So...its been 3 months since I've written, but it has been a long summer. I have been applying to residencies, taking boards, and trying to enjoy myself in between, so I apologize for the lack of posts. New ones to come soon.
David
Monday, August 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Let the fun begin...
...enough with the boring stuff.
The Myth: Sea Salt is healthier for you
'Junk Food' Equivalent: Table Salt
Recently there has been yet another diet trend that has taken over our labels and even fast food restaurants. SEA SALT. From Wendy's™ to Planter's™Peanuts, this stuff is being used everywhere. And there is this myth going around that it is better for you than regular salt. Hmmmm....really? Salt in general has been under a lot of heat lately, so what's all this fuss really about?
Well I'll tell you right now, sea salt is not better for you...sorry. Nor are Wendy's new "Natural Cut Fries." In fact, they contain more sodium than the original ones did. And what's natural about them? They cut them with the skins on. Yep that's it. And Wendy's boasts that this "keeps them crisper and hot for longer." Right Wendy's, I'm sure its the skin on the end. It has nothing to do with the sodium acid pyrophosphate that keeps them from turing brown. It also has nothing to do with the fact that you fry them twice, once before shipping. Oh and the dextrose you powder them with, that doesn't preserve them at all. That skin is mighty powerful.
This is a perfect example of food industry trickery. A company takes a food, calls it natural, and it tricks people into thinking it is healthier. The CEO actually said that he couldn't actually make them all natural without raising the price. So instead he labeled them natural-cut. Typical. Okay, enough on that rant.
Table salt is sodium chloride, and its the sodium we worry about. Too much of this (which trust me we all get way too much) can have some negative effects on our health, the main one being that it is directly correlated to the development of high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases your risk for kidney disease, stroke, heart attack...thing you don't want. Current recommendation is to keep sodium intake under 2300mg a day, 1500mg if you're over 51, are African American, or have high blood pressure already. Good luck. This can be hard to do.
So why sea salt? Sea salt has a slightly different make-up than table salt. It contains a few different minerals in it, but the amounts of these are really tiny. The truth is that sea salt has almost an identical amount of sodium in it as table salt. The real difference is in the taste. Some people say it tastes 'less salty.' But didn't you put salt on your food so it tasted MORE salty? I don't get it. I would imagine you have to have a pretty sophisticated palate to tell the difference.
So there you go snooty salters. Sea salt away, just don't look down on us table salters, okay?
The Myth: Sea Salt is healthier for you
'Junk Food' Equivalent: Table Salt
Recently there has been yet another diet trend that has taken over our labels and even fast food restaurants. SEA SALT. From Wendy's™ to Planter's™Peanuts, this stuff is being used everywhere. And there is this myth going around that it is better for you than regular salt. Hmmmm....really? Salt in general has been under a lot of heat lately, so what's all this fuss really about?
This is a perfect example of food industry trickery. A company takes a food, calls it natural, and it tricks people into thinking it is healthier. The CEO actually said that he couldn't actually make them all natural without raising the price. So instead he labeled them natural-cut. Typical. Okay, enough on that rant.
Table salt is sodium chloride, and its the sodium we worry about. Too much of this (which trust me we all get way too much) can have some negative effects on our health, the main one being that it is directly correlated to the development of high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases your risk for kidney disease, stroke, heart attack...thing you don't want. Current recommendation is to keep sodium intake under 2300mg a day, 1500mg if you're over 51, are African American, or have high blood pressure already. Good luck. This can be hard to do.
So why sea salt? Sea salt has a slightly different make-up than table salt. It contains a few different minerals in it, but the amounts of these are really tiny. The truth is that sea salt has almost an identical amount of sodium in it as table salt. The real difference is in the taste. Some people say it tastes 'less salty.' But didn't you put salt on your food so it tasted MORE salty? I don't get it. I would imagine you have to have a pretty sophisticated palate to tell the difference.
So there you go snooty salters. Sea salt away, just don't look down on us table salters, okay?
