I'm still on vacation so I don't really feel like writing a proper blog post. I am making notes for my coming post on my "reverse" carbohydrate and calorie cycling experiment in which I, in fact, eat, drink, and be lazily merry...until Monday.
Here's some great articles and news stories to check out:
Eat...
Weight Loss Tips - Eat More Often to Lose Weight
I’m sure you have heard it before, but one of the best ways to control your caloric intake and lose weight is to eat more often throughout the day. Ideally, you should eat 5 to 6 times per day, with 2 ½ to 3 ½ hours between each meal or snack. There are several reasons why this works.
* Eating more frequently gets your metabolism going and keeps it working at an elevated level continuously throughout the day.
* It will amp up your energy and keep your insulin level constant.
* Because you are eating more frequently, you should eat a smaller portion at each meal or snack. Use some common sense here and remember the key word is SMALL! If you are eating your normal portions, this won’t work! This isn’t as hard as it sounds, because you just won’t be as hungry since you just ate 2 or 3 hours ago.
* Since you are not as hungry, it is much easier to pick a lean and healthy snack. When you let yourself get very hungry, you are much more likely to grab whatever is in sight. This is also when you start to crave all of those things that are so high in fat and calories, and you will probably eat more of it.
* Even though you will ideally be eating LESS food that you are now, you will feel like you are eating MORE. Your mind and body will equate eating more frequently with more food, and therefore feeling more satisfied.
* Knowing that you will be eating more often, you should plan ahead for your meals and snacks. This, too, will help to insure that you pick foods that are good for you and fit into a lean and healthy diet. Read more.
Burn Fat with the Thermic Effect of Food
When it comes to losing fat and building muscle, eating less food is not the answer to getting lean and cut. Others will try to tell you that losing excess fat is simply a matter of using more calories than you eat. What they don’t tell you is that eating less will slow your metabolism.
Part of the secret to eating the right amounts of food while keeping your fat levels in check is to use the thermic effect of food to your advantage.
The thermic effect (also referred to as specific dynamic action) is the incremental energy requirement above your resting metabolic rate used due to the cost of digestion, absorption, and disposal of ingested food.
Translation: Some of the foods you eat speed up your metabolism more than other foods.
You’ll find it much easier to reduce your fat levels if you consume plenty of foods with a higher thermic effect. Proteins tend to have a much higher thermic effect than other types of foods. Read more.
How to Make Your Body Burn More Calories
You can make weight loss quicker and easier by increasing your metabolic rate and burning more calories – here’s how:
5) Eat Little and Often
There is some evidence to suggest that eating small, regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster than larger, less frequent meals. There are two reasons why meal frequency may affect your metabolism. Firstly, levels of thyroid hormones begin to drop within hours of eating a meal, and metabolism slows. Secondly, it may be that the thermogenic effect of eating several small meals is slightly higher than eating the same amount of calories all at once.
Provided your small meals don’t degenerate into quick-fix, high fat, high sugar snacks, eating little and often can also help to control hunger and make you less likely binge. Read more.
Drink...
Red Wine's Resveratrol May Help Battle Obesity
ScienceDaily (Jun. 17, 2008) — Resveratrol, a compound present in grapes and red wine, reduces the number of fat cells and may one day be used to treat or prevent obesity, according to a new study.
Past research found that resveratrol protected laboratory mice that were fed a high-calorie diet from the health problems of obesity, by mimicking the effects of calorie restriction. Researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany wanted to know if resveratrol could mimic the effects of calorie restriction in human fat cells by changing their size or function. The German team used a strain of human fat cell precursors, called preadipocytes. In the body, these cells develop into mature fat cells, according to the study's lead author, Pamela Fischer-Posovszky, PhD, a pediatric endocrinology research fellow in the university's Diabetes and Obesity Unit.
In the cell-based study, they found that resveratrol inhibited the pre-fat cells from increasing and prevented them from converting into mature fat cells. Also, resveratrol hindered fat storage. Most interesting, according to Fischer-Posovszky, was that resveratrol reduced production of certain cytokines (interleukins 6 and 8), substances that may be linked to the development of obesity-related disorders, such as diabetes and clogged coronary arteries. Also, resveratrol stimulated formation of a protein known to decrease the risk of heart attack. Obesity decreases this substance, called adiponectin.
The new finding is consistent with the theory that the resveratrol in red wine explains the French paradox, the observation that French people eat a relatively high-fat diet but have a low death rate from heart disease.
"Resveratrol has anti-obesity properties by exerting its effects directly on the fat cells," Fischer-Posovszky said. "Thus, resveratrol might help to prevent development of obesity or might be suited to treating obesity." Read More.
Coffee Drinkers Might Live Longer
June 17, 2008 02:22 PM ET | Deborah Kotz |
I'm sure the folks at Starbucks are rejoicing at yesterday's headlines announcing that "coffee drinkers might live longer." Women who drank more than six cups of coffee a day were found to have a 17 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses over 24 years of follow-up compared with those who drank less than one cup a month. My editor had a big smile on her face when she heard this news and happily told me that she downs eight cups of freshly brewed coffee every morning before she comes to work. Though I hate to burst her bubble, I have to point out that women who drank four to five cups per day actually had better protection: a 26 percent lower risk of dying. Read more.
Bottoms Up: What Your Favorite Beverage Can Do for You
by B. Radley, Jan 28, 2008
Here's what your favorite beverage can do for you.
"Beer, if drank in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health." - Thomas Jefferson
Studies show that moderate drinkers are generally healthier than those who do not drink and those who drink excessively. Research indicates that moderate alcohol consumers have fewer heart attacks and strokes and have less incidence of conditions such as high blood pressure, peripheral artery disease, cognitive disorders such Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, kidney stones, digestive ailments, stress and depression, hepatitis A, pancreatic cancer, gallstones, liver disease, etc. The list goes on.
Here's what your favorite beverage can do for you. Remember, moderation is the key. Read more.
Be Merry...
Study: Diabetics have elevated risk of depression
BLOOMBERG NEWS 12:02 AM EDT, June 18, 2008
People with diabetes are more likely to become depressed as they face a lifetime of keeping their disease in check, researchers said.
About 21 million Americans have diabetes, which requires patients to adhere to a strict diet and exercise routine and to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly, often by pricking their finger. People being treated for Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, were 52 percent more likely to develop depression than those without the disease, according to a paper published in tomorrow's Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study adds to a growing body of research showing a link between depression and diabetes, researchers said. Doctors may want to consider screening those with diabetes for depression because it may affect how well patients follow recommendations and their risk of developing complications of the disease, researchers said.
"Clearly this link between diabetes and depression exists. People need to be aware of these associations," said John Buse, the American Diabetes Association's president of medicine and science, in a telephone interview today. "It's a very tough business to take care of diabetes." Read more.
The Cortisol Connection
There is a natural, stress-related hormone called cortisol that may contribute to weight issues, particularly abdominal fat. High amounts of cortisol are released into the blood stream when you are under stress. Receptors for cortisol are located in your abdomen, which triggers fat storage there. In 2000, researchers found that women with a high waist-to-hip ratio -- both overweight and slim -- secreted more cortisol under stress and reported more stress in their daily lives than women with lower waist-to-hip ratios.
Additionally, excess cortisol may actually cause your metabolism to slow down. This could mean that even if you don't consume more calories than usual, you could gain weight. But since stress stimulates the appetite, it is likely that you take in more calories than usual when under stress, which only compounds the problem. Together, eating more calories and having a slower metabolism than usual is a "double-whammy" in the stress/weight connection; not only do you tend to take in more calories than usual, but you don't burn them efficiently, either. Read more.
The Importance of Mind-Set: Stress and the Scale From Jennifer R. Scott
Stress and Your Stomach
Did you know stress may have a direct connection to your weight? In recent years, research has shown that how you deal with everyday stress can affect your waistline in particular.
This can be a huge threat to your health because abdominal fat is more dangerous -- and increases disease risk more -- than fat located in any other part of the body. Excessive abdominal fat is linked directly to serious health conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
Women in particular have been found to accumulate more fat around their waists while they're under stress. In fact, a Yale University study showed that even otherwise-slim women who are under high stress levels are prone to put on weight on around their abdominal area.
The Cortisol Connection
What's the connection? When we are stressed out, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol.
Cortisol has been proven to encourage fat storage in the abdominal area.
The worst part is if you don't learn to alleviate stress, cortisol levels stay high even when the original source of stress has subsided. Read more.
Help For Your Adrenal Stress Handlers! by Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum M.D.
The stress of modern life, as well as infections, poor sleep and poor nutrition all take a toll on our stress handler gland (the Adrenal Gland). Inadequate adrenal function results not only in fatigue, anxiety and crashing with stress, but also in symptoms of low blood sugar (irritable when hungry). Adrenal support is easy and can leave you feeling much healthier, stronger and in control of your life.
In addition to adrenal exhaustion, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome(CFS) and Fibromyalgia (FMS) are associated with low adrenal function caused by suppression of the control centers in the brain. An excellent recent research review by my friend and colleague Kent Holtorf MD again documents both the need for adrenal support in CFS/FMS and its effectiveness and safety. Read more.
