In this video, I will reveal the truth about mineral water and discuss whether it is healthy or not for you to drink!

If you liked this video, feel free to share it on facebook or retweet about it (buttons are below).

Also, if you have any comments or questions you would like to get answered, feel free to leave them in the comment system below!

Is Mineral Water Healthy? is a post from: Health & Muscle | Fitness , Fat Loss & Body Building , Articles, Forums , Blogs & More.

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Do Celeb Diets Really Work? is a post from: Health & Muscle | Fitness , Fat Loss & Body Building , Articles, Forums , Blogs & More.

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Q. How can I use your website to find foods that will help me gain weight without tipping my cholesterol count into an at-risk level?

A.  In general, foods that are more calorie dense can be helpful for weight gain because they pack more calories in a smaller amount of food.   Foods that are high in fat are notoriously calorie-dense. But if you’re also concerned about heart health, you probably want to prioritize those that are high in heart-healthy fats such as monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fats.

Olives, nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocado, oily fish are all foods that fit the bill–and certainly offer plenty of culinary appeal as well!

It’s not clear from your question whether you’re concerned about dietary cholesterol (the type found in foods) or your blood cholesterol levels.  If it’s dietary cholesterol you’re trying to avoid, you’d want to limit your intake of eggs, shellfish, liver, which are all high in cholesterol.

However, the latest research suggests that dietary cholesterol doesn’t have much impact on blood cholesterol levels in most people. If it’s blood cholesterol you’re concerned about, you might want to limit your intake of trans and saturated fats, both of which can drive up cholesterol levels. Full-fat dairy products, butter, and fatty meats are primary sources of saturated fat. Fried foods and hydrogenated fats are the big sources of trans fats.

Another strategy would be to seek out foods that are high in phytosterols, plant compounds that help reduce high cholesterol levels naturally. As luck would have it, there are some good calorie-dense sources, including sunflower seeds, pistachios, and peanuts.

The Nutrient Search Tool

Finally, how can you use this site to help? That’s easy! Use our Nutrient Search Tool to find more foods that are high in healthy fats and phytosterols and/or low in saturated fat, trans fats, or cholesterol.

Foods for Heart-Healthy Weight Gain
By Monica Reinagel | blog.nutritiondata.com

Foods for Heart-Healthy Weight Gain is a post from: Health & Muscle | Fitness , Fat Loss & Body Building , Articles, Forums , Blogs & More.

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A hundred years ago, before Americans changed their diet and the calamitous events of the 20th century began, heart disease was far less common that it is now. Few Americans were overweight, and coronary heart disease was not yet recognized as an illness. Pneumonia, diarrhea and enteritis, and tuberculosis were the three most common causes of death, whereas coronary heart disease is now the most common cause of death in the United States. The medical subspecialty of cardiology was created in 1940. Since then the number of cardiologists in the U.S. has grown from 500 in 1950 to 30,000 now – a 60-fold increase.

In 1911 Procter and Gamble (P&G) introduced Crisco, used for making candles and soap, as a new kind of food. Sold as an all-vegetable shortening, the company advertised that it was “a healthier alternative to cooking with animal fats.” Rather than use animal fats like lard (pork fat), tallow (beef and lamb fat), and butter for baking and cooking food, which Americans then did, P&G mounted a campaign to convince them to use Crisco instead. The company published a free cookbook with 615 recipes (from pound cake to lobster bisque), all of which required Crisco. They made it by using a newly invented process that insufflates hydrogen into vegetable oil (in this case, cottonseed oil), which gives it a solid texture resembling lard, and with yellow bleach, mimics butter. (The name Crisco is derived from CRYStalized Cottonseed Oil.) Trans fats were born. With Crisco successfully marketed as a food, this partially hydrogenated, unnatural vegetable-oil began to replace natural saturated animal fats and tropical oils in the American diet. (For more on how Procter and Gamble successfully demonized lard, see HERE.)

While deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) began to mount, researchers found that they could produce fatty deposits in the arteries of rabbits by feeding them cholesterol. By mid-century 22 countries were keeping records on fat consumption and deaths from CHD. A University of Minnesota public health researcher, Ancel Keys (1904–2004), picked 6 countries (later 7) that showed an almost straight-line correlation between calories from fat in the diet and deaths from heart disease. Japan had the lowest CHD mortality – less than 1 in 1,000 – with the Japanese diet having only 10 percent of its calories coming from fat, whereas the U.S. had the highest CHD mortality – 7 in 1000 – with 40 percent of its calories coming from fat.

