Why men have an easier time losing weight

http://www.weightlossguide4women.com/enter

If you're wondering why men have an easier time losing weight than women, I can give you the answer in 1 simple word: MUSCLE.

Men have more muscle. Muscle burns more fat.

Muscle cells are 8 times more metabolically active than fat cells. So the more muscle you have, the more efficient your metabolism is at burning fat. To maintain a pound of muscle costs up to 30 calories each day (if you're extremely active).

On the other hand, maintaining a pound of fat only costs about 2 calories each day. Look at all those extra calories burned with the muscle.

I'm not telling you to bulk up and look like a guy, but just know that muscle helps. If you're a normal woman, you have nothing to fear in getting "guy-looking" muscles.

So if you include weightlifting in your program, the scale weight may not move... but you are losing fat (while gaining muscle). So the scale stays the same, but your body composition is changing rapidly.

This is why measuring yourself, looking in the mirror, and paying attention to how your clothes fit are more accurate ways for seeing if you're losing fat or not.

Jen

Cortesy: personal coach/ Author Jennifer Jolan

Two brain circuits control desire for food

EXTRA!! FLASH!!! COLUMBIA, Mo., Sept. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have determined two different brain circuits might control the motivation to seek food and then consume it: "binge eating"!

University of Missouri researchers using laboratory rats said they discovered deactivating the basolateral amygdala -- a brain region involved in regulating emotion -- specifically blocked consumption of a fatty diet. Surprisingly, it had no effect on the rats wanting to repeatedly look for food.

"It appears that two different brain circuits control the motivation to seek and consume," said Assistant Professor Matthew, who led the study. "Understanding how this … works may provide insight into the exact networks and chemicals in our brain that determine the factors influencing our feeding habits."

The scientists said release of opioids -- pleasure chemicals that can lead to euphoria -- into the brain produces binge eating in non-hungry rats. Will and his team determined deactivating the basolateral amygdala blocked that type of binge eating but had no effect on feeding in rats that were simply deprived of food for 24 hours.

That discovery, Will said, suggests the basolateral amygdala is specifically involved in the overconsumption of food based on its palatability or pleasure driven by opioids, rather than the level of hunger.

The research was reported in the August issue of the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience. / Courtesy: My Obesity Connection.com

Losing Weight Eases Sleep Apnea

A study finally has confirmed the long-held belief that losing weight alleviates sleep apnea.

More than 12 million people in the United States have from sleep apnea, and it is most common among the overweight and obese. More than just loud snoring, it can lead to high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and a poor quality of life.

For years, doctors have told patients that their best defense against sleep apnea would be to lose weight, but there's been very little research-based evidence to prove that — until now.

"Existing research has been limited by a number of factors, so there are very few studies that show whether the recommended amount of weight loss — about 10 percent — is enough to sufficiently improve sleep apnea," said Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education.

Foster and colleagues from six other universities recently completed the largest randomized study on the effects of weight loss on sleep apnea in patients with Type 2diabetes.

Among patients with severe sleep apnea, those who lost the recommended weight were three times more likely to nearly eliminate the number of sleep apnea episodes compared with those who did not lose weight, according to the study results, published in the Sept. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study, called Sleep AHEAD, looked at 264 obese patients with Type 2 diabetes already enrolled in the Look AHEAD trial, an ongoing 16-site study investigating the long-term health impact of an intensive lifestyle intervention in 5,145 overweight or obese adults with Type 2 diabetes. Participants were between 45 and 75.

The 264 participants were broken into two randomized groups: The first received a group behavioral weight loss program developed especially for obese patients with Type 2 diabetes, portion-controlled diets, and a prescribed exercise regimen of 175 minutes a week. The second attended three group informational sessions over a one-year period that focused on diabetes management through diet, physical activity and social support.

After one year, members of the first group lost an average of 24 pounds. More than three times as many participants in this group had complete remission of their sleep apnea (13.6 percent compared with 3.5 percent), and also had about half the instances of severe sleep apnea as the second group. Further, participants in the second group only lost about a pound, and saw significant worsening of their sleep apnea, which suggested to Foster and his team that without treatment, the disorder can progress rapidly.

