Why High Protein Diets Don’t Work

It has been known for decades that a high protein low carbohydrate diet is bad for you yet this type of diet is still being pushed as an answer to our weight loss woes. The problem with high protein low carbohydrate diets is that they advocate taking entering a state of ketosis to help hasten weight loss. This forces the kidneys to accumulate waste in a way that is not healthy for you.

The first of this type of diet was the Atkins diet, which has been around since the 1970s.  It is based on the principle of ketosis. Originally it was called The Stillman Diet.  Dr. Stillman found out, through his research, that feeding the body more protein could induce weight loss then it was equipped to handle. This would trick the body into releasing fat through the urine.  This does cause weight loss but it also painfully strains the kidneys which produce small amounts of brown urine when under this type of high-protein duress.

The Atkins diet was based on Dr. Stillman’s research from the late 1960s. Major corporations started marketing products with the Atkins brand on them – powders, supplements and books. The problem is that the people running this marketing organization did not believe in the product and they knew it did not work.

To top it off, ketosis is not the greatest state for your body to be in. Ketosis is an abnormal body process that occurs during starvation due to lack of carbohydrates. Ketosis causes fatigue, constipation, nausea, and vomiting, none of which are part of a healthy lifestyle. Long-term side effects of ketosis that have been well documented include heart disease, bone loss, and kidney damage.

A nutritional analysis of the Atkins diet by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine concluded that this diet was much too high in saturated fat and cholesterol and much too pathetically low in fiber to be healthy for anyone. The lack of fruits and vegetables and carbs in the diet can leave the person dangerously deficient in seven key vitamins and minerals including calcium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, foliate, vitamin B12, and thiamine.

The problem is that eating too much protein in the form of meat means including more toxic, artery clogging fat in your body.  The excess protein also stresses every organ in your body including the kidneys, intestines and liver.  Eating fat is okay as long as it is healthy unsaturated fat.

The result is that you get thinner but only for a short while. This type of diet, as trendy as it is in one of its newest incarnations – the South Beach Diet – is just not that healthy for you.

By: brown Michael

The Problem With Low Fat Diets

They are not as popular as they used to be because we now know more about eating good fat, but there are still some diet gurus out there pushing low fat and even no fat diets.  The problem with this approach to weight loss is that our bodies do absolutely need fats of all kinds to survive.

Low fat diets have been promoted in the past by Weight Watchers, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and Dean Ornish’s program. The problem is that these low fat diets simply don’t work in the long term. They only work for as long as you are on them and then you gain all of the weight that you have lost back.

The bottom line is that you need some fats in your diet, especially the healthy fats.  Even if you are on a completely vegetarian diet you still need these fats as eating too many carbohydrates will make your body acidic. 

Without the right types of fats, you can have bacteria, yeasts and molds multiplying in your body.  Your body tissues become dry.  Blood will not move through your veins and cholesterol and arterial plaque are more likely to stick to your artery walls. Yet another consequence of not eating enough fat is constipation. You simply will not eliminate as easily. Even your lung capacity can be compromised because your body needs some fat to create mucus.

Without the right amounts of fats and oils your brain does not function as well either. You simply do not think straight. Your brain cannot be dehydrated or deprived of fats or you could start thinking and behaving in neurotic or psychotic ways.

In essence vegetarian diets contain many acidic carbs, which ferment and lead to sugar intolerance, pre-diabetes and eventually diabetes.  Eating too much acidic food can also stress your adrenal glands and make you feel tired.  This is why if you are going to go for an all natural vegetarian diet you need to make sure it contains some healthy fats and oils as well.  Olive oil and avocadoes are examples of healthy oils that can help optimize your overall health.

Diets without fats are also very hard to stick to as a full time eatng program.. This is because food without any oil or butter simply tastes very bland. Cakes and sweets made without any kind of fat are also not very tasty. The good taste created by fats is called “mouth feel” and is simply more satisfying to the human palate. The reason that people can’t stick to those fat free diets in the first place is because food that is fat free simply does not taste that great.

By: brown Michael

The Reasons Most People Are Overweight

Being overweight is not always just a matter of being lazy or eating too much. Sometimes there are other issues that cause people to become obese.

The problem is that no one diet automatically recognizes the difference between how a fat person’s metabolism operates and how a thin person’s operates. In essence a thin person and a fat person could eat the same meals for a week and the thin person would not gain weight while the fat one would.

Fat people often have abnormally low metabolisms and this means they have problems burning food as fuel.  When it is not burned the excess is converted into fat.  To correct this you need to embark on a healthy diet.

Yet another factor that plays into weight gain is that people with abnormally low metabolism are always hungry. The pain of their cravings is very physical and very real.  The reason fat people crave food is because they do not feel full after eating. It is because their body is not using the nutrients in the food to nourish them.  It is not uncommon for overweight people to become immediately hungry after eating even a very large meal! 

Another very real cause of being overweight is emotional overeating. This is the tendency to “eat your anger.” Evolutionary biologists describe this as the need to “bite into something” when we are angry or stressed as that is exactly what are cave man ancestors did.

