Dr. Jonny Bowden

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  • The Most Important Tip for Holiday Eating

    Wonderful as they may be for everything else, when it comes to sticking to a weight loss plan, holidays can be downright deadly.

    Since holiday eating can mean so many things-  family stuff, office parties, special desserts, the inevitable boxes of cookies at the office water cooler- it’s hard to come up with one sure-fire strategy that will work for everyone in all situations.

    There is, however, one strategy you can use that will invariably make a difference no matter what the particulars of the situation. And it can be summed up in one word:

    Rehearsal.

    Most of us know what we’re going up against in situations where we’ve previously encountered trouble. For some it’s the sight of the Thanksgiving table and relatives you haven’t seen all year. For others, it’s virtually everyone in the office bringing in their aunt’s special Christmas cookies. For still others it’s the stress eating associated with the mixed emotions of family reunions and juggling even more commitments than the usual overload. Even vacations can be stressful, and if they happen to involve airports at holiday time, fuggedaboudit.

    Add it all up and you’ve got a potential disaster. You’re looking at emotional and physical overload, and what that means for your waistline (let alone your sense of well-being) is not good.

    Rehearsing a problem situation in your mind before it happens helps you to arm yourself with strategies, visualize yourself doing them, and experience the positive results. That way you’re not caught unprepared, and you can actually practice reacting to a variety of dangerous situations.

    Rehearsal is what coaches do with their athletes; it’s what boxing trainers do with their fighters. “When he throws that left hook, you step in under and throw a right to the body”, says the coach, basically “rehearsing” the moves his athlete will make using the tools of visualization and planning. Studies have shown improvement in sports performance just by doing visualization exercises. Basketball players who mentally rehearse shots perform better than those who don’t; pianists who spend 30 minutes mentally rehearsing a passage perform that passage almost as well as they would if they had actually physically practiced it.

    You can do the same thing with the holidays.

    Of course to do this effectively, you have to be clear on what you want to happen. That’s why I like using a tool I call the “proactive food journal”. Here’s how to do it: Pick a day, visualize what it’s going to be like, where you’re going to be and with whom. Think about what food is likely to be available. When you’re likely to be hungry. What the circumstances are going to be. (Is your Aunt Tina going to be there insisting you try her special key lime pie? Are you going to be in a restaurant known for it’s creme brule and homemade breads? Are you going to be in a fast-food restaurant taking care of six  kids? Is your sister that you hate going to be there watching everything you eat and sitting in silent judgment?)

    Now write down what you’re going to eat. Decide in advance, and decide early in the day, or the night before. Visualize the situation. If there’s temptation or anxiety, close your eyes and picture it. Hear in your mind’s ear what people will say. See yourself responding in a way that would make you proud of yourself, whatever that is. It might mean allowing yourself one or two bites of something “off your diet”, it might mean being spartan. The point here is not what you choose, but that you choose it.

    And that you then stick to it.

    As Sondheim wrote, “The choice may have been mistaken. The chosing was not”. The point here is to put you in charge of what happens, not the circumstances.

    If you can accomplish that, you have begun a journey that will not only help you manage your weight, but will empower you in all areas of your life.

    Here are 7 of my favorite tips on how to use visualization to help you with holiday eating:

    1. Close your eyes and really picture the situation clearly.
    2. Ask yourself whether what’s being offered is going to be something that supports you in what you’re doing or takes you off course.
    3. Decide what you wish to allow yourself to indulge in- if anything- and when you decide to do it, indulge in it with gusto.
    4. Make the choice and take the action.
    5. Don’t arrive hungry. A cup of soup or vegetable juice before arriving at a big event will help keep you in charge of your own actions.
    6. Remember that stress leads to stress eating. Stress management is a critical part of managing weight gain during the holiday season!
    7. If you do indulge, for goodness sake enjoy it!

    Have a wonderful and healthy holiday season!

    This is just 1 of the terrific articles you’ll find in my eBook Weight Loss Coach Handbook, Volume I

  • The Two Most Effective Strategies for Keeping Weight Off

    There’s a ton of info out there on how to lose weight, but not nearly as much on how to keep it off. But that’s about to change. Recently, one of the largest dietary studies in Europe was completed, and it sheds a lot of light on the question of what to do to keep the scale from inching back up.

    The study- known as the Diogenes Study– offers clear evidence that choosing foods higher in protein and lower on the glycemic index is the most effective strategy for preventing weight regain.

    The Diogenes study enrolled 772 European families, which included 938 overweight adults. In the first stage of the study, participants were put on a very low calorie diet for eight weeks, during which the average weight loss was 24 pounds.

    But this wasn’t’ the interesting part of the study. (After all, it’s no big surprise that if you literally starve people they’ll drop weight.) The interesting part of the study was what happened in the next phase.

    After eight weeks, the researchers randomly assigned the 772 adults who had completed the eight-week weight loss diet to one of five maintenance diets, which they stayed on for six months. The researchers were interested in finding out what type of food plan made it easier to keep the weight off. (Note: none of the diets involved calorie counting.)

    Here are the five diet conditions:

    1. Group one: Low protein (13% of calories), high glycemic index
    2. Group two:  Low protein, low glycemic index
    3. Group three: High protein (25% of calories) low glycemic index
    4. Group four: High protein, high glycemic index
    5. Group five: Standard, “current dietary recommendations”… (the European version of our food pyramid)

    The average weight regain across the board, blending all groups, was about 1.1 pounds. But there was a big difference between the groups.

    The poorest results were obtained by the low-protein, high-GI diet (group one). They were the only group to have significant weight regain (gaining back about 3.7 pounds on average).

