Category Archives: Diet And Food

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) Theres more evidence that eating a lot of processed food increases the risk for memory loss and Alzheimers disease. The FDA has banned trans fat, but its still in all kinds of products.

Scientists say trans fat, found mainly in processed food, impacts blood flow and can reduce serotonin production, leading to depression and memory loss.

Even though its being fazed out, trans fat is still in coffee creamer, popcorn and all kinds of snacks and frozen foods.

Hydrogenated oil used to increase shelf life has been linked to heart disease, and now theres more evidence that trans fat increases the risk for Alzheimers disease.

The new study covered 1,600 people over the age of 60, who had normal brain function.

Researchers measured the levels of trans fats in their blood, as well as their overall health and diet, and followed up after 10 years.

What they see is that having higher levels of trans fat in the blood increases your risk of onset of dementia whether its from Alzheimers disease as a cause of dementia, or other kinds of dementia, Dr. Jagan Pillai said.

After adjusting for other dementia risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking the researchers found the dementia risk was 52% more likely among those with the highest levels of trans fat.

The best way to avoid trans fat is to eliminate or reduce eating processed food.

A healthy diet of whole grains, produce and healthy fat can have a protective effect on the risk of developing dementia.

This research clearly demonstrates that your diet and what youre putting in your body has an impact on the onset of dementia later on in life, Pillai said.

Even though its technically banned, experts say foods with less than a half-gram of trans fats can be labeled as containing zero.

So if you eat a lot of processed food, that trans fat accumulates and can cause dementia and other problems.

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Study: Eating Too Much Processed Food Increases Risk Of Memory Loss, Alzheimers Disease - CBS Pittsburgh

A heart attack is a serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot. While the condition can come on suddenly and prove fatal, it is usually the result of an accumulation of poor lifestyle decisions, such as eating unhealthy foods. Sticking to a healthy, balanced diet therefore plays a vital role in preventing the deadly health complications, and research makes a strong case for regularly consuming a type of fish to avert the risk.

According to a study presented at the American Heart Associations 41st Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, older individuals are less likely to die from a heart attack if they eat at least one serving of fatty fish per week.

Fatty fish is the term used to describe oily fish, which are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, and good sources of oily fish include salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, and trout.

The study found that eating fatty fish at least once per week was associated with a 44 percent lower risk of dying from a heart attack among a group of older adults, average age 72.

In contrast, eating fried fish which is typically lean was not associated with a lower risk of dying from a heart attack. Examples of lean fish are cod, catfish and snapper.

READ MORE:Heart attack: The biggest signs you could be having a silent heart attack - what are they?

Researchers analysed the relationship between eating fatty fish, eating fried fish and the risk of fatal heart attack and coronary heart disease deaths among nearly 4,000 men and women older than age 65 involved in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes Cardiovascular Health Study, launched in 1988 to assess the risk factors of heart disease and strokes among older adults.

At the beginning of the study, all participants were free of known cardiovascular disease. Mozaffarian and his colleagues used a detailed food questionnaire to assess the participants usual diet and participants were followed for an average of 6.8 years.

The researchers did not determine which specific types of fatty fish were consumed, therefore it is not possible to recommend one type of fatty fish, tuna or salmon, for example, over another.

Commenting on the findings, Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., lead author of the study and fellow in cardiology and health services research at the University of Washington/Seattle Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said: Fatty fish are more abundant in omega-3 fatty acids, while fried fish are typically lean fish without significant omega-3 fatty acids. Because these omega-3 fatty acids may protect against dying from a heart attack, eating fatty fish may be of greater benefit than eating fried fish.

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For optimal health benefits, oily fish should be enjoyed as part of a Mediterranean-style diet, which also includes fruit and vegetables, wholegrain cereals and modest amounts of meat and low-fat dairy.

Evidence suggests that following Mediterranean-style diet can almost halve your risk of developing heart disease, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego.

The study found that adults who closely followed the Mediterranean diet were 47 percent less likely to develop heart disease over a 10-year period compared to similar adults who did not closely follow the diet.

To gather the findings, the researchers analysed data from a representative sample of more than 2,500 Greek adults, ages 18 to 89, who provided researchers with their health information each year from 2001 to 2012.

Participants also completed in-depth surveys about their medical records, lifestyle and dietary habits at the start of the study, after five years and after 10 years.

