Reviewing "The Flat Belly Diet"

What you eat matters! This is what they Promise you. I found this in my email today and wanted to write about it. This is really what everyone hopes for when they diet.

The Promise

Eat fat and lose weight. That's the promise of the Flat Belly Diet.

Now for the fine print: The kind of fat matters. The plan focuses on monounsaturated fats, which you get from olive oil, nuts, and other plant foods.

Authors Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, claim that in 32 days, you can lose up to 15 pounds and drop belly fat by following their plan:

• Eat 400 calories per meal, four times per day (daily total: 1,600).
• Don’t go longer than 4 hours without eating.
• Eat monounsaturated fats at every meal.

What You Can Eat and What You Can't

First, you target bloating for four days, aiming at consuming 1,200 calories each day. During that time, you can't add salt to any food and you must avoid:

• Processed foods
• Foods that can make you gassy, like beans, broccoli, and onions
• Carbs like pasta, bananas, and bagels

You must also drink 2 liters of water mixed with ginger root, cucumber, lemon, and mint leaves, which the book calls "sassy water."

After that, you eat a Mediterranean-style diet for 4 weeks with 1,600 calories per day. The menu includes items like Greek Lemon Chicken and Pumpkin Maple Cheesecake.

Level of Effort: Medium

The diet loosens up a little after 4 days. You'll still need to eat often and include monounsaturated fats, and hit the calorie mark precisely every day.

Limitations: The first 4 days are very restrictive. After that, you must eat 400 calories every 4 hours and include monounsaturated fats with every meal. A busy or unpredictable schedule can make this challenging.

Cooking and shopping: The diet includes recipes, ideas for snacks, and tips for ordering fast food.

Packaged foods or meals? Certain brands of food are recommended but not required.

In-person meetings? No.

Exercise: It's not required. But the book includes a “flat belly workout” to support the diet.

Does It Allow for Dietary Restrictions or Preferences?

Vegetarians and vegans: The plan suggests substitutions that work for these diets.

Low-salt diet: You're not supposed to add salt to anything you cook. You still need to check the label on other foods to see how much sodium they have.

Low-fat diet: This is not a low-fat diet, but the type of fat is heart-healthy. You eat monounsaturated fats at every meal, and you need to watch your portion sizes so you don't get too many calories.

What Else You Should Know

Cost: None except your groceries. Olive oil, nuts, and avocados may add to your bill. You could save by cutting back on other foods that the diet doesn't emphasize.

Support: You do this diet on your own.

What Dr. Michael Smith Says:

Does It Work?

Chances are if you eat just 1,600 calories a day, you’re going to lose weight. But losing 15 pounds in 32 days is a huge stretch.

To do that and lose fat (not water weight), you’d have to cut about 1,600 calories out of your diet every day! You could do that by eating less and increasing your exercise, but that’s a lot to ask of anyone.

There’s also nothing magical about the diet that’s going to lead to a flat belly. Monounsaturated fats don’t have any special effect on belly fat. Any diet that cuts calories and leads to weight loss will slim your belly along with the rest of you.

The diet also recommends you cut back on high-fiber foods like beans and broccoli. Yes, they may cause gas -- maybe even a bit of temporary bloating if you’re not used to them. But these foods are great ways to lose weight and keep it off. Fiber helps you feel full, so you eat less.

If this diet ultimately gets you to follow the Mediterranean diet, then it’s a good thing. That’s a winning strategy and one that has been linked to weight loss in multiple medical studies.

Is It Good for Certain Conditions?

Removing saturated fat (the kind found most often in animal products like meat) and replacing it with monounsaturated fat in moderation is undoubtedly a good thing. It helps lower LDL “bad” cholesterol and the chance of heart attack and stroke. So it’s a good approach for anyone with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease.

