Multitasking Food?

 

These Multitasking Foods Build Your Bones, Cleanse Your Body, And Give You More Energy. Are You Eating Them?

In today’s world, we’re all multitasking. It seems like the only way to get anything done, and it’s become an integral part of society. Nonetheless, it can get aggravating and leave you feeling frazzled. Besides, multitasking is not always the most productive approach.

Foods, however, are natural multitaskers that get things done without any stress or aggravation on your part.

In fact, it’s just the opposite: multitasking foods build your bones, cleanse your body, and give you tons of energy. That’s a lot on your “plate,” so to speak!

The Best Multitasking Foods

All vegetables have something healthy to offer, and you’ll find a complete discussion of bone-healthy veggies in Chapter 11 of the Save Our Bones Program. But there’s one group of vegetables that deserves special recognition for their multitasking abilities. They are…

Cruciferous Vegetables: Foundation Foods That Provide Multiple Benefits

Cruciferous vegetables include foods you’re probably quite familiar with. They are readily available and many are coming into season this fall and winter. Here are the most common cruciferous vegetables:

• Arugula
• Bok choy
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chinese cabbage
• Collard greens
• Daikon radish
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Land cress
• Mustard greens
• Radish
• Rutabaga
• Shepherd’s purse
• Turnip
• Watercress

These are just some of the bone-healthy, delicious vegetables in this group, and they are all Foundation Foods in the Save Our Bones Program. You’ll find a complete Foundation Foods chart in Chapter 9 of the Program, including many more cruciferous veggies.

What Makes Cruciferous Vegetables So Good at Multitasking?

There are 3 major tasks that these vegetables perform, and they do so via special plant chemicals and bone-healthy nutrients. I’ll explain.

Task #1: They Build Your Bones

There’s no doubt that cruciferous vegetables are good for your bones. They are chock-full of Foundation Supplements, which are bone-healthy nutrients found in whole foods. For example:

• Cabbage is an excellent source of Vitamin C, calcium, silicon, and polyphenols.
• Broccoli offers calcium, boron, Vitamins K and C, and flavonoids.
• Brussels Sprouts provide Vitamins K and C.
• Cauliflower boasts Vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, and magnesium.
• Kale gives you Vitamin K and calcium.

All of these nutrients are Foundation Supplements because of their exceptional role in building and maintaining healthy bone. So when you eat these cruciferous vegetables, you can check task #1 off your list!

Task #2: They Cleanse Your System

One of the most important first steps you can take on your bone health journey is to cleanse your system. Why is this so important?

If you’ve taken osteoporosis drugs for any amount of time, it makes sense to get those toxic substances out of your system as soon as possible. And even if you’ve never taken osteoporosis drugs, you’ll greatly jump- start your bone-building success with a cleanse. And cruciferous vegetables are key players in this process. That’s because they contain…

D-Glucarate, a Crucial Phytochemical

D-glucarate works by suppressing an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase. This enzyme inhibits the detoxification process on a cellular level, but when it’s suppressed by d-glucarate, toxins are free to be flushed from the body and cells are protected from damage.

Amazingly, all cruciferous vegetables naturally contain this phytochemical. That takes care of task #2.

Task #3: They Give You More Energy

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables of any variety can boost energy and help you feel good. But cruciferous vegetables really shine in this area. Their energy boost comes from special plant compounds called isothiocyanates.

Isothiocyanates contain sulphur, and are responsible for that distinctive cruciferous flavor. They boost energy by activating a protein called Nrf2. This protein generates the cell’s powerhouse called mitochondria, which actually produce an energy transporter called adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Having lots of mitochondria is a good thing, because they convert glucose into a form of energy that your muscle cells can readily use. And if your muscles are performing well, it means less fatigue.
This is great news, but there’s more to muscles. You see, muscles need to be used for optimal performance – and so do your bones.

Muscles and Bones Work Together

Strong muscles put healthy pressure on bones. Bones increase in density when they are exposed to weight-bearing exercise. The more force you put on a bone, the more it responds with increased density. This concept is explained in Wolff’s Law, which states that bone is generated and changed in response to the forces of muscle and gravity.

A good workout program will help you build and tone your muscles so that they are more effective at building your bones.

Article contributed by V.Goldshmith, MA

What Should Be The Average Body Fat Loss?

What will be the average body fat percentage (%) loss in a week?

I recommend setting a fat reduction goal of about half a percent per week. Based on my personal experience with either skinfold caliper/bioelectric impedance body composition machine, I've concluded that this is about average. This is an honest number that reflects an average of everyone. That's what makes this figure a good realistic weekly goal.

If your body fat measured 23.8% on day one of week one, then 23.3% would be your goal for the end of that seven-day period. That will be an impressive 6% drop in your body fat if you keep that up over 12 weeks.

 

If you're more ambitious and you want to shed body fat even faster, it's certainly possible, although it does depend on body size. Larger people can often lose larger amounts of weight and body fat. When someone is already lean and wants to get even leaner, there is less fat remaining so it becomes more difficult to lose large amounts every week. One must understands that our bodies refuse to let us crush those fats but would love to maintain at it or store more.

Personally I have seen many people drop 0.6% or 0.7% body fat per week if they worked hard, usually doing multiple cardio sessions per week on top of their weight training, combined with excellent dietary compliance. 

If you lose less than 0.5% per week, as long as you made some forward progress, you should celebrate that as success. It's more normal for results to vary from one week to the next than to drop the same amount every week, so an occasional slow week is nothing to get upset about. It's just feedback.

After a below average week, to bring the rate of fat loss up to average or better for the next week, you'll need to: 

(1) re-establish compliance if you had a bad week (get back on the wagon! ... and start tracking food intake more meticulously if necessary) or

(2) make adjustments to your nutrition and training to increase your caloric deficit and optimize body composition changes.

Note! Please remember this: Above average results require above average effort. Extraordinary results require extraordinary effort. There are quick fixes for weight loss, but there are no quick fixes for fat loss