Important News on preventing heart disease....

Today's Post:  Friday, 6-28-2013

We’ve made several of these recommendations for quite some time now.

But there is a surprising new method that may help.  And there is even more recent confirmation in several areas.

1.  Notably, high fructose corn syrup, sugars and refined grains are looking even more to be heart attack starters that should rarely if ever be eaten or drunk!

a) Why?  The more you eat, the more you boost the triglycerides in your blood!  And the more triglycerides you have, the more small particle LDL you have causing heart disease by depositing in your blood vessel walls, causing inflammation, and even more repair attempts by your body.  That causes plaque that begins to close your blood vessels and when loose plaque breaks off in partly to mostly closed blood vessels you get obstructive strokes and heart attacks.

Does that mean that eating or drinking a lot of those things is heart attack starter!  It definitely does!

But though we’ve known these things for some time, until just recently, doctors have not been aware of or used this information.

NOW, however, that may change!  Recent research has found that high triglyceride levels are THREE times as likely to predict heart attacks and related events as high LDL cholesterol.

This news will get to most doctors eventually. 

And, the present status of most Americans is dire.  The average American, between regular soft drinks and refined grain foods and breads, and frequent packaged snacks and desserts and adding sugar to things has triglyceride levels between 150 and 250.  Many have even higher levels than 250!  I talked to an unfortunate young man once who was over 300!

What is a probably safe and protective level?  Less than 50!  The amount considered “normal” is 150; but in terms of safety anything over 100 is risky!

Specifically, high fructose corn syrup is the worst one and there is no safe amount of it.  It causes even more heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity than real sugar.  It also contains mercury often enough, it should be banned for that reason alone.  Even worse, the version put into foods that are sold for products intended for people who are trying to lose weight have extra fructose.  That means they are extra addictive, extra fattening, and even worse heart attack starters.  Yikes!  ALWAYS read labels even for foods you have eaten since you were little.  If high fructose corn syrup is on the label, stop buying and eating that food. 

Refined grain foods, particularly wheat, spike blood sugar as much or more than sugar.  GMO and hybrid wheat which is in the vast majority of refined grain foods in the marketplace is even fattening, addictive, and harmful in other ways.  Increasingly, health knowledgeable people make an extra effort to avoid refined grain wheat.  In addition to all its other problems, the form of gluten in it is likely to cause the people eating it to then need to avoid all gluten products.

To do this, you need to avoid ANY grains or breads or baked goods to some extent. 

There ARE grains and grain like foods and flours that avoid using wheat and are low glycemic or gluten free or both.

 (Barley has gluten but is low glycemic and people who eat it tend to become leaner. 

Quinoa, is higher protein and lower glycemic than other whole grains including brown rice; it has more fiber by far and is lower glycemic than white rice; it has zero gluten; AND since it has its OWN insect resistance naturally there is no need to spray it with pesticides or make a GMO version. 

Buckwheat flour by Bob’s Red Mill has zero gluten; and though it is a bit high glycemic works well in recipes. 

Almond flour and lentil flour have zero grains and are moderately high in protein and are respectively zero glycemic and low glycemic.  Some people are allergic to nuts and thus to almonds and some allergic to peanuts or soy are allergic to lentils.

The bad news is that so far, the companies that supply stores and most bakeries don’t provide foods made with these grains and grain substitutes and reliably and  totally leave out wheat flour and white rice flour.

So, you can eat these foods.  But you have to cook them yourself or have them baked to order special by a local caterer or bakery willing and able to do so.)

Sugar tastes good.  And it’s rewarding to eat.  Plus it’s far less harmful than agave which is mostly fructose and high fructose corn syrup.  Flavored sugars such as honey, black strap molasses, brown sugar, and real maple syrup taste good for that reason so you can often use less.

But even real sugar is a food that is only safe to eat a few times a week and it’s better if you eat it less than that.

One way to do that for yourself is to cut back by two to one or close to it and then get used to that level and then cut your intake in half again and then get used to it and then do it again!

(This works.  I went from having sugar with my breakfast from every single day, 14 times every two weeks to once every two weeks that way.)

