FOOD LABELS, THE NEXT GENERATION IN NUTRITIONAL DATA (ISSUE 119)

By Diane Gold

Food labels, the next generation in nutritional data, is being proposed by the Food And Drug Administration. The changes to the nutritional label would help consumers identify food facts more easily, get a more realistic and up-to-date version of what a portion of food in the present day represents and know what sugars in a product are added and not part of the inherent make-up of the food.

1970s TO CURRENT FOOD REGULATIONS

I have been researching ingredients and labels since 1971 when I started querying manufacturers about from what source enzymes, lecithin, mono- and di- glycerides,  and the myriad of hard-to-pronounce substances. I wanted to know whether they came from an animal, vegetable, mineral, synthetic process. Back in those days, similar to now, many manufacturers did not know that information because they used whatever their suppliers supplied them based upon what was cheapest on the day of purchase.

1970s. The first labels came in the early 1970s when some companies began putting food information on the packaging.

1990. In 1990 came the Nutrition Labeling And Education Act, which required macronutrients on the label: protein, carbohydrates, fats and other data.

1996. The Food Quality Protection Act came in 1996 which regulated some of the pesticides in our food.

2011. The Federal Food, Drug And Cosmetic Act came with more regulation on pesticides, which came from updated reports of the harmful effects these pesticides had on humans and animals through the food they ate.

2014. The Food And Drug Administration has a proposal to upgrade food labels once again. After reading about the changes,

ACTION STEP

Go here to comment, agree, add, disagree:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2012-N-1210

and leave a comment. When we take action, change happens.

THE PROPOSED CHANGES

1)    SERVING SIZE

What we used to eat 20 years ago that was listed by FDA as one serving is being recognized as obsolete and totally inaccurate. Due to our larger servings or mislabeling originally, the portion size on the label is being increased. So, if we ate ice cream before the label changes, 1 serving would be 200 calories, half a cup, with 4 servings in the pint.

The proposed change would list 1 serving as 400 calories, 1 cup, with 2 servings per pint. If I were eating ice cream, which I do infrequently to curb the repercussions from this occurrence, my single serving could be 2 cups, 800 calories, 1 pint. And that’s not including any additional nuts, syrupy fruit, caramel or fresh, ice cream store ice cream.

With the proposed changed, the well-known brand of store-bought designer ice cream I just checked would go from serving size 1/2 cup to 1 cup, since most people don’t eat 1/2 cup.

It’s also possible the FDA will include a dual column label which would allot for accuracy of 2 different sized portions, like 1 cup serving or 2 cups (whole container for a pint) or, with soda, 12 oz. or 24 oz.

The term cup is helpful because it’s something we can measure. The term container keeps is nebulous since containers range in sizes.

2)   ADDED SUGARS

Food labels have a column for sugars. What they don’t say is from where that sugar is derived. They don’t say whether it is from the natural orange in the ingredients or from some additional sugar, added during manufacturing. The FDA proposal asks for a sub-heading called Added Sugars. I believe it will be a percentage so that we will be left to figure out which are natural ingredients and which are added. This would mean we have to be aware that agave, agave nectar, barley malt syrup, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, cane or cane juice crystals, cane sugar, coconut sugar, coconut palm sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, dehydrated cane juice, dextrin, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltodextrin, malt syrup, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, palm sugar, raw sugar, rice syrup, saccharose syrup, sorghum syrup, stevia, sucrose, syrup, treacle, turbinado sugar, xylose are added sugars and sorbitol and maltitol are sugar alcohols.

Why do we care about added sugars?

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 78 (suppl) 827s, 2003 said,
” … excess energy intake from added sugars can potentially lead to nutrient shortcomings, due to displacement of more nutrient-dense foods/beverages, and to weight.”

To clarify nutrient density, here’s Clemson University, South Carolina, Cooperative Extension Service’s definition,

“Foods that supply generous amounts of one or more nutrients compared to the number of calories they supply are called nutrient dense.”

So, if we’re gorging down sweetened soda, we are not ingesting glorious veggie juice, hydrating water or other healthy food that is not reaching us because we are full from nutritionless soda.

It’s important to be aware of ingredients that are sugar. If a product has more than one of these, the split in “actual sugar,” that is, a substance that turns carbs into glucose, gets lower on the label of ingredients since the highest percentage ingredients go first.

3)   NUTRIENT REQUIREMENTS

Calcium, Iron stay. Potassium, Vitamin D are added. Vitamins A and C will no longer required.

4)   UPDATED DAILY VALUES

The amounts of nutrients needed per day will be updated to match the current scientific information we have.

5)   DESIGN

The daily values will be on the left side, more visible to the eye, and the serving size and calories will be bigger and bolder so that we become more aware of what our serving size actually is.

Personally, I would like to see every package show the total calories per package, like 1217 calories for a bag of 8 oz. fried, unsalted potato chips, so that when I buy them and eat them in one sitting, I am completely aware of the 79 grams of fat (25g of which is saturated) I consume. Calories are great since they give energy to the body; it’s where they come from that matters. And this one bag exceeds the amount of fat and saturated fat recommended for 1 person in 1 entire day.

ADDICTION ALERT

Eating an entire bag of chips, on my part, is possible. It’s similar to my addictive ways with any substance. If I indulge in it once, I will want to indulge again the next day and will have to put forth a concerted effort to replace the potato chip buying behavior with another for, at least, a month, until, if I am lucky, the urge will go dormant again. When I do it, I usually buy baked (reducing the fat grams to 24 greasy grams), since fried will make me feel sick and the craving for grease will require more will power to replace.

IMPORTANT CHANGES I WOULD LIKE TO ADD

What are not included in the proposed changes are the following:

1)   PROHIBITING NON-SCIENTIFIC VERBIAGE LIKE “NATURAL” AND “FRESH,” words that are meaningless and mislead the uneducated consumer to think these foods are better or organic. We depend upon it to regulate food and drugs, and, thus, should require scientifically founded language only with asterisk to the report on which it is based so that our health knowledge is never based on which company has the best marketing.

2)   REQUIRING HARVESTED AND MANUFACTURING DATE AND STATEMENT THAT SAYS SAFE IF USED BY, including the report on which this “use by” info is based. Currently, we have no way to know whether produce is left in a refrigerator for a year or not. With manufacturing, each decides on the length of time after completion date that is safe for a consumer. Therefore, we have no way to know on what data each farmer or manufacturer uses. We have a right to know and for it all to be consistently monitored.

3)   LISTING INGREDIENT SOURCES USED IN MANUFACTURING, gathering, packaging process and whether they are animal, plant, part-animal or -plant or synthetic, including defined guidelines for the words animal, vegetable, part and synthetic.
Take isinglass or other animal derivative finings in beer or wine which clears out cloudiness from yeast. There are also glycerol monostearate used for foam on the beer and honey or lactose for flavor. Since these additives exist, every manufacturer should be required to define whether or not its product contains any of these or other ingredients.

4)   LISTING THE SOURCE, for ingredients that typically have multiple sources. An example of this would be lecithin, without the word animal, soy or plant-based next to it. When the labels says lecithin, we are guessing at its source.  Another very common ingredient is mono-glycerides or mono-and di-glycerides, as they are commonly used together. These emulsifiers can come from animal, plant or synthesized process. If a product lists animal mono-glycerides, there would be no question as to its source, and people could make informed decisions without calling the manufacturer. As it is now, manufacturers only list the details of ingredients to avoid law suits from allergic reactions or if their profits come from a particular religious group that requires it. I would change the regulation to require producer disclosure on  all packaging.

5)   DISCLOSURE OF WAX AND POLISH, such as waxes on produce or polishing on vitamins tablets. Each manufacturer or produce finisher (the company that sprays wax on fruit before it goes to market) should be required to list the source of the ingredients that are used. Of course, this means that manufacturers would have to keep an up-to-date database of the sources of the ingredients from their suppliers.

Many people are not aware that apples, avocados, peppers are waxed. The wax may be plant-based, bee-based, petroleum-based or synthetic. We deserve to go to the store or market and get our food without having to call the food’s producer before eating it. The food industry is concerned with safety, as it should be. It would do well also to care about informing us of what we consume because we trust them.

CONCLUSION

We depend upon food labels all the time. Their accuracy is crucial for our education and that of children. Eating nutritionally is the one action that can maximize our health, more than any other act. The FDA has the ability to educate us with the nutritional data they approve on packages.

ACTION STEP

It’s great that there is an update coming on food labels. Let’s make some comments at:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2012-N-1210

to be personally involved, to make a difference and to speak out for what we believe.

There is a finite window for these comments before the proposal goes for a vote. So, let’s make them count toward the next generation of food labels.
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FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She has been working with food manufacturers for 40 years, inquiring about information not shown on food labels. She says,

“I believe it is the food industry’s job to educate us: not at the expense of profit but, also, not at the expense of foregoing the latest science. The food labeling system should provide for more frequent label updates as the science comes in.

“The manufacturer and the farmer are our teachers in nutritional data. Let us use them wisely in this educational regard.

QUITTING A HABIT! (ISSUE 118)

By Diane Gold

Quitting a habit! Quitting is such a simple word. It has two very different connotations, although they both mean the same thing. It means the act of stopping doing something. But, in our minds, it usually refers to stopping our current job or ceasing our current habit. We will focus on the habit.

PSYCHOLOGICALLY HELPFUL?

