A new cooking oil designed by McGill researchers may soon offer relief to calorie counters and cholesterol watchers. Peter Jones, a professor at McGill_s School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition in Montreal (Canada), has completed two promising studies on a new blend of cooking oil that enables people to heighten their metabolism, lower their cholesterol and, in some cases, lose weight.

9:52:54 PM    comment []  

Reuters:

Changes in diet and a sedentary lifestyle have fueled an obesity epidemic, but genetics also play a role and could explain why some people put on weight more easily than others, a leading obesity expert said on Friday.

I don't doubt that genes are important in obesity, but it seems clear to me that poor diet and lack of exercise is the key to the obesity epidemic as genetic makeup has not changed in the past 100 years while obesity rates have skyrocketed.

-Tim

5:19:24 PM    comment []  

New York Times by Jason Epstein:

My apologies to readers who may have been seduced by my euphoric example when I announced my conversion to Atkinsism in these pages nearly a year ago. The diet worked. My conversion failed. In half the time it took to lose 20 pounds, I gained 12 back, not because my will is weak but because my temptations are strong, especially for my daughter-in-law Susie Norris's homemade chocolates, hamburgers at the Corner Bistro, Maida Heatter's ginger biscotti and long, slow dinners accompanied by Leslie Rudd's smoothly complex cabernet/merlot blend.

I've always thought that the Atkins diet was too strict in restricting carbohydrates. I prefer the Zone diet, which is more moderate in terms of carbohydrates.

10:43:07 AM    comment []  

USATODAY.com:

Just a month after his death, controversial diet guru Robert Atkins may be getting a little more respect. Two new studies in Thursday's prestigious New England Journal of Medicine show that dieters who followed the meat-lovers' low-carb diet lost more than twice as much weight as those on a traditional low-calorie, high-carb diet.

11:50:09 PM    comment []  

USATODAY.com:

Women may be able to significantly lower their chances of becoming depressed during pregnancy and postpartum months by eating fish that's rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, says a large National Institutes of Health study.

More good news concerning the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids.

-Tim
12:57:03 PM    comment []  

WebMD:

Celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, and Demi Moore have used The Zone diet to achieve their highly admired svelte figures. But is this diet that takes into account hormones and balancing acts just another fad diet or can it actually produce weight loss along with good health?

An interesting, and balanced, review of the Zone diet by the folks at WebMD.

-Tim
12:37:22 PM    comment []  

WebMD:

Pain Is Not Necessary for Health and Fitness, but Walking Is

Calm down. Women who lift weights don't get bulky muscles. Pain is not necessary to achieve gain. A huge time commitment is not required for health and fitness. And what about walking? Is walking all it's cracked up to be?

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is helping us sort through what we've heard about health and fitness -- the myths vs. the truth.

What's written about walking does hold water, he says. "If America began to walk even a minimal amount -- 30 minutes a day -- it would turn around the epidemic of heart disease and obesity."

4:22:42 PM    comment []  

San Jose Mercury News by Lisa M. Krieger:

It's not the Fountain of Youth, but it is intriguing: a class of molecules that researchers have discovered prolongs life and prevents a debilitating age-related illness.

These findings, announced by a team of University of California-San Francisco scientists in today's issue of the journal Science, are thus far confined to a lowly worm found in compost heaps everywhere.

6:45:01 PM    comment []  

San Francisco Chronicle:

The flesh of this hard-swimming Pacific native tastes wonderful, especially when it's caught wild, in season, close to home.

Now is the time. California's wild salmon season opened May 1 and the fishing fleet sped straight out to the Farallones, chasing reports of a monster school of glittering, fat kings gorging themselves on ocean critters.

I recommend indulging in the salmon at Ana Mandara, a high-end Vietnamese restaurant owned by Don Johnson. Make sure to ask for wild salmon, which is much higher in beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids. The atmosphere is wonderful and the fish is out of this world.

Eat right. Live better.

-Tim
1:57:11 PM    comment []  

AP via Kansas City .com:

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.

-Tim
7:15:55 AM    comment []  

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.

-Tim

1:05:05 PM    comment []