Nutrition Tips Blog

a) Most people say the Mediterranean diet is high in fat. Can people still lose or maintain weight on a Mediterranean diet?
To some extent, Mediterranean diet really has a high fat content.  But you have to take note that the fat content of a Mediterranean diet consists of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.  These fats are essential and healthy for your body unlike the saturated fat which is common in American diet.  Do take note also that calorie intake is the determining factor for weight loss and not fat consumption.  If you follow the Mediterranean diet, you will enjoy lots of healthy benefits but you still need to lower your daily calorie consumption to achieve weight loss.

b) Is there a major difference between Mediterranean diet and American diet?
Americans consume high numbers of red meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy, while the Mediterranean includes very little. The diet also differs from the typical American diet through its dependence on fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, olive oil, beans, breads, cereals, and potatoes.

c) What is the effect of Mediterranean diet in lowering the incidence of heart disease?
Mediterranean diet plays an important role in lowering the incidences of cardiovascular disorder.  This finding has been proven by major research and studies.  More importantly, the success of the Mediterranean diet comes from the fact that it promotes a holistic approach to healthy living.  By following the Mediterranean diet, you will learn how to eat healthy and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

d) Does regular exercise has a place in the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle?
Exercise is a vital part of maintaining the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is based on the food choices and lifestyles of the region during the early Sixties and during that time period, physical activity was an important part of their culture. Daily hourly walks are encouraged, as are exercises for at least one hour a week that utilize the entire body.

e) How the Mediterranean diet differ from the Low Carb diet?
Mediterranean diet is substantially different from Low Carb diet.  For one thing, the Mediterranean program has lower protein component.  You will only get 15 percent calories from the protein of Mediterranean diet. 

f) Wine has always been part of the Mediterranean diet.  What is the recommended daily amount for wine?
The rule of thumb is to consume wine in moderate amounts.  Men should get 5 percent of their daily calorie intake from wine.  For women, the calorie consumption from wine should be 2.5 percent. 

g) Final Tips
There are loads of benefits that you can enjoy from Mediterranean diet.  This diet focuses on healthier food options like root crops, fruits, cereals, breads, vegetables, and Omega 3-rich foods.  You will be able to prevent heart diseases if you follow the Mediterranean diet. 

About the Author – Eva B. Alexander writes for the copy of mediterranean diet blog, her personal hobby website focused Mediterranean diet healthy eating tips to live better and longer.

Aside from ginger giving us that strong peppery taste that flavors our food so well, according to a study done at a University in Denmark, ginger has been successful in relieving the pain associated with migraines.  The earlier you take it, the faster it works. It apparently works similar to aspirin in that it blocks the chemical that causes inflammation of the blood vessels in the brain.

Recipe for Ginger Honey Tea:

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger or 1 tsp powdered ginger
Juice of ¼ of a lemon
1 tbsp honey
1 cup boiled water

Combine all ingredients and let simmer for 6 minutes. (If using fresh ginger, strain before you drink)

Drink several cups throughout the day.

Note: This recipe is also great for colds and flu!

Ginger has had good results for relieving motion sickness, queasy stomach or other digestive difficulties.

It has long been somewhat of a mystery as to why the French could eat a high fat, high calorie diet and have a lower incidence of heart disease and live long healthy lives.  It was known that wine had something to do with it but over the last couple of years, compliments of Dr Sinclair of the Harvard Medical Center and Rafael De Cabo Phd., they may have isolated the properties that answer the mystery.

The key is resveratrol in the fermented skins of the red wine grape, especially grapes that come from cooler climates.

There have been published papers on the fact that people (or animals for that matter) who have calorie restricted diets live longer.

Resveratrol does many things for the body including fooling the body into thinking it is calorie restricted.  Hence, the French eating high calorie, high fat diets (with wine) may live longer with less incidence of heart disease.

Best Price for Quality Resveratrol we found.

Here is some interesting information on various studies on resveratrol and the promising results.

- According to a study done by the Dept. of Science and Technology at the Ohio State University in 1997, resveratrol was able at a cellular level to inhibit cancer cells from dividing.  It also demonstrated that the estrogenic activity was able to prevent post-menopausal bone loss.

- The Dept of Microbiology-Immunology NE Ohio University, College of Medicine, successfully treated hairless mice that had herpes lesions.  Repeated tests with topical resveratrol had the same results.  In the same year it was also discovered that topical reseveratrol reduced skin cancer by as much as 98%.

-  In Nov. of 2006, Dr Sinclair and Rafael De Cabo, did a study on middle aged mice and the findings were extremely encouraging.  The mice were divided into 3 groups; the 1st group was given a standard diet., the 2nd group a high fat, high calorie diet, and the 3rd group a high fat, high calorie diet with resveratrol.  The 2nd group of high fat, high calories soon developed symptoms of heart disease and diabetes and shortened lifespan.  The 3rd group with high fat, high calories and resveratrol had no symptoms of heart disease or diabetes and they were much more active than the second group even later in life.  The third group of mice also lived up to 30% longer.  (The standard diet mice faired as well as the 3rd group)

- In another study in April of 2008, patients who were treated with resveratrol before receiving radiation treatments, found that pancreatic cancer cells would die off during radiation sessions.  This is very encouraging because pancreatic cancer can be very difficult to treat.

- Now, very interesting, what does resveratrol have in common with Viagra?  They both open restricted blood flow.  Viagra is limited to small blood vessels but reseveratrol opens both small blood vessels and main arteries.  The circulation benefits of resveratrol may outperform Viagra.

- The reasoning behind resevratrol being hailed as the potential fountain of youth is because taking resveratrol regularly has been demonstrated to reduce and or reverse DNA mishaps.  Aging comes about when cells can no longer replicate cell DNA and thus begins the gradual decline of the body.  Resveratrol stimulates what is called the longevity gene (caloric restricted diets) and it has been demonstrated that resveratrol reduces DNA mishaps by as much as a whopping 60%!    Even if it was 30% that would be impressive!

There is still much studying to be done on resveratrol, especially on humans but the research so far has been more than promising.  A glass of wine a day can be beneficial but good quality, pure resveratrol supplements have the potential for great health benefits!

Nitrates/nitrite is of the same family.  They are both used to cure meats but nitrites are easier to work with than nitrates. Nitrates are used mainly to make fertilizer, explosives and glass while nitrites are used mainly as a preservative in foods. Both are naturally occurring in nature in our water, certain vegetables etc. and ingestion from normal nitrite/nitrates in nature are nontoxic, but can be very powerful poisons in larger doses and need to be strictly controlled.

But we still eat them, and why?

Because over the last thousand years, man has been using this as a preservative for meat, but so far, NO ONE has found a better solution!  (Or if someone has, we don’t know about it)!

It does several things for meat;

• It imparts a pink color and makes meat look more appetizing and fresh.
• It gives meats a smoked, cured flavor, that’s why we love the taste of bacon so much. It has been tested in taste kitchens, and bacon not cured with nitrite/nitrates, fared very poorly in taste tests, plus they were somewhat grey in color and most people equate that with bad meat (even though it is not).
• It prevents botulism and controls the possibility of food poisoning.

This all sounds great and in all truth a little bit of nitrates in your diet is not going to have necessarily long term effects on your health, but if you eat luncheon meat, hotdogs, sausages and bacon on a regular basis, that is a whole different story.

-    According to the Environmental Health Investigations Branch, one of the problems with ingesting nitrates/nitrites is that it can cause the hemoglobin in blood to change to Met hemoglobin, and this reduces the bloods ability to carry oxygen.  This can be particularly hazardous to infants and very small children as they are much more sensitive to nitrate/nitrites than adults. Ingestion of nitrates turns into nitrite when it comes into contact with saliva and then down trough the intestinal tract.  Adults can change nitrates to nitrites by about 5% while Infants can change them by 10% or more.  For infants, the inability to carry the oxygen through the blood can cause what is called the “Blue Baby Syndrome” had has been known to cause brain damage and death. Adults can have symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, irritability and blue tones around the eyes, mouth, hands and feet.

-    Meats that are preserved with nitrate/nitrites can cause the body to form nitrosamines which has been demonstrated to be carcinogenic. This occurs when the preserved meat has been heated such as cooking bacon or sausages. Tasty but potentially hazardous to your health. Some of the nitrosamines effect can be counteracted by ensuring that your body gets plenty of vitamin C & E and in fact some manufacturers are now adding these to their meats but alas, most are not.

When you eat certain vegetables like spinach, collard greens, kale, celery, lettuce etc., you will naturally be consuming nitrates, but there is a way to tell if it has been grown organically without fertilizers laced with extra nitrates.  The organic vegetables will have a lot less of the bitter taste that you will find with conventionally grown vegetables. It is a good argument for getting kids to eat organic as you may find it a lot easier for them if they aren’t so bitter tasting!  This would be an interesting experiment with your children or spouse for that matter!

