Finally, a glimmer of hope. After many years of reluctance, western medicine practitioners are beginning to accept the legitimacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and are embracing many of the practical and simple methods that lead to a healthier lifestyle.

 

Capitalizing on this new reality, the Metabo Wellness Lifestyle seeks to advance the principles of TMC, stressing the importance of the mind in the functioning of the body (mind-body connection) and presenting the time-tested method of healthy food combining.

 

Read more about TMC and the Metabo Wellness Lifestyle and find out how to improve your health and well-being.

 

Play the Metabo games on the website. They are designed to reinforce the food-combining principles in a fun and entertaining way, offering you the support you need to stay focused and succeed.

 

Achieving weight loss goals can be elusive and frustrating.

 

Just about every day we hear how being overweight damages our health and our psyches. Many of us have failed, often repeatedly, to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle, even though we know the long-term benefits of maintaining a healthy weight. Our lack of success has left many of us feeling demoralized and resigned to a life of being overweight and unhealthy.

 

Quick review of current stats on obesity and health

 

Power of a positive attitude

 

Implement correct food-combining, a strategy that will bring you increased health and well-being.

• The chemistry of digestion

• Food combining made easy

• Recommended Food Combination Chart

• Explanation of the Food Combination Chart

Use the Metabo Wellness Lifestyle for lasting weight loss and enhanced personal health.

The Metabo Wellness Lifestyle is based on principles and behaviors that can bring you success and well-being.

• The thoughts you think affect your health.

• Food-combining principles have a long history.

• All food groups play a role in good nutrition.

• You can eat what you want from the variety of foods that you enjoy.

• Sample menus for one week

Play the Metabo Games ^TM for fun, relaxation, education, and positive reinforcement.

It’s no secret that many Americans are overweight. We know it and we know what causes it—we eat too much. We often eat the same unhealthy foods over and over again. We try diets, fail to follow them, and return to our old habits.

• Overcoming addictions

• Outcomes of the Metabo Games

• Winning by losing—LESS is MORE

• More about the Metabo Games

Current Stats on Obesity and Health

According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of adults in the United States—over 72 million people—were obese in 2005-2006. This includes 33.3 percent of men and 35.3 percent of women.

 

The national costs of obesity are presented in this table.

 

The more you weigh, the more likely you are to experience health problems. Whether you are considered “overweight” or “obese” depends on your body mass index (BMI), a number that uses your height and your weight to calculate the amount of body fat you have:

• If you have a BMI between 25 and 29.9, you are considered overweight.

• If you have a BMI of 30 or higher, you are considered obese.

For more details about BMI and how to calculate your BMI, go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/obesity/defining.html).

If you are overweight or obese, you have a greater chance of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers (taken from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute). The good news is that if you lose just 10 percent of your current weight, you will help lower your risk for developing these diseases.

Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

 

Power of a Positive Attitude

Thought precedes action. If you want to change something about your life, you first need to change the way you think. Do you want to be healthier? Thinner? Happier? Start thinking the kinds of thoughts that will bring you what you seek. "All that you accomplish or fail to accomplish with your life is the direct result of your thoughts. You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you" (James Allen (1864-1912).

Of the approximately 60,000 thoughts we have every day, how many of yours are negative? Negative thought leads to negative outcomes. We attract back to our lives what we spend our time thinking about. See yourself as healthier, thinner, and happier, and your life will begin to change. Positive attitude is an essential component of a healthy and more fulfilling life.

 

Resources:

Allen, James. As a Man Thinketh (Note Chapter 3, Effect of Thought on Health and the Body)

Bryne, Rhonda. The Secret (both the movie and the book) talk about the importance of your feelings.

Dyer, Wayne. Read his books, The Power of Intention and Excuses Be Gone.

Peale, Norman Vincent. The Power of Positive Thinking: A Practical Guide to Mastering the Problems of Everyday Living is a classic.

Stone, W. Clement. The Success System that Never Fails.

