Fwd: [WeAreStardust] Thursday, June 11, 2009 Daily Tips

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Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:20:39 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)

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Subject: [WeAreStardust] Thursday, June 11, 2009 Daily Tips

7 Ways to Address Asthma through Diet

Yesterday's Daily Tip discussed supplements and herbs for asthma, and today

we look at how diet can affect asthma.

If you have asthma - or allergies that aggravate it - simple changes to your

diet may help. Try incorporating these seven dietary modifications to help

reduce the number and severity of attacks.

1.Decrease protein to 10 percent of daily caloric intake. Replace animal

protein as much as possible with plant protein.

2.Eliminate milk and milk products, substituting other calcium sources.

3.Eat organically grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible.

4.Eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening,

all partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods that might contain

Trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods).

5.Use extra-virgin olive oil as your main fat.

6.Always drink plenty of water to keep your respiratory tract secretions

more fluid.

7.Experiment with eliminating (one at a time) wheat, corn, soy and sugar for

six to eight weeks to see if the frequency of attacks (or symptoms) improves

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/TIP03340/7-Ways-to-Address-Asthma-through-Diet

html

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Confused by the Glycemic Index?

I have been trying to avoid high glycemic index carbohydrates such as white

flour and white pasta in favor of whole grain breads, whole wheat or

unbleached flours and brown rice instead of white. However, I'm confused.

White spaghetti and chocolate have low GI ratings, while brown rice ranks

high.

The glycemic index (GI) ranks carbohydrate foods based on how quickly the

body turns them into glucose (blood sugar), provoking an insulin response.

Whole wheat bread and products labeled " whole grain " are not good choices

because they usually are made with pulverized grains (flour) rather than

whole or cracked grains. For that reason, most whole wheat bread has the

same high GI ranking as white bread - about 70. I recommend cutting down on

all foods made with flour and increasing consumption of grains in their more

natural state, such as wild rice, barley, quinoa, millet and wheat berries.

Grains in their natural form have a low glycemic index, while processed

carbohydrates, especially those made with flour or puffed grains, have a

high GI. The reason is that it takes longer for digestive enzymes to reach

the starch inside whole grains or grains cracked into large pieces, slowing

down the conversion of starch to sugar. Pulverized grains have a tremendous

surface area for enzymes to work on. This leads to quick starch-sugar

conversions that spike blood sugar levels, creating dips later on that can

prompt more consumption of pulverized grains, and the cycle continues.

When using the glycemic index, be sure to consider " glycemic load, " which

takes account of how many grams of carbohydrate a normal serving contains.

For example, carrots rank high on the glycemic index, but the amount of

carbohydrates you would actually consume in a normal serving is pretty low,

only 6.2 grams. Don't avoid carrots (or beets) based on their GI rankings.

Unless you eat huge portions, these vegetables will not disturb your blood

sugar very much, and they provide important phytonutrients.

Advertisement

Pasta is also a special case. When it is cooked al dente (that is, until

barely tender) and eaten in moderation, it does not present the body with a

high glycemic load because the pulverized grain comes apart slowly in the

stomach. Dark chocolate is okay, because it is low in sugar.

To calculate glycemic load, multiply the number (in grams) of the

carbohydrates you would consume in a serving by the food's ranking on the

glycemic index. Although GI rankings are written as whole numbers, they

actually are percentages, so if the GI of a food is 71, treat this as 71%

when you do the math. Foods with a low glycemic load rank from one to 10;

the medium range is 11-19 and high is 20 or above.

While the concept of glycemic load is helpful, doing calculations for

everything you eat isn't practical. Instead, simply reduce your consumption

of processed and refined foods (such as snack foods, white bread, sweetened

drinks, and sugary desserts). Eat more sweet potatoes and fewer white

potatoes, less bread (unless it's really chewy and grainy), more whole

grains and fewer products made with flour, more beans and more temperate

fruits (especially berries, cherries, apples, and pears) and fewer tropical

ones.

To learn more about all this, I recommend reading The Glucose Revolution:

The Authoritative Guide to the Glycemic Index, by M.S. Wolever, M.D,

Ph.D., Jennie Brand-, Ph.D. (editor), Colagiuri, M.D. And Kaye

-.

Weil, M.D.

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400579/Confused-by-the-Glycemic-Index.html

===============

Are You a Conditioned Hypereater?

Acupuncture Best for Low Back Pain

Fish, Nuts, Olive Oil for Your Eyes

Healthy Aging Tip

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/WBL02144/Are-You-a-Conditioned-Hypereater.html

===============

Are You a Conditioned Hypereater?

