SUPPLEMENTS VS. PHARMACEUTICALS: THE COMPARISON (ISSUE 85)

By Diane Gold

Supplements and pharmaceuticals have interesting comparisons. Because of this, supplements very often get confused with  pharmaceuticals and vice versa. Let’s break it down from the beginning. Let me say here that the pharmaceutical industry is very complex. It takes huge amounts of money to develop a drug (on average $1.5 to $2 Billion Dollars including clinical trials), and patent length allows the drug company exclusive rights to the drug to get payback for the development and then some.

Supplements are considered an addition to the diet. They are developed from already formed combinations of molecules to enhance health. They help teach nutrition.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

The business model for a supplement company is that we can use supplements for a period of time and wean off once we get our food together, if medically possible.

The business model for a pharmaceutical firm is that of making the user regulate a disease on a daily basis, usually causing some addiction, rather than solving the issue with one dose. It requires a true concentration on finding a cure, rather than a daily control for companies to develop one-time fixes.

According to Dr. Jaroslav Boublik, a good friend, veteran product formulator and progressive researcher,

“A simple differentiation between supplements and pharmaceuticals that is generally correct is that supplements seek to supply something that is deficient, or which offers a benefit by consumption of additional amounts, whereas pharmaceuticals seek to treat an illness by intervening in normal or disease-state metabolism.  Even more simply put supplements seek to correct imbalances and pharmaceuticals seek to treat symptoms.”

We all have to ask ourselves,

“If we could have a billion dollars from finding a daily pill that would regulate a disease but not cure it; or make $50,000 and find a cure; which would we choose?”

Although the following piece from consumerreports.org is from June, 2006, I wanted to quote it,

“What’s the difference between a nutritional supplement and a drug?

In some respects, not much. Both can have powerful pharmacological effects and cause problems if taken incorrectly. Some conventional medicines are actually derived from plants, and many supplements are sold as concentrates that are virtually indistinguishable from drugs.

“How drugs and supplements are viewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is another matter entirely. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the FDA essentially treats supplements as if they were foods. DSHEA defines nutritional supplements as products taken by mouth that contain an ingredient intended to supplement the diet.

“Those ingredients could include vitamins, minerals, or natural biological substances such as enzymes. They can come in a variety of forms, including extracts and concentrates, and as tablets, capsules, powders, or liquids.

“Drugs, on the other hand, are legally defined as substances intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease.”

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Replacement of one nutrient, antioxidant or chemical is unlikely to correct the cascade of interconnected metabolic abnormalities associated with serious health problems. It can certainly have a big impact, though.

SAMENESS

The scientists who spend time researching what will do what to whom care about the outcome of their work as it will benefit humanity whether they work on drugs or supplements.

Supplement and pharmaceutical scientists both have the same passion as the other for their research.

They both love discovery.

DIFFERENCE

Supplement developers are interested in alternatives to pharmaceutical answers, for the most part. This could be to avoid the exorbitant costs of drugs or to avoid side effects and addiction or to see quick results.

Those who invent supplements tend to be more personally invested in the product since they do not usually work for giant pharmaceutical companies and, many times, thought of the concept themselves.
Supplement scientists are inventing something to be ingested like food to improve nutritional intake.

Pharmaceutical scientists invent substances or parts of molecules that will improve, and can we hope cure?, a particular disease.

Those in the pharmaceutical sphere are driven by the competitive world of which drug company will get to the finish line first to be able to recuperate the $1.5 Billion dollars of out-of-pocket cost per drug, on average, for the drugs that get approval, which is maybe 7% (very rough statistics due to lack of transparency from Scott Gavura of ScienceBasedMedicine.org). Usually the company that is first to market gets the brand recognition like Kleenex or Xerox or Aspirin, so the pressure of the corporate scene causes developers to lose their original goal of helping humanity.

THE BIG DIFFERENCE

Usually,  supplement inventors are in the field of medicine outside the allopathic medicine sphere, meaning they are not part of the set of doctors who treat patients only when a disease shows up. They are more part of the set of doctors or medical healers who look at preventing disease from happening in the first place. They have experience treating people on a more personal level, even possibly physically touching their bodies to heal them. Even without the physical aspect, the people who recommend supplements tend to think prevention first, pharmaceuticals afterwards.

THE SMALL DIFFERENCE

The small difference is that supplements are not regulated by our government agency, the Food And Drug Administration. Pharmaceuticals are.

CROSS OVER POINT

The interesting thing about this, and this is the cross-over point, is that, sometimes when the pharmaceutical industry sees a very lucrative supplement, they move to get it approved as a pharmaceutical so that they can market it.

There are substances in the world made from roots, seeds, fruits, vegetables (including sea vegetables) pods, grains. They contain vitamins and minerals necessary for life. From these sources, we develop supplements. From much smaller pieces of these substances or other chemicals, we develop pharmaceuticals.

Dietary supplements (also called nutraceuticals) supplement the diet. Pharmaceuticals treat, alleviate or diagnose a particular disease.

The cross-over point is obvious when we see some products sold as supplements in some countries but as drugs in others. Or consider that Belladonna, when my father was alive, was only available by prescription for gastrointestinal issues and the like. Now, it is available at the homeopathic store.

CONCLUSION

It is the daily dependence model that the pharmaceutical industry sets up that has people shouting about Big Pharma. The current Big Pharma model requires people to pay money for life for a health solution that could possibly be corrected with a one-time solution if all the Big Pharma research money looked for that one-time solution which would mean the
customer pays once, rather than that the customer pays daily.

Supplements can assist us in insuring proper nutrition. They can be immensely costly as well, but not to the tune of one dose of chemotherapy, a treatment for cancer, whose bill I have witnessed at $25,000.

The financial factor is crucial since lives are changed because of availability or not, with both supplements and pharmaceuticals.

Both supplements and pharmaceuticals can have a prohibitive price tag; how can we offset this? Should pharmaceutical companies be able to refuse people treatment? Should our government? And what about supplements? This is another discussion entirely.
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SIDEBAR

There is, at least, one drug company working on a cancer cure using the human immunodeficiency virus as a one-time cure. They will not be able to administer or sell the drug more than once, because the body cannot accept the treatment more than once. They are considering giving up their profit for the good will it will bring their company and so that they can be first to “cure” childhood cancer. Maybe they wish to show they are benevolent after losing a patent case in India (which the court said was “evergreening,” a technique of making a tiny change to an already patented drug so as to push the expiration date of that patent back for, you guessed it, cha-ching, longer profitability) which would have taken a different cancer drug and made it too expensive for most people who need it in developing countries. With the court ruling, generic companies can now reproduce the drug to help the poor.

This drug company’s consideration of cure should be “the norm” and not the exception. And they may not go through with it.
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ACTION STEP

1) Take a look at the supplements you take, if any. Decide whether these can easily be substituted for food. If yes, replace. If not, enjoy the supplements available to you. If you will not eat the food that you need, consider a supplement.

2) Take a look at the cost of your supplements in another country known for pharmaceuticals. Consider whether it would be less expensive to use that product, including shipping, than the one you use. Make sure to consider the purity and regulation of ingredients of the product you are considering. Consider what it would do to our economy should we all turn to another country for supplements. Consider what we can do to speak out about supplement and pharmaceutical pricing that would be helpful.

3) Add one nutritional food to your diet one time per week.

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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.

Supplements and pharmaceuticals have interesting comparisons. She says,

“We all want to lead healthy lives. When we feel well, our lives have the best chance of being balanced. When we are feeling poorly, everything is a mess.

“With this in mind, it is extremely important for us to be aware of ourselves, what we need nutritionally, what we need in exercise, rest, relaxation and nurturing and how we choose to proceed when we are not well. Do we see a naturopath, an allopath, a Chinese Medicine doctor or do we not have the money for any of them? Or do we do tai chi for free?

“In order to stay well, it’s important to know how to prevent disease by fortifying ourselves with food: alkaline ones, fatty acids, phytonutrients, a good balance of vitamins and minerals, etc. Supplements may be part of prevention, but good food habits are number one. And then, if we need them, we are glad there are pharmaceuticals to use. And preventive measures often avoid them.

“Supplements and pharmaceuticals both have their place. I’m glad they both exist, although I want them both to be available so that all people, not just the well-off, can maximize their health. We can make that happen together.”

THE SUPPLEMENT GAME: ARE YOU IN IT? (ISSUE 84)

By Diane Gold

The Supplement Game is big in 2013, to the tune of over $60 Billion in total. There’s a supplement for every ache in our body, every ache in our mind and every blemish that plants itself on our body’s largest and only external organ, the skin. We are groomed from an early age to take our vitamins. In case this concept hasn’t been explored, it is a part of consumerism that is made into a habit at a very young age: daily vitamins caps.