"These results show that doctors as well as patients can expect a significant improvement in their sleep apnea with weight loss," said Foster, the study's lead author. "And a reduction in sleep apnea has a number of benefits for overall health and well-being."

Courtesy: NewsMax Health

10 Cancer-Fighting Foods

By Melissa Breyer, Senior Editor, Healthy & Green Living

I’m going to put my Mommy hat on here, place my hands on my hips, look down at the broccoli you left on your plate, and tell you this: Eat your vegetables! Not because I’m a member of the clean-your-plate club, but because I care about you–and because I know this: in numerous studies following large groups of people, eating more vegetables and fruits has been linked to a lower risk of lung, oral, esophageal, stomach, and colon cancer. The thinking behind these results points to antioxidants and phytochemicals, natural compounds found in plants.

What are antioxidants? As described by the American Cancer Society (ACS), the body seems to use certain nutrients in vegetables and fruits to protect against damage to tissues that happens constantly as a result of normal metabolism (oxidation). Because such damage is linked with increased cancer risk, the antioxidant nutrients are thought to protect against cancer. Antioxidants include vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, and many other phytochemicals (beneficial plant compounds).

Studies aside, it’s really a no-brainer. Eat real food, stay healthier. So now you’ve got not only a host of government programs telling you to eat your 5 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables per day, you’ve got me hovering over your shoulder telling you to do the same! But I’ll go easy on you and offer up a few other plant-based suggestions as well. Here are ten super-duper cancer-fighting foods to add to your regime–these ten were chosen for their special cancer-kicking properties, as described on the Living Strong Living Well page of the Stanford School of Medicine Health Improvement Program.

The "Big Ten":

1. Beans
Beans contain a number of phytochemicals, which have been shown to prevent or slow genetic damage to cells. While this makes beans beneficial for helping to reduce your risk of many types of cancer, specific research has suggested they are especially potent in preventing prostate cancer. As an added bonus, the high fiber content of beans has been connected with a lower risk of digestive cancers.

2. Berries
The two most widely studied cancer-fighting compounds in berries are ellagic acid (richest in strawberries and raspberries) and anthocyanosides (richest in blueberries). Ellagic acid is believed to help prevent skin, bladder, lung, and breast cancers, both by acting as an antioxidant and by slowing the reproduction of cancer cells. The anthocyanosides in blueberries are currently the most powerful antioxidants known to scientists and are beneficial in the prevention of all types of cancer.

3. Cruciferous Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale)
Cruciferous vegetables-like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale-are rich in a variety of compounds that have been shown to slow cancer growth and development in a number of laboratory studies. Other larger human studies have shown that cruciferous vegetables can help to reduce the risk of lung, stomach, colorectal, prostate, and bladder cancers.

4. Dark Green Leafy Vegetables
Leafy-green vegetables-like romaine lettuce, mustard greens, chicory, and Swiss chard-are rich sources of antioxidants called carotenoids. These compounds scavenge dangerous free radicals from the body before they can promote cancer growth. The vegetables are also rich in folate, a vitamin shown to reduce the risk of lung and breast cancer.

5. Flaxseed
Flaxseed in the form of oil and meal contains phytoestrogens believed to reduce the risk of breast, skin, and lung cancer. Research on the potency of flaxseed as an anti-cancer food is still underway.

6. Garlic (including onions, scallions, leeks, and chives)
Garlic contains a number of compounds believed to slow or stop the growth of tumors. One such compound, diallyl disulfide, appears to be especially potent in protecting against skin, colon, and lung cancer, though it is not known exactly how it functions.

7. Grapes
Grapes and wine contain a chemical called resveratrol, which has been shown to be a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. Resveratrol is thought to work by preventing cell damage before it begins. Red and purple grapes are the richest sources of resveratrol.

8. Green Tea (decaf)
Green tea is a rich source of a class of flavonoids known as catechins. Laboratory studies have shown that the catechins present in green tea are able to slow or prevent the development of cancer in colon, liver, breast, and prostate cells.

