1 Suicide By Diet The Poisoning of America Now Spreading Worldwide How to Stop Eating Yourself to Death And Diffuse the Ticking Time Bomb...NOW Carole Pagan CommonSenseLiving.com 2 This e-Book is dedicated to our children. With special thanks to my own daughter – Emma -who gave me the motivation to try and leave the world a little better place. Disclaimer-This book contains information on healthy eating habits, and contains information on the healing properties of various foods. It is in no way meant to replace sound medical advice for illness. If you are under a Doctor’s care, do not stop taking prescribed medications or change your diet without first consulting your Doctor. The information contained herein is the latest information as of the date of publishing. Research is constantly updated with new findings, which may or may not be relevant at the time you read this e-book. The purpose of this e-book is to guide you to a life of healthy eating habits. The author cannot guarantee that you will lose weight or always be healthy as a result of this information. It is meant only as a common sense guide. The author is not a doctor, and this e-book should not be viewed as medical advice. If you are suffering from disease, this e-book is only a starting point. Use the information provided here as a starting point to do more research and find out everything you can to save your life. © 2007 by Carole Pagan All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. Suicide by Diet is an electronic book. All material is covered under prevailing Copyright Law and may not be used without written permission from the author. This book may be freely passed around as long as the full content remains intact and is not changed. It is free. You may not charge for it. 3 Suicide by Diet Table of Contents Introduction 5 Why is everyone Fatter and Sicker? 6 A Sad State of Affairs 9 The Price of Convenience -The dangers lurking in packaged foods – 12 Facing the Truth About Obesity 17 OK, so you’re already thin. 19 Poor Lifestyle Or Disease of Affulence? 21 How is the food you eat poisoning you? 25 A Wake-Up Call 33 Cultural Poisoning -Emotionally Empty Meals 36 What a difference a month makes 38 Try this experiment to really see what you’re missing 39 Running on Empty-40 If you put it there-they will eat it. 41 What if the kids are grown? 42 Thinking like a thin person 43 Healthy weight loss that lasts a lifetime 45 Turning off to Junk Food 48 Helpful Resources 51 ********************************************************** 4 Famous Thoughts About Food The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star. -Anthelme Brillat-Savarin The Physiology of Taste More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. -John Kenneth Galbraith The Affluent Society Some people have a foolish way of not minding, or pretending not to mind, what they eat. For my part, I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else. -Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Bowell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson. There is no love sincerer than the love of food. -George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. -Virginia Woolf A Room of One’s Own Eat to live, and not live to eat. -Benjamin Franklin Poor Richard’s Almanac Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food. -Hippocrates 5 Introduction A lot has been uncovered about how our diet is not only contributing to the ever increasing obesity problem, but it is now linked to diseases such as clogged arteries, heart attacks, stroke, type 2 diabetes, asthma, MS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, A.D.D., depression, and the list keeps growing. As one doctor put it, “We are overfed, but malnourished.” In other words, you’re eating yourself to death. This e-book is not one of those scare books, you know – you’ll get cancer from chicken wings and all that kind of baloney. These threats are very real. But this ebooo isn’t necessarily meant to scare you. It’s to educate you. I believe that you can prevent, if not solve, most of your health problems just by changing your diet. And I think there’s pretty good evidence to support that. But please, do not discontinue any medications without direct supervision of your doctor. If the natural methods are working, your doctor will reduce or discontinue medications based on your current condition. Quitting medications on your own can have devastating effects. And I know, we have great reason not to trust doctors and pharmaceutical companies, but self diagnoses is not smart. The key to surviving disease is early detection. There are more and more doctors and medical centers that include nutritional healing in addition to traditional medicine. If you suspect something is wrong – get in and find out for sure. Of course, not getting sick in the first place is the best medicine, wouldn’t you say? If you start changing your diet today -I can guarantee that you will get sick less often, you’ll have more energy, you’ll lose weight, and you’ll look better. Can I guarantee that you’ll never have a heart attack or get cancer? Of course not. No one can. But you can significantly cut your risk of serious disease. OK-Let’s move on! 6 Why is everyone Fatter and Sicker? You might think that your only problem is controlling your weight. You might understand that excess weight is hard on your body. In reality, excess weight is the outer manifestation of a far bigger problem. It’s what you see. What is the bigger problem? We’re malnourished. Heavy people have the advantage of at least seeing that they’re unhealthy. Thin people on the other hand, might mistakenly feel that they are fine. The truth is, thin or fat -if we don’t change the way we are eating, we are destined for a whole slew of health problems. “Diet, weight and physical activity account for 30% to 40% of cancer incidence. It’s a significant chunk – and it’s a chunk we have control over.” Karen Collins, M.S., R.D., American Institute of Cancer Research Quoted in Woman’s Day, 9/12/06 More current research indicates that a much higher percentage is preventable. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that the population is getting fatter, and diseases are on the rise. A.D.D., Alzheimer’s asthma, cancers, clogged arteries, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s, and strokes have been rising steadily at an alarming rate. Why? Your diet is the major contributor in all of it. Your diet is killing you. Think about this, prior to the invention of packaged foods, our ancestors weren’t plagued with all of these diseases. Type II diabetes was hardly ever heard of – it was something old people got. Now it’s an epidemic. Corn syrup was used to make candy. Now it’s in practically every packaged food. And its no surprise that type 2 diabetes has skyrocketed as we take in all this sugar. According to the last report published by the Center for Disease Control, 20.8 MILLION Americans have Type II Diabetes, 7% of the population. 7 Our great-grandparents cooked with fresh ingredients, many of which they grew themselves. Cattle, chickens, pigs and fish were all fed their natural diets. Chemicals were not a part of the everyday diet. I remember my grandmother thinking cancer was contagious. It was so rare that they really didn’t understand much about it. Fatty foods were a big part of the everyday diet, especially if your family was from the south – but it wasn’t the trans-fats you see now. If you look at some of your old family recipes, you’d think you’d have a heart attack just reading them, let alone eating them. And not surprisingly, heart disease has been the leading cause of death since 1910. But now with all these chemicals in our diet, cancer is creeping up and will soon take the lead. Our great grandparents didn’t sit around watching television. If they sat around, it was on the front porch so they could talk to the passersby’s. They worked on their gardens. They worked on their cars. They did most of their own remodeling, painting, and wallpapering. They walked most places. Now – we eat fast food and packaged foods. We do little work outside of our jobs. We sit at the job. We sit in the car. We sit in front of the TV or the computer. Our meat supply is being fed chemicals – hormones and antibiotics, and foods that are not natural for them – and then we eat it. Our fruits and vegetables are sprayed with chemicals to kill off pests, to make them grow bigger and faster, to keep them fresher longer (because it takes up to 2 weeks to actually get them on the store shelf), and to make them look better – and then we eat it. Or you don’t, and that’s even worse. Packaged foods are composed of various chemicals to extend shelf life, to make them look better and taste better (that one’s open for debate), and then we eat it. And don’t even get me started on fast food. Now, add to that the fact that most people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, don’t drink enough water, are eating tons of bad carbs and sugars, and are not 8 getting enough exercise or sleep. Common sense will tell you that a body cannot hold up long under those conditions. How long would your car hold up if you treated it like that? My mother was a prime example of a bad example. She rarely ate fruit or vegetables. She used a tremendous amount of salt. She never spent any time outdoors. Never got any exercise. Smoked a lot. Drank a lot. She was diagnosed with sinus cancer, which was rare at the time, at age 53, and died that same year. It was a horrible cancer that ate through what we call the windpipe. If she were to drink a glass of water, she would drown. She was fed by tube. She developed dementia – which may have been a godsend for her to not really know what was going on. I have no way of knowing. What was really odd was that her boyfriend died of the same cancer a few months later. When I questioned the doctor, she simply said, “they abused their bodies the same way.” Disease is no fun. 9 A Sad State of Affairs Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you know that the American population has exploded – width wise. Over 60% of the American population is overweight. That is an astounding figure. World wide, its