You ought to be congratulated? Really?
No, not if you are feeding margarine to your family! Those ads drive me nuts, especially the cute little kids explaining why their mum has changed them from “unhealthy” butter to “healthy” margarine. Advertisers know how to make parents feel good about healthy choices, it is a shame they don’t actually promote healthy choices!
Eye experts are getting it right, many are warning their patients against eating margarine, because of the vegetable oil in it – which they believe speed up macular degeneration, cardiologists advise their patients the complete opposite, even though some cardiologists have reviewed the evidence; many are still caught up in old beliefs about cholesterol and heart disease, go to Cholesterol, what you need to know.
Dr Paul Beaumont, founding Director of the Macular Disease Foundation Australia, nine years ago warned those with a genetic risk of getting macular degeneration to stop eating anything with vegetable oil in it – eg. margarine. Even though there was an enormous backlash at the time, there have now been multiple studies supporting his recommendations, so his advice remains the same. “Whilst there’s a cloud of suspicion over vegetable oil, they’re best to avoid it, and have a scraping of butter,” Dr Beaumont said.
Of course we are supposed to believe that vegetable oils are bad for your eyes but healthy for your heart! Cardiovascular Disease is a disease of inflammation. Nasty fats such as vegetable oils, oxidised oils/hyrogenated oils cause inflammation – they drive disease!
There is a new book out on the dangers of vegetable oil “Toxic Oil – why vegetable oil will kill you & how to save yourself” by David Gillespie. At the moment many dieticians are advising the public to ignore this book, after all David is not qualified in health, he is a lawyer! The same argument they used when he started telling us rightly about the dangers of sugar/fructose in his book “Sweet Poison”.
I have to disagree, as a lawyer he knows how to gather information and examine it, looking for facts, looking for proof, that is exactly what he does! The problem with being “qualified” is that many are afraid to really look at the truth let alone tell it! They quote the same old tired lines, and most are influenced/sponsored by food companies in one way or another! Who wants to admit that their bad advice is harming people?
I have received my copy of Toxic Oil and although I haven’t read it yet, I am happy to support David in his quest to change the way we think about food and get people to start eating real food again, avoiding sugar and vegetable oil! My advice as a Clinical Nutritionist, start eating real butter and use coconut oil, stay away from margarine!
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact us on (02) 47 222 111 at the Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre or www.informedhealth.com.au
Being slim = good health, right?
I see people make this assumption all the time, and they are wrong. Slim does not automatically mean good health!
Don’t get me wrong, being slim is good for your health (as long as you are a healthy weight and you are eating well). I know that in my life, when I am slim, I feel better, I have more energy and overall am in better health.
What is frustrating, is seeing slim people judge overweight people, blaming them for being overweight, when they eat much the same diet. There is an assumption that overweight people are unhealthy but slim people are examples of wonderful health. The other assumption is that overweight people’s issues are caused by “glutton and sloth”, this is far from the truth.
Dr Robert Lustig does a good job of dispelling this myth in his latest book “Fat Chance – the bitter truth about sugar”. Here is an excerpt from the book, (page 7): “Being thin is not a safeguard against metabolic disease or early death. Up to 40 percent of normal-weight individuals harbor insulin resistance – a sign of chronic metabolic disease – which will likely shorten their life expectancy. Of those, 20 percent demonstrate liver fat on an MRI of the abdomen. Liver fat, irrespective of body fat has been shown to be a major risk factor in the development of diabetes”.
As I have explained before, you really are what you eat. The body continually breaks down and renews itself, making new skin cells, new blood cells, new bone etc. To do this well, it requires good quality building materials, especiall good quality fat and protein, along with many vitamins and minerals etc. Before you judge anyone else, have a look at your own diet, are you eating foods that nourish your body and provide great building blocks or are you eating rubbish?
