Category: BLOG

EVERYTHING HAS A HEALTHY SUBSTITUTE

A big reason why people have a hard time switching to healthy food is because they think that there are no substitutions. Like how can you replace pasta? Rice? Bread? Milk? Sugar?

In our kitchen, you will find:

1. Shiratake noodles instead of flour pasta. Another option is to get a vegetable spiralizer for $20 and you can have zucchini or carrot noodles. Or you can just julienne your vegetables. 
2. Extra virgin olive oil, real butter not margarine,  and coconut oil instead of canola, corn, sesame, sunflower and vegetable oil
3. Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise and sour cream
4. Real tomatoes instead of tomato sauce
5. Stevia, Swerve or Lakanto Monkfruit sweetener instead of white refined sugar
6. Almond flour or Coco flour bread and WASA bread instead of white bread
7. Herbs and spices instead of large amounts of soy sauce
8. Lemon water and green shakes instead of soda and sugared fruit juices
9. Almond milk and coconut milk instead of dairy milk
10. Grated cauliflower  instead of rice
11. Avocados, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries , raspberries and melons instead of chips, crackers, and cookies

In general, try and consume as much green leafy vegetables as possible.

If you have nothing but healthy and whole foods in your kitchen, it will be hard to eat unhealthily because you have no choice. 

“Hmmm, I’m not going to make dinner tonight because we’re not that hungry—I’m just going to snack. But there are only celery stalks and zuchini in the fridge.” (so we snacked on vegetables!)

THE SCIENCE: 

Omega 3 vs Omega 6

Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids have opposing physiological functions. Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory and omega 6 is pro-inflammatory. The typical Western diet has higher omega 6 content as compared to omega 3. That is why obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are so rampant.

Omega 6 is found in the following common cooking oils: soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, and rice bran oil. It is recommended to avoid all these oils or at least keep them to a minimum. Instead of using these oils, use coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, or grass fed butter. 

Omega 3 fatty acids are best found in animals (marine or otherwise), almonds, and flax seed.

Compiled and written by: Loudette Ma Paz Guevara

References: 

• Filion KB, El Khoury F, Bielinski M, Schiller I, Dendukuri N, Brophy JM (2010). Omega-3 fatty acids in high-risk cardiovascular patients: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. BMC Cardiovasc Disord 10: 24.

• Gomez Candela C, Bermejo Lopez LM, Loria Kohen V (2011). Importance of a balanced omega 6/omega 3 ratio for the maintenance of health: nutritional recommendations. Nutr Hosp 26: 323-329.

• Myhrstad MC, Retterstol K, Telle-Hansen VH, Ottestad I, Halvorsen B, Holven KB et al (2011). Effect of marine n-3 fatty acids on circulating inflammatory markers in healthy subjects and subjects with cardiovascular risk factors. Inflamm Res 60: 309-319.

• Simopoulos AP (2008) The importance of the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio in cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. Exp Biol Med (Maywood)233: 674–688.

• Weitz D, Weintraub H, Fisher E, Schwartzbard AZ (2010) Fish oil for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Cardiol Rev 18: 258–263.

LET THE PURGE BEGIN

We are surrounded by fried foods, canned goods, boxed sweets and goodies, microwave dinners, and frozen processed foods. It is so easy to eat trash. It does give you a second of satisfaction but once you’ve finished your meal, you feel exactly like what you ate…garbage.

For today, your goal is to get rid of the temptations in your pantry and fridge. Check your pantry for white breads, flour pasta, pancakes, canned goods, top ramen, bread crumbs, canola oil, table sugar, chips, cookies, cereals, and anything that lasts for more than a year.

Check your fridge and freezer for microwaveable chicken dinners, corn, ice cream, sodas, packaged juices, sugared drinks, syrups, and anything that has a purely sugar or fructose content. 

But do not throw these away…donate it to people who need it. Remember that unhealthy food is better than no food. 

You might ask yourself, what can I eat for breakfast if I can’t eat bread and cereals? You can eat fruits and vegetables. You can have oats. You can have bacon and eggs! You can drink your green shakes. 

“Breakfast food such as pancakes with syrup and cereal is I think an American concept. In other countries like the Philippines, they eat fish and rice for breakfast. Other people eat their leftovers from last night’s dinner for breakfast.” 

“What your brain sees and what you want to eat is not necessarily what your body wants and needs. The mind is often exploited by advertisements. That is why it is tempting to reach for fried foods and soda. But your stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, arteries, and muscles do not want those foods.” 

THE SCIENCE

“What is the difference between table sugar, fruit sugar, high fructose corn syrup? 

Fructose is a type of sugar naturally found in fruit and honey. Its a monosaccharide just like glucose, whereas table sugar (sucrose)- the white granulated stuff we sprinkle in coffee or dump into a bowl of cookie batter- is a combination of glucose and fructose, thus making it a disaccharide (two molecules linked together). High-fructose corn syrup, which is what we find in our sodas, juices, and many processed foods, is yet another combination of molecules dominated by fructose- it’s 55 percent fructose, 42 percent glucose and 3 percent other carbohydrates.High fructose corn syrup was introduced in 1978 as a cheap replacement for table sugar in beverages and food products.” 

“Evolutionarily, sugar was available to our ancestors as fruit for only a few months a year ( at harvest Time), or as honey, which was guarded by bees.  But in recent years, sugar has been added to nearly all processed foods, limiting consumer choice.  Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy.”

