Tag Archives: Proper Nutrition

The Health Dangers of Soy

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Unfermented soy has the following 10 adverse effects on your body:

1. High Phytic Acid (Phytates): Reduces assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking, but only with long fermentation. High-phytate diets have caused growth problems in children. 

2. Trypsin inhibitors: Interferes with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals, trypsin inhibitors in soy caused stunted growth. 

3. Goitrogens: Potent agents that block your synthesis of thyroid hormones and can cause hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked with autoimmune thyroid disease. Goitrogens interfere with iodine metabolism. 

4. Phytoestrogens/Isoflavones: Plant compounds resembling human estrogen can block your normal estrogen and disrupt endocrine function, cause infertility, and increase your risk for breast cancer.

5. Hemagglutinin: A clot-promoting substance that causes your red blood cells to clump, making them unable to properly absorb and distribute oxygen to your tissues. 

6. Synthetic Vitamin D: Soy foods increase your body’s vitamin D requirement, which is why companies add synthetic vitamin D2 to soymilk (a toxic form of vitamin D).

7. Vitamin B12: Soy contains a compound resembling vitamin B12 that cannot be used by your body, so soy foods can actually contribute to B12 deficiency, especially among vegans.

8. Protein Denaturing: Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein (TVP). Chemical processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.

9. MSG: Free glutamic acid, or MSG, is a potent neurotoxin. MSG is formed during soy food processing, plus additional MSG is often added to mask soy’s unpleasant taste.

10. Aluminum and Manganese: Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum, which is toxic to your nervous system and kidneys, and manganese, which wreaks havoc on your baby’s immature metabolic system.

Soy’s antinutrients are quite potent. Drinking just two glasses of soymilk daily provides enough of these compounds to alter a woman’s menstrual cycle. But if you feed soy to your infant or child, these effects are magnified a thousand-fold. Infants fed soy formula may have up to 20,000 times more estrogen circulating through their bodies as those fed other formulas. You should NEVER feed your infant a soy-based formula!

Health and Happiness,

Jay

P.S. In fact, infants fed soy formula take in an estimated five birth control pills’ worth of estrogen every day.

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Is 9:30am too Early for Lunch?

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Weight Loss Success Coach Jay Nixon talks about a recent article from the Orlando Sentinel titled “It’s 9:30 a.m., kids — time for lunch”. The article talks about schools in Orlando serving kids lunch at 9:30 a.m. Jay points out the timing of the meal is not the major issue, it is the poor quality of the meals that the kids are eating. Here is a link to the actual article:  http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-10-24/features/os-lunch-at-breakfast-time-20111024_1_lunches-lora-gilbert-chocolate-milk

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5 Tips For Everyone Who Wishes They Had More Energy!

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Eat a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables (preferably organic) for their protective phytochemicals and micronutrients needed for optimal metabolism.

Become a grazer. A large meal can trigger the body to release more insulin, resulting in low blood sugar levels and a fatigue-inducing slump. Smaller meals or healthy snacks throughout the day can help keep blood sugar levels steady.

Stay hydrated. Dehydration is a common cause of fatigue – drink purified water or other healthy liquids throughout the day.

Snack right. Choose healthy snacks that contain some protein, carbohydrates and beneficial fats. Good options include a handful of unsalted nuts, fresh fruit, vegetable sticks, protein shake or protein bar.

Eat more fiber. Navy beans, kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils are all rich in fiber, which slows the release of insulin and helps maintain a steady supply of energy.

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Can Holiday Stress Cause Weight Gain?

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The answer to this question is 100% YES!

The hormone cortisol is produced in the adrenal cortex in response to adrenal cortical stimulating hormone (ACTH) produced in the pituitary gland. Cortisol plays an important role in regulating blood sugar, energy production, inflammation, the immune system and healing.

If you have too little cortisol, you may suffer from fatigue, chronic fatigue, exhaustion and a disease of the endocrine system called Addison’s disease. If your adrenal glands are producing too much cortisol, you may develop conditions such as weight gain, especially around the abdomen, depressed immune function with all of the consequences, accelerated aging and stomach ulcers.

Recently, a lot of attention has been directed to the effects of excess cortisol on weight gain and on the difficulty in losing weight. Collectively, the various diet plans being promoted by a long list of diet gurus have a failure rate of approximately 93 to 97 percent. There are several reasons for this. One is clearly the difficulty in achieving behavioral modification in the face of easy availability of the wrong kind of foods, inherently sedentary lifestyles, and intense media programming. Another reason is that some of our hormones work against us, in the weight loss perspective. A high cortisol level is one of the culprits.

Cortisol and Stress

Cortisol is elevated in response to stress. The adrenal glands are not particular, any kind of stress will do. The stress can be physical, environmental, chemical or imaginary. The human brain is hard wired with automatic responses to protect the body from harm. The classic work on stress was done by Dr. Hans Selye, M.D. He studied the physiological consequences of stress in rats and transferred that research data into a human model.

(1) In the “Fight or Flight” response, the adrenal glands enlarge and secrete large quantities of adrenal cortical hormones. These hormones suppress inflammatory responses and mobilize the body’s energy reserves. This puts the body on RED ALERT and diverts all of the body’s biochemical resources to immediate survival. The body’s self healing mechanisms are arrested (healing diverts energy and raw materials away from immediate survival), the immune system is suppressed, glycogen stores in the liver and muscle tissue are mobilized to raise the blood sugar level and digestion and assimilation are inhibited. The stomach lining becomes thin and ulcerated and the thymus gland and lymphatic tissue shrinks. This “Fight or Flight” response works well when dealing with man eating food, but it is not suited for our modern lifestyle. Battling traffic, competing for parking spaces and watching the evening news produces the same physiological responses as running for your life. And the stimuli don’t stop and go away, leaving the body with chronic high cortisol levels.

(2) All forms of stress produce the same physiological consequences. This includes environmental stress (heat, cold and noise, etc.), chemical stress (pollution, drugs, etc.), physical stress (overexertion, trauma, infection, etc.), psychological stress (worry, fear, etc.) and biochemical stress (nutritional deficiencies, refined sugar consumption, etc.). All of these different sources of stress are additive and cumulative in their effects.

As the body responds to this cumulative stress, it goes through three stages of response.

(1) The first stage is REACTION. The body experiences the symptoms from the trauma, infection, heat, cold, chemical irritation, etc. The endocrine system responds with the release of cortisol and other hormones to compensate for the trauma. The heart beats faster, the blood pressure rises, the pupils dilate,

(2) The second stage is ADAPTATION. After the adrenal glands have enlarged and released large quantities of adrenal cortical hormones, the symptoms disappear and the individual feels good, has energy, and is able to function in the presence of the stresses he/she is under.

(3) The third stage is EXHAUSTION. After an extended period in stage two, the body’s reserves of nutritional elements (raw materials) and resilience becomes depleted. The symptoms return and there is now no relief. The individual may collapse physically, suffer a nervous breakdown, become dysfunctional and/or experience an organ or body system failure (heart attack, stroke, etc.)

(4) An optional fourth stage is DEATH. If the stresses continue after stage three is reached and the body is no longer able to adapt, and rest, regeneration, and healing do not occur, the consequence is death.

It is important to recognize that an individual in this cycle short of stage four can reverse the consequences of stress by removing themselves from the stressful situation and giving themselves the rest, peace of mind, and nutritional support that is necessary to restore the body’s reserves.

It is also important to recognize that an individual in stage two has physiologically adapted and they feel asymptomatic, and are usually, therefore, not too concerned about or even conscious of what is happening. One of the consequences of this adaptation is suppression of the immune system. These individuals are more susceptible to infections, colds, allergies, etc. In the presence of new and dangerous infectious diseases, this can be a very important matter.

The Consequences of Chronic High Cortisol

To repeat, chronically elevated cortisol levels contribute to the accumulation of abdominal fat and make it very difficult to get rid of it. The immune system is suppressed and the individual becomes more susceptible to infections, both minor and major. Clearly, we would like for our cortisol levels to return to normal.

How to Correct your Cortisol Level

Stress reduction is an essential part of all efforts to normalize cortisol. Stress is the stimuli that caused the cortisol levels to get out of hand to begin with. Each individual should explore and find the stress reduction techniques that work best for themselves. Meditation, physical activities, attitude changes etc. are good paths to explore. Without stress reduction, all therapeutic and support measures will eventually fail.