9. Tomatoes
The anti-cancer compound in tomatoes, lycopene, has been shown to be especially potent in combating prostate cancer. This compound appears to be more easily absorbed if the tomatoes are eaten in cooked form-either as tomato sauce, paste, or juice. In addition to preventing prostate cancer, lycopene may also protect against breast, lung, stomach, and pancreatic cancer.

10. Whole Grains
Whole grains contain a variety of anti-cancer compounds, including fiber, antioxidants, and phytoestrogens. When eaten as part of a balanced diet, whole grains can help decrease the risk of developing most types of cancer.


JACQUES' 2 cents...
Besides my sincere thanks and acknowledgement to MELISSA BREYER and her fine publication "Health and Green Living" (CARE2) for this excellent article on Wellness-enhancing foods, I could not think of a better day than this to share the above with you.

For today is Yom Kippur (a day of fasting, soul-searching, repentance, plans for self-improvement, pleas for G-d's absolution, blessings and insciption in "The Book of Life" throughout the new year, 5770) being celebrated by Jews around the World.
L'Shana Tovah to all my Jewish friends and their families!
And, as of tomorrow, Eat Well - including the foods above!

Yours in Good Health,
Jacques!

Fat busting tips 101 (concl.)

Where Do I Start?

Eat a variety of lower-fat foods to get all the nutrients you need.
Watch your calorie intake. Remember, "low fat" does not always mean "low calorie."
Eat plenty of unprocessed, whole plant-based foods (such as whole grain products, fruits and vegetables) and a moderate amount of lean and low-fat, animal-based foods (meat and dairy products) to help control your fat, cholesterol and calorie intake.
Increase your physical activity to improve heart health and lose excess body fat.

What Goals Should I Try to Meet?

Decrease the total amount of fat you eat to 20%-35% or less of your total daily calories. For a person eating 2,000 calories a day, this would be 44-77 grams of fat or less per day.
Limit cholesterol intake to 300 milligrams (mg) or less per day.
Decrease saturated fat (animal fat, butter, coconut and palm oils) to less than 10% of your total calories per day. For a person eating 2000 calories a day, this would be 20 grams of saturated fat or less per day. And choose healthy unsaturated fats in place of saturated fats. Healthy fats include olive oil, canola oil, vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, salmon, and avocado.


Tips for Reducing Fat Intake When selecting foods:

Learn about the foods you eat by reading nutrition labels. Look for "low fat," "nonfat" and "reduced-fat" claims on food packages. Focus on total fat, but always try to choose foods low in saturated or trans fats. When selecting food, balance those with a higher fat amount against those with a lower fat amount to stay within your fat total or "budget" for the day.
Choose lean meats, fish and poultry. Limit these to 5-7 ounces per day. Other good low-fat sources of protein include dried beans and peas, tofu, low-fat yogurt, low-fat or skim milk, low-fat cheese, and tuna packed in water. Choose foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, flaxseed, and walnuts for heart health. The American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish such as salmon twice weekly for the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.
Enjoy low-fat (no more than 3 grams of fat per serving) or nonfat cheeses and spreads. Try low-fat or fat-free versions of your favorite margarine, salad dressing, cream cheese and mayonnaise.

When preparing foods: Trim all visible fat and remove the skin from poultry.

Refrigerate soups, gravies and stews, and remove the hardened fat before eating.
Bake, broil or grill meats on a rack that allows fat to drip from the meat. Avoid frying foods.
Sprinkle lemon juice and herbs/spices on cooked vegetables instead of using cheese, butter or cream-based sauces.
Try plain, nonfat or low-fat yogurt and chives on baked potatoes rather than sour cream. Reduced-fat sour cream still contains fat, so you must limit the amount you use.

When dining out:

Choose simply-prepared foods such as broiled, roasted or baked fish or chicken. Avoid fried or sautéed foods, casseroles, and foods with heavy sauces and gravies.
Request that your food be cooked without added butter, margarine, gravy or sauces.
Request salad with low-fat dressing on the side.
Select fruit, angel food cake, nonfat frozen yogurt, sherbet or sorbet for dessert instead of ice cream, cake or pie.


