Carbs | Rock Solid Over 50

Archive for Carbs

Your Food Affects Your Health – Always.

October 2, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Had a great question today: ” Debbie, I think you’re slightly exaggerating when you say there are NO neutral foods, that all foods either heal or hurt. ” , there’s more, but that’s the gist of the email.

I get this line of thinking; after all, you can eat pop tarts, pasta, ice-cream, bagels, and processed, refined foods for years, and feel pretty normal. Trust me though: damage is happening; little by little, irritation and inflammation are adding up, and it will hit you – and your kids – eventually. Look around you at the disease, poor health, lack of energy, and sky rocketing levels of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, ADHD, autism, auto-immune, endocrine disorders, liver disease, and so on and so on and so on. 70% of America is overweight, 70% of America is on at least 1 prescription drug. We are a sick, unhealthy, overweight nation, and it’s because of the food we eat.

No one really struggles with the belief that toxins from cigarettes will eventually harm you. Who questions that? If any of us saw our kids or a loved one smoking, we’d say that their lungs are being damaged; we’d say that eventually, they’re going to get lung cancer or lung disease. Unfortunately, the same line of thinking doesn’t happen with a lot of the foods that are harming you and your children.

Those cereals that have the AHA stamp of approval? They’re sending blood sugar/glucose levels way over what’s healthy. Every single time you go above 100mg/dcl of sugar in the blood, DAMAGE OCCURS. Every. Time. Every time you eat trans fats, damage occurs. Every. Time. Every time you eat chemicals that our own FDA says are potentially cancer causing (BHA, BHT, etc), damage occurs. Every. Time. Every time you eat a big plate of “whole grain” pasta, you’re sending your blood sugar way over 100 and causing damage. Every. Time. Seriously.

The evidence against sugars, flours, bad fats, and chemicals isn’t new and it isn’t insignificant. It’s massive; and researchers and scientists have been beating the drum for a long time, it’s just that Big Food and Big Pharma beat their drums louder to convince you that you’ll be okay: eat the foods, then just take their drugs. Everything will be fine. But it’s not, is it.

Everyone I work with has done just that: eaten the food and taken the meds. The result is the level of sickness and fatigue increases. More drugs are needed to deal with the initial drugs side effects. Your energy and vitality are stolen from you. Please, take back your health! Give your children the foundations to keep or improve theirs.

Our body is a master at trying to fix, maintain, and patch. Those clogged arteries? They take an average of 20 years to develop. Cancers? Pancreatic cancer is supposed to kill quickly, right? Because the average length of time from detection to death is 3 years, BUT, research shows that the average length of time for pancreatic cancer to develop to the point of symptoms and detection is 20 years! Auto-Immune conditions?? Yes the body is “attacking” itself, but actually, it’s “defending” itself: the immune system is in overdrive from it’s initial attack on a foreign substance: heavy metals, molds, infections, and very very often, there’s a response via chronic inflammation due to food sensitivities: gluten, casein, etc. (We’ve talked a lot about “leaky gut”). Think of the immune system responding to flour and sugar day after day, year after year. The damage accumulates. There’s no getting around this.

Oh! What about more sudden onset conditions, like a cold, or the flu? They happen when your immune system is either run down or suppressed. Eat sugar, and within one hour your immune system is suppressed 56% for about 24 hours! Sugar: reduces white blood cell activity; it reduces antibody activity; it interferes with the transport of Vit C; it causes mineral imbalances; and it inhibits the actions of fatty acids which would normally strengthen cell walls, but instead leaves cell walls more permeable to virus and bacteria.

Use the above scenario and imagine your child sitting down in school, eating their sugary meal, and then being sneezed on by the kid sitting next to them. Or you having your dessert drink (a la Starbucks) and treat, and then touching a door handle at the office a sick person just touched. You’ll get sick NOT because “someone at the office got you sick”, but because you didn’t take care of your immune system. You actually inhibited your immune system with your food choices.

Yes, I’m laying Your health on Your lap. We all have to be our Own Best Health Advocate, and our children’s Health Advocate. No one else cares as much as we do. My next post will focus on Boosting the Immune System, because you can. Take control of your health, use your power. Want to learn even more? Come to my Switch Your Metabolism Class. Eating for a strong, healthy body leads to a lean body. Eat for health, and weight loss happens.

Switch Your Metabolism Class: set for Mondays: Oct 7,14,21, 6 – 7:30pm; and Wednesdays: Oct 9,16,23, 1 – 2:30. The goal: to teach you how to be a Fat Burner and not a Sugar Burner. We’ll cover the Paleo Diet, Digestion, Blood Sugar (you HAVE to understand your biology to lose weight and get healthy), Ketosis, Power Cooking, Compliance Strategies and much more. The class will be held at the Marshall Community Center (4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall Va), which is right off Rt 17 and Rt 66 – it’s easy to get to. The total cost: $100. My goal: to help you understand that your weight and your health are a matter of your Biology, not a low cal/low fat diet that never works, ever; and that you have the Power to change yourself. Email me if you can attend, or just show up at the door. Phone and Skype sessions are available if you’re long distance.

