Diet that works reviews, advice and plan for health and weight loss - How to Have a Healthy Diet (most of the time) by Ray Sahelian, M.D.
October 4 2016

Many, maybe most, cases of chronic serious illness and premature death are caused by poor diet. Insufficient consumption of fish, fruits and vegetables is as bad for human health as smoking. This article, updated regularly, provides you with information on healthy diet choices and basic supplements to take on a regular basis. Please keep in mind that you don't have to eat  perfectly every day and all the time. I personally strive to live my life as an A or A- rather than an A+. It's too difficult and stressful to try to be A plus perfect all the time.
   Make dietary changes slowly and accept the fact that there may be times when you binge on unhealthy snacks and foods. I personally try to do my best and have a healthy diet, but I have my weaknesses too. For instance, I love chocolate and once a week or so I treat myself to dark chocolate or another sweet. Don't be hard on yourself if you can't follow the recommendations perfectly.

Diet that works to improve health and weight loss -  diet influences almost every disease
The types of foods and drinks we ingest have an influence on a vast number of chronic diseases along with weight gain or loss. In simple terms, many chronic diseases, such as heart disease or arthritis, are due to inflammation. Diet has a great deal to do with inflammation. What we eat influences the formation of certain inflammatory prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and a number of other substances that cause inflammatory changes within our tissues, organs, including the lining of blood vessels. Most doctors do not recognize the extent of the influence of diet on health. Even mood disorders can be influenced by inflammation. Therefore, as much as you can, eat a diet that has a wide variety, includes plenty of fish and fresh produce, whole grains, legumes, and healthy fats. Reduce or avoid white bread, sugar, baked goods, trans fats and foods cooked at very high temperatures. What you eat affect the populations of viruses and bacteria that live in your gut.

Benefits of Diet Rx and where to buy
If you would like to eat less, consider a product called Diet Rx. This natural appetite suppressant works without stimulants and has no added caffeine, ephedra, ephedrine alkaloids, synephrine, hormones, guarana, ginseng, or stimulating amino acids. 

All natural appetite suppressant, decreases appetite so you eat less
Helps you maintain healthy blood sugar levels
Helps you maintain healthy cholesterol and lipid levels
Provides a variety of antioxidant from two dozen herbs and nutrients
Provides healthy fiber
Improves energy
Balances mood
Improves mental concentration and focus
Improves will power and choice of food selection

Buy Diet Rx appetite suppressant

Natural appetite suppressant
If you would like to eat less, consider a product called Diet Rx. This natural appetite suppressant works without stimulants. Diet Rx has no added caffeine, ephedra, ephedrine alkaloids, synephrine, hormones, guarana, ginseng, or stimulating amino acids. 

Basic healthy lifestyle habits and a diet that works to keep you in optimal health
Eat less and live longer. Eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables as opposed to the same ones all the time.

Drink a glass or two of cold water first thing in the morning to eliminate the bowels. Add more fiber to your diet - one option is psyllium. Dietary fiber is thought to decrease the transit time of food in the colon and to dilute carcinogens, thus minimizing the body’s exposure to toxins.

Drink 4 to 8 glasses of water per day, more in hot weather. Studies indicate that 5 to 8 glasses of water a day helps maintain good health. Water makes up more than 70 percent of solid body tissue and helps regulate body temperature, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, removes waste, cushions joints and protects organs and tissues. Lack of adequate water intake leads to headaches, grogginess and dry, itchy skin. Severe dehydration affects blood pressure, circulation, digestion, kidney function and nearly all body processes.

Eat more protein and fat at breakfast and lunch, and switch to more complex carbs at night if you have trouble falling asleep. Carbs, such as vegetable soup, pasta, fruits or grains help induce sleep at night. 

It's better to eat small frequent meals than two or three large meals, although each person has his or her own routine and schedule and some people may prefer infrequent large meals.

Sleep has a major influence on health — Good sleep enhances libido. See also how to improve sex drive with herbs.

Alcohol such as beer and wine are acceptable in moderation, such as a glass a day.

Dental cleaning and flossing — floss and brush at night before bed. Ideally do so after every meal.

Limit exposure to excessive sun, more than an hour or two a day, in order to avoid wrinkled and damaged skin.

Limit caffeine intake. People who consume caffeine may experience an increase in blood pressure, feel more stressed and produce more stress hormones than on days when they opt for decaf. The effects of caffeine appear to persist until people go to bed, even if they don't consume any caffeine after lunch.

Add fiber to your meals such as psyllium, flax seeds, or chia seeds.

The food you eat and the medicines you take can alter your gut bacteria in ways that either help or harm your health. Foods like fruits, vegetables, coffee, tea, wine, yogurt and buttermilk can increase the diversity of bacteria in a person's intestines. And that diversity can help ward off illness. On the other hand, foods containing loads of simple carbohydrates appear to reduce bacterial diversity in the gut. These include high-fat whole milk and sugar-sweetened soda.

