The Fruit that Lowers Blood Sugar

by Jessica Girdwain

Look beyond apples and oranges: Obese adults who ate about half a mango a day for 12 weeks saw a significant reduction in blood sugar levels, according to research presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

The results likely translate to normal-weight men, too, says study author Edralin Lucas, Ph.D. Mango’s power could lie in active compounds like plant polyphenols, which may inhibit the development of fat cells and reduce their size, says Lucas. The fruit is also high in fiber, reducing the absorption of sugar, she adds.

Though the study is preliminary—read: no reason to fill your fridge with mangos just yet—one sliced cup of the fruit only contains 100 calories, and is a healthy add-on to any diet. But your best bet to keep blood sugar in check? Exercise and a diet generally rich in all sorts of fruits and vegetables, says Lucas. In fact, people who ate produce-packed diets had a decreased diabetes risk and lower blood sugar levels than those who didn’t, according to a 2012 meta-analysis.

http://news.menshealth.com/the-fruit-that-lowers-blood-sugar/2013/04/30/

Calories Are Not Equal!

from Men’s Health…

I remember going to my first nutrition class at Penn State.

I was eager to jump right in since that was what I was there for, but had to wait until some of those darn pre req classes were out of the way.

I walked in day 1. Liz Evans was our professor. And she certainly didn’t look like the people I saw in the pages of the magazines I was getting all my information from up until this point. Hey, you have to start somewhere.

Anyhow, after going over the syllabus, “one of the most important lessons in nutrition — in the entire course,” Liz said, “is that all calories are equal. Nutrition, health and weight loss are really simple” she continued “Calories in equal calories out, your weight is stable. Calories out are more than calories in, you lose. If calories in are more than calories out, you gain weight.”

Like all the other students, I was writing as quickly as I could.

And this message continued. Through my masters and into my PhD, where my research focus was on teaching people how to lose weight permanently.

But it was then that I started to question things a bit more.

REALLY? Are all calories the same?

It didn’t make sense to me. You see from a law of thermodynamics, it does make sense. If you walk for 1 mile you burn 100 calories. If you eat 100 calories worth of food, you’ve essentially created a “wash.” Nothing gained. Nothing lost if we’re solely looking at this with regards to body weight.

But what if you compare extremes?

1 pound of sugar = 1,540 calories

~26 apples = 1,540 calories

Same calories. But do you think the quality of 1 lb of sugar and 26 apples is the same? Of course not…aside from the laundry list of nutrition problems eating a days worth of calories from just sugar would cause (nutrient deficiencies, scurvy, tooth decay, etc), how do you think the person eating the 1 pound of sugar would look, feel and perform after she did so? Of course 26 apples isn’t the ideal “diet” either, but you get the point.

It’s kind of like the saying, a pound of bricks is the same weight as a pound of feathers. Sure, they weigh the same … but there are certainly different qualities between them, even though the scale may read the same.

So as we started to look into this more on our own, with our own clients at Mohr Results, and with our own writing & research … we changed our tune and go against the grain of mainstream nutrition to instead give this message:

QUALITY of the diet is more important than QUANTITY of the diet.

Of COURSE calories still do matter.

But quality is crucial to permanent success. And it made us even happier when we read a recent study by researchers at Harvard University confirming our point of how the quality of the diet — above and beyond just quantity — can help with fat loss.

The study certainly wasn’t the final word — and definitely had limitations — it wasn’t a “cause and effect” study, but rather a correlation study that asked over 120,000 healthy, well educated men and women about their dietary habits every 2 years for a total of between 12 and 20 years.

They then teased out some of the food items that were associated with weight loss or weight gain among the subjects.

First, as a whole, they found that the average participant gained about 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) per year. Who cares, right? It’s JUST 1 lb. The problem … year after year after year … that 1 lb adds up and people never lose it and long term it’s more and more dangerous.

The question, then, is what foods did they find contributed to the weight loss vs. those that contributed to weight gain?

Weight Loss:

Veggies
Fruits
Nuts
Whole grain foods
Weight Gain:

Sugar sweetened drinks
Processed meats
Potatoes
Interesting, huh?

