How To Make Raw Cultured Vegetables

After hearing about my friend Judith Barnes, aka Zucchini Breath, and her fermented sauerkraut-making extravaganza this winter, I decided to give it a go.

Now, Ive gotta be honest. Having been raised by the Hungarians, when I think of sauerkraut, memories of kolbász (garlic sausage) and székely goulash (pork stew) come to mind. So, it was a little bit of a stretch for me to envision eating sauerkraut in the raw. But hey, this journey into Raw Food Land has been all about stretching my self-imposed limitations, exploring new foods, and creating new taste memories.

When I learned that cultured vegetables add valuable probiotics and enzymes to your body, which help stamp out Candida, boost your immune system and curb your cravings for sweets, I was all "Lets get fermenting!"

So How Do We Do This?

In a nutshell, raw cultured vegetables are made by shredding cabbage or a combination of cabbage and other veggies, and then packing them tightly into an airtight jar or crock. They are then left to ferment at room temperature for several days or longer. Easy.

During the fermentation process, friendly bacteria grow, multiply, and thrive in their new environment. They convert the sugars and starches to lactic acid and partially digest the veggies, softening them or "pickling" them in the process.

Heres a wonderful video by Sandor Katz on fermenting vegetables. I love this guy! Check out his book Wild Fermentation for loads of information on the health benefits of fermented food.

See how easy that is? And after you get the hang of it, you can get creative and start experimenting. Try dark leafy greens like kale and collards. Soak, drain and chop up sea vegetables like dulse, wakame, hijikii and arame. Add either fresh or dried herbs such as dill, caraway, juniper berries, garlic, and ginger root. Let your imagination run wild!

Fermented vegetables can keep in your fridge for months. Like women and fine wine, they become even more delicious with time. (*wink*) You can pull one of these living salads out whenever youre hungry and have some "fast food."

Heres a few of my favorite recipes so far. Enjoy and share!

Cucumber Kimchi
3 English cucumbers, thinly sliced
6 inches fresh ginger, grated
2 daikon radish, grated
4 scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 Tbsp cayenne
1 Tbsp sesame seed

Spicy Pink
3 heads red cabbage, shredded
6 carrots, grated
3 inches fresh ginger, grated
6 cloves garlic, chopped

Sweet Kraut
3 heads green cabbage, shredded
2 beets, grated
3 carrots, grated
1 Fuji apple, grated
1/2 lemon, juiced

Slow Cooker Carrot Pudding Recipe

Carrot pudding? Are you serious? Thats the recipe youve got today?

I know. It sounds really weird, but I had some with a slab of roast beef at a steakhouse a few years ago and havent been able to get it out of my mind ever since.

This is a side dish, not a dessert. Serve it alongside a nice juicy steak with a baked potato. Serve it to your inlaws---theyll think youre fancy.

The Ingredients.

serves 10

4 cups grated carrots

1 small onion, grated

1 cup heavy cream

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon white granulated sugar

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. If youve only got a big guy, thats okay, but your pudding will cook faster--check it after 2 hours.

Grate the carrots and onion--- Adam bought himself (he said it was for me, but Im scared to death of the thing, so he uses it each and every time) a  food processor, which is what we used to grate our carrots and the onion. If you want to buy the already-grated carrots (near the bagged salad and coleslaw), go for it.

Add the grated veggies to your crockpot.

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream, egg, salt, nutmeg, and sugar. Pour this mixture into your slow cooker, and stir well. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours, or on high for about 2 to 3. Your pudding is done when the carrots are tender. Now, using a hand-held stick blender (CAREFULLY) pulse a few times to create a pudding-like consistency. You can also (carefully!!) transfer the carrot concoction to a traditional blender to pulse a bit.

Some might ask if the blending is necessary. I think so. The consistency is changed quite a bit by blending, and the pudding becomes velvety and smooth. You dont want it smooth like baby food, but definitely creamy and combined.

Serve with meat and potatoes for a rich and satisfying meal.

The Verdict.

My kids like this, but have a hard time with the "weird" factor. Adam likes it a lot----we usually pair it with grilled steaks. This is a great companion to a summer cookout when you want something different, but arent sure what that is exactly.

