If you are a diabetic or are concerned about your blood sugar levels, then snack time is probably filled with more tough choices than for the rest of the folks. A typical snack from a vending machine is almost guaranteed to send your blood-sugar spiking, so what do you do when you get the 3 p.m. hunger-pangs?

Well, you could try one of the snacks from Prevention magazines list of 9 different snacks that are guaranteed to not send your insulin-levels in a tizzy. While I vehemently oppose any mentions of “fat-fighting foods” (foods cannot fight fat, exercise and activity can), the snacks in this article are quite healthful and will satisfy your hunger until your next meal.

From strawberry frozen yogurt and nut-clusters (spiced!) to peanut butter bars and spinach artichoke dips, this list is diverse enough to satisfy anyone. Give them a try and hit the comments with snack ideas of your own!

What snack do you eat when hunger strikes?

Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

SuperBowl Sunday again! How quickly a year passes! Last year, you read some eating tips for the big game, but some things don’t change during this time of the year. Manning is still the last name of one of the Quarterbacks (last year, Peyton led the Colts to victory – can baby brother Eli do the same thing for the Giants as they take on the Patriots this year?) and SuperBowl Sunday is still the second biggest day of wanton consumption (right behind Thanksgiving Day).

Of course, the eating tips we read last year are absolutely valid even today, but there are a couple of articles with interesting takes on fitness and nutrition before and during the game that warrant our brief attention before we charge off to view the game.

Firstly, Super Bowl shape-up: Get your game on! advises us to start off the day with a little activity ourselves so we get our exercise for the day while having fun doing it. A backyard game of flag football, apparently, does the trick quite well:

Get your buddies together, put on your favorite team jerseys and play some good old-fashioned flag football in the yard. A 150-pound person can burn an average of 576 calories per hour this way! [MSNBC Fit List]

Eat this, not that! 7 Super Bowl swaps meanwhile gives us the ever-useful Eat-This-Not-That take on Super Bowl eating. It starts off with a scary tidbit of information that can be quite unsettling: Americans, it seems, consume about 156 billion calories today! Just follow the pages of simple substitutions of low-calorie swaps for their higher-calorie cousins and you should be just fine by the time it’s the fourth quarter. For example at half-time, having 3 chicken fingers instead of cheese-fries with ranch will give you just half the calories and just a third of fat!

Go Patriots!

Here are the week’s top health and fitness stories:

1. Super Bowl excitement may hike heart attacks: For die-hard fans of the New York Giants and New England Patriots, this Sunday’s Super Bowl won’t be just a game. It may be a health hazard.
2. Good food ‘boosts earning power’: Giving babies nutritious food could significantly increase their earning power as adults, new research suggests.
3. You call that health food?: Take a moment and consider this logic: 1. Fat-free foods are healthy. 2. Skittles are fat-free. 3. Therefore, Skittles are healthy.
4. Eating red may prevent dropping dead: Eating red fruits and vegetables may help reduce inflammation which in turn cuts the risk of heart attack, a U.S. doctor says.
5. Eat this, not that! 7 Super Bowl swaps: By the time the final whistle blows at Super Bowl XLII, Americans will have downed 156 billion calories, mostly from pizza, wings, and beer, the unholy trinity of pigskin comestibles.
6. It’s February. How’s that diet coming?: It’s now one month into 2008, and your eating habits may have veered a bit off course. But it’s not too late – just a few small changes can make all the difference.
7. Va. Senate Backs Phaseout of Trans Fats in School Food: The Virginia Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to phase out the use of artery-clogging trans fats in food sold at public schools, from the cheese pizza in the cafeteria to the chips in the vending machine.
8. Super Bowl shape-up: Get your game on!: … choose the right snacks so you can stay “in the game.” Replace regular chips with baked versions, regular beer with lite beer, thick pizza crust with thin.
9. Obesity drug use rises eight-fold: More than 1m prescriptions are made for obesity drugs a year – eight times the number dispensed seven years ago.
10. Inmate discipline faces diet test: A £1.4m study of 1,000 inmates at three young offenders institutions will look at the effect on behaviour of vitamins and other nutritional supplements.
11. Cooking schools targeting trans fats from foods: The movement to ban artery-clogging trans fats from food has a new venue: cooking schools.
12. Sedentary life ‘speeds up ageing’: Leading a sedentary lifestyle may make us genetically old before our time, a study suggests.
13. EU health chief wants food labels to fight fat: The European Union’s health chief wants to introduce tougher food labeling rules to combat the growing problem of obesity across Europe, but is facing stiff political and industrial opposition.
14. Warm-Up Advice From an Ancient Master: We’ve all heard Confucius’s aphorism about the journey of a thousand miles. What I want to know is: Did he actually ever try taking that first step?
15. Diabetes Rates Continue to Soar: The number of Americans being diagnosed with and also living with type 2 diabetes is soaring, presenting a major health and economic crisis for the United States, a new study reports.
16. One Size Does Not Fit All: So how does a young guy seemingly in good health suddenly become such a medical train wreck?
17. Carrots Are Good for Losing Weight: Study after study shows that doctors are often uncomfortable in telling their patients that they need to lose weight.
18. Coffee may make diabetes worse: Daily consumption of caffeine in coffee, tea or soft drinks increases blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