To stay healthy, it is best to limit your exposure to nitrate/nitrites!

Food coloring is in just about every type of processed food and is used to give it the color we think is most pleasing. Processing and cooking can change bright colors to dull and the food industry knows that if their foods have a dull appearance, then most people will not find it appetizing and choose to eat something else!

This is not surprising because in every aspect of our lives, we instinctively choose the healthiest and best for ourselves. We instinctively choose the healthiest mate, the best place we can live in, the cleanest water to drink and the brightest healthiest looking food. It is how we strive for optimum survival. Just watch any small children and see what they instinctively grab for.

The FDA allows two types of food coloring, dyes, which are powders or crystals that are water soluble, and what they call, lakes, food coloring that does not dissolve in oil, but rather disperses well and are suitable for fatty foods.

Current dyes allowed by the FDA:

FD&C Blue #1 (blue color)

FD&C Blue #2 (dark blue color)

FD&C Green #3 (blue green color)

FD&C Red #40 (red)

FD&C Red #3 (pink color)

FD&C Yellow #5 (yellow)

FD&C Yellow #6 (orangey yellow)

There have been several other dyes that have been banned. There are however, some food colorings we still use today that have been demonstrated to have some health hazards. (Not surprising since most dyes are made from coal tar or are petroleum based and have no nutrient value). For example;

- The food additive sodium benzoate and food coloring you find in almost all sodas have been linked with hyperactivity in children.

- Blue #1 has been linked with brain tumors in mice.

- Red #3 has been linked with thyroid difficulties when tested in rats.

- Yellow #6 has been linked with adrenal and kidney problems and has been tested as slightly carcinogenic.

For almost as long as man has been on this earth, he has used natural food dyes like red beets and green chlorophyll. The food industry has however opted for the cheapest ingredients that will give the most profit, and that is good business for them, not so good for the human guinea pigs!

So much attention has been placed lately on the planet going GREEN! How about doing that with food as well!

Sodium benzoate is a form of salt that occur naturally in foods such as, apples, cranberries, plums, most berries, dairy products, potatoes, beans, soy and nuts. It is also found in spices like nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Eating it in its natural form in foods would be almost impossible to overdose on it. But in this article, we are addressing sodium benzoate, the chemical (a crystalline substance) that is used as a preservative in processed foods.

This food preservative is found in many processed foods because of its ability to kill yeast, bacteria and fungi and this prolongs the shelf life of many food products.

Sodium benzoate is found in acidic products such as vinegar, vinegar type salad dressings, fruit juices, wine and sodas to name a few.

According to the US FDA, 0.1% sodium benzoate in foods on its own is not necessarily harmful but scientists in the UK have discovered that when sodium benzoate is paired up with vitamin C, (ascorbic acid) that it produces a known carcinogen called benzene! They also discovered that it also can damage the structure of DNA. Almost all sodas contain these two ingredients. It was also discovered that when soda reaches room temperature, benzene becomes present. If you chill your soda and feel you are safe, consider this, all these sodas have been transported and you have no way of knowing if your soda bottle ever reached room temperature or warmer.

If you want to avoid the duo of sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid, you must read labels because ultimately, even though it is on the shelf in our stores, we are responsible for our own health!

There are hundreds of different enzymes but to simplify things we are going to talk about three of them.

Amylase;

This enzyme breaks down carbohydrates (sugars and starch in fruits, vegetables, wheat, dairy etc.) and converts them to sugars or glucose.

Digestion with amylase begins in the mouth with saliva when you chew food. This is why you can hear the echo of mother in the back of your mind telling you to chew your food 27 times before swallowing. But she was right. The more you chew, the more amylase you have breaking down carbs for better absorption.

Protease;

Protease is the enzyme that breaks down protein. This is an important enzyme and works with the hydrochloric acid in the stomach to convert protein into amino acids that can then be absorbed through the intestines.

It can also breakdown certain viruses and bacteria and this is an important function because a lack of protease can reduce the ability of the immune system.

Lipase;

Lipase is the enzyme that along with bile, breaks down fat into fatty acids and glycerol. This is a very important function because when fat cannot be broken down properly you can end up with elevated cholesterol and triglycerides and have difficulty losing weight. Although it is easy to consume too much fat, the other side of the coin is that the body needs a certain amount of fats to stay healthy.

These three enzymes breakdown the majority of the foods you eat and are necessary for proper digestion. A lack of any of them can cause problems with your body.

