A WORD ABOUT CALCIUM & PROTEIN

People always want to know, especially if you don't eat animals, where you get your protein and calcium from. Furthermore, if you are vegetarian, consume animal foods sparingly, or are allergic to dairy products, you may have lingering fears regarding getting enough of these essential nutrients. Here are some facts to put your mind (and everyone else's) at ease.
Calcium is an essential mineral. Calcium works with phosphorous for healthy bones and teeth and with magnesium for a healthy cardiovascular system. Calcium is important for good sleep, the body's ability to use iron, keeping a regular heartbeat, and helping in the transmission of nerve impulses.
Vitamin D is necessary for the absorption of calcium. Vitamin D comes from being out in the sunlight and also from a few foods such as saltwater fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, etc.) and fish liver oils. Many dairy products are irradiated to raise the levels of vitamin D. The best way to get enough is simply to spend time outdoors daily, year-round, with some of your skin exposed. Too much sun, however, will work against you, since a suntan stops the absorption of vitamin D.
Calcium is present in many natural foods, especially dark leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale, and mustard greens. Broccoli, legumes (dried beans), almonds, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, cauliflower, soybeans, figs and oranges also contain notable levels of calcium. Although calcium levels in the plant kingdom can sometimes seem low compared with levels in animal foods, people who don't consume meat or other animal products have much lower calcium needs than omnivores do. Plant-source calcium will usually be sufficient if protein and phosphorous consumption is not too high.
Milk and milk products also provide calcium. Cows and goats get their calcium from the grasses (or other feed) they eat, some of which ends up in the milk they make to pass to their babies. Unfortunately, the protein in dairy foods causes calcium loss�more is lost than is taken in. That is why countries like the United States whose intake of meat and/or dairy is high also tend to have the greatest incidence of osteoporosis. It is wise not to rely on dairy foods for calcium.
Osteoporosis (loss of bone density, brittle bones) has been taught to be caused by too little calcium in the diet. This is not true. The biggest contributor is a diet too high in protein, particularly animal protein. The single most important thing a person can do to prevent osteoporosis is to limit consumption of animal protein. Animal foods create a situation in the body that leads to the significant loss of calcium from bones and teeth, regardless of how much calcium is taken in. Eating dark green vegetables, engaging in regular weight-bearing exercise, and spending time outside daily also helps bones tremendously.
Soft drinks are another problem-and many folks consume these daily! The high phosphorous content of soda pop causes calcium loss. So does caffeine found in colas, coffee drinks and chocolate.
Large quantities of fat reduces the absorption of calcium. So does phytic acid, found in some grains.
If you take a calcium supplement, best to do so at bedtime on an empty stomach. This reduces the likelihood of foods eaten previously inhibiting absorption of the calcium.
Because protein is so important to human life, God designed plant foods to easily meet our protein needs. Protein is adequately present in almost all natural foods, particularly beans, peas, nuts, seeds, grains, and vegetables. Most people's needs fall between 4-8% of total calories, and most plant foods supply more than enough to meet that need. Even if all you ever ate was broccoli, you would have plenty of protein in your diet (though you would lack other nutrients). In order to become protein deficient, you would need to consume only fruit, only highly processed junk foods, or simply not take in enough calories daily. By selecting a variety of natural foods and by eating enough food (calories) to maintain your body's current growth and energy needs, you are sure to get all of the protein (including all the various amino acids) your body needs.
People in the United States in general consume way too much protein! Teachers, educational institutions, media, and a public that has been mis-educated for a long time support this practice. Popular diets, such as the Atkins Diet and the Zone, encourage protein consumption as high as 30% of total calories, when our needs are generally between only 4-8%. These diets, while providing some followers with short-term benefits, have long-term consequences including osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancer.
God designed our bodies to be fueled primarily by clean-burning carbohydrates. People displace needed carbohydrates when they consume more protein and fat than is necessary or beneficial. Carbohydrates are abundant in natural foods.
Once again, the answer to virtually any dietary dilemma is this: Eat natural foods as much as possible!


To Your Health!

John Hall NSCA-CPT

The Power of Pectin

Pectin is a high-fiber carbohydrate which occurs naturally in the cell walls of many fruits and vegetables. It has the unique ability to bind itself to toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, barium, strontium and arsenic – and carry them out of the body.Pectin rich foods also have many other health benefits such as lowering cholesterol, keeps the digestive tract tone, creates a feeling of fullness which can help in weightloss, absorbs glucose which helps control blood sugar levels, and helps in the prevention of heart disease and stroke.While the amount of pectin found in fruits and vegetables varies - apples, guavas, quince, plums, gooseberries, oranges and other citrus fruits, contain the largest amount of pectin, while soft fruits like cherries, grapes and strawberries contain relatively small amounts pectin.

To Your Health!

John Hall Studios NSCA-CPT

Let Food Be Thy Medicine!

According to a report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association, people who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet.Participants say the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped conduct the study said, "I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes first, rather than prescription drugs." After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or were able to lower the doses. In other words, food really can be your medicine.The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds on average while the diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds. An important level of glucose control called A1c fell by 1.23 points in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet. A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over the preceding three months.Small changes made now can make a BIG difference later, when it comes to educating your children and teaching them to steer clear of type-2 diabetes.


To Your Health!

John Hall NSCA-CPT

Active Kids Do Better In School

School students who perform more vigorous physical activity than their more sedentary piers tend to do better in school, according to a new study done by researchers from Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University . The research is published in the August issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.For one academic year, the study tracked more than 200 sixth graders. For one semester half of the students took the general physical education class offered by the school, while the other half took part in a non-physical education course. Halfway through the school year they switched. The researchers found that students taking the physical education course did no better or worse in their academic classes.“Physical education and activity during the school day reduce boredom and help keep kids’ attention in the classroom,” said Dawn Podulka Coe, the study’s lead author who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Movement Science at Grand Valley State University . “We were expecting to find that students enrolled in PE would have better grades because of the opportunity to be active during the school day. But enrollment in PE alone did not influence grades.”However, the researchers also found that students who took part in more vigorous physical activities – such as organized sports like soccer or football, or non-organized after-school activities such as skateboarding – did approximately 10 percent better in core classes such as math, science, English and social studies.“The students who performed better academically in this study were the most active, meaning those who participated in a sport or other vigorous activity at least three times a week” added Coe.The difference between vigorous activity and moderate activity is heart rate. Moderate activities, such as walking or raking leaves, don’t get the heart rate up or make the person breathe harder. Vigorous activities, such as running or swimming for exercise, increase heart rate, causing the exerciser to breathe harder and increasing oxygen to the brain.With school about to start, we encourage all parents to take this new study to heart. We encourage you consider organized sports as a way to help your child do better in school, be healthier, maintain the proper weight, and to build a foundation of health that can last a lifetime. And don’t forget your favorite Wholefood Farmacy foods for practice and game days!

To Your Health!

John Hall NSCA-CPT