Diets based on the ABO blood group system have been promoted over the past decade, but the evidence to support the effectiveness of such diets had evidently not previously been assessed in the scientific literature. Actually, in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association there were a number of papers that came out of a day-long scientific seminar held by the Norwegian Society for Nutrition. Hard to believe they would even take the time, but evidently 40,000 copies of the book had been sold in Norway and so good for them, they sought to determine “blood type diets: Visionary science or nonsense,” and they concluded nonsense.

What they found so outrageous is that the blood type diet is promoted and justified in the book by supposed scientific arguments, yet the author takes no pains to prove his ideas, just presenting them simply as facts, taking advantage of people’s ignorance of biology.

His arguments sound scientific and he uses lots of big words, but he displays a fundamental misunderstanding of the science, describing the book’s understanding of some basic tenants of blood type biology as absurd.

There should be no doubt that the author had practiced in Norway, as opposed to Connecticut, where he would be in violation of the so-called Quack Law.

The book cites the work of blood type biochemists, but if you ask the actual experts, as scientists, they say they obviously have to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out: “it must be stated that an ‘open mind’ should not extend to some of the non-scientific literature where there are books on the ABO blood type system of pure fantasy. The most recent and incredulous of these claims that individuals of each ABO blood type must subscribe to a specific diet.”

I don’t know how researchers have the patience to read these popular press books, but can lead to an appreciation of the ridiculous aspects of the many ignorant and preposterous claims.

So, what should the overall assessment of this work be? The nicest thing you can say about the book is: “boy, does he have a good imagination.”

Is it any worse than people who believe their fate is determined by the stars? Well, yes, because astrologists aren’t telling a third of the population to go out and eat organ meats.

The diet is not as bad as some. Positive results reported by some individuals may well be due to a general improvement in diet and lifestyle (less fat and sugar, more fruits and vegetables, less smoking, more exercise). Look, anything that gets people to eat fewer doughnuts, I don’t care if you say Martians said so.

This may get lost a bit in translation, but this professor of laboratory medicine at the Norwegian University of Science’s analysis concluded that the author’s “learning must be considered junk and without scientific foundation.”

What did the new review find? They sifted through over a thousand papers that might shed some light on the issue, and none of the studies showed an association between blood type diets and health-related outcomes. They conclude that there is currently no evidence that an adherence to blood type diets will provide health benefits, despite the substantial presence and perseverance of blood type diets within the health industry.

The author responded to the review on his website, saying that there’s good science behind the blood type diet just like there was good science behind Einstein’s mathematical calculations, and that if blood type diets were just tested in the right way, just like Einstein’s E=MC2 , he would be vindicated, complaining that the reason you don’t see any studies on blood types and nutrition is because of little interest and available money. He’s sold more than seven million books! Why doesn’t he fund his own studies—that’s what the Atkins Corporation did.

And the answer is he has! In 1996, he wrote, “I am beginning the eighth year of a ten year trial on reproductive cancers, using the Blood Type Diets. By the time I release the results in another 2 years, I expect to make it scientifically demonstrable that the Blood Type Diet plays a role in cancer remission.” OK, so that would be 1998, and the results? Still not released.

Good tactic, though, saying you’re just about to publish, banking that nobody would actually follow up, so in his sequel he said he was currently conducting a twelve-week randomized, double-blind, controlled trial implementing the Blood Type Diet, to determine its effects on the outcomes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.” That was ten years ago.

As my Norwegian colleague bemoaned, “it is difficult not to perceive the whole thing as a crass fraud.”

Sources Cited:

L Cusack, E De Buck, V Compernolle, P Vandekerckhove. Blood type diets lack supporting evidence: A systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2013 98(1):99 – 104.

J Wang, B García-Bailo, D E Nielsen, A El-Sohemy. ABO genotype, ‘blood-type’ diet and cardiometabolic risk factors. PLoS ONE 2014 9(1):e84749.

A Hitler, J V Murphy. 1981. Mein Kampf. London: Hurst and Blackett. Print.

Author:

Dr. Michael Greger

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If we follow the advice of the official dietary guidelines for cancer prevention, does it actually reduce our risk of cancer? If we manage our weight, eat more plant foods, less animal foods, less alcohol and breastfeed, based on the largest prospective study on diet and cancer in history, we may significantly lower our risk of breast cancer, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, stomach cancer, oral cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, and all cancers combined.

Of all the recommendations, the “eat mostly foods of plant origin” appeared the most powerful. For example, a study in the UK found that in just one year in Britain there were 14,902 excess cases of cancer caused by something participants were exposed to 10 years earlier. What was that something that ended up causing thousands of cancers? Deficient intake of fruit and vegetables.

If that was instead, some chemical spill causing 14,000 cancers, people would be up in arms to ban it—but instead when that killer carcinogen is not eating their “fruit and veg” (as the Brits would say), it hardly gets anyone’s attention.

What if we throw in smoking, too? Researchers created a healthy lifestyle index, defined by four things: 1) exercise; 2) a dietary shift away from the standard American diet high in meat, dairy, fat, and sugar towards a more prudent dietary pattern—for instance more green and yellow vegetables, beans, and fruits; 3) avoidance of tobacco; and 4) avoidance of alcohol. Young women scoring higher on those four things cut their odds of getting breast cancer in half, older women cut their odds of breast cancer by 80%!

