I just came across a really cool site:  DIY protein bars and shakes!

You can choose your own ingredients and even packaging (i.e. logos etc.) – how cool is that?!

Check it out!  I would write about it here, but the site is quite simple to navigate and I’d just copying and pasting as I have yet to try their products and hence can’t give a personal insight.

Adios!

AND NO I am not financially gaining anything from this, just thought I’d pass it on to my viewers, maybe I should signup for some affiliate program with them, hmmm…you got me thinking!  JOKE!  lol!

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This is a guest post by Monique Slater.

Basically, the lower the better!

Did you know 1 in 2 Australian Adults are affected by cholesterol!

What’s scary is that only 1 in 5 think they are affected.

But what exactly is cholesterol?

It can be so confusing especially when you hear about ‘good and bad cholesterol’ and then ‘total’ cholesterol – what is the difference?  Isn’t it all the same?

Cholesterol is a waxy substance which is found naturally in our blood – in fact it is made by our liver but we also receive a small amount from the food we eat. Without cholesterol our bodies could not perform a number of important body processes like making hormones and vitamin D. Having a low level of cholesterol our blood is natural and healthy but having a high cholesterol level can be dangerous. ‘Bad’ cholesterol gets stuck to the walls of blood vessels, making them harder and narrower so less blood can flow through and around the body. Eventually this spells big trouble for your heart, often leading to heart attack and stroke. ‘Good’ cholesterol on the other hand, takes cholesterol from body tissues back to the liver for re-processing and elimination.

To help keep your heart healthy it is important to keep your ‘bad’ cholesterol low (known as ‘LDL cholesterol’) and your ‘good’ cholesterol high (known as ‘HDL cholesterol’).

So what about total cholesterol?

Total cholesterol is a figure made up from the bad (LDL) and the good (HDL) cholesterol levels. The Heart Foundation recommends the cholesterol level for the general public is ideally should be below 5.5mmol/L or lower. For people at higher risk of heart problems, they suggest a cholesterol level of less than 4.0 mmo/l. Basically, the lower the better.

How do I lower my cholesterol?

Small changes to diet and lifestyle can make a big difference to your cholesterol level such as:

• Avoiding ‘bad’ fats and/or reducing saturated fats, limiting other animal fats like cheese, cream, full cream milks and yoghurts and fatty meats. Choose lean meats and low fat dairy products instead. Also cutting down on biscuits, pastries and the like too.
• Choosing ‘good’ fats. Replacing bad fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as sunflower oil and polyunsaturated margarine spreads will have a positive effect on cholesterol levels.
• Eating more vegetables – including 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables everyday and include wholegrain foods in your daily diet.
• Having a healthy lifestyle by aiming for a healthy body weight, quitting smoking, including physical exercise.
• Using a plant sterol margarine spread will also help lower cholesterol absorption.

I would urge you however, if you have any concerns about your cholesterol levels or heart health, your first point of contact should always be your GP. Some people have cholesterol levels that require medication as well as diet and lifestyle changes and your doctor will need to advise you. Keeping a nice close eye on your cholesterol levels is highly recommended because they change over time. Something I didn’t realize until recently was that when women go through menopause and their estrogen levels drop, their cholesterol increases! (but this is another topic!)

I would love to hear your comments and experiences. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s never to early or late to love your heart!

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Yeah, that’s right!  I finally tried it!

Cut the long VERY short, the drink is not very tasty, though that doesn’t mean it is not palatable.

It’s somewhat of an acquired taste! (Queen’s English accent pleeeeeeeease!)

Some people have told me that it tastes like medicine and I can see what they mean.

So what are the ingredients?

100% Pomegranate juice from concentrate and natural flavourings.

Two things I don’t like very much:

1. That it is from concentrate!
2. What are the natural flavourings?!

I was quite shocked at the price.

Here (in the UK), it cost me £3.14 for a little less than 500ml, which is VERY expensive.

Would I buy it again?

Probably not, though the health benefits are very good!

