Income Spent on Food

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The Importance of a Good Diet

You can drive a car fast or slow and eventually it will need a tune-up.

But fill the tank with junk, sawdust, and dirt and you won't make it out of the parking lot.

Exercise is VERY important to a healthy life, but the food we ingest makes an immense and immediate change to how our bodies function.

Avocado, The Good Fat

An avocado (or two) a day keeps the doctor away!

Fat is the most satisfying thing you can eat so when you are trying to cut carbs and lose weight you need to make sure to increase healthy fats like avocados.

Moderate to high fat diets have consistently shown to be the most beneficial when it comes to weight loss. Many experts suggest getting anywhere from 40-50% or more of your daily calories from healthy fats. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day this would equate to 88-111 grams of fat per day. Most people are nowhere near this and if they are it's not healthy fat.

One avocado has around 21 grams of beautiful, healthy, oh-so-tasty fat.

Good Sources of Fiber

Do you know how much fiber you're ingesting each day?

For many of us, it's "not enough."

Research has shown it's massively important for good health and most people need between 40-50 grams of fiber per day.

"Out of all the variables that we looked at, fiber intake -- which is a type of carbohydrate that the body can't digest -- had the strongest influence," a study in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences said. "Essentially, we found that those who had the highest intake of fiber or total fiber actually had an almost 80 percent greater likelihood of living a long and healthy life over a 10-year follow-up. That is, they were less likely to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dementia, depression, and functional disability."

Avocados, broccoli, berries, nuts and flax are all great sources of fiber!

Recipe: Peppermint Mocha Protein Shake

Unhealthy drinks can really add up, especially if you're someone who likes your coffee any way but black. 

Skip the coffee drive thru, save money and get a healthy breakfast by making this peppermint mocha protein shake at home. 

Recipe:
1/3 cup full fat, canned coconut milk
1/3 cup ice
1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
1/2 tsp peppermint extract (or less, try a drop or two and add more if necessary)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 packet of instant coffee grounds (organic is best)

Blend and enjoy!

Most Breakfasts Today Should Be Called Dessert

“One of the biggest mistakes I see is eating dessert for breakfast. They might not even know it, but a bowl of Frosted Flakes has about 15 grams of sugar.

We shouldn’t be having sugar for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Sugar in all its forms is the root cause of our obesity epidemic and most of the chronic disease sucking the life out of our citizens and our economy — and, increasingly, the rest of the world. You name it, it’s caused by sugar: heart disease, cancer, dementia, type 2 diabetes, depression and even acne, infertility and impotence.

There are so many different kinds of sugars – honey, maple syrup, agave, cane sugar, etc. And while there are some small differences among these sugars, for the most part, sugar is sugar is sugar. It can all wreak havoc on your health.

Now, as far as this question is concerned, it’s important to take a look at the whole diet instead of just focusing on one ingredient in your coffee.

Are you consuming sugar throughout the day? What about hidden forms of sugar?

The truth is: food manufacturers put sugar into everything from ketchup to bread and all food products in between.

If you’re eating a whole-food, low-sugar diet, a little bit of honey in your morning coffee or tea might not be a problem, but if your diet has a little more sugar than you’d like, it might be time to detox completely from sugar.”

Weight Loss Starts With Nutrition

You can't outrun a donut.

Slaving away for hours on a treadmill or bike trying to lose weight? While exercise WILL make you healthier, it isn't the key to losing weight.

The problem is that the more calories you burn during exercise the more calories you are going to crave afterwards. If you aren't eating healthy foods, you are going to magnify the problem with just eating more unhealthy foods.

Over and over we see people lose weight the easiest by putting their focus 100% on nutrition and not exercise, in fact many people who see the best weight loss results are only doing low intensity walking or bike riding on a regular basis.

How it needs to be done:
Learn how to eat healthy first and THEN implement an exercise routine! Or if you're currently exercising, get a nutrition plan and STICK TO IT. Your body will thank you.

Social Media and Food

This picture won't do well on social media.

