From IDEA Health & Fitness
The alarm rings and you press “snooze” one time too many. By the time you roll out of bed, you think it’s too late for breakfast so you don’t eat. While some people do skip breakfast on a regular basis, it’s not a good idea. The potential perils include a more sluggish metabolism as the body shifts into starvation-response mode. Couple this with a tendency to become ravenous and binge later, and weight gain can happen. Cognitive abilities can also suffer: You may get headaches, feel fatigued and be less able to concentrate.
Exercise and Skipping Breakfast: Some people believe that by exercising on an empty stomach in the morning, they’ll burn more body fat. However, if the body burns a higher percentage of fat while exercising on no breakfast in the morning (and study results are mixed), that doesn’t mean metabolism—or total calorie burn—is speeding up. “If you’re going to do a long or strenuous workout on an empty stomach, you likely won’t have adequate carbs to power your workout and so you won’t be able to work out as long or as vigorously,” says Enette Larson-Meyer, PhD, RD, FACSM, nutrition professor at the University of Wyoming and author of Vegetarian Sports Nutrition (Human Kinetics 2007). “Even if you are burning a slightly higher ratio of fat, with impaired performance you're not be burning as many total calories or total calories of fat as you could if you were well-fueled.”
What Counts as Breakfast? “Usually we aim for breakfast providing 25%–30% of the calories for the day, so the amount will depend on a person’s daily energy expenditure,” says Larson-Meyer. Ideally, the morning meal should provide carbohydrates and fiber from vegetables and/or beans and fruits, as well as protein from dairy or plant-based varieties of milk or yogurt, as well as eggs, lean meats, or plant foods like beans and whole grains. Whole, fresh fruit is generally recommended over juice because fruit contains fiber, more micronutrients, and fewer calories.
What about doughnuts or pastries? “…if you’re lost in the woods and starving, a doughnut is okay,” says Melinda Manore, PhD, RD, nutrition professor at Oregon State University, Corvallis, and author of several textbooks, including Nutrition for Life (Benjamin Cummings 2006). Otherwise, keep a stash of easy breakfast backups, like breakfast bars, nuts or even cold leftovers. These can give you more nutritious choices so that you’re not just filling up on sugar and empty, energy-killing calories. Don’t be afraid to get creative: Some cultures eat soups for breakfast, others eat beans (on toast or in bean burritos). Aim for a breakfast that provides energy and nutrients and that helps you feel satiated.
Friday, September 28, 2018
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Abortion Facts: Education and birth control are slowly making the politics less relevant
MICHAEL SHERMER’S “SKEPTIC” COLUMN IN SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
In May of this year the pro-life/pro-choice controversy leapt back into headlines when Ireland overwhelmingly approved a referendum to end its constitutional ban on abortion. Around the same time, the Trump administration proposed that Title X federal funding be withheld from abortion clinics as a tactic to reduce the practice, a strategy similar to that of Texas and other states to shut down clinics by burying them in an avalanche of regulations, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2016 as an undue burden on women for a constitutionally guaranteed right. If the goal is to attenuate abortions, a better strategy is to reduce unwanted pregnancies. Two methods have been proposed: abstinence and birth control.
Abstinence would obviate abortions just as starvation would forestall obesity. There is a reason no one has proposed chastity as a solution to overpopulation. Sexual asceticism doesn’t work, because physical desire is nearly as fundamental as food to our survival and flourishing. A 2008 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health entitled “Abstinence-Only and Comprehensive Sex Education and the Initiation of Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy” found that among American adolescents ages 15 to 19, “abstinence-only education did not reduce the likelihood of engaging in vaginal intercourse” and that “adolescents who received comprehensive sex education had a lower risk of pregnancy than adolescents who received abstinence-only or no sex education.” A 2011 PLOS ONE paper analyzing “Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates” in 48 U.S. states concluded that “increasing emphasis on abstinence education is positively correlated with teenage pregnancy and birth rates,” controlling for socioeconomic status, educational attainment and ethnicity. […]
Signs you should consider cutting out dairy
From the Insider on MSN
Whether you've been diagnosed with lactose intolerance or a milk allergy or not, dairy could be having some adverse effects on your body. The symptoms of lactose intolerance or sensitivity can be sneaky. Here are just a few signs that cutting out dairy could be good for you.