When we use the word “quitting” for the cessation of a habit, it conjures up the image of life being sucked out of our bodies. Even thinking about stopping a habit feels as if we are going to lose something instead of gain something. Psychologically, these concepts direct our actions, so they are not just semantic observations that only have intellectual use. When we see we are going to get something; it can cause pleasure, and we are more likely to move toward it. On the other hand, when we are going to lose something; it can cause pain and we avoid it.

That’s why it’s much more advantageous for us to use the correct word and one that is more pleasing to our psyche: replacing. When we replace something, we maintain a feeling of abundance. This keeps us balanced and happy.

THE TRUTH

The truth is this:

ONCE A HABIT, ALWAYS A HABIT.

This is not a bad thing, so please, let’s hold onto our hats and rejoice! It’s a reality that when we respond to an urge for something over and over again, it becomes a habit.

And, once we have learned it, we usually do not unlearn it. What we do accomplish is we replace it. And this is the interesting fact.

REPLACING A HABIT

So, here’s this task we have for ourselves. We have a habit, and we want to replace it.

One of the online dictionary’s defines replace as,

“Take the place of” and

“Put back in a previous position.”

I would edit the second definition to be,

“Put in position,”

merely because where the “something” is placed could be in an old or new area of our lives.

REPLACING VS. QUITTING

When it comes to habits, replacing and quitting are like opposite sides of the yin-yang symbol, where opposing forces make the whole.

Consider the glass’ being half empty or half full concept. When the glass is full, we think of richness. The empty term, in Western terms, can speak to barrenness, although, in the Eastern way, emptiness is the way to abundance.

Deleting the term “quitting,” when it comes to habit change is a freeing experience. So many people are anxiety ridden when they think they have to quit something. Many fewer people are troubled when they think about replacing or doing a new behavior and keeping the attention on that new behavior.

In fact, the idea of focus comes into play. When we focus on quitting our old behavior, our mind is filled with all the old memories that go with the behavior. When we focus on replacing our behavior with the new one, we walk in the new direction, which is where we want to go.

There’s all that talk about keeping the eye on the target, the goal, the ball. It’s true that if we keep focused on the new behavior as if it comes naturally, eventually, with repetition, the replacement behavior will become natural, and we will have a new habit. Or, at least, we will get good at replacing it.

CAUTION: THE BOREDOM TRIGGER

Be careful of the feeling of boredom. It can act as a built-in excuse for doing a certain behavior that is not good for us. We might think that if we had excitement rather than stagnation in our lives, we would not act out the behavior we wanted to change. We might even create the boredom to delude ourselves.

Boredom, in many cases, is the actual trigger that causes our over and over again behavior that becomes a habit. Rather than knowing there are an infinite amount of things we can do to lead full lives, it’s important to pre-plan one or two of them. That way, we will be armed against even the most common cues like boredom.

ACTION STEPS

So, let’s get started and see how it feels.

ACTION STEP 1

1)   Pick one thing you wish to “put in position.” This means pick any habit you would like to replace, such as eating desserts or sleeping too much.

Let’s say we always get the urge to eat dessert. We can change our reaction to this trigger by planning another behavior in its stead, such as going jogging as soon as that urge is felt. This will begin the process of replacement. Repeating this behavior will turn it into a habit. By behaving consistently by jogging and not dessert eating, we will have replaced our old with the new behavior. Although this certainly is quitting acting out the old behavior from the sheer repetition of the act; it’s easier to accomplish by using the concept of “replace.”

ACTION STEP 2

2)   Keep a record of what time the urge occurs, what time you start the new behavior (like jogging) and how long you do the new behavior and each time this occurs for a week. If this is accomplished for a week, continue the process for another week, another week and another week.

ACTION STEP 3

3)   Promise yourself you will not judge whether it is just as difficult to do the new behavior a month later as it was on the first day. This feeling is not important. It just exists and doesn’t work only one way. For some people, it becomes easier with time to be automatic about doing your new behavior. For others, you will have to be deliberate in directing yourself to do your new behavior.

Just keep replacing. Each time you do, it’s OK to give yourself a high five in the mirror.

CONCLUSION

Think about quitting a habit. It reminds me of wrenching something from life. We have to do without which causes pain.

Now think about replacing a habit. Ever more gentle it is, causing some growing pains, yet not attacking our psyche in the same way.

Of course, when we want to do something new in place of some old habit, we want to give ourselves the easiest path to follow. That path involves planning one simple action that will be repeated over and over again. It also requires saying “replace” instead of “quit.”

Armed with these tools, we have every opportunity to have a pain-free experience of moving from one habit to another.
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FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much. Please leave  a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook. Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She believes “replacing a habit” is a more nurturing way of the phrase “quitting a habit.” She says,

“How we are treated by others is really important. How we treat ourselves is crucial.

“We have the opportunity to be nurturing to ourselves. Making it easy for ourselves is one such way to nurture. This includes speaking of ourselves fondly and setting up the user friendliest situations. For habit change, this means using the word ‘replace’ and not ‘quit.’ It’s similar to the difference between exercising on a rocky field or exercising on a flat cushy matted floor. One is easier than the other.

“Be nice to thyself whenever possible. This will facilitate us in any habit change endeavor.”

HEALTHY EATING: WHY DOES THE U.S. FALL BEHIND? (ISSUE 114)

By Diane Gold

We would think that healthy eating in the United States is easy and that we are at the top of the charts when compared to other countries.

So why do we have more dietary sickness (diabetes and obesity) than 120 out of 125 countries (see Oxfam’s Good Enough To Eat  chart, mentioned in the New York Times article by Mark Bittman on January 21, whose information is collected from organizations like the World Health Organization).

According to this report which looks at best and worst countries’ food statistics, the United States has the most affordable food, 4th best in quality, 41st best in available water (big surprise), along with the above statistic on health from food and is 21st in having enough food.

I remember having a discussion with one of my virtual assistants in India and his complete shock and disbelief when I said that there are people in the US who are hungry. Obviously, some people have triple what they need, and others do not.

Let’s focus back on the healthy eating topic. Do we eat more healthfully than poorer countries? The answer, tragically, is not as a country. Here’s why.

PESTICIDES AND GMOs

 Farmers use some method of offsetting bugs and weeds on their crop. Many use toxic pesticides which change the basic structure of the fruit or vegetable being grown or add some new chemical structure to the plant by pesticide exposure. This makes the food less healthy.
(See http://warriorsofweight.com/pesticides-which-fruits-veggies-have-least.)

Another series of events may contribute to low health statistics. Farmers are dependent upon seed  supply companies of which there are many. If they are convinced through extravagant marketing that genetic modification reduces the need for expensive pesticides, they may opt for seeds that have been genetically changed. (Noteworthy is that the 4 large companies, together, own a whopping 47% of the GMO (genetically modified organism) seed businesses.) There is no study that definitely points to worse health with GMOs, but we do know that some of the resulting modified seeds may be carcinogenic.

The marketing for GMOs is that the GE seeds were structured to enable certain weed killers to be used no harm to the seed and its resulting plant. The GMO seed is also supposed to be stronger so that it requires less pesticide. That’s the hype to get farmers to pay more for seeds because they are GMO.

Unfortunately, in July, 2012, Food and Water Watch came out with a study based on USDA and USEPA statistics that the use of genetically modified seeds does not reduce pesticide use. Also, there may be evidence that GMOs are toxic.

So, why buy GMO seeds, when farmers will not save money on pesticides and when these seed companies require farmers to contract to throw away the seeds after one planting? As humans, we always look to social proof and listen to marketing. If large companies say it’s so, it must be so, right? Never mind the science if we haven’t been exposed to it as often.

So, we consume pesticides galore which cause all sorts of health issues.

SNACKS AND PACKAGED FOODS

More packaged food than not is in our supermarkets. We use corn and soy, most of it genetically engineered (GE), and sugar, half of it GE, to create fast food with lovely colors. Instead of selling snacks that are fresh food, we buy boxes or bags with ingredients we can’t pronounce. Older generations did it, meaning our parents or grandparents; so why shouldn’t we?

We are more nutritionally educated than in the past, so that’s a good reason not to carry on the habit. The goal of the food industry is for us to buy. Many of us believe that if the food giants with lots of experience produce something, it must be healthy for us to eat.

In the past, we trusted the industry with our nutrition. After all, each company has a research and development team, scientists, doctors and inventors.

Now, we know that the researchers and developers in food are there to cause us to buy the food. Health is of no concern as long as the food passes some very inferior safety testing probably created by the regulators with the help of the industry itself.
Beware that packages that say vegan or organic are still processed food.

GREED

We are pleasure seekers and taste mongers with our taste buds being bombarded with new combos of flavor. We will do anything for the next delight, whether it be food, body sensation, exercise, drink, color, gadget. What this means with food is that, even though we know that healthy food is crucial, we choose to eat highly fatty, salty, oily foods that taste unbelievably good. And we have developed the habit of eating portions that are much too large, just because we have developed the habit by being served too much in a restaurant or at home.

These habits are waiting to be replaced with healthy eating.

OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS

Our wealth and our propensity for pharmaceutical cures has led us to over-ingest antibiotics. We know there are a good many viruses that cause us to be sick, yet, since the development of penicillin, we have been antibioticking (verb creation going on, here) ourselves unnecessarily.

Antibiotics do not work against viruses. They also strip the body of the microbiomes needed on an hourly basis in the human digestive tract. A study at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo., published in Pediatrics in 2012, swabbed the nasal passages of young children with unexplained fever and, for control, children without fever. Those with fever had 5 X the viral load of those without. The study’s objective was to to determine whether a quick nasal swab could improve the mistaken prescribing of antibiotics for viral sickness, which always harms microbial balance. The jury is still out, in my opinion, for 2 reasons: the antibiotic industry is massively profitable and there are some very nasty bacteria that can kill the patient if antibiotics are not given in time.

