Food & Nutrition

I tried to think about this for awhile before responding too quickly. But here is what I ended up telling her in answer to her questions …

I’m glad to hear that you are planning your process and processing your plan. I want you to keep it “fun” though, or you won’t be able to stick to this. So let’s see what we can do on ideas…

First of all … I would NOT try to eat ALL your salads without dressing. The problem with dressings you can buy off the shelf, however, are all the subtle sugars that exist in them. So when you’re able and wish to do so, experiment with plain ol’ vinegar and oil! Use some of the nature’s wonderful vinegars out there … and healthy, tasty, olive oil! Spice it up a bit with just a few herbs or other seasonings, and wha-la … you have a dressing that actually surpasses ANY out there on the shelf!!!!

Now what I can’t tell in your descriptions, of course, is the serving size. Just keep in mind that the size of your fist is your stomach, and eat many more greens than any other “color” item on your plate!

I think you’re just going to have to experiment with the high glycemic foods like the nectar, sugars, and flours. You’ll have to document how your body FEELS after eating them, as well as how able you are to control your intake to the healthy stuff on the day FOLLOWING your use of them. They were ALWAYS MEANT to be treats instead of trends, so if you can have that PB sandwich occasionally, I am all for it!!! I do the same thing … but I eat only a half, using very high fiber bread, and it doesn’t seem to be any problem for me at all!!!

The nuts are a great snack, but do pay attention to which nuts are NOT processed vs which ones are. Typically cashews are roasted, although you CAN buy them raw. The typical raw ones that are EASIEST to find are the almonds, pecans, and walnuts. The BEST ones for you are going to be the raw ones … or ones that you START with raw and “roast” right there in your own oven!

So just remember … DON’T worry about the “fat” in foods. Your yogurt does NOT have to be low fat if it is FRESH and PLAIN with your own fruits and nuts added to it. WHEN a food is higher in fat, it will take VERY little of it to completely satisfy you!!!! Eat just a few bites, have some water, and save the rest for ANOTHER snack later!!!!

Which brings me to another point … you don’t mention what you are drinking? You need LOTS and LOTS of water and that’s ALL you need. But just know that if you are drinking ANYTHING else, you must treat it as a food!

Your evening meal sounds quite yummy tonight. Can I come??? Hahahha

The avocado dip sounds great too … as long as you intend to use only fresh cut raw veggies to dip INTO it!!!!!

The thick baked sweet potato chips sound great too! Just use a little butter as your oil … or nothing at all … until you get the OUT of the oven to pour some of that olive oil and seasonings over the top!!!!

Hey, I am getting hungry thinking about all this food … it must be my lunch time!!! Be sure to keep doing what you’re doing … eat something every three hours, drink lots of water all day long, and write it all down so that you can “notice” what every food does to you. The best part is that you will learn that your body has been “reacting” to all these foods all along … it’s just that you likely didn’t know that a simple thing like FOOD could make such a difference!!!

BTW, if I were you, I would probably do my best to stay away from “the flours, sugars, etc” until AFTER my next blood work was tested. That way you will have a fair impression of what you can do with food alone. Otherwise, if you are “cheating” or trying to “mix things up” too quickly, you will always be left wondering … if it turns out you get the numbers down, but not down as low as they would like.

And know that your RATIOS of HDL and LDLs are what’s important. The more you take in those HEALTHIER oils, the better that RATIO is going to be!!!!

That means … cage free eggs, olive oils, and even walnuts are good. There are lists out there for all the foods that house those healthy omega 3’s that you’re striving for right now.

Oh, and I hope you’re taking cod liver oil!!! It’s winter time, and it’s virtually impossible to get enough sunshine and other healthy goodies that you will get from the cod liver oil. But get good quality cod liver oil too. Carlson’s is one well known brand, but there are others too. You want this to be mercury free, as you mentioned before.

Keep it up girl!!! You are doing GREAT! Keep in touch with me about this, as your feedback is also helping MANY others on this blog!!!!

