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Weight Loss and Fiber

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Weight loss and foods that are better choices for Fiber

Are there magic foods that we can eat all day and still lose weight? No seriously: Are there? Please tell me! So far I haven’t found any… But there are some foods that are relatively low in calories yet have high nutritive value, either because they are high in fiber, phytonutrients such as antioxidants, or high in protein. These are foods to keep handy in the pantry, refrigerator, or garden and eat daily. Train your family – particularly children – to snack on these top ten foods rather than chips and sodas and you’ll be ahead of the nutrition curve before you know it!

Fiber is critical. Remember your grandmother telling you to eat more “roughage”? Well she was right! We need at least 25 grams a day, and ideally 35 grams a day, for a healthy bowel. I think the correlation between high fiber diets and lower cancer rates is not just from fiber but is synergistic, since most high fiber diets are high in fruits and vegetables, which are also high in antioxidants and other phytonutrients. But, fiber is clearly also very important and few Americans get enough.

Here is my current top ten list of high fiber low calorie foods:

  1. Raspberries rank as one of the highest high fiber low calorie foods, at 8.0 grams of fiber and just 64 calories per serving (1-cup) (1 calorie per raspberry!).
  2. Pears have about 5.1 grams of fiber and only 51 calories for a medium sized pear. They are easy to pack in a lunch and store well.
  3. Apples provide about 4.4 grams of fiber, at roughly 55 calories for a small apple. Choose organic as apples are on the EWG dirty dozen list 2012.
  4. Blueberries provide about 3.5 grams of fiber, and roughly 40 calories for 50 berries. Choose organic as blueberries are on the EWG dirty dozen list 2012.
  5. Strawberries provide about 3.3 grams of fiber and average about 2 calories per strawberry. Choose organic as strawberries are on the EWG dirty dozen list 2012.
  6. Black beans – 1 cup has 15 grams of fiber – along with 15 grams of protein – and just 227 calories[9]
  7. Whole-wheat spaghetti weighs in at 6.3 g of fiber per serving and approximately 174 calories per 1-cup serving (always check the label as brands vary try gluten free)
  8. One cup of steal oatmeal provides 4.0 grams of fiber and about 60 calories per serving
  9. Whole wheat or multigrain breads offer 1.9 grams per slice and some start at 65 calories per slice (always check the label as brands vary – a lot!!!) (Again try gluten free)
  10. Cooked peas, at a whopping 8.8 g of fiber and a low 67 calories per cup serving size. Turn a cup of peas into instant soup with a stick blender and some vegetable stock.

What are food we can leave out?

  • Canned baked beans – pack a lot of fiber per serving, but also lots of sugar and sodium.
    • Processed foods – yes a processed food with added fiber is better than one without, but stick to the foods that mother nature made high in fiber for optimum health.
    •  Using your favorite app (mine is MyFitnessPal available on the app store and at myfitnesspal.com) track your food intake and see how much fiber you’re really getting!

 

When Will I Go Through Menopause?

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There is no set age at which all women will start to go through menopause. The average age of menopause in the United States is 51, but it is considered perfectly normal for a woman to go through it at any time between the ages of 35 and 59. Anything above 35 is not premature. It is not known why some women get signs of menopause in their mid to late thirties or early forties. Some women think that if their periods start early, they will stop early as well. However, research doesn’t show that to be the case. You’re not considered menopausal until you’ve gone an entire year — 12 consecutive months — without having a period.
Probably the biggest factor is the age at which your mother and siblings went through menopause — although this only applies to female relatives who experienced menopause naturally (meaning, not surgically or by inducement, as with a hysterectomy). Other factors that may influence when menopause starts include:
• Smoking. Some studies have shown that women who smoke are likely to start menopause one to two years earlier than those who don’t.
• Eating disorders. Women with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa may reach menopause at an earlier age than they would have otherwise.
Stress, excessive exercise, treatments for breast cancer, certain medical conditions, and autoimmune diseases — basically, anything that causes your ovaries to produce less of the hormones estrogen and progesterone — may accelerate menopause.
On a positive note, a recent study by researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that women who experience hot flashes and night sweats when they are just starting menopause may be at lower risk for heart disease, stroke, and death. However, the study also found that if you experience those symptoms later in menopause, you could be at increased cardiovascular risk. The bottom line: You have your own unique biological clock, and it will determine when you start to have symptoms of menopause — it’s usually a quite natural occurrence. Use of supplements, a low glycemic food plan and burst exercise can help lessen some of the side effects of menopause. I know from experience going through menopause at age 44. See you on the other side!