We’ve covered how even light drinking can increase breast cancer risk (see my video Breast Cancer and Alcohol: How Much is Safe?), but for women who refuse to eliminate alcohol, which is less carcinogenic: red wine or white? Some studies, outlined in my four minute video, Breast Cancer Risk: Red Wine vs. White Wine, actually suggest less or even no risk from red wine, and we may have just figured out why. Remember how mushrooms were the vegetable best able to suppress the activity of aromatase, the enzyme used by breast tumors to produce its own estrogen? (from my video Vegetables Versus Breast Cancer). Well, if we run the same human placenta experiments with fruit, strawberries get the silver, but grapes get the gold.

For more on the aromatase story, see:

• Breast Cancer Prevention: Which Mushroom Is Best?
• Breast Cancer vs. Mushrooms
• Why Do Asian Women Have Less Breast Cancer?

But what kind of grapes? The wimpy green grapes used to make white wine barely worked compared to those used for making red. Bottom line: “red wine may serve as a nutritional aromatase inhibitor, which may ameliorate the elevated breast cancer risk associated with alcohol intake.” But why accept any elevated risk? Just eat whole grapes! And if you do, choose ones with seeds if you can, as they may work even better. More on grapes in Fat Burning Via Flavonoids and Best Fruit Juice.

Wasn’t there a study that found that fruits and vegetables weren’t protective against cancer, though? See my video on the EPIC Study.

What if you already have breast cancer? Well, Cancer Prevention and Treatment May Be the Same Thing, but I do have a few studies on breast cancer survival and diet:

• Breast Cancer Survival and Lignan Intake
• Breast Cancer Survival and Soy
• Breast Cancer Survival and Trans Fat
• Breast Cancer Survival, Butterfat, and Chicken

Author: March 20, 2014 by Michael Greger M.D. in News

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The study, published in the American Journal of Medicine, is the culmination of previous UCLA research led by Dr. Preethi Srikanthan, an assistant clinical professor in the endocrinology division at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, that found that building muscle mass is important in decreasing metabolic risk.

“As there is no gold-standard measure of body composition, several studies have addressed this question using different measurement techniques and have obtained different results,” Srikanthan said. “So many studies on the mortality impact of obesity focus on BMI. Our study indicates that clinicians need to be focusing on ways to improve body composition, rather than on BMI alone, when counseling older adults on preventative health behaviors.”

The researchers analyzed data collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III, conducted between 1988 and 1994. They focused on a group of 3,659 individuals that included men who were 55 or older and women who were 65 or older at the time of the survey. The authors then determined how many of those individuals had died from natural causes based on a follow-up survey done in 2004.

The body composition of the study subjects was measured using bioelectrical impedance, which involves running an electrical current through the body. Muscle allows the current to pass more easily than fat does, due to muscle’s water content. In this way, the researchers could determine a muscle mass index — the amount of muscle relative to height — similar to a body mass index. They looked at how this muscle mass index was related to the risk of death.

They found that all-cause mortality was significantly lower in the fourth quartile of muscle mass index compared with the first quartile.

“In other words, the greater your muscle mass, the lower your risk of death,” said Dr. Arun Karlamangla, an associate professor in the geriatrics division at the Geffen School and the study’s co-author. “Thus, rather than worrying about weight or body mass index, we should be trying to maximize and maintain muscle mass.”

This study on muscle mass and longevity does have some limitations. For instance, one cannot definitively establish a cause-and-effect relationship between muscle mass and survival using a cohort study such as NHANES III. “But we can say that muscle mass seems to be an important predictor of risk of death,” Srikanthan said. In addition, bioelectrical impedance is not the most advanced measurement technique, though the NHANES III measurements were conducted in a very rigorous fashion “and practically, this is the best situation possible in a study of this size,” she noted.

“Despite these limitations, this study establishes the independent survival prediction ability of muscle mass as measured by bioelectrical impedance in older adults, using data from a large, nationally representative cohort,” Srikanthan and Karlamangla write, adding that BMI’s association with mortality in older adults has proven inconsistent. “We conclude that measurement of muscle mass relative to body height should be added to the toolbox of clinicians caring for older adults. Future research should determine the type and duration of exercise interventions that improve muscle mass and potentially increase survival in (healthy), older adults.”

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Stone Hearth News.

The research was funded by NIH/NIA grant P30 AG028748.

http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/older-adults-build-muscle-and-youll-live-longer-ucla-research/elder-care/#sthash.Pk84i66y.dpuf 

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Experiments dating back to 1920 showed over and over that if we had a acid forming diet rich in meat that we would get a big spike in the amount of calcium being lost in our urine. We have known since 1912 that meat was acid-forming within the body.

Meat and eggs have a lot of sulphur-containing amino acids

Meat and eggs have 2 to 5 times more sulpher containing amino acids than grains and beans that are metabolized into sulphuric acid, which the body buffers with calcium compounds. And where is calcium stored in the body? The skeleton. So the thinking was that every time we ate a steak, our body would pull calcium from our bones, bit by bit, and over time this could lead to osteoporosis. Based on 26 such studies, for every 40 grams of protein we add to our daily diet, we pee out an extra 50 mg of calcium. We only have about 2 pounds of calcium in our skeleton, so the loss of 50 grams a day would mean losing close to 2% of our bone calcium every year. By the end of the 20th century, there was little doubt that acid-forming diets would dissolve our bones away.

