08 May 09 THE POWERFUL EFFECT OF ACID ON G.I. (VINEGAR, LEMON JUICE, SOURDOUGH BREADS)
Within the last few years, several reports in the scientific literature have indicated that a realistic amount of vinegar or lemon juice in the form of a salad dressing consumed with a mixed meal has significant blood sugar lowering effects.
As little as 20 ml of vinegar in a vinaigrette dressing (20 ml vinegar and 10 ml oil) taken with an average meal lowered blood sugar by as much as 30 per cent. These findings have important implications for people with diabetes or individuals at risk of diabetes, coronary heart disease or the metabolic syndrome (impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension and high blood lipid levels).
The effect appears to be related to the acidity because other organic acids (such as lactic acid and propionic acid) also have a blood sugar lowering effect but the degree of reduction varies with the type of acid. Our findings show that amongst the various types of vinegar, red wine vinegar was the best. And lemon juice was just as powerful. It is well known that acidity in food pulls the brake on stomach emptying slowing the delivery of food to the small intestine. Digestion of the carbohydrate in the food is therefore slowed and the final result is that blood sugar levels are significantly lower. Good news for people with diabetes! The take home message is that a side salad with your meal, especially a high G.L meal, will help to keep blood sugar levels under control.
Sourdough breads in which lactic acid and propionic acid are produced by the natural fermentation of starch and sugars by the yeast starter culture, also produce reduced levels of blood sugar and insulin compared with normal bread. The area under the plasma insulin curve was 22 per cent lower with the sourdough product. In addition, there was higher satiety associated with breads having decreased rates of digestion and absorption. Thus there is significant potential to lower blood sugar and insulin and increase satiety with sourdough bread formulations.
*83\33\4*
Tags: Diabetes
08 May 09 FAT LOSS: ACTIVITY AND FAT LEVELS
Obviously, all of this is good news for the fat, unfit person wanting to decrease body fatness. Long duration, low intensity regular exercise, such as walking, is obviously less painful and more rewarding than that type of exercise which most fat people regard as masochism. It is also more able to be built into a person’s daily life and become part of a total lifestyle program which is vital for long term fat loss maintenance. The low intensity-long duration approach therefore would be welcomed by the unfit. However, it does signal a change in the traditional approach to dealing with overfatness through commercial health and fitness centres. Many of these centre around providing an institutionalised service of 30-40 minutes daily, 3-4 days a week, based on the standard PITT model for improvements in fitness. Little attention is given to other aspects of spontaneous physical activity, or indeed, activity patterns outside the gymnasium setting.
The low intensity approach suggests that where tat loss is the goal, the required change is to the individual’s lifestyle pattern of activity, including both ‘planned’ and ‘incidental’ activity. The role of the instructor in this framework should be one of empowering the individual to be able to incorporate this type of physical activity into their lifestyle. The mode of instruction required therefore is reflective, i.e. providing advice to fit the client’s perceived needs, rather than directive, i.e. providing instruction to fit a pre-set formula to the client.
*146\186\4*
Tags: Weight Loss
08 May 09 OBESITY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
A more obvious, but still not statistically supported, association is the decline in physical activity levels. Although many people claim (from self reports) to be more physically active, the considered World Health Organisation view is that they could well be less active because any increase in leisure time activity may have been more than countered by the decrease in demand for physical labour as well as the decrease in incidental physical activity (the energy used to carry out day-to-day activities). Just getting from A to B requires less energy as technology and facilities improve by the year. Machine-power is replacing man-power and push-button technology is invading every part of daily life. Statistics on physical activity in most countries have not been kept to verify this assumption, but this hypothesis appears feasible. One finding, comparing the rise in obesity in the UK to the much lower rise in the Netherlands, who have a similar dietary composition, claims that the fact that 27 per cent of the Dutch use bicycles as a means of transport compared to only 3 per cent of the English may provide some explanation.
In the absence of evidence incriminating specific factors, it appears clear that increases in obesity are due to several changes in the recent human environment which allows the biological functions of fat to favour storage. Fatness obviously has an important survival function: it enables us to store energy to help get through the bad times. But like a lot of biological functions there is a range of healthy fat deposits, above and below which there is no longer any survival value, and illness occurs. It’s really only in the last three decades or less that overfatness has become so commonplace.
In Australia, since regular records have been kept from 1981, there has been a steady growth of around 0.7 per cent per year in the percentage of the population regarded as overweight or obese using a measure of BMI. This is similar to the increase in the US measured by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) carried out at regular intervals. There appears also to be a faster rate of growth in the extreme categories of fatness and in lower socioeconomic (SE) groups. Obesity in Australia for example, has doubled in the last decade with around 10 per cent of Australians now regarded as obese. The majority of these are from lower SE groups. The Australian Institute of Health estimates that around 5 million Australians are now overfat (including the more severe category of obesity). In North America and Europe the estimate is 50 and 100 million respectively. This has led National Heart Foundations in the Western world to be concerned about reversals of gains made in heart disease prevention through increases in obesity.
*7\186\4*
Tags: Weight Loss
08 May 09 HOW TO STAY YOUNGER LONGER WITH THE MIRACLE FOODS FROM THE BEES
You have seen in this chapter that foods from the bees—honey, pollen and royal jelly—do indeed have great potentials for health and longevity. It would be unwise to ignore these foods which have been used with so great a benefit by the ancients. In the terms of practical application of the information in this chapter you can do the following:
Pollen and pollen preparations are available in the United States in the better health food stores. So are the preparations containing royal jelly. It certainly would not hurt to try these—and you just may be surprised by the benefits. Specifically in conditions of intestinal sluggishness and putrefaction in the digestive tract, pollen has definitely proven to be exceedingly beneficial.
Honey, pollen, and royal jelly are definitely rejuvenating, age-retarding foods. They have a stimulating effect on all the vital processes of your body. Follow the example of Russian centenarians and use them liberally—and see yourself growing younger as the symptoms of old age gradually disappear.
Stop using white sugar! Replace it with health-giving honey. Honey can be used everywhere sugar is used: in beverages, in baking, in cooking, on cereals, etc. We have a double reason to use honey instead of sugar—honey is so inexpensive here! In most European countries honey costs two to three times more than it does here. And, in spite of the food industry’s efforts to “improve” on nature, honey is still one of the least-tampered-with natural foods you can buy.
Use only raw, unhealed and unstrained honey. Heating destroys both vitamins and enzymes. Refining, filtering and “clarifying” of honey removes many of the minerals and amino acids—yes, honey even contains amino acids, the essential forms of protein! And what is even worse, refining and filtering removes the pollen! Also, choose the dark varieties of honey in preference to the light; dark honey contains more vitamin and minerals than light-colored honey.
Remember: The miracle foods from the bees—honey, pollen and royal jelly—will give you many health benefits and will keep you younger longer. After all, they have been used for these purposes for many thousands of years!
*122\58\2*
Tags: General Health
08 May 09 HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND FASTING: POINTS TO REMEMBER
Although fasting is one of the safest and most practical therapeutic agents known, the general public is largely ignorant as to how it is administered. As with the other therapeutic agents, it is of great importance that fasting be carried out correctly. Misuse or disregard for certain fundamental rules of fasting may make it not only useless, but even harmful. Of course, I earnestly advise that you discuss your case with an experienced doctor or a nature-cure practitioner, who has had experience with fasts, and, if possible, undertake your fast under his direction and supervision. This particularly applies to cases of extremely high blood pressure, especially if it is accompanied by a weak heart, or if the patient has a record of heart attacks.
Two different therapeutic fasting methods for high blood pressure can be considered. One is a traditional water fast, or a complete fast with nothing consumed but water. This is the kind of fast usually employed in American clinics. The other is a fast where the juices of raw fruits and vegetables, plus vegetable broth, are added to the water. The latter is now widely used in most European clinics, and I recommend this method, especially if you fast on your own, without professional supervision. The duration of the fast should be seven to 14 days, depending on the condition of the patient, or how high the blood pressure is.
Follow very carefully the instructions given in Chapter 2 on how to break fast. This is extremely important. Follow the instructions meticulously.
In case of a heart condition or damaged kidney, water drinking should be restricted to a minimum.
The mental attitude while fasting is of tremendous importance. The difference between therapeutic fasting and starvation is that while starvation is a negative, undesired condition, accompanied by fear and anxiety, which exerts a negative, disease-producing effect on bodily functions, therapeutic fasting is a positive, voluntary condition, accompanied by complete confidence and faith in its beneficial effect and anticipated good results. Such a positive attitude stimulates and encourages all the cleansing and healing processes of the body. Therefore, before you start fasting, be thoroughly convinced of its wonderful, beneficial properties. This is also one of the reasons why it is advisable to fast in a clinic surrounded by other fasting patients who can encourage and inspire each other, or under the supervision of a practitioner who can encourage and explain the various symptoms and reactions which may develop during the fast.
*95\58\2*
Tags: General Health
