The Healthy Advocate

Healthy Bone Week, Day Two: Osteoporosis Drugs and Healthier Options

2010-08-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

If you have watched television in the last couple of years, or read a magazine or listened to the radio, you most certainly have noticed ads for osteoporosis drugs like Boniva or Fosamax. These advertisements are usually endorsed by a well known celebrity, and promise protection against fractures when diet and exercise are not enough.

However, there is a dark side to these drugs that these advertisements do not emphasize. Also, there is a wide body of research and scientists who are seriously scrutinizing the claims made by the drug companies who put out these osteoporosis pharmaceuticals. Things like rotting jaw, increased risk of bone fractures, eye problems and heart damage.

How Your Bones Work

This should have gone in Day 1 of “Health Bone Week”, but here it is all the same.

Your bones are dynamic structures composed of many different minerals which work together to support a strong system of your body’s structure. Your bones are constantly reconstructing themselves by removing unhealthy bone with brand new bone. Cells called osteoclasts are responsible for the breakdown of unhealthy bone, whereas the cells called osteoblasts are responsible for building new, healthy bone.

With osteoporosis drugs such as Boniva and Fosamax (which are known asbisphosphonates—chelating agents, their single phosphonate forms used also in detergents) bring the osteoclasts to kill themselves through what is known asapoptosis.

So, you have a drug which is killing cells that are naturally occurring to help break down unhealthy bone, leaving you with only the cells that are responsible for building new, denser bones. Sounds good? Well, many critics point out that just because a bone is getting denser, doesn’t necessarily mean it is stronger.

Osteoporosis Drug Side Effects

The side effects of these osteoporosis drugs are just starting to show themselves after the few years they have been out on the market, in a number of ways. Because the bone isn’t being rebuilt and repaired from due to the absence of osteoclasts, there is an increased risk for fracture.

At the 2010 conference of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, health concerns of the long term use of bisphosphonate s presented a point of increased bone fractures in patients taking these osteoporosis drugs for over 4 years. The studies shown presented a link between bisphosphonate s and weaker bones. More studies are showing that the bone, which is becoming denser due to the killing of the osteoclasts cells, are becoming more brittle over time, leading to hip and femur fractures.

There are also many studies showing the link between these drugs and heart disease.

A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine has shown that taking Fosamax, a popular bisphosphonate, increases the risk for stomach ulcers (2001). When taken with an anti-inflammatory drug, this risk is even greater.

The Journal of the American Dentistry published findings showing that bisphosphonates lead to a high risk of developing a disease of the jaw called osteonecrosis. This is where the bone in your jaw starts to die, and will then slowly rot! How scary is this?

More than 20 million people in America alone are taking osteoporosis drug medications, and that number is growing, despite the high amount of calcium intake and the advice of conventional medical doctors. What can we do to stop the number of people who are suffering, or will suffer from osteoporosis, and what can we do to reverse it, without taking drugs?

The Best “Cure” for Osteoporosis

The only “cure” we know of for osteoporosis is complete prevention. If you believe you may be at risk, then it is time to take preventative action NOW. You don’t want to be frail, in poor health and succumb to premature death due to this disease. But sadly, that is what is happening to many people. Take charge of your health and take preventative action now.
The best things you can do for your bones are things you probably are already doing. A healthy diet, like the one highlighted in Healthy Bone Week Day One, will ensure you are receiving the proper nutrients and minerals for the support of building stronger bones. Nutrition is just one of the keys to good health—not only for your bones, but for overall health (mind, body and emotionally).
Exercise is another key to good health. Again, not only will it benefit the growth of new bone due to the intense pressure you are putting on it through walking, strength training or cardio (weight helps strengthen the bone and muscle), but it can help you lose weight, increase clairty and focus and fight mild depression. Exercise and nutrition are truly great things.
With exercise, it is always best to speak to a trusted doctor so that you can find out how far you can push yourself. If you are suffering from osteoporosis and are wanting to start an exercise program, you want to make sure how much pressure you can put on yourself. Over time, you will be able to build up the amount of intensity in your exercise program when your bones become stronger.
Vitamin D, a truly remarkable vitamin, is also an absolute necessity for good bone health. It helps facilitate the absorption of calcium in your system, and also helps in blood sugar metabolism (high insulin levels, over time, has been associated with an increase risk for bone loss).
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In Day Three of Healthy Bone week, I will describe certain exercises that can be done to help build stronger bones. Before then, read my blog post about exercise. There is quite a surprise in this post that you might not see coming, but may be incredibly helpful in strengthening bones and muscles. Stay tuned.
For now, this is The Healthy Advocate.
P.S. Be sure to check out this video that I did on eggshells and how you can use them in your diet for a bioavailble source of calcium. If you don’t consume dairy products, local, free range and organic egg shells may be a good option. You can also read the blog post about eggshells I did here.

Healthy Bone Week: Your Arsenal for Strong Bones is in Your Kitchen

2010-08-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I thought about doing a week devoted completely to osteoporosis and bone health. You have probably known someone who has been affected by this disease, and you know you need to take steps toward preventing it in your own life. But what can you do? There are some quite easy ways to tackle this issue.

This will be a three part series. Today will be your diet, tomorrow will be about drugs and vitamin D, and the final day will be focused on healthy exercises that you can do, right now, to help build your bones. Your mother was right--it's good to have strong bones.

You may not think that you will be affected by osteoporosis, a disease that results in weak and fragile bones; however, you may be surprised that there are factors in your everyday life which are influencing the rate at which your bones grow, or become weaker. How can you use natural ways to prevent this?

Your Diet and Your Bones

There is no doubt about that your diet affects many aspects of your health, including your bones. We have heard that we need to increase our calcium intakes, specifically in low-fat milk, in order to build stronger, healthier bones and teeth. This is simply not true. As you will read, there are many factors that contribute to healthy bones.

Calcium

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in your body, and is one of the important minerals that help protect your bones. However, so much emphases has been placed in this mineral that we have created deficiencies in other essential minerals and nutrients that work synergystically with calcium to support bone growth. However, it should be mentioned here, as well as the best sources that can easily be absorbed by your body.

Low-fat pasteurized dairy already has problems of its own, including the potential for the risk of heart disease. Calcium, milk's “redeeming” quality, is actually only one of the many minerals needed for bone health, and it may even be one of the least important, when you consider the other nutrients that help propel its actions to protect our bones.

Cow's milk is rich in phosphorus which binds to the calcium, preventing its absorption by the body. So, if you are drinking milk, thinking you are doing your bones and body good, then think again. However if you are drinking raw, organic, grass fed milk, then you really are doing your body a tremendous amount of good, which can actually help increase your bone strength by providing amino acids, natural protein and unadulterated lactose.

Lactose is the milk sugar that helps facilitate calcium absorption; so, since the lactase (which helps break down lactose) in raw milk has not been harmed during any heating processes, it helps people with lactose intolerance digest milk easily, but I suspect that raw milk would also help facilitate calcium absorption.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Brain and Bones

Raw, organic and grass fed cows have higher levels of omega-3 fats in their milk, which are incredibly healthy, anti-inflammatory fatty acids your body needs through diet. Many people who eat processed foods, or who eat out all the time, are putting their bodies in a high inflammatory state due to the massive amounts of omega-6's in their diets.

A balance of omega-3's and omega 6's, two necessary fatty acids, in the diet has been shown to be directly linked to good bone health. Many people prefer to have a 1-1 ratio of omega-3's to omega'6's, and some people prefer a 1-3 ratio.

You find most of your anti-inflammatory, bone building omega-3's in your fish (choose low-mercury options, or supplement with a good fish oil supplement, preferably Krill), walnuts, chia seeds and flax seeds). Be liberal about the amount you use in your meal plan (while still eating based on what your body needs—don't go overboard!). Most of your omega-6's are found in nuts, grains, processed foods and vegetable oils. Try to limit these fats in your diet for optimal health.

Vitamin K-2

Vitamin K2 is the best form of vitamin K that helps deposit calcium from our diet into the correct places in our bones, and helps keep calcium deposits out of tissues (which results in what is called calcification). Calcification occurs a lot in our modern western diet due to too much calcium from processed foods and dairy products. We think we are taking in healthy calcium, but in fact, we are not supplying our bodies with the vitamin K2 to help bring it to the correct places in our bodies.

The best place to receive vitamin K is from kale and spinach, fermented raw cheeses and raw kefir. I love putting kale and spinach in the best darn green smoothie I make, because it helps me digest and assimilate the vitamin K easily into my body. These vegetables also have easily absorbed calcium.

Magnesium: Not Just for Your Muscles

Magnesium is also showing great promise for being a bone protector, and perhaps even be a fighter of osteoporosis. Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body (the others being phosphorus, iodine, iron, sodium and calcium), and, according to the National Institute of Health, it aids in bone strength.

Almonds and cashews are good sources of magnesium (I am hoping to have a recipe for homemade, sprouted and raw almond butter on the site within the next week), and the chlorophyll in spinach is also abundant in magnesium. Bananas, which are quite high in sugar, offer good levels of magnesium.

You are noticing a pattern here, I hope. Adequate vegetable and fruit consumption (specifically in their raw states) offer a better protection against osteoporosis by providing many nutrients and necessary minerals your body needs to support healthy bone metabolism. In fact, The Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that this may be the best way to support bone health.

Adequate Protein

Protein, and its building blocks amino acids, are also important for stronger bones. The complete protein found in meats, eggs and raw milk, are much easily assimilated due to their functional form. The protein in plants are not as complete, because they usually do not contain all the eight essential amino acids that animal foods do, unless you are talking about soy protein isolate, which is a big no-no in my health book.

Quinoa is a good complete source of vegetarian protein, but still doesn't quite measure up to the protein in grass fed animal foods and fish. If you are a vegetarian or vegan, talk to a trusted nutritionist about your meal plan so you can receive all the eight essential amino acids in your diet to protect your bones (without putting in that nasty, thyroid harming soy in your diet!).

Weak Bones? You Might Have a Gluten Intolerance

A surprising study has shown that gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, can prevent the body from absorbing calcium and iron in the body. Gluten has become much more harder to digest these days to modern processing and agriculture methods, and gluten intolerances can go undetected for years. Many breads, pastas and cereals we eat have not been prepared in the correct way (by soaking and sprouting), therefore containing many enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid. These compounds can also decrease absorption of calcium and iron from your diet.

If you find that you are eating a lot of white flour breads, wheat breads, oats (unless certified gluten free), pastas, cereals or other gluten containing products, it might be wise to back off them unless you know you are receiving all the nutrients your body needs. Many people do not realize that they are gluten intolerant until it is too late, or symptoms become too bad to handle. Don't be one of those people. I will also hopefully have a recipe for a raw granola, using gluten free, and grain free sprouted buckwheat as the oat substitute.

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This post on your diet and your bone health is by far from complete, and there is so much still needed to be said on this topic. However, I will leave you with this information to take hold of so you can do your own research on the topic, if you are so inclined.

In the next post, I will talk about osteoporosis drugs and treatments. Question: Are drugs an effective way to treat osteoporosis. Why or why not? Leave me your answer in the comments section.

Until then, this is “The Healthy Advocate”.

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REFERENCES

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0887/is_10_19/ai_66881128/

http://blogs.webmd.com/integrative-medicine-wellness/2007/04/omega-3-rich-foods-protect-bone-health.html

http://www.springboard4health.com/notebook/v_k2.html

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/magnesium.asp

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/71/1/142%20

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Healthy Gingerbread Made With Coconut Flour

2010-07-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you guys a new recipe I developed in my own little kitchen during the fall months, because gluten free gingerbread is more suitable for that type of season. However, I am expecting some changes to this recipe, so expect the best gluten free, grain free and sugar free gingerbread when the weather starts getting cooler.

With this recipe I use my favorite flour in the whole wide world: Coconut Flour. I like this flour because...

It is grain free and gluten free
It is high in fiber and protein
It is made out of coconuts

The last bullet point doesn't mean it tastes like coconut, however--far from it! Coconut flour is a very "thirsty" flour because of all the fiber it contains. The net carbohydrates in gluten free coconut flour are also extremely low, which is a good thing for those watching their insulin levels (hopefully everyone!). Soon I will devote an entire post to this flour.

This recipe contains no sugar, no gluten or dairy. Eggs are needed for the structural support of this baked good to provide leavening and also the gluten-like structure found in wheat flour. Ginger and cinnamon spice up this bread, which are two incredibly healthy ingredients. Ginger is an anti-inflammatory, while cinnamon can help lower blood sugar levels.

But enough with facts about this and that. I shall cover this in another post. This recipe uses guar gum or xanthan gum with a mixture of water or coconut/almond milk. When this mixture sits for 20 minutes it forms the texture of honey. Don't skip this ingredient! Use honey if you have to (lowering the stevia to 1/8 tsp.), or pure coconut milk for this mixture. When using honey, be sure to add 1/4 tsp. of baking soda to the dry ingredients. On with the recipe!

Gluten Free and Sugar Free Gingerbread

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup gluten free oat flour (you can also use buckwheat)

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. Stevia
OR 1/2 cup Sugar Equivalent

1/8 cup Coconut Sugar or Xylitol

1 1/2 tsp. Ginger

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup coconut or almond milk

1/4 cup coconut milk, almond milk or water + 1/4 tsp. Guar Gum/Xanthan Gum (allowed to sit for 20 minutes to thicken)

1/4 cup melted coconut oil or organic butter

Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. In a large bowl combine eggs, milk(s) and coconut oil or butter. Whisk together.Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly until all clumps have disappeared.

Grease an 8x8 inch glass baking pan (or a small loaf pan) with coconut oil and fill pan with batter. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes, or until firm to the touch, or when a prick or when a prick of a fork comes out click (didn't know how else to phrase that statement!).

Cool completely. Top with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with ginger, cinnamon and xylitol.

*You can opt out of using this guar/xanthan gum mixture and use pure coconut milk, or even honey. When using honey, add 1/4 tsp. of baking soda to the batter.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 oz organic, regular cream cheese

1 oz organic butter

12 drops Vanilla Stevia

Pinch of Xylitol or Powdered Stevia, to taste

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

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This has been The Healthy Advocate

How to Make Easily Digestible, Soaked and Blanched Almond Flour

2010-07-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

It's a little crumbly at this stage, but a quick whirl in the food processor will give it a fine, flour like consistency.

Ever since stumbling across Elana's Pantry, a blog devoted to gluten free, grain free and sugar free recipes, I immediately fell in love with baking and cooking with almond flour. Of course, like many, I had no idea you could bake using nut flours, but I didn't negate it--anything made without white flour, and even wheat or other high carb grain flours suits me. Using gluten free blanched almond flour works well in many recipes, from baked "fired" chicken, to cookies and cakes. This superfood nutritional powerhouse is full of antioxidants and nutrients to support your healthy cooking.

I have written before on how I like to soak my nuts and seeds, as it helps neutralize and break down the phytic acid that surround the food nut or seed, which prevents absorption of valuable nutrients, like calcium and iron. Grains and legumes also contain these anti-nutrients, so it is always valuable to soak and sprout these foods in order to "unlock" the nutrients hidden within them. Plus, it makes the nuts, seeds, grains and legumes more easily digestible, which can help you keep on track with you weight by not backing up your digestion after consuming them.

You can purchase almond flour at the health food store or various supermarkets that carry alternative flours and health foods. This is the most expensive way of getting your hands on almond flour, and I have to tell you that I don't advise doing this unless you're in a pinch. Why? Because there are so many smarter ways to get almond flour without paying the high price. Elana Amsterdam, of Elana's Pantry has a great source for where you can purchase almond flour online, and at a much cheaper price.

I, however, love making my own blanched almond flour. Making your own gives you the chance to soak the almonds, which manufactures don't do for their almond flour. This will make your final product easily digested, allowing you to take in all the nutrients within. Cooking the almond flour will break down the phytic acid somewhat, and it will also denature and destroy some nutrients. This won't be the case if you are using it for raw foods. However, soaking the almonds before making your own almond flour will help give you a special healthy edge over already made almond flour, whether you cook with it or not.

So, how do you make your own soaked and blanched almond flour? It is really quite easy. A college student on a budget knows that almonds in the bulk section only cost $4.95/lb, meaning he/she can have a pound of super food, easily digestible homemade almond flour, which is healthier and savings of over a couple of dollars from regular online almond flour.

You can buy already blanched almonds (skins removed) for this recipe, are you can blanch them yourself after soaking them. Regular almonds are cheaper, if that is what you are focusing on; plus, blanching the almonds after soaking can be kind of fun--or time consuming, so find out what works for you.

Homemade Soaked and Blanched Almond Flour

2 cups raw almonds, regular or blanched

2 cups water

Place the almonds in a bowl and combine with water. Let soak for 8-12 hours, or overnight. Blanch the soaked almonds, if not already. Dehydrate the almonds in a dehydrator or underneath the sun until completely dry.

Pulverize the almonds in a food processor or another device until a find powder.

Voila! Homemade, nutrient packed (and completely available) almond flour!

This is The Healthy Advocate.

The Healthy Benefits of Sunlight

2010-07-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

Photo Courtesy HealthInfoIsPower.Wordpress.com

Hello everyone. I sure hope your summer is going well, and that you are moving forward with your health. One of the most crucial aspects of health is diet, the other exercise. However even if these two elements are working marvelously, and your diet and exercise programs are pristine, you simple will not be healthy without another component that is completely natural and is available, for free, right outside your door.

I am of course speaking about sunlight, and its amazing benefits for promoting your health. Sunlight helps convert the precursor cholesterol in your skin to vitamin D inside of your body. It is then used to regulate everything from metabolism, DNA, blood sugar, mood, sleep, immune system and much more.

Read this article thoroughly to really let the information sink in, as safe sunlight exposure can really go far to increasing your health. Tell everyone you know about this necessary nutrient, including your sun hating friends and relatives that believe avoiding the sun will decrease their risk for cancer. As a matter of fact, as you will find out later in the post, avoiding sunlight can actually increase your risk of developing different kinds of cancer.

Vitamin D production first happens on our skin, when it is exposed to natural sunlight. Both UVA and UVB rays will penetrate the skin, which will then act upon the precursor cholesterol, a steroid hormone in our skin, to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D. UVB rays are being shown to be more of the beneficial rays that help activate the health benefits from the sun, whereas UVA are more damaging to the skin. Excessive exposure to both will no doubt cause damage, such as wrinkling or even skin cancer. However, moderate amounts of sunlight exposure can actually decrease your risk for having cancer thanks to the benefits of our bodies converting the sunlight into vitamin D, a vitamin showing promising health benefits.

The most important function that sunlight has for our bodies is the production of Vitamin D. This fantastic vitamin, that many people are deficient in these days, holds a remarkable amount of health promoting abilities that can be turned on almost instantly. Vitamin D has been shown to regulate about 3,000 genes in our bodies, and can help repair damaged DNA. Vitamin D also helps our bodies absorb the calcium in our diets that we (hopefully) receive from fresh, dark greens or raw milk products.

Depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Photo Courtesy of goranmuric.wordpress.com

Do you ever feel down in the cold, dark and winter months? It's not just you. Many people suffer from what is known as SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. This seasonal disorder is mainly due to the position of the sun and its absence from the earth. Natural sunlight usually elicits a response within the body of light-heartedness, warmth and happiness. Even a sense of self security presents itself in the presence of sunlight. More often than not, you probably have experienced the effects that light has on your emotions.

During seasonal deffective disorder (SAD), seratonin levels are way low due to decreased sunlight, resulting in depressive like symptoms. Light therapy has shown much promise in helping people in this state during the winter months.

Research is currently being done on vitamin D, sunlight and depression, but what we know is that summer sunlight increases seratonin in the brain by twice as much as winter sunlight. This regulation of neurotransmitters helps increase positive mood and behavior. Also, when we expose our eyes to the sun, it activates our pineal gland, which then in turns regulates our melatonin and seratonin levels. With proper sun exposure, seratonin remains high during the day, while melatonin rises during the night (resulting in that sleepy feeling).

Depression has increased within the last century, as our exposure to natural sunlight has decreased, therefore hinting to a possible correlation (or perhaps even a strong correlation) between vitamin D and depression. Getting out in the sun every time you feel blue might blue might help promote a better sense of calm, well being and positive mood.

Immune System

Photo Courtesy of activiteyouthinutah.wordpress.com

Once vitamin D is activated by sunlight or through dietary factors, it moves to the liver to form the state of vitamin D that is beneficial to our bodies (25-hydroxyvitamin D). From there, the kidneys export an enzyme which catalyzes another form of vitamin D that is crucial, and most powerful for our bodies (1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D).

A study performed at the University of Copenhagen fount that the T cells, the “fighter” white cells in our bodies, that detect foreign invaders and help remove them, are activated through the presence of vitamin D within the blood. In fact, recent research shows that without vitamin D in the body, these T cells would remain dormant. So, without this vitamin constantly circulating in our blood, we are open to receive a wide array of illness, and our bodies would not be strong enough to fight off everything that comes at us.

Usually you hear of people getting sick mainly during the cold, winter months. This was first blamed on the cold weather, but more and more speculation and intense focus on vitamin D leaves us to believe otherwise. In fact, since it is cold, and since the sun isn't at full strength during this time of the year, we spend most of our time indoors. This, in turn, can bring about a weak immune system, leading to colds and the flu.

