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Whether you have a dairy allergy, are lactose intolerant, or have ethical concerns about drinking moo juice, you’ll find no shortage of milk alternatives vying for your dollars. Regardless of whether the “milk” is derived from rice, soy, or almonds, every carton seems to be designed with the sole purpose of radiating vibes of good health. Unfortunately, not all dairy substitutes are created equal. Continue reading to learn the truth about milk alternatives.

Not That!
Silk Chocolate (8 fl oz)
140 calories
3 g fat (.5 g saturated)
19 g sugars

Soy milk is embroiled in one of the biggest debates in the health community. Some studies indicate that estrogen-mimicking compounds in the milk might be responsible for reproductive problems in men and increase the risk of breast cancer in women. Other studies show beneficial and sometimes opposite effects. But while we’re waiting for a final verdict on soy milk’s long-term effects, there’s one thing we can be sure of now: The flavored varieties are far more problematic than the real, unadulterated stuff. If you’re drinking Silk Chocolate, you better recognize it as a dessert.

Drink This, Instead!
Silk Unsweetened (8 fl oz)
80 calories
4 g fat (.5 g saturated)
1 g sugars

Not That!
Pacific Foods All-Natural Low-Fat Plain Rice Milk (8 fl oz)
130 calories
2 g fat (0 g saturated)
14 g sugars

Calorically, rice milk isn’t much different than low-fat milk. The difference is you’re switching out milk’s natural protein for rice milk’s natural starch–a terrible swap by any measure. Thankfully food manufacturers have developed a simple method for breaking down the lactose in real milk, so even the lactose intolerant can benefit from dairy’s health boons without suffering the stomach problems.

Drink This, Instead!
Horizon Organic Lactose-Free 2% Milk (8 fl oz)
120 calories
5 g fat (3 g saturated)
12 g sugars

Not That!
Pacific Foods Original Hazelnut Milk (8 fl oz)
110 calories
3.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
14 g sugars

In general, nuts make for very light milks, but almond milk is the low-calorie leader by a landslide. Unsweetened, it carries about half as many calories as fat-free milk, which makes it the best dairy alternative for those trying to lose weight. Of course, some of the flavored varieties (we’re looking at you, chocolate) carry as much as 20 grams of sugar per serving, which will pack 80 extra calories into your 8-ounce glass. Your best move: Stick with an unsweetened variety and drizzle in honey or maple syrup when your sweet tooth fires up.

Drink This, Instead!
Pacific Organic Unsweetened Original Almond Milk (8 fl oz)
35 calories
2.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
0 g sugars

Not That!
Rice Dream Enriched Chocolate Rice Milk (8 fl oz)
160 calories
3 g fat (0 g saturated)
28 g sugars

You can’t expect the milk to be more nutritious than the grain that produced it, and that rule is best illustrated with rice milk. Rice consists of mostly starch, a carbohydrate that quickly breaks down to sugar in the body. Likewise, milk produced from rice is the most carbohydrate-rich of all the common nondairy milks, and it pours out to be a serious glass of trouble when you use it as a base for heavily sweetened flavors like chocolate. Almond milk, on the other hand, is the lightest of the milk alternatives, and with Blue Diamond’s modest approach to vanilla, it works out to have just over a third as many calories as the chocolate-flavored rice milk.

Drink This, Instead!
Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Milk (8 fl oz)
60 calories
2.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
7 g sugars

By Cassandra Forsythe-Pribanic, PhD, RD
We’ve all seen them: those novelty condiment stores, usually in the Southwest part of the US, that carry every hot and spicy seasoning created. From Mad Dog Firey Sauce to Holy Jolika Hot Red Pepper Sauce, you just know your taste buds are going to cry in pain. Nevertheless, for some (insane) reason, you still add a drop or two to your food. It’s like riding a roller coaster;  you experience an extreme, heart-pounding, thrill of hurdling your body through the air without actually causing any permanent harm (other than a near heart attack). With these hot red pepper sauces, you’ve created a feeling of danger within your senses that sends your heart racing and your sweat glands pouring.  And, at the same time – if you didn’t know it already -you’ve adding one more arsenal to your fat loss battle. What could be better?

