Gerda Endemann's Nutrition Blog

Should we drink water that has electrolytes (minerals) added?

2011-09-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

I drink a lot of water since I tend to have a dry throat and I really like water. Like most nutrients, too much water can kill you- it can dilute the electrolytes in your body water that you need for your heart to beat (sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium). So should I worry about replacing these electrolytes?

Probably the best way to get electrolytes is to eat fruits and veggies and use table salt as needed. Gatorade has lots of sodium and potassium but also contains sugar and various chemicals.

What about bottled waters that claim to contain electrolytes? I looked up the mineral contents of various waters on the USDA website and on product websites and couldn’t find any perfect brand.

Smartwater & Poland Springs were similar to tap water, Evian and Perrier had more calcium but less potassium, and Calistoga and Dasani were low in everything.

The winner was my favorite brand, Pellegrino- too bad it’s expensive and its transport wastes energy. Good thing that an extra serving of veggies will do the trick and more.

Two links to nutrition info and videos that I like

2011-08-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

I like a blog by Jack Norris at JackNorrisRD.com, on plant-based diets- it's great if you have any questions about how to get the vitamin B12 and iron and protein you need if you are a vegan.

Jack shared a link to a site called NutritionFacts.org that has some interesting videos. I watched a few of them and they are short and provocative (two good things).

If you check out the videos, let me know what you think.
Gerda

Soybeans are not dangerous

2011-08-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

There have been all sorts of rumors about dangerous things in soy, such as estrogen-like compounds that might have feminizing effects or encourage the growth of some breast cancers, or compounds that might be bad for your thyroid gland. Stop worrying!

There is no evidence that the very slight estrogen-like activity in soy has any harmful or even significant consequences. I wonder if this rumor is promoted by the dairy industry– since cow’s milk makes your blood cholesterol go up and soy products make it go down, they need to grasp at some straws.

Just remember that Asian cultures have eaten tofu, made soymilk and enjoyed good health for thousands of years. For you jocks it is a rare vegetarian source of high quality protein. For those of you worried about heart disease it contains healthy polyunsaturated fats, plant sterols and fibers to lower your blood cholesterol.

You probably don’t want to overdo it, just like you don’t want to overdo anything, even things as healthy as drinking water and getting some sun. And I wouldn’t want to subsist on all sorts of products made out of highly processed soy powders- or other kinds of refined or purified products– but there isn’t any reason to shy away from tofu or edamame or a glass of soy milk.

Catch the US women’s soccer team competing with Japan in the World Cup finals on Sunday

2011-07-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

It’s pretty amazing that the US women’s soccer team will be competing in the finals of the World Cup on Sunday. Not knowing many celebrities, I’m excited that I know a member of team USA, defender #19, Rachel Buehler, who was a student in a class on fat nutrition I teach at Stanford University. Maybe she gets some of her energy and stamina from eating healthy fats? Go Rachel!

Is there such a thing as a refreshing alternative to soda?

2011-06-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

Someone asked for ideas for a drink that could satisfy a craving for something sweet but not be as unhealthy as soda. There is nothing that’s just like soda- carbonated, refreshing and sweet all at once- after all the food industry has spent a lot of time and money figuring out exactly how to make sodas addictive. So it might take a little time to get used to an alternative but it’s worth the effort.

How about orange juice, apple cider, grapefruit juice, grape juice or Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider for the sweet craving, and plain sparkling water with a wedge of lime for refreshment? Juices don’t contain artificial additives and they do contain all sorts of minerals we need, including potassium and magnesium, which are good for your heart and circulatory system. Americans don’t get enough of these minerals, partly because they’re removed when grains are refined- think about this next time you eat pasta or French bread.

Lowering blood cholesterol- do statins have side effects?

2011-05-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was asked to comment about the safety and side effect of statins– Lipitor, Pravacol, Zocor and others– drugs that are very effective at lowering blood cholesterol and preventing death from heart attacks. I’m not an M.D., but my impression is that these are pretty good drugs as far as safety and efficacy goes.

However, they can occasionally be toxic to the liver and to muscles, and if you are taking a statin your doctor is probably checking for liver toxicity (ALT/AST) and should be checking for muscle toxicity (creatine kinase). Your job is to note any muscle weakness or pain that might indicate dangerous muscle breakdown, which might eventually be fatal.

If you are concerned, there are two things you can do– one is to take supplements of coenzyme Q and vitamin D along with your statin. I can’t say that the evidence for benefits of these supplements is unequivocal, but I would take them if it were me.

The other thing you can do is to work with me to lower your cholesterol without statins. I’ve had great success with nutritional strategies that go far beyond the pretty useless low-fat recommendations you’ve probably given up on. Look on the testimonials page of my website (healthyfat.com) or search my name on Yelp for clients bragging about their low cholesterol numbers.

Does whte bread do any harm?

2011-05-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Although I talk about the merits of whole wheat flour all the time, I don’t think having a little white flour or bread made with a mixture of whole and refined flours is all that bad.

You will be missing out on the fiber, potassium, magnesium, calcium, etc. that are removed when grains are refined. But if the starches you eat are mostly whole foods, like oats or kasha for breakfast, corn tortillas with lunch and potatoes with dinner, then you can afford to add in some white flour.

