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Yummy Paleo Brunch!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Ash Wednesday - and New Study Results
Wednesday, February 22, 2012Today is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40 day period before Easter, called Lent. Many Christian denominations observe Lent, the purpose of which is the penitential preparation of the believer—through self-denial, among other things. You can find more information about Lent here: http://www.kencollins.com/holydays/holy-04.htm
I do not traditionally participate in Lent, but last year I decided it was a good enough reason to give up diet soft drinks. Most days I would drink a diet drink, and tried to limit myself to one can per day. Well, it's been one year now, and I haven't had a diet soft drink, or any kind of soft drink, in a whole year! I have to say that after the 40 days I just didn't have the desire any more!
According to a study of more than 2,500 people presented today as a poster at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles, people who drank diet soda daily had a 61 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events compared to those who drank no soda, even when accounting for smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption and calories consumed per day. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartHealth/diet-soda-linked-heart-attack-stroke-risk/story?id=12868269#.T0Tnd4cgeIC
"Any way you slice it, soda drinking is not healthy and should be done sparingly," said Dr. Peter McCullough, consultant cardiologist and chief academic and scientific officer for St. John Providence Health System and the Providence Park Heart Institute in Southfield, Mich. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartHealth/diet-soda-linked-heart-attack-stroke-risk/story?id=12868269&page=2#.T0Tm34cgeIA
So, there's a good reason to limit diet drink consumption, or just eliminate it all together!
Let me know if you are up for the challenge! You can do it!
Posted by: Michele Deaton
Cinnamon Almond Flax Muffin
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Food Journal
Friday, February 17, 2012
Paleo Valentine Treats!
Monday, February 13, 2012Are you serious? Paleo Valentine treats? Yes! Click the link below to access some delicious looking ideas and recipes! Enjoy!
http://www.paleoparents.com/featured/a-healthy-valentines-recipe-round-up
Posted by: Michele Deaton
3 Surprising Reasons to Give Up Soft Drinks, and How to Cure Your Soda Addiction
Wednesday, February 08, 2012We are five weeks into the New Year. How many of you put "Give up soft drinks" on your New Year's Resolution list? How is it going so far?
Well, if you didn't put that one on the list, you might want to add it after you read this! Here is some good information from Men's Health Magazine, January 24, 2012 and January 2, 2012.
America has a drinking problem. No, not booze. I'm talking about soft drinks. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the average American guzzles 44.7 gallons of the sweet stuff every year. Not sure what 44.7 gallons looks like? It's about what you'd need to fill a small kiddie pool.
But the truth is, you don't need me to tell you that soda isn't healthy. We all know that America’s drink of choice contributes to our country's ever-expanding obesity problem. But, as Rodale.com writer Leah Zerbe discovered, love handles are just the beginning. Read on for her report on three shocking soda facts that will have you saying “Just water, please” from now on.
Shocking Soda Fact #1: Soda fattens up your organs
A recent Danish study revealed that drinking non-diet soda leads to dramatic increases in dangerous hard-to-detect fats. Researchers asked participants to drink either regular soda, milk containing the same amount of calories as regular soda, diet cola, or water every day for six months. The results? Total fat mass remained the same across all beverage-consuming groups, but regular-soda drinkers experienced dramatic increases in harmful hidden fats, including liver fat and skeletal fat. The regular-soda group also experienced an 11 percent increase in cholesterol compared to the other groups! And don’t think switching to diet varieties will save you from harm: Artificial sweeteners and food dyes have been linked to brain cell damage and hyperactivity, and research has shown that people who drink diet soda have a higher risk of developing diabetes.
Shocking Soda Fact #2: Soda contains flame retardants
Some popular soda brands, including Mountain Dew, use brominated vegetable oil—a toxic flame retardant—to keep the artificial flavoring from separating from the rest of the liquid. This hazardous ingredient—sometimes listed as BVO on soda and sports drinks—can cause bromide poisoning symptoms like skin lesions and memory loss, as well as nerve disorders. If that’s not a good enough reason not to “Do the Dew,” I don’t know what is.
Shocking Soda Fact #3: Drinking soda makes you a lab rat
Many American soda brands are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, a heart-harming man-made compound derived mainly from genetically engineered corn. The problem? Genetically engineered ingredients have only been in our food chain since the 1990s, and we don't know their long-term health impacts because the corporations that developed the crops never had to test them for long-term safety. Case in point: Some recent findings suggest that genetically engineered crops are linked to digestive tract damage, accelerated aging, and even infertility!
Ready to switch to water for good? Thought so. Here's a foolproof way to Cure Your Soda Addiction!
Warning: You need to run two miles to burn off that bottle of Coke. Tempted to switch to water yet?
People are less likely to indulge in unhealthy beverages when caloric contents are translated into physical activity equivalents, a new American Journal of Public Health study found. In the study, teens were less likely to buy a sugar-sweetened beverage—soda and fruit drinks—if its physical activity equivalent was displayed than if it’s calories or percentage daily values were posted.
“Americans don’t have a good sense of how many calories they need in a day, so translating calories into easy-to-understand physical activity equivalents may be more meaningful to consumers than calorie counts,” said study author Sara Bleich, Ph.D., an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Unfortunately, we can’t control what’s printed on your soda nutrition label, but we can do the math for you. Your 20-ounce bottle of soda is roughly the same as:
- Washing dishes or grocery shopping for 76 minutes*
- Unicycling or cleaning gutters for 35 minutes
- Jazzercising or chopping wood for 29 minutes
- Shoveling or skiing for 25 minutes
- Boxing or fast jump-roping for 15 minutes
Posted by: Michele Deaton
Sugar as Dangerous as Alcohol?
Thursday, February 02, 2012This morning on Good Morning America there was a segment on added sugar in the foods we eat. Not surprisingly, the rising rates of obesity and diabetes are cause for this concern. UCSF doctors, Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis argue that sugar should be put into the same category as alcohol and tabacco and have regulations put on its sale and availability. They have published an editorial in the journal Nature. These doctors say the government should put a tax on processed foods containing added sugar.
The average American daily consumes 22 teaspoons of "added sugar". Sweetened cereals, fruit juices and soft drinks, even ketchup, are some of the unsuspecting culprits.
Read this article http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/sugar-dangerous-alcohol-tobacco-182634411--abc-news.html to see some of the ideas proposed for helping to keep excessive sugar out of the American diet. See if you agree with taxing processed foods. Some argue that things like chairs, cars and TV should be taxed if processed foods should be taxed. Those things discourage exercise, which is another factor in the obesity and diabetes predicament.
Remember that by eating whole foods, and not processed foods, you won't be getting added sugar. "The focus should be on the overall nutritional quality of foods, not just one nutrient." says Dr. David Katz, co-founder of the Yale Prevention Center
Posted by: Michele Deaton
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Comments
I think we may be having breakfast for dinner tonight! Thanks Michele!!
snacks(if there is such a thing) and low carb post workout snacks. Also time lines for these snacks. 30 min before? 15 Min before? 15 Min after? I feel like its very important but it all confuses me. I know we have posted but I for one would enjoy a refresher
course! Please and Thank you. P.S. I think you need a little catch phrase to sign off with like some nutrition writers have. I wished I had a funny little example for you but I dont.