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12-04-2012 11:38 ..CLICK THE LINK FOR A FULL REVIEW OF THE DIET SOLUTION PROGRAM - Click The Link For Diets That Work From The Diet Solution Program and Discover Healthy Dessert Recipes. The Diet Solution Program is THE Diet Solution For You If You Want To Lose Weight QUICKLY and SAFELY... Check It Out Now!

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Diets That Work: The Diet Solution Program and Healthy Dessert Recipes - Video

http://www.17-day-diet.org Dr. Mike Moreno's Diet | As Seen on Dr. Phil and The

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17 Day Diet - Reviews, Book, Plan, Recipes

The "New Year, New You" movement often makes nutrition professionals cringe. A flood of dieters with good intentions latch on to crazy fads only to be disappointed when their overly restrictive conquests fail. But that's not a reason to toss well-intentioned healthy eating goals out the window. All hope is not lost: U.S. News and World Report's board of health experts, which includes a gaggle of dietitians, vet all the major diet plans out there on a yearly basis to find the best ones for achieving overall health and wellbeing based on the science and data behind them. If you're looking to make some healthy changes this year, these are the three healthiest diet plans of 2023.

U.S. News annually scores diets, evaluating them based on a rubric which includes various aspects including safety, ease of use and ability to produce long-term weight loss. Scores are tabulated and diets are then ranked. Mediterranean Diet, DASH Diet and the Flexitarian were crowned top three diets for 2023, with DASH and Flexitarian tied for second place for the second year in a row. The MIND Diet and TLC Diet rounded out the top five. Below, we break down the diets.

Coming in at first place (for the fourth year in a row), with an overall score of 4.6/5 the Mediterranean Diet is a consistent contender for top diet of the year. Much like the other top diets, this plan is not overly restrictive, and emphasizes whole foods and variety with a focus on olive oil, seafood, fruits, vegetable, whole grains and legumes. Red meat and added sugar are limited, while eggs, poultry and dairy are encouraged in moderation. Wine is also allowed in moderation, aligning with the Mediterranean lifestyle. A day on Mediterranean diet might look like avocado toast on whole grain bread for breakfast, a hummus platter with whole wheat pita and crudit for lunch and salmon, couscous and salad with olive oil based dressing for dinner. Snacks would include yogurt, nuts and fresh fruit.

One of the best features of the Mediterranean style of eating is that the principles can be modified other cuisines or cultures. For example, the emphasis on fruits and vegetables may lead to consumption of different types of produce depending on what part of the world you reside, and the benefits of eating more fruits and veggies is universal. Elements of the Mediterranean lifestyle have been observed in the Nordic Diet and the Asian Diet with subtle changes such as the use of more canola oil than olive oil in the Nordic style and more carbohydrates from rice and sweet potatoes in the Asian Diet.

Tied for second place with Flexitarian Diet (more on that plan below), the DASH Diet is a refreshingly reasonable way of eating. Originally designed based on research from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health) in the 1990s, this plan aimed to help cut sodium and reduce hypertension through a well-balanced diet. Years of scientific evidence found it was successful. This research also determined that DASH can also be beneficial for weight loss and prevention of other chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes. DASH was also ranked the #1 Heart-Healthy diet on the list. Karman Meyer, Registered dietitian and author of The Everything DASH Diet Meal Prep Cookbook supports the benefits of following this lifestyle plan in accordance with your physician.

The DASH Diet is ideal for anyone who has just been diagnosed with high blood pressure or for someone who has been living with it for years. Studies show that the DASH Diet can help lower blood pressure in just two weeks! she says. The lifestyle changes can have a big impact. For some individuals who have taken medications for years to manage blood pressure, they can see an improvement in blood pressure numbers by following the DASH Diet lifestyle changes," adds Meyer.

DASH emphasizes hefty amounts of fruits and veggies at every meal, along with lean meats, seafoods, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. Added sugars are limited but not forbidden, meat-free meals are encouraged, and herbs and spices take the place of salt to boost flavor without sodium. A day on DASH may include a veggie omelet and a small bowl of whole grain cereal with skim milk for breakfast, a green salad with grilled chicken and/or beans and piece of whole grain bread for lunch, a piece of salmon with broccoli and spaghetti squash for dinner and a smoothie made with low fat yogurt and fruit as a snack. Meal preppers will love flexibility of DASH and most of the recommended meals are easy to make in advance.

