Obesity Clinic for Natural Weight Loss

Seven Tips to Getting in Shape

denismccarthy — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:43:12 +0000

Posted: December 30, 2010 in Mountainside Fitness
http://mountainsidefitness.wordpress.com/
Tags: exercise, mountainside fitness

Although anyone can cover the basics (eat right and exercise), there are some things that we all learn through trial and error. Here are a few to share of those lesser known tips.

1) Exercise Daily

What’s easier, exercising three times a week or seven? It is far easier to make exercise a habit if it is a daily one. If you aren’t exercising at all, start by exercising a half hour every day. When you only exercise a couple times per week, it is much easier to turn one day off into three days off, a week off or a month off. If you are already used to exercising, switching to three or four days to fit your schedule may be preferable, but it is a lot harder to maintain a habit you don’t do every day.
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2) Duration Doesn’t Substitute for Intensity

Once you get into the habit of regular exercise, where do you go if you still aren’t reaching your goals? Most people will solve the problem by exercising for longer periods of time, turning forty minute workouts into two hour stretches. Not only does this drain your time, but it doesn’t work particularly well.

Exercise for periods longer than sixty to ninety minutes can change the chemical state in the body which destroys muscle and causes fat content to rise.

3) You Have a Set Point, Acknowledge It

Drugged up by no-limits, self-help philosophy, many people get frustrated when they plateau in their weight loss or muscle gaining goals. Everyone has an equilibrium and genetic set point where there body wants to remain. This doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve your fitness goals, but don’t be too hard on yourself if you are struggling to lose weight or put on muscle. Acknowledging a set point doesn’t mean giving up, but it does mean realizing the obstacles you face.

Expect to hit a plateau in your own fitness results. When you expect a plateau you can manage around it so you can continue your progress at a more realistic rate. When expectations meet reality you can avoid dietary crashes.

4) Eat Healthy, Not Just Food That Looks Healthy

Know what you eat. Don’t fuss over minutia like whether your getting enough Omega 3’s or tryptophan, but be aware of the big things. Look at the foods you eat regularly and figure out whether they are healthy or not. Don’t get fooled by the deceptively healthy snacks just pretending to be good for you.

The basic nutritional advice seems to be:

Eat unprocessed
Eat more veggies
Use meat as a side dish, not a main course

5) Watch Out for Travel

Don’t let a four day holiday interfere with your attempts to get in shape. This doesn’t mean that you need to follow your diet and exercise plan without any excursion, but when you are in the first thirty to sixty days, still forming habits, be careful that a week long break doesn’t terminate your progress.

This is also true of schedule changes that leave you suddenly busy or make it difficult to exercise. Have a backup plan so you can be consistent, at least for the first month when you are forming habits.

6) Starting Slow is Better than Fast

Ever start an exercise plan by running ten miles and then puking your guts out? Maybe you aren’t that extreme, but burnout is common early on. Take your time, you have a lifetime to be healthy, so don’t try to go from couch potato to athletic superstar in a week.

If you are starting running, run less than you can to start. Lifting weights? Work with less weight than you could use. Increasing intensity and pushing yourself can come later when you are familiar with regular exercise.

7) People Can Lift OR Anchor

Should you have a workout partner? That depends. Workout partners can be great motivational boosts and make exercising more fun. But they can also stop you from reaching your goals. My suggestion would be to have a workout partner, but when you start to plateau (either in physical ability, weight loss/gain, or overall health) and you haven’t reached your goals, consider mixing things up a bit.

If you plateau, you may need to make changes to continue improvements. In this case it is important to talk to your workout partner about the changes you want to make, and if they don’t seem motivated to continue, offer a thirty day break where you both try different activities.

Most often guys working out together tend to match strength after a brief adjustment phase. Even if both are trying to improve, something seems to stall improvement once they reach a certain point. You will find that you will be able to lift as much as 30-50% more after taking a short break from my regular workout partner.

With the new year just around the corner, there is no better time than now to get a jump start on that resolution.

IsaLean Shake: The Power of Protein for Staying Lean, Battling Aging

denismccarthy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:45:34 +0000

Most people will experience a nearly 40 percent decrease in lean body mass and more than 100 percent increase in fat mass from age 25 to 70. However, did you know that you can reverse this trend with how much high-quality protein you consume and when you consume it daily to keep and build lean body mass with age?

The effect of age on body composition. Source: Schock et al. 1984 (adapted).

