Nutrition

I was thinking of posting on giving up my car, but someone commented that they would like to hear about nutrition books. So I'll start by talking about nutrition.

Specifically the comment asked about Dr. Campbell's book The China Study. I have read that book and would even recommend it. I even had the opportunity to attend a talk of his when he came to our campus. I think that I should start by saying that he's controversial. When he came here, the nutrition department was up in arms. They did not want him to speak here because his ideas are different and they flow against what the ADA says. I will agree that there are weaknesses to his arguments, but overall, I think that he has some good ideas.

In essence, he suggests eating a "plant based" diet. Eat more fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, and whole grains and less meat, and dairy. I think that most Americans would benefit greatly by taking that advice. While the book never really says it straight out, he's almost suggesting a vegan diet (no meat and no animal products). This is where I will part ways with Dr. Campbell. "Plant based" (which is what he calls his vegan diet throughout the book) is a great idea, but the only source of vitamin B12 is from animal sources (eggs, milk and meat all contain B12). Sure, Dr. Campbell suggests that if you don't wash your carrots, there may be enough life in the dirt left on the carrots to provide B12, but I'm thinking that eggs on occasion are a more sure bet.

Another diet book that I would recommend is Volumetrics by Dr. Roll. She suggests eating foods that are higher in fiber and water content and lower in fat. It turns out that meat and animal products are generally high in fat, while fruits, vegetables and whole grains are high in fiber and water content. While Dr. Roll doesn't seem to be against meat, both Dr. Campbell and Dr. Roll suggest pretty much the same thing when you get right down to it.

We follow certain diets in order to be healthy. Dr. Campbell suggests some health benefits from his diet that are quite profound (including decreased cancer and other highly scrutinized ideas), while Dr. Roll's are more typical. Interestingly, I took several classes from Dr. Cordain in my Master's program; he is the author of The Paleo Diet. He says that we should eat lean meat, preferably that comes from wild game and non-farmed sources. His diet also contains no grains, no dairy and lots of fruits and vegetables. It is EXTREMELY different than Dr. Campbell's suggestions, but both authors proclaim the same health benefits and even site similar metabolic pathways for reaching those health benefits. I would agree with Dr. Cordain that farm raised meat is not a part of a healthy diet, while wild game and lots of fruits and vegetables are a good idea.

What do I eat? I would consider myself a vegetarian. I say that, but if you were to invite me over for dinner and serve hamburgers from the local feed lot, I would eat it. I would likely complain to my wife on the way home, but I really have nothing moral or ethical against eating meat. If I had a good source of wild game, I might even prepare some meat in my home, but it would be monthly at most. The reason that I am a vegetarian is partially because I think it's healthier, but more because I think that its better for the environment. Consuming farmed meat takes a lot of resources and I don't think that is sustainable for our growing population. I eat eggs for vitamin B12. I wish I had a more regular source of backyard eggs, but now I don't so we buy the junk from the store.

How does my diet influence my family? This may be more than you want to know, but with the high fiber content that we eat, my family is quite regular and there is seldom a problem with constipation in the family. I also think that it's significant that we don't bring processed foods into our home (at least not often). If we are having squash, rice and black beans for dinner, that's what the kids eat. They don't ask for hot dogs or chicken nuggets because I don't know that they've ever had them. Maybe they have, but they surely aren't available in our home and they would never think of asking. Don't misunderstand, my kids certainly complain about the broccoli sometimes and they don't like everything that is prepared in our home, but we also don't do much to accommodate them.

When we go out for the day, like when we go up to the Children's Museum or to the park, we almost always bring food with us. We rarely eat out. I would estimate that we eat out fewer than a half dozen times a year. Maybe it's more than that because family will often take us out, but I would take my wife's home cooked meal over eating out any day (except that day she made cold cucumber soup, but she promised not to make that again).

While I do think a lot about simplicity when I think about the food that I eat, it is so embedded into my routine that I hardly notice it. Most of the people I work with notice the quantity of what I eat more than what it is or that it is different from what others are eating.

Bigger Faster Stronger

We harvested our squash last week. Keep in mind that we didn't plant squash in our garden, we composted it last year and it decided that it wanted to be part of our garden. We didn't resist the unexpected plants, but next year we will take them out like weeds. Maybe that isn't how I should say it, since we didn't have very good luck with weeds this year either. We will take them out like chestnut trees, we were able to keep out chestnut forest under control.

So the point is, all of my seeds came from one banana squash, a couple pumpkins, a spaghetti squash and a couple of others that we picked up somewhere. The banana squash that we bought last year was huge. I'm sure it was grown with all of the modern pesticides and fertilizers and that is why it was huge. Sure, we got a couple of squash that were pretty big (genetics), but most were moderately sized. At first I was a little disappointed that my squash were smaller (and somehow inferior?) to those available at the farmer's market. I got to thinking about this and it is completely backwards. My squash are smaller because they were grown in competition with weeds that I couldn't keep up with and without fertilizers aiding their growth. My squash grew on compost and water. I know what is in my squash, and it's not artificial chemicals (except for those that the neighbors use and drift our way). I will take my smaller squash over the chemical mammoths at the farmer's market any day.

This is a hard thing for people to deal with. Look at people's choices in houses, cars, fruit, etc. Bigger is considered better. I don't think this is true. Lets take kids for a moment. If you see a plump child (I'm talking preschool and up, not infant) people tend to comment that the child looks, "healthy". Not necessarily.

Even science does it... Average height has been increasing from year to year for quite some time now. Modern medicine is quite proud of itself because surely this is due to improved nutrition. No it's not. Sure, malnutrition is the cause of some extremely small statures, but the extremely tall statures that we are now seeing does not mean that our nutrition is extremely good. What we see is the result of excess insulin (and therefore growth hormone) in the blood as a result of eating lots of sweets, colas and otherwise simple, processed foods. With chronically elevated insulin and growth hormone levels, children are getting taller, going through puberty earlier and simply developing more quickly. While this isn't necessarily bad, I don't think that it's good. For example, taller women (those who have been exposed to higher blood insulin and growth hormone levels) have a much higher risk of getting breast cancer. There are many other examples of this. Taller is not better, just as bigger produce isn't better.

And what do we do for entertainment? We gather around a television and watch physiologic freaks (either through genetic, nutritional or chemical means) compete at professional sports. Bigger, faster and stronger are what we strive after, that is what the "cool" guys are. Except they often times aren't healthy.

My favorite example of this is still from the scriptures. The Jewish people of the old testament were awaiting a Messiah, a King that would save them from the oppression of the Greeks. They were awaiting a mighty military ruler who could overthrow the Greeks and allow their people to return to their promised land. They sort of assumed that this would be accomplished through force and military might. Instead, what they got was the carpenter's son; a man who was meek and humble, hardly a military ruler. Not only was he not a large man or a military leader, but he taught to be peaceful and humble.

Despite the Jew's expectations, they got a man more powerful than their expectations. Not a military leader, but a religious leader who brought with him the forgiveness of sins. A more powerful man, there will never be.

