Children Process Food Differently

When speaking of health issues, people often overlook the importance of children's health.  Usually it's because we adults already have developed some sort of illness, and little children have not.  There is one very important reason why you must monitor your child's fat intake.  And it may or may not be something you are aware of.

Generally speaking, humans are born with a fixed number of fat cells.  What this means is that when a person gains weight (fat), the fat cells are getting bigger and bigger.  I'm sure you've seen a very obese peson before, so you know that this means that there really is no limit as to how big fat cells can actually get.  If you keep adding excessive calories to your body, your body will keep shoving them into its fat cells.

Children are a little bit different.

It has been recently verified that childrens' bodies may be able to actually create additional fat cells, and that's not a good thing.  Research has shown that as kids consume exorbitant amounts of calories, their bodies can actually make more fat cells in order to take on the added energy.  Remember, fat is just stored energy or stored calories.

Why is this bad?

Because once a fat cell is created, it remains in the body........for life.  So, as a child, if you're body had created additional fat cells because your parents let you eat whatever the hell you wanted, this would increase your risk for obesity (by a lot) as an adult.  Even though it does not take a lot of energy to keep a fat cell alive, it is still additional body mass.  This additional body mass will do 2 things:

1. It will chronically increase the appetite of the person for life because that added body mass will require more calories to stay alive.
2. It will make the person's body more efficient at storing fat, which is something you DON'T want to happen.  Think about it.  Take 2 people.  The first has a certain number of fat cells and the second person has more fat cells than the first.  If they both eat fatty meals everyday for a week, the first person's body will store some fat of course, but it also may be able to pass some of that fat right out through going to the bathroom if their fat cells can't take on that fat.  The second person, however, may store even more fat than the first one simply because they have more fat cells to take on the extra fat than the first person. 

Does any of that make sense?  It seems a little tongue-twisterish but I hope you get it.

The major point is to really teach your children the importance of being healthy and eating healthy so that they develop those habits for the rest of their lives and so that they will not grow up with any added risk for obesity.

With all of the growth hormones and stem cells in a child's body, it is no wonder that they can actually make fat cells while adults cannot.

Sometimes it makes me so angry when I see an obese child!  Parents need to step up to the plate.  Kids do not have a brain developed enough to make healthy choices all the time when it comes to eating.  I'm sure that most children would eat cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day if someone let them.

Guide your children and help them live a more satisfactory life!

Why Crash Diets Don't Work!

One of my co-workers recently lost some weight, and I wanted to share the story only to prove a point.  I DO NOT recommend going about it the way she did, but it does get the point across.

Erika was about 70 lbs overweight when she decided to try an experiment.  For 1 month, Erika cut out sugar, fruit juices (which is basically fruit flavored sugar), bread and most other carbs.  She was diligent and stuck with this routine for 30 days.  During this time, she did not  exercise.

Erika informed me that over this 30 day period, she lost a good chunk of her weight, and that all of her clothes were loose on her.  However, after she went back to her "normal" eating habits, she gained the weight back.......and then some!

Why did this happen? 

It's simple.  What Erika basically did was go on a "crash" diet (without knowing it).  There are a lot of them out there and they usually include eliminating a certain food group from the diet whether it be carbs, fat, or sugar.  These diets will almost always cause people to lose weight, and rather quickly at that.  So, people get super excited and think they've finally found the answer to their fatness.

There's just one problem.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to stay on that kind of diet for an extended period of time.  And it's dangerous!  Depriving yourself of anything will almost always cause you develop cravings for that very thing you've eliminated from your diet.  Not to mention you end up permanently screwing up your metabolism.  The very instant you go back to your "normal" eating habits, you will undoubtedly overindulge because once your brain has developed a craving, you WILL SUCCUMB to it.  Once the primitive "old" brain kicks in, you are defenseless against it.  Then, you will gain all of your weight back, plus some extra pounds for added insurance in case you experience another "famine".

