By: Jon Barron

01/19/2004

www.jonbarron.org/

Once again, the marketing mainstream has seized upon the tiniest piece of truth, blown it up to dangerous proportions, and backed it with hundreds of millions of dollars in promotional monies.

Then again, maybe we shouldn't blame the establishment at all. After all, they only go where we lead them. If we didn't display such an inexhaustible capacity to chase after magic bullets and quick fixes, they wouldn't continually be trying to sell them to us.

So what am I talking about? Well, if it's not obvious, I'm talking about the low-carb craze which is sweeping the world. Won't we ever learn?

The 'Low Carb Craze'

It wasn't that long ago that fat was the culprit. Every doctor and food commercial on TV promoted low-fat, lean foods. And we responded. Fat consumption in the United States dropped by 10%. But surprisingly, obesity soared at exactly the same time -- to the point that the United States is now the fattest country in the history of the world, with the rest of the developed world following closely behind. So what was wrong with the fat theory. Aren't fat calories bad for you, and don't they contribute to obesity?

And the answer, of course, is no -- at least not when stated in such a simplistic fashion. As it turns out there are good fats and bad fats. And I'm not talking about unsaturated and saturated fats. Why anyone would listen to the medical establishment when it comes to diet and nutrition is still mind boggling to me. Remember, these are the same people who think hospital food helps patients recover. Enough said.

The Truth About Fats

The simple truth behind fats is that the whole issue of saturated VS unsaturated fats is totally false. In fact, there are some saturated fats that are extremely healthy and extremely valuable -- even essential -- to good health. For example, coconut oil.

For a number of years now coconut oil has been vilified due to its saturated fat content. But as I said, not all saturated fats are alike. Coconut oil is unique in its structural make-up. It is not only the highest source of saturated fats (92%), but included in that number are the medium chain triglycerides, which are extremely beneficial to the body. In fact, coconut oil is the highest source of saturated medium chain triglycerides (62%) of any naturally occurring vegan food source. In addition, approximately 50% of these MCT's are made up of lauric acid, the most important essential fatty acid in building and maintaining the body's immune system. The only other source of lauric acid found in such high concentrations is mother's milk. In other words, the simple statement that all saturated fat is bad is 100% totally and absolutely wrong!

On the other hand, unsaturated fats are not all universally healthy. For years doctors pushed margarine only to discover that it was incredibly unhealthy because of its high levels of trans fatty acids. So now, low trans fatty acid margarines are the "in" thing. But what the establishment still hasn't "discovered" is that the type of fat consumed is a secondary issue. It is the ratio of unsaturated fat (Omega 6 to Omega 3) that is crucial to good health. The ideal ratio is approximately 1 to 1. However, thanks to the medical marketing machine that moved us towards the virtues of unsaturated fat (vegetable oils), the typical western diet now runs as high as 30 to 1 (Omega 6 to Omega 3) with profound unhealthy consequences. But enough about fats. Now we have a new absurdity to deal with.

The medical marketing machine, after resisting it for years (correctly, but for the wrong reasons), is embracing the high-protein, low-carb diet as promoted, most notably, by the late Dr. Atkins. So what's the story here?

Well, several things.

• The intestinal tract simply does not tolerate that much meat. Studies have shown that when meat consumption goes over about 4 oz a day, beneficial bacterial counts in the colon drop by about 90%, and E. coli counts increase by some 900%.


• It puts severe stress on the liver, ultimately damaging it, and thereby compromising the liver's ability to provide its life essential functions.


• High protein diets are much too acid forming in the body, which among other things is cancer promoting.


• Almost no one on these "meat lover" diets is using organic meats. (They're too expensive when eaten in high quantities.) That means people on these diets are consuming high levels of Antibiotics and growth hormones. This leads to several problems including dysbiosis and the resultant increase in parasitic bacteria in the intestinal tract.


• Most meat is grain fed and contributes significantly to the imbalance of Omega 6 fats to Omega 3 fats discussed above. (Range fed beef does not.)


• It is unsustainable for most people long term.