Many other pomegranate drinks taste very good, though this is mostly down to the large sugar content!

I still have one more voucher, may use it and try the mango flavour

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In yet another study showing the benefits of consuming foods high in Omega-3, Akira Sekikawa (MD) and colleagues found that rather than genetic factors contributing to the lower heart disease risk in Japan’s population, the actual Omega-3 content of Japanese diets may be responsible instead.

The study, cited in the August edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, involved 281 men living in Japan, 306 Caucasian American men and 281 Japanese-American men living in Hawaii.

The researchers conducted blood tests to measure total fatty acids and Omega-3 fatty acids.

Although the total fatty acid levels were similar amongst all three groups, the amount of fatty acids from fish consumption was twice as high among the Japanese men group as compared to both American groups.

The study also indicated that men living in Japan had significantly less atherosclerosis (plaque build up inside the arteries).

Dr. Sekikawa concluded that increasing the intake of Omega-3 fatty acids could “…have a very substantial impact on heart disease.”

Source: Sekikawa A., Curb J.D., Ueshima H., et al. Marine-derived n-3 fatty acids and atherosclerosis in Japanese, Japanese-American and white men: a cross-sectional study. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2008 Aug., 52(6):417-424

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Who would’ve thought that “The Health People” might advocate the consumption of cookies, huh?Ok there’s a slight catch, these aren’t ordinary cookies, they are enriched with CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid).

As a result of eating these enriched cookies, researchers found these healthy fatty acids to be present in breast milk at a higher level (46% ~ higher) than those who only consumed normal biscuits.

This doesn’t mean necessarily that all women have been given the green light to consume large amounts of biscuits and hence overdose on saturated fat and sugars.

The study aims to show how CLA supplementation can make its way into the breast milk and therefore benefit the child – I think it’s fair to surmise that

CLA is a group of fatty acids that has potential anti-cancer and antioxidant effects.

The study doesn’t show where you can buy these biscuits though!

Maybe you could get a CLA pill and put it in between two cookies, somewhat like a sandwich?!

Or on the other hand, just get rid of the biscuits and take the supplement by itself – yeah…that makes more sense!

Source

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According to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition, fat-build up from fructose consumption may be greater than consumption of other types of sugars such as glucose and sucrose.

The study involved six young, lean participants who had to drink either: 

A soft drink sweetened with 100% glucos

A soft drink sweetened with 50% glucose and 50% fructose

A soft drink sweetened with 25% glucose and 75% fructose

The tests were random and blinded.

The groups who drank the beverages containing fructose gained more fat at a quicker rate than the glucose group.
We have to remember that the participants in this study were young, healthy and lean.

Therefore it is fair to surmise that people who are less healthy, not as lean and maybe older maybe pre-disposed to even easier fat gain and other health related issues.

Lipogenesis (formation of fat in the body) increased as follows:

• 100% glucose, lipogenesis = 7.8%
• 50% glucose and 50% fructose, lipogenesis = 15.9%
• 25% glucose and 75% fructose, lipogenesis = 16.9%

Also the blood triglyceride levels (i.e. fat in the blood) were between 11% & 29% higher after the consumptions of the 50:50 and 25:75 beverages.
I hope people don’t assume that as a result of this study (and various other related studies) that the consumption of fructose in fruit would also have such an effect.
This study was using pure fructose that is isolated from the high fibre, vitamins and various other co-factors that are found in fruits.  Do not misconceive what the study shows.

However, if you are someone who consumes soft drink full of fructose and various other sugars, then this study is a good indicator of what could happen to you.

Sources available upon request.

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So what did I mean when I said I shall provide two lists for the Acid and Alkaline Food diet in Part 1?

Confused?

Well, whenever I have scowered the internet for a list identifying the state (i.e. acidic or alkaline) of foods, I always come across some discrepancies in relation to accuracy. In some lists I read that one food may be acidic and on another list I come across that same food is diagnosed as alkaline!!!

