Total Rip Off

I'm owning it. I'm absolutely stealing this from Greatist.com. Though, I guess it's not technically stealing if they ask you to take it. I know I scheduled a post on brown rice syrup for today, but when this popped up in my Google Reader today, I knew that post was going to have to wait. If you haven't looked into the primal or paleo diets, head over to Mark's Daily Apple and check it out. I've learned an immense amount from that blog alone, but there is an entire community out there built around the primal lifestyle. It's a very devoted yet supportive group of health minded people. Sometimes I'm not in sync with all they have to say, but I really appreciate how health subjects are approached from a perspective of understanding the science rather than knee jerk reaction.

One important not here. If you think primal is just a play on Atkins, PLEASE take a closer look. There is a great deal of focus on animal protein in the diet but when you really examine the primal food list, it really is more about eating plants than animals. Animals are certainly part of it, but not the focus.
So, without further ado, here's the kickbutt infograph from the greatist.com.

More Health and Fitness News & Tips at Greatist.

I might just print this baby out and put it on my fridge.

Take care!

-Melie

Pink, Blue, and Yellow: The Rainbow of Table Top Sweeteners

I almost dubbed this post 'The Eh, The Bad and The Ugly', but I was afraid some might think it was about the Kardashians. Instead, let's look at some other chemically enhanced and processed products.

I've really been dreading doing this post because it almost seems pointless. I mean, we all know that the white stuff in the colorful packets on the restaurant table are evil. For quite some time, I've been reaching for the little white one first or the brown 'Sugar in the Raw' if available. At least they're something my great-grandparents would have recognized. And, to be honest, I've never understood the attraction of the others. Splenda, I kind of get as we've been sold the line that it's like sugar because it comes from sugar, but Equal and Sweet 'n Low? Ew. Sweet 'n Low is so bitter, I can't even begin to stomach it. Equal has always given my sister nasty migraines so I've steered clear of it for years. First, because I didn't want to accidentally expose her to it and later because I really didn't want to consume something that can make people that sick. Splenda was only kicked to the curb in the last year. I still have a huge box of it I keep on hand for company.

What's unfortunate is that though we 'know' these things aren't good for us, I bet few of us could articulate a solid argument as to why. Just last week over lunch, a coworker declared that it doesn't matter what sweetener you consume because the body treats all sugars the same. It was a mind-numbingly blatant denial of the obvious, but I couldn't give a good coherent response. I'd like to fix that today by giving a 'Top 5 Reasons to Avoid' each of these sweeteners. I see no reason to belabor the fact that it's bad for you with a great deal of prose. Let's just hit some factoids and move on with our lives, mkay?

Top 5 Reasons to Avoid Sweet 'n Low (aka saccharin, Nasty Stuff in the Pink Packet)

1. Sweet 'n Low is a combination of saccharin and dextrose. Dextrose is a Frankenstein derivative of corn. Don't get me started on corn. It should only be slathered in butter straight off the grill. Otherwise, keep it out of my food.
2. Though saccharin is 300 to 500 times sweeter than sugar to humans, its sweetness is unrecognized by bees or butterflies. It is believed the sweetness we detect is due to the shape of the molecule which fits the taste bud receptors responsible for sweetness. In other words, if your body says get me something sweet, you could eat a truckload of this stuff and your body will still want something sweet.
3. Saccharin was first discovered back in the late 1800's by gentleman investigating chemicals for coal tar. Yeah, let that sink in for a bit. I found a reference to the fact that saccharin was based on metal corrosion inhibitors (I previously had a link to the article here, but required to remove it by Google via the article publisher), but I dismissed it. No way it's that bad. Then I discovered the the only US manufacturer of saccharin also manufactures, you guessed it, metal corrosion inhibitors. I can't find any other reference to a direct link, but it certainly doesn't look good.
4. Saccharin may cause an allergic reaction as it is a sulfonamide. Rare, but I'll give real sugar credit in that I've not seen a claim that it causes allergic reactions.
5. It has absolutely no benefit to the body other than to make things taste sweet. Shouldn't everything you put in your system do it good?

