Sunday, August 30, 2009

5 Things you can do from bed to help you look better in the morning

theexaminer.com


Alex and Laila/Stone/Getty Images

Bed isn't just for sleeping and sex, going to bed can mean getting prettier and softer by morning.

While we sleep, our body takes that time to repair itself from the crap we put it through during the day. That is why it is so important to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night and go to bed at a decent hour. Our body is on a time schedule, if you will. Certain times of the night it does certain things, such as clean the toxins out of your body through the liver and/or skin, puts to work the vitamins and minerals you took earlier in the day (if you remembered to take them) to help repair free radical damage to our cells. So if you're the type that doesn't go to bed until 2am and sleeps until 7 or 8am you're more inclined to get sick more often, gain weight and have not so glowing nice skin.

How does lack of sleep cause weight gain?

Leptin and Grehlin are hormones that help the body control appetite and weight gain and loss. Leptin suppresses appetite, while Grehlin increases appetite and may prevent a person from losing weight.

When lack of sleep becomes a chronic problem, levels of Grehlin increases, causing greater appetite, and levels of Leptin decrease. Regardless of diet and exercise, it's possible that some obesity is caused, or made worse, by sleep deprivation.

Who wants to be fat, have ugly skin and feel like crap 24/7? Not I, said the short one. So with that fun fact in mind what are some other things besides getting to bed at decent hour that will help us to look better in the morning?

5 Things You Can Do From Bed To Help You Look Better In The Morning

1. Use a heavy cream on your hands before going to bed, cover them with a cheap pair of cotton gloves (you can find these at Sally's or Wal-mart). If you're in a bind just use a pair of socks. Yes, you will look a bit "odd" but whose gonna notice, after all you're just going to bed.

2. Use heavy cream on your feet (Burt Bee's has a nice selection of foot creams, Wal-mart now carries this line) and cover your feet with a pair of thick cotton socks. You can do this nightly in the beginning if you started out with some crusty critters. By the end of the week you will have them touchable again.

3. Have a zit that's taking FOREVER to heal up and go away? Dab a bit of Neosporin on the spot and place a round band-aid (they are just the right size and shape for this) over it. The key here is to keep the area "moist". Keeping a wound moist speeds healing. Gone are the days when our mom's told us to let the wound "breath" and turn into a scab to heal. By the morning, you will see a big difference in the look of your spot. Again, you will look a bit weird going to bed but who cares? Okay, your husband might especially if he's wanting some "gettum gettum" that night.

4. To ensure less breakouts in the morning always be sure to go to bed with your hair up and away from your face as well as change your pillow case often. Pillow cases harbor bacteria and placing your face on it night after night spells disaster for your skin.

5. Before going to bed take a vitamin E capsule and snip the tip off with some scissors and squeeze out a bit onto your finger and dab neat onto the surface of your under eye area. You will wake up with extremely soft and brighter skin under your eye. It will also help with minor wrinkles. Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant, which will help to fight those free radicals damaging our skin when we are out and about during the day,

See, and you thought your mom was crazy when she said "You need to get your beauty sleep!" So true ladies............it's so true!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

'The picture you can't stop talking about...'

The editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine, Cindi Leive, was on the show this morning to talk about a photo in their latest issue that has drawn a lot of attention.


Courtesy: Walter Chin/Glamour Magazine

Leive writes on her blog:
It's a photo that measures all of three by three inches in our September issue, but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands. (As editor-in-chief, I pay attention to this stuff!) "I am gasping with delight...I love the woman on p 194!" said one...then another, and another, and another and another and another. So...who is she? And what on earth is so special about her?
Leive explains:
"The woman on p. 194" is actually 20-year-old model Lizzi Miller, and this is her second appearance in Glamour, shot by fashion photographer Walter Chin.
Lizzi Miller joined Leive in the segment this morning to talk about the reaction to the picture.



Comments

I just saw the piece on Lizzi Miller and say thank you for showing us a real person. Love the piece and love Today Show. Thanks Miss Illinois
How can we call a size 12-14 a plus-size? They can still buy clothes in the Misses Dept. Try being a 1X or 2X - your dept is in the basement or the 3rd floo - we are plus size people.

Now try to buy a business suit - you have the choice from three black suites, one grey suit and one brown. If you are a 12-14, you can choose from over a hundred styles and colores (I just did this in Macy's)
Why are you referring to this beautiful woman as a PLUS SIZED model? Didn't you say she was the size of the average American woman. What kind of a message are you sending?
I just finished watching the segment on the picture of the “plus-size” model in Glamour magazine. It truly is a great picture which depicts a beautiful woman with her minor flaws bared. I am glad that you chose to highlight this issue. However, you (Today Show/media) continue to play into the hands of the fashion industry, which depicts ‘normal’ through women who are mostly underweight by medical standards. Throughout the entire segment, your title at the bottom of the screen was “Plus Size…”. A woman wearing a size 12 to 14 is normal and average! Any young teen size 12 or 14 watching, seeing the beautiful Lizzi Miller portrayed as “plus size” has just had their own self image damaged. Shame on you for not choosing an appropriate title for this otherwise positive segment!!
I loved this segment. Thanks for putting it on. I'm the same size as Lizzie Miller and I love the pic of her, it's so real and great to see her love of herself shine through. We need more women like her as role models. She really made me feel better about myself today! It's good to see what "real" women look like and I hope we can all see more of it.
I'm really confused and a little sad and angry! I was looking forward to the segment about the "PLUS SIZE" model, (who "bares it all" in Glamor magazine) only to find Matt interviewing a beautiful, intelligent, woman who "is between a size 12 and 14!!!!!!!" First, let me say that the picture of the model was wonderful, and she was even more beautiful in person, but since when is size 12-14 PLUS SIZE? Women of all sizes can be beautiful and confident, but it seemed a little condescending to speak to this woman as if she were morbidly obese. Actually, I'm surprised that she did the interview with that "title" leading into it. It was obvious that this young woman was fit, healthy, and confident, so why all the hype about her being PLUS SIZE?
I'm sorry but she is NOT plus-sized. Between a size 12 and 14? Give me a break. You don't know what plus sized is. She IS a nice looking young woman, however.
I think there should be more models like this !!!
Teens girls should be informed that in the fashion industry anything over size six is plus size it's just the way it works and there is no point in complaining about it. That would be like complaining on shoe sizes where the average is 7 but you have plenty of young girl with size 10, keep the youth informed on the way the industries work. If we PROMOTE the "plus size models" we will work to make them more the norm...which is ultimately what the story is about. Given the majority of america is in this size bracket we should embrace plus size models and not be miffed they aren't overly unhealthy.
I agree with these ladies. Since when is a 12-14 a PLUS SIZE. She is beautiful but not PLUS SIZE!
Amen a picture of a woman that weighs over 110lbs..A real woman that real women can relate too..the models body we are used to seeing are too skinny to be healthy..
I agree, she isn't plus size, to me plus size is 1x or larger. She is a beautiful brave sould to bare it all and show the real world a real woman. Sickly thin is not attractive. We want to see the real people in the world like us! I am so glad they did this piece.
PLUS SIZE???? I saw the segment on this picture and this model. Your banner on the bottom of the screen said "Plus Size Model Reveals All" I was wondering about the use of that term, Plus Size. Now, you say she was between a size 12-14, representing the majority of American women. Then I saw her there on your couch. How is she possibly a plus size??? When I go to the store and move about the different categories of grouped sized clothes, (ie. girls, juniors, women, plus size) the plus size clothes are 20W and up. Of which would wrap around her a few times. How, if she is the majority of American women, therefore regular, is she plus size? When I see Lane Bryant catalogues and Just My Size bra commercials, those women are large. Of course beautiful, but they are larger women, as is their point. That woman sitting on your couch was NOT LARGE. She was an average size woman, very beautiful, and someone I would look at and NOT say "large." So what is it with the use of this term??? Is it the fashion industry that says REGULAR is PLUS SIZE and you were just following their vocabulary, or does TODAY actually see a plus size woman as a size 12 and up??? I think if that is the case, TODAY is adding to the misconception of this country of women. It is this exact attitude that has caused so many self-esteem issues in the young girls of this country. They ARE normal and beautiful and look exactly the way God intended, and society, such as these magazines and yourself, tell them they are not normal, they are large if they are not a size 2. You said yourself that a 2 is NOT normal. Only a small population of women are created as that size. For many builds of women, no matter how much they diet or exercise or how disciplined they are, they will NEVER be a size 2. Not even the picture shows her as a PLUS size woman. Really! Compare her picture to ads of Lane Bryant and Just My Size bras. Those woman are big, plus size; the woman in this picture is NORMAL, AVERAGE, REGULAR. I am afraid that if in 2009, 12-14 is considered PLUS SIZE, in 2019 will size 8 be considered PLUS? The industry just keeps lowering that size and adding PLUS to it as we go. We will NEVER be NORMAL in the eyes of the fashion industry.

