15 Foods A Nutritionist Refuses To Eat

Eating in the modern world can be difficult, what with all the genetically modified, chemically treated, and inhumanely raised food floating around out there. Sometimes compromising is necessary when it comes to food choices, if only to make the best of the current food crisis.

That said, there are certain foods that my philosophy as a nutritionist will simply not allow me to eat. Here are 15 foods that will never touch my lips:

Artificial sweeteners

Our bodies don't recognize these substances as food, and they tend not to aid weight loss in any meaningful way.

Alternatives: stevia, rice malt syrup, maple syrup, dates, raw honey (in small amounts). 

Caged eggs

These come from egg-laying hens confined to cages, meaning they don't have space to move or stretch, and they show more fearful behavior and become prone to skeletal problems. 

Alternative: Go for pasture-fed and certified organic instead. 

Breakfast cereals

Highly processed, high GI because of the high and hidden sugar content (which causes your blood sugars to drop very quickly after eating them), high in sodium, high in preservatives. Just don't eat them.

Farmed salmon

Farmed salmon has a high mercury content and is usually higher in contaminants, including carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides. 

Alternatives: Wild salmon.

Processed peanut butter

The second ingredient listed is often sugar, which means a large proportion of the peanut butter is sugar! 

Alternatives: 100% nut butters found from in health food stores or a health foods section of grocery stores. My favorite is 100% almond butter or ABC (almond, brazil nut and cashew) nut butter.

Canned tomatoes

There's tons of hidden salt and sugar! The resin linings of tin cans contain bisphenol-A, a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to ailments ranging from reproductive problems to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Acidity — a prominent characteristic of tomatoes — causes BPA to leach into your food. 

Alternative: Use fresh tomatoes and sauté to make them into tomato sauce.

Salted nuts

When nuts come pre-salted, the sodium content is sky high.

Alternatives: Raw and activated nuts and seeds.

Pre-packaged or frozen meals 

Frozen or pre-packaged meals usually contain hidden sugar, high fructose corn syrup, salt and preservatives. 

Alternatives: Home-cooked meals or pre-packaged meals from health food stores.  

Table salt

Table salt is highly refined, which leaves it with little nutritional value. In high amounts it can be responsible for hypertension.

Alternative: Himalayan pink crystal salt 

Non-organic dairy

Milk producers treat their dairy cattle with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST, as it is also known) to boost milk production. But rBGH also increases udder infections and even pus in the milk. It also leads to higher levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor in milk.

Alternatives: Organic milk, A2 milk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk 

Vegetable oil

Most commercial vegetable oils are highly processed and high in trans fats. Saturated fats usually get the blame, but TRANS fats are the ones responsible for the increase in LDL — the bad type of cholesterol that may lead to bad heart health.

Alternatives: Coconut oil, olive oil

Packaged, processed bread

Bread you find packaged in supermarkets is typically refined and processed. These loaves are packed with (processed) wheat and gluten that the human digestive system finds very hard to break down. This kind of bread is also high in sodium, and is sometimes even high in sugar! 

Alternatives: Ezeekial bread, rye or spelt, sourdough, make your own.

Processed meats

The animals that make these products are given growth hormones, antibiotics and other veterinary drugs, and are raised in deplorable conditions that promote disease. These meats are also filled with sodium nitrite (a commonly used preservative and antimicrobial agent that also adds color and flavor) and other chemical flavorings and dyes.

Alternatives: Grass-fed and organic meat

Margarine

Margarine is high in trans fats, the fats formed during the process of hydrogenation, which turns liquid vegetable oils into a solid substance. 

Alternatives: Organic butter and coconut butter

Unfermented soy products

Unfermented soy products, including tofu and soy milk, can mess with your hormones. 

Alternatives: Fermented soy such as tempeh, miso and natto. 

Source: MindBodyGreen

Eating Carbs Actually Leads To Weight Loss And Health

Carbohydrates are the single most important food you can eat.
That statement probably goes against everything you've ever heard, so let me explain.

If you don't believe me, take this little test. Think of a carb!
If you're like most people, bread, pasta, soft drinks, French fries, sugar, and similar foods probably flew into your mind. Yes, these foods are carbs -- highly processed and refined ones.

And if these are the kinds of carbs you consume on a regular basis, let me warn you, (unless you regularly run marathons), you're most likely either overweight or heading down the road to weight gain.

You may like them, you may consider them "comfort foods," you may think that they couldn't be so bad since they are so predominant in our current diet. But the biological bottom line is that human beings have not evolved to metabolize these types of carbohydrates.

They slow down your metabolism and contribute to every one of the major diseases associated with aging including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and cancer.

In most, cases they are also "empty" calorie foods-the worst possible combination -- high caloric foods, low in nutrients. They deprive you of vital nutrients as well as burden your body with the task of digesting food molecules that aren't giving you anything you need.

Eating them (especially in excess) is a prescription for weight gain. But they're not the end of the carb story. If you're like most people, you may not realize that the wide world of carbs is actually much, much bigger than this limited crowd of processed carbs.