I like Beckmann’s German Farm Bread even though the first ingredient is white flour. Good nutrition is all about moderation- people who eat whole wheat and not much else become zinc deficient because the fiber binds zinc and you can’t absorb it.

Does evening-eating cause weight gain?

2011-04-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

People seem to think that food is metabolized less efficiently when it’s eaten at night rather than earlier in the day, and that because of this eating at night causes weight gain. I don’t believe this.

Eating in the evening only causes weight gain if you eat too much. Frequently people try hard to ‘be good’ during the day only to end up hungry at night, when it’s all too easy to get more calories than you need from desserts and high calorie snacks. Face it–when you’re hungry at 10 or 11 p.m., do you make a salad or do you have a bowl of ice cream?

Try having more healthy food during the day until you find the right balance and aren’t uncontrollably hungry at night. It’s not just your weight you’ll control but the types of foods you end up eating also.

How much fruit is too much?

2011-04-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I sent out an Email asking for questions about nutrition that I could answer in this blog and the response was huge–I got some great questions. I’ll try to answer one a day and I’ll Email whomever wrote that question to make sure they see my answer.

For today I’ll talk about fruit–I’m always saying that fruit is “free”–that you can eat as much as you want even if you are trying to lose weight, because it is so low in calories, so filling and high in vitamins, minerals and fiber.

The question was: “How much fruit is too much? (Too much sugar?)
My answer: I would not restrict fresh fruit at all. When you want it, eat it (this doesn’t include fruit juice or dried fruit). The kind of sugar you want to avoid is refined or concentrated sugars that no longer look like a plant.

See how this works for you– how do you feel? I’m not advising you to eat only fruit– fruit alone provides such a short-term energy boost, that you may end up with low blood sugar (weak, headachy) if you don’t get some healthy protein and fat.

Have oranges, banana or berries with your breakfast of eggs or oatmeal & walnuts. Have mangoes and apples for snacks and desserts. And see my blog below for a mango salad recipe.

My favorite fruit is in season

2011-04-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you aren’t already addicted to Champagne (or Manila or Ataulfo) mangoes, now is the time to begin your love affair. These yellow mangoes are smaller than the usual green and red variety–and they are superior in every way. Champagne mangoes are tart and sweet and smooth- kind of like a peach.

Wait until the mangoes are a little soft–they may have some small black spots too–peel them, cut the flesh off of the large pit, and eat it plain or in almost any salad.

The other day I made a salad with Manila mango slices, avocado, chopped roasted almonds, lime juice and salt–yum. For protein you could add some small cubes of tofu fried in olive oil, cooked shrimp or some chick peas, and to make it even more satisfying a little roasted walnut oil is good.

Right now these mangoes an incredible bargain for $1 each at Sigona’s Market and Whole Foods Market. Like any fruit they are a great source of the potassium and magnesium that we need for heart and muscle health so this is a win-win food choice.

Hot Dogs To Love

2011-03-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

I love hot dogs and will eat a Hebrew National All Beef Frank at Costco a couple of times a year, but I’m happy to report that I’ve found a better option for a yummy beef hot dog. The butcher at Whole Foods recommended hot dogs made by Fork In The Road and they are delicious and much healthier than most.

Ounce for ounce, Fork In The Road Honest Dogs With Pasture-Raised Beef have less saturated fat and fewer calories compared to Hebrew National Franks. And you can feel good that the cows were raised sustainably on family farms (that you can trace by a farm code on the package). I ate mine with a Golden Sheaf Potato Roll- okay it didn’t fit too well- but it tasted fantastic.

What do farmed salmon and old fluorescent lights have in common?

2011-02-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are chemicals that were used in the past to make fluorescent lights, paint, transformers, pumps, and much more. Unfortunately they are toxic and they stick around in the environment very persistently. Reading this morning about PCBs leaking from old fluorescent light fixtures in schools* reminded me of another common route of exposure- eating salmon.

Many toxic chemicals including PCBs are found in farmed salmon at levels 10 times as high as in wild salmon. If you eat more than ½ meal of farmed salmon per month, your toxin intake may be too high according to EPA estimates.**

So, try to eat wild salmon, but also think about the bigger picture. Manufacturing is always going to use chemicals, and they are going to end up in our environment- and not just when you throw the product away. Leftovers from the manufacturing process end up somewhere, and it’s all too frequently in the water and the air.

Say no to buying new gadgets. In addition to recycling, reduce and reuse. Recycling old appliances and plastic bags is good, but the new ones you buy were made in factories that generate all sorts of chemical waste so reusing is better. Help make sure that there will still be some fish around clean enough for your grandchildren to eat and with all the money you save, you’ll be able to afford local, organic food.
*New York Times 2/4/11 A17; **Science 1/9/04 303:226

Do you need to eat breakfast?

2011-01-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

If you aren’t hungry in the morning, is there a reason to force yourself to eat breakfast? I don’t think so.

It’s never a good idea to eat when you aren’t hungry- first because you would be teaching your body to ignore your natural instincts telling you when you need to eat, and second, because you are taking in calories that you may not need.

