The Top 15 Foods To Always Keep In Stock

Eating healthy used to be completely normal and very easy for human beings.  While evolving, the right foods were readily available and there was no such thing as junk food.  My, how things have changed!  The norm now is to eat unhealthy.  Everywhere we go: restaurants, ball games, the movies, coffee shops, airports, rest stops, etc, there are tons of unhealthy food choices and very few healthy ones.

Your home has to become your oasis for healthy eating.  A huge part of this is doing your own grocery shopping and cooking your meals the majority of the time.  Therefore, I thought I’d use this blog post to list out the Top 15 food items to always keep in your pantry/refrigerator.  If you have these tried and true, nutrient packed foods ready to go, you are never more than a few minutes away from a healthy, blood sugar stabilizing meal.

#1) Vegetables: Variety is the key here, and the more the merrier.  Include salad vegetables, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach; you get the idea.

#2) Fruits: Again, variety is the key.  Make sure to get a bunch of fruits that travel well, such as apples and pears.  You can throw these in a backpack or purse and they are always ready for you no matter what your day brings.

#3) Nuts: An excellent source of healthy fat that travels well.

#4) Nut Butters: We’re all familiar with peanut butter, but you can also find almond butter, cashew butter, macadamia nut butter and pistachio butter.   They are all really good.

#5) Olive Oil: Great for salads and to sauté vegetables.

#6) Old Fashioned Slow Cooked Oatmeal: A nice, lower glycemic whole grain packed with fiber.  Don’t get instant or quick cooking as these are higher glyemic.  Focus on the “Old Fashioned” slow cooking variety.

#7) Black Beans: Great in a salad, taco or even on their own.  A great source of low glycemic carb and vegetable protein loaded with fiber, vitamins and minerals.

#8) Quinoa: An awesome whole grain that is high in fiber and protein.  This is relatively new here in America but can be found in most grocery stores.  We cook ours in low sodium chicken broth and it’s a great dinner side dish.

#9) Tuna Pouches: These are relatively new.  They are tuna fish in a pouch that you can tear open and eat without having to drain or open with a can opener.  Highly portable, these are great on the road or even on a plane.

#10) Chicken Breast: Buy in bulk at Costco or BJ’s and keep in your freezer.  When combined with the George Foreman Grill, you’ve got a beautifully grilled chicken breast in about 6 minutes.

#11) Eggs: An excellent source of fat and protein.  They take about 2 minutes to prepare when cooking or even less if you hard boil them before hand and have them ready to go.

#12) Olivio or Smart Balance:  These are butter substitutes made from olive and canola oil.  Use any time you’d use butter.  They taste really good and are so much better for you than butter.

#13) Brown Rice: A great lower glyemic whole grain that is loaded with fiber.  Make sure you get the slow cooked variety and not instant or quick cooking as these are higher glycemic.

#14) Sliced Turkey Breast: A low fat, convenient source of protein.  Try to get it freshly sliced off a bird and not the pre-packaged variety that is filled with nitrates and other preservatives.

#15) Frozen Shrimp: A delicious source of protein that is surprisingly reasonable when bought frozen in bulk at Costco’s or BJ’s.

Research Update: Are Organic Foods Healthier For You?

Nutrition Related Health Effects Of Organic Foods: A Systematic Review

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2010; 92:203-10.

Objective: To conduct an exhaustive review of the current literature on the subject of organically grown food and health.

Methods:  This article is a review paper.  The literature was extensively searched for any research on the affects of organic foods on health.  The authors initially identified 98,727 articles, but surprisingly, only 12 articles met their inclusion criterion.  The studies included hypothesized that organically grown foods would have a positive impact on health when compared to conventionally grown food.

Results:  The studies looked at a variety of outcomes, including antioxidant content, LDL oxidation, phenol content, effects on serum glucose and triglycerides, immune function, flavinoid content and antioxidant capability.  The authors concluded that evidence was lacking for any nutrition related health effects of organically grown food.   All they mentioned was a significantly reduced risk of eczema in infants fed organic milk when compared to infants drinking regular milk.  The authors also cited a recent systematic review of the past 50 years that showed that organically and conventionally grown foods are highly comparable in their nutrient content.

Discussion:  This study may be a bit surprising to many and certainly a bit controversial.  In general, organic produce and meats are much more expensive than conventionally grown.  Most buyers of organically produced foods spend this extra money for one of 2 reasons:

1) They think that there are more nutrients in organic foods.

