Eating for Optimum Health:

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Eating for Optimum Health

• Finding a Metabolic Balance for Lifelong Weight
  Maintenance

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Purpose

• Discuss the concept of metabolism and metabolic
  aging
• Review the basics of nutrition
• Discuss two hormones of metabolism
• Analyze popular diet fads
• Propose a balanced approach to healthier eating
  for life
• Review some sample meal plans

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Overweight/Obesity in the U.S.
Source CDC/NCHS, Health, United States, 2000
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Part of the Food Chain

• After Industrial Revolution people stopped
  picking, gathering, milking, hunting or fishing
  for foods.
• Modern food consists of many invented, chemically
  altered food products such as saccharin and
  margarine which create cellular damage.
• Damage done by these food products affects our
  natural metabolic processes causing our hormones
  to become unstable.
• This can lead to a variety of diseases including
  heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

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Metabolism

• The amount of energy that a persons body burns.
• Combined effect of the varied biochemical
  processes that are constantly occurring in the
  body on a cellular level enabling the body to
  function.
• Some functions that occur are bone and tissue
  regeneration, elimination, fertility, internal
  organ functions, mood, vision, hormone
  production, heart pumping and talking.
• Healing metabolism is the first step towards
  weight loss and achieving optimum health.

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Metabolic Aging

• Several factors have been found to alter a bodys
  metabolic function leading to weight gain and
  diminished health
• Alcohol
• Artificial Sweeteners
• Caffeine
• Lack of exercise
• Poor nutrition
• Prescription or over-the-counter drug use
• Steroids
• Stimulant and other recreational drugs
• Stress
• Tobacco (Schwarzbein,1999 6)

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Protein

• Comprised of amino acids.
• 20 amino acids important for metabolism. 10 of
  these are found in the body (nonessential). The
  other 10 are required for life and must be
  obtained by eating protein (essential).
• Humans require a steady source of protein to
  support the constant regeneration and hormone
  production taking place.
• Protein is needed to rebuild bones, cells,
  enzymes, hair, hormones, muscles, nails, and
  neurotransmitters.
• Immunoglobulins are a protein required for immune
  system function.
• On average women need 60-70g/day men need
  70-80g/day.
• Packaged/processed meats containing excess salt
  and sugar preservatives, nitrates and other
  additives should be avoided. Try eating more
  hormone-free, antibiotic-free, range-fed meat and
  poultry.
• Protein should be cooked at low, even
  temperatures to avoid damaged fats.
• Buy your meat fresh and cook it within 24 hours.
  2-day-old meat in your refrigerator has already
  begun to oxidize.

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Types of Fats

• Dietary Fat ? Body Fat
• Structural Fats used as building materials
  within your body for structures such as cells,
  hormones, and brain components.
• Body Fat Reservoir of fat found in fat cells in
  the form of triglycerides, to be used as
  insulation and energy.
• Dietary Fat Comes from either animal or plant
  sources. Animal dietary fats are composed of
  structural fat and body fat. Plant fats are oils
  that are made up of fatty acids.

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Dietary Fats

• Dietary fat does not stimulate a release of
  insulin, which is required for fat to be stored
  in the fat cells, so it does not turn into fat on
  your body.
• Some health problems due to fat deprivation
  brittle nails, constipation, infertility,
  insomnia, loss of lean body mass, mood disorders,
  and scaly, itchy skin.
• Eating good fats in their natural form is
  healthy because your body knows how to metabolize
  them.
• Pure-pressed oils are healthy, but heat processed
  oils are damaged.

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Good Fats vs. Bad Fats

• Good Fats
• Cold or pure-pressed oils
• Essential fatty acids (primrose oil, flaxseed
  oil, borage oil)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fish oil
• Mayonnaise made from pure-pressed canola oil and
  containing no hydrogenated oils

• Bad Fats
• Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.
• Trans-fatty acids PUFA that have been heated to
  high temps.
• Deep fried foods
• Rancid fats
• Blackened meats or meats over-cooked at high
  temps.

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Cholesterol

• Essential for brain function
• Forms insulation around nerves to keep electrical
  impulses moving.
• Forms membranes inside cells.
• Important structure in cell membranes
• Keeps cell membranes permeable
• Keeps mood level by stabilizing neurotransmitters
• Maintains healthy immune system
• Makes important hormones
  (Schwarzbein, 1999 63)

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Cholesterol

• Dietary Cholesterol ? High Cholesterol Levels
• On a cholesterol restricted diet, insulin
  activates an enzyme called HMG Co-A Reductase
  which overproduces cholesterol from
  carbohydrates/sugar.
• Eating a sufficient amount of dietary cholesterol
  blocks HMG Co-A Reductase and prevents
  carbs/sugar from being converted to cholesterol.
• Often people with high insulin levels will end up
  having high cholesterol levels.

