The World’s Worst Cereals

Source: www.flickr.com/photos/wafflewhiffer/924700200/

Some breakfast cereals currently being marketed to U.S. children are more than half sugar by weight, according to Consumer Reports.

A single serving of 11 popular cereals, including Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, can carry as much sugar as a glazed doughnut. And some brands have even more sugar and sodium when formulated for the U.S. market than the same brands have when sold in other countries.

Post’s Golden Crisp and Kellogg’s Honey Smacks are both more than 50 percent sugar by weight, while nine brands are at least 40 percent sugar.

• Consumer Reports October 1, 2008

Unfortunately breakfast is typically one of the worst meals to eat out. Most restaurant options are simply not consistent with a healthy meal. The most notorious offenders though are probably breakfast cereals, which were initially developed to increase convenience, and now have mostly morphed into highly processed packages filled with synthetic vitamins and are a mere fantasy of a healthy food.

Breakfast cereals, along with waffles, pancakes, bagels and other high-carb, high-sugar foods, are some of your absolute worst breakfast options. And cereals that are aggressively marketed to kids have the worst nutritional quality of all cereals, according to an analysis of 161 brands earlier this year.

The analysis, published in the Journal of American Dietetic Association, found that children’s cereals have more sugar, sodium, carbohydrates, and calories per gram than cereals not marketed to kids. They also have less protein and fiber.

On average, sugar accounts for more than one-third of the weight of children‘s cereals compared to less than one-quarter of adult cereals.

The food industry spends about $229 million annually advertising these nutritionally void cereals to children. Colorful cartoons and other cheery tricks are meant to stimulate your child into wanting these “fun” foods, but the damage they can do to your child’s health is no laughing matter.

Obesity has become a major concern for American children, with excess sugar and carbohydrates being two of the major culprits contributing to this growing problem.

In the last two decades, the prevalence of overweight adolescents has nearly tripled, and current statistics show 16 percent of children are overweight or obese.

Sugar is Not a Healthy Breakfast, Fiber is Ignored!

There are two major problems with breakfast cereals:

1. Their high sugar content
2. The refined grains (carbohydrates, which also break down into sugar)

On average, just one serving of a typical children’s breakfast cereal equates to more than 90 percent of the daily sugar intake for sedentary girls aged 9 to 13.

In fact, “feeding infants cereal may be associated with an increased risk of developing type-1 diabetes mellitus autoantibodies, according to a study.

Children at an increased risk of type 1 diabetes who were fed cereals between the ages of 0 and 3 months and at age 7 months or older had an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes later in life.

The results suggest that exposing susceptible children to cereal during certain ages increases their risk of type 1 diabetes.”

• Journal of the American Medical Association October 1, 2003;290(13):1713-20

Regardless of the “healthy fiber” content of the cereal, consuming that much sugar is not going to promote good health. Foods high in added sugar contain little in terms of essential vitamins and minerals, and the calories they contain are not made up of important micronutrients needed for health and growth.

Reducing sugar intake should be on the top of your list regardless of whether your child is currently overweight or not, because it’s been proven over and over that sugar increases insulin levels, which can lead to:

• • High blood pressure and high cholesterol
  • Heart disease
  • Diabetes
  • Weight gain
  • Premature aging, and more

Be Radical, but Not Unreasonable, About Sugar Elimination

Now, I understand that completely eliminating sugar from your child’s diet is probably not feasible, so don’t beat yourself up too much. While high sugar consumption will clearly have a negative impact on your child’s health, eating sugar in moderation is likely not going to cause any significant damage.

Moderate sugar consumption would be somewhere in the neighborhood of five pounds per year, or just over 6 grams per day, which is considerably less than the U.S. average, which is closer to a staggering 175 pounds per year (about 52 teaspoons a day)!

To accomplish this, taking a close look at the sugar content of your child’s cereal, which is consumed on a daily basis, is therefore necessary.

Just how much sugar are you feeding your child each day?

One 2005 study that analyzed the daily sugar intake of 5,000 toddlers ranging in age from 2 to 5, found that, on average, 2- to 3-year olds consumed around 14 teaspoons (~58 grams) of added sugar a day. This number jumped to 17 teaspoons (~71 grams) daily among 4- to 5-year olds (Journal of Pediatrics January 2005;146(1):105-11).

That’s clearly too much!

Striving to limit your child’s added sugar consumption to between 1.5 and 2 teaspoons (6-8 grams) per day will likely save them lots of health problems later on.