Vitamin D, Blood Sugar and Insulin Secretion

For anyone who is watching their insuling levels and trying to maintain relatively low blood sugar numbers, it may be surprising to know that sunlight, when activated to vitamin D in our bodies, can regulate blood sugar metabolism. In fact, the lack of sunlight, more specifically vitamin D, can increase blood sugar, causing inflammation, weight gain and sometimes depression.

Researchers at the Institute for Metabolic Science in Cambridge showed that in a ten-year follow up study of healthy, non-diabetic men, decreased insulin sensitivity, as well as increased risk for metabolic syndrome was associated with low vitamin D serum level. The study also showed that lower vitamin D serum levels elevated a hormone called parathyroid which is associated with decreased insulin sensitivity.

Insulin sensitivity is a must for people who are wanting to slow aging, lose or maintain a healthy weight and reduce inflammation (which in turn can cause increased aging and weight gain). It's also for people who need energy during the day. When our cells are sensitive to insulin, it means they can take in the glucose from our system, into the cells and use them for energy through certain metabolic pathways. Without energy, we feel lethargic, have no motivation to exercise and can lead to a sedentary lifestyle. Do you see how much vitamin D has to offer?

Cancer

Every single part of your body utilizes many vitamins, hormones and metabolic pathways to repair damage to tissues, blood and cells. Vitamin D is no exception. A 4 year research study recorded in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2007 with 1179 women showed that vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of cancer by up to 60%.

This is groundbreaking research. As cancer rates climb while industries promote avoiding the sun, it is only a matter of time before we start to see the correlation. Science of vitmain D in cancer prevention is gaining momentum, and many more people are staerting to understand the sunss health benefits in reducing cancer risk.

A study recorded in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology showed that breast cancer risk was decreased through exposure to vitamin D. It showed that this risk decreased through either oral supplementation of 2000 IU or by 12 minutes per day in direct sunlight (equal to about 3000 IU of vitamin D, depending on skin color).

According to researcher Cedric F. Garland, cancer prevention specialist at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, over 600,000 cases of breast and colon cancer could be prevented each year (about 150,00 in United States) through direct sunlight or adequate intake of vitamin D3. There are even some research studies which report a link between vitamin D deficiency and skin cancer, but the data has not been conclusive.

Osteoporosis

It's no surprise that vitamin D, which is helps calcium be absorbed within our bones, can help prevent osteoporosis. However, a study in England showed that pregnant women who were deficient in vitamin D had children who grew up to have weak bones. The results of this study concluded that women who are pregnant should up their intake of vitamin D, either through sunlight or doctor recommended vitamin D3 supplementation, to help prevent their children from developing osteoporosis later on in life.

Beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow has been in the news recently following her diagnoses of osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis. In the past she followed a strict regime of avoiding the sun and dairy products. She is now on a prescription medication for vitamin D and is enjoying spending time in the sun.

Sleep

Our circadian rhythms are our body's “biological clocks” which regulate our mental and physical functions. When we expose our eyes to sunlight, our nighttime hormone that is secreted from our pineal gland in the middle of brain (the hormone that makes us feel drowsy and sleepy) ceases, and the production of seratonin starts.

Humans are designed to awake with the sun and go down with the sun, due to the effect light and dark has on our inner biological functions, such as the pineal gland secreting the hormones in response to light, or the lack thereof. When these functions our out of whack, such as if we stay up all night and sleep all day, our bodies can reovlt against these actions that go against nature, and contribute to varying rates of illnesses, most notably insomnia and cancer.

If you are having trouble sleeping, try getting out in the sun first thing in the morning, and also about 10-15 minutes during the middle of the day, avoiding being burned. This will help regulate your biological clock. Make sure you aren't wearing sunglasses, as the waves might need to penetrate through the eyes to reach the brain to activate the pineal gland. Although, it is certainly unwise to look directly at the sun.

Precautions

Photo Courtesy WoodPigeon01.wordpress.com

The sun is very helpful in attaining a healthy lifestyle, but there are some precautions you should take before you go out to sunbathe.

Don't Burn

Research shows that you only need to stay out in the sun, unprottected, for 10-15 minutes, to receive adequate vitamin D production. Any lengths beyond this time limit without proper exposure can lead to DNA damage, accelerated skin aging and possible cancer risk.

Avoid Commercial Sunblocks

Many sunblocks contain vitmain A compounds that, when exposed to sunlight, can actually contribute to the growth of cancerous tumors. A compound known as oxybenzone is found in nearly all commercial sunscreens and can seep into the skin and be directly instilled within the blood stream and can cause tremendous amounts of free radical production. Studies have not even proved, conclusively, that sunscreens actually protect against skin cancer. The current research is contradictory.

How Your Diet Can Prevent Burning

Photo Courtesy MysticalHorizons.com

Avoiding lengthy exposure to direct sunlight can help prevent burning, but what if what you eat can help you even more? Diets rich in antioxidants, phytonutrients and vitamins C and E can protect you from the inside out when exposed to the sun. Plus, these antioxidants will fight the free radicals that are the result of prolonged exposure to the sun, fighting accerlated aging. What foods can you be eating to see benefits?

As always, it's never a good idea to stay out too long in the sun; however you could load up on these valuable ingredients the next time you will be outside. Olive oil and tomatoes, both rich in anitoxidant vitamins C and E (olive oil contains vitamin E, while tomatoes contain the vitamin C) can help prevent the burning of the skin. Also vegetable and fruits sources, high in their phytonutrient content—dark leafy greens, broccoli, brussel sprouts, strawberries and blueberries. Also, one of my favorite vitamin E sources are sunflower seeds, rich in this available antioxidant. Just make sure you soak the sunflower seeds for a few hours to release any anti-nutrients that surround the seeds.

Sunscreens

As mentioned before, commercial sunscreens haven't been definitely proven to prevent certain cancers due to excessive exposure to the sun. In fact, many commercial sunscreens contain oxybenzone, and when exposed to sunlight can produce free radicals within the body.

There are some sunscreens that do offer protection from the sun, if you are going to be outside for longer than the amount you need to produce sufficient amount of vitamin D, that are safe and nontoxic to your body.

I have outlined the sunscreens that the Environmental Working Group deem to be the best, nontoxic sunscreens to date. Check them out.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer, and I hope to be blogging more frequently from now on. Keep sending me your comments and emails, as I love hearing from you guys on how you are revitalizing your health.

This is The Healthy Advocate.

Coconut Part Two: Gluten Free, Grain Free and Sugar Free Healthy Coconut Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

2010-07-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

This photo comes straight from the original recipe found at Healthy Indulgences. My photo will soon replace this, as the current one I own does not do the recipe justice. Anyone want to help me out on my photography skills, or lack there of?

I have made some great things from many different bloggers and websites available on the net. It's been an amazing experience to see different recipes that are healthy, gluten free and refined sugar free, and then putting my own little twist on them. They also give me wonderful new ideas for brand new recipes that I can bring to you to really liven up your own menu.

But, these cupcakes are so good, you would NOT know they were healthy. Believe me, you won't. I've adapted this recipe from Healthy Indulgences (one of the few blogs I go to to find basic recipes to then go out and experiment with my own). Lauren is around my age, and we're both college-bound, gluten and sugar free healthy advocates. She's a bit more experienced then me (OK, a lot more than me), but I'm getting there. I'm glad to have her, as well as others, be my "teachers", even though they don't know that they are just yet.

These cupcakes are grain free, meaning that they are going to be low in carbohydrates and gluten will be nonexistent. Many people find that they can lose weight, gain energy and vitality, reverse digestive disorders or dis-eases, clear up skin, etc., quite easily when they cut grains out of their diet. If you want to read my own grain free experiences, read my story here.

The coconut cupcakes surprisingly don't taste too much like coconut, but you can still sense that tropical feel once you bite into this amazing superfood; and as your tongue reacts to the flavors while you eat this slowly, you energy starts to feel refreshed, replenished and your mood can stay elevated for hours. OK, maybe nothing is that good--but these do come close. They definitely WILL NOT result in an energy crash like other cupcakes, because again, they are low in digestible carbohydrates (particularly refined carbohydrates, which can turn into sugar quite quickly in your body) and refined white sugar, all of which can cause a quick insulin spike and crash, resulting in low energy. So you really are good to go with these.

Be sure to try and pulverize the dried coconut in either a blender, Magic Bullet, coffee grinder, ect., as you really do want a find powder. I used a food processor the first time, and it resulted in half powder, half coconut "bits". If you don't mind having those "bits" in your 'bites', then it shouldn't bother you. Me, I would rather have a cupcake with a smooth texture. Also, make sure you are using real eggs and REAL butter or oil, as using replacements will result in a different texture and you will also be missing out on any health benefits the egg yolk, butter or coconut oil provides.

Now, on with the recipe. I tend to speak too much about the recipes I post, which will come to an end on the next one, I promise. This is a super quick, easy treat for you or anyone you know, and can be eaten as dessert, snack, or even be a high protein, high fiber meal replacement.

P.S. This cupcake is full of coconut, so you know that the fat in this recipe will not be stored as fat, but be used as energy very quickly in your body, even resulting in a higher metabolic rate. Read more here about coconut in the PART 1 of this series.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup blanched dry almonds, pulverized into a flour

2 cups unsweetened, dry coconut, pulverized into a fine flour, meal or powder

1 Tbsp. Coconut Flour

-OR Protein Powder

1/8 tsp. Celtic Sea Salt

1/2 tsp. Grain Free Baking Powder

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

3 eggs

1/4 cup coconut or almond milk (or whole, organic raw milk)

2 TBSP. Organic Butter or Coconut Oil, melted

Sweeteners

12 drops Vanilla Creme Stevia

1/4 cup Xylitol

1/4 cup Coconut Palm Sugar

1/4-1/2 tsp. Stevia Extract Powder, to taste

-OR-

3/4-1 cup natural sugar substitute

______________________________________________________

Set oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

Mix the almond flour, dried coconut meal/flour/powder and coconut flour in a small bowl. Add salt and baking powder. Mix together well and set aside.

In another bowl, combine vanilla extract with 3 eggs. Next add the sweeteners. Stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients in with the sweeteners. Mix well. You can also do this in just one big bowl, if you so desire.

Line 8-9 big muffin cups with paper liners. Or, line a mini muffin pan with 20 mini muffin liners. Grease the paper liners well.

Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups, making sure that you are giving enough room for rising to occur.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until "springy" to the touch. Set out to cool and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week (but they will be gone much sooner than that!).

Carob added to the final frosting. As I said before, my photos do not seem to do it any justice. Reading up on photography!

Yield: 20 mini cupcakes, or 9 regular sized cupcakes

Healthy Buttercream Frosting

4-6 TBSP. Organic Butter, or Coconut Oil (hard)

1/4 tsp. Stevia Extract Powder
or 1/4 cup Xylitol

1 TBSP. Coconut Milk (optional)

Blend the butter or coconut oil with the stevia or xylitol. Add the coconut milk, if using. Frost cool cupcakes (make sure they are cool) and place in refrigerator for storage.

________________________________

There you go, for a healthy, meal on the go or quick snack or dessert to help support your healthy lifestyle. Please check out the ingredients you may have not been familiar with anywhere on this blog by doing a quick search, or look them up on your favorite search engine to find out more. Super healthy and extremely nutritious.

Try these out and tell me what you think! I know you won't be dissappointed.

This is The Healthy Advocate.

Welcome Summer with Coconut! Part One

2010-06-25T18:01:00.001-07:00

Photo courtesy SweetandNatural.wordpress.com

Hi everyone! It's so good to be back to the blog. I've missed writing so much. I have started a Biology course for the first summer session at my college, and I am swamped with studying. Because summer sessions go by so fast, each class is Monday-Thursday, 4 hours and 40 minutes long. However we usually go until about 5 hours. Just for one class; it's crazy. However I have met some really cool people and am very grateful for this fast-paced experience, believe it or not!

Summer is here, yet it's still as hot as spring where I am. For the first two full summer days it has been raining, giving us a little break from the heat. I will be writing about keeping yourself safe during these hot months, and keeping yourself hydrated with some very cool techniques.

These hot months are the time to enjoy fresh, water containing foods, such as fresh, raw veggies, and raw fruits, such as berries, apples, peaches and pears (watch out with the last few if you have weight or insulin issues). Tomatoes and avocados are also good health promoters this time of the season.

One really cool food you should be consuming right now (in fact, you probably should be consuming it all the time!) is coconut. Coconut is a wonderful health food, providing the body with many essential fatty acids and compounds to help you really recover, restore and/or maintain a high quality of health.

The main health promoting compounds come from the fat of the coconut, which is mainly saturated. Fat is NOT bad, and all fat is not created equal. In fact, the fat in coconut is completely digested in a totally different way than most fats. I would delve into lipid biochemistry, confusing you, my readers, and myself, in the process. So, let's not go there.

However, the fat in coconut is made out of medium chained triglycerides. These fatty acids are utilized by the body as energy almost immediately after ingestion. Many fats, particularly those found in most vegetable oils and processed foods, are composed of long chained fatty acids, or long chained triglycerides, which are stored by the body much more easily into fat and adipose tissue.

Photo courtesy fda.da.gov.ph

Many studies have shown the metabolic boosting effects of the natural saturated fat found in coconut due to its thyroid promoting compounds. Our thyroid is what regulates our metabolism, and coconut has actually shown to nourish and boost thyroid functions. Take a look at this study which showed that coconut oil supplementation helped a group of women lose weight much sooner than those fed soybean oil. To make matters more interesting, the group who consumed coconut oil had better LDL:HDL profiles, even though they had a higher intake of saturated fat (from the coconut oil). Isn't it curious as to why many people advocate a low saturated fat diet? Healthy saturated fats do not cause disease. In fact, it might be the lack of them that is what is contributing to America's health epidemics.

This study is interesting in the fact that it showed that a high fat diet, mainly coming from the saturated fat of coconut oil, helped decrease the harmful a lipoprotein found in our LDL levels. To go even further into saturated fat, and away from coconut (just for a moment), be sure to check out these articles:

The oil in coconut has been shown to be antibacterial, anti fungal and antiviral. The compound lauric acid is said to be antimicrobial, and aids in the killing of bad bacteria and germs in the body. Lauric acid is a saturated fatty acid--human breast milk is another great source of this fat. More studies, articles and doctors are coming out about the benefits of lauric acid (which is then converted to monolaurin in the body) to a developing baby. We cannot produce monolaurin on our own, making it essential for keeping our bodies healthy and able to fight off infections easily.

I will be writing more about coconut in PART TWO, so please, stay tuned! Plus, I will be sharing a recipe that I made today with our featured guest star...coconut, of course. It is incredibly satisfying, beautifying, detoxifying, energizing, tasty, gluten free, grain free, sugar free, protein and fiber packed, full of lauric acids---whew! It is just too good! By the way, that list could probably go on forever; or, at least, until all the words in every language becomes useless beyond repetition.

See you soon.

This is The Healthy Advocate.

The Farmer's Market

2010-06-14T05:49:00.001-07:00

Don't be fooled by the Eggland's Best egg carton. The local farmer reuses these cartons for their eggs. I actually had a bit more produce than this. All organic, local and all at only $5.

I have just discovered a local, organic farmer's market near me that I just had to write about it. It runs every Saturday morning, and carries a large, fresh tasty organic produce. Right now, summer vegetables now dominate the market--zucchini and yellow squash, blackberries, cucumber, okra, kale, green beans, tomatoes (huge!) and more.

Only ONE woman runs the market--she is the gardener, marketer, financier and cook. Yes, she actually cooks things and sells them at the market, as well. She even makes green drinks, full of kale, pineapple and other greens. One woman I met at the market swears by them, and says they are absolutely delicious. They sure do sound alkalizing!

The reason why I believe farmer's markets are important is because it gets people in touch back to our roots of food. Before we had supermarkets that shipped avocados all the way from Brazil, or lettuce from Mexico, we ate locally grown, "organic" food. This food contained more nutrients due to the less storage time and virtually no shipping, allowing one to eat "fresh from the farm".

We still have access to this type of food, but we have to look for it. The farmer's market I found is held in my local health food store. Isn't that cool? Find a local health food store and ask whether or not they know of any farmer's in the area that are selling their produce. You want to go preferably organic, but local is the name of the game.

The prices of local organic produce is often times much less than what you will find at your typical supermarket, as well. Lucy, the gardener who sells her produce at my health food store, sells large organic zucchini's for 4/$1. That is SO much less than any conventional store I have been in. A large bag of organic kale? $2. It's incredible at the deals you can find.

In fact, when I went, I took just a $5 bill, expecting to only buy some squash, and maybe anything else my Abe could get for me. Not only did I get some pretty good looking zucchini and yellow squash, but I received a large bag of Kale. I had $1 left over and I asked Lucy in a sort of joking way, "Is there anything I can get for $1?" She looked around, headed toward the tomatoes ($1.89 per pound), weight one, and put it into my bag. Then she grabbed two handfuls of cherry tomatoes and placed them in as well. So sweet of her!

This experience has really inspired me to start my own garden ASAP. I did a little gardening before, but didn't really invest too much into (and likewise didn't receive much out of it, either). I'm ordering seeds as I type, and am looking at ways to build a good organic soil. Does anyone know a method of doing this? I want to use the dirt in the backyard, but do I need to add compost, peat, moss, manure, etc? I live in zone 9, I believe, if that helps.

So, if you are looking for a farmers market near you, please go to Local Harvest. This website will let you type in your zip code and will pull up local market's near you. I haven't yet sought out local, free range meat yet, but you can find those listings over at Eat Wild.

Happy foraging everyone!

This is The Healthy Advocate.

What Healthy Recipes Do YOU Want to See?

2010-06-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

Many people enjoy their sinful pleasures--chocolate cake, ice cream, hamburgers, pizza, etc., etc. But what if there was a way to make them entirely gluten (and even grain) free, sugar free, healthy and incredibly tasty?

I think there is. I'm from a notion (a "notion"--not an ocean) that says, "Everything has an answer, and everything will work out." I've seen some amazing healthy culinary pursuits in my time (in fact, I've experienced the majority of them!), so I am prepared for suggestions on your favorite food, and how to make it completely, or mostly, healthy.

"Health food" is a term that I really dislike; not because I dislike healthy food--quite the contrary! It's just that the healthy food that I make and prepare for myself doesn't really taste like health food--it takes like a sweet indulgence.

I was inspired by Lauren from Healthy Indulgences to delve into different culinary aspects that sounded quite strange to me while I was beginning on my gluten free, grain free, sugar free path. Cake made with beans, rice made with shredded cauliflower and rich, healthy, natural saturated fats used in the majority of recipes. Not only did I change the way I ate, I changed my health (both mind and body) incredibly, and I want to help you, too!

Send me your suggestions on what type of food you enjoy (and be honest!) and how I can make it healthy just for you. I WILL test as many recipes as I can before I give you the best one. One rule that I have for my cooking (or uncooking--RAW food), is that it must taste good. So I've got you there.

This is The Healthy Advocate.

Eggshells - A Bioavailable Source of Calcium

2010-06-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Calcium "Myth"

Each and everyone of us have been told that we need calcium to build stronger bones, and this nutrient has been blasted on the airwaves, promoting the mass consumption of milk and dairy products. I do believe that raw dairy products are beneficial, but the conventional pasteurized dairy is what is being touted as the healthy source of our daily calcium, and this just isn't true.

If you are only focusing on calcium for building strong bones, you are going to increase your risks for developing fractures and osteoporosis later on in your life. This is because many minerals work together synergistically to combine a strong support system for bone health and growth. Calcium is an important nutrient; however, there are minerals that are essential that you may be missing out on while only focusing on drinking your milk.

Bone Building Nutrients and Their Sources

Let's look at the most important minerals and nutrients you need to grow stronger bones. Listen to that last part of the sentence--stronger bones, not just denser bones. Density and size of bone doesn't always equal strength.

Incorporating these nutrients are quite easy to do, and do not provide much effort or money to place into your healthy lifestyle.

Vitamin D. I've written about Vitamin D before (specifically Vitamin D3), and you are probably already aware of the importance that Vitamin D has in our body. This vitamin is usually added to milk to fortify it, as it helps increase the absorption of calcium into our bodies. However, sometimes this is in the form of Vitamin D2, not D3 which is what you need, or even worse, it isn't absorbable by the majority of your body.

I have a few plants growing outside, and they require sunlight at all times. Humans require sunlight as well; not as much as the plant kingdom, but it still provides this incredible vitamin for us when we expose our bare skin to it a few minutes a day. When sunlight hits our naked skin (meaning arms and legs and face uncovered--not necessarily your entire body, unless you have a private place to yourself...), it converts the cholesterol in our skin to Vitamin D and regulates over 3,000 genes in our body. It also helps facilitate and transport the calcium in our diet to the bones and muscles that need it.

Vitamin D can be found in food sources in small quantities, and also in supplement form. However, the best source is from the sunlight, and is completely free. Dr. Joseph Mercola, from Mercola.com, advises to go outside in the sun just until your skin turns a light shad of pink. This is when all the Vitamin D that your body can produce has been produced, and any more exposure to the sun can lead to free radical production and damage to your body. One food source of Vitamin D comes from egg yolk, which also provides a high quality protein.

