This is really bad news for the 30 year old generation.  Because of eating habits, lack of exercise, lack of sleep and other unhealthy habits you will not live as long as your parents.  So if your parents die in their 80′s you will die in your 70′s.  The newest research is showing men in their 30′s to be much more overweight than previous generations.  Women in their 30′s are more likely to be obese more than their parents.  Your blood pressure is higher than your parents at 30.  The “metabolic health” of the 30′s generation has, for the first time in decades, degenerated.  This 30′s generation should be called the “Sugar Generation”.  Sugar is in everything that is ingested in this generation from the hamburger at the fast food restaurant to the latte from the coffee stand.  Lack of vegetables, fresh fruit and other healthy eating choices are one of the main reason this is happening.  Home cooking seems to be a thing of the past.  Even foods that are frozen come  with sugar in the ingredients.   Everything from fries, pasta,pizza and vegetables have some form of sugar or corn syrup in the ingredients.   People are not exercising enough to overcome the huge amount of carbohydrates consumed.  The body structure of 30 year old’s is changing.  For the first time in generations it is considered normal to have a beer belly in your 30′s instead of your 50′s.  For young women 30 and younger, many have their bellies are hanging over their jeans. Is it any wonder this is happening.  How long to you want to live?

” Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon”.    Doug Larson

I have my first Youtube video on gluten-free cooking.  You will be able to access it on http://youtu.be/wKDdMyoX4U .  The recipe and the cooking video is about cornbread.  It is an easy recipe and I think you will like the results.  However, sometimes I cannot stop myself from fiddling with a recipe.  On this recipe you will see that the recipe call for 1/4 teaspoon baking powder while on the video I say 3/4 teaspoon.  I was hoping that the cornbread would rise a little more with the change, but it did not.  So both amounts work and I will TRY to stop fiddling with my recipes.

Now I need suggestions on recipes that people would like to see done on Youtube.  Do you have a recipe that uses regular flour and you would like me to change to gluten-free flours?  A note on one flour item that I have not found an easy recipe change from regular flour to gluten-free flour.  That is” breads with crusts”.   A great deal of work needs to be done on gluten-free breads.  So far with the commercial products “Against the Grains” seems to be the best bread.  I am hoping for more and I am working on recipes, but none that I absolutely love,

In the past 30 years the population as a whole is consuming less whole foods such as: vegetables, fruit, whole grains,fish, dairy products,and lean meats.  Instead they are consuming processed meats, sweetened desserts, refined grains, fried foods and sodas.  People on the whole are eating more unhealthy foods.  Meats, vegetables, and dairy products are being replaced by processed food in the food budget.  Less money is being spent on grocery items and more money is spent at fast food restaurants and take-outs.  Soda drinks, energy drinks and other processed drinks consumption has more than doubled in the last decade.  These drinks and processed foods has caused a dramatic increase in weight gain throughout the country.

The newest research shows the new trend in eating has far-reaching results.  First Americans and Europeans are experiencing the expanding waist-line.  With the weight change comes the diseases associated with weight gain: diabetes and obesity.  One of the most recent research shows approximately 50% decrease daily energy after ingesting processed foods.  This again works with weight gain.  Another study showed how food high in protein caused individuals to feel “full” faster than food containing other ingredients.  Lastly, the study I liked the least was the one that linked high processed food intake to depression.  The more often we eat at a fast food establishment the higher risk we have becoming depressed.  So before you decide on whether you are cooking tonight or doing “fast food”, ask yourself : “Do I want to give my family healthy food or do I want to increase their chances for diabetes, obesity, low energy, and depression.  Your choice!

Normally Autism is diagnosed between 2 and 3 years of age.  Recent research, one as recent as 2 weeks ago, has detected deficits in social attention in infants as young as 6 months.  The findings showed these infants paid less attention to people and activities around them than normal babies.  The researchers suggests that early diagnosis can lead to early intervention.  The studies centered on “visual attention”, “joint attention behaviors”, and “eye direction”.  These factors were tested on “high risk” babies.  Later these “high risk” infants did in fact develop Autism.   Another recent study found the brains of autistic infants were different in early stages of brain development.  Again the time frame was 6 months.  Hopefully these and other research studies will help to stem the rising cases of Autism.  Until that time be very careful what you feed your infants.  Remember in previous blogs I mention that the BBB (Brain Blood Barrier) is very fragile in certain individuals during development of the brain.  Do not give your infants anything that is listed as the 8 items causing food allergies. Food allergies can effect everyone differently. Some will go directly to the brain. Let’s be safe!