• Mercola News 10.01.08

14 Habits That Make You Fat

1. TV Watching

Prolonged TV watching is a strong predictor for obesity. Recent research has proved that people who watch around two hours of TV per day are much more likely to be overweight than those who watched only half an hour per day. When you watch TV you are virtually motionless. Your heart rate, blood pressure and metabolic rate decline, resulting in burning 20 to 30 calories less per hour. Research by Harvard University has shown that there is a link between the amount children eat and the amount of television they watch.

2. Eating Too Fast

It is a habit of most people living in a fast paced society. Eating fast lets you eat too much before you are fully aware of it. It takes the brain about 15-20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Scientists suppose that fast eating is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome, a combination of the symptoms such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance.

3. Task Snacking

Task snacking refers to eating while doing other activities. if you often eat meals or snacks while working by yourself in front of your computer, while driving, watching TV, or standing at the kitchen counter, shopping with a friend, or talking on the phone, it’s likely that the “task snacking” eating style is increasing your odds of becoming overweight or obese.

4. Frequent Fast Food Consumption

One of the big reasons we’re seeing more obesity in our society these days is that we are too stressed and busy to make healthy dinners at home, often opting to get fast food at the nearest drive-thru instead. Fast foods compromise the quality of the diet by replacing more healthy foods. Fast foods are known for having high content of saturated and trans-fat, low content of fiber and massive portion sizes, which leads to obesity.

5. Eating To Manage Feelings

Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food (usually “comfort” or junk foods) in response to feelings (such as depression, anxiety, or loneliness) instead of hunger.

Experts estimate that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions. How many times have you found yourself scouring the kitchen for a snack, or absently munching on junk food when you’re stressed, but not really hungry?

6. Too Busy To Exercise

With all the demands on your schedule, exercise may be one of the last things on your to-do list. If so, you’re not alone. Americans live a more sedentary lifestyle than we have in past generations, yet our minds seem to be racing from everything we have to do. Unfortunately, from sitting in traffic, clocking hours at our desks, and plopping in front of the TV in exhaustion at the end of the day, exercise often goes by the wayside.

7. Your Friends Can Make You Fat

If you’re putting on weight, you might want to take a look at who you’re hanging around with. A study published in the July 26, 2007 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that obesity may be “socially contagious.” The study was conducted on more than 12,000 people over 32 years, and concluded that having an overweight friend, sibling or spouse increased one’s risk of obesity by 37 to 57 percent.

8. Lack Of Sleep

Sleep deprivation can increase your risk of obesity by boosting ghrelin (an appetite stimulating hormone) and lowering leptin (an appetite suppressor). The study from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom found that, compared to an eight hours of shut-eye, each one-hour decrease in sleep duration was linked to almost 3% more body fat.

9. Unaware Of Calories And Fat

Many people eat foods with no idea of the calorie or fat value. This leads to weight gain and unhealthy eating habits because you can easily consume twice the normal calories required to maintain your weight, let alone lose weight, if you don’t know how many calories you are eating.

10. Credit Cards

Your plastic may be affecting more than just your credit score. Visa conducted a study of 100,000 fast-food restaurant transactions and found that people who pay for their food with a credit card spend 30% more than those who pay with cash. For the average woman, who visits a fast-food restaurant once a week, that adds an extra 17,160 calories, or 4.9 pounds, per year.

11. Missing Meals

Research shows that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight, and that morning meals seem to help those who’ve lost weight keep it off. Denise Bruner, MD, obesity specialist and former president of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, says that skipping meals of any kind results in a “tremendous bout of compensatory hunger.”

12. Uncomfortable Clothing

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse found that casual and comfortable clothing workdays promote increased physical activity. Specifically, study participants took an average of 491 (or 8%) more steps on Jeans Day than on those days in which they wore normal business attire. It is also estimated that study participants burned an average of 25 additional calories on Jeans Day with the extra steps and miles walked. Wearing casual clothing every day for 50 weeks of work translates into burning an additional 125 calories per week and 6,250 calories per year.

13. Neglecting Scales

Recent study from the University of Minnesota found that dieters who weighed themselves daily lost about 12 pounds over two years, while those who never did shed only four pounds. Other research, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that those who have daily weigh-ins (along with face-to-face support) are 82% less likely to regain five pounds than a control group without weigh-ins or support.

14. Boredom

A survey by the Priory Group in the U.K. found that more people ate when bored than when stressed.

Source: http://www.healthassist.net/food/obesity.shtml

The 300 Workout: Hype or Road to Awesome Muscle?

