Go Nuts with Healthful Pistachios

Attention snackers! Are you longing for some good news? One of our favorite healthy snack foods—pistachios—has fewer calories than we thought. Not by an enormous amount, mind you, but enough to afford us a moment or two of guiltless snacking.

For 100 years or so, the caloric value of foods has been calculated using something called the Atwater general factor system. You may not have heard of it by name, but you probably have heard its long-standing pronouncement that proteins and carbohydrates have four calories per gram and fat has nine calories per gram. Of course, many things aren’t as simple as they seem. And it turns out that not all fat is equal when it comes to counting calories.

A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND STUDY

Recent clinical studies had indicated that the fat in pistachio nuts is not well-absorbed by the body, but there hadn’t been a human study to prove it... until now. The US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service recently released the results of a meticulous study tracing the fate of pistachios in the human body. They found that about 6% of their fat calories pass right through us without being absorbed—meaning that pistachios effectively have fewer calories than we had thought.

For details about the study, our editors turned to David Baer, PhD, supervisory research physiologist with the Agricultural Research Service and the study’s lead author, who explained that the purpose of the study was to determine the legitimate calorie value of pistachios in an otherwise balanced diet. He gave us a very “inside” account of their research.

In the study, 16 healthy, nonsmoking men and woman, ages 29 to 64, all without gastrointestinal disorders, ate a consistent balanced diet of typical American food for three weeks. They ate all the food, and only the food, prepared for them by the research center. The participants were weighed each morning and their intake adjusted to keep their weight stable.

While all of this was going on, researchers gave each participant one of three different “doses” of pistachios to eat—0 grams (the control), 42 grams (about one and one-half ounces) and 84 grams (about three ounces) per day—as part of their diet. For the two pistachio diets, which resulted in increased daily intakes of fat and dietary fiber compared with the control, total carbohydrates were reduced—so that total calorie consumption remained at the level where subjects neither gained nor lost weight.

CALORIES IN—CALORIES OUT

Everything the participants ate was carefully weighed and chemically analyzed before it went in... and everything was just as carefully analyzed when it came out so that researchers could track the absorption of fat and nutrients in the body. Ingeniously, researchers gave participants a brilliant blue “marker capsule” by mouth to help them identify the beginning and end of the study. Once the blue was out of the body, researchers could be sure there was no more food coming out that should be monitored.

Because the weight, amount of fat and energy (calories) increased in the “end product” when pistachios were added to the diet, researchers concluded that less fat had been digested by the body, which meant that fewer calories than expected had been provided by the pistachios.

In addition, because the researchers found that the amount of dietary fiber consumed increased with the addition of pistachios, the fiber calories of the pistachios were also subtracted from the carbohydrate calorie count, further contributing to a lower calorie count.

In the end, the study found the actual measure of calories for pistachios is about 160 for a typical 30-gram serving (approximately 50 nut meats), instead of the generally accepted 170 calories, making it a nut with one of the lowest calorie counts.

While the study isn’t suggesting that we start to think of pistachios as a diet food, every little bit counts when it comes to calorie counting. Plus, although not planned as part of the study, blood samples analyzed after each protocol found that both amounts of pistachio nuts lowered LDL (bad) cholesterol by 6%.

Next up on the Agricultural Research Service’s nut-calorie-authentication research plan are almonds. We may get more good news.

//highenergyforlife.com

Can Filet Mignon Be Healthy?

Sure, some people love their vegetarian diet... but others just can’t imagine living life without steak, burgers and beef Bourguignonne. Maybe there’s no reason they should have to!

It’s definitely unhealthy to eat a lot of red meat... but just how unhealthy? It depends in part on how the beef is prepared and in part on something you may not have thought much about—what the cow ate on its way to becoming your dinner.

If you want to eat steak (or prime rib, beef stew or any other beef dish), it pays to be particular about what kind of beef you eat. Even your run-of-the-mill supermarket has lots of different alternatives you can choose from... not only a variety of cuts of beef with varying fat content, but also beef that is "antibiotic-free," "organic," "grass-fed" and even "free range." Are any of these truly healthier or just marketing gimmicks? It’s a fair question. Our editors turned for the answer to Jonny Bowden, CNS, a board-certified nutritionist based in Woodland Hills, California, and author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What You Should Eat and Why (FairWinds).