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New research shows that eating protein at the right times, particularly at breakfast, is primary for maintaining lean body mass with age. Combined with calorie control, it is also important for avoiding obesity. Plus, the effect of protein on muscle synthesis, satiety, and fat burning can also depend largely on the protein’s quality.

Isagenix, for one, has been advising its customers about the benefits of higher intake of quality protein for breakfast with an IsaLean® Shake and IsaPro® for more than eight years. It’s perhaps the single most important way to help people stay leaner and healthier.

Aging is associated with an increasing body fat mass while simultaneously losing lean muscle tissue. This progressive process is characterized by 3 to 8 percent reduction in lean muscle mass each decade after age 30 and can be more than 50 percent loss of tissue in those over 80 years of age.

The change to gains of more fat and loss of lean mass impacts health in a way that leads to frailty, loss of strength, and decline in function and ability to care for oneself. The loss of muscle mass with age, called sarcopenia, is estimated to lead to socioeconomic and health care spending costs exceeding $18.5 million (1).

Most people don’t know they are losing muscle. It often goes undetected by the medical field because fat gain and weight stability mask the sarcopenia (2 & 3). However, the muscle loss, like osteoporosis, reduces quality of life and increases risk of disease and mortality.

Building and maintaining muscle is the most effective way to stave off the negative impact of sarcopenia and resulting risk of chronic disease.

Protein At Breakfast and Throughout the Day

The leading factors of observed sarcopenia are insufficient protein intake along with the lack of regular exercise. Maximizing muscle protein synthesis while watching total caloric intake in a dietary plan amounts to between 25 and 30 grams of high-quality protein per meal (3).

This is contrary to the current RDA, which is woefully inadequate! The RDA does little to promote optimal health in  the elderly.

Surprisingly, 15 to 41 percent of adults have dietary protein intakes below the current RDAs, which further suggests a need to push  for higher intakes of protein (4).

Clearly, maximal protein synthesis happens with adequate protein distribution throughout the day, starting with 25 to 30 grams of protein at breakfast (3). Protein at breakfast helps people stay stronger and leaner over the course of their lifetimes.

Putting a Stop To Sarcopenia with IsaLean Shake

When it comes to manufactured foods in the marketplace, protein often takes the back seat and is often replaced with cheap carbohydrates. Protein fortification isn’t easy and usually affects flavor in a bad way.

This is where IsaLean Shake comes into the picture. It makes getting enough quality protein delicious and enjoyable. It can also be combined with IsaPro whey protein to obtain higher amounts if needed.

Not all protein is the same: There are a variety of ways to address quality such as biological value and protein digestibility corrected amino acid score. Whey protein comes out on top by these measures. Also, the concentration of branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine) is crucial, especially leucine.

Leucine is a rate-limiting step for protein to trigger muscle synthesis. Whey is unique for having a naturally higher concentration of leucine versus other sources of proteins such as meat, eggs, or soy.

IsaLean Shake is key because it is a beverage with quality protein from whey, rich in branched-chain amino acids including leucine, which alone will trigger protein synthesis in muscles with or even without exercise.

The beauty of quality protein is that intake affects short-term and long-term mechanisms for body weight, beyond just muscle mass anabolism.

Quality protein taken every morning also increases satiety more than either fat or carbohydrate do, keeping people fuller longer, and inducing thermogenesis when it is 25 percent of dietary energy intake (4-9).

Source: Johnstone et al. AJCN. 1996: 50, 418-430

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The bottom line: quality protein throughout the day leads to better weight management, increased muscle and anti-aging. The end result is weight loss combined with maintained muscle, and a better quality of life.

References:

1. Janssen HC, Samson MM, Meeuwsen IB, Duursma SA, Verhaar HJ. Strength, mobility and falling in women referred to a geriatric outpatient clinic. Aging Clin Exp Res 2004;16:122-5.
2. Paddon-Jones D, Rasmussen BB. Dietary protein recommendations and the prevention of sarcopenia. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2009;12:86-90.
3. Hughes VA, Frontera WR, Roubenoff R, Evans WJ, Singh MA. Longitudinal changes in body composition in older men and women: role of body weight change and physical activity. Am J Clin Nutr 2002;76:473-81.
4. Luhovyy BL, Akhavan T, Anderson GH. Whey proteins in the regulation of food intake and satiety. J Am Coll Nutr 2007;26:704S-12S.
5. Hochstenbach-Waelen A, Veldhorst MA, Nieuwenhuizen AG, Westerterp-Plantenga MS, Westerterp KR. Comparison of 2 diets with either 25% or 10% of energy as casein on energy expenditure, substrate balance, and appetite profile. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:831-8.
6. Tappy L. Thermic effect of food and sympathetic nervous system activity in humans. Reprod Nutr Dev 1996;36:391-7.
7. Lejeune MP, Westerterp KR, Adam TC, Luscombe-Marsh ND, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. Ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide 1 concentrations, 24-h satiety, and energy and substrate metabolism during a high-protein diet and measured in a respiration chamber. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;83:89-94.
8. Westerterp KR, Wilson SA, Rolland V. Diet induced thermogenesis measured over 24h in a respiration chamber: effect of diet composition. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999;23:287-92.
9. Heaney RP. Protein intake and bone health: the influence of belief systems on the conduct of nutritional science. Am J Clin Nutr 2001;73:5-6.

Whey Boosts Weight Loss Regardless of Calories (Not Soy)

denismccarthy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:39:29 +0000

Whey might help shed inches despite calorie intake, study suggests.

Whey protein is not only superior to soy for trimming down, but may help maintain or even promote weight loss regardless of intake of calories.

Protein has long been associated with increased satiety, thereby improving weight loss and promoting adherence to difficult, otherwise hunger-inducing diets. While protein may keep you fuller longer, a new study in the July issue of The Journal of Nutrition, showed that whey protein is more effective than soy protein when it comes to weight loss.

Researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture randomly assigned 90 participants to consume soy protein (SP), whey protein (WP), or carbohydrate (CHO) supplements at mealtime for 23 weeks. Total calorie consumption was not reduced or restricted—all participants were overweight or obese at the start of the intervention.

“This study suggests that after 6 mo of supplementation, there was a difference in body weight and fat mass between overweight and obese adults who consumed supplemental WP compared to those who consumed isoenergetic supplemental CHO,” the authors report.

The scientists didn’t observe similar weight-reducing results in the group that consumed soy protein or carbohydrate.

At the end of the trial, the whey protein group lost 4 more pounds in body weight and 5 more pounds in fat mass than the carbohydrate group.

“Additionally,” the researchers wrote, “consuming WP resulted in a significantly smaller waist circumference compared with the group consuming supplemental CHO.”

As found in this study, macronutrient (protein, carbohydrate or fat) choices can make an impact on body composition. Not only is protein thought to be satiating and thermogenic, whey protein consumption without calorie restriction had a favorable impact on body weight. The researchers emphasize that in the WP supplementation group “the difference in body weight was associated with a decrease in fat without an effect on lean mass.”

The authors write that protein is key to short-term weight loss because it reduces the urge to overeat and that the impact of whey protein on body weight without calorie restriction or the intention to lose weight is novel.

“Protein supplementation, particularly WP, in overweight and obese individuals may assist in long-term maintenance of body weight without energy restriction,” the researchers suggest.

Reference: Baer DJ, Stote KS, Paul DR, et al. Whey Protein but Not Soy Protein Supplementation Alters Body Weight and Composition in Free-Living Overweight and Obese Adults. J Nutr 2011, 141 (7). doi: 10.3945/jn.111.139840

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Solving Childhood Obesity through Supportive Parenting

denismccarthy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:15:53 +0000

Parents can shape positive futures by encouraging healthy choices.

by Andrea Frank Henkart, MA, CCE, CHHE, CNC
More information: http://vita4life.isagenix.com

Nearly 1 in 3 American children are overweight or obese. Because this is such a growing tragedy, the President of the United States of America officially declared September 2010 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. This declaration brings national attention to a growing epidemic among youth in the United States.

According to The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 10.4 percent of American children ages 2 to 5 are obese, 19.6 percent of kids between 6 to 11 are obese, and 18.1 percent of adolescents ages 12 to 19 are obese. Pediatricians and gastroenterologists continue to link this obesity epidemic to an increasing number of children with diabetes, high blood pressure and liver disease. Experts blame:

The prevalence of junk food and sodas marketed to kids
Lack of exercise
Too much time watching television and playing video games
The decline in the number of families that take time to sit down and eat together
Toxicity in the environment

Statistics show that soda, French fries, potato chips, hamburgers and chocolate comprise 70 percent of the American diet. No wonder America’s health is so awful. Unfortunately, countries around the world are quickly catching up. Diets rich in fresh fruits and vegetables have given way to processed foods filled with fat, salt and sugar. New estimates indicate that about half a million children in Europe are combating the same kinds of health problems suffered by middle-aged adults simply because they are overweight.