There is a catch. You don’t want to end up so hungry at 10 or 11 a.m. that you go for the doughnuts in the conference room or justify to yourself that it’s okay to eat a huge lunch.

The solution is to stop in the kitchen long enough to grab something to take with you and here are some suggestions for a snack that will get you to lunch time without becoming ravenous-
- a hard boiled egg and an apple
- a handful of almonds and a banana
- 3 huge Medjool dates and a handful of walnuts
- a handful of roasted peanuts and an orange
- a small peanut butter sandwich

Can you tell how healthy someone is from just looking at them?

2011-01-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

“People should be healthy and fit at whatever size they are”- a quote from Dr. Regina Benjamin, the U.S. surgeon general, who is shown in the NY Times Magazine* looking radiant and strong, and not looking skinny.*

As she no doubt knows, the health risks of being overweight have been greatly exaggerated. Much better measures of good health are cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure and blood sugar.

Instead of making a quick judgment about people’s health status based on their size, we need to take some time, give them a treadmill test, and do some blood work. If they don’t measure up, prescribe exercise and healthy foods instead of just prescribing “weight loss”.

* p. 14, 1/9/11

Should medical doctors be prescribing wine?

2011-01-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

I was disturbed to read these comments from M.D.s in the Stanford Medical Center magazine for alumni- “Too little wine is more harmful than just the right amount..” and “Wine should be considered…a health food in liquid form” (autumn 2010, p.7).

Sure, there is all sorts of indirect evidence suggesting that wine (and other alcoholic drinks) may have benefits, but we’ve seen how lots of indirect evidence doesn’t mean much. Remember being told that hormone replacement therapy was a good idea after menopause? When a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study was finally carried out, surprise, taking hormones turned out to be bad for you!

Let’s hope this won’t be the case for wine, but for now we don’t know. Health practitioners should practice saying “I don’t know- drink a little if you like and don’t drink if you don’t like to”.

Happily eating in India

2010-12-28T20:37:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Delhi, India, to visit my son who is studying there. A big concern of mine was eating carefully to avoid "Delhi belly". But how to do this and enjoy the street food that my son lives on?
A few years ago I had success treating an unhappy digestive tract with probiotic bacteria in Turkey, and decided to try it prophylactically this time. Every day I took 2 capsules from NOW Foods, called 8 Billion Acidophilus & Bifidus- I like NOW products because their quality and safety are verified.
The result? No digestive complaints.
Of course I did avoid all raw vegetables, and only ate fruit that I could peel myself. Breakfast was banana and red papaya with lime that I bought at a stand each evening. I was able to feast on aloo tiki (spicy fried potato pancakes), paratha, and even chow mein, all cooked to order before our eyes.
The probiotic may have had nothing to do with my happy experience of course. I'd be interested to hear from others who try this strategy- does it seem to help or not?

There is no such thing as will power. There is only the quality of what you are eating.

2010-11-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

A quote from Jerry Seinfeld goes: “There is no such thing as an attention span. There is only the quality of what you are viewing.”*
My version of this is: There is no such thing as will power. There is only the quality of what you are eating.

For me, high quality food is not merely good for you, but it tastes good and is filling. Choosing high quality food over junk food does not require will power.
Picture this scenario- you open your fridge and see some homemade chili, rich with nutritious beans, beef, tomato, onion, and all sorts of chili peppers. And on the counter is some homemade cornbread, made with whole grain cornmeal, olive oil, and juicy kernels of fresh corn.
It doesn’t take will power to choose these foods and to decide not to go to McDonald’s. It just takes cooking with filling and healthy ingredients like olive oil, beans and grass-fed beef.
*“The Attention-Span Myth”, NY Times Magazine, 11/21/10, p. 22.

Did Paleolithic Humans Eat Bread?

2010-11-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Our ancestors thrived and evolved while eating a so-called Paleolithic diet, loosely interpreted as foods that could be hunted and gathered, foods that were around before industrialization, processing, refining and packaging. It’s easy to imagine that the Paleolithic diet would have included meats, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, but what about small amounts of whole grains? Did it include bread?
If you are personally trying to adhere to a Paleolithic diet, you probably experienced more than a little joy upon hearing the news that “Paleolithic Humans Had Bread Along With Their Meat” (from the New York Times, 10/19/2010). Sorry to be a spoilsport- but what researchers think was actually eaten 30,000 years ago was stone ground starchy plants made into a flat bread.
Our ancestors probably ate starchy plants like potatoes, and they probably gathered a little grain, but bread and rice were not thought to be staple foods eaten in large quantities. A Paleolithic diet still involves asking the waiter to take back the bread basket. Maybe you should go outside, gather some tubers, and find a grinding stone.

What’s your cat eating?

2010-09-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

Have you read the ingredient list on your cat’s food? For any packaged food for humans or pets, that’s where you’ll get the most valuable information- not from the Nutrition Facts table.

What you want to see at the beginning of the list is real food ingredients that a cat might actually choose to eat such as chicken, fish, or beef, not by-products. And I can’t imagine that cats evolved to eat large amounts of wheat, soy, or corn.