And if any readers have some other ideas for her, please chime right in. Feel free to respond to her with some suggestions of your own!

the 1st day went well
But I do have a couple questions.
I had steel cut oats for breakfast with Strawberries and a dash of vanilla.
I had a banana later
for lunch I had a salad with no dressing and a hard boiled egg.   I also had plain low fat yogurt with strawberries and a dash of vanilla.
I had a snack later of some raw almonds.
Dinner was backed chicken, salad with no dressing, steamed broccoli and calliflower, and a small portion of basmati rice with peppers and onions in it.
I snacked on a few cashews in the evening.
Sound good so far?
My question is, a while back, I bought some agave nectar.   this stuff is suppose to be a better alternative to sugar.  at this time, can I use it?  Or should I wait until I start introducing small amounts of sugar back into my diet.   I should I just go without and hope I never need it again.
How long do I need to do the No flour thing?   At some point, I will be able to introduce whole wheat bread or pasta back into my diet, right?   I mean,  every once in a while I like a peanut butter sandwich.  Makes me feel good.   Ya know?

Anyway, today the plan is steelcut oats again, (already ate those).  an apple, a salad with a small portion of the chicken from last night and an even smaller portion of the rice, along with yogurt again.  and nuts to fill in the day.
I have chicken tenders marinating in a lime, and jalapeno concoction waiting for me to make it tonight.  I have a recipe for an avacado dip that is simple and has nothing bad in it.  I was going to make a different kind of dip for my family out of yogurt and ranch spice packet and lime juice.  They won’t eat avacado.   But I’m stuck on what else healthy can go with something like that.   I’ll be looking all day, but if you have a clue email it, will ya.
I have a sweet potato.  I thought about baking up some thick chips in the oven.   Or maybe I should just serve it with some veggies.   I’m in a quandry.  Ideas are good.
Thanks for listening.

But you, as the reader, are going to have to go to the next post to read my response!!!

I could tell that she was almost excited by the changes she was making.

Here is what she sent to me next:

Ok, well that was great, useful information.   But now I am questioning the rest of the day’s food.    Can you explain the meat thing again?     I eat chicken and pork normally.   Explain why that’s not a good thing.  I guess you really like sushi, huh?  I can eat Tuna but I can’t do that often, because of he high level of murcury. right?  I can’t do salmon.  I try periodically, just to keep my options open, but so far,  Still can’t do it.

Are potatoes ok?   I like to slice them and bake them in Olive oil and garlic.   But after hearing you talk on this, I know now that there is a problem with cooking with olive oil at the higher temperatures, right?   But is it ok to cook the potatoes like that?   Maybe butter? 

I am basically thinking that my lunch and dinners will consist of salads (with no dressing - I never eat dressing anyway)  and grilled meats.   Maybe some steamed veggies and some rice.   Rice being the only starch, unless potatoes are ok.
Sorry to be a pest, but I want to get this straight in my head before I begin and screw it up.

You’re giving me wonderful information.  I really appreciate it.

So here is my feedback on her new questions:

Chicken and pork are fine to eat if you are making them fresh vs. eating something that has been processed so that it stores well. That means, no LUNCHMEAT.

Note too that the serving SIZE of meats is often WAY bigger than it needs to be. Put the meat on the veggies as your main part of the meal, and you’ve got it!!!

Big white potatoes are simply NOT a good thing because they’re too starchy.

Search the web for a good “glycemic index food chart,” and LIMIT any foods that are “HIGH” to a few bites (if you can’t stay away from them totally)! Even white rice is going to be high.

Look for COLOR … in EVERYTHING! Even little red potatoes are lower in starch than the big white ones.

And yes … grill the veggies in butter if you need an oil, so that you can add the olive oil just WARMED afterwards. Feel free to be LIBERAL with these oils, as THEY are what will fill you up. (But that is ONLY if you have no starches with the meal!!!!!)

You’re doing good J!!!! Keep it up!

But again, the “misinformation” of our culture tripped her understanding of things enough that she quickly wrote back:

Oh man.  You threw in a zinger at the end.  So Starches and oils together are bad?   How does that work?
If we do rice, it will not be a white rice.  It will be brown, long cooking rice.     is oil ok with that?  what do you think about basmati and jasmine rices?  Too starchy?

