Fight Hot Weather Inflammation!

Yes, this blog is all about anti-aging gastronomy, but the fact is that not only does acid forming food cause inflammation, but other forces outside our bodies as well.  One of those is the weather.  I am not referring to the old wives tales about joint pain forecasting storms or an impending cold front, although old wives tales are always based on some truth.  No, I am talking about the extreme hot temperatures plaguing our nation recently.  Here in the upstate of South Carolina, the temperature has been hovering around 102.

Having moved to the upstate from southern Maine via Charleston, SC, I expected that it would take my body a few years to adjust to the climate.  Well, it has been more than a few years, four years to be exact, and I still cannot step outside for more than a few minutes at a time when the mercury rises above 95.  Why?  Not because I sweat or sunburn easily (which I do) or feel faint or show any signs of heat stroke or exhaustion, nothing that ordinary.  It is because whenever I step outside in temperatures that rise above 95, my bones ache.  Okay, they don’t really ache, but it sure feels like they do.

Stress causes inflammation and exacerbates the symptoms of inflammation.  So, for anyone whose body has an inflammatory process going on whether in the form of an immune deficiency disease, a response to an infection,  joint swelling or an old injury such as a stress fracture,  the heat will cause a flare up---more severe symptoms, anything from mild pain to difficulty breathing.  That is why my bones ache. 

Flare up is an appropriate word considering what the extreme temperature can do to the body.  My first summer in Charleston, I visited my primary care physician on at least four occasions with headache, body aches, swelling at the sites of old ankle and knee injuries and what I felt was a low grade fever, always leaving without a prescription and with a lecture about staying out of the sun.  To me, staying out of the sun meant wearing a hat when going outside, which I did.  Finally on the fourth visit, I asked her why I always felt like I had a fever and she responded with, “This is the south.  You’re living in Charleston which is a tropical swamp.  The normal body temperature here in the summer is 99.2, not 98.6.”  That explained everything.

Now, living in the upstate, I am no longer in a swamp, but the heat is just as severe.  The difference is that I have learned ways to cool my internal temperature and prevent the stress to my body.  To southerners who have lived here all their lives, it is common sense, but to someone from Maine, it still takes a concerted effort to remember these five steps to keep the body cool and stave off the stress that stokes the flames of inflammation.

Drink ice water and lots of it.

Seems like common sense.  Not to me.  I never drank water with ice in it---too cold.  But, here you need the ice to cool down your core according to the long time residents of James Island.  So, ice water it is!

Take breaks before you need them.

Don’t wait until you feel sick or so hot you can hardly walk to take a break.  And by take a break I mean get out of the heat and into the AC.  The hotter the temperature, the more frequent the breaks, so today, with the temperature at 98 in the shade, ten minutes at a time for picking vegetables was enough for me.

Slow down.

That means slow your movements.  Don't run, walk!

Stay inside.

If you don't have to leave the AC, whether in your car, office or home, don't.  There is plenty that can be done indoors when the temperature soars.

Eat.

Even though you don't fell like it, you still need to eat.  Limit your diet to the alkaline producing foods like cucumbers, tomatoes, grapefruits, watermelon and lots of greens for their high water content and their ability to keep your blood glucose even throughout the day.  Add small amounts of protein with some healthy fat from omega 3.  Extra salt and sugar are not recommended which means on a day like today, Red Bull is not your friend.

Eat smart and stay cool, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB

P.S.  My current book Eat Smart, America, an anti-aging diet primer is available now for Kindle on Amazon 

http://www.amazon.com/Smart-America-anti-aging-primer-ebook/dp/B008H76MAK/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341433257&sr=1-5&keywords=eat+smart%2C+america

 All proceeds from my books will be used to open the first EAT SMART restaurant to serve anti aging gastronomy in the upstate SC.    I am 75% of the way there with funding.  Every book I sell gets me one tiny step closer.  For your support and generosity---thank you. 

Happy Fourth of July, America!

Not only am I celebrating my American heritage independence from the tyranny of the oppressive British rule, but on this fourth of July, I am proud to celebrate my independence from bad food---hot dogs, hamburgers and white buns, macaroni salad, ice cream and cake.  Instead, our picnic this year is tomato and cucumber salad, corn on the cob, skewered chicken, lamb kabobs, marinated green beans and dark chocolate chili frozen pot de crème (on a stick for the kids!)

And, I am also celebrating the release of my latest ebook for Kindle, EAT SMART, AMERICA---having just gotten the word from Amazon.  This one is a prequel to the next in my series of Cooking Skills for Life, Volume 2, Good Food Bad Food to be released in August.  Eat Smart, America---an anti-aging diet primer introduces the reader to a way of eating that reduces inflammation in the body and therefore, reduces the risk for age related chronic disease. 

Those of you who have been following me on this blog and on my facebook page know that I firmly believe that all age related chronic disease is the result of inflammation, a result of a diet high in inflammatory foods---meat, dairy, refined grains and sugar.  I practice what I preach and have enjoyed the benefits of eating a diet rich in alkaline producing foods---foods which have rid me of those same age related symptoms of pre- diabetes, pre, cholesterolemia, pre-hypothyroid, joint and muscle aches and pains, psoriasis, dry skin, and on and on and on, that we all expect as we age.  Well, it doesn’t have to be that way.  Eat Smart, America will show you the way it should be!