According to a Mayo Clinic article, antibiotics don’t work on bronchitis, colds, flu, most coughs, most ear infections, most sore throats, stomach flu. According the CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Threats In The United States 2013,

“… up to 50% of all the antibiotics prescribed for people are not needed or are not optimally effective as prescribed.”

2 articles in the Journal Of The American Medical Association headed by Gonzalez, R. in 1997 and Nyquist, AC in 1998 came up with the statistic that colds that 23 million prescription annually were written for bronchitis, colds and upper-respiratory infection.

At that time, it was 1 in 5 antibiotic prescriptions being wrongly prescribed.

The use of antibiotics causes needed healthy bacteria to disappear, which enables antibiotic resistance and causes immune system vulnerability taking away some of our good health.

LACK OF NUTRITION EDUCATION

How long is the nutrition course in our schools? What? There isn’t one, or there was that one day when Chelsie’s mom, the chef, came in? We learn how to read, how to write, how to add and subtract numbers so that we can go to the bank and shop, but is there an ongoing course to teach us how to sustain our health through food or teach us what to buy based on budget?

Although much has changed since I went to school, nutrition is currently a sporadic course in most schools. A great schedule would be to offer it twice a week from pre-school through high school, along with and not instead of physical education. Why did it take America’s failing health to remind us to include this hugely important subject?

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

We make many choices about what we eat based upon how much we have to spend. Of course, this is a huge factor that requires further discussion. It is so important that it is best discussed in school as well as in the home.

WHAT CAN YOU DO AKA WHAT ACTION STEPS CAN YOU TAKE?

1)   You can suggest to the editor of your local newspaper to have a natural foods home from school snack contest, vegan and non-vegan, organic and non-organic, on which the entire community’s children can vote. It will stimulate creativity, allow others to share recipes, build awareness and promote health in snacking. Plus, it will educate our kids to the possibilities available with whole foods.

You can ask your local health food store and supermarket to donate ingredients.

2)   When you go to see your doctor or health professional, have a fully transparent discussion about the nature of any treatment prescribed for you. This includes asking which research the professional thinks will help you get the facts and understand the risks. Although the expression,

“You are under my care,”

is very common, we must take responsibility for staying aware and making choices with our health advisor.

Doctors like talking to informed patients and, if you are respectful of the provider’s expertise, many will have very informative discussions with you and will share more with you the more you know.

3)   Go to your local elementary school and ask what the sequence of nutrition education is for each grade in the school. Do the same at the middle and high schools. Yes, even if you do not have a child in school or in that grade.

If there’s no set curriculum, suggest starting one. Here are some references:

vrg.org/nutshell/nutshell.htm#teaching

cde.ca.gov/search/searchresults.asp?cx=001779225245372747843:gpfwm5rhxiw&output=xml_no_dtd&filter=1&num=20&start=0&q=nutrition%20educationfrom

fnic.nal.usda.gov/professional-and-career-resources/nutrition-education/curricula-and-lesson-plans

Keep in mind that if food industry manufacturer has helped to create a curriculum, the lesson plan will be biased in the direction of the food manufacturer’s philosophy (such as, the meat and dairy industry would not advocate a vegan diet). Also, many curricula leave out the vegan diet. Put it in as a remarkably healthy option.

CONCLUSION

Healthy eating is on us as individuals. It’s on us to lead the education system to teach nutrition and plant-based nutrition in the classroom.

In general, we need to choose curricula that are not connected with any particular industry or company, since most offer free curricula to promote their cause.

We have the strongest country in the world. Let’s understand our nutritional downfalls, and let’s get around to healthy eating.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

How can we manufacture food? Food grows.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.
Please leave  a comment.

Please LIKE us on the website and at WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook. Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She sees lots of bad education and believable marketing about food (and drugs) that have no place in realism. Because people are naive and don’t demand more, they get duped. She says,

“We are right to be trusting and loving. This is number one. However, we are also right to discern love and concern from profit motive and corporate advancement. Just as familes love each other more than anything, corporations love more sales than anything. It is crucial for us to know the sources of all the ingredients we ingest, which we don’t, which means we can’t make informed decisions about whether we want to eat the food. But we eat it anyway. (Same with pharmaceuticals.)

“It is fair to think that the regulations on food (and drugs) have been influenced by the food (and pharmaceutical) industries. It is the industry’s job to make as many sales as possible, even if it persuading us with nebulous or false  or omitted information. It is fair that we have to do our own research on healthy eating. It is also fair for us to speak out to change safety standards and require labels to include sourcing of each ingredient, waxing of every piece of produce and source of each fertilizer that goes into the ground that grows our produce.

“We are a long way off from transparency in any of these areas. So, let’s look at the research on regulations and regulators. And let’s be diligent when we believe what we hear. These kinds of actions will help us in the United States and abroad with raising the bar on healthy eating.”

PESTICIDES: WHICH FRUITS AND VEGGIES HAVE THE LEAST? (ISSUE 103)

By Diane Gold

Pesticides: which fruits and veggies have the least?

The Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov) regulates pesticides, but the amounts it allows in our fruits and vegetables is not so easy for the lay person to evaluate. Partly because we don’t have the time to look up the more than 1055 approved pesticides in use in the US and partly because the EPA is not offering the easiest chart for consumers.     Agricultural Pesticides

The first sentence on the EPA website says,

“Laboratory studies show that pesticides can cause health problems such as birth defects, nerve damage, cancer  and other effects that might occur over a long period of time. However, these effects depend on how toxic the pesticide is and how much of it is consumed. Some pesticides pose unique health risks to children.”

To the average consumer, you and me, this is far from helpful. The EPA mentions lots is serious ailments that “can” be caused by pesticides “that might occur over a long period of time” [… depending] “on how toxic the pesticide is and how much of it is consumed.”

Well, that’s noncommital.

We want simplified facts that will help us understand the pesticide discussion.

ARE WE FOCUSING ON THE WRONG THING?

There’s a parallel between what’s happening in the pesticide discussion and what’s happening in GMO (genetically modified organism) discussion. We are looking at whether or not to label that GMOs are present, rather than discussing how they are harmful to us or the environment, why not to use them at all and how we are going to do definitive research on what damage they do to whom. Instead of labeling THAT there are GMOs present in a product, a more appropriate warning label similar to that previously used on cigarettes, might be introduced, saying,

“Genetically modified organisms may be hazardous to your health.”

The food industry would not like that, so they are happy to debate about whether or not to put the disclosure label on the product, defocusing the unsuspecting.
How many remember the days when cigarette labels said,

“Smoking may be hazardous to your health?”

And now?

“Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and may complicate pregnancy.”

With pesticides, we are boasting how legitimate the pesticide approval process is and listing which pesticides are present in which food. What would be more beneficial to our health and future generations would be to talk about methods of farming without toxins and educating people on the huge presence of pesticides and avoidance techniques.

WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT OUR FOOD

We, as consumers, want useful information in qualitative numbers we can understand. We want to see how much of what food will hurt us.

Whatsonmyfood.org gives us some excellent information about the presence of pesticides on foods. It takes its info from the US Department of Agriculture, Pesticide Data Program, currently using 2005 data. For example, it lists that blueberries have a particular percentage of all blueberries in the US, on average, have pesticides A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, HH, II, JJ, KK, LL, MM, NN, OO, PP, QQ, RR, SS, TT, UU, VV, WW, XX and YY present. It would be great if we could easily find a table showing the EPA tolerances (amount of pesticides that are permitted to be present and still be safe for consumption) for each of those pesticides.

HOW WE GET EXPOSED

Before we get to the special charts that help us decide what to buy, let’s look at the fact that there are more than 1055 (EPA) pesticides approved in the US. We ingest them, we inhale them, and we can absorb them through our skin. Just think of all the places they are used: in our homes to prevent mold or mildew, on our pets to prevent fleas, on our lawns or golf courses, on our roadways for maintenance so we can see the signs and road, around entertainment areas so they are manicured. Some farmland pesticides make their way into our drinking water, and, of course they are on our foods. If our occupation is picking fruits or veggies, our exposure is massively multiplied, and side effects are more obvious.

GROUNDWATER DETAIL

Because of the abundance of cows used in agriculture and no sewage system for their waste, groundwater contamination has been found. Even if workers use manure as fertilizer or dig a hole for what they can’t use, some of the bad bacteria live on in some water supplies.

THE GOOD NEWS

The Environmental Working Group has created a consumer guides that lists which top fruits and veggies have the most and least pesticides so that we can choose how to spend our money and ingest fewer pesticides. This group is the environmental health and advocacy organization whose work resulted in the Food Quality Protection Act in 1996.

They have researched and created the consumer guides, DIRTY DOZEN PLUS and CLEAN 15. The first lists fruits and vegetables that have high pesticide content and, when possible, organic produce is recommended. The second list contains produce that, on average, has fewer residual pesticides and can be bought conventionally. It’s always best to buy organic produce, but these guides can help us make educated choices should we need to spend less than an all-organic purchase would cost.

