Written By: Allison Cross

TUESDAY, September 7th 2010 (Ottawa Citizen) - Jason Froats and his daughter, Nia, get up in the morning and collect eggs for breakfast from their backyard chicken coop in Mount Albert, Ont.

Sixty kilometres away, Nick Saul takes stock of the onions, beets and spinach growing in his food bank’s greenhouse in Toronto.

And, on the West Coast, Rachel Thexton reads packages and labels on meat products in the store, looking for local, organic options close to her home in Vancouver.

Canadians are taking an increasing interest in how their food is produced and in what route it took on its way to their table.

During the summer, when community gardens abound, it’s easy for Canadians to follow the path of their food and to feel confident in its nutritional value — particularly if it was grown right outside the backdoor.

But the reality of food consumption is that much of what Canadians eat is not grown, packaged or raised anywhere close to home.

Beyond what’s produced in Canada, items such as pineapple, coffee and avocados are brought in from very different corners of the world, making environmentalists uneasy about the resulting carbon footprint.

Coffee beans grown in Ethiopia will travel roughly 11,000 kilometres to reach a cafe in Ottawa.

Back home in Canada, many farmers struggle to make a livable income, while many low-income Canadians, particularly those living in the North, struggle to buy fresh, nutritious food.

Some of the food Canadians consume is packaged and processed, and filled with sodium.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation says that more than 85 per cent of men and 60 per cent of women in Canada between the ages of 19 and 70 consume more sodium each day than they should.

Most of that extra sodium is found in processed and packaged foods. Too much salt is linked to high blood pressure, which is a precursor for heart disease and stroke. It’s also related to obesity — another growing problem in Canada and the United States.

These aspects of the food system have led some Canadians to wonder if control over food should or can be localized, and whether this would strengthen communities and keep residents, including those living in poverty, healthier and better fed.

Going local has been heralded as the solution because, in theory, it promotes self-reliance and boosts local economies.

The “ethical eating” movement is diverse, just like the people propelling it forward — although most agree something about the food system just isn’t right.

“The changes have been the centralization, consolidation, privatization, commodification of food,” said Cathleen Kneen, the chairwoman of Food Secure Canada, a non-profit agency calling for the establishment of a Canadian food system that is sustainable, and safe.

“There’s absolutely no question in my mind that the epidemic we have of obesity, diabetes, ill health … is all easily traceable to the food system,” she said.

Kneen is part of the People’s Food Policy Project, which is developing a framework for a food policy for Canada.

The policy would be based on food sovereignty, a concept that emphasizes supporting locally-produced food over international imports and moving away from industrialized food production, such as fish farming.

“I think we need to be doing a U-turn and making a statement,” Kneen said. “I think we need to say that sustainable food production is the best answer to climate change … (that) it’s the best answer for economic development.”

Kneen isn’t the only one pointing out the flaws in the way Canada feeds its citizens.

A report released in June by the NDP, based on two years of research, includes recommendations on what should be included in a Canadian Food Strategy.

The report, penned by Alex Atamanenko, MP for the B.C. Southern Interior, called for a food policy that would include public incentives and tax policies “to promote local food production, processing capacity and distribution networks, such as farmer’s markets and agriculture co-operatives.”

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has also promised Canada a national food policy if he is elected prime minister.

The policy would put an emphasis on bolstering the rural economy and helping Canadians better access healthy food through farmers markets and food grown in Canada.

The policy would also focus on maintaining sustainable incomes for farmers by offering regional programs that would help them better handle the costs of production.

But Liberal and NDP plans for a federal food policy are not something the Conservative government supports.

“The NDP and Liberal food policies illustrate their misunderstanding of Canadian agriculture and they have very little to offer farmers,” said Agriculture Minister Agriculture Gerry Ritz in a written statement.

“If actions speak louder than words, the NDP have voted against farmers at every opportunity. … Meanwhile, the Harper government has already taken action and will continue to promote healthier, safer food while increasing the bottom line for our farmers.”

Calls for a food policy, however, continue to come from non-governmental groups.

A report released in August by the Richard Ivey School of Business after a policy workshop emphasizes the need to use food as a tool for both disease prevention and economic prosperity.

The report calls for, among other things, making healthy food more accessible.

Although a focus on local eating is present in most proposals for a federal food policy, there are those who say its purported environmental benefits are only superficial.

“There are a number of problems with it,” said Pierre Desrochers, an economic geographer from the University of Toronto. “(Local food proponents’) basic premise is that producing food is the same everywhere and the only thing that matters really is (the environmental impact of) transportation. They tend to forget that the reason why various foods are produced in different places is that some places are better than others at growing food or raising cattle.”

Rochers presented his research in a paper published in February by the Montreal Economic Institute.

“For example, if you ship something from New Zealand on a container boat, a boat floats on water and it requires very little energy . . . actually, to move things from New Zealand to North America,” he said. “A lot less per unit of (items) because they maximize the amount of things they transport and they move them around in the most efficient way possible. By contrast, if a local farmer puts three bags of apples in his pickup and drives 30 miles in his pickup to the local food market, the energy signature per apple is actually much bigger.”

Link to Article | http://www.torontosun.com/life/healthandfitness/2010/06/11/14347616.html

Written By: Cara Castagna

MONDAY, June 14th 2010 (Edmonton Sun) – Overweight North Americans aren’t totally out to lunch when it comes to good nutrition.