Rest. This may sound obvious but it must be managed and scheduled as a deliberate strategy, choice and course of action. Otherwise it gets forgotten in the chaos of life.

A low glycemic diet is important. Sugar handling stress increases cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol, in turn, aggravates the sugar handling situation contributing to the development of high insulin levels and ultimately diabetes.

Nutritional supplementation is very valuable in restoring normal cortisol levels. It is important, however, to recognize if your cortisol levels are high or low. Low cortisol levels are the consequence of adrenal exhaustion or the exhaustion phase of the stress response. High cortisol levels are the result of the response to chronic stress and represent the adaptation phase of the stress response.

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For information on all natural nutritional supplements that will help control your cortisol levels, please contact Nixon Elite.

Half of Americans Facing Diabetes by 2020!!!

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More than half of Americans will have diabetes or be prediabetic by 2020 at a cost to the U.S. health care system of $3.35 trillion if current trends go on unabated, according to analysis of a new report released on Tuesday by health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Diabetes and prediabetes will account for an estimated 10% of total health care spending by the end of the decade at an annual cost of almost $500 billion – up from an estimated $194 billion this year, according to the report titled “The United States of Diabetes: Challenges and Opportunities in the Decade Ahead.”

The average annual health care costs in 2009 for a person with known diabetes were about $11,700 compared with about $4,400 for non-diabetics, according to new data in the report drawn from 10 million UnitedHealthcare members.

The average annual cost nearly doubles to $20,700 for a person with complications related to diabetes, the report said.

Diabetes, which is reaching epidemic proportions and is one of the fastest-growing diseases in the United States, currently affects about 26 million Americans.

Another 67 million Americans are estimated to have prediabetes, with more than 60 million unaware that they have the condition, according to UnitedHealth.

The 52-page UnitedHealth report also focuses on the growing obesity epidemic as that condition is a leading cause of diabetes.

The authors of the report contend the skyrocketing cost forecasts are not inevitable, however, if the crisis is tackled aggressively, including early intervention to prevent prediabetes from becoming diabetes.

“Because diabetes follows a progressive course, often starting with obesity and then moving to prediabetes, there are multiple opportunities to intervene early on and prevent this devastating disease before it’s too late,” Deneen Vojta, senior vice president of the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization, said in a statement.

“What is now needed is concerted, national, multi-stakeholder action,” Simon Stevens, chairman of the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization, said in a statement.

“Making a major impact on the prediabetes and diabetes epidemic will require health plans to engage consumers in new ways, while working to scale nationally some of the most promising preventive care models.” Stevens added.

If solutions for tackling the epidemic offered in the report were adopted broadly and scaled nationally it could lead to cost savings of up to $250 billion over the next 10 years, according to the UnitedHealth analysis.

Stop the cycle today!  Don’t be a statistic.  To get more information on how you can prevent and reverse the onset of Diabetes, contact Nixon Elite.  We will customize a nutrition and fitness program that will save your life!  nixonelite.com

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Higher-Protein/Low-GI Diet Best for Maintaining Weight Loss!!!

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Nixon Elite - Low GI DietA new study looking at ways of maintaining weight loss in subjects who’ve successfully shed pounds through a restricted-calorie diet has found that a higher-protein, lower glycemic index (GI) diet was significantly better than other diets either lower in protein, or with a higher glycemic index, or both.

“We have now shown in a very large European cohort that modifying protein levels and going slightly higher than is usually recommended in terms of protein consumption, and lowering GI, can help people maintain weight loss,” first author on this analysis from the Diet, Obesity, and Genes (Diogenes) study Dr Thomas Meinert Larsen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) told heartwire .

Whether that ability to maintain a healthy weight–or the means used to attain it–have implications for the heart remains to be seen, he added.

“So far we have looked at body-weight maintenance: whether that translates into a lowered cardiovascular risk, this is of course too preliminary to say.”

Five Diets Compared

Larsen et al enrolled 773 subjects who had lost a mean of 11 kg with a calorie-restricted diet (about 8% of their initial weight) at study onset; for this “weight-maintenance phase” study, they were randomized in a two-by-two factorial design to a control diet, a low-protein/low-GI diet, a low-protein/high-GI diet, a high-protein/low-GI diet, or a high-protein/low-GI diet.

