Transcript
Greetings! So Excited to have you!
Welcome to the Live to 110™ Health Transformation Webinar. My name is Wendy Myers. I’m a health and nutrition coach. I started my site, myersdetox.com™ to educate people about how to get healthy, lose weight, treat their health conditions naturally without medication, and how to detox from heavy metals and industrial chemicals so prevalent in today’s toxic world. My goal is to help you Liveto110™!
Why is Nutrition so Confusing?
We are all different
Many people dramatically improve their health by adopting a Paleo diet. Some can go without animal protein. There are people who feel best eating 70-80% of their diet from fat. Some eat low-carb; others eat high-carb. Others eat anything all day long. These people, I believe, are universally despised. In truth, everything works. There are people getting incredible results with each of the above eating styles.
Why? Because we are all different. We have different metabolisms; different body types; different genetic predispositions and different responses to foods. We have different ethnic backgrounds. These wide differences account for so many different diets
Beyond some basic fundamentals that more or less everyone can agree on (eat whole foods, vegetables are good) blindly following some nutrition plan – especially of the more ‘extreme’ variety – without listening to your own body and paying attention to how you feel will likely lead to poor health. Avoid any diet that is ALL raw food or HIGH protein. Our bodies need balance and variety. Extreme diets do not support health in the long-term.
If you feel awful on a given diet, don’t give up so soon. There are some exceptions where you’ll be feeling bad on some diets initially. For instance, excluding gluten will make you feel like crap for a bit due to withdrawals from their heroin-like effects on the brain. Some people feel better initially on a vegetarian or vegan diet only because their digestion is screwed up and they don’t produce enough stomach acid to digest animal protein. However, in the end, if it doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t work. Forget the dogma and nutrition tribalism and move on.
Books are very convincing
Any book can make a convincing argument for their case with research to back it up. The nature of writing is to convince readers of your point of view. Every book I’ve read on nutrition has swayed my convictions by the end of the book. After reading the Atkins Diet, I ate 25g of carbs a day and began eating processed low-carb bars and pepperoni sticks.
After reading The China Study, I was disgusted with meat and dairy for two years. Its theories are based on a 30-year study convincing us that meat and dairy may cause cancer and other diseases of western affluence. Though this study shows this correlation, there has NEVER been a culture or tribe in the history of the world that was vegan. This is because this diet does not support health and reproduction in the long-term. Big study or no, this theory of not eating animal protein does not resonate with me for this reason. Oh, and the fact that I developed adrenal fatigue, thyroid problems and numerous vitamin and mineral deficiencies on the diet. A friend of mine’s hair began falling out. Another developed osteoporosis and broke her leg by just tripping. These little problems are left out of the book. However, another person may fare better than I did on the vegan diet.
After reading the Paleo diet, I finally found my holy grail. All the health problems I developed on the vegan diet are slowly resolving on this diet. The moral of the story is…There is no cookie cutter diet for everyone. So, avoid books telling you this is the case. Some books are backed by solid science. Most are not, even if they quote research studies left and right. As we’ll discuss in a minute, there is a lot of poorly done food research out there.
Don’t Take Nutrition Advice From Your Doctor
Many people trust their doctor and the medical establishment without question. This can be a fatal mistake. Physicians are trained in diagnosing disease and prescribing medications. This is a valuable contribution to health when you are sick, but what about prevention or healing with food?
Some doctors have limited nutrition training as elective courses at medical school, while even fewer have post-graduate nutrition training. More than appalling, a full one-quarter of medical schools do not even offer courses in nutrition. It seems that since health is very much determined by your diet that doctors should be required to learn about nutrition, don’t you think?
There are a few gifted doctors who know what they’re talking about when it comes to nutrition, but I’ve had so many of my clients with heart problems or high cholesterol be told by their supposed top of the line cardiologists to eat margarine with trans fats! Trans fats were proven since the year 2000 to contribute to heart disease and high cholesterol. Sadly, a doctor may have learned a ‘proven fact’ at a convention or training he attended a decade ago and continues to dispense outdated information. Question and research everything your doctor advises you to do. I do.
Wrong advice from the news
The media can provide us with important information. Yet, much of the information on health and diet you are fed on CNN or other major news outlets and newspapers is usually wrong or false. Headlines are meant to catch the consumer’s attention, not necessarily inform. The media does not dare report unbiased information that would cast their advertisers – food manufacturers or growers – or their products in an unfavorable light. Therefore, a lot of what you hear in the news cannot be relied upon.
Frequently, news claims are made based on a single study – or a brand new study. You can’t take a new single study and report it as an absolute fact. But this is exactly what happens when a new study is dispersed in the news. People take it as a fact, and still have it in their heads as a fact a decade or more later. Keep in mind that research results must be proven over and over before they can be considered relevant. So, pause and think for a minute before believing everything you hear in the news. Media outlets are desperate for info and want to be the first to report the latest research – whether the findings are valid or not. Headlines serve to sell newspapers, magazines, and advertising, not to help your health.
