Wizard Recipes

Fat. Does the word make you cringe? Fat is bad, bad, bad . . . isn’t it? Eating fat makes us overweight, gives us heart attacks, causes cancer, wrecks our health . . . doesn’t it? If it says “fat free,” it must be healthy . . . isn’t that true?

Yet, if fat is so bad, how is it that in certain Mediterranean regions such as the Greek island of Crete during the 1950s, where heart disease and other chronic disease rates were startlingly low, fat consumption was about equal to fat consumption in America?

Cretans during this time in history were among the longest-lived people in the world. Yet their diet was full of fat.

According to researcher Ancel Keys, Cretans consumed 3 to 4 ounces (or about 1?2 cup) of olive oil per day, per person.That’s a lot of fat! Keys reported that the people of Crete drenched their salads in it, dunked their bread in it, poured it on their potatoes.

Some Cretan farmers even drank a wineglass full of the stuff for breakfast! Why weren’t the people on this tiny island suffering from the same health problems as Americans during the 1950s and 1960s, those health problems we’ve been told had (and still have) everything to do with too much fat in our diets?

Perhaps Crete is an anomaly? Yet studies from other countries reveal similarly striking results. Heart disease rates in the southern, or rather the Mediterranean, regions of Italy, Spain, and France were also remarkably low, even though percentage of fat calories varied greatly around the region.

Yet not every country could get away with fat consumption to the degree enjoyed in the Mediterranean. Keys’s studies of fat consumption and diet also included Finland, the country with the most coronary heart disease and the shortest life spans in Europe.

Keys examined middle-aged men in Finland to determine why coronary heart disease was so common in this country, even among men who were thinner and more physically fit than many of the overweight, less fit American men in Keys’s studies. Blood cholesterol levels of the Finnish men proved to exceed average levels in American men.

Subsequent dietary surveys revealed that the typical diet in Finland was extremely high in saturated fat. According to Keys, meals included “great mounds of butter,” and it was not unusual to see “grown men down a couple of glasses of rich milk.” Keys also relates watching Finnish loggers take “slabs of cheese the size of slices of sandwich bread, smear them a quarter of an inch deep with butter and eat them with a beer as an after-sauna snack.”

Other studies conducted by Keys revealed that among patients with very high blood cholesterol levels, diets very low in fat produced dramatic drops in cholesterol levels within one week, and studies examining the effects of different types of fatty acids-saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated-on blood cholesterol levels revealed that saturated fatty acids tended to raise blood cholesterol levels the most.

It would seem, then, that the type of dietary fat, not just fat in general, is specifically related to the risk of developing coronary heart disease and other chronic diseases. Does this mean some fat is “good” and some fat is “bad”? That we should eat all of one and none of the other?

Actually, the fat issue is a complex one, and not simply a matter of “bad” and “good,” as the media often imply. For instance, just because the Cretans drowned their food in olive oil doesn’t mean we can do the same and remain slim with unclogged arteries. The residents of rural Crete had far more active lifestyles than most Americans today.

Also, scientists now know that fat per se isn’t bad. On the contrary, fat is beneficial and even necessary to a healthy, fully functioning body. However, certain types of fat in differing proportions do apparently tend to be more or less beneficial to health.

Americans eat a lot of saturated fat, mostly from animal sources. The residents of Crete during the days of Ancel Keys’s research were eating almost all their fat from plant sources, namely olive oil.

What’s the difference? While oil of any type is 100 percent fat and has the same number of calories as any other oil, each oil or fat type has a different composition-its own ratio of saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids.

And the fatty acid makeup of an oil appears to make all the difference. The fatty acid composition in, say, a cheeseburger, is far different from the fatty acid composition of a calorie-equivalent portion of olive oil.

Let’s look back at Greece. According to Keys, at the time of his research, the general Greek population received approximately 20 percent of their calories from olive oil alone, with total fat intake ranging around 35 percent. (People living on the island of Crete had total fat intakes exceeding 40 percent of daily calories, again, mostly in the form of olive oil, as reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.)

Keys describes the rural Greeks, who were accustomed to traditional eating habits and who couldn’t afford richer foods, as “remarkably healthy.” The wealthier population of Athens, on the other hand, tended to eat food more inspired by the French school of cooking (more prevalent in non-Mediterranean, northern France), which is relatively heavy on butter and cream compared to olive oil.

Although no study has proven a direct correlation between these varied diets in Greece and heart disease, Keys could not “help but mention” that Athens had no shortage of wealthy coronary heart disease patients.

