There are many fad diets that promise to help you lose weight in almost no time at all. After two or three weeks on the diet you find yourself losing enough to be able to brag to your family and friends about it, and you're so optimistic that this new lifestyle will be your ticket to a smaller waistline that you start to browse the stores for new clothes.
You continue to lose weight for another couple of weeks, and then something happens: you start to feel sluggish, you begin craving something that your diet absolutely forbids you to have, or the general sense of optimism begins to transform itself into a feeling of constriction, frustration, and even dietary imprisonment.
You decide to have just one snack, or spend just one day eating whatever you want with the intention of going back to the diet the following day. What happens then, is that you feel such satisfaction from that treat that the entire effort falls apart and you put the weight back on in practically no time at all.
Does this scenario sound at all familiar?
Diets are very hard, as is the feeling of being overweight. Many of these fad diets may promise instant and significant weight loss results, but most of them rely on depriving your body of certain nutrients and disrupting the natural function of your body's metabolism. Chinese medicine considers obesity to be partly the result of declining function of the metabolic fire of the kidney network and a diet that provides a well-balanced array of nutrients is the key to losing weight in a healthy way. What follows are five foods that will help you restore your body's ability to use energy and help you become your healthy weight.
1. Millet: A well-balanced diet should consist of whole grains instead of refined grains like white rice and pasta, and millet is a beneficial and delicious staple of this category of food. This non-glutinous grain is over 10-percent protein, has high amounts of fiber and B-complex vitamins, and because it isn't an acid forming food, is easy to digest.
2. Asparagus: When losing weight, it's important to favor chlorophyll-rich foods, including asparagus. Asparagus is a nutrient-rich vegetable packed with folate, vitamins A, C, and K, and fiber. Asparagus also contains a carbohydrate known as inulin (not to be confused with insulin) that promotes healthy bacteria in the large intestine - which in turn promotes a healthier digestive function.
3. Pomegranates: Eating a balanced diet to lose weight should include eating fresh fruits, and pomegranates are a wonderful example of a healthy, nutritious fruit that has antioxidant properties and will help prevent cancer. While the benefits of drinking pomegranate juice have gained a lot of attention recently, you will be more likely to lose weight by eating the fruit fresh to increase your fiber intake and keep the calories down.
4. Pine Nuts: Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pine trees and are considered an essential ingredient in the tasty Italian mixture pesto. Chinese medicine uses pine nuts to improve gastrointestinal tract and digestive functions, and pine nut oil is even used for appetite suppression. Pine nuts and other nuts are a tasty part of a well-balanced diet intended for weight loss.
5. Green Tea: It has been found that consuming large amounts of coffee and caffeine can lead to food cravings, increase one's appetite, and induce stress-related eating. Green tea is a wonderful alternative to coffee in that it does provide a little caffeine but also contains beneficial antioxidants. So drink up!
A healthy diet also includes lean proteins like chicken breast, legumes such as lentils, and other whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. While fad diets may promise a large amount of weight loss in a short period of time, there's almost a guarantee that you will put that weight back on-and then some!
Eat five smaller meals a day, avoid processed foods, chew more slowly, and incorporate more healthy foods into your diet-starting with these five.
I hope this article helps you find foods that can aid in your weight loss goals! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.
May you live long, live strong, and live happy!
5 Essential Weight Loss Foods
Environmental and Food Sensitivities
Environmental and food sensitivities are usually the result of leaky gut syndrome. The prevalence of these sensitivities is more widely recognized today than in the past; 24 percent of American adults claim they have food and environmental sensitivities.
These sensitivities, also called delayed hypersensitivity reactions, differ from true food allergies, also called Type I or immediate hypersensitivity reactions. True food allergies are rare occurrences. They affect 0.3 to 7.5 percent of children and 1 to 2 percent of adults.
The foods that most often trigger these reactions are eggs, cow’s milk, nuts, shellfish, soy, wheat, and white fish. Food allergies trigger reaction of type IgE antibodies that bind to the offending food antigens. The IgE antibodies attach to mast cells that stimulate the release of cytokines and histamines.