BTW, I made hard boiled eggs last night.  Already had my first one for breakfast this morning.   Loved it!    Should I worry about how many eggs I eat in a week?

Thanks again

I was so glad that she ASKED these important questions, because it allowed me to be sure that she had the information she needed to plan her weeks “correctly” to be in her body’s best interest. And it motivated ME to ask if she would mind if I posted these comments on this blog for YOU to read:

Yes … the oils work with the WHOLE grains … the meats … in other words, the LOW Glycemic index foods.

Do you remember me talking about the “leaky gut” syndrome … where the “sugars” draw the oils into the blood stream too quickly!?

That’s EXACTLY the issue that causes high cholesterol!!!

So HAVE the oils, and HAVE the cholesterol foods … it’s the “SUGARS” that you are having the reaction to!!!

It’s the HIGH Glycemic foods that ARE the “sugars”!!!

I don’t know too much about the different rices, but a good Glycemic food chart SHOULD give you that. Whenever you pick the food with the most COLOR, however, you will have the BEST OUTCOMES for your body.

GREAT on the hard-boiled eggs!!!

I don’t know that I would “count” your eggs, as much as I would just strive for variety. But choose your VARIETY carefully too. Just find a few good meals (a few breakfasts, lunches, and dinners) that are “safe” for you, and then mix THEM up). As long as you eat only a “handful” of food at a time, you will NOT over-consume ANY “wrong” amounts based on your choices.

By the way … when I have time … I MIGHT just post all these questions and answers on my nutrition blog.

I never like to write things on my own without a “reason” … so this dialogue with you has been very good for me to see what questions people have about all of this. Don’t worry though … I will leave your NAME off of the blog. I will just quote your questions, if that’s okay?

BTW, I even eat eggs for my evening meal!!! Just try to keep ANY of those “higher” glycemic foods early in the day, although for me, they just make me crazier with WANTING as the day wears on. My point though … is that by evening, you want to REALLY be strict about having only the protein and veggies in your choice of foods. If you can … have even those whole grains and rices for the morning and afternoon.

S

So this new kind of thinking is easy to understand, and she followed up with a quick note:

Great!   I think I’m getting it.   I think I have a glycemic index book.  If not, I’ll be getting one.
Thank you so much.   I think it’s finally coming together in my head.   I appreciate your patience in this.
And definitely, should you want to publish what you and I wrote here, I am fine with that. I hope it helps others as much as it helps me.

I’ll get back with new questions.  I’ll try to let you off for the holidays, though.   If I don’t talk to you before, have a great thanksgiving.

I am definitely thankful for you.

THANK you J

And I am TRULY grateful … for YOU!!!!

Happily, I began to see that one of her first changes was to begin “planning” her meals:

I’m working on Planning what kinds of things I can eat.  I’m working on Breakfast.
I think I need ideas
For breakfast  My only options are Eggs, plain low-fat yogurt (is low-fat ok or necessary?) sweetened with frozen fruit. nuts, and Stone Cut oats sweetened with frozen fruit.  Are stone cut oats ok?  No flour there, right.
Eggs, scrambled is ok, right?  I know the perfect way is soft boiled but I don’t know how to do that.  Never learned that one.  I have no clue how long it takes to get to the soft boiled state.   And doing that at work, impossible.  But I can scramble an egg in the microwave with no added fat.
How about cheese?  is cheese ok for me?  what about breakfast meat options?  are there any?
Any other ideas?
Thanks

So here are my answers to those questions:

Glad to see that you’re PLANNING things out!!! THAT’s a GREAT sign!!!

Low-fat is NOT necessary for your yogurt at all. You can do either. Just be sure that there is ZERO added sugar when you start. Then yes, the added frozen fruits (also without added sugars), stone cut oats is a GREAT thing, nuts too … yummy … all of it!!!

You could hard boil about 6 eggs at once if you wished … and have two on the go anytime!

It’s easy to make them … add eggs to cold water and cover … bring water to a boil … immediately turn OFF the burner … and let them sit in the hot water for about 20 minutes. Wha-la! They’re ready for your refrigerator for the week!

