Food Myths, True or False ?

Is 'low fat' always a good thing?
Is a cooked breakfast always unhealthy?
There are lots of myths and old wives' tales about food.
Check out the following popular beliefs and challenge your assumptions.

The experts are always changing their minds about what healthy eating really is

False - It might seem as though nutrition experts regularly change their minds and don't agree with each other. But, in fact, the main messages about healthy eating have stayed the same for some time.

For example, the message to reduce the amount of fat we eat has been the same for more than 15 years, and we were being told about the importance of fruit and veg as long ago as the Second World War. Then the advice was to 'dig for victory' and grow our own.

When we do hear contradictory messages about healthy eating, this is often because new scientific findings tend to be reported in the media before they have been fully researched, and without the findings being put into context

Choosing healthy food to eat is very limiting and it's boring too

False - It's true that we shouldn't eat too much of certain foods, or eat them too often, such as those high in fat or sugar, but there are lots of interesting foods we should be eating more of, such as oily fish and fruit and veg.

And eating healthily doesn't mean cutting out all your favourite foods, it's just about getting the balance right.

If you add a bit of variety by changing what you usually eat, you'll also get lots of opportunity to experiment. Remember, healthy eating can be tasty, exciting and exotic.

Healthier foods are always far more expensive than other foods

False - Although it's true that some healthier ingredients can be more expensive, often you only need to use them in very small amounts. And sometimes choosing the healthier alternative can actually save you money.

You can make meat go further by cooking it in casseroles or stir-fries with cheaper ingredients such as beans, pulses or seasonal veg. Basing your meals on starchy foods such as rice, pasta or bread is not only a good idea for a healthy balanced diet, but these foods are also good value and can make a meal go further.

A good way to save money is to cook batches of dishes such as chilli, curry or stew, and freeze them in handy portion sizes. When you cook a batch or save leftovers, it's important to cool the food quickly (in one to two hours), then freeze it in sealed containers. And always make sure you reheat food until it's steaming hot all the way through.

Having a traditional cooked breakfast in the morning can be a healthy choice

True - If you grill lean bacon, poach the eggs and include baked beans, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms cooked without fat, and serve it all up with thick crusty bread, you'll have yourself a delicious cooked breakfast that is also healthy and balanced.

If the label says 'low fat' or 'reduced fat' then the product will always be a healthy choice

False - To claim that a product is 'reduced fat' the amount of fat must be at least 30% lower than standard products. But these types of foods tend to be high in fat and energy in the first place, so the 'reduced fat' version can still have quite high amounts of both.

Foods labelled 'low fat' or 'reduced fat' aren't necessarily low in energy. The fat is replaced by other ingredients, so the product can end up with the same or an even higher energy (calorie) content.

Also, if you're tempted to use more of a reduced-fat product than you would of the full-fat version, you might end up having the same, or even more, fat and energy.

If you want to have the healthier option it's best to choose a vegetarian dish

False - Some vegetarian dishes contain a lot of fat, especially if they're made with lots of cheese, oil, pastry or creamy sauces, or if they've been fried. So they aren't necessarily a healthy option.

In fact, red meat can be low in fat if it's lean and all the visible fat has been removed. Other low-fat options are chicken without the skin, and fish, if they've been cooked without too much fat.

But it's always a good idea to have some vegetables with your meal because we should be eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day as part of a healthy balanced diet.

Vegetable suet is much better for you than beef suet

False - Vegetable suet is suitable for vegetarians but it's just as high in fat as beef suet, and contains as much saturated fat. The same is true for cheese.

Vegetarian cheese is suitable for vegetarians because it doesn't use animal-based rennet (it's still made from milk) but this doesn't affect its fat content.

Margarine contains less fat than butter

False - Butter and margarine contain different types of fat, but both contain a similar amount of fat. So whichever one you choose, remember to use it sparingly.

Red meat is always very high in fat and poultry is always low in fat

False - Removing visible fat can make a big difference to the fat content of meat. In fact, lean red meat is quite low in fat at 4-8g per 100g.

When the lean and fat components of meat are blended together in mince or meat products, this can make the fat content much higher. Meat products, whether they've been made from red meat or poultry, can also be high in fat because of the other high fat ingredients they contain, such as the pastry in a meat pie or pasty.

Skinned poultry meat only contains about 1-3g fat per 100g, and white meat contains less fat than darker meat. But if the skin and fatty deposits beneath it aren't removed, the fat content will be much higher.

So try to go for leaner cuts, always remove the visible fat, and remove the skin from poultry

Sweets are a good source of vitamins

False - Sweets contain high amounts of sugar and are not a good source of vitamins and minerals. Eating sweets regularly between meals will lead to tooth decay. For snacks that are rich in vitamins and minerals, eat a variety of fruit (fresh or dried) instead.

Drinking ice-cold water uses up more calories and helps you lose weight

False - Drinking water that is ice cold doesn't use up any more calories than drinking water at room temperature. If you do want to lose weight, it's important not to go on a 'crash diet'. Losing weight takes time.

The most effective way to lose weight - and keep it off - is by changing your lifestyle for good. You need to eat a healthy balanced diet, which means eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, basing your meals on starchy foods, cutting down on foods high in sugar or fat, and by being more physically active.

If a child refuses to eat fruit or veg, then it's best not to serve them again

False - It's better to show children a new food a few times before you give it to them to try. Offer new food to children as often as possible. If they refuse the food, wait a few days then try again. Fruit and vegetables (fresh, frozen, canned, dried or a daily glass of juice) are an important part of a healthy balanced diet for both children and adults.

If a child seems reluctant to eat certain fruit and vegetables, try different types instead, or mix them with foods they already like such as yoghurt, rice or mashed potato. You could also encourage children to help prepare new foods - research suggests they will be more likely to try them. Try not to get into confrontations about food because this will make matters worse. Instead, try to offer your child a variety of foods.

Dried fruit is not as healthy as fresh fruit

False - As part of a healthy balanced diet we are recommended to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg each day, whether they are fresh, frozen, canned, dried or juiced (but fruit juice only counts as a maximum of one portion a day). Dried fruit such as currants, sultanas, raisins, dates and figs provide energy in the form of sugar and are a good source of fibre. They also contain other vitamins and minerals, but not vitamin C, which is found in fresh fruit. A portion of dried fruit is one heaped tablespoon. This is less than a portion of fresh fruit because it's based on the equivalent weight of fresh fruit.

