valshealthblog.com

Hi,

Just read an interesting statistic in Health News Weekly today.  If you stopped drinking soda what would your weight loss be?

It is estimated that the average person in the US drinks 600 twelve ounce sodas a year.  At an average of 40 grams of sugar per drink that is a lot of extra sugar per year.

Each gram of sugar has 4 calories.  So you – as an average American – are drinking 96000 calories from soda a year.

Since 3500 calories = 1 pound that is 27 pounds of extra weight you are gaining every year from sugar.  And that is just from soda. 

You can easily double or triple that amount when you count all the rest of the sugar you eat.

Is it any wonder that it is so easy to gain weight. 

And so hard to take it off. 

So does that mean if you stop drinking soda you could lose 27 pounds of weight in a year?

No.

Losing weight doesn’t work that easily. 

While you can lose 27 pounds in a year, you have to do more than just stop drinking soda. 

Whenever you reduce your calories, your metabolism also slows down.  This is just a natural survival response.

Fortunately, there are ways around this.  The easiest way is to increase your movement. 

Whether you start walking, riding a bike, doing calesthenics, or weight lifting – everything helps.  

Maybe you won’t lose 27 pounds, but you just might lose more!

So that is it in a nutshell. 

Increase your movement, cut out your soda and the weight loss will come. 

Thanks,

Mike Val 

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Hi,

Look, my take on fitness and health is to not only be healthy and fit, but to look it also.  Call it my vanity, but that is the way I am.

So what does High Furctose Corn Syrup have to do with wrinkles.

My guess is that most of us think that only old people have wrinkles.  And that does have some truth to it. 

But, with more and more junk food being consumed and more pollutants in the air and water, younger people are getting wrinkles. 

That does not make you look good. 

So how does HFCS make wrinkles?  It is through a process called glycation.

Glycation is the process where sugars bind to amino acids in the blood and turn into AGE products.  AGE stands for advanced glycation end products.  And just like its acronym it causes you to age. 

It also has been linked to inflammation, diabetes, insulin resistance, kidney disease, blood vessel diseases and even Alzheimer’s disease. 

Not a pretty picture.  Oh, and yes it also screws up your skin and causes wrinkles and age spots. 

The AGE products bind to collagen and causes it to get all tangled up and twisted. 

Now sugar does this to a degree.  But the lab altered corn syrup into high fructose corn syrup turns the AGE on and it acts like an after burner affecting your whole body.

So not only does high fructose corn syrup turn your skin into wrinkles it does the same thing internally.

So if you have to have your sugar fix every day, try not to make it HFCS.

Thanks,

Mike Val

AGE products bind to collagen, causing it to get twisted and tangled. This shows up as age spots, wrinkles, and everything else that makes skin look old and crumbly.

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Hi,

The junk industry has come up with a two prong attack regarding food labels. 

The first is to make distracting claims on the label so that you don’t read the food label. 

Such statements like reduced fat, zero trans fats, contains real fruit juice are plastered all over the front of the container.

These statements are designed to create the impression that the product is healthy. 

And the statement is usually true.  You can reduce a fat in a product by 1/2% and claim it has reduced fat.  But, is it healthier for you. 

Maybe they also increased the sodium content of the product by 50%, but they sure aren’t going to tell you that. 

You are at the grocery store, picking something up on your way home from work.  You are in a hurry and just want to get in and out of the store.  You see some deli meats and one says reduced fat. 

Hey, reduced fat is good, You are going to get that.  So you throw that in the basket and move on without even bothering to compare that products protein, fat, salt or sugar contents with other products. 

And maybe the reduced fat product still has twice as much fat as another product that didn’t label their product as reduced fat. 

Or let’s use my favorite – contains real fruit juice.  If you read the label you will see that it is almost always less than 20% real fruit juice and I have seen it as low as 2% real fruit juice. 

Of course having real fruit juice sounds good and the costs are usually a little more. 

What these labels do is make the consumer forget about really comparing the value of the product with other hopefully more nutrient products that you could be eating. 

Okay, the second thing the junk food industry does is to go all out to comply with labeling requirements.  In fact they go overboard to satisfy the requirements. 

They do this to keep you confused and bored.  Have you ever tried to really figure out those labels?  If you can get by all the technical and scientific jargon, then you have to have a calculator in your head to figure out what you are really getting.

The real big gotcha is the serving size.  Most people look at a product and if they look at the amount of sugar and see only 17 gms of sugar they think, well that is okay.

However, if they looked at the serving size and saw that there were 2.5 servings per bottle, then they are really getting 42.5 gms of sugar.  That is a big jump. 

But, this info is hard to find and because they try to put so much info on the labels it is hard to read for us that need reading glasses. 

I am one of those people and I never take my reading glasses to buy groceries.  So I am always squinting at the labels or asking someone to read them for me. 

Most people won’t take the time to do that.

Will you?

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

Let’s look at an apple.  An apple is a nutrionists best friend.  It has a great reputation.

Remember the motto, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”?

There is a lot of truth to that. 

Apples have a lot of nutrients, anti-oxidants and fiber. If you eat an apple every day for a snack it will do wonders for your health.  This is assuming you don’t counter it with 3 bags of potato chips:-)

Now you might think that applesauce would be just as good as apples.  Not so.

The processing of the apple into applesauce takes out most of the nutrients and fiber in the apple. 

And worse, it is not as filling. So your body wants to eat more of it to make up for not getting as many nutrients. 

