The first time we read the term, we were researching this article.  On the site, Center for Science in the Public Interest, the publishers proclaim:  “Shopping was easy when most food came from farms. Now, factory-made foods have made chemical additives a significant part of our diet.”

In previous articles, we discussed the Balanced Diet:  what it is, how it affects your health, your heath care and the fact that the people are consuming a “Balanced Diet” is  an illusion.  The publishers at the Center for Science in the Public interest drive the point home on their site.

To start the analysis, and If you are interested, here is a listing, from the FDA, of all the additives (3,000 in all) the FDA knows are in the NEW Standard American Diet: Chemcuisine.

The following analysis is a synopsis of our research on the subject of what most people, and their children, are consuming each day.  

Processed, Junk, and Fake Foods

Processed food is made from real food that has been put through devitalizing chemical processes and is infused with chemicals and preservatives. Beef jerky, canned tea, jam, hot dogs, and low-fat yogurt with sugar or aspartame are a few examples of processed food.

Junk foods contain very little real food. They’re made of devitalized processed food, hydrogenated fats, chemicals, and preservatives, and include anything made with refined white flour. Canned breakfast drinks, cold/sugary cereals, doughnuts, drive-through foods, and soda are examples of junk foods.

Fake foods are made primarily of chemicals, and often contain gums and sugar fillers. Examples include bacon bits, bottled salad dressing, dehydrated soups, and instant coffee.

The Energy Output Exceeds Nutritional Input.  These non-foods have one thing in common; it costs your body a great deal more to digest, absorb, and eliminate them than they offer your body in nutritional value – an extremely poor return on your investment that leaves your body sluggish and depleted.

Toxins, Poisons, Processed Food – And The Body

Our ancestors preserved foods naturally, using salt, fermentation, and sun drying. Food processing has evolved away from these simple practices into more complicated and dubious methods.

Today, food companies use nearly three thousand known additives and chemicals to process our food. Many of them can have a devastating effect on our health.

It is important to note that additives and preservatives cannot always be painted with a negative brush. The addition of vitamins to bread and milk has helped to stamp out diseases such as pellagra and rickets.

Unfortunately, the good intentions that characterized the processed food industry during the early days have now de-evolved to finding ways to cheaply process food and manipulate buyers, regardless of the detrimental affects on the health of Americans.

Today, many additives and preservatives are harmful toxic chemicals that are as problematic as the decay they are used to prevent.

Preservatives

 Perservatives are a type of additive used to help stop food from spoiling.

Nitrates and nitrites are used to preserve meats such as ham and bacon, but are known to cause asthma, nausea, vomiting, and headaches in some people in addition to allergic reactions.

The same is true for sulfites (sulfur dioxide, metabisulfites, and others, which are commonly used to prevent fungal spoilage, as well as the browning of peeled fruits and vegetables.

Sodium nitrite in some foods is capable of being converted to nitrous acid when ingested by humans. While animal testing showed that nitrous acid caused high rates of cancer, it is still in use.

Sulfur dioxide is a toxin used in dried fruits and molasses as well as to prevent brown spots on peeled fresh foods such as potatoes and apples. Sulfur dioxide bleaches out rot, hiding inferior fruits and vegetables. In the process, it destroys the vitamin B contained in produce.

Antioxidants

While antioxidants such as alpha-carotene are recommended by health specialists to prevent premature aging, some of the antioxidants used as food preservatives may be unhealthy. Contained in nearly every processed food on the market, antioxidants prevent fatty foods from spoiling when exposed to oxygen.

For example, BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) are two of the most widely used, yet controversial of all antioxidants. So alarming were the results of BHT and BHA in animal testing, that a number of countries have severely restricted their use.

Some people have difficulty metabolizing these chemicals, which is thought to result in health and behavioral problems, and hyperactivity. They cause allergic reactions, may also contribute to the development of tumors and cancer, as well as be toxic to the nervous system and liver.

In spite of these findings, the use of BHT and BHA has increased, rather than decreased, in the U.S.A.

Coloring

Each year, the American food industry uses three thousand tons of food color. Many coloring agents are derived from coal tar, and nearly all coloring is synthetic. Norway has a total ban on all products containing coal tar.

Though some artificial food dyes have been banned because they are believed to cause cancer, most dyes used today are of the artificial variety. They are also linked to allergies, asthmas, and hyperactivity.

The long list of foods and beverages in which color is altered includes butter, margarine, the skins of oranges and potatoes, popcorn, maraschino cherries, hot dogs, jellies, jellybeans, carbonated beverages, and canned strawberries and peas.

Even the chicken feed on large-scale egg farms is colored so that chickens will lay golden-yolk eggs similar to those laid by free-range chickens.

Sweeteners

Most processed foods contain sweeteners, many of which are artificial sugar substitutes containing no natural sugars, such as saccharine and aspartame.