The explosion in obesity rates and obesity-related diseases have made us keenly aware of the need to make global changes in our collective behavior. When it comes to our kids, we have to make sure the message is about healthful living, not just weight. In all their eagerness to stem the obesity epidemic, parents must make sure they do not damage their kids’ self-esteem by reinforcing negative body image. It is rare to find an adolescent girl who feels good about her body. Boys are increasingly affected as well.

Of course the media feeds into this frenzy by suggesting that if we look a certain way we can get what we want out of life. With all the lifting, tucking and nipping shown on TV, it is no wonder that girls are untrusting of their own bodies, while boys turn to steroids and other methods to alter the way they look. I highly recommend that parents change the focus from looking good to being healthy.

Be Supportive

Children usually know if they are overweight and do not need to be reminded or singled out. They need acceptance, encouragement and love.

Plan family activities that involve exercise. Instead of watching TV, go hiking or biking, wash the car or take an after-dinner walk. Offer choices, then let your kids decide which activity the family will participate in.
Set family agreements for the amount of time your kids can spend watching television or playing video games. Let your kids participate in the making of those agreements so they feel involved and in control. Re-negotiate whenever necessary.
Be sensitive. Find activities your children will enjoy that are not difficult or that could cause embarrassment.
Eat meals together as a family and eat at the table, not in front of a television. Eat slowly and enjoy your food.
Do not use food as a reward or punishment. Children should not be placed on restrictive diets, unless done so by a doctor for medical reasons. Children need healthy food for growth, development and energy. Buy organic meats, fruits and vegetables whenever you can to avoid harmful pesticides, hormones and antibiotics in your food.
Make Isagenix available to your kids. Offer IsaLean® Shakes, IsaLean® Bars, SlimCakes®, and Isagenix Snacks!™ Take turns blending the IsaLean Shakes and let your kids create their own healthy smoothies.
Involve your kids in meal planning and grocery shopping. This helps them learn and gives them a role in the decision making.
Keep healthy snacks on hand. Good options include fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, low-fat cheese, plenty of fresh water and IsaLean Bars. Look for non-allergenic, healthy snacks you can buy in your local health food store.

Armed with nutritional knowledge and honest concern for your child’s health, it is easy for food to become a source of conflict, especially if you have teenagers in the house.

Avoid bargaining or bribing kids to eat (or not eat as the case may be) and avoid using dessert as a prize. Do not force your kids to finish their food. This just teaches them to ignore their own feelings of fullness.

A better strategy may be to give your kids some control by letting them decide when they are hungry and when they are full. You are still in control over which foods are available at home, both at mealtime and between meals by only buying healthy, wholesome, nutritionally rich food.

Long-term good health is less an accident than the result of good habits and wise choices. Habits that include eating nutritious foods and understanding the relationship between physical and emotional health will help your child grow up healthy. Good nutrition does not mean that your children cannot eat their favorite foods or that they have to eat foods they do not like. Just monitor the sugary snacks, fast food and fatty desserts whenever possible. To enjoy good health now and in the future, learn how to create balance through eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep and controlling stress.

Andrea Frank Henkart

Andrea Frank Henkart is an internationally recognized expert and keynote speaker in the fields of parenting, communication skills, and personal development. She has a Master’s Degree in psychology, two teaching credentials from UCLA, a degree in holistic health education from Heartwood Holistic Health Institute, and is a certified Nutritional Counselor. She is the author of seven books on health and wellness including best-seller, Cool Communication, co-written with her daughter Journey. Her new book on the benefits of Isagenix for children will be released in early 2011.

Artiucle source: http://www.isagenixhealth.net/2010/09/solving-childhood-obesity-through-supportive-parenting/ … September 9, 2010

10 ways stress makes you fat and diabetic

denismccarthy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:39:34 +0000

October 22, 2010 in Diabesity | 17 comments

In the first part of this series on diabesity, we “got under the hood” to look at the underlying mechanisms of both obesity and diabetes. We’ve now moved on to discussing the environmental and lifestyle risk factors that drive these conditions. In the last article we learned about the top 3 dietary causes of diabesity. In this article, we’re going to see how stress can independently cause both obesity and diabetes.

A huge – and I mean huge – amount of research over the past two decades shows that stress causes both obesity and diabetes in a variety of ways. Studies also show that stress makes it hard to lose weight. This is one reason why some people just can’t seem to lose weight no matter how well they eat or how much they exercise. I believe stress is one of the most important – yet most often ignored – factors driving the diabesity epidemic.

