Misleading Labels and how beat Yo Yo Dieting....

Today's Post:  Thursday, 9-26-2013

I.  Many of the big food companies found that if they label ordinary and even more fattening and harmful foods with labels that sound like they have safe contents or will would help with fat loss, sales will go up!

Many people would prefer foods that are better for them.  And, many others want foods that will help them lose fat or keep it off.

But these foods all too often have the reverse effects instead!  Yikes!

Fattening and health harmful labels that sound good but are NOT:

1.  Natural does NOT mean organic and may not mean non GMO and both high fructose corn syrup and MSG have been called natural because they start with natural things before the processing refines them. 

All too often natural means one or more of those things IS included!

Certified Organic, foods labeled as non GMO or 100% GMO free, NO high fructose corn syrup, contains no MSG.  Those labels do mean something!

Natural does NOT mean anything good or even definite.  It’s a sales trap for the ignorant.

2.  Low fat or even nonfat or fat free or "diet" can be even worse if the fat left over is harmful in the case of low fat. 

Too often sugar, high fructose corn syrup or even the super fattening very high fructose corn syrup believe it or not IS in such foods. 

Worse even than that, such foods often contain hybrid GMO wheat and other high glycemic refined grains.  Similarly, MSG may be added to make up for the lack of sweetness or flat flavor.

Normally nonfat or 1% low fat milk would in fact be better.  But commercial milk so labeled is made with dried milk which is very pro-inflammatory.  That is very harmful for your health.

2% low fat milk with no rBGH or 2% low fat milk even or whole milk in moderation from cows fed only grass and organic sprouts drunk only after a hard workout is likely OK once a day.

Skim and non fat milk IS sold as less fattening with such labels.  In fact, many people DO believe it is less fattening.

In fact, skim and non fat milk tests out as MORE fattening too!

Jenny Thompson who writes the HSI emails had a brief article on it in her email today.

She says that even many mainstream nutritionist  believe “….skim milk equals skinny. End of discussion.

Well, they can cling to that myth to the bitter end. But it won't make it right.

New research proves that the exact opposite is true.

This study shows a significant link between drinking skim milk and higher body weight. And that result held up across all racial, ethnic, and economic groups. “

She then lists why they now know that is: 

First: calcium intake helps you lose weight. This fact has been known for years. What's not quite as well known is this... The process that skims fat from milk also strips away nutrients.

Nutrients such as...that's right -- calcium.

And it just so happens that your body absorbs calcium much better when you consume the mineral with -- yep! -- milk fat.

But wait. There's more... Your body absorbs milk sugars slower when they're consumed with milk fat. So if you skim away the fat, the sugars are rapidly absorbed, which turns them into FAT.”  

That’s because this extra blood sugar plus the insulin released causes those sugars to be deposited as fat.  And, that happens far more than it does with 2% or whole milk because the zero glycemic fat buffers this enough blood sugar and insulin go up MUCH less.

In addition people who eat moderate or somewhat low levels of  health OK fats and oils (but NOT low or very low or zero) are LESS hungry and stay eating right and keep fat off and HAVE less fat than people who do not.  They are also MUCH healthier.

(The only way that low fat or nonfat milk is better is when the milk fat is from cows fed GMO grains.   That means the milk fat has very high levels of omega 6 oils which are very pro-inflammatory; and they contain bioconcentrated pesticides and herbicides AND when the dairy product in question has very little if any lactose.

Nonfat cottage cheese and Greek yogurt are high in protein and low or near zero in lactose.  So they not only have fewer calories, they can help with fat loss.  Plus you can add extra virgin olive oil and spices to nonfat cottage cheese.  And, you can add nuts such as raw pecans or walnuts to nonfat yogurt.)

Diet or sugar free almost always used with food that contain many of the things that make low fat or nonfat foods fattening or harmful AND in addition to that it, very often means they contain an artificial sweetener which is proven to be even more fattening and are thought to be as harmful as HFCS. 

Yikes!

 Diet itself also is a very damaging word to use for conversations or thinking about fat loss!  This is so much so that when it is used to mean style or plan of eating, it's almost better to say it that way.

That's because for fat loss, “diet” as it has come to be used, means to eat enough less each day that you are always hungry and lose weight each week -- on a temporary basis -- until the person loses the fat weight they want to lose.  It includes the wishful thinking that then returning to their previous eating will keep that weight off!

THAT is trouble!  In fact, for permanent fat loss, it has an over 99% failure rate!

First, it limits how much people lose initially.  They only do this for a few weeks and then their failsafe famine response slams on. Then, their metabolism slows down until fat loss stops.  Worse, they then become extremely hungry -- particularly for fattening foods! Yikes!

In the few cases people somehow manage to keep going and do lose what they'd like on the scale much of the weight they lose will be bone and muscle.

But then since this was "only temporary" until they lost that much weight, aided by their famine response they begin to eat "normally" and almost always gain it all back -- as fat!

(This is why 95% of permanent fat loss is instead:

Learning and doing a set of things that cause fat loss without making you hungrier --

AND which you can and do keep doing as sustainable, permanent lifestyle upgrades!