Friday, May 6, 2011
Groundwork: Fats
Okay so apparently becoming a doctor takes a lot of work, and a lot of time. Hence why this post is 1 month later than the last. My apologies. I am in the process of studying for my boards in 2 weeks and have little time. This will not be the trend. Anyway, emerge science nerd.
The next groundwork topic is fat. I stressed a great deal that many fat-free food items are loaded with carbs to make up for taste, but there HAS to be a benefit from lowering fat right? Yes, there is. But the misconception is that ALL fat is bad. No worries, it isn't your fault. I will explain.
When you go to the doctor for a check-up, they measure your 'cholesterol'. This consists of LDL, HDL, Triglycerides, and Total Cholesterol. Your LDL is the 'bad cholesterol'. Basically, it takes the cholesterol you eat/make and delivers it to your organs and tissues. We want this number under 100 (in a perfect world). HDL is your 'good cholesterol'. It does the opposite, takes cholesterol out of your tissues/organs and metabolizes them. In order to be HEART PROTECTIVE, this number should be above 60. Triglycerides are the fats in your blood. Less than 150 and you're doing pretty good. And you want your total cholesterol to be less than 200. So ideally you would like low LDL, high HDL, low triglycerides. This is considered a low risk for heart problems. It also bodes well for a slimmer/healthier body, but this is not always true. High LDL and low HDL is associated with a pretty large increase in cardiovascular issues like heart attack and stroke. So how do these numbers get changed?
There are many types of fats in our food. Look at the label and you will see this. However, a lot of foods have only a few types listed. Lets start with the worst.
TRANS FATS: These are nasty. They sometimes occur naturally, but mostly are due to our own hydrogenation of oils. These bad boys RAISE your LDL, which means bad things for your heart. Not only that, they LOWER your HDL. Also bad news. This is why so many foods are posting on the front of their bags "Contains zero Trans Fats." How nice of them.
SATURATED FATS: You know these. They are everywhere. Red meat and dairy namely. These guys RAISE your LDL also, but do not lower HDL. No good. These fats are the ones that most doctors today will blame on many peoples heart issues. And rightfully so. Studies have proven the correlation. Stay away
MONOUNSATURATED FATS: Now here we arrive at the 'good' guys. These fats are found best in olive oil and canola oil. Monounsaturated fats, when substituted in place of saturated fats, have been shown to LOWER LDL, LOWER Triglycerides, and keep HDL the SAME. This is fabulous. In fact, consumption of these has been shown to decrease heart disease.
POLYUNSATURATED FATS: There are 2 types of these, we call them Omega 3 and Omega 6. These fats I will say are in general good. The Omega 6 fats are found in safflower, sunflower, and corn oil. They LOWER LDL, LOWER Triglycerides, and LOWER HDL. Mostly good. The Omega 3 fats have little effect on your cholesterol, but do decrease the amount of clotting your blood does, which can help decrease the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes. These are found in fish oils.
So in a nutshell, saying that a low fat diet is good for you isn't necessarily true. I would argue that it doesn't matter as much the quantity of fat that is in your food, but the quality. This is why I say that low-fat dressing is sometimes better than no-fat dressing. It doesn't have the added carbs, and it has less of the bad fats. A nice BALANCE. Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats should be the main sources of fat that you eat. Its been proven by many medical studies. If something has 5g of fat, with zero Saturated Fat, chances are the 5g are from these 2. This might make you look at food a little differently.
So as far as diet, this means limiting red meat, drinking non-fat milk, replacing your cooking oils with olive or canola oil which taste fabulous), eating more fish, and eliminating butter from your diet. And no, margarine is not that much better (we'll talk about this later).
Another Pearl: A low fat diet actually results in less weight loss at 6 months than a low sugar/carb diet. At 12 months the weight loss is the same, but this usually is because the people on the low carb diet relapse. So if you stick with it, I would argue that low sugar, medium fat diet is best. This will maximize weight loss and with the right fats lower your cholesterol and triglycerides, which will overall improve your health. Most dietitians will say that fat should be less than 30% of your total calories. And of that 30%, try to do as little saturated fat as possible. Your heart and body will thank you. Oh and EXERCISE!
