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sitting will kill you

Just Three Hours of Sitting Can Damage Your Blood Vessels

Increasing research has highlighted the significant risk of excessive sitting for adults, but “grown-ups” are not the only ones at risk. Children spend more than 60 percent of their waking day sedentary,¹ and by some estimates children sit an average of 8.5 hours a day.²
Further, activity levels are thought to decline steeply after age 8, especially among girls.³ Researchers decided to study a small group of girls (aged 7 to 10 years) to determine if sitting is as detrimental to their health as it appears to be to adults.
In adults, sitting for hours leads to constricted arteries in your legs, which impedes blood flow, raises blood pressure, and contributes to the development of heart disease over time.⁴ Does the same hold true among children?

Just Three Hours of Uninterrupted Sitting Reduces Vascular Function

At the start of the study, all of the girls had healthy arterial function. However, after sitting for three hours, playing on tablets or watching movies, there was a “profound” reduction in vascular function.
Arterial dilation fell by up to 33 percent in the girls, which is alarming since a 1 percent decline in vascular function is known to increase heart disease risk by 13 percent in adults.
There were some encouraging findings. The girls’ artery function had returned to normal a few days later when they returned to the lab. And when the sitting time was interrupted by a gentle 10-minute cycling session, no decline in vascular function was recorded.
Still, no one knows what affect sitting for hours day after day has on kids’ health, so it’s best to encourage your kids to stay active. Study author Dr. Ali McManus, an associate professor of Pediatric Exercise Physiology at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, told The New York Times:⁷

“It seems clear from our results that children should not sit for prolonged, uninterrupted periods of time.”

Alan Hedge, professor of Ergonomics at Cornell University, who was not involved in the study, add to CNN:

"This research suggests that children are not that different from adults in terms of fundamental physiology of the body… It confirms that sitting compresses blood vessels in young people just as much as it does in adults [and] just as much as it does in elderly."

Why You (and Your Kids) Should Strive to Sit Less Than Three Hours a Day

On average, a US adult spends nine to 10 hours each day sitting,⁹ which is so much inactivity that even a 30- or 60-minute workout can’t counteract its effects.¹⁰ While it might seem natural to sit this long, since you’ve probably grown used to it (physically and mentally), it’s actually quite contrary to nature.
Studies looking at life in agriculture environments show that people in agrarian villages sit for about three hours a day. Your body is made to move around and be active the majority of the day, and significant negative changes occur when you spend the majority of the day sedentary instead.
The Mind Unleashed featured a particularly noteworthy description of what happens in various areas of your body after prolonged sitting.You may be surprised to learn that it affects your entire body, from your brain to your feet.
Organ Damage

• Heart: When you sit, blood flows slower and muscles burn less fat, which makes it easier for fatty acids to clog your heart. Research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed that women who sit for 10 or more hours a day may have a significantly greater risk of developing heart disease than those who sit for five hours or less.
• Pancreas: Your body’s ability to respond to insulin responds after just one day of excess sitting, which leads your pancreas to produce increased amounts. This may lead to diabetes.
Research published in Diabetologia found that those who sat for the longest periods of time were twice as likely to have diabetes or heart disease, compared to those who sat the least.
Sitting for more than eight hours a day has also been associated with a 90 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes

• Colon Cancer: Excess sitting may increase your risk of colon, breast, and endometrial cancers. The mechanism isn’t known for certain, but it could be due to excess insulin production, which encourages cell growth, or the fact that regular movement boosts antioxidants in your body that may eliminate potentially cancer-causing free radicals.
Findings presented at the 2015 Inaugural Active Working Summit also found that sitting increases:

• Lung cancer by 54 percent
• Uterine cancer by 66 percent
• Colon cancer by 30 percent
Another reason for this increased cancer risk is thought to be linked to weight gain and associated biochemical changes, such as alterations in hormones, metabolic dysfunction, leptin dysfunction, and inflammation — all of which promote cancer.

