The healthiest meals are those based on whole foods, but for many people, the time it takes to prepare this type of meal is both a problem and an inconvenience. Fortunately, even for the busiest people, meal preparation can be streamlined to the point of it being a minimal time commitment.

Think of how easy it is to pack dinner leftovers for the next day’s lunch. When lunchtime arrives, there’s no thought or effort involved. You simply grab the meal you packed, heat it up if appropriate, and eat. It couldn’t be any easier. The key to simplifying the preparation of healthy meals is very similar in concept. In short, you intentionally prepare a bunch meals in advance. The following are 3 simple steps for doing so.

Step 1: Food Selection

Meals that are healthy and based on whole foods don’t need to be elaborate. Even at the fanciest restaurants, it’s not uncommon to find simple meals that consist of a single type of meat and just one or two types of vegetables. Especially when first transitioning to a diet based on whole foods, there’s not much point in trying to prepare complicated recipes because the extra effort required will likely be discouraging. Instead, your initial goal should be to establish a food preparation routine that’s easy, simple, and tolerable enough to last a lifetime. Although it can be nice to prepare an elaborate meal on occasion, it’s important to realize that it’s certainly not necessary.

The first step is to choose 4 to 6 different types of meat or seafood and at least as many vegetables. It’s generally good to also include a moderate amount of fruit, but in my opinion, a truly healthy diet should primarily be based on meat, seafood and vegetables. Even though fruit is nutritious and whole, it contains sugar. As such, consuming too much fruit can promote many of the problems associated with excessive sugar consumption. It’s important to realize that the optimal portions of meat, vegetables, and fruit can vary depending on the individuality of your metabolism.

Here are some examples of my typical selections. For meat, I tend to choose beef roast, pork loin, and chicken thighs, and some weeks I’ll choose turkey thighs in place of the beef or pork. I also include at least one type of seafood each week which is usually salmon. For vegetables, I usually choose mixed greens, spinach leaves, green beans, carrots, and tomatoes. In addition, I always include several types of fermented vegetables which I rely on as a natural source of probiotics. I also like to include avocados, nuts, and berries, but I usually reserve these foods for snacks or individual meals that I eat immediately after preparing them.

Step 2: Cooking

Although the title of this article indicates that it’s possible to prepare a full week’s worth of meals in just an hour, this probably won’t be the case until you settle into a routine, and one of the key reasons behind this is cooking time. Once you’ve figured out what cooking methods you prefer and how long it takes to cook the food to your liking, you’ll be able to complete the process more quickly.

I prefer to bake meat in glass cookware at a low temperature. In less than 5 minutes, I melt some coconut oil or palm kernel oil in the glass baking dishes, put a different type of meat in each of them, and have them in the oven cooking. At 170° F, which is the lowest temperature that my oven can be set at, it takes about 3 hours to cook about 8 pounds of partially thawed meat to the point of medium rare to rare. Knowing my routine to this extent allows me to do other things while the meat cooks.

If you’re going to cook or steam any of your vegetables, it would be most efficient to do so just before the meat is finished. I don’t cook any of the vegetables that I include with my meals because it makes preparation easier, and more importantly, raw vegetables tend to be more nutritious.^1,2,3 In addition, it’s believed that some of the enzymes in raw foods facilitate digestion, and in turn, spare valuable resources by reducing the amount of enzymes that need to be produced by the body.⁴ Even at temperatures well below 200° F, many of these enzymes are inactivated.^5-8

In case you’re wondering about the reasoning behind some of my cooking choices, I use glass cookware to minimize exposure to the toxins that may exist in other types of cookware, I use coconut oil and palm kernel oil because of their high resistance to heat, and I cook at a low temperature to preserve as much of the food’s nutritional quality as possible. Contrary to popular opinion, I think vegetable oils are poor choices for cooking. This is because the polyunsaturated fatty acids they contain are much more susceptible to oxidation, especially when heated.^9-12 Oxidized fatty acids are a concern because they’re associated with free radical damage, and in turn, an increased risk in serious health conditions including heart disease and cancer.^13-18

Step 3: Meal Preparation

Once you’ve selected your food and cooked what needs to be cooked, all that’s left to be done is to assemble the meals for storage. I package and store my meals in 3 cup Pyrex glass containers. They’re a good size for a single meal and they fit well in a reasonably sized lunch cooler which makes them good for traveling or bringing to work. In addition, the fact that they’re glass, except for the lid, eliminates the exposure to toxins that would be much more likely with plastic containers. Although I try to avoid using plastic anyway, I consider it to be especially important in this case since food will be stored in these containers for up to a week.

Although you may discover a method that you like better, I’ve found that it’s easiest to arrange all of the empty containers on a table or counter top in columns of three. The point of this is for each column to represent a day’s worth of meals which makes it a bit easier to visualize what you’ll be eating each day. If you eat more or less frequently than three times each day, you can adjust the arrangement of the containers accordingly.

The next step is to begin filling the containers with vegetables and any other foods like fruit or nuts that you plan on including. To be most efficient, it’s best to time this so that you’ll be done at about the same time that the meat is finished cooking. Although you could fill the containers in random order to increase variety, there’s actually a good reason why it’s better to fill them in sequence. For example, if you have enough mixed greens for 4 meals, it’s best to put them in meals that will be eaten one after the other. This may seem repetitive and boring, but there’s an important benefit behind it. Although you’ll be eating some of the same foods for 3 or more consecutive meals, you won’t be eating any of these foods again for at least a few days, and this is a simple form of food rotation that helps to prevent the development of food sensitivities.¹⁹

Above is a picture of 14 containers filled with vegetables. Below and to the right is a picture of the same meals after adding the meat and some finishing touches. At this point they’re ready to be covered and stored.

Once the meat is finished cooking, the next step is to cut it up and add it to the containers. As with the vegetables, it’s best to add the meat in sequence so that each type of meat will be eaten in consecutive meals. This is even more important with the meat because protein is the basis for food sensitivities.^20-22 To minimize the chance of cross contamination, it’s best to cut up one type of meat at a time and then rinse off the cutting board and knife before moving on to the next type. In addition, a wood cutting board is in my opinion preferable to a plastic one to avoid exposure to toxins. Contrary to popular belief, wood cutting boards have generally been shown to be just as resistant to bacteria proliferation as plastic cutting boards,^23,24 if not more.²⁵

Optional Finishing Touches

Once the basic preparation of each meal is complete, a few things can be done to add flavor and improve palatability. Two things I like to do are to pour melted coconut oil or palm fruit oil over each meal and add herbs or spices such as ginger, turmeric, pepper, sage, nutmeg, or paprika. There are plenty of different things you can do to accommodate your personal preferences. Just be sure to not add anything that would detract from the healthfulness of the meal. If you do, it will also detract from the benefits of the process, at least to some extent. Store bought salad dressings are an excellent example. They’re an extremely common condiment and very few of them are truly healthy. If you’re tempted to make a compromise like this, keep in mind that there’s almost always a better alternative that tastes at least reasonably good. You just have to commit yourself to finding it.

Determining How Many Meals to Prepare

Excluding snacks, most people eat 3 meals per day which equates to 21 meals per week. Obviously, this number needs to be adjusted if you eat more or less frequently. In general, you should have a pretty good idea of how many times per week you tend to eat out or prefer to prepare meals from scratch. This should be accounted for when you determine how many meals you’re going to prepare in advance. It will also dictate how much food you’ll need. Over time, you’ll probably find an optimal number of meals that you’ll make each week and the entire process will become second nature.

As you can see from the pictures, the optimal number for me is usually 14 meals, and I know exactly what I need for them. I usually eat out 2 to 3 times each week, and for the remainder of the week’s meals, which tend to be on weekends, I put together dishes that involve very little preparation. One of my favorites is raw salmon, mixed greens, avocado, nuts, and berries, all covered with extra virgin olive oil. I can put this meal together in about 5 minutes.

Storage Considerations

If you follow my suggestion to sequence your meals for the purpose of food rotation, you’ll have to store them in the same sequence. It doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you have a system that you can remember. I have a shelf in my refrigerator dedicated for my meals and I arrange them in stacks of 3 or 4 in sequence from left to right and top to bottom.

Refrigeration time is another important consideration. Based on my experience, changes in the taste and appearance of meat are fairly easy to notice after 4 days, and this is in general agreement with USDA guidelines of not refrigerating cooked meat for more than 3 to 4 days.²⁶ Based on this, I only refrigerate 3 or 4 days of meals and freeze the rest of them. The only problem with this is that some foods don’t freeze as well as others. Since I buy some of my vegetables frozen, typically green beans, I make sure to use them in the meals that I know I’ll end up putting in the freezer anyway. I also tend to put chicken in these meals because its taste seems to be less affected by freezing.

In the past, I prepared meals twice each week to avoid freezing anything, but for me, the additional time commitment proved to not be worth it. If you have the free time and don’t mind the extra work, perhaps twice per week would be a better schedule for you. Otherwise, if you’d still like to minimize the need to freeze meals, you can plan on a few simple impromptu meals each week such as the one I mentioned earlier with salmon and avocado. Although these meals are intended to be quick and easy, it’s still important to maintain the high quality of the meals that you prepare in advance. As I said before, failing to do so will detract from the benefits of following a healthier diet.

Miscellaneous Tips for Getting Started

At first, don’t concern yourself too much with matching certain vegetables with each other or with certain meats. What’s more important is to establish a routine that you can maintain indefinitely. Once you get to this point, it’ll be much easier to plan specific meal combinations. I know this because I do it every week.

Cutting up the meat is probably the most time consuming and laborious part of the process. Using a good knife and keeping it sharp will make it a lot easier. The knife you use can make the difference between the job being a really difficult, frustrating, and tiring process versus it taking a minimal amount of effort. Having learned this the hard way, I hope to spare you from the frustration and prevent it from negatively affecting your motivation.

Another way to make things easier is to buy meat such as stew beef that’s already been cut into relatively small pieces. Alternatively, you could put larger cuts of meat in each meal and cut them up into smaller pieces as you eat, but this makes the meals less suitable for travel and bringing to work.

Worried About the Repetition?

I suspect that most people don’t like the idea of eating the same foods for 3 or more consecutive meals and then repeating the same pattern with different foods. I’ve been eating this way for years and don’t mind it at all. In fact, I love the simplicity of it. Despite the repetition, I still look forward to most of my meals, and at worst, I’m occasionally indifferent to them. It’s extremely rare for me have any sense of dislike for them.

It’s only fair for me to point out that I tend to have a preference for routines and repetition in general, but repetitive eating is a part of human nature. Throughout our evolution, it was likely required for survival, and even as recently as the 20th century, indigenous cultures enjoyed and thrived on the relatively small variety of foods that were available to them.^27,28

Either way, it’s inevitable that this type of approach to food preparation is going to sacrifice some excitement, and this is the trade off for its simplicity and convenience. However, remember that the priority here is not to have gourmet meals every day, but rather to eat healthy food more frequently and regularly. This is a significant aspect of promoting optimal health, and the benefits of doing so are much more substantial than the satisfaction of a fancy meal. I’m not against eating for enjoyment, especially if it involves healthy food, but health comes first, and it requires consistency and dedication.

A Note About “Undercooked” Food

I’ve experienced a wide variety of reactions from people who’ve seen me eat and assumed that I was eating raw meat, particularly if it’s beef. Although it’s really not, it might as well be in comparison to how most other people eat meat, and the center of it most likely never reaches the temperatures recommended by the USDA for the destruction of pathogens. However, as I mentioned earlier, I actually do eat salmon raw. These are choices I’ve made for myself, and I support these choices by choosing high quality meat and seafood. I firmly believe that the meat and seafood I buy is not nearly as likely to contain pathogens, but I also know this doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Food borne illness is a legitimate concern, so if you choose to eat meat or seafood that is cooked minimally or not at all, please be sure it’s of good quality, and be aware of the potential implications of your decision. As we know from the 2006 E. coli spinach outbreak, this applies to vegetables as well.

In case you’re wondering, US Wellness Meats, Blackwing Quality Meats, and VitalChoice Wild Seafood and Organics are a few of the places that I get my meat and seafood from.

Preparing Food for Others

One of the obvious limitations to this meal preparation approach is that it’s best suited for someone who only cooks for themselves. However, this doesn’t mean that it can’t be used for an entire family, but doing would require more food, more storage space, and more effort. It would also require some creativity to provide for differing needs or preferences as well as family members who are willing to make reasonable compromises.