This results in closing of the throat, fatigue, tearing, hives, itching, respiratory distress, watery or runny nose, skin rashes, itchy eyes or ears, and sometimes severe reactions of asthma and anaphylactic shock. These symptoms occur within minutes after the food is eaten and people usually know what they are (hives or difficulty breathing).
Physicians diagnose food allergies through the use of patch skin tests and RAST (radioallergosorbent test) blood testing, which are great for testing for food allergies but do not accurately determine food sensitivities. Sensitivity reactions, also called delayed or hidden hypersensitivities, occur when IgA, IgG, and IgM antibodies are triggered in response to foods, chemicals, and bacterial toxins.
The most common antibody reactions are IgG to mold and foods; exposure to molds and foods is quite high compared to pollens. For example, in an entire hay-fever season, we might inhale a teaspoon of pollen, but we take pounds of food inside us each day. It is estimated that 95 percent of all food allergy is of this delayed type.
In the past, these delayed allergies were called serum sickness. The sensitivities cause symptoms that are delayed, taking several hours to several days to appear, which makes tracking them down very difficult. Food and environmental sensitivities cause a wide number of symptoms typical of a leaky gut reaction.
Food particles enter the bloodstream through damaged mucosal membranes; the body recognizes them as foreign substances (antigens) and triggers an immune reaction. Prolonged antibody response can overwhelm the liver’s ability to eliminate these food antigens.
Subsequently, the antigens enter the bloodstream and trigger delayed hypersensitivity response, inflammation, cell damage, and disease. Almost any food can cause a reaction, although the most common are beef, citrus, dairy products, egg, pork, and wheat. These foods provoke 80 percent of food sensitivity reactions.
Antibodies and antigens form what is known as immune complexes. If you have many antibodies and few antigens, you have a small immune complex. Conversely, if you have many antigens and only a few antibodies, you also have a small immune complex.
The worst symptoms and cravings appear when you have moderate amounts of both antibodies and antigens—when you have a large immune complex. When you try to eliminate foods while in this state, you are left with enormous cravings for them, and symptoms often worsen before they improve.
It can take seven to ten days to get through this stage. These large immune complexes can cause rashes in the skin and cheeks, as those seen in lupus. Blood testing for IgG or IgG4, IgM, and/or IgA antibody reactions can help determine sensitivities to a variety of foods and environmental substances.
You may want to screen for food allergies with IgE testing at the same time. Some labs test for another indicator of delayed hypersensitivity: white blood cell blastogenesis, where lymphocytes are stimulated and produce protein, DNA, and RNA at a rapid rate.
Environmental screening panels measure antibody reaction to chemicals commonly found in our homes, yards, workplaces, and public places. People often test positive to household cleaning supplies and petroleum-based chemicals. Several laboratories perform antibody testing for foods, dusts, environmental chemicals, heavy metals, molds, and pollens.
Lectins
Lectins that are incompatible with our genetics can also cause negative reactions to foods. We each have a genetically determined blood type—A, B, AB, or O. Our blood types contain specific antibodies that helped our ancestors live successfully in their environment.
We no longer stick to our ancestor’s specific environment and are continually exposed to new substances. When we eat a food that contains lectins that are incompatible to our blood type, they target an organ or tissue and begin to collect blood cells in clumps, a process called agglutination.
Peter D’Adamo, N.D., author of Eat Right 4 Your Type, hypothesized that when we eat foods containing lectins incompatible with our blood type, we experience negative health reactions. For example, if I have type A blood and drink milk, my body will begin to agglutinate and reject that milk.
When I drink milk, the next morning I wake up with a clump of mucus in my throat. I know this and usually avoid uncultured dairy products. The lectins don’t get digested and then cause reactions. According to D’Adamo, the lectin proteins settle somewhere in our bodies and have a magnetic effect on the cells there.
The cells clump together and are targeted for destruction as though they were foreign invaders. This can appear to us as irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, or nearly any inflammatory condition. Lectin reactions mimic food allergies. The digestive system and nervous system are especially sensitive to lectin reactions.
