Category: Health

Health Trends are Confusing and Frustrating

On By Trisha BarnesIn Health2 Comments

Health trends grab our attention, make us at least consider changing to follow what is recommended.

But there are always reversals …

i.e., one day it’s bad to drink coffee, the next – we’re told it has many benefits.

It is like you are just *tossing the dice* in a game where the rules keep changing.

It’s confusing and frustrating, especially after you followed a *trend*, changed your eating habits, only to learn years later the narrative has changed.  

Maybe you, like Bruce and I, have experienced the following *trends* over the years:

Low Fat/Fat Free

We’ve been *sold* for decades on eliminating fat from our diets. Thus, the low-fat, fat-free trend exploded as the medical field directed us to change what we ate.

My mom changed their diet when dad suffered a heart attack.
She followed the doctor’s strong advice …
strictly cooking only chicken breasts and ground turkey in place of beef.  
No more full-fat products for dad.

Now, there is new research that proves eating good fat is best for your health.

Funny thing … my dad’s heart health never improved by this strict diet.
His cholesterol and blood pressure remained high.
Over the following years, he had open heart surgery, stents put in, carotid artery surgery.

Sugar-Free/Artificial Sweeteners

The sugar-free trend has been a die-hard trend for years. We were easily sold on switching to diet drinks, thinking it will save calories. It made sense … even gave you a sense of relief and accomplishment while battling extra weight.

I bought into diet drinks in my past life.
It’s crazy remembering how I’d drink a diet soda while eating a Snickers bar.
(Of course, I didn’t lose any weight!)

Replacement sweeteners are exponentially more harmful than plain ol’ sugar. (More information found at the end of this blog post.)

Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are all the rage now and are being consumed in astonishing amounts. US energy drink sales shot up to $3.7 billion in 2020.

42.35% of Americans aged between 30 and 49 consume energy drinks on a regular basis, ignoring the facts about harmful effects including:

heart trouble, insomnia, anxiety, high blood pressure, infertility to name a few.

The Latest/Greatest Diet

And then, there’s the slew of the latest, greatest diet that will knock the pounds off. Recognize any of these diets? Have you done any of these over the years?

  • Grapefruit Diet
  • SlimFast
  • Scarsdale Diet
  • Cabbage Soup Diet
  • Beverly Hill Diet
  • Jenny Craig
  • Subway Diet
  • Atkins Diet
  • South Beach Diet
  • Nutrisystem Diet
  • Juicing
  • Gluten Free Diet
  • Paleo Diet
  • Whole30 Diet
  • Keto Diet
  • Mediterranean Diet

I followed/suffered many of these diet trends through the years of trying to lose weight …
The Grapefruit Diet (I decided I’d rather NOT eat than do this.)
The Cabbage Soup Diet (lasted about a week.)
The Atkins Diet. (I DID lose 50 pounds on the Atkins diet – and kept it off,
Now I eat low-carb/high protein/no sugar
with a higher regard for choosing healthier products.)

Supplements/Vitamins

Adding to the confusion is the volume of *healthy* supplements which is a growing market worldwide. The global dietary supplements market size was valued at USD 151.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% from 2022 to 2030.

Because of this prosperous growth and the hurry to get to market, many of the supplements are produced by companies taking shortcuts which greatly alter the quality and purity of the product.

In my next blog post, I’ll share what supplements and vitamins we take – and why.

Organic/Cage-Free/No GMO/Grass-Fed

Bruce and I THOUGHT we were doing great by changing our diet to organic products and grass-fed beef.
Yeah, with more research, we’ve learned it’s not so great. There is a rising trend for these products, BUT what you don’t know can harm you. There is a lot of wiggle room that allows such labels. 

I go more into this in my recent blog post.

How can you navigate the *trends* – how can you discern and choose what is best for your health?

  1. Do Your Own Research
    That is what Bruce and I have been doing for years as we seek ways to improve our health, especially since we’re older and intend to live out our remaining years with vitality. The more we learned, the more we chose to make drastic changes to how we eat, how we live.
  2. Discern What’s Best for You Right Now
    Once you dive into the research for restoring and improving your health, you’ll fall down a rabbit hole of massive information overload. You can and will need to discern and choose what is best for you right now – what your body needs first.
  3. Choose The Best Quality
    Not all vitamins and supplements are produced by the highest standards. (It’s a huge profitable market, so of course, there will be brands that skip certification of ingredients, toxicity, contamination to get to market quickly.) I repeat … do your research.