Artificial sweeteners are linked to behavioral problems, hyperactivity, and allergies. Because saccharin was shown to increase the incidence of bladder cancer in animal testing, all foods containing this sugar substitute are required to carry a warning label.

Emulsifiers, Stabilizers, and Thickeners

These additives alter the texture of foods. Emulsifiers, for example, prevent ingredients from separating into unappealing globs in food such as mayonnaise and ice cream.

A first cousin to anti-freeze, propylene glycol is a synthetic solvent used as an emulsifier in foods. Although it is recognized as toxic to the skin and other senses, and is considered a neurological toxicant, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed it generally recognized as safe (GRAS).

Flavorings

The most common food additive, flavorings – of which there are over 2000 in use – may be natural or artificial, and are usually comprised of a large number of chemicals.

Artificial flavors are linked to allergic and behavioral reactions, yet these ingredients are not required to be listed in detail as they’re generally recognized as safe.

MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a common flavor enhancer. Found to cause damage in laboratory mice, it has been banned from use in baby foods, but is still used in numerous others. It causes common allergic and behavioral reactions including headaches, dizziness, chest pains, depression, and mood swings, and is also a possible neurotoxin.

Refining

Refined flour has had the brown husk of the grain stripped away, leaving the white, refined starch that is found in white bread, white rice, pasta, cookies, and numerous other junk foods.

Without the fibrous husk, refined starches are broken down quickly into sugar and absorbed immediately into the bloodstream causing glucose levels to rise, and increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes and a host of other “not so nice” health complaints.

In contrast, whole grains – such as whole grain bread and cereals, brown rice, and barley – retain the bran surrounding the starch, so they’re absorbed more slowly into the bloodstream than refined starches. This slows sugar absorption from the intestine, and reduces the risk of consuming refined food.

Refining Destroys and Devitalizes Most of Foods’ Goodness

Healthy unsaturated fatty acids – high in food value – are lost during the milling process. Half the vitamin E is destroyed when the wheat germ and bran are removed. Refining wheat into white flour removes between 50 and 93 percent of wheat’s magnesium, zinc, chromium, manganese, and cobalt.²

Additionally, approximately 50 percent of calcium, 70 percent of phosphorus, 80 percent of iron, 50 percent of potassium, 65 percent of copper, 80 percent of thiamin, 60 percent of riboflavin, 75 percent of niacin, 50 percent of pantothenic acid, and about 50 percent of pyridoxine is lost.³

Refining sugar cane into white sugar depletes it of 99 percent of its magnesium and 93 percent of its chromium. Polishing rice removes 75 percent of its zinc and chromium.  Refined table salt has had most of the trace minerals removed during processing. It contains no sodium chloride, sugar as filler, and may even contain aluminum.⁵

Bleaching

Part of the process wheat undergoes to become the white flour in popular baked goods involves bleaching. Various chemical bleaching agents are used including oxide of nitrogen, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl, and benzoyl peroxide mixed with a variety of chemical salts.

Chloride oxide – which catalyzes a chemical reaction that destroys beta cells in the pancreas is now being linked to diabetes.  This toxic effect is common scientific knowledge in the research community. In spite of this, the FDA still allows companies to use chloride oxide in processed food.

A Healthier Lifestyle

Eradicating every guilty pleasure in life is not the end goal here, nor is it a particularly realistic approach to making changes because everyone enjoys the occasional cheeseburger, order of fries, or bag of chips.

But if you understand the consequences of making what ought to be an occasional treat into the mainstay of your diet, you can begin to make wise choices about how many of these things you are willing to eat.

When it comes to avoiding many of the questionable – and possibly deadly – additives contained in processed foods, you’re only human after all so, taking baby steps toward change is usually the best approach.

If you can accomplish just one of these 10 steps, you’re moving in the right direction.

Try implementing one change a month …

1. As a general rule, if you don’t recognize – or can’t pronounce – the words on a label, don’t buy it, or eat it. Instead choose the real thing!

2. Avoid products containing

• Nitrates and nitrites (including sodium nitrite)
• Sulfites (including metabisulfites)
• Sulfur dioxide
• Benzoic acid (aka sodium benzoate)
• BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)
• BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole)
• Coloring
• Coal tar
• Propylene glycol
• MSG (monosodium glutamate)
• Refined or bleached flour (i.e. whitened using chloride oxide)

3. Don’t eat partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated trans fats

4. Don’t eat products containing sugar substitutes such as saccharine and aspartame.

5. Avoid products with a long shelf life – the better they do on the shelf, the worse they are for your body.

6. Avoid products that have been “enriched“. They have been completely devitalized during processing.

7. Avoid food that has been genetically modified or engineered. Nearly all processed food contains GMOs.

8. Avoid products made with ingredients euphemistically described as “natural flavoring” or “natural coloring.”

9. Avoid products with added sugar – watch for words with “-ose” endings, such as fructose.

10. Incorporate a high quality multi-vitamin into your health regimen.

If you’ve had a history of eating products high in sugar and are concerned about diabetes, incorporate disease-fighting foods such as garlic, onion and quality Aloe vera juice into your diet. Natural phytonutrient supplements can also protect your body from the harmful effects of eating refined products that have been bleached with chloride oxide.

