Category Archives: Diet And Food

Educational status appears to have positive influence on a healthy diet plan, particularly in low income nations, according to new research examining European nutritional information.

Utilizing national data on 27,334 people from 12 European nations, researchers at the University of Leeds, in collaboration with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO Europe), analyzed the interactions in between socioeconomic status, education and diet.

Their research study, published in PLOS ONE, reveals for the first time that higher academic status appeared to have a mitigating result on poorer diet in lower earnings European countries. As individual education level increased so did dietary intake motivated as part of a healthy diet plan, particularly iron and total folate.

The findings highlight the requirement for strong policies supporting great nutrition, prioritising lower education groups.

Poor diet and poor nutrition linked to noncommunicable illness, such as obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, presents significant health issue throughout Europe. In 2018, 59% of adults in the WHO European Region were overweight or obese and noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of death, disease and special needs in the region.

The World Health Organization encourages nations to conduct nationwide diet plan surveys to gather information to inform public health policies to prevent such diseases.

This work is the very first to integrate national diet survey information from WHO European Member States spanning all areas of Europe. It supplies the biggest representative diet study dataset throughout WHO Europe, providing an essential source of evidence on which to base policy.

Lead author Dr Holly Rippin started this research while a postgraduate researcher in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at Leeds, she is now a WHO specialist. She said: Our research study shows that national earnings and diet quality seem connected, and education could secure versus some of the long-term unfavorable effects of poor nutrition on population health.

Strategies supporting education in lower education groups and lower income countries could be effective in improving nutrition, particularly in disadvantaged groups.

Co-author Janet Cade, professor of nutritional public health and public health at Leeds, said: This was a fantastic collective effort between 12 European nations we hope that policymakers across Europe will use this details to notify their nutrition policies in the future and focus on these susceptible groups.

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Revealing connections between education and a good diet - Drew Reports News

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara had an extraordinary life for many reasons. For starters, the Japanese physician and longevity expert lived until the age of 105.

When he died, in 2017, Hinohara was chairman emeritus of St. Luke's International University and honorary president of St. Luke's International Hospital, both in Tokyo.

Perhaps best known for his book, "Living Long, Living Good,"Hinohara offered advice that helped make Japan the world leader in longevity. Some were fairly intuitive points, while others were less obvious:

The average retirement age, at least in the U.S., has always hovered at around 65. And, in recent years, many have embraced the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early).

ButHinohara viewed things differently. "There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65," he said in a 2009 interview with The Japan Times. "The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average life expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old."

Today, he explained, people are living a lot longer. The life expectancy for U.S. in 2020, for example, is78.93 years, a 0.08% increase from 2019. Therefore, we should be retiring much later in life, too.

Hinohara certainly practiced what he preached:Until a few months before his death, he continued to treat patients, kept an appointment book with space for five more years, and worked up to 18 hours a day.

Hinohara emphasized the importance of regular exercise. "I take two stairs at a time, to get my muscles moving," he said.

He carried his own packages and luggage, and gave 150 lectures a year, usually speaking for 60 to 90 minutes all done standing, he said, "to stay strong."

Hinohara pointed out that people who live an extremely long life have a commonality: They aren't overweight. Indeed, obesity is widely considered one of the mostsignificant risk factorsfor increased morbidity and mortality.

Hinohara's diet was spartan: "For breakfast, I drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it." (Studies have found that olive oil offers numerous health benefits, such as keeping your arteries clean and lowering heart disease risk.)

"Lunch ismilk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too busy to eat," he continued. "I never get hungry because I focus on my work. Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of lean meat."

According to Hinohara, not having a full schedule is a surefire way to age faster and die sooner. However, it's important to stay busy not just for the sakeof staying busy, but to be active in activities that help serve a purpose. (The logic is that one can be busy, yet still feel empty and idle on the inside.)

Hinohara found his purpose early on, after his mother's life was saved by the family's doctor.

