Monthly Archives: March 2006

A better way to diet

Walk into any book store and you’ll find hundreds of diet books from South Beach to Atkins to the Watermelon Seed Hop on One Leg Diet. Everyone has an opinion and in reality, most of them work….. for 20% of the people. For the other 80%, its off to another diet. The real problem is, how to keep the weight off and yet still have some semblance of a normal life.

There is one tried and true method of dieting that will help more people lose weight than any other.  Only problem is, it isn’t a sexy program.  It does require caloric restriction but not a whole lot. If you really want to lose weight long term, you need to cut only about 100-200 calories a day, but it needs to be consistent. Match that up with a moderate exercise campaign and you’ll get that 1-2 pounds per month weight lose which is considered the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

So how do you accomplish this feat?  Drop the sugar and high fructose corn syrup soft drinks for starters. If you drink 2-3 a day and you cut them out and switch to water and Peltier electrolytes you’ll be eliminating hundreds of empty calories a day.  That’s it!!!  Simple and effective.  If you don’t drink soda’s think about switching from whole milk to 1% milk as that will save you 86 calories per 12 ounce glass. Little things like cutting back on fruit juices (why do they call them fruit juice when it is packed with corn syrup) will save tons of calories.

When you look at your daily diet, it really won’t take much to lower your caloric intake by a significant enough amount to make a difference. Of course, there are more things you can do to kick up your metabolism and make your body burn energy more efficiently.  But that is for another day. 

Oxygen – The Molecule That Made The World

If you have an interest in antioxidants, nutrition, aging, science or just want a good book to read, this is it.  Author Nick Lane presents a captivating vision of the world in which we live in and how oxygen helped drive evolutionary forces that led to life as we know it. It will make you rethink the way you look at health and illness and give you a deeper insight into how life came about.  An absolute must read.

 

Oxygen : The Molecule that Made the World (Popular Science)

Be Safe While Driving

I just got into my office and felt an overwhelming need to write this blog as I just seen the aftermath of a horrific car accident between an SUV and a Ford Mustang Convertible.  It was icy this morning here in Reno and I was taking it easy, keeping well below the speed limit even though I drive an all-wheel drive Saturn Vue. Drivers were zooming past me, running red lights, acting kind of stupid if you ask me.  When I came up the hill, not 1/2 mile from my office I saw that a big white Suburban had just crossed the median and slammed into a blue Mustang.  It couldn’t have happened more than 2-3 minutes before I got there. When I looked over, I saw the ashen looking face of a young man, no more than 30 years old, folded in half, not moving. The sight is something I shall never forget. Next to the car was the driver of the SUV looking panicked and horrified, not knowing what to do, almost begging for help.

The police had just gotten there and I can still see the face of the officer; shocked, yet controlled, trying to see if there was anything he could do. It didn’t look like there was anything to do barring a miracle.

I’d just like to say, please take it easy out there.  Slow it down a little, watch what your doing, pull over if you need to use your cell phone and take care.  This morning, two young men woke up like any other day. Now, sadly, one will never wake up again and the other will awaken every morning knowing what happened today. I can’t help but wonder what life would have been like for those two men had they taken it a little slower.

Be careful out there.  Life is a truly precious thing.

Acai – Nature’s Most Powerful Antioxidant

Acai, pronounced ah-si-eee, is a recently discovered antioxidant berry found only in the Amazon.  It’s antioxidant potential is legendary and it contains a vast array of nutrients and fatty acids.  Still, not all acai is the same.  You can scour the internet for it and you’ll see a vase array of claims about the different forms of acai out there but not all what you read is true. 

Processing the fruit destroys much of its antioxidant power but some of the companies out there still make the claims.  So how do you find out what’s real and what’s not?  Ask the retailer to show you the test results, especially the ORAC reading (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). This gives you a measure of how powerful the supplement is.  Alaskan Blueberry has ar ORAC of approximately 250 per gram which is excellent. One brand of Acai, AcaiUltra™ has been tested to have an ORAC of 445 and up to 1100!!!

Others may claim to have similar products but only AcaiUltra™ has been tested by Brunswick Labs to verify its antioxidant punch. Why does KTS Products have the only Acai with these kind of readings?  It has to do with the way the berry is processed.  It is freeze-dried within 12 hours in the Amazon after picking to preserve its potency. To top it off, the area that their Acai is picked has the richest soil and highest quality Acai available.

