20 Diseases and Conditions Directly Attributed to Being Overweight

Unfortunately this list is pretty depressing. More motivation for Americans to take charge of their weight and, in turn, take charge of their health.


http://www.food-intolerance.ca/14/20-diseases-and-conditions-directly-attributed-to-being-overweight/en/

More local produce at your grocery store....

Supermarkets are selling more local produce - Here's an encouraging article that talks about how many grocery store chains are switching to purchasing more local produce. I don't know if they gas prices have caused this or not, but I think it's certainly a great idea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/dining/06local.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Where does your favorite restaurant get their food?

You would think that a hot dog from Yankee stadium and a meal at a 5 star restaurant would have nothing in common, but in this case they do. They both come from the same supplier. Sysco foods supplies more than 400,000 hospitals and restaurants including the fast food and 5-star ones!

There is nothing wrong with getting food from the same place. Let's hope they're not serving the same thing with the 5 star restaurants calling it "home made."

Here's my favorite quote from the article - "As the company notes on its Web site, our "unique 3-D technology gives you the look and texture of a solid muscle chicken breast, at a fraction of the cost. …""

It's pretty hard to stay away from MSG and partially hydrogenated oils when eating out, but my advice is to eat as much unprocessed foods as possible and you'll be much better off.

http://www.slate.com/id/2160284/

US Food Portions- Just About Right?

Not according to this article! "Portion sizes in the United States not only exceed those in less-developed countries, but also in the developed world. In fact, Americans have the highest per capita daily consumption in the world, eating 3,770 calories a day, more than a Canadian at 3,590 calories or an Indian at 2,440, according to data from the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization.

"We've looked at large portion sizes almost entirely in terms of whether it's healthy for us, and now we have to consider is that sort of a demand going to be sustainable," said Paul Roberts, author of "The End of Food."

They say that the typical American adult eats at a restaurant 6 times per week and more than ½ say it's an essential part of their lifestyle. Some of this portion problem comes from the sizes of processed food portions. We've gotten used to eating those sized portions. I'm sure that advertising also contributes to how much we think we need to eat.

Here's the whole article for you to read: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN2639845320080729

Nano Foods?

I guess I hadn't really heard of nano foods before I read this article. It talks mostly about labeling food that contains this nano technology.

Here is what nano foods are: "Nanotechnology involves the design and manipulation of materials on molecular scales, smaller than the width of a human hair and invisible to the naked eye. Companies using nanotechnology say it can enhance the flavor or nutritional effectiveness of food.

U.S. health officials generally prefer not to place warning labels on products unless there are clear reasons for caution or concern. But consumer advocates say uncertainty over health consequences alone is sufficient cause to justify identifying nano-foods."

Read the whole article here - http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN3044875220080730?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10003

Does Food Have an Effect on Us?

Here's a great article about a neurosurgeon's finding about the effect of foods on our moods and bodies. It's a lot of what I have mentioned before (sugar, alcohol, MSG). Here are 2 interesting quotes from the article "One study found an astonishing 97 percent of alcoholics to be hypoglycemic. Yet another study showed that when an alcoholic's hypoglycemia is treated with nutrition, 70 percent of them become sober. When other alcoholism treatment methods are used, only 25 percent or less find relief from their addiction."

"Glutamate is a messenger molecule in the body. Tiny releases of glutamate play an important role in the body, but any excess can be dangerous - especially to the brain and nervous system.

This glutamate is identical to the flavor-enhancing monosodium glutamate (MSG) and its chemical cousins found in thousands of food products."

This is interesting reading, so I encourage you to read the whole article (it's not long) http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/353246.aspx

Don't Worry About Exercise

I heard this the other day and it made sense to me. There are only a few people I know of that stay committed to 30-40 minutes of exercise a day like we all know we should be doing.

Maybe we need to shift our thinking in this area. Instead of dreading the exercise time, focus on being active. You can be active for a 30-40 minute period per day and call it exercise, but don't discount that brisk walk, or going up and down the steps 20 times, or jumping on the trampoline or doing floor exercises while you're watching TV. Try focusing on "being active" rather than "doing your exercise" each day. Let me know if it works!

