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.

Hi there 

The following article was published on the web site Medical News Today

According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), eating a meal quickly, as compared to slowly, curtails the release of hormones in the gut that induce feelings of being full. The decreased release of these hormones, can often lead to overeating. 

"Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to food overconsumption and obesity, and in fact some observational studies have supported this notion," said Alexander Kokkinos, MD, PhD, of Laiko General Hospital in Athens Greece and lead author of the study. "Our study provides a possible explanation for the relationship between speed eating and overeating by showing that the rate at which someone eats may impact the release of gut hormones that signal the brain to stop eating." 

In the last few years, research regarding gut hormones, such as peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1), has shown that their release after a meal acts on the brain and induces satiety and meal termination. Until now, concentrations of appetite-regulating hormones have not been examined in the context of different rates of eating. 

In this study, subjects consumed the same test meal, 300ml of ice-cream, at different rates. Researchers took blood samples for the measurement of glucose, insulin, plasma lipids and gut hormones before the meal and at 30 minute intervals after the beginning of eating, until the end of the session, 210 minutes later. Researchers found that subjects who took the full 30 minutes to finish the ice cream had higher concentrations of PYY and GLP-1 and also tended to have a higher fullness rating. 

"Our findings give some insight into an aspect of modern-day food overconsumption, namely the fact that many people, pressed by demanding working and living conditions, eat faster and in greater amounts than in the past," said Kokkinos. "The warning we were given as children that 'wolfing down your food will make you fat,' may in fact have a physiological explanation." 

Other researchers working on the study include Kleopatra Alexiadou, Nicholas Tentolouris, Despoina Kyriaki, Despoina Perrea and Nicholas Katsilambros of Athens University Medical School in Greece; and Carel le Roux, Royce Vincent, Mohammad Ghatei and Stephen Bloom of Imperial College in London, United Kingdom. 

What do you think?

Hi everyone 

Welcome to the third in a series of three pod-casts  with Health and Fitness Professional, Ben Pratt.

The  first pod-cast is called "What is an Exceptional Diet " and  the second is called "Are Carbohydrates Making you  Fat".

The last in the series is called "Is Stress Making You Fat". Here we discuss how stress affects the body and in addition we look at how eating different types of oils can affect your health and well being.

To find out more about Ben and his products and service then have a look at his web site 

www.naturalfoodfinder.co.uk

www.nutritions-playground.com

Please make a comment if you find this pod-cast useful

I have recently returned from a trip to the deep South of the United States, visiting Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I know America gets bad press these days but I am a big fan. However, they really love food,  portion sizes are massive and fast food outlets are everywhere.

It’s funny how our lives have changed and how years ago people used to hunt to live and survive. This obviously involved blood, sweat and tears. These days, especially in the states people hunt in their cars and there is drive-in everything, drive-in fast food, drive-in pharmacies, drive-in banks, drive-in supermarkets. In fact people don’t really have to move these days because if you don’t go out hunting in your car someone will bring everything to you.

I couldn’t believe how many overweight people I saw, people of all ages and backgrounds. It’s such a big problem and I am sure we are catching up with our American cousins as us Brits’ waist lines are ever expanding.

In fact, in the plane on the way home I read in a recent survey that almost three-quarters of Britons believe they are overweight and have vowed to start a health campaign in the New Year. This got me wondering as to just how many of these vows will result in success.

Despite almost 70 percent of Britons saying they want to get healthy, experts said other evidence into people's behaviour suggests that repeated warnings about the dangers of obesity is falling on deaf ears.

Perhaps this is highlighted by McDonalds who recently revealed it had recorded growth rates close to their peak of the 1980s -- with 88 million visits to its outlets in the UK last month alone!

It is estimated that obesity causes 9,000 premature deaths each year in England and costs the NHS about one billion pounds annually.

A recent government study predicted that half the population could be obese within 25 years and Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum charity, said the country's obesity crisis was "quite dire".

While it appears people want to tackle obesity, evidence such as the sales figures revealed by McDonalds, paints a markedly different picture.

The government is desperate to do something about this situation and in October, they unveiled a strategy where parents of severely overweight children may be sent letters warning them of the health dangers involved.

Do you think this will make any difference? I am not sure but I know that my weight loss programme is making a difference to many people.

The following is from Sue one of our many success stories:

"I am now 4 stone lighter, and have made the most incredible lifestyle changes since joining back in June"

If you want to see the progress people are making then have a look at our blog and check out our updated video of some of our amazing case studies.

Special Offer:

Take care, and if you want to sign up before Christmas we have a special offer. You can sign up for a 50% discount. Just go to petecohen.tv and use the promo word xmas.

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.