Others ship the fruit thousands of miles before processing which causes the fruit to dramatically lose its antioxidant potential. KTS Products Acai is also picked in an environmentally friendly way making sure that the Amazon is protected from abuse.

According to numerous research studies, Americans don’t get enough fruit and vegetables in their diet which is where most of our antioxidants come from.  Even though this is the best way to get your ORAC boost, if you can’t get it that way, try adding AcaiUltra™ to your daily regimen.

A Must Have Book – Overdo$ed America

Last summer at a conference called Boulderfest, I had the privilage of being on a panel with John Abramson, M.D., author of the book Overdo$ed America.  His speech ended with a thunderous standing ovation from the room of 250 health care practitioners from around the country. His book uncovers the packs of lies that have been perpetrated by the pharmaceutical industry which has been selling the American public a bill of goods that only helps enrich their pockets yet does little to improve the quality of life.

Every person in this country or any other, that take medications should read this book and they should buy a second copy for their primary care physician to read. I recommend this book to everyone I work with and at every lecture I give around the world.

Overdosed America : The Broken Promise of American Medicine

It continues – Wall Street Journal Chirps In

In the March 20th 2006 issue of the Wall Street Journal, they continue their anti-nutrition ways with a vitriolic article against taking vitamins claiming that supplements are somehow dangerous because of recent research. This is another example of pro-big Pharma whoring that is perpetrating American media.  They cite research that is terribly flawed, but then again, what would you expect? Follow the money and you find the source. 

How does one fight this?  Not by crying wolf and claiming that the sky is falling, but pointing out the falsehoods and writing letters to the editors of the offending newspapers or other media outlets. Also, by blogging and passing the truth on to your friends and family.  It won’t be easy but it is possible and very necessary to protect our rights.

Blogging, Nutrition and the Truth

Today’s news media is no longer the independent, investigative force they were in the past due to the increasing pressure of advertisers.  This is no better illustration than the misleading reviews of medical research being publicized by radio, TV and news print.  The distortions of reality, the misquoting and downright dishonest reporting makes blogging, one of the most important parts of modern society in my opinion.

When my friend, Jim Larsen, sends me articles like the review of a Lancet paper from April 2005 where the authors tell their audience that they should abandon their calcium and other nutritional supplements in favor of pharmaceuticals I get my hackles up (my wife thanks you Jim. Wink The paper he sent me is so poorly done that my 9 year old would be scolded for writing it, I have to wonder whether some people’s drive for money has so clouded their thinking that any semblance of morality was dropped off somewhere far away from their homes. The participants in the study from the Lancet had a incredibly high drop out rate (over 1/3rd) which in and of it self should have thrown it out but it also did not look at levels of Vitamin D (critical in calcium metabolism), did not look at hydrochloric acid levels which are necessary for proper absorption of calcium and they use too low of a dose!  Many of the studies putting down calcium also used the wrong form, calcium carbonate which is a cheap but very poorly absorbed form. 

When you look at the advertising in journals like the New England Journal of Medicine (I commonly refer to it as the NEJ of Aggravation) and The Lancet, you can see why they consistently whore themselves to Big Pharma.  You may think my words are harsh but the distortion and lying is of such a catastrophic nature, that I should be accused of being too mild in my characterizations of these people.

Now to turn my focus to the other side of nutrition, the hucksters and sales sharks who tout things like horny goat weed as the solution to all male sexual dysfunction, or some self-proclaimed health truth tellers from some dark corner of the Amazon who claim they are the only bastion of truth yet when you disagree with them (with good cause), they call you Nazi’s (yes I have been accused by one such lunatic as having opinions reminiscent of the perpetrators of the Holocaust) and big Pharma shills.  These are the ones that allopathic medical practitioners point to as the model of alternative minded people. They do such a disservice to nutritional health that I feel some of them may really be the big Pharma shills.

While not all blogging is filled with truth sayers, by sharing our ideas and thoughts, we allow people to hear all sides of a story, not just the side that advertisers want you to hear.  We blog not just to see ourselves on the net but to allow you to see what the truth might be.  As for me, I will continue to blog as long as I see deceit, disinformation, falsehoods and shills.

As Featured On Ezine Articles

Nutritional Supplements – A few reality checks, part one.

Aside from big Pharma being on their anti-nutritional supplement kick, there is another dark side to the supplement business that needs to have a little exposure.  How often have we heard the comment “it’s natural so it’s safe?”  Well, deadly nightshade and poisonous mushrooms are natural but I wouldn’t eat either so that nonsensical comment about natural being safer should be thrown to the wolves.