Another thing I would like to mention is that we were all created different. Different is what makes our world interesting. Why do so many vehicles that reach the public NOT say that this is 2, this is beautiful. This is 8, this is beautiful. This is 16, this is beautiful. This is 24, this is beautiful. Why? Why is there always a negative attitude attached to different? Why can it not just BE? Why can we as a society not see different as awesome? Why do we have to say, "Well she is a 12, but she is still beautiful" Just say, "She is beautiful and is a 12." Just a thought. I don't think this negative-attached "different" was the idea when creating human beings. Who was it that decided that this 1 way or that 1 way is the way to be? All the differences ARE the way to be and it is all beautiful, as is black, white, brown, red, yellow. ALL just perfectly fine.

I just know that if I went to a store and the sales clerk asked me my size and I said 12 and she took me to an area marked Plus Size, I would leave that store. There is no PLUS to my size. Plus mean more, additional, extra. I don't need extra fabric to cover me. I need REGULAR clothes.

Offended
In the modeling industry, which is the industry she is in, she is considered "plus size". What's so hard to understand about that?

And even though it is the norm today, a person who is a size 12 or 14 is overweight. It's not a horrible or mean thing to say, it is a fact.
It's a good thing to spotlight women with realistic size representation because so many of our youth and teens are dealing with weight issues today. Having true "plus sized" realtives in my family, I can emphatically say this model is far from it. I am sure the fashion industry has label her as such based on their standards, but clearly that is not the case in the real world.
I guess I'm different but I like seeing beautiful thin (pefect model types in magazines and movies). I am not young and don't wish to be like them, but beauty is beauty and FAT is NOT beautiful. You see plenty of it around town, standing in line, squeezing next to you on planes, etc. The models and celebraties are paid alot, they have the resources to keep the beautiful bodies. (I'm not talking about overly skinny, anorexic, of course!)
Finally, A REAL WOMAN!!
Hail to reality! She IS NOT plus-sized. She is a normal, American woman, not some sickly size 0-6. Now, I AM plus sized at 5'3 and 180 lbs and wear 14 pants and 1x shirts. (One I buy upstairs and the other downstairs!!) I work for the Public Health Department and am so glad to see Glamour show someone that women of all ages can relate to. I might even start buying Glamour again. I had given up on Fashion mags.......
In your online article, it says that "in the modeling industry any size over 6 is considered 'plus' size". That may be true in that context, but not in the real world and you misled your TV audience with the tag lines.

Sizes 12-14 are Misses sizes and are not considered Plus Sizes. A 180 lb woman who is 5 feet tall most likely wears a plus or woman's size. (Matt, look at the size charts for women's clothes.)

