Meet our Friends!

Kavana Spa has an Open House on Thursday , Dec 9th   Starts at 6:00pm  RSVP to Info@kavanaspa.com

It’s a solid line-up of professionals that will craft you the healthy, green and sustainable lifestyle you seek.

Holiday Healthy

Watch your portion: treat yourself a nice drink, dessert, chocolate or sweets without guilt, but always watch your portion.  Go for small portions. This way you can sample all the different foods. Moderation is always the key.

Make a conscious choice to limit high fat items: high fat food items can be found in fried food, cream-based soup, cheese-filled casseroles, pies, processed meats such as salami and sausages, some pastries and baked goods.

Try different versions of egg nog: traditional egg nog is usually made with egg yolk and thick cream. Google “low fat egg nog” and you will find lots of low fat egg nog recipes. If you buy commercial egg nog, you will be delighted to find low-fat or fat-free egg nog out there – we can even find soy nog!

Try other versions of alcohol: instead of beer, cider, Bailey’s and Kahlua, try dry wine, Bloody Marys or spirits with diet mixer which have fewer calories. Remember: Calories from alcohol tend to be stored in the abdomen. People who are overweight actually gain weight more easily when they consume alcohol.

Drink plenty of water: alcohol and coffee can dehydrate your body.

Physical activity: take nice brisk walks with your loved ones and enjoy their company in the holiday season.

Social Netowrking Makes you Helathy?

article from Beachbody.com

http://teambeachbody.com/about/newsletters/-/nli/193#76307815

You Are What Your Friends Eat: How Social Networks Affect Our Health
By Stephanie S. Saunders

Everyone knows that you are what you eat. But what if you actually are what your friends eat? What if obesity was not hereditary, but contagious? Sure, it’s easier to blame your parents for that sort of thing. After all, why wouldn’t the size of your hips be the result of bad genes? But a few years ago, two scientists published an extensive study of 12,067 people in the New England Journal of Medicine that seems to prove that we are directly affected by the habits of others.

Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler theorized that weight gain in an individual is associated with weight gain in his or her siblings, spouse, and neighbors. The phenomenon is called a “contagion” and can be described as a kind of social virus that is transmitted by proximity. It seems a person is 57 percent more likely to become obese if they have a friend who becomes obese. If a sibling becomes obese, the other sibling has a 47 percent increased chance of having the same thing happen to them. And a person has a 37 percent chance of serious weight gain if their spouse starts tipping the scales. No one is exactly sure how it occurs, but our social environment seems to infect us, and we in turn, spread it.

Yes, you read it right. It seems weight gain and the flu have a lot in common, except Walgreens® isn’t doling out shots to keep you thin. Many public health leaders, including the National Institute of Health, now believe that this growing science of social networks can be used to improve health on a huge scale. By either creating new social networks, like a dieting group, or by influencing the leaders of already-existing health-related groups such as the Team Beachbody® Message Boards, positive health messages will become contagious. But how can we affect those we care about, and not be affected by unhealthy behaviors?

The first thing we can do is be an example. You’re reading this newsletter, so you already have some interest in your health. It’s more than likely you’re also on a kick-butt exercise and nutrition program that’s altering your appearance. You’re already creating the change in yourself, and that will, in turn, have an effect on others. If you want to make a real difference, stay on the path. It is quite easy to reach our goals, only to let them slip away over an extended vacation, holiday season, or traumatic event like a breakup. What this says to an outsider is: “If Tom couldn’t keep the weight off, how is there any hope for me? Why even bother?” If you want to inspire others, continue to be an inspiration.

Who really has time to talk anymore? We have emails, IMs, and text messages that have pretty much replaced verbal communication. We’re all running around trying to accomplish things, which will fall behind schedule if we meet someone for coffee. Yet, sometimes just talking to people about their health and encouraging them to change can be the difference between being healthy and having a lifelong struggle with obesity. You’ve gone from a size 8 to a size 4, or from a beer gut to a six-pack. People around you will most likely ask how the heck you did it. When they do, ask them to grab a nonfat latte and sit down, because you have something to share with them.