If you prepare food for someone who’s unwilling to compromise, here are a few things to consider. Chances are that you probably don’t want to spend any more time preparing food than necessary. The people who you prepare food for should be appreciative of this. If they’re not, perhaps you should encourage them to be, or at the very least, suggest that that they help you if they’re going to make the process more difficult for you.

Remember that the primary goal here is to reduce the time and effort required to follow a truly healthy diet that will promote optimal health. Anyone who you prepare food for should appreciate and respect that this is your top priority. They should also appreciate the fact that it will benefit their health as well.

If the people you prepare food for just aren’t willing to fully embrace a truly healthy diet, another option is to prepare some basic foods that they can use throughout the week to put their own meals together. There are many alternatives to consider before abandoning healthy eating habits because of lacking family interest, but for any of them to work, you have to stand your ground and be fully committed to your health.

No More Excuses

Although some of the methods and habits that I’ve suggested may not sound appealing, you can still greatly reduce your meal preparation time without implementing everything that I suggested. There are plenty of ways in which you can modify the process to better suit your own needs and preferences. Either way, it certainly is possible to follow a truly healthy diet without investing a significant amount of time into it.

Given the opportunities and demands of modern life, nearly all of us are very busy, and that includes me. Being busy is easily one of most common excuses for not eating well. However, diet has a significant influence on health which in turn can have an even stronger influence on happiness. This should make healthy eating a top priority for everyone. With the information presented in this article, I hope you now realize that being busy isn’t a valid excuse, and I hope you’re inspired to make more of a commitment to your health. When you experience the benefits, I’m sure you’ll be happy with your decision, and I think your only regret will be that you didn’t do it sooner.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

Although there are many great reasons to choose meat from pasture raised livestock, eating conventionally produced meat is not necessarily a guarantee for poor health. Someone who primarily eats whole foods, is active, and manages stress well will still be likely to enjoy good health despite the concerns associated with conventionally produced meat. However, to insinuate in a general sense that beef from grain fed cattle is healthier than that from pasture fed beef is quite a stretch in my opinion.

Does HDL Cholesterol Define Overall Health?

Unfortunately, the full text of the Texas A&M study hasn’t been published, but the abstract¹ provides enough of an overview to understand the basis of the research. 27 men each consumed 3 types of ground beef with each type being consumed exclusively for a 5 week period. The men were split into 3 groups to alter the order of the 5 week periods. One type of ground beef was from pasture fed cattle while the other two were from cattle fed corn for either a short or long duration.

The researchers found a statistically significant correlation between the amount of monounsaturated fat in the ground beef and the participants’ plasma levels of high density lipoproteins (HDL). This is considered to be beneficial because higher levels of HDL, which is often referred to as “good cholesterol,” have been associated with a reduced risk for heart disease. The beef from the cattle fed corn for the longest duration contained the most monounsaturated fat while the beef from the pasture raised cattle contained the least. From this, the researchers concluded that “consumption of high-oleic acid ground beef can increase HDL-C.”¹ Fair enough.

Although this conclusion is specific and reasonable, at least based on the information provided by the abstract, the authors made a major and inappropriate projection by stating in the study’s title that “ground beef from corn-fed cattle provides greater health benefits than ground beef from pasture-fed cattle.” The vagueness of “greater health benefits” can easily be misconstrued to mean that beef from grain fed cattle is healthier in general than beef from pasture fed cattle. If you search for articles based on this research, you can see that this is exactly what happened. In fact, there’s even an article about the study on the Texas A&M website titled “Study shows ground beef from grain-fed cattle healthier than grass-fed.”²

HDL is only one of many factors associated with heart disease, and it’s not even one of the more important ones.⁹⁶ Furthermore, although heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States,³ it’s only one of many conditions that result in poor health and compromised quality of life. As such, I consider it inappropriate to use improved HDL levels as the justification for implying that beef from grain fed cattle is better for overall health. Besides, the Texas A&M researchers failed to acknowledge a number of other differences between the two types of meat that are arguably much more important.

Balance of Essential Fatty Acids

It’s estimated that the relative intakes of the omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids throughout human evolution were roughly equivalent. However, due to changes in agricultural methods and an increase in the use of vegetable oils, we now consume as much as 20 times more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids. Essential fatty acids have many important physiological roles, and because the human body cannot produce them, we must obtain them through diet. However, the imbalanced intake that is now common has been shown to be a significant concern due to its association with heart disease, cancer, asthma, arthritis, and mental illness.^4-10

Research has shown that meat from pasture raised animals tends to have a much more favorable ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain fed animals.^11-14 In one case, the ratio in meat from grain fed animals was shown to be nearly 5 times greater.¹⁴ In this regard, meat from grain fed animals presents more of a risk for heart disease and other serious health concerns.

Vulnerability to Lipid Oxidation

Polyunsaturated fatty acids, including the omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids, are very susceptible to oxidation.^15-17 The oxidation of these fatty acids produces free radicals that are damaging to cells and are associated with a number of health concerns including heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis, asthma, and accelerated aging.^18-23 They’re believed to cause damage to the endothelial cells that line arteries and induce the lesions associated with atherosclerosis.^24,25 Low density lipprotens (LDL), which are often given the misleading designation of “bad cholesterol,” contain these easily oxidized polyunsaturated fatty acids. When they’re oxidized, the LDL molecules that contain them are referred to as “oxidized LDL.” Although it’s somewhat questionable to refer to LDL in general as “bad cholesterol,” oxidized LDL in particular is believed to be a significant cause of artery damage and increase the risk of atherosclerosis.^26-30

Unfortunately, the polyunsaturated fat in food can become oxidized when exposed to oxygen, light, or the high temperatures of cooking,^{15-17,22,23,31} and the consumption of this oxidized fat has been shown to increase the concentration of oxidized LDL in the blood.^32,33 The fat in meat from grain fed animals has been shown to be more susceptible to oxidation than the fat in meat from pasture fed animals.^13,34 This is believed to be a result of meat from grain fed animals containing less vitamin E^13,34 which is known to protect against the oxidation of fatty acids.^17,22,35,36 Based on this, meat from grain fed livestock poses a greater risk of increasing oxidized LDL levels, and in turn, increasing the risk of atherosclerosis.

Even if polyunsaturated fatty acids are not oxidized when consumed, an excessive intake increases the polyunsaturated content of LDL molecules which makes the LDL more susceptible to oxidation.^37-39 Although the meat from grain fed animals tends to contain an unfavorable ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids, it doesn’t necessarily contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids in general. However, this less desirable ratio could encourage one to consume more omega-3 fatty acids, and in turn, consume more polyunsaturated fatty acids overall.

In regard to the results of the Texas A&M study, one of the benefits of HDL is that it protects against LDL oxidation.^26,29,40,41 However, the improved HDL levels observed by the researchers are negated and of little value if the meat that promotes this improvement also increases the risk of LDL oxidation and its harmful effects.

Hormones, Antibiotics, and Pesticides

Despite being fed an unnatural diet, some grain fed livestock are raised with great care and may only be fed such a diet for a brief period. However, it’s more likely for the meat commonly found in grocery stores to be of poorer quality and come from animals raised under the questionable conditions of factory farms. These animals may be given hormones to accelerate or increase their growth, and they may be exposed to pesticide residues and mold toxins from being fed low quality feed. Because such conditions are likely to impair their health, they may also be given antibiotics on a regular basis to reduce the incidence of illness.

This is a moral dilemma to say the least, but the focus of this discussion is nutritional quality. Research has shown that the residues of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics that conventionally raised livestock are commonly exposed to can be found in their meat.^42,97-99 This presents a number of health concerns and is obviously not synonymous with a high level of quality.

Misrepresentation of Trans Fat

There’s little doubt that trans fat is unhealthy and increases the risk for heart disease. However, this is a generalization that applies to the trans fat that’s artificially derived from vegetable oils. During this process, which is referred to as hydrogenation, hydrogen atoms are added to unsaturated fatty acids to give them the more solid and stable properties of saturated fatty acids.⁴³

Although the harmful nature of the trans fat found in hydrogenated vegetable oils has become common knowledge, not as many people realize that there are natural forms of trans fat that exist in the meat and milk of ruminant animals.⁴⁴ However, it’s important to realize that these trans fats differ in structure than those derived from vegetable oils. Elaidic acid is the primary trans fat found in hydrogenated vegetable oils while trans-vaccenic acid is the primary trans fat found in ruminant animals. Although these two fatty acids are isomers of each other, which means that they share the same chemical formula, they have different structures based on a double bond being located in different positions.⁴⁵ Although this might sound trivial, it’s not uncommon for such a seemingly small difference in molecular structure to have a significant impact.

Although both of these fatty acids are technically trans fatty acids, only one of them is deserving of the negative connotation associated with trans fat. Research has shown that it’s the elaidic acid in hydrogenated vegetable oils that’s associated with an increased risk of heart disease, not the trans-vaccenic acid naturally found in the meat and milk of ruminant animals.^45-47 In addition, the meat and milk of ruminants also contain another type of trans fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is believed to have many health benefits including the potential to reduce body fat, increase lean body mass, protect against cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, and enhance immune function and bone development.^11,48-51 Trans-vaccenic acid, the dominant trans fatty acid in animal fat, is believed to be a precursor to CLA in both animals and humans, and consumption of trans-vaccenic acid has been shown to increase levels of CLA.⁵²

Beef from pasture fed animals tends to contain more trans-vaccenic acid and CLA than animals fed grain.^12,53 Based on the potential benefits of CLA and the evidence of trans-vaccenic acid not being harmful, this can be regarded as a benefit. However, one of the Texas A&M researchers seems to have put a negative and misleading spin on the issue as if there’s no difference between these natural trans fatty acids and the trans fat artificially derived from vegetable oils. On the university’s own website, he’s quoted as saying that “as we talked to some user groups and told them that we had found pasture-fed beef is higher in saturated [and] trans-fat, they were shocked.”² (I added [and] to the quote assuming a transcription mistake based on the fact that there’s no such thing as a “saturated trans fat.” The existence of such a fat is contradictory by definition and isn’t even possible.)

Good Science or Just Clever Language?

Most people are probably not aware of the differences between trans fat from ruminant animals and hydrogenated vegetable oils, and if not, they’re certainly not aware of the different health implications. Based on this, they’re likely to assume that all trans fats are bad and interpret “shocked” as a negative response. I truly hope that this statement about trans fat wasn’t made with malicious intent, but either way, the potential for it to be misleading is still the same.

Along with the projection of improved HDL levels defining overall health, this is an unfortunate example of how subtle language choices made by researchers can encourage information to be misconstrued by the media. Good science relies on seeking truth and presenting it clearly to minimize the potential for misinterpretation. Unfortunately, it seems to me that this research is lacking these qualities.

A Side Note About Saturated Fat

Although I don’t consider the difference in saturated fat content to be an important comparison between the meat from pasture fed and grain fed animals, I feel obligated to acknowledge it since it’s mentioned in the quote about trans fat that I referenced.

Some research confirms that beef from pasture fed cattle contains more saturated fat,¹⁴ but other research has shown it to contain less.⁵³ Either way, this is only relevant if you believe that saturated fat is inherently unhealthy. Despite the popularity of the belief that it’s harmful and is a significant risk factor for heart disease, there is quite a bit of convincing support indicating that saturated fat is misunderstood.^54-66,96 In fact, it’s essential for important aspects of health. Saturated fat is a component of adipose tissue,^67-69 and as such, contributes to energy storage and thermal insulation.⁷⁰ Its concentration has been found to be higher in visceral fat which indicates its importance in protecting and supporting vital organs.⁶⁹ It’s also essential for proper function of cell membranes,^71-73 the brain and nervous system,^74,75 and even the lungs.^76-78 In addition, saturated fat contributes to the resiliency of skin,^79,84-87 can enhance immunity,^79-83 and has ironically been shown to be a significant if not dominant source of energy for the heart.^88-92

Saturated fat also relates to the previous discussion about oxidized LDL. Research has shown the blood concentration of oxidized LDL to increase after after consuming a supposedly healthy diet that decreases saturated fat and overall fat intake while increasing polyunsaturated fat intake.⁹³

A Different Outlook on What’s “Healthy”

Improved HDL levels are generally a byproduct of living a truly healthy lifestyle with the intent of promoting optimal health. For example, exercising is an important part of maintaining and promoting good health, and it has also been shown to improve HDL levels.^94,95

One of the Texas A&M researchers claimed that “we looked at the scientific literature and could not find any justifications for the statement that pasture-fed beef is better for you.”² I won’t make any assumptions about why they didn’t find any of the research that I referenced in this article, but the point remains that it exists, isn’t difficult to find, and in my opinion provides plenty of justification.

