Sharing w/others – lessons learned

A 12-week London study was recently conducted involving 58 type 2 diabetics with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels over 7 percent. Hemoglobin A1c is a marker for long-term glycemic control in diabetics.
 
After 12 weeks on 2g of cinnamon per day, stud…

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) has petitioned the U.S. FDA to allow manufacturers the option of using the term “corn sugar” instead of “high fructose corn syrup”.
In their press release on the subject, they claim that “independent resear…

By Dr. Mercola

You simply cannot achieve health without a well-functioning immune system.

Your immune defenses are key in protecting you from all disease, including cancer, toxic poisons, infections, inflammation, and even aging.

Your immune syst…

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, a federal judge in California, has banned the planting of genetically modified Roundup Ready sugar beets created by Monsanto. The beets are engineered to withstand Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer.
White said he was …

Disruption of genes that control circadian rhythms can lead to diabetes. Mice with defective copies of the genes develop abnormalities in pancreatic cells that eventually render the cells unable to release insulin.

Circadian rhythms are cyclical patterns in biological activities. The results of the study suggest that disruption of your daily clock could also contribute to diabetes by impairing your pancreas’ ability to deliver insulin.

Eurekalert reports:

“The researchers examined pancreatic islet beta cells, which secrete insulin when blood sugar levels increase. They genetically engineered some mice to have defective CLOCK genes and some to also lack the BMAL1 gene … [S]tudy showed that the islet cells in the mutant animals created normal amounts of insulin, but the CLOCK mutant cells were defective in releasing the hormone.” PostID=276761″

By Elijah Many people interested in staying healthy have switched to agave as a safer “natural” sweetener. They want to avoid well documented dangerous sweeteners like HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) but are unaware that most agave is actually WORSE than HFCS. Once I realized this, I wrote a special report on agave to inform the […]

Real Food Has Curves, a new book written by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, offers a 7-step plan for weaning yourself off processed foods:

1. Seek true satisfaction. Enjoy genuine flavors, rather than fat, sugar, and salt added to mask the metallic taste of chemical additives.

2. Read labels wisely. You can find food with “real” ingredients in the supermarket if you read labels carefully.

3. Relish what’s on your plate. Devote time solely to enjoying the pleasures of eating.

4. Wean yourself off excess salt, fat, and sugar. You can also cook with smaller amounts of these ingredients by using natural substitutes like strong spices.

5. Give your palate time to change. You’ll gradually lose your taste for excessively sweet and salty foods.

6. Go for high-quality foods. Look for products that contain the least amount of processed ingredients.

7. Treat yourself well by not skipping meals. Try eating three meals a day at fairly regular times, plus a mid-afternoon snack.

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Over thirty years of treating patients, Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum,  has identified what he says are four types of sugar addicts.

According to Teitelbaum, overdosing your body with sugar can, over the course of months or years, lead to many physical and mental maladies that many don’t realize stem from their diet — including obesity, a weakened immune system, chronic fatigue, hormonal problems and gastrointestinal issues.

ABC News reports:

“For all forms of sugar addiction, Teitelbaum suggests cutting back on sugar (and/or replacing it with sugar-free alternatives), cutting out excess caffeine intake, eating more whole, unprocessed foods, and getting enough sleep.” PostID=271610″

The consumption of large amounts of sugar could increase your risk for heart disease, according to a recent study. People who eat more added sugar are also more likely to have higher triglycerides and lower levels of protective HDL cholesterol, both of which are risk factors for heart disease.

U.S. food companies are being encouraged to make their products healthier as newly passed U.S. health reform legislation focuses on ways to prevent disease.

Reuters states that:

“The addition of sweeteners to prepared foods and beverages in recent decades has sharply increased Americans’ daily intake of sugar and overall calories …”

The American Beverage Association, however, still claims that sugar-sweetened drinks do not pose a health risk. PostID=262386″

Refined sugars and high-fructose corn syrup are considered by many experts to be the biggest contributors to obesity and poor health in Western civilization.  In her book What To Eat, Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at NYU, suggests that any food that contains more than 15 grams of sugar per serving is closer to dessert than anything else.

Here’s the sugar content of a few common foods and menu items:

1.      Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut — 10 grams

2.      Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream — 16 grams

3.      Starbucks caffè latte grande (16 oz) — 17 grams

4.      Subway 6″ sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich — 17 grams

5.      Tropicana 100 percent orange juice (8 oz) — 25 grams

6.      Yoplait original yogurt — 27 grams

7.      Craisins dried cranberries 1/3 cup — 29 grams

8.      Vitamin Water (20 oz bottle) — 33 g

9.      Oscar Mayer Lunchables crackers, turkey & American cheese — 36 grams

10.  Coca-Cola Classic 12 oz can — 39 grams

11.  California Pizza Kitchen Thai chicken salad — 45 g

12.  Jamba Juice blackberry bliss 16 oz — 49 g

13.  Odwalla SuperFood 450 ml bottle — 50 g

14.  Starbucks caffe vanilla frappuccino grande (16 oz) — 58 g

Foods we recognize as dessert (e.g. doughnuts, ice cream, cookies) often have far less sugar than things we consider “healthy” (e.g. juice, yogurt, dried fruit).  Dessert is sometimes hidden in things like sandwiches.  Some foods marketed to children aren’t much better than soda.  “Natural” foods can have lots of sugar.  And the worst offenders are drinkable. PostID=251638″