Government-funded investigators (in 1948) started following some 5,000 men and women in Framingham, Massachusetts to see who developed coronary heart disease. They found that people with elevated cholesterol were more likely to be diagnosed with CHD and die from it. The American Heart Association (in 1956) began promoting the Prudent Diet, where “corn oil, margarine, chicken, and cold cereal replaced butter, lard, beef, and eggs,” as Mary Enig and Sally Fallon describe it in “The Oiling of America,” available HERE. By the 1970s the diet-heart idea, known as the lipid hypothesis, had become well established. It contends that 1) saturated fats raise cholesterol blood levels, and 2) cholesterol causes CHD.

Next, after several years of hearings, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, chaired by Senator George McGovern, released (in 1977) its “Dietary Goals for the United States,” designed to reduce fat intake and avoid cholesterol-rich foods. These goals have become official government policy.

“Artery clogging” saturated fats, whose strings of carbon atoms are fully saturated with hydrogen atoms, were said to be especially bad. Animal fat (meat, milk, eggs, butter and cheese) and tropical oils (coconut and palm oil) contain saturated fats. Health authorities advised the American public to avoid them and replace saturated fats with carbohydrates and processed polyunsaturated vegetable oils – soybean, corn, cottonseed, canola, peanut, safflower, and sunflower oils.

In 1984, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group, joined the fray and started to coerce fast-food restaurants and food companies to stop frying food with animal fats and tropical oils. McDonalds fried its French fries with beef fat and palm oil. That’s why they tasted so good. But CSPI’s well-orchestrated saturated frying fat attack forced McDonalds and other fast-food chains to switch to partially hydrogenated (trans-fat) vegetable oil.

In 1992, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its Food Guide Pyramid. The “pyramid” arranges food in various groups and stacks them in pyramidal parts that convey the message, “Fat is bad” and “Carbs are good.” Fats and oils are placed in the small top portion of the pyramid and labeled “Use sparingly.” Carbohydrate-rich bread, cereal, rice, and pasta fill up the bottom space to be consumed in abundant amounts, “6–11 servings” a day. Further up, fruit, also high in carbohydrates, is accorded “2–4 servings”; whereas the group that includes meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts is allowed only “2–3 servings.”

The 60-year reign of the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet will end. This will happen when the health-destroying effects of excess carbohydrates in the diet become more widely recognized and the health benefits of saturated fats are better appreciated.

“Life imitates art,” Oscar Wilde said, “far more than art imitates life.” In Woody Allen’s film Sleeper, saturated fats are health foods. Miles Monroe, part owner of the Happy Carrot Health Food Restaurant in Greenwich Village, is cryogenically frozen in 1973 after a botched peptic ulcer operation (done at the now closed St. Vincent’s Hospital there). Scientists wake him up 200 years later and have this exchange. Dr. Aragon: “Has he asked for anything special?” Dr. Melik: “Yes. This morning for breakfast he requested something called wheat germ, organic honey, and tiger’s milk.” Dr. Aragon: “Oh yes. Those were the charmed substances that some years ago were felt to contain life-preserving properties.” Dr. Melik: “You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or hot fudge?” Dr. Aragon: “Those were thought to be unhealthy, precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.” Dr. Melik: “Incredible!”

There is good reason to believe that this will prove to be the case in life as well. Saturated fats play many important biologic roles. They are an integral component of cell membranes, which are 50 percent saturated fat. Lung surfactant is composed entirely, when available, of one particular saturated fat, 16-carbon palmitic acid. Properly made with this fat, it prevents asthma and other breathing disorders. For nourishment, heart muscle cells prefer saturated long-chain palmitic and 18-carbon stearic acid over carbohydrates. Saturated fats are required for bone to assimilate calcium effectively. They help the liver clear out fat and provide protection from the adverse effects of alcohol and medications like acetaminophen. Medium-chain saturated fats in butter and coconut oil, 12-carbon lauric acid and 14-carbon myristic acid, play an important role in the immune system. They stabilize proteins that enable white blood cells to more effectively recognize and destroy invading viruses, bacteria, and fungi, and also fight tumors. Saturated fatty acids function as signaling messengers for hormone production, including insulin. And saturated fats signal satiety. Not surprisingly, given all these biological functions, saturated fats make up 54 percent of the fat in mother’s breast milk (monounsaturated fats are 39 percent; and polyunsaturated fats, a tiny 3 percent).