• Digestion: Sitting down after you’ve eaten causes your abdominal contents to compress, slowing down digestion. Sluggish digestion, in turn, can lead to cramping, bloating, heartburn, and constipation, as well as dysbiosis in your gastrointestinal tract, a condition caused by microbial imbalances in your body. According to Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease

“There is growing evidence that dysbiosis of the gut microbiota is associated with the pathogenesis of both intestinal and extra-intestinal disorders. Intestinal disorders include inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and celiac disease, while extra-intestinal disorders include allergy, asthma, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.”

Brain Damage

• Your brain function slows when your body is sedentary for too long. Your brain will get less fresh blood and oxygen, which are needed to trigger the release of brain- and mood-enhancing chemicals.

Posture Problems

• Strained Neck and Shoulders: It’s common to hold your neck and head forward while working at a computer or cradling a phone to your ear. This can lead to strains to your cervical vertebrae along with permanent imbalances, which can lead to neck strain, sore shoulders, and back.
• Back Problems: Sitting puts more pressure on your spine than standing, and the toll on your back health is even worse if you’re sitting hunched in front of a computer. It’s estimated that 40 percent of people with back pain have spend long hours at their computer each day.
The disks in your back are meant to expand and contract as you move, which allows them to absorb blood and nutrients. When you sit, the disks are compressed and can lose flexibility over time. Sitting excessively also increase your risk of herniated disks.
Personally, after I reduced my normal 12 to 14 hours of daily sitting to under one hour, the back pain I’d struggled with for decades disappeared.

Muscle Degeneration

• Standing requires you to tense your abdominal muscles, which go unused when you sit, ultimately leading to weak abdominals.
• Hip Problems: Your hips also suffer from prolonged sitting, becoming tight and limited in range of motion because they are rarely extended. In the elderly, decreased hip mobility is a leading cause of falls.
Sitting also does nothing for your glutes, which may become weakened, affecting your stability and the power of your stride when walking and jumping.

Leg Disorders

• Varicose Veins: Sitting leads to poor circulation in your legs, which can cause swelling in your ankles, varicose veins, and blood clots known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
• Weak Bones: Walking, running, and engaging in other weight-bearing activities lead to stronger, denser bones. Lack of activity may cause weak bones and even osteoporosis.

Standing Desks May Benefits Kids and Adults

Frequent fidgeting, restlessness, or squirming are often used to describe symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. But many would argue that such behaviors are natural when children are forced to “sit still” for unnaturally long periods of time – like the majority of a school day.
To combat this problem, some forward-thinking schools are giving children more opportunity to move around throughout the day, rather than expecting them to sit for hours in desks. For instance, at Vallecito Elementary School in San Rafael, California, at least four classes have introduced chair-less standing desks.¹⁷
After an initial adjustment period, the standing desks have been met with rave reviews. The students report the desks are “fun” and help them feel “more focused.” Teachers say the desks make children more attentive and parents say their kids are sleeping better at night… all while avoiding the risks of excessive sitting time; a win-win situation all around! Similarly, Naperville Central High School in Illinois implemented a special program where students could take part in a dynamic gym class at the beginning of the day and had access to exercise bikes and balls throughout the day in their classrooms.
Those who participated nearly doubled their reading scores and math scores increased 20-fold.¹⁸ The results speak for themselves… and they extend to adults, too. If you work in an office environment, converting your workstation to a standing desk is one of the best ways to cut back on your sitting time. A study published in the journal Preventive Medicine analyzed 23 active desk studies and found they reduced sedentary time and improved mood.¹⁹ Additional benefits from from standing desks included:²⁰

• Standing desks boosting heart rate by about eight beats per minute, while treadmill desks increased it by 12 beats per minute
• Standing desks may boost HDL (good) cholesterol
• Using a standing desk for three months lead to weight loss
• People who use standing desks report less fatigue, tension, confusion, and depression, and more vigor, energy, focus, and happiness

Regular Movement Is Crucial for Staying Healthy

As you cut back on sitting, the point is not to simply stand still instead. Fortunately, as you stand up, you’ll likely naturally move as well. According to Dr. James Levine, author of the book Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You and What You Can Do About It:

“When somebody gets a standing desk, they generally stand for several hours a day. But they don’t stand still. A couple of things happen. The first thing that happens is, they generally move from leg to leg and generally change their body posture quite a lot. That weight-bearing and adjustment of weight-bearing has a whole series of physiological benefits to the musculature, the balance in musculature, the visual cortex, the testicular system, and so on.”

