Category Archives: Diet And Food

Houston, TX, Jan. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Many people who struggle with weight loss believe that the solution can be found by simply changing what they eat. Fad diets are constantly changing or repackaging certain strategies that don't often tackle the common underlying issue, emotional eating. In our daily lives, there are a number of overt and hidden stressors bombarding us; whether they be job related, financial, health related, relationship-based or otherwise. Even when one doesn't feel emotionally stressed out, symptoms of stress can be sneaky, as managing and coping with ongoing stress can feel commonplace. A major symptom of stress emotional eating/food addiction, and this is what derails many dieters without them even realizing it.

The simple truth is, you may eating emotionally and not even know it. Many symptoms of emotional eating can seem quite benign, while others are more harmful. Some of the most common symptoms are:

Not only can emotional eating be a sign of larger issues, it is also very unhealthy, leading most commonly to:

Fortunately, Diet Demand has created a collection of great medical weight loss programs focused on helping individuals overcome the real problem, stress-based emotional eating. By tackling the true underlying cause, Diet Demand is helping lose weight faster and move towards long-term habit changing activities. Our doctor created and supervised medical weight loss plans combat emotional eating in many different ways, ranging from simple doctor supervision and evaluation to powerful prescription weight loss aids specifically designed to address the causes of emotional eating.

These medications can range from our Low Dose Naltrexone, which helps reduce appetite between meals and reduce stress levels in the body, our prescription Appetite Zap, a simple appetite suppressant designed to safely and effectively curb hunger.

Get your FREE Diet Demand consultation to assess your need for safe and quick diet results by visiting https: http://www.dietdemand.com/ to complete an initial comprehensive, yet simple, health questionnaire and schedule an immediate personal, no-cost consultation. DietDemand's physicians all received specialized training in nutritional science and fast weight loss. DietDemand reviews each patient's health history to create a personalized diet plan geared for fast weight loss, or that addresses life-long issues causing weight loss to slow down or stop. Nutritionists work personally with each patient and use their own algorithm to craft meal and snack plans that are compatible with each patient's age, gender, activity level, food preferences, nutritional needs and medical conditions. They combine these state of the art diet plans with pure, prescription diet products that enable their patients to resist the temptation to reach for sugary snacks, eliminate fatigue and curb the appetite. Over 97% of DietDemand patients report incredible weight loss results with the majority losing 20 or more pounds per month.

At DietDemand, all patients gain unlimited access to the best minds in the business. Their staff of doctors, nurses, nutritionists and coaches are available six days per week to answer questions, offer suggestions, address concerns and lend their professional guidance and support. Because of this, more and more people are turning to DietDemand for their weight management needs. Diet plans are tailored to be specific to the needs of those of any age, gender, shape or size and for those who are struggling to lose that final 10-20 pounds to those who must lose 100 pounds or more. Call today to request a private, confidential, no-cost online consultation.

About the Company:

DietDemand is the nation's leader in medical, weight loss offering a full line of prescription medication, doctor, nurse and nutritional coaching support. For over a decade, DietDemand has produced a sophisticated, doctor designed weight loss program that addresses each individual specific health need to promote fast, safe and long-term weight loss.

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Providing care across the USA

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Diet Demand Addresses Emotional Eating as Underlying Cause of Weight Gain - Benzinga

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is looking beyond todays 54th Super Bowl, where his team meets the San Francisco 49ers, to a possible appearance at this years Tokyo Olympics.

Earlier this week as part of the media build-up to the impending meeting in Floridas Miami Gardens, Hill told Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk that he had serious ambitions of representing the United States in the 100 metres at this summers Games.

Fifty-six years ago at the first Tokyo Games, Bob Hayes won gold for the US in the 100m and 4x100m before pursuing an American Football career with the Dallas Cowboys, becoming the only man in history to win Olympic gold and a Super Bowl ring.

Hill, a 25-year-old from Lauderhill in Florida, has already run a sub-10-second 100m.

"Hopefully after this season, if I'm healthy and my mind is still in the right place, I really want to try to qualify for some Olympic teams," he said, adding that he had looked into the process of qualifying for the Games that start in the Japanese capital on July 24.

Hills ambitions are tempered with realism.

"The thing is, I weigh like 195 [pounds] right now," he added.

"Back in high school, when I ran a 9.9, I was like 175.

So it would be me changing my whole diet that I've been doing to get to where I am now."

Should he be successful, however, Hill would be taking his place among a select and illustrious group of those who have previously bridged the gap between the NFL - including, for some, an appearance in the pinnacle event of the Super Bowl and in the Olympic Games, the pinnacle event in world sport.

The usual pattern for these adaptable athletes has been to establish themselves in track and field before moving on to NFL.

In seeking to reverse that order, Hill is bucking the trend, although he would not be unique.

Thus far the only fully fledged NFL player to compete in the summer Olympics is Jahvid Best.

He played for the Detroit Lions from 2010 until 2013, when he was released after the numerous concussions he had had during his career precluded him from safely continuing.

He then turned to athletics, and in 2016 represented St Lucia, his fathers home country, at the Rio Olympics, running a time of 10.39sec in his heat but failing to advance to the semi-finals.

For review of athletes who have bridged the NFL-Olympic gap, go to The Big Read.

Continued here:
Kansas City Chiefs' Hill looking beyond Super Bowl to Tokyo 2020 Games - Insidethegames.biz

For most of the players involved in the 54th Super Bowl today the annual challenge for the Lombardi Trophy will represent a high point of their career. But for one player - Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill - a further peak looms beyond Mount Lombardi, namely Mount Olympus.

Earlier this week, as part of the frenzied media build-up to the impending meeting in Miami Gardens of the Chiefs - champions of the American Football Conference - and the San Francisco 49ers, who have topped the National Football Conference, Hill told Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk that he had serious ambitions of seeking a place at this years Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In the sprints, naturally. For this 25-year-old from Lauderhill in Florida has already run a sub-10-second 100 metres.

"Hopefully after this season, if I'm healthy and my mind is still in the right place, I really want to try to qualify for some Olympic teams," he said, adding that he had looked into the process of qualifying for the Games that start in Japan on July 24.

Hills ambitions are tempered with realism.

"The thing is, I weigh like 195 [pounds] right now," he added. "Back in high school, when I ran a 9.9, I was like 175.

So it would be me changing my whole diet that I've been doing to get to where I am now."

Should he be successful in scaling down his frame and scaling up his aspirations, however, Hill will be taking his place among a select and illustrious group of those who have previously bridged the gap between the National Football League (NFL) - including, for some, an appearance in the pinnacle event of the Super Bowl - and the Olympic Games, the pinnacle event in world sport.

The only man so far to have stood atop both Mount Lombardi and Mount Olympus is Bob Hayes, who established himself as the worlds fastest man with a stupendous display at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics before pursuing a highly successful NFL career with Dallas Cowboys, which included winning a Super Bowl ring at the end of the 1971 season.

By the time he got to the Tokyo Games, this native of Jacksonville in Florida was only 21 - and already a record-breaking sprinter.

In 1962, in a meeting at the University of Miami, he equalled the 9.2 world record time for the 100 yards and he was also the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yards with an indoor world record of 5.9sec.

The following year he lowered the 100 yards mark to 9.1, which would stand for 11 years, and also set a world 200m best of 20.5, although the time was never ratified.

He also recorded 20.6 in the 220 yards, running into a wind of eight miles per hour.

Hayes was already on a football scholarship at Florida A&M University and when he was selected to compete for the United States at the Tokyo Games his college coach was unwilling to offer him time to train. So highly regarded was Hayes as a sprinting talent that the United States President at the time, Lyndon B Johnson, interceded on his behalf.

This multi-talented athlete amply re-paid the faith in the Japanese capital after arriving with a record of 48 consecutive victories and no defeats.

The footage of him powering to the line to win the 100m final from lane one - the very worst of draws, given that the cinder track had been churned up on the inside by the previous days 20km race walk - is the stuff of Olympic legend.

Not only was he running through a mire, he was also running in borrowed spikes. It transpired that one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed back in his room at the Athletes' Village when he was playing with some friends and he hadnt realised it until he arrived at the Olympic Stadium.

Had it not been for the fact that Tokyo 1964 was the first Games to employ fully automatic timing for its athletics events, Hayes - who finished two metres clear of the nearest challenger - would have gone down in history as the first man to run the 100m in less than 10 seconds as he was hand-timed by officials with stopwatches at 9.9.

However, the electronic equipment registered his time at 10.06, which was rounded down to 10.00, thus equalling the world record that had been first set by Germanys Armin Hary at Rome 1960.

Hayes was also give an official time of 9.9 in winning his semi-final - how did he get to be given lane one in the final? But this was ruled out for record purposes as the following wind of 5.28 metres per second was well in excess of the allowable limit of 2.0m/s. His time according to the electronic recording was 9.91.

Hayess performance in adding a second Olympic gold in the mens 4x100m relay was arguably superior.

The US, anchored by their individual gold medallist, set a world record officially given as 39.0, and electronically recorded at 39.06, although at the point Hayes got the baton in his hand their chances looked slim as they trailed the French team by five metres.

Hayes revivified their fortunes with one of the most spectacular comeback runs in Olympic history to take the gold medal by a margin of three metres over Poland's Marian Dudziak, setting a new world record in the process.

According to the hand-timing of the US coach, Bob Giegenback, Hayes ran a split of 8.5. Others concurred, and even the slowest official time for his leg was 8.9. Nobody had ever run that fast before. Fifty-one years later Usain Bolt was clocked at 8.65 during the IAAF World Relays.

With that kind of speed, and a powerful build, it was not surprising that Hayes should make a big impact as an American footballer when he was selected as a wide receiver later in the Olympic year by Dallas Cowboys.

