The Not So Healthy Breakfast

Previously I described how breakfast is the most important meal of the day and how unfortunately it is a meal that many people tend to skip or short change due to our busy lifestyles. Clients will tell me that they are not hungry in the morning or that they do not have time.  We should be hungry in the morning.  We have not provided our body with fuel for 8-12 hours, so it should be looking for nourishment to get it going.  I have found that not being hungry in the morning is usually part of a vicious cycle of not properly nourishing the body.

Breakfast sets the stage for the day and studies show that “breakfast skippers” are often over weight and/or lack the energy to power them through the day.  The previous article included several suggestions for healthy breakfasts.  For those of you who missed that article, it is available in its entirety at my blog http://brwellness.blogspot.com/2011/06/start-your-day-with-healthy-breakfast.html

I closed the article with a question, “What’s missing?”  There was one specific answer I was looking for which several of you correctly identified.  I would like to mention that one caller responded “coffee.” That discussion is for another future article!  The specific “food” I was looking for was…cold cereal.  I’m sure this may surprise many of you.  Want an even bigger surprise – the “whole grain” versions that are now being sold to us as “healthier” may actually be even worse for us!  Let me explain.

I’ll start with the basics.  Cereals are made from grains.  Grains are a carbohydrate.  Carbohydrates are essentially sugar.  We can call them other things, but at the end of the day, when our body finishes its processing, they are sugar.  There is a clever way to know how much sugar you are eating.  There is approximately one teaspoon of sugar per four grams of a carbohydrate.  So, if you see on the food label that one serving (and are you eating just one serving?) contains 20 grams of carbohydrate, you are eating the equivalent of five teaspoons of sugar. 

Cereals are made from refined or processed grains.  We’ve talked about this before.  The most nutritious parts of a grain are the germ and the bran.  These are removed during processing to allow for greater shelf life.  The current trend in marketing is to promote “whole grain” cereal.  Well, there’s a little spin on that as well.  This does not mean all the grains in the cereal are whole, it only means that the main ingredient (that with the largest percentage) is a “whole grain.”  Therefore, those that are labeled “whole grain” include a substantial amount of processed grains. 

Let’s look at some examples.  Here are the ingredients in Cheerios:  Whole Grain Oats, Modified Corn Starch, Sugar, Oat Bran, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Oat Fiber, Tripotassium Phosphate, Corn Starch, Wheat Starch, Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness.  Each serving has 20 grams of carbohydrate.  If you break this down – there are three ingredients – sugar (the grains and the starches), salt, and preservatives.  In each serving you get five teaspoons of sugar.  What about Special K? You’ll see it is not so “special”.  It has 22 grams of carbohydrate per serving from: Rice, Wheat Gluten, Sugar, Defatted Wheat Germ, Salt, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Dried Whey, Malt Flavoring, and Calcium Caseinate.  And Frosted Flakes?  I’ll spare you the ingredients, but let you know it has 27 grams of carbohydrate per serving – almost seven teaspoons of sugar!

How about the “healthy” cereals? How about one serving of Kashi Go-Lean Crunch with 36 grams of carbohydrates – that’s nine teaspoons of sugar if anyone is counting! 

One reader pointed out another item I did not mention – orange juice.  Here’s why – one eight ounce glass has 26 grams of carbohydrate – six and a half teaspoons of sugar. 

A little more food for thought one serving of skim milk has 13 grams of carbohydrate – another three plus teaspoons of sugar.

Do the math – this “healthy” breakfast of cereal, skim milk, and orange juice can actually be at least fourteen teaspoons of sugar!  Not a good way to start the day.

Bernard Rosen, PhD is a Nutrition Consultant and Educator. He works with individuals, groups, and at corporations to create individualized nutrition and wellness programs. He has offices in Thiensville and Glendale. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, e-mail at bernie@brwellness.com, call (262) 389-9907 or go to www.brwellness.com.

Start Your Day with a Healthy Breakfast

I’m sure you’ve heard it before.  “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  “Don’t skip your breakfast.” Or the old adage, “Eat breakfast like a King and supper like a pauper.”  But are you doing it?  And if not, why not?

It is true – breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  It sets the pace.  A healthy breakfast gets the body’s metabolism up and running.  Eating an unhealthy breakfast or skipping it and you are more likely to suddenly get hungry and grab quick things that are unhealthy (donuts and candy) or eat extra food at lunch to make up for missing breakfast.  It has been documented that breakfast skippers notoriously struggle to lose weight.

Many people think eating less or skipping meals helps them lose weight.  This is another one of those “sounds great, but not true” when it comes to nutrition.  What actually happens is that the body is designed to adapt to its environment.  If it is not being fed on a regular basis, it enters “starvation mode” to preserve nutrients by cutting back metabolism so it can survive longer.  This adaption to a slower metabolism is why low calorie diets fail.  Once people are off the diet they go back to how they used to eat, but their metabolism has slowed down.  The result is adding the pounds right back on.  Remember fat cells do two things – they expand and they multiply – they do not go away!

It is important to eat regular meals and if necessary snacks evenly throughout the day.  I find the need for snacks is quite individualized.  By consistently nourishing your body through the day, blood sugar levels remain more constant and provide balanced energy through the day.  With fewer blood sugar spikes you will experience fewer food cravings. 

Here are some examples of my favorite healthy breakfasts.  Now is a great time to start with my favorite option the breakfast shake.  It is summer time and there is lots of fresh fruit to include in your smoothie.  Notice that all the choices have protein and healthy fat in the meal.  Vary your breakfast so it does not become routine and boring.

1.      Breakfast smoothie – Use a high quality protein powder made from whey and/or brown rice.  Do not use soy protein powders and watch out for artificial sweeteners.  A basic rule of thumb is to not use powders that say all you need to add is water.  Use powders which you need to blend with other healthy ingredients such as:  plain whole fat yogurt or kefir, one half banana, one cup of fresh or frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries), one tablespoon of flax seed oil or ground flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and almonds.

2.      Some combination of: Yogurt or kefir with fresh or frozen fruit, ground flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds.  (Basically the smoothie above without the protein powder.)

3.      Eggs – hard boiled is best followed by soft boiled or poached.  Fried and scrambled are also options but do so at a low temperature and use organic coconut oil, butter, or ghee.  You can include vegetables as a side dish or as part of an omelet.  I like to sauté leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale, or chard with onions in coconut oil.  Feel free to do eggs 2-3 times per week.

4.      Whole grain (please use 100% whole grain products) or sprouted bread toast with butter, ghee, organic natural peanut butter, almond butter, or humus.  Limit to 1-2 times per week.

5.      If you are really hungry and don’t plan on a mid morning snack you can do a combination of 3 and 4.

6.      Steel cut oatmeal, also called Irish Style. These are the real whole oats.  You can also add raisins, nuts, seeds, and after cooking, organic maple syrup, or Stevia to sweeten.  A cooking tip: On the box it will say to cook for 30 minutes, however if you soak the oats over night in water and even a little yogurt they will cook in about 10 minutes.  I’d limit this to 1-2 times per week also.

Now that you’ve read through my suggestions for a healthy breakfast, what do you notice is missing?  If you are curious I invite you to give me a call or send an e-mail to find out why I have not included them!

Bernard Rosen, PhD is a Nutrition Consultant and Educator. He works with individuals, groups, and at corporations to create individualized nutrition and wellness programs. He has offices in Thiensville and Glendale. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, e-mail at bernie@brwellness.com, call (262) 389-9907 or go to www.brwellness.com.

Know Your Nutrients - The Fat Soluble Vitamins

Know Your Nutrients – The Fat Soluble Vitamins

Basically there are two types of vitamins – water soluble and fat soluble.  Vitamins that stay in the body for a short period of time (generally 2-4 days) are water soluble.  These are the B Vitamins and vitamin C.  Since they are not stored we need to regularly “re-stock” them.  Vitamins that stay in the body for a longer period of time are fat soluble.  They are stored in fat tissue, and some organs, such as the liver.  These are Vitamins A, D, E, F (the essential fatty acids), and K.  Let’s learn about what they do and what foods they are in.

Vitamin A – a.k.a. Beta Carotene

Vitamin A is also known as Beta-carotene.  But, it gets confusing - they are not the same!  Complete Vitamin A is found only in animal products, such as butter, egg yolks, liver, organ meats and shellfish.  Beta-carotene is found in plant food, such as carrots, red bell peppers, sweet potatoes, winter squash, and leafy greens (collard greens, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, turnip greens).  And for the animal product to be a good source of Vitamin A, they should be eating green food, such as cows eating green grass.  Think of the animal as a Vitamin A factory!  When we consume Beta-carotene from plants (or vitamin supplements) our body has to convert it into Vitamin A.  And guess what - we aren't that efficient in doing that. 

Vitamin A supports the endocrine, immune, integumentary (that's skin), and reproductive systems along with our eyes.  It is required for growth and natural repair of many body tissues, and maintains integrity of blood cells and epithelial tissue lining the gut, lungs, and reproductive tract.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D – the “vitamin du jour” as I like to say.  It certainly is in the news almost every day and it even has its very own “council” (The Vitamin D Council).  I don’t think any other vitamin has achieved that status!  Let me cut through the clutter for you – Vitamin D is very important and most of us don’t get enough of it!  It is that simple.  

When we dive deeper we learn it is a bit more complicated.  There are two points I want to make clear to you.  You can go to the Vitamin D Council web site for more details. First, there are different “forms” of Vitamin D – and the form we need, particularly if supplementing or added to food is D3.  The second, Vitamin D is “fat soluble.”  That means you need fat for it to be properly utilized by the body.  I pose a simple question – has the low fat diet contributed to our Vitamin D shortages?  If you take your Vitamin D pill (even if it is D3) with your cereal and skim milk for breakfast are you really getting anything from it?

Here are some of the key actions of Vitamin D.  It helps develop bones and teeth, promotes health bone density, and supports healthy muscle tissue and thyroid function.  It also supports the heart and kidneys, and the nervous, integumentary, and immune systems.  Pretty much the whole body.

Where do we get Vitamin D?  The number one source is the Sun.  It is also found in eggs, fatty fish (mackerel, salmon, sardines, tuna, and trout), liver, and milk products.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is one of the major antioxidants that our body requires.  Did you know that Vitamin E is actually several different compounds?  It is made up of alpha-, beta-, delta-, and gamma-tocopherol; and alpha-, beta-, delta-, and gamma-tocotrienol.  Here again we run into the synthetic versus natural vitamin issue.  If you have a supplement containing Vitamin E read what it actually contains.  Most likely it is one of the above synthetic compounds, not the complete Vitamin E as found in nature.  Why is this important?  There are studies that say Vitamin E does not support the heart function.  Read the detail of what they used for Vitamin E.  Hint – it wasn’t complete Vitamin E.  So, of course it isn’t going to work!  

Vitamin E supports a healthy immune system and proper nerve and muscle function. As mentioned above it is also important to the heart and supports circulation through healthy blood clotting.  It keeps the skin and hair shiny and healthy.  And as an antioxidant, Vitamin E supports tissue regeneration.  It benefits the blood, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, integumentary, nervous, and respiratory systems – looks like almost the whole body!

We can obtain Vitamin E from almonds, leafy greens (collard greens, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnip greens), olives, papaya, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, and wheat germ oil.

Vitamin F (Essential Fatty Acids)

Vitamin F are the essential fatty acids – better known as the “omega” family, featuring the 3’s, 6’s, and 9’s.  These are polyunsaturated fats and whenever we hear the word “essential” in nutrition it means that we must eat these nutrients, as our body does not manufacture them.  We need all the essential fatty acids.  The issue (like much of nutrition) is balance.  For example, Omega 6’s are considered “pro-inflammatory” while Omega 3’s are “anti-inflammatory.”  Our body needs inflammation to survive.  It is part of its normal processes.   

However, too much inflammation is not good.  While our body was designed to consume the Omega 3’s and 6’s in relatively equal amounts (you’ll see anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1 Omega 6’s to 3’s in the nutrition literature), most Americans are in the 20:1 to 50:1 ratio.  Why?  Omega 6’s are found heavily in grains which we eat and feed to our animals.  Omega 3’s are found in cold water wild fish, something not too prevalent in many diets.

An interesting side note here is about beef.  Did you know a cow is supposed to eat grass?  When a cow eats grass it manufactures Omega 3’s in its fat.  When that cow eats what we are feeding it – wheat and corn and other grains – it makes Omega 6’s.  Perhaps it is the Omega 6’s in the meat causing inflammation leading to heart disease?  Just a wild thought!

The essential fatty acids are the precursors to prostaglandins – a form of hormones that support many functions including normal growth and the inflammatory response.  They also assist in blood coagulation and circulatory functions.

Good sources of the essential fatty acids include: black current seed oil, evening primrose oil, flaxseed, lecithin, linseed oil, seafood (halibut, salmon, scallops, shrimp, snapper, and tuna), sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, wheat germ, and winter squash.

