May 9, 2012 · 2:50 pm

More on Soda

My post “Getting Down to Basics” covered a lot of info in one place. One of my readers asked for me to elaborate on why soda is bad for you. I want to emphasize here that I will absolutely go into more depth on any topic in a separate post. All you have to do is ask!

Soda. Whether diet or regular, soda is a beverage of chemicals. There is no nutritional value to drinking soda.

We know regular soda contains chemicals and sugar. And we know sugar is bad for us (see my post on sugar). But what about diet soda?

Diet sodas contain the following: aspartame, artificial colors and preservatives, and phosphoric acid.

Aspartame is one nasty artificial sweetener, folks. The easy explanation here is that “artificial” just isn’t food. But beyond that, why is it so bad? In short, aspartame is linked to approximately 92 different health problems. I won’t go into it all here, but you might be interested to know that in addition to nearly any problem you can think of – anxiety, depression, insomnia, eye damage…the list goes on – aspartame is linked to weight gain.

Say what?!

That’s right. Diet food is causing weight gain because the body doesn’t know how to process all of the fake ingredients, like aspartame and other artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. As a result, your body stores the unknown ingredients as toxins in fat cells to protect you. Fat, as much as we hate it, is there to protect us. So lose the toxins, lose the weight. Eat real food that your body knows how to digest. Aspartame is also known to cause unstable blood sugar and sweet cravings, which also lead to weight gain. You can read more about aspartame from Dr. Mercola, Dr. Hull, and The Health Ranger.

Phosphoric acid is a chemical that is added to keep your soda bubbly but is linked to lower bone density. When we consume phosphoric acid, calcium is released from your bones and teeth to balance the levels of phosphorus. When the body excretes phosphoric acid, the calcium goes right along with it. This contributes to our risk for osteoporosis.

Did you know that most of the world does not consume dairy products and their rates of osteoporosis are much lower than ours? This means that despite our high consumption of dairy, which is a great source of calcium, we’re still not protected. The Health Ranger has some good info on this one, too.

So, in summary, soda, whether diet or regular, is best avoided as much as possible. Water should be your drink of choice. Look for a post about water coming soon!

Always feel free to send me questions. Health Coach Jillian is here to help!

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Filed under Artificial, Artificial Flavors, Dairy, Diet, Sugar, Water

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May 8, 2012 · 3:24 pm

“I Think There’s Something To This Whole Organic Thing…”

…my husband said to me at the airport Sunday.

I shot him a funny look. “Obviously.”

He listens to me talk ALL THE TIME about the merits of eating organic, cutting out the chemicals, the processed food, the genetically modified foods, and the foods that are a bit mysterious (I like to know everything that goes into my food). He’s a patient one.

And he knows I’m right, even if he isn’t as…shall we say…hardcore? as me. But yesterday he saw, in the itty bitty Tucson airport, quite a bit of organic snacks for sale. And he was surprised. And I was thrilled! Because not only did it give me some snack options for the flight home, but it was support for my argument. What’s my argument? That more and more people are wanting quality food with real ingredients and it should be available to us.

He was about to buy some non-organic cookie until the salesgirl said it was awful, so he put it down and bought this, at my insistence, instead:

And hooray! Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter Cups are amazingly delicious. With the exception of my tiny nibble, the hubby happily polished these off. And while these are still technically candy, they’re far better than any conventional candy you could buy – both in taste and in ingredients. We tried the milk chocolate because that’s what the hubby likes, but they make dark chocolate, as well. And I recommend dark chocolate if you like it, as it is healthier, of course. You can find these online (click on the links above) or in local health food stores.

For me, I chose three less “desserty” selections, two of which were granola bars from the company, 18 Rabbits. One was the Nibblin’ Apricot Granola Bar and the other was the Cherry Apricot Bunny Bar.

Now, for the total fail:

I’ve seen Amande Coconut Almond Yogurt (soy-free and dairy-free) at Whole Foods and almost bought it many times. I figured airport hunger would be the perfect excuse to finally try it, as I wasn’t jazzed by the nutrition facts. Well, it’s official: I’m not a fan. It is way too sweet for me and kind of has a funny taste. I don’t recommend it.

But this just shows you how many organic options there actually were at this wee airport – and we didn’t even buy them all! I’m very happy to see organic products creeping into the most unlikely places. And very glad to be able to do this little product review for you folks. Keep your eye out for organic products where you least expect them.

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Filed under Chocolate, Coconut, Organic, Product Review, Snacks

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May 4, 2012 · 7:14 pm

Friday Fun

We’re headed into the weekend, folks. And this weekend is all about love for me.

We’re not T-Rexes, so let’s open those arms up wide! Happy weekend!

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Filed under Friday Fun

May 4, 2012 · 5:27 am

Give Up The Agave

Stay away from agave nectar, folks. There is a major misconception that agave is a healthy sweetener. It’s not. It’s actually quite unhealthy.

For one thing, it is not low-glycemic, so it’s really not any different from sugar. It’s just sugar masquerading as a health food. Take off that mask, agave! You won’t fool us!

Second, it’s highly unregulated. So we really don’t know what’s in it or how it’s made – some even contain corn syrup. Yuck. Healthy is knowing what goes into our bodies.

As an alternative, cook/bake with coconut nectar or coconut crystals which are a low-glycemic option. The nectar is like syrup and the crystals are closer in texture to sugar. And if you don’t like coconut, don’t worry – these sweeteners don’t actually taste like coconut. The Coconut Secret brand is organic, raw, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, and GMO-free. Buy online or look for them at Whole Foods or your local health food store.

So make sure to read labels to see if the “health” food you’re about to buy has agave in it. And if a recipe calls for agave, sub in coconut nectar instead and you’re good to go.

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Filed under Agave, Coconut, Gluten-free, GMO-free, Low-glycemic, Organic, Raw, Sugar, Tips and Tricks, Vegan

May 3, 2012 · 5:16 pm

Sugar Ain’t So Sweet

You may be starting to hear that sugar is the cocaine of food. That’s because it’s just that addictive. And the manufacturers know it. That’s why they’re sneaking it into our food with all different names – evaporated cane sugar, fructose, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, malt syrup, cane crystals, corn sweetener, dextrose, fruit juice concentrates, lactose, maltose, molasses, honey, and agave nectar. And this isn’t the entire list. So watch out for these names and any others that sound a little suspicious. And check the grams of sugar on the labels. The lower the better. Your jaw just might drop if you knew how much sugar you’re actually consuming, without even realizing it.

Sugar, in all of its many forms…

  • is associated with a whole host of health problems ranging from anxiety to high cholesterol
  • makes you tired
  • makes your body cling to those extra pounds
  • and makes you crave…more sugar!

It might be hard to kick it completely, so I’m recommending cutting back whenever and wherever you can. Start small, my friends. Remember the baby steps I talked about in my last post? Gradually reduce here and there by cutting down on sugary drinks, cutting back on those white carbs (the body processes white carbs and sugar the same way), skipping dessert whenever you don’t really need it, and saving those baked goods for only the most special occasions!

Let’s hear what baby steps you’ve started to take!

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Filed under Baby Steps, Sugar