PEERtrainer

Have You Decided That You Don't Want To Live Past Your 70's?

I did a radio segment yesterday, (KGO in the Bay Area) and I was asked a very interesting question in the interview. We were discussing the latest (jaw dropping) obesity stats, and the host, Gil Gross, presented a theory that I thought was very interesting and worth some further discussion.

His theory was something that people think, but never say. Which is that a lot of people in the US have made the conscious decision that they would rather eat hamburgers and ice cream than live long. He thinks that people have looked old age "squarely in the eye" and made the decision that they don't want to live into their 80's or longer. 

In his view, most people are expecting a period of their life where there is going to be pain and suffering, and they are going to be a burden to others.

My response to this (and you can listen to the segment here) was basically, yes, for people who have not figured out the food formula, they really have given up, and decided on "the path of least resistance."

Key Point:

But for people who have figured out the food formula, they understand that you can live into your 90's AND be healthy and strong. Jack LaLanne came up in the conversation, and Gil responded by saying something to the effect of "but who wants to work out an hour a day?"

While it is true that Jack LaLanne was very physically fit and did work out, he was also a very early adopter of the nutrient dense diet. In fact he was an early fan and advocate of the work of Dr. Fuhrman. So yes, if your only perspective is the "conventional diet" one, you probably have a pretty grim view of your later years.

But when you make the shift to a higher nutrient way of eating, your life literally changes. In fact, we talked about this exact thing yesterday.

Gil's observation builds on this. Not only will your immediate life change, but your perception of how you will age and what the quality of your life will be as you age changes. For the better.

The big question we see at PEERtrainer is "ok, HOW do I do this?" Many people see something like the Cheat System or Eat To Live and can dive right in. Others need a ton of help, which is why we have developed our programs to help put these ideas into practice.

Conclusion: Please tell us what you think about Gil's comment. Do you see this in yourself or people around you? Has your perception of how you will age changed, if you are one of those people who has made "the shift?" Leave a comment here on this blog post, reply to the email that you were sent with this blog post or leave a comment on our facebook wall.

 

Related Resources:

PEERtrainer Point Of No Return (changes how you think permanently)

PEERtrainer Mastermind (lightweight program to keep you on track and keep the progress going)

 

Related Articles:

How To Change Anything

How To Live Without Apology

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Better Hormone Balance Can Improve Thyroid Function...And Help You Lose Weight

In response to our blog post yesterday, someone unsubscribed from the Tip Of The Day email list with the comment, "I want weight loss tips, how does a blog post on digestion have ANYTHING to do with losing weight???"

This was an interesting comment, because it seems obvious that if you improve your digestion your whole system will be working better. You are going to be converting a lot more food to energy, and storing a lot less of it as fat. Which will likely lead to weight loss!

However, it does seem that many of us view weight loss only as a process where we burn more calories or consume fewer of them. At PEERtrainer, our focus is on long term weight loss, better health and energy. The reality is that all of these are connected. When one makes the proper fundamental changes, these areas of focus all start to improve at the same time. These benefits are usually highly interrelated!

For example, tip #7 yesterday was to find a way of naturally detoxing on a regular basis. Some of the best ways to do this are to drink fresh vegetable juice and consume plenty of greens. This is "Dr. Fuhrman 101", who teaches that greens and vegetables are the single best way to lose weight over the long term. A "side effect" of this advice is that people also tend to prevent or reverse some pretty nasty diseases and ways of dying.

In another video, Dr. Mark Stengler discussed the importance of hormone balance, why hormone balance is important, and how to get your hormones back in balance. One of the key benefits to better hormone balance is proper thyroid function.

According to Dr. Stengler, a poorly functioning thyroid "leads to weight gain." This is something that anyone with a poorly functioning thyroid knows all too well. Hormone imbalance can ALSO cause anxiety and depression, as well as sleep problems.

So, if you seek to improve your thyroid function with the objective of losing some weight, you also just maybe will feel a touch better, maybe get a little more sleep.

Two Suggestions To Help Get Your Hormones Back In Balance:

1) The single most important cause of hormone imbalance according to Dr. Stengler is a poor diet. In particular many of the foods we eat are laden with pesticides. Pesticides are something that we know to be "scary" and "bad for us" and can cause cancer.

But what is really evil and interesting about pesticides is that they "mimic" certain hormones, throwing you off balance. This can happen to both men and women.  Eating organic can help to avoid these pesticides. Green vegetables can also help you detox and eliminate these pesticides, bringing you back in balance.

The "usual suspects" like Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kale and Bok Choy in particular can help you a great deal in this detox process. (Click here for the awesome Asian Fusion Chicken Salad recipe, featuring Bok Choy.)

2) The second suggestion that Dr. Stengler made was to target and help support your adrenal gland through the use of supplements. We poked around for a "second opinion" on this suggestion, and found a book called "From Fatigued To Fantastic" by Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum. 

Dr. Teitelbaum is a chronic fatigue specialist and leading researcher into fibromyalgia and had this to say about the adrenal glad:

"If the adrenal gland is suppressed and cannot make sufficient adrenal hormone, a variety of fatigue symptoms can result."

Dr. Stengler suggests the use of Ginseng as well as an herb called Ashwaganda to help with hormone balance. Ginseng is a well known energy boosting supplement, that has been used for thousands of years. Ashwaganda is lesser known but has also been used for thousand of years.

Dr. Teitelbaum suggests that one take Ribose and Coenzyme Q10 to help balance out hormonal deficiencies and also improve energy production. We did some poking around on Ribose and found some very credible sources, outlining a variety of possible benefits.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, ribose can benefit people with congestive heart failure, "speed muscle tissue recovery after exercise", and "help ease the pain and fatigue of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia."

Both of these suggestions, diet and supplement appear to be fairly well founded. The suggestion to eat more green vegetables is a bulletproof one. It would be very interesting to hear from those of you who have taken any of these supplements.

