| Her food diary revealed a standard american diet (SAD). It looked like something an average American might be eating, and that was the problem.
Betty was skeptical about my recommendations at first, but I kept encouraging her to give them a try. "Trust me," I would say, "the results will convince you." Out of desperation she reluctantly followed my advice, and was delighted, when in just a few short weeks, she was able to go off four of her medications, became virtually pain-free, could walk without using her walker, had lost a few pounds, and was generally beginning to feel much better. |
Frederic Vagnini, M.D. and Barry Fox, Ph.D.
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 Most of us get plenty of chloride, because the standard american diet contains ample amounts of salt. But you may run short of chloride if you are suffering from diarrhea or vomiting, overly acidic blood (acidosis), or adrenal problems. A low-sodium diet, excessive sweating, or diuretics can also deplete your stores of this mineral.
When You Run Short of Chloride
A deficiency can cause a depressed appetite, shallow breathing, muscle cramps, and listlessness.
Daily Requirement
The Food and Nutrition Board had not set an Adequate Intake (AT) for chloride. |
Mark Hyman, M.D.
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 The optimal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in our diet is between 2:1 and 4:1, whereas the standard american diet has a ratio of more than 20:1. This means most of us need to increase our intake of omega-3 fats and reduce our intake of omega-6 fats. (Omega-9 foods generally should play more of a role in our American diet, and most of us should get the lion's share of our fats from omega-3s and omega-9s.)
Of all of the fats, our bodies actually require only two: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3) and linoleic acid (an omega-6). |
Earl L. Mindell, RPh, PhD with Virginia Hopkins, MA
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| Omega-3 Supplements: Soothe Inflammation and Prevent Heart Disease The standard american diet (aptly known as SAD) is rich in saturated fats and polyunsaturated fats (which are usually hydrogenated). Most of the polyunsaturated fats found in processed foods and cooking oils are omega-6 fats, and the intake of omega-3 fats—also polyunsaturated—is usually very low. The resulting imbalance in these fats has been linked to chronic allergies, poor immune function, and increased risk of heart disease and some cancers. Omega-3 fats are especially important for those at risk of heart attack. |
The Life Extension Editorial Staff
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 Aftet 12 weeks, participants on the special diet and EPA capsules reported significantly less morning stiffness; morning stiffness had become worse in those on a standard american diet. Unfortunately, when participants eating the special diet and taking EPA returned to their normal diet and gave up EPA, their pain and stiffness rapidly returned (Kremer et al. 1985).
Fot optimal pain telief, the correct balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids should be obtained; take 1000 mg of DHA and 400 mg of EPA from the omega-3 family and 900 mg of GLA from the omega-6 family. |
Cynthia A. Foster, M.D.
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 The meals were merely variations on the standard american diet that was highly processed, full of refined sugar, saturated fat and cholesterol and litde fiber. The standard american diet has been referred to by many nutritionists, healers, and health educators as the SAD diet because the results of eating it did turn out to be sad. There was nothing magical or healing about these diets. They were still full of the same processed foods. Non-dairy low fat whipped cream - it's full of at least 20 different chemicals. I mean, what is in that stuff, anyway; does anyone really know? |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 So if you put all this together, you realize that the standard american diet is a diet of chronic disease and death. The diet that most people are following today in modern societies is a diet that will kill them much sooner with far higher health care costs and with far lower quality of life than if they were able to eat simpler foods -- unprocessed, non-manufactured, and unrefined. Our diet is the number one cause of disease in this country. The American food supply is what's killing us, not our genes or bad luck (as many doctors would have you mistakenly believe). |
Dianne Onstad
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 Magnesium is one of the most deficient major minerals for those who eat the standard american diet (SAD); over 80 percent of Americans are chronically deficient in magnesium. Cacao beans are also high in the mineral sulfur, which builds strong nails, hair, and beautiful skin, detoxifies the liver, and supports healthy pancreas functioning.
Although cacao contains subtle amounts of caffeine and theobromine, experiments have shown that these stimulants are fat different when consumed raw than cooked. |
The Life Extension Editorial Staff
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| Folic acid is abundant in green, leafy vegetables, but is often deficient in the standard american diet. Women of child-bearing age are particularly encouraged to include folic acid in their diet. (Life Extension recommends at least 800 meg of folic acid along with at least 300 meg of vitamin Bj2 daily.)
