Shakes and Smoothies

I dislike shakes. In fact, I really think they are just about the worst invention only because all too often they are passed off as this "healthy" item that is packed full of everything your body needs - when in fact they go down way too quickly, don't offer much satisfaction (in terms of making you feel full), and typically are nothing more than a chemist's dream concoction that you mix with milk or water. 

Now, that being said, I have on occasion had moments when I just plain wasn't hungry for dinner. You? I find it strikes a lot in the summer with the sun not setting in my area until about 9P. And then I have other moments when my husband is gone on deployment and I just don't want to make a big meal that my boys will barely touch - so I opt for something that they love, and saddle myself with a "smoothie" so packed full of nutrition that you can barely suck it up a straw and have to chew it.

Dinner is truly the only meal I could see it being appropriate to replace with a healthy beverage. Breakfast should be huge, lunch slightly smaller - and since dinner should be our smallest meal, an occasional substitution with liquid meal won't hurt you. If you are finding yourself at dinner, and wanting just a little something - I'm offering to you the recipe I just concocted that I'm chewing on as I write this.

I juiced 2 oranges, 1 pear, 2 plums, and 10 pieces of kale. Then I added 1/4 cup of greek yogurt and 1/2 cup of coconut milk. Threw in about 2 Tablespoons of chia seeds (that's the chewy part) and a few ice cubes. **It makes more than the picture leads you to believe. 

Yum yum. Enjoy! I bet it would be delish too if I put it in a popsicle mold and tossed it in the freezer - though I'm not sure how well chia seeds fare in freezer conditions. 

If you love your heart, avoid the processed meats.

"The risk of new heart failure and of death from heart failure went up by a significant 8% and 38%, respectively, for every 50-g rise in daily processed-meat intake, report Dr Joanna Kaluza (Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland) and colleagues today in Circulation: Heart Failure." 

Increased levels of stroke were also seen in a separate study.

Uh oh. Keep in mind this particular study, and others, are not saying that it is consumption of red meat that was causing the rise in new heart failure or death from heart failure incidences - but instead it was when those meats were combined with high levels of sodium and preservatives that problems occurred. Processed meats would be things like sandwich meats, sausages, and ham... among other things. The curing of meats with nitrates is another example which you can find with your bacon. 

Your best bet is to choose items that haven't been manipulated in some way for your ease of consumption. Look for items without preservatives (yes you will have to use them faster) or things like plain meat or pork that you can doctor-up yourself. Also, uncured bacon is slowly becoming available - so for now you'll have to dig around to find it - but it's worth it.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/826598

The Lone Wolf

I started referring to myself as a "lone wolf" a few years back when I was starting back into jogging for exercise and was wanting to build up to run a few 5K's.  A close friend and I were going to run in the Megan McClung Memorial 5K which was started as a remembrance for a local marine killed in combat who was passionate about exercise and competition.  We were talking about the race itself, and I openly told her that I would not be running near her during the race.  Not because she smelled bad or anything, but because I absolutely hate to run with other people. 

I take that back.  I don't hate to run with others, as here I was signing up to run with a bunch of other people.  I just cannot run with a friend at my side.  Not only do I not want to subject them to my grunting, panting, and spitting on myself (and possibly them), but no matter who the person is our pace is never the same.  And of all the things I don't want to be thinking about when I'm trying to hurl my body along for 3.1 miles, it's whether or not I'm slowing them down or they're slowing me down.  I also am typically sucking a fair amount of wind while running, so the odds of having a conversation with me are null.

My husband thought I was so rude for telling my friend I wouldn't be running hip-to-hip with her, but she got it and felt the same way.  The reason I decided to write about this is because I was talking to another friend earlier today, and she was remarking the same sentiments and I thought there might be more of you out there too.

I bring up this topic, because often I find myself suggesting that people find someone to workout with, or someone who will hold you accountable.  Like having a friend go to the gym with you will encourage you to keep going because you don't want to let your friend down.  So even if you are a "lone wolf", you can still have the companion that you look out for and vice versa. 

1.  You could meet up at the gym for a run on the treadmill.  You're both there.  Talking doesn't have to happen.  And you both can run at whatever pace you like.

2.  You could tell your spouse or a close friend about the run you just did once you complete it.  Utilizing online programs that allow you post about your runs can be fun too as you will see what others are doing and maybe find some other nearby routes -www.walkjogrun.net is one I've used and it's nice because you can make maps on it to see where you might want to go - I've also used the Noom app which lets me track my run with GPS and then if I so desire I can post it to my wall on Facebook... this is also great for making others feel like they should be exercising too (or just mad at you for making them feel lazy).

So it's okay to be the lone wolf, and exercise solo with only your thoughts to keep you company.  You clearly aren't alone  ;)

P.S.  Yes I know the picture I put with this is not a "wolf" but if you squint a little it could be an albino wolf??

Are your supplements all they're cracked up to be?

