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Weight Loss Strategy Class; Heart Disease Facts; a Recipe

September 14, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

It’s a Saturday, and my brains brimming with Fun Facts to share! First of all though, my Weight Loss Strategies classes, two options: Monday’s in October, the 7,14,21, from 6 – 7:30, or Wednesdays in October, the 9,16,23 from 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), 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; low cal/low fat diets never work, ever, and that you have the Power to change yourself. Email me if you can attend.

I’ve got some interesting facts today on Heart Disease. Did you know there’s a difference between a blockage, and hardening of the arteries? A blockage, which is a plaque patch the liver puts together, is sent to heal damage to the endothelium of the artery (they’re the delicate cells lining the artery)done by Insulin, Glucose, Cortisol, Homocysteine, Chemical Toxins (cigarette smoke, yard products, cleaning products, etc) and Trans Fats ( studies show that Margarine actually causes MORE damage than cigarettes). This usually happens in the larger vessels, and it’s called Atherosclerosis.

This is different from Arteriosclerosis – which is a hardening of the artery. Here, the artery becomes so weak, from Insulin, Cortisol, Homocysteine, Chemical Toxins, and Trans Fats (hmmm, same list), that the liver sends minerals, mainly Calcium, to “stiffen” the arteries. This usually happens in the tinier vessels.

In each of these situations, the plaque or the hardening, the body is attempting to save our lives by “fixing” the damage we’ve caused. Add high blood pressure to this mix, and wow, recipe for disaster.

What’s the damage that causes both of these? Inflammation, from the above list of irritants. Inflammation drives ALL disease, so what we really want to focus on is keeping our Inflammation waayy down. What’s one of the main drivers of Inflammation? Grains. Drop sugar and flours, and you’ll see an IMMEDIATE drop in your levels of inflammation. Grains cause inflammation on a number of levels: high levels of glucose and insulin are caustic, inflammatory, and damaging, for instance, the cells of the arteries don’t have the ability to say “NO” to the insulin (which is called Insulin Resistance, it’s the step right before full fledged Diabetes T2), so the cells are continually (if you eat carbs all day) “scoured” by the glucose and the insulin. This makes the artery very weak, the “hardening of the artery” with minerals is an attempt to keep the wall intact. Unfortunately, it loses it’s elasticity. When it loses it’s elasticity, the Red Blood Cells have a hard time squeezing through. You don’t need to be overweight for this to happen.

Another way grains drive inflammation? They’re loaded with “anti-nutrients”, gluten, gliaden, phytic acid, and lectins that are very very difficult to digest – and often aren’t broken down. These go thru the digestive tract causing all kinds of damage. And just in case you’re wondering, I’m taking about ALL grains: healthy/whole and processed/refined. They’re not good for you and they’re not necessary for life no matter what Main Stream says.

What about the Chinese and The China Study? They’re small, and they eat TONS of grains in the form of Rice, right? If you’re keeping up with the news lately, you know that China now has the HIGHEST RATES OF DIABETES IN THE WORLD. And know this, Diabetes and Heart Disease go hand in hand.

In the US, Heart Disease rises every single year, from almost “non-existant” in 1910, to our number one cause of death today. Several decades of “Advice” to eat Low Fat, Low Cal, and exercise hasn’t helped at all.

Heard a great podcast on Inflammation and Heart Disease the other day, great information in Diet, testing, inflammation, etc: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/the-llvlc-show-episode-724-binx-selby-helps-you-grow-younger-by-battling-inflammation/19741. You should take a listen. The researcher’s name is Binx Selby, and he was a great talker. He’s worked with thousands of patients in his clinic and he had something really funny to say about COMPLIANCE: he said his most compliant patients overall are those with RA, because when they have a reduction in their pain via reduction in inflammation, they’re more than willing to give up the sugars and grains and do whatever it takes to stay feeling good.

But then he said that when it comes to Occupations, the most compliant ones are Engineers and Accountants, and the least compliant are Doctors and Airline Pilots. Hmmm.

And finally let me leave you with a recipe for Coconut Flour biscuits (I’ve tried a bunch of recipes and it’s a relief to finally find one my kids like): 1/2 c coconut flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, MIX; add 4 large eggs and 3/4 c melty butter, drop and bake at 400/13-15 minutes. Delicious!

Category: 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 /

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 /

Mac N Cheese and Baby Formula – Getting Us Hooked Early

June 11, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

What do summer picnics and feeding our kids have in common? Macaroni and Cheese! It’s pretty synonymous with both.