With all the post-show buzz about the movie “300” and the huge interest in the physical fitness undertaken by the cast, it’s no surprise that their training regimen is appearing all over the internet. Mark Twight, a former world record-holding professional mountain climber, was enlisted to train the actors and stuntmen with the goal of making them look as close as possible to Greek warrior of old. And after some research, along with watching some videos of these guys working out, it’s undeniable that they shed a lot of sweat and tears to get into such great shape.

The actors trained for four months prior to the movie being made, with grueling workouts lasting for 2-3 hours a day, five days per week. They were pushed to the limit, with tire flips, jumping, sprints, kettlebells, medicine balls, pull-ups, bear crawls, tuck sits, barbell thrusters and so on.

In other words, real, old school, brutal, full body movements through unstructured workouts designed to force results. And to make it all more competitive, the entire program hinged on a penalty-reward system tied to performance, with results posted daily for everyone else to see. No pressure at all.

300 program all the time?

The “300″ workout gets its name from the total number of repetitions performed through a set of different exercises. Many people believe that this workout should be done daily, something Twight rebuffs. In fact, he says it is done only as a finale – a kind of graduation test – after actors had weight lifted and trained brutally for months to prepare for it.

“300” is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout. This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. We supervised every test, evaluated each rep for quality and only counted those that achieved our standards for form and range of motion. Like many workouts “300” is not hard once you’ve done it but the apprehension built up ahead of it – something we encouraged – was enough to make some guys fear it to the degree that performance was compromised. This workout was a crucible that some passed through and others still have hanging over them,” said Twight.

Think about that statement. Even though it’s not supposed to be hard once done, only half the staff, having trained their butts off for four months, completed it. Here is what the 300 regimen looks like:

• 25 pull-ups
• 50 deadlifts at 135 pounds
• 50 push-ups
• 50 box jumps with a 24-inch box
• 50 “floor wipers” (a core and shoulders exercise at 135 pounds)
• 50 “clean and press” at 36 pounds kettlebell (a weight-lifting exercise)
• 25 more pull-ups

Add the above reps together and you will get a total of 300 reps, which you will have to do in less than 20 minutes.

Workout 100% responsible for those physiques?

Gerry Butler, who played Spartan King Leonidas, insisted in a “Men’s Health” video that his regular workout routine for the last year has been generally lacking. In other words, he implied that he was somewhat of a couch potato and out of shape. However, the veracity of that statement is doubtful.

The casting director for 300 interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals and I’m willing to believe he chose really fit, rather than average, untrained men. There is simply no training program on earth that can transform flabby arms and skinny chests into a Spartan physique in two months. And neither could these Clark Kent types withstand the brutal assault on their bodies.

Twight said himself that his Spartan workout is not for the faint-hearted, nor the out-of-shape. He knew that those who would get the best results are those who have trained before. So he whipped a cast which had a physical training background, and improved dramatically on their physiques. Anyone who fell off the bus over the weekend got smashed in the gym on Monday. So your average couch potato actor would never survive under the 300 training, even on the first day.

Here are some typical workouts at the Jones Gym website, used for this movie – http://www.gymjones.com/schedule.php.

Of course, training 90 minutes to two hours a day, five days a week, for four months, plus the same amount of time fight training led towards some overuse injuries. In an article written by Mark Twight himself, called “300 – The So Called Program,” recovery had to be stressed to make sure the men would last for the length of the project. “We had a massage therapist on-site every day and a kinesiologist visited twice per week to treat anyone ailing.”

Not satisfied with all that, Men’s Health Magazine quoted Butler as taking on extra sessions with a Venezuelan bodybuilder named Franco LiCastro in order to exaggerate the physique he was after. “I wanted to look really strong,” he said.

In other words, he wanted a bigger set of guns and chest than the 300 program afforded. No secret there. If you want muscle isolation and that bigger, fuller look, weight training is required.

Eating regimen

In addition to their exercise program, the actors also followed a strict diet to give them a rugged, lean look – said to be barely adequate to fuel effort and recovery. In other words, a diet to get the actors to look their best in the short term, but not one conducive to long term good health.

The 300 workout (with its inherent healthy, but restrictive diet) is not the Holy Grail to a better physique. While it may shock your system into new growth; in the end, it is nutrition which will determine the outcome of your hard work. You are what you eat, and you can test that theory by stuffing yourself with junk food for a week. There’s nothing more efficient at hampering good long term workout progress than an inadequate food supply.

So in conclusion, will this type of workout whip the average Joe into Spartan shape in eight weeks? Not a chance. Will it help the average Joe get into superb shape in due time? Absolutely, granted he takes the time to build up the strength and endurance to sustain the workouts. But from experience, I can tell you that all of the actors have gone back to a more balanced eating and workout schedule after making this movie.