After trying many dry cat foods, my current favorite is Core Wellness Adult Cat & Kitten Food. I don’t know whether it’s the turkey and chicken, small amounts of potato and tomato, or the probiotics (live bacteria), but my cat loves it (and he is as picky as they come) and his coat is softer and healthier than ever.

Coaching to help you exit the diet cycle

2010-08-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

I believe that eating natural, unprocessed, good-tasting food is the best approach to good health, and that strict diets rarely succeed over the long term. If you need help exiting a frustrating cycle of dieting, binge eating and feeling guilty, you might check out Sylvia Kurpanek, a Palo Alto based coach who helps people learn to trust their instincts in an approach very complementary to mine. She’s giving an informational seminar Tuesday evening, 8/24/10 at 7 pm (web site).

Mediterranean cooking- try some new recipes

2010-08-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

Once you learn how to cook a few basic dishes, you can eat healthily for the rest of your life. Mediterranean cuisine contains lots of nutritious veggies and is delicious, so it’s a good place to start. Try a few recipes from my friends’ website, Mediterranean Cooking. I’ve eaten the Baked Scallops with Tomatoes and Pistou Sauce so I know it’s wonderful, and I can’t wait to try the Spaghetti Squash with Sage and Walnuts. Mediterraneancooking.net

Vegans Beware

2010-03-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years, two major areas of misinformation about nutrition have been gradually clearing up in the public mind and people don’t look at me like I’m crazy when I give talks about these subjects. Most people are now aware that “good” fats (oils, mayo, nuts) are actually good for you and are aware that we need some sun exposure to make vitamin D.

There is another urgent topic that will probably make it into the media and into our doctors' attention in a few years, and that is our need for animal products to get vitamin B12. We can get protein and iron from beans, but vitamin B12 is found reliably only in animal products such as meats, eggs and milk. Vegan sources such as tempeh and seaweeds can’t be counted on for B12. If you don’t get enough you’ll be okay for a few years, but then your nerves will start dying, and your legs, arms, and brain won’t work very well.

I found a great source for information on this topic on the VeganHealth.org website. This is written by Jack Norris, a Registered Dietician, President of Vegan Outreach, and apparently a thoughtful reader of the scientific literature. If you are a vegan, take supplements or eat fortified foods.

Been told your health problems are all due to being overweight?

2010-02-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

Many clients come to me for weight loss, having been told by MDs that their health problems are all due to being overweight. For example, their knee pain is automatically attributed to their excess weight, with the unfortunate consequence that other possible causes are not investigated and treated.

There is a lot more to good health than just being thin, and there is a lot more to a complete medical examination than just being weighed and measured. Some tests that are very informative are blood sugar, blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and cardiovascular fitness (how you do on a treadmill test). People who score well on these tests live longer than thin people because good health comes from eating well and exercising, not from being skinny.

Why does this distinction matter? Because if your goal is good health rather than weight loss, you are more likely to succeed. For example by focusing on increasing your energy level, you will feel more like working out. By investigating medical approaches to healing your knee, you will be better able to exercise. This will be much more effective than beating yourself up for not being able to resist eating food. I like to help clients navigate areas of overlap between nutrition and medicine in the most constructive way.

Don’t have time to cook- or is that just what you’ve been told?

2010-02-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

A former commissioner of the FDA, David Kessler, joined faculty and students at Stanford University for dinner on 2/4, followed by a thought provoking talk on “the insatiable American appetite”.

If everyone were given access to lots of cheap cocaine, we’d probably have pretty high rates of addiction, right? Well Dr. Kessler thinks that restaurants and food companies have managed to find the perfect combinations of sugar, fat, and salt to make many foods affect our brains just like addictive drugs do, inducing dependency. And since these foods are cheap, found absolutely everywhere, high in calories and engineered to be easy to chew and swallow, we eat a lot and gain weight.

What can we do about this? Go back in time to when the foods we had around were not addictive? The solution is easier than time travel- buy some meat or beans and vegetables and cook your own dinner. With a little practice, it takes less time to whip up an omelet or to heat up some lentil soup that you made on your day off than it does to drive to a restaurant.

The problem isn’t a lack of time to cook, it’s that ads for restaurants and frozen dinners have brainwashed us into believing that we don’t have the time or skills to prepare food. We’re out of the habit of cooking- once you get back in the habit you’ll see how easy it really is.

A vitamin deficiency that causes osteoporosis is common- are you okay?

2010-01-26T17:36:00.000-08:00

News flash- data show that you, as a typical American, are likely to be deficient in a vitamin, and that this deficiency causes weak bones and muscles, joint pain, osteoporosis, and having white blood cells that can’t kill the tuberculosis bacterium. Wait- there’s more- groups of people who don’t get enough of this vitamin also have more breast and prostate cancer than people who get plenty.

Must be a new, unusual, and expensive vitamin? Not at all, it’s free actually- all you have to do is to get a little sunshine (without sunscreen) and your skin can make vitamin D. You can get a teeny little bit from milk, and a small amount from pills, but when you get 10 minutes of sun on your legs (30 minutes if you’re dark skinned) you’ll make tons of vitamin D. Therapy for tuberculosis used to be sun baths- doesn’t sound so dumb now.

