This past week I’ve had emails on Diet Soda, Weight Watchers points and meals, oatmeal, and a question about an Acai Berry Cleanse.

Here’s some facts to ponder:

(1) Most of the calories we burn in a 24 hour day have NOTHING to do with exercise.  Our liver uses the most energy (calories), with our heart and brain following up.  Our muscles use far less calories than these organs.  If your blood stream is loaded with sugar (blood sugar readings above 100 on a glucometer), your muscle cells MUST use that excess sugar BEFORE any fat cells get tapped for energy. That’s our Biology.  Oatmeal has about 27 grams of carbs/sugar per cup, that’s almost 7 teaspoons of glucose in your blood.  “Normal/Optimal” blood sugar is about 2 teaspoons in the blood. Start your day with a big bowl of carbs, and even during a workout, your muscle cells use up that glucose before they burn fat for fuel.

(2)  If your liver is clogged by years of chemicals, like the ones found in diet sodas and diet frozen meals or any processed food on a shelf, it’s not running well; your shot at your liver using a whole bunch of calories and functioning like it’s supposed to is impeded. Want a clean, high functioning liver?  Quit flooding it with toxins and chemicals that weaken it and slow it down.  Did you know there are over 10,000 chemicals in our food supply and most of them AREN’T tested?  And several that are have only been given a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status, this means that even though there were several Red Flags in the testing, the FDA approved it anyway.

(3) Diet foods, diet drinks, and processed foods are created in labs; the Food Scientists make them delicious and stimulating.  Ever notice how hard it is to quit eating processed foods?  They’ve been designed to stimulate areas of your brain that make you want more.  Honestly.  That’s diet and non-diet processed foods.  When your pleasure centers in your brain are constantly being triggered by sugars and chemicals, those neural nets get used to that pleasure, they demand it.  That’s why so often powerful, overwhelming desires for food practically assault you:  certain times, certain places, certain people, print ads, television ads, they can all flip a switch that makes you have to have it now.

Here’s a link to one of my favorite sites, Fooducate.  They’ve done an excellent piece on Weight Watchers and the ingredients in their Chicken Ranchero Mini Wraps.  After reading it, you’ll see why I call this kind of crap “Poison”.

Remember, the Diet Industry is a BUSINESS out to MAKE MONEY.

(4) If you really can stick to your low calorie regimen, your Thyroid, which is in charge of the Cell Turnover of EVERY SINGLE CELL IN YOUR BODY, will determine that there’s some type of food shortage or famine, and will SLOW DOWN TURNOVER/METABOLISM IMMEDIATELY.   Here’s the really bad part:  for some people, it’ll only take doing “low-cal” once, for others, it’ll take more, but eventually, that Thyroid stays “down-regulated”.  This is why the same diet that worked before doesn’t work anymore, and it’s why the majority of dieters gain MORE WEIGHT THAN THEY LOST.

(5) I love the Cleanse questions, I’ve had them for years.  Here’s the fact:  there is no Cleanse on earth that will pull fatty acids out of your fat cells. Period.  The subtle message in Cleanse advertising, showing a beautiful flat stomach, is trying to convince you that if you buy this product, you’ll poop out pounds of fat and then you’ll look like the picture.  Don’t be tricked by this!  Your poop is mostly water, bacteria from your large intestine, discarded cells and waste products, and indigestible fibers.  If your gut is working correctly, the fats/ proteins/sugars/calories and nutrients were extracted in the small intestine, BEFORE they get to the large intestine.  Cleanses that promise diarrhea in exchange for weight loss are stupid, so don’t be fooled.  Want to “Cleanse”?  Quit putting toxins in your liver, kidney, brain, and bowels, honestly.

Let me leave you with a recipe I’ve found that’s fast, easy, and delicious; it’s for  Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Meringue Cookies.  (click on for link)

Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Meringue Cookies

Ingredients

• 4 large pastured egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tarter
• 1/2 cup powdered sweetener (or 5 Tbsp honey for Paleo)
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

• 3.5 oz dark chocolate (dairy free and soy free chocolate for Paleo)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp grassfed butter or ghee

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter on medium speed.
3. Add the sweetener and cocoa powder. Increase the speed to high until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Add the vanilla and mix to incorporate.
4. With a large star shaped pastry tip, pipe a 2″ disc on to the parchment paper and pipe another layer on top to form a small peak. Repeat with the remaining meringue batter. (Makes about 26 cookies)
5. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes and turn off the oven and let sit for 3 hours or until the meringues have dried out.

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.
2. Dip the meringue cookie into the chocolate (either just the bottom or half of the cookie) and set on parchment paper. Refrigerate until the chocolate has set.