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Before you get into the feature below we want to introduce you to a new feature that is related to weight loss.  You can either enter it before or after you cover the material below as it goes hand in hand.  The link to the site is

http://www.blueeyedcurse.com/Chew@Lose.htm

 

40-30-30 page

40-30-30: The numbers refer to percentage of consumption (in terms of caloric value, not weight) of carbohydrate (40%), protein (30%), and fat (30%) in the optimal fat-burning diet.

30% fat? That's right. Most people don't realize it, but without consuming fat, your body actually stores fat.  It's not only a scientific fact, but it's also plain common sense - your body stores what is in short supply for as long as it can.  Most diet programs emphasize low fat intake, this is widespread - but incorrect - belief is so prevalent that a whole industry has sprung up around it! Take a look at the products available on the shelves of your favorite grocery store: notice how prevalent the emphasis is on "low fat" products and you will begin to get a feel for the scope of the situation.
 
Only 40% carbs? That, too, is correct. Most people consume far more carbohydrates than just 40%, and reducing carbs is a key aspect of the 40-30-30 diet (see Insulin and its Role in the Body below).  Of course there is the argument of good carbs and bad ones and we get into Dr. Atkin's theory on "net carbs" below as all carbs are not equal.  A sugary milk shake is pure carbs, an apple although in the 20 carb range has a great deal of fiber,  hence Dr. Atkin's says we should deduct the fiber in the apple and net that apple out at around 10 carbs.

America's losing battle against fat

A few interesting facts to help you get a perspective on the problem:

WHY ARE AMERICANS GETTING SO FAT?
Most people never question the idea that "you are what you eat", so it makes sense to them that if they don't want to be fat, they can't eat fat. Let's look at why this is wrong - you will have to learn a little endocrinology (the study of hormones), but stick it out and you will be well rewarded.

Some Background Information

Insulin and its Role in the Body

Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar, most of us know that because we've heard of it in connection with Diabetes - a disease whose sufferers experience chronic high blood sugar. Inject a dose of insulin and blood sugar drops. But that's not all that insulin does; insulin also triggers the body to store fat. This is so important it bears repeating: INSULIN TRIGGERS THE BODY TO STORE FAT. Carbohydrates, the cornerstone of most diets, raise blood sugar levels. Raise your blood sugar level by consuming carbohydrates, your body releases excessive amounts of insulin, your body stores fat, your blood sugar level plummets to abnormally low levels and, bang, you're hungry again! Once again, Carbohydrates trigger your body to release insulin, insulin causes the body to store fat. This would be a good paragraph to read again. Now, you have a new weapon in the battle against carbs:  

The Curse of the Munchies - Explained

(Munchies on the left are the munchies you should munch on)


Lets back up a step now. We have all had an attack of the "munchies" and we all have our favorite munchies food - think back about your last attack of the munchies - what did you reach for? Odds are ten to one, it was a carbohydrate of some sort (if you're a dieter, it was probably a "low fat" version, wasn't it?) - chips, candy, pastries, ice cream, donuts, whatever - guaranteed it was a carbohydrate! Why? Because you were coming off an excessively low drop in blood sugar and your body was screaming for food - carbohydrates, in specific - because you needed to get your blood sugar level up to a normal level again (glucose - "blood sugar" - is the only food your brain can consume, that's why you crave it, and that's why we get grumpy when we're hungry). What happened next? How did your binge make you feel? Well, besides the endorphine rush triggered if you over-ate, you had a rush of energy, followed by a dramatic crash. Athletes call this "bonking" or "hitting the wall" - zoom, you're out of blood sugar and you're out of energy. Wait a while and you're hungry again. Do you see the cycle?

