Dreading the summer and putting your cellulite on show? Here's how to get rid of it - for good!

We all know what cellulite is, it's fat that collects on buttocks, thighs and upper arms, and for many it means covering up in the summer and a dreaded fear of wearing a swimming costume.  There are many commercial remedies, but these tend to be temporary and expensive and once you stop whichever treatment you have chosen to spend your money on, the dreaded cellulite creeps back on.  In my experience, creams may help to a degree but are never definitive and the people I know who have undergone liposuction, win the battle initially but tend to end up larger than they were before in a high number of cases.

The dimpled skin effect of cellulite known generally as "orange peel", occurs when fat cells push against the surrounding subcutaneous connective tissue.  If your lymph circulation becomes slow, toxins accumulate in these fat cells, making it even more difficult to get rid of.

Body brushing with a dry brush before taking a shower and then applying a good moisturizer afterwards can do wonders for your lymph circulation and will help towards cellulite elimination and will improve overall circulation.  However, there are effective ways of eliminating cellulite:

1. Diet - especially intermittent fasting.
2. Acceleration Training and/ or rebound exercise.

Diet - Intermittent Fasting

This technique makes your body burn fat rather than sugar.  Intermittent fasting simply means restricting the hours per day in which you eat.  For example you could simply restrict your eating to 12pm - 7pm - skipping breakfast and making lunch the first meal of the day.  When you do eat, you should be having healthy protein and healthy fats such as avocado, eggs, olive oil and nuts.  Keep refined carbohydrates such as white bread and pasta to a minimum - potatoes too.

Refined carbohydrates and foods high in sugars and processed salt all contribute to the development of cellulite, so you need to keep these out of your diet as much as possible.  Dietary carbohydrates are the primary source of glycerol-3-phosphate (g-3-p), which causes fat to become fixed in fat tissue.  Eating a lot of carbohydrate also raises your insulin levels, in this kind of environment the body cannot burn fat, the body first has to use the sugar stored in the body for energy before it gets round to burning the fat - so, if you eliminate refined carbohydrates and sugar from your diet, the body can get straight down to burning the fat.  Whole grains, legumes, low fructose fruits and nuts are a good healthy alternative for refined carbohydrates and sugar.

The reason why this technique is so effective is that it promotes the release of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which is a fat burning hormone.  Fasting also increases catecholamines, which increase resting energy expenditure while decreasing insulin levels, all of which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel.

HGH levels start to decline rapidly after the age of 21, so by the time you are in your 40s, your levels can be quite low, which leads to those stubborn fat deposits.  We all tend to gain weight as we age, especially if you have a sedentary lifestyle.  Being non-active physically means that you not only put on weight, but that you lose muscle mass too.  You start burning fewer calories with age as your body adjusts from building muscle to storing fat.  This is why it is so vital to remain physically active throughout your life.

If you decide to try intermittent fasting, it may take a while for your body to adjust to this new fat burning environment and you must do it gradually, but once you achieve this you will be able to fast for 18 hours and not feel hungry.  The added bonus is that your sugar cravings will disappear and weight loss will be much easier.

I would not recommend this for diabetics or hypoglycemics .  This technique is also similar to the "2 Day Diet", where you eat a limited number of calories 2 days a week and then a more relaxed diet for the remaining 5.

Acceleration Training and Rebound Exercise.

I have written before about how exercising before breakfast burns 20% more fat than exercising

afterwards, put this together with fasting and you can't go wrong.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a great way to boost the effects of fasting on your weight loss program. (See: The Tabata Protocol )

Also acceleration training on a vibrating platform such as a Power Plate, has been shown to be very useful for fighting the cellulite wars in particular.

Acceleration training improves lymph circulation which helps you to breakdown cellulite from the inside out.  The vibrations provide thousands of muscle contractions that remove your lymphatic fluid from problem areas, reducing fluid congestion in your tissues.  This relieves the immune system by flushing out the toxins.  This has been scientifically proven to help rid your body of excess weight and cellulite (See: Cellulite Power Plate Study )

Rebounding is another form of exercise that, to a lesser degree, has the same effect as acceleration training.  On a mini trampoline your body is subjected to gravitational pulls.  The benefits of rebounding include increased circulating oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs and increased muscle strength and is a great cardio workout.  The benefits of acceleration training will always be seen quicker than with rebounding but if this is too costly then rebounding does do wonders and is a lot cheaper!

