NutritionTrainer

Check Points for Spring

Here are some checkpoints for the sprint to make sure you have a healthy and happy spring and so you look good for summer. 

 

·      Sleep: Make sure you get at least 8-9 quality hours of sleep (you won’t lose fat if you don’t)

·      Hydration: 10 billion reactions per second going on in your body that are water dependent.  Drink ½ your body weigh in ounces per day, everyday.

·      Nutrition: Make sure your getting enough fat and protein in your diet.  Don’t be afraid of the fat, it’s good for you. 

·      Breathing: make sure your breathing from your diaphragm and not our chest; you’ll sleep a lot better if you practice diaphragmatic breathing. 

·      Movement:  You need to move everyday.  Working in and working out are different so make sure your doing the right exercise for you.  Walking is just as good as running.

·      Stinkin-thinkin:  If your thoughts are toxic your body will be toxic, so take heed. 

 

You can’t have a healthy mind without a healthy body and you can’t have an unhealthy mind with a healthy body.  They are one in the same so treat your body great and your mind will love it.  

Know Your Fats

Confused About Fats? The following nutrient-rich traditional fats have nourished healthy population groups for thousands of years:

For Cooking

• Butter
• Tallow and suet from beef and lamb
• Lard from pigs
• Chicken, goose and duck fat
• Coconut, palm and palm kernel oils

For Salads

• Extra virgin olive oil (also OK for cooking)
• Expeller-expressed sesame and peanut oils
• Expeller-expressed flax oil (in small amounts)

For Fat-Soluble Vitamins

• Fish liver oils such as cod liver oil (preferable to fish oils, which do not provide fat-soluble vitamins, can cause an overdose of unsaturated fatty acids and usually come from farmed fish.)

The following newfangled fats can cause cancer, heart disease, immune system dysfunction, sterility, learning disabilities, growth problems and osteoporosis:

• All hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils
• Industrially processed liquid oils such as soy, corn, safflower, cottonseed and canola
• Fats and oils (especially vegetable oils) heated to very high temperatures in processing and frying.

MMMMMMMM Butter

Butter & the Immune System

Vitamin A found in butter is essential to a healthy immune system; short and medium chain fatty acids also have immune system strengthening properties. But hydrogenated fats and an excess of long chain fatty acids found in polyunsaturated oils and many butter substitutes both have a deleterious effect on the immune system.

Butter & Arthritis

The Wulzen or "anti-stiffness" factor is a nutrient unique to butter. Dutch researcher Wulzen found that it protects against calcification of the joints--degenerative arthritis--as well as hardening of the arteries, cataracts and calcification of the pineal gland.⁹ Unfortunately this vital substance is destroyed during pasteurization. Calves fed pasteurized milk or skim milk develop joint stiffness and do not thrive. Their symptoms are reversed when raw butterfat is added to the diet.

Butter & Osteoporosis

Vitamins A and D in butter are essential to the proper absorption of calcium and hence necessary for strong bones and teeth. The plague of osteoporosis in milk-drinking western nations may be due to the fact that most people choose skim milk over whole, thinking it is good for them. Butter also has anti-cariogenic effects, that is, it protects against tooth decay.

Butter & the Thyroid Gland

Butter is a good source of iodine, in highly absorbable form. Butter consumption prevents goiter in mountainous areas where seafood is not available. In addition, vitamin A in butter is essential for proper functioning of the thyroid gland.

Butter & Gastrointestinal Health

Butterfat contains glycospingolipids, a special category of fatty acids that protect against gastro-intestinal infection, especially in the very young and the elderly. For this reason, children who drink skim milk have diarrhea at rates three to five times greater than children who drink whole milk.¹² Cholesterol in butterfat promotes health of the intestinal wall and protects against cancer of the colon.¹³Short and medium chain fatty acids protect against pathogens and have strong anti-fungal effects.¹⁴ Butter thus has an important role to play in the treatment of candida overgrowth.

