What Is New in Nutrition? Answer - We Have Been Doing It All Wrong, Based on the Food Media

 

I continue to learn a lot from the Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Dr. Michael Greger. The best and quickest source is Greger's enormous website of articles and videos at NutritionFacts.org.

 For example - 

Eggs and chicken, which have lots of fat and choline are bad for men.

Here is another view:

We can also take the positive side of nutrition - What works the best for us?

The best things we can eat on a daily basis are:

I am working on several of Greger's books right now, and I use his website.
He is a lot of fun and cannot resist  medical jokes.

1. Leafy greens - Kale, spinach, turnip greens, collards. Two of them are crucifers and therefore the best for our health. 
2. Beans - (read the sodium label) - Beans provide protein and fiber, satisfying and very good for our gut. 
3. Fresh fruit and berries (frozen counts) - They are a medicine cabinet full of ways to keep us healthy and to heal us from grease, salt, and sugar.
4. Nuts - walnuts and almonds (uncooked, best unsalted) are powerful sources for additional healing. A few walnuts a day keeps my cholesterol perfect. A handful can easily replace a meal. Salted, cooked, and sugared nuts are not a smart move.
5. Seeds and spices. Some seeds, like anise, have a great flavor and nutritious ingredients. Ground mustard seed energizes crucifers (especially good for blanched frozen crucifers which are neutered unless mustarded). Scientists do not know what all the hundreds of plant/seed/fruit/nuts create in their cells for us. They are way behind the Lord of Creation, who fashioned all this from the beginning - Genesis 1, John 1. 

I recently stopped eating eggs altogether, just as I stopped with butter. Both are in the fridge - as a reminder - and I am down roughly 40 pounds. More importantly, the change made my blood sugar, kidney, cholesterol, and other tests perfect, except for blood pressure. 

I slowly improved in many areas. We all love eating good food, even bad and horrible food, but the bulk of the body's use of food is in the stomach, liver, kidneys, and gut. 

The liver is a massive chemical factory that breaks down ingredients and even addresses new things never invented before (drugs). Drug addiction and alcoholism come from the liver's ability to get better and better at breaking down the ingredients. The more we smoke and drink, the more we want, because the essential organs get better and faster at breaking them down. 

Our livers and kidneys do not complain openly for a long time, from breaking down toxic combinations. One problem is that the food industry portrays all their fat-sugar-salt foods as nutritious because - hey - they taste good. The Nutritious Five all taste delicious when eaten on a regular schedule. Hint - junk food gets worse and worse when neglected. I have put gift food out for the birds, who refuse to eat it, and that food sold retail!

Think of the Nutritious Five as the pharmacy - and the pharmacy as good primarily for addressing symptoms, one at a time. I had to tell doctors not to give Christina statins because they were horrible for her. One specialist even said, "But if we can get rashes from the new one, that will help the study." I lit a few fires on that attempt and the doctor, a 350 pound cardiologist, retaliated.

Even if we avoid the pharmacy window itself, the pharmacy area is filled with shams, scams, and sugar-coated poison. Anything food related - often milk based - is sold at fantastic prices in relation to its basic ingredient, with sugar, salt, and fat added. All the protein they need is from the Big Five above. Many long-term and short-term maladies are fixed fruits and vegetables. Most vitamin pills are priced for millionaires but almost worthless and probably badly mixed. Grab four vitamin bottles in two hands - add up the cost, then put them down and go to produce and frozen vegetables/greens (no seasoning please).

Please do not laugh. I love shopping for groceries because I prepare an economic and delicious feast for Charlie and me. When I got home today, I realized the former Ice Cream Freezer was already filled with greens, mushrooms, and vegetables. 

Gone were the frozen pizzas. Gone were the drumsticks (sundae cones). Gone were the vanilla and chocolate ice cream containers. Gone were the specialty ice creams. Gone were the push-up ice cream, the chocolate covered ice cream bars, and the fudge bars. Gone were the ice cream bon-bons. 

Most ice creams are not ice cream. They cheapen the product and make it seem like ice cream, making it up with extra sugar and using oil to imitate cream. I learned that on a documentary about ice cream wars. Soon after that I bought one last chocolate ice cream half-gallon - so bad the squirrels ignored it. Squirrels!  They eat anything but not that name-brand "ice cream." Iced milk and fake chocolate.