Because I also eat no refined grains or high fructose corn syrup and do regular exercise and eat no hydrogenated oils and avoid tobacco smoke and take omega 3 supplements, my triglyceride readings are in the mid thirties.  (Regular, vigorous exercise and omega 3 supplements and avoiding tobacco smoke all tend to lower triglycerides and increase HDL.  So does taking niacin which I also do.  Eating hydrogenated oils also boosts the dickens out of triglycerides and I totally avoid those.)

Avoiding excess sugars prevents heart disease a second way too!

If you ingest excess sugars they tend to bond with the proteins in your body in a process called glycation.  That causes skin wrinkling and other kinds of aging!  It may well also cause damage to your telomeres.  Short telomeres cause aging directly and force the development of heart disease in several ways.

(Taking the supplement rhodiola has just been found to slow aging and age related drop offs in physical performance. That suggests a telomere protective effect.)

c) Is there more?  Yes!

Excess sugars, particularly high fructose corn syrup, especially combined with no exercise tends to cause insulin resistance, obesity, AND type 2 diabetes.

How does THAT cause heart disease?

Your body sticks the extra sugar onto ALL your LDL even the normally harmless large particle kind AND onto your red blood cells using a kind of spiky crystalline structure.

This begins to abrade the inside of your blood vessels and capillaries.  This causes inflammation and plaque build-up, heart disease in short, in your blood vessels.  And if it goes on long enough, it destroys many of your capillaries!  Some serve your heart so your blood supply to your heart can be impaired. 

Some go to your brain and this process is implicated in causing vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.  Some go to your sexual parts and ruin your sex life.  And some go to your eyes and this process has caused blindness.

2.  Besides cutting WAY back on sugar and refined grains what is the best way to protect your heart, prevent type 2 diabetes or help force it to go away, and protect yourself from moderate high blood pressure?

Research shows that doing regular, vigorous exercise most days of every week does exactly that.  A blend of burst cardio in interval or variable cardio and progressive strength training does just that.

It also slows aging enough to show it prevents or tends to prevent the shortening of your telomeres.

3.  Why go to all that trouble when you can take statin drugs and drugs to lower high blood pressure?

Because these drugs cause harm and often big drops in your quality of life and cost a lot of money and protect you from very little to not at all!

Yikes!

Worse, most doctors do not know or believe this yet.

This is extremely unfortunate.

Is there research supporting this?

YES.  There is now!

We’ve known for some time that for close to 1 to 2 % of the people taking statin drugs prevent heart attacks.

That means that 98% pay and are subject to the side effects notably cataracts, 3% get those who would not have done so otherwise, and type 2 diabetes and increased rates of heart failure and are not protected.

Worse, there is a genetic test few doctors know to do first which costs about $150.  Statins are even less protective for most people they have the wrong genes!  Only in the smaller group are better rates of protection seen.

And most of those people shouldn’t take statins either!

That’s because statins do NOT over-ride doing all these heart attack starter bad habits even in that group.  It’s simple really.  One unit of protection is not as strong as six units of heart attack starter!

And removing all six units of heart attack starter makes further drug protection of little added value!

And there is more bad news for statins now!

The higher dosage you take of statins, the stronger the version you take, and the longer you are on them, the more doing the kind of exercise that is most protective causes damage your muscles and energy level sustain.  This can be irreversible damage and even kill you!

Meanwhile if you do that kind of exercise you get much stronger heart attack protection than statins can give you.

4.  What about high blood pressure drugs?

Except in small doses for some drugs in some people all of them tend to ruin your quality of life and make you feel sick and impaired every day you take them.

But isn’t this protective and saving you from heart attacks and strokes? 

Recent studies show it usually is NOT doing so!

Many years ago the Jupiter research found that for people with blood pressure over 160 over 100, taking the blood pressure drugs to drop it below that DID cut heart attacks, strokes, and deaths.

(It did NOT do so for the group with lower high blood pressures between 140 over 90 and 159 over 99.  But the doctors and the drug companies ignored that.)

More recently a study was done that something DOES exist that cuts heart attacks, strokes, and deaths for people with lower high blood pressures between 140 over 90 and 159 over 99.

What?

Regular vigorous exercise does it!  (That’s the same kind that taking statins makes it dangerous to do!)

The study that established that then tested to see if adding blood pressure drugs to the exercise would lower heart attacks, strokes, and deaths further.

Nope. It had ZERO such effect!

