Has America become a nation of psychotics? You would certainly think so, based on the explosion in the use of antipsychotic medications. In 2008, with over $14 billion in sales, antipsychotics became the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the United States, surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and acid reflux.
Once upon a time, antipsychotics were reserved for a relatively small number of patients with hard-core psychiatric diagnoses - primarily schizophrenia and bipolar disorder - to treat such symptoms as delusions, hallucinations, or formal thought disorder. Today, it seems, everyone is taking antipsychotics. Parents are told that their unruly kids are in fact bipolar, and in need of anti-psychotics, while old people with dementia are dosed, in large numbers, with drugs once reserved largely for schizophrenics. Americans with symptoms ranging from chronic depression to anxiety to insomnia are now being prescribed anti-psychotics at rates that seem to indicate a national mass psychosis.
It is anything but a coincidence that the explosion in antipsychotic use coincides with the pharmaceutical industry's development of a new class of medications known as "atypical antipsychotics." Beginning with Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Seroquel in the 1990s, followed by Abilify in the early 2000s, these drugs were touted as being more effective than older antipsychotics like Haldol and Thorazine. More importantly, they lacked the most noxious side effects of the older drugs - in particular, the tremors and other motor control problems.
The atypical anti-psychotics were the bright new stars in the pharmaceutical industry's roster of psychotropic drugs - costly, patented medications that made people feel and behave better without any shaking or drooling. Sales grew steadily, until by 2009 Seroquel and Abilify numbered fifth and sixth in annual drug sales, and prescriptions written for the top three atypical antipsychotics totaled more than 20 million. Suddenly, antipsychotics weren't just for psychotics any more.
Not just for psychotics anymore
By now, just about everyone knows how the drug industry works to influence the minds of American doctors, plying them with gifts, junkets, ego-tripping awards, and research funding in exchange for endorsing or prescribing the latest and most lucrative drugs. "Psychiatrists are particularly targeted by Big Pharma because psychiatric diagnoses are very subjective," says Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, whose PharmedOut project tracks the industry's influence on American medicine, and who last month hosted a conference on the subject at Georgetown. A shrink can't give you a blood test or an MRI to figure out precisely what's wrong with you. So it's often a case of diagnosis by prescription. (If you feel better after you take an anti-depressant, it's assumed that you were depressed.) As the researchers in one study of the drug industry's influence put it, "the lack of biological tests for mental disorders renders psychiatry especially vulnerable to industry influence." For this reason, they argue, it's particularly important that the guidelines for diagnosing and treating mental illness be compiled "on the basis of an objective review of the scientific evidence" - and not on whether the doctors writing them got a big grant from Merck or own stock in AstraZeneca.
Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and a leading critic of the Big Pharma, puts it more bluntly: "Psychiatrists are in the pocket of industry." Angell has pointed out that most of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the bible of mental health clinicians, have ties to the drug industry. Likewise, a 2009 study showed that 18 out of 20 of the shrinks who wrote the American Psychiatric Association's most recent clinical guidelines for treating depression, bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia had financial ties to drug companies.
"The use of psychoactive drugs - including both antidepressants and antipsychotics - has exploded...[yet] 'the tally of those who are disabled...increased nearly two and a half times."
Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine
In a recent article in The New York Review of Books, Angell deconstructs what she calls an apparent "raging epidemic of mental illness" among Americans. The use of psychoactive drugs—including both antidepressants and antipsychotics—has exploded, and if the new drugs are so effective, Angell points out, we should "expect the prevalence of mental illness to be declining, not rising." Instead, "the tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007 - from one in 184 Americans to one in seventy-six. For children, the rise is even more startling - a thirty-five-fold increase in the same two decades. Mental illness is now the leading cause of disability in children." Under the tutelage of Big Pharma, we are "simply expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has one." Fugh-Berman agrees: In the age of aggressive drug marketing, she says, "Psychiatric diagnoses have expanded to include many perfectly normal people."
