Do You Have the Power to Change?

How do some people totally change their habits while many of us are stuck in the same rut day in and day out? It appears that the key is…

 

happy lady

How do some people totally change their habits while many of us are stuck in the same rut day in and day out?

It appears that the key to losing weight, gaining healthy lifestyle habits, exercising regularly, and being very productive in your work all have to do with having a knowledge of how to form good habits.

Did you realize that most of our lives is really just a mass of habitual behaviors? 

In fact almost half of the behaviors we do on a daily basis (about 45%) are based on habits. Yes we humans are truly creatures of habits. But think about it, habits do serve a very good purpose as well. If we had to actually think through everything we did on a day to day basis, we would go nuts with the details. Habits allow us to function in our lives, and our minds can actually be occupied with other, more important thoughts.

Take driving for example. When you first learned to drive, you had to think about everything—and there were a lot of details! Sit down, put on your seatbelt, adjust the seat and mirrors, adjust the radio and temperature controls, take off the parking brake, put the car into reverse, turn around, look behind you, and put your foot on the gas, and back out of your driveway. Put on the brake, put the car into drive, gently press on the accelerator, and drive. And that’s just the first few feet! Now we can drive for several miles and our minds can be totally preoccupied with other thoughts, but we (usually!) get from point A to point B in one piece with no traffic infractions, right? It’s habit.

One of my favorite books “The Power Of Habit,” by Charles Duhigg, takes a close look at habits and how they are formed. In it, he points out that in almost any scenario in life, habits can be changed for the better, provided we know how they work, how to disassemble then and rebuild other better habits in their place.

And yes, learning about habits can fill a whole book, so I am here to highlight a few things that may help see habits in a whole new light.

The funny thing about habits is that once they are ingrained, they sort of disappear and  operate in the background in our brains, making us behave somewhat like robots with automatically pre-programmed behavior.

The key then, to changing some habits, is to learn how to spot those behaviors and find ways to change them.

It’s not always as hard as it may seem.

One of the interesting things about habits is the ‘context’ in which they happen. Many habits are unconscious behaviors that exist because of certain sets of conditions in the environment. When the context changes, then so do the habits.

The same applies to the things you do or don’t do for your diet and health. Most all of those things we do or don’t do for our health are habits. Now here is where the habits become very important. People often eat out of habit, and exercise or NOT exercise out of habit. Perhaps the cue is sitting down in front of the TV at night. Since you are used to munching on something, every time you sit down in front of the TV, you eat—whether you are hungry or not. You eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Habit. Sometimes you eat at meals not because you are hungry, but because it’s habit.

Do you follow an exercise routine? If you do, it’s most likely become a good habit. Or, are you TRYING to get an exercise routine in your life? You need to make it a habit.

How do you do that? Well, if you break it down into its parts, you can analyze how habits work and start implementing the changes you desire. But first, it requires a bit of mindfulness on your part and an awareness of the habits you want to change. Being mindful can really make things snowball in your life. So start paying attention to what you are doing. Really paying attention.

When you take a look at any habit, you will find that habits generally have three parts:

  • The cue
  • The routine, which is the actual behavior or habit
  • The reward

Changing any one of these three parts will help to change a habit.

And the coolest thing about changing any one of these three parts of habits is that they often set off a chain reaction that can be so powerful its ripples affect other habits in a good way.

Take exercise for example. When people add the habit of exercise into their lifestyle, generally the ripples of that habit begin to extend to other parts of their lives—in a good way. Often exercise leads to eating better, and that makes you feel healthier. And then that leads to weight loss, which leads to other good things. Because your mood is better and you feel better, perhaps that leads to better relationships in your life. And maybe the improved relationships in your life improve your work and add to its success, and then you make more money, and on and on…

And the ripples can keep on going…and you end up realizing how much control you have over things in your life, things you thought you could never change!

So what’s important to remember here is that when you change a habit to become a positive habit, the immediate reward is not the only the actual positive change.

There is a definite ripple effect that goes on here.

The other thing about habits, and this is one that I KNOW is important, is that tiny changes and minor little habits have a cumulative effect over the course of your life and when you think about those little ‘things’ that you do, day in and day out, these little ‘things’ matter more than some of the BIG things or big changes.

That cookie you had last night while you watched TV is inconsequential, but if you have cookies EVERY night, it become a much bigger thing. And conversely, adding in a small behavior that benefits you in a positive way may not seem like a big deal, but if you do it day after day, after day, after day, the cumulative benefits start to really add up. You gotta look at the big picture here.

Those small decisions can have a huge impact, as they add up over time.  

Ok, so what about old habits, how do we get rid of them, and do they just go away?

Well, first of all, lets talk about physiology first. Habits actually create a neural pathway in your brain. Much like a dirt road becomes a major highway with repeated use, repeated behaviors create neural ‘highways’ so to speak, in your brain. So, yes, reverting to the major highway instead of carving a new path out of the wilderness is the easiest way to go.

But you want to change your habits, right? So that bad habit that has become the super highway, has to be diverted. A detour. And that detour then needs to become a major roadway. Just like cars and traffic help to change narrow little roads into major highways, you can create that major highway in your neural pathways.

It’s just repeated use over time.

What then happens to that now deserted highway in your brain—the neural pathway that was once a major habit? Does it just disappear? Well, no. It’s still there. Like a deserted highway, weeds may grow up around it, and cracks may appear in the road, and eventually it crumbles over time, but it is still there.

So this is where it gets a little tricky.

You have to find a new behavior that responds to the old cue and gives that behavior a reward and build on that.

So let’s break this down.

1.     Be mindful of your daily routine—and remember that’s more than half of the things you do on a day in and day out basis. Pay attention.

 2.     Identify the behaviors or habits you want to change.

 3.     What is the cue that brings on this habit? Is it a time of day, a location, an emotional state, or other people? What happens right before the habit that triggers the behavior?

 4.     And finally, what are the rewards of that habit? Look closely. Think about this one. Find the reward. Its there, no matter how small that reward is and how unconscious, there is a reward.

Let’s use exercise as a habit. Do you have it now? Want it to be a habit? Ok, add in a reward. It can be a seemingly silly as a smoothie at the end of your workout or you get a latte from the local coffeeshop when you are done. Or it’s just the awesome way you feel afterwards.

Identify a cue—perhaps its your alarm clock going off an hour earlier in the morning, perhaps it’s the workout clothes you have at the end of your bed, ready for you when you open your eyes.

And then, repeat. Build that highway in your brain and reap the rewards.

Once you pinpoint the behavior or habit, the cue and the reward, you can make a plan to change it.

Begin now.

Start with ONE habit you want to change. Put a positive one in place of a negative. It may be something as simple as kissing your child, or spouse or significant other every morning and telling them you love them. The cue is the morning, the habit is showing someone you love them, and the reward is the good feeling it provides both you and them. Small, seemingly insignificant, but huge in the course of a lifetime.

Now do that with your eating habits. Take one thing and change it. Do it over and over again and your life changes. Remember the ripple effect? Go for it.

Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error, but you can do it. Once you figure it out, you can gain power over your habits and make some major changes in your life.

Takeaway #1

Be MINDFUL of the things you do on a day to day basis.

Takeaway #2

Look at habits you wish to add, remove or change. Replace a bad habit with a good one.

Takeaway #3

Identify the cue and identify the reward. Replace the behavior with a positive one. Add in a cue and a reward. Lather, rinse and repeat over and over again, and you are on your way to positive changes in your life.

What habits do you want to change? How successful have you been?

I’d love to see your comments!

Till next time,

cat

Save the Colorado picCatherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, (studying MSN/PH) is an international health, wellness and longevity expert, author, explorer, and adventurer. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing, she has spent the last 30 years studying sustainable diets, health and nutrition all over the world. She also has 4 books including the worldwide best-seller,  “The Fat Burning Kitchen,” “The Top 101 Foods That Fight Aging”, and “The Superfoods Diabetes Reversal Diet”,  and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health

Her mission is to help create a healthier planet and healthier people.

                             Cat’s Global Green Kitchen

 

 

 

Detox Your Body, Lose Weight, and Feel GREAT

The Holidays are over and it’s time to get back on track with your diet and fitness. First order of the day is to get the junk out of your system. A Detox diet will give you immediate results…

flat belly fit girl

So it’s time to get back on track with your diet and your fitness. First order of the day is to get all that junk out of your system.

For those of you who haven’t yet started a detox diet (now is the time to do it, as you will have lots of others to commiserate with), this will really help you get all that sugar, toxins from excessive alcohol, and processed junk out of your system.

I developed my own Detox Diet, and I wanted to share that with you. I have it divided into three phases of three or so days. The first three days are probably the most difficult as you may actually have some withdrawal and detox reactions, but stay with it–it’s well worth it once you get through this part!

I noticed that I lost weight, (ok so I don’t weigh myself) but my pants were all fitting looser after the FIRST THREE DAYS!

I didn’t move on to the next part until my headache had gone away–that’s a detox sign and if you have a headache or other physical complaints, you need to get all of this out of your system first before you move on.

Although I eat a primarily Paleo diet, I removed the meat for the first three days to speed up the detox/elimination part of it. This makes foods move through your system quicker, and the raw vegetables add tons of enzymes and nutrition, while the fiber helps to ‘sweep’ out your digestive system, pulling out toxins, and crud that may be lining your intestines. Yes, over time, crud can actually become plastered to your small and large intestines, blocking nutrient absorption and adding to your toxic load.

The Simple Smart Detox Diet

Phase One (First 3 Days)–

You are eating primarily raw fruits and vegetables. On Day One, stick to only raw fruits and veggies. You can have these in a salad, smoothie, or just eat plain as something to munch on.

On Days Two and Three, you may add in some legumes such as organic lentils or other beans (except soybeans) for added protein. Quinoa is also allowable. Continue on raw foods for breakfast and lunch, but you may have lightly cooked or steamed veggies or soup for dinner. See my recommendations in the meal plan below.

Drink water with lemon, as much as you want throughout the day. You may also drink green tea and if desired, you may sweeten with a small amount of RAW honey.

It’s also ok to add a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice to your salads.

Avoid:

  • All sugar (except small amounts of honey)
  • All meat, poultry and fish
  • All dairy
  • All grains, including gluten free options, and all processed flours
  • All soy based foods
  • All processed foods–this means ANYTHING that comes in a box, bag or can with more than one ingredient.
  • All preservatives, chemicals, pesticides, hormones, etc.
  • Alcohol
  • Coffee–except 1 cup organic coffee if desired

Phase Two (Second 3 Days–or when your headache and other symptoms go away)

Diet is the same as above, but you can now add in nuts, legumes and some fish or chicken if desired, but only organic/wild caught etc. Eggs are ok if they are organic or free range.

You may add back in healthy fats such as butter, coconut oil, and virgin olive oil. Avoid any processed oils such as cottonseed oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil or corn oil.

Organic potatoes are allowable, but only in the evening and only in small amounts. The bulk of your diet should be raw veggies, a serving of fruit (as in one apple or one banana, a half cup of berries, etc.) Make sure the fruit you eat is in whole form, with no sugar or anything else added.

It’s also allowable to have ONE glass of white wine per day if you’d like. No other alcohol–no beer, red wine or hard liquor.

Phase Three (The last three to four days)

Begin allowing in some red meat, but only if it is organic and/or grass fed meat. Avoid any commercially raised grain fed meats with hormones, antibiotics, etc.

Grains such as quinoa or white or brown rice are allowable for one meal a day.

There you have it!

You should be feeling energetic, clean, and much lighter!

A detox diet is essential to get you on the path to weight loss, back to good health or to address food allergies or sensitivities. Detoxing rids your body of toxic chemicals, digestive ‘sludge’, and inflammation that may build up from eating a conventional diet or a diet that is too heavy in sugars, starches, refined grains or anything else that we know is not good for us.

Some things to keep in mind during your detox:

You will most likely have a dull headache the first few days. If it persists more than the first two or three days, up your water intake, eat a small amount of ‘clean’ protein, and get plenty of rest. And stay on Phase One for another day until your headache goes away. It will–it’s just your body getting rid of built-up ‘CRUD’ and it doesn’t feel good when it starts getting into your system as your body starts to clean house.

Eat raw two meals a day, then you may have lightly cooked veggies and some clean protein for dinner.

Eating a raw, almost vegan style, clean diet during the detox may produce some digestive discomfort. This is your body  adjusting to these foods and taking a digestive enzyme will go a long way towards helping this. However, you may have a little gas or feel bloated as your body tries to get rid of waste material. This is normal.

