It's the end of the world!

This week, a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified processed meats as carcinogenic alongside asbestos and arsenic.  This is great, as far as I am concerned as I advocate eating fresh healthy foods and not processed foods... BUT.... this also includes.... BACON!

In fact, it's more than jus bacon... but jeez!  Bacon????

Let's start off by understanding exactly what processed meat is:

PROCESSED meat describes anything that has had chemicals added to it to improve longevity and therefore shelf life such as:

Ham, salami, pate, chorizo, sausages, hamburgers, etc...

Some of those chemical additives are; nitrites and nitrates, monosodium glutamate (MSG), Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (SAP), Tetra Sodium Pyrophosphate and you will also find a lot of salt, sugar, water and other "flavorings" added too.

Experts believe that the substances that have been added are what cause cancer.  Or at least raise the risk of cancer - especially bowel cancer.

If you are thinking of your daily life then think about mince meat/ burger meat.  Nowadays, most people buy either straight from a fast food restaurant or they buy frozen or even "fresh" ready-made burgers at the supermarket.  Even if something appears fresh as in NOT frozen, it will have an ingredient list packed full of additives.  The mince you buy fresh from the butchers is unprocessed and if you take it home and make it into burgers, sausages or pasta sauce, it will stay generally unprocessed.

The problem is in the shop bought burgers, sausages, etc..

Officials from the WHO have said that just 50g of processed meat per day increases the risk of bowel cancer by almost a fifth.  This report also classifies red meat as "probably carcinogenic" but admitted that it does also have some nutritional benefits such as being a major source of protein, iron, zinc and vitamin B12 - amongst others and, strangely enough, all essential for health.

Dr. Kurt Straif from WHO said:

"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal (bowel) cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed."

So, another nail in the coffin for processed foods.  This doesn't mean you have to give up bacon - you just need to relegate it to the "luxury" or once in a while category.  You can make your own burgers using fresh mince from your local butcher - your body will love them and I'm sure your local butcher will appreciate the business.

Next time your are in your local supermarket check out the packaged mince meat.  What looks like minced meat is actually "prepared mince" and has an ingredient list... It is very easy to be tricked into consuming loads of preservatives and additives as most of us just base our choices on what we see and don't bother to check the labelling.  This happened to me recently!  Trying to find decent chicken in Spain is difficult.  Most end up dry with minimal cooking and don't really taste of anything.  One day in the supermarket I found a package that said "Extra Tender" so I popped them in my trolley and made chicken cacciatore for dinner.   The family loved it and everyone was amazed at how tender the chicken was.  The next time I did the shopping I made a beeline for these, but this time I noticed the LONG list of "ingredients" and nearly fainted....

Chicken breast (80%), water, salt, sugar, wine, stabilizers (E-451, E-407), antioxidants (E-331, E-301), acidity corrector (E-262) and natural aromas.

So be careful when out shopping and make sure you check the labelling.

Other alternatives to processed meats and red meat are fresh chicken and fish - so maybe you need to get creative in the kitchen!  And, if you want red meat, make sure it is fresh and unprocessed.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

The acceptance of Energy Drinks

It seems that lots of young people are fueling their lives with energy drinks.  Red Bull, Monster, Nos, 5 Hour Energy... all seem to be a reliable source of energy for young people who are burning the candle at both ends.  When you are young and having fun and don't have a care in the world, you also don't care about yourself and could be putting yourself at risk just by giving yourself a quick energy boost from your favorite drink.

Way back in 2013 I wrote a piece on the dangers of energy drinks and I believe that it is still valid today and yet energy drink consumption seems to be the norm.  So here is exactly what an energy drink does to you:

1.  Your Brain - yes that mission control center... the be all and end all of human life... When you consume an energy drink it quickly blocks adenosine production.  Adenosine is a chemical produced by the brain to help you sleep.  The caffeine in the energy drink will cause your brain to fire neurons to stimulate and instant energy boost which is exactly the same energy boost you get when your body senses a physical threat - call it the Fight or Flight mode.

2.  When the Fight or Flight mode is activated, the pituitary gland raises the adrenaline levels to give you more energy to run away or fight your enemy... this action injects glucose into the blood stream.

3.  However, all that free flowing adrenaline makes your heart beat much faster in order to move more blood and therefore more oxygen into your muscles... so you can run away or fight your enemy... except you aren't...