Because of the multitude of factors that can influence health, making healthy decisions requires a broad perspective. The Texas A&M researchers found that ground beef from grain fed cattle improves HDL levels, and from this very narrow and focused perspective concluded that meat from grain fed cattle is healthier than meat from pasture fed cattle. However, with a broader perspective that considers essential fatty acid imbalance, susceptibility to oxidation, and the existence of chemical residues, it seems to me that it’s their statement that isn’t justified.

If anything, the Texas A&M study supports the benefit of consuming monounsaturated fatty acids. However, if you want to increase your intake of this type of fat, you’d be better off eating avocados than eating meat from an animal not fed its natural diet.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

It goes without saying that most of us make important decisions through a process of specific and deliberate reasoning. Because exercise has a significant influence on health, and because this influence can sometimes be negative, choices relating to exercise deserve the same level of discretion. However, it’s common for people to invest their time, effort, and health into an exercise program without evaluating how appropriate it is for their needs. This greatly reduces the value they’ll gain from their effort.

Why it’s Important to Exercise Intelligently

Many people run mile after mile or spend hour after hour pounding away on a cardio machine each week simply to burn calories or satisfy the general recommendation to exercise regularly. Likewise, it’s become nearly as common for people to lift weights or use resistance training machines to develop or tone muscle. In each of these cases, it’s usually appearance based goals that provide the motivation to exercise, and it’s generally assumed that health and function related benefits will automatically follow. However, because the reasoning behind this assumption is completely backwards, such benefits are far from automatic.

Exercise has a significant influence on physiological function long before changes in appearance can be easily noticed. For example, improvements in the strength and endurance of a muscle must occur prior to a noticeable increase in its size, and improvements in cardiovascular function will begin to occur weeks before exercise alone will have a noticeable impact on weight loss. As such, it’s impossible to alter appearance through exercise without causing physiological adaptations in the process, and it would be unwise to assume that these adaptations are always desirable. Furthermore, it would be wasteful and potentially harmful to endure the physical burden of strenuous training when the adaptations that result are of little value. The average person wanting to lose weight or improve cardiovascular health certainly doesn’t need to develop the aerobic capacity of an endurance athlete to achieve such goals, but many people exercise as if they do.

Those who exercise to alter their appearance or achieve other secondary benefits tend to neglect the more important exercise principles that promote good health and function. Unfortunately, doing so can often have more of a negative impact on quality of life than a positive one, and when this is the case, the secondary benefits that are gained rarely justify the pain and dysfunction that may accompany them. While there’s nothing wrong with exercising to improve appearance, it makes much more sense to pursue such a goal with an approach that emphasizes good health and function as higher priorities.

The Dark Side of Exercise

There’s no doubt that it can be very beneficial to exercise on a regular basis. Doing so has been shown to improve mood and cognitive function, reduce fatigue, improve physical function, and help prevent disease.¹ In general, exercise has a tremendous potential to improve quality of life, but when appearance and other secondary benefits are a higher priority than health and function, exercise can have the opposite effect. In many cases, this is because the desire for rapid and dramatic results overshadows sound exercise principles.

Weight loss is an excellent example. The excessive amount of higher intensity aerobic exercise that people commonly do just to burn calories puts a considerable amount of physiological burden on the body. Anyone who exercises like this on a regular basis is likely to compromise their health by consistently exceeding their capacity to recover, especially if they’re under stress, not eating well, or not getting enough sleep, all of which are common characteristics of modern life. Over time, this often leads to chronic symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety, depression, and irritability that can take months to recover from.^2,3 Any other form of moderate to high intensity exercise, especially resistance training, can also have this effect when done too frequently.

Training to improve appearance through an increase in muscle size is another great example. People who do this tend to focus most of their effort on the muscles that they think will have the greatest impact on their appearance. In the process, they usually train the opposing muscles much less frequently or don’t train them at all. This creates imbalances in strength and flexibility that can cause pain, limit function, and increase the risk of injury.⁴ Other forms of exercise that repetitively work opposing muscle groups in an uneven manner can also cause imbalances. This is especially the case with aerobic exercise because of it’s repetitive nature.

Most forms of exercise cause low level tissue damage^5-7 as well as other forms of physiological stress such as oxidative and free radical damage,^8,9 and the more strenuously and frequently one exercises, the more this applies. Although this damage and stress is much of what provokes the body to repair itself and become more resilient and fit, it can also accelerate the aging process¹⁰ and increase the risk of injury.⁵ Therefore, there’s a fine line between exercising to improve health, function, and general wellness and overexercising to the extent of accelerating the aging process and inviting chronic pain. If you’re going to burden your body with strenuous exercise, you should be sure that there’s a justifiable purpose behind it, and it would be in your best interest to structure your training and lifestyle in a way that minimizes the potential for undesirable effects.

Burning Calories or Burning Out?

Burning calories to lose weight is one of the most common reasons why people overexercise. As I just explained, this approach can be unhealthy, and the extent of direct fitness improvements that result are generally of little use or value to the average person. Diet is a much more important factor for weight loss,¹¹ and based on this, exercising excessively to burn calories is nothing more than a compensation for poor dietary choices. This is a case of one health compromising habit being compensated for by another. It increases the potential for undesirable effects and makes it a questionable approach, especially since it doesn’t address the primary cause of the problem. Based on this, I think weight loss alone is very poor justification for a high volume of intense exercise. This is one of the reasons why I’m not a fan of programs like the P90X that prescribe an arguably excessive volume of exercise primarily to increase energy expenditure.

In my opinion, those who doubt the effectiveness of proper diet as the primary focus of a weight loss program either don’t understand what a truly healthy diet is or simply aren’t dedicated enough to make the necessary changes. Contrary to what most people tend to think, following a healthy diet with an intent to lose weight doesn’t imply the need to obsessively count calories. In fact, I think calorie counting is a flawed approach that’s used as another way to compensate for poor food choices. What I consider to be a truly healthy diet is one that’s well rounded and based primarily on whole foods such as meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Following such a diet provides the nutrients needed to support optimal health, makes it much more difficult to overeat, and therefore eliminates the need to obsess over daily calorie intake. This is the natural and healthy way to lose weight and keep it off. Exercise, ideally for other more important purposes than simply burning calories, is merely a bonus that will facilitate the process.

Misconceptions About Metabolism

Metabolism is commonly discussed in association with exercise and weight loss, but it often seems to be poorly understood. Although it’s defined as the sum of all chemical reactions that occur in the body,¹² most people perceive it as more of a calorie burning potential, and as such, consider a “fast” metabolism to be desirable.

Given the energy demands imposed by exercise, metabolic rate can increase dramatically during an exercise session. Depending on the intensity and type of exercise, metabolic rate can even remain elevated long after activity has ended. This is due to the tissue repair, energy replenishment, and other physiological adaptations that often occur in response to strenuous physical activity.^13-16 Metabolic rate can even be increased on a more permanent basis by any type of exercise that increases lean body mass.^17,18 However, although these alterations in metabolic rate result in more energy expenditure at rest, this may not be as desirable as it seems. Despite some exceptions for certain species, an increased rate of metabolism has been associated with a shorter lifespan.^19,20 Much of this association is believed to be a result of an increase in free radical and oxidative damage, both of which can be caused by exercise and other forms of strenuous physical activity.^19,10

Use It or Lose It but Don’t Overdo It

Based on the potential for excessive exercise to increase metabolism and cause free radical and oxidative damage, it can be argued that the more one exercises, the more likely it is that they’ll age more rapidly. However, not exercising enough can be a serious problem as well. It’s been clearly established that insufficient exercise can lead to an accelerated decline in health and even result in premature death.^21,22 As such, it’s clearly important to exercise regularly, but if you choose to follow a strenuous exercise program that exceeds the demands of what’s necessary to promote optimal health, the decision should be supported by a meaningful purpose that justifies the additional physiological burden. In addition, training should be planned intelligently to minimize unnecessary burden, and excellent lifestyle habits should be followed closely to improve capacity and recovery.

What About Athletes and Sports?

Those who try to justify their excessive exercise habits based on the tremendous amount of wear and tear that athletes expose their bodies to are failing to appreciate an important point. The opportunity to compete in a sport is something that most athletes value deeply, and as a result, it’s often a valuable source of fulfillment for them. In contrast, anyone who trains with the intensity or volume of an athlete just to burn calories is wearing down their body and getting little value in return, especially since focusing primarily on diet is a much more sensible and reliable way to lose weight. In addition, even athletes need to intelligently plan their training and competitive schedules to minimize any unnecessary physiological burden. In fact, this is critical because it reduces their risk of injury and allows them to train for the variety of fitness and skill requirements of their sport without exceeding their individual capacities. The athletes who don’t appreciate this are much more likely to become injured or fatigued and have a much less rewarding experience with competition.

Many people who dislike gyms and regimented exercise programs prefer to stay active by participating in sports. They rely on the spontaneity and competition of sports to keep them motivated. Although this is perfectly reasonable and is certainly better than not exercising at all, there are some disadvantages to consider. As I already mentioned, playing a sport can and usually does expose the body to a significant amount of physical stress. The dynamic and explosive nature of most sports greatly increases the risk for injury, and anyone who competes without preparing themselves for this risk is much more likely to encounter problems that nullify many of the benefits of staying active. For example, most sports involve jumping which can expose bones, joints, muscles, and connective tissue to forces as great as 10 times body weight.²³ This much force is an obvious risk for someone who’s not conditioned for it, especially if they’re overweight or have a history of lower body injuries. I’m definitely not trying to discourage people from participating in sports, but am instead suggesting that anyone who chooses to do so should consider themselves an athlete and prepare as such. In other words, be fit for your sport instead of using your sport to be fit.

Tennis is one of the more popular choices for adults looking to stay active by playing a sport. It’s also an excellent example of why it’s important to be physically prepared. As an avid tennis player, I’ve seen a lot of recreational players incur serious injuries and I know many players who wear one or more braces or straps to deal with chronic pain. The incidence of tennis injuries has been shown to be as high as 3 per player per year and includes a variety of debilitating problems such as tendinitis, torn muscle and connective tissue, and stress fractures. These injuries also tend to occur in critical areas of the body such as the ankles, knees, lower back, shoulder, elbows, and wrists.²⁴ Tennis even has a common form of elbow tendinitis named after it. The many adults who’ve damaged their bodies by using tennis or any other sport as an alternative to structured exercise are likely to agree that it’s wise for recreational and serious athletes alike to be prepared for the physical demands of their sport.

A Healthful and Intelligent Approach to Exercise

The most intelligent, effective, and healthful approach to exercise is to focus on specific benefits relating to health and function that are closely related to your needs and goals. Beyond the common goals of burning calories, building muscle, and improving general health, few people consider how they can benefit from exercise more specifically. It’s worth investing some thought into this because proper planning can make an exercise program much more effective, and in turn, lead to much greater improvements in quality of life. For example, someone who suffers from joint pain and limited function would be much better served by a strength and mobility program that’s focused on solving their problems than general aerobic exercise. This is not to say that aerobic exercise wouldn’t have a place in their program, but rather that it shouldn’t necessarily be the primary focus. In contrast, more of a focus on aerobic exercise would be a better choice for someone who easily becomes winded from walking a flight of stairs or performing basic daily tasks.

With proper planning, the body is spared from excessive burden, time is saved, and the invested effort delivers results that are more meaningful. Planning also makes it easier to address multiple aspects of fitness, and in turn, promote a well rounded state of physical wellness that includes the strength, range of motion, and endurance needed to perform daily activities with minimal discomfort and risk of injury. This is particularly important for both serious and recreational athletes due to the additional demands put on their bodies, and it’s even more important for older individuals who are losing the ability to perform basic functions such as climbing stairs or getting out of a chair.