1). Constipation could be brought on by dairy intolerance. There's some evidence that dairy can cause constipation in some people due to inflammation of the digestive tract.
"Dairy protein (not the fat or sugar) causes severe constipation in many people," Dr. John McDougallwrote.
In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1998, 65 severely constipated children said they'd only had one bowel movement every 3 to 15 days, Dr. McDougall recounts, adding, "they didn't even respond to strong laxatives." "Forty-four of the 65 (68%), however, found relief of their constipation when taken off the cow-milk," Dr. McDougall writes. Of course, you should always talk to your doctor first, as constipation can have some other (and more alarming) causes.
2). If you frequently experience painful and/or noisy indigestion, dairy could be the culprit. The Mayo Clinic has a list of gas-producing foods and, fun fact, dairy is on it. "[Dairy] can definitely cause gas and bloating for some people," Karen Ansel, R.D.N., author of Healthy in a Hurry: Simple, Wholesome Recipes for Every Meal of the Day, told SELF. If you cut out dairy, you might cut out your gas pain along with it.
3). For some people, dairy can cause acne. The data on dairy's connection to acne is not totally conclusive, but for some people, dairy can cause skin issues. When it comes to acne, "not only does the bacteria living in your pores cause inflammation, but what you ingest, like milk, can also promote inflammation, making your skin even worse," according to Men's Health. Still, it appears milk and ice cream can cause acne while cheese and yogurt might not, according to Men's Health. Everyone's body will react differently to different foods, so trial and error, along with careful observation, is probably the best bet.
4). If you’re tired for no good reason, cleansing dairy from your diet could help. This might be unexpected, but people who don't tolerate milk or dairy well might become fatigued when they eat it. "Milk allergy is a reaction to the casein proteins in milk and other dairy products. When people with milk allergy consume these foods, the body mounts an immune response by producing antibodies to the protein and releasing histamine into the blood," according to Amy Liddell, who holds a PhD in biological and biomedical sciences from Harvard University.
This can cause a fatigue response after the allergic reaction subsides. "Unfortunately, many foods contain hidden sources of milk, including processed meats, candies, and soy products. As a result, it may be difficult to identify this allergy simply by tracking your response to dairy foods," Liddell wrote.
Whether you've been diagnosed with lactose intolerance or a milk allergy or not, dairy could be having some adverse effects on your body. The symptoms of lactose intolerance or sensitivity can be sneaky. Here are just a few signs that cutting out dairy could be good for you.
1). Constipation could be brought on by dairy intolerance. There's some evidence that dairy can cause constipation in some people due to inflammation of the digestive tract.
"Dairy protein (not the fat or sugar) causes severe constipation in many people," Dr. John McDougallwrote.
In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1998, 65 severely constipated children said they'd only had one bowel movement every 3 to 15 days, Dr. McDougall recounts, adding, "they didn't even respond to strong laxatives." "Forty-four of the 65 (68%), however, found relief of their constipation when taken off the cow-milk," Dr. McDougall writes. Of course, you should always talk to your doctor first, as constipation can have some other (and more alarming) causes.
2). If you frequently experience painful and/or noisy indigestion, dairy could be the culprit. The Mayo Clinic has a list of gas-producing foods and, fun fact, dairy is on it. "[Dairy] can definitely cause gas and bloating for some people," Karen Ansel, R.D.N., author of Healthy in a Hurry: Simple, Wholesome Recipes for Every Meal of the Day, told SELF. If you cut out dairy, you might cut out your gas pain along with it.
3). For some people, dairy can cause acne. The data on dairy's connection to acne is not totally conclusive, but for some people, dairy can cause skin issues. When it comes to acne, "not only does the bacteria living in your pores cause inflammation, but what you ingest, like milk, can also promote inflammation, making your skin even worse," according to Men's Health. Still, it appears milk and ice cream can cause acne while cheese and yogurt might not, according to Men's Health. Everyone's body will react differently to different foods, so trial and error, along with careful observation, is probably the best bet.
4). If you’re tired for no good reason, cleansing dairy from your diet could help. This might be unexpected, but people who don't tolerate milk or dairy well might become fatigued when they eat it. "Milk allergy is a reaction to the casein proteins in milk and other dairy products. When people with milk allergy consume these foods, the body mounts an immune response by producing antibodies to the protein and releasing histamine into the blood," according to Amy Liddell, who holds a PhD in biological and biomedical sciences from Harvard University.