"Testing of the quality of more than 1200 dietary supplement products by the independent laboratory ConsumerLab.com found that 1 in 4 dietary supplement products, lacked the labeled ingredients or had other serious problems such as unlisted ingredients or contaminants." SERIOUSLY!!! That's 25% of supplements!!!

Have enough respect for your body to put only the best foods, vitamins, and supplements in it. We often are foolish in our assumption that just because a product is labeled as "natural", that it is too mild to create any issues when you ingest it.  You need to be sure to let your doctor or pharmacist know about anything you take, (vitamin/mineral/herbal supplement) as there is always a potential for interactions with your medications. And be sure the companies you purchase from are doing their due diligence and crafting your supplements from only the best ingredients, in the cleanest environment, with routine analysis of the products to be sure they are free of contaminants and contain as much of the active ingredients as their label claims. 

Just remember, that many of our current prescription and over-the-counter meds started out somewhere in nature... aspirin? penicillin??

Hussain MS. Patient counseling about herbal-drug interactions. Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. 2011;8(S):152-163

Thyroid Activator

Nature's Sunshine - Thyroid Activator

I got an email this morning indicating this particular supplement was on sale. I hadn't heard of it before, so I decided to pull up the picture of the label and dig into some research to see what exactly was in it that was going to help my... thyroid. After looking at the ingredients it seems innocent enough of a product - though it certainly will not help you if you are living without a thyroid gland.

It contains 2 different products that would be good sources of iodine (among other things) - Irish Moss Algae and Kelp Leaf & Stem. Iodine supports your thyroid gland, but don't take too much of it as it can shut down the thyroid (just as we want to do if there is a nuclear waste spill).

Black Walnut Hulls seem to have research surrounding them regarding usefulness for those with Diabetes in terms of increasing insulin - so perhaps it has some benefit regarding increasing production of other hormones like those produced by the thyroid gland - but I couldn't find a study in that realm.

Parsley Leaf and Fo-Ti Root appear to be Yang tonifying herbs. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the symptoms of low thyroid (hypothyroid) are similar to the symptoms of Yang deficiency. Yang tonifying herbs are thought to relieve those symptoms.

Finally Sarsaparilla Root focuses it's action in the colon, helping to prevent absorption of toxins produced by colonic bacteria and yeast. This action also helps to reduce inflammation that can result when these toxins are absorbed. It's purpose in this product is a little unclear, though chronic inflammation may create a downward spiral that affects the adrenals and the thyroid gland.

The Non-GMO Project

If you're finding yourself unsure what to buy when grocery shopping, the Non-GMO Project is giving you some more alternatives. Those of us wishing to purchase items that do not use Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's) were forced to choo...se organic items just to be on the safe side. This new non-profit organization should not be giving us some more alternatives.

Although a number of the companies who are USDA certified Organic are also on the Non GMO list (or have applied to be on the list), you may find some other food producers on this list that choose not to use GMO's that may not be certified Organic producers - and thus may have been overlooked by you in the past.

One of my favorite parts of this website is the restaurant guide. It's pretty sparse right now, but hopefully that will change as more companies begin to recognize the value of serving this sort of food.

www.nongmoproject.org

Seaweed

So I was just looking up the components of an herbal supplement to see the research to back it up, and came across this little morsel in a review article looking at the benefits of seaweed.

"The fucoxanthin help reduce bodyweight by (i) upregulating mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) gene expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) (Maeda, Hosokawa, Sashima, Funayama, & Miyashita, 2005), (i...i) leading to increase resting energy expenditure, through uncoupling step during cellular metabolism (Miyashita, 2006), (iii) oxidation of fatty acids, (iv) heat production in WAT20. (Kazuo, 2009 and Maeda et al., 2005); (v) reduced blood glucose and plasma insulin (Maeda, Tsukui, Sashima, Hosokawa, & Miyashita, 2008), and (vi) improved insulin resistance (Kazuo, 2009)."

So in case anyone out there eating lots of seaweed (sushi?) needed another reason to do it... it can benefit your waistline too.

Mohamed S, Hashim ST, Rahman HA. Seaweeds: A sustainable functional food for complementary and alternative therapy. Trends Food Sci Tech. 2012;23(2):83-96.

Seriously?? Fruit Loops with Marshmallows!!!

Who thought this was a good idea for kids to eat! When navigating the cereal aisle always stick to the ends of the aisle, and then look for the top or bottom shelves - as the middle of the ais...le and the rows at eye level are going to have the cereals that are the worst for you.

I appreciate the list on ewg.org, though I will add that I'm not a big fan of the rice cereals, only because they don't stick with you very long. I much prefer people to be eating something with a little more substance to it (more fiber, some protein and some healthy fat).

And it's okay to tell your kids "no!" when they ask for the garbage cereals. I tell mine this all the time, and amazingly they are still alive - even though they would like other grocery shoppers to believe the world had ended in the cereal aisle when they couldn't put a box of crap in our cart.

http://www.ewg.org/research/childrens-cereals