fat by our bodies, leading to obesity. Our healthy ancestors ate good quality animal and dairy fats, with mainly fruits for sweets. Now people are addicted to processed convenient foods laden with sugar and high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners as well as "healthy" vegetable oils (not to mention all the other artificial junk in them). Too much sugar and refined carbohydrates raise insulin levels. Too much insulin causes accelerated aging. Elevated blood sugar and too much polyunsaturated fats from vegetable oils also suppress the immune system and are major factors leading to diabetes and autoimmune diseases. No wonder obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease are running rampant!

So, avoid processed fake foods like the plague! Choose foods that have nurtured our ancestors for thousands of years. The most nutritious foods are meats, organs, and raw dairy from fully pastured or wild animals along with organic vegetables, heritage whole grains, nuts, and fruits. This is what our healthy ancestors ate!

Oh .... please, don't take my word for it. Go to the "Health Links" on the right side bar and read the abundant and compelling information they provide. For some healthy recipe ideas, see the "Healthy Cooking Ideas" links. And if you like to discuss health with like minded people, join us in the "Health Discussion Groups".

Let food be your medicine. Say NO to drugs :)

Food Nutrient Information

Here are some resources for information about nutrients in food.

Search the USDA National Nutrient Database
The USDA has nutrient data for a large number of foods. You can even download their entire data base if you want. They also have convenient Nutrient Lists sorted alphabetically or by nutrient content.

Danish National Food Institute
A much smaller but complimentary nutrient data base with measurements for European foods.

Linus Pauling Institute
Excellent detailed information about nutrients.

Worlds Healthiest Foods
More good information about nutrients in food and a few anti-nutrients. Just ignore their fat phobia and love of soy :)

NutritionData
They offer nutrient data from the USDA data base in a convenient form. Be sure to ignore their misguided conventional dietary advice. They require registration to get full access to their most useful features, but it's free and so far I have not had any spam from giving them my e-mail address. To get summaries of the nutrients in the food you eat, first search for each food item and add it to your "Pantry" by clicking on the "Add to Pantry" button at the top of the food nutrient information. Then go to the "Pantry" (menu selection) and enter the food amounts for a meal or a day's worth of food and click on the "Total +" button at the bottom. All the nutrients are quickly tallied for the foods and amounts you have selected. If you enter or change amounts, it keeps accumulating the results until you click the "Total 0" button at the bottom of the "Pantry" to reset to zero. You can also save "Recipes" for foods or meals you make with multiple items. Overall it's a very powerful, fast, and relatively easy to use system. Too bad they don't have better dietary advice.

FitDay
Offers free online tools to help you monitor your daily nutrition and exercise to meet health goals. I haven't tried it yet but it looks useful. I did look at the tutorial and it looks like FitDay is geared towards weight loss.

Dietary Nutrition Calculator
This is my Excel workbook that allows you to estimate your daily intake of nutrients from the foods you eat. Click the link above for more information.

Dietary Nutrition Calculator

In the quest for good health, getting a nutritious diet is the best foundation. To that end, I have developed an Excel workbook that calculates the approximate amount of nutrients in the food that you choose to eat and compares it to estimated dietary intake references. The nutrient data is primarily from the USDA food nutrient data base, supplemented with some additional data from other sources that are noted. The food nutrient data are very approximate, so this only provides a rough estimate of what is in the food that you eat. Also, nutrient absorption and utilization by the body will vary, depending on the food, combination of foods eaten, and your digestive health status. So, even though the nutrients are in the food, that doesn't necessarily mean that your body will be able to fully utilize them. But at least you have given it the opportunity :)

The Excel workbook has nine worksheets. It opens with the Result sheet, showing a sample week of food pro-rated to a daily basis. The Detail sheet shows even more detail, including individual fatty acids and amino acids. The Input sheet allows you to input the amounts of food that you have eaten or plan to eat. You can use formulas to prorate amounts over a longer time period to a daily basis for comparison to the dietary references. The Calc sheet performs the calculations using the input amounts and the nutrient data in the Data sheet. The Calc sheet can be reviewed to see which foods are contributing what portion of the nutrients in the foods you are eating. The Data sheet has nutrient data per 100 grams of each food. It can be used to compare the nutrient density on a per weight basis between different foods. The Data by Calories sheet has nutrient data per 100 calories of food and can be used to compare nutrients for different foods on a calorie basis. The Load sheet provides assistance for adding additional nutrient data obtained from the USDA food nutrient data base. Follow the instructions on the sheet to load new data. More data loading tips and information are in the Notes sheet. And finally, the BMR sheet will calculate the target number of calories for your ideal weight, based on your height, age, and activity levels. It uses the Harris Benedict Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR) formulas.

