An allergic reaction is somewhat like a case of mistaken identity by your body’s immune system.

Normally, your immune system generates antibodies to protect your body against bacteria, viruses or toxic substances. If you have wheat allergy, however, your body generates an allergy-causing antibody to attack a certain protein found in wheat. Simply put, your immune system has mistakenly identified this protein as something that could harm you.

Once your body has developed an allergy-causing antibody to a particular agent (allergen) — in this case, a wheat protein — your immune system has been rewired to destroy it. That’s why, when you eat wheat, your immune system mounts an attack.

There are four different classes of proteins in wheat that can cause allergies: albumin, globulin, gliadin and gluten. Any of them can cause an allergic reaction.

Sources of wheat proteins

Some sources of wheat proteins are obvious, such as bread, but all wheat proteins — and gluten in particular — may be used in a number of prepared foods. Foods that may include wheat proteins include:
 
• Breads
• Cakes and muffins
• Breakfast cereals
• Pasta
• Couscous
• Crackers
• Beer
• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
• Soy sauce
• Condiments, such as ketchup
• Meat, crab or shrimp substitutes
• Coffee substitutes
• Meat products, such as hotdogs
• Dairy products, such as ice cream
• Natural flavorings
• Gelatinized starch
• Modified food starch
• Vegetable gum
 

If you have a wheat allergy, you may also be allergic to other grains with similar proteins. These related grains include barley, oats and rye.

If you struggle with wheat protein intolerance(s), avoiding or limiting the above foods will decrease inflammation in the body, help keep weight off and help you to feel better overall.

Try grains or grain-like products new to you such as (to read more go to http://www.livrite.com/wholegrains.htm) :

1. Kamut – a relative of wheat that reportedly tastes better than wheat and is nutritionally superior.
2. Quinoa – not a grain but related to beets and spinach.  It is known for it’s light taste and easy digestion, it is high in vitamins and is a complete protein having all 8 amino acids.
3. Amaranth – a grain with complete protein and with content as high as 12 – 17%; high in fiber; studies link to its ability to lower cholesterol.
4. Spelt – a complete protein and a relative of wheat; known for its easy digestion.
5. Rice – non-allergenic and gluten-free, complex carbohydrate with vitamins and minerals

Sources:
MayoClinic.com. Wheat allergy; Causes.  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/wheat-allergy/DS01002/DSECTION=causes.  Accessed Aug. 2010
Wheat and joint pain. Dr. Nathan Wei. http://www.arthritis-treatment-and-relief.com/wheat-and-joint-pain.html Accessed Aug. 2010
Nutrition facts about rice. http://www.rice-trade.com/rice-nutritional-facts

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Those classified as overweight have 4 percent less brain tissue and their brains appear to have aged prematurely by eight years.

The results, based on brain scans of 94 people in their 70s, represent “severe brain degeneration,” said Paul Thompson, senior author of the study and a UCLA professor of neurology.

“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain,” said Thompson. “But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control.”

The findings are detailed in the online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping.

Obesity packs many negative health effects, including increased risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and some cancers. It’s also been shown to reduce sexual activity.

More than 300 million worldwide are now classified as obese, according to the World Health Organization. Another billion are overweight. The main cause, experts say: bad diet, including an increased reliance on highly processed foods.

Obese people had lost brain tissue in the frontal and temporal lobes, areas of the brain critical for planning and memory, and in the anterior cingulate gyrus (attention and executive functions), hippocampus (long-term memory) and basal ganglia (movement), the researchers said in a statement.

Overweight people showed brain loss in the basal ganglia, the corona radiata, white matter comprised of axons, and the parietal lobe (sensory lobe).

“The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than the brains of those who were lean, and in overweight people looked 8 years older,” Thompson said.

Obesity is measured by body mass index (BMI), defined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters. A BMI over 25 is defined as overweight, and a BMI of over 30 as obese.

The research was funded by the National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Center for Research Resources, and the American Heart Association.

You don’t have to spend much time with teenagers to know that the average adolescent would rather devote an afternoon to sitting in front of the TV, computer or video-game console than working out in a gym. And in recent years, as physical-education classes have been progressively cut from cash-strapped public-school curriculums, teens have had even more time to lounge, slouch, hang out or do anything but break a sweat.

