Diet and Weightloss News

Does Green Tea Really Help You Lose Weight?

There is really no dispute that green tea, as well as other types of natural teas, are extremely healthy for the human body. They contain multiple different TYPES of antioxidants, and the tea itself is completely free of calories.

It has also been hailed as an excellent and healthier alternative to America’s favorite energy drink – coffee. However, you still should really try to drink green tea only if it is organic, as, just like coffee beans, tea leaves contain pesticides and other chemicals if they are not certified organic – making your hot drink into a steaming cup of chemicals!

The debate about whether green tea can also help the body with weiht loss has raged for a while. Some said that green tea, while healthy, really didn’t improve odds of weight loss much when taken for weight loss specifically. Others claimed that green tea was excellent for weight loss, helping to spur weight loss and speed fat loss.

Apparently there is now some more definitive proof that green tea is, in fact as useful tool for those who want to lose weight.  A compound that is found in green tea called Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has shown to be effective at slowing weight gain in mice when tested.

Another interesting point of the study was that the mice that took green tea every day and started off obese showed fecal evidence of less bodily fat absorption. This strongly suggests that some how green tea consumptions helps our bodies to limit the amount of dietary fat that we absorb (which of course leads to weight gain and fat storage).

The mice that took the green tea every day appeared to gain weight about 45% slower than the mice that did not have the green tea. That’s quite a nice difference! Think I might have to add green tea into my diet again!

Deep Fried Foods : Why They Are Bad (There’s More Than One Reason)

Deep fried anything pretty much makes me salivate, I’ll fully admit to that. Deep fried foods and starchy, nutritionless foods that are salty are probably my single biggest weakness when it comes to eating right and maintaining a healthy diet.

Chocolate, which I also love, I really don’t consider as much of a weakness, because I know that chocolate, although high in sugar, actually has certain benefits. I’ve also learned to control how much chocolate I eat at a time, and no longer completely pig out on it every time I eat some.

I used to have no control over my sweet intake, but now, it seems like adulthood has made me more sugar sensitive, and I can’t OD on sugar as much naturally.  So why are deep fried foods so bad for us?  And are they ALWAYS bad for us, or are there any exceptions?

Well, there really are no exceptions when it comes to deep fried foods. Hate to break it to ya, but all deep fried foods are pretty bad for you. They saturate the food, which may start off as reasonably healthy before it goes in the frier, with a lot of fat. Even if you are deep frying with a healthier, unsaturated fat, you are still  really saturating the product you are frying with calories and fat.

Deep fried foods are not only high in fat and calories, but sometimes deep frying alters a food into a more carcinogenic food (cancer causing) such as it does with potatoes. Deep fried potatoes, also known as french fries (a huge weakness of mine, by the way), are actually carcinogenic because they contain a chemical in them called acrilamides.

Because the potato is starchy, and because of it’s chemical makeup, these acrilamides spawn from them when deep fried – so things like potato chips and french fries are actually carcinogenic.

Deep fried foods are also very acidic within the body. They can cause acid overload, and you can get an upset stomach and diarrhea pretty easily because they are so loaded in fat and other nasty ingredients.  You also may notice you have indigestion after eating deep fried foods – they aren’t the friendliest to you digestive system.

Avoiding deep fried foods is really not just about maintaining or losing weight as you can see. It’s really all about maintaining total health and keeping your body healthy.  After all, who needs french fries but every once in a while, right!?

The Only Way to Boost Metabolism is Exercise!

Well, it should really be no shock that there is no magic bullet, as so many different diet products promise, that speed up your metabolism. In theory, sure it sounds great that you could take a pill of some sort and experience the metabolism of a humming bird while moving only as much as a sloth.

But it’s all an illusion. There is no other way to boost metabolism than working out or getting exercise all throughout the day at various increments during the hours you are awake.  There are a lot of falsehoods out there about metabolism.

You can temporarily boost your metabolism by eating certain spicy foods or by movement, but you cannot really do anything about increasing it when you are at rest, such as sitting down in front of a computer or the television.  However, standing during the day instead of sitting does help you to burn more calories.

We wish there was something that did help you burn more calories though, when you are at rest. A lot of the diet pills out there today are really based on the theory that you will move around more and have more energy to work out when you are supplemented with vitamins and nutrients that offer plentiful energy.