Evidence against fat wilts upon close scrutiny. In his Six Country Study, Ancel Keys ignored data available from 16 other countries that did not fall in line with his graph. The results would have been a clutter of dots all over the place if he had included all 22 countries. In Norway and Holland, people eat a lot of fat but have relatively few deaths from heart disease; and in Chile, where people don’t eat much fat they have a high incidence of fatal heart attacks. In an entertaining 2½ minutes, “Big Fat Lies” on YouTube (available HERE) exposes the fraudulent science supporting this widely cited study. Saturated fat may raise cholesterol somewhat, but primarily HDL cholesterol. The ongoing Framingham Heart Study has come to show that fat and cholesterol are, if anything, healthy. A 30-year follow-up reported that for each 1% mg/dl drop in cholesterol there was an 11 percent increase in all-cause mortality (JAMA 1987;257:2176–80). In another report, one director of the Framingham Study states, “We found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active” (Arch Int Med 1992;152:1271–2). Moreover, the government-issued “Dietary Goals for the United States” did not seek evidence to justify them. For an amusing but disturbing overview of the politics behind these goals see the (2-minute) video “The McGovern Report” on YouTube, available HERE.

Along with other investigators (see HERE and HERE and HERE), Uffe Ravnskov, M.D., Ph.D., a Swedish cardiologist, explains in a clear and concise fashion why the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause heart disease is wrong. In Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You: What Really Causes Heart Disease (2009), he refutes the lipid hypothesis and addresses the economic and political factors that drive the anti-saturated-fat agenda.

An epidemic of obesity has accompanied the adoption of a low-fat diet. In 1900 only 1 in 150 people were obese, 0.7 percent of the population. By 1950, 9.7 percent of Americans were obese. Now two-thirds of Americans are either overweight (33 percent) or obese (32 percent). The average American weighs 30 pounds more today than he or she did 100 years ago. In 1900 people ate more animal fat and were not exposed to high amounts of carbohydrates in sugar-rich sodas and fruit juices, and to a whole panoply of processed foods sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Mary Enig, Ph.D. and Sally Fallon have written a book that can help Americans shed those extra pounds. Returning to the type of diet trim Americans had at the beginning of the last century, it is appropriately titled Eat Fat Lose Fat: Lose Weight and Feel Great with Three Delicious, Science-Based Coconut Diets (2005).

Saturated fats work best for losing weight. In a randomized, double-blind trial comparing the effects of coconut oil and polyunsaturated vegetable (soybean) oil in women with abdominal obesity, women who consumed coconut oil had a significant reduction in waist circumference (with no change in cholesterol levels). Women taking vegetable oil had no change in their waist size and had a statistically significant increase in LDL cholesterol and reduction in HDL cholesterol (Lipids 2009;44:596–601). In light of scientifically done studies like this, the reader might consider starting the day by drinking one ounce (30 ml) of warmed-up, liquid extra virgin coconut oil mixed with a little fruit juice, especially if overweight. I do (and obtain it HERE).

Americans have replaced saturated fat in their diet with processed polyunsaturated vegetable oils and carbohydrates. The Average American drinks 600 cans (56 gallons) of soft drinks a year (up from 216 cans in 1971). One-third of our dietary sugar comes from sodas, which has become the number one source of calories. Each 12-ounce can contains 10 teaspoons of sugar in the form of high-fructose corn syrup.

Barry Groves, Ph.D. focuses on the untoward consequences of adopting a high-carbohydrate, high-polyunsaturated vegetable oil, low-saturated fat diet in Trick and Treat: how “healthy eating” is making us ill (2008). As he shows, citing 1,147 references, there is now good evidence that this diet is a major cause of the epidemic of obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and various mental problems (such as depression and senile dementia) that afflict an increasing number of Americans.

In the body, dietary carbohydrates, sugars and starch, are converted to glucose, which indirectly directs the pancreas to release insulin into the blood. Insulin not only transports glucose into the cells, it stores glucose as glycogen in the liver and muscles. It is also the primary fat-building enzyme, converting glucose to fat. When the liver and muscles are filled with glycogen, insulin turns excess glucose into body fat. Carbohydrates are the primary cause of weight gain, not fats. (Animals raised for food are fattened with carbohydrates.)

