Is That Wiggle In The Middle Because Of Winter Blues?

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Ok heavy sigh, who’s got the winter blues? Those irritating mood swings, the hibernation effect and the lack of everything towards anything. As the weather freezes our behinds, we try hard to stay upbeat and positive but sometimes we fall into the abyss. Yes, it’s been a long winter and we may yet get some more snow, but if the recent sunny days are any indication, summer will soon be on the way. That means we get more energy, become more active and usually look to improve our health.

Let’s face it, everyone wants to see a trim and healthy body staring at them in the mirror. Problem is, we now have to decide what in the world it will take to get rid of that wiggle in our middle. Transforming your life and bringing about positive results is there for the taking, but how to start? It begins with us doesn’t it? We have to actually swing those legs off the couch and do something about how we feel. Research has provided solid evidence that a good exercise program offers astounding benefits in weight control, preventing aches, pains, illness and even disease.

But keep in mind that you have to be balanced in thinking. A bikini body or a set of washboard abs in six weeks, after five or six months of inactivity, is generally unrealistic. It’s going to take some time to undo the damage. The good news is that consistent and vigorous effort at any type of exercise, four to five times weekly, usually produces excellent results.

So go ahead, leave the excuses at the door and take control of the way you look. Never get down about your present condition; rather let it serve as an incentive for change. Then stop talking about it and invest some time and energy in yourself. You’ll soon feel youthful and confident strutting the new you, because a fit body, unlike a lax attitude, never goes out of style.

Food Addiction: Lack Of Education Leads To Compulsive Behavior

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As a Nutritional Practitioner, I see a lot of clients who complain about being addicted to food. This addiction, according to them, is likened to what an alcoholic or mild drug user suffers from: compulsive eating behaviour, binging, unnatural responses or actions, lying, etc. Most of this is said to be triggered by emotions, negative life events, boredom, or depression.

I agree that there are similarities with food addiction to other addictions; such as obsession with a substance to alter mood or outlook, overt or harmful  behaviours, or lack of self-control. But rather than blame the substance, we have to look at what triggers the response to the condition.

Many people are on destructive (restrictive) dietary paths which result in nutrient deficiencies. Indulging in fractionated carbohydrates, junk foods, canned and boxed foods which contain either starches, sugars or simple carbohydrates, only sets up a further strong psychological drive for more of these foods.  Why? Because they boost our immediate outlook through higher glucose conversion and temporary energy. But like other destructive substances, the end result is very short lived.

Refined Foods Don’t Lead To Good Health

As a society, we live for instant gratification. Rather than eating foods which give us long term energy, we desire a quick pick-me-up, even though we know the cycle has to be repeated over and over during the day, leaving us exhausted. Part of the problem is what manufacturers tell shoppers. Words such as diet, whole, goodness and so on are meaningless in light of what the food endures during processing.

In Canada, whole wheat is not “whole.” As much as 70% of the nutrients may legally be destroyed through removal of much of the kernel, which reduces shelf life. Whole wheat is not a whole grain – period. It is a product which, through loss of many of the nutrients (wheat germ and wheat germ oil), as well as bran and middlings, is now a fast absorbing energy food which spikes blood sugar. But still, our government says the end product remains good for us. In effect,  manufacturers legally (yet immorally) lie to us, desiring profit more than our good health.

Educate Yourself

Much of this can be remedied by education. With the availability of the internet and more authors writing about whole food nutrition, we should be able to find proper information on the subject. However, the excuse I frequently hear is that, “I don’t have enough time.” My answer is always the same: “Do you have the time to get sick?” Because once a person is on their sickbed, they cannot earn money, nor can they enjoy the fruits of their labour. Balanced nutrition is not an option, but a necessity to “keep the ability to be busy.”

Another angle is our relationship to food. Do we understand that restricting nutrients sets us up for psychological cravings? Most diets are about weight loss, rather than good health. Authors care more for immediate results, because this brings in income. Yet most of the poor souls reading these books don’t equate their subsequent weight gain (once off the diet) with the diet itself. Diets are a sham, which is why your 20 pound weight loss ultimately results in a net 40 pound gain. This is a protective mechanism of the body to an unnatural restriction of needed substances – a sure plan for long term failure. It’s an addictive cycle: We desire the short term weight loss rather than thinking about the end result. This is somewhat like the steroid user, or the person taking diet pills. Yes, there may be immediate dramatic results, but in the end, we suffer even more.

Don’t Worry – Make Decisions!

Dietary rules also get us thinking too much about what should be an enjoyable experience. All this weighing and calculating is a drain on a pure pleasure – the enjoyment of wholesome food. We should be able to look at a food and immediately understand if it is good or bad. Has it been refined? Then there is a great chance it is not healthy. I don’t care at all about what we are told to the contrary. I have thousands of clients who have had success with this approach. It does not lead to worry about food, because it merely entails making in immediate decision. We do this daily with our jobs. If you do “fall off the wagon,” get up and try again.

Those who eat to manage compulsive behaviours or emotions need to realize that whole foods also satisfy. Sweet, salty or fatty foods may increase serotonin or stimulate dopamine receptors in the brain, giving a temporary feel good situation. But they always result in a subsequent crash. On the other hand,  whole foods do the same, though not as strong in the short run. Wouldn’t you like to feel good in the long term, without getting depressed, run down, sad, or suffer anxiety? Fractionated foods WILL increase these feelings and set the person up for a vicious cycle of weight gain, ill health and and increased emotional disorders.

