Enhance Your Health
Health Tip of the Week: Sugar
Being overweight (no pun intended) is a huge problem. Obesity, 30 or more pounds over your ideal weight, is the leading contributor to ill health and disease in the entire countrty.
People rightly think that smoking is bad for you and can lead to disease such as cancer, but being overweight is just as big (another pun) an issue. Obesity not only leads to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, weakened immune system function, gall bladder disease, respiratory illnesses, depression, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure and stroke, but now you can add a new problem to the list. People who are overweight at age 50 are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease sooner than those who are not.
People who were overweight or obese at midlife developed symptoms nearly seven months sooner than those of a healthy weight. The onset of symptoms moved up by 6.7 months for each unit increase in midlife body mass index (BMI). Those with a high BMI were also more likely to have greater amounts of amyloid proteins in their brain, which is linked to Alzheimer's.
So, what do you do about this? You have to lose weight.
Here is th cause of obesity in a nutshell. It's sugar and foods that break down into sugar at a high rate. Sugar causes the body to secrete the hormone insulin. Insulin's sole responsibility is to lower sugar levels in the blood stream. The bad side is that the more insulin secreted, the more the body produces fat cells.
To lose weight and lose weight easily, all one has to do is eliminate sugar from your diet. Sounds easy enough, but obviously it is not. The overall population in the United States does NOT WANT to get rid of it's sweet tooth. People like sweets. They want their candy, sugary drinks, cakes, muffins, cookies and donuts. They want their ice cream. They also want all of the foods that have the hidden sugars in them - foods like yogurt, granola bars, pasta sauces, ketchup, instant oatmeal, salad dressings breakfast cereals, bread, store bought coleslaw and macaroni salads. The list goes on and on.
As a nation, we do not want to even give up the foods that break down into sugar at an accelerated rate - foods like pasta, bread, corn based products and other grains. Even eating fruit is a problem if you are trying to lose weight. Fruit is made up of sugar and has the same effect in the body as granular sugar. I just re-read this list of "bad" food. You probably are thinking there is not much left to eat! But there is.
Change your diet from sugar based charbohydrates as mentioned above and fill up on protein based foods (chicken, fish, beef, eggs), healthy fats (healthy oils, walnut, coconut, olive, grapeseed and fish), nuts, beans, vegetables. Add a limited amount of low sugar containig carbs like sweet potatoes, whole oatmeal and grains like quinoa, farro and brown rice.
Also, change how and when you eat. In the morning, only eat proteins and fats, no carbs what-so-ever. In the afternoon, add your healthy carbs to your protein, vegetable and fat sources. Eat some oatmeal, rice or sweet potato. When it's dinner time, it's all veggies, fat and protein (think salads with grilled chicken and plenty of olive oil or a vegetable, chicken/fish/meat stir fry).
Need a snack during the day? Grab a handful of raw almonds and a piece of cheese. Eat non-fat plain yogurt, add a little cinnamon.
Losing weight is easy if you eat right by making good food choices. You don't even have to diet. Just eat right and the weight will come off until you hit the weight that is right for you. And then keep eating right and you will stay there. You can do it with a little effort. You just have to want to do it.
Thought for the Week
If I'd known I was going to live so long, I'd have taken better care of myself. ~ Leon Eldred