Reviewed by the Department of Nutrition Therapy at The Cleveland Clinic.

Fat Reducing 101

Why Do Most Diets Focus on Reducing Fat?

Fat gets a lot of the attention for many good reasons. Fat can raise cholesterol levels in the blood, increasing a person's risk for heart disease.

In addition, some fatty foods (such as bacon, sausage, and potato chips) often have fewer vitamins and minerals than low-fat foods.

Moreover as mentioned, fat has about twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates and proteins. A gram of fat has 9 calories, while a gram of carbohydrate or protein has 4 calories. In other words, you could eat twice as much carbohydrates or proteins as fat for the same amount of calories.

Will I Lose Weight If I Eat Low-Fat Foods?

It's true that a diet high in fat can lead to weight gain. But it takes more than just eating low-fat foods to lose weight. You must also watch how many calories you eat. Remember, extra calories even from fat-free, trans fat-free, and low-fat foods get stored in the body as fat. Many times people replace high-fat foods for high-calorie foods, like sweets, and gain weight rather than lose weight.

To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you eat. You can achieve this goal by exercising more and by eating less fat and calories.

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

The dietary reference intake for fat in adults is 20%-35% of total daily calories from fat. That's about 44 to 77 grams of fat a day if you eat 2,000 calories a day.

Recently, health experts have started to recommend that people eliminate another type of fat called "trans fat" from their diet. This fat, formed during a process called hydrogenation, converts a relatively healthy unsaturated liquid fat, like corn oil, into a solid one. Although this process gives a food longer shelf life, it also makes the fats act like saturated fat in our bodies, and may be worse when it comes to causing heart disease.

Health experts recommend removing as much trans fat from your diet as possible.

How Can I Know How Much Fat I Am Eating?

Learn about the foods you eat. Fat and calorie listings for individual foods can be found in nutrition books at your local library, on the Internet, and on food packages.

Read nutrition labels on food packages. Nutrition labels show the number of grams of fat per serving and calories per serving. They also show the daily percentage of fat provided in each serving. In other words, if the daily percentage of fat per serving is 18%, each serving provides 18% of the total fat you should eat for the day. Choose a brand that has a lower fat percentage. (The daily percentage value is based on a number of calories listed on the nutrition label, usually 2,000. Your calorie needs may be higher or lower.)

(To be concluded in our next post)---Have a lean, happy weekend, All!
Your Friend,
Jacques

To Acai or not to Acai...

I've been getting a lot of questions about Acai Berry. So lets confront this right now. Oprah Winfrey weighs over 200 pounds AGAIN... and basically endorses acai berry on her tv show.

That should be enough to answer your question, but I'll go further.

Acai Berry is the "flavor of the year" weight loss pill. Much like Hoodia was 2 years ago. I'll make a prediction that some other new and exciting pill will be the new flavor by next summer.

Acai Berry is healthy for you... yep, that's no doubt true. It has a lot of antioxidants and that's good for you.

But that doesn't translate into massive weight loss.

SORRY.

The whole scheme behind pills like this is to obviously hype them up and give them some exotic story about tribes in a rainforest or a desert never getting fat because of the ingredients and then charge something like $5 for shipping a bottle to you.

Then they hook you into an auto-pay program where they charge you like $40 every month after that for a bottle of the stuff.

You can go that route, but you'll be disappointed.

A simple and cheaper alternative that actually works is to get my ebook for $19.97 right now. Just a 1-time fee.

In it, you'll learn diet secrets and exercise tricks that are quick and easy while getting pretty fast results. On top of that, you can email me anytime for more personal and specialized tips that are specific to you, your schedule, and your lifestyle.

http://www.weightlossguide4women.com/enter

Jen

JACQUES' NOTE: Again - I do not promote Jennifer Nolan's book for profit. As I have written before: she is sincere and tells it like it is - to the best of her sincere desire to help (especially "you gals") shed the excess pounds... You take it from there. Be Well!

Shift down to SLIM with this simple formula

If you want to more effectively lose weight, you need to start shifting more of your calories to earlier in the day. By doing this, your total calories for the day will be less.

The reason...