Again, we’re certainly not saying there aren’t limitations to this study or this type of correlation study, but there were some interesting findings to consider. The take home points from the authors were to not focus so heavily on calories and rather look at the quality — limit processed or refined carbohydrates and focus instead on veggies, fruits, and healthier food options … even if they are higher in calories (like nuts). Basically a lot of this boils down to how these foods affect the hormones in our body – namely, insulin, a powerful storage hormone.

Again, it’s not just how much you eat, but WHAT you eat.

Just as an aside, we also don’t think potatoes are a “devil” food — we do think the ways people eat them (such as French fries) are. Again, take this data with a grain of salt.

At the end of the day, though, we want you to focus on overall diet QUALITY … our message remains the same. Lots of veggies and fruits, nuts, healthy fats, lean protein and some whole grains.

Pretty basic. But very effective.

Read more at Men’s Health: http://blogs.menshealth.com/bellyoff-nutritionist/nutritionists-are-lying-to-you-calories-arent-equal/2012/11/05/#ixzz2NstZ7VCx

Keep Good Food

6 RULES OF GOOD NUTRITION

6. Never Skip Breakfast:

Yes, mornings are crazy. But they’re also our best hope at regaining our nutritional sanity. A 2005 study synthesized the results of 47 other studies that examined the impact of starting the day with a healthy breakfast. Here’s what they found:

People who skip breakfast are more likely to take up smoking or drinking, less likely to exercise, and more likely to follow fad diets or express concerns about body weight. Common reasons cited for skipping were lack of time, lack of hunger, or dieting.

Bad news. Sure, it would seem to make sense that skipping breakfast means eating fewer calories, which means weighing less. But it doesn’t work that way. Consider:

People who eat breakfast tend to have higher total calorie intakes throughout the day, but they also get significantly more fiber, calcium, and other micronutrients than skippers do. Breakfast eaters also tended to consume less soda and French fries and more fruits, vegetables, and milk.

Breakfast eaters were approximately 30 percent less likely to be overweight or obese. (Think about that—people who eat breakfast eat more food, but weigh less!)

5. Snack With Purpose:

There’s a big difference between mindless munching and strategic snacking. Snacking with purpose means reinforcing good habits, keeping your metabolic rate high, and filling the gaps between meals with the nutrients your child’s body craves.

Chew on this piece of trivia: In the 20 years leading up to the 21st century (1977 to 1996), salty snack portions increased by 93 calories, and soft drink portions increased by 49 calories.

Combat portion distortion by eating healthy snacks: Triscuits and peanut butter; string cheese; a sandwich bag filled with homemade popcorn; or that classic of kid’s snacktime nourishment, ants on a log.

4. Beware of Portion Distortion:

Snack portions aren’t the only things that have increased wildly in size. Since 1977, hamburgers have increased by 97 calories, French fries by 68 calories, and Mexican foods by 133 calories, according to analysis of the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey.

A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine looked at 63,380 individuals’ drinking habits over a span of 19 years. The results show that for children ages 2 to 18, portions of sweetened beverages increased from 13.1 ounces in 1977 to 18.9 ounces in 1996.

One easy way to short-circuit this growing trend? Buy smaller bowls and cups. A recent study at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas, shows that 5- and 6-year-old children will consume a third more calories when presented with a larger portion. The findings are based on a sample of 53 children who were served either 1- or 2-cup portions of macaroni and cheese.

3. Drink Responsibly:

Too many of us keep in mind the adage “watch what you eat,” and we forget another serious threat to our health: We don’t watch what we drink. In fact, according to research from the University of North Carolina, Americans now slurp up nearly 25 percent of their calories in liquid form—nearly double the rate we used to drink just 20 years ago. One study found that sweetened beverages constituted more than half (51 percent) of all beverages consumed by fourth- through sixth-grade students. The students who consumed the most sweetened beverages took in approximately 330 extra calories per day, and on average they ate less than half the amount of real fruit than did their peers who drank unsweetened or lightly sweetened beverages.

One important strategy is to keep cold, filtered water in a pitcher in the fridge. You might even want to keep some cut-up limes, oranges, or lemons nearby for kids to flavor their own water with. A UK study showed that in classrooms with limited access to water, only 29 percent of students met their daily needs; free access to water led to higher intake.