We are taught the daily amounts of these vitamins that we should look for on a bottle so that we know we are getting the right amount. There are two flaws with this thinking and with having one universal measurement:

1) each body requires more or less depending upon our activity, our entire make-up, our diet and our genetics.

2) the “right amount” from the Department of Agriculture’s Food And Nutrition Board at the Institute Of Medicine at the National Academy of Science is often not what health professionals recommend.

The truth is we should be eating our vitamins and minerals, not taking them. Instead of being taught the combinations of foods that supply this nutrition, we get into the habit of taking a pill or a powder instead of the right foods.

WHEN SUPPLEMENTS EMPOWER

Let me clarify here that supplements can empower our lives:

1) when we don’t have the time to combine our foods perfectly, meaning it is more convenient to take a supplement than it is to search for a food to get the same vitamin or mineral.

2) while we are learning to combine foods well.

3) when we don’t have the money to obtain the perfect foods.

4) when our bodies require an extra boost.

5) when we have a deficiency that supplements can address quickly.

But food is the best source of our nutrition, by far.

I am the first to admit that I take vitamins and minerals. My goal is to get what I need from food, but I am still working on it. And I may end up choosing some supplements that are too inconvenient to get from food.

When did I begin with supplements? Four and a half years ago. Before that, I was eating what I wanted, not paying close attention to the right way to eat. Yes, I was a vegetarian for 40 years, so I didn’t ingest meat, fowl or fish. I did, however, eat lots of dairy and not enough green leafy vegetables. I did not get into the supplement game until age 60.

Even when my children were young and living with me, I did not do enough research to make certain their meals were balanced. I approximated and gave them vitamins.

So, several years ago, I took up an interest in food. I went from  four-decade vegetarian to vegan in a flash, but still not a conscientious vegan. I was in it for the animals first, health, not yet. I ate packaged protein made from textured vegetable protein, which, I now know, is processed under high heat, which removes many nutrients and renders others useless.

There are also two substances that form in processing, nitrites during spray-drying and lysinoate during alkaline processing, according to the savvy vegetarian, Judith Kingbury.

Plus, almost all the soy protein isolate, as it is usually listed in the ingredient section, is genetically modified, with many studies showing this process is detrimental to our health.

The thrill that the Chinese Restaurant down the block had a complete vegetarian menu started to wane when I realized that their fake shrimp, chicken, duck were made from this processed food that sometimes produced carcinogenic nitrites and more. The idea of shaping the food into animal shapes did not mesh with my thinking. If we chose to protect animals by not eating them, why would we be happy to pretend to eat them?

Anyway, the new information that this stuff was bad for me helped get me on the bandwagon of eating almost no processed foods.

BACK TO THE HABIT

Let’s get back to how we get into the supplement game. We begin our journey being treated by doctors who do not have to take nutrition in school although some medical schools offer one class. We were schooled at places that offered us a choice between cardboard pizza, a processed cheese sandwich or an unidentified institutional meat with a few pieces of iceberg lettuce topped with two shreds of carrot and three shreds of red cabbage. Oh, yes, and milk, which has been proven to turn cancer on and off in rats (T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study).

As of the year 2000, kids are learning much better nutrition in school. At home, though, most families do not have necessary knowledge about nutrition. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, directed the USDA’s National School Lunch Program to update its nutrition to current standards which means more fruits, veggies and grains, less sodium and calorie limitation. There is still, however, a lack of strategy on how to eat well on a normal person’s budget, but teachers are more conscientious about teaching and principals are fighting harder to get better food (with the community’s help). Still, the meat and dairy industries supply schools with most of the food that is sold to the USDA as surplus. It is not the kind of food one would choose if one were selecting good quality food for one’s child, but it passes the standard which is made up for cost, not health.

CONCLUSION

It is our responsibility to teach our family good habits. It is important to know how to eat without supplements and to strive toward removing supplements from any menu. They serve the purpose of security, maintaining our ingrained habit, allow us not to learn well what to eat, give us peace of mind even though they may not be helping us. They are a quick fix that slows down our learning curve.

When we feel tired, we can have some caffeine, an energy drink or an energy bar. This type of solution is not sustainable.

When our bones get soft as we get older, we take calcium. Ca

Does it get absorbed from the supplement or are we wasting our time and money? I often wonder whether the calcium and vitamin D I take are absorbed at all. Ask the doctor? I barely get five minutes per appointment. I have asked how we can test for supplement absorption, other than blood levels of these substances, which don’t track the supplement and bone density tests. I’ll ask again.

When we have pain in the back, we take glucosamine and get a massage. For neuropathy, Vitamin Bs and alpha-lipoic acid (Dr. Weil’s recommendation). It is true that when pain is involved, we are ready to use anything that works. And we prefer supplements to drugs. So we run to use whatever the latest and greatest fix is, be it a powdered mushroom or Vitamin E for the skin.

Why not just eat a mushroom and get that potassium, copper, selenium, vitamin B and protein?

We continue to take that one-a-day vitamin set which should be obtained from our food. The idea of external to food vitamins is so ingrained in us that we will have to make a concerted effort to learn to eat the right food.

ACTION STEPS

CAUTION

Because many of us have supplement habits, it would be best to consult with your doctor before making a change. However, understand that doctors may push supplements the way they prescribe drugs. Give this some thought before taking any action and understand the place from which the answer comes. Maybe I should say consult a food advisor who has training in nutrition. But who can afford that since it’s usually not insurance reimbursed?

1) Consider weaning off vitamins and minerals. This means we have to be responsible for our own food, so we may really fight this. First skip every third day. Then every second day. Hold it, there, for a month to make sure you are eating well enough. Once you realize that you are, continue weaning. Confirming through before and after blood tests is always a good option.

2) Eat one extra green leafy vegetable serving per day.

3) Learn one new food fact per day. These facts, obviously, will accumulate, so writing them down works well.

4) Research a food replacement for one supplement a month.

5) See how you feel with the reduction of supplements, and tell a friend.

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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 considers taking supplements somehow cheating because the real way to get nutrition is from eating it. She says,

“This is a great opportunity to start studying what foods are good for us and why. We get into the supplement game at an early age, or we are taught the merits of supplements, at least. Let us study how to eat our nutrition through food, slowly remove supplements from our daily intake and let us pass this on to family, friends and future generations.”

HABITS AND MEDICAL CARE: PART ONE – WHAT CERTIFICATE IS THAT? (ISSUE 81)

By Diane Gold

M.D.s vs. D.O.s

When we first come out, we go to a doctor who specializes in kids. If we’re on public assistance, we go to whomever we get on an infrequent, if not inconstant, basis. We don’t always remember the experience, depending upon our memories. My son probably remembers his first encounter, whereas I have scanty recollections.

In the old days, when I was a child, we were taught that only doctors with the initials M.D. after their names were qualified. D.O.s, Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, were thought to hold less qualification than the allopathic doctor, even though they went through the same training, sometimes at the same schools, definitely at the same teaching hospitals, for the same amount of time. Who promoted the inaccuracy? The habit of continuing to believe it, even though we know it is not true, requires exposure to the truth, research and, like any habit, continual maintenance.

FYI: in 2008. the AMA, American Medical Association, resolution 302a states,

“H-405.969 Definition of a Physician

“The AMA affirms that a physician is an individual who has received a ‘Doctor of Medicine’ or a ‘Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine’ degree or an equivalent degree following successful completion of a prescribed course of study from a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine. (CME Rep. 4-A-94; Reaffirmed by Sub. Res. 712, I-94; Reaffirmed and Modified: CME Rep. 2, A-04)”

DRUGS FIRST?

Through the medical model to fix what ails, doctors are schooled in drug therapy. This is super fantastic since drugs are miraculous helpers. But, there are preventive disciplines that have little to do with pharmaceuticals; they teach us how to live and thrive without drugs.

A perfect example of the old way of thinking is that when I looked for an image under “medical,” most of them showed pills, syringes and drugs.

Awareness and training are changing on this point, but doctors, to date, usually do not study to be qualified to insert a nutrition and fitness regimen that prevents problems, minimizes disease initiation or flat out switches off a gene or inhibits the release of a chemical that causes negative conditions in our body (or mind).

Since there is no nutrition requirement in medical school, the latest and greatest discipline, integrative medicine, whose time is overdue, but we’ll take it, is looking to correct this failure. Unfortunately, doctors who provide nutritional and exercise physiology specialists along with their services, are few, are often not connected with an insurance plan and usually charge triple as to make the appointment cost prohibitive.

