Day 89 - Wrap It Up/Challenge

Well, can you believe that it is already the end of March and the end of my topic on fad diets? This month absolutely flew by! I hope that you were able to learn a lot, alongside myself, on the different kinds of diets in existence today, about their benefits and their detriments, and about the science of fat accumulation. Now that the month is over, I would like to give you all a challenge. One that I myself will be participating in:

For one week, keep track of the foods you are eating (use FitDay.com to help you record your foods). Once you have completed the week, look at the amount of carbohydrates you consume on a weekly basis. Then analyze your diet and find areas where you can reduce this number. I am going to try to find a way to cut my carbohydrate consumption in half. I love carbs, and since I really don't need to lose any weight but to just eat healthier, I am not going to get rid of them completely. Instead, I just want to find ways to reduce how much I consume in order to build up my consumption of other food types. I encourage you to do this along with me!

Thank you for keeping up with my blog and I look forward to starting my new topic next month!

Oh and another announcement (I will also add it to the beginning of next month's materials and equipment blog post)!! Every four months this year I am going to be releasing a month's worth of healthy recipes. I will start out my day by posting a dinner recipe that is healthy each day of the month… and April is the first month for this! I will give out grocery lists for the weeks meals on Sunday and the individual recipes for that week on the morning of the day to cook them. I hope this will give you further knowledge and encouragement to eat and cook healthy!

Exercise: Today was an I.M. Swim Workout:

500 warm up

2x(3x100) Freestyle Kick, Pull, Swim

2x(8x50) I.M. Kick/Twitch Set (fly, back, breast, free)

500 cool down

TOTAL: 2400 meters (1.5 miles)

Eat: Today I would like to start talking about individual vegetables and the benefits they have to offer to us. I would like to start with three vegetables today: artichokes, asparagus, and beets. Artichokes contain a whole host of good things; such as fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, magnesium, potassium, and manganese. Asparagus contains folate, vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin A. Make sure to stick to the green variety because white asparagus lacks the heart-protecting phytonutrients and provides less vitamin A and vitamin C compared to the green variety. Finally, beets contain folate, manganese, fiber, and potassium.

Relax: For lunch today, I got to meet with an old friend. It was nice to catch up and hear each others stories. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings - which was also delicious after not being there in forever!

Day 88 - "Why We Get Fat" Pt. 5

The Nature of a Healthy Diet

Since carbohydrates make us fat, Taubes holds that "the best and perhaps only way to avoid becoming fat is to avoid the carbohydrate rich foods that are responsible" (173). However, many argue against going on carbohydrate restricted diets for three main reasons, three reasons that Taubes does his best to dispel.

The Con Job Argument

The first argument is that carbohydrate rich diets are scams because they promise weight loss without having to eat less and/or exercise, thus violate the laws of thermodynamics and the primacy of calories-in, calories-out (Taubes, 173). Taubes argues against this argument using the science of weight accumulation. He says that if we restrict carbohydrates, this will lead to weight loss because of the decrease in insulin secretion - which happens independently of the calories we consume from dietary fat and protein. Therefore, the laws of physics have nothing to do with it.

The Unbalanced Diet Argument

The second argument is that carbohydrate restricting diets are unbalanced, because they restrict an entire nutrient category - carbohydrates - and the first of healthy eating is to eat a balanced diet from all the major food groups (Taubes, 173). Taubes argues that his idea of restricting carbohydrates in order to live healthier is just like doctors telling smokers to restrict their cigarette use for their health. He says that doctors don't care if we find life less fulfilling without cigarettes, they want us to be healthy, and they assume we'll get over the absence given time - just like we will, as Taubes argues, with carbohydrates (174). If, however, we are to go on diets that cuts back on all calories equally, Taubes argues that we will still be eating more of these carbohydrate rich foods, and will not lose weight while hunger will be a constant companion (174).

When Taubes talks about restricting carbohydrates, however, he does not mean to cut them out completely. Rather, he just advises us to stay away from what he calls the "fattening carbohydrate". These cannot be found in the leafy green vegetables and salads, but are actually found in starches, refined carbohydrates, and sugars (175). Taubes tells us to restrict our intake of fatty carbohydrates but to eat as much meat as we like. While many doctors and nutritionists will tell you to cut back on your meat consumption because of its high percentage of calories that come from fat; they don't tell you that meat contains all the amino acids necessary for life, all the essential fats, and twelve out of the thirteen essential vitamins in surprisingly large quantities (Taubes, 176). One vitamin that is very scarce in meat, however, is vitamin C. Interestingly, while we work so hard to increase the amounts of vitamin C in our diets, the vitamin uses the same mechanism to get into our cells as glucose does. So while we can get vitamin C from a whole host of sources, much of it will be excreted in the urine rather than retaining it because its spots will be taken up by glucose (Taubes, 176).

In addition to it effects on vitamin retention, a lack of carbohydrates in the diet also effects the molecules the brain will use for fuel also changes - to ketones. Ketones are synthesized in the liver from the fat we eat and from fatty acids, from our fat tissue with low carbohydrate diets, and from amino acids (Taubes, 177). The rest of our brain's energy will come from glycerol, which comes from breaking down triglycerides in fat cells into glycerol and two fatty acids. Research has shown, actually, that the brain and central nervous system runs more efficiently on ketones than they do on glucose - therefore we only need about 60 grams or less of carbohydrates a day for our bodies to run correctly (Taubes, 178).

The Heart Disease Argument

The final argument is that carbohydrate restricting diets are high-fat diets, and particularly high in saturated fat, and will cause heart disease by raising our cholesterol (Taubes, 173). For years we have bought into the idea that if we lower these supposedly "heart-healthy" carbohydrates, and replace them with high fat foods and especially saturated fats, which raise our cholesterol and increase our risk of heart disease and premature death. However, the validity of this claim must be looked into. How is it that a diet that makes us leaner by lowering cholesterol and increasing fat intake can also cause us to have an increased risk for heart disease? This is what Taubes refers to as a paradox of our diets (179).

Nutritionists and health authorities "argue that fat is the most energy dense nutrient in the diet, and this makes it fattening" (Taubes, 180). A gram of fat has 9 calories compared to the 4 calories contained in a gram of both protein and carbohydrates. This fact has, and will be used to help argue towards avoiding high-fat, low-cholesterol diets in order to maintain weight loss. However, as Taubes tells us, "as a nation, we were told to eat less fat and less saturated fat, which we did, or at least tried to do and yet, rather than getting leaner, we got fatter." (181) Taubes also tells us that coincidentally, the emergence of the low-fat, high-carb diet came about at the same time as both the obesity and the diabetes epidemics (182).

In addition to these facts, Taubes reveals that there is actually very little experimental evidence in support of the idea of a low-fat, high-carb diet helping to lower the risk of heart disease. In fact, one experiment conducted by the NHLBI, where over $115 million dollars was spent to conduct a decade-long clinical trial of eating less saturated fat to curb heart disease, ended in complete failure (Taubes, 182). However, a second trial, costing over $150 million dollars, that studied the benefits of a low-cholesterol diet helping to lower risk of heart disease succeeded (Taubes, 182). While researcher could prove that lowering cholesterol helped to prevent heart disease, they still could not prove that either a low-fat diet or a low-saturated fat diet could do the same (Taubes, 183). Even one of the most highly respected organizations called the Cochrane Collaboration, which gives unbiased information on intervention techniques, said that "there is still only limited and inconclusive evidence of the effects of modification of total, saturated, monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated fats on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality." (Taubes, 184)

Finally, Taubes argues that we must take into account the cause and effects with taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. Taubes says that taking a drug to lower cholesterol and changing our diets to lower cholesterol do two completely different things. Changing the nutrient content of our diets can effect much more than just our levels of cholesterol. And we can't actually prove if lowering the cholesterol in our diets will effect our risk of heart disease. Taubes says that. "just because drugs known as statins lower LDL cholesterol and prevent heart disease does not necessarily imply that they prevent heart disease because they lower LDL." (186)

Many things can be markers for potential heart disease in humans. One thing is a high triglyceride count. The more triglycerides in our bodies, which come from eating carbohydrates, the greater the likelihood that we will obtain heart disease. LDL is a second marker. If your LDL is high, then you also have a greater chance of getting heart disease. Finally, low HDL (good cholesterol) is a risk factor for heart disease. HDL can become lowered when you replace the fats in the diet with carbohydrates. Many will tell us to increase our exercise, lower our weight, and consume alcohol in moderation; but even more than any of those three things, if you lower your carbohydrate intake and replace it with fats, then you will raise you HDL.

Foods in general do not contain just one type of fat, but rather a mixture of different fats that all affect LDL and HDL levels. Monounsaturated fats raise HDL and lower LDL. 1/3 of saturated fats contain stearic acid that is considered a "good fat" because it raises HDL, but has no effect on LDL. Finally, polyunsaturated fat lowers LDL but has no effect on HDL (Taubes, 189).

Over the years, many studies have emerged to research the effects of the low-carbohydrate diet, many ending up with the same results: loss of weight, rise in HDL, lower Triglycerides, lowered Blood Pressure, same Total Cholesterol, LDL slightly increased, significant Decrease in Risk for Heart Disease (Taubes, 190).

In one study in particular, the A to Z Weight Loss Study, a research team from Stanford University compared four different diets and their results; including the Atkins diet, a traditional diet (LEARN diet), the Ornish diet, and the Zone diet. They found that the diet that restricted carbohydrates (Atkins) actually resulted in more weight loss, lower triglycerides, higher HDL, and lower Blood Pressure than any other diet (Taubes, 191). When faced with these results, even the director of the study, a vegetarian himself for 25+ years, had to admit that the triumph of the very low carbohydrate, meat rich Atkins diet is "a bitter pill to swallow" (Taubes, 192).

The "Bad Cholesterol" Problem - Updating the LDL Connection

According to Taubes, when physicians and health reporters "began to refer to LDL as the "bad cholesterol", they did so because they thought it was the cholesterol that caused the buildup of plaque in our arteries. LDL, though, actually isn't cholesterol; it's the particle that contains the cholesterol and shuttles it around the bloodstream." (193) The problem now is that the particle, not the cholesterol, seems to be what is actually causing the problems; which the cholesterol is just an innocent bystander (Taubes, 193).

Interestingly enough, the LDL particle actually has some gradations in size to determine if it is causing a problem in our arteries or if it is fine. When the LDL particle is small and dense, they can work their way into the walls of our arteries and form plaques. However, when the LDL particle is large and buoyant, then it appears to be harmless (Taubes, 193). Consuming carbohydrates seems to cause LDL to become large and dense, while restricting carbohydrates does the opposite, making the particle larger and fluffier (Taubes, 194).

Metabolic Syndrome

When we eat diets high in carbohydrates, not only do we end up secreting much more insulin than is necessary in our bodies, but we also contract many metabolic disturbances as well; such as a rise in blood pressure, a rise in triglycerides, and a lowering of HDL. Additionally, LDL particles become more dense and smaller (Taubes, 195). The combination of these risk factors are what is referred to as metabolic syndrome.

Today, more than 1/4 of the population is considered to have metabolic syndrome. The main reason for this is that diabetes and obesity are considered among its symptoms, and we are experiencing epidemics of both (Taubes, 195).

The metabolic syndrome tells us that heart disease and diabetes are not caused by individual risk factors but by insulin resistance and elevated levels of insulin and blood sugar playing havoc with cells everywhere (Taubes, 197). Insulin works in the body to cause many different effects on different body tissues. It works on the fat cells to make us accumulate fat, on the liver to convert carbohydrates into fat, on the kidneys to raise blood pressure by absorbing sodium and by impairing the secretion of uric acid, and on the artery walls to stiffen them and cause the accumulation of triglycerides and cholesterol in the budding atherosclerotic plaques (Taubes, 197). While insulin is doing all of this, the elevated blood sugar in the body causes a state of oxidative stress and leads to the creation of advanced glycation end products which also cause artery walls to stiffen and a premature aging to take place (Taubes, 197).

Metabolic Syndrome Redux

In addition to cancers, obesity, and diabetes that are associated with the metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer's disease is also associated with the metabolic syndrome! Researchers believe that insulin and high blood sugar may cause the brain to deteriorate symptomatic of Alzheimer's (Taubes, 199).

In the end, Taubes says that it is vital that we reduce the amount of carbohydrates we consume; because it seems that "what makes us fat - the quality and quantity of carbohydrates we consume - also makes us sick." (200)

Following Through

In the final section of Taubes' book, he simply wants to talk about how best to avoid the carbohydrates responsible for weight gain and what else to do to maximize the benefits to our health (201). He suggests taking a look at some of the best-selling low-carbohydrate diet books out there in order to have some guidance; but more importantly to follow some ground rules. Taubes tells us to "eat as much as you like of meat, fish, fowl, eggs, and leafy green vegetables. Avoid starches, grains, and sugars and anything made from them (including bread, sweets, juices, sodas), and learn for yourself whether and how much fruit and non-starchy vegetables (such as peas, artichokes, and cucumbers) your body can tolerate." (203) Finally, Taubes writes to us about common questions with the low-carbohydrate diets in order to give us his best advice and answers.

Moderation or Renounce Them Entirely? Part 1

According to Taubes, "the fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be." (204) However, it is important to remember that while we can control the amount of insulin secreted in our bodies through our diets, we cannot control the secretion of other hormones - estrogen and testosterone. Also, different bodies will behave differently. The amount of carbohydrate restriction that is needed to lower weight and fat accumulation differs greatly depending on your body. Some will only have to get rid of sugars in the diet, others will have to renounce carbohydrates entirely to have the same effects (Taubes, 205). Some, even still, may never be able to get back to their lean self - "a point of no return" as Wolfgang Lutz refers to it (Taubes, 205).

Taubes, however, believes that it is more a matter of strict adherence to the diet and patience that will eventually lead anyone to lower their fat accumulation and perhaps reverse its effects. He says that "reversing the process may take more than a few months or even a few years as well (206).

Moderation or Renounce Them Entirely? Part 2

Taubes tells us there are three main approaches to maximize the effect and sustainability of eating a low carbohydrate diet. The first is to "establish an ideal amount of carbohydrates that you can and perhaps should eat." (207) This approach assumes that it is easier to eat some fattening carbohydrates than it is to completely eliminate them. The second approach is to aim for minimal carbohydrates from the outset (Taubes, 207). Finally, the last approach is to create a compromise, such as that created by Dr. Robert Atkins: to temporarily eliminate carbohydrates and then eventually add them back in once a goal weight is achieved.

Diets that follow the third approach generally begin with an "induction phase" where dieters are allowed virtually no carbohydrates in the diet (only about 20 grams per day) (Taubes, 208). Then, when you have reached your goal, you can slowly add carbohydrates back into your diet. However, this can be a slippery slope. Carbohydrates, like cigarettes, are addicting. By letting them back in the diet, some dieters will be able to handle the cravings that come with it, but others may not be able to resist their addicting nature (Taubes, 208).

It is also important to not participate in semi-starvation diets. When eating diets low in carbohydrates, you have to compensate by eating meats, fats, and vegetables high in fiber. Many diets fail when they encourage a semi-starvation mode. They fail because your body adjusts to the caloric deficit by expending less energy, you get hungry and stay hungry, and you get depressed, irritable, and chronically tired (Taubes, 209). With the low-carb, high-fat diet, you will face some challenges - the hardest being a craving for carbohydrates. However, some research has shown that these cravings diminish and even disappear over time. So while some may be able to handle putting carbs back into the diet, many may have to allow no compromise in order to have long-term success (Taubes, 210).