"Our study shows that the Mediterranean diet is a beneficial intervention for all types of people- in both genders, in all age groups, and in both healthy people and those with health conditions," said Ekavi Georgousopoulou, a Ph.D. candidate at Harokopio University in Athens, Greece, who conducted the study along with Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos, Ph.D., professor at Harokopio University.

Georgousopoulou added: "It also reveals that the Mediterranean diet has direct benefits for heart health, in addition to its indirect benefits in managing diabetes, hypertension and inflammation."

In addition to diet, exercise forms an essential part of heart attack prevention.

Read this article:
Heart attack: Eat this type of fish at least once a week to slash your risk - Express

Briana Culberson, daughter of The Real Housewives of Orange County's Vicki Gunvalson, and her husband Ryan Culberson are practically spokespeople for the keto diet. The two have been steadily documenting their keto-fueled weight lossand Ryan just shared another update on Instagram.

"Smiles from a couple thats down a combined 128 pounds!" he captioned a sweet photo of the couple posing together in the woods. "No fads, workouts, or magic pills just a consistent Keto lifestyle!"

Ryan and Briana first talked about doing keto in November 2018, when Ryan referred to Briana as a "keto queen" on Instagram. He noted that theyd been on the diet for five months at that point.

Fast forward to January 2019, and Briana posted on Ryans Instagram that shed lost 45 pounds on the diet. She also said that keto "greatly improved" her health. (Briana was diagnosed with lupus in 2016 and almost had to have her leg amputated in 2018 due to her condition, according to People.)

In March 2019, the couple revealed on Instagram that they lost 86 pounds together in eight months on the diet. "Celebrating being 86 pounds lighter between the two of us!" he captioned the shot. "What are you waiting for?"

And in July, the two shared that they were 107 pounds lighter on keto. "Happy 4th of July from my family to yours!" Ryan captioned a shot of himself, Brianna, their kids, and her stepfather Donn. "Swipe right and see the difference a year on keto has made, down 107 between the two of us!"

Ryan and Briana have also offered up little snippets of advice here and there including how its possible to stay on the keto diet at Disneyland (JIC you were wondering ).

So, yeah, they're now an amazing 128 pounds down. Its not hard to see why theyre into keto.

See more here:
See Briana And Ryan Culberson's 128-Pound Weight Loss Transformation After A Year On Keto - Women's Health

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According to a new survey, we basically "write off" the end of the year when it comes to our health and our diets.

41% of people use the holidays as a reason to punt on healthy habits, and one in three have already started postponing those habits until January.

The survey also found 47% of people say they already know they'll give in and break their diet during the holiday season. The top foods that we break our diet for are cookies . . . pies and cakes . . . and home-cooked holiday meals.

30% of people say they've had a moment during the holidays where they've unbuttoned their pants because they ate too much.

And overall, the average American will gain SIX pounds over the next month-and-a-half. That's the same amount of weight we packed on last year.

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The Foods That Break Our Diets During The Holidays - Talk Radio 1210 WPHT

Expanding agriculture can not only affect the diversity and abundance of wildlife but also alter the diet and habitat of wild mammals, especially those living in fragmented forest areas near crops or pastures, according to new research.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), analyzed how changes that agriculture affect the diet of wild mammals, proving the hypothesis that deforestation and forest fragmentation are not necessarily the main consequences of expanding crops and cattle.

Forest remnants and the agricultural matrix arent separate. Theres an interface between these areas. Its hardly news that animals need to find food in plantations, but this practice hadnt been quantified until now. I should stress that the diet in question isnt ideal. Its a matter of survival, said Marcelo Magioli, the lead author.

Magioli and his fellow researchers looked at stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the fur of the animals, a method that allows them to know the kind of food eaten in the last three months. They used hair traps and collection of droppings so as not to alter the animals analyzed, many of them threatened with extinction.

They collected samples in four areas of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, two near croplands in Campinas and Botucatu and two in conserved areas in stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. The samples were from 29 species of mammals and of all the samples taken more than half were from animals living in human-modified areas.

From previous studies using GPS collars and camera traps, we knew the animals moved through these areas, Magioli said regarding their research. However, stable isotope analysis told us where they were feeding and how important each food source was in their diet.

The results showed that 34.5% of the animals fed only with agricultural resources from human-modified areas, while 67.5% survived on forest resources. Frugivores and insectivores ate the same no matter where they lived, while herbivores and omnivores were the most affected, eating mainly agricultural resources.

Species like the cougar, capybara, brocket deer, ocelot and crab-eating raccoon where some of the ones mentioned in the study for having adapted their diets because of the agricultural expansion. The margays, a small wild cat, for example, eat animals that live near sugarcane plantations.

Our findings point to the need for more favorable agricultural management to support these animals and underscore the importance of the Brazilian Forest Code and of maintaining legal reserves and permanent conservation areas [APPs], Katia Mara Ferraz, co-author, said.

Read the rest here:
Agriculture impacts diets of wild mammals, study shows - ZME Science

The findings of a recent study suggest that adhering to a healthy diet may reduce the risk of acquired hearing loss, especially among older women. The study appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

A common perception is that hearing loss is an inevitable part of the aging process. However, our research focuses on identifying potentially modifiable risk factors that is, things that we can change in our diet and lifestyle to prevent hearing loss or delay its progression, said lead author Sharon Curhan, MD, a physician and epidemiologist in the Brighams Channing Division of Network Medicine in a press release about the study. The benefits of adherence to healthful dietary patterns have been associated with numerous positive health outcomes and eating a healthy diet may also help reduce the risk of hearing loss.

In this study, investigators from Brigham and Womens Hospital recruited 3,135 women (mean age, 59) in the Nurses Health Study II, which was conducted between 2012-2018. They calculated all diet adherence scores for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Alternate Mediterranean (AMED) diets and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) using validated food frequency questionnaires. The researchers assessed hearing sensitivities at 19 sites across the US utilizing pure-tone audiometry and examined independent links between diet adhere scores and low-frequency pure-tone averages at a low-, mid- and high-frequency.

According to the results of the study, the odds of a decline in mid-frequency hearing sensitivities were almost 30% lower among women whose diet most closely resembled the healthy dietary patterns, compared with women whose diets least resembled the same patterns. In the higher frequency group, the odds of hearing decline were up to 25% lower.

The association between diet and hearing sensitivity decline encompassed frequencies that are critical for speech understanding, continued Dr. Curhan.

We were surprised that so many women demonstrated hearing decline over such a relatively short period of time. The mean age of the women in our study was 59 years; most of our participants were in their 50s and early 60s. This is a younger age than when many people think about having their hearing checked. After only three years, 19 percent had hearing loss in the low frequencies, 38 percent had hearing loss in the mid-frequencies, and almost half had hearing loss in the higher frequencies. Despite this considerable worsening in their hearing sensitivities, hearing loss among many of these participants would not typically be detected or addressed.

Read more here:
Eating a Healthy Diet May Reduce the Risk of Hearing Loss - DocWire News

I face them every day: Frustrated patients who are trying to lose weight that just doesnt seem able to come off. They try every diet from cabbage soup to ketogenic. Expensive injections and shakes work for a while but the weight just keeps coming back. They exercise but there is barely a flicker on the scale. What am I doing wrong, Doc?

To understand weight gain and weight loss, there is a simple formula that you must learn:

Weight change = calories consumed calories burned.

It is as simple as that. If you consume more calories than you are burning, those excess calories will be stored as fat. If you are burning more calories than you are taking in, only then will you lose weight. The big problem that most of us have is that we underestimate how many calories we are consuming, and overestimate how much we burn through exercise. The second major issue is that we think we are in a caloric deficit when we are not.

Let us look at both of these impediments to weight loss.

If we were to religiously track how many calories we consume for the day, most of us would be in for a surprise. One often repeated phrase is I hardly eat. While that may be true in terms of meal frequency and size, the source of the calories can be the cause for a caloric surplus.

Most nutritional labels only give the caloric values of the serving size. But there are multiple servings in a container. For example, per serving for a tin of corned beef, there are 130 calories. That seems low until you realise that there are six servings in the regular size tin. That is 780 calories.

The calories in a pack of crackers is not the 120 you see per serving, but 420 calories. So a half a tin of bully beef and crackers is over 800 calories. And you havent drank the juice that could be another 200 calories. Thats 1,000 calories from one light meal.

A round bun as a snack 450 calories; sweet biscuit or chips, easily 400 calories. Sandwiches can be calorie dense when the condiments and type of meat is factored in. And then there is bread. Two slices, 260 calories, and we havent added the butter yet.

Even fruits and shakes with their high sugar content are hidden sources of calories. A salad, with croutons, dressings, cheese, etc., can be over 1,000 calories.

You may be eating healthy, but one snack or bad meal totally destroys your caloric deficit. Many persons fall into the trap where they feel they are eating healthy but they are still taking in too many calories.

On the other side of the equation, we overestimate how much we burn at the gym. Are we looking at the time spent working out or the quality of the effort? You could be in the gym for an hour and burn only 200-300 calories. You feel hungry after the workout or buy into the idea that you must fuel your body with sports drinks or more food.

What actually happens is that you cancel out the calories burned and are back at square one.

Exercises such as walking and running burn more calories the heavier you are. But as you get slimmer, there is less weight for your muscles to move around so you require less energy, that is, you burn less calories for the same distance than when you were bigger.

To understand how many calories we need to eat and burn, we need to know what is our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The BMR is the minimum number of calories required to run our bodies when at rest.

Organs such as the brain, heart, liver and kidneys need calories to fully function. Our skeletal muscle primarily burns fat at rest and is the contributor to the BMR we can increase consciously. Depending on your age, sex and weight, your BMR can range from 1,200 to 2,500 calories per day on average.

Our daily activities such as walking and any manual labour add to this BMR and we get our total caloric requirements per day. The big problem is that we do not know what is our BMR and so we overestimate how many calories we require for daily activities.

I myself was surprised that my BMR was 10 per cent lower than what was expected for my age and size. For others, its even worse. You may be looking at nutritional labels giving calories as a percentage of a 2,000cal/day diet when your BMR is only 1,500 cals/day!

One of the main issues why I dont endorse crash diets and teas is that they lead to a severe caloric deficit. When your body is in such a deficit, it reaches for any available stored energy. That could be fat and protein from skeletal muscle. If you are not protecting your muscles with enough protein in your diet, your muscle mass shrinks, and with that its contribution to your BMR. Your daily caloric requirements fall and as soon as you are off the diet, the weight returns with a vengeance.

Applying these principles in a consistent manner instead of quick fixes can lead to long-term weight loss in the overweight but not the morbidly obese. That is where it gets complex. Ill get into that in my next article.

Dr Alfred Dawes is a general, laparoscopic and weight loss surgeon; Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; former senior medical officer of the Savanna La Mar Public General Hospital; former president of the Jamaica Medical Doctors Association. @dr_aldawes. Email feedback to yourhealth@gleanerjm.com and info@islandlaparoscopy.com

Read more from the original source:
Alfred Dawes | Are you really on a diet? - Jamaica Gleaner

Diet for stress can include teas like kava and green tea, and also leafy green vegetables

Chronic stress is detrimental to your physical and mental health. If you are stressed constantly, every day, all day and night, and are being unable to sleep because of this stress, then you are chronically stressed. Being chronically stressed can put at risk of depression, weight gain, weight loss, hormonal imbalances, obesity, menstrual problems, heart disease, high blood pressure, sexual dysfunction, poor digestive system and much more. All these consequences of taking too much stress is the reason why we talk so often about stress management activities and importance of taking as less stress as possible. In this article, we are going to talk about some foods and vitamins that can help in combating your stress.

A healthy diet, exercise, yoga, meditation, listening to music or indulging in a hobby are known to be effective stress management strategies. Also, you can reduce stress by changing your attitude towards stressful situations and how you react to anything stressful that you come across. Lifestyle coach Luke Coutinho says that not every stressful situation needs to be reacted on. Learn the art of ignorance in order to take less stress in your life.

Do yoga to get rid of stress effectivelyPhoto Credit: iStock

Also read:5 Simple Ways To Reduce Stress At Work

Here are foods that can help you get rid of stress:

Vitamin-C rich oranges can help in reducing stress hormones and also strengthen the immune system. Studies on high blood pressure patients have found that increasing your Vitamin C intake can reduce blood pressure and levels of cortisol or stress hormone.

B-vitamins and magnesium in leafy greens can help in reducing effects of stress. In fact, lack of magnesium can trigger headaches, fatigue and effects of stress. They are low in carbs, can be included in weight loss diet, and are great for high blood pressure patients.

Also read:High Blood Pressure And Other Top Benefits Of Including Leafy Greens In Diet

Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb that can improve your body's resilience to physical and mental stress. Here's an interesting way to include ashwagandha in your diet. Take an ounce of ashwagandha powder in ghee and add some date sugar, honey, jaggery or coconut sugar (any one of these sweetening ingredients). Eat the mixture around 20 minutes before breakfast or later during the day with a cup of milk. If stress is causing difficulty in sleeping, then it's the best to consume ashwagandha at night as it can help in inducing sleep. Ashwagandha has also been linked to reducing levels of cortisol in morning.

Traditionally consumed as a ceremonial beverage, kava can help in reducing anxiety because of the calming effects it has on the body. Kava is essentially a tropical evergreen shrub. Roots of this plant are used for making kava tea. People also add shredded almonds and honey in the tea. Drinking it regularly can reduce the amount of stress you experience on a daily basis. Also, green tea, black tea, chamomile tea can have similar effects on stress, when consumed in the right pattern and portions. L-theanine is the amino acid which is commonly found in tea leaves. It has calming effects on the body, can reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Antioxidants in tea can promote relaxation and reduce stressPhoto Credit: iStock

These foods and vitamins are most likely going to help you in reducing stress. If these don't work, you can try yoga and meditation. In case chronic stress starts to impact your day-to-day functioning, then you must seek professional help.

Also read:Turmeric Tea: Amazing Health Benefits You Cannot Afford To Miss

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

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Diet For Stress: Try These Vitamin-Rich Foods And Drinks To Get Rid Of Stress And Anxiety - NDTV News

As we enter the holiday season, Americans are abandoning their attempts to be healthy and half will break their diet to give into the temptation of holiday food, according to new research.

The survey of 2,000 Americans who celebrate a winter holiday found that 47 percent have given into the lure of their favorite treats and ended up quitting their diet as a result.

But theyre not alone in making unhealthy decisions at the end of the year results of the second annual Writing Off the End of the Year survey found that 41 percent use the holidays as an excuse to postpone being healthy, compared to 47 percent the previous year.

Commissioned by Herbalife Nutrition and conducted by OnePoll, the survey found that for those taking a start again in January approach, a third start postponing their healthy habits by mid-November.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said it was hardest to stay healthy during the winter holiday season, and food is a major reason why.

Forty-four percent admit to having eaten more than one dessert at a meal, while 36 percent have eaten more than one holiday dinner in a day and 30 percent say theyve had to undo a button on their pants because of eating too much.

In fact, the average person expects to gain six pounds during the holiday season, according to both the 2018 and this years survey.

The biggest food temptations were found to be cookies (53 percent), pies or cakes (53 percent) and home-cooked holiday meals (44 percent).

And the survey found that three in 10 actually plan to eat more during the holidays specifically because their New Years resolution is to be healthier.

In addition to overindulging, not getting enough exercise was another reason respondents might be piling on the pounds during the holidays.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents say they exercise less during the holidays and of those, the average time spent working out each week was two hours less than usual.

Interestingly, this years survey showed that respondents are less optimistic about their ability to stay healthy in the new year (45 percent), as compared to 2018 in which 54 percent believed their efforts would be successful.

Enjoying the holidays doesnt mean you have to completely abandon your attempts to be healthy and make healthy choices, says Dr. John Agwunobi, co-president and chief health and nutrition officer at Herbalife Nutrition.

Healthy snacking is a useful tool in combating overindulgence. Consuming protein-rich snacks before heading out to a holiday feast can help make you feel full, so that you dont overindulge.

But with January comes a new year, new me attitude and results found that 33 percent are planning to make a New Years resolution compared to 34 percent last year.

The top resolution for the second consecutive year is to exercise more, but it ranked higher among last years respondents (71 percent vs. 59 percent).

For those looking ahead to 2020, this was followed by eating healthier (59 percent) and saving more money (53 percent).

Staying on track can be hard especially if you are tackling it on your own. Developing a support system of people who know your goals, strengths and weaknesses can be extremely beneficial in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, especially during the challenging times of the year, Dr. Agwunobi added.

More here:
The top tempting holiday treats Americans abandon their diets for - New York Post

Many people want to lose fat around their legs. Focusing on exercises that tone the leg muscles, and making lifestyle changes to lose weight, can help people achieve this.

Everyone has some leg fat, and how much a person has varies among individuals. It is, however, more common for females to store fat in their legs than males.

While it is not possible to reduce weight loss in one specific area of the body, people can achieve toned legs by doing exercises that target and strengthen key leg muscles, while reducing body fat overall.

In this article, we look at ways to tone the leg muscles and reduce body fat. Using a combination of the following techniques will be most effective.

According to sports research, it is not possible to target weight loss to just one area of the body. If a person starts losing weight, they tend to do so across their entire body. This means that any weight loss techniques can work for reducing leg fat.

In one small-scale study, researchers asked volunteers to do 960 to 1200 leg press repetitions for 12 weeks using just one leg. The results indicated that the training was effective in reducing fat mass all over the body and not only in the trained leg.

Exercise is one of the best ways to reduce body fat, including leg fat. When developing an exercise program, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends using both strength training and aerobic exercise.

Strength training involves performing exercises against resistance to build strength and muscular endurance. Forms of strength training include using dumbbells, resistance bands, and bodyweight exercises. Strength training builds lean body mass and may help decrease body fat.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommend performing 810 multi-joint exercises 23 times a week. Multi-joint exercises work various muscles at the same time, which burns more calories and encourages weight loss.

Strength training, multi-joint exercises that can help tone and define the leg muscles include:

Aerobic exercise is cardiovascular training that increases the heart rate and breathing rate. It includes activities such as:

Aerobic exercise can consist of working at a steady pace or doing intervals, which involves alternating between high and lower intensity. Aerobic exercise burns calories, which may promote overall fat loss.

Regular aerobic exercise also makes your heart and lungs stronger.

One small-scale study assessed the effectiveness of sprint interval running on decreasing fat mass in women. They reported that 15 women who ran sprints 3 times a week for 6 weeks reduced their body fat by 8%.

There is no one specific diet that aids in losing leg fat. In general, a person will lose weight if they use up more calories than they take in. Healthful foods usually have fewer calories, such as fruits and vegetables. The best diet for an individual is one that they can stick with.

For a healthful diet, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend eating:

Eating plenty of high fiber foods can help with weight loss. The body takes longer to digest high fiber foods, so they make a person feel fuller for longer.

Many people turn to low carbohydrate diets, which involve restricting carbs and eating foods high in protein and healthful fats. Studies show mixed results on whether these diets work better than others, but some research suggests low carb diets are effective for weight loss.

One randomized control trial, for example, reported that people following a low carbohydrate diet saw a more significant reduction in weight than those on a low fat diet.

When people lose weight, they tend to do so all over their body. Some people lose fat in certain areas before others, and this varies between people. Eating a healthful diet will have many health benefits alongside weight loss.

Read more about the benefits of healthful eating here.

Alcohol intake can contribute to weight gain. Alcohol often contains a high number of calories and does not provide nutritional value. Drinking too much can contribute to excessive increases in body fat.

In addition to the calories from alcohol, drinking large amounts of alcohol may also lead to poor nutritional choices, such as overeating. Avoiding overconsumption of alcohol may help reduce weight gain and the development of leg fat.

High stress levels can have adverse effects on a person's health, and that may include excessive weight gain. Stress may lead to changes in appetite and overeating. Chronic stress also affects hormone production, which contributes to weight gain and an increase in fat across the body.

One 2017 study reported that people with higher levels of baseline stress gained more weight over 6 months than those with lower stress levels.

Finding ways to relax, such as meditation, deep breathing, box breathing, and relaxation exercises may help combat chronic stress.

Not getting enough sleep may increase a person's chances of gaining weight, including leg fat. Sleep plays a part in the regulation of various hormones, including those that may affect hunger. For example, the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which help regulate appetite, are both affected by lack of sleep.

Sleep deprivation causes an increase in ghrelin, which stimulates the appetite. At the same time, lack of sleep decreases the production of leptin, which reduces hunger. The change in hormone production can lead to overeating and weight gain, resulting in more leg fat.

Getting enough sleep, which the National Sleep Foundation recommend to be 79 hours a night, helps regulate hormone production.

It is not possible to reduce fat on the legs alone. However, reducing body weight, in general, can also help decrease leg fat. The best way to lose leg fat is by combining exercise, diet, and a healthful lifestyle. Exercise should include both aerobic exercise and strength training.

Read about more tips for successful weight loss.

Decreasing the number of calories consumed also promotes fat loss. There is a variety of diet approaches available. Individuals concerned about their overall body fat or leg fat should talk with their doctor to determine the best options for losing weight.

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How to lose leg fat: Exercises and other methods - Medical News Today