Weight loss

Morning Light Could Be Key to Weight Loss

Getting a good dose of early morning light on a regular basis appears to be a simple but remarkably effective way of maintaining a healthy weight, according to a groundbreaking new study. Researchers found that regardless of caloric intake, people who had more early light exposure were the most likely to have a low body mass index. As the researchers explain in PlosOne, “having a majority of the average daily light exposure above 500 lux earlier in the day was associated with a lower BMI,” and every hour that exposure was delayed coincided with a 1.28 unit increase in BMI.

“Light is the most potent agent to synchronize your internal body clock that regulates circadian rhythms, which in turn also regulate energy balance,” says the lead researcher, who notes that many people fail to get enough natural light in the morning, the Telegraph reports. She says the finding suggests that workplaces and schools should have more windows, and employees and students should be encouraged to spend morning breaks outside: Bright daylight provides exposure of 10,000 lux, and even an overcast day sees light of 1,000 lux. “This is something we could institute early on in our schools to prevent obesity on a larger scale,” she says

Source: newser

Can drinking water lead to weight loss?

Drinking water is often advised as a way to quicken the weight loss process. However, a nutrition expert from the University of Alabama in Birmingham says water isn’t the ‘magic bullet’ for losing weight. ‘There is very little evidence that drinking water promotes weight loss; it is one of those self-perpetuating myths,’ said Beth Kitchin, Ph.D., R.D., assistant professor of nutrition sciences. ‘I’m not saying drinking water isn’t good; but only one study showed people who drank more water burned a few extra calories, and it was only a couple of extra calories a day.’

Kitchin says another ‘water myth’ is the old advice to drink eight 8 oz glasses per day. ‘Yes, people do need to get fluids; but it does not have to be water,’ Kitchin said. ‘There’s no evidence that it melts away fat or makes you feel fuller, so if you don’t like water it’s OK.’ She notes that water is the best hydrater, but in terms of fluid replacement other options will work, including green tea or mineral water/juice combinations.

Caffeinated beverages such as coffee also provide hydration. ‘People think coffee doesn’t count, but actually it does,’ Kitchin said. ‘When you drink coffee, your body is retaining much of that fluid — especially for people who are habituated to drinking caffeine, as the body adapts, resulting in a reduced loss of fluids.’

The idea that cold water burns more calories, as the body has to work to raise the temperature, is also a myth, according to Kitchin. ‘You will hear that ice-cold water helps burn extra calories,’ Kitchin said. ‘While there may be a few extra calories lost, it won’t be nearly enough to make a dent in your weight-loss endeavours.’ The professor recommends following a long-running, research-based weight management program such as Eat Right by UAB or Volumetrics.

‘These plans were built on the premise that if you eat lower-calorie, ‘heavier’ foods, you’re not going to magically lose 25 more pounds than somebody on a different diet, but it might help you feel fuller and not hungry,’ Kitchin said. ‘While drinking water may not help you lose weight, a focus on eating foods with high water content like fruits, veggies and broth-based soups can.’

Source: The Health site:

Healthy Weight Loss & Dieting Tips

In our eat-and-run, massive-portion-sized culture, maintaining a healthy weight can be tough—and losing weight, even tougher. If you’ve tried and failed to lose weight before, you may believe that diets don’t work for you. You’re probably right: traditional diets don’t work—at least not in the long term. However, there are plenty of small but powerful ways to avoid common dieting pitfalls, achieve lasting weight loss success, and develop a healthier relationship with food.

The key to successful, healthy weight loss
Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight.

Since 3,500 calories equals about one pound of fat, if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you’ll lose approximately one pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories). Simple, right? Then why is weight loss so hard?

All too often, we make weight loss much more difficult than it needs to be with extreme diets that leave us cranky and starving, unhealthy lifestyle choices that undermine our dieting efforts, and emotional eating habits that stop us before we get started. But there’s a better way! You can lose weight without feeling miserable. By making smart choices every day, you can develop new eating habits and preferences that will leave you feeling satisfied—and winning the battle of the bulge.