• The weight-loss is often only temporary. In the end, the amount of calories you consume is a critical body weight regulator, and these low-carb diets tend to be highly caloric because of the quantities of meat and fat consumed.


• And yes, although it excludes foods that are bad for your body, such as refined carbohydrates (which provides most of the diet's benefits), it also excludes some of the most beneficial foods available to us, the foods mostly laden with essential phytochemicals: fruits and sprouts. Quite simply, if you don't include fruits and/or sprouts in your diet, you will not get essential nutrients (including key antioxidants such as flavonoids, polyphenols, many carotonoids, and ellagitanis) in your diet -- and supplements will not make up the difference.


• It's unbalanced. Simple logic tells us that nature abhors imbalance. Ultimately, the low-carb program must fail for the same reason the low-fat programs failed. These programs do not conform to the laws of nature. They lack balance.

As we continue this discussion next issue, we'll cover some of these points in more detail. Specifically:

• I want to talk more about the irreplaceable importance of fruit.


• Dysbiosis


• A miraculous "newly-discoverd" grain based food that
  
  
  
  • Provides 400% more energy per calorie than meat
  
  
  • Satisfies hunger cravings for hours
  
  
  • Actually lowers blood Sugar levels
  
  
  • And is one of the highest known sources of beneficial beta glucans known to man
  
  
  
  

Probiotics

So let me leave you with one final thought for the day. If you are on a low-carb program and consuming more than usual amounts of non-organic meat or dairy, then you are actively destroying the beneficial bacteria in your intestinal tract. This has significant health consequences. For anyone on such a program, supplementation with a good probiotic formula is essential. In fact, for most of us, since exposure to chlorine and Antibiotics to some degree is now almost unavoidable, and the disappearance of bacteria rich foods to help replace those bacteria is now almost total (store-bought yogurt doesn't cut it), supplementation makes sense, and it also happens to be one of the most ignored parts of most people's health programs.

May 2nd [2005] produced the latest news on the world's “fat” crisis when a study presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association found the affluent are getting fatter faster than the less affluent. The report claims obesity is growing fastest among Americans with incomes more than $60,000 per year. It appears obesity is becoming a general problem rather an economic one. (I always knew the affluent had what it takes to compete.)

And waistlines are not the only thing growing. The sale of diet books is doubling each year according to statistics from Amazon.

Adding to the confusion, just a couple of weeks earlier, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) announced that they had discovered that overweight people in the United States had less risk of premature death than people who were of normal or slightly under weight.

Of course, this information flatly contradicted last year's study by the CDC (the parent organization of NCHS) that stated obesity was responsible for 400,000 deaths a year in the United States and that it was on track to overtake smoking as the leading cause of premature death. Now, it looks like the real figure is something around 112,000 extra deaths every year. (Isn't it wonderful? Government agencies are charged with making us healthier – and presto-chango they did, just by re-examining the data.)

But it gets even better. In a related study, reported in JAMA, it was DE CLAREd that overweight Americans are healthier than ever thanks to better maintenance of cholesterol and blood pressure with prescription drugs -- which probably accounts for a Rand Report's claim that obese people spend 77 percent more on medications than healthy people. (Now there's an interesting definition of health. It's not the underlying physical condition of your body that matters; it's the condition that pharmaceutical drugs can force it into that's important.)

Then again, a doctor recently told me that overweight patients who go into a coma tend to fair better than normal weight patients. (I guess that means if you're planning on going into a coma, it's worth packing on a few extra pounds just for the health benefits.)

Had enough yet?

Hold on. One more. Just one week after the NCHS announced their study that said fat people live longer, the British Medical Journal published a study funded by the US National Institute of Health which proved that being fat in your 40's significantly increases your chances of dementia as you get older.

I guess the obvious conclusion we can draw from all these studies is that although fat people might live longer and be “healthier”, because of the increased likelihood of dementia, it's unlikely they'll be aware of it.

Okay. Enough studies from the inmates. Let's step out of the asylum ASAP and do a reality check.

What do these studies actually tell us? What do we know? What is the impact of being overweight on our health?