Bigger, stronger and faster is not always better. I'm proud of my smaller fruit because it is natural from the earth. It was produced how God prepared for it to be produced, through normal natural processes. In a lineup of banana squash it may not be very impressive, but its strength lies in its creation, not its outward appearance.

more responses

Taylor-- It may have been a rhetorical question, but I'm going to answer anyway. You asked why people are critical of different ways of eating. I think you're on to something when you say that they may be a little guilty about their own diet. Beyond that I think there is something to be said about our loved ones who didn't eat right. A couple of generations ago there were far more farmers than there are today. They lived on a farm, they ate meat at every meal and had whole, unpasteurized milk. That was the way of life, and life "on the farm" has become a symbol of the manly man that is indestructible. A plant based diet is confronting these established norms.

Additionally, many people's grandfathers were farmers. Manly men that ate lots of beef and worked hard. When you eat a plant based diet to improve your health are you saying that "my" grandfather could have lived longer if he had eaten a better diet? Are you saying if I could have influenced "my" grandfather's diet he wouldn't have died of a heart attack at age 57? Are you blaming me for my grandfather's death? That's a difficult conversation to have, and if it was your grandfather, it is difficult to admit that this man could still be with you if he hadn't been such a "manly man" in the way he ate. Who's ever heard of a vegetarian farmer?

There's a lot of social and personal issues that come with drastic changes in diet. Some people even take it personally. I have talked to my grandparents about the amount of meat that they eat and health. They aren't going to change and we sort of avoid the conversation now, but I care so much about them that I would like nothing more for them to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease meat consumption so they can be here for as long as possible. It's worked for them for over 80 years, why change now? Well it could increase energy levels and improve some health issues and improve so many things that they don't even know are wrong, but habits are hard to change and I would rather not argue with them.


Laurel-Anne-- To start I will give the correct answer... I don't know and I don't think that there is anyone in the world who knows. There has been no research (that I know of) that has been done on that and the theories out there are rather speculative. But, this is MY blog so I'm going to give an answer based on the research I have done. You're right, heat denatures proteins, so the pasteurization process should denature some proteins, but not all. There are also some proteins that will "spontaneously renature", especially short simply proteins like insulin. I do not see how denaturing the proteins would increase the insulin response. If intact (not denatured) proteins get into the system and influence our bodies that could have some serious effects on insulin response, but if anything pasteurization would decrease the likelihood of that happening. I can't see how raw milk could improve the insulin response in milk, but that doesn't mean that I'm right. I've also seen some other reported benefits of raw milk besides the insulin response, but that's not an area where I'm very well read.

responses

I've still got a few outstanding questions that I should answer.

Kate, generally fat is stored as fat so it comes into the body in its storage form. it is taken to the liver and then around the body to be deposited, I would say that it is done within minutes, certainly not more than a couple of hours. If you were to eat a fat free diet (which is nearly impossible) you can convert carbohydrates and protein to fat through a process called de novo lipogenisis. I don't know how long this would take, but it isn't very efficient and although it is physiologically possible, your body will normally just burn the carbohydrates and store more fat since we always tend to have a little of that in the diet. I also think that it's important to point out that a fat free diet isn't necessarily a good diet and if you are eating a healthy diet that doesn't contain more calories than you will be expending, you will not store a significant amount of fat.

Veronica asked about weight gain and aging. As people age their basal metabolic rate decreases so you burn fewer calories to maintain life. To avoid weight gain you have to either eat less or exercise more (actually both is the best option). Exercise is important to maintain muscle mass (which decreases with age) and thereby minimize the decreases in metabolic rate. Eat right and you'll be able to maintain a healthy body weight. I should point out that this is easier said than done. We develop eating habits that are hard to change, yet our bodies change requiring that we make some changes.

Vertigo asked about recent milk studies that related milk consumption with weight loss. I've seen them, they do exist. First off, all of the studies included a calorically deficient diet that included milk. With or without milk, if there is a caloric deficiency you will lose weight. I know, they showed that those drinking milk lost more than those who didn't. It's also important to recognize that drinking milk is generally recognized as a healthy behavior because it is associated with drinking less soda. People who follow "healthy" diets also consume more fruits and vegetables and fewer meats and sweets. There's more to this than just milk. It is also important to point out that every study I've seen has been funded by the milk industry in some way which leaves them suspect. I'm not convinced, but I could be wrong. Here's another cartoon from that great site

Taylor and Emily have adopted the diet... Good work. It's hard when your spouse isn't completely on board. The vast majority of Americans could see huge health benefits from changing their diets. They are unwilling for whatever reason. Instead people take all sorts of pills to make them feel better and have more energy, etc. A good diet and regular activity will do that for you at far less cost and it works even better than drugs.

If I missed any questions, let me know.

Bicarbonate

First I will finish up with milk and answer a couple of questions. Then I will tackle Baking Soda as a performance enhancing drug.

I had a couple questions about cheese and yogurt. No, they do NOT elicit the same insulin response as milk. Ice cream has a substantial insulin response, but it is what you would expect from the amount of sugar available in ice cream. This is another reason that I don't drink milk.

I talked last time about how it wasn't the fat in milk that caused the insulin spike, and it wasn't the carbohydrates either. That leaves the protein as the culprit. Yogurt and cheese have the exact same protein composition as milk, but they don't produce an insulin spike. That's odd. If you ask a nutrition professor about the insulin spike in milk they will tell you that certain amino acids are able to cause an increase in insulin (that's true). Then why does milk increase insulin levels, but not cheese and yogurt? Nobody knows.

It could very well be that it is a combination of fats and protein that some how change things. That is a reasonable explanation. Another explanation (which goes against a lot of "established" science) is that the intact proteins are entering our bodies and having a hormonal influence on our organs.

Most people have heard that mothers should breast feed their babies because it boosts their immune system. That is because breast milk has protease inhibitors (proteins that prevent the baby's gut from breaking down molecules that help the baby) so the baby can absorb mom's healthy stuff into their own system.

Mother cows also produce protease inhibitors that inhibit breakdown of molecules when you drink it. Does that mean that when the farmer shoots up the cow with all sorts of hormones and drugs, they get into our bodies? Scary huh. Frankly, it's a long shot. The adult gut should break down all of the proteins before absorption and any scientist will tell you that is what happens. I agree with them that milk probably is broken down before absorption, but really there isn't any specific data on the subject. (To be fair, there is a lot of data to show that proteins are broken down in the gut before absorption in adults, it just didn't happen to use milk proteins).

OK, bicarbonate. Baking soda (bicarbonate) is a viable performance enhancing drug. Your body uses bicarbonate to buffer lactic acid, so the idea is that if you supplement with baking soda your body will have an increased ability to buffer lactic acid. It works for long sprint events. So if you run the 400 or 800 in track or ride the flying kilo on the velodrome, baking soda could improve your performance. It is not effective for longer distances.

