Cyd Notter

Author and Nutrition Educator, Founder of The "Plan A" Diet™

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      • Artificial Sweeteners – What you should know
      • March is National Nutrition Month – Take the Quiz
      • Artificial Sweeteners – What you should know
      • Which food has 8x more cholesterol than beef?
      • 3 Big Reasons to Include Berries in Your Diet
      • Success Tips for Changing Your Diet
      • Do you suffer from Carbophobia?
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      • The Slippery Slope of “Eating in Moderation”
      • A Nutrition Pop Quiz
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      • Aren’t Starches Fattening
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        • Coconut Oil – Yes or No
        • Oils – what you should know
      • Eating Enough Fruits and Veggies?
      • Do you have a holiday game plan?
      • Making Only One Change?
      • America’s Love Affair with Bacon
      • Is it Safe to Eat Soy?
      • Are gluten-free diets for everyone?
      • Planning to diet this January? Do this instead.
      • Fabulous Flax Seed Has it All
      • How Important is the Glycemic Index?
      • Eating Out at Restaurants or Parties
      • Artificial Sweeteners – What you should know
      • Healthier Halloween Options
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      • Inflammatory and Anti-Inflammatory Foods (Printable List)
      • What is Vitamin B12 and how much should I take?
      • Why exercise?
      • 5 Reasons to Steer Clear of the Charcuterie Boards
      • MEN: Prostate Stats You Should Know
      • The Aluminum in Our Foods is Strongly Linked to Dementia
      • Diet and Gallbladder Disease
      • Infants are Being Fed Junk Food by Their First Birthday
      • 4 Things Necessary for a Successful, Healthy Diet
      • Habits – Good or Bad?
      • Is it too late to start eating healthy?
      • Making Small Changes but Expecting Big Results
      • Family and Social Pressure
      • Genes, Schmenes – It’s most likely the food
      • Is a plant-based diet safe for children?
      • Which Processed Meats Should We Avoid?
      • Gut Bacteria and Our Diets
      • Diet & Breast Cancer Prevention
      • Statins – Don’t Believe Everything you Read
      • Diabetes – “Manage” or Reverse?
      • The Health Benefits of (a little) Unprotected Sun
      • Making Changes Stick
      • Evaluating Research
      • Vitamin D and Sunshine
    • Faith Related
      • Addressing Biblical Objections to a Plant-Based Diet
      • The mathematical odds that Jesus is who He said He is…
      • Poem: Lessons from a Bike Ride
  • Recipes
    • Rainbow Kale Slaw
    • Gingerbread Biscotti
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    • Carrot Cake with Glaze
    • Blueberry Oat Bran Muffins
    • Choco-Mint Nice Cream
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    • Easy Instant Pot Risotto
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    • Roasted Veggie Pasta
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    • Tim P. – Off all 8 Meds!
    • Cindi R. – Reversed Blocked Carotid
    • Doug M. – Doc says “Cured!”
    • Denise V. – At Peace with Food and Body Image
    • Linda Z. – Autoimmune Skin Disorder now Dormant
    • Olga A. – Improved Cognitive Function
    • Kim C. – Relief from “Getting Older”
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Truly Hungry? or Just Craving?

October 10, 2022 By Cyd Notter

All of us have food cravings from time to time.

But finding yourself in the pantry or at the drive-up window might have more to do with your mood than your actual need for food.

It could be that you’re using food to deal with stress, boredom, anger, loneliness, or a host of other emotions. Or you may be struggling with a food addiction. In either case, indulging in such cravings usually means seeking out foods which are high in calories and fat.

So how can you tell if you’re experiencing a craving, or if you’re truly hungry and need to eat?

Here’s one way to recognize the difference:

Hunger usually occurs when you haven’t eaten for several hours. Your body will send one of several signals when your stomach is getting empty, anything from growling/gurgling belly sounds to headaches or feeling light-headed.

Hunger is the body’s way of telling you that you need fuel, and hunger doesn’t pass with time. When you feel true hunger, you’ll most likely seek out nutritious foods (not candy or cake).

Cravings, on the other hand, can masquerade as hunger. They push you to eat particular comfort foods—chocolate, sweets, fatty foods—even though your body doesn’t need more fuel.

Satisfying these cravings can feel good at first, but often leads to feelings of guilt. Cravings may be even stronger when you’re “dieting” or giving up your favorite foods.

Photo by Andres Ayrton, Pexels.com

The good news is that cravings do pass with time when you resist them. Distract yourself when craving the wrong foods by engaging in some activity.

Another option might be to fulfill that craving with a small amount of something healthy. For example if you’re craving sweets, how about a handful of grapes or a few slices of mango?

Self-awareness is key in distinguishing between hunger and cravings.

Below is a picture of the Hunger and Fullness Scale, which describes just that: varying degrees of hunger and fullness. It’s a tool that can help us identify how hungry or full we are.

Level 5 is neutral, neither hungry nor full. Level 4 is where we’re starting to think about food, at Level 3 our stomach starts to growl and our thoughts increase about getting something to eat.

At Level 2 there’s lots of stomach growling, our stomach may actually hurt, and we need to get food now! At Level 1, ravenous, we’re past the point of hunger and can have headaches, difficulty concentrating, and low energy. At Level 0 we’d be weak, dizzy, have a stomachache, and be mentally impaired.

The Role of Hormones in Hunger and Fullness - Hearty SmartyOn the fullness side, Level 6 would be lightly full, we’ll be hungry again in 1-3 hours. Level 7 = moderately full, satisfied, hungry again in 2-3 hours. Level 8 = Full, comfortably full but would not want to eat more. Level 9 means we’re stuffed, past the point of comfort (our stomach may hurt). And Level 10 is when we’re so uncomfortably full that we feel sick.

It is normal for your hunger and fullness to fluctuate all day long. Staying in the moderate ranges (from a 3-7) will help you avoid extremes in hunger and fullness.

If you start eating when you are lightly moderately hungry you are more likely to stop eating when you are lightly to moderately full. If you start eating when you are empty or ravenous you are more likely to eat until you are stuffed or sick. This scale can serve as a guide to help us mindfully connect to our bodies and our true hunger signals.

Hari Hachi Bu

The long-lived, Okinawans in Japan, who stay healthy well into old age and have the highest percentage of centenarians in the world, follow a practice called Hari Hachi Bu, which teaches people to stop eating when they’re 80% full.

It’s something they say before meals as a reminder to stop eating when they feel 80% full. One of their proverbs says that “eight parts of a full stomach sustain the man; the other two sustain the doctor.”

Wouldn’t it be great if we followed that example?

By getting back in tune with your hunger and satiety signals and paying attention to what/why you eat, you’ll soon be on the road to a much healthier lifestyle.

Interested in more tips for healthy eating? Check out this free training class where you’ll walk away with tips you can begin implementing today.

 Keep your mind on things above, not on worldly things. (Colossians 3:2, GW)

(Photos from VisualHunt)

Filed Under: My Blog Tagged With: cravings, faith based, faith based diet, food addiction, hunger vs cravings, plant a diet, Plant Based Diet, plant-based nutrition, The Plan A Diet, vegan, vegetarian, whole food plant based

Flexible Sheet Pan Dinners

December 1, 2020 By Cyd Notter

I received an article today about one pan meals that are ready in 40 minutes. I’m interested!

I’d never heard of a Sheet Pan Dinner (or ‘tray bake’ according to the article). But I can certainly see the benefits!

By combining an uncooked grain, freshly cut veggies, a can of beans or peas, spices, and veggie broth/water on a baking tray, you can have a complete, nutrient-filled meal in 40 minutes. Add in your favorite sauces or dressings if desired, as well as optional nuts, seeds, or nutritional yeast.

Here’s the entire article (along with recipes) on the Forks over Knives website.

I was leery that my baking tray would hold 3.5 cups of liquid, so I did a test and it surely does. I typically use a silicone baking sheet liner (or at the very least, a piece of parchment paper) when roasting or baking, but that may not be necessary with this type of dish. I plan to make the “curry and rice” recipe first, but the flexibility of Sheet Pan Dinners offers countless possibilities!

Minimal effort, minimal clean-up, flexible recipes, and foods which are packed with protein, calcium, and other vital nutrients. What’s not to love?

P.S. Want to make quick, Roasted Veggie Pasta? Watch my video here on how to roast the veggies – without oil! Then serve the roasted veggies over whole grain pasta which is topped with a healthy pasta sauce (Aldi has oil-free, organic pasta sauce for under $2 a jar). Everyone loves it!

Let me know if you try the Sheet Pan Dinners (or the Roasted Veggie Pasta)!


Other helpful resources:

A free class: 3 Reasons Dieters Regain the Weight 

A free copy of The 21-Day Meal Plan

Most popular class: Inflammation & Your Diet

Dieting this January? Instead, get this course now and be ready for a permanent change.

Need a gift idea? A signed copy of The “Plan A” Diet would be a great stocking stuffer!