One of the major health benefits of a low-carbohydrate diet is weight loss. It enables one to lose excess weight without having to consciously restrict calories (Ann Int Med 2004;140:769–777). A low-carb diet lowers blood glucose in diabetics (Diabetes 2004;53:2375–2382). It improves insulin sensitivity (N Engl J Med 2003;348:2074–81). Indeed, carbohydrate restriction (with fat replacing carbohydrates) is on the way to becoming the preferred method for treating type-2 diabetes and its precursor, metabolic syndrome (Scand Cardiovasc J 2008;42:256–263). Restricting carbohydrates can also lower blood pressure (JAMA 2004;292:24822–2490).

With growing evidence that fewer carbohydrates in the diet improves health, the much-maligned Atkins diet, first introduced in 1972, has gained new respect (N Engl J Med 2008;359:229–41). Joel Kaufmann, Ph.D. reviews 12 low-carbohydrate diet books, beginning with Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution (2002), available HERE.

Indoctrinated in low-fat dogma by nutrition authorities, government agencies, and the American Heart Association, I used to advise my heart surgery patients to restrict the amount of saturated fat in their diet and not have more than one egg a week. (My Cousin Sally had eggs and bacon for breakfast most days of her life and lived in good estate to the age of 103, which I then attributed to her having very good genes.) Following the USDA food pyramid, I did not voice any concerns about how many carbohydrates they consumed, from starch in bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes and sugar in fruit, pastry, fruit juices, and soda.

Not now. Now I caution them to watch their carbohydrate intake and advise that they follow a diet like the one Christian Allan, Ph.D. and Wolfgang Lutz, M.D. recommend in the Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life (2000). Their diet limits carbohydrate intake to 72 grams a day, which is equivalent to 6 slices of bread (somewhat more than the Atkins diet). I urge them to eliminate soft drinks from their diet, including diet sodas, which contain health-damaging aspartame, and drink filtered water instead; to avoid baked goods and condiments that contain high-fructose corn syrup; to stay away from the excitotoxin monosodium glutamate (MSG) used in some restaurants and to enhance the flavor of processed foods; and to scrupulously avoid trans fats, which cause cancer, trigger type-2 diabetes, interfere with immune function, and cause heart disease. But they can eat as many eggs as they please.

For optimum health and weight maintenance, the ideal caloric ratios for the three macronutrients are carbohydrates, 10–15 percent; protein, 15–25 percent; and fat, 60–70 percent of calories. Among the different kinds of fats, saturated fats and monounsaturated fats (olive oil) are good; polyunsaturated fats, except for omega-3 and (a small amount of) omega-6 essential fatty acids, are bad, especially industrially processed vegetable oils; and trans fats are terrible. Saturated animal fat is best obtained from grass-fed beef and pastured chickens, along with nitrate-free, additive-free bacon and sausage; and seafood from wild (not farm-raised) fish.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) George Orwell writes, “Orthodoxy means not thinking, not needing to think.” Reading the four books referenced above will make one think and question the accepted view that saturated fats and cholesterol cause coronary heart disease and that a low-fat (high-carb) diet prevents it.

What the two doctors in Woody Allen’s 1973 comedy Sleeper say in 2173 about saturated fats is true. Life does imitate art. Today, Uffe Ravnskov, Mary Enig and Sally Fallon, and Barry Groves, among others are already confirming the truth of these futuristic doctors’ statement. Saturated fats are good for us, and pure butter will once again be viewed as the number-one health food.

Health Benefits of a Low-Carbohydrate, High-Saturated-Fat Diet
By Donald W. Miller | www.lewrockwell.com

Health Benefits of a Low-Carbohydrate, High-Saturated-Fat Diet is a post from: Health & Muscle | Fitness , Fat Loss & Body Building , Articles, Forums , Blogs & More.

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Cardio has always been my go-to type of exercise when it comes to burning calories. Although going for a bike ride or jog does burn major calories, a recent study from the University of Southern Maine shows that weight training may offer more bang for your buck in the calorie-burning department than cardio.