one in 4 people. How in the world did it get this way? In a report released by the Centers for Disease control and Prevention, they found that in the year 2000, men ate an average of 188 calories more each day, about a 12 ounce pop each day than they did in 1971. That’s a pound every 19 days. Women did even worse, averaging 335 more calories each day, or a large chocolate chip cookie each day. That’s a pound every 10 ½ days. It doesn’t take much at that rate, does it? In a report in the June Issue of the Journal of Food Chemistry and Analysis, researchers at the U of C in Berkley, CA found that junk food, sweets, pop, and alcohol make up almost 25% of the US diet. Most of the other 75% is packaged or processed foods. That’s just insane! Add to that television, Internet, and video games as preferred pastimes. People have become much less active – which in turn slows your metabolism. People are eating more calories and burning less. They’re not eating more food, just more calories. In a lot of cases, people are eating less food. More about that later. See, it’s good for the economy when you spend more money overeating, and then you spend more money on dieting and weight loss products. According to obesity expert Dr. Steven Heymsfield, “There’s great profitability in making Americans overweight and also having them continually trying to lose weight.” The FDA is notorious for shoving stuff under the rug in favor of big business. If you think they’re protecting you, think again. Some of what I’ve read about how commercial interests affect the scientist’s ability to do their job is disheartening. I mean, we go through that kind of stuff on our jobs, but you would think you’d leave a scientist to do their work. Isn’t that what you hired them for? But it seems that the FDA is more interested in protecting the economic growth of certain industries than 10 they are in protecting your health. If they really wanted to protect your health they would do more to encourage use of supplements to prevent disease. Instead they discount inexpensive solutions to our health problems and encourage prescriptions instead. The Federal Trade Commission warns that consumers trying to lose weight spend billions of dollars on products and services that are ineffective and may even pose health dangers. Yet our store shelves are lined with all sorts of diet products containing sugars and chemicals that can kill us. But they’re more interested in shutting down a natural diet book author -Kevin Trudeau and destroying the books. How does that make you feel? Now add to that the emerging industry that caters to larger people: bigger beds, wider and stronger chairs, and more clothing options. Just the women’s plus-sized clothing industry is worth $23 Billion Dollars. And maybe you noticed that you’re wearing a smaller size lately? It’s not because you lost weight. The clothing industry has done a complete overhaul on sizing. Clothing fits normal body shapes better. But they also have made smaller sizes bigger to make people feel better and spend more money. I’m currently about 10 pounds heavier than I was when I graduated high school. Yet I’ve gone from a size 6 to a size 2! Oddly enough, my old size 6 clothes still fit me. What does it mean to you? Basically, if you’ve always been a size 12, yet you’ve put on 50 pounds, you’ll still be a size 12. You’ll feel better about yourself and buy more clothes. If you were to find out that you were really a size 16, you wouldn’t buy as much. It’s been proven. That’s why they do it. Then, you’ll be more likely to go out and grab a fast lunch. What the heck. You can’t be that bad, you’re still the same size. You’re being psychologically manipulated every day. Then, you won’t feel like doing anything because your body is busy trying to process the overload you just gave it, but you have to go grocery shopping. What will you buy? Packaged foods where you don’t have to do much. 11 Big business is flourishing. Farmers are losing their butts, but big business is booming. Who needs farmers when you can make fake food in the lab? Isn’t that a pleasant though? The food you’re eating is created by scientists mixing chemicals in beakers. Yummy. And it comes as no surprise that as other countries around the world adopt the American eating habits, their rate of disease is skyrocketing. I just read that the problems in India are growing faster than any other country. Jon Herring of Early to Rise had this to say, “Throughout India, people are turning away from their native diet of curried meat, legumes, and vegetables in favor of Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and soft drinks.” They actually have what they call ‘sugar hospitals’ dedicated to treating just diabetes. You’re being manipulated everyday to stay fat and sick for the sake of the economy, and this greed is spreading around the world. Angry yet? Just wait. Let’s talk about packaged foods. 12 The Price of Convenience -The dangers lurking in packaged foods – Read those labels! Let’s do a cabinet check. Go pull a packaged food out of your cabinet. Do you see any of these on the label? High fructose corn syrup Corn syrup Hydrogenated anything Trans fats Soy Take a look at your salad dressing. Chances are, one of the first 2 ingredients is corn syrup. It sure makes things taste good, doesn’t it? It’s also one of the major causes of type 2 diabetes. It skyrockets your blood sugar levels. And you’ll be horrified to see how many products contain corn syrup. Having a heart attack yet? Wait – all those hydrogenated oils – those are the artery clogging stuff. The stuff that leads to heart disease. They also affect your sex drive and performance. Okay, picture this – you come back to clean up the frying pan after dinner and the grease is this white gunky stuff. It does that inside your body too. That’s why you can’t move off the couch. Your body is on overload trying to deal with this gunk. And then we have deceptive packaging. In big bold print it says 0% Trans-Fats. So you think it’s healthier, right? It’s still loaded with saturated fats. And the low fat stuff? Yeah. Read how much sugar is in that! Something has to make it taste better. And all those preservatives and chemicals that you can’t pronounce? Those are the cancer causing agents. And soy? The staple in many vegetarian diets? You thought that was good for you, didn’t you? Oh no, no. The World Health Organization has issued a warning about the 13 high consumption of estrogen-like chemicals. These would include lignanes and isoflaaven found in soy products, and many other foods. Other sources of estrogen-like chemicals can be found in plastic packaging, and pesticides used to treat our fruits and vegetables. Our meats are injected with hormones. In other words, people are consuming a large amount of female hormones. It’s been blamed for the increase in early puberty in girls. It’s an issue that body builders have been aware of, but I doubt that the general public knows this. Why aren’t we seeing this in the headlines? Once they find out, we’ll start seeing silly slogans like – Real Men Don’t Eat Soy. Soy upsets hormonal balance, affects your thyroid, blocks absorption of calcium, and encourages prostate and breast cancer. Take those ‘tasty’ soy burgers and throw them right in the trash can. Go have a real burger! Eat lots of broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower to rapidly breakdown excess estrogens. Never, Never, Never microwave in plastic! No plastic in the microwave, ever. What you don’t know is killing you. How’s that for a balanced diet? A little of everything! A little diabetes, a little heart disease, a little cancer, and throw in some hormone imbalance for good measure. I was feeling pretty smug. As I went through my cabinet, it was pretty clean of these offenders… until…. I reached for the Raisin Bran Crunch. I mean, isn’t that supposed to be healthy? Even your easy healthy choices are not all that safe. Pre-cut fruits and vegetables are washed in a chlorine wash, and then treated with chemicals to keep them fresher longer. And then they’re wrapped or packaged in plastic. What’s a hungry person to do? It’s not my intention to be an extremist. It’s not realistic to think that we can eat all 100% natural food unless you were to raise everything yourself and never use any 14 plastic. I’m trying to remove all packaged food from my house, but let’s be real – we can’t do without all of it. But you can at least minimize your exposure to bad stuff. God made food perfect. Once man started adding to it trying to make it tastier and quicker, he messed it up. The more man-made stuff you can get out of your diet, the better. What about the meat controversy? All this stuff about red meat being bad for you? The more healthy fat there is in a meal, the lower its glycemic index. Interesting. Lowered insulin reduces the calories converted to fat and increases the burning of stored fat. So, it takes fat to burn fat. Healthy fats can be found in fish, beef, nuts, seeds, and olives. That also includes the oils made from them like olive oil and peanut oil. Commercial meats and fish raised on a diet of grains and soy are not as healthy. It’s not their natural diet, so they don’t grow correctly. The commerical industry is interested in getting them fat quickly and cheaply. That’s why you hear so much about buying “wild” salmon. The link to heart disease and red meat is highest in the U.S. where farmed animals are fed this unnatural diet. Not to mention the steroids, antibiotics and other stuff they are injecting in the cattle. No wonder it’s causing so many health problems in humans! You want to look for words like hormone free, grass fed, free range. You won’t find them at your regular grocery stores yet. You might be paying less at the grocery store, but you’re paying a lot more in health care costs. Think about how a steak used to taste, and how it tastes now. No comparison, right? We’ve seen more and more organic beef farms cropping up lately, including one owned by Bill Kurtis, former news anchorman. His ranch-Tallgrass Beef, sells to high profile restaurants such as Harry Caray’s. I personally feel that the move to natual grass fed beef will cut a lot of our