    The best results by far were obtained by the high-protein low-GI group. More participants from this group actually completed the study leading one to suspect it’s a much easier plan to stay with. And both high-protein and low-glycemic index independently improved the results. Those in the higher protein conditions had on average 2 pounds less regain than those in the lower-protein conditions; those in the low-GI conditions had on average 2 pounds less regain than those in the high-GI conditions.

    Take home point: Modest increases in protein and modest reduction in glycemic index led to better compliance and better maintenance of weight loss.

    The results won’t surprise any of us who have been preaching higher-protein lower-carb diets for a long time. Protein helps you feel full, boosts your metabolism and makes weight loss easier. High glycemic foods, in general, send your blood sugar skyrocketing and can lead to metabolic issues, cravings, weight gain and mood swings. Is it any wonder that a moderate calories, higher protein, lower glycemic index diet would work so well?

    Incidentally, that’s exactly the kind of eating program used in the Diet Boot Camp program. Diet Boot Camp isn’t exactly a low-carb program, but it’s a low junk food program. You’ll eat plenty of carbs but most of them will be vegetables, fruits and some “mixed” foods like beans, all low-glycemic and high fiber. Couple that with adequate protein and a healthy dose of fat, moderate calories and a program to help you break through your self-sabotage, and you’re looking at a road map for success. All you have to do is get in the car and start driving!

  • Fantastically Interesting Lectures About Food from TED

    Interested in food?

    I’m a huge fan of the TED conference, a legendary yearly event in which some of the smartest and most dynamic thinkers and speakers come together to present ideas, the only condition being that the talk has to be limited to 18 minutes.

    These are twenty of the most interesting talks on food related subjects. All these lectures cater to the passionate foodie who pines to learn all he or she can about the meals in front of them. For them, taste comprises only a fraction of the appeal. Sample these lectures and I’m sure you’ll find at least some of them absolutely riveting. At the very least, you won’t be bored!

    1.             Marcel Dicke: Why not eat insects?: Many Americans may cringe at the thought of crunching down on crickets, but in reality, insects are a popular, protein-packed snack enjoyed worldwide. Incorporating them more and more into meals and snacks also appeals to the eco-conscious concerned about sustainability issues. It will take some time to convince many demographics of all the advantage of eating insects, but Marcel Dicke works tirelessly to promote their validity as a nutritious, ecologically sound food source.

    2.             Carolyn Steel: How food shapes our cities: One architect delves into the heavy influence that infrastructure holds over food distribution — and vice versa. With so many individuals flocking to urban areas, the way meat and other agricultural products are raised will directly impact the environment, most notably in the rainforest acreage cleared for cattle farms. Foodies need to understand more than just appreciating amazing tastes and textures. They must also put forth the effort to learn about the whos, hows and whys behind how such meals make it to the table. Some of the details may surprise them.

    3.            Peter Reinhart on Bread: Such a simple staple inspires sensuous feelings, especially when baked fresh and served warm with jam, homemade butter or a favorite flavored oil and herbs. Any foodies who enjoy sinking their teeth into a comforting slice of bread will love watching Peter Reinhart wax philosophical on what it means to him personally and how loaves have come to shape history and the culinary arts alike. The more scientifically-minded should pay close attention to his talk of how he developed a recipe based on epoxy’s characteristics and ensured its edibility and quality.

    4.             Louise Fresco on feeding the whole world: Another rumination on the role bread plays in diet and society alike, this time peering into how mass-production techniques may not be as evil and destructive as many believe. Memetics, history, economics, health and agriculture combine into one enlightening lecture, wrought with heavy questions regarding how bread directly relates to each topic. For example, many rural bakers in poorer communities could adapt some of the production and distribution protocols associated with Wonderbread and its ilk without compromising on quality. Doctors link its carbohydrate content to obesity, especially as it became more affordable. A fascinating talk with many provocative statements to stimulate the more philosophical epicures out there.

    5.             Barton Seaver: Sustainable seafood? Let’s get smart: Some aficionados of all things oceanic struggle with resigning their love of fish and shellfish with environmental concerns. Noshing on the sea’s bounty seriously taxes one of the planet’s most delicate ecosystems, but there may be a workable strategy for changing that. Consumers concerned about their global impact should stick with heartier species with rapid reproduction rates. They should reduce the amount of seafood in their diet, reserving it for more special occasions, and stick with smaller portions. Salads make for a healthy side to help foodies safely fill up when their main proteins shrink. Making economical decisions does not have to mean complete abstinence from a beloved tuna or oyster dish, but one must stay mindful of ecology as well should they hope to continue their indulgence.

    6.             Dan Barber’s foie gras parable: Foie gras elicits so much controversy, many countries and regions have outright banned its production. The process involves the force-feeding of geese and ducks to artificially swell their livers for consumption, which more than understandably raises considerable questions regarding animal rights. Dan Barber’s incredibly intriguing lecture brings viewers to Eduardo Sousa’s farm in Spain for a glimpse at how he produces rich foie gras without resorting to any ethically sketchy means. All of the ducks and geese he raises eat of their own free will rather than having humans shove obscene amounts of grain down their gullets. They wander around his expansive properly, gorging themselves on the figs, grass, olives and other delights available for their taking. This leads to the beloved fatty texture cherished by foodies using a completely natural methodology, and the fowl are slaughtered shortly after their fall binges to maximize quality and yield.