In time, hopefully medicine that looks at a person and not what money can be made by each industry separately while treating the person, will become the standard that should have always been. I’m grateful it exists now, but couldn’t we say it is the public relations way of saying,

“Oops, we, in medicine, made a mistake. We forgot to include nutrition, exercise, rest and peace of mind as crucial coursework in medical school,”

without admitting we made a mistake? And we will all know what is happening behind closed doors,

“Look what this means to us, fellow doctors? We can profit from our mistake. We can name a new discipline, Integrative Medicine, charge triple for it, get a percentage from each discipline provider including the gyms, and maybe no one will ever notice we left this stuff out of a standard office visit. But, at least, we will won’t have to admit that we left something out and can still maintain the label of the Almighty Doctor.”

Don’t get me wrong. Getting through medical school is a bear. I just watched my precious daughter graduate vet school after eight years of diligence with extra work many summers. Her resume is longer than mine, and she is just starting out. I am told the severity of study is similar to med school, or worse.

Much respect to everyone who does it.

THE OTHER MEDICINE

Because of the lack of completeness in the medical model, or due to a myriad of other reasons including personal choice, different philosophy, poor grades, limited funding or indecision early in life to go to medical school); there are lots of folks who go into other medical disciplines. Because most are not standardized into one association or even one association per discipline, there’s a lot of variation in what people learn and what each certification actually means.

Here’s a non-medical example: mp3s are the most common audio file format. There are 30 or so others offered that were manufacturer specific. If we didn’t use a player by our particular manufacturer, we couldn’t play our song. People spent extra time working on converting files or buying duplicate hardware, rather than listening to music. Until the people spoke: peer sharing was born.

Here’s a medical example: people have taught us to reach for a pill. If they had been taught nutrition and exercise education from early childhood, they would be in the habit of preventing whatever it is that is causing them dis-ease so that they would be looking for relief from sickness far less. They might also be familiar with the myriad of options to healing, other than the pill.

CONCLUSION

Of course, there are loads of habits we have developed over the years. They are so ingrained, sometimes we can’t identify which are based on learned facts, on nebulous supposition, on familial traditions.

The method of change is still the same. Take one step in the direction of the new idea, and we are one step closer to change.

Below are action steps that are fun and educational. They are meant to stimulate your thinking so there are dynamic learning and flowing habits in your daily living.

ACTION STEPS

1) If you had a child today, what would you teach this child about proper nutrition? Whatever it is, go learn this nutrition now, for yourself. You are worth it. Or so that you will be up-to-date for the sake of your child.

2) Do you have one food habit you have that goes against scientific evidence? Such as, do you eat a food that you know is bad for your arteries?

Here’s one: I could mention that combining proteins on a plant-based diet has been scientifically proven not necessary. Many books incorrectly talk about this outdated information that I, only recently, corrected in my own skill set.

There are many habits we have developed by believing in food manufacturer’s ads or antiquated principles or by just plain hedonism. Find one habit, research it and see whether you wish to change it.

3) If you defined the role of the perfect doctor, what expertise would your doctor have? Can you make a list of what is missing in your current doctor’s education? If you have the perfect doctor, please pass her on so we can know about her.

4) What do you do on a daily basis to relax? As with food nourishment, relaxing daily is a must. If you don’t have a daily relaxer, consider one. Want a suggestion? Just ask here.

5) If you could change one thing about medical care, what would it be? How can you contribute to making it happen?
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Hope you enjoy going through these action steps.

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.

She has been around the medical profession as a music therapist and as a mentor in two very defined systems of personal development, kung fu and tai chi. She says,

“The more I learn, the more I see the subtleties of how we form habits. We get them when we are young, not by osmosis, but by repetition. We see an action, hear a philosophy, we act as if it’s ours; and then it is ours. This happens at any age the same way.

“I’m reminded of the Jim Carrey movie where his character, Truman, is raised in a town that is a TV Production Set. Every social encounter this character has had has been with an actor playing a role without his knowing it. His life is on TV 24/7 for other people’s entertainment. and his producer’s profit. When some of the actors on set let Truman overhear their acting commands, he learns his life is not real. With this new discovery, he changes his habits to escape and have a new life.

“When we learn new information where changing a habit would support us more efficiently, it might be time to change that habit.”

CHANGING FOOD HABITS: ARE YOU EATING GMOs, ORGANIC FOODS OR … (ISSUE 79)

By Diane Gold

For years, we have been ingesting food that has been modified to yield bigger crop, faster growth, more eye-appealing shape, resist or repel certain insect infestation and more.

We have been polluting our air through crop dusting modification, exposing ourselves to the sickness from toxin exposure, used to bio-technically modify seed and now, are faced with super insects made strong through genetically modified chemical resistance and the sicknesses that come from these super bugs. There is talk that humans should not be eating toxins. Not a new revelation.

Biotech companies want to make money. Great. They should have the right. However, the regulations put forth for these companies should not be removed disguised as developing technologies that will feed the world – IF the health risks have not been examined.

Governments are the regulators. Governments are we, the people. Regulating food is an issue that needs an amendment, as I see it. As part of the wonderful Open Government Act that is fabulous in words, I’d like to see transparency in food labeling. Why would a government as large and powerful as the United States not require transparency from which we could all benefit? And the answer is _________.

Of course, governments are corporations. They deal with other corporations. When one corporation does a business deal with another, a purchase or transaction is made.

Sometimes money is not exchanged, but favors, instead. When a corporation subsidizes government programs, the government may offer lenient regulations, in gratitude. This is where governing gets tricky.
How does a government accept help from big business, (which it needs to subsidize breakfast for children, senior flu shots, food for animals and environmental programs) and still stay neutral? Not easily.

So, what can we do to help?

ACTION STEPS

1) We can become educated about food and genetic modification and change our habit of thinking that food is pure, and we can change our buying habits.

Here are three important points:

a) ingredient labels on packaged food show the major percentage of food substance. Trace ingredients under a certain percentage are not required to be included. That means, if animal bone substance is used to bleach sugar (not common in the US any more), and there is no animal substance detectable in the finished product, it does not go on the label. Our habit of believing in these labels needs to change. It should be noted that packaged goods that have 70% organic substances in them are able to use the word “organic.”

b) there is no ingredient label on produce. Our habit of believing that all produce is the same needs to be looked at. Organic food is not genetically modified. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.That means mineral oil (fossil oil), lipids, proteins, waxes and alkaloids can be used on organics. animals can be used. Yuck. That means oil can be organic since it’s not synthetic.

There are three organic categories:

1. 100% organics, made with 100% organic ingredients.

2. organic, which means made with 95% organic ingredients.

The USDA Organic seal is used with the first two categories only, 100% organic and 95% organic. There is no apparent differentiation between the two categories unless the manufacturer decided to list 100% organic. Most 95% organic producers would take advantage of the public’s ignorance in thinking a product with this label is 100% organic, rather than listing it as 95% organic.

3. made with organics, made with 70% organic ingredients and no GMOs.

Did you know these distinctions?

On both organic and non-organic produce, there are coatings (wax): organics with wax from bees, wood rosin and carnauba and non-organic from petroleum.

c) bananas, both organic and non-organic, are ripened by spraying ethylene on them. This is one synthetic chemical that is allowed because it acts identical to the chemical that naturally off-gasses in bananas that ripen naturally and are not picked early for shipping. Ethylene “gassing” is used on citrus that may look green, organic and non-. This process is not on any label. Why?

2) We can express to our government reps that we want the FDA label what is and what is not a GMO (a genetically modified organism). Since we are striving for a transparent way of living, we, as consumers, deserve to know what is in a bunch of produce or a package of food or prepared food that is ready to eat.

We don’t have this now. Isn’t this our right?

3)  Join a group that knows more about this topic so that you can become more educated and take some of the action steps these groups have set up.

nongmoproject.org/learn-more is a good place to start. There’s also a march on March 25, 2013, targeting the largest supplier of modified seed (around 90%). It is not the only one, but it’s the big one: organicconsumers.org/monsanto

CONCLUSION

The risks of modifying seeds are known to exist. More research is needed to create data on all the side effects, but it is certain that there are correlations between certain sicknesses and genetically modified seeds.

In the same way we have executive, judicial and legislative branches of government, we need some system of checks and balances when it comes to the food industries ability to donate to or benefit the government and the government’s ability to reciprocate by regulating in favor of the industry.

We read headlines all the time that talk about “the government’s” doing this. Aren’t our representatives in government there to listen to what we have to say?