current health problems. Dr. Al Sears, author of The Doctor’s Heart Cure, recommends eating only guaranteed wild seafood and certified grass fed beef. The only problem is that it’s really pricey. As demand increases, prices should drop some. Keep your fingers crossed! In the meantime, eat red meat only once or twice a week. Which is ok, 2 nights – beef, 2 nights – fish, 2 nights – poultry, 1 night – pizza. Sounds like a well rounded diet to me ;) 15 Speaking of organics, organic fruits and vegetables have more antioxidants. When chemical herbicides or pesticides are added to crops, they reduce the plants natural ability to fight off pests, which comes from… antioxidants. You would think that these chemicals would help to make the plants stronger, but the opposite is true. When disease resitance is being done for them, they just get lazy and don’t produce the anti-oxidants they would have to if they had to survive on their own. Organic is a better choice, but a little more expensive. Organic can have up to 50% more antioxiddants And if all that weren’t enough, the fruits and vegetables you buy in the store don’t contain as many nutrients as they used to. The land has been over farmed and nutrients have been depleted from the soil. Even so, these are still better than the few or none you’re eating now. Growing your own garden, buying at farmer’s markets, and buying organic (certified grass fed, free range, etc.) meats as much as you can afford is the way to go. Every little bit helps. But don’t get tricked into thinking that grocery store fruits, vegetables and meats are not safe to eat. They are not as safe, but they still provide you with vital nutrients that your body needs to fight off disease. And they’re much safer than the packaged chemically laced foods. Heck, if my grandfather saw wild berries growing by the side of the road, he’s stop the car and we’d get out and pick some berries to go on our ice cream that night. We always had fish in the freezer that he caught, cleaned, filleted and froze. He didn’t have to. We had grocery stores. I don’t think he did it because it was healthier for you. He did it because it tastes better. Learn to cook easy meals using fresh ingredients. It only takes a few minutes longer and the taste is so much better. You’ll actually enjoy eating more, be healthier, have more energy, and weigh less. When you’re using prepared foods or mixes, be sure to read the labels. My grandparents had it right. It’s healthier to have a bowl of unsweetened cereal and dump sugar on it than it is to buy sweetened cereals. Being southerners, they felt you could never eat too much sugar. But it had to be the real stuff. 16 Real butter is better than margarine. OK, real anything is better than the man-made fake stuff. Homemade is always best. Cooking really is a labor of love. If you love yourself and your family, make real food. I know, you think you don’t have time. We’ll talk about that in a later chapter. 17 Facing the Truth About Obesity I’m not going to mince words, or tell you “it’s ok”, because it’s not. Your health and your quality of life is too important for all that make you feel good stuff. I’m going to tell you the truth, and it may hurt your feelings. But I would rather hurt your feelings and have you alive to tell about it. OK, now that I have that off my chest! I read an article recently that stated that if you asked an obese person if they thought they were obese, the majority would say no. The author felt there was a bit of denial going on. Maybe so, but we have been so brainwashed into accepting so many things that would not have been acceptable in the past. Heck, these days gluttony is encouraged so big business can make a buck. Just 10 extra calories a day can add a pound a year without you even noticing. Then the weight loss industry can make a few bucks. Then manufacturers can make a few bucks making bigger clothing, chairs, beds, and airplane seats. Now they’re worried about all of the people who can’t fit into x-ray or MRI equipment. And let’s not forget the extra health care costs that are ballooning out of control. Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher. BMI is equal to your weight in pounds divided by your height in inches squared and then multiplied by 703. CDC has a calculator for BMI at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calcbmmihtm Using BMI as the standard measurement Almost 65% of the U.S. population is overweight. Obesity in the US is hovering at about 23% of the population. In 1990 that figure was just under 12%. BUT, BMI can be misleading if you’re muscular. It does not account for the difference in bulk between muscle and fat. 18 According to the United Health Foundation –  The direct and indirect costs of obesity in the United States total $117 billion.  Obesity costs our economy more than 39 million lost work days each year.  Three-fourths of the $1.4 trillion the United States spends on health care is to treat chronic illnesses, many of which are tied to obesity and overweight. All this psycho mumbo jumbo about making people feel good about themselves and all this acceptance is just a way of turning our heads and ignoring the problem. I’m sorry, if someone is severely overweight, they should not feel comfortable in their body. It’s not good for you. It affects your heart, your joints, your eyesight, makes you prone to type 2 diabetes, makes it hard to breath, hard to walk, hard to buy clothes… You’re lining the pockets of people who care nothing about you, or your health, or your quality of life. Don’t you think it’s time to put a stop to it? The truth of the matter is, if you eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise, you can lose up to 120 pounds in a year. And if you’re doing it naturally, your body will naturally level off at the right weight. Your body is an incredible machine. And with every pound you lose, you decrease your risk of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and for women – osteoporosis and breast cancer. You don’t have to starve. Most likely, you’ll need to eat more – but that’s explained later. You don’t have to use patches or pills. You don’t have to eat yucky tasting food. That’s all hog wash fed to you by people looking to get you hooked as a long time customer. Right now, a whole new world of food and flavors is opening up to you. One you step through, you will never go back. No more feeding at the bottom of the food chain for you! OK? Once you start eating healthier, you’ll be amazed at how hard it is to eat more than 1500 calories in a day. It takes a whole lot of healthy food to add up to those kinds of calories. You might feel like you’re always eating – and still losing weight! 19 OK, so you’re already thin. You think that lets you off the hook? No Way! It appears to me that the current trend of research will uncover a nutritional deficiency cause for every disease know to man. There are now nutritional deficiencies linked to M.S., Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, heart attacks, stroke, clogged arteries, cancers, type 2 diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, arthritis, asthma, migraines, PMS, and sexual dysfunction. How many times have you heard the story about someone who has never drank, never smoked, worked out all the time, and suddenly died of a heart attack? Almost all of us are malnourished. That’s a sad statement in this day and age, don’t you think? I recently had a bad bout of sinus and allergy problems. I commented to a friend that my diet hadn’t been as good as it should have been, and now I was paying for it. Her eyes opened wide and she exclaimed, “Are you kidding me? Is that why my allergies haven’t been as bad this year?” Now I had been on her case about eating right, taking vitamins and all that. She had a number of ailments and was often sick, and she’s young! She would proudly announce to me how much fruit she had eaten, or tell me about a dish she had made, or tell me that she had remembered to take her vitamins. And sure enough, she was getting sick less and less often and she was losing weight. I had a co-worker once who’s daughter was missing a terrible amount of school her junior year. I told her to make sure her daughter took a good multi-vitamin and an extra vitamin C every day. That same girl sailed through senior year without one sick day. Even if you’re thin, you may have noticed that you just don’t have as much energy. Or maybe you have trouble concentrating, or remembering things. Maybe your skin is 20 a lot drier. Maybe you’re experiencing things that you just shrug off as ‘getting older.” Your diet may be killing you too. People who eat less than 2.4 grams of potassium a day have a 50% higher risk of stroke. From 1990 to 2001, diabetes rose 65%. Researchers predict that it will double by the year 2030, to a projected staggering figure of 366 million. Carpal tunnel may be linked to a vitamin B-6 deficiency. MS is being linked to a Vitamin D deficiency. The disease is more prevalent in the northern hemisphere where people don’t get enough sun. Vitamin D deficiency is also linked to more bone fractures in women, even though they get enough calcium. Memory problems, Alzheimer’s, A.D.D., A.D.H.D., and asthma are being linked to a deficiency in Omega-3 fatty acids. Magnesium deficiency is linked to macular degeneration, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, migraines, and muscle cramps. Low levels of magnesium causes hearts to beat irregularly; arteries to stiffen, constrict and clog; blood pressure rises; blood tends to clot; muscles spasm; insulin grows weaker and blood sugar jumps; bones lose strength; and you feel more pain. And Men – You probably don’t need Viagra. You need a healthy diet. Men who exercise more and maintain a healthy weight have improved blood circulation and scored better on erectile function tests according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Numerous recent studies show that losing 10 pounds and exercising 30 minutes a day 3 times a week cuts your risk of clogged arteries, heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. It doesn’t take much to turn the tide. That’s the really good news! You’ll find more information on diet and disease in the nutrition guides. 