For Those not Scientifically Inclined

This is a simplified summary of the last two posts.

Polyunsaturated fats in the diet are mostly omega-6 or omega-3. These get converted into a diverse and influential class of signaling molecules in the body called eicosanoids. On their way to becoming eicosanoids, they get elongated. These elongated versions can be measured in tissue, and the higher the proportion of elongated omega-6 in the total pool, the higher the risk of a heart attack.

Eicosanoids are either omega-6 or omega-3-derived. Omega-6 eicosanoids, in general, are very potent and participate in inflammatory processes and blood clotting. Omega-3 eicosanoids are less potent, less inflammatory, less clot-forming, and participate in long-term repair processes. This is a simplification, as there are exceptions, but in a broad sense seems to be true.

In the modern U.S. and most other affluent nations, we eat so much omega-6 (mostly in the form of liquid industrial vegetable oils), and so little omega-3, that we create a very inflammatory and pro-clotting environment, probably contributing to a number of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease.

There are two ways to stay in balance: reduce omega-6, and increase omega-3. In my opinion, the former is more important than the latter, but only if you can reduce omega-6 to below 4% of calories. If you're above 4%, the only way to reduce your risk is to outcompete the omega-6 with additional omega-3. Keeping omega-6 below 4% and ensuring a modest but regular intake of omega-3, such as from wild-caught fish, will probably substantially reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses.

Bottom line: ditch industrial vegetable oils such as corn, soybean, safflower and sunflower oil, and everything that contains them. This includes most processed foods, especially mayonnaise, grocery store salad dressings, and fried foods. We aren't meant to eat those foods and they derail our metabolism on a fundamental level. I also believe it's a good idea to have a regular source of omega-3, whether it comes from seafood, small doses of cod liver oil, or small doses of flax.

Read More

14.00 | 0 comments

What’s Healthy?

I hope you enjoyed the first course on Total Body fitness and where you stand right now, now we are going to look at what’s healthy?

Here is a recap of the e-course schedule:

Part 1: Fitness And Where You Stand Right Now
Part 2: What’s Healthy?
Part 3: How Can You Improve?
Part 4: Your Overall Body Fitness Plan
Part 5: I Can’t Give It Up!

With that being said... Lets get rolling shall we  :)
================================

Part 2: What’s Healthy?

--------------------------------------------------

Your weight, your blood pressure and your body mass index are good indications of your overall health.

Yet, it goes further than this, too.  You should understand how well your body is working, too.  Do you have any physical limitations?  If you physically can’t lift things for fear of hurting your back, this could be a potential problem that needs to be considered.

If you have problems with your legs, your neck, your arms or anything else, you should address these specific concerns.  The best place to start is to work with your doctor to determine why you aren’t physically fit in those areas.  That way, you can improve your overall health and then improve upon your situation by knowing how to.

The foods that you need play a significant role on your health.  Foods are the fuel that your body requires to do a good job at the tasks that you ask it.  In our machine look at the way that food works, the food that you consume is the fuel that your machine needs.

If you don’t give it quality food, it won’t perform the right way.  Have you ever gone to put gas into your car and gotten to a really bad gas station where the fuel wasn’t high quality or even up to standard?  It slows your car down.  You don’t get the gas mileage that you are used to and you may even need to perform more maintenance on your car than you usually need to do.

In the way of your body, healthy food is just as important.  If you consume the wrong foods all of the time, your body will not be able to perform as well as if you gave it the highest quality foods.

Without nutrition, your body can become ill faster and with greater intensity.

Your body does not heal as quickly from injury.

Your blood pressure rises, your heart rate increases to unhealthy levels.

You are more prone to limitations physically as well as mentally.

All sorts of problems arise from not eating a healthy diet of food.  But, what is healthy and why is it healthy?

Vegetables are one of the highest nutrient rich foods out there.  They provide antioxidants to a high level that helps to heal your body, improve your physical fitness from the inside to the out, and they are very low in calories meaning you can eat more.

Fruits are sweet so they can solve the sweet tooth.  They also provide you with antioxidants and all types of nutrients that give your body the fuel it needs.

Whole grains are also an important product of a healthy diet.  Unlike “white” foods, whole grains give you so much more health.  They don’t cause you to gain weight like others.  Choosing simple differences from bread to pasta to potatoes allows you to get the tastes that you love but without the added calories, fats, and sugars that can cause you health issues.

Water intake is also important.  Those that do not get enough fluids end up having a body that retains water rather than having less.  The body goes into dehydration mode, causing you to keep in all that you can.  Consuming enough water means that you’ll system is hydrated, you’re eating less and that you aren’t getting as many calories from other liquids.

Meats are important parts of the diet, too.  You need protein but you shouldn’t want to get it from fatty meats.  Improving your diet to just lean meats will allow you to cut down on the intake of cholesterol which will ultimately clog your heart minimizing blood flow to the rest of your body.

If you don’t do anything else, improving these five areas is all you need to do.  The good news is that you don’t often need a lot of work to make them happen.

The door to your New Body and healthier lifestyle: http://bit.ly/18CAot

Yours in Fitness,

Arthur M.
http://rxsportz.com

Read More

05.40 | 0 comments

The poison in your food that's keeping you fat

I came across this article written by Tom Venuto about a substance that you may be eating that increases belly fat and that may be slowly killing you.

Most people are eating this poison every day without giving it a second thought.

Eating even small amounts (2% of total energy intake) is consistently linked to coronary heart disease. 

(Be sure that you pay attention to the 4 specific ways to eliminate _____ _______ from your diet).   

You can check out this article here:

==>  http://bit.ly/A8H8j

I hope that it helps you,

-- Arthur M.

PS - This is a Free e-mail from Tom Venuto's "Burn The Fat Inner Circle" (You should see all the fat loss resources he has put together at his site.  If you want to learn more about what he has put together for you check this out:  http://www.healthybiz2000.com/rxsports/BTFIC.htm

Read More

14.55 | 0 comments

Health Drink

Many people will agree that the health drink is the next best thing to food that will be consumed. You do not have to cook it since blender will do all the work without any loss of vitamins and minerals.

