I’m adjusted to being home – because I love my home – but I miss the beach!  Here’s a pic of all the girls in our beach house, 3 are my daughters (1 daughter couldn’t make it) , 2 are friends. That’s Erin, daughter #4 Shelby, me, SaraRose, daughter #1 Megan, daughter #3 Macy.

In case you’re wondering, even when we’re on vacation, we don’t buy chips, crackers, cookies, or any kind of snackie/munchie junk foods to keep in the house “for the kids”.  I don’t buy them cigarettes either.  It’s all poison.

I have some brain ammunition for you today.  Hopefully, this helps cement the notion that food, weight, and health ISN’T about calories;  it’s about the nutrients and ingredients in food and the hormonal and systemic effects they have on your body.  If you keep thinking that food is just about calories, saying no to Bad Foods that call you is almost impossible.  You can always reason with yourself that you’ll somehow make-up for it later.  You can’t, because  every bite has an effect.  Every nutrient or every chemical has an effect.  Sugar, flour, bad oils, chemicals, they have negative effects EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU EAT THEM.  There is no starving away, or exercising away their effects.

Interesting article in The Telegraph that says that even though Britons are eating 600 calories less a day than in 1980, they’re heavier than ever.  It goes on to say they’re eating less red meat, more cereal, and more skim milk than ever, yet weight rises.

I did a post a while ago on Americans that said essentially the same thing.

Folks, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE CALORIES!!   It’s about the foods and the hormones.  High carb foods, like sugars and grains (even Healthy Whole Grains), stimulate the release of Insulin, which is an ANABOLIC hormone; that means it stores and builds.  It’s main job it to shuttle glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells of the muscles and liver. Unfortunately, our body only wants to store a few TEASPOONS of glucose, so anything over that gets turned into TRIGLYCERIDES and stored in fat cells.

Foods loaded with chemicals, like every processed, refined, restaurant/gas station food out there, STIMULATE your hunger.  They’re CREATED – in laboratories –  to make you want more. As if that weren’t bad enough, these chemicals have various and sundry health destroying effects.

If you eat a diet high in fat and protein, and low in sugars and grains, you won’t have a lot of insulin in the bloodstream, sweeping up excess glucose and making triglycerides.   Fat (from animal sources, avocados, olives, nuts, etc)  doesn’t stimulate Inuslin production.  Protein stimulates very little insulin production (unless you’re diabetic, which changes everything.).  Nutrients get used – for thousands of jobs –  and Fat gets burned.  Both Fat and Protein trigger Satiety hormones.

Let’s look at a couple “Looks Healthy But Isn’t”, 🙂

Skim Milk:  When the Fat was separated off, so were the fat-soluble nutrients (vit A,D,E and K), ONLY synthetic A and D were added back in. W/o fat, they’re mostly UNABSORBABLE (hence the term “fat-soluble”).  W/o the fat, it’s an odd blueish color, so Skim Milk Powder, full of OXIDIZED CHOLESTEROL, is added to make it look more appealing (even Organic does this); there’s 12.3 grams of carbs, O grams of fat, 8 grams of protein, and just 80 calories per cup.  If low fat/low cal were good for us, we’d have a winner.

But study after study DOESN’T show an association with low fat/low cal and low weight/good health.  In fact, it’s the opposite.  The Harvard School of Public Health studied over 12,000 kids between 9 and 14 and found a correlation between those who drank skim milk and weight GAIN, not weight loss or healthy weight.  Researchers at UVa posted a similar study with similar results just last week.

Fat SLOWS the absorption of milk sugar (lactose) from the gut to the bloodstream, and allows for LESS insulin to be called for.   Fat ALSO signals SATIETY hormones.  We all want Satiety Hormones triggered, or we’ll just keep eating.

How bout low fat ice cream, as in Breyers Fat Free Chocolate?

SKIM MILK, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, POLYDEXTROSE, MALTODEXTRIN, COCOA* (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), PROPYLENE GLYCOL MONOESTERS, CAROB BEAN GUM, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CELLULOSE GUM, GUAR GUM, CARRAGEENAN, NATURAL FLAVOR, ICE STRUCTURING PROTEIN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE.*

Honestly, does that look remotely like food to you?  A half cup has 90 calories, 0 fat, and 22 grams of carbs.  BTW, those mono and diglycerides are partially hydrogenated fatty acids, but the company who patented them had them classified as EMULSIFIERS, not fat.  Brillant move on their part.  The “ice structuring proteins” are a fermented yeast product.  Weird.  And the Polydextrose and Maltodextrin are sugar alcohols – known and labeled as potentially causing “stomach distress”.  (This definitely happens to me and I stay away from any artificial sugars now – good bye stomach bloat!) Anyway, here again, no fat to signal satiety hormones or slow the absorption of the sugars into the bloodstream = Weight Gain.  Loads of ingredients that actually STIMULATE  hunger and desire for more.  This won’t in any way help you lose weight or get healthy, just the opposite actually.

If you’re struggling with your weight and/or your health, that means you need to try something different than what you’re doing.  Honestly, if you’re “dieting”, you’ve already struck out.  Low calorie, small portions, high carb-chemicalized foods actually INDUCE you to keep eating and become fat-making machines.  There was an article in the June 25th  Wall Street Journal about the American Diabetes Association stopping a planned 13 year study early because the low fat/low cal diet they had obese diabetics on was actually CONTRIBUTING to heart disease.  Read that sentence again.  Here’s another nail in that coffin: after 9 years of these obese diabetics living on an average of 1200 calories a day (high carb, low fat), the average weight loss was just 13 pounds.  Nine Years, 1200 daily calories, 13 pounds lost.  A lot of food misery for very little benefit.