Even movements such as fidgeting appear beneficial. Among women who reported sitting for seven hours or more a day and hardly fidgeting, the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 30 percent. Women who reported fidgeting often fared far better – after sitting for five to six hours a day, their risk of mortality decreased. Further, there was no increased mortality risk from longer sitting time in either the “middle” or “high” fidgeting groups.²¹
Another example, people who made a point to get up and walk around for two minutes out of every hour increased their lifespan by 33 percent compared to those who did not.²² Those who stood up for two minutes an hour did not reap the benefits that those who walked for two minutes did. Setting a goal of 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day (which is just over three to five miles, or 6 to 9 kilometers) can go a long way toward getting more movement and less sitting into your life. This should be over and above any exercise regimen you may have.
I personally am doing about 14,000 to 15,000 steps a day, which I can typically accomplish with a 90-minute walk. Tracking your steps can also show you how simple and seemingly minor changes to the way you move around at work can add up. I recommend using a pedometer, or better yet, one of the newer wearable fitness trackers to keep track of your daily steps. Other simple ways to increase your physical movement and avoid sitting down at work and elsewhere include:

• Organize the layout of your office space in such a way that you have to stand up to reach oft-used files, the telephone, or your printer, rather than having everything within easy reach.
• Use an exercise ball for a chair. Unlike sitting in a chair, sitting on an exercise ball engages your core muscles and helps improve balance and flexibility. Occasional bouncing can also help your body interact with gravity to a greater degree than sitting on a stationary chair. But this is a concession and it is still sitting, so standing would be a better option.
• Alternatively, use an upright wooden chair with no armrest, which will force you to sit up straight and encourage shifting your body more frequently than a cushy office chair.
• Set a timer to remind you to stand up and move about for at least two to 10 minutes each hour. You can either walk, stand, or take the opportunity to do a few simple exercises by your desk, like those mentioned above. For an extensive list of videos demonstrating additional such exercises, please see my previous article, “Intermittent Movement Benefits Your Health. Here’s How to Get More of It into Your Work Day.”

Tips for Keeping Your Kids Moving, Too

It’s just as important for children and adolescents to remain active throughout the day as it is for adults. Younger kids tend to naturally want to be active, so be sure to encourage this movement and activity as much as possible. Unfortunately, as kids get older they may tend to become increasingly sedentary, especially if they have regular access to computers, TV, tablets, and video games.
The researchers of the featured study were actually surprised at how easy it was to get the young girls to stay seated for three hours; they had thought it was going to be a challenge to keep them still, but the girls were happy to oblige.
As a parent, you’ll want to set limits on your child’s “screen time” and encourage not only organized sports and other activities (like dance classes) but also regular active play and taking part in active chores around the house – walking the dog, taking out the trash, raking leaves, etc. If you have a school-aged child, you may want to speak with your child’s educators about ways to incorporate more movement into their hours spent at school. Outdoor playtime, standing desks, gym classes, and providing access to exercise bikes and exercise balls are just several examples.
It’s also imperative that you act as a role model by staying active yourself. If your kids see you moving around often and sitting less, they will naturally follow suit

say thanks for being alive

Science tells us that people who are thankful for what they have are happier and reach their goals with greater ease but Science tells us that those who make what they have greater every day are the happiest

Inner Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness asnd luck  in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power."

Gratitude is also associated with improved health, both physical and emotional. Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, head of Biologic Psychology at Duke University Medical Center once stated that:

"If [thankfulness] were a drug, it would be the world's best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system."

Being Thankful for Your Health — Every Day

While there are as many reasons to be thankful as there are people in the world, one facet of life that many often forget to be thankful for (until it is too late) is their health. We tend to take our health for granted until we're suddenly in the throes of pain or debilitating illness.