The Chemistry of Digestion

The simple fact is that most of us have failed at weight loss and living a healthier life. We’ve tried Atkins and South Beach and many other diets, often losing a few pounds and then sliding back to our earlier weights. Despite our good intentions, the results are often minimal. One reason is that these diets are not based on what our bodies need to function well. Remember high school chemistry? We learned about alkaline/acid balance, or pH—if you add equal parts of alkaline and acid together, you end up with a chemical solution that is as neutral as plain water. That’s why we take bicarbonate (a strong alkaline) to relieve “acid indigestion”.¹

 

In order to digest animal protein well, the stomach secretes pepsin, which requires a highly acidic environment that needs to be maintained for several hours. However, when we eat carbohydrates, ptyalin and other alkaline juices are added to the food through saliva and require an alkaline environment in the stomach to complete digestion.² When you eat starch and protein at the same time, acid and alkaline juices are secreted at the same time, neutralizing each other, “leaving a weak, watery solution in the stomach that digests neither protein nor starch properly. Instead, the proteins putrefy and the starches ferment owing to the constant presence of bacteria in the digestive tract.”³

Not a pretty picture. Combining protein and starch can lead to gas, heartburn, cramps, bloating, constipation, colitis, and other problems. Allergies can also result from improper food combining. The bloodstream picks up toxins from the putrefied, fermented mess as it passes through the intestines, and these toxins in turn can cause rashes, hives, nausea, and headaches.⁴

 

A crucial point is that these same foods often cause no ill effects when eaten following the rules of food combining.

 

Food Combining Made Easy

Recommended Food Combination Chart

 

Food Combining Made Easy⁵

 

Protein and starch

The worst possible combination of foods to eat at the same time is protein and starch, yet this is the mainstay of the American diet—meat and potatoes, hamburger with fries, eggs and toast.

Rule: Eat concentrated proteins such as meat, fish, eggs, and cheese separately from concentrated starches such as bread, potatoes, and rice.

Protein and protein

Different proteins have different digestive requirements. For example, enzymes work the hardest on milk during the last hour of digestion, whereas for meat the first hour is the strongest.

Rule: Eat one major type of protein at a single meal. Avoid combining meat and milk, meat and eggs, fish and cheese.

Starch and acid

If you eat an acid food with a starch, the secretion of ptyalin is suspended and the starch is not properly digested, fermenting instead.

Rule: Eat starches and acids at separate meals. If you eat toast or cereal for breakfast, skip the orange juice. If you are eating noodles or rice, avoid vinegar.

Protein and acid

You would think these foods would work together, but when acid foods enter the stomach, they inhibit the secretion of hydrochloric acid, which is essential for the protein-digesting enzyme pepsin to do its work. Orange juice inhibits the proper digestion of eggs and a strong vinegar salad dressing inhibits the digestion of a steak.

Rule: Don’t combine concentrated proteins and acids at the same meal.

Protein and fat

Fat decreases the concentration of hydrochloric acid and pepsin in the stomach, delaying the digestion of any proteins eaten with fats and giving bacteria the opportunity to putrefy the protein. That’s why fatty meats such as bacon or marbled steaks or lean meats fried in fat sit so heavily in the stomach for hours after eating them.

Rule: Eat concentrated proteins and fats at separate meals. Wait for four hours to eat that chocolate cake.

Protein and sugar

All sugars inhibit the secretion of gastric juices, thus inhibiting digestion. They are not digested in the stomach but pass directly into the small intestine.

Rule: Don’t eat sugars and proteins at the same time.

Starch and sugar

When you eat starch and sugar together, the saliva in your mouth contains no ptyalin, a crucial enzyme for the digestion of starch. This combination also blocks the passage of the sugar through the stomach until the starch is digested, causing it to ferment.

Rule: Eat starches and sugars separately.

Recommended Food Combination Chart⁶

Developed by William Howard Hay, MD (1866-1940), the Recommended Food Combination Chart summarizes the foods that can be eaten together and those combinations that should be avoided. After working as a physician for 16 years, Dr. Hay became ill (kidney disease and heart disease) and began looking for a cure. He found his cure through proper food combining. To help others regain their health, he developed the Hay diet, which is based on the idea that certain foods need an acid pH environment to digest well and other foods require an alkaline pH environment. Both environments cannot exist at the same time, so food combining and timing become important in restoring and maintaining health. A recommended wait time of four hours is suggested before eating foods from one of the “no” combinations.

Explanation of the Recommended Food Combination Chart

1. NO denotes incompatible combinations.

2. YES denotes compatible combinations.

3. Milk is best taken completely alone as a protein food, preferably as raw certified milk.

4. Melons are not included in the “fruit” headings above; they should always be eaten alone for optimal digestion and assimilation.

5. Bananas, figs, dates, prunes, and raisins are sugar/starch foods of the very best quality, and should not be mixed with proteins.

6. Vegetables combine well with everything, except for potatoes (a starch) and tomatoes (an acid).

7. Fats should be avoided with concentrated proteins, but are relatively compatible with light proteins.

8. The closer to the fresh, raw state a food is consumed, the more compatible it is with other varieties of food; therefore, try to make at least 50% of your diet consist of fresh, raw foods consumed in the fresh, raw state. That will provide the active enzymes and moist, raw fiber required to compensate for incompatible combinations of cooked foods.

Metabo Wellness Lifestyle

The Metabo Wellness Lifestyle is based on principles and behaviors that can bring you success and well-being.

• The thoughts you think affect your health.

• Food-combining principles have a long history.

• All food groups play a role in good nutrition.

• You can eat what you want from the variety of foods that you enjoy.

• Sample menus for one week

The thoughts you think affect your health.

The mind-body connection (taken from WebMD, June, 2009)
Medical science is making remarkable discoveries about the relationship between your state of mind and your mental and physical health. Researchers have found that one function of the brain is to produce substances that can improve your health. Your brain can create endorphins, which are natural painkillers; gamma globulin for fortifying your immune system; and interferon for combating infections, viruses, and even cancer. Your brain can combine these and other substances into a vast number of tailor-made prescriptions for whatever ails you.

The substances that your brain produces depend in part on your thoughts, feelings, and expectations. If your attitude about an illness (or life in general) is negative and you don't have expectations that your condition will get better, your brain may not produce enough of the substances your body needs to heal. On the other hand, if your attitude and expectations are more positive, your brain is likely to produce sufficient amounts of the substances that will boost your body's healing power.

Your physical health also has an impact on your brain's ability to produce substances that affect your mental well-being. An illness or injury that causes long-term physical stress can lead to chemical imbalances in the brain. These imbalances may lead to depression and other mental health problems.

Food-combining principles have a long history.

 

The idea that you are what you eat, that your health and well-being are affected by how and what you eat, has been around for thousands of years. Tao, an ancient Chinese philosophy, teaches balance between Yin and Yang, which is established by harmonizing the Four Energies and Five Flavors in foods.⁷

 

The Four Energies in food are hot, warm, cool, and cold and define the intensity of energy released when food is digested. Hot and warm foods belong to Yang and cool and cold foods belong to Ying. The Five Flavors are more subtle distinctions based on the Five Elemental Activities: sweet (earth), bitter (fire), sour (wood), pungent (metal), and salty (water). The Five Flavors each attach or have an affinity to different organs: sweet influences the pancreas and the stomach; bitter moves to the heart and small intestines; sour has an affinity for the liver and gallbladder; pungent affects the lungs and the large intestine; and salty associates with the kidneys and bladder.

Understanding the interactions among foods naturally led to the careful combining of foods for improved health and well-being. In 1368 AD, Chia Ming described this connection:

Food and drink are relied upon to nurture life. But if one does not know that the natures of substances may be opposed to each other, and one consumes them altogether indiscriminately, the vital organs will be thrown out of harmony and disastrous consequences will soon arise. Therefore, those who wish to nurture their lives must carefully avoid doing such damage to themselves (taken from Essential Knowledge for Eating and Drinking).

 

All food groups play a role in good nutrition.

 

The Metabo Wellness Lifestyle supports the Food Pyramid presented by the Food & Drug Administration. All healthy foods are available and consumable.

 

You can eat what you want from the variety of foods that you enjoy.

The Metabo Wellness Lifestyle does not restrict you to particular foods. It is not a diet. All healthy foods can be consumed, even that piece of chocolate cake you may be craving. The key is timing and correct combinations. Because you are not restricted or confined to a strict regimen of specific foods, it is easier to follow the formula and achieve a healthier lifestyle. Success comes more naturally and can be maintained with less stress.

Eating foods in the correct combinations allows your digestive system to absorb the valuable nutrients in the foods and eliminate the toxins and fats that cause weight gain and health problems. The reverse is also true, which leads to one of the main rules of food-combining: never eat starch with protein (see the Chemistry of Digestion for an explanation [hyperlink]). If you go out to eat, choose what you want: eat the burger without the bun or the steak without the bread. Avoid the heartburn and stomach upset that come from eating incompatible foods at the same time.