Oh, there are a couple of side effects... Well there's just one SUBSTANTIAL side effect. First off, it takes LOTS of bicarbonate to increase performance (several tablespoons at least). If you can get down several large tablespoons of baking soda, that might work for you, but most people buy empty capsules so they can swallow the baking soda and then the capsule dissolves in the stomach. Baking soda is not very well absorbed, so it takes lots. Oh, and because baking soda is not very well absorbed, it causes the diffusion of water into the colon. The major side effect of using baking soda is EXPLOSIVE diarrhea. While you will likely improve your 400 time, I don't know if it will be a lactic acid buffering thing, or a severe urge to get to the bathroom before embarrassing yourself. Try it at your own risk.

Something that really does work for similar events is hyperventilating at the starting line which will increase your ability to buffer lactic acid. The only risk there is passing out before the gun goes off.

Milk

This post sort of belong with the Paleo-diet post, but this was the subject of my master's thesis, so it needs its own page. I'm going to cover a lot here, so hang on for the ride.

Next time I will talk about baking soda as performance enhancing drug.

I will continue to take requests. If there are topics that you want covered, please let me know. Remember that when you stop giving recommendations I'll have to revert to my own ideas. I've got a great post in mind about my use of soap.

Milk... where do I start. OK, my master's thesis established that there is a dissociation between the glycemic and insulinemic indices in whole and skim milk. (Now that I've got the first sentence down, the writer's block is gone so I will revert back to English).

When you consume a food containing carbohydrates your blood sugar will increase. In order for blood glucose to get into cells it needs GLUT 4. Insulin levels in the body will increase after you consume a food in order to bring GLUT 4 molecules to the surface of the cell and allow glucose into the cell. Normally, increases in insulin are closely linked to increases in glucose (this makes sense because the insulin is needed to clear glucose from the blood).

My thesis studied whole and skim milk. When you drink a glass of milk your blood glucose levels go up a little (GI=30 which is low). Blood insulin increases three or four times what you would expect. That really doesn't make sense because you don't need that much insulin to deal with the glucose in the system. But it happens and I don't think it's good.

Previous studies established that the glycemic and insulinemic response to milk were not different when a person consumed lactose (just the sugar component of milk). I originally wanted to study whether it was the protein in milk that caused the dissociation between the glucose and insulin response. Unfortunately, I blew up a couple of pressure cookers trying to denature proteins and then the milk was chunky and I couldn't get anyone to drink it (actually it didn't taste bad, but when the milk go stuck in you teeth it caused an almost instant gag reflex). It didn't take long for me to figure out that I could buy whole fat and skim milk in the store and I was able to determine that it was not the fat component in milk that causes the dissociation.

Sorry, that was a little side-track into memory lane. So who cares if insulin and glucose are dissociated? The real question is, what does your body do when insulin is high, but there is no glucose to go into cells? Your body will protect against this because you need sugar in the blood to fuel your brain. So cells become resistant to insulin so that your brain can continue to function. Insulin resistance is a beginning step of diabetes, so this isn't looking good for milk. I should also mention that your body is quite resilient, and I certainly don't think that milk is the sole cause of diabetes. In many people it is a contributor to diabetes, but many people will drink milk their whole lives and never have an issues with diabetes. The body is resilient.

Speaking of insulin, what else does it do? First off, milk will cause an insulin spike, but so will drinking diet colas or anything with excessive sugar in it. Chronically elevated insulin levels (frequent in people who consume lots of sweets) are associated with elevated levels of growth hormone, earlier age of menarche, increased height, increased obesity, increased cancer, and numerous other health issues. Milk is known to increase insulin levels and a recent study showed that regular meat consumption also increased insulin levels. Notice how milk is associated with increased height, not because of calcium intake, but because of elevated insulin levels that increase growth hormone. People will often ask me whether I tested organic milk. No I didn't, but I don't think the results would differ because this is an insulin thing, not growth hormone or whatever they shoot into the cows. I'm sure the growth hormone doesn't help anything, but organic will not solve the problems behind milk.

Yes, I just said that milk "building strong bones" was due to insulin, not calcium, so where should I get my calcium? Orange juice or other fortified stuff. Really the issue with calcium is due to expulsion and not intake. The US has one of the highest milk consumption rates in the world, and also one of the highest osteoporosis incidence rates in the world. Other countries where well over half of the population is lactose intolerant or don't drink milk for religious reasons have far lower osteoporosis rates. Do you still believe all that garbage that the dairy council feeds you through the food guide pyramid? Most people call it marketing, but the dairy council has succeeded in embedding their marketing in the education system so now we call it education, but they were just as wrong as when they called it marketing. Sorry, I have some issues with the dairy council, their marketing money is seeing its way into far too many organizations that are trying to promote health.

Recovery drinks (sorry, no transition there, I needed to get away from the dairy council before my blog was overtaken and the entry ruined). Chocolate milk is a good one because insulin is high and sugar content is also high which allows for easy restocking of glycogen stores. It should be noted that this is a good recovery drink for an athlete after a vigorous workout or competition. This isn't needed unless you have spent hours at your activity working your tail off and you plan on doing it again the next day.

Since I finished my master's thesis, I have not purchased any milk. We did buy a soy-milk maker which works pretty well, but no more cow juice for this family.

So where do we get our calcium? (I'm ready to return to the calcium topic after counting to 10 so as not to do bad things to the dairy council). Everyone in the family takes a calcium supplement (just to be safe), but I don't know that they are really needed. There are three components to building bone (not just drinking milk like the dairy industry would have you think).

First, your bones need a stimulus to build. Our bodies are incredible, they rebuild themselves based on how they are being used. Bones bend (just slightly) when they impact the ground or bear more weight than usual. The bending of the bone stimulates bone growth and inhibits bone breakdown. The absence of bone bending promotes bone breakdown and inhibits bone growth. In order to grow strong bones you must participate in weight bearing exercise (running, walking squats, etc.) Notice that swimming and cycling are NOT on that list, that is because they aren't weight bearing and many swimmers and cyclists actually have relatively weak bones because they aren't stressed enough to make them bend. So if you're here from fatty's, and you ride regularly, you need to be doing something else (like running or jumping) to stress your bones.

Second, your body needs to be neutral (as in not acidic). The typical American diet is very acidic. In order for your blood to remain at a constant pH, your body uses a buffer called calcium bicarbonate. Calcium bicarbonate comes from your bone matrix, is used to buffer acidity and is then excreted in the urine. The most acidic foods are colas, processed foods and meats, especially processed meats like ham, bacon, sausage and bologna. The most basic (as in alkaline) foods are fruits and vegetables. Even citrus fruits have a net basic effect on the body (I don't understand this, but I've heard it from several different sources, so I've accepted it). Grains are acidic, but not as acidic as meats. The best thing that you can do for your bones is eat lots of fruits and vegetables (as long as you already exercise).

Third, your body needs a source of calcium. Fruits and vegetables do contain some calcium (not much and it's not easily absorbed), and this may or may not be enough to build strong bones (that is why my family supplements). There is a limit to the amount of calcium your body can absorb in a day, so mega dosing calcium will just make for calcified poop. I don't want to downplay calcium intake, you have to have it, but if you're mega dosing on calcium and eating an acidic diet, you are still flushing most of the calcium down the toilet.

I chose that order for bone health on purpose... exercise, basic diet and calcium intake. It takes all three.

