Why potatoes, bread and pasta AREN'T disastrous for your health

Are you scared to eat potatoes, bread and pasta?

Learn why these favorites aren't bad for you and how to eat them in a way that can help you reach your weight and health goals (yay!) by watching today’s video.

Once you've watched the video comment and answer today's…

Take Control Now Question

"Are you or were you scared to eat these foods and why?"

Get educated, get support and take control… you can get the healthy body you deserve.

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Why Superfoods Suck

I still remember browsing for spices in the grocery store 2 years ago when I overheard a concerned and overweight couple (mid 50s).  They were searching for turmeric.  I over heard them say "we hear it's really good for you" to the market employee as they painfully walked down the aisle.  

Studies have been done on turmeric and its effect on diabetes.  I assumed the couple was struggling with their health and were hoping turmeric was going to help them feel better. Unfortunately, the advertising of superfoods such as turmeric, Maca Powder and goji berries etc. can be quite misleading and here's why...

If you're unhealthy or overweight and all you do is add a superfood to your regular diet, it's highly unlikely that any physical positive change are going to come from that, especially if you're eating the standard American diet (SAD!).  What is for certain however, is that if your whole diet shifts away from one that is mostly made of processed, refined foods and animal foods (like most Americans eat), to a diet comprised of at least 90% whole, plant foods, you're health is going to improve significantly and quickly.

For example, if all you do is add a tsp of turmeric to your diet or a tbsp of maca powder, that's not going to cut it compared to eating fruit and oatmeal every morning, veggie pasta with bread and a salad for lunch and a rice and bean burrito with salsa and guacamole for dinner.  And for dessert?  Yes of course, banana ice-cream! 

You could lose 1-3 pounds per week and reduce or eliminate cholesterol medication, blood pressure medication, insulin and other medications within one month by switching the totality of your diet to a whole foods, plant-based diet without superfoods!  

I'm not trying to say these individual superfoods aren't high in nutrition and aren't very healthy… they are!  And if you're eating them, don't stop!  It's not the superfoods themselves that I don't like, but the concept of superfoods is what sucks, or rather, what's misleading.  

Many people believe these superfoods will save them.  Superfoods are another 'magic bullet', reductionist, solution to a wholistic (yes, purposely spelled with a 'w') problem - the entire American diet. 

Take Control Now

What did you learn from this episode?  Have you ever been sucked into the 'superfood' trap?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.  Thanks for watching (or reading!).  See you next Tuesday!

5 Ways to Save Grocery Money on a Vegan Diet

People claim eating a healthy, plant-based diet is more expensive and thus a reason you might shy away from it.  Or maybe you use this as an excuse?  

Well no longer can you use money as an excuse for not eating a healthy, whole foods, plant-based diet. Why not?  Because here's 5 ways you'll actually save money on your groceries by not just eating healthier, but by losing 1-3 pounds a week AND reducing medications! (1,2,3).  Permanent weight-loss and medication reduction are highly likely when you fully adhere to a whole foods, plant-based diet for the long-term.

5 Ways to Save Grocery Money on a Vegan Diet

1. Buy beans, rice, pasta and potatoes as your staples.

Why?  Because they're cheaper per pound, they're more filling so you eat less calories throughout the day AND they're healthier for you than animal and refined foods!  

For example, Julieanna Hever, MS aka the Plant-Based Dietician, shared the below graphic with plant and animal food price differences on her blog describing additional ways to save money on a plant-based diet.  

                                                                 Graphic from www.plantbaseddietician.com

2. Don't buy organic.

Don't get me wrong, I love organic foods.  I work full-time on Spring Hill Organic vegetable farm in Albany, Oregon and I love eating our organic produce daily.  I'm thankful I don't work with pesticides or insecticides and that my surrounding ecosystem on the farm isn't threatened either.

However, severe heart disease and type II diabetes have been reversed on a whole food, plant-based diet without the food being organic or GMO free.  The Environmental Working Group (EWG) also states "the health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh risks of pesticide exposure" (4).

You can opt to buy the dirtiest produce as organic and the least sprayed produce as inorganic as a way to save money on fruits and veggies.  Check out the cleanest and dirtiest fruits and veggies on the EWG's dirty dozen list here.

3. Don't buy refined junk food.

It's not just animal foods that are more expensive, refined junk food is too!  

Take Kettle Potato chips for example.  Around $2.72 per 5 oz. bag, these chips cost you about $8.16 per pound!  That's more expensive than most organic veggies!  Plus potato chips are dreadful for you.  Don't eat them.  Eat a baked potato with salsa instead!

Use my suggested staple foods in #1 (pasta, beans, rice, potatoes) as snacks instead of refined junk foods and not only will you save money, you'll save 100s of calories as well!  My favorite snacks are baked sweet potatoes or yams which run about $1.49 per pound.

4.  Don't buy oil.

This includes extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil.  Not only is oil weight-promoting (it's 120 calories per tablespoon, the most calorie dense food on the planet and 100% fat) but severe heart disease was reversed without oil in the diet (1,2).  

Learn '5 Reasons Why Oil isn't a Health Food' and 'How to Sauté without Oil' on these episodes of Take Control Tuesdays. 

5. Save money on medication and health care.

When you adopt and adhere to a whole foods, plant-based diet, it's likely you'll prevent going on medication, eliminate the amount of meds you're on or, get off of them completely!  What a huge money saver that is!

You're likely to relieve yourself from colds, acne, low energy, arthritis, cancer, type II diabetes, erectile dysfunction and the list goes on! (5).  Now this, will save you money!

Take Control Now

What's the greatest insight you learned from today's episode?  What's a different way you save money on groceries by eating healthier?

Answer in the comments section below.

References

1. Ornish, D et al. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA. 1998 Dec 16;280(23):2001-7.
2. Esselstyn CB Jr., Updating a 12-year experience with arrest and reversal therapy for coronary heart disease (an overdue requiem for palliative cardiology). Am J Cardiol. 1999 Aug 1;84(3):339-41, A8.

3. Decreases in dietary glycemic index are related to weight loss among individuals following therapeutic diets for type 2 diabetes, J Nutr. 2011 Aug;141(8):1469-74. 

4. The Environmental Working Group, Shopper's Guide to Pesticide Produce. Accessed online September 2014.

5. Campbell, TC. 'Whole. Rethinking the Science of Nutrition' 2013. Ben Bella Books, Dallas, Texas.