Top 5 Reasons to Avoid Equal (aka aspartame, Nasty Stuff in the Blue Packet)

1. Equal is a combination of aspartame and dextrose. See my rant above.
2. Also like saccharin, aspartame must fit the human taste bud receptors to be recognized as sweet. See second rant above.
3. The body breaks aspartame down into other compounds including phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid that we get from our diet. No big. However, consuming excess amounts, from say drinking diet colas all day, can aggravate sleep and anxiety disorders.
4. This is purely anecdotal, but I have know two people personally who cannot tolerate aspartame as it causes severe headaches. I've seen one of them suffer first hand and it was painful to see. If it causes that kind of visible pain, what might it be doing that is less detectable but still detrimental to health long term? Call me paranoid, but I don't see where it's worth the risk.
5. Again, there is no benefit to the body with aspartame, so why consume it?

Top 5 Reasons to Avoid Splenda (aka sucralose, Nasty Stuff in the Yellow Packet)

1. Splenda is made by replacing three hydrogen-oxygen groups in the sucrose molecule with three chlorine atoms. Uh huh, chlorine. To be fair, the chlorine does not accumulate or break down in the body, but still, it's not something I would prefer to consume.
2. Splenda was shown to decrease the presence of good gut bacteria in a study of rats. Reduced beneficial microflora can lead to ever increasing cravings for real sugar as candida spreads.
3. Splenda contains maltodextrin which can skew glucometer readings for diabetics.
4. Again, anecdotal, but there are widespread reports across the internet as the severe side effects brought on by the ingestion of Splenda. However, I've never met anyone who suffered from it.
5. I'm a broken record here, but there is no benefit to the body with sucralose, so why consume it?

Well, I learned a great deal from this exercise. I do think I can stand by my decision to go with Splenda if forced to make a choice. All things considered, however, I'll drink my coffee black and skip them all together from here on out.

Thanks for reading!

-Melie

Honey, Honey

I am so sorry for the title of this post. I've been singing that blasted 60's tune in my head all day. I love oldies music, but that song has to be the pop culture equivalent of "It's a Small World." Great. Now that one is stuck in my head.

Moving on.

As you may have noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with sweeteners right now. Perhaps it's because I can have so few on the Anti-Candida Diet (ACD). I've covered one of the three that I'm allowed, Stevia, previously, and was tempted to move straight into yacon syrup. I chose not to because I doubt many of you are on the verge of ordering yourselves yacon syrup. I'll cover it in a later post along with my other legal sweet, vegetable glycerin.

Since I'm moving on to mainstream sweeteners, I'd like to take a look at honey. I've been digging and doing some reading about all the various sweeteners and the more I learn, the more I like honey. It's ancient and therefore primal. It can be purchased readily from local producers. It tastes amazing. It makes me think of Pooh Bear.

Do any of those points make it healthy? Well, I planned to investigate for myself when I mapped out the month of blog posts. Coincidentally, Mark Sisson had the same plan. If you aren't familiar with Mr. Sisson over at Mark's Daily Apple, get to know him. He is the godfather of the Primal Movement and someone I really enjoy reading. Regardless of what you might think of the primal approach to eating, when he dives into a subject you will learn something. Please click over to his post on honey for some truly interesting insights on the golden sticky stuff.

For those of you who'd prefer the cliff notes, here's a summary:

• Honey is more than a sweetener. It's a food with hundreds of elements including vitamins and minerals.
• Honey has been shown to have a positive impact on blood, including lowering LDL, triglycerides and inflammatory markers.
• Darker honey has more bioactive compounds and is, therefore, more beneficial.