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Carbohydrates

• Carbohydrates are simple (fruits/candy) or
  complex (vegetable/grains) chains of sugar
  molecules.
• Found in real and man-made foods such as whole
  grains, starchy vegetables, fruits, most dairy
  products, legumes, breads and cereals, pasta, and
  sweets.
• All carbohydrates break down in the digestive
  track to one-sugar molecules.
• Carbohydrates enter the blood stream much more
  quickly than proteins or fats.
• If carbohydrates, broken down into sugar in the
  digestive track, are not utilized through energy
  exertion, they will be converted to triglycerides
  (fat), and cholesterol in the body.
• Carbohydrates eaten in moderate quantities in a
  balanced manner partnered with proteins and fats,
  they will be utilized more efficiently and not
  stored on the body as fat.

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Insulin and Glucagon

• Two main hormones produced in the pancreas to
  regulate nutrient distribution.
• Glucagon directs liver to release sugar available
  to the body, and releases fat that can be used as
  energy as well as protein to be used as building
  materials.
• High glucagon means more food will be used for
  energy and nourishment.
• Insulin unloads protein, fats, and sugar from the
  blood and puts them into cells. Used to balance
  blood sugar levels.
• Insulin tells the liver if there is too much
  sugar in the blood, causing the liver to increase
  conversion of sugar into fat.
• High insulin means more food will be stored as
  fat.
• Glucagon is released in response to protein.
  Insulin is released in response to carbohydrates,
  and neither is released in response to
  non-starchy vegetables and fats.

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Myth or Fact?

• Eating protein and fat is fattening.
• False Protein and Fat lower the
  insulin-to-glucagon ratio, which prevents fat
  production and storage.
• BUT the types of protein and fat that you
  choose are very important to maintaining a
  healthy metabolism. Damaged fats and proteins
  should be avoided whenever possible.
• Carbohydrates are light and satisfying.
• True and False Carbohydrates do not sit in the
  stomach because they are quickly converted to
  sugar and sent into the blood. The feedback
  mechanism that tells the brain the you are full
  is not signaled by carbohydrates. This is why
  you can continue eating carbohydrate foods long
  after you are full.

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No-Carb Diets

• Any diet in which one or more food groups, such
  as carbohydrates, are eliminated is very
  dangerous to the body and your metabolism.
• Excessive KETONES (a by-product of fat
  metabolism) are found in the blood and then
  excreted in the urine.
• KETONES are used for energy, but by extreme
  dieting you breakdown fat stores too quickly and
  the body cannot use all of them, thereby
  excreting them in the urine.
• Lean body mass wastes away during this process
  and the metabolism becomes greatly damaged.
• Without lean body mass your body will not have
  the energy to burn fat naturally and
  consistently.
• This is NOT a long-term solution for health and
  weight loss.

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Low-Fat, High-Carb Diets

• On a low-fat diet, you reduce your intake of
  protein and fat and increase consumption of
  carbohydrates.
• Digestion of carbohydrates results in high levels
  of blood sugar being delivered to your liver.
• Excess blood sugar is converted to triglycerides
  (fat) and is used either as energy by the body or
  stored as fat.
• Continuing to eat an excess of carbohydrates
  sends a steady supply of blood sugar to the
  brain, keeping it satisfied.
• The absence of adequate proteins and fats in the
  diet forces the body to recruit these vital
  nutrients by breaking down its own muscle and
  bone mass.
• Years of eating a low-fat diet results in
  rearrangement of body composition. Muscle mass
  will shrink, bones will become less dense and
  body fat will increase.

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Which Diet is Best?
According to the National Institutes of Health,
Americans spend 33 billion annually on
weight-loss products and services.
And it seems every day someone touts the efficacy
of another diet plan. How do we as
consumers know what to believe? Lets take a
look at some of the most popular diets on the
market and see where they stand based on the
basic foundations of nutrition weve discussed.
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Slim Fast

• PROS
• Portions are controlled.
• CONS
• Must purchase pre-packaged diet food products
  high in processed flour and sugar.
• Little discussion of getting foods from natural
  sources or learning to maintain a lifestyle once
  the diet is over.
• Foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals
  and are not supplied naturally in this diet.
• Eating diet snack bars and diet milkshakes all
  day does not help the dieter to kick the habit of
  eating highly sweetened foods. Foods are
  chemically sweetened with sucralose (Splenda) and
  acesulfame potassium (ace-K). The long term
  effects of consuming these foods are risky and
  unknown.
• Although no foods are forbidden there is
  little time to consume other foods in a day once
  you have consumed all of the packaged products
  that are required for the diet to work.