Stress is a bigger problem than you think

Hans Selye, the famous physiologist who coined the term “stress”, defined it this way:

…the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it.

The prominent psychologist Richard Lazarus offers a similar definition:

…any event in which environmental demands, internal demands, or both tax or exceed the adaptive resources of an individual…

Most people only think of psychological stress when they hear the term “stress”. When asked what causes stress, they might say things like losing a job, having a fight with your spouse, driving in traffic or getting audited by the IRS.

While it’s true that psychological challenges like this are major stressors, what many people don’t realize is that stress is also caused by physiological challenges, such as:

insomnia
chronic infections
inflammation
autoimmune disease
environmental toxins
dieting
too much exercise

Even if your levels of psychological stress are pretty low, any of the conditions listed above can provoke a chronic stress reaction in your body. And as we’ll see in the next section, chronic stress can make you both fat and diabetic.

10 ways stress makes you fat and diabetic

When stress becomes chronic and prolonged, the hypothalamus is activated and triggers the adrenal glands to release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is normally released in a specific rhythm throughout the day. It should be high in the mornings when you wake up (this is what helps you get out of bed and start your day), and gradually taper off throughout the day (so you feel tired at bedtime and can fall asleep).

Recent research shows that chronic stress can not only increase absolute cortisol levels, but more importantly it disrupts the natural cortisol rhythm. And it’s this broken cortisol rhythm that wreaks so much havoc on your body. Among other effects, it:

raises your blood sugar
makes it harder for glucose to get into your cells ¹
makes you hungry and crave sugar
reduces your ability to burn fat
suppresses your HPA-axis, which causes hormonal imbalances
reduces your DHEA, testosterone, growth hormone and TSH levels ²
makes your cells less sensitive to insulin
increases your belly fat and makes your liver fatty
increases the rate at which you store fat
raises the level of fatty acids and triglycerides in your blood

Each one of these consequences alone could make you fat and diabetic, but when added together they’re almost a perfect recipe for diabesity.

Our bodies aren’t made for chronic stress

One of the reasons chronic stress is so destructive is that our bodies didn’t evolve to deal with it. We’re set up to handle short-term, acute stress fairly well. In paleolithic times, this might have been caused by getting chased by a lion or hunting for our next meal. In fact, this type of stress may even be beneficial for our bodies because it improves our ability to react to the challenges of life.

What we’re not adapted for, however, is the chronic, unrelenting stress that has become so common in modern life. This type of stress provokes feelings of hopelessness and helplessness – what psychologists call a “defeat response”. And it’s the defeat response that leads to increased fat storage, abdominal obesity, tissue breakdown, suppression of the immune system, and all of the other effects I listed above that directly cause obesity and diabetes.

A closer look at insomnia, dieting and exercise

I’d like to take a closer look at three often stressors that can make us fat and diabetic: insomnia, dieting and exercise.

More than a third of American suffer from insomnia, with 42 million prescriptions for sleeping medications filled in 2007. Several studies show that sleep deprivation elevates cortisol and makes it more likely that you’ll get fat and develop diabetes.

A very recent paper showed that restricting sleep to 5 hours a night for just one week significantly reduces insulin sensitivity. Another study earlier this year showed that even one night of sleep loss increased appetite in young, healthy adults. Sleep restriction is associated with impairment of carbohydrate tolerance, and research has shown that a loss of 3 hours of sleep each night causes a weight gain of 4-5%.

It’s estimated that between 50-60% of Americans are dieting at any given time. That’s a huge number. And while it may seem counter-intuitive that dieting contributes to obesity and diabetes, it makes perfect sense when you understand that dieting is a stressor that disrupts our cortisol rhythm.

A 2001 study showed that “cognitive dietary restraint” (translation: stressing about food or doing overly restrictive diets) raises your cortisol levels. Studies have also shown that caloric restriction – as is common in low-fat diets – increases cortisol levels. And a recent study reported on by Stephan Guyenet at Whole Health Source found that caloric restriction is especially harmful when combined with sleep deprivation.

Finally, although not common in the general population, too much exercise can also predispose you to weight gain and diabetes by raising cortisol levels, breaking down muscle tissue and increasing fat storage. This is especially true if cortisol levels are already elevated or disrupted by other stressors like gut infections, insomnia, food toxins or psychological factors.

It’s not uncommon (in the paleo/fitness subculture, at least) to encounter someone who eats well and exercises their brains out, but cannot lose weight. In fact, several of my patients fall into this category. They are often surprised when I tell them they need to exercise less if they want to lose weight and recover their health. What they may not realize is that cortisol is a catabolic hormone. It breaks the body down.

