Nutrition

As an informed diet and fitness reader, you probably know that the verdict’s still out on whether it’s a good idea to follow a vegetarian diet solely for the purpose of losing weight. Some dieticians swear it’s smart, while others believe that eating a little meat is more beneficial—and new info keeps coming out, too.  Well, here’s the latest veggie news: Dieters who follow vegetarian or vegan eating plans lose more weight than those who eat meat, according to a new study from the University of South Carolina.

For the study, participants were told to either follow a vegetarian or vegan diet or an omnivorous one for two months—and the key is that they were told that they didn’t have to restrict calories. After that time, the veggie group had lost about 5 percent of their body weight, whereas the meat eaters only lost 2 percent.

So why does going green help you get lean? Experts suggest that it may be because of a theory called volumetrics. “It means that you can eat a larger volume of veggies without gaining weight because they’re lower-cal,” says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of Eat Your Way to Sexy. “That means you don’t have to pay attention to your portions as much, as long as you’re eating vegetables in a healthy way.”

The key, though, is to pay attention to the last part of that line—as long as you’re eating them in a healthy way. In other words, just because you’re sticking to a plant-based diet doesn’t mean you have a free pass to eat whatever meat-free thing you want. Somer says vegetarians and vegans need to beware of the vegetarian halo: “That’s when dieters eat lots of junk food or fatty toppings but then use the excuse that it’s vegetarian to justify it,” she says. Important: Fried mozzarella sticks, mayo, and the like, while meatless, are not healthy!

To avoid packing on the plant-based-diet pounds, Somer suggests eating tons of veggies and veggie proteins—but making sure they’re prepared in a diet-friendly way. So if you’re going to have, say, a veggie burger, watch the mayo and the cheese. And it’s fine to have pasta, too—but again, watch your serving size and opt for low-cal tomato-based sauces, not the creamier kinds.

by Mike Geary
If you have any digestion problems at all, or don’t have “perfect” bowel movements daily… if you have constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas, or just don’t go regularly, then you NEED to pay attention to these foods I’m going to show you today.

These foods can dramatically improve not only your digestion, but your immune system as well, helping to keep you from getting sick!

Please note:  if you have food intolerances to foods such as gluten, dairy, or various grains, you’ll still need to find out about those intolerances and get rid of those foods in your plan if you’re going to completely fix your digestion issues.

But aside from food intolerances, I think you’ll be amazed to see how rapidly your digestion and bowel movements improve once you start incorporating a LOT of these 7 foods we’ll discuss below!

This is important… even if you’re already eating 1 or 2 of these foods below, it’s MUCH more powerful to include as MANY as possible to dramatically improve your digestion.

So what exactly are we talking about… well, we’re talking about probiotics from fermented foods!

Unfortunately, today’s modern diets are processed, pasteurized and basically ‘dead’ foods most of the time. What happens when people eat a diet heavy in processed, ‘dead’ foods, is that harmful bacteria can take over in the digestive systems, causing many problems—not only with the digestive system, but the body as a whole.

Many diseases start in an unhealthy environment in our guts. And this becomes even worse from taking antibiotics. While antibiotics can kill dangerous pathogens, they also kill off the healthy and beneficial bacteria in our bodies as well.

Probiotic actually means “for life,” and probiotics like lactobacillus, plantarum and bifidis help immune cells fight disease, prevent diarrhea and constipation, protect the mucous lining of the intestine, assist digestion and provide the proper nutrients for healthy blood cells. Probiotics are also responsible for the manufacture of B vitamins and vitamin K right in the intestines where are immediately absorbed.

Eating too much unhealthy, processed, starchy or sugary foods can cause bad bacteria to grow out of control, making our immune systems weak, and affecting our ability to metabolize and synthesize vitamins and nutrients.

The intestines also function as one of the body’s most important immune defenses. In fact, 70-80% or so of the body’s immune cells are present in the intestines. Of course our immune systems protect us from dangerous viruses, bacteria, and parasites, but they also control responses to foods and food allergies as well.

Negative changes in our intestinal flora can be associated with inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. It is now thought that many allergic reactions, asthma, and even obesity are tied to bacterial imbalances in the gut.

The good news though, is that adding the right types of probiotics and good bacteria will maintain or restore a healthy balance in your intestinal tract and improve overall health in the entire body, and fight aging.

Although we typically think of probiotics benefiting just the intestines, they actually benefit the entire digestive system, including the mouth, throat, stomach, etc.