Once you know all this you can take definite steps towards a cellulite free, happy and healthy body at the weight you want it to be at, just two steps:

1. Sort out your diet and introduce intermittent fasting.  Drink lots of water to flush out your system.
2. Get with a fitness program you enjoy that includes HIIT and/ or bounce your way to cellulite free body.

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

12 Ways to Keep Your Brain Young.

How well does your brain work?  You may think you don't have a problem and, if you are young, you're probably right.  But the truth is our brains need maintenance, just like the rest of our bodies.

Aging, in general, entails many physical, biological, chemical and psychological changes.  Therefore, it is only logical to assume that the brain is no exception to the aging process.

The brain suffers in 3 ways: Structural Changes, Chemical Changes and Neuropsychological Changes.

Structural Changes:
Computed Tomography (CT) studies have found that the cerebral ventricles expand as a function of age, this process is called ventriculomegaly.  However, more recent MRI studies have shown age-related regional decreases in cerebral volume.  This does not mean that the brain shrinks as a whole, some brain regions shrink at a rate of up to 1% per year, whereas others remain stable until the end of the life-span.

Loss of Neural Circuits and Brain Plasticity, thinning of the cortex, age-related neuronal morphology, neurofibrillary morphology, neurofibrillary tangles, role of oxidative stress, and DNA damage all contribute to structural changes in the brain as time goes by and we get older.  I won't go into detail as this post would be very long and probably very boring too!

Chemical Changes:
Add biochemical changes to the structural changes.  Neurons communicate with each other through specialized chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.  Dopamine, Serotonin and Glutamate are all found to decrease with age, making those messengers less efficient.

Dopamine:
Dysfunction of the dopamine system has several important diseases associated with it; Parkinson's Disease, an age related degenerative disease, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and restless leg syndrome are also believed to be associated with decreased dopamine activity.

Serotonin:
Serotonin regulates mood, appetite and sleep (all very important for a healthy body and well being), it also has cognitive functions including memory and learning.

Glutamate:
Glutamate receptors are important for neural communication, memory function, learning and regulation.  Glutamate is also used by the brain to synthesize GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter of the mammalian central nervous system which has an important role in regulating neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system and is also directly responsible for the regulation of muscle tone in humans.

Neuropsychological Changes:
This includes changes in orientation, changes in attention and changes in memory.  It has been suggested that orientation declines with age.  However, the evidence is non-conclusive.  Some elderly people show signs of deteriorating orientation and others don't.

Some elderly people find it more difficult to focus on more than one task at a time.  Since the human brain has limited resources, people use their attention to zone in on specific stimuli and bock others.

There are many different types of memory identified in humans: episodic, semantic, strategic, working, source spatial, and non-declarative. Studies carried out by Rapp et al., have found that memory functions, specifically those associated with the medial temporal lobe are especially vulnerable to age-related decline.  Several studies have supplied converging evidence that the frontal lobes and frontal-striatal dopaminergic pathways are especially affected by age-related processes resulting in changes in memory.

Basically what it all boils down to is that age old saying "If you don't use it, you'll lose it." just as you do muscle tone if you don't exercise.

So, what can you do to keep your brain healthy for as long as possible?
Just as you look after your body, eat healthily and take regular exercise, you also have to look after your brain, which is one of the two most important organs in the body, the other being the digestive system.

There are many things you can do to keep your brain as fit as the rest of you, here are just 12, but there are many more:

1. Eat Healthily - everyone know that this is the best thing you can do for your body but it will also protect your brain.
2. Exercise - Yes, longterm exercise has been proven to increase brain power and create new neurons in the brain.
3. Avoid Junk Food - junk food has been proved to decrease energy in the body and promotes "brain fog".  Eliminate junk food and enjoy the benefits of a calm and focused brain chemistry.
4. Meditate - Meditation has been known to increase IQ levels, relieve stress and also promotes
   
