10 Reasons NOT to eat bread, no matter what Oprah says...

The reason to eat or not eat bread is more than just a weight loss debate... here are 10 reasons (there are more) why you shouldn't eat bread, and only 1 of them has to do with gaining weight! 

1. Increases blood sugar levels: Wheat contains amylopectin A, a type of molecule that is more efficiently converted to blood sugar than just about any other carbohydrate. After the consumption of wheat your blood sugar levels increase and in a matter of 2-hours you’re bound to be foraging through the fridge once again in an effort to satisfy your appetite. Wheat consumption puts the body through a series of highs and lows, where the body becomes stuck in a vicious cycle of constant hunger.
2. Bread is addicting: Researchers from the National Institute of Health discovered that the gluten found in bread tickles the brains opiate receptors eliciting a sense of euphoria when consumed. Meaning quite simply, the more we eat it, the more we want it.
3. Difficult to digest: Bread almost always contains gluten, a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and other grains. Gluten is very difficult for the human body to digest and it requires a very strong acid in the stomach to process it. It can sometimes take as long as 4-weeks to digest a meal containing mostly wheat.
4. Nutritionally deficient: During the refining process, bread is stripped of its healthy elements including bran and germ. This means most of the vitamins and minerals are lost leaving you with nothing but a mucus forming, addictive slice of bread to butter your toast in the morning.
5. Bread Contains Other Harmful Substances: Most commercial types of bread contains sugars or high fructose corn syrup. Sugar causes many adverse effects and eating processed foods that contain it is likely to have detrimental effects on health.
6. Bread contains phytic acid: Phytic acid is a molecule that strongly binds essential minerals like calcium, iron and zinc, preventing them from being absorbed. Soaking grains before baking can degrade the phytic acid, which should improve the availability of minerals.
7. Mucus forming: Bread is part of the refined grain family joining other grains like barley, oats and rye all of which produce mucus in the body. Mucus is the body’s natural defense mechanism to protect our cells, tissues and organs from the harmful acid found within bread. While mucus forms as a means of protection it is not side-effect free. A build up of mucus often means the lungs and nasal passages become congested and digestion is hindered.
8. Breads (even gluten free) can cause weight gain – All breads that contain a grain are high glycemic, which means that it breaks down to sugar in the body and need to be burned off before you can use fat for fuel. The starches in bread get broken down quickly in the digestive tract and enter the bloodstream as glucose. This causes a rapid spike in blood sugar and insulin levels. Learn more about this is Six Week Slim Down.
9. Whole grain breads are not any healthier: Even whole grain bread usually isn’t made out of actual “whole” grains. They are grains that have been pulverized into very fine flour. Even though this process reserves the nutrients, it causes these products to be digested rapidly.
10. Bread can speed aging! Elevated blood sugars can also cause glycation at the cellular level when the blood sugars react with proteins in the body. This is one of the components of ageing.

To lurn more about eating healthy, visit www.mywelllnessexperience.org and take the online program Six Week Slim Down!
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Eat Fat to Lose Weight!

For those people thinking that fats are something to eliminate from the diet, consider this…Fat is a major source of energy and aids your body in absorbing vitamins. It's important for proper growth, development and keeping you healthy. Fat provides taste to foods and helps you feel full so you eat less! Fats are an especially important source of calories and nutrients for infants and toddlers. Dietary fat also plays a major role in your cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is important in manufacturing chemicals and hormones in the body and especially the brain.

Somewhere along the way it was decided that eating fat was a bad thing. Why fat was singled out, I can only guess, is because it has more than double the calories as carbohydrate and protein (9 calories per gram vs. 4 calories for carbs and protein). It is true fat is more calorie dense, but it is also naturally occurring in smaller amounts in nature. For example, fruits are often larger and nuts and seeds smaller. So we still eat fats, just not as much.

There are fats we need and fats we should definitely avoid.

Here are the GOOD FATS THAT CAN HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT…

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) and Omega 3 Fatty acids – These fats are not manufactured by the body, so we need to include those in our diet. They are needed for basic functions in the brain, and eating them can actually help you lose weight.
Omega 3 Fatty acids come from plants and fish that eat plants. I like chia seeds the best, which is a complete protein and has many other health benefits. Omega 3 fats help your body create a hormone called Leptin, which is responsible for telling your body when to stop eating. It also helps the body covert fat to fuel. Omega 3 fats help you to feel full longer, balance the blood sugar, reduce inflammation in the body and help the hair, skin and nails stay strong and supple. Omega 6 and 9 Fatty acids are also good, but the 3’s are the ones we get the least of and need more than the rest!
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) – This potent nutrient is called conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, and the best possible sources of CLA are grass-fed beef and raw (unpasteurized) dairy products that come from grass-fed cattle.

Medium Chain Triglycerides (MTC) – coconut oil, palm kernel oil (non hydrogenated)
These fats increase the metabolism, help the body use fat for energy instead of storage (body fat) and curb the appetite. Medium chain triglycerides are a form of fat that the body prefers to burn immediately, rather than store. Unrefined coconut oil is a very large source of MCTs, on average about 66% of it is MCT oil. This oil is great for cooking because it has a high smoking point, and can be used in all forms of baking and cooking where oil is needed. In addition to helping with weight loss, coconut oil has been used to prevent heart disease, cancer and diabetes as well as strengthen the immune system and improve skin and hair.

Some of the foods you might want to include over the holidays include those with Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Chia seeds, sardines, salmon, flax seeds and walnuts are excellent food sources of omega-3 fatty acids. For the CLA sources include grass fed beef in your recipes as well as cheese plates made with raw cheese and maybe some raw milk or creamer in your coffee. The last one is easy, MTC is best in pure coconut oil. This you can get my just replacing any oil you normally bake with.
Learn more about healthy weight loss by taking the Six Week Slim Down!

Nicole Carter is a Holistic Health Educator with 15 years of teaching and public speaking experience in wellness.  To book her for a presentation or learn about online learning opportunities please visit www.mywellnessexperience.org

5 reasons to turn off the TV

Most people watch TV daily, sometimes for hours. There more problems to it than you might think!

1.    It causes low back pain. Well, actually it is sitting that causes low back pain but most people are sitting while they watch TV.  Prolonged sitting causes shortening of the muscles in the hip flexors which then cause tightening on the low back muscles.

2.    It promotes obesity. The Harvard School of Public Health cites studies directly linking TV watching to obesity. Every minute sitting idle is a minute of movement lost. Moving your body in any way burns calories to some degree. So the more you move, the more likely you are to be at a healthy body weight. It doesn't help to be watching food commercials either!

3.    It reduces quality time with friends, family or loved ones. Every minute watching television is time that could be spent having fun, bonding and talking with your peeps. Don't waste time staring at the idiot box.  Turn it off and call or meet a friend.

4.    TV makes you unhappy with your accomplishments. According to the Journal for Economic Psychology, people see things on TV that make them feel the need to acquire more material possessions, and this causes anxiety over how to attain it. Turning the TV off gives you time to appreciate what you have.

5.    TV can cause cellular damage to your body. Every electronic device, including televisions, emit carcinogenic radiation. You can read more about electromagnetic fields on the World Health Organization’s sitewww.WHO.int

Nicole Carter

The Wellness Experience

www.mywellnessexperience.org

949-395-8002