Good health is all about the happy medium- drink enough water but not too much, eat enough food but not too much, and get enough sunshine but not too much. Just because you can kill yourself drinking too much water doesn’t mean that your doctor is telling you not to touch a drop. The same should go for sunshine. It’s natural.

Can nutrition help a stiff neck?

2010-01-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

No, but a chiropractor can. Oh my god my neck and shoulders feel so much better after seeing fantastic Dr. Jack. Why did I wait this long? (http://www.drjackbourla.com/)

Eat beans, no bread, and live longer??

2010-01-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

Have you heard about the diet experiments in which animals can be made to live longer than their normal lifespan? The only problem is that the diet used is essentially a starvation diet- the animals are fed much less than normal for their entire lives. Personally I am not looking forward to the discovery that a starvation diet will also allow humans to live longer.

But there is hope- cutting out one little nutrient (while eating normal amounts of food) also allows animals to live longer lives (and be thinner), and that nutrient is methionine. Methionine is an amino acid, one of the building blocks of protein, and it is essential for life, but perhaps in smaller quantities than we usually eat.

Now for the type of wild speculation that I usually make fun of- would it be good for us to eat less methionine and how would we accomplish this? Methionine is high in grains and seeds, moderate in animal foods (milk, meat, eggs) and corn, and low in beans, nuts, soy, and peanuts.

Would it make a difference to cut out grains (wheat, rice), eat less animal products, and eat more legumes? You would not be able to achieve the low methionine intake that has been found to work in animals, and amazing results in animal experiments almost never translate to useful recommendations for people, but it’s something to think about.

http://www.healthyfat.com

Holiday eating and New Year's resolutions

2009-12-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

The time around Thanksgiving and Christmas is difficult for people in so many ways, including dealing with food. With all the food preparation, parties, food gifts, holiday meals, travel, and visitors, it’s hard to maintain regular habits and you won’t be alone if you end up feeling guilty and unhappy with your behavior.

It might help to understand that this season really does require super-human behavior. We evolved to want to overeat whenever possible. Our brain is screaming at us to eat so that we’ll gain weight and survive any future famine.

If all the foods around you were healthy whole foods, eating wouldn’t be such a struggle. Of course this includes fruits, nuts, seeds, veggies, beans, soy, whole grains, and seafood. But did you know that eggs, pecans, macadamia nuts, peanut butter, mayonnaise, shrimp and even beef, especially if it’s grass-fed, are included in the healthy whole food category?

Instead of worrying about your lack of will power, give yourself a break and start the new year by making your environment healthy- surround yourself with healthy foods.

Is tap water still safe to drink?

2009-12-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

In April 2009 I recommended in this blog that instead of using plastic water bottles people should fill glass bottles with tap water. According to an investigation by Charles Duhigg published in the New York Times yesterday, the quality of tap water in this country made a steep dive during the Bush administration as water pollution increased and regulation was lax.

Journalists like to make things sound as dire as possible, so I wish I had the time to read all of the scientific studies he refers to, as I would if this were a matter of nutrition instead of toxicology. But I’m glad that when our water started tasting of chloramine a few years ago, we started using a filter.

Tamoxifen in the news

2009-12-15T18:07:00.000-08:00

In the Science Times today, Tara Parker-Pope tries to make the case that women are being illogical in not taking tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer.

I'm a scientist and the conclusion I draw from Ms. Parker-Pope's data differs from hers. Is it really logical to take a drug that when given to 100 high risk women, will lower the number of breast cancer cases from 1.9 to 1.0, but cause 8.5 additional cases of endometrial cancer, blood clots, cataracts, and sexual problems and 12 additional cases of hot flashes and irregular periods?

Are women really being illogical when they are willing to take birth control pills, but not tamoxifen? If the same 100 women were sexually active and not using birth control, 85 of them would become pregnant. Birth control pills would reduce this number to 1 to 8. If the pill were as ineffective as tamoxifen, women would be in big trouble.

Enjoy pasta without feeling guilty?

2009-10-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

I just had a great lunch of leftover pasta with tomato sauce.

The pasta was Barilla Plus spaghetti, which contains such healthy stuff that you would think my family would hate it, but amazingly, it cooks up in only 10 minutes to a perfect al dente and my family likes it.

(I am not paid by Barilla, but if you know someone there please let them know of this win-win opportunity).

Anyway, it contains some ground lentils and flax, giving it more protein, higher quality protein, and omega-3 fats.

If you would like my yummy adaptation of Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce III, just Email me (Endemann@healthyfat.com).

Are your vitamins and supplements contaminated?

2009-10-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

When you go to a health food store and buy some vitamins or some other supplement, hoping that it will give you energy or build muscles, the last thing you expect is to be self-administering toxins. But, as described by Dr. Pieter A Cohen of Harvard Medical School in the October 15, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, supplements may not only contain toxic contaminants that the manufacturers are unaware of, but may contain dangerous drugs that the manufacturers don’t list on the label.