Lightly scrambled eggs is definitely good too. Add some cut chunks of bell peppers, or parsley or asparagus, or any veggie combinations you wish … and again … wha-la … perfection! You can definitely add these to a to-be-MICROWAVED scrambled dish and they will cook al-dente.

Cheese is okay … but not something I would recommend on a routine basis. It’s very acid-forming in your gut, and therefore not the healthiest for your body. As a flavoring though … use the strong cheese flavors like Parmesan and it will just ADD some punch instead of BE the punch!

Breakfast meats are only good if they are ANY meat relatively rare. That means pork is not a good option … but there really are no “rules” on what constitutes a good breakfast meat, much less a menu option.

Try to eat oatmeal without pasteurized milk though. Cook your oatmeal in water and use slices of banana for your sweetener. It’s always a good thing if you can even add some flax seed meal to your oatmeal or even your yogurt dishes. I honestly use almost ALL flax seed in the morning as my “cereal” … to which I add my berries and nuts. It doesn’t take much to fill you up first thing. But be prepared to eat again in about three hours … with perhaps one of those hard-boiled eggs, and your body will LOVE you for it!!!

Let me know if this helps!!! And if you get stuck … or bored … LET ME KNOW!!!!

Always, Sandy

Here is the response from the conversation that was begun in part 1…

Sandy,

Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly.
At this time, I know that what I am eating is not worth writing down.  I’m going to need this when I finally start eating properly and think I’m doing well.

My goal is to begin fresh on Dec 1st. with a yoga and weight lifting weekly routine that is badly needed. I will also start eating properly.

I plan to write down what I eat, so it will not be hard for me to know what I’m eating at any given time.

I plan on trying to stay away from flours and sugars, but I will be honest about what I eat even if I don’t steer completely clear of these things so that I will know where my weak points are.

I know that this is going to be rough for me.   When the weather was good, I would walk for lunch and get myself a salad, and some days, sushi, grilled chicken, or tillapia. But with the winter weather, I need to plan better.

I am a process person.  I need my process of getting where I’m going, but I’m not a good planner.  I guess my mind tends to wander too often to plan on something like food.

I am a multitasker and now that I heard your talk, I know that is part of my problem.

There is always something more important going on.   But hopefully with your help and maybe some prodding I can do this.

I have to tell you.  Sitting there listening to you.  I felt like I could do it.  That is something I haven’t felt in a very long while.

My goal is to have a good cholesterol count by April.  I think I can do that.  I will have to get my blood test in the first week of April.   I want to have a lot of improvement by then.

Thank you for your help.   I really appreciate it.

My response to her was quite simple:

I feel for you on the effort it must take to be able to see beyond what you currently see in your life. I’m very glad to hear though, that you are finding things to be headed in the “upswing” direction for you.

I think it would be soooo beneficial for quite a few people there to attend more of a “stress management” seminar or workshop. So please stay tuned for that, as I would love to be able to teach you more in that area too.

In the meantime, just let me know if there’s any other way in which you think I might help. I will do all that I can to send you lots more of those empowering thoughts your way!

Always, Sandy

I got an email from someone who attended one of my nutrition seminars. That person had some questions I thought might be important if I shared with the rest of the world.

If you, as the reader, has even more questions after reading through these dialogues I had with her, then feel free to ask me for further clarification.

Hi Sandy. I completely enjoyed your seminar.  Wish I could have stayed longer.  I just want to pick your brain.

I have High Cholesterol, as we discussed.   I also have a problem with severe heartburn.   If I eat an orange, I feel like I’m having a heart attack.  I have been scoped to see if I have an ulcer and I do not.   I’ve been on Prilosec.   I go thru phases where it is worse than other times.  But for the most part, I try to stear clear of spicy foods and citrus.    Now I heard you recommended Grapefruit … and I’m thinking, if an orange kills me, then grapefruit will hurt also.   Is there another fruit that I should eat?   Over the summer I tried to eat a lot of watermelon, strawberries and blueberries.   And although I have no fear of cooking with lemons and limes, I wouldn’t dare eat an orange or a grapefruit.  The fear is enough.  Plus grapefruits are really bitter.   It’s never been a favorite of mine.   If you have any ideas about how I can get my body to love grapefruit instead of hate it, I’m listening.    It has bitterness and GERD working against it, but hey, I’m open to options.