I try to exercise with my younger children when I can. We set up stations.

Here's what we lay out: small dumbbells, exercise band, exercise ball, and mini trampoline. We all have several pieces of exercise equipment laying around our homes. Yours might be a little different from mine.

Then the kids and I run around the house for a few minutes to get warmed up. After warmup we each take a station and work with one of the pieces of equipment. When someone wants to switch, we each switch to a different piece of equipment. It's pretty fun to do, although I usually outlast the children - mmm….. You could do this routine on your own too. It might help to break up the time and make your activity more interesting.

What Should I Do After Doing a 9 Day Body Cleanse?

Many people have asked me this question, so I thought I would address it here. If you aren't able to continue cleansing until you reach your ideal weight, you can easily do 1 or 2 cleanse days each month. This will still keep you headed in the right direction. Someone that is at their ideal weight can just do 1 cleanse day a month. Anyone can benefit from a shake for breakfast each morning. All you need for a cleanse day is Cleanse Drink and Wafer Snacks along with your own almonds and water. Let me know if you need any help deciding what you would like to do.

Body Care Products - Are Yours Hazardous to Your Health?

As many of you know, one of my daughters is really into spa and skin care products. She likes to make a lot of her own natural products and tries to buy products that are healthy for her skin and body. She recently found a website run by the Environmental Working Group that rates products based on specific toxicity ratings.

Here's a quote from their site - "Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn't require companies to test their own products for safety."

You can enter your favorite body care product in their search box and then receive a rating between 0-10 on how hazardous that product is for you. 0-2 is low hazard, 3-6 is moderate hazard and 7-10 is high hazard. We all have to buy body care products, but we don't have to buy ones that could be hazardous to our health. So why not buy the low hazard rated shampoo rather than the high hazard shampoo???

Check it out and see what you think! BTW - you don't have to enter your email there if you don't want to. You can just click "no thanks" and get into the site. http://cosmeticdatabase.com/

Cholesterol - The Real Story

I could get on a soap box here about what I think of all the hype of doctors telling people their cholesterol is high, but I'll just let you read this doctor's report instead....The Low-Down on Cholesterol: Why You Need It -- and the Real Methods to Get Your Levels Right
http://mercola.fileburst.com/ PDF/Cholesterol_SpecialReport. pdf Let me know what you think!

Heads Up

I just learned about a new fat loss product that was released just this past Monday by a company that I am very familiar with (not Isagenix). There is nothing else like this on the market anywhere. It's pretty simple, in that, you just drink the powder mixture in water 20 minutes before breakfast and dinner each day. They have done many double blind placebo tests on this and find that it works for 80-85% of the people that use it. Mostly people are losing inches around their waist. I am testing this myself along with a few other people, so I'll keep you posted on how I think it works….

Vitamin D Deaths

USA Today had an article in it recently about a study done on vitamin D in humans. They determined that people with low blood levels of vitamin D were 2 times more likely to die from any cause (especially heart disease) in the next 8 years than those with higher levels of vitamin D. They said the lower levels of vitamin D could be related to our increase in indoor activities or air pollution. Some doctors said it was related to overuse of sunscreen. They recommended that you go without sunscreen for at least 10-15 minutes in the sun before you put it on.

We could get into a whole other discussion about sunscreens, but if you need or choose to use it here is what I recommend. http://www.amazon.com/dp/ B0014AEXUI/?tag=homescresour- 20
I know you will think I have gone off the deep end on this one, but trust me, it works. This rubs in really well and is not white if you do it right.

Diet Coke Soon to Contain Stevia?

Diet Coke also knows about stevia. It turns out that they have been using it in their products in Japan, Brazil, China and 9 other industrialized countries. Soon they will be introducing it in the United States as "rebiana" (that's short for Stevia Rebaudiana).