Oils and fats        
Flaxseed oil and extra virgin olive oil are good choices. I am still uncertain of the benefits, if any, of additional coconut oil intake, although small amounts seem reasonable to add to one's diet. You can also add flaxseeds to vegetable soups. Use less safflower, sunflower, and corn oils since they contain omega-6 oils that compete with good oils such as omega-3s. In our country we consume a high ratio of omega-6 oils to omega-3 oils and some scientists think this may cause many health problems.
   Reduce saturated fats found in animal products such as meat, poultry, whole-milk dairy products, lard, and in certain vegetable products such as palm oil, cocoa butter.
   Reduce or eliminate trans fats. Trans fats are formed when vegetable oils are partially hydrogenated to make them more stable and solid, and recent evidence suggests that they may be as bad for the heart as saturated fat. They are usually found in commercially baked goods  such as cookies, crackers, cakes, French fries, onion rings, donuts, processed foods, etc. Margarine also has trans fats.         
   Blood flow to the heart is hampered after high-fat meal. Olestra consumption reduces blood levels of carotenoids.

Sweeteners
Stevia, a no-calorie natural herbal sweetener, is available in liquid or powder in health food stores. Reduce your intake of artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin.
   Honey -- The darker the honey, the richer it is in antioxidants. The color and composition of honey depends on the blooms. Buckwheat is the darkest honey researchers have tested, and it's "higher in just about everything,"  including protein and chemicals called phenolics. On a per-weight basis, the darkest honey contains antioxidant levels similar to those found in spinach and garlic.

Diet supplement options to consider
5-HTP is a nutrient that helps curb appetite in some individuals . 5-HTP, by converting into serotonin, can be used temporarily to improve will power and decrease the urge to eat until more established weight loss habits are in place. Or, you can take Diet Rx which has a mix of two dozen beneficial herbs and nutrients.
Hoodia is a cactus plant extract from the Kalahari desert in South Africa that has been getting a lot of attention lately.

Eat less, live longer
A study involving mice and low-calorie diets indicates that it's never too late to cut back on the calories to prolong life, even in your later years. Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, said mice they put on a low-calorie exhibited characteristics of slowed aging. Results from the study suggest older humans could reap the benefits of such dietary changes as quickly as the mice.
The sooner you cut back, the longer you may live. Researchers put young and old mice on short- and long-term low-calorie diets, then observed changes in the genes of their liver cells. Restricting calories reversed the changes in several genes that were altered in aging animals. They also determined that older mice put on short-term, low-calorie diets demonstrated 70 percent of the anti-aging effects of the test animals that had been on a long-term reduced-calorie diet. In other words, an old mouse on a low-calorie diet lived longer but not as long as one that started on the diet early in its life.
   Dr. Sahelian says: several studies over the past decades have shown the association between eating less and longevity. The difficult task remains, though, on whether most of us have the will power to eat less when so many delicious meals and snacks are within close reach. A healthy diet can lower high blood pressure.

Blood type selection of food
Can eating for your blood type be proving scientifically? Changing the way you eat according to your blood type.
    There are countless genetic influences that determine each person's digestion, absorption, metabolism, hormone levels, enzyme activity, along with countless environmental influences including the part of the country or the world we live in, climate, etc. If blood type has an influence on the ideal food selection of each person, it's role is minimal compared to the countless other genetic and environmental factors. For these reasons, I don't think one should focus on dietary choices based on blood type but rather focus on eating as healthy as possible along with several lifestyles changes that improve overall wellbeing.

The so-called "blood-type diet" may be trendy, but there's no scientific evidence to support it, University of Toronto, news release, Jan. 15, 2014.

Paleo diet
Email - Just wanted to say I am a huge fan of your site and the information you provide. Jack Wolfson D.O., FACC, author of "The Paleo Cardiologist."

Diet that works research review
The so-called Paleo diet may help people lose weight, improve their cholesterol profile and lower future risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Eating beans, nuts and cereals could help to prevent cancer because the foods contain a natural compound that inhibits the growth of tumors. The substance is called inositol pentakisphosphate, and also found in lentils and peas. Inositol pentakisphosphate inhibits an enzyme called phosphoinositde 3-kinase, which promotes tumor growth. When researchers tested inositol pentakisphosphate in mice and cancer cells in the laboratory, it killed the animal tumors and enhanced the effect of drugs used against ovarian and lung cancer cells.

Cereals, breads and other products containing whole or milled barley grain can now claim to reduce the risk of heart disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ruling allows companies to immediately begin advertising the benefit on their product packages, which many food makers hope will help boost consumer sales. "Consumers can expect to see whole barley and dry milled barley products such as flakes, grits, flour, meal, and barley meal bearing the health claim," the FDA said in a statement.To qualify, barley-containing foods must provide at least 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving. Like other grains, barley contains fiber that health experts say can help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, which can restrict blood flow and lead to chest pain and heart attacks. The barley trade group, in its request, said new data showed 3 grams of barley lowered cholesterol by about 5 percent -- similar to oatmeal.