DIRTY DOZEN PLUS, 2013, from ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP
APPLES

CELERY

CHERRY TOMATOES

CUCUMBERS

GRAPES

HOT PEPPERS

KALE/COLLARD GREENS

NECTARINES, IMPORTED

PEACHES

POTATOES

SPINACH

STRAWBERRIES

SWEET BELL PEPPERS

ZUCCHINI

CLEAN 15, 2013, from ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP

ASPARAGUS

AVOCADO

CABBAGE

CANTALOUPE

CORN (almost all corn is grown from genetically modified seeds to resist pests, so pesticides are not necessary, but what are we really eating?)

EGGPLANT

GRAPEFRUIT

KIWI

MANGO

MUSHROOMS

ONIONS

PAPAYA

PINEAPPLE

SWEET PEAS, FROZEN

SWEET POTATOES

CONCLUSION

Pesticides are here, both on organic and conventional produce. Synthetic pesticides can burn the mouth, lungs, the respiratory system, cause nerve damage, cause skin to peel or change color, cause temporary blindness when exposure is high. Hopefully, we are never exposed to enough at once to cause anything like this. But it makes us think about how safe pesticides are in smaller quantities on our food.

Thanks to the two guides we have presented, Dirty Dozen Plus and Clean 15, we can begin to integrate this information into our buying power and our lives.

ACTION STEPS

1) Be aware of the information presented in the lists starting now and every time you go to the store.

2) Be diligent about avoiding the purchase of those on the list.

3) If purchasing all organic produce is not possible financially, make adjustments based on the lists to maximize it. This is a good way to save on the correct foods.

4) Check the Environmental Working Group every year, since they have been publishing yearly guides.

5) Now that we have outlined the prevalence of pesticides, make other sacrifices so that you can give yourself the gift of great food.

6) Be healthy, and reach out if you need  me.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

Pesticides are always a concern. She says,

“Although organic farmers can use a variety of possibly unhealthy pesticides, I would rather eat those than the petrochemicals used in conventional produce. Plus, I would probably not be getting GMO seed-produce with organic food. At least, that’s what ‘they’ say.

“The list of ‘to buy’ nd ‘not to buy’ produce is pretty interesting. It makes sense that pesticides would remain in leafy green veggies and would not enter inside the skin of avocado or grapefruit.

“Certainly, I will get to know the list, especially since I always buy conventional products that are waxed, unless the distributor has personally told me beeswax is not used on waxed organics.

“I’ll be washing my cucumbers more diligently, and I will be on the lookout for an organic farmer who does not wax her cukes.

“I am grateful for the produce guides. They will help many people, including me.”

6 GREAT REASONS FOR PLANT-BASED-NUTRITION (ISSUE 102)

By Diane Gold

Plant-Based Nutrition is being recommended more and more by medical personnel, used more by knowledgeable consumers and being more truthfully researched through scientific studies, every day experience and understanding the role of advertising paid for by the pharmaceutical and food industries.

1) HEALTH

Animal protein is known to clog arteries. Plant-based is not known to do this.
I always picture the old-style washing machine with the front loading door where we can see the water level sloshing around. Except, with animal protein, the liquid has more grease. The circular door could represent the cell of an animal protein eater.

Studies suggest that vegan diets store less fat which balances sugar, reduce cholesterol and tri-glycerides in the blood and reduce obesity, according to Kaiser Permanente’s latest article. They cite the 2006 Berkow and Barnard review of 87 studies, the result of which they published in the Nutrition Reviews, which stated that vegan or vegetarian diets are “highly effective for weight loss.” Plant-based diet can reduce the amount of medication needed for chronic disease.

To look at plant-based nutrition, Kaiser did a single case study done. They studied an overweight 63-year-old diabetic man with high blood pressure and high cholesterol on several drugs. The physician made some drug and insulin modifications and changed his food intake to a low-sodium vegan diet. Everything dramatically became healthier, and his prescription drugs were reduced to one.

Because this is a single study, it is not as noteworthy as if there were 100 participants. It is still significant, though. As I have mentioned in past articles, studies are expensive and setting them up takes lots of time, people power and money. Unfortunately, the larger they are, the more credibility they hold. So, we always look for the big study, such as the 6000 person study showing the benefits of plant-based nutrition, the China Study, done by T. Colin Campbell, the father of modern nutrition.

2) HEALTH CARE COSTS

If people are healthier and use less medical services, less pharmaceuticals; they will reduce their own personal costs. They will also reduce the pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturing rate as well as the distribution and transportation costs which are 1.5 to 4.5% of their sale price, according to Transportation Journal, Jan., 2005.

There is solid evidence that plant-based nutrition can improve health.

3) EDUCATION

Because there is lots of untimely disease, and much of it is obvious like obesity; there is lots of new evidence about the benefits of plant-based diets and the latest stories are about the power of plants as nutrition. More and more credible sources are being quoted with astounding health results. When we learn, we consider making changes. If we are open, we may wonder why so many people are moving toward plant-based nutrition.

We might also want to consider that we are creatures of habit, and we get some of our education from media, good or bad. IF media is swayed by the powerful food and pharmaceutical industries to write about the goodness of animal protein so we buy milk, meat and drugs for our illnesses, we might be convinced that plant-based nutrition is not for humans, might make us sick and is for quacks. IF media is swayed by a few diligent researchers who have studies hailing plant-based nutrition or a few hippies and athletes whose health is impeccable because they grow their own wheatgrass, we might hear stories about how green food is beautiful. Since media gets large advertising dollar from the food and drug industry, it is important to weigh carefully the material we read.

NOTE ABOUT REQUIRED DAILY INTAKE

We have depended upon the National Academy of Sciences’ Recommended Daily Intake on vitamins, since 1941. They have updated their recommendations only 10 times, the last being in 1989. In 1995, they created a more detailed recommendation system.

Although the Academy is a private, non-profit corporation, board membership includes former employees of pharmaceutical and food companies and funding to the Academy make come from anywhere. (There was recently a case where the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed and published guidelines for an acne drug. The funding for the process was paid for by drug companies, and 13 of the 15 consultants or speakers on the project worked for the drug companies.
It is a little disconcerting that the checks and balances system of fairness doesn’t disqualify people with previous allegiances from certain kinds of involvement.

4) ETHICS

If we could avoid running over a dog or cat in the road, would we do it? Of course, we would. In the same way, if we transitioned to a plant-based diet, we would be doing just that. We would automatically be eliminating the need for the animal industry to replace food we just ate. This means we would slow down the process of using animals for food, which, more times than we would like to think, abuses, terrorizes and mutilates animals. Although there are hard, honest workers in the animal food industry, if there are other choices, can we make them?

NOTE

Did you know that dairy cows, if left to graze naturally, live 25 years? The dairy cows used in industry live to be five. The answer to the question,

“What’s wrong with that?”

is a personal one. I think it’s wrong if there are other food source options easily available.

5) CLEAN AND LIGHT

Another reason for considering a plant-based diet (or its direction) is personal to me. Therefore, please consider this in evaluating it.

There is one feeling I have never experienced from food before my current vegan eating: feeling clean of body. There is never a big lump in my stomach as I remember happens to me with meat, chicken, fish or dairy.

It’s been a long time since I have eaten meat, but only about four years since I have eaten dairy. There is a distinct difference now. My 39 years of lacto-ovo-vegetarianism (minus two short meat periods as an attempt to simplify the household), did not feel the way I feel now.

Four years into a vegan diet, I feel clean after every meal. I feel as if my body is ingesting the right combination of food, especially if several vegetables and a combination of cooked and raw food are used.

The body also feels light, even if I eat an abundant amount of vegetables and healthy grains. After the thick smoothie with fruit, seeds, nuts, hemp and flax milk; the feeling I have is light.

I am lucky and grateful to have the opportunity to eat this way at this time. I cherish it.

6) SUSTAINABILITY

In the American Journal For Clinical Nutrition, 2003, David and Marcia Pimentel give some statistics. The grain produced to feed livestock for food is 7 X the amount of grain Americans eat and is enough to feed 840 million people who follow a plant-based diet. That’s enough to feed all the hungry of the world.

According to PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals), it takes 11 X as much fossil fuel to make one calorie of animal protein as it does to make one calorie of plant protein. 11 X. That’s 13 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of meat and 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce 1 pound of farmed fish flesh.

Also according to PETA, it takes 2400 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat and 25 gallons of water to grow 1 pound of wheat.

Last is a shocker. Animals raised for food produce 89,000 pounds of fecal matter per second. The EPA has reported that 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states have been polluted. Groundwater in 17 states has been contaminated.

CONCLUSION

With all the discussion about whether animal protein or plant-based nutrition is good, we, as consumers, are getting educated. We are realizing the lack of nutrition education in every school is a deficit. Yes, we learn to plant tomatoes on land or in window boxes. But knowing what to eat and why is standard information for all of us. Learning how animal-based vs. plant-based diets affect the environment is also our responsibility. Hopefully, our discoveries will lead us to place plant-based nutrition in our schools and our lives.

The reasons above given in support of plant-based nutrition are there for the reader to ponder. In the meantime, here are a few action steps for everyone.

ACTION STEPS

1) Consider eliminating one packaged item of food for one week. If you last through the week, extend for another. At the end of the second week, make it a third. If this works, maintain it.

2) At the same time as you eliminate the one packaged item, replace it with one in-season apple, cubed. If the item you eliminated goes in a main dish, substitute the apple there, either cooked or raw. Likewise for a side dish. Buy organic apples when possible since high pesticide loads are known to be found in conventional apples. When organics are not available, foreign apples may have less pesticides.     Packaged Good

3) At the end of the first week, second or third week, eliminate another packaged item, depending upon the success with step 1), following the same steps outlined in 1).