Why have they not been able to use it in the United States?? Let's see....does the FDA sound familiar to you? I would think if Coca Cola (the world's largest beverage maker) and Cargill Foods team up, they should be able to convince the FDA to approve this herb as a natural sweetener. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Here is the original article and a commentary http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-05-31-cokecargill_N.htm
http://www.carbwire.com/2007/06/01/could_it_really_happen_diet_coke_with_stevia

I use stevia mostly as a sweetener for drinks right now. Several years ago I played around with it for baking and have several stevia cookbooks. You can't substitute it exactly for sugar in a recipe, so I suggest using a stevia cookbook.

Big Breakfasts Help Shed Pounds

Here's another interesting article about a study that was done comparing people who ate a big breakfast and 1200 calories for the day with those that ate a small breakfast and 1000 calories low carb for the rest of the day.

After 4 months the small breakfast low carb diet group lost a little more weight than the big breakfast group. The 8 month mark was where it got really interesting. The small breakfast group had gained back almost all the weight they had lost and the big breakfast group kept the weight off and lost even more weight! Our bodies are amazing aren't they?

Part of the big breakfast included a protein shake. Here's the one I recommend. This was a sample big breakfast: "a cup of milk, turkey, cheese, two slices of bread, mayonnaise, 1 ounce of chocolate candy, and a protein shake. They could eat the breakfast in stages from the time they got up until 9 a.m."

If you want to read the whole article you can view it here.

10 Best Food You Aren't Eating

The men's health section of WebMD had an interesting article about the 10 best foods to eat. I'm assuming this is for men, but I think women can benefit too. Each of the 10 foods has an explanation of why this food is healthy and how to eat it. I've heard of most of them, but one I have never heard of before. Okay, here are the foods so you don't have to read the article if you don't want to: beets, cabbage, guava, swiss chard, cinnamon, purslane, pomegranate juice, goji berries, dried plums, pumpkin seeds. I can't say that I agree with their choices, but it's fun to read other people's opinions. Hope you enjoy it.
http://men.webmd.com/features/10-best-foods-you-arent-eating

Stevia - My Recommendations

Did you know that stevia is:

- 300 times sweeter than sugar
- has no calories
- can be used by children, diabetics and people with other medical conditions
- has been used around the world for decades
- can be used in baking
- is a great alternative to artificial sweetners

Here are some stevia products you can buy:



For more information about how to cook with stevia, check out these cookbooks:

Health and Weight Loss Goals

Remember I'm here to help you meet your health and weight loss goals. Call or email me if you want to pick my brain or consult with me on any aspect of health or weight loss!

To your success,

Heidi

khtimes3@verizon.net

Best Program

Weed Killer….

In our search for avoiding chemicals whenever possible, our flower beds and driveway have been thriving with weeds. I found this recipe online and it seems to work well. We spray it on and by the next day the weeds are turning brown. We’ll see if we have to reapply, but it’s nice to see those weeds fade away.

Here’s the recipe:
1 cup vinegar
½ c dish soap

Just put these 2 items in a spray bottle and squirt those weeds down. You can double or triple this recipe. It’s always a 2:1 ratio with more vinegar than dish soap.

Uses for Soda…

You may have given up drinking pop or soda and have and few extra cans laying around. Here’s and cute website that gives you all kinds of ideas for uses for a can of pop. http://www.thebachelorguy.com/34-uses-for-that-can-of-soda-other-than-quenching-thirst.html I haven’t tried any and don’t claim these are safe, but fun to read anyways.

Exercise – How Do You Fit it in?

This article addresses the issue of the recommendations for 30-90 minutes of exercise and day. Can it really be done?
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2005-01-18-wlc-exercise-guidelines_x.htm

Did you Know………

That it is said that 50,000 new chemicals have been created in the last 70 years?!

The Cure

I recently read an article in Better Nutrition magazine about a new book called The Cure: Heal Your Body, Save Your Life. It is written by Naturopath Timothy Brantley. This man had several family members that died of cancer and heart disease and he himself had some side effects from extreme pesticide exposure and was diagnosed with an incurable skin condition. He changed his diet and learned how to detox his body. All his symptoms disappeared and his skin condition was totally healed!

When asked the most common health problem he sees in his patients, he said “Dehydration.” He said he never met anyone who was adequately hydrated. He said, “Dehydration alone can seriously compromise health. When clients rehydrate with purified water, many symptoms disappear.”

He said that the simplest thing you can do to transform your health is to eat real foods. That means foods that come from the earth. He suggests trying to change your diet one meal at a time.

When asked the best kept secret to overall health, he answered “Detoxification.” Because of the food we eat, over use of prescription drugs and chemicals in food and air, detoxification is vitally important to overall health. He suggests cleansing at least twice and year. Best cleansing program….

Healthy Ideas

What Can Exercise Do For Me Anyways?

Exercise:

-decreases your appetite
-helps reduce the risk of heart attack
-helps control cholesterol

-reduces anxiety and stress (Someone I know who was a counselor once told me that he had a client that was very depressed. He talked to him for the counseling session and told him to be sure to walk every day. When the man came back in 2 weeks he had a totally different outlook on life. His depression was relieved just from walking each day!)

-relieves premenstrual blahs
-keeps varicose veins in check
-improves complexion
-reduces insomnia
-reduces the risk of osteoporosis
-controls the side effects of diabetes
-promotes a sense of well being

Did you know that exercise burns calories during the workout, but also boosts your metabolism so your body continues to burn more calories over the next few hours?

17 Random Health Facts

If you go to this site you can view all 17 Healthranker, but I’ll mention a few here:

- Motorists who talk on cell phones are more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding .08!

- Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the morning.

- Strawberries have more Vitamin C than oranges.

- You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.


7 ills that don’t need pills

Here’s an article that talks about 7 diseases/ailments that do not need pills to correct them. The ills listed are arthritis, cholesterol, cognitive decline, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure and osteoporosis. They certainly don’t recommend you stop taking medication without talking to a doctor. This article gives some insight into the power people have to help their bodies work as they are designed to work. Livescience


Great Quote

“None of us is perfect. It is better to have crooked legs than a crooked spirit. We can only do the best we can with what we have. That, after all, is the measure of success: what we do with what we have.”

From The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli

When eating out:

- Decide in advance what you want to eat (think of something good for you). Then don’t open the menu, just tell the waiter what you want and they can suggest something that fits what you want. That way you won’t be tempted to eat foods that you know won’t be good for you.

- Be the last person at your table to start eating and eat slowly.

- At restaurants with salad bars load up on the raw vegetables. Pass up the pickled or canned items. Choose the greens that have the darkest color - they have the highest nutritional value.

- Pass on the high-fat or creamy dressings. Use lemon juice or vinaigrette dressings.

Here are some tips you can use if you tend to overeat at meals:

- Drink Water ½ hour before a meal
- Have an apple 10 minutes before each meal (or at least 1 meal a day)
- Try eating with the opposite hand.

Snacks

I’ve read recently that snacks should be treated as “binge control”. Snacks should be used to help you not get too hungry before your next meal. If you’re too hungry you may tend to overeat because you are starving. So if you need a snack to help you make it to your next meal you definitely want to choose a good one. Here are a few ideas:

1. Hard boiled egg - lots of protein and only 80 calories (even though I’m not into calorie counting)

2. Almonds - Eat the raw and unsalted variety if you can.

3. Prunes - helps boost blood sugar better than raisins.

4. Popcorn - It’s whole grain and rich in fiber.

5. Dark Chocolate (my favorite) - rich in antioxidants and doesn’t raise blood sugar. Of course, if you eat more than 3 small pieces, you’ve overdone it.

Isagenix has a new dark chocolate snack called Isadelight that is great for cleanse days or as a snack any day. Find out more about them here (but there‘s no need to pay retail price - check with me first). It can give you increased energy, reduce cravings, lighten your mood and greater brain and heart health.

Imagine the Relief of Losing 48 Pounds

Try tieing 6 gallons of milk to your belt. That's quite a load! Then imagine taking that belt off and releasing all of that weight forever! Here's how people are doing it every day. Imagine the Relief

Doctor speaks out

A Doctor Speaks Out - Video

Here's and interesting (and short) video of a doctor speaking about some of the health issues that she sees in her practice and how she is helping people overcome them. www.drspeaksout.com