The Health Blog: Free Health & Nutrition Information

For those who think I’m nuts for going on a diet of raw fruits and veggies, I have an interesting little article to share with you:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6248975.stm

This article chronicles a little experiment that was done in a zoo in the UK. They took nine people, aged 36-49, and literally put them in the zoo for twelve days, in an enclosed tent right next to the apes. :) Oh, and they filmed the whole thing on TV.

The point of the experiment? They put those volunteers on a diet consisting only of fresh fruits and veggies – things they normally feed the apes. (Otherwise known as, the raw vegan diet – little do they know that there is a growing revolution of humans doing this on a regular basis! Like me!) They wanted to see what this diet would do for the volunteers’ cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

Here’s a list of the foods they fed the volunteers for those 12 days.

5kgs or 2,300 calories of fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey
On a 3-day rota, typically:

Broccoli, carrots, radishes
Cabbage, tomatoes, watercress
Strawberries, apricots, bananas
Mangoes, melons, figs, plums
Satsumas, hazelnuts

(Then, small amounts of cooked fish in the 2nd week, to imitate a hunter-gatherer lifestyle).

Anyone want to take a wild guess at the results?

Cholesterol levels and blood pressure levels were definitely reduced. But what really caught my interest was that the tv crews were primed to capture lots of unhappy and grumpy moments over the 12 days, but to their surprise, after a brief period of getting through caffeine and other food withdrawals, the participants were in a great mood and happy throughout the experiment.

Amazing how you feel, even mentally, when you eat a simple diet of whole, fresh foods that were designed specifically for your consumption!

I encourage you to read the article, it really speaks for itself and has some very interesting anecdotes and stories.

Back in September, I mentioned that my husband and I had purchased a set of DVD’s called, “Making Friends with Your Food” by Dr. Doug Graham and his wife, Professor Rozi Graham. In this post, I also said that as soon as we were done watching the DVDs, we were going to embark on a raw food diet – and not just any raw food diet, but a healthful, low-fat diet with a ratio of 80-10-10 (carbs:protein:fat) – a phrase coined by Dr. Graham.

Well, we had great intentions, (remember, I said I was going to blog about it here and all…) but the holidays snuck up on us and we had a big lack of self control. We made some half-hearted false starts but they never really got anywhere. In December, we ate pretty badly and not only put on some weight, but our bodies started protesting as well.

I really wanted to start 2007 off well, however, and finally, in the middle of January, I finally pulled myself together and did it. This is my 16th day eating ONLY raw, ripe, whole, fresh fruits and vegetables. No salt, dressings, condiments, sweeteners, sauces or spicy herbs like onions and garlic. I have been eating mostly fruit, and a large helping of vegetables – especially green leafies, in the evening.

Along with that, I am also trying to get more physically fit because I now fully realize that just diet alone will not give me the vibrant health I desire.

And guess what? I’ve been blogging about it. Every single day since I started. To help myself, but also to potentially help others who may be interested. So I’ve decided to share that link with you – click here. I would have shared this link sooner but I wanted to make sure that I would stick with it first.

So…wish me luck, and if you’re curious, I invite you to catch a glimpse into my life for the last 16 days and counting! :) The link again: http://sarah811.blogspot.com

Note – this blog used to have a different url. In 2005, I embarked on a raw food journey and blogged about it then too – but I made MANY dietary mistakes which eventually led me to fall off the diet. If you’re extremely curious, you can go back to the beginning and see how different my raw diet was then compared to what I’m eating now.

Foods you may want to limit:
1. Salad dressings.
You may congratulate yourself with eating a salad full of low-fat lettuce, but just put a few drizzles of rich creamy salad dressing on there and you’ve just transformed it into a high fat meal. Besides that, most salad dressings have vinegar in them, which is toxic, sugar and lots of other additives. Dressings are not exactly a whole food, so try different options like citrus or tomato juice. These days I don’t mind eating lettuce plain, but when I want an additional flavor without having to make a dressing, I just eat tomatoes with my greens and find this surprisingly tasty.