The key to supplements is figuring out what you cannot get from your diet, or get enough of. In addition, you need to figure out what you need a lot extra of, if it is safe and effective. You'll always need to do your own research.

But it is interesting, especially for those of us who walk through the vitamin and supplement aisles of stores and really have no idea what all the fuss is about, beyond things like Vitamin C!

Please post any feedback below or on our Facebook Wall!

 

 

 

 

Great Story Of A Man Who Lost 48 Pounds Following Dr. Joel Furhman's Eat To Live

Just got this comment on one of our YouTube videos about Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Eat To Live:

 

"I wrote the first comment on this video a year ago. I ended up buying the "Eat to Live" book rather than the "Eat for Health." It is my Bible!! I read and reread this book for motivation and to learn everything I can. I've since lost 48 pounds. 198 pounds to 150 pounds. Blood pressure is below 120/80, without any medication, and the blood test for cholesterol, LDL, HDL, etc. were all good. Thank you for suggesting this great resource."  Gary - In a Little Town in Northern NY

 

If you click into the video comments you will see his first comment was a year ago where he says he's going to buy the book.  There's some other great feedback there too.

You can find out all about the book at http://www.drfuhrman.com. 

 

 

"Send Cupcakes To Benefit Childhood Cancer??

‎"Send cupcakes to benefit childhood cancer??" Come on. Cupcakes??? I'd rather see Joel Furhman's new research project on my morning news.

 

 

Easy Dessert Idea That Is Also Fairly Healthy: Hot Apple Sundae

We have been asked for a lot more focus on recipes, and this is one that was very popular. We have posted it before. I got it from my mom and I am not sure where she got it from. But it is a good one. Please feel free to share your variations of this either on the comments section of the blog or on the facebook post comments. Btw- we are working on getting all of the recipes we have talked about over the years in one place. stay tuned.....

 

Interview With Ivy Larson, Who Has Used Diet To Control Her MS And Become A Best Selling Author In The Process

By Jackie Wicks

This is a great story on so many levels. I just met and interviewed a woman named Ivy Larson, and I want you all to hear her story because it is so inspiring. Long story short is that she solved her own health puzzle by taking total responsibility for her own outcome and getting some of the best help and guidance that she could.

Interview Summary and Introduction:

Ivy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at age 22. Up to this point she was a very healthy, athletic person. Summer of 1998 she started having all sorts of very out of the routine medical problems. Many parts of her body just stopped working properly.

Visits to many doctors in Palm Beach County didn't get to the bottom of what was happening. Finally she ended up in the emergency room, and she ended up seeing a urologist in Miami. It was there the doctor realized that the problem was likely neurological.

After a battery of tests she was diagnosed as being in the early stages of MS. She was given three options. 1) trial for medication that was in the human trial phase. 2) Begin one of the FDA approved disease modifying medications. But I was told that there were huge side effects and she wanted to have children. 3) Third option was a dietary overhaul.

She knew nothing about nutrition at this point. She contacted a friend from high school who was at the University Of Pennsylvania Medical school at the time. His immediate reaction to the suggestion of using diet was to look up the credentials of the neurologist suggesting this course of action.

He did and this began a process where he began to understand the limitations and risks of treating MS with drugs as well as the power of treating the symptoms through dietary changes. Down the road, Ivy and her friend at medical school ended up getting married (MS: A Love Story!). They ended up writing a best selling book based on their experience tackling this problem called, The Gold Coast Cure: A Lifestyle Plan to Shed Pounds, Gain Health and Reverse 10 Diseases.

Ivy has also become an amazing cook in the process. You can find many of her recipes on her website.

The interview runs 30 minutes. Talking to Ivy was interesting, uplifting and motivating. We hope you enjoy it!

Click Here To Download/Listen To The PEERtrainer Interview With Ivy Larson

About MS, (From Wikipedia)

"Multiple sclerosis (abbreviated MS, also known as disseminated sclerosis or encephalomyelitis disseminata) is a disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in females. It has a prevalence that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000. MS was first described in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot.

MS affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other. Nerve cells communicate by sending electrical signals called action potentials down long fibers called axons, which are wrapped in an insulating substance called myelin. In MS, the body's own immune system attacks and damages the myelin. When myelin is lost, the axons can no longer effectively conduct signals. The name multiple sclerosis refers to scars (scleroses—better known as plaques or lesions) in the white matter of the brain and spinal cord, which is mainly composed of myelin. Although much is known about the mechanisms involved in the disease process, the cause remains unknown. Theories include genetics or infections. Different environmental risk factors have also been found.

Almost any neurological symptom can appear with the disease, and often progresses to physical and cognitive disability. MS takes several forms, with new symptoms occurring either in discrete attacks (relapsing forms) or slowly accumulating over time (progressive forms). Between attacks, symptoms may go away completely, but permanent neurological problems often occur, especially as the disease advances.

There is no known cure for MS. Treatments attempt to return function after an attack, prevent new attacks, and prevent disability. MS medications can have adverse effects or be poorly tolerated, and many patients pursue alternative treatments, despite the lack of supporting scientific study. The prognosis is difficult to predict; it depends on the subtype of the disease, the individual patient's disease characteristics, the initial symptoms and the degree of disability the person experiences as time advances. Life expectancy of patients is nearly the same as that of the unaffected population."

A Vitamin D Test Is More Important Than A Cholesterol Test?? Dr Furhman Explains Why Even People Who Get A Lot Of Sun Should Supplement With Vitamin D

This is something that we have never heard of- that a Vitamin D test is something that 80% of Americans need, and for many of these people this test is more important than a cholesterol test. The test is called the "Vitamin D 25 Hydroxy." Ask your doctor about this. Very interesting discussion, click to view:

>>Further Reading: Why Is Vitamin D So Important?