"What does it mean to be thankful for your health?... At its most basic level it can be a 'There but by the grace of God go I' feeling we get when someone we know dies of a heart attack or gets cancer. The news jolts us into awareness of our mortality, health being what keeps us on the other side.
Being thankful for our health, however, means more than gratitude for being alive itself.
On yet another level, it means appreciating the capacities allowed by our health – the cognitive ability to practice our profession and remember our children's names, the physical ability to walk up six flights of stairs when the elevator is being serviced...
It's about confidence that we have the strength to move most of our own stuff when need arises and take care of our children, tend to our property, and still have energy to enjoy something of everyday life..."

It goes back to the old adage that it's really the little things that matter most, and if you cultivate gratitude for the little things — such as being able to lift an overstuffed turkey out of the oven and remembering the names of all your friends and relatives around the table — it will foster a more deep-seated sense of happiness.
After all, a lot of misery is rooted in a perceived sense of lack. But if you have good health and all your mental faculties intact, you also have the prerequisite basics for doing something about your situation.

• Expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of human health, personal, and relational well-being, and developmental science
• Promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in medical, educational, and organizational settings and in schools, workplaces, homes, and communities, and in so doing…
• Engage the public in a larger cultural conversation about the role of gratitude in civil society.

The organization has a number of resources you can peruse at your leisure, including The Science of Happiness blog and newsletter,and a Digital Gratitude Journal,where you can record and share the things you're grateful for year-round.

Gratitude Pays Many Health Dividends

Keeping a gratitude journal is a practice recommended by many psychologists, and it can have far-reaching consequences. In one study, people who kept a gratitude journal reported exercising more and logged fewer doctor's visits compared to those who focused on sources of aggravation. More specifically, gratitude has been linked to:

• Improved sleep
• Reduced stress
• Enhanced sense of well-being
• Improved heart health reducing the likelihood of sudden death in patients with congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease

While such results may sound too good to be true, studie^s have shown that gratitude actually produces a number of beneficial and measurable effects on several systems in your body, including:

GET THE BIG DEATH ILLNESS QUICK CONTINUE EATING THIS SHIT

According to soda companies like Coca-Cola, sugary beverages can be safely enjoyed as part of a "balanced" diet and lifestyle. But what kind of "balance" are they really talking about?
In essence, the "balance" referred to here is a balance between poison and nutrition. The idea they're promoting is that if you eat a healthy diet, you can safely indulge in a little bit of poison every now and then.
This is the only balance they can refer to, because when it comes to real foods and pure water — which is the only beverage your body cannot live without — maintaining balance is not really an issue.
When you eat real food, it is beneficial and you don't need to concern yourself with adverse effects like obesity and diabetes.

Food either supports health, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, it shouldn't be construed as an acceptable part of a healthy diet. It should be accurately portrayed as a junk food to be consumed as little as possible, if ever.
The idea that junk food can be safely enjoyed in moderation was recently demolished yet again with the publication of a study^1,2,3 showing that eating just one junk food treat per day for one month is enough to trigger metabolic syndrome in healthy people.
The treats, which provided an additional 1,300 calories per day, included an assortment of candy bars and pastries.
In people already diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, which includes symptoms such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and elevated blood sugar levels, indulging in one milkshake per day for one month exacerbated their condition.
Metabolic syndrome in turn can have deadly consequences, raising your risk for diabetes, heart attack, and stroke. As noted by co-author Suzan Wopereis:

"Acute affects of diet are mostly small, but may have large consequences in the long run.
Our novel approach allows detection of small but relevant effects, thereby contributing to the urgently needed switch from disease-care to healthcare, aiming for a life-long optimal health and disease prevention.'"