Cost benefit analysis
What's especially troubling about the over-prescription of the new antipsychotics is its prevalence among the very young and the very old - vulnerable groups who often do not make their own choices when it comes to what medications they take. Investigations into antipsychotic use suggests that their purpose, in these cases, may be to subdue and tranquilize rather than to treat any genuine psychosis.
Carl Elliott reports in Mother Jones magazine: "Once bipolar disorder could be treated with atypicals, rates of diagnoses rose dramatically, especially in children. According to a recent Columbia University study, the number of children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder rose 40-fold between 1994 and 2003." And according to another study, "one in five children who visited a psychiatrist came away with a prescription for an antipsychotic drug." http://motherjones.com
A remarkable series published in the Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/) in May true revealed that the state of Florida's juvenile justice department has literally been pouring these drugs into juvenile facilities, "routinely" doling them out "for reasons that never were approved by federal regulators." The numbers are staggering: "In 2007, for example, the Department of Juvenile Justice bought more than twice as much Seroquel as ibuprofen. Overall, in 24 months, the department bought 326,081 tablets of Seroquel, Abilify, Risperdal and other antipsychotic drugs for use in state-operated jails and homes for children…That's enough to hand out 446 pills a day, seven days a week, for two years in a row, to kids in jails and programs that can hold no more than 2,300 boys and girls on a given day." Further, the paper discovered that "One in three of the psychiatrists who have contracted with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in the past five years has taken speaker fees or gifts from companies that make antipsychotic medications."
In addition to expanding the diagnoses of serious mental illness, drug companies have encouraged doctors to prescribe atypical anti-psychotics for a host of off-label uses. In one particularly notorious episode, the drugmaker Eli Lilly pushed Zyprexa on the caregivers of old people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, as well as agitation, anxiety, and insomnia. In selling to nursing home doctors, sales reps reportedly used the slogan "five at five"—meaning that five milligrams of Zyprexa at 5 pm would sedate their more difficult charges. The practice persisted even after FDA had warned Lilly that the drug was not approved for such uses, and that it could lead to obesity and even diabetes in elderly patients.
In a video interview conducted in 2006, Sharham Ahari, who sold Zyprexa for two years at the beginning of the decade, described to me how the sales people would wangle the doctors into prescribing it. At the time, he recalled, his doctor clients were giving him a lot of grief over patients who were "flipping out" over the weight gain associated with the drug, along with the diabetes. "We were instructed to downplay side effects and focus on the efficacy of drug…to recommend the patient drink a glass a water before taking a pill before the meal and then after the meal in hopes the stomach would expand" and provide an easy way out of this obstacle to increased sales. When docs complained, he recalled, "I told them, ‘Our drug is state of the art. What's more important? You want them to get better or do you want them to stay the same--a thin psychotic patient or a fat stable patient.'"
For the drug companies, Shahrman says, the decision to continue pushing the drug despite side effects is matter of cost benefit analysis: Whether you will make more money by continuing to market the drug for off-label use, and perhaps defending against lawsuits, than you would otherwise. In the case of Zyprexa, in January 2009, Lilly settled a lawsuit brought by with the US Justice Department, agreeing to pay $1.4 billion, including "a criminal fine of $515 million, the largest ever in a health care case, and the largest criminal fine for an individual corporation ever imposed in a United States criminal prosecution of any kind,''the Department of Justice said in announcing the settlement." But Lilly's sale of Zyprexa in that year alone were over $1.8 billion. http://psychdrugs.wordpress.com/2008/08/17/eli-lilly-the-maker-of-prozac-zyprexa-strattera-evista-thiomersal-and-xigris/
Making patients worse
People and Power: Drug Money
As it turns out, the atypical antipsychotics may not even be the best choice for people with genuine, undisputed psychosis.
A growing number of health professionals have come to think these drugs are not really as effective as older, less expensive medicines which they have replaced, that they themselves produce side effects that cause other sorts of diseases such as diabetes and plunge the patient deeper into the gloomy world of serious mental disorder. Along with stories of success comes reports of people turned into virtual zombies.