Lastly, due to eating a diet rich in alkaline producing food, I am celebrating my independence from prescription drugs, medical offices, anti-inflammatories, antihistamines and decongestants.  Eat smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB

P.S.  My current book As Good As It Gets  which teaches the basic cooking methods you need to cook fresh foods from scratch is also available now at  http://www.amazon.com/As-Good-It-Gets-Cooking/dp/1477466886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338323791&sr=8-1.  All proceeds from my books will be used to open the first EAT SMART restaurant to serve anti aging gastronomy in the upstate SC.    I am 75% of the way there with funding.  Every book I sell gets me one tiny step closer.  For your support and generosity---thank you.  

Sugar is Sugar…all equally bad!

Sugar is sugar.   A true statement, one that is used as a marketing tool to convince the viewer of the television advertisement that corn sugar, the new moniker for what was previously known consumer wide as high fructose corn syrup, is simply nature’s sugar in another form.  Whether it is corn sugar or cane sugar, the body doesn’t know the difference, says the actor posing as a concerned parent as he strolls through the corn fields while his school age daughter holds onto his hand and skips alongside.  Using a clever framing technique, the producers get the viewer to make the decision that if corn sugar is the same as cane sugar, then it follows that high fructose corn syrup is okay for our kids. 

Well, they are right about one thing.  Sugar is sugar.  Whether it is high fructose corn syrup, corn sugar, natural sugar in the raw, brown sugar, beet or cane sugar, or the refined white sugar in just about every cake and cookie in the world, they are all equally bad.

It is hard to believe, but there are still medical doctors practicing today who claim weight gain is the result of consuming too many calories, more calories than can be used by the body.  It is the old calories in, calories out mantra.  Therefore, according to them, to maintain or lose weight, all one has to do is consume fewer calories than the body can use.  If that were true, I should be able to eat all of my calories in sugar and as long as the total caloric intake is less than what I can use, I should lose weight.   Simple, right?  No, it isn’t.  After decades of yoyo dieting I can give you plenty of anecdotal evidence from my own experience that not only is it not that simple, but it is also not true.  Not all calories are created equal.   The body uses different foods for different purposes and with different processing methods and results. 

Take sugar, for instance.  Not all sugar calories are created equal.  More specifically let’s compare the following two sugars, an added sugar (regular white refined table sugar) one that is added to foods either by you or the processor, such as a pop tart manufacturer, and the natural sugar in a potato.  The regular white refined table sugar is sucrose consisting of half glucose and half fructose and the sugar in a carbohydrate such as potatoes is 100% glucose.  The difference between 100 calories of sucrose and 100 calories of glucose is in how the body metabolizes each.

The fructose in the 100 calories of table sugar that you consume is processed by the liver, whereas the 100 calories of sugar in the potatoes is processed by all of the cells in the body.  In the case of glucose from the potato, with the help of insulin, the body allows the glucose to enter into the cells to be used for energy.  When there is too much glucose, it is stored as fat.  That is where one problem lies.  In the case of fructose, if the amount or rate at which the fructose hits the liver is too much for it to handle, the liver converts the fructose to fat.  That is where another problem lies. 

The difference, however,  is that most people eat potatoes only a few times a week and can certainly use the energy and prevent the conversion to fat.  But, when you down a quart of cola or sweetened fruit juice several times a day, the fructose in liquid form hits the liver immediately and if the rate at which the liver has to convert the fructose is more than the body needs, which is usually the case with soda drinkers, again the liver converts the fructose to fat.  The result is weight gain, a fatty liver and insulin resistance, one form of adult onset diabetes. 

You know that hard to get rid of fat around the middle?  That happens to be where the fatty liver lives.  Eliminate sugar and watch it disappear!   Hmmm, perhaps that explains why women who love their bottle of wine have the same middle profile as the men who love their case of beer and the preteens and teenagers who love their six packs of soda. 

What else besides table sugar is made up of fructose and glucose?  High fructose corn syrup, slightly higher in fructose for extra sweetness, was intentionally developed to mimic the sweetness of table sugar.  Calories in, calories out?  No.  All calories are not the same. 

Now that you know that table sugar and high fructose corn syrup are almost identical and both are equally bad foods, what do you do about it?  You avoid it.  I know that you would not feed Fido a chocolate bar which is toxic to canines, so why would you feed your own body sugar, which is equally toxic.  You should, in fact, avoid all added sugar including that which is expressly labeled on prepared foods whether the label reads sugar, cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn sugar or anything that ends with the letters ose. 

Unless the prepared food has been specifically produced for diabetics, you can be certain that there is sugar lurking somewhere in the ingredients.  Some of the sneakiest offenders are condiments like relish, ketchup, salsa, pickled foods, salad dressings, sauces, jams and jellies, all laced with sugar.  Kool aid, sweetened iced tea, powdered fruit drinks, soda, energy drinks and punch are loaded with sugar as are most prepared baked goods, crackers and chips. 

So what can you do if you are a southern belle who loves her sweet tea or a football fan who loves his sports drinks?  That’s what my next book Good FoodBad Food, Cooking Skills for Life, Volume 2, is all about, finding a feel good food substitute to protect your body from the long term ill effects of bad food like sugar.  The book is due to be out on Amazon in August.  Watch for it!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB

  P.S.  The first in my series of Cooking Skills for Life, Volume 1, As Good As It Gets, is on sale now at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/As-Good-It-Gets-Cooking/dp/1477466886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338323791&sr=8-1   All proceeds will be used toward opening the first eat smart restaurant in upstate SC, first to serve a menu of anti-aging gastronomy.  Thank you for your interest and support.  EAT SMART, AMERICA!