Bad science
Nutrition science is one of the only sciences in the world where two polar opposite theories can be totally proven. This can mainly be attributed to BAD science and BAD food scientists. Food science does not have to be as rigorous as, say, nuclear physics. It is also due to the fact that people, including scientists, are loath to change their stance on existing paradigms, say the calories in, calories out theory of thermodynamics that has been debunked as too simplistic and outdated by many.
Another problem with nutrition science is its habit of measuring individual ingredient’s effects on health outcomes, i.e. the consumption of vitamin C on heart disease (false). The idea of “nutrionism,” is an ideology built around the unexamined assumption that the key to understanding food is indeed the nutrient. This approach involves breaking whole foods apart, until a chicken breast is nothing but an assemblage of different nutrients, vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins. These individual components are studied for their effects on health. This is not how food works in the body. Nutrients in foods work in synergistic ways – many nutrients of which we have not even discovered. Nutrionism all too often depends upon shoddy science, and ends up causing Americans to indulge in poor diets.
Research is bought and paid for
The majority of research done by major universities is paid for by big biotechs, like Monsanto, or food growers and manufacturers. Not surprisingly, the research results are usually favorable to their funder. For many scientists and researchers, their work depends on pleasing granting agencies or state legislators responsible for funding. It is difficult to decipher if what you are reading is real science conducted by unbiased scientists looking for honest answers.
The food industry supports food science research if it will help them reap a greater profit, not in finding if a food is healthy for you. For instance, a ton of research has been conducted on soy showing its health benefits. However, nothing could be further from the truth! Soy is unhealthy for you on so many levels. For more information, see my blog Little Known Dangers of Soy. Soy is one of the most profitable foods, generating billions for Big Agriculture. This is why you hear so much positive news and research about soy. Sponsored studies have only one purpose—to establish a basis for marketing claims. They are not carried out to promote public health
Falsified research
Falsification of data is rife today in science, adding to all the problems in research mentioned above. There are little or no consequences for scientists that falsify data – only a retraction in small print years later in the scientific journal in which the study was originally published. By then, it’s common knowledge in society. They do not go to bad science jail. However, there is much to be gained by a scientist for data or result falsification. They are celebrated for new discoveries, receive promotions, tenured college positions, continued or increased research funding, and increased pay or lucrative book deals.
My advice
Don’t get worked up about a study you hear in the news. Know that many headlines are generated to produce ratings and sell magazines. Don’t take diet and health advice from your doctor without doing a little research unless they are versed in nutrition. Don’t take advice from the results of a new research study. Wait until there are many, many studies proving the same thing. No matter how well developed and executed, study results can be wrong, inconclusive and even falsified. Take in everything with a healthy amount of skepticism.
No matter what book you read, keep in mind that you have to eat the diet that works for you. Don’t substitute anyone else’s judgment for your own. It takes years of trial and error while listening to your body and its reactions to foods to figure out the best diet suited to you (i.e. the amount of protein you need). Then once you get it figured out, your needs change due to age and health status! This is a lifelong journey. So, read books with an open beginner’s mind, honor the fact that nutrition science will constantly change, and enjoy the journey that is your path to health. After several failed diets, I have settled on one conclusion. There are many ways to eat healthy, but you have to do the one that is sustainable for YOU.
After finding out I had health problems on the vegetarian and vegan diet, I urge anyone wishing to try a new diet to get medical and nutrient testing to gauge their health before starting a diet and revisiting the same testing methods six months into a diet. Test hormones, vitamins, minerals, fats, cholesterol, blood sugar, inflammation markers, etc, etc. Metametrix has great tests. However, I realize his is not feasible for all. I recommend learning to listen to your body. If your body is craving a food (NOT sugar or flour) or you dream about a food not on your diet – this means you need that food nutritionally. The body is a brilliant microcomputer that urges you to eat foods it needs nutritionally at a given moment.
If you have food cravings for healthy foods (that are not on your diet), have low energy, become depressed or unlike yourself mentally, develop a chronic illness, or just don’t feel like you used to, DO NOT IGNORE YOUR BODY’S CRIES FOR HELP. It is all too easy to attribute subtle changes in mood, energy levels, pain or illness to other things besides diet. Additionally, many fanatical about their diet get stuck on the idea of a diet or the ideology or lifestyle while their body is falling apart. I urge you to switch gears and listen to your body. The fact of the matter is that people who eat a diet that is right for them are generally mentally healthy, have a healthy weight, radiant eyes and skin, are free of health problems and get straight A’s on their medical tests. The proof is in the pudding.
What is the Best Diet?
- Depends on you
- You want to eat 70-80% plant foods including vegetables, fruit, rice, non-gluten grains like quinoa, nuts, and seeds. These are important for vital fiber and to cleanse the digestive tract as well as vitamins and nutrients.
- Everyone can agree on the importance of a whole foods diet
- Variety
- I like the Paleo and Live to 110™ Diet
- Vegetarian can work
- Vegan – goes against human physiology and nutritional needs
Veggies
Today I want to go over a couple important basics in nutrition. Most do not eat enough vegetables or drink enough water. So, let’s focus on these subjects.
