Dec
9
A lifestyle to die for
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
We make decisions every day on how to maintain or to improve the quality of that which surrounds us. We carefully select laundry detergent, the optimal fuel for our car, energy-saving light bulbs, but we often forget to properly care for the most important thing in our lives. Our health.
Take a trip to the nearest Publix and look how people behave. I find it astounding that people spend more time reading the info on the back of a shampoo bottle, or a window cleaner, but they never bother to look at the amount of saturated fats or any other nutritional information on the food items. At best, we might glance at the calories per serving.
It is surprising that although most of us know that fiber is good for us, sugar is bad, fat intake should be low, water is important, and much more, we still do not seem to care enough, or we are simply unaware of the effects of our nutritional choices.
I also find it interesting that if one addresses the fact that more than two thirds of our population is either overweight or obese, it is met by criticism according to which society is obsessed by weight and body image. This actually seems to be in stark contrast to reality where the large majority people is undoubtedly risking their health and lives by past and present energy and nutrient excesses. It is considered insensitive to address the issue of excess weight and obesity. Extremes at both ends, too much weight or to low weight is bad. Very bad. There is a fear of insulting or hurting people by bringing up physical appearance. We need to overcome those fears, and realize that no person’s character or ability is being judged by physical appearance. It is about saving lives.
We are responsible for our own bodies and our own health.
Poor eating habits, much too often coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, will either disable you or kill you. It sounds very dramatic, but it is the truth.
Dec
5
How to eat oneself to death
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
The number of chronic diseases, disabilities, and deaths attributed to poor nutritional choices is staggering. Nutrition is linked to five out of the six leading causes of deaths in the United States, among which we find cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.
Cardiovascular diseases and strokes account for more than 35 percent of deaths every year. Why so many have to die prematurely of disease, and not old age… In a time when we are doing so much to stay young as long as possible, why are we still not getting it - that our diet is important. Our food choices determines our future health status.
One out of every three people is suffering from one or more heart-related diseases - hypertension, angina, or heart failure. Hypertension is affecting 73 million people. One million Americans have been disabled by stroke.
Type 2 diabetes, which is directly linked to excess weight and physical inactivity, was long considered to be a disease affecting only adults. Today, this form of diabetes is also being diagnosed in young children and adolescents. The CDC states that 25 percent of the American population already have or are at a pre-diabetic stage of type 2 diabetes. This number has doubled in the last 15 years.
I simply don’t understand why we have so many children that have diseases directly linked to food choices. Who buys this food for them?
One cheeseburger won’t kill you, or a serving of French Fries, or a slice of pizza, or a glazed doughnut, or a milkshake, but if you eat this kind of energy dense food every day, or even every other day, it will.
Dec
4
Turning the blind eye
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Americans have been successful in raising awareness around a lot of things that are bad for our health. The risks of smoking are today understood by most people, and there are nationwide campaigns to help smokers quit. Tobacco advertisement is strictly regulated, and states are passing anti-smoking laws. Smokers have become paria.
We have raised awareness around prevention and consequences of HIV and have been successful in controlling the number of new infections. The entire movie industry seems to be involved in some form of HIV/AIDS red carpet charity.
Alcohol consumption is being controlled by age limits, advertisement regulations and workplace screening. We are constantly, daily, being fed with information on how to avoid and prevent disease and improve our health. We even engage in the health of our planet. Recycle, reduce your carbon footprint. All this is good of course. But are we not forgetting something.
We are being informed every day on the importance of limiting our alcohol intake, refraining from tobacco, saving energy, reducing global warming, or avoiding the avian flu, in proportion, very little is being done to prevent us from eating ourselves into disease, disability, and even death. I find that truly remarkable. Do you have any idea of how much damage your food choices can do to you. Your future health, and that future may be closer than you think, depends on the food choices you make today.
No one in their right mind would encourage their children to smoke cigarettes or play in traffic, but when it comes to food… well… do I need to say more?