The aggressive weight loss the plan promises is concerning, and there isn't flexibility on calories. If you have diabetes, you should attempt this diet only under the care of your doctor. You’ll need to work closely together to monitor your blood sugar and adjust your meds, so your blood sugar doesn’t fall too low.

The Final Word

If you’re not ready for a huge change in your diet, look elsewhere for weight loss. The extreme cut in calories in this diet is more likely to leave you discouraged instead of thinner. If you think you have it in you, go for it. Just have a plan in place for sticking with a more moderate weight loss plan in the long run.

I'm going to add something to the Final Word. No one sticks to a restrictive diet for very long. And that's why restrictive diets have a very high failure rate, some as high as 90%. How do I get those numbers? Well, if you put the weight back before the end of the first year, then it's a failure.

So why do people buy into those plans? In the case of this plan, the author wrote a book and is hoping to sell a copy to you. There are people who lose weight and some do actually keep the weight off. But for the average working adult, it's very hard to stick to the plan and I don't think the author has offered any alternatives. In defense of the diet, It will work if you stick to it. Four meals a day, 400 calories in every meal, 4 hours a part and don't skip a meal. Oh, and don't forget to drink the water. I think that requires a lot of meal planning and preparation. If you have an office job, you have to pack two meals to take with you every day. Now they're only 400 calories each and they don't have to be hot meals. Just no processed foods.

I could do that, but I don't have an office job and I don't have to deal with the public, so it's easier for me. You should think about it and if you think you can stick with the diet, do it. Remember, you can't go back to the old diet.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog post.

gettingtoahealthyweight.wordpress.com

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Why Is Junk Food Popular?

By Shereen Lehman, MS, author for VeryWell.com 

This is a blog post from VeryWell.com and because I love this topic I had to write something about this piece. I have to admit that I love Pizza, cookies, ice cream, and a few other junk foods that I don't eat anymore. If you're trying to lose weight you can't even think about these things. If you're just trying to maintain, there are some healthy choices to some of the basic ones, like pizza, cookies, chips, and soft drinks. Even the healthy choices can sabotage a weight loss diet but I can buy a slice of pizza or eat one cookie without adding weight. 

How so, you might ask? Once you lose your body fat and have switched to a healthy diet, your body works better and burns more calories naturally just because muscle burns more calories than fat does. So now you know that if you lose your fat you can do a little cheating if you still eat healthy meals.

Dwight Eschliman/Getty Images

So if junk food is so bad for the body and bad quality overall, why is it so popular? You'd think no one would touch it.

First, let's back up and define "junk foods." It's the stuff you eat that has little to no nutritional value, usually combined with ingredients that are bad for you, or is high in calories when consumed in excess. So that means candy, chips, cookies, cake, sugary soft drinks, greasy burgers, hot dogs, French fries, ice cream, and most things that served at fast food restaurants qualify as junk foods.

So why do so many people eat junk food? Here are three possible reasons:

#1 It's Cheap

I think one big reason junk food is popular is because a lot of it is cheap to buy. I mean you can go to most any fast food restaurant and order something off a dollar menu of some sort. If you have a couple of bucks in your wallet, you can buy a full meal. But, statistics show that most fast food is bought by middle class working people.

Same story at the grocery store. Cheap snacks, inexpensive high-sodium and high-fat meals can be found on the shelves. Healthier foods—like fresh fruits and vegetables—tend to be more expensive. Those bags or cups of instant ramen noodles cost less than 50 cents, whereas an orange costs a dollar. 

Although a lot of junk food is cheap to buy up front, I think the argument can be made that cheap junk foods end up being more expensive in the long run due to their negative impact on health.

#2 It's Easy

This reason goes along with the being cheap part. Junk food is lurking in vending machines, convenience stores, and even stores that don't typically sell food items might have snacks and sodas near the cashiers. Yes, it might be cheaper to buy, but you can find fast foods everywhere you turn because it's a high-profit product. Stores and restaurants want to sell high-profit items to make more money but they know they can't over charge their customers. If you have a menu with $7 or $8 entries, it would not be good for business to raise the price to $9, so the thing to do is to serve entries that have a lower food cost. By doing that you cheapen the quality of the food and the nutritional value of the food goes down. 

