I JUST heard that this HBO documentary is airing tonight on… well… HBO, so this post is a bit late to gin up a tsunami of interest, at least from this tiny corner of the cyberworld.

The good news it that it’s a two four-part (whoops) series that will probably air again and/or be accessible online.

The HBO documentary, “The Weight of the Nation” is a clarion call for changing our eating habits and the government’s food and farm policies and subsidies.

Without some quick and dramatic changes, we will all soon have a problem, not just the 2/3rds of us that are overweight or obese, as well as 1/3 of children.

There’s the health problems for those overweight, and financial and social problems for everyone.

Here’s the web site: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/films

Here are some soundbites from the trailer:

“1/3 of the people in this nation are obese, and 2/3rds are overweight”

“Obesity is the biggest threat to the welfare of this country.”

“This is probably first generation that will have a lower life expectancy than their parents’”

“It’s about the health and wealth of the U.S. as a nation.”

“All of us have to be part of the solution.”

“We will all pay a serious price.”

Yes, it might be an unsavory topic, one better left in the closet from the manufactured food industries point of view. And, the closet is where it’s been for nigh twenty years. Things need to change. The first step is to understand why “the weight of the nation is crushing America”.

Tune in, find out.

Yep.

Related posts:

1. Michelle Obama – Her Righteous Fat Fight
2. Sick Around the World… How Does America Compare? (Watch Frontline Video)
3. The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity, Sleep Apnea and Obesity

HEY, I think it’s high time that I get back to the habit that never became a habit (yet) of presenting for your Sunday reading pleasure, summaries of posts interesting enough to mention, but not enough to fuss over.

This Sunday’s topics are: Weight Loss Truths, Weight Loss Steps and A Guide to Healthy Shopping.  I’ll do a fast run down of each and add my customary two cents.

Let’s begin with the folks at EatingWell.com who recently presented to the blogosphere, Five Truths for Weight Loss .

Five Truths for Weight Loss

1. Make room for a savory treat because we don’t willingly suffer deprivation for very long.  And besides, good behavior deserves to be rewarded.  The key is to make the reward proportional to the goal; meaning, don’t overdo it.  Try a bit of 60%+ coca bittersweet chocolate.  It can even be sexy:  Make Love with Bittersweet Chocolate.

2. Get the protein/carb/fat proportions right at each regular meal. Protein is more filling than carbs or fat. Make the protein lean (fish, chicken, turkey), the carbs complex (brown rice and pasta, vegetables) and fats mainly omega 3 and 6 fatty acids (cold pressed olive oil, fish oil, avocado oil).  Check out:  Diet 101.

3. Fat’s OK.  Just choose the right fat. Minimize the saturated kind in favor of consuming Omega-3 and Monosatuated Fatty Acids in the range of 20 to 25% of your daily caloric intake.  A little confused?  Well, go all the way and read, Eating Fat is Good… Maybe…Could Be… Sometimes.

4. Soup makes you fuller and helps reduce weight. People tend to consume fewer calories on days when they eate soup.  This is because the liquid in the soup makes your stomach feel fuller.

5. Avoid sugar like the plague. It messes with your insulin levels, blood sugar, contributes to diabetes and cardiovascular disease, so do yourself a favor and read food labels.  Forget about the sugar!  If you want a decent substitute, learn about Xylitol and Stevia in this article entitled, Are You Getting Fat and Sick from Sugar? And if you’re a person who struggles with the sugar habit, learn more about what your issue might be by reading, Sugar Lover, Which Type are You?

For more about these “five truths” (with lots of nice pictures), go read their post here.

Lose Weight with Six Small Changes

Illustration by Tracy Walker

Next up in our Sunday Summary comes from ConsumerReportsHealth.org and their article Six Small Changes Can Keep Off Pounds.  I want to share this one with you because most people gain weight slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, until the day comes when you wonder what the heck happened.