Some of the other ways probiotics can benefit your body:

•    Probiotics can help prevent wrinkles and give you a glowing complexion by eliminating the toxins and fighting free radicals that can damage skin and cause early signs of wrinkling and sagging. And probiotics help you digest your food better, so you get more nutrients in your body.

•    Probiotics can help you burn fat better by reducing cravings for carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol and help you have more energy to be more active.

•    Probiotics help to protect your liver which is reflected in your skin and eyes. When you keep toxins from building up in the liver, you have younger looking skin with less liver spots, moles and skin tags, and you have bright, clear eyes.

•    Probiotics help your hair and fingernails grow faster and stronger by keeping the blood vessels surrounding your hair follicles nourished. Healthy blood nourishes hair, skin and nails. Probiotics also help to break down proteins in the diet that benefit hair and nails.

So what are the best sources of probiotics?

Kimchi (also spelled Kim Chee sometimes) -This traditional spicy Korean condiment is made of cabbage and other vegetables and seasoned with salt, garlic, ginger and chili peppers. Fermented vegetables make them easier to digest as well as increasing the vitamin levels.  I like to have some Kimchi with my morning eggs for an extra daily probiotic boost.  The types of beneficial bacteria in Kimchi are quite different than the organisms in yogurt and other fermented foods, and variety works best when it comes to probiotics!

Kombucha Tea – This tea is made from a culture of symbiotic beneficial bacteria and yeasts that has been popular in China for thousands of years. Kombucha contains many important amino acids, B vitamins, and powerful substances that enhance the immune system. It’s also known to help prevent cancer.

Yogurt – Avoid the sweetened, heavily processed yogurts, and instead go for unsweetened, plain, organic types of yogurt. And be sure the label says, “Live cultures”.

Kefir – A cultured milk product and is generally helpful to those with lactose intolerance. Kefir contains different types of beneficial bacteria than yogurt does, as well as beneficial yeasts. Kefir contains more bacterial strains that remain viable in the digestive system, increasing the likelihood of intestinal colonization.  As with yogurt, try to avoid the sweetened varieties and get plain kefir and then add your own stevia if you need it a little sweeter.  Kefir is great to use in smoothies!

Sauerkraut – This cabbage dish has been salted and lacto-fermented over a period of weeks. The healthy bacteria in sauerkraut produce beneficial enzymes as well as having anti-carcinogenic substances.  Make sure it’s fresh and not canned sauerkraut which is likely to be “dead” from the heating during canning.

Tempeh – A healthier form of fermented soybeans (generally soybeans are not a healthy food-unless they are fermented). This soy food is easier to digest and provides many valuable vitamins and nutrients, as well as protein, calcium and iron. The mold that is produced from the fermentation produces a natural antibiotic that strengthens the immune system.

Fermented drinks – Besides kombucha and kefir, there are beginning to be many fermented fruit and vegetable drinks showing up on the shelves of many healthy grocery stores and health food stores. One of my favorites is called, “Inner Eco”, which is a fermented coconut water, and can be found at Whole Foods and other health food stores or specialty stores. This product contains one of the highest concentrations of beneficial bacteria that I’ve seen with over 100 billion probiotics per Tablespoon!

Some people don’t enjoy the taste of fermented drinks like kombucha tea, so what I often suggest for them is to mix kombucha tea with regular iced tea to balance the taste.  Personally, I love the taste of most brands of kombucha tea, and some of the newer flavors brewed with ginger (or other flavors) in them too are really delicious in my opinion.

In addition to the naturally fermented foods we’ve talked about here, considering that we consume a lot less bacteria in our food compared to our natural ancestral diet, I think one of the smartest supplements you can take to FIX your digestion and boost your immune system is a probiotic…

As you’ve probably noticed in the last couple of years, probiotics are all the rage as one of THE most important factors that helps control your immune system (an estimated 70% of your immune system resides in your gut), as well as your digestive system health.

Most people “think” they get enough health-boosting probiotics from yogurt (the average person eats yogurt almost daily).  Unfortunately, there are some problems with yogurt that you need to be aware of…

1.  First problem with yogurt:

Some brands of yogurt actually contain live cultures and some do not.  Almost all yogurts found in the US start with pasteurized milk… that’s not such a problem because once the live cultures are added and the milk fermented, you once again have a live and active food that’s easier to digest than regular milk and has a reduced lactose content due to the consumption of lactose by the microbes.

