You know the drill when it comes to weight loss – take in fewer calories, burn more calories. But you also know that most diets and quick weight-loss plans have about as much substance as a politician’s campaign pledges. You’re better off finding several simple things you can do on a daily basis – along with following the cardinal rules of eating more vegetables and less fat and getting more physical activity.

Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Fruits and vegetables are packed with beneficial fibers, vitamins and antioxidants. They fill up your stomach fast so you feel full earlier. They are also low in calories and help to keep your calorie count low.

Watch for Portion Size. One serving of pasta means 1/2 cup of cooked pasta. However, most restaurants serve a pasta dish with 4 servings of pasta!!! You do not need to finish and clean off the plate every time. You can simply ask to take home the leftover.

Do not Skip Meals. Eating small frequent meals help to balance your calorie intake throughout the day and also keep your blood sugar level balanced. Instead of eating 3 big meals, try to eat 5 – 6 smaller meals throughout the day.

Go for wholesome fresh foods. If possible, purchase fresh foods and avoid package (processed) and convenient foods such as fast food. Packaged and convenient foods are often higher in sodium and fat content. Many people we spoke to are amazed that they can easily lose weight by packing a home-cooked lunch to work instead of eating out.

Don’t be overly-restrictive. Everyone has his or her favorite treats. Simply allow yourself a little indulgence, but watch out for the frequency and the quantity. Having a small treat once in a while can be rewarding to your weight loss experience. Cutting too much of your favorite treats usually lead to an early relapse.

Watch for the sugary drinks. Juices, soda, cream & sugar in your coffee or tea all add up. Opt for drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day. In addition to providing hydration to your body, it will also help you feel full.

It is also best to do regular exercise. Most authorities recommend 30 – 60 minutes of physical activity a day to stay healthy. Also try adding weight-bearing exercises at least 2 times a week. This will help burn some of the unwanted calories.

The citrus fruits have many lemon juice benefits. The lemon has great benefits as well as the juice of the lemon as well. Either fresh squeezed lemons or store bought lemon juice have the same type of benefits. Lemon cleanse diet is good for a source of Vitamin C. One health benefit is that lemons and lemon juice can protect your body against germs and bacteria.

Lemon juice is very high in citric acid, which helps the body fight off colds. Lemons and the juice also act as antioxidants. Lemon juice is also a liver stimulant and can control irritable bowel syndrome. It can control conditions like constipation and diarrhea. It can also help in helping heart burn, some bloating and even helping in subsiding gas pains. Bear in mind all the easy tips to achieve a safe and healthy weight loss.

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It’s not enough to supplement your diet with fi sh oils or to eat enough omega-3 fats in your diet—it’s merely a good start. The health benefi ts of omega-3 fats depend on the balance of omega-6 fats in your diet. But that’s a big problem in the United States and many other Western nations.

We eat too much of the so-called heart-healthy omega-6 fats, which compete with and even destroy the benefi ts of omega-3 fats. To make matters worse, we don’t eat enough omega-3 fats. Consequently, most of us have a major fat imbalance in the diet.

In thisArticle you will discover why the balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fats really matters to your health. You’ll learn why just about every food you eat is inundated with omega-6 fats, and you’ll discover the impact of eating excess omega-6 fats, including increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, cancer, heart disease, vision disorders, infl ammation disorders, learning disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, sleep disorders, and stress.

Mega Omega Problem in Our Food Supply

Today we eat fats that did not exist 100 years ago, including margarine, shortening, and cottonseed oil. As a result, we eat 10 to 20 times the amount of omega-6 fats that our forebears did. How did our fat balance get so out of whack?

It would be easy to point fingers at the food-processing industry, but we can’t only blame this easy scapegoat (although it certainly contributed). A multitude of factors, including industrialization, agribusiness, food manufacturing, and the promotion of “heart-healthy” oils, contributed to fewer omega-3 fats and too many omega-6 fats in our food supply.

Even if you reach for a food that you think contains omega-3 fats, unfortunately it may not. For example, soybean oil is stripped of its naturally occurring omega-3 fats when it is hydrogenated. Farmed salmon has a higher amount of omega-6 fats than wild salmon. Yet how could you know this, since this information is not disclosed on
food packaging?

Let’s take a closer look at these factors, so you’ll have a better idea how almost every food you eat has been penetrated with more omega-6 and shortchanged of its omega-3 fats.

The Case of the Fatted Calf

Before 1850, virtually all cattle in the United States spent four to five years grazing on grass, which naturally contains omega-3 fats, before slaughter. But today feedlot operations get a steer to slaughter in just about one year. As a result, cows have much less omega-3 in their meat today than they used to. A recent study from Ireland underscores this point; it found that the longer the cattle grazed, the higher their DHA content. Dining in the pasture also improved their fat profile, with lower levels of omega-6 fats in their meat.

Feedlot Cuisine. Today, 99 percent of cows in the United States dine in feedlots, exclusively on a corn-grain diet, which is rich in omega-6 fats and practically devoid of omega-3 fats. Consequently modern beef is fatter and has an entirely different fatty-acid profile: lower in omega-3 fatty acids, higher in omega-6 fatty acids, and higher in saturated fat. Wild animals and free-range or pasture-fed cattle do not display this unhealthy fat profile.

Commercially raised chickens, lamb, fish, and pigs also have a much lower omega-3 content in their meat and fat (think bacon here). Reports as early as 1968 showed that range-fed animals have higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. Foraging on grass rather than grains increases omega-3 fat accumulation in animals, as shown in Table 3.1.

