Andrea Skelly, PhD, MPH

Taught by RCW hypnotherapist Andrea C. Skelly, PhD, MPH

Tuesday & Thursday evenings at 7:00pm

www.villagegreenyoga.com

I am motivated to share this news release from the The Alliance for Natural Health USA
with my readers – the FDA is once again trying to prevent Americans from having access to supplements.

——–

Yesterday, both the FDA and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) dropped policy “bombs” on those of us who use dietary supplements. It is no mere coincidence that both were released on the Friday before a holiday weekend.
By timing the introduction of their anti-supplement legislation and regulatory guidance this way, the FDA and Sen. Durbin are both hoping to evade negative publicity. We think it is better to keep American citizens fully informed, and with your help, we will get the word out. Please send this communication far and wide.

First, the FDA has issued draft guidance for complying with the New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) notification protocols contained by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). As you may recall, DSHEA said that supplements already on sale prior to the passage of the act were “grandfathered” in, and did not have to be reviewed by the FDA. New supplements developed after the Act have been in a kind of limbo
waiting for the FDA to spell out the procedures to be followed.

These new supplements have always been at risk because of the uncertainly surrounding their regulatory status. And many of these new supplements are extremely important for our health. We won’t name them, because to do would be to put a bull’s-eye on them for the FDA to shoot at, but you would recognize many of them and may be currently taking them.  DSHEA was passed in 1994. The FDA has thus taken seventeen years to provide regulatory guidance for these new supplements. Now a draft version of guidance is here, and it isn’t good. It is just another effort by the FDA to suffocate the supplement industry so that everything—supplements and drugs alike—will go through the vastly expensive drug approval process, a process that pays for FDA salaries. We have said it before and we will say it again. Supplements cannot usually be patented. No non-patentable substance can be taken through a drug approval process that on average costs a billion dollars. If supplements are treated like drugs, there simply won’t be any supplements. The FDA knows this perfectly well.

The new draft guidance is written in the usual regulatory non-English, but buried within it are definitions of “new supplements” that will make more and more supplements subject to the new rules. The rules themselves are designed to make it harder and harder to market new supplements, all of which will need to submit notification to an agency that is fundamentally hostile to the supplement industry. Not only does each supplement require its own notification, a separate notification must be submitted by each company that offers it. Additionally, notification must be submitted again if the supplement is reformulated in any way or offered in combination
with any other supplement or ingredient. Based on what the FDA has done in the past, many more applications will be rejected than accepted and the cost of the whole process will be high.

The FDA is required to give us 90 days to comment on their proposed guidance. Our experts are busy analyzing the proposal in all its detail and we will report on it again and provide an Action Alert in our next newsletter right after the holiday. We already know this needs to be stopped. With your help we will do everything we can to change it. Your ability to use supplements not already documented as having been on the market under
the same exact name and formulation prior to 1994 will depend on it.

As we mentioned above, Sen. Durbin’s much-feared Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011 (S.1310) has been formally introduced in Congress. The language is not available online yet, but the draft procured by ANH-USA yesterday reaffirmed the analysis we sent you earlier this week. Look for our in-depth article and Action
Alert on S.1310 in our newsletter on Tuesday, July 5th!

The Alliance for Natural Health USA
1350 Connecticut Ave NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036
www.anh-usa.org

Seattle Nutritionist writes: The USDA unveiled its new food plate model to replace the food pyramid. It suggests to Americans that they fill half their plates with fruits and vegetables. The USDA’s new plate model could not be more at odds with federal food subsidies promote high fat, high calorie food products and grossly under-subsidize fruit and vegetable crops.

Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s icon and its recently released dietary guidelines ask Americans to limit their intake of sweeteners and fat- and cholesterol-heavy products, including meat and dairy, and to eat more fruits and vegetables. But more than 60 percent of agricultural subsidies in recent history have directly and indirectly (corn production for feed) supported meat and dairy production. Less than 1 percent goes to fruits and vegetables.