Elliott reports in Mother Jones: "After another large analysis in The Lancet found that most atypicals actually performed worse than older drugs, two senior British psychiatrists penned a damning editorial that ran in the same issue. Dr. Peter Tyrer, the editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, and Dr. Tim Kendall of the Royal College of Psychiatrists wrote: "The spurious invention of the atypicals can now be regarded as invention only, cleverly manipulated by the drug industry for marketing purposes and only now being exposed." http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/publications.aspx
Bottom line: Stop Big Pharma and the parasitic shrink community from wantonly pushing these pills across the population.
From http://tinyurl.com/64ky7pa
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
"Super Sand" Could Provide Drinking Water To Millions Of People
Super Sand & Cactus Gum (GlycoProtein)
BY ARIEL SCHWARTZ Jun 28, 2011
Sand is a cheap and easy to find water filter. It's also not a very good water filter. But a new development--coating sand in graphite--could make it possible for everyone in the world to have easy access to clean water.
Nearly one billion people lack access to safe drinking water. There are creative ways to purify dirty water when a Brita isn't handy, to be sure--people living in areas with plentiful sand, for example, can pour water through sand and pebble-filled filters. But while the sand quickly filters water and removes large particles, it is, not surprisingly, ineffective at removing heavy metals, pathogens, and other toxins that find their way into dirty water.
A newly developed "coated sand," uses graphite oxide--a substance used in the chemical process for making pencil lead (or graphite)--to filter out the contaminants that regular sand can't touch. It could be cheap to produce and almost as plentiful as plain old sand.
When Rice University researchers ran two model contaminants (mercury and Rhodamine B dye) through the super sand, they found that the coated substance removed contaminants as well as commercially available active carbon filtration systems. The big difference: The super sand is cheap. Graphite is inexpensive (waste graphite from mining operations could even be used), and the coating process can occur at room temperature.
Rice explains:
Nanosheets of graphite oxide can be tailored to have hydrophobic (water-hating) and hydrophilic (water-loving) properties. When mixed in a solution with sand, they self-assemble into coatings around the grains and keep the hydrophilic parts exposed. Adding aromatic thiol molecules to the coatings enhances their ability to sequester water-soluble contaminants.
Coated sand could, in other words, be at least one solution to our growing water crisis--along with cactus gum, the Tata Swach, and fog-harvesting devices.
Watch the video & read more:
http://tinyurl.com/3eycosf
and
http://tinyurl.com/3uwwbd8
BY ARIEL SCHWARTZ Jun 28, 2011
Sand is a cheap and easy to find water filter. It's also not a very good water filter. But a new development--coating sand in graphite--could make it possible for everyone in the world to have easy access to clean water.
Nearly one billion people lack access to safe drinking water. There are creative ways to purify dirty water when a Brita isn't handy, to be sure--people living in areas with plentiful sand, for example, can pour water through sand and pebble-filled filters. But while the sand quickly filters water and removes large particles, it is, not surprisingly, ineffective at removing heavy metals, pathogens, and other toxins that find their way into dirty water.
A newly developed "coated sand," uses graphite oxide--a substance used in the chemical process for making pencil lead (or graphite)--to filter out the contaminants that regular sand can't touch. It could be cheap to produce and almost as plentiful as plain old sand.
When Rice University researchers ran two model contaminants (mercury and Rhodamine B dye) through the super sand, they found that the coated substance removed contaminants as well as commercially available active carbon filtration systems. The big difference: The super sand is cheap. Graphite is inexpensive (waste graphite from mining operations could even be used), and the coating process can occur at room temperature.
Rice explains:
Nanosheets of graphite oxide can be tailored to have hydrophobic (water-hating) and hydrophilic (water-loving) properties. When mixed in a solution with sand, they self-assemble into coatings around the grains and keep the hydrophilic parts exposed. Adding aromatic thiol molecules to the coatings enhances their ability to sequester water-soluble contaminants.