Nov
23
Sodium in your body
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Sodium is an electrolyte and found in your body’s fluids. As mentioned in a previous post, sodium is necessary for muscle contractions and nerve transmissions. Sodium is vital for your body - without it you would die. But what happens when you have too much sodium in your body? Try to see it like this. Sodium is found in your blood, and blood is largley composed of water. If the concentration of sodium is too high in your blood, you need to dilute it with water. Get it?
I’ll give you an example. If you’re brewing coffee but it gets too strong, you would use more water the next time.
The body is programmed to keep a balance between sodium and water. If you eat salty food you will inevitably want to drink. That means that when your blood sodium reaches high levels, your body will require water to maintain the right balance - your body will tell you to drink and you get thirsty. You drink, and your blood reaches a nice balance again between sodium and water. All is well and back in equilibrium.
But it isn’t really. There is more to the story. Your kidneys will make sure that fluids are kept in your body as long as it takes for the blood sodium ratio reestablished. So what really goes on here is that you are retaining water - your blood volume is increased. And what happens when you’re blood volume increases? If you’re out watering your plants with a garden hose and not enough water comes out of it, you would turn up the faucet to get more water. Voila! More water means more volume which means more pressure. So when there is too much salt in your blood, you need more water in your body; your kidneys retain all it can and thus increases blood volume which means a higher blood pressure. Can you see how a high salt intake is related to high blood pressure?
Next post will discuss the effects of hypertension.
PS. The above is a very generalized and extremely simplified description of the effects of sodium. I realize as I read through the post that it might sound like you should limit your intake of water to fight high blood pressure. That is absolutely not the case. Water is good for you, drink as much as you can. Your body needs water and excretes any excess through the kidneys. The article is only meant to generally describe why fluid is retained when blood sodium is increased.
Nov
16
The New White Poison
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Sugar was long known to be the “white poison” in nutrition, but is now sharing its epithet with salt. Salt, as sugar, comes in many forms and they all contain sodium. The body needs sodium to function properly. Sodium helps to regulate the balance of fluids in your body, for example your blood volume, and aids in transmitting nerve impulses. Salt has, as all minerals, a vital role in our body. Salt deficiency is characterized by muscle cramps, weakness, dehydration, mental apathy, and a number of other symptoms. Although essential in our diet and for our survival, the body only needs 500 mg of sodium per day.
According to AHA (American Heart Association), most American consumes between 6,000 and 18,000 mg/day. It goes without saying that this daily salt dose is far too high. The recommended daily intake of sodium has been established to less 2,40o mg/day but many experts would like to adjust it to less than 1,500 mg/day. It might be difficult to visualize quantities, especially when given in milligrams and grams, so here is a brief explanation. 500 mg of sodium is a little less than 1/4 of a teaspoon of table salt. That means that to be on levels below the recommended upper limit of 2,400 mg/day, you should consume less than one (1) teaspoon of table salt per day.
The crux is that sodium does not only exist in the form of sodium chloride, table salt, but also foods that do not even taste salty. Baking soda, used in pastry for example, has 1,000 mg of sodium per teaspoon. Even ice cream, chocolate and soft drinks might contain sodium. Check the sodium content on the nutritional values label and you’ll see for yourself. The biggest culprit though is processed food. As much 75 % of the sodium in your diet has been added by the manufacturer. 75%… think about that. During cooking and preparation and at the table, another 15% of salt is added. Do the math, and you’ll see how much, or how little salt, is actually present in food itself. Only 10 % of the salt we consume is naturally occurring in the foods we eat.
Do you add salt when you cook? Do you add salt to food at the table? Have you ever thought about how much salt you consume per day? I’ll be the first to answer. I add salt when I cook, I never add salt at the table, and I haven’t really thought about my salt consumption until I did make a food journal and actually saw how much salt I consume without even realizing. More on salt and its effect on the body in a couple of days.