• Being underweight is not healthy


• Being slightly overweight isn't a big deal


• Being obese is – and it's not just a question of longevity. It's a question of quality of life. Regardless of how long you live, obesity is a major factor in:
  
  
  
  • Diabetes
  
  
  • Blood pressure
  
  
  • Heart disease
  
  
  • Dementia
  
  
  • Etc.
  
  
  
  

I mean, come on. How much do we need to rely on studies? Just a little common sense tells us that if you can't be the proper weight with regular exercise, then being slightly overweight with regular exercise is healthier than being underweight with no exercise – and that being obese with no exercise is worst of all. When you cut through all the nonsense, obesity is just plain bad for your health. With that as a given, the only questions worth considering are what makes us overweight and what can we do about it.

Why We Get Fat

There are a number of factors that contribute to the fat crisis confronting the modern world. Consuming excess calories is only one of them. Some of the most significant are:

Empty Calories

Much of the processed food we eat nowadays (pepperoni pizza, diet soda, and ding dongs) has almost no food value. It may temporarily fill the stomach, but it leaves our bodies craving basic vitamins and minerals. It forces us to eat more and more of this empty food in an attempt to satisfy our unsatisfied nutritional cravings.

Modern Farming

This is a variation of the empty calories syndrome. Many of us attempt to eat right, but “factory farming” has reduced soil nutrients to the point where even so called health food has almost no nutrition. And the organic label doesn't necessarily help. All organic means is that it's grown with natural fertilizers and no pesticides. It doesn't mean that the soil is remineralized on a regular basis or that the amount of natural fertilizer used is enough to optimize nutrition.

Enzymes

Most of the food we now eat is cooked or processed, which means that it is devoid of enzymes. Without the required enzymes in our food, we don't sufficiently break the food down to extract full nutritional value thereby requiring us to eat more and more to compensate.

Excess Calories

The human body requires approximately 2,200 calories of energy per day for a woman and 2,900 calories per day for a man. When your daily intake of calories exceeds the bodily requirements, the body converts them into fat. The body will only consume stored fat when it requires more energy and that is compounded by the following:

• We consume available carbohydrate calories before fat calories.


• Our bodies tell us to look for more food before using stored reserves.


• Available food causes our metabolism to stabilize at the higher fat level.


• The type of food we eat today is very, very different from the food our ancestors ate when our metabolic and fat storage mechanisms were first established.

Carbohydrates

Excessive high glycemic carbohydrates overwhelm the body and shut down its ability to process carbohydrates. This leads to two problems. First, the excess carbs are converted to triglycerides and stored in the body as fat. Second, they damage the body's insulin system for handling carbohydrates thereby damaging our body's ability to even handle normal carbohydrates efficiently over the long haul.

Stress

Anybody suffer from stress occasionally? Well, as part of its coping mechanism for dealing with stress (originally related to survival, not big business deals and fights with our spouses), your body stores fat with a vengeance under stress – to prevent starvation while looking for the next fruit tree or mastodon to provide your food. Since you now can get donuts every day at work without needing to hunt for a week to find a mastodon, this fat storage mechanism is not as useful as it once was.

What Can We Do About It?

• Eat nutrient dense food


• Avoid (or at least minimize) junk food


• Cut way, way back on high glycemic carbohydrates and sugars


• Cut way back on processed and cooked food


• Use digestive enzymes with every meal


• Exercise to burn calories and raise your metabolic rate

Remember, the body is a system interdependent on all its parts. Just like you can't downsize a business to profitability, the body's need for nutrients won't be satisfied by withholding food. So sensible eating, not just dieting, is a big part of the answer.

The proper diet, enzymes with each meal, exercise, clean water, supplements, detoxing and digestive tract cleansing are integral for optimal health.

(NaturalNews) Detox, short for detoxification, is the purification of the body by removing toxins. Our bodies naturally eliminate toxins through our skin, liver, kidney and lungs. However due to the massive amount of toxins in our air, water and food supply today our bodies are unable to "keep up" with the amount of toxins invading us daily. This leads to fatigue, weight gain and a whole host of health problems. Therefore it is necessary for us to take steps to detoxify our bodies in order to reclaim our health and vitality.