But there are three common mistakes being made that are contributing to the current obesity epidemic, says well-respected U.S. dietitian and nutritionist Amy Shapiro.

First, countless dieters are opting for low carbs or no carbs.

Call it the Atkins effect.

“Everybody’s afraid of carbs,” Shapiro explains in a phone interview from New York City.

“But you can’t cut carbs for your entire life. So once you begin to bring carbs back, you’re going to lose the results that you had.”

Second, North Americans are collectively eschewing fats and reaching for products with “fat-free” labels.

“Fat-free products don’t have as much flavour and don’t fill us up as much, so we eat more of them,” Shapiro points out, noting that fat-free foods are typically filled with sugar to give them their taste.

“Instead of sitting down to eat two real cookies, you’ll eat six cookies that have no fat in them. So you’re still eating more calories overall.”

And third, a growing majority is just plain eating too much in this era of supersized portions.

“You never want to walk away from a meal feeling full. You want to feel satisfied. You always can eat again if you’re hungry again. It’s not like it’s your last meal,” says Shapiro.

“We’re just so used to these big portions and we’re so used to over-consumption of everything in North America.”

Shapiro, a lean 110 pounds at five-foot-three, helped create the meal plans behind www.bodylogix.com – a free training and nutrition website for anyone who makes a purchase from Winnipeg-based supplement company Bodylogix.

The fit 34 year old also runs a private practice in Midtown Manhattan called AWS Nutrition, where she specializes in weight loss, general wellness, pre- and post-natal nutrition, and pediatric nutrition.

Shapiro’s philosophy is about helping clients create a lifestyle and not a diet because, as she says, diets don’t work.

“You need to incorporate foods that make you feel good and foods that you crave and that you want to eat,” she adds. “So generally what I like to encourage is eating some lean protein, high-fibre carbohydrates and healthy fats (unsaturated fats from sources such as avocado, nuts, vegetable oil and flax seed) at pretty much every single meal, because together that combination is going to make you feel satisfied and keep you full on the least amount of calories overall.”

And therein lies the secret: a meal that provides the most satiety with the least amount of calories.

“Everything still tastes good because there’s fat and protein and carbs that everybody wants, but it’s just the most healthy form of all of those things,” Shapiro says.

But don’t forget about portion control, she reminds us.

“Picture your plate in front of you. Cut that plate in half. Fill half of that plate with fresh vegetables or fruit,” she advises.

“Then cut the other half in quarters, so one quarter should be a lean protein (such as skinless chicken or turkey breast, wild salmon) and the other quarter should be a complex carbohydrate (like brown rice or quinoa). That’s a balanced meal.”

Besides following her own nutrition advice, Shapiro gets plenty of exercise.

She does cardio – including kickboxing, running and spinning – up to five times a week, weight trains one or two times a week and performs Pilates weekly.

“And I live in New York City, so I walk everywhere,” she says, noting she doesn’t own a car and never takes elevators.

“You’re so active when you’re in a walking city that you are burning calories you’re not even thinking about.”

For Shapiro, who has been working out since she was around 15, exercise isn’t an option.

“It’s a habit,” says the certified yoga instructor who no longer has the time to teach. “The truth of the matter is I am a walking billboard for my company. I have to practice what I preach. “

Link to Article | http://www.themanitoban.com/articles/29385

Written By: Sarah Khalil

TUESDAY, Mar 23rd 2010 (The  Manitoban) – The act of eating has become something more than nourishing our body; it is a bad habit which promotes excessive intake of food. In 1998, the World Health Organization classified obesity as a “growing epidemic.”

Obesity is defined by a body mass index (BMI) that is greater than 30. In North America, there is an obvious problem in the way we nourish ourselves. Nearly two thirds of American adults are overweight. Obese Americans aged 20 years and up are counted at 61.3 million (30.5 per cent). Compare this to France, Denmark or Sweden, which, on average, have obesity rates of 10–11 per cent.

This is a good indicator that North America has been advocating eating habits that promote obesity. In fact, according to AnnCollins.com, the rate of obesity in a country is closely related to its income. As much as this is correct, the problem seems to lie in the mentality of people nowadays. As Obesity Canada states, it is estimated that “10–25 per cent of all teenagers and 20–50 per cent of all adults have a weight problem.”

With all of these statistics, one thing strikes me: we’ve turned the action of eating into a constant, complicated and obnoxious aspect of our lives. Food seems to be becoming the main focus of everything. Now, this could be a good thing if everyone was to be eating “healthy” all the time, but it is far from the case.

Consumerism in America has also affected our diets, where everything seems to be revolving around a need for abundance. Nowadays, “bulk size” seems to be a normal one for our society and “snack size” sounds like some minuscule portion of food that no one can really benefit from. The truth is, we eat in excess.

Health Canada’s Food Guide suggests reasonable daily portions and foods, in order to nourish oneself and it also reminds us of how distorted our idea of “normal” is. From vegetables to meats, it gives a detailed description of what a person really needs to consume.

For instance, dark and orange vegetables and fruits are highly promoted in the guide, as long as they are prepared with “little or no added fat, sugar or salt.” Grain products, which are high in fibre and usually low in fat, decrease the risk of heart disease, and milk products and alternatives supply a person with nutrients for healthy bones. Meat products and alternatives, such as beans, lentils and tofu, are necessary to maintain one’s level of protein, fat (good fat), iron, zinc, magnesium and vitamin B. Along with that, fish is also recommended as regularly as twice a week.