Download the Dietary Nutrition Calculator
Click on the link above to download the latest version of the Excel workbook. This link will take you to the MediaFire file hosting site where you can download the Excel file free. Wait for the "Click here to download.." box to appear and then click on that link to download the file to your computer. To return here, use the "back" button on your browser.

Update 2008-12-03: The number of food listings has been expanded to 289 and calculations have been added for percent of calories as PUFA in the Data sheet and calories from PUFA and from total fat in the Data by Calories sheet. Also, the Metabolic Rate sheet terminology was corrected.

Update 2009-09-21: Found a bug in the data input sheet. It was missing peppermint and listings below were not being mapped properly. Fixed this bug and added hazelnuts.

Good luck in your quest for health!

Principles for good health

Some basic guidelines for health and happiness

Diet
Get good nutrition by eating healthy foods
Choose a variety of traditional nutrient-dense foods
Preferably organic, fully pastured, and wild foods
Boost immune system and digestive function with probiotic foods
Avoid sweets, refined carbs, vegetable oils, margarine, trans-fats
Avoid highly processed foods, artificial food additives
Listen to your body

Mind
Nurture a positive attitude
Focus on the good things
Relax and enjoy life
No worries mate :)

Exercise
Get at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise on most days
Include 10 to 15 minutes of intense exercise several days per week
Interval exercise is best

Environment
Avoid exposure to toxins and anti-nutrients
(in food, water, air, and skin contact)
Drive carefully!

Natural food-based supplements
Use to boost nutrition if diet is inadequate
May be less effective than a good diet

Herbal remedies
Use to treat causes more than symptoms
Reserve for acute illness

Refined supplements
Use to boost nutrition if diet is inadequate
Can be a doubled edged sword if not carefully used
May be less effective than food-based supplements

Refined medicinal remedies
A last resort for acute health problems if all else fails
Will likely have adverse side-effects over time

Count your blessings
Good health is not something to take for granted

Duration of exercise

The Art of Healthy Lifestyles
The duration of exercise, is refers to the time people spend exercising. If in cardiovascular session, not including the warm-up and cool-down, should vary from 20-60 minutes to gain significant cardio-respiratory and fat burning-benefits. Each time people do cardiovascular exercise, at least try to do 20minutes or more. Of course, the longer go, the more calories and fat being burn and the better condition of cardiovascular system.

It is important to gradually increase before increase the intensity, that is when beginning a walking exercise , to be more concern with increasing numbers ofminutes of the exercise before increase the intensity, by increase speed, by walking hilly train.
The Art of Healthy Lifestyles

Walking Not Enough

The Art of Healthy Lifestyle
Walking is a popular form of exercise, but may not be enough to experience significant health benefits.

Generally, low-intensity activity such as walking alone is not likely going to give anybody marked health benefits compared to programs that occasionally elevate the intensity.

Researchers were concerned that while people with health issues are encouraged to increase their volume of activity such as walking, there didn't seem to be much focus on the effort that needed to go into the activity.

The University of Alberta study put the popularized pedometer-friendly 10,000-step exercise program to the test against a traditional fitness program which incorporated cardio-based activities on equipment such as treadmills and stationary bicycles. The traditional group was asked to complete exercise at a moderate intensity, a level allowing for one or two sentences of conversation with ease. Intensity was not set for the walking group; they completed their daily exercise at a self-selected pace.

When researcher matched the two programs for energy expenditure, they found that the traditional fitness program improved aerobic fitness and reduced systolic blood pressure, more than the 10,000-step lifestyle program. Of the 128 sedentary men and women who completed the six-month research program, those who took part in a more active traditional fitness regimen increased their peak oxygen uptake, an indicator of aerobic fitness, by 10 per cent. Those who took part in the walking program experienced a four per cent increase. Systolic blood pressure also dropped by 10 per cent for the traditional fitness group, compared to four per cent for the group who just walked.

Other markers of overall health, such as fasting plasma glucose levels, response to a two-hour glucose tolerance test and various blood lipids were unaffected by either exercise program.

Most concern is that people might think what matters most is the total number of daily steps accumulated, and not pay much attention to the pace or effort invested in taking those steps.

The 10,000-step or pedometer-based walking programs are great for people--they are motivating, and provide an excellent starting point for beginning an activity program, but to increase the effectiveness, one must add some intensity or "huff and puff" to their exercise. Across your day, while you are achieving those 10,000 steps, take 200 to 400 of them at a brisker pace.