Sadly, some brands pasteurize the yogurt AFTER it’s been fermented (cultured) which kills the beneficial probiotics.  On the other hand, most good brands of yogurt do NOT pasteurize after fermenting, so the probiotics are still alive for your benefit.

The amount of probiotics in yogurt varies widely based on the brand and type, but I’ve seen estimates anywhere from 1 Billion to 5 Billion CFUs per cup.  This is decent, but low compared to some other probiotic sources we’ll discuss in a bit.

The KEY is that you need to look for “live and active cultures” on the label, or another labeling that indicates the probiotics are still active.

2.  Second problem with yogurt:

Most yogurts in the US are sadly adulterated with way too many sweeteners, whether sugar, corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners.

Remember that sucralose kills probiotics, so any yogurt that’s been sweetened with sucralose (aka, splenda) will most likely have a greatly reduced probiotic content or possibly even be fully dead.

And most other yogurts are produced to appease the overly aggressive sweet taste buds of American consumers, so they simply contain too much sugar to be considered healthy.

I also personally choose FULL-fat yogurt and not all of this silly skim 0% yogurt that’s out there these days.  Remember that the extra fat in full-fat yogurt satisfies your appetite and cravings so that you eat less calories later in the day.  If you eat these 0% fat yogurts, you’ll end up hungrier in an hour or two.  Also, if you can find yogurt from grass-fed cows, the fat portion of the yogurt is VERY healthy and contains powerful vitamin K2 (shown to reduce heart disease risk) as well as CLA (found to reduce cancer risk and help to reduce body fat), and also omega-3 fats, which you also know are vital to your health.

3.  Third problem with yogurt:

The last problem with yogurt that I wanted to bring to your attention today is that yogurt is not necessarily the best source of probiotics, both in terms of quantity and also variety of strains.

Variety is KEY when it comes to the overall power of probiotics for your immunity and digestion.

Most yogurts only contain 3-4 strains of probiotics.  On the other hand, Kefir is a fermented dairy drink that contains anywhere from 10-20 strains of probiotics depending on the brand and type.  In addition, Lassi is an Indian style fermented dairy drink that also contains a much wider variety of strains than yogurt does.

In terms of quantity of probiotics, yogurts generally contain between 1 Billion to 5 Billion CFU’s per cup, whereas most Kefir or Lassi contains anywhere from 7 Billion to 50 Billion active CFU’s per cup depending on the brand and type.  Most yogurts are only cultured for 2-3 hours, whereas kefir is generally cultured for 12-16 hours, increasing it’s probiotic content and making it easier for digestion.

Also, most Kefir is 99% lactose free and is by far the easiest to digest type of dairy on the market due to the “predigestion” that the active cultures perform on the kefir before you drink it.

Kefir is a GREAT addition to any smoothies that you make instead of using water or almond milk because you get the immune system and digestive system benefits of the probiotics in Kefir, which you can’t get in almond milk.

Again, I personally choose FULL-FAT (for the reasons I described above with full-fat yogurt as well) when I look for a good kefir and I try to find grass-fed as well.  If I don’t use kefir in smoothies, one way I like it is just simply to add a small touch of real maple syrup, vanilla, and chia seeds to a cup of kefir — amazingly delicious snack for anytime!

Interestingly, I recently found out from their website that Lifeway brand kefir is made from grass-fed milk in ALL of their products (even though they don’t include that on the labels), so the fat content in Lifeway kefir will also contain those ever so important nutrients of vitamin K2 for heart health, CLA for cancer protection and body fat reduction, and omega 3 fats for overall health.  The full-fat greek kefir by Lifeway is my favorite and I use it almost every day!

With all of this said about yogurt and kefir, please note that I do NOT drink regular commercial milk that’s been pasteurized and homogenized.  It’s a dead food that has harmful microscopic fat particles due to the homogenization.  On the other hand, yogurts and kefirs generally start with pasteurized milk, (but NOT homogenized), and are made alive and easier to digest again through the fermentation process.

For this reason, I choose to NEVER use commercial milk, but I use yogurt several times a week, and I use Kefir DAILY because of it’s health benefits and great taste.

Lastly, if you’re one of those folks that thinks that all dairy is bad for you because you’ve fallen for certain anti-animal food propaganda that floats around out there on the internet, here’s one last fact to consider that might make some vegans want to switch to vegetarians…

It’s well known that in the Caucasus Mountains and other areas of eastern Europe, that natives to that area drink kefir daily throughout their lives and routinely live to over 100 years old.  And in India, fermented dairy in the form of Lassi is routinely consumed with daily meals, and they display much better health than the average American.

Clearly, if “dairy was bad for you” as many so-called “experts” seem to like to claim, these natives in the Caucasus Mountains that drink fermented dairy every day of their lives wouldn’t be living to 100 years old!  Just shows you to beware of who you trust for your health information.

I was on a weekend trip with some friends recently and one of my friends was cooking breakfast for the whole group. I went over to see what he was cooking and saw he was getting ready to make a big batch of eggs.

Well, to my shock and horror, I noticed that he was cracking the eggs open and screening the egg whites into a bowl and throwing out the egg yolks. I asked him why the heck he was throwing out the egg yolks, and he replied something like this…

“because I thought the egg yolks were terrible for you…that’s where all the nasty fat and cholesterol is”.

And I replied something along the lines of… “you mean that’s where all of the nutrition is!”

This is a perfect example of how confused most people are about nutrition. In a world full of misinformation about nutrition, somehow most people now mistakenly think that the egg yolk is the worst part of the egg, when in fact, the YOLK IS THE HEALTHIEST PART OF THE EGG!  It’s a shame at how many restaurants you can walk into these days and see that the “healthy” breakfast menu always has egg white items instead of whole eggs.  Are we really still in the “fat-phobic” 80’s?

By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you’re essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich, vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg. The yolks contain so many B-vitamins, trace minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein, and other powerful nutrients… it’s not even worth trying to list them all.

In fact, the egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks.

Even the protein in egg whites isn’t as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available. Not to even mention that the egg yolks from free range chickens are loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

And now the common objection I get all the time when I say that the yolks are the most nutritious part of the egg…

“But I heard that whole eggs will skyrocket my cholesterol through the roof”

No, this is FALSE!

First of all, when you eat a food that contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body down-regulates it’s internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.

On the other hand, if you don’t eat enough cholesterol, your body simply produces more since cholesterol has dozens of important vital functions in the body.

And here’s where it gets even more interesting…

There have been plenty of studies lately that indicate that eating whole eggs actually raises your good HDL cholesterol to a higher degree than LDL cholesterol, thereby improving your overall cholesterol ratio and blood chemistry.

And 3rd… high cholesterol is NOT a disease!  Heart disease is a disease…but high cholesterol is NOT.  Cholesterol is actually a VERY important substance in your body and has vitally important functions… it is DEAD WRONG to try to “lower your cholesterol” just because of pharmaceutical companies propaganda that everyone on the planet should be on statin drugs.

If you’re interested in this topic of cholesterol specifically, I have another article listed at the bottom of this page about why trying to attack cholesterol is a mistake, and what the REAL deadly risk factors actually are.

In addition, the yolks contain the antioxidant lutein as well as other antioxidants which can help protect you from inflammation within your body (the REAL culprit in heart disease, not dietary cholesterol!), giving yet another reason why the yolks are actually GOOD for you, and not detrimental.

To help bring even more proof that whole eggs are better for you than egg whites, I recently read a University of Connecticut study that showed that a group of men in the study that ate 3 eggs per day for 12 weeks while on a reduced carb, higher fat diet increased their HDL good cholesterol by 20%, while their LDL bad cholesterol stayed the same during the study.  However, the group that ate egg substitutes (egg whites) saw no change in either and did not see the improvement in good cholesterol (remember that higher HDL levels are associated with lower risk of heart disease) that the whole egg eaters did.

So I hope we’ve established that whole eggs are not some evil food that will wreck your body… instead whole eggs are FAR superior to egg whites.

But what about the extra calories in the yolks?

This is actually a non-issue and here’s why… even though egg yolks contain more calories than just eating the egg whites, the yolks have such a high micro-nutrient density in those calories, that it increases your overall nutrient density per calorie you consume.  Essentially, what this does is help to regulate your appetite for the remainder of the day, so you end up eating less calories overall.  In addition, the healthy fats in the egg yolks help to maintain a good level of fat-burning hormones in your body.

Overall, this means that the extra fats (healthy fats) and calories from the yolk are so nutrient-dense that they actually HELP you to burn off body fat!

Also, your normal supermarket eggs coming from mass factory farming just don’t compare nutritionally with organic free range eggs from healthy chickens that are allowed to roam freely and eat a more natural diet.  Your typical cheap grocery store eggs will have lower nutrient levels and a higher omega-6 level and lower omega-3 level.  On the other hand, the cage-free organic eggs from healthier chickens allowed to eat more natural feed and roam freely will have much higher vitamin and mineral levels and a more balanced healthier omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio.

