Suzy’s Blog

Low Fat Diets are in the news again - as a failure for women over 50 in reducing the risks of heart disease, breast and colon cancer… well, low fat diets would be a failure - low fat diets are terrible.  The study was subject to questions because it didn’t separate healthy fats from unhealthy fats. 

Low fat dies actually have contributed to the explosion of weight gain in America - not to mention Type II Diabetes - by substituting massive amounts of sugar in low-fat products and giving dieters the illusion that if products, like cookies, don’t have fat in them then you can eat them by the box.

I think I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but there are good fats and bad fats.  Bad fats (any fat labeled hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated) should be limited, good fats, particularly omega 3 which is almost totally missing from the American diet, should be increased.  Processed foods that contain hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats should be avoided like the plague.  There are essential fats - essential for life that must be.  Omega3 and Omega 6 are called essential fatty acids because your body can’t make them and it absolutely needs them.  Omega 3 actually helps you body burn unhealthy fat. 

Low fat diets have a severe impact on the brain, which is 67% fat.  Clinical depression has resulted in many low fat dieters, along with a significant loss of energy.  So, before you believe what the news says, it’s a good idea to check on the facts of the study and see if was even thinking about healthy oils, foods or supplements when it made an evaluation.  For adults, three tablespoons of Golden Omega Oil, or flaxseed oil  should be ingested during the day: one at each major meal.  Simply substitute it for virgin olive oil in your salad dressing.

Thomas Smith of Healingmatters.com reversed his Type II Diabetes using essential fats as a substitute for hydrogenated oils found in many baked goods, salad dressings and other processed foods, and a full battery of mineral supplements including chromium, zinc and potassium.  Hydrogenated oils are to be avoided by anyone interested in health and a full battery of minerals, including chromium, zinc and potassium.

The FDA is considering making fat blockers an over the counter drug.  There are two major reasons for not considering fat blockers as additions to the dieter’s arsenal: essential fatty acids and oil-soluble vitamins.

Fat blockers, like low fat diets, are thought to be helpful in lessening the number of calories that the overweight ingest.  But there are a few fats that are essential for long-term health.  I don’t mean that these fats are “somewhat” helpful for long-term health; they are absolutely required for long-term health. 

Essential fats (that we must get from our foods) are: Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids.  Your cells are made from the fats and oils you eat.  This is particularly important when it comes to brain cells.  67% of the brain is fat that must be replaced on a daily basis.  Blocking fats affects the dieter’s propensity for severe depression.  It also impacts the dieter’s level of energy. 

Fat-soluble vitamins are also essential for long-term health.  They include beta-carotene and Vitamin A (the vitamins that are important to good vision), Vitamin D (considered so essential that it was added to milk so that children in particular would get their daily dosage), Vitamin E a potent antioxidant, which because antioxidents work as a team, makes other antioxidants work and an important addition to the diabetes regimen, Vitamin K required for blood clotting and bone formation and Co-Enzyme Q 10 which is another vital antioxidant.  Antioxidants remove free radicals from the blood preventing cell damage throughout the body.)

It’s bad enough that doctors are offering fat blockers to their clients.  To allow the overweight public - desperate for a quick weight loss fix that doesn’t include eating properly and exercising regularly - to self-medicate with these health-compromising medications is nothing short of a crime.

This week the Journal of the American Medical Association informed its readers that keeping a food journal - in which you write down EVERYTHING you eat during the day - is a powerful tool in losing weight.  Keeping a journal makes any weight loss program more effective.

I agree.  Writing down every snack makes what you eat real.  It is so easy to have a little extra here a small bite there and when you add it up it makes a huge difference in your weight loss.  In addition, what you choose to snack on makes a huge difference.  If you choose to have a sugary treat, for example, that treat will keep your body from burning fat for up to four hours as the insulin released to deal with it circulates through the blood stream.  The rule with insulin is that as long as it is circulating you store fat.

Getting in the habit of writing down every morsel you eat and reviewing your intake at the end of the day is an excellent idea regardless of what weight loss program you choose.

Epidemic of Multiple Sclerosis and Systemic Lupus linked to Aspartame

One of my hypnotists dropped an article on my desk that was truly frightening.  It was about some of the more toxic effects of Aspartame – commonly known as “NutraSweet,” “Equal,” and “Spoonful.”

Aspartame is temperature sensitive.  At 86 degrees F. (think how hot warehouses get in summer time), the wood alcohol in Aspartame converts to Formaldehyde and then to formic acid.  (Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants.)

The result of this conversion causes methanol toxicity, which mimics the signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis.  Many people who have been diagnosed with MS actually suffer from methanol toxicity.  The problem is that while MS is not fatal, methanol toxicity is.

Systemic lupus is particularly rampant in Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers.  If they continue to drink the diet sodas the lupus becomes irritated to a point where it becomes life threatening.  In many cases the symptoms completely disappear when the patient stops drinking diet soda.

Aspartame Disease

Here are some of the conditions that are caused by aspartame sometimes called “Aspartame Disease”.  These conditions often respond favorably when people stop using aspartame:

• Fibromyalgia symptoms
• Spasms
• Shooting pains
• Numbness in legs
• Cramps
• Vertigo
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears
• Joint pain
• Depression
• Anxiety attacks
• Slurred speech
• Blurred vision
• Memory loss.

There are two ways to help these problems.  First stop drinking diet soda.  Second read labels and be on the lookout for products that use aspartame.

Aspartame is not a Diet Product

According to the Congressional Record, Aspartame makes you crave carbohydrates and makes fat adhere to your cells.  The formaldehyde is stored in the fat cells.  People have been known to lose up to 27 pounds in a year simply because they stopped drinking diet soda.

Aspartame is particularly hazardous for diabetics

Aspartame drives blood sugar out of control.  It also causes symptoms of retinopathy.  Because it passes the blood brain barrier, it deteriorates the neurons of the brain resulting in:

• Brain damage
• Seizures
• Depression
• Manic Depression
• Panic Attacks
• Rage
• Violence

Aspartame can cause birth defects.

Mental retardation has been linked to diet coda use at conception and in early pregnancy.  It is VERY bad for infants and children.

What is a credible non-sugar substitute?

Steviva is the best non-sugar substitute.  The FDA has recently approved Stevia as a sugar substitute.  Because of the FDA’s connection to Monsanto (inventors of Aspartame) the FDA outlawed Steviva. 

A good source for Steviva

For more information about weight loss check out my interview with Ann Louise Gittleman on my site www.suzyprudden.com

I’m going to talk about a different aspect of diet pills that perhaps you haven’t thought about before.  I don’t like diet pills in general because they have side effects that your body doesn’t need.  But there are other downsides of diet pills that aren’t generally covered in most literature.

The Leading Diseases in America are Diseases of Malnutrition

Think of malnutrition in the exact terms of the origin of the word.  Normally we think of malnutrition as starvation, but that’s not what the word really means.  The word really means BAD nutrition.  Unhealthy nutrition.  Obese people are every bit as malnourished as any starving African child with a skeletal frame and protruding tummy.  You don’t have to starve to be malnourished.  Living on the chemical diets of sodas, toxic oils and industrially prepared foods can lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, fibromialgia, arthritis, certain cancers and Alzheimers, to name a few of the diseases that are associated with malnutrition. 

One of the things that I have learned in my Positive Changes Hypnosis practice is that most people who need to lose weight haven’t a clue how to eat for losing weight and for health;  not even half a clue.  AND they are not going to learn how to eat to keep the weight off by taking a pill, so while they may lose weight on diet pills, they won’t keep it off, or they will yo-yo.  If you are the kind of person who has been on every diet under the sun, who has taken weight off and put it back on countless times, then learning to eat the foods that support weight loss and weight maintenance is something you need to do.

You might also access hypnosis to help you lose weight, but that’s a different article.  Here’s what to do to eat right for weight loss.

Drink Water

At Positive Changes Hypnosis the first thing we teach our clients is to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day (that’s 8-ounce glasses not Dixie Cups).  The justifications for that are numerous but the first one might interest you.  It has to do with replacing soda with water.  If you drink one glass of soda a day, you will probably gain 27 pounds in a year.  Diet soda doesn’t add to your calorie count, but it does contribute to problems with your hormones.  The hormone Insulin will be released when you have a sweetened drink even if it doesn’t contain sugar, so for four hours after a diet soda your body will be unable to burn fat because that’s one of the things that insulin does.  Indeed your body will be storing fat.  If you have a diet soda before breakfast, a diet soda at lunch and a diet soda at dinner you will be storing fat for 12 hours out of your day.  If you have one in the evening, that’s 16 hours out of the day in which you will not be burning fat.  Drinking water is the fastest way to change that.  Instead of a soda, a lemonade, iced tea or any sweetened drink, have a glass of water.  You can’t drink too much water.

