More on Fiber

I mentioned yesterday that I would talk about the "Whole Grain" piece. One of the ways to be certain that you are getting whole grain in whatever you are buying is to look for the "100 percent whole grain" stamp from the Whole Grains Council. This stamp lets you know that whatever you are buying contains whole grain and there is at least 16 grams of whole grains per serving. Participation of a company to obtain the Whole Grains Council stamp is voluntary.

Don't just go for the big label advertising like 100% whole grain or whole wheat. Read the ingredients. What you are looking for is "whole wheat flour" or "whole durum wheat flour. If you see "Semolina or durum wheat flour" minus the whole, it is a refined grain.

Don't assume that organic or health food pastas are whole grain. Pasta made with spinach or tomatoes may actually contain very little of the vegetables - just enough to give it some color.

Pasta and Bread - Good and Bad

Pasta and bread have been the base of the food pyramid. I never agreed with the food pyramid, but that is not to say that pasta and bread are good or bad. While too much pasta and bread can lead to weight gain and aren't the best in terms of your blood sugar, eating some pasta and bread is OK. Just look at what pasta and bread you are eating.

You want to eat whole grain pasta and bread. Be cautious about how much you eat. This is where serving size plays a huge role. As I've gotten older, I look at the serving sizes in restaurants and found that my husband and I can usually order one entree and split it. We feel satisfied and not over stuffed.

Eat Whole Grains

Most of us in this country are concerned about fiber and how much we are getting. A recent study indicated that the average American only consumes about 12 grams of fiber a day. What you actually need each day is 30-25 grams to maintain a healthy weight and avoid disease such as heart disease and diabetes.

So how do you increase your fiber? Start increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables that you eat each day. These are your best sources of fiber. When you eat bread, be sure that it is whole grain. Better yet is to eat old fashion oatmeal which is a whole grain. Remember most cereals are not whole grain, contain lots of sugar and very little fiber.

But I Eat Granola Bars

So you think you're eating healthy if you eat granola bars? Think again. Have you read the label? The granola bars you get in the grocery store are basically a candy bar where the name has been changed to make you think you're getting something healthy. They have lots of sugar and processed carbs in them and very little fiber content.

If you like the idea of a granola bar, then make your own with raw old fashioned oat meal, coconut, almonds, raisins and a little raw organic honey or black strap molasses to make it all stick together. Then you will have a healthy granola bar. When I used to travel a lot, I would make up some of my own granola bars and take them with me for breakfast. They were awesome and very tasty. And in those days, I didn't realize that I was eating something healthier!

What Is A Healthy Food To Eat

There are lots of healthy foods out there and some that are not so healthy. You as a consumer have to be able to discern what is healthy and what is not. The first thing I would tell you is not to listen to the advertising by the company pushing a product. They can say whatever they want to get you to buy the food. The best example I can think of at the moment is the ad for Fruit Loops which says it is a healthy choice.

So what is healthy and what is not. Cereals have been drilled into us by the media as the healthy thing to eat for breakfast. We are told how much fiber they have, but in fact there really isn't much fiber in cereals. The other thing about cereals is that most of them are loaded with sugar. Read those labels. You should be looking for cereals that contain at least 5 grams of fiber and less than 5 grams of sugar.

The best cereals are the old fashioned ones like oatmeal or the ones tha most people don't really want to eat like All-Bran. Look for whole grains, these are your best choices.

What to Cleanse and How

There are multiple areas of the body that you will want to cleanse. I'm going to write about 5 areas over the next 5 days.

The first area and a good place to start is the colon. If you eat foods that contain toxins (most of what we eat today does contain toxins), you will definitely want to start here. Now think about the fact that if the food you are eating is not moving very fast through the intestine, your body will have lots of time to absorb those toxins. The goal then is to speed things up such that you are having at least one bowel movement per day. If you are someone who only has a bowel movement every 2-3 days, your body is absorbing lots of toxins in the colon.

So how do you cleanse the colon? I'm not talking about enemas here. The first and best way for you to begin to cleanse the colon is by eating at least 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Organics are best because they have less chemicals used in growing and processing them. Learn to love your fruits and vegetables and your body will love you back by being healthy.

Whole grains also help in moving wastes through the intestine, so be sure to include them with your fruits and vegetables.

You can also utilize some supplements if need be, but I highly recommend you go with the natural way which is fruits, vegetables and whole grains. That being said, some of the supplements you can use to help cleanse the colon are psyllium husks or seeds and flax seeds. If you are wondering about an herbal product, respond to the blog and I will give you more information about the safe usage.

Sources of Vitamin E

Vitamin E is found in varying amounts in multiple foods. Some of these foods are soy beans, nuts, seeds, egg yolk, avocado, green leafy vegetables, vegetable oils, and whole grains. Wheat germ is one of the foods that has the highest amount of Vitamin E.

The most active form of Vitamin E is in the foods mentioned above. The synthetic or Vitamin E supplements is less potent than what we get in our food. So eating the right foods will help you get this all important vitamin.

Tomorrow I will get into more of the details about what Vitamin E does.

Creating Serotonin - What Should I Eat?

Since we know that tryptophan is the building block for serotonin, that would be the first thing we need to produce serotonin. Most of us are familiar with one source of tryptophan - turkey! We all get very relaxed and sleepy after that big Thanksgiving turkey dinner. This is related to the tryptophan in the turkey. In this case however, the tryptophan goes to the pineal gland and melatonin is produced which makes us sleepy. Not the serotonin we were hoping to produce.

This is a complex issue, because the amino acids in proteins can get in the way of the tryptophan and keep it from converting to Serotonin. To help you understand this, if you are depressed and your Serotonin levels are low, you will crave and eat simple carbohydrates like sugar and sweets. This gives you a short burst of Serotonin but it is not sustained and requires more within an hour or two at most. We all know what eating sugar or sweets every 1-2 hours will do to your waist line. Complex carbohydrates will raise Serotonin levels to a lesser extent because they contain protein amino acids which get in the way.

To clear the protein amino acids, you need to have foods which stimulate the production of insulin which will clear the proteins out of the way. Best foods for this are whole grain breads or raw fruits.