This can be quite confusing and annoying.

The original way of calculating the state of a certain food was achieved by conducting the ash analysis technique. I’m not going to explain the science behind it, it’s not worth knowing, but lets just say that it isn’t all that effective.

Solution

So is there a way round this?

Luckily, yes!

Dr. Remer and Manz developed a food rating system refered to as PRAL (Potential Renal Acid Load). This method allows researchers to analyse a food based on its components, thereby presenting an accurate result for that specific food.

Why Acid is bad!

Every cell within the body has to function and operate at a certain pH level. Though the net pH of the whole body has to be regulated tightly to maintain homeostasis.

One of the problems we incur living in the West is that a lot of our food is processed and refined and as a result our diets produce what’s known as “low-grade chronic metabolic acidosis”.

So what does that mean?

This means that the foods we eat produce a state of acidosis in our system and therefore the PRAL of our diets is high.

So your probably wondering why your doctor hasn’t warned you about this? Maybe because they can’t detect such a state until it becomes a chronic problem!

You and your doctor won’t know, but your cells and body will!

Problems of Acidosis

Your body will be forced to counteract this problem by neutralising the acidity with alkalising minerals (which are taken from your bones, muscles and cells, e.g. calcium from bones, glutamine from muscles).

That means you are losing a lot of minerals which could be used for repair and growth and many other beneficial functions in your system.

Does this mean your bones will become weaker? Yes!

What else will happen?

You will lose muscle mass too!

These effects may not manifest themselves immediately, but shall accumulate over time!

As you age, your ability to excrete acid via the kidneys deteriorates.

So what can I do?

Well you can increase your intake of fruit and vegetables, but I guess you all know that already!

For those of you who are eager for something more concrete in terms of tracking your acid load, one can use the PRAL index system as a way of calculating this (after the list there is an explanation of how to use it):

This table is adapted by John Berardi and taken from the Remer and Manz study (1). Each PRAL score is based on a 100g portion of food.

How to use the PRAL list

To make things REALLY simple:

• All the positive figures (e.g. 2, 4.5 etc.) mean a positive acidic load on your system, in Laymans terms, these foods are acidic.
• All the negative figures (e.g. -3, -2.2 etc.) mean a negative acidic load on your system, in Laymans terms, these foods are alkaline.

Simply record the amount (in grams) of each food you eat in a meal. Then, multiply the PRAL score listed by your food amount (2)

For example, if you’ve eaten 250g of lean meat (8 oz or about 1/2 lb), your PRAL score for the meat will be 7.8 (score for 100g) multiplied by 2.5 (for the 250g serving), or 19.5. (2)

If you’ve also eaten 250g of potato (8 oz or 1/2lb), your PRAL score for the potato is -4 (score for 100g) multiplied by 2.5 (for the 250g serving) or -10. (2)

In addition, if you’ve eaten 100g of spinach, the PRAL score for the spinach is -14. If you tally up the total score of this meal, the net PRAL is 19.5 (meat), -10 (potato), -14 (spinach), or -4.5. This means a meal containing 8 oz of lean meat, 8 oz of potato, and 3.5 oz of spinach produces a PRAL of -4.5. (2)

In other words, the meal produces a net alkalinity. And that is what you want!

“Cheaper, faster, quicker…” solutions?

If you’re going to eat a large meal and you know its going to be a net acid producer, you can add a small amount of glutamine to this meal. Want something cheaper than glutamine? Try sodium or potassium bicarbonate supplementation.

Those of you who regularly drink protein shakes, you could add some glutamine to them or alternatively some sodium or potassium bicarbonate (2g-5g should be sufficient to neutralise).

Also, adding sodium can have the same effect, though be careful not to over do it!

What’s the formula?