In the short term, the workouts are a good example of the type of intensity it takes to get into really great shape, but in the long run, it’s unrealistic to maintain all out effort, all the time. No one has that type of discipline, because it leads to overtraining. The 300 workout was never designed for that purpose. Rather, it was meant as a short term, brutal training regime to get these actors into killer buff shape, helping the movie make more money – period.

However, the principles of the workouts can be intelligently employed in a scaled down version to jump start your physique. Men’s Health contributor Craig Ballantyne, a strength/conditioning coach in Toronto advocates dropping down to 150 total reps, or 4-6 exercises of 15-25 reps each.

For example, a guy with a moderate fitness background might try this routine to start:

• 15 bodyweight rows
• 25 bodyweight squats
• 15 pushups
• 50 jumping jacks
• 20 mountain climbers
• 10 close grip pushups
• 15 bodyweight rows

Source: http://www.menshealth.com

To advance, you can use other exercises with lighter weights more suited to you:

• 25x Bent Row
• 50x Deadlifts
• 50x DB Inc Chest Press
• 50x Bench Straddle Jumps
• 25x Standing Military Press
• 50x Ab Waves
• 25x Bent Row
• 25x Standing Military Press

Or try this one:

• 25x Pull Ups
• 50x Squats
• 50x Bench Press
• 50x Hanging Knees to Elbows Crunch
• 50x Squat Jumps
• 50x DB Snatches, each arm
• 25x Pull Ups

Source: http://integral-options.blogspot.com

**Remember to use weights suited to your strength and conditioning.

It’s true that most people should be working out harder than they currently are. But experience has shown me that only few have the consistency and drive to achieve long lasting results through properly exercising the body to make it consistently stronger and more functional. It’s not about getting serious for a week, or two, or even a month with a current flavour such as the 300 workout. Fitness and nutrition should be a lifelong dedication and passion to be of optimal use. Mix it up, keep it interesting, and stay in shape – without injury .

Low On Energy? You May Be Low In Iron!

Fatigue is a common complaint among the general population, with reported rates as high as 14 percent to 27 percent. Women are three times more likely than men to suffer from fatigue, according to a study in the May 24, 2003 British Medical Journal.

A common cause may be a deficiency of iron – an important mineral found in some foods, and essential for good health and for physical and mental well-being.

The average daily iron intake of a female in the United States is only 12.3 mg, well below the adult RDA or (Recommended Daily Allowance) of 18 mg.

The average man needs 10 mg of iron in his daily diet, and it is very rare for adult males to have a need for iron. In fact, excess iron is a major cause of disease for men and is likely the major reason why menstruating women have such a lower risk of heart disease than men.

Roles of iron

A small amount of iron, about 200 milligrams per pint of blood, or 3 to 4 grams total in mature adults, is necessary to build hemoglobin (the chemical substance in red blood cells that captures and holds oxygen). With a deficiency, we become tired and apathetic — a condition known as anemia, causing oxygen starvation in the tissues.

With that in mind, let’s look at the three main roles of iron: (1) Carrying oxygen around the body – Every cell in the body needs oxygen and there is iron in the haemoglobin of red blood cells, and it carries oxygen from your lungs to wherever it is needed. (2) Maintaining a healthy immune system – The cells which fight infection and defend the body against foreign organisms depend on adequate amounts of iron; without which we are more prone to infections. (3) Making energy – Iron is essential in the chemical reactions that produce energy from food. Without adequate iron levels, your body may not be able to use all the energy available to it.

Are You Iron Deficient?

According to the “Office of Dietary Supplements,” there are two forms of dietary iron: heme and nonheme. Heme iron is derived from hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells. The original source is animal foods which contained hemoglobin, such as red meats, fish, and poultry. Iron in lentils, beans breads, fruits, vegetables, legumes (e. g. baked beans), and nuts is arranged in a chemical structure called nonheme iron, the form added to iron-enriched and iron-fortified foods.

Heme iron is absorbed at a range of 15% – 35%, while in contrast, 2% to 20% of nonheme iron in plant foods such as rice, maize, black beans, soybeans and wheat is absorbed. Red meat, when eaten together with the vegetables, can boost the absorption of non-hemo iron by up to 400%. Vitamin C has a similar positive effect on the absorption of iron. This makes heme iron more efficient at absoption – (Uzel C and Conrad ME. Absorption of heme iron. Semin Hematol 1998;35:27-34 / Davidsson L. Approaches to improve iron bioavailability from complementary foods. J Nutr 2003;133:1560S-2S).