There are other issues in the supplement industry that need to be exposed as well.  A number of the problems stem from multi-level companies which tout their products as being the best things in the world and that they will answer all of your health needs if you just sign up and buy their products.  One such company touts that they have over 90 minerals in their multivitamin/multimineral supplement and that this will bring incredible vitality to all who use it. Well, I’m here to give you the old, “buyer beware” warning.  If you think mercury, cadmium, aluminum, and arsenic are essential to health, then by all means buy the gunk.  If you know otherwise like most of us do, then you’ll avoid that overpriced toxic soup like the plague.

When I argued with one of the shills from this multilevel company and pointed out the fact that their product  contained poisonous heavy metals, he proclaimed loudly that “they were organic heavy metals and therefore safe.” When I pressed further and noted that the claim he made was absolute rubbish and total nonsense because organic heavy metals still posed a health threat he responded with the comment that “God put it on earth so it has to be safe.”  He then accused me of being anti-God which took me aback because the last time I heard that kind of reasoning was when I was in elementary school.

The other problem with many of these products is their incredible expense. You’ve got to pay all of those downline distributors so the retail price of the products they hawk have to be exorbitant to start with.  Best to go to your local health food store and buy a high quality multivitamin (capsules not tableted) and save yourself a lot of money and aggravating sales pitches from the salesmen.

 

A few things that aggravate me

My wife keeps claiming I’m still a New Yorker at heart even though I escaped there 23 years ago.  She says that mostly after I’ve been driving.  I like to think its really because I’m someone who wears my emotions on my sleeve for all to see.  Because of that I get peeved about little things once in a while.  Here are a few things people do that really ticks me off.

1. The leave shopping carts in the parking spot when the cart collection spot is only 20 feet away. No wonder Americans are getting fatter!  How lazy do you have to be to not put the cart away?  And please don’t tell me the people who do this have kids and they don’t want to leave them for too long. I’ve watched the people who leave the carts behind and it isn’t mothers of young kids.

2. People who drive and talk on cell phones.  I hate this.  They drive like they’re drunk.  I am all for laws banning this dangerous habit.

3. Red light runners.  Can life be that cheap that you need to run a red light and put yourself and others at risk?  Triple or quadruple the fines for running red lights and you can hire police whose jobs are primarily to catch these scofflaws. If you’re going to tax cigarettes which cause a drain on society, do it for running a red light as well.

4. Medical reporters for news agencies and especially morning news programs.  Talk about misleading and dishonest shills.  Do they even read the studies they report on?  Glucosamine doesn’t work is what the MD shill said on The CBS Morning Show last week.  What a pile of nonsense!!! I read the whole article as I actually subscribe to the New England Journal of Medicine (among many others) and it said that it wasn’t as effective in moderate pain relief but was quite effective in serious pain cases.  This tells me it works!!!  Guess everyone has a price.

5. Drug commercials.  I am of the strong opinion that they need to be banned entirely from television and radio.  They are misleading and cause patients to press their physicians to give them drugs they probably don’t need. The drug mentality America has is one that links in with our lack of taking responsibility for ourselves. You can treat your body like crap because some drug company has created a pill that will make it alright.  Guess what? They haven’t. All they did was create a pill that covers up the problems not getting to the root cause.

I’m sure there are more things that irk me but thats it for today.

Evolution – A True Science

This is a controversial topic in today’s media, but in the scientific community, evolution is not controversial at all, it has more proof than Einstein’s E=MC2. hile I will not get into the validity of creationism (I have my personal beliefs which are very personal to me), I cannot stand by and read some of the strange anti-evolution claims made many of which are downright false. 

Instead of writing a long diatribe myself, the magazine Scientific American wrote it for me.  While I object to the title of the article, “15 Answers to Creationism Nonsense“, I can’t argue with the body of the article. 

In my opinion, intelligent design should absolutely be taught to every child in America, by their parents, not our schools.  It is a religious doctrine and if taught in school, it should be in social studies classes and not in science.  I am opposed to schools teaching children about religion.  Not because I am against religion, which I’m not, but because it takes the responsibility away from parents.  Parents are where beliefs should emanate from not schools.  Science should be taught under the guidelines of what science is, not by a religious doctrine shrouded in fancy words to make it self look like science.