I think that is all that I have to say about milk. Tomorrow I will talk about the performance enhancing effects of baking soda. It should be exciting.

Paleo-diet

I hope to answer a lot of questions on this one post. I will address questions about "wheat" products, why I'm against milk and hopefully I can convince a couple more people that I'm a raging tree hugger. I will be saving a bone health post for next week and gewilli, I'll hit on Baking Soda as an ergogenic aid later, and although it works, don't try it.

Johnny D asked about exercise and then not being hungry for lunch. Exercise is an appetite suppressant (in the short term), but will increase eating hours later.

So the principle behind the Paleo-diet is that our bodies have evolved to consume certain foods, and since the industrial revolution food choices have been changing faster than evolution can keep up with. This Western diet is therefore leading to chronic disease because we haven't had time to evolve. Our bodies are designed to eat like the cavemen, so that is how we should eat.

The paleo diet is meat, fruits and vegetables and that is it. You eat like the cavemen. No grains, dairy, or processed foods. If you look historically at people who ate this way they didn't suffer from many of the chronic diseases that we face today (they also lived an average of ~40 years before being eaten by a wildebeest).

I'm going to start with what I like about this diet. yes, there is a lot that I like about this diet. First off, the focus on fruits and vegetables. If you really understand the Paleo-diet you will recognize that the Dole 5-a-day thing won't get you anywhere. We're talking several servings of fruits and vegetables with every meal. I see no better way of getting the nutrients that you need. Most people should be eating way more fruits and vegetables than they currently consume and this diet will certainly get you there.

Fluids... The cavemen drank water. That is what we should drink. We should get way from fruit drinks, alcohol, coffee, milk, etc. Can you imagine a caveman trying to milk a buffalo? Our body doesn't deal well with liquid calories, so why give it to the body? Someone asked about alcohol in a recent post. First I will tell you that I'm biased, I've seen people close to me have REALLY bad experiences with alcohol, I will never touch the stuff. I know that there are studies showing benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, but I don't think it's worth it. Alcohol contains lots of calories, and alcohol calories are a poison to the body that the body burns first before any other calories in the body. This may sound good, but it leads to the body storing all the other calories... many of those calories go to the "beer belly". I don't see alcohol as part of a healthy diet, but you will find many who disagree with me.

Back to the Cavemen. Exercise. The cavemen were a transient group that got lots of exercise. Although that is not the emphasis of the caveman diet, it should be a part of it, as it should be a part of everyone's healthy lifestyles.

Meat consumption. The focus of the paleo-diet is on good meat sources. The cavemen didn't eat corn fed salmon or feedlot beef. The animal products consumed by the cavemen was wild game that is nutritionally superior to most things you will find at the local grocery store. Anyone who consumes meat should seek out the types of meat consumed by the cavemen. For a quick test, imagine what the animal that you are about to consume did before it was slaughtered. What do cows do? stand and eat. What do elk do? Run, jump and graze.

I think that it's possible to eat a pretty good diet by following the paleo-diet, but the number one thing that I don't like about it is (here comes the raging tree-hugger): It will NOT support a population! America can't continue to consume their current level of meat consumption and switch over to eating wild game, there just aren't enough elk and deer to go around. The paleo-diet recognizes that (sort of) and says that you can eat lean beef, although it's not preferred. Well, even "lean" beef has saturated fats and lacks the omega-3s that are the reason we should focus on wild game. Additionally, if everyone in America started consuming more beef, I don't think the country could face the ecological consequences (water demand, manure runoff, wheat and corn demands to feed the cows, etc.)

The paleo-diet does not allow the consumption of grains. The cavemen didn't eat grains because they didn't have a good way of breaking the kernels and cooking the grains for a sufficient times. Additionally cavemen were hunter-gatherers who didn't stick around to grow a crop so they would have had to find large fields of wild wheat. The data used by the paleo-diet to suggest that grain is bad comes mostly from after the industrial revolution when we started over-processing grains (think white flour). To the defense of the paleo-diet, they also argue that grains contain a high proportion of n-6 fats which are pro-inflammatory (that is true, but grains really don't contain very much fat). The paleo-diet also contests that grains are very acidic, contributing to an acidic diet and bone loss (we'll discuss this more next time). They're right, grains (especially highly processed grains) are acidic, but not nearly as acidic as meat, which is a primary component of the paleo-diet.

I agree with the paleo-diet that we shouldn't consume highly processed grains. In my house we bought a grain mill (its an electrical appliance about the size of a breadbox) and we grind our own wheat. Wheat will store almost indefinitely in its whole kernel form (we're currently using wheat that someone gave us that they packed in 1972). After ground the wheat will go rancid after a couple weeks if not frozen because it contains all the parts of the wheat. My family also tries to use various kinds of grains, such as rice, barley, oats, rye, quinoi, spelt, and millet. We also have been known to grind beans to be used as flour in a variety of breads. We currently use a lot of wheat (because we received it for free and we're still poor), but do get a variety of grains in our diets daily. Like the paleo-diet, I think that we should eliminate highly processed grains from the diet, but whole grains have the greatest potential of feeding a growing society without destroying the environment we live in.

If you are buying grains in the store, you need to watch out for marketers. Of course white flour is made with wheat. So you can call white bread, wheat bread (it's highly processed wheat). In order to be called "whole wheat" the product must contain a certain percent whole wheat flour (which means that most of the original wheat berry was used). So if you're buying products in the store, look for "whole wheat" products and then turn the package over and make sure that "whole wheat flour" is the first ingredient and any other types of flour are much lower on the list.

I agree with a lot in the paleo-diet, but I choose to get my protein from beans, lentils and grains rather than meat. I still get all of the amino acids that i need, I get more fiber than you would get on the paleo-diet (although with the vegetables, the paleo-diet gets plenty of fiber). A paleo-diet guru would argue that I get too many n-6 fats and not enough n-3s. That is why I eat salmon and tuna (even though it's not really environmentally friendly) and take fish oil pills. I also get some short chain n-3s from walnuts, flax seeds and other nuts and vegetable oils.

I can also argue (with a good study by McCarty in 1999 to support my claims) that the high quantities of animal protein in the paleo-diet actually contribute to chronically elevated insulin levels (which is one of the pieces of evidence that the paleo-diet uses to refute the use of grains in the diet... but it only occurs in highly processed grains). A plant based diet (that is not highly processed) has been shown to minimize insulin perturbations and thereby promote health.

I agree completely, that we need to go into the past to find a good diet. i don't think that we have to go back to the cavemen. Go back to the 1700s, what would have been on the shelf then? If it wasn't on the shelf then, you probably don't need it. I realize that meat was abundant on the shelves then, but it was all free-range, grass fed meat rather than the feed-lot stuff we have now. Abstaining from meat will not create any great deficits in the diet (vitamin B12 can be obtained from nutritional yeast or eggs). And abstaining from meat and limiting animal product consumption will maximize health.

I left out a lot about dairy today, it deserves a post of its own. That will be coming next week. A couple of people have asked for recipes for bean dishes that we used for our month of vegan, but didn't leave an email address (which I understand). You can send me your email at sansauto at gmail and I'll get you the recipes.