Dr. Robert Lustig et al.

“When we eat 100 calories of glucose from a potato, our bodies metablolize differently and have different effects than if we were to eat 100 calories of sugar comprising half glucose and half fructose. Your liver takes care of the fructose component of sugar.

Glucose from other carbs and starches, on the other hand, is processed by every cell in the body. So consuming both types of sugar (fructose and glucose) at the same time means your liver has to work harder. Most especially in liquid forms found in soda or fruit juices.

And the science is well documented: Consuming fructose is associated with impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, high blood fats, and hypertension. And because it does not trigger the production of insulin and leptin, two key hormones in regulating our metabolism, diets high in fructose lead to obesity and its metabolic repercussions.”

A study done in 2008 from the Mayo Clinic and published in the Archives of Neurology, looked at the effects of the duration of diabetes. According to the Mayo’s findings, if diabetes began before a person was sixty-five years old, the risk for mild cognitive impairment was increased by 220 percent. The authors described a proposed mechanism to explain the connection between persistent high blood sugar and Alzheimer’s disease, in reference to cognitive decline and accelerated aging. 

Compiled and written by: Loudette Ma Paz Guevara

Reference:  

• David Perlmutter, MD with Kristin Loberg,“Grain Brain,” The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar- Your Brain’s Silent Killers, Chapter 4, Not a Fruitful Union, This is your Brain on Sugar ( Natural or Not) subtitled Sugar and Carbs 101, pge 104-106

• R.H. Lustig, et al., “ Public Health: The Toxic Truth About Sugar,” Nature 482, no. 7383 (February 1, 2012,): 27-29

• R.O.Roberts, et al., “ Association of Duration and Severity of Diabetes Mellitus with Mild Cognitive Impairment,” Archives of Neurology 65, no.8 ( August 2008):1066-73

HAVING THE RIGHT MINDSET

People think that being healthy and fit is hard. They’re right. It takes commitment, will power, and the right mindset. Changing one’s lifestyle is never easy because people are creatures of habit and comfort.  

We usually engage in dieting for a specific reason other than health and longevity. We do it for spring break beach season, weddings, proms, or simply to feel attractive. We are motivated by the wrong reasons. That is why dieting becomes short lived and unsustainable. 

To get you started, think about the following statements to help you make the change.

1. Change the word DIET to a WAY OF LIFE.
2. There are no shortcuts.
3. If there is one thing you can control with regards to your health, it is what you put in your body: food, cigarettes, prohibited drugs
4. Organic foods maybe more expensive than chips but do you really want to feed yourself toxic trash? 
5. Every unhealthy staple food and drink like sugar, pasta, breads, canola oil, corn oil, white rice, and soda has a healthy substitute.

“I work so hard for my money. I do not want to waste it on trash food. I work so hard for my body. I do not want to feed it garbage.” 

THE SCIENCE

There is a pilot study that consisted of overweight and obese individuals who were randomly assigned to an Intervention group and a Control group. 

Intervention group: The participants were enrolled in a behavioral weight loss program for 6 months. At the end of 6 months, they have lost an average of 6kg.

Control group: The participants were told that they were waitlisted for the weight loss program for 6 months.

After 6 months, all the participants had a brain scan done. They were shown 20 high calorie (unhealthy) foods, 20 low calorie foods (healthy), and 40 non related objects. 

The results showed that the intervention group had increased activity in their reward system in the brain (dorsal and ventral putamen) when shown the healthy foods. The control group had increased activity in their reward system in the brain when shown the unhealthy foods.

This is the very first randomized controlled trial that shows a definite shift in preference to healthy foods after a behavioural weight loss program. 

You can actually train your brain to value healthy foods and develop an aversion to unhealthy foods. 

Composed by: Lourdes H. Guevara

Reference: 

• Deckersbach T, Das SK, Urban LE, Salinardi T, Batra P, Rodman AM, Arulpragasam AR, Dougherty DD, Roberts SB. “Pilot randomized trial demonstrating reversal of obesity-related abnormalities in reward system responsivity to food cues with a behavioral intervention.”
• Nutrition & Diabetes. Published online ahead of print September 1, 2014. doi:10.1038/nutd.2014.26 – See more at: http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/training-your-brain-prefer-healthy-foods#sthash.uaBBOOp4.dpuf

As early as now, I want to tell you that this thing that we’re doing won’t happen overnight.The quick fixes that you see everywhere most likely, is a scam. These band aid solutions to problems will wear out and you’ll just waste money over nothing. So be patient. Remember, the results will happen over time, not overnight. 

Let me talk to you about your drive. People often tell you to be motivated, to be confident, to just do it. Easier said than done right?

My advice is to not rely solely on those two because motivation is frail, and confidence is often rooted from insecurities. What I want you to focus on is the virtue of being consistent, and being committed.  If you commit, like a hundred percent commit, even if you feel like shit, you won’t quit! And that’s similar to being consistent, even though you don’t feel like it or you don’t see results, you just have to stick with it and trust the process.

I also have days off, I also fail to be motivated, I also have days that I feel like I’m stuck in a rut. But I have no choice, I have a fully functioning brain, I am fit to work, so what excuse can I offer right? Yes we deserve to rest and recover once in a while, but we have to move! We have to move now!

Another virtue that I would want to impart on you is courage. Be courageous! The hero and the cowards feel the same fear, the only difference is how they react to the situation. The coward runs the moment they feel fear, the hero does it anyway. Do it anyway.