If this has yet to happen to, or you’d like to reverse the weight that has gradually been put on but are not in a hurry to lose it, then consider making these six, small changes:

1. Stop drinking calories. In 1970 Americans drank 70 calories a day.  In 2000 it was 190 calories. Today it’s undoubtedly more.  Soda and fruit juice are the culprits; replace them with green tea and water.  (Search for “green tea” on this site to be served up articles touting its benefits.
2. Eat more protein.  Make it lean and eat it regularly in small amounts (because you can only absorb so much at one sitting). Protein feeds your muscles and is more filling than fat and carbs.
3. Eat more fiber.  It’s filling, slows digestion, aides elimination and pay help protect you from various chronic diseases.
4. Forget about the salt/sugar/fat foods. These are designed by food manufacturers to keep you eating them.  Can’t eat just a few Doritos?  Then don’t start.
5. Add 2,000 steps each day. Spread it out over the day, or do it all at once, but just do it to burn off calories, about 100.
6. Cut your screen time. Simple enough:  sitting = no calories burned; standing = more than sitting; walking = more than standing, etc.

Next up – how to become a healthy shopper

The third and last of our Sunday Summary comes from Dietician and wellness manager, Kristin Kirkpatrick who recognizes that you won’t eat healthily at home if you don’t first buy the right stuff to take home.  In her 7 Ways to Be a Healthier Shopper, Ms. Kirkpatrick dissects food labels with the intent to show us how not to be fooled by them.

For instance, not all calories are equal: 100 gummy bear calories aren’t equivalent to 100 strawberry calories in terms of health, energy delivered, ease of digestion, etc.

Go to her article and read the specifics about…

1. Quality trumps quantity
2. Nonsensical packaging claims are
3. Ignore the front of the package marketing-speak
4. Ferret out the sometimes hidden trans fat info
5. “Organic” and “Natural” doesn’t always mean healthy
6. Recognize which foods contain whole grains and which are pretenders
7. Take control from the food manufacturer by creating your own healthy food combinations

So, that’s it for this week’s Sunday Summary. Before I leave you, I’m reminded by ConsumerReportsHealth of one admonition – Forget the weight-loss pills!  Nothing out there yet is both safe and effective.

Ciao for now…

Related posts:

1. Drink Your Way to Health and Weight Loss
2. Sunday Summary: Lifespan, Superfoods and Happiness
3. Lose Weight Without Dieting

Sugar spikes, insulin bursts, rising blood pressure, calcium excretion — there’s a lot to look forward to!

HERE’S A shout out to the Blisstree blog for posting What Happens to Your Body if You Drink a Coke Right Now, because too many of us – particularly children – think first of soda when thirsty.

Whatever happened to drinking water?

Well, most people don’t change behaviors very readily, irrespective of their deleterious effects, and most who read these seven physical impacts due to drinking soda will rationalize them away.  But some small percent, usually 10% say researchers, will be moved by the data to make some changes.

To those 10% I dedicate this alarming information, which you can read in full here at Blissfree.com.

“1. In the first 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake [which is way too much anyway].) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor, allowing you to keep it down.

2. 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (And there’s plenty of that at this particular moment.)

3. 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate; your blood pressure rises; as a response, your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked, preventing drowsiness.

4. 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production, stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.

5. 60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium, and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.

6. 60 minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium, and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolytes, and water.

7. 60 minutes: As the rave inside you dies down, you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like hydrating your system, or building strong bones and teeth.”

Want to make some changes? Unless you have great resolve and self discipline, rather than quitting your soda habit cold turkey, do it gradually by substituting some quality drink for the soda you normally would drink until you no longer have the habit.

If plain water doesn’t have enough zest for you, add some lemon to it, or consider tea, cold or hot. Green tea in particular offers antioxidants and a thermogenic effect that can help reduce body fat – now ain’t that a great replacement for soda!

For inspiration, read Nine Reasons to Drink Green Tea and Lose Weight without Dieting.

Related posts:

1. Drink Your Way to Health and Weight Loss
2. Six Best of 2010 — Food, Diet and Nutrition
3. Sugar Lover? Which Type Are You?

How Artificial Sweeteners Ruin Your Life and Make You Fat!

SUGAR IS a villain, particularly sugar substitutes.  The medical types that study the effects of sugar and artificial sweeteners on your health clearly know how this substance can mess with you.