In his first two seasons he led the NFL in receiving touchdowns, registering 12 and 13 respectively, and such was his speed that he was credited with prompting a new zone defence system in the League, given that no single opponent could keep up with him.

He played four more years for the Cowboys after the Super Bowl win, finishing his career after a short period with the San Francisco 49ers.

In 2009, seven years after his death, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

While being an Olympic sprint champion provides a significant element of potentiality in terms of going on to become a successful NFL operator, it is no guarantee.

Four years after Tokyo, Hayess compatriot Jim Hines became the first man to win the Olympic 100m title in a sub-10 time as he clocked a world record of 9.95 in the thin air of Mexico, a mark which stood for almost 15 years.

Hines, who at six feet was a couple of inches taller than Hayes, was also signed as a wide receiver, playing for the Miami Dolphins from 1968 to 1969, and for the Chiefs in 1970. He played 10 times for the Dolphins in 1969, being given the nickname Oops with reference to his catching skills, and played once for the Chiefs - his final game.

An earlier US Olympian was a far more convincing convert to the NFL; Ollie Matson, a promising college footballer who won a 400m bronze medal and 4x400m silver medal at the Helsinki 1952 Games before signing up later in the year for the Chicago Cardinals, for whom he played a starring role for several seasons.

Matsons hugely effective NFL career spanned 14 years as he played for the Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles.

Four years after Matsons Olympic appearance, fellow American Glenn Davis won the 400m hurdles title at the Melbourne 1956 Games and retained his title four years later in Rome, as well as earning gold in the 4x400m relay.

He appeared on the front cover of Sports Illustrated that same year and also began a two-season career as a successful wide receiver in the NFL for the Lions.

Matson was a Pro-Bowl selection on six occasions, but he never got to play in the Super Bowl.

That is an achievement managed by a relatively small list of Olympians.

One such was US sprinter Willie Gault, whose Olympic ambitions of 1980 were frustrated by the boycott of the Moscow Olympics, but who played a part as the US won the first 4x100m relay world title in 1983 in a record time of 37.86.

Gault went on to play NFL football for 11 season, playing wide receiver for the Chicago Bears as they won Super Bowl XX and ending his career on the books of the Los Angeles Raiders.

A man of many parts, Gault also danced with the Chicago Ballet and was an alternate on 1988 US bobsled team.

Strictly speaking, Gault may just have missed out on winter Olympic action. Only one man has combined NFL and Winter Olympic performances is Herschel Walker, who during the course of a football career that saw him play for Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, took part in the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville.

Walker was brakeman in the two-man bobsled, where he and his driver Brian Shimer finished ninth.

Like Gault, he also prodded his toe into ballet. In 1988, while with Cowboys, he danced with the Fort Worth Ballet for a single performance.

James Jett never won the Super Bowl, but he had a successful 10-year career with the Raiders having won an Olympic gold medal at the Seoul 1988 Games, having run in the heats for the US mens 4x100m team.

James Trapp was a reserve for the US mens 4x100m relay team at the Barcelona 1992 Games and a year later won the world indoor 200m title in Toronto.

He subsequently had a 10-year NFL career, picking up a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000.

Had Renaldo Nehemiah been able to run in the Moscow 1980 Games, rather than being sidelined by the US boycott, he would have had a huge chance of winning the 110m hurdles title.

A year later he became the first man to run the event in under 13 seconds, clocking 12.93 at the Zurich Weltklasse meeting.

A year later he signed as a wide receiver with the 49ers, and although he did not play a major role he was a part of their team that won Super Bowl XIX. He was released by the 49ers in 1985 and returned to track competition the following year.

The usual pattern for these adaptable athletes has been to establish themselves in track and field before moving on to NFL. In seeking to reverse that order, Hill is bucking the trend, although he would not be unique.

John Capel, a hugely promising athlete and footballer at collegiate level, was selected by the Bears in the 2001 NFL Draft but was released during training camp. The same thing happened to him the following year when picked up by the Chiefs.

In 2003, Capel - who in 1999 had won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 200m title and earned sprint relay gold at the World University Games - won the world 200m title in Paris.

Close, but no cigar for Capel. Thus far the only fully fledged NFL player to compete in the summer Olympics is Jahvid Best. He played for the Lions from 2010 until 2013, when he was released after the numerous concussions he had had during his career precluded him from safely continuing.

He then turned to athletics, and in 2016 represented St Lucia, his fathers home country, at the Rio Olympics, running a time of 10.39 in his 100m heat but failing to advance to the semi-finals.

Bob Hayes was the second Olympic gold medallist to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The honour of being the first belonged to Jim Thorpe, Olympic champion at pentathlon and decathlon at the Stockholm 1912 Games, who was inducted, like Hayes, posthumously.

The decision to name Thorpe among the games great and good - taken in 1963, 10 years after his death - was part of a larger reappraisal of his career following the International Olympic Committees (IOC) draconian decision to strip him of his medals for infringing the strict rules on amateurism having been found to have played professional baseball at a lower level in 1910 and 1911.

At the age of 25 he became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the US.

Regarded as one of the most versatile athletes of recent times, he won Olympic titles in the pentathlon and decathlon and also played collegiate and professional American Football as well as professional basketball and baseball.

Thorpe took up baseball in 2013, signing up with the New York Giants, for whom he played in Major League Baseball for six years. He combined that career with playing American football, joining the Canton Bulldogs in 1915 and helping them win three professional championships.

He later played for six teams in the NFL. Indeed, from 1920 to 1921 he was nominally first President of the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL in 1922.

In 1983, 20 years after his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction and 30 years after his death, the IOC restored his medals to him.

For many observers of sport, Thorpes name still stands pre-eminent in the list of those who have successfully bridged the gap between top level athletics and American Football.

More:
Hill looking beyond Super Bowl as he seeks to join Hayes in bridging Olympic gap - Insidethegames.biz

(Courtesy Photo/Dr. Siri Chand Khalsa)

Despite paying almost double what any other country in the world pays for health care, the U.S. has declining measures on most health care attributes. We are unhealthy, are prone to heart disease and cancer, and are increasingly overweight. And an increasing number of countries, including those that spend a fraction of what we do on health care, are passing us by.

Weve dealt with these topics on earlier shows from the perspective of national health care policy. This time we ask the question, What can I personally do to live a healthier life? And, How can I make this easy and enjoyable enough that I will actually do it?

Could what we eat have anything to do with it? There is increasing evidence that it does.

Yet our physicians receive almost no training or education in the area of nutrition.

Our guests are:

We consider:

The Think Tank airs on KTAR 92.3 FM on Saturdays 3-4 p.m. and repeats Sundays 9-10 p.m.

Podcasts are available after broadcast.

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Think Tank examines role of diet in how to live healthy life - KTAR.com

Podcaster and sports commentator Joe Rogan has been on the carnivore dietthe same diet beloved by certain members of the Bitcoin communityand it turns out he's a big fan.

According to an Instagram post over the weekend, Rogan has seen miraculous changes to this body, his mind, and overall wellbeing.

Joe-rogan-meat-diet-carnivore-bitcoin

In the post, he claims he has lost 12 pounds, has banished his aches and pains and even his vitiligoa skin condition where patches of skin lose their pigmentappears to be less severe. But what is the carnivore diet and why is the Bitcoin community so pumped about it?

The Carnivore diet is, as the name suggests, a diet composed entirely of food derived from animals. So that's no fruits or vegetables, only dairy, eggs, meat, and fish. Apparently, condiments are 'allowed'.

The Carnivore Diet stems from the controversial belief that human ancestral populations ate mostly meat and fish and that high-carb diets are to blame for todays high rates of chronic disease. Its main proponent is Shawn Baker, a former doctor who claims the diet can be used to treat depression, anxiety, arthritis, obesity, diabetes and more.

That's a good question. For the Bitcoin carnivore, there is a kind of metaphysical parallel between decentralized digital ledgers and an imagined idea of what our ancestors ate, and by extension, how they lived.

Be the first to get Decrypt Members. A new type of account built on blockchain.

"The 20th century was disastrous for human health and wealth, and the rise of central banking and industrial food was clearly a major reason why,"Michael Goldstein, the founder of the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute told Vice."Bitcoin is a revolt against fiat money, and an all-meat diet is a revolt against fiat food."

Saifedean Ammous, a Bitcoin carnivore and a professor of economics at the Lebanese American University, said:

The people who tell you to eat your 6-10 portions of indigestible toxic grains a day for a healthy and balanced diet are the same kind of people who tell you central banks have to determine interest rates for a modern economy to function. You can choose to listen to them and watch your wealth and health disappear, or you can think for yourself.

Members of the Bitcoin community regularly meet up to eat meat and talk Bitcoin. Jimmy Song is one of its highest profile members.

With news of Rogan's tacit endorsement, Bitcoiners have taken to Twitter to ask him if he'd invite Bitcoin carnivores on to his show to spread the good word.

If you're genuinely interested in peer-reviewed science behind high animal fat diets, Nutritionfacts.org, a not-for-profit website that only publishes peer-reviewed medical journals has a useful explainer. TL:DR It's a stupid idea.

See the original post here:
Joe Rogan gives the thumbs up to the Bitcoiners' meat diet - Decrypt

After struggling with his acne for years and trying just about every remedy out there, Brian Turner eventually found a cure that worked for him, albeit an extreme one. In a video on his YouTube channel, Brian explains how took 70 weeks of large, daily doses of Accutane to clear up his acnebut it didn't come without side effects.

Prior to starting treatment, Brian's acne was particularly serious. "I had large, nodular cysts and tonnes of blackheads covering my entire face, and tonnes of whiteheads as well."

He started out at 40 milligrams of Accutane (the popular name for the drug Isotretinoin) per day. After six weeks, he had a huge breakout, which he says is to be expected: whatever acne you have before starting treatment is going to get twice or three times as bad when the drugs begin to take effect. "It sort of ignites your acne, so it got way, way, way worse."