Getting started with healthy weight loss
While there is no “one size fits all” solution to permanent healthy weight loss, the following guidelines are a great place to start:

Think lifestyle change, not short-term diet. Permanent weight loss is not something that a “quick-fix” diet can achieve. Instead, think about weight loss as a permanent lifestyle change—a commitment to your health for life. Various popular diets can help jumpstart your weight loss, but permanent changes in your lifestyle and food choices are what will work in the long run.

Find a cheering section. Social support means a lot. Programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers use group support to impact weight loss and lifelong healthy eating. Seek out support—whether in the form of family, friends, or a support group—to get the encouragement you need.

Slow and steady wins the race. Aim to lose one to two pounds a week to ensure healthy weight loss. Losing weight too fast can take a toll on your mind and body, making you feel sluggish, drained, and sick. When you drop a lot of weight quickly, you’re actually losing mostly water and muscle, rather than fat.

Set goals to keep you motivated. Short-term goals, like wanting to fit into a bikini for the summer, usually don’t work as well as wanting to feel more confident or become healthier for your children’s sakes. When frustration and temptation strike, concentrate on the many benefits you will reap from being healthier and leaner.
Use tools that help you track your progress. Keep a food journal and weigh yourself regularly, keeping track of each pound and inch you lose. By keeping track of your weight loss efforts, you’ll see the results in black and white, which will help you stay motivated.

Keep in mind it may take some experimenting to find the right diet for your individual body. It’s important that you feel satisfied so that you can stick with it on a long-term basis. If one diet plan doesn’t work, then try another one. There are many ways to lose weight. The key is to find what works for you.

Source: help guide

 

Some surprising health benefits of the cool cucumber!

Next time you hit the vegetable market make sure you grab some crunchy cucumbers! Apparently, there is much more to this low calorie member of the melon family than keeping you cool and refreshed!

The humble cucumber has more nutrients to offer than just water and electrolytes. It is chock-full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants which are vital for health

One of the oldest vegetables, cultivated for thousands of years in India and parts of Asia, the veggie is an excellent source of vitamin C and A (anti-oxidants), folate, manganese, molybdenum, potassium, silica, sulfur, and vitamin B complex, sodium, calcium, and phosphorus in slighter lesser amounts.

Often referred to as a superfood, cucumber is one of the best vegetables for your body’s overall health. We list below some of the surprising health benefits of cucumber.

Hydrates body
Given that cucumbers contain 96% of water content, they help keep our body hydrated during the hot scorching summers. Apart from providing a cooling effect in the blazing sun, dietary fiber in cucumbers work wonders in flushing out toxins from the body.

Cancer
Studies suggest some of the compounds found in cucumbers have the potential to reduce estrogen-dependent cancers such as breast and other gynecological malignancies like ovarian, uterine and prostate cancer.

Weight loss & digestion
Since cucumbers have low calories and high water content, they are an ideal snack for people wanting to shift pounds. The veggie also aids digestion and is a wonderful remedy for chronic constipation.

Joint pain
Cucumber is enriched with silicon which alleviates joint pain and strengthens connective tissues in the bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons and cartilage. In addition, vitamin A, B1, B6 or magnesium and potassium found in the vegetable helps in lowering uric levels in the body. Daily intake of cucumber juice is beneficial in dissolving kidney stones and treating bladder infections.

Anti-inflammatory
Cucumbers are effective in inhibiting inflammatory enzymes and preventing the overproduction of nitric oxide in the body that increases inflammation. This in turn can avert health issues ranging from asthma to heart disease and many more.

Hangover headache
The beneficial vitamins contained in cucumbers can relieve a terrible headache especially that triggered by a hangover. Eating a few cucumber slices before retiring to bed after a night of binge drinking can replenish essential nutrients and help bring the body back into equilibrium avoiding a headache.