Guidelines for Basic Fitness Goals

It’s pretty obvious that weight loss is the most common reason why people exercise, or at least why they exercise as much as they do. As I previously suggested, weight loss shouldn’t be the primary focus of an exercise program. The influence that exercise has on weight loss should be regarded as a secondary benefit, and as such, anyone looking to lose weight should focus their exercise program on other goals that are more specific to fitness and physical function.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and approximately every minute, an American dies from a heart related complication.²⁵ Aerobic exercise has been shown to improve cardiovascular function, and in turn, help prevent heart disease.^26,27 As such, improving or maintaining cardiovascular health is an excellent fitness goal for everyone, and as I already said, this doesn’t require the rigors of training like an endurance athlete. A simple and appropriate guideline to achieve this goal is to perform aerobic exercise 2 to 5 times per week for a half hour or more at an intensity of about 50% to 70% of maximum heart rate,^28-30 or the highest intensity that allows for conversation with little to no difficulty. The lower end of this frequency applies to those who engage in other physical activities, and the upper end of the range is for those who don’t. People who are more adventurous and looking for a little more intensity can substitute two days of this steady state aerobic exercise with a day or two of high intensity interval training. Although this type of training puts a significant demand on the body, it also offers additional physiological benefits that can help promote optimal health if not overdone.³¹ It can also provide even greater cardiovascular benefits than steady state aerobic exercise alone.³²

Although it’s a goal that’s not nearly as common as improving appearance or performance, maintaining and promoting a full range of pain free movement should be a top priority for everyone. This is especially the case for people who aren’t very active. Strength and flexibility naturally decline with age, particularly in those who are less active. Over time, this decline can lead to limitations in physical function and be the root cause of chronic pain.^1,33-36,49 Bone density also decreases with age, especially in the absence of weight bearing forces.^37-39 Strength training and stretching can help to prevent and reverse age related declines in strength, flexibility, and bone density^1,40-44,49 and should therefore be priorities for anyone who wants to maintain healthy and strong bones along with the ability to easily perform basic movements through a full and pain free range of motion. 30 to 45 minutes of strength training done 2 to 3 times per week and stretching each major muscle group at least 2 times per week is more than adequate to meet these goals.^28-30 Although it’s not necessary to workout at a gym or lift heavy weights, it’s best to at least include multijoint lower body exercises such as squat, deadlift, or lunge based movements with an emphasis on proper technique.

Regardless of what your training goals are, it’s important to maintain balance. The first aspect of this is to maintain a balance across different areas of fitness. For example, you don’t want to be very strong but have such poor aerobic fitness that you’re winded after walking up a flight of stairs. With this in mind, it’s important to periodically vary the focus of your training, and you can do this by emphasizing one type of training while still including a minimal amount of other types of training for maintenance. For example, a well rounded exercise routine should include strength training, cardiovascular training, and flexibility training while emphasizing one of these areas but not completely neglecting the others. The second aspect of balance is to ensure that the exercises you choose collectively promote a balance of strength and flexibility around joints and between opposing major muscle groups. Failure to do this can lead to poor posture and an increased risk for pain and injury.^4,45-48

A Greater Quality of Life

The key thing to remember about exercise is that regardless of one’s specific goals, the ultimate goal is to improve quality of life, or to at least prevent it from declining. Consider the innate ability of a baby to learn and utilize the full squat position. This is a basic human movement that many adults lose the ability to perform as early as their 20s or 30s. Over time, it can progress to the level of not being able to get up from a chair or climb a flight of stairs without pain and difficulty. Similar trends of avoidable degeneration prevent people from participating in activities they enjoy and can even make it excessively difficult to perform basic functions such as walking. This can clearly have a significantly negative impact on quality of life. Exercising in a random and unplanned fashion is unlikely to prevent such problems or promote desired improvements nearly as well as a fitness program designed with a specific purpose in mind.

Also remember that in conjunction with a truly healthy diet and lifestyle, the guidelines discussed here are more than adequate to support and facilitate weight loss. The wear and tear of following a high volume exercise program with the primary intention of burning calories can actually accelerate the physical limitations just described, and in turn, lessen one’s quality of life instead of improving it.

Next time you exercise, ask yourself how the particular activity that you’re doing relates to your goals and needs and if it’s the most appropriate and effective way to pursue such improvements. If you’re not sure how exercise can improve your life, then maybe it’s time to give this some thought. By putting more effort into identifying the benefits of exercise that specifically relate to your goals and needs, and by planning your exercise routine accordingly, your quality of life is likely to improve by a much larger margin.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

Jerky is a Traditional and Historic Whole Food

For the most part, jerky is simply dried meat. Although there’s a considerable amount of controversy surrounding the healthfulness of meat, evidence suggests that it was a significant part of our pre-agricultural diet,¹ and the sound reasoning of the Expensive Tissue Hypothesis suggests that it was also a critical factor in our evolution, particularly in regard to our dramatic increase in brain capacity.^2,3 Given the hot and dry climate that humans are believed to have emerged from, it’s believed that witnessing the natural drying of meat under the sun may have provoked early humans to rely on drying as a method of preserving meat. Unfortunately, this is very difficult for archaeologists to prove,⁴ but it’s well known that many indigenous cultures have long relied on drying to preserve meat.⁵

The ability to store dried meat allowed indigenous humans, particularly those such as the Eskimos and Native American Indians who subsisted primarily on animal meat, to avoid starvation during shortages of wild game.⁶ Although food shortages are now much less of a concern in most areas of the world, jerky still offers a lot of value by providing the nutritional quality of a whole food in a convenient and long lasting form.

Despite not always being recognized as such, meat is a good source of vitamins and minerals, particularly iron, zinc, and the B vitamins.⁷ Although the dehydration process used to prepare jerky is likely to reduce the content of some B vitamins,⁸ jerky is still likely to be much more nutritious than most processed snack foods and is also an excellent snack choice for anyone looking to consume more protein or less carbohydrate.

Why You Should Consider Making Your Own Jerky

The jerky that’s commonly available at most grocery stores is likely to be made from the lesser quality meat of animals that have been raised inappropriately under industrial farming conditions. This type of jerky is also likely to contain potentially harmful additives such as refined sugar or MSG. Making your own jerky is easy to do, and most importantly, it gives you control of meat quality, ingredient selection, and the temperature and duration used for dehydration. If you still prefer to buy jerky instead of making it yourself, U.S. Wellness Meats makes theirs with high quality pasture raised meat, and they offer it plain without any additives other than natural Celtic sea salt. However, good quality jerky is typically expensive which is another convincing reason to make it yourself.

Although the prospect of making your own jerky might seem difficult and laborious, it’s actually quite easy. You can even dehydrate the meat in your oven, but if you’d prefer to use a lower temperature than what your oven can accommodate, an electric dehydrator is a better option. Dehydrators also tend to use less electricity than ovens and are relatively inexpensive. Although people who dry a lot of foods tend to prefer Excalibur dehydrators, I use the less expensive Nesco American Harvest dehydrator which has worked well for me.

Selecting Quality Meat for Jerky

It should go without saying that the nutritional quality of jerky is dependent upon the quality of the meat used to make it. For this reason, it’s best to choose pasture raised meat in favor of the meat typically sold at grocery stores. The latter is more likely to have been mass produced, be of poorer nutritional quality,^9,10 and contain potentially harmful chemical residues.¹¹ High quality meat can be purchased from a trustworthy local farmer or online from U.S. Wellness Meats or Blackwing Quality Meats. Two excellent resources for finding local farmers are EatWild.com and LocalHarvest.org.

Considerations Regarding Fat

Dehydration is an effective way to preserve meat because it minimizes bacterial growth.¹² However, lipid oxidation is another significant cause of meat rancidity and occurs during heating and storage.^13,14,34,35 For this reason, it’s generally recommended to make jerky from lean cuts of meat. In addition, oxidized lipids act as free radicals that can cause cellular damage and have been associated with heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, arthritis, and accelerated aging.^15-18,35,41 Of course, there’s also the concern surrounding saturated fat, cholesterol, and heart disease, but saturated fat is necessary for good health,⁴⁰ and the association between heart disease and natural dietary sources of fat and cholesterol has been convincingly scrutinized.^36-39 Furthermore, saturated fat is much more resistant to oxidation.^14,20

Despite the concerns regarding free radicals, they’re a natural part of every day life. They’re produced within the body during a variety of normal physiological functions including routine energy production.^17-20,35 They can be generated in even greater quantities during exercise²¹ and are even produced for advantageous purposes such as immune function.^18,20,22,33 As such, it shouldn’t be surprising that the body can naturally defend itself against free radical damage. This defense occurs primarily through the utilization of antioxidants such as glutathione and vitamins C and E,^{15-18,20-23,35} all of which should be obtainable in adequate amounts from a healthy diet based on natural whole foods.

Although it depends on the temperature and duration, it’s arguable that dehydrating meat doesn’t cause any more lipid oxidation than regular cooking. Either way, given that it’s impractical to completely avoid lipid oxidation, a more realistic and balanced approach to reducing the potential of health implications is to avoid the use of high cooking temperatures and reduce storage time as much as possible while also supporting the body’s natural defenses by regularly consuming whole foods. Based on this, I think it’s reasonable to make jerky with fattier meat as long as it will be refrigerated, consumed relatively quickly, and dehydrated at a relatively low temperature. In fact, dehydrated meat has been shown to be more resistant to lipid oxidation during storage than cooked or fresh meat providing it’s not dehydrated too much.¹⁴

Although jerky is most commonly made with beef, any type of meat or fish can be used. However, it should be taken into consideration that polyunsaturated fatty acids are much more susceptible to oxidation^13,14,20 and that some meats contain more of it than others. For example, pork, chicken, and turkey tend to contain more polyunsaturated fat than beef and are therefore more susceptible to lipid oxidation.^14,24 This variation can also depend on how an animal is raised and fed^9,10,25 which is yet another reason to choose meat from pasture raised animals. The use of fish presents some concerns as well. Although fish is often regarded as a healthful source of essential fatty acids,²⁶ these fatty acids are polyunsaturated which suggests that fish is perhaps a less desirable choice for jerky. Then again, indigenous Eskimos seemed to have fared quite well for many years despite their preference for rancid fish.⁶ As with animal meat, the quality of the fish is also an important consideration.

Making Jerky with Ground Meat

It can be preferable to use ground meat to make jerky because it’s easier to work with, produces jerky that tends to be more flavorful and easier to chew, and is typically the least expensive form of pasture raised meat. However, ground beef is more likely to be contaminated with pathogens due to increased exposure to grinding equipment and the combining of meat from different animals and different farms.^27,28 For this reason, meat quality becomes even more important.

Outbreaks of food borne illness have been traced to both commercially produced and homemade jerky.²⁹ However, 8 hours of drying at 145° F has been shown to reduce inoculated populations of E. coli in ground beef containing 5% and 20% fat to levels considered acceptable by the USDA.³⁰ Despite this, the USDA still recommends preheating meat to 160° F and poultry to 165° F prior to dehydrating it.³¹ This may be worth considering since the thermostats of some electric dehydrators have been shown to be inaccurate.³⁰

If you decide to make jerky with ground meat, I highly recommend using a jerky gun which makes it very easy to create strips of meat. If you’d like to use ground meat but are concerned about the increased risk of contamination, another option is to buy regular cuts of meat and grind it yourself.

Adding Flavor to Your Jerky

A significant part of what makes jerky an appealing snack is the combination of spices and marinades that add to its flavor. Although there’s nothing wrong with plain jerky, a bit of seasoning can make it a lot tastier. Spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, nutmeg, and ginger are all popular choices and are even believed to have impressive health benefits.

Soy sauce and worcestershire sauce are often used to add even more flavor, but it’s important to realize that sauces tend to be a hidden source of unhealthy ingredients. Soy itself has been associated with a number of undesirable health effects, and although the fermentation of soy sauce can make this much less of a concern, some brands are not fermented adequately.³² Similarly, the many ingredients typically found in worcestershire sauce take away from the natural simplicity of jerky. But because jerky is typically consumed as a snack, and because only small amounts of these sauces are needed to add flavor, there’s some room for compromise. Two sauces that I use, San-J Organic Wheat Free Tamari Soy Sauce and The Wizard’s Organic Worcestershire, appear to be of high enough quality to make this issues less of a concern.