 

Filed Under: My Blog Tagged With: 'Plan A' Diet, Christian, diet, faith based, faith based diet, no oil, oil free, Pasta, Plant Based Diet, plant based recipes, plant-based nutrition, Sheet Pan Recipe, whole food plant based

How Oils and Inflammation Harm the Heart

September 1, 2020 By Cyd Notter

Did you know that common oils are one of the most highly inflammatory “foods” we can eat?

And when it comes to heart disease, oils and inflammation seem to go hand-in-hand.

I know this may be surprising to many of you, since oils are often touted as health foods by savvy marketers and even some health professionals.

I’m always reluctant to call oil a FOOD, because oils are simply the pure fat which has been extracted or pressed from olives, seeds, corn, coconuts, vegetables, nuts, or fish. As described in my article here, all oils are 100% pure liquid fat that contribute to many health issues, including inflammation.

One reason these extracted fats are so inflammatory is because of their high Omega-6 content. Omega-6 is a polyunsaturated fat that, once consumed, metabolizes into another form of Omega-6 called LA (linoleic acid). It’s linoleic acid that produces prostaglandins and other fatty molecules that contribute to inflammation.

A study was released in 2018 by the researchers in the Department of Preventive Cardiology at St. Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute which took a look at Omega-6 vegetable oils as a driver of coronary heart disease (CHD). The findings revealed that the linoleic acid found in oils is indeed concerning. Here are just a few of their findings:

  • Linoleic acid metabolites promote cardiac arrhythmias, cell death, organ failure and cardiac arrest.
  • Linoleic acid is the most abundant fat found in atherosclerotic plaques, and this has been known since at least the 1960’s.
  • An excess dietary intake of linoleic acid causes greater endothelial activation compared with an excess of saturated fat (a critical step for inducing atherosclerosis).
  • A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in humans found that when saturated fat plus trans-fat is replaced with omega-6 fat (high in linoleic acid), there is an increase in all-cause mortality, ischemic heart disease mortality and cardiovascular mortality.
  • Linoleic acid is inflammatory to the vascular endothelium.

Here’s how the researchers summed it up:

In summary, numerous lines of evidence show that the omega-6 polyunsaturated fat linoleic acid promotes oxidative stress, oxidised LDL, chronic low-grade inflammation and atherosclerosis, and is likely a major dietary culprit for causing CHD, especially when consumed in the form of industrial seed oils commonly referred to as ‘vegetable oils’

 

Take another look at that last bullet point: Linoleic Acid is inflammatory to the vascular endothelium. The endothelium refers to the thin, single layer of endothelial cells that line the inside of our arteries. These protective endothelial cells produce nitric oxide which keeps our vessels open and allows for proper blood flow. But once the endothelial lining gets damaged, fats and cholesterol enter the artery wall and pave the way for plaque formation.

Chronic inflammation then results because our bodies recognize plaques as a threat and go on the defense by sending immune cells to that area to begin the healing process. That’s what chronic inflammation is. The body’s way of protecting us against something lurking in the body that shouldn’t be there. The immune system goes on high-alert because it’s senses some type of threat, and dispatches immune cells to counteract the threat and begin the needed repairs.

However, when immune cells remain activated and overstay their welcome, persistent, chronic, low-grade levels of inflammation result – and our arteries are one of the most likely sites for this to occur. There are no nerve endings in our arteries, which is why we don’t feel excruciating pain when all of this is going on.

To make matters worse, some of those hovering immune cells will decide to switch teams! They go from being protective cells to damaging cells, and when those damaging immune cells combine with fats and cholesterol, they actually contribute to plaque formation and lead to even more inflammation.

Another study which was released in 2018 took a look at the role of those damaging immune cells. The study, conducted by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, showed that a diet high in fat and cholesterol depletes the ranks of artery-protecting immune cells by turning them into promoters of inflammation which worsens the plaque buildup that occurs in cardiovascular disease.

The researchers reported that inflammation is a key factor to the hardening and narrowing of the arteries, known as atherosclerosis. The lead researcher was quoted as saying:

“People think atherosclerosis is just about cholesterol, diet, and exercise, but it’s actually an immune disease. The blockage of arteries is very much due to the immune system reacting to excess cholesterol and lipids in the walls of the blood vessels.” He goes on to say “With a western diet, protective cells change to damaging cells, causing more inflammation.”

It’s not unusual for Americans to add oil to their skillets, their salad dressings, and their baked goods. Plus restaurant meals, fried food, and processed junk foods are typically loaded with it. Eliminating these health-damaging extracted oils from your diet is one of the best decisions you can make!

