Natural Flavors

I am thoroughly disgusted by what I have found out regarding natural flavors. I really shouldn't be surprised. I have heard rumors of these things before, but reading a transcript from someone who creates flavors for a living really sealed the deal for me. No more natural flavors for this family! It won't be easy, and it may be a slow process to remove them from the house, but I think it will be worth it.

So are natural flavors really natural? Yes, they are, but not in the way that any normal person would think. Here is the definition of natural flavors according to the FDA:

The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.

That doesn't sound too bad, right? The problem is that when you see something that is strawberry natural flavored, you probably assume that it is flavored from strawberries. That is most likely NOT the case. It also makes sense that things that are meat flavored would come from natural meat sources and things that are fruit flavored would come from natural fruit sources, but that's not always true either. The most disturbing thing that I found is that the flavors vanilla and strawberry can both come from the contents of the anal sac of beavers.

WHAT?!

Yeah, that's what I said too.

Natural? Technically, yes.

Good to consume? Maybe not.

Good on the conscience? Heck No!

I am starting to think that the only reason that is the most disgusting one I could find is because it is the only one that has been "leaked" to the public. That little tid bit of information was given to 60 Minutes by a Flavorist (one of the people that actually come up with and create the natural flavors that go into our foods). I can only imagine that the companies who sell these flavors want to keep their ingredients under wraps so that they can stay in business! So, what other interesting (read: horrifying) things are we consuming under the label "natural flavor"?

Those companies have another reason to keep their ingredients hidden from the public eye. They may be promoting obesity through triggering overeating. The Flavorists are tasked with creating flavors that are irresistable and fleeting. That way, we can't just eat one (I mean, when was the last time you ate just one cookie?) and the next time we see that same thing on the shelf of the store, we will buy it again. It makes sense for the food companies. It doesn't make sense for us as consumers.

So, what are we to do as consumers? In my opinion; Eat whole foods. Whole foods don't contain natural flavors. Maybe if enough people can stay away from packaged foods and those that contain natural flavors, the companies will start to lose money and have to change their practices. It sure would be nice to live in a world where we don't have to scrutinize food labels!

Whole Food School Lunches

Packing whole food lunches for our kids is not an easy task, I know. However, it's worth the extra effort and it's not quite as hard as you think! Like most things, it takes a little planning and a little prep work but it is very doable.

Let me let you in on my method of packing a lunch for my 4 year old that is in preschool:

I start with a protein source. That may be leftover sauteed chicken or baked chicken nuggets, turkey burger broken into "nuggets", peanut butter, nuts, a turkey (no nitrates, Applegate is a good brand) sandwich, tuna salad, a cheese stick or some yogurt.

Next I add in a fruit. She loves grapes, orange slices, strawberries, blueberries, melon chunks, apples, pears, pretty much anything!

I also try to get a vegetable in there. I can count on her eating grape tomatoes (but aren't those actually a fruit?!), so i pack those quite often. She also likes red, orange and yellow bell pepper strips, carrots sticks and avocado (also a fruit?!). She will eat frozen peas and frozen mixed vegetables (but turns her nose up at them if they are cooked/warm), so I can just throw some of those into a container as well. I have also sent her with leftover roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes.

Then I think about any extras such as a homemade muffin, some clean crackers, hummus for dipping the veggies in, some granola to top off her yogurt with, a few raisins or, on occasion, some tortilla chips.

So, for example, yesterday she had half of a peanut butter and jelly (homemade jam) sandwich (homemade whole wheat bread), a whole apple and a cheese stick. On Wednesday she will have sweet italian sausage slices, some frozen mixed veggies, a few peanuts and a banana.

When it comes to finding clean bread, crackers, chips, etc. that are store bought; find a brand that has very few ingredients (preferably less than 6) all that you know what they are and can pronounce. Stay away from both artificial and natural flavors. More on that next time!

Example crackers: Back to Nature brand Harvest Whole Wheat Crackers and Late July Brand Organic Classic Rich Crackers.