21 Poor Lifestyle Or Disease of Affulence? Greg Critser, author of “Fatland, How American Became the Fattest People in the World” blames the over abundance of cheap fast foods with giant portions, loaded with fat, salt and sugar. He also adds that the government has not been willing to impose restrictions on fast food companies, and at the same time has cut funding to schools for PE and exercise. He also points out that the rich are typically not obese. On the other hand, another study found that Americans become healthier during economic downturns. They smoke less, lose weight, and get more physical exercise. So, maybe being broke is good for us? The China Study found the lifestyle diseases are more prevalent in affluent areas where people tend to eat more meat and dairy and less fruits and vegetables. They found that people who ate more than 6 ounces a day of meat were more prone to cancers, heart disease, and diabetes. But when people ate 6 ounces or less, there was no increase in these diseases. The truth is, wherever the American way of eating has spread, you will find more disease. Our bodies were not meant to eat foods full of chemicals. All of the convenience foods are killing people. Zig Ziglar attributes his immense energy levels to a sensible eating plan in addition to his overwhelming positive personality. He’s over 80 years old and still speaking and writing and traveling and going strong. He’s always preached diet and health as part of his success training. It takes a lot of energy to be successful. It’s that attitude that will keep you healthy and full of energy longer. No matter what the commercial influences, no matter what the politics, what it really boils down to is-it’s your choice. No one is making you eat unhealthy food. No one is making you overeat. No one is banishing you to the couch in front of the TV with a bag of potato chips and ordering you to eat the whole bag, or else! When you choose poor eating habits, you choose-Health problems 22 Joint problems Lowered self esteem Prejudice Financial strain Loss of energy Loss of flexibility Poor clothing options Kids with weight problems Kids with social problems Guilt A lighter wallet A destructive legacy Most of our eating habits were learned during our early years. Our parents supplied our beliefs about food. Depression era parents and grandparents who remember standing in bread lines and having food rationed always warned us to always clean our plates and not waste food. But now our plates are a lot fuller than they were then. Yet we still hold on to that dire warning. I remember my mother telling me to eat up because there were people starving in China. I told her to send my food there. I mean, how ridiculous is that statement? I should stuff myself because someone else is starving? It’s another one of those servants that needs to be fired. It no longer serves us well. It’s time to move forward to a new way of eating and appreciating food. We are going to give you a tune up. Get that engine, and the control center humming like the fine machinery it is. Your body needs all sorts of different fuels and fluids. It’s a concept that used to be known as a balanced diet. Now, fads rule the media. Low fat, low carb, high carb, high protein, bla, bla, bla. If you eat a balanced diet, you will never have to worry about any of that bull ever again. Plus, a balanced diet is infinitely more interesting. Many more foods, flavors, and textures to savor. Close your eyes and imagine… 23 ….The cool sweet taste of a strawberry. ….The way a cherry tomato squirts in your mouth. ….The warm burn in your mouth when you eat Mexican foods. ….The mingling of flavors and textures in a plate of spaghetti. The smell that greets you when you lift the cover off the pan. Smells sooo good! ….The smell of marinated chicken on the grill that has the whole neighborhood drooling. ….The pleasure you feel when you family is drawn to the kitchen, following the wafting smells of great food that’s almost ready. Picture it. Does that Quarter Pounder awaken your senses? Or is it more like a glob of juicy fat nestled in-between two pieces of tasteless cardboard? Imagine that pulsating through your veins. Makes you feel goooood, doesn’t it? Ick. Have you ever done that? Pictured what the food is doing inside you after you’ve eaten it? Imagine how the fat coagulates inside you. Now enters our hero -broccoli -sending off sparks of energy as it heads off to fight cancer cells sparking with electric energy and blowing those coagulated globs flying while it’s on it’s way to it’s ultimate mission. Ok, silly – I know. But some foods are packed with power that keep you motivated and fully of energy and life. Others are like the useless boyfriend plopped on the couch with a beer -that drains you of all your energy. Remember him? Sorry guys, it could have been a useless girlfriend. Either way, I think we’ve all had that experience! You get the idea-they do nothing for you other than drain you. There are foods that contribute to the formation of disease, and those that help prevent, and sometimes even reverse disease. The funny thing is, the food that contributes to disease doesn’t taste very good. We’ve accepted these nasty tasting foods in the name of convenience, and now we’re paying the price. 24 When you read your copy of High Energy Eating, you’ll discover the multitudes of benefits hidden in natural foods. Hundreds of nutrients are packed into everyday foods. These are the foods that help prevent disease, and according to many studies, these foods may even be able to reverse the damage. And they taste so much better. And another funny thing – you can cook a fresh natural healthy meal in about the same time it takes to make packaged food, or stop off and pick up fast food. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that “Fast” foods didn’t really save any time. Isn’t that infuriating? All this time you’ve been misled, thinking you’re saving time, eating this nasty junk – when you could have been eating real food that tastes good! It’s time to become a food snob, don’t you think? If not – read on. You might just change your mind. 25 How is the food you eat poisoning you? Lets start with all of the fake foods we eat. If you took the time to read labels, you’ll found that a lot of the prepared foods we eat contain corn syrup, or high fructose corn syrup. It’s what makes these foods taste better. It’s also the number one contributor to the Type II diabetes epidemic. It puts your body on emergency sugar overload. You find these corn syrups in salad dressings, juices, cereals, cakes, cookies, and all kinds of things that are sweet. A new cake product on the market has corn syrup listed 3 times on the label! And it still doesn’t taste that good. Go figure. As you exposed your body to more and more of these sugar spiking episodes, it starts to break down. Have you ever worked for a company where they continued to pile on more and more work until you got to the point where not only can you not handle the new tasks, but you start to make more mistakes doing the old tasks that you used to be good at? You just get overloaded to the point where you can’t perform anymore. The same thing happens within your body. The first thing that happens is the extra sugars that can’t be processed and taken out of your body are deposited in fat cells. Yeah, your fat cells get fatter. As your body starts to break down from the overload – type II diabetes can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, nervous system problems, blindness, gum disease, amputation, and death. Besides cutting down on sugars, there are foods that help control sugar spikes. Refer to the food guides in your copy of High Energy Eating. What about diet drinks and stuff? If you mean artificial sweeteners – you already know the answer, don’t you? They are chemicals. Your body is not meant to eat man made chemicals. There’s a whole political story behind the approval of Aspartame. It’s a highly dangerous chemical that messes with your body at the cellular level. 26 I would strongly suggested that you ban all artificial sweeteners from your diet and your home. I don’t care if they say they are safe today. Chemicals are not safe. Period. “Beyond a show of a doubt, Aspartame triggers brain tumors…” Dr. M. Adrian Gross, former senior FDA toxicologist as quoted in “The Douglas Report”. “The Douglas Report” also went on to say that the FDA has compile a list of 92 symptoms linked to aspartame. Stevia is a new natural sweetener on the market. And there are a couple of new natural sweeteners on the market as well – Xylitol, which is supposed to be safe and tastes like sugar, but gives some people diarrhea, and Smart Sweet (erythritol) which is also supposed to be safe and taste good, without the unpleasant side effect. The FDA is banning Stevia, even though it is being used around the world, and is ordering cookbooks using the sweetener destroyed. Great controversy going on between political ties and nutritional advocates. I haven’t read anything that would give us a clue about exactly what the FDA’s beef is with Stevia is other than it’s cheap because it comes from a natural source and cannot be patented. That means “Big Pharma” can’t make a ton of money on it. But they’re finding a way around this too. “Big Pharma” has found a way to isolate and lab create a substance in red yeast rice. Now the FDA is banning some commercial red yeast rice because it contains something that they now list as a drug and therefore regulate – even though it’s always had this substance in it naturally and people have benefited from it for years and years. This lunacy is enough to make your head spin. Here’s an article that describes how ridiculous it has gotten. The FDA has become quite the laughing stock. Unfortunately they control the safety of our food and drug supply. You have to look out for yourself. Instead of concerning yourself with the safety of artificial sweeteners, how about cutting out pop all together, cutting down on products with corn syrup, eating more fruits and vegetables, and using real sugar instead? That’s my choice anyway. 