    7.             Christien Meindertsma: How pig parts make the world turn: After pigs goes to slaughter, they find their way way to more than just kitchens around the world. Some end up in roughly 185 different consumer and medical products, including soap, heart transplants, bullets, cigarette filters, bone china, paint and paintbrushes. This number also includes foodstuffs such as gelatin that many people don’t realize also contains bits of pig (and other animals). While this doesn’t exactly paint a perfect portrait of Fergus Henderson’s “nose to tail” philosophy of eating, many foodies may find the versatility of this overlooked barnyard denizen a fascinating study. Less of everyone’s porcine pals goes to waste than one would generally think, though an appreciation for sampling “the nasty bits” (as Anthony Bourdain calls them) is never a bad thing to develop, either.

    8.             Ann Cooper talks school lunches: Truly loving the culinary arts means cultivating an understanding and appreciation of its importance on all levels — not just the fine dining only afforded to fewer and fewer individuals, as per the unfortunate stereotype. School lunches, for example, have provoked the ire of many a parent concerned with the unhealthy levels of carbohydrates, sugars and fats heaped on their children daily. Their understanding and appreciation of food led them to fight for healthier options, and “renegade lunch ladies” such as Ann Cooper joined them in providing fresh, local, nutritious and even educational meals.

    9.             Benjamin Wallace on the price of happiness: Although most of this lecture revolves around food and beverage products, its core message resonates to many different audiences. Thanks to the snobberies of many an elitist diner, foodies have a popular reputation of caring only for expensive, trendy dishes by the most prestigiously-trained chefs — and many, unfortunately, feel the need to perpetuate this viewpoint. True aficionados of the culinary arts know that even a humble street cart vendor can yield spectacular finds, and seek out quality in all its myriad forms rather than limiting themselves to expensive eats. Sadly, though, the industrialized world’s obsession with status and money has led to a strange psychological phenomenon where people can actually talk themselves into enjoying a cheap wine just by being told it cost a much more exorbitant price. It’s a fascinating, humbling and wholly necessary study to explore.

    10.         William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer?: By this point, most people who care even one iota about their health knows that maintain a nutritious diet reduces their risk of contracting certain cancers later in life. Not everyone, though, can understandably cite the biological workings that allow this to happen. William Li explains the hows and whys behind angiogenesis and diet’s intimate relationship with cancer prevention.

    11.         Michael Pollan gives a plants-eye view: The author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire (among plenty of other ruminations on food) pulls from his research and passion to deliver an excellent, insightful look at the world from a simultaneously alien and familiar perspective. Plenty of people know what life looks like through the eyes of the animals they nosh upon, yet they rarely take the time to really understand plants — perhaps due to their relatively stationary nature. This is rather unfortunate, as taking the time to gauge the shape of things from their point of view casts meals and snacks in an entirely revelatory light.

    12.         Mark Bittman on what’s wrong with what we eat: American diets come packed with an overabundance of meat at the expense of fresh fruits and vegetables and too much reliance on restaurant food that comes crammed with salts, carbohydrates and calories. Though convenient and delicious, such eating habits place the populace at an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other health hazards. But they also negatively impact other nations as well, since many of the production methods utilized in meeting American demands damage the environment and dip heavily into the world’s overall food supply.

    13.         Jennifer 8. Lee hunts for General Tso: Chinese food has become fully engrained in American cuisine, yet almost all of the most popular dishes are nowhere to be found in the original country. Journalist Jennifer 8. Lee engages viewers in history lessons explaining how one of the most familiar forms of fusion food in the States popped into existence. This is a must-watch for all culinary aficionados with a particular affinity for learning the myriad ways in which cultures merge and produce curious new flavors inspired by different palates and traditions.

    14.         Graham Hill: Why I’m a weekday vegetarian: Not everyone can (or wants to) pull off a fully vegetarian or vegan diet, yet they’d still like to enjoy the health, environmental and financial benefits. The weekday vegetarian movement allows them to indulge their not-so-inner carnivore while simultaneously reducing their expenditures and ecological impact and boosting their overall wellness. It strikes the right balance for those who find an exclusively meatless, eggless and dairy-less intake far too limiting.

    15.         Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce: One jar of spaghetti sauce comes packaged with a hundred different stories — about the people involved, the ingredients cultivated and the research that goes into picking the perfect components and the perfect process creating a perfect offering. Even beyond this, though, it also serves as an unexpectedly apt conduit for broader philosophies regarding contentment and the nature of choice. An excellent TED Talk for the foodies who enjoy using their passion to raise larger questions about life, the universe and everything.

    16.         Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world: Fungi of all shapes and sizes end up on plates at cheap, delicious mom-and-pop diners and the trendiest of upscale bistros alike — and everything in between. But this intrepid mycologist points out how mushrooms do more than just add a lovely, earthy flavor to soups, salads and meats. They play an integral role in keeping the environment as safe and healthy as possible and have been widely cultivated for their medicinal properties. Without them, both humanity and the planet it inhabits would not possess the ability to function properly. If at all.

    17.         Heribert Watzke: The brain in your gut: Eating well transcends the merely sensual — it also involves complex metabolic processes extending long after that carnitas taco grew into a grey, masticated wad of cornmeal, pork and saliva. Believe it or not, the hundreds of thousands of neurons lining the digestive tract (mostly, if not exclusively, in the intestines) that play a heavy role in defining eating habits. Understanding them enhances the mind-body connection so lovingly cultivated by foodies, but it also helps scientists and chefs alike use the culinary arts to formulate the perfect meals taking full advantage of the body’s potential.

    18.         Arthur Potts Dawson: A vision for sustainable restaurants: Another TED Talk delving into how the world’s eating habits directly affect the surrounding environments. Beyond the production facilities, restaurants themselves have taken up sustainable practices when it comes to whipping up and serving meals. Not only do they patronize more eco-friendly vendors, they also take to composting, rigging their buildings to utilize alternative energy sources, recycling, encouraging “nose to tail” dining and much more.