More recently a study by the Cochrane group simply looked to see if using blood pressure drugs in the group of people with lower high blood pressures between 140 over 90 and 159 over 99 would cut down on heart attacks, strokes, and deaths.

Nope.  They found what the other two studies did.  It had zero such effect!

Want to avoid heart attacks, strokes, and death and have a good quality of life?

Stop exposing yourself to or ingesting heart attack starters and get regular vigorous exercise.

And, except in special circumstances, AVOID statin drugs and high blood pressure drugs!

Why STOP buying most beef....

Today's Post:  Tuesday, 6-25-2013

Buying most beef today is like casting a deciding vote to bring back the days when life was very short and often ended suddenly and people spent a lot of their time going to funerals.

The much better news is if you don’t eat that kind of beef either your health will be dramatically better.

If you think this is totally bogus and an over-reaction, PLEASE read this post.

It’s completely real.

I truly wish it wasn't so.  But it really is that bad.

My wife is a history buff and loves to read history from before the revolutionary war to the end of the civil war.

One thing she remarks on occasionally reading about what life was like then is the number of people with friends or children or relatives who die rather suddenly at almost any age.  And, by today’s standards, the surprising amount of time people spent going to funerals.

There are two reasons for that.

Since then we've developed public health methods that have slashed the number of people who get sick.  And, things that, back then, very often caused fatal diseases from bacterial infection that were once untreatable have mostly been curable with antibiotics.

1.  The factory farms and processors of various kinds, in the United States, that raise and process beef have decided that making a bit more money is more important than the side effect of causing almost all our antibiotics to stop working.

2.  The factory farms and processors of various kinds, in the United States have used their money to prevent our governmental agencies from doing the right thing and banning these practices.

A majority of total antibiotic use in the United States now is to give cattle antibiotics EVERY DAY even when they aren’t sick.

The cattle raised in criminally crowded and filthy conditions don’t get sick so far.  So the growers and processors can get away with not spending any time or money to provide healthier and more humane conditions.

And, growers found that when cattle didn’t need to fight off being sick, they gained weight faster and cost less to feed for that shorter time.

The problem is that all our antibiotics are now on their way to NOT working because of the antibiotic proof bacteria this is producing.

Worse, if you eat the beef with the antibiotic resistant or antibiotic proof bacteria in it, it will tend to cause antibiotics to NOT work in YOU anymore.  You eat them and they can teach  bacteria you get infected by to stop being killed by antibiotics too.

So, maybe you saved a quarter on your hamburger.  And, there’s lots of it around because the growers and processors make an extra quarter or so per hamburger too.

For THEM this is a LOT of money. 

But for you, it’s totally not worth it!

Are the countries in the rest of the world that stupid?

No. 

Denmark found that eliminating this practice did NOT drive beef producers out of business.  They adapted to healthier ways of raising cattle and it wasn't THAT expensive to do so.

And the number of other countries that are doing the same is growing – as it should be!

Don’t count on the FDA or the USDA here to protect you.  They clearly should have already done so by about five years ago!

But the industry has had too much money for them to be able to regulate.

So, how do you protect yourself?

You actually need to do a lot.  Wash your hands more often.  Be fanatic about cleaning cuts and keeping a bandage on them until they heal. Take probiotics.  Take at least 500 mg a day of vitamin C and at least 3,000 iu a day of vitamin D3.  Make a special effort to NOT have surgery if you possibly can. 

But the simplest thing is to just stop buying this kind of beef and stop eating it.

Not only can you do that, it will improve your health dramatically to do so.  That kind of beef has MANY other health problems you can also avoid. 

(That kind of beef is fed, even stuffed with, GMO corn and soy which are heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.  So that kind of beef is sky high in omega 6 oils which helps cause heart disease and many cancers from the high chronic inflammation it causes.  And, the fat has bioconcentrated pesticides and herbicides.  So, don’t eat that kind of beef ever -- or at the very least eat the most fat trimmed and lean versions only if you value your health!)

Do you have to eat an all vegetarian diet to do that?

No!  You don’t even need to completely stop eating beef -- because some growers feed their cattle only grass or organically raised spouts.  Whole Foods carries it.  And, you can buy it online.  It costs more, so you will eat less beef.

But protein from other sources works fine the rest of the time:

Eating beans and nonfat cottage cheese works well with extra virgin olive oil and spices.  So does eating eggs from hens fed only on natural pasture and eating wild caught fish.  And there are dozens more ways to get health OK protein foods.