The popular and insightful practitioner of “functional medicine”, Dr. Mark Hyman reports in his blog post, Artificial Sweeteners Could Be Sabotaging Your Diet:

“An exciting study in the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience has shown conclusively that using artificial sweeteners not only does not prevent weight gain, but induces a whole set of physiological and hormonal responses that actually make you gain weight.” (Read his insightful post.)

Along with Dr. Hyman, Dr. Teitelbaum has produced some really fine work in revealing the ravages of various sugars. In this post, I present what Jacob Teitelbaum, MD describes as the four types of sugar addicts, courtesy of Lynn Tryba’s summary of his book, Beat Sugar Addiction Now!.

If you feel chronically tired and need regular hits of sugar and caffeine — or get irritable if you don’t — or you know someone like this… read on.  And make sure you check out the link at the bottom to learn about the best kind of sweeteners for you.

Type 1 Sugar Addict — “Energy Loan Shark“

Do you often feel tired and achy?
Do you need coffee to get going in the morning?
Does your energy flag by mid-afternoon?
Do you get frequent headaches?

Dr. Teitelbaum’s Wellness Rx:
1. Get seven to nine hours of sleep a night.
2. Take 15 to 25 mg of zinc per day.
3. Eliminate “energy drinks” loaded with sugar and caffeine.
4. Get 30 to 60 minutes of exercise four to seven times a week (preferably outside).

Type 2 Sugar Addict — “Feed Me Now or I’ll Kill You”

Do you find you are often thirsty and need to urinate frequently?
Do you get recurrent sore throats and swollen glands?
Do you sometimes get dizzy when you stand up?
Is life a crisis for you?

Dr. Teitelbaum’s Wellness Rx:
1. Supplement with vitamins C and B5, the mineral chromium, and an herbal licorice extract to decrease the symptoms of low blood sugar.
2. Eat a high-protein, low-sugar, low-carb diet.
3. Eat small meals frequently during the day.
4. Do a reality check. When you start to feel anxious, ask yourself, “Am I in imminent danger?” If you aren’t, realizing this will turn off the fight or flight reaction and allow your adrenals to relax.

Type 3 Sugar Addict – “Happy Ho-Ho Hunter”

Do you have chronic nasal congestion or sinusitis?
Do you have spastic color or irritable bowel syndrome?
Have you been treated for acne with an antibiotic for one month or longer?
Do you have postnasal drip or clear your throat a lot?
These sugar cravings may be caused by yeast/candida overgrowth.

Dr. Teitelbaum’s Wellness Rx:
1. Make high-protein foods such as meat, eggs, and seafood the foundation of your diet.
2. Eat no more than two servings of whole-grain bread a day.
3. Eliminate sweets except for dark chocolate in moderation.
4. Take anti-yeast herbs, which include oregano powder, uva-ursi, garlic powder, grapefruit seed, olive leaf, and milk thistle, among others.

Type 4 Sugar Addict — “Depressed and Craving Carbs”

Do you have a history of PMS?
Are you a woman older than 38 with decreased libido and irregular periods?
Are you a woman older than 47, in menopause, and experiencing depression, fatigue, insomnia, and loss of libido?
If you are male, are you older than 45, and do you have a spare tire around your waist?
Your sugar cravings may be caused by fluctuating hormones.

Dr. Teitelbaum’s Wellness Rx:
1. Choose whole grains, high-protein foods, and foods that score low on the glycemic index.
2. Exercise for 30 to 60 minutes a day, outside if possible.
3. For depression caused by low estrogen: Take the herbs magnolia and St. John’s wort and supplement with the amino acid 5-http.
4. Take fish oil, which can elevate your mood.

Some sweet options

Despite the good doctors warnings, life does not have to be bereft of sweetness; rather, you just need to be judicious about what you chose to titillate your taste buds.  I’ve written a post called Are You Getting Fat and Sick from Sugar which examines various forms of sugar and their effects on metabolism.

The upshot is that, stevia (a natural herb), and xylitol (derived from fruit and vegetable fibers) are considered your best sweetener options, with one proviso – some stevia distillations contain unwanted chemicals, so the whole leaf is a better option.  Check out my post for more information, and do be careful about the unhealthy sugars that lurk in so many processed foods and sodas!