   higher levels of brain activity.  Meditation also stimulates the prefrontal cortex of the brain, this area of the brain is responsible for advanced thinking ability and performance.
5. Take Omega 3 supplements - These are very important for the brain, the 2 main components EPA and DHA strengthen both the emotional center of the brain and boost focus.  You need to take supplements for a while, but there will be an increase in overall brain activity.  Krill oil, in my opinion, is the best source of Omega 3 as Krill oil is water soluble and therefore, much easier for the body to assimilate it.
6. Deep Breathing - it is known that we do not breath properly, we only take in enough oxygen to continue what we are doing, our lung capacity is much greater and deep breathing increases oxygen levels and blood-flow to the brain.  You can combine this with your meditation, 10-15 minutes of deep breathing everyday can improve your quality of life and your brain's function.
7. Laugh a lot - When we laugh the brain releases endorphins, chemicals that stop pain and increase overall well being, it is also a natural stress reducer.
8. Change Your Environment - humans are creatures of habit, we tend to do the same thing day in and day out; drive to work, spend 8 hours in the office, eat mostly the same meals.  However, your brain does not become stimulated by routine so it is important to do different things, take a different route to the office, eat out at the weekends but change restaurants frequently.
9. Listen to Music - There are studies that have shown that listening to music strengthens the right hemisphere of the brain and literally changes the structure.  Those studies have shown that people who listen to music are on the whole, more intelligent and have more emotional intelligence than those who don't.
10. Avoid Stress - Stress overload causes detrimental increases in the hormone cortisol which in high levels kills brain cells and suppresses brain function - exercise, meditation and healthy eating can help you here.  When you are very stressed, the mere thought of exercise is enough to turn you off completely, but get out there, go for a brisk walk in the fresh air or a run - it does wonders for your stress level and will leave you thinking far more clearly.
11. Visualization - Visualization has been associated with focus at a deeper level.  You need to visualize your goals - whatever they are.  Visualization has been linked to lowered stress levels, increased creativity and peak mind-body performance.
12. Solve puzzles - Solving puzzles is the perfect way to stimulate your brains ability to critically think and process information.  Puzzles provoke thought, are challenging and a great fun activity that you can do on your own, or get your family involved.  Play word games in the car on the way to school or on car trips.

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

The Monsanto Protection Act

Political lobbying in favor of private companies is, sadly, nothing new.  The tobacco industry did it, the sugar trade industry still does it, so does the fast food industry, so why should Monsanto be any different?

Let's face it, has America seems to have learnt nothing from the previous lessons.

It has been scientifically proven over the years that smoking causes cancer, sugar causes diabetes, obesity and heart disease, the fast food industry is contributing to the vast rise in child obesity as well as causing obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

What we do know about Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs) is what Monsanto and only Monsanto has said - they are safe - or at least this is what they want us to believe.  GMOs have been around for 15 years and it has rapidly grown into a $billion business on the promise of eradicating world hunger and the promise that GMO crops would be resistant to blights and therefore wouldn't need as much pesticides as regular crops.

However, neither of these promises have been kept.  And now, thanks to the work of Michael Antoniou of Earth Open Source and Dr. Giles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caan in France, we have more information contrary to Monsanto's.

Seralini and Antoniou have found in their studies on GMOs that they are provoking a range of serious health problems such as; birth defects, cancer, neurological imbalances, embryonic deaths, DNA damage and fetal death.  GMOs are full of pesticides such as RoundUp that contain glyphosate and 2-4-D which is the active ingrediente in Active Orange.  So, if we are what we eat, and our food is full of harmful pesticides, it isn't difficult to understand how GMOs are harmful to human health.

Of course the other problem is that by law, manufacturers do not have to specify on the labels on their products if GMO ingredients are used.  And, it isn't just the USA that has this problem.  The only countries in the world that have said NO to GMOs and have banned Monsanto are:

Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Portugal,

Spain, UK... and the list is growing everyday, as it should.

So why is everyone who values good health up in arms about what has gone on recently in Washington?

The answer is very simple.  It is yet another demonstration that private sector companies with lots of money are really the ones with the power - not the government elected to serve and protect the people.

On Tuesday, 26th March 2013, President Barak Obama signed a spending bill: HR933.  Within this bill is a section - Section 735 also called the Farmers Assurance Provision; publicly labelled The Monsanto Protection Act.

Section 735 effectively stops Federal courts from being able to stop the sale or planting of genetically modified (GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds, even if these seeds or products made from these GMO and GE seeds and their subsequent harvests are found to be dangerous to human health.

It is believed by many that not enough studies have been carried out on GMO and GE crops to analyze the potential health risks.

