[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F4t8zL6F0c[/youtube]
The New York City health department has released a nauseating video in an effort to prevent people from drinking sugary beverages. The video was posted Monday on YouTube.
A man opens a soda can and pours the liquid into a glass. It's actually a mess of goopy fat.
When he tries to drink it, he ends up with fat globs on his face.
The message: Drinking just one can of soda a day can add up to 10 pounds of weight in a year.
Health Commissioner Thomas Farley says sugary drinks are a large part of the obesity epidemic.
A 2007 health department survey found that more than 2 million New Yorkers drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage each day.
Avoiding sugary beverages is definitely something we encourage at the Fort. Remember though that the zero calorie alternatives aren't any better for you. Stick to eating your calories and drinking your water for the best health. Oh, and did anyone else notice the sneaky dairy industry and their low-fat milk in the final frame?
What do the rest of you think of ads like this? Love them? Hate them? Post your thoughts to comments.
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- 1 can of Thai Kitchen coconut milk
- good size scoop of Thai Kitchen red curry paste
- several shakes of the "21 Seasoning Salute" from Trader Joe's
- 1 cup of organic vegetable broth from Trader Joe's
- 1 pound of raw shrimp from Trader Joe's (wild caught)
I made a quick lunch for Jennie and myself today which took about half the time it takes to get a Broccoli Beef from Panda. Don't let the simplicity of this dish fool you though. It was both very hardy as well as delicious.
To replicate this creation, combine the coconut milk, curry paste, and seasoning in a pot over low heat and warm until the curry paste mixes completely with the coconut milk. Add the vegetable broth and shrimp and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. Enjoy!
Next time, I am going to try taking the tails off before cooking and dicing the shrimp. I figure this will make the dish more like a soup and a LOT less messy to eat.
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While searching the "healthy" aisle at Jewel the other night for a "no sugar added" marinara sauce for our meatza, we came across "The Original Breakfast Cookie". Frankly, I didn't realize that there were multiple breakfast cookies to choose from nowadays. I mean, I know there are pop-tarts and other sugary frankenfoods, but to try to sell me on eating cookies for breakfast, now that is something new.
The uninformed masses patroling such an aisle are unlikely to be able to realize how poor of a food choice this breakfast cookie truly is. Afterall, the packaging is plastered with statements such as:
- All Natural
- 0 Trans Fats
- Baked Fresh with Whole Grains for life on the go!
How is one to argue with such information!?
I decided to take it one step further and visit the website of The Original Breakfast Cookie. Here is what the manufacturer has to say about their Breakfast Cookie:
The Original Breakfast Cookie is something you can feel good about eating. Baked fresh with heart-healthy whole grains and sweetened with fruit puree, our cookies combine the flavors we all love with a heartiness that satisfies for hours. Packed with protein, antioxidants, fiber and complex carbohydrates, it is a healthy and delicious way to start your day. Every Breakfast Cookie is handcrafted in our own bakery using the finest ingredients available. You can taste the exceptional quality in each bite. Taste one, or better yet, taste them all!
A few of the customer reviews were right there in plain site as well and I thought you should know what Carissa Hayes has to say about The Original Breakfast Cookie:
I would recommend any of Erin Baker's cookies to everyone. They not only taste great, but are healthy too. I feel much better allowing my children to eat these cookies than any other product that is out.
UN.BE.LIEVABLE.
OK, so I'm being a little dramatic. Ignorance like this is completely believable in this day and age. Carissa obviously trusts anything her government or big business has to say about nutrition. Hook, line, and sinker!
Finally, let's take a look at the nutrition label of such a nutritional goldmine:
Whole Grain Oats, Unbleached Wheat Flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Prune Puree, Evaporated Cane Juice, Water, Chocolate Chunks (sugar, chocolate liquor, anhydrous dextrose, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), Brown Rice Syrup, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder, Chicory Extract, Molasses, Baking Soda, Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt, Soy Lecithin, Dried Egg Whites, Aluminum-Free Baking Powder, Cinnamon.
There you have it. A convenient, healthy, delicious cookie for breakfast. What else could anyone want? *HUGE EYE ROLL*
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I decided that the recent comments from "Checking Stuff Out" deserved the spotlight. The comments are broken into individual quotes, followed by my responses. Enjoy!
His "paper" is a 20 year long study that remains to this day the only scientifically proven study on heart disease and diet/lifestyle.
I would suggest going to PubMed and doing a search on this very topic. You will find more "scientific studies" than you know what to do with.
Its all peer reviewed so he cannot get away with "losing" anyone. Post the proof on that claim please.