The Meat (and Dairy Foods) We Eat Reflect the Diet of the Cow. The typical cow fattened on grain has 14 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids in its meat, far more than the grass-fed cow. This has a trickle-down effect in the food chain. The commercial meat and dairy products we eat also lack omega-3 fats while yielding a much higher load of omega-6 fats. This significance is aptly illustrated when you look at cheeses made from grazing cows versus feedlot-fed cows.

• High total calories
• High calorie density per unit of volume
• High total fat
• High in unhealthy saturated and trans fats
• High in refined sugar.
• Low in nutritional value (low nutrient density)
• Flavor enhancers, fillers and other chemicals
• Artificial colors and flavors
• High sodium

It only gets worse. Many of these fat and sugar filled “junk foods” have negative nutritional value. They subtract from the good you’re doing when you pick the right foods. For example, anything high in white sugar is going to leach minerals from your body. None of the foods on this list should ever be eaten as a part of your regular daily diet. It’s wise to allow yourself one or two cheat meals per week, but save the “junk foods” on this list for the very occasional cheat day. If and when you do eat them, make sure you continue to obey the law of calorie balance (too much of anything gets stored as fat and small amounts of bad foods usually won’t get stored as fat)

1. Ice Cream

I’m sure a lot of people will be mad at me when they see their beloved ice cream as number one on the hit list of the foods that turn to fat, but here goes: Ice cream is Bad news with a capital B! Ice cream is loaded with fat, sugar and way more calories than you need; an evil fat-storing triad. Not to mention, the artificial colors, artificial flavors, preservatives, emusifiers and stabilizers.

Now let’s talk about the fat. One cup (that’s a pretty small serving you know), contains approximately 350 calories and 20 grams of fat – mostly saturated. And that’s just regular premium vanilla ice cream. A cup of Haagen Dasz Belgian Chocolate has 660 calories and 36 grams of fat. But that’s nuthin! Ben & Jerrys has them all beat! A cup of wavy gravy ice cream has 660 calories and …. Gulp…. 48 grams of fat – 20 of them saturated!

There are so many delicious alternatives to ice cream like fruit sorbet or even sugar free, low fat frozen yogurt, it boggles the mind that more fitness conscious people don’t make the switch. Are you a Ben & Jerry’s freak? Skip the wavy gravy or chunky monkey and have the Cherry Garcia Yogurt instead (if you must)… it’s only 340 calories and six grams of fat. Healthy Choice makes a Low fat chocolate mint chip ice cream with only 200 calories per cup and just four grams of fat. Best of all, Kemp’s makes a sugar free non fat frozen yogurt that contains only 240 calories and zero grams of fat. It’s made with skim milk and is sugar free.

You can have your ice cream and eat it too, you just have to watch your portion sizes, read labels, choose your brand carefully, and go with a reduced fat or even a fat free version. Usually I hear, “but it just doesn’t taste the same.” Maybe true, but if regular ice cream is a regular item in your weekly or daily menu, you can rest assured that a lot of those calories will be turning to fat.

2. Fried Foods

All fried foods are really BAD NEWS! (with all capitals!) Fried foods are harmful in more ways than one. First of all, they are high in calories and mostly fat. Take a McDonald’s super size fries, for example. Polish off the whole batch and you’ve got yourself 610 calories and 29 grams of fat, 10 of them saturated. Large Burger King hash browns – 390 calories and 25 grams of fat, 15 of them saturated. KFC fried chicken breast (extra tasty crispy) – one serving alone sets you back 470 calories and 25 grams of fat.

Second, the type of fat is highly saturated and/or trans fat. Frying destroys essential fatty acids (EFA’s) by twisting their molecules from the cis-configuration in which they’re normally found to the unnatural trans shape. To make matters worse, shortening and margarines have replaced the lard that was traditionally used for frying. These contain large amounts of chemically altered trans fatty acids to begin with, so you get a double whammy of artery clogging, health destroying “funny fats.”

According to Udo Erasmus, the world’s foremost expert on fats, there is no such thing as safe frying. “Safe frying is a contradiction in terms,” says Erasmus. “When foods turn brown, they have been burned. The nutrients in burned material have been destroyed. Proteins turn into carcinogenic acrolein. Starches and sugars are browned through molecular destruction. Fats and oils are turned to smoke by destruction of fatty acids and glycerol.”

Folks, stay the heck away from anything fried! (By the way, did you know that “sauté” is the French word for “fry?”)

3. Donuts and pastries

Like ice cream, doughnuts are one of the all time no-no’s when body fat reduction and good health are your goals. Doughnuts contain that king of fat storing combinations: refined sugar and saturated fats.

A small plain or powdered donut contains about 170 calories and 10 grams of fat (by the way, that’s over 50% fat by calories). Your larger donuts contain anywhere from 200 to 420 calories and up to 22 grams of fat – much of it saturated.

The flour in donuts, of course is white flour – stripped of any nutritional value with no trace of the original whole grain left intact. And heaps and heaps of sugar are added on top to add insult to injury.

Donuts also contain chemical agents designed to keep them soft, mono and diglycerides, propylene and glycol mono and diesters, coloring agents including FD & C yellow, number 5 and preservatives such as BHT and BHA.

If you want a chemical cocktail loaded with fat, sugar and calories, donuts fit the bill nicely. By the way, did you know they deep-fry those things? And one more thing; did you know a Cinnabon has 670 calories and 34 grams of fat? Stay away from Cinnabons, pastries, éclairs and anything else in the “donut family.”

