July 2, 2008
By Jan Sheehan
SELF Magazine on MSNBC.com
July 2, 2008
Exercise, eating in can help you enjoy your getaway without gaining weight
Vacation can be a great motivator for weight loss — there’s nothing quite like the prospect of spending a week in a swimsuit to get your behind to the gym. But once you reach your destination, temptation rears its ugly head in the form of fruity drinks, rich dinners and days of relaxing by the pool. To find out how to stay healthy and still have fun, we turned to six travel and nutrition gurus who face the same challenges as the rest of us. The difference? They have genius tips for sidestepping diet pitfalls. Use their proven plans to come home feeling even better about your body than when you left.
“I grab quickie meals at grocery stores instead of fast food joints.”
Samantha Brown, of the Travel Channel’s “Passport to Great Weekends”
Her no-gain game plan:
Go off the beaten path. Driving while hungry makes fast food restaurants seem like heaven on the highway. But better options are usually only a few minutes away. “I bypass chain restaurants right off the exits and look for a supermarket, where I can get a healthy meal such as turkey breast on whole wheat from the deli, an apple and lowfat yogurt,” Brown says. Pressed for time? “Food marts at gas stations are getting better — many of them now have prepackaged fruit and veggies.” Pair them with peanut butter for a filling mix of protein, carbs and fat.
Be choosy about your treats. “I travel 25 days at a time to a dozen or more different places and have to be in a bathing suit on-camera,” Brown says. “If I tried every local specialty, I’d never want to go on-air. I pick one thing to splurge on daily, like a buttery croissant at a Paris café, a Belgian chocolate crème brûlée, a po’boy sandwich in New Orleans or a creamy lobster bisque on the coast of Maine.” She eats green salads, soups and small portions for the rest of her meals. Brown’s favorite trick for trimming her intake: Eat the lowest-calorie foods on your plate first so you spoon up fewer high-fat bites.
“I pick my meal based on what I see others eating.”
Carolyn O’Neil, R.D., author of “The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous” (Atria Books)
Her road-tested tips:
Spy on servings. “I’m shocked by the amount of food you’re given in restaurants. The portions can be three or four times larger than what I’d eat at home,” O’Neill says. A little restaurant reconnaissance can prevent you from ordering a burger the size of your head. “I look around the room before selecting my meal to check out how large the helpings are, then I know whether to order an appetizer or split the entrée with a friend,” O’Neil says. She also asks the chef to double her veggie side dishes. And as a general rule, avoid all entrées for which finishing earns you a T-shirt, a free meal or a commemorative photo.
Change your vacation brain. Consider your hiatus from work an opportunity to be more active, O’Neil says. “I actually find that I have more time for exercise when I’m traveling because there’s no housework, laundry or long meetings to attend. I have time to do something active every day on vacation, even if it’s only dancing in the disco.” Include one calorie-burning (and fun) activity in your itinerary each day, such as snorkeling, kayaking or even hula classes, and aim for a manageable 30 minutes.
To continue reading:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25400450/
June 30, 2008
Reuters on MSNBC.com
Brain chemical is key for keeping aggression in check, study finds
LONDON - Serotonin, the brain chemical linked to mood, plays a key role in regulating emotions such as aggression, British researchers said on Thursday.
Serotonin, the nerve-signaling chemical targeted by many antidepressants, appears to keep aggressive social responses in check, Molly Crockett, a psychologist at the University of Cambridge and colleagues reported in the journal Science.
The chemical’s precise role in impulse control has been controversial but this study is one of the first to actually show a causal link, Crockett said.
“Because we directly manipulated serotonin levels and observed an effect on behavior we can say there is a causal link between serotonin and aggressive responses,” Crockett said in a telephone interview.
Their research also helps explain why some people become combative or aggressive when hungry because the essential amino acid needed for the body to create serotonin is only obtained through diet.
The team used this knowledge to manipulate serotonin levels in 20 healthy volunteers who were then asked to play a situation game that tested their responses to fair and unfair offers of money.
People with lower serotonin levels were far more likely to deprive other players of money, even though they lost out as well, as a way to punish the person who made the offer, the researchers said.
“It is an anger-driven response,” Crockett said.
This knowledge could help doctors treat people with depression and anxiety disorders by teaching them ways to regulate emotions during decision making, especially in social situations, she added.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24992222/
June 27, 2008
Real Simple on CNN.com/Health
June 27, 2008
Certain foods play well with others, while others lose strength in pairs.
Toothsome twosomes to watch out for:
DO mix grilled steak and Brussels sprouts
It turns out that certain compounds in Brussels sprouts (and other cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cauliflower) may help rid the body of carcinogens that can form on meat during high-heat cooking.