    19.         Barry Schuler: Genomics 101: Controversy abounds over genetically modified foods, with both sides creating compelling arguments for and against its agricultural incorporation. Epicures desiring to learn all they can about the origins of their favorite meals would do well to research what different experts have to say on the subject, looking at both sides before formulating a cogent opinion. This lecture by Barry Schuler offers up one perspective to consider, explaining the genomics process and the positive impact it has on the food supply. He uses pinot noir grapes to illustrate these points.

    20.       Adam Grosser and his sustainable fridge: Some clever developers have found a way to manipulate existing technology familiar in homes across the industrialized world in order to bring refrigeration to isolated areas — many of them lacking reliable electricity. Not only will they help prevent terrible spoilage and waste, they power themselves using sustainable sources. Foodies who enjoy both cooking at home and protecting the environment (and possess the means) may want to look into purchasing these revolutionary appliances.

  • Why You Should Ignore The New Government Report on Vitamin D

    On Wednesday, Nov 30, the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board issued a report saying in essence that supplemental vitamin D over 800 IUs was unnecessary and could even be harmful (more on this in a minute).

    Should you ignore this report? Yes. And I’ll tell you why.

    The committee looked only at the amount of vitamin D known to be needed for strong bones. That’s like evaluating an iPhone based solely on its built-in calculator. Vitamin D is important for bones, of course, but that’s only one tiny thing that this miraculous nutrient does.

    Vitamin D expert William Grant, PhD, puts it this way:

    “The health benefits of vitamin D extend to at least 100 types of disease, with the strongest evidence for many types of cancer (breast, colon, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, and rectal), cardiovascular disease, diabetes types 1 and 2, respiratory infections such as type A influenza and pneumonia, other infections such as sepsis, and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.”

    There is a massive amount of research showing that low levels of vitamin D increase the risk for with every disease mentioned by Dr. Grant (above). What’s more, when people are low in vitamin D levels it affects their mood, ability to lose weight, physical performance, immune system function and even their chances of dying. (A 2008 study found that low levels of vitamin D increased the risk for death from any cause- called the mortality risk—by a whopping 26% compared to those who had “optimal” levels in their blood.)

    Which brings us to the question of “optimal” levels, and the related question of toxicity.

    Dietitians and doctors are mired in a culture that looks at vitamin needs solely in terms of what’s needed to prevent deficiency diseases. The “recommended daily allowance” for vitamin C is the amount you need to prevent scurvy; the recommended daily allowance for vitamin B1 (thiamine) is the amount you need to prevent beriberi.

    I call this “minimum wage nutrition” and consider it utterly irrelevant to those interested in optimal health and well-being.

    So what is the optimal level of vitamin D anyway? Well—not surprisingly– there’s some dispute about this. The above-quoted expert, Dr. William Grant, says it should be “at least 40-60 ng/mL”. According to Dr. Grant’s research(1) raising serum vitamin 25(OH)D levels to 40 ng/mL could reduce mortality rates by 15% in the United States, corresponding to a 2-year increase in life expectancy.

    The vitamin D council thinks 50 ng/ml is the minimum acceptable level, and that optimal levels are between 50 ng/ml and 80 ng/ml.* (This is in line with what most experts I know believe to be ideal– many of them use 70 ng/ml or 80 ng/ ml as the optimal goal.)

    It’s impossible to get anywhere near that number without supplements. And there’s virtually no chance of achieving it with the paltry 600 IUs a day recommended by the FNB.

    The Food and Nutrition Board admits that 97%  of Americans have a vitamin D level that falls within the range of 20 ng/ ml to 30 ng/ ml. A supplement of 600 IUs per day will increase vitamin D blood levels by a measily 6 ng/ ml. Someone with an “average” vitamin D level of 25 ng/ml would need to take at least 2000 IUs a day to bring it up to 45 ng/ ml, and according to the Vitamin D council—which is way more on top of this than the government’s Food and Nutrition Board—45 ng/ml doesn’t begin to cut it. Most people who know what they’re talking about are looking for optimal levels of 60-80.

    According to vitamin D expert Zoltan Roma, MD, MSc, author of “Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin”, “Research now indicates that the correct figure for the minimum daily requirement is 4,000 IUs”, adding that “it will probably take another decade before the government nutritional authorities acknowledge this fact and recommend higher vitamin D intakes for the population”.

    Which brings us to the issue of toxicity.

    The FNB also reported that vitamin D toxicity might occur at an intake of 10,000 IU/day (250 micrograms/day), although they could produce no reproducible evidence that 10,000 IU/day has ever caused toxicity in humans and only one poorly conducted study indicating 20,000 IU/day may cause mild elevations in serum calcium, but not clinical toxicity.

    In an excellent review of all the literature on vitamin D, Reinhold Vieth, PhD, professor in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences, Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology of the University of Toronto, had this to say:

    “Throughout my preparation of this review, I was amazed at the lack of evidence supporting statements about the toxicity of moderate doses of vitamin D.” He added: “If there is published evidence of toxicity in adults from an intake of 250 ug (10,000 IU) per day, and that is verified by the 25(OH)D concentration, I have yet to find it.”

    Vieth reports human toxicity probably begins to occur after chronic daily consumption of approximately 40,000 IUs a day (about 100 of the typical 400 IU capsules). Dr. Rona says that “real toxicity begins at 40,000 IUs a day after only many weeks of use”. Let’s remember that the body itself will easily make 10,000 IUs a day in a few hours in the sun. As one cynic commenting on the new report put it, “I guess they think God doesn’t know what she’s doing”.

    It’s very sad that this report- which has been horribly reported by the mainstream media with headlines like “vitamin D can be dangerous” will probably scare off many people who would benefit enormously from taking supplements of this important nutrient.