As you begin to eliminate processed food from your diet, and start to enjoy eating real food that has not been processed to death, you will be on your way to optimizing your health, making an investment in your body’s future and, ultimately, feeling better.

Processing Food Facts

In addition to the more than three thousand chemicals and additives in our food, preserving processes have changed beyond recognition from the simple use of vinegar, salt, and sunshine. Many processed foods are stripped bare, rendering them of little or no nutritional value.

Worse, foods are deliberately tampered with to create the desire for more. And the health effects of certain processing methods – such as the very controversial irradiation – are not yet known.

Irradiation

Irradiation is the use of x-rays or gamma radiation on food to kill bacteria mold, viruses and parasites. Unfortunately, its effects are also harmful to test animals. Those fed a diet of irradiated wheat developed increased numbers of cells with chromosome abnormalities. As well, there were unexplained stillbirths in the offspring of test rats.

So unpleasant is the mere sound of the word “irradiation” that euphemisms such as “Cold Pasteurization” and “Picowaved For Your Protection” are being used on labels because food companies fear that using the term “irradiation” may hurt sales.

Junk Food

Junk food – high in fat and sugar – is one of the leading causes for the soaring number of cases of type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and tooth decay. It is also linked to hypoglycemia and yeast overgrowth.

Did you know that cravings for processed foods are initiated by eating processed food? It’s a vicious, addictive cycle.

Food scientists know that it is necessary for certain nutrients to be present in the blood stream in order to feel full. While it is not fully understood how this process works, food companies know enough to use this knowledge to manipulate consumers into eating more by subtracting various nutrients, and adding others such as fat, sugar, and salt.

This manipulation creates a desire for processed foods – one that can never be satisfied – no matter how much of it you consume.

Natural Flavoring

“Natural flavoring” can be just about anything, from the cells of yeast extract and nucleic acid from cell chromosomes, to waste bi-products from cattle. Some reports suggest that the ingredients in so-called “natural colors” have been known to contain products as unlikely as monkey intestines; others note that some “artificial flavors” are comprised of ingredients as unappealing as minced cat.

How is it possible to determine exactly what “flavorings” are comprised of when the list of items from which they are concocted often includes a long ramble of unrecognizable chemicals?

Here is an example from the ingredient list for the strawberry flavoring in one popular fast food outlet’s strawberry milk shake.

It contains:  Amyl acetate, Amyl butyrate, Amyl valerate, Anethol, Anisyl formate, Benzyl acetate, Benzyl isobutyrate, Butyric acid, Cinnamyl isobutyrate, Cinnamyl valerate, Cognac essential oil, Diacetyl, Dipropyl ketone, Ethyl butyrate, Ethyl cinnamate, Ethyl heptanoate, Ethyl lactate, Ethyl methylphenylglycidate, Ethyl Nitrate, Ethyl propionate, Ethyl valerbate, Heliotropin, Hydroxyphrenyl-2butanone (10% solution in alcohol), A-Ionone, Isobutyl anthranilate, Isobutyl butrate, Lemon essential oil, Maltol, 4-Methylacetophenone, Methyl anthranilate, Methyl benzoate, Methyl cinnamate, Methyl heptine carbonate, Methyl naphthyl ketone, Methyl salicylate, Mint essential oil, Neroli essential oil, Nerolin, Neryl isobutyrate, Orris butter, Phenethyl alcohol, Rose, Rum ether, G-Undecalactone, Vanillin, Solvent!

And this is just the stuff in the flavoring.

 Do you want to know what’s in the “milk” part of this so-called milk shake? 

It contains:  Milk fat and nonfat milk, Sugar, Sweet whey, High-fructose corn syrup, Guar gum, Monoglycerides and diglycerides, Cellulose gum, Sodium phosphate, Carrageenan, Citric acid, E129, Artificial strawberry flavor.

MMM, MMMM!  yummy and so good for you – NOT!

Packaging

There are also concerns regarding the materials used to coat and package foods.³ The protective wax on produce such as cucumbers, peppers, and apples may trigger allergies, and can contain pesticides, fungicide sprays, or animal byproducts. Further, the plastic (vinyl chloride) some food is wrapped in is considered carcinogenic, and has been linked to immune reactions and lung shock.

