Mirror Athlete Blog Articles

March 19, 2010

Best Cooking Oils, Smoke Point is Important Why?

Fish Cooked in the right oil provides much needed nutrients with fantastic flavor

There are many cooking oils to choose from when considering oils used to cook meals.  Also, when selecting oils it is important to understand how overheating the oil can ruin the health property benefits the body might receive otherwise.

 There are top cooking oil contenders rich in Oleic acid adding a greater health benefit to the diet (read the full story, Wisdom of Consuming Oleic Acid.  In short, Oleic acid is a mono-unsaturated omega 9-fatty acid found in animal and vegetable.  Olive oil, like a few other cooking oils is “highest” in this healthy heart, anti-oxidant and other disease curing properties; for example a principle ingredient in Lorenso’s oil.  When considering cooking oil, one should think about quality of taste, cooking Smoke Point (SP) and health benefits.  Smoking point is important why?  Because high cooking temperatures denaturizes the oil.  Meaning the good stuff in the oil like oleic acid can be ruined by the heat and also change the taste of the food you consume.  The food itself when overcooked can also become denaturized by reducing the health benefits of vitamins and minerals.  Smoke point is a cooking temperature when reached begins to burn the oil.  Smoke is a byproduct of burning oil and denaturizing begins at this point.  Smoke point should be considered when selecting your cooking oils for baking, sautéing and frying.  Also select cooking oils that are unsaturated fats with good omega acid properties to benefit lowering and balanced cholesterol maintenance. 

 When oil begins to burn it begins releasing carcinogens in the environment.  When this happens, open the windows dump the oil and start over.  So when cooking between 225 – 510 degrees requires knowledge of the right oil for the right dish to gain the health benefit without reaching smoke point and unknowingly subjecting those in the space to carcinogens.  I personally love the taste of Virgin olive oil and use it for just about everything I cook, except when frying.   Olive oil has a medium smoke point of 325degrees (which I rarely cook over this temp) and is high in monounsaturated fats, omega-9, and used for light sautéing.  It is also very good for fish, chicken, lean beef, pesto and salad dressings.  Olive oil adds a very flavorful taste to all dishes.

 The following represents the top healthy cooking oils with SP Temperature listed, etc:  Canola (SP425, good for diabetics, baking and sautéing); walnut (SP400, omega 3, good for diabetics, good for baking); grape seed (SP420, polyunsaturated with low fat, all purpose grilling); sunflower & safflower (SP 450-460, polyunsaturated with low fat, all purpose and high heat oil); Almond (SP495, monounsaturated fat, high heat cooking);  Avocado  (SP510, monounsaturated fat, for frying);  peanut (SP350, monounsaturated fat for light sautéing); Flaxseed (SP225, omega 3, good for diabetics, do not cook over heat, mix into dishes). 

 One also needs to be aware that when reducing saturated fats too much also lowers the good HDL’s when attempting to lower cholesterol.  High cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease…  Read the full story, Successful Weight Loss Based in Blood Chemistry Fuel.  In short, “too little” saturated fat in the diet replaced by carbohydrates is causing an epidemic of obesity and secondary health issues.  Baking with healthy cooking oils and reducing animal products in diet is not necessarily the “complete” answer to the epidemic of obesity and high cholesterol.  Extreme measures in shifting diet from proteins to predominately a high carbohydrates diet appears to be creating other health problems.  It would appear moderation; balanced nutrition and exercise once again seem to be the silver bullet to optimum health.  Cooking oil knowledge is just one ingredient to overall body-mind health that can make a big difference in how you look and feel daily.

Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET2010 Copyright.  All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.com,  Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.

December 24, 2009

Ikaria Lifestyle Boasts Longest Living People

Roman Culture is Interesting Even in Vegas

Realizing the importance of super foods, clean environment, exercise, healthy lifestyle choices, work load balance, pain management benefits on overall health, etc., it is interesting to note longevity cultures are alive and well without the medical resources that are plentiful here.  How is it with all of our medical resources we can’t boast of achieving the longest living people?  Yet a small Greek island people can boast of many that live well past a hundred years in age.   Our dilemma in the land of plenty, it is difficult to discipline oneself with healthy activity and lifestyle habits when greed, power and control, control us!  I recently read an article by Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones: “Lessons for Living Longer” from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest (National Geographic, 08).  This article captivated my attention which I thought was important to share with you.