    I recommend that people take at least 1000IUs, preferably 2000IUs of Vitamin D daily.

    *Remember that there are two ways to measure vitamin D in the blood; don’t confuse the measurements. In the US we usually use ng/ml, but the international measure is nmol/ mL. So if someone tells you their level is “50” be sure to ask which measurement they’re using. (A measurement of 50 ng/ml is equal to 124.8 nmol/L.)

    REFERENCE:

    1) Grant, WB, “In defense of the sun: An estimate of changes in mortality rates in the United States if mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were raised to 45 ng/mL by solar ultraviolet-B radiance”, Dermato-Endocrinology, 2009; 1(4): 207-14

  • Weight Watchers: A Change Is Coming!

    For years I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Weight Watchers.

    I love the fact that they’ve tapped into one of the most potent strategies for behavior change on the planet- group support and accountability.

    I hate the fact that their nutritional information is stuck in the dark ages.

    But that might be changing. Weight Watchers has finally updated its “Point System”, its proprietary (and clever) method of counting calories without actually counting calories.

    The old point system, which began in 1997, assigned “points” to foods. Based on a members weight , age, height, gender, amount of exercise and weight loss goals, he or she was allowed a certain number of points a day. The points assigned to any food were based primarily on these elements: calorie content, fat and fiber, and therein lies the rub.

    While no intelligent nutritionist would argue that calories don’t matter, many would argue- as I have—that they are far from the whole picture. You can lose weight by keeping calories (or “points”) low, but basing the point system primarily on calories ignored the significant body of research showing that different foods have profoundly different effects on hormones that drive fat storage (like insulin).

    And the nutritional philosophy of Weight Watchers has always fallen firmly in the camp of the low-fat crowd, with strong recommendations for low-fat or no-fat choices and- needless to say- the avoidance of saturated fat.

    One of my dearest friends lost weight on this program which of course I was happy about, but it pained me when she’d read me the “important” facts about a food which always included how many grams of fat they contained, a piece of data which I’ve long claimed is utterly irrelevant. Apparently that claim is gaining some traction in the mainstream. The conservative chairman of the Harvard School of Public Health’s nutrition department– the esteemed and unimpeachable Walter Willet, MD, PhD—recently made this statement at the annual Food and Nutrition Conference of the American Dietetic Association:

    “The focus on fat in dietary guidelines has been a massive distraction…We should remove total fat from nutrition facts panels on the back of packs.”

    This week, Weight Watchers announced a revision of its point system. The new system allots points based on a complex algorhythm that takes into account the specific mix of protein, fiber, carbs and fat in any food.

    “It’s a complete overhaul; it doesn’t get any bigger than this,” said Karen Miller-Kovach, the chief scientific officer for Weight Watchers International. “Fifteen years ago we said a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you ate 100 calories of butter or 100 calories of chicken, it was all the same. Now, we know that is not the case, in terms of how hard the body has to work to make that energy available. And even more important is that where that energy comes from affects feelings of hunger and fullness.”

    The recognition of the fact that different proportions of protein, fat, fiber and calories matter is truly a revolutionary step for Weight Watchers. So is the recognition that some macronutrients (protein) help you feel fuller.

    Maybe we can hope that one day they will also recognize that the proportion of fat in the diet is irrelevant to any major health outcome, and that fat is the one macronutrient that has zero effect on the fat storage hormone insulin. But who knows? We can hope.

    Weight Watchers may not represent the cutting edge of nutrition, but the new points program is definitely a step in the right direction. Kudos to WW for being willing to reevaluate and evolve.

    Who knows.. maybe the American Dietetic Association will be next.

    Nah, just kidding.

  • Why You Shouldn’t Eat Any Meat Except Grass-Fed!

    With all the talk about how “bad” meat is for you, you might be forgiven for wondering if purchasing organic, grass-fed beef might be a healthier option.

    The answer is “yes”.

    First, some background. Cows are ruminants, which means that their natural diet is pasture. “You are what you eat” applies equally to animals, and to a cow, pasture- or grass- is the equivalent of “whole foods”. What they’re not supposed to eat is the very food factory farms depend on to fatten them up—grain.

    Grain causes their stomachs to become very acid, and also creates meat that is very high in inflammatory omega-6 fats and very low in beneficial anti-inflammatory omega-3’s”.

    Cows raised on grain are typically “factory farmed”, meaning they live short brutish lives in confined quarters(1). They get sick- both from living on top of each other and from eating grain, so they’re fed substantial amounts of antibiotics(2) in addition to the growth hormones and steroids they’re given to fatten them up before slaughter. And all this stuff winds up on your plate.(3)

    Grass-fed beef, however, is- forgive the pun- a whole different animal. Because grass is so rich in nutrients, the fat of grass-fed beef is richer in anti-inflammatory, heart-healthy omega-3’s(4) and lower in pro-inflammatory omega-6’s. In addition, grass-fed beef contains measurable amounts of CLA, a particularly healthful fat that has been found to reduce tumors in animals by a significant amount(5). Several studies suggest that grass-fed beef has greater levels of vitamin A and E as well as antioxidants like glutathione and superoxide dismutase (SOD) that help fight cancer. (6)

    Grass-fed beef is also healthier because of what it does not have.

    According to a Time Magazine report, the USDA has determined that grass-fed ground beef is 65% lower in saturated fat, while New York strips are 35% lower. (7) Because the cows are not raised in crowded pens, they get sick far less often and are not routinely fed antibiotics, nor are the “fattened up” on steroids or hormones. The result is beef that is far better for you than ordinary supermarket meat.

