Posts Tagged ‘study’
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
In today’s fast-paced world, many of us struggle with an over-packed schedule and little time to actually sit down to eat. As a result, busy people gulp and go while others – not necessarily under a time crunch – have the habit of eating too fast. The result? They take in too many calories before they realize they’ve eaten enough. After all, it takes approximately 20 minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to send out signals of fullness.
A recent study has revealed just how much weight gain can be expected based on eating speed. As researchers of this study expected, faster eating was associated with weight gain, but they were surprised at the actual amount of weight gain. The Department of Human Nutrition researchers recently analyzed the relationship between self-reported speed of eating and Body Mass Index in over 1500 middle-aged Australian women. Researchers determined that for every one-step increase in speed in a five-step scale, BMI increased by 2.8 percent, which equates to a weight gain of approximately 4 pounds.
It’s true that eating slowly and taking smaller bites can be very difficult to do, especially when you are busy and famished. But you’ll find it easier to slow the pace if you eat regular meals, and never allow more than four hours to pass between meals.
Still can’t slow down the pace? Try a few tricks we’ve put together at RLGLER to help you put the brakes on speed eating and recognize a full belly. Here are tips to slow down eating.
RLGRER Tip #1: One of the major reasons for eating too fast is not chewing long enough. To slow down your eating, chew every bite a minimum of 10 times–but shoot for 20.
RLGLER Tip #2: Put down the fork or spoon after each bite. This will slow down the automatic response of fork-to-mouth.
RLGLER Tip #3: Sip water regularly or in-between bites. It forces you to put down the fork.
RLGLER Tip #4: Make meals a social time. If you eat with your family or friends engage in conversation. Since you don’t want to be impolite and talk with your mouth full, it will take longer for you to eat. Plus a good conversation and good meal make a great combination.
RLGLER Tip #5: Eat with chopsticks. They automatically slow down your rate of eating and the amount of food you’re going to eat. If you’re a pro with chopsticks, however, use them in the opposite hand! As an added bonus, chopsticks allows heavy sauces to fall through the cracks and stay on the plate where they belong.
RLGLER Tip #6: Don’t wait to eat until you’re ravenously hungry, or you’ll eat quickly and too much. You’ll find yourself inhaling food.
RLEGER Tip #7: Sit down to eat and use a plate. Those who stand are usually rushing through the meal to get on to other things.
RLGLER Tip #8: Eat foods that require some work – artichokes, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pomegranate, crab or lobster. You have to work for your food here and that will help slow you down.
We can actually learn a lot about eating slow from pistachios. A great concept developed by Dr. James Painter , Ph. D., R.D., called “The Pistachio Principle” is a basic idea of slowing down when eating and you will eat less. When eating a pistachio, you must first break open the shell to get the nut out. By having to break each shell open, the consumption rate is much slower. A study found that people who ate in-shell pistachios ate 50% fewer calories. The participants in the study also reported feeling satisfied even having eaten fewer pistachios.
Another study also found that when the empty pistachio shells were left on a table in plain site after eating, 35% fewer calories were eaten. This is kind of a mind trick on the brain. It looks as if you have eaten a large amount of nuts due to the shells but in reality, you have only eaten a few.
RLGLER Tip #9: Try the Bite Counter, a new wristwatch-shaped device that, like a pedometer, keeps count of a specific repetitive physical movement. The machine is described as having the ability to counts bites taken with and without the use of a fork or spoon, such as eating an apple.
Be creative, and develop your own tricks for slowing down your eating.
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Tags: bite, chew, eating, slow, speed, study, weight
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Friday, July 22nd, 2011
Let’s be honest, most of us could use more vegetables in our diet. In fact, studies show that a mere 27% of adults get the recommended 3 servings of vegetables per day. Kids get even less! A past study found that only 22% of children ages 2-5 met recommendations for vegetable intake, and in children ages 6-11, only 16% met recommendations for vegetable intake. In addition, a recent study found that between a third and a half of all the fruits and vegetables served to youngsters at some school cafeterias last year wound up in the trash. Similar situations are occurring at schools nationwide, as well.