The people whose arthritis responds to elimination of the nightshade family of foods (potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers) probably have lectin sensitivities. If you want to know much more about blood type diets and lectins, read Eat Right 4 Your Type.
Elimination-Provocation Diet
If you wish to determine food and chemical sensitivities on your own, you can use the elimination-provocation challenge. Only eat foods that you are unlikely to be sensitive to for a week and then add back the foods you normally eat to “challenge” your system.
Removal of offending foods calms down symptoms, while careful addition of only one food every two days makes it easier to determine which cause reaction. Although the elimination-provocation challenge sounds simple, it can be tricky.
People usually have no problem with the elimination part—a restricted food plan for a week is easy. Slowly adding foods back into your diet may be more difficult, because recipes and restaurant foods have many ingredients. Sometimes it’s hard to determine which ingredient caused the distress.
Reactions that are delayed for a day or two also complicate the situation. It then becomes necessary to remove all suspected foods for four days and try them again one at a time. If you have the same reaction each time you add the food, you’ve found the culprit.
Unfortunately, if you have sensitivities to one food, you are often sensitive to all foods in the same family. For example, some people who are sensitive to wheat are sensitive to all grains in the grass family. It is common to be sensitive to more than one food or food family.
To cure food and environmental sensitivities, you’ll do best with a holistic approach. Begin by avoiding substances you are sensitive to for a period of six months, and your body will gradually stop reacting to most of them. That will help detoxify the body, especially the liver.
A comprehensive program of nutritional supplements will help in the healing process. The Elisa/Act Patient Handbook, provided by Elisa/Act Biotechnologies, reads, “Persons suffering from immune system dysfunction and overload due to delayed hypersensitivity reactions often have a need for even greater supplementation because of poor functioning of the body’s normal biochemical pathways.”
Organically grown and nutrientrich natural foods also help repair the body. Exercise programs and use of stress-management tools also play a part in recovery. With a holistic program you will find that over time you will become less and less sensitive to foods and the environment.
Top 10 Detox Foods
Green leafy vegetables - good sources of many vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy, like vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium. They are also great sources of fiber. It offers major benefits to your entire body, including your brain, your bones and your heart, while helping to prevent cancer, detoxify your body, boost your immune system and give your more energy.
Lemons - is widely known for its healing powers and is used in many different ways. Lemon is also a diuretic. This means it is good for people with urinary tract infections and high uric acid problems, such as those with arthritis or rheumatism because it helps flush out all the toxins and bad bacteria.
Watercress - is a member of the cruciferous family which includes broccoli, kale and mustard. It contains three times as much vitamin E as lettuce, more iron than spinach, and more calcium than milk. Watercress moves things out of your system by acting as a diuretic, plus it's rich in minerals.
Garlic - has been used for its beneficial effects for thousands of years. It is a blood cleanser, a natural antibiotic it also reduces blood fats thinning the blood and lowering blood pressure. In addition to the bulb's cardio benefits, it activates liver enzymes that help filter out junk.
Green tea - chemicals derived from green tea dramatically boosted production of a group of key detoxification enzymes in people with low levels of these beneficial proteins. GST (glutathione S-transferase) enzymes are believed to be crucial to the body's defense against cancer-causing chemicals and other toxins.
Broccoli sprouts - contain a chemical that kills the bacteria responsible for most stomach cancer, say researchers, confirming the dietary advice that moms have been handing out for years. Broccoli sprouts are particularly useful for detox and activate the liver's phase II detox enzymes.
Sesame seeds - Sesame seeds help protect the liver from damage caused by alcohol and other toxins. And if you want more than just what comes on your hamburger bun try tahini, a sesame seed paste commonly used in Asian dishes.
