The Whole Food Blog

In the search for quality health food, consumers are wise to understand 3 tricks of the food trade that get people to make unhealthy choices.  For starters, read a new book called, The End of Overeating by David Kessler.  A former Commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the 90’s, Kessler was responsible for redesigning and overhauling the Nutrition Facts labels on packaged food.

Health food consumers will appreciate how this brutally honest book exposes the food industry for taking advantage of consumer behavior to turn us all into “overeaters”.  Kessler says, “They understand that sugar, fat and salt drive consumption.  They’ve layered and layered it into foods.  They understand the combinations that will drive intake by giving you the greatest neural activation.”

Kessler talks about foods that trigger emotional excitement and pleasure in the brain.  He writes, “The food industry knows your bliss points-how much sugar, fat, and salt are just enough and not too much.  And they understand how to keep people coming back for more.” Unfortunately, most health food stores carry many products that are guilty of this practice, as well.

In fact, the food industry strives to “hit the 3 points of the compass-sugar, salt and fat.  The best foods mix 2 or 3 of them for a real exciting roller coaster ride in the mouth.”  The problem is that this combination sets off a roller coaster ride in the body which usually ends with an unhealthy crash.  Sugar is the real driving force, but when you add fat to sugar, the desire increases exponentially.  Most of the food Americans eat today is loaded with excess sugar, salt and fat.  Carefully shopping for health food has never been more important in an effort to fight back and take control.

Fitness fanatics searching for the best nutrition for athletes should be cautious about including protein drinks in their diet.  Most Americans eat far too much protein, overtaxing organs such as kidneys and liver.  All those protein drinks and muscle blasters with whey protein cause more health problems than people realize.  The body cannot easily digest most protein drinks because they are usually made from “isolated” protein, which clogs the lymphatic system.

Experts agree that the best nutrition for athletes, including protein, should come from whole foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts.  This way the nutrients are attached to live enzymes and are in their whole food structure so that the body can absorb them most efficiently.
Protein drinks often contain excess sugar, “isolated” protein, “isolated” vitamins and minerals, and numerous artificial ingredients that do not contribute to proper nutrition for athletes.

These 5 facts are usually overlooked when consumers choose protein drinks:

1.    A bull grows from 60 lbs at birth to 600 lbs in 6-8 months and eats only plant based food, obtaining all the protein it needs without consuming meat or protein drinks.

2.    Gorillas are among the strongest creatures on the planet and they don’t eat meat.

3.    Protein is used for the body’s repair, not for energy.

4.    A human does not need to eat muscle to grow muscle

5.  The body has to work harder to break down large protein molecules from meat and dairy products.

The best way to obtain the highest quality nutrition for athletes is by consuming concentrated whole food protein drinks with “bioavailable” protein.  That means it is easy to digest and metabolize so the cells can do the real repair work that needs to be done.   This is how muscles are built.

When searching for ways to obtain dietary fiber each day, oatmeal is one of the best high fiber foods to eat.  Research has shown that oatmeal may diminish the risk of heart disease, have a positive effect on the immune system, reduce bad cholesterol levels, provide a lower Glycemic Index (GI) rating and contribute to natural weight loss.  Oatmeal is truly one of the healthiest high fiber foods anyone can eat.

Whole grain oats contain a soluble fiber that lessens the risk of cardiovascular disease by reducing bad cholesterol.  Soluble fiber is good because it helps the digestive system eliminate bile acids made from LDL “bad” cholesterol.  This process removes LDL bad cholesterol from the blood where it may be harmful to the heart.  Of all grains, oats have the highest proportion of soluble fiber, another reason that oatmeal leads the list of high fiber foods.

Oats are an excellent source of VITAMIN B 6, which helps to maintain the health of lymphoid organs (thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes).  These organs produce a group of immune cells active in healing, repair and anti-inflammation throughout the body.  Fighting inflammation alleviates arthritis and contributes to healthy aging, another great reason to eat high fiber foods, such as oatmeal.

One of the most popular benefits of eating oatmeal is that it contributes to natural weight loss.  Dietary fiber satisfies hunger by making you feel full, so that fewer calories are consumed throughout the day.  It also helps maintain blood sugar balance as oats are high fiber foods that result in a lower Glycemic Index (GI rating).