It took more than six months for Brian to see some positive results. It was around week 30 that his skin began to clear up: the treatment worked on the whiteheads first, then started acting on the cysts, then the blackheads, and finally the redness in his skin. He also did his own research at the same time, and from week 30 onwards began to cut meat and dairy out of his diet.

"I was trying to figure out what was going on, why my face wasn't clearing up yet when other people had started seeing success by week 30," he says, "and I found that my whey intake, my protein intake, which is made up of whey, and whey is made up of dairy, all of that is known to trigger acne. So when I took that out I started to see my acne clearing up very quickly, and then it worked in conjunction with Accutane and actually cleared up fully."

At his highest, Brian was taking 200 milligrams of Accutane every day, for about 15 weeks, then slowly began to reduce the dosage towards the end of his treatment, and ended up at around 60 milligrams per day. "I was basically taking two treatments all at once," he says.

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During the 70 weeks, Brian went through a range of side effects, from extreme skin dryness which would cause his lips and face to crack and even bleed if he smiled or yawned, to an increased sensitivity to light. He also had pain in his back and joints that he'd never had before, and began to experience a loss of strength in the gym, although he wasn't reducing his calorie intake, in fact he was eating more calories than usual. Even after treatment ended, the back and joint pain and dry skin persisted, although Brian notes that there are other, much more serious side effects from taking Accutane which aren't discussed enough, including depression and a greater risk of cancer.

The acne also came back after treatment, which Brian says can happen up to 50 percent of the time. "A lot of people think it's a 100 percent success rate and then you're clear forever, and that's not the case at all." While his skin wasn't as sensitive to artificial sweeteners or creatine as it had been, the big triggers, such as dairy, still caused huge flare-ups.

"I finished up Accutane and then I felt like I might have more freedom to eat whatever I wanted, so I started including protein bars and some dairy here and there, and every time I did, within 24 to 48 hours I'd feel a cyst begin to form, then they would stick around for 2 to 12 weeks after they fully formed," Brian tells Men's Health.

"Eventually I decided to experiment with a plant-based diet," he says. "I figured if removing dairy helped so much, then removing meat and whatnot would help too, as I felt that the hormones in the meat and dairy were having an impact on my acne. My cystic acne went away, and the more regular pimples started to go away as well. That was a bit over four years ago, and since then I've been fully vegan and it's kept my acne at bay. I still get the occasional pimple here or there but never a cyst and my pimples move along a lot quicker than they did."

He adds that this is just what worked for him, and that it is a personal choice. And as for Accutane, given the range of dangerous side effects, he says: "You should use it as an absolute last resort."

See the article here:
This Guy Cured His Cystic Acne With an Extreme Accutane Treatment and Plant-Based Diet - menshealth.com

MIAMI Nick Bosa was holding court at his podium during the 49ers final media session on Thursday when he started talking about how important it has been for him to get his normal meals in while living on the road for a week before the biggest game of his life.

Bosa, who will be named the NFLs Rookie of the Year on Saturday, is a creature of habit, a ferocious defensive lineman who needs to keep his body properly fueled so he can go a million miles an hour on the field on Sunday.

This all got me thinking while I stood a few feet away from him on Thursday what does an athlete in peak physical condition like Bosa eat each day to keep himself in the best shape possible?

So I asked him to take me through his day of eating, which he kindly did:

I love how he has no idea what an average calorie intake should be and that he treats himself to a burger or some ice cream but only after a game.

This dude will be ready to go Sunday night.

Continued here:
Nick Bosa talking about what he eats every day is oddly satisfying - For The Win

Eating more foods containing antioxidant flavonols could reduce the risk of developing Alzheimers disease in later life, according to a study published in Neurology.

Flavonols, found in nearly all fruit and vegetables as well as tea, are a type of flavonoid chemical compounds found in plant pigments that have known health benefits.

In this study, researchers followed the health of 921 people with an average age of 81 who did not initially have Alzheimers the most common cause of dementia.

Each year, the participants filled out a questionnaire to say how often they ate certain foods, as well as other factors such as their education level, amount of physical activity, and how often they engaged in cognitive activities such as reading and playing games. The participants were followed for an average of six years, and over the course of the study, 220 people developed Alzheimers.

Read more about food and drink:

The researchers found that those who had the most flavonols in their diet were 48 per cent less likely, after adjusting for other factors, to develop Alzheimers than those who had the least amount.

Some of the top sources of flavonols included pears, olive oil, kale, beans, tea, spinach, broccoli, wine, tomatoes and apples.

More research is needed to confirm these results, but these are promising findings, said study author Dr Thomas Holland at Rush University in Chicago, US. Eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking more tea could be a fairly inexpensive and easy way for people to help stave off Alzheimers dementia.

With the elderly population increasing worldwide, any decrease in the number of people with this devastating disease, or even delaying it for a few years, could have an enormous benefit on public health.

Some 850,000 people are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK, and thats expected to rise to two million by 2050. Most of us probably know, or have known, someone with dementia.

But we may not understand the difference between dementia and, say, Alzheimers disease. Dementia describes the symptoms that someone experiences as a result of a brain disease.

Such symptoms can include memory loss, mood and behavioural changes, and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving and language.

More than 100 diseases can cause dementia, each with slightly different symptoms.The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimers.

Read more:
Diet rich in fruit, vegetables and tea linked to lower Alzheimers risk - BBC Focus Magazine

I consumed many muffins in the name of clinical research.

The morning of Oct. 17, 2019 started differently than most. I jammed a blood sugar sensor into my own arm after, of course, taking deep breaths and giving myself pep talks for 30 minutes. It only stung a little, but as someone who abhors needles, shoving a filament into my own tricep was a serious undertaking.

That morning I also filled up a test tube with spit (you'd be surprised at how long that takes and, ugh, dry mouth) and configured a flushable basket to my toilet seat so I could scoop up a sample of my own stool -- I know, yuck.

I did all of these things -- and many more over the next 11 days -- in the name of science. And I'm going to tell you why you should consider something like it, too.

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Clinical research is research that involves people who volunteer to be studied for a certain disease, diet, medication, fitness program, health condition, medical product or any combination of those things. There are two types of clinical research: clinical trials (also called interventional studies) and observational studies.

Interventional studies, the type of research I participated in that involved jamming the filament into my upper arm, evaluate some sort of change on the participants' health. In my case, the researchers used the data from my blood sugar sensor, along with a lot more data I'll describe below, to study how different foods affect my body.

Predict is, as of yet and probably for the foreseeable future, the largest nutrition intervention study of its kind, with over 2,200 participants from the UK and all 50 US states.

The distinction of study type is important, says Dr. Tim Spector, one of the scientists leading Predict and professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, because "many nutrition studies shared with the public are typically either small intervention studies of 10-20 people that are not representative or they are larger observational studies that are prone to bias."

It all started with a massive clinical study that Dr. Spector led beginning back in 1993, in which he studied the nutritional responses of more than 14,000 sets of twins -- and found that even identical twins have different responses to the same foods.

To that end, Dr. Spector and his partners, Jonathan Wolf and George Hadjigeorgiou, founded Zoe, the nutritional science and technology company leading the Predict study. Zoe is building a machine-learning algorithm with the anonymized results from Predict, which will allow the researchers to predict -- the name makes sense now -- nutritional responses for anyone who wants them.

Thousands of participants' results from the Predict study are feeding the Zoe app, which will be able to estimate your food responses based on demographics and questionnaires. The app is currently in beta.

In other words, my data -- and the data from the 2,000-plus other participants -- will be used to create an app in which you could answer a few questions and find out how your body will respond to, say, an apple or a slice of pizza.

The study's methodology; the fact that participants remain in their usual environments and stick to their usual routines; and the utilization of user-generated data (like the food log) produces "an excellent data set that gives us real insights into how different genders, identical twins and different ethnic groups metabolize food," says Dr. Spector.

Every clinical trial is different, but I can offer you a synopsis of my experience with Predict. (Have I mentioned that I stabbed my tricep with a small needle?)

All jokes and phobias aside, participating in this study was not easy. Most of the time, it was not fun. Yes, it began with the blood sugar sensor. But that, as hard as it may be to believe after my dogging on so much, was not even the worst part.

Here's a quick list of the uncomfortable circumstances I endured in the name of science:

I had to prick my fingers as part of the trial.

The Predict study was hard. It tested my nerves, took up a lot of time (curse the act of food journaling, I should've taken my own advice), and threw off my routine.

But it was so, so worth it -- and I haven't even received my results yet.

If you actually read all of those bullet points, I'm willing to bet you're thinking something along the lines of, "Nope. Never. Not a chance. I won't give up my eggs and bacon, and no way I'm scooping poop with an ice cream sample spoon."

But even without my results, the Predict study has already helped me in a handful of ways. During this study, I learned that:

Once I get my results back, I'm sure that the poop-scooping and finger-pricking will prove to be even more worthwhile. I'm eager to see the physiological responses to my diet over those 11 days -- combined with the emotional and physical things I noticed as the study was unfolding, I'll be able to make some pretty grand conclusions about what foods my body does and doesn't like.

I'm particularly excited to see how my body responds to neon sour gummy worms (simple carbs) versus a banana (also simple carbs, but also micronutrients and some fiber).

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't hope the results were similar, because I'd really like to say, "My body responds the same way to gummies as it does to apples" just in case anyone ever judges me for the sheer number of gummy worms in my diet.

I really, really love gummy worms, so I'm hoping that my results tell me they're not as bad for me as I think.

You mean, other than the super fun things like puncturing your own skin? Am I beating a dead horse? I know I already said all jokes aside, but I'm for real this time. All jokes aside, clinical trials are the heart of medicine. Without them, science -- and thus healthcare -- would never move forward.

Clinical research is the reason we have safe medications, devices and procedures. It's the science that determines which drugs are safe as over-the-counter and which ones need a prescription. It's the driver of nutrition and fitness guidelines, such as the daily recommended intake for different vitamins and minerals and the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

Perhaps most importantly, clinical research is the reason that doctors, surgeons and other health professionals can increasingly keep their patients safe and healthy thanks to new medical innovations.

But it's not just about the researchers and doctors -- clinical research is about the participants. People take part in clinical studies for many different reasons, such as:

This is an example of a nutritional curve, the main thing that the researchers are looking for.

Personally, I decided to take part in the Predict study because I'm a total nerd for nutrition science, and I feel like there's a lack of ways to find out how food truly affects your body. Predict offered me a way to gather important insights about my health and diet in my home environment.

I also decided to participate because the scientists, businesspeople and tech pros behind Zoe and Predict are creating a first-of-its-kind tool to help people all over the globe get those same insights without committing to a clinical study.

Dr. Spector articulates it best: "Predict is an ongoing scientific program to understand the dimensions of eating: what to eat, which foods to eat together, when to eat and when to be active around eating. We've been given generic one-size-fits-all advice around all of these dimensions for hundreds of years."

Predict's insights power Zoe to empower individuals to know how to eat for their own body. So the more people who participate in the Predict program and who use the Zoe app, the better the answers will be for everyone."

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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9 pricked fingers, 15 muffins and a poop sample: What it's like to be in a nutrition study - CNET

It's a way of thinking about eating that takes you back to babyhood, when you ate what you wanted for as long as you wanted and when full, turned away.

Intuitively, your baby self knew when you'd had enough, thank you, so you shut your mouth. And you didn't open it to food again until you were hungry.

"It's a backlash to diet culture. People are getting sick of being told what to do," said Tribole, who has authored nine books on nutrition.

"It's time to let go of a dieting system that is toxic," said Resch, a nutrition therapist who specializes in eating disorders. "The data show that 95% of people who go on diets fail at them, and if they've lost weight, two thirds of them gain even more weight back."

"The only alternative is to start trusting the body and feeling the freedom and enjoyment of food that comes with that," she said.

So forget the word "diet." Intuitive eating teaches you to listen to your body's cues about food, once your mind is free of the "dos and don'ts" of eating.

10 Principles

The scientific mechanism behind intuitive eating is called "interoceptive awareness," or the ability to perceive physical sensations that arise within the body.

"Intuitive eating is really instinct, emotion and thought," Resch said. "It's the instinct, hunger, fullness. What we like, what we don't like. But you also monitor your emotions and your thoughts because the cognitive distortions, the diet myths that are in our culture, can affect our eating."

Studies show people who are in touch with their body's needs have enhanced wellbeing and quality of life, Tribole said.

"People who score high on intuitive eating have more body appreciation, they enjoy their eating better, they have less disordered eating," such as restrictive eating, meal skipping, chronic dieting, and feelings of guilt and shame about food, Tribole said.

How does one learn -- or relearn -- how to become an intuitive eater? By following 10 basic principles, say Tribole and Resch.

Discover the satisfaction factor

If you aren't experiencing pleasure from the food you eat, then you'll never feel satisfied by eating. Yet many people deny themselves foods that will "hit the spot."

"To me, satisfaction is the guiding force of intuitive eating because if you put your focus on being satisfied, then it's going to inform hunger, fullness and respecting your body, and it's going to inform making peace with food," Resch said.

"Satisfaction is the vehicle to get you to decide to start eating when comfortably hungry, rather than not hungry at all," she adds, while stressing that weight control is not a part of intuitive eating.

Reject the diet culture

This is a key principle in intuitive eating -- rejecting the "toxic" diet culture that says you have to look a certain way in order to be an acceptable person worthy of love and acceptance.

You will never -- ever -- get on a scale while eating intuitively, say Resch and Tribole.

"Weight stigma, which is part of diet culture, basically says there's something wrong with you if you're not conforming to that culturally thin ideal," Resch said. "But what if you are DNA programmed to be in a larger body? It's cruel and toxic to tell people that they need to shrink to conform."

The danger of dieting, said Tribole, is that it works in the short term. But she added science has shown that within two to five years, the weight comes back -- in spades.

"Our model is about engaging in healthy behaviors that are sustainable," Tribole said. "Weight is not a behavior. So intuitive eating is all about taking the focus off weight."

Make peace with food

Once you have a "don't eat" sign on a food, Resch said, you'll only want it more.

"The brilliant survival part of our brain recognizes that the organism is in danger and is being starved, and sends out chemicals to get you to overeat emotionally," she said.

To combat this, Tribole suggests listing all the foods you reject or restrict, and then rank them from "scariest" -- what you think is worse for you or makes you gain weight -- to least "scary."

Pick one (maybe the least scary, Tribole suggests) and then a couple of hours after a meal, find a calm, quiet place and eat as much of that food as you like.

"Making peace with food means giving yourself license to eat. There's no judgment. There's no good food, there's no bad food," Resch said.

By bringing out the "peace pipe" with that food, you end its power over you, she said.

"It will help you make sure that all foods are 'emotionally equivalent,' " Resch said. "They may not be nutritionally equivalent, but they're emotionally equivalent, meaning that you have the same emotional reaction to whatever you eat -- you don't feel guilty or bad about eating something."

Sound too good to be true?

"After a couple of days, all my clients end up with really great balance," Resch said. "They want a salad because that instinct in your body wants balance."

Honor your hunger

Hunger is not the enemy, say Resch and Tribole. It's your body's signal for survival, and thus deserves to be treated with respect. By learning to "honor" your hunger, they say, you can heal your relationship with food -- and learn to trust your body.

A key principle is not waiting until you're ravenously hungry to eat.

"Then you're in that primal hunger, as we call it, where you can't think straight and you just got to get the food in as fast as you can," Resch said.

Signs of hunger may vary from person to person. Some might feel a "subtle gnawing" in the throat or esophagus; other might get sleepy and lethargic; still others might get a headache; or have no signs at all until they begin to eat (and overeat). Those signs can flux when sleep deprived, traveling or stressed at work as well.

Learning your unique signs of hunger will put you on the path to getting back in touch with your body's needs, say Resch and Tribole.

Feel the fullness

Once you've learned how to recognize your hunger, it's time to feel the fullness. That's difficult in a busy culture which encourages eating while working, on our smartphones or driving in the car.

To counter that, the intuitive eating philosophy recommends making meals "sacred time," as much as possible. The idea, Tribole said, is to create a space free of distraction, including TVs, smartphones and other electronics. Eat sitting down. In the middle of the meal, pause, and ask yourself how you feel -- any signs of fullness?

If that's tough, Tribole has a "3-bite option." After the first bite, check in and see how you feel about the food -- pleasant, unpleasant or neutral? In the middle of the meal, pause for bite two and do the same while checking for signs of fullness. At your last bite check in again and rate your fullness -- does it feel good, bad or neutral?

She even has another tip: Try eating a meal with your non-dominant hand. That's one way to get your mind to pay attention!

Challenge the food police

At some point along the intuitive eating journey, the food police ingrained in your brain will begin to guilt you, say Tribole and Resch. How could it not when you've spent your life in a culture that tells you what is good and bad to eat? Or shames you for the size and shape of your body?

"The psychological part of it is so powerful," Resch said. "We have to be aware of what is accurate thinking and what is distortive thinking by diet culture."

The solution is to say a loud "No!" to those thoughts in your head, she said. If you have trouble, reach out to a trained nutritionist or counselor.

Cope with emotions without using food

Everyone eats for comfort now and again. That's ok, Resch said, and becoming connected with your body will allow you to recognize when you're stress eating or sad eating. That's because you'll realize you're not hungry.

"We have to be aware of how our emotions may cause us to make different decisions about eating," Resch said. "It's getting to the point where you can separate the emotions of comfort from using food in a destructive way."

Food doesn't fix feelings, Tribole said. Try reaching out to friends and family, taking a walkabout in nature, meditating, even reading or playing with a pet. You could also find a good counselor.

"Talking about your wellness and health can lead to increased physical health and emotional health," Resch said. "And then we just have to really listen to hunger and fullness and get back in tune with that."

Respect your body | Feel the difference | Gentle nutrition

These last three pillars of intuitive eating are broader than just understanding your relationship with food.

"The whole point of intuitive eating is about either healing or cultivating a healthy relationship with food, mind and body," Tribole said. "It's really an inside job. It's listening to what's going on with your entire body."

That means addressing all aspects of health, Resch said: "Enough sleep, stress reduction, work-life balance, exercise that makes you happy, all the things that you do as part of self-care and wellness."

But be careful about embracing the "wellness movement" until you have freed yourself from the diet culture, Resch said.

"So many people are avoiding certain foods and saying it's for wellness, but really the intent is to change their bodies, she said. "The wellness movement can be a cover for getting thinner.

"Anytime there is a focus on weight loss, it will sabotage the intuitive eating process, " Resch added, "because someone will eat something that is not on the diet and get into that same cycle of, 'I feel bad that I ate it. Now I'm broken it and I'll keep eating it.' "

Resch said it also means rejecting society's negative opinion about your body -- if you have experienced that -- and banishing your own sense of shame. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes.

"I've been in practice 38 years and there are many people who are just absolutely in tune with their bodies, and with eating, and they live in larger bodies," Resch said. "They've been larger all their lives and they are healthy -- great cholesterol, great blood pressure -- cause their bodies are meant to be there."

"The majority of us are born with all of this internal wisdom about eating," Resch said. "We just need to listen to it."

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Intuitive eating: The anti-diet, or how pleasure from food is the answer, say its creators - CNN