How Much Protein Does An Athlete Need To Consume In Their Diet? Dr. Joel Furhman Explains What He Tells NBA Players and Olympic Skiers

Something we hear a lot is that when people start exercising more is "I have to now eat a lot more protein." Habib went through this himself in the last year, running 25-40 miles per week. The other runners and runners on PEERtrainer advised him to eat a lot of protein after a run. 

As a result the meat in his diet began to spike well above the recommended 10% level. He ended up emailing Dr. Fuhrman and asking if athletes were an exception to this 10% level. His response was that when you exercise more you need more calories. And if you are eating a nutrient dense diet with plenty of greens you are getting plenty of protein.

What interesting is that Dr. Fuhrman is an Olympic Medalist in figure skating. He also counsels the US Olympic team, world class skiers and NBA basketball players. In this video, he explains in detail what advice he gives professional athletes in terms of their protein intake:

Here is a bullet point summary of his main points:

• When you exercise and train hard you stress your immune system. If a world cup skier gets sick it might mess up their entire year. So they are financially incentivized to eat the best diet possible
• The more you exercise, the more calories you need. And you need more protein. The key is consuming high nutrient foods that are rich in protein. 
• For his athletes, he advises a green drink blended with 5 ounces of nuts and seeds. This would give them 1000 calories and 20 grams of protein for example
• It is not hard to get enough protein, and too much protein can be dangerous. Bodybuilders and football players who consume large amounts of whey and soy protein are putting themselves at risk for cancer. 
• From his perspective athletes need 1.2 grams of protein for every kilogram of bodyweight.

Is Your Addiction To Normality Killing You?

Hi There-

This is something Habib has wanted to write for a while.....

One of the most important things to understand from the current health care debate (that political and industry insiders are engaged in among themselves) is that no matter what the eventual outcome, people are going to need to have to take responsibility for their health.

We have come to a point where it is no longer a good idea to improve your eating. It is an absolute requirement.

It does not matter whether it is the government, employers or individuals who end up carrying the load. We have built a food delivery system and consumption habits that lead to the highest rates of heart disease, cancer and diabetes in the world.

Diabetes alone is larger than the entire US tech industry. You stack Intel, Microsoft, Cisco and Apple up.

Diabetes is bigger.

What most of us think of as “normal” is killing us.

Not only is it killing us, but it seems that we now think of pain and struggle as somehow “normal”. We get the most incredible emails from people, describing to us the sheer agony of the reality of their lives. People are in pain, they feel hopeless and they have for years. And they are in this pain because they have done what everyone else has done.

This pain hurts, it sucks and is totally preventable.

But the change required to prevent these inevitable outcomes (for most) is hard. If most people are doing things one way, it stands to reason that that it takes a deal of effort to do things differently. We continually see that the people with the greatest willingness to go in a different direction have no idea where to turn.

If you have been around PEERtrainer for a while you know we present people that we get to know. People like Stu Mittleman and Joel Fuhrman are now friends of ours, in the same way that the guys I did keg stands in college with are. They are part of the posse.

And we share their ideas because they help guide people to the behaviors and mindsets that will help avoid the diseases that commonly trap the average American engaged in the relentless pursuit of normality.

So what I am going to do here is bullet out some of the key ideas that Dr. Joel Fuhrman puts forth to help people. I have a copy of Eat For Health open on my desk as I write this, and I am going to list out 25 of the key concepts. In no particular order. My thinking is that it takes a long time to process change. As Jackie says over and over, “repetition is the mother of skill.”

1. Greens are king. Green vegetables get the majority of their calories from protein. You need to eat them every day.
2. When you consume greens in the form of soup you retain the nutrients and you can make them taste any way you want. No excuses here- tasty, easy, cheap etc. (Blend with a Cuisinart Smart Stick to make it super easy)
3. Fresh fruits fight cancer. We have a natural sweet tooth designed to direct us to those foods most critical for our survival.
4. Pasta and bread, while cheap and filling are associated with heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
5. Veggies are great but you have to cook, pulverize or blend to get at the health promoting goodies that is locked inside the cell walls. Blended vegetable soup is better than salad for this reason. You can’t chew every plant cell.
6. Not all foods are created equally. Dr. Fuhrman has built an entire food classification system called MANDI that you can learn more about.
7. True hunger is much different than the hunger we commonly experience. We are hungry because we eat the wrong foods. This is not something that can be solved in any pill. It is solved in your grocery store and your kitchen.
8. When you are no longer hungry all the time you are healthy.
9. Cheese and butter are evil. Tasty, but evil.
10. The more high nutrient food (greens esp) you eat on a daily basis, the higher your quality of life.
11. Binge eating is largely a byproduct of toxic hunger. We are literally “addicted to food.”
12. Eat a bowl of vegetable-bean soup daily
13. Eat a pound of fruit and a pound of vegetables a day. (Stu would dissent on the fruit part- he is of the school that fruit is too high in sugar and raises acid levels in the body)
14. You can change your tastes. Americans in particular have a “brute force palate.” You will appreciate the subtlety of food over time.
15. Healthy food does not taste bad.
16. Heart disease is not the inevitable consepuence of aging.
17. Food addiction is a real thing, and a new mode of eating will solve this problem
18. Frequent small meals do NOT aid weight control long term.
19. It is not your genes. The numbers disprove this common assertion.
20. It takes a lot more than milk and yogurt to build healthy bones. The truth is much more complex.
21. You have to get inside your head to make these changes. A list like this is not enough.
22. 85 Percent of Americans will die from heart disease, cancer or diabetes.
23. 90 Percent will get high blood pressure
24. Cardiovascular disease is responsible for 40 percent of US deaths annually
25. You can prevent most diseases through a high nutrient diet.

Sounds easy enough? The problem that we see is that people have a hard time putting these ideas into practice. They also often lack the ability to map the consequences of their current diet to future risk.

Most of us think we eat better than we do. Much better. So if you have found the motivation to jump right into to a new diet and buck the trend of the relentless disbelief that “normal is killing us” then congrats.

Others of us need a much more specific plan and guidelines in the place of simple suggestions. Recently Joel and his team launched a new program called “The Nutrition Prescription” which is an online version of an office visit with him. After you take this survey, you are presented with the specific odds of getting diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

We have seen that this test “scares people straight” and also has the interesting effect of providing ammunition for the people who are often hellbent on disrupting your desire to change. We see that when people say, “hey I have to order the soup and salad- doctors orders”- this shuts people up. If you are at a party or out to dinner or dealing with your parents or friends and you say “right now the odds of me getting heart disease is 65%”- they have to basically keep quiet.

Of course they are dying to make a snide comment. But because a doctor has spoken, the conversation is over. Many of you have bought copies of Eat For Health and Eat To Live. We highly recommend Joel’s work, and have for years. The response has been powerful and consistent. If you are interested in his new program or you have not yet picked up one of his books, you can check out the following link:

Get A Virtual Office Visit With Dr. Fuhrman, Trial Offer

We could not endorse his work more strongly. This is true health care reform from my perspective.

Habib Wicks, PEERtrainer Co-Founder

How To Make Carrot Ginger Soup- A Video Demonstration

We got a lot of great feedback to our vegetable soup video by readers of the Tip Of The Day. And we were asked for more! This is a video we quickly made that shows the step by step process of making Carrot Ginger soup. This is a very tasty, zesty and slightly spicy recipe. It is also vegan friendly in that there is no dairy of any kind. 

Most importantly- this soup TURNS MY HUNGER OFF! No idea why. When I eat a bowl I don't want to eat anything else. I think the combination of intense nutrients, plus a small amount of fat helps me feel satiated. Very interested to see how you all react to this recipe. And please leave comments on this blog post if you can. 

The Nutrition Prescription: What It Is, Why It Is REALLY Important

Imagine being able to have a visit with one of the top weight loss doctors via the internet, from anywhere in the world. Imagine going through a detailed consultation whose purpose was to present to you an eating plan that told you exactly what you needed to eat to lose most of the weight you wanted to as well a prevent most of the diseases American's die from?

Dr. Joel Fuhrman and his team at Eat Right America have put together an online program that does exactly this. We have been keeping a close eye on the development of this product for over a year, and are very excited to see this vision come to life. Habib put together a page that gives you some more information and context:

http://www.peertrainer.com/The_Nutrition_Prescription_By_Dr_Joel_Fuhrman.aspx

We know many of you have signed up for this and we want to hear your experiences if you wish to share.

Lupus: How To Use Diet Fusion With Lupus To Lose Weight

I recieved this note from a Tip Of The Day subscriber today:

I just wanted to say thanks. I have found a lot of guidance and motivation from
your website and emails and tip of the day. I have lupus on top of carrying about
30 extra lbs and Dr. Fuhrman has come up a lot since being diagnosed in 2006.

You'd think that my health would be a good enough excuse to eat right, but I am still a
food addict so the diet fusion theory has been great. it is like you gave me
permission to utilize all the tools I have to eat right.

Some days, I use WW points, some days Slim Fast and veggies when I am on the run,
most days Eat for Health (here's a review about Eat For Health)  'cause I work from home
and can. i still need to join a group but I also initiated journaling...just need to stick to
good food and not blow it at night which is my major problem.
Too much food at night and the wrong foods. So,
thanks...I really enjoy the emails and web site!

Liz K. (Denver, Colorado)

This most important part of this note is that diet fusion "gave her permission" to find
the best parts of any regimen and figure out how to customize it. 

No one diet works for anyone a 100% of the time.  Give yourself the freedom
today to figure out what will work for you.

Jackie

How To Lose Weight When You Have Lupus

One of our big learnings over the last few years is just how powerful the diet fusion concept can be. We have expanded on it recently with the launch of the new, and highly effective PEERtrainer Cheat System. It is an excellent system for anyone struggling with an autoimmune disorder. While there is rarely a "cure" for autoimmune diseases like Lupus, the symptoms can sometimes be dramatically reduced through a combination of approaches.

The first thing one needs to do is realize that an effective weight loss program is likely to not only help you lose weight, but may control symptoms. Dr. Fuhrman has a tremendous track record with patients who adopt a diet extremely high in green vegetables, and other vegetables with a wide array of nutrients.

Making sure your body is getting the right amount of nutrients, is critical to rebuilding your health.

In addition to the greens and other vegetables in very high amounts, one needs to address both the stimulus and response to the autoimmune equation. There is never a cut an dry protocol, and researchers are still trying to crack this puzzle.

On the stimulus side of the equation, removing foods that are traditional allergens is a very smart move. Wheat and gluten often plays a role in triggering an unhealthy autoimmune response. So definitely take a look at that. Grains in general are something you might want to reduce. 

On the response side of the equation you definitely want to look at any supplement with a proven track record. If you are suffering from Lupus, it is likely you are familiar with Prednisone. This drug can work very well at controlling the symptoms. However, the side effects of long term use are damaging. Zyflamend, made by New Chapter is considered by many to be a safe alternative to Prednisone. It functions in a similar way by helping to foster "proper" immune response.

It is unlikely to work as well, but given the side effects of Prednisone, you definitely want to explore this option. We have also seen that Zyflamend is an excellent tool to help with long term weight loss. It fights overall chronic inflammation, which when brought under control is associated with weight loss.

High quality fish oil is also something to help control the immune response. The combination of Zyflamend, Fish Oil and an aggressive approach like the PEERtrainer Cheat System will definitely help those of you looking to lose weight. A potential side effect for Lupus sufferers is that this may help bring your body into balance.

