Bitter Poison

Complete Protein in a Vegetarian Diet

In previous articles about protein, I mostly talked about the total amount of protein in a diet, as if all protein were created equal. People who are concerned about protein in a vegan diet usually are not only concerned about the amount of protein, but also about the quality of protein. Vegetable protein is said to be of lesser quality than animal protein. It is often referred to as "incomplete" whereas animal protein is said to be "complete". In this article I will discuss what is meant by the term "complete protein" and we will look at whether this is something to worry about.

Proteins are made up of amino acids. They are the building blocks of protein. There are twenty different amino acids in protein, nine of which are essential, which means that the body needs to get them from food because it cannot make them itself. The other amino acids can be made by the body so they do not have to be present in our food. Of course there is some controversy about the ideal or minimum amounts of the essential amino acids that we need. An often cited standard is that of the Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board. They give the following recommended amino acid profile (amounts given are percentages of the total amount of protein in the food):

Amino Acid	Percentage of Protein
Tryptophan	0.7
Threonine	2.7
Isoleucine	2.5
Leucine	5.5
Lysine	5.1
Valine	3.2
Arginine	1.8
Methionine+Cystine	2.5
Phenylalanine+Tyrosine	4.7

A protein is said to be complete if the amino acids are present in at least these amounts. The body can make methionine from cystine and phenylalanine from tyrosine and vice versa, so that is why they are listed together. If a food does not have all the amino acids in the recommended amounts, it is said to be deficient in that amino acid, and the amino acid is called the limiting amino acid. This is not a problem at all, since people eat a variety of foods. Sometimes people (even self proclaimed experts) still recommend that vegans combine foods in a single meal to make up for limiting amino acids. This is not necessary. Just like we do not need to get optimum amounts of all vitamins in every single meal, we also do not need optimum amounts of amino acids in every single meal. The body will be able to use them if we eat a variety of foods every day.

Even though the food combining theory has long been discredited, many people still consider it a fact that plant based foods have incomplete amino acid profiles by definition. This is false. Grains often (but not always) have a limiting amino acid, but most vegetables and many kinds of beans have complete proteins. Green vegetables are no brainers for people who read this site, but even potatoes and carrots have a good amino acid profile, as have chickpeas, white, black and kidney beans. It has been stated again and again by vegan nutrition experts, but I think it bears repeating: if you eat a healthy, varied diet, you do not need to worry about complete proteins. If you do not eat a healthy varied diet, you have more important things to worry about than amino acids.

It was surprising to me that not all animal foods are complete proteins. I wonder why we never hear that people should always combine ground beef or cured pork with a food that is high in tryptophan, because ground beef and cured pork are severely deficient in this essential amino acid.

I made a simple search tool that allows you to search for the amino acid profile of all foods in the USDA database: Essential Amino Acids Search. The score you see in the tables is simply the percentage protein divided by the reference value from the Institute of Medicine. For example: the reference value for lysine is 5.1. If a food has 10.2% of its protein in the form of lysine, it gets a score of 2. If it has 2.55% lysine, it gets a score of 0.5, which means that this food is deficient in lysine.

New and Improved Bitter Poison

I am back. Sort of. As you can see, I changed the website, mostly to make older articles more accessible. I plan to start writing some new articles again as well, but not on a regular schedule.

Apart from the updated layout and the different colors, I also removed the advertisements from Google. I already removed most of them months ago, but now they are all gone. I did not like most of the companies that I promoted through those advertisements so it did not make sense to keep those ads. I kept the affiliate links to websites that I recommend and I added advertisements to my Amazon store with books about nutrition and vegan cookbooks. All the books in this store are books that I honestly recommend. If you buy something from Amazon after following a link from this website, I will get a small commision and it does not cost you anything extra. I know some people will dislike all advertising: if you are one of them please go ahead and block my ads.

For the moment, comments do not work. I may add comments to articles again at some point, but I also may not. If you want to say something to me, you can of course e-mail me at helena at bitterpoison. Some tools that practically nobody used also do not work for the moment. It is likely that there will be some other glitches, since I moved the site from Wordpress to a home-brewed Django application. I am stil working on some minor things like putting all articles in the correct category. If you encounter any problems: please let me know.

PRAL values of foods in USDA database

A reader asked me if I could make a file with the PRAL values of all foods in the USDA database. Here it is! It is a pipe (|) delimited file with PRAL values of all foods in the USDA database. It is calculated with the PRAL formula, based on the values in the USDA database. There may be errors; don't rely on this list (or the pral calculator) for anything serious. If you find an error, please let me know.

For more information about PRAL, see:

Breastfeeding and Vitamin D

When my daughter was smaller I used to frequent parenting boards. One of the hot topics on those boards was whether to give your baby vitamin supplements. You give your baby the healthiest food on earth, surely she shouldn't need any supplements? Nature doesn't make mistakes, we have survived for thousands of years without supplements. Besides, vitamin D is available in plentiful supply just from a little sunshine. Let's have a look at the myths and the facts.

Myth 1: You'll get enough vitamin D if you spend just a little time outside

This depends on where you live. Vitamin D is a hormone. Your body makes it when it is exposed to UVB radiation from the sun. The closer you are to the equator, the more UVB radiation is in the sun. In most of Europe there is no UVB in the sun whatsoever from October through March. In the north of the US there is no UVB in the sun from November through Februari. During those months your body does not make any vitamin D, not even if you spend lots of time outside.

Myth 2: Vitamin D levels in breastmilk are meant to be low

The idea is that nature doesn't make mistakes, so if breastmilk levels of vitamin D are low, that is how it is meant to be. It probably means that our children do not need much vitamin D. After all, breastmilk does not contain much protein either, but we do not give our children protein supplements, do we?

It sounds logical, but it is not true. Breastmilk levels of vitamin D are only low when mother's vitamin D intake is low. If the mother gets about 4000 IU (100 mcg) vitamin D per day, breastmilk levels are sufficient and no supplementation is necessary. This amount of vitamin D occurs naturally in three herrings, or three tablespoons of cod liver oil. I think the conclusion is that if you live in a northern country, you are meant to eat fish and spend lots of time outside during summer. Now that the sees are enourmously polluted and fish population is diminishing, high fish intake does not seem like such a good idea anymore.

If breastmilk levels were meant to be low, the levels would not depend on mother's intake. This is true for other nutrients: iron levels in breastmilk are not dependend on maternal intake and it is reasonable to assume that this means that iron levels are meant to be low.

Myth 3: Many animal products contain significant amounts of vitamin D

The only real dietary source of vitamin D is fatty fish. Dairy products contain small amounts, but you would have to eat almost two pounds of cheese to get the RDA for vitamin D.

My Advice

Just like vitamin C deficiency does not only lead to scurvy, vitamin D deficiency does not just lead to rachitis. Rachitis is just the most severe form of vitamin D deficiency. In adults, low vitamin D levels are associated with osteporosis (vitamin D is more important than calcium in the prevention of osteoporosis), diabetes, MS, lung disease, breast-, prostate-, ovary- and gut cancer and heart disease.

Whether you want to supplement your child or yourself with vitamin D is an individual choice that mostly depends on where you live. I strongly feel that the dangers of not supplementing in northern countries are greater than the dangers of supplementing. This is even more important if you are dark-skinned, because the melanin in the skin blocks the UVB rays to a certain extent. At least make sure to supplement during the winter months. If you would rather not supplement your child, supplement yourself. 50-100mcg a day is enough to make your breastmilk high in vitamin D. If you want to rely on the sun, realise that sunscreen blocks UVB radiation. Make sure your child does not get sunburned.

Sources

How not to deal with stress

We just bought our first house, in another part of the country. There are lots of things that need to be done in a short time and I noticed that I developed some bad responses to the stress. In the spirit of do as I say, not as I do I'll share my pitfalls.

I am way too busy to eat healthy. Be glad I am eating whole wheat pasta with some veggies, instead of pizza!
Better response: In times of stress I should take MORE care of myself, not less!
I wish my daughter would sit quietly in a corner with a book so that I can get some things done already!
Better response: What a nice relief it is to play/sing/read/dance with her, and how happy I am to have a healthy, wonderful child.
I do not have time to exercise now. There are so many things that need to get done. Besides, I really need my sleep now.
Better response: I am too busy to exercise during the day, so let's set a strict wake up time and stick to it, so I can exercise in the morning. I may be a bit more tired during the day, but that will only help me sleep better at night.

Eating habits and exercise are a big part of the health equation, but stress is also important. Stress not only often leads to unhealthy eating and less exercise, it also is unhealthy in itself. The most unhealthy stress is nagging, everyday stress. Stressful events that rarely happen, are not nearly as dangerous as a stressful job that you choose to do for the rest of your life, but it is still best to avoid both. Your life is much more pleasant if you know how to deal with stress.

Recipe: Apple Tart

This week's recipe is truly delicious and healthy. It has become my standard birthday cake recipe that everybody likes. It is completely oil free and suitable for people with dairy, egg, soy and gluten allergies.

The recipe is from The World's Healthiest Foods, a great website with lots of info about healthy foods. I adapted it very slightly to make it vegan.

Ingredients

2.5 cups walnuts (300 grams)
1.5 cups dates (225 grams)
3 firm green apples, such as Granny Smith (Braeburn work great as well)
juice of 1 lemon in 2 cups water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground clove
2 tbsp agave nectar (or maple syrup)
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup raisins

Instructions

Remove pits from dates and cut off stems. Grind walnuts in food processor. They should be grind coursly, not into flour. Set aside. Grind dates until they form a big ball. Add in ground walnuts. Process until well mixed and ground, but not smooth. Press evenly into a seven to nine inch tart pan. Set in refrigerator while making the filling.
Slice apples and put into lemon water. Drain when done.
Place apples in a large skillet with rest of the ingredients and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently on medium heat.
Remove apples with a slotted spoon from hot pan to a bowl and cool completely.
Reduce liquid to about half the volume and cool separately.
Spread apples evenly over crust. Brush syrup over apples.

The recipe is very forgiving. I have used different amounts of walnuts and dates, and it always works. If you leave the syrup on the stove for too long, just add some more apple juice and spices (or not). I have also used whole cloves instead of ground cloves, that worked fine as well. A very sharp knife is helpful for cutting the tart without ending up with date-nut-apple mess

Health notes

This recipe is full of heart and brain healthy walnuts. Dates and apples are phytochemical rich fruits. The only non whole foods in this tart are apple juice and agave nectar, but the amount per serving is very small.

Read the original recipe on WHFoods.com for a more extensive health analysis.

I highly recommend this apple tart as a substitue for apple pie if you have something to celebrate.

Saturated fat

In this fourth post in the series about cooking oils I will discuss saturated fat. If you are reading this blog, chances are, I do not need to tell you that saturated fat is not that good for you. In this article, I will discuss why.

Most saturated fat in western countries is consumed in the form of animal products and fried/baked goods. Cooking oils that are high in saturated fat include coconut, palm and palm kernel oil.

There are different kinds of saturated fatty acids (SAFA's). The most common distinction is between short chain, medium chain and long chain SAFA's. All SAFA's have a different effect on fat metabolism and cholesterol levels.

Health benefits of saturated fat

There are very vocal internet groups that claim that saturated fat is not just safe, but necessary for health. Lots of research does not agree. There are a couple of arguments that are worth discussing:

There are many studies that proof that saturated fat is better for {insert favorite disorder here} than polyunsaturated oils. I actually believe that this is likely to be true, in a society where people eat an extremely antioxidant poor diet. As I explained in the article about Polyunsaturated oils, they do have their drawbacks. The fact that, in some selected studies, saturated fats somewhat improve a diet that is rich in PUFA's from extracted oils and low in nutrients, does not impress me much.
Lauric acid (the main fatty acid in coconut oil) has anti viral/bacterial properties. I believe this is true as well. It is important to note though, that many foods have health promoting properties, and most have a much better calorie:health ratio. If I wanted to kill a flu, I would load up on garlic, ginger and greens, not on coconut oil. That said, I do think lauric acid has some beneficial properties, and I am not too worried about the cholesterol elevating effects of a small amount of saturated fat in my diet, so I still happily consume some coconut products.
Short and Medium chain fatty acids promote weight loss. I strongly feel people should not micromanage their diets this way. It may or may not be true, eating three tablespoons of cholesterol elevating oil a day is just too unhealthy. I also dislike the idea that weight loss needs a secret, a special method. Weight loss is not that difficult for most people. Willpower is a good skill to learn.

Health dangers of saturated fat

The most well known danger of saturated fat is that it elevates your LDL ("bad") cholesterol. It also elevates your HDL ("good") cholesterol, but the net effect is still negative. The cholesterol will block your arteries, which makes it harder for the blood to flow, which (simplified to the extreme) leads to heart attacks. Technically, this is not the entire story. Some types of saturated fat do not elevate cholesterol as much. Practically all high saturated fat foods do contain the cholesterol elevating kind of SAFA's (cocoa is a welcome exception!), so this is only a theoretical point.

Cholesterol is not the only thing that makes saturated fat less healthy. Saturated fat has a bad effect on blood glucose levels, which may cause diabetes. It also causes inflammation, which may cause many diseases.

Recommendation

I do not recommend to consume significant amounts of coconut or palm oil (I don't recommend dairy either - but this series is about cooking oils). For occasional use, I do not think it is very harmful if you eat an otherwise healthy diet with lots of anti-oxidants, but I would still recommend consuming fresh coconuts instead of coconut oil.

Monounsaturated oils

In this third post in the series about cooking oils I will discuss mono-unsaturated oils (or: oils that consist primarily of mono-unsaturated fatty acids). The most prominent mono-unsaturated oil is olive oil. Another oil that is getting more popular is high-oleic sunflower/safflower oil. Usual sunflower and safflower oils are very high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, but the high-oleic varieties are made with special seeds that are about as high in monounsaturated fats as olives. See the introduction to this series for a table with the fatty acid ratios of common cooking oils.

Health benefits of mono-unsaturated oils

Monounsaturated oils are much easier to understand than polyunsaturated oils. There are no different kinds and types that you need to worry about.

You can think of monounsaturated oils as a kind of hybrid between very unstable polyunsaturated oils, and very stable saturated oils. They do not get rancid as easily as polyunsaturated oils, but they do not have the artery clogging effect of saturated fats. Mono-unsaturated oils have an anti-inflammatory effect: they are good for diseases like asthma and arthritis. They are also heart healthy because they lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and higher HDL ("good") cholesterol.

Health dangers of monounsaturated oils

Even though monounsaturated oils are more stable than their polyunsaturated counterparts, they do still oxidize easily. Even though olive oil is extremely rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids, it still contains 11% of highly unstable polyunsaturated fat. Oxidized oils are dangerous to your health because they oxidize the cholesterol in your body: think of rusting arteries.

Even though mono-unsaturated fats have many health benefits, as extracted oils they are still mostly empty calories: they contain very few vitamins and no minerals. You can get those health promoting fats in a much healthier way by eating avocado's and almonds.

Recommendation

I think that if you want to consume oil, olive oil is a good choice, if you keep the following advice in mind:

Buy extra virgin olive oil. This is the best quality olive oil, that is pressed without heat, thus preserving at least some of the antioxidants (like vitamin E) that were originally in the olives.
Only buy olive oil that is stored in a dark bottle and still has a long shelf life.
Always store the oil in a sealed bottle or glass jar in a dark and cool place. It is best to put it in the fridge. It will solidify, but you can just get it out of the fridge a couple of hours before you want to use it as a salad dressing, or scoop a teaspoon out of the jar if you want to use it for cooking.
Do not overheat the oil. A good technique if you want to saute things in a little oil is to water saute: add a small amount of water to the skillet. Heat. Add a little oil. Saute as usual. This method ensures that the oils do not get too hot.
Moderation is important. It is not healthful to regularly use two tablespoons of oil as a salad dressing.

Polyunsaturated oils

Many health organizations recommend the use of oils that consist primarily of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA's), like sunflower oil because they are said to be heart healthy. Let's look at the facts.

There are two separate issues that are important when assessing the healthfulness of polyunsaturated oils:

Health aspects of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Health aspects of extracted oil made from those fatty acids.

Different kinds of polyunsaturated fatty acids

PUFA's can be divided into two major groups: omega-3 and omega-6. For years, experts thought the two were interchangeable in their health benefits, but lately the omega-3 fatty acids get most of the attention, and it is now known that too much omega-6 PUFA's are actually unhealthy.

Omega 3 fatty acids

The three most important omega 3 fatty acids are ALA, EPA and DHA. Your body cannot make ALA, you have to get it in your diet. Flax seeds, walnuts and greens are naturally rich in ALA.

ALA itself has health benefits, but the omega 3 fatty acids that are so good for your brain are DHA and EPA. Your body can convert ALA into EPA and EPA into DHA, if you eat a healthy diet and are very healthy. Natural sources of EPA and DHA are fish, specially bred animals and algae.

Omega 6 fatty acids

The three most important omega 6 fatty acids are LA, GLA and AA. Your body cannot make LA, but it can convert LA into the other omega 6 fatty acids. Some health experts still recommend the use of sunflower oil and other LA rich products because they are so heart healthy, but our diets are already very rich in LA, we certainly do not need extra LA. Sunflower oil may or may not be healthier than saturated fats like butter and palm oil, but that is not the issue: you should avoid both.

Health benefits of PUFA's

PUFA's lower cholesterol. High levels of cholesterol are associated with higher rates of heart disease, lower levels of cholesterol are associated with lower (or even absent) levels of heart disease. It is important to note though, that PUFA's lower both LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol and that populations that have low levels of heart disease do not consume large amounts of PUFA's.

Health dangers of PUFA's

PUFA's are prone to oxidation and rancidity. Oxidation does not just affect taste, it affects the health properties of the fats. Their original packaging (whole nuts and seeds) protects the fragile oils with many anti-oxidants. As extracted oils the fats are much more likely to go bad than as properly stored nuts and seeds. If you do not want your arteries to rust, always store PUFA rich products in a sealed container in a refrigerator or freezer and do not overheat them.

Omega 6 fatty acids, particularly AA (a fatty acid almost exclusively found in animal products), but also an overload of LA compared to ALA, lead to inflammatory diseases like asthma and arthritis.

Recommendation

Nuts and seeds are very high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fats are very unstable, so it is best to eat them in their original packaging and not use extracted polyunsaturated oils. An exception could be small amounts of sesame oil, because it still contains many anti-oxidants and a large amount of (more stable) mono-unsaturated fatty acids. I recommend to add sesame oil to the meal when it is done, not to fry in it. A good quality cold pressed rapeseed oil could also be used sparingly as a salad dressing, because of its favorable omega 3/6 ratio, but many rapeseed oils sold today do not have that much omega 3 fatty acids anymore. Canola oil (which is refined rapeseed oil) does, but I do not recommend the use of refined oils.

Do use nuts and seeds in your diet -- despite my reservations about high amounts of PUFA's, nuts and seeds have been shown to be good for you in many studies. Make sure to include flax seeds and walnuts, as well as lots of greens, in order to keep a favorable omega 3/6 ratio.

Later this week, I will discuss the health properties of mono-unsaturated oils, most importantly olive oil.

Brussels Sprouts Recipes

My apologies for my lack of updates this week. I was away from home and had planned to update the blog as usual, but somehow I could not access my blog software from there.

In the comments to a recent post IFitAndHealthy asked what my favorite vegan recipes are. I must admit I did not have an immediate answer to that. I also realize my sunday recipes are far from superhealthy and that that may give the impression that you should do as I say, not as I do. In reality, I really do like healthy foods, but my healthy meals just are not that impressive. Toss cucumber and tomatoes, top with sunflower seeds hardly counts as a recipe, does it? I am fortunate that I really like plain vegetables. When I am lazy, I just steam a boxed of frozen green beans for lunch.

I was overjoyed when I found fresh brussels sprouts in stores again. I now remember my favorite recipe: plain boiled brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts are both green and cruciferous. They are excellent sources of vitamin A, C and K. Cruciferous vegetables kill cancer cells and green vegetables are nutritional powerhouses.

For people who are a little more enthusiast cooks than I am, here are a couple of brussels sprouts recipes that really do look delicious:

Not all these recipes are totally healthy, but they are easy to adapt. Reduce oil and salt if necessary.

Enjoy!

The cooking oil issue

When I wrote earlier this week about the dangers of saturated fat, I said that one of the arguments of people that say saturated fat is good for you is that polyunsaturated oils are really bad for you, and that I agree with that statement. That raises the question: what cooking oil should you use? In the coming series I will discuss some of the benefits and drawbacks of various cooking oils.

Should you use oil at all?

Oil is a refined food. It is rubbed from most of its original nutrients and protection against rancidity. It is not something that is good for you, and you should use it in limited amounts. It is perfectly possible to cook without oil, and it is perfectly possible to get all your essential fatty acids from whole foods, like nuts, seeds, avocado's and greens. That said, populations from all over the world have used oils for ages. Some food does taste much better with even a little oil. I do not think that oil in small amounts is harmful if you are not overweight or suffering from a serious disease and if you are using the right oils, the right way.

Different kinds of oils

There are three kinds of oils: saturated, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated. Saturated oils are solid at room temperature, mono-unsaturated oils are fluid at room temperature, but solid in the refrigerator, poly-unsaturated oils are fluid at room temperature and in the refrigerator. That sounds easy enough, but all oils contain a mixture of saturated, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats. Below you will find a table with the saturated, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fatty acid contents of various oils, as well as their vitamin E content.

Next week, I will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the most popular cooking oils. I will also discuss how to use and store oils.

Fatty acid composition of various oils

This table is sorted by mono-unsaturated fatty acid content. To sort on another header, just click that header

Oil	saturated	mono-unsaturated	poly-unsaturated	vitamin e
Sunflower oil (oleic)	10	84	4	41
Hazelnut oil	7	78	10	47
Safflower oil (oleic)	6	75	14	34
Olive oil	14	73	11	14
Avocado oil	12	71	13
Almond oil	8	70	17	39
Apricot kernel oil	6	60	29	4
Mustard oil	12	59	21
Canola oil	7	59	30	17
Goose fat	28	57	11	3
Herring oil	21	57	16
Teaseed oil	21	52	23	0
Duck fat	33	49	13	3
Cod liver oil	23	47	23
Peanut oil	17	46	32	16
Lard	39	45	11	1
Chicken fat	30	45	21	3
Sheanut oil	47	44	5	0
Turkey fat	29	43	23	3
Beef tallow fat	50	42	4	3
Mutton Tallow	47	41	8	3
Sesame oil	14	40	42	1
Rice bran oil	20	39	35	32
Palm oil	49	37	9	16
Oat oil	20	35	41	14
Sardine oil	30	34	32
Cocoa butter	60	33	3	2
Salmon oil	20	29	40
Corn oil	13	28	55	14
Menhaden oil	30	27	34
Soybean oil	14	23	58	9
Tomatoseed oil	20	23	53	4
Walnut oil	9	23	63	0
Flaxseed oil	9	20	66	18
Poppyseed oil	14	20	62	11
Sunflower oil	10	20	66	41
Cottonseed oil	26	18	52	35
Grapeseed oil	10	16	70	29
Wheat germ oil	19	15	62	149
Safflower oil	6	14	75	34
Palm kernel oil	82	11	2	4
Babassu oil	81	11	2	19
Coconut oil	87	6	2	0
Nutmeg butter	90	5	0	0

At first I planned to only list the most popular oils, like olive, safflower and canola, but I was fascinated by all the different oils. I had never heard of Babassu oil and wondered how anybody had ever thought of making oil from tomato seeds, so I decided to let them in.