    “There’s a lot of confusion about the labels “organic” and “grass-fed”, which sometimes overlap”, explains Lowell Novy, DVM. Organic beef simply means the cow was fed organic grain. Organic beef is marginally better because the grain fed to the cows is free of pesticides, but that doesn’t address the bigger problem that beef shouldn’t be raised on a diet of grain in the first place.

    All meat labeled “grass-fed” is not necessarily the same. Many grass-fed ranches send their cattle to feedlots for the final weeks of life, where they are fattened up on corn and sometimes given growth hormones as well. “You should look for 100 percent grassfed”, advises Novy, whose Southern California ranch produces only 100% grassfed meat. Up to 2002, the USDA allowed the label “grass-fed” to be used when 80% or more of the animals diet was pasture(8). This regulation was recently updated- USDA certified grass-fed meat is now 100% grass-fed. Without the USDA certified label, however, you can’t be completely sure.

    As of 2006, over 1000 US ranchers have switched to an all-grass diet for their cattle. Pasture-raised beef still constitutes only 1% of the nation’s meat supply, but it’s expected to grow at least 20% in the coming decade. (9)

    Obviously, raising a 100 % grass-fed animal is far more time consuming and expensive than raising one in a feedlot farm and the price of the meat reflects that. Dry-aging—a process by which the meat is left to “age” for 21 days before being sent to market and one which is not done by every grass-fed ranch—drives the cost up even more (warehousing costs money!) And though the end product is undeniably healthier, many consumers want to know if the taste is worth the extra cost.

    The answer is an unequivocal yes. In our “unofficial” taste tests, we cooked up some sample rib-eyes, burgers and T-bones donated by Novy Ranches and served them in a blind taste test to a panel which included two families and one seven-year old.

    The verdict was unanimous: each person (except the seven year old) said the beef was otherworldly- succulent, juicy, tender and delicious.

    The seven year old simply asked if she could have some more.

    You can buy grass-fed meat including beef, lamb, rabbit, pork and bison with confidence from US Wellness Meats, a company I’ve known and liked for years and which is committed to compassionate and humane treatment of their animals as well as to sustainable farming practices

    REFERENCES

    1)    http://www.hsus.org/farm/resources/research/welfare/welfare_overview.html

    2)    Mellon, M et al. (2001) Hogging It!: Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock, 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists.

    3)    http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/magazine/power-steer.html?pagewanted=1

    4)    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16500874

    5)    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11131667

    6)    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20219103

    7)    Time Magazine, “The Grass-Fed Revolution” (2006) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200759,00.html

    8)    “United States Standards for Livestock and Meat Marketing Claims”, Department of Agriculture, Federal Register, Vol 67, No 250; Monday Dec 2002

    9)    Time Magazine, “The Grass-Fed Revolution” (2006) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200759,00.html

  • This Food Can Help Prevent Breast Cancer!

    Watercress, the superfood, is now watercress the breast cancer preventive, according to a study released recently in the British Journal of Nutrition.

    In experimental findings, the consumption of a 3 ounce portion of watercress by healthy participants who had previously been treated for breast cancer reduced the presence of a key tumor growth factor six and eight hours after eating the watercress.

    The study, conducted by the Cancer Research Center at the School of Medicine, Southampton General Hospital in the UK, demonstrates that watercress is as therapeutic as traditional drug treatments with tamoxifen and herceptin, and through regular consumption, has the potential to confer valuable protection against cancer in general.

    My colleage and fellow member of the American College of Nutrition Nicholas Perricone, MD has elaborated on the anti-cancer role of watercress in his newest book, Forever Young. According to Dr. Perricone, “Watercress has the ability to turn off HIF1, a signal sent out by cells calling for blood supply. When HIF1 becomes incorrectly regulated, otherwise harmless precancerous clusters of cells have the opportunity to grow to form invasive tumors.”

    Perricone states: “Scientists have been looking for anti-angiogenesis agents for years because if we can turn of the blood supply, we can kill the cancer. And it looks like watercress can do that.”

    An earlier study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in February 2007 showed that in addition to reducing DNA damage, a daily dose of watercress increased the ability of cells to further resist DNA damage that may be caused by free radicals.

    In that study, 60 men and women, half of whom were smokers, consumed their usual diet plus 85 grams of raw watercress daily for eight weeks. Blood samples were analyzed for plasma antioxidant status and DNA damage in lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. Watercress consumption significantly reduced lymphocyte DNA damage.

    The Southampton and AJCN studies confirm what the Romans, Greeks and Persians have known for centuries—watercress is a powerful natural medicine and nutritionally dense. Watercress has been prescribed for migranes, anemia, eczema, kidney and liver disorders and tuberculosis.

    Ounce for ounce, watercress is a better source of vitamins C, B1, B6, K, E, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Manganese, Zinc and Potassium than even apples, broccoli and tomatoes! (But don’t stop eating those foods—just add watercress to your diet!)

    As the news of anti-cancer properties of watercress spreads, many folks will be looking for ways to incorporate this wonderful green into their diets. Fortunately, watercress is a friendly and versatile leaf, delicious in drinks, salads, soups, sautés, spreads, sandwiches, stews and stir-fries. It’s widely available thanks to B & W Quality Growers, Inc, the largest producer in the US.

    Shoppers will find watercress in many grocery markets, specialty produce, ethnic and natural food stores in 4 ounce bags, bunches or in bulk.

    Watercress got a “Star” in my book, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”. Even among superfoods it is a standout. A member of the Brassica family of vegetable royalty, it contains a whole group of compounds with anticancer potential belonging to the sulforafane family (also found in broccoli). It can be eaten raw (and frequently is) but it can also be cooked. Cooking eliminates its bite and leaves a vegetable that is pretty sweet! (The raw version probably contains more enzymes, though.)