Hot Red Peppers: The Weight Loss Weapon of Choice

I know what you must be thinking: “Of course hot peppers can help me lose weight, when I put them in my food I can barely eat one bite!  Not being able to eat food equals weight loss. Duh!”
Well, this may be true, but who wants to starve themselves to fit into their favorite pair of jeans? And, what if I told you that you don’t even have to put hot peppers in your food for them help you lose a pant size?
That’s right, much of the scientific research performed with red hot peppers is done in an encapsulated form, and is found to be more effective than when it’s placed in food. Yes, there are studies with capsaicin (the active ingredient in hot red pepper) added to food, but it comes with compliance limitations – people can’t eat it on a regular basis because it’s too hot. Also, it’s suggested that the effects of capsaicin accumulate over time to produce greater results. Research subjects who take extracts of this fiery fat burner in a capsule form show more benefits for energy expenditure and weight loss than those who take it in a meal (Yoshioka M et al, 2004).
But, this all comes within the context of a healthy eating pattern; you can’t binge and purge, or add hot red pepper capsules to a diet of coffee and donuts and expect it to make a difference. You also have to exercise. No dietary supplement will ever cause the weight to melt off you if you don’t put in some additional physical work. It doesn’t matter if it’s training for your local 5K run or if it’s kicking your own butt in bootcamp class, you still need to make an effort to lose unsightly body fat.

What is Capsaicin?

Capsaicin is the major heat-producing component in hot red peppers. These peppers come from plants belonging to the genus Capsicum, which include sweet bell peppers (red, yellow and green), and hot chili peppers (ancho, banana, habanero, jalepeno, etc).  Obviously hot peppers contain more capsaicin than sweet bell peppers, and in fact, sweet bell peppers don’t contain any capsaicin at all due to a recessive gene that eliminates its production.
The amount of capsaicin, or spicy heat, delivered in a pepper is rated within a unit of measure called the Scoville scale. The number of Scoville Heat Units (SHU) in this scale tells you how much capsaicin is present.  Below is a chart showing you Scoville ratings of different peppers with pure capsaicin (also spelled capsaician) having the highest ranking and bell peppers having the least.

Capsaicin is found within the fleshy parts of peppers that holds the seeds, mainly the pepper membranes. In fact, the seeds themselves do not produce any capsaicin, although the highest concentration of capsaicin can be found in the white pith around the seeds

How Does Capsaicin Help You Get Rid of Body Fat?

There are three main mechanisms by which capsaicin can help you fight the battle of the bulge:

1.    Increases energy expenditure
2.    Deters fat cell growth
3.    Reduces food intake

Enhanced Energy Output

Through activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), capsaicin increases catecholamine secretion from the adrenal medulla, which stimulates beta-1-adrenergic receptors in the body (Diepvens K 2007). These receptors increase activity of muscular tissues responsible for increasing heart rate, contracting blood vessels and dilating airway passages – the “Flight or Fight” syndrome. All of these actions increase your total energy output and burns extra calories. And, in support, both human and animal studies have shown that the increased thermogenesis (calorie-burning) from capsaicin is abolished when beta-adrenergic blockers, such as propanolol, are administered.
Another route for amplified thermogenesis from capsaicin is both up- and down-regulation of uncoupling proteins (UCP) in the body (Faraut B et al, 2007, Masuda Y et al, 2003). The uncoupling proteins 1, 2 and 3 (UCP1, UCP2, and UCP3) are negative ion carrier-proteins located in the inner membrane of mitochondria (the power house of your cells). These proteins are greatly responsible for increased energy expenditure via cellular energy wastage (losing energy instead of storing it). Animal and cellular research has shown that various capsaicin dosages can stimulate these UCPs and cause enhanced calorie-burning.

In recognition of these cellular and animal studies, human studies with capsaicin have also shown improved energy output following hot red pepper intake. Japanese researchers showed that when 10 g of powdered hot pepper (containing capsaicin) was added to either a high fat or high carbohydrate mixed meal, diet-induced thermogenesis (energy expenditure from eating a meal) was significantly increased for up to 3 hours following the meal  (Yoshioka M et al, 1998).
Other Japanese researchers showed 3 mg of hot red pepper increased energy expenditure in lean, healthy women by 10% for 30 minutes (Matsumoto T et al, 2000), while Lim et al, 1997 showed an energy expenditure increase of 25% in healthy lean young mean also for 30 minutes following 10 g of hot red pepper intake.