27 Another yummy ingredient – Trans fats. Call them fake fats, factory fats, laboratory fats, Franken-fats, whatever you like. They are man made. They are thicker and harder than saturated fats and cause clogging arteries much quicker. Trans fats and saturated fats both raise cholesterol, but trans fats also decrease your LDL, or good cholesterol. The issue is so dangerous to our health that trans fats are being banned. Avoid anything with the word ‘Hydrogenated” on the label. Saturated fats, while not as lethal as trans fats still clog arteries and raise cholesterol. Limit your intake of saturated fats. These fats are found in butter, whole milk, cream, cheese, and beef. But your body does need Good fats. Some fat is needed to process certain nutrients that help keep every part of your body in good working order. You may have heard these fats called essential fatty acids. They are found in fish, especially salmon and tuna, and in nuts, such as walnuts and almonds, and olive oil. For more information on foods containing healthy fats, refer to the food guides in your copy of High Energy Eating. Other additives – You’ve heard of people getting sick from red die. You may have heard that you should restrict yellow die in the diets of children with ADHD. Then there’s all those things on the labels that we can’t pronounce, and certainly don’t know what they are for the most part. Short of getting our medical degrees, why not be safer and just eat a balanced diet of fresh and natural foods? Still need more convincing? How about the additives found in foods from China? Embalming fluid? Anti freeze? There was an article recently from the Associated Press written by a reporter who had gone to China to find illegal food making operations. She found a noodle making operation. She described workers sitting on stools, dripping sweat, stuffing noodles from wash tubs into bags on the floor, with a mangy dog walking around, and flies all around. I was horrified to learn that foods we buy from major companies known as everyday household names -import foods or ingredients. The label will say distributed by… It 28 does not give the country of origin. After the news outbreaks about food from China, I could assume that stuff you buy at the dollar type stores with company names you’ve never heard of might not be something I want to feed my kid. But it turns out that even company names that you’ve grown to trust are suspect too. And just because it’s a U.S. company doesn’t mean that’s where it was made. Only one can in my cupboard said made in the U.S.A. The others said distributed by … You have no way of knowing where it came from. So while I was looking for more information on this, I was reading about genetically modified foods not approved for human consumption, being used by major companies. As we’ve already seen, approved foods are not necessarily safe either –it doesn’t give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, does it? Let’s take a look at some of the havoc these foods are causing in your body in really simple terms-We already talked about Type II diabetes – but just to review – Body is overloaded with sugar that it can’t keep up with. Excess sugar that isn’t getting converted into energy or carried out of the body is being deposited in your fat cells. As your organs try to fend off all this excess sugar that isn’t being processed correctly, they get tired and break down. The most common side diseases of Type II Diabetes is weight gain, obesity, high blood pressure, nerve damage, kidney damage, vision loss or blindness, heart disease, amputation, death. Heart Disease – A poor diet high in fats and cholesterol, and low in the nutrients needed to combat and rid your body of the excess -leads to build up in the arteries. This build up is much like the hardened grease left in your frying pan after dinner. As the openings of the arteries get thinner, the heart has to work harder to push the blood through. Added stress also makes the heart work harder. The kidneys are called on to produce more and more chemicals to adjust blood pressure. You didn’t know that kidneys also control blood pressure, did you? Neither did I until a neighbor had complete kidney failure. Perfectly healthy, ate well, exercised, doesn’t drink or smoke. But he has a high pressure job. 29 The constant stress which causes a rise in your blood pressure, can cause your kidneys to break down. Or it can cause a piece of plaque to break away even in someone who has a minimal build up of plaque in the arteries. That’s how you hear of perfectly healthy people having heart attacks. But in the meantime, blood and oxygen may be diverted from other areas of the body to make sure that your vital body functions can be maintained. You may experience vision loss, gum disease, memory loss, and fatigue. Exercise can help keep the heart muscle stronger and better able to withstand the demand. But if someone who doesn’t exercise is suddenly called on to do something strenuous, like shovel snow, or play a baseball game, or even withstand a highly stressful situation, the heart goes into overdrive trying to push blood and oxygen where it’s needed, through veins and arteries too small to get the blood through. Often time in these cases, a piece of plaque will break off. The body tries to repair the hole, making a clot which blocks the artery totally. At this point, you are dying. You experience excessive pain as the heart tries to push past the block. Your organs are starting to shut down from the lack of blood and oxygen. Gruesome picture, isn’t it? It is vitally important to make sure that you are getting the nutrients and exercise your body needs to prevent these sorts of episodes. Cellular Damage There is more and more evidence that disease like Alzheimer’s, MS, Parkinson’s, Macular Degeneration and many other so called age related diseases are actually caused by a nutritional deficiency that actually cause changes in your cellular structure. The culprits that I’ve seen mentioned the most often are B Vitamins, Vitamin D, magnesium, and niacin. A big part of this problem is that the fields have been over-farmed and the crops do not have as many nutrients as they used to. In addition, all of the pesticides used to protect the plants from bugs and disease are causing plants to become lazy. They no 30 longer need to produce the nutrients to protect themselves since they are being protected artificially. Isn’t that so weird? And on top of that, we’re ingesting the pesticides that we’re not meant to eat. That’s why the organic market is growing like crazy. Another problem is sunscreen. What a catch 22 that is. We need the sunlight for our bodies to produce vitamin D. But if we get too much sun, we have a risk of skin cancer. The most common sense recommendations that I’ve seen are to get 15 minutes of unprotected sunlight a day. The Ultimate in Cellular Damage – Cancer There are a bajillion things that cause cancer that you are exposed to every single day. You eat, drink, breath, or otherwise come in contact with hundreds of things that given the right conditions, can turn into cancer. The important part of that statement is -given the right conditions. Take for example a recent headline -HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM IN DRINKING WATER CAUSES CANCER IN LAB ANIMALS Pretty scary stuff, right? Calm down. Buried deep within the press release was this sentence -"The lowest doses given to the animals in the study were ten times higher than what humans could consume from the most highly contaminated water sources identified in California." 10 times more than a human could consume. Of course they're going to get sick. So you'd better be careful the next time you are about to drink 80 glasses of the most polluted water in California ;-) Lets take a realistic view of the world of cancer. Now, I'm no doctor, but it certainly seems to me that there are 2 things happening. Problem #1-We are exposed to more pollutants in the air and water. 31 We are exposed to unnatural chemicals in increasing amounts in all of the packaged foods we eat-and more are being found in the natural food too. Our crops are sprayed with pesticides and chemicals to make them grow faster, bigger and stay looking fresh longer. Our protein supplies are being injected with hormones and antibiotics, and fed an unnatural diet. Our plastics that wrap our food release a chemical that is like female estrogen. It’s the same chemical that is found in soy products. It’s also in our meat supply. It’s serious enough that the World Health Organization released a warning that we are all being over-exposed to female estrogen. We can’t cook in our non stick pans or on our grills outdoors without being exposed to carcinogens. Problem #2 -Because of a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, your body is weaker and unable to fight off all this bombardment because you are undernourished. So we have more offense, but your defense is on the injured list. Doesn't make for a very good game, does it? Improving your defense has to be your number one priority. You have to do your best to make sure you are getting all of the nutrients you need, get enough sleep, and get a little exercise every day. You can't do that sitting on the couch eating fast food. Besides, I can't find too much that's more boring than that. Terrible food, and terrible TV. What a life. On the other hand, healthy eating may seem overwhelming to you. It's hard to plan 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables, 6 oz. of free range red meat twice a week, at least 2 servings of fish, and so on. At least, it's hard in the beginning when you're used to hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. When you continually feed your body foreign chemicals and you don't give it the 32 foods it needs to fight off the effects, and you don't get at least a little exercise to keep your body strong, and you don't get the sleep you need for your body to repair, you are creating the right conditions for serious disease. Just like those lab rats -your body can only take so much. And you can ask anyone who knows me how upset I get when I see kids who have all sorts of problems that could be solved just by feeding them a balanced diet. 33 A Wake-Up Call According to the latest report by the Center for Disease Control – 20.8 MILLION Americans have Type II Diabetes, 7% of the population. According to the American Heart Association’s latest report – -An estimated 700,000 Americans will have their first heart attack this year. -An estimated 500,000 will have a recurrent heart attack. -The lifetime risk of developing Chronic Heart Disease after age 40 years is 49% for men and 32% for women. Here’s a really scary one from the American Cancer Society – 1,444,920 new cases of cancer are expected in 2007 – NOT including over one million new cases of skin cancer expected to be diagnosed in 2007. It is expected that over 1,500 people will die everyday from cancer. Everyone seems to think that the rise in American life expectancy to almost 78 years old was reason to celebrate. According to the American Heart Association, it should be 85.  