That said, loading up on these vegetables doesn’t give you license to char meat, chicken, or fish on the barbecue. “It’s always best to cook meat or fish at low temperatures until it’s done,” says Kristin E. Anderson, Ph.D., a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health and Cancer Center, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “And if there are burned pieces, trim them off.”
DO mix avocado and tomato
Tomatoes, which contain the antioxidant lycopene, are a super food. Eat some avocado at the same time and you’ve got a super super food — the fat in the avocado helps the body absorb seven times more lycopene.
“Eating a steak or any fatty food with any vegetable can release its antioxidants,” says Steven J. Schwartz, Ph.D., professor of food science at Ohio State University in Columbus. “But small amounts of healthy unsaturated fats are a better choice.”
So add a little extra-virgin olive oil to your zucchini, spinach, and other dark green vegetables to unleash the carotenoid lutein, an antioxidant that may help protect against age-related macular degeneration. And instead of using fat-free dressing on your salad, drizzle on an olive oil–based one.
DO mix spinach and oranges
Although spinach has lots of iron, your body doesn’t absorb it well when spinach is eaten alone. (Sorry, Popeye.) But with vitamin C by its side, this vegetable becomes a true standout.
That’s because vitamin C converts the iron in spinach into a form that is more available to the body, says Liz A. Applegate, Ph.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of California, Davis.
This holds true for other vegetarian sources of iron, too, such as broccoli and tofu. It doesn’t take a lot of C, either. One medium orange will do. You could also add to a spinach salad half a red pepper, several thick slices of tomato, or 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries — all good sources of C.
“Eating a steak or any fatty food with any vegetable can release its antioxidants,” says Steven J. Schwartz, Ph.D., professor of food science at Ohio State University in Columbus. “But small amounts of healthy unsaturated fats are a better choice.”
So add a little extra-virgin olive oil to your zucchini, spinach, and other dark green vegetables to unleash the carotenoid lutein, an antioxidant that may help protect against age-related macular degeneration. And instead of using fat-free dressing on your salad, drizzle on an olive oil–based one.
DO mix spinach and oranges
Although spinach has lots of iron, your body doesn’t absorb it well when spinach is eaten alone. (Sorry, Popeye.) But with vitamin C by its side, this vegetable becomes a true standout.
That’s because vitamin C converts the iron in spinach into a form that is more available to the body, says Liz A. Applegate, Ph.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of California, Davis.
This holds true for other vegetarian sources of iron, too, such as broccoli and tofu. It doesn’t take a lot of C, either. One medium orange will do. You could also add to a spinach salad half a red pepper, several thick slices of tomato, or 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries — all good sources of C.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/06/27/rs.food.pairings/index.html
June 26, 2008
Endocrine Today
By Eric Raible
June 25, 2008
Women with obesity who desire bariatric surgery often present with reproductive complications prior to surgery, results from a prospective study suggested.
Researchers with the six-center Longitudinal Assessment for Bariatric Surgery II (LABS-2) study reported that reproductive disorders like polycystic ovary syndrome, abnormal bleeding and menstrual cycles, and infertility were prevalent in the study cohort of obese women prior to undergoing bariatric surgery.
The researchers provided a self-administered 20-item reproductive health questionnaire to 1,024 women, according to Gabriella G. Gosman, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She presented the results at the 25th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in Washington.
“Among women presenting for bariatric surgery, there was a high prevalence of PCOS and abnormal menstrual function,” Gosman said. “Both of these have serious health consequences, including endometrial cancer.”
Gosman reported a higher prevalence of PCOS in the cohort compared with that of the general population (15.9% vs. 7%), as well as abnormal menses (32.2% vs. 18%). About 45% of the women in the cohort were reported as using estrogen-based contraceptives in the year leading up to bariatric surgery.
“We propose that clinicians determine whether future pregnancy is desired, and stratify women get counseling and care for the interaction between bariatric surgery and pregnancy, or for long-term reliable contraception,” she said. “Regardless of future pregnancy plans, all of these women would need reliable contraception from the decision to undergo surgery until the time that rapid weight loss has ceased.”
PERSPECTIVE
We are excited that the LABS data are starting to come out. I am concerned about the validation of this questionnaire. For it to be a reliable research tool, any questionnaire has to be validated. We have to be confident that it accurately measures what it is expected to measure in different populations and in different ways by different people. To draw data from it unless it has been validated and each component has been validated leaves us feeling uncertain of what we are looking at.
– Paul E. O’Brien, MD, Director, Center for Obesity & Education Monash University, South Yarra, Australia
For more information:
* Gosman G. #PL 39. Reproductive health characteristics of women undergoing bariatric surgery. Presented at: the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery’s Annual Scientific Meeting; June 15-20, 2008; Washington D.C.
http://www.endocrinetoday.com/view.aspx?rid=29129