NONE of that is temporary!  None of those things leave you hungry all the time! 

And, NONE of them trigger the failsafe famine response.)

Too often people who are defeated by diets, get angry when they gain it all back and keep trying.

That motivation and persistence are good!

The problem is that most of them still use a "diet" instead of such permanent lifestyle upgrades that don't cause such hunger all the time!

The resulting yo yo like motion of gains and losses of weight, have gained that name, "Yo Yo Dieting."  

B. You can reach permanent fat loss from a background of Yo Yo Dieting but it does take a bit longer and more care is required to do it.

Instead of starting out with some kinds of calorie cutbacks that usually do NOT trigger the famine response right away, you have to hold off on using any of them until you have been learning and doing a set of things that cause fat loss without making you hungrier for several weeks.

And, when you do add some extra calorie cut backs you can only use half as many or half as often AND find ways to increase things that boost your metabolism and make you feel less hungry at the same time.

In addition, while ongoing and effective support really helps in learning and doing the set of things that cause fat loss without making you hungrier, for ex yo yo dieters, it's critical and essential!

A.  For a while, the famine response does lower your energy level. You feel like doing less and resting more.

That has two cures.

1.  Doing things that help you eat right that take little energy and doing short but intense sessions of exercise that you do in just a few minutes.

You can buy some health OK foods pre-made instead of making them from scratch. 

And you can do high intensity cardio in two or three five minute sessions a week or just one or two 20 minute sessions of superslow strength training a week.

You don't have to bake no carbs, no gluten bread even if you like cooking and have the equipment.  It may just take too much time and energy to do every week. But you can buy Paleo Bread which is exactly that online or at Whole Foods.

It CAN be helpful to take one or two brisk walks for an hour at a time on at least 5 days a week.  But besides the time you need, you may not have the energy when in the grip of the famine response.  But you can make yourself do one or two sessions of high intensity cardio each week.  Those can take less than 10 minutes a time to do!

And, you can go once a week for just 20 minutes to The Perfect Workout where their trainer helps you stay motivated while you are there.

The trick is to do just a little bit that you can force yourself to do just a few times a week; but have the things you do be very effective for the time and energy they take to start doing and not last for a long time for each session. 

2.  Do things that restore your energy level.  Take naps; drink coffee in moderation or drink extra tea; read things that inspire you; go to bed a bit earlier and turn off your TV before bedtime.  Be sure to go to bed and get up at the same exact time each day on weekdays if you possibly can.  Do some of these things with someone who you like who has more energy and is fun to do them with.

Take the supplement ubiquinol if you are older than 40 or take statins.  This helps your mitochondria in your cells that generate their energy to do more.

B.  There are a set of foods that do a good job of turning off hunger but tend NOT to fatten you or even help you lose fat!

a) These are health OK protein foods from animals that are wild caught or fed the food they are evolved to eat such as eggs from pasture fed hens and milk and meat and cheese from cattle fed only grass or organic sprouts.  And this category also includes beans and lentils.

I found out there are studies which show you can avoid or help turn off the famine response if you eat enough of these kinds of protein foods!

You can eat a high moderate amount of these particularly if you also get regular, vigorous exercise.  The combination of such exercise and protein foods helps build muscle which then boosts metabolism.

Health OK protein foods turn off hunger well; support you preserving and gaining muscle which burns extra calories; and eating enough protein foods can prevent or turn down the famine response too! 

b) These are health OK oils in addition to those in the health OK protein foods that are monosaturated such as extra virgin olive oil, raw and unsalted and no junk oils added tree nuts such as walnuts and pecans.

Studies show people who enjoy these foods often but not excessively DO take in more calories BUT have smaller waists and are LESS fat!   And these foods really help to avoid triggering the famine response and can help get rid of it.

c) And, nonstarchy and organically grown vegetables do a great job.  You get to eat a lot more and fill your tummy better since they are high in fiber. They have very few calories and are often so nutritious and protective of your health they are considered Superfoods.  In addition, it was recently found that the extra chewing they take to eat turns DOWN the hunger hormone ghrelin!

Nonstarchy vegetables have a lot of fiber so you feel and are full for after eating. They take more effort and chews to chew them which turns down the hunger hormone ghrelin too.  Most of these vegetables are nutritional Superfoods AND they have little calories.  You can literally eat a LOT of them and take in not that many calories.  And, eating health OK oils in moderation satisfies hunger another way and like eating protein helps turn down your famine response.

You may need to do the little energy needed things and exercise and eat extra for a year to get over the worst of the famine response.  But by doing these things, you CAN outlast it and even make progress while you are waiting too!

The  bottom line is that by exercising and eating this way , you can eat well most of the time so you literally are rarely hungry and lose fat without turning up or keeping up the famine response. 

The best news is that by doing these things you will add muscle, recover your energy level and even lose some fat too

-- AND you will be SO much better off than the people who don't. 

Statistics show they will gain well over 10 or 20 pounds of fat in that time instead!