But if we actually look at the studies done on protein intake and bone health, that’s not what we find. So, where’s the flaw in the logic? Meat leads to acid, which leads to calcium loss, which leads to bone loss, right?

Well, it’s uncontroversial that protein results in greater calcium excretion, but we’ve just been assuming it’s coming from the bone—where else could the extra calcium dumped in our urine be coming from but our bones?

This is the study that appeared to solve the mystery. An intrepid group of researchers tried feeding a group of volunteers radioactive calcium and then put them on a high protein diet. What happens when you put people on a high protein diet? The amount of calcium in their urine shoots up, and indeed that’s just what happened. But here’s the big question, was that extra calcium in their urine radioactive or not? To everyone’s surprise, it was radioactive. This meant that the excess calcium in their urine was coming from their diet, not from their bones.

What seemed to be happening is that the excess protein consumption boosted calcium absorption, from down around 19% up to 26%. All of a sudden there was all this extra calcium in the blood, so presumably the kidneys are like “whoa, what are we going to do with it all?” So they dump it into the urine. 90% of the extra calcium in the urine after eating a steak doesn’t appear to be coming from our bones but from our diet. We’re not sure why protein boosts calcium absorption. Maybe protein increases the solubility of calcium by stimulating stomach acid production? Whatever the reason, there was indeed more calcium lost, but also more calcium gained such that in the end, most of that extra calcium is accounted for. In effect, more calcium is lost in the urine stream, but it may be compensated by less loss of calcium through the fecal stream.

This was repeated with even more extreme diets—an acid-forming five-burgers-a-day-worth-of-animal protein diet that limited fruits and vegetables versus an alkaline diet emphasizing fruits and vegetables. More calcium in the urine on burgers, but significantly greater calcium absorption, such that at the end it was pretty much a wash.

Other studies have also since supported this interpretation. Here’s an ingenious one: Feed people a high animal protein diet but add in an alkali salt to neutralize the acid. The old thinking would predict that there would be no calcium loss since there is no excess acid to buffer, but no, even though the acid load was neutralized, there was still the excess urinary calcium, consistent with the radioactive isotope study, challenging the “long-standing dogma that animal protein consumption results in a mild acidosis promoting the increased excretion of calcium.”

So if our body isn’t buffering the acid formed from our diet with our bones, how is it neutralizing the acid? Maybe with our muscles. Alkaline diets may protect our muscle mass! I cover that in my video Testing Your Diet with Pee and Purple Cabbage.

Now the boost in calcium absorption can only compensate if you’re taking enough in. For example, dietary acid load may be associated with lower bone mineral density in those getting under 800mg a day. Plant Protein is Preferable to animal protein for a variety of reasons (tends to have less methionine, is less IGF-1 promoting, etc.), but it’s not clear how much of an advantage it has when it comes to bone health.

I previously touched on this topic in my video Is Protein Bad to the Bone? But I promised I’d take a deeper dive, hence the above video. If there are other topics you’d like me to cover in greater depth please note them below in the comment section.

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About 1 in 3 Americans takes a multivitamin. Is that helpful, harmful, or just a harmless waste of money? In 2011, the Iowa Women’s Health Study reported that multivitamin use was associated with a higher risk of total mortality, meaning in effect women who took a multivitamin appeared to be paying to live shorter lives.

But this was an observational study, meaning they didn’t split them up into two groups and put half on multivitamins to see who lived longer, they just followed a large population of women over time and found those that happened to be taking multivitamins were more likely to die. But maybe they were taking multivitamins because they were sick. The researchers didn’t find any evidence of that, but ideally we’d have a randomized double-blind placebo controlled trial, thousands followed for over a decade. Half given a multivitamin and half a placebo and see what happens, and that’s what we got the following year in 2012.

The Harvard Physicians’ Study II. And after a decade no effect on heart attack, stroke, or mortality.

The accompanying editorial concluded that multivitamins are a distraction from effective cardiovascular disease prevention. The message needs to remain simple and focused: heart disease can be largely prevented by healthy lifestyle changes.

They did, however, find that for men with a history of cancer, the multivitamin appeared to be protective against getting cancer again, though there was no significant difference in cancer mortality or cancer protection in those who’ve never had cancer before. Still, though, that’s pretty exciting. It is just one study, though, ideally we’d have like 20 of these placebo-controlled trials and then compile all the results together, and that’s what we got in 2013, a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Twenty-one of them, covering more than 90,000 individuals and no influence on mortality either way. Some found more cancer mortality, some found less cancer mortality, but all and all it was a wash.

And that was heralded as good news. After the Iowa Women’s Health Study came out we were worried multivitamins could be harming millions of people, but instead they don’t appear to have much affect either way. The accompanying editorial asked should meta-analyses trump observational studies? I mean Iowa Women’s Health Study followed tens of thousands of women for nearly 20 years.