High fructose corn syrup and chocolate milk

I've received some questions and I'm going to take my time and respond to them, so be patient. Today I'm going to hit on high fructose corn syrup and chocolate milk. Although they don't sound related, they are... sort of.

Next I will present my take on the Paleo-diet, and will likely talk grains at the same time. I think it may surprise some people to hear me say this, but the Paleo diet has a lot going for it. It also has some weaknesses. I will dance a little around that topic because my mentor in my master's program was the author of "The Paleo Diet" and while I have nothing but the utmost respect for him, we may have different ideas on some things. Norm, I like that you disagree with me on some things, you should. If you take everything that you read in a blog as 100% the way it has to be, you are naive. The information I present is based on my graduate research, but for all you know I could be a 12 year old who has learned a few big words.

I'll then talk about bone health and supplementation. I think I have a different approach then most, but it's a good one.

And yes, Taylor, I will also address your comment from yesterday. Taylor called me a "raving tree-hugger". Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment (whether it was intended or not). I may address this along with the Paleo-diet, but if that post gets to long, I will address what my nutrition advice would be if I weren't a "raging tree-hugger".

I don't think introductions are supposed to be that long... sorry. Today I'll address high fructose corn syrup. If you want the abbreviated version, go read my post on food processing or carbohydrates and hunger. This post may become a little technical for some, but Chad asked for it. Let me know if you like this much technical stuff, I have a fear that it will go over many heads.

So why is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) so bad? When you eat glucose (not HFCS), it enters your blood and then is taken up by cells through a GLUT 4 transporter. On the inside of the cell the glucose is phosphorylated (a big phosphate molecules is stuck to the glucose so it can't leave the cell). Then, depending on the energy state of the cell (whether it is in usage mode, or storage mode) your body will either metabolize that glucose molecule to be used as energy or it will store the molecule as glycogen to be used later. The energy state of the cell is "measured" primarily through an enzyme called phosphofructokinase (that's the rate limiting step of glycolysis) That is how it is supposed to work.

Fructose is able to enter the cell via a different, less regulated GLUT transporter. Once the Fructose is in the cell, it is phosphorylated (so it can't leave). This is similar to glucose, but a phosphorylated fructose molecule has already passed the phosphofructokinase step in the glycolysis pathway so it WILL be used for energy. That may sound like a good thing but it's not.

First, I need to differentiate between fructose (which is the primary sugar in fruit) and HFCS which is used as an inexpensive sweetener. Fruits are relatively low calorie and although most of their sugar is from fructose, fructose is much sweeter than glucose so there is relatively little fructose in fruit. HFCS on the other hand, is used abundantly in processed foods and it is about a 50/50 fructose/glucose mixture (actually they come in different concentrations, but I think the 50/50 is the most commonly used). With HFCS you get, not only a lot more fructose, but a significant amount of glucose at the same time. This is a recipe for disaster.

This may seem completely random in the middle of a HFCS article, but I"m going to sidetrack to chocolate milk to build a basis for the rest of the HFCS thing. Chocolate milk, is a wonderful post exercise drink and here is why. My masters thesis showed that milk causes relatively extreme insulin spikes, but with very little change in blood glucose. For a sedentary individual, this is bad. Chocolate milk will provide an insulin spike that will cause the GLUT 4 molecules to assemble on cell membranes ready to pick up any possible glucose. The high sugar content of chocolate milk will provide lots of sugar for the GLUT 4 molecules to pick up. Since you are no longer exercising and insulin levels are high (which slows down phosphofructokinase and puts the body in a storage state) this will lead to the storage of glucose. After an endurance event this is essential to recovery of glycogen stores that were lost during exercise.

Back to HFCS. The glucose part of high fructose corn syrup will induce an insulin spike and let glucose into the cell to be stored. The fructose will also enter the cell, but it is not readily stored because it has already passed the phosphofructokinase step in glycolysis so it is going to produce energy. But what if you aren't doing anything and your body already has enough energy? You already have high insulin levels which is a signal the body uses to say we aren't using energy and we need to store stuff, so now the cells say, we've got enough and we aren't going to send GLUT 4 to the surface of the cell, even though insulin is present and demanding it. (We call this insulin resistance, it is a precursor to diabetes). Do you see the problem?

OK, I laid that out so simply (at least I thought so). It's not that simple. HFCS is not the sole cause of diabetes, not even close, but it is a contributor. Your body is extremely durable and able to cope with these sorts of situations. It takes years or even decades of overfeeding a body before the development of diabetes. The HFCS in ketchup (with the relatively small quantity of ketchup that is eaten in a day) is not enough to make a huge difference in your life. However, HFCS is in EVERYTHING that is processed. Over consumption of HFCS will lead to problems. On a similar note, HFCS is not found in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, meats, dairy, etc. I have taught people before that a diet that eliminates HFCS and trans fats will be a good diet. (That's true, except you could ruin it with saturated fat if you really tried).

There you are, HFCS and chocolate milk mixed into one simple post.

Menu planning... The grand Finale

OK, here it is, I'm going to try and tie all of this nutrition stuff together.

We started with basic bioenergetics. You have to expend more energy than you consume in order to lose weight. That's it, there's nothing else to it.

We then talked about choosing good carbohydrates that are filling and minimizing (eliminating) simple carbohydrates that contribute to hunger. Foods that are higher in fiber and less processed are generally more filling.

Our next topic was Protein, which is the most satiating macronutrient. Although animal products have long been thought to be the best source of protein, meat consumption is closely linked to obesity and many people are getting their protein from a variety of plant sources like beans, lentils and whole grains.

Finishing off the macronutrients, we talked about Fats. Saturated fats are bad, MUFAs are neutral and PUFAs are good as long as you get the right PUFAs. To improve your fat consumption eating less meat and processed foods and more wild fish and plant sources of fats.

The last post that I had was on food processing and how foods in their natural state are more likely to fill you up in the long run than are processed foods.

I'm going to give some vague guidelines for choosing foods and allow you to make these guidelines work in your life. If you have questions, post a comment and I will respond, but the most important attribute to a successful diet is that you have to be willing to follow it forever.

When you choose foods, choose the foods with the least packaging. That's it. The more processed a food, the more packaging a company puts around it and the more processed (least like you would find it in nature) a food is, the more it contributes to weight gain. I get my cereal out of the bulk section, or sometimes in 50# bags of oats, barley, etc. Most breakfast cereals come in a bag that is contained within a box. You can get long cook and instant oatmeal in similar containers, and the long cook is much better for you, but generally this rule stands.

I will make an exception with vegetables. Buy them fresh when you can (especially from farmer's markets), but frozen vegetables are essentially the same (and during the off season they can be superior). Canned is fine also, except they often add salt or "cream o'". In my opinion canned vegetables just taste bad, so I don't eat them.