 

If you found this article helpful, check out our online course “Inflammation & Your Diet”

Watch this video: How to Saute, Roast, and Bake without Oils

Take a 1-question quiz about oils here.

Click here to get a free copy of “10 Simple Dessert Smoothies”

 

Filed Under: My Blog Tagged With: 'Plan A' Diet, diet, faith based, heart, immunity, inflammation, no oil, oil, Plant Based Diet, plant-based nutrition, The Plan A Diet, whole food plant based

How Diet Affects Depression

May 21, 2020 By Cyd Notter

Did you know that the foods you eat every day can greatly influence your mood and behavior? Yep, we already know that diet greatly affects our mental health, and this article titled “9 Things You Need to Know about Diet and Depression” from the Forks over Knives website further confirms it.

Our gut bacteria, inflammation levels, blood flow, brain health, and so much more, can all be negatively affected by consuming fiberless, high fat foods common in the Standard American Diet (SAD). Such foods can also have a profound effect on our risk of depression.

The answer to optimal physical AND mental health is a low-fat, whole food, plant-based diet comprised of potatoes, yams, beans, rice, corn, squash, legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and lots of good clean water (see food pyramid).

In this short video, Dr. McDougall also explains some easy, natural remedies for depression. Please take a look.

Are you ready to get started?

Join me in the “Plan A” Diet Transition course – I’ll guide you every step of the way.

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 Intelligent people are always eager and ready to learn. (Proverbs 18:15, GNT)

Filed Under: My Blog Tagged With: 'Plan A' Diet, depression, diet, disorders, faith based, healthy eating, mood, Plant Based Diet, plant-based nutrition, The Plan A Diet, vegan, vegetarian, whole food plant based

Why You Should Stop Eating Dairy (the sooner the better)

May 14, 2020 By Cyd Notter

It’s National Women’s Health Week – a reminder to women to take care of themselves and to make their health a priority. From puberty to menopause, and all the fun hormonal stuff in between, diet plays a HUGE factor in all of it.

Several things came to mind as I reflected on the most important things women can do for their health. But the topic of dairy kept coming to the forefront for now, so let’s talk about why giving up dairy is so important. Dairy foods (milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, cream, and ice cream) are not the health foods the dairy industry has taught us to believe all these years.

Here’s why in a nutshell:

  • Hormones (which are needed to grow an 80-lb. calf into a 600-800 lb. cow in under a year). Dairy contains hormones, including the IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1), which sends a signal to our cells to trigger growth. The more of this hormone in our bloodstream, the higher the risk of ‘growing’ several types of cancer, especially breast and prostate cancer.
  • Estrogen. Ladies, it’s not the soybean to be concerned about (which does not raise blood estrogen levels). Cow’s milk is the largest source of mammalian estrogen in today’s diet. In fact, dairy foods account for 60-70% of the estrogen that comes from food. Elevated estrogen is a factor in all sorts of women’s issues – PMS, irregular period, fibroids, dysplasia, infertility, cancer, hot flashes, and other issues.
  • Bad for your bones! Contrary to the dairy industry’s marketing messages, cow’s milk is actually detrimental to bone health! Dairy (and meats) contain phosphoric and sulfuric acids which our bodies must buffer to survive. In order to maintain a healthy pH balance between the acidity and alkalinity levels in the blood, the body goes into defense mode by drawing calcium directly from our bones to act as the buffer to those acids. Countries that consume the most dairy and calcium supplements have the highest fracture rates.
  • Saturated Fat & Cholesterol. Dairy is loaded with with saturated fat and cholesterol, with CHEESE being the highest source of saturated fat in the American diet. Saturated fat – which is solid at room temperature -increases the risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and many other diseases.
  • Casein. Casein is a dairy protein which has been proven to initiate cancerous tumors. The research of Dr. T. Colin Campbell in The China Study demonstrated that cancer cells in rats could be turned on or off by varying the amount of casein from 5% to 20% of calories; and his follow-up research on thousands of people in China confirmed it. Dr. Campbell states that “casein is the most relevant chemical carcinogen ever identified.”

Is low-fat dairy any better? No, it isn’t. When the fat is removed, the protein concentration increases, so it’s trading one set of problems for another.

For a full description of these bullet points (and more), read the entire article here.

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Filed Under: My Blog Tagged With: 'Plan A' Diet, bone health, dairy, detriments, estrogen, faith based, hormones, Plant Based Diet, stop dairy, The Plan A Diet, vegan, vegetarian, whole food plant based, why is dairy bad

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