Category Archives: Diet And Food

Would you take dieting advice from a man who has branded the obese as "mentally ill"?

If you have tried the smash-hit Dukan diet, you already have.

Dr Pierre Dukan, the millionaire author behind the best-selling nutrition books has said that the heavily overweight have "a mental problem".

He told the Mail on Sunday's You magazine: "I've never seen an obese person who has said, 'I am well in the mind.'"

The infamous doctor admits that he feels for the audience to which his books are targeted. "I suffer for them ... I like them because they are not really ill, like with the cancer, but feel they are outside of society.... I want to help."

He suggested that love may be the best dieting mechanism around (besides his plan, we presume): "Happiness stops food being a compensation. If you love a man, immediately you will reduce your intake of food - it's automatic."

The Duchess of Cambridge's Berkshire-based mother, Carole Middleton, reportedly lost 34lbs using the controversial Dukan method, which sees a high-protein intake based around 100 permitted foods, with dieters instructed to phase the programme around four 'pillars'.

Launched in France in 2000, The Dukan Diet hit Australian bookshops in 2010 and has gone on to sell over 100,000 copies.

Similar to the equally contentious Atkins diet, as well as ketogenic and Weight Watchers diets, the programme has drawn wide-spread criticism, not least from French, British and American health bodies.

The diet was ranked 24th out of 25 in a best diets of 2012 list drawn up by US News and Health Report. Blasted for being too restrictive and rule-driven as well as bereft of medical evidence, one expert went as far as labelling the plan "idiotic".

See the original post:
Diet guru claims obese are 'mentally ill'

Would you take dieting advice from a man who has branded the obese as "mentally ill"?

If you have tried the smash-hit Dukan diet, you already have.

Dr Pierre Dukan, the millionaire author behind the best-selling nutrition books has said that the heavily overweight have "a mental problem".

He told the Mail on Sunday's You magazine: "I've never seen an obese person who has said, 'I am well in the mind.'"

The infamous doctor admits that he feels for the audience to which his books are targeted. "I suffer for them ... I like them because they are not really ill, like with the cancer, but feel they are outside of society.... I want to help."

He suggested that love may be the best dieting mechanism around (besides his plan, we presume): "Happiness stops food being a compensation. If you love a man, immediately you will reduce your intake of food - it's automatic."

The Duchess of Cambridge's Berkshire-based mother, Carole Middleton, reportedly lost 34lbs using the controversial Dukan method, which sees a high-protein intake based around 100 permitted foods, with dieters instructed to phase the programme around four 'pillars'.

Launched in France in 2000, The Dukan Diet hit Australian bookshops in 2010 and has gone on to sell over 100,000 copies.

Similar to the equally contentious Atkins diet, as well as ketogenic and Weight Watchers diets, the programme has drawn wide-spread criticism, not least from French, British and American health bodies.

The diet was ranked 24th out of 25 in a best diets of 2012 list drawn up by US News and Health Report. Blasted for being too restrictive and rule-driven as well as bereft of medical evidence, one expert went as far as labelling the plan "idiotic".

Originally posted here:
Diet guru says obese are 'mentally ill'

How accurate are the labels on the food you buy? TODAY National Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen put some popular diet desserts to the test.

In a post on her personal website in which she says she's lucky to be alive, the comedian urges women to know the symptoms...

Let's face it: There's nothing better than bingeing on ice cream. But who wants to gain the weight? So a lot of us buy the lower calorie stuff, trusting those labels. But can you really believe them? Put down your spoon: We're getting the skinny on your favorite treats.

Have an idea for Rossen Reports? Email us by clicking here!

They promise all the satisfaction with none of the guilt: Diet desserts from frozen yogurts to ice creams and treats boasting low calorie numbers dieters crave. Its right there, front and center (on the package)," nutritionist and NBC News contributor Joy Bauer told us. "Buy me and you'll lose weight."

Bauer said you buy these diet products because you're counting calories, so she wants the numbers to be as accurate as possible. After all, these are pre-portioned, packaged foods. "I'd like to see the calories right on the money, but if you had a little wiggle room, I'd say no more than 10 percent."