For more information on drying and cooking methods, meat selection, equipment needs, and recipes relating to jerky, I recommend reading Jerky by A.D. Livingston.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

People who struggle with motivation often embrace the latest trends hoping that it will be what they need to keep them focused. However, given the large number of health related products and programs that exist, and the also large number of people who continue to struggle with motivation, it should be obvious that such an approach is unlikely to result in long term success. While it’s hard to criticize anything that encourages people to embrace healthier habits, the latest trends and technologies will rarely provide the substance needed to inspire lasting motivation.

The Importance of Inspiration

Due to the many unhealthy influences and temptations that have become such a common part of modern living, promoting and maintaining good health can require a lot of effort. However, just about any type of accomplishment requires commitment and hard work, and this shouldn’t necessarily be perceived with discouragement. The effort required to achieve a goal is often proportional to the fulfillment that it brings, and people who dedicate themselves to healthy living can enjoy a sense of accomplishment in addition to the benefits of improved health. However, none of this is possible without a daily commitment to healthy habits, and this commitment will be very difficult to make and maintain without a meaningful source of inspiration to do so.

How Strong is Your Inspiration?

One of the most common reasons why people consider making changes to their diet or exercise habits is to lose weight. In many cases, this is based more on appearance than health or wellness. However, many people find that such a source of inspiration isn’t strong enough to help them overcome their cravings for unhealthy foods or their lack of desire to exercise. Perhaps this is why so many people are stuck in a seemingly endless pattern of abandoning a new diet or exercise program, feeling guilty about doing so, and looking for the latest and greatest alternative to start the cycle over again.

Other Weak Sources of Inspiration

In my opinion, the P90X workout program and Reebok’s EasyTone shoes are two examples of how the novelty of something new and popular can be a powerful but short lived source of motivation. I’ve received a lot of criticism for having a negative opinion of these products, particularly because of their potential to encourage otherwise sedentary people to exercise. If such an individual makes a lifelong commitment to healthier habits after being inspired by products like these, it’s a great thing. However, if the disappointment of being overweight and more vulnerable to debilitating conditions has failed to inspire a long term commitment to good health, then it’s highly unlikely for the novelty of the latest fitness or diet fad to have any more of a lasting impact.

Regardless of the quality or effectiveness of products like the P90X program or Reebok’s EasyTone sneakers, their novelty can indeed motivate people to adapt healthier habits. However, once the novelty wears off, which it inevitably will, inspiration and motivation will likely fade away too. I consider this type of inspiration to be weak because it’s based on something other than the direct benefits of the tasks or activities that require motivation. While it may “get someone off the couch,” it won’t keep them off the couch for long unless it facilitates the recognition of a deeper and more meaningful source of inspiration.

How to Identify a Meaningful Source of Inspiration

There’s no single way to describe the meaning of life. It can vary greatly based on individuality, and although not everyone fully recognizes what aspects of life are most meaningful to them, we each have a unique set of values that represent what we care about most. Regardless of what these values are, they can be a tremendous source of inspiration and motivation, and as such, they can inspire the dedication needed to achieve challenging and long term goals. A great way to take advantage of this is to identify ways in which your values are dependent upon your goals.

Consider someone who’s naturally inspired by the fulfillment they gain from helping others but can’t find the motivation they need to lose weight. By identifying ways in which weight loss could make their generosity more productive and fulfilling, such a person will naturally be more motivated to implement healthier habits. For example, a more fit and healthy appearance would be a demonstration of self empowerment that could increase their credibility and influence, and the extra energy that typically results from improved health could increase their capacity and allow them engage in more of the generous behavior that fulfills them. Furthermore, relying on a sensible exercise program and a truly healthy diet to lose weight will more than likely improve their quality of life, and this is a benefit that should be meaningful to anyone. In short, the key to building motivation is recognizing an honest and realistic way to associate your goals with a stronger sense of urgency, and basing the association on personal values is an excellent way to accomplish this.

A great example of this concept comes from Andre Agassi’s autobiography. Andre’s time as a professional tennis player can easily be regarded as a dramatic transition from a young and flamboyant punk who took his talent for granted to a mature and dedicated veteran who made the most of what he had. Although he hated doing the very same thing that brought him his fame, he eventually recognized his passion for helping others and chose to use his tennis talent to pursue it further. This passion inspired him, and recognizing a way to associate it with tennis gave him the motivation that he previously lacked to fully commit himself to his career as a professional athlete. As a result, he was finally able to live up to his potential as a world class tennis player and enjoy consistent and long term success. More importantly, this helped him achieve his true goal of establishing the highly successful Andre Agassi Prepatory Academy which provides underprivileged children in Las Vegas with a good education and an opportunity for a better life.

Be Inspired By Enjoyment

A much more simple approach to cultivating inspiration, and one that doesn’t require much thought at all, is enjoyment. People who enjoy exercising and eating nutritious whole foods generally don’t have much trouble making these healthy habits a consistent part of their lifestyles. For example, I’ve always enjoyed working out and playing sports, especially tennis, and as such, it’s very easy for me to stay active. Likewise, with my appreciation for the importance of a healthy diet, I’ve become more aware of preferences that I have for certain whole foods and look forward to meals that include them.

Just about anyone should be able to identify a few physical activities that they find enjoyable and a variety of nutritious whole foods that they find delicious. The key is being open minded enough to discover what they are, and once this happens, healthy living will very likely become much easier. Those who find a way to enjoy healthy habits will likely find that their commitment to them seems effortless.

Change is Difficult

For many people, a large part of the reason why implementing healthier habits is so difficult is the discomfort of changing their existing habits. A strong source of inspiration, whether it be based on personal values or simple enjoyment, helps to overcome this sometimes overwhelming obstacle. Although habits relating to health are often the hardest to change and are most frequently related to diet and exercise, finding a strong source of inspiration can help a great deal in making any type of change.

Another common problem with change is starting out with too much ambition. For example, someone who exercises hard every day or excessively cuts calories will be more likely to lose their motivation regardless of how strong their source of inspiration is. As such, balance is critical, and within reason, doing less often provides more benefit than doing more, especially when the only other alternative is doing nothing at all.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

How Sugar Can Ruin Your Life

This is a big claim, and as such, it shouldn’t be surprising that I’ve received several requests to provide references. In addition to adding information about advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and Candida overgrowth, I’ve provided references from scientific journals to support all of the claims made in the article. Sugar and refined carbohydrates have become such a common part of the modern diet, even for people who think they’re eating healthy, that I think this article provides extremely important information that everyone should be familiar with. Read the article to see if you might be harming your health by consuming too much of these foods.

A Hidden Danger with Nuts, Grains, Beans, and Seeds

Each of these foods are commonly recognized as part of a healthy diet, so what could possibly be dangerous about them? Aside from the risks associated with soy and the gluten sensitivity issues associated with grains, there’s not much to be concerned about as long as they’re prepared properly. However, if such precautions aren’t taken to reduce certain antinutrients, these foods can compromise one’s health by interfering with digestion and mineral absorption. I’ve added more information about these antinutrients as well as how to remove them, and I’ve also added quite a few references from scientific journals. Read the article to learn how to reduce the possibility of these foods detracting from your health.

Are Your Shoes Causing Foot and Ankle Dysfunction?

Most people don’t pay much attention to their feet, but they’re one of the most complex structures of the human body and we depend on them extensively every day just to stand and walk. When something goes wrong with their function, we often pay the price by experiencing pain in a variety of places and being forced to restrict our activity. As surprising as it may seem, shoes may have a lot to do with instigating such problems. I’ve added additional information on how this can happen and have also provided a number of references from scientific journals. This article is especially relevant to the new trend of toning shoes such as the Reebok EasyTone, Sketcher Shape Ups, and Avia Avi Motion. Read the article to learn how your shoes may be influencing your physical health and what you can do to promote foot function that is more natural and more likely to keep you pain free.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

The first article in this series discussed the impressive health benefits of chocolate including its high antioxidant capacity, its potential to reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers, and its ability to improve circulation and even skin health. The second article described the less desirable characteristics of chocolate such as its potential to impair digestion, alter mood, and be contaminated with potentially toxic heavy metals. The intent of this final article is to consider how chocolate can fit into a truly healthy diet and to identify the factors that can make it more of a health promoting food than an indulgence.

How Chocolate Measures as a Healthy Food

In my opinion, the healthiest foods are those which can be eaten in their natural and whole form and will promote optimal health when consumed frequently. Despite its benefits, chocolate obviously doesn’t fall into this category. It’s highly processed which means that many of the nutrients from the original cacao beans are lost, damaged, or destroyed. Furthermore, because pure chocolate is extremely bitter, nearly all chocolate products contain added sugar, and many contain other unhealthy additives as well. The problems associated with sugar alone are enough to qualify chocolate as a food that shouldn’t be eaten in significant amounts, and this doesn’t take into account the undesirable nutrients that naturally exist in chocolate.

Much of the research that has shown chocolate to have beneficial effects is based on the daily consumption of a full chocolate bar or close to it. Most people would probably agree that eating this much chocolate on a regular basis is excessive and is likely to negate any possible health benefits. However, some of the research that has shown chocolate to have vascular and cognitive benefits is based on much more moderate consumption levels ranging from 6 to 10 grams per day^1,2,3 which would be about the equivalent of one or two small squares.

Despite the health promoting aspects of chocolate, I think its less desirable characteristics still qualify it as an indulgence food that should be enjoyed in moderation, especially since it’s possible to obtain at least some of the health benefits from eating it in small amounts. As such, I think it would be questionable to use chocolate’s potential health benefits as justification to eat more of it. However, those who truly enjoy chocolate can take added pleasure from knowing that it has much more nutritional value than most other indulgence foods. In addition, those who are willing to be more selective about quality may be able to eat more of it without experiencing negative effects.

A Better Approach to Promoting Health and Preventing Disease

The health promoting benefits associated with chocolate can also be obtained by a well rounded healthy lifestyle, and the results of this approach are likely to be much more effective. Furthermore, regardless of how impressive the benefits of chocolate are, they won’t compensate for unhealthy habits. For example, it’s highly doubtful that the potential benefits of chocolate would make much of a difference for someone who’s eating a lot of processed food, dealing with too much stress, and not getting enough sleep.

Many of the beneficial nutrients found in chocolate can be obtained from other foods that can be eaten more frequently with fewer drawbacks. For example, apples, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, and walnuts have all been shown to be good sources of flavonoids,^4,5 and unlike chocolate, they can easily be eaten in their natural whole form. As such, it would be inadvisable to eat chocolate specifically for its potential health benefits when more sensible alternatives are available.

In general, I think it would be a mistake to consider chocolate as a health promoting food without regarding basic healthy habits and the consumption of whole foods as much more important priorities. Although this may seem obvious, some people act as if the potential health benefits of a specific food or supplement will solve all of their problems. While this may be true in some cases, a broader perspective on health is generally more effective.

Using Chocolate to Boost Mood or Energy

Many people consistently rely on coffee to get through the day, and some people rely on sweets or other foods in a similar way. Because chocolate can provide a boost in both mood and energy, some people eat it primarily for these effects. As Julia Ross explains in The Mood Cure, consistently relying on foods to provide a lift in mood or energy can cause neurotransmitter deficiencies and lead to chronic problems including mood disorders and fatigue. Although there’s probably little harm in using chocolate to occasionally boost mood or energy, doing so on a regular basis can be problematic and difficult to stop. This is yet another reason why chocolate shouldn’t be consumed solely for its potential health benefits, especially in large amounts.

Maximizing Chocolate’s Benefits

Although I don’t consider chocolate to be a health food, it still makes a lot of sense for those who truly enjoy it to make it as healthy of an indulgence as possible. Fortunately, there are several ways to accomplish this.

The most important factor regarding the health promoting potential of chocolate is how much cacao it contains which is usually specified as a percentage. As you would expect, products with a higher percentage of cacao content will contain a larger quantity of beneficial nutrients while also containing less sugar and other additives. Chocolate that has a high percentage of cacao is referred to as dark chocolate which typically contains 70% cacao or more. Most chocolate products that are of good quality will list the percentage on the label. The ones that don’t are more likely to have a lower percentage. The only potential downside to dark chocolate is that it has a somewhat bitter taste which intensifies as the percentage of cacao increases. However, someone who mostly eats whole foods will be less likely to have a preference for excessive sweetness and more likely to appreciate the bitter taste.