This can cause a fatigue response after the allergic reaction subsides. "Unfortunately, many foods contain hidden sources of milk, including processed meats, candies, and soy products. As a result, it may be difficult to identify this allergy simply by tracking your response to dairy foods," Liddell wrote.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
The Inevitability of Intelligent Life?
BY NATHAN H. LENTS
Thus far, 2018 has been a terrific year for popular science books and two stand out in particular for confronting head-on some of the biggest and most difficult questions scientists confront. In his new masterpiece, The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution, biophysicist Charles S. Cockell wades with admirable fortitude into the waters of how the laws of physics and mathematics place constraints—and find solutions—to the great challenges of survival. How inevitable was it that life would land on DNA as the repository of genetic information? Why have the vast majority of species settled on two biological sexes? What’s so special about phospholipids that all living cells use them for their membranes? How do ladybugs regulate their temperature? These are just a few of the incredibly complicated biological questions that actually have quite simple mathematical answers, as Cockell demonstrates.
Thus far, 2018 has been a terrific year for popular science books and two stand out in particular for confronting head-on some of the biggest and most difficult questions scientists confront. In his new masterpiece, The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution, biophysicist Charles S. Cockell wades with admirable fortitude into the waters of how the laws of physics and mathematics place constraints—and find solutions—to the great challenges of survival. How inevitable was it that life would land on DNA as the repository of genetic information? Why have the vast majority of species settled on two biological sexes? What’s so special about phospholipids that all living cells use them for their membranes? How do ladybugs regulate their temperature? These are just a few of the incredibly complicated biological questions that actually have quite simple mathematical answers, as Cockell demonstrates.
Biologist Kenneth R. Miller tackles questions no smaller than the human intellect itself in his fourth book, The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will. In it, Miller gives a brief but comprehensive summary of the most important scientific and philosophical work aimed at explaining if and how humans have a true and autonomous inner self. As Miller astutely acknowledges, even the language we use to address this question—words like autonomy, individual, thought, perception, intention, awareness, and conscience—cannot be taken for granted. If these words are to have any meaning whatsoever, that meaning must be created in the very instrument they are meant to describe, the human mind. It is not difficult to tie oneself into rhetorical knots while attempting to discuss the nature of consciousness, yet Miller nimbly walks us through the minefield.
If The Equations of Life attempts to provide simple answers to complicated questions, The Human Instinct does the opposite, helping us see just how complicated these questions really are and how divergent the answers could be. These books pair together perfectly because they both strike blows against the prevailing notion that human beings are the most unlikely of species. As Cockell explains, “there is nothing uncanny about life’s ability to land on the same solutions.” While anyone with basic knowledge of biology is aware of the many examples of convergent evolution, Cockell seasons those examples by deriving the mathematical relationships that underlie the convergence. Even if things like building a cell, storing genetic information, and swarming towards food might be easily reduced to physical forces, surely reason and consciousness are in a different realm altogether. Hardly, says Miller. Channeling the eminent paleontologist Simon Conway Morris, among others, Miller aggressively defends the claim that, “It is possible, perhaps even likely, that the appearance of humanlike intelligence is part of the deep structure of nature probed again and again by the evolutionary process.” […]
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Hyper-palatable, highly rewarding foods are often the most readily available
Tasty-fun food-crack deliciousness bombs are everywhere.
Here’s some “bigger picture” items for you to consider. Today, these are the top 6 sources of calories in the U.S.:
1). Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars)
2). Yeast breads
3). Chicken-parts dishes (and we don’t mean chicken breasts — think chicken fingers, chicken stir-fry, and chicken nuggets)
4). Soda and other sugary drinks, energy drinks, and sports drinks
5). Pizza
6). Alcoholic beverages
Also worth noting: fast food now makes up 11 % of the average American’s energy intake. We now drink 350 % more soft drinks than we did 50 years ago. Soybean oil (largely used in highly-processed foods) accounts for 8 % of all calories that Americans consume.
If you’re a food company, all of this makes perfect sense. you want people to eat your food. How do you do that? Engineer the food to be extra-rewarding and hard to stop eating. People eat more, and buy more, and then lie awake at night thinking about how they could totally go for an ice cream sundae with sprinkles right now… If you’re a savvy marketer, you might also invent new opportunities for people to eat.