You're not playing "calorie catch-up". What that is, is simply you not eating enough early in the day and then you end up chasing down quick calories to satisfy your hunger. It's a downward spiral. By staying ahead of the curve, you contain your hunger and control your cravings a lot better.

The fact is, when you're hungry, you're hungry. You'll grab anything to eat. It's hard to eat healthy when in that state of mind.

Not only will you eat less total calories, but you'll also burn off more calories during the day doing this. So take a couple minutes and think about how you can shift more calories to breakfast and lunch.

Go here now if you're SICK and TIRED of not being able to fit into your clothes...
http://www.weightlossguide4women.com/enter


Jen

4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd. (Suite 817), Austin, TX 78749

----JACQUES' NOTE: As I mentioned before, Jennifer Nolan is sincerely interested in helping overweight people (women especially) slim down, as am I. By allowing her contact information which could lead to your buying her book for $19.95, keep in mind that I have no financial interest in promoting her image.

To my Jewish friends: SHANA TOVA! May you and yours have a sweet New Year, 5770!

Time Your Meals and Lose Weight

It’s not just the calories you consume, but the time of day you consume them, according to a study by Northwestern University. The researchers found that weight gain is affected by eating at the wrong time, especially during the night, when the body wants to rest and sleep. This is the first study that links the timing of meals and the body’s circadian clock to putting on pounds.

“How or why a person gains weight is very complicated, but it clearly is not just calories in and calories out,” said Fred Turek, professor of neurobiology and physiology in the Weinburg College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology. “We think some factors are under circadian control. Better timing of meals, which would require a change in behavior, could be a critical element in slowing the ever-increasing incidence of obesity.”

Observation of shift workers, who are forced to eat at night and tend to be overweight, led to the research. Turek, who is senior author of the study, took note that it is not just shift workers who eat late, but many other people as well who consume most of their calories in the evening and keep eating into the night. In an interview with the New York Times, he said that when humans evolved, they hunted for food and ate between sunrise and sunset. “After sunset, there were no refrigerators, no food just hanging around,” he said. “You didn’t eat. But today, most people eat most of their calories after sunset.”

According to the researchers, our body’s circadian clock keeps us in sync with the daily cycle of light and dark by regulating our activity, our sleeping, and our eating. Our internal clock also regulates the use of energy, and timing of meals may be important to the burning and storage of calories.

The researchers used lab mice to test the body-clock theory. Over a six-week period, mice were allowed to eat as much high-fat food as they desired, but only during designated feeding periods. One group of mice was given food during their period of normal activity, but a second group was given food only during their normal rest period. The mice that ate during their rest period increased their weight by 48 percent, while the group that ate during their normal period of activity increased their weight by 20 percent.

How conclusive is the study? In an interview with HealthDay, a spokesperson for the researchers said, “I believe we can at least say that humans should avoid eating during their normal sleeping phase because this could lead to increased weight gain.”

Apparently there is a great deal of wisdom in the old maxim about when to eat, and how much: “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”
Fat Fact: More than 300 million adults worldwide are obese, including more than a third of American adults.

Courtesy: NewsMax newsletter

10 Spices That Heal: Cancer, Diabetes, and More

By Vicky Uhland, Natural Solutions

There’s good reason to season: Doctors and dietitians agree that your spice rack can be just as essential as your medicine cabinet when it comes to preventing and treating disease. Research consistently shows that many spices and herbs have medicinal qualities and can help prevent everything from cancer to the common cold.

We asked two experts–Glen Aukerman, MD, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Ohio State University Medical Center, and Ruth Knill, PhD, LAc, a Chinese herbalist–about the spices and herbs that best improve overall health. Here are their picks, plus easy ways to work them into your diet.

Cumin: Prevents Cancer

HOW IT WORKS: It’s no surprise to many spice researchers that cancer rates are lower in India, where cumin is a diet staple. Studies show that the curcumin in this spice inhibits the enzymes that help cancer cells invade healthy tissue and also keeps tumors from developing the new blood vessels that help them grow. TRY TO GET: 6 teaspoons of seeds or 1/2 teaspoon of powder a day. USE IT: Toss a bowl of root veggies, such as sweet potatoes, parsnips, cauliflower, and turnips, with olive oil and 1 teaspoon cumin powder. Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes or until tender, and add salt, pepper, and chopped cilantro to taste before serving.