Its the last week of school for us! Im terribly excited to have everyone home with me. Im planning to stay in my slippers each day for as long as I can.

Ive written a bit about our summer plans over on Totally Together Journal, and why I consider myself to be a "closet homeschooler."

Any big summer plans for you and your family?

DIET PLAN 5 2 NEW SCAM OR SLIMMING SUSTAINABLE

The fast diet, which is a hit in Britain and the United States for months, also known as Plan 5: 2,

What is the principle? Eat freely for 5 days and belt-tightening for 2 days.

Breast Cancer fast speed (Fast diet)

Michelle Edward, nutritionist and Anthony Howell, professor of oncology, have followed a hundred of their obese patients the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre (Hospital of South Manchester) a conventional low-calorie diet and one with a significant caloric restriction for two days alternating with five days of normal diet.

Why? They wanted to see if these two days of drastic diet before chemotherapy, they would get better results in breast cancer treatment.

And then, surprise! They see only the two regimes, they arrive at almost similar results in both weight loss in biological parameters. And that the two regimes are equally effective as the other.

After the publication of this study, Michael Mosley, physician and television producer, seizes and carries a documentary for the BBC in the strong headline: Eat, Fast and Live Longer (Eating, fast and live longer), which is a hit hearing. In the process, he published The fast diet and suites (menus, recipes etc.) that sell like hotcakes. Last month, Michelle Edward and Tony Howell published by Editions Michel Lafon 2 days of detox, 5 days of fun (subtitle: the global phenomenon).

Heres how a study of weight loss to prevent breast cancer recurrence we moved to the new miracle diet, raw 2013.

The Diet Plan 5: 2, how it is organized?

Two days a week, not in a row, you just 500 calories (600 for men).

You eat only dairy products, lean meats and fish (50 g of protein per day), a few fruits and vegetables, of course: at 30 calories per 100 g on average, it actually not bad. Plus some walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts. You drink green tea, herbal tea and water.

The other five days, you eat "normally" but still not up to you.

If youre addicted to sugary products, pastries, sauces, greasy hamburgers, fries etc. it will not work. If you rush to the bottle of wine, it will not work at all either! Highly recommended to adopt a Mediterranean diet: vegetables and fruits, fish often, cereals, olive oil. But if you want a piece of chocolate, ice cream, a cake, it is possible. Provided they do not stuff yourself.

But ... it is also essential to have a physical activity.

Half an hour of walking or cycling every day, including fasting nickname. You increase your calorie expenditure 150 walking, pedaling 250 for 30 minutes.

Do we lose weight fast? I DONT NO

And that is good news! In the British study the origin of this Plan 5: 2, weight loss is about 4 kg after 3 months.

And the subtitle of The Fast Fasting diet regime is the secret of fasting intermittently lose weight, stay healthy and live longer. Which tempers the misleading title but seller, the book. (Fast = Fast!)

The more you have pounds to lose, the more you will have to adopt this method for a long time.

Should we adopt this Diet Plan 5: 2?

Not without the advice of your doctor anyway.

And only if you are really grieved a lot of extra pounds. For he must have a good fat stock to support the two days of belt keeping normal activity.

Even if it is not a true fast (where only absorbs water) to 500 calories a day - so you spend on average from 1800 to 2500 - can be a source of diverse and varied ailments.

10 Guilt Free Super Bowl Snacks

The Super Bowl is all about football, booze, commercials, and most importantly: snacks. But don’t worry, just because we say guilt-free doesn’t mean we did away with the wings and chili. To make sure you have enough healthy snacks to last through the halftime show, we’ve rounded up 10 of our favorites—from chips and dips, to meatballs, quesadillas, and sweet treats to blitz your party-goers. 

1. Chips and Broccamole

Guac-amole is an instant win, but this brocc-amole is a delicious way to make for a healthierwin. While there are actually no avocados in the recipe, the mix still turns out creamy and green like the old-fashioned stuff. The broccamole is a low-cal, low-fat dip with lots of vitamin C—over 100 percent of the daily recommended value in a cup .

2. Ginger Garlic Shrimp

Shrimp cocktails are tasty, but not exactly imaginative. To jazz up the old standby, try this spicy, seasoned version with a tangy tomato chutney for dipping. The appetizer gets its flavor from a mix of parsley, garlic, basil, ginger, lemon juice, and red pepper. Added bonus: Shrimp have a high concentration of the antioxidant astaxanthin, known to reduce inflammation and are packed with protein (1 gram per shrimp!) .

3. Zucchini Fries

We know, we know, fries are supposed to be made out of potatoes. But we promise the Parmesan crust does an excellent job at hiding the green color of the zucchini—a good source of vitamin C and manganese, the nutrient that promotes calcium absorption. We love dipping the baked goodies in low-cal barbeque sauce!

4. Herby Chicken Skewers with Harissa

The chicken on these easy-to-assemble skewers puts its party dress on with rosemary, thyme, oregano, and cumin. Dip them in spicy (and pretty intense) harissa sauce made from roasted red peppers, chili, olive oil, lemon juice, and other spices. Plan on at least 10 grams of protein per skewer!

5. Lightened–Up Jalapeño Popper Dip

This dip is perfect for a jalapeño popper that lasts longer than one pop. Made of Neufchatel cheese (essentially lower fat cream cheese), Greek yogurt, and a little mayo, this dish stays light while achieving the perfect creamy consistency. Spicy green chiles and jalapeños add some heat while panko breadcrumbs bring on the crunch.  

6. Creamy Avocado Cucumber Rolls

Melding two classic sushi ingredients—cucumber and avocado—these rolls skip the salmon and seaweed. While slicing the cukes paper-thin can be pretty tricky (Tip: use a mandoline), there’s no baking, grilling, or sautéing involved in order to get this appetizer to the table.

7. Mini Veggie “Ceviche” Tacos

Easily the prettiest dish to grace the Super Bowl, these one-bite vegetarian tacos bring some sunshine to this year’s potentially blustery game. Featuring the likes of roasted Poblano peppers, corn, red pepper, and hearts of palm, this light, veggie-filled snack looks tastes just as amazing as it looks—if not better.

8. Simple Sweet Potato Skins

This recipe tackles a notoriously unhealthy junk food and morphs it into a snack you can feel good about eating during the big game. With fiber-filled sweet potatoes as the base and guac and melted cheddar as toppers, these skins perfectly combine sweet and savory. Add chopped roasted veggies to sneak in an added nutrition boost. 

9. Gorgonzola Turkey Burger Sliders

These game-day mini sandwiches will appeal to most everyone at the party. The simple recipe stacks mini turkey burgers onto whole-wheat buns with Gorgonzola, a schmear of mayo, lettuce, and pickles. Each slider is a touchdown at 170 calories and 14 grams of protein.

10. Caesar Bites

Salad may sound like a Super Bowl party fumble, but we’ve got a secret to let you in on: You can eat this snack with your hands! Transform a classic Caesar into a finger food by spooning it onto endive spears and topping with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and whole-wheat croutons. Plus, endive is rich in minerals like calcium, zinc, and iron.

By Nicole McDermott

Source: http://greatist.com/health/super-bowl-recipes-snacks

Catching One Cold After the Other 10 000 IU Vitamin D per Week Gargling May Help Plus Gargling Thrice A Day or Gargling With Green Tea Are Even More Effective!

Gargling and vitamin D (10,000 IU/week) keep you infection free.

Not too long ago, everyone would have thought youd picked the wrong letter from the vitamin alphabet if you told him to use "vitamin D" supplements to ward off upper respiratory infections. For decades this has been the still unconfirmed prerogative of vitamin C, which appears to work only in men & women with chronically low intakes of vitamin C...  These days, however, vitamin D can - supposedly - do everything and Mr. and Mrs. Joe & Jane Average wont be surprised to hear that Emma C Goodall and colleagues from the McMaster University and other research institutions call vitamin D, or to be more precise the provision of vitamin D3 supplements a promising intervention for the prevention of URTI. 

