Dr. Gregor

Nice video by Dr. Gregor:  Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death.

He's got a website with almost daily short videos of results from the scientific literature on disease and nutrition.  Lots of interesting stuff.

Summer harvests

This time of year, I don't have to go to the grocery store much.   From the garden today, I harvested a bunch of tomatoes, lettuce, basil (not shown), collards and kale:

Marilyn will can the tomatoes (thank you!), I ate some of the salad today, and I stripped, washed and froze the collards and kale and basil.   These will last me several months.

I got a bunch of great stuff at the farmer's market too:  onions, kohlrabi, carrots, potatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, a sweet potato (last year's harvest but she said they are sweet), a melon, eggplant really good strawberries, cherries (ate them before snapping the picture), and salad greens:

Then our usual corn from the corn stand.  It's at its peak now and really sweet.  Lunch today was corn, sliced garden tomato, and a bunch of the vegetables from the farmer's market and garden cooked up:  onion, eggplant, zucchini, green bell pepper, tomatoes, and basil.  Was that ever good!  I had some for dinner too, along with a salad and strawberries with a little soy yogurt.   There is no greater time of the year for eating than right now!

The nuts issue continued

Here's an article from Jeff Nelson on vegsource.com on his recent research on nuts.  This was motivated by the article about Chef AJ a few weeks ago where she lost weight by cutting down the nuts.

http://www.vegsource.com/news/2012/07/cant-lose-the-weight-it-could-be-the-nuts.html

I think the people most affected by this issue are older women because we have the lowest calorie intake needs.  When we eat an ounce of nuts a day, it is a significant source of fat in our diet, and it squeezes out more satiating foods such as potatoes.  And with our lower calories needs, do we really need a full oz?  I prefer 1/2 oz or even lower.

Jeff Novick's Top 10 Super Foods

My last JN (Jeff Novick) post of the day (but not my last post!).  If you know JN, you will be surprised at the title because he often says there are no super foods.  And that's what he says in the this article too, so it's worth reading the whole thing:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/jeff-novick-ms-rd/the-top-10-super-foods/10150715909846819

Here is an excerpt that I really like.  It's basically a summary of how to eat healthy.

The Top 10 Super Foods :)
(In no particular order)

1) Fruits
2) Vegetables
3) Cruciferous Vegetables
4) Starchy Vegetables/Roots/Tubers
5) Intact Whole Grains
6) Beans, Peas, Lentils
7) Higher Fat Plant Foods - Nuts/Seeds/Avocado  (In limited amounts)
8) A variety of foods and colors within each food/food group
9) Not over-eating.

And, last, but not least, a non food item...
10) A healthy lifestyle including fresh air, pure water, adequate sleep, rest & relaxation, emotional poise, social engagement, loving relationships, adequate activity/fitness, etc as food is only one aspect of health.

Novick on Feasting and idea

I came across this post from Jeff Novick while looking for something else (his views on caffeine), but I really like this!  This is how I used to eat and I'm going to resume it.

A few years ago, I was interviewed on the radio just before Thanksgiving. The question was, "with Thanksgiving coming up, and so many people with health and weight problems, everyone is worried over what they should eat and not eat for the holiday. What advice to you have for everyone for Thanksgiving". 

I said, "I think everyone should enjoy themselves on Thanksgiving day and not worry."

To which they said, "But everyone IS so worried about their weight and their health, shouldn't they be concerned." 

To which I said, "No. I am not concerned with what people do on a Holiday that occurs once a year. In fact, I am not concerned with what people do on the 6 or 7 major holidays of the year. Let them enjoy themselves. That is why there are holidays "

"Cultures throughout time, including many of the long lived healthy cultures, have always had what were known as "feast" days, where they all got together and celebrated with food and drink and festivities. "  

"However, what I am concerned with is what people do the other 358 or so days a year. And I am concerned with what they do on a day to day basis each and every day outside the few holidays . Now, if they would only get that right, and take care of themselves the other 358 or so days, then we would not have to worry about what they did on the few holidays each year." No one is going to get sick and die from what they ate on 7 out of 365 days. 7 out of 365 is less than 2%" 

(NOTE: Which, for those of you following the discussions in this forum, goes right along with what I say about focusing on the 95-98% each day and getting that right and not the 2-5%.) 

"but in American we live and eat and drink each and every day like it is a holiday celebration. We eat every breakfast like it is a easter buffet, and every lunch like it is a thanksgiving feast and every dinner like it is a Christmas feast and every dessert like it is a birthday party."