Blueeyedcurse.com NOTE:  Our personal experience regarding blood sugar.  The body needs a steady supply of sugar, it is just a question of how much?  We believe the  blood stream has about 2 teaspoons at all times and if it goes just a little below this number, one can easily go into a coma.  Now we borrowed a page,  as we have borrowed many pages from the weight watchers regimen that calls for up to 5 fruits a day. (Our fruit intake is fruit and berries on cereal ( cereal being freshly ground flax seed, whole pumpkin seed chewed good, nuts and a touch of Fiber One in soy milk) for breakfast, half a glass of orange juice (with water and whey protein) midmorning, fruit and berries in plain yogurt for lunch, an apple mid afternoon and fruit and berries with plain yogurt at supper time)  Weight watchers doesn't go into much detail as far as why and where,  as long as you do the point system.  We don't do points.   Our assumption is that the 5 fruits a day supply all of our sugar needs, and in fact because of the complex carbohydrate nature,  along with the fiber content this releases  sugar in a very controlled manner that does not alert the pancreas/insulin production.  Now if the fruit servings are modest and they should be,  (a medium size apple for example, a half a glass of orange juice with whey protein powder and water  is another) the sugar will be utilized for the bodies needs and the balance will be consumed and depleted entirely in the energy needs process,  as we know sugar is an energy food.  Now after the sugar is depleted, and one is conducting a moderate exercise regimen,  the body will seek out fat for the balance of its daily needs.  We also have a theory that fats,  especially the stored fats have a delegation of impurities (toxicity) attached similar to what has been discovered in the visceral areas of the stomach, rump etc.  These too will be burned and hopefully leaving you with a "clean as a hounds tooth condition". 

We have recently wrote a feature http://www.blueeyedcurse.com/wish.htm where we vision someone wishing they could eliminate cancer, heart disease and lose a bunch of weight in one swoop.  We came to the conclusion that the same process that burns fat, burns fatty plaque from your arteries and lymph vessels.  Therefore burning off fat in your arteries will prevent heart disease, keeping your lymph system clean of sticky fat, the gate keeper keeping out cancer cells from infiltrating your body and the resultant tumors along with slimming down is just what the Doctor ordered.

Insulin Part Two


While you're involved in the vicious cycle of eating lots of carbohydrates, racing, crashing, and eating more carbohydrates, your insulin surges are busy making your body store away fat!

Carbohydrates, Glucagon and Protein

Carbohydrates stimulate insulin production and secretion, and insulin causes your body to store fat, but you've got to eat! The good news: the consumption of protein (lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, etc.) stimulates the body to produce and release another hormone, glucagon, which blocks the effects of insulin. Consume protein and you will go a long way towards getting off the carbohydrate-insulin roller coaster. Right now, if you are an astute reader you may be wondering why 40% carbohydrate, and only 30% protein? Wouldn't it be better to try to balance the amount of protein and carbohydrates consumed to be equal? Well, we haven't talked about fat yet - the other "30".

The Big FAT Lies


 OK, here it is: fat is bad. That's the lie. Now brace yourself, because here is the truth: YOU NEED TO EAT FAT; THERE ARE GOOD AND BAD FATS. While you're recovering from that one, try this one out for size: you also need cholesterol. Whoa! Is this great or what? A properly balanced diet has you eating two of this decade's biggest diet villains - fat and cholesterol! THE TRUTH IS, FAT SLOWS THE ABSORPTION OF CARBOHYDRATES, AND YOUR BRAIN IS COMPOSED LARGELY OF CHOLESTEROL! This means that you can safely go ahead and eat proteins that contain cholesterol (that is why we're afraid of protein-rich foods, isn't it?) and foods that contain fat - but good fats.

Fats

GOOD FATS MAY REDUCE OR ELIMINATE "CELLULITE"

Got your attention? It's true, read on... There are good fats and bad fats. While we have provided a list of them for you on our dietary guidelines page, it is worthwhile to understand what they are and why they are good. Look at the following list, taken from Gene and Joyce Daoust's excellent 40-30-30 book.

Fat in the diet provides you with:

There are three types of fats, and you should be eating equal proportions of them all. The three types of fats are: saturated, unsaturated, and monounsaturated; the ideal 30% dietary intake of fat would then consist of equal parts of each of the above fat types. The bad fats are those that are cooked at high temperature, or are hydrogenated oils (hydrogenation, as its name implies, is the process of adding a hydrogen atom to oil to make it a solid fat).

The "good" in good fats is actually even more wide-ranging than the table above indicates; a more extensive, but not obtuse discussion of these fats and their effects on our health can be found in Beyond Prozac, by Michael J. Norden, MD.

Glucagon

Glucagon and insulin are paired hormones, and their relationship is inverse proportional. In other words, when insulin levels are high, glucagon levels are low, and vice versa. Glucagon is a fat mobilization hormone as opposed to insulin, which is a fat storage hormone. Insulin directs the body to store fat. Glucagon lowers insulin levels, low insulin levels indicate low blood sugar, low blood sugar signals the body to burn fat for its energy and preserve the remaining blood sugar for the brain to consume. Obviously, dieters would want to raise their glucagon levels.

