Category Archives: Diet And Food

Posted: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 4:09 pm | Updated: 9:45 pm, Tue Mar 6, 2012.

MANSFIELD A high-fat diet that would make a fitness guru cringe is proving to be a lifesaver for a township boy who has epilepsy.

An average meal for Korey Walton is a dollop of scrambled eggs, a strip of bacon, and two nickel-size slivers of a banana. Another typical meal is pork roll and cheese with no bun and four tiny Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers. A snack is a slab of butter with some peanut butter on the side.

Each meal must be washed down with 60 grams of heavy 6 percent cream, specially ordered from Wawa.

Since Korey, 8, began a ketogenic diet in January, his seizures have stopped and hes slowly becoming more energetic and engaged, his caretakers say.

You see his personality coming out. Hes talking, hes laughing and hes able to focus, said Lynn Schaefer, the nurse at Mansfield Township Elementary School.

Koreys mother, Dawn, said her son had tried numerous medicines to control his seizures since being diagnosed at age 4. The problem is that they stop working after about three months, she said. Korey seized from five to 50 times a day, the episodes lasting anywhere from 15 seconds to two minutes.

The family hit another roadblock in September, when Korey went to Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia for an operation to remove a part of his brain that causes the seizures. Doctors discovered more trouble spots and ruled out the surgery, Walton said.

Finally, Korey went back to CHOP in January for a week to try out the ketogenic diet, a plan comprised of 90 percent fat, 7 percent protein and 3 percent carbohydrates. The diet forces the body to burn fat rather than glucose, a state known as ketosis, and mimics what the body does when deprived of food. The diets use by epileptic patients is rooted in the 80-year-old discovery that seizures could be prevented by fasting, according to the Epilepsy Foundation of Landover, Md.

About 21 percent of patients remained seizure-free on a ketogenic diet, while about 62 percent of patients had the number of seizures reduced by half, according to CHOP studies. The hospital treats about 6,000 epilepsy patients each year, according to a CHOP representative.

Link:
Successful diet eases Mansfield boy's seizures and sparks fundraiser

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7fb576/future_diet_trends) has announced the addition of the "Future Diet Trends and Opportunities" report to their offering.

In 2008, the World Health Organization estimated that there were approximately one billion adults globally who are overweight, and a further 475 million who are obese. This report offers a breakdown of the diet industry and explores the individual components which determine whether a diet plan is successful. The content places particular emphasis on the future of dieting.

Features and benefits:

Highlights

Changes in the global food system and more sedentary lifestyles have combined to create a global obesity crisis. Children around the world are getting fatter younger - a ticking time bomb in terms of poor health and rocketing medical costs. Dieting has to be part of the solution, with strong growth in this market almost assured.

Certain demographic groups are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic. Particular ethnic groups, and those on lower incomes, for example, are more likely to be overweight. Today's diet options remain 'one size fits all', but careful targeting and propositions designed to meet different dieters' needs represents a key opportunity.

With the launch of digital platforms, diet programs can now offer 24-hour support tools and engage dieters in more appealing and interactive ways. New diet programs have the opportunity to make quick inroads in the market while established brands need to take advantage of these new tools in order to maintain their market position.

Your key questions answered:

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7fb576/future_diet_trends

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Research and Markets: Future Diet Trends and Opportunities: One Billion Adults Globally Are Overweight

Tom Turnbull of Latrobe is thrilled to be a "big loser."

Turnbull, a sixth-grade teacher at Baggaley Elementary School in Unity, lost 53 pounds and 16.8 percent of his body weight in an eight-week weight loss challenge among 110 faculty and staff at the Greater Latrobe, Derry Area and Ligonier Valley school districts.

"This is so much fun. It is easier with the competition. It's been a battle for eight weeks," said Turnbull, who worked out twice a day for 10 days to drop pounds before the final weigh-in on Friday. He had been losing weight since the contest started in January -- timed perfectly for those who made New Year's resolutions to lose weight and eat healthier.