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Related posts:

1. Aspartame is Poison, a Neurotoxin, Actually
2. Are You Getting Fat and Sick from Sugar?
3. Sugar is a Toxin, say Three Celebrity Doctors. Watch the Interviews.

Fitness Guru, Annick Robinson

THERE’S SO much advice about proper eating “out there” that it can be overwhelming.

Indeed, in this blog I guess I’m guilty of sometimes adding more confusion than clarity, with overcomplicated posts like, Diet 101.

So, for a change, I’m presenting something simple and effective… Five healthy eating nutrition tips by fitness guru Annick Robinson.

Watch the video below and learn portion size, meal frequency, and simple tips for food selection (like lean proteins, healthy fats and low glycemic carbs).  Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Eat Right by the Numbers
2. Six Best of 2010 — Food, Diet and Nutrition
3. Eating for a Long Life: WebMD’s 13 Tips

No to whiskey, soda or sugary fruit drinks… Yes to water, green tea and a healthy smoothie

DO YOU have friends that never drink water? I do. I’m thinking of one guy in particular as I write this post whom I’ve known for thirty years, and have never once seen him drink a glass of water. Rather, it’s always a large bottle of soda or ice tea.

My friend is not doing himself any good; in fact, he may be harming himself. The reason is that drinks like soda and most ice tea you buy pre-made are calorie dense, and the calories are comprised of unhealthy sugars, like high-fructose corn syrup.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (as reported here), most of our calories come from soda, not food. The percentage of soda calories is 7.1% — more than any other of 143 categories of food intake measured.

Consider this perspective: If you eat 2,500 calories per day, and reduced that tally by 7%, or 2,325, then you would drop 1.5 pounds each month, or 18 pounds over a year. Small changes can, over time, produce significant results.

Soda is not the only culprit – as mentioned, many bottled drinks are stuffed with nasty sugar-type garbage, like corn syrup. (Learn about which sugars are best here.) These insidious “sugars” are worse than “real” sugar. Many researchers link the obesity epidemic in America to high-fructose corn syrup. (See if your drink among the unhealthiest drinks here, and watch the late Peter Jennings’s special about corn syrup and the fattening of America here.)

So, the best thing to do is to drink purified water, not bottled water given the environmental issues with the manufacture of the plastic, the transportation of the water and the disposal of the bottle.

Increase Metabolism with Water

A study of 173 overweight women that drank more than one liter (about 4.5 cups) per day, showed an average loss of 5 pounds over twelve months. If you’re a soda/ice tea/sugary fruit drinker who substitutes that for water, your one year weight loss, then, is 23 pounds (18 + 5).

Researchers at the University of Utah discovered that the more water you drink, the higher your metabolism — the eight-cup drinkers had greater concentration, higher energy levels and burned more calories than the four-cuppers.

Drink Green Tea, not Coffee

If your coffee habit cannot be overcome, then at least drink real coffee, instead of all those fattening derivatives. Researchers studied coffee habits in New York and found that two-thirds of Starbucks’ customers opted for blended coffee drinks over regular brewed coffee or tea. The average caloric impact of the blended drinks was 239 calories. The regular coffee or tea, by comparison, was only 63 calories after factoring in added cream and sugar. So even if you like your coffee sweet and light, you can strip away 176 calories every day, just by making this one swap.

For those of you who are willing to consider swapping green tea for coffee, you’re in for a world of good. Green tea increases the thermogenic effect in your body, meaning, it helps you burn fat. (Read Nine Reasons to Drink Green Tea.) If you drink multiple cups of coffee each day, try substituting one with green tea, and then after that change settles in, replace another cup, till you’re completely in green tea nirvana.

Drink Smoothies for More Weight Loss

They take little time to make, you can put a lot of good, healthy stuff in them, and they can reduce hunger. The key is to make sure you don’t drink too much, or put fattening stuff in them.

A good recipe is low-fat, unflavored yoga, water, berries, a banana, whey protein, and flax seed powder. (Go here and scroll down to read about my daily tonic.) Researchers at Purdue University found that people stayed fuller longer when they drank thick drinks than when they drank thin ones, and a study at Penn State found that people who drank yogurt shakes that had been blended until they doubled in volume ate 96 fewer calories a day than those consuming thinner drinks.