 
I'll also add a few points of my own including some draw backs of honey. For one, the glycemic index of honey varies widely depending on the pollen source of the bees in question. Where sugar (sucrose) is around 65, honey can range from 35 up to 87. However, honey is also 1.5 times sweeter than sugar, so you might be able to replace sugar with half the honey, reducing the total glycemic load. Refer to the American Honey Producers Association website for some guidelines on baking or cooking with honey.

While doing my reading, I also stumbled on a rather clinical yet thorough report on the different characteristics of honey. The report was created by the National Honey Board, so it's not exactly a clinical or unbiased source. However, according to their report, honey is a very effective prebiotic. Prebiotics are food for the good gut bacteria that fight off the bad bacteria such as Candida. Ding, ding, ding! Honey also contains sucrose and small amounts of yeast that will feed Candida as well, so I can't have it on the ACD. However, once I've got my system back in order, I'll be using honey regularly to keep my gut in balance.

There are an overwhelming number of types and flavors of honey. I would recommend going local as long as it is pasteurized. Buying local honey will not only support local businesses, but will also be fresher, less processed and, therefore, more beneficial. However, and this is important, don't give any raw honey you've purchased at your local farmer's market to a child under the age of 3. Raw honey can carry botulism. Older children and adults have strong enough systems to fight it off, but little one simply aren't equipped. I keep raw honey in the house with my first aid stuff as it is a fantastic natural astringent, but don't keep in your pantry if you have little ones as it might be offered to them by an unwitting adult.

Lastly, if you do find yourself at the stand of a local purveyor of honey, you may very well find yourself overwhelmed by the variety in color. In general, the darker stuff is stronger and is ideal when the honey flavor is what you are wanting. For baking or cooking that simply requires sweetness, go for the lighter amber.

That's all I've got for today, but I'll have more tomorrow, including an update on how my 30 Days to Fit program is going.

Take care!

-Melie

Stevia by Any Other Name

Alright, I'm not going to lie. It's late and I'm tired. This post is going to be short, sweet and to the point. Ironically, that pretty well sums up our subject for today: Stevia.

For all the recent news and talk about Stevia, you couldn't be blamed for thinking it was just another new fangled man-made chemical for sweetening your coffee. Alas, you'd be wrong. Stevia hails from South America where it has been used for hundreds of years...as medicine. That's right. It's a medicinal herb with a heck of a sweet kick and a bit of bitterness. More on the medicinal side of this plant later.

Much like white sugar is gleaned from sugar cane and sugar beets because of their high concentration of sucrose, the stevia hitting the shelves as I type is harvested from a particular genus of stevia plant called Stevia Rebaudiana (S. Reb). The source of sweetness in stevia plants is the glycosides. Glycosides are a molecular structure made up of one part sugar and one part non-sugar plant material. S. Reb has eight of these glycosides including a very high concentration of the extremely sweet glycoside dubbed Rebaudiocide A, or Reb A. Reb A is 250 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. That's some serious sugar rush potential.

Still with me? Stevia is a kind of plant. Stevia Rebaudiana is a particular Stevia plant with a whole lot of Reb A, which is really, really sweet. Got it? Good.

Back in 1991, the FDA banned all use of stevia in the US. The reason given was "toxicological information on stevia is inadequate to demonstrate its safety." Then in 1995, the FDA lifted the ban and allowed stevia extract to be sold as a dietary supplement. To be clear, stevia extract is made with all eight glycosides in the whole leaf of the Stevia Rebaudiana plant. As a result, stevia extract weighs in at 20 to 30 times the sweetness of sugar, not nearly as sweet as the isolated Reb A.

Flash forward to 2008 and the FDA grants Reb A the status Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). Cue dollar signs in the eyes of every food manufacturer looking for an edge. Naturally, the first to cue up were Coke and Pepsi. Coke partnered with Cargill to produce Truvia and Pepsi gave us Purevia. Both products combine Reb A with a corn-based sugar alchohol called erythritol to minimize the bitter aftertaste of Reb A.

Based on all this information, if someone were to ask you for stevia, they could be asking for a plant, a dietary supplement, a powerful sweetener with a bitter edge or a packet of Reb A mixed with some corn-based sweetener. Granted, they probably don't want the plant, but you get my point. Stevia by that name is not necessarily the same, but to be well-informed eaters, we need to understand the difference.

As mentioned at the opening of this post, stevia leaves have been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. It has been used for weight loss, high blood pressure, heartburn and for preventing pregnancy, among other things. These bodily impacts are made by the non-sugar side of the glycosides in the stevia leaf. It is for this reason that stevia extract has not been approved for use beyond dietary supplement. The seven glycosides beyond Reb A have simply not been investigated thoroughly enough for us to completely understand the impact they will have on our bodies. Reb A, on the other hand, has been put through its paces for decades across Europe, Asia and South America. However, in its commercial form, it is not purely Reb A. It is Reb A combined with a chemically process corn-based sugar alcohol.

Wrapping up, here's our choice when it comes to stevia: a less than optimally tested dietary supplement or hybrid natural/manufactured sweetener. I'm consuming both right now. My Arbonne Protein shake mix and the coconut milk I use to make them both use Reb A. (Neither uses erythritol.) For now, I'm not concerned because I'm using stevia to kick my addiction to sugar so I can eventually wean off sweets nearly completely. However, once I've met that goal, I won't be using it in my coffee on a daily basis. I have very low blood pressure and, although I don't think I could consume enough stevia extract to cause serious problems, I don't think it will help either.

I hope this helps you make the right decision for you. Please check out the sites listed below that I used to put this together and do your own digging. Please post what you find in the comments.

Did I say this was going to be short? Oh, well, it was totally worth it, but I better sign off before the clock strikes midnight!

Take care!

-Melie

Resources:

Universityof Nebraska Study

WebMD

Eating Well

EatingRules.com

Nutriology.com

Sugar Patches

My apologies to those who inadvertently landed on this post after searching for 'Sugar Patches'. Feel free to press the back button and continue your quest for more fun than should be, or possibly is, legal.

For the rest of you, let's talk about sugar substitutes.

I titled this post 'Sugar Patches' because I have a particular take on all sugar substitutes. Yesterday's post laid out some good reasoning for cutting back or even eliminating the sugar from our everyday diets. For me, the next question has always been 'What do I sweeten with now?' In the last month or two, I'm finally coming to the conclusion that I've been asking the wrong question. I should instead be asking myself how to stop craving the sweet stuff in the first place.

Now, don't panic and start thinking I've lost my ever-loving mind. I am not a proponent of throwing out all sweets forever. Some things are just too deeply entrenched in our culture and family traditions. To reject a dark chocolate bunny on Easter or birthday cake on your one special day a year is unreasonable and darn near un-American. What I am a proponent of is making special occasions exactly that, special. How special is that Easter chocolate if you've been hitting the vending machine at work every day for a peanut butter cup? And is your birthday cake with ice cream really all that big a deal when you've been visiting the ice cream shop every weekend? Somehow we've become a culture where special treats are just part of our regular sustenance. It's really sad when you think about it. Nothing sweet is special anymore.

As a result, when many of us start to look for ways to get healthy, we decide to cut back on calories and by extension sugar with as little change in our routine as possible. You ask the question I did:  'What do I sweeten with now?' It's a natural reaction after being fed the whole 'calories in must be less than calories out' method to health. We trade our cola for diet cola. Buy low fat, sugar-free everything and sit back and wait for the pounds to melt away. Interestingly enough, if you had a really high calorie diet before those substitutions, the weight just might come off, but I bet you'll still feel like doo doo. That was me on Weight Watchers. I still felt bad because I still wasn't giving my body the nutrients it needed to function properly. Like the doctor who handed me heartburn medication instead of probiotics, you're treating the symptom (your weight) rather than the problem (your body's inability to function at optimum levels).