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Jenny Craig

• PROS
• One-on-one private consultations to develop a
  customized, individual plan.
• On-going 24/7 support
• Balancing food, mind, and body approach
• Meals are high in fiber
• Offer a vegetarian option
• CONS
• Financial commitment involved. Must purchase
  Jenny Foods.
• Diet plans do not promote organic, whole
  vegetables and grains.
• All meals are low fat and low calorie. No
  mention of good fats and good carbohydrates.
• Lifelong commitment to Jenny Craig products in
  order to maintain diet.
• No way to wean from program without gaining the
  weight back.

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Atkins Diet

• PROS
• Restricts processed and refined flours and sugars
  by cutting out excess carbohydrates.
• Suggests that protein and fat are necessary
  components for weight loss.
• Helps people to curb carbohydrate addictions for
  a period of time.
• CONS
• No distinction between healthy and unhealthy fat
  intake. Promotes heavy consumption of damaged
  fats that can lead to heart disease, high
  cholesterol levels, and cancer in the long term.
• Carbohydrate deficiencies can cause a mineral
  deficiency for B-vitamins, chromium, vanadium,
  and magnesium as well as a high level of ketones
  in the urine. This leads to wasting of lean body
  mass.
• Can cause constipation and diarrhea, fatigue,
  toxicity (uric acid and ammonia due to ketone
  levels), bad breath, and body odor
• Not actually fat loss but tissue dehydration to
  get rid of ketone build up in cells.
• Extreme dieting is shown to cause a yo-yo affect
  that will cause the weight to come back.

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South Beach Diet

• PROS
• Advice, motivation, support, promote keeping a
  journal, tracking progress with an online
  personal web page.
• Focus on eating the right carbohydrates and right
  fats for better health. Doesnt mutually exclude
  them from the diet. Teaches the dieter to really
  analyze the quality of the foods being eaten.
• Helps curb cravings for refined carbohydrates.
• Transitions from phase to phase in order to work
  back in to a sustainable lifestyle.
• No pre-packaged foods. Dieter must learn to cook
  in a new way.
• CONS
• No carbohydrates whatsoever are allowed for the
  first two weeks.
• Suggested recipes do not focus on organic foods
  and whole grains. Sugar and egg substitutes used
  in some recipes.

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Healthy Eating for Life

• Eat foods from each of the 4 groups at every meal
  and snack Fats, Proteins, High Carbohydrate
  Foods, and Low-Carbohydrate Vegetables
• Be sure to eat 3 square meals a day as well as at
  least one snack in either the mid-morning or
  mid-afternoon.
• Eat a diet primarily consisting of real vs.
  man-made foods. Stick to foods that you could
  pick, milk, gather, hunt, or fish.
• Man-made carbs ex) potato chips, colas, white
  flour, rice cakes, pasta, bread, cereal.
• Real carbs sweet potatoes, brown rice, black
  beans
• Avoid damaged, man-made fats (trans-fats,
  oxidized/rancid, or hydrogenated), proteins
  (fried, blackened, smoked, processed), and
  carbohydrates (processed).
• Avoid a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet.

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Tips for Optimum Health

• To achieve optimum health and body composition
  you must
• Eat a balanced diet that includes proteins, fats,
  and non-starchy vegetables - not one that
  eliminates one or more food groups.
• Eat carbohydrates in accordance with your current
  metabolism and activity level the less active
  you are, the less carbohydrates you will burn
  off.
• Manage stress
• Decrease stimulant use
• Significantly reduce or ideally eliminate
  caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol

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The Ideal Plate
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Protein

• 20-30 grams per meal from fish, poultry, meats,
  eggs, or cheese (fish should be eaten 2 or more
  times per week)

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Protein
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Low-Carb Vegetables

• At least 4 cups per day

• 6 spears asparagus ½ cup
• 1 head broccoli 1 ½ cups
• 1 salad tomato 2/3 cup
• 3 stalks raw celery 1 cup
• 1 cup raw salad greens (leaf lettuce, romaine,
  cabbage, spinach, arugula, etc.) counts as ½ cup
  when calculating the 4 cups per day.

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Low-Carb Vegetables
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More Low-Carb Vegetables
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High-Carbohydrate Foods

• Up to 2 total cups of high-carb vegetables,
  legumes, or whole grains.
• The less energy you expend, the less
  carbohydrates you will need.