Lately, researchers have been finding the association between sugar and mental illness.  Two recent studies, one in England and the other in the United States, are showing specific correlations between sugar and brain disfunction.  The first study in 2009 showed that sugar will stop the activity of a growth hormone in the brain called BDNF.  It further showed that sugar will promote chronic inflammation throughout the body.  Chronic inflammation will disrupt your immune system and promotes such diseases as: heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, obesity, and cancer.  In the brain it can promote depression, autism, schizophrenia and other brain disfunctions.  The second study in 2012, found a diet high in saturated fats and refined sugars causes the hippocampus of the brain to be unable to suppress unwanted thoughts- such as the need for high-calorie foods.  Individuals with these thoughts and needs find themselves later in life with obesity and diabetes 2.  Anyone with diabetes 2 has twice the likehood  of getting Alzeheimers disease and/or dementia.  I do not consider this a good reward for eating donuts, fried food, and processed food.

Unfortunately, in the United States, the population is not paying attention.  Consumption of processed foods and fast foods with high sugar content is increasing.  A new report on mental illness on adults concludes that one in 5 Americans aged 18 or older, had mental illness in the last year.  That number added up to 11.5 million adults with a serious mental illness last year.  With that many people with mental illness, is it any wonder that our society is in serious trouble.

For years researchers have recognized the connection between the gastrointestinal involvement with neurological diseases.  Sadly the medical profession, as a whole, has paid little attention to this research.  As an embryo the brain tissue and the intestinal tissue are the same.  As the fetus develops the tissue differenciate into two separate systems.  However, the two systems are connected by the vagus nerve thereby connecting your brain to your stomach.  The brain and the stomach can work together resulting in one system affecting the other system.  Here is how it works:  if you are worried about something your stomach can become upset.  Or if you have a stomach or intestinal problem and you do not do anything about it, the stomach can become premeable and allow toxins to escape into the blood system.  Those toxins in certain individuals can pass the BBB (Blood Brain Barrier) and promote depression. Alzheimer’s disease, Autism, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses.  Children under 2 years old, are especially at risk with BBB.  They should NEVER be feed gluten or other toxic foods before the age of 2 to 3 years.  Their brains and stomachs are still developing.  Remember Autism starts showing up at around 2 years old.  This is a very important time in children’s life.

On reason wheat may cause mental illness and other diseases is the the suppresion of the substance serotonin by wheat.  Both the brain and stomach need sertonin to work properly.  Studies are showing scary results on rats that were deprived of serotonin in infancy.  Those rats lost the ability to learn or memorize- Permanently.  Please think before you give an infant or toddler wheat.

Many of us are aware of the Gastro-intestinal effects of Gluten.  However, less are aware of the other 35 symptoms of gluten toxin effect on individuals.  One discussed rarely is its effect on the brain.  Studies have shown the due to the permeability of the intestine in gluten sensitive individuals, many toxins and peptides can be released into the blood stream and in suseptable individuals pass through the blood brain barrier (BBB) into the brain.  Certain toxins such as Gliadin, Gliadomorpin (an opioid peptide) and enzyme inhibitors can result from the ingestion of the gluten protein.  It is more prevalent due to the mutated enhanced gluten found in our daily bread.  The neurotoxicity that can result in some individuals may lead, according to research, to many neurological and psychiatric conditions.  Examples of such conditions are: Schizophrenia, Autism, ADD/ADHD (hyperactivity), Bipolar Disorder, Alzheimer’s,and depression.

According to studies, clinical symptoms of gluten sensitivity and some psychiatric conditions bear a very close resemblance.  Gluten sensitive individuals are classically thin and a protruding stomach.  They have frequent and painful diarrhea.  Their facial expression is gaunt and drawn suggesting depression or mood disorder.  Coincidentally a face like that has been plaster all over the news lately because of his mental condition.  Is there a connection? In the recent months we have had two young adults commit heinous crimes against society.  The mental illness concern is being ignored by Congress.  The fact that these individuals both were the same age, both very smart but had mood swings and were anti-social is not being addressed.  Is there a food connection?  Were these individuals poisoning themselves and their brains with the processed food they were ingesting.  Are there more of these young aggressive unstable adults running around?