That's why I'm calling sugar substitutes 'Sugar Patches'. They are just like nicotine patches used by smokers trying to quit. I don't think anyone would argue that a nicotine patch is healthy, but I commend anyone using them as they try to wean themselves off something far worse. That's how we should treat most sugar substitutes. They are a temporary tool for helping us lose our addiction to sugar, nothing more.

If we keep that perspective and lose the addiction, eventually we'll find that not only do we have more room in our diet for vegetables and fruit, we'll also have a better palate for them. When you no longer expect everything to taste like sugar, you will begin to appreciate the taste of real food and eat more of it. That, after all, should be the goal. Not weight loss. Not fitting into that dress for your reunion. Not looking great on the beach. The goal should be feeling good, enjoying better relationships and smiling more. Those things will only come with good health from better eating.

Knowing our objective is better health for a better life, I'd like to take look at each of the Sugar Patches available so you can make an informed decision about which ones are right for you. I might lump several into one post, but the more popular ones, I'll try to dive into greater detail. After all, if I were buying a nicotine patch, I wouldn't just buy the first one I saw and slap it on my arm. I'd want to know what the side effects will be and how it will help me break my addiction.

I'd also like to add here that any sugar substitute is only part of the process. I've been doing the 30-day Fit Kit from Arbonne for over a week now. It has done a great deal in moving me away from my sugar cravings. I actually ate raw broccoli during the big game on Sunday. I've occasionally munched on broccoli before, but Sunday was the first time I'd ever done it without feeling like I was taking my medicine. I actually found myself munching away as if those little trees were chips or peanuts. I feel comfortable only one week into the program recommending Arbonne's system. However, I'm certainly not saying it's the only game in town. There are juice fasts and other approaches such as the Anti-Candida Diet (ACD), which I am also doing. My point is that there are cleanses and healthy programs available to help you get a kick start or perhaps a final push to conquer the sugar addiction. Be sure to explore these options.

For now, I'm going to focus on the sugar substitutes so I know what I'm putting in my body while I work to remove the sugar from my daily diet. First up tomorrow will be Stevia, because it's the only readily available sweetener I'm allowed right now on the ACD. What can I say? I'm selfish that way. You'll benefit for the information, too. Stevia is the fastest growing sugar substitute on the market, mainly because of Coke and Pepsi. If you haven't encountered it yet, you will.

 Until tomorrow, take care!

-Melie


P.S. I've been really bad about recording my food journal on the last few posts. I'm just not convinced anyone is interested. Just in case you are, I'm keeping my own old school journal and will create a page with my daily intake at the end of the week. That way I'm not bugging those not interested, but still satisfying those who are curious.

Day 3: Uncle Candida

When I started this project all of five days ago, I jumped right in without a great deal of explanation. Many of you are family and friends (Thank you for the support of my new blog, btw!) and may not have much experience with the gluten-free diet, much less Candida. With gluten-free being a bit of a fad and since the wonderful wizard that is Dr. Oz just covered the subject recently, I'm going to touch on the Anti-Candida Diet (ACD) first.

Candida is actually an innocent little bit of flora that exists in everyone's digestive tract. When all is well with a person's system, the Candida is no problem whatsoever. Unfortunately, when the immune system is compromised or the delicate balance of flora has become disturbed by antibiotics or processed food, Candida can get out of control. Think of Candida as your annoying uncle at the family reunion. He has every right to be there, but when your aunt (immune system or good gut bugs) isn't there to keep him in check, things can get ugly fast.

With complete freedom from antibodies and/or competing probiotics, Candida will breach the intestinal wall and take up residence throughout the body. It can be seen as a yellowish or white film on the tongue. It can gum up the joints and clog up the pores in your skin. Candida can also invade the sinuses and other areas and instigate infections.

