Posts Tagged ‘diet’

Losing weight the American way means easy breezy and versatile.. The one thing about research is the ludicrousness of the study doesn’t matter. It seems any study can come up with potentially accurate information. The one thing is I am hoping is the studies didn’t cost a fortune. There is no reasonable price for these studies.

The Large Fork Study

The first one is hard to be discrete when practicing. Researchers from the University of Utah in the Journal of Consumer Research found the larger your fork and the bigger you bite when you eat, the less you will probably end up eating when you are in a restaurant. They used two sizes of forks in a popular Italian restaurant to measure how much people ate, and found that the participants (who used a pitch fork) ate less than those with smaller ones. I am not sure what size folks were used but if you are going for results the bigger the better.

Further testing showed that when the participants were presented with plate loaded with food, those with large forks ate considerable less than those with small ones. The amount of food consumed was not influence by fork size when they were given small serving.

This means when you use a large fork always order a super sized plate of food. This will help at buffets where you can load your plate to overflowing.

Remember this doesn’t work for all settings. When this was tried with volunteers in a laboratory, the results were the opposite; the participants with the small forks ate less than those with the larger forks. So when you eat in a laboratory leave the pitch fork home.

The Neat Method

The next innovative way to lose weight has been put into practice by millions of people. It is often called Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT), simply put, it is the movement you do outside structured physical activity.

This is wonderful news to those that don’t like to move around much. All you have to do is start to fidget, with such activities as pacing, if lying on the couch chewing gum will do, and talking even if to yourself will burn some of those nasty calories.

At work drum your fingers against your desktop, while bobbing your foot under the desk. This is called incidental physical activities. On plane flights the person that squirms and shakes his legs may be annoying, but he is burning more calories than you. Your best bet is to emulate his movements, instead of complaining. .

To lose weight you have to mean business, so if you are right handed, shove food in with your left hand. Expect some misses, so wear old stained outfits. When you test these methods you will be doing it blindly, there isn’t much information on how long you have to do it to see results. Because the researchers care so much about your health, they didn’t bother to tell you the best foods to eat, or how to make fidgeting a lifestyle. I am sure there is another expensive study in the future, which will address those issues.

The disclaimer, check with your health care provider before embarking on losing weight with these methods. These are meant to bridge the gap, when simple calorie counting is too much trouble.

Type 2 diabetes has natural interventions, which work remarkably well and are easy to implement.  With an estimated 366 million of people worldwide who have this condition you would think there would be a better understanding of this approach. The biggest challenge is for the public to understand that pharmaceutical companies have tried different medications to halt the disease and haven’t succeeded. They are dealing with a condition that they have not had much success with. 

Diabetes Epidemic

The International Diabetes Federation described the number of cases as “staggering,” every seven seconds one person succumbs to this condition. The federation is asking for concrete measures to stop the epidemic, urging officials focusing on chronic disease at the United Nations to target ways to prevent cases and to invest in more research. Yes, what we need is more research, we don’t have enough already. We can spend the next decade looking for the magic bullet.

It is estimated that health systems spend $465 billion annually fighting the disease. That includes both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. If that isn’t enough money to find the cause, which is right in front of their faces then lets go for broke.

Real Problem

The abnormalities that they are looking for is in our food supply, the diagnosis and current treatment are not the answer. Our flagging health is due to the deterioration of our food supply. Food orchestrates a complex balance of hormonal, neurochemical, and electrical signals. What makes us think we can face our deteriorating health with pharmaceuticals? As long as we ignore the warning signs that all point to lifestyle, it will be increasingly difficult to stem the tide.

Type 2 Diabetes Causes

The rise in diabetes is not due to an aging population as the medical experts claim. Diabetes is thought to be a disease of middle age, with obesity playing a part in the development of this condition. Yet, younger people are now in this group. Medical strategies haven’t consistently offered substantial improvement for diabetics.

The global number of diabetics more than doubled in the last three decades according to a study published in the medical journal Lancer. We try to manage the disease with diet, exercise and medication. With all that diabetes still results in kidney disease, blindness, heart disease, more cases of cancer, and amputations.

In the last three decades our lifestyle has been altered. This trend started earlier with the advent of pre-packaged foods, larger portions, lack of sunshine, technology advances that translate to less activity. There are multiple causes and none of them are a drug shortage. Insulin resistance is part of the culture. There are very few people who aren’t affected by this way of life. This is becoming a world wide occurrence because we export our way of eating and farming methods.