With a tie score of 4.4/5 with DASH diet, the Flexitarian style of eating continues to gain momentum with folks looking towards a more laid back approach to plant-based eating. Created by registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, this mix of mostly vegetarian foods, with the freedom to eat meat whenever you feel like it, helps inspire a balanced and sensible plan. The type of semi-vegetarian diet can also help promote heart health and weight loss. Dieters are encouraged to enjoy whole grains, plant protein, eggs, nuts and seeds, dairy or plant-based dairy alternatives and healthy plant-based fats. A Flexitarian day may include a bowl of oatmeal topped with nuts and berries for breakfast, whole grain crackers with almond butter and fruit for a snack, a bean burger with avocado for lunch and a tofu (or occasionally, chicken) stir fry for dinner.

Other honorable mentions include the MIND Diet (#4) and TLC Diet (#5). MIND combines concepts of Mediterranean and DASH with an emphasis on improving brain health. TLC stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Change and like DASH, was created in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, this time targeting lowering cholesterol levels. Tied for sixth was Mayo Clinic Diet and Volumetrics Diet . Tara Schmidt, M. Ed., RDN, LD is a lead registered dietitian nutritionist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She points out the appeal of Mayo plans flexibility. The Mayo Clinic Diet meets the needs of those who want flexibility, but with guidance. The Mayo Clinic Diet pairs learning about healthy eating and behavior change with tools like recipes, virtual support, a food tracker, and scientifically backed education, says Tara Schmidt, M. Ed., RDN, LD, a lead registered dietitian nutritionist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The Volumetrics Diet focuses on high water-content foods like fruits and vegetables at every meal to help dieters feel full and satisfied while taking in fewer calories.

*This article was written and/or reviewed by an independent registered dietitian nutritionist.

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These Are the Best Diets of 2023 - Food Network

Manganese isnt discussed as often as other nutrients, but its vital to a healthy diet. You should include foods with manganese to support essential processes your body goes through every day. Without it, you wouldnt have bone strength, energy from food, or proper immunity against disease. This important nutrient also serves as a crucial antioxidant and blood clotting agent. Keep reading to learn more about manganese benefits and how to incorporate this nutrient into your diet.

Manganese is a mineral that your body needs to function properly. While youre busy going about your day, manganese works hard to process your cholesterol, proteins, and carbs. You can even find people who swear by it for helping with osteoporosis and hay fever.

Children need between 1.2 and 1.9 milligrams (mg) every day from ages one through their teen years. If you were born female and are over 19, you need at least 1.8 mg of manganese every day. If you were born male and are over 19, you need at least 2.3 mg daily. According to Oregon State University, there is no concern for either toxicity or deficiency, as both are exceedingly rare.

Manganese assists with activating the enzymes you need for metabolism. You need this process to work properly so that proteins, amino acids, cholesterol, and carbs all break down and get to where theyre needed in your body. Manganese also allows your body to take in and benefit from needed vitamins, including vitamin C, vitamin E, thiamine, and choline. Without this assistance, your liver wouldnt function properly.

Thanks to this nutrient, your brain cells and neural pathways stay healthier. Manganese has antioxidants that guard your brain against damage that can occur from free radicals. Secondly, manganese attaches itself to neurotransmitters. This binding process stimulates better movement of all the electrical impulses moving throughout your nervous system, which can improve the way your brain functions.

Manganese, along with copper, zinc, and calcium, keeps your bones healthy. This is essential as you get older. Too many postmenopausal women and men over 50 deal with osteoporosis-related bone injuries. Manganese with added vitamins can work toward combating that.

At its worst, inflammation can lead to arthritis, blindness, diabetes, and cancer. Manganese, thanks to its steady supply of antioxidants, might be able to help. Some studies suggest that manganese, along with glucosamine and chondroitin, might even reduce the pain that comes from certain arthritis conditions.

A cup of cooked brown rice has almost 100% of your daily allowance for manganese. You can enjoy rice in a variety of ways, including as a side dish with protein and vegetables. Rice is also delicious as the main ingredient in risotto with meat, chicken, or seafood mixed in. Vegetarians can use white beans, spinach or kale, mushrooms, and olives for a hearty, delicious, manganese-rich risotto dinner.

Oysters give you a great meal and lots of manganese, nearly 4% of what you need daily from a mere 3 ounces of cooked oysters.

Follow these guidelines to enjoy this delicacy safely.

Two slices of whole-grain bread give you about 60% of your recommended daily manganese. Enjoy those two slices in the morning with eggs and your favorite toppings, or at lunch with protein, cheese, and all the fixings. Whole-grain cereals, granola, and pasta can also add variety and manganese to your meals.

A cup of raw pineapple contains almost 70% of the manganese you need every day. Its delicious plain, or you can add the cup to ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, or smoothies.

A 100-gram bar of dark chocolate contains about 98% manganese. A square or two can be a delicious and nutritious treat at the end of a long day. You can combine it with strawberries, grapes, or a glass of red wine, or eat it plain.

There are about 2.23 mgs of manganese in 100 grams of almonds. They can be added to cooked meals like chicken or green beans. You can also add almonds to salads, granola, or mixed trail recipes that call for coconut strips and dark chocolate.

Mussels contain more manganese content than almost any other food source. If you eat 3 ounces of cooked blue mussels, youll get a whopping 251% of your daily allowance. Like with any shellfish, make sure mussels pose no health risks before you consume them.

Heres how to safely clean, prepare, and eat this delicious dish.

A standard 1-cup serving of cooked oatmeal contains more than 60% of your daily manganese needs. Add toppings like peanut butter, raisins, dried cranberries, or honey to make the oatmeal extra tasty.

One teaspoon of black pepper gives you 13% of your daily recommended manganese intake. It also adds a lot of flavor to a meal. Use pepper on salads, pasta, protein, cooked vegetables, eggs, sandwiches, wraps, seafood dishes, casseroles, soups, and so much more!

A cup of cooked spinach gives you 35% of the manganese you need each day. Add that cooked spinach to eggs in the morning or sandwiches for lunch, or use it as a delicious side meal with any kind of protein for dinner. You can also store it in the refrigerator and add it to protein or poke bowls, smoothies, and pasta meals.

A cup of boiled soybeans gives you 62% of your daily manganese requirement. Edamame with a little bit of salt is a great snack by itself, but you can also add it to stir-fried protein and rice, noodles, or grain bowls.

A delicious meal that includes 3 ounces of steamed mussels, 1 cup of cooked spinach with a little bit of butter, and some mashed potatoes with black pepper will give you a lot of great flavors and more than 200% of your daily recommended manganese. For an added manganese-filled treat, dont forget dark chocolate for dessert!

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Include these 11 foods in your diet to reap the benefits of manganese - The Manual

Janet Chrzans work falls at the intersection of nutrition and anthropology. Im interested in how our social worlds channel food choices that contribute to health outcomes, says Chrzan, an adjunct assistant professor in Penns School of Nursing and in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts & Sciences.

In the past, shes studied and written about subjects including organic farming and alcohol consumption. Recently, she published a book about fad diets with colleague and psychology professor Kima Cargill from the University of Washington, Tacoma. These diets arent really about the food, Chrzan says. Theyre about identity, status, control, and transformation. They have power because we believe they will fulfill our desires for self-improvement.

Following is an excerpt from that book, Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall for Fad Diets, published in August 2022 by Columbia University Press.

Youve heard of them and may have one or more friends on them; maybe youre on one yourself. With these diets, you sharply limit certain foods because you want to lose weight, avoid illness, reset your body, eat a biologically ideal diet for our species, or live your best life. They come and go, gaining and losing popularity in a somewhat predictable social cycle and changing namesif not practicesas new advocates rediscover and capitalize on their re-creation of the new-old craze. One decade might abjure fats, the next lives in fear of carbohydrates.

Cookbooks pop up in quick and easy abundance to offer simple, family-friendly recipes that supposedly eliminate the forbidden food category (these same cookbooks will populate the shelves of charity thrift stores in a few years). Celebrities and health gurus endorse the diet, and it becomes the only way to demonstrate how much you value health and well-being to your friends, family, and Instagram followers.

These are the diets that define fad diets: they promise easy solutions and rapid fat loss only if you remove an entire category of food from your diet. Why is this particular type of fad diet so appealing?

Food removal diets are often branded and ask the dieter to spend money on special foods, membership in an organization, or the services of a professional nutritionist, personal trainer, or coach. Paradoxically, these food removal diets often wind up adding foods, albeit special ones intended to replace the foods that are supposed to be removed.

These diets appeal to a uniquely American practice of shopping to solve problems, following a widely held belief that consumption solves, rather than creates, problems. It is the commodification of inadequacythe ways in which brands and the consumer marketplace remind you of all the ways you could be better. We suspect that buying things to solve problems creates a sense of agency among dieters: Purchasing special foods makes them feel more efficacious than if they just ate a little bit less all the time.

Shopping, spending, and eating are all part of a faith in consumption that influences our culture, but our attempts to solve the problem of being overweight through more consumption mistakes the disease for its cure, perpetuating a confusing pursuit of good health in a world of consumer goods. Even one of the oldest and most successful diets, Weight Watchers, relied on membership subscriptions well before its branded foods and online services developed.

In the 1960s a woman named Jean Nidetch, after losing significant weight herself, had the idea to create a support group with attendance fees for people who wanted to lose weight (what became Weight Watchers). Scoffers said, Oh please. No ones going to pay money to lose weight. Weight Watchers proved them wrong.