Cabbage - is a longstanding dietary staple throughout the world and is so widely cultivated and stores so well that it is available throughout the year. The cabbage has beneficial properties that are known to prevent cancer, among other known diseases. The phytonutrients in cruciferous vegetables initiate an intricate dance inside our cells in which gene response elements direct and balance the steps among dozens of detoxification enzyme partners, each performing its own protective role in perfect balance with the other dancers.
Psyllium - is used to treat constipation. It absorbs liquid in the intestines, swells, and forms a bulky stool, which is easy to pass. Psyllium is cultivated for it use as an herbal medicine. The husk of the psyllium plant is a very rich source of natural fiber. Psyllium facilitates regular bowel movements, dredges the colon of dangerous toxic residues and accelerates the entire detox process.
Fresh Fruits - All fresh fruit is good for detox provided it is eaten on its own, not before, with, or after food. A fresh fruit or fruits juice fasting is often recommended for a short (3-day) fast to cleanse and detoxify. Fruit can be fresh, frozen or dried. It includes apples, pears, oranges, grapefruit, bananas, raisins, pineapple, mango, kiwi fruit, raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, melon, sultanas, nectarines and peaches.
Oh My Honey!
Green Honey is now one of the best selling products of Palawan, Philippines. It is a natural mint-green colored honey and has the same taste like the usual natural honey we've bought from a supermarket. Palaweños (palawan locals) said that green honey can heal wounds, cough, and some illness. According to them, green honey is rare and difficult to harvest. It can only be found in a palabawen (wasp) underground hive in the forest. They dig the hive then burn it to kill all the wasps inside and also to prevent them from wasp sting. But some experts still doubt that green honey really exist.
I read an article from Inquirer.net about green honey analysis. Based from Dr. C.R. Cervancia (head of the National Center for Excellence for Bee Research and Development), “Unlike bees, which have a receptacle for honey in their bodies, wasps are unable to collect and transfer it to their nests for storage. Since they’re not known to consume algae, their production of green honey is even more unlikely." Investigators from UPLB went off to palawan searching for it in its natural environment and they confirmed that it can’t be found in nature! Chemical analysis indicates that green honey is adulterated with blue and yellow pigments.
According to Cordillera Green Network (CGN), they identified that Calliandra (Calliandra colothysus) can be a possible nectar source for "green honey" production based from the result of a research conducted by University of the Philippines, Baguio. Calliandra is a tree species which grows over 10 meters in height with leaves like ipil-ipil and upright flowers that resemble the florets of the bottle-brush tree with a yellow-green nectar which can be converted into highly viscous, deep-green colored honey.
Let's Eat Clone Meat?
Having completed a years-long scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration is set to announce as early as next week that meat and milk from cloned farm animals and their offspring can start making their way toward supermarket shelves, sources in contact with the agency said yesterday.
The decision would be a notable act of defiance against Congress, which last month passed appropriations legislation recommending that any such approval be delayed pending further studies. Moreover, the Senate version of the Farm bill, yet to be reconciled with the House version, contains stronger, binding language that would block FDA action on cloned food, probably for years.
With a conference committee poised to finalize the farm bill in the next few weeks, that left the FDA a potentially narrow time frame within which to act if it wanted to settle the issue in sync with America's major meat-trading partners.
New Zealand and Australia have released reports concluding that meat and milk from clones are safe. Canada and Argentina are reportedly close to doing the same.
And although European consumers are generally uncomfortable with agricultural biotechnology, the European Union's food safety agency is expected to endorse the safety of meat and milk from clones in a draft statement that could be released within the next week.
"The science seems to be leading them and us to the same conclusion," said a U.S. trade official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because U.S. policy is technically still under review.
The FDA has hinted strongly in the past year that it is ready to lift its "voluntary moratorium" on the marketing of milk and meat from clones and their offspring, saying that the science led them to that decision. Multiple studies compiled by the agency have shown that the chemical composition of those products is virtually identical to that of milk and meat from conventionally bred animals. And studies in which rodents were fed food from clones have found no evidence of health effects.
But public opinion has been negative on the issue, with some saying that not enough safety studies have been conducted and others concerned about the health of the clones, which are far more likely than ordinary farm animals to die early in life.
