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September 26, 2005
The Third Key Principle For A Successful Heart Healthy Diet
Fat does not spike your blood sugar or insulin. Natural fats are a healthy part of a balanced diet. Get your fat from free-range or grass-fed animals, eggs, nuts and unprocessed vegetable oils. These are some of the healthiest foods you can eat, not health hazards.
The health benefit of natural fats comes from their balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fat that have a favorable effect on the heart. Studies show that Omega-3s prevent irregular heartbeat, reduce arterial plaque, decrease blood clotting, lower blood pressure, and minimize inflammation. Omega-6 fatty acids – found in many processed foods -- interfere with the functioning of Omega-3s.
As is often true in nature, balance is essential. Our bodies need both Omega-3s and Omega-6s, but we need them in the right ratios. For most of the time humans have been on Earth, we ate foods containing Omega-6’s and Omega-3’s in a ratio of about 2:1. However, over the last 75 years in North America, Omega-6’s in the diet have soared and now the ratio is 20:1. The average American eats ten times as much Omega-6 as is healthy. The main sources are vegetable oils, processed foods, and grain-fed meat.
That is where the health gurus of the 1980s made another big mistake. They mistook the heart disease culprit to be red meat because Western livestock has an unhealthy Omega-6: Omega-3 fatty acid ratio of 20:1. They never bothered to explain why native people who ate about 85 percent of their calories as wild red meat lacked modern heart disease.
If you measure Omega-6’s and Omega-3’s in wild range or grass-fed animals, you get a dramatically reversed and heart healthy ratio of 0.16 to 1. Stated another way, the culprit isn’t the fat natural to red meat; it’s the environment producing the changed fat in modern farmed red meat.
It turns out that nature has combined the best source of quality protein with the best source of heart healthy Omega-3 fats – at least when animals are permitted to eat their natural wild diet. If you eat organic meats and avoid processed foods you can restore a more healthful balance of fatty acids.
To read more about this topic order Al Sears MD’s The Doctor’s Heart Cure today
Posted by james at 6:20 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2005
The Second Key Principle For A Successful Heart Healthy Diet
Processed carbohydrates, especially starchy ones, make you fat and diseased.
Get your carbs from unprocessed vegetables that grow above ground and skip the grains and potatoes.
What makes one food “better” for you than another? Different foods contain different nutrients, of course, but the body handles them differently. For example, all carbohydrates contain four calories per gram, but they can have wildly different effects on the body’s blood sugar levels.
The body converts all digestible carbohydrates into glucose or blood sugar. Then the pancreas kicks into gear, producing insulin to move the blood sugar into the cells to use for energy. The body stores any excess as glycogen in the liver and muscles or as body fat.
Recent studies have found a link between processed starches and heart attack. All grains must be processed before we humans can eat them. Many studies, including a recent one from Spain, link processed starches to heart attacks. These processed starches can come from lasagna, bread, cookies, spaghetti, pizza, crackers, chips, and cereals.
These foods cause an unnatural surge in blood sugar. Your body responds by secreting excessive insulin until your blood sugar returns to normal. Because there is so much glucose tightly packed into these starches, your body secretes more insulin for a longer time than if you ate sources of simple sugars such as fruit. This prolonged and excessive release of insulin makes us fat, and it causes heart disease.
To read more about this topic order Al Sears MD’s The Doctor’s Heart Cure today
Posted by james at 6:12 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2005
The First Key Principle For A Successful Heart Healthy Diet
Protein is the only one of the three macronutrients that your body needs each day. High-quality protein is the key to good nutrition and health. Eating more protein than your body needs to meet its daily demands sends the signal “the hunting is good,” which causes the body to burn more carbohydrates for energy.
When your body doesn’t get adequate protein, the body receives the signal the “food is scarce,” prompting the body to stockpile calories as body fat to use when times are tough.
Fish, lean meats, eggs, cheese, organic milk, beans, and nuts are all good sources of protein. Eat as much of these foods as you like. You can eat these foods until you are full but you must choose these foods in their natural forms.
To read more about this topic order Al Sears MD’s The Doctor’s Heart Cure today
Posted by james at 6:12 AM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2005
Three Easy Principles for a Healthy Heart and Appropriate Weight Management
You don't have to count calories or record fat grams to achieve your ideal weight and maintain optimal cardiovascular health. All you have to do is to eat the same ratio and quality of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that we have for eons. How are you going to do that? Get started by remembering these three easy principles:
Principle #1: Eat protein at every meal.
Principle #2: Limit carbohydrate intake.
Principle #3: Eat natural fats.
The more you follow these three basic principles, the faster you’ll achieve the health and weight you want.
To read more about this topic order Al Sears MD’s The Doctor’s Heart Cure today
Posted by james at 6:01 AM | Comments (0)