It's OK to skip breakfast

False - Breakfast is a very important meal. When we're sleeping, we are also 'fasting' for an average of about eight hours, so it's essential to 'break' this fast. Although people who skip breakfast catch up on their energy requirements later in the day, they're unlikely to get all the vitamins and minerals that a simple breakfast can provide. And, if we've missed breakfast, this tends to make us snack by mid-morning on foods that are high in sugar or fat.

Sprinkling lemon juice on the fat on meat dissolves it

False - Lemon juice, although a good source of vitamin C, won't dissolve the fat in fatty foods. The best way to get rid of the fat on meat is to cut it off or choose leaner cuts.

Avocados aren't a healthy choice

False - Avocados contain monounsaturated fat, which has a positive effect on blood cholesterol levels. As part of a healthy diet it's important to reduce the amount of saturated fat we eat and replace it with unsaturated fat, as well as reducing the total amount of fat we eat. This means avocados are a healthy choice. Half an avocado also counts as one of the five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables we should be eating each day. However, avocados do contain fat and eating too much of any food containing fat can lead to weight gain if the energy isn't used up through physical activity.

Most of the salt in our diet is added at the table

False - 75% of the salt in our diet comes from processed foods. Just 10 to 15% comes from the salt we add when we're cooking or at the table.

On average we're eating about 8.6g of salt a day. But we should try to cut this down to no more than 6g of salt a day for adults.

Fruit juice can be harmful to teeth

True - The sugars found naturally in whole fruit are less likely to cause tooth decay because the sugar is contained within the structure of the fruit. But, when fruit is juiced or blended, the sugar is released. Once released, these sugars can damage teeth, especially if fruit juice is drunk frequently.

But fruit juice is still a healthy choice. One glass (150ml) counts as one of the five fruit and veg portions we should all be aiming for each day.

To help keep teeth healthy, it's best to have fruit juice at mealtimes, particularly for children. Milk or water are good choices for children to drink between meals.

Source : http://www.eatwell.gov.uk

Interaction between food and appetite, behaviour and aggression

"You are what you eat".


Diet & your brain: appetite

Chemicals that control appetite
Recently, at a Symposium on “Changing Paradigms in Clinical Nutrition”., a booklet which was called “Nutrition and Brain”, published by Nestle, was made available to delegates. One of the most fascinating articles in this booklet describes how dietary factors and so-called monoamine neurotransmitters control our appetite.

A complex process
The control of appetite in humans is a highly complex process. The human nervous system transmits messages in the form of electric signals through the brain and nerves. Although this system is similar to electric wiring, nerve ends are not connected to each other. To transmit the message from one nerve ending to another, a so-called neurotransmitter chemical has to be released.

Some of the best known neurotransmitter chemicals are serotonin (5HT), dopamine and norepinephrine. Researchers have been studying these neurotransmitters for years to discover how message transmission can be selectively changed to produce specific results, for example to control appetite.

Appetite-suppressing drugs
Drugs have been developed to influence the three abovementioned neurotransmitters in an attempt to control appetite and combat overeating which leads to obesity.

* Selective enhancement of serotonin release or activity of 5HT will suppress appetite
(Example: sibutramine which is a selective serotonin or 5HT reuptake inhibitor)
* Selective enhancement of dopamine release will suppress appetite (Example: amphetamine)
* Selective enhancement of norepinephrine will suppress appetite (Example: phentermine)

Pharmaceutical appetite suppressants, which include these 3 monoamines, can all have a wide variety of side-effects. To be safe you should only take these appetite suppressants under medical supervision and stop immediately if you develop any negative side effects.

Manufacturing our own monoamine chemicals
Research has also shown that the so-called monoamines are manufactured in the human body from amino acids:

* the amino acid tyrosine is used by our bodies to synthesize dopamine and norepinephrine,
which can suppress appetite
* the amino acid tryptophan is used to synthesize serotonin or 5HT, which can suppress appetite

An important factor in the manufacture of monoamines is availability of substrate or basic material from which these chemicals are produced in our bodies. It is, therefore, theoretically possible to boost the concentrations of these appetite-suppressing monoamines in our bodies by dietary manipulation.

Dietary factors that boost monoamine synthesis
If we need the amino acids tyrosine and tryptophan to produce dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin or 5HT, then it is logical that increasing the amount of tyrosine and tryptophan in the body will boost their production and possibly cause appetite suppression.

To increase the availability of these two amino acids, research has indicated that we need to do the following:

Boosting tryptophan
Contrary to expectation, levels of the amino acid tryptophan are not by eating very high-protein diets. To boost your brain levels of tryptophan and thereby increase the manufacture of serotonin or 5HT you need to eat a carbohydrate-rich diet.

Because serotonin is the brain chemical that makes us feel more positive and happy, this also explains why people get carbohydrate cravings. Readers often ask what they can do to control their irresistible urges to eat sugar, sweets and processed starches. One of the reasons why they have these urges is probably that their brain levels of serotonin are low. By eating sugar, sweets and starches they boost their brain tryptophan levels, which in turn boost serotonin or 5HT production and makes them feel more positive.

The urge to eat carbohydrates is a signal from your body that you either have a problem with serotonin production, or that your basic intake of carbohydrate is too low (for example slimmers who eat low-carbohydrate diets often get depressed and crave carbohydrates). To remedy this situation you need to ensure that you are eating sufficient unprocessed or minimally processed carbohydrates (e.g. unsifted maize meal, high-bran cereals, brown rice, potatoes, samp, crushed wheat, wholewheat bread). The high-carbohydrate diet must also contain moderate amounts of low-fat protein such as lean meat, fish, eggs, and low-fat milk and dairy products to provide tryptophan to the body.

Boosting dopamine and norepinephrine
To boost the production of these 2 monoamines humans require a high-protein diet. This is also the reason why high-protein diets give slimmers a “high”. The use of high-protein diets is associated with many risks. The risks include too high an intake of saturated fat and cholesterol which can have a negative effect on blood fat levels, development of acidosis and ketosis with damage to the kidneys, coma and death, constipation and a variety of other negative effects.

If you want to boost your intake of tyrosine, it may be safer to use an amino acid supplement which is low in fat together with a normal diet, rather than a diet overloaded with fatty proteins. Once again, it is not a good idea to overdo this supplementation. Use the amino acid supplements as described on the container and don’t think that if the prescribed dose may suppress your appetite, then taking double and treble the dose will give better results. If you find that you start getting depressed, then increase your intake of unprocessed carbohydrates to boost tryptophan and serotonin levels in the brain.

It is evident that the control of appetite is a very complex process and that interfering with the brain chemicals that control appetite can be potentially dangerous. So be careful what you take to suppress your appetite and never overdo the intake of one category of food.

Diet & your brain: aggression

Nutrients and aggression
In this series on “The Influence of Diet on the Brain & Nervous System”, we have already discussed dietary factors that can influence appetite, and the role of inositol in bulimia and psychiatric conditions, such as panic disorders, depression and obsessive compulsion. This article will consider how diet can potentially influence aggression.
The Aggressive Age
We live in an aggressive world if the War in Iraq and clashes in other parts of the globe are anything to go by.

Aggression has many causes, including psychological stresses, political pressures and hormonal factors, such as testosterone. In individual human beings aggression can manifest as antisocial behaviour, road rage, physical assault, including murder, and many other actions that cause harm to fellow humans. Recent research has indicated that dietary factors may well play a role in calming aggression.

Teenage offenders

Aggression is not necessarily age-related, but it is a fact that the teenage years are often fraught with aggressive behaviour, particularly in young men. A sad consequence of this teenage rage and lack of control, is the fact that many young offenders land up in jail or in correctional facilities. While such youngsters are incarcerated, they often vent their rage and frustration on fellow inmates. Such behaviour is usually punished by strict discipline and loss of privileges.

Researchers in the UK recently conducted a study with 231 young adult prisoners who were randomly chosen to either receive placebo (inactive substance), or a vitamin and mineral supplement together with omega-3 fatty acids. The vitamin and mineral supplement also contained trace elements such as selenium, chromium and manganese. All the nutrients in the supplement were included at levels of more or less the Recommended Daily Dietary Allowance (RDA).

At the start of the trial, the young participants were given psychological tests to measure aggression and their usual dietary intake was determined. The disciplinary offence records of each prisoner before and during the trial were compared.

Promising results
The results of this British study showed that young offenders who received vitamin, mineral, trace element and omega-3 supplementation, had 35% fewer disciplinary offences than those subjects who were receiving placebo. Interestingly the greatest improvement in antisocial behaviour was found for really serious offences such as physical violence.

Aggression in schoolchildren
Not all young offenders are put in jail. Many schoolchildren, particularly in economically deprived populations, also exhibit rage, antisocial behaviour, aggression and general ‘bad behaviour’. In a second study conducted in the USA, researchers gave 80 schoolchildren aged six to 12 years, vitamin and mineral supplements, or placebo, in an attempt to decrease delinquency.

These supplements provided approximately 50% of the RDA of the different nutrients for a study period of four months.

Once again, the results of the American study indicated that vitamin and mineral supplements can reduce aggressive behaviour. The study group receiving supplements were 47% less likely to exhibit delinquent behaviour than those receiving placebo.

Diet and Aggression
Although there have been indications in the past that a poor or inadequate diet lacking essential nutrients can cause aggressive behaviour, research in this field has to date been rather limited. The results of these two studies which produced dramatic decreases of 35% in aggression in teenage offenders, and of 47% in delinquent schoolchildren, are therefore most encouraging.

Because the subjects in both studies took supplements, which contained a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and omega-3 (in the UK study), we still don’t know at this stage which of the nutrients had this positive effect. Experts theorise that low tryptophan levels may influence serotonin levels in the brain, or that an imbalance in the copper-zinc ratio, or a deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids, may contribute to violence and aggression. There are also some indications that hypoglycaemia or low blood sugar levels can trigger outbursts. A great deal of additional research remains to be done in this important field to try and pinpoint more accurately those nutrients that can calm rage and prevent antisocial behaviour.

At the present moment, the best approach to controlling aggression in children and teenagers, is to make quite sure that they are eating a balanced diet and do not suffer from hypoglycaemia. To achieve this, they need to eat regular meals and healthy snacks, avoid junk food and get plenty of exercise. If you are struggling with a really rebellious teenager or an impossible family member who flares up at the slightest provocation and tends to violence, it may be a good idea to give them a complete vitamin and mineral supplements, as well as Salmon oil capsules for omega-3.

Diet & your brain: behaviour

Inositol and Bulimia

Bulimia nervosa is a debilitating condition, which is classified as an eating disorder. Patients suffering from bulimia and binge eating, alternate between gorging themselves with food and then get rid of this food by inducing vomiting or using harsh purgatives to induce diarrhoea. The patient is driven to overeat and then ‘punish’ her-/himself by regurgitating the food.

Such behavior has drastic effects on both the psychological and physical well-being of bulimics. The feelings of guilt engendered by constantly overeating and purging tend to destroy the patient’s self-esteem and interfere with normal functioning. From a dietary point of view, these patients do not manage to absorb sufficient nutrients because the food they eat does not remain in the digestive tract long enough to allow proper digestion and absorption to take place. Consequently, bulimics are often undernourished and deficient in macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and omega fatty acids.

Research conducted in Israel with a small group of patients suffering from bulimia and binge eating has shown that inositol may help these individuals to get control of their lives again. In the Israeli study, patients with bulimia and binge eating disorder were either treated with 18 g of inositol or 18g of placebo (inactive substance) per day for a period of 6 weeks. Statistically significant improvements in psychological test results were obtained when the patients received inositol.

Inositol and Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is another psychiatric condition that appears to respond to treatment with inositol. Individuals who suffer from panic disorder develop acute, debilitating attacks of anxiety that literally ‘paralyse’ them when faced with a given trigger or situation. For example someone suffering from panic disorder may not be able to leave home because of an intense fear of open spaces. Panic disorders, therefore, interfere significantly with everyday life and any new approach that could assist these patients is to be welcomed.

A recently published study originating in the same Israeli research centre as the bulimia trial mentioned above, compared the effect of inositol (up to 18g/day) and fluvoxamine (a psychiatric drug at a dose of 150g/day). Each treatment was given for a period of one month. The researchers found that the subjects receiving inositol had considerably fewer panic attacks than those taking fluvoxamine.

Inositol and bipolar depression
Another study indicated that patients with bipolar depression also reacted favourably to inositol doses of 12g per day. The results of this third study were not as positive as the effects found for bulimia and panic disorders, but the patients did show improvements in their clinical status.

What is inositol?
Inositol is a so-called sugar alcohol which is found in many foods, especially cereals with a high bran content. Although nutritionists have been aware of inositol for many years, this is the first research that indicates that inositol may help to alleviate certain psychiatric conditions.

Inositol supplementation is known to help premature infants survive respiratory distress syndrome. Inositol plays an essential role in the physiology of phospholipids, which are important for the proper functioning of all membranes, including the membranes lining the lungs of premature infants. In addition, inositol has been identified as a compound that acts as a ‘second messenger’ helping with the release of calcium during the transmission of nerve signals that control muscle movements.

It seems likely that these three recent research studies have identified new roles for inositol. Although these investigations are of a preliminary nature and more research is required to obtain more conclusive evidence, the results do indicate that inositol may help patients suffering from psychiatric conditions such as bulimia nervosa, panic disorder and bipolar depression. It has been suggested that inositol supplementation could be used as an alternative for certain psychiatric drugs and/or as an adjunct to conventional therapy.

From a dietetic point of view, the potential of inositol supplementation in treating bulimics, is welcome news. Such patients may also benefit from eating a diet rich in unprocessed grains and cereals, which are known to contain inositol.

B vitamins against Alzheimer's

Progress through research and expansion of our understanding of diseases and conditions that plague the modern world, is always exciting. I received a Clinical Nutrition Update published by Arbor Communications on progress that has been made in the quest to discover what factors affect Alzheimer’s Disease. There are indications that certain B vitamins may be implicated in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s

lzheimer’s Disease
This sly illness which creeps up on so many people, not only in old age, but while they are still in their forties and fifties, is particularly distressing for all who are associated with it.

Patients progressively lose their cognitive functions, their memory and their dignity. Anyone who has seen “Iris”, the film that so movingly chronicles the frightening descent into dementia that Iris Murdoch suffered before her untimely death, will be aware of the destruction this disease causes. Iris was one of Britain’s foremost modern authors, with a sharp and scintillating brain. The portrayal by Dame Judy Dench, of Iris’ loss of her mind, is one of the most shattering performances I have ever seen.

Alzheimer’s Disease not only affects the patient, but also all who love and care for the person whose mind disintegrates. Caregivers and family members are helpless to do anything and at present there is no cure for this dreaded disease.

Many theories
Scientists have been trying to establish what causes Alzheimer’s Disease and are looking for potential cures and treatments. Many theories have been proposed - there is the virus theory which contends that the sticky plaques that develop in the brain are triggered by viruses. In another theory, the use of aluminum cooking utensils has also been considered as a causative factor, but our knowledge is still frustratingly limited.

Latest research
In the latest Arbor Clinical Nutrition Update, the editors review three studies that have come up with exciting new facts.

In the first study, homocysteine levels were tested in more than a 1000 people who participated in the Framingham Study, a long-term study conducted in the UK to identify the influence of nutrition on many different conditions over very long periods. Homocysteine is a chemical compound that has previously been linked to risk of heart attacks. In the Alzheimer’s Disease study, researchers analysed the homocysteine levels in the blood of participants over a period of 16 years. They found that subjects with high homocysteine levels had a much higher incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. In fact, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease was doubled in those individuals who had abnormal homocysteine levels exceeding 14 micromol per litre of blood.

In the second study, two groups of participants who had participated in a Scottish mental health survey when they were 11 years old, were tested for homocysteine levels and mental function at the ages of 63 and 78 years. The researchers found that in older participants, raised homocysteine levels in the blood were linked to decreased mental function, such as is seen in Alzheimer’s Disease.

The third study compared homocysteine levels with the results of MRI scans in more than 1000 Dutch subjects, aged 60 to 90 years. Once again the scientists discovered that raised homocysteine levels were associated with an increased risk of finding so-called “silent brain infarcts” and severe white matter lesions, both of which indicate brain damage.

What does this mean?
Although research into the link between raised homocysteine levels and Alzheimer’s Disease is still in its early stages, these three studies indicate that there may well be an association between raised homocysteine levels in the blood and the risk of developing progressive brain damage.

Research on the link between raised homocysteine levels and heart disease which has progressed much further, has found that raised homocysteine levels can be reduced to normal by ensuring that patients have adequate folic acid, vitamin B12 and B6 intakes.

In relation to Alzheimer’s Disease, it may, therefore, also be important to ensure that patients, and in fact all older individuals, get sufficient folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 from their diets and/or by means of supplements.

Imagine what benefits would ensue if Alzheimer’s Disease could either be prevented and/or treated by something as simple as 3 of the B vitamins! The Editors of the Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates state that there is now sufficient evidence to encourage doctors to take homocysteine levels into account when treating elderly patients at risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. They also believe that such patients should be monitored to determine if they suffer from folic acid, B12 and to a lesser extent, B6 deficiencies, and if this should be the case, that they should be treated with these 3 B vitamins.

Next week we will take another look at folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6, which could just hold the answer to one of the most tragic diseases of modern times.

Fish really is brain food
Think of fish as a good thing - particularly if you're a woman looking to reduce your risk of stroke.

The more fish women eat, the greater the benefit, says a new study.

"We found that women who ate fish just one to three times a month had a seven percent lower risk of stroke than those who ate it only once a month," says study author Dr Kathryn M. Rexrode, an internist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"Increase your fish intake to once a week, and stroke risk could go down by 22 percent," she says. "Two to four times a week reduces risk to 27 percent, and eating fish five times a week or more brings down the risk of stroke by up to 52 percent." Findings will appear in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Experts say the likely reason fish protects women is the concentration of omega-3 fatty acids, nutrients that prevent the formation of clots, mostly by making blood less "sticky." This, in turn, reduces the risk of ischemic stroke, which is caused by blood clots that form either in the brain (leading to a thrombotic stroke) or elsewhere in the body and then travel to the brain (causing an embolic stroke).

Epidemiologist Gail Frank, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, says the new findings enforce what dietary experts long have believed.

"We have known for several decades that fish, by the nature of the fatty acid composition, when eaten more often, can alter lipids and, potentially, the clotting mechanism as well as plaque formation. Over time, it can change a little bit of the chemistry of the body," Frank says.