    Note: Here is a terrific recipe that contains 4 cups of watercress!

    Try watercress for health and you’ll come back for the flavor!

  • Featured Recipe: Fast and Fiery Smoked Trout Wraps

    Featured Recipe: Fast and Fiery Smoked Trout Wraps

    The following recipe is just for readers of “In Step With Jonny”—it’s an advance preview of our forthcoming book, “The 150 Healthiest 15-Minute Recipes on Earth” by myself and my co-author, chef extraordinaire Jeannette Bessinger. Enjoy!

    Trout, found in rushing streams of cold clear water, are probably one of the most sought after sport fish. If you’re lucky enough to eat one of these guys, you’ll understand why fisherman stand for hours in the water wearing big high uncomfortable rubber boots trying to outsmart them. They’re simply delicious- (the fish not the boots!)

    They’re interesting too- some species actually spend part of their lives in fresh water and part of their lives in salt. (Unfortunately most of the trout in America is farm raised and the taste varies considerably depending on the food that they’re fed and the conditions under which they’re rasied.)

    But enough of trout trivia. Trout is a protein powerhouse (about 20 grams in a mere three ounces), low in calories (144 calories for 3 ounces cooked fish) and an excellent source of both niacin and vitamin B12. I’m particularly fond of the yogurt based sauce in this recipe which complement the fish wonderfully– the snap of the horseradish and the tang of the lemon nicely mellow the salty smokiness of the trout in this elegant and delicious wrap. Enjoy!

    Fast and Fiery Smoked Trout Wraps with Horseradish Sauce

    Ingredients:

    1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

    2 tablespoons prepared horseradish sauce, or to taste

    2 teaspoons lemon juice

    ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

    4 roasted red peppers, drained (prepared) and diced

    2 7-ounce cold-smoked trout fillets, flaked

    4 large whole grain wraps (or can serve open face on toasted slices of hearty bread, such as Mestemacher Sunflower Seed or Rye Bread)

    4 cups watercress or baby spring greens

    1/3 English cucumber, peeled and grated, optional

    Directions:

    In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, horseradish, lemon juice, and pepper.

    Add diced peppers and flaked trout and mix gently to combine.

    Lay out the wraps and place 1 cup of greens in the middle.

    Divide the cucumber, if using, evenly among the wraps and add to the greens.

    Spoon one quarter of the dressed trout/pepper mixture over the greens and cucumber, roll the wraps closed, slice in half and serve them, edged-down, on the plate.

    Yield: 4 wraps

    From Chef Jeannette:

    To complete the meal: serve these wraps with modest portions (3/4 ounce) of prepared roasted vegetable chips, such as Terra Exotic Vegetable chips and/or fresh, ripe Anjou pears.

  • Why You Should Never Trust The Government About Nutrition

    Recently, a story about Domino’s Pizza got a lot of attention in the media, but for all the wrong reasons.

    Here’s what happened.

    Domino’s Pizza wasn’t having a good year. Sales were low, profits were down, and, according to the New York Times, Domino’s tied for first in a big national survey of the “Worst Tasting Pizzas In America”.

    What to do, what to do?

    Well, if you were a big corporation with flagging sales and an unpopular product, what would you do? You’d go the experts.

    Which is exactly what Domino’s did.

    They went to Dairy Management, Inc, a nonprofit corporation, whose experts basically gave them the following advice: Make the pizzas cheesier!

    Dairy Management teamed up with Domino’s to create new pizzas with 40% more cheese and devised (and paid for) a 12 million dollar marketing campaign for the new creation. People loved the stuff, and sales soared, “by double digits”, according to the NY Times.

    So what’s the problem?

    Well, Dairy Management is actually not a wholly independent consulting firm. It’s part of the US Department of Agriculture. (A small part, admittedly, but still a part.) And its mission is simple: get people to eat more cheese. According to the NY Times, “..the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese”.

    So the government- through a corporation that’s part of it’s own USDA- is trying to get you to eat more of the very foods it’s telling you to cut back on.

    Now the reason people are all upset about this seems to me beside the point. People are all in an uproar because on the one hand the government is telling us to eat less saturated fat and yet, out of the other side of its collective mouth, is telling us to eat more of it (in the form of cheese).

    But I have a somewhat different take on this.

    As readers of this blog know, I don’t give a fig about saturated fat. I think it’s been unfairly demonized. I don’t particularly care how much fat a food has- saturated or unsaturated– as long the fat comes from real, whole foods (like eggs, coconut, fish, etc.)

    Saturated fat is not the problem.

    What I’m concerned about is a much more insidious issue, which is this: the advice we get from the government about what food to eat (or not eat) is completely tied to special interests from the industries that produce that food.

    Our government heavily subsidizes the farming of sugar, wheat, corn and soy. Do you really think you’re ever going to see the USDA recommending that we eat less of any of these products?

    If you do, I’ve got some nice property alongside the Brooklyn Bridge that I’d like to talk to you about.

    The Dairy Industry has managed to lobby behind the scenes to practically criminalize the sale of raw milk. Do you think that’s for health reasons? Or for economic ones?

    But I digress.

    When the World Health Organization put out a report in 1994 called “Diet Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases” they made a very reasonable and conservative recommendation: keep “added” sugars to 10 percent or less of the diet.

    OK with you? Find anything wrong with that? Actually, who would find anything wrong with that?

    I’ll give you three guesses and here’s a hint: The Sugar Association.