First, I understand that peer review is the "gold standard", but that doesn't mean it is flawless. Richard Smith wrote an article on this very topic. In it, he states, "So we have little evidence on the effectiveness of peer review, but we have considerable evidence on its defects. In addition to being poor at detecting gross defects and almost useless for detecting fraud it is slow, expensive, profligate of academic time, highly subjective, something of a lottery, prone to bias, and easily abused." They actually did a study where they submitted scientific work containing gross errors for peer review and they found several instances where their "peers" didn't find a single mistake! Putting complete faith in something simply because it passed peer review is quite fallacious.
Second, here is your proof, straight from the text: "Of the 94 eligible patients, 53 were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 43 to the control group; 28 (53%) and 20 (42%), respectively, agreed to take part. All patients who were eligible and volunteered were accepted into the study."
Still with me? The text goes on to say, "Follow-up angiographic data were not available for 7 patients: 1 control-group patient underwent emergency, non-quantitative angiography in another hospital; and of the 6 experimental-group patients, 1 died while greatly exceeding exercise recommendations in an unsupervised gym, 1 could not be tested owing to a large unpaid hospital bill, 1 was a previously undiagnosed alcoholic who dropped out, 1 patient’s preintervention angiogram was lost in transit to Houston for quantitative analysis, and 2 patients’ angiographic views before and after intervention did not match adequately owing to technical difficulties." When all was said and done, 7 of 48 participants were "lost" for one reason or another.
Quick note, if any of you CrossForters would like to read the complete text, just let me know.
Also not every participant smoked nor was everyone sedentary prior to starting, although some did/were. That's the point of a scientific study is to take people in at random.
You are correct, not everyone smoked, but they were all classified as "unhealthy". The random group of participants needs to be larger though so that it can be determined which component(s) of the trial was effective. Was it the exercise, stress reduction, cessation of smoking, or diet?
BTW, arteries don't un narrow by any great measure, however blood flow can increase and there may be slight reduction in the plaque area, but basically its damage done. His primary claim is increased blood flow..
It is abundantly clear that you have never read the study. Under the results heading all Dr. Ornish refers to is the increase or decrease of "stenosis" (an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure) and lesion scores. There is not a single mention of blood flow anywhere in the text.
Yes HDL went down but so did LDL and the total, the ratio of HDL to LDL and total to LDL went up. Also, BTW no one ever proved TG as a standalone factor contribute to anything, but I would suggest you read the book and studies the TGs did not go up but rather down on average.
None of this is debatable. The data clearly shows that total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL levels decreased for both groups. Total/HDL ratio as well as LDL/HDL ratio also decreased for both groups. As for the triglycerides, you are almost right. The levels for the control group did go down, but the triglyceride levels of the experimental (read, low-fat vegetarian) group went up to over 250! It is also important to note that the Triglyceride/HDL ratio increased to 6.85 for the experimental group while it decreased to 3.90 for the control group. Current scientific knowledge states:
- Triglyceride/HDL ratio less than 2 is ideal
- Triglyceride/HDL ratio of 4 is high
- Triglyceride/HDL ratio of 6 is much too high
This means that the control group wasn't doing so well, but the low-fat, experimental group was faring much, much worse.
Do yourself a favor and read some of the work written by Uffe Ravnskov. You will probably find it enlightening to say the least. Simply following what the AMA, AHA, or US government says because they are an authoritative body is another logical fallacy. Steering clear of corrupted, biased, unscientific studies will prove to be quite fruitful.
Btw, you guys have the insulin and carb relationship correct, however the caveat is that is true only when you combine high carb with high fat, in which case fat is an insulin receptor blocker so you're body thinks it needs more insulin and gets jacked to dangerous levels.
I will agree, high carbs combined with high fat can be problematic. However, I have never said that a low-carb, or carnivorous diet is the only healthy option. An example would be the Kitavans who survive on lots of coconut, starchy tubers, and a little fish. I will say it again, there is no singular path to optimal health, but eating low-fat will most definitely take you in the wrong direction.
If you're eating paleo, the deadliest combination is for you guys to break down and eat a bunch of carbs. Even low fat guys will admit that. That guy eating the bun is right to regret it.
It would only truly matter if the carb splurges were a consistent habit, but then you wouldn't be low-carb Paleo, now would you? Carb-ups here and there, even from unfavorable sources, may be of benefit depending on your goals and current lifestyle, but that is an entirely separate post for another day (i.e. cyclic low-carb).
And the bun was a complete joke. Again, pay closer attention to the details and you would have read that "No grains were consumed during the taking of this photo."
You can pick and choose the studies you want to justify your lifestyles.
In science, the burden of proof falls on the one making the hypothesis. If a single instance is found, refuting said hypothesis, it is time to scrap it and develop a new one. It isn't about scoring the most points.