Masai People and Heart Disease on a High Saturated Fat Diet

If you are interested in nutrition and have access to the internet, it is highly likely that at some point or another you came across views that are contradictory to everything you ever learned. There is a highly vocal group of people that claims that saturated fat is actually good for you. When you first look at the sites the evidence seems convincing, but if you look further you will see that they all reference each other and the few carefully picked studies that support their ideas. Let's discuss two of the most cited arguments.

The Masai eat lots of dairy and do not get heart disease

The Masai (or Maasai) are a people in Kenia. They use lots of dairy products and there arteries show for it: The coronary arteries showed intimal thickening by atherosclerosis which equaled that of old U.S. men (Atherosclerosis in the Masai). It is true that they do not get heart disease, but keep in mind that the life expectancy of the Masai is below 50 years. Many people in western countries don't get heart disease either, even if they are living on a chips and cheese diet. That is not the only explanation though: the researchers conclude that their exceptional level of fitness is probably an important factor: it makes the arteries expand so that blood can still flow, even with all the plaque.

The Masai get away with eating an artery clogging diet but that does not mean you can too. They have been eating lots of vegetables and herbs their entire lives. They have been physically active their entire lives. They have lived their entire lives in a natural environment and they are generally happy people. Even if you eat healthy now, chances are you grew up with refined grains and not enough exercise. Your arteries likely are already clogged and much less able to withstand the saturated fat than the arteries of the Masai. On the other hand: you will hopefully live much longer than most Masai. There also may be other factors at play that we do not know yet. Maybe the Masai eat a diet that is naturally rich in plaque removing substances. Maybe they have good genes.

Contradictory studies

The saturated fat - heart disease connection is very strong. It is untrue that the real experts do not believe anymore that saturated fat is bad: this is only a handful of doctors and other people that promote shabby research or take good research out of context. If you look for it, you can find studies that support every controversial opnion easily. The Japanese smoke much more than people in Europe and the US, yet have much less heart disease. Does this mean that smoking is actually good for you? There are people that think so.

Polyunsaturated fats are the real bad fats

Most of the pro saturated fat research concludes that extracted polyunsaturated oils are even worse than saturated fats. I agree that polyunsaturated oils should be severely limited as well (and the fact that trans fat is bad for you is already undisputed), but that is irrelevant. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Conclusion

All that said, I donâ€™t think saturated fat is actually poisonous. Nuts and seeds also contain saturated fat and I do not think there is anything wrong with eating coconuts every once in a while. No naturally occurring nutrient is totally good or bad. If you are lean and active and eating a healthy diet with lots of vegetables, I would not worry about saturated fat. Just do not think about it as health promoting.

Addendum

A reader commented that life expectancy does not say much, and he is right. In poor countries, life expectancy numbers are skewed, because so many children die at birth. If you have ten people die at birth and ten die at age 90, the average life expectancy is still only 45 years. However, in this particular case I do not think it is very relevant, because life expectancy at age 15 in Kenia is still only 60 years. It is also interesting to note that one of the reasons that the Masai have such a high neonatal mortality rate is exactly because of their beliefs about a healthy diet: Masai women eat less food during pregnancy because they want smaller babies.

Recipe: Peanut sauce

I realize I could call this ongoing series Junk Food Sunday because the recipes I posted are not exactly great examples of super healthy recipes. I do think they have a place though. I was so happy to finally find a recipe for peanut sauce without added oils or sugar. This is especially great if you have kids who love to eat "normal food" sometimes.

Health notes

Natural peanut butter is made of ground dry roasted peanuts, and nothing else. It is an excellent source of protein (peanuts contain more protein than tree nuts) and provides many vitamins and minerals (among which boron, which is good for your bones). Peanut butter also contains resveratrol, the antioxidant in red wine that protects against heart disease and cancer.

There are a couple of concerns with this peanut sauce though:

Peanut butter is often contaminated with aflatoxin (the ones that you grind yourself in the health food store are the worst, in this regard) but if you eat a diet that is very rich in leafy green vegetables, you do not have to worry about that.
Peanut butter (like all roasted nuts and nut butters) contains carcinogenic acrylamides. I feel that if you eat a healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables your body should be able to handle a little bit of acrylamide every once in a while.
This sauce is high in sodium, so you should watch your portion size and/or replace the soy sauce with something more heart healthy.

The source of this recipe is the best source of vegan recipes on the internet: Fat Free Vegan.

Ingredients

1/3 cup natural peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoons lime juice (I use lemon, because that's what I have on hand most of the time)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together well. Makes about 1 cup.

Nutrition Facts for entire recipe

Calories: 547
Fat: 42 g.
Protein: 19 g.
Carbohydrate: 23 g
Sodium: 1800 mg (1200 mg if using "low sodium" soy sauce)

Weight Loss Success Stories

Weight Loss Tips is a new site that features many weight loss success stories, including mine.

This is a great project, I hope they will be very successful. So many experts say that it is near impossible to lose weight and keep it off, it is good to read reports from actual people who did just that.

I was very surprised that the first question was which program I used and that almost all the other people who are featured on the site either used or created some sort of commercial weight loss program. People often ask me how I did it and when I answer I just started eating less, they seem disappointed. When did losing weight become so complicated and such a big industry?

The No S Diet

When I was a teenager here in the Netherlands, there were no fad diets. If you needed to lose weight, the common advice was to stop snacking and to exercise a little more. This wonderful simplicity has been captured in a simple mnemonic by Reinhard Engels: The No S Diet. No S means:

No Sugar
No Sweets
No Seconds

Except:

On days that start with an S.

That's it! It really is a simple concept and I am convinced that for most people this will really help them lose weight. Of course, in itself this does not say anything about health, but that's not what the program is about.

It is somewhat ironic that such a simple concept has a 24 page (that's just the printed out homepage!) website, a store, a podcast and a forum where people discuss the program.

Although I recommend the concept wholeheartedly, I do not agree with all of the author's reasoning. Bold passages are from the No S Diet website, my comments are below.

The calorie accounting diets are time consuming and joyless. You won't be able to stick with one of these because it will make you miserable. Besides the sheer tedium of compliance, if you come to think of food as fuel, a mere quantity, you'll come to loath it -- and your number crunching-munching self.

Many diet book authors say the same thing. I do not agree. For me (someone with an analytical mind, like Engels) knowing exactly what I ate helped me very much in making my eating more joyful. For the first time in my life I actually realized what I was eating. I think it is comparable to learning music theory. People often wonder if that doesn't take the joy out of music, but in fact it makes music much more interesting.

I also think there is a misconception in anti-calorie-counters that you need to count every calorie for the rest of your life. I only tracked everything I ate for a couple of weeks. After that I had a ballpoint figure in my head and just knew somewhere inside my head what constituted a normal meal or a normal snack.

By "no seconds," I officially mean one physical plate, and I think for beginners especially it's good to stick with this, even if it means a fairly overloaded plate. .

I think the "no seconds" idea is a great one. It may even unknowingly be one of the successes behind my weight loss. For practical reasons, we always put dinner on our plates in the kitchen. It means no leftovers, no picking in the pots and pans, no jealousy, no misguided politeness (both waiting if the other takes the last piece of yummy food from the pot). It also means that I got a very good idea of what a portion for me looks like. I think this is much better than constantly putting new food on your plate because you'll have no idea how much you already eat. When you are overweight, clearly you lost the ability to regulate that yourself, you need some external cues.

That said, I think salads and soups should be encouraged. My lunches are always a combination of salad/soup/stew or sandwich and I see no reason whatsoever to change that. I also end every meal with a piece of fruit. I think the only real reason to put everything on one plate is because Engels doesn't want you to realize the calorie content of your food at all. I think in the end that works against you. It is good to realize that it is better to eat two large plates of salad than it is to eat one small plate of mostly hamburgers and fries.

I also don't think that anyone in the medical profession would suggest regularly going 5 straight days without any fat. Unlike added sugar, it has some nutritional benefit, the body does need it.

It is true that the body does need fat, but the body does also need sugar. And just like the body does not need any added sugar, the body also does not need any added fat. Many doctors agree on that fact. We can get plenty of fat from whole foods such as avocado's and nuts and cutting out added fat that you don't really miss can be a big weight loss help. I used to just pour the oil in the pot, now I measure it out with a spoon. If you know a tablespoon of oil is 120 calories, that adds up fast. I do agree that simplicity is important though, and that if you leave out snacks you already lose a big part of the fattening fats.

Just about every diet guru publishes a list of permitted and forbidden foods. And they're bestsellers. People buy millions of copies of these lists. I am utterly baffled by this phenomenon.

This, I wholeheartedly agree with. One of the most common questions on the Eat To Live mailinglist is exactly which vegetables are considered non-starchy (and therefore unlimited) by Dr Fuhrman. I think many people really want their diet to work and just want explicit instructions on what to eat.

But most of all, I'm baffled that anyone really imagines they will play scavenger hunt at the supermarket for more than a month or two. It shows an utter ignorance of human psychology.

But I disagree here. I know many, many people who do exactly that. After I learned about trans fats, I just stopped eating them. That was not a problem at all. The same was true about white flour products, etc. A low carb diet would not work for me, but I know many people who actually are able to stick with it. Many people on the Eat To Live mailing list stick with the plan to the letter. As with the calorie counting, people only need those lists in the beginning. After a few weeks you know which foods are good, and which foods should be avoided (or only be eaten as treats).

Even if you aren't one of these unconscious permasnackers, but count every calorie and want to "graze" to better trick your metabolism, snacking isn't a good idea. The problem with such grazing is that it's impossible to get a sense of how much you are eating without paying an exorbitant amount of attention -- counting calories, points, etc. Doing all this math is way too much conscious overhead to sustain for the long term, and it's not something you can automate into unconscious habit.

This is a good point. After reading the No S Diet I made a commitment to stop snacking again, and I do like not thinking about food so much. I actually did not snack that much (I used to be a grazer, but I found it impossible to stay thin and eat so often), but I did have the nasty habit of eating my daughter's leftovers or sharing a snack with her. I noticed that it preoccupied me with food way too much, and I like the simpleness of just never snacking during the week. Allowing myself some leeway in the weekends means I don't become a grumpy thin person.

But I am way fatter than you were! Then you probably eat way more than I did, and will benefit that much more from eating less.

No doubt. I think the real challenge is with people who are much thinner. Engels' thin weight is 170 pounds. Many people are still overweight at that weight, and smaller women are even obese at 170 pounds. The smaller you are, the less food you need. If you are a male, weighing 170 pounds, I can see it would be almost impossible to gain weight on three meals a day, even if you indulge somewhat in the weekends. If you are a small woman however, I think this may not be enough. You may need to watch your portions, or be more careful on weekends.

Most conventional wisdom rules about diet are too simplistic and vague to be useful ("only eat when you're hungry"). The No S Diet finds the happy medium between the two. It's simple and specific.

I totally agree here. I wonder what people who advocate that you only eat when you are hungry do for a living? Most people cannot just drop everything they are doing to start preparing a meal. You just eat when it is lunch time. The good thing is that our bodies like predictions. Once you are used to eating three meals a day, you'll get hungry three times a day.

Conclusion

I may sound very critical, but I really like the No S concept. It is a great diet to recommend to people who would never try something like Eat To Live (which, incidentally, also forbids snacking and sweets). The diet does not say anything about health, so you can eat as healthy as you want. You may need to make some modifications (I would not recommend following the one-plate rule, and I would definitely recommend to watch what you are eating), but that's okay. Like with every diet, you have to think for yourself, because it is something you are going to do for the rest of your life.

See the damage to your arteries

Arteries of a 50 year old woman. The picture above shows arteries that are the result of normal aging. The picture below shows arteries that are the result of unhealthy aging.

Image Copyright Alexander Tsiaras, from the book: The Invision Guide to A Healthy Heart, Harper Collins, 2005.

I bought an amazing little book at a book fair today: The Invision Guide to a Healthy Heart by Alexander Tsiaras. The book tells in stunning pictures what heart disease looks like, from the inside. I am not a visual learner, but I found this book fascinating, especially coupled with recent information about how even one high saturated fat meal clogs your arteries. Of course I know what I have to do to keep my heart healthy, but a healthy heart was always an abstract concept for me. This books lays it out in wonderfully clear pictures.

There is also a website, but I did not find it as comprehensive as the book. Amazon offers to look inside the book (this works if you are logged in to your account and if you ordered from them before); if you need additional motivation to eat healthy, I highly recommend it.

Recipe: Super Easy Spicy Tomato Soup

This is one of the first real recipes I made. It was an instant hit and I don't think I ever bought canned tomato soup again. I love to eat this soup plain, but you can of course also use it as a base for more complicated soups.

Ingredients

500 ml (about 2 cups) sieved tomatoes
500 ml (about 2 cups) vegetable stock
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
cayenne to taste
a little oil or water for sauteing

Instructions

Saute the garlic until you can smell it. Don't let it burn!
Add the vinegar turn the fire on high to evaporate the sourness a little
Add tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil
Add cayenne to taste (I like it quite spicy)
Let simmer for a short a while.
Enjoy!

The original recipe specifies to bind the soup with one slice of crustless old white bread. The first few times I made this I did bind it with whole wheat bread and I was surprised that that worked really well. After that, I decided I got enough bread in my diet as is, and that if I am going to eat bread, I better enjoy it, so I started binding it with arrowroot. That worked fine also, but since simple is often better, I now don't bother with binding and this is still my favorite tomato soup.

Like all vegetarian soups the taste does depend heavily on the quality of your stock.

Dangerfoods: conclusion

This post concludes the series on dangerfoods. Here is a listing of the four topics in this series:

My general conclusion is that you should not worry too much about the hyped dangerfoods. The evidence is often inconclusive (with the exception of the evidence on trans fat) whereas the evidence of the benefits of eating lots of vegetables are clear and undisputable. High intake of HFCS, Aspartame, MSG and trans fat is almost always a sign of an unhealthy diet in other ways.

I think the scaremongering websites about these dangerfoods are actually dangerous in themselves, because they make people think that the alternatives (salt, sugar, saturated and other fats) are good for you. If you are afraid of MSG: don't compensate by eating more salt. If you are afraid of aspartame and HFCS: realize that sugar is unhealthy as well. If you are afraid of trans fat: realize that trans fat free French fries are still unhealthy and at best only marginally better than other fries.

Instead of focusing on how to make your junk food less unhealthy, focus on making your diet more healthy: eat more vegetables.

Recipe: Dahl Soup

This week's recipe is the recipe that made me love beans. It is (slightly adapted) from the book What's Cooking Vegetarian by Jenny Stacey. I found it first at Get In My Belly.

I know some people will be shocked to see coconut cream in a supposedly healthy recipe, but I think there is nothing wrong with a little coconut cream every once in a while, in a diet that is full of fruits and vegetables. Of course, if you want to lose weight, you may want to use a lot less, or use light coconut milk instead.

Ingredients

a bit of oil or water
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cans of chopped tomatoes (14.5 ounces each)
1 cup red or other lentils
Juice of ½ a lemon
2.5 cups veggie stock
75 grams creamed coconut (about 1/3 package, or 2.5 oz)

Preparation

Saute the garlic and onion for 2-3 minutes in the oil or water.
Add the spices and cook for another 30 seconds.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
If using a pressure cooker: Lock the lid, bring to high pressure and cook for seven minutes under high pressure.
If using a regular pan: let simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.
If using (more nutritious) brown lentils, make sure to cook the soup long enough. I often use my pressure cooker, which makes the lentils very mushy.

Nutrition Facts

Makes four large bowls, Nutrition Facts per serving

Calories: 360
Fat: 14 g (12 g saturated)
Protein: 15 g
Carbohydrate: 48 g (8 g fiber)
Iron: 5.2 mg (29%)

Dangerfoods: Trans Fat

What is trans fat

Trans fat is made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil. This process, called hydrogenation, makes liquid oils like soybean and sunflower oil more solid and increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats.

In the USA, trans fat content is on the Nutrition Facts label, but beware: products are allowed to advertise that they are trans fat free even if there is 0.5 grams of trans fat per portion. Some food manufacturers make their portions ridiculously small (1 portion of potato chips is something like 15 grams). The trans fat content of those "trans fat free" snacks still adds up. If the trans fat content is not on a label, check the ingredients. If there is hydrogenated oil on it, there is trans fat in it.

Like aspartame, you do not make trans fat (or: trans fatty acids) in your kitchen. This, of course, is enough to raise the suspicion of many health food advocates who point to trans fat as the main cause of many diseases.

What are the claims

Trans fat is said to cause heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and, like every dangerfood, many other diseases.

What is the evidence

Trans fat, like saturated fat, raises your LDL cholesterol. Unlike saturated fat, trans fat lowers your HDL cholesterol. This is very bad, since the higher your LDL and the lower your HDL, the greater your risk for atherosclerosis and heart disease.
Trans fat leads to more abdominal fat and weigh gain in monkeys even when total caloric intake is controlled.
The evidence that it causes cancer are still unclear. Some studies show a connection, some studies do not.

Unlike with the other dangerfoods, Food authorities all over the world agree that trans fat is bad and should be limited. There are no web pages from trans fat manufacturers that reassure us about its safety.

My conclusion

Trans fat is bad for you. Don't eat it.

That said, other extracted vegetable oils are not particularly good for you either, especially not if you eat foods that are fried in it. Trans fat is often present in heavily processed foods that you should avoid anyway. The best sources of trans fat are donuts, potato chips, french fries and cookies. If you replace the trans fat in those products with non-hydrogenated vegetable oils, they do not suddenly become healthy. I believe the current anti-trans-fat craze is dangerous because fast food outlets now actually label their soy bean oil fried fries as "heart healthy".

Cancer proof your future

The cancer-lifestyle/nutrition connection seems to be getting more and more attention in mainstream media. The Daily Telegraph has a story with the promising title: Cancer proof your future.

Their points:

Eat fruits and vegetables
Quit smoking
Maintain a healthy weight
Don't go to a solarium
Know your genetic history
Go to the doctor if your bowel movements change or if you see blood in your faeces.
Exercise
Eat turmeric and cruciferous vegetables
Get cancer screenings
Eat your greens

Most of these points were not new to me. I was surprised that I actually agreed with almost all of them. I am still unsure about the usefulness of regular cancer screenings for low risk people and I was surprised about the bowel movements point. I cannot imagine not going to the doctor if I found blood in my stools, but I never expected that this would be such a common cancer sign.

The specifics were interesting, though, and worth reading the article for. Who knew that a Swedish study of 61,000 women found those who ate bananas four to six times a week had half the risk of kidney cancer.? A banana! I always considered bananas the potatoes of fruits. Sure, they were healthy, but so high in sugar. I'll eat my bananas with even more pleasure now.

Risks of weight loss surgery

The New York Times reported today that four of every 10 patients who undergo weight-loss surgery develop complications within six months. I had not expected the number would be that high.

I think one of the reasons weight loss surgery is recommended for obese people is that people are told that it is flat out impossible to lose enough weight on their own. If you just hear that often enough, you start to believe that, especially if you have a history of losing and gaining weight. After all, if nobody can do it, what are the odds that you can? Morbidly obese people are usually not the most self confident people, so that does not help either.

I think this is a real shame. Studies about large groups of people say absolutely nothing about individuals. If one out of five businesses file bankruptcy each year, that does not mean that, say, Microsoft has a one out of five chance of bankruptcy this year, that chance is almost zero. It also does not mean that my local vegetable store had a one in five chance of closing, unfortunately, these days, that chance was much higher.

You are not a passive observer of your life. You decide your actions; if you are obese you can make sure you lose weight, just by eating less and exercising more. I do not say it is easy, I realize it can be very hard. Some people may not be able to do it alone. But do not let the experts tell you that a weight loss of only 10% is all that can be expected, that you should not want to lose too much weight or that surgery is your only option. They think about average people, but you are not average! This is your body, your life. You can choose whether you are Microsoft or Joe's Vegetable Store.

Dangerfoods: Aspartame

The other day, the owner of my friendly neighborhood health food store offered me a piece of a brownie. I declined because I had a piece of chewing gum in my mouth. The owner, who is obese and raves about the health promoting properties of coconut oil, responded: Yeah, go give yourself brain cancer.

This is the third post in the series on dangerfoods. Earlier posts in this series are about MSG and HFCS.

What is aspartame

Aspartame is a low calorie sweetener that is used as a sugar substitute in many processed foods. It is also used as a table sweetener. It is made by combining two amino acids (components of protein) with a small amount of methanol (a component of many fruits and vegetables). It is an artificial additive, unlike MSG, you cannot make aspartame at home.

Aspartame is one of the most debated ingredients on the internet. It is also one of the most studied ingriedients, with most scientists and most health authorities from around the world concluding it is safe. Is aspartame a poison that is responsible for all modern diseases or a healthy calorie-free sugar replacement?

What are the claims

Apart from all kinds of cancers, aspartame is said to cause depression, diabetes, headaches, infertility, sudden death and about every disease there is.

What is the evidence

There is plenty of evidence that aspartame, in amounts typically consumed, is safe for most people. Like with all foods, there will be people who have adverse reactions, just as there are people who have adverse reactions to apples. I personally often get a headache if I drink orange juice first thing in the morning, but I will not be writing an anti-orange website anytime soon. People that cut out aspartame usually start eating healthier altogether because they effectively stop eating many processed foods. That may account for them feeling better.

Recently, the European Ramazzini Foundation caused a stir by proclaiming that aspartame did in fact cause cancer in rats. The European Food Safety Authority reviewed their research and concluded the study was not very well designed and that there is no reason to reassess the safety of aspartame.

My conclusion

I am not afraid my past aspartame consumption or the occassional piece of chewing gum with 0.2 percent aspartame will cause me cancer. I think it is much more likely that my past junk food diet which was rich in potato chips and low in vegetables, fruits and beans will cause me cancer.

That said, I do not recommend consuming aspartame. Aspartame is about the opposite of the natural whole foods diet I recommend. I think that eating artificial foods on a regular basis skews your perception of what food is. It makes the step to eating other low-nutrient foods much higher. In one of the articles I read about aspartame, the researcher stated that everybody in the western world consumed aspartame on a daily basis â€“ whether they knew it or not. That seemed ridiculous to me. I do not assume aspartame is added to dried beans or vegetables now. Apparently, I am an exception and most people really do have no idea what they eat anymore.

When I was pregnant I cut out all aspartame and started consuming sugar again. I now doubt that that was a wise choice. Sugar contains calories but no nutrients for me and my baby. It also raises blood sugar levels, which was potentially very dangerous because, being obese, I already was at a higher risk of gestational diabetes, which is a serious pregnancy complication.

It seems best to not use any additional sweeteners on a regular basis. Use fresh fruit to satisfy a sweet tooth, and drink water. Limited amounts of dried and juice canned fruit can also be used â€“ but watch out: I find those just as addictive as table sugar.