What gives?!
Oftentimes, encouraging the addition of vegetables to one’s diet results in a rolling of the eyes or a patronizing, “Yes mom,” but what if there was an easy way to consume more veggies and lose weight even if you didn’t like the taste of veggies?
A study out of Pennsylvania State University incorporated pureed vegetables into participants’ meals, effectively doubling their fiber intake, lowering the caloric content and adding nutrients without sacrificing taste! Researchers served 41 volunteers breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner on three occasions; each time they provided the same meals, but the main dishes contained different amounts of steamed and pureed carrots, squash, or cauliflower. When given a dish that was 25 percent vegetables compared with one that had none, the participants consumed 360 fewer daily calories on average but reported no differences in hunger, and fewer than half realized that the dishes had been altered. Consuming 360 calories per day less equals roughly a pound of weight lost in just ten days without even dieting!
The cookbook author, Jessica Seinfeld, who has encouraged parents to sneak vegetables into foods like spaghetti, had popularized this strategy. However, it is important to keep in mind, that when serving the foods to young children, you must continue offering whole vegetables on the side so children develop a taste for vegetables.
If you’re striving to help your family live a healthier lifestyle, you’ve probably already made some reduced calorie swaps, like low-fat in place of whole milk or veggie burgers for quarter-pounders, but there may still be some food substitutions that you haven’t tried. I have also included some of my favorite strategies I use to cut calories but keep the taste, including easy ways to add puree vegetables
to your diet:
At Restaurants:
If I order a salad at a restaurant and none of the dressings seem appealing, I will often ask for a little dish of salsa on the side. This non-traditional topping adds a lot of flavor and is usually less processed than industrial salad dressings.
At Home:
Buy puree vegetable baby food or frozen vegetable purees and add them to sauces, soups, casseroles and even lean ground beef burgers!
When it comes to baking, the possibilities for cutting down on fat while retaining flavor abound. If a recipe calls for a half-cup of oil, try replacing the oil with canned pumpkin, applesauce, or puréed prunes. Although it sounds a little odd, puréeing dried prunes and a little hot water in your food processor is an easy way to add sweetness and reduce calories in baked goods.
Another favorite baked snack is the onion. Chop an onion into quarters without cutting all the way through in order to create the “blooming” effect. Drizzle on a little olive oil and season with a little salt to taste. Wrap in aluminum foil and roast away! When its done just separate the layers one by one and eat them like chips.
Olive oil is a healthy fat, but you can have too much of a good thing. It’s easy to add two-plus tablespoons of oil while making a stir-fry — and that can add up to 250 calories. Instead, try sauteeing your veggies in a little chicken or veggie broth.
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Tags: healthy, kids, puree, stealth, study, vegetables
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Friday, July 8th, 2011
Despite fewer super-sized meals, American’s waistlines continue to expand, according to a recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
According to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers who conducted the study and examined surveys of daily eating habits over a 30-year period, the number of daily meals and snacks consumed by U.S. adults rose to 4.8 in 2006 from 3.8 in 1977.
Many health professionals say that frequent eating in small doses revs up the metabolism and controls hunger, and is a healthier way of eating than three big meals. However, much consideration must also be given to what and how much you eat over the course of the day, not just how often you eat.
Case in point: the analysis also found that although the size of meal portions has stabilized in recent years, the number of total calories consumed is rising. By 2006, the end of the period studied, Americans were consuming 570 more calories per day than they did in the late 1970s. A chief culprit behind the calorie gain: Americans now consume 220 more calories daily from sugar-sweetened soft drinks than they did in the 1960s, the study found.