Example bread: Ezekiel Bread

Example chips: Wellsley Farms Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips (I get these at BJs).

Read labels as you shop. You can find snacks that are made from whole foods. It just takes a little extra effort (and money, which I wish wasn't the case!).

For more great school lunch ideas check out The Gracious Pantry

Even more great school lunch ideas can be found at 100 Days of Real Food

I hope this helps some of you tired mommas out!

Thanksgiving feasts are nearly upon us! How to enjoy them responsibly.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Does that stress you out? Why? Does thinking about all of the food and all of the choices that you will have to make surrounding food stress you out?

Don't let it!

You CAN make healthy choices!

You CAN eat everything that you want to and not gain five pounds over night.

You CAN eat to satisfaction and not to that uncomfortable overstuffed feeling!

You don't have to have an unhealthy relationship with food.

Believe in yourself and in your ability to make healthy choices for yourself.

Will there be 10 different things that you want to eat tomorrow? Ok. You can! Just take one spoonful of each item. You can have it all...in small portions.

Are you looking forward more to desserts than dinner? That's Ok!Eat a few bites of turkey and a green veggie and save room for a couple of slices of pie. Then enjoy your pie and don't feel guilty about it!

Or maybe it's the appetizers that you like the most. That's fine too! Turn those into your main meal and scale back on the actual dinner.

Do you have to make choices? Yes! but you CAN do it and feel satisfied and not stuffed and guilty!

Think ahead, make a plan for what will be satisfying to you and stick to your plan. Enjoy your family time and be thankful for a life that allows you to make healthy, satisfying choices.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Are you Addicted to Food?

My big realization of the week: I am addicted to food!

After doing some research on food addiction, I realized that I am, in fact, a food addict. That is a hard realization to come to as a health professional, fitness fanatic and self proclaimed nutrition coach.

The sad things is, I believe most Americans are food addicts. I also believe that it stems from a very, very bad and wrong food environment.

Refined, processed food (sugar) is as, if not more addictive than cocaine, heroine and morphine.

We live in a world where high fat, high sugar and high salt foods are readily available in abundance. Processed foods surround us, and they are addictive! Dr. Pam Peeke explained why in a podcast that she recorded with Chalene Johnson.

These Processed foods that are high in fat, sugar and/or salt are hyper-palatable according to Peeke. That means that they send our brain into overdrive with the pleasure response that they create. Think about the difference in sweetness and perceived pleasure from something natural such as a banana compared to a high-sugar, processed food such as a cupcake. Big difference, right? And that's why it is dangerous. Addictions stem from dysfunctions in the brain related to pleasure and self-control which are regulated by dopamine.

Those with drug addictions and those who are obese have decreased numbers of dopamine receptors. This is linked to a reduced ability to resist temptation and with less enjoyment of food or drugs.

You see, before processed foods were available, our ancestors would take a bite of a ripe piece of fruit, the pleasure (dopamine) receptors in their brain would light up telling them how good that was and they would feel satisfied.

Today we have super sweet, super pleasurable foods that we buy in multipacks. We eat one Oreo, our brain lights up like crazy and we feel wonderful, but a couple of hours later we feel hungry again and we remember how good we felt after eating that Oreo, so we have another...and another. Now our brain is thinking, "that's too intense! We can't live this way!" so it does the only thing that makes sense. It reduces the number of pleasure receptors in order to bring us back to equalibrium. So tomorrow when we have one Oreo, the pleasure sensation is less intense. As a result, we eat another, and another, and another trying to replicate the same level of pleasure as we got the very first time we ate an Oreo. Our bodies just weren't meant to be inundated with such rich foods 24/7. Our brains are wired to set us up for addiction to hyper-palatable foods.

How does this scenario unfold for you? If you have had a long and stressful day at work, do you come home and try to eat away the stress through pre-dinner snacks that make you feel full even before you sit down and devour your whole dinner as well?

Or maybe a long and whine filled day at home with the kids sends you reaching for the tub of ice cream after their bedtime? (That one is so me!) Or maybe you have created a habit of eating every time you sit down to watch something on TV and you eat so mindlessly that before you even realize it you have devoured an entire family-size bag of chips.