The time is now to be educated and active about the food we eat and the government’s ability to regulate on behalf of the health of its citizens with no eye on how this regulation will affect corporate donation to programs.

Old habits die hard. Now that our eyes are opening, and many of us are aware of the uncertainties of consuming GMOs, let’s work on changing our habit of consuming without asking. Let’s be diligent so that we can create healthier habits to pass on to our children and to theirs. The more of us who require non-GMO food, the less expensive it will be to certify it as “non-GMO” by label on a package or bushel of produce.

In November, 2013, the citizens of Washington State will vote on a mandatory labeling bill. Approximately, 37 states are working on bills. Some call their bills, “Right To Know.”

We’re all in this together. Let’s take action now.

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.

She has been studying labeling for four several decades . She says,

“The fact that the labeling system has not been modernized at the same rate as our discoveries in human nutrition reflects an imbalanced assessment on the government’s part regarding our internal health. This can also be seen by how slowly integrative medicine is appearing, which includes nutrition, fitness, mind body programs. And these, as of this writing, are only insurance reimbursable if an MD, no other kind of doctor, oversees the program.

“Be tenacious with nutrition. Spread the word about the benefits of organic food, non-GMO food, plant based food, unprocessed food. Take a step to change food habits one step at a time.

“SPECIAL ACTION STEP

“If you want to go for it, make a special commitment that for one meal on the day of your choice, you will refrain from any GMO foods. Do it for 3 weeks in a row, and see how much easier the third time is than the first. Then, if you’ve accomplished three weeks worth, continue the process, whatever that is for you. Your old ways that didn’t include this will be changed. And you will be healthier.”

CHANGE A HABIT: HOW THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM HAS TAUGHT US BAD HABITS (ISSUE 70)

By Diane Gold

CHANGE A HABIT is an expression that can refer to making an adjustment to just about anything we do. It refers to habits that are both good for us and bad.

According to Chris Brogan, CEO of Human Business Works and New York Times Best-Selling Author,

“Habits come from repeated practice and some sense of reward (negative or positive) for the actions we take.”

When we think of habits, we often forget some of the great ones we have like drinking water, brushing our teeth, meditating, exercising, writing or shaking hands or bowing when we meet people. We don’t usually think about these because they complement our lives and preserve our health and self-esteem.

What we often think about when the word “habit” comes up are overindulgence in eating, drugs, drinking alcohol, gambling, etc. These habits are behaviors we have repeated so many times they now require a considerable effort to stop, different from what would happen should we find out that a good habit, tooth brushing, did harm to us.

Our behaviors of habit, whether supportive or not, have been learned on our own or with the help of our families. What I didn’t think of until I watched Escape Fire last night, a CNN documentary about the U.S. health care system crisis, is that many of our poor health habits have been taught to us through the misinformation given to us by the health care providers we trust with our lives.

Some of what we have been taught by these care givers is:

1) We need animal protein because plant-based protein is not a complete protein.

2) We need a portion of animal based foods in our diet.

3) The more tests and procedures, the better.

4) Going to our medical professional to get drugs is what we do when we are sick. Nutritional counseling is not part of going to the doctor. Why? In our current health care system, there is no reimbursement for our doctors’ talking about food.  What’s even more disturbing is that some 40% of medical schools only require 1 small course in nutrition. We have been trained that this is right, and we trusted this model until our rate of disease continues to soar.

5) Accepting a 5-15 minute medical visit is acceptable for full payment. This is all we’ve ever experienced because doctors and medical practitioners get paid by procedure and not for counseling us or how much health we achieve because of them. We are trained to accept this.

6) Living our lives without worry because new procedures, medications and technology will help us when we get sick has been a precept we have learned, especially since 1997, when the drug manufacturers in the United States got permission to broadcast prescription drug ads.

Unfortunately, we have lived our lives learning these habits. We have built habits around the idea of eating meat/poultry/fish/eggs/dairy for nutrition. The fact that there are a plethora of studies showing that these foods cause cardiovascular and chronic diseases means we will have to consider changing our habits and changing our knowledge to maintain health and, possibly, reverse sickness.

An example of reversal is Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn’s study on telomeres, protective protein caps at the ends of DNA strands that protect its deterioration. She discovered that they wear down from age and stress. With 30 minutes of exercise a day and a vegetarian diet, she was able to reverse this deterioration in her subjects. Wow!

Another MD in Escape Fire, Pamela Ross, comments,

“We have become a society where you drive up and get what you want; and you drive off.”

The habits we have developed of eating fast food is a direct result of the health care system’s misguidance through non-guidance so that we believed it was okay to indulge in greasy (oily and fried) food, sugary food, salty food, processed animal food.

The sad thing is, for the most part, we are not aware, especially in the poorer communities, that the nutritionally calculated value of drive up food is reduced to almost nil because of the negative health side-effects from eating it. The other equally devastating issue is that those of us who know that fast food is bad don’t know what to eat as an alternative for the same shoestring budget expense. Fortunately, children are learning plant-based alternatives and ways to budget for healthy food through their elementary schools. And they are bringing this information home. Go early ed teachers!

Dean Ornish, MD and Head of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, in Escape Fire, mentions the habits we need for good health: diet (meaning nutritious food and water), exercise, love and support and a healthy lifestyle. He has a strong reaction to those in the “system” who consider acupuncture and meditation for pain as well as lifestyle changes for health radical intervention. He says,

“Radical? Compared to cutting a chest open? Give me a break.”

His comment is made so that we realize to think twice about those in the medical field who continue to support the “sickness model” we have built in the United States and are leery about accepting the “preventive & integrative model” of health care even though the evidence
for success is apparent.

Ornish started his work in 1977 to establish that lifestyle changes (meditation, yoga, plant-based diet, personal support) can stop and reverse coronary artery disease. In 1998, he published research showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes turned gene expression on and off in 3 months. Holy moly!

CONCLUSION

If the habits we have collected regarding medicine, treatment, food, lifestyle choices have been based on misinformation, it’s time to take a look at the foundation on which they were built. This is going to mean changing some habits. It’s also going to involve re-educating ourselves as to which medical professionals know what. Of course, it’s difficult to change doctors. But, if the ones we have are not integrating the necessary health habits into the mix, it might be time. At least, we need to do our own research about some of the things in this article.

Why? Because we don’t want to wait until we get a disease to act. We want to act now so we don’t get a disease.

If we already have a disease, we might want to look at all options available to work with it. There are many choices between drug therapy and choosing to take no drugs. With more knowledge, we can become proficient at changing habits that do not support us. The aura around doctors, that they can do no wrong, is gone, even if we want it to be there. We must be more responsible for understanding our health. Hopefully, we can do this with the help of dedicated medical professionals, who will be open to our wanting to look at integrating lifestyle, nutrition, love and support and exercise.

ACTION STEPS

1) Increase your amount of daily exercise by 5 minutes. If you do not exercise yet, start slowly with 5 minutes of dancing, tai chi, walking or stretching. You can scroll down to the 4th video on this page to start: dianegold.com/tai_chi.html.

2) Add 1 new plant-based main dish to your weekly meal plan.

3) Call someone you know and talk about your excitement over your lifestyle changes. If you do not yet know anyone to call, you can go to askew2u.com and click some answers. Or your local librarian is a place to make contact.

4) Take 5 minutes a day for a week to research any habit you have that you would like to change.

5) Drink an extra glass of water daily for a week.

6) Continue, at least, 3 of these steps for a month. Enjoy!

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 believes we can learn much by taking responsibility for ourselves. She says,

“Although we have been led to believe that our total health is in the hands of our doctors, they have not been trained in nutrition, for the most part; and many discoveries that would impact the profit margin of the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and new equipment who supply doctors with their wares, have been withheld or not covered in doctor’s continuing education.

“Further, to satisfy lobbyists in the meat and dairy industries, nutritional discoveries do not make it to mainstream media, usually. As a result, we have been eating incorrectly, using pharmaceuticals instead of lifestyle changes as our medicine and have not been reaching out for the support we deserve.

“Until now.

“From now on, let’s make an effort to eat well, exercise well, meditate well and support each other. Let’s consider pharmacological regimes second, if possible, and changes in lifestyle first. Let’s get the new knowledge we need to make important decisions about our own lives.

“Special note: I truly believe in the wonders of drug therapy and its magic, when appropriate. And congratulate the drug research that has gotten us where we are. I also congratulate all the pioneers who are taking the time to research and report on plant-based nutrition and mind/body modalities to make these part of our new and improved U.S. Health Care System.”