Although Turnbull's weight loss was impressive, he did not win the "Diet Between the Districts Weight Loss Competition." Those honors, based on the percentage of weight loss, went to Lou Keyser, a Greater Latrobe Junior High School teacher who dropped 25.1 percent of his body weight.

Celebrating at the Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Hempfield last week, the participants said the program motivated them to lose weight. Collectively, the 110 contestants lost more than 1,700 pounds, said Tim Evans, a Greater Latrobe School District health and physical education teacher who organized the competition.

"The main reason that we run the contest is due to the fact that as teachers, we need to be good role models. Our students look up to us," Evans said.

The competition provides an opportunity to open up a conversation between teachers and students about healthy eating and exercise, Evans said.

"If they see us eating healthy, exercising and maintaining a healthy body composition, then it will make them want to pick up these habits as well," said Evans, who came in second in the contest, dropping 24.9 percent of his weight. Evans, who shed 51 pounds during the challenge, said he would have won had he lost one more pound.

In order for the contestants to reach their goal, Evans, a personal fitness trainer for 11 years, promoted a dual approach of metabolic exercise and a diet that called for eating five small meals a day, no more than 300 calories a meal. Many of the contestants joined fitness clubs to get in shape.

One contestant, Kristine Lynch, a substitute personal assistant at Baggaley Elementary School, joined the competition because she wanted to loss weight "in a way to keep it off," she said.

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Diet Between the Districts: Teachers, school staff gain by losing

A dreamy diet pill that someday allows people to eat as much as they want without gaining weight seems possible, based on new research into certain brain chemicals that influence how quickly we burn fat.

Scientists used lab mice to turn down brain levels of endocannabinoids, chemicals produced by our bodies that are similar in molecular structure to the active ingredients in marijuana.

Previous research has found that endocannabinoids play an important role in regulating energy metabolism. In the new study, blocking the activity of endocannabinoids in the brain enabled mice to stay skinny without exercise or dieting. The researchers explained that the mice were in a "hypermetabolic state," in which their bodies were using up energy (that is, calories) at a much higher rate than normal.

"We discovered that these mice were resistant to obesity because they burned fat calories much more efficiently than normal mice do," study researcher Daniele Piomelli, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, said in a statement. "We had known that endocannabinoids play a critical role in cell energy regulation, but this is the first time we found a target where this occurs."

This target is a compound called 2-AG, found in high levels in mammalian brains, and researchers think it plays a role in the brain circuits controlling how the body uses energy, which we get from food.

A previous study by Piomelli found these compounds make us crave fat. To see if lowering the levels of these compounds had the opposite effect, Piomelli engineered the brain cells of mice to express only low levels of this compound, then compared the animals' behavior and health with that of normal mice.

The modified mice ate more and moved less than their normal counterparts, but stayed skinny even on a high-fat diet. Not only did they look healthy, they had normal blood pressure, and no increased risk of heart disease and diabetes that usually come with a high-fat diet.

The researchers determined that the modified mice's brown fat was overactive it was being turned into heat much quicker than in the normal mice. Brown fat is a type of fat that keeps mammals warm, and this heat creation burns off excess energy.

Jumping from lab studies in mice to actual health benefits for humans is still a ways away, though, since it is difficult to make a drug that acts only in one brain area.

"To produce the desired effects, we would need to create a drug that blocks 2-AG production in the brain, something we're not yet able to do," Piomelli said. "So don't cancel that gym membership just yet."

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Body's 'Marijuana' May Be Key to Diet Pill

Is going coconuts all it's cracked up to be? The tropical fruit has emerged as a hot trend, with its nutritional components being promoted for health or fitness reasons. Coconut water is advertised as a refreshing, electrolyte-rich beverage suitable for replacing sports drinks such as Gatorade. It's cropping up in grocery stores, gyms, and yoga studios. And coconut oil, despite containing mostly saturated fat, is claimed to be more healthful than saturated fats from other sources. U.S. News took a hard look at the evidence behind the claims.