If any of the above scenarios sounds familiar to you, you may be a food addict too.

So, where do we start to recover from our food addictions? Well, I'm not 100% sure. I AM sure that Pam Peeke has some great advice in her book entitled The Hunger Fix which I plan to purchase. I also read an article by someone prone to addiction that said the only way to recover is through abstaining completely. That means whatever it is that you overeat on a regular basis, you have to get out of your house and vow to never eat again.

I'm not sure that I am quite to the total abstinence stage myself, but I do know that when I make a dessert for a special occasion, from now on, whatever is left after the guests are gone and all of my family has enjoyed one serving, will be tossed out. I will not be buying any chocolate just to have on hand. I will not be buying any kind of candy or processed sweet just to have in case I get a craving. When I want something sweet, I will have to go out and get (one serving) of it right then and there. When I go out to events where there is a smorgasbord of desserts, I will choose one. I will enjoy it slowly and then I will move on and enjoy the company of friends and family even more. When I sit down to rest in the evenings after my intense day with my WONDERFUL children, I will brew a cup of decaf coffee or hot tea and sip that while I decompress instead of searching through the cupboards for something, ANYTHING sweet.

But perhaps, you are an all-or-nothing type of person. In that case, maybe abstinence is the answer.

Or perhaps you fall into one of the statistics that Pam Peeke talked about in the podcast: women with a history of abuse are 90% more likely to be a food addict and 50% of obese people have a history of trauma or abuse. If that's the case, then please see a therapist. Start there, and begin the healing process because even though you may know intellectually that food can't fix the problem, your brain is still signaling you to try that method first and you have to get off of that never ending circuit!

If you are intrigued by this post, I encourage you to listen to the podcast. It was very enlightening and entertaining.

Lastly, boycott processed foods! We need to get our country back on track in so many ways, and this is an easy place to start that will better our own health immediately, and hopefully the health of our entire country eventually.

High Protein Diet: Good or Bad?

I have been following a high protein lifestyle for years. I swear by it for competition prep. I also tend to recommend it to my clients because of the success that I and many of my friends have had following it. I feel good when I follow a whole food, high protein diet and I haven't ever had negative side effects. I know that many have concerns regarding eating a lot of protein, so I wanted to go over what I know and believe about this style of eating.

First, let me explain what high protein diet means. A high protein diet is any way of eating that is higher in protein than the recommended daily allowance set forth by the USDA. So, anything over 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight would qualify. For example: a 150lb healthy adult eating the RDA for protein would be eating 55 grams of protein per day. One can get that much protein from one cup of Greek yogurt, three ounces of lean meat and two tablespoons of peanut butter. That's not a whole lot of protein and therefore it's pretty easy to spill into a high protein diet pattern without even thinking about it. If that same person were to eat two eggs for breakfast, a snack of one container Greek yogurt, a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch, another snack containing a handful of nuts and a steak for dinner, they would consume about 70 grams of protein, which would be considered high.

Now let's look at what studies have shown about the effects of a high protein diet on weight loss efforts and other positive effects of this nutrition plan.

According to a review in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition "There is convincing evidence that a higher protein intake increases thermogenesis and satiety compared to diets of lower protein content. The weight of evidence also suggests that high protein meals lead to a reduced subsequent energy intake."

So, high protein meals make you feel full and satisfied. They also keep you from eating extra calories at future meals and they increase your metabolism. Win, win, win!

A 2004 Study in the Annals of Internal Medicine Concluded that "Compared with a low-fat diet, a low-carbohydrate diet program had better participant retention and greater weight loss. During active weight loss, serum triglyceride levels decreased more and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level increased more with the low-carbohydrate diet than with the low-fat diet."

This study found that a high protein diet had a positive effect on cholesterol levels. It increased the good cholesterol and decreased the bad. It was also easier for participants to stick to than a low fat diet. Win, win!