Fat Cell Fighter

Capsaicin from hot red peppers has been shown to actually change how fat cells function. Instead of growing larger and larger like they usually do, capsaicin can help shrink fat cells by making them more metabolically active.
Recently reported in the 2010 Journal of Proteome Research (Joo JI et al, 2010), using a novel research tool called proteomic analysis, Korean scientists demonstrated that capsaicin changed the activity of proteins found within white adipose tissue (WAT) – aka, unsightly body fat – of rats and made these proteins act more like those found in brown adipose tissue (BAT). BAT is the type of fat tissue only found in infants and hibernating bears that produces and expends energy rather than stores it. These scientists suggest that capsaicin can remodel WAT into mitochondrial-rich cells, with their high capacity for fatty acid oxidation, and reduce our over-abundance of human obesity.  Although this research was done in animals, it explains many of the fat-fighting effects attributed to hot pepper consumption.

Also reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (Chin-Lin Hsu et al, 2007), Taiwanese researchers found that when capsaicin was applied to immature adipocytes (fat cells), it both inhibited adipogenesis (fat cell growth) and differentiation (change into mature fat cells). Thus, the cells did not increase in size or turn into full-grown fat cells.
Then, in humans, people given a supplement containing 0.4 mg capsaicin and 625 mg green tea extract for two weeks showed a drop in body fat compared to their starting values. The effects were more prominent in those with higher body fat levels, but were consistently decreased in each person (Tsi D et al, 2003).

Reduced Food Consumption

Yes, adding hot red pepper extract to food could make you eat less because your tongue feels like it’s on fire, but in the research setting, human investigations have shown diminished food intake following hot pepper supplementation.
Researchers from the Netherlands took healthy men and women and gave them a supplement containing 0.9 g hot red pepper (0.25% capsaicin; 80, 000 Scoville heat units) with tomato juice 30 minutes before they consumed four daily meals. After taking the capsules, total energy intake and fat intake was significantly decreased, while satiety was significantly increased, in both men and women (Westerterp-Plantenga MS et al , 2005). Thus, even in the short term, capsaicin can help decrease the amount of food you’d normally eat.
In a similar study, researchers in Quebec (Yoshioka M et al, 2004) also gave healthy, fit, men and women capsules containing 0.9 g of hot red pepper (0.3% capsaicin/ 55 000 Scoville Heat Units) 10 minutes before they were presented with a buffet of food that they were told to eat until they were full. This was compared to adding hot red pepper extract to a soup before hitting the buffet. All subjects were required to finish eating within 30 minutes. After analysis, the researchers found that food intake was decreased by an average of 8.5% compared to several different placebo and lower dose conditions – mostly from a significant decrease in fat intake (<13.3%).
These scientists found that that mechanism by which capsaicin reduced food intake occurred after it had passed through the mouth (thus, your tongue doesn’t have to suffer), and involves activation of the SNS: heart rate variability was significantly increased with the capsules compared to no capsules and to a soup that the subjects considered to be too spicy due to the addition of hot red pepper (i.e., an intolerably spicy meal actually desensitizes neurons and has no effect on food intake).  Therefore, to get maximal benefits from capsaicin in your quest to eat less food and control your body weight, you don’t have to experience fiery feelings within your mouth, or ruin a good, healthy meal.

One of the mechanisms for improved satiety with capsaicin intake is changes in gut hormones responsible for stimulating hunger. The same researchers from the Netherlands (Smeets AJ & Westerterp-Plantenga MS, 2009) found that a meal containing capsaicin increased the hormone GLP-1,which stimulates satiety, and lowered ghrelin, which also tells the brain you’re full.

Capsaicin: Your Fat Loss Tool of Choice

As you’ve now learned by several different scientific sources, capsaicin can assist you in fighting body fat and changing your body for the better. By increasing energy expenditure, interfering with fat cell growth and helping you eat less, the active component of hot red peppers, capsaicin, can help you shed unwanted pounds and reach your body composition goals. And the best part? You don’t have to overheat a great meal to get the effects! Instead, you can take this pungent powerhouse in capsule form to get all the great body-beautifying benefits.  But, if you still enjoy the taste of Franks Red Hot Sauce or Death Valley Drops, go ahead and indulge – if anything, it’ll help you eat even less, but will still let you experience the thrill of near-death encounters.

by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

How long could you go without junk food? Last year, the Leake family attempted to abstain for 100 days. A year later, it’s still going strong. “Halfway through the first challenge I took the basket of Halloween candy I was hiding in the guest room for when we’d completed the challenge, and just threw it out,” says Lisa Leake, a stay-at-home mom of two daughters, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For tips on breaking your own junk food addiction, click here.