4) At the same time as you eliminate the second packaged item, replace it with the juice of a freshly squeezed lime. Personally, I do not buy organic limes because they are usually sprayed with beeswax. It is said that most of the pesticide is concentrated in the peel which we don’t usually eat.

5) Consider the apple and the lime juice as you eat it. Yummy, right?

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She has been studying how foods interacts with the body and mind. She says,

“Nutrition and the way we digest are very involved processes because each function has so many variables and we each can react in a different way to the same interaction. That’s why it is so difficult to come up with the one way to eat.

“I have shared some interesting ideas that I think are important. If they stimulate your desire to become more knowledgeable, I am happy.

“We each live our lives according to principles we choose based on habits we have formed and information we have gathered. It is my hope that one of the next times you eat, you will start making it a habit to be conscious of how the food benefits your overall health.”

IS SUGAR GOOD FOR OUR HEALTH? (ISSUE 101)

By Diane Gold

Glucagon (pancreatic hormone) stimulates conversion of glycogen to glucose to blood stream.

Insulin (pancreatic hormone) decreases glucose in the blood by sending it to muscle cells or converting it back to glycogen for storage.

Those concepts are so complicated because each hormone has many functions of than those listed above, and their task of working to create a continual glucose balance in our bodies is affected by all those other functions and more. They are only two of the body’s sugar reaction processes.

Putting a large amount of sugar into our bodies tells our bodies to produce insulin to reduce the overload. This means the body will send some of that sugar to our muscles for energy and some will be stored in the liver. When there is a small amount of sugar in the blood stream, for example, after insulin has moved it and converted it; glucagon is released to go get some from the glycogen storage tanks in the liver.

So, is sugar good for our health?

A little more background first, please.

BLOOD SUGAR ROLLER COASTER

This process of reducing and increasing the glucose supply in the body is sometimes referred to as the blood sugar roller coaster. It is caused by eating too much sugar (all of which turns to glucose). It is also caused by eating processed and packaged foods that leave the body devoid of nutrients because not having the right nutrients will cause insulin resistance and other malfunctions. One common way is to cause a lack of sensitivity to insulin, which, in turn, can cause glucose to be stored as fat which causes more insulin to be produced, the insulin roller coaster and weight gain.

THE DRUG ADDICT EFFECT

At the time the body is overloaded with sugar, the body will experience a feeling similar to a drug rush. We’ve all heard of keeping sugars away from children at night because they will get high on sugar and not go to sleep.

Here is a quote from a prestigious researcher, Marcia Pelchat, PhD, scientist at Monell Chemical Senses Center, world-class research center in Philadelphia that studies taste and smell. The animals she refers to are those used in researching sugar addiction. She says,

“There are the same kinds of changes in brain dopamine in these animals given intermittent access to sugar, as in drug addicts.”

This makes complete sense from a visceral point of view. Let’s say we have not had cake, cookies, candy, ice cream for a while because we always eat too much or because we have heard sugar is bad. What happens when we have some?

I can give personal credence to Pelchat’s quote above. When I take one bite of sweet food and let the flavor permeate my mouth, I want more. Once I have another bite, I want even more. The craving I feel for the sugar food feels the same as it does for a drug or alcohol, except I can feel my urge growing stronger with every bite, as if I am feeding an urge machine inside myself.

When I buy favorite flavors of coconut milk ice cream, I know the entire half pint will be gone in the same day. Even if I haven’t had a sweet food for months, that’s just how it goes, unless I control myself, which I see no need for, since I only eat sweets on rare occasions. It also helps that I’m vegan, and so much of the sweet foods are no temptation since they are not vegan-appropriate for me.

When I have no dessert-y foods, I am fine, since I savor the sugars in my vegetables (especially steamed spinach, believe it or not). When I have sugar, I want more. It feels the same as any other cravings, but expert research differs on addiction to sugar.

Pelchat mentioned the analgesic effect on pain when babies drink sweet solutions. This reminds me of the drastically calming effect apple cider had on me last week after I came home from a psychically traumatizing MRI test. I completely relate to her statement, here, too.

SUGAR ADDICTION

Mark Hyman, MD, wrote in the Huffington Post, about a June 13, 2013 study first published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that shows sugar addiction is a biological reality. A group of young men, 18 to 35, drank a milkshake and had their blood, glucose, insulin and hunger levels checked after four hours. They came back two weeks later to have another milkshake that tasted exactly the same with the same protein, fat, carbs, calories, macronutrients, taste yet the glycemic index of the second shake was much higher. The result was the part of the brain that controls addiction,

“Their nucleus accumbens, lit up like a Christmas tree,”

said Hyman, paraphrasing from the study.

So the brain could tell the difference even though the taste buds could not. And the high glycemic ingredients caused hunger and huge biological reaction in the addiction control panel of the brain. Looks like addiction. Feels like addiction. More research will cement the idea.

THE SUGAR INDUSTRY

According to some old US Department of Commerce sales reports, researched, converted to approximate consumption and infographed by Stephen Guyenet, an obesity researcher at University of Washington, B.S., biochemistry, PhD, neurophysiology, and Jeremy Landen, as of 2012, we consumed approximately 100 pounds of sugar per year. In 1822, we consumed 6.3 pounds per person per year. Another way of looking at it is that in 1822, we consumed the equivalent of a can of cola’s worth of sugar in five days. Now, we consume that number in seven hours. That’s 19 times an increase.

Here’s how consume so much. Sugary substances form glucose in the body. Many substances are sugar but have a different name, so we are not even aware we are ingesting them. When we read a label, we may be missing a term. And what happens when we don’t bother reading it? Even worse, if a product has a label and is not fresh, whole food, why are we eating it, anyway?

THE EMORY U AND CDC STUDY, 2010

On April 20, 2010, Emory University and the Center For Disease Control published a study in the Journal Of The American Medical Association showing that added sugars from processed foods and beverages may increase cardiovascular disease risk factors. The study involved 6000 people between 1999 and 2006. Miriam Vos,  co-author, MD, MSPH, clarifies that the study was cross-sectional, and the participants’ data was taken once. She says,

“We found that people eat an average of about 21 teaspoons per day of added sugars. And that level of sugar was associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk.

“In our study, we looked at a range of consumption of added sugar ranging from 5% per day to greater than 25% of calories per day. … And what we found was the best cholesterol levels were in people eating 5 or 6 teaspoons of sugar per day or less.”

NOTE

There are several reputable studies that put our daily average sugar consumption at 10 or 15 teaspoons higher than the Emory study.

SUGAR LABELING

 According to the FDA’s  food labeling provisions, not all sugars are required to be listed. Currently, regulation 101.9(c)(6)ii requires that the sugars that must be counted within the labeling system are mono- and disaccharides. That means glucose, fructose,  lactose, sucrose. All other sugars may be included voluntarily. That includes fiber and sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol.

Here’s a food-for-thought comment from someone on a health blog. The commentor cited correctly that maltodextrin does not count within the nutritional term sugar on a food label because it is not a simple sugar. He goes on to say,

“Can you see how a savvy food manufacturer might use this to [its] advantage? Perhaps by replacing some of the “sugar” with refined starches [like maltodextrin]– still just as sweet, still just as much Blood Glucose effect — while being able to claim (very loudly),

‘Now with less added sugar!'”

SUGARS

Here is a good list of sugars we may encounter:

Agave nectar, barley malt syrup, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, cane crystals, cane juice crystals, cane sugar, coconut sugar, coconut palm sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, dehydrated cane juice, dextrin, dextrose, evaporated can juice, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltodextrin, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, palm sugar, raw sugar, rice syrup, saccarose, sorghum, sorghum syrup, stevia, sucrose, syrup, treacle, turbinado sugar, xylitol, xylose.

Let’s not forget that most corn or corn product in the United States is made from genetically modified seed, unless it is certified organic. That means some of the sugar substances are definitely genetically modified (GMO), and our research is needed there, too.

The industry wants to sell product. That is its first responsibility. Our health comes second. That’s what’s common. Therefore, it is our responsibility to be informed about what counts on a label, what is a sugary substance and whether it helps our health.

CONCLUSION

Regulation of sugar intake is good. Knowing what sugary substances we ingest is great. If we don’t stress our bodies by putting them through the sugar roller coaster, we are better off. If our bodies react poorly to high sugar intake, we can notice it. Is sugar bad for our health? It depends upon which kind of sugar, the condition of our health, how much and our lifestyle.

Unhealthy food is always bad for us. This would mean any processed, artificial anything can’t be the best choice to make. So much of what many of us eat includes fake sugar or processed sweetener. These can’t be the best choice. At least, now, we know that there are many words for “sugar,” and most of them are not required to be included in the sugar content on a label. Which means that we have to be careful to do our own research after reading a label. And we should remember that many of the corn sweeteners are GMO.

So, the subject of whether sugar is bad for our health is complex. It depends upon us, and it depends upon what form of sugar we use. The least amount of processed sugar, of course, is the best. Organic is best. Fruits and vegetables are sweet. They give us the sugar we need without processing. If we keep being diligent about what we consume, we will keep improving our awareness and our health. Then we will be able to answer the question for ourselves from the inside out.

ACTION STEPS

1) Notice how you feel after eating something very sweet, and write it down.

2) Roughly calculate how much sugar you consume as added sugar, meaning not the sugar in your fruits and vegetables. A great site to look at is http://sugarstacks.com. It shows how many sugar cubes each sugar food equals.

Since labels, give sugar values in grams, note that 1 tsp. = approx. 4 g of sugar.

3) a) If you have difficulty in stopping sweet consumptions, eliminate Monday sweets for two weeks.

3) b) Eliminate Friday sweets for two weeks, continuing with the eliminated sweet from Monday.

3) c) After the first four weeks, remove sweets on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, continuing this regime for a month.

3) d) Cut out sweets on Saturdays. That means no sweets Monday through Saturday for a month. If necessary, add Wednesdays back in.

3) e) Now, three months later, notice how you feel after your Sunday sweet; write it down. Compare to the first day.

OPTION

If you’re like me, your cravings may require you to decide to stop all sweets and plan on a sweet once a month. Having the sweet once a week would create too large a craving in me unless I abstained for three to six months first.
_____

We are good for our health as long as we make great choices.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE at http://warriorsofweight.com/?p=2707.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She has been researching a sugar article for some time. She says,

“Although the process by which the body turns our foods into usable nutrients is extremely complex, I decided to put out a few facts about sugar. The sensitive nature of the hormones and neurotransmitters involved in our body processes needs special care to work properly.

“The more labelless foods we consume, the better off we are. If we’re reading a label, we’re probably looking at food in a package, which, by nature, along with processed foods, has fewer nutrients and artificially inflated nutrients. It’s always a good idea to eat fresh food, so any package might be a mistake, most of the time. We should be good to ourselves and eat fresh, unprocessed, organic food. And it’s also a good idea to know our sugar intake.

“As far as answering the question,

‘Is sugar good for our health?’

“hopefully, the background information above is helpful in arriving at the answer.”

DEMYSTIFYING TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE (ISSUE 95)

By Diane Gold

Tradition Chinese Medicine needs to be demystified in the United States. Through my years of being around both Western and Eastern Medicine as a music therapist and tai chi mentor and school owner, I have seen lots of confusion when it comes to understanding Eastern Medicine. My purpose is to bring people closer understanding Traditional Chinese Medicine so it can be used with confidence.

My interview demystifies. It is with Doctor of Oriental Medicine, George Love, licensed as a primary care physician in the State of Florida since 1986. He has extensive background in acupuncture, massage, herbology and nutrition. Parts of the interview are in dialogue, other parts in narrative.

DIANE

Can you talk about people’s perception of Chinese Medicine when they really don’t know anything about it. What do you think people see and how can we bring people closer to it?

GEORGE

Number one, it’s called attitude, perception and perspective. We grow up thinking everything American is great and wonderful, and the rest of the world doesn’t know anything. And obviously that’s not the case.

Number two is that anything we don’t understand immediately upon hearing it cannot be good.

And number three, our perspective, is that we live in a country where A follows B, and everything is linear thought.

ATTITUDE

America is a very young country; we don’t know much. Therefore, we have to look at ancient cultures and what worked for them and try to adapt the ancient …

PERCEPTION AND PERSPECTIVE
     … we look at acupuncture, and we perceive that acupuncture is Chinese Medicine. Acupuncture is only one tool in a tool kit that contains at least 14 different tools. The number one tool is the understanding that blood and energy flow together. … The reason people get sick is that blood and chi become stuck or stagnant.

If we look at arthritis or pain or any muscular pain or any digestive pain or any respiratory distress, the blood and the chi are stagnant; they don’t flow. The purpose of Chinese Medicine is to move chi and to move blood. The purpose of chi kung and tai chi is to move chi and to move blood. So, therefore, tai chi and chi kung are actually part of Chinese Medicine.

DIANE

Can you differentiate … between moving chi and moving blood?

GEORGE

Chi moves the blood, and the blood pumps the heart.

DIANE

OK. Great.

People are in the habit of going toward what they’ve heard of, what they know and what other people have told them, social proof. If we’ve been around Chinese Medicine, then we think it’s normal. If we’ve been around only Western Medicine, very often, we don’t understand Chinese Medicine. And we shy away from it thinking we know what it is.

DEMYSTIFYING CHINESE MEDICINE: THE PROCESS

When you’re short of breath, you know when you’re short of breath. (George pants and says,)

“I’m short of breath.”

If you run across the street really fast or … you … run up a flight of stairs really fast, you know you’re short of breath.

If you see somebody sitting in a chair and they’re slumped over, you say,

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? You don’t feel well?”

Or if you see somebody sitting on the edge of their chair, their back is straight and they’re smiling; you say,

“Wow, what’s going on with you? You look really energetic.”

So, it is literally visible if somebody’s chi is strong or weak.

DIAGNOSIS

HOW WE GET SICK: THE CAUSES

So what we want to know is why do people get sick, how do we get sick, and how do we get well?

So, how do we get sick? TRAUMA, INSUFFICIENCY, TOXICITY.

TRAUMA

Either you have a car accident, you fall down the steps, you fall out of a tree, you get run over by a car, whatever that trauma is.

There’s also emotional trauma. So your emotional trauma is abandonment, rejection, betrayal and abuse. Your emotional trauma is anger, avoidance and addiction. Your emotional trauma is your victim story.

TOXICITY

Now we have toxicity from overeating the wrong foods, eating the bad foods or getting an infection.

INSUFFICIENCY

Insufficiency would be not enough love, not enough laughter, not enough relaxation, not enough exercise, not enough water. That would be insufficiency.

DIANE

This sounds very, very simple and something I can understand.

HOW TO GET WELL

GEORGE

So, this is our framework. These are our tools that we need to look at how we get sick.

How do we get well? You reverse the trauma.
Reverse The Trauma

PARTIAL LIST OF TOOLS OF CHINESE MEDICINE

GEORGE

That [which what would reverse the trauma] would be massage, … acupuncture, … physical therapy, … yoga, … chi kung, … tai chi. So there’s any number of tools at your disposal to reverse trauma. Breathing, meditation, internal exercise.

TOXICITY

So toxicity, well, we want to detoxify the blood.
So [for] inflammation or infection, you want to take herbs, or you want to a juice fast, juice feast.

You want to restrict  caloric intake. You want to take herbs that purify the blood or cool the blood. And that’s how we reverse toxicity.

INSUFFICIENCY

And, insufficiency, you want to eat super foods. You want to take herbs that give you energy. And chi kung or tai chi would be appropriate also for insufficiency.

THE REST OF THE LIST OF  TOOLS OF CHINESE MEDICINE

What we call Chinese Medicine, they (the Chinese) call meridian therapy. There’s breathing, there’s meditation, there’s internal exercise, there’s food, there’s herbs. Then there is heat, pressure, sound, magnets, electricity, red light, laser light, suction, scraping, and, oh, by the way, we’ve got an acupuncture pin, also.

In the west, our perception is that acupuncture is Chinese Medicine.

DIANE

Absolutely right. And many people don’t even know the word acupuncture…
To understand that there are all these other therapies that are Chinese Medicine is very interesting. And, it makes people understand how Chinese Medicine came about. Because not everybody needed a pin, and some people needed a pin. And there were so many other ways to move the blood and the chi. And these are the ways of the Traditional Chinese Medicine.     Traditional Chinese Medicine Caduceus

THE DIAGNOSTIC GRID

NARRATIVE

I ask George to complete the diagnostic grid and talk about the categories that make up the diagnostic grid.

GEORGE

OK, we have the emotional, physical, nutritional and energetic. That’s gonna be the rows on the left.
And then your columns are going to be trauma, toxicity and insufficiency.

DIANE

So when I asked you how you diagnose, you said to me,

“You ask why is someone here, or why do you have pain or who is giving you pain.”

I thought that was rather telling …

GEORGE

WHO is the pain in your neck?

DIANE

It’s very true. Pain can be emotional pain and can be caused by a particular being.
So what we talked about today seems like very [systematic] medicine. It doesn’t involve putting someone on a particular medicine and keeping them there without looking at other factors.

NARRATIVE

Traditional Chinese Medicine is integrative. It makes me smile that there is a fairly new Western Medicine specialty: Integrative Medicine. It seems like a bridge to join medicine from the East and medicine from the West.

CONCLUSION

We now have a transparent way of looking at Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is not a mystery any longer. Our interview guest, Doctor Of Oriental Medicine has demystified it. He has talked about how to diagnose by asking, not only why you are there, but who is giving you pain. He mentioned how many tools there are in the arsenal of Chinese Medicine.

We wanted to show how medicine is profound and vast. The connection between Western and Eastern Medicine is the fact that people do want to heal. The person who goes into the field of medicine wants to heal. Sometimes, as in any area, people can get distracted by money, power, fame, opportunity.

It’s all about balance. balancing the finding of a cure with the money expended for drug research or balancing one’s emotional life with work and family.

The information we have offered has certainly demystified Traditional Chinese Medicine. We hope it has helped to outline its backbone in a way such that its systematic approach is easier to see, easier to validate and friendlier to use.

ACTION STEPS

Here are some action steps that may be useful. They are simple techniques that can be achieved with little effort.

1) Consider what you have and rejoice.

2) Pick one thing out that you lack, even if you have some but not enough. George mentioned love, laughter, relaxation, exercise, water, for starters. You might also include music, health, creativity, skill, talent as your item of which you want more.

3) Add this item to your life. If it something like water, drink more (and be thankful for our water supply). For laughter, make sure to laugh at least one time a day more than you do now by reading a joke or looking at a comical photo. It’s up to you as to what you choose. If you need more love, give it to yourself. Go to the local library or cafe and just say hello to someone. Contact usually changes perspective and, often, strikes up interesting communication. Or go make a friend by listening to music in the park.     Massage For Relaxation

TIP

If you have any doubts about the action steps, go watch this: 21 Second Motivational Video.
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FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She is fascinated by any method that can achieve personal development success. She also loves clearing up misconceptions. She says,

“Medicine is a systematic approach to healing, no matter which approach is taken.