Coated sand could, in other words, be at least one solution to our growing water crisis--along with cactus gum, the Tata Swach, and fog-harvesting devices.
Watch the video & read more:
http://tinyurl.com/3eycosf
and
http://tinyurl.com/3uwwbd8
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sucrose Warning, Al list of problems it can cause.
Sucrose Warning
Studies show that sucrose can cause or contributes to: obesity, diabetes, infectious diseases, the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol, promotes LDL, increased blood pressure, enlarged liver, increased liver fat, suppressed the immune system, hypoglycemia, upset mineral relationships in the body, hyperactivity, anxiety, crankiness, rise in triglycerides, ages skin, tissue elasticity loss, chromium deficiency, cancer of the ovaries, copper deficiency, absorption of calcium & magnesium, weaken eyesight, raise the level of neurotransmitter’s: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, an acidic digestive tract, rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children, malabsorption, premature aging, lead to alcoholism, tooth decay, risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis, gastric and duodenal ulcers, arthritis, asthma, yeast infections, heart disease, osteoporosis, salivary acidity, lower vitamin E in the blood, decreased growth hormone, triglycerides, kidney diseases, drowsiness, interference with protein absorption, food allergies, toxemia during pregnancy, cardiovascular disease, alters gene expression, change protein structure, headaches, including migraine, pancreatic cancer in women, learning disorders, reduced learning capacity, contributed to Alzheimer’s disease, increased platelet adhesiveness, hormonal imbalance, dizziness, increased production of free radicals and oxidative stress, feeds cancer, increased the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon, increased estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men, destroys alkaline phosphatase enzyme, risk gallbladder cancer, an addictive substance, exacerbate PMS, worsens ADHD, adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition, slowed adrenal glands, slow or stop oxygen to the brain, dehydrates newborns, low birth weight babies, increased risk of breast cancer, induced salt and water retention, contributed to mild memory loss, caused constipation, caused brain impairment in prediabetic and diabetic women, increased stomach cancer risk, metabolic syndrome, increased neural tube embryo defects, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), caused liver tumors, caused myocardial infarction.
http://www.endowmentmed.org/pdf/SmartLesson20detail.pdf
Studies show that sucrose can cause or contributes to: obesity, diabetes, infectious diseases, the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol, promotes LDL, increased blood pressure, enlarged liver, increased liver fat, suppressed the immune system, hypoglycemia, upset mineral relationships in the body, hyperactivity, anxiety, crankiness, rise in triglycerides, ages skin, tissue elasticity loss, chromium deficiency, cancer of the ovaries, copper deficiency, absorption of calcium & magnesium, weaken eyesight, raise the level of neurotransmitter’s: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, an acidic digestive tract, rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children, malabsorption, premature aging, lead to alcoholism, tooth decay, risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis, gastric and duodenal ulcers, arthritis, asthma, yeast infections, heart disease, osteoporosis, salivary acidity, lower vitamin E in the blood, decreased growth hormone, triglycerides, kidney diseases, drowsiness, interference with protein absorption, food allergies, toxemia during pregnancy, cardiovascular disease, alters gene expression, change protein structure, headaches, including migraine, pancreatic cancer in women, learning disorders, reduced learning capacity, contributed to Alzheimer’s disease, increased platelet adhesiveness, hormonal imbalance, dizziness, increased production of free radicals and oxidative stress, feeds cancer, increased the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon, increased estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men, destroys alkaline phosphatase enzyme, risk gallbladder cancer, an addictive substance, exacerbate PMS, worsens ADHD, adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition, slowed adrenal glands, slow or stop oxygen to the brain, dehydrates newborns, low birth weight babies, increased risk of breast cancer, induced salt and water retention, contributed to mild memory loss, caused constipation, caused brain impairment in prediabetic and diabetic women, increased stomach cancer risk, metabolic syndrome, increased neural tube embryo defects, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), caused liver tumors, caused myocardial infarction.
http://www.endowmentmed.org/pdf/SmartLesson20detail.pdf
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Overing eating (Gluttony) Bible verses
GLUTTONY
1. 'Deut 21:18-21 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.'
