How Darren Criss overcame his fear of gym bros

Actor Darren Criss, 32, has a lot to say about grooming, diet, fitness and, most important, sleep. Criss, a San Francisco native who lives in Los Angeles, is so obsessed with sleep that he times it to REM cycles. 

He has also started a men’s grooming site, the Motley, with siblings Matthew and Madison Ruggieri, and has just introduced a unisex skin care line called Onekind. Here, Criss, who is in the war drama “Midway” and is filming “Hollywood,” the new Ryan Murphy Netflix show scheduled for release next year, explains his personal care routine.

 Fully Groomed

I have a lot of cleansers, but honestly, this is the one category where I feel like you just need to get your face clean. You use a bar of soap, and as long as it does the job, it’s OK. Then I use Port Products Sol Defense SPF moisturizer. Then, morning and night, I put on Recipe for Men Under Eye Gel.

For night, I’m biased toward my own products. I do the Onekind Midnight Magic serum — there’s retinol in there — and I use that in tandem with Onekind Dream Cream. Every two days or so, I do the Urth Botanical Resurfacing Mask. I love a lot of their products. I also have the Urth Antioxidant Face Complex. It’s like taking your face to the spa.

The Perfect Shave

I have to shave every day for “Hollywood,” the show I’m on, and it’s really tough on the skin. I have to pay attention to the length of my stubble and the kind of blade I use. If I have a few days’ growth, I like the Executive blades from Dollar Shave Club.

But if it’s a day’s stubble, I’m using a safety razor. That’s because razor burn comes from multiple blades and multiple tiny cuts. I’m trying to minimize that by the number of the blades and also how big the blade is.

I use a hot towel to warm up the stubble. I also try to use really hot water to warm up the blade. Lock Stock & Barrel makes a really great shave oil.

One of the most important things, though, is the Urth Post Shave Elixir. I have buckets of it. If I don’t have it, I’m in a panic. I recommend it to anyone. I recommend it to my wife after she shaves her legs. I guarantee you maybe five people in the world care this much about shaving.

The Eastern Medicine Thing

I know it’s a hippie-dippy thing, but I’m a fan of oil pulling. I take a big dip out of a jar of coconut oil and swish that around my mouth. It sounds gross, and it is kind of gross. It’s supposed to pull bacteria out of my mouth.

I think it’s an Eastern medicine kind of thing — let’s face it, they’ve been ahead of everything on this front for millenniums. Someone recommended it to me years ago, and then when I was doing “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway, I was literally making out with strangers every night. I did anything I could do to clean my mouth — it was more for their benefit and less for mine.

Sleep King

I’m really militant about sleeping for certain lengths of time. I’ve been doing this for years and years: I make sure I sleep in increments of 90 minutes. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to fall asleep and then the 90 minutes to complete a good REM cycle. So, for example, I’d rather get three hours of sleep than four hours.

You know those days when you wake up and you feel really good even though you didn’t really get a lot of sleep? That’s hitting the REM cycle. Or you sleep for a long time, but you wake up in the middle of a REM cycle and your whole day feels awful? I avoid that like the plague. Of course, there are a lot of variables — what you ate, how much you drank — but I try to have my sleep evenly timed out.

A Timed Diet

I’ve been into health and food ever since I was maybe 12 or 13. I was fascinated by the idea that food is fuel in this very nonintellectual way. You need carbs to do this and protein to do that. How it’s translated today is that you see that the digestive system is directly related to everything else. It’s not a subsidiary component.

So I time the way I eat. I don’t mean I’m timing while I’m eating, but you know how if you have dinner plans at 8 with friends? Well, then you don’t eat as much during the day so you’ll have an appetite and enjoy a meal out. I take the same approach with every activity throughout the day.

If I’m working, the snacks and the doughnuts are all lying around, and I have to be careful of that. Otherwise, I’ll feel strung out and tired. I try not to eat three hours before bed, but if I’m hungry, I might have a low-glycemic snack. I’m not going to have a carnitas burrito.

Then one of my biggest life hacks: I’m a huge chia seed person. If chia seed was a brand, I’d be repping them so hard. I soak chia seeds overnight and then do chia seeds and matcha in the morning. They’re the ancient form of good things.

Becoming a Fitness Fiend

I got heavily into fitness in my late 20s. Now I’m a certifiable fitness rat. I work out like I used to play video games. It’s competitive and fun. It’s also meditative. For me it’s really about the cardiovascular benefits and general well-being. If my body is a little more toned, that’s a super-bonus.

When I first started, that entry point was hard to find. I was completely allergic to the bro-y gym culture. “Get swoll, dude!” The thing that changed my life was P90X. I’ve never met him, but Tony Horton is the biggest dweeb in fitness.

I was too embarrassed to go to the gym, and I didn’t want to work out in a public space, and here was a guy who was making the dumbest dad jokes. This guy was all right. I knew this guy from high school.

I now love the social aspect of working out. I have maybe six or seven friends on rotation, and instead of going out, we do a workout class together. It might be HIIT, a Pilates reformer class or yoga. I try to change it up as much as possible. I want to confuse my muscles.

I also love Training Mate in Los Angeles. It’s by these goofy Australians. They’re super-fun and funny. When I’m in New York, Refine is my jam. Fhitting Room is really great.

Making Time for Recovery

A lot of people don’t know how to keep their muscles healthy. They need to do the recovery. Physical therapy is really nice, but it’s expensive. I believe in rolling out the muscles, and that just takes some time. Also, cryotherapy is incredible.

You can do other things, like an Epsom salt bath, and I’m a big fan of the steam shower if you can get access to one. I do it at night too, as it helps me relax before going to sleep.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Diet for healthy people, healthy planet too costly for some

ROME - At least 1 in 5 people could not afford science's 'ideal diet' designed to feed 10 billion people without hurting the planet, according to a study published on Friday.

The EAT-Lancet report made headlines when it was unveiled in January because it proposed the first scientific targets for both a healthy diet and a sustainable food system.

It recommended people double their intake of nuts, fruit, vegetables and legumes, and eat half as much meat and sugar to prevent millions of early deaths, cut greenhouse gas emissions and preserve land, water and biodiversity.

The Global Burden of Disease study by the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said poor diets killed 11 million people - 1 in 5 - in 2017, more than smoking, which kills about 8 million people a year.

Agriculture, forestry and other land use accounted for 23 percent of total net man-made greenhouse gas emissions from 2007 to 2016, soaring to 37 percent when pre- and post-production activity were factored in, according to the United Nations.

The 'ideal diet' - projected to be in place by 2050 - would keep people and planet healthy, said the Lancet. But it would cost an average $2.84 per head per day, said researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute and Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

This amounts to nearly 90 percent of a household's daily per capita income in poorer countries, pushing the regime beyond reach for nearly 1.6 billion people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, they said in a paper in The Lancet Global Health.

"The actual number must be higher, since people need to spend at least some money on other things such as housing and clothing, as well as education, healthcare and transportation," senior author Will Masters told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"For the poorest people, solutions to malnutrition will require economic change," said Masters, citing higher incomes and lower food costs.

Beans, lentils, cowpeas, some vegetables and cereals are easier to find and cheaper in most countries than foods recommended in the EAT-Lancet diet such as eggs, fish, meat and fruits, but they are "not as delicious or desirable," he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Genes, yes, but obesity pandemic mostly down to diet: study

PARIS - A three-fold jump since 1975 in the percentage of adults worldwide who are obese has been driven mainly by a shift in diet and lack of exercise, but genes do play a role as well, according a large-scale study published Thursday.