Diabetes, cholesterol & blood pressure
Cucumber has been found to be beneficial for diabetics, for reducing cholesterol levels and is effective in regulating blood pressure.

Breath freshener
The phytochemcials found in cucumber kill the bacteria in your mouth that causing bad breath. If you have run out of gum or mints, simply place a thin slice of cucumber against the roof of your mouth for 30 seconds before chewing it. It will not only make your breath minty fresh but also provide a cooling sensation.

Cucumber therapy for beauty

  • Cucumbers contain vitamin C and caffeic acid, two antioxidants which when applied to the skin ward off wrinkles, sun damage and more. Chilled and sliced cucumbers placed over eye sockets relieve puffy lids. The natural anti-inflammatory properties of cucumber soothe skin reddened by sunburn.
  • Cucumbers are great for conditioning damaged hair. Puree cucumber and blend with an egg and a tablespoon of olive oil. Leave it in for about 10 minutes and then rinse thoroughly.
  • Cucumber is a quick fix to remove cellulite. Rub sliced cucumbers along your dimply area for a few minutes. The phytochemicals in the veggie cause the collagen to tighten, firming up the outer layer of skin and diminishing cellulite.

Source: medguru

Revealed – how chocolate can help you lose weight

Chocolate has almost always been on the ‘Heck no!’ list when it comes to diets, but a new regimen promises eating the sweet treat helps with weight loss. Neuroscientist Dr. Will Clower penned the book ‘Eat Chocolate Lose Weight’ and says consuming chocolate can actually help you eat less each day. Studies on thousands of people have reportedly proved his theory right.

‘What we see in all these people is that the amount that they’re hungry for at the plate will drop by a half to a third,’ the doctor told CBS News Pittsburgh. ‘And the amount that they’re hungry for, the amount of between meal snacks that they have, will drop by about a half.’

However, this doesn’t mean diet followers can chow down on bricks of the stuff each day and expert results. Clower outlines specific guidelines in his book, including going with dark chocolate whenever possible. Already celebrated for its health properties, Clower stresses ‘the darker, the better.’ Dark chocolate protects against sunburn and cancer, provides energy, stabilizes blood sugar and improves mood in addition to aiding weight loss.

‘So all of the good stuff in chocolate comes from one place and one place only – and that is the cocoa,’ Clower said. Cocoa that’s 70 percent or higher is best.

Clower also recommends eating chocolate 20 minutes before lunch and dinner, as well as five minutes after these meals.

‘With the little piece of wonderful, rich dark chocolate at the end of your meal, it stabilizes the sugar onset into your bloodstream so that you have more of that blood sugar more often throughout the afternoon, so you’re just not hungry,’ he explains.

Additional guidelines include not consuming portions larger than the end joint of your thumb, savoring instead of chewing chocolate, and eating the sweet daily.

‘If they brain-scan people and have them eat chocolate while they’re doing it, their pleasure centers are like a Christmas tree — everybody’s happy in there,’ Clower said.

Other health benefits of chocolate

Curious to know how chocolate can be healthy for you in other ways too? Well, here are some more of its health benefits.

1. Makes you feel good

Just like coffee, eating chocolate too can provide a ‘feel-good’ effect in the brain. This is because chocolate contains a stimulant called theobromine which is similar to caffeine, except that it doesn’t affect the central nervous system.

2. Acts as an aphrodisiac

Ever wondered why so many chocolate ads revolve around love and romance? The reason is that chocolate acts as an aphrodisiac which boosts your sexual desire or libido. The two nutrients responsible for giving chocolate this property are tryptophan and phenylethylamine
Source: The health site

Student Body: School helps bullied 510 pound teen slim down

It was hard not to notice the 510-pound freshman in English class who dwarfed his peers and walked with his head down, sullen and quiet.

His teacher knew that the 14-year-old needed help. What the teacher didn’t know was how Eric Ekis had ballooned to that weight — while mourning the death of his father. Or why this lonely kid didn’t seem to want to change, even though his classmates bullied him. Or that in helping Eric, he might just help the whole school.