Iron deficiencies may cause fatigue, restless legs, anemia, excessive menstrual flow, lack of physical energy, frequent infections, and low immune function. unusual tiredness and lethargy. Those on restrictive diets and in some cases, vegetarians who do not eat enough of the proper foods may become deficient. But also heavy menstruation in some women, accelerated growth during adolescence or extreme physical activity may cause a deficiency.

In reality, few people eat enough iron rich foods to give them the needed daily amount, which is why dietary supplements may be of benefit. But be careful not to take more than is recommended. It can be a dangerous supplement and it needs to be used very cautiously, especially in those with an increased risk of heart disease.

What type of supplementation?

Iron Warnings: The treatment of any anemic condition should be under the advice and supervision of a professional. Oral iron products interfere with absorption of oral tetracycline antibiotics, so these product should not be taken within two hours of each other. And if pregnant or nursing a baby, seek the advice of a health professional before using any iron supplement product.

The safest form of iron is probably Feosol Carbonyl Iron. I don’t know of any case of iron toxicity from accidental overdose of this type of supplement. This is in stark contrast to all other types of iron.

The best form though, if it is required, is that obtained from red meat, as it is the most highly available form for absorption.

Some other examples of iron-rich foods are:

Dries beans and peas
Lentils, cooked, drained 250 ml, 3.3 mg
Lima beans, cooked, drained 250 ml, 4.6 mg
Red kidney beans, cooked, drained 250 ml, 4.3 mg
Soya beans 250 ml, 4.3 mg
Split peas 250 ml, 4.5 mg

Vegetables
Asparagus, canned, drained 250 ml, 2.5 mg
Green peas 250 ml, 3.0 mg
Peppers, hot, red, dried, powder 15 ml, 2.3 mg
Spinach, canned, drained 250 ml, 5.0 mg
Spinach cooked 250 ml, 4.2 mg
Tomato juice 250 ml, 2.3 mg

Fruits
Apricots, dried, uncooked 15 ml, 0.9 mg
Peaches, dried, uncooked 250 ml, 10.1 mg
Dates, pitted, cut 250 ml, 5.3 mg
Prune juice 250 ml, 11.0 mg

Nuts
Almonds, shelled whole 125 ml, 4.0 mg
Brazil nuts 125 ml, 2.3 mg
Cashews, roasted 125 ml, 2.8 mg

Poultry
Chicken, white meat 76 g, 1.3 mg
Chicken, dark meat 90 g, 1.5 mg
Turkey 90 g, 1.6 mg

Liver and Kidney
Beef kidney (8 cm x 6 cm x 8 cm) 3 slices, 11.8 mg
Beef liver, fried 3 oz., 8.0 mg
Calf liver, fried 3 slices, 13.0 mg
Chicken liver, fried 3 medium, 7.7 mg
Pork kidney 3 slices, 7.2 mg
Pork liver 3 slices, 7.2 mg

Fish
Lake trout, broiled or baked 90 g, 4.5 mg
Sardines, canned in oil 7 medium, 2.5 mg
Tuna, canned, drained 90 g, 1.7 mg

Combined Dishes
Beans, white, dry, canned, with tomato sauce 250 ml, 4.9 mg
Beans, white, dry, canned, with wieners 250 ml, 5.0 mg
Beef pot pie, baked (10 cm) 1 pie, 4.1 mg
Cabbage rolls with meat 2 rolls, 2.1 mg
Chili con carne, with canned beans 250 ml, 4.5 mg
Chili con carne, without beans 250 ml, 3.8 mg
Poultry pot pie (10 cm) 1 pie, 3.0 mg
Spaghetti with meat balls and tomato sauce 250 ml, 3.9 mg

Seeds
Pumpkin/squash seeds 125 ml, 6.5 mg
Sunflower seeds 125 ml, 4.1 mg

Odds and Ends
All purpose flour 250 ml, 3.2 mg
Brewer’s dry yeast 15 ml, 1.4 mg
Brown’s sugar, packed 250 ml, 7.9 mg
Egg 1 egg, 1.1 mg
Egg noodles 250 ml, 2.7 mg
Instant breakfast with milk 1 pack, 5.0 mg
Molasses, cane, light 15 ml, 0.9 mg
Molasses, cane, blackstrap 250 ml, 3.2 mg
Pasta, enriched 250 ml, 2.4 mg
Split pea soup 250 ml, 1.5 mg
Whole wheat flour 250 ml, 3.8 mg