Weight loss products are some of the worst offenders, since they add illegal amphetamines and other drugs that have caused addiction, dehydration, high blood pressure, and suicide. The bottom line: until supplements are treated like prescription drugs and are better regulated by the government, let the buyer beware. There are some reputable supplements, and I help people choose the best ones.

Nuts are good for you. Does this include Brazil nuts?

2009-10-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

People are finally realizing that almonds, walnuts, and peanuts are health foods, but still think that Brazil nuts, cashews, and macadamia nuts can’t possibly be good for you. All of these nuts are great in slightly different ways.

Almonds have more protein than the others and plenty of monounsaturated fat, the kind that’s in olive oil. But macadamia nuts, cashews, and Brazil nuts have a lot of monounsaturated fat too. Walnuts are my personal favorite with lots of cholesterol-lowering polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fats. But Brazil nuts also contain polyunsaturated fats.

Don’t worry about these minor differences- enjoy a variety of nuts and you’ll get all the healthy fats you need, together with minerals, vitamins, protein, and as a bonus, plant sterols that will lower your blood cholesterol.

Had gastric bypass for weight loss? See a nutritionist.

2009-09-24T11:22:00.001-07:00

I keep reading in scientific journals about serious vitamin and mineral deficiencies caused by gastric bypass surgery for weight loss. Does this make it to the popular press? It must not, because otherwise people who’ve had stomach surgery would know to work with a nutritionist to prevent these deficiencies. Symptoms- anemia, fatigue, weakness, night blindness, etc. etc.

Should we avoid gluten?

2009-08-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

I was asked what all the fuss about gluten is about, and whether we should all try to avoid gluten. Gluten is just a particular component of wheat that some people react badly to. It’s quite serious, resulting in chronic diarrhea that can deplete the body of calcium and tons of other nutrients. Diagnosis hasn’t always been swift, with people usually suffering for years before they figure it out. If you are truly gluten intolerant (also called celiac disease), you need to avoid even the tiniest amounts. For most of us, there is no known value to eating less gluten, although like milk, we probably didn’t evolve to eat the huge amounts of wheat we tend to eat now.

Ignore the rumors- soy is a great food

2009-06-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Because the Japanese traditionally eat soy products and have low rates of breast cancer along with generally good health, we think that soy is probably a good thing. Tofu, edamame, and soymilk have all withstood the test of time.

If you like to engage in ‘nutritionism’, evaluating food on the basis of known nutrients (from Michael Pollan), you might base soy’s benefits on it being rich in protein, iron, calcium, zinc, magnesium potassium, B vitamins, and healthy omega-3 fat.

Why have people heard that soy might not be great? Some people are allergic, some are intolerant, some abused it by eating it 6 times a day, but you could say the same of whole wheat. Don’t become obsessive about any one food.

Next time you order a cappuccino, try it with soymilk. Instead of letting milk’s evil saturated fat clog your arteries, you’ll be lowering your cholesterol with soy’s healthy unsaturated fats and plant sterols. Yeah, I know the taste is an acquired one.

No more trays in cafeterias- we really don't need that much food.

2009-04-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

I read in the news that more and more college cafeterias no longer offer trays for you to put your dishes on. Various reasons have been given- one is that it makes the cafeteria seem more home-like and another is that it saves water since trays no longer have to be washed.

An added benefit seems to be that it reduces food waste. You can pile a lot more food on a tray than you need. And, human nature being what it is, once that food is in front of you, you are pretty likely to eat more than you need. Have you ever noticed that you eat too much at an all-you-can-eat buffet?

The solution? Not using a tray is a good one. Otherwise, try not to serve yourself too much food. If you do make the mistake of taking too much, don't make a second mistake and justify eating it by saying, "I can't stand to waste food". Better to compost the food than to make your poor body deal with it.

Green- it’s good for the planet and for your health

2009-04-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Check out this excellent 12 minute video made by 2 students from Gunn High School- http://vimeo.com/4017912

You’ll get to see me (in a small role) talking about eating fresh, local, unprocessed foods for your health and for the earth’s health.

What kind of water should you drink?

2009-04-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

When you’re thirsty, hopefully you reach for plain water, not a sugary, calorie-rich vitamin water, soda, or even (unless you need the calories) real juice. But should you turn on the tap or open a bottle? It's unfortunate that fear of pollutants has made us avoid drinking tap water, which on average is safer and cleaner than bottled water.
Another good reason not to drink bottled water is that plastic bottles contain chemicals called plasticizers that leach into the water given time and heat. If you want a water bottle to carry around, just use a glass one, i.e. a used tonic water bottle, or dump the plasticizer-rich water out of a plastic bottle and fill it with fresh tap water.
Of course now the water isn’t sterile, and bugs will eventually grow, so just refill your bottle with fresh water every morning. Don’t leave your water bottle in a hot car for a long time- if the bottle has been opened, the heat will encourage bugs to grow, and opened or not, heat will help leach plasticizers into the water.

Do cravings derail your plans to eat healthily?

2009-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

Have you ever decided to give up unhealthy snacks like cookies or ice cream, but ended up eating them because of a strong craving? You aren’t alone and it isn’t your fault- blame it on evolution resulting in irresistible forces causing you to eat if you are hungry or if you are losing weight. But you can counter these physiological forces with some simple strategies of your own design.