You Are What You Eat. 

And if you eat healthy foods you’ll feel healthy. 

Those instant meals I already mentioned? They're easy to prepare, and you can store a bunch of them in your kitchen cabinets for a long time. 

Of course, fast foods live up to the name. You can order a fast food meal and then eat it a minute or two later. Or you can order your meal from your car and save time by wolfing it down while you drive away.

That drive-thru thing isn't good, though. Not only is the food bad for your health, but dropped fries can accumulate in your car, under the seat. And that gets kind of gross.

#3 It's Sweet, Fatty, or Salty (Or All 3)

Rarely do junk foods tempt you with delicate or complicated flavors. They pretty much hit you hard with sweet, fatty and salty flavors. I think those simple flavors might be preferred by people who are picky eaters—it could be the slightly bitter flavor of many vegetables turns some people off, especially kids. 

But it's more than flavor. Various combinations of sugar and fat make for textures people like. Fat makes foods feel smooth and creamy, like ice cream. Starchy potato and corn chips cooked in hot oil have a satisfying crunch. That's not to say that healthy foods don't have a nice texture, but sometimes the textures of fresh fruits and vegetables take a little getting used to.

Then It Becomes a Habit

Since junk foods are easy to find, easy to make, and a lot of them just flat out taste good, consuming them becomes a habit. That's the real problem. I mean eating a candy bar now and then or snarfing down a bag of fries once in awhile isn't all that big a deal. But when junk foods make up a big part of your daily diet, then you run the risk of becoming overweight and obese, plus you're not going to get enough of the nutrients and fiber your body needs for good health.

So, next time you find yourself standing in line at a burger joint or staring at a vending machine, think about how your choice could affect your health. Then walk away and find something better.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog post.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

  

What's Zapping Your Energy?

Sure, we all get draggy from time to time. A sleepless night here and there, a stressful day at the office or one too many doughnuts can take their toll. But when you're constantly feeling drained, it might be time to look at what's bringing you down. Check out these energy zappers and see how many apply to you.

Sugar provides quick energy, but after picking you up, it drops you hard and leaves you looking for more.

One key to cutting back on sugar is having the right food with you so you don't head to the nearest vending machine. "The best intentions go out the window when you're not prepared," says Florida nutritionist Pamela Smith, RD, author of The Energy Edge. Smith tries to make sure she always has healthy snacks on hand, and she advises making sure they contain at least 1 to 2 ounces of protein to keep your blood sugar stable for several hours, combined with a complex carbohydrate to give you a quick boost of energy. Here are a few of her favorites:

• Whole grain crackers and low-fat cheese
• Fresh fruit or a small box of raisins and low-fat cheese
• Half a lean turkey or chicken sandwich
• Plain, nonfat yogurt blended with fruit or all-fruit jam
• Small pop-top can of water-packed tuna or chicken with whole grain crackers

2. Caffeine

Caffeine can also leave us "tired and wired," Silber says. "If we need sleep and we choose caffeine instead, we continue to throw off our natural sleep cycle. If you find that too much caffeine -- whether it comes in the form of coffee, tea, cola, or even chocolate -- is keeping you from getting a good night's sleep, switch to decaffeinated varieties of your favorite beverage.

I wanted to write about "lack of energy" because it happens to me occasionally. I chalk it off to overdoing it when I was working out or maybe I should have ate more calories this morning. Whatever happened to me seem to happen to most of us. But some of us who are overweight experience this lack of energy every day. It's not funny to them. I shrug it off and drink an extra protein shake or eat an extra energy bar, but I'm not worried about losing weight. 