The process of health drinks that are not different if you want to make juice, smoothie or shake. You just buy the ingredients and if you made too thick, add enough water to make it more fluid.

Health drink is taken mixed with your favorite beverage, you can create a health beverage with plant-based, 100% vegetarian whole food nutritional supplements, the property of the liquid formula prepared to strict quality control norms with time-tested plant extracts and herbal. Contains natural sweetener, citric acid, natural flavor added preservatives. Health drink made from a mixture of natural fruit, it is safe for the whole family, from children to adults

You can also buy health drinks available in the market with a variety of healthy drinks made from different kinds of fruits, vegetables, herb, or other plants, you just choose and buy a health drink that you want to your needs

The health drink is not only power and energy, but should be good to support the immune system to fight viruses and bacteria in the college campus. Healthy drink high in antioxidants that, fiber, protein, trace minerals and cancer fighting xanthones. As with blueberry juice, many benefits of natural health levive, as well as the depth of feeling fresh and purple.

Health drink is the best for health, is effective against a variety of medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus, various forms of cancer, such as liver disease cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, allergic diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis and brain apoplexy. There are also indicated as adjunct therapy for various diseases

Health drink is very useful to the human body, with all the vitamins and minerals in it, they will make your body healthy, and also prevent the body from various types of diseases. consume health drink regularly is a good action for you to do

health drink

Read More

06.55 | 0 comments

Eicosanoids and Ischemic Heart Disease, Part II

Here's where it gets more complicated and more interesting. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 matters, but so does the total amount of each. This is a graph from a 1992 paper by Dr. Lands:

Allow me to explain. These lines are based on values predicted by a formula developed by Dr. Lands that determines the proportion of omega-6 in tissue HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids; includes 20- to 22-carbon omega-6 and omega-3 fats), based on dietary intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fats. This formula seems to be quite accurate, and has been validated both in rodents and humans. As a tissue's arachidonic acid content increases, its EPA and DHA content decreases proportionally.

On the Y-axis (vertical), we have the proportion of omega-6 HUFA in tissue. On the X-axis (horizontal), we have the proportion of omega-6 in the diet as a percentage of energy. Each line represents the relationship between dietary omega-6 and tissue HUFA at a given level of dietary omega-3.

Let's start at the top. The first line is the predicted proportion of omega-6 HUFA in the tissue of a person eating virtually no omega-3. You can see that it maxes out around 4% of calories from omega-6, but it can actually be fairly low if omega-6 is kept very low. The next line down is what happens when your omega-3 intake is 0.1% of calories. You can see that the proportion of omega-6 HUFA is lower than the curve above it at all omega-6 intakes, but it still maxes out around 4% omega-6. As omega-3 intake increases, the proportion of omega-6 HUFA decreases at all levels of dietary omega-6 because it has to compete with omega-3 HUFA for space in the membrane.

In the U.S., we get a small proportion of our calories from omega-3. The horizontal line marks our average tissue HUFA composition, which is about 75% omega-6. We get more than 7% of our calories from omega-6. This means our tissue contains nearly the maximum proportion of omega-6 HUFA, creating a potently inflammatory and thrombotic environment! This is a very significant fact, because it explains three major observations:

1. The U.S has a very high rate of heart attack mortality.
2. Recent diet trials in which saturated fat was replaced with omega-6-rich vegetable oils didn't cause an increase in mortality, although some of the very first trials in the 1960s did.
3. Diet trials that increased omega-3 decreased mortality.

Observation number two is used by proponents of PUFA-rich vegetable oils, and it's a fair point. If omega-6 causes heart attacks, why hasn't that shown up in controlled trials? Here's the rebuttal. First of all, it did show up in two of the first controlled trials in the 1960s: Rose et al., and the unfortunately-named Anti-Coronary Club trial. In the first, replacing animal fat with corn oil caused a 4-fold increase in heart attack deaths and total mortality. In the second, replacing animal fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oil increased heart attack death rate, and total mortality more than doubled.

But the trend didn't continue into later trials. This makes perfect sense in light of the rising omega-6 intake over the course of the 20th century in the U.S. and other affluent nations. Once our omega-6 intake crossed the 4% threshold, more omega-6 had very little effect on the proportion of omega-6 HUFA in tissue. This may be why some of the very first PUFA diet trials caused increased mortality: there was a proportion of the population that was still getting less than 4% omega-6 in its regular diet at that time. By the 1980s, virtually everyone in the U.S. (and many other affluent nations) was eating more than 4% omega-6, and thus adding more did not significantly affect tissue HUFA or heart attack mortality.

If omega-3 intake is low, whether omega-6 intake is 5% or 10% doesn't matter much for heart disease. At that point, the only way to reduce tissue HUFA without cutting back on omega-6 consumption is to outcompete it with additional omega-3. That's what the Japanese do, and it's also what happened in several clinical trials including the DART trial.

This neatly explains why the French, Japanese and Kitavans have low rates of ischemic heart disease, despite the prevalence of smoking cigarettes in all three cultures. The French diet traditionally focuses on animal fats, eschews industrial vegetable oils, and includes seafood. They eat less omega-6 and more omega-3 than Americans. They have the lowest heart attack mortality rate of any affluent Western nation. The Japanese are known for their high intake of seafood. They also eat less omega-6 than Americans. They have the lowest heart attack death rate of any affluent nation. The traditional Kitavan diet contains very little omega-6 (probably less than 1% of calories), and a significant amount of omega-3 from seafood (about one teaspoon of fish fat per day). They have an undetectable incidence of heart attack and stroke.

In sum, this suggests that the single best way to avoid a heart attack is to reduce omega-6 consumption and ensure an adequate source of omega-3. The lower the omega-6, the less the omega-3 matters. This is a nice theory, but where's the direct evidence? In the next post, I'll discuss the controlled trial that proved this concept once and for all: the Lyon diet-heart trial.

Read More

20.23 | 0 comments

Eicosanoids and Ischemic Heart Disease

Dr. William Lands, one of the pioneers of the eicosanoid field, compiled this graph. It may be the single most important clue we have about the relationship between diet and ischemic heart disease (heart attacks).

