WELLNESS: NUTRITION

FOOD FACTS & MYTHS

Food Myths & Facts

There are many myths about certain foods, so let’s look at the most common ones, and get to the core facts that will support your antiaging wellness program.

Salt
Chocolate
Coffee [Caffeine]
Cinnamon
Water
Berries
Aphrodisiacs
Cheating helps you diet

Salt

Salt itself is not an evil. In fact, natural salt contains vital minerals your body needs. Standard table salt is dried at high temperatures, and its many beneficial trace minerals are removed. The salt is then mixed with iodine, bleaching agents, anti-caking agents, and even dextrose (sugar) to remove the bitter chemical taste. What is left is purified sodium chloride with as much as 3% added chemicals. So avoid processed salt. Its concentrated sodium and lack of potassium can lead to high blood pressure and other health problems.

Many processed foods have too much sodium as well as being full of other chemicals, the wrong carbs and the wrong fats. Instead, look for Sea Salt.

Chocolate

It’s proven! - Chocolate is a good for you as drinking red wine or taking an aspirin a day.

Harvard researchers found that ate chocolate 1-3 times a month lived longest. Those who indulged 3 or more times a week died earlier. Those who ate no chocolate at all died the earliest; up to a year earlier.

The polyphenols in dark chocolate help reduce blood pressure. They also protect the body against oxidative stress. Fruits, vegetables, tea, red wine, and cocoa beans contain these healthful compounds. HDL levels, (good cholesterol) go up by 11.4%. Dark chocolate was even better, producing a rise of 13.7% (5). Cocoas high levels of nitric oxide, which helps open up blood vessels and increase blood flow.

Best Diet Chocolate - 70% pure cocoa and sugar-free [approved for diabetics]

Coffee

Many believe that drinking coffee supports weight loss because caffeine speeds metabolism. Wrong! Coffee may even make you gain more weight.

Conversion of fat to energy requires the fat to be broken down, freeing fatty acids which are immediately burned. This process is boosted by about 30 % when caffeine is consumed prior to exercise. But, this only occurs when you're in action!

Don’t drink coffee while you workout because it’s a dehydrating drink. Drink only water.

When you drink coffee without working out, the caffeine increases adrenaline secretion and your blood sugar scales up. Higher blood sugar = fat accumulation.

While the fat is being burned, the glycogen, glucose, and amino acids (blood sugars) are being reserved - so blood sugar levels remain higher for longer. Low blood sugar = hunger; high glucose staves starving. This is why coffee is popular among students and think-tankers. The brain functions exclusively on glucose, and higher blood sugar levels facilitate thinking.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a powerful anti-inflammatory, reduces cholesterol, and is also one of nature's best blood sugar balancers.

It imitates and enhances the effect of insulin in the body. Even less than half a teaspoon has been shown to reduce blood sugar by 20%. The impact of this is that cinnamon can lower your risk of developing diabetes. And if you already have the disease, it can be an effective and affordable tool to help manage your condition.

So sprinkle it in your tea or coffee, oatmeal or any food that it would complement. I am a big fan of Mediterranean recipes due to the high level of cinnamon and nuts.

Water

The top of our good food list is without doubt water. Water is your most essential nutrient, and every system in your body depends on it. Unfortunately, chronic dehydration is widespread ... and there's a convincing hypothesis that it is a root cause of many degenerative diseases.
Whilst you may not consider water as a food, consider that we start out life being 99 percent water, as fetuses. At birth, we are 90 percent water, and by the time we reach adulthood 70 percent. At 90 we are probably only 50 percent water.

Our body needs a constant intake of water to transport nutrients, and to get rid of toxins. To maintain a hydrated body, means 8-10 eight ounce glasses of water a day. minimum.
Inacitivity during illness can lead to blood becoming stagnant. When blood stops flowing, the body starts to decay, and if the blood in your brains stops, it can be life threatening.

If you get bored with plain filtered water or want an alternative to alcohol, consider:

Bottled spring water, with a squeeze of lemon
Green tea, loaded with important anti-aging anti-oxidants.

Whenever possible, avoid tap water unless it has been filtered to remove fluoride and chlorine. Stick to water from a high quality water filter or home water distiller.

The prices vary from $100 to $500 for a good home water distiller and costs about 25cents to distill one gallon. Compare that to 89cents for a 10oz bottle.

Berries - Great Snack Super Foods

Berries are among the healthiest foods you can eat. They are all very high in antioxidants, particularly blueberries. This derives mainly from the pigments in the skin of the blueberries. There are many different varieties of berries; raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.

The darker the berry, the more anti-oxidant protection against cardiovascular disease, degenerative eye disease such as cataracts, and may offer some help in preventing some cancers, and bladder infections.

Berries may be raw, frozen, or dried. They retain their antioxidant properties.

These antioxidants are also found in other fruits with very dark red or dark purple colors; such as cherries, black raspberries, pomegranates, bilberries, saskatoons or serviceberries.

Breakfast Foods

High-carb breakfasts make you fat, slow and tired. In the morning, your body needs nutrients it can readily convert into energy. Protein is the king of breakfast food - fish, eggs.

Aphrodisiac Foods

Many natural enhancement pills are based on well-known ancient aphrodisiacs like Cayenne Fruit, Chinese Ginseng, Horny Goat, Ginkgo and others. They also contain vitamins (Vitamin B3, Vitamin E) and minerals like Zinc.

Many day to day foods also contains useful ingredients:

Sea products - especially oysters. Sea products contain very important minerals like iodine, calcium, magnesium and iron. Sea products are concentrated sources of proteins, microelements and minerals.
Wine - A glass of wine can enhance the mood, but too much can have the reverse affect.
Chili Pepper - Very good aphrodisiac! Plus it increases your metabolism.
Mustard - stimulates sexual glands to increase desire.
Cinnamon - use it in coffee, tea, wine, salads.

Aphrodisiac cocktail: Layer the following ingredients in this order in a shot glass:

1/3 oz. Kahlua [bottom]
1/3 oz. Blue Curacao [middle]
1/3 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream [top]

How to Keep to Your Diet – Cheat! [occasionally]

We all crave for the foods that are out of our ideal diet. What happens if you don’t satisfy your crave – you end up focussed on food, any food, and eventually eat many more calories than if you had satisfied your craving with a small portion of your cheat food.

So my recommendation – choose one or two cheating windows every week and indulge in a SMALL! Portion. I have done this for over 30 years and it works incredibly well. Even today – I have my “boys food” Friday nights and have a second cheat window on Sundays from 1pm – 4pm.

Obviously, just having one cheat window will help you to achieve your goals faster than if you have 2, so maybe make the additional window a reward when if you reach your antiaging wellness program goals that week. The interesting thing you will find though, is that on your new eating regime, your blood sugar will be better controlled and you won’t crave high GI foods. I often miss my window, and don’t really care! I know its coming up again next week. It’s a great psychological tool.