2) They think that organic food will have a more positive impact on their health than conventionally grown food.

According to the research, neither appears to be true.  Furthermore, this is not the first time I’ve seen this in the literature.

Take Home Message: If you like to buy organic produce and meats and can easily afford to do so, by all means continue.  Some people feel that organic foods are “greener” for the environment and that animals that are organically raised are treated more humanely.  This very well may be true.  However, if you are buying organic produce because you think it is more nutritious or will result in improved health, there is very little evidence up to this point in time that this is true.

Feature Article: Understanding Nutrition Research

           Let’s face it, research can be confusing. When a major new study in the field of nutrition is released to the media, I hear the same questions all the time.

1) Why do they say that this is unhealthy now, ten years ago they said this was good for me?

2) Why do they say this is healthy now, 10 years ago they said this was bad for me?

3) Should I listen to these results and change my diet?

3) Was this a well designed study?

4) Two different newspapers reported the results differently, what is going on?

5) The government health websites tells us to do one thing, my doctor another and the media has it’s own ideas.  Who should I listen to?

            I figured I’d use this post to explain a bit about the research process and hopefully give you a better understanding of nutrition research in general.

The Scientific Method

            In reality, one study does not tell you much, even if it is well designed.  In order to change nutrition policy with confidence, you really want to see agreement among different types of research.  For example, population studies, cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, animal studies and biomarker studies are all different types of research each with their own strengths and weaknesses.  You’d really like to see most, if not all of these lines of research pointing in the direction of the hypothesis before making or changing nutrition recommendations. 

            It is also important to realize that it is totally normal to have studies that contradict each other.  Each study has its own unique methods, including different subject characteristics, different doses of the nutrient or supplement and different duration of follow up.  The way Dr. Willett at Harvard used to talk about it was very helpful.  He used to say that coming up with nutrition policy was like having a big scale with lots of stones.  The stones represent research studies.  Each time a study shows an association between a nutrient and disease, you put a stone on one side of the scale.  When a study does not support the association, you put a stone on the other side.  If a study is really well designed, it’s a big stone.  If the study has design flaws, it’s a tiny stone.  Over years, and even decades, as the research begins to mount, the scale tips to one side.  That is when the recommendations are made.

            If you think about it this way, you’ll expect to see studies that go against a recommendation now and again and you also won’t put too much weight on a single study.  It’s the accumulation of research from many different areas that leads us to make a recommendation, and this takes time.

The Media’s Play In This

            The media is a big reason why people are confused by nutrition research.  When a study comes out, they are very quick to over-inflate the importance with catchy, dramatic headlines and over-generalized stories.  I understand that they are trying to sell newspapers, but they are definitely adding to the confusion by sending the message that one study can overturn years and even decades of research.  Always take the media’s stories on nutrition research with a grain of salt.

Nutrition Science Is A Young Science

            The truth of the matter is that we have only been studying nutrition and disease in large numbers of subjects for a few decades.  Nutrition science is a young science and we are still perfecting our research methodology.  Therefore, understand that sometimes recommendations that were made 20 years ago may not turn out to be true once we look at the problem with better and more modern methods.  This may also be true 20 years from now.   Trans fat is a great example.  Decades ago, it was thought that trans fat was a better option than saturated fat to reduce risk of heart disease.  Now we know that it is far worse for you.  Our methods evolved and our studies taught us the error of the early recommendation.  As of right now I can say this with confidence; research methods have dramatically improved in the last few years and we are now beginning to understand a lot about how nutrition can affect our health. 

Publishing an article

When researchers want to publish a scientific paper, they will submit to the most prestigious journals first and then if they get rejected, submit to lesser journals with more relaxed acceptance standards.  Therefore, if an article appears in a less competitive journal, it has likely been rejected by several journals already.  Usually it will have been rejected for design flaws or because it doesn’t really add much to our current understanding of that particular nutrition and health topic.  So I always tell people to find out where the article was published.  If it was in one of the big 3 journals for nutrition literature, definitely give it more weight, if not give it a little bit less weight.  The top 3 journals for nutrition research are:

#1) The New England Journal of Medicine

#2) The Journal of the American Medical Association

#3) The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Some Final Tips

So the next time you see a big nutrition study in the newspaper or TV news, consider the following.

