Leading organizations, such as the American Heart Association, has been recommended sugar intake be reduced for quite some time due to the direct link to increasing obesity rates. However, an actual limit or recommendation on sugar consumption had never been established until recently.

It’s now recommended that added sugars, this would be the sugar added to foods during processing, be limited to no more than 100 calories per day for women and no more than 150 calories per day for men. This means limiting added sugars to 5-9 teaspoons per day.

Might not seem like a big deal until you compare this recommendation to the current average amount of added sugar consumed US individual daily – 22 teaspoons. Twenty-two teaspoons of sugar equals about 350 extra calories each day. To give you a reference – 1 can of regular soda provides 130 calories of added sugar.

Unfortunately distinguishing between added sugars and naturally occurring sugars can be tricky. Added sugars are often identified as “syrup” on food labels.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips
http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com

A Non-Diet New Year’s resolution? Yes, you’ve read this correctly. More typically, your friends, family, and perhaps you would be kicking off the New Year with the latest fad diet to change your appearance and achieve a more socially accepted thin figure. Before making this decision you should consider that dieting often leads to some unwanted side effects, such as low energy levels, feelings of deprivation, low blood sugar, and cravings for those favorite foods that you won’t allow yourself to eat. Some people may even experience overeating or binge eating as a result of going through periods of low nutrition or deprivation. To top it off, the weight loss that you may achieve is most likely temporary. Coming off a diet usually means that you will return to the previous eating patterns that you were dissatisfied with and that drove you to diet in the first place.

You can make your New Year’s resolution more reasonable by adopting the Non-Diet way to achieve a healthy figure, and peace with food and your body. Rather than a love-hate relationship, try learning to develop a more healthful relationship with food.

• Listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues.
• Learn how to identify and respond appropriately to these cues and make more informed decisions about when to start and stop eating.
• Follow your taste preferences.

All foods can fit into a healthful eating plan when eaten in moderation. Balanced eating, including carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, can curb your appetite, result in feeling satisfied after eating, improve energy, stabilize blood sugar levels, and also help to maintain a weight that is appropriate and healthy for you.

Along with your newly adopted Non-Diet approach to eating, challenge yourself to explore forms of movement that you find enjoyable. Your weight management goals will be met more easily by incorporating regular activity that you look forward to doing.

Keep your personal weight goals realistic. You may want to evaluate your own ideas about thinness and move more towards accepting that health results from sound nutrition and activity practices and comes in bodies of all shapes and sizes.

Now, how are you going to make your New Year’s goal a reality in 2010? Join dietitians Ursula Ridens RD and Lisa Nelson RD for the free teleclass “5 Steps to Kick Start Your Weight Loss in 2010!”. You’ll learn exactly how to move from where you are now to where you want to be by the end of 2010. Go to http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/newu/newyearcall.html to sign up! Come prepared to participate!

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD

I have shared in the past how the DASH Diet is one of the best tools you can use to lower and control high blood pressure. A new study found that the DASH Diet not only promotes improved blood pressure levels it also fights kidney stones.

Three large studies including over 240,000 men and women participants were evaluated and individuals whose diets most closely followed the DASH Diet plan had a 40-45% reduced likelihood of developing kidney stones compared to individuals following diets in direct contrast to the DASH Diet.

Researchers also took into account calcium intake. Calcium is involved in the formation of a common type of kidney stone – calcium oxalate kidney stones. Regardless of calcium intake those who followed the DASH Diet were less likely to develop kidney stones.

For individuals who have developed kidney stones or at risk of developing kidney stones a common dietary recommendation is to avoid foods high in oxalate, such as spinach and almonds. This more recent review of research indicates this may not be necessary. The DASH Diet strongly emphasizes a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Researchers point out that a diet high in fruits and vegetables increases urinary citrate production which inhibits the formation of kidney stones containing calcium.

To learn more about the DASH Diet – DASH Diet Plan.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
7 Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure
http://www.lowerbloodpressurewithlisa.com

Flavonoids are a type of antioxidant found in fruits, vegetables, and certain beverages. Flavonoids are a hot topic because of their reported antiviral, anti-allergy, antiplatelet (blood clotting), anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor (cancer), and antioxidants health benefits. Many of the beneficial effects of fruits, vegetables, tea, and red wine are linked to flavonoids versus known nutrients and vitamins.