Angela Pifer – Certified Nutritionist

Offices in Bellevue, Woodinville and Seattle

“Moving Beyond Cancer to Wellness”

Saturday, June 18th, 2011

8:30a.m. to 3:00p.m.

At the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

For more information: www.fhcrc.org/survivorship

Laura A. James, ND, FABNO

Dr. Laura James will deliver the keynote speech to Team Survivor Northwest annual retreat at Fort Worden, Feb 4-6 “Complementary Treatments for Cancer.” This event is a weekend-long wellness program for cancer survivors.

Laura A. James, ND, FABNO

Event postponed due to weather. Dr. Laura James presents the latest information from the seventh International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology to help you navigate the confusing world of “alternative” care for cancer at Gilda’s Club Thursday, Feb 24th in Seattle. Free and open to the public. Please RSVP

Feeling adventuresome? A vegan challenge is like traveling to a foreign country. You’ll step out of your usual surroundings and learn to look at food differently as you begin to explore your world with a new perspective.

Created by local celebrity nutritionist Angela Pifer, whose videos and articles have been featured on MSN Health, Kashi.com and Livestrong.com – the 28 Day Online Vegan Challenge is being featured on Groupon for $49 (reg $249, $200 OFF!) TODAY!! Grab your friends, give this as a gift and you can breeze through the extra cookie, stuffing and wine frolicking with peace of mind. You’ll be doing something about it in 2011!

You must go to Groupon to purchase the deal!

This effective 4 Step Food Based Det0x Program offers you a practical way of ridding your body of toxins.You pick your start date! Group Programs start in 2011: February 15, April 15 and June 15:

Week One: Seven Day Prep!

• Each day you’ll be instructed to read a step in the 28 Day Vegan Challenge Manual.
• By completing a few simple actions during your 7 day pre-cleanse you’ll greatly increase your success in this program.

Week Two and Three: The Challenge is On!

• Experience and explore how good it feels to go vegan! 
• Get daily support through the member only website, personally led by Angela Pifer, which will provide you the motivation to cross the finish line!

Week Four: Veganism Meets Reality

• For many people veganism isn’t a lifelong reality. The goal here is to identify the aspects of the program that you love and learn how to combine old and new styles of eating to create a lifelong eating plan.

Seattle Nutritionist, Angela Pifer writes: How do you turn high fructose corn syrup into a healthy and fresh new harmless corn sugar? You rename it. The corn refiners recently launched a new campaign to rename the one single ‘food’ that Americans consume more than any other food calorie, high fructose corn syrup. With consumption of high fructose corn syrup at a twenty year low, the corn industry is looking for a hail Mary in an attempt to save its highly profitable ingredient (Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world’s top producers had 2009 revenues topping $69 billion).

Corn Sugar – doesn’t this sound harmless, unprocessed and natural? In fact the corn industry has already started marketing with this term by creating a new website and has commercials saying, “High fructose corn syrup HFCS — corn sugar — has been used in the food supply for more than forty years to make high fiber foods palatable, maintain freshness and enhance flavors in foods and beverages. Additionally, high fructose corn syrup keeps our foods affordable.” Audrae Erickson, president of the Washington-based group, says that the new name would help people understand the sweetener. Really?

I am not sure how renaming this product will help people better understand it. Instead the industry should take the time to educate people on the difference between HFCS and sugar. Both compounds contain two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. The difference between these two compounds is that sucrose is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. HFCS is made up of 55% fructose, 42% glucose and the remaining 3% are higher saccharides, larger sugar molecules. The fructose in HFCS is more easily absorbed and utilized because it is free and unbound (in sucrose, every fructose is bound to a glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized in the body). When fructose is quickly absorbed and metabolized, it is done independent of insulin. Though this may sound like a good thing, it is not. If insulin is not signaled and released then leptin is not signaled and released (a key signaling hormone that regulates food intake and body weight). When this signaling system is bypassed, the body will continue to crave food. Studies have shown that beverages with added sweeteners may enhance caloric overconsumption.