Ginger: Calms Nausea

HOW IT WORKS: Chinese medical texts dating back to the fourth century BC tout ginger’s antinausea properties, and modern clinical studies offer scientific proof that it works–a substance in ginger shuts down a nerve receptor in the body that triggers the vomiting reflex. TRY TO GET: Juice from 1tablespoon fresh grated ginger or 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger four times a day. USE IT: Add 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger and a few drops of toasted sesame oil to your usual tuna salad recipe for an Asian-style flavor.

Basil: Combats Colds

HOW IT WORKS: Basil is rich in antioxidants, which help boost immunity. It’s also an antimicrobial, which fights the germs that can cause colds. TRY TO GET: 1 to 2 tablespoons a day. USE IT: Toss 1 tablespoon chopped basil into a shrimp stir-fry during the last 3 to 5 minutes of cooking. Or slice strawberries, toss with honey, and set aside for 15 minutes until juicy. Then top with a few tablespoons of finely chopped basil.

Cinnamon: Fights Diabetes

HOW IT WORKS: People with type-2 diabetes have difficulty processing insulin, the hormone that tells cells to remove excess sugar from the bloodstream. But studies show that cinnamon contains a substance that can help cells respond to insulin. The result? A reduction of blood sugar levels by an average of 18 percent to 29 percent, according to a recent Pakistani study. TRY TO GET: 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon (or one stick) a day. USE IT: Mix 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon into 2 tablespoons peanut butter, and spread over apple slices.

Rosemary: Improves Memory

HOW IT WORKS: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance,” Ophelia said to Hamlet more than 400 years ago. Today, a variety of studies back up Ophelia’s claim. The ursolic acid in rosemary inhibits the breakdown of a neurotransmitter essential for memory. TRY TO GET: 1 to 2 teaspoons a day. USE IT: Make a rosemary-infused simple syrup by mixing 1 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 sprigs rosemary. Bring to a boil so sugar dissolves, and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Drizzle over a fall fruit salad of chopped apples, pears, and red grapes. Use 1 cup syrup to 4 cups fruit.

Garlic: Reduces Cholesterol

HOW IT WORKS: Although researchers disagree about how effective garlic really is at lowering cholesterol, a review of several studies conducted by the Linus Pauling Institute found that people who took garlic for three months had a 6 percent to 11 percent reduction in total cholesterol. Because garlic is an antioxidant, it may prevent the oxidation of cholesterol in the arteries. TRY TO GET: 3 to 5 crushed cloves a day. USE IT: Roast up to 5 garlic cloves, and add to homemade hummus before pureeing.

Nutmeg: Lowers Blood Pressure

HOW IT WORKS: “Warming spices” like nutmeg can bring blood from the center of the body to the skin. This helps disperse the blood more evenly throughout the body, reducing overall pressure. TRY TO GET: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon a day. USE IT: Steam 1 head of broccoli and one potato until soft, and then puree with 1/4 cup butter and 4 to 5 gratings of fresh nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.

Cloves: Helps Arthritis Pain

HOW IT WORKS: According to Chinese medicine, cloves have hot and moving properties that relieve arthritis pain caused by cold and stagnation. Cloves contain a phytochemical that interrupts the pathways of a protein complex in the body that’s been linked to inflammatory diseases such as arthritis. TRY TO GET: 1/2 teaspoon a day. USE IT: Saute 1 cup fresh parsley (finely chopped), 1 clove garlic (crushed), 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1 teaspoon cloves in 1 tablespoon olive oil. After 3 minutes, add 4 cups shredded rhubarb chard, and fry until soft and tender, about 5 minutes. Serve hot with chicken or fish.

Turmeric: Curbs Inflammation

HOW IT WORKS: An ancient spice that gives curry its deep golden-orange color, turmeric reduces the inflammation in the body that causes pain. Curcumin, a component in turmeric, inhibits cell enzymes that contribute to inflammation. TRY TO GET: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon a day. USE IT: Add a dash to organic canned soups, such as tomato, lentil, or black bean varieties.