Participants in the study burned as many calories doing 30 minutes of weight training (it doesn’t mention what types of exercises or the equipment used) as they did going for a 30-minute run at a lightening fast six-minute-per-mile pace. Since running at that speed for that long is better left for those training for winning marathons, it seems that if you’re looking to burn calories, strength training is your best bet.

Aside from burning calories, weight training also makes you stronger and gives your muscles that chiseled look you’re after. As if that wasn’t enough, strength training also boosts your metabolism, with some exercise physiologists estimating that the body continues to burn calories for up to 36 hours after your workout.

Need some ideas on weight training exercises? Check these moves out. Regardless of this study, I would love to run a six-minute-per-mile for 30 minutes.

Which Burns More Calories: Cardio vs. Strength Training
www.fitsugar.com

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Adding a measure of coronary artery calcification to traditional risk factors significantly improved the prediction of coronary heart disease events in asymptomatic patients, researchers found.

The addition of a calcium score, obtained with a chest CT scan, increased the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve from 0.76 to 0.81 (P<0.001), according to Philip Greenland, MD, of Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues.
The model that included a calcium score placed a greater number of patients (77% versus 69%) into either the low- or high-risk groups, in which treatment decisions would presumably be more clear cut, the researchers reported in the April 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Patients determined to have intermediate risk according to traditional risk factors, therefore, would be most likely to benefit from the addition of the calcium score, Greenland and his colleagues wrote.

They pointed out, however, that the usefulness of the calcium score needs to be assessed in future studies looking at whether screening for calcification improves patient outcomes and whether the magnitude of any benefits justify the added costs.

Both issues, in addition to safety concerns, are fueling a debate among both cardiologists and primary care physicians about where the calcium score fits in clinical practice.

Guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association state that asymptomatic individuals with intermediate risk according to the Framingham Risk Score may be reasonable candidates for calcium scoring.

Some physicians obtain calcium scores in patients with unclear risks to help determine whether statin treatment is warranted.

“I use it very selectively in patients with one or two risk factors, where I might not otherwise use a statin,” Christopher Cannon, MD, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, wrote in an e-mail. “If elevated, I use a statin. If not, I don’t.”

Increased costs and radiation risks were cited as obstacles to widespread use of calcium scoring by several researchers, including John Ioannidis, MD, of the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece, and Ioanna Tzoulaki, PhD, of Imperial College of Medicine in London.

In an accompanying editorial, they wrote that a cost of $200 to $600 per CT scan would make routine implementation expensive at a population level. They also noted an elevated lifetime cancer risk from a single examination, with a scan at age 40 adding nine cancers per 100,000 men and 28 per 100,000 women.

“The evidence to date suggests that while coronary artery calcium score is a promising tool,” they wrote, “the verdict is not in yet as to whether it is ready for routine use, and much more is still left to do.”

Greenland and his colleagues assessed the predictive ability of the calcium score added to traditional risk factors by analyzing data from 5,878 participants of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The patients, ages 45 to 84, were free from known cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Five-year risks of incident coronary heart disease events were categorized as low (0% to less than 3%), intermediate (3% to less than 10%), and high (10% or higher).

The first model of predicting risk used only traditional risk factors, including age, sex, tobacco use, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medications, total and HDL cholesterol, and race/ethnicity. The second model added the calcium score.

Through a median follow-up of 5.8 years, there were 209 events; 122 were major — myocardial infarction, death from coronary heart disease, or resuscitated cardiac arrest — and the rest included angina with or without coronary revascularization.

Adding the calcium score resulted in the risk reclassification of 26% of the cohort.

The increase in predictive value, although statistically significant, was “pretty small,” commented Lee Green, MD, a professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“In ordinary community practice, the quality of the study reading will not be as good as in this research, so false positives will be even more an issue,” he wrote. “They could easily be enough of an issue to negate that small improvement in predictive value.”

Thomas Schwenk, MD, chair of family medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, noted in an e-mail that, although the addition of the calcium score improved prediction of events, there were still a large number of events in patients not in the high-risk group.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of events occurred in patients deemed to be at low to intermediate risk in the model with calcium scoring, compared with 82% of patients at low-to-intermediate risk according to traditional risk factors.

It remains unclear whether looking at coronary calcium will improve clinical outcomes, but the findings indicate, Schwenk said, that the number needed to screen to prevent one event would be about 250 to 300.