But we found claims that aren't even close to what's on the package. We went shopping, buying nine individual diet desserts from popular brands, from Ben & Jerry's to Weight Watchers to Skinny Cow to the new sensation, Arctic Zero ice cream, which promises 150 calories for an entire pint. But don't be so sure.

We put each sample in specially marked containers for out blind test, packed them in dry ice, then took them to EMSL, a top food laboratory. There, scientists tested each one for calories, using the industry's standard methods.

The results? Three of the products actually had fewer calories than the label claimed: the Skinny Cow Cookies n' Cream Truffle Bar, Stonyfield Minty Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt, and Ben & Jerry's Fro-Yo Half-Baked. Two others had a bit more calories, but were within 10 percent of the label: Ben & Jerry's Fro-Yo Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Stonyfield's Creme Caramel Frozen Yogurt.

Read more investigative journalism from Rossen Reports

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Rossen Reports: Can you believe diet frozen dessert labels?

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It's too late to lose that unwanted weight for summer. But if you start now, you could drop as much as 40 pounds in time to ring in 2013.

The hardest part, however, might be choosing a new diet. For every diet book urging you on to eat More carbs! More protein! More fat! there's another seemingly well-reasoned argument to do the opposite. As if this isn't confusing enough, there's a new bogeyman on the diet scene: gluten.

The naturally occurring protein found in wheat, barley and some other grains is being blamed for a variety of health woes, including gut unrest, inflammation and those love handles. (People who suffer from a gluten intolerance such as celiac disease must shun it for far less glamorous reasons.) Of course, it's not exactly surprising that people lose weight on a gluten-free diet. Eating gluten-free means slashing high-calorie breads, cakes and cookies.

There is one consensus among the most popular new diet books: All emphasize the need to scrutinize food labels and ditch chemical-laden products in favor of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats. Dig in:

"Eat to Live": Dr. Joel Fuhrman makes a powerful case that Americans are courting disease by the forkful. He urges ditching low-calorie diets and piling the dinner plate with nutrient-dense fruits and raw veggies. You won't be hungry. Sample dinner: Fish fillets with mango salsa, kale with cashew cream sauce, rice and chocolate cherry "ice cream" made from almond milk.

"It Starts With Food": Need some tough love cleaning up a lousy diet? Dallas and Melissa Hartwig ask that you enlist in their 30-day boot camp dump the processed junk and embrace whole foods and you'll emerge a brand-new person. You're encouraged to eat plenty. Recipes such as Asian stir fries, frittatas and soups are ultra simple and encourage creative substitutions based on what you and your family enjoy.

"Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends": Amusing 'tude-filled argument that everything you think you know about dieting is wrong. According to author Venice A. Fulton, skipping breakfast is good, and small, frequent meals are bad. And exercise? "Exercise is just so 2011!" Just move more, he argues. He advises amping up on proteins and scaling back carbs to 50 to 120 grams per day. (That's well under the minimum carb intake recommended by the federal government, of about 175 grams per day for an adult woman.) One suggested trick for flattening your abs? No joke: Blowing up balloons. As might be expected, this book has come under fire by critics who question its wisdom.

"Paleoista": The paleo diet meets fashionista, courtesy of Los Angeles' Nell Stephenson. Ditch flours, sugar, grains and dairy. What's left, you say? Steak and eggs for breakfast. Seared sea bass with a coconut curry sauce or sun-dried tomato-and-basil stuffed tenderloin for dinner.

"The Manhattan Diet": Eileen Daspin adopts an everything-in-moderation approach as she name-drops her way through living, dining and dieting on the world's most chic island. Ditch the unfulfilling junk, she says, in favor of celeb-chef recipes such as a Mario Batali fennel-and-arugula salad and Eric Ripert's grilled salmon with a ponzu vinaigrette. You have to love a diet book with a chapter dedicated to cheating.

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Weighty advice from 8 new diet books

Published: Aug. 18, 2012 at 12:58 AM

PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults say a diet low in fat is healthiest, while 30 percent say a diet low in carbohydrates is healthiest, a survey says.

Despite traditional medical advice to reduce consumption of foods high in fat, recent research suggests a low-carb diet boosts overall energy expenditure -- meaning low-carb dieters are burning more calories per day than their low-fat counterparts, Gallup officials said.

