Category: Food preparation (Page 13 of 14)

The South Beach Diet. Thumbs Down

The South Beach Diet is nothing new.? It is another low carb diet wrapped up in a new package.? Some have called it a friendlier version of the very popular Atkins diet.? Dr. Agatston from the get go claims his South Beach Diet is not low carb, however, the usual carbohydrate foods like bread, fruit, fruit juice, rice, potatoes, pasta, sugar and snacks are excluded.? No matter how it is marketed, it is most certainly low carb.

Low carb diets have been all the rage for quite a while now.? Bodybuilders and fitness athletes have been using this strategy to keep lean and build muscle for decades.? The main reason low carb diets are still so popular, is simple; they work!

For those not familiar with how low carb diets work, it has to do with how our bodies ability to process them.? When food is ingested our bodies secrete insulin.? Insulin is a storage hormone.? To be more specific, its a fat storage hormone.? The higher your insulin levels are the higher the percentage of food will be stored as fat.? Moreover, the higher your insulin is the lower the amount of fat burned as fuel.? Hence, the biggest key to burning fat is to keep your insulin levels low, which is accomplished by consuming a diet of whole unprocessed food that is low in carbohydrates.? The South Beach diet helps one accomplish this, but this is where the benefits of this book end.

Like many doctors and other so-called experts they are taught what to think not how to think.? Dr. Agatson advocates a higher protein diet that is LOW in fat.? One is supposed to consume skim milk, lean meat, and urges the reader never to use animal fats.

Dr Agatson completely disregards the benefits of animal fats for the dangerous side effects of polyunsaturated fats.? For instance, he prohibits the use of butter and urges readers to use processed spreads.

The good Dr. claims you be hungry on the South Beach diet.? Anyone who follows this diet will find the opposite is true.? With a diet that is so low in fat, especially saturated fat, and carbohydrates there is nothing to satisfy your hunger.

Cutting out junk foods like sugar, and processed food in general is always a step in the right direction.? However, his advocating polyunsaturated fats over saturated fats make the South Beach diet one of the most dangerous diets out there.
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Eat fat and forget about your cholesterol.

The lipid hypothesis states there is a direct link between the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet and the incidence of heart disease. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Before the mid 1920’s cardiovascular disease was literally unheard of and eggs, butter and lard were conumed in abundance. In 1900 when heart attacks were nonexistent, egg consumption was three times what it was in the mid 1950’s when cardiovascular disease was already the nations #1 killer.

Scientific data just doesn’t support the supposed benefits of reducing saturated fat and choesterol. 20 studies have shown that people who have had heart attacks haven’t eaten any more saturated fat than other people, and the degree of atherosclerosis at autopsy is unrelated to diet. On the contrary, saturated fats have been nourishing societies for millenia.

Below is a list of guidelines we can and should follow to be healthier and reduce our risk of the nations number one killer:

Read food labels.

Consume whole, unprocessed foods.

Don’t consume any product that contains trans fat.

Don’t be fooled by products that advertise “zero trans fat.” Always read the ingredient list and if “hydrogenated vegetable oil,” “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” or “shortening” are listed, understand that it has trans fat. By law, companies can claim “zero” if there is .5 grams or less of trans fat per serving. There is no safe level of trans fat.

Don’t consume any product that contains vegetable oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil or shortening listed as one of the ingredients.

Only use oils that are labeled “Cold Pressed,” “Expellar Pressed” or “Extra Virgin.”

Consume eggs laid by free range chickens. They are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, biotin, and vitamins A, D and E.

Use peanut oil, sesame oil or olive oil for cooking if you do not want to use animal fats. These oils can also be used for one-time frying.

Use coconut oil for cooking or frying. It’s very stable, and has strong antimicrobial properties.

Use butter, not margarine.

Don’t use trans fat-free spreads. They are still made with highly processed oils that are rancid.

Keep your consumption of polyunsaturated fats to a minimum. They are high in omega-6 fatty acids.

Consume meat.

Don’t eat like a vegetarian. We do not possess multiple stomachs, nor do we chew cud. Our stomachs produce hydrochloric acid, which is not found in herbivores. We are omnivores. There are essential nutrients in animal products that cannot be gotten in sufficient amounts by eating plants.

Don’t feed your children a low-fat diet. If they’re fat, it’s because they sit on their asses too much and eat too much junk. Not coincidentally, these are the same two reasons many adult Americans are overweight.

Supplement your diet with vitamins and other nutrients: A, D, E and C, CoQ10, fish oil (omega-3), selenium.

Don’t smoke.

Exercise at least three days per week.

Taken from, “Fats, Cholestarol and the Lipid Hypothesis

McDonald’s changes their frying oil

Feeling the pressure from health advocates, McDonald’s has been trying to eliminate trans fat in frying oil for quite some time now.? In January they announced that over 1200 of its franchises will be using a trans fat free oil.???

The Chicago Tribune reports, by early 2008 all 13,700 McDonald’s franchises in the U.S. will be cooking all their frie’s, chicken nuggets and other items in a vegetable oil blend.? Cargill did the scientific testing and blending of oils to find one that did not jeopardize the iconic nature of the french fry.? They tested 18 types of oil in more than 50 different blends over 7 years.? The new, “healthier” oil is a blend of canola, soybean and corn oils.?

Ram Reddy vice president and general manager for Cargill’s Napier office said, “We’re not going to turn the french fry into a health food, but it is going to be healthier.”

Healthier, let’s not jump to conclusions.? So instead of using partially hydrogenated oils, they’re going to use polyunsaturated oils.? These oils should never, ever be used in cooking, let alone frying.?

We have been force fed a load of crap concerning the virtues of polyunsaturated fats.? We’ve been told relentlessly that polyunsaturated fats are good for our health and to increase our consumption.? Unfortunately, polyunsaturated fats cause many health problems.? One of the biggest reasons polyunsaturated fats are so unhealthy is because they are very susceptible to becoming oxidized or rancid when exposed to heat and light.? The polyunsaturated oils you buy in grocery stores are already rancid.?

Bullz-eye.com

50 ways to spice up chicken

Any bodybuilder or person that is looking to get?into shape and stay healthy knows that chicken is one of the leanest?foods on the market. Chicken should be a staple in anybody’s diet that is looking to pack on muscle and stay lean. Another great thing about chicken is that it’s cheaper than steak or pork – especially frozen and in bulk – so it’s usually the meal of choice come most dinner times.

The problem is that chicken can also be boring as hell, especially if you’re eating it two or three times throughout the day to feed your growing muscles. Without having to drop too much more coin at the grocery store, here is an article from Men’s Health.com that offers different ways to jazz up the protein-packed bird: 50 ways to Feed Your Muscles.

Polyunsaturated fats – Health food or poison

According to a recent article, the vast majority of oil we buy in the grocery store is already spoiled.? Most of the oils sold in stores are?polyunsaturated because they are?inexpensive to manufacture and offer high profit margins.?

The article explains that?despite what we’ve been told, polyunsaturated oils made from; corn, soy, sunflower and?cotton seed, are very unhealthy.

Safflower, corn, sunflower, soybean and cottonseed oils all contain over 50% of the highly unstable fatty acid Omega-6 and should never be used in cooking, frying or baking. Heating these oils causes oxidation and produces large amounts of free radicals.

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