Because you are eating a very high fiber diet full of enzyme rich veggies, AND because your body is ridding itself of waste materials and detoxing and cleaning house, so to speak, you may be visiting your bathroom more frequently than usual. Just keep this in mind, as you may not want to do this detox diet when you are required to sit through long meetings, or taking a transcontinental flight.

For the full day by day, blow by blow, meal plan, please enter your email address below and I will send the step by step guide with meal plans and recipes.






There is a simple, smart way to achieve effortless weight loss and end your food addictions once and for all. The Simple Smart Detox Plan will be sent immediately to you.

We respect your email privacy

Let me know how your detox goes! I’d love to hear from you on your symptoms, the process, and how you feel after you do the whole ten days.

cat

DSC_6810Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. 

Get the latest Gluten Free, Superfoods Recipe book HERE–The Fat Burning Kitchen Superfoods Recipes. Cat also has a book titled “The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation” that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.

                           Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.

                                Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

 

My 10 Simple Rules for a Healthy You and a Healthy Planet

Eating can be so complicated these days. If you follow the information you see in magazines, the news, and the latest fad diet book, you will be totally confused. I’ve been there…

Eating can be so complicated!  If you follow the conflicting information you see on Facebook, Twitter, magazines, TV shows, mainstream media, and the latest fad diets, you can become totally confused!  I’ve been there. In the 30 years or so that I have studied diet and nutrition, I’ve followed and studied a lot of information–and MIS-information. And using the nutrition information and research I’ve studied over the years, my medical knowledge, and myself as a guinea pig, I’ve found what works. And I want to share that with you. To simplify things. To simplify your life and your diet–and to help you be your healthiest self while helping our planet.

1. Follow a diet that your ancient ancestors ate–eat unrefined, unprocessed foods with ONE ingredient, as much as possible. Eat simply. Eat locally if possible.

2. Keep Blood Sugar Levels Stable, by minimizing or avoiding all grains (especially processed wheat and corn), and any kind of food containing sugar, including corn syrup, fructose, honey, glucose, sucrose, and all artificial sweeteners.

3. Avoid packaged, processed foods. They most certainly contain starchy processed grains, artificial ingredients and sugar in addition to contributing to environmental pollution from the manufacturing process, packaging and the health issues they create.

4. Eat plenty of healthy fats and oils, including the saturated fats in butter, coconut oil and (organic and naturally raised) animal fats, meat and whole eggs. Embrace the fats in nuts of all kinds, avocados and olive oils. Eat fat that is naturally occurring, not processed.

5. Avoid unnatural oils such as canola oil, soy oil, corn oil, sunflower and safflower oils. These oils are high in omega 6 fatty acids and add to inflammation, body fat and disease. 

6. Eat high quality protein. While most people eat a diet too high in protein, some protein is absolutely essential. There are many reasons to avoid industrially produced, unhealthy animal products, but it gets very difficult to get adequate amounts of usable protein without some type of animal protein. Animal protein is a complete and bio-available protein and contains vital nutrients including collagen, iron, zinc and all the amino acids. It is vital for active adults for energy, muscle recovery and strength.  Be thoughtful in your choices and realize you don’t need large amounts of it. Protein in your diet will help to satisfy your appetite, as well as help keeping your blood sugar low and stable. 

7. Eat only NATURALLY raised protein such as grass fed beef, free range chicken and eggs, wild caught fish and grass fed (unpasteurized if possible) dairy. These meats are far healthier than regular commercially raised meats, have more nutrients, have healthier fats in them and taste superior. If you are vegetarian, eat pasture-raised eggs and stay away from soy products except natto and tempeh that are fermented and more easily assimilated.

8.  Give your body the nutrition it needs with REAL food and your hunger will adjust. Don’t eat ‘fake’ foods! Don’t eat ‘fake’ meat. Eat large amounts of fresh, live vegetables–organic and local, if at all possible and a small amount of fresh fruit along with healthy protein and fats.  

9. Pay attention to omega 3 fats versus omega 6 fats. Omega 3 fats are those which occur in naturally raised meats (grass fed/free range), wild caught fish, organic free range eggs–and to some extent flax seeds and nuts. Omega 6 fats are those fats which come from grains, animals raised on grains, and processed ‘vegetable’ oils such as corn, soy, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, and canola oils. You need about 2-3x more omega 3 fats compared to omega 6 fats. 

10. Beware of liquid sugar in drinks including fruit juice (even 100% fruit juices), sweetened drinks such as sweet tea, soda, sports drinks, and alcoholic beverages. 


and two more (unrelated to food, but just as important)—


11. Get out in the sunshine and fresh air as much as possible–every day if you can. Even if it’s just a few minutes around noon, it’s better than none. The vitamin D you get from real sunshine will help your mood, protect your immune system and is vital for your overall well-being.

12. Exercise on a regular basis–at 3-4 times a week, or more. Do it with a friend, it helps you stick to your plan better and is much more enjoyable.

There you have it. This is what I follow on a day to day basis. That doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally eat french fries or a cookie. Yes, I do, but I do limit them to once in a while. And you know what, they just don’t taste as good to me anymore. My body knows what good food is and that is what it craves.

I feel better now than I ever have. My mind is sharp and clear, my energy is high, and my weight stays exactly where I want it to.

Start incorporating these things into your life and you will find amazing results! 

Take care and stay healthy and lean!

 

 

 

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition.  She also has a book titled “The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation” that has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health. Cat provides both corporate and individual health and wellness coaching and programs.

Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.

                                Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

                               Contact me at 314-369-6400 for more information.

 

Hidden Food Addictions Can Make You GAIN Weight

Think—what foods do you eat day in, and day out on a regular basis? Foods eaten daily can often cause chronic health problems. Would you believe that the majority of people have some hidden food sensitivities?

Hi, there! If you are new to this site, or haven’t done so already, sign up for your weekly health news updates, along with tasty, quick and easy, healthy, fat burning, gluten free and Paleo recipes. Sign up here. 

Think—what foods do you eat day in, and day out on a regular basis?

Often these may not even be foods you realize you are eating, but exist as ingredients in many packaged foods. Foods and food substances, eaten every day can often cause chronic health problems like weight gain, puffiness, inflammation—and even more serious health conditions like migraine headaches, arthritis, osteoporosis, neuropathy, bladder infections and other illnesses associated with long-term nutrient deficiencies.

One of the most overlooked and least understood parts of diet is food allergies and sensitivities. Did you know that a large percentage of the population has food sensitivities and don’t know it? Many allergies and sensitivities come are actually food addictions.

Food allergies or sensitivities do not always occur as a big, full-blown allergic reaction with hives, shortness of breath and anaphylactic reactions. Often these food reactions can occur on a ‘sub-clinical’ level without obvious symptoms. But not always obvious is the inflammation and reaction on the cellular level.

As surprising as it sounds, it is possible to be both allergic and addicted to a food or chemical substance—and this is often the case. The two things go hand in hand.

This sets up cravings with both physiological (physical) and psychological (mental or emotional) discomfort, withdrawal symptoms and cravings when the offending food is not available.

While there often is a much longer list, the top offenders are usually foods that contain wheat, dairy, corn or soy. And if you think about it, its pretty hard to avoid these foods as they are the ingredients in many, many processed or packaged foods—and often disguised as ingredients you may not recognize.

What happens in a food sensitivity reaction? Foods that are partially digested leak through the cell wall of the intestinal lining. Then the undigested particles of food are attacked by the immune system as if they are foreign invaders.

When the immune system is activated, our bodies react in a similar way to fighting off a virus or bacterial invasion. The ability to fight other infections drops, inflammation in the body goes up and some kind of reaction takes place. Often it is a chronic reaction because the offending food is eaten every day.

When reactions occur to foods that are eaten on a regular day-to-day basis, there is constant chronic inflammation that can manifest as a variety of symptoms.

Part of the weight gained from food allergies is fluid retention caused by inflammation and the release of certain hormones. In addition, some foods do not break down and digest properly–particularly carbohydrate–in the intestines which can result in a swollen distended belly, indigestion, and gas production.

Eating these foods actually creates a physiological reaction in the body similar to way we would react to an addictive drug like cocaine or heroin. Foods can release substances in the body that create an almost euphoric high. This reaction is just like when an addict gets “high”.  Endorphins and other hormones are released, the body reacts and then withdraws.

And guess what? All addictions have the same type of reaction – whether cigarettes, coffee, heroin, corn, wheat, milk or other foods. Both addictive and allergic responses to a food allergy can cause uncontrollable eating behavior. Every hear someone say they just can’t live without their _________ (fill in the blank here–bread, pasta, milk, etc.) ?

And it’s not just hives or a rash that come from the allergy-addiction syndrome. Most any chronic physical problem can come from a low grade food allergy. As Dr. Ellen Grant reported in the medical journal, Lancet, 85% of people who suffer from migraines could be symptom-free if they eliminated common food allergens. And, there is also strong evidence that chronic arthritis, asthma and diabetes may be caused by allergic reactions as well.

Huge numbers of people have hidden food allergies, which are manifested in the form of addictions. And the misleading thing is that food allergy reactions are not always immediate and severe (as in the case of hives, shortness of breath and other life threatening symptoms), but often reactions are very subtle and delayed for 24-48 hours, making it difficult to trace back to a particular food.

Food allergies and sensitivities can cause symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, heartburn, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, sinusitis, irritability, yeast infections, migraines, rashes, psoriasis, acne, anxiety, depression, insomnia, PMS and more. Chronic food allergies can affect virtually any system in the body.

Often one of the best ways to detect a food sensitivity or delayed allergy reaction is to look at the foods that you eat every day, all the time. Can you go without them? Think about it–if you cannot live without your daily bread, bagel, cereal, etc., its highly possible you have a sensitivity to that food and is most likely it is causing an inflammatory reaction in your body.

What’s the solution? Anyone who is trying to lose weight or has any kind of chronic health condition should look at food allergies or sensitivities. Become suspicious if you eat a particular food every day—and that includes most of us—or if you have a favorite food that you eat often or crave. Pay attention when you are eating—are there certain foods you just cannot get enough of?

Since the most common offenders are wheat, corn, soy and dairy products, the first step is an elimination diet.  Remove all the foods that contain wheat, corn, soy and dairy from your diet for a minimum period of two weeks.

That means reading every label and scrutinizing everything you are eating. Most processed or packaged foods contain these ingredients in some form, so eating simple one-ingredient natural foods is the easiest way to avoid the allergens—and it’s far healthier as well. So for example, eat an apple instead of something out of a box.

It’s important to note that wheat is the primary content of most all flours (except gluten free) and prepared items, so that means cutting out most all breads—whether its whole wheat, rye or white; pastas, crackers, cookies, cereals, and more. However, it’s pretty easy now to find plenty of wheat and gluten free items to substitute–but watch out for added corn in gluten free items.

Wheat and corn starch are also commonly used as thickeners in sauces and gravies as well, so beware when eating prepared soups or eating out when sauces are served with foods.

Doing an elimination diet is NOT easy. You may feel intense cravings the first 24-48 hours after you start and you could begin to feel sick as your body detoxes the offending substances out of your body.

But–if you stick with it–4 or 5 days into the diet, you may suddenly feel like a brand new person!  Your energy will rebound, you will have sparkling mental clarity, and smooth glowing skin. Not only that, but many lose 5-10 pounds in 4-5 days! As you continue on the diet, you may also continue to lose weight, since you are not overeating certain foods to get your ‘fix’.

After the two weeks, slowly re-introduce the allergenic foods, one at a time. Try adding wheat back in for one full day, then wait 2 more days to record any delayed symptoms. When you add in a food, eat it at all three meals to get the full reaction. You may be really shocked!

Food allergies and sensitivities have been ignored by most medical doctors. Because no pharmaceuticals are involved,doctors don’t tend to diagnose or treat health conditions with elimination diet.

The simplest answer to food allergies and sensitivities is to eat pure, natural, whole foods like grass fed meats, fresh fruits and vegetables with ONE ingredient, and avoid processed, packaged convenience foods and fast foods with multiple ingredients.

Removing foods that you are allergic or sensitive to can have life changing benefits. You can actually change health issues such as depression and anxiety, improve your sleep, have better digestion, clearer skin, reduce asthma, stop eczema and psoriasis,  and end arthritis and joint pain, and more. It’s really worth the effort.

To get help for an elimination/detox diet, contact me at Cat (at) simplesmartnutrition(dot) com. I can help you–I’ve been there!

Till next time,

Stay healthy and lean!