Dioxin

A by-product of whitening, especially of food containers, Dioxin has become a health concern. It has been reported, for example, that certain ice creams contain high levels of dioxins, reportedly leaked into the product through the whitening used in its containers.

A known carcinogen, dioxin is associated with genetic and reproductive defects as well as learning disabilities.⁴ Dioxin exposure is a possible cause of endometriosis – a painful condition that can result in fertility problems and/or hysterectomy, as well as chronic pelvic pain and other conditions.

Conclusion

After reading this, one could conclude that the situation is hopeless.

Quite the opposite is true – because knowledge is power.  Simply use this knowledge to make different choices. 

 It makes good sense to pay attention to the food you are buying, especially if it has been processed. One thing is for certain – most of these added ingredients have nothing to do with nutrition and everything to do with increasing food sales by keeping addicted, depleted consumers coming back for more.

Besides adequate rest and moderate exercise, the fundamental nutritional thresholds must be consumed, if you have any expectation for staying healthy.  Your body needs copious amounts of: (in descending order) clean water, protein from vegetables with a limited quantity from animals, minerals, carbohydrates from whole grain, healthy fat from fish and a smattering of vitamins to stay healthy.  You can choose to consume them or take fundamental supplements to fill the gaps in your diet.

If you are experiences any of the likely complaints associated with failing to meet these thresholds, you may want to consider choosing supplements help you address your specific needs to expedite your restoration.

We’re all in this together – I’m pulling for you. (Sorry Red Green, I left out the attribution)

Notes:
1. Hanley, J.L., M.D. and Deville, N., Tired of Being Tired, Berkley Publishing Group, NY, 2001. (p. 66)
2. Wilson, Lawrence, M.D., F.I.C.B., Why Take Nutritional Supplements, article on www.drlwilson.com.
3. Hull, Janet, M.D., Bleaching agent in flour linked to diabetes, from The Idaho Observer, July 2005, cited on www.detoxprogram.net.
4. Wilson, Lawrence, M.D., F.I.C.B., Why Take Nutritional Supplements, article on www.drlwilson.com.
5. Hanley, J.L., M.D. and Deville, N., Tired of Being Tired, Berkley Publishing Group, NY, 2001. (p. 220)
6. Hull, Janet, M.D., Bleaching agent in flour linked to diabetes, from The Idaho Observer, July 2005, cited on www.detoxprogram.net.
7. Chek, Paul, excerpted from the CD/Workbook Program: You Are What You Eat! at www.chekinstitute.com.
8. The New York Nerd: Eat Fast, Die Young, April 24, 2006, at www.nynerd.com.
9. Hass, Elson M., M.D., Food Additives and Human Health, excerpted from Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide: Feed Your Family Safely, cited on www.healthychild.com.
10. Hass, Elson M., M.D., Food Additives and Human Health, excerpted from Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide: Feed Your Family Safely, cited on www.healthychild.com.

 

Newscasts, Talk Shows and the newest craze, “TV Doctors”, happily share their disdain for “those expensive, unnecessary concoctions” based on this idiom.

 Whether it is your doctor, your mother or your friend, who is advising you that “You’re wasting your money on those things, your food gives you everything you need. ” says so, because this paradigm is a commonly held belief.

 So, what exactly is this balanced diet that these people assume you’re eating?

Do you know?

The USDA (United State Department of Agriculture) reports it is: My Plate.  Harvard School of Public Health reports it is: The Nutrition Source.  The University of Michigan Integrative Medicine Department reports it is: The Healing Food Pyramid.

 Still confused?

I subscribe to a version of “the balanced diet”, too.  It is eating 5-7 servings of differently color, fresh vegetables, that grow above the ground, 2 – non tropical fruits, drinking 8 to10 – 8 ounce glasses of water each day, consuming a deck of cards sized serving of oily fish 3 times per week, of chicken 3 times per week and of red meat, once a week.

 Do you eat like that?

In fact, “consuming a balanced diet” is a mythical construct. – hardly anyone eats a balanced diet.  And, because this false paradigm is so prevalent, what you are eating is the last thing anyone, including doctors, ever considers when someone’s health begins to slip away.

 A recent study, reported in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, concludes that:  “ … use of supplements significantly improved the status of several vitamins in elderly people. Due to age-related problems concerning the intake and digestion of nutrients, a moderate, regular supplementation might be a useful option for older people who are otherwise unable to satisfy their micronutrient requirements.”

 In people-speak, the study shows that if you aren’t consuming the nutrients your body needs, taking supplements can fill the gap.  The study was well constructed, peer-review and duly reported in a professional journal.

 Did you get the memo?  … No?
Did you hear a peep from the talking heads?  … No?
And, I’ll bet your _________ (doctor, friend, mother) didn’t read it either!