Removing yourself from every situation that has unhealthy people in it is impossible and unnecessary. We’re all tied into our friendships, jobs, and families by many threads, most of which we couldn’t sever if we wanted to. You know your best friend from junior high would hunt you down if you moved to a small island off the coast of Madagascar. So instead of losing your relationships, make it a point to tip the scales and add a few more. Finding like-minded people—be it at a gym, a cooking class, a yoga studio, a fitness retreat, or a well-known local hiking spot—can open you up to new ideas and new positive influences. As your resolve becomes strengthened by your new friendships, you will be that much more able to assist your more established friendships.

If you truly want to create a change in the health of others, there are thousands of programs out there that need volunteers. From the national organizations designed to raise money for diseases, to the local car wash that supports the high school athletic program, there’s always someone who could use your assistance. Or better yet, create your own network of people making a difference, in whatever way you feel driven. Organize that 10k to benefit the YMCA, petition your state school board to increase physical education and remove vending machines full of sugar from your schools, or create a foundation to bring food to famine-stricken parts of the world. Making a big difference in the health of others can begin with one person, and it could be you.

Conclusion

Why we are so susceptible to the influences of others remains a mystery. From the time we are babies, we learn to mimic gestures and language. As adults, we still mimic yawns, laughs, and often aggression, as the mob after a recent NBA playoffs game proved. And now it seems we can mimic weight gain or loss, along a host of other behaviors. Before getting swept up in the crowd, take a moment and decide what you want for your life. You can choose your own destiny, and maybe help shape the lives of others in the process.

References:
Christakis, N. A. and J. H. Fowler,. “The spread of obesity in a large social network over 32 years.” New England Journal of Medicine 357 (July 26, 2007): 370-379.
Eric Jaffe, “The ‘contagion’ of social networks,” Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/13/health/la-he-social-networks-health-20100913
Clive Thompson, “Are Your Friends Making You Fat?” New York Times, September 10, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/magazine/13contagion-t.html
R. William Doherty, “Emotional Contagion and Social Judgment,” Motivation and Emotion 22, No. 3 (1998), 1-2.

Eating Whole Grains, Fewer Refined Grains, May Help Heart

found this online, wanted to share it with you all:

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) — People who regularly eat whole grains rather than refined grains pack on less of the type of fat linked to a higher risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.

In high amounts, visceral adipose tissue (VAT) — the fat that surrounds the intra-abdominal organs — is associated with the onset of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and insulin resistance, health risk factors collectively known as the “metabolic syndrome.”

“VAT volume was approximately 10 percent lower in adults who reported eating three or more daily servings of whole grains and who limited their intake of refined grains to less than one serving per day,” said study co-author Nicola McKeown, a scientist with Tufts University’s nutritional epidemiology program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.

“For example, a slice of 100 percent whole-wheat bread or a half-cup of oatmeal constituted one serving of whole grains and a slice of white bread or a half-cup of white rice represented a serving of refined grains,” she noted in a Tufts news release.

The findings, recently published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stem from an analysis of dietary surveys and body-fat scans conducted among more than 2,800 men and women between the ages of 32 and 83.

Even after accounting for additional lifestyle factors including smoking history, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable intake, percentage of calories comprised of fat, and physical activity routines, the authors found that consuming several servings a day of whole grains is associated with lower amounts of VAT.

However, those who consumed three servings a day of whole grains and several daily servings of refined grains did not appear to benefit from the whole grain-lower VAT connection.

“Whole grain consumption did not appear to improve VAT volume if refined grain intake exceeded four or more servings per day,” noted McKeown.

“This result implies that it is important to make substitutions in the diet, rather than simply adding whole grain foods,” she advised. “For example, choosing to cook with brown rice instead of white, or making a sandwich with whole-grain bread instead of white bread.”

Source HealthDay.com

Agave Nectar Inspector

Agave is a popular sweetener right now..I want to know why?  What are the difference between fruit sugar, agave and table sugar.
Start with the terms that are being used:

Glycemic Index (GI)- its a numerical index that ranks carbohydrates on the rate of their conversion to glucose in your body.  Goes from 0-100, higher the number, the more rapid the rise in blood sugar.  If your blood sugar rises too quickly, your body won’t be able to process all the sugar fast enough…so you’ll have high blood sugar…why is that bad?  When very high levels of blood glucose are present for years, it leads to damage of the small blood vessels.  This in turn increases your risk of developing late-stage diabetes complications including:

• retinopathy (eye disease)
• nephropathy (kidney disease)
• neuropathy (nerve disease)
• cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack, hypertension, heart failure, stroke and problems caused by poor circulation, eg gangrene in the worst cases.