For people genetically predisposed to a wider girth, these unhealthy lifestyles compounded the problem, resulting in an even higher rate of weight gain, researchers reported in The BMJ, a peer-reviewed medical journal.

The standard measure for obesity, the Body-Mass Index (BMI), is calculated on the basis of weight and height.

A BMI of 25 up to 30 means that one is overweight. Thirty and above corresponds to obesity, a major risk factor for heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and some cancers.

About four percent of adults in the mid-1970s had a BMI of 30 or higher. By 2016, that share had risen to 13 percent (11 for men and 15 for women), according to the World Health Organization.

There are currently about two billion people 18 and older -- 39 percent of all adults -- with a BMI above the "overweight" threshold of 25, and 700 million of them are clinically obese.

The prevalence of excess weight has risen even more dramatically among children, from four percent in 1975 to over 18 percent in 2016.

To tease out the relative impact of environment and genes on obesity, scientists led by Maria Brandkvist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology combed through data on nearly 120,000 people in Norway whose height and weight were regularly measured between 1963 and 2008.

Adults began tipping the scales at significantly higher weights in the 1980s and 1990s, they found.

Those born after 1970 were far more likely to have a substantially higher BMI as young adults than earlier generations.

- 'Obesogenic' environment -
Half of the people monitored were divided into five groups depending on their genetic susceptibility to obesity.

Comparing the two groups at the extremes, the researchers found, for example, that 35-year-old men with genetic variants known to favour weight gain were already heavier in the mid-1960s than men the same age without those fat-inducing genes.

Four decades later -- even as obesity rates increased across the board -- that gap nearly doubled.

Women showed the same trend, though the increase over time was somewhat smaller.

"Genetic predisposition would make a 35-year old man of average height 3.9 kilos heavier than his genetically protected peers in the 1960s," explained Brandkvist.

"In Norway today, his vulnerable genes would make him more than 6.8 kg heavier."

In addition, he will have gained an extra 7.1 kilos "simply as a result of living in our 'obesogenic' environment," she added.

"This man's 13.9 kg excess weight is caused mostly by today's unhealthy lifestyle, but also by how his genes interplay with the environment."

While the correlation between the genetic profiles and degree of obesity was strong, the study -- by its nature -- cannot determine a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the authors caution.

Only clinical trials can highlight causal relationships, but for many areas of interest such experiments are not possible with humans, for both practical and ethical reasons.

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

Low-carb diet linked to elevated mortality risk: study

PARIS, France - Middle-aged people who get roughly half their daily calories from carbohydrates live several years longer on average than those with low-carb diets, researchers reported Friday.

The findings, published in The Lancet, challenge a trend in Europe and North America toward so-called Paleo diets that shun carbohydrates in favor of animal protein and fat.

Proponents of these "Stone Age" diets argue that the rapid shift 10,000 years ago -- with the advent of agriculture -- to grains, dairy and legumes has not allowed the human body enough time to adapt to these high-carb foods.

For the study, under 40 percent of energy intake from carbohydrates qualifies as a low-carb regimen, though many such diets reduce the share to 20 percent or less. 

At the other extreme, a 70 percent or higher share of carbohydrates -- such as pasta, rice, cakes, sugary drinks -- can also reduce longevity, but by far less, the scientists found.

"Low-carb diets that replace carbohydrates with protein or fat are gaining widespread popularity as a health and weight loss strategy," said lead author Sara Seidelmann, a researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"However, our data suggests that animal-based low carbohydrate diets might be associated with shorter overall lifespan and should be discouraged."

Replacing meat with plant-based fats (such as avocados and nuts) and proteins (such as soy products and lentils) reduces the risk of mortality, Seidelmann and her team found.

The optimal balance of food groups for longevity remains hotly debated. 

Many studies have concluded that eating carbohydrates in moderation -- 45 to 55 percent calories -- is best, but others report improved short-term, cardio-metabolic health with high-protein, high-fat diets.

Measures of metabolic health include blood pressure, good and bad cholesterol, and blood sugar levels.

Seidelmann and colleagues poured over the medical histories of nearly 15,500 men and women who were 45-64 when they enrolled -- between 1987 and 1889 -- in a health survey spread across four locations in the United States.

Participants filled out detailed questionnaires about their dietary habits -- what foods, how much, how often, etc.

Over a 25-year follow up period, more than 6,000 of the men and women died.

People who got 50-55 percent of their calories from carbohydrates outlived those with very low-carb diets, on average, by four years, and those with high-carb diets by one year.

A review of medical records for an additional 432,000 people from earlier studies yield confirmed the results, which are also in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. 

"There is nothing to be gained from long-term adherence to low-carbohydrate diets rich in fats and proteins from animal origins," said Ian Johnson, a nutrition researcher at Quadram Institute Bioscience in Norwich, England, commenting on the research, in which he did not take part. 

But carb quality, not just quantity, is crucial he added.

"Most should come from plant foods rich in dietary fibre and intact grains, rather than from sugary beverages or manufactured foods high in added sugar." 

Fibers also help maintain a healthy gut flora, now considered to be a major player in health and disease.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Skipping breakfast may be bad for your heart, doctors say

Planning meals and snacks in advance and eating breakfast every day may help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, new guidelines from U.S. doctors say.

Eating more calories earlier in the day and consuming less food at night may also reduce the odds of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiac or blood vessel diseases, according to the scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

"When we eat may be important to consider, in addition to what we eat," said Marie-Pierre St-Onge, chair of the group that wrote the guidelines and a nutrition researcher at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.

As many as 30 percent of U.S. adults may routinely skip breakfast, a habit that has become more common in recent years as more people snack throughout the day instead of sitting down for three traditional meals, St-Onge and colleagues note in the journal Circulation.

When people do eat breakfast daily, they're less likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease like high cholesterol and elevated blood pressure. And people who skip this morning meal are more likely to have risk factors like obesity, poor nutrition and diabetes or high blood sugar.

That's because meal timing may affect health by impacting the body's internal clock. We may not process sugars as well at night as we do during the day, and studies of shift workers have linked this schedule with a greater risk of obesity and heart disease than a typical day job, St-Onge said by email.

"We know from population studies that eating breakfast is related to lower weight and healthier diet, along with lower risk of cardiovascular disease," St-Onge said.

"However, interventions to increase breakfast consumption in those who typically skip breakfast do not support a strong causal role of this meal for weight management, in particular," St-Onge cautioned. "Adding breakfast, for some, leads to an additional meal and weight gain."

It's possible that some people who add breakfast aren't eating the right things or cutting back on what they eat later in the day, resulting in more calories but not necessarily good nutrition.

A healthy diet is heavy on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, poultry and fish, according to the guidelines. Eating well also means limiting red meat, salt and foods high in added sugars.

Plotting out what to eat ahead of time, especially for busy people who eat on the go, can help create a diet that's better for heart health, St-Onge said.

"Planning ahead and making healthy, carry-on foods is important," St-Onge suggested. "This could be a homemade smoothie or whole grain muffin or cereal bar for breakfast; packing a sandwich or leftovers for those times when time is tight."

Advance thought can also help people eat the right amount of food throughout the day and eat at the right time, said Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at New York University Langone Medical Center who wasn’t involved in the guidelines.

"The 'eating several small meals' during the day advice that we commonly hear is unrealistic for most people because the 'small' meals often turn into meal-sized meals and weight gain is inevitable," Heller said by email.