    The sugar industry was completely up in arms about this, wrote to WHO waving all kinds of data and studies showing that this recommendation was completely unwarranted. (Here’s just one of the many examples of their protest letters.) More tellingly, they used their considerable lobbying power to try to get Congress to end all funding for WHO unless WHO changed its recommendations. (You can read that story here.)

    Do you not think this happens every day? Read “Food Politics” by Marion Nestle.

    (Buyer beware: You’ll never look at the “food pyramid” in the same way.)

    Even the government is not stupid enough to pay to grow food and then turn around and tell you not to buy it or eat it. As long as our antiquated and anti-health farm bill dictates food policy (beneath the radar of most people other than Michael Pollan), you can expect our government “health” agencies like the FDA and USDA to make decisions in keeping with the economic interests of those whose industries they support.

    It’s interesting that with all the shouting these days about “income redistribution” (on both sides of the aisle), the biggest wholesale income redistribution of all is going on right under the radar: it’s the distribution of your tax dollars being paid to agribusiness to produce tons of wheat, soy corn and sugar and to subsidize them so they can be made more cheaply and plentifully. (It’s called “The Farm Bill”.)

    Our government- through your tax dollars- literally subsidizes the growing of foods that are making you fat and sick.

    And in a stunning parallel to what goes on in the pharmaceutical industry (and oil industry for that matter), the players move porously and effortlessly from government to academia to industry, a congressman one day, a lobbyist the next, an industry executive one minute and a member of the group regulating that industry a nanosecond later. This kind of lateral movement from industry to regulator-of-that-industry is legion.

    So am I saying that you shouldn’t trust the government about anything? Or that it is all a vast conspiracy?

    Absolutely not.

    What I am saying is that there exists a very complex and porous set of relationships between the players in academia, government, industry and agribusiness. That relationship—sometimes subtly and sometimes bluntly—influences most if not all of the “government approved” health directives like the Food Pyramid.

    These relationships color, filter and shape an enormous amount of information that the public, unwisely and naively, believes to be “scientific and objective”.

    “Special interests” anyone?

    For those who might be interested, it’s not just the government, it’s also their handmaidens like the American Dietetic Association. On the day that the ADA actually takes a stand against some government approved recommendation like eating 6-11 servings of grains or cutting back on saturated fat it will be a cold day in hell. Their job is to carry water for the big boys and the day that they have an original collective thought or take a controversial position on anything I’ll be happy to eat my hat along with, just for good measure, the computer I’m typing this on.

    So what do you do? Ignore all government recommendations and throw out anything you hear from mainstream health organizations like the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association or (rolls eyes) the American Dietetic Association?

    No. But you take those recommendations with more than a few grains of salt, and you supplement them by reading, learning and studying on your own. Read the “gurus” (and their critics). Investigate both sides of every argument (especially when those arguments are compelling and not just some internet BS).

    Don’t ignore “mainstream” recommendations, but see what other people that you respect think about them. There are a lot of really smart establishment critics out there. I’m glad you’re reading me, but you shouldn’t  follow me blindly any more than you should blindly follow government or medical recommendations. I hope you’ll keep reading me, but also read Drs. Mike Eades, Mark Hyman, Leo Galland, Gary Taubes, the Healthy Skeptic, the reporting of Jimmy Moore… you get the picture.

    Then make up your own mind.

    And—most importantly—always be willing to change it.

    Remember, if history is any guide- and it usually is—in 50 years we’ll be looking at some of these government approved recommendations for eating, rolling our eyes and saying, “What were they thinking??”

  • Black Raspberries May Prevent Colon Cancer

    ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2010) — Black raspberries are highly effective in preventing colorectal tumors in two mouse models of the disease, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study.

    The findings are published in the November issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

    Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in both men and women in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute.

    Building on previous research that found black raspberries have antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-neurodegenerative and anti-inflammatory properties, the researchers looked at the fruit’s ability to prevent colon cancer.

    “We saw the black raspberry as a natural product, very powerful, and easy to access,” said Dr. Wancai Yang, assistant professor of pathology at the UIC College of Medicine and senior author of the study, whose research focuses on the interactions of genetic and nutritional factors in the development of intestinal cancer and tumor prevention.

    The researchers used two strains of mice which each have a specific gene knocked out, causing the mice to develop either intestinal tumors or colitis. Colitis is an inflammation of the large intestine that can contribute to the development of colorectal cancer.

    Both mouse strains were randomized to be fed either a Western-style, high-risk diet (high in fat and low in calcium and vitamin D) or the same diet supplemented with 10 percent freeze-dried black raspberry powder for 12 weeks.

    The researchers found that in both mouse strains the black raspberry-supplemented diet produced a broad range of protective effects in the intestine, colon and rectum and inhibited tumor formation.

    In one of the mouse groups, tumor incidence was reduced by 45 percent and the number of tumors by 60 percent. The researchers found that black raspberries inhibited tumor development by suppressing a protein, known as beta-catenin.

    In the other mouse group, tumor incidence and the number of tumors were both reduced by 50 percent, and black raspberries inhibited tumor development by reducing chronic inflammation associated with colitis.

    The researchers now hope to obtain funding to begin clinical trials in humans, said Yang. Because black raspberries not only prevent cancer but also inflammation, they may also protect against other diseases, such as heart disease.

    PaleoReds is an easy way to add more berries to your diet.

    Dr. Jonny comments: Black raspberries- like all the berries- are highly anti-inflammatory and contain many plant chemicals known to have positive effects on human health. I consider all the berries- blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, goji berries, you name it—to be superfoods.

    Every morning I add a heaping spoonful of PaleoReds to my morning protein shake. It’s a whole food extract of cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and other organic fruits and vegetables. Loaded with enzymes, low in calories, and it’s delicious.