]]>“We found that implantable gastric stimulators induced significant changes in metabolism in brain regions associated with controlling emotions, effectively shutting down these obese subjects’ desire to eat,” said Dr Wang.
The changes were most noticeable in the hippocampus area of the brain. This is linked to emotional behaviour, learning and memory, movement, and processing of sensory information.
]]>The average cyberchondriac, Harris says, searches the web for information five times a month. But these net users are also becoming more savvy, with the number of people describing the information they find as “very reliable” falling from 37 per cent in 2005 to just 25 per cent this year.
]]>Under Mr. Burke’s proposal, establishments that failed to remove “artificial trans fats” from their kitchens would be fined $200 to $1,000 a day. In the crowd at the Taste of Chicago on a recent evening, most people seemed amused at the prospect that City Hall might legislate their waistlines. Others chuckled at what they considered naïve earnestness, to think that a city’s long love affair with big, tasty, greasy food could be undone with a simple vote of 50 aldermen (some of whom appear to have some appreciation of the affair).
]]>We might ask what kind of society we have created in which so many parents do not control the diet of their own children, and what such a lack of control - surely not confined to diet - bodes for the future. Perhaps parents are just too busy nowadays to make the effort; or perhaps they subscribe to the sentimental (and lazy) idea that to give children what they want exactly when and how they want it is an expression of deep love.
“People love it to eat, and they’re working here. Why would politicians cut them?” he said.
“This is the United States, everyone’s just trying to make money,” said one smoothie-carrying customer.
“I think it’s an absurd solution - not just from the point of individual choice, it just wouldn’t work. If you love fast-food and you’re fat, you’d just go to another neighbourhood - and you probably wouldn’t jog there, you’d probably take a cab,” she told the BBC.
While I’ve felt sad when I’ve seen someone use their Food Stamps or subsidized food EBT card to buy a cart of junk food this kind of restriction of choice will never fly.
]]>Brazilian researchers have found that leucine supplements reduced body fat in rats, but Seeley believes that could simply be explained by the rats not liking the taste of the leucine in their diet. (Leucine is found naturally in meat and dairy protein.)
The next big winner in the diet industry could come from micronutrients like amino acids
]]>… One group drank water during the last trimester of pregnancy and then carrot juice during the first two months of lactation; a second group drank carrot juice during pregnancy, and water during lactation; and a third group drank just water during both pregnancy and lactation.
A few weeks after the babies began eating cereal but before they had ever been exposed to the taste of carrots, the researchers videotaped the infants as they were fed cereal prepared with water, then cereal prepared with carrot juice.
They found that infants who had been previously exposed to carrots exhibited fewer negative facial expressions while eating the carrot-flavored cereal compared with the plain cereal, whereas infants in the control group - whose mothers drank only water - displayed no difference. Moreover, those babies exposed to carrots prenatally ate more of, and were perceived to enjoy, the carrot-flavored cereal compared with the cereal and water.
If you want your kids to eat their vegetables, then you better eat yours
]]>Many thought it to be the measurable good health that rewarded its users which has been monitored and researched as a rehash by Universities and specialist health associations in a plethora of countries including well known names such as Harvard University just to name drop one. Others thought it to be the research undertaken in Universities across USA, England, Italy, and Switzerland in fact, far too many to mention in this brief article. No - If anyone is interested, it simply takes a search engine and the keywords - ‘Mediterranean diet’ to find nearly all that you need. Once you type these keywords into a browser, the amount of researched information from prominent and noted professors, doctors, nutritionists etc. is overwhelming but a recommended exercise never the less. Why have all these professionals and researchers become so excited once again with the Mediterranean diet?
The new focus is now based on the extensive levels of antioxidants found in the Mediterranean diet. This is not anything new in relation to the Mediterranean diet but its superior positioning in the food pyramid in relation to antioxidants is very much the flavour of the month. Especially in the corridors of learned establishments due to the recent global nutrition focus. Finding the time to self research these areas can be rewarding if antioxidants are of interest.