You can learn more about vitamin D at the SuppVersity

How Much To Take?

Leucine, Insulin & Vitamin D

Vit. D Speeds Up Recovery

Overlooked D-Sources

Vitamin D For Athletes!

Vitamin D Helps Store Fat

To test their hypothesis that the combination of gargling in D-supplementation would ward off the common and not so common cold(s), the scientists randomized 600 students into 4 treatment arms:

• vitamin  D and  no  gargling,  and  
• placebo  and  no  gargling.  

• vitamin D3 and gargling, 
• placebo and  gargling,  

The students completed weekly electronic surveys and submitted self-collected mid-turbinate nasal flockedswabs during September and October in 2010 or 2011. Symptomatic students also completed
an electronic symptom diary, which was intended to test for possible effects of vitamin D on the severity and length of the upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). The primary and secondary outcomes were the occurrence of symptomatic clinical URTI and laboratory confirmed URTI respectively.

Figure 1: Effect of gargling and vitamin D supplementation on URTI occurance (laboratory confirmed), viral load, symptom duration and symptom severity (Goodall. 2014)

As youd expect, not all students completed the study - of 600 participants, only 471 (78.5%) completed all survey. 43 (7.2%) even registered without completed a single of the questionnaires. Of those students who did responde, 150 (25.0%) reported clinical upper respiratory tract infections (laboratory testing identified 70 infections; 46.7 per 100 URTIs).

And what about the gargling? Its surprising but even plain tap water helps reduce the incidence of upper-respiratory tract infections (-18%)... non-signifcantly, but it helps ;-) If you want to achieve significance and up the effectiveness from -18% to -46%, you would just have to do HIIT gargling, i.e. gargle the water for about 15 seconds three times consecutively, and do this at least three times a day - at least for the subjects in a 2005 study from the Kyoto University School of Public Health that worked like a charm (Satomura. 2005). And if you aim to minimize it by reducing your risk by ~90%, you can simply add some tea catechins (200 µg/mL catechins, 60% of catechins comprise epigallocatechin gallate) to your gargling water (Yamada. 2006).

If we look at the effects of vitamin D in isolation, we will see that seventy of those 150 participants had been randomized to the the vitamin D3 groups. The other 80 subjects, were in one of the "no-suppplementation" groups. Based on this data the scientists calculated a "significantly lower risk for laboratory confirmed URTI (RR: 0.54, CI95 :0.34-0.84, p = 0.007)" and "a significantly lower mean viral load  measured  as  log10 viral  copies  /  mL" for the vitamin D3 supplemented study participants.

Interestingly, these results stand in contrast to previous studies, where a different dosing scheme, i.e. 100,000IU/month of vitmamin D3 supplements, did not yield a significant reduction in URTI incidence among the 322 healthy adults who participated in a 2012 study by Murdoch et al. that was conducted between February 2010 and November 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand and analyzed both the D-intake and the changes in 25-OHD levels (Murdoch. 2012).

SuppVersity Suggested Read: "Based on the Latest Evidence, Who Would Benefit From Even more Vitamin D? Plus: How Much Vitamin D Do I Need To Achieve Optimal Levels & Keep Them Steady? " | read more

Bottom Line: Its not unlikely that the dosing protocol, i.e. 100,000IU 1x per months vs. 10,000IU / week everyday made all the difference, here, but without a study to test the two directly against each other, we can only speculate if this or any other confounding factor made the difference (e.g. baseline 25OHD levels, etc.). If we look at other studies, e.g. 300IU/day in Mongolian children (Camargo. 2012) and 400IU/day in Finnish young men (Laaksi. 2010), it would yet not seem impossible - in spite of the fact that the latest reviews say confirm that "[r]esults from randomised controlled trials were conflicting however" (Jollife. 2013) and that currently available scientific evidence "do[es] not support the routine use of vitamin D supplementation for RTI prevention in healthy populations" (Mao. 2013).

That being said, I recently recommend taking ~1,000IU/day of vitamin D3 as a maintenance dose to keep your vitamin D levels in the normal range, year-round anyway. If you do that you would automatically get enough vitamin D to see the anti-upper-respiratory-tract effects - if there are any.