What you eat for breakfast, whether you sit down at 6 a.m. or scarf it at 10 a.m., determines whether you’ll have cravings in an hour or two, and the same goes for lunch. It’s not necessarily trivial to design meals that you like and that incorporate the healthy fats and protein foods you need for long lasting steady energy- but I’ve found in my work with people of varied sizes and needs that it can be very effective. You probably already know that eggs for breakfast are more satisfying than cereal- you may just need some help reconciling all the nutritional & psychological effects of foods in designing menus that work for you.

A Healthy Winter Salad

2009-01-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

I never knew what to do with kale until my son made this delicious salad for me. Kale will give you the iron and vitamin C you need to fight off colds, as well as the potassium you need for a healthy heart. To get all the ingredients in one quick stop, try Country Sun, a store on California Ave. in Palo Alto that requires much less time and $ than Whole Foods.

Noemi’s Kale Salad With Apple, Date, and Tahini

• ~ ½ bunch curly dark green Lacinato (or dinosaur) kale
• 1 apple, preferably organic so that you can leave the peel on
• 2 Medjool dates
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/6 cup seasoned brown rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tahini (sesame seed paste)

• Wash the kale by dipping it in a large bowl of cold water, then thoroughly dry it in a salad spinner. Cut the leaves lengthwise into 2-4 strips, discarding the stem. Chop the strips into ¼ inch pieces. You should have about 3 cups of finely chopped kale.
• Cut the apple into quarters, remove the core, slice each quarter into 3-4 slices, and chop each slice into ~ 6 pieces.
• Remove the pits from the dates, slice the dates into pieces ~ ¼ inch wide, and then cut these into small chunks.
• Combine the above ingredients in a salad bowl, separating the date pieces as much as possible.
• Measure olive oil- if you add seasoned vinegar to reach the ½ cup mark, that will be 1/6 cup.
• Add tahini to oil + vinegar, mix with a whisk or fork, and gradually add to salad, tossing to mix well, until kale is well coated with dressing. You will probably have leftover dressing.
• Serves 2

How much vitamin B6 and B12 should we take?

2008-10-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

If you are going to take any vitamins, take a multivitamin plus minerals that is well balanced, such as products by Nature Made, Centrum, or Kirkland. These products contain about 100% of the RDA for many vitamins & minerals. Just taking 1 or 2 individual vitamins or minerals can be dangerous, for example taking zinc supplements can prevent copper absorption and make you copper deficient.

If you eat a great diet you probably don’t need any pills, and if you eat an average diet a multivitamin may be all you need. However, if you don’t eat well, have heavy menstrual periods, use oral contraceptives, etc., you may need extra iron or vitamin B6. As far as B vitamins, the most I would want to try would be a B-complex containing from 10-100 mg of vitamin B6, and 10-100 mcg of vitamin B12, such as NOW brand B-50 tablets.

Ensuring that your vegetarian diet contains enough iron & protein (& vitamin B12)

2008-10-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me about getting enough iron and protein in a vegetarian diet with milk, but no eggs. It's difficult to get enough iron or protein without meat, fish, or eggs, so I’m not surprised that the questioner’s son has low hemoglobin. My answer: try to eat beans at most meals (together with fruit or veggies for vitamin C to help you absorb the iron). You’ll need to eat all sorts of beans, like lentils (dal), kidney beans (chili), garbanzos (hummus), etc. to get some variety, but in particular try to eat soybeans (edamame) or tofu. Here’s a quick recipe that kids like:

Crispy Tofu Tenders
Cut open tofu package with a knife and drain out water. Cut tofu into slices about 3/4 inch thick, and drain on several layers of paper towel. Cover with additional paper towels, and press lightly to dry. Leave to dry for a couple of minutes. Cut slices into cubes. Heat about one tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick pan, or two tablespoons in an iron frying pan. Fry tofu until it is crispy and brown on at least two sides. Serve immediately with soy sauce for dipping. An alternative dipping sauce is mayonnaise with a little catsup mixed in.

P.S. It’s very unlikely that you’re getting enough vitamin B12 if dairy products are your only animal foods. Take a multivitamin&mineral with B12.

How to use healthy fats in your cooking

2008-10-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

People are always asking me “What is the best oil for cooking?” and “Is coconut oil good for health?” Those are great questions, that I’ve written about quite a bit, so for the answers, I can refer you to either my book, Fat Is Not The Enemy, for an in depth discussion, or to an article I wrote for How To Do Things.com, at
http://www.howtodothings.com/health-fitness/how-to-use-healthy-fats-in-your-cooking - this can also be accessed from my How To Do Things.com profile page: http://www.howtodothings.com/user/endemann . Let me know if you have trouble accessing it- maybe I’ll reprint it here.