So it’s okay to switch to diet soda, right? Not so fast. Two new studies presented recently at the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Scientific Sessions have linked drinking diet soda to weight gain and that the artificial sweeteners in them could potentially contribute Type 2 diabetes.
In one study, researchers from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, looked at aggregate data from 474 older adults in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging, or SALSA. At the time of enrollment and at three follow-up exams thereafter, all participants reported their diet soda intake and were measured for height, weight and waist circumference. The researchers wanted to track any association between diet soda drinking and body fat over time.
People who said they drank two or more diet sodas a day experienced waist size increases that were six times greater than those of people who didn’t drink diet soda, according to researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Researchers said their results were adjusted for other contributing factors like diabetes status, leisure-time physical activity level and age.
The data didn’t say why diet sodas might play a role in weight gain, but previous research suggests it has to do with the idea that the brain is wired to expect a big load of calories when foods taste sweet or fatty, but because diet foods fail to deliver, it throws the brain out of whack. Studies in animals suggest that artificial sweetener consumption may lead to even more eating and weight gain, perhaps in part because it triggers the body to start storing more calories as fat.
A second study that found the sweetener aspartame raised blood sugar levels in diabetes-prone mice. The researchers, also from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, fed aspartame, a calorie-free sweetener used in some diet sodas, to diabetes-prone mice. One group of mice ate chow to which both aspartame and corn oil were added; another other group ate chow with only corn oil added. After three months, the mice that ate aspartame showed elevated blood sugar levels. The findings aren’t directly translatable to humans, but may still be meaningful. Maybe it’s time to switch to carbonated water.
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Tags: blood, diet, research, soda, study, sugar, weight
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Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Antioxidants have been shown to decrease the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and a multitude of other diseases, but what exactly are antioxidants, what foods are they found in, and should you take them in supplement form?
What Are Antioxidants?
Medline defines antioxidants as “substances that may protect your cells against the effects of free radicals.” People are exposed on a daily basis through environmental pollution, excessive sun exposure, cigarette smoke, alcoholic beverages, and the unhealthful foods common in the traditional Western diet. Free radicals can damage cells, and may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
Which Substances Are Antioxidants?
Antioxidant substances include some vitamins, some minerals, and flavonoids, including but not limited to:
Vitamin E- has been correlated with assisting in the protection of polyunsaturated fatty acids and other fat-containing compounds and supporting a healthy immune system
Vitamin C- has been correlated with supporting a healthy immune system, reducing free radical damage in the lungs from environmental pollutants and cigarette smoke, assisting in protecting white blood cells from oxidations, and helping prevent LDL cholesterol from oxidation which may reduce risk of heart disease
Vitamin A- has been correlated with supporting healthy vision
Lycopene – high intake of lycopene-containing foods has been correlated with reduced incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and macular degeneration.
Lutein- has been correlated with protecting the eyes from developing age-related macular degeneration and cataracts
Selenium- has been correlated with improved immune function, decreased risk of cancer and heart disease
Beta-carotene- has been correlated with boosting the immune system and reducing age-related changes in the skin and eyes
What Foods Contain Antioxidants?
Scientists continue to examine antioxidants in research studies, uncovering more data that emphasize their importance in protecting people’s health. Below you will find some of the recent scientific support for antioxidants and the foods that contain them.
Pecans - A study published in January in the Journal of Nutrition reveals pecans’ potent antioxidant benefits. Researchers from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health found that bioactive components of pecan nuts (namely vitamin E) are absorbable and capable of positively affecting the body’s antioxidant defenses. The team examined postprandial effects of pecan test meals, including whole and blended pecans, on a group of 16 healthy male and female adults. Serum concentrations of y-tocopherol, a predominant form of vitamin E, reportedly doubled following the ingestion of whole and blended pecan meals, and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity increased significantly. The consumption of whole pecans was positively associated with a decreased serum concentration of oxidized LDL cholesterol.