Food is supposed to nourish you. The fact that it has calories is a good thing! If you want to trick yourself by eating more sweet foods without calories you mess with the basic assumption from your body that sweet food provides energy. Science has actually confirmed this: people who drink diet soda usually do not eat less calories altogether. They just make up for the missed calories with other food.

Take care of yourself. Eat a healthy diet consisting of vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Don't eat food which ingredients you do not understand, but also don't think that you are doing great just because you are not eating aspartame. Hundreds of studies provide no link between aspartame and diseases. Similarly, hundreds of studies show a clear link between diet, body weight and diseases. Focus on what you should eat, not on what you should not eat.

Highlighted science abstracts

Recipe: Mung Bean Pancakes

This is a typical Sunday afternoon recipe, in my opinion. The taste and structure of these relatively healthy pancakes reminds me of an omelet. The recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, an excellent cookbook with many great recipes. It is not a vegan cookbook. Most recipes are vegan or easily adapted but there are some recipes that rely on dairy or eggs. The many vegan recipes are easy, delicious and very worth it, in my opinion.

I know, this recipe is not the greatest example of a healthy recipe. You can only eat so much salad, though and sometimes you just do not feel like bean soups and chili's. This recipe is sure to please children (don't call them pancakes though, they taste nothing like flour pancakes) and an excellent different way to eat your beans. People who do not like beans usually do like these pancakes. The ingredients are all natural whole foods and pancakes like these are traditional foods of many countries around the world.

Ingredients

1 cup split mungbeans (original recipe calls for hulled, I use whatever I have on hand)
1/4 to 3/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp salt (original recipe calls for 1 tsp. omit and increase other spices according to your own salt comfort level).
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
2 scallions, cut into very fine rounds
1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped (I just chop it)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup water, plus soaking water

Instructions

Soak the mung beans for seven hours in lots of water. Drain, rinse the mung beans and discard the soaking liquid.
Put all the ingredients except the scallions, tomato and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Blend or process until you have a smooth and light batter. Transfer the batter into a bowl.
Stir in scallions, tomato and cilantro.
Spray a good non stick pan with a little oil and wait until it is warm (the original recipe calls for lots of oil, but I find that not necessary). Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter in the center of the pan. Spread the batter with the bottom of a large spoon and form a pancake.
Wait until the bottom part seems done. Turn around and bake the other side.
Enjoy!

Parenting resources

This may seem totally off topic on a health blog, but I do not think it is. A loving family is one of the key parts of a long and healthy life. There is so much information about parenting; in this post, I only give the resources I found most valuable.

The most important concepts

Assume positive intent. Your child is not out to get you. Your three year old doesn't know she should not pick all the flowers from your beautiful garden. She just wanted make a nice bouquet. That does not mean you have to accept it, but that is a totally different issue.
Stay connected to your child. Do not isolate your child as punishment. If your child needs a time out, go have a time out together.

The best parenting book

There are many, many parenting books. They all advise different things. Sometimes the differences are diametrically opposed to each other (cry it out versus carry all day), sometimes the differences are more subtle (grounding versus time outs). All books seem to have followers who claim the book saved their family and let them reclaim their sanity. All those books are a mixed blessing. The danger is that most books, even the good ones, reduce parenting to a set of skills. A couple of techniques that you just need to master to make everything right. They can make you feel that you are doing things wrong if your child does not do what you want, constantly looking for solutions to this problem, until the next problem arises.

All that said, I did find it very helpful to read some books. Parenthood was completely foreign to me. I had no friends or family members with children and I was way more insecure about some things than I should have been. The one book I recommend most, a book I recommend to everybody, even if you are only involved with other people's children is Hold On to Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate.

Our focus is not on parenting but on parenthood--not on what parents shoud do but on who they need to be for their children --Hold On to Your Kids.

The best mailing list/community

If you are having discipline problems, I highly recommend the Positive Parenting/Discipline Yahoo Group. It is a very helpful and supportive mailing list where you can ask concrete questions ("my daughter always throws a tantrum when it is time to leave the playground. What do I do?") and get concrete answers. This may seem contradictory to what I wrote before (Parenting is not a set of skills), but it is not. In our culture we are not always very well in tune with our intuition. We do not get much support from other people, and advice we get is often contradictory. Maybe we were yelled at constantly when we were young, so we do not even know how to parent differently. A mailing list can be a substitute for the tribe previous generations used to have. That said, I found it totally possible to spend way too much time reading about parenting, instead of just connecting with my daughter. It is kind of ironic when you get annoyed that your baby wakes up because you wanted to read all those e-mails about parenting. After a couple of months I realized that I got the main concepts and I unsubscribed, but I do not underestimate the things I learned there.

It is relatively easy to change your food intake and to start exercising, it is much harder to change your parenting style. I believe that the most important thing you can do for your children is to read Hold on to Your Kids.

Introduction to Phytochemials

I often mention phytochemicals and antioxidants on this blog. In short: they are the things that make berries and kale and all other fruits and vegetables (and nuts, seeds and beans) so healthy. If you want a better explanation and description of the different kinds of phytochemicals, head over to Energise for Life, which has an excellent Introduction to Phytochemicals (Phytonutrients).

Incidental Exercise

A couple of days ago, Diet Blog had a great post on incidental exercise. I wholeheartedly agree with the conclusion that you do not need to go to the gym or start training for a marathon to become more fit. Especially if you have small children, it is very hard to find the time to do those things. Don't you get angry at fit young childless people who tell you to just watch less tv? Yeah, sure, if I had time to watch those average three hours of tv every day, I knew where to fit in exercise. It is easy to get enough exercise though. Even though I now love running, and I am very glad I can now do that three times a week, we still do lots of incidental exercise. While I lost weight, the only exercise I did was walking with my daughter wherever I needed to go.

The tips are nothing new (I also wrote about some of them before in Exercise for busy parents). Health professionals have recommended doing the small things (taking the stairs, getting out of the bus one stop earlier, etc.) for ages. It is good to be reminded that these really are good things, and that they do add up.

Here are a few of the things we do to maintain an active lifestyle. I am interested in hearing your ideas!

We go everywhere walking or cycling. We often break into small runs (this is mainly because I get impatient when walking with a slow toddler...).
We often run to go somewhere. If we need to throw away something when we are in the playground, we will run to the trash can.
We play (and not just video games). Ball games are great for all ages, but we also play inside the house. My daughter will sit on my legs while I lift her and occasionally drop her on the bed. So much fun!
We take the stairs.
We dance! Whenever we dry our hands we do the hands-drying dance together.

I used to have a natural inclination to be lazy. I also have an analytical mind (I am a programmer) so I did things in the most efficient way possible. This was, of course, one of the things that led to my obesity. I slowly reprogrammed myself to try to find the active way of doing things and I find that I actually feel much better if I am having a day that is filled with accidental exercise.

Recipe Sunday: Banana-Avocado-Chocolate Pudding

This is the start of a new series: I will post a (reasonably) healthy recipe every Sunday. Today I'll post the strangest way I ever imagined eating avocado: in a chocolate pudding.

Banana Avocado Chocolate pudding

Ingredients

1 Banana
1 Hass Avocado (with black skin)
1/2 tbsp unsweetened cacao powder (or to taste, original recipe specifies 1 tbsp)

Instructions

Blend everything together with a blender (I use my Bamix hand blender and it works fine. My food processor doesn't work as great).

This tastes great on its own, but you can also use it as a dip for fresh fruit

All credit for this recipe goes to Angela, who posted this recipe on the Eat to Live mailinglist.

Three things I thought I knew about health and nutrition

Sometimes I assume everybody knows the same things about nutrition as I do. They make different choices in what they eat, but they must know they are eating unhealthy. Of course, that's not true. In the past few years I learned so much about nutrition, it is sometimes difficult to remember that what is common sense for me now, is not common sense at all. When I was eating my junk food diet, I actually thought I was living pretty healthy. Here are three things I thought I was doing well, that turned out to be completely wrong.

I thought a food item was just the sum of its ingredients. I was a vegetarian, I was used to looking at labels so, unlike most people, I actually knew pretty well what I was eating. I thought potato chips were potatoes with oil. That's not that unhealthy, right? Sure, oil is not that good, but I was a vegetarian, so I assumed I did not get that much fat in my diet anyway (I have no idea how I justified that argument, seeing the amount of cheese I ate). It never occurred to me that there is a difference between boiled potatoes with a dressing with olive oil, and deep fried potatoes. Oil and potatoes were oil and potatoes for me.
The same can be said for many products. There is a huge difference between traditional Dutch rye bread (made from sprouted rye berries, baked at a low temperature) and crisp rye crackers (made from rye flour, baked at a high temperature) even though the ingredients on both of the packages are almost the same, they are both 95% whole rye.
I thought that multi-grain bread was whole wheat. I feel really stupid about this one, because I had read about it for years on American message boards. I always dismissed it as an American thing. I had so much faith in our overregulated government, I never thought it would be allowed to market white flour bread with a tiny amount of whole grains as super healthy bread. I thought that the darker the bread, the healthier it was. One of the reasons why I felt I ate a pretty healthy diet, is that I always ate multi-grain bread. I actually felt betrayed when I found out that the dark color was simply added (by using malt), and that I had been eating white flour bread all the time.
I thought that sunburn, not the sun itself caused cancer. Ever since I learned about the sunburn->skin cancer connection, I made sure to prevent sunburn for myself and my child. I prefer not to use skin care products with dozens of chemicals, so I used a good sunscreen from a health food store with an SPF of 25. Again, I felt betrayed when I found out my responsible sunscreen did not protect against UVA rays at all and that UVA rays may be even worse than sunburn causing UVB rays. In fact, my responsible sunscreen may have been worse than no sunscreen at all, since it allowed me to stay in the sun for a much longer time, unprotected from harmful UVA radiation.

Dangerfoods: HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)

The second article in the series about dangerfoods is about High Fructose Corn Syrup or HFCS. Is HFCS the cause of the American obesity epidemic, or is it a totally natural sweetener that can be part of a healthy diet?

What is HFCS?

HFCS is a sweetener made from corn starch. Normally corn syrup is very high in glucose, while table sugar is about 50% glucose, 50% fructose. Through enzymatic processing the fructose content of HFCS is increased to a level similar to that of table sugar. Most corn syrups that are used for soft drinks are 45% glucose, 55% fructose. The proportions in HFCS that is used for other products, such as jams and cookies are 58% glucose/42% fructose.

What are the claims?

The most important claim against HFCS is that it is responsible for the obesity and diabetes epidemic in America.

What is the evidence?

Fructose has some good an some bad properties, but ultimately that does not matter much because HFCS is not actually high in fructose. It is only higher in fructose relative to normal corn syrup. Relative to table sugar it is slightly higher (the 55% variant) or slightly lower (the 42% variant) in fructose. Studies also indicate that people react similar to sugar and HFCS. All the scaremongering sites I found cite studies that use a fructose solution, not HFCS.

Another argument against HFCS is that it is so cheap that companies put it in everything, so that people are consuming much more empty calories than they want to consume. I think this is a valid argument for all added sugars. In the US, HFCS is the cheapest sweetener. In Europe, it is cane sugar, beet sugar or glucose syrup. Around here, HFCS is virtually unknown and sugar is in everything, and guess what? We also face an obesity epidemic.

The scariest thing about the demonization of HFCS is that people start to look at ordinary sugar as healthy. I cringe when I hear people go out of their way to find regular sugar sweetened coke, because they are afraid of HFCS. HFCS is bad for you, but so is sugar, especially in the form of soft drinks. Americans consume on average 30 teaspoons, or 475 calories of added sweeteners per day (200 calories from HFCS and 275 from sugar and other sweeteners). If you eat that much empty blood sugar skyrocketing calories, it really doesn't matter if it is ordinary sugar, honey, maple syrup or HFCS: your health is in jeopardy anyway.

My conclusion

I think that if you reduced your sweeteners consumption from 30 teaspoons per day to 30 teaspoons per month it wouldn't matter if those teaspoons were sugar or HFCS. Current evidence suggests that HFCS is just as unhealthy as sugar. I think a little sugar is not harmful, but if you are eating processed foods -- not just cookies and soda, but also bread, tomato sauce products, salad dressings and soy milk, to name a few, you likely get more added sugars than you realize.

I'd advise to skip the cookies and soda entirely and to look for healthy brands of or make your own bread, tomato sauce, soymilk and dressings. The big danger about added sugars is that it is too easy to eat too much of it. If you eat a diet that consists primarily of vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and whole grains, I would not worry about an occasional teaspoon of sugar or HFCS. HFCS itself does not cause obesity. Eating more calories than you burn does cause obesity.

description	grams	protein	sugar	fiber	vit. c	vit. k	orac*
Boysenberries, frozen, unsweetened	400	4.40	27.56	21.20	12.40	31.20
Elderberries, raw	274	1.81		19.18	98.63
Gooseberries, raw	455	4.00		19.55	125.91
Mulberries, raw	465	6.70	37.67	7.91	169.30	36.28
Oheloberries, raw	714	2.71			42.86
Blueberries, raw	351	2.60	34.95	8.42	34.04	67.72	8421.05
Blackberries, raw	465	6.47	22.70	24.65	97.67	92.09	9469.77
Cranberries, raw	435	1.70	17.57	20.00	57.83	22.17	7608.70
Strawberries, raw	625	4.19	29.13	12.50	367.50	13.75	9625.00
Raspberries, raw	385	4.62	17.00	25.00	100.77	30.00	4723.08

description	Calories	protein	sugar	fiber	vit. c	vit. k	orac*	pral*
Boysenberries, frozen, unsweetened	50	1.10	6.89	5.30	3.10	7.80		-2.148
Elderberries, raw	73	0.66		7.00	36.00			-4.7376
Gooseberries, raw	44	0.88		4.30	27.70			-3.3128
Mulberries, raw	43	1.44	8.10	1.70	36.40	7.80		-2.9374
Oheloberries, raw	28	0.38			6.00			-0.4888
Blueberries, raw	57	0.74	9.96	2.40	9.70	19.30	2400	-1.0444
Blackberries, raw	43	1.39	4.88	5.30	21.00	19.80	2036	-2.8039
Cranberries, raw	46	0.39	4.04	4.60	13.30	5.10	1750	-1.3729
Strawberries, raw	32	0.67	4.66	2.00	58.80	2.20	1540	-2.5427
Raspberries, raw	52	1.20	4.42	6.50	26.20	7.80	1228	-2.407

Dangerfoods

It is always interesting to see the logs for this weblog. I was shocked to find out that quite a few people find my blog after searching for sentences like is kale a poison or raspberries poison. It makes we want to scream to the other side of the screen: Kale is good for you! Berries are not poison! Do not be afraid of healthy whole foods!

But what about un-whole foods? Contrary to what the title of this blog suggests, I mostly talk about healthy foods. I think it is much more productive to focus on what you should eat, than it is to focus on what you should not eat. I do not like the food hypes that make us anxious to eat because everything is potentially dangerous. I also think they are dangerous in themselves, because there are so many dangerfoods that people start to think: well, doesn't everything cause cancer nowadays? instead of changing their habits.

On the other hand: if some foods really are bad for you, you should know about it so that you can limit or avoid those foods. It can be difficult to know what is a fad, and what is true. In the coming series, I will discuss today's four most controversial dangerfoods: MSG, Aspartame, HFCS and trans fats. Is HFCS really the culprit in the obesity epidemic? Does Aspartame give you cancer and MSG damage your brain? Is trans fat really to blame for about every modern disease there is? Stay tuned.

Examples of high protein vegan diets

Last week, I posted examples of vegan diets that attempt to be healthy, yet are deficient in protein. Today, I'll show that getting enough protein on a vegan diet really is not problematic at all. This is the final part of the series about protein. The other posts in this series are: Protein in a vegan diet and Examples of low protein vegan diets.

This is Joan's diet. Joan is (again) a 125 pound woman who needs a minimum of 56 grams of protein a day. Like Mary from the previous post, she eats between 1800 and 2000 calories a day. I added tempeh to her dinner, but it is easy to see that even without tempeh, or without the lentils, this diet would still have enough protein. I think this is a reasonable diet, I allowed for plenty of fruit and even a tablespoon of oil.

Food Item Measure Cals Carbs Prot. Fat

Oats 0.5 cup (measured uncooked) 152 25.84 6.59 2.69

Raspberries, raw 1 cup 64 14.69 1.48 0.8

Nuts, walnuts, english 0.5 oz 93 1.95 2.17 9.26

Seeds, flaxseed 2 tbsp 118 8.22 4.68 8.16

Lentils, cooked 1 cup 230 39.86 17.86 0.75

Broccoli raab, cooked 0.5 bunch 72 6.82 8.37 1.14

Carrots, cooked 1 carrot 16 3.78 0.35 0.08

Nuts, almonds 0.5 oz 82 2.81 3.02 7.19

Oil, olive 1 tbsp 119 0 0 13.5

Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw 1 head 106 20.6 7.7 1.88

Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw 1 cup cherry tomatoes 27 5.84 1.31 0.3

Cucumber, with peel, raw 0.5 cucumber 23 5.46 0.98 0.17

Kiwi fruit, fresh, raw 1 fruit 56 13.34 1.04 0.47

Quinoa 0.5 cup (measured uncooked) 318 58.56 11.13 4.93

Vegetables, mixed, frozen, cooked 1 package (10 oz) 179 36 7.86 0.41

Tomato sauce 0.5 cup 45 9.04 1.58 0.24

Oranges, raw, navels 1 fruit 69 17.56 1.27 0.21

Tempeh 0.5 cup 160 7.79 15.39 8.96

total 1928 278 93 61

52% 19% 29%

And here is Carmen's diet. Carmen is, again, a 125 pound woman. She thinks carbs are not that great, and tries to eat a relatively low carb diet. While it is possible to make such diets without soy, I think most people who would eat such a diet, would include soy, so I have two servings of soy here. I did try to make this diet not too contrived, and I did make sure to include four servings of fruit (if you count avocado as a fruit) and plenty of vegetables, so it is quite a healthy diet. I do not recommend this diet however, because I think there is nothing wrong with carbs. If these meals seem even more dull than the others, it is because I did not include spices and preparation methods in the tables. Carmen actually eats scrambled tofu for breakfast, lentil soup with a huge salad for lunch, and chili beans with spinach for dinner. The berries are for dessert.

Food item measure calories carbs protein fat

Tofu, raw, regular 1 cup 188 4.66 20.04 11.85

Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw 1 tomato 11 2.43 0.55 0.12

Onions, spring or scallions, raw 0.5 cup 16 3.67 0.92 0.1

Seeds, flaxseed 2 tbsp 118 8.22 4.68 8.16

Mushrooms, raw 1 cup 15 2.27 2.18 0.24

Lentils, cooked 1 cup 230 39.86 17.86 0.75

Broccoli raab, cooked 0.5 bunch 72 6.82 8.37 1.14

Nuts, almonds 0.5 oz 82 2.81 3.02 7.19

Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw 1 head 53 10.3 3.85 0.94

Cucumber, with peel, raw 1 cup slices 16 3.78 0.68 0.11

Nuts, macadamia nuts, raw 1 oz 204 3.92 2.25 21.52

Avocados, raw 0.5 avocado 161 8.57 2.01 14.73

Raspberries, raw 0.5 cup 32 7.34 0.74 0.4

Beans, kidney, cooked 1.5 cup 329 59.51 24.24 0.24

Tempeh 0.5 cup 160 7.79 15.39 8.96

Spinach, frozen, cooked 1 package (10 oz) 70 11.35 8.82 1.1

Oil, olive 1 tbsp 119 0 0 13.5

Blackberries, raw 1 cup 62 13.84 2 0.71

total 1940 197.14 117.6 91.76

percentages of calories 33% 24% 43%

I hope these sample diets demonstrated that it is easy to get more than enough protein on a vegan diet. Go eat your greens and beans!

Pomegranates fight prostate cancer

The fact that pomegranates fight cancer is not new, but I was still surprised to see how powerful the effect is. A new study showed that while the average PSA doubling time (a measure about how fast the cancer progresses) is about 15 months, in patients who drank pomegranate juice this increased to an average of 54 months. "In older men 65 to 70 who have been treated for prostate cancer, we can give them pomegranate juice and it may be possible for them to outlive their risk of dying from their cancer" lead researcher Dr Allan Pantuck said.

Of course, like every other fruit, pomegranates are not just anti-prostate-cancer medicine. They are exceptionally rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals that help prevent heart disease and other diseases. Also: they taste great.

Fresh pomegranates are delicious, but if they are not available, pomegranate juice seems like a healthy choice. Try to find 100% pomegranate juice, which I have not been able to find in the Netherlands. [update: I now found 100% pomegranate juice (from concentrate) in a Turkish supermarket for only EUR 1.89/liter. The brand is Ersu, it also comes in 250 ml bottles]. I found only one brand that did not have added sugar: Pomegreat, which is a blend of pomegranate juice and other juice. If you cannot find it in a supermarket, a whole foods market or an asian market may have it. Asian markets also usually sell pomegranates when they are in season, from about September through December. In case you have no idea how to eat them: here is an explanation.

Examples of low protein vegan diets

Dr. Fuhrman recently wrote two articles that touch the subject of protein in a vegan diet, something I also wrote about last week (see: Protein in a vegan diet): Unrefined carbohydrates encourage weight loss and Vegetables deliver protein with micronutrients. Dr. Fuhrman's conclusion: if you eat healthful foods, you will automatically get enough of all three macronutrients as long as you do not consume too many calories from white flour, sugar, and oil. This is a bit different from what the doctor wrote earlier inDr. Fuhrman Addresses Osteoporosis and Protein: adequate protein intake is important and vegetarian diets should be designed so that adequate protein intake is consumed. Vegetarian diets where the vast majority of calories come from grains and roots such as rice and potato are not ideal for long-term health.

The sentiment that protein is not a problem in a vegan diet is common among vegan apologists and I do not agree with it. In this article, I will present two vegan diets that consist of a variety of plant foods, but do not contain enough protein.

Diet 1: Anna, low fat vegan

This is Anna's diet. Anna is a 125 pound woman who wants to live a healthy life and be free of cancer and heart disease. She eats a low fat, low calorie, vegan diet. She cannot tolerate beans so she eats lots of fruits and vegetables, and two servings of starches. She knows some fatty acids are important, so she takes a tablespoon of flax seed with her breakfast smoothie.

Food Item Measure Cals Carbs Prot. Fat

Blueberries, raw 1 cup 83 21.01 1.07 0.48

Seeds, flaxseed 1 tbsp 59 4.11 2.34 4.08

Bananas, raw 1 large 121 31.06 1.48 0.45

Oranges, raw, navels 1 fruit 69 17.56 1.27 0.21

Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw 1 head 106 20.6 7.7 1.88

Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average 1 large 33 7.13 1.6 0.36

Cucumber, with peel, raw 1 cucumber 45 10.93 1.96 0.33

Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked 1 cup 216 44.77 5.03 1.76

Vegetables, mixed, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 package (10 oz) 179 36 7.86 0.41

Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, without salt 1 cup 180 41.42 4.02 0.3

Apples, raw, with skin 1 large 110 29.28 0.55 0.36

total 1201 263.87 34.88 10.62

84% 9% 7%

This is not an unrealistic diet for someone on a low fat diet. It is very low on calories, but many people who eat this many vegetables say they simply cannot eat more and do not seem to need more calories. I included lots of fruit and green and other vegetables, healthy starches and flax. There are no refined products at all. In fact, I think this diet would be considered very healthy by many vegans. Yet Anna, who needs about 56 grams of protein a day, gets only 35 grams.

