Food & Nutrition: 'Is Your Coffee Making You Fat?'

Food & Nutrition: 'Is Your Coffee Making You Fat?' 

Dr. Weil's Daily Tips, January 30, 2011

You may not be ready to give up the morning cup of coffee just yet.  No matter how unhealthy they may be, rituals are hard to break.  If that's the case but you still want to grow towards healthier and lighter habits, including cutting back on the volume of sugar and mucus-forming and fatt-filled dairy products. For more, read below.  For even healthier vegan alternative, visit our nutrition and recipes section online at www.thesouthbeachdetox.com

A cup of plain, black coffee has about 10 calories. But add milk, chocolate, whipped cream and other flavor enhancers and coffee-shop staples such as mocha lattes can contain more calories - and almost as much unhealthy fat - as a Big Mac. 

When you consider that many people have these drinks daily, the total calorie intake can add up quickly. If you are not ready to give up coffee just yet but want to steer away from the sugar-laden, whole-fat versions, try these simple steps: you'll still get the flavor, but with less fat and calories.

1. Ask for skim rather than whole milk.

2. Skip the chocolate sauce and instead opt for a small piece of high-quality dark chocolate on the side.

3. To enhance flavor without fat, add cinnamon (which may aid digestion), a dab of honey or a little sugar to a plain coffee.

4. Forgo the whipped cream.

Food & Nutrition: 'Stevia FAQ: Questions and answers about stevia sweeteners.'

Food & Nutrition: 'Stevia FAQ: Questions and answers about stevia sweeteners.'

WebMD Feature

By Stephanie Watson

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

September 17, 2010

Nothing can replace the natural sugar you get from natural, unprocessed fruits.  If you really need to add sugar to your food until your taste buds become more attuned to the delicious, health-giving natural sugars, you may want to turn to natural sugar derived from plants such as Stevia.  Just make sure they are not heavily processed along the way or else you'll be losing the benefits of choosing a natural alternative for sugar.  For more on the various choices of sugar substitute and how they compare, read below.

What is stevia?

Stevia rebaudiana is a shrub native to South America. Its leaves have been used there for centuries to sweeten beverages. It is also an approved food additive in other countries, including Japan, Brazil, and China.

In the U.S., stevia products were long sold as dietary supplements -- but not as a food additives or ingredients -- because of safety concerns. In 2008, the FDA stated that the use of a refined stevia preparation called Rebiana is "generally recognized as safe," and can be used as a food ingredient. Products include, Good & Sweet, PureVia, Reb A, SweetLeaf Stevia

Sweetener, Sun Crystals (which combines stevia and sugar), and Truvia.

Fresh stevia leaves can be found at many farmers markets. The FDA now also allows certain refined stevia preparations to be used in food and drinks.

What does it taste like?

Stevia-based sweeteners have zero calories, yet are as much as 200 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). Some products may have a bitter taste.

Are stevia sweeteners artificial?

"I think that the FDA didn’t require good-enough testing," Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), says in an email to WebMD. "That said, [Rebiana] is probably safe.”

In April 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced that studies showed no risk of toxicity from highly purified stevia sweeteners. The CSPI still argues that more testing of these products is warranted.

Can stevia sweeteners be used in baking?

Yes, they can. Many product web sites have conversion charts to help.

How does stevia compare with other sugar substitutes?

Here is an overview of various sugar substitutes, including stevia.

Aspartame

What is it: Two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine; and methanol. Brand names are Equal and NutraSweet.

How it's used: Equal tabletop sweetener, diet soft drinks such as Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, some sugar-free desserts,including gelatin desserts, yogurt, and puddings.

Advantages: Tastes similar to sugar. Enhances sweet flavors, especially fruit flavors.

Drawbacks: Should not be consumed by people with phenylketonuria (PKU). Controversy continues about whether aspartame is linked to increased cancer rates. Government agencies say it is safe. A recent study from an Italian cancer institute found more lymphomas and leukemia in rats fed very large amounts of aspartame. The CSPI recommends avoiding it.

Saccharin

What is it: Benzoic sulfinide.

How it's used: Sweet'N Low tabletop sweetener, Tab diet cola, salad dressings, baked goods, canned fruit.

Advantages: Less expensive than other artificial sweeteners. Stable at high temperatures, so can be used for baking. Passes through the body unaltered.

Drawbacks: After studies in the early 1970s linked saccharin consumption to bladder cancer in rats, all food containing saccharin was required to carry a warning label. But studies in humans showed no consistent evidence that saccharin causes bladder cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. The warning label is no longer required. The CSPI advises avoiding saccharin because of studies that link it to cancer in rodents.