Most of us feel this way in the afternoon. My go-to drink is coffee. I drink about 4 cups a day and now medical experts say if you have no health problems extra cups of tea or coffee won't hurt you and might even be good for you. This is something to take up with your doctor. People taking medications have to consult a physician about changing their diet.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog post.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Finding A Virtual Trainer

This blog post by Chis Anderson, a writer for WebMD, answers some important questions I get from my readers.

I think we all know that you have to exercise to stay in shape. But you can't just do what others do and expect the same results. We are all different and we respond differently to exercises. You have to find a routine that works for you. Even a simple thing like walking can help you or can do nothing for you.

We’re not all gym people. Some of us like to work out in the comfort of our own home, but finding the motivation to train at home can sometimes be a chore (the couch is right there). But hold up, there’s this thing called virtual training gaining steam in the fitness world. All you need is a broadband Internet connection, a webcam and some advice on where to start.

1. Do your research. Denise Posnak, owner and founder of MyBodWellness, says prospective trainees must make sure the trainer is experienced and educated. Posnak mainly trains in Pilates, but her advice is sound for any type of training, “You don’t want to be working with a teacher who got certified over the weekend. If a teacher has worked for 10 to 12 years, I’m going to go with them. Or if they’ve had a background in movement, like a professional athlete or a dancer, then that adds to their knowledge of the body.”

2. Make sure you’re comfortable. Posnak says to call (or Skype) and actually converse with your prospective virtual trainer. Get to know them. She recommends asking for a short session (30 minutes or less) if you’re trying virtual training for the first time, and if you’re feeling uncomfortable you can stop.
If you’re unable to have the first phone call, look at your first experience with the trainer as means of determining if it’s a long term fitness fit.

3. Be open and communicative. Only the trainee knows if a workout is too much or not enough. Leslie Silverglide, Co-Founder of Wello.com, says if a session is too hard, you just have to let your trainer know. If you feel you’re not being pushed hard enough, then likewise, let your trainer know during the session. Either way, Silverglide says clients need to be patient and ease into a training program.

4. Consider your safety. For Posnak, safety is a number one concern. “If you’re in Texas and your trainer is in California and you hurt yourself, there’s not much you can do [if the trainer doesn’t know where you live].” She says that the teacher needs to know where you are during the session. You want to be locatable in case something happens (think the splits gone awry).

Just imagine if you could find a trainer online that lived let's say within 30 minutes of you. Is that even possible? Yes, today it is. Your trainer can be right there with you in the same room working with you or working with a small group and you get the personal attention you need because they can watch you as you're moving through the poses. After all, it's not easy when you're a beginner. If the trainer can actually watch you, then the routine can be tailored to your experience level.

I started doing Yoga a couple years ago. I started going to a free class in the park. It was suppose to be for beginners but I felt like I didn't start at the beginning and that's true. You don't get any personal attention, you simply try and do what the others are doing. I was in reasonable good shape so it didn't take much time to catch on, but I could see others who were struggling. The problem with those classes is that they might be an entry level class but it's an ongoing class so the poses aren't difficult but most of the students have been in class for several weeks and you just started and that's okay but you feel out of place. They are already doing more advanced poses than you can do. A virtual trainer is a real live person who watches and sees what you're doing and gives you an easy routine until you can move up to more advanced poses. You can find a virtual trainer online and if you have a workout buddy you can share the expense.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog post.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Why Do We Gain Weight

This is a topic I could write a whole book on. But I want to give you a quick explanation in less than 1000 words. A Lot of the problem is your mental state. Most of us don't think constantly about our health. We have other things on our minds and, let's face it, life is complicated today. And if the truth be known, we were not raised to deal with the pressures in today's world. Most of us have difficulty coping with our lives. Some of this we bring on ourselves by trying to absorb too much information and trying to do more than we can possibly handle. But in today's society, we are all most forced to keep pace with others even if that's not possible.