Diet 2: Mary, somewhat health concious vegan

Here is Mary's diet. Mary is a 125 pound woman who is not as much concerned about health, but still thinks she eats pretty healthy. She gets almost all of her calories from unrefined plant foods and eats more vegetables than everybody she knows. She does use a little oil in cooking and in her hummus. Doesn't everybody? She adds one tablespoon of maple syrup over her toast with apples breakfast. She does like beans, in moderation (hence the hummus), but she does not like soy products. She eats no cookies, french fries, potato chips or other foods like that.

Food Item Measure Cals Carbs Prot. Fat

Bread, whole-wheat, prepared from recipe, toasted 2 slices 256 47.38 7.72 4.96

Apples, raw, with skin 1 large 110 29.28 0.55 0.36

Syrups, maple 1 tbsp 52 13.42 0 0.04

Bread, whole-wheat, prepared from recipe 2 slices 256 47.28 7.72 4.96

Hummus, home prepared 4 tbsp 106 12.08 2.92 5.16

Cucumber, with peel, raw 1 cucumber 45 10.93 1.96 0.33

Oil, olive, salad or cooking 1 tbsp 119 0 0 13.5

Vegetables, mixed, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 package (10 oz) 179 36 7.86 0.41

Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked 2 cup 433 89.54 10.06 3.52

Tomato sauce, no salt added 0.5 cup 45 9.04 1.58 0.24

Bananas, raw 1 large 121 31.06 1.48 0.45

Orange juice, raw 1 cup 112 25.79 1.74 0.5

total 1835 351.8 43.59 34.43

76% 9% 17%

Again, I think this is a quite realistic diet for someone who is quite health concious but hasn't given it much thought. It is easy to see how this diet might be improved, but it is also easy to see how it could be much, much worse. I am sure Dr. Fuhrman would say that Mary is not eating enough healthful foods, but I think the issue is that Mary herself honestly does think she eats a healthy diet, with all those fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

One of the first questions new vegans often post on message boards is what snacks and sweets they still can eat. Most vegans do not eat as healthy as Anna and Mary. I am afraid that the message protein is not a problem if you eat a healthy diet that consists of a variety of unrefined plant foods (which I already do not agree with) is translated in many peoples heads as just protein is not a problem.

You do not need to jump through loops to get enough protein on a vegan diet. It really is very easy to get all the protein you need (see my first article and stay tuned for the next episode in this series), but you do need to be aware of it. Do not automatically assume you get enough just because baby's thrive on mother's milk and mother's milk is about 5% protein. Mother's milk is also 50% fat (most of it saturated) and full of cholesterol. Baby's nutritional needs are different from those of adults.

Berries!

In this colder part of the world, we are always a few weeks behind Americans and people in other warmer countries when it comes to seasonal produce. People in blogs I read have been eating tons of strawberries, cherries and plums for ages, it seems, but around here the strawberries are only just in season. So, if I seem a little late with this berries-praising post, I blame the weather.

What's so great about berries

Berries are relatively low in calories and have less sugar than most other fruits. An entire cup of raspberries contains only 64 calories and 5 grams of sugar. MSNBC praises the high vitamin C content of berries, and the high levels of antioxidants and phytochemicals that fight cancer and heart disease. Blackberries and blueberries (as well as kiwi's) are also good sources of vitamin K, which is necessary for healthy bones. Cranberries protect your teeth and prevent and treat urinary tract infections.

Nutritional information per 200 Calories of berries

description grams protein sugar fiber vit. c vit. k orac*

Boysenberries, frozen, unsweetened 400 4.40 27.56 21.20 12.40 31.20

Elderberries, raw 274 1.81 19.18 98.63

Gooseberries, raw 455 4.00 19.55 125.91

Mulberries, raw 465 6.70 37.67 7.91 169.30 36.28

Oheloberries, raw 714 2.71 42.86

Blueberries, raw 351 2.60 34.95 8.42 34.04 67.72 8421.05

Blackberries, raw 465 6.47 22.70 24.65 97.67 92.09 9469.77

Cranberries, raw 435 1.70 17.57 20.00 57.83 22.17 7608.70

Strawberries, raw 625 4.19 29.13 12.50 367.50 13.75 9625.00

Raspberries, raw 385 4.62 17.00 25.00 100.77 30.00 4723.08

Nutritional information per 100 grams (3.5 oz.) of berries

description Calories protein sugar fiber vit. c vit. k orac* pral*

Boysenberries, frozen, unsweetened 50 1.10 6.89 5.30 3.10 7.80 -2.148

Elderberries, raw 73 0.66 7.00 36.00 -4.7376

Gooseberries, raw 44 0.88 4.30 27.70 -3.3128

Mulberries, raw 43 1.44 8.10 1.70 36.40 7.80 -2.9374

Oheloberries, raw 28 0.38 6.00 -0.4888

Blueberries, raw 57 0.74 9.96 2.40 9.70 19.30 2400 -1.0444

Blackberries, raw 43 1.39 4.88 5.30 21.00 19.80 2036 -2.8039

Cranberries, raw 46 0.39 4.04 4.60 13.30 5.10 1750 -1.3729

Strawberries, raw 32 0.67 4.66 2.00 58.80 2.20 1540 -2.5427

Raspberries, raw 52 1.20 4.42 6.50 26.20 7.80 1228 -2.407

As always, these tables are presented for informational purposes only. I was surprised to see that blueberries have twice as much sugar as raspberries, and that some berries are such a good source of vitamin K, but all berries are excellent healthy food choices. Some contain a little more of one vitamin, others contain more of another phytochemical. Make sure to eat a variety of berries for optimum health.

* ORAC is a measure of antioxidant activity. Berries are among the foods with the highest ORAC values (green vegetables, as you expected, also rate very high). For more information about PRAL, see: PRAL: calculate the acid/alkaline balance of your diet.

Dirt is good for you

Gritty rats and mice living in sewers and farms seem to have healthier immune systems than their squeaky clean cousins that frolic in cushy antiseptic labs, two studies indicate. It's not just rats. Health Hacks has a great post about the dangers of being too clean. If this topic interests you, be sure to read the USA Today article To head off allergies, expose your kids to pets and dirt early. Really.

How to clean well

There is another reason why dirt may be good for you: most household cleaners are bad for you. For the times that you do want to clean, use plain old soap and vinegar (add some essential oils if you want a nice smell). It does the job just fine most of the time.

If you want to take natural housekeeping and self care to a higher level, I highly recommend Better Basics for the Home : Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living by Annie Berthold-Bond. It gives recipes for everything, from household cleaners and laundry products to baby care products. For less crafty people the book also gives recommendations on non-toxic commercial products (probably more useful if you live in the US). Almost all the recipes are vegan, but some use animal products like gelatin, honey, beeswax and milk. The book is still very useful without those recipes.

Furter reading about non toxic cleaning/self care

Shampoo Free
Vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide as Disinfectants
The Vinegar Institute - Uses & Tips
Make Your Own Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit
Cleaning With Baking Soda

Protein in a vegan diet

There seem to be two kinds of people in the world: people who think vegans can never ever get enough protein from plant foods alone, and people who think protein is never a problem and people should stop nagging vegans about it.

First things first: it is true that it is very easy to get all the protein you need on a vegan diet. All natural foods contain some protein. That does not mean that it is impossible to get protein deficient on a vegan diet. Extracted oils contain no protein at all. Some fruits and fruit juices contain practically no protein. Sugar, of course, contains no protein. Some nuts and grains do not contain much protein. So, if you are eating a substantial amount of these products, you must make sure to eat protein rich foods as well to compensate. Also: if you are on a very low calorie diet, you risk not getting enough protein.

Why do you need protein?

Protein is necessary for growth, maintenance, and repair of all body cells (muscles, hair, nails, red blood cells). From Harvard's page about protein: Lack of protein can cause growth failure, loss of muscle mass, decreased immunity, weakening of the heart and respiratory system, and death. Protein is necessary for maintaining muscles, and muscles are necessary for antibodies to fight disease. Recent research also suggests that a moderately high protein diet prevents osteoporosis. Hair loss and being sick often may be a sign of protein deficiency.

How much protein do you need?

There are many different opinions and complicated formulas about this. Most experts today agree that you should get about 1 gram protein per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bodyweight. For a 60 kg (130 pounds) woman that means 60 grams of protein a day. Since one gram of protein is four calories, this means that 240 calories of your diet should come from protein. This is about 13% of an 1800 calorie diet.

What about food combining?

It is commonly believed that plant protein is of lesser quality than animal protein. It is true that we require a little more protein from plant foods than from animal foods, but if you eat the recommended one gram per kilogram, you likely get enough protein. Some plant foods do not contain substantial amounts of some amino acids (the building blocks of protein), but that's not unique to plant foods. Beef, for example, contains less methionine/cysteine. Spinach, on the other hand, has a better protein profile than milk. Dr. Harris has a great (somewhat technical) article explaining why you should not worry about amounts of amino acids at all if you eat a varied diet. (He recommends 0.9 gram protein per kilogram bodyweight, which I think is a little low, but the information is still valuable.)

Recommendation

I recommend to track your food intake for a couple of days in a nutritional analysis program such as FitDay. If you notice your protein intake is low, increase your intake of green vegetables and beans and limit foods with no protein such as oils and sugars. If you are eating rice, choosing a higher protein grain such as oats is also helpful.

Protein contents of plant foods

This is just for the number geeks among you: a list of protein content of various plant foods per 100 grams (3.5 oz). Click on a column heading to sort by that column.

Food Protein Calories Protein Percentage Grams of food needed for 10 grams protein Food Group

Amaranth 14.45 374 15.5 69 Grains

Barley 12.48 354 14.1 80 Grains

Buckwheat 13.25 343 15.5 75 Grains

Buckwheat flour, whole-groat 12.62 335 15.1 79 Grains

Bulgur, dry 12.29 342 14.4 81 Grains

Millet, raw 11.02 378 11.7 91 Grains

Oat bran, raw 17.3 246 28.1 58 Grains

Oats 16.89 389 17.4 59 Grains

Quinoa 13.1 374 14 76 Grains

Rice, brown, long-grain, raw 7.94 370 8.6 126 Grains

Rye 14.76 335 17.6 68 Grains

Wheat, hard red spring 15.4 329 18.7 65 Grains

Wheat, hard red winter 12.61 327 15.4 79 Grains

Wheat, sprouted 7.49 198 15.1 134 Grains

Apples, raw, with skin 0.26 52 2 3846 Fruits

Apricots, raw 1.4 48 11.7 714 Fruits

Avocados, raw, all commercial varieties 2 160 5 500 Fruits

Bananas, raw 1.09 89 4.9 917 Fruits

Blackberries, raw 1.39 43 12.9 719 Fruits

Blueberries, raw 0.74 57 5.2 1351 Fruits

Cherries, sweet, raw 1.06 63 6.7 943 Fruits

Dates, medjool 1.81 277 2.6 552 Fruits

Figs, raw 0.75 74 4.1 1333 Fruits

Grapefruit, raw, pink and red, Florida 0.55 30 7.3 1818 Fruits

Kiwi fruit, (chinese gooseberries), fresh, raw 1.14 61 7.5 877 Fruits

Lemons, raw, without peel 1.1 29 15.2 909 Fruits

Mangos, raw 0.51 65 3.1 1961 Fruits

Melons, cantaloupe, raw 0.84 34 9.9 1190 Fruits

Oranges, raw, all commercial varieties 0.94 47 8 1064 Fruits

Pears, raw 0.38 58 2.6 2632 Fruits

Pineapple, canned, juice pack, solids and liquids 0.42 60 2.8 2381 Fruits

Pomegranates, raw 0.95 68 5.6 1053 Fruits

Raisins, seedless 3.07 299 4.1 326 Fruits

Raspberries, raw 1.2 52 9.2 833 Fruits

Strawberries, raw 0.67 32 8.4 1493 Fruits

Tangerines, (mandarin oranges), raw 0.81 53 6.1 1235 Fruits

Watermelon, raw 0.61 30 8.1 1639 Fruits

Beans, adzuki, mature seeds, raw 19.87 329 24.2 50 Legumes

Beans, great northern, mature seeds, raw 21.86 339 25.8 46 Legumes

Beans, kidney, all types, mature seeds, raw 23.58 333 28.3 42 Legumes

Beans, navy, mature seeds, raw 22.33 337 26.5 45 Legumes

Beans, pinto, mature seeds, raw 21.42 347 24.7 47 Legumes

Beans, white, mature seeds, raw 23.36 333 28.1 43 Legumes

Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), mature seeds, raw 19.3 364 21.2 52 Legumes

Lentils, pink, raw 24.95 345 28.9 40 Legumes

Lentils, raw 25.8 353 29.2 39 Legumes

Lima beans, large, mature seeds, raw 21.46 338 25.4 47 Legumes

Mung beans, mature seeds, raw 23.86 347 27.5 42 Legumes

Mung beans, mature seeds, sprouted, raw 3.04 30 40.5 329 Legumes

Peanuts, all types, raw 25.8 567 18.2 39 Legumes

Soybeans, mature seeds, raw 36.49 416 35.1 27 Legumes

Tempeh, cooked 18.19 196 37.1 55 Legumes

Tofu, raw, regular, prepared with calcium sulfate 8.08 76 42.5 124 Legumes

Nuts, almonds 21.26 578 14.7 47 Nuts and Seeds

Nuts, brazilnuts, dried, unblanched 14.32 656 8.7 70 Nuts and Seeds

Nuts, cashew nuts, raw 18.22 553 13.2 55 Nuts and Seeds

Nuts, hazelnuts or filberts 14.95 628 9.5 67 Nuts and Seeds

Nuts, macadamia nuts, raw 7.91 718 4.4 126 Nuts and Seeds

Nuts, pecans 9.17 691 5.3 109 Nuts and Seeds

Nuts, pistachio nuts, raw 20.61 557 14.8 49 Nuts and Seeds

Nuts, walnuts, english 15.23 654 9.3 66 Nuts and Seeds

Seeds, flaxseed 18.29 534 13.7 55 Nuts and Seeds

Seeds, sunflower seed kernels, dried 22.78 570 16 44 Nuts and Seeds

Alfalfa seeds, sprouted, raw 3.99 29 55 251 Vegetables

Asparagus, raw 2.2 20 44 455 Vegetables

Beet greens, raw 2.2 22 40 455 Vegetables

Beets, raw 1.61 43 15 621 Vegetables

Broccoli raab, raw 3.17 22 57.6 315 Vegetables

Broccoli, raw 2.82 34 33.2 355 Vegetables

Cabbage, chinese (pak-choi), raw 1.5 13 46.2 667 Vegetables

Carrots, raw 0.93 41 9.1 1075 Vegetables

Cauliflower, raw 1.98 25 31.7 505 Vegetables

Chard, swiss, raw 1.8 19 37.9 556 Vegetables

Collards, raw 2.45 30 32.7 408 Vegetables

Cucumber, with peel, raw 0.65 15 17.3 1538 Vegetables

Dandelion greens, raw 2.7 45 24 370 Vegetables

Eggplant, raw 1.01 24 16.8 990 Vegetables

Kale, raw 3.3 50 26.4 303 Vegetables

Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw 1.5 61 9.8 667 Vegetables

Lettuce, green leaf, raw 1.36 15 36.3 735 Vegetables

Mung beans, mature seeds, sprouted, raw 3.04 30 40.5 329 Vegetables

Onions, raw 0.92 42 8.8 1087 Vegetables

Peppers, sweet, red, raw 0.99 26 15.2 1010 Vegetables

Potato, flesh and skin, raw 2.02 77 10.5 495 Vegetables

Purslane, raw 1.3 16 32.5 769 Vegetables

Radishes, raw 0.68 16 17 1471 Vegetables

Spinach, raw 2.86 23 49.7 350 Vegetables

Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, raw 1.21 16 30.3 826 Vegetables

Sweet potato, raw, unprepared 1.57 86 7.3 637 Vegetables

Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average 0.88 18 19.6 1136 Vegetables

Turnip greens, raw 1.5 32 18.8 667 Vegetables

Turnips, raw 0.9 28 12.9 1111 Vegetables

Lack of rest during the weekend increases heart disease risk

I posted recently about the secrets of longevity. What always interested me was the fact that seventh day adventists live such long healthy lives. Sure, compared to most Americans they eat a pretty healthy diet, but it is a standard lacto-ovo vegetarian diet that includes breakfast cereals and flour products (in fact John Kellogg, founder of the cereal company with the same name, was an Adventist). Not exactly a diet the vegan diet guru's would recommend. How come they are so healthy?

An important reason may be their family ties and their lower levels of stress. A new study found that people who are unable to recover from the work week during the weekend were three times as likely to die from a heart attack.

If you are reading this at work, still stressed out from last week and the week before that: try and relax. I know it is easier said than done, but better rest now than after a heart attack.

Exercise slower for health and performance

Do you love exercise because being exhausted releases endorphins? Do you hate exercise because being exhausted makes you feel miserable? You may be doing it wrong.

Philip Maffetone makes a good case for exercising slower. Slow, in this case, means in your aerobic zone, as opposed to in your anaerobic zone, where you get exhausted quickly. Running in the aerobic zone means running at the pace at which you can comfortably have a conversation with someone on the telephone, without gasping for breath at every sentence. Be honest with yourself about this. The goal is to be able to have a real conversation, not just stutter some sentences and wish the other person would stop talking. If you have a heartrate monitor, your target heart rate should be 180 minus Your Age, according to Philip Maffetone, author of Training for Endurance and The Maffetone Method.

Not only is training slowly better for your health, it will also likely improve your performance, even though that sounds contradictory (read the Low Heart Rate Training FAQ for more info). The most important reasons why slow is better, from The Maffetone Method, in my words:

Exercising in the aerobic zone makes you less likely to injure yourself.
Persons with better aerobic development are less likely to become dehydrated.
You'll burn more fat if your aerobic system is well developed.
You'll have more physical and mental energy if you exercise aerobically.
You'll eventually go faster if you continue to improve your aerobic system.
Increased aerobic function is good for your heart.
Antioxidant activity - so necessary to optimal health - takes place in the aerobic muscles
Exercise is much more fun if you have a well developed aerobic system.

Of course, training slowly only brings you so far. At some point, if you want to go further, you probably need to add speed training to your exercise regimen. I think most people will benefit from doing low heart rate training for at least a couple of months a year.

Further reading

Low Heart Rate Training Faq (update: link is broken now, but still available here)
Want Speed? Slow Down! (update: link is broken now too, but still available here)
(Both these links are highly recommended if you are interested in this subject)

Normal eating

For me, as I have often said on this website, the most important weight loss tip is know how much you eat. It is not just how much you eat though. Another angle is what you eat, and why.

Many people do not just gain weight because they eat too much, they gain weight because they eat when they are not really hungry. Television series teaches us to console ourselves with ice cream whenever something sad happens, and advertising teaches us to eat, well, all day long. It sounds simple to just eat when you are hungry, but this is often not as simple as it sounds. I had great success with my eat-less-exercise-more diet, but I think one of the reasons it worked so well was because I never dieted before. I know too many people who have been on some form of diet for their entire lives. They are constantly depriving themselves, losing weight and gaining weight. This process of yoyo dieting is probably even worse for health than simply being overweight.

If you tried many diets and found nothing that worked, you may want to look into normal eating. or non-dieting. There is a whole industry built around this topic (watch out for the scams). Linda Moran, author of How to Survive Your Diet and Conquer Your Food Issues Forever built a Squidoo page about normal eating which links to many resources.

I do not entirely agree with the non-dieting philosophy. I am very grateful from the advice from the diet guru's I often cite on this website. I do not think I would have been as healthy and happy as I am if I had not read their books and articles. I do, however, think it is really important to develop a normal relationship with food and it seems some of the principles of non-dieting could help with that.

Review: Jogging Stroller Kool Stride Paramount

One of the major problems I had in trying to live healthier was finding time to exercise. When my daughter was a baby we walked a lot. This did not feel like proper exercise, but I know it is still quite healthy. When she grew older she wanted to walk herself and the times of long walks with her in a baby carrier were over. I had a baby seat on my bicycle (in this flat country bicycles are a normal means of transportation for many people) and for a while that worked fine, but now that she is older again, she does not like sitting in a bicycle seat. I hated the fact that my life became more and more sedentary and tried a gym membership, but found it too expensive for what I got.

It seemed silly to buy a stroller when my child was already 2.5 years old. Don't most people dispose of their strollers by then? I decided to try it anyway; thinking I could always sell it again if it did not work. We bought a second hand Kool Stride Paramount jogging stroller. We have been using it for over a month now and I wish we had bought one a year ago.

What I like

The wheels: the back wheels are 20 inches, the front wheel is 16 inches. The back wheels are tilted a bit, like racing wheelchairs. The huge wheels make the stroller very easy to maneuver.
The rain cover: My daughter loves the huge "window". Unfortunately, this is essential if you live in a rainy climate.
The weight: The jogging stroller is very light and easy to steer. I can comfortably push it with one hand, while running next to my daughter (instead of behind her).

What could be improved

The stroller is not very easy to assemble/disassemble. This can be a hassle if you want to put it away after every use.
It is huge. Even when disassembled it takes up a lot of space.
The brakes do not work very well. I have not found a reliable way to put it on a brake without me holding the carriage.

Recommendation

If you have a child (or two) and are or want to be a runner, I cannot recommend a jogging stroller highly enough. My daughter loves it and I love the fact that I can get exercise without giving up family time. I think most higher end brands are fine and I am very happy with my second hand Kool Stride. If you can find one for a good price, I recommend it. I can live with the downsides for the price I paid.

Does eating healthy make a difference after a lifetime of junk food?

Most people who start to get interested in healthier eating wonder sometimes if there is a point to it all. If you ate junk food your entire life, can you still undo some of the damage you did? There is good news and bad news. The bad news: you could still get cancer. The good news: there is a good chance you can reverse all damage to your arteries. Even though you might still get cancer, your chances at survival are much higher if you adopt a healthy diet.

There are three major diseases that kill people nowadays: heart disease, cancer and type II diabetes. In this article, I will discuss the role of diet in those diseases.
Cancer

Cancer develops over years and years. Two years of healthy eating may not be enough to reverse cancer that has been growing for over ten years. That does not mean all is lost. If you smoked your entire life you are at an increased risk of dying from lung cancer, even after you quit. Your lungs do not repair immediately. Ten years after quitting smoking, your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker's. That is depressing and promising at the same time. Keep in mind that studies that show those results do not factor diet into account at all. It is known that especially cruciferous vegetables have a powerful anti cancer effect.

Experts are not as unanimous about the protective effects of diet on cancer as they are on the effects of diet on heart disease. Some even say diet has almost no effect on cancer at all. It is important to have a careful look at the studies they cite. Most of the time this will be case control studies, where the researchers study two groups of people: one with a healthy diet and one with a standard diet. Often, those diets do not differ that much. The healthy diet will have one more serving of fruits and vegetables and a little less fat than the unhealthy diet, and that's it. There have been no large studies where people were put on an extremely high vegetable diet. Even based on these studies that essentially compare an unhealthy diet with a slightly less unhealthy diet, experts say that a healthy diet plus exercise can prevent 30% of all cancers.

