Lonjevity - Superfood Fusion Cafe

About "Superfoods"

The foundation of happiness is health and foundation of health is lifestyle.

The quick explanation of the superfood diet is simply replacing junk food with superfood.

The general consensus of what constitutes junk food has changed over the last 10 years away from red meat and dairy to sugar and all things white such as refined carbohydrates and flour. This is leading to quite a lot of confusion and controversy and a lack of confidence in previous dietary recommendations from dietary and governmental authorities.

Red meat, fats, dairy products like cheese, previously stigmatized as bad foods to be avoided are now seen to be perfectly acceptable and healthy when consumed in moderation, but not healthy when consumed with quantities of refined carbohydrates which elevate insulin levels and change the way these other foods are metabolized.

The most important message here is that sugar, white flour, white bread and a host of rapidly absorbed carbohydrates will distort the metabolism of the other foods we eat and there really is no place for junk food at all in one's diet because it has such a powerful effect on the most important regulator of metabolism and fat storage, the hormone insulin. The effect of rapidly absorbed sugars is to prevent the use of fatty acids as the primary fuel for our body's energy and divert them to all of our fat storage sites, such as belly fat, instead.

To complicate matters more there is good evidence that the effect of foods on inflammation is also an important factor in the causes of disease, degeneration and aging. The analysis of inflammatory markers after certain foods has only been studied recently and is an emerging science. Certain foods trigger inflammation throughout the blood stream in the first 4 hours or so after a meal. Antioxidant containing superfoods can blunt this inflammatory response when consumed with inflammatory promoting foods. For instance a high saturated fat meal is inflammatory as is a high sugar and white flour meal. But when consumed with fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants the rise in inflammatory markers measured in the blood is much less.

We should be much more discerning about what we consume and reserve more space for superfoods with their antioxidants, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein and far less for sugar and the host of the foods that increase our blood glucose and cause fat deposition and inflammation. This is a case where even moderation is not appropriate.

An understanding of evolution sheds important light on issues of healthy diet.

5 million years or so of evolution created the anatomy of the digestive system and all of the enzyme systems peculiar to human metabolism. This evolution took place on a hunter gatherer, omnivorous diet consisting of fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables, roots, fish and game and this pretty much makes up all the classes of superfoods.

Hunter gatherer's also consumed around ten times more fiber and complex carbohydrates and no refined carbohydrates at all. Fiber is essential for intestinal motility and detoxification. Detoxification takes place in the liver and almost all toxins are excreted from the body in bile through the intestines. Reabsorption of bile occurs and is largely dependent on transit time and intestinal contents. Our hunter gatherer ancestors consumed at least 100 grams of fiber a day while most westerners consume just 10 grams or even less on a junk food white flour diet. To further illustrate this point, cattle fed on corn, without their daily grass, rarely survive half a year because their intestinal system is adapted to grass not corn. Cattle need a minimum amount of fiber to survive otherwise they quickly succumb to intestinal bloat, lipodystrophy (we call it marbling) and liver abscesses. If cattle are affected so dramatically by alterations in their diet it stands to reason that humans can also be affected by alterations in the diet that our anatomy, physiology and enzyme systems were evolved to use.

Don't take our word for it. Here are a few links from health professionals on superfoods and healthy eating.

'Superfoods' Everyone Needs. By Susan Seliger. WebMD feature

Superfood Rx by Stephen Pratt MD. Preview this best selling book with the link below.

books.google.com/books

The link below is a scientific paper on inflammation, the metabolic syndrome and vascular disease.

content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/j.jacc.2005.06.082v1

The link below is to Dr. Lam's article on Sugar and Aging. A well documented and reasonably simplified account of the damaging effects of excessive glucose intake in the form of white flour, sugar, etc.

www.drlam.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/2001-No5-SugarandAging.cfm

www.livewellplan.com

www.healthiestnation.org

LONJEVITY LOCATION: 1737 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida 34239.
Directly across the Sarasota Memorial Hospital
Phone num: (941) 366.3139

Copyright © 2010 , Lonjevity - Superfood Fusion Cafe . All Rights Reserved. Website design by CIS Media, a web division of CIS One