Lizzie Miller is a tall, wonderfully built woman and kudos to her for modeling among the anorexic models.
Wow...you just lost me on this one when you said the AVERAGE woman is size 12-14 but then you called this model (who is the AVERAGE size) a "plus sized model". This is the problem with the media...how can our teenagers and children ever have a chance? Thanks for trying....
I challenge Glamour to lead the way in the area of representing real women in their magazine. The woman who is size 12-14 should be the rule and not the exception. We heard the same type of "talk" when the Dove girls were all the rage.
It is a sad comment that a 12-14 is considered plus size. To me it fuels the wrong message to our kids and promotes eating disorders. I loved the pic & the model is beautiful.
I was a 3x am now wearing 14-16 and trust me, I don't consider myself "plus size" any more. I think that stressing being healthy, no matter what size, is what is the message we should be sending our kids.
She is positively gorgeous!
I applaud the model but find the term "plus size" just as damaging as the skin and bones models. Shame on TODAY and Glamour for taking advantage of the hype but not truly following thru on real life, example, Jessica Simpson on the cover.
How tall is this woman? 180 lbs. on a woman 5'8" looks quite a bit different from a 5'3" woman weighing 180 lbs. Believe me, I know - and I've got belly rolls to prove it!
Pictures like these posted in heavily read magazine articles make me believe there is still normal human beings out there. I am extremely happy that the magazine company published it. If there were more real pictures like this out there, I would definitely be more inclined to buy products and read/subscribe to that specific magazine!!!!!!
yeah....and how tall does she stand at size 12? Probably 5'10" or 11". I'm sure she is not 5'3"! If she was, I am positive she would not be modeling and would not be considered average an size.....
This woman is no "plus size"...model. She is very pretty, but 12 - 14 ?? this is an average size woman.
First and foremost, fat is unhealthy. Average Americans are fat. Please stop glamourizing this unhealthy, fat young woman. At 20 years old, she should be in great shape. She's not. I'm 40 and I'm in better shape that that. What is the message we're sending to our children? You can be lazy, not exercise and eat as many twinkies as you want - you're still beautiful. When will we stop being so afraid to offend that we jeopardize the health of our children? Why can't we highlight the bodies of HELATHY women - those that exercise regualarly and eat right? Now stop looking at the rest of the fat people around you for justification and get off your fat butt and exercise 'til it hurts!
I whole-heartedly agree with the prior posts in that Lizzie is a beautiful woman. She most certainly is NOT what any INTELLIGENT being would consider to be plus-sized. Does she shop in the plus-size department? I think not. She is just what they said during the segment--average by America's standards. Shame on you, Glamour Magazine and Today Show for depicting her as such!
This made me cry tears of happiness. I am a size 12-14. I live in South Orange County, CA where the average size is a 0-8. To hear that the average is a size 12-14 made me so happy. I do agree that calling a 12-14 a "Plus-Size" needs to change. All in all this was a great story. I hope that this made others as happy, and has given them the same boost of confidence as it has me.
I actually just read this article a week ago, and I saw it and I just glanced right by it. Not that I was offended, but to me shes a gorgeous girl and deserves the space just as much as any skinny toothpick rail model. So I didnt take a second look. To me, that should be the norm! Women are beautiful at any size!
I HOPE this photo turns everything around! Back are the days of Marylin Monroe, Greta Garbo, where women have curves and shape!
It's about time! I'm 5'4 and weigh 140lbs. I'm not thin by any means but I'm not fat, either. I'm sick of the "industry" showing clothes that look great on bone hangers but look like crap on real people. I'm tired of them creating clothes for the square build, too. I'm 38, 27, 38. No one makes clothes that fit me. NO ONE. I wish these "designers" would understand their target market better and get off the pot and start creating stuff that better suits 95% of people.
And to clear up confusion, the "plus size" refers to the the model industry classifies her. She's over a size 6 which means she's a "plus sized" model. That doesn't mean she's overweight. She's just not an anorexic, bone hanger.
I am APPALLED that Glamour Magazine & the producers of Today Show allowed ANY of you to call size 12-14 "Plus" size! Are you NUTS?!
From the REAL world, I am here to tell you that "Plus" size means 18W(stands for women) on up to 6XL & higher.
It was a smack in the face & pain to our fragile egos for you to indicate 12-14 a "Plus" size. You need a segment from the REAL "Plus" size ladies of America!!
This is a sham! The woman is 5'11" tall for pete's sake! This is not a plus-size women if she is a size 12-14. I dont' care what the modeling industry says about a woman over size 6 being plus size.Show us a woman who is 5'2" and a size 18 or above. THAT is plus size. So what if Lizzie has a little pouchy stomach and some hips? You certainly couldn't pinch an inch above her waist! The fashion industry thinks we're stupid and will fall for this stuff. It's insulting, and shame on NBC and Today for trying to pull one over on those of us who are truly plus-sized.
I,too,am the same size as Lizzie with identical "flaws". I struggle every day with my image in the mirror, so seeing her image so similar to mine was empowering. Thank you Glamour for portraying the "Average" woman in a positive light but shame on the Today Show for labeling the segment as a plus-sized model. What a mixed message you are sending to the girls and women of the world. If Today Show says my size is a plus-size and I am offended by that, I can only imagine how it must be affecting the women who have bigger numbers on the labels of their clothes.
A beautiful woman with a healthy weight for her height - but definitely NOT PLUS- wouldn't plus mean she is overweight for her 5ft.11inch frame - which she clearly is not???
More of these beautiful, healthy women who wear size 12-14 - but let's not all them "plus" - average may be but not plus. whyfish
FTFT/t size. An exquisite body nOT, healthy young woman you
This is a great story but I also agree that this woman is not a plus size. Also, the last photo in this article states that Lizze also appeared in Glamour in 2000. Wouldn't she have only been 11 years old in 2000? You might want to edit your articles before publishing them
lizzi and leive - thank you for making me love my body again.
Why is this even a story? Most women in America are not super models. And the woman in this story is not really that overweight. Ooooo, a little pouch, big deal. And, no, she is NOT plus sized in my opinion!
As a woman who has struggled with poor self-esteem and body image issues, I thought this piece was excellent. The confidence Lizzi had with herself is something we should all strive for. In response to all of the above comments; the modeling industry STATES that all models over size 6 are "plus size" - therefore, Lizzi is, by their standards, a "plus-size" model. It is not the choice of the Today show to give her that title! They were simply running the irrational label a beautiful, real woman like Lizzi is given in the waif-thin modeling world. Real women know Lizzi is far from plus-size! Thank you, Glamour, for recognizing a more realistic portrayal of women.
That's plus size? Gee I been miss informed.
No she is not plus sized but just like the model said, in the modeling industry if you wear over a size 6 you are labeled "plus sized". Therefore, the site was just using the technical term.
I applaud Glamour Magazine for photographing and publishing this beautiful "average-size" woman. I am appauled by Today/ NBC for making the plus-size title/tag-line. What message are you telling? That said, if size 12-14 is plus-size, what about people that are 1X and larger? Get a grip.
This segment totally offended me. The TODAY show should be ashamed! And that editor from Glamour magazine should be slapped with a "plus size" stick! That model is not plus size. She is an average size (or below average size) young lady and beautiful. TODAY and Glamour continue to promote the idea that if you are not a size 0-2 then you are FAT and unworthy! Boycott both the show and the magazine.
Awesome! whether we like to think of the average women as plus sized or whatever, the title is what it is...HOWEVER>> it is so BEAUTIFUL to see a lady in the magazines reflect a normal, healthy body. PLEASE PLEASE allow us..normal plus sized (Healthy) women see that its okay to not look like a drug addicted scale of a women!! Beauty comes in ALL sizes!!
She must be really tall to look this great at 180lbs. So she has a little tummy pooch? Who doesn't, unless you work out every day. She looks great. Shows like America's Top Model should take a lesson from this... instead of showing all size 2 models, and one "plus size" model, they should show women of all sizes, from 2-12, and show young girls that every size is beautiful and sexy, and worthy of magazine covers.
I don't buy the "Fashion Magazines" However I will run out and buy this one today. Why? I vote with my money....I am very careful about what I support. Bravo....will this continue and become a trend I hope so and my money will continue to follow.
While I applaud the inclusion of a NORMAL-sized woman in a fashion magazine, the use of the term "Plus-Sized" to describe the model is not only harmful, it's a complete fallacy.

When will the labels finally be based in reality? The so-called "normal-sized" models who wear size 0 should be re-labelled "abnormally thin" or even "health challenged". OK, if that's too harsh, why just not call them "minus-sized models", so that they're differentiated properly instead of perpetuating the lie that THEY are the normal ones who are the size women should aspire to. Most women would have to become unhealthy to achieve the kind of body size these models have, and even after that we would never be tall enough...or willowy enough...or pretty enough...or correctly proportioned (according to the "norms").

I'm just so tired of shows not pointing out this huge discrepancy. So you gave her a big warm fuzzy for being included in the magazine when she's normal and has a little tummy. Big deal! Why not ask the tough questions? Instead of "will this be accepted by the majority of readers?" why not ask, "When will you begin talking to women about the fact that you've been asking them to do the impossible in order to feel acceptable for YEARS now?"

I'm supposed to be happy that we're questioning wheter readers will like an accept this one small photo???? As if there's still that possibility the normal woman might be rejected by readers because she's just too fat to be considered good viewing????

And I agree that this is also an insult to actual Plus Sized Women who should also be given their due. I guess the only women who will ever be made to feel normal are those that are unnaturally thin and willing to do anything to keep themselves that way. No wonder teenage girls are growing up with such a warped image of themselves and their bodies.

many more comments on: allday.msnbc.msn.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

Do You Have a Tummy Ache? 4 Common Digestive Disorders


www.lifescripts.com

Heartburn? Constipation? When your digestive system is out of whack, you don’t have to suffer. Here are simple tips for squelching 4 common digestive disorders.

Bad food can cause a digestive upset. So can chronic conditions such as celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).