Here’s the ingredient list for Kraft Mac N Cheese : Actually, forget it, it’s LONG. Here’s the condensed version: 15 ingredients, several chemicals, 2 (cancer causing/headache making/ADD inducing) food dyes, and 47 grams of carbohydrate – in a COUPLE OF OUNCES!

What about Annie’s Organic Mac N Cheese? The ingredient list is shorter – 5 ingredients, but a small, 2.5 OUNCE serving of this stuff is 47 grams of carbohydrate – there goes the blood sugar.

Here’s the stats on Panera’s Mac N Cheese: 79 Ingredients, 490 calories, 37 grams of carbs, 30 grams of fat, and 1020 mg of sodium. This comes in a little cup, I know because my youngest tricked me after a lacrosse game into taking her there and she came out with that. I almost wrecked the car!

Mac N Cheese is a standard American comfort food. We feed this to our small children, and continue eating it through adulthood. Parents, this stuff is poison. Don’t fool yourself by thinking that if your kids are slim, or don’t eat too much, or are very active, that a little bit of Mac N Cheese won’t hurt. All food hurts or helps. We build or destroy our health with every bite. It honestly matters.

There’s more than just health to consider, there’s Habit Building. We help our children build and form food and eating habits that last their entire life time.

Eating every single time a whim hits? Life time habit.

Snack before bed? Life time habit.

Just eating bread/carby/starchy/bland foods? Life time habit.

Barely eating vegetables? Life time habit.

Junk food for every movie/event/reward/? Life time habit.

I could say it’ll catch up to them, but that’s false. When you eat processed, chemical, high carb, hydrogenated oil filled foods, the effects are IMMEDIATE, even for kids. Just because the effects aren’t obvious to the eye doesn’t mean they aren’t happening. When you quit thinking of food in terms of calories, and start giving a nutrient assessment to the food, and when you know what the “anti-nutrients” do (cancer, migraines, behavior /mood issues, skin problems, depression, auto-immune….) it becomes more and more apparent that it really matters what we, and our children, put in our mouths. Every bite either adds to our health, or detracts from it. We build our health, or our lack of health, with our accumulated food choices through the years.

One more interesting ingredient list, baby formula. Big Food is determined to hook us from the very beginning. Similac Sensitive has 54 ingredients. Here’s the top of the list: Corn Syrup, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Milk Protein Isolate, Safflower Oil, Soy Oil, Coconut Oil, Galactooligosaccharides (SUGAR), followed with more oils and Synthetic Vitamins and Minerals. I fed a little formula when my kids were babies and never even thought to look at the ingredients. Their advertising makes you think you’re feeding your baby Manna from Heaven; instead, you’re feeding them Corn Syrup, Sugars, Chemicals, and Omega 6 oils. Honestly, I consider this stuff to be poison from the devil: it makes us sick, weak, tired, and fat; yet like so much other food poison, it tastes delicious and triggers food addictions.

Read your ingredient lists, plan, shop, schedule a couple hours in your week to prep and power cook food in big batches, pack your lunch and **** start thinking of food in terms of Nutrients,… not Calories*****. Eat Real Whole Foods.

Category: Carbs, Food Additives, Sugar /

Eat Healthy, Lose Weight

June 1, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Food for thought:

Traditional fats from healthy animal sources and tropical oils don’t make you fat; they’re actually an enormous source of nutrients from which our body builds cell walls, hormones, and brain tissue.

Too many carbs, enough that raise your blood sugar over “normal”, i.e very much over 100mg/dcl, often get remade into Triglycerides, and stored in the stomach.

“Healthy” whole grains contain very hard to digest proteins, which often don’t get digested, and end up creating tears in the small intestine, i.e. “leaky gut”.

Diet Food Products are pure chemical concoctions that wreck havoc on your liver, which is the MAIN source of “metabolism”, making weight loss almost impossible, and weight gain a given.

High blood sugars are one of the main sources of INFLAMMATION in our body. Inflammation is the culprit behind almost every disease /health condition.

These aren’t facts you’d hear from many main stream doctors or registered dieticians. They were educated in schools whose funding comes from Big Food and Big Pharma, and there’s a party line that they often stick too. Don’t believe me? The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) represents 74,000 nutrition professionals, and a few of their main sponsors are: Nestle, Coco-Cola, Kraft, Con-Agra, and General Mills. Who’s interest do you think these companies will make sure are represented when they donate their money? This explains Standard Nutritional Advice: eat low fat, low calorie, and you’ll lose weight. NOT.