Nov
10
Slim = Healthy?
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Glenn Gaesser is the author of an article you should really read in it’s entirety: “The Health Risks of Obesity Have Been Exaggerated“, but in case you’re short of time or have a luke warm interest in nutrition, I’ll include some of the highlights of the article in this post together with my opinions and comments. First of all, and I keep saying this, good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle goes far beyond the desire to be slim and attractive. Better food choices and a healthy lifestyle will increase and improve your life. The article above, written by the brilliant Dr Gaessner, discusses how a slim, lean body does not automatically equal a healthy body, and vice versa, i.e a body with a higher percentage of fat does not mean being on the fast track towards premature death, cardiovascular disease, clogged arteries, high cholesterol and diabetes. This is important. If you are slim you might have heard” “Oh, you’re so thin, so you can afford to eat. Have another slice of pizza/another cookie/another thousand-calorie-cholesterol-packed-transfat-high-sugar-item!” Or you, yourself, might say, ”I have such high metabolism that I can eat anything. I don’t put on any weight.” Don’t fall in the trap that slim equals fit. Dr Gaessner mentions that a normal weight person who makes poor nutritional choices and who does not exercise on a regular basis is at higher risk of disease and decreased longevity than a heavier-than-average person who exercise and has a balanced diet. The article also presents research and scientific studies, where for example
Oct
15
Thoughts on the Atkin’s Diet
Filed Under Uncategorized | 5 Comments
This blog was not supposed to be about weight loss as I strongly believe that all of us, no matter weight, should think about making better food choices. However, the truth is that a healthy diet leads to a normal body weight; a normal body weight reduces the risk of health complications, and more people in this country need to lose weight than maintain or gain weight.
How do you lose weight? Eat less, exercise more. It is as simple as that, and it is the only way you will lose extra pounds. Trust me. There are no shortcuts. So how do you eat less? Well, pick up almost any women’s magazine and they’ll have a new diet in every issue. One of the more popular diets in the recent years have been the Atkin’s Diet. I looked for a fellow blogger who had written about the Atkin’s Diet and found 197.000 blogs. I selected this one, letdiet.blogspot.com, on which I’d like to make a few comments.
First, I’d like to quickly explain that the basic concept of the Atkin’s diet is to remove almost all carbohydrates from your diet. Carbs are mainly found in all products deriving from grain, such as bread, pasta, rice, cereal, but also in vegetables. Your diet should consist of proteins and fats. The truth is that the diet is more complex, and a little more balanced beyond the first phases, but most people on this diet adapt to the concept of removing/reducing the intake of carbohydrates.
The title of the above mentioned blog post is compelling - Why You Don’t Need To Count Calories On Your Low Carb Diet. This would imply that if you drastically reduce the amount of carbohydrates, you can ingest any quantity of proteins and fats. The blog post describes how you do not have to monitor your protein intake, and also suggests you make sure you eat more protein. The fact is that it is pretty difficult in America to get too little protein. The recommended protein intake for a 140 pound female is about 55 grams, which equals to 6 oz of chicken or tuna.
To be continued…
Oct
9
Food to improve your health
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Many people do not reflect on their eating habits until the day their doctor tells them to do so. Do you want to wait that long?
It is important to understand that the benefit of healthy food and eating well is not weight loss. The true benefit is improved health and quality of life. It is necessary to mention, that a slim body does not equal a healthy body. It might just be that your metabolism is high and you are able to eat “unhealthy” but you are still doing damage to your body. Even people with a normal weight might suffer from strokes, heart disease, high cholesterol levels or something as simple as sugar swings. However, the risk increases as the weight increases…
There are many people out there who love their extra pounds and who do not want to lose weight for various reasons. Look at how fashion and beauty ideals have shifted from the thin super models of the 90’s to the curvier singers and actresses of today. However, if Hollywood puts on a few more pounds, the rest of America is eating itself to death.