SPROUTS: 7 REASONS WHY. With Commentary By Jason McCobb, aka Farmer Jay (ISSUE 69)

By Diane Gold

Sprouting is a process that we don’t think twice about, most of the time. We put some sprouts on a sandwich and that’s it. We know they are good for us so we eat them when someone adds them to our restaurant plate. I said usually. Some of us know more, but we can all learn to sprout by reading the HOW TO part of this article, simple as that.

When we sprout a bean or a seed, protein increases by more than 10% by the conversion of starch to fiber. Certain vitamins are produced, essential fatty acids are increased and, in seeds, some minerals merge with proteins increasing how they function. Antioxidants, substances that protect against damage that lone wolf electron oxygen molecules( free radicals) can cause.

And then there’s alkalinity. Sprouts alkalize the body which, like a swimming pool, balances its contents. Studies have shown that certain cancer cells, viruses and bacteria cannot live in an alkaline body (so sayeth Dr. Otto Warburg, Nobel Prize Double Winner).

We had the good fortune of interviewing Jason McCobb, known as Farmer Jay. He gave a simple explanation of how to sprout, why to sprout and tied his work into sustaining our planet.

FOSSIL FUELS IN TRANSPORTING FOOD

When asked why we should support local farmers, Jason immediately mentions the petroleum consumption and how when we buy local goods, we eliminate the need for this fossil fuel for transportation. He also considers its being used up for unnecessary programs.

An astounding statistic from sustainablelafayette.org, a California sustainability group, says,

“In the United States, food travels an average of 1300 miles to reach you.”

Farmer Jay also mentioned that, for every calorie of food grown in the United States, we expend 7 calories of fossil fuel.

The organization peta.org gives this juicy statistic,

“It takes 11 times as much fossil fuel to make 1 calorie from animal protein as it does to make 1 calorie of plant protein.”
If we don’t develop a plant-based nutrition diet, at least we can buy locally grown produce.

WHAT WE NEED TO SPROUT

Here is the simplest set up for sprouting:

   a container for water,

     beans or seeds

     water & an area for rinsing & draining

HERE’S HOW TO SPROUT

I’m always looking for the simplest, easiest, “don’t buy anything you don’t have to” approach to life, so I’ll have more time (or money) for other things. Farmer Jay’s interview helped me understand a lot more about sprouting varieties. To begin, I came up with this formula with Farmer Jay’s guidance and help:

1) Place a cup of garbanzo beans (chick peas) in your container. Many beans and seeds can be used, but these work easily.

WARNING: Kidney bean sprouts are known to be toxic. Choose another variety.

2) Rinse well.

3) Drain the water.

4) Cover the beans with enough filtered water to submerge 2 inches. This way, the beans will continue to be covered when they expand. I have seen 4 parts water to 1 part beans.

5) Rinse the beans after they sit 8 hours or overnight, and return them to the container. No water. The 8 hours of soaking activates growth. It’s amazing.

6) The beans don’t need light. Light will not hurt them, though. They do need to breathe.
I have covered my container with a moist paper towel to replace the cheese cloth I didn’t own so the cats would keep their noses out, but a cover that allows aeration is the only one to be used.

Many U.S. supermarkets sell cheese cloth, a mesh-type fabric that offers aeration. You can place it over the top and fasten it with a rubberband. Then you can turn your jar upside down and let any moisture drain. A plastic colander works well, too, after the soaking phase.

7) Re-rinse the beans 3 X the next day.

8) On the morn of the following day, you may see the beginning of tails. This is good.

9) Re-rinse 3 X that day also.

10) In the morning, rinse the beans again. The tails will be 1/2 inch, give or take.

Farmer Jay says, ”

“You can eat [them] any time once [the] seeds pop open.”

WHY SPROUT?

1) HEALTH. Sprouts are alive. Live food produces enzymes, vitamins and minerals that are necessary for the body. In sprouted form, these powerful nutrients are easier for the body to absorb (bioavailable). Sprouts also increase the protein content in the bean or seed, which is easily digestible as a sprout.

2) SUSTAINABILITY OF SELF AND PLANET. When we grow our own sprouts, we control the process by which this food is grown. We also assist our community in increasing the food stores by creating new food sources that contain rich nutrients for us. Finally, we cut down on the transportation needed to ship sprouts from the grower to us.

3) PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. By sprouting beans or seeds, we become closer to plants and the land and develop a deeper connection to how they affect our life. Instead of depending upon others to provide all our food, we can experience a small taste of independence from our robotic trip to the food store. We also develop a great respect for the farmer or grower by involving ourselves in this mini-process of growing food.

4) FAMILY ACTIVITY. Growing sprouts is a great process in which to involve the whole family. It brings up many topics of conversation; it is an education process that everyone should experience at a young age and it’s an experience for all ages, from toddler to great grandma.

5) TASTE. Sprouts taste good. The texture of sprouted beans is interesting, and they seem sweeter than the beans from which they come, possibly because the cell wall (starch) breakdown produces the enzyme, amylase, which breaks the starch down to simple sugars. It could also be my endorphins kicking in at the thrill of eating what I have grown.

When biting into a sprouted bean, it is soft enough to be pliable but firm enough to be crunchy.

6) ECONOMY. When we sprout on our own, we save money. We also save the country money. One cup of beans or seeds ends up being many cups of sprouts. The amount we pay for the beans is considerably less than the amount we pay for sprouts. By growing our own, we contribute to cutting down the need for transportation for sprout delivery, too.

7) WEIGHT LOSS. These tasty little nuggets of nutrition are an excellent snack for weight loss regiments. Calorie sparse and nutrition rich. They can ward off the biggest craving because it’s difficult to overeat them. They are filling and, when grown at home, always available for craving emergencies.

CONCLUSION

After speaking with such a passionate farmer (this is my first interview with any farmer), I see the joy he feels in working the land. I am grateful to have met Farmer Jay who believes very much in his work. He uses my fruit and veggie waste for his animals and his compost pile. I know it goes toward animals who are loved and crops that are farmed with love. Now, if I can get my neighbors to save their fruit and veggie waste and drop it off, that would be progress.

In conclusion, I asked Farmer Jay what he would tell people if he could get one message out. As with most of his other

answers, it was simple and to the point. He said, without hesitation,

“GROW SOMETHING.”

The message was clear: he wanted people to experience how special it is to grow something, to know that we have the ability to sustain ourselves for our health and for Earth. Or that’s what I heard. And I might have been right. Because when I asked him how he wanted to be remembered, this is what he said,

“I want to be remembered as a steward of the earth.”

Or did he mean “steward of Earth?”

We can all be stewards of Earth through sprouting. Are we ready?

ACTION STEPS

1) Choose a bean or seed that you would like to sprout.

2) Follow the directions above, and sprout your bean or seed.

3) Do a little gratitude dance after you have eaten what you have made. OK, you can clap your hands or exclaim the satisfaction, but dancing for joy is a huge uplifter.

4) If you see any mold in your beans, discard them and start again. Water in the beginning. Air after that.

5) Enjoy the process.

6) Tell someone.

7) Send us a photo. We’ll post it.

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 believes we can learn new things at any time in our lives. She says,

“Although many of us have not grown our own food, it is something to think about. It has never been so obvious that we, the people, each need to take responsibility to stabilize how we live on Earth. 1 small stride is to sprout. Even if it’s only 1 time, it’s 1 step toward self-sufficiency, it minimizes transportation costs, we become a good example for the next generation and we honor the planet. Not bad for an act that takes less than 5 minutes for 2 or 3 days.”

TIMING OF MEALS AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS (ISSUE 65)

By Anahad O’Connor, Comments And Action Steps By Diane Gold

In The New England Journal of Medicine last week, a prominent researcher noted that much of the conventional wisdom about weight loss has little basis in science. But his article did not address one oft-asked question: Is your waistline affected by when you eat, or is a calorie always just a calorie whenever you eat it?

To seasoned dieters, the claim that eating late can spell trouble is nothing new. But the idea has lacked evidence from credible human studies. Most of the research to date has shown that eating late is linked to weight gain, but late eaters also tend to consume more calories over all.

In a new study, published in The International Journal of Obesity, researchers at Harvard and elsewhere followed 420 overweight men and women in Spain in a 20-week weight loss program.

The subjects were split into two groups. Each followed a similar diet, got equivalent amounts of sleep, and had similar caloric intakes and expenditures. They also showed no differences in two hormones that play a key role in appetite, leptin and ghrelin.

But there was a critical difference in the timing of their main meal of the day, which in this case, because of the Mediterranean setting, was lunch. In both groups, the meal comprised about 40 percent of their daily calories. But one group consistently ate it before 3 p.m. daily, while the other did so after 3 p.m.

By the end of the study, despite similar caloric intakes, the late eaters had lost significantly less weight. They also showed lower insulin sensitivity, which increases the risk of diabetes.

Weight loss strategies, the authors wrote, should focus not just on calories and nutrients, “but also the timing of food.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

The timing of your meals may not be everything when it comes to weight loss, but it does appear to play a role.

Link to original article is below.

COMMENTS AND ACTION STEPS

by Diane Gold

For about 3 years now, almost as long as I have been a vegan, I have chosen to finish my meals by 6 pm on purpose. On the rare occasion that I find myself eating evening dinner in company, I eat an additional meal of salad with no dressing. Or, if I can get away with it, I have a hot water, one of my favorite drinks.

When I traveled to a different time zone to see family, I ate in that time zone, 3 hours later, but, you guessed it. I went to bed 3 hours later, or more. And the 6 p.m. curfew was tough for the rest of the group (although they were quite accommodating), which is why so many people don’t even attempt the task.

So, why did I decide to do it?

There were many times I experienced what it feels like to wake up the morning after drinking alcohol. In contrast and most of the time, I have experienced waking up feeling crystal clear, powerful, joyful and healthy. Once I decided to rid myself of drinking alcohol at all, I woke up lucid every morning. This got me to thinking.

But how alert would I be, I asked myself, if I could increase the period of time between my last meal and drink (except for hydrating water or green tea because the quercetin in it is a great anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer enzyme)?

So I decided to complete my last meal by 6 p.m. every night to see how I felt.
Oh, my. I felt great, and I continue to feel great using this eating schedule I recommend highly. It’s not for everyone, but here are a few facts that may contribute to why it makes sense:

1) As Anahad’s article mentions, there is scientific proof that shows that weight loss is directly related to eating earlier.

ACTION STEP

Figure out a way to finish eating before 6 p.m. If you want to or have to socialize after that time (this will inevitably end up in eating), plan ahead that you will only eat raw greens in a salad with a little olive oil and lemon juice or a plate of steamed leafy greens with a drop of olive oil and lemon juice.

2) Gravity helps digestion. When we are lying down (for sleep), we lose this benefit. Did you ever eat late and feel your food up high in your digestive tract when you were in bed? I have, but not recently.

ACTION STEP

Consciously decide to pay attention to the food in the stomach. Enjoy how it feels while you are upright, and notice when it seems to have gone down. This could be 3 or 4 hours after eating.

3) Our greatest risk of heart attack is in the early hours of the morning, according to Robert Manfredini of University of Ferrara, Italy, in a Time article, July 22, 2008. Because digestion utilizes blood and oxygen that would normally be employed by the heart  and because respiration is reduced when we sleep; eating a large meal at night can divert too much of the body’s resources to digestion during the most vulnerable time in our daily cycle of physical processes. (Information from Ed in South Carolina, moderator of Paleohacks.com).

ACTION STEP

Now that we have spelled out some of the biological implications, really decide to finish eating at 6 pm. If there are family factors in the way, like children’s extra-curricular activities don’t finish until 7 p.m. or all family members aren’t home until 8 p.m.; start the routine of finishing by 6 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday or whatever days the family has “off.”

There are always excuses not to, so just do it! You and your family are worth it.

4) When we are not using our body’s resources for sleep-time digestion, we have a more restful sleep. Otherwise, our quality of sleep may be hindered (Jason Bellows, Stop And Breathe, Mar. 15, 2011).

ACTION STEP

The better we sleep, the more productive we will be the following day and the several days after that.  The more we will be able to handle stress, and the more able we will be to follow a great eating plan to maximize our weight loss (gain) goals.

5) It feels good to lie down without the weight of recently eaten food in our GI tract. It’s 10 pm (4 hours since my last meal), and I’m already feeling that the food has digested. (This is not true, of course, since it takes a good 6-8 hours to pass through the stomach and small intestine, and then another 41-43 hours (as opposed to 27-29 hours in men) to go through the rest of the process, according to Michael F. Picco, Mayo Clinic GI, M.D.)

ACTION STEP

Enjoy how great it is to lie down without food feeling high in our digestive system. Eating early is a good way to prepare for sleep.

CONCLUSION

The idea of timing of meals affecting our weight loss and our health verifies an action we, humans, have been acting on for many years. Happily, there is proof in study form. Yes, we were correct, but now it is documented by researchers at Harvard et al.
Although the studies didn’t address the fact that when we eat later, there have been more hours in our day in which to eat; it is logical that, in reducing the waking hours we permit ourselves to eat, we automatically reduce our intake. This leads to weight loss.

FEEDBACK

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ANAHAD O’CONNOR, AUTHOR

Anahad has been writing for the Science Section of the New York Times since 2003. He is passionate about investigative science and wellness reporting. He is one of our panelists whose full bio you will find in the Experts section.

The original article appeared on February 4, 2013 at this link:

DIANE GOLD, CO-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 extremely excited to hear that her eating schedule was validated by a current scientific study . She says,

“There are so many weight loss misconceptions. It is exciting that I am using a technique that can be matched to scientific study and statistics. We know that eating earlier in our day feels better. Now we know that it promotes weight loss.

“Putting a time limit on food ingestion also creates the habit of learning to wait, which is something that dieters have to learn anyway. The self-imposed time restriction is a great way to learn it, and it makes it easier to cope with weight loss and weight maintenance after that.”

THE PROTEIN MYTH: THAT WE NEED ALL THE ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS AT EVERY MEAL (ISSUE 64)

By Diane Gold.

The protein myth has to do with combining proteins so as to consume all essential amino acids (the 9 that the body does not produce), the building blocks of protein, in 1 sitting. This concept was promoted in the 70s but was repudiated 10 years later as false and misleading.

Funny how habits stick with us so naturally. Think about before you knew how to ride a bike. Hard to recall because once we know, the steps to riding are ingrained in our head. For those of us who ride, there was a time when we didn’t. Now, it is second nature and never forgotten once learned. Take driving a car. The reflexes and reactions we use to accomplish safe driving are habits ingrained in that come back quickly if we put them down.

So my habit of believing the protein myth – that it’s necessary to combine vegan proteins at every meal – is no exception. 42 years ago, I began a dairy vegetarian diet. 3 years, ago, I became vegan. Until just recently, I didn’t learn that it’s not important to count protein grams, that it wasn’t important to combine my tempeh with my quinoa to consume all the essential aminos together.

The media didn’t correct me. The meat and dairy industry certainly wasn’t going to correct me because they wanted the macho words “high quality protein” attached to their food for the purpose of making sales. And I was an educated eater, or so I thought. Imagine those who consume the “regular Western diet.” Most only know the words “high quality protein” meaning meat. fowl, fish, dairy, eggs. They certainly aren’t taught the ills of these foods or the majesty of plant-based nutrition.

WHY, THEN, DOES THE PROTEIN MYTH STILL EXIST, IF IT HAS BEEN DISPROVED OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR DECADES?

There are 3 reasons that I see. And these are hurting the American people as well as others around the world.

1) IGNORANCE

There are nebulous references all over current nutritional literature that talk about complete and incomplete protein. This is, in part, because many dieticians and nutritionists learn from books that still promote this combining idea or the superiority of a meat diet over a plant-based diet.
Although the Center For Disease Control website mentions,

“In the diet, protein sources are labeled according to how many of the essential amino acids they provide.”

This speaks to the failure of our labeling system, which I have been monitoring since the early 1970s. Not much has changed. The words complete and incomplete protein, high quality protein and low quality protein are obsolete words.

The CDC website goes on to say,

“Is it true that complementary proteins must be eaten together to count as a complete protein source?

“In the past, it was thought that these complementary proteins needed to be eaten at the same meal for your body to use them together. Now studies show that your body can combine complementary proteins that are eaten within the same day,”

Quoted from the American Dietetic Assocation and Dietiticians of Canada, JADA, 2003; 103(6) 748-765, by the CDC, but demonstrated scientifically from many sources.

This quote should have flashing lights around it and be given more attention as to re-educate people to this fact. It is a conservative quote because many research studies have studied amino acids pool themselves over several days and make themselves available to create protein as needed.

IT IS NOW KNOWN THAT A PLANT BASED DIET DOES NOT REQUIRE PROTEIN COMBINING AND THAT, WHEN WE CONSUME ENOUGH CALORIES AND VARY OUR FOODS, WE WILL GET ENOUGH PROTEIN FROM PLANT FOODS.

2) PROFIT

The meat and dairy industries are quite anxious for this information to stay buried so that they can continue to thrive. Further, because money is such a powerful motivator, these industries work hard to hide knowledge that a non-plant-based diet causes heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study is a report of a 20+-year study that gives scientific support to this statement.

The industries that have the most advertising capital, meat and dairy, are the ones whose ads we see and hear. When was the last time we saw a billboard up saying how nutritionally sound spirulina was? Or kale juice from actual real, raw, unsprayed leaves?

Bottom line, I haven’t seen these signs.

3) SOCIAL PROOF

Social proof is the concept that we are more likely to act the way others are acting or assume the same action in order to act correctly. It’s kind of a monkey see, monkey do pattern, a habit obtained through peer action, but, nonetheless, a habit.

Eating meat, fowl, fish, dairy, eggs are a habit we are taught. Most people are not raised on a plant-based diet. Most Americans eat meat. Many others want to be able to afford meat in their diets. The world has been seduced by meat and dairy media to think that having meat makes us healthy. Advertising would have us believe that the meat and dairy diet is more healthy than the plant-based diet.

There’s lots of evidence to the contrary. But, consumer advertising leaves people associating plentiful meat and dairy with affluence, keeping up with the Joneses, being in a position of power, being surrounded by the beautiful people.

Restauranteurs open restaurants and serve all kinds of meat, fish, dairy, egg dishes. They demonstrate how their best customers eat meat. They help perpetuate the myth that the plant-based diet is still for hippies.

CONCLUSION

When medical students get the pathetic total of 3 hours training in nutrition, while school lunches are subsidized by arrangements with the meat and dairy world, while the advertising we see subliminally and overtly affects our understanding of food and diet; how can we expect to understand that there are proteins in almost everything plant-based we eat?

ACTION STEPS

1) If we are so inclined, we can take a few minutes to dispel the protein myth. Tell a friend, have a discussion at work, do some research to confirm the scientific truth that protein combining is an out-dated lesson and that a whole plant foods have plenty of protein.

2) We can set people straight about the stories people tell about getting sick or weak on a plant-based diet. These stories are about poor eating, not about lack of protein. Processed foods and lack of variety may have been the cause.

3) 1 last thing we can do now that we know our protein supply is abundant is we can contemplate saving our natural resources by starting a plant-based diet. This will save on our medical bills from the ills of meat and dairy, on grazing land, animal feed, water for manufacturing, electric power, and, last, ethical dilemmas about animals (which should be first, not last).

The corn and oats we feed to our cattle would be enough to insure that not 1 person in the world would ever go hungry. If we changed our diets. But the protein myth is no longer on the table.
_____

AUTHOR’S NOTE

It’s true that people can be vegans without eating whole living foods. Having been dairy vegetarian for so long and vegan for 3 years; I am only now eating on purpose, including lots of raw foods that are green and leafy. I am no longer counting protein grams because, for the first time in my life, I know the veggies, fruits, grains, seeds and nuts I eat balance the way my body works.

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 extremely revved to have uncovered a flaw in her education about protein. She says,

“Like so many others, I was mistakenly hanging on to the old, unscientifically broadcast myth that was started in the book Diet For A Small Planet. The author, Francis Moore Lappe, critiques how hunger could be prevented by removing the need for feeding livestock if we switched to plant-based food. In her 1971 book, which has sold over 3,000,000 copies, she also mentions the need for protein combining for proper essential amino acids use. It turns out this was incorrect, but her words echo to this day since fewer have read her retraction and the industries she speaks about, meat and dairy, want this info hushed up.

“I am excited to know more about the great amino acid process where aminos are stored in a pool and called upon to recombine to make a particular protein as needed. Very spectacular, this human body. May we live long and prosper.”

TURNING HABITS INTO HEALTH: HOW 1 STEP AT A TIME CAN MAKE THE CHANGE (ISSUE 63)

By Diane Gold

Turning Habits Into Health is just another way of saying we are committing to nurturing ourselves and matching our behaviors with our current goals and game plan.

Habits, as we know if we think about them, are patterns of behavior reinforced through repetition until they are almost involuntary action. Here’s a short list of these responses: eating oily, salty or sugary snacks to satisfy a food craving; verbally reacting to a child because that’s how we were raised; using mind/body-altering substances (prescribed or not) because we are tired, bored, nervous or emotional;  shutting down our emotions because it’s safer than experiencing pain; acting out anger when someone challenges us; eating processed, unhealthy foods to escape; meditating before breakfast; brushing our teeth; taking our shoes off before we enter a residence; swimming after work; praying
before eating.

Obviously, diverse behaviors serve us at various times in our lives. Most of the time, we aren’t even aware these habits are developing. And, usually, we don’t focus on them until our body, mind or spirit call out in despair. Weighing too much signals that our bodies are imbalanced. Pain in our teeth makes us examine our oral hygiene and diet. Emotional over-reaction makes us look at our stability. Our comfort level with the questions of our position in the universe arouses our spirit and calls for grand examination.

Because we are all so universally tied to habits and we all have them, WarriorsOfWeight.com now honors moms, daughters, fathers, sons, teen girls, teen boys, grandparents in focusing on and educating about Turning Habits Into Health and discussing all the astounding techniques to help each one of us along the way.

Whether we speak about personal development techniques like tai chi, free dance techniques, music and its effects on balance, involvement in social change to get us personally where we want to be or the science of proper nutrition to maximize our bodies;
WarriorsOfWeight.com aims to share material for all our supporters. From now on, our new tag line is (drum roll, please)

Turning Habits Into Health!

And we are focusing on solutions for all of us.

So what are the ways to make this miraculous change in habit? Do we have to turn ourselves inside out?

The answer, of course, is no. The prospect of making the change may seem as if we have to climb a mountain. The actual journey, if approached step-by-step, is only as difficult as each individual step.

ACTION STEPS

1) Step 1 is to look as far as the first step. The first step is the beginning action step. It’s like the running a race. When we look at 1 more step, and only 1 more step, we get to continue without collapsing – for that 1 step only.

This step could be changing 1 meal to vegetable juice or overcoming the fear of crossing the street or drinking apple juice instead of wine. With all of these habits, there is a first step, the golden step, the one that will begin the habit change.

2) Step 2 is a repetition of step 1 except that we have actual experience doing step 1. We can note that the original habit began because we repeated the same action over and over again.

Therefore, changing the habit is going to require repeating the same action over and over again. Thus, we repeat step 1.

We know we have looked at step 1. We have also looked at step 2. They are the same. So are the next steps.

3) As we get used to this step, we can repeat it more easily each time. If we continue to take the step as a replacement for some negative action that is not supporting our goals, we will begin to replace the habit.

Our journey for change starts out as a cold mountain.

With repetition and confidence, as we begin to get familiarity and control with our new actions, our journey becomes a mountain of joy.

CONCLUSION

We can change a habit with 1 step. It is the way. There is nothing mysterious about it, and the technique is as straight forward as normal breathing. We always have our collection of habits, all of them. Whether we allow them to trigger depends on how well we have replaced them using any means necessary, but usually the 1-step plan.

If we follow each individual step on blind faith, we don’t get distracted with other thoughts. In time, we can take a look at what we’ve accomplished, but not while we are doing it.

ACTION STEPS: THE HABIT CHANGE PROCESS

This section overviews The Habit Change Process. The “snack” habit is chosen so that we can act out the process without getting stuck on which habit to change. The method of 1 step, then repetition of the same step, then repetition of the same step again and again can be used for all habits.

OBJECTIVE

Replacing 1 snack a day with healthy food instead of cookies, chips, soda, anything else. (If you only eat raw food, have an allergy to 1 of the foods; please substitute. If you don’t usually have a snack, please add it for 21 days, just to be part of this process.)

1) Buy veggies (the culinary term “veggies” which would include mushrooms): carrots, broccoli, onions, garlic, spinach, mushrooms.

2)  5 minutes ahead of the broccoli, steam sliced carrots. Then add broccoli and steam for another 7-10 minutes.

3)  In another pot, use some water to brown sliced mushrooms, re-adding water several times as needed. so they don’t burn.

4)  Once the steaming is complete, in a wok or saucepan, heat a small amount of olive oil, add garlic to cook, 30 seconds later, add onions.

5)  In a couple minutes, add mushrooms, steamed carrots and broccoli.

6)  Add low-sodium soy sauce or amino acid liquid, a few drops of sesame oil, black pepper, rice vinegar, if you like.

7)  Stir fry until everything is tender.

8)  Add spinach for 30 seconds.

9)  Remove from the stove.

10) When cool, separate into 7 snack bags, 1 for each day of the week.

11) Refrigerate.

12) Now, you have a mid-afternoon snack for the next 7 days.

13) Set a phone/computer/clock alarm to facilitate this snack.