This is exactly why I DO NOT recommend crash diets ever nor do I recommend trying what Erika did. 

However, I did want to share Erika's story simply to prove that if you make changes to your diet, even small ones, you will see a change.  You just need to make the RIGHT changes.  Remember, if you're going to try to lose weight, you want to KEEP IT OFF, right?  Crash diets will definitely not do that for you.

Be smart.  Make life choices.  Think long term.

All Medicines Are Poisons

Dictionary.com defines "poison" as:

1. a substance with an inherent property that tends to destroy life or impair health
2. any variety of alcoholic liquor

Dictionary.com defines "drug" as:

1. a chemical substance used in treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being
2. any article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals

You can see how these 2 can certainly be interchangeable when speaking of various substances.  It's important to know that ANYTHING that is not classified as a food, that you put into your body, is considered a drug and a poison.  This means that something as simple as caffeine is considered to be a drug/poison.  Now, most of us think of something that is going to kill us when we think of the word poison.  I think the film industry is responsible for that misconception, because you can clearly see from the definition that it is not necessarily something that causes death.  It is simply something that impairs health or destroys life.

So, let's stick with the caffeine example for a minute before I get to main reason for this post.  Caffeine is the most widely used "drug" in the United States.  It is not considered a food because it has no nutritional value.  It is considered a drug because it alters various biological and physiological processes in your body.  It falls under the category of "poison" for the same reasons, including the fact that you can have side-effects from caffeine.  Side-effects are the unwanted characteristics of a drug that come along with the wanted benefits of the same substance.  When you ingest caffeine, you want to be alert, energetic, and awake, and it does just that.  However, caffeine also can cause headaches, rapid heart beat, nervousness, insomnia, and much more.  Those would be the side-effects.  Do you understand the difference?  When you eat an apple, you get the full nutritional benefits, but it doesn't come with any side-effects.  Please note here that allergies are NOT considered side effects.  So if you're allergic to peanuts, and you eat one, the cascade of unwanted events you will experience are not side effects, it's just your immune system going haywire.

Why am I talking so much about this?  Well because, in some of my previous posts, I've mentioned various diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, etc.  All of these diseases are treated with some sort of medication.  All of the medication used to treat these diseases (or any disease) will help to alleviate the effects that the disease is having on you, but they also ALL come with their own side-effects.  It's absolutely true.  Every single medicine out there has some sort of potential side effect.  And the medicines that treat the diseases I've mentioned above are usually taken for the rest of one's life.  Most of the effects of these medications start with the liver.  In case you didn't know, one of the main functions of the liver is to detoxify the blood.  As you know, anything put into your body goes into the bloodstream and thus to the liver.  From a single dose of Tylenol for a headache to a regular regimen of Lipitor to a night of binge drinking in a bar, the liver goes right to work to remove that "poison" from your system.  Obviously, over the course of several years, your liver is going to be quite overworked, especially when it comes to alcohol.  Next to the liver, the kidneys are hit pretty hard too.  Whatever the liver removes from the blood is sent to the kidneys so that it can be dumped into the bladder in order to be excreted.  Those are the two main organs affected.  Of course, side effects can affect any part of the body, including the brain, heart, lungs, muscles, bones, etc.

My message to you is to start making the changes necessary NOW to improve your diet and increase your physical activity so that you will lose unnecessary weight.  Obesity is a major risk factor for many diseases, especially the ones mentioned above.  Simply losing 10 lbs of body fat can cut your risk for developing some of this disease IN HALF or even reverse the effects of some of them!  Isn't that an amazing thing to know?

I know that eating all of your favorite sugary, fatty, fried, greasy, oily foods tastes soooo good, but is it really worth it to have a free-for-all with that stuff and suffer the annoying and painful and sometimes deadly consequences later on in life?  I don't think so.  Besides, do you really want to have to be responsible for taking 20 pills or more a day just to keep a stupid disease (that you shouldn't have) at bay?