1) This is just one study.  How does this fit into the context of the rest of the research on this subject?

2) If it goes against what we have been recommended, this is to be expected from time to time.

3) The media is probably making a bigger deal of this than it should.

4) If this was published in one of the big 3 nutrition research journals, pay attention to it a bit more.  If not, pay attention to it a bit less.

5) Always keep in mind that nutrition science is a young science and there will be some contradictions from time to time, which is true for all evolving, researched based science.  The good news is that our methods are getting pretty good and these should be fewer and fewer as time goes on.

Questions And Answers: Vitamin D

Where do we get vitamin D? 

Vitamin D is both a vitamin that we can eat and a hormone that our body can produce.  Some foods high in vitamin D include fatty fish like tuna and salmon and dairy products.  Many foods are fortified with vitamin D.  The sun’s ultra violet B (UVB) rays trigger production of vitamin D.  Spending just a few minutes in the sun during the summer months can produce many thousands of IU’s of Vitamin D.

Why is vitamin D so important?

Vitamin D is important for 2 reasons.

1) It has a major influence on our health.  Deficiency of vitamin D has been associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis, heart disease, certain cancers, multiple sclerosis and infectious diseases.

2) Deficiency is really common.  It’s hard to get enough vitamin D from your diet.  We can make it from the sun, but in the fall and winter the UVB rays that stimulate production of D are weaker, especially if you live North of the line that connects Philadelphia and San Francisco.  Deficiency of vitamin D is really common in these people as well as African Americans, the overweight and older individuals.  Sunblock also prevents production of vitamin D from the sun almost completely.

3) How can I tell if I’m deficient? 

You can ask your doctor to do a blood test on your vitamin D levels.  A level of 30 ng/ml seems to be considered by most research sources to be ideal. 

4) How much vitamin D should I be getting each day? 

This is a bit of a controversial question.  The Institute of Medicine recently came out with a report that updated their recommendations for vitamin D.  They say that for those between the ages of 1-70, 600 IU’s of vitamin D is more than enough.  For those greater than 70, they recommend 800 IU’s.

At Harvard, they think this is a bit too low.  They generally taught us that 800-1000 IU’s was really optimal.  This goes up to 2000 IU’s each day if you are at a high risk of deficiency (darker skin, obese or older). 

Despite the lower recommendations, the Institute of Medicine stated that 4000 IU’s of vitamin D each day is a safe level.

5) What is the best form of vitamin D when supplementing?

There are generally 2 forms of vitamin D that you’ll find in supplements.  Vitamin D2, also known as ergocalciferol and vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol.  Vitamin D2 is more of a precursor to vitamin D, while D3 is chemically the same as vitamin D.   There is some evidence that D3 is better at raising vitamin D levels so I’d recommend that over D2.

6) So, should I supplement with vitamin D?

If you’ve read my book, read this blog or work with me privately, you know I’m not a huge fan of supplementation in general.  I strongly believe that in most cases, we should get our nutrients from our food, as nature intended.  However, vitamin D is a rare exception to this philosophy.

Throughout a good deal of our evolutionary period, humans lived at a latitude south of Florida and ran around naked.  We got a lot of sun, made a lot of vitamin D and had high blood levels of vitamin D.  Now, a huge percentage of the Earth’s population does not live in such a warm client.  Not only do we wear clothes, we wear sunblock to reduce our risk of skin cancer (which is a good thing).  Therefore, supplementing with D is probably a good idea for most of us.

I recommend a multi-vitamin by Cooper Concepts that includes 2000 IU of Vitamin D in each capsule.  I take this every other day, so I’m supplementing with about 860 IU’s each day on average.  I recommend a similar protocol for my clients.  Here’s a link to this vitamin if you are interested in ordering it or learning more about it.  (http://www.coopercomplete.com/)

Research Update: Macronutrient Trends In The U.S. And Omega 3's Impact On Weight Loss

Trends in carbohydrate, fat and protein intakes and association with energy intake in normal weight, overweight and obese individuals: 1971-2006.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2011; 92:836-43.

This study looked at the changes in fat, protein and carbohydrate consumption in the U.S. between the years of 1971 and 2006.  The two population samples compared were the NHANES in 1971 and the NHANES in 2006.  NHANES stands for National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey.  It is a large study conducted every 2 years to examine the health and nutrition status of non-institutionalized U.S. civilian adults and children.  Physical exams were performed in mobile units and diet was assessed by means of 24 hours dietary recalls.