 The Ikaria, Greek Island people’s longevity lifestyle has interesting attributes that can be duplicated within almost any culture to receive the same healthy longevity benefits.  I say, “Almost any culture” because there are third world countries that simply do not have the resources that Westernized cultures do.  Our nation, like other similar cultures have no excuse for many illnesses and disease pain placed upon ourselves because of our unwillingness to change lifestyle habits.  Much of our poor health and fitness levels occur because of our quick fix and results expectations, convenient and plentiful transportation, jet set lifestyle, fast pace society, family and value system(s) breakdown, drug and alcohol addiction, nonorganic-fast food diets, etc.  This is a very simple comparison of differences within our two cultures.  But by no means is a total list of lifestyle differences to make my point.

 Following is a list of Ikaria’s habitual lifestyle differences from their culture and a testament to their long and healthy centurion lifestyle.    To get the full story on lifestyle differences Click on the Ikaria’s link above, or comment on your ideals of what you believe to be beneficial to live a long healthy life.  Actually, this would be good exercise before you read the full story.  Post your comments on this blog and compare your thoughts, or knowledge of anti-aging and longevity before you read the Ikaria’s lifestyle differences and why they are living well into their century age mark. 

If active lifestyle and longevity is your goal with minimal pain and aggravation for you and your family while you age; it may be wise to consider living a Mediterranean and/or Ikaria-type lifestyle in part, or fully comparable as possible.   By simply modifying your lifestyle habits and choices a dramatic-positive effect on your overall health and fitness can be experienced?   In our fast pace environment this can be a real challenge but doable.

Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET.  2009 Copyright, All rights reserved.  Mirror Athlete Enterprises Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.com, Sign up for your free eNewsletter.

January 22, 2009

Lose Weight With Super Foods!

There is a lot of information on the Internet with regard to super foods as highly nutritious, antioxidants, diet weight loss enhancers and much more.

 Super foods are great antioxidants.  They are proven to minimize oxidization within the body.  Accelerated oxidization due to free radicals in the body causes the body to age and break down internal cellular structure at an increased rate dependant on the amount of free radicals versus antioxidants one incorporates into the daily diet.  Super foods are a great free radical fighter.  The analogy here is much like an apple skinned and exposed to air.  Without a protective skin the apple begins to oxidize and it turns brown.  This is because the apple is now spoiling and dying at a cellular level.  The mineral & vitamin nutrients (much like the exposed apple) we consume can oxidize before they can optimally benefit your health at the cellular level.  The scientific data shows that oxidization at an accelerated rate has a direct relationship on your DNA and impacts on an aging body’s metabolism, weight, illness and disease manifestation, etc.  If you want to stay healthy and fit even as you age, but just don’t have the time to eat right, I highly recommend you supplement your diet with high quality super food antioxidant vitamin mineral packs daily.  See our site Wellness Company, we have all natural supplements in a convenient AM/PM packs for virtually every diet and health scenario, also 100% satisfaction guaranteed.

 I’ve listed a few items that are not only super foods, but also healthy weight loss foods you can incorporate into your diet plan.  So if you are thinking about a healthy diet and/or weight loss program, I recommend adding one or two of these super foods to your daily food intake program.

    1)  Grapefruit – Known as a fat fighter, can be purchased in capsules, contains cancer fighting compounds, red grapefruit has been shown to lower triglycerides.
    2)  Sardines – Mass protein benefit and omega-3’s which boosts cardiovascular health, boost mood and stabilizes blood sugar. They are free of contaminants such as mercury and heavy metals and very inexpensive.
    3) Pumpkin – Canned pumpkin, or fresh pumpkin is loaded with fiber, easy to prepare.  Enhance flavor with cinnamon (blood sugar reducer), it’s filling and delicious.  There are many weight loss recipes based on pumpkin.
    4). Range fed beef – Range fed Beef is a great diet food, doesn’t contain antibiotics.  It is a high protein source, protein stimulates metabolism, you feel full longer and range fed is high in omega-3’s which provide many other benefits.
    5)  Green Tea – Is rich in antioxidants, promotes healthy heart, digestion, blood sugar regulation, body temperature, raises metabolic rate, and accelerates fat burning process.  Five cups a day is said to be the ultimate fat loss solution.  Green tea is also a natural relaxer, de-stressor.

If none of these super foods look appealing to you… Go to www.mirrorathlete.com and enter super foods into our health search engine at the top of the page.  You will see convenient links for further super food research and selections to further your weight loss goals.

Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET.  2008 Copyright, All rights reserved.  Mirror Athlete Enterprises Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.com, Sign up for your free monthly eNewsletter.

December 23, 2008

Why We Need Super Foods

I was asked, just exactly what are super foods and why do we need them?  There seems to be a huge craze out there to understand how the right types of foods in our diet can greatly improve our health condition(s) and incorporate these foods into our preventative health, wellness and nutrition program.

What’s the deal?  Could this be the anti-aging or fountain of youth formulae?   Or could this just be another way to get money out of your wallet?   Well I’ve done a little research for you and here’s what I came up with.   There currently is no official or legal definition of super foods.  Also there is a common denominator of discussion amongst dieticians and nutritional scientists.  Mostly, the claims made regarding specific food items and benefits toward health.  The problem is marketing companies now are using the term “super foods” as a catch all tool to sell more product.  We understand science has come up with some very good data on select foods that provide extreme nutrient and health benefits.  After all, God provides natural good foods (super foods) as everything we need on this earth to be healthy and fit.

Only because of man’s greed have many consumer foods now become a blend of additives and chemically preserved and altered foods.  The chemical food companies, FDA, FTC, lobbyists, politicians, special interest groups and others control and back much of the processed food and chemical industries.   The food and chemical industries are worth billions of dollars to investors and keep millions of workers employed, much like our health, pharmaceutical and petroleum industries.  Money rules the roost regardless of whether these processed foods knowingly make our families sick.   If food is not in its natural form and/or man-processed (some with carcinogenic chemical additives) be suspicious and read the ingredients on the label prior to purchasing, for many additives are known to cause cancer.  If you can’t pronounce the ingredient(s) on the label, or understand what the ingredients are… Chances are it’s one of thousands of addictive chemicals used to addict you to a product, much like nicotine keeps smokers addicted to cigarettes that can have an ill-health effect on you.

The food industry is now saturating our retail food markets with chemically induced additives to our foods that not only get you addicted to a product but are creating a whole generation of unhealthy children and adults through fast food chains.  Products such as diet sodas, candy, desserts, etc., use artificial sweetener (Aspartame – Also known as splendid, spoonful and a whole lot of other brand labels).  Read my articles, “Aspartame the Silent Killer,” “Can You Prevent Cancer?” Also “Is Cancer in Your Tub?  Located within MAE (Mirror Athlete Enterprises), Health Blog.  Other important health information that you and your family should be aware of are located within our “Health Media,” Wellness Company,” or “Health Repository” pages.  After you read our health articles or view our health video players, you’ll give up diet sodas and many other processed foods.  I know I did.  Once I learned this information, this became yet another reason to create Mirror Athlete Enterprises to spread the word of industrial product and consumer lies.

I wanted to find a wellness company that I could share with consumers and their families.  A place to shop that walked & talked healthy home and consumable products.   Our site has an entire page devoted to the “Wellness Company Products and Services” with almost 400 clean green home products and healthy supplements for weight loss, nontoxic home environment and preventative health programs, etc.  The list is so extensive, I recommend you visit the Wellness Company at www.mirrorathlete.com and read the Wellness Company summary.  You can contact me and I will work with you personally providing you better health while showing you alternatives to cleaning your home environment. You’ll have more energy, better weight and pain management through natural supplementation and so much more.  Through health and wellness consulting there is a very good chance we can find what’s making you and your family sick and begin the healing process with natural products that you can trust.

On the forefront as supper foods I’ve listed a few:  Blueberries, apples, avocado, bananas, beans, bee pollen, broccoli, flax seed, oats, oranges, papaya, raspberries, soy, spinach, green tea, walnuts, yogurt… and many more.   For a full listing of super foods go to our Mirror Athlete Enterprise Home page and use the custom health search engine.  Type in “super foods,” you’ll be provided with a wealth of super food information.  Some benefits of super foods boast of longer healthier living, less wrinkles, better skin, lower blood pressure, healthy heart, cancer prevention and a whole lot of other claims that will knock your socks off.  Each super food listed above has high concentrations of antioxidants, vitamin C, manganese, fiber and anthocyanins [provides the concentrated pigment in berries where consumption has health benefits per scientific studies:  Cancer, aging, neurological disease, inflammation, diabetes and bacterial infection]. Because these specifically identified foods are highly nutritious and beneficial to health and well-being they have been coined “super foods.”

