89 Genius Solutions To Simple Problems

How Sugar Affects the Brain

as a former sugar addict, I can attest that this is true!

How Sweet it is....and how Terrible

Let me guess. You're going to lose weight. Let me guess again. You won't succeed for long. The standard approach, the one that almost always fails, is to treat weight as an exercise in accounting.

I call it the ''federal budget'' approach. If only the Treasurer spent a little less money each month or took in a little more tax, the deficit would shrink. If only you or I took in a little less food each month or did a bit more exercise, our tummies would shrink.

It ought to be true because it's a truism: energy in equals energy out plus weight gained. But the equation tells us nothing about the mechanism. Cutting your energy going in (by eating less) might just as easily cut your energy going out (by making you lethargic) as it would cut your weight. And even if it did cut your weight, a few weeks later you might find yourself getting ravenously hungry and getting your weight back. It's what usually happens. It is why we keep making the same resolution each December 31.

What if there is something else - something not in the equation - which is driving all three parts of it, just as the broader economy drives the budget? It's not exactly a far-fetched idea. We used to think that stomach ulcers were caused by stress, until in 2005 two Australian researchers were awarded a Nobel prize for discovering the real cause - a bacterial infection.

We know that hormones trigger growth in children. During growth spurts they eat more and exercise less, but only in the trivial sense is it true that eating causes their growth. It would be just as true to say that growth causes their eating, more true to say that both are caused by something else.

Hormones drive the development of breast and buttock fat in women at puberty. They drive hunger during pregnancy.

Is it really so unlikely that they could also drive how much we eat, how much we exercise, and how much we store as fat?

We don't need to look far to find the hormones involved. Insulin, and its partner leptin, drive the packing and unpacking of fat cells and the signals that tell our brain it has had enough and is no longer hungry. Each responds to sugar.

And please don't tell me sugar is ''a natural part of life'', as the ads used to say. In his massively viewed YouTube lecture Sugar: The Bitter Truth, childhood obesity expert Robert Lustig makes the point that until relatively recently pure sugar was inaccessible, protected by either fibre (sugar cane is extraordinarily tough) or bees.

Ordinary sugar is half glucose and half fructose. There are about 16 teaspoons in a 600 millilitre drink. The glucose triggers a surge of insulin that packs fatty acids into fat cells and temporarily prevents them getting out. It also directs glucose to muscles where it is stored as glycogen. The fructose helps build insulin resistance and also resistance to leptin, the chemical messenger that turns off the feeling of hunger. The greater our exposure to fructose, the longer we feel hungry and the more insulin we produce, directing fat to our fat cells (fructose itself is turned into fat).

Lustig says Americans are producing twice the insulin they were 25 years ago.

None of this would matter much if it was merely making us big, but it is also driving high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. It's helping kill us.

In September the international investment bank Credit Suisse wrote to clients comparing sugar to tobacco. ''There is not a single study showing that added sugar is good for you,'' it said.

Credit Suisse says what worked for tobacco will work for sugar. Extra taxes on full-calorie soft drinks should quickly cut consumption; all the more so because unlike cigarette manufacturers, soft drink makers already provide healthier alternatives.

We are likely to be told repeatedly that the science isn't settled, that we need more research. And we are likely to keep remaking the same new year's resolution.

~Thanks to Peter Martin

Best Food to Eat if You Live in the City, Drink Coffee and Booze on the Weekends

Why do YOU Need Greens? 
Boring, cliché, uninspiring reason…

Because they are good for you! (Sure, they are packed with vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and fiber, but only nutritionists like me get excited and motivated by this.)

More applicable, meaningful reasons…

1. TO CREATE MORE ENERGY: Even though greens are very low in calorie, they help you create energy naturally. First, they are packed with chlorophyll, the component that makes them green! Chlorophyll can better purify your blood, and improve your nutrient transport and muscle efficiency. Second, the alkaline minerals in the greens improve circulation to deliver the goods to your brain and muscles, and they're great for warding off acidity which impacts your joints as time moves along. You’ll notice you won’t need to hit the snooze button or have as much coffee to get through your day with the help of greens. Finally, the magnesium in greens is responsible for more than 400 energy pathways in your body, and an estimated 95% of us are deficient in this power mineral. (Fun fact: Magnesium can also calm you down at night if taken before sleep, on an empty stomach.)

2. TO REDUCE YOUR TOXINS: The chlorophyll is a blood cleanser. These greens will protect you from heavy metal toxicity, like mercury found in sushi or from environmental toxins in urban areas 

3. TO HELP YOUR HANGOVER: Speaking of toxins, greens help your liver, nourishing it with magnesium and oxygen, cleaning up the damage from a booze indulgence or processed foods splurge.

4. TO AGE WITHOUT FEELING LIKE YOU’RE AGING: Methylation. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you will. An estimated 20% of us have a genetic predisposition to being poor methylators. Folate is a superstar methylator, and when you think of folate, think “foliage”…It’s in the greens! With the thousands of methyl-dependent reactions going on everyday, you can support them by eating your methylators. Adequate methylation has been linked to the prevention of diabetes, heart disease, and cancers.

5. TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR FOOD: Raw or lightly sautéed greens contain enzymes that help your digestion so that you can get the most out of your superfoods. These enzymes help breakdown the food into their absorbable parts. Plus, the alkaline environment that the greens provide is what is most beneficial when consuming pastured meat and poultry. So, consuming greens with protein will help you better digest your protein.

It’s Easy Being Green!

• Add chopped, sautéed greens into your ground beef or turkey when making burgers
• Add kale or spinach to your egg scramble or omelet
• Add a green smoothie (recipe below!)
• Add a side salad to your meals, especially when enjoying meat (ensuring it doesn't linger in the body)
• Add chopped kale to your chilies, soups and stews
• Add cilantro or parsley into your rice
• Add chives on your sweet potato
• Add fresh herbs on your chicken and beef
• Add turnip or collard greens into soups

Drink Your Greens! THE best way to start the day! Try it and you'll feel what I mean.

• 2 cups fresh spinach, kale or collards (or a little more)
• 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (or a little less)
• ½ lemon, squeezed (Vitamin C in lemon will increase absorption of iron in greens)
• 2 tsp. raw, unfiltered honey
• 8-10 oz. water, depending on consistency preferences

Blend all ingredients in a blender (Nutribullet and Vitamix are great choices!)

This smoothie ROCKS. Kids love it. Adults love it. You can’t tell the difference between 1 cup and 3 cups of spinach, so its easy to add more as you get used to making them. Herbs like cilantro and parsley can be added without much change in flavor, but an increase in superfood-ness! This is a great breakfast, snack or add-on to a meal at any time of the day.

Love your greens, and your greens will love you back.

~Thanks to Jenny Westerkamp, RD