“The results are interesting enough to suggest the value of [a randomized controlled trial] of testing and subsequent treatment, but without actual clinical outcomes [are] not even close to being influential in actual clinical practice, especially because actual use will not be as controlled and structured as it was here.”

But Cam Patterson, MD, chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, believes that there is a limited role for calcium scoring in clinical practice, even if radiation risks preclude routine use.

“When the clinical risks of heart disease are ambiguous, I need more information to protect my high-risk patients, and this study tells me that the calcium score is a good way to get better information about my patients’ heart health risk,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, chief of the division of epidemiology and family and preventive medicine at the University of California San Diego, downplayed the safety risks.

“Coronary calcium is extremely useful, safe, and can be done one time with relatively low radiation,” she wrote in an e-mail.

But, according to Randy Wexler, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical family medicine at Ohio State University, most patients are likely to undergo multiple CT scans for calcium scoring.

“I have yet to have a patient go and obtain [a] coronary artery calcium score without the recommendation always being a repeat sometime down the road. More cost. More radiation.”

At least one cardiologist, Carl Levie, MD, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans, believes the use of calcium scoring is ready for prime time in patients with unclear cardiovascular risks.

“Maybe more research is needed before the test can be mandated as part of standard practice, but considering the low cost and extremely minimal risk from this relatively simple x-ray, I feel that the test is already extremely useful,” he wrote in an e-mail.

He noted that the cost at his center for a CT scan has dropped dramtically from $500 more than five years ago to $99 a few months ago. Last month, there was a $75 special.

“With the cost this low, the cost-effectiveness really improves.”

Greenland and his colleagues acknowledged that their results were limited in that they need to be validated in another cohort.

In addition, they wrote, if the study population included higher-risk patients there might have been greater numbers of events and different rates of reclassification. The results could also change with longer follow-up.

Nevertheless, they concluded, “the results provide encouragement for moving to the next stage of evaluation to assess the use of coronary artery calcium score on clinical outcomes.”

Calcium Scoring Helps Predict Cardio Events
By Todd Neale | www.medpagetoday.com

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You probably don’t need scientists to tell you that your metabolism slows with age. But they’re studying it anyway — and coming up with exciting new research to help rev it up again. The average woman gains 1 1/2 pounds a year during her adult life — enough to pack on 40-plus pounds by her 50s, if she doesn’t combat the roller coaster of hormones, muscle loss, and stress that conspires to slow her fat-burning engine. But midlife weight gain isn’t inevitable: We’ve found eating strategies that will tackle these changes.

But first, the basics: To boost over-40 weight loss, make sure your meals are around 400 calories, the amount needed to fuel your body while keeping you satisfied, translating into effortless weight loss.

The following metabolism-boosting food rules were developed by Dan Benardot, PhD, RD, an associate professor of nutrition and kinesiology at Georgia State University, and Tammy Lakatos, RD.

Learn how to adjust your eating plan and keep your fat-burning furnace ignited all day long.

You don’t eat enough
You need to cut calories to lose weight, but it’s important not to overdo it. Going too low delivers a double whammy to your metabolism. When you eat less than you need for basic biological function (about 1,200 calories for most women), your body throws the brakes on your metabolism. It also begins to break down precious, calorie-burning muscle tissue for energy, says Benardot.

“Eat just enough so you’re not hungry — a  150-calorie snack midmorning and midafternoon between three meals (about 430 calories each) will keep your metabolism humming.”

By eating a meal every 3 to 4 hours, you’ll stay satisfied and keep from overeating later in the day.

You avoid caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, so your daily java jolts can rev your metabolism 5 to 8% — about 98 to 174 calories a day. A cup of brewed tea can raise your metabolism by 12%, according to one Japanese study. Researchers believe the antioxidant catechins in tea provide the boost.

Your carbs are white
Boost your fiber intake by switching to whole wheat bread, pasta, and eating more fruits and vegetables. Research shows that some fiber can rev your fat burn by as much as 30%. Studies find that women who eat the most fiber gain the least weight over time. Aim for about 25g a day — the amount in about three servings each of fruits and vegetables.

Your water is room temperature
German researchers found that drinking 6 cups of cold water a day (that’s 48 ounces) can raise resting metabolism by about 50 calories daily — enough to shed 5 pounds in a year. The increase may come from the work it takes to heat the water to body temperature.