Janit Kawaguchi, ajournalist who considered Hinohara a mentor,said, "He believed that life is all about contribution, so he had this incredible drive to help people, to wake up early in the morning and do something wonderful for other people. This is what was driving him and what kept him living."

"It's wonderful to live long," Hinohara said in the interview. "Until one is 60 years old, it is easy to work for one's family and to achieve one's goals. But in our later years, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteer. I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love every minute of it."

While he clearly promoted exercise and nutrition as pathways to a longer and healthier life, Hinohara simultaneously maintained that we need not be obsessed with restricting our behaviors.

"We all remember how, as children, when we were having fun, we would forget to eat or sleep," he often said. "I believe we can keep that attitude as adults it is best not to tire the body with too many rules."

Richard Overton, one of America's oldest-surviving World War II veterans, would havemostlikely agreed.Right up until his death at age 112, the supercentenarian smoked cigars, drank whisky and ate fried food and ice cream on a daily basis.

Hinohara might not have approved of Overton's diet, but, to be fair, Overton did credit his longevity to maintaining a "stress-free life and keeping busy."

Hinohara cautioned against always taking the doctor's advice. When a test or surgery is recommended, he advised, "ask whether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children go through such a procedure."

Hinohara insisted that science alone can't help people. It "lumps us all together, but illness is individual. Each person is unique, and diseases are connected to their hearts," he said. "To know the illness and help people, we need liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones."

In fact, Hinohara made sure that St. Luke's catered to the basic need of patients: "To have fun." The hospital provided music, animal therapy and art classes.

"Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it," he said. "If a child has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he or she immediately forgets the pain."

According to The New York Times, toward the end of his life, Hinohara was unable to eat, but refused a feeding tube. He was discharged and died months later at home.

Instead of trying to fight death, Hinohara found peace in where he was through art. In fact, he credited his contentment and outlook toward life to a poem by Robert Browning, called"Abt Vogler" especially these lines:

There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before;The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound;What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more;On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven a perfect round.

"My father used to read it to me," Hinohara recalled. "It encourages us to make big art, not small scribbles. It says to try to draw a circle so huge that there is no way we can finish it while we are alive. All we see is an arch; the rest is beyond our vision, but it is there in the distance."

Tom Popomaronisis a leadership researcher and vice president of innovation atMassive Alliance.His work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., and The Washington Post. In 2014, Tom was named one of the "40 Under 40" by the Baltimore Business Journal. Follow him on LinkedIn.

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Japanese doctor who lived to 105his spartan diet, views on retirement, and other rare longevity tips - CNBC

Casts of two key specimens: Paranthropus aethiopicus (left) and P. boisei (right). Credit: Zeresenay Alemseged

A new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documents dietary shifts in herbivores that lived between 1-3 million years ago in Ethiopias Lower Omo Valley. The research team, led by Enquye Negash, a postdoctoral researcher in the George Washington University Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, examined stable isotopes in the fossilized teeth of herbivores such as antelopes and pigs and found a shift away from C3-derived foods, characteristic of woody vegetation, to C4-derived foods, representative of grasses and sedges. The shift happened at two distinct time periods, approximately 2.7 million years ago and 2 million years ago, when the environment of the Lower Omo Valley was transitioning to open savanna.

The study, Dietary trends in herbivores from the Shungura Formation, southwestern Ethiopia, served as a comparative framework to an associated hominin diet study, also published this week, of which Negash was a co-author. The associated study, Isotopic evidence for the timing of the dietary shift towards C4 foods in eastern African Paranthropus, examined carbon isotope data from the fossilized tooth enamel of Paranthropus boisei, a nonancestral hominin relative. Led by Jonathan Wynn, now a program director in the National Science Foundations division of Earth sciences, the research team behind that paper found a profound shift toward the consumption of C4-derived foods approximately 2.37 million years ago, which preceded a morphological shift of P. boiseis skull and jaw. Given the direct evidence provided by the abundant, well-dated fossilized teeth and their chemical composition, the new findings suggest behavioral dietary changes can precede apparent morphological adaptations to new foods.

From the Researchers:

Major dietary shifts that are observed in our study reflect the response of the herbivores to major ecological and environmental changes during this time. This allowed us to better understand the environmental context of similar dietary changes in hominins.

Enquye Negash

Although were interested in how the diets of our immediate and distant ancestors evolved to produce our modern human diet, it is very important to consider these hominins as a small part of an ecosystem that included other plant and animal species that responded to changing environments in an interconnected way. Jonathan Wynn

References:

Dietary trends in herbivores from the Shungura Formation, southwestern Ethiopia by Enquye W. Negash, Zeresenay Alemseged, Ren Bobe, Frederick Grine, Matt Sponheimer and Jonathan G. Wynn, 24 August 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006982117

Isotopic evidence for the timing of the dietary shift toward C4 foods in eastern African Paranthropus by Jonathan G. Wynn, Zeresenay Alemseged, Ren Bobe, Frederick E. Grine, Enquye W. Negash and Matt Sponheimer, 24 August 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006221117

This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) award 1252157. Wynn was also supported by an NSF Independent Research and Development (IR/D) program.

Original post:
Changing Landscapes, Changing Diets: Fossilized Teeth Reveal Dietary Shifts in Ancient Herbivores and Hominins - SciTechDaily

In an article published online on the Cleveland Clinicwebsite, Ohio-based cancer dietician Joseph Dowdell has explained what iscurrently known about the importance of diet in preventing the risk of cancer.

He says, The first things that tend to pop up are lists offoods you should eliminate because they cause cancer to grow. But we shouldntbe fearful of food. Instead, take a step back and look at the big picture. Thatwill allow you to focus on the diet changes that will have the most impact.

In general, food has not been shown to prevent cancer butdiet does play a key role in the prevention of certain cancers.

The American Cancer Society says obesity is one of the riskfactors for many cancers, including breast, colon, endometrial, esophagealcancer, kidney, liver, ovarian cancer, pancreatic, stomach, and thyroidcancers.

It has been found that at least 18% of all cancers and 16%of cancer deaths are due to obesity, physical inactivity, poor nutrition,sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol consumption.

Dowdell says, Food can help prevent many of the chronicconditions that increase your risk of cancer. Genetics and other healthconditions can impact cancer prevalence as well, but those are usually out ofour control. Obesity is something we can control through food and exercise.

So, to reduce the risk of cancer, Dowdell says it isimportant to maintain a healthy weight.

He recommends going Mediterranean, eating at least five to nineservings of fruits and vegetables each day, limiting added sugars, cutting downon alcohol, reducing salt intake, and taking vitamin D supplements.

Dowdell also suggests starting small if your diet iscurrently more fast-food fodder than plant-based paradigm. He adds, Making anychange is difficult. But setting small, achievable goals makes big goals mucheasier to accomplish.

The cancer dietician advises reducing unhealthy foodincrementally. He says, If youre used to drinking four sodas a day, shoot forone a day for the next week, and then the following week, shoot for one everyother day and see how that goes. Slowly cut down even more. You can makedrastic health impacts without feeling deprived.

However, Dowdell says it is important to know thateveryones body reacts to food differently. Whileall of these are healthy guidelines, nutrition should be individualized. If youhave digestive issues, for example, you should seek medical help, he adds.And always use reliable sources of information like the American Academy ofNutrition and Dietetics, the American Heart Association and the American CancerSociety.

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Cancer Dietician Explains the Connection between Diet and Cancer Risk - Myhealthyclick

Its no secret that eating more veggies is key to a healthy diet. But exactlyhowdedicated to the green stuff do you need to be?

With the growing popularity of eating styles that eschew meat in favor of plants (vegan, vegetarian, plant-based, oh my), you might be wondering if a more is more mentality is the right way to go when it comes to boosting your vegetable intake for the sake of your health.

Thats why we teamed up with Lightlife to get the scoop on all your most pressing plant-based questions (including whether you can eat meat on a plant-based diet), and registered dietitian Vanessa Rissetto, MS, RD, CDN had the answers.