As described in the previous article, the potential for the phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, and oxolate found in chocolate to impair digestion is another important consideration. Although enzyme inhibitors are probably inactivated by the heating that chocolate undergoes during processing, this is much less likely to be the case for phytic acid and oxalate. Reducing phytic acid typically requires soaking, and reducing oxalate typically requires steaming or boiling. Unfortunately, this can only be done if you make your own chocolate from cocoa powder or cacao beans. Since phytic acid and oxalate are probably not much of a concern in small amounts, especially for those who consume a variety of nutritious foods, this added effort may only be worth while for those who wish to consume chocolate more frequently.

Avoiding Unnecessary and Potentially Harmful Ingredients

Because chocolate manufacturers use cacao beans that are grown all over the world, including places that have weak regulations for soil contamination and the use of agricultural chemicals, it’s a good idea to buy chocolate that is certified organic. Doing so should reduce your exposure to pesticide residues and possibly the heavy metals discussed in the previous article. As with any type of food, choosing chocolate that has the fewest ingredients is also a good idea. Some chocolate is made with undesirable ingredients such as soy derivatives or even trans fat. Even if these ingredients exist in a small enough amount to not pose much of a risk, why take the chance when there are better alternatives available?

For those who prefer milk chocolate, another ingredient that poses some concern is milk powder which is highly processed and often contains oxidized cholesterol.⁶ Research has found oxidized cholesterol to increase atherosclerosis in rabbits and mice, and it’s believed to do the same in humans.^7,8,9

The chocolate that I typically eat contains only three ingredients: chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, and sugar. As I mentioned in the first article, chocolate liquor has no association with alcohol. It’s the mixture of cocoa powder and cocoa butter, both of which come from the cacao bean.

Supporting Fair Labor Practices

The chocolate industry seems to have a lot of ties to abusive labor practices including child slavery. This generally occurs with the farming of cacao beans, some of which are purchased by major chocolate manufacturers.¹⁰ An organized social movement called fair trade has been established to fight such labor practices and consists of four international networks that promote better trading and working conditions. These four networks are the Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO), the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), the Network of European Worldshops (NEWS), and the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA).¹¹ You can support fair labor practices across the world by purchasing chocolate that’s labeled as fair trade through any organization that’s certified by one of these four networks.

My Favorite Chocolate

Despite my slightly negative opinion of chocolate, it’s one of my favorite indulgences. Although I’d like to eventually try making my own chocolate from cocoa powder, I currently resort to the convenience of buying chocolate bars. My three favorites are Vivani 72% Dark Chocolate, Askinosie 77% Dark Chocolate from the Philippines, and Askinosie 70% Dark Chocolate from Ecuador. The Vivani chocolate is certified organic, and although the Askinosie chocolate isn’t, they claim to buy from organic farmers. In fact, you can even learn about the farmers they buy from on their website. Although neither company has a fair trade designation on their labels, both claim to support fair labor practices.

If you have any favorite chocolate products or recipes of your own, please share them below!

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

The previous article presented the many impressive health benefits of chocolate including a remarkably high antioxidant capacity, a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes, a reduced growth rate of several cancers, and even improved skin health. However, since each of these benefits can be obtained in other ways, the remaining question that needs to be answered is if chocolate should be consumed specifically to promote good health despite having some potentially harmful characteristics. The following issues provide some of the insight needed to answer this question.

Chocolate Can Impair Digestion and Absorption

Chocolate can be a rich source of minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, and zinc.^1,2 However, as with most seeds, the cacao bean also contains phytic acid³ and enzyme inhibitors.⁴ Phytic acid allows seeds to maintain the nutrients they need to germinate by binding to minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. However, research has shown that phytic acid impairs our ability to absorb these minerals.^{5,6,7,8,9,10,11} The protease inhibitors that exist in cacao beans cause another problem by inactivating digestive enzymes in the human digestive tract which reduces the efficiency of protein digestion. This also puts an additional burden on the pancreas to produce more enzymes which has the potential to impair its function and cause it to enlarge.^12,13

The potential for phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors to interfere with mineral absorption and protein digestion applies to the nutrients found in chocolate as well as any other foods eaten with it. If phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors are consumed frequently in high enough concentrations, they can impair overall digestion and increase the potential for nutrient deficiencies and subsequent health issues. As such, this is an important consideration. In most cases, the amount of phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors can be reduced by soaking and cooking. However, because chocolate manufacturers are very unlikely to do so, phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors may very well exist in their final products. Although enzyme inhibitors are likely to at least be partially inactivated by the heating involved in the processing of chocolate,¹⁶ this is not the case with phytic acid which has been found in chocolate at relatively high levels.^14,15

Oxalate, another substance that can interfere with digestion, has also been found in chocolate.¹⁴ Oxalate impairs the absorption of calcium¹⁷ and can therefore increase the risk of developing osteoporosis.¹⁸ Foods that contain oxalate are also thought to increase the risk of kidney stones,¹⁹ and this risk is believed to be made even worse by the combination of sugar and oxalate that exists in chocolate.²⁰ Although steaming and especially boiling can reduce the oxalate content in food, baking has been shown to not have this effect.²¹ As such, the heat that chocolate is exposed to during processing is unlikely to have much of an impact on its oxalate content. This has been made evident by the detection of oxalate in chocolate products that have already been processed.¹⁴

Some Chocolate is Contaminated with Heavy Metals

Plants are extremely effective at absorbing minerals from the soil. In some cases, the roots of plants can contain mineral concentrations that are 10,000 times that of the soil, and this is an important aspect of their survival. Because of this absorption capability, plants are often used to remove environmental contamination through a process called phytoremediation.²² Unfortunately, this absorption capacity can also result in the contamination of plants that are used for food.

Potentially toxic heavy metals including lead, cadmium, and arsenic have been found in chocolate products from a variety of origins.^23,24,25,26 These metals can be absorbed directly by the Theobroma cacao tree or be introduced during the manufacturing process, but either way, they can still exist in the final product. Although the levels of these metals are often within acceptable ranges, it’s important to realize that they accumulate in the body and can become quite toxic over an extended period of exposure to small amounts. Many chocolate manufacturers claim that the amounts are small enough to not be a concern,²⁷ but the American Environmental Safety Institute considered it a large enough concern to file suit against a number of manufacturers in 2002 and petition for required contaminant labeling.²⁸

The concentration of heavy metals may very well be too low to be of significant concern, but it’s definitely a legitimate reason to avoid eating sizable portions of chocolate on a regular basis. Furthermore, because the cacao beans used to make chocolate come from all over the world, the amounts of heavy metals that they contain can vary widely. Although there’s no guarantee, certified organic chocolate is less likely to be produced from cacao beans that have been grown in a contaminated environment or exposed to contaminants during processing.

Chocolate can Alter Your Mood

Chocolate is the most commonly craved food in North America by a large margin, especially among women.²⁹ As such, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that it can alter your mood considerably. Although some people might consider this a benefit, it’s often a compensatory measure that can have undesirable long term effects, just like relying on coffee for energy.

Despite the amount of research that’s been done on this aspect of chocolate, a lot of questions remain unanswered and there’s quite a bit of disagreement regarding the mechanisms through which the cravings and mood alterations associated with it might occur.

Chocolate as a Stimulant

Chocolate often contains a substance called phenylethylamine (PEA)³⁰ which is believed to act as a stimulant that can increase energy, elevate mood, and promote aggression.³¹ This substance is one of the most common explanations for the mood alterations and intense cravings that are often associated with chocolate. However, there’s some doubt about this because other foods such cheese and sausage contain greater quantities of PEA and aren’t associated with cravings.²⁹

Another somewhat common explanation for chocolate’s addictive properties is its caffeine content, but because chocolate contains such a small amount of caffeine, it’s unlikely to have much of an influence. However, chocolate does contain much larger quantities of a substance called theobromine which is similar to caffeine and is therefore believed to be a stimulant with addictive properties, but to a lesser extent.^32,29 As such, theobromine is believed to possibly play a role in the cravings and mood alterations associated with chocolate.

In addition to their energizing effects, many stimulants are believed to be a potential trigger for migraine headaches, and there’s evidence suggesting that this may be the case for chocolate as well.³³

Chocolate as a Mood Enhancer

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that’s associated with feelings of euphoria and satisfaction and is well known for having a significant influence on mood. Chocolate contains a derivative of dopamine named salsolinal which is naturally produced in the brain of humans and has been shown to have a strong affinity for dopamine receptors. As such, it’s believed to play a role in the reinforcement and reward system associated with addiction. Salsolinal has also been shown to decrease the production of the neurologically influential substances β-endorphin and ACTH which is a common characteristic of addiction³⁴ and can have an undesirable long term effect on mood.

Chocolate contains a notable amount of magnesium^1,2 which is another reason why it’s believed to influence mood and cravings. A deficiency in magnesium can cause a depletion of dopamine, and based on this, it’s believed that the magnesium in chocolate may induce cravings because of its potential to alleviate the deficiency. However, this too is uncertain because similar amounts of magnesium are found in a variety of nuts that generally aren’t associated with cravings.²⁹

Chocolate as a Drug

Chocolate has been found to contain several compounds constituting a lipoprotein called anandamide. This substance naturally exists in the human brain and is known to produce the heightened sensitivity and sense of euphoria associated with cannabinoid drugs such as marijuana.²⁹ As such, these compounds are believed to be another potential cause of the addictive and mood altering characteristics of chocolate, but other researchers disagree and believe that chocolate doesn’t contain enough of these compounds to have such an effect.^35,36

Just Another Sweet Craving?

Sweet and palatable foods in general are believed to invoke an immediate opiate response, which includes the release of β-endorphin, and this is believed to be a possible explanation for the satisfaction associated with eating certain foods.^37,38,39,40 Sweet foods are also believed to influence mood through the neurotransmitter serotonin which is known to provoke a general sense of wellbeing. When carbohydrates are consumed, especially those which cause a rapid rise in blood sugar, the resulting release of insulin causes more amino acids to be absorbed by cells. However, tryptophan is left behind which results in a higher concentration that can enter the brain more easily and be used to produce serotonin.^41,42

Whether the potential for chocolate to alter mood and cause cravings is because of one or more of its ingredients, the simple fact that it’s sweet and tastes good, or if it’s just a matter of psychology is still up for debate.^29,35 Regardless of the actual cause, research has clearly acknowledged the existence of these effects, and it would be prudent to regard them as more of a potential concern than a benefit.

A Combination of Good and Bad

Although the impressive health benefits associated with chocolate have been getting a lot of attention, it’s arguable that these benefits are negated by issues relating to digestion, toxicity, and mood. In addition, the extent to which chocolate can promote or harm one’s health can vary considerably depending on a number of factors which makes it even more difficult to determine if the benefits justify the risks. Part three of this article discusses how chocolate can fit into a healthy diet as well as some of the considerations that can make it more of a health food and less of an indulgence.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

Surprisingly, there’s an overwhelming amount of research and opinion existing on chocolate and its potential to alter mood, cause intense cravings, and influence health. As such, there’s a lot of important information to discuss, but too much to include in one article, so this will be the first of three. This article will discuss the beneficial aspects of chocolate, the next one will consider if and how chocolate can detract from health, and the final article will include my opinion on whether chocolate is a so called superfood or just an indulgence as is commonly thought. In this last article, I’ll also share what my three favorite chocolates are as well as some important information regarding selection.

From Bean to Bar: The Origin of Chocolate

To understand the health implications of chocolate, it’s important to first be familiar with its origin. Chocolate is manufactured from cacao beans which are the seeds of the pods that grow on the Theobroma cacao tree. Each pod contains about 40 beans, and once the beans are harvested, they’re fermented to improve their flavor. Following fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted. By a process called winnowing, the shells of the beans are removed, and then the beans are milled and pressed. Milling produces chocolate liquor which is a mix of the beans’ solids and liquified fat. Despite the name, chocolate liquor has no association with alcohol. This is important to realize because chocolate liquor is often listed as an ingredient for a variety of chocolate products.

When chocolate liquor is pressed, it’s separated into cocoa butter and cocoa powder, each of which are later recombined in various proportions and mixed with other ingredients such as sugar, vanilla, and milk powder to produce a final product. In some cases, cocoa powder is treated with an alkali, or “Dutched”, to give the chocolate a milder flavor and make it darker in appearance. This final mix is eventually molded into the bars and candies that we’re all familiar with, for better or worse.¹

Can Chocolate Prevent Disease?