Your food is covered with pesticides
Canadian researchers report that dieters with the most organochlorines (pollutants from pesticides, which are stored in fat cells) experience a greater than normal dip in metabolism as they lose weight, perhaps because the toxins interfere with the energy-burning process. Other research hints that pesticides can trigger weight gain. Always choose organic when buying peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, and pears; non-organic versions tend to have the highest levels of pesticides.

Your meal lacks protein
Make sure protein is a component in every meal. Your body needs it to maintain lean muscle. Add a serving, like 3 ounces of lean meat, 2 tablespoons of nuts, or 8 ounces of low-fat yogurt, to every meal and snack. Research shows protein can up post-meal calorie burn by as much as 35%.

Your diet needs to pump iron
Iron-rich foods are essential for carrying the oxygen your muscles need to burn fat, says Lakatos. Until menopause, women lose iron each month through menstruation. Unless you restock your stores, you run the risk of low energy and a sagging metabolism. Shellfish, lean meats, beans, fortified cereals, and spinach are excellent sources.

You’re missing this crucial vitamin
Vitamin D is essential for preserving metabolism-revving muscle tissue. Unfortunately, researchers estimate that a measly 4% of Americans over age 50 take in enough through their diet Get 90% of your recommended daily value (400 IU) in a 3.5-ounce serving of salmon.

Other good sources: tuna, shrimp, tofu, fortified milk and cereal, and eggs.

You’ve had one tipple too many
Skip the second cocktail. When you have a drink, you burn less fat, and more slowly than usual, because the alcohol is used as fuel instead. Knocking back the equivalent of about two martinis can reduce your body’s fat-burning ability by up to 73%.

You’re not getting enough dairy
“There’s some evidence that calcium deficiency, which is common in many women, may slow metabolism,” says Lakatos. Research shows that consuming calcium through dairy foods such as fat-free milk and low-fat yogurt may also reduce fat absorption from other foods.

Diet Mistakes that Slow Down your Metabolism
www.today.msnbc.msn.com

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3. How To Repair A Damaged Metabolism

I never set out to write a book about how to lose weight. However, while researching The Hundred Year Diet. America’s Voracious Appetite For Losing Weight, I learned a great deal about what works, what doesn’t and why, which is what today’s blog is all about.

To begin: Current evidence suggests that the vast majority of us weigh too much as a result of an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. That bit of prescriptive information was published for the first time in 1727 London, when it was based entirely on observation. It was restated many times in America when calorie counting became the thing to do around the turn of the last century, and “eat less and exercise more” is the prescription most credentialed nutritionists would give today. It appears to be immutable.

Except, it’s not always that simple. A small segment of the population may have significant genetic or metabolic reasons for being overweight or obese. Although they still have to consume more calories to gain weight and less to lose it, they may utilize energy more efficiently, making weight loss more challenging. In other words, two people in good health of the same age, height, sex, bone structure and activity level may theoretically consume the identical amount of calories for a lifetime and yet not weigh the same.

Because we keep getting heavier and there’s a lot of money to be made from a “cure,” obesity research has become a significantly funded in pharmaceutical companies large and small, generating a lot of data and interesting theories, but no concrete solutions. Finding a pill that will control appetite is complex beyond any current scientific level of understanding. The key is successfully creating a drug that will regulate the specific brain hormones that cause us to lust after the foods we crave. To work well, it has to suppress appetite without tinkering with all of the pleasurable things in life like, for example, the pursuit of happiness. Not to mention the most basic human emotions of fulfillment, satisfaction, sexual desire and love. This is a level of sophistication about brain chemistry not yet available. There are two prescription obesity drugs currently on the market, but they are not very effective – few additional pounds are lost, there are risks, and you still have to eat better and exercise. The many over-the-counter remedies are not FDA approved and are thus far riskier, and have caused very serious complications and even death. If any safe magic pill were on the market, the country would be filled with thin people.

The same could be said for many fad diets – almost every one of them is just a starvation diet with a cool name, and starving yourself is as bad an idea as taking some pill that speeds up metabolism. During the Second World War, (and prior to the Helsinki Declaration) Ancel Keyes studied the effects of semi-starvation on healthy male conscientious objector volunteers in an attempt to understand the physiological and psychological implications of being undernourished, and the best way to rehabilitate famine victims after the war.