Even worse than that is the fact that not only is the applesauce robbed of its nutrients, but sugar and other sweeteners are added.  This increases the number of calories, yet gives no added benefit from a nutrional point of view. 

Take this a step further and make apple juice.  Now there are basically no nutrients, no anti-oxidants and no fiber.  But, there are a lot more sugars and sweeteners and a ton more calories. 

You can even go further and make apple flavored fruit beverages.  These are basically sugar flavored drinks. 
Some of these beverages are called sports drinks and vitamin waters.  This sounds much better to the public and makes a ton of money. 

Who ever thought of the idea that a simple apple – and you can substitute almost any fruit or vegetable – that is so healthy for you could be turned into a flavored sugar water that costs almost nothing to make and has almost zero nutritional value.

This is really a genius idea from the point of view of making money.

It is a really evil idea from the point of view of improving your health.   

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

You have probably heard of the drink 8 glasses of water a day mantra that many health, fitness and diet gurus spout. 

Is there any truth to this?

I am 6′ tall and weigh around 175-180.  My wife is 5’1″ tall and weighs around 100.  Do we both need 8 glasses of water a day?

The answer is no.  And it seems that this 8 glasses is an urban myth.  A report in the American Journal of Physiology in 2008 could not find any valid evidence of this 8 glasses a day theory.

Now, no one is saying that you don’t need water.  You do need it, but there is a much smarter way for making sure you get enough water everday.

That is to drink some water throughout the day.   This is the important part.  You do need water.

If you don’t get enough water, you will become dehydrated.  That will basically make you feel like crap.

Dehydration has been linked to fatigue, headaches, dizziness, constipation and even – men, pay attention here - impotence and hair loss (Merck Manual of Health). 

So, to keep you energy levels up, drink some water throughout the day.  A good rule is to try and drink – even if it is only a few sips – some every waking hour. 

It doesn’t always have to be water.  Fruit juices, fruit and tea are good substitutes.  Soda, coffee and other sugar beverages are not good substitutes.

If you live in a warm environment or if you are exercising, then plan on drinking more. 

Otherwise, keep it simple.  Drink when you are thirsty.  If you find that you don’t get thirsty every often, then you might have to get in the habit of drinking a little bit throughout the day. 

My wife grew up in the Philippines and she never got into the habit of drinking water.  They only had a community pump for water. 

She still doesn’t drink much, but she is getting better at drinking throughout the day.

Bottom line is, maybe you will drink 8 glasses of water a day.  I know that I do sometimes.  But, for the most part, just drink a little all day long and you that should be enough.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

Your brain on sugar is not a pretty site.  

Most people think that too much sugar only affects their body.  It might make you hyperactive and it can eventually give you diabetes.  Those are common facts that most people are aware of. 

But, most people don’t think it affects their brain.  The brain, in turn, affects your actions. 

Here are some of the actions of sugar.  It causes blood sugar levels to spike and of course what goes up comes down just as fast, so you crash.  

The crash drains you of energy and brain power.  You actually are a little dumber after a sugar crash.   You are also tired, irritable and feel like you are in a fog most of the time.  Does the term “space cadet” ring a bell?

Eating too much sugar impairs your brains cognitive functions.  This comes from Dr. Daniel Amen, author of “Change Your Brain, Change Your Body”.

If your brain is impaired even slightly, this also affects the rest of your body.  If you are an athlete, you will not react as quickly and your mind will not be in the game. 

If you are an engineer getting your mid afternoon candy snack, after your peak your brain will slow down and you will actually be more tired and less alert. 

Yes, your brain does need sugar to function.  Your body needs sugar to function.  You just don’t need 14 pounds a day of it (a little exaggeration). 

You can get all the energy you need from the food you eat.  Natural foods.  Foods like vegetables and fruits.  Foods that have protein and a little fat in them. 

Skip the candies, sodas, cakes and carb snack foods and you will go a long way to feeling better.

And your brain will thank you for it.

You don’t want your brain on sugar.  Too much impairs it. 

Thanks,

Mike Val 

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Hi,

It is the start of a new day, but you can barely get out of bed.  Are you the one that needs caffeine to make it through the day?

While having an occassional cup of coffee or caffeine drink won’t hurt you, it can lead to a perception that you need it to function.

And you really don’t.  But, if you are getting more than 350-500 mg a day of caffeine – and it doesn’t matter what or how many sources it comes from – then you are going to have adverse health affects.

The average cup of coffee has about 95 mg, the average soda around 35, the average energy drink up to 170mg and the average piece of chocolate about 15 mg. of caffeine.

So a couple of medium cups of coffee, a couple sodas and an energy drink and you are really, really, really alert.  Maybe even a little jittery.

So maybe you want to cut down, but you don’t want to loss the alertness or energy burst. 

First, if you do cut down do so gradually.  Cut down one soda or one cup of coffee and do that for about a week. 

Then cut down another 1/2 cup the next week and so on.  Trying to go cold turkey will really mess up your metabolism and you will have no energy.

While you are cutting back start eating more raw vegetables and fruits.  Raw fruits and vegetables do two things.  These raise your alkalinity levels and provide enzymes that act as energy boosters. 

Also eat more nuts and suck on some sugar free peppermint lozenges.  They help increase alertness. 

Finally, drink more water.  This will compensate for the drop in liquid intake from your other drinks, improve your energy and flush the caffeine out of your body.

Figure on doing this over a month or so and you won’t even notice you are cutting down on your caffeine.  Except that you will probably sleep better at night. 

And you will wake up more refreshed so that you won’t need that caffeine to make it through the day.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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