Whether it’s having friends over to watch the Super Bowl or making your sweetheart feel special on Valentine’s Day, there’s a tendency to equate good times and feeling good with unhealthy food choices. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Although we live in an imperfect world and our choices aren’t always going to be ideal, the truth is our health is the result of the sum total of all the choices we make every day. So why not plan healthier choices for these two events? Watching the Super Bowl can be a time when the excitement and aggressive energy of watching two teams compete translates into compulsively and mindlessly chomping through bowls of potato chips and other high-calorie/low-nutrient snacks. But although you may be identifying with the guys battling it out on the field, they’re the ones burning up the calories, not you! If you’re in charge of food for the group, limit the amount given to each guest and make it healthy. A good-sized bowl of cut up raw vegetables wi…

Nutrition experts at Tufts University say the average American consumes about 30 teaspoons of “added sugar” (that is, sugar not found naturally in food) a day. That’s a heck of a lot if you believe, as we do, that refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup are deadly metabolic poisons, and just 2 teaspoons of them throws your body into biochemical chaos for several hours. Or that honey and other natural sweeteners aren’t a whole lot better and should be used sparingly. Although the sugar industry keeps trying to convince the government and consumers that any form of sugar is safe in any amount, they’re fighting a losing battle. The science saying otherwise has become so overwhelming that even the conservative American Heart Association now agrees that added sugar is implicated in obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke. They recommend no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day for women and 9 for men. Last year, government Dietary Guidelin…

. . . it's a lot more than just empty calories For decades I've been calling refined sugar a deadly, metabolic poison that should be outlawed like cocaine or at least made a controlled substance like alcohol so that children will not be allowed to purchase products containing sugar. At long last someone in the medical establishment has come to the same conclusion! Dr. Robert Lustig is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine (one of the highest-rated medical schools in the country), where he also directs the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program. In May of 2009, he gave a 90-minute lecture that's still alive and well on YouTube called, "Sugar: The Bitter Truth." Last year at around this time, Gary Taubes reported in the New York Times that it had been viewed well over 800,000 times at a rate of about 50,000 a month. In this lecture, and in a new study written in collaboration with two colleagues at UCSF, L…

Although Americans need to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, the food gurus these days aren't pushing fruits as much as they once were. That's because more information has come out about fructose, the sugar in fruit. While fine in moderation, in excessive amounts, fructose can be toxic. That's why at Beyond Health, we've always recommended not exceeding more than two pieces of fruit a day. But one fruit the experts still recommend is berries, including strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries and raspberries. Why? Because no fruit offers so much nutritional value for the calories and fructose it delivers. Berries for Disease Prevention Berries are chock-full of phytonutrients (translation: nutrients in plants) that are some of the world's most powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Since oxidation and inflammation are fundamental processes in all disease, it's not surprising that scientists have been finding that berries help to prevent and curb every…

Gloria Swanson is known for playing the delusional Norma Desmond in the movie “Sunset Boulevard.” But in real life, she was a very sane and smart woman, and an early convert to the natural health movement. In the 1970s she toured the US helping her husband William Duffy to promote a book he authored that became a dietary classic, Sugar Blues. Sugar Blues is an indictment of refined sugar as a dangerous and addictive toxin with disastrous effects on the brain and mental health (both Linus Pauling and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, who agreed with Duffy about sugar, are cited in the book). Although Duffy’s book has had a significant impact on a health-conscious minority, sugar consumption continues to ravage the mental health of millions of Americans in minor and major ways. It has been linked with all kinds of mental distress, from depression to schizophrenia, while sugar and a high-glycemic diet have been linked specifically with depression. As noted in a recent Newsclips article,…

A friend of ours recently took an over-the-counter medication for intestinal gas. The results were amazing, and not in a good way. Although she got minor relief, it was followed by a splitting headache, and that night she had horrible, violent nightmares. While we were still musing about the power of what we ingest to affect the body-mind, we noticed the cover of the new issue of The Intelligent Optimist. It announcedan article within on “Why taking supplements leads to enlightenment.” While we’ve noticed being happier and more clear-minded since cleaning up our diet and adopting a program of high-quality supplements, we were especially intrigued that this article’s author is a modern-day shaman. While he has academic credentials, Alberto Villoldo, PhD, reports spending thirty years in the high Andes and the Amazon, training with master shamans. Yet, as we read his article, we found him recommending a similar diet and many of the same supplements Beyond Health recommends. Alth…

Like everyone else, children need water.  For one thing, the immune system functions best when well-hydrated. Mild dehydration in children can also cause constipation and behavior changes, for example acting tired, dizzy or slow to respond.Most kids do get enough; the problem is they’re getting it in the form of fruit juice, soft drinks, energy drinks and sports drinks – all high in sugar, and most containing additional toxins as well.Sweetened drink consumption is on the rise. Soft drinks are the single largest contributor of calorie intake in the US today. About 50% of the added sugars in our diets come from sodas, sports and energy drinks, coffee beverages and fruit juice. A recent article in Pediatrics noted that energy and sports drinks are being heavily marketed to children; that energy drinks are inappropriate because they contain stimulants; and that sugary sports drinks should be avoided because they contribute to obesity.Acknowledging that many kids today are hooked on f…

For years, Beyond Health has recommended limiting fruit consumption to two pieces of fruit per day and avoiding fruit juice altogether. Although fresh fruit is a good source of nutrients, it’s also high in sugar, and sugar, even from healthy sources, can be detrimental if you get too much of it. Although a diet high in fruits and vegetables is often recommended for lowering blood pressure, studies have found that high fruit consumption is not associated with lowered blood pressure and can even cause elevations in blood pressure. How would eating fruit lead to higher blood pressure? It’s the sugar in the fruit that’s the problem. Fruit contains two kinds of sugar—50% glucose and 50% fructose. And they each impact blood pressure. High fructose corn syrup is also composed primarily of glucose and fructose—42% glucose and 55% fructose. Under normal, healthy circumstances, if you eat a piece of fruit, the glucose will cause sugar levels in your blood to rise so…