As of yesterday, the FDA would neither confirm nor deny that it is close to releasing its so-called final risk assessment. Spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said the agency had received a lot of feedback -- about 30,500 comments -- on its draft risk assessment, released in December 2006. That document found no "food consumption risks or subtle hazards" associated with meat or milk from clones or their offspring.
The agency has not revealed how many comments were in favor or opposed.
Clones are genetic replicas, typically made from a single skin cell of a desirable animal. A handful of U.S. companies have pushed for marketing approval, saying the technology will make products from the tastiest beef cattle, leanest pigs and most generous milk producers more widely available to consumers.
"Thousands of data points, hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles and two reviews by the National Academies have all said the same thing," said Mark Walton, president of ViaGen, an Austin-based cattle cloning company that provided many of the animals that independent researchers studied for the FDA. "There is nothing left to review."
Walton emphasized that for now, because clones are so expensive to make, they will be used almost entirely as breeding stock to produce conventional offspring for market. Scientists largely agree that although some clones harbor genetic peculiarities of uncertain relevance, their sexually produced offspring are healthy and normal.
But even Walton concedes that eventually both clones and their offspring will find their way to market. And as word spread through back channels in recent days that the FDA was poised to give a green light, opponents expressed surprise and anger.
"The FDA has been on the Hill on bended knee asking for more money, yet they are willing to turn around and thumb their nose at the appropriators," said Carol Tucker Foreman, of the Consumer Federation of America, referring to the omnibus spending bill that called for a delay. "The president signed that bill and it is in effect, and they are acting like it doesn't exist."
Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group, said she had read the entire 678-page draft risk assessment and found it to be "long on assumptions and short on data, and especially short on the data that are directly relevant to food consumption safety."
Of particular concern, she said, was that even though the vast majority of clones die either before birth or soon after, those that survive are deemed normal. She said the FDA should withhold approval at least until it has a regulatory plan in place that will give it an ability to track food from clones and watch for human health impacts.
Others have called for mandatory labeling so consumers can avoid products from clones.
The FDA has said that lacking any safety concerns, it will not demand such labels. But last month, the two largest U.S. farm animal cloners, ViaGen and Trans Ova Genetics of Sioux Center, Iowa, announced a voluntary plan under which cloned animals would be registered and segregated from the conventional meat processing streams. If accepted by regulators, it could allow some food distributors to label their products as "clone free."
The Agriculture Department has also declared that meat from clones cannot be deemed organic.
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Sago Tree
These palms are low trees, rarely over 9 meters tall, with a stout, spiny trunk. The outer rind is about 5 centimeters thick and hard as bamboo. The rind encloses a spongy inner pith containing a high proportion of starch. It has typical palmlike leaves clustered at the tip.
Habitat and Distribution: Sago palm is found in tropical rain forests. It flourishes in damp lowlands in the Malay Peninsula, New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and adjacent islands. It is found mainly in swamps and along streams, lakes, and rivers.
Edible Parts: These palms, when available, are of great use to the survivor. One trunk, cut just before it flowers, will yield enough sago to feed a person for 1 year. Obtain sago starch from nonflowering palms. To extract the edible sage, cut away the bark lengthwise from one half of the trunk, and pound the soft, whitish inner part (pith) as fine as possible. Knead the pith in water and strain it through a coarse cloth into a container. The fine, white sago will settle in the container. Once the sago settles, it is ready for use. Squeeze off the excess water and let it dry. Cook it as pancakes or oatmeal. Two kilograms of sago is the nutritional equivalent of 1.5
kilograms of rice. The upper part of the trunk's core does not yield sage, but you can roast it in lumps over a fire. You can also eat the young sago nuts and the growing shoots or palm cabbage.
From 1980 to 2000, the Philippines’ annual growth in the production of rice averaged at only 1.9%. This, according to a bulletin published by the Senate Economic Planning Office, is well below the country’s yearly population growth rate of 2.4%.