However, many experts are undecided on which diet is most beneficial, reminding dieters the main focus is not the character and content of the diet, but the amount of calories reduced, the officials said.

Thirty-seven percent of non-whites, versus 28 percent of whites, were more likely to say the low-carb diet was better for the average American. Thirty-six percent of women favored this type of diet compared with 24 percent of the men.

Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults who said they were overweight were more likely to say a low-carb diet was the healthier option, while 28 percent of those who considered their weight to be "about right" preferred low-carb. Sixty-six percent of those in the "about right" group picked the low-fat diet, while 59 percent of their overweight counterparts went with low-fat as the best choice.

These differences aside, both groups prefer the low-fat diet by significant margins, Gallup said.

The Gallup telephone poll of 1,014 U.S. adults was conducted July 9-12 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

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U.S. prefers low-fat diet to low-carb diet

Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012

The Diet affairs chiefs of the Democratic Party of Japan and Liberal Democratic Party agreed Friday to adopt Diet resolutions protesting South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's recent visit to the group of islets controlled by South Korea and claimed by Japan.

The agreement reached by the DPJ's Koriki Jojima and the LDP's Fumio Kishida covers resolutions to be introduced in both houses of the Diet to protest Lee's Aug. 10 visit to the isles known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.

They said they will seek the support of other parties in a bid to have both resolutions adopted unanimously.

The two main parties have yet to decide whether the resolutions will include language protesting Wednesday's landing by Chinese activists on one of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea in another of Japan's territorial disputes.

According to the Lower and Upper House secretariats, the Diet adopted a resolution over Takeshima in November 1953 but has never passed a resolution concerning the Senkakus.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak delivered a speech Aug. 14 demanding that Emperor Akihito apologize over Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in the event that he wishes to travel to the country.

Four days earlier, Lee became the first South Korean president to visit the disputed islets in the Sea of Japan. The isles, which are controlled by South Korea, are located about halfway between the two countries.

On the Senkakus incident, a nonpartisan group of lawmakers issued a statement Thursday protesting the Chinese activists' actions and urging Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government to deal sternly with the matter. They also called for security around the islets to be beefed up, for example by stationing government officials on the uninhabited outcroppings.

The Liberal Democratic Party issued a statement Thursday criticizing the activists and demanding Noda's administration make public video footage of the incident from the Japan Coast Guard to "make the facts clear." It also called for measures to boost Japan's administration of the isles, such as stationing officials on them and nationalizing the land.

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Diet to rake Lee, islet activists

August 17, 2012

by Andrew Dugan and Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- Even as recent research has reignited the debate as to which type of diet is best, most Americans (63%) continue to believe a diet low in fat is more beneficial to one's health than a diet low in carbohydrates (30%). But slightly fewer Americans favor a low-fat diet now than in 2002 and 2004, and more prefer a low-carb one.

Despite the traditional medical advice that dieters should reduce foods high in fat, recent research, including a well-publicized study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, has suggested that a low-carb diet boosts overall energy expenditure, meaning that low-carb dieters are burning more calories per day than their low-fat counterparts. Still, many experts are undecided on the question of which diet is most beneficial, reminding dieters that the main focus is not the character and content of the diet, but the reduced amount of calories consumed.

Changes in diet affect overall health and weight. The latter issue will continue to be of consequence to many Americans, given that 41% of national adults consider themselves very or somewhat overweight, and a full 48% admit to worrying about their weight all of the time or some of the time. Beyond these self-reports, Gallup calculations of the Body Mass Index of Americans, based on their height and weight, show that 62.4% of Americans are overweight or obese, including a majority in every state in the country.

Groups More Likely to Prefer Low-Carb Diet

Non-whites are more likely to say the low-carb diet is better for the average American than are whites -- 37% vs. 28%, respectively. Women (36%) also appear to favor this type of diet compared with men (24%).

Young Americans under age 30 are slightly more in favor of the low-fat diet than those who are older.

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Americans Still Say Low-Fat Diet Better Than Low-Carb

Diet Coke, which knocked out Pepsi in 2010 to become the country's No. 2 soda, is trying to keep itself fresh with a new look.

Coca-Cola (KO) is changing the Diet Coke can, bringing back a limited-edition version it tried out last fall, Advertising Age reports. The design zooms in on the "D" and "k" in the old Diet Coke logo, a bold crop that still retains the familiar silver, black and red colors.