While this might sound like a good thing for those trying to lose weight, it’s not. Muscle tissue is metabolically active and actually helps us lose weight. A reduction of lean muscle tissue may drop a few pounds in the short-term, but it will predispose you to weight gain in the future by impairing your metabolism. (This is another reason why caloric restricted diets, which break down muscle tissue, don’t work in the long-term and even make things worse.)

So if you’re struggling with weight or blood sugar control, don’t diet, get plenty of sleep and take it easy with exercise. You’ll be a lot better off.

Talbot, Shawn. The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health, and What You Can Do About It. Hunter House. 2007. pp. 85-86 ↩
Talbot, Shawn. The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health, and What You Can Do About It. Hunter House. 2007. pp. 85-86 ↩

Tagged as: cortisol, diabetes, diabetic, dieting, fat, hpa, insomnia, obesity, overweight, Stress

Cognitive Dietary Restraint Ineffective Weight Loss

denismccarthy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:03:13 +0000

Women With High Cognitive Dietary Restraint Constantly Think About Food – Doesn’t Help Them Lose Weight And Could Pose Health Risk

Posted on April 4, 2011 by admin

Imagine you’re at a business meeting that your identical twin is also attending. Both of you are are of normal weight. There is a plate of cookies on the boardroom table. Your identical twin feels hungry, has a cookie and fully engages in the meeting. You, on the other hand, spend the meeting thinking: ‘Gee, the cookies look awfully good. I bet they have about 300 calories. What have I eaten so far today? Do I have time to go to the gym later?’ Eventually, you have a cookie.

In the scenario above, your twin has low cognitive dietary restraint – meaning she doesn’t think about food much and eats when she feels like it. You, on the other hand, are showing signs of high cognitive dietary restraint. “You’re giving lots of thought to your decisions around food,” says Dr. Susan Barr of the University of British Columbia. “You’re constantly monitoring and trying to limit food intake to either achieve or maintain your desired weight.”

Dr. Barr, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research supported researcher, is leading a four-year study tracking food attitudes to gauge the health impacts of high levels of dietary restraint, which affects about 25% of women – regardless of their body weight. Previous research by Dr. Barr and her colleagues has shown that normal-weight women with high restraint are more likely to have menstrual cycle disturbances, affecting their chances of becoming pregnant. They also have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which has been linked to diminished bone density and higher blood pressure.

But here’s the kicker: while all that stressing over food may be putting women at higher risk of poor health, it doesn’t appear to help them be slim.

Dr. Barr is in the process of analyzing the health impacts of worrying too much about what you eat. If the impacts are significant, her research will be important in developing ways to help women adopt new behaviours. “Is there some way of intervening with women to help them be less concerned about food? That’s what we will be looking at down the road.”

The Study

Because most of the previous work on dietary restraint has focused on young women, the first part of the study focused on learning more about dietary attitudes and restraint in postmenopausal women. Approximately 1,000 women completed questionnaires at baseline and two years later about their dietary habits, attitudes and behaviours. The questionnaire, designed to identify high cognitive dietary restraint behaviours in women, included questions such as:

How likely are you to consciously eat less than you want? Unlikely? Slightly likely? Moderately likely? Very likely?

In the second part of the study, approximately 70 postmenopausal women and 120 university-aged women participated in intensive follow-up studies in which measurements of their cortisol, bone density and blood pressure were recorded to gauge health impacts of high levels of dietary restraint over time. The data collection is near completion and the results will be analyzed to see if these women are at higher risk of poor health.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Nutritional Therapy for Morbid Obesity

denismccarthy — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:42:04 +0000

Sep 7, 2011 | By Frankie Smith
Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images

Morbid obesity is a growing concern in the United States; as of 2008, it affected approximately 34 percent of adults. It is associated with a number of illnesses, including coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Obese patients benefit from a combination of nutrition therapy, exercise and a hypo-caloric diet — one in which you consume fewer calories than you burn.

Morbid Obesity

“Morbid obesity” is a medical term referring to a person who is more than 100 pounds overweight, or with a body mass index of 40 kg in body weight divided by his height in meters squared, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. A number of factors contribute to morbid obesity, including consumption of too much food, too little exercise and drinking too much alcohol; these behaviors contribute to your likeliness of being overweight. In some cases, obesity is caused by hypothyroidism, a condition in which an underactive thyroid gland slows one’s metabolism.