But no matter what the cause, you can ease an assault on your gastric system. Here are 4 common digestive problems and ways to tackle them:

1. Constipation

Do you have fewer than three bowel movements a week? You’re officially constipated and you have plenty of company: More than 4 million Americans - mostly women and the elderly - are frequently constipated, according to the National Institutes of Health, and that can lead to bigger problems.

Constant straining can cause painful hemorrhoids and, over time, it raises the risk of developing tiny pouches in your colon that can become infected. Constipation can also be a sign of colon or colorectal cancer, but your age, weight, exercise habits, diet, ethnic background and genetics all play a part in determining your risk.

Medications and supplements that may make constipation worse:

* Allergy pills (antihistamines)
* Painkillers that contain hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl
* Tricyclic antidepressants
* Parkinson’s medications
* Cholesterol-reducing drugs (statins)
* Iron and calcium supplements

How to fix it
To get things moving down there, first try small lifestyle changes.

Eat more high-fiber foods, such as oatmeal, apples or prunes. Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water and get at least a half-hour of exercise every day.

Another option? Take probiotic supplements: The live bacteria will reestablish a healthy ecosystem in your gut.

If you’re still straining or not going at all, try an over-the-counter laxative. These two remedies may help:

Stool softeners (bisacodyl; brand name Dulcolax®): Within hours, this popular over-the-counter drug softens waste and stimulates your colon’s muscles to contract and squeeze out its contents.

The tablets must be swallowed whole — don’t crush or chew them because they’re specially coated to minimize gastric irritation and allow the drug’s active ingredient to be released only in the colon. If swallowing pills is troublesome, buy the liquid version or suppositories.

How to use it: Take bisacodyl with an 8-ounce glass of water.

Watch out: Some people feel faint or crampy after using bisacodyl tablets or suppositories. This is more likely if you take antacids, acid blockers or eat dairy products within one hour of taking it; they reduce stomach acidity and prematurely destroy the medication’s coating, causing the side effects.

Aloe vera (brand name Lily of the Desert): Most people use aloe vera gel to heal burns, but you can also buy the juice. Drink 2-4 ounces a day. Expect more normal bowel movements within a couple of days. It prevents your intestines from absorbing liquid, so feces stay soft and exit easier.

How to use it: Aloe vera juice is virtually tasteless, so drink it plain or add it to tea, smoothies, juice or cereal. It’s also loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Watch out: Drinking too much can cause diarrhea or cramps.

If these don’t work, ask your doctor for a prescription-strength laxative.


2. Painful cramps and chronic diarrhea

These symptoms point to many digestive disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis, (an inflammatory condition that produces sores in the lining of the colon) and Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease similar to UC.

Chronic diarrhea is dehydrating and robs the body of essential nutrients like B-vitamins and minerals, leaving you weak, tired and without appetite.

Medications and supplements that make cramps and diarrhea worse:

* Antibiotics
* Anti-viral drugs
* Anti-parasitic drugs
* Potassium
* Cough syrups, especially those containing guaifenesin (an expectorant)
* Magnesium
* Thyroid medication
* Antacids containing aluminum
* Acid blockers

How to fix it
Probiotics (Culturelle or florastor): These probiotic supplements can drive out bad bacteria and fungus, such as Candida albicans, a common cause for diarrhea, cramps and other illnesses like IBS. You can take one or both together.

In fact, whether you have diarrhea or not, take a probiotic daily to boost your overall digestive health.

How to use it: Take probiotics whenever you take antibiotics (and for three days afterward) to reduce the risk of a vaginal yeast infection. You can buy them at health-food stores.

Watch out: Eating yogurt or kefir — a fermented milk drink available in some health food stores — isn’t a good idea for people with digestive disorders. For one thing, probiotics die in sweetened yogurt. But most important: A protein in dairy foods called casein can exacerbate existing digestive woes.

Ginger: The gnarly-looking roots at your farmer’s market or grocery store are Mother Nature’s best defense against digestive pain, cramps (including menstrual cramps), nausea and inflammation.

How to use it: Grate an inch of the root into pulp and add it to hot water. After 10 minutes, strain and sweeten the tea, if you like. Drink a cup twice daily. Add ginger to smoothies, soups, marinades and sauces.

Watch out: The maximum recommended dose is 4 grams daily. Ginger is a blood-thinner, so if you take aspirin or anticoagulants, talk to your doctor before using it.

Peppermint oil: The herb and essential oil calm the GI tract and may have antibiotic effects. It helps with IBS, indigestion, bloating and gas. It calms stomach muscles, so food passes to the bowel and helps you pass gas. It also improves bile flow, essential to digestion and fat absorption.

How to use it: Try peppermint tea, supplements, add fresh leaves to your salad and smoothies or just eat them raw.

Watch out: Peppermint supplements may exacerbate conditions like reflux (the backup of liquids from your stomach into your esophagus) and heartburn, the burning caused from reflux. Buy supplements with an enteric coating, which prevents them from dissolving until they reach the small intestine.

3. Hemorrhoids

Chronic constipation, IBS and other digestive disorders can lead to problems outside the gut, including hemorrhoids (swollen, painful veins in and around the anus).

Medications and supplements that may make hemorrhoids worse:

* Allergy pills (antihistamines)
* Painkillers that contain hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl
* Tricyclic antidepressants
* Parkinson’s medication
* Cholesterol-reducing drugs (statins)
* Iron or calcium supplements

Conventional medicine’s answer is often surgery, but first try these non-invasive steps.

How to fix it
Ice packs: Put them on your anus for 15 or 20 minutes - no longer - to relieve inflammation.

Stool softeners (Docusate sodium; brand name Colace): This stool softener is essential for people with a heart condition or “vagus nerve” disorder because straining can be dangerous for them. Stool softeners make it easier for you to pass bowel movements, so there’s less pressure on touchy nerve endings and sensitive hemorrhoids.

How to use it: Drink lots of water! It makes the drug work better and prevents dehydration, which causes constipation and more hemorrhoids.

Watch out: Side effects include stomach pain, mild cramping and diarrhea.

Silica: Found in seafood, seaweed and horsetail (whose leaves look like a horse’s tail), this crystalline mineral strengthens the delicate blood vessels around the anus.

How to use it: Squirt silica solution on a cotton pad and press it to your rectum to soothe the burn or take horsetail supplements.

Watch out: When you buy horsetail, make sure the ingredient label says Equisetum arvense and organic to ensure that it’s pesticide-free.

If you take too much silica or use an inferior brand, you may get mild digestive upset. The herb also has mild diuretic effects, so long-term use could deplete your body of potassium and other important minerals.

4. Heartburn

Mild, occasional heartburn is the result of reflux, the backup of acidic liquids from your stomach into your esophagus. Heartburn and acid reflux can flare up when you are asleep.

If heartburn and reflux accompany other chronic digestive disorders, you may be allergic to gluten, a protein in wheat, or the milk protein casein. See a GI specialist before taking any drugs or supplements.

Medications and supplements that may make heartburn worse:

* Bone-building drugs (brand names: Fosamax, Boniva, Actonel)
* Blood pressure medications
* Nitrates (like nitroglycerin) for the heart
* Breathing medications (theophylline)
* Asthma inhalers (albuterol)
* Some antidepressants and psychiatric medications
* Some sleeping pills

How to fix it
Antacids (Maalox and Tums): These work within minutes to relieve the burning sensation in your chest and throat.

