Why you may want to reconsider the birth control pill

We pride ourselves on working around client's schedules, food preferences and obstacles. After all, our business cards say "nutrition troubleshooters" and our tag line is "you don't have to changes your lifestyle to fit our food plans." So, for the most part we stay mum or mum-ish when it comes to medication. We're by no means anti conventional medicine or medication where warranted. I always say if (knocking wood) I'm in a car crash, I don't want to be brought to my acupuncturist. However, there are times when we can't hold our tongues nor do we want to. We have serious concerns about the birth control pill (and all synthetic hormones frankly). And so, we discussed them in our newsletter today. I seriously hope you're signed up for our infrequent emails. If you aren't you can sign up here. But, for now, here is the link to today's "The Pill Can Make You Ill." Please give it a read and pass it along to your friends, daughters, coworkers etc.
Do you take the Pill? Is this news to you? Any questions for us?

Which Superfoods are Worth Your While?

 Nobody likes to myth bust more than I do. And so, when I recently spoke to Domino magazine about superfoods (and affordable substitutes) I was ready to offer full-on snark. However, as I reviewed each item on the list, I was reminded that many of these foods are heralded as super for a reason. Additionally, I believe foods can send subliminal messages. Perhaps, when we’re eating goji berries we feel we’re on our nutrition game. So, let’s have a look at these alleged superfoods…

 Hemp seeds hemp seeds have a combo of good, essential fats (essential means body cannot produce). One type of fat in hemp seeds are omega 3’s.  You’re probably acquainted with those good fats found in salmon and other fatty fish. But hemp also has GLA’s. GLA’s are great for healthy skin and hormone health; they are good omega 6’s. These GLA’s aren’t founding traditional foods. So, while you can get omega 3’s in fatty fish, walnuts and chia seeds,  GLA’s are usually supplemented in evening primrose or borage oil.

Worth it? Yes, particularly for women for PMS, hair or nail health.

Goji berries – even though superfoods seem trendy to us, most of them have a long history of use. Gojis have been used for thousands of years. Goji berries have beneficial effects on your blood sugar. They’re also important for eye health, as the antioxidants in goji’s can prevent macular degeneration. And any couple concerned with fertility should go goji, they benefit both sperm health and ovulation.

Worth it? Yes, for fertility, eye health and weight control.

Moringa- moringa is definitely having a moment. My issues with moringa are that a) the actual research is scant and b) that it tastes horrible. I did purchase some moringa powder to play with, will circle back. It’s rich in C, B6 and iron and has some diuretic effects.

Worth it?  I’m curious but unconvinced.

Bee pollen- I feel bee pollen should get more attention. Perhaps the reason it doesn’t is that it’s expensive to produce and not an inexpensive item to purchase. Bee pollen has natural, anti-bacterial properties. It also good for allergy sufferers. If you’re scanning this list for the superfood to help your metabolism, I’d pick pollen.

Worth it? Yup for immunity, allergies and weight loss.

*also some evidence it’s helpful for those TTC.

 Chia seeds- chia seeds have almost become commonplace, in healthy circles, with good reason. Chia seeds are LOADED with fiber and contain omega 3’s. They are natural hunger busters because of their ability to swell in liquid. I use our Cocochia (chia, coconut and probiotics) almost daily. 

Worth it? Yes, chia helps appetite, constipation and is a non-fish source of omega 3

As you can see, different superfoods make sense depending on your goals and needs. And although basics aren’t as sexy, if you aren’t regularly eating greens, drinking water and sleeping, 7 hours or more per night, start there first, before getting super.

Which superfoods to you use? Any I didn’t mention that you’re curious about?

Father’s day foods- key, healthy foods for men to eat

There is certain dietary advice that pertains to everyone. But we can be sexist when it comes to nutrition as there are foods I recommend specifically to men due to their anatomy (wink) and health risks. So tell the men in your life to eat these “dude foods”.