Category: Carbs, Food Additives, Question of the Week /

Grain Brain and Metabolism Class

September 29, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Grain Brain!! It’s the title of the latest book I’m reading by neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, MD. You should read it if you’re worried about your brain health, but if you don’t have time, let me condense the message for you. I’m going to use a bunch of quotes from his book: “We have a habit of categorizing brain ailments separately from the other afflictions we attribute to bad habits. …..I believe that the shift in our diet that has occurred over the past century – from high fat, low carb to today’s low-fat, high carb diet, fundamentally consisting of grains and other damaging carbohydrates – is the origin of many of our modern scourges linked to the brain, including chronic headaches, insomnia, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, ADHD, cognitive decline, and full-blown, irreversible, untreatable, incurable, brain disease.”

He says that carbohydrates from grains along with processed polyunsaturated vegetable oils (canola, corn, soy, peanut, safflower, etc), have replaced the diet that’s HEALTHY for the brain and the body: high fat/high cholesterol containing, traditional foods.

He says that diabetes and brain disease are this country’s costliest diseases, yet they are PREVENTABLE and uniquely tied together: having diabetes more than doubles your risk for Alzheimer’s disease. He uses research showing that gluten, and a high-carb diet are among the most prominent stimulators of inflammatory pathways that reach the brain. ”

“This whole grain goodness, as the US Department of Agriculture is trying to convince us we should focus on in terms of our dietary choices, is the cornerstone of our most devastating diseases. I mean, brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, and obviously, what leads to them, diabetes, which is so prevalent in Western societies. Again, it’s the getting away from fat and the substitution with wheat- and corn-based carbohydrate (high-fructose corn syrup) that really, in my opinion, explains this huge explosion of degenerative conditions that are crippling us medically and crippling us economically as well,” he says.

“But the quality of the fat that we consume is absolutely fundamental. When we’re saying high-fat diet, we’re not talking about prepared foods on the Twinkie aisle at the grocery store that contain modified trans fats; hydrogenated fats that are clearly coffin nails. They’re a great risk for brain disorders, heart disorders, diabetes, etc. We’re talking about these beautiful, natural fats that we have been consuming for more than two million years.”

That’s enough quotes for now. I get questions all the time, “how can healthy whole grains be bad for me??” My own husband was recently told by his doctor how good whole grains are, and that he himself eats them all the time. LISTEN TO ME: WHEN DOCTORS SAY THAT, OR MAGAZINES SAY THAT, THEY’RE WRONG. The evidence and research piling up against whole grains isn’t small and it isn’t new. Between the high blood sugar and high insulin they instigate, and/or the proteins they contain that are extremely difficult to digest ( gluten is one example) causing permeable/leaky gut, Grains Cause Inflammation To The Whole Body. Inflammation is the root of all disease, whether it’s in the body or the brain.

We’ll be thoroughly discussing this in my Metabolism Class. If you want to be healthy, and achieve a healthy weight, you need to understand how your body works. Decades of being told to eat a low fat, high carb diet have had DEVESTATING consequences on us. Again: the link between high blood sugar and Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and just about every single disease condition out there is very, very strong.

Interested in hearing a great podcast with Dr. Perlmutter? Listen here. The more you know, the more you learn about your body, the easier it becomes to say NO to foods that call you. What are foods that call you? Refined and processed foods containing sugar, flours, vegetable oils and chemicals that are created in a laboratory to stimulate the addiction centers of your brain. They’re pretty powerful, aren’t they. You can break the addiction. You can change your life, you can change your weight, you can change your health. What can’t you change? Established neurological brain conditions. There’s drugs that might prolong the condition, but there are NO drugs to END Alzheimer’s or dementia. None, zero, nada. The only solution is to not let it happen. You can do this. You have power over the state of your body and your mind; you just need to exercise that power. Hope to see you at my classes; if you can’t make them, contact me and we’ll work one on one.

This last pic is one of my four daughters getting together yesterday in Richmond, Va. Moms, you can raise a family without refined, processed foods. We have the opportunity to turn the Health Crisis around; let’s use our power to reverse the direction our Nation’s youth are heading. Eat Well.

Category: Carbs, Sugar /

Digestion, Stomach Acid, and How to Heal

September 26, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Switch Your Metabolism Class: set for Mondays: Oct 7,14,21, 6 – 7:30; and Wednesdays: Oct 9,16,23, 1 – 2:30. The goal: to teach you how to be a Fat Burner and not a Sugar Burner. We’ll cover the Paleo Diet, Digestion, Blood Sugar (you HAVE to understand your biology to lose weight and get healthy), Ketosis, Power Cooking, Compliance Strategies and much more. The class will be held at the Marshall Community Center (4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall Va), which is right off Rt 17 and Rt 66 – it’s easy to get to. The total cost: $100. My goal: to help you understand that your weight and your health are a matter of your Biology, not a low cal/low fat diet that never works, ever; and that you have the Power to change yourself. Email me if you can attend. Phone and Skype sessions are available if you’re long distance.

If you’ve ever been to one of my talks, or worked with me one-on-one, you know that Digestion is always a big topic for me. Good digestion, and the health of our gut, reflects the health of our entire body. More than 10% of Americans have some level of heartburn everyday, and almost half of all Americans have at least one episode a month.