In contrast, natural carbohydrates, which come to your table just like Mother Nature made them, contain many essential nutrients and specialized chemicals that turn up your metabolism via newly discovered plant chemicals call phytonutrients.

So you have a choice: use phytonutrients to spark your metabolism into action, or drown your metabolism with indigestible nutrient-poor carbs.

Our genetic nutritional template goes back 20,000 years. Our ancestors foraged for wild food, like wild berries, grasses, roots, and mushrooms to find life-giving phytonutrients that all humans are designed by nature to eat.

On a recent vacation I found myself in a sea of phytonutrients in the wild islands of Southeast Alaska. I was foraging along with the grizzly bears for bog cranberries, blueberries, nagoonberries, raspberries, and strawberries. These scrumptious berries, bursting with phytonutrients, were smaller, richer in color and taste, (and lower in sugar) than their domestic berry cousins.

Here's a tip: The greater variety and the deeper the color of plant foods you eat, the higher their concentration of phytonutrients. The key is to learn which phytonutrient-dense foods can prevent disease and promote weight loss.

Want phytonutrient power?

Here 's a small sample of the many superfoods that contain these powerful phytonutrients: isoflavones in soy foods, lignans in flax seeds, catechins in green tea, polyphenols in cocoa (yes, chocolate!), glucosinolates in broccoli, carnosol in rosemary, and resveratrol in red wine.

And there are hundreds more that can help you unlock the secret to natural weight loss. All of these compounds -- and dozens more -- will help you fight disease and obesity. These special compounds literally communicate with your genes and turn on messages of health and weight loss. They are key to the success people experience in losing weight on a program I've developed during my 20-years practicing medicine, called UltraMetabolism.

Before you reach for that Cinnabon, know that phytonutrients only occur in whole, unrefined, unprocessed plant foods. All vegetables (and many fruits) score high in phytonutrients, while processed carbs, like bread and pasta, have virtually none.

Here's a shorthand to distinguish between the metabolism boosters and the processed carbs that will only weigh you down:

Anything that has been packaged or put through a machine is processed (like a potato chip). Anything that comes right out of the earth is natural (like a plum).

Don't let all the terminology -- high fat, low-fat, high-carb, low-carb, high glycemic index, low glycemic index, complex carbs and simple carbs -- confuse you. The key is eating whole, real, unprocessed, food found as close to nature as possible. Now you know why your grandmother always told you to eat your vegetables!

Folk wisdom passed down the generations showed how to give the body what it needs. In the early twenty-first century, that wisdom is being confirmed in the research of leading edge scientists. So you can follow these recommendations I offer with total confidence that the latest medical science backs them up.

This new science reveals why you should never do what some ill-advised diets suggest: cut out all carbs. Not a good idea-because you also cut out all the phytonutrients (and the fiber) that only comes from whole plant foods.

Along with their obesity fighting chemicals, vitamins, and minerals to accelerate your metabolism, most whole carbohydrates are filled with healthy plant fiber to slow the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream.

And for super fast weight loss, you'll want to eat some special "super" fiber foods which I use as my secret weapon with many patients who have had difficulty losing weight. Once you incorporate them into your diet, you'll feel full, experience steady energy, and will never be tempted to overeat.

Here's a guarantee: If you've been consuming highly processed foods such as sodas, chips, and crackers, and you decide to boost your intake of those powerful phytonutrients that I've reviewed, you'll be taking the first step towards re-programming your body for automatic weight loss and health.

My dirty little secret as a doctor is that I never treat anybody specifically to lose weight; I simply help them become healthy using these and other techniques and the weight automatically comes off.

So remember, eat your carbs, but make them the right carbs.

 

Source: Weight Loss

Nutrition Diet And Exercise

Whether you are trying to lose weight or live an active healthy life style, nutrition and exercise are vital to your health. We have become as a whole in the western culture, a couch potato, slow moving, over weight and flaccid society. 

Of course there will always be that smaller percentage of people who get it right and remain fit and healthy. But those that do, make a conscious effort at it with diet and exercise. Well done if you are in that category!

Part of the problem is that because we as humans have it ingrained in us to constantly change things, we are the only creatures that invent food. No other animal or insect does this and they don’t have the diseases humans do unless we have poisoned their environment. We have so much in the way of processed food that have little nutrient value, that we pack on the pounds and become slower moving.

In the wild, animals that eat the raw greens, grasses fruits and berries are very healthy animals. The meat-eating animals consume the healthy plant-eating animals and remain virtually disease free. Our farms on the other hand, need to mass-produce cattle and chickens so we give them hormones and phosphates and the like and we consume them. That is by the way, some experts now think younger girls are developing much earlier than they used to because of the hormones in meat and dairy products. We can however, luckily eat raw organic fruits and vegetables and we should do so on a daily basis.