4. White sugar, Candy, Chocolate and sweets

One of the biggest misconceptions in weight loss is that carbohydrates make you fat. This is an incorrect statement. A correct statement would be; refined carbohydrates make you fat… and that means white sugar, candy and sweets. Of course, calories are the bottom line… it’s not necessarily sugar that makes you fat, it’s too many calories that make you fat. But guess what? Refined carbs are incredibly calorie dense, making it extremely easy for you to eat too many calories.

Even if you could “get away with” eating sugar because your calories were below maintenance, you wouldn’t want to. You see, sugar is “empty calories.” No vitamins, no minerals, no fiber, no nothing… just calories.

Refined sugars wreak havoc with your blood sugar levels and they increase insulin levels, which can also increase fat storage and prevent stored fat from being released.

It only gets worse. Nancy Appleton, author of “Lick the sugar habit,” has compiled a list of over 100 reasons that sugar is disastrous to your health and fitness endeavors. Here’s a shortened version:

1. Refined sugar can be a contributing factor to gaining body fat
2. Refined sugar can increase the bad LDL cholesterol
3. Refined sugar can decrease the good LDL cholesterol
4. Refined sugar can increase triglycerides
5. Refined sugar can suppress your immune system
6. Refined sugar can deplete your body of important minerals
7. Refined sugar can contribute to the development of numerous types of cancer
8. Refined sugar can cause hypoglycemia
9. Refined sugar can decrease growth hormone
10. Refined sugar can contribute to diabetes
11. Refined sugar can cause food allergies
12. Refined sugar can increase serum insulin

If you made only one change to your nutritional habits today… that is, to reduce your sugar intake… the difference in your health, energy levels and body composition would absolutely blow your mind. Get the sugar out!

5. Soda

It was 1767 when British Scientist Joseph Priestly discovered how to carbonate water. Quite simply, pressurized carbon dioxide gas is pumped through the liquid and that’s what creates the bubbly fizz so many people have come to love.

Since then, soft drinks have become a multi-billion dollar industry all around the world. In fact, Coca Cola is one of the most valuable and recognized brands in the world. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the total consumption of carbonated beverages in 2001 was 10.3 billion cases. The average person consumes… get a load of this… 55.7 gallons of the fizzy stuff every year. But what’s good for the cola companies definitely isn’t good for what ails you.

Soft drinks are mostly water, but the amount of sucrose and high fructose corn syrup used to sweeten regular soda is more than enough to do its share of damage.

We’ve already talked about the ills of sugar, but liquid sugar is even more insidious when it comes to throwing a wrench in your fat burning machinery. Several studies have shown that when you consume liquid calories, you tend not to compensate by cutting back on the food you eat. The result is that you drink excess calories in addition to all the food you normally eat.
Liquid calories of all types are best avoided on fat burning diets.

6. Fruit “drinks” and other sugar sweetened beverages

Ditto (same as for soda)… don’t drink your calories, especially if they’re full of sugar! And don’t be fooled by the labels that say, “Contains real fruit juice.” Do your homework and read the ingredients list. If you see sugar, sucrose, corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup on the label, STAY AWAY!

7. Bacon, Sausage

Bacon has almost become a standard feature in the typical American breakfast. Too bad! The Center for Science in the Public Interest says that Bacon and Sausage are one of the worst foods you could possibly eat. One strip of regular pork bacon has 130 calories and 13 grams of fat, five of them saturated. By the way, that’s 93% fat by calories – Yikes!

Even if you choose turkey bacon, or a reduced fat bacon, you’d better check the label carefully. “Reduced fat” doesn’t mean much. If the fat is reduced from 90% fat to 70% fat or even 50% fat, that’s not much improvement.

Suppose you find a really, honestly lean bacon or bacon substitute. Still not a good choice. Why? Because it’s a processed food. The same warning that goes for processed fats and processed carbohydrates go for processed meats. You’re not eating pure, real pork my friend! You’re eating a “meat product” that contains some pork in a mix of fillers, sodium, sugar and nitrites that are used to cure the meats. Stay away from all fatty meats and all processed meats and stick with lean proteins like chicken breast, turkey, fish and egg whites. Your body will thank you.

8. White bread

The average American eats 54 pounds of bread each year. Most people think bread is fattening. This is largely due to the popularity of low carb diets. The problem is they’re eating the wrong kind of bread. White bread is treated in the body the same way as white sugar. White bread is a refined carbohydrate with no nutritional value. Whole grain breads (100% wheat, rye, etc) are another story.

Some breads are made from 100% whole grains with all the vitamins, minerals and fiber left intact. Other breads are all or mostly refined white flour. These breads have been stripped of most of their nutrients. The milling and grinding of the whole grain reduces the particle size while increasing the calorie density and turns the whole grain (a complex carb) into a simple carb that’s no better than pure sugar.

When proponents of low carb programs “flame” dieters for eating “too many carbohydrates,” what they often fail to mention is that the problem is not carbohydrates per se; the problem is refined carbohydrates. What most people miss is the fact that refined carbohydrates include not only white sugar and its derivatives (like corn syrup), but also white flour as well.

That’s right! This means that anything and everything made from white or enriched flour is a food that will more readily turn to fat! That includes, cereals, pretzels, bagels, breads, pitas, crackers and anything else made from white flour. If you’re not sure whether a food is whole grain or not, simply read the ingredients list on the label. If the food is whole grain, then the first ingredient will say something like “100% whole wheat.”

If you want to burn fat, give up the white flour completely and go with the grain – whole grain that is.