"Another booby trap for overeating is after dinner," Heller added. "Night time eating is quite common and an easy way to add unnecessary calories and pack on the pounds over time because people snack when in front of TV, computer and tablet screens."

Heller’s advice: "Once dinner is finished, the kitchen should be closed. If your schedule is crazy and you cannot get to dinner until later in the evening, then eat light at night."

SOURCE: bit.ly/2jznKZG Circulation, online January 30, 2017.

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FTO gene not an obesity life sentence: study

People who carry a variant in the so-called obesity gene, FTO, react just as well to diet and exercise as those without it, a research paper said Wednesday.

This means that people with the variant, which appears to be linked to a higher risk for being overweight, are not necessarily doomed to remain so, according to a meta-analysis published in The BMJ medical journal.

"Individuals carrying the (variant) respond equally well to dietary, physical activity, or drug based weight loss interventions," wrote the authors of the review of eight studies involving some 10,000 people.

This meant that genetic predisposition to obesity "can be at least partly counteracted through such interventions."

Scientists have previously shown an association between a variant of the FTO gene and surplus body fat, but little is understood about how the link works.

The relative contribution of genetics and lifestyle to the global obesity epidemic is still very much in dispute.

The latest review showed that participants in weight loss programs who had the FTO variant started out almost a kilo (about two pounds) heavier on average than those without it.

But changes in weight were similar in people with the variant and those without it, regardless of other factors such as ethnicity or gender, the authors said.

In 2014, according to the World Health Organization, more than 1.9 billion adults globally were overweight. Of those, more than 600 million were obese.

Carrying excess weight has been linked to heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.

Commenting on the latest research, Public Health England agency chief nutritionist Alison Tedstone said the causes of the obesity epidemic may have little to do with genes.

The study, she said, "adds to the evidence suggesting that environmental factors might dominate over at least common obesity linked genes".

Such factors could include a high-sugar diet or insufficient physical exercise.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How grocery lists may help lower body weight

Heading to the grocery store armed with a list may make it easier to follow a healthy diet, a study of shoppers in Pittsburgh suggests.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,300 mostly overweight and obese residents in two poor, primarily African American communities and found that shoppers who regularly made grocery lists also made higher quality food choices and had lower body weights.

"We don't know whether people who are healthier pay more attention to what they eat and pay more attention to their weight and are also people who do more planning, or if people who do more planning are more able to avoid impulse purchases and the less healthy options presented to them at the supermarket," lead study author Tamara Dubowitz said.

"We can say there is a link but we can't say what causes it," Dubowitz, a researcher at RAND Corporation in Pittsburgh, told Reuters Health.

More than one-third of U.S. adults are obese, putting them at increased risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among all adults nationwide, nearly half of African-Americans and more than 40 percent of Hispanics are obese, as are about a third of Caucasians.

While many factors can contribute to obesity, poverty and lack of quality grocery stores close to home are two important contributors, Dubowitz said.

Dubowitz and colleagues surveyed a population with 80 percent of participants reporting household income of less than $20,000 a year. Just 33 percent were employed. They lived in what's known as a food desert, an area with limited access to healthy foods.

Just under one third of the participants said they “always” shopped with a grocery list, while another 17 percent did so often and 26 percent did so occasionally.

People who used grocery lists all the time were more likely to be female and older, less likely to be employed, and more likely to be trying to eat fewer calories.

After controlling for these factors, the researchers found that dietary quality remained significantly higher among participants who always shopped with a list.

The study team also weighed participants and measured their heights to calculate body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered healthy weight, 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight and 30 or above is obese.

Using a shopping list was also associated with having a BMI about one point lower compared to people who didn’t use lists. That amounts to a weight difference of about five pounds for somebody whose height is 5' 5" (1.65 meters).

The researchers acknowledge in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior that the study isn't designed to show shopping lists cause people to be healthier, only that there is a link between the two.

They are also following residents over a longer period of time to see if the opening of a new grocery store in the community changes people's dietary habits or makes a dent in obesity rates, Dubowitz said.

"Shoppers don't have control over the availability of healthy produce or their pricing; those problems will require structural interventions to fix them such as attracting grocery stores to move into food deserts," Dr. Ichiro Kawachi, chair of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said by email.

Given the lack of groceries and other structural problems encountered by the study participants, the findings "suggest that there are things that people can do for themselves" to pursue healthy eating habits, said Kawachi, who wasn't involved in the study.

It's possible that some things people did to eat healthier food and maintain a lower weight had nothing to do with shopping lists, said Dr. Jason Block, associate director of the obesity prevention program in the department of population medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.

He noted that the modest one-point difference in BMI linked to grocery lists makes it more likely that some other behavior not measured in the study may have explained the change.

"It's quite likely that using a list is a behavior linked to other healthful behaviors," Block, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email.

Still, it points to the power of advance planning to help improve impulse control, Kawachi said.

"The typical supermarket these days is carefully engineered so that they are constantly tempting customers to make impulse purchases and unwise food choices (e.g. placing candies at the checkout)," Kawachi said. "Having a plan and sticking to it is a good start to pre-committing yourself to a healthy purchase pattern."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Diether Ocampo not paying his workers?

MANILA - Diether Ocampo finally broke his silence on allegations that he is hiding from the production staff of an independent film which he produced after failing to pay them.

Ocampo became a hot topic online when accusations surfaced that he did not pay some of his staff members despite their rendered work.

In a statement which he exclusively sent to “The Buzz” on Sunday, Ocampo said he is taking full responsibility for what happened.

“As the executive producer of Tandem Entertainment, I take full responsibility. There are matters beyond my control that led to this predicament. I will never run away from my responsibilities,” he said.

Ocampo said his camp has already arranged a meeting with his staff in order to resolve the problem.

“I treasure the people behind the project and I would not allow them to suffer. I assure the staff that I will give them what is due them,” he said.

Also on “The Buzz,” one of the staff members agreed to an interview but refused to show his face on camera.

“Actually nagbigay siya sa ibang mga staff ng post-dated check last January. Naka-date 'yun ng February 10. Pero noong 'yung iba nagpapalit na, hindi daw napondohan. All in all, siguro mga milyun-milyon ang utang ni Diet sa aking estimate,” he said.

While some production staff members were paid in installments, the staff member said there are others who were not paid at all.

“Yung ibang staff, hanggang second down payment pa lang ang nare-receive and the other staff, wala pa talaga. 'Yung mga huling pumirma ng kontrata, kahit piso walang na-receive. Sana as soon as possible, ma-resolve 'yung problema na ito kasi sobrang tagal na. Hindi rin naman kami ganun kayaman para basta na lang i-give up yung utang niya sa amin,” he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Anne Curtis shares diet secrets

MANILA – Kapamilya star Anne Curtis, considered one of the country’s sexiest actresses today, shared some of her diet secrets in a television interview aired Tuesday.

On the ABS-CBN show “Kris TV”, Curtis told host Kris Aquino that she makes it a point to eat small, light meals every day.

“Except when I’m cheating,” she said, smiling.

Curtis admitted that going on a strict diet is quite a challenge especially because her boyfriend is Erwan Heussaff, a cook and restaurateur. Still, the actress said she manages to go through the day with healthy dishes in small portions.


Curtis said she usually eats an omelet or a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, a salad and anything grilled for lunch, and another serving of salad for dinner.