Gas, Bloat, Reflux, Heartburn, GERD, Constipation/Diarrhea, these aren’t normal – and they’re Fixable! But not with the OTC or prescription meds you’ve been using ( have they solved the problem yet – on a permanent basis?) Antacids (like Tums) and PPIs (proton pump inhibitors like Prilosec and Prevacid) temporarily suppress stomach acid, allowing you to think that everything’s okay. It’s not. God put that stomach acid there for a reason: it digests our food and kills bacteria, virus, and pathogens. Most of those things can’t live 15 minutes in a PROPERLY acidic stomach. The acid also triggers a cascade of digestive actions that allows our body to cleave off minerals and fatty acids and amino acids and then actually use them.

Take meds to suppress the stomach acid, and you cause a detrimental shift in your gut bacterial environment (there goes your immune system), and leave yourself wide open to nutrient deficiencies( goodbye B12, calcium, magnesium, folic acid, niacin, iron, and zinc – just to name a few). Let’s take that mentioned list, and apply it: no B12 = high homocysteine levels; folic acid makes red blood cells and prevents birth defects; niacin improves HDL levels and lowers triglycerides; calcium and magnesium are important for heart and bone health; iron is necessary for oxygenated blood; and zinc is vital to the immune system and to make testosterone. They’re important.

What to do if you have regular reflux? So many options!!! None of which would involve suppressing stomach acid – after all, we need to think Long Term, not short term. Band -aiding problems NEVER solves the problems, it just covers them.

If you’re over 40, there’s a strong chance that the cells which make the acid (parietel cells) have slowed down. There are also several OTC and prescription drugs, and chemicals in municipal water sources, that decrease stomach acid. HCL (hydrachloric acid – the same thing that our stomach cells produce) supplements are available from any health food store. Digestive enzymes can also help (our stomach’s HCl normally triggers the pancreas to release those enzymes, not so with insufficent acid). A little Apple Cider Vinegar added to water and consumed before the meal can make the stomach more acidic, which makes food digest quicker. That said, if you’ve let this condition continue for years, you could have an ulcer (low stomach acid allows Hpylori to proliferate), and in that case, you’d need supplements to heal the ulcer and the gut lining. Probiotics are probably also necessary. These would also be available from a good Natural Health food store. Email me if you have any questions about this.

What should you not do?? Don’t do anything that exacerbates the condition. Got stress? Work on controlling it, because cortisol wrecks havoc on the parietal cells, it literally shuts down their HCl production in order to shift the bodies focus to a more “fight or flight” mode. Alcohol for “relaxation”? Alcohol destroys the thick mucus membrane that protects the stomach from the acid. Sugar and starches? Excess ( which is EASY to consume) cause an up and down blood sugar response – that triggers cortisol. Excess carbs also feed bacteria and yeast – hello Hpylori and candida.

Once again, what we eat, what we drink, matters. Every bite matters. Not only do excess carbs put on undesired weight, but they cause a really bad gut environment, and a bad gut environment leads to reflux, ulcers, nutrient deficiencies, leaky gut, a poor immune system, and just about every single disease condition. Your food either builds you up or tears you down. There are no neutral foods.

Eat for health, and weight loss will be a side effect. Fill yourself up with tons of vegetables, clean meats, healthy fats, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, and some full fat dairy (if your stomach says yes). Don’t starve yourself – it always backfires. Try to let hours lapse between your meals. Keep your endgame in mind and let it guide you through your day. You have the power to change your health, your energy, and your vitality.

Category: Carbs, Sugar /

You Make Yourself Either a Fat Burner, or a Sugar Burner

September 13, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Want to be a fat burner instead of a sugar burner? Sugar burners just use the glucose/sugar that’s always in their blood stream. Fat burners metabolize and use their fat stores. You’re either one or the other, and you’ve trained your body to be whichever it is. If you’ve been living by a “calorie in / calorie out” paradigm, you’re probably a sugar burner. If you’ve been keeping your intake of sugar and flours low, and letting hours pass between meals, you’re mostly likely a fat burner.

Here’s an idea I’d love to ingrain in everyone’s head: ” a calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie. ” What’s that mean? All calories are not equal. If you’ve been struggling with your weight, starving on a low-fat/low-cal diet, exercising your heart out, and not seeing permanent, positive results, this is the reason why. When we eat meat, or fat, or vegetables, or grains, or processed, refined foods(PRFs), our body breaks them down to their barest nutrients and metabolizes them in completely different ways. These nutrients all have completely different effects on our body. Letting a number be your guide, as in 1400 calories a day, or 1800 calories a day, etc, is futile. Losing weight and getting healthy are about the foods we eat and the hormone responses they induce. The whole “if I don’t eat much, maybe I’ll burn my fat stores” theory – Un.True. If you don’t eat much, your thyroid will turn down the metabolic rate of your entire body, and muscle will be burned BEFORE fat will.

But I digress. What happens to the different foods/calories?

Protein is broken down to amino acids and used for building and repair. Examples: building brain neurotransmitters, building hormones, building enzymes, building muscle cells, building bacteria and yeast (yes, they’re protein).