Grains, we buy ours whole and then grind them ourselves. They store forever whole, but once you crack the berries they will go rancid (if they still contain the natural oils). They should go rancid if you leave them out, that means they contain everything that they did when they were harvested. Buy foods that go bad, it's a natural process that should occur. (Don't eat food gone bad, but foods that don't go bad have been "modified" so that they won't go bad and that wasn't done for the benefit of your waistline.)

Protein should come primarily from beans, lentils and whole grains. This is important and something I'm struggling with now. You cannot get vitamin B12 from a vegan diet, so I'm not vegan. I eat fish at least a couple times a week (for the B12 and good fats in fish). I also eat eggs on occasion (once a month?) They are a great source of B12 as well as other nutrients. I don't think that you have to be vegan or even a vegetarian to eat a healthy weight loss diet, but making a conscious effort to avoid meat makes you conscious of what you are eating which is critical in weight loss. If you want meat in your diet, watch for meat processing. Of course bacon, sausage and bologna are processed, but what about your average cow, pig or chicken that is pumped full of hormones and fattened up as quickly as possible to aid in the fattening of the farmers wallet. The vast majority of meat available at the store is from poor conditions that make the animal less healthy.

I want to talk more about this, take fish for example. I've said many times that fish are a good source of n-3s which are an extremely healthy fat. Salmon is the best source of n-3s, but only if it is wild caught salmon. They have started farming salmon in little pens where they are fed corn. Farmed salmon are nearly as low as beef in n-3s. Similar can be said for beef, chicken, pork, etc. The fast growth techniques used by farmers are depriving the consumer of nutrients, so try to stick with wild game or at least free range animals. I recognize that wild game will not sustain a population, so decreasing meat consumption is something everyone should be doing.

I've talked a little about the fats in salmon, but manufacturers are going beyond that. The community is demanding that we get rid of trans fats, so manufacturers are engineering new margarines that are trans-fat free. That's wonderful, except the vegetable oil that they use from engineered vegetables is made up of almost entirely n-6 fats which will further increase our problems getting enough n-3s.

So what you end up with for an ideal diet is vegetables composing nearly 50% of at least two meals a day (lunch and dinner). Add fruits to your diet a few times a day. You should have some protein in the form of nuts, beans or lentils with every meal to help with satiation. Whole grains should be the primary component of breakfast, and brown rice, whole grain pasta, potatoes (which aren't a grain and are a fairly simple carbohydrate that should be limited to a certain extent), beans, and a variety of grains that you can learn more about should be a part (25%) of lunch and dinner. Fish should be consumed about twice a week (more you risk mercury issues, less you aren't getting your n-3s). Other meats should be consumed sparingly. Sparingly doesn't mean a little with each meal. Sparingly means once or twice a week is more than enough.

Here it is, the conclusion. I want to preface this with the fact that my diet ideas are based on a master's degree in exercise physiology and nearly a degree in nutrition. I'm also currently working on a PhD in health promotion and that is where I came up with the ideas. Another of my passions is the environment. Notice that the diet I just outlined is one of the most eco-friendly diets possible. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lentils all grow readily around the world. Meat consumption uses LOTS more water and causes LOTS more pollution than a plant based diet. This eating plan is not only the best way to conserve your health, it is also the best way to conserve the planet.

I may talk calcium and bone health next time, or I may talk about the exercise component of weight loss. Let me know what you want to know about and I'll accomidate.

Food processing and Hunger

I sort of hit on this with the carbohydrate post last week, but I think it deserves more attention.
I read a study where people were given breakfast where they could eat as much as they liked. Then they were assigned to have either a 100 cal apple, 100 cal worth of applesauce, or a 100 cal glass of apple juice as a snack. There was also a control group that didn't get a snack. They then ate a lunch and the researchers counted the calories.

Those who had an apple as a snack ate, on average, about 100 calories less than did the control group that didn't have a snack (compensating for the apple). Those who had the apple sauce for a snack ate significantly fewer calories at lunch than did the control group, but significantly more than the group that had an apple for lunch (partial compensation). Those who had apple juice for lunch ate about the same number of calories as the group that didn't get a snack (no compensation).

Your body is not good at counting liquid calories (in order to compensate for them). Of course soda is the major culprit here, but milk, tea, coffee, alcohol, and juices have the same effect. To a lesser extent, simply processing a food will decrease your body's ability to recognize those calories as they come in.

Do you know what they do to wheat nowadays? When we grind our own wheat at home we have to freeze it so that it won't go rancid in a few weeks. The oils in fresh ground wheat go rancid relatively quickly. When is the last time you froze your flour? What is in your flour? or should I ask what has been taken out of your flour and why?

Honestly, there aren't any studies with wheat like there are with apples, but the more processed the wheat, the more it is digested like sugar (white bread and sugar are really quite similar). Remember those graphs from the carbohydrate day? Well, the more processed (white bread) will cause blood glucose dips like are seen with sugar. Whole wheat bread, on the other hand, does not have the same effect. I want to bring to your attention that the good breads are "whole wheat". "Wheat bread" is white bread (made from wheat flour) that has been dyed with food coloring (it's a marketing thing).

What do you think a corn-dog will do to your satiation/hunger situation? I don't know, but I have a couple of guesses. Twinkies, with a near infinite shelf-life, do you supposed that those are made with all natural ingredients, designed to make you feel full?

My next post will sort of wrap things up on nutrition. I'm going to try and bring it all together and give suggestions on meal plans that will help keep you feeling full and provide a balanced, healthy diet. You've heard almost everything that I have to say about weight loss, but there's a lot more that I could say about bone health, inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, etc. If you want to hear about anything, leave a comment and I'll post something (or let you know that I really don't have the foggiest idea).

Fat

Wow, I never knew how many people I would have from Fatty's site. Additionally, today I have an essay that was posted at minuscar which is more like the writings that are usually on this blog about doing with less.

Today we will talk about fats and then next time we will move onto food processing and how it contributes to hunger. If you're just joining us, you can check out previous nutrition posts on Bioenergetics, Carbohydrates and Protein.

I think that protein is generally over-rated, but I think fat gets a bad rap. Fats are an essential part of the diet and are extremely important. Of course there are some fats that are no good and should be avoided. Some fats are actually beneficial and have been shown to contribute to weight loss. There are three main types of fat; saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

I think that the first thing that I need to say about fats is that gram for gram they contribute more than twice the calories as carbs or protein. They are not all that filling, so they go down easy and they add up quickly. No matter what kind of fat you consume you do have to pay attention to quantity. Vertigo, I have to clarify a little fats are the least satiating in the short term (think 15-30 minutes), but they are more satiating than simple sugars in the long run (because simple sugars will actually make you hungry after 30-45 minutes). Fats still aren't as satiating as complex carbohydrates or protein in the long run, so if you want to feel full, fats aren't a great choice.

Saturated fat is the enemy. It contributes to increased cholesterol levels, atherosclerosis, heart disease and obesity. Trans fats, although not saturated are also in this category. I'll be honest, I don't have anything nice to say about saturated fats and my mom taught me that if I don't have anything nice to say, not to say anything at all. Saturated fats are found in butter, animal products (a big part of the reason I'm sort of anti-meat), and that's really the main source. Trans-fats are not normally found in significant quantities in nature, but are found in margarine and other processed foods. I just needed to point out those things that I don't have anything nice to say about so that you too can avoid them like the plague.