Apparently, the country needs to look for more food crops that will sustain its people’s carbohydrate diet. The most likely candidates are cassava, camote (sweet potato), and sago—all popular starch-rich resources. Moreover, cassava and sago are inexpensive and less agriculturally intensive.
However, Prof. Dulce M. Flores of UP Mindanao Department of Food Science says that of these food crops, sago is the most underutilized despite its potential for diversification into high value products, such as food ingredients and industrial raw materials. Also, while cassava and camote are ubiquitous mainstays in markets, sago is not. This comes as a surprise because sago is a high-yielding crop, which means it grows in abundance and thrives even in waterlogged acidic soils where only very few plants survive.
In her research, “Utilizing the Indigenous Plant Starch Sources in Mindanao: Sago Palm,” Flores looked into the possibilities of tapping sago as a major agricultural product. She went to Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Lupon, Davao Oriental, and Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur for samplings of sago wild stands. In Southern Mindanao, she interviewed locals and confirmed sightings of the same sago variety. She also took samples from Cebu to determine whether geographic location affects the morphological characteristics of sago. Indeed, sago is popular among the rural inhabitants of the South, particularly Muslims and Manobos.
Flores points out that the natives have a crude way of extracting the starch content of sago. In Cebu Island, for example, they strip and sun-dry the sago trunk. Then they pulverize the dried strips and cook the powder. Mindanao natives just scrape the trunk after splitting it in half. It was observed, however, that the sago palm is more of a roofing material than a food source for the natives. “There has been rampant cutting of this wild plant [sago palm] for roofing purposes and also to give way for other high value cash crops like rice and oil palm,” laments Flores. “If [this practice] continues, the Philippines is in danger of losing a ‘miracle plant’ that we hope will feed [its] exploding population.”
To save sago from extinction, she suggests the development of a technology that will enable the maximization of the plant’s benefits. In Malaysia, she says, plantations produce an average of 50 tons of refined sago starch per day because they employ machine-operated extraction. They export their produce to the United States, Japan, and Europe. The Malaysian government has also allotted 80,000 hectares for sago plantations. “[In a few years,] the plantations will be ready for harvest,” she points out. “The biotechnology must be developed now [so we can make the most of] this huge supply of starch source.”
Flores is also pushing for UP Mindanao to become the Center for Sago Conservation and Utilization. The Center will lead academic institutions in the research development of sago culture and propagation, national inventory and protection of wild stands, and better utilization
Toilet Theme Restaurant (Taiwan)
Themed restaurants are everywhere these days.
There are Rock n' Roll themed ones, restaurants where you can eat while sitting on beds, and even bars made completely of ice. But Taiwan has taken novelty restaurants to a whole new level. Welcome to Marton, the world's first toilet themed restaurant! Marton means toilet in Chinese and in this restaurant you literally sit on toilet seats and eat out of miniature toilet shaped bowls (both the Asian squat-style and the traditional Western variety toilets).
The restaurant is the first of its kind and only exists in Taiwan. The creator of the restaurant used to be a street vendor. He sold ice-cream in a special plastic toilet cup holder which he designed himself. He decided to take this idea one step further and so the toilet restaurant was born. The restaurants use ceramic toilet bowls/dishes to serve a range of meals. Apparently he was inspired by a comic book character who would put crap on crackers. No joke! This comic is popular with the young kids in Taiwan!
The creator has now patented the idea and opened up several more branches around Taiwan. So if you ever thought the world was going down the toilet, now you have proof! The restaurants attract a range of customers but it is especially popular with young people and families with kids. Apparently it's not all just about novelty value and the restaurant gets many repeat guests. As a result it has introduced a loyalty program so you can collect credit on multiple visits and then receive a big toilet shaped bowl. These are also sold separately so you can take home a ceramic toilet bowl with you!
Food is either served in a flat bowl that resembles a male urinal; larger main meals are served in a toilet bowl. Noodles or rice are served in a bathtub shaped bowl. Some of the most popular meals are curry noodles or rice because of their resemblance to....well....you know! Chocolate ice-cream is popular for the same reason.