Fat is broken down to fatty acids and used for building and energy. Examples: building the brain (60% of your brain is fat), building the heart ( which is riddled with fat), building your hormones, building connective tissue, generating electrical currents, building the immune system, building nerves, building bone (marrow), etc etc. It’s also several organs favorite food: the heart, the muscles, and the liver, all prefer fatty acids over glucose.

Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose and fructose; glucose is used for a tiiinnny bit of the bodies energy needs, and…. nothing else. Carbs don’t build or repair anything. As a matter of fact, an adult can only store about 500 grams or so of carbohydrate; the same adult can store several several thousand grams of fat; this is why our body ( the liver) turns excess carbs into fat. High levels of glucose/carb in the blood are dangerous; excess glucose causes big damage. When our body converts that into fat, it’s actually doing us a favor ( hmmmm…).

If you read the last post on Fructose, you know that Fructose, another sugar molecule, is just as harmful as Glucose. Fructose can’t be burned or stored at all. Period. It has to be converted immediately in the liver into something else: Fat. Actually, an assortment of fats: free fatty acids, triglycerides, and VLDLs (very low density lipoproteins, the baaaad cholesterol). Fats our body makes from glucose and fructose tend to be stored, but not before they’re carried through the body by either the caustic, damaging hormone Insulin (which carries glucose), or the prone to oxidation triglyceride carrier, VLDL. Hello Inflammation!

So besides making us fat, Glucose and Fructose damage our organs, arteries, liver, eyes, and brain. Back to my above comment: low-fat/low-cal diets cause Muscle to be burned before Fat. Here’s what I mean in simple words: Muscle cells are metabolically active, they take a lot of calories to sustain. Fat cells are much less metabolically active, and take far less calories to sustain. When the body perceives a lack of nutrients, it gets rid of the cells that use up the most nutrients first in an effort to save itself. That’s our muscle cells. That’s why when you go on a low calorie diet, you can PERMANENTLY down regulate your metabolism. Not a good idea, and one that leads to a never ending pattern of cutting calories, slowing down your metabolism, cutting more calories, slowing down your metabolism. Does this make sense?

This brings me all the way back to the beginning: want to be a sugar burner, or a fat burner? Want to gain muscle or lose muscle? Want to have healthy hormones, and a strong immune system? It’s your food, it’s the nutrients. It’s not the calories. This is going to be the focus of my Weight Loss Strategies class. Hope you can make it!

Category: Carbs, Fats, Sugar /

Consistency and Mindset are the Keys; and Tips

September 5, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Here’s an email I think several will relate to:

” Dear Debbie,

I can’t seem to stick to a Real Whole Foods Diet for more than 5 days, I just get so hungry, and my favorite foods aren’t the Real Whole Foods you talk about. I don’t want to eat raw eggs and cream also grosses me out. But I need to lose weight and I’ve tried several other diets. I just got diagnosed as Pre-Diabetic, and because of your blog, I know enough to be worried. Any advice?”

YES I have advice!!! It’s all about your Mindset, and your Mindset allows you to either be Consistent (no matter what), or “be good”/”be bad” ( the Diet Rollercoaster – because you’ll make up for what you ate later…..).

When consistency is difficult, work on your MIND. Fill it with facts and information about Biology Based Nutrition: excess carbs ALWAYS get turned into Triglycerides; fried foods from restaurants use RANCID oils that cause disease and weight gain; people who drink Skim Milk are HEAVIER than people who drink Whole; Insulin from carbohydrates and Trans Fats from junk food and restaurant food DESTROY arteries and my body has to build plaque to fix it; excess glucose and insulin have Mood Destroying Effects; if I eat ________, I’ll have gas/bloat/refulx – and that’s not normal and it’s causing damage to my gut; if I stop at Starbucks and get the candy coffee and the sweet (lowfat?) treat, I’m causing a MAJOR glucose/insulin rise. If I add MORE good FATS to my meal, I’ll stay Fuller LONGER and have more willpower to skip the snacks. ETC ETC ETC.

Here’s a good one to meditate on: there’s NO fixing a day or two of damage that happens every single week or worse, every few days. You Have to get off the Diet Rollercoaster, and you can only do that by working on the Mindset that gives you permission to put junk in your body (because you’re going to atone for it later) and learning to be scared/leery/wary/anxious about the HEALTH effects of processed/refined sugar/flour/chemical foods.

Worrying about your Weight is NEVER EVER enough to keep you on the straight and narrow, ever. If it was, 95-99% of all people who lose weight on a “diet”, wouldn’t GAIN IT ALL BACK. Focus on what happens to your body from the food you put in your mouth, and if you have kids, think about what their food is doing to their body.

Our Mood, our weight, our health, they’re all the result of the ACCUMULATION of actions we do every single day. Being “pretty good” half the week or most of the week can lead to “pretty bad” health, weight, and moods. Next time you drink that diet coke, eat the McDonalds french fries, have half the box of carby cereal, run through the list of what those foods/chemicals/carbs/trans fats are doing to your body; it’s not a pretty picture.

Focus on Real Whole Foods: clean meats, healthy fats, tons of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, some beans, some good dairy (if you tolerate it). Practice going hours between meals to allow Insulin to cease (fat storing hormone), and Glucagon to work (fat burning hormone). Recognize food for the power that it holds over you, and the power that it has to change you.