MonoUnsaturated Fatty Acids... Does anyone mind if we call these MUFAs from now on? These guys are found in olive oil , avocados and nuts. MUFAs on their own are neither beneficial or harmful as it pertains to heart disease, and other major health issues. I know that you're thinking that olive oil is supposed to be the good guy and it is, but not because of the MUFA content. Remember that MUFAs aren't bad, but they are found primarily in foods that have phytochemicals and other nutrients that are extremely beneficial to the heart.

PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) are a bit more complex. They come in two primary forms, n-3 and n-6 (the n is said omega... I don't know why, some chemist made it up). n-3s are the good guys. These are the fats found in fish that are actually good for your heart. These fats actually have properties that are quite similar to Vioxx and other COX-2 inhibitors, but without the side effects. For those who care, the fats don't inhibit COX-2 like Vioxx did, but they are the building block for less sticky blood (and therefore less heart issues).

These fats also have been shown to contribute to weight loss by making your body less efficient. Normally efficiency is a good thing, but this makes your body waste energy at rest and therefore burn more calories when you aren't doing anything. (that does not make these a bad choice for athletes). Fatty fish is the best way to get your n-3s, but don't eat too much because of issues with mercury in fish. They say twice a week is how often you should eat fish, less if you are pregnant or breast feeding. You can also get n-3s from flax seed oil (and the seeds themselves to a certain extent), walnuts, almonds and canola oil (a little). n-3s from plant sources are not fully elongated and the body must complete the process before the fats are as beneficial as fats from fish. I should also mention that farmed salmon do not contain nearly the same n-3 content as wild salmon.

This is where the problem begins. n-6s compete with n-3s to be elongated. n-6s are really not a bad fat, except n-3s are MUCH better and if you eat too many n-6s they win the competition to be elongated which results in stickier blood and fewer of the benefits from n-3s. (Keep in mind that n-3s from fish are already elongated so n-6s really don't effect them.) So we need to eat fewer n-6s, where are they found? In almost everything!! n-6s are especially high in processed foods and vegetable oils. n-6s are used to extend shelf-life, so if you see products in the store that have been on the shelf, you can bet that the fat in those are either n-6s or trans fats (or they've been processed with chemicals to slow decay).

There you've got the facts, what do we do with them now? First off I want to prove that I'm at least a little bit objective by saying that wild game (animals that at one time in their lives ran, flew and ate the foods designed for them in nature) are relatively low in saturated fat and are higher in n-3s (the same type you get from fish). Most important in the fat area is getting some fish (especially salmon, tuna and other cold water fatty fishes) or wild game which don't have the same mercury issues. Wild game still has saturated fat and animal proteins which mean that you shouldn't be eating it every day.

Whether you eat your fish or not, you should also be trying to get some additional n-3s from flax seeds, and nuts while minimizing your intake of processed foods and vegetable oils (think fried food and stuff with a really long shelf life). Notice that all of the fat that you get from plant foods (except vegetable oil) is better than what you get from processed foods or animal products. That theme may be recurring in the coming posts.

Although I've gotten in trouble at Fatty's site for not being funny, I did a post on Orlistat a bit ago that I thought was funny, go check it out.

Protein

I started this series on Friday with Bioenergetics and then last time I talked about Carbohydrates and Hunger. Today I'm going to talk a little about protein. If you're on the ball you may be able to guess that my next post will be about fat, but we don't need to get ahead of ourselves.

There are a lot of misguided ideas about protein, let me straighten some of those out. Protein is made up of amino acids which are a group of molecules that make proteins. There are twenty-some amino acids which combine in different orders and lengths to make proteins. Some amino acids are made in the body, but many have to be consumed in the diet. If you don't consume an amino acid that can't be made by your body you will not be able to build proteins. That's bad.

Proteins are found in high quantities in every cell of your body. The functional part of muscle is protein and that is a source of much of our misguidance. If you go to a gym and hear people talking about protein, cover your ears, start chanting "nanananana" and get out of there as soon as you can, they don't know what they're talking about.

Lets talk about why we eat protein and how much we need. Protein is the most long-term satiating type of food that you can eat. That means that when you eat protein it is the best at helping you feel full for a long time. Now don't jump to conclusions and say that you need to eat a lot more protein because your problem is that you're always hungry, that won't work for you. Do remember that you should include a little protein in every meal or snack.

How much protein do you need? about .8g per kilo of body weight. That calculates to 56g protein for the average 70 kilo (150 lb) man. Burn victims, pregnant or breast feeding women or those recovering from serious injury may benefit from eating more protein than that, but for the average Joe, or even the average weight lifter trying to get really big, eating more protein really won't do that much for you. Most people get plenty of protein without even trying, but it may be a good idea to look at food labels and estimate how much you get each day.

Up to this point I haven't said anything bad about protein, but there is a dark side to protein. Almost always, high protein foods are also high in fat. Skinless chicken breast, beans and lentils are high protein foods that are low in fat. I can't think of any others. Oh, fat free dairy products (I try to forget about those) can be high protein, low fat, BUT when they take fat out of a food they almost always replace it with simple carbohydrates (those that make you hungry). Oddly enough low sugar foods are generally loaded with fat. There are foods on the market where both the fat and sugar have been removed, but in order to give those foods taste they are loaded with chemicals that otherwise mess with your body.

Oops, I got a little off topic there. Protein generally comes with fat (which is the least satiating type of food) and makes for high calorie, not filling foods. Nuts, yogurt, cheese and meats can have their place in the diet, but generally they are more part of the problem than part of the solution. (I should point out that of the foods I listed, nuts contain good fats while the others don't... more about that next time). That leaves beans, lentils and nuts as the best high protein foods. If you add those to a diet with plenty of vegetables and whole grains you will get all of the required amino acids without consuming much fat.

In summary, you need protein for life, and to help you feel full longer. You may have caught on, I'm not a big fan of animal products, but I'm trying to be objective here. I don't think that meat is a nutritious part of a diet, and I think that it is better to do without from a nutrition standpoint (and there is a lot of evidence to support that). I also recognize that most people aren't ready to be vegetarians so I would counsel them to eat meat sparingly (once a month is plenty, weekly isn't too bad and daily is probably too much). It also makes a huge difference what types of meat you eat. Wild game is far better than cow. OK, anything is better than cow. skinless poultry is good, and fish is probably the best (just beware of mercury). Processed meats aren't any good (right there with cow), so sausage, bacon, lunch meats, etc. are poor choices. Eat lots of beans, lentils and whole grains. Have the occasional nut (including nut-butters) and lean meats (emphasize nuts, de-emphasize meats). If you want good bean recipes give me your email address and I'll send you some.

Carbohydrates and Hunger

One of the comments from the other day was from Cultural Vertigo and he referred me to an article that he had written about nutrition. I usually don't agree with articles on nutrition, but his is well written and useful. So when you're done reading MY nutrition info, go check out his.