Although it would be a stretch to say that chocolate was a part our evolution, the consumption of cacao is believed to date back more than 3,000 years ago when the early Mayans are thought to have used cacao beans as part of a beverage.² The idea of chocolate promoting good health isn’t new either. The Aztecs are documented to have used the cacao bean hundreds of years ago to treat a long list of medical conditions. This medicinal use of cacao was eventually adopted in Europe as well as other regions of the world.¹

Evidence suggests that chocolate can help prevent heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. This has been supported by a traditional population of Kuna Indians that live on a small island off the coast of Panama named San Blas. The Kuna Indians are believed to consume more cocoa than any other community and drink a beverage derived from it as their primary source of fluid. Epidemiological evidence has shown the Kuna Indians to have significantly lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes than those living on the mainland of Panama where the cocoa is of poorer quality and generally consumed in much smaller amounts. The Kuna Indians are also known for having optimally low blood pressure that doesn’t rise much with age.^3,4 As can be seen from the work of Dr. Weston A. Price, it’s not at all surprising for a traditional culture that’s isolated from the stress, chemicals, and processed foods of modern society to enjoy much better health, but nonetheless, this still provides strong support for the potential health benefits of chocolate.

Such support has been found in other research as well. Out of a population of 471 elderly men studied over a duration of 15 years, those who consumed chocolate on a regular basis were shown to have lower blood pressure and reduced mortality. The reduction in mortality applied to heart disease alone as well as all causes of death combined.⁵ Although such a correlation doesn’t provide proof of cause and effect, it’s certainly a strong indication that should be considered further. Fortunately, it has been considered quite extensively.

Many of the disease preventing benefits associated with chocolate, including its high antioxidant capacity, are largely attributed to the large quantity of flavonoids it contains. Flavonoids represent a class of phytochemicals that are also found in some fruits, nuts, and vegetables. They’re also the reason for some of the health benefits commonly associated with red wine and especially green tea,¹ but research suggests that chocolate can contain a significantly larger quantity of flavonoids and other beneficial plant nutrients than both red wine and green tea.⁶ Chocolate is also a notable source of the popular antioxidant resveratrol, but contains less than red wine and grape juice.⁷ Resveratrol is believed to help prevent heart disease and cancer, but is also a phytoestrogen which means that it can act as estrogen in the human body and potentially have undesirable effects.⁸

Chocolate is Very High in Antioxidants

Antioxidants are becoming a popular way of assessing the nutritional value of various supplements and foods. When a molecule loses an electron, in many cases to oxygen, it is said to have been oxidized. This loss of an electron causes the molecule to be charged and therefore more reactive. As such, it’s called a free radical. Because free radicals have the capacity to strip electrons from other molecules, they are often associated with cell damage and recognized as a potential health risk. Antioxidants are believed to reduce this damage by providing electrons to free radicals without becoming unstable free radicals themselves. Although it’s arguable that too much emphasis is placed on antioxidants and that there are circumstances in which free radicals are necessary for proper physiological function,⁹ it stands to reason that obtaining antioxidants from natural sources is beneficial.

Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a popular method of measuring antioxidant capacity. Most people are aware that fruits are particularly high in antioxidant capacity, especially berries. According to 2007 USDA data, all of which is based on 100 gram serving sizes, cranberries have a very impressive average total ORAC score of 9,584. Blueberries also have an impressive score of 6,552 with blackberries not too far behind at 5,347. The score for raspberries and strawberries is 4,882 and 3,577 respectively. Primarily because of its exceptional flavonoid conent, dark chocolate has more than double the antioxidant capacity of any of these fruits with an average total ORAC score of 20,823! Cocoa powder is even higher at 80,933.¹⁰ Research has confirmed this potential benefit of chocolate by showing an increase in antioxidant capacity and a decrease in oxidation byproducts in those who consume it.¹¹ Although it would be unwise to eat chocolate in place of fruits and vegetables, this is convincing support for the argument that chocololate may contribute to the benefits of a healthy diet.

Chocolate Can Reduce the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Arguably the most important health benefit associated with chocolate is its potential to reduce the risk of heart disease, and this is mostly attributed to the flavonoids it contains, particularly catechin and epicatechin. These flavonoids are believed to improve vascular function by increasing the availability of nitric oxide, and in turn, promoting the dilation or widening of blood vessels by causing the smooth muscle tissue surrounding them to relax. This can alleviate common circulatory conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease.^{12,13,14,15,16} In fact, research has shown that chocolate consumption can reduce blood pressure^{14,17,18,19,20}, but other research supporting the vascular benefits of chocolate didn’t show any such change.^13,21

Research has also shown chocolate to reduce blood clotting,^{21,22,23,24,25,26} decrease inflammation by reducing c-reactive protein levels,³⁷ and modulate the immune response,^26,27,28 all of which are important factors in cardiovascular disease. Chocolate has also been shown to improve resistance to oxidative DNA damage which may contribute to atherosclerosis.²⁹

It can even be argued that chocolate can make you smarter and reduce the risk of strokes and cerebrovascular diseases such as dementia. Research has shown that its vascular benefits result in increased blood flow to brain,^15,30 and an evaluation of 2031 elderly men and women found that those who consumed chocolate on a regular basis showed stronger cognitive performance.³⁸

Chocolate and Diabetes

Because of the increased availability of nitric oxide that improves vascular function, chocolate consumption has also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity.^17,20 This could be beneficial for anyone who is susceptible to blood sugar fluctuation or suffers from diabetes or insulin resistance. However, chocolate tends to also contain added sugar which can reduce or negate these benefits by causing high blood glucose levels and impairing the dilation of blood vessels.^31,32

Chocolate and Cancer Prevention

The beneficial phytochemicals in plants are often associated with cancer prevention. In contrast, processed foods and sugar are often mentioned as potential causes of cancer. Although chocolate falls into both of these categories, preliminary research has shown that the flavonoids it contains can inhibit the growth of breast cancer³³ and prostate cancer.³⁴

Chocolate Can Promote Healthy Skin

Antioxidants help prevent the skin damage that can be caused by the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Adequate consumption of fat and water can also prevent skin damage because they are essential components of the cell membrane and can improve and support the resilience of skin cells. Good circulation can also contribute to skin health by supplying skin cells with more water and nutrients. In addition to protecting the skin, each of these factors can also improve its quality and appearance.

Chocolate is a good source of both antioxidants and fat and can also improve circulation. As such, it’s not surprising that it’s been shown to improve the skin’s resistance to ultraviolet radiation while also improving its texture, thickness, quality, and general appearance.^35,36

Is Chocolate a Forbidden Superfood?

Despite chocolate’s reputation as a forbidden pleasure, its impressive benefits give it the characteristics of a superfood. However, before you use this as justification to eat chocolate without restraint, keep in mind that there’s more to consider. Chocolate contains substances that can impair digestion, cause toxicity, and alter mood. Although some people regard the potential for chocolate to provide a temporary lift in mood and energy as a benefit, the long term effects of this can be much less desirable. In addition to these unfavorable characteristics, there are many factors that dictate the quality of chocolate, and this can have a significant influence on the extent of its benefits. All of this is discussed in much more detail in part two and part three of this article.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.

When an organism is genetically modified, a gene from one organism is extracted, modified, and inserted into the DNA of another organism. Generally, the insertion of this gene is intended to provide the recipient organism with a trait that it doesn’t normally possess. For example, the gene in jellyfish that’s responsible for bioluminescence has been used to engineer pigs, mice, and rabbits that glow in the dark. A more relevant use of genetic engineering that’s already in use is the creation of food crops that can produce their own pesticides or be more resistant to other pesticides that are externally applied. The outcome of these genetic alterations can be very unpredictable, and as a result, they present many legitimate concerns relating to our health. They also threaten to disrupt the intricate balance of our ecosystem which can have significant implications as well.

Genetics is a very complex subject that we have yet to fully understand. Considering that it took billions of years for the current gene pool to evolve to be what it is today, is it really a good idea for us to be so casual about altering it?

Genetically Modified Foods May Contain Harmful Proteins

Genes influence an organism’s function and appearance through the production of proteins that act as hormones, enzymes, antibodies, structural support, or transportation molecules. It was originally believed that each gene produced only a single protein which would be extremely convenient for genetic engineering. However, when the Human Genome Project determined in 2003 that humans possess only 20,000 to 25,000 genes¹, it became obvious that this was untrue because this would provide for far too few proteins to support the complexity of human function. As such, it was suddenly clear that a single gene can produce multiple proteins. In fact, a particular gene in the fruit fly can produce more than 38,000 different proteins.² As such, when a gene from one organism is inserted into another, it may cause the recipient organism to produce numerous proteins in addition to the ones desired. This presents a significant concern in regard to the safety and reliability of genetic engineering.

If a genetically modified organism is destined to become food, some of the new proteins that are produced as a result of the genetic alteration may act as toxins or allergens when consumed. Even the nutrient content of the food can be altered. In some cases, a combination of several foreign genes are inserted into the recipient organism which increases the chances of unintended and undesirable proteins being produced. The interactions that may occur between these proteins add even more uncertainty and potential for problems. Despite the fact that the FDA has approved the use of genetically modified foods, albeit hastily, some of their own research has acknowledged the risk of these foods containing increased levels of natural toxins and having reduced nutritional value.¹⁶

Once a protein is synthesized, certain molecules such as phosphate, sulfur, sugar, or lipids may be added to alter its function.³ In addition, chaperone proteins can further change the function of a protein molecule by altering how it’s folded.⁸ It’s possible for the cells of a genetically modified organism to make any of these changes to proteins that are produced by foreign DNA, and when they do, the chances of these proteins being harmful can be even greater. In fact, misfolded proteins can even lead to a number of fatal brain diseases.⁹

Genetic Engineering is Imprecise and Unpredictable

To say that a foreign gene is inserted into the DNA of an organism implies precision, but to say that genetic engineering is precise is very questionable. A gene is essentially a portion of DNA that contains instructions for the synthesis of specific proteins. As previously mentioned, the production of such proteins is how the characteristics of a particular gene are expressed. Because only a small portion of a gene’s DNA contains the instructions for protein synthesis, scientists once believed that the large amount of remaining DNA was useless and was therefore referred to as “junk DNA.” Although genetic engineers hope for foreign genes to be inserted into these junk sections of DNA, they have little control of where in the recipient organism’s DNA it’s actually incorporated.

As it turns out, junk DNA isn’t the useless junk it was once thought to be and is now believed to influence which proteins a gene produces.³ As such, even if a foreign gene is successfully inserted into the junk DNA of the recipient organism, the outcome is still unpredictable and there’s still a chance for the expression of the native gene to be altered in undesirable ways. If the foreign gene misses the junk DNA and is inserted into a section of the native DNA containing sequences that direct protein synthesis, then there’s even more potential for unpredictable and undesirable effects.

The uncertainty of genetic engineering is clearly shown by a study in which a foreign gene was inserted into petunia plants to give them red flowers. Although the scientists expected all of the plants to have red flowers, the color varied based on where the foreign gene happened to be incorporated into the DNA. In addition, the color of the plant also varied depending on the time of year which indicates that environmental factors can influence the expression of foreign genes as well.⁷ Likewise, it’s been shown that the same gene inserted into a number of plants of the same species was expressed at different levels and with differing side effects.^11,12,13

Given the variety of factors that influence gene expression, the insertion of foreign genes and the alterations to native genes that can result can also influence the expression of other genes. Research relating to the treatment of cystic fibrosis has found that gene insertion can significantly alter overall gene expression by as much as 5%.⁵ This means that 1 out of every 20 genes can be effected which can mean thousands of genes in some organisms. As unsettling as this may seem, the outcome of genetic engineering can be catastrophic even if the expression of just a single gene is altered. In a study done on mice embryos, the insertion of foreign DNA caused a single native gene to be silenced and resulted in death.⁶

Many scientists believe that research on genetically modified foods has generated more questions than answers, that the undesirable effects could be immediate or take many years, and because genetically modified foods are already a common part of our food supply, that the general public is being forced to participate in a giant experiment. In fact, one team of researchers concluded that “controversies and knowledge gaps appear to be present at all levels.”²⁴ Given the volatility of genetic engineering, it’s very difficult to be certain of what you’re eating when you consume genetically modified foods and what the risks may be.