To explain it fully, we have to take a few steps back. Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are primarily omega-6 and omega-3. This is a chemical designation that refers to the position of a double bond along the fatty acid's carbon chain. Omega-6 fats are found abundantly in industrial vegetable oils (corn, soybean, sunflower, cottonseed, etc.) and certain nuts, and in lesser amounts in meats, dairy and grains. Omega-3 fats are found abundantly in seafood and a few seeds such as flax and walnuts, and in smaller amounts in meats, green vegetables and dairy.

The body uses a multi-step process to convert omega-3 and omega-6 fats into eicosanoids, which are a diverse and potent class of signaling molecules. The first step is to convert PUFA into highly unsaturated fatty acids, or HUFA. These include arachidonic acid (AA), an omega-6 HUFA, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), an omega-3 HUFA, and several others in the 20- to 22-carbon length range.

HUFA are stored in cell membranes and they are the direct precursors of eicosanoids. When the cell needs eicosanoids, it liberates HUFA from the membrane and converts it. The proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 HUFA in the membrane is proportional to the long-term proportion of omega-6 and omega-3 in the diet. Enzymes do not discriminate between omega-6 and omega-3 HUFA when they create eicosanoids. Therefore, the proportion of omega-6- to omega-3-derived eicosanoids is proportional to dietary intake.

Omega-6 eicosanoids are potently inflammatory and thrombotic (promote blood clotting, such as thromboxane A2), while omega-3 eicosanoids are less inflammatory, less thrombotic and participate in long-term repair processes.

Many of the studies that have looked at the relationship between HUFA and heart attacks used blood plasma (serum lipids). Dr. Lands has pointed out that plasma HUFA do not accurately reflect dietary omega-6/3 balance, and they don't correlate well with heart attack risk. What does correlate strikingly well with both dietary intake and heart attack risk is the proportion of omega-6 HUFA in tissue, which reflects the amount contained in cell membranes. That's what we're looking at in the graph above: the proportion of omega-6 HUFA in the total tissue HUFA pool, vs. coronary heart disease death rate.

You can see that the correlation is striking, both between populations and within them. Greenland Inuit have the lowest proportion of omega-6 HUFA, due to a low intake of omega-6 and an exceptionally high intake of seafood. They also have an extraordinarily low risk of heart attack death. The red dots are from the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT), which I'll be covering in a bit more detail in a later post. They're important because they confirm that the trend holds true within a population, and not just between populations.

In the next post, I'll be delving into this concept in more detail, and explaining why it's not just the ratio that matters, but also the total intake of omega-6. I'll also be providing more evidence to support the theory.

Read More

22.25 | 0 comments

Chicken Salad - A Delicious, Cool and Healthy Treat

Chicken Salad is a great summertime treat for lunch, dinner or to take to a potluck. There are many variations of Chicken Salad you can make, but the basic recipe is:

•    Diced, cooked chicken chunks
•    Chopped celery
•    Chopped onion
•    Seedless grapes, white or purple
•    Mustard
•    Mayonnaise
•    Salt
•    Pepper

I didn’t suggest any measurements here because you can determine the amounts you need for your family or size of dish you are taking for a potluck.

Place the cooled chicken chunks in a bowl. Mix the other ingredients together and pour over the chicken chunks and blend together.

You can add almond slices or pecans for a crunchy treat, hard boiled sliced egg or lemon juice to the mixture for added flavor.  Also, use low fat mayonnaise for a healthier treat.

Chicken salad can be served with bread for sandwiches, on a leaf of lettuce for a nice summertime treat or as a side dish with dinner or at a potluck. I’ve never seen a chicken salad that didn’t get demolished at a potluck or graduation party.

Chicken salad can also be economical. Who couldn’t use a little economical help these days? Grocery stores often have chicken on sale, so when it is, purchase a large amount of it. Then have a cooking day and make a large batch of Chicken Salad. Place a big bowl in your fridge for easy access. Your family will grab it for a quick lunch and when you need a last minute side dish, it will be there. You can also divide it up into smaller portions for a quick lunch on the go.

Another great way to serve chicken salad is to put it in a tortilla wrap, in pita bread or over crackers as a yummy appetizer. Oh and don’t forget about serving it in a croissant for a beautiful and tasty lunch.

Chicken salad is better for you than potato salad, different and I think it’s “prettier”. It’s great for picnics, graduation parties, and open houses, 4th of July celebrations, taking to the beach in a cooler, potlucks or any time you want to serve a nice, cool dish. In a clear serving dish, it also makes a pretty presentation, especially if you add purple grapes. 

So, remember, when thinking about a nice, healthy, delicious meal, think Chicken salad instead of potato salad. Your guests will appreciate it and you won’t have to cart home any leftovers. Be sure to set some aside at home for yourself and your family.

Read More

20.48 | 0 comments

Eicosanoids, Fatty Liver and Insulin Resistance

I have to take a brief intermission from the heart disease series to write about a very important paper I just read in the journal Obesity, "COX-2-mediated Inflammation in Fat is Crucial for Obesity-linked Insulin Resistance and Fatty Liver". It's actually related to cardiovascular disease, although indirectly.

First, some background. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) come mostly from omega-6 and omega-3 sources. Omega-6 and omega-3 are precursors to eicosanoids, a large and poorly understood class of signaling molecules that play a role in basically everything. Eicosanoids are either omega-6-derived or omega-3-derived. Omega-6 and omega-3 compete for the enzymes that convert PUFA into eicosanoids. Therefore, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in tissues (related to the ratio in the diet) determines the ratio of omega-6-derived eicosanoids to omega-3-derived eicosanoids.

Omega-6 eicosanoids are very potent and play a central role in inflammation. They aren't "bad", in fact they're essential, but an excess of them is probably not good. Omega-3 eicosanoids are generally less potent, less inflammatory, and tend to participate in long-term repair processes. So in sum, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in the diet will determine the potency and quality of eicosanoid signaling, which will determine an animal's susceptibility to inflammation-mediated disorders.

