To gluten or not to gluten? That is the question.

It seems that things must be successful if Hollywood is "doing it".  What do I mean by this?  Well, all "fad" diets usually become popular because a Hollywood actor/actress did it with great results.  All the trends that become a hit in Hollywood, usually become a global hit after that.

Right now there is a big craze in Hollywood to eat a gluten free diet. Gwyneth Paltrow and Miley Cyrus, to name just two, have said they are gluten free and "loving it". But is it good for you?

It is said that celiac disease is one of the major under diagnosed medical problems, with an estimated 99% of people who have either gluten intolerance or celiac disease going undiagnosed.  It is also estimated that 15% of the US population is gluten intolerant.

Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye and barley and wheat related products such as bulgur, farro, kamut, spelt and triticale and some Celiac experts also recommend including Oats in this section too. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy onwards.

Symptoms for Celiac Disease:

• Pain and discomfort in the digestive tract.
• Chronic constipation and diarrhea.
• Failure to thrive (in children).
• Anaemia.
• Chronic Fatigue.
• Vitamin deficiencies.
• Iron deficiency.
• Bone or joint pain.
• Arthritis.
• Depression or anxiety.
• Bone loss or osteoporosis.
• Erratic menstrual periods.

However, lots of people are intolerant to gluten without actually having Celiac Disease.  The symptoms for an intolerance to gluten are as follows:

• Digestive issues such as gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation.
• Fatigue, brain fog or feeling tired after eating a meal that contains gluten.
• Diagnosis of an autoimmune disease such as Lupus, Psoriasis, Scleroderma, Multiple Sclerosis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Rheumatoid Arthritis or Ulcerative colitis.
• Neurological symptoms such as dizziness or feeling off balance.
• Hormone imbalances such as PMS, PCOS or unexplained infertility.
• Migraines.
• Diagnosis of chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia.
• Inflammation, swelling or pain in your joints such as fingers, knees or hips.
• Mood issues such as anxiety, depression, mood swing and ADD.

The solution is easy.  Eliminate all gluten from your diet.  This isn't quite as easy as it sounds as lots of foods contain gluten so you will need to read the labels!  

If you suspect you have an intolerance to gluten then you can test yourself by removing all, and I mean ALL gluten from your diet for 2-3 weeks and then reintroduce it and see how you feel.  If you feel terrible then it is probable that you have an intolerance to it.

Is going gluten free a good way to lose weight if you aren't intolerant?

Lots of the "stars" swear that going gluten free has changed their lives and made them lose vast amounts of weight in the process.  But just stop and think for a while.  Which common food products contain gluten?

• Bagels
• Beer
• Bread
• Cookies, cakes, and most other baked goods
• Crackers
• Pasta
• Pizza
• Pretzels
• Soy Sauce
• Ready to cook rice dishes 
• Salad dressings
• Malted chocolate milk powder
• Sauce mixes

Now, take a long slow look at that list.  Yes, you guessed it, they are all highly PROCESSED FOODS - except for bread which, depending on which one you buy, may be processed or not.

Everyone would benefit from not eating these highly processed foods.  Many gluten containing foods have high amounts of sugar and salt in them and the flour is refined to remove all nutritional value.  So if a Hollywood starlet or anyone else for that matter, removed these gluten products from their diet they would be sure to feel much better and lose lots of weight but more than anything due to the extra sugar and additives from the processing as much as the gluten itself.

Gluten itself doesn't offer special nutritional benefits, however, many whole grains that contain gluten do.  They are rich in a whole host of vitamins and minerals such as B vitamins and iron, as well as fiber which is essential to correct digestive function.  Studies have shown that whole grain foods, as part of a healthy diet, may help lower the risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

Therefore, I will not be jumping on this Hollywood bandwagon and eliminating gluten from my diet, and I would encourage you to do the same, unless, of course you have reason to believe you are intolerant to gluten or have been diagnosed with celiac disease.