And to the person who wrote this email: you’re on the Right Track – because you’ve made the connection between the Diet Roller Coaster, your pre-diabetes, and eating Real Whole Food for more than 5 days!! That’s a GOOD thing – so don’t be upset with yourself! The mindset that will get you health and at a good weight sounds like it’s developing. Be patient with yourself and just keep working on it. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you want PERMANENT change here, right?

Here’s where I’d focus: keep reading this blog and links to other blogs that talk about the BIOLOGY of your food and your body. Stay away from Diet/Low Cal/Exercise a Ton examples of weight loss, as a matter of fact, TRY TO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS, just focus on your health and your mood. Put sticky notes with positive reminders (‘my health matters’ ‘I want to feel good all the time’ ‘consistency matters’ ..) all over the place (mirror, bedside lamp, computer, car, desk,…) . What are your favorite foods? Find the corresponding REAL whole food recipes (PaleoOMG, CivilizedCavemanCooking, StupidEasyPaleo) and PLAN a time to shop/chop/cook/pack (after it becomes Normal, it’s not an Effort). Write a list of your health conditions (include mood) and what foods can help improve them. Commit to your Health, and Weight Loss will be a SideEffect – I promise.

Category: Carbs, Cooking, Fats, Food Additives, Psychology of Eating, RWF /

Hormones Rule – So Every Bite Matters

September 4, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Have you been able to read my posts in the past week and a half on fat and cholesterol? If you didn’t, check out here, here, and here. I’m trying to get the point across that we’ve been under an umbrella of really, really, bad misinformation about what causes heart disease, weight gain, or makes poor health – or good health for that matter, for decades. Good fats from clean animal sources and tropical oils are huge sources of nutrients that our body uses to build and repair: brain cells, heart cells, hormones, organs, etc. These healthy fats also induce NO/ZERO/ZIP/ZILCH insulin response; healthy fats also build healthy cell membranes that are “properly” insulin sensitive (as opposed to insulin resistant). Insulin is an anabolic hormone – it builds our muscles, it builds our fat stores. Trans fats and Omega 6 vegetable oils have health destroying effects on our heart, our brain, our hormones, our organs, etc. When our body uses trans fats and inflammatory Omega 6 vegetable oils to build cell membranes, our cells AREN’T properly insulin sensitive, they are much more likely to be insulin resistant.

Sugar and flour products, with their propensity to induce high blood sugar, and their lack of nutrient density, are also huge culprits in heart disease, poor health, and weight gain. When our blood sugar is above normal, the pancreas releases the hormone insulin to sweep it out of the blood stream and into the muscles, the liver, or to remake the excess glucose into triglycerides. Eat simple, refined, processed foods all day long (bagels, cereals, anything made with flour or sugar), and have a blood stream full of glucose and insulin – all day long. Talk about serious damage to the lining of your entire cardiovascular system: the endothelial cells become damaged and inflamed from these substances (excess glucose and insulin), and your body works hard to “patch up the bad spots” (hello plaque); your extremities, your kidneys, and the backs of your eyes – these areas CAN’T develop Insulin Resistance, and the cells of these areas are literally killed by the onslaught (hello Diabetes). For the muscle cells that can say NO (i.e., can be Insulin Resistant), they suffer from nutrient deficiencies because when the cell says NO to insulin and glucose, it also says no to other nutrients it needs to live/produce energy.

When insulin is high and present, Cortisol is often high and present. When Insulin is present at all in the blood, the FAT BURNING hormone Glucagon CAN’T be released into the blood. It’s an either/or hormone situation. That’s why some people work out for hours, but because they’re eating 6 “mini-meals” of carbs throughout the day, no fat loss is happening.

How long does it take Heart Disease to develop? 25 to 30 years. How long does it take the average disease condition to develop? 20 years. Keep that in mind when you shop for your family or eat: cereals, chips, crackers, frozen foods, fast foods, these things are poison; they’re all refined, processed flours and sugars. HUGE insulin response, low to zero nutrient value. Damage occurs EACH TIME these foods are eaten, you just can’t see it, but the hormonal response is there.

Here’s an inspiring post from the Wheat Belly Doc, I love that guy!

If you’re new to this way of thinking, and the thought of going without sugar and flour seems overwhelming, or even unnecessary in it’s “extremity”, consider that we have an epidemic of obesity and disease like NEVER before. For the first time ever, kids are predicted to NOT live as long as their parents. It’s The Food! We’re not a country who’s deficient in Pharmacuticals, we’re a country deficient in Real Whole Foods. If you’re stumped as to what you could eat, or feed your family, check out my What I Eat page for ideas. Once it becomes normal, it’s not an effort anymore.

Category: Carbs, Fats, Looks Healthy But Isn't, RWF /

Eat for Health, Weight Loss is a Side-Effect

August 29, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

I received an email that I think expresses how a lot of people feel when they read my posts:

Hi Debbie,

I understand that you’re saying that there’s some nutritional benefits to eating Real Whole Foods, even if they contain fats, but if I do, I’m afraid I’ll gain weight, and I need to lose weight.