“Salad lang with basic vinaigrette,” she said when asked about the contents of her meal. “Greens lang. Or if ever, I’ll add fish.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Diet and exercise may help maintain weight loss

NEW YORK - Programs focused on both diet and exercise may help people who have lost weight keep the pounds from creeping back on, according to a new analysis of past studies.

Orlistat, an obesity drug, may also be effective when taken at higher doses, researchers found.

More than one third of US adults are obese, and obesity raises the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer. Losing weight - and keeping it off - can reduce those risks.

“Long term weight loss through changes in eating and physical activity is possible, even in adults who have already acquired obesity related illness, and effective weight loss programs are now available,” researchers led by Stephan Dombrowski of Newcastle University in the UK write.

They pooled data from 45 studies that included a total of 7,788 adults who had lost at least 5% of their body weight. The studies looked at people’s ability to keep the weight off for a minimum of one year.

Forty-two of the studies included an initial phase meant to produce weight loss. The participants in those studies lost an average of about 24 pounds.

The studies all looked at medication or lifestyle changes such as diet, physical activity and meal replacements, either alone or in combination, to help with weight loss maintenance.

The researchers found that people participating in programs that combined diet and exercise gained back 3.4 fewer pounds after one year compared to people receiving no extra help with weight maintenance or standard treatment only.

They also found that combining Orlistat with behavioral changes resulted in 4 fewer pounds regained after one year compared to participants who took a drug-free placebo.

Orlistat appeared to be more effective at larger doses, according to results published in the British medical journal BMJ. But the drug also came with gastrointestinal side effects.

Lori Rosenthal said the findings echo previous research and that it was “interesting” that the authors included data from so many studies.

Rosenthal is a dietician at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York. She was not involved in the new review.

“I think it’s great that they covered so many different studies but there’s also so much variety and the long-term research isn’t there, you know - going beyond 24 months,” she told Reuters Health.

Still, “We know that interventions like diet and physical activity are really important in preventing weight regain after losing,” she said.

Rosenthal noted that participants who had dropped out of the programs were not always included in the findings, and that could affect the review’s results.

“Weight management is hard,” she said. “People have to realize that it’s not just the losing it - it’s for life, and if you don’t like what you’re doing, if it doesn’t work for you, you’re not going to stick with it.”

Support during the weight management phase is important, Rosenthal added. There are support groups and dietitians who can give people tricks and tools to help make it easier, she said.

She offered some advice for people who have lost weight and are moving into a maintenance phase.

“It’s really important to remember that weight management is a mind and a stomach game,” she said. “You have to feel good about what you’re having.”

“Really make sure you find foods you like - that you’re choosing foods not because you’re on a diet but because you like them,” Rosenthal said. “You have to like them more than the other things you were eating before.”

Rosenthal said that if people don’t like the new foods they eat or their new routine, they will be more likely to go right back to old habits.

She said being mindful and chewing slowly also allows people to enjoy their food and eat less.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How your excess calories can help people in need

MANILA – On a diet? Imagine your excess calories being given to people who need it most.

The Young Global Leaders' Table for Two launched on Thursday the "Calorie Offset" initiative, which aims to “transfer excess calories” from products to people in need, in the Philippines.

In a press conference at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia, Table for Two executive director Masa Kogure said the excess calories from products will be monetized into donations for agriculture training, development of school gardens, and other sustainable activities.

“[With] excess calories [being] transferred to people in need, particularly other children… [it will be] monetized into donation for agriculture training, school gardens, and other sustainable initiatives," Kogure said.

The group will be partnering with different brands, sporting events, and manufacturers that will be able to promote the benefits of having a healthier lifestyle.

“[We will] partner with exercise [initiatives], brands, and sporting events that promote burning of calories," Kogure said.

The Calorie Offset program was initially launched in Tokyo, Japan last May 2014 with the participation of companies such as LAWSON, Oisix, Ezaki Glico, Nagatanien, and FiNC.

Among these, LAWSON and Oisix has already begun promoting and selling products supported by the program.

Takeshi Niinami, chairman of Lawson Inc., said the government of Japan supports the initiative.

Although they are still in talks whether the products will cost more than the regularly produced commodities in the market today, Niinami said that they will have to consider the value added function of making the product still top quality.

“This much be a very good tasteful product. We can allow [it to be as it is] but [it will] taste really bad. [We will make sure that] they are very tasteful," Niinami said.

Kogure noted that consumers now pay more to become healthy, and as a branded product, they are looking on providing the worth that they will be offering.

“These days, consumers will actually pay more to become healthy. We are hoping to charge extra on those branded products…but really still in negotiation.”

Kogure said that the products will be produced with local manufacturers, using available ingredients in the area.

“Depends on the location, available local ingredients, [and we will] evaluate the nutrient level of children and examine the micro-nutrients they are lacking," he said.

He said that they are already working on partnerships with different local institutions and chains, including fast food giant Jollibee.

When asked if how long the program will run, Kogure said it will be a long-term project.

“[It] needs to be sustainable, [so we’ll] stay in the Philippines as long as needed.”

Niinami said that this initiative was started to address the problem of obesity evident not only in Japan, but in the world.

He said that they hope the program will be able to provide a solution to the social problem, and at the same time, also help children in need.

“Social problem is that intake of calorie is too much. I hope this initiative will penetrate to other bigger [problems] in Japan, even here in ASEAN… [and provide a] big solution for people in need," he said.

Table for Two is an official affiliate of the Forum of Young Global Leaders. They have launched previous projects which promoted healthy eating while providing for school meals of children in developing countries.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Curbing bad habits can stop 37M premature deaths: study

PARIS - Curbing smoking and drinking, salt intake, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and obesity can prevent more than 37 million premature deaths by 2025, according to an analysis published on Saturday.

If globally-adopted targets for reducing these risk factors are met, the risk of dying prematurely from heart or lung disease, stroke, cancer or diabetes will fall by 22 percent in men and 19 percent for women in 2025, compared with 2010, a team of researchers wrote in The Lancet medical journal.

"Worldwide, this improvement is equivalent to delaying or preventing at least 16 million deaths in people aged 30-70 years and 21 million in those aged 70 years or older over 15 years," they said.

The targets are to reduce tobacco use by 30 percent, alcohol consumption by 10 percent, salt intake by 30 percent, high blood pressure by 25 percent, and to halt the rise in the prevalence of obesity and diabetes.

A more ambitious 50-percent reduction in smoking by 2025 would reduce the risk by more than 24 percent in men and by 20 percent in women, wrote the team.

They used national population data and epidemiological models for their calculations.

"Most of the benefits will be seen in low-income and middle-income countries where as many as 31 million deaths could be prevented," said co-author Majid Ezzati from Imperial College London.

Not reaching the targets would result in 38.8 million premature deaths in 2025 alone -- 10.5 million more than in 2010, the team said.

Premature mortality is defined for the purposes of the study as the probability of dying between the ages of 30 and 70.

The United Nations is targeting a 25-percent reduction in premature death from non-communicable diseases from 2010 to 2025.

This group of diseases is caused in large part by unhealthy lifestyles, including tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

What you should know about juice fasting

MANILA – If starting a healthy lifestyle is one of your goals for the new year, a good way to get you on the right track is with a juice cleanse.

Katharina Rempe Azanza of the popular Juju Cleanse said going on a detox via a juice cleanse is an effective way to jump-start a diet.

“It's good way to kick start that healthy lifestyle because you feel all the benefits the next day,” Azanza, who started Juju Cleanse with her husband David, told ABS-CBNnews.com.

