The old adage ‘do as I say and not as I do’ comes to mind when people have questions about health. Everyone lately seems to be donning out advice: doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, health advocates, bloggers, magazines, your next door neighbor… Who should you listen to?
- Take advice from people who look like they are living their advice. If they look well, feel well, are aging well; they obviously have to be doing something right.
- Take any advice with a grain of salt and do your own research. Not everything works for everyone, but there are basics that generally work for everyone.
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Leave High Fructose Corn Syrup Behind
photo by www.amynewnostalgia.com
The leading cause of obesity is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and sugar. They both hit the the same part of reward/pleasure center in the brain like caffeine or street drugs (cocaine, heroine) do and release dopamine; which is where addiction begins. The dopamine initially released when stimulated floods the body; when the same stimulating agent is used over and over again, the dopamine’s effect decreases significantly each time.
Companies discovered HFCS was sweeter and cheaper in the 1970’s and decided to replace the table sugar used in products with HFCS. Researchers at Princeton University in 2010 conducted a sugar experiment using rats that were broken down into groups; each fed a different type of sweetener. The ones given HFCS gained 300% more weight over the ones fed regular table sugar or diets high in fat.
“When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.”
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Eat Your Daily Fiber
Most Americans are not eating diets that are rich in fiber. There are two types of fiber that are crucial to a healthy body, soluble and insoluble. Fiber cleans your intestines, keeps you regular, promotes a healthy digestive system, regulates your blood glucose levels and helps keep your cholesterol on track. Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.
Diets low in fiber can lead to all sorts of intestinal issues, diverticulitis, colon cancer, heart disease and high cholesterol. Keep your digestive track healthy & your colon clean.
Here’s a few Great Sources for Daily Fiber:
- Lentils, Dried Peas, & Beans
- Greens (turnip, beet, collard, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce)
- Broccoli, Asparagus
- Carrots, Sweet Potato
- Avocado, Raspberries, Pears, Apples
- Cinnamon, Flax
- Sesame Seeds & Almonds
- Quinoa & Buckwheat
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Eat Your Daily Rainbow
Eating your daily rainbow of fresh vegetables and fruit ensures a diet rich in fiber, provides essential vitamins and minerals the body needs to function properly, fights disease, regrows cells, lowers cholesterol and keeps heart and brain healthy.
Different phytonutrients can be found in each color of vegetation repairing damage to our DNA caused from the sun’s harmful rays, toxins or chemicals in the air; antioxidants that fight cancer, converts into essential vitamin A, enhances immune response, lowers risk of chronic disease, repairs and prevents damaged tissues by fighting off oxidating free radicals.
Instead of eating the same ole thing every week, try adding new and colorful fruits and veggies to salads and meals, ensuring your body is rainbow healthy.
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Healthy Fats
photo by www.ironbodystudios.com
What would happen if you took the oil out of your car and tried to drive it? The engine would sieze up and you wouldn’t get very far. This is the same line of thinking for why the body AND brain needs healthy fats.
Eating healthy fat doesn’t make you fat; the bad food you are eating makes you fat. Usually when people start taking fat from their diets they replace it with processed foods filled with higher concentrations of sugar, sodium and calories.
The body has limited space to store excess and unused carbohydrates. When the blood starts to rise from the extra sugar the body converts those sugars into fat, storing it in pockets.
Your brain is comprised of 60% fat, if it does not have enough of the proper lubricant it cannot function and overtime will start to harden, creating plaque. This hardening process is what is found in patients with Alzheimer, Dementia and many other brain related diseases. Without the proper fats and nutrition, daily tasks like speech, vision, movement and thought process are affected.
Healthy Fat Foods:
- Avocados
- Nuts & Seeds – Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachios, Peanuts
- Eggs with the yolks
- Salmon & Sardines, Mackerel, Trout
- High quality, low refined Plant based oils like Olive & Safflower oil
- Olives
Healthy fats curb your hunger for longer periods of time because your body uses it immediately as energy and absorbs essential nutrients the body cannot make on its own. Don’t listen to the hype that all fat is bad, that is part of the archaic thinking of the past that has since been proven wrong. Eating healthy fat in moderation has all the benefits the body and brains needs to perform at its best.