A word of warning though. It can take your body a while to get back into equilibrium. We have been trained to have instant results. This approach will not give you the instant relief that a drug like Prednisone will provide. But over time it will help get you back into balance and equilibrium.

 

Incorporating Weight Watchers and Dr. Fuhrman's Eat To Live and Eat For Health

This was the first email from the subscriber with specific feedback on the new WW program. It is very cool to read this, especially the idea of "Diet Fusion" that we have developed here. People are frustrated and tired of "failing" at dieting, and this new approach of focusing on gradually increasing fruits and vegetables appears to be working really well. Even NutriSystem is getting in on the act with their new "Select Program" where you can choose fresh frozen foods.

It is important to highlight these new approaches to dieting, because so many people have been losing and then regaining with low fat and low carb diets like Atkins or South Beach. The South Beach Diet has been the subject of a lot of debate on PT recently, with some people pointing out how for many the gains can be short term. And a couple MD's now have weighed in on the subject pointing out the dangers of these low-fat low-carb focused diets.

The most important part of diets like Momentum and Eat To Live and Eat For Health is that they are gradual things you can't really fail at. It is just work that you do or don't do. But it is not this frustrating thing where you start to eat carbs again after restricting them and you ballon back up. Which is something we see all the time.

"Hi Jackie,

I just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for all the PEERtrainer resources. I have been receiving your Tips of the Day for a couple months, and while it has taken a while for things to sink in, I am really coming to appreciate your approach. Specifically, the concept of 'diet fusion' has been very helpful, previously I was always looking for the 'perfect' system, that would make it easy. 

I recently rejoined Weight Watchers (I really like the new Momentum program), have read Eat to LIve and Eat for Health, and am working on incorporating much more plant foods into my diet. I'm a vegetarian who didn't eat much vegetables. :-)

I have listened to a couple of the boot camp calls, and Dr. Fuhrman's call last week. I don't currently use the site for logging, but have been using the principles of accountability and support via an 'accountability partner' that I meet with weekly. Your tips, and blog are relatable and helpful, and I truly appreciate that you share the resources at no cost. Again, Thanks!"

Thank you for sharing!

Weight Watchers As A "Backup Diet" If You Are On Fat Smash, Eat To Live or South Beach

If you've picked Fat Smash or Eat To Live Or South Beach as your "diet", the thing that is SO important to having a "back up" diet like Weight Watchers or counting calories is because sometimes you just don't feel like eating vegetables or eating anything that resembles "healthy".  You know you should, but you just don't.  All the positive self -talk and all that you do to avoid eating pasta or pizza or a cheeseburger just isn't going to happen.  You just don't care.  Your mind goes on automatic pilot and you head straight for the nearest comfort food.  And unfortunately, sometimes you stay there for DAYS.  One choice after another becomes pizza, more white bread, dessert and so on. 

Until you get back to your Fat Smash Diet regimen, or Eat to Live or South Beach, or whatever you've chosen, you have to have a way to "portion control" the really bad trajectory of crazy comfort foods because the reality is, it happens to everyone.  If you have a "back up" diet and you're incorporating diet fusion for those days that no matter what anyone says, you're not going to pick the salad, you're just hungry for white bread and you're going to have it, you'll be able to monitor yourself and frame the "bad days" with a semblance of control. 

If you count Weight Watchers Points, you know that 2 slices of pizza is 12 points, and if you have a white bread sandwich at dinner, you'll count the points again.  If you have some method -whether it's points or calorie counting or whatever -to be able to hold yourself accountable, you will not eradicate all the effort you put into the Fat Smash or other plant based/vegetable diet you did.  And when you "come to", when you get back on the more nutrient dense road, you won't have an extra 10 pounds to fight.  This is why you have to have a "portion control" back up plan. 

What Is Your Backup Diet?

The Limitations Of The Glycemic Index: Dr. Joel Fuhrman Argues For A "Micronutrient Index"

In an earlier post on the Glycemic Index and NutriSystem we published some notes from Dr. Laurie Rothman on the subject. And we mentioned that we wanted to get Dr. Joel Fuhrman's take on it as well. We got it, and here it is. It is a dissenting view, and we work to present a wide array of views and approaches. This is also an interesting perspective on the dominant approach to fight metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Joel is essentially arguing against what most MD's are telling their patients. He also takes a swipe at our "Diet Fusion" idea- arguing that this is just "watering down" the ideal diet. We agree and just point out that "Diet Fusion" is methodology, not a diet. And this methodology leads to a very high level of micronutrient intake over time.

Glycemic index Versus Micronutrient Index-- No Contest 

By Joel Fuhrman, M,D.

In diabetes research the glycemic index (GI) of carbohydrates has long been recognized as a favorable aid  for diabetics to control blood sugar.  The same is now often the case in lipid research as it has been demonstrated that high glycemic diets, rich in white flour, refined sweets and processed foods are unfavorable to both glucose levels and lipid parameters.

Authors and writers who advocate a high protein (meat-based) diet, hang their hat on the low glycemic index of animal products to explain the advantages of a diet rich in animal products and lower in vegetation.  This view oversimplifies the multi-factorial nuances of nutrition and results in a distorted understanding of nutritional science.

Ranking food on glycemic index alone ignores many other factors that may make that food favorable or unfavorable.  Because a carrot has a higher glycemic index than a slice of bacon does not make the bacon a better food for a diabetic or heart patient.  There are other more important nutritional considerations besides the glycemic index, including the toxicity, micronutient density and fiber in the food.  .

A good example of such nutritional nonsense is when Barry Sears of the Zone diet, warns against the consumption of lima beans, papayas and carrots because of their glycemic index and Atkin’s excludes or limits those carbohydrate containing fruits and vegetables with proven powerful anti-cancer benefits.