Gone were the prepared meals, Schwan and Marie Calendar. I read sodium for all foods. I gave the last Marie Calendar chicken pot pie to the birds because the serving was 500 mgs of salt. No regrets.

Fuhrman's Eat To Live got me going on this topic, and Greger's books, website, articles, and videos are giving me even more information. Charlie Sue and I eat some sausage every day for lunch, in the stew I fix for both of us. The best answer to all this is to know as much as possible.

Most doctors know very little about nutrition. 

Eat To Live woke me up, after my blood panel showed I was diabetic, but no more.
Body fat feeds diabetes, and insulin makes diabetes progressively worse.

I would start with this Fuhrman book, because the information is more stream-lined and easy to follow. I began with almost no appreciation for nutrition.

Request for More Nutritional Insights

 

I post my weight every so often on the Internet calendar. The key is lb since the numbers change, drifting down and fattening up for a time, starting in 2020. The key was my diabetic blood sugar, as predicted years before, and the perfect cholesterol number due to walnuts. A doctor told one of our church members that a handful of walnuts was required daily, and I complied with a side order of ice cream. The cholesterol went down as the blood sugar went up, so I identified the culprit with ease - me.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, though a bit fanatic, as many prophets are, woke me up with his book Eat To Live. His Super Immunity book is perhaps even better with descriptions of how foods become medicine when allowed. Fuhrman shocked me with the overwhelming and inexpensive nutritional bonanza of frozen chopped greens, frozen vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, and Ciceros in a can. Americans love lots of bread and hummus but go YUK! about chick peas in a can. Silly - Cicero's Latin name is chick pea.

A grocery store provides all the worst kinds of food that hurts us, because highly processed foods are loaded with salt, fat, and sugar, simultaneously removing the medicine God created - leafy greens, vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts, and seeds. Guess which group costs the most per ounce!

I grocery shop now - no more Schwan's -for salt. Beans and pizzas are good for salty shock and awe. I can get canned Ciceros with 120 mgs of salt per serving. Many beans sold by Bush are at 480 mgs per serving. One new rogue can of beans (which I own but do not eat) is rated at 1050 mgs of salt per serving. Our bodies store excess salt, which promotes high blood sugar. Walmart sells Dr. Pepper beans at a very high level, though not as saline as 1050 mgs. 

This Fuhrman-centric change really has to be a long-term project, gradually removing certified sugar-salt-fat Ft. Knox products - expensive by definition, protected against any threat. Go down the frozen vegetable display - IGNORE THE NEARBY CHOCOLATES! - you will find many frozen vegetables and fruits, highly priced and loaded with added sugar and salt. The frozen, low cost vegetables are often SEASONED SEPARATELY! Yes, the cash cost is ginned up for a few pennies of added salt, added sugar, and various spices. 

We do not crave food so much as we crave food we are used to eating. Therefore, slipping out of the clutches and bad health of Dames Sugar-Salt-Fat will entice us to go back and plunge into the Slough of Despond (Pilgrim's Progress). I went back to pizza and some ice cream when I was driving someone almost daily to the hospital. However, Herr Schwan helped by making a lot of their frozen foods excessively expensive and salty, fat taken for granted. I told the the very nice driver to her face that they were delivering very unhealthy and fabulously overpriced food, combined with really bad management - not at her level, but above. I bought one more package of "good" chocolate ice cream at the grocery store and discovered it was one of those fake ice creams, so bad that squirrels would not touch it. Thank you Stinko Corrupted Fake Ice Cream. 

Needless to say, Herr Ronald McDonald is now an orphan. I found unpleasant symptoms from the salt-sugar-fat and a repeat of the symptoms with Kettle Corn at the store (salt- corn sugar-fat). 

Good Craving

Now that I have confessed so much about toxic unhealthy food, let me encourage people who are trying to shift to greens, beans, vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts, and seeds. 

Changing food choices at once is impossible, but that has made many individuals criminally wealthy by promoting rigid, fanatical, trademarked formulas. My opinion - drop one terrible food at a time or reduce a favorite in amounts eaten in a week, substituting greens, beans, and fresh fruit - all three are nutritious and non-fattening.