Factors associated with survival to age 85 included female sex, lower systolic BP, lower total cholesterol, better glucose tolerance, absence of current smoking, and higher level of education attained. Factors associated with survival to age 85 free of MI, unstable angina, HF, stroke, dementia, and cancer were nearly identical. -When adverse levels of 4 of these factors were present in middle age, fewer than 5% of men and approximately 15% of women survived to age 85. The same reports that were the cause of celebration also stated that 40 countries have longer life expectancies than the U.S. So we celebrate a .2 increase in life expectancy, but ignore the fact that we sure could be doing a lot better. According to the Center for Disease Control, Only one in seven people in the United States eats enough fruits and vegetables and gets enough exercise. The CDC assessed the diet and exercise habits of 356,112 people with a series of questions. They wanted to find out how many people follow the government's recommendations to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and to 34 engage in moderately intense exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, or vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Moderately intense exercise is defined as activity that causes small increases in breathing or heart rate --such as bicycling, gardening, brisk walking or vacuuming. Vigorous exercise is any activity that causes a large increase in breathing or heart rate --including aerobics, running or heavy yard work. And according to the 2007 Report From the American Heart Association  In respondents ages 18 to 74 years, data from the 2000 BRFSS (CDC) showed the prevalence of healthy lifestyle characteristics was as follows: no smoking, 76.0%; healthy weight, 40.1%; consumption of 5 fruits and vegetables per day, 23.3%; and regular physical activity, 22.2%. The overall prevalence of the healthy lifestyle indicator (i.e., having all 4 healthy lifestyle characteristics) was only 3%, with little variation among subgroups. Is it any wonder why our country is so sick? But you’re not going to be part of that number anymore, are you? Here’s the good news –  A study of 84 129 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study identified 5 healthy lifestyle factors, including absence of current smoking, drinking glass or more of wine per day (or equivalent alcohol consumption), hour or more per day of moderate or vigorous physical activity, BMI <25 kg/m2, and dietary score in the top 40% (including diets with lower amounts of trans fats, lower glycemic load, higher cereal fiber, higher marine omega-3 fatty acids, higher folate, and higher polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio). When 3 of the 5 healthy lifestyle factors were present, risk for CHD over 14 years was reduced by 57%; when 4 were present, risk was reduced by 66%; and when all 5 factors were present, risk was reduced by 83%.  Among individuals ages 70 to 90 years, adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet and greater physical activity are associated with 65% to 73% lower rates of all-cause mortality, as well as mortality due to CHD, CVD, and cancer.  Seventeen-year mortality data from the NHANES II Mortality Follow-Up Study indicate that the risk for fatal CHD was 51% lower for men and 71% lower for women with none of 3 major risk factors (hypertension, current smoking, and 35 elevated total cholesterol 240 mg/dL) compared with those with 1 or more risk factors. Had all 3 major risk factors not occurred, it is estimated that 64% of all CHD deaths among women and 45% of CHD deaths in men could have been avoided.  Investigators from the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry have also observed that risk factor burden in middle age is associated with better quality of life at follow-up in older age (about 25 years later) and lower average annual Medicare costs at older ages. -A greater number of risk factors in middle age is associated with lower scores at older ages on assessment of social functioning, mental health, walking, and health perception in women, with similar findings in men. -Similarly, a greater number of risk factors in middle age is associated with higher average annual CVD-related and total Medicare costs (once Medicare eligibility is attained). From the 2007 Report From the American Heart Association In other words, if you start taking better care of yourself in middle age, you’ll be healthier in your old age. That’s good news, isn’t it? It’s never too late. And from the American Cancer Society – All cancers from smoking and heavy alcohol use could be prevented. 1/3 of the cancers are related to being overweight, obesity, inactivity, and poor nutrition, and could be prevented. Most cancers caused by infections could be prevented by lifestyle changes, vaccines, or antibodies. Skin cancer could be prevented by protecting yourself from overexposure to sun’s rays. Don't wait another day. Start turning it around now. 36 Cultural Poisoning -Emotionally Empty Meals People have also lost the ability to enjoy dinnertime. That 20 minutes you took getting fast food could have been spent-Making a dinner with your family. Teaching your kids how to cook. Teaching your kids about healthy eating. How to make a radish rose, just because. What spices go on what foods. Experimenting with different flavors. Just talking and hanging around in the kitchen. With everyone pitching in and talking amidst the sounds of clanging of pots and dishes. Smelling the food that almost ready in anticipation of how good it will be. Lingering around the table. Building strong family bonds. Cooking with your kids not only shows them how to cook and helps them develop a healthy eating lifestyle that will help keep them healthy for life, but also gives you the opportunity to teach them math, history, cultures, and family tradition. I often hosted many of my daughter’s friends at dinner. We always had to have extra food on hand because there was always going to be someone extra at the table. Those kids would sit around that table talking and laughing and eating as long as you would let them. It’s a luxury many of them did not get at home. I think that’s a sad statement. If you have teens, the dinner ritual is really -really important. It’s a time to relax and connect. Families who do this are stronger. So many problems could be avoided if we just take some time to connect with our kids. A recent study from Columbia University’s Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that teens who eat dinner with their families 6 or 7 nights a week are about half as likely to abuse drugs or alcohol or smoke. I always complained that my father was the slowest eater on the planet. He’s never been heavy. Ahhh, but he has now lost his title to my daughter. We often sit at the table for an hour, eating and talking. When we have people over for dinner, it’s not 37 unusual to sit around the table for hours. I even bought upholstered dining chairs because we spend so much time at the table. You would think we would weight a ton, right? I’m a size 2 (by today’s sizing – used to be a 6). She’s a size 5. It’s about the relationship you have with food. And, that is what you pass on to your kids. What kind of legacy are you leaving? Family mealtimes have been an important part of history and culture. Studies show that the simple act of having family mealtimes – at the dinner table, help literacy, nutrition, obesity, help reduce behavioral problems, and gives you the chance to “model, coach, monitor and influence children’s behavior.” If you would like to read more on this important subject, go to the library and check out “Family Mealtime as a Context of Development and Socialization.” Some cultures still practice the old style of eating. Eating a large lunch and taking your time – eating slowly and enjoying conversation, followed by a siesta. What’s dinner time for us would be a snack time to them. Then they eat a light supper later at night. This style of living has never fit into the American schedule. They eat 5 times a day, and sleep 2 times a day. While we can’t do that – we can make sure to eat 5 times a day (2 times are snacks). We can take our time and enjoy a good dinner – and get in some physical activity after dinner. And we can make sure to get a reasonable amount of sleep every night. It’s a lifestyle choice. Besides, do you really enjoy bad food? Wouldn't it have been much more enjoyable, and relaxing to have delicious smells and tastes? How about marinated chicken and grilled vegetables? Juicy fresh tomatoes? Followed by some cool sweet watermelon? Or tart cherries? Imagine the smells drifting through the air while you sit and relax for a few minutes. Your mouth watering in anticipation. Your family actually wanting to sit down and eat dinner together. Isn't that a lot more fun? Who knows, after a little relaxing and some good food, you all might decide to go bowling or something! 