It’s no surprise, then, that obesity rates among U.S. youngsters have skyrocketed, tripling from 1976 to 2004. Public-health experts and obesity researchers attribute the trend in part to kids’ increasingly sedentary lifestyles. As teens spend more and more time anchored before a screen — burning fewer and fewer calories each day — they’re storing more of that unused energy as fat. Hence, the ballooning rates of obesity. (See TIME’s video “Obesity and Social Networks.”)

That’s precisely why the findings of a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health came as such a surprise. The report, published last week in the journal Obesity Reviews, finds that the amount of physical activity among U.S. teens has not in fact changed significantly over the past two decades, even while that population has gotten heavier.

“On the one hand, we have seen the obesity-prevalence increase, but we don’t see a decrease in physical activity,” says Dr. Youfa Wang, an associate professor at the Center for Human Nutrition at Hopkins and lead author of the study. “This suggests that physical activity is not a good explanation for the increase in prevalence of obesity.”

In simple terms, body weight is a reflection of the balance between two variables: the calories a body takes in and the calories it burns off. As far as the average U.S. teen is concerned, the study suggests, the culprit behind weight gain is not a decrease in exercise but an increase in consumption.

Of course, that doesn’t mean teens are getting adequate exercise: Wang analyzed data from nearly 16,000 high school students between the ages of 15 and 18, who took part in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s longitudinal Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, about their physical activity. He and his team found that in 2007, only 34.7% of teens met federal physical activity recommendations, which call for activity strenuous enough to cause heavy breathing for a total of an hour a day for five or more days a week. (See nine kid foods to avoid.)

But the survey also found that teens’ overall rate of daily exercise had not changed much since 1991, when the study sample was first asked to report their participation in gym classes in school and their level of physical activity at home. The percentage of teens attending daily gym class has stayed relatively steady since 1991; on average, the yearly change in the proportion of students participating was less than 1%.

The percentage of ninth- through 12th-graders getting adequate levels of moderate physical activity — exercise such as slow bicycling, fast walking or pushing a lawn mower, which did not make participants break a sweat — also changed very little, from 26.7% in 1999 to 26.5% in 2005, the latest year for which the data was available. Yet obesity rates continued to rise.

So does this mean that exercise isn’t important in controlling weight? As tempting as that conclusion might be, Wang and other health experts say that’s not exactly what the new data show. The findings may say less about the role of exercise by itself than about the other variable in the weight equation — diet — and the interaction of the two. While exercise may not contribute directly to weight loss, it is critical for maintaining a healthy weight, since it helps calibrate the balance between energy taken in and energy burned off.

“The data is too gross, and too general to assume that [exercise doesn't count],” warns Dr. Janet Walberg Rankin, a professor in the department of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech. “We need to have a dual approach to weight involving both activity and diet. I would hate for people to take away from this study that activity has nothing to do with weight.” (See pictures of what makes you eat more food.)

Rankin points out that even small changes in a person’s energy balance can have a significant effect on weight. Studies have shown that eating just 10 to 20 extra calories per day — that’s one peanut M&M or one tortilla chip — that don’t get burned through activity can result in a 2-lb. gain on average over the course of a year. “But none of the methods we have now are accurate enough to pick that up,” says Rankin.

She advises people to take the new data with, well, a grain of salt. The information was collected by asking participants to self-report their exercise habits, which is a notoriously unreliable method — people are not very good at gauging their activity accurately. Add to that the fact that questionnaires are not refined enough to pick up small changes in people’s energy intake and expenditure, and it’s obvious why the findings are informative but not game-changing. “These data are useful in highlighting who should be targeted — the most difficult cases,” says Rankin. In the new study, that group includes African-American girls, who got the least amount of exercise among all adolescent groups.

Still, the study highlighted some encouraging trends. For instance, the percentage of teens who spent more than three hours a day in front of the TV dropped from 1999 to 2007, from 43% to 35%. While Wang acknowledges that students may simply be substituting computer or other sedentary screen time for television-viewing, he notes that it’s still a trend in the right direction. Far from being an excuse not to exercise, Wang sees the data as a wake-up call for parents and teens.

“The important message is that compared to the recommendations for physical activity, the physical activity of American adolescents is still at a very low level,” says Wang. “We still need to make a greater effort to promote physical activity. Even if it does not explain obesity, it has many other beneficial effects.”