On that first day of class at Franklin Community High School in Indiana this past fall, teacher Don Wettrick tried to engage this new student, suggesting they work out together.

“I’d like to but I can’t,” Eric said.

A few days later, Wettrick brought it up again. Again, Eric said no. Then Eric crushed a desk in class. Wettrick tried again, and again heard no.

He realized his methods were failing. He saw that Eric felt terrible — both physically and mentally. His classmates bullied him. One day Eric smelled so bad, Wettrick pulled him aside to talk about his hygiene. Eric said he knew it was a problem.

“I just don’t care,” Eric told him.

“About?”

“Anything.”

“When did you give up?” Wettrick asked.

“When my dad died.”

Eric cried as he explained that his dad died suddenly in 2010 of a brain aneurysm and soon afterward, 11-year-old Eric fell in the shower, shattering his leg. He underwent multiple surgeries and received rods and screws to fix it. At 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, the doctors feared that Eric might grow lopsidedly, so they broke his other leg to slow the growth. The surgeries rendered Eric bedridden, and months of rehab followed. His lack of mobility and grief made it easy for Eric to stress eat.

“After that is when he started putting weight on. Bedridden and upset and depressed,” says Laura Ekis, Eric’s mom. He gained weight so gradually they did not notice until he ballooned. Three years later, he was 6’4” and 510 pounds.

Now everyone noticed, and Wettrick needed a plan. The English teacher also taught an innovations class, which teaches kids to think creatively. One of his students, Kevin Stahl, a senior and star of the swim team, needed a project. Wettrick approached Kevin

Kevin suggested that Eric walk as a way to get used to exercising. First period every day, Eric walks.

“I was sick and tired of being big and bigger than everyone else,” Eric says. “I got lucky it was Kevin. Kevin is just a nice person. … I am glad he is my friend.”

The two also talked to a dietitian about ways Eric could also improve his diet.

“We’re eating healthier at home. We’re baking things and not frying things,” says Laura Ekis. “I want him to be healthy and productive and enjoy everything high school has to offer.”

Eric wasn’t the only kid in school struggling with obesity – in 2011, about 30 percent of Indiana high school students were considered overweight or obese, according to the Indiana State Health Department. When his classmates noticed what he was doing, some joined him and formed a walking group. Another student, Tessa Crawford, lost 25 pounds thanks to walking and food journaling.

Even students who were not overweight supported the efforts.

“People [had] been bullying me. And they all stopped and people are being supportive,” Eric says. “I feel physically better. I feel better emotionally, too.”

While Wettrick feels overjoyed that Eric is becoming healthier, he also likes that this program has reduced bullying.

“This has almost been more of an anti-bullying campaign,” Wettrick says. “If more students wanted to help, as opposed to point and laugh, [it] can lead to great bonds and friendship.”

It’s been a long journey for Eric and will continue to be. The weight is coming off slowly; he’s lost 10 pounds. Like so many others, Eric gained over the holidays. But he is learning how to live a healthier life.

Wettrick left Franklin Community on Monday — he took a position as an innovation teacher at Noblesville High School — but he still talks with Eric and Kevin. Another teacher, Lesleigh Groce, took over the program. The walking group, which includes about a dozen students, walks for 45 minutes a day; twice a week they do some additional exercise such as shooting hoops or yoga.

Eric says that even with the setbacks, he doesn’t get discouraged because he has so much support.

“From the beginning, I wanted this to help other kids just like me — overweight kids that need the help and the support,” he says. “I just like to help others. It is the right thing to do. … It is what my mom taught me.”

Source: Today health

Cold weather can help you lose weight, study says

Keeping temperatures a bit chillier at home and work, even when it’s as cold as it is now, can make your body burn more calories to keep warm, Dutch researchers say.

Americans love to crank up the thermostat, especially in bitterly cold times like these.

But a new study suggests turning it down a few degrees could actually help you lose weight.

We know. Not what you wanted to hear right now.

