The Chef and The Dietitian - Episode 12

See how simple it is to make homemade almond milk as Chef AJ and I are joined with one of the leading experts in the world of nutritional medicine, Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

The Chef and The Dietitian - Episode 10

Can you guess our Celebrity Special Guest on this fun episode? Watch Chef AJ, our special Guest Star, and me make a Fuhrman-friendly cranberry relish. It bursts with nutrient density, colors, and flavors but without sugars or artificial anything! Enjoy!

“TOXIC HUNGER” THE MAIN CAUSE OF OBESITY by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Hunger is good to experience on a daily basis. Hunger is important to aid in our enjoyment of food and get the precise signals from our body to know the amount of calories we need to maintain our lean body mass. When we eat when we are hungry food tastes much better and we are physiologically primed for proper digestion. Hunger, in the true sense of the word, indicates to us that it is time to eat again.

Consider that real hunger is not often experienced in our modern, overfed population. Most people no longer even remember or are aware what hunger even feels like. Most people are surprised to find that true hunger is felt in the throat and not in the head or stomach.

Instead of true hunger, people get detoxification or withdrawal symptoms that they mistakenly consider hunger. They feel shaky, head-achy, weak, fatigue, get abdominal cramps or spasms and other symptoms which they consider manifestations of hunger symptoms because they are relieved by eating. I call this “toxic hunger.” Toxic hunger is the symptoms a person experiences that are due to toxic wastes being mobilized for elimination. It occurs after a meal is digested and the digestive track is empty, and it could make us feel very uncomfortable.

Generally, we eat to get rid of these withdrawal symptoms and it works. In fact, this is one of the most important contributors to our population’s overweight condition. We eat the wrong foods and just a few hours later we feel ill, stressed out, shaky, weak, mentally dull, and we are driven to eat again to relieve the discomfort. Did you ever hear someone saying they needed to eat because they feel so shaky? The question is, are these symptoms “true hunger,” “hypoglycemia” or something else? I claim that these symptoms occur simultaneous to our blood sugar decreasing but they are not caused by “hypoglycemia.” Rather, they result from sensitivity to mobilization of waste products which is enhanced when most active digestion is finished.

When we eat a nutrient-dense diet, rich with lots of colorful vegetables, we will better meet the nutrient needs of our body and reduce free radicals and other toxins that build up in our tissues from a diet of poor quality. When we have a lower level of waste on our tissues as a result of micronutrient adequacy people no longer feel those (withdrawal) symptoms of “toxic hunger” leading to overeating behavior.

When our diet is low in nutrients, we build up intra-cellular waste products. So when digestion stops, our body goes through a period catabolism or breakdown and this results in, and is accompanied by, the release of toxic substances into circulation for removal. Our cells harbor toxic products that build up in the body when our diet is relatively nutrient-poor. Phytonutrients enable cellular detoxification machinery. When we don’t eat sufficient phytochemical-rich-vegetation and consume excess animal proteins (creating excess nitrogenous wastes) we often exacerbate the build up of metabolic waste products in our body.

The confusion is compounded because when we eat the same heavy foods that are causing the problem to begin with, we feel so much better. This makes becoming overweight inevitable, because if we stop digesting food, even for a short time, our bodies will begin to experience symptoms of detoxification or withdrawal from our unhealthful diet. To counter this we eat heavy meals, eat too often and keep our digestive track overfed to lessen the discomfort from our stressful diet-style.

When our bodies have acclimated to noxious agents it is called addiction. Try to stop taking the heroin and we will feel ill. In fact, we must have it or we will become terribly sick. This is called withdrawal. When we stop doing something harmful to ourselves we feel ill as the body mobilizes cellular wastes and attempts to repair the damage caused by the exposure.

If we drank 3 cups of coffee or caffeinated soda a day, we would get a withdrawal headache when our caffeine level dipped too low. We could take more caffeine again (or other drugs) or we could eat food more frequently which can make us feel a little better as it retards detoxification or withdrawal. In other words, the caffeine withdrawal symptoms can contribute to our drinking more caffeine products or eating more frequently as a means of managing the symptoms from caffeine withdrawal.

Likewise, a few hours after eating the standard low-nutrient diet most people begin to feel "hungry". They feel weak, headachy, tired, mentally dull, and have stomach spasms. I call it "toxic hunger" because these symptoms only occur in those who have been eating a toxic diet. True hunger would not have occurred so early after the meal.

True hunger signals when our body needs calories to maintain our lean body mass. If we ate food demanded by true hunger and true hunger only, people would not become overweight to begin with. In our present toxic food environment, we have lost the ability to connect with the body signals that tell us how much food we actually need. We have become slaves to withdrawal symptoms and eat all day long, even when there is no biological need for calories.

Fortunately, this cycle of eating, and then avoiding the symptoms of detoxification by eating again, does not have to continue. There is a way out. When you restore the nutritional integrity and relative cleanliness to your tissues, you simply will not have the desire to eat. You will naturally desire less calories.

In an environment of healthy food choices, we would not feel any symptoms after a meal until the hormonal and neurological messengers indicated the glycogen reserves in the liver were running low. Nature has made it so that our body has the beautifully orchestrated ability to give us the precise signals to tell us exactly how much to eat to maintain an ideal weight for our long term health. This signal I call "true hunger" to differentiate it from the “toxic hunger" everyone else calls hunger.

Feeding ourselves to satisfy true hunger does not cause weight gain and if people were better connected with these normal signals it would be almost impossible for anyone to become overweight. True hunger is felt in the throat, neck and mouth, not in the stomach or head. It is a drawing sensation. It is not very uncomfortable to feel real hunger, it makes food taste much better when you eat, and it makes eating an intense pleasure.

We do not have to carry around a calculator and a scale to figure out how much to eat. A healthy body will give us the correct signals. So in order to achieve superior health, maximize our longevity potential, and achieve our ideal weight, we have to eat healthy enough to get back in touch with true hunger and rid ourselves of this “toxic hunger”.

Every cell is like a little factory, it makes products, produces waste and then must compact, detoxify and remove waste. If we don’t ingest sufficient antioxidants and phytonutrients from our food choices, our cells are unable to effectively remove self-produced waste. If we let waste metabolites build up, the body will attempt to mobilize them (discomfort) when it can; but it only can do that effectively if not actively digesting food. Eating makes one feel better because it halts or delays the detoxification process.

My books, Eat to Live and Eat For Health explain how eating for health is the most effective way to reach our ideal weight and stay there permanently when you get there. There are lots of ways to lose weight, but only by eating lots of nutrient-rich foods as a method of choice for weight loss will we not have to fight off cravings and ill feelings.

In a portion controlled (calorie counting) diet it is likely that the body will not get adequate fiber or nutrients. The body will have a compounded sensation of hunger and craving which for most is simply overwhelming. It invariably results in people losing weight then gaining back their weight. Calorie counting simply doesn't work in the long run. Diets based on portion control and calorie counting generally permits the eating of highly toxic, low nutrient foods and then requires us to fight our addictive drives and attempt to eat less. This combination undernourishes the body resulting in uncontrollable and frequent food cravings.

Without an adequate education in superior nutrition and solid principles to stick to; these individuals are forced to flounder and fail bouncing from one diet to another, always losing a little and regaining. Frequently regaining more than they lost. With the right knowledge base, we can get more pleasure from eating and protect our precious health. So for superior health and our ideal weight, don’t diet, Eat For Health.


Joel Fuhrman, M.D is a board certified family physician specializing in nutritional medicine. He is the author of the acclaimed books Eat To Live and Eat For Health. Visit his website at: drfuhrman.com and his blog at: diseaseproof.com.

Guest Blog: Joel Fuhrman, M.D. on Sodium, Acid-Base Balance, and Bone Health

I am honored to introduce my readers to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. in his first Guest Appearance on my blog:

Joel Fuhrman M.D. is a board-certified family physician, nutrition researcher, best-selling author, and one of the country’s leading nutritional medicine experts.

Dr. Fuhrman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and he is presently involved in research trials of his high micronutrient, plant-based diet with physicians and scientists at the University of Pennsylvania health system as well as other researchers.