Vitamin A
Studies have shown that vitamin A has been able to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells (Fon-tana et al. 1992; Wu et al. 1997; Yang et al. 1999; Widschwendter et al. 2001). Therefore, there is some justification for women with FBD to take vitamin A. |
Patricia Bragg and Paul C. Bragg
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 I have supervised thousands of fasts and only a person with my long experience knows the great amount of toxins that are stored in the body of the average person who is trying to survive on the standard american diet.
Think of a simple illustration for instance, someone with a common cold. Have you ever stopped to think how much mucus and phlegm passes out of the body through the nose and throat? This is also how the vital organs such as the lungs, kidneys and bladder are passing out poisons during this cleansing crisis. |
| I have supervised thousands of fasts and only a person with my long experience knows the great amount of toxins that are stored in the body of the average person who is trying to survive on the standard american diet.
Think of a simple illustration for instance, someone with a common cold. Have you ever stopped to think how much mucus and phlegm passes out of the body through the nose and throat? This is also how the vital organs such as the lungs, kidneys and bladder are passing out poisons during this cleansing crisis. |
Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
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 The problem is, the junk-food conspiracy places its profits over your health, so it's time to save yourself-before the standard american diet (SAD) diet and emotional tension take you by the seat of your ever-expanding pants and kick you down the three-step staircase of metabolic burnout. But don't fear, help is here—in the form of my proven formulas and the Golden Rules of Eating.
YOUR EATING HABITS AND YOUR EMOTIONS
Ithough we don't always think of it as such, diet is one of the most emotional issues in modern life—as emotional, in fact, as sex, religion, and politics. |
Robert Hass, M.S.
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 Many defense systems require minerals to work, such as selenium, magnesium, and zinc—all in short supply in the standard american diet. Even these powerful defenses can be overwhelmed by poor diet, tobacco, air pollution, alcohol abuse, too much sunlight, and even too much exercise. That's where phytonutrient-rich foods and supplementary antioxidant vitamins and minerals can help.
How Cancer Spreads
Metastasis—the migration of cancer cells to distant sites in the body—is what makes cancer so lethal and surgery so ineffective. |
| A high-calorie, phytonutrient-poor diet (the standard american diet)
2. High insulin levels in the blood (hyperinsulinemia)
3. An unfavorable ratio of unfriendly to friendly dietary fat
Here are the essential dietary strategies that all women should embrace to prevent breast cancer.
EAT A PHYTONUTRIENT-RICH, LOW CALORIE DIET
Phytonutrients found in soy milk, tofu, and other soy products; tomato-based sauces; and vegetables, such as cabbage and broccoli, can help mitigate the cancer-causing effects of estrogen and estrogen-like chemicals on breast tissue. |
David Brownstein
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 Eating a poor diet will ensure failure in overcoming a chronic illness. The standard american diet, which includes too many carbohydrates (particularly high glycemic, refined carbohydrates), does not provide enough nutrition to support the immune system. Simply eliminating refined sugar and flour as well as trans fatty acids from the diet is a great place to begin. Once you eliminate these items from your diet, you will begin to see an improvement in your condition. For more information on eating a healthy diet, refer back to Chapter 6. |
| I refer to this diet as the "Standard American Diet" or the SAD diet (because it leads to poor health and SADness).
In the last twenty years fat consumption has decreased by 11% in this country. What has been the result of twenty years of following a diet low in fat and high in carbohydrates? It has made Americans the most obese people on this planet. In fact, during the last twenty years while fat intake has decreased, obesity has increased by 32%.1 In addition, the incidence of chronic illness has accelerated during this same time frame. |
| Final Thoughts
In my experience, the standard american diet, which consists of a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet often leads to obesity and difficulty maintaining adequate hormone levels, as well as increasing the prevalence of chronic diseases. A recent study reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that although Americans have a relatively low consumption of animal fats and a low cholesterol concentration, the United States ranked second to last out of thirteen western countries studied for overall health. |
| Unfortunately, the standard american diet is deficient in omega-3 fatty acids. Adequate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids are found in free-range eggs, cold-water fish (non-farm raised), some vegetable oils (flaxseed oil is one of the best sources) and some nuts and seeds. For most people, it is important to increase the amounts of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. |
| In addition, the incidence of chronic illness has accelerated during this same time frame.