Reference:

• Goodall, Emma C., et al. "Vitamin D3 and gargling for the prevention of upper respiratory tract infections: a randomized controlled trial." BMC Infectious Diseases 14.1 (2014): 273.
• Jolliffe, David A., Christopher J. Griffiths, and Adrian R. Martineau. "Vitamin D in the prevention of acute respiratory infection: systematic review of clinical studies." The Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology 136 (2013): 321-329.
• Laaksi, Ilkka, et al. "Vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of acute respiratory tract infection: a randomized, double-blinded trial among young Finnish men." Journal of Infectious Diseases 202.5 (2010): 809-814. 
• Mao, Song, and Songming Huang. "Vitamin D supplementation and risk of respiratory tract infections: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials." Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases 45.9 (2013): 696-702.
• Murdoch, David R., et al. "Effect of Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Healthy AdultsThe VIDARIS Randomized Controlled TrialVitamin D3 and Upper Respiratory Tract Infections." Jama 308.13 (2012): 1333-1339.
• Satomura, Kazunari, et al. "Prevention of upper respiratory tract infections by gargling: a randomized trial." American journal of preventive medicine 29.4 (2005): 302-307.

High Protein Diets Acid Load Calcium Loss Osteoporosis and a 50 Increase in Diabetes Risk Is There a Link

Shouldnt it be obvious that the "happy medium" must be the solution, when high protein leads to brittle bones, and low protein to frail muscle? Sure! But where is this "happy medium"?

Some of you may remember my recent Facebook post "High Protein Diet in the Firing Line. Rodent Study Says: Kidneys Are at Risk". It was based on a press release you could read on all the major science-news outlets on the Internet; a press release that will give the average reader the impression that the corresponding study by Aparicio et al. would "prove" that high protein diets will ruin your kidneys and eventually jeopardize your health (read more).

Another paper (Cao. 2014), Jose Antonio, the CEO of the ISSN and the editor of the ISSNs journal posted on Facebook yesterday, didnt get as much media attention, though.

No wonder, the message of this study is after all not in line with one of the fundamental arguments you will hear, whenever you question the allegedly necessary restriction of total protein intake to 0.8g/kg, maximally 1.2g/kg protein per kilogram body weight day in the current nutritional guidelines:

"[...S]hort-term consumption of high-protein diets does not disrupt calcium homeostasis and is not detrimental to skeletal integrity."

Thats not what you will learn at med-school and it is certainly not in line with the hysteria about protein intakes that are 2x or even 3x higher than the 0.8g protein per kilogram body weight we are supposed to consume. Apropos RDA, the subjects in the control group of the said study by Jay J Cao et al. consumed a diet that contained exactly those 0.8g/kg body weight thats supposed to be good for us. The 21 human guinea pigs in the treatment groups, on the other hand, consumed 2x and 3x more than the average dietitian would recommend and they did so for 31 days (Cao. 2014).

Figure 1: Protein intake (in g/day; left), mineral intake (in mg/day; middle)  and calculated renal acid load (in mEq; right) of 49 normal weight, healthy men (n=32) and women (n=7) who consumed normal (0.8g/day), high (1.6g/kg per day) and very high protein (2.4g/kg per day) energy restricted (40%) diets for 4 weeks (Cao 2014)

If you take a look at the PRAL values in Figure 1, you can see that math (not bio- or physiology!) tells us that this reckless practice could compromises the acid-base balance of the healthy, normal-weight subjects, whose energy restricted diets were modeled on the increasingly popular high protein weight loss diets.