I am in no way cherry picking studies. We examined the study that you are basing your actions on and thoroughly analyzed it, finding several flaws. If I wanted to take the easy way out I would have simply asked you to explain the Inuit or Masai and left it at that because you wouldn't have been able to.
For every cardiologist you find, low fat guys can find 100.
Quantity does not equal quality. The majority can be wrong you know. This is your third logical fallacy (argumentum ad populum this time). However, the current situation is due to the establishment in Westernized societies being quite strong. It is only a matter of time until things are corrected though because people will continue to see a decline in their health until they return to an animal based diet. I have already seen an enormous surge in the right direction. I'll take quality over quantity any day though and soon we will have both!
The pics of you guys all look young and fit so you're probably OK no matter what you do. But I would suggest you check your family history and if you're over 30 do more objective research. esp as it relates to heart disease.
We look young and fit because of our nutritionally superior way of eating. Some of our most disciplined members are around 40 years of age and have stellar lipid profiles. I'll take real world results like the ones we have been seeing over any "scientific" study.
If carb loading is so bad, they all should have gotten worse despite the wonderful effects of exercise/meditation/nonsmoking.
3 steps forward and 1 step back. Any improvement in health was in spite of the diet, not because of it. The experimental group exercised for over 3 hours per week and practiced stress reduction techniques for over 9.5 hours per week compared to less than 1 hour per week of exercise and only 13 minutes per week of stress reduction for the control group. I strongly believe that if this study would have been conducted with a high fat, animal based diet, the results would have been astonishing due to taking 4 giant leaps forward.
There's many reasons to eat the way you want to eat and there's no catchall given the genetic variety out there, but to claim eating carbs (specicially fruits and veggies) is not heart healthy is what prompted to me to be a buttinski.
In my previous post, I did not claim that eating fruits and veggies were unhealthy. Instead, I claimed that eating saturated animal fats is very heart healthy and avoiding them, even if eating fruits and veggies still, will be unhealthy for your heart.
I would like to end by pointing out that it would be an understatement to say that I thoroughly enjoy debating topics concerning health and nutrition. By doing so, one develops a better understanding of the subject at hand and is exposed to counter viewpoints which may lead to a change in opinion. However, this cannot happen if facts are distorted or avoided altogether. Believe me, I have absolutely zero qualms with changing what I preach if I were to find a better way of eating. I guess what I am trying to say is that meat may make me angry, but avoiding animal products makes you stupid. 
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A new Swedish study, looking at nutritional intake and heart disease, found that consuming fruits and veggies is only of benefit to your heart when combined with a high intake of dairy fat. Without the dairy fat, not only was there little to no benefit from eating fruits and vegetables, but the risk of a heart event actually increased by 70%! The study also found that eating whole grain bread and fish twice a week were also of no benefit to the heart.
This proves, yet again, that eating fruits and veggies is irrelevant when it comes to reducing heart disease, and may actually contribute to it. At the same time, saturated fat is what is of any benefit to your ticker. This means we should all be eating plenty of fatty red meats and delicious egg yolks.
Think about that the next time you pour yourself a glass of skim milk or reach for the low-fat cheese.
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I don't get it. I am eating better than ever yet my symptom (i.e. acne, skin rash, headaches, joint pain, digestion, etc.) is getting worse. What is going on?
You can probably relate to that quote if you have ever tried to clean up your diet. There is no doubt that having unpleasant symptoms worsen during the early stages of a major dietary change is incredibly frustrating and difficult to overcome. For most, this will result in a failed attempt.
You see, your body is constantly undergoing the processes of rebuilding and repairing. The problem is, if you are eating less than optimal foods, your body will be built from less than optimal materials and susceptible to sickness and disease. To solve this problem, you must consistently provide your body with the foods it was intended to have. Once you begin doing this, your body will be able to cleanse itself of nasty toxins and begin rebuilding with strong, healthy materials.
Be warned, your body doesn't slowly purge this waste material. Instead, your body uses the additional resources that a healthy diet provides and fights to excrete the toxins faster than ever. This can potentially result in the worse breakouts and/or flare-ups of your life. The list of unpleasant symptoms that you may experience during this time includes: diarrhea, constipation, aches, pains, fever, muscle cramps, discharges, odors, rashes, acne, headaches, irritability, fatigue, anxiety, depression, fear, and anger. Sounds fun, I know.
The amount of abuse you have done to your body in the past will impact how severe your symptoms are. For some of you, these symptoms will be very mild or nonexistent even. The rest of you may experience any or all of these over the course of a few months. That's right, a few months! Hang in there though because these symptoms are a sign of good things to come. It is proof that your body was a mess and that a long needed housecleaning is well under way.
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