Over a 26-week period, only subjects randomized to the low-protein/high-GI diet regained significant weight (mean 1.67 kg among study completers), whereas those in the high-protein/low GI group actually lost a small amount of weight (mean -0.38 kg). Findings were similar in an intention-to-treat analysis. Those in the high-protein/low-GI group were also the least likely to drop out of the study, whereas dropouts were highest in the group randomized to the low-protein/high-GI diet.

“We could speculate that those who have the best success in terms of weight maintenance were less likely to drop out, but we don’t have the information to say that,” Larsen noted.

Family Effects

In an interesting side finding, the study actually involved whole families, not just overweight adults, such that the entire family was eating the same kinds of recommended foodstuffs, with no restrictions on amount of food. Investigators observed that in families where the participating adult was randomized to the high-protein/low GI diet, the percentage of overweight/obese children in those families actually fell over the course of the study.

Investigators said they have not yet looked at what types of protein people were eating–something likely to be of interest to cardiologists–although Larsen speculated that the most common types of animal protein likely differed across the eight European centers participating in the study. He also predicted that the benefits in terms of weight maintenance would be similar regardless of whether the protein source was animal or vegetable.

“There is an ongoing discussion as to what the real net effect is of saturated fats, as compared with carbs or other fats,” Larsen said, not only for cardiovascular disease, but also for cancer. “We will have to look at our own data for long-term effects, and for cardiovascular risk factors, to give a more solid evaluation of potential good or bad effects concerning cholesterol (from higher protein consumption).”

In an accompanying editorial, Drs David S Ludwig and Cara B Ebbeling (Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) point out that a number of recent studies have shown no differences in amount of weight loss among different popular diets. That said, “A person’s ability to maintain adherence over time may be influenced by the way in which a diet affects hunger and metabolism,” they write. “Additional research is needed to clarify the mechanisms by which dietary composition regulates body weight and to devise novel strategies to effect behavioral changes.”

Contact Nixon Elite for Low GI Diet plans and supplements to help with weight loss.  Nixonelite.com

Adolescent Obesity Linked to Severe Obesity in Adulthood!!!

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Adolescent obesity is linked to severe obesity in adulthood, according to the results of a prospective cohort study reported in the November 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Although the prevalence of obesity has increased in recent years, individuals who are obese early in life have not been studied over time to determine whether they develop severe obesity in adulthood, thus limiting effective interventions to reduce severe obesity incidence and its potentially life-threatening associated conditions,” write Natalie S. The, PhD, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues.

The goal of the study was to evaluate the association of adolescent weight with incidence and risk for severe obesity in adulthood, with use of a cohort of 8834 persons 12 to 21 years old who were enrolled in 1996 in wave II of the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Follow-up continued into adulthood during wave III (2001-2002) when participants were 18 to 27 years old and during wave IV (2007-2009) when they were 24 to 33 years old. With use of standardized procedures, height and weight were measured with anthropometry and surveys performed in the participants’ homes.

The investigators determined incident cases of adult-onset severe obesity as a function of sex, race or ethnicity, and adolescent weight status. Adolescence was defined as age younger than 20 years and adulthood as age 20 years or older. Adolescent obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) in at least the 95th percentile of the sex-specific BMI-for-age growth chart or a BMI of at least 30.0 kg/m2. Adult obesity was defined as a BMI of 40.0 kg/m2 or more. After adjustment for race or ethnicity and age and weighted for national representation, sex-stratified, discrete time hazard models allowed estimation of the net effect of adolescent obesity on the risk for severe obesity incidence in adulthood.

Of 79 adolescents who were severely obese in 1996 (1.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7% – 1.4%), 60 remained severely obese in adulthood (70.5%; 95% CI, 57.2% – 83.9%). By 2009, a total of 703 nonseverely obese adolescents (7.9%; 95% CI, 7.4% – 8.5%) had severe adult obesity, with non-Hispanic black women having the highest rates. Compared with normal-weight or overweight adolescents, obese adolescents were significantly more likely to become severely obese in young adulthood (hazard ratio [HR], 16.0; 95% CI, 12.4 – 20.5).

“In this cohort, obesity in adolescence was significantly associated with increased risk of incident severe obesity in adulthood, with variations by sex and race/ethnicity,” the study authors write. “…Among individuals who were obese as adolescents, incident severe obesity was 37.1 percent in men and 51.3 percent in women. Incident severe obesity was highest among black women at 52.4 percent.”

