BIG NEWS, LITTLE BERRY

Melissa asked in the comment section of the blog about the Acai Berry diet. 

“What kind of diet do you guys think I should be on while taking acai berry and what workout plan works the best with it?

It’s all over the Internet.  The Acai Berry diet.  Even Dr. Oz on Oprah’s show, touted the health benefits of the Acai Berry , from the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. 

He’s right. 

The Acai Berry contains anti-oxidants and, like many berries, many of which grow in the U.S., Acai Berries support the body’s natural cleansing.  It’s that cleansing action that aids weight loss.

You can find all sorts of Internet claims for the Acai Berry:

“I lost 30 pounds in 3 months.”

“I lost 20 pounds in 2 months.” 

Some use the Acai Berry diet alone, some take it with a colon cleanse.  (Ever done a colon cleanse?  Had fun, did you?  I didn’t think so…)

The Acai Berry has become big business, along with African Mango, for quick, no-effort, weight loss.

Many berries, though, are high in anti-oxidants.  Berries are good for you.  They

• neutralize free radicals,
• reduce belly fat, (the fat stomach)
• promote urinary tract health,
• preserve vision,
• support brain health. 
• With their high fiber content they even dissolve “bad” cholesterol,
• control constipation,
• fight cancer. 

WOW!  It’s an impressive list! 

Red, blue, and black berries do all this.  They’re really good for you!

This includes Acai berries, but also more common blueberries.  Those little round blue berries are in every produce section in the country.  And, blueberries come from a lot closer to home than either African mango or Acai Berries!

What’s with this fascination with exotic berries?  We’re looking for the magic potion which will answer our obesity fixation without personal sacrifice?

Does it bother you at all that this magic potion comes from a distant rain forest?  The berries are imported, even though we have farmers growing healthy blue berries right here at home?

Acai Berries are sustainably grown.  Right?  Or are we contributing to destruction of the rain forest with our purchases?

They’re shipped from Brazil to the U.S.  How far is that?  What resources are used to get those berries to our plates?

We Americans are fascinated with quick, health gimicks, especially when they promise easy solutions that don’t involve personal sacrifice. We’re easily motivated by advertisers with astoundingly exaggerated weight loss claims.

If you’re committed to the Acai Berry diet, though, or a diet including other berries, what foods should you include and what sort of exercise will bring best results?  Melissa’s question again,

“What kind of diet do you guys think I should be on while taking acai berry and what workout plan works the best with it?”

Let’s talk about that on the next post!

Stay with me,

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We’re getting fatter.  All of us.

Most of us weigh 25 pounds more than we weighed 20 years ago.  And, it’s not just a U.S. problem.

It’s a world wide trend.

Dr. David Ludwig, Boston Children’s Hospital,

says doctors worldwide are seeing 6-month-old

children (babies!) who are obese.

Come on!  Read that again.  Doctors are seeing 6-month-old children already obese.  This is not due to lack of exercise and too much food!  These are babies we’re talking about.

There must be another reason.  Something we’re not seeing, or not admitting.

Babies–the canary in the mineshaft.

Ira Flatow, NPR, “Science Friday;” (I love “Science Friday;” I’m a regular listener.)  But in an interview Friday he parroted the same useless factoids we’ve heard for years,

“We’re driving cars, sitting at computers–not exercising enough to burn all the calories we eat.” 

Too many calories; not enough exercise. We’ve heard that song too long

I say, “Horse Pucky!”

I know we’re more sedentary and we’re eating more food, but that by itself doesn’t account for the obesity of babies!  There’s something else going on.

WHY are we eating so much more? 

WHY are so many children at risk for Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic Syndrome: 

•  abdominal obesity

• heart disease (high triglycerides, high LDL choles, low HDL)

• high blood pressure

• prediabetic, insulin resistant

Calories and little exercise.  That talk doesn’t go far enough to explain this alarming trend.

Could it be something we’re eating that’s causing havoc in bodies all over the globe?

Something a lot of us are eating a lot of?

“The number one source of calories in the U.S. is high fructose corn syrup…the food that most people get

MOST of their calories from is high fructose corn syrup, primarily in the form of soft drinks,” Dr. Mercola:

http://articles.mercola.com

If High Fructose Corn Syrup is the number one source of calories in most people’s diets perhaps we should take a look at it.

Let’s talk.  Where did HFCS come from?  Why is it used in so many processed foods?  Is this just more talk about too much sugar in our diets?  What’s the difference between plain old sugar and fructose corn syrup anyway?  It’s just sugar.  Right?

Take care of yourself and I’ll see you next time,

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Cleansing is the answer to almost every health problem.  I don’t mean cleansing will cure every health problem.  Only the body cures.  Cleansing is an aid to the body’s natural healing. 

Our bodies have built-in systems to deal with disease, bacteria and viral invaders, and toxins.  Under all circumstances the body seeks to remain in homeostasis. According to Websters dictionary homeostasis is “the tendency to maintain normal stability in an organism by coordinated responses of the organ systems that automatically compensate for environmental changes, maintaining equilibrium.”

The liver is the great filtering system of the body.  Everything we eat goes through this organ and is broken down into usable “pieces,” which are carried to feed cells.  Toxins broken down into smaller components are sent to elimination organs skin, colon, and kidneys. 

When the liver encounters toxic substances that cannot be broken down (heavy metals aluminum, and mercury, artificial fertilizers, pesticides, compounds in plastics, for example) it sequesters/stores these substances in fat tissue that it manufactures to keep harmful substances away from vital organs.  Fat is deposited around the liver, on the stomach, upper arms, and thighs. It’s a protective mechanism, but we notice with annoyance flabby arms, fat stomach, and heavy thighs.

When toxin levels are continual and high the body becomes overwhelmed.  As a culture we don’t routinely cleanse with natural herbs and potions as our grandparents did.  Many cultures worldwide still do a cleanse when the seasons change, but we’ve given that up as old-fashioned folk medicine.

The body isn’t given time to cleanse itself.  Many of us eat too much, and this too, overloads protective systems.  When this goes on for some time we become used to the signals of distress our body sends us, and we ignore those signals, or worse yet, we cover up signals with pain pills, many of which damage the liver the very organ assigned to police the bloodstream.

Just the other day I’d read again that the sweetner xylitol is quite good for teeth.  I bought some gum with xylitol and through the day chewed 2-3 sticks.  Later that day I noticed a headache that stayed with me the rest of the day.  I rarely have headaches so I assumed it was something I’d eaten recently.  I checked ingredients on the gum package and, sure enough, an artificial sweetner was listed. 

I’m hoping there are other gums with xylitol that don’t also contain artificial sweetners.  Artificial sweetners are chemicals that act directly on the brain to fool the brain into sweetness. This one was toxic and my body let me know.

What foods do you know are toxic to you?  Gluten? Milk? Monosodium glutamate?  Share your experiences with us below in the comment box.

Our bodies are sensitive They do let us know when something is out-of-whack.  Our job is to listen to our bodies, take those messages seriously, and get to the source of the problem. 

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