If you are struggling to lose weight you are not alone. According to USA Today over 65% of Americans are overweight or obese. About 45 million Americans diet each year, but most diets fail and we continue to become more and more overweight.



So why do 95% of diets fail?



The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. These companies are in the business to make money, not to make us thin or happy. They spend more money on advertising and marketing than they do on actually developing products that work. Think about it: if the products worked, the diet industry would be out of business!



The only way to lose weight and get healthy is to know why we are fat in the first place and then take the necessary steps to make a change.



So why are we fat?



Toxins. From the food we eat to the air we breathe to the water we bathe in, toxins invade our body daily.



Toxins are stored in our body fat. Toxins cause our livers to become sluggish and to not function properly. This causes our organs to stop metabolizing fat effectively and we gain weight. The more toxins we accumulate, the more weight we gain. Even worse, the more we weigh, the more toxins we can then store.



Our bodies and metabolism are designed to eliminate these toxins. However, because of the massive amount of toxins in our food supply today, and because we are exposed to them on a daily basis, our bodies become overwhelmed and unable to properly process and eliminate them.



So how do we lose weight and reclaim our health and vitality?



Detox.



You must detoxify your body in order to lose weight. Here are ten tips to help you start detoxing today without drastically changing your lifestyle:



1. Eat organic fruits and vegetables.

Conventional fruits and vegetables are full of chemicals that harm your body. Organic food is grown without the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers. The sooner you stop polluting your body, the sooner you will start to look and feel healthier.



2. Eat kosher meat.

When you eat a burger the growth hormones that were given to the cow are then passed on to you thus making you grow and gain weight! Organic meat is produced without giving the animal Antibiotics or growth hormones. Only buy certified organic meat and only eat free-range chicken. Your body will thank you.



3. Do a juice fast.

The juice fast essentially means you drink juice throughout the day, every day. Your juice must be fresh and organic. This can be done for 3 days, 10 days or 30 days. It depends on your level of discipline, your size and your health goals. If you have never done a juice fast before then you will start seeing results right away!



4. Add apple cider vinegar to your diet: You can use it as salad dressing or drink it with water. Apple Cider Vinegar helps detoxify your liver. Take 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar mixed in water before every meal to aid in weight-loss.



5. Add coconut oil when you cook: Virgin coconut oil can be added to your everyday meals as a substitute for your cooking oil. It improves digestion, promotes weight-loss and helps keep skin and hair looking young and healthy.



6. Drink green tea: EGCG, an antioxidant contained in green tea, helps the body burn fat. Antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, E, and the polyphenols found in green tea also help your body reduce the time that toxins stay in your system.



7. Dry-brush before you shower.

Go to your local health food store and buy a dry brush. Then brush your skin before every shower. This removes dead skin cells and toxins helping you lose weight and have glowing skin.



8. Get a shower filter.

Your tap water can contain pesticides, toxic bacteria, viruses and traces of human and animal waste. Every time you take a shower or drink out of the tap you are ingesting dangerous toxic chemicals. Filtering your water also improves your hair and skin!



9. Add fiber to your diet.

Fiber keeps your meal moving along your gastrointestinal tract and helps flush your body of metabolic waste. Fiber also keeps your energy levels high, and slows your rate of carbohydrate digestion, which helps you maintain your blood Sugar levels.



10. Use only natural and organic beauty products.

Most of our beauty products are full of toxins, preservatives , and even poisons. These are put in our beauty products in order to give them a longer shelf life and thus give the company more profits. Using organic products guarantees that you will not be putting toxins into your body every day.



The more toxins you eliminate from your body, the more weight you will lose and the more healthy you will become!



Naturalcures.com, "Cleansing and Detoxification," Trudeau, Kevin,

http://www.naturalcures.com/cleansi...



Libraryindex.com, "Diet and Myths Weight-Loss Lore and Controversies - Why Diets Fail," http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2...