We Are To Blame

As a society, we are too dependent on psychological help. Everything is the fault of someone else, something or some situation. We don’t look at ourselves, our actions and our outlook on situations. Though some will define this approach as simplistic, it is because they have been taught to feel this way; are in the business of treating people affected by these situations, or profit from them.

You are not addicted to foods, and neither are you powerless over them and have to practice abstinence. We have been given a brain to use, but we don’t do so in many instances. The biggest predictor of weight gain (or ill health), is a level of self restraint. Don’t succumb to eating amnesia (unknowingly putting hand to mouth from a bag, box or plate). This is nothing more than mindless eating. Sit, relax and enjoy, but don’t stop thinking about what you are doing. You wouldn’t do it crossing the street (for fear of getting injured). Why do it through long term self poisoning?

Choose well, don’t diet, and don’t indulge in foods which injure the body. I have hundreds of articles on this blog which go into more detail about what I have  written here. Read them and educate yourself about balanced nutrition.

The World’s Worst Cereals

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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

Blood Glucose – Know Your Number!

Source: www.walgreens.com/library/contents.jsp?docid=...

(Healthy Back institute Newsletter) When it comes to blood sugar, the closer you can keep it in the normal range of 80 to 89 mg/dL, the better.

For years I’ve been warning that blood sugars even in the 90 to 100 range show that you are becoming insulin resistant and on your way to diabetes.

A recent study of 47,000 Kaiser Permanente patients validated this observation.

The study, published in the American Journal of Medicine, found that blood sugar, blood glucose (BG) levels in the 95-99 range, more than doubled a person’s risk of becoming diabetic.  In fact, for every point over 85 mg/dL the risk of becoming diabetic increased 6%, even when they controlled for other factors.1

Accordingly, the study noted that there was more incidence of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in those with higher BG.  Why is this research so important?  It flies in the face of currently accepted medical guidelines that for years have used 100 as the magic number for diagnosing “pre-diabetes.”

At LMI, I’ve been seeing red flags for years when patients come in with BG levels even in the 90s, because these levels are often accompanied by being somewhat overweight, having a thick waist, or the spare tire of dangerous belly fat. These are signs that the body can no longer efficiently process the sugars that come from complex carbohydrates in whole grains, starchy vegetables, fruits, and simple sugars.

In other words, they are signs of insulin resistance. Insulin is the “key” that unlocks the door to each cell in the body, letting glucose into the cell to be processed for energy.  If the insulin key is faulty, the glucose remains in circulation, raising triglycerides, lowering HDL, and usually ending up at the waistline.

Anytime you see your doctor for a routine physical, fasting blood glucose is tested along with other blood labs.  If your blood sugar comes in less than 100 mg/dL, you will likely get an “all clear,” when it comes to diabetes risk.  If you’re overweight, have elevated blood pressure and are sedentary – other risk factors for insulin resistance – your doctor may suggest you lose a few pounds and add a few days of walking to your weekly routine.

But typically that won’t happen unless your blood sugar levels come in greater than 100 mg/dL, but less than 126 mg/dL – the pre-diabetes range – then you will get a more stern warning regarding diet and exercise.  However, it’s not until your fasting blood sugar levels reach over 126 mg/dL that you are diagnosed with type II diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes.

By the time you get the “true diabetes” diagnosis – your body is so insulin resistant that it may need much more than the “diabetic diet” and a walking routine to get your blood sugar levels under control.  This is when you may need an oral hypoglycemic medicine, which comes with a nice little set of nutrient-depleting side effects.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your doctor had warned you of your increased risk way before you even reached the 100 mark for blood glucose?  For years, I have been warning my patients that blood sugar over 90 is a sign they are becoming insulin resistant.  But because medical guidelines give an “all clear” at anything under 100, too many patients don’t want to believe they could be at risk – even with fasting BGs of 98 and showing every sign of insulin resistance.

At LMI, we go to work on the insulin resistance by giving our patients blood sugar support nutrients like chromium and having our dietitians provide instruction on a lower carb diet.  Ironically, we sometimes receive calls from their primary care physicians questioning our course of action because they think these patients “are fine.” But our philosophy is, don’t wait to become diabetic – take action well ahead of time.

Hopefully, the medical community’s eyes will open after reading the newly published article in the American Journal of Medicine. This phenomenal research has hit the nail on the head and may finally spur new guidelines to be issued for the management of blood sugar. Medical news can take a while to trickle down into actual practice, so in the meantime, you may need to become more proactive on your own.

If your blood work reveals a high-normal fasting blood sugar level, cut down on carb-heavy sugars, starches, and fruits, up the organic vegetables and proteins, and get your body moving.  You may be saving yourself from becoming a diabetes statistic.

Reference

1.    Am J Med. 2008;121:519-524

[Ed. Note: James LaValle, R.Ph, ND, CCN, is the founding Director of the LaValle Metabolic Institute, one of the largest integrative medicine practices in the country.  He was named as one of the 50 most influential pharmacists in the US by American Druggist magazine.  Dr. LaValle is the author of more than a dozen books including the bestseller, Cracking the Metabolic Code: 9 Keys to Optimal Health.

[This is NOT an endorsement of any services or products of the LaVelle Metabolic Institute, of which I have no affiliation. It is merely an acknowledgement of the writer and the contents of his article.]