The industry should offer statistics on the amount of HFCS people consume and its availability:

• On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of HFCS per person per year.
• HFCS accounts for 40% of caloric sweeteners in the United States.
• The consumption of HFCS increased more than 1000% between 1970 and 1990, far exceeding the changes in intake of any other food or food group.
• The increased use of HFCS in the United States mirrors the rapid increase in obesity.

Instead of starting a new site and using the name corn sugar (prior to approval by the FDA) they should start a site that talks about recent studies published on HFCS. Until now, the majority of studies have been short term studies and the results have been mixed. A new study from Princeton researchers published in February 2010 looked at both short term and long term affects of HFCS on body weight, body fat and triglycerides. The study showed that over the course of 6-7 months mice that had 24 access to an 8% HFCS “drink” and mice chow gained significantly more body weight (specifically adipose fat in the abdominal region) and had elevated triglyceride levels. Previous studies from Princeton has firmly established that if you give rats access to a 10% table sugar “drink” in addition to their normal feed (mice chow), they do not gain additional fat. In other words, their bodies are able to metabolize the extra calories without creating more weight.

The take home message? Sucrose is not ‘better’ than HFCS, other than it is natural and we can metabolize it. If weight loss is your goal, keep all natural sugar intake to a minimum and remove every bit of HFCS from their diet. Limit the intake of natural sweeteners like honey, agave nectar and real maple syrup.

How to spot added sugar on food labels

Sugar is easy to spot on an ingredient label. Look for words ending in ‘ose’ (flucose, fructose, lactose), this indicates sugar. The following terms also indicate added sugar:

• white sugar
• brown sugar
• icing sugar
• invert sugar
• corn syrup
• high fructose corn syrup
• maple syrup
• honey
• molasses
• brown rice syrup
• cane juice
• evaporated cane juice
• all fruit juice concentrates, including apple and pear

Angela Pifer, CN Seattle Nutritionist

Seattle Weight Loss Programs – Get Results!

Seattle Nutritionist Angela Pifer writes:

If you have high cholesterol, chances are you were instructed to reduce your intake of total fat, specifically animal fats, from your diet, become more active and to work on weight loss. What you weren’t told is that you should also address your sugar intake. A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association looked at the blood profiles and sugar intake of more than 6,100 adults (whose demographics were representative of the American population). On average, study participants consumed 21.4 teaspoons of sugar a day (24 teaspoons equals ½ cup!). Those who took in more sugar had lower levels of HDL (‘good’) cholesterol and higher levels of triglycerides. It seems that the message is clear, added dietary sugar is connected with poor lipid profiles.

This is the first study to look at the connection between how much added sugars and ‘empty’ calories people consume and the effect on blood lipid profiles. Some factors for heart disease, like family history, cannot be changed. By identifying added dietary sugars as a contributor for a poor lipid profile people at risk can now begin to address what can be changed.

In addition, the study found that:

• On average, people consumed 10.6% more calories from sugar a day than they did in the 1970’s.
• The higher the intake of added sugar, the lower the person’s HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Participants consuming 10% of total calories from added sugar had three times the risk of having low HDL than someone who took in half that much sugar.
• Participants with a higher intake of added sugar tended to have higher triglyceride levels as well.
• **Women who took in more added sugar also had higher LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

How much Added Sugar is Too Much Sugar?

To make matters more confusing, medical and health organizations do not agree on a current recommendation. Depending on whom you ask the daily consumption of added sugars should fall below:

• 25% , according to the Institute of Medicine
• 10%, according to the World Health Organization
• 6% or 7%, according to the American Heart Association

The Type of Sugar Matters

Though it would seem that Americans are eating a lot more sugar now than they did forty years ago, they are not. Sugar calories are up just 10% over those consumed in the 1970’s. What is different is the type of sugar people are consuming. In the 1970’s people consumed on average 343 calories a day of refined cane and beet sugar and only 2 calories from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). High-fructose corn syrup has now risen to 41% of Americans total sugar intake. It is also the single most consumed caloric nutrient for the American Population.