Some foods are what I like to call nutrient foods, they supply energy and wonderful building blocks for the body eg. vegetables, quality meat, coconut oil, organic blocked butter, avocado etc. Some “foods” are anti-nutrients, they add loads of sugar and nasty hydrogenated fats/vegetable oil to the body – all of which are inflammatory and cause harm to the body. This kind of “food” takes important nutrients from the body and puts the body under great stress. Eg. most fast food, frozen dinners, confectionary, biscuits, cereals, bread, cakes, muffins, chocolates, margarine, sugary drinks including soft drinks, fruit juice, flavoured milk, flavoured iced tea etc. If you regularly eat these foods you will always be under-nourished and not have quality building blocks for your body to use! This will ultimately lead to aging and many inflammatory diseases such as heart disease and dementia!
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact us on (02) 47 222 111 at the Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre or www.informedhealth.com.au
Cholesterol – one number to indicate health – maybe not…..
There is one number apparently more than others which appears to be treated as most important when measuring our level of health – our cholesterol number. I often hear comments like “I am healthy because I have no or low cholesterol”. I find it is often used as an excuse to avoid changing unhealthy habits. People making these comments are often quite overweight or have other health problems but think they are healthy because of their cholesterol number!
- I am healthy – the Doctor told me I don’t have cholesterol!
I recently saw a BBC documentary where a woman who was morbidly obese (over 150kg) said “I’m OK, my health has not been affected by my weight – my cholesterol is normal”. Therefore, according to her, she didn’t need to do anything! This rang alarm bells for me – how many people believe it?
Cholesterol is essential in the body, it makes hormones, insulates neurons, is part of the structure of every cell in the body, produces bile to digest fats, helps metabolise important fat soluble vitamins such as Vitamin D. (Read my previous posts about cholesterol for more information).
There are two main types of cholesterol that can cause you problems, oxidised cholesterol and certain types of LDLs.
Your weight, waist size, diet, blood sugar levels and levels of inflammation all play a big factor in whether or not you have these types of damaging cholesterol. What also matters is how you feel, are you energised, happy or tired, grumpy and “not quite right”? Don’t let a number stop you from listening to your body!
Diets high in carbohydrates (confectionary, refined foods and grains eg. sweets, crackers, bread, pasta) lead to inflammation. It is important to eat a diet with adequate protein, fat and lots of colourful vegetables for good health. Don’t avoid fat and don’t avoid eggs!
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact us on (02) 47 222 111 at the Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre or www.informedhealth.com.au.
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 5
Fats and Oils
Many people in their attempts to eat a low fat diet are not eating enough essential oils. Every cell in your body requires essential oils (omega 3), especially your brain. These omega 3s are also anti-inflammatory – all disease processes are inflammatory so it is very important to consume anti-inflammatory foods. They are called essential fatty acids because the body cannot make them – you must include them in your diet!
Ways to include healthy fats in the diet
The main essential fat you need in the diet is omega 3 fatty acids - available in fresh fish (eg mackerel, salmon, herring), cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, raw unsalted nuts and seeds (walnuts, pecans, pepitas etc), tahini and avocado. Add extra virgin cold pressed olive oil to your salads and vegetables (it makes a lovely salad dressing – you can also add fresh lemon or tahini and basil).
For cooking use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil; don’t heat it up just coat the food with it before you place the food into pan. Be careful, olive oil has a low burning point and will flame easily at high temperatures. Coconut oil is also better for cooking at high temperatures (food will taste like coconut). Butter is excellent for cooking too (real unsalted block butter).
Plant sterols can lower cholesterol levels
They are found naturally in plant foods including nuts, seeds, legumes (peas, beans, lentils), fruit and vegetables. Some margarine has concentrated plant sterols added. Margarines enriched with plant sterols may help lower LDL cholesterol but do not treat the cause of the elevated cholesterol. They also often contain trans fats and other unnatural chemicals that can cause inflammation so are not a good long term solution. These sterol margarines only affect cholesterol absorption from the diet; they have no effect on the cholesterol your body makes. Remember it is not the cholesterol number that matters, it is the oxidised cholesterol – anything that increases inflammation will cause oxidation.
Eggs
Eggs are very nutritious and should be part of a healthy balanced diet. They contain good quality protein and omega-3, plus 10 vitamins and minerals. Boiled or poached is best, always cook eggs at a low temperature. The dietary cholesterol in eggs has no effect on blood cholesterol.
Are you taking cholesterol lowering medication?
Most cholesterol lowering medications affect only the cholesterol you make and therefore have no effect on the cholesterol that you eat. It is important to note that high cholesterol is not caused by a deficiency in statin drugs! They do not address the cause of the inflammation which is the real concern in cardiovascular disease.
Did you know that some commonly prescribed cholesterol medications may cause depletion of co-enzyme Q10 in the body? Co-enzyme Q10 is essential to cardiovascular health, it is a very important antioxidant for the heart (remember you need antioxidants to stop your body from making oxidised HDL’s LDL’s (the dangerous cholesterol). The highest concentrations are found in the heart where its action is vital to healthy functioning heart muscle tissues. Taking a co-enzyme Q10 supplement can:
- Help maintain the body’s co-enzyme Q10 levels
- Promote cardiovascular health
- Maintain energy levels
- Reduce muscle pain & weakness (common side-effect of statins due to depletion of co-enzyme Q10).
Go back to part 1
Go back to part 2
Go back to part 3
Go back to part 4
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 4
More recommendations for Diet and Lifestyle:
- Include foods in your diet that are rich in soluble fibre, such as low starch salad type vegetables (eg raw beetroot, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini), raw unsalted nuts and seeds (eg walnuts, almonds, pecans, pepitas, sunflower seeds). Note: always increase water consumption with increased fibre.
- Cease alcohol consumption or reduce your alcohol intake to no more than one drink per day, ensuring you have 2 or 3 alcohol free days each week. Avoid binge drinking.
- Don’t smoke, it increases inflammation and artery damage causing more cholesterol to be produced by the body to act as a “bandaid”.
- Exercise regularly (for example, at least 30 minutes of brisk walking daily – you must get puffed)! If you don’t know what exercise you should be doing talk to a qualified Personal Trainer to get the right advice for you.
- Avoid fried foods, especially deep fried foods, battered food, pies, sausage rolls, hot dogs, spring rolls etc.
- Avoid sugar (confectionary, lollies, cakes, muffins, pastries, chocolate, sweets, sweet drinks etc).
- Avoid consumption trans-fatty acids/hydrogenated oils (including margarine and other processed foods) and confectionary (sometimes listed as hydrogenated oil/fat on the label).
- Reduce salt (labelled as sodium in packaged foods). Foods are considered to be low in sodium if they contain 120mg or less per 100g. Foods with more than 500mg per 100g of sodium are considered to be high in salt.
- Reduce caffeinated and sugary drinks: coffee, tea, soft drinks, milk drinks and energy drinks.
- Drink dandelion coffee/tea (it is liver friendly) and other herbal teas such as chamomile.
- Drink green tea an antioxidant (no milk or sugar) in moderation (it still contains caffeine).
- Eat a serving of berries each day 1/3 to 1/2 cup depending on the size of the berry (bilberry, blueberries, cranberry, strawberries etc) – high in bioflavonoids and antioxidants. Antioxidants are extremely important because they stop the LDLs from become oxidised and therefore damaging to your body.
- Add fresh garlic to meals.
- Do not skip meals, eat regular meals. Compared to a regular meal pattern an irregular meal pattern has been shown cause blood sugar and blood cholesterol problems.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Relax: relaxation has been shown to reduce cardiovascular risk factors.
- Any food allergies/intolerances or other gut problems such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome must be identified and managed properly. These allergies and gut problems cause inflammation and over stimulate the immune system which will ultimately lead toward chronic diseases like heart disease. It is best to enlist the support of health professionals who specialise in this area (this is one of our specialties at the Informed Health Nutritional Wellbeing Centre).