Antioxidants protect cells against damage caused by free radicals, which lead to oxidative stress and cell damage. Oxidative stress is linked with cancer, aging, atherosclerosis, ischemic injury, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. For example, the oxidation of LDL cholesterol plays a critical role in the development of heart disease.

Flavonoid Sources:

High Flavonoid Content (>50 mg/100 g of food)
Onion, kale, green beans, broccoli, endive, celery, cranberry, orange juice

Medium Flavonoid Content (1-5 mg/100 g of food)
Salad, tomato, bell pepper, strawberry, broad bean, apple, grape, red wine, tea, tomato juice

Low Flavonoid Content (<1 mg/100 g of food)
Cabbage, carrot, mushroom, pea, spinach, peach, white wine, coffee

If you struggle to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables everyday consider supplementing your diet with Juice Plus to boost your daily antioxidant intake.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips

The Atkins diet has helped many individuals lose weight, but at the same time it’s been harmful to cholesterol levels. However, a researcher has modified the Atkins diet and replaced the animal protein with vegetable protein sources to compare the results.

The modified Atkins diet includes vegetables proteins from soy, gluten, nuts, vegetables, fruits, and cereals in combination with a low carbohydrate diet. This modified Atkins diet was evaluated on 25 participants for 4 weeks. This group was compared to a control group of 25 participants following a high carbohydrate, vegetarian diet for four weeks. The modified Atkins diet provided 26% of calories from carbohydrates, 31% from protein, and 43% from fat, while the control group received 58% of calories from carbohydrates, 16% from protein, and 26% from fat. After the four week period, weight loss between the two groups was similar at 8.8 pounds. However, reduction on LDL cholesterol was greatest in the modified Atkins diet group, dropping 20.4% versus 12.3% for the control group. A larger improvement in total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol was seen in the modified Atkins diet group, along with improved levels of apolipoproteins and blood pressure.

More research is needed to solidify the benefits of a low carbohydrate, vegetarian diet, but the combination may be promising for both weight loss and heart health.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Top 5 Key Strategies to Lose Weight Permanently
http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com

Do you want to lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and lose weight but you’re struggling to change you “bad” habits? If so, here are the four necessary steps needed to change a new behavior into a habit. I’ve used eating more fruit as an example.

1. Decide the habit – Eating 2 pieces of fruit everyday.

2. Set up triggers – Reminders to eat the fruit, such as fruit on the counter, large note on the front of the fridge, or reminder from wife.

3. Motivation to stay on track – Remind yourself why you have set this as a goal. What’s the benefit to you if you eat more fruit? More fiber to promote weight loss, soluble fiber to promote a lower LDL cholesterol, antioxidants/phytonutrients to promote a lower blood pressure, low cal/nutritious snack to keep you on track with weight loss, etc.? Whatever rings true to you as the bottom line for why you need to increase fruit intake.

4. Develop repetition – Eat more fruit day after day. This may mean you need to change up your trigger. After awhile the bowl of fruit on the counter or note on the fridge will blend right in and won’t jump out to you as a reminder. You’ll need to change it up.

Another good resource for tips on changing habits is the free report Stop Wasting Money – Take Control of Yourself. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you take a moment to download the pdf version and review it.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips
http://www.weightlosswithlisa.com

I’ve been working with a retired gentleman the past few months and he’s been making fantastic progress to lose weight; however, this past week we focused on his fiber intake and learned his intake was much too low. He averaged around 15-20 grams of fiber daily. You should consume 25-35 grams of fiber everyday.

Eating a high fiber diet plan promotes weight loss by stabilizing blood sugars and increasing satiety (i.e. your sense of fullness). Fiber can actually act as a natural appetite suppressant. In addition to promoting weight loss, a diet high in fiber supports a lower LDL cholesterol/cholesterol levels, blood sugar control, promotes digestive health, and has the potential to decrease risk of colorectal cancer (studies are showing mixed results so far).