GRAIN IS JUNK FOOD FOR COWS

Believe it or not, the old saying, "You are what you eat," applies not only to people but also to cows. And to a cow, eating grass is the equivalent of eating natural, whole foods. Unfortunately, only a very few cows have that luxury. At this point, 100% grass-fed cows (also called "pasture-fed") constitute only about 1% of the nation’s beef sales, though the number is growing.

Instead, most cows eat grain, which is like junk food to them—and (just like with people) eating unhealthy food takes a toll. "Cows are meant to eat grass, not grain," said Bowden. Since grain is high in omega-6 fatty acids, cows raised on grain produce meat that is high in inflammatory omega-6 fats. Grass in pastures contains healthier omega-3 fatty acids in abundant amounts and that, too, is reflected in cows’ meat.

Related problem: While all cows start out eating grass, 75% are moved to commercial feedlots where they eat grain and live very short lives in confined quarters. Cows from factory farms (called "CAFOs," for "confined animal feeding operations") also are fed antibiotics (to prevent disease) and growth hormones and steroids (to make them very fat very quickly). The beef produced this way is laced with unhealthy drug residue that you don’t want to ingest, Bowden explained.

Grass-fed beef, however, is a whole different animal. Not only is it richer in omega-3s, but it also contains measurable amounts of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a healthful type of fat that is thought to help fight cancer. Several studies have demonstrated that grass-fed beef has more vitamin A and vitamin E than its grain-fed counterpart, not to mention antioxidants, such as glutathione and superoxide dismutase (SOD), that help fight cancer.

Grass-fed beef is also better for you because of what it does not have. Most grass-fed beef is antibiotic- and steroid-free. It’s also lower in unhealthy types of fat. For instance, a USDA study of one brand (Mesquite Organic Foods) found that their grass-fed ground beef was 65% lower in saturated fat than grain-fed beef, while their New York strip cut was 35% lower in saturated fat.

WHAT THE LABEL SAYS... AND DOESN’T SAY

Now that you know why grass-fed beef is healthier, you need to know exactly what you are looking for when you head out to buy your meat, since it’s not quite as clear-cut as you might guess. You’ll need to read the labels closely. Here’s how...

You want to buy beef that is labeled "100% Grass-Fed" or has the "American Grassfed" logo on its label— which indicates that the farmer meets standards set by the American Grassfed Association. You can find this kind of beef at high-end grocery stores such as Whole Foods.

Don’t be fooled into thinking buying "organic beef" necessarily solves the problem. It may merely mean that the cow was fed organic grain (meaning, essentially, pesticide-free grain), but cows shouldn’t be raised with any grain in their diets, explained Bowden.

A label that says "grass-fed" isn’t good enough either, believe it or not. Beef only needs to be 80% grass-fed to earn this label, and many so-called "grass-fed ranches" send their cattle to feedlots for the final weeks of life, where they are fattened up on corn (which may or may not be organic) and sometimes given growth hormones as well. So, look for that 100% grass-fed label.

IS IT WORTH THE PRICE?

Obviously, raising a 100% grass-fed animal is far more time-consuming and expensive than raising one on a feedlot farm... and, as you would expect, the price reflects that. This kind of beef can be 20% to 100% more expensive. I’m convinced that the health benefits alone are worth the extra cost. With some practice cooking these less-fatty cuts, you’ll appreciate the pure meaty flavor that comes through.

//highenergyforlife.com

MACA: The Super Food ...

MACA: The Super Food That Helps With Everything From Fatigue to Sex Drive

If you want to boost energy -- increase libido -- fight stress and reduce the risk for conditions such as diabetes or arthritis, then maca is for you.

In Peru, maca is a root vegetable that’s roasted or used in baking. Here in the US, this super food is available in supplement form and as a powder that you can blend into beverages or sprinkle on foods.

Find out what maca can do for you...