Equations vs. experiments | PRAL vs. urinary calclium loss | theory vs. practive

The urinary analysis the scientists conducted does yet speak a very different language. There is, as the scientists emphasize in the discussion of the results no evidence that

Suppversity Suggested Read: "High protein diet = high protein loss" | more

"habitual consumption of dietary protein at levels above the RDA [would] significantly alter urinary calcium excretion, dietary calcium retention, or markers of bone turnover or BMD, despite increased urinary acidity. These results indicate that diets that are 2 or 3 times the RDA for protein are not detrimental to calcium homeostasis when calcium and vitamin D are consumed at recommended intake"

In that I would like to emphasis the importance of adequate calcium (min. 800mg/day) and vitamin D intakes (800-1000IU/day) and the fallacy of the word "habitual". The study at hand did not test the effects of "habitual" high protein consumption. It tested the effects of short-term (28 days) high protein consumption in a low calorie scenario, which is by definition less prone to produce adverse inflammatory and thus potentially pro-osteoporotic side effects (Mundy. 2007).

Not eating enough protein could increase bone loss, when youre dieting

In view of the fact that the evidence I am about to cite, stems from rodent model of postmenopausal bone metabolism, I deliberately used the word could in the headline of this paragraph. And still, the way in which the low protein diet  "negatively impacted bone mass and magnified the detrimental effects of vitD and/or estrogen deficiencies" (Marotte. 2013) in the pertinent study from the Buenos Aires University is particularly disturbing.

High dietary acid load increases diabetes risk by more than 50%: In spite of the fact that this is neither bone- nor kidney-specific, the 56% increase in diabetes risk scientists from the Gustave Roussy Institute in France report in their latest paper in Diabetology, for the 16,621 subjects with PRAL values of only 7 mEq/day is so impressive that I simply had to include it in this article. Specifically in view of the fact that a brief glimpse at the food intake of the subjects in the figure to the left will suffice to see that protein is by no means the only "acid" offender in the SAD diet.

The (postmenopausal) women the scientists try to model with their ovariectomized rats (=rats whose ovaries have been removes) are after all one of the many patient groups who are advised to carefully control their protein intake to make sure that the additional acid load will not compromise their bone health even further and that in spite of the fact that there is ample evidence that the current RDA for protein is inadequate to maintain optimal health, particularly when the total energy intake is restricted and especially in populations who are susceptible to bone loss (Kerstetter. 2005; Chernoff. 2004).

Figure 2: We know for quite some time not that low protein diets decrease the absorp- tion of protein (Kerstteter. 2005). Its not certain if this is "just" a homeastatic me- chanism to stabilize the net/acid balance.

In their 2005 study, Kerstetter et al. were in fact able to show that protein intakes that are 2.6x higher than the RDA increase the effective absorption of calcium from the diet (see Figure 2).

This increase stands in contrast to the significant decrease in calcium absorption the researchers observed in the healthy young (age: 26y) women in the low protein arm (0.7g protein per kg body weight) of the study and should remind us that a reduction in protein intake is not going to stop the insidious loss of bone thats caused by the triage of low estrogen, no exercise and a diet that may be low in protein, but high in acid producing grains (Remer. 1995) and devoid of alkaline fruit and vegetables.

I could now go more into details, but I will just leave you with the notion that the "paleo diet" is, despite its high meat content, among the most kidney-, and above all bone-friendly diets we know. In fact, its fruit and vegetables content yield a net alkaline renal load, and will lead to significant improvements in urinary calcium excretion rates (Appelet. 1997; Frassetto. 2013).   

☄ Note: If you want more about the "Paleo connection" - let me know this (best on Facebook) and what you would be most interested in and I will address that in a future SuppVersity article.

Practically speaking: The results of the Cao study tell us that you can get away with a high protein load in otherwise SAD-ly (SAD = standard American diet) normal diet in the short run. What it does not tell you is that you can keep on this kind of "just add a ton of protein to the regular junk you eat diet" with ever-increasing dietary acid loads wont hurt your kidneys, bones and pancreas (see red box) in the long run.

If you want to eat a high protein diet, thats free of kidney, bone, or general meta- bolic side effects, it will thus have to have the fruit and vegetable content of what we currently deem a "paleo diet" - a diet with a relatively high protein content, tons of vege- tables, tubers and fruit and a limited (not no!) amount of grains. This will bring your citrate, magnesium and potas- sium intake up spare calcium and help you to ward off the evermore prevalent diabesity epidemic.