The studies that have looked at the negative effects of a higher glycemic diet are always diets that are low in nutrients and fiber, with lots of processed grains and sweets.  Obviously this diet-style is not unhealthy merely because the diet has a high glycemic response.  Processed foods are also low in fiber, phytonutrients and anti-oxidants and rich in those toxic acrlyamides; they are disease-promoting foods and one of their features is that they have a high glycemic index. 

When a diet is rich in high nutrient containing, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and fresh fruits the disease-protective qualities of these foods and the weight-loss benefits overwhelm any insignificant drawback from the high glycemic index of the carrot. Even though the entire diet taken as a whole happens to have a low glycemic index, eating lot of high micronutrient containing vegetables is the most effective way and the healthiest way to lose weight because it removes food cravings and the drive to overeat. The high phytochemical index is the main factor curtailing overeating, not the glycemic index of this diet.  

Recently, a systematic review was performed of published human intervention studies comparing the effects of high- and low-GI foods or diets on appetite, food intake, energy expenditure and body weight. In a total of 31 short-term studies.  The conclusion was that there is no evidence that low-GI foods are superior to high-GI foods in regard to long-term body weight control.   More carefully performed research done recently compared the exact same caloric diets one with a lower and one with a higher glycemic index and demonstrated that lowering the glycemic load and glycemic index of weight reduction diets does not provide any added benefit to energy restriction in promoting weight loss in obese subjects.

The important point to remember is that a diet with a high micronutrient density already has a favorable glycemic index, but it also is low in saturated fat, high in fiber, rich in phytochemicals, and naturally alkaline.  In other words, instead of focusing on one aspect alone consider all the positive features of what makes a diet-style disease protective.  When you do this all popular diets look just second-rate and this fusion idea is just watering down the healthiest and most effective diet-style to be politically correct.  Eat For Health results in people losing weight more effectively than gastric bypass and it is the most effective weight loss methodology ever recorded in the medical literature.

Joel Fuhrman is a board certified family physician specializing in nutrition and the author of Eat To Live and Eat for Health.  Visit him at  www.drfuhrman.com

 

REFERENCES

Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Merz CN, Brewer HB Jr, Clark LT, Hunninghake DB, et al. Implications of recent clinical trials for the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. Circulation 2004;110:227-39.

American Dietetic Association. Hyperlipidemia medical nutrition therapy protocol. Chicago: American Dietetic Association, 2001.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Behavioral counseling in primary care to promote a healthy diet: recommendations and rationale. Am J Prev Med 2003;24:93-100.

Sarter B, Campbell TC, Fuhrman J. Effect of a high nutrient density diet on long-term weight loss: a retrospective chart review.  Alt Therapies in Health and Medicine 2008;14(3):51-53.

Why It Does Not Cost More To Eat A More Healthy Diet

We have a great conversation going on with Dr. Joel Fuhrman with this blog, and he wanted very much to share the story of one of his clients, Rebecca, who started his program at 500 pounds and has lost over 300 pounds. It is a very long and detailed story and we are going to blog about bit by bit. It is very interesting.

We asked her a series of questions about her whole experience, but one question I wanted to ask because people ask us this all the time:

Is your new way of eating more expensive than what you used to do? Was there a lot of cost to manage?

"No, I find it’s actually less because of the highly dense nutrient foods you consume, you satisfy your hunger with less food. My prior way of eating food was expensive, as it did not fill me up so I ate a lot of it; got very little nutrients BUT lots of excess calories which gave me lots of excess poundage!

For example, a typical drive-thru value meal super-sized at the time was almost $5.00—I could and would easily eat 2 of those meals and STILL be hungry and buy more snack foods like pretzels and chips! However, with Eat To Live, I could go into a grocery store salad bar and for the same $10.00, get a pound of salad with lots of greens, some chick peas, a few raw sunflower seeds, purchase 1-2 pieces of fruit, and get a bottle of water---AND still have 2-4 dollars back in change!

But the best part was, I would feel full—actually I ate half the salad for lunch and saved the other half for my dinner. So, eating this way is much more cost efficient, not to mention, I think I saw my family physician just 4 times during those 4 years, because I needed a physical each year for work. So, there, even more money saved eating this way because your body just gets so pumped up with so many crucial nutrients that you just don’t sick and you save money on doctor visits!"

What is interesting about this part of her story is the idea that when you eat a more nutrient dense diet- more greens and vegetables, these things help you feel full. They help you feel full because your body is getting the nutrients it needs. After Eat To Live, Dr. Fuhrman wrote a two book set called Eat For Health, which introduces the MANDI points system which makes it easy to quantify the levels of nutrient dense foods. This way of eating does not have to be expensive and it can be very easy.

Fitbottomed Readers:

Welcome to PEERtrainer--we highly recommend buying a copy of Eat For Health, and the link above takes you to a page where you can buy the book for a $15 discount, plus you get a portable food scoring guide for free. 

Doing South Beach And Weight Watchers Together- What A Doctor Often Recommends

I wrote about a conversation I had with a doctor friend recently and started to think about how different diets could work together. I wanted to find out what diets were best for short term as well as the long term.

I knew Laurie tends to recommend Weight Watchers, South Beach and now Eat For Health. So I asked her what she thought about this question and what she has done in her practice:

"I have found that South Beach diet is as successful as any other diet...if it is followed it is very successful. However, most people have difficulty sticking to any diet for very long. I often recommend doing South Beach and Weight Watchers together. I like South Beach for the types of foods that everyone should be eating and Weight Watchers for helping teach portion control. 

Even w/South Beach diet, it is possible to overinduldge in "good" or "healthy" foods. If one would go from South Beach to Weight Watchers then the food choices open up to include almost anything on the planet...just in smaller quantities. I like that South Beach keeps food choices to healthful ones. It is a particularly good diet for those with metabolic syndrome."