- #1 Missing Food. The number one food missing from most people’s diet is green vegetables. Be vigilant about eating green veggies every day. They have 7 times the cancer fighting power of other kinds of vegetables.
- Variety. Eat the largest variety of vegetables that you can; the constantly changing nutrient profiles of a wide variety of vegetables will confer the greatest health benefits to you.
- In Season. Vegetables in season have almost twice the nutrient content of foods out of season. Attempt to learn when foods are in season and avoid vegetables shipped in from other countries when they’re out of season in your area. This can best be accomplished by shopping at your local farmer’s market – they will usually not carry produce that’s out of season.
- Organic. I highly recommend you try to eat ORGANIC veggies so you’re not ingesting hundreds of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, chemical solvents, irradiated foods (microwaved to kill bacteria), and GMO‘s (genetically modified organisms). We’ll go into the organic vs. conventional food debate later in the program. But if you want to know more about this issue now, I urge you to see the movie Genetic Roulette Movie.com. However, conventional nonorganic veggies are better than no veggies at all!
What Should I Drink?
Spring water is the only type of water you should drink. It’s okay if you drink other water occasionally, but try to make spring water the majority of the water you drink. Spring water has been filtered by the earth in ways we do not completely understand, but which works better than any invented means of purifying water. Another advantage is that it contains a wide variety of trace minerals that the human body desperately needs. You can cheaply buy safe spring near you at Findaspring.com. For more info, read my blog What kind of water should I drink?
Other drinks that are okay to drink are coconut water (though skip if you’re trying to eliminate sugar), vegetable juices like green juices or carrot juice, teas, or fermented drinks. You don’t see fruit juice here because it has too much sugar. Completely forget juice in a plastic bottle you buy at the store – this is nothing but sugar water with a few added synthetic vitamins. Fresh is best, but still has a ton of sugar.
Sodas are out!! Sodas contain really nasty ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, phosphoric acid, caramel color (a possible carcinogen), artificial flavors, sodium benzoate (possible carcinogen), brominated vegetable oil, calcium disodium EDTA (a mineral leacher), and high levels of acids (citric, tartaric, malic, etc – all of which erode tooth enamel). Sodas actually leave you more nutrients depleted after you drink them!
Coffee can be healthy if you drink one cup a day, but it dehydrates you. There are a lot of pesticides and mycotoxins in coffee, so drink organic. Women who drink coffee have higher estrogen levels than those that don’t, which can lead to weight gain and other health programs. See my blog Estrogen Dominance Syndrome. Plus, the caffeine really stresses your adrenals, and when your adrenals get fatigued you produce fewer hormones and your thyroid activity can reduce, causing you to gain weight. Best to enjoy it occasionally.
Goals
What do you want for your life? How to do you see yourself as you get older? Do you see yourself with grandkids, even great grandkids? It is possible. But you have to begin thinking about your health NOW, before you get sick or develop a chronic illness. Statistically, the odds are not in your favor. Almost 50% of people develop cancer. This does not even include all the chronic illnesses like autoimmune diseases, diabetes, etc. How many of you have the majority of your older family members on medication or managing a chronic illness? Everyone in my family over 50 is sick to some degree and on multiple medication. You do not want to wait until you’re sick to start thinking about your health. By then, it could be too late. The best time to work on your health is while you still have it!
Let’s begin with defining your goals. Write down three goals that you envision for your life. What do you want to accomplish in terms of your diet, health, and weight in the next three months? The next year? While you’re trying to accomplish these goals, keep in mind that change takes time.
Think of one bad habit you’d like to nix from your health routine. What’s the priority? Is it stopping smoking, cutting out sodas or candy? Start with working on one area at a time. For instance, eliminate sodas, then try to eat more vegetables, then reduce or increase your protein according to your needs. It will take time – even years to make incremental, evolutionary changes. But I promise, you will get better and better at healthy eating. You don’t have to be perfect all the time. I usually take Sunday off to pig out with my husband who typically eats horribly or have an unhealthy meal once a week. I invariably find myself at a restaurant that’s not organic or only has unhealthy food. So what! You have to live your life! Think in terms of eating healthy 90% of the time. You’ll be doing a thousand percent better than the majority of the population!
Goals for Next Session
The health goals I’d like you to work on for our next session are:
- Drinking 3 liters of water per day. This is essential for health. Chronic dehydration has a profoundly negative impact on your health, leading to many, many diseases. You are not able to flush out acids and toxins without adequate water.
- Eat more green vegetables. Start with simply eating more green veggies to crowd out unhealthy foods. This is one of the most important changes you can make for your health. But remember that vegetables must be cooked to obtain maximum mineral content.
That’s all for today!! Hope that wasn’t too overwhelming, but we have a lot of ground to cover. I’m super excited to teach you about how to transform your health over this six-session webinar. Little changes lead to big results. Here’s to Living to 110!