One more note here about flax seeds.  Beware of the marketing hype! If the flax seed is whole your body can not break it down.  We can only work with flax seed in the form of meal or oil.  If you buy flax seeds grind them up in a coffee grinder and store them in the refrigerator.  As a polyunsaturated fat they go rancid very quickly, so only grind up a small amount.  The ground flax you get in the store likely has preservatives added to keep it “fresh”, but the oils are likely already rancid.

Vitamin K

Vitamin K - easy to remember - K is for "clotting", well there is actually lots more to it!  Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamins (the others being A, D, and E).  While it is best known for clotting, it is also involved in bone mineralization, a critical part of making bone. It also promotes healthy liver function.

But, let's go back to the bone part.  We are all familiar with how prevalent osteoporosis is in this country.  We are bombarded with the advertisements and the need for calcium supplements to magically cure this condition.  As I've mentioned previously it is not just calcium, but there are 18 nutrients required to build bone.  One of them is Vitamin K.  And guess what? Most people are not getting enough of this vitamin either.  It is readily available, but of course you have to like vegetables! 

The top food sources are the Cruciferous family of vegetables: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage.  It is also in the dark green leafy vegetables (think kale), eggs, and liver.  For optimal health you should be eating these foods daily.  Your blood, liver, metabolism, and bones depend on it!

Bernard Rosen, PhD is a Nutrition Consultant and Educator. He works with individuals, groups, and at corporations to create individualized nutrition and wellness programs. His office is in Thiensville. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, e-mail at bernie@brwellness.com, call (262) 389-9907 or go to www.brwellness.com.

Diabetes is a major contributor to Erectile Dysfunction

Every month it faithfully arrives - my latest issue of Diabetes Forecast, the official publication of the American Diabetes Association. And every month I read it and get mad! I posted a year or so ago about the hypocrisy in the publication. Basically, following their advice is a sure way to live your life (however long that may be) with the disease. There is never any word on the people who reverse their situation. It is all disease management, no disease prevention. Please note that all my following comments are related to Type II Diabetes - which virtually all agree is a lifestyle issue and preventable by living a healthy lifestyle.


Each month they provide some feature articles and recipes. This particular month had a feature on 30 ways to control yourself. I loved #25 - be smart about mindless munching. "When you're eating things like chips, instead of eating your way through the bag or bowl, take a napkin and count out one portion. So count out 10 chips. Then, when you're done with them, you tear off the edge of the napkin as a reminder." Come on! Perhaps they should tell people not to eat chips, but to eat real food. And that chips are all carbohydrates that will raise their insulin. Or would that make too much sense?


In addition to the feature articles and recipes they provide us with lots of interesting facts about how prevalent diabetes is. Perhaps so its readers don't feel lonely? Here's the latest - 26 million people in the US have diabetes and 7 million of them are undiagnosed per the CDC. This means 8.3% of the population has diabetes. The estimates of people with prediabetes is 79 million and these numbers have increased substantially. In 2010 there were 1.9 million new people diagnosed with diabetes. What is worse is that Type II diabetes is now appearing in our youths and at younger and younger ages. It leads one to think, how much longer until 25% or more of the population is diabetic. Already 27% of US residents over age 65 have diabetes! I'm sure you can only guess what burden this places on our health care system.


And remember - Type II diabetes is preventable and don't tell the American Diabetes Association, but it is also reversible. Not that I'm a big fan of the Nanny State, telling us what to eat and what not to eat, but that is the issue. What we are putting in our mouths and our children's mouths is making us obese and leading to Type II diabetes. Right now 72.5 million Americans are obese, a leading contributor to deaths from heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Annual medical costs associated with obesity are estimated to be as high as $147 billion. Obese people have average annual medical costs that are over $1400 more than people of normal weight people. The latest CDC report finds the number of obese adults increasing, now 26.7% of the population.


I'm concerned. When will we truly begin to care about our health as a society?

Vitamin F - Never Heard of It?

