How hungry are you?

Eat only when you are hungry or eat every few hours so you are never hungry, let yourself be hungry to burn fat, fasting is great. No wonder you are confused.

With so much access to food and snacks, it's easy to eat often and too much but is it really good for you? Not to mention that most of us aren't eating what is good for our body when we give ourselves permission to eat every two or three hours . So why not wait until you are really hungry? That can be a disaster because we then need to rely on will power over for control when we are ravinous. Our brains are not wired for will power.

There is an answer. Eat when you are starting to get hungry, not before you are hungry and not when you are starving. Foods vary in the time that they take to digest completely before your blood sugar drops and you feel real hunger - up to 5 hours but on average about 3 hours. Be prepared - carry a healthy snack with you so you don't ever have to feel more than a small hunger pain - just learn your body well enough so that you can differentiate between emotional and physical hunger and listen carefully. Your body is extremely intelligent and will tell you what you need as long as it is physical rather than emotional hunger you are paying attention to.

Eat your calories earlier in the day and lighter in the evening when your body is most awake and efficient rather in the evening when your body needs to slow down. Meal digestion needs energy and doesn't do well if it is competing for energy from sports or when your body is tired. Have a cup of tea before bedtime with a very small low calorie snack that is easier to digest in the evening - low in sugar with some protein and relax!

(Two key rules of thumb to remember 1) you will tend to believe anything you read or hear giving you permission to eat often because it often provides you with an excuse to eat what and when you know you shouldn't 2) Our innate senses rule over will power because this is the way we are hard-wired. Ask any brain scientist. Forming good habits is the best way to achieve success. Prepare to phase into your new habits to achieve good habits in the same way you gradually get into an exercise routine for better health - until you work up to a regular routine it might be a drag. You need to strenghthen your default reactions in favor of health so it's an easy path for you or you'll take the easy way out.

Habituate yourself to your new goals and listen to what your body says and what you tell yourself, Beware of the latest to good to be true message out there.

Weight Watchers: One Size Doesn't Fit All

We all have different issues around eating. Some eat too much. Some eat the right amount at the wrong time. Some like sweets, some like it salty and some like it hot.  

Those who have more to lose, lose more faster. Those that have those stubborn few pounds may need to change what they do even if what they did before worked.

Although Weight Watchers has been successful for many, I've personally been a Weight Watchers flunkee since I tried to lose weight on their former plans on three separate occasions to no avail. My body works better with higher protein levels than their point system was designed for. The new Points Plus program is a step in the right direction with a focus on whole foods and recognizing that all calories are not created equal.

Fruits and vegetables are encouraged in the new plan because most of us do not consume enough. While I happily consume my five daily servings, I recognize that many do not. But I contend that eating these alone in unlimited quantities without some additional protein has the potential to spike blood sugar and work against us. Yes, eating fruit and vegetables is better than some other high carb foods but the point is to keep blood sugar in check to avoid metabolic syndrome and other disorders leading to diobesity.

I hope that Weight Watchers guidelines recognize this and advise their "members" accordingly.


But unlimited fruit?

Vitamin D recommendations revised - When food sources are not enough

If you haven't heard about the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency yet, I consider this a must read.

Our knowledge of the role of Vitamin D has been rapidly advancing. For most of us, food sources may be insufficient to correct the problem alone. Why? Because I don't know many who enjoy cod liver oil or beef liver, or many who drink enough milk with Vitamin D added in sufficient quantities to meet our daily recommended intake of Vitamin D despite the award winning "Got Milk" advertising. We may be staying away from other good sources such as salmon, tuna, sardines due to concerns about too much mercury from fish. Vitamin D is also found in egg yolks which are great for you but old science suggested that eggs yolks contain cholesterol so we should stay away. (By the way, newer science says that dietary cholesterol does not impact the cholesterol level in your blood but did you know that? Eggs are the food that supports life, I think they're pretty important to eat.)  Fortified foods -- such as some yogurts, cereals, and orange juices -- may also provide Vitamin D but you have to seek the brands out since not all brands of these foods are fortified. Do you consume enough Vitamin D each day?
Finally, we need approximately 15 minutes of sunshine exposure daily too for our skin to produce the Vitamin D we need. This can be a challenge for those trying to stay out of the sun to avoid it's negative impact on our skin, especially for those that work too many hours indoors.

What should you do? It's certainly time to check your diet but more importantly ask your doctor to check your Vitamin D level the next time you have a blood work up. Some figures report that as many as 80% of the U.S. is now Vitamin D deficient. Even if that is too high, and it's one out of two of us, odds are that you or someone you love is deficient.

Now, why should you be concerned? For many reasons tied to your immune system, but perhaps the one I find most convincing is that Vitamin D is involved in the mechanism which checks to see that we replicate our cells properly. Cancer cells are examples of cells that have not replicated normally. If our cell checking mechanism isn't functioning correctly, we are potentially at greater risk. I would like my immune system to be in tip top shape so I'm not taking any chances. Research on the role of Vitamin D continues but early indications are strong enough that guidelines for Vitamin D have been increased.

Several years ago, I was getting sick often - so often that I went on a personal quest to sort out the issue and with my background fortunate enough to get to the root of the issue quickly. Yes, I was one of the many whose Vitamin D level was exceptionally low; a little surprising to me because I ate tuna and whole eggs and live in Southern California. After requesting a blood test, my doctors acknowledged my low level and recommended taking daily supplements in such small amounts that it would have been impossible for my levels to ever normalize.  My own research with Vitamin D experts internationally put me back on the right course and feeling much better.

Remember to have your levels rechecked if taking higher than the new recommended doses to get your level back to normal and work with your doctor. Toxic Vitamin D levels can result from excess intake. The only way to know before it's too late is to have a blood test. In fact, always talk to your doctor when taking Vitamins (especially A, D, E and K), minerals and other supplements at levels beyond daily recommended levels. Too much of a good thing isn't always better.

How much Vitamin D is recommended? The Institute of Medicine (IOM) set the following new recommendations for vitamin D:

• Ages 1-70: 600 international units (IUs) per day. Older than 71:800 IUs. The IOM previously said 200 IUs was adequate for people aged 50 and younger, 400 IU for people aged 51-70, and 600 IUs for people older than 70.
• The tolerable upper limit (UL) is 4000 IUs for ages 9 and above (up from 2000 IU in the IOM's previous guidance).
• The IOM's calcium recommendations, based on age, range from 700 to 1300 milligrams (mg) daily with a tolerable upper limit range of 1000-3000 mg.

Nutrients interact with one another so it is key to keep them in balance. If your Vitamin D level is low, you may see a higher level of calcium on your blood test - still normal but higher. This is because Vitamin D helps your bones to absorb calcium. If your blood calcium level is in the higher end of the normal range, it may not be reaching your bones. More on the relationship and new calcium recommendations in my next posting..

http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/features/new-vitamin-d-and-calcium-recommendations-experts-weigh-in?ecd=wnl_wmh_120610

More on the best way enjoy sweetness in your diet

People often ask which sweetner is best to consume when the answer is that all are fine in moderation - too much of anything is bad. I think we know when we are consuming too much because we are often looking for permission or the maximum amount that won't hurt us rather than focusing on how to keep the sugar we consume to a minimum. 

Most sweetners are not markedly different in terms of their impact to your body. They are all rapidly converted to blood glucose. This process begins from the moment you put the food in your mouth. Think about how quickly you feel energy from eating a candy bar or sweetened beverage. The timeframe is roughly the same if you eat table sugar or agave - both are rapidly converted to blood glucose.

The real issue is that we consume too much. A general guideline is for your total sugar intake to be less than 10% of your daily calorie intake - 24 grams or no more than 6 teaspoons. Another way to think about your consumption is to keep sugars to 100 calories for women and 150 calories for men.

When you reduce your sugar intake very gradually, it's not as difficult as you would think because your taste buds will slowly become more sensitive to sweetness.  Fruits and veggies will begin to satisfy your sweet tooth most of the time.

What about artificial sweetners? If you just replace the sugar sweetness with sugar substitutes, would   your consumption would be excessive? Probably, especially if your all of the beverages you consume are artificially sweetened. The key is to think about how to increase your sensitivity to sweetness rather than numbing your taste buds with excessive sweetness. It's a different mindset, aiming to heighten your sensitivity to sweetness.

Challenge for the week: Check the nutrition label for the line that says sugars under carbohydrates. Try to purchase most grocery items with no more than 2-3 grams of sugar per serving. Also try to reduce the level of sugar you consume gradually until the sweetness in the veggies you eat is more pronounced.
For more on this topic, including a list of sweetners that will be counted on your nutrion facts label as sugar, see the following link http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/added-sugar-on-food-labels/index.html

Where do you get your nutrition advice?

Most physicians are not fully educated in nutrition from medical school and may not be the best professional to speak to regarding advice on your diet. That is why there are nutritionists and dieticians who not only focus in this area but are also required to keep up with the current scientific knowledge in this area. Doctors rely on them and you should too when you are determining whether you are getting the nutrients you need.

Read labels and don't assume that the nutrients you might expect are there. Just check the package and you will know for sure. Unless the food is enriched (to add back the nutrients that are removed in processing) or fortified (adding nutrients above and beyond that in the food prior to processing) you may be shortchanged.

Gluten free or not

It's a choice you definitely should consider if you are symptomatic. If gluten is an irritant for you, you will feel better quickly, if you don't notice a difference, by all means enjoy the many foods containing this protein.

Often only those diagnosed with Celiac disease are told to be on a gluten free diet but many of us react to gluten, or are either not diagnosed with the disease or the disease is not sufficiently progressed for this diagnosis. If you are one of those that are suffering, listen to your body even if the test for Celiac disease is not positive.

Should you decide to try a gluten free diet, consider supplementing your diet with the nutritients you may be eliminating such and B vitamins and fiber. Beloved broccoli and many green vegetables are a better source of these nutrients than most gluten based products.

If you are currently relying on bread and other gluten based products for your B vitamins and fiber, you need to check nutritional labels to see if you are really getting enough of what you need in terms of nutrients.  Whenever you are eliminating types of foods from your diet, always consider what nutrients you are eliminating and how you might need to supplement you diet accordingly.

Is the food you eat a good enough friend?

I've been thinking about  people eating food that isn't really a good "friend" to them. If we pick our foods like we pick our friends, would we make better choices?

Usually, we pick friends that we think are going to be nice to us, inspire us and help us along in life. We even choose some "spicy" friends and ones that are adventurous in ways we are not. Sometimes, we choose a few partners in crime but we try not to surround ourselves with too many of these because we know that we will become like our friends over time.

When we eat food that is physically nourishing and good for us we feel better. When we eat foods that weigh us down or are too indulgent, we are just that - weighed down paying the price of excess and extremes. We feel good in the moment and then crash down.

We make hundeds of food choices daily. As we select what we eat, we might think about if that food is the kind of friend we want and need.