Butter & Heart Disease

Heart disease was rare in America at the turn of the century. Between 1920 and 1960, the incidence of heart disease rose precipitously to become America's number one killer. During the same period butter consumption plummeted from eighteen pounds per person per year to four. It doesn't take a Ph.D. in statistics to conclude that butter is not a cause. Actually butter contains many nutrients that protect us from heart disease. First among these is vitamin A which is needed for the health of the thyroid and adrenal glands, both of which play a role in maintaining the proper functioning of the heart and cardiovascular system. Abnormalities of the heart and larger blood vessels occur in babies born to vitamin A deficient mothers. Butter is America's best and most easily absorbed source of vitamin A.

Butter contains lecithin, a substance that assists in the proper assimilation and metabolism of cholesterol and other fat constituents.

Butter also contains a number of anti-oxidants that protect against the kind of free radical damage that weakens the arteries. Vitamin A and vitamin E found in butter both play a strong anti-oxidant role. Butter is a very rich source of selenium, a vital anti-oxidant--containing more per gram than herring or wheat germ.

Butter is also a good dietary source of cholesterol. What?? Cholesterol an anti-oxidant?? Yes indeed, cholesterol is a potent anti-oxidant that is flooded into the blood when we take in too many harmful free-radicals--usually from damaged and rancid fats in margarine and highly processed vegetable oils.³ A Medical Research Council survey showed that men eating butter ran half the risk of developing heart disease as those using margarine.⁴

Myths & Truths About Nutrition Part 2

Myth: To avoid heart disease, we should use margarine instead of butter.

Truth: Margarine eaters have twice the rate of heart disease as butter eaters. (Nutrition Week 3/22/91 21:12)

Myth: Americans do not consume enough essential fatty acids.

Truth: Americans consume far too much of one kind of EFA (omega-6 EFAs found in most polyunsaturated vegetable oils) but not enough of another kind of EFA (omega-3 EFAs found in fish, fish oils, eggs from properly fed chickens, dark green vegetables and herbs, and oils from certain seeds such as flax and chia, nuts such as walnuts and in small amounts in all whole grains.) (Am J Clin Nutr1991 54:438-63)

Myth: A vegetarian diet will protect you against atherosclerosis.

Truth: The International Atherosclerosis Project found that vegetarians had just as much atherosclerosis as meat eaters. (Lab Invest 1968 18:498)

Myth: Low-fat diets prevent breast cancer.

Truth: A recent study found that women on very low-fat diets (less than 20%) had the same rate of breast cancer as women who consumed large amounts of fat. (NEJM 2/8/96)

Myth: The "cave man diet" was low in fat.

Truth: Throughout the world, primitive peoples sought out and consumed fat from fish and shellfish, water fowl, sea mammals, land birds, insects, reptiles, rodents, bears, dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, game, eggs, nuts and milk products. (Abrams, Food & Evolution 1987)

Myth: Coconut oil causes heart disease.

Truth: When coconut oil was fed as 7% of energy to patients recovering from heart attacks, the patients had greater improvement compared to untreated controls, and no difference compared to patents treated with corn or safflower oils. Populations that consume coconut oil have low rates of heart disease. Coconut oil may also be one of the most useful oils to prevent heart disease because of its antiviral and antimicrobial characteristics. (JAMA 1967 202:1119-1123; Am J Clin Nutr 1981 34:1552)

Myth: Saturated fats inhibit production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.

Truth: Saturated fats actually improve the production of all prostaglandins by facilitating the conversion of essential fatty acids. (Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation Journal 20:3)

Myth: Arachidonic acid in foods like liver, butter and egg yolks causes production of "bad" inflammatory prostaglandins.

Truth: Series 2 prostaglandins that the body makes from arachidonic acid both encourage and inhibit inflammation under appropriate circumstances. Arachidonic acid is vital for the function of the brain and nervous system. (Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation Journal 20:3)

Myth: Beef causes colon cancer

Truth: Argentina, with higher beef consumption, has lower rates of colon cancer than the US. Mormons have lower rates of colon cancer than vegetarian Seventh Day Adventists (Cancer Res 35:3513 1975)

Myths & Truths About Nutrition

Myth: Heart disease in America is caused by consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat from animal products.