Ok so that is mainly it for groundwork. The next post (which will come quick) will be about something that seems to have been the newest trend in "health" lately, yet isn't so healthy.
P.S. Here is an alternative to butter my wife and I use DAILY. It tastes awesome but has zero everything. And we use it for everything besides baking.
Olivio Spray Butter
The next groundwork topic is fat. I stressed a great deal that many fat-free food items are loaded with carbs to make up for taste, but there HAS to be a benefit from lowering fat right? Yes, there is. But the misconception is that ALL fat is bad. No worries, it isn't your fault. I will explain.
When you go to the doctor for a check-up, they measure your 'cholesterol'. This consists of LDL, HDL, Triglycerides, and Total Cholesterol. Your LDL is the 'bad cholesterol'. Basically, it takes the cholesterol you eat/make and delivers it to your organs and tissues. We want this number under 100 (in a perfect world). HDL is your 'good cholesterol'. It does the opposite, takes cholesterol out of your tissues/organs and metabolizes them. In order to be HEART PROTECTIVE, this number should be above 60. Triglycerides are the fats in your blood. Less than 150 and you're doing pretty good. And you want your total cholesterol to be less than 200. So ideally you would like low LDL, high HDL, low triglycerides. This is considered a low risk for heart problems. It also bodes well for a slimmer/healthier body, but this is not always true. High LDL and low HDL is associated with a pretty large increase in cardiovascular issues like heart attack and stroke. So how do these numbers get changed?
There are many types of fats in our food. Look at the label and you will see this. However, a lot of foods have only a few types listed. Lets start with the worst.
TRANS FATS: These are nasty. They sometimes occur naturally, but mostly are due to our own hydrogenation of oils. These bad boys RAISE your LDL, which means bad things for your heart. Not only that, they LOWER your HDL. Also bad news. This is why so many foods are posting on the front of their bags "Contains zero Trans Fats." How nice of them.
SATURATED FATS: You know these. They are everywhere. Red meat and dairy namely. These guys RAISE your LDL also, but do not lower HDL. No good. These fats are the ones that most doctors today will blame on many peoples heart issues. And rightfully so. Studies have proven the correlation. Stay away
MONOUNSATURATED FATS: Now here we arrive at the 'good' guys. These fats are found best in olive oil and canola oil. Monounsaturated fats, when substituted in place of saturated fats, have been shown to LOWER LDL, LOWER Triglycerides, and keep HDL the SAME. This is fabulous. In fact, consumption of these has been shown to decrease heart disease.
POLYUNSATURATED FATS: There are 2 types of these, we call them Omega 3 and Omega 6. These fats I will say are in general good. The Omega 6 fats are found in safflower, sunflower, and corn oil. They LOWER LDL, LOWER Triglycerides, and LOWER HDL. Mostly good. The Omega 3 fats have little effect on your cholesterol, but do decrease the amount of clotting your blood does, which can help decrease the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes. These are found in fish oils.
So in a nutshell, saying that a low fat diet is good for you isn't necessarily true. I would argue that it doesn't matter as much the quantity of fat that is in your food, but the quality. This is why I say that low-fat dressing is sometimes better than no-fat dressing. It doesn't have the added carbs, and it has less of the bad fats. A nice BALANCE. Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats should be the main sources of fat that you eat. Its been proven by many medical studies. If something has 5g of fat, with zero Saturated Fat, chances are the 5g are from these 2. This might make you look at food a little differently.
So as far as diet, this means limiting red meat, drinking non-fat milk, replacing your cooking oils with olive or canola oil which taste fabulous), eating more fish, and eliminating butter from your diet. And no, margarine is not that much better (we'll talk about this later).
Another Pearl: A low fat diet actually results in less weight loss at 6 months than a low sugar/carb diet. At 12 months the weight loss is the same, but this usually is because the people on the low carb diet relapse. So if you stick with it, I would argue that low sugar, medium fat diet is best. This will maximize weight loss and with the right fats lower your cholesterol and triglycerides, which will overall improve your health. Most dietitians will say that fat should be less than 30% of your total calories. And of that 30%, try to do as little saturated fat as possible. Your heart and body will thank you. Oh and EXERCISE!
