I MARRIED A NUTRITIONIST Inside Information for Men on Health and Nutrition

The other day, while reaching for seconds, I got into a conversation with my nutritionist about Calories… that mysterious measurement that we immediately link to weight gain.  Or, at least I did.  I had recently read that the term “calorie” is defined as a unit of heat which raises one kilogram of water one degree.  It’s a measurement that goes back a hundred years, but today the calorie is tied to your body’s chemical energy which is created by oxidation of fat, carbs and protein.

And the way you burn all those calories off is with exercise, right?   Well, let’s just say “some” of the calories.  My nutritionist is a big supporter of exercise, but she cautioned that no matter how much you work out, you’ll burn no more than 25-30% of your daily calories through all that huffing, puffing, grunting and groaning.

The majority of your daily calories burn, my nutritionist said, is from doing your everyday activities, such as standing, sitting, breathing, eating, farting, climbing stairs, even watching TV.  Score!  You can figure you’ll burn roughly 11 calories for every pound you weigh, so if you’re clocking 180, your everyday activities will burn roughly 1,880 calories.  Not bad, if you can keep your calorie intake at the recommended level.   The Mayo Clinic says the average male needs a maintenance level of 2,800 calories per day, depending on physical activity, age, weight, metabolism, and muscle mass.  Pile on more and you may win a trip to Chubbyville.

Even with all that burning going on, what you eat is an important piece of the puzzle.  Why?  Well, for one thing, you’ll burn more calories in the digestion process depending on what you eat.  Digesting carbs, for example, will earn you somewhere around 5-10% calorie burn simply because carbs break down easily, as does fat.  And as for protein?  Bingo.  You’ll burn between 20-30% of the calories simply because it takes more processing.

Finally, let’s talk fiber.  The reason why it’s so good is it hangs out in the digestive track longer, like your mother in law who extends her visit without asking.  And some complex carbs, like veggies and whole grains, can even block the absorption of other calories.

So, as you can see, calorie counting isn’t the end all.  What’s more important is the type of calories you put in your cake hole.  It’s good to have protein at every meal, a good source of fiber from your veggies first and whole-grains second.  And if you’re not good with fiber, here’s what I take and what my nutritionist highly recommends CLICK HERE.

And that’s the scoop from Healthy Spouse.  Calorie… Calorah!

Be careful what you eat, cause it may not be meat.  That’s probably what a lot of Japanese are saying these days after reading that Okayama Laboratory has discovered a way to create edible steaks from human feces.  Holly shit, tell me it’s not so!  Well, it is so.  How so?  Well, Japanese researchers developed steaks based on proteins from human excrement.  Why?  Simple. With the population boom, shortages of food and an overabundance of sewage mud, the climate was right for some whacky scientists to take the term “eat shit” literally.

Here’s the dump.  Sewage mud contains a great deal of protein because of all the bacteria.  Researches extract those proteins, combine them with a reaction enhancer and put it in an exploder which creates artificial steak.  The next step is to color the poop meat red with food coloring and enhance the flavor with soy protein… which, if you’ve been reading my posts, contributes to an overabundance of estrogen in males, essentially feminizing them.  But if you’re eating crap, what does it matter if you’re consuming a lot of soy, growing man boobs and reducing your sperm count.  Women probably won’t want to kiss you either way, dung tongue.

Not to give fake beef all the attention, scientists here in the U.S. have created the first soy product that not only tastes like chicken but also breaks apart in your mouth the way chicken does.  When you pull apart this Franken-chicken, it even tears the way chicken does with a few random strands of “meat” hanging loosely.

Developing fake chicken hasn’t been easy.  The challenge was to find the right combination of soy, wheat gluten, oil and water, the building blocks of most fake meat.  Then came the texture problem which was solved over time by a whacky mix of soy-protein (here we go again) and wheat flour added with water and dumped into an industrial mixer to make a cake batter like substance.  You see?  A little ingenuity can solve any problem.

As you can probably image, PETA and vegetarians across the land are dancing in the streets at the prospects of saleable meat substitutes.  What’s the verdict on taking in all that fake meat?  Only time will tell as the FDA watches this pseudo-chicken and fake meat experiment unfold.  One thing I have learned from my nutritionist and from scores of reputable articles, all that soy certainly ain’t good for us males.  Perhaps it’s part of the grand scheme to lower the human population over time.  Or, as most articles state, it’s to help reduce greenhouse gasses from farm animals.  Either way, I think I’ll stick with my cage-free, hormone-free chickens that eat bugs and play around all day like chickens should… and my hormone-free, grass-fed real steak from real cows that plump when I barbecue.  As for turd burgers?  I’ll stick with the nature-made brand.

My nutritionist and I recently moved to a new house and while packing the kitchen she turned to me and said, “We need to get rid of this microwave.”   Hmmm?   Looked perfectly good to me.  I mean, it’s not like we used it a lot, mainly quick heat ups and such.  Then it hit me.  She probably wants a new one to match our new refrigerator.  Women are like that sometimes.  Wrong.  Then she clarified  her statement saying we were getting rid of our microwave all together.   Gulp.

Like a skilled lawyer, my nutritionist began to present her case.  Conventional heating warms food from the outside in.  Think of your oven, or in caveman terms, think campfire.  Microwave ovens, on the other hand, heat food from inside out by creating a violent friction in the water molecules within food.  This friction deforms the structure of the water molecules and generates heat in the process.   As the molecules are literally blown apart, the molecular damage spreads beyond the water and into your food.

Microwave radiation destroys and deforms the food molecules and creates new compounds completely unknown to nature.  Recent research shows that microwaves significantly decrease the nutritional value of food.  All your good intentions in the supermarket to buy fresh and healthy can go out the window with microwaving.

Microwaves reduce levels of vitamin B 12… decrease flavonoids in food by 97% which eliminates anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-microbial properties…. lower levels of sinapic acid derivatives which neutralize free radicals which cause cancer… and significantly alter levels of vitamins and nutrients in your food.  Whoa.

Oh, and if you have a baby at home and you’re heating breast milk in a microwave.  Slap yourself.  Microwaves break down bacteria-digesting enzymes in breast milk and decrease antibody levels.   Heat plastic baby bottles in the microwave and you may be leaching dangerous toxins into breast milk or formula.

Bottom line.  Microwaves impair the quality of the food.  Maybe the Russians knew something we didn’t when they banned the use of microwaves in 1976.   Or, maybe we knew but were more interested in how the new appliance would revolutionize the food industry.

So, back to the new house and life without a microwave.  Surprisingly, it hasn’t been nearly as life-altering as I thought.   Liquids heat within 2-3 minutes in a sauce pan on the stove, and stay hot longer.  We now heat left overs in a convection oven which take a bit longer than a microwave, but works perfectly fine if you plan ahead instead of rushing last minute.  As for frozen foods, pop it in and set the timer.  The good part is, I now know the food I’m heating is the quality of food I want to be eating.  Food is expensive, and so are illnesses.  It’s something to consider.

And that’s the heat on microwaves from Healthy Spouse.  Get cookin’.

“Sugar, you make my heart race.”  Okay, perhaps it’s not the smoothest line to use on a woman… although feel free to use it if your best line is “Lie down.  I think I love you.”

As corny as the heart race line is, there is a lot of truth to it.  A recent Swiss study found that when people consumed 60 grams of fructose (sugar), their heart rates rose by as much as eight beats per minute.  What this does over time is increase your risk of heart disease.

The average American eats 92 grams of sugar a day….that’s the equivalent to 1/2 cup of sugar….a day!  Your body only needs about 8 grams, which it could easily get from natural sugars in fresh fruits, veggies and grains.  In addition to making your heart race, sugar suppresses your white blood cells for up to six hours, impairing your immune system.  And in today’s germ-filled world, that’s not a good thing.

Reader, I would like you to meet Xylitol.  Xylitol… Reader.  Great, now that you’re introduced, I’m gonna tell you why this brief introduction is an important one for helping combat your excessive sugar intake.