In my next blog post, I’ll share how we eat and live to give you some ideas. We call it de-toxic-fying.

Right now, I’m wondering who among all our readers is a Health-Seeker?

I’d love to hear from you, learn what you are doing to strengthen and restore your health.

Here’s to YOUR health,

Trisha and Bruce

RECOMMENDED READING:

Fats: Why Healthy Dietary Fat Is Crucial   

Is Fat Good for You? Everything You Need to Know About Dietary Fats

Just How Bad is Diet Soda for You?

What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Artificial Sweeteners

12 Dangerous Side Effects of Energy Drinks, According to Science

Your Sweet Tooth is Killing You

On By Trisha BarnesIn Health6 Comments

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Health Warning: Your Sweet Tooth is Killing You

I was raised on country sunshine … and sugar.

Every meal we had included sugar laden dishes and our meals regularly were capped of with the grand finale’ – desert!

Heck, my grandmother even made me sugar sandwiches when I visited her.

I became a sugar addict early on.

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I learned from both my grandmothers and my mom how to make pies,
cinnamon rolls, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, cheesecakes … there wasn’t a
desert recipe that I wouldn’t try, both to create and consume.

I served these delicious creations to my family, my friends and neighbors,
as well as devouring them myself …

for years and years and years.

It wasn’t within my scope of understanding then that I was actually poisoning
those I loved …

that I was feeding an addiction similar to a cocaine addiction.    

Sugar has been a mainstay in our diets for generations. But it has finally
become a serious factor regarding our health – one that can’t be denied or
ignored any longer.

In spite of eliminating salt and fat from our diets as directed over the past
several decades,  if you look around and listen to people expound on their
ailments, their medications, their diets …

it is apparent that we have not made great strides in getting healthier. 

We’ve been duped as we’ve accepted and followed the recommended
fat-free diet route.

New studies are finding that it isn’t fat
that is causing heart disease – it’s sugar.

 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that the average American
consumes between 150 to 170 pounds of refined sugars in one year!

It didn’t use to be this way. During the early-1800s, the average intake of sugar was only
about 4-6 pounds per person per year.

But now, we have an epidemic.

And research is proving that sugar consumption is a major contributing factor in many
diseases that are the leading causes of death:

  • Adult obesity
    More than one-third (36.5%) of U.S. adults have obesity.
  • Childhood obesity
    has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents
    in the past 30 years.
  • Heart disease
    The first leading cause of death. About 610,000 Americans die
    from heart disease each year—that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.
  • Cancer
    It’s the second leading cause of death worldwide.
    In 2012, more than 14 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed around the world.
    That number is expected to reach 19 million by 2025. Today, more than twice as many
    people die from cancer than from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
  • Diabetes
    More than 29 million Americans are living with diabetes, and 86 million are living
    with prediabetes, a serious health condition that increases a person’s risk of type 2
    diabetes and other chronic diseases.
  • Alzheimer’s
    This is the most common cause of dementia among older adults. It is the fifth leading
    cause of death for adults aged 65 years and older, and the sixth leading cause of death
    for all adults.

Those diseases are the ones that get your attention, the ones that drastically impact your life
and the lives of your friends and family.

But sugar consumption also impairs the body in these areas:

  • allergies

  • arthritis

  • behavioral problems

  • degenerative/organ disease

  • depression

  • immune disruption

  • migraines

  • mental illness

  • tooth decay

Plus, sugar consumption contributes to aging skin; i.e., wrinkles.
Sugar hastens the degradation of elastin and collagen, both key skin proteins.

This should be a huge wake-up call to all of us.

Your sweet tooth is killing you.

It’s time to face the facts and do an about face regarding sugar.

It may feel like information overload right now after reading all the statistics shared
above, but there’s more to understand about sugar, to help you begin to beat this
terrible addiction.

We all know that deserts are full of sugar. But, it is found in 74% of packaged food
sold in grocery stores, not just the deserts.