Researchers may have come up with another reason to eat well. A new study suggests diets rich in fruits, vegetables and dairy foods can prevent the disabilities that often come with age. The study, which followed 9,404 middle-aged Americans for nine years, found that a healthy diet seemed particularly beneficial among African-American women, who are generally at greater risk than white women of developing physical limitations as they age. Researchers found that African American women who ate the most fruits and vegetables on a daily basis were about one-third to one-half less likely than those with the lowest intakes to develop problems with activities such as walking, climbing stairs and doing household chores. High intakes of dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt showed an even stronger protective effect. Similar benefits were found among white women -- at least when it came to fruit and vegetable intake -- though the protective effect was not as great. The findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Fatty acid profile, tocopherol, squalene and phytosterol content of walnuts, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and the macadamia nut.
Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2004.
Nuts are high in fat but have a fatty acid profile that may be beneficial in relation to risk of coronary heart disease. Nuts also contain other potentially cardioprotective constituents including phytosterols, tocopherols and squalene. In the present study, the total oil content, peroxide value, composition of fatty acids, tocopherols, phytosterols and squalene content were determined in the oil extracted from freshly ground walnuts, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and the macadamia nut. The total oil content of the nuts ranged from 37 to 59%, while the peroxide values ranged from 0.19 to 0.43 meq O2/kg oil. The main monounsaturated fatty acid was oleic acid (C18:1) with substantial levels of palmitoleic acid (C16:1) present in the macadamia nut. The main polyunsaturated fatty acids present were linoleic acid (C18:2) and linolenic acid (C18:3). alpha-Tocopherol was the most prevalent tocopherol except in walnuts. The levels of squalene detected ranged from 9.4 to 186 microg/g. beta-Sitosterol was the most abundant sterol, ranging in concentration from 991.2 to 2071 microg/g oil. Campesterol and stigmasterol were also present in significant concentrations. Our data indicate that all five nuts are a good source of monounsaturated fatty acid, tocopherols, squalene and phytosterols.

Making the switch from a regular meat-and-dairy diet to an all plant-based, vegan diet may be easier than it would seem, new research suggests. Among a group of overweight, postmenopausal women, most of those who followed a vegan diet -- which contains no animal products such as dairy, meat or eggs -- said they enjoyed the diet. Most women also said they were mostly or completely used to the vegan diet after 14 weeks, and planned to continue it, for the most part at least, in the future. Moreover, women eating only vegan foods lost an average of 13 pounds, more than women who followed a standard low-fat diet.

Some of the benefits of a Mediterranean-type diet -- rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes and olive oil and light on red meat -- may stem from the diet's effect on inflammation. In a study from Greece, markers of inflammation and blood clotting that are related to heart disease were lowest in people who adhered most closely to the traditional Mediterranean diet.

High intake of fatty foods is associated with GERD.

Consuming too much fructose -- a form of sugar found in corn syrup, honey and fruit -- appears to alter levels of hormones involved in appetite regulation in such a way as to encourage overeating.

Downing a big fast-food breakfast may spur a temporary but large inflammatory response in the blood vessels, a small study suggests. Researchers say that while an occasional indulgence in such high-fat, high-carbohydrate fare probably poses no concern, the new findings suggest that making it a regular routine could lead to chronic blood vessel inflammation and complications, such as heart attack and stroke. The study included nine healthy, normal-weight adults who were fed a breakfast of one Egg McMuffin, a Sausage McMuffin and two servings of hash browns from McDonald's. The meal weighed in at 910 calories, 81 grams of carbohydrates, 51 grams of fat and 32 grams of protein.

Foods cooked at high heat linked to inflammation
People may be able to lower their risk of heart, diabetes, and possibly other diseases by consuming cool foods, or dishes cooked at relatively low temperatures, such as salads and tuna fish, preliminary research suggests. Foods cooked at high temperatures spurred the production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), compounds in the blood that stimulate cells to produce inflammation-causing proteins, which are potentially harmful in diabetes. While AGEs are normally produced in the body at a slow rate, they can be toxic and form more quickly when food is heated to high temperatures. Inflammation is associated with heart disease among all people, but people with diabetes are thought to be particularly vulnerable. People who consumed foods cooked at lower temperatures had lower levels of both AGEs and inflammatory proteins than people who consumed the same foods cooked at higher temperatures. After 6 weeks, levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and concentrations of the inflammatory protein C-reactive protein (CRP) had also risen among those consuming the diet high in AGEs and declined among those in the reduced AGE group. TNF-alpha and CRP are both markers showing increased inflammation.  

Different diet types
Mediterranean diet, South beach, zone, Atkins, and low carb diet.

What's your opinion of the Rosedale diet? It is Low Carb, High Fat, moderate Protein, but NOT Atkins.
   Different food choices work for different people. There is no one specific diet that is appropriate for everyone but the Rosedale diet appears to be a good choice for most people.

Can you tell me about glyconutrients?
   You can find information on diet and glyconutrients at the website.