Super Secret Stew

1. I include one meat serving per day, because omitting meat makes one weak and slow. Not having breakfast is dumb - not as foolish as eating at McDonalds or Starbucks - but still dumb, promoting raging replacements to serve a cavernous hunger.
2. Charlie Sue and I have one egg each morning, one tiny toast for me (no butter) and Science Diet for her. That is good for many hours.
3. I started greens and beans lunch with Dr. Fuhrman and have continued it - daily - for two years. I now slice some sausage into the stew and Charlie gets some from me by hand while we eat. 
4. One smoked sausage sliced is the beginning, and they flavor the stew, heated with a little water. Daily.
5. Frozen greens, daily, are currently chopped spinach and turnip greens, sometimes collards. Laugh all you want, they have almost no calories, no fat, not sugar, lots of fiber, and a lot of nutrition.
6. Ground flax seed, daily, is early since I am prone to forget this ingredient unless it is overdone. Ground flax seed is considered anti-cancer. 
7. Anise is wonderful in stew, and so is Italian seasoning.
8. Blueberries, daily, are anti-cancer and all around good. Three handfuls.
9. Anti-cholesterol walnuts are daily, one handful and sometimes repeated as an evening substitute for ice cream. 
10. Mushrooms, daily, are anti-cancer and delicious in stew. 
11. Lima beans, daily, are good and add to the nutritional mix.
12. Onions, green and red peppers were foundation when I began make stew, and I still favor the mix, which is considered anti-cancer and part of the rainbow collection of vegetables.
13. Tomato paste, daily, provides a base for the stew and is possibly help for the eyes.
14. The last is a can of Ciceros. They are worked into the stew, which is heated up during the additions.
15. I use a two-quart pan and usually eat all of it, with the very bottom being shared by Charlie.

Downloaded from the NSA

What the New Physician Said

 

My first birthday was celebrated with my own cake. 

I signed up for a new doctor since the previous doctor started his own private practice. I got the usual checkup and then he went over the previous lab results, which recorded my change in various categories. 

My taste for desserts gave me diabetic level blood sugar, but after Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live book (which I had - unread - in my own library) my A1C plummeted and then some more. He grinned, saying, "What did you do!?" I gave credit to beans, greens, vegetables, fresh fruits, nuts and seeds, with small meat proportions. That dropped my weight 30 pounds, and now I am aiming at 15 pounds more, or rather, less.

Going to the gym helped, but now I am going to be more frequent each week. I gave the exercise bicycle to someone because the bike got me going to the gym, where I earned the coveted Platinum Silver Sneaker award.

The new doctor was stunned at the cholesterol level being perfect for so long, which began with Zach sending me walnuts to reduce cholesterol. Using walnuts on Schwan's ice cream proved that one item (walnuts) could change my blood chemistry. The fabled ice cream freezer was changed into one for beans, greens, and vegetables. I still eat and enjoy one handful of walnuts each day.

The doctor was very hip about me switching from processed foods and desserts to plant-based food. We were a duet, denouncing together the awful chemistry of processed food - salty enough to melt snow, sugar by the pound, tons of unnecessary fat. No more colas, cheese, juices, and milk.

Desserts for me are Crisp apples, bananas, blueberries, pineapple, and citrus. I have replaced high calorie suppers with just two apples, late night snacks with two bananas. Breakfast is eggs with unbuttered, tiny, whole wheat bread. Charlie Sue loves my nutritious meals, adding Science Diet.

I drifted up again (as the charts whispered), due to the convenience of fast food and frozen pizza, but I left those behind for good. It takes some time to make the plain food delicious and fruits the best kind of dessert. There are too many benefits in God's created medicine than in the grocery stores' very expensive prepared foods.

I found an improvement over milk, at Dairy Queen.

I helped my father in improving donuts and bread.

One Small Step for a Man - One Giant Leap for Planet Fitness.Sugar Storage Must Give Way to Fat Burning

 

I was going to Planet Fitness before the Branch Covidians took over. But I only saw the Silver Sneakers note a short time ago at the gym. That is part of many Medicare plans, paying the basic cost for gym use. The odd thing is, the silversneakers.com website is less reliable than the weather. It took me five attempts to earn my lifetime, very long number for getting the modest gym fee paid. Today I brought in the printout and signed it digitally on the computer screen, about 10 times. When I was done, I said, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for Planet Fitness." He laughed, a surprise to me that he knew the reference.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman got me going to the gym because he wrote in his books that exercise is essential, just as important as a change in food habits. I knew that, but I lapsed a long time ago due to the number of medical appointments. Fuhrman also points out that exercise strengthens bones, one of the pitfalls of being older than references to moon landings. 