Chrzan has enjoyed hundreds of conversations with people on fad diets, and most of those diets eliminate one or more foods rather than decrease the amount of food eaten. People say they adopt the diets to decrease caloric intake, reset metabolism, restore health, or simply lose weight quickly. These diets are so popular that eliminating a food type may be the archetypal diet in the minds of Americans, rather than, for instance, eating less or less frequently or replacing high-calorie foods like fatty snacks with low-calorie options like fresh fruit.

It is even possible that the concept of food reduction has come to mean reduction of a food group (or macronutrient) rather than reduction of the overall amount of food. Two examples stand out as typical and interesting because the people involved were self-aware and conflicted about the dietsAtkins and Whole30and their efficacy. The former diet eliminates most carbohydrates, and the latter eliminates most carbs and many fats, gluten, all sugars, and alcohol, promising a fast health reset. Both tout their capacity to cause rapid weight loss.

Once when Chrzan was at a pet store, the clerk recommended an all-protein, no-carbohydrate food as the best option for cats: This food has no carbs, which is good. We shouldnt be eating any carbs, and neither should our cats. They are very bad for us. Janet responded that while cats were obligate carnivores and didnt require large amounts of carbohydrates, humans were omnivores and absolutely needed to eat a balanced diet with differing forms of carbohydrates. The clerk asked why everyone knows that carbs are bad if they arent, and then asked what Chrzan meant by different kinds of carbs.

A few minutes later, after discussing simple and complex carbohydrate biochemistry, the clerk said his girlfriend was often on a diet and that most required cutting out carbs. She did Atkins for a while, and now shes on and off Whole30. He admitted that it made dinner much less enjoyable: You know, I do like my pasta and the occasional pizza, and if she cant share with me, its not a real meal. And then he said that she never seemed to lose weight on the diets, that shed take it off, and then as soon as she stopped the dietor went to a new onethe weight would all come back, plus more. Shed look for the next diet, one that was even more restrictive, something that was sure to work because it made sure she couldnt eat all the bad foods.

Chrzan then talked about how the body physically compensates with weight gain after experiencing a starvation episode and why and how avoiding carbs causes rapid weight lossand rapid weight gain after. The clerk eventually agreed that what works for a carnivore probably doesnt work for a species that evolved from fruit-eating primates.

The second example is from a conversation with friends who were anticipating doing the Whole30 as part of a sober January, to clean the body and lose the holiday weight. They explained that they always went on Whole30 in January, to get rid of the toxins from the holiday excess. But, they said, Its really hard, because we get together with friends every week for dinner and so its difficult to have a shared meal. Sometimes were all on Whole30 and so we can agree on the food, but we really enjoy having a glass of wine; we dont get drunk or anything, just its nice to have a relaxing evening. And the food, well, that gets boring too, doesnt it? I mean, there are lots of recipes out there for Whole30 meals, but its just missing something after a while, isnt it?

Chrzan asked why they adopted Whole30 if it wasnt pleasant, and the response was Well, its the best way to lose it, isnt it? You just avoid all the bad foods, and it gets rid of the inflammation and the toxins from the body. But the food is really hard to keep doing; you really start to miss having a pasta dinner or some good sourdough bread. But the diets really good for you, so we do it for a month to get rid of the Christmas weight.

She asked if they lost weight on the diet, and they told her they werent sure they did, but thats not all its about; its about resetting the body, getting a good clean start to the year, getting rid of all the toxinsoh, but then in February we sometimes eat and drink enough to make up for January! Planning a month of sobriety and conscientious eating is a good ideamany cultures embrace fasting to encourage health, reflection, and renewalbut this example demonstrates that embracing a diet that makes socializing difficult could be counterproductive.

Several themes stand out from these conversations.

One is that the diets might not work and may also cause compensatory behavioral overindulgence leading to weight gain. Two, they are difficult because people miss certain foods. Three, they are difficult because they disrupt valued personal and social habits. Four, they make socializing difficult or more complicated because people cant share food easily. And five, they are perceived to be difficult by their users and are unpleasant as an everyday food regime.

They disrupt commensality and food habits enough that maintaining the diet becomes complicated and difficult. Furthermore, people justify their use with a variety of reasons that might not be accurate, because removal of toxins or a perceived decrease in inflammation isnt necessarily something the diets accomplish.

We are left with the question of why people do them if they are difficult and unpleasant, and after many conversations, Chrzan suspects that people justify their adoption because they are unpleasant and difficult. Indeed, she has come to suspect that the difficulty is linked to a mental perception of efficacy and that sacrifices might equate with a magical thinking that such great unpleasantness will produce correspondingly profound wished-for outcomes. Like Benjamin Rushs adoption of heroic medicine, because the cure is so extreme, shocking, and painful, it has to result in a similarly robust positive outcome.

These diets arent really about the food. Theyre about identity, status, control, and transformation.Penn nutritional anthropologist Janet Chrzan

Kima once worked with a couple who fell on and off the diet and exercise wagon with regularity. When they were on, the regimen teetered on masochism. They drank no alcohol and ate only poached chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, and other bland foods that they perceived as healthy. They paid hundreds of dollars per month to a boutique gym with a personal trainer and took boot camp classes whose routines sounded byzantine. They described running through tires, climbing a rope to ring a bell, coming down a zip line, and then doing a lot of jumping jacks and crunches. Because they werent used to eating or exercising this way, the diet resulted in boredom and noncompliance within a couple of weeks, and the exercise program resulted in injuries, soreness, and exhaustion within a month.

Once they fell off the wagon, they ate most of their food from fast food chains, drank both cocktails and wine nightly, and stopped exercising completely. Of course, the weight came back quickly, along with a crushing sense of defeat. What was striking was the difficulty they had achieving something in between these two polarities. Kima could never convince them to go on a daily walk in their neighborhood or enjoy a simple, tasty dinner of chili and one or two beers. They dismissed this middle ground because it wouldnt be efficacious enough, and instead repeatedly opted for episodes of an extreme but unsustainable lifestyle that mirrored what they saw on blogs and social media feeds.

We have heard, again and again, that people simply cant continue on fad diets, that they fail because they are abandoned. Something just doesnt seem right with their meals, and theyre hard to maintain for a long time. That might be why so many of the carb-reduction diets tout a 14- or 30-day plan and then allow users to gradually increase carbohydrates.

But we also suspect that they fail because they interfere with the concept of the meal and with commensality, two deeply embedded cultural practices that define eating for many people. After all, people eat meals (not single foods) even though they often write and think about food as some type of nutrient package, or with some other individualized classification system that separates food from the everyday lived practice of eating. Leaving out a macronutrient may become difficult over time because our brains, cultures, and dining expectations tell us that our meal must include carbohydrates or fat to be conceptually complete.

Our cultures train us to eat a certain way, and if we do not, we feel that something is vaguely wrong. Similarly, most of us also value eating together, and our preferred mental image of how to eat involves food sharing. After all, we valorize the family meal, and people treasure eating out with friends. Many of our cultural rituals require celebrating together over a table groaning with special foods.

The idea of eating together is baked into our understanding of how to feed ourselves, and so adopting a diet that makes it difficult to enjoy a meal with the people we care about makes that diet much less attractive over time. We suspect that these two cultural constructsthe structure of the meal and eating togethermake the practice of these diets difficult and likely to be abandoned.

Janet Chrzan is an adjunct assistant professor in Penns School of Nursing and in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts & Sciences. Kima Cargill is a professor in the Social, Behavioral, and Human Sciences division of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Tacoma. The text above was excerpted from their book Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall for Fad Diets 2022 Columbia University Press. Used by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.

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The allure of fad diets, and why they fail | Penn Today - Penn Today

In this installment of our Expert Voices series, Parkinsons News Today asked Christine C. Ferguson, PhD, to answer some of your questions about diet and nutrition for people with Parkinsons disease.

Ferguson is a registered dietitian (RD) and postdoctoral scholar at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and nutrition research coordinator at the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability. She earned her PhD in human nutrition from the University of Alabama. She has experience working in the clinical setting as an RD, instructing emerging RDs and health professionals in the academic setting, and educating the community of people with disabilities, including those with Parkinsons disease, through organizations such as NCHPAD, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Tanner Foundation, and the Parkinson Association of Alabama.

Christine C. Ferguson holds a PhD in human nutrition and is a registered dietitian whos assisted many Parkinsons nonprofits in nutrition education. (Photo courtesy of Christine Ferguson)

There are several diets that are being investigated in Parkinson disease, and it is challenging to recommend a particular diet when this area of research is still new. Since there is not one diet recommended for people with Parkinsons, taking an individualized approach under the guidance of a registered dietitian is advised.

What we do know is that a varied, whole food, plant-based diet is considered a healthy dietary pattern for most individuals, including those with Parkinsons. Plant-based does not mean it is exclusively vegetarian or vegan, but there is a special emphasis on getting most of your nutrients from plant sources rather than animal products.

There is compelling evidence to support recommending diets such as the Mediterranean diet and the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, but there is not conclusive research at this time to support these diets in slowing disease progression. Yet, these are both plant-based diets that have evidence to support their prevention of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline, which is often a priority of people with Parkinson disease.

I usually express concern with any diets or meal plans that recommend cutting out entire food groups, purchasing expensive supplements and packets, and offering quick results. Unfortunately, there is no magic pill or detox treatment that will produce miraculous results in a short timeframe.

A more specific diet I am hesitant to promote is the ketogenic diet, which is a very high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet. From a biochemical perspective, there is evidence to support that aketogenic diet may offer neuroprotective benefits, but there is no data to support any long-term benefit in people with Parkinsons. From a practical perspective, following a true ketogenic diet is challenging to adhere to and even more so to sustain. There are key nutrients from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that will be missed when cutting back carbohydrates to the degree that it requires. For anyone who is considering this diet, I always recommend they be monitored by a healthcare professional.

A specific food-medication interaction surprised me, and it is the interaction of protein and medications with levodopa (e.g., Sinemet, Rytary, Duopa, Parcopa). Essentially, when someone takes their levodopa medicine simultaneously with food that contains protein, there is the possibility that they are not able to absorb all of their medication. This is due to them needing the same transporter in the small intestine (like needing to use the same door), but the body will choose to absorb protein over the levodopa. The consequence of this can be that the levodopa is not fully absorbed, part of it is excreted, and the person with Parkinsons can experience more side effects since their medication is not working effectively.

What continues to surprise me about this interaction is that it is still not fully understood. Not every person with Parkinsons experiences an increase in symptoms (referred to as off times) after taking their medication when eating food with protein, but we do not know why some people experience it and others do not. There is also evidence to suggest this interaction is not just happening in the small intestine. Rather, it may occur at various other locations within the body, including the blood-brain barrier. There is still a lot more to learn about exactly how protein and this type of medication interacts, including the most effective dietary approaches to mitigate this interaction.

I have already mentioned how protein may be important to some people with Parkinsons who take levodopa. I want to also add that protein is still important for people with Parkinsons because as we all age, we gradually lose muscle mass. Consuming enough protein is needed in order to maintain muscle, physical function, and the ability to perform daily activities.

With vitamins and minerals, there are specific ones that have been studied in relation to Parkinsons. I will add the disclaimer here that it is preferred to get these nutrients from food rather than supplements. If supplements are needed, they should be recommended under the advice of a health professional, especially considering how some may negatively interact with a persons medications. The supplement industry has loopholes in its regulations on quality, so discussing reputable brands with pharmacists, physicians, and/or RDs is also recommended.

Of the other nutrients that have been studied in Parkinsons, the few I will highlight here are vitamin D, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), and fish oil. People with Parkinsons have an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency, and this may be related to the area of the brain that is affected by the disease process. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to increased risks of osteoporosis and bone fractures, so it is important to make sure you are getting enough. Food sources of vitamin D include dairy (traditional dairy alternatives, like soy, almond, oat milks, that are fortified with vitamin D are OK, too!), fortified cereals and juices, eggs, and fish (salmon, tuna, sardines have the highest amount).

CoQ10 is of interest in Parkinsons, as it acts as an antioxidant that can be neuroprotective. Its also been shown that people with Parkinsons may be deficient in CoQ10, but this is something that is checked through routine medical care. While some studies support CoQ10 supplementation in decreasing disease severity, there are inconsistent results in others. It has been shown that a moderate dose (no more than 2,400 mg/day) is not harmful to people with Parkinsons. Food sources of CoQ10 include fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines) and whole grains.

I have already recommended fish intake because of it being a natural source of vitamin D and CoQ10, and I will continue to emphasis fish consumption because of it containing omega-3 fatty acids. This is a type of healthy, unsaturated fat that has been shown to be beneficial for heart and brain health. Again, consuming fish in its food form is going to be recommended over taking fish oil as a supplement. However, if a person dislikes fish, fish oil supplements of 1,000 mg is generally well-tolerated. To note, other nonfish sources of omega-3 fatty acids include ground flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and vegetable oils (olive, canola, avocado).

Building a healthy plate includes whole grains, lean proteins, fruit and vegetables, and low-fat dairy. While this may not be groundbreaking information to some, I do think we tend to overcomplicate it. You dont have to have an incredibly complex and strict diet to be healthy. Find recipes that make sense for your ability, the equipment you have access to, and what tastes good! Remember that making small changes is also key, because drastically changing your diet overnight will not be sustainable for long. Look at your average diet right now, and pick one to three things that seem simple to change. It can be something like switching from sweet tea to half sweet/unsweet tea, baking your french fries rather than frying, or eating one doughnut when you normally eat two. Building a nutrition plan can feel overwhelming, and if that is the case, I recommend finding an RD to help. You can find one near you using this link through the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, or you can ask your physician for a referral.

I will also share that people with Parkinsons and other physical disabilities are eligible to participate in an eight-week, virtual wellness program through the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability called the Mindfulness, Exercise and Nutrition to Optimize Resilience (MENTOR) Program. We are able to offer this program for free, and it doesnt cost anything except your time, because it is funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I help with the nutrition component of the program, and we have excellent RDs who teach weekly classes that include cooking demonstrations with adaptive tools, and they offer free nutrition counseling during the program. The nutrition content is intended to help build a foundational understanding in nutrition, and there is not a specific diet that is pushed. In addition to the nutrition component, participants can attend an exercise class for all abilities, mindfulness classes, and group health coaching sessions. You also get some great workout equipment, too! More information can be found here.

First, I wish more people in general saw an RD. At least in the United States, RDs are not commonly a part of most peoples healthcare team, including people with Parkinson disease. There is an incredible amount of misinformation shared on the internet and social media, and it is difficult to sort through it all and determine what is credible. One of the many ways RDs can help is by clarifying this misinformation and providing practical suggestions to making healthy lifestyle changes.

Expert Voices is a monthly series involving a Q&A with an expert in the Parkinsons space about a specific topic. These topics and questions are curated from a survey in which we ask readers what they want to learn more about from experts. If youd like to submit topics or questions for consideration in a future installment of the series, clickhere to take the survey.

Parkinsons News Todayis strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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Expert Voices: Diet and Nutrition for People With Parkinson's... - Parkinson's News Today

The link between obesity and mental health disorders is more significant than most people realize, and one physician researcher has been working to better understand the reasons.

Obesity has become epidemic, with the average American man now weighing 198 poundsup from 166 in the 1960sand the average American woman weighing 170 poundsup from 140 in the 1960s. Concurrently, mental disorders like depression, anxiety, ADHD, and post-traumatic stress disorder are also becoming epidemic, and Dr. William Wilson, author of Brain Drain, believes the phenomena are correlated.

While many researchers have linked several of these conditions to factors related to modern lifeeverything from sitting too much, to social isolation, to environmental contaminants including endocrine disruptersWilson believes the overarching cause is our food. Or more accurately, his findings focus on how the food we commonly eat triggers a neurological/psycho-emotional disorder he calls carbohydrate associated reversible brain syndrome or the CARB syndrome.

Wilson is the rare family physician who is also active in the research community, a combination that led to his work in the field.

According to Wilson, the long-term consumption of highly processed foods made by Big Food, or the Food Industrial Complex as he calls it, has had a profound impact on brain function. These foods are packed with high glycemic carbohydrates and sugars that drain the body of crucial neurotransmitters like dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. This loss nudges people toward mental disorders even as it compels the body to store extra fatregardless of how much the person eats.

I noticed a strange correlation [in my patients] between certain brain dysfunction symptoms and changes in body composition, and the symptom changes always preceded the body composition changes, Wilson told The Epoch Times.

In other words, psychological factors seemed to have a causative role in weight gain.

To me, this suggested that when it comes to fat storage, the brain calls the shots, he said.

Wilson made this observation after taking the somewhat unusual step 16 years ago to begin measuring body composition using a Futrex machine. It measures body composition far more accurately than the typical method of using body mass index (BMI), which is a formula based on dividing weight by height. Unfortunately, BMI doesnt take muscle mass into account.

Even people with anorexia can still have excess body fat, Wilson says.

Over the years, Wilson has amassed a database of more than 18,000 cases, and he noticed another pattern: When body composition improved so did several psychological conditions.

A 2003 paper by Harvard researchers theorized that 14 common brain disorders may be part of an overall disease called affective spectrum disorder. The paper got Wilson thinking.

I realized they were the same symptoms associated with changes in body composition and I eventually identified 22 symptoms that fit this pattern, he said.

The symptoms that Wilson says characterize CARB syndrome are:

At the heart of CARB syndrome is a pattern of disordered eating that is linked to shifts in brain chemistry and mental health.

The symptoms of CARB syndrome can overlap with many traditional brain disorders, Wilson said, which creates confusion in the medical and scientific communities.

For example, bipolar disorder has been with us since the dawn of human civilization, characterized by mania and psychosisa complete separation from reality, he said.

Over the past 50 years, we have been seeing a lot of people with hypomania but no psychosis. The medical profession decided to call this bipolar disorder II, which, in my opinion, is wrong. These patients have CARB syndrome, which is unrelated to bipolar disorder I. If you treat them with antipsychotics, over time they get worse and gain a lot of weight.

People with CARB syndrome dont eat like normal people, Wilson explained.

In normal, healthy people without CARB syndrome, mild cravings for sugar and highly refined carbohydrates can occur, especially after consuming processed food, but these cravings tend to be mild and transitory, he said.

In those with CARB syndrome, these cravings become very intense and persist regardless of food consumed, he said. They push people to consume more of the very food that is frying their brains, triggering a vicious circle of disease and declining quality of life. There are likely multiple reasons for these pathological cravings, including fluctuating glucose levels.

Studies in scientific literature have supported Wilsons tenets. In a study published in the journal Current Nutrition Reports in 2019, researchers wrote: Dopamine receptor agonists show attenuation of obesity and improvement of mental health in rodents and humans. Modulating brain insulin and dopamine signaling in obese patients can potentially improve therapeutic outcomes.

In other words, fixing dopamine issues decreased obesity and improved mental health in the subjects.

Research published in 2017 in the journal Birth Defects Research notes that recent studies have highlighted how palatable high fat and high sugar junk foods affect brain function, resulting in cognitive impairments and altered reward processing.

Diet can lead to alterations in dopamine-mediated reward signaling, and inhibitory neurotransmission controlled by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), two major neurotransmitter systems that are under construction across adolescence, the study authors wrote.

Poor dietary choices may derail the normal adolescent maturation process and influence neurodevelopmental trajectories, which can predispose individuals to dysregulated eating and impulsive behaviors.

In short, eating poorly can affect brain development and trigger disordered eating, even as it undermines impulse control.

This year, research published in the journal Behavioural Brain Research also studied links between diet and brain function in adolescent rats. The researchers looked at the role of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), an ingredient found in almost all junk food.

While HFCS consumption has been linked to an increased likelihood of obesity and other physical health impairments, the link between HFCS and persistent behavioral changes is not yet fully established, the researchers wrote.

The present study aimed to assess whether adolescent HFCS consumption could lead to alterations in adult behaviors and protein expression, following cessation, and the researchers found it did.

Taken together, these data suggest that adolescent HFCS consumption leads to protracted dysfunction in affective behaviors and alterations in accumbal proteins which persist following cessation of HFCS consumption, they concluded.

Wilson cowrote a 2021 article with Dr. Richard Johnson, a top fructose researcher, in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, which The Epoch Times cited earlier this year. Titled Fructose and Uric Acid as Drivers of a Hyperactive Foraging Response: A Clue to Behavioral Disorders Associated With Impulsivity or Mania? the article also buttresses the CARB syndrome concept.

Obesity has been linked, in the scientific literature, to a greater chance of contracting COVID-19 as well as a greater chance of developing complications from the disease, which Wilson also notes.

I believe that in many cases, there is a two-way connection between COVID-19 and CARB syndrome, he said. Because the brain plays a critical role in maintaining a healthy immune system, I believe that people with CARB syndrome are more prone to developing COVID-19. Once people have the illness, they dont fully recover due to their malfunctioning immune system, and they end up with what is termed long COVID-19.

If you peruse the typical symptoms of long COVID-19, they closely overlap with typical CARB syndrome symptoms.

If someone develops COVID-19 and doesnt already have CARB syndrome, they are more likely to develop it down the line, Wilson said.

Thats because COVID-19 alters brain function, making individuals more prone to developing other brain disorders like CARB syndrome. Thus, COVID-19 and CARB syndrome seem to be connected in a deadly dance into sickness and diminished quality of life, he said.

Because neurons dump neurotransmitters when exposed to high glucose levels, and the body then excretes them, Wilson said he gives patients precursors of neurotransmitters such as the amino acids L-tyrosine, DL-phenylalanine, and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-htp) and sees their condition improve.

I also add L-glutamine, an amino acid that helps to suppress those pesky cravings for sweet and starchy food, he said.

Not surprisingly, more healthful and conscientious eating makes a difference in those suffering from negative diet/brain connection, said Wilson, who offers some recipes on his website CarbSyndrome.com.

As a final word, Wilson said, CARB syndrome is preventable, reversible, and treatable, and no one should be discouraged.

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Martha Rosenberg is a nationally recognized reporter and author whose work has been cited by the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Public Library of Science Biology, and National Geographic. Rosenbergs FDA expose, 'Born with a Junk Food Deficiency,' established her as a prominent investigative journalist. She has lectured widely at universities throughout the United States and resides in Chicago.

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The Dire Connection Between Diet and Obesity, Depression, and Anxiety - The Epoch Times