Dr. John's Health Matters
Welcome to Dr. John's Health Matters blog.
The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "weightloss"
Wednesday, Sep 2nd, 2009 ↓Blueberry juice displays weight management benefits: Mouse study →
Sept 2, 2009 (Foodnavigator.com)—Drinking a modified blueberry juice may reduce food intake and body weight, and offer weight management potential, suggest findings from a new study with mice.
Canadian researchers report that mice prone to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and hypertension drinking the blueberry juice were protected against the development of glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus.
The blueberry juice used in the study was not standard juice but had undergone a transformation using the Serratia vaccinii bacterium.
“Results of this study clearly show that biotransformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential,” said lead researcher Pierre Haddad, from the Université de Montréal.
“Biotransformed blueberry juice may represent a novel therapeutic agent, since it decreases hyperglycemia in diabetic mice and can protect young pre-diabetic mice from developing obesity and diabetes.”
Blueberries, nature’s only ‘blue’ food, are a rich source of polyphenols, potent antioxidants that include phenolics acids, tannins, flavonols and anthocyanins.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: blueberry juice antioxidant weightloss weight management obesity carotenoid insulin diabetes hypertension serratia vaccinii bacterium cholesterol cancer alzheimer prevention
Excessive Exercise Can Be Addicting, New Study Says →
Aug 18, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Although exercise is good for your health, extreme exercise may be physically addicting. Rats given a drug that produces withdrawal in heroin addicts went into withdrawal after running excessively in exercise wheels, according to new research. Rats that ran the hardest had the most severe withdrawal symptoms.
The scientists who conducted the study reason that if excessive exercise is addicting, then maybe, to feel good, addicts could take moderate exercise instead of drugs. The findings also shed light on the potentially fatal eating disorder called anorexia athletica, in which exercise undertaken to shed pounds becomes as compulsive as taking drugs, resulting in even greater weight loss.
“Excessive running shares similarities with drug-taking behavior,” the researchers wrote in the August issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association.
For those looking for an excuse to hit the couch, however, this study looked at excessive, not moderate, exercise. “As with food intake and other parts of life, moderation seems to be the key. Exercise, as long as it doesn’t interfere with other aspects of one’s life, is a good thing with respect to both physical and mental health,” said lead author Robin Kanarek, PhD, of Tufts University.
For fulla rticle see link above.
Tags: exercise physical activity addiction eating disorder anorexia athletica weightloss complusive running diet
Regular Yoga Practice Is Associated With Mindful Eating →
Aug 16, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Regular yoga practice is associated with mindful eating, and people who eat mindfully are less likely to be obese, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The study was prompted by initial findings reported four years ago by Alan Kristal, Dr.P.H., and colleagues, who found that regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people and may promote weight loss in those who are overweight. At the time, the researchers suspected that the weight-loss effect had more to do with increased body awareness, specifically a sensitivity to hunger and satiety than the physical activity of yoga practice itself.
The follow-up study, published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, confirms their initial hunch.
“In our earlier study, we found that middle-age people who practice yoga gained less weight over a 10-year period than those who did not. This was independent of physical activity and dietary patterns. We hypothesized that mindfulness – a skill learned either directly or indirectly through yoga – could affect eating behavior,” said Kristal, associate head of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Public Health Sciences Division at the Hutchinson Center.
The researchers found that people who ate mindfully – those were aware of why they ate and stopped eating when full – weighed less than those who ate mindlessly, who ate when not hungry or in response to anxiety or depression. The researchers also found a strong association between yoga practice and mindful eating but found no association between other types of physical activity, such as walking or running, and mindful eating.
“These findings fit with our hypothesis that yoga increases mindfulness in eating and leads to less weight gain over time, independent of the physical activity aspect of yoga practice,” said Kristal, who is also a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health.
For full article see link above.
Tags: yoga diet obesity prevention eating weightloss body awareness physical activity dietary pattern
The Crunch That Makes You Slim →
Aug 14, 2009 (Healthzone.ca)—Crunches that are great for your belly don’t have to make you “feel the burn.” The belly-busting crunch we want you to get is from nuts and other naturally crisp foods.