Nutritional Therapy

Nutritional therapy combines treatment of your body with treatment of your emotions and behavior. When you receive medical nutrition therapy, a registered dietitian assesses your current diet and determines a nutrition diagnosis. The dietitian formulates an evidence-based plan for you to follow; he then monitors and evaluates your progress as you follow the established plan. When you are morbidly obese, nutrition therapy provides a complementary intervention to medical care.

Behavioral Therapy

Your nutritional therapy might include cognitive behavioral therapy to assist you in addressing certain habits and behaviors that contribute to obesity. Your nutritional therapist helps you to understand the emotions, behaviors and thoughts that contribute to your eating and exercise choices. In 2004, “Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine” reported that behavioral therapy, when combined with other weight-loss approaches, resulted in an additional 9 pounds lost over four years.

Other Approaches

MayoClinic.com reports that diet changes and exercise are necessary for you to lose weight. Follow a hypo-caloric diet that promotes weekly loss of a modest amount of weight — such as 2 pounds — and combine it with an increase in your physical activity level. Your nutrition therapy incorporates these elements by prompting you to eat healthier meals, decrease calories, increase exercise and follow counseling. Your doctor may consider use of medications or surgery, such as gastric bypass surgery, to aid in weight loss.

References

Childhood Obesity Linked to Fast Foods

denismccarthy — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:10:23 +0000

The President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Dr. Neal Barnard, stated that the blame of the increasing rate of childhood obesity seems to be linked to the increase in unhealthy foods rather than decreased exercise.

Dr. Barnard analyzed food availability data from 1909 to 2007 and found that during that period of time the food availability increased from 35 to 87 lbs per person per year of oils, from 124 to 200 lbs per person per year of meat, from 4 to 33 lbs per person per year of cheese and from 1.5 to 25 lbs per person per year of frozen dairy products.

Also from 1970 to 2007 the availability of sweeteners increased from 119 to 136 lbs per person per year. This increase in caloric sweeteners reflects the increase in high-fructure corn syrup, which in part may be related to the sharp availability of carbonated beverages which increased by 15 gallons per person per year when comparing data from 2007 to 1980.

Lets stop and think about this for a minute. This increase alone in sweeteners i.e. mostly high-fructose corn syrup in the last 27 years has had a dramatic impact on rather new childhood illnesses such as diabetes, obesity and not to mention ADHD?!

Do you think a growing child with a growing brain should be bathed in so much sugar?!

The consumption of bad fats is what is increasing so we must educate ourselves on the good fats. Overall I believe Dr. Barnard is stating that we eat too much and so it follows that our children do the same. To quote Dr. Barnard, “Our analysis of USDA figures shows that the big increases over the last century have been in the amount of meat, cheese, oil, and frozen desserts that people are consuming. While people tend to blame a lack of exercise, it appears that meaty, cheesy diets are largely to blame.”

Annette Cartaxo, MD

For more information please visit http://www.vita4life.isagenix.com

Fat Loss

denismccarthy — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:07:45 +0000

I just finished reading two books by Al Sears, MD: Dr. Sears’ High Speed Fat Loss in 7 Easy Steps and P.A.C.E.: The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution. The former does a good job of summarizing most of what I’ve gleaned from dozens of books on fitness and nutrition over the past several years:

Avoid processed foods like the plague.
Increase protein intake to burn fat.
Eat healthy fats – particularly those with lots of Omega 3 fatty acids (and coconut oil).

It also makes an interesting, and to me compelling, case against moderate intensity “cardio” exercise, the sort of exercise that is pretty much universally claimed to burn the most fat. His argument is that too much of this sort of training only trains your body to store fat, particularly if you eat lots of refined carbs, which your body can very efficiently store as fat. In my experience I believe this to be true. High intensity exercise revs up your metabolism for long after you’ve finished exercising, and it is the sort of exercise that challenges your lungs and heart to grow stronger (which is key to getting faster, opposed to hitting a plateau). For the past few years I’ve done most of my training using “chunks”: chunks of intensity interspersed with my normal riding, aiming for about 20 minutes or so of intensity (i.e. anaerobic zone performance) per training session. An added advantage is that I train less, so I recover faster (a very important consideration when your over 50, but also for folks that work a lot or have lots of family obligations). As I get closer to race day, the frequency and intensity of my training drops, while the duration increases so that the duration and intensity becomes more like race day as the actual race gets closer.