Ok so that is mainly it for groundwork. The next post (which will come quick) will be about something that seems to have been the newest trend in "health" lately, yet isn't so healthy.
P.S. Here is an alternative to butter my wife and I use DAILY. It tastes awesome but has zero everything. And we use it for everything besides baking.
Olivio Spray Butter
Friday, April 8, 2011
Groundwork: Sugar
So before I go into specific foods/issues, I need to lay a foundation on which I will build a lot of my future posts. This is where the giant science nerd with no friends comes out. Sorry I will keep it basic and interesting (or try).
Many people understand that if you eat fat, the nutrients that your body absorb are the building blocks of fat. That's easy. What a lot of people don't understand that if you eat sugar, you get the building blocks of sugar AND fat. Sugar has a ton of pathways in the body after it is broken down into its simplest form (glucose). I won't even start to go into them. But the main pathway typically takes glucose and produces energy for our cells to function. This is good. The problem occurs when we ingest too much sugar. The enzymes that normally break it down into energy get shut off, and they start to divert the process to produce more of a building molecule for fat (acetyl-CoA). This is bad.
Another thing that happens when we eat sugar is we release a hormone to push that sugar into our cells. This is called Insulin. I dare you to ask any diabetic what they think of Insulin...and don't take their response personally. What Insulin also does is cause the body to take fat and store it in fat cells.
So lets recap: we eat too much sugar, and we make fat. Then our body takes that fat and stores it in fat cells. Then we get fat. Awesome.
Some red flags that something has too much sugar in it: High Fructose Corn Syrup (concentrated sugar), high carbohydrate count (with low fiber), and sugar as one of the first few ingredients on the list (yes, they list them in order of content, highest being first)
So what does this have to do with the myths I am supposed to reveal to you about 'nutritious food'? It revolves around the sometimes manipulative words "FAT FREE". Next time you're in the grocery store, grab a product that has a normal version and a fat free version. I will give you an example. Let's do Ranch Dressing. Kraft™ regular ranch has the following:
Its Fat Free version looks like this:
So yes, there is a lot less fat (never 0, there can be less than 0.5g and they are allowed to still put 0). And yes there are fewer calories. However take a look at the carb count. 1.3g in the regular, and 10.7 in the Fat Free!!!!! That's over 8x the carbs per serving. Not to mention nearly twice the added sugar, and the fact that they BOTH have corn syrup. So while you think you are doing well by reducing the calories significantly, there are hidden consequences going on in your body that you don't see.
This is not a very extreme example, I'll be honest. So let's look at one. Hershey™ boasts their low-fat candy (0 Sat Fat), Twizzlers™. Zero Saturated Fat! GREAT! Not so much:
It is interesting to think that your body will make fat from this, even though the label showed none. Now not all fat free foods are like this. Some really do take the fat away without trying to add sugar to mask the flavor. Next time you go for fat free, make sure you check the label.
In my next post I will tell you why high fat isn't necessarily bad. Then we will get down to bashing specific foods : )
DISLAIMER: Now...I am not encouraging a high fat diet, nor am I saying that reducing calories does not matter. We all know that calories in < calories burned = weight loss. Calories simply tell you how much energy your body uses to break food down. But remember my focus is not always calorie based, it is nutrition based (which sometimes will involve calories). However, if the amount of calories (big or small) you are eating are unhealthy, you are doing no good for your body.
Many people understand that if you eat fat, the nutrients that your body absorb are the building blocks of fat. That's easy. What a lot of people don't understand that if you eat sugar, you get the building blocks of sugar AND fat. Sugar has a ton of pathways in the body after it is broken down into its simplest form (glucose). I won't even start to go into them. But the main pathway typically takes glucose and produces energy for our cells to function. This is good. The problem occurs when we ingest too much sugar. The enzymes that normally break it down into energy get shut off, and they start to divert the process to produce more of a building molecule for fat (acetyl-CoA). This is bad.
