- Why you shouldn’t trust an easy answer when it comes to health…
- But then again, this 3-3-3 formula for good heart health makes sense…
- And it could help stabilise your blood sugar
People love easy solutions.
I understand that.
After all, imagine a single pill that could solve all your pain problems…
A push-button business idea that would end your money worries…
A secret formula that will guarantee you stay slim for life…
These sorts of promises are hard to resist. Our logical mind says “No” but our primal emotions scream “YES PLEASE”.
It’s a bit like me being confronted with a chocolate fudge cake.
It’s why even the most sceptical can fall prey to the lure of scams and hacks.
The newspapers know this too, which is why you’ll often see a headline like this on your tabloid website:
“Obese woman reveals how giving up ONE ingredient helped her to HALVE her weight.”
This was a real headline, but you’ll have seen others like it, because this headline format keeps cropping up again and again.
Why? Because it makes for good clickbait.
It taps into that primal emotional circuit that I just mentioned – that overwhelming desire for an easy instant solution to a big problem.
The headline hints that by giving up just one food you can sort out your weight control problems forever.
In this case, what was it that the woman gave up?
Well, the article suggested that it was simply by giving up Coke that she halved her weight.
“Ah,” you think. “So if I give up fizzy drinks I’ll see the weight fall off as if by magic.”
Well, n0.
Because the article then goes on to describe how she stopped eating junk food, cut out sugar and went to the gym five times a week.
That’s not giving up one ingredient, that’s a healthy eating plan that includes exercise and avoids processed foods and sugar.
But that wouldn’t make such a good headline would it?
“Woman halves weight by eating healthier and doing some exercise.”
In my experience with health matters, anything which promises you a formula or a code or a secret combination can be taken with a pinch of salt.
However, here’s one formula that bucks the trend – and might be worth paying attention to.
A study back in 2011 by biologists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology revealed a DIET FORMULA for avoiding disease.
The report in Science Daily was called ‘Feed your genes: How our genes respond to the foods we eat’.
The scientists fed overweight people different diets, studying the effect it had on something called ‘gene expression’. This is where your DNA information tells your cells how to behave and function.
They found that a diet too heavy in carbohydrates negatively affects the genes in your body. This includes the genes that cause inflammation, heart disease, dementia, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer.
Based on their trials, they worked out the ideal formula for healthy eating that would most reduce the risk of getting lifestyle-related diseases.
The formula is this:
- one-third protein
- one-third fat
- one-third carbohydrates
It might seem simplistic. But it makes sense. We need a little of everything in balance rather than cutting out one food group.
If they’re right, it means that you could be directly worsening your health problems by eating too much bread, pasta, rice and other carbohydrates. But redress that balance with more proteins and fats and you could start to feel a lot healthier.
This could help you stabilise your blood sugar
Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD from New York, a specialist in cardiovascular disease agrees with this formula:
“Stabilise your blood sugar by eating in threes: Eat every three hours and divide your plate into thirds – one-third protein, one-third fat, and one-third carbs.”
Dr Mehmet Oz explains it like this:
“Our bodies want to eat every three hours, as it’s their natural eating schedule dating back from early mankind. Wait longer and your body goes into starvation mode, as it assumes food is scarce and packs on fat for the future instead of burning it away immediately. Be sure to eat within one hour of waking up, then every three hours thereafter.”
Okay, so that’s the advice on when to eat.
But how about what you should eat?
As a rule of thumb, make sure your meals contain three portions ROUGHLY made up of one part carbohydrate, one part protein and one part fat.
To give you an example…
Let’s say that every morning you eat toast and cornflakes. These are two forms of carbohydrate together.
So instead a 3-3-3 breakfast could be toast (carb) mackerel (fat) and scrambled egg (protein).
Or it could be toast (carb) with avocado spread on it (fat) and a boiled egg (protein).
Or here’s another example.
Pasta in tomato sauce with bread is carb heavy. So instead you might try pasta in tomato sauce, with chicken breast (protein), no bread and a side-salad with walnuts in olive oil (fats).
No, it’s not very scientific. But nobody can go through daily life obsessing over weights and measurements.
So I suggest you take the principles and use them as a general guide.
Here are some ideas for foods you can use to create your balanced meals:
PROTEIN-RICH FOODS
- Greek yoghurt
- Eggs
- Milk
- Steak
- Poultry breast
- Tuna / salmon
- Beans and other pulses
- Nuts
- Soya
- Quinoa
- Wheat germ
FOODS RICH IN GOOD FATS
- Avocados
- Cheese
- Dark chocolate
- Fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, anchovies)
- Nuts (particularly walnuts / brazil nuts / macadamia nuts / almonds)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Full-fat yogurt
- Flaxseeds
- Tofu
- Black olives
- Whole eggs
FOODS RICH IN (GOOD) CARBOHYDRATES
- Squash
- Sweet potatoes
- Sweetcorn
- Oatmeal
- Bananas and berries
- Wholemeal bread
- Brown rice
- Beans and lentils
Oh and if you can avoid overly processed, shop-bought packet foods and stick to original whole ingredients, you will get a better result.
I realise that’s easier said than done. But if you see these as treats and rewards for healthier eating, you can get the best of both worlds!
Talking of diabetes and heart health, on Sunday I’ll show you one of the most effective natural ways to maintain a healthy blood sugar balance. So please look out for that.
Yours as always,
Ray Collins