Glycemic Load (GL) combines both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in one ‘number’. It’s the best way to predict blood glucose values of different types and amounts of food. The formula is: GL = (GI x the amount of carbohydrate) divided by 100.  An interesting example is watermelon.  It has a high GI because of the fructose it contains, but it doesn’t contain much and it’s not very concentrated…so it’s GL is low.

Agave nectar consists primarily of fructose and glucose. One source gives 92% fructose and 8% glucose; another gives 56% fructose and 20% glucose. These differences presumably reflect variation from one vendor of agave nectar to another.  Agave nectar’s glycemic index and glycemic load are comparable to fructose, which in turn has a much lower glycemic index and glycemic load than table sugar (sucrose).  However, the extremely high percentage of fructose can be deleterious and can trigger fructose malabsorption, metabolic syndrome, hypertriglyceridemia, decreased glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and accelerated uric acid formation.

So, Agave Nectar is lower GI and GL than table sugar, but like all things should be used in moderation.  It is still a concentrated sugar product and will still affect your blood sugar levels.  Take it over table sugar any day, but don’t overdo it.

Benefits of Grass-Fed Beef

I usually set up my interviews for TruMeals TV, but this week my boss scheduled one for me.  I didn’t have a chance to talk with Ray Law before the shoot date, so I was a little nervous going into it cold.  Mr. Law is the nicest man and the interview went well.  We’ve got some great information in this video!  If you ever wondered what the “big deal” about grass fed beef was, this video will answer.  It is about 9 mins long.  Thanks for viewing!

~Steve@TruMeals

Ady from Kavana Spa about Therapeutic Massage and Nutrition

New Episode of Tru Meals TV – Interviewing Ady from Kavana Spa about Therapeutic Massage and Nutrition

TruMeals TV – Massage & Nutrition with Kavana Spa

You can make an apointment at Kavana Spa by going to KavanaSpa.com

I’d never heard about the 24 hour period after the massage as being the “processing” time!  It makes sense!  You feel great when you leave Kavana, but even better the day after!  Enjoy the show!

~Steve

more »

Social Marketing

Yes, Tru Meals has a FaceBook page.  It is getting more active.  I’m posting articles or videos that I think people would benefit from.  There is a ton of health and wellness material out there, so hopefully I can parse it down for you.

Pop in and say hi!

-Steve@TruMeals

Celiac Disease Or Gluten Intolerance

Much of the TruMeals menu is gluten-free, so I’ve been wanting to learn more about gluten and why it concerns people.  Here’s what i found.

“Gluten is the protein found in grains. There are different types of gluten, but the one most people are sensitive to is “gliadin,” found in wheat (all types including durum, kamut, semolina and spelt), rye, and barley.”   (http://bit.ly/a7PT0o )

So, gluten by itself is not harmful, but people told me it was!  I’m glad I checked.  People who are sensitive to gluten fall into two groups.

Gluten Intolerance vs. Celiac Disease

People with an allergy, sensitivity or intolerance to gluten experience distress when eating gluten-containing products and show improvement when following a gluten-free diet.  Intolerances generally worsen over time.  However, with gluten intolerance, there is no indication that gluten consumption causes damage to the small intestine.

With Celiac disease, gluten causes an immune system response which affects the digestive process of the small intestine.  The immune system attacks the small intestine inhibiting nutrient absorption.  This leads to gastrointestinal distress and eventually, malnutrition. Malabsorption of nutrients has many serious side effects and celiac disease can also be associated with other autoimmune disorders; undiagnosed and untreated it can lead to osteoporosis, infertility, and neurological conditions.     (source: http://bit.ly/a7PT0o)

Yikes!  So, how do you get it?   According to Donna Gates:

1. You have to inherit the gene
2. You have to eat gluten
3. You have to trigger the gene

(source: http://bit.ly/afedVQ)