My other problem is the fiber part.  How do I feed my family enough fiber at dinner without pasta?   I guess I forget that veggies are fiber.  But we have been taught since infancy: protein, veggie, starch.   I still follow that and it is hard to get out of that.  How do I retrain myself.  What is a perfectly acceptable dinner plate for my high cholesterol?

I also have a problem leaving all bread behind.  I’ve been a student of nutrition for a long time, and I’ve always felt that the extremes (getting rid of all carbs) are bad for us.   What other forms of whole grains are there, that I should be eating?  I guess my food world is a little narrow.  I think of carbs as breads pastas and rice.  I know there has to be more. I’m just drawing a blank.

For now, I’m done.   I’ll await your reply.
Thanks again.

I could hear this person’s frustration in her note, because she is only doing everything that is fitting for our understanding of what a “healthy American meal” looks like … so I answered her as follows:

Hi J,

I can hear your dilemma. And you’re right that a grapefruit MIGHT cause you the same reaction as an orange. But then again, it might not.

Do know that learning some stress management techniques might be really good for you too????

I sent her a list of the different flavors in order to give her ideas as well as a few other thoughts, but I knew that I had to wait to hear back from her to see how motivated she was for some “real” change.

You can follow along on this conversation and see what we both learned in this exchange.

The case against swigging soda just got stronger. A large systematic review reveals clear associations between consumption of nondiet soft drinks and increased calorie intake and body weight.

Full-calorie soft drinks are also linked with reduced intake of milk and fruit and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. “Recommendations to reduce population soft drink consumption are strongly supported by the available science,” concludes the review of 88 studies. The American Beverage Association, however, presents a different view on its Web site. “It is not feasible to blame any one food product or beverage as being a sole contributor to obesity …. No science supports such a claim.”

Carbonated soft drinks are the single largest source of calories in the American diet, according to a 2005 report called “Liquid Candy,” produced by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Companies annually manufacture enough soda pop to provide more than 52 gallons to every man, woman and child in the United States.

(the rest of the article is here.)

This article continues with even more of the evidence strongly connecting the consumption of soft drinks to Type 2 Diabetes.

It points out that this liquid actually increases the desire for sweets, yet the individuals consuming it are also eating less fruits and fibers … which is a BIG concern when it comes to CHILDREN’S consumption of so much soda.

I, for one, would like to hear more about the evidence that exists with the sugar-free as well as the full calorie sodas, for even these low calorie drinks are known to increase one’s desire for sweets, and it is doubtful that the individuals consuming large amounts of diet sodas are consuming the fruits and fibers either!

Water is what the body needs to perform every function … including weight loss. And any drink that contains “other things” in it require an equal amount of crystal clear water (at LEAST) to help to remove these “other things” … and ends up leaving the body at a loss for its own water needs!

So drink water … at least 64 ounces of it … on TOP of your ounce-per-ounce match of water consumption for every other drink consumed.

From coffee, tea, soda, or diet drink, they all require additional water for the body to be able to process them.

Enjoy that crystal clear water like you would looking out over a crystal clear lake vs. a lake with anything floating in it!!! Your body prefers this too!!

I am often asked about resources on nutrition. People are looking for the straightforward scoop in a very confusiong world.

Those of you who know me, know that I don’t believe in a “quick fix” or a fad diet in any way. So here are a few books that can help you to get there:
My favorite (so far) is a book called You on a Diet: The Owners Manual for Waist Management by Drs Roizen and Oz. They are very balanced in their approach, plus it is a very easy read that will stick with you because they make it such fun to read.

Another book I found very informative that stayed with me afterwards is: Healthy at 100 by John Robbins … yes, the very same family that invented Baskin & Robbins ice cream, but no, you will NOT find him recommending that you indulge in this American treat! He does a wonderful job of searching the world for results, and this was what I wanted to know.