I knew the importance of short-term glycogen (sugar) storage versus high energy fat-burning. I have attended many diabetic conferences, lessons, and suggested food samples. As one friend said so succinctly, "I know all that. It's the doin' that's hard."

I finally woke up to the building block or the stumbling block to weight loss and energy. We build and use short-term glycogen storage, which is like running on stale gasoline. If we major in sweets and high glycemic foods (white potatoes, corn, white rice, white flour), they will give us a quick high and a quicker low. 

Nibbling at crackers, snacks, candy bars, so-called protein bars, etc - that will continuous feed the glycogen storage without using the high- octane fat-burning that God created for us.

I go to the gym before eating anything, then wait for a veggie-fruit lunch or I just have a few fresh fruits - oranges and pears - a total of 3 so far today. Exercise without breakfast will burn fat far more effectively. Once used to it, we feel the fat burning energy soon and the disappearance of craving more sweets. 

Counting calories and named food fads are a cry for help - or a way to say, "I am really trying." The giveaway is the festive end of the diet when people eat a banana split enhanced by a large mocha with fake cream in it, fake whipped cream on top. Plus a cherry.

The big change for me was 1) a scary blood panel; 2) opening up a never-read copy of Eat To Live.

Nutrition versus the Sugar-Fat-Salt Diet

 

I got past the temptations of Christmas at the same weight, even though someone gave me a large container of Werther's. I enjoyed several hand-made treats - pumpkin and apple pie. I tore off the wrappings and baked them myself - to perfection. 

I now look at food purchases closer to the raw level, such as:

1. apples, oranges, pineapple, and blueberries,
2. frozen peas, chopped greens, mushrooms, peppers and onions, broccoli, brussels sprouts.
3. canned beans, tomato paste.

Just as Dr. Joel Fuhrman predicted, craving sweets and the prepared sugar-fat-salt items has mostly faded away. Traditional nutritious foods become delicious and very satisfying when they become habitual.

The permanent no-no list includes cheese (fat-salt), prepared meals (very salty), juices (aka sugar water), fast foods (sugar-fat-salt), eggs (fat), milk (fat), popcorn/Fritos (fat-salt-carbos), soda pop (sugar-salt), and expensive water (high salt).

Most of the medicines sold at high prices are symptom relievers at best. Often they create problems in other areas. Over-the-counter miracles are also expensive and mostly useless.

I look at nutrition books and Internet articles to see what I should cook or eat raw. Many long-term problems are addressed with the best and cheapest foods. Excess weight is bound to cause heart, blood pressure, and blood sugar problems. 

Switch to the Medicinal Value of Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, and Greens. What I have Learned from Eat To Live

 

This Eat To Live book was in my library, unread.

 The End of Heart Disease gave me insights about blood pressure and cardio issues.

I have been discussing nutrition with members and friends. I have kept my weight loss and changed most of my horrible eating habits, and I am continuing to improve in areas of overall health.

Here are some permanent changes:

• I no longer eat ice cream, except when it was offered to me with an apple dessert - on my recent trip. Ice cream is such a double-whammy on blood sugar and weight that it no longer appeals to me.
• I eat much fewer desserts and typical American food items because fresh fruit is always available in abundance. I relish apples, pears, and fresh pineapple.
• I seldom drink Diet Dr. Pepper. I do not drink diet colas for energy. Potassium from food is far better for energy.
• I exercise more and also use the garden for additional exercise, relaxation, and superb roses.
• I eat some chicken several times a week.
• I really enjoy chickpeas, especially when Walmart is out of garbanzo beans.
• Weighing myself every day helps me pick the right foods for the day. 

 

Thinking Ahead

I plan on eating a lot more spinach greens to further curb bad habits learned from growing up in a bakery. I do not think the Fuhrman plan is difficult to follow. It only takes switching from

1. expensive processed salty, fat, sweetened foods to 
2. inexpensive greens, beans, fruits, and nuts.

Fiber and Craving a Return to the 

Olde Menu

The problem of craving comes from eating fast foods and desserts. Those delights give us an instant boost and make us droop a bit later. The solution is not more sugars, fats, and salt, but vitamins, minerals, and fibers, plus the little-known plant nutrients. Fiber moving slowly through the body gives a feeling of food satisfaction, a steady supply.

 "There's a new diet out there, and they promise it will work even better than the last 37 fads. Forget Fuhrman. His books are too informative."

Ichabodians Switching to Healthy Meals, Good Nutrition, Lower Weight

 I posed in many calendars to promote donuts.