4.  The rise in glucose in the blood tells your brain that the rest of the body is full of energy and ready to take on anything in it's path - enemy wise.  Dopamine levels rise which means your brain receives the sensation of feeling incredibly energetic.

5.  However, because your heart is beating faster and all the chemical reactions going on in your body, you will start to sweat profusely, making you lose electrolytes and bodily fluids.

6.  The vast amount of caffeine consumed and the lack or burning off the energy means that anxiety appears and you start to shake.  This is also augmented by the dehydration from the excess sweating.

Some 500ml cans of energy drinks can contain the equivalent of 13 teaspoons of sugar and 160mg of caffeine which is roughly the same as drinking 4 cans of Coke.  The body will take about 12 hours to process that amount of caffeine from the bloodstream... so if you are drinking more than one can a day/night...well.... need I say more?

It appears so...

Potential risks of energy drink consumption:

• Palpitations
• Tremors
• Agitation
• Headache
• Chest Pain
• Dizziness
• Gastrointestinal Problems
• Insomnia
• Respiratory Distress
• Tingling or numbing of the skin

In April, a study carried out by Spanish investigators found that consuming just one energy drink per day could set off erratic heartbeats and heart attacks in healthy teenagers and the risk factor is even worse if there are underlying heart problems.

But still, energy drinks are flaunted to all and sundry... they sponsor motorsports and extreme sports and "cool" fashion.  So the big question is; what should health advisory boards be doing about this?

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

The invisible reason we're all a different weight

I think we are all far more body conscious today than ever before.  Obesity is a global epidemic... you have to be a size 0 to be successful, loved, liked... It's actually quite a sorry state of affairs.

I, as a nutritionist, have always maintained that it's about health - not dress size.  But, even though we are making great headway in weight related issues, there are still some fairly basic questions that as yet, haven't been answered.  The major one being:

Why do some people get fatter than others when eating the same amount of calories and doing the same amount of exercise?

Why do I have to carefully watch my weight because I tend to put on weight easily when another person can eat anything they want and not put on a gram?

Tim Spector, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Kings College, London and author of The Diet Myth, believes he has the answer.

The digestive system is very important to the human body.  It also contains a very complex mix of gut microbes that account for the most part of the 100 trillion cells in our bodies and they interact with our genes to aid digestion, aid the production of certain vitamins, affect our immunity and even influence our mood, metabolism and weight.

The balance of these gut microbes is the key to good health and also to staying a healthy weight.  Tim Spector says:

"It's rather like fingerprints - we may look similar on the outside, but we're all different inside."

Which is why a low-fat diet works for some people, and a high fat diet works brilliantly for others, why some people can eat carbs to their heart's content, and others put on weight just by looking at a doughnut.

For years we have been told that a calorie is a calorie and that calories in vs calories out is what makes us lose or gain weight.  But, if you are a follower of this blog, you should know by now that that isn't the case.  It depends on how our bodies deal with the calories they receive and that is down to the interaction between gut microbes and genes.

We know there are a number of genes that influence appetite and weight.  Gut microbes do not have the power to alter your genes, however they can modify the gene activity and you can affect the microbes depending on what you eat - for better or for worse.

So what it boils down to is that you have to eat to make sure your gut microbes flourish.

Variety is the key.  Our ancestors typically ate 150 different ingredients a week, nowadays most of us eat less than 20 separate food items including a lot less fiber.  The more varied your diet the more varied your gut microbes - but keep it real and unprocessed.

You all know I am against processed foods - anything good that they may have contained at one point has been removed and replaced with high amounts of sugar and salt.  So, stick to REAL FOOD - cook from scratch and keep it as raw as possible.

Plant foods are great gut food, providing a multitude of gut-healthy benefits.  Some plants such as garlic, leeks, jerusalem artichokes, nuts and bananas, and fermented foods such as tofu, kimchi and sauerkraut, provide prebiotics that promote gut health.

Eat cheese and yogurts.  However, avoid the processed orange cheese slices they typically put on your burger and also avoid the low fat, fruit flavored yogurts that have had most of the goodness removed and sugar added to make up for the loss of flavor.

Coffee is great, it's packed full of plant chemicals called polyphenols and is also thought to protect against type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's and heart disease.  Just forget the sugar or sweeteners.

High sugar diets are bad for gut microbes - and everything else.  Artificial sweeteners aren't much better either.  Can you honestly say that a chemically produced "stuff" is good for the human body? (Not taking medicines into account). Also rats fed human doses of sweeteners for 12 weeks showed a significant reduction in healthy gut microbes.

A little bit - just a square, of dark chocolate every day - preferably 70% cocoa solids.  Microbes love chocolate which they break down into anti-inflammatory substances.

And, of course, exercise.  Movement promotes gut health by stimulating the production of butyrate, a chemical produced by the gut microbes that has a beneficial effect on the immune system.

So, are you going to look after your gut?

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Is Almond Milk as good as you think?

As I work in food intolerances I see a lot of intolerance to cow, goat and sheep milk - and obviously everything related to them... yogurts, butter and cheese.  So, if a person can't take their coffee or tea without milk, then I suggest other milk substitutes such as almond milk, rice milk or oat milk - if they aren't intolerant to any of those components either.

A friend recently asked me how healthy almond milk really is as she had heard that the almond content in almond milk was actually very low.

So, I admit, I'd never really thought about it, but decided to investigate.  I found a report about the surprising lack of almonds in almond milk.  According to the report a half gallon carton of almond milk contains less than one handful of almonds.  One analysis of a UK almond brand, Alpro, revealed that it only contains 2% almonds of the total drink, the rest is water, Sugar, Calcium (tri-calcium phosphate), Sea salt, Stabilisers (Locust bean gum, Gellan gum), Emulsifier (Sunflower lecithin), Vitamins (Riboflavin (B2), B12, E, D2).

Ok, so almond milk doesn't actually have a whole lot of almonds...  Almonds are highly nutritious as they are high in protein and healthy fats and are a great energy source.  The article I found is actually quite a scathing attack on almond milk companies and compares the benefits of raw almonds to almond milk:

A serving of almonds contains roughly 160 calories whilst a cup of almond milk contains just 30 calories.  A standard serving of almonds contains 6g of protein and 14g of healthy fats.  A cup of almond milk has just 1g of protein and 2.5g of healthy fats.

However, I don't get what the problem is.  I mean, almond milk and other vegetable milks are there to be used as a substitute for cow's milk - and other animal milks.

What do you use almond milk for?  Do you use it to brighten up your coffee or on your morning cereal?  Are you trying to get something other than taste out of it?

Cow's milk is a very polemic subject.  There are those for it and those against it.  I, for one, am against it.  Milk produce should be reduced to just 5% of anybody's diet - you see that?  I don't ban it all together unless you are either allergic or intolerant to it.  If you have no known allergy or intolerance to it, then keep it below 5% and you'll be just fine, as long as it is grass-fed and free ranging.  Other than that, it really isn't a necessary part of a balanced diet - we humans do not NEED cow's milk.

So, if we take into account that we are better off without it, and the substitutes are almond milk, etc.. then why does it matter if almond milk is only 2% almonds?  If you have a fresh food, balanced diet... as in forget the processed "foods" and base your meals on plants with a bit of animal protein... then you don't NEED to get as many calories and healthy fats from almond milk as you would from eating raw almonds.  Almond milk would just be a nice, healthier addition to your day than topping up your coffee with processed, highly hormoned, antibiotic and puss stuffed cow's milk...

So, does it really matter that almond milk is just 2% almonds?  You can have a highly nutritious diet which included raw nuts, avocados, etc for healthy fats.  In order to get all the nutrition you get with eating almonds, from just the almond milk you'd have to drink the whole carton in one go - roughly, so what would you prefer?  To be happy in the knowledge that your 2% almond milk is not doing the damage to your body that cow's milk does?  Or to be upset that it only contains 2% almonds?

I don't think that almond milk is made to substitute eating almonds but as a substitute for cow's milk and it needs to be understood as that.

Me?  I'm more worried about the amount of sugar it contains!

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

How on earth do I quit junk food? Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on how to quit junk food.  However, there is so much to say on this topic that I decided that another post was necessary - in the hope I can help those of you who are trying to improve your eating habits.