Another important strategy: Be extra careful about the juice you purchase. Too many “juices” are little more than sugar water masquerading as the real thing. Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry, for instance, has just 15 percent real fruit juice. The other 85 percent? High-fructose corn syrup and water. Make sure the juice you buy says “100 percent Fruit Juice” on the label, and try to choose one made from a single fruit, not a mix of high-sugar fruits like white grapes, which are commonly used in fruit juice blends.

2. Eat More Whole Foods and Fewer Science Experiments:

Here’s a rule of healthy eating that will serve you well when picking out foods for your family: The shorter the ingredients list, the healthier the food. (One of the worst foods we’ve ever found, the Baskin-Robbins Heath Shake, has 73 ingredients—and, by the way, a whopping 2,310 calories and more than 3 days’ worth of saturated fat! What happened to the idea that a milk shake was, um, milk and ice cream? Let’s be grateful that Baskin-Robbins finally pulled this monstrosity from their menus.) The FDA maintains a list of more than 3,000 ingredients that are considered safe to eat, but we’ve found reasons for concern for a number of the additives on that long list, and any one of them could wind up in your next box of mac ’n’ cheese.

According to USDA reports, most of the sodium in the American diet comes from packaged and processed foods. Naturally occurring salt accounts for only 12 percent of total intake, while 77 percent is added by food manufacturers.

1. Set the Table:

Children in families with more structured mealtimes exhibit healthier eating habits. Among middle- and high-school girls, those whose families ate together only once or twice per week were more than twice as likely to exhibit weight control issues, compared with those who ate together three or four times per week.

Of course, the notion of a 6 p.m. dinnertime and then everyone into their pj’s is a quaint one, but it’s hardly realistic in a society where our kids have such highly scheduled social lives that the delineation between “parent” and “chauffeur” is sometimes difficult to parse. While we can’t always bring the family together like Ozzie Nelson’s (or, heck, even like Ozzy Osbourne’s), we can make some positive steps in that direction. One busy family I know keeps Sunday night dinner sacred—no social plans, no school projects, no extra work brought home from the office. Even keeping the family ritual just once a week gives parents the opportunity to point out what is and isn’t healthy at the dinner table.

http://eatthis.womenshealthmag.com/slideshow/print-list/77650

Yield Not to Temptation

Get thee behind me, donuts!

Fitness Foundation

I got stopped in the grocery this morning by the store manager who had seen my interview on TV. We talked a bit. I get this a lot. Most ask how I’m losing weight.

I created this model to show how I am doing it.

Fit Tuesday

Today is “Fat Tuesday”. Ignore that. Make it Fit Tuesday.

- make smart food choices
- use portion control on how much you eat
- plan ahead: pack a lunch today , plan what you will eat for supper
- get some exercise: go to the gym, go for a walk, move

Fat Tuesday will lead to feeling stuffed and guilty.

Fit Tuesday will give you an empowered feeling. You will be one more step toward your goal. No regrets.

It works if you work it.

How to Get Rid of Fat Around Internal Organs

Visceral fat is internal fat that accumulates around your organs. Most of this fat is located in the abdominal area. According to MayoClinic.com, an accumulation of fat around your organs can increase your risk of heart disease, diabetes and other serious health problems. Getting rid of visceral fat gets harder as you get older. Your body’s fat content also increases as you age, so you will need to work harder and consistently to ensure that your abdominal fat doesn’t increase.

Step 1

Perform moderate-intensity aerobic training on a daily basis. MayoClinic.com recommends choosing an activity that fits both your goals and current health and fitness level. Anything from playing tennis to hiking to taking indoor cycling classes is a good choice as long as you do it on most days of the week and for at least 30 minutes a day.

Step 2

Add strength training to your regular workout routine. According to MayoClinic.com, weight training can help conserve muscle mass. Muscle speeds up metabolism and makes fat burning easier and more effective. Strength train at least three times a week for 20 minutes or more to build muscle.

Step 3

Make dietary changes. Reduce your consumption of saturated fats and simple carbohydrates like white bread and sugars. Instead, eat whole grains like whole wheat and oats and unsaturated fats like olive oil and nuts. Also, switch to low-fat dairy and focus on lean proteins such as fish, chicken, soy and lentils.