The men were allowed 1,600 calories a day, or about half of what they required to maintain their very active lifestyle. They lost weight, but they also suffered from depression, and manifested neurotic and psychotic behavior. After a period of controlled re-feeding, they were allowed to eat whatever they desired and ended up an average of five percent heavier than when they began.

Starvation diets are dangerous and ineffective, and even some of Keyes’ extremely dedicated and closely watched volunteers cheated. Most fad diets allow fewer calories than The Minnesota Experiment.

In addition, immediately abandon any diet that recommends consuming a lot of vitamins. Clearly, that is just another way of saying that you are not feeding yourself well.

Food for thought: Sixty-six percent of Americans eat fast food one to five times a week and 66 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Coincidence? Perhaps. But eating out, especially at most chain restaurants, usually means consuming a huge amount of calories. Some – say Panera Bread and Chipoltle – have better options, but cooking even a few meals a week at home can make a big difference. And taking control of what you eat can be a wonderful feeling.

By all means have a glass of wine with that home cooked meal, but try to keep the alcohol to 12.5 percent or less, because the more alcohol the more calories. The percentage is usually listed on the label on the back of the bottle, but occasionally you’ll find it on the front. It may be in small print, but it’s there.

How NOT to Diet for the Next 100 Years
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The Dukan diet, devised by French doctor Dr Pierre Dukan, has been popular in France for the last decade. Released in Britain in May 2010, this diet claims that dutiful followers will experience rapid weight loss and keep it off for good, while still being able to eat the foods they love. But there is a catch. Dieters can eat nothing but protein foods on Thursdays.

The Four Phases of the Dukan Diet

The diet is divided into four phases: attack, cruise, consolidation and stabilisation. The attack and cruise phases focus on losing weight quickly, while the consolidation and stabilisation phases are concerned with maintaining weight and avoiding putting any weight lost back on.

Calorie counting is not a feature of the Dukan diet; it is the type of food eaten that is important. The rules concerning which foods can be eaten are very strict in the early phases of the diet, with high protein consumption being the main focus. However, the rules become more relaxed as the diet progresses.

Losing Weight Quickly with the Dukan Diet

In the first two phases of the Dukan diet, substantial weight loss is expected.

• Phase 1: Attack Phase – Protein-only foods are allowed. That is, meat, fish, eggs and non-fat dairy products. There is no butter or oil, all fat must be trimmed from meat, and all skin removed from poultry. Several pounds may be lost quickly during the attack phase. Dieters can choose to stay in this phase for between one and ten days, depending on how much weight they want to lose.
• Phase 2: Cruise Phase – Protein-only days are alternated with protein and vegetable days. A wide variety of vegetables are allowed in unlimited amounts, such as asparagus, aubergine, broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, leeks, mushrooms, peppers, salad leaves, spinach and tomatoes, but not starchy vegetables such as potatoes and lentils. Dieters should continue to lose around 2lb each week while in this phase, and must stay in it until their desired weight is achieved.

Keeping the Weight Off by Eating Only Protein on Thursdays

In the third and fourth phases of the Dukan diet, more foods are allowed but weight is expected to stay the same.

• Phase 3: Consolidation Phase – Foods such as bread, pasta, cheese and fruit are reintroduced, and both vegetables and protein can be eaten every day. No more weight is lost in the consolidation phase; the aim is to prevent dieters regaining the weight they lost in the previous phases and to maintain their current weight. For every 1lb of weight lost, five days should be spent in this phase to permanently keep those pounds off.
• Phase 4: Stabilisation Phase – No foods are off limits. However, for one day each week, every week from now on, only protein can be eaten. Dr Dukan recommends this day be a Thursday. The idea is that protein-only Thursdays balance out the lack of food restriction on the other days of the week, while allowing the weight loss achieved in the previous phases of the diet to be maintained.

Throughout the entire diet, a tablespoon of oat bran is allowed each day. (This is a form of soluble fibre which is good for easing constipation associated with high-protein diets.) Dieters are also encouraged to drink plenty of water and go for a brisk walk every day.

So will the Dukan diet be the next big diet craze to hit British soil? Only time will tell.

The Dukan Diet – Lose Weight Quickly and Eat Protein on Thursdays
By Sharon Kirby | www.news.suite101.com

The Dukan Diet – Lose Weight Quickly and Eat Protein on Thursdays is a post from: Health & Muscle | Fitness , Fat Loss & Body Building , Articles, Forums , Blogs & More.

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