If enough of us vote with our money to eat other foods and far more sanely raised beef, despite our ineffective government, we CAN make a difference.  Beef growers and processors are businesses.  If half the population stops buying their stuff, they will pay attention!   

VERY good news on red wine....

Today's Post:  Friday, 6-21-2013

I once met a doctor who believed that the health benefits of red wine were shared with other alcoholic drinks because moderate intake of ethanol, the alcohol in drinks, did seem to cause some heart protective effects.

Such drinking does tend to cause boosts in HDL cholesterol.  And, at the level of a drink a day for women and 2 drinks a day or a bit less for men a drink after dinner does seem to help your body take in food without generating as much of the bad form of LDL cholesterol.

And, the mild relaxation does help relieve stress if you don’t overdo the amount or make bad judgment moves from overdoing the amount.

1.  BUT there are some recent studies I just found out this week, that show that drinking red wine IS dramatically better for you than other kinds of alcoholic drinks!

2. AND, at the end of this post is some exciting new information on how to cut back on the bad effects of alcohol when you would like to do so.

I got the first set of information from a fat loss expert who gets results with his methods, Mike Geary.

His eBook is “The Truth About Abs.”  (See:  www.truthaboutabs.com .)

Truly, if you eat and exercise right well enough to remove the fat over your abdominal muscles, you have gone from much fatter to truly lean.

For most people, and particularly those under 60, Mike’s information gets those results.

And his advice is good enough to sharply improve fat loss and health results even for older people and those with extra problems losing fat!

I’m introducing Mike because I’ve used his content exactly.

And, I want him to benefit when readers see how good his stuff is and give him full credit:

-----Original Message-----

From: Mike Geary

Sent: Mon, Jun 17, 2013 11:59 am

Subject: Red wine and your gut? (important study results)

You are receiving this newsletter because you are a subscriber  to Mike Geary's Lean-Body Secrets Ezine from TruthAboutAbs.

Here's Mike:

"You've probably heard that red wine can be a very healthy drink option, but you most likely only heard about generic benefits of the antioxidants and resveratrol in red wine.

But here's another MAJOR reason below why red wine in moderation (1-2 glasses per day max) can be a super healthy part of your routine.  I personally have really grown to enjoy having a glass of red wine with dinner about 4-5 days per week.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;95:1323-1334) reported that people who drank 2 glasses of red wine per day (dry red wine, not sugary dessert wines) had higher levels of beneficial bacteria in their gut and lower levels of pathogenic bad bacteria in their gut.  This is great news as you know from reading this newsletter how vastly important your gut flora balance is to everything from your digestion, immunity, metabolism, skin health, and much more.

The study concluded that while red wine consumption decreased pathogenic bacteria in the gut, it actually had a prebiotic effect in the gut in that it supported the growth and colonies of healthy gut microbes which protect your health.

But the powerful health benefits of red wine don't stop there...

Another exciting part of this study is that the red wine drinkers also decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and CRP (C-reactive protein).  CRP is a measure of overall inflammation in your body, so it's great to see an association between red wine and reduced inflammation.

The interesting part of the study is that red wine was compared against equivalent servings of gin (equivalent alcohol serving) and none of the benefits mentioned above were seen in the group consuming the gin.  This means the benefits were probably related to the polyphenols and resveratrol in red wine and not necessarily the alcohol content itself, although there is likely a synergistic effect of the alcohol and other compounds in red wine as the group receiving de-alcoholized red wine got less of a blood pressure benefit.

You can choose Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Shiraz or any other dry red wine to get all of these powerful health benefits of the unique polyphenols and resveratrol.

Note that white wine also has some health benefits but not nearly as powerful as red wine due to the lower antioxidant levels. 

Another benefit of red wine not mentioned in the study above is that I've seen studies that show that red wine consumed with a meal can slow and moderate the blood sugar response you get from that meal.  This is yet another benefit to keeping your hormones balanced, controlling insulin levels, controlling appetite, and staying lean!

As you can see, there's plenty of reasons raise a glass of red wine at your meals and toast to your health and happiness!”

My comments:

Note that this information means that red wine in moderation tends to help with fat loss in several ways -- AND that these health benefits at least make the extra calories from the wine far less fattening than you might expect!

