We, as a nation, have a sweet tooth. But we know that sugar is making us fat and very unhealthy. Luckily, we have other ways to sweeten things. Let's talk about our "sugarless" options, what we should be using and what we need to ditch! - The bad: - High fructose corn syrup - Agave nectar - Saccharin - Aspartame - Sucralose - The first two we will talk about are high fructose corn syrup and agave nectar....
You've probably been there. You're doing everything correctly, yet you can't ditch that refuse-to-vacate excess weight, and it's driving you crazy. I coined the term "weight loss resistance" for folks who do everything correctly yet can't consistently lose a couple of pounds a week. Numerous obstacles underlie weight loss resistance, from sleep deprivation to chronic stress to hormonal imbalances. I'll...
Talk about a massive failure. Coke's taking a hard beating, and they aren't going out softly. “Coca-Cola, the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, is backing a new ‘science-based’ solution to the obesity crisis: To maintain a healthy weight, -get more exercise and worry less about cutting calories-,” writes Anahad O’Connor in the -New York Times. This campaign becomes at a particularly sensitive...
Halloween is upon us. But the origin of this tradition has largely been lost on the majority of celebrants. Halloween marks the eve of All Saints Day (alternatively All Hallows' Day), a day of remembrance of the dead, the saintly, martyred, and faithful departed believers. Halloween arose as a way to use humor and ridicule to flout Death. But how did a ritual to mock Death come to involve so much sugar?...
You would be hard pressed to find a person who is not aware of the dangers of too much sugar. Warnings are given pretty much anywhere you turn and yet, Americans on average consume 153 grams of sugar a day. That is the equivalent of 6 chocolate bars, or more than a quarter pounder made completely out of sugar. That places the U.S. among the world’s top consumers of sugar, at approximately 123 pounds...
Sugar consumption has risen to an all time high. The average American eats somewhere around 20 teaspoons of sugar every day (estimates vary, depending on which study is consulted); this translates to about -66 pounds of added sugar per year. However, some people are consuming much more than that, maybe even twice as much. Some Starbucks' drinks may have as much as 25 teaspoons of sugar in one drink,...
“Stress has become such the new normal for me that I don’t know how to -not -feel stressed,” a friend recently confessed. “It’s almost like if I didn’t have a zillion things to worry about, my mind would start creating stressful thoughts.” - She’s not alone. Relationships, kids, and finances become major stressors for just about everyone. So does maintaining steady employment. One study found increased...
There’s been a lot of discussion on the war on drugs over my lifetime. In 1971, President Nixon actually declared the “war on drugs.” In the 1980s President Reagan took it up a notch, with an unprecedented expansion of resources to “save America.” Considered a public health crisis of epidemic proportions, in 1992 President Clinton pushed for treatment funding. You’d think drugs are the leading cause...
If you haven’t heard of kombucha, get your wow face on! It’s a fermented tea that’s loaded with probiotics, a tangy great taste, and can be sweetened with fruits or combined with other superfoods such as algae to have even more health benefits. Because the kombucha is fermented, it’s carbonated so it has that fizziness you love just like soda. Here’s why you replace soda with kombucha. It’s Healthier!...
Agave, honey, coconut sugar, and maple syrup are all marketed as healthier alternatives to table sugar and other added sugars, such as high-fructose corn syrup and evaporated cane juice. Is there any truth to those claims? - Here are the facts. Alternative sweeteners, just like conventional sweeteners, add little nutritional value and contain substantial calories. Since some natural sweeteners undergo...