Acesulfame-K, or Ace-K

What is it: Acetoacetic acid and the mineral potassium.

How it's used: Usually in gums, confections, cough drops, and carbonated and alcoholic beverages, often in combination with another sweetener. Also sold as Sunett or Sweet One.

Advantages: Extends shelf life of diet drinks. Can be used for cooking and baking. Not metabolized or absorbed by the body.

Drawbacks: Government health agencies say it is safe. The CSPI advises avoiding it and has asked the FDA to require more tests. Can taste bitter on its own; better tasting when blended with other sweeteners.

Sucralose

What is it: A sugar molecule chemically altered by replacing three hydroxyl groups with three atoms of chlorine.

How it's used: Splenda tabletop sweetener and baking products. Also in yogurt, fruit juices, ice cream, dairy products, some diet beverages, and flavored waters, sometimes combined with Ace-K.

Advantages: Consumer groups have not raised the safety concerns with sucralose that they have with other sweeteners. Can be used in baked goods more readily than other artificial sweeteners. No effect on blood sugar levels.

Drawbacks: Although better suited for baking than other artificial sweeteners, it's still not a perfect substitute for sugar.

Neotame

What is it: A derivative of a combination of two amino acids: aspartic acid and phenylalanine.

How it's used: Sweetener and flavor enhancer for other ingredients, such as mint. In some store-brand juices and gums.

Advantages: More stable than aspartame, meaning a better fit for baked goods. Although it shares some ingredients with aspartame, neotame has not prompted the same safety concerns with consumer groups. It does not carry a warning label for people with PKU.

Drawbacks: Rarely used.

Stevia

What is it: Extract from the stevia plant.

How it's used: Dietary supplement and tabletop sweetener.

Advantages: Less is more. Stevia is much sweeter than sugar, so less is needed. It is an option for people with diabetes as it does not affect blood sugar levels.

Drawbacks: Some extracts have a bitter taste. It is billed as "natural," but technically is processed.

SOURCES:

FDA.

News release, European Food Safety Authority.

Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, executive director, Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Constance Brown-Riggs, MSEd, RD, CDE, CDN, national spokeswoman, American Dietetic

Association, nutritionist, Massapequa, N.Y.

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The need to detox: 'You Are What You Eat'

'You Are What You Eat'

Poetic Monthly Magazine Enlightenment Column , Alessandrina Lerner, MBA

Day after day, we keep feeding our body the same unhealthy foods and our mind the same negative thoughts, yet we wonder why we don't feel "so good".  While the relationship between the "foods" we consume ourselves with and the reality we manifest in our lives - including our physical body and state of mind, has been established scientifically, we close our eyes blindly and continue to fill the emptiness with layers of junk that only make us feel worst.  Entangled in idle pursuits that defy all reason and the simple laws of nature themselves, we keep burying our heads in the quicksands of denial a little deeper each day.  As time passes, the self-abuse intensifies, the hurt penetrates into the deepest recesses of our body and subconscious mind, the garbage starts pilling up so high in both body and mind that its poison begins to insidiously seep in and pollute us, and the illusory walls of protection we continue to build grow us weaker and sicker day by day.  Yet it is only when faced by death, or a disease so debilitating that we find ourselves unable to function at all, that we actually decide, "It is time for a change!"  Unfortunately, by then, the body has suffered such trauma and damage that it is often too late to reverse the perversive effects of degenerative disease.

