–Rachel (a.k.a. MNH web girl)

“I’ve tried to lose weight, but I just can’t. I’m hungry all the time. I’m too tired to exercise. Any little bit I lose just comes back. Diets don’t work for me.”

Well, guess what. Diets don’t work for anyone!

Not only that, diets and the stress they cause can be detrimental to your long term health.

You see, we have survived as a species because a small percentage of our ancestors were efficient fat storage units. These “survivors” often withstood long periods of famine because of this ability to store fat for later use. As time went on, the human gene pool increased its affinity for fat storage. This was a good thing until very recently.

Within the last hundred years, most modern societies have lost the need for this genetic trait. We have more food than we need, and rarely (if ever) experience periods of famine. (This is also a good thing, our bodies just don’t know it.)

When we diet, our bodies see the lack of food as a famine and up-regulate our fat storage genes. That means our bodies absorb more calories from our food, and these calories are stored as fat for a rainy day. Our bodies are only doing what they’re genetically programmed to do—trying to survive.

When we stop dieting, these “new and improved” genes continue to induce weight and fat gain. Actually, during the immediate post-dieting period, we actually regain weight faster than it was lost.

Even worse, dieting also causes a loss of muscle mass. Less muscle means less fat burning and more fat storage.

The unfortunate fact is that if you are overweight, you will probably end up with one or more chronic health problems during your lifetime. So, if dieting doesn’t work, how can you lose weight?

An ideal eating plan should do several things:

*decrease hunger (which will reduce the anxiety and stress of dieting)
*stimulate satiety, that feeling of satisfying fullness
*increase fat burning
*improve muscle mass
*prevent excessive release of insulin

MainerWhey’s unique combination of whey protein, low glycemic index carbohydrates, and other beneficial nutrients like glutamic acid takes care of all these requirements.

I recommend adding our “all in one” MainerWhey Hunger and Weight Management supplement to a healthy eating plan and regular exercise.

It takes time to gain excessive weight. Ideally, you should take time to lose it, too. Remember what the tortoise said to the hare—

Slow and steady wins the race.

To your vibrant health,

Dr. Jeff Leighton

Dr. Jeff Leighton, Founder and CEO of Maine Natural Health

Try it out: search for a topic. If you don’t find what you are looking for, we want to know! For questions regarding products and health, please email Dr. Leighton at askthescientists@mainenaturalhealth.com. For questions about the website, contact me, Rachel, at webmaster@mainenaturalhealth.com.

Check in frequently, we are always adding new information to the site. Subscribe to our RSS feed* for the latest news and updates. Friend us on Facebook and Twitter, and never, ever be shy to contact us! We love to hear from you.

Best,

Rachel Albury

*Google Chrome does not have a built in RSS Reader, what’s up with that? FMI: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/

Sarah Thorton, Herbalist and manager of Ravenswood Natural Health

Sara has studied herbs, vitamins, and supplements for over 30 years. Sara became interested in alternative health therapies because she wanted to better control her asthma.

Sara began studing herbs as a teenager and by the time she was a young woman she was an expert on herbal remedies. The college medical center even sent ill students her way when an epidemic of bronchitis broke out on campus. Earlier that year, the medical center had actually scolded her for giving her friends teas and herbs for menstrual cramps and other minor ailments.

Sara’s store, Ravenswood Natural Health, is located in Simsbury Connecticut. It is both a store and a wellness center with the goal to provide beauty, serenity, and health for mind and body. FMI please visit www.ravenswoodnaturalhealth.com

Do you have question for Sara? Call in at 207-593-0013 or email rcheech4@gmail.com to have your question answered on air.

Virtually all sources of protein provide benefit to our bodies. This cannot be said for all fats or carbohydrates. Recently, there has been an interest in combining a mixture of whey protein concentrate, isolate, and caseinate. The idea is a product that will release amino acids over a long period of time. This is like making a protein supplement into a food. Proteins that break down slowly, like caseinates, are poor substitutes for food proteins like turkey, chicken, bison, or lean meat. A supplement protein should hydrate well in water, taste good, and be absorbed quickly. If you want a slow release protein eat a steak.

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Enjoy!

Happy Fall from Maine Natural Health

Glutamine is one of those amino acids that are preferentially taken up by excercising muscles. Glutamine can be found in protein-rich foods such as beef, pork, poultry, fish, milk, yogurt, ricotta and cottage cheese, raw spinach, parsley, cabbages, and nuts. It is also an ingredient in three of MainerWhey and SFH products; Rejuvenate, Hunger & Weight and Post Workout.

Glutamine helps your immune system function and appears to be needed for normal brain function and digestion as well as for removing excess ammonia (a common waste product in the body. Our bodies make enough glutamine for its regular needs, but during extreme stress: heavy exercise, injury, surgery, infection, or prolonged stress, your body may need more glutamine than it can make.

When the body is stressed, it releases the hormone cortisol into the blood stream. High levels of cortisol can lower your body’s stores of glutamine.

Clinical studies have found that glutamine supplements strengthen the immune system and reduce infections (particularly infections associated with surgery). Glutamine supplements may even help in the recovery of severe burns.

Clinical Studies: A few studies of people with HIV and AIDS have found that taking glutamine supplements, along with other important nutrients, may increase weight gain and help the intestines better absorb nutrients.

Athletes who train for endurance events (like marathons) may deplete the amount of glutamine in their bodies. It’s very common for them to catch a cold after an athletic event. Some experts think that may be because of the role glutamine plays in the immune system. One study showed that a test group of athletes taking glutamine supplements had fewer infections.

Supplemental glutamine is often given to malnourished cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments and sometimes used in patients undergoing bone marrow transplants. Glutamine seems to help reduce stomatitis (an inflammation of the mouth) caused by chemotherapy. Some studies, but not all, have suggested that taking glutamine orally may help reduce diarrhea associated with chemotherapy.

More clinical research is needed is needed for all of these above conditions.

Precautions: Glutamine powder should not be added to hot beverages because heat destroys this amino acid. People with kidney disease, liver disease, or Reye syndrome (a rare, sometimes fatal disease of childhood that is generally associated with aspirin use) should not take glutamine. It is always a good idea to talk with your health care provider before taking a new supplement if you are being treated with any medications.

FMI:  http://www.ravenswoodnaturalhealth.com/42023.html

At Maine Natural Health, we have pioneered these types of products as supplements or adjuncts/replacements to the supermarket diet. In fact our first product was called Caveman (renamed Daily Balance), and was a combination of protein and a low glycemic carbohydrate (cherry powder) and contained no sugars. This is a very clean caveman diet.

The health crisis in the US is driven in part by genetically modified foods that add more allergens to our diet and high glycemic processed food that add quick calories and induce our pancreas to release large amounts of insulin. If one eats like a caveman, many of these health issues will go away.

-Dr. Jeff Leighton