If you want to lose weight and/or improve your health and still eat gluten foods then I would suggest reducing your intake of these types of foods (bread, pasta, etc) to a couple of times a week and making them as natural as possible whole grain bread and pasta so that you get as much nutritional value from them as possible.  Also, you can well do without the salad dressings that not only contain gluten but lots of sugar and salt too.  Obviously cookies and cakes, bagels and muffins, crackers and pretzels shouldn't be on anyone's shopping list if they are trying to lose weight and get healthy.

So they choice is up to you... you can follow the Hollywood fad and miss out on some good nutrition or you can wise up and follow what's good for your body.

If you have reason to believe you have Celiac Disease or are intolerant to gluten then you must go and see your doctor.

Social Nutrition:

You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Just how long does it take to burn off the calories from that fast food lunch you just ate?

It is no news that the western world is eating it's self to death out of laziness.  Yes, I know that sounds harsh, but most blame it on lack of time and too much stress.  Yes, we are all stressed with work, homes, kids, schools, after school activities, etc..  So, grabbing a McDonald's for lunch or ordering a pizza for dinner is so quick and easy and it has become the norm.  Moms and Dads tend to take the easy option and avoid planning home cooked meals due to lack of time.

A new study from Texas has found that if information as to how much exercise you would need to do in order to burn off the fast food you just ate is given a long with the calorie information of that meal then the consumers tend to make healthier choices.  It is a plan that has been devised to "scare" people into eating better.

So how long does it take?

We all burn calories in different ways, an overweight person will always burn more than a normal weight person.  The exercise information (based on a 68kg person) should be as follows:

• McDonald's Egg McMuffin - 300 calories - 32 minutes of running at 5mph
• Starbucks Cinnamon Roll - 500 calories and 85 minutes of dancing - nonstop
• Dunkin' Donuts Cholocalte Frosted Donut - 230 calories and 1 hour of walking at 3mph
• Wendy's Large French Fries - 540 calories and 77 minutes of cycling at 10-12 mph
• Taco Bell Beef Burrito Supreme - 410 calories and 70 minutes of dancing.
• Domino's slice of medium cheese pizza - 210 calories PER SLICE and 22 minutes of cycling at 12-14mph for each slice you ate.
• McDonald's Mighty Kids Meal of Double Cheeseburger, Fries and chocolate milk - 840 calories and a solid 4 hours and 3 minutes of frisbee-playing - do you really want to put your child through that?

The study, carried out by the Texas Christian University, to find new ways to help people make better choices, proposed adding the exercise information to the calorie information on the menus.  The principal investigator on the study, Meena Shah says that hers is the first study centered on examining the effects of knowing how long you would have to walk at a fast pace in order to burn off those calories, the results were presented at the Meeting for Experimental Biology 2013 held in Boston in April.

For the study, 300 men and women were recruited between 18 and 30 years of age who were invited to eat at fast food restaurants.  Without explaining the purpose of the study, a menu was assigned to each participant at random.  All the menus had the same appearance and consisted of a hamburger, chicken nuggets, salad, french fries, dessert, soda and water.  However there were 3 things that differentiated them:

1. The first menu was accompanied by calorie information and the amount of exercise needed to burn off what was chosen and then eaten by the participant.
2. The second menu was accompanied solely by the amount of calories associated to it.
3. The third menu didn't have any accompanying information.

I think it is fairly easy to guess that the participants that ate the fewest calories were those who chose from menu Nº1, followed by those who were given menu Nº2 and those that consumed the most calories were those who had menu Nº3.  The reasoning behind this is that for the general public, caloric information for food is difficult to understand, however the minutes or hours of physical exercise needed to burn it off is much easier to apply to daily life as it is easy to visualize the effort needed to eliminate those calories.

Meena Shah said that a lot of the participants were surprised to see just how much physical exercise is needed to burn off the calories from some of the menu options: 

"For example, a woman would have to walk vigorously for about 2 hours to burn off the calories from a double quarter pounder with cheese".

However, the authors have stated that the sample group was made up of people under the age of 30, which means that it would be erroneous to suggest that the results are representative for all the consumers of these types of foods.  Therefore, the team intends to repeat the study with a more diverse group with older people.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Just how dangerous are Diet Sodas?