Thyme: Eases a Cough

HOW IT WORKS: Thyme is an antispasmodic, which helps with bouts of nonstop coughing. Thyme’s antiseptic properties also make it very effective against inflammation of the throat, which can cause coughing. TRY TO GET: 2 to 3 teaspoons a day. USE IT: For a simple vinaigrette, whisk together 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh thyme leaves with 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.

Recipe ideas from Dana Jacobi, author of The Essential Best Foods Cookbook (Rodale, 2008).

Courtesy: "Care2 Healthy and Green Living"

About mindless eating-to-excess weight... (concluded)...

Alternate Views on Overeating
Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Public Health and Nutrition at the University of Washington, isn't convinced.

"Yes, we like it, yes, we eat it, maybe our brains light up in response to it," Drewnowski says. "Are we addicted? No. Do we have to make it the mainstay of our diet? No."

Drewnowski, who is studying connections between poverty and obesity, contends other factors are making Americans fatter. His most recent study, published in the May issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, examined the eating habits of 164 adults in Seattle. People with higher education and incomes were most likely to eat a lower-calorie, more nutritious diet, and to buy more costly food, according to the study.

"People who are obese are the ones who have no money, no education, eat cheap sugar and fat, and live in neighborhoods where cheap sugar and fat are the only things available," Drewnowski says. "We say they should choose better. But in our society, they have no choice."

Kessler allows that his theory of how biology drives overeating doesn't apply to everyone. He estimates that 70 million Americans are susceptible. Others, he says, don't respond to food stimuli in the same way, something that scientists haven't been able to explain.

Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, sees similarities between situations that trigger drug abusers and those that make some people automatically order popcorn when they see a movie.

"It's the same biological mechanism," says Volkow, who studies dopamine connections to drug abuse and obesity.

The institute is studying brain chemistry to develop strategies to help people control those urges to overeat.

"People need to learn to handle their eating behaviors better," Volkow says. "Be aware of your conditioned responses. You can avoid that activity."

Taking Control of Your Eating Habits

Kessler believes conditioned hypereaters can take back control. He also calls for the food industry to take another look at how it makes and markets products that he believes manipulate eating behavior.

"It's become pretty egregious across the board," he says. "You look at most appetizers and main dishes at where America eats, and they're just layered and loaded with fat and sugar and salt. And it's not obvious."

An industry spokesman contends that Kessler's book doesn't reflect efforts to provide more nutritious food.

"He's got it backwards when it comes to the food industry's role," says Brian Kennedy, director of communications for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group for food and beverage companies. "We have heard our consumers and policy makers loud and clear, and are providing consumers with more products and healthier choices than ever before."

Kennedy points to other factors that cause people to become overweight, including lack of exercise.

The last time Kessler took on an industry, as FDA commissioner, he fought unsuccessfully to give the agency the power to regulate tobacco and was involved in efforts to secure a hefty settlement from tobacco companies to recover public health costs. With food, he wants to raise awareness of the cues that set many people into a hard-to-break cycle of overeating.

Instead of simply going on a diet, conditioned hypereaters need to change the way they approach food, he says.

Here are some of his tips:

Structure your eating -- knowing when and how you're going to eat. That plan helps you avoid the situations or foods that trigger overeating and establishes new eating patterns to replace destructive ones.
Set rules, such as not eating between meals. If you know you're not going to eat something, he says, your brain won't be as stimulated to steer you to that food.

Change the way you think about food. Instead of looking at a huge plate of french fries and thinking about how good it will make you feel, he advises saying that it's twice as much food as you need, and will make you feel bad. "Once you know you're being stimulated and bombarded," Kessler says, "you can take steps to protect yourself."
Learn to enjoy the foods you can control.
Rehearse how you'll respond to cues that set you up to overeat.

Thanks to WebMD.com newsletters for sharing another excellent article!