“The discussion of Traditional Chinese Medicine in this article gives an excellent overview of what is its scope, how diagnosis is approached and the vast number of techniques in the tool kit. I am excited with the information provided from the interview and am hopeful it will be helpful in the quest for healing.”

CAN GUT MICROBES HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS? (ISSUE 94)

By Diane Gold

There is extremely specific evidence that gut microbes have something to do with weight loss or gain. Much research is in process, and a new, amazing breakthrough has just been published.

THE STUDY

On September 5, a new study came out in the journal, Science, where germ-free mice were colonized with gut microbes (called “microbiota” in the study itself) from four pair of human twins. Each pair of twin donors contained one obese and one thin human. The recipients of the fecal matter were sterile mice who had no gut microbes until they were exposed to the human microbes.

Those mice who received the transplanted material from the obese twin became obese. The mice who received the transplanted material from the thin twin became thin. The mice were genetically identical so as to rule out genetic differences.

So far, this research, in its early stages, shows much promise. Not only did it show that the obese donors’ gut matter with controlled diet affected the recipient mice to get obese and vice versa. A big conclusion came out of this: it might be possible to change out microorganisms in an obese person’s gut so that the new microbes could promote thinness rather than obesity.

The researchers fed the mice a low-fat diet, which regular mouse food is. The microbes from the lean twin took over the gut of a mouse that already had microbes from the obese twin. The overweight mouse started to lose weight. The microbes from the overweight twin did not take over in a mouse that was thin.

NEXT STEP

Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, the senior researcher on the study, from Washington University in St. Louis, called the collection of microbes the “Battle of the Microbiota.” This is what happened.

After the transplants, the mice from each set of microbes, both obese and thin, were put together in the same cage. Mice typically eat each other’s dropping. So both sets of gut microbes were shared, and the mice with obese donor microbes started converting to the microbes from the mice from thin donors. There were sterile mice also introduced into the cages to see which microbes would appear in the gut of the sterile mice. The thin microbes seemed to take over.

One of the research colleagues, Vanessa K. Ridaura came up with the idea of creating two different diets for the mice, based on a national survey of what Americans eat: a high-fat diet with saturated fats and a low-fat diet with the most fruits and vegetables diet. The researchers created mouse pellets of two compositions to reflect these two types of diets. What they found was the mice who were overweight and received food high in fat, low in fruits and vegetables, stayed overweight and kept the gut microbes from their obese human. The thin twin’s gut microbes took over only when the mice were fed the food rich in fruits and vegetables and low in fat.

This study parallels the science that shows how low fat and high fruits and veggies are good for you.

FUTURE WORK

Dr. Gordon has said he wants to search out which particular microbes are responsible for the effect on obesity and leanness so that, eventually, people can be given microbes instead of fecal matter. A gastroenterologist, not part of the study, Dr. Alexander Khoruts, University of Minnesota, mentions how this isolating “the” microbe could take decades. He mentions that it would be a lot quicker to try fecal transplants.
To date, just under 500 fecal transplants have been reported for very aggressive clostridium difficile infection with successful results in over 90% of the cases. For obesity therapy, the prospects are hopeful. It seems like the simplest, least expensive, least invasive therapy to date.

NOMENCLATURE

When the study came out two days ago, the New York Times, the paper whose Sunday crossword puzzle my mother could get through without much effort, writer Gina Kolata, used the words “Gut Bacteria” in the headline. Enjoying using the right language, I started this mad dash to check what to call the microbes in our intestine (did you know these biological helpers are also in our conjunctiva [the eyelid inner skin], on and under our skin and in the mucous membrane [in the mouth, nose, gut]?), and I wondered whether this study used bacteria exclusively. Now I know it was a combination of whatever was in the stool.

Phylogenetic Tree Of Life

I kept seeing the words “gut flora” in the brilliant encapsulation with the same title in Wikipedia, also in the L.A. Times’ rendition of the study which was published on the same day and in various other publications. I was confused because I had always used the words that distinguish plants from animals, flora from fauna, by thinking of Bambi, the fawn. Faun, get it? So, to my knowledge, flora was plant matter.

It turns out the words “gut flora” when speaking about our intestinal microorganisms is used although it is phasing out to the correct microbiota, “biota” pertaining to the diverse collection of “micro” or tiny organisms. Flora was probably begun to differentiate the microbes from the exclusive word “bacteria” which would leave out fungi and archaea, other microbes that live in the gut and help us thrive. The New York Times article used the limiting word, “bacteria,” in this article.

CONCLUSION

We are influenced heavily by what we eat. Now we have more proof than we used to that gut microbes have influence on the proteins produced and the processes that contribute to our weight and our appetite. It is important to be thoughtful of what the food we eat does to support or inhibit our bodies and to make changes accordingly.

Here are a few easy steps we might take to protect our gut microbes. Imagine if weight loss were only a matter of balancing our gut microbes, as may be. It seems correct since these microorganisms have so many productive jobs to keep our body functions optimal.

ACTION STEPS

1)   Make more than half the food you eat fruits and vegetables.

2)   Experiment with ingredients in a salad or vegan nori rolls, so quick and nutritious.

3)   Do a few seconds of abdomen circles every day to assist with digestive flow.

4)   Notice how food affects your body, and be good to it. Your bathroom visits will be regular and smell mild if the body appreciates the way you eat. The more vegetables, the better. They nourish and cleanse.

5)   Consider making one new food choice, and commit to it for a week. If you do not feel better or if you get bored, let it go, and make another food improvement. If you do feel better, continue it for another two weeks. If you still feel good, keep the change.

EPILOGUE

These steps are the beginning of changing any habit so that your gut microorganisms can make you strong and healthy. Time will tell about how powerful are the findings in the above scientific breakthrough study.

Wouldn’t it be tremendous if this non-debilitating method of achieving better health could be made available to all who need it!

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FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She looks for the latest research techniques that can help people curb cravings.  There are so many keys to health that are right in front of us. She says,

“The current science about our own microorganisms in our gastrointestinal tract is vast and growing. It makes sense to me that we can use this micro eco system within ourselves for balance. I hadn’t considered that we could offer each other our good microbes for health, but it’s so logical.

“The ease with which this therapy could help people all over the world is remarkable. I am very excited and await more gut microbe news.”

READING FOOD AND SUPPLEMENT LABELS: HOW HABITS FORM (ISSUE 91)

By Diane Gold

When we read food and supplement labels, habits form. We become more aware of what we are putting into our body. Or do we?

There are so many ingredients in one product that the habit of reading labels must go along with doing research on what we read, if we wish to understand them.  I have been studying labeling of foods since the mid-1970s when I began studying a philosophy that includes meditation (sound yoga) , a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet and a good clean moral life. I read every label and contacted every manufacturer of anything I ate or drank, and I would pass that info on to my fellow philosophers. My purpose was to eliminate meat, fish, poultry from the diet. I was surprised at how many ingredients and processes were withheld from the consumer. Not enough has changed since then.

FTC

I recently called the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to question the wording on a label. I was excruciatingly shocked to find out that the “FTC can advocate on our behalf only if there is a pattern of abuse, rather than a single incident,” which means they cannot help us if we, as individuals, or people fewer than a group action find something wrong. The FTC looks for patterns of wrong doings. So, individual reports of inaccuracies remain unchanged.

This meant that the dietary supplements I called about did not fall under the purview of the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) that does not oversee dietary supplements, and I, alone, was not quantity enough to be heard by the FTC. So, nothing got done, and the product I called about continues to have an inaccurate label, since the FDA doesn’t regulate supplements and the FTC doesn’t regulate single complaints.
This is one of the many ways that the labeling system needs improvement.

THE SOURCE

What is also quite surprising to some is that manufacturers do not have to disclose what an ingredient is made from, as long as they acknowledge it exists in the product and someone, somewhere has tested it and it is GRAS (generally recognized as safe by the FDA).

WHAT THIS MEANS

Any ingredient whose source could be from animal, plant, synthetic sources might be from any of those sources at any time, the label does not specify. When a company discloses the source of each ingredient, it is showing respect to the consumer, in my opinion, and doing what all companies should be required to do.

Example One: Take the alcohol in the common soy sauce, for example. It can be made from animal fat, plant substance or it can be man-made. If we choose to stay away from animal products, we won’t know whether there is animal in it by the ingredient name only. If we have an allergy to certain plants, we may not even know we are ingesting the allergic substance due to incomplete labeling practices. And, then there’s synthetic alcohol. That leaves the ingredient “alcohol” open to any number of methods of alcohol preparation.

Example Two: Let’s look at companies that use lecithin, enzymes, mono and diglycerides, L-cysteine without identifying whether these come from animal, plant or synthetic sources. With these types of labeling techniques, much information is left out. In the case of soy lecithin, if all companies are not required to disclose genetic modified seeds, the ingredient easily can be made from modified seeds.

THE HABITS THAT FORM

Aside from the fact that we have been raised to buy food products in packages, the labels of those products don’t tell us the source, and the materials used in the manufacturing process are not required to be disclosed. We accept this and make it a standard in our buying habits.

We have been raised with produce that is waxed. There is no requirement for disclosure of this process, nor is there a mandate to tell us whether the wax is petroleum-based, animal, bee or plant-based, all for the purpose of maintaining moisture and eye appeal.
We have been raised not to expect ingredient labels on household products, paints and adhesives. This means that the fact that almost all our paper bags are glued with animal parts is not labeled as well as what is in the paint on our walls, the adhesive for our plumbing.

