July 07 2024

Birthday Cake Culture

I was looking through my Facebook page this morning and saw a great editorial about our Birthday cake culture and how it is one of the most dangerous things for our health. I have similar discussions every single day and I completely agree!

How many of you try so hard to stick to an eating plan and goal, only to have a celebration at work or home derail you? Someone’s birthday deserves cake. Celebrate end of summer – root beer float day. Great job this week – cookie day. Just for the heck of it – ice cream sandwich day. There is always an excuse to eat – how can anyone survive without gaining weight? In the holiday season it is even worse, especially when people start bringing tins of cookies or candies to work. SML

It is difficult because we celebrate so many things with food! It is the easiest, cheapest way to reward a group of people. Most people don’t care for a plate of cheese or olives, or a veggie platter as a way to say congratulations. Nuts for reward? Salami sticks? Sound really great, don’t they? Probably not to most people.

We need a change in culture! But until that happens some strategies for this are: 1. change the way you think about foods – think of the cake or cookies as things that are not healthy but instead as toxic substances; 2. buy coffee or tea as a treat instead of sugary drinks or foods – add some cream with or without sugar free syrup to make it very satisfying; 3. avoid the room at work that the party is going on or where the food is sitting so you aren’t tempted to eat the addictive foods; 4. go into the party with the attitude that you will say no and just enjoy the company and find the table with cheese, meats, veggies and nuts; 5. don’t eat it just because the others want you to – you can either ignore the peer pressure or tell them that you are sugar/carb intolerant – all of us are; 6. teach your friends or coworkers how to eat more healthily – this takes time but is worth it when everyone starts making better choices.

I know it is very difficult to say no and to avoid these foods, but try to remember that these foods taste good and make you feel good for just a few minutes, and then make you feel bad for a whole lot longer. Work on remembering this when you are tempted at a work party or at a dinner party because there is always an excuse to eat… we need more excuses not to eat!

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http://www.raindance.org/wp-content/uploads/say-no.jpg

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July 07 2024

Are you inflamed?

Inflammation is something we have heard about a lot lately, but what exactly is inflammation and why is it so important?

Inflammation is a process in which the body tries to fight off harmful stimuli. It is an attempt at self protection involving immune cells, blood vessels, and molecular mediators. The aim is to eliminate the initial stimulus, remove any dead or damaged cells, and begin the healing process. Inflammation is very complex and can involve any part of the body.

Inflammation is not the same thing as infection, although infection can cause inflammation. Think about the swollen red nose, sore throat and wheezy lungs you get with an upper respiratory infection; these symptoms are not caused directly by the virus, but instead by the body’s response to the virus.

www.inflammation2011.com

Inflammation can be due to almost anything – foreign bodies (sliver), uric acid (gout), infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi), and sometimes is the body attacking itself (autoimmune diseases). The body can have acute inflammation – a rapid response of the body that can become severe. Examples of this include acute appendicitis, tonsillitis, sprained ankle, ingrown toenail, skin infection, acute gout, and exercise response. Chronic inflammation is long term resulting from failure to remove the stimuli, a low intensity chronic irritant, or an auto-immune response. Examples of this include vascular inflammation, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease.

bikramyogavancouver.com

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Obesity is also a pro-inflammatory state. Studies have been done which show that people who are obese have higher blood inflammatory markers, and the levels of all of these markers increase with increasing fat mass. One theory is that expanded fat has outgrown its blood supply causing too little oxygen to cells.

Insulin resistance is also an inflammatory response. Ever present (toxic stiumli) sugar causes increased insulin levels which in turn supplies surplus sugar to the cells; this prompts the cells to shut down the gateways that allow additional sugar into the cell. When this happens, any additional sugar present outside the cells is stored as fat (for an excellent, easy to read description of this, see Dr. Jason Fung’s “Insulin Resistance is Good?”).

When insulin resistance occurs, the immune system becomes more alert (read: more inflammatory). The results are more joint pain, more risk of heart disease and stroke, more gout, more irritable bowel, and more chronic pain.

seattleorganicrestaurants.com

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The deposit of fatty streaks in blood vessels is also an inflammatory response. Why do we get fatty streaks? The most plausible answer is because of oxidative stress to the small LDL particles. LDL particles are necessary (not bad as we’ve been taught) and are useful in cell functions and a necessary part of cell membranes. When they become oxidized, they are no longer recognizable except to white blood cells (a large player in inflammation) which cause them to form fatty streaks in the blood vessels. These fatty streaks eventually become plaque and can rupture causing an intense inflammatory response that can progress to block the vessel, resulting in a heart attack or stroke. What causes this oxidative stress to the LDLs? One of the main causes is oxidized polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and the biggest source of PUFAs is vegetable oils. The most common cause of oxidation of PUFAs is heating them. What do you do with vegetable oils? Heat them and use them to cook other foods. This plus the overall increase in inflammation due to insulin resistance increases risk of heart attacks significantly.

What is the root cause of all of this disease? Inflammation? No – inflammation is the protective response of our body. One major root cause is the Standard American Diet (SAD), high in sugar, refined highly processed carbohydrates, and vegetable oils (just look: soybean oil can be found in just about everything!). The cure? It goes back to eating real, whole food (see How to LCHF), getting enough sleep, quitting tobacco if you use it, and exercising regularly.

July 07 2024

What about exercise?

I can’t tell you how many times people come into my office and say “I just don’t get it; I exercise an hour every day and watch what I eat, and I just can’t lose weight!”.

Exercise is great for the body – it is fantastic for building muscle, for improving mood, for balance and strengthening, and really healthy for the heart (great drug free way to lower blood pressure). Weight lifting and weight bearing activity can strengthen and protect bones from osteoporosis. Yoga and tai chi can improve strength, balance, and flexibility as well as help core muscle strength and back pain issues.

Aerobic exercise – running, biking hard enough to get increase your heart rate up has been proven to boost the size of the hippocampus (the part of brain used in memory and learning) and helps us keep our memories, even when fighting dementia (Harvard). This is especially beneficial now when a new case of dementia is diagnosed every 4 seconds globally. A regular exercise program can also improve mood in people with mild to moderate depression and plays a role in treatment of people with severe depression (Harvard article).

With all that exercise does, it is very beneficial and should be done. It is just not the key for losing weight!

You could run an hour per day and burn 300+ calories, but at the end of the month that is about 9000 calories, which is not worth even 3 pounds of fat loss. Study after study has come out showing that you cannot outrun a bad diet (BMJ article; dietdoctor ). This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exercise, just that you shouldn’t use it as a way to justify your diet.

If you do want to start exercising regularly here are some programs you can try to slowly build up to regular activity:

Push ups are some of nature’s perfect exercises – they improve core muscle strength as well as upper body. If you can’t do push ups on the floor, do them against a counter top to start, or even against a wall! 30 day 50 push up challenge

Running or walking can get you good aerobic exercise – you just have to do it fast enough to get your heart rate up.

This is a good starting program for people who are not fit.

Guide to becoming a runner (later in life/safely). I have never been a runner, but I did this challenge last fall and got to where I could run 4 miles 3 times per week before it got too cold – I am starting again this month!

If you’re looking for higher intensity then look into a HIIT program (High-intensity Interval Training). These programs maximizing your exercise in a shorter time by put together the strength training with the cardiovascular workout. I have not tried any of these, but there are a number of programs online. This one appears good for beginners: (3 HIIT workouts for beginners).

Regardless of what activities you decide to do, it is a good idea to first focus on diet when you are making a change. Adopt the LCHF lifestyle for 1-2 months before even worrying about starting a program. Then, when you decide to start activity, start something that is mildly challenging at first to get used to regular activity, then increase intensity as you are able. (5 steps to starting exercise, Mayo Clinic). Showing yourself that you are making progress is important. Make a goal: try to exercise 3 times per week to start, or maybe you want to able to walk up stairs without shortness of breath, or how about running a race – there are tons of short races that are really fun for participants like the color races or mudders. Studies show that people who have a goal are more successful at sticking with exercise. (WebMD – making goals).

July 07 2024

Sugar…white death

How do I love sugar? Let me count the ways: Agave, anhydrous dextrose, brown sugar, cane crystals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, crystal dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose sweetener, fruit juice, honey…too many ways to count!

Did you know sugar is 8 times more addictive than cocaine? (NIH study,)

It takes over your brain and makes you eat more, even if you are not hungry! (How sugar makes you addicted). There is no one kind of sugar that is better for you than other sugar; sugar is sugar is sugar. Eating any kind of sugar in excess leads to obesity and insulin resistance, the root of so many other problems. (Is sugar toxic?)

SUGAR IS EVERYWHERE

Open up some spaghetti sauce, chances are you’ll find it. Cereal? Most cases absolutely. Tomato soup? Definitely! It makes foods taste good and makes you want more, so is often used in food preparation at restaurants and in highly processed foods.

In the US it has been recommended that women consume no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar, and men no more than 9 teaspoons on a daily basis (I recommend not eating/drinking ANY added sugar on most days).

On average Americans consume 150-170 pounds of sugar per year (per USDA report). Broken down, that is about 90 teaspoons per pound, or 13,500-15,300 teaspoons of sugar per year. This comes down to average of 37-42 teaspoons, slightly more than a full cup of added sugar per day per American.

Would you be surprised to find out that the average can of soda has 9.5 teaspoons of added sugar, and a 20 ounce bottle has about 16 teaspoons. What about “healthy” 100% juice? Juice can average 26g of sugar in a one cup serving (5g=1tsp). Ounce for ounce that is the same as soda! Grape juice, lemonade as well as other kinds of mixed juices or juice drinks may seem healthier than soda but can end up being worse. Organic Capri Sun (advertised on website as”healthy and wholesome”) has JUST 17g, but they make their servings smaller at 6 ounces, so still over 3 tsp or half of daily recommended amount of added sugar in one pouch. Popular smoothie drinks that do not have “added sugar” already contain up to 57g of sugar (11 tsp) per bottle.