 

 

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN,is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled “The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation” that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.

Her mission is to help others prevent disease, lose weight, and live their best life ever.
Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

The Fat Burning Kitchen will get you started on the path to a healthy diet, weight loss and vibrant health.You will notice a difference in the first 24 hours! Learn about the so-called ‘health’ foods you may be eating that are actually ruining your health, and causing you to gain weight. And find out the best, fat-burning super-powered nutritious foods to eat to lose fat, gain boundless energy, and feel better than you ever have!

How to Deal with Your Child’s Weight Problem While Maintaining his Self Esteem

Editor's Note:

 

Today's post is from Nicole Harris. She has some great tips on how to help keep your child from becoming an unhappy, overweight adult. Starting with better habits now will go a long way towards helping your child avoid obesity, diabetes and many other chronic diseases. 


 

Fear that you may have to buy plus size costumes for your 6-year old boy this Halloween? You can see that your child is getting overweight but you aren't so good at convincing him to quit the soda and the cookies that he is so fond of.

You may also need to get him off the couch and start exercising.

But what if you point out these things and he doesn’t listen? Or, worse, it brings down his confidence irreparably?

You don't want your child to have self-esteem issues. Then how can you address this issue without any of these negative effects? The only way to tell your child all these things without hurting his self-esteem is by tackling it as a family, and making sure he/she feels loved and accepted the way they are. 

You have to tempt your child with healthy foods that also taste good and find a fun, enjoyable program for him/her. Better yet, maybe you should join in too! It is not only healthy for him but also healthy for you.

You will be surprised at some of the changes in diet that your child is willing to make to lose his weight if you involve him in all the decisions. Remember that children are very sensitive and you must be careful that you don’t damage the child emotionally by pointing out his flaws.

Below are a few tips to help your child lose weight by involving the whole family in this weight loss program:

 

1.         Make the meal attractive – There are a lot of online tools that will help you to plan a healthy meal. Plan a colorful mean that looks attractive. Plan a balanced diet or all parts of a healthy meal and then ask your child to fill in the different colors that appeal to him. Sit down and discuss what healthy foods you can add that will match the color of the diet chart. This exercise involves the child and the entire family in planning a healthy meal.

2.         Add New Foods – You can ask your child to help you select a healthy recipe and then shop together for the recipe. This will be a fun exercise for the family and the child will enjoy it. This also works with snack foods. There are a great many healthier options other than chips or cookies. Try apples and peanut butter, or peanut butter and celery, or some tasty trail mix.

3.         Kitchen Time With Your Child – Your child loves cooking with you and this should not surprise you. Give him tasks that are appropriate for his age. He will love helping you in the kitchen and meal times will be looked forward as fun time. You can ask him to pack his lunch and your lunch too. Make him feel that he has chosen the lunch for both of you. He will eat all the healthy foods that he is given and has helped to cook.

4.         Avoid Second Helpings – Don’t set the pot on the dining table. Instead, serve single helpings on the plates and carry them to your dining table. Make sure that everyone has only one serving.

5.         Exercise Together – Exercising can just as much fun as choosing healthy food and recipes is. There are so many things that you can do together. Go for walks or jog together or you can play tennis. Another good option is to join a gym. You may even get a discount when the whole family joins it. This will also limit time before the computer or the Television.

 

Children today are aware of health issues and the dangers of obesity. All they need is some understanding and a gentle push in the right direction. Support them by being a part of their endeavors and your child will soon be happy and fit like you always wanted.

 

Nicole C Harris is a personal fitness trainer and a freelance writer. In her free time, Harris loves partying with her friends and recommends that you should buy themed birthday party supplies online to get great discounts. 

Does this ‘Healthy’ Food Make you Fat and Sick?

 

Is Corn Healthy or making you sick and overweight?


by
Cat Ebeling and Mike Geary, co-authors of The Fat Burning Kitchen

Contrary to popular belief, corn is actually a grain, not a vegetable, and is really not appropriate as a dietary staple for several reasons:

1. "Anti-nutrients" in corn (and other grains too)
2. Inflammatory omega-6 fats in corn products
3. Corn products make blood sugar skyrocket, then crash

Did you you know that when civilizations such as the Mayans and Native Americans changed their diet to a corn-based one, rates of anemia, arthritis, rickets, and osteoporosis skyrocketed?

Our bodies were not made to exist on such a high quantity of grain-based foods as is present in the modern western diet.  This evidence shows up in the archeological records of our ancestors. Scientist looked at skeletons of native Americans in burial grounds, who ate corn as a primary part of their diets and found 50% more malnutrition, four times as much anemia,  three times as much infectious disease, compared to the hunter-gather natives, who primarily ate meat and vegetables instead of grains.

We are not just talking about corn-on-the-cob (sweet corn) here… we are also talking about corn cereals, corn chips, and all the other corn-based foods promoted by food companies as “healthy”.

Just why is corn a problem?

•    Corn contains lots of starches and sugars, which raises insulin levels, causes you to be hungrier and causes your body to store calories as fat. Don’t be mistaken, just because corn does not taste obviously sweet, doesn’t mean it isn’t full of sugar. Once eaten, your body quickly turns most corn based foods into glucose.  Even the starches in corn products can spike blood sugar levels, causing cravings for more carbs.

•    Corn is also a poor source of protein, usually deficient in 3 of the 8 essential amino acids: lysine, isoleucine, and tryptophan. The essential amino acids are so-named because they must be obtained from the diet, since the body is unable to manufacture them.

•    Corn contains a high amount of phytate, a chemical that binds to iron and hinders its absorption by the body. So, a diet high in corn can make people more likely to have iron-deficiency anemia and fatigue. Phytate is also a nutrient blocker (an anti-nutrient) and prevents vitamins and minerals from being digested properly or used.

•    Corn is a poor source of certain minerals such as calcium and some vitamins such as niacin (B3). Deficiencies of niacin can result in a condition known as Pellagra, which is common in civilizations that eat a lot of corn. It can cause a variety of symptoms such as dermatitis, diarrhea, and depression. Since we are now a nation of corn-eaters, many of these health issues are most likely caused by corn.


•    Corn oils are also used in most processed foods (along with soybean oils).  Both corn oil and soybean oil are excessively high in inflammatory omega-6 fats and low in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats.  This leads to many degenerative diseases and also weight gain.  In addition, corn oil and soybean oil are highly refined with high heat and solvents, which oxidizes and damages the fragile polyunsaturated oils, and makes them even more inflammatory when you ingest them in processed foods.  Read this article to find out the truth about healthy vs unhealthy cooking oils.

It's not just people who eat too much corn based foods. A large amount of the nation's corn crop ends up feeding cattle, which are cheaply fattened on corn and other grains before slaughter. Not surprisingly, beef from corn-fed cattle have higher ratios of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than grass fed beef which contains more healthy omega-3 fatty acids.  Most meat in supermarkets comes from grain-fed animals and not healthy grass fed animals.

Because corn and other grains are an unnatural diet and difficult to digest, cattle raised on corn develop higher stomach acidity, which is a breeding ground for the dangerous E. coli O157:H7, the deadly strain of the bacteria. E-coli is rare in healthy grass fed meat.

While eliminating refined grains such as corn and wheat (yes, it seems they are in everything!) can seem a very daunting task, the reward is a return to wonderful health, sparkling eyes, clear skin, clear thinking, and less body fat as the body is once again able to extract appropriate nutrients from food, reduced inflammation caused by grain based foods, and a resolution of nutritional deficiencies from the lack of absorption. 

Do yourself a favor, and try at least 2 weeks with no grain products at all.

I guarantee you will see some drastic improvements in your weight, energy, and general outlook! 

This is easier than you may think… For example, instead of having pasta with sauce and meat for dinner, a better alternative would be to have just grass-fed meat, sauce, and veggies, topped with a little parmesan cheese.  It’s delicious and grain free. Or try spaghetti squash instead of pasta.

Another example would be breakfast… instead of cereals, bagels, or muffins, try to base most of your breakfasts on cage-free organic whole eggs with lots of veggies and perhaps some bison sausage or other nitrate/nitrite-free turkey or chicken sausage.

If you're very active and need a little more carbs with your breakfast, instead of grains, a small piece of fruit or some tea with a little bit of raw honey can be great additions to the egg/veggies based breakfast.  This is a delicious and satisfying breakfast that will control your blood sugar, balance your hormones, and eliminate the problems with antinutrients found in most grains.  Those are just a couple examples, but I think you get the point of how easy this can be.

I know it may not be realistic for everybody to give up grains fully, so the most realistic plan for many people is to only eat grain based foods (bread, pasta, cereals, etc) on their one cheat day each week, and save 6 days per week to be grain-free.  Your body with thank you!

Please email this article to any of your friends and family to help them eat healthier and live better.

Check out the special sale we're having on the super popular Fat-Burning-Kitchen book.  This is a MUST-read if you're interested in how to eat to get a permanently lean body and vibrant health for life!

Stay healthy and lean!

 

DSC 6815 Quick and Easy Salmon Patties (Gluten Free too!)

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back-to-basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled "The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation" that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.   

                       Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.    

               Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

What Do Migraines Have to Do with Acid Reflux Medication?

 

It’s called, “Heartburn, indigestion, acid reflux or GERD” and, like millions of other people, if you have gone to a doctor about this, most likely they have prescribed medication to reduce stomach acid. Medications like Nexium and Prilosec are some of the most popular proton pump inhibitors. 

Proton pump inhibitors reduce stomach acid.

But there’s one problem.

The acid in your stomach is there for a reason. Stomach acid digests the foods you eat, and turns them into essential nutrients your body can absorb.

If you reduce the acid in your stomach you reduce its ability to break down and digest food, and extract nutrients.

This in turn, causes serious nutritional deficiencies including vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.

And when your body fails to digest and absorb the foods you eat effectively, your chances of developing any number of chronic degenerative diseases is almost inevitable.

Even relatively minor vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause fatigue, irritation, anxiety, depression, migraines, dizziness, mania, pychosis and memory loss.

In addition, deficiencies can also cause muscle weakness, tooth decay, bone fractures, hearing loss, osteoporosis, heart beat irregularities, high or low blood pressure problems, hair loss, mouth sores, neuropathy (unexplained weakness or numbness in the arms and legs), and more.

Is it worth it?

Long term, B vitamin deficiency can potentially cause severe and irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system.

And because the acid pH in the stomach as been increased, you lose the ability to fight off certain dangerous bacterial infections such as h.pylori, which is responsible for stomach ulcers, Clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhea, salmonella poisoning, a common type of food poisoning, and contagious pneumonia.

Suppressing stomach acid does not treat the disease, it only treats the symptoms, and at a very high cost too, as you can see.

And, once you start taking acid reducing medication, it becomes very hard to stop. It is physically addictive. 

This type of medication causes a severe “rebound” effect. You start taking acid reducing medication to help a reflux condition, and although your doctor may say it is temporary, when you stop after a few weeks, it causes your stomach acid to go into overdrive. As a result the reflux comes back with a vengence.

So what do you do? Go back to taking the reflux medication.

Now you’re stuck…

Did you know 35-45% of the population experiences heartburn? That’s close to half the population! Heartburn or GERD is most profitably treated diagnosis in America. Prescription medications are given out by doctors like candy. Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid are some of the top selling prescription drugs in the world.

It is not normal to have heartburn in spite of the huge numbers who do have it.

What exactly is gastritis or acid reflux?

It is acid that rises from the stomach and irritates the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the valve that separates the esophagus from the stomach.

Gastritis is inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach. Any of these can be chronic or acute. Acid reflux usually feels like a burning pain in the middle of the chest or stomach. It’s most bothersome at night, when lying down. Sometimes it can even feel like burning or pressure in the chest.

 Over time, this acid wash can damage the lower esophageal sphincter, and lead to a condition called Barrett’s Esophagitis, which is usually considered a precancerous condition. Anybody with chronic reflux or heartburn should be checked out by a GI doctor, to rule out any other serious health conditions.

The interesting truth is, for many, acid reflux is not a result of too much stomach acid, but too little acid, or ineffective enzymes to digest particular foods.

When we don’t have enough of an enzyme to digest a particular food, the body responds by sending out more acid in an attempt to digest it. Taking antacid medication further compounds the problem. If the foods that cause this are foods that are eaten frequently, which is often the case, soon the acid becomes an ongoing chronic irritant to the stomach, and can cause real damage.

There are two ways you can help acid reflux.