We have developed the habit of cheering when labels must disclose something additional, such as whether something is GMO-free (whether a product contains genetically modified organisms) or not. Shouldn’t disclosure be the norm and not the exception?

TO SUMMARIZE

1)   We accept an incomplete labeling system.

2)   We buy items that do not identify the source of ingredients.

3)   We buy items without knowing the ingredients used in manufacturing, processing or preparing, both in produce and packaged goods.

4)   Because we get a certain amount of information, we don’t ask manufacturers for more specific labeling.

5)   When we do call a manufacturer and talk to the customer service rep, we accept what these reps tell us with no written proof.

6)   When we call a manufacturer and talk to the customer service rep about ingredients, we accept it when they say they don’t have any further information.

7)   We accept that manufacturers, in general, do not have written agreements with their suppliers to get ingredients from specific types of sources, that is, animal, plant, synthetic, organic.

ACTION STEPS

In order to upgrade the way that we eat, research and show respect to ourselves, here are some action steps to change habits that will be of permanent benefit to the way that we eat, feel and read labels. Check these out:

1)   Read labels and notice all the habits that you have regarding them. This noticing may be done over a period of time.

2)   Write down what you would require in a food, supplement or drink label to have, either to yourself or by commenting on the website.

3)   Ask your grocers lots of questions about their wares, and be gracious about saying that you will wait for an answer. When the grocers say they don’t know and ask that you call the corporate headquarters of the store you frequent, call the corporate entity, get the name of the reps you speak with and notice how long it takes someone to call you back, or if you get a call back at all. Notice whether the answer they give is complete.

4)   Ask questions of your fruit and vegetable managers. Then follow the steps in 3).

5)   If you are very inspired, write a note to your local newspaper reporting your experience about how knowledgeable your local grocers and fruit and vegetable managers are. The more people talk about the topic, the more quickly we shake our old habits. The more we share our interest in this topic, the more responsible the entire chain of people involved will become.

6)   Talk to friends about labels. Remember not to go on a complaint fest. But, do inform them of your inspiration to be accountable and help others be accountable by requesting food and supplements whose labels disclose and whose ingredients disclose sources.

CONCLUSION

Now that we have looked at some of the habits that reading labels develops, it is easier to change them.

Back in the 1970s, we learned about “subliminal seduction” in psychology class. This refers to any media that lures us into doing a certain behavior or thinking a certain way through repetition of words, audio or visual cues.  According to University of Michigan, this mind-persuading data began in the 5th Century, B.C.

When we read food and supplement labels, let’s be diligent and live by what we find. If we don’t know someone’s name, we ask. In the same way, when we don’t know an ingredient, we can ask.  This way, reading food and supplement labels will begin forming the habits that are right.
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FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition and habit change.

She has studied the labeling system since the mid-1970s. She says,

“The more we list on a label, the more testing and accountability is required by the food producer or manufacturer. The label size has to grow to fit the information on it. This is an excuse many producers give for not supporting full disclosure of their product. Many also hide behind the “proprietary ingredients” banner when it does not apply.

“It’s my hope that there will come a time when every ingredient’s source will be listed on every label and that suppliers of ingredients will be required to certify said source, that the term “natural” shall be removed from labels so that consumers are not duped and that nutritional data listed on labels shall identify which company measured it and the last date of measurement.

“I would have all produce wax labeled with wax source, any type of pasteurization process such as the steaming of raw almonds revealed on the label. I’d even require farmers to divulge which animal products, unprocessed chemicals they put in their soil during the cultivation of their food and whether they use GMO seeds. I don’t know would no longer be an acceptable answer from anyone in the industry.

“It is my mission to encourage people to be more demanding of the information they receive about their food. Until the labeling system is truly upgraded, be bold, ask questions, do research. And let the habits we form from reading food and supplement labels be those that support our lives.

HOW WATER WORKS ON HABIT CHANGE (ISSUE 87)

By Diane Gold

Water works on habit change. It has a profound influence on whatever we are doing. If we are working on changing a habit, we need it. If we are thirsty, the body is already deprived, but it hydrates us. Water flushes out toxins; it balances the chemicals that make us human; it combines with the nutrients from our food. It keeps our health.

THE ACT OF DRINKING WATER, THE BEHAVIOR

We know that, in order to change a habit, we are going to plan a new behavior to activate when we get our urge, our cue, our itch instead of following through with our behavior we have decided to change. Here’s an example behavior with overeating. When we sit down to eat, and we find ourselves salivating and ready to gobble down every last drop of our food because we can never get enough food at 100 pounds overweight, we can use this pre-planned strategy, which works for most habits:

ACTION STEP

Before sitting down to eat (or even if we eat standing up), pour two glasses of water for ourselves. Before we allow ourselves to take a bite to eat, we drink all the water. We do this at every meal, including snacks.

We can think of the beautiful water supply from which it came, if it is clean water and conjure a picture of wonderful waterfalls surrounding it. Secondly, we can honor those who do not have clean water or any water at all by being grateful for the water in front of us. This mental exercise helps insure the water is drunk with no excuses.

THE RESULT

The body is somewhat sated and has the control to eat the meal at a healthy speed, chewing many times (25 X per mouthful is a good start). We will also eat less. Yes, we will become hungry again after we have finished the meal. However, the water may give us control not to run and eat again.
__

PROOF OF MY OWN

I recall that drinking water was a way I used to reduce my urges. On many occasions, I actually lost the desire to overindulge from the act of drinking water. The removal of desire was not permanent, but it is became very manageable and rarely reappears. Sleep often followed this remedy so that I didn’t chance that the urge would reappear again and tempt me to have an additional meal or substance.

The idea of taking away my appetite for whatever it was I wanted often made me REFUSE to drink water. Why would I want to get in the way of satisfying my own urge? As time went on, though, I realized that the technique of using water as a friendly control tool, was changing my understanding of myself. Even if part of me resisted it, once the water was down, I wanted to forego the old habit and a new reward took its place, that wonderful feeling of having changed myself. I still feel it all over my body, inside and out. I smile at the way the mind pulls us and marvel that I have discovered how to adjust it with a plan, some faith in myself and repetition.

Here’s another relevant personal tidbit. My precious cat is usually on a weight loss or weight maintenance diet. He quickly changes his behavior when there is no food in his dish. He goes out to play or, like me, goes to sleep.

THE SCIENCE

There are lots of people who know that water helps habit change. Most don’t know that , according to a study by Almiron-Roig & Drewnowski, 2003, and DellaValle et. al., 2005, in the Journal of Physiology & Behavior, energy drinks increase food consumption, compared to water or non-energy, artificially- sweetened drinks. (It has been shown that artificial sweeteners can be carcinogenic and are still under study, so I recommend water). I don’t know the sample size or technique used in this study.

More recent than that is a 2009/2010 study performed by Brenda Davey, Ph.D., of Virginia Tech University, et. al. with 24 subjects. This study demonstrated that water, drunk prior to a meal, reduced energy intake (which we call the amount of food we eat) in older, overweight adults. Although the sample of test subjects was small, it finally demonstrated what many people have been saying for years.

THE EXCUSES

Here are reasons why people don’t drink water. Know them, bypass them and go drink:

1) It’s not always convenient to stop and get water.

2) It makes our stomachs puff out, and we don’t like to see that.

3) It flushes out the many toxins that are produced during weight loss which is necessary and good. The result is we have to use the bathroom much more often, which is a chore for the lazy.

4) We don’t feel thirsty. Once we feel thirsty, we are already dehydrated, and we have already taxed our bodies too much.

5) We know water will take away our urge and we want to get the old reward of our urge that is not supporting our positive life style. And it’s hard to let go of this.

CONCLUSION

What I have learned from changing habits is this: water cuts the appetite, water cuts urges, water makes us healthy and water sustains our lives. If we have access to it, we can use it for all these things.

Before we close, I want to make sure to mention some water facts. These facts do not take away from the fact that to change a habit requires will power galore. They just bring to light the fact that we are not the only ones with issues.

THE FACTS

1) Over three-quarters of a billion people lack access to clean water.

2) Only 63% of people have a sanitation facility. That means 1.1 billion people (estimated from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme) defecate in the street.

3) More than 80% of sewage in developing countries goes untreated to pollute rivers, lakes and coasts.

4) 90% of all disease comes from feces.

5) According to water.org, a $25 donation will supply clean water for one person for life.

In honor of those who have less,

CONCLUDING ACTION STEPS

1) Continue the two-glass technique until you feel some modicum of control over your most out-of-control urges.

2) Repeat this technique for seven days. If successful, go 14 more days.

3) Once you have completed 21 days, think of drinking water as a method to change your biology for the rest of your life. This method needs to be continued, since habits we change usually live in us in a dormant state.

4) Once you have completed 21 days, as you drink water on purpose, congratulate yourself.

5) Every day, don’t wait until the body is thirsty. This taxes the body. Drink at regular intervals. In keeping water drinking high, we have a good chance of staying in command of our urges.
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FEEDBACK

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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She is pleased to have lived long enough to discover herself well. She says,

“I am not special in developing self-control and the ability to know myself. I believe we can all do it, if we devote the time and follow a technique. And here’s a secret. Even if we don’t believe in ourselves, as long as we follow the technique, we’ll succeed anyway. It’s the doing that matters; the belief comes later.”