Monsanto apparently helped with the wording of the provision.  This type of cooperation between lawmakers and private companies to mold legislation is nothing new either.  Senator Ray Blunt, Republican of Missouri, worked with Monsanto on a provision that actually allows them to keep selling their GMO and GE seeds which could then go on to be planted even if the crops are found to be harmful to consumers, and could have dire health risks for the general public in the USA and other countries where GMOs and GEs are not prohibited.

The HR933 bill was actually a spending bill to avoid government shut down and to ensure that the federal government will continue to pay its bills.  However, the Center for Food Safety believes that many of the Democrats in Congress did not know that the Provision was included in the bil:

"In this hidden back room deal, Senator Barbara Mikulski turned her back on consumer, environmental and farmer protection in favor of corporate welfare for biotech companies such as Monsanto," said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director for Food Safety.

It seems the deceit was intentional, using the gay marriage upheaval as a cover - all media attention was focused on the hearing of the oral argument for California's Proposition 8 in the Supreme Court, the signing of the HR933 went almost unnoticed until it was already signed, sealed and delivered.

The "good" news is that this bill will only be in effect for the next 6 months, during this time the government must find another way to fund its operations.  However, the message received by the private sector is that once you have Congress on your side you can basically do what ever you want and ride roughshod over the consumer safety protections.

The main GMO products to avoid are: Corn, Soy, Cotton (oil), Rice, Sugar, Aspartame, Papayas, Canola, Dairy, Zucchini and Yellow Squash.  You can check out the whys here: Top 10 GMO foods to avoid

If you are also looking for a list of GMO free foods you can go here: GMO Free Food Brands

Also, even though many of the countries stated above to have banned GMOs still sell products by Nestlé, Kellogg's, Unilever, Procter and Gamble all of who sell products that have been found to contain GMOs by GreenPeace in the Spanish Market, and you can bet that if they are in their products in the Spanish Market they will also be in the same products in other markets.

The worst thing of all, is that we the consumers have no power of information about which products contain GMOs as stating them on the label is not mandatory.  In 2007 President Obama on the campaign trail, promised Iowa farmers and the rest of the country that if elected he'd label GMO foods.  This has not happened, and in the light of The Monsanto Protection Act it seems very unlikely that this will happen. President Obama even appointed an ex Monsanto executive, Michael R. Taylor to the FDA in 2009 thus assuring a close relationship between Monsanto and the Government.

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

Energy Drinks, too dangerous to drink?

Anais Fournier was a 14 year old girl from Maryland who lived with a heart arrhythmia.  One day, she drank 2 Monster energy drinks (24 oz each) in a 24 hour period.  She died in hospital after 6 days in a coma.

The result of the autopsy was that her heart lost the ability to pump blood due to caffeine toxicity - and this was the cause of death.

We all know that energy drinks such as Monster, Red Bull and 5-Hour Energy to name but a few, are extremely popular especially amongst young people today.  They are used to keep people awake all night to study, or party or to stay awake in class or at work after being up all night - partying, studying or online gaming - the reason makes no difference.

However, the reality it that:

• 5 deaths and 1 heart attack have been linked to Monster.
• 13 deaths and 33 hospitalizations have been linked to 5-Hour Energy.

As I said, they have been linked, not proven, but it is worrying enough for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch an investigation into the safety of energy drinks.  These products are designed to produce a temporary energy rush, however they also contain a substantial amount of caffeine, sugar and other ingredients that can sometimes lead to serious side effects such as insomnia, increased or irregular heart beat, agitation, irritability, seizure and possibly even death.

One of the problems these drinks are thought to cause is high blood pressure and potentially lethal heart problems.  Doctors are warning people with high blood pressure to "use caution and judgment" before consuming energy drinks, after finding that these drinks may increase blood pressure and disturb the heart's natural rhythm.

Researchers in the U.S. have studied data from seven previously published studies to determine how consuming energy drinks might affect heart health.  The seven studies included healthy patients aged 18 - 45 years of age.

In the first part of the data analysis of the seven studies, researchers examined the QT interval (a segment of the heart's rhythm) of 93 people who had just consumed one to three cans of energy drink.

The QT interval describes a segment of the heart's rhythm on an electrocardiogram; when prolonged, it can cause irregular heart beats or sudden cardiac death.