In statistics over leading causes of preventable deaths in the US, only tobacco is ranked higher than obesity. I know many people who would never smoke a cigarette or even being in an environment with smokers. However, these militant non-smokers do not always question their own food choices which are, according to above statistics, almost as likely to kill them as a cigarette. I do not in any way condone smoking, but find that much is being done to prevent Americans from smoking in proportion to trying to slow down a true epidemic of obesity.
So why are those extra pounds hazardous to your health? Below is a list of nutrition related diseases:
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
- Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
- Type 2 diabetes
- Coronary heart disease
- Stroke
- Gallbladder disease
- Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
- Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Now, if you could prevent getting any or all of the above by a few modifications in your diet, would you?
I will now challenge you to go home and look for foods that you are eating that contains anything “hydrogenated.”. Check the nutritional info label and ingredients. What did you find and do you know what “hydrogenated” really is?
P.S. The lady in the photo has nothing to do with the content of this post. She caught my attention, the light was beautiful and I took her picture while she enjoyed a meal in Dublin, Ireland.Sep
25
What are you doing to stay healthy?
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Making better food choices and increase physical activity will make you feel better. You have probably heard that before, but have you asked yourself what you, yes you personally, are doing to feel better and to stay healthy.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you are doing on a daily or weekly basis to maintain or improve good health. Just anything, from taking a multivitamin tablet to walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. I’d love to hear from you.
Sep
23
Ferrari Lifestyle
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Last weekend, Ferrari, the legendary Italian auto manufacturer, unveiled their latest model - the California. No one was disappointed.
A hardtop convertible, 4.3 liter V8 engine, 460 CV at 7.00 rpm , 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 4 seconds. its body with sumptuous lines that leave you breathless, and an exquisite interior with exclusive materials and every inch packed with good taste. Even if you know nothing about cars, even if you don’t care about cars, I encourage you to take a look at the photo. Admit it, you wouldn’t say no to having that car on your driveway. If you could wear this car as clothing, you could put green paint on your entire face and no one would ever notice. It’s simply gorgeous… and Ferrari Red is such a pretty color. The car will be released in 2009; the price has not yet been established but according Ferrari it will be less than the F430 Spider. Great news. So let’s say that you buy this car, what would you do? A few suggestions:
1. Build a garage with surveillance cameras
2. Invite your friends for a ride
3. Get a PBCC parking sticker
4. Bring it to the race track
5. Clean, buff and polish it. Inside and out. Every day.
6. Take a picture fo it and keep it in your wallet.
7. Only use regular low octane fuel.
8.
… wait, what was that on #7? No, of course not. Regular fuel? Hum, don’t think so… You’d take your brand new Ferrari California to the gas station and ask for premium fuel, the best they have. Rocket fuel if available. You’d want to make sure you get the right fuel that matches your car’s potential for ultimate performance.
Fact: You would know that using the wrong fuel will damage your car. You would understand that it doesn’t matter that you spend hours at length polishing your car, paying attention to where you park, use an effective alarm system; the fact is that filling up the tank with the wrong fuel won’t make the ride as pleasant, and eventually you won’t be able to drive at all. The wrong fuel will ruin your car. That’s a fact. That concept is really not that difficult to grasp, is it?
Thus we agree that we would take good care of our Ferrari, and that we wouldn’t ruin such an investment by using the wrong fuel. How about making the right choices for yourself?
In order for you to function you need food. That’s no news. Any food will do actually. Anything that contains calories will be transformed into the energy that your body needs. Have an apple or a doughnut as an afternoon snack - they’ll both provide energy for your body and you’ll be able to make it through another class or a few more hours at work. However, just as with gasoline, the food you choose falls into categories, from harmful to beneficial. Your car will still work with a lesser quality fuel, and so will your body. For a while. With the wrong choices you will ultimately do damage. You can always get a new car, but you only have one body.