But those symptoms could also mean something more serious, such as a heart attack. If the pain does not subside quickly after taking an antacid, call 911.

How to use it: Take them orally, in chewable, liquid or tablet form, according to package directions.

Watch out: People with kidney conditions should use antacids only under a doctor’s care. Long-term use can rob your body of B-vitamins and minerals.

DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice): Found in health-food stores, this natural supplement comes from licorice, but eating the candy won’t help. DGL’s active component is glycyrrhizinic acid, an anti-inflammatory that helps create digestive mucous and relieves ulcers, indigestion, heartburn, gastritis and upset stomach.

How to use it: Chew a tablet before meals. DGL can help bring up mucus and other material if you have a cough or cold.

Watch out: Get the version marked deglycyrrhizinated. Plain licorice root extract can raise your blood pressure; DGL may lower it or thin the blood.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Is Salad the Best Diet Food? | Salad Bar Exam

24medica.com
Thursday, 20 August 2009 Everybody knows salads are healthy, right? People who are on a diet often opt for entrée salads, whether they're eating out or at home. But the truth is that a salad is not always your best calorie bet.

Consider: A chicken Caesar salad at Chili’s (loaded with salad dressing, croutons, cheese, and chicken) will set you back 1,010 calories and 76 grams of fat. On the other hand, a Chick-fil-A chargrilled chicken garden salad with fat-free honey mustard dressing has only 230 calories and 6 grams fat.

It's the fixings that make the difference when it comes to salad calories. If you're going to pile on the croutons, creamy dressing, cheese, bacon, avocado, mayonnaise-rich prepared salads (like coleslaw), meat, nuts, fried chicken strips, and wonton strips, you might as well order a double bacon cheeseburger and fries.

So what makes a diet-friendly salad? For a healthy salad, start with a variety of colorful veggies, fruits, beans, and mixed greens. When possible, opt for dark, leafy greens like arugula, spinach, and fresh herbs. (The darker the leaf, the more nutritional goodness it has.) Then, pile on grape tomatoes, shredded carrots, cabbage, broccoli, jicama, scallions, mushrooms, red bell peppers, roasted vegetables, or your other favorite vegetables.

For a filling entree salad, add small amounts of low-fat cheese or lean protein like grilled chicken, shrimp, or hard-cooked egg. Top off your salad with a small amount of avocado or chopped nuts to add some healthy fat. (Keep in mind that you need to control portions of healthful but high-calorie items like dried fruits, nuts, cheese, olives, and avocado).

But we're not done yet: Salad dressing can spell disaster if you use too much of the wrong kind. For a lower-calorie salad, dress with a tablespoon or two of light vinaigrette or salsa, or a flavorful vinegar (like balsamic) along with a little heart-healthy olive oil. If you love creamy dressing, try diluting it with a little water or vinegar -- or simply use less of it. A tried-and-true dieter’s trick is to order salad dressing on the side, then just dip the tines of your fork into the dressing before you grab each forkful of salad.

Follow these tips to create a salad from a salad bar, tossing one at home or ordering a delicious salad that is satisfying, low in calories, high in fiber, and full of nutrients.



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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Tests Begin on Drugs That May Slow Aging


NYTimes.com

It may be the ultimate free lunch — how to reap all the advantages of a calorically restricted diet, including freedom from disease and an extended healthy life span, without eating one fewer calorie. Just take a drug that tricks the body into thinking it’s on such a diet.
It sounds too good to be true, and maybe it is. Yet such drugs are now in clinical trials. Even if they should fail, as most candidate drugs do, their development represents a new optimism among research biologists that aging is not immutable, that the body has resources that can be mobilized into resisting disease and averting the adversities of old age.

This optimism, however, is not fully shared. Evolutionary biologists, the experts on the theory of aging, have strong reasons to suppose that human life span cannot be altered in any quick and easy way. But they have been confounded by experiments with small laboratory animals, like roundworms, fruit flies and mice. In all these species, the change of single genes has brought noticeable increases in life span.

With theorists’ and their gloomy predictions cast in the shade, at least for the time being, experimental biologists are pushing confidently into the tangle of linkages that evolution has woven among food intake, fertility and life span. “My rule of thumb is to ignore the evolutionary biologists — they’re constantly telling you what you can’t think,” Gary Ruvkun of the Massachusetts General Hospital remarked this June after making an unusual discovery about longevity.

Excitement among researchers on aging has picked up in the last few years with the apparent convergence of two lines of inquiry: single gene changes and the diet known as caloric restriction.

In caloric restriction, mice are kept on a diet that is healthy but has 30 percent fewer calories than a normal diet. The mice live 30 or 40 percent longer than usual with the only evident penalty being that they are less fertile.

People find it almost impossible to maintain such a diet, so this recipe for longevity remained a scientific curiosity for many decades. Then came the discovery of the single gene changes, many of which are involved in the body’s regulation of growth, energy metabolism and reproduction. The single gene changes thus seem to be pointing to the same biochemical pathways through which caloric restriction extends life span.

If biologists could only identify these pathways, it might be possible to develop drugs that would trigger them. Such drugs could in principle have far-reaching effects. Mice on caloric restriction seem protected from degenerative disease, which may be why they live longer. A single drug that protected against some or all the degenerative diseases of aging would enable people to enjoy more healthy years, a great benefit in itself, even if it did not extend life span.

The leading candidates for such a role are drugs called sirtuin activators, which may well be mimicking caloric restriction, in whole or in part. The chief such drug is resveratrol, a minor ingredient of grapes and red wine. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, of Cambridge, Mass., is now conducting clinical trials of resveratrol, in a special formulation, and of small-molecule drugs that also activate sirtuin but can be given in much lower doses. The resveratrol formulation and one of the small chemicals have passed safety tests and are now being tested against diabetes and other diseases. The Food and Drug Administration does not approve drugs to delay aging, because aging in its view is not a disease.

The sirtuin activators have a strong scientific pedigree. They emerged as the surprising outcome of a quest begun in 1991 by Leonard P. Guarente of M.I.T. to look for genes that might prolong life span in yeast, a single-cell organism. Working with David A. Sinclair, now at Harvard Medical School, he discovered such a gene, one called sir-2. People and mice turned out to have equivalent genes, called sirt genes, that produce proteins called sirtuins.

Dr. Guarente then found that the sirtuins can detect the energy reserves in a cell and are activated when reserves are low, just what would be needed for a protein that mediates the effects of caloric restriction. Dr. Sinclair and colleagues screened a number of chemicals for their ability to activate sirtuin, and resveratrol landed at the top of the list. The chemical was already known as the suspected cause of the French paradox, the fact that the French eat a high fat diet without penalty to their longevity.

The two researchers and their colleagues thus argued that caloric restriction works by activating sirtuins, and so drugs that activate sirtuins should offer the same health benefits.

In 2004 Dr. Sinclair co-founded Sirtris with Christoph Westphal, a scientific entrepreneur. Helped by growing interest in the sirtuin story, Dr. Westphal was able to sell the company last year to GlaxoSmithKline for $720 million.