The latter book expands on the former. It’s perhaps written more for the sedentary 50 year old than the elite athlete, but it was still a worthwhile read. The only criticism is that there is a fair amount of hawking of Dr. Sears’ services and wares. But even with that he is pretty much dead on, with perhaps one criticism. At one point in the book he states that “overconsumption of protein is the key to fat loss.” While I believe it can be crucial for rapid initial loss of fat, long term consumption of too much protein can be very hard on your kidneys. Moderate amounts of protein and a whole foods diet is probably a lot safer bet. And he seems to stick to that path through most, but not all, of the book (the book really needs a good editor).

Probably the two most worthwhile parts of the book are his two analogies that refute the conventional wisdom that weight control is merely a matter of controlling caloric intake. When my wife sees how much I eat and am still able to maintain an off season weight of around 168 pounds, she tends to agree with Dr. Sears. His first example is a woman that eats a carb heavy (most likely refined carbs) diet. As she restricts her calories her weight continues to go up, despite eating 1500 calories or less per day for weeks. His second example is a man that eats several thousands of calories per day, mostly of protein, and can’t gain the additional weight that he wants (the same sort of diet that body builders use to achieve a very lean body mass). Clearly weight is not a matter of calories in, calories out. The former example illustrates how easily your body will metabolize refined carbohydrates (sugar, flour, all the refined corn and soy fillers, etc) into fat while breaking down your own muscle tissue to get an adequate amount of protein. The latter example clearly shows that excess calories are not always stored as fat. The main concern that I have for the latter example, especially for folks over 50, is that overconsumption of meat can raise your body’s acidity, with lots of bad implications for your health, including leaching calcium from your bones. That’s why moderate protein consumption (a portion about the size of your palm at each meal) together with lots of whole fruits and vegetables (to create a better acid/alkaline balance in your body) is a better strategy for everyday eating.

Posted by klimer
http://www.foodforcycling.blogspot.com/

Parenting to Prevent Obesity

denismccarthy — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 05:44:59 +0000

Helping your kids get and stay healthy isn’t always easy. It’s hard for them to resist the unhealthy snacks, sodas and fast food that seem to be all around them. It’s also tough to get them away from the television and computer screens and find places for them to play and exercise. Here are some helpful tips and information to help you take positive steps

Become a Better Health Model
You may not be a perfect health model for your kids, but if they see you making a real effort to improve your own habits, they will start to realize that being healthy is really important.

Talking Healthy with your Kids
Talking to your child about issues like health, weight and fitness can be tricky. Here are some tips to help you start the discussion in a sensitive and effective way.

Tips for Dealing with Picky Eater
It is really common for kids to be picky about what they eat and to turn their nose up at healthy foods. These tips will help even the pickiest eater enjoy healthy mealtimes.

The Nine Hour Rule: Kids & Sleep
As part of a healthy lifestyle that includes good nutrition and regular physical activity, your child needs at least nine hours of sleep each night.

Turn It Off: Limiting Screen Time
The average child or adolescent spends 4–5 hours a day in front of a screen. Yikes! Here are a few ways to cut back on screen time.

Source: Alliance for a Healthier Generation (USA)
http://www.healthiergeneration.org/parents.aspx?id=3085

Obesity Clinic for Natural Weight Loss

Seven Tips to Getting in Shape

IsaLean Shake: The Power of Protein for Staying Lean, Battling Aging

Whey Boosts Weight Loss Regardless of Calories (Not Soy)

Solving Childhood Obesity through Supportive Parenting

10 ways stress makes you fat and diabetic

Stress is a bigger problem than you think

10 ways stress makes you fat and diabetic

Our bodies aren’t made for chronic stress

A closer look at insomnia, dieting and exercise

Cognitive Dietary Restraint Ineffective Weight Loss

Women With High Cognitive Dietary Restraint Constantly Think About Food – Doesn’t Help Them Lose Weight And Could Pose Health Risk

Nutritional Therapy for Morbid Obesity

Morbid Obesity

Nutritional Therapy

Behavioral Therapy

Other Approaches

References

Childhood Obesity Linked to Fast Foods

Fat Loss

I just finished reading two books by Al Sears, MD: Dr. Sears’ High Speed Fat Loss in 7 Easy Steps and P.A.C.E.: The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution. The former does a good job of summarizing most of what I’ve gleaned from dozens of books on fitness and nutrition over the past several years:

Posted by klimer http://www.foodforcycling.blogspot.com/

Parenting to Prevent Obesity

Posted by klimer
http://www.foodforcycling.blogspot.com/