The first key point that is made in the comment above is that the combination of portion control and a high nutrient diet is the correct and effective one.

For those of you doing the new PEERtrainer Cheat System, you'll see that this is exactly what you are guided toward in the PDF you downloaded. The "Cheats" are the portion control, and your incentives really help ensure your nutrient quality is high. This combination is the reason people are having success.

Especially those who have been through the traditional programs, and know the basics of portion control.

The second key point made is that most people have a hard time sticking to traditional diets. For those of you who are big Dr. Fuhrman fans, you'll know that his ideas has really helped to change this. A high nutrient diet, once you get up to speed on it, will help to reduce the traditional food craving cycle that throws most people off traditional diets.

One drawback that we have seen is that many people have a hard time going "full Fuhrman" out of the gate. We designed the Cheat System almost as a "gateway" where we teach people the basics of nutrient density, which will then put them in a position to take the next, often more aggressive step in their eating overhaul.

It does look like in addressing some of the past weaknesses of their program they get a side benefit of better competitive position vs South Beach. Given the perception of South Beach as something that is hard to stick to, it would be interesting if WW was able to essentially make a SB type diet doable for the long term. We will keep you posted!

 

And if you have any experience with doing these two diets together- or any other combination of diets, let us know in this discussion thread. I am also interested in learning more about the South Beach Diet being especially good for metabolic syndrome. This is not the first time I have heard that.

Eat To Live Diet, Eat For Health: Review, Observations, Success, Doing It With Weight Watchers

Tip Of The Day readers know that I talk about Dr Joel Fuhrman a ton. We met him a couple years ago and really saw first hand his passion for promoting proper nutrition as a tool to lose weight, and also improve your health. In his words "Nutrition Is The Prescription." He showed us, and continues to show us, how certain foods can help you lose a lot of weight but also improve your health. He promotes nutritional excellence as another tool, alongside drugs, to help people regain their health.

 

Eat To Live

So it was great to see Alanis Morisette publicly credit Joel and his book Eat To Live as helping her lose 20 pounds, get more energy and feel better physically. The diet of my family- my husband, and two kids- was permanently changed after meeting him. We incorporate his ideas in every aspect of what we write on PEERtrainer. We also show how adopting his focus along side diets like the new Weight Watchers Momentum program can make their good diet a ton better.

When Joel came out with this book, he really was attacked by the medical community. I remember showing the book to a very senior doctor/ healthcare executive in New York City. His response to Joel's work was to literally question his medical credentials.

This man (let's call him Ben) started to surf the internet to find out if Dr Fuhrman really was a doctor, if he really graduated from medical school. What Joel was saying in Eat To Live ran so counter to what the medical establishment was saying that he was branded a quack by many. For Joel to focus on the role of nutrition in health, not just drugs was heresy. And we know from history that heretics get burnt at the stake.

But Mehmet Oz did not think Joel was a quack, and has publicly backed him every step of the way. Joel gave us a copy of his book for feeding children "Disease Proof Your Child"- it is on my desk and the very first quote of "praise" on the back cover is from Mehmet Oz. Here is the quote:

"Dr. Fuhrman reveals the success to long-term, sustainable health using diet choices for growing up smart and growing old happy. Take your doctor a copy!"

It is very important to note that these words written by Dr. Oz challenge the assumptions most of us have. We assume that diets can't work in the long run, and we assume getting fat and sick is part of aging. Dr. Fuhrman is begging us to reconsider those assumptions.

Eat For Health

In April of this year we were sent a copy of Eat For Health, which is Joel's new book that is a bit easier to follow than Eat To Live, is not a strict vegetarian diet, and introduces MANDI points system. This system assigns point values to foods in terms of their nutrient density. It is a very important tool and we immediately had a way of quantifying the level of health promoting foods in our diet. I now use this in combination with portion control in an approach I call "diet fusion." We have developed a simple way to do diet fusion, which we call the PEERtrainer Cheat System.

But what was interesting and important is that the entire first chapter of the book is Joel defending himself from the medical community. He has found some excellent and very well respected voices in the community to vouch for him and he does an excellent job in his defense. 

He has incredible success stories from people who he has helped improve their entire cardiovascular profile, cure lupus, prevent having to undergo dialysis, help asthma, migranes, high blood pressure, sarcoidosis, psoriasis etc etc.

We actually lent our copy to a doctor friend of ours, someone who recommends diets to her patients. Here is what she had to say about "Eat For Health":

"Last month, my friends lent me Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book, Eat for Health. Dr Fuhrman has it 100% right. Let me say that again - he has it exactly right. We are all trying to figure out a way to not do what is right, how to get around it. We think that we want to keep eating the over-processed, high calorie, nutrient poor food. He says stop eating the garbage. Eat the good stuff. You will lose weight, get healthier and feel better. 

Dr Fuhrman Makes Optimal Eating Easy To Implement

He comes out and says what we all know is true, but don't say or do. He states the obvious: eat more vegetables and fruits. Eat more fiber. Eat less animal products. The result is that you will be healthier and lose weight. He gives easy to implement strategies for how to do this. Why didn't someone think of this sooner and why isn't it a national phenomena?"

Weight Watchers Now Moving In Joel's Direction

It is really important to point out the struggle Joel has had with the medical community and really highlight his leadership role in bringing them around to a greater focus on nutritious foods. So I was extremely interested in the last couple weeks learning the details of Weight Watchers new momentum program.

I read on their site and in other places that they were adjusting their points system to focus not just on fiber but also in the water content of food. Which means a lot more plants. Now they don't seen to be focused on his MANDI points idea yet which promotes massive greens as part of the daily diet. But they are going in the right direction.