Get healthy.  Eat right.  Exercise.  Lose Weight.  And you WON'T need to depend on poisons to keep you alive!

You Are An Efficient Machine

Your body is an extremely efficient machine.  I was in med school, so I know this far beyond a doubt.  At any given second, your body is doing hundreds of different things at once.  Your heart is pumping, muscles are moving, cells are recycling, food is being digested, and your liver and brain can do 500 different tasks, each!  Your body is a far more efficient machine than anything humans could create.  Your brain is a thousand times more efficient than the most efficient computer made.  As a matter of fact, your body is so darn efficient, that it is unfortunately what is keeping you over weight.

Think about it.  The main purpose of food is to provide us with energy.  Energy that will keep us concsious, alert, alive and able to reproduce so that our species can thrive.  As humans, we have quantified that energy that is in food and labeled it "calories".  Yes, the word "calorie" is completely arbitrary and it refers to the amount of energy that is released when our bodies digest food.  So, many years ago, some scientist used some substance as a set point (probably water), and recorded the amount of energy it releases as 1.  Every other substance thereafter is compared to this set point and then given a number based on whether it releases more or less energy.  Still with me?  I hope so.  If you're confused, don't be.  I only described this hypothetical situation to illustrate that the word "calorie" is an arbitrary term.  We just have to give labels and quantify things because that makes it easier for us to comprehend stuff.

Anyway, your body sees energy as very valuable.  Again, it's what keeps you alert and reactive to stimuli.  If you consume more "energy" than you burn off on a regular basis, you begin to notice a weight gain.  Why?  Because your body can not bear the thought of wasting that valuable energy!  What if the energy stops or is taken away?  Your body needs to have a back-up plan in case there is some sort of catastrophe.  Remember, efficient machines waste very little of their resources.  Fat is stored energy!  It is stored calories!  Does that make sense?  Junk food and fatty foods have huge numbers of calories.  If you go to a restaurant, you could easily consume 2000 calories in that one sitting alone.  That is much more "energy" than your body can obviously use at that time, so it stores it and saves it for later.  It's that simple.

I'll let you in on a little secret (a sneak peek at what I talk about in my book).  One of the quickest ways to gain weight is to skip meals!  Especially breakfast.  Yes, it's true and I see it time and time again with the people I am surrounded with.  Whether they are too lazy to eat or are trying to lose weight, everyone seems to love to skip meals.  PURPOSELY SKIPPING MEALS IN AN EFFORT TO LOSE WEIGHT IS BACKWARDS THINKING!  I'll tell you why.  Our minds have evolved much faster than our brains.  When I say "mind", I'm referring to the parts of the brain that think and make decisions.  When I say "brain" I am referring specifically to the parts of the brain responsible for biological processes only.  So, yes, it is logical to think that if you skip meals, thus eating less food, that you will lose weight.  However, it is wrong to do so because when you skip a meal, and then become hungry, or even "starving", your brain sees this as a terrible thing.  Your primitive brain does not know that you are purposely doing this.  All it knows is that there is a "scarcity" of food or some kind of famine of sorts.  So, it induces in you a craving for a high energy meal.  It needs a high energy meal so that it can store that energy so that if you go starving again, you have energy reserves with which to pull from to stay alive and not die.  Your brain is only concerned with keeping you alive.  That is it's number one function.

Think about this for a second.  When you are starving, do you go and reach for some carrot sticks or a salad or an apple?  NO!  Those items do not contain enough "energy" to satisfy the needs of a starving person.  You most likely stop at a fast food restaurant because you're so hungry you don't have the patience to go home and prepare something on your own.  Therefore, you eat something like a burger and fries and a soft drink, and then some ice cream.  Then, your brain goes to work, signaling your body to hold on to every last one of the calories you just ate.  Now, you are on your way to a marvelous weight gain.  The next day, you may feel guilty about eating that mess of a meal the night before, so you refrain from eating all day again telling yourself, "Today, I'm really only going to eat one meal, and it's going to be a healthy one".  And the cycle repeats.