One is by taking a good digestive enzyme with meals. As we age we lose some of our digestive enzymes, and also our ability to digest certain foods. The best enzymes to supplement digestion are “Full Spectrum” and include pancreatin. Enzymes should be:

-protelytic (for proteins)

-lypolytic (for fats)

-amylytic (for carbohydrates)

You also want to make sure your digestive enzyme supplement contains betaine hydrochloride (or HCl). It’s plant-based hydrochloric acid which helps your body absorb calcium, among other important nutrients.

In many cases, food allergies or sensitivities can be one of the main causes of acid reflux. So eliminating food allergies is the next step.

Food allergies result when the body’s immune system launches an attack against the offending food item. Some of the most common allergenic foods are: milk, wheat, soy, eggs, peanuts, nuts, shellfish, and citrus. 

Severe symptoms of food allergies tend to occur with in a few minutes of eating the allergenic substance.  Symptoms can include tingling in the mouth or throat, swelling of the throat, difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, cramping, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, eczema, hives and asthma attacks. But don’t rule out food allergies even if you don’t have reactions that severe.

Food intolerances or sensitivities (including gluten intolerance) are also often allergic reactions as well, but do not have the dramatic and sudden onset. They often share similar GI symptoms to food allergies but they do not involve the same immune system response. 

The biggest offenders are often commercially prepared dairy products, wheat/gluten, corn and soy.

The best way to find out if your digestive problems are the result of food allergies is to go on an elimination diet. Remove all wheat, gluten and dairy from the diet for a minimum of ten to fourteen days or more, and see if the reflux symptoms subside. Be vigilant and read labels carefully. Lots of gluten and dairy sneak into processed foods under other less obvious names.

For more information on gluten-containing food ingredients, check here: http://www.the-gluten-free-chef.com/foods-containing-gluten.html.

After you have eliminated the offenders, add the gluten and dairy back in, one at a time. Wait 2-3 days between each food trial, and write down all reactions in a food journal. Oftentimes though, it may take a month or more of avoiding the offenders before the acid reflux and gastritis is resolved, so be patient.

Other contributing factors that can cause heartburn/gastritis and GERD are:

* Certain foods cause the lower esophageal sphincter to relax, thus leading to heartburn. These include peppermint, coffee, alcohol and chocolate. 

* Hiatal hernia: This is a physical condition where part of the stomach protrudes through the diaphragm.

* Low Acid Production: Ironically, low stomach acid levels can result in heartburn. This is much more common than increased acid.

* Medications: Many medications cause heartburn as a side effect, including, ironically, several acid blockers. These include:

     o Prevacid, Prilosec, Zantac, etc. 

     o Asthma inhalers (beclamethasone, flovent, etc). 

     o Corticosteroids 

     o Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and      naproxen. 

     o Antianxiety medications, such as diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan). 

     o Osteoporosis drugs such as alendronate (Fosamax).

* Overeating

* Pregnancy & Obesity: These are related in that both put pressure on the stomach, decreasing its volume and forcing food and acid upwards.

* Stress: Stress can be the sole cause of heartburn, but often it is exacerbating other causes.

* Smoking: Smoking also causes the lower esophageal sphincter to relax, leading to heartburn. 

You may have to make some lifestyle changes and keep a close eye on your diet.

Eating large amounts of processed foods and sugars is a certain way to worsen acid reflux, as it will upset the bacterial balance in your stomach and intestine, as well as being hard to digest.

A note about proton pump inhibitors: PPI’s are very popular because they work. However, these drugs create both tolerance and dependence on them, so stopping them suddenly can have serious repercussions.

NEVER stop taking proton pump inhibitors cold turkey. Wean yourself off them gradually or else there can be a severe rebound of symptoms, and the problem may end up being worse than before the medication.

Ideally, get a lower dose, and then gradually decrease your dose. Once you get down to the lowest dose of the proton pump inhibitor, you can start substituting with an over-the-counter medications, Then gradually wean off the H2 blocker over the next several weeks.

 

Till Next Time,

Stay Healthy and Lean!

DSC 6815 A Deadly Epidemic You Can Avoid

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back-to-basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled “The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation” that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.   

                       Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.    

               Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

 

Sources:

 

Dr. Joseph Mercola, Why You Should Get Off Prescription Acid-Reducing Drugs ASAP! Mercola.com, September 09, 2009.

 

Center for Food Allergies, Innate Health Group. www.CenterforFoodAllergies.com, 2006.

 

Tracy Davenport, Health Central, Acid Reflux Connection.com, July, 2007.

 

Dr.Allen Spreen, The hidden dangers of stomach-acid reducers, July 2007.

 

How to Enjoy Holiday Treats and NOT Feel Guilty, or Gain Weight

Editor's Note:

I know I've neglected to post blogs for the last month, but I've been really busy!

I just finished an awesome 290 page book that includes over 125 superfood, fat burning, delicious recipes with full color mouth-watering luscious photos.

You are going to love this book! So please look for here any day!! I can't wait to let you get your hands on this book.

Meanwhile, here is a way to enjoy all those great yummy holiday treats and not feel guilty about eating them. Happy Holidays! 

Feeling deprived this Christmas, trying to avoid all those sweet, yummy holiday treats?

Or have you said, "the heck with it, I'm going to enjoy the holidays and deal with it later!" Only to find that come the new year, you have about 8-10 unwanted pounds that have crept on your body, while you were busy eating and drinking and enjoying yourself.

Well guess what? There is a way to enjoy some of those special treats of the season, not feel deprived, and still burn fat.

Really?

You can actually incorporate 'cheat days' into your diet plan and not get totally off track.

In fact, cheat days may help you lose weight. Cheat days can actually reset your body's metabolism, and actually kick start your body's fat burning ability. And you get to eat some of those ‘taboo’ foods without totally derailing your healthy diet.

There are actually real physiological and hormonal benefits to cheating.

And of course, you can take a break from the somewhat strict confines of your diet and eat what you may be missing without feeling guilty.

How does this work, you ask?

Well it has a lot to do with a recently discovered hormone called, Leptin.

Leptin, is synthesized mostly in your fat cells, along with some coming from your muscles and brain. The amount of leptin you make is controlled by both the quantity and the size of your fat cells. When you eat, and your brain signals that you are full, your leptin levels rise. That tells your body it is ok to go into full gear and rev up the metabolism.

Everything is fine and dandy, right?

Until you are trying to lose weight and cut back on your eating, especially if you cut out carbs…

When leptin levels start to fall, as they do when you’re on a diet and losing fat, they send a signal to your brain to eat more. And unfortunately leptin levels can fall by about 50-60% in just 6-8 days of dieting.

When those leptin levels are low, your primitive brain thinks there must be a famine, and your metabolism slows down. This is where many dieters stall. Weight loss slows, and appetite and cravings go up.

Soon, you may be devouring everything in sight, especially carbs and sugar and anything else, to satisfy this monster.

So how do you fight this?

Enter ‘Cheat Days’.

The goal here, is to periodically increase your leptin levels and avoid those intense cravings, and the slowed-to-a-crawl metabolism.

What do you eat on cheat days? Well, basically those things you’ve been craving, but have previously been off-limits.

Ok, but that means it’s ok to eat a FEW cookies, not the whole plate of beautifully decorated and iced Santa Claus cookies. Savor that baguette or croissant, but don’t eat a dozen. Allow yourself that doughnut you’ve been longing for, but try to avoid eating 10 of them.

The best foods that work for a cheat day are actually carbs, and some suggest that simple carbs (as in doughnuts, bread, pasta, cookies, etc.) are actually the ones that raise leptin levels the best.

In theory a cheat day will:

Increase your thyroid hormone output. The thyroid is the hormone that governs your metabolism. Which in turn, increases your 24 hr calorie output-by about 10% or more. All of this means, then you start burning fat better again.

The big thing about cheat days is that they are a DAY. Not a week, not a month.

A DAY.

And the best way to get the most out of a cheat day is to eat a very low carbohydrate diet the day following your cheat day. Some recommend fasting, but I think this is a bit extreme.

So here we are at the Holiday season, and wow, yes it seems like there is a party every weekend. So choose your party, line up your cheat day and enjoy those hors d’oveures and those frosted Santa cookies, along with a slice of pecan pie.

And keep burning that fat.
 
Enjoy the holidays and stay healthy and lean!

 

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled "The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation" that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.   

                        Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.    

          Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.


Agave-A Healthy Sweetener or Fat Fuel?

Is Agave the New “Healthy” Sweetener?

Agave syrup has been advertised as a new “healthy” sweetener that is low glycemic, good for weight loss, and better for you than either regular sugar (sucrose) or high fructose corn syrup.

And sales of agave syrup have skyrocketed in the last few years.

But is it really that much healthier? No, not so much.

What is agave?

Agave is an exotic plant that is a member of the yucca family that grows in the tropical heat of Mexico. It has been used for thousands of years by the Mayans in herbal remedies to help with indigestion, bowel irregularity, and skin wounds. Fermented agave juice is the familiar alcoholic beverage, tequila.

The agave industry would like you to think that agave nectar is a very natural product that goes straight from the plant to a jar and is a healthy, natural sweetener great for weight loss, but this is not really the case.

Agave syrup has been deceptively marketed as a ‘health food’ and it most certainly is not.

The truth is, agave nectar or agave syrup is not a natural sweetener at all, but a highly refined type of fructose sweetener—very similar to the common sweetener, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Depending upon where the agave comes from and the way it is processed, agave syrup can be anywhere from 50-90% fructose!

Guess what?? High fructose corn syrup is about 55% fructose, the rest glucose.

Yep, you heard that right–almost the same exact composition as agave syrup! So that doesn’t make agave syrup a good choice if you’re hoping to avoid the high levels of fructose in HFCS (high fructose corn syrup).

Ok, so what is wrong with fructose?

Isn’t that the sugar that is found in fruit? Well yes, and no.

There is a huge difference between how our bodies handle the natural fructose in fruit and the highly refined unnatural fructose in sweeteners. The fructose eaten in the form of fruit is in its natural form along with lots of fiber, vitamins and antioxidants, and is way different than the concentrated, refined fructose in agave syrup.

When fructose is extracted from fruit, concentrated and made into a sweetener, it wreaks havoc with your metabolism.

Don’t be fooled by agave syrup’s reputation as a great weight loss sweetener. It is not low calorie—in fact it has about the same number of calories as regular table sugar. And while it is often marketed as “low glycemic”, it still contributes to weight gain.

According to most research, fructose, more than any other kind of sugar, contributes not only to insulin resistance, but it raises blood levels of triglycerides (a risk factor for heart disease) in both obese and healthy people.

Triglycerides are a form of fat in the blood, and are stored in the body as excess body fat.

Elevated triglycerides (a key marker for heart disease), contribute to clogged arteries and increased inflammation. Fructose also has a greater propensity than other sugars to increase abdominal fat, which then elevates the risk for diabetes, heart disease and metabolic syndrome.

And the fructose, like that in agave, is most often linked to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

So, if you need to lose weight, fructose is a sweetener you will definitely want to avoid, especially in its refined form.

And if that’s not enough, here are a few other good reasons to avoid agave:

• Eating sweeteners in the form of fructose (both agave and HFCS) doubles advanced glycation end products, (AGE's), which are harmful chemical byproducts that age (no pun intended) the human body.

• Yucca species, together with other agaves, are known to contain large quantities of saponins. Saponins are toxic steroid derivatives, and should be avoided during pregnancy because they might contribute to miscarriage.

These toxins have negative effects on non-pregnant people as well. They can destroy red blood cells, and are especially harmful to people taking statins (cholesterol medicine) and high blood pressure drugs.

• Poor quality control and pesticides. There are very few quality controls in place to monitor farming and production of agave syrup. Most agave sold in the U.S. comes from Mexico. There is concern that agave producers are using other more toxic species of agave plants due to a shortage of blue agave and the agave is heavily sprayed with pesticides.

• Some agave syrups contain a contaminant called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF, also called 5-hydroxymethyl furfural), an organic heat-formed compound that forms during the refining process of both agave syrup and HFCS. HMF has possible toxic and carcinogenic effects on humans. HMF is also extremely toxic to honey bees.

• Agave syrup is not a whole food–it is refined and processed; devoid of the nutrients contained in the original, whole plant.

Bottom line—agave syrup or agave nectar is NOT the healthy alternative to high fructose corn syrup or sugar.

Nor is it a good sweetener for fat burning or weight loss.

If you are looking for a low calorie, healthy and natural sweetener, use Stevia, or  use raw honey or maple syrup (although not low calorie) in small amounts.

 

Till next time, stay healthy and lean!

 

 

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled "The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation" that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.

               Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.    

       Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.


 

Sources:

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, Jeannette Bessinger, “Agave Health Claim Doesn't Match Its Hype;

Prickly Health Problems Arise from Agave Nectar Sweeteners” Bottom Line’s Daily Health News, March 8, 2010. Bottomlinesecrets.com

Joseph Mercola, “Agave: A Triumph of Marketing over Truth”, July 2, 2009. Mercola.com Joseph Mercola, “Shocking! This 'Tequila' Sweetener is Far Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup”, March 30, 2010.

Mercola.com Joseph Mercola, “Is this Popular Natural Sweetener Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup?” July 3, 2010.

Mercola.com Morell SF and Nagel R. , "Agave nectar: Worse than we thought," April 30, 2009.

Weston A. Price Foundation. Westonaprice.org Carr C. "Agave’s sweet spot," January 31, 2009. Time Magazine.

Should We All go ‘Paleo?’

 

Have you heard the new diet trend? It’s the ‘Paleo’ diet, primal diet or the caveman diet.

I guess it’s not exactly what I would call new and trendy, since it is based on the diet that our ancient ancestors ate. ‘The Paleo Diet’ is actually a term that author Loren Cordain, PhD coined for his book.

There have been several variations on this same type diet, including "The Primal Blueprint" by Mark Sisson, Weston Price’s Traditional diet, and my own, “Fat Burning Kitchen Program” diet. And if you like Michael Pollen, his dietary principles follow along the same lines too.

Scientists have finally started to figure out that the diet of our ancient ancestors may possibly be the best diet overall for our modern bodies.

This diet is basically avoids all processed foods, grains, sugar, dairy, and legumes.

Is it any wonder that in today’s world there is so much illness, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other disease?

Today’s diet is a far cry from that of our ancestors.

Interestingly enough, our ancient ancestors were strong, healthy and were far more likely to be killed by a woolly mammoth or saber tooth tiger than a heart attack or diabetes.

If you would like to see a graphic presentation of the differences food makes on people, check out Weston A. Price’s book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration–written in the 1940’s by a dentist who traveled the world studying primitive cultures and their diets.

It’s eye opening, to say the least! 

In a single generation, these natives go from the picture of health to unhealthy, diseased and deformed, and it has nothing to do with saturated fat, but everything to do with sugar and processed grains.

These photographs of Dr. Weston Price illustrate the difference in facial structure between those on native diets and those whose parents had adopted the "civilized" diets of  devitalized  processed foods. This occurred in all different primitive groups all over the world.

The "primitive" Seminole girl (left) has a wide, handsome face with plenty of room for the dental arches. The "modernized" Seminole girl (right) born to parents who had abandoned their traditional diets, has a narrowed face, crowded teeth, and a reduced immunity to disease.

This, and my own dietary evolution, has convinced me.

And I am more convinced the further away I move from processed foods, grains, sugars and more towards this ‘primal’ way of life.

The dramatic health benefits that result from this type of diet, seem virtually endless.

It reduces, prevents or cures: High cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, cancers, heart disease, diabetes, auto-immune diseases, inflammatory disease, arthritis, joint problems, allergies, digestive problems, depression, ADD, and so much more.

That alone speaks for itself.

Let me add that my own dietary and health journey can vouch for the fact that this diet really seems to be working. In the past, I had health issues like asthma, allergies, celiac disease, arthritis,  depression, frequent colds and flu, digestive issues, fatigue, foggy-headedness, PMS, rashes, and more.

With each dietary ‘tweak’, I moved closer to THIS diet.

Isn’t it another low carb diet? Well…no.

However, our paleolithic ancestors did eat a pretty low carb diet. Different primitive societies did eat varying combinations of animals, plants and carbs, but generally the human diet was about 2/3 animal foods, and 1/3 from plant foods.

And no one cared about saturated fat and cholesterol either.

Along came the agricultural revolution and the cities, civilizations and manufactured foods. And, a boatload of nutritionally-related diseases that were totally unknown to the hunter-gatherers. These new foods are vastly different in so many ways from the real, healthy foods our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate.

So, I guess in a sense, we can blame the agricultural revolution for bringing us most of the chronic disease and obesity that we see in this modern world.

These mostly grain-based foods (cereals, dairy products, grain-fed meats, high fructose corn syrup, refined sugars and oils) do not work in bodies that were originally built for a diet of free-ranged meats, fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

The paleo diet is high in healthy omega 3 fatty acids, and Conjugated Linoleic Acid, low in omega 6 fatty acids, low on the glycemic index, high in USABLE natural nutrition, high in antioxidants, and no empty calories, no chemicals, or over-processed carbs.

And here is an interesting study: Medical researchers released results of a study that shows just how beneficial a primal diet can be:

A group of non-obese volunteers were fed a paleo diet for 10 days. Only 10 days!

And the conclusion is… Even very short term consumption of a paleo diet improved blood pressure, glucose tolerance, decreased insulin secretion, increased insulin sensitivity and improved lipid profiles in healthy sedentary humans.

I am not surprised. I’ve seen my lipid profile, my blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. All of them, off-the-charts excellent.

Primal Diet Principles:  

  1. Eat REAL food. No packaged or processed foods. Make your meals from combinations of one-ingredient foods and spices.
  2. Avoid most sugar, including: sucrose, fructose, agave (fructose), artificial sweeteners, and corn syrup. You may have small amounts of raw honey, maple syrup, raw cane sugar, and stevia if needed. 
  3. No grain. Not ‘whole grains’, and especially not refined, processed, white flour. No refined starches. 
  4. Eat plenty of healthy fat–from: grass fed meat, grass fed butter, pastured eggs and free range poultry, wild caught fish, raw dairy, avocado and coconut.  Extra virgin olive oil is ok, although I’m guessing a caveman probably didn’t eat this. 
  5. High quality protein is important. Grass fed, pasture raised, or wild caught–meat, fish and poultry, and eggs. No grain fed, commercially raised meat. 
  6. Eat lots of vegetables–locally grown is best, and fresh, raw or barely cooked. Organic if possible. Some fruit is ok, but our modern fruit is very high in sugar. 
  7. Eat organic. Eat them as close to where they grew as possible and in the most natural state. 
  8. Beware of what you are drinking. While I doubt cavemen drank their ‘cuppa joe’ to get going, drinking one cup of organic coffee or tea won’t ruin the diet. An occasional beer or glass of wine is ok, but a sugary, artificially flavored mixed drink is NOT ok. No fruit juice…these are full of sugar. Drink pure water as much as possible. 
And if you follow this diet, even 90% of the time, you WILL see major health benefits. 
 
Many pro and amateur athletes are gravitating towards this type of diet as evidence comes in that it improves athletic performance and endurance, reduces body fat and helps add lean muscle.
 
So, as of this writing, I am going to follow this diet as closely as possibly during the bicycling racing season this summer, and I will report back to you how it goes.      
 
Looking for more info?
 
There is plenty of information on the internet. One of my favorites is Mark Sisson’s site, Mark’s Daily Apple. This guy knows his stuff. Great articles, lots of entertaining and interesting info, and a lot of awesome recipes to help you get a better idea of how truly good food can be even without grains, sugar, or processed food.
 
And I have to put in a plug for my own website, Simple Smart Nutrition which is based on this type of diet, with tons of great information on various health conditions, from weight loss to maximizing your athletic performance and more.
 
And I have some delicious Paleo-style recipes too.
 
The very best way to check out the Paleo diet is to try it yourself. Even if you just follow principle #1 you will improve your health as you remove all of the junk, fast food, and “frankenfood” in the typical American diet.
 
Healthy and feeling good is normal.
 
Feeling tired, getting sick, gaining weight and all those other health issues are not normal. And, if you decide you just can’t commit to a Paleo diet, try following a few of the principles above and I guarantee you will see and feel so much better!
 
 
Sources:
Mark Sisson, The Primal Blueprint, Mark's Daily Apple, 2011.  Jennifer Pinkowski, Should you Eat Like a Caveman? Time magazine, Jan 2011. Dr. Loren Cordain, the Paleo Diet, 2010-2011.  
 
 
Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back to basics diet and nutrition specialist.
In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled "The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation" that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.
 
Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.
Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.
     

3 Critical Things You MUST know in Order to Lose Weight and Keep it Off.

If you are working on burning body fat and increasing your energy, there are three key things to keep in mind.flat belly fit girl

These things are so important and so many people are trying like crazy and cannot figure out why dieting does not work. Until you ‘get’ this, weight loss and fat burning will be hit or miss.
Many people have been brainwashed into believe that “calories are calories” all the while trying unsuccessfully to lose weight. Not that simple really….

The first of these principles is to eat food your body recognizes.

By that I mean, eat REAL food. Our bodies have evolved in a relatively short time and the foods we are putting in them are often unrecognizable. Packaged, refined processed foods with chemicals and preservatives in them are foreign substances to the body. Yes, foreign substances.

What happens when you eat something that is processed and unnatural is that the body doesn’t recognize or is confused by something artificial. Unable to metabolize it into usable nutrients, it breaks it down as well as it can, causing a blood sugar response, the resulting insulin surge and viola!

All the calories you have just ingested get stored as fat.

The easy solution? Eat REAL food that your body recognizes. Eat unrefined, natural foods with one ingredient. And for excitement, combine a couple of one ingredient foods for snacks. Like fruit and nuts. Cheese and nuts. Eggs and veggies. Avocado and turkey slices. Get it?

Principle number two: Losing weight is less about calories and is ALL about controlling your blood sugar and insulin response.

Blood sugar spikes cause insulin to be released in the body. Insulin causes the body to immediately start storing everything consumed as fat. That includes anything with any kind of sugar–fructose, glucose, sucrose, etc. That also includes grain products such as corn, wheat, soy, oats and more. And that INCLUDES whole grain products.

Starchy products like potatoes and gluten free foods also stimulate insulin as well.

And, while it sounds healthy, fruit juice is actually just a natural form of sugar water. This is a refined product that basically contains fructose–a sugar–and water. This stuff hits your system fast and your blood sugar spikes quickly. Insulin follows, your body stores calories ingested as fat, blood sugar drops, and you are hungry again. Not good.

Fruit on the other hand, while it too, is full of fructose and too much of a good thing can be fattening, has lots of fiber in it, so the sugar in fruit is absorbed more slowly. Better.

Best–eat fruit with nuts, nut butter, cheese, or other form of protein and/or healthy fat to help it get absorbed more slowly into the body. Result is more stable blood sugar and no fat storing.
So the main trick here is pretty simple: control your blood sugar by avoiding the starchy and the sweet and you stay in the ‘fat burning’ zone.

Principle number three: The nutritional value of your food makes all the difference.

In other words, if you had to choose between something with little nutrition and few calories or a superfood packed with nutrition, antioxidants, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, but high calorie–which would you choose?

The correct answer and the best fat burning, healthy answer is the higher calorie, nutrient dense food. If it’s real, your body recognizes it and packed with tons of nutrition–go for it. Your body will metabolize this food, use it to build health and energy in your body, and rev up your energy and fat burning as a result.

Controlling your blood sugar has significant health benefits other than JUST fat burning too:

-Controlling blood sugar and insulin response actually is extremely healthy for the heart and blood vessels, dropping your risk of heart attacks and stroke immensely.
-Controlling blood sugar and keeping it at an lower even level will drastically reduce your risk of cancer and will prevent any cancer (whether it has been detected or not) from growing.
-Controlling blood sugar is very effective as an anti-aging tool and will keep you looking younger and prevent wrinkles and sagging skin as well.
-Controlling blood sugar also keeps your energy high with no peaks and valleys. You stay alert and vibrant.
-Controlling blood sugar also keeps triglycerides low and helps prevent deposits in the blood vessels.

I will go into these important principles in depth in upcoming articles, and you can read more about these KEY principles in The Fat Burning Kitchen. Check it out.

And start burning fat to get healthy and lean!

What about Frozen Yogurt?

 
 
 
Have you joined the newest frozen 'treat' craze?
 
I'm talking about frozen yogurt. It seems there's a new frozen yogurt place opening on every street corner lately. And, not only do they try to come across as delivering "smart and healthy" treats, some of these places try to sound even healthier with flavors like "Dr. Coconut" and "Dr. Green Tea".
 
The idea behind the marketing of all these places is that frozen yogurt is great as a "diet" food, and it is also good for your health–making you skinnier and addressing health flaws from bad eyesight to wrinkles and more.
 
It even comes as "fat-free", "sugar-free", and infused with vitamins and antioxidants as well.
 
Well, it sounds good doesn't it?
 
Health fanatics have been smugly spooning up the stuff like crazy!
 
Do you know what's really is in frozen yogurt?
 
Well, most people think it is just that. Frozen. Yogurt.  Isn't that healthy?
 
It sounds like it should be…
 
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this stuff is kinda one of those sneaky so-called 'diet' foods that actually makes you fat…
 
In fact if you look at the ingredients of this frozen concoction offered by some of the bigger chains (and most all frozen yogurt is made with the same basic ingredients), you will see that the primary ingredients are sugar of some form and milk.
 
In spite of all the health claims, frozen yogurt is basically a sugary, processed dairy dessert with some probiotics and yogurt powder thrown in to make it seem healthier.
 
Unfortunately, however, it flunks as a low calorie, fat burning dessert.
 
While specific ingredients and amounts vary from brand to brand, and from chain to chain, most frozen yogurt contains nonfat milk and dried milk, yogurt powder, sweeteners in several forms including corn syrup, maltodextrin (from corn) dextrose (from corn), fructose and more; milk solids, emulsifiers like mono and diglycerides, propylene glycol esters, guar gum and other thickeners, natural and artificial flavoring and coloring (even when the yogurt is white).
 
The tangy frozen yogurt flavor comes from the strains of lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilous, though the bacteria only makes up about one percent of the ingredients. And, really, ice cream is made from the same basic ingredients as frozen yogurt; it's just that ice cream does not contain the bacteria cultures.
 
As you can see from the ingredients list, frozen yogurt is basically just lower fat ice cream with extra sugar, thickeners, and some yogurt powder with probiotics thrown in for good measure.
 
Do the probiotics somehow make it healthier?
 
Seriously, just because there are probiotics in something doesn't make it a 'health' food!
 
People who wouldn't dare eat ice cream have no qualms about eating massive amounts of frozen yogurt on a regular basis–thinking they are doing their bodies good, when in reality they are just making their blood sugar go crazy–and contributing to weight gain.
 
Yogurt compared to ice cream is basically what "low fat" snacks are to regular snacks.
 
Removing the fat and adding in more sugar does not make it healthier or a better diet food.
 
It's actually worse, since all that sugar raises your blood sugar, stimulates your insulin response, makes you store calories as fat, and makes you hungrier later.
 
The trouble with foods like frozen yogurt, which are sometimes labeled "low fat" "diet" or "healthy," is that people sometimes think they can consume large portions because they APPEAR to be less fattening, and therein lies the problem–this stuff is NOT less fattening!
 
It is very fattening and high glycemic (raises the blood sugar and causes calories to be stored as fat). Even worse, there is a "sugar free" version out there! It's usually sweetened with toxic artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet or Splenda.
 
You're not doing yourself or your body any favors with that stuff.

When an ice cream craving hits, it's probably better to satisfy it with a small amount of the REAL thing and avoid the frozen yogurt craze all together.
 
Truth is, if you are regularly eating a healthy, fat burning diet and eating healthy fat burning foods like you'll find in The Fat Burning Kitchen Program, exercising, and avoiding sugary processed foods 99% of the time, you are better off with a small serving of REAL ice cream. (Just make sure it's the all-natural kind without corn syrup, fillers and preservatives).
 
The butterfat in ice cream gives it that creamy flavor and so a smaller amount should be more satisfying than sugary, processed, low fat, frozen yogurt–probiotics or not.
 
And butterfat contains CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) which is a potent anti-cancer and fat-burning type of fat.
 
Just remember, moderation is the key.
 
Better yet, if you are really craving something smooth and creamy, but want to stick to a good fat burning diet, try this instead, and you won't even have to feel guilty a bit:
 
Coconut Cream "Ice Cream"
 
Ingredients
 
1 can unsweetened coconut cream/milk (the full fat kind) 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 2 tsp cinnamon Small amount of Stevia to taste or raw honey or maple syrup if you prefer
 
Directions
 
Puree in food processor.
 
Make in an ice cream maker according to directions, or pour into ice cube trays and freeze 4 or more hours. If making in ice cube trays, remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving and puree again and serve.
 
This is extra good sprinkled with some nuts or toasted unsweetened shredded coconut. See more delicious fat burning recipes in the new "Fat Burning Kitchen Superfoods Recipe book " coming soon!
 
Take care and stay healthy and lean!
 

America’s Feedlot?

 

Have you ever stopped to think that America is turning into one big gigantic feedlot–but WE are the cattle?

The American public is now living on a diet that consists mostly of corn, wheat, and soy products, very very similar to commercially raised cattle, chickens, and fish.

These industrialized big business agricultural products have been pushed into our food supply in thousands of insidious ways.

Starting with the thousands of packaged, processed items available at the grocery store, all the way back to the feed for commercially raised meats–it seems that corn, wheat and soy are on the ingredient list in some form if you look long enough.

Our diet is way out of whack.

It's far too heavily weighted with grain, and grain-based food products  and grain-fed meat, poultry, dairy, fish and eggs as well.

At least a third or more of your local supermarket’s 45,000 or so ingredients have corn, wheat or soy products or their derivatives in them.

The tricky part is the derivatives do not always say they come from corn, wheat or soy.

The biggest offender is corn. 

Corn is THE most abundant grain produced in America by far!

There is the ever-present high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, corn flour, corn bran, dextrose, and much less obvious– leavenings and lecithin, mono-, di-, and triglycerides, the golden coloring added to foods, and even citric acid can all be derived from corn and corn bi-products.

Corn is milled, refined and restructured, and can become an amazing number of things, from ethanol for the gas tank to dozens of edible and not-so-edible food products.

Consider the thickeners in milkshakes, hydrogenated oil in margarine, modified cornstarch that binds the unrecognizeable meat in a chicken McNugget.

And then there is the unavoidable sweetener, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

This sneaky sweetener has invaded every nook and cranny of the food system.

Sadly, the commercial food industry has done a great job convincing the public that those 45,000 different items in the grocery store are real variety in food instead of clever rearrangements of the same basic ingredients with come chemical flavorings and food coloring to make it all different.

We have unknowingly become trapped in our own feedlots, and now are becoming a country of obese, sick  and apathetic people who care nothing about nutritional quality and the source of our food—simply because, “It tastes good.”

Unfortunately this very dysfunctional food system has also supersized appetites and created food addictions for the sweet and starchy artificially flavored 'food' creating big dollars for food companies in spite of the serious cost to our health and well-being.

And in America, most all conventionally raised meat can be traced back to corn: turkeys, chickens, pigs, and even cows (which would be far healthier and happier eating grass) are forced into eating corn.

Even our farmed fish supply is now becoming corn-fed, like the carnivorous salmon.

All of these grain raised meat then lose their natural nutrition and become full  of unhealthy, disease-causing fats.

There is a way to see exactly how much of your diet is from corn:

Corn has a very specific carbon structure which can be traced in any animal that consumes it.

If you compared a hair sample from an average American and a Mexican who eats a diet high in corn, you would be shocked to learn that the American would have a much larger amount of corn-type carbon in their system.

Todd Dawson, a plant biologist at the University of California-Berkeley says, "We are what we eat with respect to carbon, for sure. So if we eat a particular kind of food, and it has a particular kind of carbon in it, that's recorded in us, in our tissues, in our hair, in our fingernails, in the muscles," Dawson says.

In most Americans, the carbon test shows that about 70% comes from corn!!

“North Americans are like corn chips with legs,” says one of the researchers who conducts such tests.

So exactly what is wrong with eating such a corn-rich diet?

The base of the food pyramid is GRAIN–isn't that what we've been told is healthy? 

We are what we eat, but there is plenty of  evidence that this grain-heavy way of eating not only spreads illness, but waste, and ecological devastation around the world.

The other big problem with corn and a grain based diet, is that the average American diet consists of food products heavy in Omega 6. An average ratio would be about 25:1 of omega 6 to omega 3.

However, nutritional scientists state that mostchronic diseases start occurring and are detectable when the omega 6:3 ratio exceeds 4:1.

And, the optimum ratio, seems to hover around 1:1 which is the ratio found in grass-fed animals. 

Since all grains have high omega 6 to omega 3 ratios, it’s obvious to see that a grain-based food system creates a serious omega 3 deficiency!

All the way back in 70's scientists knew that grain-based foods, and grain-fed livestock products were one of the primary causes many of today's big chronic diseases such as:  Cancer, heart disease, depression, ADD, Alzheimer’s, obesity, allergies, and autoimmune diseases such as lupus and arthritis, diabetes, asthma, and more.

Obviously, to win the battle against all these diseases, we are going to have to make major changes to our diets, and no one food product can solve the problem by itself.

It's a HUGE change.

Primitive man lived on a diet of greens, vegetables, some tart fruits, some nuts, and mostly meat–all grass fed and naturally raised of course. 

That way of eating is often referred to as the Paleo diet, the Hunter Gatherer diet, or the Cavemen diet.

Here is a thought: Corn has the ability to fatten up a beef steer much faster than pasture-grazing does–although it makes the cattle themselves unhealthy and sick as well.

Cattle that have spent four to six months in a feedlot eating grain, have four to six times more fat, twice as much saturated fat, and as little as 1/10 the quantity of omega 3 fatty acids compared to meat from grass-fed cattle.

Of course, this does create big, fat cattle that grow in about half the time as grass fed, the cattle become as sick or sicker than we humans from eating corn and grain.

Corn and grain do not agree with cow's sensitive systems and cattle get GERD, ulcers, and other serious digestive issues. Another big issue with corn is that it is also very low in calcium and can lead to broken bones in the cattle.  Farmers then add soybean meal and it makes the problem worse!  The calves grow way too fast with the extra protein and end up with even weaker bones.

I don't know about you, but I am beginning to draw some parallells here… Is it any wonder that we, as people have so many cases of osteoporosis, GERD, ulcers, and digestive issues?

Do we want to follow in their ‘hoof’ steps?

 

Slowly but surely many of us are. Are we turning into a national feedlot of people?

Let's not be cattle but humans  who can think and who want to be healthy, strong and lean like our primitive ancestors.

 

The combination of a wide variety of grass-fed meats, free-range poultry, wild caught fish, and grass fed dairy products would certainly go a long way to help.

Let's be individuals in our dietary choices and make the decision to not follow the herd. The Fat Burning Kitchen Program will show you how to eat well, avoid grain, have effortless weight loss, and exceptional good health.

 

Till next time, stay healthy and lean!

 

References David Kamp, Deconstructing Dinner, New York Times, April 23, 2006.

Michael Pollan, What’s Eating America, Smithsonian, June 15, 2006

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, If we are what we eat, Americans are corn and soy, CNN 9/22/07

Tim Flannery, We’re Living on Corn!, The New York Review of Book

Eating Healthy on a Budget

shopping list

People often ask me, Cat—how can you eat healthy if you are on a budget?

Yes, everyone—including me—is looking at ways to cut out unnecessary expenses, and the grocery budget is definitely a target.

No, we do not all need to head to Wal-Mart for our groceries or start eating everything out of cans! Absolutely not.

There actually is a way to shop smart, and still get healthy and organic foods, on a budget.

But yes it does require changing your shopping habits and planning a bit before shopping.

But really, it is very worthwhile!  Next to a mortgage, food is the most expensive monthly expense, but the food you eat is a huge investment in your family’s long term health and that is like money in the bank.

The first thing to do is to cut out all the packaged, processed junk food if you are getting any. Do you get chips? Cookies? Crackers? Snack bars? Even…(yikes!) Twinkies?
These things are EXPENSIVE and they really add up fast!
What about so-called ‘diet’ foods like artificially sweetened yogurt? Sodas? Prepackaged frozen convenience meals? Again, EXPENSIVE.

All of those things are extremely unhealthy and fattening and I go into great detail about these foods in my book The Fat Burning Kitchen .

So what do you currently spend on food?

Start by making a list of all those foods that you purchase that are full of sugar, artificial ingredients, bad fats and chemicals.  Add up the costs.

And don’t forget to add in how much you spend on fast food, and the fancy sugar and (bad) fat filled coffee drinks? If you do the math, you will most likely find that you are spending a lot of money on foods that do nothing but add to your waistline.

So take a close look at all those foods that are really ‘non-foods’ and cross them off the list.

By far the most expensive foods you can buy are the processed, packaged foods that are usually full of ingredients you don’t recognize, unhealthy fattening fats, chemicals, preservatives and more.

Just think a bag of chips is $3.99, and box of cookies is $3.49, soda is a few dollars and on and on.

Ok, so you and your body and your waistline will be WAAAY better off without any of those foods I mentioned above. What to eat then?

Well I’m not saying you can’t snack. Heck I do–I couldn’t live without snacks! But if you are going to eat a snack, be sure it’s good for your body. So instead of a bag of chips, get some raw almonds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, or other RAW nuts (try to avoid those kind with the added oils).

Try some new and different ones–ever try macadamia nuts? Those ROCK! Yes, they are high in calories, but we aren’t counting these kind of GOOD calories. That’s good fat your body needs and your appetite will adjust since you will feel full or satisfied longer.

Get some organic apples, organic grapes, organic pears, or organic berries and enjoy some fruit along with a handful of nuts. Or slice up that delicious organic apple and dip it in natural peanut butter or nut butter. Raw cheese is also delicious next to a few pieces of fruit. Yum! REAL food. Good for you.

Or how about cutting up some fresh veggies and dipping them into some hummus.

Great desserts can be made from frozen fruit, a sprinkle of nuts and a dash of cinnamon instead of pies and cakes. Go for a few squares of dark chocolate if you need your chocolate fix.

Avoid the conventional grocery stores if at all possible. Generally speaking, the organic or natural foods section of a regular grocery store is way overpriced.

And since organic fresh fruits and vegetables don’t get purchased as often at regular grocery stores, they generally are not as fresh as they are at an organic or natural foods store.

Do you know about the ‘Dirty Dozen’? These are the fruits and veggies you should avoid UNLESS you can get them organic. They are the ones with the most harmful chemicals and pesticides on them. Here are the ‘Dirty Dozen’:

  • Celery
  • Peaches
  • Strawberries
  • Apples
  • Domestic blueberries
  • Nectarines
  • Sweet bell peppers
  • Spinach, kale and collard greens
  • Cherries
  • Potatoes
  • Imported grapes
  • Lettuce-all typesAnd these veggies and fruits are generally not too bad if you buy them conventionally grown:
  • Onions
  • Avocados
  • Sweet corn
  • Pineapples
  • Mango
  • Sweet peas
  • Asparagus
  • Kiwi fruit
  • Cabbage
  • Eggplant
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon
  • Grapefruit
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Sweet onionsOne more comment about organic vs. conventionally grown though. Besides the fact that you are avoiding pesticides and herbicides when you eat organically grown, you should know that organic fruits and vegetables have been scientifically proven to contain significantly higher levels of nutrients due to the soil they are grown in. So you are getting more ‘bang for your buck’ with organics!Besides conventional grocery stores, there are natural and organic foods in health food stores, co-ops, farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture programs, or online.And there are some great chain healthy food stores like Trader Joe’s that offer lots of organic or natural foods at way lower prices than a regular grocery store. I also find these stores have a wider variety of choices as well.Make sure to have a game plan before you hit the store and have an idea of your menus for the week. Make a list and stick to it. This way you are purchasing only what you will be using and avoiding those impulse purchases.

    Watch for sale items and buy on sale!

    Buy in bulk if you use it frequently–it’s generally much less money and you save on all the packaging too. Try splitting bulk packages with friends or family.

    I like to purchase my meats from an online company generally. While it seems more expensive than at the grocery store, you are getting grass-fed, all natural, no hormones, no antibiotics, pure fat burning protein, full of healthy omega 3 fats, so more nutrition and less waste. There are lots of places that are starting to carry this kind of meat, but my favorite is U.S. Wellness Meats.

    There is really NO comparison between grass fed and conventionally raised meats–and conventionally raised meats are full of fat storing, inflammatory omega 6 fats as well. I go for the less expensive cuts of meat like hamburger instead of steak, and dark meat chicken (has more nutrients too!) instead of the boneless, skinless breasts.

    Cooking from scratch is always the least expensive option.  One way to save time is to cook up a batch of hamburger meat, or other ground meat, and freeze some of it for later use. That makes it quicker and easier to use when needed.

    Recipes such as chili, taco meat, stews, spaghetti sauce, and virtually any of your favorite recipes are great to freeze and use at a later time.

    Remember, good nutrition is major investment in your health in the long run. A healthy diet means you will avoid being sick in the near future and avoid expensive health issues down the road. You ARE what you eat and the fuel is of utmost importance!

     

Avoid These Grains!

 

Cave men didn't eat grains; at least nowhere close to the form we eat today.

But our country has been steadily increasing its consumption of grain for the past 30 or more years. Along with that are the rising numbers of obese and overweight people.

In the 1970’s, the average American ate 85 pounds of flour, 84 pounds of sweeteners, 8 pounds of fried potatoes, and 39 pounds of cooking oil.

Even then, not so good.

Fast forward to the nineties…

By 1997, each of us was consuming 122 pounds of flour, 105 pounds of sugar or other sweeteners, 20 pounds of fried potatoes, and 50 pounds of vegetable cooking oils.

That's almost a pound of knowingly bad-for-you foods per day!

And that doesn’t count a whole lot of other junk food…but clearly, the reason many are overweight or obese today. And today, flours are more refined than ever, missing fiber  and essential nutrients. Processed white flour (alias "enriched wheat flour" or "wheat flour") is missing the two most nutritious and fiber-rich parts of the seed: the outside bran layer and the germ (embryo).

Eating a high starch diets will make you feel fatigued, malnourished, constipated, jumpy, irritable, depressed, and vulnerable to chronic illness.

And, refined/bleached wheat and corn flour fuels high blood sugar levels. High blood sugar leads to insulin release, immediate fat storage, and further hunger.

The more refined foods a person eats, the more insulin must be produced to manage it. This leads to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and weight gain. The refined carbohydrates turn to glucose very quickly once in our systems, stimulating the body to produce insulin.

A vicious cycle occurs: insulin promotes the storage of fat, making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, inflammation and atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

"Enriched flour,"  is very misleading, because only four vitamins and minerals are typically added back, compared to the 15 nutrients and essential parts of the grain that are removed, along with most of the fiber and other beneficial substances such as antioxidants that are removed.

Eating wheat can cause one to feel lethargic, foggy, groggy, puffy and bloated, irritable and depressed.

Many would never connect these symptoms with eating grains; but weight gain, emotional, physical, and mental symptoms are fairly frequent with gluten sensitivity.

Gluten is the protein portion of wheat, rye and barley. It is so widespread in standard processed food today; it is very hard to escape. Unfortunately gluten sensitivity is on the rise (notice the “gluten free” sections at the grocery store?) and it can cause a host of problems.

Best to avoid processed flours altogether!

The American food supply is also heavily based on corn.

Bumper crops of corn help to keep corn prices low which in turn helps to keep many of the items we buy at the store low-priced. Contrary to popular belief, corn is a grain, not a vegetable, and is really not appropriate as a dietary staple for several reasons—one of them being that corn has a high sugar content.

When civilizations such as the Mayans and Native Americans changed their diet to a corn-based one, rates of anemia, arthritis, rickets, and osteoporosis skyrocketed.

Our bodies were not made to exist on grain-based foods. This evidence shows up in the archeological records of our ancestors. When archaeologists looked at skeletons of native Americans in burial mounds in the Midwest who ate corn as their primary staple, there was a 50% increase in malnutrition, four times as much incidence of iron-deficiency, and three times as much infectious disease, compared to the more hunter-gather ancestors who primarily hunted and did not eat grain.

Keep in mind that we are not just talking about corn-on-the-cob (sweet corn) here… we are also talking about corn cereals, corn chips, and other modern corn-based foods that are promoted by food companies as “healthy”.

There are several reasons researchers give for the nutritional problems and the weight gain caused by a corn-dominated diet:

* Corn contains lots of sugar, which raises insulin levels, causes you to be hungrier and causes your body to store calories as fat. Don’t be mistaken, just because corn does not taste obviously sweet, doesn’t mean it isn’t full of sugars. Once eaten, your body quickly turns corn products into sugar.  Even the starches in corn products can be broken down quickly by your body spiking your blood sugar levels, and causing cravings for more carbohydrate-based foods.

* Corn is also an poor source of protein, usually deficient in 3 of the 8 essential amino acids: lysine, isoleucine, and tryptophan. The essential amino acids are so-named because they must be obtained from the diet, since the body is unable to manufacture them.

* Corn contains a high amount of phytate, a chemical that binds to iron and inhibits its absorption by the body. So, consequently, a diet high in phytate can make people more likely to have iron-deficiency anemia and fatigue. Phytate is also a nutrient blocker and inhibits other vitamins and minerals from being utilized.

* Corn is a poor source of certain minerals such as calcium and some vitamins such as niacin (B3). Deficiencies of niacin can result in a condition known as Pellagra, which is common in civilizations that eat a lot of corn. It can cause a variety of symptoms such as dermatitis, diarrhea, and depression. Since we are now a nation of corn-eaters, it wouldn’t be surprising that this is more common here than we realize.

It's not just people who eat too much corn.

A large amount of the nation's corn crop ends up feeding commercially raised cattle, which are cheaply fattened on corn and other grains before slaughter. Beef from corn-fattened cattle also has much higher ratios of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than healthier grass fed beef. Most meat in supermarkets comes from grain-fed animals.

Because corn and other grains are an unnatural diet and difficult to digest, cattle raised on corn develop higher stomach acidity, which is a breeding ground for the dangerous E. coli O157:H7, the deadly strain of the bacteria.

While eliminating refined grains such as corn and wheat (yes, it seems they are in everything!) can seem a very daunting task, the reward is a return to wonderful health, sparkling eyes, clear skin, clear thinking, weight loss as the body is once again able to extract appropriate nutrients from food, and a resolution of nutritional deficiencies from the lack of absorption.

Once you commit to eating a diet of whole and natural foods, you will begin to eliminate a large amount of these grains.

Although many grocery stores, health foods stores, and online companies are now offering a wide selection of wheat-free/gluten-free foods including breads, bagels, cookies, cake mixes, doughnuts, etc; it is best to avoid these as much as possible. While they are made without wheat, they still contain other refined and process grains and wheat substitutes such as tapioca flour and corn flour.

Best thing to do is avoid grains–especially wheat and corn–all together. Substituting another processed grain may bring about a small improvement, but not the drastic improvement necessary.

Try two weeks with no grain products. I guarantee you will see some drastic improvements in your weight and general outlook!

Till next time,

Stay healthy and lean!

 

 

cat Healing Chicken Soup

 

 

 

DSC 6815 Healing Chicken Soup

Catherine (Cat) Ebeling RN BSN, is a back-to-basics diet and nutrition specialist. In addition to her advanced degree in nursing from a major medical school, she has spent the last 30 years intensely studying diet, health and nutrition. She also has a book titled "The Fat Burning Kitchen, Your 24 Hour Diet Transformation" that has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide, and has helped thousands of people transform their lives, lose weight and improve their health.   

                       Her mission is to help others prevent disease and live their best life ever.    

               Nutrition made Easy. Simple.Smart.Nutrition.

Amazing Energizing, Fat Burning Secrets of Coconut Oil

 

Coconuts once were considered bad for you.

It was thought that the saturated fat in coconut lead to high cholesterol, clogged arteries, heart disease, and weight gain.

Now, coconuts have taken center stage for their nutrition value.

So the question is: Are coconuts good for you or bad for you?

Coconut is now sold in stores as coconut oil, the coconut meat itself, coconut milk and coconut water.

While all parts of the coconut contain great health benefits it's the oil that makes it a real superfood!

Coconut oil, once avoided like the plague, is now known to be very beneficial to the body. Yes, hydrogenated coconut oil is bad–as are all hydrogenated fats.

But organic, unprocessed, virgin coconut oil is a whole different story. Coconut oil has been found to have some truly unique benefits for your body and is now considered a very healthy food.

Coconut oil has been described as "the healthiest oil on earth."

What makes coconut oil so good and so unique?

Ok, so fats come in different sizes. Well actually, fat molecules come in different sizes. Fats are made up of either Long Chain Fatty Acids (LCFA), Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFA), or Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA).

The majority of fats and oils in our diets, whether they are saturated, unsaturated, or come from animals or plants, are composed of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA).

Some 98 to 100% of all the fatty acids you consume are LCFA.

The size of the fatty acid is extremely important.

Why? Because our bodies respond to and metabolize each fatty acid differently depending on its size. Coconut oil is composed predominately of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA)— also known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT). Coconut oil contains the most concentrated natural source of MCFA available in our diet.