And I was able to get confirmation of this from my mom, who is now on the new Momentum Program. She was able to give me some feedback of their program and did confirm that they have moved away from dairy and low calorie nutrient poor foods towards plant based nutrition. I cannot say for sure that Joel was responsible for this, but I am sure he was a strong influence.

Stronger Diet Recommendations- Some Books, DVD, Free Tools

We pretty much insist you own a copy of either Eat To Live or Eat For Health. (Click on the titles for the exact amazon links.) We do find that people want a "baby step" approach to eating a nutrient dense diet, which is why we created the Cheat System.

March 2011 Update

It is important to note that if you are extremely overweight, or if you have reached a disease state, you need the nutritional intervention that Dr. Fuhrman outlines. The Cheat System will help, but if you are reading this and are scared about where you are, we STRONGLY recommend that you not only read Fuhrman's books, but that you spend a few weeks in his member center.

This is an online forum, which costs about $14 a month to access. You can ask any question you have about your particular situation. There is a deep database of answers to questions, Dr. Fuhrman directly answers questions and you will also get support from others who are using nutrition as part of their plan to get healthy, thin, energized.

We have now known Dr. Fuhrman for 4 years, and we have seen the results in the PEERtrainer community of everything we have outlined in this article. We want to reiterate that if you are sick, please visit the member center. It may be the cheapest and most effective medical care that you'll find.

If you are reading this part of the article and paying close attention to what we are writing here, know that we know what you are going through. You have been to many doctors, and have explored lots of options. You are likely scared and frustrated. In addition to what you are already doing, deeply explore Fuhrman's advice. If you are in the Northeast you can even visit his office and get some one on one. It can be a wait to get an appointment. We have referred people we know to him, and if it is super urgent, mention PEERtrainer, and you might be able to get in quicker. No promises, but we have been able to get people in more quickly.

What Is Unresolved In The Nutrient Dense Diet?

One unresolved issue from our perspective in the nutrient dense diet is the role of organic food.  We remember sitting in on a conversation between Joel's marketing team and a senior statesman in the health care industry. This gentleman was enthusiastic about the focus on nutrient density, and dramatically reducing the levels of animal protein in the diet. As a Phd level scientist he also thought that the protein in milk, casein, was wreaking particular havoc among people and might be a contributing factor to breast cancer. 

This is a big debate right now and there is a lot to figure out. But some influential people have some strong opinions on this subject, and it will be interesting to see how this debate evolves. Even Weight Watchers seems to be tiptoeing away from a heavy dairy emphasis, emphasizing foods like avocado and hummus instead of lowfat cheese. This is based on feedback we are getting from people in their new program.

The other big thing the senior statesman said was the importance of organic food. This man has a masters in Physical Chemistry in addition to having done Phd work in Nuclear Physics and run several health companies. A unique perspective. And he was adamant about eating organic food, going on in detail about the organic garden he had set up in his country house. Given that this was the man who introduced us to Joel, we listened carefully and took what he said very seriously.

Continue This Discussion in the PEERtrainer Community....

Video of My Experience With Eat To Live and Eat For Health 

"I Am Starving"..... "I Am Always Hungry"

One of the most commonly asked questions that we get asked from Tip Of The Day subscribers is about hunger.

It doesn't matter whether you've been restricting yourself on a diet, or not even watching what you eat at all, there are times that you suddenly feel so hungry you don't even know how it hit you. 

Often you find yourself in a situation where you didn't eat a proper breakfast, or you went too late until lunch came around and the hunger hits you like a ton of bricks.  You feel like you could eat a house and if someone put a large pizza in front of you at that exact moment, you could probably scarf down 3/4 of it, maybe almost the whole thing. 

What's interesting is that Dr. Fuhrman, in his book Eat for Health, says that actual hunger is felt in your throat.  Symptoms include salivating and light interest. Actual "hunger" is when your body is ready for more nutrients.

Often that "starving" feeling are withdrawal symptoms from the caffeine, sugar or other "nutrient-poor" foods you consume. These feeling that we confuse for "real hunger" are usually felt in the stomach as growling, light headedness, little dizzy, the general sensations we feel when we say we are hungry. 

But at the time when you're "starving", the logic behind what's really going on doesn't matter. You just want food and you want it now.

When you get to this point, how do you satiate yourself without destroying all of your efforts towards your weight loss for the week?

Here are a few tips:

1.  Keep one of your favorite snacks in your purse or in your desk at all
times. 

That doesn't mean healthy if you don't like the taste.  If you throw an apple in your purse but you don't particularly love apples, when that overwhelm comes on, you will not eat that apple.  You will think you are
starving and way too "hungry" for that apple to even begin to have an effect.  You'll head to your nearest "favorite food" place that will satisfy the hunger.

Pick a snack that you really love the taste of:  maybe it's a fruit/nut power bar - maybe a banana or maybe something else.  Pick a snack that works for you, that you really like, and next time the starving feeling
comes on you'll have something right there, and once you've eaten it, the binge feeling has come and gone.

2.  Check if that hunger feeling really means you're thirsty

Most of the time when you feel hungry, you are dehydrated.  Get a large glass of water full of ice with Fresh squeezed lemon and see how you feel afterwards.

3.  If you didn't put your favorite snack in your purse?

Instead of using the starving excuse as a chance to stop at Starbucks for a large muffin, croissant and moccachino, go find your favorite snack immediately!!  Think of what you would have put in your desk or purse and simply go purchase that to eat now.

4. What if you give in anyway?

Lastly, if you are starving and you do head to the nearest pizza place and scarf down 4 times as much as you usually do, don't make it the end of the world.  Don't use that incident as the reason for saying, well, I messed up, might as well have pasta and that hot fudge sundae I've been craving as well. 

Don't stack it with all the other things you were disappointed with in yourself that day.  You were "starving", you ate a lot, and that's all it is. Commit to making just the next meal, just one meal one that follows your regimen and makes you have energy and feel great and don't look back.