So, to sum up:

1. Drink lots of water.

2. Eliminate soda, and other sugary drinks.

3. Drink green tea instead of coffee.

4. Eat smoothies

These four steps will add to your health and subtract from your waistline.

Yep.

Related posts:

1. Sunday Summary: Weight Loss Truths, Weight Loss Steps and A Guide to Healthy Shopping
2. Nine Reasons to Drink Green Tea (and limit coffee)
3. Lose Weight Without Dieting

I’M NOT a fan of all of those simplified lists of what to do, or not to do.  I don’t believe a list is that useful to change behavior.

But, that said, if you’ve already gotten yourself educated about a subject and are on the path of change for the better, a list can offer some quick tips.

And so it is with Health.com’s 25 Diet-Busting Foods You Should Never Eat article I just perused.  The “foods” (I use that word liberally) that are cited have some common characteristics, such as:

• They’re dominated by three taste bud seducing flavors – salt, fat and sugar;
• They are about as far as a natural food (something that nature would recognize) as it gets, given the high processing, manufacturing and packaging;
• They’re cheap to make; and
• They’re marketed ad nauseum.

Perhaps you’ve heard of a few, or – gasp – you’re a frequent consumer of such beauties as:

• Pretzel dogs
• Fast food milkshakes
• Fast food pizza
• Meals from a box
• Sugary cereal

These, and many more, can be explored to your heart’s content and stomach’s duress here.

Related posts:

1. Get Thin with these 5 Foods
2. The 10 Dirty, Poopy Foods You’re (Certainly) Eating
3. Ten Foods for Longevity

All sugar is not created equal. Some metabolize better than others. Beware Fructose!

High Fructose Corn Syrup Produces Fat

SUGAR CAN KILL! Reads like an alarmist, over-the-top declaration, doesn’t it? Yet the truth of it is apparent every day.

Of course, a bullet to the head kills more quickly and completely; nonetheless, with the right genetic propensities (say for diabetes) and a diet amply laden with sugar, sugar can kill you.

Now here comes a seemingly contradictory and equally true statement: Every living thing (that would include us) requires a certain form of sugar to live.

That these two statements can be true is made possible by recognizing that not all sugar is created equal. One form of it we need, a few we can tolerate, and one in particular can kill us.

Glucose vs Fructose

Glucose is the sugar type that we all need. Our brains and each cell in our bodies are powered by glucose. Our bodies are designed to use it. As a result, nearly all of it that’s ingested is used — “burned up” — soon after ingested.

Fructose is the bad stuff, particularly high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and crystalline fructose. Fructose is a major contributor to:

• Insulin resistance and obesity
• Elevated blood pressure
• Elevated triglycerides and elevated LDL
• Depletion of vitamins and minerals
• Cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, arthritis and even gout

[8/2/10 Update:  Read this Reuters' article about how cancer cells use fructose to subdivide.]

Why this substantial disparity between glucose and fructose?

The answer has to do with how we metabolize these sugars. Your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver. As Dr. Mercola points out in his article, Sugar May Be Bad But This Sweetener Is Far More Deadly:

• Your liver is 100% tasked metabolically with dealing with fructose, whereas only 20% of the glucose metabolic break down is performed by the liver.
• The metabolism of fructose by your liver creates a long list of waste products and toxins, including a large amount of uric acid, which drives up blood pressure and causes gout.
• All of your body uses glucose very efficiently and almost completely, whereas fructose is turned into free fatty acids (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which are stored as fat. These fatty acids accumulate in the body and cause insulin resistance and fatty liver disease. Insulin resistance can progress to type 2 diabetes, which is now threatening the capacity and solvency of America’s health care system.

[More on diabetes risk here.]

• Fructose converts to activated glycerol (g-3-p), which is directly used to turn free fatty acids into triglycerides. The more g-3-p you have, the more fat you store. Glucose does not do this.
• When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose results in 40 calories being stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat!
• Glucose suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses your appetite. Fructose has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with your brain’s communication with leptin, resulting in overeating.

