"Humans live on one-quarter of what they eat; on the other three-quarters lives their doctor."
Egyptian pyramid inscription, 3800 B.C.

In this section you'll find enough information about the impact food has on your health.
The foods we eat we regard as neutral, and to some extend they feel that way. The body knows what to do with those foods, how to digest and where to store reserves. It also takes care of the waste for us.
All this is true. It is also true that body has limits, and unless we recognize these limits we will stretch the capabilities of the body, and the body will react, in some cases violently.

Food impacts breathing

Even though it is not very obvious, food had a very big yet subtle impact on our breathing. Eating seem to be benign, and what we ear or how much we eat doesn't seem to matter too much.
This is the only power asthma has over us: it keeps the subtle changes food has on breathing out or your awareness.
The food industry has no interest in you learning the long term effect of eating refined foods, or excess proteins. It would defeat the purpose of the foods industry's existence to teach you these things.
Do not look for answers to this dilemma on TV commercials, or pharmacy shelves: it is not there!
Rather learn how every food category changes the blood PH and why. Learn how the PH of the blood must be kept in check by your breathing.
I invite you to sign up for my newsletter, and download the FREE MANUAL BY CLICKING HERE. In the manual you will learn that eating any refined food has two sides: the side we see is taste, and God knows, these foods are sooooooooooo tasty. The dark side of it is that refined foods require your stomach’s contribution to digest it, on the expense of acid production, which is produced by extracting hydrogen ions (H+) from the blood stream.
Initially this reduces breathing cycle, because the blood becomes alkaline through loss of H+. However, after the food passes into the intestine for absorption, these H+ will pass back into the blood, and it will increase the breathing cycle, often for hours, therefore inducing artificial hyperventilation.
In the short run, hyperventilating has reversible effects. However if extended over a longer period of time, through frequently eating protein rich foods, refined foods, refined carbohydrate foods, and combining this with excessive eating, it is a recipe for long term disaster.

Food can make one sick, and if persistence of too much food combined with wrong food categories for the body is sustained long, the end result will be that the body will revolt. Before it will revolt however, it will try to fight, by first storing surplus and toxins into fat and in the liver cells. It can store in many other ways, one of them is in high cholesterol. In the end, it will give you some warning signs, which we most of the time will interpret as causes of something mysterious, and not the consequences of our overlooking of the obvious.

Mono dietor mixed diet?

The most obscure block to realizing that food, and especially some food categories are a direct cause of our trouble is the fact that when we mix "good" food with "bad" food we make all foods BAD. It is extremely hard to see that too much protein, COMBINED with starches or sugars make perfect mucus, which body will try to eliminate partially through digestive system and partly through the lungs and throat.
Observe that after a "meat and potatoes" meal we will produce mucus in our throat, and we will eliminate it through our esophagus. Try to observe this without delay, and then see if an asthma attack will be not too far.
The only way to see what food is to be avoided please eat your food as separate as possible. For instance, have fries separately from meat. Allow 10-15 minutes between them. Then other times, try to combine them and draw your own conclusions.
Avoid desert after a protein rich meal. To see the difference, do experiments: skip desert a few times after a protein rich meal, and then indulge in desert. Note the difference. Record your data either mentally or in a notebook.

The Truth About Cholesterol
A look at cholesterol and your health: Myths, Facts, and Controversies.
By Ed Bauman, Ph.D. and Marsha McLaughlin, N.C.

"Cholesterol is evil," one of our misinformed clients recently reported. It's obvious the general public does not have a clear understanding of what cholesterol is and how it works in the body. Best-selling diet gurus, from Atkins to Weil, McDougall to Ornish have widely differing opinions of cholesterol. Commercial food manufacturers with cholesterol-free products to sell have frightened the public about the primary association of cardiovascular disease and the consumption of cholesterol-rich foods. Before condemning cholesterol completely, let's dispel some myths.

