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Rick Burnett:   In Chapter 6 of "Possibility Living" you talk about choosing a healthy diet and fit lifestyle.  You list ten action steps - today we will discuss the first four steps.  On page 89 you talk about superfoods - what are some examples of superfoods and what can they do for us?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Some of those we've listed in the book include garlic, tomatoes, crocerferous vegetables, and soy products.  What is amazing is that these foods have such tremendous healthy properties in them that if most of us would consume them we could reduce heart disease, cancer, and we can have a higher level of fitness.  These are God-made foods and available for the picking! 

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Not exactly available for the picking - most of us don't have them available growing in our backyard!  But, that would be a great idea and then you could just go out and pick them!  I was at the market recently and I was purchasing some bee pollen.  It was the only thing I bought and people saw me going through the line to pay with this package of bee pollen.  They asked, "what is this?"  I told them it was a superfood and they wanted to know about superfoods, so I mentioned some of those we just listed.  They were enthralled with this idea of me buying bee pollen.  I use bee pollen about three or four times a week.  I sprinkle it on my cereal or oatmeal several times a week.  It supercharges my breakfast.

Rick Burnett:  Do you actually feel a difference, as opposed to eating cereal without bee pollen?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Over time I can feel a difference.  I don't feel a difference that morning - but over time I will notice the difference.  One of the super things that bee pollen does is it helps to regulate the blood sugar.  So if you consume bee pollen on a regular basis, you don't experience the blood sugar highs and lows.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  What I notice when I consume the superfoods for example and eat a good healthy breakfast in the morning is, I am very comfortable until lunchtime.  It gives me the energy to go all the way to lunch without wanting a snack or treat throughout the day.

Rick Burnett:   One of the products you list is soy products - What is the difference or advantage of soymilk over cow's milk?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:   Anytime that you can consume soymilk it is much better for you than cow's milk.  Cow's milk, quite frankly, has many, many hormones which I don't think are good for your health, and I think we do so much processing to milk that we make it an unstable product.  The fact is, from the time it goes from the udder to the glass it goes through so much negative processing that it becomes a negative food for our body.  The soy has a wonderful benefit to it - for women who have osteoporosis, it helps to bring up their bone density.  Soy is a good protein.  Soy has no saturated fats to it. 

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: I've had some interesting encounters with milk.  I spent my summers as a youth on my uncle's farm.  I think he milked just under 30 head of cows every morning and every night - 4 o'clock in the morning and 4 o'clock in the afternoon - rain or shine - those cows had to be milked!  If you didn't milk them, they would die!  So they had to be milked without exception.  The reason they will die is that their mammary glands become swollen and they get infected and it will kill them.  When we would finish milking the cows my uncle would take the bottle and put the lid on top and put it in the refrigerator.  So, we literally drank if straight from the udder.  All my uncles were that way and my parents were raised that way - milk was a very good product for them under those conditions.   Today, it is all homogenized all the enzymes are killed.  The body doesn't know how to deal with all these fats and different properties in the milk because the enzymes which break it down have been destroyed.  Non-homogenized milk will normally separate.  If you have "real" milk and you set it in the refrigerator, you will have the skim milk at the bottom and all the cream will come to the top.  The top third will usually be cream and the bottom two thirds will be the skim milk.  With the homogenization process, those things are not allowed to separate.  So with homogenization the milk is always consistent and you don't have to shake it up.  I think in the process of homogenization, they alter the chemistry of the milk, which makes it more difficult for the body to digest and use it more effectively.  I think the same thing is probably true of soy.  The further away you get from the actual soybean, the less positive the benefit of the soy.  My favorite soy product is to actually buy shelled soybeans (green ones), and I eat them like you'd eat peas.  They are absolutely delicious.  I just warm them up and they have a little texture to them. 

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  For the information of our audience, that is the green bean that you see when you go to a sushi bar - it's very healthy for you.  You can buy them frozen and cook them like a green bean, which allows you to get into the pod - they are a great source of protein and very healthy for you.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  I'm too lazy to pop them out of the pod, so I just buy them shelled, so I just have the bean itself.  I'll eat a bowl of them for a snack once in a while.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:   I'd like to add one more thing about superfoods.  Recently, in my mail I received a letter from the homeowners association of the community where I live.  In the community where I live there has to be one of two different trees in your front yard.  One of the trees that is required is being diseased and they are dying.  The letter goes on to say how we can avoid having the trees die.  It's very interesting they said that the pesticide does not work - the bugs that are killing these trees will only attack unhealthy trees.  They only are attracted to and attack a sick tree.  What is interesting is they recommend feeding the tree healthy nutrients.  Because the healthy trees when they sense an insect or pest attacking; the tree will emit a certain toxin to the pest as a form of defense.  Sick trees are not able to do this, so therefore these pests are able to eat and kill the tree.  So, their solution is not to put the pesticide on from the outside, but, rather to feed the tree healthy nutrients and allow the tree to get healthy from the inside.  I think this is very relevant to our discussion here about superfoods.

