Do we know that good fresh food is what we need to be healthy, fit and have plenty of energy?

Please have a look at the short video below about the importance of eating as much fresh and natural food as possible.

HIi everyone

Do you ever stop to think about how much sugar you eat on a daily basis?

You might not know this but our bodies need two teaspoons of sugar in the bloodstream at any one time in order to function properly but, again, this is just as easily obtained from digesting complex carbohydrates like brown rice or pasta, or even from protein and fat. We have a limited amount of sugar storage in the body and, when it’s full, the leftover sugar is easily converted to fat for longer term storage. Eating too much refined sugar is thought to be directly linked to diabetes, migraines, low immunity, skin disorders, yeast overgrowth (Candida), tooth decay – and, of course, obesity. Obesity may not be classified officially as an illness, but it is increasingly associated with heart disease, cancer and many other health problems. Although we put less sugar in our tea and on our cereal than we used to, food companies are making up for that by putting more into processed foods.

According to the Department of Health, sugar consumption in Britain has risen by 31 per cent since 1980 and the average person eats between a kilo of it every week. At least when we were spooning it on for ourselves we knew how much of the stuff we were getting. A lot of people nowadays have no idea how much sugar they are actually eating everyday.

Processed and refined foods are not only sweeter (and unusually higher in fat as well as lower in vitamins and minerals), they are also more easily absorbed. When you eat a complex carbohydrate like brown rice, for example, it takes quite a while for the various enzymes in your digestive system to break it down, so it’s absorbed quire slowly. Which is exactly the way it’s supposed to be. But because refined food has already been partly broken down before it even goes into your mouth, it get absorbed into the bloodstream faster than your system is able to deal with it. You get a short energy boost from Mars bar, but the brown rice will give you a much more sustained release of glucose into the bloodstream.

Have a look at this clip from a BBC3 programme, in which presenter Becca Wilcox looks at her daily sugar content.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

 If you want to find out more about the dangers of sugar and how they can make you fat then have a listen to the great pod-cast called, "Are Carbohydrates Making You Fat with Ben Pratt".

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

What do you think? Please make a comment below.

Myths & Truths About Nutrition

Myth: Heart disease in is caused by consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat from animal products.

Truth: During the period of rapid increase in heart disease (1920-1960), Consumption of animal fats declined but consumption of hydrogenated and industrially processed vegetable fats increased dramatically.

Myth: Saturated fat clogs arteries.

Truth: The fatty acids found in artery clogs are mostly unsaturated (74%) of which 41% are polyunsaturated. 

Myth: Vegetarianism is healthy.

Truth: The annual all-cause death rate of vegetarian men is slightly more than that of non-vegetarian men (.93% vs .89%); the annual death rate of vegetarian women is significantly more than that of non-vegetarian women (.86% vs .54%) 

Myth: Vitamin B₁₂ can be obtained from certain plant sources such as blue-green algae and soy products.

Truth: Vitamin B₁₂ is not absorbed from plant sources. Modern soy products increase the body's need for B₁₂. 

Myth: For good health, serum cholesterol should be less than 180 mg/dl.

Truth: The all-cause death rate is higher in individuals with cholesterol levels lower than 180 mg/dl. 

Myth: Animal fats cause cancer and heart disease.

Truth: Animal fats contain many nutrients that protect against cancer and heart disease; elevated rates of cancer and heart disease are associated with consumption of large amounts of vegetable oils. 

Myth: Children benefit from a low-fat diet.

Truth: Children on low-fat diets suffer from growth problems, failure to thrive & learning disabilities. 

Myth: A low-fat diet will make you "feel better . . . and increase your joy of living."

Truth: Low-fat diets are associated with increased rates of depression, psychological problems, fatigue, violence and suicide. 

Myth: To avoid heart disease, we should use margarine instead of butter.

Truth: Margarine eaters have twice the rate of heart disease as butter eaters. 

Myth: We do not consume enough essential fatty acids.

Truth: We consume far too much of one kind of EFA (omega-6 EFAs found in most polyunsaturated vegetable oils) but not enough of another kind of EFA (omega-3 EFAs found in fish, fish oils, eggs from properly fed chickens, dark green vegetables and herbs, and oils from certain seeds such as flax and chia, nuts such as walnuts and in small amounts in all whole grains.) 

Myth: A vegetarian diet will protect you against atherosclerosis.

Truth: The International Atherosclerosis Project found that vegetarians had just as much atherosclerosis as meat eaters. 

Myth: Low-fat diets prevent breast cancer.

Truth: A recent study found that women on very low-fat diets (less than 20%) had the same rate of breast cancer as women who consumed large amounts of fat. 

Myth: The "cave man diet" was low in fat.

Truth: Throughout the world, primitive peoples sought out and consumed fat from fish and shellfish, water fowl, sea mammals, land birds, insects, reptiles, rodents, bears, dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, game, eggs, nuts and milk products. (Abrams, Food & Evolution 1987)

Myth: Coconut oil causes heart disease.

Truth: When coconut oil was fed as 7% of energy to patients recovering from heart attacks, the patients had greater improvement compared to untreated controls, and no difference compared to patents treated with corn or safflower oils. Populations that consume coconut oil have low rates of heart disease. Coconut oil may also be one of the most useful oils to prevent heart disease because of its antiviral and antimicrobial characteristics. 

Myth: Saturated fats inhibit production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.

Truth: Saturated fats actually improve the production of all prostaglandins by facilitating the conversion of essential fatty acids. 

Myth: Arachidonic acid in foods like liver, butter and egg yolks causes production of "bad" inflammatory prostaglandins.