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Have a great weekend!

[tags]health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us[/tags]

[Update: 20-Sep-2009: Dannon has settled the false-advertising lawsuit I wrote about in Feb 2008. Of course, they have denied all claims and have admitted no wrongdoing. The good news is that once the settlement is approved, consumers who purchased their yogurt will be eligible for a $100 rebate depending on how much they purchased. Vindication? Should they do more? Was it the consumers' fault to believe their claims in the first place? Sound off in the comments!]

There was a time (not too long ago) when the only choice you had to make at the Yogurt aisle was “Plain or Flavored?”. Today you are accosted by easily more than 20 varieties including frozen yogurt, live-and-active-cultures-yogurt and even yogurt with fruit on the bottom.

In early 2006 Dannon came up with a brand new type: Probiotics-enhanced Activia yogurt that is supposed to regulate your digestive system and followed it up a year later with their DanActive “dairy-drink” that would strengthen your body’s defense.

Then Dannon was sued:

A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles claims the Dannon Co. Inc., owner of the world’s best-selling yogurt brand, bamboozled tens of thousands of customers into paying extra for Activia and other yogurts falsely touted as offering special nutritional benefits. [ABC News]

What are Probiotics anyway? According to Dannon’s own website, “Probiotics are living microorganisms, usually lactic acid bacteria, that when consumed in sufficient numbers can provide health benefits that go beyond basic nutrition”. In other words, it’s a form of live-and-active-culture called “Bifidus Regularis” that is added to the yogurt with certain characteristics that are supposed to make it extra-beneficial: safe to eat, high shelf-life and presence n enough quantity to be of help.

But what quantities of these cultures are “enough” and what real benefits do they confer?

…medical experts disagree over what the right amounts are and what kind of benefits they could have, according to Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa, an assistant professor of medicine at New York University.
“Probiotic bacteria have only been proven to help with very specific disorders,” she says. “Probiotics is an exciting field, but it is too early to make … general claims like ‘regulates your digestive system.’ That doesn’t mean anything in medical terms.”

So, while it’s probably true that more of the bacteria in this product survive the stomach acids and reach your colon than from regular yogurt (Consumer Reports article), the question is what real effect these bacteria have and is the extra cost worth it? Also note this from Triathlete:
“If you stop eating it, the bacteria levels rapidly return to their normal levels”. (All those opposed to this lifetime commitment speak now or forever just try to be fit!)

And what about DanActive’s claim that it strengthens your body’s defenses? Again, there is no conclusive proof that this is true and in fact according to the ABC News article, a Dannon-funded study itself concurred with this lack of evidence:

…a report issued last year by the American Academy of Microbiology, a report that Dannon helped fund, says, “To date, there is no conclusive evidence that altering the microbiota of a healthy human adult is beneficial.” The report goes on to say that “the efficacy … of probiotic treatments has yet to be determined.”