Vitamin K. This vitamin is almost like Vitamin D, except it acts a "binder", in a way, to help 'insert' the calcium that you take in from food sources into your bones. It is essential that you receive this vitamin in the forms of K1 and K2. Vitamin K1 is found in most green, leafy vegetables, and K2 is found in fermented foods raw, fermented dairy products (natto, kefir, yogurt, aged cheese). K2 is probably the most significant, whereas K3 (synthetic version) can have adverse health effects due to the likelihood of toxicity.

Protein. Most people believe that those who consume more protein will actually secrete it in their urine, and lead to the leeching of calcium from your bones. This is true, but increasing your levels of calcium intake, along with your protein intake, will compensate for the loss and help you build stronger bones. In the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was reported that those who consumed the most protein had a 7.5-8% higher bone mineral density and strength than those who consumed less. Today's conventional animal protein (those that are NOT organic, do not have access to grass or free range) can challenge your body's pH levels, leading to an acidic reaction in your body. This will steal important minerals from your bones. Therefore, when choosing an animal protein, be sure to try and get local, free range and preferably organic (if dairy, perhaps raw).

Folic Acid and B Vitamins. In The Journal of New England Medicine, they showed that increased intake of B vitamins in the diet led to lower homocysteine levels in the body. This hormone raises the risks of bone fractures. Good dietary sources include green vegetables, carrots, avocados, cantaloupe, apricots and almonds.

Omega 3 Fats. This fat, found primarily in fish, flax and chia seeds, has been shown to provide stronger bone density in a study recorded in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Exercise. Believe it or not, but this is an essential nutrient. We must all try to aim for as much physical exercise during our day unless we want our bodies to slowly rust. Numerous studies have shown that weight bearing exercises and resistance training can help build strong bones and protect bones from becoming thin and weak. Squats and weight training are very powerful sources of this nutrient.

Egg Shells as a Bioavailable Calcium Source

Even though calcium isn't the only mineral we need for strong bones, it is an important nutrient to consume to ensure adequate protection of them. Eggshells are about 90-95% calcium carbonate, and is easily absorbable by our bodies, unlike most dairy products and fortified foods today. This is a completely safe and health source of calcium that anyone can incorporate into their diets.

Find a source of locally grown, free range and organic eggs. The likeliness that you contract salmonella from raw eggs and egg shells are actually quite low, and in fact decrease when choosing local, free range organic eggs. In fact, nutrient quality (such as omega-3 fatty acids) are much more available in these eggs, compared to ones you find at the store.

Use the eggs as you normally would, and instead of discarding the egg shells, run them under clean, cool water. Make sure to get all the egg white out of the egg shell. You can then boil the egg shell in hot water, if you feel as though you need to kill any bacteria, and then place it in a place to air dry. Then, using a blender or coffee grinder, pulverize the egg shell into a powder.

1/2 tsp. of dry, powered egg shell contains around 400 mg of calcium. The average person should consume around 1000 mg of calcium, which is easily done if you are eating a proper diet. A good source of calcium that is bioavailable, besides egg shells, include any green leafy vegetable, as well as sardines (which contain mercury, but not as much as other fish--consume with knowledge 1-2 times per week, unless you can find a source that tests mercury free).

Use 1/2 tsp. in drinks, smoothies, cereals, recipes, etc. Excessive intake of calcium can lead to muscle cramps, so be sure to eat a banana or a magnesium source food to negate these effects.

___________________________________________________________________

Next post, I will discuss what you want to avoid at all costs if you are trying to protect or build your bones. Some fascinating bits of information you do not want to miss, so stay tuned for Thursday's post.

For now, this is The Healthy Advocate.

Parabens - Known Carcinogens in Your Beauty Products

2010-05-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Is your current beauty routine harmful to your health? Photo courtesy AllAboutYou.com

Seeing how the last post was about deodorant, I thought it would be fitting to create another post about skin products. The popular products on the market contain many conventional, man made ingredients that are not always good for us. It may smell good and make us look good, but at what cost is this to our health? Could the products we use, day in and day out, actually be contributing to a slow degeneration of our bodies and minds?

What's So Wrong with My Beauty Products?

You might be unknowingly risking your health. Photo courtesy XangaCity.com

As I mentioned in Monday's post, some products, like deodorant, contain aluminum. This is a heavy metal toxin that is found in high amounts in Alzheimer's patients. When we put something like this on our skin (especially after shaving--looking at you, girls!), the chemicals contained within are most definitely entering our bodies through our pores.

Some of these chemicals are treated as a toxin in the body and are processed and released. However, the remaining chemicals can find their way in the nervous system, they can devastate our immune system and even find their way into the brain. These chemicals, especially aluminum, can accumulate in the brain, not showing its health effects until years later.

What is So Bad About Parabens?

Go paraben free! Photo courtesy ChivasSkinCare.com

Parabens are a synthetic, man made preservative found in almost all conventional beauty products. From make up to face soap, lotions and creams, parabens have made their way into the mainstream beauty line. They prevent mold and bacteria growth, and help keep the product stable for a long shelf life.

However, parabens have been shown to mimic estrogen in the human body, showing a possible carcinogenic link to certain forms of breast cancer. This is a concern for anyone, male or female, as this preservative is going to be absorbed into your blood stream after placing it on your skin. It really is not a pretty picture.

A six month study performed on men and women's beauty products assessed the safety of 7,500 beauty products (over 10,000 ingredients) with 2,300 people. What they found was quite astonishing.

Out of 7,500 products, only 28 of them were tested completely by the cosmetic industry's self regulating panel. 1/3 of all the products in the study contained at least one ingredient that showed a strong carcinogenic link, and has actually been classified as a human carcinogen.

What Can You Do?

Natural beauty. Photo courtesy All-Natural-Body-Care-Products.com

Diet and exercise will provide your body with the health it needs to proccess out some of the chemicals and toxins in your beauty products, but it won't be enough to provide adequate safety for your health. You DON'T have to live in a bubble and ignore your beauty when you enhance your health--far from it! In fact, when you enhance your health through diet, exercise and other lifestyle changes, you enhance your beauty.

There are amazing organic beauty products out on the market today that are paraben free, and even some that claim to be all-natural. I go for the organic version, because this normally ensures that I won't be putting anything on my body that I wouldn't put in my body (the term "all-natural" isn't regulated, and often doesn't mean that it is all natural).

Look at the ingredients of your beauty products, just as you would with your food. Make sure you do not find parabens, sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate, or basically anything you can't pronounce. It may be difficult at first, so just wean yourself off of these products slowly. It may take some time to find products that work for your skin or hair type, but you will find some. Make your way down to your local health food store and ask about the products they carry.

Right now I am using a shampoo and conditioner that is 75% organic and contains only 5 ingredients, all things that I would have no problem ingesting if I had to. I also use a coconut oil castile soap for my face, as well as an organic body wash (and occasionally a homemade, raw goat's milk soap made with coconut oil). What products do you use? Tell me about them in the comments section.

This is The Healthy Advocate.

Can Your Deodorant Be Harmful to Your Health?

2010-05-25T04:26:00.001-07:00

Can your deodorant be harmful? Photo courtesy SuzuanneBurdett.com

Health and wellness prevention strategies and natural remedies do not only center around nutrition and fitness. Many people find they have the best diet (compared to most), exercise regularly and get plenty of sleep and sunlight. However, what they could be putting on their skin can be disastrous for their later health. THe subject today? Deodorant.

What is so wrong with deodorant?

Not all deodorants are created equal. The commercial deodorants available today, for both men and women, contain the active ingredient aluminum. This is a toxin that seeps into the pores of your skin after applying it to your underarms. Any thing you put on your skin will enter the pores and seep into your bloodstream, which is why I don't put anything on my skin unless it is also safe to eat.

Aluminum has been linked to breast cancer in women, and is also found in abundance in Alzheimer's patients. In fact, back in the 1980's, a truck driver accidently spilled aluminum he was carrying in a small town's drinking water. Years later, an epidemic of Alzheimer's occurred in the same people who lived in the town at the time, and aluminum was found to have been built up within their brain's tissues.

What Can I Do?

Good health, for the present and for the future, requires you using preventative strategies. You don't have to be a control freak or a purist, but it is important that when you know the risks of something to take the appropriate measures. I don't use commercial deodorants anymore, as I have seen firsthand at what Alzheimer's does to a person, and I don't want that for myself or for my future family/caretakers (assuming that I will even need any ;)).

There are many organic deodorants on the market now that do not use aluminum or any artificial ingredients. The one I reccomend is Tropical Traditions Organic Aluminum-free Deodorant .

Although most of the time what I use is regular aluminum free baking soda. It's inexpensive, only one ingredient and it works just as well. Baking soda cleans as well as removes any smell that it comes across--it packs a powerful punch in fighting smells. Lovely conversation we are having, isn't it? It is important to find baking soda that doesn't contain aluminum, as most baking sodas on the market do contain aluminum.

So now you can go out in the world and be healthy and smell good at the same time! Isn't that fun? I'l see you out there.

This has been The Healthy Advocate.

Healthy RAW Birthday Cake

2010-05-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

The Healthy Advocate is having a birthday tomorrow (if you get annoyed by me talking about myself in third person, just let me know!), and I wanted a healthy day filled with activity and nourishing food that will provide me with everything I need to spring forward in the 21st year of me being alive. I decided upon a RAW birthday cake this year, because my body deserves it, and so does yours! It doesn't have to be your birthday to enjoy this nourishing, rich, healthy and satisfying cake.

No flour, gluten, eggs, dairy, refined sugar or vegetable oils. Completely raw, easily digestible and naturally low in calories. A little piece goes a long way--trust me, it is so rich! The fiber, protein and fat found in the nuts/seeds that make up the base of this cake make you feel full, meaning you only need to eat a little to be satisfied. SAD (standard American diet) cakes are loaded with sugar and many times harmful fats that will make you want more, increase your hunger and devastate your insulin levels. Something I don't want happening on my birthday--or any day.

This cake is an adaption of many raw chocolate cakes out there, but I think I would have to give credit more so to Ani Phyo, an amazing raw chef in Los Angeles whom I absolutely love. The original recipe can be found in her book, Ani's Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable Sweets and Treats. Please check it out--she provides so many easy recipes, making eating RAW simple. Something that I really love. To make sure this cake comes out like a real cake, make sure your nuts or seeds or dry. If you do soak/sprout your nuts or seeds, make sure you dehydrate them before the recipe. I used sunflower seeds and almonds, but you can use any nut or seed that you like (walnuts are best).

A gluten free, grain free, raw chocolate cake for you to enjoy any time you wish!

RAW Chocolate Birthday Cake

-3 cups raw walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, etc., soaked and dried (or 4 cups raw nuts/seeds)

-1/3-2/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa or carob powder

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 1/2 cup pitted and soft dates

-1/2 cup raisins (soak for 10-20 minutes to make soft)

Process the walnuts (or other nuts/seeds) in the food processor until a fine flour. Add the cocoa powder and the salt and pulse to mix.

Now, add the dates and the raisins to the mixture. Process until the dough forms a ball. If your mixture is too wet, then the ball might not form, so just process until all the dates and raisins are mixed in with the flour (this will lead to a fudge type cake).

Once you have your ball of dough, take it out of the food processor and shape the cake into any form you wish. I made a circle cake, and arranged bananas, organic strawberries and dried coconut on top of the frosting. Top with raw chocolate frosting and chill for an hour or so, to set, or, serve as is.

RAW Chocolate Frosting

-1 1/2 medium avocados

-1/2 cup soft raisins and/or dates (I used a mixture of both--make sure they're soft by soaking them for 10-20 minutes, drain)

-1/4 to 1/3 cup cocoa powder

-2 tbsp. raw honey, to taste

Process all ingredients in the food processer until smooth. Use to frost the RAW birthday cake. Arrange raw fruits, dried coconut or anything you like on top. Chill to set before serving, or serve as is.

This has been The Healthy Advocate

Healthy Weight Week Day Three: What the Heck Can I Eat? - Part Two

2010-05-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

Image Courtesy of ChaoticPeace.Wordpress.com

I am sitting here with my Green Smoothie (recipe to come), contemplating the foods I feel are the absolute best modes to optimal health and nutrition. There are so many foods that I know you should NOT ingest, as it will not lead to a healthy weight or lifestyle, so we will start with this list first. I will then move on to the list of foods that should be consumed in order to reach a healthy weight. However, remember that the foods on the DO NOT EAT list can be eaten every now and then if you have no other health issues such as diabetes or insulin troubles, obesity, high blood pressure or cholesterol. If you are exercising, getting enough sleep, getting plenty os sunshine and addressing emotional problems in an effective and natural way, I don't believe eating these foods, every now and then, will set you off track.

Foods That Will Lead to an Unhealthy Lifestyle and Weight

Below are the foods that I have seen (and have been proven) to contribute to unhealthy lifestyles. These lifestyles obviously lead to unhealthy weights, minds and bodies. Try to eliminate, or at least reduce, your intake of these items.

Photo courtesy 4pack.wordpress.com

All Processed Foods - This really is a no brainer, as most of you who are reading this have already eliminated as many processed foods as possible, or are slowly integrating into a whole foods diet. Most of these convienice foods contain GMO (genetically modified) ingredients, of which we have yet to see any good research to indicate their safety. Knowing that all of the man made foods have ended up being unhealthy, I would suspect that these ingredients are unhealthy as well.

Controlled studies using genetically modified ingredients have only been performed on animals; however a mass experiment is being performed on the majority of the public with these foods, and we will only expect to see the results in the years to come. Please, don't eat man made or altered foods ("mother nature knows best"), and don't become a part of this worldwide experiment. Most of the animal studies performed with GMO ingredients have shown liver and kidney toxicity and low birth weight.

Artificial Sweeteners - Again, another man made product. When will we finally realize that sometimes man does not know better than the earth, and start realizing that there are natural ways to bring about the same results? Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal) and sucralose (Splenda) are commonly used for weight control in popular diet foods (all of which are processed heavily) or as in little packets in coffee or tea.

Artificial sweeteners have actually been shown in controlled, scientific studies to increase the chances of gaining weight and developing obesity. Two groups of rats in this study (performed at Purdue University) consumed artificial sweetened foods and beverages, while the other group consumed a diet of regular sugar. Those that consumed artificial sweeteners gained significantly more weight than those eating regular sugar. Another study involving 18,000 people showed that those who drank at least one diet drink a day increased their chances of gaining weight.

Isn't it suspicious that with the rise of diet drinks and artificial sweeteners in our food, weight and BMI has increased on average? I don't think it is as suspicious as it is just plain obvious.

Photo courtesy SixWise.com

Certain Grains - As you are probably aware, I'm not a huge fan of grains. Our bodies are really not designed to eat grains, and our evolutionary history makes this known to us. We survived for millions of years without them, but the advent of agriculture only just brougth them into our diet 10,000 years ago.

Most grains consumed in this country are refined and processed, such as white flour, white rice, white potatoes and corn. These carbohydrates will turn into sugar very quickly in our bodies and lead to weight gain, insomnia, diabetes and other illnesses. Findings by Weston A. Price suggest that grains lead to tooth decay. Whole grains will stimulate your insulin levels as well and will turn into sugar quickly due to the high carbohydrate content. Consuming the grain in its whole form is recommended over refined carbohydrates and grains, but only in small amounts, if at all.

Unfermented Soy

Photo courtesy healthinmotion.wordpress.com

That's right--soy milk, tofu and veggie products are not good for our weight. It's a pretty bold statement, seeing as how the market is flowing with soy products, advocating its health properties. Soy is an incredible and powerful health food, but only when it is prepared the correct way.

Unfermented soy contains isoflavones genistien and daidzen which has been showed in numerous studies to supress thyroid function. In fact, the research suggests that excessive intake of soybean products can lead to hypothroidism. This leads to a supressed thryoid function and a sluggish metabolism.

If you continue to consume processed foods, and you want to eliminate soy, be sure to read the label CAREFULLY. My body doesn't react to soy very well, and it is highly allergenic; however, it is in everything. Just look in your pantry or on the grocery store shelves at some processed food products, and examine the ingredients. 8/10 times you pick up an item, you will see the word "soy" in the ingredient list. This is a cheap crop that the government loves, and most of the time is genetically modified, which, if you remember earlier, can affect your health and weight in a negative way.

Traditionally, soy used in Asia was fermented (in the forms of natto, tempeh and miso) and were, and still are, used as side dishes, not as a main course or a staple. The majority of Asia's protein intake does not come from soy; rather, it comes from fish and pork. If you continue to use unfermented soy, try and get it unprocessed (very hard to do) and organic. Then, consume it only once or twice per week. However, I DO NOT recommend consuming it, even if it is organic.

Non-Organic Produce

Photo courtesy SCU.edu

Today as I write this, a news report is spreading across the world about conventional strawberries containing carcinogenic pesticides, and that these pesticides are now being linked an increased risk of children being diagnosed with ADHD.

A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, a study carried out by the University of of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha concluded that exposure to certain pesticides in women caused a higher incidence of thryoid problems, more specifically and under active thyroid and thyroid disease. This quickly leads to weight gain as the thyroid is our main metabolism controlling gland.

Another research study performed at the Danish Research Center found that rats who were fed an organic diet, compared to those fed conventional, were slimmer and were at lighter weights. Along with this was a higher amount of Vitamin E in their blood stream (a powerful anti-oxidant that is important for anti-aging) and slept better (research is showing that less sleep is associated with unhealthy weight gain).

Most conventional meat, dairy and eggs (those that you find in the supermarket) are loaded with growth hormones that can affect your own hormones and your metabolism. These animals are also fed a high amount of grains, something that they are not designed to eat. These grains are high in genetically modified ingredients and omega-6 fatty acids (inflammatory fats) that can lead to weight gain. Currently Americans (and other such countries) are consuming a high amount of these fats. However, there are ways to find healthy animal protein.

Foods That Contribute to a Healthy Weight

All of the foods mentioned below have a common theme--they're all whole foods. Whole foods are superior to processed in every way, and can help you not only with your weight, but with your over all wellness lifestyle.

Organic Vegetables

Photo courtesy Guardian.co.uk

Raw vegetables are probably one of the most important foods to me, as they supply so much nutrition that is bioavailable such as calcium, vitamins A, C, E and sometimes D, fiber, protein (however incomplete) and antioxidants. Not only are these beautifying foods, they fill you up (due to their water and fiber content) and provide your body with the right amount of nutrition to support your metabolism.

You want to make sure that your vegetables are raw, with only certain vegetables being cooked (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach), but even then having them steamed, instead of boiled. Boiling your vegetables in water leaches the nutrients into the water, which does not provide them for your body. Cooking food denatures many nutrients and also kills them, so other leafy greens and vegetables need to be eaten raw. Juicing or making a green smoothie is a great way to get your 4-6 servings in a day (some experts recommend 1 lb of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight, per day).

It is also important to buy as many organic vegetables as you can, as pesticides can lead to weight gain, can be carcinogenic and also contribute to a variety of other disorders. Some vegetables are higher than others when it comes to pesticide load, so if you can only buy some organic and not all, choose to buy the ones higher in pesticides as organic.

Organic Fruit

Photo courtesy AboutOrganics.co.uk

Fruit is a great food, as well, but shouldn't be consumed in excess; or, at least, you shouldn't consume more fruit than vegetables. Raw fruit is best, but dried fruit (as long as it isn't heated to a temperature above at least 115 degrees) still contains the same amount of nutrients. Raw, fresh fruit will fill you up faster than dried fruit, but take what you can get.

Fruit contains sugar called fructose, which is damaging to the body and metabolism if consumed in excess, and most importantly if it is consumed in a free form (such as HFCS). The fructose found in fruit allows the fruit to be low on the glycemic index, making it a slow acting carbohydrate, not contributing to elevated insulin levels. Too much fruit, however (as with too much of anything), will lead to high insulin, contributing to unhealthy weight gain.

Try to buy fruit organic, or at least buy the ones highest in pesticide resdiue as organic. Those would be anything that has a thin skin (as pesticides can leach through the skin, making peeling the fruit almost worthless) such as apples, pears, peaches, grapes, strawberries, rasberries and cherries. Avocado and bananas are lower in pesticides due to their hard outer layer that cannot be eaten. Avocado, by the way, is an easy digested fat and helps support your metabolism (you can actually eat fat and stay slim and healthy!).

Free Range, Organic Meat, Dairy and Eggs

Photo courtesy ExeriencesInLiving.com

Buying organic animal products is incredibly important if you consume them regularly. These animals are not treated with artificial growth hormones, antibiotics and are not fed genetically enginered grain. Plus, if you get these products free range (meaning they have the freedom to graze out on the land and eat grass--which is what they ARE designed to eat), then you have a complete protein full of omega-3 fats, something that helps out the metabolism, as well.

Raw dairy is something that I'm very passionate about, and I have blogged about this before. Even though it is whole milk, the fat makes you very satisfied and is easily digested. In fact, raw goat's milk can digest very quickly, usually in 30 minutes. A good digestion system is crucial for maintaing a healthy weight, as good bacteria help eliminate fat and bacteria that could affect your weight negatively. Raw milk and dairy products contain an abundant amount of good, beneficial bacteria, whereas pasteurized milk does not. Find a farmer near you for free range, organic animal food; or, find a farm that can legally sell raw milk.