Like… at movies. In the car. “Snack time” before, during, and after school or work. In front of the TV. At sports events. Family celebrations. Holiday celebrations. Before, during, and after workouts. Late at night (which is usually where processed foods excel). And so on.
Social norms and our environment also affect where, when, how, and how much we eat. Now that food and food cues are everywhere, all the time, it’s hard to avoid wanting to eat, and hard to know when to stop eating. Change what you eat, change your brain. You can’t control your unique genetic makeup or your physiological response. But you can control your behaviors.
We’ll dig into more details later, but generally speaking, here are 3 simple (but not necessarily easy) steps you can take to help your natural appetite regulation system get back online and do its job better:
Step 1: Eat more whole, fresh, minimally processed foods. This means stuff like: lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy and/or plant sources for your lean protein, fruits and vegetables, ideally colorful ones, slow-digesting, high-fiber starches such as whole grains, starchy tubers (e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, etc.), beans and legumes, nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut, fatty fish and seafood for your quality fats.
Step 2: Eat slowly and mindfully. No matter what you eat, slowing down will help your brain and gastrointestinal tract coordinate their activities. It will help you feel more in control of choosing what and how much to eat. Plus, since the signals are getting through properly, you’ll often feel satisfied with less food.
Step 3: Eat fewer processed, hyper-palatable foods. Step 3 can be tricky. We get it. After all, this whole article is about how appealing those foods can be.
Step 1 and 2 will make Step 3 easier. If you get more of the “good stuff”, and stay mindful as you eat it, there’s often less room (and desire) for the other stuff.
Over time, if you do these 3 steps consistently: You’ll probably notice you crave highly processed foods less, and feel more in charge of your food decisions in general. You’ll feel fuller for longer as that leptin loop returns to normal (at least to some degree, keeping in mind that each person’s body and situation is a bit different). You may lose body fat. You’ll probably find you feel, move and perform better, too. Food intake is complex.
Physiology plays a big role. But so do psychology, relationships and our larger society, our culture, our lifestyle, our individual knowledge or beliefs about food and eating.
This means you aren’t “doomed” by physiology. You can use other things to help your body do its job. A meal of whole foods, properly cooked and seasoned, and enjoyed at the dinner table with your family or friends is going to be much more satisfying than eating in your car next to the drive-through window.
You don’t have to live in a world of bland and depressing “health food” just because you aren’t carpet-bombing your taste buds. Throw a little butter and salt on those veggies. Make them taste good — just not “too good”, too often. Your brain will love you for it.
Here’s the specifics on what to do next: here’s our favorite strategies to help you find the right balance and make smart choices.
1. Recognize that your body is a system. Think long-term. What you do today can affect what happens tomorrow. Your breakfast can change your dinner. If you restrict food and nutrients with a fad diet that “starts on Monday”, you might find your body aggressively taking back its energy by Friday.
2. Eat mostly whole, minimally processed foods. Whole, minimally processed foods are not hyper-rewarding or hyper-palatable. It’s harder to over-eat them. They don’t cause hypothalamic inflammation and leptin resistance. They have lots of good stuff (vitamins, minerals, water, fiber, phytonutrients, disease-fighting chemicals, etc.) and are usually lower in calories. Choose whole foods that you enjoy and will eat consistently.
3. Eat enough lean protein. Protein is a satiety superstar. We’ve seen in both research and our clients: When people eat more lean protein, they eat fewer calories overall. But they feel more satisfied. Sometimes even like they’re eating “too much”! For most men, this generally means consuming 6-8 palm-sized portions of protein daily. And for most women, this generally means consuming 4-6 palm-sized portions of protein daily.
4. Eat plenty of vegetables. Vegetables — especially colorful ones — are obviously super healthy. They give you a lot of volume and nutrients for very little calories. And many of them are fun to eat (think crunchy carrots, baby tomatoes, etc.). For most men, this generally means consuming 6-8 fist-sized portions of vegetables daily. For most women, this generally means consuming 4-6 fist-sized portions of vegetables daily.
5. Get quality carbs and healthy fats from whole, less processed foods. For carbohydrates, look for whole grains, beans and legumes, starchy tubers (such as potatoes and sweet potatoes) and fruit. The combination of resistant starch, fiber and water content will help you feel fuller, for longer. When it comes to carbohydrates, for most men we recommend 6-8 cupped handfuls of carbohydrates daily. And for most women we recommend 4-6 cupped handfuls of carbohydrates daily.