Dr. Kessler suggests that millions of people worldwide are afflicted

by “conditioned hypereating,” an intrinsic drive to eat high-fat, high-sugar

foods that’s been exploited by the corporate food industry.

Kessler, former head of the FDA, explores this thesis in “The End of

Overeating,” a new book that contends some people really are “wired” to be

unable to resist unhealthy foods, and the food industry preys on such people

by reinforcing this innate tendency. Result: big profits for processed food

makers who load their creations with fat, sugar and salt, and skyrocketing

rates of obesity and diabetes.

The evidence? Kessler writes that research has shown:

•Some well-fed rats will consume vanilla milkshakes, and consume yet more as

sugar is added.

•Forty-two percent of people who report feeling loss of control over food, a

lack of satiety, and preoccupation with food are obese. That’s compared to

18 percent who are obese without those behaviors. He estimates up to 70

million people are conditioned hypereaters to some degree.

•When some people smell and taste chocolate inside a brain-scanning MRI

machine, they don’t ever get used to it; instead, they find it more

irresistible over time. Even drinking a chocolate milkshake does not satisfy

them. The reward-anticipating region of their brains continues to be active.

Kessler concludes that brain circuitry can be retrained. The first step is

to recognize the phenomenon of conditioned hypereating as real; then,

consciously seek and eat unprocessed, low-glycemic foods that begin to

re-route the pleasure-seeking circuitry. As with any addiction, this is

difficult at first, gets easier with time, but is never entirely automatic -

the urge to hypereat must be actively resisted on a daily basis.

Books like Kessler's and Taubes’ remarkable “Good Calories, Bad

Calories” redefine overeating and obesity as biochemical imbalances, not

moral failings. This is extremely valuable. “Becoming a better person who

eats less” is a murky goal that is easily abandoned in the face of

temptation, but “retraining my brain’s reward centers” is far more feasible

and blessedly free of emotional stress. These books also underscore the need

to reverse government subsidies that make unhealthy food cheap and healthy

food expensive.

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Acupuncture Best for Low Back Pain

According to a new study from a group of Seattle researchers, it even works

when toothpicks are used instead of needles and the effects seem to be

long-lasting. The investigators compared four different treatments on 638

adults with chronic low back pain. Over seven weeks 157 of the adults

received 10 individually prescribed acupuncture treatments. A second group

of 158 had a standardized course of acupuncture treatments considered

effective by experts on low back pain. A third group of 162 patients had 10

sessions of simulated acupuncture - here, the patients didn’t know that

toothpicks were used instead of needles. The fourth group of 161 patients

received usual medical care. In telephone follow-ups, the patients reported

on how they were doing at eight, 26 and 52 weeks after treatment. After a

year, 59 to 65 percent of the patients in the acupuncture groups reported

less pain and improved functioning compared to 50 percent of the usual care

group. The study was published in the May 11, 2009 issue of the Archives of

Internal Medicine.

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Fish, Nuts, Olive Oil for Your Eyes

These foods can protect against age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the

leading cause of age-related blindness in the developed world. Two separate

Australian research teams reported new findings on age-related macular

degeneration in the May 2009 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology. In the

first study, researchers looked at the diets of 2,454 men and women between

1992 and 1994 and then compared these eating habits with digital photographs

of the retina five and 10 years later. They found that a single serving of

fish per week was associated with a 31 percent lower risk of AMD - this

positive link was strongest among individuals with a lower intake of

linoleic acid, an unsaturated omega 6 fatty acid found in vegetable oils.

One to two servings of nuts per week were associated with a 35 percent risk

reduction. The second study focused on food intake reported from 1990 and

1994 by 6,734 individuals between the ages of 58 and 69. From 2003 to 2006

the researchers tracked cases of AMD that developed in their study

participants. Those least likely to develop AMD later in life had the

highest intake of olive oil and omega-3 fatty acids.

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Healthy Aging Tip

Courtesy of Dr. Weil on Healthy Aging

Seasonal Foods: June - Raspberries.

These gems are a good source of vitamin C and fiber, and provide folate,

vitamins B2 and B3, magnesium and other essential nutrients. Raspberries

also have considerable antioxidant potential (50% more than strawberries),

and appear to have potent anti-cancer properties. Because commercial strains

may be heavily sprayed with pesticides, Dr. Weil recommends buying organic

varieties of raspberries.

" The many blessings of Hugo be upon you. "

DesertWind - the " stealth-snagger "

@->--We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our

children--<-@

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