Also note that this means drinking red wine DOES have very positive heart health and immune system boosting effects. 

In particular, beneficial probiotic bacteria in your gut help boost your immune system enough you get fewer cases of colds and flu or any kind of infection in your stomach or intestines.

Being sick a lot less and keeping your heart health are very valuable effects.

Resveratrol and grape polyphenols are heart protective and may also promote longevity.  This study found that the alcohol in red wine acted as a catalyst to give these effects a VERY big boost!

AND, drinking can increase your blood pressure or make high blood pressure worse and often does.

Here again, moderate amounts of red wine may do the reverse for some people according to this study.  And, at the very least if your body tends to get higher blood pressure from drinking, choosing moderate amounts of red wine will minimize that effect!

In short. this study is VERY good news for people who drink moderate amounts of red wine and enjoy doing so.

2.  You have to be careful to avoid drinking more than moderate amount of any alcoholic beverage for safety reasons particularly for driving.  Plus this effect gets worse and happens at lower levels of drinking if you are at all short on sleep.

Then too sometimes people go to weddings and other events where they do wind up drinking more than moderate amounts.

That is often dangerous or unpleasant if not right then, the morning afterwards.

It’s important to have someone else drive or wait a good bit longer before driving if you drink that much – take a couple of hour nap perhaps instead of leaving immediately.

And, no matter what, if you drink a lot more and are tested by the police you can go over the legal limit and incur all kinds of horrible and expensive penalties.

But what if you could cause your liver to remove the put you to sleep effects, remove much of  the bad reaction times and over-reactions, and avoid a hangover too because it processed the alcohol faster or did much better at it?

What if you could get the mellow, happy feeling and NOT lose it from suddenly feeling whacked later?

What if this effect was so strong, your liver could not only do all this but stay in better health or even get healthier at the same time?

BINGO!

I found out that all these are real effects of a new supplement based on research done at UCLA!

(I found out about it after overhearing the owner say his customer taking it had gone to Italy and was able to drink as much as what his family was used to without getting too drunk to enjoy himself or be hung over the day after.)

Here’s the link I found with the information:

http://blucetin.com/

I also found that you can buy it online in addition to at a health food store local to you.  

Too much sugar causes heart disease two ways....

Today's Post:  Tuesday, 6-18-2013

Most people still think that sugar is a safe to eat food that tastes good.

Many do know that eating a lot of it is fattening.

Few know that eating too much sugar causes heart disease.

We’ve often posted on the first way this happens. 

Research has been done showing that a combination of low HDL and high triglycerides means that the person with those readings has LOTS of the small particle LDL that is a direct cause of heart disease.

Separate research confirms that high triglycerides indicate high heart attack risk.

Besides lack of exercise, what causes high triglycerides?

Eating lots of sugar, eating or drinking things that contain high fructose corn syrup, and eating a lot of foods made of refined grains all do this.  And it’s a BIG effect!

The much better news is that if you eliminate eating or drinking things that contain high fructose corn syrup, and eliminate eating foods made of refined grains and systematically cut way back on sugar, you not only help reverse this dangerous effect, you lose fat and become less hungry!

But that does take effort for people used to doing it the way the uninformed average person still does it.

Now there is news that is both scary and a big help for people who need a bit more motivation to do these things.

New research has found that IN ADDITION  to causing heart disease, eating too much sugar or refined grains directly damages your heart a second way!

It helps cause heart failure. 

Heart failure is a truly horrible condition where your heart becomes so weak you get extra fluids in your chest and begin to feel as if you can’t breathe!  It is now usually progressive and fatal.

These two kinds of heart damage are a bit like being stabbed besides being gradually strangled.

I found this study reported in Medical News Today:

Too Much Sugar Can Cause Heart Failure

http://mnt.to/a/4f8f

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston 

(UTHealth), have revealed that consuming too much sugar can greatly increase the 

risk of heart failure.In fact, a previous study conducted by researchers at 

Emory University School of Medicine and the US Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC), found that people who consume high levels of added sugar, such 

as in processed foods and beverages, are much more likely to have higher heart 

disease risk factors.

The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, says that just one molecule of glucose metabolite glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) can lead to improper function of the heart. 

G6P builds up when people consume too much sugar and starch and causes severe stress to the heart.