Rick Burnett:   It's the same with us for a virus.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Exactly, if we eat superfoods, our bodies will be well and healthy so that we can fight off the virus or bug!

Rick Burnett:  On page 91 you talk about increasing your metabolic rate - can you define metabolic rate for us?

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Metabolic rate is the rate at which you burn calories.  In other words, what we do know is that fat burns less calories than muscle.  So, a person who weighs 150 pounds whose percentage of body fat to muscle is higher fat than a person who is the same size and consumes the same amount of food will actually gain more weight and more fat than the person who is muscular.  The reason is their metabolism rate is different because of the muscle mass they have.  So, if you're overweight today the first inkling people have is to start losing fat and they quit eating so much.  They change their diet and instead of eating properly, they starve their body.  Their body then taps into their fat storage and consumes the fat; however, what most people don't realize is at the same time it's consuming the fat, it is also consuming the muscle.  If you're not exercising, and you finish losing the weight and starving yourself - of that twenty pounds, ten might be fat and ten might be muscle.  So, you've lost ten pounds of muscle and your metabolic rate has changed and you go back to your "normal" way of eating and you'll burn less calories and you'll gain more weight than you did before you started this process.  In other words, you've changed your metabolic rate in a negative way, so that you cannot consume as many calories as you used to because you don't have as much muscle as you used to! 

Rick Burnett:  We hear about people doing crash diets and then they just gain more weight back - is that why that happens to them?

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Absolutely!  They get on a negative spiraling cycle.  There is another approach to losing weight - and, that is to throw the scale away.  What you'll find is the healthier you are the more you will weigh - because, muscle weighs more than fat.  So, the key to living a long, healthy, and productive life is to get your metabolic rate such that you will burn the calories you consume.  In order to do that you need to build muscle.  So, throw the scale away and use your belt buckle and mirror to reflect the weight level you want to reach.

Rick Burnett:  On page 92 you discuss avoiding calories that have no nutritional value.  What kinds of foods have no nutritional value?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  The most common thing I see people do, which is an absolute waste of energy, is consuming sodas.  Soda is an absolute waste of calories.  There is no nutrient density to them whatsoever; they are mostly sugar.  For instance, certain dark sodas have a phytates in them, which actually compete for calcium absorption.  So, not only do they give your body empty calories, but they compete with the healthy nutrients in your body. 

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Ah.but what do you say to people who only drink the sodas with nutrasweet - "one calorie!"  What do you think about that Doug?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Well, there are studies which determine that some of these artificial sweeteners/calories - your body doesn't know or recognize them as artificial - your body perceives them to be natural sweetness and your body starts to produce an insulin response just as if you were consuming the sugar.  So, it's interesting that sometimes the artificial sweeteners actually induce an insulin response just like sugar.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  So, the insulin response actually aids in the number one growing disease in America today, diabetes.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:   Actually what happens is it causes hypoglycemia and then your body releases other hormones and adrenaline which causes a rapid rise in blood sugar, which we call diabetes.

Rick Burnett:  So, what we want to do is maintain the blood sugar levels.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Yes, what we want to do is maintain a relatively level blood sugar which will keep us healthy and energized properly.  For example, Robert mentioned earlier that when he eats a good healthy breakfast, he's fine until lunchtime.  So, if you have a breakfast which is deficient, and you get low blood sugar, then you'll crave sweets and not a nice complex, carbohydrate, protein lunch - you'll crave a simple carbohydrate; i.e., something sweet.  So, that's why we talk about having a constant consistent blood sugar level. 

Rick Burnett: What happens to our body when our blood sugar rises too high?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Well, we release insulin.  Think of insulin as a pick up truck.  Insulin takes glucose from the blood into the tissue cells.  When we take glucose from the blood into the tissue cells, we call that a fat buildup scenario.  Once sugar is stored in the body, it is stored as fat.  So, anytime our body is releasing insulin we are storing fat. 

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  It's hard to talk about this without talking about the foods we shouldn't eat.  We haven't talked about refined sugar at all.  I think that one of the main causes of diabetes is the craving that people have for refined sugar.  The main culprit is the sodas, which have such incredible sugar levels - along with a little caffeine.  The colas give people an immediate boost, which is why they like it.  Of course, if you don't replenish it right away, then you get a "down."  So, it's very easy to become addicted to them.  I was actually addicted to colas about 15 years ago.  I would have two six packs of colas a day - that's 12 cans of soda!  That was my beverage of choice!  My water consumption was nil.  So, what I like to challenge people to do is to replace their sodas with water. 

Rick Burnett: Was it difficult for you to go from consuming soda to water?  A lot of people have difficulty with making that change.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Well, it's an addiction.  It's an addiction that you can change.  It's not nearly as severe as an addition to cigarettes or other drugs or narcotics.  People can be addicted to a lot of different things, from alcohol to sodas, to caffeine, etc.  I want to encourage people to break through those addictions.  A caffeine addiction will cause headaches for a couple of days.  But, after about two days your body has flushed itself of the caffeine and it will have a positive impact on your health. 

Rick Burnett:  One more question about sodas - what about those clear, fruit flavored sodas? 