Step 4

Lose weight. According to MayoClinic.com, you need to eliminate 3,500 calories in order to lose 1 lb. This means cutting 500 calories a day from your diet. Avoiding second servings, sharing a dessert with a friend and switching to diet soda are all effective ways to cut down your calorie intake.

Step 5

Stop smoking. According to a 2005 study published in the “Journal of Obesity Research,” people who smoke are more likely to have a higher amount of abdominal fat than people who don’t smoke.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/330089-rid-fat-around-organs/#ixzz2JZ7kwAFy

51 Foods You SHOULD Be Eating

April 2nd, 2012

We recently wrote a blog called the 10 Commandments of Fat Loss — and it got a lot of attention …
It was reposted all over the place and in fact, a magazine editor called me asking to use it on their blog too.
And I wondered — why? I’m honored that such a simple, yet important post can get that much attention. But I asked one of the editors. Why THIS post in particular?

His answer? “When most people, including our magazine, talk about fat loss — it’s always about deprivation. Your blog post was actually 10 things you SHOULD do, though, when trying to change your body.”
Interesting.

Almost like the placebo effect, when you give someone something (even if there’s zero active ingredients) they get better. It’s all in the mind. Amazingly, there are even data where people go under the knife … yet the surgeons do NOTHING outside of a faux surgery, yet the people report being better after the fact and one study I’m thinking about had people with arthritis hopping around and not feeling a bit of pain 2 years after their “faux” surgery.

In their mind, a positive change happened and they got better. Apply that to nutrition now. Positive changes in the diet — or even the idea of being told to ADD things to the diet vs. decrease — will have a positive result on the final outcome.

That being said, incorporate some or most of these 51 foods more consistently and you’ll be better off. Even better, for every great food you add from this list, replace a junky alternative.

51 Foods You SHOULD Be Eating

Spinach
Wild salmon (fresh and/or canned)
Blueberries
Raspberries
Swiss chard
Quinoa
Rolled oats
Pistachios
Barramundi (often called “the sustainable sea bass”) can be found in the frozen section of Whole Foods & has half the calories, yet equal omega 3′s to coho salmon)
Plain Greek yogurt
Apples
Red bell peppers
Yellow bell peppers
Orange bell peppers
Lean red meat (we prefer grass fed beef)
Whole eggs
Blackberries
Almonds
Sardines
Carrots
Black tea
Green tea
Pink grapefruit
Turmeric
Kale
Cauliflower
Red grapes
Nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, etc)
Coconut (either fresh, where you crack the shell or unsweetened, shredded)
Strawberries
Avocados
Tomatoes (raw and cooked as both have unique benefits)
Pumpkin (we often add canned, unsweetened 100% pure pumpkin to our smoothies)
Unsweetened, raw cocoa powder or cocoa nibs (we also often add to smoothies or Greek yogurt)
Pineapple
Sweet potatoes or yams (technically not the same, yet they’re often used interchangeably)
Beans (black, kidney, chick peas, red beans, etc)
Lentils
Garlic
Broccoli
Red and green cabbage
Onions
Dark Cherries
Cinnamon
Oat bran
Beets
Barley
Mushrooms (all types)
Canola and olive oils (replace other less healthy fats with these, don’t simply add these to the diet)
Farro (a whole grain that’s super high in fiber)
Coffee (without sugar, cream and everything else)

Wow, there you have it – 51 of our favorite foods (and beverages). Is this comprehensive of every single food that’s amazing for you? Of course not. But it is a pretty solid list of fantastic foods. Variety is the key and quality is the key.

Aim for 1 ingredients foods when you eat (vs. processed options with many ingredients you can’t pronounce) and you’ll be much better off.

Did we forget any of your favorites?

Read more at Men’s Health: http://blogs.menshealth.com/bellyoff-nutritionist/51-foods-you-should-be-eating/2012/04/02/#ixzz2Iz5HyeMQ

Healthy Lunch for my Wife

Here’s what I just packed for my wife for her lunch (I have a lunch appointment today). It doesn’t take long to put a healthy lunch together. Much better than a burger and fries…