So, how to throw the disagreeable uncle out of the house? This is where the metaphor ends. Ridding the body of Candida requires starving it to death. Candida thrives on sugar, chemicals and other bacteria. In fact, one way to tell you have a Candida problem is gauging your craving for sugar. Candida will consume any sugar it can get. As a result, the body will look to replace it, sending you to the pantry desperately scavenging for old Halloween candy or digging in the fridge for stale birthday cake from last week...or so I've heard. Not that I've ever done either of those things. Umkay, moving on.

To be clear, you don't have to starve yourself to kill off the Candida, but the food you can have is very restrictive, unless you change your perspective. A great place to reference for details is Whole Approach. Their diet guidelines are clear and easy to follow. You might notice that few sweeteners, fewer fruits and no chocolate are on the OK food list. However, there is an extensive list of vegetables, meats, nuts, seeds and legumes that will nourish you but do nothing to feed the Candida. When was the last time you had a craving for kale and pumpkin seeds? Yeah, me either.

Here in lies the immediate purpose of this blog. I tried for four weeks to follow that Whole Approach list. I did well for a couple of weeks. And, though I did cheat with dairy and cheese after those first two weeks, until the PF Chang Flourless Chocolate Dome fiasco, I didn't touch a grain of sugar or non-OK sweetener for a month. Ironically, I did better with avoiding sugars because I was fixated on replacing all my old sugar addictions with 'legal' substitutes such as carob for chocolate or stevia and yacon for sugar.

Vegetables and legumes, on the other hand, have never been a big part of my diet. I do love lima beans, sweet potatoes and I'll eat my share of salad when it's dripping in dressing, but 'I wouldn't say I've missed it, Bob'. One of my hopes for this project to change that thinking. Replacing a meal or two a day with an ACD-legal* protein shake frees me to focus on getting at least one meal a day right. I'm off to a bit of a shaky start. (No pun intended, promise.) I managed to get in a bowl of spinach on Day 1 and some raw broccoli yesterday. Today, I hit Chipotle with my man and had a burrito bowl with plenty of guacamole and black beans, no cheese or sour cream, thank you very much. Tonight, however, the kids wanted Chik-fil-A and, though we rarely do fast food for dinner, we relented. I had the new grilled chicken nuggets. They were awesome, but the half order of waffle fries did little to further my healthy-vegetable-with-each-meal objective.

And so, the battle continues. I'm starving the Candida and changing my approach to food, again. It's just the latest in my incremental movement toward healthier living. What one improvement are you working toward and how will you get there?

Day 3 Menu:

• Carob & Almond Butter Arbonne Protein Shake
• Chipotle Burrito Bowl with brown rice, black beans, carnitas (Oops, should've had chicken!), pico de gallo & guacamole plus bottled water
• Arbonne Citrus Fizz Tab drink
• Chik-Fil-A 10 piece Grilled Chicken Nuggets & 1/2 order of Waffle Fries plus bottled water
• Arbonne Detox Tea

Day 3 State of the Union:

• Weight has dropped a bit, but, more importantly, my mood and energy are up. I haven't been hungry. I also haven't had any cravings for sweets or treats.
• Nose is still a bit congested and I had some heartburn last night. Tongue still has the tell tale signs of Candida.

That's it for now. I promise to get better about adding some photos to the blog. All this text is a bit much without pretty pictures. Tomorrow is my oldest baby's thirteenth birthday. Unbelievable. I'll share some baby photos and try not to be too weepy.

Take care-

Melie


*Note: A perceptive reader might note that Arbonne's protein shakes contain evaporated cane juice. That's a big no-no on the Anti-Candida Diet. It's also the reason I consider using Arbonne's program to fight Candida an experiment. I'm confident the program will help me change my eating habits for the better. My hypothesis is that the amount of cane juice is minimal enough that I can still starve the Candida. It should also help that I am taking Nystatin, a prescription drug that aids in killing Candida by destroying its cellular walls.