According to a 2006 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition "An HP diet, compared with an AP diet, fed at energy balance for 4 d increased 24-h satiety, thermogenesis, sleeping metabolic rate, protein balance, and fat oxidation. Satiety was related to protein intake".

This study confirms the outcomes of the previous two studies mentioned. High protein diets keep you feeling full longer than lower protein diets, promote fat loss and increase ones metabolsim. Win!

Lastly let's look at the research done on the negative side effects of this type of eating.

The following results were found in a review published in 2005 in the Journal Nutrition and Metabolsim: Although the efficacy of high protein diets for weight loss has been evaluated, there have been no reports of protein-induced diminutions in renal function despite subject populations that are generally at risk for kidney disease (e.g., dyslipidemia, obesity, hypertension) [14,15,22,85-87]. A randomized comparison of the effects of high and low protein diets on renal function in obese individuals suggested that high protein diets did not present a health concern with regard to renal function their study population [65]. In this study, 65 overweight, but otherwise healthy, subjects adhered to a low or high protein diet for six months. In the high protein group, both kidney size and GFR were significantly increased from that measured at baseline. No changes in albumin excretion were noted for either group and the authors concluded that, despite acute changes in renal function and size, high protein intake did not have detrimental effects on renal function in healthy individuals. Similar findings were recently reported by Boden et al. [88] in a study of 10 subjects who consumed their typical diet for 7 days followed by strict adherence to a high protein diet for 14 days. No significant changes were noted in serum or urinary creatinine and albumin excretion, suggesting no ill-effects of a high protein diet on renal function.

You may be thinking that high protein diets cause kidney damage or problems, but the above review did NOT find that to be the case.

The following excerpt was taken from that same review published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism in 2005: "Athletes, particularly in sports requiring strength and power, consume high levels of dietary protein [89,90]. In fact, many athletes habitually consume protein in excess of 2.0 g/kg/day [91]. Supplementation with amino acids will further increase dietary protein levels in these individuals [92]. Yet there is no evidence that this population is at greater risk for kidney disease or losses in renal function [90]. Poortsmans and Dellalieux [93] found that protein intakes in the range of ~1.4–1.9 g/kg/day or 170–243% of the recommended dietary allowance did not impair renal function in a group of 37 athletes. We found no data in the scientific literature to link high protein intakes to increased risk for impaired kidney function in healthy, physically active men and women."

That last phrase is key! Nothing indicates that a high protein diet increases kidney problems in HEALTHY, PHYSICALLY ACTIVE men and women.

In conclusion, I fully agree with the advice given by the Mayo Clinic on following a high-protein diet. If you have renal disease, don't follow a high protein diet. However, if you are healthy and physically active, then it's a great way to kick off weight loss, build muscle or allow you to maintain your current weight. Just make sure that you are focusing on whole foods, lean meats and get in plenty of fruits, veggies and fiber.

Losing Weight: It's Not Impossible!

Weight loss. It sometimes feels like an unacheivable goal.

Take heart! It is achievable! There are a few things that you need to keep in mind if you are on a weight loss journey:

1. You are going to feel hungry. Any person, diet or supplement that promises weight loss without ever going hungry, lies. Your body wants to maintain homeostasis. If you weigh 152 pounds, it wants you to give it enough calories every day to maintain those 152 pounds. If you give it less calories, your body will tell you that you need to eat more and you will feel hungry if you don't give it more. Going to bed hungry is a normal thing for anyone who is successful at losing weight.
2. If you are losing weight incredibly quickly, you will, most likely, gain it all back. Fad diets and diets that are extremely restrictive don't work well in the long run. They usually can't be maintained for long periods of time and when you go back to your normal way of eating you gain back every pound (or more) that you lost. Slow and steady is the way to go for weight loss. You can also be sure to maintain your muscle and only lose fat by taking it slow and aiming for just one or two pounds lost per week.
3. It has to be a lifestyle change in order for it to stick. Dieting doesn't work, as I stated above, because it is short term. Most people diet until they hit their goal weight and then stop dieting and start gaining weight back. If you make small, permanent changes in the way you eat, when you lose the weight, it will stay gone. A good place to start is concentrating on eating more vegetables. Vegetables are filling, provide lots of micronutrients that your body needs to keep you healthy and are usually very low in calories.
4. Gaining muscle helps you lose fat. Hit the weight room and you will see an increase in your metabolism and a faster fat burn. Concentrate on maintaining or increasing muscle while you are losing fat and don't just pound the pavement or spend hours on the elliptical. Doing only cardio while decreasing calories pretty much guarantees that you will lose muscle along with fat and decrease your metabolism.
5. Planning and tracking your food intake is key. I know it's not fun, but it really does make a huge difference in wether or not you are successful at losing weight. It is so easy to misjudge serving sizes and accidently eat three talblespoons of peanut butter rather than the intended two (which is a 100 calorie difference!). Studies show that those who track their caloric intake are more successful at losing weight.