Animal products provide a complete protein, which is essential for your body (the body cannot make these proteins on its own, or from plants). Quinoa is a complete protein, and a seed; however, I believe animal protein is the best source. If your body responds to a more vegetarian type diet, it is still advised to consume some egg or milk protein (and, of course, raw).

Organic, Sprouted Grains

Photo courtesy Sweet-Sins.blogspot.com

The best way to eat a grain is to soak it and/or sprout it. Only do this if you find your body handles grains well, and if you are a type of person who needs more carbohydrates in our diets (some need more fat and protein, some thrive well on a more vegetarian type diet, and some are mixed). I have blogged about how to soak and sprout your own grains here. If you are cutting out grains, but not carbohydrates, then you might consider trying quinoa and buckwheat. These are highly nutritious seeds that are a good replacement for rice or gluten free, grain free baking flours. They sprout and cook quite easily (you can even eat them raw!).

Sprouted grain bread is coming into many supermarkets these days, and you should find them in the refrigerator section. You could also make your own sprouted bread using wheat berries, which is quite simple. I haven't tried using just sprouted buckwheat, but I just may one of these days for all those who choose (or have to) to not eat gluten.

Stevia

Photo courtesy LifeAndHealth2.wordpress.com

This is my favorite sweetener of all time, as it is non-caloric, doesn't affect insulin levels and actually has some good research to support some health benefits. Because it doesn't contain any calories, you will be taking in less energy than you would sugar. I don't always believe the "calories in, calories out" saying, or the "a calorie is a calorie", because many foods contain different compositions, of which can either help you lose or gain weight at the same amount of calories. However, sugar DOES contribute to weight gain due to its rapid insulin raising effects, as well as having around 768 calories per cup.

To replace sugar in a recipe when using pure powdered stevia, a teaspoon generally equals a cup of sugar. It's incredibly sweet. Make up for the missing bulking agent that sugar provides, if needed, with additional ingredients and/or liquid (still experimenting with this). This spring, I am thinking about starting my own stevia plant so I can have stevia all year long.

The Fat That Makes Your Slim

In the last post, I left off with a food item that would surprise you as my favorite weight loss/healthy weight promoter. You might have already guessed it, but I'll take a drumroll anyway...

[drum roll noise]

Photo courtesy Loladisenio.com

...Coconut! Yes that saturated and tropical fat that has nourished many a people is actually a very terrific weight reducer and metabolism booster. Coconut in general is extremely healthy, providing fiber and medium and short chained fatty acids. The fiber and the fat will keep you very satiated. The medium and short chained fatty acids are also immediately turned into energy in the body, rather than being stored as fat. Other fats and oils, such as polyunsaturated vegetable oils (soy, canola, safflower, corn, etc.) are stored as fat more easily.

Coconut also increases metabolism due to its fat. Studies show that supplementing with straight up coconut oil actually contributes to weight loss. This, again, is due to its short and medium chained fatty acids. Yesterday, when I was making homemade coconut milk, I started to nibble a bit at the fresh coconut meat. Immediately I noticed my core body temperature increasing and my energy levels rising. I started doing some moves in that kitchen!

Fresh, shredded coconut is recommended, as well is coconut oil. Coconut oil is growing among consumers, making it available at some grocery stores. You do want to, however, purchase organic and unrefined. This will provide the best taste and you will be insured that it is from a good, organic source. One brand of coconut oil that I LOVE is Jarrow Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.

You can take coconut oil as a supplement, and some people swear by 1-3 tablespoons a day. Yes, a day. I thought that was a bit excessive as well, but when I consider how it speeds up the metabolism and even decreases appetite (in a healthy way), I started to think that perhaps it was a good recommendation. Find what your body does best on, and stick to it.

You can also use coconut flour as a gluten free, grain free baking flour. I go by Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Flour as it is organic and makes my baked goods taste so good. You need to use more eggs in a recipe than you would for traditional wheat flour (a lot more), giving you a high protein baked good. Protein burns more calories and helps build more lean, healthy muscle, anyway. There is a lot of protein in coconut flour, as well as fiber (both nutrients help keep you feeling full and can support healthy weight loss efforts).

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So there you go, the long awaited "Food List" in order to build a healthier, slimmer body; at a healthy weight, full of energy, life and vitality. Start doing your own research on what I have written about here, make your own conclusions, listen to how your body reacts to certain foods and get healthy!

This is The Healthy Advocate.

Healthy Weight Week Day Three: What the Heck Can I Eat? Part One

2010-05-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

Every single post this week is important in helping you lose weight/gain weight, become fit and healthy. However leaving out this important step will not lead you into a healthier lifestyle, yet prevent you from becoming well. The right mindset and exercise will almost always follow up with a healthy diet. But what is a healthy diet? Let's look first at what the USDA determines what a healthy diet consists of. Then, I will tell you what I believe it actually consists of.

The USDA Food Pyramid

Photo Courtesy of TheWashingtonPost.com

In this pyramid (a funny description to me nowadays, and I will explain why in the next section), we have different food groups with different recommended daily proportions. Working our way up from the bottom to the top, we have grains, vegetables and fruits, protein (meat, dairy, nuts and seeds) and a "moderate" amount of fats and sweets.

The recommended serving of grains is 6-11. Sound like a lot? That's what I thought too, until I actually saw what the majority of people are eating. Most people eat grains in large quantities at meals, or in the forms of crackers, cookies, cakes, bread, pasta, cereal, etc. Therefore, most people are meeting this requirement, or even exceeding it. The pyramid also mentions that the goal for your grains should be having at least half of them come from the whole grain (whole wheat and brown rice, for example).

With vegetables we have a recommendation of getting at least 3-5 a day, but this is also combined with the recommended serving of fruit per day. What the USDA is saying is you should really only have 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. My thoughts on this to come...

Animal protein in the form of meat and dairy (and vegetarian protein srouces) make up a smaller amount of the pyramid.2-3 servings of low-fat dairy and 2-3 servings of lean meat (or nuts) make up these two groups.

Fats and sweets are at the very top of the pyramid, being grouped as "use sparingly", with the oils mentioned as being from a vegetable source. Saturated fats should be limited, and sugar kept low.

What's the Problem with This Picture?

As you hopefully know by now, I am not a fan of using this pyramid as a way of healthy eating. Many people have said before, but I will echo the statement: When you follow a pyramid, your body will eventually look like one. This uniform recommendation for all people is a disaster for our health, and promotes unhealthy foods and eating habits.

Let's start off with the grains. I did a post about grains, and how I went "grain free" for e month. I know that I do well on a very low-grain diet, one that doesn't involve gluten and comes from a whole source. Most people, however, do very well on grains, but I believe this is the minority of the population. Every body has different rates of metabolism, absorption and assimilation, and therefore it is unwise to tell all people to follow one, uniform eating plan.

Grains are high in carbohydrate, making them much higher on the glycemic index compared to other good sources of carbs, like vegetables and fruits. When we eat high glycemic foods, like grains, our insulin levels go up rapidly, and then go down rapidly. Insulin helps get energy into our cells, but a daily and rapid onset of it rushing into our systems can lead to weight gain. This is because when we have too much insulin floating around in our blood, and it is not used for energy, it gets stored as fat. Having high insulin levels can also speed up the rate at which we age, decrease insulin sensitivity (leading to diabetes), promote diseases like cancer, and has even shown to be a risk factor for Alzheimer's.

I hardly ever consume grains anymore, but when I do I make sure I soak and/or sprout the grain. Soaking the grain helps make it more digestible by the body, and makes it easier to assimilate the proper nutrients. Digestion is SO important for losing weight or maintaing a healthy weight, because if we are holding on to something, like undigested food, it will create a bloated feeling in the stomach and add to the pounds. Sometimes it has the opposite effect, making people lose weight, but this is rare (again, every body is different!). Sprouting makes the grain digest more like a vegetable, which I find extremely fascinating, and also increases vitamin and mineral content.

Grains that I recommend if you are just starting to transition to a low-grain diet, or if you are just trying to replace your grains with healthier options, is sprouted wheat (this contains gluten, which can be a problem for many, even without noticing it), barely, oats and rye. Brown rice can also be used. You can find sprouted breads in your grocery store in the frozen food sections. These days the only grain like carbohydrates I consume are sprouted buckwheat and quinoa. These are protein rich (quinoa is a complete protein, supplying all 8 essential amino acids) seeds are gluten free, grain free, while still providing healthy carbohydrates for those who do well on carbs.

Vegetables and fruits are my favorite food groups, especially when it comes to managing weight, blood sugar and providing you with essential nutrients to aid in metabolism. The only probelm with this food pyramid is that it promotes quite a bit of fruit, which is pretty high in fructose carbohydrates. We should know by know about the damaging effects that fructose has on the body when it is exposed to it in excess or in its free forms (high fructose corn syrup, for example).

Fructose in fruits, however, are bound by fiber and other nutrients that blunt its harming effects on the body. However an excess of these sugars in the diet will lead to elevated insulin levels in many people, and if you are looking to lose weight, it is best to have 1-2 servings of fruits per day, maybe more if you consume mostly berries (these fruits are low in fructose carbohydrates).

Be sure to eat fruit about 20-30 minutes before eating a meal with protein and fat. This is because fruit takes only 20-30 minutes to digest, whereas fat and protein stays in the digestion system for a couple (or perhaps a few) hours. If you eat fruit after a meal, you will be placing a quick digesting food on top of a slow digesting meal. The fruit starts to ferment, because it can't digest and go anywhere, and can back up your digestive system. As I mentioned before, having a healthy digestion system is on the keys to losing weight and maintaining a healthy body.

Most vegetables are fair game for me, however I do not consume potatoes or corn. These are very high on the glycemic index and the carbohydrates that they contain turn into sugar very quickly when digested by the body. This will again elevate your insulin levels rapidly, promoting weight gain. If you are going to eat potatoes, I recommend having sweet potatoes, as this is very low on the glycemic index and doesn't have the insulin raising effects as white potatoes. Boiled potatoes have a lower glycemic index than baked, and if you add some fat and protein (real, organic butter, raw cheese) will also help lower the glycemic index. However, watch your proportions if you are trying to lose weight--however most of the time if you listen to your body, it will tell you when you have had enough.

Meat and dairy consumption has been on the decline as promoters of a "healthy lifestyle" have advocated a mostly vegetarian diet, consisting of low-fat dairy products, and even lean meats. I do have problems with this, as the research I have done denotes something entirely different.

Some people have a body type that does very well on a mostly vegetarian diet. These are mainly people who can handle more carbohydrates, and feel good when the majority of the calories comes from these sources. Some people are "protein types", where they feel better with the majority of their calories coming from fat and protein. Others are "mixed types".

Advocating a diet as being mostly vegetarian and high in carbs for all people can be a disaster, especially when you consider all the "types" of bodies out there. Low-fat, pasteurized milk, yogurt and cheese all seem to be healthier, but in reality, are not.

Milk is one of natures perfect foods, but only when it is in its whole, raw form. Clean raw milk supply the necessary fat needed to help digest and assimilate the nutrients found within. Also, most of the vitamins are only soluble in fat, therefore if you take the fat out (as in low fat milk), you can assimilate the nutrients (meaning it isn't bioavailable). Also, the protein in pasteurized milk has been denatured due to the heating process, making it very different than what the body is used to consuming over the eons of evolution that humans have been drinking milk (pasteurized milk is relatively new). Many people with lactose intolerance do well on raw milk--however, if you are going to drink raw milk, please find a clean source, one that is certified to sell raw milk to consumers. Milk that you find in the grocery store that is low fat (2%, 1% and fat-free), have powdered milk added to them by manufactures to give it body. When you powder milk, you expose the cholesterol to a lot of air and heat, leading to oxidation. Oxidized cholesterol is a big component to heart disease. I suspect that this might also happen during pasteurization. Read more about healthy milk here.

Since the turn of the century, America has replaced healthy fats like butter, lard (yes, lard!), whole milk, full fat meat from free range animals and eggs, with polyunsaturated fats and oils (vegetable oils). Butter has been replaced by margarine (trans fat), low fat milk with whole, and lean meats or even nuts and seeds for complete proteins. Statistics have shown that during this time period preventable diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and stroke sky rocketed. "Fat-free" became the 'health' slogan, yet people are getting sicker and sicker. Saturated fat and cholesterol make up the integrity of our cell walls and help can actually decrease our risk for being overweight (more to come on that in Part Two).

So How Come This Pyramid Is NOT Working?

The recommendation for the over consumption of grains, especially refined grains, cutting out healthy fats and replacing it with man made ones, as well as not addressing that every person's body is built differently is what is contributing to weight problems, as well as other diseases (both physical and mental).

The USDA is currently giving farmers over $15 million to produce soybeans and corn, two products which are mainly genetically engineered, found in many processed foods and can actually increase our weight. Unfermented soy, seen as a health food, can actually suppress thyroid function, leading to a slow metabolism, whereas corn stimulates insulin. These two foods should be avoided at all cost. Fermented soy like natto, miso and tempeh are extremely healthy, and should be consumed for a healthy weight and lifestyle, however the majority of the money the USDA spends on soy is for its use in cheap, processed foods.

A U.S. District judge ruled that the USDA came within violation when it made the food pyramid. Those chosen to be on the committee to construct the food pyramid had direct ties to food industries and conflicts of interest between food industries and the USDA proved this ruling true. Another example of the evidence that the USDA and the FDA are not there to protect your health. Read the full story about this here.

Average BMI has also increased, unfortunately, due to this shift in nutritional advice. 100 years ago and beyond we nourished our bodies with healthy, natural foods. But today, we are replacing them with processed junk foods, man made foods and foods that are not found in nature. No wonder our health of our bodies have degraded. Protein has also been seen as being the macronutrient we need least, however it is so crucial for every part of our body, much more than carbohydrates.

In the nest part of this two part series on diet, I will give you foods that WILL help reset your metabolism, giving you a lean and healthy body, one that is healthy for your biochemistry. Whether you need to gain weight or lose it, I will address it in the next post. Let me know in the comments section below, or email me, the foods you normally eat and if you have a problem with your health or weight. I will do my best to bring these foods up in the next post, or a following post.

PLUS--I will be giving you my favorite metabolism boosting, health and beauty promoting food that will help you slim down, stay fit and be healthy. You might be surprised by this food as being healthy, but if you know me and you have been reading this blog for awhile, you might not be. See you then.

This is The Healthy Advocate.

Healthy Weight Week Day Two: Your Exercise Program

2010-05-12T06:13:00.001-07:00

Yikes! Exercise might seem scary for some--heart pounding moves that promote sweat, burning muscles and a tight bod. OK, I couldn't think of a third promoter of exercise that sounded bad. Actually, all of those sounded quite good to me, and might to you, too, if you exercise regularly and feel the benefits of your daily movement.

Exercise not only promotes a healthier body figure and weight, but it also plays vital roles in various other physical and mental parts of your body. Daily movement and exercise influences cells in your body, preventing them from erosion and death, and also aids in proper mental agility and function. First I will go over what exercise does for your body, before I get into what exercises to do for the health of your body.

Exercise promotes better sleep. If you are looking for a natural way to help you sleep at night, without the use of over the counter or prescription drugs (which can lead to dependancy), then exercise is your way to go. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day (45-60 minutes is optimal, depending) will provide an energy expenditure that will promote a tired sensation at the end of the day, thus promoting sleep. This will also last for many hours, preventing you from awakening during the middle of the night.

Besides the obvious effects exercise has on sleep, we also find it affects our circadian rhythms. Our circadian rhythms are the biological rhythms that occur throughout a 24- hour period. The circadian rhythm is mainly focused around our sleep hormone, melatonin. This hormone rises in the evening when darkness sets (making us feel tired and sleepy), and decreases during the day. This hormone is secreted much more strongly when exposed to natural sunlight, as proper sun exposure to the eyes and skin during the day help influence a stronger increase in the hormone at night.

Studies have shown that regular physical activity increases the level of melatonin that is secreted at night. A study performed at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada, found that exercise increased levels of melatonin secretion, especially if the exercise was performed later in the day. However, I believe that exercise in the morning to be optimal. But, if you are trying to fall asleep naturally, break up your exercise routine during the day, morning and afternoon. Exercising too close to bed time, inversely, will actually inhibit your sleep, according to this study.

2. Healthy exercise promotes a better mood, and helps fight depression.

Exercise is one of the most powerful natural "drugs" available, and it is incredibly effective in combating depression and mood disorders. When we put a healthy exertion on our bodies, as through exercise and movement, we start to release hormones in our brain, namely serotonin and endorphins("feel good" hormones). The endorphins that are released have similar effects as morphine, but without the risk of dependancy. Neurotransmitters are also released to provide the transport of the hormones throughout your mind and body, elevating your mood. Too much exertion, however, can have an opposite effect.

The Mayo Clinic also states that exercise boosts mood by elevating body temperature (a warmer body temperature has a calming effect) and increasing the immune system, which has been linked to mood, as well. A study reported in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine used exercise as the only treatment for depression, and found that depression symptoms were cut almost in half in the subjects who participated in the 30-minute aerobic exercise sessions.

3. Fights cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Exercise lowers insulin levels and makes your body's cells more sensitive to insulin. I believe insulin resistance to be one of the culprits behind the rise of degenerative and preventable diseases seen in America today. Lack of exercise and poor diet can lead to these complications, and exercise has been shown numerous times to prevent these illnesses, and even some controversial evidence suggests it can help reverse them (I am NOT condoning a treatment plan--only an alternative preventative strategy!).

4. Makes you smarter. Exercise has been shown to grow new cells in the brain, and also strengthens the inner cortex within the brain associated with cognition and attention. Using exercise as a tool for ADD or ADHD (learning disabilities that I really don't believe exist) along with other healthy approaches (diet, sun exposure, proper sleep and hydration, etc.) can be incredibly beneficial. It always amazes me to see that moving your body every day can actually grow brand new, physical parts of your brain. This is very important as we age, and even for us college students (and all students, everywhere)!

5. Helps fight off illness. Exercising activates the immune system, helping your body fight off illness. The #1 issue people have when they get colds or the flu is that there immune system is down or not functioning properly. Exercising and eating right improves the immune system dramatically.

6. Promotes a healthy body weight and appearance. To be healthy, and to weigh less (or more, depending on your needs), it is absolutely crucial that you apply exercise to you life. It is a valuable key nutrient that helps speed up your basal metabolism (how many calories you burn at rest), activates your growth hormone secretion (from the pituitary gland in the brain) and leads to greater flexibility and strength by toning the muscles and bones.

Like I said before, exercise is a powerful natural "drug" that most people have available to themselves and that can even replace dangerous, and often expensive, conventional drugs. Many stuides already show that antidepressants don't work, so why risk the side effects and pay the price (mentally, physically AND monetary)?

Since I am talking about how to move into a healthier weight with exercise, let's go over the types of exercise that are best. Each type of exercise won't address weight loss specifically, but will, overall, make you healthy. A proper balance of each type will keep your insulin and weight levels low, your energy high and your muscles and body toned and fit.

Interval Training. This is a really cool type of exercise that I'm extremely fond of. Recent research has shown that interval training is the best way to burn fat. This exercise combines intense cardio bursts with periods of rest in between. In fact, the "rests" are actually smaller, less intense movements of the intense cardio movements. Let's say you are walking. For 30 seconds you will do intense sprinting across your path. Then you will go back to walking for 60-90 seconds. Then, you will do the same sprints (bursts of cardio) for 30 seconds. Now back to the walking for 90 seoncds, and so on and so forth.

According to Darrin Steen, health and fitness expert, our bodies continue to burn more calories at rest up to 8 hours after an interval training exercise! This is amazing, seeing how after most aerobic cardio, like light jogging, your body's metabolism slows back down again. However, your metabolism stays elevated much higher after an interval style cardio exercise. You can jump rope, do jumping jacks, or perform sprints for this exercise-- anything that will be intense enough to do for 10-30 seconds. 20 minutes of this exercise is usually enough to compare to an hour's worth of jogging (cardio bursts and rests).

Push yourself HARD during the 10-30 seconds of burst activity to start seeing results and reduction in your weight, and to to see a more toned, fit body. Your body produces adequete amounts of growth hormone with this type of exercise which slow down the aging process, increases muscle mass and aids in reducing fat. Doing too much of this good thing will cause an opposite effect and make your body store more fat by producing cortisol, the stress hormone. 20-40 minutes every other day is fine. However remember--this exercise is best performed every other day, so that you can incorporate other forms of exercise into your lifestyle and to prevent injury.

2. Resistance training. This type of exercise involves using weights, or your own body weight, as resitance in sculpting your body and your muscles. Lifting weights is the common way to go, but you can also find something handy and heavy to use instead. To have a lean body, to have a muscular body, to be fit and have a sculpted look, resistance training is a must. Watch the video below to see an example of this type of exercise.

Please start off with smaller weights if you are just beginning.

Building muscle mass helps your body burn more calories at rest, helping you lose weight faster. However, like interval training, this should be done every other day. Exercising the same muscle groups day after day can result in injury. It's always important to alternate your exercise routine for optimal health.

3. Core exercises and flexibility. These exercises (yoga, pilates, stretching techniques) focus on the core abdominal muscles, promotes balance and flexibility. It is always important to round your exercises off with stretching, and even more important to incorporate a flexibility routine, like yoga and/or pilates, into your practice. My favorite form of yoga is Vinyasa yoga, which combines cardio moves with yoga poses.

The Take Home

Like I said before in my descriptions of the exercises above, it is always important to involve every single one into your healthy lifestyle. Only doing cardio for hours on end will result in energy drainage, increased production of free radicals and cortisol (thus increasing the rate of aging, disease and fat storage), and will provide no enjoyment in the long term. Starting off with just cardio is also more likely to deter you away from exercise later on due to the energy burnout.

For optimal fat burning and muscle building (and for a healthier you), alternate interval cardio with strength and resistance training throughout the week. If you are already at a healthy weight, don't have insulin or cholesterol problems and don't need or want to gain/lose weight, then 3 times a week of exercise will suffice. I like to strive for physical activity every day, but only push my body to the point it feels where it needs to go. Listen to your body, and your body will thank you.

On Friday I will have Day Two posted, telling you about healthy foods that will boost calorie burning, help sculpt muscles and promote optimal nutrition. It isn't just about reducing or adding calories--exercise is a critical nutrient that will help sculpt your body in a healthy way.

I wonder how many times I can use the word, "healthy", in a paragraph? Count them all up in this post and win a prize! :)

This is The Healthy Advocate.

Healthy Weight Week Day One: Your State of Mind

2010-05-10T06:55:00.000-07:00

After receiving some requests from friends and readers (and friends who are readers) about managing their weight, becoming fit and wanting to be healthier, I thought it would be fitting to publish a weeks worth of posts dedicated to this topic. I understand entire books are devoted to such things, but I will do my best to try and deliver as much as I can, and as much as I know (through research and experience) in a week.

Before I do begin, however, I want to reiterate that I will NOT use the word "diet" in any of these posts as related to calorie restriction, weird food combinations or avoidances and insane exercise programs. Diets, in all their strange and wacky forms, don't work. I'm sure you have heard of this before, but it is so true. Sure, they work in the short term. There is no argument there. But, the body is a smart and an adaptable machine. After a while, our bodies will cry out for nourishment, perhaps leading to binging or, if you are prone to addictive behavior, even death.

Death and diet are linked very clearly. The first three letters, after all, spell die. When one who is prone to addictive behavior, as I said earlier, one symptom can be death in the hands of a diet gone wrong. One could get so addicted to dieting, weight loss and calorie control that their bodies cry out for nutrients, stealing it from various sources already in the body, ultimately killing the body. Your body doesn't want to die, but it will do everything in its power to stay alive right now, even if that means killing itself very soon by taking nutrients from stores in your body that actually need it, like your internal organs--heart, lungs, kidney, etc.

This is why I do not like diets. This is why I am a little scared in giving my advice on achieving weight loss or management. I would much rather speak about weight gain in those individuals who need and want it. When I was younger I actually wanted to become bigger, not be so skinny, and fit in. I'm now happy with where I'm at, and realize that being thin and a male isn't necessarily a bad thing, that I can still fit in. As long as I am healthy, happy and doing what I love in life, I know that my body will follow the tune and that I can be comfortable in my own skin. It might not make sense to another, but it does to me, and that's what matters in my life. Find something that makes sense to you, if you can, about being comfortable in your own body. If you can't, and you need a change for health reasons, then it is time to change in a healthy way.

By the way, I'm sorry about all the italicized words. I love italicizing words that I want to emphasize, or the ones I believe are the most valuable to you, my readers and my friends. If you become too annoyed just tell me; I'll stop.

The very first thing you want to do when becoming healthy, losing weight (or gaining or maintaing), is not to first change your diet or lifestyle pattern, but to change your mind. Your mind--your thoughts and beliefs--are what influence your actions in your own life. If you start of the bat by saying you will change the way you eat and exercise, it won't last for very long. At least, you won't maintain this because you first need the mindset and the belief that you CAN do this for yourself.

The Way Your Mind Works

When we believe something, we usually act on those beliefs. There is no question about this. When we believe that we will become dirty if we do not bathe, we bathe. When we believe that there are dangers on the road, we wear a seatbelt. Our beliefs affect our actions in our lives.

If we change our diet while still holding on to a deep seated belief that we're not good enough, we can't maintain a healthy lifestyle, we don't deserve a healthier or happier life, we can't do it, etc., our diet will fail miserably. This is because these beliefs will influence our actions toward the diet, sabatoging ourselves at the beginning or in the middle of a very good intention.

Changing your beliefs about yourself and the way you do things is an incredible important first step in achieving any goal you set. To fully see yourself doing something and achieving your goal is believing that it is possible, and knowing deep within that your goal will be reached no matter what.

How to Change Your Beliefs

Changing your beliefs about yourself can be difficult, if all you were to do was repeat affirmations over and over again in the mirror. Affirmations are good, but they won't get the job done, in the shortest amount of time possible. I'm always glad to hear someone uses affirmations, but if your not engaging your mind with visualizations and sensory feelings, you are not going to reach your goal to its fullest extent, if at all.

I have written extensively on using your mind for the purpose of changing your thoughts, emotions and beliefs in order to change almost anything in your life. In fact, you can check out my other blog here, at Hypnotic Subliminals, where I tell you want you can do to really change those beliefs.

The reason why affirmations don't work, or very rarely do, is because it doesn't go deep within your mind to change those deep seated beliefs and it doesn't engage every part of your mind associated with your goal. Here are a few steps that you can take right now to achieve your goal of losing weight, being healthy and maintaining your healthy lifestyle.

Make sure you can relax. Before beginning any mind altering exercise, you need to relax your body completely. Not to the point of absolute sleep, but the point before that. You want to get your body in a deep state of relaxation before you begin your visualization exercise. Even if you can't get to that "deep" state, still try to find a state of complete calm.

The reason you want to relax is because when our bodies are relaxed, and when we close our eyes, we become more "in tune" with out inner selves. We also have access to our subconscious mind during the times we are relaxing, which is what you want. Your subconscious mind holds all the beliefs, thoughts and ideas you have ever had and we want to access it in order to submit a new belief into its network.

Focusing on your breathing seems to be a good relaxation technique for most people, and notice it slowing down as you continue to relax. Many people also like to imagine every single muscle, from the top of their head to the tip of their toes relaxing and letting go. This helps you focus on areas of the body that you might be holding tension in, and allows you to release it.

2. Imagine, Visualize or Feel. The reason why I say, "...or feel" is because some people complain that they cannot visualize effectively, therefore self hypnosis (what you are doing right now) won't work for them. In essence, self hypnosis will work for everyone, regardless of their visualization skills. If you have trouble visualizing, just feel the emotions I will tell you to feel in just a moment.

Since you are in this relaxed state, you now have access to your subconscious. You are now going to start visualizing yourself being healthy, at the weight that you want, looking great in the mirror, loving everything about yourself, loving to eat healthy, loving to exercise and drink plenty of water, etc. As you are doing this, and imagining the moment you achieved your goal as if you are actually experiencing it makes your brain believe it is possible, or that it's real. Your mind doesn't know the difference between a real or imagined event, and will look and force itself to find ways of making that imagination true.

However, just visualizing it won't do as well unless you incorporate all of your five senses. Hear the sound of the water being poured in the glass, or feel the amazing burn after your favorite workout. Or, perhaps, you see the number on the scale or your body in the mirror, and it fills your emotions with an amazing feeling that you took steps to be at a healthy weight. Also, you can "touch" and feel the muscles that you have built (you are allowed to touch yourself in this visualization, but don't go overboard!).

It is also important to incorporate your emotions into the visualization. This is the most powerful sense, being probably the sixth. It is your emotions that tie all the other senses together and makes the imagined event more real to your mind. This will tell your mind that this is achievable, or that you have already achieved it, and will put your brain in a mode that says you are this person that you are imagining.

3. Say your affirmations. Sending direct suggestions into your subconscious is also very powerful, as they put into words what you were imagining. This would be a good avenue to go for those who feel as though they cannot imagine as well as others. However, it is always important to incorporate those emotions. Also, when saying affirmations, you need to put them in present tense. This way you insert a belief that you have already achieved your goal, making your brain work hard to support this belief.

So there you have it for today's post on healthy weight management. This will start you off. I didn't want to start you out with nutrition or exercise, because you need a good foundation in order to begin with these subjects if you are trying to become healthier. Changing your mind will first change your thoughts and then your behaviors, which will in turn be more helpful in following through on the advice given in the next posts.

P.S. I am giving away a hypnosis program FOR FREE on helping to lose weight, love to eat healthy and exercise and become healthier. It is called, "Hypnosis for a Healthy Lifestyle". It helped me immensely when I first put it together, and I hope it can help you too. If you would like it, please email me or send me a comment below (or Twitter/Facebook me!). I will give you the details on how to get it. It's open for anyone, so why not give it a try?

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This is The Healthy Advocate

Weight Loss/Gain/Maintenance Week

2010-05-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Photo Courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk

Although I dislike talking about weight loss, diets and the number on the scale, readers have asked me to for some advice on losing or maintaing their weight. Some have even wanted to know how to jut get fit and stay that way. Therefore, I am devoting the entire of next week's posts to the topic of getting fit, staying lean and being happy.

This Will NOT Be a Discussion on a Diet

I will not discuss a certain diet that you need to follow in order to accomplish your goals. Diets, as I am sure you are hearing increasingly, really don't work in the long term. They won't make you happy and they don't offer fulfillment. Diets don't offer you your true potential, an you are too important to be measured by a number on the scale.

Diets will devastate your health if you go on one continuously--the health of your body, of course, but also the health of your mind and emotions. A slight change in a number can make or break your day, force you to become rigid or loose and totally wreak havoc on your mental state.

Because diets fail miserably in the long term, many people continue to try them, one after another. This can lead to internal organ damage, nutritional deficiencies and sometimes even brain damage. You do not want this to happen to you, I know you don't (deep down inside)--you are here to be healthy, to be the best at everything you do and to promote a higher force within you.

What I WILL Discuss

This is where you come in. I need your suggestions, your troubles, your woes, stories, advice, rants and raves--everything and anything that relates to what you need help on in staying fit, alive and healthy.

I will discuss conventional ways of losing, maintaining and even gaining weight. Advice that I'm sure you have heard of all before.

However--I will discuss many unconventional ways that DO work in helping people lose or maintain a healthy weight, and I will challenge many areas of the current health paradigm that discuss weight loss and maintenance. You are here to learn about true health, after all, and I don't plan on disappointing any of you.

So those of you who need advice and help on gaining or losing, maintaining or winning the battle with weight, fitness and nutrition, please send in your messages and ask me any question. All questions that are sent will be addressed, but the sender will remain anonymous.

For now, this is The Healthy Advocate.

Sprouted Grains

2010-05-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

A sprouted wheat berry--Photo Courtesy of HealthBanquet.com

After posting the Sprouted Buckwheat Ritz Crackers, I decided to give you a bit more information on the health benefits of sprouted grains, including how to sprout your own nuts, seeds legumes and grains.

A few posts ago I blogged about my "no grain experiment". I found during this experiment that I was seriously cutting down on my carbohydrate intake, and suffered from an energy low. Usually I would consume buckwheat and quinoa (technically not a grain, but still high in carbohydrates), in very small portions (1-2 servings a day, at least), soaked, sprouted and cooked according to ancient methods. However, when I cut them entirely from my diet, my body became a bit drained at times for energy.

Very recently I discovered nutritional typing, or finding out what type of macronutrients are best consumed for your body type. I found that my body type was more of a carb type. There are three types--carb, protein and mixed type. Protein involves much more fat and, well, protein than carbohydrates. Carb types prefer more carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, fruits and properly prepared whole grains. Mixed types do well on a combination of both protein and carbs.

I'm slowly starting to bring back quinoa and buckwheat into my diet, for their carbohydrate energy forms, but still would rather not eat grains--even sprouted grains. My body doesn't do as well on grains, in my opinion, but it does on seeds like buckwheat and quinoa, especially when they are in their sprouted forms. I think I could do well on sprouted grains, every now and then, and even gluten--however I choose to not eat gluten, or grains most of the time. Some people can do very well on grains, no problem and no digestion issues. If you are those people, then this post is for you.

Before the advent of agriculture, grains were hardly ever consumed; in fact, they might have just been seen as a wild plant growing in the fields, not a food source. Even at the beginning of agriculture and harvesting, grains were consumed much differently than they are today, and in fact, most grains are different from their ancient counterparts.

What is sprouting, how do you do it and what are the nutritional benefits? Read below to find out.

Sprouted Grains

Photo Courtesy of DallasNews.com

Wheat, spelt, barely, rye, oats and other whole grains were not prepared the same way in ancient traditions as it is today. Today people are aware (at least somewhat educated people on nutrition) that whole grains are the ones to consume, but very rarely do they know that sprouted whole grains are what needs to be eaten if they want their health to be optimal.

When you sprout grains, the nutritional content goes through the roof. Vitamin E content increases (a powerful antioxidant), nutrients are maximized and the digestion and assimilation of all nutrients are better handled by the body. This means the benefits of regular whole grains are increased, and your body can utilize these benefits much better in their sprouted form than their regular, cooked forms.

Most people consume oats, wheat bread, brown rice, etc., without thinking that they can "up" the nutrition and assimilation of this nutrition just by soaking or sprouting these grains a few hours before preparing them. These methods that have been used in healthy traditions and cultures are just one of the secrets to good health.

Phytic acids are organic acids found in the bran of the seed. These compounds bind with calcium and other minerals, which then block their absorption in the body. The Weston A. Price Foundation notes that, " This is why a diet high in improperly prepared whole grains may lead to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss." When you eat sunflower seeds, for example, it will be very hard for your body to absorb the calcium contained within unless you properly prepare them (soaking and/or sprouting). Rye contains the highest amount of phytic acids, while oats contain the least.

Legumes like pinto and black beans also sprout and this is the only way I consume my beans. Beans are almost always associated with gas, bloating and sometimes GI (gastrointestinal) distress because of their high amounts of fiber. However, when soaking beans, digestion is much easier and problems with the GI tract (gas and bloating) are usually dissolved. I suspect this is do to the neutralization of the phytic acids.

How to Sprout Your Grains

Wheat berries are the grains that sprout the best, along with rye, barely, spelt and oat groats. Buckwheat and quinoa, although not technically grains, are also easily sprouted. My favorite method of sprouting, whether it be grains, seeds or legumes, is to--

Soak the grain, seed or legume in water for 8, 12 or 24 hours. Soaking helps break down the phytic acid and neutralizes the anti-nutrients that surround the grain. By breaking up these acids, your body has a better time, and a better chance, of digesting and assimilating the nutrients found within the whole food. You can add an acid medium in the water like whey, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, however some people don't do this, and that's OK. An acid medium might speed up the process and provide a good pH environment for the grain.
After soaking the grains, drain, place in a strainer or colander, place over a bowl or something to catch the strained liquid and cover with a towel. The sprouting process begins when the water starts to slowly strain from the grain (hey, that rhymes!) and when it is exposed to oxygen. Rinse and strain every two-four hours, if time permits. Or, you could rinse and strain just twice per day.

After a day you might notice little tails sprouting from the grain. This is what you want. After two days, you can then dry the grain and grind it into a flour (if that was your goal), or you can cook the grain as usual (buckwheat, oat groats, legumes, etc.).

If you are wanting to boost the nutrition quality of other grains like brown rice, rolled oats or nuts, be aware that these do not sprout. However they do host a benefit when soaked. Soak these foods for 8-12 hours (or overnight) and then cook them or eat them the way you normally do. For rice and oats, soak in an equal amount of water, and then cook in another even amount of water the next day (or after the soaking process). You can also add more water or milk (preferably raw or other non-dairy milk) to stretch out the serving size.

Using sprouted flour in your baking recipes will definitely boost the nutrition quality of your homemade goods. Doing this yourself takes time, but after you do it once it will feel natural and will be a very easy process. Trust me, I sprouts my seeds and legumes all the time, and I don't think twice about it. It's easy, healthy and your body will thank you.

As of the time I am writing this, a fellow blogger Elizabeth Walling of Living the Nourished Life (dot com), is giving away two 5-pound bags of sprouted wheat and spelt flour. If you want a chance to win, head over to her blog, read the contest rules and enter. I've also entered, and am a bit excited to see the final results. 10 pounds of sprouted grains will last a long time in my house, unless my family (who does eat grains) desire healthy dessert dishes, as they usually do.

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This is The Healthy Advocate.

The Healthy Advocate Introduction

2010-05-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

It struck me the other day that I never really introduced myself, or explained the goal that I have for this blog. Well, I decided to make a video to explain it all. Please comment and let me know how you like (or don't like) the video process.

Gluten Free Sprouted Buckwheat "Ritz-y" Style Crackers

2010-04-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

These crackers are quite amazing, and I'm so glad that I attempted to even try and make them. During the winter holiday, I was looking for a healthier version of the standard Ritz cracker. Something about white flour, high fructose corns syrup and artificial preservatives just didn't get me in a warm, fuzzy mood, and it certainly didn't help my appetite.

After much searching, I figured out that I had to make these things myself. What to use? I could use wheat flour, since I'm not necessarily gluten intolerant (however I do well avoiding all grains). All I would have to do would be to soak the flour overnight, with an acid medium, to neutralize the phytic acids and enzyme inhibitors. No, I thought, there has to be a way to have a healthier cracker.

Voila! These little, crispy, lovely gluten free Ritz crackers were born! In this recipe I use sprouted buckwheat flour. I take buckwheat groats, soak them overnight in water with a little lemon juice, drain, rinse occasionally, and then they will sprout in a couple of days. I then dry and grind them into a flour using a small blender. You can do this in a coffee grinder, nut, seed and grain mill, blender, Magic Bullet, etc. You could also take pure buckwheat flour and soak it over night in 1/4 cup of water with a tablespoon of lemon juice, yogurt or whey. In fact, you can even use buttermilk in place of the 1/4 cup of water. This will help boost the nutritional quality of the flour while helping to aid digestibility and absorption of the nutrients.

This recipe was adapted from the Whole Foods website, under the recipe Whole Wheat Graham Crackers. However, this recipe uses no wheat, no grain, and no sugar, and it won't taste like graham crackers, unless you want it to. Instead of scoring the dough with a knife into squares, like with the original recipe, I rolled out the dough with my trusted rolling pin and parchment paper. If the dough crumbles, that's fine. Just pat it back together again. The key is to use parchment paper or plastic wrap in order to roll out this awesome recipe. To cut out the shapes of circles, I used a round lid from the container of a spice that I found in the seasonings cabinet. To make the tiny circles on each cracker, poke with a wooden skewer or straw (I use a straw).

These can be baked or dehydrated. If you truly want a healthy Ritz cracker, I would go for dehydrating these. I don't currently own a dehydrator, but if you have one, go for it! You could also set these in the oven at the lowest temperature setting and open the oven door with the light turned on. I don't like doing this, because the hours spent dehydrating the crackers might use a lot of energy--from both you (having to check the oven every hour) to you electricity/gas bill.

By the way, if you do not avoid gluten or grains, then you can use sprouted/soaked wheat or spelt flour. Leave out the gum, as these grains contain gluten which will provide a better binding agent.

Gluten Free, Grain Free Sprouted Buckwheat (Perhaps Raw) "Ritz" Style Crackers

Makes a lot of 1 & 1/4" circle crackers

1 cup sprouted Buckwheat Flour

1/2 tsp. Xanthan or Guar Gum (optional, but recommended)

1/4 + 1/8 tsp. Aluminum Free Baking Soda

2 TBSP. Coconut Oil or Cold Organic Butter (I LOVE Organic Valley!)

1 Egg White

1 1/2 TBSP. Xylitol, Sucanat or 1 TBSP. honey

1/4 tsp. Celtic Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, or oil a glass baking dish. Set aside.

Mix flour, xanthan/guar gum (if using) baking soda, xylitol or sucanat (if using) and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir the dry ingredients together with a whisk or spoon until all ingredients are well mixed. Work the butter or coconut into the mixture with your fingers, until the dough resembles crumbs. For a crispier cracker, add more butter or coconut oil.

Whisk together the egg white and the honey (if using) together, and slowly pour into the flour mixture. Stir into the flour until a dough forms. If too dry, add some cold ice water, a teaspoon at a time, to stiffen the dough. The dough might be sticky, but should be firm enough to form into a ball-like shape. If needed, add a little more flour.

Turn out half of the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Place another piece of paper or plastic on top of this dough and start to roll out the dough into a circle with a wooden rolling pin. Let the dough roll out into a 1/8 thickness. If dough crumbles, gently pat it back together again.

Using the round cap of a seasoning, or a cookie cutter of your desired shape, cut out little crackers. You may have to wait until all the cuts are made to then take out the crackers from the dough. Take up the crackers and place them in rows on baking sheet. Poke tiny holes in the center of the cookie, if desired, with a straw or other utensil. Brush the crackers with some egg white, melted butter or coconut oil or water, and then sprinkle a little sea salt on top.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until crispy.

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This is The healthy Advocate.

Healthy, Raw and Homemade Sunflower Seed Butter

2010-04-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hi there everyone. This is The Healthy Advocate.