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Well, I buy soda water that has a hint of lemon, with no added sweeteners.  I would still recommend good old-fashioned water; however, if people need to have the "fizz"; those would be OK.

 One more point about white sugar.  I recommend avoiding white flour and white rice.  You can certainly have multi-grain breads, whole-wheat flour, and brown rice.  Just don't consume those white flour products; especially if you are having glucose/sugar problems.  For example, white bread will cause a rapid rise in blood sugar - it has what we call a very high glycemic index.  People with diabetic issues need to avoid, white sugar, white flour, and white rice.  Also, whole-wheat pastas are much better for you than regular pastas.  You can also find brown rice everywhere. 

Rick Burnett: That has always been confusing to me - these white flour products become sugar?  Is that what the problem is with them?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Yes, it's actually your body's response to what it takes in.  Once you strip all of God's healthy layering to the grains, you've stripped away all the nutrient values and your just left with the starch.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  You have to realize what happens to the flour - it has been processed so much that they have to actually enrich it to sell it as a food.  If you ever read a label and it says enriched flour - the reason it is enriched is they are not allowed to sell it as a food source without it being enriched, because it has been completely stripped of its nutritional value.  So they enrich it with vitamins or whatever, so that it can be sold as a food substance.   That's a warning sign for you!

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Another thing to go along with that - because people know now that brown bread is better than white bread, so what they are doing is putting coloring in the white bread.  They put dark coloring in breads so they look like their whole wheat bread.  So look at and read the labels!

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: You have to remember that the food industry is probably one of the largest industries in the nation.  People have to eat!  Food is probably the safest industry to be in for job security and future growth.  On the other hand there is a lot of competition, so the food makers want to cut and save as much as they can to produce something that will be purchased and bought.  They are not interested in nutrition, they are interested in selling you a product.  Everything on the shelf in the supermarket is there for two reasons - eye appeal so people will buy it, and preservation, so that if it doesn't sell right away, it will have a longer shelf life in order to be sold.  So, foods that will rot and spoil within a couple of weeks are good for you.  Foods that will not rot and spoil within a couple of weeks and have a long shelf life are not good for you are foods that you want to stay away from.

Rick Burnett:  We talked about the glycemic index a little - what exactly is that?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: That is the rate at which your body will produce insulin in response to food that you consume.  So, if you consume food that has a high glycemic index rating, that means after you consume the food your body will produce a high amount of insulin in reaction to the food.  Remember what insulin does - it takes your blood sugar and scoops it into your body and stores it as fat.  After years of your body producing an overabundance of insulin, and as you age, the body can no long produce the insulin you need, so you get into a state of diabetes.  That's the reason you want to consume foods in the low glycemic index range so that our body does not need to produce a high amount of insulin.   The difference between a low glycemic food and a high glycemic food is the amount of protein it has, the amount of fiber it has and the amount of fat it has.  Those are all the things we strip away from the food when we process it.  If we would just leave foods the way they naturally are, chances are they will be low in their glycemic levels.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: Maybe this will help you - how do you think white rice becomes white?  It is not grown white - it is grown brown.  The thing is people want it white.  Do you know how they make it white?  They tell you on the package.  It's bleached - when they say bleached flour, they have bleached it with the same Clorox bleach you clean your clothes with.  How would you like to add a little bleach to your food this morning?  That's the way we get these white foods!

Rick Burnett: So this discussion we've been having on blood sugar levels gives us more insight as to why diabetes is on the rise - correct?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Absolutely!  There was a study done in the late 1980's, which showed that we consume as much as ten times the amount of sugar per person as people did in 1950.  And, I believe that number is rising today.

Rick Burnett: What about artificial sweeteners?  Should we use them instead of sugar?

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Personally, I don't use sweeteners in anything that I eat.  I just enjoy the natural flavors.  Once you do that, you'll get away from the sugar addiction - the sugar is really an addiction.  It doesn't take very long before you won't have the desire for the sugar.  There are lots of people who don't want to break the addiction.  When you're in a restaurant they will usually put in front of you some pink packages, some blue packages, some white packages, and sometimes some brown packages.  Those packages would be different kinds of sweeteners.  Usually, the blue and pink are artificial - I don't see much difference between the two of them - one actually has printed on the package "may cause cancer."  The white package is typically the white bleached sugar, and the brown package would be the unbleached sugar.  Of the four options, I would take the brown package.  However, as I said, I do not use sweeteners and will always consume the food in its natural flavors.  When I do want a sweetener, which is rare, I will use a product called Stevia, which is actually a herb.  It has the same kind of aftertaste as the artificial sweeteners; but, it is an herb and is one hundred percent natural and a healthy product to consume.

Rick Burnett:   What other sweeteners would you recommend, Dr. DiSiena?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:   There is also honey, maple syrup, and molasses.   For example, I don't have a problem with adding honey to a drink for my children.  There are other good nutrients to honey, it is not just a sweetener.   What you want to do is stay away from the products that are just a sweetener.  You should go with a more nutrient dense sweetener, like honey!