So here is what you need to do every day to be successful at losing weight: Wake up and make a plan of what you will eat for the day (even better if you do it the night before!), then head to the gym for a weight lifting session to get your metabolism revving. Next you will track what you have for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner making sure that you are eating things that you like and that you can imagine continuing to eat for the rest of your life. Lastly, you will go to bed a little on the hungry side. The next morning when you wake up and get on the scale you may see a quarter of a pound drop, and that's great because a quarter of a pound a day is almost two pounds a week! Stick with it and those pounds will add up, you will hit your weightloss goal and be able to keep it off.

More Food, Fewer Supplements

Because I am a figure competitor most people assume that I take many supplements. I get questions about supplements all the time or people list off what they are taking expecting me to know exactly what they are talking about.

Today I will let you in on a little secret: I usually have no clue what they are talking about, and I generally do not like taking supplements.

I believe that my nutrition should come from my food, not from the lab. However, this is my personal opinion and I do not condemn or condone the use of supplements for others. I believe that they can be useful in certain situations.

For example, right now and for the past ten weeks I have been taking two supplements. The first is a simple whey protein powder that I mix with water and drink once per day. The second is a multivitamin. The reason for their use is that in this stage of my training I am following a high protein diet and have a hard time getting in enough protein without the shake. As for the multivitamin, I want to make sure that all of my micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) bases are covered due to a lack of variety in my current diet.

I do believe that on a regular basis when I am eating a varied diet of high quality, whole foods, I get the nutrients that I need from my food and therefore do not need to use supplements. If for some reason you are not eating a high quality, whole foods diet, then it may be necessary to use supplements.

Please know that is possible to gain muscle without using creatine and pre-workout supplements and it is possible to get good post-workout, recovery nutrition with whole foods rather than a powder or a bar. I feel that a lot of supplements are just a racket. They are purely money makers and don't do anyone any good (other than those making the money off of them, of course!).

If you are a healthy adult without any special dietary concerns, be selective about what supplements you choose to use and choose a whole foods diet as the base of your nutrition plan. Remember that supplements are just that, meant to supplement a good diet.

Sugar: How much is too much?

Since I talked about cutting back on sugar, you may be wondering how much sugar is ok to have and how much is too much to consume. Today I want to shed some light on what sugar in moderation really means and looks like.

In both adults and children, WHO recommends reducing the intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake.

The above statement was taken directly from the World Health Organization's Guidline: Sugars Intake for adults and children.

That means that if you are eating 2,000 calories a day, less than 200 calories should come from added sugars. That translates to less than 50 grams and less than 12.5 teaspoon of the sweet stuff. If you are only eating 1,500 calories a day that knocks your numbers down to 150 calories, 37.5 grams and 9.4 teaspoons.

The American Heart Association takes an even harsher stance against sugar and recommends that adult women have no more than 24 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar a day and adult men no more than 36 grams (9 teaspoons).

As a comparison, the average American consumes 22 teaspoons (88 grams) of added sugar every day. We have our work cut out for us to reduce that by about 75%!