What It Means to Eat as Much as We Would Like

Often, when restricting carbohydrates in the diet, dieters tend to eat less than usual. However, a common experience is to not feel as hungry as you used to when eating the fattening carbohydrate (Taubes, 211). In addition to not feeling as hungry all the time, your energy expenditure will also increase because you are no longer diverting your energy into your fat cells, but are storing it where it can be used to burn (Taubes, 211).  While eating a low-carb diet, your body will naturally find its own balance between energy consumption and energy expenditure. Therefore, it is important to eat when you are hungry while on this diet and to only eat until you are satisfied (Taubes, 212)!

Fat or Protein?

While there is no compelling evidence saying that a high-fat diet is truly harmful, a diet of high protein without fat to accompany it can be toxic (Taubes, 213). Diets high in protein but low in both fat and carbs can cause you to have weakness, nausea, and diarrhea (Taubes, 213). In order to avoid these issues, it is vital to eat a diet high in fat along side a diet high in protein.

On Side Effects and Doctors

Initially, when you replace carbohydrates in the diet with fat, you will experience some side effects - mostly from a carbohydrate withdrawal. These side effects can be things like weakness, fatigue, nausea, dehydration, diarrhea, constipation, postural hypotension (standing up to fast and feeling dizzy), and exacerbation of preexisting gout (Taubes, 214). These symptoms come along because of a withdrawal from carbohydrates and can also exist if the diet is too high in protein. Because symptoms like these exist at the outset of a low-carb diet, it is important to always have the help and guidance of a knowledgeable physician when making the decision to go on a low-carb diet (Taubes, 216).

THE END - Thank you Gary Taubes for your wonderful and informative book on fat accumulation and what we can do to alter our diets in order to avoid it!

Exercise: Unfortunately, due to having to work a bit later today than I would have liked, I didn’t' actually have time to get to my Yoga class. Instead I decided to de-stress and take the day off. Tomorrow I'll be back to swimming though!

Eat: I want to talk about a final group of four fruits and their benefits today. Plums contain vitamin C and vitamin K. Dried plums, also known as prunes, contain fiber, iron, and vitamin K. Pomegranates have potassium and vitamin C in them. And finally, raisins contain potassium and fiber.

Relax: After a stressful day at work, I went out to grab a bite to eat with some friends/co-workers. It was super nice to chat and hang out! Now is bed time though and I'm so ready to just pass out.

Day 87 - "Love to Eat? No Worries!"

In an article from the April 2011 edition of Health Magazine, writer Kimberly Goad talks about how emotional eating isn't all that bad for you. In fact, according to MD Michelle May, "trying to talk yourself out of getting a mood boost from food only sets you up for bigger overeating problems - like binging." Therefore, caving into our mood boosting eating habits isn't always bad. We are, after all, born and raised to connect food with love from the moment we enter into the world - getting fed from our mothers. Now, the foods we crave have high amounts of chemicals that work in our brains to make us feel good. Here are some tips from Health on how to best eat emotionally:

Emo-eat only what you love

Health suggests doing the "Four-Really Test" before deciding on any food to eat. This means asking yourself if you really, really, really, really want it. Health tells us that if you "reach for something that you don't really want, [then] you're likely to eat more of it because it isn't satisfying."

Make it blow your mind

Before you make any kind of food decision, make sure you are totally focusing on the choice at hand. "If you don't take a moment to enjoy everything about it, then the real reason you're eating it won't be served". You'll then be more likely to eat other high-calorie foods and more of them.

Don't eat it on an empty stomach

Follow your mother's old rule: Don't eat until you finished your dinner. According to Julia Ross, "if you've had a good meal with protein, vegetables, and a healthy fat, your dessert has a better chance of being emotionally satisfying."

Bag the guilt

According to Ross, "nobody should feel guilty if they use food to celebrate or feel comfort."

So what are some good foods to eat to help boost your mood? According to Health, caffeine can actually be a big mood booster when drunken in moderation during breakfast. B vitamins are also important mood boosters by eliminating mood swings and anxiety. Finally, foods rich in protein are "naturally high in tyrosine, an amino acid that helps boost dopamine, the brain's feel-good chemical."

Exercise: It's a freestyle Swim Workout day! Here's the workout for today (I completed it in about an hours time):

2x250 warm up (100 drill - finger tip drag/catch up arms, 50 kick, 100 swim)

8x100 on the 2:00

12x75 on the 1:30

8x50 on the 1:00

200 cool down

TOTAL: 2800 Meters (1.75 miles)

Eat: Today I want to talk about five more fruits and their benefits to us. Nectarines and peaches both contain vitamin C. Interestingly, the two fruits are so closely related that you can sometimes (though rarely) find them growing on the same tree. Pears contain vitamin C and fiber. In fact, one medium sized pear contain 4 grams of fiber - though most is in its skin. Papaya is full of all kinds of vitamins and minerals; including vitamin C, vitamin A, fiber, folate, and potassium. Finally, pineapples contain vitamin C and manganese.

Relax: When I got home from work tonight, I enjoyed catching up on today's Biggest Loser episode. I absolutely love the show. While watching it, I also was able to sew up some flowers that I started this morning. While it was work, it was still relaxing.

Day 86 - The Raw Food Diet

There are many different names for different raw food diets, but they all are generally the same. A raw food diet is based off of eating raw foods; such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spouted seeds and grains, dried fruit and juices, rolled or flaked grains, herbs and spices. A raw food diet consists of at the very least 75% raw foods only. Sometimes, however, dieters will also add in some cooked grains and legumes, good quality fish, and poultry. Raw food diets hold that cooking foods actually cooks off the beneficial enzymes contained in the food, and by eating the foods raw we will get more of the healthy benefits from them.