2. Prov 23:20-21 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
3. 'Prov 25:16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.'
4. 'Phil 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)'
5. 'Matt 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.'
6. 'Luke 7:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!'
7. 'Luke 16:19-26 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from '
1. 'Deut 21:18-21 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.'
2. Prov 23:20-21 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
3. 'Prov 25:16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.'
4. 'Phil 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)'
5. 'Matt 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.'
6. 'Luke 7:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!'
7. 'Luke 16:19-26 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from '
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
KICKSTART YOUR HEALTH WITH DR. NEAL BARNARD
http://www.youtube.com/user/PCRM
KICKSTART YOUR HEALTH WITH DR. NEAL BARNARD | Excerpts | PBS
From: PBS | Feb 14, 2011 | 11,734 views
http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2011/pbs-kickstart-... In this video clip, Dr. Neal Barnard unveils the secrets to reprogramming your body quickly and getting your body on track to better health fast. Premiering March 2011 on most PBS stations (check your local listings at pbs.org/tvschedules). Support your local PBS station now -- you make it possible for your PBS station to offer amazing performances and the opportunity to discover something new every day, whether on TV or online. To donate to your local PBS station, visit http://www.pbs.org/support .
http://vimeo.com/23862058
KICKSTART YOUR HEALTH WITH DR. NEAL BARNARD | Excerpts | PBS
From: PBS | Feb 14, 2011 | 11,734 views
http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2011/pbs-kickstart-... In this video clip, Dr. Neal Barnard unveils the secrets to reprogramming your body quickly and getting your body on track to better health fast. Premiering March 2011 on most PBS stations (check your local listings at pbs.org/tvschedules). Support your local PBS station now -- you make it possible for your PBS station to offer amazing performances and the opportunity to discover something new every day, whether on TV or online. To donate to your local PBS station, visit http://www.pbs.org/support .
http://vimeo.com/23862058
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Uva ursi, urinary infections & much more.
Uva ursi an herb, been used to treat urinary infections & fight off infection. Two of its phyto-chemicals are arbutin & hydroquinone.
* Arbutin is a naturally occuring derivative of hydroquinone found in the leaves of cranberry, bearberry, and blueberry shrubs, most types of pears, and many other plants.
Arbutin has been used in the treatment of disorders of hyperpigmentation such as postinflammatory hyperpigmentation caused by acne, trauma, allergic reactions, infections, injuries, phototoxic reactions, reactions to medications, reactions to cosmetics, and inflammatory diseases.
* Hydroquinone even is used in skin creams. Safe and Effective http://tinyurl.com/3r9n798
* Arbutin is a naturally occuring derivative of hydroquinone found in the leaves of cranberry, bearberry, and blueberry shrubs, most types of pears, and many other plants.
Arbutin has been used in the treatment of disorders of hyperpigmentation such as postinflammatory hyperpigmentation caused by acne, trauma, allergic reactions, infections, injuries, phototoxic reactions, reactions to medications, reactions to cosmetics, and inflammatory diseases.
* Hydroquinone even is used in skin creams. Safe and Effective http://tinyurl.com/3r9n798
Monday, May 23, 2011
Average person in USA consumes 45.3 lbs of sugar a year
When I read this I just had to share it.
Have you ever stopped to think for a minute about the types foods people
eat everyday? For example, just look at the handful of giant food
conglomerates like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Dole, Nestle, General Mills
(Pillsbury, Betty Crocker) that heavily influence what the average
consumer in the U.S. eats, day in and day out. Their products are on the shelves EVERYWHERE.
...And what's the one indisputable common denominator between all of these companies and the majority of their products?
SUGAR!
Not only is sugar bad for your health (and your waistline), it's VERY
addictive. In fact, it's so addictive that on average a person in the
U.S. consumes a whopping 45.3 pounds of sugar a year...that's pretty gross when you think about it!