Watermelon

Watermelon contains lots of lycopene, which is important of prostate health. There is also an amino acid in watermelon that helps with exercise recovery and post-exercise soreness. And if that’s not enough? There’s an amino acid in watermelon that’s known as nature’s Viagra (may be a little awkward to tell your dad about that).

Clams

I feel shellfish gets ignored when it comes to nutrition. Clams have impressive potassium, which helps keep blood pressure under control. They’re also rich in B vitamins to control cholesterol.

Try using bone broth (we love the Nona Lim Thai curry and lime broth) for clam cooking.

And fried clams don’t count.

Spinach

If forced to pick, I’d choose spinach over kale. Spinach is a great source of magnesium and over three quarters of men are magnesium deficient. Studies show when mag (we have nicknames for our minerals) is low, levels of C-reactive protein are higher. C-reactive protein is a marker for heart disease and inflammation. Maybe get dad drinking green juice?

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of zinc. Zinc is important for testosterone production, sperm health and immunity. Our bodies don’t store zinc so it’s important to get enough via diet.

Saw Palmetto

I think men over 50 (or all men depending on their family history) should take this supplement for prostate health and there’s some encouraging info about saw palmetto and male pattern baldness. Some studies show it leads to hair regrowth.

And if you’re in need of a Father’s Day gift? A little flavor and metabolism booster for dad? Or, you can always give the gift of Foodtraining...send your father, husband, grandpa our way.

Happy Father’s day (and summer solstice) too all.

Food Matters Breakfast Inspiration and Healthy Donuts

This summer I met with Tricia Williams the founder of Food Matters. We share a handful of clients and a similar sensibility when it comes to nutrition. Tricia came to the Foodtrainers’ office and covered my desk with the most amazing array of dishes for us to sample (my job is rough sometimes). She had already thought of each question I lobbed her way. More importantly, with Tricia’s cooking background she has incredibly creative ways of preparing food that’s so far from “diet food” she could convert anyone, yes anyone.

First, can you tell readers a little bit about Food Matters? Who seeks out your services? Is it on ongoing basis or pre or post events? Food Matters is a highly customized meal delivery service. First, I take a look at clients’ health history and health goals along with their food preferences and then design a menu specifically for them. We deliver to a lot of celebrities when they are getting ready for roles but also cater to individuals with very specific health conditions. We see clients with cancer, thyroid concerns, fertility issues, sleep problems etc. In this case we use the kitchen as pharmacy.

We have investigated many meal services but you seem to have dotted all your healthy i’s. I love that everything is gluten free but it’s also well sourced, can you elaborate? Everything we use is organic and local as much as possible. We don't use gluten, dairy, refined sugar or grain of any kind. All the seafood we use is wild and the animal proteins are pasture raised. All the food comes package in tiffins and pyrex so there is no heavy metal or plastic contamination of the food, and no garbage!We cook in alkaline water and even bottle it for clients.  We also focus on the glycemic index of all our meals and snacks. We try to keep our clients blood sugar balanced all day.

Wow that's impressive and something I aspire to with my own cooking (although I'm not there yet with alkaline water). I loved everything I've tasted from FM but was blown away by your take on breakfast. It tends to be a grain fest for many people, what are some of your ideas for mixing it up?

Ditch the grain flours. Explore some paleo based breakfast recipes. I love almond flour and chia seeds. They make great pancake ingredients. As far as gadgets. I love my vitablender and also my donut maker from Target.

Your food is so beautifully presented, even berries in the little bento box look so appealing. I think we blow off presentation when it’s for ourselves- what should we think about? People eat with their eyes first.  At FM we want people to fall in love with healthy eating . Try to use as much color as possible, this will encourage a variety of veggies on your plate.

Any breakfast foods you feel everyone should swear off?

Processed packaged cereals,  I love telling kids that there’s no fruit in Froot Loops!