“Many people feel that they are actually energized and I believe it's because even in a one-day cleanse, you are being provided a total of 15 or 16 pounds of vegetables and fruits that go into the juice,” she explained, noting that the nutrients in the juice is more than what people get from “regular food.”

“In terms of the nutritional value, there's so much more that you will get on a cellular level. Because when you are drinking the juice, it goes straight to your blood stream, it doesn't have to be digested anymore. So you immediately absorb and it goes immediately to where it has to go because your cells are desperate for all these nutrients,” she said.

Azanza is not a newcomer in the wellness industry. Her parents founded the acclaimed health resort The Farm at San Benito, which is known for its full-fledged detox packages. Before opening Juju Cleanse – as well as the restaurant Juju Eats -- she also ran her own Pilates studio when she and her husband were based in Shanghai, China.

What is a juice fast?

A juice fast involves drinking six 500 milliliters of cold-pressed fresh juice a day, which are delivered to the customers from the commissary. “You need three liters a day of the pure juice plus the water you drink on top of that to do a juice fast. It's a hefty amount of liquid,” she said.

Juju Cleanse offers three levels, which refers to the amount of green leafy vegetables use din the detox. Level 1 has two bottles of green juice out of the six; Level 2 has three bottles of green juice; while Level 3 has five bottles of green juice.

“The reason we offer the three levels is because, while Level 3 is definitely the best, not everybody is ready to go on an all-gulay juice cleanse. If I only have that as my program, it's a little bit off-putting, especially if it's their first time,” Azanza explained, noting that the detox programs at The Farm doesn’t offer such choices.

But even the entry level juice fast is effective, she stressed.

Apart from the liter of green juice, Level 1 includes half a liter of red beet juice, half a liter of ginger juice (which is anti-inflammatory) and half a liter of grapefruit juice, which has electrolytes which the body needs.

“It has loads of benefits and each juice is designed for a specific purpose,” she said.

Azanza also clarified that a juice fast isn’t designed to induce LBM. “You're gonna pee a lot but in terms of No. 2, not really,” she said. “For some people who don't eat vegetables at all, siyempre there's a laxative effect because vegetables really have that effect on most people. But you're not gonna be sitting in the can all day long.”

Three days vs one day

For Azanza, a three-day juice fast is highly recommended for those looking to thoroughly cleanse their body, especially coming from the holidays.

“It's like it takes you apart and puts you together again. It goes through the process of detoxification and re-building. You feel really good after a three-day cleanse,” she said.

But even a one-day cleanse has immediate benefits, she said, citing improved complexion and deep sleep. She calls the one-day fast more of a “reboot” or a “refresher” for those who have already undergone the three-day cleanse.

“If you're only motivated to do a one-day cleanse I find that the benefits of that are …first thing you realize with a one-day cleanse is that you don't have to eat so much. After one day, you'll feel so busog with just the juices and you'll realize that you're overeating. You don't really need to be eating that mountain of rice or that mountain of meat. Actually your body can survive with so much less and it brings your appetite back into check,” she said.

DIY juicing

Asked about customers who juice on their own, she said that while she encourages people to make juicing part of their daily life, she noted that she doesn’t agree with customized juices.

“I will never say no to juicing. I will encourage everyone to buy a juicer, and make it part of their lifestyle, absolutely 100%. But if you are going to go on a juice cleanse and you are going to go and do that for yourself, I would say you should read up and follow it,” she said.

“Because what happens is that when they want to customize their own juice, they'll choose all the sweet ones kasi mas masarap eh. They'll make the green juice component very little and they'll choose all their favorite juices which are most likely the sweeter juices because it's more pleasant and more palatable. You have to be careful of the sugar content you are putting in your juice. It's a medical therapy. It's not something to be taken lightly,” she stressed, noting that the only time she customizes the juice cleanses is when customers have allergies to certain ingredients.

Azanza recommends customers to do a juice cleanse at least every other month or “whatever fits your lifestyle.”

“But I find that once you do it, you feel like you need it. Once you feel the benefits, you feel like you look for it,” she said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

No profits for companies chasing obesity business

KALUNDBORG, Denmark - Steam rises from pipes at a giant industrial complex on the edge of the Baltic Sea whose success is a testament to the world's diabetes and obesity epidemic.

Novo Nordisk's Kalundborg factory, 100 km west of Copenhagen, makes half the planet's insulin for diabetics, putting it on a list of global sites the United States sees as vital to its interests, according to a WikiLeaks cable in 2010.

Soaring diabetes rates, driven by increasing obesity, have fuelled profits at the Danish company for two decades.

But now the company wants to tackle obesity head on by launching a treatment specifically to help patients lose weight.

It would seem to be a no-brainer. Obesity rates suggest a booming market. Yet it is proving surprisingly difficult for both drugmakers and food companies to develop businesses directly addressing the problem.

In a global economic downturn, modestly effective weight-loss drugs and special diet foods are turning out to be a tough sell when a cheaper alternative is to eat less - or do nothing.

The first new prescription diet drugs to hit the U.S. market in more than a decade, from Vivus and Arena Pharmaceuticals, have registered disappointing sales and food companies' diet lines are struggling.

Switzerland's Nestle has all but given up on the diet business, agreeing to sell the bulk of its Jenny Craig weight-loss unit last week to U.S. private equity firm North Castle Partners.

And as Unilever reviews its portfolio of underperforming food assets, analysts say its Slim-Fast brand is one that could come up for sale. Bernstein Research estimates Slim-Fast had 2012 sales of 300 million euros ($402 million), 34 percent lower than when Unilever agreed to buy it in 2000 for $2.3 billion.

"The need for the services is increasing, unfortunately, but there are a lot of companies that have not done well," said Jon Canarick of North Castle, which also bought the firm behind the Atkins diet from its post-bankruptcy lenders in 2007. "I credit most of that to a combination of the economy and the influx of competition."

Weak economies have curbed demand for pricey, specialist dieting schemes just as competition has exploded from a host of electronic apps that count calories for free - and securing insurance reimbursement has been an uphill fight for new drugs that cost around $160-$200 a month in the United States.

BURDEN OF DISEASE

Obesity prevalence has increased by more than 40 percent across the OECD industrialised countries and half of U.S. adults are now forecast to be obese by 2030 unless Americans change their ways.

The condition is a major risk factor for heart disease, certain cancers and diabetes, with the latter alone expected to kill more than 5 million people this year.

Lars Sorensen, Novo Nordisk's veteran chief executive, hopes the clear medical need will help his firm's move into obesity, although he acknowledges it will not be easy.

"It is going to be challenging. We need to convince employers and insurers in the United States, which is the biggest market, that this is a problem that can be addressed," he said in an interview.

"It's been very disappointing in terms of pharmaceutical interventions up to now, but I see that changing."

Certainly, the medical community is taking more notice.

The American Medical Association classified obesity as a disease for the first time this year, while new guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association back more aggressive therapy.

Binge eating disorder, a related problem, has also entered the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the reference book for psychiatry, opening a new opportunity for a drug from Shire.

Europe, however, is lagging behind in recognising obesity and approving new drugs, according to Euan Woodward, executive director of the European Association for the Study of Obesity.

"The U.S. is way ahead. We haven't had the same discussion in Europe yet," he said.

Yet U.S.-approved diet drugs like Vivus' Qsymia and Arena's Belviq are being held back by cost and the modest weight loss they can offer, with safety problems linked to earlier products also making doctors cautious.