Sometimes symptoms of associated with lack of these enzymes can be confused with something else and you end up not getting the results you wanted.

Something as simple as taking enzyme supplements can resolve issues you may have with your body. Of course you want to check with your health care provider about any enzymes supplementation.

I have always loved the taste of cinnamon, especially around the holidays! So I was pleasantly surprised to come across some research on this delicious spice from the USDA Research Center in Maryland.

When they researched how some foods affected glucose levels in the body, they quite by accident discovered that cinnamon stabilized and even lowered the glucose levels in the body. They were conducting this study with apple pie. They had expected it to spike glucose levels but were baffled when that was not the case. Turns out it was the cinnamon!

The studies they did with rats were very telling. One group were given a low sugar diet and the other a diet high in high fructose corn syrup but with cinnamon. Both groups fared the same even though the high fructose corn syrup should have spiked glucose levels up.

A study done on diabetics also turned up some interesting statistics. The group given up to 6 grams of cinnamon had a reduction in glucose levels by almost 30%! There were no significant changes in the placebo group!

Another study I found on cinnamon was that it is a great anti-microbial! In a 2003 issue of International Journal of Food Microbiology, they did an experiment with carrot broth and a few drops of cinnamon oil. After 60 days, the cinnamon showed itself to be a fantastic preservative. The regular carrot broth was breeding food borne pathogens very quickly despite refrigeration.

So eat up! Cinnamon is good for you!

I found this great blog post on Nutrition Tips for Strength Training It outlines very well how to figure out the amount of carbs, protein, fat and water you as an individual need per your body weight.  There is lots of information on the net but this specific information is worth reading.  As always, one needs to check with their health care practitioner before any new exercise program, but this article is worth asking them about!

A good working digestive system is crucial for nutrient absorption, health and wellbeing. With the obesity epidemic, higher instances of diabetes, and heart disease, indications are that we are doing something wrong, and the need to address it is absolutely necessary now!

The entire digestive process begins when we think of food or see food especially when we are a bit hungry. Without realizing it we start the salivation process to prepare for the food that is to come.

The first stage of digestion, the mouth;

The first job of the mouth is to break down the food via the teeth. The second job is to use the saliva to begin the process of a further breakdown of food. This is accomplished by an enzyme called amylase. The longer you chew the food, the longer it allows the amylase to do its job.

Digestion via the stomach;

Acid is produced in the stomach. Between the acid and enzymes food is further broken down and made ready for the small intestines. The acid in the stomach also has the job of killing off bacteria and some viruses as further protection for the body.

The small intestine;

The small intestine is where most of the nutrient absorption takes place. The pancreas helps by releasing enzymes and the gallbladder helps by releasing bile salts.

The large intestine;

The large intestine takes the remaining mass and extracts the leftover nutrients, the remaining water, and electrolytes for the body to use. Whatever is left is for elimination.

Several things can go wrong;

If you don’t have sufficient enzymes for digestion then you can have a mass of food sitting in the stomach much longer than it should. This causes bloating and an uncomfortable feeling. It can then sit and ferment in the small and large intestine. Bacteria love this situation and feeds off of it. As a by product, the bacteria give off gas and this is also very uncomfortable. Unless addressed, the colon can get layers built up of muck and lays the person open to various diseases.

At this point a person really needs to look at detoxing the colon, liver, kidneys and gallbladder. Taking medication may help somewhat but does not necessarily relieve the underlying problem.

There are several different types of detox such as Hulda Clark method to detox all of these areas.

Once detoxing has been done on these areas, prevention is a necessity, and possibly further body detoxing of various organs.

- One way you can nip it in the bud is at the beginning of digestion, (the mouth) try taking a good digestive enzyme with your meals.

- Also consider taking pro-biotics as this replaces good bacteria that may otherwise be lost from detoxing.

- Electrolytes are also a good idea to keep hydrated.

- A great way to start the day is to drink room temperature water with fresh squeezed lemon. This gives your liver a boost.

- Fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries etc., are great for detoxing and cleansing the body. Not only do they taste great, but they have a lot more fiber in them than eating bran muffins.

- Cranberries have lots of anti-oxidants, plus, bacteria doesn’t like it and will not survive well in it.

- Broccoli and spinach and kale are some of the super foods with their superior vitamin and mineral content. Eat these several times a week and not only will it help flush the colon, it will also supply many nutrients the body needs.

We live in a toxic environment and probably just about everyone may need a good cleansing inside to maintain good health. (Good health on the inside will show on the outside).