]]>Codex official website, http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp, notes “The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.” Despite this articulation of the importance of consumer health, in practice Codex has taken decisions which serve the beneficiaries of the USD $400 Billion global annual food trade. According to health and health freedom advocates and watchdogs like the Natural Solutions Foundation, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org, international consumer health and health freedom are severely undermined by the strongly pro-trade, and non pro-health, actions of Codex Alimentarius through the actions of the global food standards body in the face of an increasingly globalized food supply.
Clinically ineffective level of nutrients which are treated as if they are toxins, highly profitable but dangerously high levels of pesticides and antibiotics, mandatory contamination of the global food supply by procedures such as irradiation and treatment of food animals (including dairy cattle) with growth/sex hormones, Genetically Modified foods, significant weakening of Organic Food standards and other decisions taken by Codex over the years are of grave concern to consumers and health advocates like the internationally active Natural Solutions Foundation, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org, world-wide. Until last year’s Codex meeting, these concerns were largely unvoiced by countries because consumer voices were so poorly represented compared to corporate ones. Corporations routinely use their significant resources at Codex to sponsor delegates from developing nations, lobby lucratively for their agendas inside governments and agencies and form and fund Non Governmental Organizations designed to further their positions. Corporate success has been outstanding during the past 43 years.
With the mandated consideration of implementation of the GS by Codex parent organizations WHO and FAO at last year’s Codex Commission meeting, a potentially audible voice for consumer concerns was generated. This voice depended upon the outcome of the deliberations of 1. A WHO electronic forum open to Codex member countries followed by 2. Deliberations on the GS implementation by CCNFSDU (November, 2005, Bonn, Germany) and CCFL (May, 2006, Ottawa, Canada) since these two committees were deemed to be the most suitable venues for nutrition-focused discussion and 3. Deliberations of the issue at the current Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting this week.
Giving voice to consumer interests, South Africa proposed 11 pro-health stragegies for this implementation, http://www.who.int/nutrition/comment_southafrica.pdf, and reiterated them at the CCFL meeting, inserting them into the final report of that committee for Codex deliberation this week. This deliberation is now restricted to whatever time is left at the end of other deliberations of the Codex Commission on July. Whether the voice of the global consumer will be audible remains to be seen.
Dr. Claude Mosha, this year’s Codex Alimentarius Commission Chairman, personally moved to silence that voice with a letter he took the unprecedented step of writing to prevent a highly vocal national delegate from attending this important Codex meeting under the sponsorship of the Natural Solutions Foundation (see “Codex Chairman Seeks to Thwart Natural Solutions Foundation Pro Health Codex Initiative”, July 5 PR Web press release.) This action appears to have been undertaken in order to prevent vigorous discussion regarding the GS, assuming that any time is actually alloted to the GS by Codex.
]]>Type-2 diabetes – the body’s inability to regulate sugars, largely caused by lifestyle factors such as obesity, inactivity and smoking – is nearing epidemic proportions in the U.S. The Harvard School of Public Health estimates that more than 21 million Americans are currently living with the chronic disease (though up to a third of them don’t know it), while another 41 million have “pre-diabetes.” What’s more, while Type-2 Diabetes is often called “adult-onset” diabetes, about 46% of the overall cases of diabetes currently diagnosed in children are of the “Type-2” classification.
]]>Of the many health concerns those with Type-2 Diabetes grapple with each day, none is more important than the increased need to remain hydrated. Judy Hochstadt, MD, a Connecticut-based pediatric endocrinologist and diabetologist, explains, “Water is a critical necessity for all of us each day, but for those with Type-2 Diabetes, even the slightest decrease in hydration levels can cause serious health problems.” Nina Riley, founder and CEO of Water Sensations, Inc., adds, “Staying hydrated can be particularly challenging for diabetic children, who by their nature may be less compliant with health regimens than adults. The key for kids – and for many adults – is to make these important directives more fun and enjoyable.”
The Diabetes-Hydration Connection
According to Dr. Hochstadt, the body has an intricate process by which it converts the foods we eat into sugar molecules called glucose and delivers it to the bloodstream. Normally, as energy requirements increase, such as during exercise or other times of physical exertion, the cells receive a message to “open up” to take in the glucose and use it for fuel. At the same time the pancreas releases insulin into the bloodstream to facilitate sugar utilization by the body’s cells and tissues. In normal individuals, sugar balance is tightly controlled, ensuring that levels don’t spike too high or sink too low. However, in Type-2 diabetes, the body either fails to make enough insulin, or it is resistant to the insulin it does make.
“Even with prediabetes, sugar levels become erratic and the body goes into overdrive to flush out the glucose,” Dr. Hochstadt explains. “It does so by pulling water from cells in order to excrete sugar through urine. For every one glucose molecule excreted, two water molecules must follow; mathematically speaking, it’s fairly easy to see how diabetics are at much greater risk of dehydration,” she adds.
Three Key Reasons to Drink Up
Dr. Hochstadt points out the three top reasons why diabetics – even more so than healthy children and adults – must track their water intake and remain well-hydrated every day:
1. Simple Dehydration occurs countless times during the day to many of us, when we get too busy or forget our water bottle, or when we’re simply not in the mood for a glass of plain H2O. However, in diabetics, skipping a hydrating water break can lead to hyperglycemia – too much sugar in the bloodstream without water to help flush it out – followed by dehydration, as the body robs water from the cells to compensate. Ms. Riley, whose company Water Sensations Inc. makes calorie-free, sugar-free, clear liquid flavor enhancements for drinking water notes, “When water is unappealing, for adults or kids, it’s easy to forget it or delay it. Making it more delicious, whether it’s with a slice of lemon or a sugar-free flavor enhancement, can be instrumental in getting everyone to drink more water.”
2. Exercise-Related Dehydration can occur more quickly in diabetics than in healthy people, and can have more serious consequences. “Because diabetics require extra water to flush high blood sugar from the body, and since the body requires more water in general during sustained periods of physical activity, these two requirements can deplete water levels much faster in diabetics,” Dr. Hochstadt notes. Ms. Riley adds, “It’s even more important for diabetics to drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise.”
3. Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic Nonketotic Syndrome is a complicated way of describing the consequences of severe dehydration in patients with Type-2 Diabetes. While the condition is relatively rare, Dr. Hochstadt warns that it is also life threatening. “In HHNS, the patient may develop severe chemical and acid-based imbalances that may precipitate seizures, kidney failure, coma, and possibly death.” The best way to avoid HHNS is to preempt it by staying hydrated; to prevent its most serious complications, patients must catch it in the early stages by monitoring blood sugar levels regularly. “Any unexplained reading over 500mg/dl is a warning sign, and should prompt immediate attention with a call to the doctor.”
“Our bodies are made up of more than 90% water, and while it’s a crucial element for everyone’s good health, it can be a lifesaver for those with Type-2 Diabetes,” Ms. Riley concludes. “Making water more delicious, interesting, flavorful and fun with sugar-free enhancers like Water Sensations can make it easier for kids and adults alike to get the water they need each day to stay healthy.”
Bio: Judith Hochstadt, MD
Judith Hochstadt, M.D. is a leading pediatrician and endocrinologist with extensive practice in the epidemic problems of childhood obesity and diabetes. Dr. Hochstadt is a Diplomate, American Board of Pediatrics, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, member of the AACE, (American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists), Endocrine Society, ADA, and NAASO (North American Association for the Study of Obesity). A graduate of Downstate Medical Center, in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Hochstadt did her internship, residency and fellowship in Pediatric Enocrinology & Diabetes at Yale New Haven Medical Center. Her research at Yale Involved working with children and adolescents on the prototype insulin pump. She ran a Yale satellite diabetes and endocrinology clinci for 18 years at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, CT. There, she witnessed firsthand the emergence of the obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus epidenic. She is the past vice president of the Fairfield County Chapter of the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Hochstadt is a Senior Attending in Pediatrics/Pediatric Endocrinology at Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport, CT and has offices in CT in Commerce Park, Fairfield, Huntington, Southport, Trumbull and Stratford.
Katherine Mc Phee’s Battle with In a story that appeared this week in People Magazine about the American Idol contestant, Katherine Mc Phee, Katherine disclosed that she has secretly suffered from bulimia for the past five years. It was her success in the competition on television show American Idol that inspired her to come forward and get help to recover. Katherine, a vocalist, who at her worst point was self-inducing vomiting up to seven times a day, claimed that she realized her behaviors were “equivalent to taking a sledgehammer to her throat” and brought herself to treatment.
]]>Glamorizing eating disorders? Or becoming an invaluable role model?
The greatest increase in an upward trend of eating disorders these past three decades has occurred within the female population between the ages of 15 and 24. In a satellite interview with Contessa Brewer on MSNBC on June 24, 2006, eating disorder psychotherapist and author Abigail Natenshon MA, LCSW, GCFP, “tipped her hat” to Katherine when asked if she felt that celebrities coming forward with these problems “glamorize” the illness, encouraging dysfunction in impressionable young people. Ms. Natenshon believes that though some impressionable youngsters are bound to engage in experimentation, for the most part, the responses of people like Katherine McPhee provide invaluable role modeling for fans. “You can’t solve a problem till you can define it,” she said. Ms. McPhee has displayed the courage and proactive intention to achieve her dreams, to make her life as healthy, gratified and fulfilled as it can be. Despite the misconception that “Once eating disordered, always eating disordered,” eating disorders are curable in 80 percent of cases where recognized early and treated effectively. In her forthright and courgeous stand, I believe McPhee has become a true American idol.”
Uncovering the secrets of Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa: the most lethal mental health disorders
Though statistics show that 1 percent of young females in this country suffer with bulimia, the numbers most likely reflect the enormity of the problem, as bulimia is among the most frequently missed diagnoses and only a minority of people who struggle with eating disorders, particularly bulimia, are treated in mental healthcare. The most lethal of all the metal health disorders, bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa are extremely hard to recognize as they are highly secretive diseases; they typically make the victim feel and look “better than ever;” and they rarely show up in doctors’ offices during the physical or functional assessments….even laboratory tests do not evidence an eating disorder until the most advanced stages of disease. Making matters more confusing, the symptoms of these lethal disorders all lay along the continuum of normal human behaviors. Who doesn’t overeat, under-eat or engage in emotional or social eating at times?
8 signs that parents and families may see at home, around the dinner table, in the family bathroom, or the child’s bedroom:
Recognizing signs of clinical disease or the early signs of a disease in the making is critical. Eating disorders represent a dysfunctional relationship with food…an abuse of food to resolve emotional issues. You may see signs in the victim’s:
- Erratic eating; eating too much or too little, too frequently or too seldom
- Dieting and other restrictive eating behaviors (in some instances vegetarianism or skipping meals) that can result in extreme hunger and gorging, irregular menstrual periods
- Fear of putting on weight, and an all encompassing preoccupation with food and eating that can account for as much as 80 percent of an individual’s thoughts
- Hiding food, and feeling shame and guilt after eating it; the refusal to eat in the company of others.
- Depressive moods
- Various forms of purging, including self-induced vomiting, excessive exercising, laxative, diuretic or Ipecac abuse
- Impulsive, immoderate and out of control behaviors beyond the realm of eating, that might include shop lifting, promiscuity, cutting, engaging in chaotic relationships, abuse of substances such as drugs, alcohol, nicotine, diet pills, etc.