I knew someone would email me asking this, so to save you the hassle, here’s the formula, though I doubt many, if any, will use it. But for the sake of completing the article, here it is:

pral =
0.49 * protein (g) + 0.037 * phosphorus (mg) – 0.021 * potassium (mg) – 0.026 * magnesium (mg) – 0.013 * calcium (mg)

I did warn you

Conclusion

While the PRAL index is a good source of information to gauge the state of one’s diet, I do not advise going crazy and calculating each food value before consuming, unless of course you have serious health issue, in which case go ahead.

I know I said I’d provide two lists, but after realising that there are a billion sites with acid and alkaline lists, I thought I’d let you search the net for the one which is most suited to you.

Moderation and common sense are sufficient to help us devise sensible choices when it comes to nutrition.

Simply put: eat more vegetables and fruit!

(1) Remer and Manz, J. Am Diet Assoc. 95: 791-797, 1995.

(2) Berardi, J. Covering Nutritional Bases: The importance of acid-base balance. July 2003

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Many of us have heard things about our diets being too acidic or that we have to eat more raw foods to counter-balance the acidity of modern day diets.

So how true is this you ask?

It is very true.

Unfortunately, most people’s diet is full of processed food (remember, I didn’t even say junk food!), even the so-called healthy foods that many companies are trying to cash-in on are heavily processed! Just the other day, my dad shocked me by purchasing some healthy dessert! Or so it looked healthy from the packaging! One glance at the ingredients list and I was sent back to reality!

No such thing as a healthy dessert, except the recipes in Gourmet Nutrition and some others floating around the net (this book – see below – has some really, really, really good yummy healthy recipes! Would I use that many “reallys” if I didn’t mean it?!)

Anyway, back to the topic!

Now, before I go on, I am not specifying or advocating another type of “diet” or anything like that, I know how hard it can be! I’m simply advising you to implement some simple and easily accessible foods into your diet which are more alkaline based to create some balance and therefore benefiting for yourselves.

So what benefits can one attain from introducing more alkaline foods in their diet?

Here’s a list:

• Wake up feeling good and ready for the day as opposed to waking up and feeling sluggish!
• Clearer skin*
• More energy*
• Less likely to catch a cold*
• Improved cognitive ability/performance
• Increase in mental clarity

(* benefits I have experienced and enjoy and can attest to myself)

Okay, so I guess you want examples of such foods?

Well, I think it is pretty safe to say that nearly all vegetables and fruit are alkaline forming. Spinach is a very high alkaline forming food, where as cheese is very acidic.

I’ve compiled a list of foods which you can access in Part 2.

I know adding such foods into your diet is not always that convenient and palatable!

Well, first of all, we have the privilege of being able to pop into our local supermarket and buy vegetables & fruits that are washed and ready to eat – no excuses there!

So what about the palatability?

Well, three ways round this:

Either eat these foods (e.g. raw broccoli) with other foods, thereby cancelling out the taste. I do this regularly, especially with raw cruciferous vegetables. I eat them with healthy curry and brown rice, don’t even taste the vegetables.

Find recipes on the internet that incorporate these ingredients.

Remember the benefits you shall reap as a result of introducing such foods to your diet, I’m serious! Have you noticed that when you don’t want to do something, it is very easy to bring to mind all the negative factors, thereby giving you motivation not to do the matter at hand. Well the same is true for the other side of the spectrum, that is, the positive aspects and factors. It really works, try it! Just make sure you think of the benefits only, don’t combine these thoughts with the negative ones, or it won’t quite work! This is no tantra mantra yoga meditation stuff, just simple ways of manipulating your thought process – it really works! This is based on Anthony Robbin’s Neuro-Associative Conditioning (NAC) method – I heard it on his Personal Power Audio CD programme.

Remember, I’m not selling you anything, this is genuine advice.

So give it a try!

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I delve further into this subject and provide two different lists of acid and alkaline foods (you’ll know what I mean, just wait for part 2).

Have any of you already tried the above in your diet?

If so, what were/are your experiences and results?

Stay tuned for part 2.

P.S. There are two affiliate links in this post – not because I want to become rich, but because I have tried these products myself and highly recommend them and any money I make helps towards the cost of running this site.