The Roundup Ready Soybean and More Uncertainty

The Roundup Ready soybean, created and patented by Monsanto, is one of the most popular genetically modified foods on the market. Monsanto, one of the largest agricultural companies in the world, also happens to be largely responsible for the existence of some of the most infamous toxins such as DDT, Agent Orange, and PCBs. They also manufacture the controversial sweetener aspartame. However, when it comes to Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybean, which is genetically modified to resist to their own Roundup pesticide, they claim it’s for the good of humanity.

In 2001, years after the Roundup Ready soybean was introduced to the food supply, researchers found it to contain a DNA sequence of 534 base pairs that don’t naturally exist in the soybean and aren’t part of the Roundup gene intended for insertion.²² While it’s possible that this unidentified sequence of DNA could have been a rearrangement of native DNA resulting from the insertion process as opposed to it having been directly inserted, Monsanto has already admitted to unintentionally inserting two other DNA fragments into their Roundup Ready soybeans²³. Either way, it’s enough DNA to produce new and potentially harmful proteins and is a legitimate concern.

93 percent of soy in the US is grown from seeds that are genetically modified based on Monsanto’s patents.²⁵. If you eat any soy, there’s a good chance that you’re eating the mysterious DNA fragments that come along with it as well as the byproducts that these fragments may produce.

Altered DNA Can Become Part of Your Intestines

Hundreds of strains of bacteria amounting to as much as 5 pounds reside in the human intestines. Many of these bacteria are critical to our immunity, digestion, and are even a source of nutrients. If the balance or function of these bacteria is altered, it can have a significant impact on human health. As such, it would be of great concern if the foreign DNA in the cells of genetically modified food could be incorporated into the bacteria cells in the intestines. Although it was once believed that the DNA in food wouldn’t survive digestion, research has shown that genetically modified genes can indeed end up in human digestive bacteria which happened to be the case with a gene used in soybeans to improve herbicide resistance.¹⁰

Another significant concern regarding genetically modified foods and intestinal bacteria is antibiotic resistance. During the DNA insertion process, the foreign DNA is only incorporated into a small number of target cells. As such, scientists need a way to differentiate the cells with the foreign DNA from those without it. One of the ways this is accomplished is to add something called an Antibiotic Resistant Marker gene to the foreign gene being inserted. This has the effect of making the cell resistant to a specific antibiotic, and when the scientist applies the antibiotic to the targeted cells, it becomes easy to identify which ones the foreign gene was successfully inserted into. However, if the Antibiotic Resistant Marker gene is transferred to intestinal bacteria and eventually other types of bacteria, it can greatly reduce the effectiveness of certain antibiotics.

The Forced Expression of Foreign Genes

A number of factors determine if and when a gene can be expressed. Because these factors may not be satisfied when a foreign gene exists in a genetically modified organism, genetic engineers add to the gene a regulatory element called a promoter to maximize its expression. Unfortunately, this can have the undesirable effect of influencing the expression of native genes in the recipient organism, even if they’re a far distance from the foreign gene or part of a separate chromosome.¹³ The maximized expression also requires additional energy and resources from the recipient organism which could deprive other important physiological systems.

As previously mentioned, the foreign DNA in genetically modified organisms can be transferred to other organisms. This is the case with promoters as well. Research done by the Norwegian Institute for Gene Ecology found that the CaMV promoter, which is commonly used in genetically modified foods, transferred to the tissue of the rats it was fed to. They also found the promoter to be active in rat, fish, and human cells inside test tubes.³³ More recent research has confirmed this promoter to be active in human cells.³⁸ The transfer of this promoter is believed to have the ability to reactivate dormant viruses, cause new viruses, and is also believed to be a legitimate cancer risk.¹⁵

Allergic Reactions to Genetically Modified Foods

Food allergies and sensitivities typically involve adverse reactions to proteins. Because genetically modified foods can contain new varieties of proteins, the risk of adverse reactions is increased. Not only is it possible for new and unpredictable allergies to develop, but also for known allergens to appear in unsuspecting foods. This is exactly what happened when a seed company now owned by DuPont used a gene from the Brazil nut to improve the protein quality of soybeans. Fortunately, these genetically modified soybeans were tested before being introduced to the market, which hasn’t always been the case, and were found to contain what the researchers considered very likely to be a major allergen from the Brazil nut.¹⁷

Another alarming case of a genetically modified food being allergenic is StarLink corn. This corn was genetically modified with a gene from the soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, often abbreviated Bt, to produce its own pesticide. Because the approval of pesticides is handled by the EPA, they oversaw the approval of StarLink corn instead of the FDA and decided to not approve it because of its potential to be allergenic. However, the EPA did approve StarLink corn as feed for pigs, cows, and other livestock, but relied on the farmers who grew the corn to keep it segregated from any corn grown for human consumption. Unfortunately, StarLink corn eventually made its way into the food supply and caused a massive recall which is estimated to have involved tens of millions of products.¹⁸ StarLink corn ended up in tacos, tortillas, and other corn products and caused reactions in some people that ranged from abdominal pain, diarrhea, and skin rashes to life threatening anaphylactic shock. Even inhaling the pollen of StarLink and other Bt crops has been shown to be a likely cause of allergic reaction.¹⁹

Aventis, the maker of StarLink, was faced with numerous lawsuits and the difficult task of preventing any further contamination of the human food supply. However, after admitting that it would be impossible to completely irradiate StarLink and that it would be part of the food supply forever, Aventis petitioned the EPA to deem the existing level of contamination as acceptable.²⁰ Although the allergenic response to StarLink has been downplayed by the FDA, Keith Finger, an optometrist from Florida who suffered anaphylactic shock after eating tortillas containing StarLink corn, was able to reproduce his severe reaction by consuming a verified sample of StarLink.²¹ This is despite the FDA testing that concluded Finger isn’t allergic to StarLink.

Animals Avoid Genetically Modified Feed

According to a report written by the Soil Association on genetically modified crops, a number of farmers have noticed their livestock having an aversion towards eating them.²⁶ There have been numerous instances of cattle, pigs, elk, and rodents being able to naturally identify genetically modified crops and choosing to avoid them. One farmer even reported on his cattle breaking through a fence to eat regular corn crops despite genetically modified corn crops being readily accessible to them. We seem to have lost this innate ability of animals to choose healthful food, probably as a result of our intelligence. However, in the case of genetically modified food, perhaps we’re too smart for our own good.

According to one of the scientists involved in testing the Flavr Savr tomato, one of the first genetically modified foods to be tested, they had difficulty getting the rats used in the research to eat them.²⁷ A Dutch undergraduate student found similar results after giving mice a choice between regular food and its genetically modified equivalent. The mice ate 61% regular food and 39% genetically modified food.²⁸. A report published by Acres U.S.A. includes additional accounts of animals avoiding genetically modified foods. This includes deer devouring regular soy crops and raccoons eating regular corn crops with both animals completely avoiding adjacent genetically modified crops of the same foods .²⁹ Although this doesn’t prove anything about the safety of genetically modified foods, it’s certainly raises some questions.

A Dangerous Genetically Modified Supplement

A number of supplements are produced by various strains of bacteria, some of which are genetically modified to yield greater quantities of the desired substance. This was the case for a tryptophan supplement produced by a Japanese company named Showa Denko. Tryptophan is an amino acid required for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin, and in turn, the production of the hormone melatonin. Based on the actions of serotonin and melatonin, tryptophan is often used as a natural method of alleviating depression and improving sleep. However, in 1990, it was estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 people had contracted a debilitating neurological disorder called eosinophillia-myalgia syndrome from the use of a tainted tryptophan supplement which was later isolated to Showa Denko³⁰ and confirmed to be genetically engineered.³¹

As previously stated, it’s difficult to predict what type of proteins a genetically modified organism will produce, and in some cases, this may lead to the direct or indirect production of toxic substances. Although the impurities that caused the eosinophillia-myalgia outbreak aren’t proven to be the result of genetic engineering, the indications are pretty strong. As such, it would be in your best interest to verify that any supplements you use are not manufactured with genetically modified bacteria.

The Politics of Genetically Modified Foods

As with most health related controversies, there’s plenty of political and corporate influence behind the approval genetically modified foods, their introduction into the food supply, and the claim that they’re just as safe as their natural counterparts. Much of this has been driven by Monsanto, the producer of the Roundup Ready Soybean discussed earlier. The U.S. government’s support of the biotechnology industry, mostly based on its potential for economical growth, has been a significant factor as well. Monsanto has been accused on numerous occasions of influencing the FDA to gain approval of their genetically modified products and bullying the media to gain public acceptance of the supposed safety of genetically modified foods. The extent of this warrants a separate article which will be coming soon.

The misfortune of Arpad Pusztai, a very highly regarded researcher and one of the first to truly assess the safety of genetically modified foods, shows how destructive the political influence of a major industry can be. Pusztai and his colleagues conducted a study on potatoes that were genetically modified to produce their own pesticide.³² Despite being an advocate of genetically engineered foods and expecting not to find any issues, Pusztai was alarmed to discover that the rats fed the genetically modified potatoes suffered from impaired immunity, damage to the thymus and spleen, underdevelopment of the brain, liver, and testicles, and enlargement of the pancreas and intestines. When he realized that similar foods were already approved and introduced into the food supply, he was disgusted and felt obligated to make the general public aware of his findings. In exchange for his honest intentions, he was suspended from his job, put under a gag order, and harshly criticized by the biotechnology industry and its supporters.³³

The Supposed Benefits of Genetically Modified Foods

Many proponents of genetically modified foods, particularly the biotechnology companies that produce them, claim that they deliver higher crop yields, require less use of pesticides, and increase profit for farmers. However, the opposite has proven to be true in many cases. After switching to genetically modified seeds, many farmers observed a decrease in crop yield, became more reliant on pesticides, and made less money. It has also been claimed that genetically modified crops would improve the nation’s economy, but because other nations have refused to import them, it’s estimated that the transition to these crops has caused a loss of more than $12 billion between 1999 and 2001.²⁶

Biotechnology proponents even go as far as saying that genetically modified foods are the answer to alleviating world hunger, and this was even a major objective for President Bush in 2003. However, considering that genetically modified foods have been shown to incur added costs and potentially decrease crop yield, this seems like more of a marketing ploy than anything else. This especially seems to be the case with “golden rice” which was genetically modified to produce vitamin A. The supposed motivation behind this rice was to reduce the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in African and Asian children which often results in blindness. However, according to Greenpeace, an adult would need to consume nearly 20 pounds of cooked golden rice to obtain their daily vitamin A requirement. Despite this obvious obstacle, one of the companies owning patents on golden rice claimed that delaying its approval by just a month would cause 50,000 children to go blind.³⁴ At the time, more than $100 million had been invested in the development of golden rice with another $50 million slated for advertising.³⁵ In contrast, UNICEF has found that two annual doses of a high potency vitamin A supplement, at the cost of just 4 cents per child, can cure and prevent vitamin A deficiency.³⁶

Most of the supposed benefits of genetically engineered foods have been proven on multiple occasions to not be true, but even if this weren’t the case, would the benefits be worth the potential health risks? Or how about the irreversible and unpredictable alterations to our food supply? Once a genetically modified crop is introduced to the food supply, it can cross pollinate with other crops and become a permanent fixture in the gene pool. This has already happened on a number of occasions. In 2002, Mexico admitted to a major contamination of their corn crops with 95% of the sites analyzed having contaminated seeds.³⁷ How far will we go in allowing the biotechnology industry to endanger our health, our environment, and our future?

How to Minimize Your Risk

As previously stated, at least 93% of soy and 80% of corn in the United States is genetically modified.²⁵ To make matters worse, soy and corn exist in most processed foods which is something that many people don’t realize. As such, many people are unknowingly eating foods that contain genetically modified ingredients. A large majority of canola is also frequently genetically modified as is about half of the papaya that comes from Hawaii. Because the derivatives of these genetically modified crops can sometimes be very difficult to identify in ingredients lists, the best way to avoid them is to choose products that are certified organic, or even better, to follow a diet based mostly on natural whole foods obtained from reputable farms.

For more information on the risks and politics associated with genetically modified foods, I highly recommend reading Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey M. Smith.

Written by Vin Miller for NaturalBias.com.