People who crunched a small serving of almonds 40 times quelled hunger better than when the same amount of nuts were crunched 10 or even 25 times. Our advice: More crunching is better.
How does more crunch equal more satisfaction? It’s possible that the mere act of chewing switches on your brain’s satiety centre (might be why you can eat more Twinkies than you can carrots). In fact, even the act of chewing gum helps people feel full longer, have fewer hunger pangs, have fewer cravings for sweets, and eat fewer afternoon snacks than people who don’t chew the stuff.
But gum or almonds alone don’t provide for a very satisfying lunch. When meal times come around, fill your plate with other crunchy foods (people who crunch have slimmer middles). The benefits of dieting smart with hard foods – the ones your ancestors thrived on – probably also have to do with what’s usually found in hearty, crunchy foods (think broccoli, jicama, apples, carrots): less fat and calories and more fibre than in soft, creamy, aging, make-your-waistline-bigger stuff.
For full article see link above.
Tags: crunch food diet weightloss hunger nut satisfaction chewing feeling full hunger pang craving
Tags: weightloss obesity heart cardiovascualr disease diet nutrition blood bariatric surgery metabolism aorta mortality prevention
Licorice oil may offer weight management potential →
Aug 11, 2009 (Nutraingredients.com)—Antioxidant-rich oil from licorice may increase fat loss and aid in weight management, suggests a new study from Japan’s Kaneka.
Overweight volunteers supplemented with licorice flavonoid oil lost more weight and body fat, compared to people receiving the placebo, according to results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in Obesity Research & Clinical Practice.
Additionally, the fat losses were not associated with a reduction in food intake, report the researchers from Kaneka, Tokyo’s Kaiyuu Clinic, Haradoi Hospital, and Kiryu University.
If the results can be repeated in further studies, it could see the licorice oil establish itself in the burgeoning weight management category, estimated to be worth about US$0.93bn (€0.73bn) in Europe in 2005 and $3.93bn in the US, indicating that call to slim down or face the health consequences is being heeded by a slice of the overweight population at least, according to Euromonitor International.
For full article see link above.
Tags: weightloss weight flavoniod fat loss management licorice supplement prevention diet
Woman Hypnotized to Believe She Had Gastric Band Surgery Loses 55 Pounds →
Aug 7, 2009 (NaturalNews.com)— A woman lost 55 pounds after undergoing hypnosis to implant memories of a gastric band surgery in her head.
“I’ve tried every other diet and exercise plan the world has to offer,” said the woman, Marion Corns. “Now I am able to shed up to three pounds a week because I believe I’ve had a band fitted into my stomach. Bizarrely, I can remember every part of the ‘procedure’ - including being wheeled into theatre, the clink of the surgeon’s knife and even the smell of the anesthetic.”
Corns underwent the hypnotherapy at the Elite Clinic in Spain, which was recommended to her by a friend who had gone there to quit smoking. The therapy involved a number of sessions in which she was familiarized with the procedure of a gastric band surgery, including a real surgical gastric band and stomach model. She then underwent several sessions of hypnosis, in which every stage of the surgery was narrated to her. She was made to touch the gastric band, while a recording of surgical tools played in the background. The hypnotherapists also pumped smells into the room to simulate those found in the operating and recovery rooms of a hospital.
After her first hypnosis session, Corns began to lose weight, just as if she had undergone the real surgery.
“Now if I try and eat a large portion I feel a pulling sensation in my tummy as if my stomach is stretching,” she said. “I simply cannot eat large portions of food any more.”
For full article see link above.
Weight Loss Improves Mood In Depressed People →
July 27, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB) finds that after a 6-month behavioral weight loss program, depressed patients not only lost 8% of their initial weight but also reported significant improvements in their symptoms of depression, as well as reductions in triglycerides, which are a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The results of this study highlight the need for further research into the effects of weight loss in individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders.
“This research is novel because clinically depressed individuals are not usually included in weight loss trials due to concerns that weight loss could worsen their depression,” said Dr. Lucy Faulconbridge, lead author of the study. “These concerns, however, are not based on empirical evidence, and the practice of excluding depressed individuals from clinical weight loss trials means that we are learning nothing about this high-risk population.” The latest findings suggest that depressed, obese individuals can indeed lose clinically significant amounts of weight, and that weight loss can actually reduce symptoms of depression.
