WEIGHT LOSS SECRET WEAPON (ISSUE 131) JUNE 3, 2014

By Diane Gold

Accidentally, a weight loss secret weapon came to my attention. I was minding my own business, looking for the next best thing to eat – for taste, not for substantial weight loss – I am lucky enough that my Buddha belly is only a pound or two. But, I always eat what I recommend, and I always taste new foods.

I happened upon this weight loss enigma when one of my suppliers endorsed its superior taste and confirmed its being a super food.

SUPER FOOD AND CREDIBILITY

Just to define, the term “super food,” as so many dietary expressions, does not have any specific clinical trial evidence in science. The food that is referenced by the term usually has some such research behind it. But it always refers to food that has tremendous nutritional effects, so much so that its benefits may prevent disease.

“Super food” has more credibility than the word “natural” whose label means absolutely nothing and could mean anything from pig juice from non-hormonally treated adorable baby pigs to apple juice from genetically modified seeds whose crop is minimally sprayed. It also far surpasses the label that shows nutritional facts being none of our business by ingredient omission due to some legislative exemption or by the manufacturer’s not knowing the source of an ingredient.

THE SECRET WEAPON

So, let’s talk about the dreamy and subtly nutritious food that has such a marvelous effect. It is not luxurious and is somewhat flexible in growth locations. It is tasty and has different tastes based on how ripe it is and its variety. And it is a  super antioxidant.

What is it? It’s the Olive.

ANTIOXIDANTS AND DISEASE

What’s so great about antioxidants is that they inhibit a cell from interacting with oxygen. Think of the browning of cut apples or the healing of a cut on your skin. Some cells die, like rotting fruit. But, in the case of the body, we make new cells that replace the old cells which results in a healed cut.
Sometimes, during the oxidation process; as per Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD at Tufts U.,

“1% or 2% of cells will get damaged in the process and turn into free radicals.”

These are scavenging molecules looking to pair.

“Free radicals often injure the cell, damaging the DNA, which creates the seed for disease.”

Antioxidants protect the body from this process by slowing it down or eliminating it. That’s the big deal about antioxidants under which category olives fall.

Sometimes, cholesterol oxidizes. This causes heart disease. Olives reduce this. John Summerly, nutritionist and homeopath, refers to research studies where the fat from olives can reduce blood pressure as well.

Finally, antioxidants are known to prevent cancer, and olives are both antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties.

REGULARITY

Completely to my surprise, after beginning to eat olives, my elimination became more slippery, meaning the walls of my intestines seemed to be coated with the a substance that eased out the waste. This leads me to mention that the fat content from olives may have a positive effect on constipation, although this phenomenon may not occur in anyone else.

WEIGHT LOSS

Since the time I began eating olives, I have lost several of the stubborn pounds that did not please me. I had gained 5 pounds for no reason, and it was not coming off. Now it is off. One of the only additions to my eating regimen is olives. I have researched that scientists believe that mono-saturated fats, the kind found in olives, can help with weight loss by breaking down fat inside of fat cells.

The great thing about eating olives is that they are high in fat – the good kind – the mono-saturated kind. To eat some every day does not require a lot of effort and does not require any preparation. They smell  and taste good, but their full and robust flavor does not lead to over-eating.

The fact that they create a good condition in the intestines may also lead to weight loss since good elimination is part of healthy living and healthy weight. The fact that they are antioxidants may keep the system healthy which improves the mind’s will power for weight loss.

THERE ARE OLIVES, AND THEN THERE ARE HIGH QUALITY NON-LYE-SOAKED OLIVES

Recently,I have been eating olives: both with salt and without, black only. They taste nothing like any olives I have ever tasted before.

I do not believe in calorie counting but will mention that the blacks have 40% more calories because they are older, riper and have more fat. They are all low in calories. They are organic and packed in olive brine only for shipping before being sun-dried. Commercial olives can be soaked in lye before they are put in brine with ingredients we never hear about, which is why I am careful about the quality of my olives, the supplier from which they come and the supplier’s knowledge of the process from tree to me.

Although I rarely eat anything that has added salt, I have researched that the sea salt in the olives I am eating will not harm me, and I value it for my health.

Here is an opportunity for you to get them. Here are my two kinds:

BOTIJA PERUVIAN OLIVES WITH SEA SALT (the only ingredients),
8  oz., PITTED, RAW, ORGANIC, VEGAN:

CLICK HERE

BOTIJA PERUVIAN OLIVES, (the only ingredient),
8 oz., UNSALTED, PITS IN, RAW, ORGANIC, VEGAN

CLICK HERE

Just so you know, I do business with Sunfood. Therefore, if you go ahead and purchase these lovely olives from the above links, I may be entitled to a stipend. I’m telling you about them for your health and not for my financial gain, though.

CONCLUSION

Anything that works for us can become a weight loss secret weapon. Sometimes we can come across healthful and goal-achieving eating habits by accident. Although I knew olives were part of the reason that people living close to the Mediterranean (and Latin Americans whose ancestors came from there) show lower coronary heart disease per 100,000 as per worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/coronary-heart-disease/by-country (using WHO’s and other credible sources’ data). We can also see complete variations within this chart.

Here are several action steps that may be of interest toward the goal of bettering health. Be well.

ACTION STEPS

1)   Set a goal to add 1 weight managing food this week. This can also include removing a food that is negatively impactful.

2)   Drink a 12 oz. glass of water 15 minutes before every meal, snack, drink you are going to have. If you are at the bar, be it in your home or out on the town, count each drink as a meal whereby you will drink a 12 oz. glass of water 15 minutes before it. This technique may help reduce the amount of your sugar intake (in alcohol and fruit drinks).

3)  Give my new raw, vegan, organic, weight loss OLIVE DISCOVERY a whirl.

Organic Olives with sea salt and no pits HERE.

Organic Olives with no salt and pits in, HERE.

4)   Know you have inner beauty, or you wouldn’t be part of the race (the human race).

5)   Know that you have value, or you wouldn’t be here (part of our family).

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Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND 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 always interested in alleviating pain in others. She makes an effort to investigate claims about health and weight loss. She says,

“Most weight loss techniques are hype. We don’t yet have the full picture about what makes some of us huge and others of us big eaters who never gain an overweight pound. (Similar to the paradox of France,  a country eating highly saturated fat, having the lowest coronary heart disease of any nation, except a tiny island in the Pacific.)

“I do know that if a method is simple and requires no preparation; it’s a great weight loss strategy: like drinking water instantly or pressing both sides of the ear lobe to suppress appetite.

“Now we can add the olive secret weapon to viable ways for weight loss. This is a breakthrough since it is a tiny food, easy to tote around and one not likely to over-eaten.

“Finally, let us all take good care of ourselves because we are so worth it!”

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

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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.”