Consider this important fact the next time you go to eat: what you eat (i.e., the carbohydrate-protein-fat balance) will determine for the next 4-6 hours whether you will burn or store fat. Get your glucagon up by eating some protein!
 

(Back to above Gulcagon Reference)

 

Conclusion: The 40-30-30 Diet

For so long we have been told that fat is bad, a high carbohydrate diet is good, and cholesterol is utterly evil. This is simply not what good nutritional science tells us.  If you don't eat some good fats, you will store fats; carbohydrates stimulate insulin which causes our bodies to store fat; and cholesterol is not as dangerous as we once believed, which means that we need not be afraid of consuming proteins.

Blueeyedcurse.com NOTE:  As stated before,  approximately 35 to 40% of our total caloric intake is derived from fat, but that translates into about 20% of our total volume of food measured in any way you choose as we try to keep our fat in line recognizing that fat has twice the amount calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates.   Since going on this 35-30-35 diet  (our modified version) give or take,  we have closely monitored our triglycerides  that measures fat content in the blood stream and have found them to be much less (in the 70 MG/DL range) than before we consumed this amount of primarily good fat, good fats again being,  nuts, seed, fish, fish and borage oil supplements,  as well as olive and macadamia oils for cooking and salads.  Although we respect the Atkins principals of high amounts of animal fats in the diet for weight loss programs,  we believe that dieters that are not very active physically are at a much high risk than the proverbial Eskimo and lumberjacks that consume huge amounts of animal fat,  but burn it off, where the less active put an undue burden on their kidneys and liver,  as well as accumulating some of this fat residue,  that isn't burned,  in their artery walls and heart portals.  To be fair to the Atkins program, they have an initial phase, sort of a crash course to get a good portion of the weight off, but swing into a more moderate regimen in their maintenance phase.  The ideal ratio of  essential fatty acids are 2 to 3 to one,  Omega 6s over Omega 3s.  1 to 1 is even better, but you really have to pig out on sardines and salmon,  plus fish oil supplements to do it.

There is a confusion that I would like to clear up with you avid health oriented readers.  In fact there appears to be a conflict with some of our writings regarding doing the 40-30-30 or our modified 35-30-35 diet and trying to achieve a 75% alkaline to 25% acid  diet ratio.  On the face of it with only a 35% carbohydrate intake it would seem that the 75% alkaline ratio would again be hard to obtain,  as we know that the major part of your alkalinity intake must be derived from fruits and vegetables.  Right off the bat you could easily come to the conclusion  that the 35% carbohydrate intake may not measure up to the recommended 75% alkaline goal.   I have struggled with this issue the past year in my own regimen and have come to the following conclusions.  First you are dealing with measurements.  Servings/Cups/Grams.  An average apple has 20 grams of carbohydrates, where if you were to take as an example,  my daily habit and mid afternoon snack,  which does include an apple or 20 grams of carbs, a few pieces of chicken,  perhaps an ounce, lets say 8 grams of protein and throw in a couple of grams of fat from the chicken.  Now factor in an ounce of mixed nuts that have a ratio of about 3 grams of carbs, 3 grams of protein and 8 grams of fat.  Now if you total up the whole smear you come up with 23 grams of carbs, because of the nut contribution, the protein would be 11, 8 from the chicken and 3 from the nuts.  The fat would be 2 from the chicken and 8 from the nuts or 10 total,  So on the face of it you are looking at a 23-11-10 ratio.  This would be out of whack but it isn't if you subscribe as I do to  Dr. Atkins and  his "Net Carb" theory,  where he deducts the amount of fiber from a carb to come up with his "Net Carb" results.  My guess is an apple could have 10 grams of fiber and if it does you are reducing the carbs from 23 to 13 and real close to a balanced snack that should not put your pancreas and insulin production into high gear.  Now don't try to accomplish this with a milk shake with almost zero fiber or a donut where whatever fiber was in the ingredients have been disemboweled.   Processed grains not only have lost their fiber content,  but they have a nasty way of producing sugar similar to the volatile reaction from grain and sugar in the process of making moonshine.    Now just to end this whole thing on a humorous note and one that you can regularly associate with regarding your errant habits of the past.  If you are going to hibernate for the winter like a He-bear or a Momma bear,  by all means load up on the  sugar/carbohydrates/fat production process in preparation for your stint in the cave.  Disregard the toxic material you will be saddling yourself  with, along with the fat because your only goal is to survive the long drawn out winter and certainly putting years and years of quality time on to your life span is not in any way your concern.  Wouldn't it be nice if you had a supermarket to supply you with your food all winter in just the right proportions that you need to survive and not worry about becoming hog fat like that the poor soul in the photo above.