For fat-dense foods, look to high-quality oils and butters, nut butters, nuts/seeds, avocados, and even a little dark chocolate. Fat tends to be digested the most slowly of all the macronutrients, especially sources that are less energy-dense and higher in fiber (e.g. nuts, seeds, avocados). For most men we recommend 6-8 thumb-sized portions of healthy fats per day. For most women we recommend 4-6 thumb-sized portions of healthy fats per day.
6. Consider how you eat. Work on eating slowly. Pay attention to your own internal satiety cues. Eat without your smartphone, TV, or computer in your face. Eat from smaller plates. Create an environment in your home and work space that makes it difficult to overeat or be tempted with highly-processed, highly-rewarding foods.
Remember Berardi‘s First Law: If a food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate will eventually eat it. This also leads to the corollary of Berardi’s First Law: If a healthy food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate will eventually eat it.
7. Be flexible. Recognize that it’s OK to have small measured doses of those highly-rewarding foods. Completely avoiding them, or demonizing them as “bad” or “poison” usually does the opposite of what you want: You feel like a guilty failure, and you often end up overeating or bingeing on those “banned” foods.Instead, choose (in other words, decide in advance) to indulge in some occasional goodies. Eat a small portion slowly and mindfully, until you’re satisfied. Enjoy them. And then move on, back to your regular routine like it ain’t no thing. Keep in mind that how often you choose to indulge should depend on what you’re looking to achieve.
8. Be aware, question your actions! Cultivate an awareness of how you feel before, during and after your meals. Do you eat because you’re truly hungry, or because the clock says it’s time to eat, or because you just “feel snacky”? Do you feel overstuffed at the end of a meal, only to find yourself staring into the fridge two hours later?
Where do most of your meals come from? Consider keeping a food journal for a couple of weeks, making note of what you eat and how you feel. You can also jot down stuff like what you’re thinking, and what else is going on in your life (e.g. stress at work).
Simply becoming more aware of your body’s cues — and how these relate to other factors — will help you better regulate your food intake. Awareness helps you make decisions that are more in line with your body’s actual needs.
Here’s some “bigger picture” items for you to consider. Today, these are the top 6 sources of calories in the U.S.:
1). Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars)
2). Yeast breads
3). Chicken-parts dishes (and we don’t mean chicken breasts — think chicken fingers, chicken stir-fry, and chicken nuggets)
4). Soda and other sugary drinks, energy drinks, and sports drinks
5). Pizza
6). Alcoholic beverages
Also worth noting: fast food now makes up 11 % of the average American’s energy intake. We now drink 350 % more soft drinks than we did 50 years ago. Soybean oil (largely used in highly-processed foods) accounts for 8 % of all calories that Americans consume.
If you’re a food company, all of this makes perfect sense. you want people to eat your food. How do you do that? Engineer the food to be extra-rewarding and hard to stop eating. People eat more, and buy more, and then lie awake at night thinking about how they could totally go for an ice cream sundae with sprinkles right now… If you’re a savvy marketer, you might also invent new opportunities for people to eat.
Like… at movies. In the car. “Snack time” before, during, and after school or work. In front of the TV. At sports events. Family celebrations. Holiday celebrations. Before, during, and after workouts. Late at night (which is usually where processed foods excel). And so on.
Social norms and our environment also affect where, when, how, and how much we eat. Now that food and food cues are everywhere, all the time, it’s hard to avoid wanting to eat, and hard to know when to stop eating. Change what you eat, change your brain. You can’t control your unique genetic makeup or your physiological response. But you can control your behaviors.
We’ll dig into more details later, but generally speaking, here are 3 simple (but not necessarily easy) steps you can take to help your natural appetite regulation system get back online and do its job better:
Step 1: Eat more whole, fresh, minimally processed foods. This means stuff like: lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy and/or plant sources for your lean protein, fruits and vegetables, ideally colorful ones, slow-digesting, high-fiber starches such as whole grains, starchy tubers (e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, etc.), beans and legumes, nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut, fatty fish and seafood for your quality fats.
Step 2: Eat slowly and mindfully. No matter what you eat, slowing down will help your brain and gastrointestinal tract coordinate their activities. It will help you feel more in control of choosing what and how much to eat. Plus, since the signals are getting through properly, you’ll often feel satisfied with less food.