 Here what the memo should say:

 “If you’re not eating enough vegetables, fruit, chicken, fish, meat and drinking enough water to satisfy the minimum nutritional needs of your body or taking supplements to fill the gaps in your diet – you will get fat; and sick; and grow old too fast.”  And, regardless of your age, if you’re neglecting to feed your body properly, ditto!

 There are epidemics of degenerative diseases that:

• Threaten to overwhelm the finances of the industrialized world
• Overwhelming people and families with expense, heartache and suffering

 There are:  Telethons, Drives, Walks, Runs; Gold-Ribbon Panels; academic and pharmaceutical research and … , orgainized to:

“Wipe Out  fill in the blank
(obesity, cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease or …)
In Our Lifetime” 

And yet, the numbers keep growing.

 Composing or Decomposing

The body (and all living things for that matter) possesses an orderly process that replaces worn out cells, the ability to accelerate repairs to damaged tissue (due to accidents or otherwise), to ward off infection, infestation and to energize itself.

 The process is wholly dependent on the raw materials that are garnered from the environment.   Those raw materials are the nutrients in the food you are consuming.

 This Isn’t Brain Surgery

• The raw materials are there, or they’re not. 
• The process works or it doesn’t.
• The body composes or it decomposes.

What you eat controls the equation, and you know what you’re consuming.

 The revelation of the study, reported in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, says it all:

Do the best you can with your diet, then take fundamental supplements to fill in the gaps and, if need be, support them with supplements for any specific needs.

Conclusion

 So the next time you hear someone say, “You can get every thing you need from your food.” you know what that really means:  you should probably be taking supplements.

Quoting Red Green:  “We’re all in this together, I’m pulling for you.”

 P.S.  Please, read our BAM (Blatant Advertising Message):  NUPRO Nutraceutical Products – Advancing Beyond Vitamins™

 

 It is called My Plate.  And, I like it!

 It’s straight forward, and with a little explanation, easy to understand and follow.  You should look.

 One can readily see at whom the “Food Plate” is targeted – children.

 It, couple with a renewed emphasis on the school lunch program, may actually affect the expert predictions that this generation of children will suffer more with degenerative disease and live shorter lives than their parents, who will likely live shorter lives and suffer more than their parents.

 Adding to the My Plate reeducation effort, reality food shows are becoming the new rage on commercial television!

 Ranging from an evangelizing Chef, teaching children to cook, town by town, to a competition between home cooks to become a “Master Chef”, it is clear that the time is right for children, and adults, to release their addition to manufactured food (the “stuff” that comes in bags, boxes and cans).

 What’s not to like?

 The Choose My Plate Site includes food groups (with recommendations), portion control, warning about sugar and salt and a recommendation to drink water instead of today’s typical bill-of-fair consisting of soda and fruity drinks.  It’s cute and it is tweetable.

 But … for a “nudge” like me, the devil is in the details.

 It may be good enough to start the “buzz” about the importance of a healthy diet:

1.  But, what about an issue as fully misunderstood as protein?  Why not simply add a 5^th smaller portion, meat (fish, chicken, pork (not me) and red meat) and stop confusing a nutritional component with food?
2. And, (you know my position on milk and milk products) why would anyone perpetuate the myth that dairy is a “good source of calcium” when there are clearly better sources?
3. And, why perpetuate the myth that eating a balanced diet, consisting of commercially grown food, let along processed food, is capable of meeting the nutritional needs of the body?

 The Harvard School of Public Health or the University of Michigan, Integrative Medicine Department offers an unparalleled depth of information on matters of the healthy diet.

 On the other hand, the “Eat a Rainbow” campaign that morphed into the “5 a Day” program developed by the Produce for Better Health Foundation.  It is easy to understand, presented simply, with POS advertising, educational material for teachers and right on point.

 Who, besides a “nudge”, has even heard of these programs?

 First Lady, Michelle Obama is taking point on the My Plate program.  And, I for one applaud her efforts.

 She is shining a spotlight into a dark crevice that threatens our Republic – the health of our people.

 The tests for this program are going to be:

1. What happens in the next news cycle?
2. Will the enthusiasm spread?
3. Will it encompass adults as well as children?

 No one is going to live forever – but who wants to die sick?

 Maybe it’s your turn to pick up a torch to cast some light in the crevice that threatening your, and your family’s, wellbeing – your diet.

 In conclusion, one quote immediately comes to mind:  “Remember, I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together.¹”

  ¹The Red Green Show, North of Forty Segment, PBS.  (How’s that for an obsure quote?)

P.S.  If you care to fill the gaps in your diet, we would appreciate your consideration.  Here’s the #1 supplement we recommend.

 

 We just finished the landing page for the NUPRO weight loss systems and products.  I would appreciate you taking a look and, if you have a minute, reporting your impression.  Thanks for your time.