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar in fruits and veggies.  It’s not a chemical and there’s nothing artificial about it.  Xylitol looks, tastes and even bakes just like sugar.  Where you would normally use one teaspoon of sugar, you use one teaspoon of Xylitol.  Okay, aside from being natural, why is Xylitol so good?  To begin with, it has 40% less calories, 75% less carbs and is actually healthy for you.  While satisfying your sweet tooth, Xylitol stabilizes your insulin levels and is even good for your teeth by strengthening the enamel.  Chop. Chop.

Now, it’s important to note that not all Xylitol is created equal.  Much of Xylitol comes from corn and most of our corn is genetically modified….that’s a whole other blog.  That’s why my nutritionist recommends getting the good stuff online at www.myhealthysugar.com You can buy it by the pound, five pounds or truckload if you’re looking to make the world a sweeter place.  You’ll even find other Xylitol products there such as gums, mints, sours, jams, jellies and condiments…. all made with Xylitol.  It’s a literal Xylitol circus.

At home, our kitchen is always stocked with Xylitol “sweetened” products like jams and ketchup, and my nutritionist keeps my car loaded up with Xylitol mints and sours for those slow L.A. commutes.

So, that’s inside scoop on Xylitol.  Sweet!  Healthy Spouse

Let’s talk Cooking Oils for a moment.  Guys, it’s important to know that not all cooking oils are the same, especially when it come “Smoke Points.”  The smoke point of cooking oils is how high a heat the oil can take before it, literally, begins to smoke or burn.  When oil smokes, it releases free-radicals within the oil and, believe me, that’s not good for your health, or that of your family, dog, or any other living thing that might consume your masterpiece.  In addition, burnt oil makes food taste rank.  Remember, you have a reputation to uphold.

Different cooking oils have different uses, and each performs within a certain range of temperatures.  Some are made for high heat cooking, such as frying or grilling, while others have intense flavors that are best enjoyed by drizzling directly on to the food, or on that special someone in your life (but that’s another post).

Since this is a blog for guys, and guys like heat, especially when grilling, let’s talk about the best healthy oils for your culinary arsenal when the heat is on.

Recommended oils and their smoke points:

Avocado oil (510º F)…   Safflower oil  (460º F)…  Sesame oil  (445º F)…

Grapeseed oil (425º F)…  Coconut oil (425º F)

You’ll notice I left off Canola and Soy oil.  According to my nutritionist, there are much healthier options, such as those listed above.

Here’s a “did you know?”  Canola is not the name of a natural plant but a made-up word, from the words “Canada” and “oil”.  Canola is a genetically engineered plant developed in Canada from the Rapeseed Plant, which is part of the mustard family of plants.  Rapeseed oil, which is an industrial oil, is poisonous to living things and is an excellent insect repellent. Some people suspect Rapeseed oil causes emphysema, respiratory distress, anemia, constipation, irritability, and blindness in animals and humans.  Rape oil was widely used in animal feeds in England and Europe between 1986 and 1991, when it was thrown out.

As for Soy oil, well, if you haven’t read my post “Soy is no Joy,” you ought to.

So, there you go.  You’re all set for the grill, stove top or oven.  Whether you boast about this new-found knowledge to your wife, or share it with the guys at your next poker game, smile proudly because you are just one big know-it-all… and thank goodness for that.  Cook on!  Healthy Spouse.

We humans just love salt.  It’s cheap and makes a lot of food taste great.  For that reason, everything from restaurant food to packaged foods and beverages are loaded with the white stuff.  That’s why my nutritionist and I choose to limit our eating out and eat fresh whenever possible.

Okay, here’s the stats.  A healthy adult should consume no more than 1,500 to 2,300 mg of sodium a day.  Exceed that and you’re asking for health problems, everything from high blood pressure to heart burn.

Now, let’s switch gears for a moment.  When you buy salt, you have several options including table salt, often associated with the little “when it rains, it pours” umbrella girl… and sea salt.  Both are made up of sodium and chloride.  The big difference between the two is texture, taste, amount of processing and where it comes from.