Sugar still tastes good of course.  Mercifully small and occasional amounts are almost safe.  But lots of it every day is not only unsafe but deadly dangerous!

Just how dangerous eating lots of sugar every day is we are only gradually beginning to find out!  

My monthly fatloss progress report....

Today's Post:  Monday, 6-17-2013

This is one of my most promising reports for three reasons.

1.  Not only did I lose 1 and a half more pounds on the scale since the previous month, I also lost another half inch from my waist!

I’m now two and a half pounds below my goal weight on the scale.  And now with that second  half inch loss on my waist, I’m down to 3 and a half inches to go to reach my first goal for fat loss on my waist!

Progress on losing inches on my waist two months in a row is dramatically better than hardly any!

2.  Since last time, I’d read the book, FastDiet, which is about intermittent partial fasting just two nonconsecutive days a week. 

(It's: The FastDiet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer (Feb 26, 2013).)

AND this past month, I did it each of the last 4 weeks! 

I’d read similar things that share the great news that eating well most of the time particularly while getting plenty of health OK protein but cutting calories more than that every once in a while: 

removed fat without lowering metabolism or boosting hunger AND resulted in MORE fat lost and no fat regain! 

(Your body reads that as there IS enough to eat most of the time so no need to panic or throw the famine response to stop fat loss.  It’s just normal variation with a bit less some days.)

In case you missed it, just cutting calories sometimes causes MORE fat loss AND that fat stays lost!  People who cut every day have a LOT harder time doing it!  AND their body DOES reverse their efforts by slamming on the famine response!  This is proven fact.

So, I’d been eating a vegetable only lunch one day a week already.  But this book suggests not a total fast but a well below 1,000 calories partial fast two days a week.

It creates faster fat loss than less of a cut back.  And it loses only fat – NO muscle lost and with NO metabolism slow down.  Even better, it has dramatic other health benefits from lower blood pressure to better blood sugar and heart health indicator readings.

AND, though you get hungry a few times a day during those days, it’s relatively moderate and passes.  You only have to do it those two days.  And, you do get used to it.  Both the authors of the book and most of the people they studied found it doable.  AND, because of the spectacular results, every one of the people who could do it all WANTS to and plans to continue it indefinitely!

They suggest a very light breakfast, skip lunch, and a very light dinner. And, they provide premeasured menus to fit the calories they suggest for those two meals on those two days each week.

For me, my most important meal and for protein is breakfast right after I exercise each day.  It helps be sure my muscles have enough protein to recover and build.  And it fits the model that people who keep off the weight they lose always eat breakfast.  Plus I’d already found that I can have a vegetable only lunch and do fine.  So, in my case, on those two days, I now also eat a vegetable only dinner, have no wine those two days, and have cup of tea instead.  And, I get most of my calories from my completely the same as before breakfasts on those two days.

To avoid weekends and cutting back on Weds or Thurs when I do my hardest strength training workouts, I decided to do the partial fasts Tuesday and Fridays. 

Since I have an extra chore on Tuesday nights and a BIG extra chore on Friday nights, saving that half hour for dinner on those two nights really gives me more leverage on getting everything done without stress!

3.  The third reason is that the progress the previous month was from LOTS of coughing for 4 weeks getting rid of a bid chest cold.

Before when that happened, the following month I GAINED weight and inches.  To have lost some of each instead the following month suggests a VERY robust effect for the partial fasting two days a week!

Future thoughts:

I am still struggling with some issues on adding muscle due to a persistent left shoulder injury.  But I think I finally have got it improving and am rehabbing it slowly enough it will get better as my previous injuries have. 

And, once I have got it healed, I’ll be able to make progress again on my jump rope sessions for burst style interval cardio and the half of my upper body strength training it has been limiting.

Meanwhile I HAVE seen some progress in the other half of my strength training for upper body and for legs.

I even was making progress, before the injury, for the half of my upper body strength training the injury put on hold.

So as usual, it may take longer than I’d like.  BUT I AM losing fat each month and expect to continue to.

AND, I am doing exercises that WILL gradually add muscle as I recover from my injury and keep working to improve.

That means I now have a real shot at losing my belly fat from just those two things alone.

Plan to report more progress next time!

Polyunsaturated oils are NOT good for you!....