9. Potato Chips, Nachos, Corn Chips

In Robert Kennedy’s book “Rock Hard, Supernutrition for bodybuilders,” he wrote, “far too high sodium content makes potato chips almost lethal, especially if you are predisposed to high blood pressure. One popular brand contains 680 milligrams of salt, compared to the 4 milligrams of sodium one finds in an average baked potato.”

Sodium’s not the only thing chips have against them. Let’s see… we’ve got lots of calories, tons of fat, flavor additives and the refined oils that are used to fry/cook these buggers. The potato chip is not even close to the nutritional value of the raw potato, sodium and fat notwithstanding. The nutritional value that was in the raw potato has literally been “fried right out.” What’s left is mostly calories from fat from the refined oil used in the cooking process.

Oh, by the way, Nachos and Dorito-type chips are on the out list too (sorry).

These days you can find fat free potato chips at a health food store, which are definitely an improvement, but keep one thing in mind: packaged and man made foods are NEVER as good as foods eaten the way they’re found in nature. Pretzels are better because you’re losing the fat, but since they’re made from white flour, pretzels are NOT as big of an improvement over potato chips as many people think they are.

10. Hot dogs, fast food burgers

Hamburgers and hot dogs are as American as Chevrolet, baseball and apple pie. Unfortunately, America’s love for fast food has turned it into one of the most obese and unhealthy countries in the world.

Out of the two, hamburgers are the lesser of the evils (but they’re still pretty evil). Hot dogs are not pure meat – they are a “meat product” consisting of some meat, mashed up with fillers, stabilizers, sodium, preservatives, artificial colors and artificial flavors. They’re a veritable mish-mash of chemicals and additives… a “fake food” so to speak. A three-ounce regular hot dog has 16 grams of fat – seven of them saturated.

If you simply must have a hot dog, these days, you can find low fat hot dogs or turkey dogs by companies such as Healthy Choice. However, keep in mind that all hot dogs – low fat or not – are processed meats. The same rule that applies to carbohydrates applies to proteins as well; that is: Natural foods are always better than refined foods. Stick with natural lean proteins like chicken breast and egg whites and avoid the refined and processed meats as much as possible.

Hamburgers, while they may be made from real meat, are made from some of the fattiest meat available. There’s no such thing as “lean ground beef.” Even the leanest beef is still relatively high in fat. Read the labels and do the math for yourself.
Oh, one last thing…The nitrites used to cure the hot dogs have been linked to cancer.

11. Cookies, cakes, pies

Cookies, cakes and pies fall into the same categories as donuts – fat and sugar joined at the hip (and they’ll end up on your hips too, if you’re not careful!) Just because they’re baked and not fried doesn’t mean they’re any better.
Fat and sugar is the worst of all food combinations and they’re both found in abundance in cookies, cakes and pies. They also harbor untold amounts of dangerous trans fatty acids.

Save the cake for once a year on your birthday (okay, maybe a slice of pumpkin pie for thanksgiving). The rest of the year, avoid these like the plague.

12. Sugary breakfast cereals

According to the book “Cerealizing America,” by Scott Bruce and Bill Crawford, The cereal industry uses 816 million pounds of sugar per year. Americans buy 2.7 billion packages of breakfast cereal each year. If laid end to end, the empty cereal boxes from one year’s consumption would stretch to the moon and back. 1.3 million advertisements for cereal aired on American television every year, or more than twenty-five hours of cereal advertising per day, at a cost of $762 million for air time. Only automobile manufacturers spend more money on television advertising than the makers of breakfast cereal.

Most of the boxed cereals found in supermarkets contain large amounts of sugar and some contain more than 50% sugar (sugar smacks have 53% sugar). Cereal manufacturers are very clever in their marketing, making many cereals appear much more healthy than they appear by “fortifying” them with vitamins and minerals. Oh, lovely – you now have vitamin-fortified sugar!

Before you eat any cereal, read the ingredients list and see how high sugar appears on the ingredient list. Then check the “Nutrition facts” panel.

There are actually only a small handful of national commercially branded cereals that are made from whole grains and are sugar free. Shredded Wheat is one. If you shop at a health food store instead of in your local supermarket, you are much more likely to find a healthy, whole grain, sugar free (or very low sugar) cereal. But watch out – some of the health food store boxed cereals are sweetened with fruit juice or fructose. Although this may be an improvement over refined white sugar, this can really skyrocket the calories.

Although there are some good boxed cereals available, you may find it interesting that bodybuilders and fitness models – among the leanest athletes in the world – almost never eat boxed cereal – even the better brands. Instead, they opt for unsweetened old fashioned oatmeal (not the flavored, sweetened packets). This might surprise you, but most commercial breakfasts cereals, with their hidden sugars and clever marketing, are foods that turn to fat. Leave em on the shelf!

Foods contain just three major nutrients—protein, fat, and carbohydrates. It is not the total amount of food people eat that causes them to gain weight. Rather, one of those big nutrients is playing havoc with the body. The key to weight loss is to eliminate foods that contain the one nutrient that causes weight gain. These days, following this strategy is possible since specialized foods that have reduced or eliminated the weight-causing nutrient are so widely available.

Maybe fat is to blame. Fat in the diet is broken down into triglycerides that are taken in by body fat cells. Fat cells put triglycerides into storage and burn them very slowly and efficiently only after all other energy sources are used up. This works against weight loss. Eating fat also leads to heart attacks and cancer.