What if we put all the studies together? The big observational studies along with the experimental trials? And that’s what we got December 2013, concluding that multivitamins appear to offer no consistent evidence of benefit for heart disease, cancer, or living longer.

Why though? Aren’t vitamins and minerals good for us? One explanation for this result could be that our bodies are so complex that the effects of supplementing with only 1 or 2 components is generally ineffective or actually does harm. Maybe we should get our nutrients in the way nature intended.

The accompanying editorial concluded enough is enough; we should stop wasting our money on vitamin and mineral supplements. Americans spend billions on vitamin and mineral supplements. A better investment in health would be eating more fruits and vegetables. Imagine if instead we spent those billions on healthy food?

This is not the aisle we should be getting our nutrients from. With the money we save on pills we can buy more of the best multivitamins on Earth.

Written by Dr. Michael Greger, MD

Sources Cited

J. M. Gaziano, H. D. Sesso, W. G. Christen, V. Bubes, J. P. Smith, J. MacFadyen, M. Schvartz, J. E. Manson, R. J. Glynn, J. E. Buring. Multivitamins in the prevention of cancer in men: the Physicians’ Health Study II randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2012 308(18):1871 – 1880.

H. D. Sesso, W. G. Christen, V. Bubes, J. P. Smith, J. MacFadyen, M. Schvartz, J. E. Manson, R. J. Glynn, J. E. Buring, J. M. Gaziano. Multivitamins in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in men: the Physicians’ Health Study II randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2012 308(17):1751 – 1760.

E. Guallar, S. Stranges, C. Mulrow, L. J. Appel, E. R. Miller. Enough is enough: Stop wasting money on vitamin and mineral supplements. Ann Intern Med. 2013 159(12):850 – 851.

H. Macpherson, A. Pipingas, M. P. Pase. Multivitamin-multimineral supplementation and mortality: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2013 97(2):437 – 444

M. Cully. Prevention. Multivitamins do not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2013 10(1):7.

S. M. Chang. Should meta-analyses trump observational studies? Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2013 97(2):237 – 238.

S. Rautiainen, L. Wang, J. M. Gaziano, H. D. Sesso. Who uses multivitamins? A cross-sectional study in the Physicians’ Health Study. Eur J Nutr. 2013 [Epub ahead of print].

L. Anekwe. Daily multivitamins do not protect against cardiovascular events, finds study. BMJ. 2012 345:e7599.

R. Vogt. The importance of translating research skillfully to benefit the public. Arch. Intern. Med. 2012 172(5):449; author reply 449-450.

E. M. Lonn. Multivitamins in prevention of cardiovascular disease. JAMA. 2012 308(17):1802-1803.

F. Greenway, K. Fujioka, Y. Yu. Vomiting from multivitamins: A potential drug interaction. Am J Ther. 2011 18(6):453 – 457.

S. P. Fortmann, B. U. Burda, C. A. Senger, J. S. Lin, E. P. Whitlock. Vitamin and Mineral Supplements in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer: An Updated Systematic Evidence Review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Ann. Intern. Med. 2013 159(12):824-838.

J. Mursu, K. Robien, L. J. Harnack, K. Park, D. R. Jacobs Jr. Dietary supplements and mortality rate in older women: The Iowa Women’s Health Study. Arch. Intern. Med. 2011 171(18):1625 – 1633.

R. F. Redberg. Vitamin supplements: More cost than value. Arch. Intern. Med. 2011 171(18):1634 – 1635.

The post Should I Take a Multivitamin? appeared first on AFPA.

Dr. Michael Greger, MD

If doctors can eliminate some of our leading killers by treating the underlying causes of chronic disease better than nearly any other medical intervention, why don’t more doctors do it?

Though I was trained as a general practitioner, my chosen specialty is lifestyle medicine. Yes, most of the reasons people go see their doctors is for diseases that could have been prevented, but Lifestyle medicine is not just about preventing chronic disease—it’s also about treating it. And not just treating the disease, it’s treating the causes of disease.

If people just did 4 simple things—not smoking, exercising a half hour a day, eating a diet that emphasizes whole plant foods, and not becoming obese–they may prevent most cases of diabetes and heart attacks, half of strokes, and a third of cancers. Even modest changes may be more effective in reducing cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and all-cause mortality than almost any other medical intervention.

The key difference between conventional medicine and lifestyle medicine is instead of just treating risk factors we treat the underlying causes of disease, as described in this landmark editorial. See, typically doctors treat “risk factors” for disease such as giving a lifetime’s worth of medications to lower high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and high cholesterol. But think about it. High blood pressure is just a symptom of diseased dysfunctional arteries. Yes, you can artificially lower blood pressure with drugs, but that’s not treating the underlying cause, which often comes down to things like diet and exercise, the penicillin of lifestyle medicine.

When the underlying lifestyle causes are addressed, patients often are able to stop taking medication or avoid surgery. We spend billions cracking people’s chests open, but only rarely does it actually prolong anyone’s life. In contrast, how about wiping out at least 90% of heart disease?