Keys’s observations significantly complicate the simplified message Americans have been accustomed to hearing over the past fifteen years or so: that fat is bad and we should eat less of it.

Fat is not “bad.” We need fat to function. The trick is how to consume it in a way that maximizes our health and gives us the best possible protection against chronic diseases like coronary heart disease and cancer

Meat illustrates the idea that the health of food product can not be separated from the health of the food chain. This means that the health of the soil, of the plants, of the animals and of the consumers depend on each other.

This leads us to a special rule for those who consume products of an animal origin: You are not only what you eat, you are also the consumed food of the animal that you eat.

This means that the animal nutrition whereby we eat is influencing the nutrition quality and the consequences that food has over our health, no matter if it is meat, milk or eggs.

This is supposed to be evidence, but unfortunately it is a systematic ignored truth of the industrial food chain, in his endeavor to produce huge quantities of cheap animal proteins. This effort changed the nourishment of the majority animals bred for consumption; they went from green plants to seeds and cereals over, because of the fact that animals grow faster and produce more milk and eggs if they are fed grains rich in calories. Some of these animals are ruminants which are evolved to feed on grass; if they eat too many seeds they get sick, therefore grain fed cattle should receive antibiotics.

Even those animals that tolerate cereals, like chickens or pigs, are much healthier if fed with fresh green plants, therefore their meat and eggs are healthier. Generally if the animals raised for consumption are fed with grass, their meat, milk and eggs contain much healthier natural fats (more fat acids omega 3 and conjugated linoleic acid or ALC, less fat acids omega 6 and less saturated fat) and higher amounts of vitamins and antioxidants.

Sometimes is the difference visible, for example the yellow butter or the orange yolk is because of the beta-carotene content in fresh grass. So it is worth spending more money looking for products from animals raised in a traditional way on pasture. And even if, seen from the outside, an industrial egg looks exactly like the one coming from hens fed on grass; the industrial egg is several times more expensive than the first one and the two are completely different. So the rule to eat more leaves and less seeds are applied not only for humans but also for animals that are part of our tropic chain

Every diet is perceived by the organism as a threat. When this threat is repeated, metabolic adaptation appears, as a defensive reaction as a survival strategy that represents slowing down your metabolism so that it uses ‘less fuel’ to keep all mechanism in function.

In other words, the less we give to our body, the less our body will get used to consuming less, and we won’t lose weight even if we’re consuming 700-800 kcal per day.

And the matter gets even worse! Due to the lack of results, we are tempted to go back to our old eating habits and, of course, the excess fat returns as well. Only this time it will be PURE FAT!!!

SO, after numerous diets our body composition changes so that, if we’re lucky and maintain our weight, the fat percentage will be higher, and because fat is lighter, weighting the same 60 kilograms will make us look worse.

Fat tissue is less metabolically active, so, our daily energy expenses will decrease. This means that, eating the same things, with the same amount of calories will result in our weight increasing.

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Please note that our organism doesn’t work as a balloon that we can inflate or deflate as we please. Losing weight, especially through very restrictive and short term diets, cannot lead to something else but to a very high organism disequilibrium, and, to make matters worse, pounds lost do not necessarily refer to the excess fat from your body.

Our body disposes of 125 000 calories stocked as: 80-85% in our fat reserves and the rest is in blood, liver, muscles etc. All of this reserve can be used by our body and can assure a 40 days survival without any alimentary additions (we would only need water).

Just by drinking water, for 3 weeks, let’s say, can only lead to a 18-24 pounds, from which only 4-10 pounds are fat! Why? Because our organism loses water first, then muscular mass and than fat.

This is why losing weight from through extreme measures is not a correct method, realised most of the time by dehydration and simply muscles melting, whereas our goal is to lose FAT. This can only be obtained by maintaining a hypo caloric diet for a long period of time (at least a 3 months).

Every lost kilogram of fat means a 7000 kcal economy, and the daily restriction cannot be more than 500-800kcal, so, the correct manner of losing 1 kg would be in 7 to 10 days.

And the above cannot be repeated every time, as the danger of the yo-yo effects

Like I was discussing yesterday, meat has its ups and downs… Take into consideration also the following:

Here are some secrets to achieve your goal: a healthy tasty meal:
-Cut off all white fatty parts from raw meat before cooking it
-Cook the chicken with the skin, but remove it before consuming the meat.
-For healthier cooking, don`t add oil to the meat; add water or beer, wine, tomato   juice, spices and herbs… It gives a better taste and with a lower health cost
-The meat is fresher when the color is lighter, so chose pink pieces of meat if you want them tender.
-Boil the meat in already boiling water, in order to keep the nutrients sealed in the meat. If making soups, use cold water
-Don’t buy already minced meat. It has a high fat content. Prepare it yourself from low fat meat. It takes longer but it’s healthier.