Coconut water. Not to be confused with the far richer coconut milk, coconut water is a clear liquid extracted from very young (green) coconuts. It's billed by one producer as being "nature's sports drink," because, like Gatorade and other energy drinks, it contains water for rehydration, carbohydrates in the form of sugar for energy, and electrolytes to replace what's lost through sweat. If you compare Gatorade with Zico brand coconut water, here's how they stack up, per ounce:

Gatorade: 6.25 calories, 1.75 grams sugar, 3.75 mg potassium, 13.75 mg sodium

Zico: 5.45 calories, 1.3 grams sugar, 61 mg potassium, 5.45 mg sodium

[See: Greek Yogurt Vs. Regular Yogurt: Which Is More Healthful?]

The most notable difference is in the electrolyte content: more sodium in Gatorade, much more potassium in Zico. But sodium is more important than potassium for athletes who are exercising heavily, says Monique Ryan, a nutritionist and author of Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes, so don't switch to coconut water just for its very high potassium content. And, says Nancy Clark, dietitian and author of Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, neither product contains enough sodium to replace what's lost through sweat. So if you are a heavy perspirer and work out intensely in the heat, you're better off sprinkling some salt on your oatmeal or having a handful of pretzels before you head out the door than relying on either drink to replenish your stores, she says.

[See: 11 Health Habits That Will Help You Live to 100]

In terms of carbs and hydration, yes, coconut water offers similar benefits to Gatorade--benefits that could also be achieved by drinking water and eating sports gels, gummy bears, raisins, or other portable sources of energy, says Clark. It depends on your personal preference and workout routine--the harder you're working, the more important it is to have something that's designed to be easily digested, like conventional sports drinks. Because coconut water hasn't been studied as much, Tara Gidus, a nutrition consultant for athletics at the University of Central Florida, doesn't advise her athlete clients to swap it for conventional sports drinks but says it's fine for them to try out to see how it affects their digestive system and performance. A small study published in January in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition showed that coconut water did help 12 athletes rehydrate after exercising, quenching their thirst just as well as a commercial sports drink and better than plain water. However, the study participants didn't enjoy the taste of coconut water.

If you do opt for coconut water, be aware that it tends to be more expensive than Gatorade And don't believe some of the wilder claims, advises Amy Jamieson-Petonic, director of wellness coaching at the Cleveland Clinic. Unsubstantiated hype claims it has the ability to "control diabetes, fight viruses, speed metabolism, treat kidney stones, smooth your skin, stop dandruff, or prevent cancer," she says. As a drink mixer, of course, it's perfectly fine.

[See: What Is the 'Best Diet' for You?]

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Do Coconut Oil and Coconut Water Provide Health Benefits?

The feeding and exercise habits of New York women are an artful weave of the best diet practices on the planet, Daspin writes. Heres the speed version of her philosophy: Eat well, but not too much. Walk like a maniac. Cook at home. Leave a little something on the plate. Indulge your sweet tooth. Dont go hungry. Dont deprive yourself. Eat whole foods; dump anything with diet in the name. Water is good. A glass of wine is fine, too. Here are some more tips:

Eat what your body craves. Just because its 8 a.m. doesnt mean you have to have eggs, fruit, oatmeal or Pop Tarts. At midnight, how about a bowl of granola (actress Christine Baranskis default snack)?

Have fun. If you pick an exercise you like, it will seem less like work.

Olive oil is good for you this is crucial. Lots of people have written about the trap of low-fat diets. Low fat makes you fat.

Always leave a little left over. It can even be small, a crumb; just be aware youre doing it and watch it go into the garbage.

Savor every bite and take time for it. Never eat while in motion not walking or in a car.

Dont always have a salad at lunchtime its not always satisfying. Instead, choose a sandwich, a controlled way to have your carbohydrates, and you can pack in extra nutrients by using spinach instead of lettuce, as well as extra tomatoes.

Skinny Manhattan women dont patronize fast-food joints. Their idea of fast food is a Starbucks cappuccino. Frozen meals from Amys or a couple Boca Burgers are as close to processed food as thin Gotham gals get.

24 KEY FOODS

A smart NYC gals perfect pantry according to The Manhattan Diet

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The Manhattan diet: The philosophy

Fourth Quarter Highlights

PLEASANTON, Calif., March 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZLTQ - News) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011, and provided guidance for 2012.

President and Chief Executive Officer Gordie Nye said, "Our fourth quarter results complete an exciting year for ZELTIQ. We achieved 168% revenue growth for the full year 2011 and expanded our installed base to 967 systems worldwide, demonstrating strong demand for CoolSculpting. Our sales force and S.T.E.P. specialists are committed to enhancing each practice's branding and marketing to drive utilization. The robust growth observed in consumer interest and the resulting utilization of our installed base is reflected in our year-over-year and sequential growth of procedure fees during the fourth quarter. We will continue to focus on expanding our installed base to achieve critical mass while driving procedure fee growth as a percentage of total revenues to enhance gross margins. With the completion of our October 2011 IPO, we are now strongly positioned to execute our sales, marketing, and pipeline strategies, including the initiation of direct to consumer advertising to achieve category-pioneering and industry-leading growth."

"In February of 2012, we launched our consumer advertising campaign 'Let's Get Naked' in three initial markets: Austin, Charlotte and Phoenix. With its emphasis on CoolSculpting's positive effect on one's self confidence, 'Let's Get Naked' celebrates our technology's unique aspects with an impactful call-to-action. As we roll out the campaign on a broader basis in the fall of 2012, we expect it to generate strong brand awareness and loyalty, leading to more rapid growth in consumer interest and further utilization of our installed base. We continue to see early evidence that cold-induced, non-surgical fat layer reduction has broad appeal to the large aesthetic neophyte population and expect the power of this advertising campaign to help establish the CoolSculpting brand around the world."

"During the fourth quarter, we initiated our transition to direct sales in certain international markets, which delayed certain system sales in these markets. Additionally, in our NAF region, we observed a slower than normal end of year sales cycle due to a number of unanticipated product launches and trial offers that competed for physician capital equipment dollars. We expect these issues to work through the sales channel over time, and we have strengthened the focus and organization of our sales team to help neutralize these effects."

Fourth Quarter Financial Review

Total net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2011 were $18.8 million, consisting of $11.3 million of systems revenues and $7.5 million of procedure fees revenues. This compares to total net revenues of $12.4 million, consisting of $10.1 million of systems revenues and $2.3 million of procedure fees revenues in the fourth quarter of 2010. Third quarter 2011 revenues were $17.7 million, consisting of $13.2 million of systems revenues and $4.5 million of procedure fees revenues. Cycles shipped increased to 60,250 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 23,357 in the fourth quarter of 2010 and 44,619 in the third quarter of 2011, driving procedure fees revenue growth on both a year-over-year and sequential basis.

Gross profit was $12.3 million, or 65.6% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to gross profit of $6.5 million, or 52.6% of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2010. Third quarter 2011 gross profit was $10.4 million, or 58.9% of revenues. Both year-over-year and sequential increases in gross profit were driven by an increase in procedure fees revenues as a percentage of total revenues, as well as a decrease in the per unit manufacturing cost of systems.

Operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2011 were $17.3 million, compared to $8.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 and $13.2 million in the third quarter of 2011. Both year-over-year and sequential increases were primarily the result of growth of our North American direct sales force, costs to develop advertising assets, collateral for practice marketing initiatives, and increased research and development costs.

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $5.4 million, compared to $2.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 and $2.9 million in the third quarter of 2011. Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $0.22 per share, compared to $3.29 per share in the fourth quarter of 2010, and $3.17 per share in the third quarter of 2011.

Original post:
ZELTIQ Aesthetics Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 Financial Results

By John Naish

Last updated at 9:00 AM on 6th March 2012

Those who regularly consumed dairy performed better on tests of mental ability than their peers

Are you feeding your brain the right kind of fatty diet? Dairy products such as cheese and milk are among the most reviled of foods, with many experts saying their links to heart disease and obesity mean we should shun them when possible.