Weight loss on a raw food diet is a certainty. The diet makes followers lower both their calorie intake as well as their carbohydrate intake - which leads to loss of weight. Also, since many of the foods that are encouraged to eat have high water and fiber contents, they make dieters feel fuller faster and longer, also leading to weight loss.

While the diet has sure effects and is very good for the individuals' health, it can be extremely difficult to follow. It also runs the risk of having too little protein in it, unless the appropriate amount of legumes, nuts, and seeds are eaten.

You can find a lot more information about the Raw Food Diet on the following sites:

Every Diet

About.Com: Alternative Medicine

Exercise: I began my workout today with a 40 minute running exercise on a treadmill. I went in five minute increments, changing my speeds every five minutes. So I started at 4.5 and increased my speed by 0.5 every five minutes until I got up to 6.0. After staying on 6.0 for five minutes, I decreased my speed by 0.5 for the next sets of five minutes until I was back to 4.5. Finally I completed a five minute cool down.

After my running workout, I went to my usual Monday night yoga class. This time I had a co-worker come with me. It's nice to have company and the workout itself was a tough one. SO glad I went though because I found it nice to stretch out and then to get relaxed.

Eat: There are three different kinds of melons, each of which give off their own benefits. Cantaloupe contains vitamin A, vitamin C, and potassium. Honeydew (the green melon) contains vitamin C and potassium. Watermelon is full of vitamin A, vitamin C, and lycopene.

Relax: Today for my relaxation time, I watched the episode of The Biggest Loser from last week. It was such a touching episode and I can't wait for the next one tomorrow. I'm wiped out and ready for bed now though!

Day 85 - "A Diet Manifesto, Drop the Apple and Walk Away"

In an article found in the New York Times, the debate rages on for how to best diet or eat in order to obtain weight loss and good health. As writer Abigail Zuger puts it "in one corner this month we find the chief executive of Weight Watchers" whose program allows fruit to be freely eaten, and "in the opposite corner we have Gary Taubes, the science journalist" who argues that "the overweight should just put down their apples and walk away", saying that fruit will make the problem worse and not better for those predisposed to fat.

While Taubes is not trying to sell you anything, other than his book "Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It" of course, the book is still a manifesto. The book itself, as Taubes admits, is actually more of a cliff-notes version of his longer book "Good Calories, Bad Calories", meant to get a broader audience and make a larger impact. According to Zuger, "Taubes proceeds to stand the received wisdom about diet and exercise on its head in a particularly intriguing and readable synthesis."

According to Taubes, "Eating in moderation and being physically active (literally, having the energy to exercise) are not evidence of moral rectitude. Rather, they're the metabolic benefits of a body that's programmed to remain lean." Meanwhile, "those who get fat do so because of the way their fat happens to be regulated. A conspicuous consequence of this regulation is to cause the eating behavior (gluttony) and the physical inactivity (sloth) that we so readily assume are the actual causes." And really the only hormone we can voluntarily control is insulin. Taubes then continues his book in arguing that the regulation of carbohydrates and insulin are the primary causes of fat gain.

Zuger, however, argues that the various shapes and sizes of the human organism are to clearly driven "by such a vast array of different appetites and genetic cues" makes it "foolish to expect a single diet to serve all corners."

Exercise: Starting on today and going until whenever, I am starting a new workout routine with some of my co-workers. We do an hour swim workout and then an hour long yoga class. Unfortunately, today we got started a little late and only had time for the swim workout. But here is today's swim workout routine:

200 warm up

2 x set of three 50s descending (first=easy, second=medium, final=hard)

Complete the following set two times:

200 freestyle

3x100 I.M.

4 x set of three 50s descending

100 cool down

TOTAL: 2800 meters

Eat: Continuing in fruit benefits, four more fruits with huge benefits are figs, grapes, kiwis, and mangos. Figs are full of fiber, iron, calcium, and potassium. Grapes have vitamin C, manganese, and vitamin K in them. Grapes also have disease fighting polyphenols in them - the higher the count, the deeper red or purple the color. Kiwis contain vitamin C, vitamin K, fiber, and potassium. Finally, Mangos have vitamin C, vitamin A, and beta-carotene.

Relax: After my workout today, I headed over to my favorite mall to participate in a girls shopping day with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin. We had a fun time shopping for spring/summer clothes and eating at our all time favorite restaurant: Red Robin!

Day 84 - Every Diet

The website Every Diet has been my best friend this month as I have done my research on different fad diets. The site provides basically an encyclopedia of every diet in existence, including any new ones that come out. The divide their diets into four main groups: Weight Loss Diets, Diet Delivery, Detox Diets, and Healthy Diets.

Then each diet has its own information page. On these pages, you will find background information on the diet (such as founders or philosophies), the diet basics (what it is based on, how it works, etc), lists of recommended and forbidden foods, diet plans, exercise recommendations of the diet, costs and expenses of the diet, pros of the diet, cons of the diet, and conclusions.

I highly recommend paying a visit to this website before starting on any new diet in order to get all the facts on it. They do a really good job providing unbiased information that will truly help you pick the best plan for you.