Inspired by an Oprah interview with food activist Michael Pollan, Lisa and her husband, Jason, embarked on the challenge as a way to rethink their unhealthy eating habits. Lisa was raised on Doritos and powdered macaroni and cheese. She tried to prepare healthy meals for her daughters, Sienna, then 3 and Sydney, then 5, but like most busy moms, she relied heavily on processed frozen meals and boxed groceries that had mile-long ingredients lists and the potential to cause long-term health problems, like heart disease and diabetes. Even the foods she thought were healthy weren’t as natural as she had once believed. “I was so surprised by how much food is processed,” says Lisa, “like for example, bread that lists wheat as an ingredient isn’t good for you unless it’s made from whole wheat. You really have to study the ingredients.”

In an effort to force themselves to consume more cautiously, the Leake family set some temporary guidelines: no refined grains or sweeteners, nothing deep fried, only local hormone-free meats and organic fruits and veggies and absolutely nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package with more than five ingredients listed on the label.

Lisa gave up her morning white chocolate mocha coffee drink ritual. Her husband, who works in technical sales and travels part of the month, gave up fast food pit stops on the road. But the hardest habits to break came into play when feeding the girls. An after-dinner treat meant getting creative with applesauce, fruit juice and yogurt. On grocery shopping expeditions with the kids, Lisa anticipated resistance as they skated past the colorful boxes of cereal and aisles of cookies.

Lisa’s blog, 100daysofrealfood.com, chronicles her family’s journey adapting to all-natural unprocessed food. There were hardships, like Sydney’s meltdown after being offered a donut from a friend, and the various birthday cakes they had to pass up. Lisa practically lived in the kitchen pre-planning meals and freezing homemade soups she could access in a pinch.

But after 100 days, their palates had evolved. “Artificial food actually tastes bad after eating fresh food for so long,” she explains. But investing in all those organic groceries and specialty ingredients, also impacted their bank account. So the family took up another challenge: 100 days of real food on a budget.
With a weekly budget of $125 for a family of four (around the same amount or less than required for a food stamps budget), Lisa was forced to get creative. She spent $30 on plants and seeds for growing her own veggie garden. She invested in a economy size bags of brown rice and occasionally employed martini glasses to make plain old yogurt or juice smoothies look like more indulgent parfaits.

Chronicling her daily inventiveness, from recipes to money-saving tips and candid I-can’t-take-this-much-more rants, garnered her blog a growing following and another idea. The 10-day pledge is a modified challenge that Lisa’s developed for readers who want to try the Leake model. So far, 1,500 families have accepted the challenge and in the past six months, Lisa’s Facebook fans have skyrocketed to 14,000.

Now the original 100-day challenge has become more or less a way of life for the Leake family. “Our new normal is that the kids can have one treat a week, whether it’s at school or at birthday parties or something we make from scratch at home like ice cream,” says Lisa.

But being a mom of growing girls presents new challenges. This week, Sydney starts first grade, and a whole new world of school-sanctioned food education. “Beyond cafeteria lunches, there’s so many activities based around junk food for kids,” says Lisa. “There’s an upcoming fundraiser at a pizza place, and something else where the kids all go to Krispy Kreme. These things all might happen on the same day that kids get Skittles as a reward for something they do at school, so I want to come up with new ways kids can be rewarded without using food.”

So far, she’s managed to re-issue a healthier snack-approved list for parents in Sydney’s school, encouraging parents to pack fresh fruits like grapes and cherries over Rice Krispie Treats.

But the danger of banning junk food, or anything for that matter, from kids, is the seduction factor. “I do worry that by banning junk, they’ll end up wanting it more, so I’m trying to let the girls start making their own informed choices,” she says.

“Yesterday I was sitting outside with my daughters and some other kids were eating those ‘freezey pops’ that are pretty much just artificial syrups,” says Lisa. “Of course they wanted one. So I said, you can either have one of those pops or some homemade ice cream. They chose the pops. But later my older daughter said she didn’t like how they tasted, so I figure she’s learning on her own why those foods aren’t good.”

And why is that?

“They taste gross after eating fresh food.”