The popular fen-phen drug combination was taken off the market in 1997 for causing heart damage, while Sanofi's Acomplia was withdrawn in Europe in 2008 after being linked to suicidal thoughts - it never won U.S. approval - and Abbott's Meridia was pulled in 2010 on heart worries.

As a result, global sales of obesity drugs have halved in the last five years, and even though they are expected to climb again they will remain dwarfed by therapies to treat diabetes, as rates of type 2 disease - the kind linked to obesity - soar.

Consensus analysts forecasts suggest obesity drug sales may grow from $300 million to $3.8 billion by 2018, while the diabetes market, worth some $37 billion at present, will reach more than $57 billion, according to Thomson Reuters Pharma.

Novo Nordisk hopes a high dose of its injectable medicine liraglutide - the active ingredient in its diabetes treatment Victoza - will take pharmacological interventions to a new level, by mimicking the action of a natural hormone.

So far, though, clinical trials have underwhelmed analysts and Matthias Tschoep, head of the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, believes a truly effective medicine will need to combine the effects of multiple hormones to achieve reductions in body weight beyond the 5-10 percent seen with current drugs. That could be a long haul.

"We need to close the gap between existing drug treatments and a gastric bypass surgery, which makes you lose 35 percent of body weight," he said. "I firmly believe that within the next 10 to 20 years, we will have very efficient drugs."

The big problem for dieters and drug designers alike is the fact that human evolution makes it very hard for people to curb their appetite and cut calorie consumption.

A predisposition to gain weight is hard-wired, with animal experiments showing that consumption of sugary food triggers the brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter also linked to drug addiction.

THREATENED BY BROCCOLI, MOBILE APPS

Weight Watchers, the leading weight loss company in the United States, is finding the going increasingly tough. Revenue has been roughly flat or down during six of the last seven quarters and the outlook for the next four is even worse.

Last month, the company said that despite progress on cost-cutting, it expected full-year revenue to fall at a low double-digit percentage rate if recruitment trends failed to improve.

Weight Watchers is battling a declining membership base, growing membership at rivals, and the rise of cheap or free smartphone applications and activity monitors such as MyFitnessPal and the Jawbone UP wristband.

There are nearly 2,000 weight-loss apps now available on the iPhone, and Berlin-based market research firm research2guidance estimates that by 2015, 500 million people will be using mobile health applications which cost much less than the packaged meal plans sold by Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem and Medifast that usually cost hundreds of dollars a month in up-front purchases.

Analysts say the lion's share of the world's dieters use a "do-it-yourself" approach.

"Broccoli and lettuce are good competition for weight-loss shakes," said Imperial Capital analyst Mitchell Pinheiro. "Dieting is fickle to begin with and trends are fleeting. While the addressable market is enormous and continues to grow, how dieters choose to diet is not consistent and it's not sustainable."

Meanwhile, the retail market for meal replacement products such as Slim-Fast bars and Herbalife shakes, is estimated at $7.76 billion worldwide, according to data tracker Euromonitor, up from $5.51 billion in 2008.

In a very competitive market, Euromonitor analyst Ildiko Szalai sees the key to success as transcending the natural stigma and impermanence of dieting. She cited Kellogg's Special K cereal bars, protein shakes and diet plan, which has briskly moved in as Slim-Fast has retreated.

"They made it very successful, positioning the product as a lifestyle and not just something for six weeks so you lose weight," Szalai said. "You eat it forever."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

'Lifestyle diseases' are new threat to Asia

MANILA - Asia-Pacific countries face serious challenges from "lifestyle" diseases and ageing populations even as they overcome more traditional illnesses, the World Health Organisation's regional director said Monday.

Western Pacific WHO director Shin Young-soo said such ailments, often arising from a change in diets and less exercise, were sharply rising in Asian nations.

He said recent studies showed that as many as 12 percent of Chinese adults had diabetes, while as many as 50 percent had a "pre-diabetes" condition, meaning they were on the borderline of developing the illness.

This was a huge jump from the estimated 3-4 percent diabetics in China's adult population in the 1990s.

About 10 percent of adults in countries like South Korea, Japan and even Vietnam also had diabetes, Shin told reporters at a WHO regional meeting in the Philippine capital.

"It is because of the big change in our diets in the last 30-40 years' time. There is also a very interesting observation that Asian people... tend to have more diabetes than Western people," he said.

"We must have behaviour change. The whole society must tackle the issue," Shin said.

Other non-communicable ailments like hypertension and high cholesterol were also on the increase despite the fact that they could all be prevented, he said.

Shin said countries such as some Pacific island nations were experiencing diabetes among 40 percent of adults while 75 to 80 percent were suffering from obesity.

"Over many years, this will lead to huge health care costs. Societies will lose this productive labour power," he warned.

Shin also said ageing populations in some Asia-Pacific countries like Australia, Japan and China would force these nation to spend more on caring for the elderly.

Other problems facing the region like relatively high rates of blindness and the spread of drug-resistant diseases will also be discussed at the WHO meeting being held in Manila this week.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

7 weight loss tips from Korina Sanchez

MANILA – Almost everyone has noticed Korina Sanchez’ slimmer figure, the ABS-CBN broadcast journalist said so herself, prompting her to share some of her weight loss tips.

Sanchez, who is currently on the Cohen diet, said the key to staying slim is not about deprivation, but about eating “the right kind of food” in moderation.

The “TV Patrol” anchor lost 15 pounds in a month.

“May kasamang pandaraya ‘yun. Kasi hindi ko na talaga matiis ‘pag may katapat na akong kare-kare at saka kanin at bagoong. So medyo dinadaya ko,” she said during her radio program, “Rated Korina,” on Thursday.

“Siguro kung walang pandaraya ‘yun, siguro dalawang linggo lang ang 15 pounds na ‘yan,” she added.
Since the Cohen diet may be pricey – over P50,000 for a personalized program – Sanchez shared with her listeners as much as she can when it comes to shedding unwanted pounds.

She said, however, that it is best to consult a doctor first before drastically changing eating habits.

“Magkonsulta kayo sa doktor bago niyo gawin ‘yan. Kasi ako, ‘yan ang ginawa ko, eh meron akong doktor na pinagtanungan niyan,” she said. “Kasi baka naman bigla kayong mag-altapresyon dahil ‘di kayo kumain nang tama.”

Here are her seven weight loss tips:

1. While dieting, don’t exercise

Eating less than what a person is used to may result in a feeling of tiredness or lack of energy, said Sanchez, who discouraged her listeners from exercising while on a strict diet.

“Habang nagdidiyeta, bawal ang exercise. Kasi mahirap ‘yun, baka mahilo ka at mahimatay ka,” she said.

According to Sanchez, it usually takes two weeks before the effects of a diet program can be felt, so it is best to start working out after this period.

“’Pag nawala na sa ’yo ‘yung timbang, medyo gwardiyado na ang pagkain mo, pwede ka nang mag-exercise ulit,” she said.

 For other diet plans that have been tried by local celebrities, click here.


 2. Don’t eat rice, bread or any source of carbohydrates

With exercise out of the way, dieters can now skip eating rice, bread or pasta, at least temporarily, said Sanchez, who noted that carbohydrates are the common culprit when it comes to weight gain.

“Huwag kang kumain ng kanin, huwag kang kumain ng tinapay at pasta kasi carbohydrates po ‘yan. ‘Yan po ‘yung nagiging taba sa katawan na hindi po lumalabas,” she said.

The same applies for sugar, which also includes a number of fruits, Sanchez added.