Exercise: Today I did a running and weight lifting workout after I finished working my long day. I started out by running on an elliptical machine for 35 minutes. I would alternate running 10 minutes at a 10min/mile pace followed by 5 minutes at a 15min/mile pace. The final five minutes were a cool down. Then I went and used three different weight lifting machines for my legs. I started with a hamstring press down machine where I did three sets of 12 reps at increasing weights each time. Next, I used the quadriceps press-up machine where I again did three sets of 12 reps at increasing weights. Finally, I went to the leg press machine where I completed my three sets of 12 reps cycles at increasing weights. In total, I worked out about 50 minutes to an hour tonight.

Eat: Citrus fruits also contain lots of vitamin C, which may also help to reduce the risk of cancer and cataracts. Consumption of lemons and limes will provide us with tons of vitamin C. Grapefruits also contain vitamin C, along with fiber. The pink and red versions of grapefruit are also an excellent source of vitamin A and lycopene. Oranges contain vitamin C, fiber (contained in the white part of the orange), and folate. Finally tangerines contain vitamin C and fiber. Tangerines are also contain the highest amounts of pectin among citrus fruits. Pectin is a type of fiber that makes you feel fuller.

Relax: Tonight I got to come home and watch a movie with my mom, dad, and dog. We watched "Just Wright". It was a really cute movie! But more so, it was nice to spend time with my parents and with my doggie curled up in my lap :)

Day 83 - "The Beautiful Truth"

In the movie "The Beautiful Truth", some scary facts and truths about are food industry are revealed and discussed along side the exciting theories and results of Gerson Therapy. According to founder Marx Gerson, it is important to feed and be fed the appropriate kinds of foods in order to live healthily.

The movie itself follows along the storyline of a young high school man discovering the Gerson Therapy and doing research into the topic. The boy, Garrett, studies the topic and comes up with a list of questions to ask the authorities on the subject; beginning with questions on dental care.

According to dental experts; such as Gerald Cox and Harold Hodge, nutrition may have a bigger effect on dental health than just the fluoride found in toothpaste. In studying old, isolated tribes of people, it was found that many, if not all, had no dental decay and wonderfully good teeth. However, once introduced to processed foods, tooth decay began to become more and more common. In addition to nutrition having effects on our dental health, some dental work has further decreased our good health as well, like our silver cavity fillings. Cavity fillings are the biggest exposure to Mercury that we get in our lives. Even just a little bit of jarring of a silver filling will release mercury into the atmosphere. Entering into a dental office will give you exposure to a phenomenal amount of mercury.

However, when asked if mercury fillings are safe, close to 100% of dentists will claim that they are, even though mercury is the deadliest type of metal known to humans. Even when you go to get your silver fillings removed, you still have to be extremely careful about who you go to. 60% of patients that get their silver fillings removed will obtain an autoimmune diseases they had not had before. It is estimated that about 1000 tons of mercury are in the fillings of humans today.

Gerson was originally from Germany and was able to flee during WW2. Today, anytime the Gerson Therapy has been talked about or broadcasted, the drug and pharmaceutical companies hush them up. Many of our supposed helpful organizations, such as the American Medical Association's major advertising revenue came from ads about different pharmaceutical drugs and companies. These companies are not advertising these drugs as a means to hope to actually cure people, but rather just for the money making aspect of it. In fact, former Commissioner of the FDA talked about how he is disgusted about the wide difference between what the FDA actually does and what the public thinks the FDA is doing.

Dr. Marx Gerson

Next, Garrett questioned the use of artificial flavoring in much of the processed foods and its benefits, or detriments, to us. According to the movie, food additives such as MSG have been shown to destroy nerve cells in developing infant animal brains. In humans, MSG interferes with brain functioning by destroying connections in the brain. To avoid consuming MSG, you mush eat organic foods and meals devoid of processed foods. The only reason companies are calling them safe is because it is a huge money making ploy. MSG is a big taste enhancing additive in foods, however it is a silent toxin.

Garrett furthered his questioning of food products by asking about Genetically Modified foods (GM) and their safety. According to the movie, over 60% of processed foods have GM ingredients contained in them, but many foods do not have them at all - fresh foods. Today, there are five main big companies that are behind the strive to sell GM products - and all of these companies are chemical companies, not agricultural companies. Further, many of the people who worked for the chemical companies later got jobs in government that regulated these companies and products. Therefore, the products could make it onto our shelves without much regulation. Now, these chemical companies are creating seeds that react positively to their chemical products to make bigger yields of crops. Through creating and patenting their seeds, these companies are simply trying to control all of the seeds of the world and make it impossible to save the seeds - even worse knowing most farmers survive off of saving seeds.

In addition to talking about some of these controversial topics, the movie also talks about the scientific differences between cooked and non-cooked products, as well as between organically grown and conventionally grown foods by taking photographs that measure the amount of energy contained in the food product. According to the research done through the movie, non-cooked foods and organically grown foods have more energy in them.

While there is so much going on negatively in our food industry and agriculture industry today, the movie reveals that the beautiful truth today, is that people around the world are saying no to GM products, to food radiation, and more; and are saying yes to organic foods and locally grown products.

I encourage you all to watch this video to learn more about the Gerson Theory, about Dr. Gerson himself, and about the dangers of today's food industry and how to avoid them.

Exercise: While today is my day off of exercising, I actually did do something relatively exercise-like. Today, for a date, Aaron took me to the Yost Arena to go ice skating during open skate hours. We had a lot of fun (even though neither of us was very good lol) and even got our heart rates up a bit!