However, taking a diet supplement, in and of itself, is not going to boost your resting metabolism.  That pill, we are still waiting for!

Should Lunch Be Light or Heavy for Weight Loss?

We’ve all heard different stories when it comes to how you should portion the various meals you have throughout the day when you are trying to lose a few pounds. For instance, a long battled over belief is that you should eat a heavy breakfast. Supporters of this theory say that if you eat a heavy breakfast, it sets you off on the right path for not overeating at lunch and dinner because you haven’t under eaten.

On the other hand, some say that this is totally wrong because there is really no proof that eating a heavy breakfast (of course of healthy foods), has any impact on your overall calorie intake for the day. In fact, they say that eating a heavier breakfast may just lead to overall higher calorie intake for the day since you don’t really curb the rest of your meals as was once thought.

There are also similar arguments for and against eating heavier lunches vs. lighter lunches. I for one believe that my breakfast should be about a medium meal for me, my lunch should be a little larger, and my dinner should preferably be the smallest meal of the day since I don’t have much more left of my day after that.

It varies per person, but I’ve found that the above works best for me and my body chemistry and losing weight.  Now, there is some research that suggests that keeping your lunch time meal pretty light may have some benefits for losing weight. What I want to know is, how do you then stay full between lunch and dinner without a substantial snack?

Researchers basically looked at groups of people who ate “meal replacements” vs. a full lunch meal. They would eat something small and high in fiber, say an apple and a prepackaged inexpensive food item like yogurt, or a can of ravioli, or some other similar food (maybe a Lean Cuisine or something like that).

They found that these participants actually did not try to make up for under eating at lunch when it came to their dinner time. This is a real shocker to me, because for me personally, I think I do tend to “make up” for eating too little during the day at lunch time.

I consequently pack on too many calories right before bed time when I eat too light at lunch, and for me that’s a really bad scenario because I won’t be burning off any of those calories since we eat our dinner fairly late – between 7:30 and 8:00 usually.

Obese But Healthy Can Have Normal Life Span?

There have been many studies that have shown a definite connection between obesity and a shorter life span. Because being obese connects to so many other important facets of your overall health, it can impact just about every cell of your body in a negative way.

It’s harder for your body to process things, harder for the organs to do their work, and in general, you just burn up a lot of “life energy” by eating too much food. However, new studies are showing that if you are obese and otherwise healthy (in other words, with no typical obesity related health issues hounding you), then you may very well live a standard life span.

The obesity itself, for some reason, is not the same impediment against living a long healthy life like it is for others for a select group of people. They may register as obese on the scale, but their health problems do not show it.

The results have also showed that people that tend to yo-yo up and down in their weight by struggling through diet after diet and then gaining the weight back may actually be putting their health and longevity in more danger than if they just hovered around the same obese weight for their lives – supposing of course that they weight is not causing health issues.

These findings of course may be controversial, but the studies that were conducted are pretty conclusive and were done on a fair amount of people to get the results.

I’ve seen obese people who may be considered obese by the dictionary definition of the word, but they still were very healthy people. The obese people I’ve known that are healthy and full of energy never appeared to be “obese” to me.

Maybe it was because they were so solid, or they did get a good bit of exercise, but it seems that it’s all in one’s outlook on life and how they carry themselves through life that makes all the difference in how long they end up living a healthy existence.

Remember, some people may not even over eat, but may have thyroid issues or just a naturally much slower metabolism due to genetics or other issues. They may eat healthy foods, yet still carry extra weight. These people are probably the least likely to get health problems that are typically associated with obesity.

MSG : Why It’s Bad

Monosodium glutamate, more commonly known as MSG, is a common food additive that is presentlly in many of our foods today.   The main purpose of MSG in foods is as a flavor enhancer.

MSG was inroduced in 1947 for use in U.S. food production.  So, MSG has been used in many different processed foods for quite a while.  MSG has been consumed by the American public for decades without any health complaints that were highly publicized.

Recently, however, MSG is being associated with a number of physical complaints and ailments.  Individual people have reported symptoms, now called MSG symptom complex, to the FDA.  The symptoms reported are flushing, sweating, headache, nausea, heart palpitations and rapid heartbeat, chest pain and weakness.   Concerns about health by the American public have associated MSG with migraine headaches, food allergies in children, hyperactivity in children, obesity and a worsening of asthma symptoms.