When you quit an un healthy habit like smoking or alcohol, it is actually quite "easy" to avoid those elements in your daily life. However, you can't not eat.  Humans need food so you can't just avoid it and what with busy lifestyles junk food that is readily available, ready to eat and cheap is an easy option to go for.  What's more, the food industry DOESN'T WANT YOU TO STOP eating processed foods and junk food.

Let's just focus on sugar.

Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), dextrose, maltose.... there are over 41 names for sugar on food labelling.  I think Robert H. Lustig, MD explains the sugar dilema very well:

"If 'a calorie is a calorie' were true, and obesity and metabolic syndrome were a result of 'empty calories', the mantra of 'eat less, exercise more' would stand.  But sugar is not 'empty calories'.  The fructose component is a toxin by itself - a chronic one, a dose-dependent one - but a toxin nonetheless.  We know about the ill effects of smoking and prolonged alcohol usage.  Every single disease or condition of metabolic syndrome is driven by fructose,  including hypertension, through increases in uric acid; high triglycerides and insulin resistance, through synthesis of fat in the liver; diabetes, via
increased liver glucose production combined with insulin resistance; accelerated aging, due to damage to lipids and protein; likely cancer, due to DNA damage, high insulin levels, and the fact that some cancers seem to use fructose preferentially for energy; and likely dementia, through insulin resistance in the brain.

Sugar acts on the reward center to encourage subsequent intake.  Whether it fits the criterion for addiction is irrelevant; the stuff is abused.  You get hooked at an early age, and it's harder to kick the habit after years of prolonged usage.  There are now numerous human studies examining the dependence-producing properties of sugar.  By reducing dopamine signaling in the brain's reward center, the pleasure derived from food is reduced (increasing tolerance), compelling the individual to consume more.  And when the sugar is stopped, symptoms of irritability (withdrawal) become apparent."

Fat Chance, Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease

Robert H. Lustig, M.D.

None of us are truly aware of how much sugar is really in the food we eat... but it is harming us every single day.  For example, my 15 year old daughter accompanied me to do the grocery shopping the other day and asked me to buy some Kellogg's Frosties - I refused and told her exactly why - because of the sugar content.  So here you have the ten worst Children's breakfast cereals (from among 275):

1. Kellogg's Honey Smacks: 55.6% sugar by weight.  Ingredients: Sugar, wheat, dextrose, honey, contains 2% or less of vegetable oil (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated soybean), salt, caramel color, soy lecithin, BHT for freshness.
2. Post Golden Crisp: 51.9% sugar
3. Kellogg's Froot Loops Marshmallow: 48.3% sugar
4. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's OOPS!  All Berries: 46.9% sugar
5. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch Original: 44.4% sugar
6. Quaker Oats Oh!s: 44.4% sugar
7. Kellogg's Smorz: 43.3% sugar
8. Kellogg's Apple Jacks: 42.9% sugar
9. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries: 42.3% sugar
10. Kellogg's Froot Loops Original: 41.4% sugar

Do you really want your kids eating this stuff?  Do you want to eat this stuff?

Lots of people believe that changing soda for fruit juice is healthier - but it isn't.  There is just as much sugar in juice as there is in sodas.

What makes FRUIT healthier than junk food is it's fiber content.  If you eat the whole fruit, the fiber slows down the release of sugar into the blood stream avoiding the sugar spike and subsequent insulin response.  All the fiber is removed when you make juice - even if you make it at home, so all you have left is fruit flavored sugar water.   

Change your environment:

The "easiest" way to avoid problems is to change your environment.  This means:

1. Clean out your kitchen.  Remove all unhealthy, processed foods from your cabinets and fridge.  If you only stock healthy foods then you won't have the temptation.  Lots of people say, "Oh! But what about my kids?"  What about them?  If you stop them eating unhealthy foods they will be healthy and stay a healthy weight.  What's more, they will learn healthy eating habits from a young age which will stay with them for life.
2. Don't go anywhere near a fast food restaurant.  No one forces you to go inside.  YOU can make that decision.  Plan meals ahead.  You can cook ahead too, a little organization is key and once you get the hang of it, you won't even want to go to the burger joint or pizza place.
3. Take control.  If it has a label on it, it isn't real food.  The only way we can force the food industry into changing it's ways is to refuse to succumb to what they want... and what they want is you to spend your money on their unhealthy food.  Don't let them!

So, what's it going to be?  Only YOU can decide!

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com