The results were striking. Between 1971 and 2006 the prevalence of obesity in men increased from 11.9% to 33.4%.  In women, obesity increased from 16.6% to 36.5%.  During this time, carbohydrate consumption increased from 44% of calories to 48.7%.  Fat consumption decreased from 36.6% to 33.7%.  Protein consumption decreased from 16.5% to 15.7%.  During this period the typical man consumed an additional 179 calories per day and women consumed an additional 199 calories per day.

Take Home Message:  This study tells us 2 things: #1) As a country, we’ve bought into the whole low fat, high carb message over the past few decades.  #2) It’s not working.  As carbs go up and fat goes down, we are eating more calories and gaining more weight.   Many government and health agencies are still promoting low fat, high carb diets as a weight management strategy.  It’s time for a fundamental change in this philosophy.

Effects of omega-3 supplementation in combination with diet and exercise on weight loss and body composition.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2011; 93:455-62.

The goal of this study was to determine if omega-3 supplementation can enhance weight loss when combined with diet and exercise.  Subjects were randomized to two groups.  64 subjects received 15 grams of omega-3 supplements per day with an EPA:DHA ratio of 5 to 1.  The other group of 64 received placebo pills.  Both groups received diet advice as well as resistance training and cardiovascular exercise programs.  After 6 months, the total amount of weight lost was compared.  Both groups lost greater than 5% of their initial body weight.  There was no difference in weight loss between the two groups.

Take Home Message: Despite preliminary research in animals suggesting that omega-3 supplements enhanced weight loss, it doesn’t look like it will do much in humans.  Add omega 3 to the large and forever growing list of weight loss supplements that don’t really work.

Book Review: The Dukan Diet

           The Dukan Diet is next up for review.  The author, Dr. Pierre Dukan, is a French Medical Doctor that has been specializing in human nutrition since 1973.  This book was a blockbuster in Europe and the fact that Prince William’s bride used it to get ready for her wedding did not hurt sales! From a nutritional standpoint, this book has received a lot of criticism. 

Introduction

            The diet is composed of 4 phases.  The first 2 phases are supposed to help you lose weight and the last 2 help keep it off.  Phase 1 is called the Attack Phase and consists of eating nothing but pure protein, not an ounce of fat or carbohydrate.  This phase lasts for about a week.  Phase 2 is called the Cruise Phase and consists of alternating pure protein days with protein plus low carb vegetable days.  You stay on this phase until you hit your goal weight.  Phase 3 is called the Consolidation Phase and during this phase you can eat all the protein and Phase 2 vegetables you want, 2 slices of whole wheat bread, a portion of fruit and cheese, 2 starchy carbs and 2 celebration meals per week.  You stay in this phase 5 days for every pound lost.   Phase 4 is the Permanent Phase.  Here you can eat exactly as you did on Phase 3 but you must add a pure protein day every Thursday, a 20 minute walk each day, 3 daily tablespoons of oat bran and you must pledge to use no elevators or escalators.  Overall the book was well written and an easy read.  It translates well from its native French to English.

           

5 Things I Liked About The Dukan Diet

1) Dukan is strongly against refined carbohydrate foods.  I couldn’t agree more.

2) From Phrase 3 on, the program includes 2 cheat meals.  I have found this to be extremely helpful for my weight loss clients.  You don’t need to be 100% with your diet to hit your weight loss goals and it’s not realistic to never eat for fun.

3) Exercise gets a fair amount of attention and this is quite rare for diet books.

4) The recipe chapter in the book details some creative ways to eat low carb. 

5) His theory that humans are biologically designed to be meat eaters is right on.

What I didn’t agree with in The Dukan Diet

1) The majority of the phases of this program are nutritionally unbalanced.  Extremely healthy categories of foods are eliminated or strictly limited for the majority of this dietary plan.  Examples include: vegetable oils, nuts, fruits, many vegetables, whole grains and legumes, among others.

2) It is a bit heavy on the red meat.  Steak, bacon, hot dogs, etc are allowed in unlimited quantities.  This is not a good idea.  Cooking red meat forms carcinogenic heterocyclic amines, which have the potential to increase risk of colon and other digestive cancers.  This is made worse by his recommendation to overcook red meat in order to reduce the fat content.  The more you cook red meat, the higher the formation of heterocyclic amines and the higher the carcinogenic potential.