There’s more, but you get the point. Folks, we get fat from excess carbohydrates, vegetable oils and trans fats, artificial sweeteners, toxins/chemicals in our water, food, personal care products and the drugs we take, alcohol (excess carbs), and stress (cortisol compels glucose and insulin into the blood stream). We don’t get fat from Real Whole Foods I PROMISE!!! The whole Calories/Fat/Cholesterol/Diet Foods Stuff – it’s all wrong. We can just look around and see that Diets Don’t Work; about 50 million Americans go on a diet each year, many lose weight, between 1 and 4% keep if off. Weight: skyrocketing – we’re up to 70% overweight as a country now. Heart disease, Cancer, Stroke, Auto-Immune conditions, Mood Disorders, GERD/reflux, Migraines/Headaches: skyrocketing.

What causes all these health disorders? Excess carbohydrates, vegetable oils and trans fats, artificial sweeteners, toxins and chemicals in our water/ food/ personal care products and the drugs we take, alcohol (excess carbs and hard on liver), and stress (cortisol/glucose/insulin). These things impede our livers, cause inflammation throughout the body, and stimulate addictive pathways in our brain.

When you eat Real Whole Food for your health, the weight comes off – forever. We’re not made to be sick and overweight, that’s a state we create by our daily choices and habits. We have such power to change this. Eat for Health and the weight comes off.

Do you believe me, but have a hard time eating well consistently? Beef up your knowledge. Read the blogs, listen to the podcasts, buy the books, fill your head with nutrition facts that make making the right choice easier and more natural, less effort. Know what I mean? The Wheatbelly Doctor (Dr. William Davis) was on livinlavidalowcarb yesterday. Before he was the Wheatbelly Dr., he was the Track Your Plaque Cardiologist. He’s amazing. He’s talking about Cholesterol and Heart Disease here :http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/8510/718-cholesterol-clarity-interview-with-cardiologist-dr-william-davis/. Take the time to listen in your car, in your kitchen, or while you’re walking/running. Fill your mind with ammunition!

Time to say Adios. I’ve got coconut milk with chocolate mint leaves steaming on the stove, and then I’m off to teach two classes this morning: Booty Camp and Centergy – I still love group fitness after 26 years:). The coconut milk/chocolate mint is for this ice creamhttp://civilizedcavemancooking.com/grain-free-goodies/mint-chip-ice-cream-against-all-grain-book-review/. I’m changing the recipe slightly, using only coconut milk and cream, no almond milk, adding raw eggs, and a whole avocado instead of a third. Do I think this is a junk food? Absolutely Not! These are nutrient dense ingredients – foods like these make my family healthier, don’t stimulate addictive behaviors, and leave us all feeling very satiated. Choose Real Whole Foods-

Category: Carbs, Fats, Psychology of Eating /

The Effects of High Blood Sugar

August 21, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

WORKSHOP REMINDER: I’ve got 2 workshops/talks planned on Blood Sugar, and it’s relationship and effect on Weight, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Thyroid, and Mood. The dates are Friday, August 23, 12-2, and Wednesday, August 28, 6-8pm, the charge is $30/person, and the venue is the Marshall Community Center, 4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall, Va. This is literally right off Rt 66, and very easy to find. There’s plenty of parking and the room is big, so bring a friend or a family member if you’d like. You can pay at the door.

I hope everyone local can attend one of these upcoming talks. I PROMISE you’ll leave energized, excited, and empowered. Our health is dependent on the food we eat. Blood Sugar regulation, and it’s effects on your weight, your health, and your mood (and your children’s weight, health, and mood) is HUGE. If you understand what the body does with flours, grains, and sugars, and honestly, it’s pretty simple, you have the power to change yourself!

Here’s a little preview: You eat a bowl of oatmeal, with a banana, and some orange juice, for breakfast. That’s about 70 grams of carbohydrate, or 18 teaspoons. Our body only wants a teaspoon or 2 in the blood, any more is considered a “dangerous situation”, which is the case here. The pancreas releases insulin, which disposes of the 16 excess teaspoons: some to empty muscle cells (on an as need basis), some to the liver (it stores about a teaspoon), and the rest… get remade into Triglycerides.

LDL cholesterol is made to transport these triglycerides to your stomach area = LDL shoots up. The immune system is immediately weakened, for at least several hours, as macrophage/natural killer cells/white blood cells production is halted ( imagine the implications if you’re stepping into a sick office, or your child sits next to a sneezy kid at school). Gut flora’s affected, because bacteria and yeast eat sugar – it’s their favorite food. Any bad bacteria or yeast get a little boost. Then, every sugar HIGH is answered with a corresponding LOW. Low blood sugar causes our adrenal glands to release Cortisol and Adrenaline; great if we need to out run a bad guy, bad if we’re sitting at a car or a desk. Both Insulin and Cortisol block the Thyroid conversion of T4 to T3 – hello Thyroid issues.

You’ve also caused Insulin to shuttle Amino Acids out of the blood circulation, and into the muscle cells. This means the brain loses access to amino acids that it’s hungry for. You know how you’ve heard that we need to eat carbs so our brain can produce Serotonin ( a neurotransmitter that supports a level mood)? Serotonin’s made from protein, specifically, the amino acid Tryptophan. Carbs just contain OPIATES that temporairly stimulate mood as opposed to actually increasing our serotonin brain stores. Those same opiates cause ADDICTION. Hmm. Ever wonder why those darn chips, crackers, or pretzels are so hard to put down?

