To tame the belly, manage the brain - The Boston Globe

2008-11-19T12:03:00.001-08:00

This is the kind of thing that I really want to collect a lot of articles and research on since I do think there is so much in our minds that affects our weight. This article is curious though, since it is not just about what we think but how various chemicals affect how our brains are affected, which then affect the way that we eat.

To tame the belly, manage the brain - The Boston Globe

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Mediterranean, Low Fat and Low Carb Diets

2008-11-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

A mediterranean diet may be as good at Low Fat and Low Carb Diets. Most weight loss trials are plauged by the fact that participants drop out and the study doesn't have enough participants. This study, led by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel and is published in the 17th July issue (2008) of the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM had good number of participants. Other members of the study team came from Nuclear Research Center in Dimona, Israel, Harvard University, Boston, US, The University of Leipzig, Germany and the University of Western Ontario, Canada. For this 2 year trial, they intensively monitored 322 moderately obese adults of mean age 52 years, and mean BMI (body mass index) of 31 that had been randomly assigned to one of three diets: low-fat, restricted-calorie; Mediterranean, restricted-calorie; or low-carbohydrate, non-restricted-calorie. 86 per cent of the participants were men. Remarkably, 85% were still sticking with their plan at the end of two years.

The results showed that:
· 95.4 per cent of the participants stuck to their diets for at least 1 year and 84.6 per cent for the whole 2 years.
· The group on the Mediterranean diet consumed the most dietary fiber and had the highest ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fat intake.
· The low carbohydrate group ate the least carbohydrates and the most fat, protein and cholesterol and had the highest proportion of members with ketones in their urine.
· The average weight loss was: 2.9 kg (6.4 lbs) in the low fat diet group; 4.4 kg (9.7 lbs) in the Mediterranean diet group; and 4.7 kg (10.4 lbs) in the low carbohydrate group.
· The average weight loss was greater among the 272 participants who kept to the diets for the whole 2 years: 3.3 kg (7.3 lbs) in the low fat, 4.6 kg (10.1 lbs) in the Mediterranean, and 5.5 kg (12.1 lbs) in the low carbohydrate groups.
· The relative reduction in total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the so called "good" cholesterol) ratio was 20 per cent in the low carbohydrate group and 12 per cent in the low fat group.
· Among the 36 participants with diabetes, more favorable levels in fasting plasma glucose and insulin were reached by those on the Mediterranean diet than those on the low fat diet.
· Liver function and inflammatory biomarkers improved in all three diets.

Maxim weight loss was achieved by six months, but benefits continued for the 24 months of the study. Authors conluded that the mediterranean die and the low carb diets may effective alternatives to the low-fat diet. Check out the report.

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Fat Story #1

2008-11-11T16:48:00.000-08:00

Ugh.
Ugh.
Ugh.

For two months I've been eating very little sugar, good carbs and balancing my eating. But not for the past week and half. In fact I almost feel like an ex-smoker who bummed a cigarette and then bought a pack or the alcoholic who fell off the wagon (here's the orgin of this phrase). Halloween started it with the little Kit Kats in the house. I don't even like them any more! Everything about sugar from my own slightly elevated sugar levels, to the way it makes me feel in my brain and energy level, to the way it makes my body feel...literally bloated.

Here's a good promise to recalibrate and lay off the sugar.

Womomma Weight

To tame the belly, manage the brain - The Boston Globe

Mediterranean, Low Fat and Low Carb Diets

Fat Story #1