“’Wag kayong mag-aasukal. Walang kendi, walang softdrinks kung hindi zero o light. Basta, iwasan po ang asukal. Kasama po ang prutas ah. Akala niyo ang prutas, pang-diyeta? Hindi. Maraming asukal ang prutas. Pwera na lang siguro kung ‘yan ay bayabas, wala masyadong asukal,” she said.




Sanchez said after two weeks, it’s okay to eat sweets and carbohydrates again, but only in moderation.

“Pwede ka namang bumalik, pero sa loob ng dalawang lingo, iwasan muna ‘yan talaga,” she said.

 Sanchez’ suggestion is contrary to what “Pinoy Biggest Loser” season 1 nutritionist Nadine Tengco said, that Filipinos need not give up rice to shed unwanted pounds.



 3. As much as possible, don’t add salt to your food

Sanchez said she has been advised to stay away from salt, and was given a daily limit of 1/3 teaspoon a day.

She noted that this is not much of a sacrifice since a number of food items, such as meat, already have salt.

“Alam mo ‘yung tapa, ipriprito mo sa konting, konting mantika, kasi may mantika nang sarili ‘yun eh. Walang timpla, masarap pa rin, ah,” she said.

4. Use your fist as a guide

So how do you know how much you need to eat each meal?

Sanchez gave this tip: use your fist.

“Kung gaano kalaki ang iyong kamao, ganoon lang kalaki ang pagkain mo. May kasamang gulay at may kasamang karne,” she said.

Sanchez recommended eating fish, chicken and beef, but not pork. “Tanggalin ang taba,” she said.

5. Eat only after five hours

Citing her own experience, Sanchez discouraged dieters from having snacks every so often, saying that meals should be properly spaced.

“Hindi ka pwedeng kumain. Five hours sa pagitan ng iyong almusal, ‘pag ikaw ay nag-almusal, kailangang bumilang ka ng limang oras bago ka magtanghalian, at limang oras ulit bago ka mag-hapunan,” she said.

To those who cannot last for five hours without food, Sanchez said: “’Pag medyo sumakit ang ulo mo, isang biskwit pwede. Tubig, pwede rin.”

6. Don’t eat after 9 p.m.
Unlike some diet programs that discourage people from eating after 6 p.m., Sanchez’ suggestion lets them have dinner or a snack until 9 p.m.

“Wala nang kakain after 9 p.m.,” said Sanchez, who once again stressed that one should consult a doctor first before making any significant change in eating habits.

7. Drink lots of water
People have always been advised to drink at least eight glasses of water. Addressing the problem of having different glass sizes, Sanchez said it is ideal to drink at least two liters of water every day.

“Kailangang uminom ka ng dalawang litrong tubig araw-araw. Kung pwede, anim,” she said. “Kasi ‘yan ang magtatanggal ng lahat ng maga mo sa katawan. ‘Yung mga asin-asin na nakadeposito sa katawan mo.”

“Kaya kailangan may baon ka talaga eh, para ‘di mo makalimutan. Kasi kahit ‘di ka nauuhaw, kailangang uminom ka,” she added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Top 7 worst dieting mistakes

Weight loss may seem like a simple formula of eating less and working out more; however, you may be unintentionally making mistakes that will hinder your weight loss success. To avoid common slip-ups and makeover your diet, check out these 7 worst weight loss mistakes.

1. Relying on exercise

While exercise is essential for a healthy lifestyle and for keeping off those extra pounds, research has found that, when not combined with any dietary changes, exercise does very little in respect to losing weight. Experts believe that many new exercisers even gain weight by overcompensating for their workouts. This is because many of us overestimate the calories burned through exercise and overly increase our calorie intake to fuel or reward our workouts. For maximum weight loss benefits, try to incorporate both exercise and dietary changes into your day.


2. Going fat-free

Many of us are in the habit of obsessively checking the fat content of products and looking out for "low fat" labels before deciding if a food is diet friendly. However, opting for low fat products can be a huge dieting mistake as many low fat meals are packed with sugar to compensate. Also, "reduced fat" labels only indicate that the food is lower in fat than the original product, which may not mean it is low fat at all. It is important to also remember that not all fats are bad for you. Rather than avoiding fat, try to lower your intake of saturated fats and eat more monounsaturated fats (found in avocados, olive oil and nuts) as studies have found that this can help to promote weight loss.


3. Switching to diet drinks

Just as low fat foods are not always the best choice for weight loss, switching to diet drinks can also inhibit weight loss, or even cause you to gain weight. Research by the Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio found that those who consumed diet drinks daily experienced a 70% greater increase in waist circumference than those who drank none, while a previous study showed that obesity risk increased by 41% for each diet drink consumed. It is thought this may be because artificial sweeteners trigger appetite, and they may also inhibit the brain cells that make you feel full.


4. Getting hung up on your body weight

Many dieters become fixated on the number on the scales; however, this can actually be counterproductive. Not only is your body weight not an accurate reflection of how well you are doing (after all, how do you know how much of that weight is muscle, water or undigested food and how much is fat?), failing to see the results you want can also affect your motivation, lead to emotional eating, or cause you stress which can lead to weight gain. Rather than getting hung up on your weight, learn to relax and enjoy your healthy eating plan, and look out for other positive effects of your diet such as glowing skin, increased energy levels and your clothes starting to fit better.


5. Being too restrictive

While eating too much food will inevitably cause you to gain weight, eating too little can also be a big dieting mistake. Firstly, not giving your body an adequate amount of food will make it go into starvation mode, causing the metabolism to slow down and the body to hoard fat and calories. Furthermore, making your diet too restrictive and cutting out all the foods you like is unrealistic and will mean you are more likely to give in. It is also pointless to give up these foods unless you plan on giving them up forever, as the pounds will just pile on again once your reintroduce them into your diet.


6. Giving up at the first hurdle

Many of us take an all or nothing approach to dieting, meaning one small wobble can lead to us ruining our diets and giving up entirely. After all, if you’ve already broken your diet and eaten a cookie, you may as well eat the whole packet, right? Wrong! If you’re serious about losing weight, it’s important not to let lapses (big or small) get you down. So, you caved in and ate your body weight in weight in chocolate? Don’t dwell on it. Just because you have given into temptation once it doesn’t mean that you will again, and it doesn’t mean that you have failed. Simply put the past behind you, pick yourself up and carry on.


7. Overestimating your self-control

Although it is great to embark on your diet with a positive and determined mindset, being too confident – and failing to prepare for those moments of weakness – could be your biggest mistake. Don’t rely on being too disciplined to fail; instead accept that we all lack willpower at times and try removing temptation to prepare for those weak moments. Clear the cupboards of chocolate, ignore the urge to purchase your favorite treats (even if you claim they are for guests and you are sure you will be able to resist them) and stay away from places and situations that will tempt you to indulge. Make it as difficult for yourself to break your diet as you can.

Don’t give up at the first dieting hurdle! Read more at www.realbuzz.com.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

5 ‘healthy’ habits that can make you fat

When trying to lose weight, some of the first things we do – such as cutting down on fat, drinking more water and eating more fruit – can also be the things that cause us to struggle to lose weight or even pile on the pounds. Check out the 5 "healthy" habits that could be making you gain weight, as well as how to make them more diet-friendly.








1. Cutting fat from your diet

Hands up who’s ever checked a packet and then rejected your food choice based on the fat content? If you’ve ever been on a diet, we’re guessing your hand is probably up. For many dieters, fat seems like the ultimate enemy. However, opting for low-fat products can be much more of a diet disaster than opting for those that contain moderate amounts of fat.