Pistachios- Rich in lutein, beta-carotene, and vitamin E, the often-overlooked pistachio nut shows promising cardiovascular benefits. In the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, Kay and colleagues from Penn State University published the study “Pistachios Increase Serum Antioxidants and Lower Serum Oxidized-LDL in Hypercholesterolemic Adults.” In a crossover controlled analysis of 28 adults with high serum LDL levels, the researchers assessed the effects of pistachios on serum antioxidants and other biomarkers of oxidative stress. Subjects who consumed the pistachio-enriched diets had higher plasma lutein and gamma-tocopherol levels and exhibited lower oxidized LDL levels. The researchers concluded that “a heart-healthy diet including pistachios contributes to the decrease in the serum oxidized LDL concentration through cholesterol lowering and may provide an added benefit as a result of the antioxidants the pistachios contain.”
Blueberries – In the September 2010 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, researchers at Oklahoma State University published the study “Blueberries Decrease Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Obese Men and Women With Metabolic Syndrome.” The team sought to determine the effect of blueberry intake on 48 obese study participants with metabolic syndrome. Based on their findings, they concluded that blueberries may improve features associated with metabolic syndrome and the related risk factors for CVD at “dietary achievable doses”—in this case, the equivalent of 350 g of fresh blueberries daily for an eight-week period. Blueberry intake was associated with decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, oxidized LDL levels, and specific serum markers for oxidative stress.
Tomatoes – Several research studies published in the past year showcase the health benefits of lycopene from tomatoes, including the capability of this antioxidant to potentially inhibit cancer cell growth and enhance cardiovascular health. In the June 2010 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers from the French National Institute of Agronomical Research published a study aimed at differentiating the effects of consuming lycopene within a “tomato matrix” (from food) vs. purified lycopene extract. Looking at 30 healthy adult men between the ages of 50 and 70, they found that serum lycopene concentrations increased after the intake of red tomato paste and purified lycopene. Serum collections were then incubated to measure expression of 45 target genes of cancer prostatic cells. Results showed that dietary lycopene, whether in its purified form or within its food matrix, can affect gene expression and thus may protect against prostate cancer.
For a list of more foods high in antioxidants, click here.
Should You Take Antioxidants In The Form Of Supplements?
Until more studies are done, it is best to get your antioxidants from food rather than from supplements. No single antioxidant alone can protect the body. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate dietary supplements in the same way it regulates medicines. A dietary supplement can be sold with limited or no research on how well it works.
When using dietary supplements, keep in mind the following:
- Like conventional medicines, dietary supplements may cause side effects, trigger allergic reactions, or interact with prescription and nonprescription medicines or other supplements you are taking. A side effect or interaction with another medicine or supplement may make your health worse.
- How dietary supplements are manufactured may not be standardized. Because of this, how well they work or any side effects they cause may differ among brands or even within different lots of the same brand. The form of a supplement that you buy in health food or grocery stores may not be the same as the form used in research.
- Other than for vitamins and minerals, the long-term effects of most dietary supplements are not known.
Tips on Incorporating Antioxidants into Your Diet
Breakfast - Start off the morning with fresh fruits such as strawberries or cantaloupe to obtain some vitamin A or vitamin C; add some wheat germ to a high-fiber breakfast cereal to obtain some vitamin E.
Lunch - Have a fresh salad with red and green peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower florets for vitamin C, and add some vegetable oil for a source of vitamin E. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommend that people fill one-half of their plate with a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, including dark-green, red, and orange vegetables.
Snack – Include nuts and seeds for extra vitamin E along with some fresh fruit.
Dinner – Consume fish or meat for a healthy source of selenium, along with more colorful vegetables. To preserve vitamin content, vegetables should be consumed raw or cooked using a method that reduces heat exposure, such as steaming or microwaving.
An eating plan, such as, Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right’s, containing plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and nuts, can supply all the antioxidants your body needs.
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Tags: antioxidants, fruit, health, nuts, study, vegetables
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