But new research has caused controversy by suggesting that, in fact, dairy food could be essential for a healthy brain.

The study, by U.S. and Australian researchers, involving 1,000 adults, found those who regularly have dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt score better on tests of mental ability than people who never, or rarely, consume dairy.

Although the research, published in the International Dairy Journal, needs following-up, as it did not conclusively establish the link between dairy and fatty diets and brain power, it highlights an intriguing line of research.

It follows another U.S. study, involving 104 pensioners, where scientists found older people with higher levels of beneficial fats in their blood had less brain shrinkage typical of Alzheimers disease. These beneficial fats omega-3 essential fats are found in foods such as oily fish. The research, published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, is key, as it measured the levels of different fats in peoples blood, rather than simply relying on their reports of what they tended regularly to eat.

Its now well established from brain-tissue studies that our mental functions depend heavily on a good supply of fat.

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Could eating more cheese and milk make you brainier?

Published on March 6, 2012 Filed under Campus News

Are you sick of diets that dont work? Counting calories, restricting sweets, or only eating certain food groups only to end up back at square one? Are you searching for a new diet that will finally bring you closer to the ideal weight youve been striving to reach? The fact is, diets dont work. According to the New York Daily News, 95 percent of those on diets report regaining the initial weight loss or more.

Next time you feel the urge to diet, try this before you eat.

STOP: Select a food item, Taste it, Observe the details of the food, and Pause to reflect on the experience. These are the basic steps behind Mindful Eating. Mindful Eating is the act of giving full nonjudgmental attention to the food you are eating. Most of us are used to eating mindlessly: on the go, in front of the TV or while biking to class. When we eat with these distractions we dont pay attention to what were eating, often causing us to overeat. By focusing on the details of the food you can train yourself to eat based on your bodys natural cues of hunger and fullness, kind of like we did when we were babies. Mindful eating can help you to improve your relationship with food, maintain a steady weight, and remove feelings of shame from eating. So next time you sit down to a meal or have a snack, practice STOPping to help you become a mindful eater.

The ASUCD Student Health and Wellness Committee (SHAWC) aims to promote and address important health-related issues on campus. We serve as a liaison between ASUCD and campus health organizations, clubs and resources. If you have SHAWCing suggestions, questions or tips, please e-mail us at shawcucd@gmail.com and Like us on our Facebook page!

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SHAWCing Tips: Be Mindful and STOP Before You Eat

By Bill Tomson, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Testing shows that levels of a carcinogen linked to the caramel coloring chemical in Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are too high and threaten consumers, the group Center for Science in the Public Interest said Monday.

Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) are exposing consumers to a chemical that has caused cancer in rodents, the group CSPI said, but the companies were quick to object through a statement issued by the industry group American Beverage Association.

"This is nothing more than CSPI scare tactics, and their claims are outrageous," the association said.

Coke and Diet Coke had between 103 an 146 micrograms of the chemical 4- methylimidazole, or 4-MI, in each 12-ounce can, according to the tests that the group CSPI said it commissioned. The range was 145 to 153 micrograms for Pepsi and Diet Pepsi.

CSPI said those levels far exceeded what can be safely consumed and compared the results to the maximum safety level set by California of 29 micrograms.

But California, the American Beverage Association responded, "added 4-MI to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans."

The Food and Drug Administration is now "working with manufacturers to determine the actual usage of these caramel colors and the amount of 4-MI found in colas and other food products," a spokesman said Monday.

Based on the science available so far from studies, the FDA spokesman said, "a consumer would have to consume well over a thousand cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered in the studies that have shown links to cancer in rodents."

CSPI said it was told by Pepsi that the company has switched to a new coloring in California that contains less of the 4-MI chemical and "plans to do the same in the rest of the country."

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Consumer Group Claims Coke, Pepsi Contain Carcinogens