Dr. Sinclair says that “the results from the Sirtris compounds are promising and will be submitted for publication in coming months.”

But despite the high promise and strong scientific foundation of the sirtuin approach, it has yet to be proved that Sirtris’s drugs will work. The first of many questions is that of whether caloric restriction applies at all to people.

Two experts on aging, Jan Vijg of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Judith Campisi of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, argued recently in Nature that the whole phenomenon of caloric restriction may be a misleading result unwittingly produced in laboratory mice. The mice are selected for quick breeding and fed on rich diets. A low-calorie diet could be much closer to the diet that mice are adapted to in the wild, and therefore it could extend life simply because it is much healthier for them.

“Life extension in model organisms may be an artifact to some extent,” they wrote. To the extent caloric restriction works at all, it may have a bigger impact in short-lived organisms that do not have to worry about cancer than in humans. Thus the hope of mimicking caloric restriction with drugs “may be an illusion,” they write.

To decide whether life extension by caloric restriction is an artifact of mice in captivity, why not try it on wild mice? Just such an experiment has been done by Steven N. Austad of the University of Texas Health Science Center. Dr. Austad reported that caloric restriction did not extend the average life span of wild mice, suggesting the diet’s benefits are indeed an artifact of mice in captivity. But others interpret his results differently. Richard A. Miller of the University of Michigan, says the maximum life span of the wild mice was extended, and so the experiment was a success for caloric restriction.

Laboratory mice are very inbred, and researchers can get different results depending on the breed they use. To put the mouse data on a firmer footing, the National Institute on Aging has set up a program to test substances in three labs simultaneously. Its first round of candidate agents for reversing aging include green tea extract and two doses of resveratrol.

The resveratrol tests are still under way, but last month the results with another substance, the antifungal drug rapamycin, were published. Rapamycin was found to extend mice’s lives significantly even though by accident the mice were already the equivalent of 60 years old when the experiment started.

Rapamycin has nothing to do with caloric restriction, so far as is known, but the study provided striking proof that a chemical can extend life span.

Another result, directly related to the caloric restriction approach, emerged last month from a long-awaited study of rhesus monkeys kept on such a diet. The research was led by Richard Weindruch of the University of Wisconsin. As fellow primates, the monkeys are the best possible guide to whether the mouse results will apply in people. And the answer they gave was ambiguous.

The monkeys who had spent 20 years on caloric restriction were in better health than their normally fed counterparts, and suffered less diabetes, cancer and heart disease, apparently confirming that caloric restriction holds off the degenerative diseases of aging in primates as well as rodents.

But as for life span, the diet extended life significantly only if the researchers excluded deaths that were apparently unrelated to aging, such as under the anesthesia necessary to take blood samples. When all deaths were counted, life span was not significantly extended.

Some researchers think it is perfectly valid to ignore such deaths. Others note that in mouse studies one just counts the numbers of dead mice without asking what they died of, and the same procedure should be followed with monkeys, since one cannot be sure if a death under anesthesia might have been age related.

With the rapamycin and rhesus monkey results, Dr. Sinclair said, “We have more weight on the side of people who think it’s going to be possible.” He stressed the ability of both caloric restriction and sirtuin-activating drugs to postpone the many diseases of aging, at least in mice. To have one drug that postponed many degenerative diseases in people would be a significant advance, he said, even without any increase in longevity.

People may live so long already that no drug could make much of a difference. Probably because of reductions in infant mortality and other types of disease, human life expectancy in developed countries has been on a remarkable, unbroken upward trend for the last 160 years. Female life expectancy at birth rose from 45 years in 1840 to 85 years in 2000.

An important difference among experts on aging is whether there is an intrinsic rate of aging. Supposing there were cures for all diseases, what would one die of, if one died at all? Dr. Vijg and Dr. Campisi believe there is a steady buildup of damage to DNA and to proteins like the collagen and elastin fibers that knit the body together. Damage to DNA means that the regulation of genes gets less precise, and this regulatory drift disrupts the stem cells that repair each tissue. Even if all disease could be treated, it is not clear that anything could overcome intrinsic aging.

Dr. Miller, on the other hand, believes no clear distinction can be made between disease and other frailties of aging. “Anything a doctor can charge for we call disease, but wrinkled skin, white hair or not feeling good in the morning, these we don’t call disease,” he said.

He thinks that the idea of intrinsic aging is not well defined and that contrary to the theories of the evolutionary biologists, there may be simple ways to intervene in the aging process.

In the view of evolutionary biologists, the life span of each species is adapted to the nature of its environment. Mice live at most a year in the wild because owls, cats and freezing to death are such frequent hazards. Mice with genes that allow longer life can rarely be favored by natural selection. Rather, the mice that leave the most progeny are those that devote resources to breeding at as early an age as possible.

According to this theory, if mice had wings and could escape their usual predators, natural selection ought to favor longer life. And indeed the maximum life span of bats is 3.5 times greater than flightless mammals of the same size, according to research by Gerald S. Wilkinson of the University of Maryland.

In this view, cells are so robust that they do not limit life span. Instead the problem, especially for longer-lived species, is to keep them under control lest they cause cancer. Cells have not blocked the evolution of extremely long life spans, like that of the bristlecone pine, which lives 5,000 years, or certain deep sea corals, whose age has been found to exceed 4,000 years.

Some species seem to be imperishable. A tiny freshwater animal known as a hydra can regenerate itself from almost any part of its body, apparently because it makes no distinction between its germ cells and its ordinary body cells. In people the germ cells, the egg and sperm, do not age; babies are born equally young, whatever the age of their parents. The genesis of aging was the division of labor in the first multicellular animals between the germ cells and the body cells.

That division put the role of maintaining the species on the germ cells and left the body cells free to become specialized, like neurons or skin cells. But in doing so the body cells made themselves disposable. The reason we die, in the view of Thomas Kirkwood, an expert on the theory of aging, is that constant effort is required to keep the body cells going. “This, in the long run, is unwarranted — in terms of natural selection, there are more important things to do,” he writes.

All that seems clear about life span is that it is not fixed. And if it is not fixed, there may indeed be ways to extend it.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

2 foods that are to be avoided may shock you!


By Francis Mackey

The 2 foods that are to be avoided may shock you. You may be under the impression, like so many others, that these foods are OK, and not an issue when it comes to dieting. People are amazed when they learn that they should be removed from their diet.

It is common knowledge that trans fats are bad for you, and also high-fructose corn syrup. I won't go over these ones again " you probably know only too well. Its not either of these that I have in mind.
Number one to be avoided when you are on a diet, is all wheat products - that means anything that contains wheat. This would include bread of all types, bagels, pasta and cereals (and this even includes all those "whole wheat" cereals).

The reasons for wheat products are, first of all, much of the population has an allergy to the gluten in wheat products and other grains. But what most people do not realise is that we were never meant to have a large proportion of wheat in our diet. Our digestive system has never adjusted to it.

Wheat has been introduced into our diet only in the last couple of thousand years or so, and has NEVER been a high percentage of the human diet until the last 80 to 100 years! Before that, our diet generally consisted of a much healthier mixture of nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits.