Additionally, if you feel hungry, you might actually be thirsty.  The body isn’t all that great at sending out signals from your digestive tract.  So, when you feel hungry, drink a glass of water and see what happens.  The hunger may go away.

And finally, you never want to sit down at a meal when you feel ravenous because you will eat fast and probably overeat before your body has figured out that it has had enough.  To reduce your hunger before you eat, drink a glass of water.  Then wait a few minutes. 

Eat Enough Protein

Protein is hugely important in losing weight because most diets deprive your body of sufficient amounts of protein so the body supplies its protein needs (for repair of vital organs) by cannibalizing it’s own muscles.  Since muscles burn fat, losing muscle makes losing weight more difficult, and gaining weight easier.  With every fad diet you have gone on, you have probably lost muscle mass.  Not body mass.  Muscle mass.  Even if you go on a pill, you need to eat 23 grams of protein (three eggs) for breakfast, 28 grams of protein for lunch and dinner.  28 grams of protein is the equivalent of a pack of playing cards.

Eat Healthy Fats

Next to protein, the kind of fat you eat is second in importance.  To figure this out you have to start reading labels.  Here’s the rule.  NOTHING hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated.  That means no margarine, no mayonnaise, no supermarket fats like corn oil or safflower oil.  ONLY use virgin olive oil or flax oil.  If you do use them, don’t cook with them.  Cook with butter.  Use butter.  Your cell walls are made from the oils you eat and when you eat hydrogenated oils instead of being pliable and semi-permeable, your cell walls become rigid and develop holes.  This is particularly important when it comes to brain cells which are 67% fat.  Flax seed is high in Omega 3 essential fatty acid (which is almost non-existent in the American diet) – notice it is called essential because ultimately you will develop disease without it.  Freshly ground flax seed is the best source for this oil.  If you add it to a vegetable juice, that’s a good way to have it at every meal.  There are two sources of omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids.  One us galled Golden Omega Omega and it is available on my website.  The other is called Udo’s Perfected Blend which is available in good health food stores like Whole Foods.  Do not buy it at places like Trader Joes because they don’t refrigerate it and it can go rancid fairly quickly without refrigeration.  1 tablespoon of freshly ground flax seed at every meal is GREAT.

Eat Fiber

It took me ages to get this down.  It’s not a low carb or a high carb diet.  It’s a low starch, high fiber diet.  Fully 40% of what you eat should be high fiber.  Colored  vegetables either raw or slightly steamed.  Served with a home made salad dressing (they use toxic oils and sugar in commercial dressings so avoid them).  Top with butter or sour cream or cheese (unless it’s hydrogenated).  It’s amazing what you can eat and what you can’t.  Avoid anything white except onion and cauliflower.  If you want an excellent mashed potato substitute, mash cauliflower and top it with butter.

Ground flax seed is a wonderful source of fiber.  Sprinkle it over salad and steamed vegetables or stir it into a smoothie or a glass of vegetable juice and you will be amazed at the results.  The first thing you will notice is how smooth you skin becomes.  Since the cells of your skin are the last thing to get oiled, when your skin is smooth and well oiled you will know that your vital organs are getting well oiled. 

That’s it.  Or course you can make it more complicated, but if you start shopping for fresh (unprocessed) foods, change your oils,  make sure you get enough protein and above all drink 8-10 glasses of water a day, you won’t need diet pills.

On Thursday, May 19, 2005 I will be interviewing Hyla Cass, M.D., author of “8 Weeks to  Vibrant Health.  To listen go to www.suzyprudden.com and sign up for the teleseminar.  You can also download past seminars.

Since the vitamin and mineral content of our food has been reduced 1000% since the turn of the last century, it has become extremely important to supplement with daily vitamins.  The major killing diseases of this age – heart disease, stroke and diabetes to name a few – are diseases of malnutrition, so it is vitally important that you supplement daily.

There are hundreds of different vitamin and mineral supplements on the market. Some of them are good; many of them are less good.  The following are five ways to tell good vitamin-mineral supplements from bad.

1. Unless it is a horse pill, there is no one multi-vitamin that can meet your vitamin and mineral needs in a day.

2. The quality of Vitamin E is a giveaway to whether vitamin production is too cheap to produce a quality product.   If the scientific name of the Vitamin E is “dl-alpha-tocopheryl” the vitamin E is cheap and the amount is half what the company claims it has added.  The problem is with the “dl”.  D and L are mirror images of the same thing, which makes it very expensive to separate them. The body needs “d” and can’t use “l”.  Good vitamins have only the “d” in them.  The inclusion of the “l” is a giveaway to the quality of all the other vitamins and minerals in the vitamin because if they have skimped on the separation of “d” and “l” they have probably skimped on the rest of the vitamins.  As a rule, any vitamin with “dl” in the scientific name of Vitamin E should be avoided.