One of the key enzymes in the pathway from PUFA to eicosanoids (specifically, a subset of them called prostanoids) is cyclooxygenase (COX). COX-1 is expressed all the time and serves a "housekeeping" function, while COX-2 is induced by cellular stressors and contributes to the the formation of inflammatory eicosanoids. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen inhibit COX enzymes, which is why they are effective against inflammatory problems like pain and fever. They are also used as a preventive measure against cardiovascular disease. Basically, they reduce the excessive inflammatory signaling promoted by a diet with a poor omega-6:3 balance. You wouldn't need to inhibit COX if it were producing the proper balance of eicosanoids to begin with.

Dr. Kuang-Chung Shih's group at the Department of Internal Medicine in Taipei placed rats on five different diets:

1. A control diet, eating normal low-fat rat chow.
2. A "high-fat diet", in which 45% of calories came from a combination of industrial lard and soybean oil, and 17% of calories came from sucrose*.
3. A "high-fat diet" (same as above), plus the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib (Celebrex).
4. A "high-fat diet" (same as above), plus the COX-2 inhibitor mesulid.
5. An energy-restricted "high-fat diet".

The "high-fat diets", besides being high in sucrose (table sugar), also presumably had a poor omega-6:3 ratio, in the neighborhood of 10:1 or possibly higher. Weight and fat mass in rats and humans increases with increasing omega-6 in the diet, and also increases with a high 6:3 ratio. I wrote about that here. Rats eating the high-fat diets (groups 2- 4) gained weight as expected**.

Rats in group 2 not only gained weight, they also experienced increased fasting glucose, leptin, insulin, triglycerides, blood pressure and a massive decline in insulin sensitivity (seven-fold relative to group 1). Rats in groups 3 and 4 gained weight, but saw much less of a deterioration in insulin and leptin sensitivity, and blood pressure. Group 2 also developed fatty liver, which was attenuated in groups 3 and 4. If you're interested, group 5 (energy restricted high-fat) was similar to groups 3 and 4 on pretty much everything, including insulin sensitivity.

So there you have it folks: direct evidence that insulin resistance, leptin resistance, high blood pressure and fatty liver are mediated by excessive inflammatory eicosanoid signaling. I wrote about something similar before when I reviewed a paper showing that fish oil reverses many of the consequences of a high-vegetable oil, high-sugar diet in rats. I also reviewed two papers showing that in pigs and rats, a high omega-6:3 ratio promotes inflammation (mediated by COX-2) and lipid peroxidation in the heart. Are you going to quench the fire by taking drugs, or by reducing your intake of omega-6 and ensuring an adequate intake of omega-3?

*Of course, they didn't mention the sucrose in the methods section. I had to go digging around for the diet's composition. This is typical of papers on "high-fat diets". They load them up with sugar, and blame everything on the fat. This kind of shenanigans wouldn't fly in a self-respecting field, but it's typical of nutrition-health papers.

**Rats gain fat mass when fed a high-fat diet (even if it's not loaded with sugar), although when the fat is butter or coconut oil, they gain less than if it's vegetable oil. But humans don't gain weight on a high-fat diet (i.e. low-carb diet); to the contrary. What's the difference? It may have to do with the fact that rats eat more calories when they have ad libitum access to high-fat food, while humans don't. In fact, most low-carbohydrate diet trials indicate that participants spontaneously reduce their caloric intake when eating high-fat food.

Read More

19.00 | 0 comments

Stay Cool and Eat Healthy Too

It’s hot out; all you want to do is grab a mounding bowl of ice cream and gobble it down. I don’t blame you. I want to do the same thing. But, is it really the best for our bodies? Nah! So, here are some healthy suggestions that will cool you off and help you eat right.

Berries and all kinds of other fruit are ripe for the picking during the summer, so indulge. If you get most of your produce from a grocery store, the prices on most summer fruit and vegetables are lower than at other times of the year, so stock up. You can freeze items like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and so forth. You can slice up peppers, onions, carrots and squash for a nice addition to any salad, or just to grab and munch.

Summer is a great time for healthy shakes; you can add fresh berries to your protein shake for added flavor and color.

Grilling is the way to cook during the hot summer months. Veggie kabobs are a great addition to any meal that is healthy, delicious and colorful. Another use for summer vegetables on the grill is to slice some red, yellow and green peppers and onion, add a little olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil and grill. Yummy and healthy to boot! Veggie kabobs make a great side dish for steak, chicken or burgers.

Hit up your local farmer’s market for other great summertime deals on fruits and veggies. Rhubarb, eggplant and beets are delicious summer vegetables. You can make a simple, but scrumptious beet salad with onions, feta cheese and a light ranch dressing or oil and vinegar. For a simple, cool and refreshing snack, dip pieces of rhubarb in honey or sugar.

Here’s a recipe for classic eggplant dip:

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 4 teaspoons of wine vinegar
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

Pierce the eggplant with a fork and char on the grill, or over an open flame (alternatively, broil for 10-15 minutes) until the eggplant turns black and is very soft. Set to cool and drain on a rack with paper towels underneath.

As soon as it can be handled, peel by hand (the skin will come off easily), and transfer to a bowl. Chop the pulp into small pieces with a knife, and mash with a fork. With a wooden spoon, stir in oil and vinegar slowly, alternating between them, until well blended. Stir in garlic, salt, and pepper.

Serve chilled or at room temperature, with pita wedges, slices of crusty bread, and/or fresh vegetables, garnished with black olives and a sprig of parsley. Yield: about 1 1/2 cups.

Summertime can be one of the best times of the year. So stay healthy by eating all the fresh fruits and vegetables available on the market at reasonable prices. Stay healthy and cool all at the same time.

-------------------------

Angie's Free Online Recipes

Read More

14.00 | 0 comments

Healthy Breakfast Foods

Most people unfortunately missed breakfast for weight loss and sometimes to save time on their way to work. In fact, this is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Therefore, breakfast in the morning is considered to be essential and important to eat in a day.

You should be careful to eat healthy breakfast foods, because breakfast will solve your problem as your body will feel full and satisfied. Your metabolic rate will increase with thermo genesis (the level of energy by burning the body). Your blood sugar level will be a balance and you will not feel the craving for snacks and additional food for 4-5 hours.