Dr. Sachin Shah, lead author and assistant Professor at University of the Pacific in the U.S., said:

"Doctors are generally concerned if patients experience an additional 30 milliseconds in their QT interval from baseline.

"QT prolongation is associated with life-threatening arrhythmias.  The finding that energy drinks could prolong the QT, in light of the reports of sudden cardiac death, warrants further investigation."

The researchers also discovered that the systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) increased an average of 3.5 points in a pool of 132 participants.

Dr. Shah said:

"The correlation between energy drinks and increased systolic blood pressure is convincing and concerning, and more studies are needed to asses the impact of the heart rhythm."

One of the major problems is that quite often a person may have a minor heart problem and not know about it, in these cases consuming an energy drink could put a person at risk of suffering serious heart problems and even death.

A review of the combination of ingredients in these types of drink by three researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the University of Queensland in Australia, and published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings in November 2010 found that:

"Four documented cases of caffeine-associated deaths have been reported, as well as five separate cases of seizures associated with consumption of energy/power drinks."

Additional reports include an otherwise healthy 18 year old male who died playing basketball after drinking 2 cans of Red Bull; and 4 cases of mania experienced by individuals known to have bipolar disorder.

Every person is different, and may not be aware of underlying health issues, or may be subject to peer
pressure to consume them, another problem is that these drinks are sold everywhere and are readily available to young children.  The amount of money spent on marketing for these drinks is huge.  Brands such as Red Bull sponsor sporting events such as the Formula 1, skateboarding and other motor sports, where young people idolize the drivers or skateboarders and believe they should be drinking it to be like them.

We know that drugs such as heroin, cocaine, etc cause damage to health and when someone stops consuming them they suffer withdrawal symptoms.

We know that caffeine also produces withdrawal symptoms when someone stops consuming caffeine.

The same thing happens with sugar, if you radically cut sugar from your diet you also suffer withdrawal symptoms.

Caffeine and sugar are the main ingredients in energy drinks, if something causes withdrawal symptoms when you stop consuming it, it can't have been any good for you - it's just a legal drug.

There are two problems associated with the consumption of large amounts of caffeine.  K Steven Whiting, Ph.D of Phoenix Nutritionals in San Diego explains; one, it targets the central nervous system directly.  Two, it can lead to dehydration and loss of water soluble nutrients that have a calming effect on the central nervous system.  The combined effect of these two issues can cause agitation, and sleep problems and can lead to the development of longterm anxiety problems.

What scares me even more is that lots of young people even mix these energy drinks with alcohol, another stimulant which just adds to the health danger of this type of legal drug.  As these drinks are relatively new, researchers still don't know what the longterm effects may be on the health of habitual consumers.

If you eat a healthy balanced diet, take regular exercise and sleep well, you will have enough energy to do anything you want.  The healthy way is so much safer and means you will enjoy living and having fun for a very long time.


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

Dairy products linked to a 50% higher risk of dying from breast cancer.

If my previous articles: FORKS OVER KNIVES and THE MILK DILEMA haven't managed to make you rethink your dairy produce intake then I hope this one will.

It is still illegal in the United States to claim that diet can cure cancer, even though there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it can (The Gerson Miracle), or that diet can prevent serious illnesses and plays an important role in curing a disease once diagnosed.

Too many medical doctors do not consider the importance of diet and rely exclusively on modern medicine.  Now, don't get me wrong, I am all for the wonders of modern medicine, but I do believe that doctors need to understand how much better modern medicine would be if combined with a proper disease appropriate diet.

New data has shown that just ONE portion of full-fat dairy per day - be it ice cream or yogurt or cheese cold hinder the survival of women with breast cancer.  Scientists say that women suffering from breast cancer who eat one portion daily could be 50% more likely to die.

Scientists in the US suspect that the reason for this is because milk and other dairy foods contain the hormone estrogen, which is known to encourage tumor growth.

We already know that diet plays an important role in improving the chances of surviving cancer and also preventing its recurrence.  But this is the first study to show such a strong link between dairy products and breast cancer.

1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives and around 50.000 new cases are diagnosed every year.  Scientists from the Kaiser Permanente research center in California studied the medical records of 1,500 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1997 and 2000.  The women had all completed questionnaires on how often they consumed dairy products, what size the portions were, and what specifically they ate.  The most common products consumed were ice cream, yogurts, cheese, full-fat lattes and hot chocolate.