Go back to part 1
Go back to part 2
Go back to part 3
Go to part 5
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 3
Recommendations for Diet and Lifestyle:
The most important thing you can do to prevent atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease is to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle, with the goal of reducing your weight, reducing your triglycerides, reducing inflammation and balancing blood sugar levels. It is very important to lose any excess body fat, especially visceral (abdominal) fat around the organs, it contributes to raised blood triglycerides and oxidised cholesterol.
Suggestions include:
- Increase the amount and variety vegetables you have each day, especially leafy greens. Eat vegetables of all colours to ensure you are eating plenty of antioxidants. Antioxidants are essential to stop the LDL and HDL cholesterol from oxidising.
- Avoid fruit juice completely. Eat small amounts of in season fruit, no more than one serving per day. Ideally only a couple of times a week.
- Remove highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour) and all of the products made from them, bread, pasta, cakes, muffins, crackers, biscuits, crisps, chocolate, confectionary etc from your diet completely. If you do have grains at all, it is best to avoid gluten containing grains (wheat, rye, barley and oats). Have a small amount of rice or quinoa. In the western world our overconsumption of grains as a whole is causing a huge amount of inflammation and disease and is a big contributer to diabetes and heart disease.
- Choose grass fed/finished beef. Avoid grain fed meat, grain is fed to cows to fatten them up, it create fatty plaques (essentially to create heart disease – the same effect that eating grains has for us)! These fatty plaques make the meat soft and tasty but also very unhealthy to eat.
- Limit poor quality deli meats that include lots of questionable ingredients, including sausages and salami, and choose meats like free range turkey, chicken, or meat carved off a whole roast such as ham off the bone or roast lamb, roast pork where you know exactly what you are eating.
- Have fresh fish at least twice a week, eat the skin and the fat under it – these are good fats.
Use real butter (unsalted block butter). You can also use coconut oil. avocado and cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. Avoid margarine or other soft butter mixes. The best oils for cooking are coconut oil or butter.
Go back to part 1
Go back to part 2
Go to part 4 for more diet and lifestyle tips
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 2
I previously discussed saturated fat under a separate post but think it is important to repeat here:
Saturated fat – finally the truth!
There are three main kinds of saturated fats. Short chain (eg butter) – which is healthy, butter actually breaks down to butyric acid in the body and this is colon protective. (The soluble fibre in an apple also breaks down in to butyric acid, which is also why apples are colon protective). Medium chain (eg coconut oil) – this is also healthy. It is long chain saturated fats that are damaging to the body. The main foods that cause heart disease are refined sugars including grains. These foods, especially if combined with a low fat diet will be stored as long chain saturated fatty acids in the body, this is what will clog up your arteries and cause atherosclerosis.
Highly refined carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all of the products made from them) over stimulate the immune system and cause inflammation.
Dr Dwight Lundell, a heart surgeon and author of The Cure for Heart Disease and The Great Cholesterol Lie explains how this happens:
“Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume refined carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works. When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.”
This is usually visceral fat which is the dangerous fat that covers your abdominal organs and leads to a fatty liver.
What does all this have to do with inflammation?
Dr Lundell explains “blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.
To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar.
Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.”
The other issue is excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils such as soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods. Omega 6 are also important for the functioning of the body but most people over consume omega 6 and under consume omega 3 fats which puts everything out of balance in the body and contributes to inflammation.
Other causes of inflammation can be food allergies/intolerances, parasites, bacteria, stress, viruses, exposure to chemicals including what you put on your skin.
Go back to part 1
Go to part 3
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Saturated fat – good or bad?
Saturated fat – finally the truth!
There are three main kinds of saturated fats:
- Short chain saturated fats (eg butter) – which is healthy, butter actually breaks down to butyric acid in the body and this is colon protective. (The soluble fibre in an apple also breaks down in to butyric acid, which is also why apples are colon protective).
- Medium chain saturated fats (eg coconut oil) – this is also healthy.
- Long chain saturated fats ARE damaging to the body.