Another thing that happens when we eat sugar is we release a hormone to push that sugar into our cells. This is called Insulin. I dare you to ask any diabetic what they think of Insulin...and don't take their response personally. What Insulin also does is cause the body to take fat and store it in fat cells.
So lets recap: we eat too much sugar, and we make fat. Then our body takes that fat and stores it in fat cells. Then we get fat. Awesome.
Some red flags that something has too much sugar in it: High Fructose Corn Syrup (concentrated sugar), high carbohydrate count (with low fiber), and sugar as one of the first few ingredients on the list (yes, they list them in order of content, highest being first)
So what does this have to do with the myths I am supposed to reveal to you about 'nutritious food'? It revolves around the sometimes manipulative words "FAT FREE". Next time you're in the grocery store, grab a product that has a normal version and a fat free version. I will give you an example. Let's do Ranch Dressing. Kraft™ regular ranch has the following:
This is not a very extreme example, I'll be honest. So let's look at one. Hershey™ boasts their low-fat candy (0 Sat Fat), Twizzlers™. Zero Saturated Fat! GREAT! Not so much:
It is interesting to think that your body will make fat from this, even though the label showed none. Now not all fat free foods are like this. Some really do take the fat away without trying to add sugar to mask the flavor. Next time you go for fat free, make sure you check the label.
In my next post I will tell you why high fat isn't necessarily bad. Then we will get down to bashing specific foods : )
DISLAIMER: Now...I am not encouraging a high fat diet, nor am I saying that reducing calories does not matter. We all know that calories in < calories burned = weight loss. Calories simply tell you how much energy your body uses to break food down. But remember my focus is not always calorie based, it is nutrition based (which sometimes will involve calories). However, if the amount of calories (big or small) you are eating are unhealthy, you are doing no good for your body.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
I never thought I would do this...
...but I'm going to start a blog. I think. To be honest, I never thought I would blog. The thought of writing my thoughts to a computer screen is very unappealing to me. But this blog will be different. Here's why:
I always, and I mean always see diet fads and foods. We all do. The problem I have is when these food items or programs are misleading. Trust me, it happens so often it will make you sick. 'Low fat' isn't always the best choice. Sometimes 'may help lower cholesterol' is a very manipulative statement. And what really gets me is when a program is called 'Slim Fast', yet the meal replacers contain as much sugar and calories as a 100 Grand bar. So what is the difference? Vitamins?
Health is something that is very important to me. My wife and I love exercising and we eat very healthy. We read labels on everything we buy. We also are food ADDICTS. I'm serious, there is rarely a day I turn down ice cream or dessert. I love a good BBQ cheeseburger and a beer. I can't imagine life with boring food, nor do I think you should either. I am NOT vegan, nor do I believe that is how we were meant to live. However I do believe that what we eat is more than calories, more than fat content, and more than not eating sweets. Its about nutrition, and its about quality of foods, and its about being healthy.
So here is the premise. I am going to show you ways in which the 'healthy' or 'diet' food we eat isn't always what it seems. I will pick out specific foods sometimes, and other times I will make it more general like the topic of 'low fat' or 'cereal'. If I pick a specific so-called 'healthy' food or product, I will give you a 'junk food' equivalent. This should surprise you : ) I will also give you an alternative, something that I think tastes very close or identical, and is much more nutritious for you. Sometimes the tips will be about losing weight, other times it will be about general health. But this is something I am very interested in, and I wish that our food industry would be real and straight forward with us. So I'll be doing it for them.
I will do my research and think these through so I won't be posting every day by any means. And to establish a little credibility behind this: I am a 3rd year medical student. I have a bachelors in biology which includes multiple health/nutrition courses. I am going to be a doctor (one day). I am NOT a nutritionist/dietician. They know far more than me about this stuff. However, they are hard to find : ) And like I said, I live/eat healthy and read a lot about this. So I'll let you decide what to believe, I am always open for criticism. I think you will be quite surprised.
Hope you enjoy!!
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