Heart Disease

If you have the good fortune not to die from your first heart attack you got when you did not even know you had heart disease, you have a good chance to completely recover. This is not just optimism from guru doctors, this is actually a well established medical fact. A diet that is very high in plant foods and very low in animal fats will lower cholesterol and blood pressure and reduce your chances of dying from a heart attack enormously.
Links

The DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) Eating Plan
The Lyon Diet Heart Study

Type II Diabetes

Type II diabetes does not kill by itself, but it has a number of serious complications that kill or seriously affect quality of life. Type II diabetes often responds very well to behavioral changes: eat less, eat better, exercise more, get enough sleep (between six and eight hours).

From the Guru's

Death Toll From Diabetes Worse Than AIDS (Dr. Fuhrman)
Dr. Gabe Mirkin On Diabetes
Dr. McDougall On Diabetes
Diabetes and the Vegan Diet (Sandra Hood)

Success stories

Patient with Type 2 Diabetes Restored to Health: Case Study of James Kenney by Dr Fuhrman
Logan Ginger Cured Type II Diabetes with Dr McDougall

The real reason to eat healthy

Today, about 30% of all people die from heart disease, and 30% die from cancer. By adopting a healthy diet you increase your chances of living long enormously, even though you cannot completely undo the damage you did. That's not the only reason to eat healthy though. It is not just how long you live that counts, it is also the quality of your life. If you eat really healthy you will feel better and suffer less from allergies, asthma, arthritis, depression and other diseases.

New studies on osteoporosis

Today ended a large conference on osteoporosis. A summary of the new research presented can be found here. The actual press releases are here.

Some highlights from the congress:

Rapid weight loss can be a risk factor for osteoporosis. Obesity is also a risk factor.
Maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy and infant bone growth influence future fracture risk.
Calcium supplements are only effective in the presence of additional vitamin D at doses of 800 international units or above.
Research confirms the importance of calcium, vitamin D and protein in building bones.
Exercise in childhood and adolescence may stave off osteoporosis.
Cigarette smoke, both primary and secondary, can weaken your bones and increase the risk of fractures.

The International Osteoporosis Foundation, who organized the congress, also has an interesting fact sheet about osteoporosis. A few facts that surprised me or that I thought were particularly important:

Osteoporotic fractures in men account for more hospital bed days than those due to prostate cancer.
A 50 year old woman has a 2.8% risk of death related to hip fracture during her remaining lifetime, equivalent to her risk of death from breast cancer.
Weight in infancy is a determinant of bone mass in adulthood
Fruit and vegetable intake was positively associated with bone density in a study in men and women.
In a study in elderly men and women, higher dietary protein intake was associated with a lower rate of age-related bone loss.
Lactose intolerance has been shown to be associated with low bone mass and increased risk of fracture due to low milk (calcium) intake

If you just take milk away from a standard western diet, you likely do not get enough calcium. Vegans do not necessarily have a low calcium intake, though. Green vegetables are an excellent source, as are beans and nuts. These are also great sources of protein. It is important to keep this in mind though. Vegans do not automatically get enough calcium and protein. This is not something we should just brush off as a myth from the dairy industry. If you eat too much processed food, sugar (even natural sugars) and fat, you risk not getting enough calcium and protein. Osteoporosis is a serious disease and if you are (going to be) thin, you are at a higher risk than the general population. Eat your greens and exercise!

Portion control revisited

According to a new report from the FDA Americans consume 300 calories a day more than 15 years ago. A third of all calories is consumed outside the home. The report sees the huge portions in fast food restaurants as a major contributor to obesity. A Big Mac, medium Coke and large fries from McDonald's contain a total of 1,340 calories. Add a milk shake, and you get over the amount a slim woman needs to eat in an entire day!

You may think, like I did: this has nothing to do with me. You know eating fast food is bad for you and you do not eat it. The lesson still is important though. I always thought I knew approximately how many calories I take in each day. I do not meticulously track everything anymore; I just know how much I eat. Or so I thought. Yesterday, I calculated the amount of calories in a slice of homemade bread with cashew butter and banana, and I was shocked. One slice was 400 calories. I can easily eat that, plus a piece of fruit and a salad with nuts in one meal and never realized the amount of calories I was eating. I guess I am still far away from knowing my body well enough to really feel when I have had enough.

If you are at a weight loss plateau or if you have difficulty staying at your target weight it may be a good idea to honestly assess how much you are really eating each day. Even too many healthy foods do add up and contribute to weight gain. Particularly if you are a small woman, you do not need many calories at all to maintain your weight.

Related Posts

Announcing Calories: Calorie counting made simple
Track everything you eat

Eat healthy, exercise and play video games

Many people who are interested in health think video games are evil. They think they are a cause of obesity, violence and laziness. I think they are not.

Games can be a great way to play with your child and engage in their world. They are not just for children though: they stimulate the brain and make you sharper and improve your fine motor skills.

Video games and obesity/laziness

Sure, running is better for your health than playing video games. But you do not need to run for hours a day to achieve optimum health. Playing video games is sedentary, but so is reading, watching a movie, knitting, drawing and working at a desk. This seems hardly a reason to condone playing games. In fact, I would guess most avid gamers do not have time to mindlessly munch away calories, like people who watch tv often do.

Video games and aggression

There are many video games that are not aggressive at all and there is a huge variation in games that are somewhat aggressive.
The research is not conclusive that violent games lead to violence. There are studies that say it does, and there are studies that say it doesn't. If you keep in mind that 90% of all boys play video games and that youth violence has shown a massive decline in the past 25 years, the logical conclusion seems to be that video games cannot be all that bad.

Small children should not be confronted with excess violence on television, in books and in games. Parents should choose the games of their kids carefully. GamerDad is a great resource for that. That said: I personally find the eight o' clock news much more disturbing than Halo, where you kill weird looking creatures with green and blue blood. Violence has always been a part of our culture and arts. Even children's literature and fairy tales are full of violence. I never realized to what extend this is true until I started to read to my daughter. She can play Mario Kart with me, but she cannot listen to Snow White, let alone watch Tom and Jerry.
Update (October 2006): now that she is three, Mario Kart is the scariest game in the world, with the biting flowers in some levels. Jet Set Radio Future (for the XBOX) is her all time favorite video game.

Video games and the brain

Video games are exercise for the brain. Surgeons who play video games are better surgeons than those who do not. â€œVideo game players had faster reaction times on the order of 100 milliseconds, which might not sound like a lot but in this domain itâ€™s quite a strong finding,â€ says Castel. â€œAnd you can imagine, when driving, a difference of 100 milliseconds could really help you avoid accidents.â€ (source: Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables - And Play Video Games)

The bad side

It is not all great. Video games can be addictive. It is much like the internet in this regard. Unlike books and movies, video games are never really finished. There are so many worlds to explore, so many levels to try, hidden features to find. Anything that becomes an addiction, whether it is coffee, cigarettes, sugar, the internet or video games, is bad for you. But just like most people are perfectly able to use the internet sensibly, most people are also perfectly able to play games sensibly.

Some people have adverse reactions to video games. People with epilepsy may suffer a seizure while playing video games. A small portion of gamers report other health problems. This is comparable to people who are allergic to certain foods. The majority of the population can eat strawberries and play video games without any problems. Listen to your body.

Conclusion

Good games are a work of art. For good health, it is not only important to eat well and to exercise, but also to do things you enjoy, to surround yourself with beautiful things, to stimulate your brain and to play with others. Video games are by no means necessary for health, but they can certainly contribute to it.

Links

No Strong Link Between Games And Aggression
The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games
Computer games 'do have benefits'
Eat Your Fruits And Vegetables - And Play Video Games
Video Games and Health

How to stick to a schedule of regular exercise

Gretchen Rubin from The Happiness Project has a great post about sticking to an exercise schedule. A couple of things that stood out for me (Gretchen's points are in bold; I added my thoughts after them):

Never skip exercising for two days in a row. I have two rest days in my schedule and when life really gets in the way I can juggle a bit with those; that gives some space without feeling guilty.
If you donâ€™t have time both to exercise and take a shower, find exercise where in many cases you donâ€™t need to shower afterward. This also fits in with doing small things during the day. I did weight training whenever my recently potty trained toddler sat on the toilet.
Look for affordable ways to make exercising more pleasant or satisfying. My new running jacket completely changed my enjoyment of running. It keeps wind and rain out but it does breathe very well. I now even like running in light rain and wind doesn't bother me nearly as much as before (ever since I lost weight I am more sensitive to cold, so running outside in this rainy cold climate does not seem the most obvious choice).
Donâ€™t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I once read that to burn fat you have to exercise for at least 30 minutes. So I did nothing, because with a small baby I did not have 30 minutes in a row. Of course, it would have been much better to just do the things I could do (walking up and down stairs for five minutes, for example).

I would add two things:

If you do a high intensity sport: go slowly. When I started running I thought I had to run at about 12 minutes per mile. I was exhausted after even two minutes of running. In the second week I switched to running with a heart rate monitor and I limited my heart rate to 150. It meant running at almost walking speed (15 minutes per mile) but I was not exhausted at all anymore. It is much more enjoyable now. One of the highest risks for not sticking with a running schedule is starting too fast, getting injured, and then thinking running is not for me. It is sometimes very frustrating to run this slowly, but I am convinced this is the best way to start and that speed will come once I built some endurance and my legs are used to running.
Make yourself accountable. Tell everybody you know that you started running three days a week and that you'll be able to run 5K in two months (or whatever your goal is). You can also start an online training log (here is one I started today). A training log does not only make you accountable, it is also motivating and fun to see your progress.

PRAL: calculate the acid/alkaline balance of your diet

The PRAL formula
pral =
0.49 * protein (g) +
0.037 * phosphorus (mg) -
0.021 * potassium (mg) -
0.026 * magnesium (mg) -
0.013 * calcium (mg)

I recently wrote about The acid/alkaline connection to health. My conclusion was that the theory is valid, but that you should not have to worry to much about it if you eat lots of vegetables. If you are a numbers-geek like me, or just interested in the subject, you may want to get a little more specific. This is where PRAL comes in.

What is PRAL?

Lists of acid/alkaline examples on internet sites that cover the subject often differ and it is often unclear how the authors come to their conclusions. PRAL is different: it is a scientific approach, based on a simple formula, as calculated by Dr. Thomas Remer. The formula calculates the acid or alkaline load of a specific food. If you add the PRAL values for all the foods you eat, you get the net acid or alkaline load for the day.

Of course, acid/alkaline balance is only one small way to look at health. I do not think it is useful to micromanage your diet to get the lowest PRAL values. I do think it may be interesting to calculate the PRAL values of your normal diet. If you want to eat more alkaline, increase the amount of fruits and (especially) vegetables in your diet. If you do want to eat more alkaline and do not want to wait until my acid/alkaline calculator is available: grab a calculator and start with the table below.

Pral values of selected grains, beans, nuts, fruits and vegetables

A negative value means the food has an alkaline (base forming) load, a positive value means the food has an acid load. All values are per 100 grams (about 3.5 oz) of food. If you eat for example 200 grams of amaranth, the pral value for the amaranth for your meal is 14.6 (7.3*2).
food category PRAL

Amaranth Grains 7.3

Barley Grains 2.5

Buckwheat Grains 3.4

Buckwheat flour, whole-groat Grains -0.5

Bulgur, dry Grains 3.8

Millet, raw Grains 8.8

Oat bran, raw Grains 16.9

Quinoa Grains -0.2

Rice, brown, long-grain, raw Grains 7.5

Oats Grains 13.3

Rye Grains 12.0

Wheat, hard red spring Grains 9.1

Wheat, hard red winter Grains 5.6

Wheat, sprouted Grains 5.0

Apricots, raw Fruit -4.3

Bananas, raw Fruit -6.9

Apples, raw, with skin Fruit -1.9

Avocados, raw, all commercial varieties Fruit -8.2

Blackberries, raw Fruit -2.8

Blueberries, raw Fruit -1.0

Cherries, sweet, raw Fruit -3.8

Figs, raw Fruit -4.9

Figs, dried, uncooked Fruit -14.1

Grapefruit, raw, pink and red, Florida Fruit -2.5

Kiwi fruit, (chinese gooseberries), fresh, raw Fruit -5.6

Lemons, raw, without peel Fruit -2.3

Mangos, raw Fruit -3.0

Melons, cantaloupe, raw Fruit -5.1

Oranges, raw, all commercial varieties Fruit -3.6

Tangerines, (mandarin oranges), raw Fruit -3.1

Pears, raw Fruit -2.2

Pineapple, canned, juice pack, solids and liquids Fruit -2.7

Pomegranates, raw Fruit -4.8

Plums, dried (prunes), uncooked Fruit -13.4

Raisins, seedless Fruit -12.0

Raspberries, raw Fruit -2.4

Strawberries, raw Fruit -2.5

Watermelon, raw Fruit -2.0

Dates, medjool Fruit -13.7

Beans, navy, mature seeds, raw Legumes -5.3

Soybeans, mature seeds, raw Legumes -4.7

Lentils, pink, raw Legumes 8.6

Tofu, raw, regular, prepared with calcium sulfate Legumes -0.3

Beans, adzuki, mature seeds, raw Legumes -6.7

Beans, great northern, mature seeds, raw Legumes -9.1

Beans, kidney, all types, mature seeds, raw Legumes -8.4

Beans, pinto, mature seeds, raw Legumes -9.6

Beans, white, mature seeds, raw Legumes -23.2

Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), mature seeds, raw Legumes 0.3

Lentils, raw Legumes 5.4

Lima beans, large, mature seeds, raw Legumes -18.3

Mung beans, mature seeds, raw Legumes -7.5

Peanuts, all types, raw Legumes 6.2

Seeds, sunflower seed kernels, dried Nuts and Seeds 12.1

Nuts, almonds Nuts and Seeds 2.3

Nuts, brazilnuts, dried, unblanched Nuts and Seeds 8.1

Nuts, cashew nuts, raw Nuts and Seeds 8.9

Nuts, hazelnuts or filberts Nuts and Seeds -1.9

Nuts, macadamia nuts, raw Nuts and Seeds -1.4

Nuts, pecans Nuts and Seeds 2.1

Nuts, pistachio nuts, raw Nuts and Seeds 2.2

Nuts, walnuts, english Nuts and Seeds 5.6

Seeds, flaxseed Nuts and Seeds 2.1

Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, raw Vegetables -4.1

Sweet potato, raw, unprepared Vegetables -5.6

Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average Vegetables -4.1

Turnips, raw Vegetables -3.2

Turnip greens, raw Vegetables -7.2

Alfalfa seeds, sprouted, raw Vegetables 1.8

Asparagus, raw Vegetables -1.9

Mung beans, mature seeds, sprouted, raw Vegetables -0.4

Beets, raw Vegetables -5.4

Beet greens, raw Vegetables -16.7

Broccoli, raw Vegetables -4.0

Broccoli raab, raw Vegetables -1.8

Cabbage, chinese (pak-choi), raw Vegetables -5.0

Carrots, raw Vegetables -5.7

Cauliflower, raw Vegetables -4.4

Chard, swiss, raw Vegetables -8.1

Collards, raw Vegetables -4.1

Cucumber, with peel, raw Vegetables -2.4

Dandelion greens, raw Vegetables -7.9

Eggplant, raw Vegetables -3.9

Kale, raw Vegetables -8.3

Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw Vegetables -3.2

Lettuce, green leaf, raw Vegetables -3.1

Onions, raw Vegetables -2.1

Peppers, sweet, red, raw Vegetables -3.4

Purslane, raw Vegetables -10.7

Radishes, raw Vegetables -4.4

Spinach, raw Vegetables -11.8

The data in this table is based upon the USDA database (rev. 18).

Vegan mothers have less twins -- and other pregnancy related news

There were a couple of surprising (to me) studies about pregnancy in the news this week:

Women who consume animal products, specifically dairy, are five times more likely to have twins. Apparently, if you breastfeed at the time of conception you increase your chances of having twins nine-fold.
Women with fertility problems and unsuccessful IVF treatments were twice as likely to become pregnant after a biopsy.
Anxiety and daily stress during pregnancy is associated with more advanced early child development if the anxiety is not related to the pregnancy.
Children from mothers who had gestational diabetes are more likely to be overweight. If they were breastfed that risk was reduced by up to 50 percent.

Weight loss consequences nobody talks about

Losing weight was the best thing I ever did for my well being. It was not all shiny and happy though. I have kept off the weight loss for 18 months now and I finally notice I start getting used to being thin. In this post I'll mention some of the unexpected things I found difficult about being thin and living healthy.

My body image did not resemble my body. For a long time, I still saw myself as fat. I knew I had lost weight, but I'd still try clothes two sizes too large. When I saw myself in the mirror or a shop window, I did not immediately realize it was me. This is weird and I do not think anybody who hasn't experienced it can understand that.
I still could not buy the clothes I want. I always thought it was difficult to buy clothes when I was fat. Now I know it is just as difficult to buy clothes when you are thin. It is best to have a size M to XL. Most general stores do not carry anything smaller than that. Of course it is irritating to still not being able to buy a decent bra in a normal store, but this is more than a superficial convenience issue: it impacted me also because I do not see myself as that thin. I always thought people who wear size XS are extremely skinny. I am not. I honestly considered if I was hiding an eating disorder from myself, but I am sure I am not.
I felt uglier than before. I did not have many body image problems when I was fat. I just did not know better, I had always been fat. I never had a problem getting a job; I always had friends and relationships and did not notice any discrimination at all. My body was fat, but it was firm, and I was relatively happy with it. Now, there is loose skin around my belly, my face looks harsher and my breasts are saggier. That took quite a bit of getting used to.
I missed being nonchalant about food. I always liked supermarkets. I am one of those people who try new products first. I used to love it when there was a new flavor of potato chips or cookies. Now, 80% of the supermarket has no foods for me to eat. I do not miss the foods themselves at all; I have no intention of ever buying a bag of potato chips again. But I sometimes do miss the innocence I had. I miss not having to worry about trans fats, sugar, salt, sweeteners, refined flours etc. I guess you can compare it to ex-smokers who do not miss the cigarettes themselves, but who miss the act of lighting a cigarette after dinner.

I think that for people who desperately want to lose weight or who are naturally thin, those consequences may look like whining. You're not doing this to become a supermodel; you're doing this to become healthy, right? And that's true. But still, I cannot imagine I am the only one who struggled with this, so maybe my ramblings are useful for somebody.

In the end, I am sure I will never ever go back to being fat. It feels great to be light on my feet. To be able to jump and run without the floor trembling beneath me; to sit on a swing with my daughter; to fit in public transport seats; to be able to walk up three stairs without being exhausted. My body fits me now. That's a wonderful feeling that mitigates all the negatives I wrote about.

The acid/alkaline connection to health

If you google acid/alkaline you will find many sites that are trying to sell you something to make your blood/urine more alkaline. Almost all the other sites that talk about it are sites from naturopaths with questionable health claims. If a site claims to have found the cause for all disease it usually means it is a quack site.

However, this does not mean the acid/alkaline concept is totally nonsense (I do not agree with Quackwatch on this topic). There are many components to health and the acid/alkaline balance of your diet is one of them. I am not going to put together a list of benefits of eating more alkaline, because you do not want to follow a diet that prevents a couple of specific diseases: you want to live the healthiest life you can. I do not think it is a coincidence that a healthy diet that emphasizes fruit and vegetables is an alkaline diet.

Acid and alkaline foods

Fruits and vegetables are alkaline (even sour tasting fruits like lemons are alkaline to your body). Whole grains (except quinoa), cheese and meat are highly acidic. Beans and nuts are somewhat acidic. My lay-conclusion is that one of the big problems with modern diets is that we eat too much grains and too much meat. Our ancestors ate meat and lots of vegetables, but no grains. Their general diet was alkaline and they were generally healthy. People in rural China and other developing countries eat whole grains and lots of vegetables, but no meat. Their diet is alkaline, and they are generally healthy. Most people in industrialized countries eat meat and grains and almost no fruit and vegetables at all. They are not very healthy.

So, what should you do?

I do not think you should worry about the acid/alkaline balance in your diet. If you eat a healthy diet that consists of lots of fruit and vegetables, you are already eating an alkaline diet that is best for your health. If you are currently eating lots of meat and/or grains, you probably already know that that is not the healthiest diet there is, not just because it is acidifying, but because you are not getting enough nutrients from fruits and vegetables. Nevertheless, it can be interesting to assess the alkalinity of your diet. I am developing a tool to do just that. Stay tuned for more information.

How to choose a sports bra

Yesterday, I was in a running store. It was a great store; they had a track where you could test the shoes, and even a video to analyze your stride. Personnel seemed competent until I asked for the bra's. This was not an incident. I often go to running stores, I often see and try new bra's (The geek in me likes new products and it took me a long time before I found good bra's in my size). I never received good advice from a male salesperson. "How does it fit" is all they ask. Most of the time, they do not even ask you to jump in it, I guess I understand why. Also, understandably, they do not touch you to enhance the fit of the bra. This is often necessary, though. It is essential that your bra fits well, and you need someone very experienced in bra fitting to help you with that.

On the internet, you'll find a lot of bra sizing charts. They say that if you measure 34 inch under your breasts, your size is 34. This is very often not correct and results in a bra that is too large and will not support your breasts properly. A sports bra should fit very snugly, maybe even a size smaller than your regular bra. The only way to know which bra size you have is to go to the store and fit the bra.

Some tips for buying a sports bra

Always try the bra on the loosest setting. Most of the time a bra stretches a little after wearing and washing, so it helps if you have some room to keep it fitting tightly.
Go to a specialized store with competent salespeople. In my country, that excludes all major chain stores. Have the salespeople look at how it fits. A bra should fit snugly. It should not ride up on your back and no part of the breast should stick out.
Like with running shoes, it is a good idea to go bra shopping near the end of the day, when your breasts are a little heavier. Also: keep an eye on your cycle: some women's breasts change significantly throughout their cycles.
It is time to buy a new bra when you notice your bra gives less support than before. It is definitely too late when you notice your breasts start to bounce.
Buy a bra that is made for the sport you do. When you bicycle, you do not need as much support as when you run.

A badly fitting bra can cause back and neck pain and saggy breasts. Buy a good one!

See this video from a sports bra manufacturer that demonstrates how a good sports bra minimizes bouncing, when compared to no bra or a normal bra

Grains: health food or cause of all disease?

Many governmental nutrition organizations put grains at the bottom of the food pyramid. On the other hand, some low carb afficionados and rawfooders say grains are poison and the cause of all disease. Finally there are the nutritionists who choose the middle road: whole grains are good, but refined grains are bad. In this article, I look at some arguments from the grain nay-sayers.
Grains do not contain that many nutrients

Grains are touted as great sources of iron, magnesium, fiber and b-vitamins. They do indeed contain reasonable amounts of those nutrients, but if you compare the amount of nutrients in grains with the amount of nutrients in fruit, vegetables or beans, grains lose big time.