And the final book that was eye-opening to me, is one called The China Study by Campbell and Campbell. The depth of research behind this book is impressive. But don’t let the word “research” turn you away. It’s a very easy read, from a man who is a caring father who has now changed the way his whole family eats because of his exposure to all of this information.

The combination of these three books can help you to understand more about how “incorrectly” we eat in so many ways. And the way to eat correctly is easier than we think!

Most importantly, in our culture, food is available to an unbelievable degree, so knowing the importance of WHAT to eat is a topic about which everyone needs more information!

We hardly stop to think about the repercussions of a hearty work load.

This is not just about stress.

The multi-layered effects of reducing your hours of sleep goes even deeper than the lethargy, the yawning, or even the unrecognized connection of sadness that may come as time continues to go by when a person is just not getting enough sleep … at night … and in the dark!

Dr. Razavi has a good article written about this on her blog, called Sleep More, Weigh Less.

T.S. Wiley has written a very readable book, called Lights Out about the very credible research connections that exist between our industrial age of the modern lightbulb and the many chronic health issues that now exist.

Getting more sleep is not the ONLY answer to any weight loss issue you might have, but it is actually a very POWERFUL one that can help you to connect with your deepest brainwaves. This alone can help you to better function by exerting more control over the other areas of your multi-dimensional body … and thereby affect your multi-dimensional life!

Tara Parker-Pope’s story in the March 20^th issue of Wall Street Journal was titled “The Case Against Vitamins.” And like so many newsworthy items that go against mainstream thinking, it may be that you find articles like this more confusing than comforting.

My words may not give you a complete understanding either, but I am determined to try to explain it in a way that makes ‘sense.’ There are many others who know the depth of this even more than I, but some day, when mainstream thought process catches up, then everyone will be saying “why of course!” So in the meantime, just look at this as something that is a bit more intuitive than you might first think.

The human body is made up of completely natural ingredients that can be found in a handful of dirt and a container of water. Nature intended for all these different bodies to be fueled by supplying abundant food sources in many shapes and sizes that come and go throughout the year. For the sake of making my point, let’s just call them all ‘whole foods.’

Your body takes each whole food that you ingest and uses it in an unbelievably complex manner because it knows how to supply itself literally with everything it needs. We scientists of course like to study these ‘complex equations’ and put them all down on paper, one-by-one, in a linear fashion. But in reality, the body is actually performing this ‘magic’ in a much more holistic manner than we could EVER capture in THOUGHT, much less document all of it on paper!

And how do we study all this? Well, we grind, freeze, distill, boil, dissolve, chromatograph (don’t even ask!), and ‘identify’ all that we can ‘see.’ Of course Nature only knows how many of these ingredients have been ‘destroyed’ by any of these processes. And we think processed foods are only found in the packaged isles! Ha ha.

So where this linear thinking has taken us over the years, is that we like to pull out some of these identified ingredients so that we can feel better about giving them to ourselves and gaining their benefits. The problem is that our linear thinking ‘forgets’ that there is a completely ‘invisible’ holistic process going on that we will some day accept that man can’t touch in his/her ability to understand!

We would LIKE to grasp it all. And some might say that we are just ‘arrogant’ enough to think we can someday do it … or even worse … that we have already done it! But the danger really only occurs in this kind of thinking when we try to do it BETTER than what Nature has already intended for us in the first place.

This is when we end up looking for a ‘magic pill.’ And since we really want to feel as if we are doing something special for our bodies, we take a few supplements. But the truth lies in the understanding that perfection can already be found in our whole foods, and it’s the processing of these foods that ‘unbalance the balance.’ Rather than think that this answer is “just too simple!,” we really need to really understand the fact that everything in the world is already in perfect balance, just as it is!

Now some people will point out that our soils are depleted, and that is true! But rather than try to replenish individual ‘ingredients’ of what a food might be lacking by taking a few ‘vitamin’ and ‘mineral’ supplements each day, we need to be more conscious of the fact that this in fact only puts our bodies more OUT of balance. So for the best of reasons, these supplements are sometimes adding to the problem.

So, the bottom line? You are better off simply eating more of the whole vegetables in the world so that you receive their complete complexities by cooking them less … or perhaps even crunching on a few more!