"This study is important because there has been a deficit of research to look at women," she says. "It's an important message for women to now know something positive they can do to reduce their risk of stroke."

In addition to reinforcing the preventive link between omega-3 acids and ischemic stroke, the new study finds fish acids do not contribute to hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel inside the brain ruptures or "leaks."

Normally, factors that decrease the risk of blood clotting, including omega-3, are thought to increase the risk of a "leaky" hemorrhagic stroke, but the latest study shows that's not the case for consumption of fish, the researchers say.

"Our research showed that eating fish does not have an adverse effect on hemorrhagic stroke," Rexrode says. "It doesn't increase the risk, which is something we did not know for certain before."

The researchers also found that fish is not likely to further reduce the risk of clot formation for people already taking aspirin to reduce their risk of stroke.

"Platelet aggregation, or the formation of blood clots, is a kind of all-or-nothing mechanism. You either turn it on or you turn it off," Rexrode says. In other words, once the biological switch is thrown to turn off platelet aggregation, which is something aspirin does, then additional attempts to do the same thing, such as eating fish, do not increase the effects, she says.

"If they work on the same mechanism, you're not going to see any added benefits to eating fish among aspirin users, because it's already being taken care of by aspirin, and aspirin is more potent in blocking this effect," Rexrode says.

But this does not mean that taking aspirin precludes the need to eat fish - or the other way around, she says.

"Studies have shown fish may have other important health benefits, so adding two to four servings per week to your diet is still important, even if you are already taking aspirin," she says.

Likewise, she says, aspirin still may be an important and necessary treatment, even if you're eating fish.

What to do

While adding more fish to your diet appears healthful, it's important to note that not all fish are alike. Light-meat fish, like flounder or whiting, have only about 0.5 grams of omega-3 fatty acid per 4-ounce serving, while dark-meat fish, such as salmon, sardines, mackerel or bluefish, have roughly 1.5 grams of the protective fatty acid in the same amount of fish. - (HealthDayNews)

Source : http://www.health24.com

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Diets affects to the skin

A. For years, the skin care industry has focused so much attention on what we put on our bodies that it has all but obscured the importance of what we put in our bodies. But all that is rapidly changing as dermatologists, researchers, and skin care companies alike focus increasing attention on nutrition’s role for glowing, healthy skin. In a recent newsletter, I discussed nutritional supplements, which are a great way to ensure that your diet is consistent and to fill the occasional nutritional gap. But there’s no substitute for a healthy, wellrounded diet. Consider these dos and don’ts on your next visit to the grocery store:

The Good... Look for omega-3s in fatty fish like salmon, tilapia, and cod, or in flax seed and flax seed oil. Many eggs are now fortified with omega-3 too. Our bodies cannot make these essential fatty acids - crucial for bolstering the skin barrier, which keeps moisture in and irritants out of your skin - so it’s important to get them through diet and supplements. (That’s also why vegetarians and those on low-fat or cholesterol-free diets are more likely to have dry skin.) There is even some evidence that omega-3s’ anti-inflammatory effects can improve chronic skin conditions like rosacea and atopic dermatitis, although that has not been confirmed. Leafy greens, squash, carrots, and mangoes are among the foods rich in vitamin A, which helps decrease skin’s oil production. There is also some evidence that vitamin A may improve psoriasis, since Retin-A (which is derived from vitamin A) and other vitamin A drugs have proven successful in treating it. You can’t eat too much vitamin A, but taking too much of it through supplements can lead to excessively dry skin - and more serious health problems like increased pressure in the brain. Your best bet, then, is to stick to vitamin-A rich foods. It can be hard to get enough vitamin D, typically known as the vitamin we get from sun exposure, through your diet - but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include it in your meals as much as possible! In addition to fortified foods (particularly milk), eggs, fish (salmon and cod are great options), and liver are rich sources of this crucial nutrient. (While only a few minutes of sun exposure a day are necessary to produce requisite levels of vitamin D, even that can be too much for those who are at higher risk for skin cancer. In those cases, the right dietary choices and a daily vitamin D supplement are the best bet.)

Do your cooking with vegetable oils, and snack on a handful of almonds each day - those are great sources of vitamin E. A powerful antioxidant, vitamin E can help prevent the signs of skin aging and even bolster your defenses against skin cancer. Studies also suggest that vitamin E consumed orally can increase the levels of vitamin E on your skin’s surface - great news, in particular, for anyone with dry skin!
Devoted to gourmet olive oils? Consider saving ‘em for salad dressing and doing your cooking with safflower oil or sunflower oil instead - they’re both richer in linoleic acid. Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid, which, like omega-3s, are essential for healthy cells but not made naturally by the body. Omega-6s help form cell membranes and are necessary for the formation of prostaglandins, hormones that facilitate a myriad of cell processes and help minimize inflammation.
Like Mom always said, eat your broccoli! With one vegetable, you’ll get high amounts of vitamins A, C, and K (among many other nutrients).
Green tea, pomegranate, and berries are wonderful sources of antioxidants. As more and more topical products tout their antioxidant activity, it’s important to remember that a combination of topical and oral antioxidants is always best to fight free radicals, that is, molecules with an uneven number of electrons that cause damage to cell membranes, lipids, proteins, and DNA.

Don’t ignore spices and seasonings! Many spices have antioxidant activity too: cumin, oregano, onions, ginseng, and rosemary, for example. (If you have rosacea, though, your skin can become red and flushed from certain spices, so be sure you know your skin type.) And for dessert, how about a little dark chocolate? Chocolate is a great antioxidant, and it’s a myth that it causes acne. (We now know it’s sugar, not chocolate itself, that exacerbates breakouts - if acne is a concern, sugar-free chocolate may be just the answer for you. And dark chocolate has far less sugar than typical milk chocolate.) My weakness? Chocolate hazelnut pie. Yum!

The Bad... For years, your dentist has said it, and now dermatologists are saying it too: Sugar can wreak havoc on your system in more ways than one. As far as your skin is concerned, the primary concern is glycation, which occurs when sugar breaks down and enters the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, it bonds with protein molecules, including collagen and elastin. As a result, those vital skin components become inflamed and stiff, and eventually cause skin to sag and wrinkle.