This is true, and a reason to not eat a grain based diet. However, you can only eat so much vegetables. Grains still have more nutrients per calorie than milk and eggs. See William Harris' article Less Grains, More Greens.

Grains contain phytic acid: an antinutrient

This is a big argument from anti-vegetarians. The phytic acid in plant foods (grains, nuts, beans etc.) binds with minerals (notably iron and zinc), so that the body cannot absorb these nutrients as well. This means that even though 100% whole wheat bread has more iron than white bread, your body actually gets more iron from white bread than from whole wheat bread, if eaten in isolation. This is a problem in third world countries where people do not have access to fruits and vegetables and have to get most of their nutrients from grains. In developed countries, phytic acid has never been shown to cause a problem in populations. Even vegans who eat lots of whole grains have high enough levels of iron and zinc.

It is well known that excess iron causes disease, so the fact that phytic acid prevents some of the iron absorption may actually be a good thing. Phytic acid is also an antioxidant (like vitamin C). It is thought to be one of the reasons why a high fiber diet is healthy. According to N. Rukma Reddy, author of Food Phytates, phytate has the potential ability to lower blood glucose, reduce cholesterol and triacylglycerols, and reduce the risks of cancer and heart disease.

Absorption of minerals can be enhanced by soaking grains, leavening them (such as in normal breads) fermenting them (such as in sourdough bread -- fermenting is more effective than leavening with yeast), sprouting them (such as in traditional Northern European rye bread and in sprouted wheat bread) and by eating vitamin C rich products at the same time. If you are healthy and eat a balanced diet full of vegetables, you do not have to worry about mineral absorption.

Grains raise your blood sugar rapidly

Grains have a relatively high glycemic index, especially when ground into flour. This means that they'll raise your blood sugar. Blood sugar rises are associated with diabetes and heart disease. It is interesting though, that in countries where people get the majority of their calories from whole grains, such as rural China, people do not get heart disease and diabetes. It does not seem to be something intrinsic to those countries, since dr. Mc Dougall has great success reversing diabetes with a vegan diet high in whole grains.

Grains are acid forming

This is a complicated subject on which you can find lots of quackery information on the internet. I'll discuss it in more detail in a future article, but in summary: foods are either acid or alkaline. In general, we need more alkaline foods. Fruits and vegetables are alkaline. Grains are among the most acid forming foods there are. One exception is quinoa: it is neutral.

So what should you eat?

I agree with the grain nay-sayers that grains are not ideal food. However, they can be part of a healthy diet. Here are some tips so make the most out of the grains in your diet:

Choose whole grains over refined grains: Refined grains lose many nutrients and raise your blood sugar even more rapidly than whole grains. Eat your grains with a source of vitamin c (cauliflower, bell peppers, spinach, berries, grapefruit etc.) to maximize absorption of nutrients. Do not eat just the bran: it is exceptionally rich in phytic acid. If you eat a healthy diet you get plenty of fiber, there is no need for extracted bran
Chose intact grains over flour products: If you grind grain into a flour, it can raise your blood sugar even more rapidly. The more intact a grain, the slower it is absorbed. Choose oatmeal over oat flour, and choose steel cut oats over oatmeal. It is best to soak the grains overnight in water. If you have to use flour products I believe pasta is a better choice than bread. Pasta, when cooked al dente, has a relatively low glycemic index and because it is cooked rather than baked, it does not form potential carcinogens. Breads are high in salt and often have added fat as well.
Chose more nutritious grains over less nutritious grains: Not all grains are created equal. See the table below for a comparison between popular grains. As you can see, quinoa and amaranth have much more iron per portion than for example rice. Oats are great for protein and barley and rye are very high in fiber.
Chose a wide variety of grains: despite the tip above, I do not recommend you only eat one or two kinds of grains. Variety is an important part of a healthy diet. All natural foods have some health promoting components and there is much more to health than vitamins, minerals and macronutrients.

Nutrient values in grains

Here are some nutrients in different grains in a 200 calorie portion. This is about 60 grams (2 ounces) dry grains. Click on a nutrient title to sort by that nutrient.

description	grams	protein	carbs	fiber	iron	magnesium	manganese
Oats	51	8.68	34.07	5.45	2.43	91.00	2.52
Rye	60	8.81	41.65	8.72	1.59	72.24	1.60
Spaghetti, whole-wheat, dry	57	8.41	43.12		2.09	82.18	1.75
Amaranth	53	7.73	35.39	4.97	4.06	142.25	1.21
Buckwheat	58	7.73	41.69	5.83	1.28	134.69	0.76
Quinoa	53	7.01	36.84	3.16	4.95	112.30	1.21
Wheat, hard red winter	61	7.71	43.54	7.46	1.95	77.06	2.43
Barley	56	7.05	41.51	9.77	2.03	75.14	1.10
Millet, raw	53	5.83	38.54	4.50	1.59	60.32	0.86
Rice, brown, long-grain, raw	54	4.29	41.75	1.89	0.79	77.30	2.02

How to start running

Running is a great form of exercise. It is inexpensive, easy and you can do it whenever you want. It is weight bearing, which means it is good for your bones (as long as you do not overdo it). Here are a few tips for beginning runners.

Beginner's Schedule

Most people find it difficult to run for more than a couple of minutes. Running is also quite hard on the body, so it is wise to start slowly. There are many beginner's schedules that teach you how to run for 30 minutes in about two months. I chose CoolRunning's Couch to 5K method because it started relatively slowly and still promised 5K in 9 weeks.

Shoes

You need good shoes. Do buy real running shoes and go to a good store where they'll analyze your feet. Don't think you can start on your old sneakers until you are sure you'll like it: this is a sure way to injuries; not a good way to start a sport. See: The How To's of Choosing Athletic Shoes

Sports Bra

I am amazed at the number of women I see that do not wear a proper running bra. A good bra can be as essential as good shoes. Do buy a bra that is made for running. Running is a very high impact sport, you need maximum support. I am happy with Shock Absorber, who have a nice video that demonstrates why a good bra is necessary.

Books

You do not need a book about running. Everybody can run. I like to read about running anyway, and judging by the amount of books in even my local library, I am not the only one. I find it keeps me motivated to read other's stories and I even like to read about tips for running a 10K, even though I cannot even run 1K yet. Just go to a library and pick some beginners books or archives of magazines like Runner's World.

Online information

Of course, these days you do not need books to inform yourself or to stay motivated. There are many online resources about running. I'll name a few:

Previously mentioned CoolRunning is a popular website about running. They have an extensive training section and an active discussion forum.
Runner's World and Running Times: the sites from the magazines with many free articles, and again a discussion forum.
Vegan Fitness is a very friendly forum with a section for vegan runners.

Have fun!

Osteoporosis Prevention and Awareness Month

May is Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month. It is often thought that vegans must have poor bones, because they do not consume dairy. This is incorrect. There is plenty of calcium in plant foods (you could eat nothing but oranges and still get more than enough calcium) and calcium is only one part of the equation. That said: people who have low body weight do have a higher chance of osteoporosis. Here are some tips to keep your bones strong.

Exercise: To keep your bones strong, you have to use them. Weight bearing exercise (this is exercise where your own body weight supports you, such as walking and running, but not swimming and bicycling) is essential. Make it a habit to walk as much as possible. Take all the stairs you can take. Walking or running alone is not enough though. You also have to do strength training.
Live healthy: Your bones are not an isolated part of the rest of your body. The same things that work to prevent heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer, also work to keep your bones healthy. Do not smoke, do not consume too much alcohol and caffeine, and eat your fruits and veggies. Green vegetables are an important source of vitamin K, calcium and magnesium, which are essential to bone health. Try blending them in smoothies and soups to increase absorption.
Take a vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D may be even more essential for healthy bones than calcium. Unless you live near the equator, it can be hard to get enough vitamin D from the sun. If you do not eat lots of fish, you should probably take a vitamin D supplement (at least until vitamin D rich mushrooms are available). Take at least 400 IU a day. 800 IU (from both supplements and fortified foods) may be safer, especially if you live at a northern latitude or do not get much sunshine (without sunscreen).

Related articles:

Nutrition gurus agree: don't drink soda and eat your veggies

Over the years, I think I have read about every nutrition guru there is: from Weston Price to Fuhrman, from Ornish to the Paleo Diet, from Fit For Life to Atkins. Of course, all guru's are quite vocal about their passion. What I find disappointing is that they all are so aggressive towards their "competitors": the other self proclaimed gurus. I wish they would look at what they have in common, instead of what separates them. So let's take a look at the similarities:

The good

Eat fresh vegetables: opinions on starchy vegetables differ somewhat, but all gurus agree that non starchy vegetables are great.
Eat fresh fruit: some gurus prefer low sugar fruit such as berries, or recommend fruit in specific combinations with or without other foods, but they all recommend fruit in some way.
Eat nuts and seeds: the gurus do disagree on the amounts of nuts and the types of nuts. Some recommend soaking, sprouting or roasting, but they all agree that nuts and seeds can be part of a healthy diet.

The bad

Do not eat added sugars: this includes sugar, high fructose corn syrup and other concentrated sugars.
Do not eat refined grains.

Regardless of which diet style you prefer, if you just severely limit added sugars and refined grains, and radically up your intake of vegetables, you will be healthier than almost anybody else in a country where soda and sweet drinks are the main source of calories in the diet.

Whom can you believe about diet?

If we could resolve big health questions by studying nutrients in test tubes and lab mice, the task would be fairly straightforward. But nutrition research involves two notoriously variable subjects: people and what they eat.

Whom Can You Believe About Diet? gives a short overview of the different types of nutrition studies and the challenges with those studies. It is a good read for anyone who is confused by the plethora of nutritional information available on the internet.

The conclusion: How can you avoid the flips and flops on vitamins, minerals and other nutrients? For starters, don't expect final answers from individual studies. They're often illuminating but rarely definitive. Put the most weight on studies done with people instead of animals or cell cultures, and on those that look at real disease outcomes (tumors or heart attacks) instead of intermediate markers (cancer proteins in the blood). Results are most convincing when a variety of different studies point in the same direction. And keep in mind that diet isn't a magic bullet. Even at its best, it's just one part of a healthy lifestyle.

Sidenote: I personally find it baffling that we still do so many animal studies even though it is clear that other animals are completely different than us in so many ways, and even though people do not do anything with the results from the studies anyways. We already know so much about good nutrition and healthy living, yet only three percent of Americans eats five portions of fruits and vegetables, exercises, has a healthy weight and doesn't smoke.

The REAL secret to losing weight

I posted previously about secrets to losing weight and staying thin. Apparently, this is an interesting subject. People are finding the page by searching for weight loss secrets and there are many sites posting these "secrets".

As I wrote before, there is some truth in those secrets. There are some things that can really help you losing weight. For me, the most important help was my kitchen scale. Knowing what a reasonable portion of peanuts or chocolate was made a lot of difference. However, in the end, I think there is only one real secret to losing weight: you have to REALLY want it. If your motivation is big enough, you can do anything.

I had been fat all my life but I never had a problem with it. That changed when my daughter was born and I started reading a bit about healthy living. The things that made the most impact on me, and which prompted me to do something about my weight were:

The dangers of trans fats: the sites I read where a bit on the alarmist side, but they helped me realize that even though I was used to reading labels, I had no idea what I ate, and that what I put in my mouth really did make a difference for my health.
The fact that fat cells itself cause diseases: I used to think that the reason obesity was a health risk, was because obese people were more likely to have bad eating habits and be inactive. I learned that the fat cells itself play an important role in the development of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
The seriousness of diabetes: I used to think that diabetes wasn't that big of a deal nowadays. You just needed to take some insulin, and that was it. I learned that diabetes is a leading cause of death and that diabetes has many complications.
The fact that obesity is as bad or worse for your health as smoking, drinking or poverty.
The realization that I was obese: I used to think that sure I was overweight, but it could be much worse. Other people were much fatter than me. Only 15 percent of obese people view themselves as obese.

I felt a great responsibility for my daughter. I did not want her to have a mother who died from a heart attack at age 45. I did not want her to be obese at age 10. If I did not model better behavior both were likely, so I started living healthier and I losing weight.

If you are obese and if you want to lose weight, I suggest you think seriously about your reasons for wanting to lose weight. They may seem obvious but you may discover that you have not really thought about it that much and that you are just trying to lose weight because you think you are supposed to. If you have a strong motivation, you do not need any secrets or quick fixes. Someone who aims to win an Olympic medal does not need a secret to keep training. Losing weight and living healthy are much easier if you know exactly why you are doing it. What is your motivation?

The secrets of longevity

Residents of Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda, California, live longer, healthier lives than just about anyone else on Earth. What do they know that the rest of us don't?

National Geographic has a stunning feature about The Secrets of Long Life The page looks just like a teaser to buy the magazine, but there is a menu to the left. Be sure not to miss the Sights and Sounds.

The secrets of course aren't really secrets:

Have strong bonds with family and friends
Stay active
De-stress
Watch your diet

I was very impressed by the pictures of healthy, very active, very old people and sad to learn that two of the three longevity cultures are disappearing because the younger people start eating potato chips and french fries. Obesity rates are skyrocketing in Okinawa.

The conclusion of the documentary maker: Genes account for only 30%, the majority of how long you live is up to your lifestyles, it's up to you.

Related Posts
Eat less, live more

Introduction to Sports Nutrition

The Montana State University offers an interesting course on sports nutrition online. It is geared towards the winter Olympics, but it the science is applicable to any sport. It is very school-y, with questions and answers that say ding-ding when you click on them. If you are interested in nutrition and do any form of exercise, you should check it out.

Contents of the Course

This course explores the science of sports nutrition and shows how to apply nutrition principles to benefit an athlete's training and performance.

Fuel Movement and Sport
- Introduction
- Muscle contraction
- Fast & slow fibers
- Energy: How & where is it stored?
- How far can a person run?
- What fuels are used for exercise?
- When is each fuel used?
- Intensity
- Duration
- Training
- Nutrition
- Gender
- References
Eat for Performance
- Introduction
- Energy balance
- Fluid balance
- Fueling cycle
- What can foods and fluid do for you?
  - Pre-exercise
  - During exercise
  - During recovery
- Athlete's eating plan
- Calorie goals
- Calorie values
- Food processing takes time
- Carbohydrate goals
- Protein goals
- Fat goals
- Vitamins & minerals
- Your nutrition numbers
- Sports drinks
- References
Athlete Profiles
Nutrition at the Olympics
Additional Information
- Food Guide Pyramid
- Resources
- Credits
- Course Objectives
- About the Author

Nutrition Science & the Olympics (part of the university's 1998 Winter Olympics courses website).

Introduction to Human Nutrition

Eat better, be happier

Some people think healthy eating is a boring necessity to prevent modern diseases. As such, it can seem to be not worth it. Why would you suffer your entire life, just so that you can live a little longer?

A more important reason to eat healthy is because it will actively improve your live now. What you eat has immediate effects on how you feel and how you think. The articles mentioned below go in depth as to what to eat and when, but be aware that nutrition science is not an exact science. What works for one person, may not work at all for someone else, and there is still much controversy over what foods are best for what purposes. I think it is best to avoid junk food and eat more vegetables, especially at lunch. Beyond that it may be helpful to log your food intake and your moods for a couple of days, to see if you notice a pattern.

The authors of the articles mention animal products as main sources of some nutrients. Here are some vegan alternatives:

Omega-3 fatty acids: Walnuts, flax seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds and leafy green vegetables and/or a DHA supplement.
Tyrosine: Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, soy beans.
Choline: Soy beans, green vegetables or again, a supplement.

Nine reasons why vegan diets fail

There is lots of buzz about the health and other benefits of a vegan diet. So, why do you keep meeting people who tell I tried a vegan diet, but...? Here are nine common reasons why people don't feel well on a vegan diet and switch back to a vegetarian or omnivore diet.

Not eating enough: I sometimes read on vegan message boards what people eat, and wonder if they are describing someone with an eating disorder. You cannot just leave 500 calories of animal products out of your diet and expect to feel great.
Not eating enough vegetables: People who eat meat can sometimes get away with eating few vegetables because they get their minerals from meat. For vegans, vegetables -- especially greens -- are essential sources of minerals.
Eating too much grains: Whole grains can be a part of a healthy diet, but do not eat bread for lunch and breakfast and pasta for dinner. Variety is important.
Eating too much junk/not enough protein: A healthy vegan diet that is made up primarily of whole foods, contains plenty of protein. However, if you consume considerable amounts of potato chips, cookies, french fries, soda's etc. you do risk getting not enough protein.
Not taking a B12 supplement or fortified foods: There are still vegans who refuse to believe that a vegan diet is deficient in any nutrient. They are wrong. Even a minor deficiency can lead to feelings of general unwellbeing.
Not getting omega 3 fatty acids: Omega 3 fatty acids are important for the brain. They are plentiful in green vegetables, but of course you can only eat so much salad. Flax seeds, Chia seeds, hemp seeds and walnuts are other good sources. For people who are depressed a DHA supplement may be necessary.
Having strict rules about food: Some vegans have theories about foods for optimum health that are difficult to adhere to in our society. It involves strict food combining, or eating only raw foods, for example. This limits your options considerably, and can make you feel like an outcast.
Not knowing how to cook vegan: Eating is more than just getting enough nutrients. If you do not enjoy your meals, you are unlikely to feel well in the long run. There are many great vegan cookbooks with healthy recipes that taste great.
Feeling alone: It can be irritating to always be different than other people. Some people find it useful to participate in internet forums with like minded people.

Does this mean it is difficult to be vegan? Not at all. But in our society veganism is a weird choice. It is not necessary to meticulously plan your meals, but it is good to be aware of potential pitfalls. If you start to feel unwell, do not blame veganism: see what you can change within your vegan diet and consider if you want to run some blood tests to check if you have any vitamin deficiencies.

Mushrooms can be great source of vitamin D

Good news for vegetarians living in northern latitudes: soon vitamin D supplements may become unnecessary. Mushrooms appear to be a very good source of the vitamin when they have been exposed to ultraviolet light.

Vitamin D deficiency used to be linked only to rickets, but recent research shows that low levels of the vitamin are linked to osteoporosis, heart disease and various cancers. The best source by far is the sun: your body makes vitamin D in the skin when it is exposed to UVB radiation from the sun. In northern latitudes during the winter months there is not enough UVB radiation in the sun to allow your body to make sufficient vitamin D. Today, the only food that contains significant amounts of vitamin D is fatty fish, but of course vegetarians do not consider fish to be food.

References:
Mushrooms Are Unlikely Source of Vitamin D

Kitchen tools that help you live healthier

I have a love/hate relationship with kitchen appliances. They make my life so much easier, but take up space, make noise, break down, etc. I think the benefits win, so here is my list of kitchen appliances that improve my life:

Pressure Cooker: It is great to be able to make a lentil soup in ten minutes. Do buy one with a thick base; bean soups scorch easily.
Immersion Blender: Blend smoothies and soups right in the pot. The Bamix is great, but very expensive. If you are going to buy a hand blender, I do recommend choosing one that can handle lots of frozen fruit and hot soups.
Food Processor and Blender: For grinding flax seed, making hummus and other dips and making date-nut balls. Titanium skillet: An amazing improvement over Teflon skillets. I can make mung bean pancakes with almost no oil at all.
Soy Milk Maker: Home made soymilk is sugar and salt free, and much cheaper than store bought soy milk. I do not care much for the taste, but it is great for using in smoothies and other recipes. You can also make nut and grain milk in the machine.

Next on my wish list is a slow cooker. I think a Vita-Mix would be great, but at the moment it is way out of my budget.

What are your must-have kitchen appliances?

Portion distortion in Texas

Brooks tells the students that 12 baby carrots will count for two servings from the vegetable group. "Remember, if you're getting more carrots you need to count them out because that's another serving," Brooks reminds the class.

Schools in Texas are combating the obesity epidemic by teaching children about portion sizes of vegetables. Apparently our children are obese because they eat way too much leafy greens and need to be taught that an appropriate portion is about the size of a tennis ball or a yo-yo.

I am all for teaching children the basics of a healthy diet, and I am convinced portion sizes are a big factor in the obesity epidemic, but come on, it is portions of milkshakes, french fries and other fast food that are the problem. The only problem with vegetables is that people do not eat enough of them.

References:

Texas Students Learn About Portion Sizes

Exercise for busy parents

Yes, you know exercise is important. Every time you see a new study that finds even more reasons why [1], you cringe, because you really should exercise more. When you have small children, finding time to exercise can be a struggle. I am so glad I started living healthier when my daughter was a baby. It is much harder to get enough exercise now that she is a toddler. Nevertheless, here are some tips to incorporate exercise into your busy life.

Take the stairs. Walking up and down stairs is great exercise. It is weight bearing so it is good for your bones as well as your heart. You can do this at any time of the day. Do not just take the stairs if you have to go upstairs, just do it regularly. If you have a small child, you can take him with you in a backpack.
Walk. When my daughter was smaller this was my sole method of exercise. I walked for hours a day with her in a baby carrier (I recommend the Kozy and the Ergo). Walking with a baby in a baby carrier is even better than walking with a baby in a stroller, because the extra weight makes the exercise better for your bones.
Run in the park. Dance. Play ball. Have fun and play with your children. Exercise is important for them too. Every five minutes help.
Do an exercise video. Either with your kids, or when they are asleep. I have heard good things about t-tapp.
Do an exercise game. I like Yourself Fitness, which is more like a personal trainer. Dance Dance Revolution (for PS2 and Xbox) and other dance games look like great options if your children are older.

Footnotes:

Yet another reason to exercise: Physical exercise for a better brain:
Most of us know that physical exercise is good for our general health, but did you know that physical exercise is also good for your brain? If you think youâ€™re going to get smarter sitting in front of your computer or watching television, think again. Here scientists present the evidence that a healthy human being is a human doing.

Exercise: your best bet for health

You know that exercise is important. It lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and reduces risk for al major diseases: heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It helps in conquering depression and anxiety, it keeps your bones healthy and of course it keeps your weight down.

A recent study found yet another reason why exercise is important. The researchers divided 33 obese women with type 2 diabetes in three groups:

A restricted calorie diet high in monounsaturated fat
Exercise
Diet and exercise

After fourteen weeks only the women in the exercise groups had lost visceral fat (deep belly fat): the most dangerous fat. Diet alone did burn abdominal fat, but in order to lose visceral fat, exercise was necessary.

The conclusion is clear: go exercise! Find something you like, so that you stick with it.

References:

Exercise Is Required for Visceral Fat Loss in Postmenopausal Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Eat less, live more

In many weight loss groups boosting your metabolism is a hot issue. People always seem to want to know how to trick their bodies so that they can eat more and still lose weight. This may not be smart. Recent research confirms what we know from earlier studies: people who eat less are healthier and may live longer.

Earlier this year researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine found that the hearts of people on high-nutrient, low-calorie diets functioned like the hearts of much younger people. Last week, they presented a new study that found that people that had been on a restricted calorie diet for six months had:

lower insulin levels
a lower metabolic rate
a lower core body temperature
less DNA damage

These characteristics are associated with lower rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

The researchers admit more studies are needed, but the results so far are interesting. If severe calorie restriction is too extreme for you: don't despair; restricting calories every other day may be just as effective.