If you're working like most of us, you have to keep the pace that your co-workers set. The theory behind that is, "if they can do it, I can do it" and that's what causes the pressure on us to perform better. For most of us to perform better, we usually have to put more stuff on the back burner. If this sounds like something you 've heard before, putting things on the back burner is the term most of us use instead of saying that I'll put that off till later and then never do it.

Taking care of your personal appearance is usually close to the top of the list. If you know someone who dresses like they're on their way to the gym, the way you might dress at 7 am, and it's after lunch, this might be someone who just wants to dress comfortably or someone who has too much on their to-do list.

The first commitment you have is to yourself and if you have to get up earlier, then do it. Anyone who is running all day like some crazy person, driving over the speed limit all day long is someone who isn't taking care of themselves and setting a bad example to others.

Taking care of yourself is about eating the right way, staying in shape, and setting a good example for others. You will have to work on that but this is all part of living a long happy life. Regular exercise like walking or jogging or maybe a yoga class a long with a good diet and you like before a happier, healthier person and you will slim down. All of this takes time but losing body fat is worth the effort.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com.  Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Emotional Eating, A Major Cause Of Weight Gain

Emotional Eating goes hand-in-hand with "bingeing" a very serious health problem and a major cause of weight gain. It can be caused by bouts of depression or the opposite, "skipping Meals". An example might be, you skipped lunch because you had no time, then you get home late and you're very hungry and just want to eat now. You grab a plate of leftovers from the frig and mindlessly finish them. A short time late you're still hungry so you start grazing and because you haven't eaten since morning you continue grazing until bedtime or until you're stuffed. Sound familiar?

For some, it takes a major event to trigger emotional eating -- getting fired or going through a divorce; for others, it's a constant struggle: the traffic on the way to work; the jammed photo copier; a tough day at the office ... the daily grind can lead to a seemingly unbreakable habit of turning to food to make it all better.

Emotional eating can sabotage your weight management efforts. Getting a handle on your tendency to eat in response to emotions can be one of the most important factors in achieving long-term weight loss success.

Sometimes, the desire to eat has nothing to do with a rumbling in your stomach telling you that you need to eat. We get a strong longing for foods -- particularly fattening, comforting foods -- when emotions spike or plummet. We want to eat and we think nothing else will do.

Personally, for me, eating was more about rewarding myself. Then later it became a way to satisfy a craving. I think the more you indulge yourself the more cravings you’ll have. So I defeated those cravings by eating something every three hours. Just remember to avoid empty calories. Eat something that will give you part of the nutrition you need for the day. When you use the small meal plan 5 or 6 small meals a day, it is easier to keep track of the amount of nutrition you're getting each meal.

The worst part about emotional eating is it actually causes your problems to multiply. Eventually, instead of avoiding the issues you're stuffing down with food, you've created another one altogether -- weight gain, guilt about eating, worsening health ... and then it starts all over again.

If you tend to give in to emotional eating, there are a few tactics you can use to regain control of your eating habits and get back on track.

o Step One: Identify Your Triggers

o Step Two: Recognize Hunger Signals

o Step Three: Limit Trigger Foods

Simply stop stocking your fridge and pantry with the foods you binge on.

o Step Four: Don't Skip Meals

Skipping meals almost always leads to over-eating.

o Step Five: Create Alternatives to Eating

Whether it's a bubble bath or curling up with a good book, planning other activities will help you relax and avoid binges.

When you trip up -- because you will (We all do!), don't give up. Forgive yourself and start over the next day.

You can contact me on LinkedIn or Twitter (@ray0369)

I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

How Processed Foods Effect Your Health

By Kenneth Brown, MD

B. Harvey/Stocksy United

Recently, I was meeting a friend at a park over lunch, and I noticed a really disturbing trend. Almost everyone there was opening a package or box for their lunch.

As you are probably aware, multiple concerns have been raised about processed foods, including the abundance of processed foods and the dangers they pose. In fact, a recent study performed by researchers at the University of Chapel-Hill found that more than 60 percent of the food purchased annually in America is highly processed.