Today I'm posting a really cool recipe that many don't believe exist, or is possible to complete. This is my healthy, homemade and raw sunflower seed butter. I really do love this recipe because it is a great alternative to peanut butter, which can be contaminated with aflatoxins, fungicides and allergic compounds (peanuts are one of the most allergenic nuts). Those with nut allergies can switch to sunflower seed butter quite easily.

I made my very first video to walk you through the nutrition information of sunflower seeds (it is packed full of so many beneficial nutrients!), how it can help burn fat and tone up, help the heart and aid in cholesterol. There are two parts to the video, as I took longer than expected when filming it. I was sure it was going to be at least seven minutes long, but it took twice that amount of time! I will also walk you through in this two part series of how to make your very own sunflower seed butter.

Video Highlights: Sunflower Seed Nutrition Information

On browsing certain sites, such as NutritionData.com, as well as checking out other sources of whole food nutrition information, I came across many facts pointing to sunflower seeds as highly nutritious additions to any diet. Sunflower seeds are packed full of Vitamin E, which is a very potent anti-oxidant. The vitamin E in sunflower seeds help combat free radicals in the body, which may help prevent disease and early signs of aging.

Sunflower seeds also contain good amounts of selenium and manganese. Selenium is an important compound used to detoxify the body of harmful molecules, while manganese promotes health muscle and bone function, as well as blood pressure and energy levels. A great pre- or even post-workout snack!

Because the selenium uses a certain pathway to detoxify the body through the liver, it might aide in fat burning, seeing how our liver is our main fat burning organ. A healthy liver, a healthy weight!

Now this butter isn't the same color as peanut butter--far from it. It is gray, and almost looks like clay dough. However, the taste makes up for the appearance. If you can find a natural food coloring that is brown, or something that resembles peanut butter, then you might be able to do sunflower seed butter without even thinking about it.

On With the Recipe...

Feel free to play with this recipe. Adding sugar and salt isn't necessary, but it definitely helps the taste. Because you are using Celtic Himalayan Sea Salt, you can feel comfortable that this salt is actually good for you! It won't make you bloated, and it contains around 84 key trace elements that are crucial for your health. Sweeteners are up to you, but I like Xylitol and Sucanat. Adjust to your preferences. Oil adds a smooth texture for a good spread; however, the sunflower seeds will release their own oils in the end. If you are going to use oil, use a healthy one like coconut, olive, walnut or flax. Oil will add calories, so be sure to process the oil one teaspoon at a time.

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Raw Sunflower Seed Butter

You will need a clean food processor and glass jar for storage. Make sure all utensils are dry.

Makes around 2 cups of butter.

4 cups raw, organic and shelled sunflower seeds
1/2-1 tsp. Celtic Himalayan Sea Salt (to desired taste)
1 tsp. Xylitol, Sucanat or other sugar equivalent (to desired taste)
1-3 tsp. oil (optional)

Place dry, shelled sunflower seeds, salt and sugar (if using) into the food processor. If you are using oil, save until the end. Process the seeds, salt and sugars until a nice flour-like texture is formed with the sunflower seeds. Continue to process this flour for a minute at a time, giving your motor a minute to cool down in between. The flour will stick to the sides of the food processer, but scraping it down each time will help move the process along.

After about 12 minutes of processing, the natural oils should have released themselves, making a a butter on the bottom of the food processor. Continue to scrap down the side of the food processor and keep blending. The sunflower seed butter will form into a ball, swirling and twirling. Keep processing, and add oil, if desired, one teaspoon at a time to give a spreadable texture to the butter.

Store and label for later use. Congratulations! You made a very inexpensive, but incredibly health alternative to peanut butter--sunflower seed butter!

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This is The Healthy Advocate.

Meditation and Your Health

2010-04-12T12:52:00.001-07:00

Where I am sitting on campus. Look at all the trees!

I'm sitting here at my college campus, freezing in the empty lobby while a man pushes a giant vacuum around the floor. Coming in early, then waiting three hours for rehearsal to start while freezing my butt off isn't what I had in mind, however it does give me some time to work on my blog.

What is the rehearsal about, you say? Well, The Healthy Advocate is in a play here at the school. I play one of the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. I know, a male witch in Macbeth--however I think it is more in tune with Shakespeare's original plays. No females allowed (what did he have against females?).

Now, let's get to the topic at hand. I wanted to talk about the power of our mind. I am really into mind-body healing and medicine of all types, and am also a certified hypnotist. The more research I do, and the more I experience for myself, the better I can understand our mind's abilities and its power over our health.

The power of our minds can radically improve our health, and it can also radically diminish it. When our thoughts are in order, and when our mind is filled with only images of success, of our goals, of how to make our lives healthier and happier, we actually move toward these things. Inversely, when our thoughts are stressful in nature, dark, hateful, pessimistic, etc., we move into a state of disorder and ultimately disease.

Our thoughts also play a huge impact on our emotions, because I know each and everyone of you have had moments where you visualized your bright future, full of the things you wanted, and you noticed your stress levels decreased. You become at ease, and you are able to focus on things more fully, and are able to give yourself 100%. However, when you imagine a future of unknowingness, of darkness and sickness, you feel uneasy, stressed, out of your mind--you get the picture. I don't want to go down the downward path too much in this post; just stressing the importance of the positive will help you more so than understanding the downsides of the negative.

Meditation, one of my personal favorite methods for decreasing the disorder in the mind, is a vast term. You have probably encountered people who "meditate", or you have probably even tried doing it yourself. Sometimes this stress relieving technique can actually be quite stressful when one has a hard time quieting the mind and calming the body. Then this person gives up completely on a wonderful health promoting tool. Meditation IS important for your health and happiness, as it gives you a sense of control, calm and well being in your life that I everyone has a right to.

The health benefits (dare I say proven health benefits?) of meditation are numerable, and I will go over the ones I find to be the most concerning to the majority of you guys. I'll blog more on other benefits later; but now I want to share with you the one's I found most important. Meditation has been shown in lowering blood pressure, lowering blood sugar (helping in insulin sensitivity) and lowering cholesterol. It has also been beneficial in weight loss, depression, mood and learning disorders, and benefits also lie in the arena of weight loss. That's right--closing your eyes and listening to your breath can actually help you drop the pounds.

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Here is my list for the top health benefits associated with meditation. Again, as with all my lists, this is far from complete--it only narrows down the top ones most people face and ask about.

Photo courtesy of Canadian-OnlinePharmacies.com

1 - In The Journal of Chronic Diseases, meditation and relaxation exercises were shown to significantly lower blood pressure in subjects. This isn't the only study out there--there are hundreds of them that exist; even common sense can tell you that relaxation techniques are effective at decreasing hypertension symptoms.

Meditation has also been shown to be beneficial in lowering blood sugar levels. A study recorded in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry showed that relaxation training and biofeedback lowered blood glucose levels in the individual studied. This person also showed this benefit maintained after a one year follow up. Another research study at the Cedar-Sanai Medical Center in Los Angeles showed that meditation was able to lower blood sugar and insulin levels.

A lipoprotein. Photo courtesy of Answers.com

Cardiovascular disease and high levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL), or bad cholesterol is associated with psychological stress. Reducing the stress has been shown to lower the bad cholesterol while decreasing cardiovascular disease risk.

*Note that there are two types of LDL. There are large buoyant lipoproteins and small, hard density lipoproteins. The hard and small lipoproteins are the ones you have to worry about. Having a high LDL doesn't mean you are at risk for heart disease. Measuring your triglycerides levels are the best ways to determine your risk, while also comparing these levels with your HDL (you want a high HDL and low triglycerides).

Another study showed that participants with panic disorder were almost doubled with the risk of coronary heart disease, with those with depression were three times at risk. Meditation, combined with trusted medical advice, is beneficial in reducing your risk by lowering your anxiety and depressive moods.

2 - Weight loss has also been shown to result when meditation techniques are applied to one's everyday practice. It is well known and documented that hypnosis aides in weight reduction, and is successful in maintaining a healthy weight over time. However, meditation is not the same as hypnosis. Meditation is a relaxation technique that quiets the mind and stills the body. Earlier I mentioned that hypnosis was beneficial in lowering blood sugar and insulin levels. Since insulin, in particular excessive insulin, is known as the "fat storing hormone". Too much insulin in the body easily stores the extra sugars in your body (those that are broken down from carbohydrates) as fat.

Lowering your insulin levels is one key to losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight over time. Doing this will also help improve insulin sensitivity (your cells are able to take in sugar for energy more easily). You will also optimize your grehlin hormone (hunger hormone) at the same time, helping you to control your appetite and only eat whenever you are truly hungry. Can you believe just a few minutes a day, closing your eyes and listening to your breath, can help you this immensely?

Photo courtesy of WendyUsuallyWanders.wordpress.com

3 - Meditation has been shown to be beneficial for those with depression and mood disorders by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is the "feel good" hormone that increases feelings of hope and joy, all scientific feelings--but I would rather look at them as spiritual ones, as well. Mindfulness relaxation also helps one to deal with stress more efficiently, making it easy to take on hardships without having to get into a funk.

4 - Meditation is a powerful tool in combating learning "disorders" and disabilities. I don't necessarily believe in ADD or ADHD--I do, however, believe that certain conditions can lessen ones abilities to concentrate, especially in this time (diet, lack of exercise, popular culture, etc.). Having a good foundation based on natural principles, while combing meditation, has been shown to increase one's attention.

Meditation has been shown to actually increase one's brain size! This part is very fascinating to me, because it shows that we can actually grow new neurons and gray matter within our brain just by the power of thought and relaxation. In a study done at Harvard Medical School, researchers found that those who meditated for 20 minutes a day showed actual growth in one of the inner cortexes of the brain, the one most associated with memory and attentiveness. Another study showed activation in brainwaves associated with attention.

Isn't it amazing that we can actually change the structure of our brains by using meditation? It's incredibly fascinating that we can do something to our brains that most thought was impossible. We have been taught that the brain stays pretty stagnant over our lifetime, and very little physical growth is actually achieved. However, using meditation one can thicken parts of the brain to help aid in memory and mood.

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How Can I Start My Meditation Practice?

This mind altering (yes, it can be a bit mind altering at times) tool doesn't solely rest on having you sitting on the floor, cross legged, closing your eyes and repeating, "OM" over and over again. OM is a very powerful and relaxing mantra, but meditation is so much more than that, and I believe each and everyone is important and should be incorporated into our life. One form of meditation I love to do is yoga, outside in the sunshine. Doing yoga is an amazing way to calm and center the mind, which is a large component of meditation; but doing yoga in nature allows you to connect to the earth, to nature, and it also helps you get your beneficial Vitamin D from the sun (which has been shown to help in correlating benefits achieved through meditation--healthy blood sugar, blood pressure, weight, learning and attention).

Other exercise, such as running, walking, lifting, jogging, pilates, etc., is a very good form of meditation, as it allows your brain to focus on one thing--the task at hand. In meditation, you want to achieve a state where you are only focusing on one thing--your body, breath, the exercise you are performing, so on and so forth. Then, as you continue to practice, you will be able to completely free yourself of all thoughts and of the world around you, clearing your mind in order to receive healing and nurturance. Centering the mind and healing the body is a goal in meditation which is easily achieved through continued practice.

Combining exercise and meditation is a powerful way to elicit good health, however there are other ways to meditate. The most popular way is laying or sitting down, in a comfortable position (whatever works for you), closing your eyes and focusing on your breath. There is absolutely nothing else you have to do but breathe and listen. Your breathing will continue to slow down, and your muscles will start to loosen and become relaxed. You can even imagine that every single muscle in your body is relaxing, from the top of your head, to the bottom of your feet (or vice versa).

Am I Doing it Right?

Here's a secret: It doesn't matter. There isn't a "wrong" or "right" way to meditate. There really isn't. Besides, worrying about getting it "just right" will only aggravate your system, causing you more stress than when you started. That definitely will not produce the benefits associated with deep relaxation and focus. Just let go, allow yourself to relax and breathe deeply, and with practice, you will be able to flow within a state that brings forth ease of mind and healing.

Just implementing an exercise program will help you incorporate a form of meditation into your life. This way, you will be getting the benefits of exercise along with the benefits of meditation. Although, there are certain parts of quiet and still meditation (relaxation) that you can't achieve in exercise meditation. Doing it at night before you go to sleep, or in the morning as soon as you awake is what is easiest for most people. During the day it can be a bit hectic, unless you do have a time where you will not be disturbed and have nothing else you need to do.

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Take this information and share it with those you love, as health information needs to spread across to all those who will listen! Meditation is beneficial and fun, and I'm sure you will love it, as it will greatly increase your health while helping you maintain a calm and solid attitude throughout your life.

This has been The Healthy Advocate.

P.S. Upcoming blog posts will be two of my favorite recipes. One is my Gluten Free Sprouted Buckwheat "Ritz" Style Crackers!

These seriously are good. Grain free and low in calories, these are crackers you shouldn't feel bad eating.

I will also be sharing with you in an upcoming video about how to make sunflower seed butter. See you then...

Spring Into Your Health!

2010-04-06T08:32:00.001-07:00

Photo from TheDailyMail.com

Spring is here! The cold and dark winter months are now drawing to a close, bringing longer days and warmer nights. The birds are outside right now chirping away and it feels like Spring. It feels as if life is blossoming all around me, and the joy I feel inside compares to no other feeling that accompanies any other season.

What are your favorite spring memories? Mine would have to be the time around Easter. Coloring eggs, putting "grass" inside my Easter basket and awaiting the Easter bunny (I love that guy!). I would always leave out carrots or nuts for the bunny, knowing that he had a lot of hopping to do that night. It never grew tiresome, waking up in the cool-warm morning, going to the kitchen and seeing my basket filled with an array of colors.

The Easter basket I--I mean The Easter Bunny--Put Together

I did receive chocolate bunnies, chocolate candy and the oh-so bad stuff that I definitely stay away from these days. However I did always spread out the consumption of these things, when I was young, for months, never eating a whole Easter bunny in one, two or three days--but having it last for weeks, if not months, on end. I guess I got down that whole 'moderation is key' thing even back then.

By the way, I made some sugar free, completely natural homemade candies for Easter, just so I wouldn't feel left out! The whole family enjoyed them as well. I will post the recipes in a following post.

Making my sugar free Easter candy

In Chinese medicine, Spring is associated with the liver, the organ that helps detoxify and cleanse our body of impurities. After the long winter months, our eating may have been focused more on heavier, denser foods to help warm our bodies. During the warmer months, it is time for the body to crave more light foods filled with water and moisture.

Keeping our liver clean will help us detoxify the buildup of toxins that have developed over the past few months, and it will also help us burn fat more efficiently. Since the liver is our main fat burning organ, it is imperative that you do what you can to make it healthy and clean. There are a number of ways to do this, and all of them are quite simple, yet hold a powerful impact on your body.

#1 - Listen to Your Body

This is a fairly simple rule, that I am sure all of you have heard before. However, there is a bit of a twist when it comes to it. During the spring, and the warmer months, our bodies will require and crave more water and moisture. If we don't supply this through our diet (water and food), we will die within a short time. Listening to your body enables you to know when to need water and when to eat foods that are rich in moisture.

Our diet in the spring should usually be different than in the winter, because in the winter you are wanting warmer, denser foods to provide your body with heat. However, in the spring and summer months, your body needs lighter foods that won't weigh you down, that won't produce too much heat or cause you to become dehydrated. Choosing the right vegetables and fruits that are in season should help provide you with the water you need, along with a good does of pure, clean water every day.

#2 - Tonify the Liver

Spring, like I mentioned earlier, is associated with our fat burning organ, the liver. Help out this organ this spring so it can help release toxins in the body. Choosing the right foods will do the trick. Lemons and limes are amazingly beneficial for the liver, and will help support bile formation (helps digestion).

Dandelion greens are also amazing for detoxifying our bodies through the liver. I bet you were surprised to find that you could actually consume this plant, just as I was when I discovered it a few years ago! Nevertheless, it is a very good green to throw into your salads, green smoothies or to be dried and made into a tea. The leaves are quite bitter, so be aware of this before you ingest them. They may be available in your local health food store this spring, or at your local farmer's market.

There are also yoga moves you can do that correspond with a health liver (to see all poses, click here). One is a simple forward fold.

Photo from YogaJournal.com

Another is downward facing dog.

Photo from YogaJournal.com

Try these poses for about five minutes every day, or as long as you can stand it, building up to the five minutes. These poses help stimulate the liver in a healthy, natural way.

#3 - Eat with the Season

Photo from SummerTomato.com

Staying healthy doesn't always have to be difficult. We don't always have to look feverishly thorugh the supermarket shelves, trying to find the right item that says it will support our health. Simply going to your farmer's market, or going to your local produce section will give you the items you need.

Eating local is important, but so is eating vegetables and fruits that are in season. Most of the time, if they are in season in our part of the country, than they're local. Even if it means the next state over, it's still better than eating a vegetable or fruit shipped from Australia that has already lost most of its nutritional value.

Eating in season will help your body detoxify more fully, no matter what season, because you will have more available nutrients being taken into your body to assist with a multitude of metabolic functions. The vegetables that will be in season this spring, and more than likely be local as well, will be artichokes, arugula, asparagus, chard, mustard greens, spinach, parsley and watercress.

#4 - Meditate!

Photo from EpicSelf.com

Meditation is a fantastic tool for preparing your mind and body for the outside world, and is an incredible way to relax. But did you know that it offers your body much more?

This fantastic tool has been shown to assist in digestion, which can also assist in detoxifying your body. When our minds and bodies are at ease as the result of deep breathing and/or visualization exercises/techniques, our digestion becomes much easier, helping us release and burn more fat in the long run.

So not only can meditation help calm the mind and ease digestion, it can help keep us slim as well! It's completely free and only requires 10-30 minutes of your time. Start out with deep breathing exercise and then looking into some visualization exercise, such as imagining yourself in a place that makes you feel completely comfortable and serene--like a forest, a brook or any other favorite setting.

There you go! Four simple steps to now implement into this spring. I bet you were already going to do these anyway; hopefully I was just a "push" in the right direction! Feeling great, cool and confident during these warmer months is what you body wants, and the way to do that is to detoxify. Keep your body clean!

For now, this is The Healthy Advocate.

Can You Find the Hidden Sugar?

2010-03-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

Sugar, sugar everywhere, and there seems to be enough to share. But how many people actually understand sugar, and how many people know how much sugar they are really receiving in a day?

Last night I made homemade chili for my family (they seem to always request that every week) and my father and my sister ran out of sour cream. Now I usually use whole milk organic plain yogurt in place of sour cream, and this seemed to appeal to them when it never did before. Should they try it? My father looked at the nutrition information (which was a surprise) and exlaimed, "Wow, that sure has a lot of sugar in it." He then proceeded to smell it to make sure it wasn't a sweet tasting yogurt that would ruin his savory dish.

Now, this kind of upset me, because my family knows that I would NEVER buy something with added sugar in it, especially if it is organic, so I defended my yogurt with fervor. Yes, it does have 12 grams of sugar per cup, but this is naturally occurring in dairy products as the disaccharide lactose that is found in every dairy product.

I then told them that their sour cream had more sugar than my plain yogurt, and them, being not as adept to reading nutritional labels, told me it only had 2 grams. That's true; however, it was 2 grams per 2 tablespoons. That would make it have 4 grams more sugar than yogurt!

Now this story (real event) was told to demonstrate the delusion and confusion when it comes to nutritional labels--but mainly when it comes to sugar content. What should you be looking for when it comes to how much sugar you are ingesting in your favorite food?

I am mainly talking about processed food in this post, whether or not it is organic. Whole foods contain very little naturally occurring sugar, unless it is dairy or fruit. Even then, these sugars are metabolized in the body very differently from the foods you will find in the middle of your supermarket, laden with added sugars.

I will not go through the molecular structure of sugar in this post, as that deserves a whole other post on its own. However, I will let you know, before we delve deeper, that regular sugar is made up of two monosaccharides fructose and glucose, in equal amounts. This forms, like I just said, regular sugar, or sucrose.

If you are looking at the back of a nutrition label, and you see a word that ends with the suffix

-ose, you are guaranteed that you are consuming a product with added sugar. The main sugar that the food industry uses now days (if it isn't organic) is high fructose corn syrup. This damaging form of "sugar" is hard to consume in moderation if one is constantly consuming processed food.

Later on, I will post about the damaging effect of free fructose, as of that found in high fructose corn syrup, but for now we need to concern ourselves with identifying added sugars in our foods. Most foods that we consume on a day to day basis seem as though they wouldn't need sugar, but the industry places it in there anyway. Everything from breads (even whole wheat and grain), packaged pasta meals, frozen dinners, sausages and meats--these have all been found to have added sugar.

Walking through the grocery store is a bit fun for me, because I am an avid fan of reading nutrition labels. You wouldn't believe (or if you are reading this blog, you actually may believe) the products that contain added sugar. Every product that I mentioned in the above paragraph contained either corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup--products that naturally would have no sugar in them at all!

When buying processed food, even if it is organic, it is very valuable to your health, and to those you love, to read nutrition labels. You absolutely don't have to be insane about it, or to work yourself into a rut, just try and look for better options. Different brands of the same foods may have different sugar content, and may contain different forms of sugar. If you are going to buy something that does contain added sugar, it is best to find a brand that uses pure sugar, and not corn syrup, fructose or high fructose corn syrup.

