Breakfast
Breakfast and B Vitamins For Energy and Looking Good!

Do not skip breakfast
If you are a fast oxidizer how can you expect to get through the day without breakfast? Otters tend to have low blood sugar in the mornings, after 8 or so hours of no food your body needs some energy. Having a high protein breakfast is essential to consistent energy levels throughout the day. And yes, a high protein breakfast takes the place of the cup of coffee in the morning – it gives you real energy, not a short term stimulated version of it! Read article

Otter Breakfast
We know you’ve heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. For you, this is very true. Think about it this way. If you get the right amount of sleep, or close to it, you will have gone at least 6-8 hours without food. Now, if you didn’t eat right before bed, you can add on a couple more hours to that. Wow, 10 hours with no food? That’s a really long time. When you wake, your metabolism will be down and you’re blood sugars may need a boost to get you going. Having breakfast really will get you started in the right direction.

So what should you eat? First and foremost you need protein. Read article

Snacks
Is Diet Soda An Otter Snack?
NO! If you read some of the supermarket tabloids about Hollywood starlets and their weight loss programs you may see Diet Soda listed as a "snack."

A main focus of the Hauser Diet is eating natural foods and products. This means staying away from food chemicals and artificial foods. Artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame and sucralose, are things we consider fake and artificial sugar. (No mater how much they claim that they are “like” sugar).

Otter Snacks
When talking about snacks, common choices we hear are fruit-both fresh and dried, crackers, pretzels, yogurt, and popcorn. What do all of these foods have in common? They are all largely carbohydrate based foods.

The problem here is that as a Otters these are not the first foods you should be choosing to snack on. So what’s left? What to snack on is a question we get from many patients who are put on the Otter diet.

There are many protein/fat based foods that you can snack on; you just need to think outside of the snack box! Here is a list of snacks to keep in mind for those in between meal cravings:

- Nuts - Just be careful of the amount
- Beef Jerky
- Turkey Sticks
- Cottage Cheese or String Cheese
- Protein Bars or shakes - with low sugar content
- Hard Boiled Eggs

After Dinner Snacking
Hauser Otters are fast oxidizers of food, and typically have low fasting blood sugar levels. This means when you do not eat for a few hours, your blood sugar can get too low. The longer your blood sugar remains low, the lower your energy, which may result in a difficult time functioning. You wake up in the morning with low blood sugar after you have been fasting since your last meal while you were asleep.

For your best energy, Otters need a little snack after dinner that is low in carbohydrates and higher in protein, such as a piece of lunchmeat. Avoid carbohydrates.

Nuts On The Otter Diet
A big part of a Otter’s Diet involves including plenty of healthy fats into the diet. Fats will help increase blood pH and stabilize blood sugars.  Nuts happen to be one of the foods that fall into this category.  Nuts are easily incorporated into the Otter Diet and can add a lot of variety to your meals. Don’t think that nuts are only for nibbling on out of the jar!

Let’s Explore
Variety:
Almonds, pecans, and cashews! Have you tried these varieties?  Don’t feel like you have to stick with plain peanuts or sunflower seeds. Try some other varieties! If you really want to liven things up, try Brazil nuts or Hazelnuts.

Just a couple comments about nuts in general: Nuts tend to go rancid if left out a long time. Try freezing them to keep them fresher longer or purchasing them in smaller quantities if you want to try a few different kinds at the same time. Also, read your labels. Unfortunately food manufacturers are adding flavor enhancers such as MSG and other chemicals to nuts. As always, we encourage you to purchase fresh organic nuts!

Add Crunch:
Nuts are a perfect way to add a little more texture to foods such as salads, vegetables, and yogurt.  Not only that, they help balance those carbohydrate containing foods by adding good fat to them! Add a few chopped cashews to steamed broccoli or peanuts to an Asian stir fry. A good dessert for Otters is full fat plain Greek yogurt sprinkled with chopped pecans, a little hazelnut extract, and a dash of ginger or cinnamon.

What About Low Carb Ice Creams, Breads, and Frozen Dinners?
There are many Otters who initially thought that running to the freezer section and loading up on seemingly Otter friendly food was a good thing. Unfortunately no.

Low carb meals, low carb bagels, low carb ice cream you thought would help you on your OTTER diet actually made you feel worse and you gained weight. Why?

These foods do not satisfy us the same way that real food does. Our bodies need real food. Diet foods leave the body feeling deprived and make us feel like outsiders who can’t enjoy normal food. When fighting weight gain, diabetes, and other weight-related disorders, it is important that you are using whole foods to help you regain health and stay at a good weight. Read our recent article about which foods OTTER should eat can help you with your real food selection.

Foods to Boost an Otter’s Immune System
Broccoli: It is the powerhouse of cruciferous vegetables. With all of its Vitamin A and C it’s one of the most antioxidant rich foods there are! And did you know that 1 cup of cooked broccoli has more Vitamin C than an orange? So don’t think you’re missing out because you can’t have fruit.
 

Fish Oils: Packed with Omega 3 fatty acids, fish oils provide so many health benefits. Research is exploring all of the possibilities of this nutrient to fight off/ward off different diseases. The fatty acids can help boost immune function by increasing survival and reducing illness severity.
 

Garlic: The allyl sulfur compounds in garlic may help ward off illness and aid in overall health.
 

Organic Eggs: Eggs provide excellent protein for a Otter. When you buy organic eggs, you are ensuring that you are getting a protein higher in vitamins and minerals than its conventional counterpart and that the animal was not treated with hormones, fed diet additives, and the like.

Should I Eliminate Carbs Completely?
You should not get rid off all of the carbohydrates because your brain and body must have some carbohydrates every day in order to function optimally. Otters should consume complex carbohydrates only. Include foods such as whole grain rice and legumes, but in small amounts. Also eat your vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and collard greens in a regular basis (it will help with constipation as well).

Low Fat, Fat Free, Reduced Fat, Low Sodium, Low Sugar, Sugar Free
Of course as Otters you need to be buying foods that don’t have a lot of sugar anyways, but that means naturally low in sugar, not a modified product. As for the fat there are there a couple of reasons why you should avoid those products. First, as an Otter you can have the fat. A large portion of your daily calories are suppose to come from fat.

The second reason to avoid any foods with these labels is that they are most likely highly processed.

A Common complaints that people have with artificial sweeteners include GI upset, rapid heart beat, fatigue, or brain fog, to name a few.

A particular "Sugar Free" chocolate that we found has a printed warning right on the bag reading "Excess consumption may have a laxative effect." In other words, 'Your body may see this food as a toxin and need to get rid of it fast.'

Buying organic, natural foods would be preferred do to the chemical processing that is involved in non-organic foods. However, if you are not eating organic for one reason or another then try to stay with foods that are in their most natural state. When foods have a “low fat” or “sugar free” version, they have been even further processed. The producers of the food have taken something out, which also means that they have put something in. The added components of these foods tend to be artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, or even modified fats. In short they are adding food chemicals. When you’re trying to be healthy, chemicals are not what you should be putting in your body!

Constipation
Your diet does not allow for many fruits or grains, and allows for some vegetables. Otters need to make their carbs count! Make them the highest fiber containing, most nutrient dense carbs you can. The foods that are highest in fiber are usually plant based foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains-all of which are limited on the Otter Diet. Try to include spinach, broccoli, and collard greens on a regular basis. One food that is not limited on your diet but high in fiber is nuts, especially almonds. So use that as one of your snacks during the day to add a few grams! If you can not get adequate fiber in your diet, you may need to add a fiber supplement.

Foods that will make you tired
PASTAS, BREADS, SUGARY FOODS, FRUITS, GRAINS, BEER and ALCOHOL

RED WINE and BEER? NO!
But what about all those health benefits I hear about?
Research has suggested that most of the heart-healthy benefits of wine come from antioxidant compounds primarily found in the grape skins. These compounds are called anthocyanins and contribute to the red color of the fruit. In the making of red wines, the grape skins are crushed along with the pulp. But the skins are quickly separated out during the making of most white wines. Hence came the belief that red wines, which contain more of these anthocyanins, are responsible for the wine’s beneficial effects in fighting heart disease. Researchers in an article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry say that new evidence suggests the pulp of grapes appears to be just as heart-healthy as the skin, thanks to other types of antioxidants present in the flesh. In addition, tests showed both extracts appeared to have the same level of antioxidant activity.

Interestingly enough, recent studies have shown that consumption of alcohol in moderation is good for the cardiovascular system. Its consumption can be associated with elevated levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL or good cholesterol). So does this mean that we recommend everyone have a drink or two with dinner?

So we can all drink wine and beer?
Wine/beer affects people differently. Someone who suffers from hypoglycemia and who does not do well with carbs is not going to do well with wine/beer – red or white or brown! In other words, Otters are not going to feel optimal with added carbohydrates such as wine/beer in their diets. This will only provide them with additional calories, reduce their energy, and most likely contribute to a hypoglycemic episode.

REMEMBER:
Alcohol in excess can be extremely detrimental to your health – not only your liver, weight, and mental capacity, but can cause serious disturbances in a person’s life when abused. If you feel that you MUST have a drink of alcohol every day, then you may have a problem with addiction and we recommend that you stop using alcohol of any kind or seek assistance for that.

The Right Meals and Snacks With The Right Proteins
The Otter diet is not an over complex "diet system." It has it basic rules that are easy to follow, eat like an otter (envision your plate and see 50% protein / 25% fat / 25% carbs - in the form of vegetables - see below)  and watch your portions.
You must avoid evil proteins

Convenience Foods For Snacking
Otters need to eat throughout the day
After breakfast, eat protein/fat meals and snacks regularly through the day (every 3-4 hours).

There are a lot of protein bars available and it can be hard to tell if your protein bar is really as nutritious as it says it is. It’s sad to say, but most protein bars are just as unhealthy as candy bars. Most protein bars have vitamins, fiber, and protein, but are loaded with sugar or coated in chocolate to make it taste good.  

Sugar Alcohols Reminder
While technically sugar alcohols are not sugar, their molecular structure is almost identical. Sugar alcohols  increase your glucose levels, can cause heart disease, and turn into FAT once digested by your body. Not good for anyone. 

Other choices
Otters who don't have much time to cook in the morning need to try to eat a healthier breakfast by making something that’s quick to fix such as:
- Nuts - Just be careful of the amount
- Beef Jerky
- Turkey Sticks
- Cottage Cheese or String Cheese
- Hard Boiled Eggs