 

Resources:

Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods—Asian Traditions in Modern Nutrition

Norman Walker, Natural Way to Vibrant Health

George Watson, Nutrition and Your Mind

 

Sample menus for one week

 

General Guidelines:

• Take no more than one meal of concentrated animal protein per day.

• Take at least one meal of all raw food per day, and try to make at least 50% of your daily food intake consist of raw foods.

• Observe the basic rules of food combining at all meals.

• Avoid eating between meals.

• Avoid pasteurized milk and milk products, as well as cooked eggs. If you do eat these things, eat them alone.

• Do not start eating immediately upon rising from bed in the morning; wait at least one hour, and use that hour for exercise. At night, don’t eat food immediately prior to going to bed; last food intake should be 2–3 hours before bedtime.

 

Metabo Games

It’s no secret that many Americans are overweight. We know it and we know what causes it—we eat too much. We often eat the same unhealthy foods over and over again. We try diets, fail to follow them, and return to our old habits. Emery Lantos, entrepreneur and forward thinker, developed the Metabo Games^TM to attack an old problem with a new solution. He has incorporated fun and relaxation into behavior modification and positive reinforcement to cement new patterns of thought, which lead to changed behaviors. Instilling healthy habits reduces and often prevents chronic and debilitating diseases.

 

Overcoming Additions
Two of the most addictive human behaviors are over-eating and gambling. Jointly, they often ravage personal health and devastate relationships with family and friends. Part of the Metabo mission is to merge components of these two addictions into a positive, habit-forming experience. Over-eating and improper food combining carry associated health risks. Gambling often comes with financial risks. Our hybrid product hopefully negates some of the negative impact of these addictions by combining behaviors that counteract the thinking and the actions common to these addictions.

The games also provide the continual positive reinforcement that is necessary for any lasting behavior change. Reminders of what is smart and healthy to do need to flow into the mind often to keep us in the healthy path.

Outcomes of the Metabo Games^TM

By playing the Metabo Games, you

• Modify your eating habits by reinforcing healthy patterns.

• Raise your awareness of the five fundamental food groups that are all included in a balanced diet.

• Keep in mind that Mother Nature never produced a double hamburger with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and mayo---and neither should you.

   

  Emery Lantos, Metabo Games developer

  Learn to eat foods in healthy combinations, reinforcing a time-tested eating formula that has improved wellness throughout the centuries.

• Reinforce these healthy behaviors through repetition and fun.

• Take a break from the stress of your day, replacing negative energy with positive messages.

• Think about BMI (body mass index), remembering that 21 (a normal BMI for most people) is the winning score.

• Enjoy the social interaction of a game while sending healthy messages to your psyche.

Winning by Losing—LESS is MORE

The underlying assumption of the games is that getting rid of cards and points is better than collecting and accumulating. The low score wins; less is better and healthier. This reinforcing pattern leads to a change in thought that influences behavior. You learn how to combine foods effectively and how to do with less, an attitude change that is essential for enduring wellness.

 

Wellness messages are constantly reinforced through the card images and what it takes to win the game. Children learn about health through fun rather than the typical parental cries of “eat your broccoli; you’ve had enough candy; you have to eat something else besides French fries.” Children need reinforcement and education to learn what is good for them. Adults need support to change unhealthy habits and live the healthy life they envision.

 

More about the Metabo Games^TM

The Metabo Games^TM offer one board game, Yo-Yo Metabo^TM, and several card games,such as MetaboJack^TM, Metabo Rummy^TM, Metabo Healthy Hearts^TM, Metabo Meal Maker^TM, Metabo Fish^TM, Metabo Drop ‘em Poker^TM, Metabo Choice Poker^TM, and Heart Attack Poker^TM played with a unique card deck called Metabo Wellness^TM. The heart attack poker game follows the traditional high hand poker in which the best hand is all five food groups with the highest card values. The game mimics the unhealthy food choices along the route to a heart attack.

The playing cards represent the five food groups.

• The vegetable cards are green with a lettuce image—they can be combined with any other food group or color.

• The fruit cards are orange with an image of an orange—they can be combined with green and yellow.

• The protein or animal products cards are red with a picture of a steak—they can be combined with green.

• The grains cards are brown with an image of a bagel—they can be combined with green.

• The milk products cards are yellow with a picture of cheese—they can be combined with green.