That's why the time for change is always NOW!  Simply because NOW's the only time we have... before the scars get too deep, the harm too extensive, and our time becomes past once and for all!  Anybody who's been exposed to a balanced regimen of healthy food, intelligent physical exercise, and peaceful rest bears witness to the personal transformation they've experienced as a result.  From lethargy, depression, or even sickness, they rose once more from the dead and reclaimed their lives!  Of course, nobody said it would be easy to CHANGE because "bad" habits do have a way of creeping up on us, and before we know it, we've become their permanent slaves!  Well, at least, that's what the mind wants us to think.  See, the "MIND", it lives in a world of illusion, one where it thinks it's in control.  But let's be honest here, who hasn't had a taste of power - however illusory that may also be -  and hasn't grown attached to it!  The mind, you see, doesn't want us to change, it likes the old status quo.  It's actually grown so attached to the "old" that it will find any excuse not to embrace the "new", no matter how good it may be for us!  And so the mind is going to try playing all kinds of tricks on us in order to remain in control, and it's up to us to find NEW ways to trick the OLD mind!  That's where the Ego comes in, "Master" of duplicity we can all fool!  See, the Ego is simple.  All it wants is a little boost, a gentle rub... It doesn't have to be true as long as the illusion feels real.  Sooner or later, in this lifetime or another, the Ego becomes bored with the illusion.  How gratifying can it be to dissipate its energy in hundreds of different directions that lead absolutely nowhere!  And so once you've convinced the Ego you got a better game plan, the Mind's just old game... done, finished, "tamed"!  The Ego by your side as your strongest ally, and the mind seduced by the prospect of illusory control conferred in complete absorption, you are ready to move forward and onto higher grounds.  Now, don't get me wrong, the mind is not "bad" per say; it just wants to feel safe, and if doing the same old thing is what keeps it feeling safe then that's what it'll do.  Still at the end of the day, if it forgets that without a body it won't be safe no more, you're gonna have to step it up before it's too late!   And so to keep the mind from its own self, what do we use?  That's actually pretty simple; an object of awareness is all you need - like the breath for instance, to keep the mind busy and thinking it's in control.  "But why the breath?", you may ask.   Well, as simple as it may seem, there is a direct relationship between the mind and the breath, and so when the breath is balanced - equal and rhythmic - so is the mind.  Without exploring this subject any further - for there is more than enough material on this subject matter to produce a few theses- we can rest in the knowledge that we have found in the breath a powerful tool to control the mind.  With the breath by our side, we can start tackling the body.  Now, the body is very simple.  It complies with the laws of nature without fail.  The body has inner intelligence, and without the mind's smokescreen masking its basic needs, all layers are shed, all obstacles removed, and the body can start running the show, the way it was always designed to! 

Now everybody would agree that we all want to be healthy and happy in life.  After all, we are born to this existence and so we should try and enjoy it fully and purposefully, no?!  However, expecting a return on something we don't invest in seems pretty unreasonable.  We sit for hours in an office, trapped in between 4 walls, a cubicle without a view... to the beautiful scenery of REAL LIFE!  To fill the void, we gulp down foods that fool our taste buds but have no nutritional value.  Then we get home and let some other low vibration drown our self-fed misery!  And everybody knows that misery likes company; and unfortunately, the TV or/and the old bottle are often the easiest and least judgmental companions of all.  With no one to remind us that we are so much more than what we've let ourselves become, we slowly sink into an agreed upon coma without beginning or end...  Every day feels like the last, and we become so dazed and confused that we actually stop feeling.  Everything tastes the same, looks the same, and we keep on running after the next thing that will get our senses upside down for a while before we come down from our fleeting high and sink back deeper below...  

But Truth is a value that never changes, and while we thought we'd discovered some new way of getting to the bottom of truth, of what life is all about, the TRUTH is that there is no big secret awaiting to be discovered, no truth beyond what nobody could fathom.  The One and Only Truth is in the Here and Now, in a presence that leaves no doubt as to the fact that we are ALIVE.  Hippocrates didn’t need to conduct any in-depth scientific study to come to that conclusion and to the fact that this presence is the sum of all its experiences.   Yes, “WE ARE WHAT WE EAT”, i.e. our food, our thoughts, our deeds.  In touch with his inner wisdom, the "Father of Modern Medicine" intuitively knew 2,500 years ago what modern men continue to negate day after day...  What better proof do we need but to realize that degenerative dis-eases and mental illnesses are plaguing our societies like never before?  And how can we not relate this epidemic to the imbalance in our diet and our lives?  If that is not incentive enough for change, then will anything ever be?  I said it before and I'll say it again, "The time is NOW...  to embrace change and start investing in your body and your life.  The time is NOW to listen to the real doctor, your own body, the one which has taken the oath to always keep you in health, strength, and vitality, if only you let it.  Whoever said that "Age" has to be a "fatality", something that you dread and endure?!  You can age gracefully and in a healthy body and mind too.  That is your birthright too!  In the end, It's all up to you and how you choose to live your life...  In the simple words of a wise healer, you can “Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food."  

For more information on how to get your health and life back, visit www.southbeachyoga.com/detox.html, or download the latest podcast of the Let Love Rule Radio Show (#8) at www.letloverule.us/letloveruleradioshow and find out more about The South Beach Detox®, a revolutionary cleansing program that will bring you back to a state of perfect physical and mental balance and to the roots of healthy eating, enabling you to regain total control over your life!

For more inspirational writings by Alessandrina Lerner, visit www.letloverule.us.