Snack Ads Dominate While Cost of Severe Obesity Now Tops $8 Billion

Medicaid spends $8 billion per year on severe obesity⁴ — an expense that is entirely avoidable. Obesity may also be a contributing factor to increased use of prescription drugs in the US.
Harvard researchers warn that 59 percent of American adults now use at least one prescription drug⁵ — a 50 percent increase from a decade ago. More people are also taking multiple drugs, which increases the risk of adverse drug interactions.
About 15 percent of adults now take more than five drugs, and the researchers suggest this rise in drug use may be related to an increase in obesity.
To prevent obesity though, people need to be told the truth about nutrition and processed foods. The food industry must be held accountable for its lies, and junk food advertising for kids needs to be minimized or abolished.
According to a recent report, 40 percent of the ads kids see on television are for sugary snacks, and research⁶ shows these early impressions can significantly shape their future food habits.
Since 2010, snack ads have increased by 18 percent. In 2014, preschoolers saw an average of 582 snack ads on TV, kids aged 6 to 11 saw 629 snack ads, an increase of 10 percent since 2010, and teens saw 635 snack ads, an increase of 29 percent.
Food companies are also targeting certain ethnic groups to a greater extent than others. As reported by CNN:⁷

"Marketing of savory snacks to black and Hispanic youth shot up 551 percent, whereas yogurt ads dropped 93 percent between 2010 and 2014. Black children saw 64 percent more snack food ads on TV than white children, and 129 percent more ads for savory snacks."

Adults are also seeing more ads for junk food. In 2014, adults saw 793 snack ads, a 32 percent increase since 2010. Millions of junk food ads were also placed on YouTube and Facebook in 2014.

Soda Linked to Increased Risk for Heart Failure

Swedish researchers are also warning that soda consumption may raise your risk for heart failure. The study^8,9 included 42,000 men (aged 45 to 79) who were followed for nearly 12 years. Men who drank two or more glasses of soda or other sweetened beverages per day had a 23 percent greater risk of developing heart failure than those who avoided these types of drinks.
While the study cannot prove causation, lead author Susanna Larsson told Reuters¹⁰ that: "The take-home message is that people who regularly drink sweetened beverages should consider reducing their consumption."

Cutting Sugar Can Quickly Improve Your and Your Child's Health

Another recent and widely publicized study demonstrates just how quickly your health can improve simply by cutting out added sugars. The research was led by Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist who has long argued that added sugar is toxic when consumed in too-high amounts.
By replacing refined sugars and processed fructose with starches, obese children saw significant improvements in biomarkers associated with health in just 10 days, even though their overall calorie intake and the overall percentage of carbohydrates remained the same.
The study reduced the amount of added sugars from an average of 27 percent of daily calories down to about 10 percent, which is in line with the most recent recommendations by the federal government's Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, issued in February.
As noted by Dr. Lustig:

"Every aspect of their metabolic health got better, with no change in calories. This study definitively shows that sugar is metabolically harmful not because of its calories or its effects on weight. Rather, sugar is metabolically harmful because it's sugar."

On average, the children (aged eight to 18) saw the following improvements in their lab work and disease markers after this short intervention:

• LDL cholesterol fell by 10 points
• Diastolic blood pressure fell five points
• Triglycerides were reduced by 33 points
• Fasting blood sugar dropped by 53 percent
• Insulin levels also significantly improved

Refined and Processed Sugars Are Different from Sugars Found in Whole Foods

From a health standpoint, the children were not placed on an ideal diet — they were fed hot dogs and baked potato chips for example, but this was done specifically to demonstrate the impact of added sugars on metabolic health.
Refined sugar and processed fructose such as high-fructose corn syrup is FAR more harmful than glucose and other sugars found in whole foods. Even fructose in whole fruit is less harmful than processed high-fructose corn syrup due to the presence of fiber in the fruit. Dr. Lustig notes this difference in the featured interview.

Soda Politics and the Energy Balance Scam

The video above was produced by the Global Energy Balance Network, a front group secretly funded by Coca-Cola

The chief aim of this group appears to be to confuse consumers about soda science, and divert attention away from the mounting evidence showing that sweet beverages are a major contributor to obesity and diseases associated with insulin resistance, such as diabetes.
As reported by The New York Times which exposed the ties between Coca-Cola and the Global Energy Balance Network back in August of this year:

"Coca-Cola, the world's largest producer of sugary beverages, is backing a new 'science-based' solution to the obesity crisis: to maintain a healthy weight, get more exercise, and worry less about cutting calories. The beverage giant has teamed up with influential scientists who are advancing this message in medical journals, at conferences and through social media...
'Most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is, 'Oh they're eating too much, eating too much, eating too much' — blaming fast food, blaming sugary drinks, and so on,' the group's vice president, Steven N. Blair, an exercise scientist, says in a recent video announcing the new organization. 'And there's really virtually no compelling evidence that that, in fact, is the cause.'"