The Glycemic Index and Migraines

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When the first glycemic index was first released, most dieticians, nutritionists, and physicians were shocked by the results. It flew in the face of theory that all carbs are created equal. It meant that the food pyramid was also wrong and upside down. What they had been taught was wrong. For example, simple sugar like table sugar, also known as sucrose, had a glycemic index of 61 while sugar found in fruits, known as fructose, had a glycemic index of only 19.
So, a white potato (glycemic index of 85) or white bread (glycemic range in the 70’s) making both of these foods spike the blood sugar more readily than table sugar. Did you know that many of our healthy cereals, I mean that sarcastically, such as corn flakes, brain flakes and Cheerios top out the glycemic index scoring as high as 92! Has your trusted doctor or medical professional been recommending to you, a patient with type II diabetes or hypoglycemia to eat carbs that can dangerously spike the blood sugar levels? Something to think about huh? Did you realize that most medical professionals only receive one hour of nutrition in their entire education process?
Obviously, it takes time to make a paradigm shift. Especially, when it comes to a foundational theory that has been the mainstay of diet counseling for the past century. Our European counterparts are well beyond our nation in this discovery and use labels with the glycemic index printed on them. We now know that many who suffer from migraines have a greater correlation between glycemic levels and onsets of migraines. Seek out a holistic or integrative practitioner to help you find a plan for supplements, low glyecmic food plan and exercise to help reduce the migraines which may be a chemical imbalance.

Do You Have Brain Fog?

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Do you have Brain Fog?

Mental confusion; Lack of mental clarity; Difficulty thinking most of the time, in varying degrees. Walk into a room and can’t remember why you are there? It’s called brain fog, although there is still a lot of mystery surrounding it in various medical and psychological arenas. What is known, however, is that it can be brought on by various triggers. Stress is one of those. Chronic stress can over stimulate the brain, so giving your brain a break—and proper vitamins and nutrients—can help quell the damage done to it and its nerve cells. In fact, your brain is fueled by an array of nutrients. Among those are omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, CoQ10, zinc, calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin C and vitamin E. So, be sure your brain gets the diet it needs to function properly. Adaptogenic herbs, or adaptogens, are a wonderful gift from the plant kingdom. These herbs strengthen our resistance to mental and physical stress.
This next trigger, fatigue and lack of adequate sleep or rest can adversely affect your brain, leading to muddled thinking. On average, an adult requires 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep per night. Not getting that amount will cost you some brain power. Sleeping restores the body and brain.
Then there’s gluten. Believe it or not, gluten-ridden foods, including that morning bagel, lunchtime sandwich or pasta dinner can all contribute to brain fog. Gluten, of course, is a protein found in most grains, including wheat, and can disrupt the balance of chemicals and hormones in the brain. Those who have gluten sensitivity often have mal-absorption of nutrients, which can adversely affect mental abilities. What happens is that the body attacks gluten as an invader, which damages the villi lining the intestine, which are there to absorb nutrients as food passes through the small intestine. With damaged villi, however, nutrients are not absorbed properly. So go gluten free as much as possible.
For those who are sensitive to gluten, eating any gluten activates the immune system and can damage the gut villi. Symptoms spread from the gut throughout the body, including the brain. Hence, brain fog.
For some women, however, there’s more to the story of brain fog. Surgical menopause at an earlier age can lead to the decline of memory and thinking skills, says a study released just weeks ago and set to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 6th Annual Meeting in San Diego. Surgical menopause occurs with the removal of both ovaries prior to natural menopause onset and typically accompanies a hysterectomy—a procedure one-third of the women in the U.S. will have before they turn 60. However, stats indicate that nearly two-thirds of the hysterectomies are unnecessary.
Now back to surgical menopause and brain fog. . . Researchers found that women who had surgical menopause had a faster decline in long-term memory related to concepts and ideas, in memory that relates to time and places, and in overall thinking abilities. What’s more is that the researchers also found a significant association between age at surgical menopause and the plaques linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Is that scary or what? Those who underwent surgical menopause at younger ages had significantly more of the plaques associated with Alzheimer’s than those of women who had the procedure later in life. Interestingly, no such correlations were seen between cognitive decline and the onset of natural menopause. It’s not unusual; however, for women to report short-term brain fog after menopause—both surgical and natural—but researchers believe that this results from a sudden drop in the levels of estrogen, which plays a significant role in cognition and memory. With natural menopause, however, cognitive changes are temporary and aren’t linked to the risk of dementia. The changes with surgical menopause, however, appear to be more long-term, leading to continuous negative effects to the brain.