The standard american diet is a major cause of the tremendous growth of degenerative disorders seen in this country. These disorders include arthritis, autoimmune disorders, cancer, coronary artery disease and many others. Also, this diet promotes an imbalanced hormonal system. In order to promote health, we must understand the important role of food in providing fuel and nutrients for our bodies. |
Elaine Feuer
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 FDA Import Alert #66-04] standard american diet, the formulation of prostaglandins is blocked by modern food processing (refining, heating, and processing vegetable and seed oils), and by a lack of the necessary vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Other factors that inhibit prostaglandin formulation are aging, smoking, drinking, taking medication, stress (high blood pressure), and obesity. Essential fatty acids cannot be made by the body, and must be obtained from either the foods we eat or from a dietary supplement. |
Carol Simontacchi
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 I read about brain nutrition and made drastic changes in my diet and became convinced that it was impossible to be contented and emotionally stable while poisoning my brain with the standard american diet (SAD).
Consider the common figures we all hear about—how the average American eats over two hundred pounds of sugar and artificial sweeteners per year (over twenty teaspoons per day). The average teenager guzzles twice as much soft drink as milk, but young adults from their twenties to their thirties drink nearly three times more than that. |
Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
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| It took her a little time: Like most of us, she was raised on the SAD?Standard American Diet. But in her mid-twenties she decided that fitness and health came first, and devoted some attention to nutrition and the healing arts. At this point, she is not even attracted to food that is not good for her. She knows that sugary desserts and caffeinated coffee drain her energy, and she finds fruit salad more appealing, even on a visual level. Jean, on the other hand, feels she is at the mercy of croissants and cappuccino.
The difference between the two women is attitude. |
Ralph Golan, M.D.
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 Say, for example, you are currently eating a standard american diet, are fairly sedentary, and have never meditated before. You then decide to dive directly into a low-fat diet with no sugar, caffeine, or processed flour. You also eliminate milk products. At the same time, you decide to do a colon-cleansing regimen, and begin a schedule of enforced aerobic exercise three times weekly and skilled relaxation twice daily. You refuse to see old friends because all they do is drink, smoke, and sit around playing cards or watching television. |
Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
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| Supermarkets are stocked with artificial food. The standard american diet is a s-a-d excuse for nutrition.
We know so much, but we choose food as if we know nothing. We eagerly gather information, but are loath to apply it. Why is this? That's the complex question I aim to answer with this book. I want you to make the connection between stress levels, repressed emotions, and poor eating habits.
STRESS DICTATES YOUR EATING HABITS
Negative, or dysfunctional, food swings are synonymous with bad eating habits. |
| Understand the cycle: The standard american diet causes dysfunctional food swings; dysfunctional food swings place stress on the liver. The more vulnerable the liver, the more fatigued the body and depressed the psyche. In turn, exhaustion and depression increase susceptibility to dysfunctional food swings. This graph illustrates the cycle of fatigue.
MENTAL FATIGUE OR MIND POWER?
The choice is yours: Mental and physical fatigue caused by liver stress undermine willpower and attitude. They interfere with self-confidence and kill your focus. |
The Complete Book of Alternative NutritionSelene Y. Craig, Jennifer Haigh, Sari Harrar and the Editors of PREVENTION Magazine Health Books
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| If you have high cholesterol and are eating a standard american diet, simply eliminating meat will probably bring down the cholesterol numbers that foretell troubled heart problems. But if you adopt a vegan diet, the drop will be much greater. "The best way to lower cholesterol is to stop eating it, and if you eliminate all animal products, your cholesterol intake will be zero," says Dr. Klaper. |
| If you're used to eating a standard american diet, all the fiber in a raw diet will take a little getting used to. Expect some minor unpleasant side effects like cramping and gas, especially in the beginning days of the diet, says Dr. Haas.
Making It Work
If you'd like to try a raw diet, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind.
Ease into it. People who adopt a raw foods diet at the Hippocrates Health Institute are encouraged to change their diets gradually over a period of six months to a year. How long it takes depends on what your diet was like in the first place, says Clement. |
Alan Keith Tillotson, Ph.D., A.H.G., D.Ay.
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 The incidence of Type 2 diabetes is much higher in countries where the general population follows the standard american diet (the "SAD diet"). Native populations such as American Indians and aborigines who abandon their traditional diets develop the disease much more frequently than populations that maintain their native diets.
Insulin resistance is a major concern for Type 2 diabetics. Although the body produces enough insulin, for some reason the cells resist using it. Blood sugar control worsens as abnormal fat stores increase and obesity increases insulin resistance. |
Michael Tierra
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 It is common for a person switching from a standard american diet to a vegetarian diet to feel much better for several months. However, if protein levels are inadequate, the conditions described above will begin to appear after one to two years.
Your body will signal direct warnings of poor eating habits primarily through indigestion and flatulence. Check for potential problems such as:
1. eating too fast and not chewing adequately
2. poor food combining
3. excess water taken with meals
4. excessive use of raw foods
5. |
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