Each suggestion comes with specific instructions on how to keep our food portions healthy and size-appropriate, like “select lower fat alternatives,” “when adding sauces or spreads use small amounts,” “choose lower in salt (sodium) and fat [products],” “limit foods and beverages high in saturated and/or trans fat” and “make water your beverage of choice.”

This guide clearly tells us to make all these products the core of our diets, instead of only eating them as a side order or as snacks. Fries, a double cheeseburger and a side order of two pieces of broccoli does not count as a healthy meal. The guide suggests more “naked” and “pure” dietary alternatives, and completely counters the way that consumers in North America tend to “nourish” themselves.

Eating should provide a person with healing properties, instead of being harmful to one’s health. It should be seen as something basic, simple and tasty (yes, unsalted asparagus along with a small side of steamed chicken can be delicious, without necessarily adding gravy to it). Eating should be viewed as a need, rather than a non-stop activity.

North Americans should really rethink the size of their portions and what exactly should enter their body. “You are what you eat” and, in fact, we now tend to eat the largest portions our society has ever witnessed. We have hit an extreme and forgotten about the actual point of eating.

Personally, I would rather have a plate of mini-tomatoes, cheese and rye toast, rather than a plate of greasy meat, deep fried eggs and pancakes all topped with some kind of processed sweet syrup (as appealing as this might sound), anytime!

Link to Article | http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/03/05/9-easy-behavioral-modifications-for-healthier-eating-and-living/

Written By: Beth Casey Gold

FRIDAY, Mar 5th 2010 (fooducate.com) – We don’t like the word “diet.” Diets are about restriction, sacrifice, and typically they aren’t too much fun. Instead, we’re all about lifestyle change through behavior modification. Guess what? It works. We’ve researched this technique for the past 18 years under the leadership of Jean Harvey-Berino, R.D., Ph.D. at the University of Vermont. You can lose and manage weight by simply changing troublesome habits. We’ve seen person after person go through our program and lose 1-2 lbs per week by doing just that.

What You Need to Know

There are strategies you can put into action right now to make your weight loss and management goals doable and your results sustainable. Here are five to get you started:

1. Reduce TV Time. Researchers at the University of Vermont found that watching less TV results in subtle but meaningful changes in overall activity levels (see The Archives of Internal Medicine.) They found that individuals who cut television viewing by 2.5 hours (based on the average of 5 hours per day) burned off an additional 120 calories a day – the equivalent of walking about 8 miles a week. Less TV time is good for kids, too – it significantly reduces the number of calories a child consumes.

2. Step Away From the Couch. The more places you associate with eating, the more likely you are to eat there. Decide on a “Designated Eating Place” (“DEP” for short) and restrict your eating to this location. Limiting eating to just one location in your house or office will help you avoid downing a lot of calories while doing something else, like watching TV or working at your computer.

3. Don’t Clean Your Plate. There’s no rule that says you have to finish what you started. In fact, research shows that people will automatically eat more when served bigger portions, regardless of physical hunger. To curb excess eating, start with a smaller serving by using a smaller plate or bowl. Measure your snacks into snack-sized bags rather than eating straight from the bag.

4. Sneak In Exercise. Three ten-minute walks are just as effective as one thirty-minute walk. One study found that people who took more short exercise bouts actually lost more weight. Create a new routine: instead of meeting a friend for drinks or coffee, ask her to join you for a weekly catch-up walk so you can burn calories over conversation.

5. Crack Open a Cook Book. Research shows that people who eat more meals at home consume fewer calories on average than people who dine out on a regular basis. You can keep meal planning simple by keeping your pantry stocked with healthier items- low-fat soup and a whole grain roll, salad with some diced chicken breast, or a quesadilla with salsa and a portion-controlled amount of cheese can be whipped together in the amount of time it takes to get through the drive-thru.

What to do at the Supermarket

We recommend finding the foods that best fit your individual goals according to taste, ingredients, and smart portion control. Be a smart consumer and make choices based on what matters most to you and what promotes better health habits for you. Don’t just follow the marketing message you see on the package-it may lead you the wrong way.

6. Don’t shop hungry. A grumbling stomach and impulse shopping go hand-in-hand.

7. Stick to your list. Unless you see a great buy on something you use regularly, stick to only “pre-planned” items.

8. Read labels. In one study, subjects who read labels consumed about 30 percent of their calories from fat (the amount recommended for healthy eating) versus 35 percent for those who didn’t read labels.

9. Shop the perimeter. Generally, you’ll find healthy, whole foods (produce, dairy, etc.) along the sides and back of the store. Packaged goods-including tempting snacks are concentrated in center aisles.

Old habits die hard, but mindfulness and vigilance will keep you on the path towards a healthier lifestyle!

Link to Article| http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=2713210

Written By: Sharon Kirkey

TUESDAY, Mar 9th 2009 (Canwest News Service) – Dr. Valerie Taylor doesn’t believe that most people with a weight problem would say, “This is not my fauly,” or “This is because of McDonald’s.”

“Absolutely, they take responsibility,” says Taylor, an assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioural neuroscience at McMaster University in Hamilton and director of the Canadian Obesity Network mental health program. Many people feel guilty about their weight, she says, “and they struggle to accept treatments like surgery because they really feel they should be able to control this problem themselves.