As evidence mounts linking over-consumption of these products to major health consequences, highly processed foods are becoming a concerning trend.

Some basic food processing is necessary to ensure the safety of perishable items, such as fresh meat or dairy, the concern lies with products considered to be highly processed. These are the convenience foods that dominate the center aisles of your typical grocery store and include: ready-made meals, cereal, canned goods, cookies, chips, sodas, candy, sweets and other packaged items. In addition, many types of meat and cheese products, such as bacon, sausages, hot dogs, lunch meat, and cheese slices or spreads are also considered highly processed foods. These types of foods constitute the majority of the calories consumed on a regular basis for the average American family. 

Avoiding processed foods altogether may be impossible, but understanding why consuming too many may be detrimental is an important first step to improving your health.

For starters, these products typically contain increased amounts of salt, sugar, or fat—all of which are known as harmful.

Highly processed foods are also chemically treated with additives or preservatives to improve their taste, texture, or to extend shelf-life. An easy way to identify any processed food is to take a look at the label; if there is a laundry list of ingredients with unrecognizable, complicated names it is safe to say it's processed food.

Here are six ways overconsumption of processed food could be affecting your health:

Obesity

It is well known that sugar contributes to obesity, which can then lead to a host of other chronic diseases. Highly processed foods are often loaded with extra sugar but don’t be fooled if the word “sugar” doesn’t actually appear on the label. There are as many as 50 different words used to list types of sugar added to processed foods. The most common names are corn syrup, fructose, glucose, sucrose, malt or maltose, honey, molasses, or nectar.

Known as “empty calories,” any type of sugar, including those hidden or disguised varieties, adds no nutritional value and in fact, encourages your body to consume even more calories. What’s worse is that consumption of sugar triggers the same sense of pleasure and craving within the brain comparable to those who struggle with drug addiction. This not only explains why it is so hard to resist seconds after indulging in a sweet treat but why many experience subconscious cravings for all those other highly-processed meals and snacks.

So, how much sugar consumption is too much? The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends added sugars should be limited to no more than 10 percent of daily calories.

This equals about 12 teaspoons of sugar per day, which sounds pretty generous until you put into perspective that the average can of soft drink contains about 10 teaspoons alone. 

Metabolic Syndrome Including Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes

O.K., I know all of this might sound a little technical, but if you're already taking medication and wonder why, it's more than just your weight causing your health problems, it's your diet.

As if obesity were not bad enough, processed food consumption is also linked to metabolic syndrome, which is defined as a group of risk factors that can lead to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Metabolic syndrome is diagnosed when any three or more of the following five risk factors are present:

• Increased waistline also known as being “apple-shaped” with abdominal obesity

• Elevated triglycerides, or needing medication to lower triglycerides
• Low HDL (healthy) cholesterol levels, or needing medication due to low HDL levels
• High blood pressure, or needing a medication to treat high blood pressure
• High fasting blood glucose or needing a medication due to high fasting blood glucose

The abundance of sugars found in highly processed foods is the main culprit of metabolic syndrome. Sugars are a form of carbohydrates, which the body needs for energy. However, when these types of carbohydrates are consumed in excess quantities, the sugars must be stored in the body—typically as fat—and may lead to several metabolic consequences. An example of these types of metabolic occurrences is frequent spikes in blood glucose levels requiring insulin to stabilize. Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance, as well as increasing the levels of triglycerides in the blood. The cumulative effects of these metabolic disturbances can raise the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Processed foods can also play a role in the development of inflammatory bowel disease, also known as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. This time, the culprit is a type of chemical additive called emulsifiers, which are used to extend shelf life and help hold the shape or texture of foods. They are found in nearly every processed food product, including breads, peanut butter, cake mixes, salad dressings, sauces, yogurt, pudding, processed cheese, ice cream, and desserts.