Don’t use grapeseed oil for frying

2008-07-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years, more and more people have asked me if they should use grapeseed oil for frying, since they’ve heard that it has a very high smoke point. I don’t think grapeseed oil is optimal and here’s why.
For frying foods, it is desirable to use an oil that will not smoke, for both taste and health reasons. But it is also desirable to use an oil that will not become oxidized.
The oxygen in air attacks polyunsaturated fats, especially when they’re heated. This is called oxidation, and it will cause the production of oxidized fats that taste rancid and probably contribute to coronary heart disease.
Grapeseed oil is very high in the polyunsaturated fat, linoleic acid- an essential nutrient that you would die without. Like other polyunsaturated fats, linoleic acid lowers blood cholesterol too. This is all good, so if you like it, use it in salads and for baking, but don’t subject this delicate oil to high temperatures where it will become oxidized.
But what we need even more than linoleic acid is the other essential fat, alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fat. So for baking or salads, why not use walnut oil or canola oil, and get them both?
Back to frying- for high temperature cooking use oils that are low in polyunsaturated fats, such as olive oil and peanut oil, and in particular, use refined oils (clear) from which all the troublesome proteins, etc., have been removed that contribute to smoking.

Diet or drugs for cholesterol-lowering?

2008-07-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

The American Academy of Pediatrics caused a big stir by recommending the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) in kids, even though there have not been safety or efficacy studies of these drugs in children. I looked at the AAP position paper to get the details, hoping that they would recommend starting out with safe nutritional strategies before progressing to drugs. Well, yes and no. They do recommend dietary intervention, but just the same old low fat and low cholesterol diet that has been ineffective for adults and has driven them by the scores to statins.

The authors of the AAP position paper are not nutritional scientists, they are M.D.s. They need to be told of research by Chris Gardener at Stanford, Jenkins & Kendall in Toronto, and others, showing that there are much more effective means to lower cholesterol than the documented-ineffective “low-fat” diet. Through a variety of mechanisms, eating more plant foods (including fatty ones) can be quite effective at lowering cholesterol. With simple nutritional strategies, a client of mine lowered her LDL cholesterol from 164 to 123 in 3 weeks, and then to 106 in another 4 weeks. What will it take to get medical doctors to stick to medicine and to let more knowledgeable nutritional scientists make diet policy?

Is eating fish a big deal for heart health?

2008-05-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief and contrary to the sources cited in “Eating your way to a sturdy heart”, by Tara Parker-Pope in the 5/13/08 New York Times, the evidence that eating fish prevents heart attacks is not overwhelming. A 2006 analysis of the well-controlled studies to date concluded that at most, fish or fish oil might reduce mortality by 17%, not a huge effect (Mozaffarian D & Rimm EB 2006 JAMA 296: 1885). Of course fish is good for you in so many ways- it contains protein for healthy muscles & bones (yes bones), and vitamin B12 for energy and improved brain function with aging. Just don’t be cavalier about mercury and other contaminants in fish- they are likely to be a problem if you eat albacore tuna as suggested (stick to the cheap stuff) or farmed salmon (try to get wild fish).

In defense of nutritional scientists

2008-04-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Have any of you read Michael Pollan’s newest book, “In Defense Of Food”? I like his advice that we should eat real, unprocessed foods. As a nutritional scientist, I have always told people that this is the easiest way to eat healthily. So why does Pollan claim that nutritional scientists are the bad guys who have been the cause of American reliance on processed, unhealthy foods? Because he is a journalist, and that is a common journalistic technique. Invent a conflict where there is none.
Well, there actually is a conflict, but scientists are not as central as Pollan would claim. The guilty parties who have been confusing the public by advertising the virtues of fake foods with few nutrients like vitamin drinks, are food companies who want to make money. The guilty parties who have been wreaking havoc with overly simplistic pronouncements like “don’t eat fat”, and “don’t get your vitamin D from the sun”, are medical doctors and their professional associations such as the American Heart Association.
Hey, by inventing a conflict with Michael Pollan can I sell more of my book, “Fat Is Not The Enemy”?

Did you know that you need some sunlight?

2008-04-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

I hate seeing people completely covered up so that no sunlight touches their skin. Sure, that may reduce the risk of some skin cancers, but it will also increase the risk of vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, and probably breast cancer.

As with all things nutritional, moderation is the key- you need about 15 minutes of sunlight per day on your arms and legs (more if your skin is dark) in order to make vitamin D. Don't fool yourself that the tiny bit of vitamin D added to milk is enough- spend some time in the sun and your body will make hundreds of times as much as is added to a cup of milk.

Probably because we all spend so much more time blogging than sun bathing, recent studies have found low vitamin D levels in well over half of the people they test, including kids in Georgia and the northeastern U.S.

My first blog

2008-04-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

I love to talk about food and shopping for food and cooking food and about all the healthy nutrients that are in good-tasting foods. I like to come up with recipes for people that contain the vitamins and minerals that will help them with their specific health concerns. I like to tell people what nutritional scientists really know (and don't know). Nutritional scientists actually know a lot of useful things that you have little way of accessing, regardless of what Michael Pollan says. What we know has been distorted and misrepresented by organizations that you would hope you could trust, such as the American Heart Association and the American Dietetics Association. If you want good nutrition advice, don't go to a journalist, a medical doctor, or ads & products created by companies trying to sell products, ask a nutritional scientist. You can find out more about me at my website: http://www.healthyfat.com.