I recently compared eggs I bought at the grocery store with a batch of eggs I got at a farm stand where the chickens were free roaming and healthy.

Most people don’t realize that there’s a major difference because they’ve never bought real eggs from healthy chickens… The eggs from the grocery store had pale yellow yolks and thin weak shells. On the other hand, the healthier free range eggs from the local farm had strong thick shells and deep orange colored yolks indicating much higher nutrition levels and carotenoids… and just a healthier egg in general.

This is due to the fact that a free-roaming hen allowed to roam on plenty of land will eat a variety of greens, insects, worms, etc transferring MUCH higher levels of nutrients to the eggs compared to an unhealthy hen that is trapped inside a dark factory farm hen house in horrible conditions and fed nothing but piles of corn and soy.  It’s a DRASTIC difference in the nutrition that you get from the egg.

So next time a health or fitness professional tells you that egg whites are superior (because of their “fat-phobic” mentality towards dietary fats), you can quietly ignore their advice knowing that you now understand the REAL deal about egg yolks.

And can we all please STOP with this sillyness about eating an omelete with 4-5 egg whites and only 1 egg yolk… If you want real taste and real health benefits, we’d all be better off eating ALL of our eggs with the delicious nutrient-dense yolks.

After all, do you REALLY think that our ancestors thousands of years ago threw out the yolks and only ate the egg whites?  NOT A CHANCE!  They intuitively knew that all of the nutrition was found in the yolks.  But our modern society has been brainwashed with misinformation about fats and cholesterol.

Another interesting study about eggs…

I read a study recently that compared groups of people that ate egg breakfasts vs groups of people that ate cereal or bagel-based breakfasts.  The results of the study showed that the egg eaters lost or maintained a healthier bodyweight, while the cereal/bagel eaters gained weight.

It was hypothesized that the egg eaters actually ate less calories during the remainder of the day because their appetite was more satisfied compared to the cereal/bagel eaters who would have been more prone to wild blood sugar swings and food cravings.

Oh, one last thing I almost forgot… I personally eat 4 whole eggs almost every day with breakfast, and I maintain single-digit bodyfat most of the year.

Enjoy your eggs and get a leaner body!

Splenda®, also known as sucralose, is an artificial, chemical sweetener.  You might eat lots of it without knowing in certain “light” foods, “reduced sugar”, or other diet foods.

Despite advertisements stating “Made from Sugar, so it Tastes like Sugar”, which attempt to confuse consumers, Splenda® is not natural and contains no elements of natural sugar.

You may also be surprised to learn that Splenda® contains chlorine. Yes, the same chlorine that goes in swimming pools. And here’s the worst side effect:

Just like chlorine kills off micro-organisms in swimming pools, Splenda® and sucralose kill off healthy bacteria that lives in your gut — healthy bacteria that is VITALLY important to virtually every aspect of your health.

Recently, a study at the University of Duke confirmed this very finding. Not only is sucralose a heavily-processed, chemical artificial sweetener, but it’s also damaging to your gut health, which goes on to affect every other aspect of your health.

Here’s a direct quote from that study:

“Splenda® suppresses beneficial bacteria and directly affects the expression of the transporter P-gp and cytochrome P-450 isozymes that are known to interfere with the bioavailability of nutrients. Furthermore, these effects occur at Splenda® doses that contain sucralose levels that are approved by the FDA for use in the food supply.”

Did you know that 70-80% of your immune system finds it’s home in your gut? In fact, there are more than 100 TRILLION living bacteria in your gut that control many aspects of your health, and due to things like the ingestion of artificial sweeteners like Splenda®, most folks have created a massive bacterial imbalance in their body.

But, it doesn’t just stop with the use of Splenda® or other artificial sweeteners.  There are MANY other factors that are contributing to the bacterial imbalances that MILLIONS of folks are silently suffering from all around the world… one of those other aspects is drinking chlorinated water from the tap.  It’s best to use a filter to filter out chlorine so you’re not harming your gut flora.

Unlike the gut-damaging sucralose mentioned above, let’s look at 10 foods that help to restore a healthy bacterial balance in your belly by killing off the bad bacteria while at the same time giving you loads more of the vitally important, beneficial bacteria that is so critical to both your health and fat loss goals.