I could go on and on, and if you come to one of my talks, I will. If your primary motivation is to lose weight, then attend. You will. Let that be what starts you on your journey. But know that the more you learn about how your body operates, the more it becomes about your health. When you let your health ( and your children’s health) be your guide, WEIGHT LOSS IS A SIDE EFFECT. If you’re not a Local, get in touch with me, and we’ll consult over the phone or via Skype. Again, Empower yourself.

Category: Carbs, Sugar /

How Does Your Body Burn Calories?

August 10, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

WORKSHOP REMINDER: I’ve got 2 workshops/talks planned on Blood Sugar, and it’s relationship and effect on Weight, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Thyroid, and Mood. The dates are Friday, August 23, 12-2, and Wednesday, August 28, 6-8pm, the charge is $30/person, and the venue is the Marshall Community Center, 4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall, Va. This is literally right off Rt 66 exit, and very easy to find. There’s plenty of parking and the room is big, so bring a friend or a family member if you’d like.

Ever wonder how many calories you burn during exercise? Do you hope that an hour or two of working out will empty the fat cells on your butt, your stomach, or your thighs? ( Or at least balance out some bad eating episodes??)

Exercise is wonderful, invigorating, and absolutely necessary for a healthy body and mind; but for weight loss or calorie burning, not so much. (Darnit!)

How does our body burn calories? Here’s a simple overview:

About 70% of TOTAL calories burned in a 24 hour period are burned while your body is “at rest”; actually, the number is 60-80%, and several factors play into this number: are you growing? sick? male? female? young? old? training muscle/lifting or doing HIIT (high intensity interval training)? ovulating? stressing? Because all these influence our bodies rate of burning calories.

What’s the biggest calorie burner in the 70%? Your liver – it’s BUSY. ( Yes, your liver burns many, many more calories than your muscles, no matter what. So if you’ve been telling yourself that you can’t lose weight because you never get to workout – you’ll have to think of another excuse.) Our liver performs hundreds of functions everyday, and thru the night too. It’s important that we not overstress the liver with chemicals, toxins, and sugar/flour. A toxic liver is a sluggish liver, and a sluggish liver is compromised in it’s ability to do all it’s jobs/do it’s jobs fully.

The heart and brain are the next biggest calorie users. They use between 20 and 30% of total daily calories.

Exercise/Muscles comprise around 20% of total, daily, calorie burn, (that’s formal exercise and activity, such as cleaning/gardening/walking etc), and digestion burns calories too, about 10% of daily burn (protein and fat digestion burn more calories than carb digestion, especially if the carbs are refined and processed, i.e. flours and sugars). Most of the calories your muscles burn get burned AT REST, not during your workout. Surprising? Want them to burn more calories? Lift, sprint, jump, do full body exercises: stimulate as many muscle cells as possible. Chronic cardio, especially if coupled with inadequate protein and calories, can actually cause muscle cells to be used as fuel. You don’t want that!

Want to really suppress your total daily burn? Go on a low calorie/low fat diet. Studies show this causes our Thyroid to suppress our Metabolism (the rate at which all our cells use fuel) immediately and dramatically. Not a good idea.

What do the liver, heart, and muscle cells actually use for energy? Well, their preferred fuel source is FAT, not glucose; but if your bloodstream is full of glucose, because you just ate a big bowl of oatmeal or pasta, or maybe you snack on carby foods all day, then you probably have a lot of glucose in your blood (you can test this with a Glucometer, normal is 80-100mg/dcl – and it’s FUN!!). Excess glucose, from any carb sources: fruit, vegetable, grains, sugar, or beans, is ALWAYS a priority of the body to get under control. If it’s floating around and above 100, glucose will be used for fuel – NOT FAT. Excess fat’s not toxic, it’s not an emergency, excess glucose is. (Darnit Again! Doesn’t our body know how much we hate that fat??)

Need to lose weight? It’s the food. Confused about what to eat? Focus on healthy protein sources, healthy fats, TONS of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, some dairy if you tolerate it. Check out my what I eat page, or contact me if you’re still confused or need help. You can lose weight, permanently. I promise.

Category: Carbs, Question of the Week /

How to make “Good Eating Days” your Norm.

July 25, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

This is going to be a rah-rah/what to eat to lose weight post. Fair warning.

Had a good email the other day from a beautiful woman who says that blue moods cause her to eat all day. I can relate to that,… I’ve been there. I used to eat all day because: I had some time alone (unusual w/ job and 4 kids), felt happy, felt tired, wanted to read and eat, had great food in the pantry/fridge, and… the opportunity presented itself. It made sense, since I was usually hungry from my small to moderate sized “mini-meals” of protein and carbs. I actually used to watch the clock, and worry that the “time” to eat my next “meal” could be somehow compromised by another person or an obligation and Oh No, how was I going to squeeze it in? Really though, due to my “insufficient” diet ( high on some nutrients, like protein, carbs, but COMPLETELY lacking good fats in the right amounts), and my Brain Training of eating every couple of hours, I just got used to always eating. The eating led to the desire to keep eating, despite the amounts of food I’d take in. That was always followed by guilt, self-recrimination, and a plan to eat really really well starting tomorrow.