Maybe carbohydrates (carbs) are the macronutrient that causes weight gain. Carbs make us fat because they force the body to overproduce the hormone insulin, the metabolism cop in the energy in/energy out equation that rules body weight. To keep
blood sugar steady, insulin converts blood glucose from carbs into fat and pushes the fat into the fat cells. Insulin also prevents fat cells from releasing fat to be used for energy. Carbs make the body produce too much insulin, so blood sugar drops very fast. Since insulin will not let fat out to be used for energy, our brain tells us to eat more. If that food is a carb, the vicious cycle starts again. Eventually, the body becomes insulin resistant, and you gain weight. The answer is to eat very few carbohydrates. After cutting carbs, weight loss is quick and dramatic.

Maybe it is protein. After all, vegetarians avoid animal-based protein for overall health and long-term weight management.

Some fat is essential in everyone’s diet.

Fats provide a source of concentrated energy as well as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fat transports these vital nutrients around the body.

We also need fat for hormone metabolism, healthy skin and hair, tissue repair, protecting the internal organs and to prevent excessive loss of body heat.

There are two main types of fat: saturated and unsaturated.

Tips for healthy living

We tend to eat a lot of fat, so aim to include some essential fatty acids in your daily diet and reduce your intake of saturated fats. Below are a few ways to improve your diet.

Omega-6 Syndrome and the Okinawa Paradox

The residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa held the bragging rights for the longest life expectancy in the world—until their diet dramatically changed after World War II. Following the war, they ate less fish at meals and ate meat instead. This occurred in part because of exposure to Westernized eating, as Okinawa was under U.S. jurisdiction until 1972. A well-publicized problem of mercury contamination also spurred eating less fish. Consequently, consumption of omega-3 fat dropped. During U.S. rule, there was also a rapid shift to cooking with vegetable oils  instead of animal fats because they were considered superior for health. Consequently, Okinawans more than tripled their omega-6 fat content by 1990.

These changes were followed by a dramatic rise in Okinawans’ health problems, including Western-type cancers, allergic reactions, and heart and blood circulation diseases. Notably, the abrupt rise in health problems paralleled the Okinawans’ increased use of omega-6 fats. When Okinawa lost its longevity status, a scientific investigation began.

Researchers attributed the cause of Okinawans’ health problems to their Westernized diet, which was too low in omega-3 fats and too high in omega-6 fats. Their shift to a diet high in omega-6 fats with the concomitant rise in chronic diseases was strikingly similar to what occurred in the Westernized world.

To solve the panoply of health problems, researchers recommended eating less omega-6 fats and more omega-3 fats, with a balanced ratio of 2 to 1. That ratio means that a person who ate two grams of omega-3 fats should limit intake of omega-6 fats to just four grams for the day—the amount of omega-6 fat found in one granola bar or one tablespoon of mayonnaise. Notably, the scientists emphasized that eating less omega-6 fat without eating enough omega-3 fat is ineffective at lowering the health-damaging compounds made from omega-6 fats.

Keep in mind that the typical American eats an average of 13 grams of omega-6 fats per day. That’s more than four times the quantity of omega-6 fats consumed by a typical Okinawan.

India and Israel: Diets High in Omega-6 Fats and More Chronic Diseases

Israel also made the switch to the so-called healthier oils, resulting in one of the greatest omega-6 fat intakes in the world. Israelis’ average dietary omega-6 fats outnumber omega-3 fats by 22 to 1.

In spite of Israel’s exemplary heart-healthy eating (a diet low in artery-clogging saturated fat, high in polyunsaturated fats, and low in total calories), Israelis have a high prevalence of heart disease, not to mention high blood pressure and diabetes. Now they have a higher cancer rate than in Western countries. Researchers say this is
a consequence of eating too many omega-6 fats.

The prevalence of heart disease is also high in the residents of urban areas in India, despite their low-fat diet in which 15 to 27 percent of calories come from fat. Researchers attribute the higher rate of heart disease to eating too many omega-6 fats. Interestingly, the rural dwellers have a much lower incidence of heart disease, not to mention lower rates of other related chronic illnesses. Why? They dine on “poor man’s food” consisting of mustard oil and grains. Consequently, the rural residents have a diet much lower in omega-6 fat than their urban counterparts.

Omega-6 Fats Increase Risk for Specific Diseases

High levels of dietary omega-6 fat increase the risk for many different diseases and conditions. Here’s a quick look at some of the problems, which will be discussed in more depth throughout this website:

• Increased risk for cancer. A study of 854 veterans showed over the
  course of eight years that those following the corn oil diet (which
  substituted corn oil for the saturated fats in their diet) had twice
  the fatal cancer rate of those eating a standard diet.

• Greater fat storage. Studies indicate that omega-6 fats have a
  remarkable ability to trigger fat storage in the body. Several studies
  show that when animals are fed diets high in omega-6 fats,
  they become fatter than animals fed diets with identical calories.
  While more research is clearly needed in this area, it adds one
  more compelling reason to balance the fats.

• Clogged arteries in susceptible people. High levels of omega-6 fats
  increased damage to the arteries when given to people who have
  high fat levels (triglycerides) in their blood or who make too much
  of a compound called LOX, which promotes infl ammation.

• Poorer recoveries by sick patients. When standard soybean oil
  was fed to patients intravenously, they had more complications
  and more detrimental inflammation compounds in their blood
  than those infused with less omega-6 fat. Notably, the higher the
  omega-6 fat from the intravenous feeding, the longer the patients
  remained in the hospital.

• Worsened brain function and mood. The rise in diagnosed psychiatric
  disorders parallels the rise in omega-6 fat consumption.
  Some experts believe that the skewed high ratio of omega-6 to
  omega-3 fat accounts for the decade-by-decade rise in depressive
  disorders.