Firstly, many low-fat meals are packed with sugar to compensate, meaning that they can still inevitably lead to weight gain. Furthermore, contrary to what you may think, not all fats are bad for you, and studies have found that eating good monounsaturated fats – found in olives, nuts and avocados – can actually help to promote weight loss.

2. Drinking water

Drinking plenty of water is undoubtedly good for you; helping you to stay hydrated and energized and to keep your organs and digestive system in good condition. However, studies have shown that the chemicals found in water could also be making you fat.

Not only have research results published in PLoS ONE shown that the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) found in plastic water bottles encourages the body to create more fat, our drinking water can also contain the hormone estrogen, which affects the way our bodies store fat. The more we are exposed to these chemicals, the harder it becomes to lose weight. However, there’s no need to panic just yet – while ditching water clearly isn’t an option, experts suggest that filtering your water or using a reverse osmosis purification system can limit the chemicals you are exposed to.

3. Exercise

While exercise is essential for good health and, when approached correctly, can help you to shed excess pounds, many exercisers make vital mistakes that can lead to them gaining weight. Firstly, research has found that relying solely on exercise to manage your weight can actually be ineffective. Studies have shown that exercise, when not combined with dietary changes, does very little in respect to losing weight.

Additionally, many of us overestimate the amount of calories burned through exercise and adhere to the myth that exercise continues to boost the body’s ability to burn fat well after our workout is over. Therefore, we often end up overcompensating for workouts with pre- or post-workout snacks, leading to weight gain. For maximum weight loss benefits, try to incorporate both exercise and dietary changes into your day.

4. Looking on the bright side

While impulsive and optimistic people may be happier (and therefore have stronger immune systems) than their more anxious and pessimistic counterparts, research suggests that they could also have more trouble losing weight.

According to research by America's National Institute on Ageing, impulsivity is the strongest predictor of who will become overweight. Furthermore, researchers from Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan studied obese women and men partaking in a six-month weight loss program and found that those who were more positive and optimistic in their outlook lost the least weight. It is believed that positivity may cause weight gain by causing optimists not to worry enough about their weight to resist temptation and stick to a strict healthy eating and fitness regime.

5. Snacking on fruit

Fruit is undoubtedly nutritious, being packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. However, due to its healthy properties, many people overindulge on fresh fruit, juices and smoothies, forgetting about the fact that many fruits are also high in calories and sugar.

Although fruit is healthy, remember that a calorie is still a calorie, and the ones in fruit are as likely to make you overweight as the ones in any other food.

Furthermore, research results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that fructose (the sugar found in fruit) can help to trigger overeating, as after consuming fructose the brain doesn’t register feelings of fullness and satiety as it does when we consume glucose. While it is still important we feed our bodies with the nutrients found in fruit, those struggling with their weight should ensure they don’t go overboard. You should also try to obtain some of these nutrients and fiber through vegetables, which are lower in sugar and calories. Read more at www.realbuzz.com.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

5 most dangerous diets

Over the years people have tried some crazily dangerous diets. From putting parasites into your body to rubbing yourself in a hormone taken from the placenta, here are the five most dangerous diets.










 

1. Tapeworm diet

What does the diet involve: Put bluntly, the tapeworm diet involves dieters putting a tapeworm into their bodies. Those who are on the diet tend to take a pill that when ingested grows a tapeworm inside your stomach. The tapeworm is supposed to feed off the food you digest. The diet was promoted as a fix for those struggling with their weight during the 20th century. Thankfully, the tapeworm diet is no longer legal and has been banned by the FDA, although it is thought that some people still choose to go on this dangerous "diet."

Why it can be bad for you: The tapeworm diet is extremely dangerous because you are ingesting a parasite that will feed off you. Not only does the tapeworm eat your food, it consumes the nutrients your body needs. More importantly, the tapeworm does not necessarily stay in your stomach. The tapeworm can go anywhere in your body and can even end up in your brain, which can be fatal. Those on the tapeworm diet can also suffer from a range of painful complaints, from abdominal pains to headaches. Although you are supposed to take medicine to kill the tapeworm once you are ready, if unchecked the parasite could grow to 20 to 30 feet long!

2. The Prolinn Diet

What does the diet involve: If you’re slightly squeamish we warn you not to read on. Roger Linn created the Prolinn Diet (a.k.a. The Last Chance Diet) during the 1970s. He suggested dieters should eat nothing, but should have one drink per day that was made up of rejected animal parts taken from the slaughterhouse, such as horns, tendons and hooves – we told you to stop reading if you were squeamish.

Why it can be bad for you: Incredibly, during the '70s two to four million people went on the Prolinn Diet. Shockingly, 58% of these Prolinn dieters suffered from a heart attack while on it. The drink itself may not have been the cause of these heart attacks (although it wasn’t healthy as the animal by-products had been treated with artificial flavors and enzymes so that it could actually be drunk), but starving yourself led to terrible health problems and could have been the reason why so many suffered with heart problems.

3. The cigarette diet

What does the diet involve: We’ve all heard of the so-called "model’s diet," which consists of cigarettes and water, but the original cigarette diet began back in the 1920s when cigarette companies marketed their products as miracle weight loss aids, playing on nicotine’s ability to suppress the appetite. During the 1920s the cigarette company Lucky Stripe Cigarette Company advertised their cigarettes using the slogan, "Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet." Apparently sales increased by 200% off of the back of this Lucky Stripe campaign.

Why it can be bad for you: Well, these days everyone knows that smoking is dangerous. Tobacco smoke not only contains addictive nicotine, it also contains lots of other harmful chemicals such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. Smoking can cause lots of serious diseases, such as cancers, heart disease, strokes, impotence, and osteoporosis. So, the cigarette diet is clearly an extremely dangerous one not to be tried. If you are a smoker looking to quit here are some stop smoking tips that might help.

4. Fruitarian diet

What does the diet involve: Well, on the fruitarian diet you can eat fruit. Some fruitarian dieters eat nuts and seeds, but all other foods are banned. You can’t even eat vegetables.

Why it can be bad for you: Eating food from one food group is bad news for you and your body. By only eating fruit, as the fruitarian diet suggests, you are not giving your body the fatty acids and nutrients it needs. Not eating enough nutrients, such as vitamin B12, can cause you to develop anemia. According to Colombia University the fruitarian diet also does not provide you with enough protein, iron, zinc, vitamin D or calcium. As a result, you may feel tired, pick up illnesses because your immune system is low and are more prone to osteoporosis.

Who has tried the diet: Ashton Kutcher tried the diet when he was playing Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, who was a part-time fruitarian. Ashton ended up in hospital with stomach pain after trying the fruitarian diet.

5. hCG Diet

What does the diet involve: The hCG diet involves taking the hCG hormone, which is found in the urine of pregnant women and the human placenta. You can inject the hormone directly into your bloodstream, ingest the hormone or rub the hormone into your skin in a cream form. Those who created the diet recommend you eat no more that 800 calorie.

Why it can be bad for you: The hCG hormone has not been proven to help dieters lose weight. Any weight loss dieters do experience when on the diet is thought to stem from the restricted calorie intake. Again, eating so little is dangerous for you and your body and the vitamin and mineral deficiencies will result in health problems. Also, the hCG hormone has been linked with ovarian hyperstimulation, which can be life threatening.

source: abs-cbnnews.com