Table salt, which comes from underground salt deposits, is more processed than sea salt, and has additives such as calcium silicate which keeps it from clumping up in humidity, so goes the “when it rains, it pours” slogan.  Table salt also has added iodine, something that started in the 1920’s to help fight a medical condition called goiters.  Yup, it’s as bad as it sounds.  Your thyroid swells up and makes your neck look like you swallowed a softball.  In addition to looking bad and feeling bad, goiters stretches the hell out of your turtleneck.

Sea salt, on the other hand, is generally considered the healthier salt.  It’s made by evaporating sea water, which leaves behind natural minerals that give sea salt color and flavor.  Those minerals, which are good for your system, include iron, sulfur and magnesium.  Unfortunately, these minerals are removed during the table salt-making process.

If used in moderation, again under the 2,300 mg/day, sea salt can benefit your circulatory system by regulating irregular heartbeats and high blood pressure.  And get this, it has also been found to reduce the incidence of heart diseases and heart attacks.  Looking up your nose, sea salt is great for clearing your sinus cavities since it’s a natural antihistamine.

If you’re an athlete, it’s important to know that sea salt helps maintain proper balance of electrolytes in the body which strengthens your immune system and increase energy level.  And while you’re admiring your muscles in the mirror, know that sea salt helps improve muscle tone and strength, and helps prevent muscle cramps.

And, after a day of exercise, sea salt can help you regulate your sleep.  Drinking a pinch of salt added to warm water before going off to sleep can induce deep sleep.

And that’s the scoop on salt from Healthy Spouse.  Get shakin’.

One of my favorite vegetables just happens to be one of the healthiest on the planet.  I can’t claim “universe” since there’s still a few unknowns out there.  But for this world, Bok Choy rocks.  It not only looks great on a t-shirt (c’mon guys, don’t get distracted), but its amazing for you.  Before I married a nutritionist, I thought Bok Choy was something you yelled out in martial arts class.  Boy, was I wrong.

Bok Choy is commonly known as Chinese cabbage, and it’s been cultivated for over 6,000 years.  This vegetable is in the same family as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, nature’s little leafy golf ball.

Bok Choy is great for salads and soups, and can be sauteed in a pan the way we do at home.  Aside from tasting great, Bok Choy has some terrific health benefits.  It’s a rich source of many essential vitamins such as vitamin A (supports immune system, improves vision, and makes your teeth and bones grow strong like Superman), vitamin C (antioxidant which blasts free radicals), and vitamin K (which helps absorption of calcium and helps with bone density).

Oh, if you think we’re stopping there, you be wrong.  Bok Choy is rich in vitamin D (which you know from this blog is a health game-changer), is packed with folate (lowers risk of heart disease) and B6 (helps with formation of red blood cells and antibodies).

Are we done?  Hell no!  Bok Choy is loaded with beta-carotene, an antioxidant believed to reduce the risk of many cancers.  How about calcium and potassium?   Loaded.  Finally, Bok Choy is low in sodium, is fat-free and… it’s amazingly cheap to buy at the store.  At the farmer’s market this morning we picked up 3 heads of bok choy for a buck!

Below is a short video of my nutritionist showing just how simple it is to cook-up Bok-Choy.  Takes about 4-5 minutes on the stove-top.

And, that’s the scoop on Bok Choy from Healthy Spouse.  Chop-Chop.

Some people shop for meat either by what looks good or what’s on sale.  You know, like college guys do 30-minutes before the bar closes.  You’re in a hurry and you’re ready to cook.  But it’s important to remember that when it comes to buying healthy steaks, ribs, and roasts, there is a big difference between Grass-Fed, hormone-free beef and everything that’s not.

Here’s the facts.  Compared with grain-fed beef, Grass-Fed beef is lower in saturated fat and higher in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.  Now, there’s something else called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which helps promote fat loss, reduce oxidative stress, reduce inflammation and even suppresses tumor growth.  Grass-Fed beef is the richest known source of CLA you can get so… eating Grass-Fed beef rules.

It’s important for you to always remember that the chemicals a cow eats settle in their fat.  And since some of the beef you eat is fat, no matter how good a trimmer you may be, you’re ingesting that fat and swallowing all those chemicals.  And those chemicals… well, they can affect your metabolism, increase risk for respiratory disease, mess with your fertility and play games with your nervous system.