How bout the American Diabetes Association’s advice, to diabetics, that they can eat up to 60% carbs, and that whole grains are good for them? Blood Sugar Rises From Carbohydrate! No diabetic following that advice will get better, instead, they’ll deteriorate daily, and spend their days chasing their high blood sugars down with medicine or insulin – both of which do plenty of damage with their lists of side effects. Who are the ADAs biggest sponsors? Pharmaceutical companies that sell the medicine or insulin: Abbott, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer, to name a few.

If you’re interested in the reasons behind Main Stream Health Advice, please read this report by Health Lawyer ( who knew there was such a thing) , Michelle Simon. Wow. What an eye opener.

If you’ve been struggling for years to lose weight or get healthy, or your health has deteriorated, know this: it’s the food you eat. Our body’s main “ingredients” are Water (60%), protein (16%), fat (15%), minerals, (4%), carbs (2%), and vitamins (2%). Plan your meals around clean meats, healthy sources of fats and oils, TONS of vegetables, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, some dairy(if you tolerate them). Get healthy, and if you need to lose weight you will. Losing weight is a SIDE-EFFECT of eating healthy.

Eating Real Whole Foods, cutting down or cutting out the starchy carbohydrate sources (from grains), improves your mood, your digestion, your immune system, your blood pressure, your headaches, your lipid panels, your triglyceride levels, and I could go on and on. It also REDUCES BELLY BLOAT. Who doesn’t want that?

Category: Carbs, Fats, RWF, Sugar /

You’ve Got To Believe To Make It a Lifestyle

May 28, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

If you read my blog, you know I’m advocating a Paleo/Primal/WestonAPrice/Real Whole Foods Diet that’s low on sugars and grains and chemicals, and high on fats, proteins, and vegetables. This low carb/RWFs plan is an obvious way to lose weight, not something too many people argue with anymore. But how many people can stick to it, day in day out, week after week, month after month? (How many times have I heard, “I could NEVER give up bread/pasta.”, “Kids won’t eat anything else.”) I. E., make it a LifeStyle??

Well, if it’s all about Weight Loss, people don’t stick to this plan any better than Weight Watchers, the Grapefruit diet, the South Beach diet, Jenny Craig, or ANY OTHER DIET (less than 1-5% stick permanently). Because when it’s all about WEIGHT LOSS, you’re going to restrict your calories and fat. Even on the P/P/WAP/RWF plan, you’ll try to “not eat too much”. This NEVER amounts to “lifestyle”, it’s just a weak desire to be leaner.

Here’s the bottom line about Calorie Restriction and Fat Restriction: You’ll NEVER ever fight your BIOLOGY and win. Ever. It’s impossible. Your body wants Fat; Your body needs Fat. Fat comprises 60% of our brain; fat runs thru our heart muscle, fat makes all of our sex hormones and steroid hormones (that’s the fight/flight). Fat escorts most minerals and vitamins ADE & K to wherever they need to go. Fat surrounds our organs and protects them. And that’s just a brief synopsis.

Try and stay “low fat”, and you will end up binging. Either you’ll eat fat – which your body will use; or you’ll eat tons of carbs, which your body will turn INTO fat. Either way, your BIOLOGY will trump your desire to eat low fat/low cal, and lose weight.

What’s the answer? Fill your brain with all the reasons we should eat certain foods, and shouldn’t eat others. Become a believer in the DEEP, SERIOUS, CONNECTION, between every single bite we put in our mouths, to our moods, our body, our weight, our health, our emotions.

Here’s some reasons to meditate on:

Sugar, and refined grains (pasta, bread, cereals, etc) are absolutely 100% involved with Inflammation, Metabolic Syndrome, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s, Migraines, Depression, Anxiety, and MORE. The correlation is absolute, because these carbohydrates induce a big Insulin response from your Pancreas. This starts a blood sugar roller coaster that has devastating effects on The Whole Body.

Your Liver takes a hit, your Brain takes a hit, your Nerve Endings in your extremities and eyes take a hit, your Arteries, your Hormones, your Neurotransmitters, and your Waistline takes a hit. Your CHILDREN are similarly affected, even your skinny, active kids. Poor health/weight problems “accumulate”. Behavior, mood, attention – all of these are HEAVILY influenced by diet.