Adweek describes the look as "a modish and (for a global brand) even daring design that refuses to reveal the brand's complete name." You can still find the entire name on a small part of the can.

The new look comes from San Francisco design firm Turner Duckworth. Coca-Cola tested the design at Target (TGT) stores, AdAge reports, and saw a growth in sales that outpaced the rest of the country.

Coca-Cola wanted to develop an edgy, stronger presence for Diet Coke after the brand rose to a 9.9% share of the soda market in 2010 -- just beating the 9.5% share for PepsiCo's (PEP) flagship brand. Pepsi had held on to that No. 2 spot for decades, and losing it to Diet Coke was a huge deal.

Coca-Cola executive Katie Bayne told AdAge that the company wanted to give Diet Coke a new voice and "a little bit of teeth" to appeal to the generation of drinkers aged 20 to 29. "We've learned the brand needs to have wit, self-deprecation and optimism," she said. "It's never snarky but a little bit witty."

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Diet Coke's can-redo spirit

TUESDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Babies and toddlers fed a healthy diet may have slightly higher IQs by the time they are 8 years old than children fed less healthy foods at a young age, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Adelaide, in Australia, found an early diet rich in junk foods could cost children up to two IQ points.

"Diet supplies the nutrients needed for the development of brain tissues in the first two years of life, and the aim of this study was to look at what impact diet would have on children's IQs," said the study's leader, Lisa Smithers, a public health researcher at the University of Adelaide, in a university news release.

"While the differences in IQ are not huge, this study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that dietary patterns from six to 24 months have a small but significant effect on IQ at eight years of age," said Smithers. "It is important that we consider the longer-term impact of the foods we feed our children."

For the study, recently published online in the European Journal of Epidemiology, the researchers looked at the dietary habits of more than 7,000 children. The children's diets were assessed when they were 6 months, 15 months and 2 years old. The analysis included the home-cooked foods they ate along with ready-made baby foods, breast-feeding and junk foods.

"We found that children who were breast-fed at 6 months and had a healthy diet regularly including foods such as legumes, cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24 months, had an IQ up to two points higher by age 8," Smithers noted. "Those children who had a diet regularly involving biscuits, chocolate, sweets, soft drinks and chips in the first two years of life had IQs up to two points lower by age 8.

The researchers pointed out that pre-packed baby foods had some negative impact on the children's IQ when given at 6 months of age, but this ready-made food had some benefits on IQ when given to the children when they were 2 years old.

The study concluded healthy foods are critical for children during their formative years.

However, while the study found an association between healthy eating and higher IQ, it did not show a cause-and-effect relationship. Other factors may have influenced the IQ scores as well.

-- Mary Elizabeth Dallas

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Baby's Healthy Diet Feeds IQ, Study Finds

Published: Aug. 15, 2012 at 11:41 PM

GIRONA, Spain, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- A Mediterranean diet enriched with olive oil for two years was associated with improved bone health, U.S. researchers found.

Dr. Jose Manuel Fernandez-Real of the Dr. Josep Trueta Hospital in Girona, Spain, said age-related bone mass loss and decreased bone strength affects women and men alike. Studies have shown the incidence of osteoporosis -- the thinning of bone tissue and loss of bone density -- is lower in the Mediterranean basin than elsewhere in Europe, Fernandez-Real said.

The study involved 127 community-dwelling men ages 55-80, randomly selected from one of the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea study centers, who had at least two years of follow-up.

The study is a large, parallel group, randomized-controlled trial aimed at assessing effects of the Mediterranean diet on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, Fernandez-Real said.

The traditional Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits and vegetables and high intake of olives and olive oil.

Participants were randomly assigned to three intervention groups -- Mediterranean diet with mixed nuts, Mediterranean diet with virgin olive oil and a low-fat diet.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, found only consumption of the Mediterranean diet with olive oil was associated with a significant increase in the concentrations of total osteocalcin and other bone formation markers -- linked to better bone health. There were no significant changes in serum calcium in subjects taking olive oil, whereas serum calcium decreased significantly in the other two groups, Fernandez-Real said.

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Medit. diet, olive oil, may protect bones