References:

First study:

Second study:

Beans at Squidoo

I added a new Squidoo lens (that's their name for page) about beans. I already had a Squidoo lens about vegan health. Squidoo is a nice concept for single pages that give a general overview of a topic.

Now I'll focus on this blog again.

How much should you weigh?

If you want to lose weight, it helps to have certain milestones. For me, BMI (see below) was important. Reaching a BMI of 29.9 meant I no longer was obese. Getting to 24.9 meant I had reached a healthy weight. I was quite disappointed that I still felt very fat at that weight. At that point I stopped thinking about having a target weight, and I just continued with healthy eating and being active.

There are several methods to determine if you are at a healthy weight. I now think that weight milestones are useful for some people, but you should not take those methods too seriously. I think most people know when they are at a healthy weight, just by looking honestly in the mirror; but if you like to measure and track your progress, here are the current ways to determine healthy body weight:

BMI: Body Mass Index

BMI is probably the worst, but still the most popular way to determine healthy bodyweight. The formula is as follows: weight in kilograms / (length in meters * length in meters). You can calculate your BMI in the caloric needs calculator.
Different organizations vary somewhat in the boundaries for healthy weight. Usually a BMI between 18.5 and 25 is considered a healthy weight, but some experts, like Harvard's Walter Willett say BMI gives a too optimistic view of health: a BMI of 24.5 can still mean a considerable health risk.

There are a couple of problems with the BMI:

It does not differ between fat and muscle. Very muscular people will have a high BMI, even though they are very healthy.
It does not differ between belly fat and fat on other places. It is now known that especially fat around the waist is an indicator for disease. People can have a BMI of 22, but still have too much fat around the waist.

Most experts now agree that the BMI is not a good indicator of health.

Waist Circumference

A better indicator than BMI is the waist circumference. Just measure your waist at the smallest point and you're done. Waist circumference for women should be less than 31 inches, for men it should be less than 37 (some websites say 35 and 40. They are way too optimistic.). A problem with this method is that it can be hard to determine how tightly to put the measuring tape and results can vary greatly throughout the day. I tend to be smallest in the morning. My waist circumference is somewhere between 69 and 76 cm (between 27 and 30 inches)

Waist to Hip ratio

Apparently waist circumference alone was too simple, so researchers developed yet another method to find out ideal weight: the waist to hip ratio. Divide your waist circumference through your hip circumference. For men, this number should be under 0.9. For women it should be under 0.8. Some research indicates waist-to-hip ratio is better in predicting disease than waist circumference alone, other research indicates the opposite.

Pinch belly fat

Dr. Fuhrman gives the easiest method of all in Eat to Live: a man should not have more than one-half inch of skin that he can pinch near his belly button and a woman should not have more than one inch.

If you like to keep track of your progress, now you know what to measure. However, please remember that everybody is different and that you know your body better than some formula. Focus on healthy eating and being active, not on a scale or measuring tape. Instead of weight milestones, you can also set health milestones like: being able to take the stairs to the fourth floor without getting exhausted.

Secrets to losing weight and staying thin.

HealthHacks recently posted about The Secrets of Thin People. What struck me was that these were not secrets of naturally thin people. These are mostly "secrets" of people who know they are not naturally thin -- like me.

A couple of points from the article that I can relate to:

Thin people favor bulky foods: of course you already knew that. Fruits and veggies are great!
Thin people watch portion sizes: it helped me a lot to know how many calories were in three ounces of pasta, and how much three ounces of pasta looked like.
Thin people limit their options: I recently discovered spicy chickpeas in our asian market. They were delicious, but I will not buy them again because I know I would overeat them.
Thin people enjoy their food: I would not be able to do this if I did not enjoy every meal I ate. In fact, I enjoy my meals now much more than I enjoyed the bags of potato chips I used to mindlessly munch away.
Thin people practice early intervention: I weigh myself every other day. I do not stress about a pound more or less, but I want to make sure I stay within a five pound window. I also feel this helps in getting to know my body, noticing what is normal.
Thin people do what works: see the quote below. I totally agree.

The biggest difference between the permanently thin and everyone else might very well be this: Those who donâ€™t gain (or regain) have come up with effective, specific, and often personal ways to keep their weight in check. Becky Grebosky, age 38, a childrenâ€™s-clothing and gift manufacturer and a mother of two in Albuquerque, New Mexico, makes a smoothie when she feels like having a treat. "I mix up yogurt, a bit of juice, some water, ice, and whatever fruit is around," she says. "It tastes like a milk shake." Other thin people canâ€™t live without dessert, so they shave calories elsewhere or "pay" for the indulgence with extra time or intensity at the gym. "Thin people get out of the mind-set of being â€˜goodâ€™ or â€˜bad,â€™" psychologist Stephen Gullo says. "Itâ€™s about doing what works." From: The Secrets of Thin People.

The article also mentions the National Weight Control Registry: a registry of people who lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off. When I first found the registry, I found it very encouraging. Too often, experts recommend people only lose 10% of their body weight (that would mean I would have gone from 240 pounds to 216 pounds) because more is not a realistic expectation. If you just hear that often enough, it becomes a reality. If experts like obesity clinic nurses tell you it is impossible to ever become thin, why would you even bother? Sure, I know the research that says that even 10% weight loss reduces diabetes, cancer and heart disease risk, but face it: at 216 pounds I was still at considerable risk, and I did not feel any healthier than I felt at 240 pounds. In fact, I only started to feel healthy after I had lost 100 pounds. I now weigh 135 pounds, and feel that my body starts to fit me. I will never go back to being overweight; it feels so much better to be thin.

If you are currently overweight, don't be put off by people telling you that research shows that most people are unable to permanently lose weight. You are not most people. Many people can do it; the thousands of people in the Weight Loss Registry are proof of that. They are not better than you are, you can do this too.

Fruit consumption decreases waist circumference

Spanish researchers found that a high fruit diet decreases waist circumference more than a diet low in fruit.

The researchers randomly assigned 15 obese women to two diets that both consisted of 55% of calories from carbohydrates, 30% from fat and 15% from protein. The difference between the diets was that one diet was high in fruit, and the other was low in fruit. People on both diets lost weight, but the waist circumference in people on the high fruit decreased significantly more. People on the low fruit diet lost 2.4 cm (1 inch), people on the high fruit diet lost 5.5 cm (2.2 inch). A large waist circumference is now considered an important risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.

The high fruit diet had 26 grams of fiber a day, and 14% calories from fructose. The low fruit diet had 16 grams of fiber a day and 4% calories from fructose.

Of course, this was a small study, but I think the findings are interesting and potentially good news for people who got scared away from eating fruit because some studies indicated that fructose meant weight gain. I personally think a study with humans and fruit is much more relevant than a study with mice and a fructose solution.

Source: Effects of two energy-restricted diets containing different fruit amounts on body weight loss and macronutrient oxidation. (Unfortunately, the full text is not availabe for free. My source is the Dutch Weekblad Groenten en Fruit)

<em>Reclining Salad</em> and other posters of vegetables

Buy this Art Print at AllPosters.com

I was amazed by this composition of vegetables. I found out that AllPosters.com has many great art posters of all kinds of vegetables (Can you tell I was procrastinating? It would never have occurred to me to actively look for posters of vegetables). I added a small posters of vegetables store to this site. Check it out if you are interested.

How to prevent gas when eating beans

Good news about beans: Research shows adults and teens who eat beans weigh less:

The study found that adults who eat beans weigh 6.6 pounds less â€“ yet eat 199 more daily calories â€“ than adults who don't eat beans. Similar results were found for teenage bean eaters who consume 335 more daily calories but weigh 7.3 pounds less than non-bean-eating teens.

It seems to me that bean eaters are probably just more likely to live healthier in general, but that's not the point. Beans are very good for you: they are relatively high in protein, have a low glycemic index (which means it does not raise your blood sugar much) and are full of nutrients like iron, magnesium, folate and other B vitamins, and of course fiber.

Unfortunately, they also contain difficult to digest sugars which can cause gas. Here are some tips to make them less gassy:

Chew well: Chewing is important for good digestion.
Eat slowly: Swallowing air often causes flatulence.
Start with small amounts: Most people find that they can tolerate more beans when they are used to it.
Start with lentils, mung beans and adzuki beans: Smaller beans are easier to digest. Red or Pink lentils are easiest, but contain fewer nutrients than other lentils.
Soak well and discard soaking water: The indigestible sugars dissolve in the soaking water, so use plenty of water and change the soaking water once or twice. The Californian Dry Bean Advisory Board recommends boiling the dry beans for a couple of minutes, then turning off the heat and soaking overnight. Discard the soaking water, and cook the beans in fresh water.
Cook for a longer time: In many countries where beans are a staple food, they are left to simmer on low heat all day. A crockpot may be useful.
Sprout: The sprouting process completely changes the sugars, making the legumes much better digestible. Lightly cooked sprouts are easier to digest than raw sprouts.
Add a piece of kombu in the cooking water.
Do not add salt during cooking. If you want salt, add it afterwards.
Cook with ginger, fennel, cumin or epazote (a Mexican herb).
Scoop off and discard foam when cooking.
Add a little vinegar to the cooking water when the legumes are almost done.
If you are in the US you can try Bean-zyme, a pill that helps prevent gas. Bean-zyme is a vegan/vegetarian alternative to Beano.

The vinegar tip comes from Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition

Enjoy your beans!

Turnip greens: three times as much calcium as milk

My daughter found daisies in the park today. It really is spring! Food bloggers would probably celebrate with a great spring recipe; I give you facts. This is a table with the amount of protein and some vitamins and minerals per 100 calories of great foods that are finally in season again (in the Netherlands, that is.)

You can sort by nutrient: just click on the nutrient title. Values for milk and beef are included for reference.

food name	protein	calcium	iron	vit C	vit A (IU)	vit K
Turnip greens, raw	4.69	593.75	3.44	187.50	36209.38	784.38
Lettuce, romaine	7.24	194.12	5.71	141.18	34158.82	602.94
Broccoli raab, raw	14.41	490.91	9.73	91.82	11918.18	1018.18
Spinach, raw	12.43	430.43	11.78	122.17	40769.57	2099.57
Dandelion greens, raw	6.00	415.56	6.89	77.78	10957.78	608.22
Purslane, raw	8.13	406.25	12.44	131.25	8250.00
Kale, raw	6.60	270.00	3.40	240.00	30752.00	1634.00
Milk, whole, 3.25%	5.37	188.33	0.05	0.00	170.00	0.33
Steak, grilled, 0" fat	10.83	2.63	1.22	0.00	0.00	0.39

Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18

Nutrition studies don't cut the mustard

Most people think moderate drinking is good for your heart. It's one of those nutrition success stories everybody likes to hear, like chocolate and coffee are great sources of antioxidants. Wouldn't it be great if your health was guaranteed just by indulging yourself? Of course, reality kicks in with a new study: International study questions health benefits of moderate drinking. This is not news, the BBC reported on a study with a similar conclusion back in 1999.

It is not uncommon that nutrition studies disagree with each other. It is hard to study nutrition, since you cannot just take two groups of people and lock them in a controlled environment for decades to study the effects of dietary changes in one group. Most people these days think you can do that with animals, but of course, animals aren't humans.

A popular type of nutrition study without ethical problems is a population study. You take a group of people with certain characteristics (say: moderate drinkers), and a group of people that don't have those characteristics (say: non drinkers). You then find out which group has more heart-disease, death, cancer or whatever else you want to study. Of course there are problems with these kinds of studies. It turns out that most of the studies that reported that moderate drinkers had less heart disease did not control for the fact that people who are already ill or take medications are likely to be non drinkers. I think this is unbelievably stupid, but it happens all the time.

Another example: most people think that being underweight is unhealthy; perhaps even unhealthier than being overweight. This is not true. Smokers and people who have serious illnesses are more likely to be underweight. An active non smoking healthy individual with a BMI of 17 is at less risk for death than someone with a BMI of 21. (Source: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating)

So, what should you do? If those studies can't be trusted, and seem to disagree all the time, how do you know what you should eat? It's not that bad. There may be scientific dispute over details; there is no controversy at all over the bottom line: fruits and vegetables are essential to good health. And don't forget to exercise.

Healthy eating on a budget

It can be hard, eating healthy on a budget. Sure, fast food is very expensive as well, but calorie for calorie, almost nothing is cheaper than a 200 grams bag of no-name potato chips. Here are some tips that help you eat healthier without going broke.

Go for cheap healthy products:
- Cabbage: super healthy and can last for days.
- Canned tomatoes: the canning process actually increases lycopene -- one of the antioxidants in tomatoes.
- Dried beans: very good for you (if you soak them first). If you are not completely broke, consider investing in a pressure cooker and/or a slow cooker.
- Oatmeal: steel cut oats are better, but if you are looking for cheap and still healthy grains, oatmeal can't be beat.
- Frozen fruit and vegetables: There are often more vitamins in frozen vegetables than in vegetables that have been shipped all around the world. Of course fresh local produce is still preferred, also from an environmental point of view, but you can only eat so much cabbage and berries have many health benefits.
Make your own everything:
- Do not buy pre washed/chopped vegetables.
- Pick and eat wild greens and fruits.
- See what you can make instead of buy. If you regularly drink soy milk or eat tofu, consider buying a soy milk maker to make your own. If you eat bread, consider a bread machine. (You can, of course, also make soy milk and bread without those fancy machines.)
- Grow your own fruits and vegetables. Start with herbs or tomatoes. Strawberries are also easy. If you have a garden you may want to check out how contaminated the soil is first.
- Sprout. Sprouts are very healthy and you do not need any expensive materials to make them.
- Make your own snacks. Air popped popcorn, soy nuts or roasted chickpeas are cheap and healthy.
Prepare meals in advance and freeze them in individual portions. This makes sure you have no 3/4 full cans of tomato paste, or half lemons left, and it helps control your portions.
Buy when it is cheap. If you have or can afford a freezer you can save a lot of money by buying produce in season (this is also when it is likely to be less sprayed with pesticides) and freeze it. Alternatively, you may want to learn how to can.
Check out other stores. Middle Eastern stores sometimes have very good prices for beans, nuts, dates, dried tomatoes, etc. I have heard that farmers markets are great too. Maybe there is a co-op where you live.
Don't buy (everything) organic. The most important thing you can do for the environment is to eat a plant-based diet. In my country, 100 grams of organic broccoli cost the same as 400 grams of conventional broccoli. It is better to eat 400 grams of non-organic broccoli, than it is to eat only 100 grams of organic broccoli. Check out foodnews.org for a list of foods that are most often contaminated.
Drink plain tap water.
Eat less.

High meat diet increases heart disease risk

Finnish researchers found another reason to limit animal produts: High dietary methionine intake increases the risk of acute coronary events in middle-aged men. Foods that are highest in methionine include fish and meat.

This is especially interesting since the fact that vegan diets are lower in methionine is often mentioned as a risk factor. We even genetically modify soybeans to give them more methionine to "improve their nutritional quality". Healthy vegan diets have adequate methionine, but not too much.

Calculate how many calories you burned during exercise

If you were shocked to find out the amount of calories you should eat to maintain weight, you may want to increase your activity level. If you want to lose weight it is useful to know which activities burn the most calories.

Now you can calculate (approximately) how many calories you burned during exercise or doing specific activities with the Calories Burned Calculator.

Introduction to Human Nutrition

If, like me, you learned everything about nutrition from scattered pieces of information online, you may be interested in Berkeley University's Introduction to Human Nutrition for a general introduction to the topic. These are unedited lectures that are distributed as podcasts (mp3 files).

I listened to some excerpts and learned some new things:

According to the professor, high fructose corn syrup is probably not that evil, because it contains glucose and fructose in approximately the same amounts as table sugar. I am always a bit suspicious when I see people from the US blame HFCS as the most important cause for the obesity epidemic. In the Netherlands, sodas (and ketchup) are still sweetened with sugar, but obesity is becoming a major problem here as well.
The professor says that the normal treatment for type II diabetes is exercise and a change of diet. I was surprised to hear this, since in my experience practically all diabetics get insulin. Of course I know about the dramatic effects diet and exercise can have, but I did not realize these views were mainstream, and I wonder why our doctors haven't caught up.
The professor called bok choy a good source of calcium, equal to milk. Of course she did mention that you would have to eat a lot of bok choy, as if that is a problem, but it is good to hear a professor mention the importance of green vegetables.

I learn much better from a book, but if you are into podcasts, this may be a useful resource. If you are also a book person: the standard nutrition textbook (also used in this course) is Understanding Nutrition.

Will losing weight kill you?

Just about when I had lost a hundred pounds and reached my target weight, Danish researchers shocked the world with research that said that losing weight could kill you.

I could hardly believe that I was healthier when I was morbidly obese. I feel so much better now that I can run with my daughter without the ground trembling beneath my feet. But I know lay people have a tendency to dismiss studies that just do not feel right, so let's have a look at the research:

The participants in the study were not obese, only slightly overweight.
Only 268 people died. That is a small sample size.
For example, the main conclusions are based on the subgroup of those with intent to lose weight who actually lost weight; this group had only 42 deaths, of which ten were violent. Another related difficulty is that this cohort, though overweight, is not drastically obese. The median body mass index (BMI) was 26.7 kg/m2, and fewer than 10% of people had a BMI greater than 30. (Meir Stampfer, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health)
The study did not correct for yo-yoing, or even method of weight loss. I think it is reasonable to assume that there is a difference between a person losing one pound a year for 18 years, by simply removing table sugar from her diet, and a person losing 30 pounds, gaining 20, losing 10 again, gaining 10, and finally losing 30 pounds again, with the help of diet shakes.
The study does not mention the diet of the participants during and after weight loss.

Even though I think there are some valid criticisms to the study and the way it was presented in the media, there are still important lessons to learn:

Prevention is better than cure. Watch your weight and that of your children, and take measures before it gets out of hand.
Eat a healthy diet. It is probable that losing weight is stressful for your body. Nourish it with lots of healthy foods.
Do not go on a diet, change your lifestyle. Make a commitment and lose the weight once and for all.

"Saturated fat is good for you" and other myths

If you are interested in nutrition and you are using the internet, chances are you found many conspiracy theories. One of the most prevalent is the saturated fat is actually good for you myth. Proponents of this myth advocate that eating large amounts of coconut oil, butter and lard is very good for you.

Head over to Disease Proof for a response (scroll down to the comments) from Dr Fuhrman and his staff about these and other claims from internet health gurus:

While Americans still think some balance of fat, carbohydrate and protein is better or worse, they missed the main point that it is not the balance of macronutrients (calorie containing nutrients) that is critical, but the lack of micronutrients (phytochemicals, antioxidants, minerals and other factors) that are the main cause of disease.

This comment was the inspiration for a series about nutrition charlatans:

Diet Blog also posts about this: Coconut Oil: The Doctors Debate.

My opinion: there is a difference between relatively healthy, and healthy. I think it is likely that coconut oil is a healthier fat for stir frying than safflower oil, and there is no doubt that trans fat is the worst fat there is. However, that does not mean that coconut oil is a health food in itself. Whole foods are always better than refined products and oils are a refined product, even if they are extra-virgin cold pressed. If you want your saturated fat, just eat some coconut.

24 March: updated with links to the whole series and added link to Diet Blog

How many calories should you eat?

If you want to have control over your weight -whether you want to lose, maintain or gain weight- you should know approximately how many calories you should eat each day. This helps you find normal portion sizes, and normal meals, for your body.

How many calories you need to maintain weight depends on:

Your weight: the heavier you are, the more calories your body needs to maintain its weight.
Your body composition: muscles burn more calories than fat, so if you are very muscular, you need more calories than somebody with the same body weight who is not.
Your activity level: the more active you are, the more calories you need.
Your age: the older you are, the fewer calories you need.
Genetics.

I made an online calculator that calculates how many calories you need each day.

Of course, we all know skinny people who seem to have no problem eating tons of fast food, and fat people who really do not eat that much. The formula is a starting point. You should watch your body, track your results (in a program, on a piece of paper, or in your head) and adjust your food intake accordingly.

I was kind of shocked to find out that if I live a sedentary life I need less than 1800 calories a day to maintain weight. That's thousand calories less than average.

Calculate how many calories you need each day

To breakfast or not to breakfast

There are not many things that (almost) all nutritionists and self proclaimed health experts agree on, but the importance of a good, solid breakfast is undisputed. Or so I thought.

I recently read two books that challenge this view:

Both books argue that most people are not hungry in the morning. And why eat when you're not hungry? (See also: Three stubborn weight loss myths).

There are two arguments that are usually given to advocate a solid breakfast:

If you do not eat breakfast, you will get hungry before lunch, and be tempted to grab an unhealthy snack.
If you do not eat breakfast, your body will think: Panic! Hunger! Shortage! and will quickly start storing all calories that you eat the rest of the day as fat.

Both arguments are not very convincing. If you know you get hungry at 10 AM, just make sure you have something healthy to eat then. Don't eat junk food. It may be true that eating breakfast speeds up your metabolism so you can eat a few more calories, but why would you want that, if you do not feel like eating in the first place?

You should of course eat breakfast if you are hungry, but I see no reason to force yourself to eat in the morning, just because you are supposed to.

Kale: wonderfood

Forget noni juice, acai berries, goji berries and spirulina. There is a food that is super healthy, inexpensive, and you can buy it in the grocery store. It tastes great, too!

What is Kale?

Kale is a form of cabbage (the Dutch name is boerenkool: farmer’s cabbage).

Health Benefits

Cancer Fighting

Cabbage are known for their cancer fighting abilities. The specific anti-cancer compounds of cabbage are isothiocyanates [1].
Kale is a green vegetable. Green vegetables contain chlorophyll which, among other good things, blocks the carcinogenic effect of aflatoxins.

Good for your Bones

Vitamin K is very important for bone health. Kale is one of the best sources [2].
Kale contains more calcium per calorie than milk. Calcium from kale is also better absorbed by the body.

Good for your Eyes

Kale is a rich source of caratenoids. It does not only contain beta-carotene but also lutein and zeaxanthin. Even 100 grams of kale provides 300% of the RDA for vitamin A.

Other Power Nutrients

Kale has more iron per calorie than beef.
Kale has more and better quality protein than milk and beef. (People who think that vegans must struggle to get complete protein do not eat enough green vegetables)
Kale has more vitamin C than oranges.

Kale has none of the drawbacks that some other green vegetables have. It is low in oxalic acid and nitrate.

Nutritional Information

100 gram Kale provides:

Calories	50
Protein	3.3 g
Vitamin A	15380 IU	308%
Vitamin C	120 mg	200%
Vitamin K	817 mcg	1021%
Iron	1.7 mg	9%
Calcium	135 mg	13%

Recipes

The Dutch national dish is stamppot boerenkool (just leave out sausage, milk and butter, of course). I never liked it as a child, and thus I thought I did not like kale. Many people love it though, so do check it out. I find it combines very well with something smoked (I use smoked extra firm tofu) and something sour (a little mustard).

If you are looking for something completely different, try this delicious pineapple peanut stew.

Kale also works very well in stir fries. I find it tastes much better if I boil it for five minutes first.

Footnotes

[1] http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/cancer-191-a-symphony-of-phytonutrients…
[2] http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan00/green0100.htm

Health food junkie

Health Food Junkie is a must read for everybody who is interested enough in nutrition and health to read weblogs about it.

