Is This A Healthy Choice?

I was watching television, actually I just had it on in the hotel room. When I heard "Fruit Loops" was a healthy choice food. WHAT??? How could anyone say that? Don't they realize that this cereal is 41% sugar!! How can that be a healthy choice? Not to mention that fact that it contains processed flour and partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil.

I nearly fell out of the chair when I heard this. Then I heard this was being endorsed by Tuft's University. What I quickly realized is that just as the big pharmaceutical companies have the government in their pocket, so must the manufacture have Tuft's in its pocket. No one with a sound nutritional base could ever say this cereal was a "Healthy Choice". This has to be the food manufacturers creating yet another label to put on food to get consumers to buy it. What mother wuold not buy fruit loops if she thought it a "healthy choice". All I can say is consumers beware!!

Benefit #3 of Cleansing

Restoring all of the systems within the body so that they can function in harmony together as they were meant to is a huge benefit of cleansing. When certain organs or organ systems within our body become toxic, it is hard for them to function in coordination with the other organs and systems within the body.

An example of what happens when our bodies become toxic is the more processed foods that we eat, the more chemicals and other toxins - like hydrogenated oils - that we consume, the harder it is for our liver to detoxify and rid the body of toxins. What happens, it begins to deposit the toxins in fat stores, we gain weight, - as we gain weight, our endocrine system especially the pancreas begins to become over taxed with the demand for insulin and the toxins develop an resistance to insulin attaching on the receptor site so that glucose can move into the cell out of the blood stream. We end up with diabetes, and potentially all of the complications of diabetes. Our bodies become sick.

Cleansing can help you remove the toxins from organs such as the liver so that you can live a healthier life. While cleansing helps, I have to say, the other thing you should be doing is watching what it is that you put into your body.

More of the Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Continuing with the anti-inflammatory diet, next is to eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortenings - basically anything that contains hydrongenated or partially hydrogenated oils. I have written a series of posts about hydrogenated fats starting on September 6, 2008. The listing for this piece of the diet goes on to say to avoid any foods which contain trans-fatty acids. This seems to be the new designer word for unsaturated fats. What you should be using is extra virgin olive oil.

Next on the anti-inflammatory diet list is to increase your intake of Omega 3. There is more on omega 3 starting in my posts on September 10, 2008. You will usually need to be taking some form of dietary supplement with fish oil. Contact me via this blog if you would like more information.

The last 2 components of the anti-inflammatory diet will come tomorrow.

Diet Tip #8

Use oils that are less refined like olive oil. The corn, sunflower and safflower oils are highly refined and contain preservatives that are difficult for your liver to break down. For a more information on this go back to September when I wrote about good and bad fat.

Remember that most of the oils that you buy at the grocery store contain hydrogenated fats and that is what you definitely want to avoid.

Be concerned about the kind of fat you eat rather than the amount of fat you're eating. The best fats are found in omega 3 foods like fish and flax seed oil. Avoid fried foods, margarine and foods that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats or oils in them.

Trans Fat Free

If the label says "Trans Fat Free" do you still need to read the label? In a word, Yes! The reason is that the product can contain partially hydrogenated oil. You can label the product as Trans Fat Free as long as a serving size has less than a half a gram of trans fat. Now if you routinely eat 2 servings of the product ( this may be as little as 2 teaspoons), you are getting more than half a gram.

I can't emphasize enough how very important it is to read the labels. You want products with no partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils in them.

Is Natural the same as Organic?

I was confused at first with the labeling natural. What does that mean and is it the same as organic. The answer is, it is not the same as something labeled organic. A company who wants to use the natural food label does not have to go through the rigorous verification that a farmer who is growing organic food must go through.

Be sure to read the label thoroughly. You may be surprised to see partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. If you don't remember the problems with these ingredients got back and read my post on October 13, 08. You also might want to review my posting on September 6, 08 about hydrogenated oil.

Remember that high fructose corn syrup is a chemically processed dextrose from corn. It isn't just pressed out of the corn.

My words are to use care and read the label of foods marked as "Natural."

Hydrogenated Fat and Heart Disease

I found an interesting fact when reading up on hydrongenated fat. I've mentioned before that you should avoid foods with hydrongenated oils or fats. This is not an easy feat, as most of our foods today contain these. Why? Because they increase the shelf life of the food.

Here's the interesting fact, before 1911 when crisco was developed - hydrogenated cottonseed oil - very few people died of heart disease. One has to know that we have been the cause of our own demise. Read labels when you go to the store. It is difficult to find anything that does not have hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil in it.

More on Good Fat and Bad Fat

Let's talk a little about good fats. Best fat is coconut oil. Get unrefined, virgin, organic coconut oil. Yes, it is a saturated fat, but it is easy for the liver to break down into usable cholesterol for the cell membrane. It will spoil if you leave it for a period of time after you have opened it.

Another good fat/oil is olive oil. Similar to coconut oil, you want the extra virgin olive oil. The reason is that virgin or extra virgin oils may not contain any processed oils. Extra virgin means that the olives were cold processed, so the oils extracted have not been exposed to heat.

Smart Balance is one of the buttery type spreads that does not contain hydrogenated oils. There are some others out there, but you will need to read the label. If they contain hydrogenated oils, find something else.

Good Fat, Bad Fat continued

Yesterday I was talking about hydrogenation of fat. What forms when a fat is hydrogenated in trans fatty acids, which are chemically altered or processed fats. These trans fatty acids are the ones that increase are cholesterol to higher levels of the bad cholesterol while lowering our good cholesterol.

So why do manufacturers do this? Because it extends the shelf life of the product. The problem is that it is nearly impossible to find any foods today on the grocery shelf that do not have hydrogenated fat in them. I know there are labels on foods out there that say "No trans fatty acids." Well they may not contain trans fatty acids, just like margarine doesn't contain cholesterol, but we also know they were made with fats that have been hydrogenated to preserve the food. It is almost impossible today, in fact I would say it is impossible today to buy a loaf of bread at the store that does not contain hydrogenated oil. Makes you want to get a bread machine and make your own.

Before you go out for the bread machine, look in your cupboard. What kind of oil do you have there? Do you have margarine or butter in your refrigerator?

Good Fat Bad Fat

I think we're all aware of the fact that there are good fats and bad fats out there. I always laugh when I go by the butter and margarine dairy case at the store. All of the margarine containers say in big letters "No Cholesterol." Of course if you look at the fat content, well there you have it. Fat converts into cholesterol which is in every cell membrane. In fact it is an essential part of the member and required in order for the cell membrane to function properly.

Yes we do need some fat in our diet. Women require more than men. There are a few things about fat that you should be aware of when you're reading labels at the grocery store. First is to avoid any product that has hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in it.

Hydrogenation is the process where a normally unsaturated fat such as corn oil is heated to a high temperature and pressure processed. What this does is make the fat in a more solid form at room temperature. Or as the margarine ads say, it's a soft spread.

More on this tomorrow.