When a person is trying to lose weight, if they eliminate wheat from their diet for 2 to 3 weeks, they will lose weight, and feel a whole lot better. In some cases, it also gets rid of headaches and indigestion problems (even skin problems too) which they may have been having for years.

The second food that should be eliminated from your diet, will come as a shock to most people - fruit juice. It is generally regarded as a very healthy choice and would probably be included in most calorie controlled diets.

Now I am not totally against carbohydrates - in fact, I believe that most fruits are very beneficial and healthy. But this is referring to fruits in their natural state - not processed. And when you separate the juice from the rest of the fruit which is rich in fiber, it's no longer useful for dieting. What you are left with is a high-calorie , sugary drink that is best avoided.

When you only drink the juice of the fruit, your body is missing out on the fiber. This will result in a craving for more carbohydrates. Oranges and apples are two of the best examples of this. The fiber in the fruit will help to satisfy the appetite, and it also slows down the response of the blood sugar, much more so that the juice alone.

The bottom line is that consuming too much fruit juice makes you fat. But consuming the whole fruit is an important part of a balanced diet, and supplies your body with a high level of nutrients. This also depends on you having unprocessed foods in the rest of your diet also.

About the Author:
See our review of the best weight-loss programs over at How To Lose Weight. If you want to lose body fat faster, check out these 5 tips to Lose Stomach Fat the smart and effective way. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

Friday, August 14, 2009

Beer...It does a body good? | Beer for Bones


Beer could stop bones going brittle

Drinking beer regularly could stop bones from going brittle, according to scientists in Spain.


A study found that the bones of women who drink beer regularly are stronger, making them less likely to suffer from osteoporosis.

It is thought that the high level of silicon in beer slows down the thinning that leads to fractures and boosts the formation of new bone, the journal Nutrition reports.

Beer is also rich in phytoestrogens, plant versions of oestrogen, which keep bones healthy.

Bones are made up of a mesh of fibres, minerals, blood vessels and marrow, and healthy ones are denser with smaller spaces between the different parts.

The researchers asked almost 1,700 healthy women with an average age of 48 about their drinking habits. They then underwent ultrasound scans of their hands, which showed the bones belonging to beer drinkers to be denser.

The women's hands were chosen because the bones in the fingers are among the first to show signs of osteoporosis, a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture.

Those who had less than a pint a day, whom scientists classed as light beer drinkers, fared just as well as those in the moderate bracket, suggesting that even small amounts can boost bone health.

The Spanish researchers said: "Silicon plays a major role in bone formation. Beer has been claimed to be one of the most important sources of silicon in the Western diet."

Three million Britons are affected by osteoporosis. It is most common in women after menopause.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

12 Popular Diet Myths

You Will Never Need Math in Your Life

Remember when you were in grammar school and you thought, “Oh c’mon, I am never going to use this stuff…” Well it’s true, you will need basic math to lose weight and here’s why.

Weight loss equates to calorie expenditure or reduction. Basically, in order to lose 1 pound of weight, you will need to cut back or expend 3,500 additional calories.

So here’s where the math comes in. You will need to assess how many calories you are consuming daily using your products dietary guidelines.

My suggestion is to chart your food for no less than 1 week. Write everything down you consume and then calculate the calories associated. Make no changes for the first week. After that then you can look at where you can make changes objectively.

For example, if I consume 3,300 calories a day and want to lose 5 pounds in 1 month then I need to reduce my calories by 750 each day. (3,300 calories consumed each day x 7 days = 23,100 calories consumed in 1 week. Remember 3,500 calories is needed to lose 1 pound per week so I need 5,250 in caloric deficit to lose 1.5 pounds; 5,250/7 days = 750. 3,300, what I was eating – 750, either through less caloric intake or more activity = a new total of 2,550 calories allowed per day.)

Basic math I know, but there are numerous calorie counting calculators you can find online to help. Once you get the hang of it, you will make your old math teacher proud.


Joy Bauer's Food Cures
By Joy Bauer
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 10:24 a.m. ET, Tues., Aug 11, 2009

How safe are baby carrots? Just how damaging is yo-yo dieting? Are there specific foods that cause cellulite? There are still many common questions about dieting that leave many confused. TODAY nutrition and diet editor Joy Bauer helps separate fact from fiction:

Myth No. 1: Baby carrots are soaked with a toxic chemical and are unsafe to eat
This myth has been widely circulated through e-mail chains and seems to resurface every couple of months. The truth is that cut baby carrots, like bagged salad mixes and other “ready to eat” fresh vegetables, are rinsed in a dilute chlorine solution to inhibit bacterial growth. However, the trace amount of chlorine used is carefully regulated by the FDA and not harmful. In fact, this process protects your health by preventing the spread of foodborne illness. By the way, that white blushed color your baby carrots get is not caused by the chlorine. It’s just discoloration that naturally occurs as the carrots lose moisture.



Myth No. 2: High-fat and high-sugar foods cause cellulite
Nope, not true! Cellulite is pockets of body fat located just beneath the surface of the skin. When this fatty tissue pushes up against the connective tissue that binds skin together, it produces a bumpy, dimpled texture, most often in the hips, buttocks and thighs. And while genetics plays the strongest role in determining who gets cellulite and where, there are some factors you can control.

When it comes to diet, it’s important to understand that no specific foods cause cellulite. That said, overindulging in high-calorie foods (often laden with sugar and fat) leads to weight gain, which can make cellulite more noticeable. While slimming down and toning your lower-body muscles certainly won’t make cellulite disappear, it can help to minimize its appearance and make you more comfortable in your skin.

Myth No. 3: Dairy is bloating
Dairy is only bloating for people with lactose intolerance ... and, in some instances, for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). If you don’t fall into either of these groups, low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese should not cause bloating or discomfort. Even among individuals with lactose intolerance, some dairy products may be tolerated without symptoms. For example, hard cheeses (such as Cheddar and Swiss) and yogurts that contain live active cultures are usually easier to digest than straight milk or ice cream. Experiment with your diet before you give up on dairy altogether.

Myth No. 4: Alcohol turns to sugar in the body
Contrary to what most people think, alcohol does not act like a sugar, significantly raise blood sugars, or get stored in the body as sugar. In fact, alcohol is a completely separate entity; it’s not digested in the same way as the carbs, fats and proteins that enter our system. Alcohol is metabolized strictly by our liver, while carbs, proteins and fat are broken down by a slew of enzymes in our intestines and then absorbed.

In fact, hard liquors like rum, gin and vodka don’t contain any sugar or other carbohydrate whatsoever (all of their calories come from pure alcohol). Of course the mixers we douse them with are another story altogether! Mixers like sour mix, simple syrups, margarita mix, tonic and juices are loaded with simple sugars, which contribute major calories and can spike your blood sugar levels. Wine and champagne contain a very small amount of carbohydrate — about 3 grams per 5-ounce glass (that’s just 12 calories of carb out of 120 calories for the glass). Beer has the most carbohydrates — about 12 grams per 12-ounce bottle (that’s 48 calories of carb out of 150 calories for the bottle).

Keep in mind: While alcohol doesn’t act like a sugar, it does contain calories and can contribute to weight gain (not to mention bad decisions!) if consumed in excess. So while alcohol may be misunderstood, the extra calories coming from alcohol — just like those from carbs, fat and protein — will be stored by the body as fat and pack on the pounds.