Jacques' note: Sorry to have timed the above and previous post on the Labor Day weekend when food and drink are traditional!
Instead, why not start practicing all the healthy advice above starting next week instead?...So, ENJOY! :o)
Your Friend,
Jacques

Emotion-based Compulsive Overeating and How to Stop It

A former FDA commissioner explains why people overeat -- and how to end poor eating habits.
By Elizabeth Lee
WebMD FeatureReviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

Does the ice cream in the freezer keep calling your name? Can't resist a jumbo bucket of popcorn at the movies?

Powerful forces you don't recognize may be driving you to overeat, according to a new book by former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, MD. The culprits: fat, salt, sugar, and brain chemistry.

Kessler stops short of calling Americans' love for sugary, fatty foods a " food addiction." But he believes there are similarities between why some people abuse drugs and why some of us can't resist every last deep-fried chip on a heaped plate of cheese-smothered nachos.

Knowing what's driving our overeating behavior is the first step to changing it, he says.

"For some, it's alcohol," Kessler tells WebMD. "For some, it's drugs. For some, it's gambling. For many of us, it's food."

Kessler, a Harvard-trained pediatrician and medical school professor at the University of California, San Francisco, started researching what would become The End of Overeating after watching an overweight woman talk about obsessive eating habits on The Oprah Winfrey Show. It sounded familiar. Kessler's own weight has zoomed up and down over the years, leaving him with suits of every size.

"For much of my life, sugar, fat, and salt held remarkable sway over my behavior," he writes.

And so the man who tackled tobacco companies while leading the FDA started researching why he couldn't turn down a chocolate chip cookie. He pored over studies on taste preferences, eating habits, and brain activity, conducted studies, and talked to food industry insiders, scientists, and people who struggled with overeating.

His theory: "Hyperpalatable" foods -- those loaded with fat, sugar, and salt -- stimulate the senses and provide a reward that leads many people to eat more to repeat the experience.

"I think the evidence is emerging, and the body of evidence is pretty significant," Kessler says.

He calls it conditioned hypereating, and here's how he says it works. When someone consumes a sugary, fatty food they enjoy, it stimulates endorphins, chemicals in the brain that signal a pleasurable experience. Those chemicals stimulate us to eat more of that type of food -- and also calm us down and make us feel good.

The brain also releases dopamine, which motivates us to pursue more of that food. And cues steer us back to it, too: the sight of the food, a road lined with familiar restaurants, perhaps a vending machine that sells a favorite candy bar. The food becomes a habit. We don't realize why we're eating it and why we can't control our appetite for it.

Once the food becomes a habit, it may not offer the same satisfaction. We look for foods higher in fat and sugar to bring back the thrill.

Kessler points to these factors as the cause of a dramatic spike in the number of overweight Americans in the past three decades.

...to be continued in our next post...Have a Safe Labor Day weekend, all! Best,
Jacques

When NOT to drink water, and why low fat is bad...

by Jennifer Jolan

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Reading Time: 64 Seconds

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http://www.weightlossguide4women.com/enter


Here's the deal... low fat diets SUCK!

Look, if you're on a low fat diet that pretty much means that you're actually on a high carb diet. Carbs are worse because most of the carbs people get are simple carbs that spike blood sugar levels... leaving you eating more just to feel filled up.

AND... you're going to get hungry a lot faster from a carb dominant meal than you would from a meal that has a lot of fat in it.

Here's something you probably didn't know. More than 70% of the dry weight of your brain is made up of fat. Your brain needs fat in your diet to help repair and maintain BILLIONS of cells while creating neurotransmitters.

The best fat for your brain cells and weight loss is DHA... an Omega 3 fat. You can find it in salmon, tuna, and fish oil pills.

Moving along... there actually is a time not to drink water or any other liquid. That time is while you're eating. Drink either 5 minutes before or 5 minutes after your meal... or both.

Your mouth and esophagus produce a lot of digestive enzymes in your saliva when breaking down the foods you're eating. If you drink something while eating, you're just diluting those enzymes out... rendering them useless.

The older you get, the less enzymes you naturally produce. So keep this in mind while eating.

Regardless, if you want less constipation, more nutrition (from proper digestion), and a more efficient ability to lose weight, then stop drinking anything with your meals.

Jen