I don’t know if this is true, but I’ve heard that there’s a strong correlation between when high fructose corn syrup was introduced and when Americans began getting overweight. This also seems to correspond to the emergence of the no-fat alternative. Rather than the fat, more fructose was put into processed food, often resulting in a greater caloric count per serving than the regular alternative.

And guess what? Without the satiation of the fat — since it was removed from the non-fat product — people ate more of the non-fat/high fructose alternative, thereby increasing the calories consumed.

Fructose is Everywhere

Some months ago, I “penned” a summary of the late Peter Jennings TV special about corn subsidies in America. and the damage that by-products like high-fructose corn syrup was doing to the public, entitled: How to Get Fat without Really Trying. Mr. Jennings makes it painfully obvious that fructose is in everything.

If you care about your health, you MUST read food labels of the stuff you buy. Most everything in a box or can is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Avoid this so-called food.

Consider what is served up as healthy for children, like the “made with real fruit” claims. The package of “Gerber Fruit Juice Treats for Preschoolers”, for instance, is covered with pictures of ripe oranges, raspberries, cherries, peaches, grapes and pineapple. Yet, its only fruit-like ingredient is fruit juice concentrate, which the Dietary Guidelines for Americans considers just another form of sugar. The primary ingredients are more sugar in the form of plain ole sugar corn syrup.

I don’t mean to dump on Gerber as if it’s some terrible anomaly, because it’s not the exception but the rule: Many sweetened products like to give lip service to being “natural” or “healthy”, but it’s a sham.

If you wish to give your child candy, give him or her candy, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that corn-derived sweeteners is a near approximation of fruit.

Want your kid to have fruit? How ’bout real fruit, like the kind that grows on trees.

What Sugar is Best?

Before this question is tackled, may I impress upon you the fact that taste buds are malleable. Meaning, that you can acquire an affection for a new taste not yet appreciated (remember when you hated beer, wine, coffee, etc.), or minimize the consumption of a food for which your taste buds are currently tuned, but is unhealthy.

So, reduce your appetite for sugar. Do this by incrementally reducing the amount you apply onto your food and drink. Your taste for it will adjust. (So true with salt too, and equally as important!)

In the meantime, if you really, really must dive into the sugar bowl, consider quick review of what’s out there:

1. Xylitol

Best known for its benefits in oral health (prevents plaque from sticking to teeth enamel), this is a sugar alcohol derivative that exists naturally in the body and in many plants and vegetables.

The Finns seem to have done the most research on xylitol. Many of their studies suggest that in addition to preventing cavaties, xylitol may kill off the bacterial associated with ear infections, such as streptococcus pneumoniae, as well as respiratory bacteria. (About 90% of all infection-causing bacteria enters the body via the nose.)

Ideal for anyone with diabetes, xylitol has 40% fewer calories and a much lower glycemic index than that of sugar.

One thing to be aware of when using xylitol: it requires an adjustment period wherein you gradually increase your consumption (but remember, less is more); otherwise diarrhea and gas may result to those sensitive to it.

2. Stevia

This is an herb. I’ve grown it and seeped it in hot water along with a tea bag. I like it in very modest quantities. The body doesn’t metabolize the sweet glycosides from the stevia leaf or any of its processed forms – so there is no caloric intake. Stevia doesn’t adversely affect blood glucose levels and may be used freely by diabetics.

But know this — the processed form of stevia that’s mostly available to buy may not be a healthy sweetener alternative.  Read Pooja Mottl’s insightful post on the subject, Can Stevia Solve Our Obsession With Sweetness.

3. Use organic raw honey and organic cane sugar in moderation.

4. Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners, which can damage your health even more quickly than fructose.  If you’re consuming Aspartame, or any of its brands, such as AminoSweet, Nutrisweet, Equal, and many others — you’re doing yourself a great, great disservice and must read Dr. Mercola’s America’s Deadliest Sweetener!  (Diabetics especially should read this.)

5. Avoid agave syrup , a highly processed sap that is mainly fructose. Agave will spike your blood sugar as if you were consuming regular sugar or high-fructose corn syrup.

6. Avoid so-called energy drinks and sports drinks . They are full of sugar. They are full of sodium and chemical additives. Instead, rehydrate with pure water, perhaps with lemon juice.