Eat: According to Cooking Light, berries are as healthful as they are delicious. They are full of antioxidants that give off all kinds of benefits, and they are also storehouses for fiber; vitamins A, C, E; folic acid; and potassium and calcium. They also contain ellagic acid and lignans that may help reduce the risk of cancer. Each different kind of berry offers different kinds of healthful benefits. Cranberries  and strawberries give us vitamin C, manganese, and fiber. Blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries have vitamin C, fiber, manganese, and vitamin K. And cherries have vitamin C, fiber, and potassium in them.

Relax: In addition to watching the movie tonight, Aaron and I also watched some good cartoon shows while we drank some calming hot tea. It was a good night! But I definitely stayed up way to late for having to get up tomorrow at 8!!

Day 82 - The Biggest Loser Club Diet

The Biggest Loser Club Diet is based off of the popular TV show as a way to help people lose weight and keep track of their exercise and diets without having to go on the show.

When you sign up for the club, you are given tools, expert advice, and community support to help you reach your goals. The club will give you access to your online weight loss program via computer or mobile device, thousands of recipes and meal ideas to help you make good food choices, personalized goals based on your height and weight, access to message boards and expert advice for networking, exercise and food habit interactive tools, tracking programs for your diet and exercise, and a pledge of confidentiality.

The diet does require a huge deal of commitment to stay on the program; both for eating healthy as well as doing a mix of cardio and strength training exercise daily. In terms of the diet, meals are broken down into the main types of foods you need in your day and gives you the number of servings you should have of each. Here is the breakdown:

Breakfast: 1 fruit, 2 grains, 1 dairy

Morning Snack: 1 protein, 1 fruit

Lunch: 2 protein, 2 vegetable, 1 grain, 1 sauce

Afternoon Snack: 1 vegetable, 1 sauce

Dinner: 2 protein, 2 vegetable, 1 grain, 1 sauce

Evening Snack: 1 fruit, 1 dairy

The Biggest Loser Show aids in the motivation for people to stay on this diet, and the message boards and chat rooms help to further this motivation. While the diet costs about $5 per week and requires a huge commitment, the show is a testament that staying with the program and staying committed can lead to big results.

For more information on the Biggest Loser Club, please visit any of the following sites:

Biggest Loser Club Official Website

Every Diet

Exercise: Today is another swim workout… but this time is an I.M. Here is my workout:

200 warm up

3x8 50s (I.M. kick/twitch set)

50 fly kick

50 fly twitch

50 back kick

50 back twitch

50 breast kick

50 breast twitch

50 free kick

50 free twitch

200 cool down

Eat: For the next couple weeks, I am going to breakdown the produce food group into it's component fruits and vegetables in order to talk about the benefits that we get by consuming them and some other random facts, provided by Cooking Light's book "What to Eat". Today I want to start taking about some fruits: apples, apricots, avocados, and bananas.  Apples are great for us because they are full of fiber (which makes us feel full), vitamin C, and antioxidants. Also interesting about apples, when you eat an apple with the skin on, you are actually getting about 45% more antioxidants and 2 times more fiber as you do eating a peeled apple. Apricots contain vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. They are also one of the best sources of beta-carotene (which is converted to Vitamin A in the body). Cooking Light tells us that one fresh apricot provides the daily recommendation of beta-carotene. Avocados are extremely good for us. They contain heart-healthy unsaturated fats, folate, potassium, and vitamin E. Finally, bananas contain tons of potassium, fiber, vitamin C, and vitamin B6.

Relax: I was bad this morning and ended up spending a bit of my time playing my Harvest Moon game. I absolutely LOVE it… It is the perfect way to spend time just relaxing and enjoying getting into a story line.

Day 81 - "Why We Get Fat" Pt. 4

Today is a continuation of Gary Taubes' "Why We Get Fat". I will be focusing my discussion on chapters 16 and 17.

A Historical Digression on the Fattening Carbohydrate

The idea of the carbohydrate being the root cause of fat accumulation first appeared in the early 1800s when Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote a book called The Physiology of Taste. In his book, he concluded that there was both a natural predisposition to fatten and that starches and flours produce this effect of fat accumulation more quickly and surely when it is used with sugar (Taubes, 149). Therefore, "it can be deduced, as an exact consequence, that a more or less rigid abstinence from everything that is starchy or floury will lead to the lessening of weight." (Taubes, 149)

Then, in the 1960s, the theories that had been tested and believed about fat accumulation were blown out of the water by the calories-in, calories-out theories.

Prior to the introduction of this theory, the notion of the fattening carbohydrate has been around for the last two hundred years (Taubes, 150). One French physician, Jean-Francois Dancel came to the same conclusions as Brillat-Savarin and wrote a book about the results of the carbohydrate-restricted diet (Taubes, 151). Taubes tells us that "Dancel argued that physicians of his era believed obesity to be incurable because the diets they prescribed to cure it were precisely those that happened to cause it" (151).

Another British doctor, William Harvey came to similar conclusions when he began prescribing low-carbohydrate diets to his obese patients. When William Banting took on the diet and experienced massive results, he wrote a best selling Letter on Corpulence (Taubes, 153). While he attributed Harvey for the diet, Banting's name became the one to enter both the English and Swedish language as a verb meaning "to diet" (Taubes, 153).