 My doctor agreed that ice cream is a great tranquilizer. 

I used to be a fanatic, against healthy eating. I could eat a huge bowl of popcorn and register 100 on a blood test.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Eat To Live, argues that good nutrition solves a lot of problems and always leads to weight loss. My local doctor was overwhelmed that I lost 30 pounds and also had great results on the blood test, A1C, meaning I averaged a good blood sugar for 90 days, slightly above normal. My previous A1C was a 90 day average of 160 blood sugar. The sad reality of the A1C is that cheating shows up from averaging.

 Everyone was posing for the photo, but I was working on my mother's DQ cone.

 A Moliner put this together. I would never run and eat a donut. No, I would stop and eat a few.

At the age of four, I was shackled to the workbench to create donuts. 

Five Ichabodians are following the Fuhrman plan, which is a dramatic change in eating, not a fad diet plan (Scarsborough, Keto, Mediterranean, etc). The change of habit means making the unhealthy foods rare - and the beans, greens, fruit, and nuts dominant.

Too much of too many foods will boost blood sugar, store fat, and add weight. Here are some staggering facts:

Fat goes right to fat deposits on the body. Some fat is good and healthy, but the fatty foods add too much because we consume them over-munchly as healthy foods. The subversive fat foods are eggs, milk, cheese, meat, and fish.

The sugar category means sugar going right into the system, plus many forms of sweetener and "diabetic" sugar, which acts very much like sugar. Starbucks made its name by cooking bad coffee and putting oil (fake creamer) and sugar in it, plus some milk for more fat: mellow, instant jolt, addicting too.

 My first birthday was a riot of sweets plus cake and ice cream.

Paul Newman fans - his kiddy orange drink's first ingredient (meaning the most amount in that concoction) - is high fructose corn syrup, which changes easily to sugar and onward to diabetic fatness. Many foods do that because we like sugary salty fatty and fattening things, like Kettle Corn, which should be listed with opiods.

The Source of the Cure - God's Creation

God has scattered concentrated nutrition among many different delicious foods. Because we get tired of the same few items, God's plan makes us dabble with various forms of vitamins, minerals, fibers, even cholesterol that removes bad cholesterol from the body. No! Yes! Walnuts on ice cream gave me a perfect cholesterol score, but way too much ice cream. 

Chickpeas aka Garbanzo beans - they taste great, blend with other vegetables, and continue complete protein with many other bonus ingredients.

Fiber in food slows down digestion. That is why fiber-free donuts - with their delicious combination of fat, sugar, eggs, salt, wheat flour topped with glazing or icing or even better filled with custard - stop hunger for only 30 minutes, if that. 

What the Dairy Council, Dairy Queen, and the chicken industry failed to teach us was the lack of nutrition (calm down) in the major foods - dairy, meats, eggs - and the super-abundance of nutrition in greens, beans, fruit, and nuts. And the really good foods are much cheaper, quite easy to prepare and store.

If people dial down the most fattening foods, they will have more appetite and satisfaction with healthy foods. 

Waiting for the Right Eye Surgery - Hard To Focus

 

I will have surgery in a few hours, so right now I have the concentration of a ferret - about five seconds at a time. 

I often read Fuhrman's two books before going to sleep. He offers so much information about food that I return to basic issues, to route them to permanent storage rather than RAM.

Blood pressure and weight both dropped as soon as I stopped bad food. I also reduced portions in favor of greens and beans, fruit and nuts.

Missing from the menu are significant portions of bread, meat, cheese, and eggs.

Yes, it is possible to have four fruit portions per day, and that erases the need and desire for desserts and candy.

Mounds of greens with a tiny bit of dressing? Yes, I enjoy that and continue to marvel over the nutrition in "rabbit food" as we called it in Illinois. The tables for nutritional value are shocking, because the least admired (greens, beans, fruits, nuts) are the best while the standard fodder is really pitiful (milk, eggs, meat, bread).

In addition, dark greens (collards, spinach) are even better than greens (like green beans), and greens are better than rainbow foods (like bananas and sweet potatoes). The dark greens and greens satisfy hunger while providing a wealth of protein, vitamins, minerals, and all those obscure food combinations.

The upside-down value of food reminded me of the time I discovered organic gardening in Midland, while going through the gardening books at the Grace Dow Midland Public Library. I also bought a lot of those books and devoured them. Everything natural was in harmony with Creation, which led to the Wormhaven Gardening book and the later Creation Gardening book.