Caffeine has long been used topically to constrict veins and improve facial flushing and inflammation. But research is increasingly focused on caffeine’s powerful antioxidant activity, and its anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic benefits when consumed orally. Certain caffeinated beverages - green tea, for example - have long been touted for their antioxidant content; now, it looks like even your morning coffee could benefit your skin. Just remember that caffeine is also dehydrating, and should be consumed along with plenty of water. And those who are prone to facial flushing should avoid hot beverages and stick to iced coffee or tea to reap all those anti-inflammatory, antioxidant benefits. We all know that alcohol can cause dehydration and flushing, particularly in those with sensitive skin prone to redness. So what’s good about it? Well, it’s not so much that alcohol itself is good for skin, but rather that certain alcoholic beverages contain other skin-friendly nutrients. In this category, red wine is certainly the leader of the pack; it contains both grape seed extract and resveratrol, two powerful antioxidants. Some research also suggests that the hops in beer offer antioxidant benefits! Just remember, alcohol also creates free radicals, “scavenger” molecules that attack collagen and elastin and speed skin aging. One glass of wine offers antioxidant benefits, but more than that will only create the very damage you’re seeking to reverse. Most people cringe at the word “cholesterol,” but it actually does downright good things for the skin - in fact, it’s one of the three main components of your skin barrier, the layer of lipids that keeps moisture in and irritants out. Of course, you may have important health reasons to cut out cholesterol, which supersede skin concerns. Just be aware that cholesterol-lowering drugs - as well as low-fat vegan and vegetarian diets - can lead to dry skin.

Since we were children, we’ve been told to drink our milk for strong bones, but recent studies suggest that calcium also plays an important role in skin hydration. Milk is also typically fortified with vitamin D, which all of us sun-avoiders need to get though diet and supplements. Furthermore, calcium’s role in bone health applies to the bones in your face as much as, say, your femur: A large part of the volume loss we see in aged faces is due to bone loss. So what’s the down side? Some experts believe that the hormones and/or iodine content in milk and other dairy products can exacerbate acne. So what should you do? The possible link between diet and acne has not been sufficiently proven, but doctors all agree that calcium is crucial. My best advice, then, is to select organic dairy products whenever possible. A good calcium supplement is also a must, particularly for women, as is a vitamin D supplement, particularly if you elect to eliminate milk from your diet.

By : Leslie.Baumann.MD ( www.skintypesolutions.com )
Source : www.hlaw.ie

Fast weight loss

Is fast weight loss for real?

Yes. The fastest weight loss a teen can do is to stop eating or to starve. An empty goal is the worse thing that a teen can aspire to. Starving can lead to serious health conditions for some self-explanatory reason that eating is a basic need.

For healthy teens with hectic, active lifestyles, going without food for extended periods of time will definitely not occur very often. You need your energy during the times of hurdling at school so its best not to starve yourself.

Will lead you to myriads of methods promoted by sales marketing people in the consumer world by talking about real regimen for fast weight loss for teens. No matter what health issue you find yourself facing, you’ll also find at least one drug that has been created to combat it. Fast weight loss pill flood the papers with the promise of ramp model silhouette as endorsed by top showbiz commercial personalities.

When an obese teen gazes at a slim lady doing ads of fast weight loss pill or delivering some other scripted testimonials, there is a tendency to get lured by the beauty on how they say the ad message. The reality will only be proven by walking and looking around a crowded downtown where you can see people from all walks of life, in all shapes and sizes. The number of ramp models does not exceed 8%

Not many people are blessed with such appearance as seen on TV
and not everyone is slim!

But teens are becoming influenced by social stigma to look great. Being trim all the time it makes indirectly associated. Many times fat can be distributed wrongly throughout your body, so whether you are overweight or not is not always the main issue. People who way the same can look drastically different, as the weight may be concentrated in different places of the body.

Females have weight in their breasts too. Fat is mostly stored in noticeable spots like, your arms, inner thighs, your abdomen, as well as your belly. When too much fat are noticeable in the said areas of the body, it surely becomes an annoying burden to carry around all the time. You can re-shape the ugly fat concentration, if you combine walking and weight loss, but it takes courage to accept the simple truth that genetic make will always take its course in one’s physiological attribute.

For teens aspiring fast weight loss, forget it. Quick weight loss plans often lead to the quick regaining of body fats since staunch motivation and discipline are not requirements. Here are accomplished stories for slow weight management programs that have succeeded on a daily basis, from pure determination.

A good diet, walking exercise, and weight loss is a combination that goes hand in hand while stress-free doing these activities. In a very realistic sense the loss of weight has to be one’s goal. The food and nutrients that are processed in a slow fashion end up becoming fat. When faced with a very high calorie serving of dessert in every meal, the ability to think must be faster, and always at hand. Open your mind! Use your brain at every meal, because it’s the best fast weight loss dieting tool that you have available.

Source : guidetohealthyliving.com

Myths about weight Loss,Avoid them !

You may have wanted to start a weight loss diet many times in the past. But if it appeared to be too much work or too hard to figure out, maybe you decided against it. From what you hear and read these days, there are many myths about dieting. Our goal here is to disprove several of them.

1. The number one myth out there is that you can lose weight fast by eliminating as many calories as possible from your diet. This is an extremely unhealthy way to go about dieting. Your body goes into starvation mode, and hangs onto as much fat as possible.

2. In our search for quick weight loss, another myth will instruct us to eat just a certain kind of food. The peppered water, grapefruit and the hot dog diet fads have resulted in many binges over the years. Following dangerous fad diets means your body’s not getting the necessary nutrients it needs to fight off illnesses and stay healthy.

3. Maybe you think that it’s an irreversible error to slip up on your diet. If you do slip up, you have to make up for it by exercising for long hours. This is totally wrong. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional bowl of ice cream. You only need to adjust your calorie intake for the day. There’s really no need to exercise for hours just to compensate for one little treat.

4. A popular myth is that you should avoid eating before bedtime because your body will just store all the calories as fat. But this is wrong; dieting is just a healthy style of eating and keeping an eye on how many calories you take in throughout the day. A bite to eat just before going to bed won’t matter one way or the other. That is, unless it’s a three course gourmet dinner or a family size tub of ice cream.

5. Maybe you’ve heard of the one that tells you not to eat at all between established mealtimes? It’s actually healthier if you do snack occasionally. By enjoying small, frequent meals throughout the day, your hunger will never be out of control. When you cut out between meal snacks, you become ravenous before it’s time for the next meal. You might end up eating considerably more food than your body requires just to keep hunger at bay.

