August 31, 2003
Should carbs require special labels?
Should people really care that they digest potatoes faster than carrots? Macaroni faster than spaghetti? Rice Krispies faster than Special K? A greenish banana faster than a freckled one? A Snickers bar faster than a Twix? Yes, say some of the country' top-tier nutritional experts.They are convinced that carbohydrates should be labeled good or bad, just the way fats are, and that some of the carbs Americans love most -- velvety puddles of mashed potatoes, lighter-than-air white bread -- are dietary evil, to be avoided like the nastiest artery-choking trans-fats.
No, contend many other equally respected nutritional experts. To them, the entire notion is, well, baloney. Potatoes and other starchy standbys are perfectly respectable foods. A carb is a carb is a carb.
The debate involves an idea called the glycemic index. It is a way of rating how quickly carbohydrates are digested and rush into the bloodstream as sugar. Fast, in this case, is bad. In theory, a blast of sugar makes insulin levels go up, and this, strangely, leaves people quickly feeling hungry again.
I am a firm believer that one of the keys to losing weight is to eat more low glycemic index carbs, also know as slow-acting carbs.
Does this mean that you can never enjoy bread, rice or pasta again? No, it simply means that you should eat these fast-acting carbohydrates in moderation.
Fruits and vegetables are also a much preferred source of carbohydrates. Not only are they slow-acting carbohydrates which will keep your insulin levels in check, they are are also a great source of vitamins and antioxidants -- which are critical to maintaining health.
If you are interesting learning more about low glycemic index foods, 'The New Glucose Revolution: The Authoritative Guide to the Glycemic Index' by Jennie Brand-Miller is a great place to start.
Eat right. Live better.
-Tim
August 25, 2003
Smaller Food Portions May Explain The 'French Paradox' Of Rich Foods And A Svelte Population
The "French paradox" -- the perplexing disconnect between France's rich cuisine and slender population -- can be explained in part by portions that are significantly smaller in French restaurants and supermarkets than in their American counterparts. So say researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and CNRS in Paris, who compared the size of restaurant meals, single-serve foods and cookbook portions on both sides of the Atlantic."The French paradox is only a paradox if one assumes that dietary fat is the major cause of obesity and cardiovascular disease," said Paul Rozin, professor of psychology at Penn and lead author of a paper in the September issue of the journal Psychological Science. "However, recent studies suggest that the importance of fat intake as a risk factor has been greatly exaggerated
Fat in food has three benefits: 1) it adds flavor to food; 2) it gives you a sense of fullness so that you are satisfied with smaller portions; and 3) it slows down the rate at which carbohydrates are converted into blood glucose, which keeps your insulin levels low.
"The bottom line is this: It is perfectly fine to get more than 30 percent of your daily calories from fats as long as most of those fats are unsaturated," says Dr. Walter C. Willett, M.D., Chairman, Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in his recent book, "Eat,
Drink and Be Healthy."
Eat right. Live better.
-Tim
August 21, 2003
The South Beach Diet Is Hot; Here's Why
It started out simply enough. Arthur Agatston, MD, a cardiologist, decided to develop an eating plan that would improve the cholesterol and insulin levels of his patients with heart disease. Now, the South Beach diet has grown into something much bigger. That's because the plan Agatston created not only improves cholesterol and insulin levels, but it also has helped many people lose weight....
Agatston's book about his plan, The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss, has become a best seller and it appears to be poised to overtake the controversial Atkins diet in popularity.
I've not yet read the book, but it seems to be a common sense, low-carb approach to better health, falling somewhere between the Atkins approach and the Zone diet.
Let me know what you think.
Eat right. Live better.
-Tim
August 20, 2003
Fruit Juice a Double-Edged Sword for Kids
HealthScout News by Colette Bouchez:
If you stock your refrigerator with fruit juices, you may be setting your kids up for a battle with obesity. That's the suggestion of a new study finding that overweight children consume 65 percent more of the calorie-laden juices than thinner kids."Parents think that because fruit juices are natural that they are a healthy drink, so they don't put a limit on how much their children consume," says study author Dr. Sarita Dhuper, director of pediatric cardiology and the pediatric obesity clinic at the Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center.
In truth, however, Dhuper says fruit drinks are a major source of calories on their own. Moreover, she says, their high sugar content may increase a child's appetite for even greater amounts of food, thus further contributing to weight gain.
Juicing fruit removes all the fiber from fruit, which means that the carbohydrates (sugars) in fruit juice get converted into blood glucose very quickly. The body releases insulin to bring the blood glucose down. What ever is not used by the body for energy at the time gets stored as fat. This happens quickly and kids end up becoming hungry soon after drinking fruit juice.
What's a better solution? Have kids eat fresh fruit and drink water instead of drinking fruit juices. The fiber in the fruit slows down the rate at which carbohydrates (sugars) get converted into blood glucose.
This leads to three positive benefits: 1) kids don't get hungry quickly as they do with juice; 2) they get all the vitamins that they need from the fruit and 3) the water keeps kids hydrated.
Here's a rule of thumb: The less processed a food is, the better it is for you.
Eat Right. Live Better.
-Tim
August 19, 2003
Obesity Reported to Cost U.S. $93B A Year
Obesity is costing not only American lives, but dollars too. A study tallies that $93 billion per year goes to treat health problems of people who are overweight.
Connect to Health Affairs for the orginial article.
Is there any doubt that we have an obesity epidemic in this country? The good news is that we all have it in our control to do something about it.
Eat right. Live better.
-Tim
August 18, 2003
Green Tea Linked To Skin Cell Rejuvenation
Research into the health-promoting properties of green tea is yielding information that may lead to new treatments for skin diseases and wounds. ""Dr. Stephen Hsu, a cell biologist in the Medical College of Georgia Department of Oral Biology, has uncovered a wealth of information about green tea in the last few years. Most importantly, he helped determine that compounds in green tea called polyphenols help eliminate free radicals, which can cause cancer by altering DNA.
More good news for tea drinkers.
Eat (and drink) right. Live (and look) better.
-Tim
August 17, 2003
Why We Get High Cholesterol
Researchers in the United States have identified a protein which they say plays a key role in determining whether or not fatty substances and cholesterol build up inside the arteries.
August 16, 2003
Book Review: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy by Walter Willett
Aimed at nothing less than totally restructuring the diets of Americans, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy may well accomplish its goal. Dr. Walter C. Willett gets off to a roaring start by totally dismantling one of the largest icons in health today: the USDA Food Pyramid.Dr. Walter Willett, M.D. is the chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School.
As you might expect, this book is heavy on science but written in a hard-hitting, enjoyable style. A great book to read and use frequently as a reference on specific nutrition topics.
Eat Right. Live Better.
-Tim
August 15, 2003
In Praise of Nancy's Yogurt
Nancy's Yogurt is by far the best tasting plain low-fat yogurt that I've eaten. I love it with grapes for a mid-afternoon snack or a late evening snack in place of ice cream. One cup of Nancy's Yogurt is great from a Zone perspective as it contains:
- 16 grams of carbohydrates or about 2 Zone carb blocks
- 11 grams of protein or just shy of 2 Zone protein blocks
- 3 grams of fat or 1 Zone fat block
(Learn more about Zone blocks.)
I also love the culture (pun intended) behind Nancy's Yogurt.Follow this link to find Nancy's Yogurt in a store near you.
Eat Right. Live Better.
-Tim