Truth: During the period of rapid increase in heart disease (1920-1960), American consumption of animal fats declined but consumption of hydrogenated and industrially processed vegetable fats increased dramatically. (USDA-HNI)

Myth: Saturated fat clogs arteries.

Truth: The fatty acids found in artery clogs are mostly unsaturated (74%) of which 41% are polyunsaturated. (Lancet 1994 344:1195)

Myth: Vegetarianism is healthy.

Truth: The annual all-cause death rate of vegetarian men is slightly more than that of non-vegetarian men (.93% vs .89%); the annual death rate of vegetarian women is significantly more than that of non-vegetarian women (.86% vs .54%) (Am J Clin Nutr 1982 36:873)

Myth: Vitamin B₁₂ can be obtained from certain plant sources such as blue-green algae and soy products.

Truth: Vitamin B₁₂ is not absorbed from plant sources. Modern soy products increase the body's need for B₁₂. (Soybeans: Chemistry & Technology Vol 1 1972)

Myth: For good health, serum cholesterol should be less than 180 mg/dl.

Truth: The all-cause death rate is higher in individuals with cholesterol levels lower than 180 mg/dl. (Circulation 1992 86:3:1026-1029)

Myth: Animal fats cause cancer and heart disease.

Truth: Animal fats contain many nutrients that protect against cancer and heart disease; elevated rates of cancer and heart disease are associated with consumption of large amounts of vegetable oils. (Fed Proc July 1978 37:2215)

Myth: Children benefit from a low-fat diet.

Truth: Children on low-fat diets suffer from growth problems, failure to thrive & learning disabilities. (Food Chem News 10/3/94)

Myth: A low-fat diet will make you "feel better . . . and increase your joy of living."

Truth: Low-fat diets are associated with increased rates of depression, psychological problems, fatigue, violence and suicide. (Lancet 3/21/92 v339

Proud to be a Canadian

"The episodes in life that last so many years in memory, are often measured in fleeting minutes as they happen"

    Steve Summers 

Canada 3 U.S.A 2 

14 gold 

7 Silver 

5 Bronze

Today I can say I'm very proud to be a Canadian. Nick Tojaga

Dairy 102

Calcium is one of the main reasons people, especially women over 40, drink milk and eat cheese and other milk derivatives.

The largest scientific study ever done is called the Nurses Study. In this study, over 85,000 nurses participated to prove that dairy helps diminish osteoporosis among women. However, the results were completely contradictory. Indisputably, the study revealed two things:

1. Women who consumed the most dairy had the highest rate of osteoporosis.

2. Women who consumed the most dairy suffered from hip fractures earlier in life.

Why?

When dairy is pasteurized, it becomes incredibly acidic in our body. Calcium, which is found in Tums, is a powerful acid buffer. Therefore, when we consume this acidic food (most people….every day) our body becomes acidic. To prevent significant problems, the body will leach calcium (which is stores in our bones) to buffer the acidic environment.

In other words, every time we consume dairy we are draining our calcium reserves.

Dairy 101

This is an article from a friend of mine Todd Stebleton. 

When people refer to dairy, they mean dairy from a cow. However, dairy comes in many forms. In fact, any mammal creates dairy. Sheep and goat are also very popular for consumption, but nothing like from the cow. So, for sake of simplicity, we’ll speak of the cow.

Fact: We are the only species to drink another mammals product. This by itself may seem a little unsettling. However, some might say we are at the top of the food chain so maybe it’s not that weird.

Fact: We are the only species to consume breast milk after infancy. There are 4,629 recognized mammals in the world, none of which consume milk (even from their own species) after infancy.

It’s amazing what marketing does for social acceptance. Can you imagine a 45-year-old man drinking milk that came from some mother’s breast? Of course not. At the same time, it’s completely normal – even expected – he consume milk from a female of a different species. Is that not strange?

Despite the social norm, there are some other things to consider.