It may be surprising to know that the emulsifiers used in processed food are similar to those also found in your household soaps or detergents. This is because the primary function of an emulsifier is to allow water and oil to stay mixed, whether it’s for the purposes of removing grime and stains, or for holding together food substances that normally would separate.

In a recent study, mice who were fed a diet simulating the type and quantity of typically consumed emulsifiers found in processed foods were found to have changes observed in their gut bacteria that triggered several health conditions including the ones already discussed—obesity and metabolic syndrome—as well as inflammatory bowel disease. The reason for this connection is because the bacteria affected compromise the mucus protective layer that usually separates microbes from the intestinal wall, similar to how a detergent works to remove dirt, which led to an inflammatory response and increased the incidence of these diseases. 

Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases are triggered when the body’s immune system goes haywire and attacks its own cells. There are over 100 different autoimmune diseases, but the more common ones are type 1 diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. In these diseases, the immune system confuses healthy cells as unhealthy and prompts an attack on the body it is meant to protect.

It is estimated that 70 percent of your immune system is located in your gut. This is not surprising when you consider all of the environmental toxins that travel through your digestive tract from start to end. Your intestinal tract is lined with a special layer of cells called epithelial cells, whose function is to serve as a protective membrane. The intestinal epithelial cells are joined together by tight junctions, which helps to keep them bonded together and strengthens the defense barrier against bacteria, toxins, and other harmful antigens. But when these tight junctions become compromised, they weaken the body’s defense and can allow the exposure of harmful antigens into the body by increasing intestinal permeability. This is termed “leaky gut” and is currently a hot topic in medical research. 

Research has shown that seven common additives abundantly found in processed foods can damage the tight junctions, making them weaker and increasing intestinal permeability. This, in turn, opens up the door for toxins to harm the body, which can raise the likelihood of developing an autoimmune disease.  The seven additives identified are glucose, salt, emulsifiers, organic solvents, gluten, microbial transglutaminase, and nanoparticles—all of which are commonly used in processed food products. 

Colorectal Cancer

Processed foods can also increase the risk of developing colon cancer. This time, the culprit is processed meats, which include lunch meat, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and beef jerky or any other meat product that has been chemically treated in order to stay preserved. The risk also includes consumption of red meat such as beef or pork. Eating as few as 50 grams of processed or red meat daily, which is roughly the equivalent of a small hot dog or two slices of bacon, has been found to raise the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent. It is believed that the risk comes from either the chemicals used to preserve these meats or the cooking process by which they are preserved, both of which are associated with exposure to carcinogenic compounds. 

Anxiety and Depression

If you’re not compelled to take a closer look at processed food consumption yet, here is another health risk to consider. Diets high in processed foods are also linked to increased rates of anxiety and depression. One theory is that exposure to those added sugars can wreak havoc in your gut, where the majority of serotonin production occurs. Serotonin is an important mood stabilizer, and when dietary habits include the chemical additives common in processed foods, it can adversely affect your body’s ability to maintain healthy levels. In addition, remember that all those added sugars cause a spike in blood glucose and increased insulin production, which sets in a motion a roller coaster metabolic process that can result in hyperactivity followed by lethargy. Also, since those added sugars can become highly addictive, your body continually craves more, repeating this process over and over. 

Overall, diets high in processed foods usually mean the less real food is consumed, which results in the body becoming deficient in other vitamins and minerals that are needed to support your mood and emotional health. Although it is virtually impossible to completely eliminate processed food from our daily diets, it is good to be mindful of just how much you are eating. This awareness can help to create a healthier lifestyle and help with many medical ailments. I always tell my patients that food can be a medicine or a toxin. Make your diet work for you not against you.

Often we don't know or understand why our doctor wants us to take a certain pill or pills. We assume it's because of our weight and indirectly it is, but it's because of the food we eat. Eating healthy is the cure for all your health problems. The medicine you need is in your food or will be in your food if you're eating the right thing. 

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