For full article see link above.
Examine the Lemon Detox Diet More Closely →
July 24, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—The lemon detox diet has become one of the most popular diets in the world. Its popularity has come from its promise of an almost instant weight loss on top of a spring clean for the liver, blood and kidneys. Participants of the lemon detox undergo a fasting process for up to ten days. During that time they drink only water and a lemon drink mixed with syrup. This type of extreme dieting has many famous advocates. Beyonce Knowles used the diet to thin out before filming Dream Girls and lost 9 kilos. But many people use it to help rid the body of toxins that have built up in the body through drinking, smoking and eating the wrong foods. But is this type of diet really necessary? And does the lemon detox really do all that it promises?
“As long as you eat well and exercise regularly the body will work its magic naturally,” says Dr Marc Price.
The critics of the lemon diet all say that this type of extreme dieting puts the body in to shock and actually does more harm than good. In a recent test on Australian TV show `What`s Good For You` three people were asked to take part in the lemon detox diet for one week. All of them were given blood tests before and after they had completed the diet to check how well their bodies were functioning. After just three days one of the participants had to pull out reporting that she was beginning to feel light headed and even vomited. The others went on to complete their week and even reported that they felt great for doing so.
But when the results came back from the second blood tests they didn`t make good reading. They showed that the body was actually working less efficiently than before they started out on the diet. In fact the Doctor overseeing the experiment reported that it may take up to a month to repair the damage done from just one week on the lemon detox diet. All of the participants lost, between two and four kilos, but even that may have its drawbacks. “When you lose weight in such a short space of time, due to what is basically starvation the body goes in to shock. So when you start eating again the body will hold on to as many nutrients as possible and that includes the fat. So you will more than likely put on more weight than you lost in the first place,” says Dr Price.
For full article see link above.
5 Powerful Reasons to Eat More Slowly →
July 9, 2009 (Mercola.com)—Many people rush through the day, with no time for anything. When they have time to get a bite to eat, they gobble it down. That leads to stressful, unhealthy living.
Here are some reasons you should consider the simple act of eating slower:
- Lose weight. A growing number of studies confirm that just by eating slower, you’ll consume fewer calories — in fact, enough to lose 20 pounds a year without doing anything different or eating anything different. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that you’re full. If you eat fast, you can continue eating past the point where you’re actually full.
- Enjoy your food. It’s hard to enjoy your food if it goes by too quickly. Make your meals a gastronomic pleasure, not a thing you do rushed, between stressful events.
- Better digestion. If you eat slower, you’ll chew your food better, which leads to better digestion. Digestion actually starts in the mouth, so the more work you do up there, the less you’ll have to do in your stomach.
- Less stress. Eating slowly, and paying attention to our eating, can be a great form of mindfulness exercise. Be in the moment, rather than rushing through a meal thinking about what you need to do next.
- Rebel against fast food and fast life. A hectic, fast-paced, stressful, chaotic lives — the Fast Life — leads to eating Fast Food, and eating it quickly. Rebel against that entire lifestyle and philosophy with the small act of eating slower.
Sources:
Zen Habits July 13, 2007Liver damage from weight loss supplements →
June 15, 2009 (Nutraingredients.com)—The UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a warning against Hydroxycut weight loss supplements, a full six weeks after the products were recalled from the US market for a suspected connection with serious liver damage. The recall in North America, where nine million units of Hydroxycut products were sold in 2008 alone, prompted a massive media backlash against the dietary supplements industry in general, which was accused of being unregulated and allowing unsafe products onto the market. Hydroxycut products, manufactured by the Canadian firm Iovate Health Sciences, were recalled in the US on May 1, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received 23 reports of serious health problems related to liver damage. One death was reported, as well as six patients diagnosed with serious liver disease and two requiring liver transplant. Other health problems reported included seizures; cardiovascular disorders; and rhabdomyolysis, a type of muscle damage that can lead to other serious health problems such as kidney failure.
For full article see link above.