3. The packaging of vitamins is another giveaway, particularly with oil-based vitamins like Vitamin E or Vitamin A.  The potency of oil-based vitamins is destroyed by light.  If the bottle the vitamin comes in is clear, the oil in the vitamin has been turned rancid by light and it will not only fail to achieve what you are taking it for, it will potentially harm you.  Clear bottles for multivitamins do the same thing, since they contain E and A – both oil-based vitamins.  Make certain that the bottles your vitamins come in are dark plastic or, if they are glass, they come in dark green, blue or brown.

4. Now look at the Chromium in the mineral section of the label.  There are three kinds of chromium.  Cheap vitamins use chromium chloride.  If the label reads chromium chloride don’t buy the vitamin.  If it reads chromium picolinate or chromium poly… the vitamin company has not reduced production cost at the expense of your vital chromium.  Since most diabetics are chromium deficient, this is a very important mineral to have in your supplements.  Fir it to do any good, it must be in the right form.

5. The ratio of calcium to magnesium is another giveaway of bad vitamin-mineral supplements.  The ratio should be 2:1 or 1:1 calcium to magnesium.  That means it should be 100mg:50mg or 100mg:100mg.  In the cheap vitamin-mineral brands the ratio is as bad as 100mg:20mg.  If the magnesium content is too low, the calcium will not metabolise.  If the calcium and magnesium aren’t in the right ratio, don’t buy the vitamins.

A company I like very much, which has excellent vitamins, minerals and supplements is New Spirit Naturals.

Suzy Prudden is President of Positive Changes Hypnosis of Beverly Hills and can be found at http://www.suzyprudden.com/

Recently, when I was conducting my monthly One Day Weight Loss Workshop, a participant asked, “What about vitamin E?”

Vitamin E is an oil-based vitamin that is wonderful for your health, and like all vitamins it is not designed to be used alone.  Vitamins and minerals are team players.  I recently read of a study in which the placebo did better than vitamin E when used by itself.  Missing vitamins and minerals actually lessen the effectiveness of other vitamins and minerals, so getting the dosages right is very important.  It’s vital to take a full vitamin and mineral complex and not megadose vitamins or minerals without balancing them with other vitamins and minerals.  The exception to that being Vitamin C - which is a water based vitamin and seems to do miraculous things in mega doses.

The makers of really good multiple vitamins (and I don’t include any of the major brands in that definition) know the exact amounts of vitamins and minerals to include in a daily regimen.  They also know that all vitamins and minerals should be included in their mixtures so that the team can function completely.

I hope that answers the question of “What about Vitamin E?”  It’s great and should be taken as part of a daily multi-vitamin and multi-mineral combination.

As a side note, “Why should I take vitamins?” is another question I hear quite frequently.  The answer is, because the nutritional value of the foods we eat today are down 1000% since 1900.  You are simply not getting the nutrition your body needs from the food you eat even if you eat exclusively organic.

By the way, I highly recommend the products from New Spirit Naturals, a very reputable company in San Demas California, that is dedicated to high quality products.

If you want to know more about my One Day Weight Loss Workshops please email me at suzy@suzyprudden.com or check out my website at www.suzyprudden.com

Homemade Mayonnaise and Ketsup

These common kitchen staples, if purchased off the shelves of a market, can be hazardous to your health and to weight loss.  They are filled with hydrogenated fats and sugar and they don’t need to be.

Commercial mayonnaise is primarily made with transfats - the kinds of fats that clog arteries.  Commercial mayonnaise may taste great, but it’s almost as unhealthy as margarine, and almost nothing is as unhealthy as margarine.  Creating homemade flax oil mayonnaise allows you to continue using mayonnaise as a staple while contributing to your health and - because flax seed is the fastest burning oil available and actually burns other fats in the process of buring itself - your weight loss.

Homemade Flax Oil Mayonnaise - 1 Cup

Homemade mayonnaise can be made with an electric mixer at moderate speed or it can be whisked by hand.  You can use a blender if you substitute a whole egg for the two egg yolks.  The old warning about mayonnaise is that you should not mix it during a thunderstorm or it will not set properly.

2 fresh egg yolks (or 1 fresh egg
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice*
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground sea salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 cup flax oil, or golden omega omega from New Spirit Naturals

1.  Warm a 2-3 quart mixing bowl, dry thoroughly.

2.  Beat 2 fresh egg yolks (or 1 fresh egg) until thick and sticky.

3.  Slowly beat in lemon juice, salt and mustard powder.

4.  Add flax oil drop-by-drop at first until about 1/2 cup has been added, then tablespoon-by-tablespoon until the mixture has absorbed all the oil and it becomes thick and glossy.

If the mayonnaise becomes too thick, you can thin it cautiously with drops of lemon juice or 1 teaspoon of boiling water.

*Never use lemon juice concentrates in those plastic lemons or “Real Lemon” in the supermarket.  If you must use a substitute for fresh lemon juice, use bottled organic lemon juice from health food stores.

Please note that none of these recipes calls for cooking with flax oil.  The closest flax oil should get to a stove is when it is served over hot food.  Flax oil is one of the most delicate oils on the planet.  Cooking, even at low temperatures, turns it rancid and toxic.  Any cook book that calls for cooking with flax oil or flax seed - in my not so humble opinion - betrays a painful ignorance of the oil they are dealing with.  There are many ways to warm flax oil without cooking it.  Simply cook or heat something else to add flax oil to after it has been removed from the heat source.

Low Carbohydrate Homemade Ketsup

Commercial Ketsup contains 4 grams of carbohydrate for every tablespoon, so do commercial chili and cocktail sauces.  Making your own is a great way to satisfy the Ketsup addicted palate of most families while limiting their carbohydrate intake.

Mix in a small jar:

6 ounces tomato paste
4 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice* or distilled vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Steviva**
1 teaspoon onion salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Place all the ingredients in the jar and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.  Then store in the refrigerator until ready to use.  Note: these are made with fresh ingredients and without the nutrient robbing, shelf-life promoting techniques of prepared foods.  They will rot if you don’t use them.

**Steviva is a natural sweetener made from a South American plant extract, 400 times sweeter than sugar with none of the health risks.  It does not rob your body of essential minerals to aid in its digestion, it is not fattening and, unlike Equal and other sugar substitutes, it does not turn into formaldehyde when heated.  Splenda causes enlarged kidneys and liver and is beginning to cause other problems so don’t use it either.  Substitute Steviva wherever sugar is called for in your cooking.

The Steviva powder referred to in this chart is the pure form, or the liquid made from the pure powder.  A form of powdered stevia from Steviva is made to be used in the exact same proportions as sugar.

 From “The Stevia Cookbook,” copyright 1999 Ray Sahelian and Donna Gates

Mayonnaise, and mayonnaise combined with Ketsup, can be used as the basis of tasty sauces for a variety of dishes.  Because you are using flax oil, this mayonnaise will actually enhance your weight loss and burn off any saturated fats that you get from meat.

Fines Herbs Sauce

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 teaspoon dried chervil

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Serve with hors d’oevres, eggs, fish and meat.

Caviar Sauce

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
1 tablespoon black (or red) caviar
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
1 hard cooked egg white, finely chopped

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Serve with cold fish or vegetable salad.

Horseradish Sauce

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
1 tablespoon well-drained horseradish
1tablespoon chopped chives

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Serve with cuts of cold meat or fish.

Gourmet Sauce

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon Maggi
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1/2 teaspoon brown gravy sauce (optional)

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Serve with hot beefsteak and cold meats.

Russian Dressing

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
1 tablespoon homemade Ketsup
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  For salads and seafood cocktails or for a dipping sauce for raw cauliflower and broccoli.

Spicy Russian Dressing

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
1 tablespoon homemade Ketsup
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
1/2 to 1 tablespoon mustard powder

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Excellent for crabmeat, shrimp, lobster or mixed seafood cocktails.

Mustart Mayonnaise

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon minced sour pickle
1/8 teaspoon mashed capers
1/8 teaspoon anchovy paste

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Serve over cold cuts, appetizers and seafood cocktails.

Purple Mayonnaise

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
2 tablespoons pickled beet liquor
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Dash of Tabasco Sauce

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Use with endive and pickled beet salad, mixed green, or other salads.

Tartar Sauce

1/2 cup homemade flax oil mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 tablespoon homemade Ketsup
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely minced capers
1/2 teaspoon finely minced dill pickle

Mix all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Use with hot or cold fish or shellfish.