Start looking at the ingredients of all the packaged food items you purchase, including
the ones that are labeled as healthy, all natural products.

I was just in the grocery store today and picked up a can of chicken broth. Did it contain
sugar? Oh yes, indeed. Even chicken broth, which I used to drink when on one of my
past calorie-restricted, harebrained diets … even chicken broth has sugar.

It’s endless … there is sugar in ketchup, seasoning packets, gravy mixes, spaghetti sauces,
pork roasts,chili beans, almond milk, peanut butter, yogurt, and on and on it goes. Read
the labels – you’ll see.

But, be aware that sugar has many aliases. Just because sugar isn’t named as “sugar”
in the ingredients, you’ll find it disguised under other names as shown in the image below.

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The World Health Organization recommends that you consume no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day. One teaspoon of granulated sugar equals 4 grams of sugar. Do the math.

A 12-ounce can of regular Coke contains 39 grams of total sugar, which is about 9 1/3 teaspoons of sugar. Just one glass of that ice cold, fizzing and bubbling drink puts you over the recommened limit. One glass feeds the sugar addiction quite easily.

Once again, you’ll need to learn the multitude of names for sugar that are listed on food and drink lables.
Coke’s ingredient label doesn’t list sugar. Coke in the United States is made with high fructose corn syrup
as a lower-cost sugar alternative. High fructose corn syrup is actually the second ingredient in Coke, behind carbonated water.  

Thinking you’ll just need to give up those Krispy Kreme doughnuts and you’ll be healthier? 

It will surprise you to know that many foods which would seem like a healthy alternative contain a lot more
sugar than that yummy, hot-out-of-the-grease doughnut.

  • A 6 ounce service of Yoplait Original–like many naturally sweetened yogurts–contains over twice the sugar of a Krispy Kreme doughnut. 
  • A bottle of Vitamin Water, despite its healthy-sounding name, contains 33 grams of sugar per 20 ounce bottle, or 3.3 Krispy Kremes.
  • An 8oz serving of Tropicana orange juice clocks in at over twice the sugar of a Krispy Kreme with 22 grams.

Clearly, your sweet tooth is killing you and while you may have been unaware of the addictive nature of sugar until now,

it’s time to break this addiction. 

Break your addiction to sugar – The Naked Hippies Way:

 

 

There are endless helpful articles and suggestions for breaking your addiction to sugar. It all comes down to this …


you have to make the choice to break the addiction.  Remember it is not a moral failing or lack of willpower. You became addicted long before you had the ability to say no to sugar.

What happens when a child falls and scrapes his knee, or gets upset over something? A loving adult hands him a cookie to ease his pain.

What is the highlight of a birthday celebration? A cake – right? — loaded with sugar, icing dripping
with sugar, decorated with sugar candies and sprinkles and flourishes. How about celebrating anything now?

Don’t we usually decide to feast on a decadent desert as part of the celebration. Or how about all the times we reach for a sweet treat when we feel the need to be comforted in a given situation? 

We were programmed and addicted from the very beginning and we have continued to feed this addiction throughout our adult lives.

The first step to recovery is admitting the addiction and it is my hope that the information I’ve shared will help you realize it’s time to change, it’s time for rehab. But you don’t need to check in to a rehab facility. You can do this from where you are right now, beginning today. 

Eliminating sugar in our diet is one of The Naked Hippies Way for health and I’ll be sharing more about all our dietary changes in future articles.

The following is what Bruce and I have done to kick
the sugar addiction we both had. 

 

Eliminate sugar and artificial sweeteners.
Go cold turkey. If you are addicted to narcotics or alcohol, it doesn’t work to
just cut down. You have to totally QUIT consuming the addictive product,
quit feeding the addition. Refined sugars, sodas, fruit juices, and artificial
sweeteners are all drugs that will fuel those sweet-tooth cravings.

Substitute sugar and artificial sweeteners with fresh fruit.
It may be easier to grab a chocolate chip cookie when you’re feeling
that sweet tooth calling, but a fresh fruit smoothie, or a bowl of fresh
fruit will satisfy the craving just as well. I freeze bananas and blend them
for a yummy frozen pseudo ice cream. 