According to research, the FDA could not find a definite link between MSG and the symptoms reported.  They did conclude that a certain percent of the population must react negatively to MSG.

One of the theories is that certain individuals have MSG intolerance that is unique to their body chemistry.  If you feel that you are intolerant to MSG, you should avoid processed foods and fast foods.  A list of other foods to avoid if you want to limit or eliminate MSG would include prepared stocks or bouillon cubes, barbecue sauce and salad dressings, canned, frozen or dried foods, flavored jerky, flavored potato chips, flavored tortilla chips and seasoning mixtures.  Other sources of glutamate that is due to fermentation in production are also foods to avoid.  These foods to avoid include soy sauce, steak sauce and worcestershire sauce.

The FDA has, for now, found MSG to be “generally recognized as safe”, according to their research to date. They do require food manufacturers to indicate if their is MSG used as an ingredient on their food labels.  So, if you feel you react adversely to MSG, be proactive in your own health and read labels before you buy or consume food.

Controversial Foster Care for Obese Kids Idea

The doctor who came out and publicly said (and was very brave for doing so, even I knew he was going to face a ton of backlash) that obese children should be put in to foster care until the problem is resolved, is facing quite a bit of outcry right now.

And who can blame the parents and parental advocates who are saying this is downright insulting? It really is, quite frankly, and it shows that Americans have quite a bias when it comes to obesity and we tend to be judgemental, as well as quite unforgiving, blaming the parents.

Some of us even go as far as to say it is child abuse. But what if the child’s parents really did watch what their children ate, and their child had some sort of metabolic disorder? Is that really fair?  Not that this is always the case, but there are loving, nurtering homes that have overweight children in them, and it’s not always a case of poor parenting or neglect as most people tend to conclude.

The pediatrician who stated the idea about foster care for obese children only meant that it would be the better option when it came to extreme cases, where a child’s life was genuinely in danger and the parents did not seem to be doing the right things for the child to get the dangerous weight under control.

He also said that, in explaining his view, he meant that it would be the best option when compared to other extreme measures such as weight loss surgery and other invasive and even more morally offensive means of helping the child become healthy again.

He thought that perhaps the state should be given rights to take the child away and put them in foster care until the child could re-learn their eating habits and safely be released back into the care of their parents.

Childhood obesity is quite a touchy topic. It’s touchy because many times the parents of the children who are obese are the target of most of the criticism, because they are their guardians. As we all know, children are children because they are not old enough or wise enough to make many decisions for themselves.

For that reason, the parents are expected to come in and make certain decisions for them and to put restrictions around things like behavior, bed time, food choices, and education. It’s just one of the many things a parent is responsible for.

What is Orthorexia? Is It Like Anorexia?

Eating a healthy diet is so important and so many articles have been written to remind us of that fact.  While eating a healthier diet is vital, it seems that some individuals have taken that idea to such excess that it becomes an obsession and then it becomes unhealthy.

The term, orhtorexia, refers to an eating disorder characterized by a zealous obsession with eating only healthy foods.  Orhtorexia is actually a type of mental disorder because the fixation becomes so intense with healthy eating.  The term is not yet recognized medically and it originated with a Colorado doctor named Steven Bratman.

He draws a parallel between orthorexia and other eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa.  If the obsession with eating only healthy foods becomes too extreme, the result of this mental disorder can be severe malnutrition or, worse yet, death.

A low self esteem is at the root of orthorexia nervosa and the individual does lots of self induced guilt and blaming when they crave what they see as unhealthy forbidden foods.  The problem with orthorexia nervosa can occur when the individual’s dietary restrictions become so severe that they are simply not consuming enough calories and balanced foods to remain healthy.

It may start with a restriction of fats at first, then avoidance of preservatives, food additives and then, all animal products.  While trying to lower one’s fat is commendable, the diet may progress to strictly raw foods.  Often, there is not enough calories or protein in this kind of severely restricted diet to meet the person’s nutritional needs.

The underlying motivation, at first, is sound.  The person with orthorexia nervosa wants to eat only what is natural, pure and healthy.  It is a question of degree and those with orthorexia have taken the concept past the boundary of logic.  The chief difference between orthorexia and anorexia is the motivation that starts the disorder.