“Some don’t even think they deserve the kinds of treatment and care that other medical conditions receive.”

The truth, she says, is that certain people are vulnerable to overeating, “and we have created an environment in which high-fat, palatable food is abundant.”

But is the solution more self-control? More regulation of the food industry? More social pressure? In the “war” on obesity, everyone is grappling for answers.

Some say what is required is nothing less than a fundamental shift in social norms and the way we view food.

Like smoking in the 1970s, Dr. David Kessler says, there are no social boundaries when it comes to eating. It has become culturally acceptable to eat almost anywhere and anytime — in a business meeting, in a lecture, in a classroom. “We have children who are eating almost constantly throughout the day.”

Even three meals a day are no longer enough. “Some restaurants have been as audacious as to advertise the fourth meal,” says Kessler, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton who led the crusade for tougher tobacco legislation in the 1990s. Taco Bell markets a late-night menu called the Fourthmeal, “the meal between dinner and breakfast.”

“What the food industry did was to take fat, sugar and salt, put in on every corner, make it available 24-7, make it socially acceptable to eat any time,” Kessler says. “We’ve added the emotional gloss of advertisement, we’ve made the food into entertainment, and we’re living the consequences.

“What did we think was going to happen?”

Where do we even begin to fix it?

Today in Canada, 61 per cent of the adult population — 13.2 million Canadians — and 26 per cent of children aged six to 19 (1.4 million) are overweight or obese. “Kids are probably not going to live as long as their parents do, because of weight,” says Taylor. Doctors are reporting a rise in the “super-obese,” people with a body mass index in the ’50s and ’60s, something that was unheard of a generation ago. A BMI — a measure of body fat based on weight and height — of 30 or more is considered obese.

In the fight against obesity, some are pushing for public polices, such as higher taxes on soft drinks. Studies suggest sugar-sweetened beverages — the single greatest source of added sugar in our diets — may also be the single biggest driver of the obesity epidemic, especially among children.

“There seems to be something special about calories when they get delivered in liquids,” says Kelly Brownell, co-founder and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “The body doesn’t recognize them well, and there’s less compensation when people consume too much. Third is, they’re so heavily promoted, it’s ridiculous. And fourth, you’ve got this possibility of the sugar, especially coupled with caffeine, being addictive enough to be a problem.”

In a report published last year by the New England Journal of Medicine, Brownell and half a dozen other experts in nutrition, public health and economics, called for a penny-per-ounce tax on soft drinks and other sugared beverages.

Others want to require restaurants to include calorie counts on their menus. Brownell and his colleagues published a study in December that showed such labels inspire people to eat 14 per cent fewer calories.

But government regulation of the food industry isn’t the only thing people are calling for. Taylor and others want tougher controls on the commercial diet industry. “People are desperate,” she says, “and they’ll do things like spend huge amounts of money on these quick-fix diets that promise losing 40 pounds in eight weeks through very unhealthy ways.

“We know that when people do that, most will rebound, and probably gain back more weight than they had lost,” she says. “Even trying to lose weight is contributing to obesity. We have a generation of people that are dieting themselves into obesity.”

But many turn to commercial diets when they can’t get the help from doctors. Taylor says her colleagues are good at treating the problems that occur as a consequence of obesity– diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension — but, “we’re not as good at treating obesity . . . So, it just gets ignored.

“To tell somebody who has a weight problem to eat less and exercise more is not helpful.”

What’s more, we live in a thin-obsessed culture still steeped in the idea that if people just try hard enough, they’ll get the body they want, that fat people, somehow, “do it to themselves.”

Doctors aren’t immune to those attitudes. “Health care professionals are human beings, and human beings, we have this aversion to the big fat slob. Do you know why? Because we’re afraid we may end up like that if we lose control,” says Dr. Nicolas Christou, a professor of surgery at McGill University and director of the bariatric surgery program at the McGill University Health Centre.

“Almost all of us are fighting, one way or another, unless we’re anorexic, to maintain a weight down to a level we’re comfortable with. These people, when you see them, remind us of that failure.”

Christou sees the extreme end of the obesity crisis, the “morbidly” obese, people “who have absolutely failed miserably at any attempt whatsoever to get them to permanently lose their weight and keep it off.” For the severely obese, weight loss surgery can be life-saving, but wait times for bariatric surgery are the longest of any surgically treated condition in the country. Christou has patients who have been waiting for surgery since 2002.

Understanding how we lose control in the first place could help those who are obese control their eating, Kessler says. And then, fundamentally altering the way we think about food, and changing our eating behaviours.

In his book, The End of Overeating, Kessler describes watching people in restaurants “attack their food with a special kind of gusto,” lifting their forks before having even swallowed their last bite, watching “as they reach across the table to spear a companion’s french fries or the last morsel of someone else’s dessert.”

“The easiest solution is to go live somewhere we’re not constantly bombarded with food cues and food is not available every 20 feet,” Kessler says. “But that’s unrealistic. The problem we face is the reality that, for the global food companies, their objective is growth, and growth means increased revenue, which translates into selling more foods and increasing the caloric burden of society — whether or not we need that food.”

Social norms affect behaviour, Kessler says. We succeeded in changing how society views tobacco. “We used to see it as something glamorous and sexy and cool. Now we view it for what it is: a deadly, addictive product.”