Limitations of this study include inability to determine causality, use of conventional but somewhat arbitrary BMI cutoff points, and use of a cohort that was not nationally representative of the population aged 24 to 33 years at follow-up.

“In summary, data from a nationally representative, ethnically diverse longitudinal sample suggest a high incidence of severe obesity during the transition from adolescence to adulthood,” the study authors conclude. “The clinical implications of these observed trends are concerning given the comorbidities and chronic disease associated with severe obesity. Findings highlight the need for interventions prior to adulthood to prevent the progression of obesity to severe obesity, which may reduce severe obesity incidence and its potentially life-threatening consequences.”

If you have kids, do the right thing and teach them about proper nutrition while they are young.  This will be the biggest parenting gift you could ever give your kids.  They will grow up able to live a happy and productive life.  If you have questions about proper nutrition for kids, contact Nixon Elite for a full program on Adolescent diets.

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Red Meat Linked to Esophageal, Stomach Cancer Risks!!!

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Red-meat lovers may have a greater likelihood of developing esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and gastric cardia cancer than people who limit their intake, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among nearly 500,000 older U.S. adults followed for a decade, only a small number developed cancers of the esophagus or stomach. However, the risks were relatively greater among those who ate a lot of red meat, or certain compounds generated from cooking meat, such as DiMeIQx (2-amino-3,4,8-dimethylimidazo(4,5-f)quinoxaline).

Overall, study participants in the top 20% for red-meat intake were 79% more likely than those in the bottom 20% to develop esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Meanwhile, the risk of gastric cardia cancer was elevated among men and women with the highest estimated intake of heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which form when meat is cooked using high-temperature methods.

The findings, reported in the November issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, add to what has been an uncertain body of evidence on the positive association between red meat and esophageal and stomach cancers.

A 2007 research review by the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research, both non-profit groups, concluded that red and processed meats were associated with a “limited suggestive increased risk” of esophageal cancer.

The report also said there was a similar level of evidence for a link between processed meats and stomach cancer, and insufficient data on whether red meat intake is connected to the cancer at all.

However, most of the studies considered in the report were case-control studies, not prospective trials, explained Dr. Amanda J. Cross, a researcher at the U.S. National Cancer Institute who led the new study.

In addition, earlier research didn’t really examine meat intake and different subtypes of esophageal and stomach cancers. That is important, Dr. Cross told Reuters Health, because the different subtypes seem to have different risk factors.

So for their study, Dr. Cross and her colleagues prospectively followed 494,979 U.S. adults ages 50 to 71 over roughly 10 years. At the outset, participants completed detailed questionnaires on their diets — including the methods they typically used for cooking meat, and the usual level of “doneness” they preferred — as well as other lifestyle factors.

Over the next decade, 215 study participants developed esophageal SCC; that included 28 cases among the bottom 20% for red-meat intake, and 69 cases in the top 20%.

Another 454 men and women were diagnosed with gastric cardia cancer. There were 57 cases among participants with the lowest red-meat intake, and 113 in the group with the highest intake.

When the researchers accounted for other factors — like age, weight, smoking and reported exercise habits — participants who ate the most red meat were 79% more likely than those with the lowest intake to develop SCC of the esophagus.

Red meat itself wasn’t associated with gastric cardia cancer. But for one type of HCA, known as DiMelQx, men and women in the top 20% for intake had a 44% higher risk of gastric cardia cancer than those in the bottom 20%.

Red meat wasn’t clearly linked to esophageal adenocarcinoma or to non-cardia stomach cancers.

The different findings for different cancer subtypes are “not hugely surprising,” Dr. Cross said, since they may differ in their underlying causes. She noted, for instance, that smoking and heavy drinking appear to be stronger risk factors for esophageal squamous cell cancer compared with adenocarcinoma, while obesity seems to be a greater factor in adenocarcinoma risk.

It’s somewhat surprising, Dr. Cross said, that none of the HCA compounds the researchers assessed was related to esophageal SCC, even though red-meat intake was. It is thought that, if red meat does contribute to the cancer, HCA exposure would be one reason why.

The bottom line, Dr. Cross said, is that further large, prospective studies are needed to see whether the relationship between red meat and the two cancers is real.