The Cost of Calories

One of the reasons Americans are eating more calories from high-fructose corn syrup today than in the 1970’s is due to government incentives on corn production and tariffs on sugar. It is simply less expensive to produce HFCS than it is to produce cane or beet sugar.

A person might expect that added sugars, along with other food groups, have increased equally over time in response to inflation. That person would be wrong. The inflation-adjusted cost of added sugars has dropped by half since 1970. This change can be credited to the steep rise of low-cost ‘foods’ containing high-fructose corn syrup over the last thirty years.

Over the past forty years, the price of added sugars has dropped significantly more than the purchase price of each food group:

• Fruit sources: 30% increase
• Vegetable sources: Unchanged
• Grain sources: 29% decrease
• Dairy sources: 38% decrease
• Fat sources: 38% decrease
• Protein sources: 50% decrease
• Sugar sources: 50% decrease

What Can You do?

• Read nutrition labels and take note of how much added sugar you consume.
• Reduce or replace foods containing corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, cane or beet sugar or sucrose.
• Replace soda with water, sparkling water or mineral water.
• Choose whole foods whenever possible. Fruit is a perfectly healthy addition to your eating plan. Eat frequently across the day and incorporate into green salads and grain dishes.
• Be patient. As you move away from sugar added foods it will take some time for your taste receptors to lower for perceived sweetness. Whole foods may taste a little bland at first, but as your taste receptors begin to adjust you will be able to taste the sweetness in real whole foods.

Angela Pifer, MSN CN Seattle Nutritionist

Seattle Weight Loss Programs that Get Results!

Seattle Nutritionist Angela Pifer writes:

Participating in a Danskin Triathlon is an experience like you have never imagined. Thousands of women coming together to warm heartedly compete and cheer each other on. For registered participants, training plans are offered on the site. But how should you eat? Food is fuel and training for the Danskin Triathlon with the proper diet, eating the right food at the right times, will help you train and cross that finish line with a smile on your face.

Two things are of the utmost importance as you approach your event day. The first is that you have eaten enough carbohydrates (“carb loading”) to make it through the race. The second is that you have trained for at least two months with the sponsored beverage at the race. For example, if the race is sponsored by Gatorade and you have trained with a different sports drink or water, you may get a stomach ache by introducing a new beverage on event day. Check with Danskin to see who the sponsor is. You can decide from there if you will stock your changing stations with water or partake in the drink stations along the course.

Now let’s talk about your triathlon training diet and why it is important to fuel up with the right kind of food at the right time of day.

To eat or not to eat before an early morning workout is a question that is bounced around by many people across America. Some people just don’t have time to eat in reasonable proximity to their workout, but others deliberately go without food. One client told me she believed she’d burn more fat by exercising on an empty stomach. Her reasoning was that if no food was available for fuel, her body would tap into its fat reserves. As it turns out, if your goal is to maximize your workout and get (or maintain) a lean body, eating, not starving, is your best strategy.

How Food Fuels You. Although your body burns some stored fat when you exercise, its main fuel is carbohydrate that’s been stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen. When your glycogen stores are depleted, your body will indeed tap more of its fat reserves, just as my client anticipated, but at what price? Without readily available fuel, you’re not likely to feel too energetic. When you eat before exercise, whether it’s a large meal several hours in advance or a small snack only minutes ahead of time, you’ll have the extra energy you need for an effective workout.

Here’s the reason: Before carbohydrate is stored away in your muscles and liver as glycogen, it enters your bloodstream in the form of glucose (also called blood sugar), a readily available source of energy that helps perk you up when you’re feeling hungry and fatigued. If the glycogen stored in your muscles and liver is low, your body can rely on glucose for fuel; if you already have a fair amount of stored glycogen, your body will use the glucose as a secondary source of energy and spare the glycogen. This means that you have two sources of fuel as opposed to one, so you’ll have more endurance.