But Dutch researchers say regular exposure to mildly cold temperatures can make your body burn more calories to keep warm.

“Since most of us are exposed to indoor conditions 90 percent of the time, it is worth exploring health aspects of ambient temperatures,”. “What would it mean if we let our bodies work again to control body temperature?”

Lichtenbelt and his team have been studying the phenomena for the past 10 years.

While most animals (humans included) shiver to stay warm, another type of shivering — called non-shivering thermogenesis — occurs when the temperature is cool but not cold, according to the research.

That type of shivering, activating what’s called “brown fat,” can burn up to 30 percent of the body’s energy and contribute to weight loss.

Brown fat, discovered in adults in 2009, burns calories instead of storing them like white fat.

So does this mean you should crank the heat down to 55 degrees and frolic about in a tank top and underwear?

Not necessarily. It’s more theory at this point, but researchers also said it wouldn’t hurt.

“It would do no harm,” Dr. Mitchell Lazar, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania, told HealthDay. “It’s worth a try for someone who is having trouble losing weight by diet and exercise alone.”

Source: global post

Will seeing red help you lose weight?

Previously, scientists found diners at a pasta buffet heaped the marinara on if they used white plates, but took smaller helpings if their plates were red. They did the opposite when the pasta had a white sauce. So researchers thought the key to eating less might be sharp color contrasts.

But the new study, published in the journal Appetite this month, indicates it’s not contrast, but one specific color — red — that causes people to cut back on what they consume. The research tested how much food or hand cream people used when the product was placed on a red, white or blue plate.

“We wanted to find out if the effect was limited to eating or generalized to other types of consumption. The cream was a convenient way to evaluate another sensory system — touch, rather than taste,” said study author Nicola Bruno, cognitive psychology researcher at the University of Parma, Italy.

The study
In the new study, volunteers rated the saltiness of popcorn, nuttiness of chocolate and stickiness of hand cream.

Each person received a pre-measured sample of a product on a plate that was one of three colors — red, white or blue. The volunteers munched and moisturized as much as they liked while they filled out their answers. Of the 240 participants, 90 taste-tested popcorn, and 75 each sampled the chocolate chips and hand cream.

Each survey also included a question to check how much testers liked the product, since this may have triggered them to eat or use more. After the experiments, researchers measured how much the testers had consumed.

The authors also measured differences in the color intensity and contrasts of foods, cream and plates. Data in hand, they tested whether differences in people’s consumption correlated with differences in color contrast.

Results
On average, people ate less popcorn and chocolate when they were served on red plates compared to blue or white plates.

Not surprisingly, self-reported popcorn fans ate more than those who expressed no preference for it on the survey. However, these people consumed more kernels independent of plate color. When researchers corrected for people’s preferences in their statistical analysis, eating off red plates was still associated with lower consumption.
Use of the moisturizing cream followed a similar trend. When testing hand cream on red plates, people used about half as much, on average, compared to cream on blue or white plates.

Contrast had little to do with these results, said Bruno. Though dark chocolate on a red plate offered less contrast than pale colored popcorn or cream, people still took fewer chocolate chips.

“I expected to find the results related to differences in color intensity, but they did not. It’s really related to the color red compared to the food and cream colors,” he said.

Limitations
The study supports the idea that the color red reduces consumption, according to Oliver Genschow, who studies consumer psychology at the University of Mannheim.
But don’t run out and buy those red plates as a holiday gift just yet. In all the research so far, participants were unaware of the real reason for the tests, implying an unconscious process may be at work.

“We don’t know what will happen if people are conscious of their plate’s color. Maybe it won’t work anymore,” Genschow said.

He says color may be an additional factor to consider when treating patients with certain eating disorders, but it’s premature to suggest everyone trying to lose weight should simply switch to red plates.

Source: cnn news

Eating lingonberries could help prevent weight gain

Eating lingonberries could prevent weight gain more effectively than so-called “superberries”, research suggests.