To claim that evidence is lacking is beyond ludicrous, and in support of the New York Times' exposé, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) wrote a Letter to the editor²² signed by 36 leading researchers, scientists, and public health officials, noting that Coca-Cola is blatantly ignoring the "well-documented evidence that sugary drinks are a major contributor to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes."
My recent interview with Marion Nestle about her new book, Soda Politics, goes into extensive details on how the soda industry manipulates and distorts the truth on this issue to protect their business. I've included it again below for your convenience.

Food Companies Should Stop Fighting the Obvious, Obesity Expert Says

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed adding "added sugar" to the Nutrition Facts panel on processed foods, set at 10 percent of total energy intake for a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet. The total amount of added sugar would also be listed in grams. With few exceptions, food companies are aggressively opposed to the proposal, claiming it will only add confusion,²³ as they believe all sugar calories are metabolically identical.
In an article²⁴ titled "Food Companies Should Stop Fighting the Obvious: Sugar is Ruining Our Health," Dr. Lustig blasts the food industry's outdated view that all calories are created equal, and that there's insufficient evidence demonstrating that added sugars are different from sugars found in whole foods.
He also notes that U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala) has even introduced a House bill that would restrict federal nutritional guidelines to those backed by "robust scientific evidence" only. This means any nutritional guideline would have to be proven through randomized controlled trials.

"The problem is that clinical nutritional data almost never reach robust proof, because you can't change the diets of people for 50 years to see if they develop more diabetes or heart disease; it's expensive, unethical, and unlawful," Dr. Lustig writes. "Scientists have shown that adding extra sugar to people's diets worsens cardiometabolic risk factors, such as high triglycerides, blood pressure, glucose and insulin levels, or low HDL — all components of what is called 'metabolic syndrome.'"

Dr. Lustig goes on to discuss the findings of his latest study, in which biomarkers for health were significantly improved in obese children in just 10 days by trading added sugars for starches. Both are carbohydrates, but his short-term experiment clearly shows that all calories are NOT created equal when it comes to their health effects. As noted by Dr. Lustig:

"Our study... establishes a direct relationship between added sugar and these chronic diseases, unrelated to its calories or its effects on weight... [E]very aspect of their metabolic health improved... all without changing the children's calorie intake or weight and without exercise.
We simply substituted starch for sugar in their processed food and watched their health improve. This is not correlation. It's causation — the most robust evidence of all... To turn our epidemic of metabolic syndrome around, the food industry must reduce the sugar it surreptitiously adds to processed foods... Science should drive policy, but the politics get in the way.
And politics is based on money. The food industry nets about $450 billion per year, yet America wastes at least $830 billion per year caring for diseases linked to metabolic syndrome... This is unsustainable, and a major reason why Medicare and Social Security will be broke by 2030. The USDA must do the right thing and curb Americans' consumption of added sugar, rather than kowtowing to the processed-food industry."

Are You Eating Too Much Sugar?

The American Heart Association and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend limiting your daily added sugar intake to 9 teaspoons (38 grams) for men and 6 teaspoons (25 grams) for women. The average American, however, consumes around 20 teaspoons of added sugar a day, and this is quite clearly far too much for your body to handle. A meta-review²⁵ published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that once you reach 18 percent of your daily calories from added sugar, there's a two-fold increase in metabolic harm that promotes pre-diabetes and diabetes.
I strongly recommend limiting your daily fructose intake to 25 grams or less from all sources, including natural sources such as fruit — regardless of whether you're male or female. That equates to just over 6 teaspoons of total sugar a day. If you're insulin resistant, which applies to about 80 percent of Americans, you'd be wise to limit your total fructose to 15 grams per day until your insulin resistance is resolved.
You don't have to become another disease statistic... The power to get healthy really is in your hands, and one of the most powerful strategies to improve your health is to cut down (or eliminate) refined sugar and processed fructose (corn syrup). A good place to start would be to cut down on soda and juice if you're currently drinking it on a regular basis, until you get to zero. Then, start working on trading out processed foods for whole foods. It's not rocket science to figure out what a healthy diet is. In short, it's REAL FOOD — food in its unadulterated state, or as minimally processed as possible.
The following chart will provide a few more clarifying details:

Foods that promote weight gain	Foods that promote healthy weight
Processed foods of all kinds	Whole, unadulterated (ideally organic) vegetables, fruits, and berries
Added sweeteners, regardless of whether they have calories or not. This includes all forms of added sugars, especially processed fructose (such as high-fructose corn syrup), but also artificial sweeteners, which confuse your metabolism and trick your body into storing fat	Unprocessed, unpasteurized traditionally cultured and fermented foods, such as kefir, kambucha, natto, kimchee, and fermented vegetables of all kinds
Meats from confined animal feeding operations, as they're typically fed genetically engineered grains contaminated with glyphosate instead of plain grass, plus antibiotics and other growth promoters to fatten up the animals as quickly as possible. Farmed fish are also fed an inappropriate diet that reduces their nutritional quality	Organically-raised grass-fed meats, pastured chicken, and wild-caught fish that are low in contaminants
Processed grains of all kinds, including organic ones, as they all break down into sugar in your body. Unless organic, grains may also be contaminated with glyphosate even if they're not genetically engineered. Such is the case with most conventional wheat for example	Fresh sprouts, which can be easily grown at home. A wide variety of seeds can be sprouted, which maximizes their nutritional value. For example, once sunflower seeds are sprouted, their protein, vitamin, and mineral content will typically provide you with 30 times the nutrient content of organic vegetables
Trans fats, found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, such as margarine, canola, corn, and soy oils	Healthy fats, including organically-raised grass-fed meats, fatty fish like wild caught salmon, coconut oil, olives and olive oil,avocado, raw nuts organic pastured egg yolks, and butter made from raw grass-fed milk. For cooking, tallow and lard are ideal. Since they're saturated fats, they do not oxidize when heated. And, since saturated fats do not have double bonds that can react with oxygen, they also cannot form dangerous aldehydes or other toxic oxidation products. Coconut oil is another healthy option, as it too resists oxidation when heated

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots Recipe

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots Recipe

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 45 minutes
• Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 2 pounds brussels sprouts, tough outer leaves removed, base trimmed, sprouts cut in half
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Several large shallots, peeled and thickly sliced, about a cup
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled, sliced in half
• 2 Tbsp plus 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted (optional)

Method

1 Heat the olive oil in an oven-safe sauté pan on medium high heat. Add the shallots, spread them out in an even layer, lower the heat to medium low, and let them cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until softened and lightly browned. 

2 Preheat oven to 425°F. Add the brussels sprouts and the garlic to the shallots. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes more, until the sprouts begin to brown.

Drizzle with 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

3 Place in oven, uncovered. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until cooked through and caramelized on the edges.

4 Remove from oven. Sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar, the thyme, and toasted walnuts (if using). Stir to combine. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

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POLENTA WITH SAUSAGES

(Polenta colle salsicce)

The polenta is a very popular dish in Northern
 Italy and can be prepared in various ways. Always, however, it is better to serve with the addition of sausages, or with birds or tomato paste.

The polenta is practically cornmeal and it is made with the so-called farina gialla or yellow flour.

The ingredients for a good polenta are one pound of corn meal, preferably granulous, one quart and a half of water, salted in proportion, one piece of butter, one cup and a half of milk.

Pour the meal little by little into boiling water, continually stirring with a wooden spoon. When the meal is half cooked, put the butter and pour the milk little by little. While the polenta boils, place on the fire in a little saucepan a tablespoonful of olive oil or a small piece of butter. When the oil is hot or the butter is melted, put some sausages repeatedly pricked with a fork.

When the sausages are cooked, pour the polenta hot in a dish and place the sausages and the gravy in a cavity practised in the middle. Serve hot.

In cooking the sausages two or three bay-leaves may be added and removed before serving.