3) Advocates taking a diuretic when you hit a tough weight loss plateau.  I had to read that one again to make sure I got it right.

4) Made some very interesting and very unscientific claims throughout the book.  Here’s an example:

            -Sucking on 5 ice cubes per day will burn off 6 pounds of fat in a year.

            -A 2 minute cold shower burns as many calories as walking 2 miles.

            -The combination of water and dietary protein melts cellulite.

5) Advocates drinking as much diet soda as you want throughout the program.  Dukan mentions that it reduces cravings for carbs.  Both current research and my experience with clients have taught me that diet soda has the potential to increase cravings for refined carbs, not decrease them.

Is The Dukan Diet Worth Reading?

Absolutely.  If you are interested in nutrition as a profession or for your own personal health, read as many books as you can.   I think it is important to get as many different perspectives as possible.  Will this diet work short term? I’m sure it will, it has sold a lot of books for a good reason.  Will it work for the long term? Unlikely. The literature shows us that most can’t stay on restrictive low carb diets for very long.  Is it a healthy way to eat?  In my opinion, no.  You are strictly limiting foods we know are healthy for you and eating a lot of foods that are not.

Product Review: The Ipad

It’s time for another product review and this time I’m going with the Ipad.

This won’t be a technical review that you’d find on CNET, but will be a review of how you can use the Ipad to promote a healthy lifestyle.  There are dozens of apps that will help you reach your fitness and nutrition goals.

I know the Ipad isn’t cheap, I bought mine for $500 on Amazon.com.  I went with the lower memory, WIFI version because I didn’t think I’d need too much space and I knew I’d be using it mostly at home, where I have wireless.  Besides, the monthly fee for 3g didn’t appeal much to me at all. :)  Despite the upfront cost, I have to say it was worth every penny, I use mine every single day.

Many of my clients have Ipads as well and I’m learning that it has been a real tool for them to stay on course with their diet and exercise.  Following are some uses/apps that have proven beneficial.

Keeping Track Of Your Lifestyle

Record keeping is huge if you are trying to change your diet and exercise habits.  The research bears this out and I’ve definitely noticed this throughout my years of experience working with weight loss clients.  Here are some of the ways you can use your Ipad for record keeping.

1) Recording your weight each week

2) Recording your cardio minutes each week

3) Recording your daily food intake

You can get specialized apps for each of these or simply use a note app like Sticky Notes (which has a free version).

4) Streaks Motivational Calendar- is an App for the Ipad.  It was created by Fantzer, Inc and costs just 1.99 to download and use.  It is an extremely simple concept but it is also extremely effective.   Streaks allows you to create a calendar with a goal in mind.  Every day that you are successful in obtaining your goal, you mark it down on your calendar for that day.  Streaks will keep track of your consecutive days of success.  It also will record your longest streak so you have something to shoot for.  If you are trying to give up sugar, do your cardio everyday, stop eating after 8:00 PM or anything else, you set up a calendar and keep track.  If you mess up, start over again and try to break your longest streak.  Before you know it, you are hitting your goal for increasing lengths of time. 

Cardio Distraction

We all know that to lose weight and stay in shape, cardio has to be a just about daily occurrence.  While there are people out there, such as myself, that actually enjoy doing cardio, (my clients have called me a “freak” because of this) for most people it is something they have to do.  Using your Ipad to either distract you or to be productive during your session makes cardio a lot more pleasant for these people.

1) Ipod- Your Ipad comes with an Ipod app built in, so you can listen to your music while working out.

2) Movies-You can buy and rent movies and TV shows from Itunes and watch them on the Ipad.

3) Netflix App- For $7 a month you can sign up for Netflix and watch unlimited movies that are streamed instantly to your Ipad.  I’m currently watching a 14 hour documentary on World War 2 by Ken Burns while working out and it is awesome!

4) Kindle App- With the free kindle app, you can turn your Ipad into a Kindle and read books.

5) Skype- With the free skype app you can talk for free to anyone else in the world who has skype.  This is a great way to pass the time while getting in your cardio.

6) Safari-Use the built in web browser to check your emails, read the paper online or surf the net.

These are just some of the ways you can use the Ipad to enhance your health and fitness.  Although it is definitely a little pricey, you’ll fall in love with your Ipad immediately.  I know I have.