6. There’s another myth that says you shouldn’t consume any dairy products at all because they’re too fattening. However, don’t ban dairy products from your refrigerator, because they are loaded with healthy substances that your body needs. Indeed, there is research indicating that regular consumption of dairy products can lead to dropped pounds. But don’t overindulge, and choose lower fat products.

Try not to fall victim to the myriad of diet myths circulating the internet. By eating healthfully (as a general rule) and exercising regularly, you can achieve healthy weight loss.

Know your Fats

Knowing which fats raise LDL cholesterol and which ones don't is the first step in lowering your risk of heart disease. In addition to the LDL produced naturally by your body, saturated fat, trans-fatty acids and dietary cholesterol can also raise blood cholesterol. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats appear to not raise LDL cholesterol; some studies suggest they might even help lower LDL cholesterol slightly when eaten as part of a low-saturated and trans-fat diet.

The American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee strongly advises these fat guidelines for healthy Americans over age 2:

* Limit total fat intake to less than 25–35 percent of your total calories each
day;
* Limit saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of total daily calories;
* Limit trans fat intake to less than 1 percent of total daily calories;
* The remaining fat should come from sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, fish and vegetable oils; and
* Limit cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg per day, for most people. If you have coronary heart disease or your LDL cholesterol level is 100 mg/dL or greater, limit your cholesterol intake to less than 200 milligrams a day.

For example, a sedentary female who is 31–50 years old needs about 2,000 calories each day. Therefore, she should consume less than 16 g saturated fat, less than 2 g trans fat and between 50 and 70 grams of total fat each day (with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, such as fish, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils).

Saturated fat
Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. Saturated fat is found mostly in foods from animals and some plants. Foods from animals include beef, beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses and other dairy products made from whole and 2 percent milk. All of these foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Foods from plants that contain saturated fat include coconut, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil (often called tropical oils), and cocoa butter.

Hydrogenated fat
During food processing, fats may undergo a chemical process called hydrogenation. This is common in margarine and shortening. These fats also raise blood cholesterol. The saturated fat content of margarines and spreads is printed on the package or Nutrition Facts label.

Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats
Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are the two unsaturated fats. They're found mainly in many fish, nuts, seeds and oils from plants. Some examples of foods that contain these fats include salmon, trout, herring, avocados, olives, walnuts and liquid vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, safflower, canola, olive and sunflower.

Both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats may help lower your blood cholesterol level when you use them in place of saturated and trans fats. But a moderate intake of all types of fat is best. Keep total fat intake between 25 and 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids such as fish, nuts and vegetable oils.

Trans-fatty Acids and Hydrogenated Fats
Unsaturated fatty acids can be in one of two shapes — "cis" and "trans." These terms refer to the physical positioning of hydrogen atoms around the carbon chain. The cis form is more common than the trans form. Trans-fatty acids (TFA) are found in small amounts in various animal products such as beef, pork, lamb and the butterfat in butter and milk.

TFA are also formed during the process of hydrogenation, making margarine, shortening, cooking oils and the foods made from them a major source of TFA in the American diet. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils provide about three-fourths of the TFA in the U.S. diet. The trans fat content of foods is printed on the package of the Nutrition Facts label. Keep trans fat intake to less than 1 percent of total calories. For example, if you need 2,000 calories a day, you should consume less than 2 grams of trans fat.

Trans-fatty acids are also formed during the process of hydrogenation. "Hydrogenate" means to add hydrogen. When unsaturated fatty acids are hydrogenated, some of the hydrogen atoms are added on opposite sides of the molecule to the already attached hydrogen. Cis double bonds convert to trans double bonds, and the fatty acids become saturated.

How are trans-fatty acids harmful?
In clinical studies, TFA or hydrogenated fats tended to raise total blood cholesterol levels. Some scientists believe they raise cholesterol levels more than saturated fats. TFA also tend to raise LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol when used instead of cis fatty acids or natural oils. These changes may increase the risk of heart disease.

Because there are no standard methods, it's difficult to estimate the TFA content of food items. It's also difficult to estimate intake, especially long-term intake. The four most important sources of TFA in one large group of women studied included margarine; beef, pork or lamb as the main dish; cookies (biscuits); and white bread.

As of January 2006, the FDA requires trans fat to be listed on the nutrition label. Although changes in labeling are important, they aren't enough. Many fast foods contain high levels of TFA. There are no labeling regulations for fast food, and it can even be advertised as cholesterol-free and cooked in vegetable oil. Eating one doughnut at breakfast (3.2 g of TFA) and a large order of french fries at lunch (6.8 g of TFA) add 10 grams of TFA to one's diet, so the lack of regulations for labeling restaurant foods can be harmful to your health.

Is butter better than margarine?
Recent studies on the potential cholesterol-raising effects of TFA have raised public concern about the use of margarine and whether other options, including butter, might be a better choice. Some stick margarines contribute more TFA than unhydrogenated oils or other fats.

Because butter is rich in both saturated fat and cholesterol, it's potentially a highly atherogenic food (a food that causes the arteries to be blocked). Most margarine is made from vegetable fat and provides no dietary cholesterol. The more liquid the margarine, i.e., tub or liquid forms, the less hydrogenated it is and the less TFA it contains.

Regulating your intake of trans-fatty acids
The American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee strongly advises that healthy Americans over age 2 limit their intake of trans fat to less than 1 percent of total calories.

Based on current data, the American Heart Association recommends that consumers follow these tips:

* Choose a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole-grain, high-fiber foods, and fat-free and low-fat dairy most often.
* Keep total fat intake between 25 and 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as fish, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils most often.
* Use naturally occurring, unhydrogenated vegetable oils such as canola, safflower, sunflower or olive oil most often.
* Look for processed foods made with unhydrogenated oil rather than partially
hydrogenated or hydrogenated vegetable oils or saturated fat.
* Use soft margarine as a substitute for butter, and choose soft margarines
(liquid or tub varieties) over harder stick forms. Look for ”0 g trans fat” on
the Nutrition Facts label.
* French fries, doughnuts, cookies, crackers, muffins, pies and cakes are
examples of foods that are high in trans fat. Don't eat them often.
* Limit the saturated fat in your diet. If you don't eat a lot of saturated fat,
you won't be consuming a lot of trans fat.
* Limit commercially fried foods and baked goods made with shortening or
partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Not only are these foods very high in
fat, but that fat is also likely to be very hydrogenated, meaning a lot of
trans fat.
* Limited fried fast food. Commercial shortening and deep-frying fats will
continue to be made by hydrogenation and will contain saturated fat and
trans fat.