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Yesterday I went to drop my sister off Heathrow airport – she is off to my cousin’s wedding!

So anyway, as usual, with all the delays and stuff – “…one acquired an appetite!” (last bit requires an archaic English accent!).

I went on the mission of trying to find something to eat which was not only edible (sarcasm intended), but also healthy and give me some satiety! Any luck? Well initially NO!

Everywhere I looked, even the so-called healthy stuff, was full of sugar and preservatives and you get my point! I feel sorry for the people who fall for the marketing claims made by those companies claiming to sell “healthy” products, yet they don’t come anywhere near to that definition. Okay, end of the sermon!

So I went back to one of the shops (Boots Pharmacy) I quickly visited earlier as I was told that I have more time due to the long queues!

Did I find something good, healthy and appetising? YESSireee!!!

Was I surprised? Indeedeeeo!

Am I going to stop talking like this? Maybeeeee!

I was pleasantly surprised, I found a healthy sandwich for the first time in my life for sale in a large retail shop! We are finally moving forward!

Thumbs up to Chantelle Ludski (Founder & Chief Sandwich Maker @ ‘fresh!naturallyorganic’) for taking the initiative to do something about the status quo! From browsing the site, it looks like the company has been around since 2000, where on earth have I been? Well I was travelling for approximately a year and a half, though that’s no excuse!

So what did I have? I had the ‘Skinnie Minnie’, which contains NO Mayonaisse, is low in fat and made on wholemeal bread (the sandwich also contained: Hoummous, tuna, carrot, cucumber, watercress, cumin seeds).

The company also has various other healthy products in its range, such as dairy-free cakes, organic juices etc.

Check out the site (http://freshnaturallyorganic.co.uk/) and even maybe try one of their sandwiches.

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This is a guest post by Susan Jacobs.

If you’re being repeatedly disappointed every time you step on the scales or slip into your jeans, then you know your diet isn’t working. How could this be, you ask yourself. You could have sworn you were doing everything right! Below, you will find the top five most plausible reasons your diet isn’t working:

1. You’re Not Trying Hard Enough – Ouch. That’s the one thing you didn’t want to hear, wasn’t it? Still, you need to take a step back and assess how much you are committed to this new diet. Are you still sneaking in things you shouldn’t? Are you allowing yourself “breaks” on the weekend?

2. Your Body Is Adjusting – It’s possible that your body has slowed its metabolism in order to conserve energy. As your body adjusts to your new diet (which, hopefully, is a safe and sensible diet), you may see a stalemate for a while when you step on the scales.

3. You Don’t Drink Enough Water – Hydration is essential for both physical and mental well-being and people really underestimate the power of drinking water. It will flush out your body’s toxins, stem cravings and more, so drink your recommended 8-10 glasses a day. If you are sweating a lot from a regular workout routine, you should be drinking even more than that!

4. You Are Still Eating “American-Sized” Portions – There is a growing problem in America and other Westernized cultures where people’s ideas of portion size are completely skewed. Maybe we should blame restaurants that offer us enormous meals. Still, you need to learn how to properly portion your meals, rather than adhere to society’s newfound standard.

5. Your Diet Isn’t “Working” Because You Are Impatient – It is very possible that your diet is working fine, yet it will be doomed to failure because you get impatient. The slower you drop the pounds, the better, which may disappoint those of you trying to get bikini fit in six weeks. Just remember, you are doing this for long-term health.

The above tips are provided on the assumption that your diet is a sensible one. Of course something like the carrot juice diet fad was doomed for failure – that is no way to sustain your life on a long-term basis. Instead, your “diet” should merely consist of well-rounded, lean meals. Throw in some regular exercise and you will realize just how much you were over thinking this weight loss thing.

Susan Jacobs is a teacher, a freelance writer as well as a regular contributor for NOEDb, a site helping students obtain an online nursing degree. Susan invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address susan.jacobs45 [at] gmail [dot] com

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