The information about how much the average american currently consumes comes from an amazing graphic that I found. It pinpoints exactly what is going on with current sugar consumption in the U.S. I love that it ends with "sugar is as addictive as cocaine." We need to kick the habit and reclaim our health!

Let me give you an example of what a day's meal plan might look like for a woman aiming to hit the recommendations set forth by the American heart association; no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day:

**Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1 tsp butter, 1 medium orange, 1 cup of coffee with 1 Tbs. half and half and 1 tsp sugar

**Snack: Kind bar, 1 medium apple

**Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad with 2 Tbs. low fat raspberry vinaigrette dressing and 1/2 ounce walnuts.

**Snack: afternoon pick me up coffee with 1 Tbs. half and half and 1 tsp sugar. , snack bag of pretzels, Plain Oikos Greek Yogurt Cup and 1/2 cup fresh strawberries

**Dinner: Chicken and vegetable Teryaki stir-fry over brown rice.

**Total Calories: 1,438 Fat: 53 grams, Carbohydrates: 158 grams, Protein: 97 grams, Sugar: 56 grams, ADDED Sugar: 26 grams

So as you can see, this menu is very low in processed foods. That is the only way to keep the added sugar content where it should be. There is no room for sweets, sodas or really any extras at all. I tried to include flavored yogurt, but that added 11 grams of sugar! If you follow the guidelines set out by the World Health Organization, you can trade out the plain yogurt and fresh strawberries for strawberry flavored yogurt and still be within their reccomendations.

Of course it is fine to have more sugar ocassionally, but this is what your menu should look like the majority of the time as far as sugar content goes.

Cutting Back on Added Sugar

If you are health concious you have probably already heard speculation that sugar and processed carbohydrates may be to blame for the obesity epidemic in our country. Maybe as a result you are wondering how to begin cutting back on sweets naturally. That is precisely what I would like to help you with today. There are basically two approaches to how to do this and you have to know yourself well enough to know which method would work best for you. Method one: cold turkey; all or nothing; a cleanse of sorts. Method two: slowly ween yourself off; cut back on your sugar or artificial sweetener intake slowly.

I recommend the second method. Those who quit anything cold turkey tend to have severe withdrawals and cravings that often cause them to go right back to what they quit with more passion than before. Start replacing things that you eat that are sweet with a slightly less sweet, but still satisfying choice. If you have a huge bowl of ice cream every single night (wether it be sweetened naturally or not) try cutting back to a half portion and eating a banana also. After a couple of weeks of that try cutting the ice cream out entirely and just being satisfied with the banana. After that will it be ok to have a bowl of ice cream once a week? Sure! As long as it's not a bowl of ice cream, a brownie, a chocolate chip cookie, a handful of chocolate covered almonds, and a piece of cake once a week.

On that note, set limits as to how often you will have desserts. A good idea is to limit them to only special occasions, or only when eating out or only once a week. Figure out what works for you, make a plan and stick to it.

Start making substitutions. Trade out the added sugar for natural. Try blending a frozen banana and some unsweetened almond milk together until it forms an ice-cream-like consistency. Banana cream, yum! Want chocolate? Add a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder. No added sugar, but still a sweet treat!

When you do decide to have something sweet, try making it yourself and cutting back on the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. You can reduce the amount of sugar in cakes, cookies and brownies by 1/3 to 1/2 without even noticing much of a difference. You could also try replacing all of the sugar with unsweetened applesauce cup for cup.

Speaking of unsweetened applesauce, start looking for foods at the store that say "unsweetened" or "no sugar added". Can't do plain yogurt just yet? Try mixing 1/2 flavored with 1/2 plain and slowly reduce the amount of flavored until you are just eating plain sweetened up a bit with some fresh berries or all fruit (no sugar added) preserves. That can also be done with fruit juices. Start cutting your juice with water. What my girls call juice is actually about 4/5ths water and only 1/5th juice.