OK, so now you have a few ideas of the insidious ingredients lurking everywhere that conspire to make you fat and unhealthy. Knowledge is power. Read the labels, make better choices, and let your friends and family know that sugar can kill.

Related posts:

1. Aspartame is Poison, a Neurotoxin, Actually
2. Sugar Lover? Which Type Are You?
3. Sugar is a Toxin, say Three Celebrity Doctors. Watch the Interviews.

Dr. Oz New Year's Resolutions

I ADMIT it — I’m a Dr. Oz fan.  I think the good doctor is genuine, knowledgeable, and is fighting the good fight to get Americans to learn about their bodies. 

Because let’s face it, most of us don’t know our triceps from our deltoids, or our liver from our kidneys.  Ask someone to touch his stomach, and he’ll place his hand over his belly.

If we don’t know much about our physical system, then how likely are we to feed and tend it properly?  This, it seems, is Dr. Oz’s passion – to get us to learn what we are (the physical self), by this process to learn who we are (the psychological self), and then to get going on fixing the bad and enhancing the good.

Given my predilection for Ozstuff, I noted his article in the Huffington Post today where he challenged readers to do three important things in the new year.  He chose these particular three things because he deems them to be essential for good health, both physical and emotional.

The Dr. Oz prescription for 2010:

1. More Sleep.

This is often under-appreciated.  Getting a full eight hours of sleep, and even napping, reduces stress, lets the brain reset and the body’s tissues repair.  Not to mention that getting sufficient sleep is a leading indicator for longevity.  To paraphrase Ozman: If you can’t manage to get more sleep, you need to ask yourself why your life is so out of control.

2. More Snacks.

Actually, Dr. Oz refers to this as “never let yourself feel hungry”, which is a better way of describing what he means than “More Snacks” (but the latter is more alliterative for this list).  The idea here is to not let yourself go so long between bites that you get hungry enough to grab whatever is handy, good or not.  Since about 60% of us should lose weight, this is a particularly  important resolution for the new year.

Are you too heavy?  Well, instead of checking with the scale, consider an alternate, more important indicator of health — your waist size. “Your waist must be half your height or roughly between 32.5 and 37 inches for a woman and between 35 and 40 inches for a man”, says The Oz

So, rather than aiming at three squares per day, and then if you miss one — like breakfast — you set yourself to gorge at the next meal, do this:

Graze.

Yes, eat smaller meals and graze on healthy snacks in between them.  Things like nuts, apples, an avocado, and healthy food bars like Macro Greens Bars.

3. More Sex

The best for last?  Could be, but for some of us this one seems outside our control.  Could be that you need someone besides yourself to comply.  Numbers one and two can be done all by yourself.

Sure, I know… number three can be a solo act, too, but sex is included here not only because of the physical benefits of the act, but the mental/emotional ones as well.

Beyond the momentary pleasure, the health benefits are numerous, but perhaps the most simple way of looking at it is this: When you’re having regular, emotionally-bonding sex, everything in life seems to be at least a little bit better.  And in fact, regular sex is predictive of health, because the unhealthy are unlikely to so imbibe, sorta speak.

Next Week on the Dr. Oz Show

The Ozdoc feels these three “revolution resolutions” are so important that he is devoting the week of January 4 to the topic on his TV show.  You might want to tune in, or stay tuned to this site, as I’ll endeavor to write about what he talks about.

(Update: Here’s my follow-up post: Dr. Oz and the Reboot Diet.

In conclusion, here are a few things you may now wish to do:

• Go read the details of Dr. Oz’s new year prescription here.
• Put a piece of paper in front of you and stare at it until you can write up how you’re going to resolve to have more sleep, food and sex.
• Get some more information about these three resolutions.  The one I can help you with is “more snacks” (remember that means “don’t go hungry”) by suggesting you read these:

- My Approach to Health

- A Blueprint for Eating Right

Good luck… and Happy New Year!!

Related posts:

1. Resolutions — Make Em, Keep Em
2. Six Tools To Make Your New Year Resolutions Come True
3. Want 10 Extra Years? It’s Easier than You Think!