Let’s talk about Digestion. Bloat, gas, indigestion, Crohn’s, colitis, gastritis; NOT NORMAL. When these conditions happen, it’s NOT because you’re low in Pepcid or some other Antacid. You’re just eating foods that either aren’t breaking down well due to compounds in them, and/ or you’ve caused damage somewhere in your gut from years of eating foods that don’t break down well.

Then there’s the whole Negative Thoughts Cascade that gets released, for several hours to a day or so, after consumption of large amounts of bad carbs and crappy foods. Talk about a hit to your energy, your demeanor, your thoughts, your decisions.

How to make RWFs a LifeStyle? Focus On Feeling Good. Honestly, it works. When you’re out, and everyone’s having bread and dessert, think LONG TERM: how do you want to feel later? or tomorrow?. When you’re at the store, and you’re tempted by a box of cereal or crackers, think LONG TERM: how do you want to feel later? or tomorrow? When you’re making dinner and the pasta seems so simple, think LONG TERM: how do you want to feel later? or tomorrow?

It feels GOOD to feel Good. If you’re plagued with gut issues, inflammation, sugar/carb ups and downs, or mood imbalances, imagine how it would feel — not to be plagued with those issues. Imagine feeling good almost all the time. It’s amazing. It’s amazing to feel relaxed with yourself, not to be beating yourself up over splurges, or binges, or indulgences.

That said, give your self a break; because Change isn’t Linear, even when you do start believing. It takes time, effort, and focus, to really change thought patterns; but it does happen.

I’m looking forward to seeing and meeting everyone who’ll be at my workshops (5/31 or 6/5). I promise to fill your head with a boat load of reasons to make RWFs a Lifestyle, and not a temporary effort at leanness. Eat well, feed your body the nutrients it wants to be healthy, and if you need to lose weight, you will.

Category: Carbs, Fats, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Sugar /

WORKSHOPS ON BLOOD SUGAR AND DIGESTION

May 13, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Howdy Readers,

I’m going to be holding 2 local workshops on Blood Sugar Regulation and Digestion. Sound like odd topics? Why not “How to Lose Weight” or “How to Get Healthy”? OR : I Can Make You Skinny By June! ??

Because, if you want to lose weight and get healthy, it’s ALL about how well your digestive system is working and the state of your hormones. Period. There’s No diet foods, or diet drinks, or diet pills, or diet protocols, or a “fat burning” exercise that will take your weight off and keep it off.

As a matter of fact, Diet Foods put weight ON. Seriously, the evidence behind artificial sweeteners, chemical ingredients, refined carbs, and “franken” fats fills text books. It’s no ones secret, yet the marketing behind these products is in the Billions and Brilliant.

Perfect digestion is critical to our weight and our health. If you don’t have ENOUGH stomach acid, or sufficient pancreatic enzymes, or you have leaky gut, or not enough beneficial bacteria in your lower intestine, you’re in trouble. Anyone have indigestion, burping, gas, cramps, or general stomach pain and discomfort? What about a “stomach bloat” that comes on every afternoon and doesn’t disappear til morning? NOT NORMAL, totally Fixable.

Fixable with what? More Pepcid or Tagament? Could your body be deficient in those meds?? Absolutely not. And if you are taking digestive medications, YOU”RE DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD. Read the pamphlet’s that come with any of those, they’re meant to be used on a very short term basis – for good reason! (which I’ll be going over in the workshops)

Allergies, auto-immune, liver problems, weight issues, fatigue, migraines, etc etc – all the result of improper digestion, not a medicine deficiency. Really, this is a Big, Important topic. You should know how your body is supposed to work if you want it to work correctly; don’t fall prey to marketing and advertising of products that literally bandaid your symptoms while allowing problems to grow, or have a set of side effects that make everything worse,

Blood Sugar Regulation? Your hormones are the key to EVERYTHING!! One of my instructors has a line that “we look at the world through Hormone Colored Glasses”. (I love that) When you eat too many refined carbs (or even too many good carbs if you have blood sugar issues), and your Insulin ( a major hormone) is Dis-regulated, YOUR WHOLE HORMONAL SYSTEM IS DISREGULATED: cortisol, adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen, all of them, are affected and can be disregulated too. Insulin is a Primary Hormone, it sets the tone for all our other hormones. (Actually, cortisol’s a biggie too; I’ll be talking about that.)