Truth: Series 2 prostaglandins that the body makes from arachidonic acid both encourage and inhibit inflammation under appropriate circumstances. Arachidonic acid is vital for the function of the brain and nervous system. 

Myth: Beef causes colon cancer

Truth: Argentina, with higher beef consumption, has lower rates of colon cancer than the US. Mormons have lower rates of colon cancer than vegetarian Seventh Day Adventists 

HI everyone 

There can only be one member of the month for this month and that's Mandie. She is an inspiration and goes from strength to strength.

Mandie has done so well on the programme and has given her words of wisdom and support to so many people on our blog weightlossjournals.petecohen.tv/.

You can hear Mandie in her words by listening to a pod-cast I recored with her recently.

Please make any comments for Mandie below

I do come across some strange things in my life - one of them was the other day when I walked past a sandwich shop only to see these packages of food. It kind of takes synthetic, processed foods to another level!

I am sure the real sandwiches in this shop were great but it got me thinking that so many people don’t realise that if they eat lots of packaged and processed foods that they’re probably not getting the necessary nutrients to be healthy.

You may have heard that apparently there are about as many obese people in the world as there are those who are starving. The difference between these groups is that one is overeating and one is under-eating: the similarity is that both are malnourished. Whilst those of us in the developed world have more than enough to eat, the food we’re eating is less nutritious than it used to be. In addition, we lead more stressful lives than we used to and our bodies need vitamins and minerals to help us recover from stress: so we are suffering both from how we live and what we eat, or rather what we don’t eat. Every process that takes place in our body (such as digestion, fat burning, thinking, breathing, walking and talking) requires vitamins and minerals. If we fill up on junk foods, processed foods, sugary foods, deep fried foods and takeaways all we deplete our body’s stores of nutrients. If we don’t replenish our stores, over time, we suffer from poor immunity and, ultimately, ill health; we’ll find it harder to concentrate and process information; we’ll have less energy; and we’ll find it more difficult to metabolise food and burn fat. The good news is that we can reverse this process. When we eat fresh, natural foods, we top up our stock of vitamins and minerals.

Let’s imagine for a minute or two that it’s mid-afternoon and you are hungry. You fancy a snack and you have two choices: an apple and a chocolate bar. What does each option give you? The apple will give you a steady release of energy; vitamin C, which is good for your skin, bones, blood and building immunity; potassium, which helps to regulate your water balance, blood pressure and your heartbeat; and fibre, which keeps your digestive system healthy and helps reduce the risk of colon cancer. The chocolate bar, on the other hand, will give you a sugar hit, which will cause your energy levels to crash; saturated fat, which increases your risk of heart disease – and nothing of any value. When you look at foods like this, don’t you think there’s little competition between them?

Food manufacturers refine foods to make them last longer and so they’re more profitable; but you deserve better than that. No matter what you might think about your body or how long you’ve been abusing it with poor quality food, your body deserves to have fresh, nutritious, natural food.

I visited my local health-food store recently and spotted this! Nice, a complete antidote to today's rising food costs - but: tough decision - what to choose..? My first thought was that this was the left-overs after a long line of free-food-foragers had taken their fill from the basket... But, if so, who leaves just one stick of rhubarb or one tomato?... and why is it all arranged so oddly...? It was just so surreal that i had to share it with you.

Can you guess what I took and why?... and what would you take and why? Answers on the back of a postcard please :)

Does it make the world go round?
Is it the root of all evil?
Can it not buy you love?

One thing certainly is for sure: Too many of us are in debt!

Commercialism and consumerism have become the alters that we all kneel to and increasing personal debt is price we now pay. It is estimated that our personal debt is increasing by  £1 million every four minutes!

Such is our urge to spend on the latest gadgets, exotic holidays, ideal homes and those ‘must have’ shoes, thousands of us are looking at a debt sentence of 77 years before we’re back in the black.  According to research giants Mintel, UK consumer spending has hit the £1 trillion mark for the first time. From this evidence it would appear that we are happy living in debt, whilst toiling hard to pay off our mortgages, loans and credit cards. Yet the dramatic increase in personal bankruptcies and the high rise in those seeking counseling for debt suggests the contrary.

Let's examine your relationship to money and finances.

I'm not setting out to give you tips on how to reduce your debt or increase your income as there are numerous books and television programs dedicated to such issues. Instead I will focus on your attitudes towards money, wealth, debt and abundance. My aim is to facilitate a change in the way you think and feel about money. This shift in consciousness can help manifest a change in your actions, which in return will provide a change in your rewards.

M is for MONEY

I can’t take HIS money
I can’t print MY OWN money
I have to work for money, why don’t I just lay down and die?

Homer Simpson

Some people see money only as energy, it’s neither good nor bad, it is neutral. The economic world attributes a value to it and as a society we place a value upon it. As an energy it follows a path that we lay down for it, if we allow a flow it will create more, if we let the flow stagnate, then so does our financial health.

Without money the western world would not survive and so it follows that the more money you have the more choices you will have in life. Below I have listed some statements relating to money, read through them and note how many resonate with you.

How many of the following resonate with you?

•    A penny saved is a penny earned
•    Money only comes from hard work
•    Money doesn’t grow on trees
•    Save some for a rainy day
•    Money is the root of all evil
•    My parents were poor, and I will be poor
•    Money goes out faster than it comes in
•    Rich people are crooks
•    I will never get a good job
•    I will never make any money

If any rang true for you, they may well be getting the way of you reaching prosperity. REMEMBER: you only manifest in your life what you consciously think about and focus on.

Now your task is to question where those beliefs came from and why you still choose to hold on to them.