I have the feel that the Atkin's kick is over. That is good. Carbohydrates are our friends. They are the body's first choice for fuel and the only nutrient that can effectively get to the brain. I also think that the Atkin's diet brought a lot of attention to carbohydrates which is good, because not all carbs are created equal. For anyone who lives an active lifestyle, a diet without enough carbohydrates will drastically impair your performance and energy levels.

Before we dive right into carbohydrates, I want to talk about hunger. I took an entire class about hunger. I won't bore you with the details, but here's one big thing that I picked up. Your blood sugar drops just a little every so often which is associated with a feeling of hunger. Your blood sugar then returns to baseline and your hunger goes away. This cycle will continue and you will feel hungry every hour or more until the hunger pangs become more more frequent and eventually your blood sugar gets low enough that you are hungry all the time. I drew a picture in paint that shows the general trend of blood sugar over time with arrows where you would feel hunger. (Excuse the artwork, my drawing ability on paint is not much better than my 3 year old's... unfortunately there's more to come).



Why did I put hunger in the same blog as carbohydrates? Well, the type of carbohydrate that you choose to eat can change your feelings of hunger and this knowledge should greatly influence your food choices. Foods that are fibrous and made up of "complex" carbohydrates have a very slow gradual affect on your blood sugar (figure a). Simple sugars that are found in soda, candy and processed foods cause your blood sugar to spike about 15-20 minutes after eating and then subsequently your blood sugar plummets, usually dropping slightly below baseline before regulating itself (figure b). So that was probably a little more nutritional biochemistry than you wanted to know. Here's the point: notice that how that circled area in figure B looks similar to the hunger signal that I drew above. So that bowl of candy that you snack on at work is going to initiate hunger every 30-45 minutes. In order to avoid being hungry all the time, you have to eat good quality meals and snacks that include lots of fiber, and a little protein (I'll be talking more about protein next time).







Generally it is better to look for foods that don't come in packages. Fruits, vegetables, and nuts are great snacks (easy on the nuts, they're also high in fat... but we'll talk about that next time). For meals you should focus on beans, lentils, whole grains and vegetables.

I know that you are thinking that fruits are full of sugar, but they are full of fructose which is a type of sugar that doesn't greatly affect your blood sugar and they are also full of water which help fill your stomach without adding any calories. Fruit is generally a good choice.

Now watch out for marketers, they want you to think that their product is healthy. Generally if it comes in a package telling you how healthy it is, it's not.

Fruit juice and breakfast cereal are the first things that come to mind. Both are terrible as far as sugar goes. Fruit juice does contain fructose, but is also loaded with regular sugar and the processing ruins the fruit. There is a time and place for fruit juice, but it should not be the norm. Dr. Brand-Miller did some research on breakfast cereals and found that adding table sugar to cereals will almost always improve your glucose response (make it lower). That is not an invitation to add sugar, that is a reason to change cereals. Even General Mills who uses "whole grains" make cereals that cause blood glucose to spike. Of course the sugary cereals cause blood glucose spikes, but additionally Grapenuts, Cheerios and almost any other cereal that you can think of is not that great for you. The exception is shredded wheat (not frosted), and hot cereals (not instant). In my house we buy bulk grains (about 7 of them) and cook them every morning for about 30 minutes and they make a great hearty breakfast.

Now would be a good day to take a look at what you are eating and recognizing the sugars that you eat that make you hungry not long after.

Bioenergetics

I frequent Fatty's blog and he is currently blowing everyone away in a weight loss competition. I'm going to take a week or two and highlight everything that you need to know concerning weight loss. We'll call these editions, "Sabatage Fatty". If you feel that I'm missed a subject that you want addressed, just comment and I'll fill you in.

Weight loss is all about calories in and calories out. I don't care what anyone tells you about eating at night, eating carbs, eating fat or liquid diets. It's really simple, if you eat more calories than you expend you will GAIN weight. If you expend more calories than you eat you will LOSE weight. Anything contrary to this is a violation of basic laws of nature.

Energy In

When most people think of dieting they think of eating lettuce and carrots. That's it. If you eat less you will lose weight. It's not easy though, as most of us have found. There are many strategies for eating less. Go to the bookstore sometime and look through the diet books. Those are all just tricks to eat less. Everyone is different and you have to find the one that works for you. Beware though, many of the diet books on the shelves are NOT healthy!!

The strategy that I gave Fatty for losing weight was intuitive eating. He seemed to already have a good feel for eating right. He ate lots of fruits and vegetables, plenty of whole grains and not a whole lot of high fat sauces. Intuitive eating is really simple, you eat when you're hungry, you don't when you're not. The only problem is that most of us have detrained our satiation signal that tells us when we have eaten enough.

So you sit down at dinner with a small plate for dinner. You eat a small serving and then you take 10 minutes to wait, talk or otherwise waste time. Then you ask yourself, "Am I still hungry?" Notice that this is a much different question than, "Am I full?" We experience full on Thanksgiving, it's the feeling of your stomach saying, "if you send anything else down here, I'm going to send it right back up." So you finish your small serving and you determine that you no longer feel hungry, so you stop eating. You don't finish the leftovers so you don't have to store it or throw it away. You don't eat just a little more to show your wife that you really liked it. You don't eat just a little more because you did really like it. You stop when you are no longer hungry. If you are still hungry, have another small portion. After eating it you wait and ask yourself again if you are still hungry. This is not a starvation diet, this is a way to recognize when you are full. Watch a 2 year old eat sometime, they have no problem stopping eating when they aren't hungry. They ignore all social pressures, when they are no longer hungry they leave. You should try it.

Energy Out

There are two parts to energy expenditures, basal metobolic rate and physical activity. Your basal metobolic rate is the energy it takes just to survive. Those are the calories that your body uses to blink, pump blood, and make all of your organs do whatever they do. This number varies based on body size. A 400 pound man has a far greater metobolic rate than a 105 pound woman. You can also decrease your metobolic rate by starving yourself. Your body can become extremely efficient (in the case of weight loss, efficiency is bad). So if you decide that you want to lose weight so you only eat 1000 calories a day, your body will do all that it can to store that because your body doesn't know when it will next get enough energy to carry out all of its functions. Although you would lose lots of weight if you just stop eating, you can't sustain that forever. After a prolonged fast you will actually gain weight fairly quickly because your body has become very efficient to defend against starvation.

In additon to the basal metobolic rate, you will be active which will burn additional calories. Fatty is big into cycling (as am I). He has his coach Lofgran who gives him intense workouts that will expend lots of calories. That is helping him in his weight loss. The more you do (running, walking, cycling, weight training, etc.), the more calories you will burn during the day. Of course you don't have to have an intense workout to burn calories, but it certainly helps.

To lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more. That's it, there's nothing else to it... Except most people know that, but it doesn't help. For the next couple of weeks I will address different foods and how you can use different foods to curb hunger and increase energy. There are lots of ways to make your body feel full so that you eat less (if you're paying attention to when you are no longer hungry). There are also strategies for expending more calories without adopting a sophisticated workout program. Although for some, the structure and accountability of a workout program from a professional like coach Lofgran is the best way to stick with an exercise routine.