It won't go viral, be swooned over by foodies, and no one will pin the recipe to a board so they can impress their guests next time they have company.

It's a reasonable portion, easy to make, and healthy - but it just doesn't have that social media zing. But it's important to realize that the "social media zing" can influence our relationship with food, and can determine everything from what to how much we put on our plates - for better or for worse.

What makes a great picture may not make a great meal...or it might. Education and having a nutrition plan in place can act as a healthy filter, helping us choose good food and discard unhealthy food, as we scroll through Pinterest or Instagram.

For more on social media and food, check out this article: https://medium.com/s/thenewnew

Say No to Fake Food

I can't believe it's not Butter..... If it's NOT butter then what is it?

It's chemically made by mixing unhealthy corn, soy or cottonseed oils with nickel oxide.

Then it's heated to very high temperatures, mixed with emulsifiers and starch, steam cleaned to remove the odor, bleached to remove the color and then dyed the color of butter.

Finally it's injected with flavor to taste like butter!

The takeaway? Eat real food.

Kerrygold Grass fed butter is a much better option.

#justsaynotofakefood

The Meat Sweats

Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you ever get hot after eating Thanksgiving dinner?

Did you know that protein, fats and carbohydrates have different thermic effects on our bodies, meaning they can heat our bodies up differently. This means that it takes more calories to processes certain types of foods which creates more heat inside your body. A calorie simply means a unit of energy aka heat.

Protein has the largest thermic effect, which explains the "meat sweats" many people have after eating a ton of protein on Thanksgiving. Upwards of 35% of the calories in protein are directly used to break it down and process it metabolically. So if you eat 100 calories from protein your body is actually only getting 65 of those calories because the other 35 are burned during processing, which makes you hot.

The thermic effect also explains why calories from protein are not equal to calories from carbohydrates or fat. Calorie counters don't take this into effect either.

Many people who are always cold should consider eating more protein especially in the winter because it will potentially help increase their body temperature!

McDonald's Removes Artificial Ingredients From Burgers

Every time you purchase something you are voting for that product. Companies watch these trends and make decisions based on what the consumer wants.

McDonald's knows that people want healthier food and this is a step in the right direction, a small step but it's still a step.

If everyone protested and said they would only eat pasture raised grass fed meat then McDonald's would carry exactly that.

Source: https://www.wsj.com

Exercising Without Exercising

Would you like an hour of daily exercise without actually exercising?

The way you eat could be equivalent to an hours worth of moderate intensity exercise every day.

This study showed that when total calories were kept the same a low carbohydrate diet (10%) with moderate to high fat (60%) burns 300 more calories per day than a high carbohydrate (60%) low fat (20%) diet.

This difference in diet alone is equal to 1 hour of moderate intensity exercise per day.

Doing this type of diet in conjunction with exercise is going to magnify your results. However you always want to make sure to have control of your diet before incorporating exercise.

Link: https://jamanetwork.com

The Better Butter

I can't believe it's not Butter..... If it's NOT butter then what is it?

It's chemically made by mixing unhealthy corn, soy or cottonseed oils with nickel oxide. Heated to very high temperatures further ruining the oils, mixed with emulsifiers and starch, steam cleaned to remove the odor, bleached to remove the color and then dyed the color of butter. Finally it's injected with flavor to taste like butter!

Eat real foods, not foods that are chemically made to look, taste andsmell like other foods!

Kerrygold Grass fed butter is a much better option.

Protein Intake During Ketosis

Does protein turn into carbs during ketosis making it impossible to actually get into ketosis? I have seen a lot of articles saying this is the case floating around the internet lately.

Claim: Eating too much protein while doing a ketogenic diet is going to cause the protein to turn into carbohydrates via gluconeogenesis ruining the ketotic state. You should be eating 70% fat or higher 20% protein and typically 10% carbs or less.

Answer: False

Eating protein is not going to have a major impact on insulin or glucose levels while in ketosis. Research has shown that 8% or less of AA’s from protein would be converted into glucose under gluconeogenesis, and insulin would have minimal to no impact.

“Endogenous glucose production (EGP) did not increase after the meal but remained stable for 6 h and then fell. Of the 50 g glucose produced over the 8-h period, 4 g originated from dietary AAs, indicating that under our experimental conditions, dietary protein-derived AAs contributed to only 8% of EGP.”

Research: http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org

Fast Food Is Not Cheap

Fast food isn't actually cheap, the costs are front loaded and paid for by our taxes.

As taxpayers we pay 20 billion dollars per year for farm subsidies in the US.

This money is primarily (70%) going towards production of corn, wheat and soybeans that end up coming back into our food products especially as fast food and junk food. Not only are these things inflammatory and unhealthy for us they are creating a massive price distortion in the market.

When a salad is 10 dollars and a fast food meal is only a few dollars people are going to go towards cheaper food which is only going to continue to throw gas on a massive fire we have burning in the United States.

This article is a great read, take a few minutes to read it.

Full Article: https://www.aier.org/article

Top 10 Sources of Calories in the U.S. Diet

After looking at this list it's no wonder we have an obesity problem in the United States. There are only two (maybe 3) things on this list that are potentially healthy. So 80% of our diets are coming from processed junk food. 

1. Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars)
2. Yeast breads
3. Chicken and chicken-mixed dishes
4. Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks
5. Pizza
6. Alcoholic beverages
7. Pasta and pasta dishes
8. Mexican mixed dishes
9. Beef and beef-mixed dishes
10.Dairy desserts

If you don't want to look like the rest of America, stop eating like the rest of America. Reduce processed carbs, increase protein and healthy fat.

Source: www.health.harvard.edu

Reduced Risk of Disease from Consumption of Vitamin K

Researchers found an increased Vitamin K consumed resulted in a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer after following 7,216 people over the age of 55 for five years. 

Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, spinach, cabbage and brussel sprouts. 

Vitamin K is also required for proper absorption of calcium into your bones along with Vitamin D-3.

Eat Local: The Maple Grille

The Maple Grille in Hemlock, Michigan

The Maple Grille is open for the summer! After a big renovation this summer to offer indoor seating, we are excited to get back to our favorite restaurant.

Chef Josh Schaeding and his family operate the restaurant on six acres of land where they grow the majority of the produce they use. 

Check out The Maple Grille's Facebook page for the daily menu as it changes depending on what fresh foods they have. 

Located on Gratiot Road (46) just west of Saginaw, they are open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 8 pm.


Learn more the benefits of eating local.  

The Maple Grille

13105 Gratiot Road

Hemlock, MI 48626

989-233-2895

Recipe: Mango Spinach Protein Shake

As seen on NBC 25
March 12, 2013



Enjoy Dr. Dan's Shamrock Shake, a healthy mango spinach smoothie!

Recipe:

• 1 cup spinach
• 1/3 cup frozen mango
• 1/4 cup frozen peaches
• 1/2 banana
• 1 scoop unflavored whey protein powder
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or 1/4 cup canned coconut milk and 1/4 cup water)

Blend and enjoy!

This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free. 

See other shake recipes:
Vanilla Coffee Protein Shake
Peppermint Mocha Protein Shake
Cherry Chocolate Protein Shake 
Chocolate Banana Protein Shake
Dr. Dan's Veggie Shake
Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake
Berry Protein Veggie Shake

Recipe: Crockpot Lemon Parsley Fish [paleo recipe]

As seen on NBC 25 News

Crockpot recipes are easy to make, leaving no excuse not to eat healthy! Enjoy this crockpot fish recipe:

• 1 1/2 lbs fish fillet (I used cod)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 4 tsp olive oil
• Grated rind of 1 lemon
• Grated rind of 1 orange
• Dash of salt and pepper

Put fish in a buttered crockpot, place ingredients on top. Cook on low for 1 1/2 hours. 

Click here for healthy crockpot chicken recipes.