Dr. Fuhrman created the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) scoring system that evaluates the levels of micronutrients and antioxidants in food to aid people in making healthier food choices. Dr. Fuhrman is on the medical advisory board of Whole Foods Market.

Dr. Fuhrman is the author of six books, including Disease-Proof Your Child and his best-selling book, Eat To Live which has gone through 18 printings and several foreign language translations. His most recent book, Eat For Health was published in April 2008.

Dr. Fuhrman teaches nutritional excellence which is not only preventative, but is also the safest and most effective therapeutic intervention for most chronic medical conditions. Dr. Fuhrman is on the board of directors of the American Academy of Lifestyle Medicine and active in educating physicians and health professionals on nutritional medicine. His lectures have been approved for CME credit by the American Academy of Family Physicians.


To learn more about Dr. Fuhrman please visit his website at DrFuhrman.com and his blog at DiseaseProof.com.





Sodium, Acid-Base Balance, and Bone Health

We’ve known for years that excessive sodium intake contributes to hypertension, and a new meta-analysis of 13 studies has confirmed that high sodium intake is associated with increased risk of stroke and overall cardiovascular disease.1 Salt consumption is also associated with kidney disease, and a new study suggests that reduced sodium intake could benefit bone health.

Women 45-75 years old with prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension were assigned to either a low-sodium diet or a higher sodium, high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. Both diets supplied the same amount (800 mg) of calcium, but the low-sodium diet was designed to have a lesser acid load than the high-carbohydrate diet.2

Western diets, generally high in animal protein, produce acid in the body, forcing the body to buffer this acid in part by the release of alkalizing salts from bone (e.g. calcium citrate and calcium carbonate) – this is associated with urinary calcium loss and is thought to contribute to osteoporosis. Fruits, vegetables, and legumes have favorable effects on acid-base balance, since the acid-forming effect of their protein content, which is lower than that of animal products anyway, are balanced by their mineral content.3-4

After 14 weeks, the women on both diets increased markers of bone formation and reduced their calcium excretion – those on the low sodium diet had a greater reduction in calcium loss. The authors concluded that this diet was protecting the mineral reserves in bone, and that this could have long-term implications for bone health. Future studies will likely measure bone mineral density and fracture incidence in response to these diets.2

The average daily consumption of sodium for Americans is around 4000mg, almost double the U.S. recommended maximum of 2300mg. The low sodium diet in this study provided a maximum of 1500mg of sodium per day, but included up to six servings of red meat per week, limited the consumption of nutrient-rich legumes to 4-5 per week, and was based on high-calorie, nutrient-poor grain products - 7-8 servings per day.5 The high-carbohydrate low-fat diet was likely based on grain products as well.

Although both of these diets had favorable effects when implemented in place of a standard western diet, they both have room for improvement. By minimizing the high-protein, high-saturated fat animal products, and replacing grain products with mineral- and phytochemical-rich vegetables, fruits, and legumes as the base of the diet, both acid load and sodium would be further reduced, presumably leading to further benefits on bone health.

To learn more about this topic and more, please visit his website at DrFuhrman.com and his blog at DiseaseProof.com.

References:
1. Strazzullo P et al. Salt intake, stroke, and cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of prospective studies. BMJ 2009;339:b4567
2. Nowson CA et al. The effects of a low-sodium base-producing diet including red meat compared with a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet on bone turnover markers in women aged 45-75 years. Br J Nutr. 2009 Oct;102(8):1161-70. Epub 2009 May 18.
3. Welch AA et al. Urine pH is an indicator of dietary acid-base load, fruit and vegetables and meat intakes: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and
Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk population study. Br J Nutr. 2008 Jun;99(6):1335-43. Epub 2007 Nov 28.
4. Massey LK. J Nutr. Dietary animal and plant protein and human bone health: a whole foods approach. 2003 Mar;133(3):862S-865S.
5. http://dashdiet.org/
http://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Publications/Food-Beverage-Nutrition/FoodNavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Salt-reduction-may-also-benefit-bone-health/?c=9EU3KtLmkBBxmwtf4jYClA%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf