Making Assumptions

Have you ever assumed something? Something so obvious, that when you realize, to your embarrassment, that your assumption was totally wrong, you just have to apologize, learn, laugh, and move on...

Well, that's how my morning started. I was preparing for a talk to a group of employers, interested in wellness for their respective employees. I had just sent one form that I planned to take, to the printer, another one was waiting to be picked up at my office, and I was pretty sure I was going to nail the presentation.

Then I got the call: Where are you? We're meeting RIGHT NOW!

Eeeek! I had assumed that the meeting was at night, not in the morning. Silly me. Looking back, I can see where I misunderstood, based on my particular bias, and my lack of asking that obvious question: morning or evening?

So, here's what I learned: even if a.m. or p.m. doesn't appear in the information I'm reading, step up an ask the question. Don't assume anything.

It's sort of like that with our food supply too. We used to assume that if it's fat free or sugar free, it must be better for us than the regular, right? Or what about cholesterol free, or trans fat free. Those are no brainers, right?

Well, here's what I'm now busy teaching others: fat free is not healthier, it's usually loaded with added sugars for better taste. Sugar free usually means additional chemical additives. Talk about a marketing gimmick, cholesterol free is often a vegetable product which never, ever contained cholesterol in the first place. Canola oil is not the best oil you can find in your favorite foods. When you fry something in the wrong kind of oil, you create trans fats, even if the product started out trans fat free.

Assumptions are often put in our heads because marketing departments love to get on the current fad or bandwagon to sell us more products. It's one way that they show us they are cutting-edge when it comes to their foods. Soy is a good example of that.

Remember when soy was being touted as the newest way to balance your hormones? Well, it has since been shown that soy instead, unbalances many people's hormones. Along with corn, soy is one of the most prevalent genetically modified foods found in our diets, whether we want to be eating it or not. Often, the animal products that we eat come from livestock and poultry force-fed on soy and corn. Usually, not organic!

So, learn from my hard lesson: don't assume anything! Ask questions and be willing to look a bit dumb once in awhile. It will save you from making even dumber decisions, and possibly help you improve your health.

Now it's time to eat crow and ask to reschedule!

Index of Blog Posts

I've posted lots of information about nutrition and wellness. It's easier to find what you're looking for when there's a list, right?

This post recaps the title of the post, with a link to each one. It should make it easy to find just what you're looking for.

Take a look around and see if you can find some answers to nutritional problems you've been dealing with.

Leptin, Weight Loss, and you
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/11/leptin-weight-loss-and-you.html

Rosedale Diet
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/11/rosedale-diet.html

A-Z Healthy Eating Strategies for Weight Loss
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/10/z-healthy-eating-strategies-for-weight.html

Vegetarian Kids – Omnivore Parents
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/10/vegetarian-kids-omnivore-parents.html

Could It Be Lack of Glutathione?
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/10/could-it-be-lack-of-glutathione.html

A Breakthrough in Nutrition Technology (nano-sizing)
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/10/breakthrough-in-nutrition-technology.html

Overcoming Mindless Eating
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/09/overcome-mindless-eating.html

Check Up on Drug Interactions
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/09/check-up-on-drug-interactions.html

Skin Care May Cause Skin Cancer
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/09/skin-care-may-cause-skin-cancer.html

Labor Day Energy Drink Warning
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/08/labor-day-energy-drink-warning.html

Finnish Fish Study and Your Brain, Plus Exercise
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/08/finnish-fish-study-and-your-brain-plus.html

Washington Post Article About the Weston A. Price Foundation – link
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/08/check-out-this-washington-post-article.html

Supplements
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/07/supplements.html

Antioxidants and the ORAC Scale
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/07/antioxidants-and-orac-scale.html

Local Bounty
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/07/local-bounty.html

How to Add More Fruits and Veggies Daily
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-add-more-fruits-and-veggies.html

Snacks – Some Good Ones
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/06/some-good-snacks.html

Dioxinanes in Your Green Products?


Sinful Favorite Foods
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/06/dioxanes-in-your-green-products.html

Detoxification Has Seven Pathways
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/06/detoxification-has-seven-pathways.html

Farmers’ Markets – click to find one near you
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/05/farmers-markets-click-here.html

Have You Seen the Movie King Corn?
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/04/have-you-seen-king-corn.html

Spring is on Vacation
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/04/spring-is-on-vacation.html

When You Crave Chocolate
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/04/when-you-crave-chocolate.html

Spring Cleansing
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/03/spring-cleansing.html

Dieting Doldrums
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/03/spring-cleansing.html

Are Allergies Your Problem?
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/02/are-allergies-your-problem.html

Older IS Better!
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/02/older-is-better.html

Granny Was Right!
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/02/granny-was-right.html