You must be balanced so that the healthy, healthy breakfast foods will broken down slowly into sugar and therefore maintaining blood sugar levels stable. The inclusion of protein in the breakfast will also make you feel full for longer. You can eat healthy food breakfast by your own combination and variations that you adopt healthy habits.

Healthy breakfast foods in general, low-calorie, low fat and high fiber as filling and protein. Bran cereals are high in fiber and will help you to feel whole again. Fruits such as kiwi fruit, apples or berries add a fresh, sharp taste to cereals, and if you like typical breakfast foods like bacon and sausage, but want to do well, there are healthy foods that are easy Makeover. Go to the Turkey-based version, or soy or veggie-based.

Breakfast is a large choice of fresh organic fruit, and some mixed nuts. Fruit that will give your body vitamins and minerals that are required, not to mention a healthy serving of flavonoids that have been shown to have anti-virus, anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant and anti tumor quality, while nuts provide a good source of protein, omega - 3, healthy and fat.

Other options for healthy breakfast food is the whole grain. Stick with minimal organic processed grains, small seeds have all that is needed to create life and what you need to maintain your body. They are healthy breakfast foods can give your body the nutrients needed to function properly.

Read More

18.04 | 0 comments

The Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic: Possible Culprits Part II

In the last post, I reviewed some of the factors that I believe could have contributed to the epidemic of heart attacks that began in the 1920s and 1930s in the U.S. and U.K., and continues today. I ended on smoking, which appears to be a major player. But even smoking is clearly trumped by another factor or combination of factors, judging by the unusually low incidence of heart attacks in France, Japan and on Kitava.

One of the major changes in diet that I didn't mention in the last post was the rise of industrial liquid vegetable oils over the course of the 20th century. In the U.S. in 1900, the primary cooking fats were lard, beef tallow and butter. The following data only include cooking fats and spreads, because the USDA does not track the fats that naturally occur in milk and meat (source):

Animal fat is off the hook. This is the type of information that makes mainstream nutrition advice ring hollow. Let's see what happened to industrial vegetable oils in the early 1900s:

I do believe we're getting warmer. Now let's consider the composition of traditional American animal fats and industrial vegetable oils:
It's not hard to see that the two classes of fats (animal and industrial vegetable) are quite different. Animal fats are more saturated (blue). However, the biggest difference is that industrial vegetable oils contain a massive amount of omega-6 (yellow), far more than animal fats. If you accept that humans evolved eating primarily animal fats, which is well supported by the archaeological and anthropological literature, then you can begin to see the nature of the problem.

Omega-6 and omega-3 fats are polyunsaturated fatty acids that are precursors to a very important class of signaling molecules called eicosanoids, which have a hand in virtually every bodily process. Omega-6 and omega-3 fats compete with one another for the enzymes (desaturases and elongases) that convert them into eicosanoid precursors. Omega-6-derived eicosanoids and omega-3-derived eicosanoids have different functions. Therefore, the balance of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in the diet influences the function of the body on virtually every level. Omega-6 eicosanoids tend to be more inflammatory, although the eicosanoid system is extraordinarily complex and poorly understood.

What's better understood is the fact that our current omega-6 consumption is well outside of our ecological niche. In other words, we evolved in an environment that did not provide large amounts of omega-6 all year round. Industrial vegetable oils are a product of food processing techniques that have been widespread for about 100 years, not enough time for even the slightest genetic adaptation. Our current level of omega-6 intake, and our current balance between omega-6 and omega-3, are therefore unnatural.
The ideal ratio is probably very roughly 2:1 omega-6:omega-3. Leaf lard is 6.8, beef tallow is 2.4, good quality butter is 1.4, corn oil is 45, cottonseed oil is 260. It's clear that a large qualitative change in our fat consumption occurred over the course of the 20th century.

I believe this was a major factor in the rise of heart attacks from an obscure condition to the primary cause of death. I'll be reviewing the data that convinced me in the next few posts.

The Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic
The Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic: Possible Culprits Part I
The Omega Ratio
A Practical Approach to Omega Fats
Polyunsaturated Fat Intake: Effects on the Heart and Brain
Polyunsaturated Fat Intake: What About Humans?
Vegetable Oil and Homicide

Read More

23.00 | 0 comments

Quick and Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Unfortunately, many of us neglect breakfast.  And there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that your body and mind will suffer unless you have a healthy breakfast each morning. 

You spend six to eight hours sleeping.  After that time, your body needs fuel to keep going.  Without breakfast at home, your options for on the run nutrition may amount to too much fat, too much sugar and too many carbs.  And, that convenient run to the fast food joint is not as convenient and time saving as you think if everyone else has the same idea.  The fifteen or twenty minutes spent in line could have been used to fill your belly with something good at home. 

If you are the type to skip breakfast, here is a solution to starting the day with a good breakfast which will help you keep hunger in check as well as give you the natural energy boost to start your day.

1. Oatmeal – This food makes a good hot meal that contains lots of filling fiber to keep you from getting hungry later on in the morning.  Depending on your taste, you can take five minutes to fix it on the stove or use the microwave for instant oatmeal.  Kids tend to like the variety of flavors that come with instant oatmeal.  The night before, put together a container of add-ins like blueberries, strawberries and bananas that can be tossed on top for a bit of antioxidant power.

2. Fruit smoothies – These are good any morning but particularly on a hot day.  You’ll have to blend the ingredients together in the morning, but the prep work can be done at night.  Cube your fruit and place it into a container.  Instead of frozen yogurt in the morning, use a cup of plain yogurt.  Add ice cubes, a little water and blend.

3. Egg sandwich – The eggs can be cooked the night before and placed in a sealed container.  In the morning, warm up the eggs in the microwave.  If you want, add some chopped veggies or shredded cheese.  Serve on toasted wheat bread.  The night before, place two pieces of bread into a Ziploc bag for each family member.  They can toast their bread as they get up and place the sandwich in the bag for easy transport in the car to work or school.