But here's the kicker - that 45.3 pounds of sugar only includes "pure" sugar consumption. That means sugar from soft drinks, junk foods, pastries, chocolate, juices, shakes, ice cream, honey, syrup (well you get the idea). That number does NOT include breads, pasta, rice and other starchy foods that also turn into sugar in your body.
I can't imagine what the total amount of sugar one's body has to metabolize on a daily, weekly and yearly basis (poor liver!).
The problem is, we've all gotten so used to eating sugar that our view of normalcy has become completely distorted. If it's not sweet, it doesn't taste good. Even the "healthy" foods and drinks are filled with sugar -- or what they disguise as something healthy like apple juice, evaporated cane juice, dates, just to name a few.
Even worse are the "organic" labels that fool people into thinking that even though there's sugar in them it's somehow better for you? It's no wonder we're faced with an epidemic rate of obesity and diabetes.
There was a New York Times article written by Gary Taubes' titled, "Is Sugar Toxic?" If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?_r=3
And if you don't have time to read the article, at least take a look at
this eye-opening graphic:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t_CA1.html
That picture really puts things into perspective, huh?!
So what can you do to cut down on these sugary foods?
Well, you have to start by redefining "normal".
If you've been under the assumption that your sugar intake is normal, you may want to take a second look. And keep in mind, as I stated earlier, that sugar doesn't have to be sweet. Refined carbohydrates like bread, cereal, pasta, rice all turn into sugar...and these foods add up quick.
It's important to know that sugar in your body triggers a powerful hormone called "insulin", which among many things is responsible for storing fat in your body. So more sugar means higher insulin response which programs your body to store more fat. It may be a simplified way of looking at it, but the it gets the important point across.
If you've been struggling with your weight, take a look at your diet - especially your sugar/carb intake. Even if you think you eat healthy, you may be surprised to find out how much sugar/carbs you actually eat. Try taking a carb count for one day - just keep track of how many grams of carbohydrates you consume and take a look at your total at the end of the day.
The optimal amount of daily carbohydrate intake varies with body size, lean body weight and activity levels, but it's been my experience (working with thousands of people), that 100 grams of carbohydrates per day is the ballpark figure you want to be shooting for if you want to lose weight and get some good definition on those abs.
Now if 100 grams seem too low, just keep in mind that it's low relative to what's considered "normal" by today's standard, which is FAR from what normal *really* is. Reducing your sugar/carb intake isn't easy (at first), but the trimmed waistline and improved health benefits are well worth it. Also, cutting down on carbs doesn't mean starving yourself, it means making better choices.
Here are 7 tips to help you eliminate excess sugar/carbs form your diet:
#1 - Consume protein with every meal.
#2 - Avoid refined carbs like breads, pasta, rice and all wheat flour products.
#3 - Cut out soft drinks and drink water instead. If you need to add some taste squeeze a wedge of lemon or lime in the water.
#4 - Skip starchy foods like breads, muffins, bagels and cereal for breakfast. Instead, have some eggs and fruit or a protein shake.
#4 - Go for a salad instead of a sandwich. If you feel that it's not satisfying enough, add extra protein and fat (like avocado) into your salad.
#6 - Avoid sweets and starchy snacks, especially in the mid-afternoon when you're energy level starts to wane and your sugar cravings hit. Instead, snack on nuts, fruits, jerky, cottage cheese or Greek yogurt (if you eat dairy).
#7 - Stay away from breads, pasta, rice and even potatoes at dinner time and replace them with cruciferous vegetables that are hearty and healthy like broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts.
Stay Fit,
-Shin
==> http://www.maxworkouts.com/contest/rules
Also look at: http://tinyurl.com/3ubj37d
.
Have you ever stopped to think for a minute about the types foods people
eat everyday? For example, just look at the handful of giant food
conglomerates like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Dole, Nestle, General Mills
(Pillsbury, Betty Crocker) that heavily influence what the average
consumer in the U.S. eats, day in and day out. Their products are on the shelves EVERYWHERE.