People got to do more than light exercise and move towards the inclusion of regular moderate activity, and not shy to interject an occasional period of time at the vigorous level.
The Art of Healthy Lifestyles

Taking Care of Your Health

The Art of Healthy Lifestyle

What about your health & exercise; your fitness; or your current lifestyle? We watch TV on average 3-4 hours a day, many of us sit at computers all day, take cars or public transport to work and dine out. This is often all excused as a 'modern way of living'. So why not change the way you live? Better health, more exercise and increased fitness can be the key to a more confident, fitter and less stressed you...not too mention opening up new possibilities for your lifestyle.

Why should I exercise?

The benefits are almost endless. That said, you should always take care when exercising, especially if it's a long time since you last exercised. When exercising, it is essential to warm up your muscles for at least ten minutes before you start exercising warming-up. e.g. moderate walking or a gentle jog followed by a stretch.

Nutrition and exercise

Physical exercise is only part of getting fit. Boost your athletic performance and train more effectively and harder by sorting out your nutrition. From drinking enough water, to working out just how many calories you need when exercising, it's all very important stuff.

Walking back to health

Did you know that walking two miles a day most days can reduce your chances of a heart attack by 28 percent? Walking is an excellent way to improve your health, and it's easy to fit into most lifestyles.

Strength training

As you develop aerobic fitness, you can start introducing elements of strength training into your exercise programme. Good muscle strength can have a marked effect on appearance as it improves the tone and shape of muscles, improves posture and helps prevent lower back problems.

The Art of Healthy Lifestyle

Tips To Slowdown Your Aging Skin

The Art of Healthy Lifestyles

Here are some things you can do to slow down the aging skin.

* Use sunscreen every day - You can slow down wrinkle formation and even prevent it, if you use sunscreen early in your life. Use sunscreen that contains Zinc Oxide. It is better then those that have Titanium Dioxide. Daily, use a broadband SPF 15 and for heavy out door sun activities use SPF 30. If you wear makeup, put your sunscreen on first.

* On hot days and even when it is overcast use your sunscreen and a hat. Stay in the shade when possible.

* Keep away from highly polluted areas and don't smoke. Smoking changes the elasticity of the skin fibers leading to rough and wrinkled skin.

* Get enough sleep. Your skin repairs itself when you sleep.

* When you sleep, don't sleep with you face into the pillow.

* Drink plenty of water. Your skin loses water during hot days and needs plenty of water to keep hydrated. Water is found in raw fruits and vegetables. Sodas, sugar drinks, tea, (except herbal teas) coffee, or milk are not water. Rotate between buying and drinking Reverse Osmosis and Distilled water.

* Minimize drinking alcohol. Alcohol can lead to spider veins and broken capillaries. It also causes your skin to become dehydrated.

* Eat more fruits and vegetables. They provide plenty of antioxidants, which protect you from sun and pollution damage.

* Take an antioxidant supplement, which should include up to 2000 mg of vitamin C. You may have to take the Vitamin C separate.

Healthy Snacks

The art of healthy lifestyle
In today's hectic life style it probably feels like there is no time for healthy eating, or you simply can not find recipes that are both healthy and quick to make. As a result it is tempting to reach for the quick and easy snacks such as potato chips or candy.

Do you ever run out of healthy recipes for snacks, or find them to time consuming? Snacking is a major part of our lives, especially when it comes to kids. This article looks at why healthy snacks are important for all the family and will provide you with some straightforward and interesting recipes.

Foods with natural colours are on the whole good for you, like red apples, yellow bananas or orange carrots. Possibly the most important thing to remember is variety, a balanced diet will keep you healthy and fit as well as feeling good.

First of all I am going to give you some snacking tips.

Always make your snacks interesting
A rice cake is better than a packet of potato chips but is probably considered boring, so why not spread peanut butter and raisins on the top, or find some quick recipes for a salsa.

Prepare snacks in advance.
When you have some time chop up carrots, celery sticks, cucumber portions and other vegetables, place them in a sealed container in the fridge so as soon as you feel like snacking you can reach for the healthier option.

Keep snacks with you.
To save yourself getting caught out needing a snack when you are out keep snacks with you in your bag. Again the easiest and quickest are fruit and vegetables.

Swap food
When shopping always think of a healthier alternative to what you pick up.

Instead of potato chips go for low fat crackers or rice cakes. If you want biscuits chose one that contains fruit alternatively make your own (see recipes to follow)

Buying packed or ready made food and snacks usually means it will be less healthy than making your own.
The art of healthy lifestyle