Step 3: Eat fewer processed, hyper-palatable foods. Step 3 can be tricky. We get it. After all, this whole article is about how appealing those foods can be.
Step 1 and 2 will make Step 3 easier. If you get more of the “good stuff”, and stay mindful as you eat it, there’s often less room (and desire) for the other stuff.
Over time, if you do these 3 steps consistently: You’ll probably notice you crave highly processed foods less, and feel more in charge of your food decisions in general. You’ll feel fuller for longer as that leptin loop returns to normal (at least to some degree, keeping in mind that each person’s body and situation is a bit different). You may lose body fat. You’ll probably find you feel, move and perform better, too. Food intake is complex.
Physiology plays a big role. But so do psychology, relationships and our larger society, our culture, our lifestyle, our individual knowledge or beliefs about food and eating.
This means you aren’t “doomed” by physiology. You can use other things to help your body do its job. A meal of whole foods, properly cooked and seasoned, and enjoyed at the dinner table with your family or friends is going to be much more satisfying than eating in your car next to the drive-through window.
You don’t have to live in a world of bland and depressing “health food” just because you aren’t carpet-bombing your taste buds. Throw a little butter and salt on those veggies. Make them taste good — just not “too good”, too often. Your brain will love you for it.
Here’s the specifics on what to do next: here’s our favorite strategies to help you find the right balance and make smart choices.
1. Recognize that your body is a system. Think long-term. What you do today can affect what happens tomorrow. Your breakfast can change your dinner. If you restrict food and nutrients with a fad diet that “starts on Monday”, you might find your body aggressively taking back its energy by Friday.
2. Eat mostly whole, minimally processed foods. Whole, minimally processed foods are not hyper-rewarding or hyper-palatable. It’s harder to over-eat them. They don’t cause hypothalamic inflammation and leptin resistance. They have lots of good stuff (vitamins, minerals, water, fiber, phytonutrients, disease-fighting chemicals, etc.) and are usually lower in calories. Choose whole foods that you enjoy and will eat consistently.
3. Eat enough lean protein. Protein is a satiety superstar. We’ve seen in both research and our clients: When people eat more lean protein, they eat fewer calories overall. But they feel more satisfied. Sometimes even like they’re eating “too much”! For most men, this generally means consuming 6-8 palm-sized portions of protein daily. And for most women, this generally means consuming 4-6 palm-sized portions of protein daily.
4. Eat plenty of vegetables. Vegetables — especially colorful ones — are obviously super healthy. They give you a lot of volume and nutrients for very little calories. And many of them are fun to eat (think crunchy carrots, baby tomatoes, etc.). For most men, this generally means consuming 6-8 fist-sized portions of vegetables daily. For most women, this generally means consuming 4-6 fist-sized portions of vegetables daily.
5. Get quality carbs and healthy fats from whole, less processed foods. For carbohydrates, look for whole grains, beans and legumes, starchy tubers (such as potatoes and sweet potatoes) and fruit. The combination of resistant starch, fiber and water content will help you feel fuller, for longer. When it comes to carbohydrates, for most men we recommend 6-8 cupped handfuls of carbohydrates daily. And for most women we recommend 4-6 cupped handfuls of carbohydrates daily.
For fat-dense foods, look to high-quality oils and butters, nut butters, nuts/seeds, avocados, and even a little dark chocolate. Fat tends to be digested the most slowly of all the macronutrients, especially sources that are less energy-dense and higher in fiber (e.g. nuts, seeds, avocados). For most men we recommend 6-8 thumb-sized portions of healthy fats per day. For most women we recommend 4-6 thumb-sized portions of healthy fats per day.
6. Consider how you eat. Work on eating slowly. Pay attention to your own internal satiety cues. Eat without your smartphone, TV, or computer in your face. Eat from smaller plates. Create an environment in your home and work space that makes it difficult to overeat or be tempted with highly-processed, highly-rewarding foods.
Remember Berardi‘s First Law: If a food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate will eventually eat it. This also leads to the corollary of Berardi’s First Law: If a healthy food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate will eventually eat it.
7. Be flexible. Recognize that it’s OK to have small measured doses of those highly-rewarding foods. Completely avoiding them, or demonizing them as “bad” or “poison” usually does the opposite of what you want: You feel like a guilty failure, and you often end up overeating or bingeing on those “banned” foods.Instead, choose (in other words, decide in advance) to indulge in some occasional goodies. Eat a small portion slowly and mindfully, until you’re satisfied. Enjoy them. And then move on, back to your regular routine like it ain’t no thing. Keep in mind that how often you choose to indulge should depend on what you’re looking to achieve.