"Then we worry about what we should do on Thanksgiving? THAT is NUTS!!"   

PS, to give credit where credit is due, it was Dr John McDougall who I first heard say the above comments many many years ago, of which I am just paraphrasing somewhat.

I like this because it removes forbidden foods.  My achilles heel the last few years has been during times of celebration, like when old friends are visiting or at holiday parties.  If I slipped, I figured I blew it so I went "off-diet" and was very bad.  If instead I view these things as occasional allowances, I think I will do much better.  I don't know for sure, but it's worth a try.   Jeff Novick says that 5% of your calories can be of lower quality.   For me that's 75 calories a day, or about 27,000 calories a year!  or about 2200 calories per month.  or about 500 calories per week.   I made up a little point system for myself where I earn 75 points per day and cash in points for rewards (I wrote a little program to keep tabs).   To be conservative I charge a point for each mg of caffeine, even if calories are 0, and I charge double for alcohol and oil calories, and quadruple for animal calories (I'm thinking ice cream!).  Even with all that, this allows a lot of treats. If this idea actually works, I'll post about it more and make the program available and suggest ideas for how to customize this for yourself.   I know, I'm being extremely nerdy about this.  Sorry, I'm a geek!

On my "bucket list" of treats in a year, I have an ice cream cone, a frozen custard cone, a couple of pieces of pumpkin pie, goodies at a holiday party, some wine here and there, some decaff soy lattes here and there, and some peanut butter cups here and there.  That's all I can think of.  Well a bagel and cream cheese maybe.  This is well under 27,000 calories in year!   Maybe I'm crazy but I think this could be fun.

Updated a few days later:  I'm not sure my idea in the above paragraph is so good.  A whole ice cream cone is unhealthy, fat promoting and would probably make me feel yucky for a while.  And then there is the issue of cravings caused.  Another idea is to just do taste tests occasionally--like a spoon of someone else's ice cream.  I'm not going to try this for a while (I hope!) so I'll revisit it when the time comes.

Novick on caffeine

I think Jeff Novick has a very sensible approach to healthy eating.   I was curious what his views on caffeine are, so I did a search on the McDougall forums.  I ran across several other gems, so I'm going to post those next.  Here's the caffeine article:

Waking Up to the Effects of Caffeine
Tuesday, 21 May 2002

How innocent is that morning cup of coffee? Maybe not so innocent for your health. 

Believe it or not, according to a new study presented recently at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, the amount of caffeine in just one cup of coffee could be enough to harden a person's arteries for several hours afterward; Hardened arteries, or atherosclerosis, put extra pressure on the heart and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, researchers said. They noted that their findings could have implications for people already at risk of these conditions. 

“People must be careful with caffeine, especially if they have high blood pressure,” said Dr. Charalambos Vlachopoulos from the Cardiology Department of the Henry Dunant Hospital in Athens, Greece. ”After drinking a cup of coffee, blood pressure can rise up to five or even 10 millimeters of mercury. The amount depends on the individual and dose. Regular rises of this magnitude are important in a person's long-term prognosis and could increase their risk of suffering from a stroke or heart attack,” Vlachopoulos said. “I think that people with high blood pressure...should consider reducing their caffeine intake or having caffeine-free drinks.” 

Effects of CaffeineThe researchers gave a group of 10 healthy volunteers either inactive placebo capsules or capsules containing 100 milligrams of caffeine — a quantity equivalent to one cup of coffee. On another day, the volunteers received the opposite capsule from the previous dosage. Neither the volunteers nor the testers knew the sequence in which the volunteers had been given the capsules. Caffeine consumption caused an increase in wave reflection — a measure of arterial stiffness — for at least two hours, according to the study results. 

In other research, Dr. M. O'Rourke and colleagues at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia, presented data at the 22nd Congress of the European Society of Cardiology linking caffeine consumption with alterations in the aorta, the main artery supplying blood to the body. In this study, 18 middle-aged healthy volunteers consumed 250 mg of caffeine (equivalent to two or three cups). The results showed that caffeine led to a loss of aortic elasticity, and raised blood pressure. The elasticity of the aorta is linked to heart function and coronary blood flow, the researchers say. 

In yet another study of 15 healthy volunteers, Dr. Georg Noll and colleagues at the University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland, showed for the first time that coffee drinking results in a pronounced blood pressure increase in non-habitual coffee drinkers, but did not apparently have the same effect in regular coffee drinkers. In the study, blood pressure, heart rate and other measurements were continuously recorded before and after drinking coffee (triple espresso), decaffeinated triple espresso, an intravenous infusion of caffeine, or placebo. 