Christina would say, "You graduated from Notre Dame and became a farmer?" We ate all kinds of vegetables from the garden - asparagus, beans, tomatoes, Silver Queen corn, egg plant, etc. I ate so-called weeds full of nutrition, such as Goose Foot and Purslane. When people complained about Purslane, I replied, "Eat it - delicious and crunchy." I learned how to grow spinach so perfect and crunchy that I could plant it in the fall and harvest it in the early spring (no bugs to eat it, no heat to make it bitter tasting). Gardening was good exercise and good nutrition. Kids came over and ate from the garden - green peppers and carrots pulled from the soil.

Pet rabbits got the dandelion greens and flowers, donating healthy amounts of Rabbit-Grow to feed the earthworms in kiddy pools under their cages (Christina's idea).

I am back to my down on the farm experience but I have to pay for the fresh foods. The rabbits and squirrels do not leave anything edible alone.

Another Copy of Eat To Live

I am about 20 years late in reading Eat To Live, so maybe some will catch on earlier than I did. Some statements seem extreme, but overall, this is a new and different look at our eating habits. I gave my original copy away and sent copies to friends, then ordered my own and Fuhrman's heart book.

My experience so far includes:

1. A loss of craving for desserts and junk food, even A+ chocolate candy right in front of me;
2. Enjoyment of legumes (beans - for WELS graduates), fruits, nuts, and a reduction in portions;
3. A surge in energy, especially compared to last year;
4. An immediate but painless loss of weight.

Fuhrman's basic formula is greens, beans, fruits, and nuts.

• Large amounts of raw greens are nutritious and not weight-gaining, but weight-losing.
• Beans are satisfying and packed with many healthy components - more than just vitamins.
• Fruits have some sugar but eaten raw are delicious and healthy.
• Nuts and seeds have more calories per ounce but also have special, healthy qualities - like walnuts for the heart.

Fuhrman blames the undisciplined American diet on many of our maladies: blood sugar, blood pressure, heart problems, various cancers, and morbid obesity. We overdo meat, eggs, cheese, milk, cream and whipped cream - even fake cream and fake whipped cream.

I put it on the Google calendar, because I got my A1C (90 day blood sugar) at 8 AM and the eye appointment a few hours later. The book in my own library (in brand new condition) was 300+ pages of mirror - the mirror of the Law. Fuhrman's aids phoned me (in my fantasy) and said, "Your pancreas warrantee is about to expire. We want to help you out before it's too late."

So I read it every day and verified the claims of vegetable nutrition with various Internet sources. And I looked forward! to lunches dominated by black-eye peas, brussels sprouts, or green beans. Legumes and crucifers (cabbage family - for the Mequon graduates) are far more nutritious than meats and eggs. 

I used to scoff at suggestions for fruit and vegetable servings per day. But now I enjoy oranges, apples, and prunes daily - four servings.

When I began to get hungry today, I found the almond bag and ate about 20. "Not enough. Not enough. Hungry!" But a few minutes later I was not hungry or feeling stuffed." 

Some of you have been there - hungry. "Oh, one small dessert will not hurt." It has no nutritional value but sooooo good. "That was small, so I will have another." And the pancreas says as the last bite goes down, maybe because of the ice cream scooped out in goodbye cruel world anxiety - "You wrecked your goal, now I will wreck your day. Sluggish for hours, yes. Queasy, oh yes. If I must suffer, so must you."

So it is better to start having no desserts, no candy. Sassy loves to walk twice a day, and she is not letting me off the hook for winter. She loves winter. But I am also adding more gym and an indoor bike.

 The 7 Habits of Highly Trained Dogs

Making It Easy - Linking Nutritional Benefits of My Favorite Healthy Foods

Three of our members encouraged me on the topic of nutrition and avoiding bad foods. I am not an expert, which I have proven with my bad habits. However, I can link some of my favorite foods and their benefits, with the experts explaining.