Eat a typical, standard American diet (SAD) of cereal, coffee drinks, sandwiches, chips, snacks, and pasta, and you are a hormonal disaster. Eat constantly, all day long, have your blood sugar UP and Down and Up and Down, You are a Hormonal Disaster. Eating like that wrecks your gut too, and there goes your Digestion.

My workshops will be two hours long, and they will cover the same material. Come once, or if you’re up for it, need to resolve issues and really learn how this Biology is supposed to work, come twice.

I’ll be holding each workshop at the Marshall Community Center. It’s easy to get to, right off Rt 17 and Rt 66. They have a great room that I’ve used for other workshops and it can accommodate a lot of people. Plus they have plenty of parking. For my out of town readers, Video formatting is in the works, more on that when it’s ready.

I don’t have my PayPal Widget set up, so I can’t take payments via my site (yet). If you want to attend, please just mail me a check or pay at the door. Either is fine, just let me know in advance if you’ll be attending so I can make sure the rooms set up correctly.

Details:

Digestion and Blood Sugar Workshop

May 31st, Friday 1-3 or June 5th, Wednesday 6 – 8pm

Cost: $30 per person – cheap, because I want people to learn this stuff and not be at the mercy of bad information and persuasive marketing.

Send checks to (or make checks out to)

Debbie Abbott

9277 Maidstone Rd

Delaplane Va 20144

and please email me to confirm attending. Can’t wait to see you there!

Category: Carbs, Sugar /

Serotonin and MSG

May 5, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

I recently attended a full day lecture called “Nutritional Perspectives On Neurological Disorders”. The guy was fantastic. He was a Dr. from Vermont who was a great speaker, great presenter, and he had great information. I’m obviously not a neurologist nor anywhere near that field; but there was plenty I could understand and absorb.

Here some interesting tidbits that I learned:

The amount of Serotonin you have in your brain is DIRECTLY related to the amount of Tryptophan you eat. Directly. Your highest food sources of Tryptophan are meats, dairy, and nuts and seeds. (it’s in other foods too, pull up a list if you want) YOU NEED PROPER/GOOD DIGESTION TO ACTUALLY GET THE TRYPTOPHAN OUT OF THE FOODS AND USE IT. (Everything begins in the gut.)

Serotonin is an “inhibitory” neurotransmitter. That means it has a calming effect.

When people have a hard day or a stressful event and they have INSUFFICIENT serotonin, but their brain wants some, they will indulge in Carb/Junk Food fests, because processed/refined Carbs give quick doses of Serotonin.

Here’s the kicker: the elevated Serotonin ONLY LASTS BETWEEN 30 AND 60 MINUTES. It’s not a permanent solution to your stress. We all know that we can actually feel more stress when the indulging is over. It’s also not a permanent solution to raising Serotonin.

High levels of Blood Glucose interferes with the chemical pathway of Tryptophan becoming Serotonin. This is NOT a contradictory statement with the above paragraph. Tryptophan is found in meat, dairy, nuts and seeds. RWFs! There’s a chain of events that happens that allows the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin. High levels of BG are primarily from meals/snacks of processed and refined carbs.

Different pathways to Serotonin. One pathway, RWFs and good digestion, actually BUILDS SEROTONIN LEVELS IN YOUR BRAIN, the other pathway basically gives you a short, temporary dose of Serotonin. Which sounds better in the long run?

Moving on…You know how we’ve talked often about MSG – Monosodium Glutamate? It has a couple dozen different, FDA approved names; it’s an Excito / Neurotoxin, and it’s in at LEAST 70% of ALL processed and refined foods? Glutamate is an EXCITATORY neurotransmitter. That means it literally stimulates the neurons in your brain. A LITTLE bit of this is good and normal, and some RWFs actually contain tiny amounts of glutamate. Processed/refined foods contain whopper doses. If you’re eating processed/refined foods all day long, or even a few times a day (or your kids are), brain neurons are being OVERSTIMULATED to the point of exhaustion, and DEATH. Let me repeat that : Glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter present in about 70% of all processed and refined foods, overstimulates brain neurons to the point of death. For me, that’s old news. One of my kids is epileptic, and I’ve tried hard to steer clear of glutamate – her brain’s excited enough. Here’s the New News for me: Brain Neurons Get Addicted To The Stimulation. They send signals out for more stimulation. Ever wonder why all the sudden the thought of certain foods pops into your head, and your desire for that food is overwhelming? That’s the brain neurons – bored and anxious, and wanting their fix.