• Increased vision problems associated with age. A high intake
  of linoleic acid (the parent omega-6 fat) increases the risk for
  age-related macular degeneration, a serious problem that causes
  decreased vision. Conversely, a diet rich in omega-3 fats and fish
  appears to decrease the risk, if the diet is low in omega-6 fat.

The Most Powerful (and Damaging) Omega-6 Fat: Arachidonic Acid

Arachidonic acid (AA) is the epicenter of all that is problematic with excess omega-6 fat in our diets and ultimately with our health. AA is the fatty acid that creates the compounds that cause inflammation and blood clotting, among many other problems. In fact, many medications (including aspirin, Motrin, naproxen, Depakote, and Singulair) work by blocking the effects of AA. Researchers have just started to scratch the surface of AA’s impact, but here are some striking findings:

• Turned-on cancer genes. Scientists from San Francisco discovered
  that AA turns on a dozen genes involved in cancer. When they
  added AA to human prostate tumor cells, the cells grew twice as
  fast. Notably, over the past 60 years, the rate of prostate cancer
  in the United States has increased steadily along with the dietary
  intake of omega-6 fats.

• More heart attacks. In separate studies from different regions of
  the world, researchers found that people with more AA in their
  body had a higher risk of getting a heart attack.

• Mood disorders. Researchers recently figured out why many
  mood-stabilizing medications are effective for treating mood disorders.
  They work by lowering the level of arachidonic acid in the
  brain.

Balanced Omega-6 Fat Matters for Health and Disease Prevention

From petridishes to human studies, vast and diverse research overwhelmingly demonstrates the need to balance the fat families. A high proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 fat paves the way for many health problems, including mental illness, cancer, cognitive impairment, inflammation, arthritis, asthma, allergies, immunity disorders, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and vision and bone health problems, to name just a few examples.

The more omega-6 fat you eat, the higher your risk for disease. Research highlights are summarized in Table 3.6. When the term ratio is used in this table, it refers to the proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 fats.

Energy in food is quanti ed on the basis of calories, one calorie being de ned as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. It is customary to talk in terms of kilocalories (or Calories with a capital C) which equate to 1000 calories. These days it is more scienti cally correct to talk in terms of kilojoules, for the joule has replaced the calorie as the primary unit of energy under the international system of units (SI). (Incidentally, James Prescott Joule, 1818–89, after whom the unit of energy was named, was a member of a famous Staffordshire brewing family.) One joule is de ned as the amount of energy exerted when a force of one newton is applied over a displacement of one metre. It is the equivalent to one watt of power radiated or dissipated for one second. However, calorie is so widely known and used as a term that I employ it here: the term calorie is proving impossible to shake from popular parlance. The reader should be warned that often calorie (without the capital C) is employed in the literature rather than kilocalorie.

The number of calories in a foodstuff can be determined in the laboratory by combustion. However the ‘true’ calori c content of a food as it pertains to the diet depends on the extent to which those calories are available to the body.

This applies to all components of the diet. Just because something is present in high quantity in a foodstuff it does not necessarily follow that it will get into the body to exert any effect. Many factors may impact, including the form in which the nutrient is present in a food. A metal such as iron may not be assimilated if it is attached to some other component of the diet that passes straight through the gut. Much of the modern work on antioxidants is awed in this way. For example, only if the specific antioxidants get into the body will they get to the key site where they are able to act.

Returning to carbohydrates, those such as starch and sugar are almost completely digested and oxidised by the body and they are ascribed a calori c value of 3.75 kcal/g. Fats, which are digested up to 95%, afford a higher energy level (9 kcal/g) because they are less oxidised than the carbohydrates. The calori c value of protein is generally held
to be similar to that of carbohydrate, at 4 kcal/g. Ethanol is ascribed a calori c value of 7 kcal/g, indicating that, molecule for molecule, it is an extremely rich source of energy, second only to fat.

If calories in excess of those needed to maintain the body in equilibrium are taken in, then the surplus will be built up in the form of fat, for the simple reason that, pound for pound, fat is a richer energy store than is starch or protein. The converse applies: enhanced energy demand through exercise will ‘burn up’ fat provided that the extra calorie requirement is not met from fresh food intake.

We will address the calorie composition (and other key analytical measures) of a range of foodstuffs, including beer. In North America groups including the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine collaborated on the establishment of dietary reference intakes (DRIs). The precise requirement that a human will have for the various components of the diet will differ, depending on issues such as age, sex, climate, activity and weight. Individuals, too, will differ to varying degrees in their metabolic activity. Pregnant and breast-feeding women will need more of each type of nutrient. The DRIs reflect some of these differences. (The reader must bear in mind that the legal drinking age in some countries, including the US, is higher than 18, at 21.)

The values in the above table presuppose ‘normal’ conditions of health and activity. The number of calories required will vary depending upon the amount of physical exertion. For a male the range might be 2500 through to 5000 kcal per day for the most physically demanding lifestyles. Clearly a foodstuff rich in lipid, and to an only slightly lesser extent alcohol, allows the consumer to take in the energy in a more concentrated form. This must be balanced with satisfying the other nutritional needs as delineated in the Table. Balance is the key word. There are real concerns, for instance, about the tendency of people to shift to sugar-rich drinks as an alternative to, for example, milk. A consequence might be a de ciency in the intake of calcium.

In the US, dietary recommendations are also encapsulated within a food pyramid which was developed by the US Department of Agriculture. The higher up in the pyramid, the more sparing the intake should be. Its emphasis is a plant-based diet high in bre, rich in vitamins and minerals, and low in fat. Beer as a grain-based foodstuff clearly would feature in the lower part of the pyramid, accepting that considerable processing has taken the added-value product away from the whole grain.