Supplement For An Extra Nudge

THERE WAS a time when a certain amount of corpulence was favored by society.  If you were fat it meant that you had enough wealth to eat whilst the peasants were near starving, and accordingly, quite skinny.

Oh, if only such antediluvian norms could return.  Just think of how many people would discover a new beauty in the mirror.

Even so, such a shift in societal perception about favorable body dimensions would do nothing to change the biology of the matter.  Biology says that too much fat is too much bad for your health.

As if you didn’t know, here’s a list of eye-opening statistics about how too much fat threatens life.

The bottom line: If you’re overweight, take one step to improve the situation.  Then take another.  Let it snowball.

Nothing passive — short of locking yourself in a room with no food — will help you lose weight.  It takes action.  A plan.  (“Plan the work and work the plan.”)

[Check out A Blueprint for Eating Right]

If your plan includes a diverse, low glycemic diet and enough activities to break a sweat for at least 20 minutes a day, then also adding supplements could help you reach your goal.

Chromium GTF (200mcg, 120 small tablets) This is an essential mineral that promotes proper insulin levels.

Macro Greens Bars – Chocolate Cinnamon Flavor (1Box, 12 Bars) Planning healthy snacks is of paramount importance when trying to eat healthy and losing weight.  Face it — even those with Herculean will power will eventually succumb to some sumptuous “food” made of the undeniable salt/sugar/fat trio (especially if goes “crunch” too), so prepare for those moments.  Carry around something simple, portable, great tasting and healthy like a food bar.

Organic Food Bar The beauty of the “right” food bar is to have a convenient, ready-to-eat substitute for a meal when you don’t have the time or means to prepare a nutritious meal.  Organic makes Food Bars that are tasty, organic, alkaline-forming and very nutritious.  They contain no preservatives, additives, coatings, soy, peanuts or dairy.

When I want some extra help to shed a few pounds, I often use these as well:

Healthy Curb (90 Tablets) Dr. Steven Rosenblatt, former director of medicine at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, developed this lipid-replacement therapy and a starch blocker.  It’s made entirely from food and seems to work.

WellBetX Glucose Balance WellBetX is a revolutionary fiber complex that binds to the water in the digestive tract to form a gelatinous, viscous mass which slows glucose absorption and creates a sense of satiety (fullness) while reducing the absorption of calories. This PGX Blend, short for PolyGlycopleX, exerts 3 to 5 times the effects of other fibers. The  key component of PGX is glucomannan, a soluble fiber from the root of konjac. It is 3 times more viscous than guar and 7 times more viscous than psyllium. But when combined with PGX, this formulation has a viscosity 3 to 5 times greater than glucomannan alone. PGX:  lowers postprandial blood glucose by 20%;  lowers insulin secretion by 40%; and improves whole body insulin sensitivity by nearly 50%. PGX capsules also contain an extract of mulberry leaves, shown to block certain enzymes that break down starches and sugars in the body, thereby diminishing after-meal rises in glucose and insulin.

CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) 800mg (800mg, 180 oblong softgels) Is a free fatty acid derived from safflower oil related to the omega-6 fatty acids.  It’s also a fatty acid with weight management and immune enhancing benefits.  Since I get plenty of omega-6 from cooking with cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil, I only take CLA when I’d like to cut some fat off my body in combination with augmenting my exercise regime.

ZMA (800mg, 90 medium capsules) Is a synergistic combination of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 that promotes restful and restorative sleep, and enhances muscle strength and endurance.

Go here for a list of Product Categories.

For an eye-opening look at how Americans got so heavy, check out this old, but more pertinent than ever, Peter Jennings special.

Supplement Disclaimer

Just as with the descriptive statements made at the various company sites that manufacture and/or sell the supplement products presented in this blog, none, or nearly none, of the potential benefits stated here have been evaluated by the FDA. Likewise none, or nearly none, of the products here can be represented to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Before engaging a supplement program, it always makes sense to get the advice of your health practitioner.

Related posts:

1. Lose Weight Without Dieting
2. Sunday Summary: Weight Loss Truths, Weight Loss Steps and A Guide to Healthy Shopping
3. This Holiday, Overeat and Gain No Weight!