Wikipedia.org, "Toxin," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxin





About the author

Allison Biggar is a writer and filmmaker who believes in using the media to empower people to make a difference.

After losing both her parents to cancer at a young age, Allison became passionate about natural, organic health issues and learned that every disease is curable by natural methods.

Also an award winning filmmaker Allison is in pre-production of a natural health documentary dedicated to showing people how to cure themselves of diseases and ailments using natural methods.

You can visit her Natural Health site-in-progress at www.holisticvoice.org.





Related Articles:



• Detox for Life: The Three Crucial Steps of the Detox Program



• Interview with Randall Fitzgerald, author of The Hundred-Year Lie...



• Protect Yourself from Poisons in the Sky





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Simple Ways to Detoxify Your Body and Reclaim Your Health and Vitality









***Personal note: Barefooting doesn't include eating animal carcus ... not even if it's called/labelled "organic" ... animal flesh and products are acid ash foods.

(NaturalNews) A wealth of new scientific evidence shines a critical light on the importance of natural foods and nutritional compounds in the fight against
overweight, obesity and weight maintenance. Virtually all alternative health experts agree, the current epidemic of weight control issues plaguing western
society are the result of excess consumption of highly processed convenience foods that have replaced vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds in the diet. Three
independent studies conclude that blueberries, resveratrol from red grapes and cocoa flavanols exert a potent effect on fat cell formation that can aid in
weight loss and management goals when included as part of your daily diet.

Blueberries have been well documented for their cognitive and cardio-protective benefits, due in large part to the potent complex of anthocyanins that give
the berry its deep blue color. Researchers reporting the results of a study to the Experimental Biology 2011 conference have found that blueberries may
hold the key to resolving one of the largest threats to human health this century - overweight and obesity.

Scientists determined that extracts of the berry compound inhibited the formation of new baby fat cells (adipocytes) in a dose-dependent manner. Less
adipocytes mean there are fewer `containers` to store triglycerides from the blood, and this is an ultimately powerful mechanism to lower or help maintain
body weight. Not only did blueberry extract supplementation reduce the number of adipocytes up to 73 percent, but the compound was also found to assist in
the breakdown of lipids and fats for removal from the body.

Polyphenols from the

plant have been shown to promote cardiovascular, skin and brain health in recent studies. Research published in the

provide evidence that extracts of the

bean, particularly the flavanol epicatechin, are potent inhibitors of enzymes that break down carbohydrates during digestion.

Study authors determined the compound exerted an effect in a dose-dependent fashion, noting "the more consumed, the greater the effect." They were also
careful to conclude that chocolate and cocoa are two very different terms with the distinction that cocoa is the non-fat component of cocoa liquor, and the
carbohydrate-inhibiting effect is not seen when sugar-infused milk chocolate sources are used. A minimum cocoa content of 55% is necessary for health and

concerns.

Resveratrol, the bioactive compound found most commonly in the skins of red grapes, is shown to reduce body fat formation by preventing the formation of
fat tissue in a study published in the journal

. The compound is known to positively affect cognitive functions and extend natural lifespan by regulating the longevity gene SIRT1. Researchers explain
that ingesting

at supplemental doses (50 mg per day) for a period of six weeks caused a significant reduction in the activity of enzymes linked to fat production in the
body.

Effective weight loss and management requires a combination of lifestyle and dietary modifications. Natural foods and dietary nutrients such as
blueberries, resveratrol and cocoa compounds provide a safe and powerful mechanism to achieve long-term

reduction goals.

Article References:

About the author

John Phillip is a Health Researcher and Author who writes regularly on the cutting edge use of diet, lifestyle modifications and targeted supplementation
to enhance and improve the quality and length of life. John is the author of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan', a comprehensive EBook explaining how to use
Diet, Exercise, Mind and Targeted Supplementation to achieve your weight loss goal. Visit My Optimal Health Resource to continue reading the latest health news updates, and to download
your Free 48 page copy of 'Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan'.





Blueberries, resveratrol and cocoa flavanols aid weight management goals




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