4. Yogurt with granola and fruit – Some people like to eat yogurt.  But, yogurt by itself won’t keep you from being hungry.  Add some granola and a few blueberries to the mix.  This makes a great breakfast idea for those mornings when you are running late.  Keep small bags of granola and blueberries in the fridge next to the yogurt so you can grab them and run.

Are you fighting the breakfast battle?  To get a filling meal you don’t have to opt for too much fat, calories or carbs.  These quick and easy breakfast ideas can be made within minutes and are a much healthier alternative to skipping breakfast or grabbing a high fat alternative.

--------------------------------

As a Dine Without Whine member, you will get weekly meal plans, recipes and grocery lists. This will give you AT LEAST one free hour every week (no more poring through your cookbooks to do meal planning). And with meals all planned out, you're more likely to eat at home, together.

Read More

07.02 | 0 comments

The Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic: Possible Culprits Part I

In the last post, I reviewed two studies that suggested heart attacks were rare in the U.K. until the 1920s -1930s. In this post, I'll be discussing some of the diet and lifestyle factors that preceded and associated with the coronary heart disease epidemic in the U.K and U.S. I've cherry picked factors that I believe could have played a causal role. Many things changed during that time period, and I don't want to give the impression that I have "the answer". I'm simply presenting ideas for thought and discussion.

First on the list: sugar. Here's a graph of refined sugar consumption in the U.K. from 1815 to 1955, from the book The Saccharine Disease, by Dr. T. L. Cleave. Sugar consumption increased dramatically in the U.K. over this time period, reaching near-modern levels by the turn of the century, and continuing to increase after that except during the wars: Here's a graph of total sweetener consumption in the U.S. from 1909 to 2005 (source: USDA food supply database). Between 1909 and 1922, sweetener consumption increased by 40%:

If we assume a 10 to 20 year lag period, sugar is well placed to play a role in the CHD epidemic. Sugar is easy to pick on. An excess causes a number of detrimental changes in animal models and human subjects, including fatty liver, the metabolic syndrome, and small, oxidized low-density lipoprotein particles (LDL). Small and oxidized LDL associate strongly with cardiovascular disease risk and may be involved in causing it. These effects seem to be mostly attributable to the fructose portion of sugar, which is 50% of table sugar (sucrose), about 50% of most naturally sweet foods, and 55% of the most common form of high-fructose corn syrup. That explains why starches, which break down into glucose (another type of sugar), don't have the same negative effects as table sugar and HFCS.

Hydrogenated fat is the next suspect. I don't have any graphs to present, because no one has systematically tracked hydrogenated fat consumption in the U.S. or U.K. to my knowledge. However, it was first marketed in the U.S. by Procter & Gamble under the brand name Crisco in 1911. Crisco stands for "crystallized cottonseed oil", and involves taking an industrial waste oil (from cotton seeds) and chemically treating it using high temperature, a nickel catalyst and hydrogen gas (see this post for more information). Hydrogenated fats for human consumption hit markets in the U.K. around 1920. Here's what Dr. Robert Finlayson had to say about margarine in his paper "Ischaemic Heart Disease, Aortic Aneurysms, and Atherosclerosis in the City of London, 1868-1982":

...between 1909-13 and 1924-28, margarine consumption showed the highest percentage increase, whilst that of eggs only increased slightly and that of butter remained unchanged. Between 1928 and 1934, margarine consumption fell by one-third, while butter consumption increased by 57 percent: and increase that coincided with a fall of 48 percent in its price. Subsequently, margarine sales have burgeoned, and if one is correct in stating that the coronary heart disease epidemic started in the second decade of this century, then the concept of hydrogenated margarines as an important aetiological factor, so strongly advocated by Martin, may merit more consideration than hitherto.

Partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fat, which is truly new to the human diet, with the exception of small amounts found in ruminant fats including butter. But for the most part, natural trans fats are not the same as industrial trans fats, and in fact some of them, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), may be beneficial. To my knowledge, no one has discovered health benefits of industrial trans fats. To the contrary, compared to butter, they shrink LDL size. They also inhibit enzymes that the body uses to make a diverse class of signaling compounds known as eicosanoids. Trans fat consumption associates very strongly with the risk of heart attack in observational studies. Which is ironic, because hydrogenated fats were originally marketed as a healthier alternative to animal fats. The Center for Science in the Public Interest shamed McDonald's into switching the beef tallow in their deep friers for hydrogenated vegetable fats in the 1990s. In 2009, even the staunchest opponents of animal fats have to admit that they're healthier than hydrogenated fat.

The next factor is vitamin D. When the industrial revolution became widespread in the late 19th century, people moved into crowded, polluted cities and vitamin D deficiency became rampant. Rickets was a scourge that affected more than half of children in some places. Dr. Edward Mellanby discovered that it's caused by severe vitamin D deficiency, milk was fortified with vitamin D2, and rickets was all but eliminated. However, it only takes a very small amount of vitamin D to avoid rickets, an amount that will not contribute significantly to optimum vitamin D status. Vitamin D modulates the body's inflammatory response, it's ability to resist calcium deposition in the arteries, and seems to be important for so many things I had to include it.

The rise of cigarettes was a major change that probably contributed massively to the CHD epidemic. They were introduced just after the turn of the century in the U.S. and U.K., and rapidly became fashionable (source):
If you look at the second to last graph from the previous post, you can see that there's a striking correspondence between cigarette consumption and CHD deaths in the U.K. In fact, if you moved the line representing cigarette consumption to the right by about 20 years, it would overlap almost perfectly with CHD deaths. The risk of heart attack is so strongly associated with smoking in observational studies that even I believe it probably represents a causal relationship. There's no doubt in my mind that smoking cigarettes contributes to the risk of heart attack and various other health problems.

Smoking is a powerful factor, but it doesn't explain everything. How is it that the Kitavans of Papua New Guinea, more than 3/4 of whom smoke cigarettes, have an undetectable incidence of heart attack and stroke? Why do the French and the Japanese, who smoke like chimneys (at least until recently), have the two lowest heart attack death rates of all the affluent nations? There's clearly another factor involved that trumps cigarette smoke. I have a guess, which I'll expand on in the next few posts.