According to Rissetto, eating more plants is, in fact, a ticket to an overall health boost (namely because more plants mean more fiber, more satiety, and more gut support, to name a few benefits), but that doesnt mean you need to ditch animal products entirely.

People think plant based means you cant eat meat, chicken, or fish, Rissetto says. Plant based means eating mostly plants and beans as your source of protein, but high biological value protein (coming from animals) is also allowed.

Okay so some animal products in moderation are still cool (that sound you hear is meat lovers taking a collective sigh of relief), but exactly how much?

A good rule of thumb to follow is to aim for two meatless meals per day.

By Rissettos standards, you can eat meat on a plant-based diet as long as youre making an effort to reduce your intake and opting for plants as your primary fuel source when possible. (Of course, if you want to take your plant-based diet a step further and go vegetarian or vegan, that means youd forgo meat altogether and only allow dairy products if youre vegetarian.)

What that reduction looks like will vary from person to person (and how much meat you eat is ultimately up to youit is your diet after all), but a good rule of thumb is to aim for two meatless meals per day.

For example, if youre eating animal protein at every mealeggs for breakfast, chicken for lunch, steak for dinnerswitch to oats for breakfast and chickpeas and greens for lunch, but keep the meat for dinner, Rissetto says. However, instead of eight ounces [of steak], decrease to three ounces, plus additional greens. To me, then that is considered to be plant-based.

If youre looking to switch up your sources of protein, plant-based proteins can come in clutchespecially if youre hesitant about ditching the ground beef on your taco salad or a juicy burger off the grill. Subbing Lightlife Plant-Based Ground or Burgers gets you 20 grams of protein from real, recognizable ingredients like peas and beets, with all the savory deliciousness your tastebuds crave. So youcanhave your burger and eat it too on a plant-based dietjust as long as its usually a plant-based one.

Top photo: Stocksy/Tatjana Zlatkovic

Sponsored by Lightlife

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Is Going Plant-Based an All-or-Nothing Proposition When It Comes to Quitting Meat? An RD Weighs In - Well+Good

What the health statistics show no matter if they come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, or the Milken Institute for Public Health is beyond disturbing.

The American diet is killing us.

So goes the health care world that new doctors from the UNLV School of Medicine and other medical schools will enter. The numbers show a poor diet is the leading cause of mortality in the United States, causing more than 500,000 deaths yearly. Not consuming the proper amount of 10 dietary factors fruits, vegetables, nuts/seed, whole grains, unprocessed red meats, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, polyunsaturated fats, seafood omega-fats, and sodium is estimated to cause around 1,000 deaths daily from diabetes, stroke, and heart disease alone.

Preliminary analysis also shows that the manifestations of a poor diet can heighten the risk of death from COVID-19.

In an opinion piece published last year in the New York Times Our Food is Killing Too Many of Us Dr. Darius Mozaffarian, dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Dan Glickman, a former U.S. secretary of agriculture, pointed out that 75 percent of Americans are overweight or obese and that many of those suffer direct health consequences. Obesitys total economic costs, including lost productivity, is estimated at $1.72 trillion a year, nearly 10 percent of gross domestic product. Because many young Americans are obese, recruiters face difficult challenges staffing our all-volunteer military.

What is making us so sick, and how can we reverse this so we need less health care? the authors asked. The answer is staring us in the face, on average, three times a day: Our food.

It is against this unappetizing backdrop led by non-nutritious processed foods that the UNLV School of Medicine and 55 other academic medical centers across the country are including a Health Meets Food curriculum in their training of physicians and other medical providers. Considered the most comprehensive culinary medicine curriculum for physicians and allied health professionals, the program leads the way in how medical professionals are trained so they can have more meaningful conversations with their patients about food and health.

Dr. Anne Weisman, the UNLV School of Medicines director of wellness and integrative medicine, is overseeing a nine-week program that started this month for 60 first-year students. In September, second-year students begin. On Oct. 2, Dr. Michael Greger, author of the New York Times best-seller How Not to Die, will speak virtually to medical students on the importance of nutrition. He will do a live Q&A with students following his presentation.

Everything we put into our mouths when we eat, can either improve or detract from our health, she noted. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said students will attend Health Meets Food classes virtually in their own home kitchens through Zoom. Part of the first session has students making tacos with healthy ingredients, including whole grain tortillas, vegetables, and black beans a departure from the traditional tacos in the U.S. that are high in calories, fat, and sodium where store-bought seasoning and flour tortillas contribute to health concerns.

Over time we can significantly change the health of our community, Weisman said.

Dr. Timothy Harlan, the nations leading catalyst for teaching culinary medicine to students in the health professions, contributed earlier this month to a class taught by UNLV faculty via Zoom. He recently joined the faculty of George Washington University in the nations capital and is now head of the GW Center for Culinary Medicine. Harlan, whos been spreading his food is medicine gospel throughout the world, is a former colleague of UNLV School of Medicine Dean Marc Kahn from when both men worked at the Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans.

Harlan, a chef and restaurateur before becoming a physician, developed the Health Meets Food curriculum over much of the last decade while executive director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane. In addition to providing hands-on training for medical students, the center offers community cooking classes, free and open to the public.Dr. Harlans program is evidence-based, Kahn said.

The curriculum, used by medical students, residents, and clinicians, includes more than 30 content-specific educational modules. They stretch from: guidelines for changes in diet during pregnancy to identifying means of prevention for childhood obesity from the proper nutrition after a cancer diagnosis to nutritional needs for geriatric patients. Each module presents basic and clinical science related to evidence-based nutritional and dietary goals for specific topics such as polycystic ovary syndrome or the impact health care practitioners can have on controlling and managing symptoms of congestive heart failure through diet intervention. There are case presentations, recipes, cooking instructions, quizzes, and discussion questions.

Harlan said for the vast majority of Americans, diet is at the core of their illness. He said illnesses from heart disease, diabetes, and stroke to depression and Alzheimers disease are accelerated by an American diet of highly processed foods. During a recent interview, Harlan said that food-related issues were not that much of a problem until the last 30 to 40 years, when many Americans eschewed cooking with healthy ingredients in favor of buying highly processed foods full of addictive sugar and salt, either from the grocery stores or fast food outlets. Theres been an explosion of calorie-dense processed food, Harlan said.

According to Harlan, with many medical schools now emphasizing the importance of nutrition, the dialogue between physician and patient is being changed from Hey, you need to lose some weight, to action-oriented suggestions that meet best medical practices.

Weisman said that with medical students learning to shop for and prepare nutritious meals, future doctor-patient visits can be much more targeted and helpful when discussions arise about healthy diets. She said that once the pandemic is under control, medical students will go to community centers to teach the benefits of good nutrition. She also envisions a medical school partnership with the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality where the best in kitchens can be used to help teach community members the power of healthy recipes, as has been done at Tulane and George Washington universities.

Were teaching our medical students about the power of good nutrition and then they in turn will teach the community, Weisman said. The reward of good nutrition is better health. Our medical school, our students, will be making real-world positive suggestions that can make a difference.

Excerpt from:
Breaking The Cycle of Poor Diet to Promote Long-Lasting Health - UNLV NewsCenter

Gastric bypass surgery has been seen in the past as one of the most effective therapies in treating or reversing type 2 diabetes.

And now we know why.

It isnt the surgery itself, as was once presumed, but the resulting weight loss.

Experts say this means major weight loss through dieting produces the same beneficial metabolic effects as surgery-induced weight loss.

That contention is at the heart of a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Researchers studied people with obesity and type 2 diabetes who had undergone gastric bypass surgery and then lost 18 percent of their body weight.

They compared these study participants with others who also had diabetes and obesity but had lost the same percentage of body weight through diet alone.

The health improvements across both groups included lower blood sugar levels throughout the day, improved insulin action in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue, and a reduction in the need for insulin and other diabetes medications.

Dr. Vijaya Surampudi, an internal medicine specialist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California, says weight loss can have numerous health benefits.

It can improve blood glucose control, blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, improve mood, and reduce depressive symptoms, Surampudi told Healthline.

There is also some evidence of prevention of certain cancers, including breast and colorectal cancer. And weight loss can improve functional capacity, she added.

But that doesnt mean losing weight is necessary for everyones health.

People vary in the ideal body fat/weight range for them, said Krista Scott-Dixon, PhD, the director of curriculum at Precision Nutrition.

What is ideal is not a specific number, but rather a set of indicators about physical function, well-being, and thriving, she told Healthline.

Scott-Dixon adds that different ethnic groups and genetic subpopulations can be healthy and functional with different body mass indexes (BMIs), body weights, and body fat percentages.

For instance, we know that folks whose ancestors have East Asian genetic heritage tend to be less healthy at a lower BMI than folks from other regions, she explained.

When determining if weight loss is recommended, a medical professional will consider not just BMI, but weight distribution (adipose tissue volume and location), medical history, family history, and/or current lifestyle, said Caroline West Passerrello, MS, RDN, LDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Scott-Dixon says high levels of body fat can change the hormonal and chemical environment within the body.

These changes can elevate a persons risk for conditions such as:

And when body fat gets too high, it starts depositing into places where it shouldnt be, or shouldnt be in high amounts, she said.

These areas include the heart, liver, kidneys, muscle tissue, bone, and in and around other internal organs.

Past a certain point, excess body weight loads our structures primarily our joints in the lower body, Scott-Dixon said.

For example, Surampudi says 1 pound of weight loss is 4 pounds off your knees and ankles.

Surampudi says bariatric surgery is simply a tool in ones health journey for weight loss.

She adds that there are several types of bariatric surgeries, but the two most commonly offered are the gastric sleeve and the gastric bypass surgery.

The decision on which surgery [is appropriate] is based on the individual patient, their medical history, and what the individual and their physician feels is the best choice, she explained.

But surgical weight loss, including gastric bypass surgery, isnt for everyone, says Scott-Dixon.

So, individuals looking to improve their glucose control need to know they have options to reduce their adipose tissue volume, she said.

Passerrello has these general tips for weight loss:

Its also accurately stated [in the study] that losing 18 percent of body weight with diet therapy alone is difficult, Passerrello told Healthline.

Scott-Dixon says its also difficult to maintain in the long run.

In part, this is because most traditional diets are not only nutritionally poor and relatively unsustainable, theyre also done in a context where building deep health and the broad foundation for long-term changes arent addressed, she said.

Scott-Dixon defines the concept of deep health as that which addresses a multifaceted set of indicators, including:

There are so many things to consider: your access to food, your schedule, your current medical history, and your lifestyle, to name a few, Passerrello said.

A registered dietitian may use the social ecological model of health to frame a plan that will address these factors, as well as the amount of food to eat and how much movement to strive for, she added.

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Losing Weight by Dieting Has the Same Health Benefits as Surgery - Healthline

Peggy Liu, University of Pittsburgh

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Peggy Liu, University of Pittsburgh and Kelly L. Haws, Vanderbilt University

(THE CONVERSATION) The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Dieters looking for a healthier substitute of their favorite high-fat food such as a bag of potato chips typically have two choices in the grocery aisle: a smaller package of the exact same food or a larger portion of a light version. In a series of studies, we put this choice to consumers and found that people who frequently try to cut back on their eating or are essentially always on a diet known as restrained eaters prefer the larger portion size of the light version, even though both contained the exact same number of calories. Participants who indicated that they rarely dieted tended to pick the smaller size with the full flavor.

Our first study involved a vending machine choice between a medium-sized bag of Lays Baked BBQ potato chips and a smaller package of the regular version both 150 calories. Participants who took a survey in which they reported frequently trying to cut back on their eating for example, by taking smaller servings and skipping meals opted for the larger bag of baked chips. We got similar results over four additional studies involving other snacks, such as popcorn and cookies.

Why it matters

People tend to want food to be tasty, healthy and filling. Our studys restrained eaters were definitely interested in choosing a snack that seemed healthier, but their choice of the larger size suggested they wanted a snack that they felt would make them feel full as well possibly at the expense of taste. Feeling full can help people consume fewer calories overall.

The problem is research suggests eating more of lighter foods might not make people feel full, and this may point to a reason why most diets fail. Some psychologists argue that restrained eaters do not achieve the health and weight outcomes they desire possibly because, in depriving themselves of the fattier, tastier food, they may later engage in binge-eating or overconsume.

By opting for the lighter, less pleasurable food, even in larger packages, restrained eaters might be depriving themselves of the food they actually crave regular chips, buttered popcorn or a sugary cookie.

What still isnt known

More research is ultimately needed, however, to test whether the emphasis on increasing the portion sizes that one can eat of light foods, rather than focusing on eating smaller portions of foods that are more satisfying, is a successful long-term strategy. Or, as past research indicates, might it actually backfire and contribute to failed dieting? Its still not entirely clear.

Whats next

At the moment, we are working on new research examining how people decide what to eat, how much to eat and how frequently to eat it. For example, why do some people decide to try to avoid any treats, whereas others try to seek moderation? If they seek moderation in their diet, would they rather have a small treat every day or have a cheat day on the weekend?

Were also trying to understand whether or not consumers actually feel as full as they think they do by eating more lighter foods rather than less of calorie-dense foods.

How we do our work

We use a variety of approaches in our research on food, including conducting lab and online-based experiments, field studies and exploring existing data sets, such as food diary data. For this particular research, we recruited participants to pick chips out of a vending machine and used online panels to simulate real-world choices.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/constant-dieters-might-be-choosing-the-wrong-way-to-lose-weight-143961.

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Constant dieters might be choosing the wrong way to lose weight - Alton Telegraph

A person'sheart beats about 2.5 billion times over the span of an average lifetime. We seem to take that for granted. Heart failure affects more than half a million people a year in the US, brought on by lifestyle choices like being sedentary and smoking, and other risk factors such as eating a meat-based diet, according to a recentstudy. Prioritizing getting daily exercise and eating a whole food plant-based diet is the bestway toboost your hearthealth, naturally.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States according toa CDCreport, outpacing cancer and more than twice the number as COVID-19, yet we don't take extreme measures to stop it in its tracks. There is a simple way to reduce the chances of heart disease, regardless of your age, right now, which is to eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. These 7 foods are among the best to boost heart health without the need for medication, In fact, a new study found that all it takes to move the needle on heart health and diabetes is to eat one more serving of fruits and vegetables a day.

Foods containing high levels of saturated fats like meat, processed foods and pastries may be a leading cause of the risk of heart disease. Choosing a plant-based diet significantly reverses heart failure symptomsbecause wholefoods with fiber naturallylower your cholesterol and help maintain healthy blood circulation.

When you are seeking heart-healthy foods, turn to those that are closest to what you couldgrow inthe earth, like fruits and vegetables and minimally processed foods (potatoes not chips).

Everyone can benefit from eating this way, not just people with heart disease.If you don't know where to start here are7 ways to eat less meatand lower your risk of heart disease by cutting back on saturated fat. And check outTheBeet's new healthy plant-based recipesevery day that you can enjoy too add more plants to your plate, and years to your longevity.

1. Beets

If you've ever heard someone say, "a beet helps the heartbeat," they're right. In fact, these small vibrantly-coloredroot vegetables contain a high concentration of nitrates. Nitratesare a natural chemical found in soil, air, water, andsome foods that can help your body to reduce blood pressure, which can lead tolessrisk of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke. You can't beat eating beets! Mix them into your smoothie or chop them into fine pieces and add them to your salad.

2. Berries

These are berry good for your heart! "Eating a cup of blueberries a day reduces risk factors for cardiovascular disease," according to a study by the National Library of Medicine.To be specific, eating 150 grams (about 5 ounces) of blueberries a day reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 15 percent.

The study examined the effect of six months of blueberry intake on insulin resistance and cardiometabolic function in patients with metabolic syndrome.The research team concludedthat "blueberries and other berries should be included in dietary strategies to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease particularly among at-risk groups." Add berries to your smoothies, yogurt parfaits, salads, or simply enjoy them on their own.

3. Avocados

Avocados have a bad reputation because most people think eating fat will make you fat, but the opposite is actually true in the case of plant-based fat like avocado. The 5 grams of fat in an avocado can help you lose weight and boost heart health because it trains your body to burn fat as fuel. The two fats in avocados are mono andpolyunsaturated fats that take place ofsaturated or trans fats when eaten in moderation. This can help reduce bad cholesterol in the body and decrease your risk of heart disease.Because avocados are full of "good fat" they can help your body absorb nutrients without raising LDL levels (so-called bad cholesterol) in the body. LDL creates plaque, blockages and eventually heard disease. If you'refighting high cholesterol,try eating avocados regularly, or adding them to your smoothies and salads.

4. Tomatoes

When people say, "A Tomato a Day Keeps the Heart Doctor Away," they're actually talking about Lycopene. This chemical that gives tomatoes their bright red color, and can be found in watermelon and grapefruit, is a powerhouse antioxidant that helps to keep cells from becoming damaged.Lycopene may work to lower LDL. Lycopene in the diet also appears to prevent clotting, which can limit the risk of stroke according to health studies.

5. Garlic

Aside from garlic'spowerfulaftertaste, the food has powerful health benefits. Garlic, when chopped releases allicin which can help lower LDL, the "bad" cholesterol that canlead toheart disease. People with high cholesterol should consider taking garlic supplements because they appear to reduce LDL by about 10-15 percent according to a health study by The National Library of Medicine.

6. Edamame

Edamame is neither a fruit nor vegetable, but a powerhouse legume that delivers major benefits when it comes to boosting heart health. Edamameis rich infiber, antioxidants and vitamin Kwhich together work to lower LDLand improve your blood lipids. "Eating 47 grams of soy protein per day can lower total cholesterol levels by 9.3 percent and LDL by 12.9 percent, according to a health study by The National Library of Medicine. In addition, the vitamin K in edamame helps regulate your blood vessels and improves circulation in the body.

7. Oranges

Oranges are the perfect refreshing fruit to enjoy all year round and they appear to protect your heart against aging. Oranges contain flavonoids which is a class of pigments that help give it structure. Specifically, the chemical hesperidinfound in citrus may support heart health according to several studies. In one recentstudy, hesperidinhelped improveblood pressure, and lower cardiovascular risk. Results show that drinking orange juice daily for just four weeks has a "blood-thinning effect and may reduce blood pressure" for overweight men.

Original post:
The 7 Best Foods for Heart Health to Eat Today and Everyday - The Beet

You don't have to be involved in the antidiet, intuitive eating world to know that dieting messages are everywhere. Registered dietitian Dalina Soto, MA, LDN, shared that sometimes they're disguised as "lifestyle" changes, or maybe you're told to simply cut out certain food groups. When people go on restrictive diets, she said they'll discover that they don't work, "but somehow we all want them to work. We want to be the successful ones," and we work so hard to make it happen.

Soto explained that when we fail, we feel like crap, but it isn't our fault. "The diet and weight-loss industry banks on you failing so they can profit on you for years. They want you to continue to buy their shakes, or the frozen meals they can mail to you weekly," she said, adding that whatever diet you follow, "you're never in control, they are."

In case you're thinking about going on another diet, or you're currently on one and feeling miserable, watch this video to learn five reasons why diets suck. POPSUGAR asked Soto to explain each reason, so read on and you just may feel inspired to ditch that restrictive diet forever!

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An Antidiet Dietitian Shares 5 Reasons Why Diets Suck and Why You Should Ditch Them Forever - POPSUGAR United Kingdom