There is nothing passive about eating disorders. Always on the move, they are either getting better or you can be certain they are getting worse. Eating disorder recovery can be a long-term process, requiring input from a diverse team of professionals including physicians, psychotherapists, family therapists, nutritionists, psycho pharmacologists and school counselors. The course of recovery will be as variable, must be as comprehensive, and in many ways will feel as convoluted as the course of disease, typically combining outpatient and inpatient treatment milieus and diverse treatment modes. Victims of eating disorders, as young as age 5 or as old as 60, male or female, individuals alone or living within the context of a supportive or not so supportive family system need help to recognize, accept and conquer these diseases… to become capable of reclaiming their lives, proactively, with steadfast commitment, of fighting the good fight for life and life quality.
]]>A martial artist friend came to me a few weeks ago, a little confused about stretching. He’d heard a lot of conflicting information about why, when and how to stretch for maximum benefit, and he wanted to some clear guidance. I’ve since had two other subscribers ask me exactly the same question – which suggests that it’s an excellent topic for a feature article.
WHY STRETCH?
]]>If you try to stretch a rubber band to its limits when it’s cold, one of two things will happen. Either it won’t stretch very far – or it will simply snap. If, however, you roll it around in your hands and give it a few less intense ‘practice stretches’, stretching it to its full extent becomes easy, and the likelihood of snapping it is minimal.
Your muscles work very similarly. Doing any kind of exercise involving a range of movement your body isn’t used to is just like stretching the rubber band. If you try to do it ‘cold’, you’ll either get a very small range of movement – or you move too far and ‘snap’ (or tear) the muscle tissue. Warm up first however – do a few practice stretches – and your full range of motion is easy to achieve safely.
It’s not only during your workout that this flexibility is important. Your body works on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis which means that, unless you stretch regularly, your joints grow less flexible over time. Less flexibility means less range of movement in your daily life – so if you have to reach or twist to pick something up, you’re more likely to injure yourself. And if you take part in a sport or training programme that involves regularly contracting your muscles (without including some kind of stretching), you’ll find your general flexibility decreases even faster.
There’s a third reason that many of us have been taught to stretch – and that’s to avoid sore muscles the next day. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of evidence that it will actually help. DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is the aching you feel when you’ve pushed your muscles hard the day before. It happens because the exercise has stressed your muscles to the point they’ve developed microscopic tears in the fibres. And although stretching may feel good after a long workout, there isn’t a lot it can do to heal this ‘microtrauma’, so it won’t have much effect on your level of soreness the next day.
WHEN SHOULD YOU STRETCH?
Many of us were taught to stretch before we do any kind of exercise. In fact, the best time to stretch depends on the kind of exercise we’ll be doing. For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to separate exercise into three categories: strength training that involves slow, controlled movements; training that involves quick, uncontrolled movements, and anything else.
For strength training, there’s evidence that stretching before a workout is counter-productive. Strength training requires muscles to contract tightly against a heavy weight, and loosening the muscle fibres by stretching them first reduces their ability to do this. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t warm your muscles up before strength training – just avoid stretching them first. If you want to include stretching in the same workout as strength training, it’s better to wait until after you’ve finished your weights work.
For anything involving uncontrolled dynamic movements, however (and this would include most sports, dance methods and martial arts), stretching beforehand is important to avoid injury. Just think back to the rubber band metaphor.
For anything that doesn’t fit into either of these categories, you can probably include your stretching whenever you want to. For example, if your exercise is walking (and you do a lot of walking, so it’s within your usual range of motion), you could stretch before, after, during or any combination of the three.
The important thing about stretching is that it should never be done on cold muscles. If you’re stretching at the end of a workout, this isn’t usually a problem, as your muscles will be well and truly warmed up. If you’re stretching before your workout, however, experts recommend warming up (doing some kind of light exercise that gets your heart beating faster, and blood flowing to your muscles) for at least 5-10 minutes before you begin to stretch.
If you have any specific questions about how the information in this article applies to you, and would like to go through it with a personal trainer, please contact me.