Here are the calories table for 100 g of raw meat:

CALORIES FOR 100 G OF RAW MEAT
CHICKEN, TURKEY 100 CAL
BEEF 120 CAL
PORK 120 CAL
LIVER 150 CAL
LAMB 160 CAL

Also, keep in mind that:

- the meat from the chicken legs contains 3 times more iron than the chicken breast
- chicken leg contains more fat than chicken breast
- chicken and turkey skin is made 100% form fat
- goose and duck are richer in iron than chicken and turkey
- 150 g of roast beef contain 20% of the daily needed quantity of iron for women and 25% for men.

The old Chinese knew the organs’  schedule. The body sends  its whole energy to some of its parts at a certain time. It is scientifically proven that persons that do not respect this inner rhythm  are prone to getting sick faster and more often.

• 6:00        Your organism  wakes up. Even though you’re still sleepy, your body rushes into producing hormones. The sugar content in our body, the amino acids and hormones take action at full capacity. Alcohol and nicotine must be avoided.
• 7:00        Your heart shifts into fifth gear. Sexual hormones production begins. Who enjoys exercising in the morning is making a big mistake because the heart is over solicited, and the result is the same. At this hour, you should stick to serving your breakfast , but before, drink a glass of water to help digestion.
• 8:00        Your organism craves fuel. Unfortunately this is also the hour at which most heart attacks and cerebral vascular accidents happen. It’s the perfect time to take your blood sample. At any other hour, the blood composition may be changed because of stress.
• 9:00        The body almost doesn’t feel pain and is immune toward fear. Chemotherapy and shots should be done at this hour, because the risk of complications is minimal.
• 10:00        It’s learning time! The brain is the most receptive. Making decisions and solving problems is easy. The body temperature reaches the highest level. It is the perfect time for taking a ride in your car, because attention and reflexes reach their peak.
• 11:00         The body burns the fat. Just eat all you can. Your heart and blood circulation are at the top. Avoid going to the cardiologist’s because he may assert you a wrong diagnostic.
• 12:00         Half of day is over! You should take a nap. The organism is tied up in producing acids and the brain is not exactly in its best shape. Get your room well ventilated! The stomach is the only organ truly active. It gets prepared for processing food .
• 13:00            Attention drops, everything focuses on digestion. It’s lunch time , and then a little bit of relaxation. After lunch the gallbladder starts the digestion and absorption of lipids from the intestine.
• 14:00           All functions are low. The body must rest.
• 15:00          The brain starts moving again. Attention and focus are at their peak again. Start working!
• 16:00           The body starts working. It is the ideal time for exercising. Lungs and air ways are widely opened. Just take a walk. Stomach drugs work at best at this hour.
• 17:00       Hands do their job perfectly. Painters create masterpieces, magicians are excellent.  Sportsmen obtain the best results.
• 18:00         It is time for cultural activities! The senses become sharpened; the taste buds and nostrils reception even the finest taste and scent. The nails and hairs have their biggest activity. The body is yet a little tired and the nerves react to pain or anger.
• 19:00         Best time to take your medicines. Your skin craves nourishment, the pores open up and assimilate at best all cosmetic products. But be careful, the blood pressure drops.
• 20:00         Visual capacities increase. It is the moment to choose fabrics and designs. Don’t take the last meal of the day later than 20:00, because all bodily functions are already decreased. The liver works perfectly, so alcoholic drinks are tolerated at best at this hour.
• 21:00         Body temperature and metabolism decrease. No food is assimilated. Just the stomach and liver are working.
• 22:00            The livers stops its functions for the day. Stop smoking, because, with the liver functions stopped, all the nicotine is absorbed  without filtration by the organism.
• 23:00           The day dreaming begins. The body cools down. The blood pressure, heart rate are reduced at minimum. Cortisol (the stress hormone) production is shut down. The skin regeneration process starts.
• 24:00            The organism auto regulates itself at minimum. You should sleep at this hour. At night, between 2 and 4, all the senses are inhibited. Between 3 and 5 the blood pressure drops.
• 

It is easier to remember information in the morning, but to memorize them, they should be repeated in the afternoon.