The main foods that cause heart disease are refined sugars including grains. These foods, especially if combined with a low fat diet will break down into long chain saturated fatty acids in the body, this is what will clog up your arteries and cause atherosclerosis.
In summary
- Butter is good (unsalted block butter), stay away from soft mixed butters and margarine.
- Coconut and coconut oil is good.
- Grains and other refined carbohydrate foods create long chain saturated fats, this is the kind that causes heart disease so these foods should be avoided!
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
Learn more about cholesterol
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Cholesterol, what you need to know – Part 1
Cholesterol is a type of fat that is part of all animal cells. It is essential for many of the body’s metabolic processes. The body is very good at making its own cholesterol – it makes approximately 80% of your cholesterol.
Cholesterol is produced by the liver and also made by most cells in the body. It is carried around in the blood by little ‘couriers’ called lipoproteins. We need blood cholesterol because the body uses it to:
- Build the structure of cell membranes.
- Make hormones like oestrogen, testosterone and adrenal hormones.
- Help your metabolism work efficiently; eg cholesterol is essential for your body to produce vitamin D.
- Produce bile acids, which help the body digest fat and absorb important nutrients.
- Low levels of cholesterol are associated with depression, suicide and, in older women, lung cancer.
The big Cholesterol Myth
Cholesterol for many years now has been reduced to a single figure – a number that is said to indicate health or disease, high cholesterol is said to be bad, low cholesterol is said to be good. Eventually this was broken down into two forms of cholesterol that you needed to know about, two numbers to indicate health – HDL (called the “good cholesterol”) and LDL (called the “bad cholesterol”).
It has become clear with consistent research from 2001 onwards that your cholesterol number is irrelevant; it is not an accurate way to determine one’s health including risk of cardiovascular disease. LDL’s and HDL’s can both be good and bad, depending on whether they have been oxidised and depending on whether important inflammatory markers are high in the blood (eg C-reactive protein (CRP), triglycerides, ESR and Lp(a). If you are overweight, especially if carrying visceral fat (the abdominal fat that covers your organs), you can be sure that you have oxidised cholesterol regardless of if you have a “good number”. Visceral fat releases toxins into the body causing inflammation and disease.
Triglycerides are other ‘storage’ fats that are transported in blood lipoproteins, if these are present in high concentrations in the blood you are at high risk of cardiovascular disease.
Did you know that you make adrenal hormones such as cortisol when you are stressed? These hormones are made from cholesterol so stress causes your liver to make more cholesterol!
The body uses cholesterol to repair damage to the arteries caused by inflammation; these fatty deposits that develop in the arteries are your body’s short term solution to seal up the damage (kind of like a bandaid in your arteries). If the reasons for the inflammation are not addressed this will eventually cause the vessels to narrow and they can eventually become blocked. This can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Sources of cholesterol
There are two sources of cholesterol in the body. Some is present in foods (eg dairy products and meats), but most is made by the liver. Foods from plants do not contain cholesterol. You may be surprised to learn that eating foods that contain fat is not what causes heart disease. That’s right, eating cholesterol does not cause heart disease! For a long time saturated fat has taken the blame for a more complex issue.
The story continues in part 2
For more information or personalised advice on a healthy diet contact Fiona or Rachel on (02) 47 222 111 or www.informedhealth.com.au
References:
Eddey Stephen. Cardiovascular Disease: The best treatment options, 2011. Health Schools Australia, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
Many references and studies are available at : http://www.dietdoctor.com/science
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz24cabyjEN
Seasonal eating – what’s best in August?
Each season brings different colours, flavours and scents to the table. Food that grows seasonally is exactly what our body needs for that season to stay balanced. There are a number of good reasons to eat more seasonal food:
• the environment – to reduce the energy needed to grow and deliver the food we eat
• price – to avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way
• community – to support the local economy
• health – it is fresher and therefore tastier and more nutritious!
Fresh foods in season in Australia for August are:
| Fruit: | Vegetables: |
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For more information on seasonal foods and recipe ideas, go to: Fresh for Kids
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