8. Be aware, question your actions! Cultivate an awareness of how you feel before, during and after your meals. Do you eat because you’re truly hungry, or because the clock says it’s time to eat, or because you just “feel snacky”? Do you feel overstuffed at the end of a meal, only to find yourself staring into the fridge two hours later?
Where do most of your meals come from? Consider keeping a food journal for a couple of weeks, making note of what you eat and how you feel. You can also jot down stuff like what you’re thinking, and what else is going on in your life (e.g. stress at work).
Simply becoming more aware of your body’s cues — and how these relate to other factors — will help you better regulate your food intake. Awareness helps you make decisions that are more in line with your body’s actual needs.
Monday, September 10, 2018
We do it to ourselves by eating the wrong stuff!
And unfortunately, although I'm working on it, I'm guilty as anyone else.
If you love so-called “junk food”, and feel like you can’t stop eating it, you’re not alone, bad, or weird. However, our ancestors weren’t exactly dialing in for delivery. They had to bust their butts with daily activity such as stalking, searching, gathering, and digging, even for minor rewards like a meal of turtle and tubers. Today, of course, high-fat foods aren’t nutrient-rich animal organs or blubber that we had to work nine hours to get; they’re Frappucinos, donuts, pizza, and double cheeseburgers with fries that we bought while seated in our car to tote back to our home or office.
Evolution’s gifts now work against us. This is your brain on processed food. Our taste-buds loooooove processed foods. But our bodies don’t. These overly enchanting and semi-addictive foods aren’t nutritious. They have more energy than we need, with little to no nutrients: no protein, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, essential fatty acids, and fiber. That’s why we don’t feel full or satisfied when we eat them.
After a while, our brain forgets about its natural “stop” signals in favor of getting more of that delicious “hit” from food rewards. Our hedonic pleasure system starts bullying our homeostatic energy and health balancing system.
Over time, if we eat a lot of these foods consistently, we might even injure and inflame the parts of our brain and body that regulate our food intake and energy output. Now our homeostatic regulation isn’t just getting pushed around, it’s also on fire. We’re not sure exactly why this happens.
Getting too much energy from foods, and especially these foods, seems to injure our brain’s neurons, particularly in the hypothalamus. When we are injured, we normally release inflammatory cytokines (aka cell signals). This happens in the brain as well (since the brain is part of our body), causing hypothalamic inflammation.
There is also evidence that significant consumption of these energy-dense foods changes the populations of the bacteria in our gut. Which affects the gut-to-brain pathway and also causes hypothalamic inflammation. Hypothalamic inflammation then leads to leptin resistance.
Disrupting the leptin feedback loop: You might have heard of insulin resistance, the condition where people’s cells stop “hearing” insulin signals, and slowly lose the ability to control their blood sugar levels. The same thing can happen with leptin: Your brain can start to ignore or “tune out” the leptin, even if you’re eating enough, and have plenty of energy stored in your body fat. In insulin resistance, the pancreas can simply pump out more insulin to keep blood sugar under control (at least for a while). Since body fat is our main leptin factory, to make more leptin, we need more body fat.
You see where this is going, right? When you’re leptin resistant, your brain thinks it doesn’t have enough leptin. The brain needs the leptin factory (i.e. body fat) to get bigger and produce more leptin.Operation Add Adiposity (FAT) begins. You feel hungry. Regular portion sizes are no longer satisfying; it’s harder to feel satiated and you want to keep eating, and eat more often. You gain fat. Mission accomplished, or so your brain thinks.
Here’s what the leptin feedback loop looks like now, in this disrupted scenario:
The leptin feedback loop can be disrupted by inflammation and neuron injury, sometimes caused by eating too many processed foods. This, combined with other genetic and environmental factors, can lead to leptin resistance and increasing body fat.
As if that weren’t enough, it seems this inflammation and resulting leptin resistance might even cause our bodies to defend our increased weight. This seems to be because the brain now views this higher level of leptin and body fat as its new normal. In this case, our body fights even harder than normal to stop us losing fat. Scientists are still researching exactly how and why our bodies do this.
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