38 What a difference a month makes It is so easy to just grab fast burgers, pizza, and potato chips. And so ungratifying. There was a spoof movie out called “Super Size Me”. The writer went on a diet of McDonalds for 30 days. In that time, he gained 25 pounds, had headaches, and lost most of his energy. Just one month. Are you feeling a lot like that yourself? My daughter went to stay at her dad’s house for 3 weeks last summer. She gained 14 pounds. Just 3 weeks. She lost it promptly upon returning home. It doesn’t take much to change things one-way or the other. Now imagine if you practiced eating healthy for one month. What do you think the results would be? Here’s just a few things that will happen-You will have more energy. Your skin will look better. You will lose some weight. You will think more clearly. Just one month. And it doesn’t require dieting, starvation, or depriving yourself. Just eat smarter. And it doesn’t have to take a lot of time and effort to do it. Having a love affair with food is not about consuming as much as humanly possible. It’s about the true enjoyment of what you’re eating, and feeling good after you’ve eaten it. Energized and alive. Relishing the whole experience. Not bloated and lazy and bored with the whole thing. Some of you never experienced a family where dinner was a big ordeal. Everyone hanging around the kitchen, the sounds, the smells, laughter, and conversations – just a heart-warming good time of day. We really need to return to that. Its good for the body, mind and soul. 39 Try this experiment to really see what you’re missing In today’s busy world, stopping off to grab a fast food dinner on the way home has become so much the norm. But think about it, what are you really saving? You’re sitting in the car that you’ve already been in far too long, waiting in line. When you finally do get home, your drop the lukewarm greasy bags on the table and everyone digs in. Try this experiment. One night, serve your family fast food. The next night, serve them a real dinner. Have you ever stopped to notice how people eat fast food? Observe how they devour it. It’s just a job to get done. It’s time to eat, so you eat. If you let it get cold, it tastes like cardboard. Not that anyone really tastes it much anyway – they eat it so fast. But how do people eat when a real dinner is put in front of them? Notice how much slower everyone eats. You actually take time to taste the food. You talk. It’s just a naturally slower pace. Think about what you’re missing. There is a whole other culture of eating that we are losing. The true enjoyment of food and flavor. The social interaction of eating. The love and creativeness that goes into preparing delicious meals. The fun of creating together. We are being shortchanged! Whoever decided that we should be so busy running and so tired that we can’t enjoy a good meal? Cooking is making a comeback, and it’s about time! People are finding that it actually is relaxing. Imagine that? Aim for family dinners 5 nights a week. Try it for a month. See if it doesn’t make a difference not only in weight, but also in energy levels and family relationships. 40 Running on Empty-Since the fast food is mostly empty calories, meaning it doesn’t provide your body with any nutrients, you’re still hungry. Not hungry per se, but you feel like you want something else. You’re not satisfied. That’s your body telling you it needs something else. The problem is, the something else that people usually grab for is sweets. That’s not what your body is wanting. It will keep telling you it is missing something until you give it what it needs. If you keep piling on the empty calories with no nutritional value, your body will keep coming back to you saying, “Nope, that didn’t do it, try again.” You could eat 5,000 calories and still not be satisfied. Have you ever had a day like that? You eat and eat and eat, but you’re still hungry? Sometimes all it takes is a glass of water to turn it off. Isn’t that funny? All that eating when in reality you were only thirsty? When you’re having a day like that, try a glass of water first. If that doesn’t work, try fruit, or vegetables, or nuts, or cheese, or yogurt, or baked crackers, or baked tortilla chips and salsa, instead of reaching for the potato chips or sweets. If we really want to halt obesity and disease, we have to teach our kids to make healthy choices. Are you giving them healthy food options? Are you a good example? 41 If you put it there-they will eat it. One other surprise? If you put bowls of cut up raw vegetables on the table, they will get eaten. Even in the afternoon I would sometimes put a bowl of cut up broccoli and carrots on the table, without comment. They ate it all. Cherry tomatoes were another snacking favorite. Try it. You’ll be surprised. Don’t forget the dressing for dipping! But the downside of “If you put it there-they will eat it” is, if you put it there, they will eat it. If it’s a plate of cupcakes or cookies, those will get eaten even faster. If you load the plates with food, people will naturally try to eat it to be polite. It has been drilled into our heads that to leave food on your plate is wasteful. So you feel guilty when you scrape those last few bites into the garbage. You have to change your mind. Instead of feeling guilty, congratulate yourself for having the common sense to stop eating when you have had enough -for not being a glutton. And if you are the one doing the serving, put smaller portions on the plate. They can always have more if they’re still hungry. Don’t make people feel like they “have to” overeat. Remember that it only takes a few hundred calories a day to make a difference. Every bit that you don’t eat is a victory. 42 What if the kids are grown? A lot of people, ok, most people – start to gain weight around 40. It’s always been attributed to age. But at this point, you’re no longer chasing the kids around. You’re not worried about your kids getting a balanced diet. So a lot of people just tend to get lazy and not care much about what they eat. We spend all of those years taking care of everyone else – and then when we can finally enjoy life and do things we weren’t able to do before, we let ourselves go to pot. What sense does that make? I know a lot of people have a TV in the kitchen, and it sort of takes the place of eating with someone. Here’s some tips to make sure that doesn’t add on the pounds-Place the portions on your plate and take only the plate to the table. When you’re done, get up and clean up the kitchen. Instead of heading to the living room to watch more TV, spend time with those hobbies that you didn’t have time for when you were raising your kids! Painting, gardening, beadwork, sewing, woodworking, whatever you wanted to putter with and didn’t have time for. 43 Thinking like a thin person Thin people stay thin because without thinking, when we gain a few pounds, a red flag goes up and we cut back until our weight returns to normal. We are aware of our bodies. In a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in June 2004, they found that thin teens naturally cut back on their calorie intake for a period after eating fast foods, where their heavier peers continued to eat at the same level. Researchers also believe that we are born with a natural internal calorie gauge. They are trying to figure out just what it is that makes people lose the natural ability to maintain their calorie intake at a normal level. C’mon guys -It’s not rocket science. It’s just bad habits. Just open up your copy of the quick start guide that you get with High Energy Eating and start turning it around right now. Thin people are usually more active than the average person. They walk more, take the stairs, park further, coach soccer or little league, keep the house clean, and have a garden, ……..they are always moving. Always doing something. Lifestyle movements add up quickly. Find opportunities to move. Thin people don’t live to eat, they eat to live. They eat foods that give them energy and take away the hungry feeling so they can go do something. Sometimes they’re so involved in something -they forget to eat. If you put something in front of a thin person that doesn’t taste all that good, a thin person most likely won’t eat much of it. It’s really hard, if not impossible, to get a thin person to eat something they don’t want. (On the other hand, put something really yummy in front of them and they’ll make it disappear right before your eyes.) Thin people usually don’t eat because they’re bored. If they’re bored, they find something to do, and it’s usually active -work, housecleaning, working out, or a favorite sport or hobby. Thin people actually eat less when they’re depressed. They get to work on solving the problem. It’s not uncommon for them to forget about eating. Food doesn’t enter their mind until they are sooo hungry they have to stop and eat. 44 Don’t get me wrong. They don’t forget to eat often. Only when they’re totally focused on something. For the most part, they’ll eat a lot more than you do. Take the time to think like a thin person and see how your body changes. It may not be the fastest way to lose weight, but it will last a lifetime. Being thin is just a different lifestyle. It’s a different way of thinking. But here is one secret that will change your life forever. To be thin, you must consciously eat. You must be aware of what you are eating, how it tastes, how the texture feels, everything about it. Thin people don’t usually mindlessly eat. That’s when you get into trouble, when you just mindlessly pop food in your mouth while you’re doing something else, like watching TV. You will just keep popping it in your mouth – totally unaware that you’re taking in calories by the truckload. Don’t allow food in front of the TV, or in your bedroom where mindless eating can take over. When you’re thinking about what to eat, think about foods that will give you energy, or make you feel better. You can eat to ward off a cold, stop PMS, fight infection and much more. You’ll learn more about that in your copy of High Energy Eating. Just make it a point to think about what you’re eating. That’s not to say that you’ll never again eat hog dogs and macaroni and cheese, or eat fast food, or overeat. You will. Heck, on Thanksgiving, I probably eat enough for 3 people. I definitely eat more than my share of a pizza. But when you’re overall diet is healthy, those times won’t matter. Won’t that be nice? 45 Healthy weight loss that lasts a lifetime I’ve never once counted calories