There's just one problem.  When your primitive brain takes over, you are NO LONGER IN CONTROL!  When that primitive brain of yours sends out the signal to get a lot of calories and fast, you cannot resist! You can't do it.  If you try, the brain just amplifies the pain receptors in your stomach (and you know how that feels) and your stomach even starts screaming at you!

why the eating 5-6 times a day really works, you may be more inspired to make some changes.

Just know that when you notice yourself gaining weight or staying overweight, it's a sign that you need to re-train your mind into a new way of thinking.  The concious mind is very flawed and makes mistakes quite often.  The primitive brain never

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Beware of Restaurants: Part 1

One of fastest and surefire ways to start losing weight and getting healthy is to reduce the number of times you eat out each week.  I know I know.  Restaurant food tastes so good.  I completely agree, but a lot of it is bad for you and there are a few reasons for that.  Dining out has become a staple of American culture.  It's what we do when we want to be social, have business meetings, catch up with friends, etc.  We should do those things, but once again, people of industrialized nations, especially in America, overdo it.....by a lot!!  America actually has the highest rates of obesity for adults and children than any other industrialized nation.  And I think a major factor is in our dining culture.

The major reason dining out causes a problem is the way in which restaurants prepare their food.  It doesn't matter whether it is fast food or a sit down restaurant, when you eat at these places, you are consuming a lot of fat.  Fat is a major ingredient in restaurant food for a couple of reasons.  The first being that fat is how they flavor their food.  Fat tastes good.  That's a fact.  I knew that since I was a young boy.  I was eating bacon one time and the yellow fatty part had so much more flavor than the actual meat. Restaurants have to make their food taste good because that's how they get people to come back.  And adding fat is the magic trick.

To prove this point, I was watching the History Channel the other day and there was a show on called Modern Marvels.  The topic for that episode was fried food.  I caught the episode when they were talking about the fried stuff they serve at carnivals and fairs.  You know, the elephant ears, funnel cakes, etc.  The man talking to the camera was one of the people that fries up all of this garbage and not surprisingly he looked like he weighed over 300 lbs.  He deep fries EVERYTHING.  He even poured spoonfuls of Coke (yes, as in Coca-Cola) into his deep frier.  It clumps together and he took it out and ate it.  And was proud of it.  He said he could fry anything.  I could've vomited right there.  

So, the segment on the deep fried food caught my attention.  Then they moved on to restaurants.  They were interviewing a chef from a diner somwhere in middle America.  I have to admit, what I am about to tell you, I was actually surprised the chef was saying on national television.  Anyways, they showed him cooking over his stove, and he was cooking with lard.  Typical.  As he was giving the details of how he cooked he dropped this gem, "Anything with fat tastes good.  Fat is key".  He actually said this, but the thing is, it really is true.  Fat makes food taste better.  There is just one problem.....it's kiling us.

I am not one of those people that is going to pretend that vegetables taste good, or that I am so disciplined that I never eat this stuff.  Trust me, I have my weaknesses as well.  But our work is to find the discipline to say to ourselves, "enough is enough".  One helping is enough.  To be fair, restaurants are getting better at reducing their food's fat content and providing food labels with their meals so you can at least see the calorie, fat and sugar content, but they have a long way to go.  By cooking for yourself or preparing your own food, you could never add as much fat or sodium as restaurants do.  My whole philosophy is that you can eat what you want, not have to eliminate anything completely from your diet, and still lose weight.  You just have to be smart about it and some sacrifices will have to undoubtedly be made.

I decided to break this post up into 2 posts because when I write, the info just flows out and my posts end up being too long.  I want them to be short and to the point, so part 2 will come in a few days.  In the follow up I'll talk about the kind of fat they use and also how sodium gets worked in there too.