Read More

17.00 | 0 comments

Vegetable and Fruit

There is no food that can provide all the essential nutrients the body needs. Therefore, It is important to consume a wide variety of foods such as vegetable and fruit to provide adequate intakes of vitamins, minerals and fiber food, which is important for health.

Vegetable and fruit are not only loaded with vitamins and minerals that are important for healthy living, but also help fill you up, as part of a balanced diet. Feed with increasing fruit and vegetables, you will benefit your health no end, and will improve your immune system, and building resistance to diseases and infections common addition, vegetable and fruit can make you look bigger and feelings, as part a healthy diet, which can be an all-round improvement of welfare for.

Fresh, frozen, and dried fruits and canned vegetables all count. Also, 100% fruit or vegetable juice and pure fruit juice smoothies count. Pulses and beans, such as baked beans and lentils are also have health benefit for the body.

Eating vegetable and fruit can be done in daily life eg choosing the diverse and aim to eat at least 5 portions of the day. A portion of 80G (such as 1 medium apple, a cereal bowl of salad or 3 heaped tablespoons of peas). Servings of fruit juice, vegetable juice or smoothies can only count as one portion per day no matter how much you drink. Beans and pulses (ie beans, kidney, baked, soy sauce and butter beans, chickpeas and lentils) is counted only once per day no matter how many types of food.

If you do not eat foods containing fiber materials, you may end with the colon and rectum. Muscle that you digestive system mix food with digestive juices and push food through the intestines by peristalsis, if there is no dietary fiber in the movement can not function properly,

Feed by increasing vegetable and fruit as part of a healthy balanced diet, you can really feel the benefits of vegetable and fruit that contain healthy nutrients and minerals that the body needs. In addition to this, fruits and vegetable intake can make you feel better physically and more alert, increase attention span and reducing tiredness.

Read More

17.23 | 0 comments

The Coronary Heart Disease Epidemic

Few people alive today are old enough to remember the beginning of the coronary heart disease (CHD) epidemic in the 1920s and 1930s, when physicians in the U.S. and U.K. began sounding alarm bells that an uncommon disease was rapidly becoming the leading cause of death. By the 1950s, their predictions had come true. A decade later, a new generation of physicians replaced their predecessors and began to doubt that heart attacks had ever been rare. Gradually, the idea that the disease was once uncommon faded from the public consciousness, and heart attacks were seen as an eternal plague of humankind, avoided only by dying of something else first.

According to U.S. National Vital Statistics records beginning in 1900, CHD was rarely given as the cause of death by physicians until after 1930. The following graph is from The Great Cholesterol Con, by Anthony Colpo, which I highly recommend.


The relevant line for CHD deaths begins in the lower left-hand part of the graph. Other types of heart disease, such as heart failure due to cardiomyopathy, were fairly common and well recognized at the time. These data are highly susceptible to bias because they depend on the physician's perception of the cause of death, and are not adjusted for the mean age of the population. In other words, if a diagnosis of CHD wasn't "popular" in 1920, its prevalence could have been underestimated. The invention of new technologies such as the electrocardiogram facilitated diagnosis. Changes in diagnostic criteria also affected the data; you can see them as discontinuities in 1948, 1968 and 1979. For these reasons, the trend above isn't a serious challenge to the idea that CHD has always been a common cause of death in humans who reach a certain age.

This idea was weakened in 1951 with the publication of a paper in the Lancet medical journal titled "Recent History of Coronary Disease", by Dr. Jerry N. Morris. Dr. Morris sifted through the autopsy records of London Hospital and recorded the frequency of coronary thrombosis (artery blockage in the heart) and myocardial infarction (MI; loss of oxygen to the heart muscle) over the period 1907-1949. MI is the technical term for a heart attack, and it can be caused by coronary thrombosis. Europe has a long history of autopsy study, and London Hospital had a long-standing policy of routine autopsies during which they kept detailed records of the state of the heart and coronary arteries. Here's what he found:

The dashed line is the relevant one. This is a massive increase in the prevalence of CHD death that cannot be explained by changes in average lifespan. Although the average lifespan increased considerably over that time period, most of the increase was due to reduced infant mortality. The graph only includes autopsies performed on people 35-70 years old. Life expectancy at age 35 changed by less than 10 years over the same time period. The other possible source of bias is in the diagnosis. Physicians may have been less likely to search for signs of MI when the diagnosis was not "popular". Morris addresses this in the paper:

The first possibility, of course, is that the increase is not real but merely reflects better post-mortem diagnosis. This is an unlikely explanation. There is abundant evidence throughout the forty years that the department was fully aware of the relation of infarction to thrombosis, of myocardial fibrosis to gradual occlusion, and of the topical pathology of ostial stenosis and infarction from embolism, as indeed were many pathologists last century... But what makes figures like these important is that, unlike other series of this kind, they are based on the routine examination at necropsy of the myocardium and of the coronary arteries over the whole period. Moreover Prof. H. M. Turnbull, director of the department, was making a special case of atheroma and arterial disease in general during 1907-1914 (Turnbull 1915). The possibility that cases were overlooked is therefore small, and the earlier material is as likely to be reliable as the later.

Dr. Morris's study was followed by another similar one published in 1985 in the journal Medical History, titled "Ischaemic Heart Disease, Aortic Aneurysms, and Atherosclerosis in the City of London, 1868-1982", conducted by Dr. Robert Finlayson. This study, in my opinion, is the coup de grace. Finlayson systematically scrutinized autopsy reports from St. Bartholemew's hospital, which had conducted routine and detailed cardiac autopsies since 1868, and applied modern diagnostic criteria to the records. He also compared the records from St. Bartholemew's to those from the city mortuary. Here's what he found:


The solid line is MI mortality. Striking, isn't it? The other lines are tobacco and cigarette consumption. These data are not age-adjusted, but if you look at the raw data tables provided in the paper, some of which are grouped by age, it's clear that average lifespan doesn't explain much of the change. Heart attacks are largely an occurrence of the last 80 years, and were almost totally unknown before the turn of the 20th century.