The root of the maca (Lepidium meyenii) is shaped like a large radish. It is a cousin to other cruciferous plants, such as cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. In addition to its healthful fiber, complex carbohydrates and protein, maca provides numerous minerals, including calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, iron, zinc, iodine and copper... vitamins B-1, B-2, C and E... nearly 20 amino acids, including linoleic acid, palmitic acid and oleic acid... as well as various plant sterols, which are natural cholesterol-lowering agents. All of these nutrients have been shown to promote health in a multitude of ways.

BOOST SEX DRIVE

Legend holds that in the era of the Incan empire, battle leaders provided maca to warriors to enhance their strength—then cut off the supply after the fighting ended to protect women from the warriors’ maca-heightened libidos.

Modern research has suggested that maca does indeed increase sex drive in men. One double-blind, randomized study published in the journal Andrologia examined the effect of maca on sexual desire in 57 men, ages 21 to 56. Participants took either placebos or 1,500 mg or 3,000 mg of maca daily. After four, eight and 12 weeks, they reported on their sex drive levels. Placebo users experienced no change in libido, while the men taking either quantity of maca reported heightened sexual desire starting at eight weeks and continuing throughout the study.

How it works: Maca’s libido-enhancing powers are attributed primarily to its amino acids and sterols, among other properties. Blood tests indicated that maca did not affect the men’s levels of the hormones testosterone or estradiol (a form of estrogen present in women and men). This is just one of maca’s virtues—it does not change hormone regulation in men.

A small study published in the Asian Journal of Andrology yielded some interesting results, indicating that maca also improves male fertility. Nine men, ages 24 to 44, received either 1,500 mg or 3,000 mg of maca per day. Compared with tests done at the outset of the study, semen analysis performed at the end of the four-month research period demonstrated that maca increased semen volume, sperm count and sperm motility at both dosage levels. Again, maca achieved these results by unknown mechanisms that were not related to increases in testosterone or other hormones.

SOOTHE MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS

For women, maca has a long-standing reputation for soothing menopausal symptoms. A study published in the International Journal of Biomedical Science details research at five sites in Poland, focusing on 124 women, ages 49 to 58, in the early stages of menopause. During the study, the women took varied combinations of either a placebo or 2,000 mg of maca every day. Results: Compared with placebo users, those taking maca experienced significant reductions—84% on average—in the frequency and severity of menopausal symptoms, particularly hot flashes and night sweats.

Bonus: In a substudy of the trial, researchers found that the women taking maca had a notable increase in bone density.

How it works: Blood tests showed that maca reduced follicle-stimulating hormone, which normally increases during menopause and is thought to be one cause of troublesome symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats. Study authors speculate that maca stimulates the regulatory mechanism responsible for optimizing ovarian function and estrogen secretion, significantly increasing the level of estradiol in a woman’s body.

It appears, then, that maca offers a safe and effective way to reduce menopausal symptoms—and it is unlikely to increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer, heart disease and stroke, as can non-bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

We don’t know this for certain, but the fact that breast cancer is not among the leading causes of death in Peruvian women, despite a diet rich in maca, supports the assumption. In addition, increases in estradiol as a result of taking maca supplements may be safer than adding a hormone to a woman’s system because maca appears to stimulate the body’s natural estrogen production.

FIGHT STRESS AND DISEASE

Any kind of stress—from work, personal problems, illness, injury, toxins, hormonal imbalances or any other source—can negatively affect how our bodies function. Maca is what holistic doctors call an adaptogen, a plant or herb that boosts the body’s ability to resist, deal with and recover from emotional and physical stress.

Practitioners of traditional medicine from China and India have known about and made use of adaptogens for centuries, though the term itself was not coined until the middle of the 20th century. Well-known adaptogens include the herbs ashwagandha, ginseng, rhodiola and licorice root, all of which I have prescribed to my patients with much success over the years.