2. Pasta salads.
I cringe when I see people putting mounds of pasta salad on their lettuce. Pasta salad is typically full of fatty animal products like cheese, eggs and tuna, and made with thick, creamy fatty dressings like mayonnaise. They go against the practice of eating simply. Mixing 20 ingredients together, several of them healthy and most of them not, is not going to be easy to digest. I also do not believe that pasta is a health food, but that is another post for another day.

3. Pizza, pasta and soups.
Although pizza, pasta and soups are comfort foods for many of us, I find it ironic that these foods are found in almost every salad bar. I’m sure we all agree that pizza is not a healthy option. Pasta dishes at salad bars are often made with rich, thick sauces and refined pasta. The soups are also typically creamy and fatty.

4. Cheese.
I see many people loading tons of cheese on their salads. Some may argue that cheese is a health food, but it is not only very high in sodium but it is fatty, difficult to digest and causes health problems for many. It tastes good though, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, not everything that tastes good is good for us.

5. Last but not least… desserts!
It is difficult to leave without having something sweet. But the cookies, pies, puddings, sweet breads, brownies and last but not least – the neverending ice cream maker, is no health food by any stretch of the imagination.

If you have any of these foods, be sure to follow Ryan’s tip and use a smaller plate. :)
And there ya have it!

People tend to think of a salad bar buffet as a healthy place to eat. I certainly enjoy eating at salad bars because they do have good options and my family eats at our local one often. But to be honest with you, I think that most people are fooled into thinking that as long as you find it at the salad buffet, it must be healthy and guilt-free. Everytime I walk into a salad bar, I see people all around me who are obviously struggling with weight management, piling their plates very high with “healthy” salad bar food. So I would like to try and give you what I think are the best choices at a salad bar and what the pitfall foods are that you should probably avoid or at least have only very small portions of. This post will be in 2 parts.

Healthy choices:

1. Lettuce.
As mentioned in my previous post, lettuces are an excellent, nutritious and highly digestible food for humans. If you want to pile your plate with food, pile it up with these greens. Even 2 or 3 platesfuls will be low in calories and fat and provide you with much goodness while being palatable.

2. Tomatoes.
Tomatoes are a juicy, nutrient-rich non-sweet fruit. I could eat them all day long. They are also expensive when they’re not in season, so when I go to a salad bar, I make sure to indulge in a good amount of tomatoes.

3. Cucumbers.
Rich in Vitamin E and pleasant in texture and taste, cucumbers are an excellent addition to your salad. Have as much as you desire.

4. Any raw, ripe fruit.
Do make sure that the fruits you get are ripe, as unripe fruits do not digest well. When we go to a salad bar, I load my kids’ plates up with as much fruit as they want, and then I make them a nice big salad.

5. Celery
Celery is mineral-rich, pleasant to taste AND easily digestible. An optimal food.

If you have any of these foods, be sure to use the BIGGEST plates you can get at there. Tomorrow we will talk about some of the foods that you may want to only use the smallest plates for (following Ryan’s weight-loss tip). :)

A January 21, 2007 news column by Al Lewis reports that a number of Wal-Mart stores have placed organic food signs in front of or near products that are not organic. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Karen Burk says it’s an honest mistake. Based on what I know about Wal-Mart, I don’t buy it.

Have you seen the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price? If you have, you’ll know why I’m skeptical.

Wal-Mart has a reputation for deceit and callous disregard for the employees who work for them.

You can see that I left a comment for Al Lewis about his column, which I liked, by the way. In it, I said:

On a side note, does Wal-Mart really know what they’re doing? I shop organic, and usually choose Vitamin Cottage, Whole Foods, or my local King Soopers. I would never shop for groceries at Wal-Mart. I dislike Wal-Mart and avoid it at all costs. I doubt Wal-Mart will succeed in attracting any kind of serious health nuts. Although they might succeed in persuading their current socially unconscious customers to “try to be more healthy.”

I’m about to make a gross generalization: the average Wal-Mart customer does not care about the environment, working conditions at Wal-Mart owned factories, or the massive problems Wal-Mart’s business practices cause. Why would they care about organic products? If they don’t care about the world around them, why would they care about what they put inside their bodies?