Animal diets

We have had an experience lately with our beloved little (not so little) Kristina our Maltese pooch.  She recently was misdiagnosed and rediagnosed by a couple of good Vets.  It  appears that the diet that we have been feeding her was too rich and out of balance and for this I am personally embarrassed.  I am embarrassed because I should have had the sense to apply to our pet what we have applied to our own diets,  or at least taking into account that a dogs diet differs some from humans and dogs are primarily carnivorous animals.  Never the less balance is critical in any diet and if you have read our human version above you will see where a proper balance will stimulate what they refer to as the fat burning hormone glucagon.  Conversely high carb diets especially the bad carbs stimulate the hormone insulin that is the fat storing hormone.  Fat storing is usually accompanied with triglycerides and high cholesterol which translates to acid wastes where you don't want them and Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease just love to latch on to tissue acid waste.  It is just like candy to a baby, bring it on so I can spend the rest of my life crippled pitifully while my family suffers along with me, because I had to feed my sweet tooth.

Besides Kristina's overweight (about 25% above normal) she was diagnosed with a high triglyceride reading and high cholesterol as well.  We thought we were feeding her the best pet food that money can buy and Wysong is probably the best pet food money can buy,  but we neglected to read the labels that are on the food packages.  If we did we would have seen that some of the foods instead being a staple,  should be  used sparingly as a treat and a topping.

So after we received the blood work we asked the vet for their recommendations and of course they had a commercial pet food that was designed for overweight and animals with the cardiovascular problems associated with triglycerides and cholesterol.  It is an analysis that is higher in carbs and for carnivorous animals that have been on high protein meat diets it isn't easy for them to accept.  Animals need the benefits of good carbs.  We are talking properly processed fruits and vegetables and whole grains with all of their antioxidants and minerals as well as fiber to carry the bad stuff out of the system including cholesterol.  Lipitor may be able to drive your cholesterol numbers down but even at 150 to 170 if you are not eating the right foods and fiber you are still at risk.  I personally carry a 225 to 240 Cholesterol reading but I have a high fiber diet, I take in a generous amount of sun every day that works with Cholesterol, exercise,  a 70 Hdl reading normal blood pressure, a recent heart stress test passing with flying colors and there is no way in hell I am going to subject myself to Lipitor no matter what that artificial heart Doctor says on TV.

So we undertook an Internet research session to determine what to do.

First a few facts and conclusions

1. Again dogs are a carnivorous animals and anywhere we have read the recommendation is raw lean meat.  Dogs can live on meat and do  get a certain amount of carbs from undigested food in the stomachs from the prey they eat along with plenty of fat.  Other than our pussy cats that we may allow to feed in the wild we do not for the most part allow our dogs to hunt prey so this has to be taken into account.

2 Activity.  A dog that lays around the house and yard all day with hopefully at least one good walk by their master is really not getting enough activity to burn off the fat that they would consume in a natural environment.  So in this case an adjustment has to be made.

3. Again the commercial science diets that are high in carbs are o.k. but they may be unacceptable to the dogs palate unless you half starve the dog to the point they will eat anything.

4. Diversity.  As in any diet diversity is very important.  Feeding any living being the same diet day in and day out is just wrong.  They may advertise that commercial applications are the perfect balance for your pet but this is not correct.  You must bring in different foods to the diet almost on a daily basis or perhaps 3 to 4 times a week.   In other words the same combination on Monday is served again Thursday.

We decided to study what they refer to as the dry analysis of different commercial foods, the foods the vets had and Wysong.  We found that Wysong had certain foods that had the same dry analysis of the vets food.  A different composition and we believe a much better quality food including how it is processed.  Food that is cooked or over cooked has little benefits other than just for survival purposes.  It turned out that our dog actually rejected the Vets Carbohydrate heavy food,  but accepted Wysong when mixed with the good stuff, meat.  We want our dogs to live beyond the conventional time extension as we do ourselves.  It can be done.