Optimum Life’s Tanja Gardner is a Personal Trainer and Stress Management Coach whose articles on holistic health and relaxation have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. To find out more about how you could benefit from online personal training, please visit http://www.trainerforce.com/optimumlife/ . To find out more about holistic fitness and stress management please visit http://optimumlife.co.nz, or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.
]]>Unless we’re talking about our bodies, and the amount of exercise they can do, we usually talk about being fit in relation to something. An object is ‘fit for use’, clothing is ‘fit to be worn at work’, and food is ‘fit to be eaten’. My parents used to have a running joke that they were fit – fit to drop! Everything else is fit ‘for something’. So why do we insist on describing ourselves as ‘fit’ or ‘unfit’ without relating the concepts to anything else?
]]>GENERAL PRINCIPLES It’s a basic truth that the human body wasn’t made to sit still for any length of time. We spent tens of thousands of years evolving in an environment that required us to move – to find shelter, to catch food, and to keep ourselves safe from predators. We’ve only been living lifestyles that allow us to be sedentary for the lesser part of a hundred years – not nearly enough time for evolution to adapt our bodies to this new environment. We see this constantly reflected in modern rates of heart disease, atherosclerosis, chronic aches and pains, and muscular and bone deterioration in people who have become inactive as they age.
On top of this, activity has a very real effect on both stress and energy levels. Our bodies have a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ way with energy – if we don’t constantly use and then replace energy (with activity, followed by rest and good nutrition), we start noticing our energy levels gradually draining away. We feel tired, lethargic, and as though any amount of effort is just too much to be worth it. And if we’re also under stress – for example, at work, or in a difficult relationship – we feel the energy loss and the stress even more intensely.
These are general principles that seem to be true whoever we are. But different lifestyles require different amounts of energy, and exact different prices in terms of stress. We enjoy doing, and our bodies are suited for, different kinds of activity. It makes sense then, that the amount and type of activity that will help us reach our optimum fitness, will be different.
DIFFERENT STROKES If that’s the case, then getting ‘fit’ without a frame of reference seems like a meaningless concept. Unless we know what we want to be ‘fit for’ – what fitness means to us – there’s no reason for us to get or stay that way. If my life is basically calm, quiet and easy-flowing, and I’m quite happy to keep it that way, my ‘optimum fitness’ is going to be very different to someone who’s discovered a deep fulfillment in setting themselves a goal and achieving it. Someone who’d just like to go for a walk with friends without getting puffed is going to have a different optimum fitness level to someone who wants to discover how it feels to finish a marathon.
On top of this, what people want often changes over time. Perhaps at one point in your life, you enjoyed spending a couple of hours a day exercising, but now you’re finding there are things you’d like to do far more with that time. Alternatively, when you first started creating your optimum life for yourself, it might have been enough for you to just keep your body healthy. As you tried new activities though, you might have discovered you were actually enjoying some of them for their own sake, and wanting to get fitter so you could do more of them. So at different times in your life, you’d have a different optimum fitness level.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE “FIT FOR”? Which brings us back to our original question – can we talk about being fit, without knowing what exactly we’re ‘fit for’? The way we see it, your optimum fitness level depends completely on what you want to be able to do in your daily life, how you want to be feeling, how much energy you’d like to have and how exercise fits in with the rest of your life. So your first step in moving closer to optimum fitness needs to be to make that all-important decision “What do I want to be fit for?”
Optimum Life’s Tanja Gardner is a Stress Management Coach and Personal Trainer whose articles on holistic health, relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. For more information please visit check out http://optimumlife.co.nz, or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.
]]>]]>Twinkies, they’re not just for dessert anymore. The new Twinkies Cookbook has recipes for everything from a Twinkie Burrito to Twinkie Lasagna.
Theresa Cogswell compiled about 50 recipes for the book.
]]>An investigation turned up traces of chewing tobacco in the noodles — and led police to 39-year-old wholesale noodle vendor Sieng Seng, who had supplied the shops where people got sick.