Tobacco was easy, he says, because we can live without it. Food is much harder. “You can’t demonize food,” he says. “Food needs to be enjoyable.” The goal is to change how we look at highly processed foods and “big food,” meaning big portions.

“I look at huge portions now and say, ‘That’s not what I want. That’s disgusting. That’s not going to make me feel well.”

Today, Kessler, a pediatrician and former dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco, eats about half what he once did. He doesn’t want to over-generalize; he knows there are millions who don’t have enough food, and others who struggle with eating disorders. “But I think, for the vast majority of us who struggle with overweight throughout our lives, we could eat half as much and be just as satiated.”

Ultimately, he says, “The power rests with us.”

Link to Article | http://www.thepost.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2217009

Written By: Dr. Stuart Kinsinger

FRIDAY, Dec 11th 2009 (The Lindsay Post) — Most of us get out of our regular routing when holidays come. So with the holidays fast approaching this would be a good time to consider one simple part of a good routine; breakfast.

Earlier this week the popular press reported that the growing problem of diabetes is likened to a brewing economic tsunami. This week’s column deals with one aspect of that.

Those who eat a nutritious breakfast are much healthier than those who don’t according to a recent article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because, after a night’s rest we need to rev up our metabolism. What we eat determines whether we feel sluggish or energetic as the day goes on.

There are basically three categories of breakfast people: those who skip breakfast entirely, those who eat a good meal that includes protein and complex carbohydrates, and those who go for refined carbos, like boxed breakfast cereals, frozen waffles, toast and jam.

A good breakfast dramatically reduces the incidence of diabetes, obesity and heart disease – three diseases that are easy to prevent and profoundly expensive to treat.

A good breakfast makes us much more productive at work and school.

Refined carbohydrates cause hunger, light headedness, fatigue and an inability to concentrate. Kids and teens eating a breakfast including protein, fat and complex carbohydrates are able to concentrate better, which translates into higher marks at school.

In a recent study scientists found that breakfast skipping had a negative effect on blood cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin levels, caloric levels and energy levels. Even eating by mid morning did not protect against increased levels of the bad cholesterol, LDL.

As well, the body was not as sensitive to insulin, meaning that over time, blood sugar levels rose; the primary cause of diabetes. Breakfast skippers also end up consuming more calories throughout the day. More calories translates into you-know- what.

On a related matter, other studies have shown that eating smaller meals six to eight times per day results in lower cholesterol levels compared to eating the very same amount of food in 3 larger meals. An additional benefit of frequent smaller meals is that important stimulation to metabolism.

People who eat in the evening often skip breakfast. There is a direct connection between this pattern and weight gain in adult years, with this being one direct cause of adult onset diabetes.

Almost every breakfast food that comes out of a box is digested quickly. Within two hours we get hungry, which leads to feelings of lethargy, headache, irritability and an inability to concentrate. Since we end up with a sugar craving, this usually results in snacking on more sweet foods.

Kids especially need a balanced breakfast. Their whole learning experience is dependent on how they feel at school. The food manufacturers know that parents are sensitive to giving kids high sugar cereals.

So what the big corporations do is to put different kinds of sugar in the product so they get to list those sugars separately. If they didn’t do this, the first ingredient would be sugar. You can outsmart these corporations by reading labels and not succumbing to such deception. Kids deserve better.

If you think that bran type cereals are good, read the labels. Yes fibre is essential, but the second largest ingredient in those cereals is sugar.

Try this experiment for you and your family. Eat a refined carbohydrate breakfast such as a boxed cereal like corn flakes or raisin bran, followed by a slice of toast with jam and wash this down with coffee or OJ. Do this for a few days and chart your times of hunger, mood changes and concentration.

Then switch to a balanced breakfast including any combination of eggs, meat or cheese, along with nuts, fresh fruit and whole grains, being careful to avoid any sugar, jam or syrup. The difference is night and day. Combine healthy nutrition with regular exercise and your chances of being diagnosed with diabetes are virtually nill.

Link to Article | http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/embrace-the-f-word-if-you-want-to-lose-weight/article1385126/

Written By: Leslie Beck

WEDNESDAY, Dec 2nd 2009 (Globe and Mail) – It’s hardly news. If you want to lose weight you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. But there’s something else you might want to do: Increase your daily fibre intake.

The most recent report from the Canadian Community Health Survey revealed that among 6,454 adults surveyed, were at a healthy weight consumed 200 fewer calories each day than their obese peers. And while protein, fat and carbohydrate were not linked to weight problems, fibre was. A higher intake reduced the likelihood of being overweight.

This certainly isn’t the first time that fibre has been linked to a healthy weight: A number of well-controlled studies have found that people who consume more fibre are less overweight.

Boosting your fibre intake may prevent unwanted pounds from creeping on as you age. A study from Harvard Medical School that followed 74,000 middle-aged women found that regardless of initial fibre intake, all women tended to gain weight over the 12-year study. But those who increased their fibre during the study period were half as likely to become obese. A daily increase of 12 grams of fibre – the amount found in ½ cup of 100-per-cent bran cereal – was linked with eight pounds less weight gain.

Many of us have no idea how much fibre we consume during a typical day.

Yet for most Canadians, this number needs to be doubled. It’s estimated that the average Canadian consumes between 11 and 17 grams of fibre each day – half the amount that’s recommended to reap health benefits. Women aged 19 to 50 are advised to get 25 grams each day; men require 38 grams. As we get older and our calorie intake decreases, we need less. After 50, women should aim for 21 grams, men 30 grams.

Meeting your daily requirements may guard against obesity in a few ways. Dietary fibre slows the rate at which foods empty from the stomach, leading to a feeling of fullness. Fibre-rich foods also tend to have fewer calories.

Dietary fibre is the material in plant foods that your body can’t digest or absorb. To many people fibre is synonymous with certain brands of breakfast cereal. But if you rely on one single food to get your fibre, you could be short-changing your health.

Foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts contain two types of fibre, soluble and insoluble.

Soluble fibre dissolves in water. Dried peas, beans, and lentils, oats, barley, psyllium husks, apples and citrus fruits are good sources. Foods such as wheat bran, whole grains, nuts and vegetables contain mainly insoluble fibre. This fibre doesn’t dissolve in water, but it does have a significant capacity for retaining water. In this way, insoluble fibre increases stool bulk and promotes regularity.

The health benefits of a high-fibre diet go beyond weight control. Adding at least 3 grams of soluble fibre to your daily diet (e.g. 1/3 cup Kellogg’s All Bran Buds, 1 cup of cooked oat bran, or 1.5 cups of cooked oatmeal) can help lower elevated LDL (bad) cholesterol.

In fact, there’s plenty of evidence that fibre, especially from cereals and fruits, can lower the risk of a heart attack. An analysis of 10 studies involving 91,508 men and 245,186 women found that each 10-gram increment of fibre added to the diet (the amount in a pear and ¼ cup of almonds) was linked with a 27-per-cent reduced risk of dying from heart disease.

People who eat a high-fibre diet are also less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes (because meals rich in fibre are digested more slowly, so they prevent large spikes in blood sugar).

A high-fibre diet may also help reduce the risk of breast cancer. A recent British study of 35,000 women found those who ate 30 grams of fibre a day had half the risk of those who ate less than 20 grams.

Fibre may lower breast-cancer risk by reducing circulating levels of the female hormone estrogen. It’s thought that estrogen can promote the growth and development of breast cancer cells. It seems that the longer breast tissue is exposed to the body’s circulating estrogen, the greater the risk for cancer.

Low fibre, refined grains have a high glycemic index which means they lead to higher blood-glucose and insulin levels, both of which have been shown to increase breast cancer risk. By keeping your bowel habits regular, insoluble fibre can help reduce the risk of hemorrhoids and possibly colon cancer.

You don’t need to measure each type of fibre in your diet – just work on consuming more each day. Get your fibre from foods rather than supplements since fibre-rich foods also provide vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, compounds that also protect your health.

To prevent bloating, cramps or gas, increase your fibre intake gradually over a period of weeks. Drink more fluids as you add fibre to your diet since it needs to absorb water in order to work effectively.

Link to Article| http://www.torontosun.com/life/2009/12/13/12142576.html

Written By: Fran Berkoff

SUNDAY, Dec 13th 2009 (Toronto Sun) — We’re halfway through December, that special month where many of us throw caution to the wind and approach the upcoming holidays like it’s a guilt-free, food-and-drink laden buffet table.

Make no mistake about it — our healthy eating resolve will be mightily tested with all those delicious homemade cookies, rivers of eggnog and boxes of chocolates appearing like magic everywhere.

But — just like the ghost of Christmas Past has a nasty habit of suddenly appearing to remind us of past deeds, so will the foods we thought we could indulge in guilt-free come bite us in the new year.

Let’s face it — December’s certainly a delicious time, but a tough one, too, especially for those bravely watching their diet.

In the spirit of the season, here are eight suggestions to guide you through the next few weeks:

PLAN AHEAD: Make a game plan before you leave home so you’ll have some control over what and how much you eat. When you arrive at a cocktail party, walk around the room and see what foods are being passed so you can pick and choose more carefully. If you are going out to a restaurant, check their menu online and decide ahead of time what you will order. And, never arrive hungry. A latte, a piece of fruit, a cracker with cheese or yogurt before you leave can take the edge off your appetite.

EAT MINDFULLY: At a buffet, take a small plate, put a few things on it, walk away from the table and then eat. If they are passing appetizers, take one at a time and eat it slowly. Don’t stand too close to the bowl of nuts, chips or other nibbles. At a dinner, enjoy the conversation, put your fork down between bites and chew well — you’ll really taste your food and will likely eat less. And, if there is still food on your plate, your hostess is less likely to offer seconds.

EVERYDAY IS NOT A HOLIDAY: In a month of 31 days, there are lots of days when you won’t be at a party or special event. Use those times to eat healthy meals in keeping with your nutritional goals. And, since it is a busy month, do a bit of planning so there’s lots of good stuff in your fridge and cupboards to make those healthy meals more accessible .

CHOOSE WISELY: Pick the lower fat or healthier options at parties. Some examples: a piece of sushi (40 cals) instead of a sausage roll (80 cals) or spring roll (90 cals); a skewer of chicken (50 cals) instead of a fried chicken wing (90 cals); 2 fresh shrimp with cocktail sauce (30 cals) instead of 2 spanokopitas (145 cals); salsa (less than 10 cals) instead of sour cream dip (65 cals); 20 pretzel sticks (45 cals) instead of 1/4 cup nuts (220 cals).