Do you wish that occasionally you could just eat, and not think about whether itâ€™s good for you? Has your diet made you socially isolated? Is it impossible to imagine going through a whole day without paying attention to your diet, and just living and loving? Does it sound beyond your ability to eat a meal prepared with love by your mother â€“ one single meal â€“ and not try to control what she serves you? Do you have trouble remembering that love, and joy, and play and creativity are more important than food? Have you gotten your weight so low that people think you may have anorexia? If you recognize yourself in these questions, you probably have orthorexia.

Dr. Bratman also has a test to check if you have orthorexia. It is difficult; I am sure there are people who think I think about food way too much. I remember skimming What to Expect When You're Expecting when I was pregnant, and thinking that the author gave insane dietary recommendations. Now my diet is even healthier than that and I still feel I should eat more green vegetables, and less bread.

On the other hand: I seriously do feel better than ever before. I tried veganism ten years ago, and I got very sick. I basically ate a standard western diet, without the animal products. I ate lots of refined carbs (rice, pasta) and potato's. No fruit, few vegetables. And because of course such a diet was not satisfying, I ate lots of potato chips.

So, am I crazy for not wanting to go there again? I think it is totally reasonable that someone who changed long term terrible habits, has to be more careful than most people. Someone who paid off a huge credit card debt will probably always be more aware of money than someone for whom this never was an issue. A recovering alcoholic will never be able to have a drink like other people. I do eat the veggie-sausages my mother lovingly prepares when we come to visit, but I do not think I can ever eat a donut again, and I will probably always have the caloric value of the food I eat somewhere in my head.

Even though I have some reservations, I still think this is an important subject. Obession about anything is wrong, and I am grateful to Dr. Bratman for bringing attention to this disorder.

How to satisfy savory cravings without junk food

When you do not want to eat something deliciously sweet but rather crave something salty or savory, or if you want something to serve your guests instead of potato chips, try one of these treats:

Air Popped Popcorn: Spray with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt or nutritional yeast or your favorite spices.
Papads: Roast them without fat in a non stick skillet. Papads are high in sodium (about 200 mg per piece) but if you eat an otherwise healthy diet this should not pose too much of a problem. They are very low in fat, and relatively high in protein. They are made from lentils and sun dried, so as long as you do not burn them they are quite OK as a snack. I recommend Lijjat's, a wonderful company.
Roasted chickpeas: Mix cooked or canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with spices of your choice and bake in a hot oven (350 F/180 C) until done. Watch closely.
Roasted soy nuts: See roasted chickpeas, but use soaked (not cooked) soy beans.
Boiled peanuts: Soak raw peanuts for one hour. Boil them for 20-30 minutes with your favorite spices.
Raw or dry roasted nuts: If you want to eat roasted nuts, you should roast them yourself in an oven. Commercially roasted nuts are usually deep fried. This adds unhealthy fats, and the deep frying process makes the unsaturated fat in the nuts less healthful.

While these foods are much healthier than most snacks, they are still high in calories, so make sure to compensate with lighter meals.

If you find you often crave savory things, it may be helpful to change your overall diet. I find that if I eat a balanced diet, my cravings go away. A filling soup is a great lunch. Add some miso for extra savoriness (miso is high in sodium, so don't overdo it).

How to satisfy sweet cravings without junk food

Sometimes you really need something sweet, and a bag of baby carrots just does not cut it. Here are some healthy ideas to satisfy those cravings.

Smoothies! Put your favorite fruit in a blender with a little water or soy milk and blend. Frozen strawberries and banana's are popular ingredients, but you almost cannot go wrong here. If you're adventurous add some spinach. The color will be gross, but it tastes good and greens are very good for you. Add some nuts or nut butter for an even more nutritious (and calorie rich!) meal. Drink through a straw.
Sorbet Ice: See smoothies, use at least half frozen fruit and add less liquid.
Fruit: Find a fruit you really like. Now that I almost never eat refined sugar anymore, I find most fruits deliciously sweet. Even canned fruit (canned in juice) is quite healthy.
Apple Tart: Try this delicious recipe (leave out the honey, or substitute for something else). If you do not have much time, just mix all the ingredients together and eat it with a spoon.
Date Nut Balls: Mix three parts raw nuts with two parts pitted dates in a food processor or blender. Shape into balls. Variations: add cacao powder, cinnamon and/or coconut. (You can also buy pre made balls here.)
A very good herbal tea: I love Chai Tea. Experiment and find what you like.

Realize that most of these foods (except for the tea) are still high on calories, so if you need to lose weight you should not snack on them. Just eat them as part of a meal, or compensate by eating a lighter meal afterwards. They are satisfying and contain lots of fiber, so that should not be a problem.

Nine basics of a healthy vegan diet

So, you're a vegan and you think that makes you so much healthier than your meat eating counterparts? Or maybe you're an omnivore who is quick to bash vegan diets because vegans live shorter than occasional meat eaters? Of course, the vegan diet does not exist, just as the omnivore diet does not exist. In this article I will explain the basics of a healthy vegan diet. Read Eat to Live and the Vegan Health website for the science behind this.

Severely limit products with added sugar and products made of white flour. They do not contain enough nutrients, and they raise your blood sugar way too rapidly.
Do not eat products with trans fat.
Watch the salt. To make up for the cravings for meat and cheese, some vegetarians go overboard with salty things like soy sauce, miso and veggie burgers. Too much salt is bad for you, even if you do not have high blood pressure yet.
Eat Less Grains, More Greens. Vegetables, in particular leafy green vegetables, have much more nutrients per calorie than grains. Green vegetables are also an excellent source of protein.
Legumes are very good for you. If you think you do not like beans, try preparing them differently. I like dhal soups and mung bean pancakes.
Make sure to get enough omega 3 fatty acids: eat flax seeds, walnuts and green leafy vegetables and consider if you need a DHA supplement.
Do not eat too much added oils. Extracted oils can become toxic when heated, and they contain a lot of calories, and not many nutrients. It is much better to get your fats from whole foods, such as raw nuts and seeds.
Make sure to take a B12 supplement, and consider if you need Iodine or vitamin D supplementation.
Don't overdo the soy. There is nothing wrong with tofu, tempeh and a little soymilk a couple of times a week, but do not eat a soy-based diet. Veggie-burgers are not health food, they contain too much salt, among other things. Make your own veggie burgers from beans or tofu.

(I published this list earlier on my Squidoo page on Vegan Health.

Three stubborn weight loss myths

There are lots of weight loss myths. Most of them are obvious. Nobody really believes that if you just eat a certain type of vinegar, you can eat all you want and not gain weight, right?

Here I’ll discuss some more persistent myths that many people swear by.

Myth 1: Do not eat after eight (or six, or nine)

It does not matter when you eat, it matters how much you eat. The problem is that most people eat more than enough during the day, and then snack even more at night. Eating more calories than you burn, will cause you to gain weight, no matter when you eat those calories.

It is true that when you eat late at night, the scale may show a weight gain in the morning, but one of the first things you should learn about scales is that it is the global trend that counts, not an individual morning weighing.

I do now think that eating at night is not great for your health. Some people do not sleep well when they eat at night and mindless eating in front of the television cannot be good for you. But, at least, it will not make you fat. For me, being able to snack at night was one of the things that made the weight loss very doable.

Myth 2: Do not skip meals.

There is, again, a little truth in this, but most people take it too far. The problem with skipping meals is that you are likely to feel hungry after a while, and when it is not meal-time, you are likely to grab a snack. That is what causes weight gain, not the skipping of meals itself. However: if you ate a large piece of chocolate cake at a birthday party, and you are not really hungry anymore, it is totally OK to skip lunch, to compensate. Just regard the cake as your lunch for that day. Maybe eat dinner a little earlier, or eat a piece of fruit as an afternoon snack, if you do get hungry afterwards.

It is better not to graze all day, if you are trying to lose weight, because all those little things do add up. But do not force yourself to eat if you are not hungry, only because you are supposed to.

Myth 3: If you do not exercise for at least half an hour, you do not burn any calories.

Your body burns calories no matter what you do, even when you sleep. You want, of course, your body to burn more calories than usual. Even if you walk to the copy machine a few times more, you’ll burn a few extra calories. And over time, that does build up. Scientists agree.

Risks of formula feeding

The Dutch "National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) published a report about the risks of formula feeding (they call it the benefits of breastfeeding) for mother and child: Quantification of health effects of breastfeeding - Review of the literature and model simulation.

Our study shows that in westernised countries breastfeeding has a clear beneficial health effect for the child and the mother as compared to formula feeding. Also, the longer the breastfeeding period, the lower the incidences of several diseases.. For the infant, convincing evidence is available about the positive effect of breastfeeding on the incidence and severity of gastrointestinal infections including diarrhoea, otitis media, obesity and high blood pressure. It is probable that breastfed children will suffer less from asthma, wheezing, eczema and have better intellectual and/or motor development. Possibly breastfeeding is negatively related with CrohnÂ’s disease, atopy, diabetes mellitus type I, and leukaemia. For the mother, there is convincing evidence for a protective effect of breastfeeding on rheumatoid arthritis. Possibly, the incidence of pre-menopausal breast and ovarian cancer decreases among mothers who breastfed their infants for a longer period.

It gives a good overview (with many graphs and tables) of what is known today about the effects of formula feeding on health.

Track Everything You Eat

I used to be fat. Morbidly obese, they call it. Now, my BMI is 20, my waist circumference is healthy, and I feel much better now that I have 100 pounds less to carry every day. My secret formula: I entered every bite of food in a nutritional analysis program. The program would tell me how many calories I had eaten that day. This may seem not that helpful, but it actually is a time tested proven approach to weight loss.

I tracked everything meticulously for a couple of weeks. After that, I had found a healthy daily rhythm where I knew what I could eat most of the day. I still often check the calories of a new recipe.

Why it works

It makes you aware of the amount of calories in certain foods. I still remember how shocked I was to find out that one milkshake accounted for half of my daily calories.
It makes you accountable and less likely to cheat. I didn't think this would work, but it did. I was less likely to eat a snack when I knew I had to account for it later.
It can help you feel in control of your weight loss.

The tools

There are dozens of programs that can help you with this. A few popular ones:

You will also want a good kitchen scale . I found it really helpful to measure out normal portions of nuts/raisins. And to find out that homemade bread is twice as heavy per slice as store brought bread...

Update 3 April:If you just want to quickly calculate the amount of calories in a recipe, check out Calories.

Food Item	Measure	Cals	Carbs	Prot.	Fat
Oats	0.5 cup (measured uncooked)	152	25.84	6.59	2.69
Raspberries, raw	1 cup	64	14.69	1.48	0.8
Nuts, walnuts, english	0.5 oz	93	1.95	2.17	9.26
Seeds, flaxseed	2 tbsp	118	8.22	4.68	8.16
Lentils, cooked	1 cup	230	39.86	17.86	0.75
Broccoli raab, cooked	0.5 bunch	72	6.82	8.37	1.14
Carrots, cooked	1 carrot	16	3.78	0.35	0.08
Nuts, almonds	0.5 oz	82	2.81	3.02	7.19
Oil, olive	1 tbsp	119	0	0	13.5
Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw	1 head	106	20.6	7.7	1.88
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw	1 cup cherry tomatoes	27	5.84	1.31	0.3
Cucumber, with peel, raw	0.5 cucumber	23	5.46	0.98	0.17
Kiwi fruit, fresh, raw	1 fruit	56	13.34	1.04	0.47
Quinoa	0.5 cup (measured uncooked)	318	58.56	11.13	4.93
Vegetables, mixed, frozen, cooked	1 package (10 oz)	179	36	7.86	0.41
Tomato sauce	0.5 cup	45	9.04	1.58	0.24
Oranges, raw, navels	1 fruit	69	17.56	1.27	0.21
Tempeh	0.5 cup	160	7.79	15.39	8.96
total		1928	278	93	61
			52%	19%	29%

Food	Protein	Calories	Protein Percentage	Grams of food needed for 10 grams protein	Food Group
Amaranth	14.45	374	15.5	69	Grains
Barley	12.48	354	14.1	80	Grains
Buckwheat	13.25	343	15.5	75	Grains
Buckwheat flour, whole-groat	12.62	335	15.1	79	Grains
Bulgur, dry	12.29	342	14.4	81	Grains
Millet, raw	11.02	378	11.7	91	Grains
Oat bran, raw	17.3	246	28.1	58	Grains
Oats	16.89	389	17.4	59	Grains
Quinoa	13.1	374	14	76	Grains
Rice, brown, long-grain, raw	7.94	370	8.6	126	Grains
Rye	14.76	335	17.6	68	Grains
Wheat, hard red spring	15.4	329	18.7	65	Grains
Wheat, hard red winter	12.61	327	15.4	79	Grains
Wheat, sprouted	7.49	198	15.1	134	Grains
Apples, raw, with skin	0.26	52	2	3846	Fruits
Apricots, raw	1.4	48	11.7	714	Fruits
Avocados, raw, all commercial varieties	2	160	5	500	Fruits
Bananas, raw	1.09	89	4.9	917	Fruits
Blackberries, raw	1.39	43	12.9	719	Fruits
Blueberries, raw	0.74	57	5.2	1351	Fruits
Cherries, sweet, raw	1.06	63	6.7	943	Fruits
Dates, medjool	1.81	277	2.6	552	Fruits
Figs, raw	0.75	74	4.1	1333	Fruits
Grapefruit, raw, pink and red, Florida	0.55	30	7.3	1818	Fruits
Kiwi fruit, (chinese gooseberries), fresh, raw	1.14	61	7.5	877	Fruits
Lemons, raw, without peel	1.1	29	15.2	909	Fruits
Mangos, raw	0.51	65	3.1	1961	Fruits
Melons, cantaloupe, raw	0.84	34	9.9	1190	Fruits
Oranges, raw, all commercial varieties	0.94	47	8	1064	Fruits
Pears, raw	0.38	58	2.6	2632	Fruits
Pineapple, canned, juice pack, solids and liquids	0.42	60	2.8	2381	Fruits
Pomegranates, raw	0.95	68	5.6	1053	Fruits
Raisins, seedless	3.07	299	4.1	326	Fruits
Raspberries, raw	1.2	52	9.2	833	Fruits
Strawberries, raw	0.67	32	8.4	1493	Fruits
Tangerines, (mandarin oranges), raw	0.81	53	6.1	1235	Fruits
Watermelon, raw	0.61	30	8.1	1639	Fruits
Beans, adzuki, mature seeds, raw	19.87	329	24.2	50	Legumes
Beans, great northern, mature seeds, raw	21.86	339	25.8	46	Legumes
Beans, kidney, all types, mature seeds, raw	23.58	333	28.3	42	Legumes
Beans, navy, mature seeds, raw	22.33	337	26.5	45	Legumes
Beans, pinto, mature seeds, raw	21.42	347	24.7	47	Legumes
Beans, white, mature seeds, raw	23.36	333	28.1	43	Legumes
Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), mature seeds, raw	19.3	364	21.2	52	Legumes
Lentils, pink, raw	24.95	345	28.9	40	Legumes
Lentils, raw	25.8	353	29.2	39	Legumes
Lima beans, large, mature seeds, raw	21.46	338	25.4	47	Legumes
Mung beans, mature seeds, raw	23.86	347	27.5	42	Legumes
Mung beans, mature seeds, sprouted, raw	3.04	30	40.5	329	Legumes
Peanuts, all types, raw	25.8	567	18.2	39	Legumes
Soybeans, mature seeds, raw	36.49	416	35.1	27	Legumes
Tempeh, cooked	18.19	196	37.1	55	Legumes
Tofu, raw, regular, prepared with calcium sulfate	8.08	76	42.5	124	Legumes
Nuts, almonds	21.26	578	14.7	47	Nuts and Seeds
Nuts, brazilnuts, dried, unblanched	14.32	656	8.7	70	Nuts and Seeds
Nuts, cashew nuts, raw	18.22	553	13.2	55	Nuts and Seeds
Nuts, hazelnuts or filberts	14.95	628	9.5	67	Nuts and Seeds
Nuts, macadamia nuts, raw	7.91	718	4.4	126	Nuts and Seeds
Nuts, pecans	9.17	691	5.3	109	Nuts and Seeds
Nuts, pistachio nuts, raw	20.61	557	14.8	49	Nuts and Seeds
Nuts, walnuts, english	15.23	654	9.3	66	Nuts and Seeds
Seeds, flaxseed	18.29	534	13.7	55	Nuts and Seeds
Seeds, sunflower seed kernels, dried	22.78	570	16	44	Nuts and Seeds
Alfalfa seeds, sprouted, raw	3.99	29	55	251	Vegetables
Asparagus, raw	2.2	20	44	455	Vegetables
Beet greens, raw	2.2	22	40	455	Vegetables
Beets, raw	1.61	43	15	621	Vegetables
Broccoli raab, raw	3.17	22	57.6	315	Vegetables
Broccoli, raw	2.82	34	33.2	355	Vegetables
Cabbage, chinese (pak-choi), raw	1.5	13	46.2	667	Vegetables
Carrots, raw	0.93	41	9.1	1075	Vegetables
Cauliflower, raw	1.98	25	31.7	505	Vegetables
Chard, swiss, raw	1.8	19	37.9	556	Vegetables
Collards, raw	2.45	30	32.7	408	Vegetables
Cucumber, with peel, raw	0.65	15	17.3	1538	Vegetables
Dandelion greens, raw	2.7	45	24	370	Vegetables
Eggplant, raw	1.01	24	16.8	990	Vegetables
Kale, raw	3.3	50	26.4	303	Vegetables
Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw	1.5	61	9.8	667	Vegetables
Lettuce, green leaf, raw	1.36	15	36.3	735	Vegetables
Mung beans, mature seeds, sprouted, raw	3.04	30	40.5	329	Vegetables
Onions, raw	0.92	42	8.8	1087	Vegetables
Peppers, sweet, red, raw	0.99	26	15.2	1010	Vegetables
Potato, flesh and skin, raw	2.02	77	10.5	495	Vegetables
Purslane, raw	1.3	16	32.5	769	Vegetables
Radishes, raw	0.68	16	17	1471	Vegetables
Spinach, raw	2.86	23	49.7	350	Vegetables
Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, raw	1.21	16	30.3	826	Vegetables
Sweet potato, raw, unprepared	1.57	86	7.3	637	Vegetables
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average	0.88	18	19.6	1136	Vegetables
Turnip greens, raw	1.5	32	18.8	667	Vegetables
Turnips, raw	0.9	28	12.9	1111	Vegetables

food	category	PRAL
Amaranth	Grains	7.3
Barley	Grains	2.5
Buckwheat	Grains	3.4
Buckwheat flour, whole-groat	Grains	-0.5
Bulgur, dry	Grains	3.8
Millet, raw	Grains	8.8
Oat bran, raw	Grains	16.9
Quinoa	Grains	-0.2
Rice, brown, long-grain, raw	Grains	7.5
Oats	Grains	13.3
Rye	Grains	12.0
Wheat, hard red spring	Grains	9.1
Wheat, hard red winter	Grains	5.6
Wheat, sprouted	Grains	5.0
Apricots, raw	Fruit	-4.3
Bananas, raw	Fruit	-6.9
Apples, raw, with skin	Fruit	-1.9
Avocados, raw, all commercial varieties	Fruit	-8.2
Blackberries, raw	Fruit	-2.8
Blueberries, raw	Fruit	-1.0
Cherries, sweet, raw	Fruit	-3.8
Figs, raw	Fruit	-4.9
Figs, dried, uncooked	Fruit	-14.1
Grapefruit, raw, pink and red, Florida	Fruit	-2.5
Kiwi fruit, (chinese gooseberries), fresh, raw	Fruit	-5.6
Lemons, raw, without peel	Fruit	-2.3
Mangos, raw	Fruit	-3.0
Melons, cantaloupe, raw	Fruit	-5.1
Oranges, raw, all commercial varieties	Fruit	-3.6
Tangerines, (mandarin oranges), raw	Fruit	-3.1
Pears, raw	Fruit	-2.2
Pineapple, canned, juice pack, solids and liquids	Fruit	-2.7
Pomegranates, raw	Fruit	-4.8
Plums, dried (prunes), uncooked	Fruit	-13.4
Raisins, seedless	Fruit	-12.0
Raspberries, raw	Fruit	-2.4
Strawberries, raw	Fruit	-2.5
Watermelon, raw	Fruit	-2.0
Dates, medjool	Fruit	-13.7
Beans, navy, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-5.3
Soybeans, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-4.7
Lentils, pink, raw	Legumes	8.6
Tofu, raw, regular, prepared with calcium sulfate	Legumes	-0.3
Beans, adzuki, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-6.7
Beans, great northern, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-9.1
Beans, kidney, all types, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-8.4
Beans, pinto, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-9.6
Beans, white, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-23.2
Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), mature seeds, raw	Legumes	0.3
Lentils, raw	Legumes	5.4
Lima beans, large, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-18.3
Mung beans, mature seeds, raw	Legumes	-7.5
Peanuts, all types, raw	Legumes	6.2
Seeds, sunflower seed kernels, dried	Nuts and Seeds	12.1
Nuts, almonds	Nuts and Seeds	2.3
Nuts, brazilnuts, dried, unblanched	Nuts and Seeds	8.1
Nuts, cashew nuts, raw	Nuts and Seeds	8.9
Nuts, hazelnuts or filberts	Nuts and Seeds	-1.9
Nuts, macadamia nuts, raw	Nuts and Seeds	-1.4
Nuts, pecans	Nuts and Seeds	2.1
Nuts, pistachio nuts, raw	Nuts and Seeds	2.2
Nuts, walnuts, english	Nuts and Seeds	5.6
Seeds, flaxseed	Nuts and Seeds	2.1
Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, raw	Vegetables	-4.1
Sweet potato, raw, unprepared	Vegetables	-5.6
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average	Vegetables	-4.1
Turnips, raw	Vegetables	-3.2
Turnip greens, raw	Vegetables	-7.2
Alfalfa seeds, sprouted, raw	Vegetables	1.8
Asparagus, raw	Vegetables	-1.9
Mung beans, mature seeds, sprouted, raw	Vegetables	-0.4
Beets, raw	Vegetables	-5.4
Beet greens, raw	Vegetables	-16.7
Broccoli, raw	Vegetables	-4.0
Broccoli raab, raw	Vegetables	-1.8
Cabbage, chinese (pak-choi), raw	Vegetables	-5.0
Carrots, raw	Vegetables	-5.7
Cauliflower, raw	Vegetables	-4.4
Chard, swiss, raw	Vegetables	-8.1
Collards, raw	Vegetables	-4.1
Cucumber, with peel, raw	Vegetables	-2.4
Dandelion greens, raw	Vegetables	-7.9
Eggplant, raw	Vegetables	-3.9
Kale, raw	Vegetables	-8.3
Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw	Vegetables	-3.2
Lettuce, green leaf, raw	Vegetables	-3.1
Onions, raw	Vegetables	-2.1
Peppers, sweet, red, raw	Vegetables	-3.4
Purslane, raw	Vegetables	-10.7
Radishes, raw	Vegetables	-4.4
Spinach, raw	Vegetables	-11.8