...And what's the one indisputable common denominator between all of these companies and the majority of their products?
SUGAR!
Not only is sugar bad for your health (and your waistline), it's VERY
addictive. In fact, it's so addictive that on average a person in the
U.S. consumes a whopping 45.3 pounds of sugar a year...that's pretty gross when you think about it!
But here's the kicker - that 45.3 pounds of sugar only includes "pure" sugar consumption. That means sugar from soft drinks, junk foods, pastries, chocolate, juices, shakes, ice cream, honey, syrup (well you get the idea). That number does NOT include breads, pasta, rice and other starchy foods that also turn into sugar in your body.
I can't imagine what the total amount of sugar one's body has to metabolize on a daily, weekly and yearly basis (poor liver!).
The problem is, we've all gotten so used to eating sugar that our view of normalcy has become completely distorted. If it's not sweet, it doesn't taste good. Even the "healthy" foods and drinks are filled with sugar -- or what they disguise as something healthy like apple juice, evaporated cane juice, dates, just to name a few.
Even worse are the "organic" labels that fool people into thinking that even though there's sugar in them it's somehow better for you? It's no wonder we're faced with an epidemic rate of obesity and diabetes.
There was a New York Times article written by Gary Taubes' titled, "Is Sugar Toxic?" If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?_r=3
And if you don't have time to read the article, at least take a look at
this eye-opening graphic:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t_CA1.html
That picture really puts things into perspective, huh?!
So what can you do to cut down on these sugary foods?
Well, you have to start by redefining "normal".
If you've been under the assumption that your sugar intake is normal, you may want to take a second look. And keep in mind, as I stated earlier, that sugar doesn't have to be sweet. Refined carbohydrates like bread, cereal, pasta, rice all turn into sugar...and these foods add up quick.
It's important to know that sugar in your body triggers a powerful hormone called "insulin", which among many things is responsible for storing fat in your body. So more sugar means higher insulin response which programs your body to store more fat. It may be a simplified way of looking at it, but the it gets the important point across.
If you've been struggling with your weight, take a look at your diet - especially your sugar/carb intake. Even if you think you eat healthy, you may be surprised to find out how much sugar/carbs you actually eat. Try taking a carb count for one day - just keep track of how many grams of carbohydrates you consume and take a look at your total at the end of the day.
The optimal amount of daily carbohydrate intake varies with body size, lean body weight and activity levels, but it's been my experience (working with thousands of people), that 100 grams of carbohydrates per day is the ballpark figure you want to be shooting for if you want to lose weight and get some good definition on those abs.
Now if 100 grams seem too low, just keep in mind that it's low relative to what's considered "normal" by today's standard, which is FAR from what normal *really* is. Reducing your sugar/carb intake isn't easy (at first), but the trimmed waistline and improved health benefits are well worth it. Also, cutting down on carbs doesn't mean starving yourself, it means making better choices.
Here are 7 tips to help you eliminate excess sugar/carbs form your diet:
#1 - Consume protein with every meal.
#2 - Avoid refined carbs like breads, pasta, rice and all wheat flour products.
#3 - Cut out soft drinks and drink water instead. If you need to add some taste squeeze a wedge of lemon or lime in the water.
#4 - Skip starchy foods like breads, muffins, bagels and cereal for breakfast. Instead, have some eggs and fruit or a protein shake.
#4 - Go for a salad instead of a sandwich. If you feel that it's not satisfying enough, add extra protein and fat (like avocado) into your salad.
#6 - Avoid sweets and starchy snacks, especially in the mid-afternoon when you're energy level starts to wane and your sugar cravings hit. Instead, snack on nuts, fruits, jerky, cottage cheese or Greek yogurt (if you eat dairy).
#7 - Stay away from breads, pasta, rice and even potatoes at dinner time and replace them with cruciferous vegetables that are hearty and healthy like broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts.
Stay Fit,
-Shin
==> http://www.maxworkouts.com/contest/rules
Also look at: http://tinyurl.com/3ubj37d
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