Carbo Unloading

Healthy Food Choices

There could be more heart- disease dangers in your diet than the usual suspects. By Paula Goodyer.

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WHEN CONSIDERING which foods increase the risk of heart disease, you might think of fatty bacon rashers, but not a bowl of refined breakfast cereal. But to defend arteries from the thickening and hardening that can lead to heart disease and stroke, it might pay to be choosy about your carbs.

We're all familiar with the standard dietary advice to head off heart disease - avoid saturated fat and trans fats in favor of healthier fats. But, according to Professor Jennie Brand-Miller of the School of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Sydney, there's growing evidence that too many carbohydrates with a high Glycemic Index (GI) - the kind that cause rapid rises in blood sugar - may also contribute to heart disease.

The trouble with a diet heavy on rapidly digested carbohydrate foods - such as many white breads, refined breakfast cereals, processed snack foods, biscuits and potatoes - is their potential to increase levels of blood glucose. High levels of glucose are "toxic" to arteries, Brand-Miller explains. "Not only do they encourage plaque to form in the artery walls, they also cause inflammation that ages arteries, making them stiffer and less elastic, while also increasing the formation of blood clots."

And it's not just people with diabetes who are likely to have high blood glucose levels either - increasing numbers of Kiwis and Australians now have blood glucose levels that hover somewhere between normal and diabetic, and that's not healthy.

"This isn't saying that high GI carbohydrates are the only villain as far as arteries are concerned - it means we need to beware of both too much saturated fat and too many high GI carbohydrates," says Brand-Miller. "It's the quality of both carbohydrates and fat that influence heart health. Carbs and fat both taste good - but we have to be choosy about which type we eat."

Some research also suggests women's hearts may be more easily damaged by high GI carbs than those of men. A study recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that in women, but not men, a high carb intake more than doubled the risk of developing heart disease over an eight-year period. Eating more high GI carbs seemed to increase the risk, while eating more low GI carbs did not. But with men it was a different story - the amount of carbohydrate foods and their GI rating didn't seem to matter - at least not to their heart health.

Why carbs should have an effect in women, but not men, isn't clear, but Brand- Miller speculates that heart disease might develop in a different way in women compared to men.

"Some research has found that a predictor of heart disease in women is a high level of C-reactive protein (CRP), a substance measured in blood that's a sign of inflammation. This low grade inflammation is probably a result of oxidative stress - and this fits in with the idea that a high GI diet can increase oxidative stress. A study at the University of Sydney has suggested that women may be more vulnerable to the effects of high GI carbohydrates on weight gain, but it's only a hypothesis - we don't know for sure."

None of this is to say that you should never bake a potato or eat toasted Turkish but it does suggest it's not smart to let refined carbs and potatoes dominate your diet. And not just for your heart's sake either.

A broad mix of vegetables and eating denser, grainier breads delivers a lot more heart healthy nutrients and fiber.

Sunday Star-Times - 07-14-10

6 (New) Ultimate Flat-Belly Summer Foods

It’s summertime—are you in swimsuit shape?

Even if you’ve spent the past months dieting yourself into fit form, a few poor food choices each week can quickly add up to a juggernaut of jiggle well before Labor Day. Don’t believe us? Consider the caloric damage of typical summer activities—weekly backyard BBQs provide pounds of juicy burgers topped with gobs of high-calorie condiments; ice cream dates offer options of double and triple scoops, smothered in sugar-packed and fat-blasted toppings; and seasonal drink choices (the kind you add umbrellas to and sip from faux-coconuts) guarantee you’ll wash it all down with hundreds of extra calories. Not exactly flat-belly fare.

That’s why Eat This Not That! The Best (and Worst )! has developed this list of 6 essential summer foods. The more of these bulge-battlers you eat, the better your chances of keeping those abs flat throughout this skin-baring season.

QUINOA

Per ¼ cup:

• 170 calories
• 2.5 g fat
• 7 g protein
• 3 g fiber

For starters, anytime you choose a whole-grain product over one made from nutrient-stripped white flour, you wage war against belly fat. Penn State researchers found that dieters who ate whole-grains lost twice as much belly fat as those who stuck to white-flour products—even though they’d consumed the same number of calories. What’s more, quinoa contains twice the belly-filling protein as regular cereal grains, fewer glucose-raising carbohydrates, and even a handful of healthy fats. So start your day off with a cup of cooked quinoa combined with a ½ cup of milk and ½ cup of blueberries—microwave for 60 seconds, and you have a delicious (and slimming) alternative to your traditional oatmeal. Bob’s Red Mill Organic Quinoa won “Best Grain” in the Men’s Health 125 Best Foods For Men Awards 2009. See the other Best Foods For Men winners here.

GREEN TEA

• 0 calories

Catechins, the powerful antioxidants found in green tea, are known to increase metabolism. A study by Japanese researchers found that participants who consumed 690 milligrams of catechins from green tea daily had significantly lower body mass indexes and smaller waist measurements than those in a control group. It’s safe to say that green tea is one of the best beverages for your health.

