Healthy Eating, Diet and Nutrition

So what is the answer to the commonly asked question, “how do I lose weight?”. Well, quite often, the answer to this question is eating right in the first place. As most Americans are nutritionally comprised and obese from eating vast quantities of the wrong foods and little to none of the good ones, here are some valuable suggestions for eating right, taking excess weight off, lowering blood pressure and getting rid of type II diabetes, which, if you did not already know, is caused simply by being overweight.

1. Reduce portion size. Most Americans eat excessively large portions of food, often actually to the point of discomfort. Eating excessively leaves all of the calories above what is needed to be stored as fat.
2. Eat larger meals earlier in the day, smaller ones later in the day. The last meal should be several hours before bedtime so as not to go to bed with food in the stomach, to be stored as fat.
3. Eat Breakfast! This is the most important meal of the day. Skipping breakfast over the long course will cause you to store fat by burning less calories as your body goes into a calorie preservation mode as if preparing for a famine.
4. Avoid fast foods, prepared foods, canned foods, etc. Most of these
   

   Avoid Eating Harmful Fast Foods

   foods are void of any nutritional value from processing. As such, you are consuming empty calories, and probably large quantities of unhealthy fats and other compounds that cause disorders.

5. Avoid fried foods, especially breaded and fried foods, which hold large quantities of the oil and thus many extra calories. Also, when cooking with oil, always use oil than can tolerate high heat without breaking down. Coconut oil is amongst the best oil for high heat cooking. Olive oil is good for moderate heat. Avoid corn oils, vegetable oils and margarines.
6. Eating salads made with lots of greens and vegetables are excellent
   

   Eat Raw Or Lightly Cooked Vegetables

   choices as they are chock full of nutrients and fiber. Avoid iceberg lettuce which is just empty calories. Greens such as mescaline, romaine, chicory, etc are better choices. Consider adding carrots, celery, radishes, onions, and other nutritious vegetables. Avoid diet dressings and other prepared dressings. Simple olive oil, (sparingly, after all, its all fat), and vinegar or lemon is healthy. Grape seed oil has been suggested to have blood pressure lowering affects and is largely tasteless on salads. Don’t cook with this oil though, it is far too delicate.

With regards to Type II diabetes, (adult onset) and gestational diabetes, (diabetes associated with pregnancy):

1. Reduce carbohydrate intake altogether. Cakes, candy, soda beverages, anything containing sugar, must be eliminated altogether. Fruits and fruit drinks should be avoided as they are similar in affect on your blood sugar level. Simple starches such as white bread, white rice, potatoes, corn and yellow vegetables should also be avoided as they also quickly raise blood sugar levels. If you are going to eat fruits, sprinkle cinnamon on them which helps retard blood sugar elevation. More complex carbohydrates such as long grain brown rice, whole wheat bread, etc., are better forms of carbohydrates, but still must be eaten judiciously as they still convert to sugar easily.
2. Increase protein and fat consumption. These have the best ability to
   

   Avocados Are High In Fiber And High In Healthy Fats

   lower blood sugar levels. Protein foods include meat and fish and eggs. Fats, meaning “healthy fats”, include almonds, walnuts, avocados, (excellent choice for diabetics and very high in fiber). Low quality fats include bacon, fast foods, processed meats, butter, etc.

3. Find out your ideal weight for your height. You can find this out from your doctor, on the Internet, or from textbooks. If you are more than ten pounds overweight you are at risk of type II diabetes.

With regards to cholesterol:

Eggs Are a Good Source Of Protein

Cholesterol lowering drugs have become the new kick in America, with more people taking these drugs than not.  Recently, some of these drugs were removed from the market as they had no demonstrable effect on lowering heart disease, and had demonstrable effect on causing cancer.  In my opinion, and others like me, cholesterol is not the bad guy in the first place.  Keep in mind that cholesterol is a necessity for survival.  Also keep in mind that your body will manufacture far more cholesterol than you would typically consume on a normal diet.  Eggs have gotten a bad rap for years being a terrible food because of the cholesterol content.  Well, first off, only the yolk contains cholesterol, so if you are really concerned, you can toss out the yolk and eat the white.  Secondly, there is a compound in eggs, (lecithin), which prevents much of the cholesterol in the yolk from elevating your cholesterol.  Eggs are best consumed either raw or poached, as the high heat of a frying pan can chemically alter their structure.

Once Deemed Unhealthy, Coconuts Actually Contain Healthy Fats

Another food which has gotten a bad rap is coconut.  Coconut, although high in saturated fat itself, seems to actually lower serum fat when ingested.  Studies done on people in regions where coconuts are a large portion of their diet, have low cholesterol levels.  Coconut is also very high in fiber.

With regards to blood pressure:

Using grape seed oil has been purported to be beneficial for lower blood pressure.  This is inexpensive and can be found in the oil isle at the grocery store. Grape seed oil supplements however are not inexpensive.

Salt has been unfairly accused of being bad for you and many people avoid salt, even those with normal blood pressure.  The fact is that salt is necessary in some amount to sustain life.  While it is true that the American diet is typically abusive with salt intake, largely from fast food and prepared foods,  once a healthy lifestyle is assumed, normal salt use is necessary.  I recommend the use of sea salt as it contains several minerals that are beneficial for overall health as well.

So, in closing are the following do’s and don’ts:

Do’s

• Eat a few servings of nuts daily, including almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, pistachios, and avoid peanuts, (these are legumes, not nuts).  Eat only raw or shelled and avoid cooked or salted nuts.

• Eat 1/4 to 1/2 avocado daily.

• Eat several servings of raw or very lightly cooked green leafy vegetables daily (keep in mind that as cooking time goes up, nutritional value goes down).

• Make your own salad dressing with olive oil or grape seed oil, any type of vinegar, lemon or lime, and seasoning, (i.e. sea salt & pepper, oregano, etc.)

• Replace your table salt with sea salt.

• Learn to read labels of the foods you buy.  Avoid “diet” foods, “low fat” foods, “Replacement” butter, prepared foods with nitrites or nitrates, etc.  These things are typically very bad for you.

• I recommend at minimum supplementation daily including a complete vitamin & mineral supplement, including B complex, and fish oil, (or krill oil). If you use flax, buy fresh flax seed and grind it just before consuming.  I don’t care how good you eat, you are not going to get your daily nutritional needs from food alone. If you are told otherwise, you are clearly being mislead.

Don’ts

• Don’t eat fried foods at all.

• Don’t eat prepared foods and dressings.

• Don’t use table salt, use sea salt.

• Don’t assume that buying “diet” or “low or no fat” products are healthy.  They usually are worse for you than the non-diet variety..

• Limit sugar and sweets use.  If diabetic, you need to stop altogether  Juices and juice drinks, alcohol and items sweetened with corn syrup all count as sugar.  “Juice drinks” are worse for you than pure juice as they are sweetened artificially.

• Don’t disregard daily vitamin, mineral and omega 3 essential fatty acid supplementation.

The information and guidance offered here is an opinion based on the body of evidence available at the time of this writing pertaining to nutrition.  If you have been told something different by another physician or health care provider, you should discuss why with them. This information is not suggesting a cure for any specific disease or condition, it is presented simply as guidance for healthy eating, which has been purported when combined with a healthy lifestyle, i.e. exercise, as the single best method of disease avoidance.