Other pyramids exist. Two of relevance are the Mediterranean pyramid and the California pyramid. The former recognises the so-called French Paradox, which describes the lower than expected incidence of heart disease and some cancers in Mediterranean countries. This has been ascribed by some to antioxidants but by others to alcohol. In particular much has been written about the merits of red wine in this context. Notwithstanding, the Mediterranean pyramid refers to ‘wine in moderation’. It also reinforces messages about exercise underpinning the correct diet.

Alexander Leaf of Harvard University led the landmark study demonstrating omega-3 fats’ ability to prevent sudden death. His lab gave arrhythmia-prone dogs fish oil just before they performed a treadmill stress test. The results showed that fi sh oil prevented sudden death in the dogs.

These remarkable results prompted studies to see if similar benefits could be achieved in people. Hints already existed, as eating fish one to two times weekly was associated with a nearly 50 percent
reduction in sudden death.

Fish or Fish Oil Decreases Sudden Death

A study called the Diet and Reinfarction Trial told heart attack patients to eat two fi sh servings per week. The study’s results indicated a 29 percent reduction in death. Another study, the GISSIPrevenzione Trial, involved over 11,000 heart attack patients. In that study, men given 850 milligrams of long-chain omega-3 fats had a 45 percent reduction in sudden cardiac death compared with the unsupplemented group. The U.S. Physician’s Health Study added a vital piece of evidence: omega-3 fats reduce the risk of sudden death even among men without a history of heart disease.

Omega-3 Fats Prevent Arrhythmia in Heart Surgery Patients

A dangerous heart rhythm, atrial fibrillation, is one of the main complications after open-heart surgery. Italian researchers randomly gave fish oil supplements to 80 of 160 patients scheduled for heart surgery. The supplemented group had a marked reduction in atrial fibrillation and spent fewer days in the hospital. The fi sh oil’s effectiveness was comparable to that of the heart-stabilizing medications sotalol and amiodarone—but without their serious side effects, including assorted problems in the liver, lungs, and heart.

Omega-3 Fats May Prevent Arrhythmia in High-Risk Patients

Researchers are hopeful that omega-3 fats will provide an alternative to anti-arrhythmia drugs for patients with implanted defibrillators. But studies on these patients show conflicting results, so the jury is still out.

Omega-6 Increases the Odds of Developing Heart Disease

Excess omega-6 fats trigger blood clotting, clustering of blood cells, and tightening of blood vessels—a compelling bit of information. When you consider the role of omega-6 fats as a contributor to heart disease, the information is chilling.

In the 1970s, there were clues that excess omega-6 fat hurts the heart. Scientists infused animals with the omega-6 fat arachidonic acid, and it caused sudden death within minutes. The cause of death was thrombosis (blood clots).  This lethal effect did not occur after using the same amount of other fats.

Furthermore, all the eicosanoids made from arachidonic acid, except for one, have been found to be potent arrhythmogenic agents (causes of arrhythmia), according to Alexander Leaf’s research. Based on these and other findings, Leaf in a 2001 scientific editorial urged a lowering of dietary omega-6 fats in order to promote heart health.

Notably, the higher the level of arachidonic acid in your body, the greater your risk of death from heart disease. Let’s take a closer look.

Phospholipids

Oil and water don’t mix, so fats need a shuttle to move throughout your blood, which is mainly water. One of these “shuttles” is a phospholipid, which holds one pair of fatty acids. Phospholipids are a major component of all cells, including heart cells, blood cells, and brain cells.

Each phospholipid is like a hanger in which there are two clamps to hold a long pair of pants (but instead of pants, they are fatty acids). One of the clamps, called position 2, is reserved for long-chain fats. Typically, the coveted position goes to one of three fats: the omega-6 fat arachidonic acid or the omega-3 fats EPA or DHA. Which gets in? Whichever fat is in most abundant supply. The supply is based on the proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in the diet. In the case of the American diet, omega-6 fat wins a great majority of the space in the phospholipids, which is why about 75 percent of the long-chain fats in the American body are omega-6 fats.

A new blood test, called the Omega-3 Index, measures the phospholipid content of omega-3 fats. The higher your omega-3 index, the more protection your heart will have. Researchers believe this test might be one of the best indicators for risk of death from heart disease.

LDL Cholesterol: Special-Delivery Taxi for Omega-6 Fat.

The last L inLDL stands for lipoprotein, which is a protein that serves as a taxi for fat. In its center region is the fat payload, including cholesterol and phospholipids, which it delivers into the artery wall.

LDL carries an enzyme that serves as the release pin for the arachidonic acid tethered to the phospholipid. Once freed, the arachidonic acid can make potent omega-6 eicosanoids that trigger blood clotting, inflammation, and arrhythmias—obviously not good for the heart. An elevated blood level of this enzyme is an independent risk factor for heart disease and indicates the extent of artery damage.

Diets High in Omega-6 Fats Promote Atherosclerosis

Diets that are high in omega-6 fats may be especially harmful to people with a genetic disposition to heart disease (who are just being identified, thanks to robust research from the human genome project). The potent omega-6 eicosanoid made from the LOX enzyme (a known trigger of asthma) is powerfully linked to atherosclerosis, especially in people who are genetically wired to make higher levels of this enzyme.

A profound study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that eating a diet high in omega-6 fat (typical levels in a Western diet) caused an increase in the production of the damaging LOX-based compounds, leading to atherosclerosis. Both omega-6 fats, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid, were significantly associated with increased severity of artery damage.