Other bad news about caffeine... According to a study conducted in Finland, those people who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had twice the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, compared with people who drank less coffee. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's defenses attack its own tissues. It is more common in women, tends to strike between the ages of 36 and 50, and results in a chronic destruction and deformity of the joints. Smoking, high cholesterol, being overweight and certain dietary factors have also been linked with a higher risk of the disease, according to the report in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2000;59;631-635). 

Dr. Maarku Heliovaara of the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki and colleagues looked at data from nearly 19,000 healthy men and women who entered a study in the early 1970s and were followed for 15 years. In that time, 126 people developed rheumatoid arthritis and 89 of those people had detectable levels of rheumatoid factor — an antibody that is often found in the blood years before the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. Coffee drinkers were at higher risk of developing rheumatoid factor-associated rheumatoid arthritis. 

The results “should be viewed as the first step in support of the hypothesis that coffee consumption has a causative role in the development of rheumatoid factor positive rheumatoid arthritis,” the researchers write. Currently rheumatoid arthritis affects more than two million people in the US, according to the American College of Rheumatology. Too much caffeine has also been shown to raise women’s risk for incontinence. 

According to a report in the July issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Obstetrics and Gynecology 2000;96:85-89), women who drink more than four cups of brewed coffee a day — or consume a lot of caffeine from other sources — may be putting themselves at risk for urinary incontinence. These women may be more than twice as likely to suffer from a weakened bladder muscle — known as unstable bladder — as women who consume less caffeine. Unstable bladder is a major cause of urinary incontinence, especially in older women. 

 The researchers from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, compared fluid and caffeine intake in 131 women with an unstable bladder and 128 women without the condition. Patients measured and recorded their daily intake of tea, cola, cocoa and coffee — both caffeinated and decaffeinated, which contains a small amount of caffeine, and brewed and instant. Women who consumed an average of 484 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day, or about three to four cups of coffee, were more likely to have an unstable bladder compared with women who consumed an average of 194 mg caffeine, or one to two cups of coffee a day. Although caffeine is a diuretic — a drug that increases urinary output — the women who were high-caffeine consumers tended to have signs of unstable bladder even when drinking water. While women who smoked and those older than 55 years were also more likely to suffer from urinary incontinence, caffeine consumption remained a risk factor regardless of these other variables. “Based on the present findings, it would be prudent to advise women to avoid excessive caffeine intake...more than 400 mg/day (equivalent to four cups of brewed coffee),” Arya and colleagues conclude. Women who are suffering symptoms of incontinence, such as uncontrolled leakage of urine when laughing or coughing, may want to limit caffeine even further, the authors add. 

Additionally, another recent study reported in the journal Diabetes Care (Volume 25, Number 2, February 2002) looked at the effect of caffeine and insulin sensitivity. In a randomized double blind, crossover design study, 12 healthy volunteers were administered caffeine or a placebo intravenously in a dose that equaled moderate consumption. Results showed that moderate consumption of caffeine reduced insulin sensitivity in healthy subjects 15%. Caffeine also increased catecholamines, plasma free fatty acids, and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The moderate consumption of caffeine caused a five fold increase in epinephrine. Epinephrine increases the production of glucose in the liver and interferes with the ability of muscle and fat cells to use glucose. 

Found in coffee, tea and soft drinks, caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. In the Western world, eight out of 10 adults consume caffeine in some form. Based on a 5-ounce cup, brewed coffee contains 128 mg of caffeine, instant coffee contains 66 mg, decaffeinated coffee contains 3 mg, non-herbal tea contains 38 mg, and hot chocolate contains 4 mg of caffeine. Based on an 8-ounce glass, iced tea contains 47 mg of caffeine, and cola drinks contain about 24 mg. 

Do yourself a favor, wake up to the negative effects of caffeine and avoid it.

Update on the greens and hash browns

I posted on the weekend about my food prep for hash browns and greens.   Yesterday I said I wasn't a big fan.  Today I decided I really like it with the kohlrabi "hash browns" rather than potato.  Here was lunch:

The kohlrabi cooks up nice with the onions and greens, no gooey stickiness like the potatoes.  I love potatoes, but not in this recipe.  This was really good, just with onions, kohlrabi, kale, collards.  I added some flavored vinegar for a little extra flavor.  I got some fancy vinegars a while back and this was champagne pear or something.  I think you can't go wrong with any high-quality fruit balsamic vinegar.