Sometimes we need to buy these foods--for convenience, for taste or pleasure, whatever. Just always keep in mind that there are better options for the same food, and to also notice where the sugar content that is in the nutrition label is coming from. Is it coming from naturally occurring sources like those found in the whole fruit, vegetable or dairy? Or is it coming from the addition of sugar by the manufacturer?

Hopefully this post has given you some insight, advice and guidance on the sugar issue in your food. You can be sure that this won't be the last, as I have many more posts coming in the future, especially the growing concern over fructose.

Until then, this has been The Healthy Advocate.

Winter Recipe Roundup - Healthy, Gluten Free, Sugar Free and Sooo Good

2010-03-28T09:58:00.001-07:00

Click on the picture above to see descriptions

On the last day of winter this year, I decided to squeeze in as much last minute holiday treats as I could. I love wintertime, and I wanted to get the most out of it this year, for some reason. However, when spring came, it was fantastic, because as you can see above in the middle picture (click to enlarge), the first full day of spring was filled with 3 inches of snow--in Texas!

I go to school in Houston but visit Dallas (my home) as often as I can. For spring break I went, and the last day I was there I was running and playing in the snow like a little kid again. How I wish I took more pictures! I made two snow angels, a snow man and several hundred snowballs to throw at the window to get my preteen sister and her friends to wake up (they didn't come out by the way--apparently they're too cool for that).

Anyway, back to the recipes. I made quite a bit, unintentionally, and shared them with my mom--brothers and sisters are more into the processed food, promoting its taste and "quality" while never attempting to try real food. Oh well; there is only so much you can do to try to promote health and wellness in others. However, I am "The Healthy Advocate", so I shall try more, without being too overbearing.

OK, I have strayed again, and I will stay on topic. Enter Coconut Flour Gingerbread Cookies! Sugar free, dairy free and gluten free, I might add (did I also mention they were grain free?). I have never had any luck making a recipe completely vegan when it comes to coconut flour. It seems as though the eggs are an integral part of the recipe in order to bind everything together properly. If anyone has any tips on this, please let me know.

My cookies came out thin, mainly because that was the way I wanted them. You can make them thicker by adding more batter to the cookie cutter (see recipe). Also, they are very soft, not crispy like other gingerbread cookies. I think next time I will try almond flour next winter for a crispier cookie.

The only trouble I had with the recipe was the coconut oil frosting/glaze. Sometimes a chef can't be patient--you must be when it comes to this recipe! You must first allow the cookies to completely cool before frosting, otherwise the coconut oil will soak into the warm cookie, and won't make that beautiful hard coating that you see in the picture below.

One more note: The nutrition information below is calculated based on the number of cookies I made. You may need to adjust the numbers when you actually make yours. The entire recipe comes out at 9 grams of digestible carbs! Which means if you ate one cookie, you would only get 0.6 grams of digestible carbohydrates, which is pretty cool (only if you are able to make 16 cookies, like I did). It also contains a whopping 1.5 grams of high quality protein, due to the eggs and coconut flour. What a nutritious and guilt free treat!

This recipe was adapted from SimplyCoconut.com. They have fantastic coconut flour recipes. I haven't tried them all out yet, but I'm getting there.

Coconut Flour Gingerbread Cookies

Makes about 16 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Ingredients

1/4 + 1/8 cup Coconut Flour (6 TBSP total)

1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger

1/4 Cup Xylitol + 2 TBSP Xylitol (or favorite sugar free sweetener)

1/4 tsp. Pure Stevia Powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 cup dairy free milk--Coconut milk might be best

3 TBSP butter, ghee or coconut oil, melted

3 eggs OR 6 egg whites

Directions

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

Combine the milk, melted butter or oil and the eggs in a separate bowl. Mix until blended.

Pour in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

On a greased glass baking dish, place your desired cookie cutter. Pour a couple of tablespoons worth of batter in the cookie cutter and press batter into the shape. Slowly unmold the cookie so all that is left is the batter in the desired shape. Repeat with same or different cookie cutters.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Coconut Oil Frosting/Glaze

1/4 Cup - 1/2 Cup melted coconut oil

Stevia, to taste

Directions

Pour sweetened coconut oil on top of cooled cookies one TBSP at a time and spread. Cool cookies again so the glaze will harden.

Nutrition Information

Per Cookie w/o Glaze & Made w/ Whole Eggs

Calories: 68.15

Fat: 4 g

Digestible Carb: 0.6 g

Fiber: 0.95 g

Protein: 1.5 g

Per Cookie w/o Glaze & Made w/ Egg Whites

Calories: 60.65

Fat: 2.9 g

Digestible Carb: 0.6 g

Fiber: 0.95 g

Protein: 1.5 g

Sugar: 0.19 g (naturally occurring and bound w/ fiber in the coconut flour)

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Now for the nut-butter cups. These "Reese's" inspired chocolate covered peanut butter cup is one of my favorite, because I combine different and healthier nuts other than peanut. Peanuts can contain a toxin around them the majority of the time, and are high in inflammatory oils and fats (omega-6's). I use a blend of organic peanut butter, walnut butter and almond butter (homemade, of course--recipe coming soon).

Homemade Reese's can take some time, but it is SO worth it, especially when you consider the health of your body. Rather than giving your body all the sugar and inflammatory fats that are found in regular candies, you know you are giving your body the anti-aging, anti-inflammatory fats from walnuts, the anti-oxidants from pure chocolate, and the metabolism boosting qualities of coconut oil. Also, you won't be bombarding your body with sugar.

This is my first shot at these healthy versions of nut butter cups and balls. I will be trying them again at Easter, and will revisit them again for you guys. You will need paper cupake/muffin liners, cutting the paper "walls" of the liner so that they only stand about 1/2 inches tall.

Homemade "Reese's" Nut Butter Cups

Makes 14-16 Chocolate Covered Nut Butter Cups

Ingredients

4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, bar

-OR- 12 TBSP Unsweetened Cocoa Powder mixed with 4 TBSP melted coconut oil

1 tsp. honey, or more depending on how sweet you want your chocolate to be

1/2 cup of your favorite nut butter (I used peanut, almond, sunflower and walnut)

-Sweeten with powdered xylitol, erythritol, honey or stevia, if desired

Directions

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Using a small paintbrush or a spoon and your fingertips (like me), spread a teaspoon and a half into a paper muffin cup. Spread around to coat the entire cup (may need more than 1 1/2 tsp.). Continue to do this until about 10-12 muffin cups are all coated. Place in freezer to firm.

Meanwhile, stir the nut butter with your sweetener, if using. Take the hardened chocolate cups out of freezer and put nut butter in each cup, making sure you fill the entire cup--but not too much; you don't want to fill it up to the top.

Place the muffin cups in the freezer again. Melt chocolate while you wait about 5 minutes, if you need to, and then take out the muffin cups once again. Spread remaining melted chocolate over the nut butter inside the chocolate shells, and spread over to completely cover. Once done, place in freezer again

Wait until it is solid enough to unmold, and then store in freezer or refrigerator. It can melt fast at room temperature if you are using the coconut oil and cocoa powder mixture, so keep in the refrigerator.

With any remaining chocolate and nut butter, make chocolate covered nut butter balls, or make more chocolate covered nut butter cups. Or, use your imagination, be creative, and tell me what you do!

Nutrition Information

Per Chocolate Covered Nut Cup

Calories: 86.25

Fat: 7 g

Protein: 4.5 g

Digestible Carb: 2.7 g

Fiber: 1.75 g

Sugar: 0.8 g (natural--with 1 tsp. honey)

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Well there is the winter recipe round up. No savory dishes this season, but the upcoming ones you will see more healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack ideas.

This has been The Healthy Advocate.

Probiotics: How Good Digestion Promotes a Good Figure

2010-03-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hello all, this is the Healthy Advocate.

This post will not be entirely about losing weight, despite the title; however, there is a point about our digestion that I will cover here which infuses the topic of weight loss/maintenance, just so that we're clear.

Good digestion is, what I believe to be, the cornerstone of overall health. Without a proper digestion system in check, we can assimilate nutrients from the food we eat and derive energy from them, we can't eliminate wastes or harmful products from our bodies, we increase our chances of not being at the weight we want tremendously, and we can even put our immune systems and mental faculties at risk.

The Friendly Guys Inside Our Gut

Yup, that's right. There are friendly guys living inside of you. There are also some bad ones, as well. These guys are, wait for it...bacteria. You have bacteria living inside of you day in and day out. Now if you lead a normally healthy lifestyle, making sure you get plenty of raw, organic vegetables and moderate amounts of fruits (even non-organic is OK--take what you can get!), get plenty of exercise, sun exposure and are handling stress effectively (did I forget about high quality sleep?), then it is highly likely that you have more beneficial bacteria residing within you than bad bacteria.

The good bacteria inside of you are there to help facilitate proper digestion of your food, enzymes, vitamins and minerals and are also there to support your facilitation and elimination of food wastes. If you have ever taken a probiotic supplement regularly, you will know that bowel movements start to occur more frequently. This is because those good bacteria are getting the food they need--probiotics are basically the "fertilizer" for good bacteria.

Bad bacteria, on the other hand, should NOT make up the bulk of your bacteria count, for obvious reasons. Bad bacteria usually results from an excess of sugar, low to no exercise, bad sleeping habits, and an intake of processed foods devoid of any nutrition. It has also been noted in studies that those who are overweight have more bad bacteria in their colon than slim people, or people of a normal weight.

Someone, somewhere, came up with an ideal ratio of good bacteria to bad bacteria that you should always maintain in your intestinal tract. This is about 85% good and 15% bad--however I find it very difficult to always know the numbers (can anybody? Perhaps there is a test...). Just know that if you are doing everything right (eating the right foods for your body type, exercising, handling stress efficiently, and even taking a probiotic supplement) then you should be in balance.

What Are Probiotics?

Probiotics, like I mentioned earlier, is basically the fertilizer for the good bacteria in your system. Taking a good probiotic, such as in a good, high quality pill form or through plain, organic yogurt or kefir, promotes the good bacteria to flourish to perform their jobs.

Probiotics=Pro, meaning for, and bio, meaning life. These are the millions of microorganisms that support the life of your intestinal tract and the health of your colon (it kind of sounds a little gross, but it's quite cool when you stop to think about it - millions of different bacteria inside of you, supporting your body because YOU are so important to them!).

What Are Probiotics Good For?

So what does all of this information mean to you? What are probiotics good for, and what can all these bacteria do for you?

#1 - Probiotics can help you stay slim.

Research has shown that people who are overweight have much more bad bacteria in their intestines than slim people. In fact, the bacteria in our system weighs about eight pounds. Studies have also shown that having a high level of bad bacteria stimulates appetite and can be directly related to weight problems in some individuals. Taking a good probiotic regularly, especially when you know your diet won't be providing you with optimal nutition, will go far in helping controlling your beneficial gut microflora.

#2 - Keeps your immune system in check.

Most people don't realize that 80% of our immune system lives in our digestive system

where all these bacteria also reside. So, it makes sense that if you want to stay healthy,

especially during the cold and flu seasons, then you always want to maintain a correct

balance of good bacteria. This means avoiding things that might grow your bad bacteria--

mainly sugars and grains and everything else that will turn into sugar quickly in your body.

Bad bacteria feed and grow off sugar, which will wreak havoc on your immune system (not

to mention your digestive system).

#3 - Good emotional and mental health.

Probiotics and the good bacteria in your digestive system will help you digest and absorb

nutrients much more efficiently. There are many studies showing that depressed, angry those

with emotional disorders have an imbalance in their nutritional biochemistry, and that certain

vitamins and minerals are deficient--not because they are lacking in the diet, but because they

have a hard time absorbing the nutrients that support healthy mental agility.

#4 - Prevents Allergies.

This is something that I was not aware of until I did a little more research. In The Journal of

Allergy and Clinical Immunology, studies showed that probiotics and a healthy gut flora ratio

helped prevent eczema. According to Mercola.com, "Friendly bacteria train your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately."

Ways to Get Probiotics into Your Diet

A good, high quality probiotic capsule is always good to have around whenever you need it, but some people tend to take them every single day. I don't have that luxury (have I mentioned I'm a college student on a budget?), but I do take a good probiotic whenever I know my diet won't be up to par, or whenever I know that I will be consuming something that isn't all that healthy (usually during the holidays--it's OK to have a treat once in a while!).

You can also take yogurt or kefir (a fermented, yogurt like beverage). Ideally you want to consume dairy products in their RAW form, as raw dairy products already contain beneficial bacteria already (pasteurized products still have all the bacteria, but their dead and swimming around--gross). This ups the ante, so to speak, and provides you with more good bacteria for your body. Plus, raw dairy products are easy on your digestive system. My favorite raw goat milk and goat's milk yogurt (I make my own whenever I can afford to pick up some raw milk). If you need help finding a certified grade A raw dairy farm near you, please visit the Real Milk website.

If you can't get raw dairy, then try and find an organic source of yogurt or kefir from your grocery store. You want to get plain, unsweetened, and preferably full fat (non-fat dairy is a no-no, which I will go into at a later moment), and always make sure to read the ingredient label to make sure that there are live active cultures present. Getting sweetened yogurt or kefir will be a problem, as the sugar will help feed the bad bacteria, which is the complete opposite of what you were going for in the first place! Try blending unsweetened yogurt or kefir with fresh or frozen (hopefully organic?) berries or fruit, with stevia or Xylitol (a low calorie, low glycemic sugar alcohol).

So why don't you go out, get some kefir or do some research on a good probiotic, and take care of your digestive system! It's time to grow the bacteria (good, that is) in your system to support your body, as it is your vehicle for your entire life. Your future self will thank you!

For now, this has been the Healthy Advocate.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1258221/Overweight-Blame-bad-gut-bacteria-boost-appetite.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-12-20-obesity_x.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1258221/Overweight-Blame-bad-gut-bacteria-boost-appetite.html

My No-Grain Experiment

2010-03-06T13:51:00.001-08:00

Hello all, this is the Healthy Advocate.

Back in early February I decided to go on an experiment that many before me have tried and succeeded in, with great health benefits to reap. This was a total elimination of all grains, in every form, from my diet.

I have been pretty much restrictive on my grains for almost a year already, consuming maybe a serving or two a day of whole, soaked or sprouted grains, sometimes gluten free. There has been a lot of new research coming out about the effects that grains, and in particular gluten, does to our health, which helped move me into following this no-grain 'diet'.

Many of the information I have received have obviously not been influenced by main stream health experts, but from alternative health experts well informed and motivated to educating others about the health effects of grains. Mainly those following a Paleolithic type diet have really helped show me what our bodies really are designed to eat (or what we, as humans, have been eating for the majority of our time on earth).

It was only 10,000 years ago that the cultivation of agriculture has been developed, and in this time diseases related to diet have increased and/or developed. Many of our ancestors who subsided mostly on meats, vegetables and some fruits had no problems with teeth, blood sugar or weight, and some studies suggested that they were much taller than their grain-eating descendants. Plus, grains stimulate your insulin levels, much more than vegetables, meats and moderate amounts of fruits--so, it is bizarre to me why the USDA is recommending most of our calories come from grains, even if they are low in fat.

Gluten Intolerance: A Small Minority?

I don't think so. I believe that there are MANY symptoms to gluten sensitivity and intolerance that don't seem to be connected to gluten, but really are. I have heard of those with depression and mood disorders go off gluten and grains all together, while increasing their mood and beating depression. Now these results may not be typical, but they may be, I don't know. I do believe, though, that anyone suffering from anything (depression, weight, irritable bowel syndrome, digestive disorders, acne, eczema, teeth problems, ect.) will be better by eliminating or reducing all grains.

It is estimated that one out of seven people in the US have an intolerance to gluten, but I suspect that it may be much higher as most people suffer different ailments, some of them minor, that might be related to gluten and grains. Some people can do very well on small portions of gluten, without any side effect; most people will do much better if the form of wheat they choose is in its whole grain form, rather than refined--this will add the extra fiber and minerals to slow down the blood sugar spike that happens with grains. I also believe that most people will fare even better on grains if they are soaked, sprouted and/or fermented as advocated by the Weston A. Price Foundation.

What I Have Experienced So Far

I never thought that gluten and grains would be a problem for me, because most of the time they weren't. I do not have celiac disease, and I do not suffer from any type of problems with my body after eating grains. However, for the majority of my time spent learning about nutrition, I have only consumed whole, unprocessed grains, usually in their soaked or sprouted forms. Even then I would only have about one serving per day, four to five days out of the week, something that I don't believe would cause a problem with me or anyone with no major problems with gluten and grains.

However I have noticed that the past week and two days without grains whatsoever, has given me a better digestion. I've also noticed, as I have before with eliminating grains, that I lose weight rather quickly without even trying. I absolutely don't need to lose weight, as I am already underweight, but even when I eat most of my calories from healthy fats and vegetable carbohydrates (with only a tiny amount of fruit), weight seems to come off easily than when I was eating grains. This has also happened with fermented and soaked grains, but not so dramatically.

After this experiement, which I was thinking would last for about 3 months (at least until May 2010), I might start incorporating grains back into my daily program again, although still relatively small, and still in their whole form (soaked, sprouted). I may even choose gluten free grains most of the time, in their whole form (soaked/sprouted) and as lone as they are relatively low on the glycemic index, which is rare for any grain.

I hope I have provided you a little insight on grains today, and maybe you can take this information and start studying on these issues for yourself. Who knows, maybe something that has been bothering you lately in your body will clear up after eliminating grains, sugar and dairy (at least the conventional ones you find in your local supermarket).

If you have any comments about this subject, or any questions, please post! You guys are important to me on my journey to learning more about nutrition and wellness. I don't claim to know everything, but I do know things, and I love sharing this knowledge. However, you guys also know things, and it doesn't help anyone to keep it to yourself. Let's all make a difference in the world of real health and overall wellness.

This has been the healthy advocate.

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Whole Grain Hooey

My Preferred Sweeteners

2010-03-03T18:06:00.000-08:00

OK, I said I would post the next day, but man was I wrong. Life has a pretty sneaky way of making things a bit hectic, but I was able to handle it with ease (thanks to meditation, yoga and deep breathing!). I went to a Macbeth audition (what, you didn't know I liked to act?), and was cast the part of a witch. Is it strange that I was actually wanting to get that role? I'm also playing an old man. Can't wait to get into it.

With all these interruptions (but good interruptions) I felt really bad for not blogging, because I really wanted to share with you guys and follow up on the last post about artificial sweeteners.

In this post, I told you I was going to talk about my absolute love for two sweeteners; then I'll tell you of two other sweeteners that I haven't tried but want to very soon (does anyone want to purchase them for me?? :)).

Xylitol

I absolutely LOVE this sugar alcohol and use it very regularly. **But first a caution: using it regularly in large amounts will make you very "regular", so to speak. Sugar alcohols are known to have a laxative effect when taken in excess, so when you find yourself loving this sweetener after I get done talking about it, be sure to use it with care.**

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that is found in most edible plant sources, and is usually extracted from the fibers of fruits or vegetables (if anyone else knows where this is found and extracted, let me know). Some times it is called wood sugar or birch sugar, due to where it comes from.

The sweetness of xylitol is about the same as sugar, with 40% less calories per gram (about 2.5 cal./g compared to white sugar at 4 cal./gram) than white sugar.

The taste of xylitol is absolutely amazing, to me, as it is very cool and "clean", and it doesn't make you feel naughty by eating by the spoonful (actually, I don't recommend doing this!).

The glycemic index of Xylitol is 13 compared to white sugar which is around 60-65. The glycemic index is a scale from 0-100 that rates the effect of foods on blood sugar levels (0 being no effect, 100 being a big effect). I like following a low-glycemic diet most of the time, but sometimes this system isn't always accurate (I will blog more about this topic later).

So, Xylitol has very little effect on isulin levels, which is why I enjoy it so much, because I believe that keeping our insulin levels low we can achieve optimal health and wellness--anti-aging, healthy weight, healthy skin, hair and nails, improved mood and concentration, healthy leptin and grehlin signaling, etc.

Xylitol is also relatively inexpensive compared to other sugar alcohols. There is erythritol, which I haven't tried but I have heard many good things about. It isn't as sweet, and it's more expensive, but it has virtually no effect on our insulin levels which is a plus! However, I really do believe that xylitol might be the safest sugar alcohol out there. Dr. Joseph Mercola even agrees (my hero).

A couple of interesting things I learned about xylitol was that

1. Our bodies produce up to 15 grams of xylitol a day. So you know it's natural!

2. It's a sweetener used widely in Finland. Who knew? Well, I guess they do, obviously.

I like to purchase my Xylitol online, because it is less expensive than buying 1 lb at the health food store for $7. Online, I can get 3 lbs for $17.99 (these prices, or the availability sometimes change, though). This is the brand I like.

P.S. Xylitol is actually good for you teeth!

Stevia

Stevia is an amazing herb native to South America. It has been used for centuries as a natural sweetener, and is becoming more known throughout North America (see the new products that contain this sweetener mixed with sugar alcohol Erythritol: PureVia and Truvia).

This sweetener is up to 200 times sweeter than regular sugar, so if you purchase pure stevia (up to 90-90% stevosides), only about 1/2 tsp. needs to equal 1 cup of sugar! It also has no known effect on insulin levels, which is another reason why I like it.