While most of my blog are more informative in nature; this one is a little more personal.  Both my parents had osteoarthritis in their hands.  Dad’s hand were more inflamed and Mom’s showed more bone growths on her joints of her hands.  Both started complaining about their hands in their 50′s.  They tried everything that was suggested in their time.  Nothing worked.  They both followed very healthy diets with low alcohol intake.  Still their arthritis persisted.  As for me, my arthritis started  in my late forties,16 years after my last baby.  The same years span happen to my youngest sister, while the middle sister started in her thirties( she had no children).  Research is now showing that hormones protect against arthritis whether is slows down the disease or delays the triggers that start the disease.  Most research show women that are pregnant have no signs of arthritis in their blood.  So the question can be asked: do we use hormones to protect against the threat of arthritis but then take the risk of cancer?

One aspect that has not been studied until lately is diet.  A few studies are looking at the added gluten in our flour and coming up with the idea that perhaps more diseases have more inflammation due to the enhanced gluten in our flour of today.  So my doctor asked me to give up wheat and gluten.  Realize that I wrote two books about it, but did not have the GI tract symptoms my husband and sons did.  So while I cooked at home gluten-free, when I was a work or with friends I ate gluten.  To prepare myself for the change, I started baking gluten-free: cornbread, banana bread, and pumpkin bread. None of these recipes are in my book, but do not worry I will soon be on Utube with the recipes and helpful hints.  Anyways, I had my breads with my yogurt or egg in the morning.  I had gluten-free baguettes for sandwiches which were really tasty, and gluten-free dinners.  A few interesting things changed.  The first change was within two weeks I could get my rings back on my fingers.  My massage therapist noted that my hands in her estimation had less inflammation.  Within one month I noticed that my pain was less in my hands and again the inflammation associated with the arthritis was better.  Also my craving for sweets was gone.  I mean just gone.  I did not feel the need to sneak a donut or candy.  I can’t explain but there it is.  My weight is were I want it.  My soreness in my neck (in one particular spot) is gone and the bags under my eyes are gone.  I wanted to share this with everyone.  I also will be sharing how easy it is now to go gluten-free on Utube.  Look for it.

It has been known that sodas or sugary drinks cause cavities.  For every 99 cent one liter bottle of soda; you are risking up to 2 cavities on high risk 10 to 18 year old individuals.  The fillings will cost about $150 to $170 each.  This is not a good bargain.  Next is the risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity.  With the research noting we are consuming 50 percent of our calories with sodas and sugary drinks, diabetes and obesity is on the rise especially in men.  Sodas and sugary drinks are also associated with heart disease.  The American Heart Association has seen a great increase in risk of cardiovascular disease.  Perhaps the most alarming study was done on healthy young males.  In a three week study, the subjects were asked to moderately consume sodas and sugary drinks for the duration.  The bloods tests after only three weeks showed a traumatic increase in inflammation and fasting glucose.  The most troubling study on men showed a relationship between sodas, sugary drinks and pancreatic cancer.

Limiting our consumption of soda drinks is the natural answer.  However, another problem arises.  Studies are showing that people can become addictive to these sodas and sugary drinks.  The sugar in the drink rewards the brain the same way tobacco, alcohol, nicotine and heroin does.

The above information suggests a very real reason to avoid sodas and sugary drinks at all costs.  A reward of tooth decay, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and pancreatic cancer hopefully will sour your craving for these drinks.

The answer to that is yes if you listen to one group of scientists and no if you listen to another group.  The Paleo diet goes back to when man was eating the ancient diet of animals and wild plants.  It basically takes us back to what our bodies were genetically used to.  With the event of agricultural advancements we are eating substances that perhaps we have not genetically prepared for.  This argument is a top concern among scientists at this moment.  In the mean time the population is the guinea pig.  We as humans do not mutate quickly to changes.  The theory, that most of our current diseases is due to our inability to properly digest the new mutated foods and refined foods, is still being studied.  Back in 1975,Dr. Walter L. Voegtlin, a gastroenterologist, popularized Paleo diet based on his success with patients suffering from GI track diseases such as: colitis, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel disease and indigestion(Celiac disease was rarely diagnosed at this time).  Recently diabetics have tried the Paleo diet with great success.  The modern version of the Paleo diet consists of foods that can be hunted and fished, such as meats and seafood.  Foods that can be gathered such as eggs, fruit, nuts, seeds, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and spices.  Foods that were rarely eaten during the paleolithic age were grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.  A diet of this sort may be difficult to maintain in our culture , but trying to lean toward this type of diet may help prevent many of the illness and diseases this society is suffering from.