Source : americanheart.org

Is your diet making you fat?

Why some slimming strategies backfire — and fixes to help reach your goalIf you're trying to slim down, you've probably amassed a menu full of calorie-cutting tips and tricks. So it may come as a shock to learn that many of the ones you've sworn by are actually keeping you fat. "In their quest to lose weight, many women unknowingly sabotage themselves," says Elisa Zied, RD, an American Dietetic Association spokesperson and author of "Feed Your Family Right!" Here, six well-intentioned approaches to weight loss that can go awry

You save your calories for a big dinner
Yes, cutting total calories leads to weight loss. But bank most of those calories for the end of the day and your hunger hormones will go haywire, making you eat more. Middle-aged men and women who ate their daily number of calories in one supersize supper produced more ghrelin, a hormone that causes hunger, than when they ate the same number of calories in three square meals, found researchers at the National Institute on Aging.

Smarter move:
Front-load your calories. Overeating at night keeps you from being hungry in the morning, setting off a vicious cycle in which you're never interested in breakfast but always starving by dinner. The key is to rebalance your day so you don't set yourself up for an evening binge. To get your appetite back in the morning, cut your evening meal in half. Then eat a breakfast of about 450 calories, such as a scrambled egg with low-fat cheese on a whole wheat English muffin with an 8-ounce glass of juice — an amount that should keep you satisfied until lunch, says George L. Blackburn, MD, PhD, associate director of the division of nutrition at Harvard Medical School and author of "Break Through Your Set Point." Once your appetite adjusts, don't go more than 5 hours without another meal of roughly the same size.

You graze instead of eating regularly scheduled meals
Trouble is, eating in this manner may contribute to weight gain, according to a 2005 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study. When researchers asked women to eat at regular, fixed times or to break their usual amount of food into unscheduled meals throughout the day, they made a startling discovery: The women actually burned more calories in the 3 hours after eating the regular meals than they did after the unplanned meals. They produced less insulin, too, potentially lowering their odds of insulin resistance, which is linked to weight gain and obesity. What's more, grazing instead of planning ahead can set you up to eat mindlessly, says Zied. In the end, we rarely realize how many calories all those little nibbles and noshes really add up to.

Smarter move:
Figure out how many times a day you need to eat — everybody is different — and then stick to a schedule. "It's not great to feel starved, but it is okay to feel slightly hungry," says Zied. You can home in on your body's internal cues with a food diary. It's so effective that earlier this year, researchers at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research found that dieters who kept a food journal lost twice as much weight as those who didn't record what they ate.

You assume calories from healthy, natural foods are low
People consistently underestimate the calories in nutritious items such as yogurt, fish, and baked chicken, found researchers at Bowling Green State University who quizzed students on calorie counts. "Just because a food is healthy doesn't mean you can eat big portions," says D. Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, owner of One Source Nutrition in Stamford, CT. "A handful of nuts can be 200 calories or more. And if you add that without cutting back elsewhere, it could be the reason you're not losing weight."

Smarter move: Count all calories. Once you learn that 1/2 cup of cereal can have as much as 200 calories or that there are about 220 calories in that "single-serving" bottle of OJ, you'll be more prudent about how much you use.

You eat like a bird for the month leading up to a big event such as a class reunion

In fact, nutrition experts recommend you don't dip below 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day. "If you crash diet for more than 2 weeks or so, your metabolism will temporarily slow down," says Blackburn. "So the same exact dieting effort results in less and less weight loss." The reason: Your body is conserving energy to keep you from losing weight too quickly. And that's not all. When you drastically cut calories, you lose muscle along with fat — especially if you haven't been exercising. Because muscle is your body's calorie-burning furnace, this can slow down your metabolism, even long after your crash diet is done.

Smarter move: Aim to shed about a pound a week — the slow, steady weight loss ensures you lose fat, not muscle. "If you want to drop 10 pounds, get started 10 weeks before your goal, not 4," says Blackburn. "You'll have a better chance of actually taking off the weight permanently." To drop a pound a week, shave 250 calories from your diet and burn an extra 250 calories through exercise each day

You set short-term weight-loss goals
The National Weight Control Registry estimates that only 20 percent of dieters successfully keep off lost weight for more than a year. That's because after we reach our goal, we let old eating habits creep back in. But people who win at weight loss consistently eat the same way even after they've slimmed down. In fact, the NWCR found that dieters who maintain their healthy eating habits every single day are 1 1/2 times more likely to maintain their weight loss in the long run than those who relax their diets on the weekends.

Smarter move: Think of healthy eating as a work in progress, not as a "diet" with a beginning and an end. The key: making small changes you can maintain so they become long-term habits. Start by creating a list of problem areas in your diet, then tackle them one at a time. For example, if you snack on a heaping handful of Oreos every night before bed, set a goal of having two instead of six, and cut back by one a day. Once you've made that a habit, pat yourself on the back and move on to your next goal.

Your splurge foods are 'low-fat' and 'sugar-free'
Research suggests that when a food is described as a diet food, we're subconsciously primed to eat more — even if it's actually as caloric as regular food. When Cornell University researchers offered the same M&M's candies labeled either regular or low-fat to visitors at a university open house, visitors ate 28 percent more of the "low-fat" snacks. While less fat does not mean fewer calories, people make the assumption that it does, setting them up to overeat, say scientists.

Smarter move: First, check food labels. So-called diet foods frequently don't save you calories. Take low-fat chocolate chip cookies — because they've been infused with extra carbs to add flavor, you save only 3 calories per cookie

Limit yourself to two small cookies, for example, or trade in a bowl of frozen yogurt for a kid's-size scoop; measure out condiments such as low-fat sour cream or low-fat ranch dressing. And remember — if you prefer the flavor of full-fat foods, you'll still lose weight if you watch your portion sizes.

by Karen Ansel, RD
Prevention Magazine
Copyright© 2009 Rodale Inc