Think about it… heart disease accounts for more premature deaths than any other illness and is almost completely preventable simply by changing diet and lifestyle. Those same changes can prevent or reverse many other chronic diseases as well—the same dietary changes. So why don’t more doctors do it? Well, one reason is doctors don’t get paid for it. No one profits from lifestyle medicine, so it is not part of medical education or practice. Presently physicians lack training and financial incentives… so they continue to do what they know how to do: prescribe medication and perform surgery.

After Dean Ornish proved you could reverse our #1 cause of death, heart disease, open up arteries without drugs, without surgery, just with a plant-based diet and other healthy lifestyle changes, he thought that his studies would have a meaningful effect on the practice of mainstream cardiology. After all, a cure for our #1 killer! But, he admits, he was mistaken. Physician reimbursement, he realized, is a much more powerful determinant of medical practice than research.

Reimbursement more than research. Salary over science. Wealth versus health. Not a very flattering portrayal of the healing profession, but hey if docs won’t do it without getting paid, let’s get them paid.

So Dr. Ornish went to Washington arguing that look, “If we train and pay for doctors to learn how to help patients address the real causes of disease with lifestyle medicine and not just treat disease risk factors we could save trillions, and that’s just talking heart disease, diabetes, prostate and breast cancer.” The Take Back Your Health Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate to induce doctors to learn and practice lifestyle medicine not only because it works better but here’s the critical factor: physicians will be paid to do it. The bill died, just like the millions of Americans will continue to do with reversible chronic diseases.

Sources Cited

J. Allen, D. R. Anderson, B. Baun, S. N. Blair, L. S. Chapman, M. Eriksen, J. Fielding, G. Omenn, D. Ornish, K. R. Pelletier. Reflections on developments in health promotion in the past quarter century from founding members of the American Journal of Health Promotion Editorial Board. Am J Health Promot 2011 25(4):ei – eviii.

M. A. Hyman, D. Ornish, M. Roizen. Lifestyle medicine: Treating the causes of disease. Altern Ther Health Med 2009 15(6):12 – 14.

G. J. Egger, A. F. Binns, S. R. Rossner. The emergence of lifestyle medicine as a structured approach for management of chronic disease. Med. J. Aust. 2009 190(3):143 – 145.

The post Lifestyle Medicine: Treating the Causes of Disease appeared first on AFPA.

When I first started out in private practice, clients came to me because something was wrong. Most of them struggled with their weight, or were newly diagnosed with a condition like high cholesterol or elevated blood pressure. Today, healthy, fit clients schedule appointments with me simply to pick my brain. Many describe themselves as health enthusiasts who want to learn all they can about optimal nutrition, the hottest superfoods, and latest trends. I love that nutrition is now considered exciting—even sexy.

But I sometimes see healthy eating and weight loss taken to extremes, which can actually worsen physical and emotional well-being and negatively impact quality of life. (Case in point: a recent study highlighted how obese teens trying to lose weight are in danger of developing eating disorders.) This topic is especially timely given the social media uproar following Tuesday’s finale of The Biggest Loser, where winner Rachel Frederickson lost so much weight that Time.com reported she wouldn’t be allowed to model in some countries based on her BMI, and in advance of National Eating Disorders Awareness Weekfrom February 23 to March 1.

While this post is certainly not meant to diagnose anyone, here are five indications that your healthy efforts may have morphed into detrimental patterns.

You’ve become scale-obsessed

I actually believe it’s perfectly okay—and for some people, even healthier—not to weigh themselves. (Find out why in my previous post 5 Reasons Why You Can Skip the Scale.) But if you do, treat weighing in as a simple reality check to help you understand your body’s patterns and to see if you’re moving in the right direction. It’s also important to put the numbers in proper perspective. Weight fluctuations from day to day, and even hour to hour, are completely normal, because when you step on a scale, you’re weighing not just muscle and body fat, but also: fluid, food inside your GI tract that hasn’t been digested and absorbed; waste that hasn’t been eliminated; and glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate you carry in your liver and muscles. The latter three can shift considerably and quickly, whereas changes in muscle and fat tissue happen more slowly. Also, you can be retaining water or building muscle as you’re losing body fat, which means the number on the scale might stay the same, even though you’re getting leaner.

For all of these reasons, weight alone doesn’t tell you much. Yet many people become fixated on the number and they feel angry or depressed if it doesn’t go down, or if it’s not declining fast enough. If you find yourself weighing in more than once a day, or if your mood is seriously affected by the number, or if you undereat or overexercise because your weight hasn’t decreased, your relationship with weight has likely become unhealthy. Consider letting go of the scale and focusing on how your body feels instead—and talking to a health professional about reasonable weight expectations.

You’re secretive about your diet

When you’re trying to eat healthfully and lose weight, there’s no reason to tell everyone and their mom about your personal regime. But if you feel the need to avoid the subject because you’re afraid you’ll be judged for being too strict, you may be crossing into disordered territory. This is especially the case if your own gut instinct is telling you that you’re overly restricting but you can’t or don’t want to stop.

In my experience, a big red flag is a willingness to stick to a restrictive plan despite unhealthy side effects like fatigue, moodiness and irritability, sleep disturbances, poor immunity, and constant hunger. Even if you are losing weight or you’re eating ultra healthy foods, if you aren’t keeping yourself nourished, I promise you’re doing a lot more harm than good. Throughout my 15+ years working with clients, I’ve found that creating more balance (and often adding food to a plan) leads to much better results, not just for weight control, but also for emotional well-being and a healthy social life. For more about diet strategies that can go awry, check out 5 Common Dieting Mistakes, Solved.