Walnuts are the ultimate heart medicine, and cholesterol fixer. Good for -

• Anti-oxidants
• Omega 3
• Anti-cancer
• Lower weight and blood sugar
• Brain function

Almonds are massive nutrition sources. Good for -

• Anti-oxidants
• Vitamin E
• Blood sugar control
• Magnesium, good for many benefits, including blood sugar
• Lowering bad cholesterol (beats statins, believe me; my cholesterol is perfect because one member sent me walnuts until I was addicted)
• Weight loss

Brussels Sprouts are funny, ugly, and delicious. Good for -

• Lots of nutrition
• Incredible amounts of Vitamins K and C
• Anti-oxidants, fiber, and potassium
• Omega 3 and also lowers blood sugar
• Can be boiled, microwaved, or cooked crispy

Kidney Beans are not just for chili. Good for -

• Protein, fiber, and iron
• Lowering blood sugar
• Satisfying hunger and improving digestion

Kale is the superstar of greens and lasts all winter under the snow. Did God plan that?

• "For example, one cup (67 grams) of raw kale packs 684% of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin K, 206% of the DV for vitamin A and 134% of the DV for vitamin C (2)."

Collard greens.

"Collard greens are a good source of calcium and the vitamins A, B9 (folate) and C. They’re also one of the best sources of vitamin K when it comes to leafy greens. In fact, one cup (190 grams) of cooked collard greens packs 1,045% of the DV for vitamin K (6).

Vitamin K is known for its role in blood clotting. In addition, more research is being done regarding its ability to improve bone health (7Trusted Source).

One study in 72,327 women aged 38–63 found that those with vitamin K intakes below 109 mcg per day had a significantly increased risk of hip fractures, suggesting a link between this vitamin and bone health (8Trusted Source)."

<whew!>

Spinach

"Spinach is a popular leafy green vegetable and is easily incorporated into a variety of dishes, including soups, sauces, smoothies and salads.

Its nutrient profile is impressive with one cup (30 grams) of raw spinach providing 181% of the DV for vitamin K, 56% of the DV for vitamin A and 13% of the DV for manganese (9).

It’s also packed with folate, which plays a key role in red blood cell production and the prevention of neural tube defects in pregnancy (10Trusted Source).

One study on the neural tube defect spina bifida found that one of the most preventable risk factors for this condition was a low intake of folate during the first trimester of pregnancy (11Trusted Source).

Along with taking a prenatal vitamin, eating spinach is a great way to increase your folate intake during pregnancy."

GJ - Spinach loves the cold damp weather of early spring and easily lasts when planted before the winter. It bolts (goes to seed and is bitter) when the weather warms and bugs work it over late in spring. Early fresh spinach is a treat, right from the garden. Ask my rabbits.

More leafy greens are described here.

Dr. Fuhrman emphasizes beans (of all types), greens (of all types), plus uncooked nuts and seeds. If you want the book, I will be happy to mail it to you. I am getting it for about 99 cents.

More Nutrition Posts Are Coming

Eat To Live is easy to buy, new or used.

Physical and mental energy are great, but they do not come from what people eat and drink the most - and pay the most to have.

I began studying Eat To Live to get a better balance, especially since I imagined my bakery DNA would work overtime for me. Live To Eat Desserts - my epic work, has been set aside.

 

Here is the bad list from the book and some other sources -

Sugared drinks (fruit juices, soda pop, diet drinks) are all bad. Sugar-free simply makes the body more eager to have more carbohydrates. Substitute with water, coffee, and tea. Coffee and tea together are very good for health.

The whites are delicious but bad - white bread, white sugar, hidden sources of sugar (corn syrup for sweetener and flavor enhancer). 

Exercise is essential, every day, starting with the daily walk. Stationary devices should be used consistently, not just in panic times (January, part of February, and - oh forget it).

Big Switch from Meat to Vegetables

Eat To Live advocates large amounts of vegetables replacing our over-use of meat. Micro-nutrients and protein are abundant in green vegetables. They satisfy without tossing a lot of carbohydrates into the system. I knew that from experience but kept on returning to my heritage.

Simply put, carbohydrates (sugars, bakery products) demand a lot of insulin for regulation and eventually tilt the body's system the wrong way.

Alcohol products were certainly built into Creation, but moderation is essential. My father argued that heavy drinkers did not like delicious food and therefore shied away from the delights of the bakery. The liver is the most fabulous chemical factory of all time - it can break down chemicals that never existed before, and it improves its ability to do this during the first sample (source - Yale Medical School, where I took a course on alcohol and drug abuse, not for treatment but for academic credit). 

I have seen the results of alcohol abuse too many times to join in the hilarity promoted by brewers. Habit becomes addiction over a long period of time, and the last stage is almost impossible to defeat. My friend died early, suffering from blackouts and everything else. 

 Never promote donuts outdoors.