Throughout the early 1900s, more and more theories, experimental results, and articles emerged furthering the evidence for the fattening carbohydrate; such as statements in The Principles and Practice of Medicine, A Text-book of the Practice of Medicine, and in the Lancet (Taubes, 154). Diets were written between 1943 and 1952 encouraging dieters to decrease the amount of carbohydrate and especially sugar consumption (Taubes, 155).  And all of these diets, that kept normal caloric intake based on gender but that decreased the percent of calories that came from carbohydrates, were found to increase sense of well-being and physical energy while stifling hunger (Taubes, 157). It was found that "weight loss, fat loss, and percent weight loss as fat appeared to be inversely related to the level of carbohydrate in the diets" (Taubes, 159).

But when the 1960s rolled around, obesity began to be perceived as an eating disorder and the actual science of the regulation of fat was considered irrelevant (Taubes, 159). The problem of obesity perceived as an eating disorder while people continued to eat carbohydrates was furthered by Health Officials who came to believe that fat caused heart disease. Shortly after, the famous Food Guide Pyramid of the U.S. Department of Agriculture was released; putting fats and oils at the top and encouraging the consumption of carbohydrates at the bottom (Taubes, 160). Finally, the idea of being able to eat anything so long as it is low in fat reached the height of its absurdity in 1995, when people were advised to eat low-fat cookies, low-fat candy, unsalted pretzels, syrup, jelly, etc in order to lose their weight (Taubes, 162).

This idea of the fat being the cause of weight gain and increase in occurrence of heart disease  would be perfectly fine if it was proven true. But the problem is that even with low-fat prescribed diets, people are still getting fatter and sicker.

Meat or Plants?

For many years, nutritionists, researchers, and doctors have been trying to figure out the causes of many of today's most chronic diseases; such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, and more. In order to figure out the causes, however, they first have to figure out the differences between today's diseased populations and the habits of the healthy previous generations. To find these differences, we have to go to the studies of anthropologists. In 1919, when one cardiologist Blake Donaldson asked anthropologists about the diets of our prehistoric ancestors, he was told they consumed a diet of meat, and mostly fatty meat (Taubes, 163). Donaldson then began prescribing high meat diets to his patients. In the forty years of his practice, Donaldson claimed that he was able to cure over 17,000 patients of their weight problems (Taubes, 163). Taubes tells us that, like in Donaldson's practices, the only way to restore our health is to go back to the diets and habits that our bodies are genetically adapted to live on (164).

"Our genes", Taubes says, "were effectively shaped by the two and a half million years during which our ancestors lived as hunters and gatherers prior to the introduction of agriculture twelve thousand years ago." (164) The pre-historic age of humanity makes up over 99.5% of our history, compared to the 600 generations of farmers or the 10 generations of humans that have lived since the industrial age (Taubes, 164).

In order to learn more about our ancestors' diets, since they existed before the age of recording history, we have to look at and research societies that have been isolated and still use the hunter-gatherer techniques for obtaining their food. One of the best and most comprehensive studies on these societies was completed in 2000. This study led to a few conclusions that are relevant to the question of whether abstaining from carbohydrates will in fact make us lean. First, they discovered that the hunter-gatherers consumed high amounts of animal foods and not a single one was fully vegetarian. In fact, the consumed about 2/3 of their diet in animal foods and 1/3 in plants (Taubes, 165). Secondly, they found that their diets were very high in protein and fat when compared with today's diet standards (Taubes, 166). Finally, their diets were extremely low in carbohydrates, averaging at about 22 to 40% of their caloric energy (Taubes, 166). When they did consume carbohydrates, they were laced with indigestible fiber, making them difficult and very slow to digest (reducing insulin secretion) (Taubes, 166). The biggest point of the study was to show that the major foods of the modern western diet (that makes up about 60% of the diet); such as grains, dairy products, beverages, oils and dressings, sugar, and candy, wouldn't have contributed at all to the typical hunter-gatherer diet (Taubes, 167).

As evidence that the Western diet, constituting of refined flours and sugars, have led to many of today's chronic diseases, we need only look at societies that have gone through "nutrition transition" and adopted the Western diet in the place of their traditional ones. It is seen invariably that when a society begins eating a Western diet, diseases soon follow (Taubes, 169). It is especially evidenced that when a society begins eating a Western diet, the first products to enter into their nutrition are sugar and white flour - mostly because it doesn't spoil, is easily transportable, and bugs and rodents wont get into it (Taubes, 172). If we were to simply stay away from the Western diet, from processed foods and sugars, then we would steer clear of the diseases that come with it and live longer (Taubes, 170).

While Taubes says it seems perfectly sensible to consider sugar and flour the likely causes of diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, etc; this theory has also been rejected because it clashes with the idea that dietary fat causes heart disease, which is the preferred hypothesis of nutritionists and doctors today (Taubes, 172).

Exercise: Today is a yoga day. While my class was a Vinyasa 1 level, we mainly focused on slow stretches that got into the deep fibers of our muscles. We especially focused on the spine and the hips today. I suggest spending some time doing a deeply stretching yoga workout today.

Eat: So now that we know what to avoid buying organic because they are not likely to contain any pesticides or chemicals, what fruits and vegetables do come in contact often with these chemicals? Which ones are best to get organic? According to Cooking Light, we should buy lettuce, celery, carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, spinach, apples, cherries, strawberries, nectarines, and peaches all organic because they are the most likely to contain trace levels of pesticides.

Relax: To relax today, I spent a bit of my time making lists of goals I want to meet this weekend as well as next week. I find it greatly satisfying to make goals way ahead of time in order to motivate myself to do them in the future.