That brings me to my next tip: don't drink your sugar! Drink water, not soda, juice, tea and sweetened coffee beverages. Save your sugar calories for the good stuff, don't waste them on drinks. You may have to slowly ween yourself from these things as well. I drink coffee every morning and have for at least 10 years. I used to take a little coffee with my sugar and creamer, but I have weened myself down to a mug of coffee with just two teaspoons of sugar in it. I save myself about 75 calories and lots of grams of sugar that way and I still enjoy my coffee only slightly sweetened.

One way to keep the flavor and a little of the sweet taste in your foods without adding sugar is to use lots of herbs, spices and extracts when cooking. Make a bowl of oatmeal and top it with a splash of almond extract and some cinnamon or mix in some fresh fruit like sliced banana or strawberries.

I love to have a bowl of oats for breakfast mixed with a serving of natural peanut butter and 1/2 of a sliced banana. It has lots of fiber, protein and fat to keep me full and keep my blood sugar stable until my next meal. Concentrate on pairing protein, fat and fiber together to avoid cravings and hunger that may send you reaching for a convenience food laced with sugar.

Don't skip meals. Skipping meals will cause you to be hungry at times when only convenience foods are available and will cause big changes in your blood sugar levels which takes a toll on your health.

One last craving busting tip is to go for a walk when a sugar craving hits that can't be quelled by eating a piece of fruit. Taking your mind off of it and getting active will fight that craving off and shed some calories at the same time.

Artificial Sweeteners

I'm going to touch on a highly debated subject today. If you come to a different conclusion than I do after giving it some good thought and doing some research, so be it.

The topic: artificial sweeteners. My stance: avoid them.

I haven't always felt this way. There was a point in my life when I consumed artificial sweeteners on a regular basis. That was when I was trying to battle my sweet tooth and my weight but still eat sweets every day. That was when I would diet really hard and restrict my calories really low, then break and binge. That was when I had horrible self esteem, horrible eating habits and was incredibly unhealthy. That was when my weight yoyoed and I came to be at my heaviest weight ever. That is also why the results and conclusions drawn from a study published in the journal Obesity make perfect sense to me.

Age, education, socioeconomic index, exercise, and dieting were greater in AS [artificial sweetener] users, who were more likely to be female and OW/OB [overweight/obese]...Total calories, calories from carbohydrates and sucrose, and alcohol consumption were lower among AS users (P < 0.0001), whose sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption was one-fourth that of nonusers...Percent of calories from protein, total fat, and saturated fat were significantly higher in AS users (P < 0.0001).

We observed a classic, positive dose-response relationship between AS beverage consumption and long-term weight gain. Such an association does not, by itself, establish causality. But it raises a troubling question, which can be answered only by further research: are ASs fueling—rather than fighting—the very epidemic they were designed to block? Further research is needed to evaluate the possible impact of AS use on the risk of obesity—and its metabolic sequelae—in the next generation, as well as our own.

A review done in the Yale journal of biology and medicine has this to say about the topic:

A rise in the percent of the population who are obese coincides with an increase in the widespread use of non-caloric artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame (e.g. Diet Coke) and sucralose (e.g. Diet Pepsi), in food products....While people often choose diet or light products to lose weight, research studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may contribute to weight gain.

So to recap: those who use artificial sweeteners consume less sugar but more calories from other sources than those who don't and, therefore, are still more likely to be overweight or obese even though they are also more likely to diet and exercise. That way of dieting is what I never want to go back to. Replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners just so that you can have sweets without the calories from sugar is a bad idea. When your body tastes something sweet it expects there to be sugar released into the blood stream, but no sugar comes, so you crave something sweet again. If you are addicted to sugar, switching out regular sweets for ones sweetened with artificial sweeteners isn't going to do you much good. (Trust me, I know. I've tried it!) You aren't going to break your craving cycle that way, and you may even make it worse.

Preload experiments generally have found that sweet taste, whether delivered by sugar or artificial sweeteners, enhanced human appetite...Aspartame also increased subjective hunger ratings compared to glucose or water...artificial sweeteners, precisely because they are sweet, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence.