In my business, I see a lot of diabetics or folks that just want to lose weight and want to know the best foods to eat. When it comes to grains, I always let them know that the less processed the better because whole grains provide more nutrients such as vitamins, minerals plus more fiber than ground grains. The following is an excellent article explaining the digestive benefits of whole grains — Lori

By Diana Mirkin
co-author of The Whole Grains Cookbook

When grains are processed into flour or cereals, the primary concern is loss of nutrients. However, if you grind your own grains or use products that are made from the whole grain without discarding anything, you get all or most of the nutrients of the original grain. But grains that have been broken apart in any way will be digested quicker. That’s a big disadvantage for diabetics and dieters.

Carbohydrates are long chains of sugars, and only single sugars can be absorbed from your intestines into your bloodstream. The foods that cause rapid rise in blood sugar are those that are digested most quickly; the worst offenders are sugar and anything made from flour.

When you eat whole grains (seeds), it takes a long time to break apart the capsule, separate the carbohydrates from the fiber, and completely digest each grain. Your blood sugar rises slowly, stays slightly elevated for a long time (so you don’t feel hungry again soon after eating) and never reaches the high levels that come from sugar or flour.

Grains that are eaten as whole seeds are also more filling and satisfying because they have more bulk and take longer to break down. Part of their bulk comes from water: each seed swells up when it cooks and soaks up water, which is carried in the grain until it is completely broken down in your digestive tract.

The water you drink, on the other hand, is absorbed directly from your stomach almost as soon as it gets there. Water and other liquids do not “fill you up.” Processed grains absorb some water when you cook them, but less than the whole seeds; and the water is separated out more quickly during the digestive process.

Most people can easily eat two or three cups of pasta, but you will find that you feel full with just a cup of whole grains, or even less.

The whole grains are chewy and take more time to eat. Some of the seeds are broken apart by your chewing, but not all of them. Some of the grains may even pass through your system undigested.

On the other hand, anything made from flour or grains that have been cut, flaked, rolled or shredded has been thoroughly pre-chewed and pre-digested for you. You may get all the nutrients of the whole grains, but you don’t get the full benefits of bulk and slow transit through your digestive system.

Whole grain pastas, breads and cereals are certainly better than refined grain products, but to get ALL the benefits of whole grains, eat the seeds themselves.

Diana Mirkin, wife of nutrition expert Dr. Gabe Mirkin, is the director of Dr. Mirkin’s DASH-Plus Cooking School. She has taught thousands of people how to make healthy foods taste delicious. She is co-author with Dr. Mirkin of The Healthy Heart Miracle, The Whole Grains Cookbook, The 20/30 Fat and Fiber Diet Plan, and Fat Free, Flavor Full. She has developed hundreds of recipes that follow Dr. Mirkin’s guidelines for healthy eating, featuring whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruit.

Cancer is becoming more prevalent in our society. You’ve not just read about it, but you’ve seen it among those you know or perhaps experienced it yourself.

It’s tough news to hear even in the best of circumstances. But this article might provide a boost to your commitment to battle the affliction, whether personally or vicariously — Lori Drummond, R.D., L.D..

Dr. Dean Ornish and other research physicians recently published a randomized controlled trial showing that the progression of early-stage prostate cancer may be stopped or perhaps even reversed by making similar changes in diet and lifestyle.

This was the first randomized controlled trial showing that the progression of any type of cancer may be modified just by changing what we eat and how we live. What’s true for prostate cancer may be true for breast cancer as well.

Recent studies by the Preventive Medicine Research Institute continue to show how dynamically lifestyle changes can improve our health and well-being, even on a genetic and cellular level.

In November 2008, The Lancet Oncology published PMRI’s study showing that changing lifestyle significantly increases telomerase and, thus, telomere length. Telomeres are the ends of our chromosomes that control how long we live.

As your telomeres get longer, your life gets longer. This is the first time that any intervention, even drugs, has been shown to significantly increase telomerase.

This is the same cohort of patients reported changes in gene expression in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2008. After only three months, over 500 genes were beneficially affected—upregulating (“turning on”) disease-preventing genes, and downregulating (“turning off”) genes that promote cancer, heart disease, inflammation, and other illnesses.

This is the first time that comprehensive lifestyle changes have been shown to beneficially affect gene expression in men with prostate cancer.

These studies show how powerful comprehensive lifestyle changes can be, how dynamic these mechanisms are, and how quickly benefits may occur. It’s not all in our genes.