Another culprit is our need to once again, change our environment. We have more machines that do things for us now and it won’t stop there. This is both good and bad. The good is a higher rate of production for the products we need, bad because we are slowing down physically. In as little as ten years ago we could go out on a Sunday morning and see someone pushing his or her lawn mower. (And I mean pushing). Now a days, you’ll see more of sit down mowers or power mowers that literally pull you along with it. Our fore fathers were much more active and they ate nutrient rich foods. And they could eat a lot of it without getting fat because of how much energy they spent from hard physical labor.

Is all lost for us in this day and age? Absolutely not!!! We are perfectly capable of reversing this trend, but it does require a) your dedication and b) follow through. This can be done no matter what your weight and activity level.

Make your first step the decision to become healthy and fit. Once you have firmly made that decision you are on your way. Now take the time to evaluate your lifestyle and really look at it. Be honest with yourself about your eating habits and activity level.

Changing your diet to eating healthy whole foods is a good way to start. It’ll not only help you lose weight and help you feel better, but it will enhance your quality of life. You’ll have more energy and life just feels better when you are healthy.

There are many popular diets out there. The Zone, the Blood Type Diet, Atkins, the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers and the list goes on. They all have had their share of successes so it is hard sometimes to know what to do. I can only say, do your homework. You will find the right one that works for you and you will be more likely to stick to it.

If you want to do it on your own you can be just as successful if you know some basic rules.

1) Portion control. Cutting down to smaller portions can help tremendously. A great
way to eat less food at one sitting is to drink a glass of water before you eat and then drink more water with your meal. Water takes up a lot of space in your stomach so you will feel full faster and water won’t give you any extra calories. Awesome!

2) Water, water, water. Drink lots of clean pure water. Your body needs it and more than you think. Most North Americans are in a state of semi dehydration. Water flushes out toxins, gets your bowels moving. (Did you know that the amount of pain you feel from injury or minor aches and pains are directly proportional to how dehydrated you are? An interesting tid bit)

3) Eat raw fruits and vegetables as much as you can especially dark greens. Cooked veggies lose some of their nutrients so eating a salad every day would benefit you. Most of your vitamins and minerals are going to come from fresh fruits and leafy green vegetables. And try to stick to organic on this to avoid the pesticides and chemicals.

4) Fiber. You need to keep the bowels moving and the combination of water and fiber will do the trick. The best fiber comes from fruit and whole grains. But consider this: You would need to eat 10 bran muffins to get the same amount of fiber as in a half cup of raspberries.

5) Protein. The best source of protein is from meats such as beef, chicken or turkey. But do limit the amount you eat at one time. You don’t need a 10 or 12oz piece of meat at one sitting. You can get protein from dairy and cheese but consume only small amounts because they digest too slowly. Nut is a source of protein but they are high in fat so consume small amounts.

6) Sugar, confectionery treats, soda’s, junk foods and some processed foods are your enemy. Nothing gives you weight gain and that sluggish feeling quite like this grouping. I am not saying you should never partake of them, but do so only occasionally. We do after all need our cheat days once in a while. Just make them small portions.

7) Find an exercise regimen that you like and will stick to. Pretty much any exercise program will help you lose weight if you stick with it. You will see on TV all the equipment people want to sell you but after watching for a bit you usually know what appeals to you or not. You may just want to pop in a video and exercise with that.

8) I can’t say enough about sticking with your program. It takes time and you can experience losses in the beginning when it seems it is not going fast enough, but if you stick with it, you will get your reward and you will reach your goal weight and have energy to burn.

9) And finally, because some of food is deficient in nutrients from growing in poor over used soil it might be a good idea to get some good vitamin supplements to assisting in getting our daily requirements in. Getting it in food is the best but that is hard to do these days so find a qualified nutritionist to help you in selecting what’s best for you.
Good luck and good health!

The Cambridge Diet: Slimmer Who Went From Size 24 To Size 10 Explains Why It Works

If you want rapid weight loss, the Cambridge diet has been hailed as one of the most effective ways to do so. 

In fact, actress Jennifer Ellison recently posted pictures of herself touting the benefits of the diet.

But what does it actually involve? 

It works on several 'steps' or levels of diet. If you are heavily overweight (they say a BMI of over 25 at least) and have found that diets haven't worked for you in the past, then you will want to start at stage one. 

This is called Sole Source, named after the meal-replacement products you'll be eating, and includes around four Cambridge products a day, coupled with 2.5 litres of water. Price-wise it costs about £44 a week, which they say is cheaper than Weight Watchers. 

We wanted to find out if it really worked, and what the challenges and benefits were, so HuffPost UK Lifestyle spoke to slimmer Cacia Griggs who works as a sales and marketing team leader, who managed the feat of going from a size 24 to a size 10 in 18 months. 

She said: "I started the diet in July 2011 and as with anyone who is overweight, there were lots of reasons why I wanted to lose the weight. But, I would lose motivation because I wouldn't see the results quickly and I had 8 stone to lose. 

Cacia - before the diet

"The final straw was when I saw an article that said if the parents were obese, then the children of the same sex are likely to become obese. I could not imagine my daughter Isabelle, who was three at the time being obese. Something had to change. People in my office had done the diet before and recommended it."