STRATEGIES FOR WORK: If there’s a potluck at the office, bring one of your most delicious, healthy dishes. If your co-worker’s desk is loaded with chocolates and other treats, take a different route that bypasses her desk when you are walking around the office. Keep some healthy snacks in your desk drawer to nibble on. If holiday stress has spilled over to work, go for a walk or a workout rather than succumbing to the truffles in the lunch room. If you receive boxes of candy, regift them before you unwrap and try.

BE A THOUGHTFUL HOST: You don’t have to lighten up everything you cook, but do it where it keeps the flavor high but the calories a bit lower. For example, make your turkey stuffing with whole wheat bread crumbs and lots of vegetables and fruit, use low fat yogurt or mayo for your dips or use low fat milk in your eggnog, if you are making a buffet dish such as lasagna, use some low fat cheese and cut it into smaller squares for portion control. For dessert, besides your traditional cookies or squares, put out some clementines or a platter of fruit. Cut your dessert squares into small pieces or make smaller cookies. And, if you have lots of leftovers, send each guest home with a doggy bag.

SNEAK IN A WORKOUT: Go for a long walk, take a Pilates class, go skating (the rink at Nathan Phillips Square is beautiful right now!), if there’s snow go cross country skiing or snowshoeing. Exercise is great for stress and to burn off some holiday calories.

Link to Article| http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Fitness+drink+careful/2341049/story.html

Written By: Jill Barker

TUESDAY, Dec 15th 2009 (The Gazette) – Holidays are tough on the waistline. Parties, Christmas cookies, mom’s home cooking and family camped out in the guest room all threaten to derail the healthy habits you work so hard at maintaining the rest of the year.

Of course, a holiday isn’t a holiday if you don’t treat yourself to the odd indulgence. The occasional glass of egg nog or a couple of bacon-wrapped water chestnuts won’t cause you to spill out over the top of your jeans. In fact, researchers say most people gain only about a pound of extra weight during the holiday season (defined as mid-November through mid-January). The trouble is that extra pound has a tendency to stick around, leading to a body that looks more like Santa with each passing decade. To help you from being mistaken as jolly old Saint Nick, here are five suggestions on what not to do over the holidays.

Nibble your way into the next size up.

Your waistline can survive the occasional big meal, but what it can’t survive is a daily trip to the Christmas cookie jar and weekly pilfering from a buffet table overflowing with delectables.

To put it in perspective, munching on a shortbread cookie can add 150 calories to your daily diet, which if consumed seven days a week for four weeks results in 4,200 extra calories or about 1.2 pounds of added weight. It’s this kind of insidious consumption that if left unchecked will show up in the form of added inches where you want them least.

Keep temptation at bay by storing holiday treats out of easy reach or by packaging up any post-holiday leftovers as gifts. As for the buffet table, put a couple of your favourite treats on the plate and fill the rest with veggies, fruit and other low-calorie options.

Hibernate.

Don’t let holiday responsibilities keep you from getting outside for some fresh air. Going for a walk, joining the kids on the toboggan hill or clearing snow from the front walk all combine to burn extra calories and reduce the stress of the holiday season. Taking a break from your to-do list will breathe energy into your day and actually help you accomplish more – not less.

The same goes for the kids. Don’t let them spend the holidays in front of a screen. Visit the local outdoor rink, build a snowman on the front lawn or a construct a snow fort in the backyard. Sometimes the best holiday memories are made from spontaneous moments that capture the joys of being together as a family.

Ignore the cost of holiday cheer.

The consequences of eating your way through the holidays are well known, but did you know that Christmas cocktails can pack an even greater caloric load than many traditional holiday treats? A margarita or pina colada can ring in at 700 calories vs. about 300 calories for a Nanaimo bar.

The 90-calorie shot of alcohol isn’t the biggest culprit. Add juices, syrups and soft drinks to your glass and the number of calories per drink can easily double or triple.

Even seemingly simple drinks like a gin and tonic can contain more calories than you think. At 200 calories a glass, it’s easy to drink the caloric equivalent of a Big Mac (576 calories) in one night. As for the quintessential Christmas drink, rum and eggnog, it weighs in at 350 to 450 calories per glass, depending on the recipe.

Forget what the gym looks like.

Don’t let visits to the mall take precedence over visits to the gym. Both are holiday musts and should carry the same amount of weight on your list of seasonal priorities. In fact, a short reprieve from the seemingly endless list of holiday tasks will do your body good.

If you’re worried about leaving visiting family members at home while you bust out for a workout, ask them to join you. Many clubs permit guests during the holidays, which makes it easy to enjoy a yoga class with your mother or share giggles with your sister during a Zumba workout.

Use the holidays as an excuse to overindulge.

We all love to celebrate the season, but if you don’t put some parameters around your holiday lifestyle, you may find yourself carrying an extra pound of flesh for the next 365 days or more. So if you’re going to indulge in rum and eggnog and a piece of Christmas cake, just make sure you work the other end of caloric continuum and burn as many extra calories as you consume.

Before you add the guilt of not getting enough exercise to your holiday list, it’s natural to miss a workout or two during the holidays. To combat that “never enough hours in the day” feeling, remember that when it comes to exercise, every little bit counts. So take every opportunity to be active and encourage your family to do the same.

Link to Article| http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/869825

Written By: Jane Claxton-Oldfield

THURSDAY, Nov 26th 2009 (timestranscript.com) – The World Health Organization’s (WHO) website states that: “Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century…The prevalence has increased at an alarming rate…”

This is especially worrying since, as the WHO says “Overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood and more likely to develop non-communicable diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at a younger age.”