I believe there are many benefits to consuming super foods.  You’ll need to do a little homework to determine what is backed by scientific research versus which foods are backed by marketing sales hype.  I will not do this for you because; everybody’s bodies and health requirements are so different.  Our bodies are like cars that perform better or worse dependant on the fuels, oils and additives for longer lasting maintenance free operations.  However, our bodies do not perform as simplistically as our car fuel analogy would depict.  This is because the human body is a zillion times more complicated than any car on the road.   Another good analogy is when you go to your primary physician for whatever ails you…  They may perform a combination of various exams; send you for an MRI, x-ray, or blood work for example to determine which specialist to refer you to if required.  Hence, to endorse a super food combination that would be “just right” for all that would read this article won’t be prudent.

However I do endorse the Wellness Company products located within our home site because the company has already scientifically formulated natural products based on illness prevention and getting people well per ill-health categories (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, irritable bowel, Candida, boost immune system, eyes, arthritis, osteoporosis, healthy prostate, weight loss, weight management, cognitive function, etc.)  I’ve researched a lot of companies and products.  I can provide individual product Wellness Company recommendations for you because the company has done all the research with scientific results to back the data.  The Wellness Company has many product(s) for our bodies, including many clean green and safe environmental solutions also backed by scientific research, “with a 100% money back guarantee.”  This company is simply the best at what they do with regard to clean green health and well-being for you and your family.  I don’t have to be an expert selling you product hype.  The Wellness Company is the only real green company of its type with backed healthy safe and natural product solutions for you and your family.

You may, or may not have a good handle on your medical or health prevention goals, but if I haven’t stemmed your curiosity to check out our Wellness Company, or to participate as a wholesale preferred member, just go to our custom health search engine at our home site and research “super foods,” look for food combinations that make sense for your medical or health prevention benefits, type in “super food and/or health condition.”  For example, some super foods work better for high blood pressure, or cholesterol reduction, you get the point.  If you have no idea what would work best for your body, just start incorporating some of the super foods I listed into your diet.  You will most likely start feeling better, have more energy, lose weight, etc.   Or see your primary care physician and request an Annual physical with blood work so you can see your base line blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose levels etc., then you have a foundation to base your customized super food needs.   I highly recommend all adults over the age of 35, or younger (dependant on health) supplement their diet with a high quality absorbable mineral-vitamin complex, antioxidant, flora (good bacteria) daily supplement pack (Inquire about our Wellness Company Wholesale Member Products).  Of course you should make every attempt to eat as nutritiously as possible, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, fiber, reduce animal fat and reduce sugar in the diet.  The most important advice I could add as a bonus… Stay away from diet sodas and aspartame laced desert-candy products (an additive in thousands of our processed and packaged foods).  Also read “Lose Weight with Super Foods,” soon to be located within MAE Health Repository, Health Blog.

Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET.  2008 Copyright, All rights reserved.  Mirror Athlete Enterprises Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.com, Sign up for your free eNewsletter.

September 25, 2008

Do you have “Dry Flakey Skin, Itchy Scalp, Lifeless Hair, Nails?”

Get Excited About Things - Experience Life!

The following question was asked of me when I was heavily involved as a Wellness Company Executive. By the way, I still purchase the products for my personal use. But have a representative that handles all of those that wish to get involved in the program (simply visit the Wellness Company Wholesale program within my home site if interested in how to naturally take care of flakey scalp, skin, have better hair, nails, etc.).

Question “I have flaky dry skin. I’ve been told I have seborrhea by my dermatologist. I’ve been given prescription lotions etc. What causes dry skin? Most of my problems seem to be in the scalp. Although my prescriptions seems to work OK, I’m concerned about the side effect risks as you mention regarding man-made products. Is there any natural alternatives, if so what? There are many reasons for Dry Flakey scalp, skin, hair and nail problems. Much discourse here could be greatly improved if the following knowledge was promoted through a national healthy body, mind, soul campaign. Don’t hold your breath on this one.

Answer. Did you ever notice, your skin condition flare up vs. flare down? Even without medication, I know you’ve noticed times of low to worse skin conditions. Whether it be seborrhea, or some kind of dermatitis. You’ve probably even thought at some point, “maybe I don’t need medication any more.” But to your dismay, the dermatitis returns with a vengence. What does this tell you? It tells me that many of you are experiencing acute to chronic skin conditions caused by toxins in home & ingested products. In other words, the flare ups come and go without consistency in duration and frequency.

Let me give you a good example,

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