A good source to purchase stevia is from Amazon, Vitacost.com or iHerb. Sometimes I have purchased pure stevia on eBay, but be wary because you don't always know the source of the product. Many people like the NuNaturals Stevia brand the best; I also think it's popular because the price is relatively low compared to other sweeteners. Look around until you can find the one you like.

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Usually when I make/bake and have to use a sweetener, I tend to blend stevia, xylitol and small amounts of raw honey and organic Sucanat, a less refined sugar that still contains many nutrients present in the sugar cane. I also like to make sure there is enough fiber (coconut flour, anyone?) and good quality fat (there are some recipes I need to show you that use healthy fats while still lowering the calories of different foods) to slow down the absorption of the added sugars (though still very little).

For now I will leave you to your exploration of alternative sweeteners. Before I go, I would like for anyone who has every tried coconut palm sugar to please raise their hand. How do you like it? I know it has the same calories as sugar, but is much lower on the glycemic index. I shall find a good source so I can do a little experimentation.

Also, if you have any questions or comments, please post them--I'm here to help you! I love finding things out about nutrition, health and wellness, so anything will be appreciated. Tell you friends, too, by sharing this blog or this post via "Add This" at the top of this blog. I'll love you forever! (Although I already do.)

Until next time, this has been the Healthy Advocate.

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1. Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol

2. http://www.exylitol.com/

3. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/05/26/What-is-Erythritol-Doing-in-Vitamin-Water.aspx

I Choose Natural Sweeteners

2010-02-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo! My order of Xylitol, Psyllium Husks, organic Coconut Oil and aluminum free baking soda arrived today! I'm so excited because I thought it wouldn't arrive here late in the evening. I already have a grain-free, sugar free and gluten free Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake (recipe courtesy of Lauren at Healthy Indulgences) in the oven, sweetened with my beloved sweeteners, Xylitol and Stevia.

This is the brand of Xylitol I use the most. You can find it here.

Why do I choose Xylitol and Stevia over cheaper alternatives, like Aspartame or Sucralose? Xylitol is pretty inexpensive online, if you see the link above, but what makes me shun artificial sweeteners over more natural and healthy alternatives? Here is a short list of what I have found out to be true of sweeteners such as aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) and sucralose (aka, Splenda). This list is by no means exhaustive or complete.

#1 - Other than being completely foreign to your body, these substances are completely unnatural, and have only been in the market, and the food supply, for a very short time. These are CHEMICALS that our bodies were NOT designed to ingest. If you gave this to your great-great-great grandmother, you would bet she would not have eaten this, and would have stuck to natural sugar (and crazy, seeing how diabetes was somewhat of a rarity back then).

#2 - Artificial sweeteners trick your body's metabolism, leptin signals (a hormone telling you you're full) and increases your chances of craving more calories, usually in the form of carbohydrates, and will lead to weight gain.

Whenever a sweet substance touches the tongue, our brains senses that this is food and it is time for our body to produce insulin to take that food and bring it into our cells for the use of energy. This is exactly what happens with artificial sweeteners. The sweetness emerges, as does the insulin, but calories are not delivered for the cells to take in for energy. Now you have all this insulin surging through your body waiting for that energy that you unintentionally promised it.

When we have unwanted insulin flowing throughout our body, doing nothing, it will store in our body as fat deposits, or as adipose tissue. Also, when we promise our body calories yet fail to deliver, our bodies will revolt against that trickery and make us crave carbohydrates much more than if we had regular sugar. See this study, followed by this video to find out why:

Aspartame also interferes with the hormones serotonin and dopamine, which can lead to the cravings for carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates.

Also, according to a study in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Splenda has been shown to decrease the beneficial bacteria in our intestines by up to 50%. Without good bacteria in our system, this can back up the digestion of our food and make it that much easier for it to be stored as fat, rather than be assimilated in the proper places within our body.

#3 - Aspartame, as in Equal or NutraSweet, can lead to the build up of formaldehyde within the brain. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, and can also interfere with your DNA. This buildup in the brain and body is something that definitely motivated ME to get OFF of aspartame, and eventually sucralose (Splenda).

Artificial sweeteners also can form excitoxins, which are toxins that can actually excite your brain cells to death. Dr. Russell Blaylock, a well known neurosurgeon coined this term and has researched and written on this topic extensively.

#4 - Artificial sweeteners are NOT calorie free. A loophole in the law says that any nutritional content that is less than .5 g or 5 cal/kcal, can be listed as dietarily zero. Splenda actually contains 99% sugar (the fillers dextrose and multodextrin are sugars), whereas only 1% is actually the chlorinated chemical, sucraclose. This can be disastrous for people who are trying to watch calories, or for people with diabetes. Dr. Merocla explains this well in the video below:

#5 - Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose have NOT been proven, or rigorously tested, to be safe in our diet. There have been many studies, however, but most were done on animals, and most studies were funded by the actual companies who make these chemical sweeteners.

Here is an excerpt from the website WomanToWoman, speaking about the studies on Splenda:

"Here are two other reasons for our concern: first, in the eleven years after Splenda was put on the market, no independent studies of sucralose lasting more than six months have been done in humans. Second, none of the trials that were done was very large — the largest was 128 people studied for three months, making us wonder, what happens when you’ve used sucralose for a year, or two, or ten?"

The author also notes that the own manufacture's studies resulted in shrunken thymus glands, enlarged livers and kidney disorders in rodents. However, this was not taken seriously as it could not be seen as conductive toward humans. Although, no studies on humans were done to test this, partly out of conflict of interests, partly from human integrity (hopefully).

Also, according to Dr. Mercola who wrote the book Sweet Deception: Why Splenda, NutraSweet, and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health, studies on Aspartame were far from exhaustive:

"The approval was given after the FDA supposedly reviewed more than 110 animal and human safety studies, but out of these 110 studies, only two were human studies, and the longest one was conducted for four days!"

When the results of the studies came back from the animal labs, it showed increased male infertility, brain lesions, decreased red blood cells (anemia), spontaneous abortions and enlarged kidneys.

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There is more I would like to cover about this very important topic, but I shall save it for another day. Diet drinks were not covered, but I should be able to form an entire post about such products.

Tomorrow, I will delve into natural, healthier sweetening alternatives, mainly focusing on my favorites, Stevia and Xylitol. For just a preview, Stevia, my favorite sweetener, is actually an herb and contains NO calories, carbs or sugar. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol which has virtually no effect on insulin levels and has 6 calories less than regular table sugar (for those interested in watching their caloric intake).

For now, this has been the Healthy Advocate.

P.S. If you like this post, or have any questions, please post a comment! I LOVE hearing from anyone and everyone who reads my writing and my research as it makes it all worth while. You can also post a question regarding a health matter that you would like me to cover in a later post.

The Twisted Truth About Saturated Fat

2010-02-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

Note: This is only a fraction of what I have to say about this matter and it is far from complete, and don't be surprised to see more posts on fats, particularly saturated fats, in the near future.

It's raining outside, and I sit here sipping on my raw hot chocolate. I love mornings like this. The rain makes it so cozy, and knowing that it is cold outside, I feel very grateful that I have a warm home with everything that I need. There's a Hitchcock documentary on in the background.

I also begin pondering on a subject that I have spent a bit of time researching on, and I dwell upon this subject for a while, trying to discover why this information is not out to the majority of the public. This is the subject of saturated fat.

Yikes! This term even strikes a bit of fear in myself, because I have always been told that these natural, nature made (or God made, depending on what you believe) fats are harmful and contribute to a variety of diseases like heart disease and elevated cholesterol.

However, I have found this topic to be quite controversial, and with the analysis that I have accumulated in my nutritional research, I quite strongly believe that saturated fat isn't the devil it is made out to be.

After reading studies accumulated by Dr. Mercola, studying the diets of native and isolated populations (via Nourishing Traditions and The Weston A. Price Foundation), and really delving deep into controversial research, I have found that saturated fat has been a part of healthy populations for centuries. In fact, it has nourished all people for hundreds of thousands of years (maybe millions?), and it wasn't until the USDA told us to eat more carbohydrates and less overall fat to fight heart disease, that heart disease actually increased.

The "theory" that saturated fat is corrleated to an increase in heart disease was developed by Dr. Ancel Keys in the 1950s (I just finished a fascinating book about Keys' starvation experiment). His research covered over many different countries, but omitted data that was unfavorable to the study and only concluded seven countries. The research did show a link between fat consumption and heart disease, but only when one looked at the countries Keys included. When one actually looks at all the countries that were available in the study, the link between saturated fat and heart disease completely disappears, and it is seen that there were other factors that contributed toward heart disease.

This study, however, gained much publicity (Ancel Keys was a big guy on publicity of his experiements), and the "Low-fat" craze swept the nation, and later the world, with low-fat and fat-free products for every thing.

According to nutritional researchers Mary Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon, heart disease makes up 40% of all US deaths, and is growing, which should suggests (if you believe in the "Lipid Hypothesis") that saturated fat consumption (mainly in the form of animal products) has increased. In actuality, saturated fat intake has decreased.

How come if the saturated fat has decreased, the heart disease risk has become even greater? It is believed by many that it has to do with the high level of carbohydrate intake in the forms of processed, refined grains and sugars. These stimulate our insulin levels and elevates our triglyceride and cholesterol levels and hurts our hearts. Plus the intake of trans fats in processed foods, we have consumed large amounts of grains that have degraded our health.

If you look at the USDA food pyramid, you will notice that the majority of our calories should come from grain products, and only HALF of those grains should be whole, complex carbohydrates (these will provide a steadier release of glucose in our system).

However I firmly believe that all grains should be limited, or even eliminated, for overall health. Fresh vegetables, high quality animal proteins and fats and small quantities of soaked and sprouted grains (more on that later) should make the bulk of your diet, as these will not cause a spike in blood sugar.

I definitely don't want you to take this information as the absolute truth, because I strongly encourage everyone to fully research the nutrition information they hear, so that they can make a strong and firm decision about their health. My research has convinced me about saturated fat being an essential part of life (after all, around 50% of our cells in our body are made of the stuff!).

If you have any questions, or would like to be pointed to sources, studies or research articles, please comment below. I'll be uploading a new recipe very soon, so stay tuned!

Until next time, this has been the Healthy Advocate.

The Raw Pecan Pie Recipe

2010-01-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well I have talked about it in a couple of posts now, but here it is. I own a collection of different raw dessert recipes, and this one is at the top of my favorites, I must say.

The flavors in this pie are so deep, and so rich, that it seriously does not take a huge portion for your mouth (and stomach) to feel satisfied. This really is a pecan pie to live for, and everyone will change their minds about raw cuisine once they try this pie.

I must credit Kimberly Snyder, over at KimberlySnyder.net, for this recipe. Kim is a clinical nutritionist (I shall be one soon, too!), and a raw food chef who has appeared numerous times on television. I LOVE reading her website/blog, and trying out her recipes. My favorites are, well, this one, of course. But also her green smoothies and raw fudge (really!). You can find the original Pecan Pie recipe at her website here.

By the way, this is called a Raw Pecan Love Pie, probably because it is so lovely. At least, that's my perception!

The crust is made up of walnuts, dates and coconut flakes. Walnuts are extremely healthy as they are very high in omega-3 fatty acids. Contrary to omega-6's, omega-3's are anti-inflammatory, beneficial for the skin, nails and eyes, and are very beneficial for optimum brain function. They will also contribute a good amount of fiber in this dessert.

The dates are raw, meaning they will contain all their beneficial enzymes and vitamins, plus they will also add their fiber content to this yummy dessert. Coconut is rich in medium chain fatty acids which are quickly turned into energy for your body to burn.

As you can see above, the crust alone provides a powerhouse of nutrition! Compare this to white flour (no fiber, turns to sugar quickly in the body), vegetable oil (different fat chain sizes compared to coconut oil--vegetable oils mainly deposit as fat storage instead of energy), salt and sugar. Plus, all of this would be cooked and destroyed (well not destroyed, unfortunately). As you can tell, this hypothetical (but very real to most people) crust alone has nothing really going for it, and just sounds devastating.

Now the filling calls for raisins, pecans and maple syrup. No refined sugars, no corn syrup (thank goodness!) and no canned fillings. Just simple, whole food, tasty staples every health advocate should have on hand (or at the very least, knows where to get some very quickly!). I didn't use maple syrup this time around, as it was unavailable at the time, but I did use pure raw honey. I'm not a raw vegan, so I substituted. It tasted incredible just the same, but I will try the maple syrup next time. If you make it, let me know how it is.

One interjection - pecans are an incredible source of anti-oxidants, which I will discuss in a later blog post. However this entire dessert is chock full of anti-oxidants, so I really shouldn't just put the spotlight on just one ingredient.

This dessert, compared to other cooked dishes, will not leave you feeling hungry hours later. I calculated and found that per 1/8th of this pie has about 10.25 grams of dietary fiber, low in carbohydrates (no refined carbs, as would be in a traditional pecan pie), high in manganese (helps build and maintain strong bones, promotes healthy thyroid function, anti-oxidant abilities), and extremely high in taste! I'm telling you, you MUST try this; it will blow you away at how good it is.

Now here it is...

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Crust

- 2 cups walnuts
- 3 cups of pitted dates
- 1 cup coconut flakes, finely ground

Pit the dates yourself, extracting each pit and discarding. Add the dates, coconut flakes and walnuts to the food processor and mix until thoroughly blended.

Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of a pie tin. Set to the side.

Filling

- 2/3 cup filtered water
- 1 cup raw pecans, soaked about 15 minutes
- 1 cup organic Thompson raisins
- 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. nutmeg (optional, I really like this spice!)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt

Blend all ingredients together in the blender until smooth. Pour onto the crust of the tray, and garnish with fresh, raw pecans into a pretty pattern.

Set in freezer overnight, or for at least 5 hours before serving.

Slice up and enjoy!

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Thank you again Kimberly!

A holiday treat

Until next time, this has been The Healthy Advocate.

Antidepressents: Are They Reall Effective? + Raw Pecan Pie Preview!

2010-01-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone, this is The Healthy Advocate.

With over 230 million prescriptions of antidepressants being filled annually*, I thought it was about time to blog my own views on this matter. However this blog will not just contain my opinion, but scientific research that is just beginning to emerge (finally) in mainstream media.

The term “antidepressants” literally means 'against depression', giving you the illusion that the companies who produce them (and those “heads” who approve them” are there to fight for your health and well-being, against your depression.

However, more and more facts are coming out of the head guys at the FDA and big pharma. Whistle blowers and cover-ups have shown that our current healthcare is not at all what it used to be, or what it seems.

My Antidepressant Story

I was put on antidepressants when I was 17 years old due to an eating disorder. How antidepressants could cure and eating disorder was beyond me, and I was against the taking of it at the start. However, being this young, I decided it wasn't a matter of choice but a matter of necessity. My parents quickly bought the drug which I was sure I didn't need. This started me on my road to independence and finally thinking for myself, rather than relying on my parents.

I initially stuck by it, intending to be a “good patient”. My eating problems and behaviors never subsided, and I found that my thinking became quite worse after starting on the medication.

I started receiving adverse reactions to the drug, and to the one they prescribed me after that one, until I found out the truth about the antidepressant and pharmaceutical industry. Below will show you why I decided to stop taking antidepressants and start implementing healthy alternatives that did far better for me than a chemical in a pill.

Research Studies Flawed

In 2008, The New England Journal of Medicine published an article showing that the majority of antidepressant research to be biased, and held in its published after effects as positive results. This meaning that data that turned out negative for the effectiveness of the drug was actually changed to being positive toward its effectiveness.

Why would researchers do this? There is much speculation about why research is manipulated in ways that would undoubtedly affect others health, but the biggest theory is the funding from the drug industry.

Many drug research attempts are funded by the drug industry. In fact, the majority of the time the pharmaceutical company who is producing a drug usually funds the research on the effectiveness.

PloS Medicine also published a study showing the raw data of a research study on the ineffectiveness of an antidepressant. Even though this research showed that antidepressants were no better than placebo, the FDA continued to approve this drug, and many other “ME TOO” drugs ( a term describing the plethora prescription medications devoted to the same topic, ex. Diet pills, statins, antidepressants, etc.).

Conflict of Interests

According to PsychCentral.com, two researchers which led studies into antidepressants and alternative treatments, failed to report that they earned $1.6 million over a seven year period from “big pharma”.Here's what is a little interesting: One of these researchers conducted a study showing how St. John's Wort was ineffective in treating ADHD.*

One of the researchers mentioned in the above paragraph also worked hard with Johnson & Johnson to push a new bi-polar drug, and, according to the article in The New York Times,

“ [. . . ] e-mail messages and internal documents from Johnson & Johnson made public in a court filing reveal that Dr. Biederman pushed the company to finance a research center at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, with a goal to 'move forward the commercial goals of J.& J.'”

Citing The New York Times once again, Dr. Biederman led a forty-fold increase in the diagnosing and prescribing of bipolar disorder in America from 1994 to 2003.*

Mainstream Media Finally Catches On

The Journal of the American Medical Association has just published a study this month showing that treatment with a well known antidepressant paroxetine (GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil) in mild and even sometimes severe depression to be no better than placebo.*

This research has been known for quite some time now, although the suppression of such information has been keeping the majority of the public in the dark.

Mainstream media, however, is finally catching on. CNN, ABC News and The New York Times are reporting on these issues, as well as other city publications and online newsletters.

Should I Continue Taking Antidepressants?

This is a question I cannot answer for you, as you must speak to a trusted physician over your mental health. It is, after all, YOUR health, and you are the only one who can take control (as Dr. Mercola says, “Take Control of Your Health!”).

However, if the effect of these drugs are only based upon the belief that they work, then why continue to take them? After all, will people want to take a useless and pricy pill, if all they are receiving are the side effects?

It is my hope that these studies will open the eyes of many of the public so they can start finding more natural and safe ways to beat depressions.

21,000 adverse reactions to prescription medications have been reported to the FDA, with over 4,000 deaths, in 2008. Are there safer ways to protect yourself from depression, or even help fight its effects?

I believe that depression can become a debilitating illness, and at times needs to be treated appropriately. However, with the majority of cases of minor and somewhat severe depression, I believe there to be amazing alternatives, producing none, or little , side effects.

Fighting Depression

Antidepressants only treat the symptom of the depression, and never address the actual cause. When you do this, you will guarantee to be on these sort of medications for the rest of your life. Only when you address the actual cause of disease and illness, will you be able to understand and deal with it, and hopefully release it.

Here are my top 5 things I have researched (and have found helpful in my own life) that brings up mood.

1. Diet

There are a number of different ingredients, additives and preservatives in our food system today, many of them unnatural and unrecognizable to the human body. In fact, many of these have been known to be carcinogenic: nitrites and nitrates in pork, bacon and lunch meats, artificial sweeteners in diet foods, BPA in the linings of canned food, etc.

Also, the wrong types of fats in the diet play a crucial role in mood. Making sure you get plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, found mainly in fish, is very important, as it regulates many functions in your brain to keep you healthy. As we have become increasingly inclined to consume vegetable oils, many people get too many omega-6 fats (inflammatory), coinciding with the increase in depression (hmm, interesting...).

2. Exercise

Plenty of physical activity helps promote clean oxygen to your brain and aids in production of serotonin, the “feel good” hormone. Being active also helps reduce the body's craving for sugar, which is also a contributing factor in many brain related disorders and diseases. (including depression).

When you exercise, you give yourself a motivation to live and to happy again. You feel strong and alive, and you might find yourself ready to take on the world. I usually do interval training, balancing cardio and stretching one day, flexibility (with yoga and Pilates) the next day, and then minor strength training the next day. I keep this cycle going throughout the whole week.

It's important to break up your exercise routine so that you don't “over train” different parts of your body and tire it out. Also, it helps you keep interest in your exercise regime. Also be sure to rehydrate yourself after an exercise program as it helps maintain a good fluid balance in your body, and supports the proper function of your brain.

If you are just starting out with exercise, a good way to start is to walk. I love to walk. I don't do it exclusively (anymore), but it's a great way to ease into a great workout program.

3. Meditation and Hypnosis

This is my absolute favorite, because research has actually shown that these types of therapies actually change physical structures within the brain, particularly around the interior cortex's where mood, memory and behavior is associated.

Deep breathing before you go to bed, along with visualizations of pleasant experiences are quite common in meditation, as its goal is to release your thoughts and to become one with your breath. It actually does not help treat the cause of the depression.

Hypnosis is more “cause based” oriented, and very different than meditation, as it helps in finding the initial onset of a problem, and it helps you deal with it in your mind, ultimately releasing it. There are certain methods that don't even deal with releasing it, but working with it in a way to turn toward a more positive, possible future behavior.

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*PharmaTimes, January 2010

*PsychCentral.org

*CBSNews, December 2006

*PsychCentral.org, A Year in Review

*The New York Times, November 2008

*Seattle Times, October 2008

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Now away from this depressing topic, here is a recipe preview.

It's Kimberly Snyder's Raw Pecan Pie! No white sugar, flour, animal products, and is complete VEGAN and RAW! This was so perfect when we had it for Christmas, and now I'm sharing it with you!

Until then, this has be The Healthy Advocate.