That’s why my nutritionist and I eat Grass-Fed beef that’s hormone and antibiotic free and raised on organic grasses.  Sure, grass-fed beef can sometimes cost a bit more, but c’mon… it’s your health we’re talking about!

My nutritionist and I regularly buy our organic chicken and grass-fed beef at our local farmers marketing in Studio City, California.  There, we see John and Nadine de Bruin of Dey Dey’s Best Beef Ever, who travel down from their 168-acre ranch in Santa Barbara wine country each weekend with a freezer truckload of healthy meats and chicken.  Their beef cows and chickens are never fed hormones or antibiotics, and their beef cows are never fed grains or corn.  We’re talking free-range, baby.  John, a former engineer, keeps meticulous records of each Lowline Angus cow and practices management intensive grazing.  His goal is to develop great-tasting beef raised in a healthy environment.  And I can honestly say, Dey Dey’s beef is outstanding.

If you’re interested in buying grass-fed beef and organic chicken, and are not in the Los Angeles area, or are allergic to farmer’s markets, we suggest you visit U.S. Wellness Meats, a healthy meat supplier we also use.  They ship most places.  You can visit U.S. Wellness Meats by CLICKING on the logo below.  Use PROMO CODE: AFF15 for a 1-time 15% discount.

And that’s the scoop on Grass-Fed meats from Health Spouse.  Moo.

Someone once said that the only good thing about Alzheimer’s is that you never have to watch reruns on TV.  Although that may be true, Alzheimer’s is certainly nothing to take lightly.  It’s a touchy subject that’s on everyone’s mind.  Perhaps that’s because the disease afflicts 5.2 million people in the U.S. and is the seventh leading cause of death.

Mary Newport, MD, medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Florida, knows a lot about Alzheimer’s Disease.  Her husband came down with Alzheimer’s, and when drugs such as Aricept, Namenda, and Ecelong proved little help for her husband’s condition, she took matters into her own hands and did some serious research.

Dr. Newport discovered that with Alzheimer’s disease, certain brain cells may have difficulty using glucose (made from the carbs we eat), which is our brain’s main source of energy.  Without fuel, the brain’s neurons begin to die.  Digging further, Dr. Newport learned that there’s an alternative energy source for the brain cells, known as Ketones, which the body produces when you consume medium-chain triglycerides oils (MCT’s).

Now, here’s where it gets interesting.  Doctor Newport uncovered that the ingredient that was showing so much promise in drug trials was none other than MCT oil, which is derived from coconut oil.  According to the latest research, coconut oil not only protects against Alzheimer’s, but may actually reverse it! And the good news doesn’t stop there.  Coconut oil is also a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS/Lou Gehrig’s disease, drug-resistant epilepsy, brittle type 1 diabetes and type 2 (insulin resistant) diabetes.

Okay, so if this is true, why haven’t you heard about it?  The answer is, because coconut oil can’t be patented and made into a pharmaceutical.  Enough said.

Now, back to Dr. Newport’s husband.  He began taking the coconut oil twice a day and soon showed signs of steady improvement.  Over the next year, the dementia continued to reverse itself and a recent MRI shows that the brain atrophy has been completely halted.  Where synthetic Alzheimer’s drugs have failed, a natural substance seems to have done the trick.  If you would like to learn more about this, visit Dr. Newport’s website.

Coconut oil can be found in many health food stores and even some grocery stores.  My nutritionist recommends getting Organic, Extra-Virgin, Cold Pressed coconut oil that’s not refined, deodorized or bleached.  We cook many of our foods in coconut oil.  It’s not only incredibly healthy for you but it makes your food taste great and house smell fantastic!  We hope you will share this information with anyone you know who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and everyone you know who is concerned about their general health.

And that’s the scoop from Healthy Spouse!

Two of the healthiest vegetables known to man, and women,  just happen to end in “ato.”  Coincidence?   I think not!  Regardless of their predestined sound-alike properties, Sweet Potatoes and Tomatoes are two amazing foods that need to be a regular part of your diet.  And, no… you can’t use this information to build your case for being a couch potato.  Good try.

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