Food can also take the place of approval, love or sex or even a parent’s love.  People who are overeating for these reasons are often very miserable when they go on a diet because they associate food with love and feel deprived with love once the diet requires them to restrict their calories.

The idea is to adopt a non-acidic diet so that you are free of these cravings, which can become a vicious circle. Eating a non-alkaline diet will put you back in control of these cravings. It is a very freeing experience that puts you backs in control when it comes to choosing to eat what you want and when you want. You also won’t overeat because you will always feel nourished and being properly nourished is absolutely key to stopping those hunger pangs that can lead to weight gain in the first place.

By: brown Michael

Why Are Some Cultures Thinner Than Others

The problem with the notion of dieting is that it does not address the lifestyle changes that need to be made in order to permanently take the weight off. Losing weight is not something that can be bought or sold. It is not a commodity. Sometimes the problem is cultural. We become trapped in old habits that have us eating unhealthy foods for a lifetime.

The key is to adjust your lifestyle. This means eating a plant-based diet based on whole foods and embarking on an exercise program... There is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to obesity.  Once you are diagnosed with it chronic disease it can set in quite quickly and the longer you wait to embark on a natural weight loss plan the harder it will be on your health in the future.

You only need to look around you at the people you know to determine who is healthy and who is sick because of their fat accumulations.

Think of the people that you know who are fat.  Are they sick all of the time?  What is his or her diet like? They probably eat a lot of sugar, salt, and junk food. They possibly also drink a lot of alcohol.

Now think of people that you know who maintain a healthy weight. You will notice they do not eat a lot of junk. In fact you might have noticed that these are the vegans that you know or the people who you know who like to consume Italian, Greek or Asian diets.

Traditional cultures from the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Asia know how to eat without gaining weight like Americans do...  Think of the traditional Asian body and how svelte the physique usually is...  In China, Persia, Japan and India people have been eating a mostly plant based diet for thousands of years and it seems to keep the majority of these massive populations fit.

After you are done picturing the body shape of the average Asian then picture what your average American looks like.  Then picture him eating snacks at a baseball game. Visualize the beer full of calories and the hotdog full of fat. This is not health food and this is typical of the unhealthy eating habits of the average American.

When was the last time you saw a really fat vegan? Then ask if you could handle being on a diet that was had more vegetables rather than meat. That is your first step towards embarking on a fully effective, yet natural weight loss plan.

So just how much weight can you immediately lose if you become a vegan?  During a study at the Pritikin center there were 4,500 patients who went through a program of eating as much as they wanted of low fat, plant based whole food lost 5.5% of their body weight.  They also lost an average of seventeen pounds!

By: brown Michael

Melted Minon

College is a time for learning and experimenting. Me...I ran out of milk one day so I experimented with putting egg nog in my cereal in replacement (the logic? it's made out of milk and it's already sweet so I didn't have to sprinkle sugar on the cereal). Don't do that. A perfectly good bowl of unsuspecting and innocent cereal massacred. Most of us have stories to various degrees of hilarity of lessons learned in college. Hailey sent us in a lesson their apartment discovered while trying to make a Minion Cake. 

The Original Pin

http://rm16uhps.blogspot.com/2010/11/terrific-tio-cakes.html

Pretty good?! I'd give them a thumbs up. They did pretty good recreating the minion from Despicable Me.

http://www.amazon.com/Despicable-Single-Disc-Edition-Steve-Carell/dp/B0042U94UQ 

So, let's see what Hailey's roommates came up with. 

The Pinstrosity

I'll admit it...I busted up laughing when I opened this email. This is fantastic. Maybe it's a Jabba the Hutt Minon? 

According to Hailey, the roommates "made the red velvet cake in the microwave in a huge mug, first problem.  The frosting underneath was as thin as water.  She burned the fondant so it was chunky, and then tried to color it and the color wouldn't blend.  It wasn't dry enough so it drooped. It was the most horrendous thing I've ever seen, and tasted.  It tasted very spongy."

So let's address each point. 

1. "She made the red velvet cake in the microwave in a huge mug". Microwaves cook food not with direct heat but with, well...microwaves. When food is heated in the microwave it cooks differently that it would in the oven. The texture of the microwave mugs can be anywhere from mostly normal to Spongebob. According to hurryupcakes.com, "many microwave cakes have a rubbery texture and/or more than a hint of “poached egg” flavor. Another big difficulty with microwaved cake is how quickly they dry out — which is quickly. Very, very quickly." 

2. "The frosting underneath was as thin as water." Well...that's not good at all. You definitely need frosting the right consistency. A good test to see if the frosting consistency is about right is to scoop up a spoonful and then turn the spoon so the icing can slide off. If the icing runs of or slides off quickly it is too thin. It should slowly "slide" off the spoon. If it doesn't move at all, you might need to thin it out some. There are various methods for thickening icing. Buttercream frosting (which is the frosting that is suggested for use as the base under fondant) can be temperamental. Mixing it in high heat or humidity can make it melt and be too runny. Try chilling the frosting first to see if that "thickens" the frosting up. If that doesn't work you can add 1 TBS of powdered sugar at a time, mixing thoroughly. Some people use shortening instead of butter as shortening doesn't melt the same. If you're making your frosting from scratch, add less liquid than the recipe calls for...it's sometimes easier to add little bits of liquid later to thin than it is to thicken the frosting. 