Now as I did in my 40-30-30 regimen in which I lost 30 lbs in about a year, I analyzed the foods I ate regarding calories and analysis to try to come close to the recommended 40-30-30 target.  As you will read I am a very active fellow so my proportion of fat is higher than recommended.  When I say fat I am talking good fat, from nuts, seed, olive oil, fish and fish oil etc., not saturated fat as in fatty meats, although there is room for animal fats if they are not cooked at high temps,  where the molecular structure of the fat creates a dangerous damaged cholesterol scenario and humans can borrow a page from this for sure.  Again a dog has a different stomach, they can safely eat raw meat even rotten meat where a human can’t and can assimilate fats more efficiently.  If they are not active, playing, running etc. I believe the same saturated fat limitation should apply as it is in human intake especially if the subject is showing negative numbers in the cardiovascular department.

We put together a sample meal for our Kristina that was broken up into 4 different components.

A Wysong dry senior diet 28% Protein, 12% fat and 60% Carbohydrates

The second component was a canned wet senior diet food that had about the same analysis, but the foods in it were different, although the mineral and enzymes were about the same.

The third component was a Wysong product that they call "All meats" and you can buy a handy 6 pack that has 6 different meats, turkey, beef, rabbit, venison etc.  Again we favor Wysong because we believe in the process they use in preparing their foods especially in the care concerning cooking and not destroying the benefits let alone changing the molecular structure of the fats with high heat.  You barbecue fans should be conscious of cooking meat with fat at high temps, which many claim is a certain path to cancer.   Now these meats are all Protein and some fat.  We roughly calculate that in a 100 percentile there is 60% protein 40% fat and zero carbs.

The 4th component in this mix is raw meat.  To make it easy one of the raw meats is ground lean hamburger, that my wife makes up in small balls and is immediately frozen.  These balls are intermittently served as the portion of lean meat.  When we have steak a portion is cut off raw, chicken, lamb, lean pork etc.  Lets assume that this same percentile is the 60% protein, 40% fat and zero carbs.  Actually I believe that the Wysong all meats are heavier in fats where the lean meat we serve her is less,  but it averages out.

O.K. Now if we apply 25% of each of the 4 components to the mix we have calculated the following analysis.  One example would be the 60% Carbohydrate content in the seniors dry diet and wet as well if calculated at 25% would simply come out to a factor of 15.  Another example would be the meat only... 60 divided by 4 (25%) would come out to 15 and the fat at 40 divided by 4 (25%) comes out to 10.

So on this basis lets do a chart. and just put in the 25% factor to each component.  If want to check the total just multiply it by 4.

 

Senior Dry                    Protein   7      Fat 3        Carbohydrate    15

Senior Wet                   Protein    7      Fat 3        Carbohydrate    15

Wysong all meat          Protein   15      Fat 10      Carbs                  0

Raw meat                     Protein   15     Fat 10      Carbs                  0

Totals                           Protein   44     Fat 26      Carbs                  30

Now this is not what would be considered the perfect human ratio as the human target is 40% Carbs, 30% Protein, 30% Fat to achieve the perfect balance.

We are told Dogs in particular being carnivorous need a heavier amount of Protein.  I personally have my reservations about this and if we cannot get our dog down in her weight I personally would be inclined to try and get more carbs in her, but it wont be easy.  She like most dogs are meat eating puppies.

I think it is important to address something that is very important in human diets especially one where weight loss is desired and again to lower those critical cardiovascular numbers as weight loss and the numbers are closely related.  I copied a snippet from our material in the main section and there is no question you can apply it to your pet and especially if you want to please them and feed their face with sweets.  You want to burn fat, you want to lower your Cholesterol, you don't want stenosis and stents occupying your heart network, read the snippet below and understand what the hell you are doing when you indulge in refined sugars and grain, because these puppies are the root to most evils as they apply to the heart and just about everything else.

You want to indulge in candies, ice cream,  cookies and cakes and the high sugar boozes don't even bother going to an endoconologist go to a shrink because you need help in deciding whether you want to make old bones or join the rest of the jerks that have eaten themselves into the ground with the wrong sugars.  Keep in mind though you need sugar, but only a little bit and fruit with its fiber should provide this as the fiber controls the releasing of  the sugar  into your system without alerting your pancreas and insulin production.

Low blood sugar signals the body to burn fat for its energy and preserve the remaining blood sugar for the brain to consume. Obviously, dieters would want to raise their glucagon levels.

Interesting article on fat below

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/1/5/the-truth-about-saturated-fat.aspx

This information is intended to heighten awareness of potential health care alternatives and should not be considered as medical advice. See your qualified health-care professional for medical attention, advice, diagnosis, and treatments.


 

 

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