How it works: To be classified as an adaptogen, a natural substance must meet specific criteria. It must be nontoxic... normalize levels of chemicals raised during periods of stress... and produce physical, chemical and/or biological responses that increase the body’s resistance to stress.
Although all adaptogenic plants contain antioxidants, researchers do not believe that antioxidants alone account for adaptogens’ normalizing powers. Rather, it is thought that a variety of phytochemicals helps balance the dozens of endocrine, digestive and neural hormones that operate throughout the body—including insulin (which regulates blood sugar levels) and dopamine (which enhances and stabilizes mood). Many adaptogens also stimulate immune system components, leading to better immune function.

MORE OF MACA’S SUPERPOWERS

In addition to its documented beneficial effects on the human reproductive system, laboratory tests and animal studies suggest that maca may reduce the risk for...

• Arthritis—by promoting cartilage growth.
• Blood toxicity—by improving liver function.
• Diabetes—by allowing for better control over blood sugar levels and body weight.
• Digestive health—by combating ulcers.
• Fatigue—by increasing energy and endurance.
• Heart disease—by lowering levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides (a type of blood fat).
• Infertility—by stimulating production of estrogen and other hormones in women and boosting sperm count in men.
• Memory and mood—by enhancing certain brain chemicals.
• Osteoporosis—by increasing bone density.
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)—by regulating hormone levels.
• Prostate problems—by reducing prostate enlargement.

 

THE SAFEST WAY TO START

Maca generally appears to be safe, given its long history of use by Peruvians... but there are a few guidelines to bear in mind. Women who take estrogen to ease menopausal symptoms should talk to their doctors about using maca. They may be able to wean off hormone therapy or at least lower the estrogen dosage under a doctor’s supervision.

Breast cancer patients taking tamoxifen or other estrogen blockers and women who have had breast cancer must not use maca, because it raises estrogen levels. Women in a family with a strong history of breast cancer should discuss maca use with their doctors first. People who take thyroid medication should be monitored by their doctors because maca may increase thyroid activity. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should not take maca, as a general precaution.

Since its long-term effects have not been scientifically studied, I recommend taking a break from maca now and then in order to give the body’s cell receptors a break from any hormone stimulation. People who want to try maca to see if it is a "super food" for them should take supplements for three months (six months for women with severe menopausal symptoms), then stop using maca for one or two weeks. They may then continue this regimen as needed for symptom relief.

HOW TO GET YOUR MACA

Maca is available in supplement and powder form. The average dose of maca supplements is 1,000 mg to 2,000 mg daily—which you can take with or without food at any time of day.

Or you can get your maca by adding powder to your favorite foods and drinks. It has a slightly nutty flavor, so you may enjoy mixing it with almond milk. Other ways to incorporate maca into your diet...

• Sprinkle on cereal (hot or cold).
• Mix into your favorite smoothie or protein shake.
• Add to yogurt or applesauce, perhaps with a little cinnamon.
• Stir into tea—especially chai blends, as the flavors complement each other.
• Use in baking—substitute maca powder for one-quarter of the flour in any recipe (no more, or it might affect texture or consistency).

I recommend organically grown maca products from Natural Health International, or NHI (888-668-3661, www.NaturalHi.com, available online or through naturopathic doctors). The company sells a blend for women called Femenessence MacaPause (the same blend used in the study of Polish women, who experienced significant improvement in their menopausal symptoms) and another for men, Revolution Macalibrium, formulated to enhance energy and vitality in men as they age.
Cost: $35 to $38 for 120 capsules of 500 mg each. The powder costs about $17/pound and is available online from www.MacaWeb.com, www.SuperOrganicFoods.com and www.IHerb.com.
Be aware: Maca powder has a high fiber content and may initially cause gassiness. I suggest beginning with one teaspoon daily, then gradually increasing your intake by one teaspoon every five days until you find your comfort zone. The optimum dosage is three to six teaspoons daily.

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Mark A. Stengler, NMD, is a naturopathic medical doctor and leading authority on the practice of alternative and integrated medicine. Dr. Stengler is author of the Bottom Line Natural Healing newsletter, author of The Natural Physician’s Healing Therapies (Bottom Line Books), founder and medical director of the Stengler Center for Integrative Medicine in Encinitas, California, and adjunct associate clinical professor at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. www.DrStengler.com

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