What caused the epidemic? Both Drs. Morris and Finlayson also collected data on the prevalence of atherosclerosis (plaques in the arteries) over the same time period. Dr. Morris concluded that the prevalence of severe atherosclerosis had decreased by about 50% (although mild atherosclerosis such as fatty streaks had increased), while Dr. Finlayson found that it had remained approximately the same:


He found the same trend in females. This casts doubt on the idea that coronary atherosclerosis causes heart attacks, although modern studies have found an association between advanced atherosclerosis and the risk of heart attack on an individual level. Atherosclerosis can be caused by infectious disease, so this may explain Dr. Morris's finding that it has decreased since the beginning of the 20th century.

What changes in diet and lifestyle associated with the explosion of MI in the U.K. and U.S. after 1920? Dr. Finlayson has given us a hint in the graph above: cigarette consumption increased dramatically over the same time period, and closely paralleled MI mortality. Smoking cigarettes is very strongly associated with heart attacks in observational studies. Animal studies also support the theory. While I believe cigarettes are an aggravating factor, I do not believe they are the main cause of the MI epidemic. Dr. Finlayson touched on a few other factors in the text of the paper, and of course I have my own two cents to add. I'll discuss that next time.

Read More

20.45 | 0 comments

Watermelon - Nature’s Healthy, Sweet Treat

It’s that time of year again - time to enjoy some of nature’s most delicious foods. Summertime yields some of the juiciest and sweetest fruits there are and watermelon is on the top of my list. Why do I love watermelon so much? It’s sweet, juicy and refreshing.

Just the thought of a juicy slice makes my mouth water, especially on a hot summer’s day. Not only that, but some of that pretty red and green fruit brightens up any plate or table; not to mention how good it is for you. All the water in watermelon will fill you up and naturally cleanses your body. Yes, I know the seeds can be a little annoying, but to me, they are worth the work of picking them out (or spitting them out…politely of course) for all the other benefits you get from watermelon.

There are many ways you can incorporate watermelon into your meals or eat it as a healthy snack. Here are just a few of my favorites.

· The obvious is to slice it up into triangular pieces, small enough for little hands. Divide them up into storage containers and place them in the fridge for easy access. I know if something is in sight and easily accessible my family will eat it up. On the other hand, if it takes a lot of work or is out of sight they won’t touch it. Obviously you will want to take out the seeds first, before storing it for the smaller kids.

· For a beautiful side dish on any table, lay the watermelon on its side and cut about 1/4 of the top off using a zig-zag motion, which will make a nice oblong “bowl”. Slice about a 1/4 of the bottom off to make a stable base. You can use a round watermelon as well.

Create little melon balls by scooping out the fruit with the help of a melon-baller. Remove the seeds as much as possible while scooping. You will want to place the melon balls in a bowl while scooping, then once the inside of the melon is fairly clean and smooth, place the melon balls inside the watermelon bowl.

You can add other melon like cantaloupe and honey dew as well, if desired. The top part of the watermelon can be used as a lid if transporting. Be sure to use the flesh from the lid as melon balls as well so not to waste any of the delicious goodness.

For the more creative readers, create shapes out of the watermelon like fish and cars. A great site to learn how to make shapes out of watermelon is the National Watermelon Promotion Board. (http://www.watermelon.org)

· For breakfast, dice up some seeded watermelon; layer with banana slices, apples, oranges or other fruit of your liking. Add some yogurt and granola for a tasty and healthy morning starter.

· A fun appetizer is to make watermelon checkers. Cut equal sizes of 1/2 inch thick squares of watermelon and your favorite cheese. Layout like a checkerboard, alternating watermelon and cheese. Cut small circles of the watermelon and cheese to use as checkers. What a fun creative appetizer to serve at any summer outing.

· For a fun and healthy summertime treat kids will love, make watermelon “ice cream” cones. Using regular cake cones fill the bottom of each cone with a tablespoon of pineapple cream cheese frosting. Then place a spoonful of dried Craisins over the frosting. Using an ice cream scoop, place a scoop of seedless watermelon over the Craisins, then top with sprinkles. You’ll have a healthy, delicious and adorable treat kids ask for again and again. Great for birthday parties, 4^th of July or anytime.

· Another fun treat kids and adults both enjoy is Frosted Watermelon. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out cookie-like shapes from the watermelon. Frost with flavored yogurt and sprinkle with granola. You can also use classic watermelon wedges instead of cookie shapes.

These ideas will brighten up any table, plus give the added benefits of eating something delicious and healthy. Watermelon really is nature’s healthy, sweet treat.

Read More

05.02 | 0 comments

Food For Brain

Various types of food can influence brain function, and if we make the wise choice of food, can preserve the precious thing gray and improve brain function. Here are some smart choices food for brain to protect our noggins in tip top shape.

Avocados is one of food for brain, contributing to healthy blood flow and decrease blood pressure, decreasing the opportunity to develop hypertension, which can lead to stroke.

Blueberries are food for brain that have been shown to shield the brain from stress, dementia, and Alzheimer's Disease's. Research also shows that a diet rich in blueberries significantly improved both learning ability and motor skills.

Dark chocolate has powerful Antioxidant properties, contains several natural stimulants, which enhance focus and concentration, and stimulate production of endorphins, which help improve mood.
.
Foods for brain deep-water fish such as salmon are wise, freshwater fish choice. It's abundant in omega-3 essential fatty acids, important for healthy brain function.

Fresh brewed tea also has powerful antioxidants, especially the class known as catechines, which also encourages healthy blood flow. Since black tea contains caffeine that it is important to use properly

Nuts and seeds are food for the brain that are good sources of vitamin E, essential vitamins needed by the brain to prevent the decline in cognitive function. Cashews, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds and almonds and sesame all great choices.

Other food for brain of whole-grain breads, brown rice, and oatmeal also contribute to a healthy brain by reducing the risk of heart disease. By promoting a healthy heart and increase blood flow, the brain is sure to grow very well through the provision of oxygen and nutrients through the blood. Complex carbohydrates also supply the brain with a steady stream of glucose that improve brain function. It is important to avoid simple carbohydrates often found in junk food because glucose gives the brain a short-lived sugar high, often followed by a crash that makes you feel hungry and tired.
.

Read More

05.52 | 0 comments