14) Do this for 7 days.

15) Repeat 1) through 14) for 2 additional weeks in a row.

16) Congratulations. You have gone through the steps to change a habit. Keep it up, and it is changed.

17) Grab your certificate below!

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.

She is more excited about the idea of looking at 1-step until that 1 step is completed. She says,

“When the mind is focused on 1 thing, it is not focused on 2 things. Of course, we need to do a physical act to make the concentration happen, as opposed to intellectually thinking about it.

“When we want to take a step for our betterment, whatever it is, if we focus our attention only on this 1 step; we are less distracted. Imagine walking a tight rope, for example. Because the risk is so great that we would become injured with less than 100% concentration, we concentrate.

“If we don’t take the same care with changing a habit, we can get off track. Easily. So, concentrate on the physical action we have decided would be in our best interest. And we will be happy with the results.”

JUICING AT HOME vs. JUICE FROM THE HEALTH FOOD STORE (ISSUE 62)

By Diane Gold

Let’s start with a nice quote from The American Cancer Society.

“…whether organic foods carry a lower risk of cancer because they are less likely to be contaminated by compounds that might cause cancer is largely unknown,” but “vegetables, fruits, and whole grains should form the central part of a person’s diet, regardless of whether they are grown conventionally or organically.”

The compounds in this quote are the pesticides, herbicides and artificial additives that go into our food that might be carcinogenic, the testing of which has had definitive negative outcomes that are largely untraceable in mainstream media lest the publicity poorly impact the financial success of the food manufacturing industry.

ORGANIC, NATURAL OR VEGAN?

The above info leads us to speak about organic food. In order to do so, we have to clarify how organic, natural and vegan are different. One is not the others, and the others are not the 1.

ORGANIC

Organic food refers to how the food is produced and that it has been produced without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Unfortunately, foods that are 95% organic can be labeled organic. Also, very unfortunately, pesticides that are “not synthetic” are permitted to be used on products that are labeled organic. This includes petroleum oil as a pesticide, since this is a naturally occurring substance that comes from decayed carbon-based life forms. Lime, sulfur, tobacco water and household natural dish soap are also used as pesticides in organic food as well as a variety of other materials that may not be completely safe.

It’s difficult to farm produce without encountering nature’s little bugs that want to eat. In order that these natural organisms don’t eat all the produce, some form of protection in the form of a pesticide, either non-synthetic in organic food or synthetic in non-organic food, must be used.

Except for the few organic farmers who are using the food chain successfully (such as spraying a blend of garlic, onion and red pepper, water with a touch of vegan, non-chemical, non the degreasing, mild dish liquid).

The best way to get our food is to grow our own. Not practical for most of us, and this leaves us with having to dispose of the solids from our juicing. I have happily just connected with a local organic farmer who is willing to take my food waste since I am not a composter. WHOO-HOO! This succeeds in satisfying the responsibility we all have to diminish valuable waste. I am by no means taking a large step toward helping the planet in this regard, but I have taken 1 step.

Call your local farmer to do the same, or see if your community has a compost drop off.

When I lived in Greenwich Village in the 70s, (yes, that’s right, the 1970s) the owners of a demolished building across the street who knew they were not going to build for 5 years, gave our community the rights to grow veggies and flowers on the land. This created happy socialization and good solid productivity as well as beauty on a construction site.

There are also window box gardens, for those with no land or outside water supply.

NATURAL

People often misunderstand the word “natural.” Anything that is processed minimally and does not contain a substance that does not occur organically (this is the scientific reference to organic meaning the way it grew) in the food is natural. That means pig’s feet are natural, fish broth is natural,  apple sauce that does not have other ingredients that must be identified is natural.

The word “natural” is not regulated, other than when it refers to meat or fowl. The word “natural” doesn’t identify much. Often, it confuses the public rather than providing any information about healthy food.

VEGAN

A much misunderstood word, vegan refers to a type of eating that does not include using animal products. That means no honey, no eggs, no dairy, no milk ingredients, anywhere, including in cake or bread or broth, no fish, no poultry, no meat. It does not mean organic. And, as we have mentioned, the word natural is non-specific.

ORGANIC, NATURAL, VEGAN SUMMARY

The words are not the same. It’s important to remember that, even though the advertisers and media groups prefer that we would not.
___

Now back to our original issue: is it better to have juice at home or at the store?

JUICING OUT CONS

1) Whole Foods, for 1, talks about all the organic fruits and veggies they supply. Their produce changes from day to day, based upon availability and growing season, and it’s easy to confuse the physical locations of organic and non-organic food (termed “conventional food” so that the negative connotation from the word “non” is avoided). Their juice bar, as of the writing of this article, does not label whether their juice is or is not organic, so that the less informed customers will assume the juice is organic.

This is not transparent, which goes against the philosophy of an ideal food provider that values food education. All other stores do similar things; I just happened to ask Whole Foods, which is why I am mentioning it by name. So, there is no education happening when purchasing juice at the local health food store, if there is not full disclosure.

2) The next thing about having juice out is that it costs more than it would if we made it at home.

3) We don’t know how fresh the ingredients are that are being used in store-bought juice. Did you know that fruits and veggies only retain their nutrients for a set amount of days? And when some stores, usually supermarkets, get their produce truck; the produce is usually many days or even weeks old?
How many times have you asked the produce manager in a supermarket how old a particular vegetable was? Do you recognize the answer,

“Just got the truck this morning, and I just put ’em out.”

The irrelevance to an appropriate answer might shock us.

JUICING OUT PROS

1) A benefit of having juice out is that no juicer is needed.

2) When we juice out, we save on our water and electricity bills: electric to run the juicer, water to wash the juicing ingredients at the beginning and the juicer, itself, at the end.

3)  Another benefit of juicing out is that we don’t have to have the ingredients in our refrigerator.

4) Finally, having someone serve us means no work for us, and yes pampering for us. Both great. Unless we think of juicing as a fun, joyous activity, which it can be. I just juiced some red cabbage. The color that came out of the juicer made me massively happy instantly. The color seemed so alive that it was much worth any “work” I had to do.

JUICING AT HOME CONS

1) We have to plan ahead and buy the juice that we want without purchasing too much that some will spoil before we use it or too little that we’ll have to go out to get more in order to finish our juicing process.

2) We have to buy a juicer. This is costly.

3) We have to wash the juicer ourselves and compost or dispose of the fruit or vegetable remains. This means work.
Although I’ve always cleaned the juicer immediately after using it, I’ve heard that it can be very uncooperative if any length of time passes between use and cleaning.

JUICING AT HOME PROS

1) We know whether we have purchased organic produce because we inquire when we buy, and we use grocers we can trust. Hopefully, the suppliers of these grocers we trust follow organic protocol in their farming.

2) We know how old the produce is since we can see the new sitting next to the old in most markets.

3) We can have juice when we want, in the combination we want, more economical than juicing out.

4) We take responsibility for our own health by juicing at home. Plus, juicing is more likely to become a frequent habit when we are hands on and do it ourselves.

5) We can socialize with our family or relax in our own environment as we drink.

CONCLUSION

As I see it, it’s better to juice at home because we are taking a good part of the responsibility for our own bodies. Getting juice for regular juicing outside the home leaves too much to chance. It certainly makes sense to get fresh juice out of the home some of the time, especially when traveling. But, remember to ask whether the juiceria supplies organic produce and know that when the answer is that it is organic, there are many variations on what constitutes “organic.”

ACTION STEPS

1) Invest in a juicer, even a basic one.

2) Decide on a particular juice that makes your mouth water, and experiment with combinations, like PEPPER–TOMATO.

3) Go shopping for juice ingredients after you have had a meal, so that, when you shop, you are not hungry. That way, you will have a less emotional time choosing which fruits and vegetables to get for juice.

4) Check out the website whatsonmyfood.org. When we click on a food, it tells us the average amount of pesticide that is in it. It’s scary, but it’s telling. And we should be aware of what pesticides we are ingesting.

5) Find your favorite food, and leave a comment at the bottom of this link’s page to let us know how many pesticides are in it and whether you are surprised or not.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She feels fortunate for her life. She says,

“Those of us who know how beneficial juicing is are fortunate. To receive the maximum reward for our efforts, it’s always a good idea to get the most out of the least work so that we will have energy left for other productive action.

“Many of us know we can get juice at the health food store. Now that we are more informed about what could go into our juice, we can be more investigative about what we are actually drinking. This process improves the service the retailer is giving because their image is at stake. They want it known that they are informative to their customers. They also want it known when their juice is organic.

“Happy juicing and using this knowledge for your health.”