Fact: the human population, like all mammals, are not designed to break down milk after infancy. These enzymes which are responsible for digestion are no longer active. There is an article a client gave me today that was published in the Wall Street Journal (Tues. Feb 6, 2010). Its focus was on lactose intolerance. The advice was that people who are lactose intolerant (which is everybody – just depends on the degree) continue to consume a little milk to keep forcing the body to try to make the enzymes. I’m sure 99.9% of the readers thought this made sense.

There is a reason we don’t produce the enzymes – we’re not supposed to.

Lactose intolerance is becoming more prominent today for two reasons:

1. We are consuming way more milk and cow dairy products than ever before. (Advertising)

2. Pasteurization: the process of heating up the substance to kill unwanted bacteria. Unfortunately, this heat also destroys many of the nutrients, enzymes, and denatures the proteins. This process makes a once recognizable food an unrecognizable food. As a result we are intolerant to it.

It is my opinion, based on the above, that we are not meant to consume dairy. Most people have a different opinion. In this case, I would recommend it be organic (without question), family farmed, and raw.

What about calcium?

The only reason we started pasteurizing milk is because the cows were so unhealthy due to poor factory farming processes. The solution was to treat the milk, but it should have been to treat the cow. Health cows make healthy milk (but maybe not for adult humans).

Vitamins are not food

You can’t live on vitamins alone.  If you fed a rat vitamins and only vitamins, it would be dead in a week.  I’m addressing this because I get asked everyday “what vitamins should I take?” 

Once I ask a few questions I find that this person is eating nothing but sugar and processed food, not pooping, not drinking enough water and not getting to bed on time.  But they still want the one magic root that will make them thin and have a high sex drive.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist.

Taking vitamins without a healthy lifestyle is like building a house out of rotten wood and golden nails.  It doesn’t make sense.

If you are one who lives on a diet of sugar and processed foods, please know that when you put this garbage so-called “food” into your body, the digestive system has to take nutrients from the body (not from the “food”) to process it from mouth to anus. Crap food TAKES nutrients – does not GIVE nutrients.  Please note that when your brain is not getting the nutrients it needs, it signals the body that it needs more food in the form of hunger.  This is how many become obese and yet malnourished.  If this is you – first things first – clean up your diet.  You will get the most benefit from this NOT from a vitamin.

When it comes to obtaining the micronutrients your body needs, your best possible source is food, especially fruits and vegetables. But circumstances may prevent you from eating optimally every day.  This is where supplementation comes in.

The main reason we supplement is for insurance against gaps in my diet. Also, researchers are finding that some important nutrients are protective against disease in amounts that may be difficult to obtain through diet alone, no matter how conscientious you are.

Some vitamins can be as potent as drugs so don’t be fooled.  You can get a huge reaction from taking a supplement.  If you are really sick or have a disease then you may need mega doses of certain vitamins and minerals to get your body back into balance.  I can point you in the right direction if you feel you fit into this category – just drop me a line. 

For those that are eating relatively well, there are a few supplements that I would say most of us should be taking, and they are:

Multivitamin:  This ensures you have the basics covered.

Probiotic:  This is a good bacteria.  It is always good to put good bacteria back into the digestive track after an antibiotic.  However, please note that a lot of the meat we eat has been treated with antibiotics as well.  Also, good bacteria can help with energy production in the gut and help your body process nutrients.

Fish Oil:  There are too many great studies on the benefits of fish oil out there to be ignored.  Your brain is 60% fat, 60% of that is DHA, which is a type of fatty acid.  Even doctors now are telling people to take fish oil.  I would recommend rotating your fish oil every couple of months so that you don’t acquire and allergy to the certain fish that may be in the fish oil.  I like Neptune Krill oil, Cod Liver Oil, and EPA-DHA (Metagenics).  

Greens:  Lastly if you can get some good condensed plant food that would top off most people’s nutrient needs.  The NIH (National Institute of Health) is saying that Cancer may be a plant deficiency in the body, so start eating your veggies and consider a green supplement.

There is a little more to it but you get the idea.  Eat good food, drink good water, poop like a champ and a few supplements are like icing on the cake.   Please feel free to drop a line with any questions!