 As an aside, any of you who are paying more that $3.00 per day for your weight management program, or supplements, should pay close attention to the featured system at the site.  It is a bargain at the suggested price; with the discounted sale price, it is a steal.  So, no excuses about money.   What is the price tag for your health? 

 I wrote, earlier, that the campaign would be called:  A New You in 90 Days!   It is and it performs as advertised!

Thanks again for your help.

 

 The options for managing your weight, while seeming plentiful, are woefully few once you strip away the marketing fluff.

 There are many, too many really, books and articles regarding how to deal with the way you appear when you are overweight or obese.  These writings purport to help you deal with people who perceive your situation of being overweight in an unkind manner.  The emphasis of these writings is to help you feel like a victim of an unsympathetic society; encouraging you to focus on ways for you to rationalize your “condition”.

 Dieting, eating less and exercising more, has failed most, if not all, of you because the approach is unsustainable and unhealthy.

 The recent “breakthroughs” in Bariatric Surgery is another option.  It seeks to surgically remodel or redirect your digestive tract.  The potential for side effects, from this highly invasive approach, is mind-boggling.  Time is a great truth detector.  The likelihood of this approach succeeding is low.

 There is a quote, attributed to R. Buckminster Fuller, on which I often rely:  “ … Belief is when someone else does the thinking.” 

 Today, I am appealing to your intellect.

 Which of these approaches makes sense to you?

1. Ignoring the situation
2. Starving yourself
3. Risky surgery
4. None of the above

Would you consider a practical way to finally get your weight under control?

 The fact is, most of you are not eating enough.  That’s right you are not eating enough food to support your body’s nutritional needs, to allow your body to support metabolism and to become, and stay slim, trim and firm.  The Harvard School of Public Health or the University of Michigan Integrative Medicine will provide you guidance on what, when and how to eat.

 Another fact is most of you are eating too much of the wrong food.  The number of packaged, processed and convenience meals you eat, everyday, virtually guarantee that you will be hungry soon after you eat, experience insatiable craving, stay overweight and become more and more unhealthy. For more insights, view this short video, with Andrew Weil, MD on the subject.

 Stop Doing That!

 If your objective is to lose weight, you should make three simple changes:

 1.      From this day forward:

• Start eating 3 meals each day consuming lots of the foods that feed your body
• Stop filling the coffers of the Companies who produce packaged and fast food – buy fresh – prepare it yourself.  Here are 10 healthy, easy to prepare dinner-time recipes
• Drink at least 8 – 8ounce glasses of water everyday – more if you drink caffeinated beverages

 2.      For 90 days, replenish long-standing nutritional deficiencies using:

• High quality multi vitamin or drinking a fortified protein shake
• Trace mineral dietary supplement

 3.      Reset the way your body works with dietary supplements to support:

•  Waking metabolism
• Sleeping metabolism
• Elimination – unless you experience at least 1 easy, soft bowel movement everyday.

TrimPak™  or one of the ThinRite™ Systems by NUPRO offer you a selection of professional grade supplements and systems to help with these needs.

 The unvarnished truth is obesity and being overweight, and most degenerative diseases for that matter, are symptoms of one thing:  Hand to Mouth Disease.  They are predictable conditions, brought on by the decisions you make everyday, to consume foods that we all know aren’t healthy.

 Each time you purchase a food item or choose to eat something, ask yourself one question:  Will my body thank me for this later?  If the answer is no, rest assured, there is a price for that decision.  What you choose to consume is the raw materials on which you body relies to produce energy, replace dying cells, repair damaged tissue, deal with stress and protect itself from disease.

 How’s that Big Deal Meal been workin’ out for ya?

 “I came in a tired, overweight, sluggish mess!  I am down 5 sizes and 50 pounds and I have a renewed zest for life thanks to Nupro Nutraceutical weight loss products!”  Denise R. Parker, CO

 Now that we have your attention:  here’s a family of well-crafted weight management systems and supplements to fit your needs and your budget, along with a comprehensive package of tips, to help you with successful, long-term weight loss .

 *  We believe that creating and maintaining health is more than the search for “a miracle in a bottle” myth.  We have developed a strategy that can help you promote weight loss and maintain your health.

 

 So what can you do?

 Enjoy!  Relish all of the wonderful offerings.  After all, it is a celebration!  Just be smart about it.  You can avoid or minimize losing weight when the Holiday Season is over.

• If you are at a buffet or family get together, use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.  Take small portions of the many delicacies.  Take small bites and chew the food thoroughly.
• If you choose to drink an alcoholic beverage, ask for your drink “tall” then, after the first, skip the alcohol and switch to the mix.
• Savor the treat or desert but, cut the serving in half.  Again, take small bites and chew it thoroughly.
• Pace yourself.  Put a limit of one serving per sitting of anything you choose to eat or drink.
• Drink plenty of water.  It will help flush away all the residuals from a diet that is so different than normal.

 Hopefully, when you get to the New Year celebration, you won’t be worrying about resolving to lose the extra weight you have gained over the holidays.

 If you have gained weight, or if there is still some weight hanging around from years past, don’t despair (or worse – over react) about your weight gain.  Some time, choosing a more moderate, balanced diet and a brisk, daily, 20-minute walk may help you lose weight.

 If patience is not one of your best virtues, or you have more than a few pounds lingering around your middle, you may want to consider using dietary supplements, along with your more moderate diet and walk, to help speed up your weight loss.

 One final thought, if you are inclined to make resolutions, resolve to treat you body like it your best friend.  It is and, you’ll never find another like it.

 We wish you Happy Holidays and a bountiful, prosperous New Year.

 

Judging from your comments and questions, there is more to be examined.  Perhaps another vein of commentary will be fruitful.

Old School Weight Loss

 
Unquestionably, obesity and being overweight are a BIG problem.  Muffin top, pear and round have become the 3 most common body forms amongst adults and children alike – and the look is not good. 

Why isn’t the old school message: “Eat Less – Exercise More.” working? 

• Could it be, as one group of researchers are studying, that human genes have mutated – making the unlucky souls obese or overweight?
• Could it be that there is a conspiracy between the pharmaceutical companies and food producers to line their pockets?
• Could it be that terrorists are making us too obese or overweight to defend our borders?
• Could it be aliens?

NOT LIKELY. 

People are obese or overweight because they are not eating enough. 

That’s right, it is more than likely that the poor soul that is waddling down the isle is malnourished. 

He or she is unable restrict the urge to eat enough to overcome the body’s need to replenish and balance its composition with the essential nutrients – water, protein, minerals, fat, carbohydrates and vitamins. 

The Nutrition Almanac (Nutrition Search, Inc., McGraw-Hill, 1975, pg. 106) reports the approximate nutrient composition of the body is: 

• Water:  55%
• Protein:  20%
• Fat:  15%
• Minerals:  5%
• Carbohydrates:  2%
• Vitamins:  less the 1%.

The urge to eat will not stop until these basic needs have been met.   And, you will feel hungry again when the rigors of living have created a deficiency in any of these 5 components of the body. 

The New Message is:  “Eat More to Lose Weight” 

In all cases, the 5 components of the body are most readily available from pure water and whole food.  The University of Michigan School of Integrative Medicine – Healing Food Pyramid clearly shows the priority of choice when selecting the foods you consume and provides details to support their position. 

 The Harvard School of Public Health is also active in this battle by offering similar information – in a different manner. 

A Final Thought 

Making these simple changes will produce a significant difference in the way you look and the way you feel going forward but, they will need help to undo the insults caused by your past choices. 

Dietary supplements can be helpful in that regard because they can help restock the nutrients your body needs to target the internal systems that are suffering most from neglect. 

There are many supplements that might help you in this regard.  If you will forgive this blatant commercialism, NUPRO offers a complete line of customized programs and weight management supplements that incorporates the objectives of affordable, healthy, long term, successful weight management. 

If you are a muffin top, a pear or round, perhaps you should get busy.  You’re only kidding yourself with those bulky clothes.

 

 The answer is:  While the issue of being overweight and obese receives plenty of lip service, the facts show the problem is worsening.

 Perhaps these commentaries are adding to the cacophony.  But, if the few of you, who are willing to take this information to heart, take action the project has value.

 Frankly, why anyone could possibly confuse fast, convenient and packaged products, masquerading as food, with the “real stuff” is mystifying. 

 Also, these commentaries were intended to dispel the amorphous picture of health that has been concocted by advertisers to sell products.  Health is not an emaciated person cavorting on the beach; nor the slogan “Big is beautiful.”  Health is arising to greet the day – not dreading the hours you’re awake.

The situation is bad enough when people choose, knowingly or unknowingly, to commit dietary suicide – but, when they condemn their children to shorter lives, with more suffering, it must change.

 And, don’t confuse these writings with some projection of gloom and doom – or worse yet, a call for action from a governmental agency – they are a plea to your better senses.

 Please, stop teaching your children your bad dietary habits and, if you can, change your ways, too.  It is easier to lead by example than to brow beat your kids into eating something you don’t eat.

 Time is the great equalizer.  When you begin dreading the hours, you can’t say you weren’t advised.

 Here is a good place to start changing the way thing are in your life.

 

Question:  “So happy to enjoy such a insightful article “How to lose weight with diet pills” that does not depend on base posturing to get the topic fulfilled. Thank you for an enjoyable read.

2 questions: What kind of diet should I go with? I need to get some kind of workout what kind of exercises should I get into? Your input is appreciated.”

Response:  Your questions regarding diet is one I hear often. The key a healthy diet, and successful, long-term weight management is to avoid high calorie/empty nutrition food. The most common culprits are soda, snacks, convenience and fast food, processed and packaged food.

The answer is explained elegantly here:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat

The short version is: eat 7-9 servings of differently colored, fresh vegetables that grow above ground, a serving of about the size of a deck of cards of fish or poultry each day, a serving about the size of a deck of cards of red once a week, with limited, (if not eliminated) amounts of milk and milk products, white flour (processed wheat, rice and oats), sugar, fruit juice and tropical fruits and vegetables that grow underground.

And drink water; at least 8 – 8 ounce glasses each day. Preferably, you can determine optimum hydration by dividing your body weight by two for the number of ounces of water to drink each day.

Exercise is important, but strenuous exercise takes a toll on your body. I’m a fan of walking for about 15 minutes a day. The important thing to remember is to vary the pace – start normally then speed up until you feel your body compensating, then slow down, speed up, slow down.

 Also, landing your foot into the arches is important, so shorten your stride. Many people over-stride when they walk which causes excess impact force that radiates from the heel of the foot all the way up through your spine.

Finally, considering a weight management supplement may be appropriate.  I’m not a fan of many of the supplements on the market because they simply focus on using high amounts of natural stimulants to raise waking time metabolism. 

Therefore, my Company approaches the issue of weight management supplements on an around-the-clock basis by restoring the efficiency both daytime and nighttime glucose utilizing.  By default, the regime is intended to promote and maintain efficient metabolism that, in turn, will address healthy weight management.

Thanks for asking these important questions.  In the end, it is your life,  the choice is yours to make.

How healthy are you?  Take the test.

 

Mother patiently showed me how to identify my expenses, label an envelope for each expense, divide my money between each expense and put it in the appropriate envelope.  She explained that when the expense came due, the money would be “tucked” away.  All I needed to do is take the money out of the envelope to pay the bill.

And, my mother explained, once my expenses were provided for, I needed to prioritize any remaining money between needs, wants and building a nest egg; then make choices. 

Choices like: wanting to go to the movies to have fun or needing to maintain my car.  Mother pointed out that the car would need tires, the oil changed and repairs; all of which, if not tended, would affect my ability to earn money.  The choice, and the consequence, would be mine.

It was like hearing Aesop’s fable about the grasshopper and the ants.  The grasshopper whiled away the summer – the ants worked to store away food for winter.  When, inevitably, winter came, the grasshopper starved and died – the ants did not.  The grasshoppler failed to budget.  The moral of Aesop’s fable is:  It is best to prepare for the days of necessity. 

The body is a marvel of engineering: joints, ligaments and muscles, working in synchrony to produce force and motion; cells, coordinating with one another, to produce energy, sensation and thought; systems for protection from external and internal agents that could disrupt the harmony that we describe as health; systems to repair damaged and injured cells and tissue.  The coup de gras is the miracle of regeneration that provides the ability for the body to completely rebuild itself, perfectly, every 7 years.

 With one exception, this miracle of life happens automatically.  The body converts food, using water as medium and catalyst, into building blocks that are reassembled to become part of a healthy body, the systems that support it and then, dispose of the waste.

What is the Exception?

The one, and only, thing your body cannot do for itself is select the quality and quantity of food that enters the system.  That is your job.  Making sure that you are “putting enough in the envelopes” to pay the bills when they come due – with something left over for emergencies. 

You can make 3 choices:

When you choose whole food: vegetables, fruit, whole grain, fish, poultry, lean red meat and water, your are meeting your health budget, with a little left over for emergencies.  These whole foods contain the building blocks on which your body relies: protein, essential fatty acids, complex carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins on which the body depends to flourish.  You will enjoy the bounty of health.

When you choose cans, boxes and bags of processed, packaged and preserved food, convenience and fast food, soda, artificial sweeteners, coffee and energy drinks, you are bankrupting your health budget.  The labels on these foods clearly proclaim that they contain flour, sugar and chemicals, the hyphenated words that you can’t pronounce, to enhance taste, color and shelf life.  None of which benefit your body.  If you aren’t sick, you soon will be.

When you choose a combination of the two, you are creating a deficit or, as my mother would say, “You are going broke slowly – ask for a raise or get a second job.”  Your body will do the best it can with what it has to work.  Lacking energy and endurance, obesity, frequent illnesses, declining quality of life and vulnerability to degenerative disease are all predictable outcomes.  You won’t be sick, but you aren’t healthy either.

Are you the grasshopper or are you the ant?

The grasshopper fiddled the summer away, while the ants spent time preparing for winter.  Enjoying a life- time of radiant health is truly a simple issue:  Are you investing in health or are you paying for sickness? 

Do you want to know?  Take the test.