See how your other favorite drinks add up: SugarStacks.com

Recently it was a friend’s turn to bring snacks to her preschooler’s class and she was told to bring boxed juice and pudding. What she found when she read labels shocked her. Each pudding had 17g of sugar, and the 6.75oz box of white apple grape juice had 25g, supplying 42g or 8 tsp of sugar to preschoolers for a morning snack!

More snack food comparisons at: SugarStacks.com

Drinks are a quick way to sneak in sugar, and although processed foods are really no better, it is in the foods that we don’t expect the sugar that we need to find it.

It is important to know how to read labels to find where sugar is hidden.

Nutrition labels give you a lot of information. When eating LCHF or being sugar/carb aware you first want to pay attention to the number of carbs you eat and drink. The total carbs are a combination of the fiber, sugars, and other starches in a food. You can subtract the dietary fiber from total carbohydrates to get the food’s net carbs. You should count net carbs when deciding if a food fits in your daily goals. Second, ingredient lists – the ingredients are not listed by percent of calories in a product, they are listed by weight. The heaviest ingredient is listed first. Most high sugar foods will have 3-4 different kinds of sugar so by weight they can be listed further down the list. Here is an example of a popular “healthy, whole grain cereal” (not even an obvious kids’ cereal). Check out ingredients number 3-7: brown sugar, sugar, maltodextrin, malted barley extract, molasses – all different kinds of sugar.

Look first at amount of sugar in a Look first at amount of sugar in a product, and then if it seems high look for any sugar in the ingredient list (things like plain whole fat Greek yogurtcan be misleading as it does have some natural sugar in it without any added sugar, but get the brand with the least amount of sugar). Overwhelmed? There is no need to be. When you are at the grocery store, try to stay away from the center rows. That is where you are going to find the high sugar, processed food and drinks. Buy the majority of your food from the outside edges of the store (or freezer section for some great vegetable choices) where you will find the real food – meats, whole fat dairy and vegetables that are grown above ground. A good general rule is: don’t eat it if it has a TV commercial, comes in a colorful wrapper, has a mascot, or your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize it.

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July 07 2024

Insulin Resistance

You might not hear about insulin resistance as often as diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, or even cancer—but it’s deeply connected to all of them. It’s one of those underlying issues that quietly affects many aspects of health without getting much attention.
Insulin is a hormone your pancreas releases when your blood sugar rises—usually after you eat. Its job is to help move that sugar into your cells so your body can use it for energy. But insulin does more than that. It also signals your body to store extra sugar as fat. When your cells stop responding properly to insulin, that’s when insulin resistance begins—and it can set the stage for a range of health problems.

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Different types of food affect your blood sugar in different ways. Carbohydrates tend to cause the quickest and most noticeable spike, while protein leads to a more gradual rise. Fats, on the other hand, have very little impact. Understanding how these foods interact with your body is key when managing insulin resistance and keeping blood sugar levels in check.

In a healthy body, insulin works in sync with rising blood sugar levels. As glucose increases, insulin steps in to help bring it back down—often dipping slightly below normal before settling. This balance is key to preventing insulin resistance, and when it’s working properly, your body stays energized and stable.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is packed with highly processed, sugary foods—making up more than half of our daily calories (BMJ, 2016). We tend to eat and drink throughout the day, which keeps our blood sugar elevated far more than it should be. Over time, this constant spike in glucose can lead to insulin resistance. Everyone’s body responds differently, which is why some people develop obesity or diabetes earlier than others.

Insulin resistance happens when your cells stop responding properly to insulin, the hormone that helps move sugar from your bloodstream into your cells for energy. Even though your body keeps producing insulin, it’s not being used effectively. As a result, blood sugar stays high for longer periods, and the pancreas works overtime to produce more insulin. Eventually, that excess sugar gets stored as fat instead of being burned for fuel.

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/apologia/drafts/endocrine.html

It can turn into a frustrating cycle: you feel tired and hungry, often craving carbs, so you eat—but your body doesn’t use that energy efficiently. Blood sugar spikes, fat gets stored, and you’re left with little fuel to actually feel better. Before long, you’re tired and hungry again. This pattern, repeated over time, plays a big role in the development of insulin resistance.

This cycle is starting earlier than ever. From a young age, many kids are introduced to sugary drinks and processed snacks—sometimes as early as infancy. Over time, this constant exposure to high-sugar foods can lead to insulin resistance, even in childhood. Some estimates suggest that up to 70% of Americans are either insulin resistant or dealing with health issues linked to it. Everyone’s body responds differently, which is why conditions like obesity and diabetes show up at different stages for different people.

http://www.tolwellness.com/metabolic-syndrome/

Avoiding insulin resistance doesn’t have to be complicated. One of the simplest ways to start is by cutting back on processed foods and added sugars. If you’re already noticing signs of imbalance, trying a Low Carb High Fat (see LCHF) diet can be a helpful step. It’s a practical approach that supports better blood sugar control and overall metabolic health.

Insulin resistance may be common, but it’s not inevitable—and it’s definitely not irreversible. With small, consistent changes to your diet and lifestyle, you can take meaningful steps toward better metabolic health. The earlier you start, the more control you have over your energy, weight, and long-term wellness.

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