The scientists found that the women who ate just ONE portion of just ONE of these products a day, were 50% more likely to die from the illness within 12 years.  They also pointed out that most milk consumed in Britain and the US comes from pregnant cows and is therefore rich in estrogen, which, as I said before, is know to trigger tumor growth and there are particularly high levels in full-fat dairy foods.

In fact, they also found that women who ate ONE portion of full-fat dairy every day were 64% more likely to die from any cause - not just breast cancer.

Dr. Bette Caan, research leader on the study said:

"High-fat dairy is generally not recommended as part of a healthy diet.  Switching to low-fat dairy is an easy thing to modify."

Although, here I have to say; and why not just eliminate dairy all together?  It really is not an essential part of our diets.  All other mammals are perfectly capable of living healthy lives without it after weaning.

Many women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer ask their doctor whether they should change their diet, but the general consensus within the medical community is that there is just too little research on the subject for them to give any specific advice.

Susan Kutner, chair at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Regional Breast Cancer Task Force, said:

"Women have been clamoring for this type of information.  They're asking us 'tell me what I should eat.'  With this information, we can be more specific about recommending low-fat dairy products."

Sally Greenbrook, Senior Policy Officer at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said:

"This study specifically looks at women who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer and how low or high fat dairy products may affect them.  Any women who have had beast cancer and are concerned about their diet should discuss this with their doctors.

"For a number of health reasons it's advisable that all women should follow a healthy balanced diet.  It helps you to maintain a healthy weight which, together with good practices such as low alcohol intake and regular physical activity, can help to reduce your breast cancer risk and improve overall wellbeing.  There are many risk factors to breast cancer, not just diet."

Diet is so important and is given very little credit.  If you want to know more about fighting disease with diet then I can recommend FORKS OVER KNIVES, HUNGRY FOR CHANGE and THE GERSON MIRACLE.  These are all available in DVD and book form, whichever you prefer, but they are incredible documentaries that will, I hope, change your life and health for the better.

Remember, you have the power to change.


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

Have your steak and eat it too!

It's been a year since my first article THE TRUTH ABOUT SATURATED FATS, so in light of new data I decided it was time for an update.

Saturated fat is still considered to be the number one culprit of clogged arteries and elevated risk of heart attacks in its devoted consumers.  However, there is new evidence emerging that health risks from the consumption of saturated fats really depends on the TYPE of fat being eaten.

It is thought that one particular type of saturated fat called stearic acid, found in cheese, beef, pork, skinless chicken, olive oil, milk and chocolate may actually protect against heart disease.

Stearic acid is just one of a few saturated fatty acids found in foods.  The others include lauric, myristic and palmitic acids.  Repeated studies have shown that stearic acid has no adverse effect on blood cholesterol levels or other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the same can not be said of the "others".

One study recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stated that eating lean beef on a daily basis improved cholesterol levels, the stearic acid in the beef was responsible for the positive changes.

Participants in the tudy on a daily diet of lean beef for 5 weeks, experienced a 5% drop in total cholesterol and a 4% drop in LDL (bad) cholesterol - almost equal to those in the control group on a diet high in fish, vegetable protein and poultry.  Also both groups kept their weight steady.

Dr. Michael Roussell, one of the study's authors from Pennsylvania State University, said that unlike processed meats such as sausages and ham, unadulterated red meat "brings a unique, heart-healthy blend of fats to the table".

Many myths and misconceptions have led the general public to wrongly believe that all saturated fats are bad when in fact, sensible amounts of foods rich in stearic acid such as red meat, can be eaten without fearing for their heart's health.

"There are different forms of saturated fat, and stearic acid isn't linked to heart disease." says Glenys Jones, a Nutritionist at the Medical Research Council's Human Nutrition Research Department in Cambridge.

"Other forms of saturated fat, such as the fat in butter, have a much stronger association and, of course, too much of any fat will result in obesity, which is a risk for heart disease itself."

Strangely enough, this "new" take on saturated fatty acids really isn't new at all and reaches as far back as 1957, when it was shown that cocoa butter did not raise blood cholesterol levels as much as the fat from the butter did.  Aslo, almost 25 years ago, a major study at the University of Texas demonstrated that not all saturated fats have the same negative effects.

The New England Journal of Medicine reported that saturated fats such as butter and coconut oil, which contain only trace amounts of stearic acid, had far more damaging effects on blood fats than red meat or chocolate.

The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) published a major report in 2011 that challenged the conventional beliefs about the effects of saturated fat in red meat.  In this document Dr. Carrie Ruxton, an independent dietician, confirmed there is "no conclusive link" between cardiovascular disease and red meat that contains some fatty acids, such as stearic acid, that protect the heart.

"There is less saturated fat in a grilled pork steak than in grilled chicken with the skin left on," she said.
"Studies have shown favorable effects of lean red meat consumption on blood pressure and cholesterol levels."

The amount of stearic acid varies depending on the different foods - the good news is that chocolate and red meat have the highes amounts.

Now, all this positive information is not a licence to gorge on anything and everything high in stearic acid.  The key, as with everything, is moderation.

"There is definite evidence that stearic acid has a neutral effect on cholesterol and cardiovascular risk," says Dr. Emma Williams, a BNF nutrition scientist, "However, in many foods stearic acid is lumped together with other saturated fatty acids which are less beneficial and can contribute to a rise in risks.  The truth is, no one has ever said people should cut out animal fats completely.  Just eat them sparingly."

The key, as I said, is moderation, but there is also another thing to keep in mind, and that is VARIATION.  The more varied a diet the better it is for your health.


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

Legal Drug Pushers

Food manufacturers are pushing drugs legally.  Salt, sugar and fat are just as dangerous to our health as other "hard drugs".  And, the western world has been hooked on these three for so long that no-one really knows when it started.

However, the side effects of these drugs are not the ones you would normally associate with "hard drugs".  Sugar - especially in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup, puts a great strain on the liver, raised levels of fat in the bloodstream and  a whole range of problems, which are all associated with cardiovascular disease.

Excessive intake of salt has been linked to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease and over-consumption of fat to obesity, diabetes and other related epidemics.

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for fat for women is 70g and for men 90-95g, for children aged 4-18 years of age it is 25-35% of total calories.  RDA for sugar for women is 25g or 6 teaspoons, men 37.5g or 9 teaspoons and children should keep sugar intake to 6g or less per day.  RDA for salt in adults is 2,300mg (2.3g) equivalent to about 1 teaspoon.  In children aged 2-3 years 1,000 mg (1g), ages 4-8 = 1,200 mg and ages 9-18 = 1,500 mg.

So what is being put in our food and why?

Food manufacturers put extra salt, sugar and fat in foods to make them taste better.  They even have a term for it: "BLISS POINT".  This is how manufacturers describe levels of sugar, fat and salt in processed foods that are so appealing they guarantee we will be coming back for more.

Michael Moss, an award winning investigative writer, has spent more than three years investigating the science of junk food for his new book: Salt, Sugar and Fat: How the food giants hooked us.

His investigations have uncovered an unsavory amount of tricks employed by food manufacturers to tempt us into buying foods that are often extremely unhealthy.  Tricks such as changing the physical shape of salt to altering the chemical make-up of sugar and even giving crisps a louder crunch.

Moss spoke to many executives and scientists at multinationals such as Pepsi, Kraft, Kelloggs, Unilever and Mars and discovered that at the heart of all the corporate strategies are three legal drugs: salt, fat and sugar.  Moss also found that there is no limit as to how far the industry will go to harness the seductive powers of these 3 drugs.

Companies use the results from MRI-scanning to study the sensory power of food - for example, how sugar lights up our brains the same way it does after someone has taken cocaine.

Their objective is to achieve the perfect link between food and pleasure in consumers' brains to make us come back for more, so the industry has become obsessed with finding that "BLISS POINT".

In the case of sugar, the Bliss Point is the precise amount of sweetness that makes food and drink most enjoyable.  There is a vast amount of work involved with pinpointing the Bliss Point; it means scientifically testing thousands of customers' preferences, intricate mathematical formulae, and analyzing surveys of populations for cultural and demographic differences.  For example; in China, people in the south of the country have a sweeter tooth than those in the north.  Bliss Points can also vary by age no just geographically; studies show that the Bliss Point for children can be an amazing 36% sugar content in food - three times that of most adults.