I'm with you on cold cereal, they are a "break up food" in my book (LBT). What do you have for breakfast? During the week I’ll make a smoothies with seasonal fruit, almond milk, chia and brown rice protein.  On the weekends I cook a lot with my family. This weekend we made peach and almond meal pancakes with blueberries. Sometimes I prefer savory porridges like oatmeal with spinach, onion and shiitakes!

Savory oatmeal, love it. And finally, I’ve been dreaming of serving your donuts to ski guests in Vermont (and pretty much everyone I know), can you spill the breakfast beans?

Combine all ingredients (specific recipe coming later today) in donut maker.

How can our readers reach you?

Via email, the website or twitter
Readers, what do you have for breakfast? Have you experimented with almond or quinoa flour? Do you like the idea of a healthy donut? Have you ever done a meal delivery service?

Boston (but no marathon)

Thank you for those who tweeted "are you running?" Um no.

I’m in Boston for Dr Weil’s Nutrition and Health Conference. This is a conference I look forward to and have attended twice before in New York and also San Diego. Presenters, at any event,  are always a mixed bag and sometimes the sessions you expect to be best are not the highlights. Dr Robert Lustig opened the morning yesterday. His name may sound familiar as he figured prominently in 60 Minutes sugar segment; he’s also the endocrinologist quoted in the NYT early puberty article. Dr Lustig presented on fructose. I was really excited but not for the biochemistry lesson he started in with. There were two fun facts, after 45 minutes, first that 80% (wow) of supermarket items have some sugar. And second, Lustig’s “4 foods of the apocalypse”

Trans fats

Corn Fed Beef

Ethanol (alcohol)

Fructose

No surprises on the list but imagine if America worked on decreasing all of these…

The highlight of the day was a seminar on food and fertility by Dr Victoria Maizes who works with Dr Weil at the University of Arizona and I’ve seen present on diet and cancer before.  She is a fantastic speaker and offers suggestions versus mandates.  It startling when you look at the fertility data. Many women postpone having children to focus on work while fertility starts to decline in our 30s. As far as diet, it matters more vis-à-vis fertility as we get older, if that makes sense. So what’s been associated with decreased fertility?

1. Cereal- many foods were tested and cold cereal, likely because of glycemic index, decreased fertility more than most others
2. Nonfat milk- you know, if you read regularly, I’m not a skim fat but while nonfat milk decreases fertility whole dairy improves it.
3. Trans fats – a 2% increase in trans fats was associated with a 73% increase in infertility, think packaged products and read labels for hydrogenation. Trans fats were on Lustig’s list above and they really are about as bad for us as we thought, it not worse
4. Soda but not necessarily all caffeine

What foods improve fertility?

1. Whole Dairy
2. Fish/omega 3's- many women cut out fish due to mercury phobia and this is a mistake. Omega 3’s decrease miscarriage risk, postpartum depression and certain pediatric cancers.
3. Prenatal vitamins- I am not such a multivitamin all in one fan but feel strongly, after this presentation, that both men and women trying to conceive should be taking one (though not the same one).

What happens in utero and what women do before they conceive really, as Dr Maizes said “wires you for the rest of your life”. So I can focus on my mother and how screwed I am or I can try to pass this information on.  And finally, infertility isn’t always discussed and has to be one of the hardest things to go through. I have a sister to struggled with IVF and I tried for a long time with my older son. Dr Maizes reminded us of the compassion needed. I also think “tools” are helpful so please, if appropriate, pass this information along. And congratulations to all the Boston runners, well done.

 I have to get over to the Westin for today’s sessions. I’ll tweet @Foodtrainers about  them if you want to hear more.

Are you eating much of the apocalyptic foods? Or are you limiting fish due to mercury concerns? What do you think makes a good speaker or presentation?

Coffee Talk: Is it good or bad and should you give it up?

I am biased. When I read a study with conclusions in favor of something I like, I am sucked in. Headlines such as “good news for social drinkers”, “how cheese may save your life“ or “the benefits of being glued to your laptop” would get me to read and possibly hunt down and hug the author.  I know to then look at the sample size or research methods and while I don’t necessarily change my behaviors or recommendations, with the study du jour, I can certainly feel vindicated. So a couple of weeks, when I saw “Coffee may help lower depression risk” in the Wall Street Journal, though I’ve never been truly depressed, it felt like “score one for team coffee.”

Coffee can be confusing. It seems to be popular to part with coffee though most people, when pressed, wouldn’t have a good reason for that. In a recent post, one reader asked this question with their comment “It seems that for every article out there that says to go without coffee, there is another article praising the advantages of some caffeine. I don't go overboard, but I really do enjoy a small or medium cup of coffee every single morning. That is where it ends... please tell me what I would gain from giving this up (believe me, it is a point of contention in my household at the moment) Thanks!” Because I’m not convinced we must give it up, I’ll instead present the case for coffee and you decide where you stand.

 I started this with saying I’m biased on this subject and will start with coffee’s “perks”.  When someone criticizes your coffee tell him or her it:

• Is rich in antioxidants (with the “a” word possibly the most overused in nutrition land). Antioxidants prevent oxidation and oxidation leads to aging. This is the proposed mechanism for coffee decreasing a cognitive decline later in life.
• Reduces risk of Parkinson’s disease
• Reduces risk of diabetes
• Reduces the risk of cirrhosis of the liver (which to me means it sort of counteracts your PM glass of wine)
• Reduces the risk of gallstones (which are on the rise in the US) and kidney stones (do you know how painful kidney stones are?)
• Reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s
• Reduces the risk of asthma, caffeine in coffee is related to theophylline, an old asthma medication. Caffeine can open airways and improve asthma symptom.
• Makes you more alert and think better

And let’s be honest, coffee helps you “go”.

Coffee is also a nice little helper when it comes to endurance sports. Coffee can increase the time to exhaustion. Caffeine may alter the perception of how hard you are working. During testing, athletes were asked to judge their effort, which is referred to as the rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Some studies have yielded significantly lower RPE's when the athlete used caffeine. A little trick our runners and tri clients use is to decrease coffee the week prior to a race thereby increasing coffee’s effects on race day. A little caution to non-coffee people, coffee will not help you if you spend half the race in the porta potty. If you are unsure if you tolerate coffee, test it out on a day you have time to spare.

I do suggest being a coffee snob. Coffee is one of the heaviest chemically treated food commodities in the world. The most common chemical used in coffee production is synthetic petroleum based fertilizers that slowly destroy the soil's fertility and seep into local water supplies. It’s important to go organic which will ensure that you’re not drinking fertilizers or pesticides every morning. Other things to look for are shade-grown and fair-trade which guarantees safe growing practices and protection for the farmers using these superior methods. In NYC, I like Le Pain Quotidien’s coffee.

Though I could be the president of the coffee fan club, I’m not an advocate of unchecked caffeination. Two cups is the maximum coffee I’d suggest per day and for the record, like the commenter above, I’m generally a one-cup a day girl. Most afternoons are green tea with the occasional thoroughly enjoyed espresso.  I would cut your coffee consumption if you have palpitations or irregular heartbeats, severe PMS, insomnia, panic attacks or bladder problems. Speaking of sleep, a caffeine cut off is a good idea and I’d suggest 8 hours before bed or 3pm if you go to sleep at 11pm. It can take up to seven hours to metabolize caffeine.  The older we are, the longer it takes.  And if you are on birth control pills or estrogen, the half-life of caffeine may be doubled.  For the life of me, I’ve never been able to understand how some people can have coffee and fall right to sleep.

If there’s one group I worry about coffee with it’s women trying to conceive. There may be as much as a 30 percent increase in early miscarriage of normal pregnancies for women who drink one to two cups of coffee a day.  One study has shown this goes up to 40 percent with four cups.  There’s also concern about caffeine consumption while trying to conceive.  Some studies have shown infertility rates double for women who drink more than two and a half cups of coffee a day. Another “con” for coffee is that it is acidic and therefore not suggested for those with reflux either.

No coffee talk would be complete without mentioning what goes into coffee. While the coffee itself isn’t a problem, adding artificial sweeteners (the pink, blue or yellow) or too much sugar or agave is. I would also suggest organic milk of your choice (dairy, almond or coconut) and not a reduced-fat version. If it’s coffee with skim and Splenda or no coffee, I’m would advise no coffee. I have to run now, I smell that delicious aroma and hear the Capresso snorting (which means it’s done). Are you a coffee drinker? Are you concerned with seeking out organic coffee? Have you considered giving coffee up?

took this photo in the French Quarter, couldn't resist

Rethinking Skim Milk

I went to college when “fat free” was all the rage.  Snackwells, skim milk and fro-yo were in. Avocado was out. As absurd as it sounds to recount this now, it’s even funnier to think that I was in New Orleans, land of beignets and muffaletas. Little did I know that my eating regime was as off-kilter as the city’s cuisine.  Aside from improved nutrition knowledge and time to “mature” what strikes me about this type of eating is how poorly it must’ve tasted. How many cups of greyish coffee did it take to prove this point?  A few too many.  I write this to show you how easy it is to get swept up in an eating trend or prevailing nutrition advice.

You will not find skim milk in my refrigerator today and I’m proud to say my day starts with coffee and a splash (or 2 splashes) of  delicious half and half. (currently Sky Top farms grass-fed, non-homogenized, adore it). I also didn’t switch my kids to  1%  at 2 years old as the current advice from the AAP suggests. After my brief “blue period” I went back to how I was raised. A little bit of the real thing is best.

I’ve posted before about organic milk and ultra pasteurization but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago  that I realized the potential problems with skim milk. My interest was first piqued reading Walter Willet’s Fertility Foods. We have many clients trying to conceive and the research about skim dairy and infertility floored me. Low-fat dairy contributed to infertility (when issues are based on anovulatory failure) and full-fat dairy increased fertility.  What really turned me off was the proposed reasoning. When the fat is removed from milk, the portion that’s not fat contains more androgens and other hormones that may not be conducive to fertility.  The androgen argument may explain why another Harvard study found that teenage boys drinking skim milk had a higher incidence of acne.  Again, what’s in the fat or skimmed out seemed to help.

Last week, I read an article posted by my colleague Julie Negrin entitled “Is Skim Milk Making You Fat”. The article challenges the traditional “low fat dairy for health and wellness” dogma.   They write:

It’s becoming widely accepted that fats actually curb your appetite, by triggering the release of the hormone cholecystokinin, which causes fullness. Fats also slow the release of sugar into your bloodstream, reducing the amount that can be stored as fat.

I find this so interesting as we have a country that's watching dietary fat and getting fatter.  It always seems to me that children have the best innate sense of calorie regulation. An Australian study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that children’s calorie intake did not change when they were switched to low-fat milk. Children replaced the calories with other energy sources and did not lose weight.  Another large study tracked the habits of 19,252 Swedish women for 9 years. Women increasing their whole milk consumption the most lost 9% of their body weight, on average. Women who increased their low-fat dairy the most gained 10%.

Anecdotally, I am also concerned about skim milk and bone health. Fat in milk can help us assimilate vitamin D. I have not found a tremendous about of research on this but have seen many 30-something clients who grew up on low-fat milk now with osteopenia and fractures. I’d be curious to see if the very thing we think is helping us may not be.  This whole debate reminds me of the whole butter versus margarine debate. On that subject, the great Joan Gussow said “I trust cows more than chemists.” The more I read about the processing involved in making skim milk palatable, I think this applies here too.  If you eat dairy, I would suggest a little bit of the real thing.

Do you purchase milk? What type do you buy? Are you skeptical of skim milk?