Your self-esteem is tied to your weight or eating habits

Even clients who know I’m not at all a food cop are sometimes afraid to tell me what they’ve eaten. It’s typically because they’re judging themselves: they’ve developed a pattern of feeling happy and empowered when they’ve been “good” and beating themselves up when they’ve been “bad.” Unfortunately, these associations can stall your progress, because they don’t allow you to examine why you get off track. And when you don’t know why you’re doing something, it’s very difficult to change.

The truth is, you may slip up because your diet is too strict and your hunger hormones are raging. If that’s the case, the fix lies in balancing out what you’re eating, not berating yourself. Or, if you tend to eat due to stress or anxiety, addressing your emotions is the key to ending the cycle, not trying to have more willpower. So if you gained a pound or two this week, or your kale rotted in the crisper while you ordered takeout again, banish the harsh self-talk and criticism. Instead, take an objective look at your triggers, focus your energy there, and remind yourself that health is about progress, not perfection.

Most of your mental energy is spent thinking about your diet or weight

Some of my clients love food apps and other tools that help them record what they ate and track their weight. Others don’t. But one thing’s for certain: for some people, these tools can become an obsession. If you find yourself constantly thinking about what you’ve eaten (or what you’re going to eat) and worrying about your weight to the point where you’re distracted from other activities, your weight-loss goals may have eclipsed your healthy lifestyle goals.

In my years of counseling clients, I’ve seen this pattern lead to burnout and trigger a rebound right back to old, unhealthy patterns. Fortunately, you don’t have to be preoccupied with your diet and weight in order to see results. Simply focusing on the basics—like eating at consistent times; eating balanced meals that include plenty of veggies, along with lean protein, healthy fat, and small portions of “good” carbs; and stopping when you’re full—can allow you to see real and lasting results, while also having the time and energy for other parts of your life. If you’re afraid to let go of thinking about or recording your every effort, ask yourself if you can honestly envision continuing to do so six weeks or six months from now. If the thought makes you cringe, make an effort to create some balance. Letting go a bit doesn’t have to mean sacrificing results.

Your diet distances you from your family and friends

I’ve had clients tell me that they stopped spending time with friends and avoided family functions because their devotion to their diet outweighed their desire to engage in social situations. Some of this is normal for anyone who’s adopting healthy habits because the cultural norm is to overindulge. But if you find yourself becoming isolated and avoiding the people you care about, things may have gone too far.

If you’re on a quest to eat healthfully and the people in your social circles aren’t healthy eaters, there are ways to enjoy getting together that won’t require you to eat junk food. For example: at a party, bring a healthy dish to share, to serve as your personal go-to; choose restaurants where you know you can get a healthy meal, and opt for non-food centered ways of spending time together, like going for a walk or a hike, rather than meeting for drinks or frozen yogurt.

If you feel like you’re not getting the support you need and you want to have a heart-to-heart, check out my advice on how to deal with food pushers. But if you’re finding yourself prioritizing your diet before your loved ones completely, consider talking to a health professional. To find a psychologist, visit the American Psychological Association. And to find a nutritionist, go to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, click on Find a Registered Dietitian on the upper right corner, choose Expertise Area, and check Eating Disorders.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Chat with us on Twitter by mentioning @goodhealth and @CynthiaSass.

Cynthia Sass is a registered dietitian with master’s degrees in both nutrition science and public health. Frequently seen on national TV, she’s Health’s contributing nutrition editor, and privately counsels clients in New York, Los Angeles, and long distance. Cynthia is currently the sports nutrition consultant to the New York Rangers NHL team and the Tampa Bay Rays MLB team, and is board certified as a specialist in sports dietetics. Her latest New York Times best seller is S.A.S.S! Yourself Slim: Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds and Lose Inches. Connect with Cynthia on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Common sense nutrition is the secret behind a healthy, strong, sexy and sound body and mind. Not a “magic pill”, a high protein, no-carb, low fat, no-fat diet, or strict adherence to the glycemic index. No, it is common sense nutrition, balanced with activity, work, play and rest that will yield the best resutls. More than simply what you are putting in your mouth, it is in your head, your hands and in your home.

Good Nutrition

“Plan your day, for fueling, for fitness, for recreational enjoyment and time for rejuvenating your self.”

You have heard the metaphor used many times: you love your car – or at least you appreciate its functional benefits. You keep fueling up as needed to keep it going no matter what the cost of gasoline, and you know that if you put in the wrong fuel into your tank, or a dreadfully poor grade, it is not going to run very well. If you continue the neglect by avoiding the necessary oil changes, lube jobs, fluid additions, air for the tires, regular removal of salt and mud, etc, your car is not going to run at its best, and may not run at all.

Your body is the most important vehicle you will ever have. This editorial is all about your body and why it is worthy of daily tender loving care. It is about the need to plan for that TLC in the midst of your ‘oh-so-busy’ day. In reality, you don’t have an option if you really want to do your best with all those other responsibilities you have chosen more important than taking care of yourself.