3. "She burned the fondant so it was chunky, and then tried to color it and the color wouldn't blend. It wasn't dry enough so it drooped." Fondant can be tricky, especially if you're making your own. Having never worked with fondant myself, I'm not even going to try to pretend I know exactly what to do. I read a few great sites that I found by Googling "How to decorate with Fondant". One great one I found is http://www.wilton.com/decorating/fondant/, with helps on how to color fondant, shape it, smooth it, etc. 

One thing I did learn in college though...these projects that turn out funky are perfect for leaving on  your friends doorstep. Place it in front of the door, knock, run to a good hiding spot and watch their reactions. It's funny what college kids find funny, isn't it? 

Trying Too Hard Sabotages Weight Loss

Most weight loss attempts fail simply because people try too hard. They set up high expectations of themselves and then gorge on the wrong foods when they cannot stick to the diet. This just makes their obesity problem worse.

If you want to lose pounds for good you need to forget about fad diets and lose weight he natural way.  This means applying the principles of natural eating to your life.  For some that means eating a vegan diet and for others it means including some meat in the diet as a protein source. Every individual is different when it comes to deciding what their body requires to survive.

Eating better often involves big lifestyle changes.  Big changes are not accomplished overnight. You also can’t get anywhere if you insist on counting each and every calorie. Forget any ideas you may have about this entailing sacrifice, deprivation or days and days of eating nothing but a bland diet. Trying too hard like this simply does not work.

The key is that if you are eating vegan there is no need to count calories. Your body naturally knows what to do to keep you at a healthy weight.
 
Furthermore you will NOT ignore your body’s cues to eat as is true of other dieting.  Feeling hungry is a sign that is something wrong. Part of a healthy weight loss plan is listening to your body’s messages.

Don’t ever think for two seconds that staying hungry will keep you thin. In fact the exact opposite happens. Your body slows down the burning of your metabolism to a very slow rate.  It is a defense mechanism against hunger.

You can also think of eating a vegan diet as a worry free way to eat because your body knows what to do with the substances that you are ingesting. This is because you are consuming nutrients and not chemical.
The reason your body is more efficient with these types of foods is because fruits, vegetables and grains are much less dense in energy than animal foods. They simply pack fewer calories per cupful or spoonful.

This is because fat has nine calories per gram while carbs and protein only have four calories per gram.  In addition good carbs like fruits, vegetables and whole grains contain great amounts of fiber.  Fiber makes you feel full and adds almost no calories to your meal.

In some studies, those who follow whole foods, low-fat, plant-based diet consumes fewer calories. It's not because they're starving themselves. In fact, they will likely spend more time eating and eat a larger volume of food than their meat-eating counterparts. 

This means that every time you eat a healthy meal, you may reduce the calories that you consume, digest and absorb, even if you eat significantly more food at one sitting.

Food deprivation just does not work. The beautiful thing about a vegan diet is that you do not deny yourself food. This is because weight loss due to calorie restriction almost never leads to long-term weight loss. 

By: brown Michael

The Acidic Body and Weight Gain Connection

When it comes to all the extra weight we are carrying around, we have to comprehend the cause before we can put the practical remedy into action. This is because the cure for obesity is not dieting – it is lifestyle change. Obesity needs to be treated just like any other illness. The goal is to treat the whole person and not just a symptom.

Any program that addresses only the obvious symptom of the problem (excess pounds) will never truly solve the problem. It's like putting a band-aid on a heart that needs open heart surgery.

Dieting to lose weight is like pulling a weed without getting at the root .In fact if you think of this all like a garden then you might see that dieting is more like depriving the garden of rain or nutrients.  You are still feeding the weeds that you never pulled up as the root causes of the obesity.

Low fat has been where it is at for a couple of decades now but unfortunately that are partly what has gotten us into so much trouble with our weight.  Depriving ourselves of cholesterol, carbs or sugar has not worked well either.

To lose weight you have to stop counting calories, carbs and denying yourself foods and fats and instead focus on eating more alkaline foods.

Acidic foods are a real problem. Our bodies dispose of some of these acids through the bowels, skin and urinary tract but whatever is left must be buffered and neutralized.  If these acids are not eliminated then they destroy your tissues and organs quite quickly.

Our bodies cannot fight the cascade of acidic substances that we consume every day.  Too much acid in the body robs the blood of oxygen and without it the metabolism slows down. We digest our food more slowly and suffer from weight gain.  Even worse the food stall in our system and clog up our colon making our livers, kidneys, skins and other organs of elimination toxic as well.

Yet another consequence of consuming too much acidic food is that it robs the body of oxygen and without oxygen food starts to oxidize, ferment and rot.  The fermentation creates fungus, mold and yeast to thrive in the colon and throughout our body.

The end result of this is a very unhealthy individual who is usually too fat. That is why going on a very natural organic diet regiment is recommended to address your  weight problems.

By: brown Michael