Bottom line: It may be human, but still is idiotic to isolate any single macronutrient as "the reason" for osteoporosis and bone loss. Looking exclusively at what we could potentially be doing wrong is not going to help us here. Rather than that, we should look at what we can be doing right - in other words, what should we eat, if we want to maintain not just bone-, kindey-health, but also muscle- and metabolic health (note: protein alone wont help you maintain muscle mass).

If we look at the results of the previously referenced trial by Frasetto et al., in which the researchers from the University of California San Francisco, which achieved a reduction of the potential renal acid load from 28mEq (which is more than the PRAL of 7mEq thats associated with a >50% diabetes risk; see red box) to -96 mEq on a diets that differed not in macronutrient, but in food, and consequently micronutrient-, specifically mineral-content, you will be hard pressed to keep the deabte on the short-sighted  "carbohydrates are good, protein is bad and fat is the devil, anyways"-level it is currently on.

We should be talking about food, instead. Not just about "more fruit and vegetables", but also about what you will necessarily have to skip for them, if you want your diet to work: Highly processed foods, including meats(!), sodas and other sweetened drinks, white bread, candy, chips, etc. Its not that you cant ever eat any of those, but as long as any of these items is on your list of foods you eat on a daily basis, there is still room for improvement.

References

• Aparicio, V. A., et al. "High-protein diets and renal status in rats." Nutrición hospitalaria: Organo oficial de la Sociedad española de nutrición parenteral y enteral 28.1 (2013): 232-237.
• Appel, Lawrence J., et al. "A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure." New England Journal of Medicine 336.16 (1997): 1117-1124. 
• Cao, Jay J., et al. "Calcium homeostasis and bone metabolic responses to high-protein diets during energy deficit in healthy young adults: a randomized controlled trial." The American journal of clinical nutrition 99.2 (2014): 400-407.
• Chernoff, Ronni. "Protein and older adults." Journal of the American College of Nutrition 23.sup6 (2004): 627S-630S. 
• Frassetto, L. A., et al. "Established dietary estimates of net acid production do not predict measured net acid excretion in patients with Type 2 diabetes on Paleolithic–Hunter–Gatherer-type diets." European journal of clinical nutrition 67.9 (2013): 899-903.
• Kerstetter, Jane E., et al. "The impact of dietary protein on calcium absorption and kinetic measures of bone turnover in women." Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 90.1 (2005): 26-31.
• Mundy, Gregory R. "Osteoporosis and inflammation." Nutrition reviews 65.s3 (2007): S147-S151.
• Remer, Thomas, and Friedrich Manz. "Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 95.7 (1995): 791-797.

New mums feel pressure to lose weight

Many new mothers in Northern Ireland are signing up to pramercise style classes as they feel under pressure to lose weight.

According to the Public Health Agency, around one in five women who gave birth in the region last year were obese.

While one in three surveyed by Slimming World expressed feeling under pressure about their weight.

Over 80% of new mothers experienced a loss of self-esteem after having their baby.

Geraldine McAleenan, who owns a centre in Newry offering the exercise class for new mothers, said that there is an emphasis being put on keeping active during pregnancy because more women are now suffering from obesity.

And some women taking part in the class admitted that reality TV and celebrity culture had influenced them, while others said it was simply themselves that were putting on the pressure to lose weight.

New mum and SDLP Councillor Claire Hanna said the focus on women and their weight in the media was "frustrating".

"Certainly when women have just had a baby, and should be able to enjoy that and should be able to relax a bit, I find the debate quite frustrating," she commented.

Nadia Duncan from NI4Kids magazine had baby son Marcus 10 months ago and she believes she has found a sensible approach to staying healthy while caring for a newborn.

"I found that with living in a house with three flights of stairs, carrying this one around and just being sensible, going out walking, that sort of thing," she said.

"But I didnt personally feel I needed to get an exercise plan and get that baby weight off."

The Royal College of Midwives have advised that women should take care with pre and post-natal exercise.

"Your body will recover from pregnancy, nature is a wonderful way of allowing that to happen," Mary Caddell explained.

"I would obviously say, breastfeed, because its one of the ways of using up those additional calories that mother nature has placed there while feeding your baby, your figure will return and youll feel healthier."