If you really are indispensable, with endless tasks that stand between you and caring for yourself, you need a reminder that taking care of yourself, the hot commodity that you

“Proper fueling will change the quality and vitality of your life and the best way to realize this is to begin to fuel yourself with the best and highest octane foods you can obtain. ”

According to Dr. Wayne Dyer, if you want to achieve a particular objective, you have to really, really, really, really, really want it.

Taking care of yourself with common sense nutrition can be simple and easy with a shift in your “I am too busy” attitude. If you would like to make it to the end of your life with the ability to coherently appreciate your importance, decide now that you will schedule time for yourself. This includes time for planning your day, for fuelling, for fitness, for recreational enjoyment and time for rejuvenating your self.

When properly fueled, humans have incredible capacity and staying power. But if we have blood sugar levels jumping all over the place, insulin production impeded or impaired, indigestion and the numerous other maladies associated with poor nutrition, then we are unable to function well, and we are more susceptible to various illnesses. New research has shown numerous diseases are directly related to our poor dietary habits, food intolerance’s and the chemicals found in many of our foods.

Some basics in the progression to common sense nutrition:

• Understand the importance of food. Author Elizabeth Somer, MA, RD tells us: “What we eat can affect whether we are happy, sad, irritable, moody, alert, calm or sleepy.” Overcome the love/hate relationship – let food nourish and nurture you; think of food as a friend that picks you up when you are out of steam, like a warm shower when you are cold, a hot bath when you are feeling weary. It brings comfort, and leaves energy, vitality and nourishment.
• Plan for your daily eating just the way you plan your workday and personal errands. Map out healthy meals and snacks – the what, when and where you will be having them. Assess your plan and then balance your daily intake with physical and mental output. Take notice of how you are feeling and seek support and guidance if you recognize you need assistance.
• Plan to succeed with a baby step transition to eating better, feeling better, choosing better, performing better and as a combined result, looking better. Overcome the “all or nothing” approach. Let go of over-indulgence and/or deprivation. Rebound from crashes and recognize your successes – every little one. Eat a variety of fresh, clean nutritious foods, consciously consuming each bite.

Proper fueling will change the quality and vitality of your life and the best way to realize this is to begin to fuel yourself with the best and highest octane foods you can obtain.

Personal trainers, share this with your clients and be certain to walk the talk. Your clients’ success is your success and the best physical training program around is not effective if clients are not educated and exercising healthy dietary habits.

An international presenter, Teri integrates over 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industry with her passion and lifetime commitment to positively affect the lives of all she encounters. Her work is focused upon whole body/self wellness.
www.terigentes.com

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Dr Mercola

Dr Mercola is a leading world expert on natural health. His website provides current health information and discussion forums.
http://www.mercola.com/

Natural News

NaturalNews.com provides a collection of natural health articles covering topics that empower individuals to make positive changes in their health, environmental sensitivity, consumer choices and informed skepticism. NaturalNews.com is run by Mike Adams (aka The Health Ranger). http://www.naturalnews.com

Dr Yourself

This website was established by orthomolecular expert, Andrew Saul, as featured in the film ‘Food Matters’. It is an excellent resource for anyone interested in orthomolecular medicine and supplementation.
http://www.doctoryourself.com/

Campaign For Truth In Medicine

This is an independent organisation that aims to provide information on contemporary medical treatments.
http://campaignfortruth.com/charter.htm

Credence

Credence conducts independent research and supplies information on a wide range of controversial health issues. They provide free access to newsletters, recommended reading and advice from health expert Phillip Day, as featured in the film ‘Food Matters’.
http://www.credence.org/

The Doctor Within

This is a thought-provoking website that discusses a range of health issues.
http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/

Supercharged Food

Are you looking to spring clean your diet with a nutritious eating plan? Supercharged food is an altruistic website to help you expand your range of healthy food choices and plan ahead to create and maintain a satisfying, wholesome and nourishing diet.
http://www.superchargedfood.com/

The Water Cure

This website pertains to the innovative work of Dr Batmanghelidj on the role of dehydration in disease processes. His book ‘Your Body’s Many Cries For Water’ is very enlightening – buy online or look for it at your local library.
http://www.watercure.com/

The Vitamin C Foundation

The Vitamin C Foundation provides exhaustive information on Vitamin C.
http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/

Vitamin D Foundation

The Vitamin D Foundation is heavily involved in advocating the importance of vitamin D and provides useful information about this essential compound.
http://vitamindfoundation.org/

Eat Well Guide

This is an invaluable resource for locating farms, restaurants and organic foods in the United States of America and Canada.
http://www.eatwellguide.org

Breast Cancer Choices

Breast Cancer Choices is a non-profit organisation designed to inform people about safe treatments for breast cancer. They also have an email discussion support group.
http://www.breastcancerchoices.org

The Cure Research Foundation

This organisation promotes and recommends drug-free therapies for a wide range of conditions such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, AIDs, heart disease and diabetes.
http://www.cancure.org/

Breast Cancer Action

Breast Cancer Action campaigns for better education about breast cancer, cancer prevention through a healthier world and safer treatment options.
http://bcaction.org