Learn your food triggers. 
Sometimes, you are truly hungry and your body signals it’s time to eat.
But not all hunger signals are true hunger. Actually, more often, you are triggered
to eat because you are stressed. Or that you are dehydrated and need to drink more
water. 

The next time you begin to crave something sweet or even just something to eat,
drink a glass of water and wait twenty minutes. Many times, the water is all your
body needs.

When you feel stressed, learn to de-stress in whatever way works for you. Some
use meditation. Some exercise. Some do like I do – get out for a walk in nature.
Find something that helps you let go, relax and release that need for a sugar “fix.”

Bruce and I live by this mantra: eat to live, don’t live to eat. That’s The Naked Hippies
Way.

We have made many changes in our eating habits and diet over the past several months.
Eliminating sugar is just one of them. Do we follow a strict diet of absolutely no sugar
whatsoever? No. We have treats every now and then. The big difference is that sugar
is no longer in our daily diet. It’s an occasional fun treat instead of a staple in our
daily eating habits.

Are you addicted to sugar? Do you now understand how your sweet tooth is killing you?

What’s your plan to break this addiction?

Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear!

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Love and light,

Trisha Barnes

text:  573-881-6715
FB: trishajbarnes

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Read the label on Aquafina – before you assume

On By Trisha BarnesIn Health6 Comments

Since 2007, the news that Aquafina bottled water is just purified tap water has been reported. Just this past week, another website blasted the news again as if it were new and alluded that we’ve been duped by PepsiCo into thinking we were drinking mountain fresh spring water.

And everyone gets riled up and raises their fists against the trickster PepsiCo who has mislead them.

But, the reality is, no one reads the labels. Everyone just assumes.

Aquafina’s label features a mountain graphic. There are no words that state the water you are drinking is from a fresh mountain spring. In fact, the label, in 2007, under pressure from consumer groups, was changed from indicating the water came from P.W.S. to a spelled out explanation – public water source.

The Aquafina label has always clearly said “purified” water … never said “spring” water.

Visit the Aquafina website and you will learn about the purification process they use.

If consumers had bothered to read the label instead of assuming, would there be such an uproar?

Aquafina never labeled its water as mountain spring water. Did you read the label?

It seems to me the rants against bottled water like Aquafina are unwarranted. There is clearly a lack of consumers taking the initiative to read the label to find out more, especially if they were seriously concerned about the quality of water they were drinking.

Clearly, the bottle water industry is huge. Its convenience has contributed to massive growth in sales but, sadly, it has also contributed to a massive amount of trash that accumulating.

Instead of being angry at a company that is giving consumers what they are in the habit of purchasing, we should be angry at what our bottled water habit is doing to our planet, wildlife and even our own health. Angry enough to change what we do.

Eighty percent of the water bottles we buy end up in landfills, the absolute worst place for them to be. That means roughly for every 10 bottles we drink, only two end up in the recycle bin. [Source]

More alarming is the impact of this plastic trash on the environment and the wildlife as it accumulates in our oceans.

I don’t get upset at Aquafina’s marketing, but I do cringe when I read the statistics of production and consumption costs of bottled water:

The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400. [Source]

So, while some are ranting about Aquafina’s so called misleading marketing, I’m going to focus on what each one of us can do to stop trashing this beautiful planet.

I believe that instead of opting for the convenience, we must decide to change our habits. We have the information available to give us the reasons to do so. It’s not just about the environment and the wildlife, it’s about your health and your family’s health:

Most water bottles are made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), a clear plastic derived from oil. PET is made with a cocktail of cancer-causing substances, including benzene and arsenic. These chemicals can leach into the water, especially if it is stored for a long time or gets direct sunlight on it.

PET can disrupt the functioning of the endocrine system. The communities in which PET bottles are produced report skyrocketing numbers of cancer from the air and water pollution created by manufacturing these bottles. [Source]

My plan to change my habits?

  1. Stop buying bottled water  (it’s going to be quite a change since we are living fulltime in our camper)
  2. Purchase Nalgene bottles to use and refill
  3. Never litter
  4. Pick up other’s careless litter
  5. Invest in a Nikkon home water purifier
  6. Drink more water!

What will you do now?