Something else you should consider is that the muscles and liver can only store so much glycogen. It’s important to “top off” your reserves fairly often, even if you haven’t been doing much. During a long night’s sleep, the body depletes as much as 80 percent of the glycogen stored in the liver. This is why eating a little something before you exercise in the morning can really help. Moreover, it doesn’t take long to deplete stored glycogen during exercise; this process will speed up when it is warm outside.

Here are Some Guidelines that will Help you Fuel Up Around Your Triathlon Training

2-3 Hours Before Event or Training

Food: Pre-Training Meal

Liquid: 2-3 Cups

1-2 Hours Before Event or Training

Food: Pre-Training Small Meal “if needed”

Liquid: ½ -1 Cup

1-0 Hours Before Event or Training

Food: Pre-Training Small Meal “if needed”

Liquid: ½ -1 Cup

Event

Food: Easily Digestible Food Only: Shot blocks, orange wedges, Raw Organic or Lara Bar, Juice/ water combination

Liquid: as needed…sip slowly during event

0-30 Minutes After Event or Training

Food: Post work-out Snack

Liquid: 2-3 cups

Pre-Training Snack:

Very light fare, only “if needed,” like fresh fruit, whole wheat crackers or whole wheat bread. To tell whether you might need a pre-workout snack or not, ask these questions:

Do I frequently run out of energy during training?

Do I have a quick metabolism…do I feel the need to eat small amounts of food often?

Do I often not eat enough food for my pre-training meal? For example, a bowl of cold cereal with milk at 10:00 won’t give you enough calories to sustain energy through your 1:00PM event.

Triathlon Diet – Easy to Digest Suggestions : 100% fruit juice, whole wheat bagel, bread or crackers, dried fruit, energy bar (Luna or Lara), fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, rice cakes, raisin bread, small smoothie or yogurt. Here is a snack list to help you pull together a healthy well balanced snack 75% carbohydrate: 25% protein (choose one from each column…the serving sizes listed are general guidelines and will change based on your individual caloric needs). Choose one food from each column below to create a healthy and tasty snack.

Pre-Training or Event Meal Plate:

45% grains, breads, pasta, potatoes

5% nuts, cheese, butter, olive oil

35% vegetables and fruits

15% beans, fish, chicken, meat, eggs

What if I train first thing in the morning?

If you train first thing in the morning, then have your pre-exercise meal the night before, have a healthy snack before you go to bed and then a snack in the morning. The morning snack is essential here…eat as early as possible, without interfering with your sleep schedule. At least 30 minutes before you train, preferably.

Post-Training Snack:

By eating here, muscle glycogen is synthesized three times faster than if a snack is not eaten here. This happens for two reasons. The first is that increased blood flow to the muscle cells brings more nutrients to make glycogen and the second is that muscle cells are more sensitive to the substances that transform nutrients into glycogen immediately after training.

To eat the proper triathlon training diet snack, aim for a ratio of 75% complex carbohydrates: 25% lean protein. Suggestions: ½ turkey, chicken or tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread or fruit, cheese and whole wheat crackers. Pita and hummus, gram crackers and peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat, rice cakes with spread, yogurt and fruit.

Hydration:

Are sports drinks necessary? No. You will get more nutrients by drinking water and eating an apple. Hydration is incredibly important…the focus should be on water. Hydration is not about being thirsty as much as it is about your body’s need to regulate its temperature, hydrate muscle cells and remove waste. Carry at least 1 liter of water to each practice or event and make it a habit of drinking consistently throughout the event. This will ensure you are well hydrated, ready to perform and ready to recover. Suggestions: diluted juice (8 oz of water to 2 oz juice), seltzer or 100 percent juice (sparingly).

Angela Pifer, MSN, CN Seattle Nutritionist

Seattle Nutrition Programs – Get the daily support that gets results! – Locally as well as nationally through Skype.