in my life until writing this book. I was curious to see how my lifestyle actually fit into the recommended guidelines. It’s a royal pain. No wonder people don’t do it. I doubt that I will be doing it again anytime soon. But the outcome was, that my calorie intake fluctuates between 1500 and 2200 calories per day. I actually consumed fewer calories on weekends when I have gotten more rest. When I’m tired or stressed or extremely busy, I need more fuel. I give my body what it needs when it needs it. Remember that your body is a fine precision instrument. Be so tuned into your body that you know what it needs, and just as important -what it doesn’t. There will actually be times when you really do need chocolate. The mood enhancing qualities of chocolate usually make it a great little pick me up in late afternoon. On the other hand, don’t feed your body chocolate if it’s asking for a salad. When you learn to listen to your body, it will tell you quite clearly what it needs. You don’t have to spend your time counting calories or trying to starve yourself, which doesn’t work anyway. Let’s be honest -You know when you pick up something you shouldn’t be eating. Your body is a fine machine. It’s like a Porsche. Fine-tune it and it is sleek and fast and sexy. It’s an awesome machine. If you maintain it right and give it the right fuel, it will run without breakdown for many, many years. The guidelines tell you that as a busy person, you can eat up to 2200 calories a day. And many days you may need that. But many days, you don’t need that much. If you follow the guidelines to the letter, you may actually overeat by up to 700 calories on a less active day. You need to do what is right for you and your lifestyle. The whole key to losing weight is consume less than you body burns, and to increase the amount that it burns. Try keeping a food journal for a couple of weeks. It will be a real eye opener. Write down everything you eat. Once a day, take a few minutes and calculate the calories, 46 and look for trends. In the appendices at the end of your copy of High Energy Eating there are some tools to help you with that. I would only do it for a couple of days just to see clearly what your eating habits are. It’s really a pain in the neck. If I had to count calories everyday, well – I wouldn’t. General rule for healthy weight loss, cut your calorie intake by 500 calories a day, and exercise 30 minutes a day. As a matter of fact, if you want to never worry about your weight ever again – just follow this easy lifetime eating plan – Eat every few hours. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. More is better. Have some protein every time you eat. Cut out packaged and fast foods. Don’t eat after 8 P.M. Get 30 minutes of exercise every day. Get enough sleep every day. Now mind you, this list is just for weight loss. If you want total health, the list is a little longer, but we’ll talk about that in another chapter. If you follow this simple plan, you’ll lose weight without struggle. At some point you might actually feel you’re too skinny. I haven’t quite figured out how to deal with that problem yet, so that’s a subject for another book  Remember, just 1 whopper with cheese is a whopping 850 calories! Large fries at McDonalds are 450 calories. A serving size of Jays Barbeque Potato Chips is “about 15 chips”. Yeah right. Those 15 chips carry 160 calories. Tell me who eats only 15 chips! I’ve known quite a few people who lost all their excess weight just by dropping pop altogether and dessert after dinner. If you think this is too hard at first, try just cutting out one unhealthy thing a day. It’s not that hard. Especially when you consider the whole world of better tasting and healthier foods that are opening up to you. Warning Many people think if they stop eating, or eat very little, or eat only once a day – that they will lose weight faster. The exact opposite is true. If your body feels that food is 47 in short supply, it will automatically burn it slower and build up the fat reserves to hold you over until the food shortage is over. Your body is trying to keep you from starving to death. People who eat and eat and eat, but don’t gain weight, have taught their bodies to burn the food practically as fast as they eat it. All it takes to send that metabolism to a screeching halt is to stop eating for a few days. You’ll quickly notice you’re a little bulkier around the middle, even if you exercise everyday. In your copy of High Energy Eating, you’ll read about a plan to change your eating habits. Be sure to follow it, or one similar to it for fastest results. 48 Turning off to Junk Food Junk food is expensive! It totally amazes me what people spend on this stuff. (I’ll only buy it on sale, or at the wholesale outlet!) Remember that earlier reference to wealthy people usually not being fat? It takes a lot of energy to be wealthy. Wealthy people know that they need to be at their peak performance level everyday. They need to be able to think clearly. Plus wealthier people put a high value on their health. Without your health, all the money in the world really doesn’t matter much. But you don’t have to be wealthy to care about your health. The next time you are about to make a “poor” choice in food, picture that you are about to eat a nice slice of juicy Crisco on a bun. Imagine the taste of the lard squishing in your mouth. Imagine the oil from that potato chip dripping down your arm. I used to love barbequed potato chips. One time we had a bag sit on the counter for a long time. When I picked it up, there was this pool of orange grease on the counter. It really did gross me out I guess. I really haven’t wanted barbequed potato chips much since then. If you actually manage to get whatever it is into your mouth-feel the grease in your mouth, and imagine the fat flowing through your system, slowing down as it thickens. Can’t quite picture it? Remember earlier we talked about what happens to grease in a pan as it cools. That white gunk is what you have in your system. As a matter of fact, those fat and calorie filled meals inflame your arteries and raise the free-radicals in your blood that develop plaque, narrowing your arteries and leaving you open for heart attack. Pleasant thought, isn’t it? I know what will work! Watch a show on liposuction. What they take out of you is really gross. When my daughter saw that, she swore she would never get fat. It’s really disgusting. Now to say “don't eat junk food” is not realistic. But limit the amount of junk food you eat. I love sweets in the morning (I try to be good most of the time). I have my chocolate in the afternoon, taking a few moments to appreciate the flavor. Chocolate should never be rushed. After a healthy dinner, we really don't eat much dessert. But sometimes we do. But that’s the beauty of eating right. You can eat anything you 49 want to eat, as long as you don’t eat half a ton of it. Keep dinner a little later to help curb nighttime eating. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be an extremist. You can still eat chocolate, and cake, and pizza and still be thin and healthy as long as the majority of your diet is healthy real food. And Please, I’m not saying you will drop a lot of weight immediately. You will start to lose a few pounds at a time. But it’s a start. And it will continue. And it will stay off. As long as you keep eating smart, consume less than you burn, and increase the amount that you burn. You will experience consistent weight loss without suffering. 50 I hope that the information in this e-book served as a wake-up call and that you will take care to avoid all of the health pitfalls and commercial manipulation. You can take control of your health. You don’t have to be destined to a life of illness and prescription drugs. You don’t have to eat tasteless chemical laden foods in the name of convenience – that’s all been one big lie. Enjoy the eating experience. Share the time with family and friends. Life is too short to spend it eating take out and fake packaged foods! Be sure to teach your kids good eating habits. Remember, they learn by example. We can make this world a better place. It all starts at home. So, let’s look at how can you stop abusing your body and treat it like the highperfoormanc machine it’s meant to be. Open up your copy of High Energy Eating and start picking from over 100 super-foods and get excited as you learn what these foods will do for your body. Then flip over to the recipe e-books and find hundreds of quick and easy recipes that will make your mouth water. I give you permission to enjoy eating again! I truly wish you a long, happy, healthy life. Carole If you enjoyed this e-book – feel free to pass it on to friends and loved ones who need this information too! Stop by the forum and leave your comments!51 Helpful Resources A complete guide to healthy eating for busy people – http://HighEnergyEating.com “Choose to Life: Your Diabetes Survival Guide” – 1-800-diabetes or http://www.diabetes.org/Food Pyramid – http://www.mypyramid.gov/Healthy recipe makeovers – http://lakeforesthospital.com/Accurate Nutrition Information – American Dietetic Association – http://www.eatright.org/Getting the most nutrition from your fruits and vegetables – http://www.5aday.org/How to keep your food safe – http://www.foodsafetyanswers.org/Calorie counting database for your PDA – http://nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp What’s in Food? http://nutrition.gov/How many calories do you need? Calorie calculator – http://mayoclinic.com/search Enter ‘calorie calculator’. Enter age, height, weight and activity level. Foods that protect vision – http://aoa.org/eyeonnutrition Slimmed Down Soul Food – free booklet from the National Pork Board – http://otherwhitemeat.com/An overall great information resource -http://prevention.com/52 References -Tara Parker-Pope, “Instant foods aren’t the timesavers we think they are”, Wall Street Journal, Monday, August 20, 2007 Audra Ang, “”Makeshift manufacturing”, Associated Press, Friday, August 31, 2007 Robert E. Kowalski, “The Blood Pressure Cure”, 2007 T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. 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