In another study, Tufts University researchers reported in the May 2006 issue of Circulation that people who have a variation of a gene called apolipoprotein A5 have a higher risk for heart disease,
especially if they eat a diet high in omega-6 fats.

Diets Low in Omega-6 Fats Reduce Death from Heart Disease

The Lyon Diet Heart Trial was a large study designed to see if eating a Mediterranean-style diet would protect against the recurrence of a heart attack, compared with the standard diet recommended by the American Heart Association. The omega-6 fats in the diet were limited to seven grams a day, about what you fi nd in just one tablespoon of corn or soybean oil. The results surprised even the researchers. After four years on this diet, participants experienced a reduction in all causes of death, including heart disease. The impact of this diet was also refl ected in blood phospholipids, with a lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats.

In spite of the compelling evidence of omega-3 fat’s detriment to heart health, there is not much “buy-in” from the medical community. Since the late 1980s, respected scientists from around the world have brought attention to the omega-6 fat problem in eloquent editorials and studies, only to seemingly fall on deaf ears.

Instead, many health organizations indiscriminately promote the use of polyunsaturated fats to replace artery-clogging saturated fat. Since omega-6 fats are the dominant fat found in polyunsaturated oils (soybean oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn oil)—if you seek them out, you will overwhelmingly increase your dietary load of omega-6 fats, which is counterproductive to health.

Fortunately there are ripples of change. In 2005, Joint British Societies issued guidelines to prevent cardiovascular diseases, which not only recommended regular fish consumption, they urged replacing saturated fat with monounsaturated fats (like olive oil). This is significant, because this is the first health association that does not indiscriminately recommend increasing polyunsaturated fats for saturated fats.

To keep your heart healthy, it’s a great start to eat more omega-3 fats, whether from fish or supplements. But it is not enough. Dietary omega-6 fats need to be lowered to a healthier balance. This balance is also important for the developing brain, which you can find more detail about on this website.

When it comes to fat, you are what you eat. Unlike carbohydrates and protein, fat is the only macronutrient that does not get broken down into smaller units when you eat and digest it. These intact fats have a tremendous impact on the function of your body. If you eat chiefly omega-6 fats, that’s what you will find in your body: primarily omega-6 fats in your cells. (The same thing happens to the meat of animals raised on feedlot diets of grains rich in omega-6.) Conversely, if you eat a lot of omega-3 fats such as fish, that intake, too, will be reflected proportionately in your cellular makeup—if (and this is a big if ) you don’t have too many omega-6 fats in your diet as well.

The Type of Fat You Eat Shifts Your Body’s Biological State

The preponderance and type of fat in your cells dramatically affects the biological actions in your body. That’s because both omega-3 and omega-6 fats make powerful, hormone-like chemicals that shift the landscape of your body toward promoting either disease or health. The proportion of these fats eaten ultimately infl uences the inner workings of your cells, becoming a predictable biomarker of both your diet and disease. Simply put, show me the amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fats in your diet, and I’ll show you your body’s biological state: pro-disease or pro-health.

The omega-3 and omega-6 fats work like a seesaw moving up and down, trying to achieve a healthy equilibrium for your body. This balance works at keeping your blood pressure normal, maintaining a regular heartbeat, healing wounds, and keeping your mood flowing smoothly. When the amounts of these fats eaten are in balance, this tandem relationship works well.

One of the key reasons omega-6 fats have such sway over omega-3 fats is that these fat families need the same enzymes to make their potent biological compounds in the body. Those indiscriminate enzymes are in limited supply, like taxis on rainy day in New York. It’s harder to get a taxi during inclement weather because so many more people use them (a case of competitive supply and demand). Once the taxis are saturated with people, no cabs are left for others, no matter how great their need.

Doesn’t it seem odd that there would be such an antagonist metabolic environment? Remember, it wasn’t always that way. For thousands of years, our ancient ancestors chomped on a diet that provided equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fats. Therefore, the body had no problem with fats sharing enzymes.

A Diet Rich in Omega-3 Fat Protects Health

The omega-3 fats that make their way from your dinner plate down to your tiny cells can shift the biological state of your body. They do so by making compounds that fight inflammation, prevent blood clots, and reduce stress chemicals, all of which help to prevent chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer. This biological shift is so profound that heart disease scientists created the “Omega-3 Index” blood test, which refl ects the content of omega-3 fats in your heart cells. Some researchers believe that the omega-3 index may be one of the best predictors of heart disease.

A Diet High in Omega-6 Fat Promotes Disease

Omega-6 fats have distinct and opposite effects in your body. They are in direct competition with omega-3 fats to make their powerful and often opposing biological compounds. When omega-6 fats greatly outnumber the omega-3 fats, they behave like a dietary bully, dominating your body’s cellular playground.

A diet rich in omega-6 fats shifts the biological state in your body to one that sets up the conditions to promote diseases: infl ammation, blood clotting, and increased stress chemicals. The omega-6 fats create damaging compounds associated with arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, stress, mood disorders, and cancer, to name a few. In fact, death from heart disease is predicted linearly from the amount of omega-6 fat in the body.

A brief point needs to be made about the key omega-6 fats, linoleic and arachidonic acids: They are essential fatty acids, too. Yes, they are nutrients—yet archrivals, if you will, of the omega-3 fats. Omega-6 fats are not unlike other essential nutrients, such as vitamins A and D. They are required for your body to function, but when taken in high levels, they can pose dangerous health problems.