When you make comprehensive lifestyle changes, most people find that they feel so much better, so quickly, it reframes the reason for changing from fear of dying to joy of living. Joy and love are powerful, sustainable motivators, but fear and deprivation are not.

You have a full spectrum of nutrition and lifestyle choices. It’s not all or nothing. To the degree that you move in a healthful direction along this spectrum, you’re likely to look better, feel better, lose weight and gain health.

Can healthy eating habits combat depression? According to recent research from the University College London it’s very possible.

Many people eat diets that are high in fat, but are comprised mainly of trans fat or saturated fat from fried or fast foods. Not good, says Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez.

“The membranes of our neurons are composed of fat, so the quality of fat that you are eating definitely has an influence on the quality of the neuron membranes, and the body’s synthesis of neurotransmitters is dependent on the vitamins you’re eating,” Martinez-Gonzalez said.

It’s important to eat fats, but choosing the right type of fats is key. In simple language, fats are essential for the utilization of vitamins that assist with proper brain function. Our brains use fatty acids from fat to create the specialized cells that help us to think and feel.

We need a balance of fats so that our diets are comprised of 20% of total fats, with only 10% of total fat coming from the saturated kind like milk, coconut oil, butter or fats that are solid at room temperature. (Read more by Lori on this topic after the article below).

LONDON (AFP) – A diet heavy in processed and fatty foods increases the risk of depression, according to British research published on Monday.

Researchers at University College London also found that a diet including plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish could help prevent the onset of depression.

They compared participants — all civil servants — who ate a diet largely based on “whole” foods with a second group who mainly ate fried food, processed meat, high-fat dairy products and sweetened desserts.

Taking into account other indicators of a healthy lifestyle such as not smoking and taking physical exercise, those who ate the whole foods had a 26 percent lower risk of depression than those who ate mainly processed foods.

People with a diet heavy in processed food had a 58 percent higher risk of depression.

The researchers put forward several explanations for the findings, which are published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Firstly, the high level of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables could have a protective effect, as previous studies have shown higher antioxidant levels to be associated with a lower risk of depression.

Secondly, eating lots of fish may protect against depression because it contains high levels of the sort of polyunsaturated fatty acids which stimulate brain activity.

And they said it was possible that a “whole food” diet protects against depression because of the combined effect of consuming nutrients from lots of different types of food, rather than the effect of one single nutrient.

The researchers concluded: “Our research suggests that healthy eating policies will generate additional benefits to health and well-being, and that improving people’s diet should be considered as a potential target for preventing depressive disorders.”

The study was carried out on 3,486 people with an average age of 55, who worked for the civil service in London.

Each participant completed a questionnaire about their eating habits, and a self-assessment for depression.

(Lori’s comments continued from top of article)…

 

Trans fats are the fats that have been under high heat and the molecular structure has been changed. These altered fats end up “clogging” our arteries and should be avoided.

Food is the brain’s primary link to its environment and to its healthy function at the chemical level. What you eat affects the brain chemicals that influence your mood, behavior, thought processes and emotional reactions that ultimately create the story of your life.

Fortunately, though, what you eat is within your power to control. The more you know about the food-brain connection, the more empowered you are to make dietary decisions that benefit your brain and combat depression.

Eat healthy fats and the next time someone calls you “fat head,” you can be proud!

One thing I’ll never forget and often share with clients is a line from one of my college professors. She would always say, “A day without a bean is a bad day.” Our student dietetic association even used this line for our T-shirts!

Tip of the week — A New Twist on an Old Saying

Beans, beans, the magical fruit! The more you eat, the more you … may reduce your cholesterol.

It may not be as catchy as the popular children’s rhyme, but beans (that are actually vegetables) may indeed be magical for your health. Rich in protein, calcium, phosphorus, folate and iron, popular dried beans include black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, pink beans and pinto beans.

The 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating 3 cups of dried beans per week to reduce your risk of heart disease by up to 16 percent. Most Americans eat about a third of this amount. Recent research shows eating one-half cup of pinto beans daily can reduce serum cholesterol by 8 percent.

Full of complex carbohydrates yet fat-free, beans can play a role in weight management by making you feel full without a lot of calories.

Beans are a great source of insoluble and soluble fiber, with 6-8 grams in a half-cup. They promote a healthy digestive tract, may reduce your risk of some types of cancer and can help control diabetes and maintain healthy blood glucose levels.

Produced by American Dietary Association