So, for your weight loss success and overall heart health, let’s take a moment and evaluate the fiber content of your food choices.

To determine your typical daily fiber intake grab a piece of paper and write down what you typically have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any snacks in between. If you’ve been keeping a food journal, simply grab your journal and look at yesterday.

Let’s use the following day as an example:

Breakfast:
2 cups of Cheerios with skim milk
6 oz. OJ

Morning Snack:
6 oz. Yogurt

Lunch:
Grilled cheese sandwich on white bread
1 cup tomato soup

Afternoon Snack:
¼ cup Walnuts and Dried Fruit

Evening Meal:
3 oz. Baked Turkey Breast
½ cup baked potato
½ cup broccoli and cauliflower

Now, you’ll have to be in your kitchen, so you can look at the food label of different foods to add up your fiber intake. For example, Cheerios provides 3 grams of fiber per cup, so fiber intake at breakfast was 6 grams (2 cups x 3 grams) since OJ and skim milk provide 0 grams of fiber. Do this for all your foods and add up the total.

In this example, total fiber intake is around 16 grams, which is low. If your fiber intake is also below 25-35 grams, look for ways to boost your fiber intake. Using the above example, you could swap out the OJ for a piece of whole fruit to add ~4 grams of fiber, sprinkle 1 Tbsp of ground flaxseed on the yogurt to add 2 grams of fiber, select whole grain bread that provides 5 grams of more fiber per slice, swap the baked potato for a baked sweet potato, and increase your broccoli and cauliflower serving to 1 cup with your evening meal. These changes would increase total fiber intake to around 34 grams.

Now, something important worth mentioning! If you currently consume a low fiber diet, making a sudden drastic increase can result in unpleasant side effects (i.e. gas and diarrhea). Increase your fiber intake gradually to avoid side effects.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips
http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com

You already know your fitness level impacts your risk for heart disease. A Japanese study has set a minimum level of cardiovascular fitness to reduce heart disease risk. The minimum level of cardiovascular fitness needed to reduce the risk of heart disease is the ability of a 50 year-old to walk 3-4 miles per hour without feeling fatigue. If you have heart disease, cardiovascular fitness is often measured in supervised conditions with an exercise stress test. The study evaluated over 100,000 individuals and found the least fit participants had a 70% greater risk of cardiovascular disease.

The more fit you become the more you decrease your risk of heart disease.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Heart Healthy Tips
http://www.hearthealthmadeeasy.com

Is bypass surgery in your future? What if it doesn’t have to be? I had the pleasure of interviewing 61 year-old Don Carrier. Six years ago he was facing triple bypass surgery, but by making necessary diet and lifestyle changes he has changed his future. No bypass surgery and no more medications.

Lisa Nelson RD: Please share details about your health prior to making diet and lifestyle changes, such as your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, as well as your quality of life.

Don Carrier: The best way for me to start out is when I entered Dr. McDougall’s 10-day program back in 2003. At that time I weighed over 230 pounds. The main reason I went to his clinic is because I facing a triple bypass and hoped to find an alternative option to the surgery. I was very sluggish with no energy and overweight. Please keep in mind that I was a life long vegetarian. My cholesterol was well over 200, high blood pressure (in the 160’s) and basic quality of life was very poor. I was having all the typical cluster of health problems.

Lisa Nelson RD: What finally pushed you “over the edge” and gave you the motivation to make changes?

Don Carrier: I had tried many diets and even though I was a vegetarian I still gained a lot of weight. I had stopped eating potatoes, carrots, beets and other veggies because most of the popular diets claimed that carbohydrates were bad. At the McDougall clinic I was eating potatoes, carrots, beets, and lots of veggies and my energy level cam back after just 3 days and I began to lose weight. Dairy and oil were two foods I was not eating during the 10-day plan. I was a big dairy eater and used olive oil regularly. I learned they were the culprit of my weight gain and poor quality of life. Halfway through the 10-day plan my whole attitude changed. I was learning how our bodies work and how to fuel our bodies correctly. This motivated me to lead a vegan life, no diary and no oil. I never thought I would ever give up cheese, but I did and to this day I have not had even a slice of cheese since. Triple bypass surgery scared the “H” out of me and the 10-day program was the alternative solution I needed.