Today's Post:  Thursday, 6-13-2013

It’s nearly been 50 years since doctors thought margarine was and OK food and even good for your heart.

Since then the hydrogenated oils in it have been proven to be heart attack starters instead! 

Yikes!

The reason was that it did look like eating a lot of butter with very high saturated fat was harmful. 

Likely this is still true particularly if the butter comes from cows fed GMO grains.

(Populations that eat tons of dairy fat do have a higher incidence of heart disease than those who eat a far more modest amounts.)

BUT small amounts of butter from cows fed only grass are OK particularly if you eat very little sugars and refined grains and get regular vigorous exercise.

And, using extra virgin olive oil has multiple health benefits. 

(Eating foods high in monosaturated oils like olive oil such as avocado and raw and un-oiled and unsalted tree nuts also does for people not allergic to them.)

For the same reason back then they came up with the idea of using polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as safflower oil, corn oil, and soy oil. 

Why?

Because they are low in saturated fats and people who eat them lower their LDL levels.

And, like those oils, canola oil is also very low in saturated fat.

But just like margarine, this idea turns out to also be harmful!

It doesn’t help that these oils are made from super cheap oils made from GMO crops.  They are also sky high in omega 6 oils. 

The truly harmful thing is that these omega 6 oils now dramatically over-consumed by most people promote high chronic inflammation.

Oops!  High chronic inflammation is a reliable cause of heart disease too!

Worse, nutrition writer Nick Pineault and others have found that the inexpensive processing of these cheap oils ALSO turns some of the omega 6 oils into hydrogenated oils.

That means that these oils high in omega 6 cause heart disease TWO ways.

Despite this, the word has not yet reached some otherwise competent doctors who still suggest these dreadful oils as being good for your heart.

NOW however, even they will have to give that up!

Why?

Because of a new study that found that eating polyunsaturated oils increase heart attack and death rates in people who added it to their diet!

Of course that means you should stop using any oil for salad dressings and the like other than extra virgin olive oil!

And, since these cheap oils are in still so many foods due to how cheap they are, always read labels and do NOT buy the commercial salad dressings and other foods that show on their labels they contain things like soy oil, corn oil, or “vegetable” oil.

And, if your doctor still hasn't gotten the word.

Have him or her look this up!:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/779083?src=wnl_edit_specol&uac=17693FN

Following the old advice to use more polyunsaturated oils and doing so using safflower oil caused INCREASED death rates!

They also have a thoughtful discussion of how only the omega 3 oils EPA and DHA and maybe the kind of omega 3 in purslane, flax oil, and walnuts are likely protective.  (The monosaturated oils in extra virgin olive oil and the other foods listed above are also proven protective.)

Clearly omega 6 polyunsaturated oils are a very BAD idea and that old advice should be scrapped!

I know WHY that is and have for some time! 

BUT having the smoking gun of increased heart disease and death rates to prove it from actual results is HUGE!

Now you know why too.

Nothing tastes as good as fit and healthy feels -- so avoid the bad stuff....

Today's Post:  Thursday, 6-6-2013

I got an email from the very knowledgeable Personal Trainer here in Menlo Park, Andre of www.wellfitaj.com  which serves the most upscale part of Menlo Park.

His email said it is extremely important to use some tough love with yourself to force the bad stuff out of your life.

And, he included several methods to do so.

I replied back that I thought it had really great information.

I’ll include his points shortly with my comments.

But his positive quote I like best because it makes very clear what is at stake:

“Nothing tastes as good as fit and healthy feels.”

The companies that make the bad stuff have gotten so good at making their stuff taste good that they've even managed to add things that make it tend to be addictive too.

But they use the cheapest, GMO, ingredients they can and cut health corners to ensure they make lots of money from the unknowing people they snare into using their stuff.

These ingredients clearly cause obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and a lot more really dreadful things. 

Worldwide this is killing people and driving massive increases in health care costs to treat avoidable diseases.

They also advertise in such a way they have hoodwinked a whole generation of young and younger people to think these products are fun, popular, normal and completely safe.

Unfortunately that means that it becomes more of an all or nothing deal.

There are people who like the products and believe the ads who stay addicted and there are people who are the new health elite who know how fattening and harmful these foods are and eat and drink none of them.

The first group may try to cut back.  But they are still addicted and keep using the stuff, becoming much fatter and sicker than they need to be.

They like the products, are still addicted, and don’t let themselves really believe how dangerous they are.

The health elite, the people who value health and know the facts such as Andre Jackson, myself, and everyone else who knows this information and cares about health, eat and drink none of it.  They know better and want to avoid those horrible results.

That means that Andre’s advice to pitch it all out and never take it up again is totally correct.

Certainly it’s OK and normal to remember you did used to like the stuff.  But it’s one of the most important things you’ll ever do to refuse to do it again. 

And, of course, it really helps to find things you can eat that benefit you that you also really like.

Are you kidding yourself and letting health harming junk stay in your life?

You might be!

So, check Andre's message out!

Better to be sure now than very sick later....

PS:  This stuff also keeps you fat too!

Here's Andre's message:

"It's time that we had an uncomfortable little talk about a very important issue...

That junk food in your house.

You know the stuff that I'm talking about. The ice cream jammed into the back of your freezer. The packaged cookies that you say are for the kid's lunches. The candy stash that's leftover from the last few holidays. Those bags of crunchy, salty snacks in your pantry. The bottles of soda that you know you shouldn't drink. And the list goes on...

Here's the bottom line: If you eat junk food then you'll get fat. Junk = Fat.

Now I know that you have justified the presence of junk food in your house, so let's walk through these justifications and I'll shine some truth on it for you.

1) It's For The Kids: This is the oldest excuse in the book when it comes to keeping junk food in the house. It's flawed for many reasons, namely because you know you eat some of it. When junk is in the house you are bound to eat some of it at times. And your kids should NOT be eating junk food on a regular basis, such as in their lunches. It's not good for them and it's not good for you.

2) I Didn't Buy It: Oh, I didn't buy it. My in-laws, friend, sister, kids, spouse bought that. OK, it's still in your house. I understand why you may be hesitant to throw out food that someone else gave you, but look at the big picture. By throwing junk out of your house you are protecting your health and the health of everyone who lives under your roof. That's huge!

3) A Little Bit Won't Hurt: When you keep junk food in the house you're fooling yourself if you think that you only eat a little bit of it. The contents of your kitchen become the things that you habitually eat. If there's junk in the house then you habitually are eating it, and a little bit of junk every day adds up to a LOT of junk over a week or month. And you wonder why you haven't lost the weight yet...

4) It's My Favorite: I understand that there may be junk foods that you've become so used to eating that it's hard to imagine going a day or more without it. In this case, you really need to cut the junk out in order to achieve your ideal health and fitness level.

Birthdays, holidays, and special occasions are the time to have a taste of your old favorite junk. And after you've stopped eating it daily you may find that it doesn't even taste as good as you remember.

5) Life's Too Short: YOLO, right? (You Only Live Once) If this is your excuse for having junk food in the house, then I've got a new one for you. YOLO, so why not live that life in a healthy, fit, attractive body that's full of energy, free from aches and pains and looks amazing?! Being fit and healthy is so much more rewarding that eating a favored junk food every day. Nothing tastes as good as fit and healthy feels.

Now it's time for you to take action. All you need is a big black trash bag and the determination to be fit and healthy. Grab that bag, march into your kitchen and start pitching the junk.

Look for anything in a package that contains processed sugar, grains and high amounts of sodium. Go get ‘em!

Wheeew! Didn't that feel great? Your kitchen is now wholesome and healthy, and your body will be too.

Eating a healthy diet, free from junk, is one side of the equation when it comes to getting into amazing shape. The other side is consistent, challenging exercise.

(I'm here to take care of the exercise in your life. All you have to do is show up when I tell you and then give it your all for that short amount of time. Easy enough, right?

This small investment of time and energy truly will transform your body and your life. Call or email today to get started on the last exercise program that you'll ever start, and the one that gets you into your best body ever.)

Zero Tolerance Policy

Watch out, or that junk food will come creeping back into your pantry. Decide here and now to adopt a zero tolerance policy when it comes to junk food in your house. Be vigilant and stay strong when your kids start to whine for their old favorites. Replace the junk with wholesome food such as fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, and lean meats."

He then asks the reader to forward his message.

He knows some readers will live in his area.

But he also knows anyone anywhere who follows his advice will benefit.

And the potential benefit at stake is huge.  A decade or more of healthy years and dramatically fewer diseases and far less added extra fat.