In case you missed it, Vickie Chachere of the Associated Press recently wrote a report on Terri Schiavo – the young woman who has been brain dead since 1990 and is in the disputed right-to-die case in Florida. That report, published on Yahoo.com, February 24^th, should give us all pause. Terri Schiavo is brain dead because she was trying to lose weight using unsafe dieting methods that resulted in a loss of potassium.  Lack of potassium caused her heart to stop.

Terri has been kept alive in a nursing home since 1990 when, at age 26, her heart stopped briefly, cutting off oxygen to her brain.  She has been effectively brain dead with no hope of recovery for nearly 15 years.  Her husband Michael has said that she would never have wanted to live like this and has repeatedly asked to have her feeding tube removed.  Her parents have been fighting to keep her alive.

The incredible irony of this case is that Terri’s condition was caused by her attempts to keep her weight under control by liquid fasting (iced tea not protein drinks or even water) and bulimia (throwing up after meals). Incredibly, if the courts side with her husband, her feeding tube will be removed and she will be allowed to starve to death.

Bulimia is a very dangerous eating disorder. According to experts, serious health risks can exist long before a bulimic begins to look sick.  Even without good statistics on the number of people killed or disabled by eating disorders, it is well known that the binge-purge cycles of bulimia can lead to chemical imbalances that can harm major organs. 

Bulimia affects women primarily, though not exclusively.  There is no way to look at a woman and know whether she is bulimic.  Bulimic women are not necessarily emaciated.  I, for example, was bulimic for 25 years and no one looking at one of the nation’s leading fitness experts had a clue.  Terri Schiavo wasn’t dramatically thin when she went to her doctor for medical treatment, she had simply stopped menstruating.   The doctor failed to pick up the problem – which has resulted in a malpractice suit.  Her husband, friends and family did not realize that she was purging after meals.   Her parents still don’t believe that is what caused her heart failure.

For more information about eating disorders visit the National Eating Disorders Association.

On March 17^th 2005 I will interview Reverend Mary Manin Morrissey on the role spirituality plays in today’s busy world.  Please visit by webpage www.suzyprudden.com to sign up and listen.

On February 17^th, I interviewed Ann Louise Gittleman, author of the best-selling weight loss book, “The Fat Flush Plan.” 

Non-gluten bread

There were several things that I learned in talking with Ann Louise.  One is that Ezekiel Bread, which I have recommended in the past, has gluten and yeast in it and isn’t as good as non-gluten bread made with spelt.  Spelt is a grain substitute for wheat. Wheat, in all its forms, is a culprit in weight gain, yeast infections, allergic reactions and many other problems.  Wheat should be avoided period. Spelt flour and products are available at most health food stores.

Splenda v/s Steviva

The next thing I learned is that Splenda is causing all kinds of problems (shrunken thymus glands, enlarged liver and kidneys) and will probably end up causing allergic reactions as well.  I have been saying that Splenda is just another sugar product disguised as something safe.  I’m a big proponent of Steviva, the sweet plant from the Andies Mountains in South America.  Steviva is safe to use and even safe to cook with – unlike Equal or aspartame, which turns to formaldehyde even in as little heat as a warehouse during the summer – for those of you who think diet drinks are safe, think again.

Unsweetened Cranberry Juice

I was delighted to learn that unsweetened (or barely sweetened) cranberry juice – not cranberry juice cocktail or any of the sugar waters passed off as fruit drinks – is really good for getting rid of parasites.  It does a great many things to stabilize the body, but parasites I didn’t know about. Since I enjoy the occasional sushi, figuring out how to get rid of parasites (which have been implicated in several cancers) is a great dividend.  Drink three glasses of unsweetened cranberry juice in water a day and you will notice some amazing changes.  Just a little of the unsweetened variety goes a long way.  Put about an inch in the bottom of an 8-ounce glass and fill the rest with water.

Healthy Fats

Finally, Ann Louise talked about the good fats, quite a change from her days with Pritikin where low fat was carried to an extreme.  Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids should be part of everyone’s every day eating plan.  Three tablespoons, or one tablespoon per meal is the measurement.  If you use freshly ground flaxseed – which gives you both fiber and healthy omega 3 oil, grind three tablespoons of flaxseed to yield one tablespoon of oil.   When you use these oils, you will see weight loss without hanging folds, and an amazing youthing effect on your skin as you make these oils (never heat them) part of your every day eating plan.

Download the Interview

My interview with Ann Louise was fascinating to me.  I’m always delighted that I’m the person who gets to ask the questions of people who have made such an impact on their field.  The interview will be up on my site in a few days for free download.  If you didn’t get to hear it, I highly recommend it.

http://www.suzyprudden.com/