Myth No. 5: Yo-yo dieting kills your metabolism
“I’ve been on so many diets, my metabolism is shot!” Yup, I’ve heard that one before. Fortunately, studies have shown it’s simply not true. Though your resting metabolic rate does slow down a bit when you restrict calories, the drop is only temporary, so dieting won’t cause any permanent damage to your metabolism or make it impossible for you to lose weight in the future. However, there may be some other serious negative side effects. A handful of studies have shown that “weight cycling” is associated with low bone density, which could place yo-yo dieters at higher risk for fractures. If you have a long history of dieting, it’s all the more important that you incorporate resistance training into your routine to prevent further bone loss (and take in adequate calcium and vitamin D from food and/or supplements).

Additional Diet Myths...

What is a diet myth? The dictionary defines the word "myth" as "a fiction or half-truth". Let’s do an examination of several of these myths regarding weight loss.

Myth #1: If you stick to your diet, you don’t need to exercise to lose weight. If Myth #1 was true, the whole world would be thin because most people have tried to lose weight this way. This diet myth is listed first because it is probably the one that is believed the most. Wouldn't it be nice if the pounds just came off without breaking a sweat? Forget about it!

To maintain your body weight, the calories you take in should equal the calories you expend, so the most effective way to lose weight is by reducing calories and increasing exercise. However, exercise is important even if you are not trying to lose weight, as it also improves cardiovascular health, circulation and decreases your risk of heart disease and diabetes. Doctors have stated that it is better to be fit and slightly overweight than thin and unfit, as physical activity is as important as weight in preventing heart disease. It is advisable to start off slowly before building up to a more rigorous plan. For example, take the stairs instead of the elevator or walk to the next bus stop instead of waiting at the stop. If you exercise and have a healthy diet, you will find it easier to lose weight and keep it off. Counting calories can be effective.

Myth #2: Diets based on single foods (i.e. the cabbage soup, grapefruit or egg diets) are the best way to lose weight. This is another one of those diet myths that has tricked many people into thinking weight loss is easy. Diets based on a particular food or food type promise rapid weight loss in a short period of time, but only work because they severely restrict calories. These diets are unsustainable long-term and can lead to deficiencies since single foods don’t contain the range of nutrients we need to stay healthy. The Academy of General Dentistry suggests that certain diets like this can even negatively affect oral health since they lack nutrients like calcium and vitamin D, which are necessary for maintaining healthy teeth and gums.

Myth #3: Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets are the best way to lose weight. People who follow ‘low-carb’ diets tend to lose weight initially, but much of this weight is water. Many may dispute this diet myth. Of course the Atkins Diet comes to mind. Here is the problem with weight loss method. Since calories from carbs are the first thing our body uses for fuel, following a low-carb diet forces the body to quickly use this energy, then revert to stored carbs (known as glycogen) from the liver and muscles for energy. Since water is stored in the body with glycogen, you lose water as this glycogen is used for energy. Therefore most of the weight loss that occurs at this point is water and not fat. Just like the other diet myths mentioned here, practitioners of this method end up dissapointed. Once these stored carbs are used up, the body then relies on protein for energy and as a result, compounds called ketones are produced. These can be dangerous, particularly for people with medical problems such as heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease, and diabetes because the brain relies on glucose for energy, but ketones don’t provide energy for the brain. The body therefore tries to eliminate ketones through the liver and kidneys, which puts a severe strain on these organs because of the toxicity of ketones to the body. For people with metabolic problems, ketones are particularly hard to metabolize and eliminate. Due to the high level of ketones produced in a low-carb/high-protein diet, you may also experience dehydration, weakness, nausea and, in severe cases, gout and kidney problems. Additionally, many low-carb/high-protein diets can be problematic if the protein you eat is high in saturated fat (such as fatty bacon or cheese), because it increases the risk of heart disease. Despite the belief that carbs are fattening, fat is much higher in calories than carbohydrates. Current nutritional advice advocates a low-fat diet.

Myth #4: A diet is successful only if you lose more than two pounds a week. Wow! This diet myth might be the greatest diet myth on the page. Your main goal when trying to lose weight is to reduce fat rather than muscle. But if you lose more than two pounds a week you’ll also lose lean tissue (or muscle). Because your basal metabolic rate (or the speed at which you burn calories) is determined by the amount of lean tissue you have, less muscle means your metabolism slows down and it becomes difficult to sustain weight loss. This diet myth is important to read again. Be careful what you are losing when your weight drops.

Myth #5: Potatoes and other carbs are fattening. Carbohydrate foods like potatoes, rice, pasta, and bread are not fattening unless you put fat (in the form of sauces or butter) on top of them. Carbs play an important role in diets since they satisfy our appetite without being too high in calories. Fats, however, are less satisfying and have over twice the amount of calories per gram as carbs (9 calories per gram compared to 3.75 calories per gram respectively). Because fat is less satisfying, we tend to eat more of it. A low-fat, high-carb diet is therefore more effective for weight loss because you stave off hunger by eating carbs and are less likely to overdo your fat intake.

Myth #6: Fat is not a four-letter word. Fat is not bad for you. In fact, it is important to get 35% of your daily calories from fat (if you eat around 2000 calories a day, you’ll need about 70g fat). Fat has many crucial functions aside from being a concentrated source of energy. First, it circulates fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K through the blood so they can be absorbed by the body. Secondly, fat contains essential fatty acids such omega-3 and omega-6, needed for the proper formation of the nerve walls. Note: it’s better to eat poly- and mono-unsaturated fats (such as olive oil) which are good for your heart, than saturated fats (such as animal fats) which increase the risk of heart disease. Because fat is a concentrated source of energy, you don’t need to eat a lot of it. Here’s how to reduce your fat intake:

· Switch to lower fat versions of milk, cheese and other dairy products.
· Use leaner cuts of meat and remove skin from chicken.
· Use little or no fat in cooking. Grill, poach or steam rather than fry

Myth #7: You can’t have sugar, fat or alcohol if you’re on a diet. A realistic diet will not restrict certain foods or ingredients (especially our favorite ones) like sugar, fat and alcohol across the board, as this will only make you feel deprived. For many people, an eating plan that doesn’t allow the occasional treat is a short-lived one. Additionally, if you severely restrict your calories while dieting, then once you stop the diet and begin to eat these foods again (which is inevitable), you will likely gain the weight back. This is because your metabolism slowed during the diet and you won’t be able to efficiently burn the amount of calories you’re now consuming. Because many people find they can stick to a long-term diet if they’re allowed the occasional sugary ‘treats’, many successful weight loss programs allow sweets. If you have a sweet tooth or drink alcohol regularly, the most effective way to reduce your intake is to phase out these items gradually. This might mean cutting down on ‘visible sugar,’ such as the pure kind you put in tea or coffee. For alcohol, it might mean alternating alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic ones.


Most importantly, chronic dieting can have a negative impact on psychological health. Weight loss followed by weight regain can squash self-esteem and promote feelings of failure. This mind-set makes it difficult to maintain a healthy relationship with food. With that in mind, take care of your body and your psyche — avoid crash dieting and instead stick with a program you can sustain long term.