An anorexic is motivated by the desire to be thin and takes that idea to a fixation and unhealthy degree and an orthorexic does the same thing, only with healthy foods.  Both disorders can lead to disastrous health results with malnutrition as the outcome.

Orhorexia nervosa has not yet been recognized officially by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental disorder.  People with orthorexia, just as people with anorexia, show signs and symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder.

Signs that an individual suffers from orthorexia would be the healthy diet is socially isolating, thinking about healthy foods more than 3 hours per day, quality of life is diminishing as a result of healthy diet and excessive guilt or anxiety occurring when going off of healthy diet.  Emaciation of an individual also indicates their healthy diet has gone too extreme.

Yo Yo Dieting Not as Bad as We Once Thought…..

Yo yo dieting used to be akin to eating badly all the time, at least in the way that we humans perceived it’s drawbacks.  But now, new research has come out that shows that yo yo dieting is actually better than never dieting at all, and that yo yo dieters (at least in mice) kept the same good benefits of eating right while they were doing it.

Those benefits kept during the correct eating times were lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and other associated health benefits with eating low fat and eating lower calorie intake.  It is commonly thought that those who go on and off dieting actually forfeit the health benefits of eating correctly when they frequently go off the diet.

However, this new research shows that it doesn’t make a difference. They still maintain those health benefits while they are eating right. Now, once they go off the diet, those benefits disappear, but the life span and other important elements are not changed.

In other words, it is better to diet and try to lose weight, take it off, and put it back on over and over like so many of us do, than to never take it off at all.  Dieting frequently doesn’t really throw your body off, or anything like that, although it may negatively influence your metabolism, which is probably reason enough alone to not yo yo diet frequently.

The hormones that are circulating in the body when there is more weight on the body are actually harmful to you.  When you reduce your weight and your body fat, these hormones instantly go down in proportion to the weight lost, so you get a proportionate benefit along with each time you lose weight.

This whole body of research blows holes in the theory that yo yo dieting is worse than not dieting at all.  There is really no reason for one to just throw their hands up and go “well I can’t keep it off, so I might as well just not try dieting any more”. The mental and physical benefits of losing that body fat are still there, even if you keep going in cycles.

Of course, the preference is that you keep your body weight steady at all times, but that’s not always practical, especially around holidays or times when we just don’t get as much physical activity in our lives (such as the long winters here in NE Ohio).

Why Drinking Water is Important to Weight Loss

I used to wonder why so many health gurus and fitness experts who preached drinking plenty of water every day said what they did about the importance of drinking water for weight loss. I mean, other than maybe making you feel a little fuller when you drink it with foods, why would water be an important part to losing excess weight, and managing to keep a healthy weight maintained?

Well, apparently the tasteless, odorless and colorless liquid has a lot to offer the human body when it comes to our natural abilities to maintain a healthy weight and be active and energetic.  Water, for me, is something that I can’t live without a lot of.

I’ve never been one of those people who have to force myself to drink water because I favor soda and sugary (or alternatively sweetened) drinks. I’ve always needed water to make me feel 100% hyrdated. That’s never been an option for me.  I feel like I’m not hydrated if I drink something that’s even reallly refreshing, like lemonade, without also drinking water in between because water is really just pure hydration.

Hydration is its only purpose!  But water also serves an important purpose when it comes to keeping the metabolism going. It’s a purpose that is not as well known as all of its other uses. 

Water actually enable the muscle fibers to contract, so this in turn allows our bodies to burn more calories at all times, since muscle expenditure is usually required for calorie burning activity.

Without water, our muscles are not able to contract correctly, and they cannot therefore burn as many calories as they could without water, the great enabler.  One of water’s main purposes is also to coninuously help the body cleanse itself and rid itself of toxins via the kidneys and other vital organs.

Without water, the kidneys cannot function properly, and therefore cannot properly filter the blood and keep us healthy. I remember one time I got so dehydrated, that my kidneys literally hurt.  That’s how I figured out how vitally important kidneys and water were to helping filter out the imprurities that our bodies are hit with every day.

As far as weight loss goes, water will also keep your metabolism running.  It helps stave off hunger pains as well, so water is a VERY useful tool when you are trying to drop weight. I always keep tons of water handy when I’m trying to drop a few sizes, because it is my best appetite suppressant!