Lisa Nelson RD: What was keeping you from living a heart healthy life “before”?

Don Carrier: What kept me from leading a healthy lifestyle earlier was listening to what I thought was good healthy information from the media. Listening to the positive information about the Atkins diet, the Zone diet, South Beach Diet and all the diets that the media exploited was very confusing to me and it is to others. I honestly thought I was eating healthy yet wearing size 42-inch waist pants.

Lisa Nelson RD: How did you stay motivated, change your habits, and continue to stick with the changes?

Don Carrier: How do I stay motivated? It’s really quit easy, the vegan diet works. Triple bypass canceled, all the medications eliminated, arthritis gone, energy level maxed and over all health excellent.

Lisa Nelson RD: Do you follow a set diet plan?

Don Carrier: Breakfast is almost the same every morning. I have organic Heritage cereal or oatmeal with berries or fruit and almond milk. Lunches during the work week consist of Thai, East Indian or Whole Foods buffets. I have trained the restaurants I like to cook without oil or dairy. The dishes are very low in fat and sodium. Dinner is mostly at home, I like pasta, soups and sweet potatoes, brown rice dishes and lentils.

Lisa Nelson RD: How much physical activity do you typically include each week now?

Don Carrier: I have to admit I have never been a gym bunny. Before I was a total couch potato, today I get out and walk or use my treadmill at home. I usually spend 30 minutes every other day on the treadmill. At my office there is a lot of physical work I do in my warehouse.

Lisa Nelson RD: What advice would you give to someone struggling to live a heart healthy lifestyle while at high risk for a heart attack or bypass surgery?

Don Carrier: I don’t care how bent a person is on not eating vegetables, I found out your taste buds and cravings all change. What you thought you could not live without, soon become unimportant. You learn to substitute those food cravings with other foods. What every heart patient has to realize is that heart surgery is NO walk in the park. The medical institution makes billions of dollars every year opening up patient chests with a saw. I had it in my mind that I was not going to support the medical institution by having my chest cut wide open. Changing your diet is the safest way to continue to live a healthy life. It makes sense, it’s less expensive, and it’s less intrusive. There is no recovery process, no meds, and you get to enjoy life. If a heart patient decides changing their diet is too drastic, ask the surgeon to show you the tools and procedure they will use to operate. THAT IS DRASTIC!

Lisa, I could go on and on about the benefits of the right food and how it effects our body. So many people think being sick is in their genes and they have no control over their future health, they are totally misinformed. Good resources I recommend for potential heart patients are books by Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Fuhrman and the China Study by Dr. Campbell.

Lisa Nelson RD: Thank you Don for sharing your experience. I appreciate your time and I know many will benefit from hearing your story!

Be sure to sign up for The Heart of Health and receive the free report Stop Wasting Money – Take Control of Your Health at http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/hearthealth.html.

One major holiday down, one to go! So, how did you do sticking with your plan to be heart healthy and lose weight? Not so good, well don’t worry it’s not too late to redeem yourself.

Most people gain an average of 1 pound every holiday season. Now, what’s one pound? Doesn’t seem like that big of an issue, but the problem is most do not lose this extra weight. The pounds simply continue to add up year after year. It may take several years before you look at yourself and wonder “what happened?”

To prevent this (or reverse past events!), you must take steps to counteract all the extra calories that go along with the holidays. How? Increase your physical activity these next 4-6 weeks. Extra walks, longer workouts, increased intensity levels.

Adding an extra 120 minutes of activity each week (that’s less than 20 additional minutes/day), will burn an extra ~600 calories/week. That’s an extra 3600 calories burned over six weeks to compensate for the pecan pie, cookies, and alcohol. Of course, 3600 calories only goes so far. You must make wise decisions with the holiday meals, so you’re not consuming 3000-5000 calories in one day

The holidays can be a big hurdle in a weight loss and heart health plan. Holidays don’t mean you can’t enjoy the good food and desserts, but do so wisely!

Be sure to sign up for The Heart of Health and receive the FREE report Stop Wasting Money – Take Control of Your Health today at http://www.hearthealthwithlisa.com.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD