CRANBERRY ORANGE PROTEIN SHAKE

Just in time for the season, here is a delicious recipe for a cranberry orange protein shake. It has a few more carbs in it than my other shakes, but it has almost 6 gm fiber, so it is not too bad. Plus you get all the benefits of the antioxidants and virus fighting powers of cranberries.

CRANBERRY ORANGE PROTEIN SHAKE

1/2 cup cottage cheese, 2%
1 cup water
1 cup cranberries
1 scoop vanilla whey protein
1 packet stevia
1/3 cup mandarin oranges

Blend all in the blender. Add one cup ice and blend again.

Fat 3 gm, Carbs 40gm, Protein 35 gm, Cals 333

IT'S NOT WILL POWER

So many times I see people who need to lose weight, that think they don't have the willpower to stay on a diet. These people are missing one key piece of information: it is what you are eating that is making you hungry. Willpower has nothing to do with it.

When you eat protein grams equal to carb grams, every time you eat, you are controlling insulin levels in the body. Protein is a wonderful way to curb appetite. Most people just do not realize that if they change the food composition of what they are eating, their hunger disappears.

When we eat carbs by themselves, our pancreas puts out insulin to remove the sugar from the blood. Insulin is a fat storage hormone. So, carbs put on fat. But we have to have them to run our brains and our bodies - about 60gm per day for the brain alone. Anything less and our bodies start eating their own muscle and reducing calorie burning by doing that. But the real problem is that after eating carbs by themselves, you get even hungrier, because the insulin has driven your blood sugar so low that now you are starving.

This does not happen when you eat protein grams equal to carb grams every time you eat. What we used to think of as lack of will power is actually nothing more than the biological response to eating carbs by themselves. Stop doing that! Always eat equal grams of protein with your carbs, and you will begin to understand it is not will power at all. Your hunger disappears, your tiredness disappears, and you are full on many less calories. No more eating an entire bag of Oreo's - and no more blame for not being able to control yourself.

The preferred fuel mixture for the human body is roughly equal calories of fat, protein, and carbs. This has been outlined in great detail in the Zone Diet. You would not put diesel fuel into a gasoline engine. So, don't try to run your body on pure carbs. It is killing all of us, leaves you hungry, tired, and on your way to diabetes.

WHAT IS THE WHEY PROTEIN DOING?

As you may have seen from my previous posts, I get about half my protein daily from whey protein. For me, that is about 45 gm of whey protein daily. So why the emphasis on whey protein?

Whey protein is extremely important for a diabetic because it improves insulin sensitivity. On the days that I have my protein shake in the morning, my blood sugar is under control for the rest of the day.

Whey protein also builds muscle. And it is muscle that burns calories. Since diabetes is a disease of reduced calorie burning, adding muscle as you lose weight is very important.

Whey protein is the only source of protein with no fat and very few carbs. This means you can keep your calories low enough to lose weight because you are not spending many calories on fat, but you are still getting a very high quality protein.

Whey protein is the only protein that alkalinizes the body. This contributes to less insulin resistance.

And finally, whey protein kills appetitie. It is a marvelous deal to lose weight without hunger.

So, find the DIET TO NORMALIZE BLOOD SUGAR in the left side-bar and look up your height and sex. Learn to hit your daily targets. You will be losing about two pounds per week of fat, not muscle, and you will feel full the entire time. Marvelous, marvelous. Whey protein is our friend.

HERE IS MY DAILY MEAL PLANNING

I am a woman, 5'9" tall, and I have 100 pounds lean muscle. To normalize blood sugar, I eat one gm protein and one gm carbs for each pound of lean muscle mass. So, for me, that is 100gm protein daily, and 100 carb gm daily. Of course, we keep the diet low fat, so my target for fat is 25gm fat plus 6gm omega 3's supplemented from fish oil and flax. My target numbers are thus 25gm fat, 100gm carbs, and 100gm protein. Plus omega 3 supplementation.

So, here is a brief outline of what my day looks like in terms of meal planning:

6AM protein cocoa
9AM protein shake
12AM low carb tortilla with ham, turkey, beef, chicken, or fish as a wrap, and one piece of fruit
3PM protein bar or 1/2 cup cottage cheese and another piece of fruit
6PM 3 oz lean protein, 1/2 cup beans or sweet potato (no white potatoes), side salad, deep green veggie and 1/2 cup Blue Bunny ice ream for dessert.

You can look up the fat, protein, and carb content of any food at calorieking.com - but this plan works for a female, 5'9" - see the post to the left side bar for the diet to normalize blood sugar for people of other heights and sex.

I am full all the time because I am getting more than double the protein that most people get. Also, whey protein improves insulin sensitivity, so that protein shake in the morning helps my blood sugar all day long.

This is not a hard pattern to memorize. And it has helped me lose 125 pounds and get off insulin. Try it, you' ll like it!

WELLSPHERE MEETUP 10-10-2009

The Wellsphere Meetup on Oct. 10, 2009 was a real learning experience for the participants, as well as a treat for the taste buds. In our meeting, we started by discussing the fact that most of us get blamed for obesity, but we are not trained to do anything about it, and are guilty of nothing more than eating what is put in front of us by the American food industry. I told them my history, and how I lost 125 pounds through the use of a balanced protein and carb diet. Whey protein is an integral part of that diet because it is a source of pure protein that contains no fat and no carbs.

I weighed each of the 5 participants on a body composition scale to determine their lean muscle mass amount. Then, I assigned one gram protein and one gram carbs for each pound of lean muscle, and a low fat target as well. So, for instance, for two of the female participants, their daily targets were 25gm fat, 90 gm protein, and 90 carb grams. For the male participant, who had 150 pounds of muscle mass, the diet assigned was 30gm fat, 150gm protein, and 150 gm carbs daily.

Each participant got a folder with daily log sheets with their daily targets written at the top, and a table of healthy fat ranges (by age and sex). Also included in their folder was 2 recipes for protein shakes, one recipe for Chicken Enchiladas, and a list of Grocery Store Goodun's - foods that fit into the diet. Also included was a 10% discount coupon to the local whey protein store.

We discussed the fact that the extra weight was what was making them tired, but hardly anyone there knew that what they were eating was what was making them hungry. We discussed how carbs by themselves stimulate insulin release and promote hunger. It is a real light bulb moment to understand that carbs out of proportion to protein makes you hungrier.

Then, we looked at a breakfast that one particpant had that morning. It was a bowl of Cheerios, a banana, and milk. We went to Calorieking software on the big screen tv, so everyone could see. That breakfast only had 14gm protein, and 76 carbs. That is what produces the insulin spike, and feeling hungry and tired just a few hours later.

Then, we looked at my diet, where I hit my targets of 25gm fat, 100gm protein, and 100gm carbs for the day. First breakfast was protein cocoa, second breakfast is a chocolate peanut butter protein shake, lunch is a wrap in a low carb tortilla in a piece of fruit, midafternoon snack is a protein bar or 1/2 cup cottage cheese and fruit, and dinner is carb controlled lasagna, side salad, Blue Bunny sugar free ice cream, and a piece of oatmeal toast.

Everyone was astounded that the food I eat had double the protein of the average diet. That is why I am never hungry. But they were also astounded that I only ate 1200 calories that day.

We made shakes so everyone could taste a Chocolate Peanut Butter shake and an Orange Julius Shake. Then we passed out samples of Better Balance pretzels, chips, and cereals from Kay's Naturals, which are balanced in protein and carbs. The piece de resistance, though, was the samples of protein bars that taste like Turtles.

The questions mostly centered around how to combine protein and carbs. I pointed out you can have protein without carbs, but never carbs more than protein, or carbs by themselves. What we are doing is controlling insulin levels in the body by the use of food composition. Learning to hit your targets by logging your food is the training you must go through to control your insulin levels. Most people will find that when they do this, their hunger disappears day 1 and their tiredness disappears by the end of the first week. You can expect to lose two pounds per week of fat, not muscle, when you hit your target numbers.

The feedback I got was that everyone really enjoyed the presentation and learned alot. Many thanks to Walter and Barbara Watkins, Tammy McKee, Jennifer Muschick, and Brett Piper for their attendance. Brett also helped take pics, along with hubby Paul Katona.

WEIGHT LOSS WITH IODINE

Recently, a local naturopath informed me that iodine supplementation was needed by just about everyone in the USA. Why? Because we don't eat seaweed, and most of us don't eat a lot of fish, especially if living in the Central USA.

There is a test for iodine saturation, which is one of those "pee in a jar" and spit in a cup type of tests. It cost me $25 with the naturopath. It showed I was way low on iodine.

So, what does iodine do? Iodine can literally set your metabolic rate, so it is distinctly relevant for people who need to lose weight. The naturopath set me up with 50mg daily of Iodoral, to be taken until I test again in three months.

You can find Iodoral on Ebay, and from other suppliers on the web.

The results? I lost 10 pounds in one month WITHOUT TRYING OR MODIFYING MY DIET any further. I now weigh what I did in high school.

Iodine performs other functions in the body. It is suspected there is a link between iodine and breast cancer - a lack of iodine making you more prone to breast cancer. The same can be said for prostate cancer.

So, if you are fighting weight issues, consider iodine. It is possible to overdose on iodine, so you need to find a naturopath who can test you at the beginning of supplementation, and can test again after 3 months. After your iodine levels are adequate, you will probably be placed on a maintenance dose.

FAR INFRARED SAUNA AND GLUCOSE

I had my first experience in a far infrared sauna recently. It is a sauna that is cooler than the older saunas, it only reaches 110F to 150F. The difference is that this sauna opens up the insulin receptors next to skeletal muscles. The end result: you burn as much as 350 calories in a half hour treatment.

So, just to make sure the claims were true, I logged my blood sugar before going in. I was at a post-prandial peak of 170. After thirty minutes, I rushed out and measured again. Still 170. Hah, I thought, just another false claim about lowering blood sugar and burning calories.

Yet, as I cooled off on the way home, I started getting REALLY hungry. By the time I got home, made a dive for my glucose meter, and measured my blood sugar, it was 125. That was less than 10 minutes after a reading of 170.

So, from my tests, the claims of burning calories are true for Far Infrared Saunas. You can buy a good one for about $2500. I don't know if it is practical to use it daily, but it would certainly be good for not only blood glucose, but for toxic waste removal and skin toning. I think they are the next big thing for diabetes.