Ditch the belief system that tells you to starve yourself and over-exercise to lose weight and fight disease.  It’s not true.  You need fats, proteins, tons of vegetables, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, and some dairy. You need to space out your meals and not eat all day.  You need foods that supply the nutrients your body uses, and you need to stay away from the sugars, grains, bad oils, and chemicals that cause weight gain and disease.    You need to eat Real Whole Foods, and so do your kids.

If you’re going to lose weight and get healthy, it’s a MIND thing;  you have to think about food as a source of Nutrients that Build your Health, and you have to acknowledge that “food products”  Destroy your Health.   Every bite you put in your mouth is doing one or the other.

If you only think of Food as Calories, you’re doomed to the Diet Ferris Wheel Lifestyle – weight going up and down, health being compromised, and compulsive thoughts about food.

Take this “for instance”:

It’s morning, you scramble up two eggs in butter w a handful of basil or spinach, and/or a smoothie w/whole milk yogurt, cranberries, banana and flax seed.    Here’s a couple things this would give you: usable protein for muscles, serotonin, and dopamine; antioxidants to fight free radicals occurring from stress or chemicals or oxidation;  vitamins and minerals – with all their co-factors that allow them to be used and absorbed; fiber, and healthy fats – that build your brain, your heart, your hormones, and every single cell in your body, plus all the co-factors that allow them to be absorbed and used.  Real Whole Foods come with all the nutrients that allow each of the nutrients to be utilized. In addition, your Satiety Hormones and Signals would be TURNED ON.

This breakfast wouldn’t make you gain weight, as a matter of fact, the protein and fats in these foods would take a while to break down – preventing hunger.  The proteins and fats would be utilized by the brain to make neurotransmitters and myelin sheaths, so the brain would be satisfied and happy.   Fats and proteins would be USED AS BUILDING BLOCKS, not stored.  The lack of any fast absorbing carbohydrates would prevent any blood glucose rise, which means No blood glucose fall – no moodiness, and energy levels would be even. Insulin probably wouldn’t be used to process this meal – YEA!! Who wants  insulin coursing thru their body, damaging arteries and organs and nerves?

Compare that to the effects of a breakfast consisting of 3/4 cup Honey Nut Cheerios, with skim milk, which is exactly what Main Stream Health would say is a healthy breakfast.  Here’s the ingredient list on the Cheerios:

There are 7 sources of sugars and starches, artificial flavors, and synthetic vitamins and minerals.   Here’s a little info on some of them:  Modified Corn Starch has been chemically altered to make it dissolve quickly (because starch doesn’t dissolve quickly enough already?);  tripotassium phosphate only has a GRAS status(generally recognized as safe), it’s commonly used in pesticides, herbicides, cleaning products, and laxatives; and Natural Almond Flavor is a long chemical ingredient list to create an Almond smell and flavor.  There are 23.3 grams of carbs in 3/4 cups, and almost zero fat and protein, which means these carbs will be broken down very quickly, absorb right thru the intestine wall directly into the blood stream.  This is that Blood Sugar UP that I talk about.  No Satiety factors will be triggered.

Oh, the Skim Milk! Touted for decades as a health food, it’s not even close.  Something this “compromised and processed” doesn’t help with your weight either.

Here’s the scoop on Skim:

Before processing, skim milk has a very unappetizing blueish color, a chalky taste, and watery texture that doesn’t resemble natural milk. So, to whiten, thicken, and make it taste a little more normal, powdered milk solids are mixed into the milk.

What’s so bad about powdered milk? Well, in the manufacturing process, liquid milk is forced through tiny holes at very high pressure, which causes the cholesterol in the milk to oxidize, and toxic nitrates to form. Oxidized cholesterol contributes to the buildup of plaque in the arteries, while unoxidized cholesterol from unprocessed foods is actually an antioxidant to help fight inflammation in the body. The proteins found in powdered milk are so denatured that they are unrecognizable by the body and contribute to inflammation.

Shockingly, dairy manufacturers are not required by the FDA to label the powdered milk as a separate ingredient, because it’s still technically just “milk” .

What else is wrong with skim?  Vitamins A, D, and K are in the FAT of the milk, when this is processed to become fat-free, these vitamins are destroyed.  SYNTHETIC vitamins A and D are added back in, synthetic is NEVER as good as real.  Vitamin K is NOT added back in, we need K for our bones and our blood.   There are a BUNCH of minerals in milk, but minerals NEED SATURATED FATS TO BE TRANSPORTED AND USED,  so the calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium could go UN-USED here.

Add the 12 grams of milk carbs, along with the 23 grams from the cereal, and you’ve just had a breakfast that’s 35 grams of Simple, Quick Dissolving, Carbohydrate.  The nutrients are all “added/fortified”, and there’s very litte protein and fat.   Your Blood Sugar will zoom up, and very quickly, Crash Down.  Eat this for breakfast and be starving by mid- morning.  Not a good way to start your day.

Let’s go back to my original premise, start looking at your food in terms of nutrients and what it does to you, as opposed to how many calories are in it.  Calories in – Calories out doesn’t work for weight loss! Dieting doesn’t work for weight loss – studies show that 95 – 99% of EVERYONE who goes on a Diet gains the weight back. So toss that old used gauge out!   Eat foods that create and nurture your health, and if you need to lose weight, you will.  Start training your brain to think differently; learn to, and focus on the benefits  and the DELICIOUSNESS of Real Whole Foods.