Scientists tested a variety of berries from raspberries to blackcurrants for the effects they have on mice and found the Scandinavian berry almost completely prevented an increase in weight.

The lingonberries also produced lower blood sugar levels and cholesterol, the researchers from Lund University in Sweden found.

However, the açai berry from Central and South America, which is hailed as a “superberry”, came last in the study.
The team of scientists used a type of mouse regarded as a model for overweight humans at risk of diabetes because it easily stores fat. Some of the mice were fed a low-fat diet, while the majority of the animals were fed a diet high in fat.

They were then divided into groups, where all except a control group were fed a type of berry – lingonberry, bilberry, raspberry, crowberry, blackberry, prune, blackcurrant or açai berry.

When the mice were compared after three months, the lingonberry group had “by far the best results”, the researchers said.

The mice that had eaten lingonberries had not put on more weight than the mice that had eaten a low-fat diet – and their blood sugar and insulin readings were similar to those of the ‘low-fat’ mice. Their cholesterol levels and levels of fat in the liver were also lower than those of the animals who received a high-fat diet without any berries.
Blackcurrants and bilberries also produced good effects, although not as pronounced as the lingonberries.

The good results from lingonberries may be due to their polyphenol content, according to the researchers, who are continuing work to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in their effect, while studying whether the effect can be observed in humans.
Karin Berger, a diabetes researcher at Lund University, said: “Up to 20 per cent of our mice’s diet was lingonberries. It isn’t realistic for humans to eat such a high proportion.

“However, the goal is not to produce such dramatic effects as in the ‘high-fat’ mice, but rather to prevent obesity and diabetes by supplementing a more normal diet with berries.”
She added: “In our study, the açai berries led to weight gain and higher levels of fat in the liver.”

The researchers warned against eating large quantities of lingonberry jam, because boiling the berries can affect their nutrient content and jam contains a lot of sugar. They recommended eating frozen lingonberries on cereal or in a smoothie.

Source: telegraph

Men burn brown fat for energy only when they’re chilled

Men burn brown fat for energy only when they’re chilled, researchers have found.

Scientists and drug companies are interested in finding way to increase the amount of brown adipose tissue, also called brown fat, in adults in the hopes of fighting obesity.

They knew that rodents and newborn babies burn calories from brown fat to keep warm. Animals and newborns don’t shiver.

Adults are now known to also carry brown fat, but a big question for obesity researchers was whether that fat actually burns energy.

Scientists in Quebec designed an experiment to find out.

André Carpentier at Sherbrooke University and Denis Richard at Laval University in Quebec City studied six healthy men aged 23 to 42 who wore a water-cooled suit. The experimental set-up was meant to minimize shivering.

When the investigators exposed the men to a radioactive chemical, they found the radioactivity disappeared from the brown fat in just minutes, but the radioactivity wasn’t metabolized in the warm subjects.

Based on the radioactivity findings, the researchers concluded all of the men showed cold-induced activation of brown fat metabolism.
“However, it remains to be demonstrated whether chronic and frequent bouts of cold exposure may contribute to increase [brown fat metabolism] and/or activity and may be a viable adjunct therapeutic strategy to other lifestyle interventions to prevent or treat obesity and its metabolic complications,” they concluded in Tuesday’s issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In a journal commentary published with the study, Barbara Cannon and Jan Nedergaard at Stockholm University in Sweden said that increasing the amount of brown fat a person has is unlikely to make him or her slimmer. Instead, what’s needed is a way to make that brown fat actively burn calories.

“What we have to wish for is not only more brown adipose tissue in adult humans — but that it would actually be ‘on fire’ when we eat,” the commentators said.

The researchers acknowledged drawbacks of the study. For example, they were unable to tell whether brown fat was metabolically active during cold conditions in other internal organs such as the heart because of the limited view of the PET/CT scanner.

The scientists took body mass index and diabetes into account, but they said the wide differences in brown fat metabolism they observed suggests that other unknown factors could be important, too.

The study was funded by the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Source: Cbc health