Moms, don’t let this happen to your kids. If they’re already addicted to junk food, they can be

UNaddicted. Don’t buy it, don’t bring it in your home. It will take a little while – a withdraw period – but it will happen. Our bodies WANT to be normal and healthy. Given a chance, they will be. Eat Real Whole Foods!!!

Category: Food Additives, RWF, Sugar / Tags: gut

Change Your Body By Changing Your Thoughts, and a LHBI

April 18, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

You really can’t change your body without changing your thoughts. If your thoughts about food have been dominated by Calories and Fat Grams, then you’ve probably either been in a yo-yo weight pattern, or a gaining pattern, or you’re always hungry. Because thinking of food in terms of Calories and Fat is NEVER a winning, healthy, long term strategy. (70% of Americans are overweight, and Diet Foods are a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry.)
It’s the INGREDIENTS in our food, and the amount of SUGAR/CARBOHYDRATES that have the biggest impact on your hormones, your mood, your willpower, and your hunger. Here’s what I mean.

Look at Odwalla Juices, which you’ll find in the healthy section of your grocery store.
Wow, their Website looks Natural!! They’ve got soft colors, what looks to be hand-drawn leaves and flowers, and you can even help them Plant Trees for the Environment. You have to keep their juices refrigerated, and they have little “gluten free” signs on their bottles. Surely this would be a healthy food for you or your kids? A Real Whole Food??
I pulled out 10 different product lists, some of which had 16 ingredients, and they all contain HUGE amounts of carbohydrate. 43 grams/bottle, 30 grams/bottle, 28 grams/bottle, and so on.

All Carbs Become Sugar/Glucose In the Body. Period. Always. Carbs are Sugar/Glucose. So under the Carbohydrate line in the ingredient list, where it has a sub catagory for sugar, DISREGARD that line. It’s deceiving. All Carbs Become Sugar In the Body.
4 grams of Carbohydate equals 1 Teaspoon of sugar. Our body can handle about 2 teaspsoons of Sugar in the Blood before the pancreas has to spit out Insulin and do Damage Control.
I’ll go into this further later, but for now know this: All Excess Sugar/Carb/Blood Glucose gets remade into Triglycerides and deposited in the midriff area. Plus, this amount of sugar leads to a blood sugar high, and a blood sugar drop.
High Blood Sugar and High Insulin do a lot of damage to every area of the body: your brain, your organs, your hormones, your extremities, your eyes, your arteries.
Lots more on Blood Sugar later.
Let’s examine a FEW of the many ingredients on the ingredient lists. Soy Protein, and Soy Protein Isolate: soy is usually GMO and always a Phytoestrogen, – no one needs phytoestrogens!!! Not males, and not females. Think excess female hormones, thyroid problems, and cancer. “Invert Cane Sugar” is on several lists, that’s just Sugar. Tricalcium phosphate is on several lists, which is listed on the Hazaradous Chemical Data base as having possible side effects of irritation to the skin, eyes, lungs, and gastrointestional tract. There’s also plenty of “added” vitamins. If they’re ADDED, they’ve usually been synthesized in a factory. As opposed to Real Vitamins and Minerals and PhytoNutrients that are Naturally contained within Real Whole Foods. The ability of the body to absorb and use Real nutrients as opposed to Synthetic nutrients is very different.
The bottom line is, if you want some fruit, grab an apple or a banana, or some strawberries.
Let’s go back to my subject line: you can’t make a physical change without making a mental change. If you’ve been struggling with your weight or your health, and thinking of food in terms of just calories and fat, it’s kept you in your holding pattern. Thinking of food in terms of Real, and Whole, and Nutrients will make you Healthy. Leanness is a Side Effect of being Healthy.

Category: Carbs, Food Additives, Looks Healthy But Isn't, Psychology of Eating, RWF, Sugar / Tags: carbs, Sugar

Does Diet Coke Really Make You Skinny?

March 24, 2013 / Debbie / Comments Off

Who hasn’t seen Cindy Crawford or Beyonce hawking the Diet Sodas? Or the thin, happy woman who has a fridge full of artificially flavored diet yogurts? How about the frozen diet dinner commercials where the skinny woman sits down to her Styrofoam plate, fork to mouth, with a blissful look on her face? Statistically speaking, we’ve been subjected to thousands of these subliminal messages in our life time. But it’s all a fake !! Diet drinks and diet foods make you fatter, not thinner, and sicker, not healthier. Study after study after study proves this.