Where Does Cholesterol Come From?
Did you know that most blood cholesterol is made in your body? It is made in the liver from saturated fats. Only 3% of the cholesterol in your blood comes directly from the cholesterol in the foods you eat. The majority is manufactured in your liver from foods rich in saturated fats, such as butter, hard cheese and fatty meats like pork, lamb and beef--or from transaturated and oxidized fats such as margarine and cooked vegetable oils.

The Body Needs Cholesterol
Cells throughout the body use cholesterol to make a number of hormones necessary for growth and reproduction. Cholesterol is a precursor molecule for estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. The adrenal hormones that combat stress and relieve inflammation are cholesterol dependent. When there is damage to the walls of the arteries or veins, the liver sends cholesterol through the blood to protect the tissue from hemorrhaging. Cholesterol is a component of all cell walls. They are vital to proper brain and nerve function. Low levels of cholesterol have been associated with depression, anxiety and mood disorder. Cholesterol is also an essential ingredient of bile salts produced in the liver, used to emulsify fats and excrete fat-soluble toxins.

What Causes High Cholesterol Levels?
Genetic characteristics, fitness levels, stress, age and the ingestion of alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, refined carbohydrates, food additives and exposure to environmental chemicals affect both the quantity and quality of cholesterol in the body. A total level of blood cholesterol between 145 and 220 can be healthful for an adult--with a ratio of 3.5 to 1 of LDL, low-density cholesterol to HDL, high-density cholesterol (the good kind).

Good Fats and Bad Fats
Udo Erasmus states in his book, Fats That Heal - Fats That Kill, that "cholesterol consumption has remained about constant for the last 100 years, and therefore cannot be the primary cause of increases in cardiovascular disease, up 300% in that time period." Other factors must be considered such as diet, lifestyle and environment.

The Real Culprit
Although cholesterol has taken much of the blame in heart disease, the real culprit may be altered and damaged fats, not saturated fats and cholesterol. High cholesterol is more likely to stem from factors such as stress and rancid fats than from eating whole foods containing cholesterol in a natural context. Balance again is key. In his book, Smart Fats, Michael A. Schmidt states three basic critical points:
1) Too much fat in whatever form can lead to disease.
2) Too little fat in whatever form can lead to disease.
3) The kind of fat and the balance of various fats are the critical features that determine how fat contributes to disease.

Nasty (Ugly) Fats
Rancid and damaged fats fall into three categories:
1) Trans-fatty acids occur when oils are processed out of their natural state. When you eat trans-fatty acids, you end up with debris that clogs your cells, contributing to accelerated metabolic aging.
2) Oxidized fats are free radicals, damaged through exposure to air. Oxidation can be seen visually as rancid fats, such as when butter turns dark yellow or oils go brown. These rancid fats should never be eaten. Oxidized cholesterol is the harmful LDL form that adheres to arterial walls. (Healthful HDL cholesterol is an antioxidant that removes plaques from cell walls.)
3) Hydrogenated fats are fats that have been chemically altered. Margarine and shortening are two of the most damaging fatty substances you can eat! They are found in crackers, cookies, pies and candy. A sugar-fat confection is an unhealthy LDL cholesterol booster.

Change Your Oil, Now!
The key to avoiding damaged fats is to consume fresh, unspoiled fats from quality animal sources and certain uncooked plant oils, with their native antioxidants and nutrients intact. These fats are healthful.

Some guidelines for avoiding damaged fats are:
Whenever possible, eat fats and oils without cooking them.
Avoid man-made and damaged fats.
Use monounsaturated fats for cooking.
Polyunsaturated fats found in their natural state are healthy.
Never deep-fry foods.
Keep fats refrigerated to prevent rancidity.
Avoid all hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.

The Egg and I
Eggs were once viewed as a major culprit in high cholesterol and we were advised to strictly limit our consumption. However, the egg's cholesterol content was taken out of context. Let's look at the nutritional value of an egg. Nutritional authorities agree that eggs are one of the best protein sources available. The egg protein (which is about 50% of its makeup), contains all the essential amino acids to be readily used by our system. Most of the rest of the egg is fat--about two-thirds of it unsaturated, occurring in the yolk with lecithin, a fat emulsifying agent. Two large eggs contain as much as 500 mg. of cholesterol. Research shows that the regular use of eggs alone does not raise the serum cholesterol (Wood, R., "Tumor Lipids: Biochemistry and Metabolism."
"American Oil Chemists Society. 1973: 75-88). The total nutrient density of a food, such as the egg, as well as the way it is grown, raised and prepared is what will determine its health benefit or detriment.

The Beef with Chicken
A well-known local nutrition doctor claims that there is as much cholesterol in chicken as there is in beef and therefore, he advises the public to avoid both of them. The truth of the matter is that chicken is a high protein food that is fairly low in fat, especially the white meat. Chicken contains on average 11% fat (unless it is deep-fried), whereas beef contains typically 30-40 % fat. The fat in chicken is two thirds polyunsaturated, with most of it found in the skin. Chicken eaten without the skin is only 5% fat. The amount of cholesterol and saturated fat in both chicken and beef will depend largely on the way the animals were fed and grazed. Free-range animals that eat grass have much less fat in general, more healthful essential fatty acids and as such pose little risk for elevating cholesterol. Feeding animals organic food is an important way to restore the health of all.

Achieving a Healthy Cholesterol Balance
Eating balanced, nutrient-rich meals is the key to lowering LDL (unfavorable) cholesterol and raising HDL (favorable) cholesterol. Meals that are 20-25% lean protein, 10-25% fats and 50-70% complex carbohydrates, with lots of B vitamins and fiber (both soluble and insoluble) will balance cholesterol. Strictly avoid fried foods and snack foods with any cooked oils, white flour, white sugar and chemical additives. There are numerous herbs and dietary supplements that have been shown to lower LDL. Chinese red yeast extract is a very reliable remedy to lower high cholesterol. Foods that nourish the liver, balance hormones and heal the vascular system relieve the body from having to make excess cholesterol. To live long and stay heart healthy: eat lemon, flax seeds, artichokes, avocados and olives, dandelion, green apples, soy, green tea, garlic, oysters, mussels, cold water fish, nutritional yeast, antioxidants, fresh and frozen berries and magnesium and potassium rich green vegetables and herbs.

(Famous) Last Words
And...don't forget to move your body. Walk, dance, stretch, pump some iron, be a sport and breathe! Stress less, play more, make your life a game, not a chore.

Ed Bauman, Ph.D. is the director of the IET Nutrition and Culinary Arts Programs in Cotati and is a nutrition consultant at Partners in Health. Marsha McLaughlin, NC is the outreach coordinator for IET (Institute for Educational Therapy). For more information call (800) 987-7530 or visit www.iet.org

Restaurant sales climb with bad-for-you food By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Andy Puzder figures he'll be forever famous — or infamous — for creating fast food's first edible Frankenstein: the Monster Thickburger.
The Monster Thick Burger has calories galore.

That's the 1,420-calorie burger sold at Hardee's and Carl's Jr. since late last year. Arguably, it's the first fast-food sandwich to publicly flaunt its excess of calories and fat.

The food police and media have portrayed the CEO of CKE Enterprises (CKR) as fast food's demon. Even late-night talk-show hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno have poked fun at the bad-for-you Monster Thickburger.

But Puzder insists all he's really trying to do is offer consumers what he believes most want: tasty food. "These products sell better than health-conscious products," he says. "We don't tell consumers what they want. They tell us."

He may be onto something — big.

The better-for-you food pendulum that so quickly changed the look of fast-food menus and that's often credited with changing consumer eating habits nationwide appears to be swinging back. Or maybe it never really swung away from indulgence in the first place. (Related graphic: That's a really big burger)

Consumers who supposedly hung on every carb and calorie just months ago appear to be zealously responding to something else on the tip of their tongues: their taste buds.
Still in love with junk food
These were the Top 10 most popular foods consumed in restaurants by men and women last year:

Men
1) Hamburger
2) French fries
3) Pizza
4) Breakfast sandwich
5) Side salad
6) Eggs
7) Doughnuts
8) Hash browns
9) Chinese food
10) Main salad

Women
1) French fries
2) Hamburger
3) Pizza
4) Side salad
5) Chicken sandwich
6) Breakfast sandwich
7) Main salad
8) Chinese food
9) Chicken nuggets or strips
10) Rice

Source: NPD Group survey of 3,500 respondents to the question "What did I order at a restaurant today?" as part of a year-long diary of eating habits in 2004

Particularly when they eat out.

The proof is on the bills. The most popular menu item ordered by men at restaurants last year was hamburgers. French fries ranked second. For women, french fries were tops — followed by burgers, reports NPD Group, which tracks consumer eating habits. Pizza ranked third for both genders.

"Americans have always had the means to eat healthier," says Harry Balzer, vice president at NPD. "But they do not have the will."

Especially when eating out, which is increasingly often. More than 47% of the money Americans spend on food will be spent at restaurants in 2005 vs. 25% in 1955, says the National Restaurant Association.

"There's lots of money to be made providing delicious food that's not good for you," says George Hemingway, engagement manager at Vivaldi Partners, a consulting firm. "Americans like to go out and eat good food. Generally speaking, good food is bad for you."

There's a lot more than calories at stake. Consumers will spend a record $476 billion eating out in 2005, nearly 5% more than in 2004.

Maybe that's why Carl's Jr. just added a hefty Breakfast Burger. And since Hardee's recent introduction of the 715-calorie Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shake, shake sales have doubled. On the backs of such not-so-good-for-you items, Puzder has turned around the once-struggling Hardee's, where same-store sales jumped 4.4% after the Monster Thickburger hit.

Decadence beats decorum

"If I'm being blamed for giving consumers yummy, delicious stuff, I'll take the blame," Puzder says.

Even in an age of better-educated dining, decadence still beats out decorum when most Americans eat out. Sure, folks like to know they can get a salad at the burger joint — and sales of better-for-you items have made a dent — but the vast majority still pass on them.

Which may explain why fried chicken — not salads or veggies — emerged as the fastest-growing food category in 2004, reports NPD. That, of course, was aided by the continuing red-hot sales of McDonald's Chicken Selects.

This drives McDonald's nemesis Morgan Spurlock crazy. The very name Chicken Selects implies it's better for you when it's not, says Spurlock, who directed and starred in the documentary Super Size Me and whose Don't Eat This Book is hitting bookstores.

It's not just McDonald's that's at fault, he says. It's a societal failure to educate ourselves — and our children — about the long-term dangers of eating bad food. "You don't eat an Egg McMuffin and have a heart attack the next morning," he says. "We have to get out of that mind-set. We have to start voting with our forks."

But when most Americans vote with their forks, the desire for yummy food continues to trounce concerns about health and nutrition.

"Tasty" food was critical to 93.6% of fast-food users in the last quarter of 2004. Meanwhile, the availability of healthy/nutritious food — while rising in importance — was key to just 69.1%, reports Sandelman & Associates, which surveyed 600 consumers.

That doesn't surprise Steven Witherly, a food development consultant who has a Ph.D. in nutrition and a master's degree in food science and is working on a book: Why People Like Junk Food: Food Pleasure Explained. He knows why: We're genetically programmed to seek fat, sugar and salt.

Because humans evolved in an environment that for thousands of years was low in fat, sugar and salt, the brain has evolved to seek it out anywhere it can, says Witherly, president of Technical Products.

Now, an overabundance of fat, sugar and salt is readily available at most fast-food joints. "Even though the modern diet is killing us, the brain won't let us change," he says.

Perhaps that's why, even in a world far more aware of the need for healthy habits, most consumers still seem to have one major goal when they eat out: indulgence.

"Healthy eating isn't a trend. It's a slow creep," says Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a research firm. "Most people would rather take a pill than change eating habits."

Especially outside the home.

Maybe that's why 69% of consumers say they ate "fair to poor" diets when eating out vs. 39% who say they ate "fair to poor" diets at home, according to a 2005 Internet survey of 1,045 consumers by Technomic.

"If I want to eat healthy, I eat at home," says Connie Carrington, 35, a records clerk from Russellville, Ark. "When I eat out, I usually want something that's not good for me."

Like, say, a Monster Thickburger. Each comes loaded with two 1/3-pound beef patties, four strips of bacon and three slices of cheese.

A 'great big greasy burger'

Carrington recently bought one and devoured half over lunch — and half at dinner. She doesn't eat them all the time. But, she says, "I don't see a problem with getting a great big greasy burger every now and then."

Paul Fike couldn't agree more. The 66-year-old fundraiser from Midland, Ga. — who closely watches his calorie and fat intake while eating at home during the week — isn't shy to admit that come Friday and Saturday nights, he's partial to going out for double cheeseburgers and fries. He gets them like clockwork every weekend.

"I'd rather have that than any other meal," says Fike, who also happens to be an avid jogger and walker and, at 165 pounds, says he's within two or three pounds of his high school graduation weight. "For me, the weekend is a celebration. I'm going to enjoy myself — and the hell with what I'm 'supposed' to be eating."

Evidently, plenty of folks think much like Carrington and Fike. Perhaps that's why:

•Burger King went enormous. Since its March introduction of the Enormous Omelet Sandwich — with two slices of cheese, two eggs, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty — breakfast sales have jumped 20%, says Denny Marie Post, chief concept officer. Never mind its 730 calories and 47 grams of fat.

At the same time, she says, BK sells about 100 Whoppers for every Veggie Burger and roughly 10 Whoppers for every salad. Its fried chicken sandwiches outsell grilled chicken about 10 to 1, she says.

"When someone has $5 to spend for lunch," she says, "it's hard to take the risk of buying something that might not be satisfying."

•Pizza Hut got even cheesier. The new triple-cheese 3Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza is such a hit that it took in 20% of the chain's business within four days of introduction, says Tom James, marketing chief. The chain sells roughly one lower-calorie Fit N' Delicious pizza for every 100 pan pizzas, he estimates.

•Ruby Tuesday went colossal. Less than two years ago, Ruby Tuesday led the industry by posting trans fat information on menus. Now the chain's menus no longer mention trans fat, even though it still uses trans-fat-free canola oil. The latest menu change has been to rename its Colossal Burger — two half-pound burgers on a triple-decker bun — the Ultimate Colossal Burger to try to keep up with the grandiose names at the competition. "That's what people want," says Rick Johnson, senior vice president.

•IHOP is stuffing food. The pancake chain is converting its limited-time promotion of Stuffed French Toast — filled with sweetened cream cheese — into a full-time nationwide menu item. The promotion had been brought back three times in two years. As for healthier foods, they're barely a blip. Less than 1% of guests "show any meaningful interest" in better-for-you foods, says John Koch, product vice president.

•Ben & Jerry's has wider cones. The ice cream chain has dropped all three of its no-carb ice cream flavors and introduced a wider cone that's made to hold two scoops of ice cream instead of one. "We don't have better-for-you customers," says David Stever, marketing director. "We have full-fat customers who may feel guilty once in a great while."

•KFC is fried, again. The chicken chain is testing plans to bring back the Kentucky Fried Chicken name, along with new menu items linked to its Southern roots. Among them: candied yams, spicy gravy and sweet potato pie. It's also extending its popular line of chicken Snacker sandwiches to sausage.

"We call it Southern-inspired comfort food," says Gregg Dedrick, KFC president. After months of consumer testing, these were the kinds of foods people wanted, he says.

Back at Hardee's, Puzder keeps pushing the needle. Coming later this summer: a Spicy Barbecue Thickburger, with jalapeños. Puzder won't say what's due after that, but he insists it will be decadent.

"It's all about taste," says Puzder, 54, speaking on his speaker cell phone while steering through a Carl's Jr. drive-thru in San Diego. It's 10 a.m., and he orders a Breakfast Burger, hash browns and a Dr Pepper.

But the 6-foot-tall, 186-pound CEO — who once made a living playing guitar in a rock band — sounds more like a fast-food groupie than a CEO when he reveals what's really on his mind: "I'm already thinking about lunch."