Vitamin F are the essential fatty acids – better known as the “omega” family, featuring the 3’s, 6’s, and 9’s.  These are polyunsaturated fats and whenever we hear the word “essential” in nutrition it means that we must eat these nutrients, as our body does not manufacture them.  We need all the essential fatty acids.  The issue (like much of nutrition) is balance.  For example, Omega 6’s are considered “pro-inflammatory” while Omega 3’s are “anti-inflammatory.”  Our body needs inflammation to survive.  It is part of its normal processes.   However, too much inflammation is not good.  While our body was designed to consume the Omega 3’s and 6’s in relatively equal amounts (you’ll see anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1 Omega 6’s to 3’s in the nutrition literature), the simple fact is that most Americans are in the 20:1 to 50:1 ratio.  Why?  Omega 6’s are found heavily in grains which we eat and feed to our animals.  Omega 3’s are found in cold water wild fish, something not too prevalent in many diets.

An interesting side note here is about beef.  Did you know a cow is supposed to eat grass?  When a cow eats grass it manufactures Omega 3’s in its fat.  When that cow eats what we are feeding it – wheat and corn and other grains – it makes Omega 6’s.  Perhaps it is the Omega 6’s in the meat causing inflammation leading to heart disease?  Just a wild thought!

The essential fatty acids are the precursors to prostaglandins – a form of hormones that support many functions including normal growth and the inflammatory response.  They also assist in blood coagulation and circulatory functions.

Good sources of the essential fatty acids include: black current seed oil, evening primrose oil, flaxseed, lecithin, linseed oil, seafood (halibut, salmon, scallops, shrimp, snapper, and tuna), sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, wheat germ, and winter squash.

One more note here about flax seeds.  Beware of the marketing hype! If the flax seed is whole your body can not break it down.  We can only work with flax seed in the form of meal or oil.  If you buy flax seeds grind them up in a coffee grinder and store them in the refrigerator.  As a polyunsaturated fat they go rancid very quickly, so only grind up a small amount.  The ground flax you get in the store likely has preservatives added to keep it “fresh”, but the oils are likely already rancid.

Vitamin E - Good for the Heart and Blood Flow

Vitamin E is one of the major antioxidants that our body requires.  Did you know that Vitamin E is actually several different compounds?  It is made up of alpha-, beta-, delta-, and gamma-tocopherol; and alpha-, beta-, delta-, and gamma-tocotrienol.  Here again we run into the synthetic versus natural vitamin issue.  Since you likely have a supplement containing Vitamin E (as it is one of the most popular supplements) read what it actually contains.  Most likely it is one of the above synthetic compounds, not the complete Vitamin E as found in nature.  Why is this important?  Well, when you read about the studies that say Vitamin E does not support the heart function read the detail of what they used for Vitamin E.  Hint – it wasn’t complete Vitamin E.  So, of course it isn’t going to work!  And remember our discussion about Selenium? (If not, click here) Selenium is also part of the whole Vitamin E complex.

Vitamin E supports a healthy immune system and proper nerve and muscle function. As mentioned above it is also important to the heart and supports circulation through healthy blood clotting.  It keeps the skin and hair shiny and healthy.  And as an antioxidant, Vitamin E supports tissue regeneration.  It benefits the blood, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, integumentary, nervous, and respiratory systems – looks like almost the whole body!

We can obtain Vitamin E from almonds, leafy greens (collard greens, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnip greens), olives, papaya, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, and wheat germ oil.

Vitamin D - The Vitamin du Jour

Vitamin D – the “vitamin du jour” as I like to say.  It certainly is in the news almost every day and it even has its very own “council” (The Vitamin D Council).  I don’t think any other vitamin has achieved that status!  Let me cut through the clutter for you – Vitamin D is very important and most of us don’t get enough of it!  It is that simple.  

When we really dive deeper we learn it is a bit more complicated.  There are two points I want to make clear to you.  If you want more details I urge you to go to the Vitamin D Council web site. First, there are different “forms” of Vitamin D – and the form we need, particularly if supplementing or added to food is D3.  The second, Vitamin D is “fat soluble.”  That means you need fat for it to be properly utilized by the body.  I pose a simple question – has the low fat diet contributed to our Vitamin D shortages?  If you take your Vitamin D pill (even if it is D3) with your cereal and skim milk for breakfast are you really getting anything from it?

Here are some of the key actions of Vitamin D.  It helps develop bones and teeth, promotes health bone density, supports healthy muscle tissue and thyroid function.  It also supports the heart and kidneys, and the nervous, integumentary, and immune systems.  Pretty much the whole body.

Where do we get Vitamin D?  The number one source is the Sun.  It is also found in eggs, fatty fish (mackerel, salmon, sardines, tuna, and trout), liver, and milk products.