On the flip side of this worrying phenomenon, the WHO goes on to point out that, “Overweight and obesity, as well as their related diseases, are largely preventable. Prevention of childhood obesity therefore needs high priority.”

I see this as a challenge for every one of us. We all need to play a role in actively contributing towards the solution of this serious and epidemic problem.

We can start with our own families: our children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, etc. After all, the health, not only of today’s young people, but also of future generations, is at stake. Clearly, it is everyone’s best interest that the children and youth of today do not face a future of obesity and all its related complications.

What can we do?

Well, perhaps good role-modelling is the best place to start and, since we know that leading a sedentary lifestyle leads to obesity and lack of energy, we can encourage much-needed outdoor exercise by encouraging the children in our lives to engage in physical activity (like going out for walks/playing ball, swimming, signing up for a sport, etc).

We can also model enthusiasm towards healthy fresh whole foods, like fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables. That is, if we start, at an early age to refer to healthy foods as the ‘treats’ they really are (instead of referring to sugary overly-refined candy as treats) and start to consistently call unhealthy food products what they really are, ‘junk,’ then we are making a strong statement about what is actually good and bad without using coercive tactics.

And, last but by no means least, we need to be discerning consumers and think very carefully about what we purchase for children in the way of ‘food gifts’ this holiday season, which is fast approaching.

Just take a short stroll past any store in any mall in Canada today and you will be left with absolutely no doubt that the holidays will soon be here! Nowadays, in addition to supermarkets, many other stores are also selling ‘food gifts.’ For example, who would ever have thought that there would come a day when we could buy candy, chocolate and cake at, say, a stationary store or a designer clothes store? It seems everyone is jumping on the (clearly profitable) candy band wagon!

Part of the challenge of resisting some of these ‘junk food gifts’ is the packaging — so attractive and already gift-wrapped that they are bound to tempt even the strongest-willed of us.

It is sort of eye candy for the candy! This is, of course, by purposeful design. No doubt about it; the people whose job it is to market these junk foods are good at what they do!

Additionally, strategic marketing places them perilously close to the check-out counter so that while we wait in long lines to make our other purchases, these eye-catching food-gift packages scream to be picked up, admired and, as most of us can attest, all-too-often purchased.

Unfortunately, these days, the holidays often involve, for many of us, dare-I say-it, over-indulgence of foods that are often less-than-healthy. And, since we now know about the negative effects that ‘junk’ foods can have on our children, I would like to offer a timely suggestion: that we all start to think consciously about the gift-food purchases we make this season.

If we give it conscious thought before we go shopping, we are less likely to be tempted by the pretty packaging (which is not only an expensive addition because, make no mistake, you do pay for it, but it is also often very wasteful from an environmental point of view).

So I’d like to offer some pointers’ to help you decide if the food-gift is something you really want your children to be eating this Christmas, before making the purchase.

First, last and in between, I encourage you to always read the list of ingredients. Remember, that whatever a product contains most of is always listed first on the package. So, if the ingredient list starts with sugar or high fructose corn syrup, or sugar in any form, you will want to seriously consider passing it by (too much refined sugar play havoc with blood sugar levels and can be the start of many health problems).

Avoid any product that contains (anywhere on the list of ingredients) any amount of hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil or vegetable shortening, since these contain the dreaded trans fats that are so detrimental to everyone’s health.

Beware of products that have high amounts of salt and refined flours (remember, refined carbohydrates have just the same negative effect on your blood sugar levels as refined sugars). You also may want to check that the product does not contain certain additives like certain food colourings — especially check on the artificial blue, red, green and yellow colours (many of which have already been banned in Europe).

A final tip: never go shopping when you are hungry; research has shown that you are much more likely to make impulsive food purchases on an empty stomach.

Instead, go for the food gifts that have ‘real’ food; whole foods like nuts, seeds, whole grains and those that are sweetened naturally with fruit or maple sugar, dehydrated sugar cane (rather than refined white sugar) or honey.

Although, that said, you will still want to exercise some caution because they are still sugar. However, if (these unrefined and minimally processed) sugars are eaten along with nuts, seeds or good quality fats, they will not flood the blood stream as rapidly as sugar that is eaten alone.

They will certainly be a much healthier choice than eating products with copious amounts of refined sugar (in all its forms), refined carbohydrates and trans fatty acids.

Ideally, it would be best to make our own food-gifts; this way, we know what we are feeding our loved ones.

Those of us who were raised with the tradition of Santa Claus and all the trimmings will remember, depending upon your age, either our parents or grandparents saying to us, “I remember when all we got in our Christmas stocking was some nuts and an orange and a homemade toy.”. They sure had the right idea back then.

So, whether you will be celebrating your religion (Christmas, Hanukah, Ramadan, etc.), or just celebrating the joy of family this holiday season, food is, and should be, a special part of that celebration. The problem does not lie in sharing food; on the contrary, food is a wonderful focus for coming together to enjoy each other’s company. I would argue, the problem lies in the excessive consumption of overly-refined, nutrient-deficient, commercialized ‘junk’ that sells as food (and I personally would add, it is the excessive consumerism that we are often guilted, quite literally, into ‘buying into.’)

In good seasonal health, until next time.