Did you catch that? Artificial sweeteners cause you to want to eat more and cause you to crave sugar! I used to think that artificial sweeteners were healthy but again a review in the Yale journal of biology and medicine has this to say:

Whether due to a successful marketing effort on the part of the diet beverage industry or not, the weight conscious public often consider artificial sweeteners "health food". But do artificial sweeteners actually help reduce weight? Surprisingly, epidemiologic data suggests the contrary. Several large scale prospective cohort studies found positive correlation between artificial sweetener use and weight gain.

The American College of Sports Medicine states that "while artificial sweeteners are thought to be safe, there is no health benefit to consuming them".

I have said it before and I will say it again: eat whole foods! Artificial sweeteners are not whole foods. In fact, they aren't even foods at all — they are chemicals. It's interesting how several of them were discovered:

We owe the discovery of several artificial sweeteners to a few brave scientists who violated the code of laboratory hygiene and tasted their samples, often inadvertently. Saccharin, the oldest artificial sweetener , was discovered by Constantine Fahlberg at Johns Hopkins in 1879 while working on coal tar derivatives.

A scientist in a lab using chemicals accidentally licked his fingers and discovered that the mixture of chemicals on them happened to be sweet, and voila, artificial sweeteners were born. Gross! What was the intended use? Should that really be ingested? Again, gross!

Not only that, but the other ingredients that are associated with artificial sweeteners are artificial colors, artificial flavors, and highly refined carbohydrate sources. None of that is good for you! Even if it does somehow help you lose weight, what is it doing to your insides?

I know what it used to do to mine and it wasn't pretty. I used to have severe stomach problems that were something like IBS symptoms. It was awful! The more I have gotten away from processed foods and started eating whole foods[^gf], the fewer symptoms I have had.

Rid your body of foreign substances! Stop ingesting artificial foods because they aren't foods at all! And read food labels carefully because they are now hiding the stuff in everything. I was surprised to learn that it's even in Pedialyte.

If you are wondering how to get your sweet fix if you can't have artificial sweeteners, the answer is: sugar, honey or maple syrup in moderation. Everything in moderation.

In my next post I will talk about cutting back on sweets, whether they be naturally or artificially sweetened. The American College of Sports Medicine believes that "You can reduce your salt and sugar intake by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, limiting the sauces and toppings you put on food, and reading the labels on prepackaged items." I tend to agree. It is possible to reduce sugar and overall caloric intake without artificial sweeteners!

[^gf]: I also switched to a gluten free diet which has helped a lot.

A Day of Food

One of the most asked questions I receive while discussing nutrition with others is, "so, what do you eat on a daily basis?" Today I am going to answer that question for all of you.

Most days I get up and go for the coffee first. I usually have one cup of coffee with two teaspoons of sugar in it while I'm cooking and with my breakfast. Most of the time I go with the old familiar healthy staples of oatmeal (made from old fashioned rolled oats with some cinnamon and a splash of coconut milk to top it off) and scrambled eggs. Two or three hours later I will have a handful of nuts and an apple, banana or homemade granola bar. If I do a weightlifting workout, I will have a whey protein shake (a couple scoops of chocolate whey protein mixed with water) post workout. For lunch I often have tuna salad (with real mayo, brown mustard, dill and pepper) over some mixed salad greens and a sweet potato or a piece of fruit. My afternoon snack usually consists of peanut butter and rice cakes alongside my second cup of coffee with another two teaspoons of sugar. Dinner varies, but is often chicken stir fry with plenty of veggies and brown rice. And I usually have an evening snack of another piece of fruit or (more likely) a piece of chocolate or some stovetop popcorn.

Is my diet perfect? No. Could I stand to eat more veggies and drink more water? Yes. My main goal right now is cutting down on sugar and refined carbohydrates. I have a major sweet tooth that I don't want to pass to my children. I am also trying to put on a few pounds of muscle, so my protein intake is pretty high. My largest focus is eating whole foods and not many processed foods. I think I'm doing pretty well at meeting all of those goals.

You will notice that my diet is not at all low fat (whole eggs, nuts, peanut butter, mayo). I'm going to address my take on fat in my next post.