To say it is because people are living longer is an insult to our intelligence. Healthy adults who are concerned about what they put into their bodies are much less likely to develop diabetes. We are putting the cheapest “foods” on everyone’s table. Virtually everything in most people’s diet was never eaten 40 to 50 years ago. We can document that insulin resistance is a product of our diet, no amount of research will change that fact.

The Challenge

The challenge that we have is we got to deal with this crisis now. Health care will bankrupt America. Curing today’s health care cost crisis means we need natural solutions. What is essential to realize is for survival purposes we have to prevent and reverse these conditions on our own.

How to Reverse Diabetes

The Journal PLoS ONE reported the discovery by Salk Institute for Biological Studies researchers that fisetin a flavone found in abundance in strawberries, and in other fruit and vegetables, helped type 1 diabetes in mice. They found Kidney enlargement and urinary protein decreased along with anxiety-related symptoms which are a central nervous system complication that occurs in human diabetics. Type 1 diabetes is harder to reverse, this shows that diet is key.

Diabetics are advised to cut fat, reduce saturated fat and include plenty of carbohydrates in the diet. It is essentially a carbohydrate-centered diet. They may say whole grains, however this is how to feed diabetics a diet that will increase fat. When visceral fat accumulates, the inflammatory signals causes the muscle and liver to stop responding to insulin. Now we are developing insulin resistance. Nice going, since the reduction of carbohydrates improves all the diabetic markers and symptoms. Isn’t it time to look to natural intervention to reverse this condition

How to stay motivated when trying to reach your goal weight begins with a strong desire to lose weight. Sustaining the enthusiasm usually dramatically diminishes as the scale doesn’t respond fast enough. The reality is it took some time to gain the weight, and reversing the trend will take time. Concentrating on the numbers isn’t the way to go about losing weight.

Weight Loss Rewards

The reward is in the effort as much as the outcome. This is the reality, the new and improved lifestyle says a lot on how you feel about yourself. When you diet just for the sake of losing weight you usually wind up with a short fix. This way is usually responsible for the yo-yo dieting. That is the one where it is akin to using duct tape and safety pins to take something and make it smaller.

The purpose of dieting has to be more that to get into a pair of jeans. The benefits are so huge that most recently it is considered a solution to type 2 diabetes, the metabolic syndrome, blood pressure problems, cardiovascular conditions, mobility, and even cancer prevention. Weight loss supports cellular energy, physical performance, and graceful aging.

Obesity and Liver Disease

Obesity leads to liver disease. There is a growing relationship between weight and liver disease. With nearly two-thirds of the population being either overweight or obese, we are seeing a rise in liver diseases. A malfunctioning liver is responsible for a host of health related conditions. These range from brain changes that mimic Alzheimer’s, because it results in memory lapses and lack of coordination. The liver detoxifies environmental pollutants, and chemicals that are in the air or food that we eat.

Dr. Naim Alkhouri, a hepatologist at the Cleveland clinic states “Its overwhelming how many patients we’re seeing with this problem. Dr. William Carey, also a hepatologist at the Cleveland Clinic says , “This is huge. We didn’t know this disease existed 30 years ago. Now, it’s the most common liver disease in America.”

Message

The message that isn’t being delivered to the weight loss crowd is this isn’t about the blubber that has hitched a ride and landed as a permanent guest. This isn’t only about beer bellies, thunder thighs, over flowing bosoms, expanded waist size of padded backsides, it’s about the quantity and quality of your life.

Accelerating weight loss by modulating your diet to increase healthy function is a long term goal. Enhancing your ability to enjoy life is one of the beneficial effects of weight management. Being chronically overweight suppresses immunity, causes some forms of hypertension, raises blood sugar, causes insulin resistance, reduces libido, causes erectile dysfunction, and accelerates aging.

One More Reason to Lose Weight

If you need one more reason to lose weight here it is. Soon enough you are going to have to defend yourselves.

Being overweight or obese turns out to be the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service. The army had to respond to this by making allowances for recruits who are fat and out of shape. Sit-ups and long runs are out, while yoga like movements are in.

Between 1995 and 2008, the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physicals each year because they were over weight increased to nearly 70 percent of young adults between the ages of 17 to 24 were too fat for military service.

What more motivation is needed to minimize the portion of food on  plates, and change lifestyles in order to support health.