KEFIR

Per cup:

• 174 calories
• 2 g fat
• 14 g protein
• 3 g fiber

Think of kefir as drinkable yogurt, or an extra-thick, protein-packed smoothie. In either case, this delicious dairy product is a belly-blasting essential. Beyond the satiety-inducing protein, the probiotics in kefir may also speed weight loss. British scientists found that these active organisms boosted the breakdown of fat molecules in mice, preventing the rodents from gaining weight. The researchers still need to prove the finding in humans, but there’s no danger in downing probiotic-packed products. We like Lifeway Lowfat Blueberry Kefir—it contains L. casei, the same probiotic used in the study.

AVOCADO

Per avocado:

• 322 calories
• 29 g fat (4 g saturated, 20 g monounsaturated)
• 13 g fiber
• 4 g protein

Never fear this full-fat Mediterranean-diet staple: It’s teeming with healthy monounsaturated fats (also found in olive oil), which have been linked to lowered LDL cholesterol levels and weight-loss. In fact, a recent longitudinal study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the healthy-fat Mediterranean diet was more effective than a diet that avoided fats altogether—so go ahead and indulge! (The fats you should not indulge in, however, are artery-clogging trans-fats.

EGGS

Per 1 large scrambled egg:

• 102 calories
• 7 g fat (2 g saturated)
• 7 g protein

A British study found that people who increased the percentage of protein-based calories in their diet burned 71 more calories a day (that’s 7.4 pounds a year!). Jump-start your metabolism as soon as you wake up with a protein-rich breakfast of scrambled eggs.

GRAPEFRUIT

Per grapefruit:

• 104 calories
• 4 g fiber
• 2 g protein

A grapefruit a day in addition to your regular meals can speed weight loss. The fruit’s acidity slows digestion, meaning it takes longer to move through your system, and you’ll end up feeling fuller, and more satisfied, for longer. And the vitamin C-packed grapefruit works to lower cholesterol and decrease risk of stroke, heart disease, and some types of cancer.

By Dave Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, Men's Health

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

Related Resources: More Healthy Eating Advice

• Eat This Not That! The Best (& Worst!) Foods in America!: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution
• America's Healthiest (and unhealthiest) Supermarket Foods

How To Win The Battle Over Cholesterol

Back a few years ago, some cracks started forming in the giant shield wielded against cholesterol, which we were told was our mortal enemy, and had to be stopped at any cost. Just to give you an idea of how big that shield is, let me tell you that anti- cholesterol agents, or statins, bring in around 20+ billion dollars a year. Two examples of those type of drugs are Lipitor, or Crestor. There are many others, and 16 miilion Americans now take statins.

The drug companies would like to see that number go up to around 34 million, and one of the ways they are pushing to do that is by making fat kids take cholesterol medication. They have other ideas too, but this one is way out of line.

Here's an example of a typical anti-cholesterol campaign, which was adopted by the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and the Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute:

"If you eat fat rich, cholesterol rich foods, like beef, butter, and egg yolks, you're digging your own grave...one forkful at a time."

Now let's give kudos to the copywriter who came up with that slogan. He or she did their job extremely well. And the ill informed media told this story over and over and over for decades. The only problem was...it just wasn't true.

A number of recently published books demonstrate clearly that the scientific evidence for these claims has never been particularly convincing.

The advice that we have been spoon fed over the years, that cutting out all foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol (and embracing no fat, low fat diet foods), has actually made our heart disease problem worse.

An endocrinologist and endowed professor of lipid research at the University of Washington in Seattle, Dr. Robert Knopp, says this: "Cholesterol in the diet is a minor player in heart disease."

Bring on the bacon! (Just kidding!)

Dr. Mark Hyman, the Medical Director of the UltraWellness Center in Lennox, Massachusetts, and a well known author of several books, says out loud what I have said to a small audience for years, "Cholesterol is not the real enemy...
inflammation is."

And the underlying cause of inflammation is not dietary cholesterol or saturated fats, but trans fats, sugar, refined carbohydrates and a sedentary lifestyle, or by the presence of an infection, or other irritation in the body.

So whaddaya do?

Eat less sugar and flour.

Eat more vegetables, fruits, and whole foods, easy on the red meat.

Prioritize quality fats over junk fats.

Make a friend of fiber.

Get off your kiester.

Use a proven Omega Oil inflammation fighter.

And when your doctor says you need to take a cholesterol lowering drug, ask him, or her, to explain exactly why you need it. Make sure they tell both sides of the story, and ask whether he, or she, would take it themselves. Many doctors won't take statins themselves. There has to be a reason why.

Dr. Bill - nom de guerre of William Thomas Stillwell, M.D., FACS, FICS, FAAOS, FAANAOS, FAAPGS

Posted: Ask Marion - True Health Is True Wealth