Because our bodies process MCFA’s differently, the effects of coconut oil are distinctly different from those of other oils.

Coconut oil is actually used to help treat health issues including weight loss, skin conditions, allergies, inflammation, Alzheimer’s and dementia, and strengthening the immune system.

Scientific studies have shown that coconut oil also has anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral properties and is effective against candida, measles, giardia, listeria, (common food-poisoning pathogens), staph, and heliobacter pylori (bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers) and is even being used to help HIV/AIDS patients.

And forget all the stuff that was once said about coconut oil and cholesterol and heart attacks!

Virgin coconut oil actually has a beneficial effect in lowering total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids and low-density lipoproteins (LDL-the bad cholesterol) and so is good for the blood vessels and the heart.

And, how about this: Substituting coconut oil for other vegetable oils in your diet will help you burn fat better, lose weight and have more energy.

How is this possible? Compared to carbohydrates, medium-chain triglycerides are a better and more efficient source of quick energy. Most oils, are broken down into fatty acids that circulate through your body after you eat them, and hungry fat cells in our bodies readily store these as fat.

When you eat MCFA’s, they go straight to the liver to get immediately metabolized and processed as energy.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to take a pill that would shift our metabolic rate into a higher gear? Well guess what? Coconut oil does that.

Eating foods containing medium chain fatty acids is like putting high-octane fuel into your car.  Because MCFA’s go directly to the liver and converted into energy, the body gets a boost of energy. And because MCFA’s are easily absorbed by the energy-producing parts of the cells, metabolism increases. 

This burst of energy has an energizing effect on the entire body.

The fact that MCFAs digest immediately to produce energy and stimulate metabolism has led athletes to use them as a means to enhance exercise performance. 

There are several studies showing this to be true:

In one study, investigators tested the physical endurance of mice who were given MCFA’s in their daily diet against those that weren't. The study extended over a six-week period.  The mice were subjected to a swimming endurance test every other day.  They were placed in a pool of water with a constant current flow like that found in a river.  The total swimming time until exhaustion was measured. 

While at first there was little difference between the groups of mice, those fed MCFA’s quickly began to out-perform the others and continued to improve throughout the testing period.

In another study, the thermogenic (fat-burning) effect of a high-calorie diet containing 40% fat as MCFA was compared to a diet containing 40% fat as LCFA (long chain fatty acids).

The thermogenic effect of the MCFA was almost twice as high as the LCFA: 120 calories versus 66 calories.

The researchers concluded that the excess energy provided by fats in the form of MCFA does not get stored as fat, but rather would be burned. MCFA’s are popular among body builders because they help reduce carbohydrate intake, and increase energy.

MCFA’s also have muscle-sparing effects. As a result, they help build muscles while reducing fats, and this means better fat-burning metabolism for you.

Since these super fats increase metabolism, and boost energy, virgin coconut oil gets ranked at the top of the list as a fat-burning food.

Researchers are now looking into the exciting possibility of using coconut oil as a treatment not only for Alzheimer’s disease but also for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type II (insulin resistance).

The most important change you can make in your diet is to replace all the refined vegetable oils (soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, etc.), margarine, shortening, or hydrogenated oils you may be currently using in your food preparation with coconut oil.

Coconut oil remains stable at higher heats for cooking and tastes great in most dishes. Try some in your next stir-fry! It also tastes great raw, straight from the jar.

I put coconut oil (its pretty thick at room temperature or below) on toast, in smoothies, or use in homemade mayo or salad dressing recipes.

One of my favorite healthy oil mixes is to use a combination of Udo’s Choice, grass fed butter and coconut oil when cooking. There are hundreds of ways to eat coconut oil, just give it a try!

 

 

 

 

Sources: Dr. Mary Enig, PhD, F.A.C.N., “Coconut: In support of good health in the 21st Century, http://www.coconutoil.com/coconut_oil_21st_century.htm, 2004-2007 Coconut Research Center, http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/, 2004 Ivy, John, and Robert Portman, “The Performance Zone: Your Nutrition Action Plan for Greater Endurance and Sports Performance” (Teen Health Series), North Bergen, NJ: Basic Health Publications, Inc., 2004. Ryan, Monique, “Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes”, Boulder, CO: Velo Press, 2002. Dr. Joseph Mercola, “Here's the Smarter Oil Alternative I Recommend to Replace Those Other Oils in Your Kitchen", Mercola.com, 2010.

Best Healthy Sweeteners

Our craving for sweets often ruins the most well intentioned lean body plan, and we succumb to
chocolates, handfuls of cookies, a slice of cake, a generous scoop of ice cream, or other such decadent
fare. The key ingredient in all of these items and essentially most of the sweets available on the market
is sugar or worse, high fructose corn syrup.

Too much sugar is often the culprit in sabotaging our diets, but it seems hard to avoid or resist. Sometimes you just crave a little something sweet. Artificial sweeteners are loaded into so many foods and snacks promoted as “diet” foods, but the long-term negative health aspects, as well as the potential weight gain is good reason
for you to avoid any and all artificial sweeteners.

Fortunately there are a variety of natural sweeteners that have been quite common in
supermarkets for a very long time, and are likely sitting on your shelf in your pantry at this
very moment.

Honey makes an excellent alternative to sugar and has some health benefits for you
compared to refined sugar. Although honey is still a form of sugar (and you need to be
aware of its caloric impact), one benefit of honey vs. refined sugar is that several studies
have found that raw honey can actually improve your body’s ability to process glucose. On
the other hand, refined sugar negatively affects your body’s ability to process glucose over
time.

Different types of honey contain different nutrients and health benefits, depending on types
of pollen and flowers the honey comes from. All honey possesses antibacterial agents and
act as an antioxidant. Honey contains vitamins B2 and B6, and is a good source of iron.
Consuming just a spoonful of honey each day can raise the antioxidant levels in our bodies,
and it is also the healthiest natural sweetener available for those with Type 2 Diabetes. Raw
honey can often be found at Whole Foods, local farm stands, and even some grocery stores,
and is by far the best you can get—and chock full of enzymes, as well as the above listed
nutrients.

Honey is a great replacement for sugar in many recipes, and because it is quite a bit sweeter,
you can use a smaller amount. The rule of thumb is about a 1/2-cup of honey per cup of
sugar. Also when cooking, you should also reduce liquids in the recipe by a 1/4 cup to
ensure proper consistency. Honey also serves to brown foods more easily as they cook, so
cooking temperatures should be lowered by 25°F.

Maple syrup is another product many of us have in the home and another natural sweetener
that can often be used in place of sugar. We are talking about real, pure, natural maple
syrup—not Aunt Jemima (which is just flavored corn syrup)! Real maple syrup is a good source of minerals and trace nutrients. As with honey, maple syrup is also a useful antioxidant, and possesses a good amount of zinc,
which can help prevent atherosclerosis and lower cholesterol, as well
as strengthen the immune system.

Maple syrup can be purchased in three specific colors or grades, each
denoting a particular flavor. The lighter syrups (grade A) will possess a more subtle flavor, while the darkest coloring (grade B or C) yields the strongest, sweetest flavor. The darker maple syrups typically contain higher
antioxidant and nutrient levels than Grade A maple syrup.

As with honey, you need to be aware of the high caloric level of maple syrup as it is still a
concentrated source of sugar, but it is definitely a better choice than refined sugar. My
personal preference is to use just a tiny pour of real maple syrup in my coffee instead of
white sugar. For teas, I prefer to use a small dab of raw honey instead of refined sugar.
Maple syrup is also great on oatmeal too.

Even though honey and maple syrup are slightly healthier options compared to refined white
sugar, your best bet is to still reduce your dependence on added sweeteners to food and
drinks by learning to adjust your taste buds to prefer less sweetness. As a matter of fact,
I’ve trained my taste buds over the years to prefer the taste of unsweetened iced tea these
days compared to years ago when I absolutely needed some added sweetener. Same with
coffee – although I still occasionally use a small dab of real maple syrup in my coffee, I’ve
adapted my taste buds to be able to enjoy a plain black coffee as well.

Blackstrap molasses is another option for a natural sweetener that can be used in baking. It
is a particular type of molasses that is rich in several essential vitamins and minerals,
including a good concentration of manganese, iron, calcium, potassium, and more. It is also
substantially lower in calories than other natural sweeteners.
Because molasses has a such a distinctive flavor, it may not be used as often as other natural
sweeteners as a replacement for sugar, but it can impart some foods with unique flavors,
such as baked beans and gingerbread.

A natural sweetener option that is calorie-free

Newer low or no-calorie sweeteners are just coming out. The healthiest of these is
stevia. Stevia comes from the leaves of a shrub native to Paraguay and Brazil, stevia has
been used as a sweetener for many years in South America. Stevia is about three hundred
times sweeter than sugar, and has all the benefits of a sweetener without being bad for you
or fattening. It’s truly natural, not some chemical compound from a laboratory, free of
calories, doesn’t promote tooth decay, and won’t elevate blood sugar levels, or cause weight
gain.

To sugar-crazy, and diet conscious Americans, stevia should be incredibly popular and well
known, but up until recently, it was not allowed in food or easily found. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) banned stevia in 1991. Why? Like many proponents of stevia, the
sugar industry has a hand in the FDA’s strict stance. The FDA ban allowed it to be sold as a
dietary ‘supplement’, and it can be found in most health food stores in the supplement aisle,
right next to the vitamins. Most of the time, it is pretty difficult to find and never in the
sugar or sweetener aisle…until now.

In the many years that stevia has been used in South America, and Japan, no ill health
effects have ever been attributed to its use.

Just this year, US-based beverage giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola reported they were looking
to switch from (or at least offer customers the choice) Splenda for a sweetener they have
more invested in: Rebaudiosides A (Reb-A), developed from stevia.
The actual name of the plant is stevia. The stevia plant also contains the sweeteners Reb-A,
B, C, D and E; dulcoside A; and steviolbioside. “We’re testing stevia and Reb-A in a variety
of products, but it absolutely comes down to taste,” said Joe Tripodi, chief marketing officer
for Coca-Cola.

Like all the previous low-calorie sweeteners out there, there have been some conflicting
stories on the health benefits and safety of stevia but it has been approved by the FDA as a
general-purpose sweetener since December 2008.

In 2005, Coca-Cola and the food giant Cargill began to work on their own form of the
sweetener. The companies are now marketing their stevia sweetener as Truvia. You may see
food items now sweetened with Truvia. Coca-Cola is initially using Truvia in two of its
Odwalla juice drinks and in the new Sprite Green.

PepsiCo’s stevia sweetener is being marketed as PureVia, and like Truvia, the marketing is
pushing the fact that it is natural. “This is a potential game-changer among zero-calorie sweeteners,” said Lou Imbrogno, PepsiCo’s senior vice president of Pepsi Worldwide Technical Operations, at a press
conference in July 2008. PepsiCo’s partner is using stevia in its Sobe Lifewater drinks and in
a new line of Tropicana orange juice, Trop50.

Stevia is the standout sweetener in the marketplace, because it is what the public is looking
for in a low-calorie sweetener to replace the questionable and not-so-natural Splenda and
NutraSweet chemical artificial sweeteners.

Stevia’s sweetness comes from its leaves. The stevia leaves are milled, and a freshwater
brewing method is used to extract the sweetness. This extract is then purified further until a
very high purity Reb-A is obtained.

Splenda’s creater, McNeil Nutritionals is getting in on the stevia craze as well. In March,
Sun Crystals All-Natural Sweetener was launched, which combines stevia with pure cane
sugar. This will be marketed as being as natural as sugar with half the calories.
NutraSweet has reported that they were not worried about stevia.

But coincidentally, the company is working on its own NutraSweet Natural made with
stevia! At least now they can compete head-to-head with stevia in the market.
While the previous chemically-processed artificial sweeteners have been connected to lung
tumors, breast tumors, and other rare types of tumors; several forms of leukemia, and
chronic respiratory disease in several rodent studies, as well as rashes, headaches, and other
serious and nasty side effects, stevia, Reb-A and its derivatives seem to be the safest of all
low-calorie sweeteners for the moment.

You can find stevia blends for your own use at this site: Naturally Stevia

Try Stevia in your favorite beverages like coffee, tea, lemonade, and more. Depending on
the brand and type of Stevia you use, the taste may vary. Some of the health food store
varieties had a “green” aftertaste, but really not bad—just something to get used to. Now
that Stevia is becoming more mainstream, the taste has improved. And some Stevia comes
in liquid form with great flavors like vanilla, toffee, lemon, etc. Give it a try!