Lots of us, and I mean lots - including me, drink diet sodas on a daily basis.  They are something that have been marketed as a way to help you in your quest to lose weight, maintain your healthy weight or as something diabetics can enjoy or a way to avoid the vast amount of sugar found in regular sodas.

But the truth about diet sodas is far uglier than companies such as Coca Cola or Pepsi Co would want us to know.  Aspartame, the chemical that gives diet soda and other goods their sweet taste, is also called NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure.  It was originally discovered by James Schlatter, a chemist at G.D. Searle Company who was testing an anti-ulcer drug but discovered aspartame instead.  It was first approved for use in dry goods in 1974, but Dr. John W. Olney, a neuroscience researcher and a consumer attorney James Turner filed objections in August 1974 and subsequent investigations of G.D. Searle's research practices caused the FDA to postpone approval of aspartame in December 1974.  However, it was finally approved for dry goods in 1981 and for carbonated drinks in 1983.  Then in 1985 Monsanto bought G.D. Searle and made Searle Pharmaceuticals and The NutraSweet Company separate subsidiaries.

Over the years, it has been found that aspartame accounts for over 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA.  Many of these adverse reactions are actually extremely serious, including seizures and even death.  A report has documented 90 different symptoms caused by aspartame, such as:

• Headaches/ migraines
• Dizziness
• Seizures
• Nausea
• Numbness
• Muscle Spasms
• Weight GAIN
• Rashes
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Tachycardia
• Insomnia
• Vision Problems
• Hearing Loss
• Heart Palpitations
• Breathing Difficulties
• Anxiety Attacks
• Slurred Speech
• Loss of Taste
• Tinnitus
• Vertigo
• Memory Loss
• Joint Pain

But, unfortunately, that's not all.  Researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, say that certain chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by taking aspartame, these are:

• Brain Tumors
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Epilepsy
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Parkinson's Disease
• Alzheimer's Disease
• Mental Retardation
• Lymphoma
• Birth Defects
• Fibromyalgia
• DIABETES
• Systemic Lupus

Why is aspartame so dangerous?

When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 27ºC, the wood alcohol en aspartame converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis.  Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants.  The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.

Systemic Lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers.  The victim usually does not know that the aspartame is the culprit.  He or she continues to drink it, irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become a life-threatening condition.  In the case of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the symptoms disappear and many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly.

The good news is that symptoms from aspartame poisoning including: spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, unexplained depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision or memory loss are reversible.

All you have to do is eliminate diet sodas and other forms of aspartame from your diet.  Diet soda is not a diet product. Diet sodas are a chemically altered, multiple sodium (salt) and aspartame containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates.  It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight than lose it.

These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs, formaldehyde is a toxin and is used primarily to preserve tissue specimens.

Aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxic when take without the other amino acids necessary for a good balance.  Especially diabetics, the aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage, seizures, depression, manic depression, panic attacks, uncontrollable anger and rage.  Aspartame consumption causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well.  Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet.  Children are especially susceptible to neurological disorders and should never be given artificial sweeteners.

A lot of the problem, as always, is political.  Monsanto funds, among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians.  This was recently exposed in the New York Times.  These organizations can not criticize any additives or convey their link to Monsanto because they take money from the food industry and are required to endorse their products.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require warnings on labels of

products containing aspartame, especially regarding pregnant women, children and infants.  The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and behavioral symptoms.  The bill was "killed".  It is known that powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for this - as always. 

As I have stated in many of my posts, the only way to truly look after your body is to eat as naturally as possible and to avoid all processed and chemically enhanced food products.  I admit, I have been an avid Diet Coke drinker for years, in fact it made up a large part of my daily beverage intake.  But, since reading up on the dangers of aspartame I have eliminated it from my life - for good.

Having information like this means that you can make an informed decision as to what goes into your body, and knowing the effects those product might have on your health.  There is no greater power than information.

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

I'll be back tomorrow!

I'll be back tomorrow with a new post, I hope you like it!