This means that the manufacturers who manage to hit on the most Bliss Points generate by far the biggest profits.  However, their profits come at a cost for the general public - those Bliss Points come with the side effects of many of their customers becoming dangerously obese and close to addiction.  The junk food industry even labels its most faithful customers as "HEAVY USERS", says Moss.

Moss, who works for the New York Times, managed to persuade three of the biggest food manufacturers to let him sample their products with significantly reduced levels of salt, sugar and fat, while researching his book.  He soon discovered how powerful these 3 ingredients can be.

Kellogg produced a salt-less version of a savory cracker that Moss loves:

"Without any salt, the crackers lost their magic.  They felt like straw, chewed like cardboard, and had zero taste," he says.

The same happened with soups, meats and breads that other manufacturers made for him including Campbell: "Take more than a little salt, or sugar or fat out of processed food, these experiments showed, and there is nothing left.  Or even worse, what is left are the inexorable consequences of food processing; repulsive tastes that are bitter, metallic and astringent."

However, it is still cheaper for food manufacturers to make sugar, salt and fat more alluring by interfering with their chemical make-up than attempting to make their products more appetizing.

Moss reports that Nestlé's scientists are actually modifying the distribution and shape of fat globules in foods to affect the way they feel in the mouth.

Research on brain reaction to food reveals that the pleasure of fatty foods is as much about the FEEL as the TASTE.  We feel fat through the trigeminal nerve, located above and behind the mouth.  It sends tactile information about fat to the brain, and the better the experience, the bigger the craving.

It isn't just the food manufacturers adding too much to processed foods.  At Cargill, the U.S. based world's leading salt supplier, scientists are pulverizing salt into a fine powder so that when consumed, it hits the taste buds faster and harder, improving the "flavor burst", says Moss.  It is developments such as these that have made crisps (potato chips) more irresistible than 20 years ago.

And it sin't just salt.  Sugar is also being altered in many different ways.  Not only have food scientists created enhancers to boost the sweetness of sugar by up to 200 times, one component, fructose, has also been crystalized into an additive that boosts the allure of foods with a naturally low content.

The Food and Drink Federation in Britain is keen to be seen in a friendly light and argues that its members are being responsible by lowering salt levels to help customers make healthy choices.

The Federation's Director of Food Safety, Science and Health, Barbara Gallani says:

"UK food and drink manufacturers' efforts to tackle obesity and diet-related diseases are long-standing."  

 She states that members of the Federation have voluntarily cut salt levels by 10% in the past 5 years and improved product labeling.

There is no current evidence that food is actually addictive, and Ms Gallani bases the Federation's defense on that,

"Recent scientific reviews show there is no evidence to suggest food addiction exists in people, either to specific foods or to nutrients like sugar or fat."

I am still trying to reconcile myself with her classing SUGAR as a NUTRIENT!

However, on the other side of the pond, Moss says no one is more aware of the problems caused by salt, sugar and fat than the processed food companies.

In 1999, the 11 heads of the largest U.S. food companies met in secret to discuss how to tackle the emerging obesity epidemic by managing recipes and strategies.  However, no positive action followed, these companies are totally dependent on these 3 ingredients and no one is willing to be the only one to probably lose profits against the others by producing healthier products for their customers.

In the UK, manufacturers have reduced salt in their products over the past 10 years.  However, obesity levels continue to rise, probably because companies have found a way to relieve the pressure put on them about making their products healthier.

Moss explains in his book that when food makers have to reduce on of the three key ingredients, they often increase the levels of the other two to make up for the lost appeal.  Therefore, products labeled "low salt" may have higher levels of fat and sugar.

"It is one of the industry's most devious moves," says Moss, that is why we must all be very wary of products whose labels proclaim: "Now low in..."

Proof of this is in the fact that most executives at the big food companies tend not to eat their own products, according to Moss,

"I found that many of the executives I talked to go out of their way to avoid their own products," he says, "especially if they have run into health problems." 

They prefer to eat fresh foods and take regular exercise to stay fit and healthy.

I believe that if the industry is going to put its customers first then the way to go is to gradually reduce salt, fat and sugar over time.  There is evidence that our taste buds do adapt over time.  Obviously a drastic cut too quickly would be rejected but a gradual one would go unnoticed.  However, if you really want to be healthy, my advice is to follow the example of the executives and eat fresh foods and take regular exercise - processed foods are not doing any of us any favors.


Social Nutrition:
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