• Legumes
• 1 cup ½ can of garbanzos, kidney beans, refried
  beans, or navy beans
• 1 cup 8 oz. split pea soup or lentil dahl
• 1 cup 1/3 cup dry beans measured before cooking
• Whole Grains
• 1 cup cooked rice, polenta, corn, quinoa, millet,
  buckwheat, etc.
• 1 slice bread or 1 corn tortilla ½ cup

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High-Carb Vegetables

• Up to 2 total cups of high-carb vegetables,
  legumes, or whole grains.

• 1 cup 8 oz. cooked butternut or acorn squash,
  yams, Jerusalem artichoke, canned pumpkin
• 1 cup 1 potato (approx. 4x2)
• 1 cup sweet potato (approx. 5x2)

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High-Carb Vegetables
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Fruit

• 2 fruit servings/day best eaten before meals or
  as a snack in combination with a protein.

• 1 serving an apple, banana, nectarine, or peach
• 1 serving ½ grapefruit or cantaloupe
• 1 serving 1 cup blueberries, cherries
• NOTE Whole fruit is advised over drinking fruit
  juice because fruit juice tends to be higher in
  sugar while lacking the natural fiber found in
  whole fruit.

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Nuts, Seeds, Fats, and Liquids

• Raw Nuts and Seeds
• Up to 1/3 cup 3 times/week
• ¼ cup 1 ¼ oz. almonds, pine nuts, or sunflower
  seeds
• ¼ cup 2 oz. pumpkin seeds
• ¼ cup 2 ½ Tbsp. tahini (sesame butter)
• Additional Fats
• At least 3 Tbsp. per day
• Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or butter
• Liquid
• 8 or more 8 oz (1 cup) portions per day
• Filtered water, herb tea, or mixed vegetable juice

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Sample Meal Plan 1

• Breakfast
• Spinach and Feta Cheese Omelet. 1 cup cubed
  honeydew melon.
• Snack
• ¼ cup almonds and 1 string cheese
• Lunch
• Tuna salad (made with tuna, diced celery, and
  real mayonnaise), on a bed of greens tossed with
  olive-oil-and-vinegar dressing and topped with ½
  sliced avocado.
• Snack
• 2 Tbsp. peanut butter (no sugar added) on celery
• Dinner
• Broiled fish, ½ medium roasted sweet potato
  w/butter, steamed broccoli w/ butter. Mixed
  greens salad tossed w/sesame-oil-and-lime-juice
  dressing. ¾ cup cubed watermelon.

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Sample Meal Plan 2

• Breakfast
• Scrambled eggs with onions and bell peppers.
  Nitrate-free sausages. 1 slice buttered
  whole-grain toast or 2 slices buttered
  low-carbohydrate toast.
• Snack
• 1 cup cottage cheese with carrot sticks.
• Lunch
• Turkey breast (not luncheon meat) sandwich with
  real mayonnaise on ½ whole-grain roll. Lettuce
  and tomato salad tossed with olive-oil-and-vinegar
  dressing.
• Snack
• 1/3 cup hummus with carrot, bell pepper, and
  celery sticks.
• Dinner
• Broiled chicken breasts, buttered green beans, ¼
  cup mashed potatoes with butter. Lettuce,
  cucumber and tomato salad w/ olive-oil-and-vinegar
  dressing.
• ½ cup fresh raspberries with unsweetened whipping
  cream.

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Sample Meal Plan 3

• Breakfast
• Soy sausages, 2 eggs over-easy. 2 slices
  buttered low-carbohydrate toast. Sliced
  tomatoes.
• Snack
• Swiss cheese and small handful of grapes
• Lunch
• Greek salad (made with grilled tofu, Kalamata
  olives, feta cheese, and tomatoes on a bed of
  spinach tossed with olive-oil-and-lemon-juice
  dressing).
• ¾ cup fresh sliced strawberries.
• Snack
• 2 Tbsp. almond butter on celery
• Dinner
• Baked ricotta-cheese stuffed bell peppers (made
  with ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese,
  onions, and garlic), 1/3 cup couscous, mixed
  greens salad tossed with olive-oil-and-vinegar
  dressing. (Schwarzbein,1999 293-321)

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• DO NOT feel guilty or stressed-out about your
  current eating and lifestyle habits.
• You do not need to change all of your habits at
  once. Begin slowly, one step at a time to
  incorporate the suggested changes and always
  remember to give yourself credit for every
  positive change you are able to make!!!!

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Recommended Reading

• Diana Schwarzbein, M.D. (endocrinologist)
• The Schwarzbein Principle The truth about losing
  weight, being healthy, and feeling younger
• The Schwarzbein Principle II The Transition
• The Schwarzbein Principle, The Program Losing
  Weight the Healthy Way
• The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook
• The Schwarzbein Principle Vegetarian Cookbook
• Julia Ross, M.A. (psychologist)
• The Diet Cure
• The Mood Cure