Breast Thermography

Breast thermography is a new technology for detecting breast cancer.
http://www.breastthermography.com/

People Against Cancer

People Against Cancer is comprised of people with cancer who advocate alternative treatment options for this disease.
http://www.peopleagainstcancer.net

The Cancer Project

This organisation is involved in informing the public about cancer causes, particularly in relation to diet.
http://www.cancerproject.org/

The Cancer Tutor

This is an interesting website related to alternative cancer therapies.
http://cancertutor.com/

Generation Rescue

This organisation was founded by parents and provides information on treatments for children with autism.
http://www.generationrescue.org/

Defeat Autism Now

Defeat Autism Now provides comprehensive, professional research on autism treatment options.
http://www.defeatautismnow.com

Autism Research Institute

This non-profit organisation has been engaged in researching autism causes and recovery methods for the last four decades.
http://www.autism.com/index.asp

Dr Ben Kim

Dr Ben Kim is a chiropractor and acupuncturist dedicated to natural health for everyone. This website makes for very interesting and informative reading.
http://drbenkim.com/

Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Christiane Northrup is a leading world expert in women’s health – from a natural and orthodox perspective. Visit her website for some general advice on common female maladies or read her fascinating books.
http://www.drnorthrup.com

The post Nutrition Wellness Online Resources appeared first on AFPA.

By: JoAnn Farb

In previous months I have addressed many issues surrounding how to raise you children to be vegan, but thus far I have not discussed why you should raise your children vegan. The reasons are varied, and of course similar to the reasons why an adult might choose to be vegan or vegetarian…health (studies show people on plant-based diets tend to live longer and suffer less degenerative disease), ethics (animals are capable of suffering, and have a right to their own body and life), concern for the environment (producing meat and dairy products wastes enormous amounts of water, land and energy.

Over 90 million acres of tropical rainforests have been cleared for animal grazing), or concern for starving people (an acre of prime land can produce 40,000 lbs of potatoes, or 250 lbs of beef). Each of these is a large topic in itself and I will refer you on to one of the many other books/sources of information which I feel can better address these topics in depth…(Vegan Source book by Joanne Stepaniak, Vegetrian Sourcebook by Keith Akers, Grassroots Veganism online at www.vegsource. com/joanne, or visit Vegan Outreach at: www.vegsource.com/vo/). What I prefer to address is why I raise my children vegan, and what benefits this lifestyle affords my children and our family.

There’s a saying in Judaism, “The deed shapes the heart.” By modeling a vegan lifestyle for my children, while explaining the hows and whys of veganism, I am building a framework for moral behavior. Three or more times a day, my children participate in an activity (eating) which is laying the foundation for how to live a life that is considerate towards others, respectful of the environment, and caring towards one’s self. Bringing a child up vegan teaches discipline and restraint. We don’t mindlessly put things into our bodies just because everyone else is–we make conscious choices. According to Victoria Moran, author of several books including Shelter for the Spirit, raising her daughter vegan from birth has firmly instilled in her drug resistance. Her daughter is used to making healthy choices instead of just going along with her peers–a habit that has paid off in the teen years.

As far as health goes, I believe a vegan diet offers a child the best start in life. As I observe the various children that I have known from birth, it appears to me that the only thing that has a more positive impact on the child’s health than the elimination (or even reduction) of animal products, is exclusive breast feeding for as long as possible. Consider for a moment, what are the biggest threats to the health of children in this country? Ottis Media, Asthma, Leukemia, food poisoning (some sources suggest that much of what we assume to be “the flu” is really mild food poisoning), antibiotic resistance of bacteria, and juvenile diabetes.

There is growing evidence that all of these problems (plus many more) are either caused by or exacerbated by consumption of meat and/or dairy. Now consider that as adults, the number one killer in this country is heart disease. Studies show that many children eating meat and dairy already show signs of clogged arteries as preschoolers! Since there is a strong tendency to continue to eat the diet which we’ve been brought up to eat, I believe that raising children on a whole-foods vegan dies is our best bet to protect our little loved ones from sickness both now and in the future.

It is interesting that many parents, who aren’t even vegetarian report difficulty in getting their toddlers and preschoolers to eat meat. Could it be that consuming flesh is a learned behavior–one that goes against the fundamental nature of many children? Consider this… now that we have the ability to transplant human organs, we are starting to hear stories of organ recipients having unusual memories which can be traced back to experiences of the donor of their transplanted organ. If in fact, memories, sensations, or experiences can somehow be transmitted from one to another via an intact organ being placed inside one’s body…what happens when bodily tissue from one being is broken down and assimilated into another body like when a person eats meat? What effect does this have on a sensitive child–especially if they are subjected to this repeatedly and and the beings that they are eating lived lives of extended suffering and then died violent deaths?

Raising children is not easy, and certainly any time you make choices for your family that are different than the mainstream it can be challenging. But as any experienced parent can confirm, taking what seems to be the easy way out is seldom in the child’s best interest.

Three times a day we make a statement to our children about how we value our bodies and how much we respect others, and the planet. Three times a day we model what to do with a knife and fork. Only the act of procreation is at once more intimate and far reaching. Three times a day the deed shapes the heart. That’s why I raise my children vegan.

Copyright ©2000 Compassionate Souls.

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