It’s the perfect way to make yourself crazy – ever tried it?

I can’t remember the last time this happened and I had a “bad day” – honestly. If you experience bad days frequently, and can’t imagine normal life free of bad days, KEEP READING THIS BLOG, because I want EVERYONE to be free of bad days!

Here’s the drumbeat again: If you want to get off the Diet Rollercoaster – and just have NORMAL days, you’ve got to let go of old, failed, FALSE ideas that low fat/low cal and tons of exercise are the Keys to Weightloss Success, because they’re not. That old dinosaur paradigm screws up your thyroid, insulin, cortisol, and your sex hormones. Low fat / low cal eats away at your muscle tissue. Low/fat low/cal really messes with your metabolism – in a very long term way. Low fat/low cal messes with your mind(emotionally and structurally). Between 95 and almost 100% of ALL dieters GAIN THEIR WEIGHT BACK.

Change the way you think and just try something new. Give up the notion that Fat makes you Fat. Give up the notion that Saturated Fat, from healthy animal sources or coconut, creates plaque in the arteries or high cholesterol, because scientifically – that’s NEVER been proven. When you see headlines like “Meat causes heart disease/diabetes T2/etc”, go look at the foods included in the study. You will ALWAYS see pizza(including crust), burgers (including bun), and lunch meats (loaded with who knows what plus nitrates and chemicals) classified as “meat”.

Want to read a little more about it? Try here, and here.

Fats fill you up. Fats are used by the body to do hundreds or thousands of jobs, from literally making up the membrane of EVERY SINGLE CELL IN YOUR BODY, to assisting fat-soluble vitamins to their rightful places, to building EVERY SINGLE SEX HORMONE, to feeding your heart (the heart muscle loves fatty acids!), to building brain neurons (the brain is 60% fat), etc etc etc.
When you skimp on fat, your body and mind rebels. They will get what they want. Those cravings you can’t deny? That weird desire to keep eating even though you’ve had plenty of food? That’s a cry for NOURISHMENT, and fatty acids are INCREDIBLY nourishing.

If you’re afraid of gaining weight on a diet that includes more fat and less carbs, put that fear aside and try it. Give up the crackers, bread, pasta, pretzels, beer, and sweets, and replace it with more protein, more vegetables and a LOT more fat. Drizzle olive/avocado oil on your salads, saute meats and vegetables in coconut oil or grass-fed butter (kerrygold’s a good one), eat REGULAR fat/unadulterated dairy products if you digest them well, roast your chicken with the skin ON, add a whole avocado to your salads, make a treat out of coconut butter or nuts. Go for it.

And ask yourself, are you really afraid of fat, or are you sad at the thought of giving up the low fat/low cal munchie foods that allow you to indulge in your food desires while convincing yourself you’re eating health food? Because I think that’s often the reason. CHANGE YOUR DESIRES. Sitting in front of the TV after dinner with a bowl of popcorn, potato chips or ice cream? Change that desire. Love to stop at your favorite coffee shop for a sweet drink and a sweet treat? Change your desire. Love your big bowls of pasta? Change that desire. Think cereal is from heaven? Change that desire. Work on creating another line in your brain that focuses on something else. Maybe you need to watch tv in another room, or go to bed and read; drive a different way home from work or listen to a podcast to distract you. Start thinking that all your sauces would taste great on zucchini or eggplant or spaghetti squash. Become appalled at the amount of carbs on your cereal box label. Work on your thoughts, and satisfy your body with foods that provide that nutrients that it needs.

Here’s a little ammunition, a Looks Healthy But Isn’t, actually, a few LHBI: Ruffles Light Potato Chips (which contain Olestra/might cause leakage stuff), 10 chips are 17 grams of carbs/0 fat; Quaker Oats Natural Granola, 1/2 cup has 38 grams of carbs; and a slice of Starbucks Reduced Fat Berry Coffee cake has 54 grams of carbohydrate!! These are weight disasters waiting to happen, and Health disasters waiting to happen.

Let’s go back to the beginning. Want your life to be a string of “good eating days”? Ditch the empty refined, processed carby foods, and any thoughts of “mini meals”, and fill your plate and body with Real Whole Foods: good fats, good proteins, tons of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, some dairy. Feed your body what it needs and the self-sabotage will end.

Category: Carbs, Fats, Psychology of Eating /

« Older Entries Recent Entries »

Archive for Carbs

Your Food Affects Your Health – Always.

Grain Brain and Metabolism Class

Digestion, Stomach Acid, and How to Heal

You Make Yourself Either a Fat Burner, or a Sugar Burner

Consistency and Mindset are the Keys; and Tips

Hormones Rule – So Every Bite Matters

Eat for Health, Weight Loss is a Side-Effect

The Effects of High Blood Sugar

How Does Your Body Burn Calories?

How to make “Good Eating Days” your Norm.

Join as a Subscriber

Search

Archives

Categories

Recent Posts