Triglycerides and Heart Disease
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/02/triglycerides-and-heart-health.html

Sweets. Not So Sweet for Your Health
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/02/sweeties-are-not-so-sweet-for-your.html

Why Exercise?
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-exercise.html

Making Nutritious Bone Broths
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/02/making-nutritious-bone-broths.html

Heartburn and Acid Reflux – Rethinking the Cause
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/01/heartburn-and-acid-reflux-rethinking.html

Weight Loss and Goal Setting
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2008/01/weight-loss-and-goal-setting.html

Diverticulitis
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2007/12/diverticulitis.html

Intestinal Upset or Leaky Gut Protocol
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2007/12/intestinal-upset-or-leaky-gut-protocol.html

Nails Indicate Health Status
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2007/12/nails-indicate-health-status.html

Hip Replacement is Healing Fast
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2007/12/hip-replacement-healing-fast.html

Teresa is a Role Model
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2007/12/teresa-is-role-model.html

What I Do – as a nutritional therapist
http://sandithompsonnutrition.blogspot.com/2007/10/what-i-do.html

Leptin, Weight Loss, and You

Well, our election is over and we have a new president! No matter how you voted, it's time to move on and heal our nation's problems with openness, honesty, and integrity.

We can all play a part by taking responsibility for our own health. Our healthcare system is over-burdened and over priced for millions of Americans. The biggest culprits, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, and obesity have some common roots.

Diet is a lifestyle choice in this country. It's not that way around the world. Many countries have traditional diets that have been in place for thousands of years. They are being undermined by modern foods such as margarine, refined sugar (only 400 years ago this was an unaffordable luxury), over-processed foods, and genetically modified foods.

So, what does that have to do with Leptin - the fat hormone, Weight Loss, and You? When we eat bad fats, such as highly refined 'vegetable' oil, heat processed canola oil, and oil from genetically modified corn and soy, we ask a lot of our body. Why? Because we are 5,000 generations old in our genes. Only 500 generations have seen agriculture. Less than 5 generations have known processed foods like the ones mentioned above.

Where do all these nasty incoming molecules get stored? In our fat cells. That's because fat is one of the least metabolic tissues in the body. We don't use much fat anymore because we are loading up on carbohydrates, especially from refined grains and sugars of all kinds. Those calories are burned first for fuel. Then we get hungry and in goes the fast burning fuel. Any excess is stored as fat.

To burn fat, we need to increase our response to leptin, the fat hormone. This is not going to happen unless we mobilize our fat cells by reducing carbohydrates like starch and sugar. Leptin helps our brain turn off the hunger signals.

When you burn fat, you lose inches. In turn, the weight goes down and so does your propensity for high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and a host of other ailments of modern living.

This is easier said than done, of course. For those of you who would like to modify your diets, pop a pill, and have your leptin levels return to normal, I can help. Those of you who know me personally know that I am very excited about the breakthrough science at the University of Connecticut. The clinical trials conducted there prove that with MAX WLX, people lost an average of over 20 pounds in 8 weeks. And many inches from their bodies.

Not everyone wants to take supplements to lose weight. If you can eat an optimum diet of fresh whole food and suppress those carb cravings at the same time, that's wonderful. I help lots of people achieve that goal through a weight loss coaching program that may or may not include supplementation. See the post below for information about the ROSEDALE DIET.

The point is, losing stored fat is key to getting back on track. It's not just the weight, of course, it's the reduction of stress to your system that allows the return to health. Similar to reducing the stress on many of our country's internal systems by cleaning out the gunk.

Let's go forward together and make ourselves and our nation healthier.

Rosedale Diet

Here I am with Dr. Ron Rosedale. He is saying some things about our diets that we can all benefit from putting into practice.

Have you noticed that when we were told to eat a low fat or non-fat diet, many diseases went into epidemic proportions? I'm referring to Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and autism...just to name a few.

Perhaps it's time to take a look at an alternative approach, one that many 'health' organizations have refused to take into consideration. I'm talking about increasing our fat intake. Whew! I've said it. We need to eat more good fats.

I'm not the only one who is questioning the wisdom of fat free foods. Dr. Ron Rosedale, author of THE ROSEDALE DIET, is another. He is a world renown authority on leptin, the fat hormone discovered in the 1990s.

His theory, and that of others, such as Dr. Mercola, is that we don't get enough fats to satisfy our hormonal feedback loops and it causes overeating and leptin resistance. This is similar to insulin resistance from overeating refined carbohydrates and excess sugars. He also says that reducing starchy carbs is one of the best ways to lose weight and re-set cells to be less insulin and leptin resistant.

You can check out his book on Amazon.com by clicking on the cover in the carousel on the right-hand side. Scroll down to find it. I think it's worth looking into and considering.