Now Dannon has a website for everything so there’s one for Activia, one for DanActive, then there’s the Probiotics Center and – surprise! – even one for their “Two Week Challenge” (everyone does these by the way, because apparently consumers just love a good challenge!) But even a cursory glance of these websites (which, by the way are loaded with way more technical information than the average consumer can – or would even care to – understand), brings up so many of the “usual suspects” keywords that their claims begin to sound more and more shaky:

• Activia with Bifidus Regularis is scientifically proven to help with slow intestinal transit when eaten daily for two weeks, as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. [Activia Site]
• Taken every day, DanActive can help strengthen your body’s defenses. [DanActive Site]
• DanActive is believed to have a positive effect on the balance of your intestinal bacteria. [DanActive Site]

As a consumer, it’s in your best interest to look out for catch-phrases like those highlighted above – for these are the exact phrases companies can later use to wriggle out of taking any responsibility for tall claims. Now, don’t get me wrong – the benefits of active cultures may well be true and present, but claiming conclusive results on as yet unsubstantiated research is certainly not in the best interest of millions of consumers.

Just for kicks (well, not really – I do this for all products), I checked the nutrition and ingredient information for Activia Strawberry Yogurt. Well what do you know? Fructose Syrup, Sugar and modified corn starch must make for some yummy yogurt … with 17g of sugar!

If you haven’t already, read my earlier post from last summer about the Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie yogurt. In that ad, Yoplait claimed that eating yogurt would help you lose weight as long as it was part of a sensible diet and active life. Do you see the pattern? Eat Cheerios, lower cholesterol when eaten as part of a healthy diet and active lifestyle. Eat Special K and lose weight when eaten as part of a healthy diet and active lifestyle. Wait a minute, should we all just skip the extraneous stuff and just eat sensibly and be more active?

Well, I certainly think so!

Yes, we live in a world of high-stress with kids, commutes, pollution and more demands on our time than we can think we can handle. Maybe, just maybe, we can solve this by preventing the causes of this stress rather than rushing out to get the next big (unproven) cure.

Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

Well, it’s finally happened. Fast food is now so entrenched in the daily diets of millions of youngsters, that the BBC reports that children no longer consider it a special treat that should be eaten rarely. The research was done by the British Heart Foundation:

A poll of 500 youngsters also found that 82% do not think of crisps as anything special. More than half do not consider sweets a treat.

Although advertising unhealthy foods to youngsters is already under strict scrutiny in the United Kingdom with many restrictions in place regarding the time and nature of these ads, fast foods are still becoming what is increasingly considered “normal food”.

Here are a few suggestions to make sure this is not happening in your household:

1. Keep the junk out: Having chips, cookies and ice-cream always available at home makes them look like natural foods to the impressionable minds of children.
2. Use the right words: “Fast-food”, “Unhealthy”, “Treat” … whatever words you use to describe undesirable elements in your daily diet, make sure the message conveyed to your kids is clear and consistent: “Don’t expect to have these foods everyday. They are unhealthy. We consider them treats for special occasions.”
3. Make it special:: I always tell my friends that when our family eats ice-cream, we know we ate ice-cream. I mean, it’s not a sad little scoop from a week-old bucket of ice-cream in the freezer. I am talking about freshly-made shakes, splits and sundaes that we reserve for special occasions. Making it special is not only just a healthier way to enjoy it, but somehow, the rarity seems to increase the pleasure one derives from it as well. (If you could just have ice-cream anytime you wanted from the freezer, it’s not going to be so special anymore, will it? Just like for the kids in the U.K. study, it’ll become “normal”)

What other tips do you have to make sure your kids are not making fast-food and other junk foods part of their normal food? Ponder on that while you give the week’s top health and fitness stories a once-over:

1. Finding smart buys at the health food store: The options are amazing: low-fat, creamy Greek-style yogurt made from sheep’s or goat’s milk; kefir and other products with friendly bacteria that improve digestive health and boost immunity;
2. Poor diets ‘kill 3.5m children’: A third of child deaths globally are caused by poor nutrition, experts warn.
3. Strut your stuff: 7 moves for runway legs: Yes, even the hot models hate lunges but the truth is they work — and they work well!
4. Doctors alone can’t solve kids’ weight problems: Weight is a very complex issue, and overzealous efforts to control it can lead to eating disorders, self-image problems, and ultimately, ineffective results.
5. After 30 Years, Glycemic Index Still Fights for Acceptance: The glycemic index tries to gauge how much your blood sugar is likely to rise after eating a particular food. The higher GI score of a food, the more it raises blood sugar
6. Mediterranean diet wards off asthma: Children of women who eat a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits and vegetables while pregnant are far less likely to develop asthma or allergies later in life
7. Crisps ‘not a treat’ for children: Children’s diets are now so poor that more than two-thirds of them do not think fast food is a treat
8. Indians Trade Health for Jobs: “After working, they party for the rest of the time . . . have bad diet, excessive smoking and drinking [...] We don’t want these young people to burn out.”
9. Family meals curb girls’ eating disorder risk: Sitting down for regular family meals may protect teen girls from developing eating disorders
10. Shaping up in ’08? Keep it simple, cheap: If you’ve resolved to make ’08 the year you finally get in shape, you don’t need overpriced gym memberships and overhyped fitness gadgets to reach your goal. Just get moving.
11. Third of adults ‘always dieting’: One in three adults in the UK is now on a permanent diet, a survey suggests.
12. Michael Pollan’s manifesto on eating well: “the genuinely heart-healthy whole foods in the produce section, lacking the financial and political clout of the packaged goods a few aisles over, are mute.”

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Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

I have always been skeptical of the efficacy of so-called “power” drinks, especially for school kids for many of whom the most strenuous activity of the day might be trudging through Phys. Ed. class.

And now the sugar has really hit the fan with Congress stepping in to set things straight at schools:

In an attempt to limit the sale of high-calorie sodas, candy bars and other snacks in schools, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has introduced a bill that would have the government set new nutritional standards for the foods and drinks that schools sell to students outside cafeterias. But just what those standards should be is the issue. [Washington Post]

Since there are already stringent laws in place about the sale of “full-sugar” or regular sodas, the focus is now on the “power drinks” that have suddenly risen in popularity during the last few years (heck there is even a “fitness-water” now!)

Nutrition experts contend that sports drinks are not as healthful as manufacturers claim. A 12-ounce bottle of Gatorade Rain contains 75 calories, 21 grams of sugar and 165 milligrams of sodium, compared with 150 calories, 40.5 grams of sugar and 52 milligrams of sodium in a can of Coke.

In April, the Institute of Medicine released a report urging that sports drinks be made available in schools only to student-athletes participating in more than one hour of vigorous activity. And a report from the University of California at Berkeley’s Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health warned that students who drink one 20-ounce sports drink every day for a year may gain about 13 pounds. [Washington Post]

Those statistics alone should be enough for some big changes to happen in our schools. Sure, the most active of our young athletes need all the nutrition and energy that science can offer. But Iam sure you would agree that for the majority of the kids – whose thumb muscles are the only ones getting any exercise as they SMS their way through the day – Gatorade sure is overkill.

More of the week’s top health and fitness stories follow:

1. 9 steps to a young and healthy heart: If you want to keep your heart ticking loud and clear for years to come, keep these things in mind.
2. Chocolate ‘aids fatigue syndrome’: A daily dose of dark chocolate may help reduce the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, say UK researchers.
3. For Some, Diabetes Care Worse Than Illness Itself: For some people with diabetes, the burden of adhering to their daily care regimen nearly equals that of their diabetes-related health complications, a U.S. study finds.
4. Quit counting calories if it doesn’t add up: If you obsess over calories, you’re more likely to consume fat-free foods that are low in fiber, high in sugar and, ultimately, unsatisfying. The result? You never feel full, so you end up eating more.
5. Scottish obesity ‘just behind US’: Obesity levels in Scotland are the second highest in the developed world behind the USA, new statistics have revealed.
6. Junk Food, TV Driving Kids to Obesity: Today’s kids live in a world where it’s often easier to get a fast food meal than fresh fruit, where walking to school is the exception rather than the norm, and where they’re bombarded by ads telling them to eat more junk food and sugary beverages.
7. Heart disease linked to colon cancer: Patients showing signs of heart disease are at nearly double the risk of also having colon cancer, perhaps because unhealthy habits and inflammation are at the root of both, researchers said on Tuesday.
8. Omega-3s Guard Against Type 1 Diabetes: Youngsters at high risk for developing type 1 diabetes might be able to prevent the disease by eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a new study suggests.
9. Should Drinks Like Gatorade Sport the ‘Junk Food’ Label?: Nutrition experts contend that sports drinks are not as healthful as manufacturers claim. A 12-ounce bottle of Gatorade Rain contains 75 calories, 21 grams of sugar and 165 milligrams of sodium
10. A Heavy Burden on Emergency Services: Extra wide beds, stronger toilets and special patient lifting devices are becoming more and more common in emergency rooms.
11. “Good” Cholesterol Earns Its Name: HDL cholesterol is often nicknamed “good” cholesterol, and a new study shows just how good HDL cholesterol can be for people with heart disease.
12. Strenuous Exercises During Early Pregnancy Linked To Miscarriages: Women who perform strenuous exercise and sports activity during the first phase of pregnancy are 3.7 times more likely to miscarry than their non-active counterparts, a Danish study has found.
13. Sally Squires – These Losers Never Quit: “The Biggest Loser,” the hit reality television show about weight loss, recently launched its fourth season on NBC by introducing 18 new — and very obese — contestants ready to shed pounds and perhaps win $250,000.
14. Dollars can motivate employees to diet: People will lose weight for money, even a little money, suggests a study that offers another option for employers looking for ways to cut health care costs.
15. Value of annual checkup questioned: The customary annual physical checkup at the doctor’s office may not be worth the time or money, researchers said on Monday.
16. Why are kids overweight? Take a look around: While too many calories and too little exercise explain how children become obese, the research looks at environmental factors that contribute to these behaviors, and suggests policy changes that could make healthy choices easier.
17. Calcium, extra weight protect women from bone loss: Women in early menopause who consume less calcium are at greater risk of osteoporosis than their peers who take in more of the mineral, Italian researchers report.

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[tags]health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us, gatorade, powerade, sports drinks[/tags]

Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

“Snacking itself is neither good nor bad. The effects of snacking depend upon what snack you choose and whether the snacks meet your nutritional needs.” These words in the very first paragraph of “Snack Smart To Stay Energized” really ring true.

For many people the long gap between meals leads to larger single meals – a big no no if watching one’s waistline is the goal. Remember, although one of the tips of FitnessMantra is to “Eat More Often“, what you eat that often is obviously important too!

Snacks like candies and fried foods will probably satiate your immediate hunger and salt/sugar craving but since they lack any basic nutrition (proteins, fiber, vitamins, minerals) they won’t fill you up for long – their Calorific Payload is really poor.

This is why the picture of a stressed man with the words “Feed The Need” near the vending machine at work always makes me laugh. While the need is for something that will keep your blood sugar as level as possible throughout your day while providing you with essential nutrients, the feed in the vending machine will almost always do the exact opposite! Candies and refined snacks will do nothing but wreak havoc on your insulin levels leaving you more dissatisfied than before, within the hour.

The best solution to the problem of finding the right meal-between-meals is to be prepared (especially if you are working and forced to depend on a poorly stocked vending machine). Veggie-sticks with hummus dips, trail mix bags (typically raw mixed nuts and seeds), dried fruits, peanut butter, fresh fruits, low fat yogurt and cottage-cheese are all excellent examples of snacks that are nutritionally superior and hunger-satiating.

During your next snack, munch on the past week’s top health and fitness stories:

1. Dollars for Pounds: Incentives Encourage Weight Loss: Money motivates people to slim down. Overweight employees who were paid a small amount lost more weight than those who weren’t compensated for their efforts, according to one of the first studies to examine such a strategy at workplaces.
2. Being overweight is hard on the heart: A new study involving more than 300,000 people finds that being overweight independently increases a person’s risk of coronary disease.
3. Models ‘should show health proof’: London Fashion Week models should be asked to prove they do not suffer eating disorders, a report says.
4. Obesity in pregnancy hikes risk of stillbirth: Obese pregnant women may have an increased risk of losing their baby relatively late in pregnancy, and black women appear particularly at risk, a large study suggests.
5. Teen girls on a diet more likely to smoke: Teenage girls who start dieting are nearly two times more likely to also take up smoking regularly, compared with teenage girls who are not dieting.
6. Snack smart to stay energized: For some people, snacks can be a key to their good health and nutrition; for others, snacks may be their greatest downfall.
7. Teens’ unhealthy weight affects later fertility: Teenagers who are either underweight or obese are likely to have fewer children in adulthood, a study has found.
8. Test measures fat around organs: Measuring levels of a protein in the blood could provide the most accurate way to assess how much fat coats the body’s organs, say scientists.
9. Brits ‘dying not to do exercise’: Most UK adults are so unwilling to exercise that not even the threat of an early death is enough to get them off the sofa, a survey suggests.
10. Burger King unveils new health kick: Burger King pledged Wednesday to offer healthier fast-food items for children under 12, with plans to sell and market flame-broiled Chicken Tenders and apples cut to resemble thick-cut french fries.
11. Property values signal obesity: For each additional $100,000 in the median price of homes, researchers found, obesity rates in a given ZIP code dropped by 2 percent.
12. Spinach, eggs may ward off blindness: Two nutrients found in eggs, spinach and other leafy green vegetables offer some protection against the most common cause of blindness among the elderly, researchers said on Monday.
13. Judge strikes down NYC calorie-posting rule: A judge struck down a New York City rule Tuesday that required fast-food restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus.
14. High gas prices could make you skinnier: Higher gasoline prices may slim more than just wallets, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.
15. L.A. official proposes fast-food ban: A city councilwoman is proposing a moratorium on fast-food restaurants in south Los Angeles, which has more such eateries than any other part of the county.
16. Study: Taking Vitamin D Supplements May Extend Lives: Taking vitamin D supplements may extend the lives of the Individuals who take them, according to a new study.
17. FDA considers adding symbols to food labels: Federal health officials on Monday considered whether adding symbols with nutrition information to food labels, like a traffic light system used in Britain, might help shoppers make healthier food choices.
18. Eat well cash for mothers-to-be: Pregnant women will get about £200 paid into their bank account to spend on healthy food under a government initiative, the BBC has learned.

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Have a great weekend!

[tags]health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us[/tags]

This question about serving sizes (especially for almonds) is probably one of the most frequently asked one that bring users to FitnessMantra and although this is answered in parts in the comments section of my Almonds post, I figured I would address it directly in this QnA post so it’s easier for people to find the answer.

QnA #2: What Is The Serving Size For Almonds, Walnuts And Other Nuts?

Typically, the serving size for nuts is 1 oz and you can’t go wrong if you restrict yourself to this amount for a variety of healthful nuts, chief among which are almonds and walnuts.

In the case of almonds, this amounts to about 20-25 medium sized almonds whereas for walnuts, the quantity closely matches the size of one whole walnut shell. I have featured these two “powerhouse” nuts earlier and if you review their individual posts again (links: almonds, walnuts), you will notice that a typical serving size of 1 oz of these nuts will provide you with around 160-180 high-quality calories with between 4 and 6 g of protein and a sizable amount of good-fats (mostly mono-unsaturated fats). In addition almonds are a superb source of the anti-oxidant Vitamin E, while walnuts pack on heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and anti-oxidants like melatonin and ellagic acid.

Updated: NutNutrition has pictures of what an 1oz of nuts looks like for different varieties of nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews and pistachios. Nothing like seeing it in pictures rather than words! (Disclosure: The NutNutrition site is sponsored by Planters Nuts so look out for Mr.Peanut!)

As always, when it comes to nuts the key is moderation: fats, whether good or not, are still fats – and fats are calorie-dense. Since you only know too well where excess calories go (between the last belt-buckle-hole and eternity!), do try to restrict yourself to about 1 oz and avoid the salted or oil-roasted variety which can really pack on sodium or additional unwanted calories.

Nuts should really form an essential part of your daily fitness-oriented diet – I can tell you it does in mine.

So just go nuts!

[tags]health, nutrition, serving size, almonds, walnuts, nuts[/tags]

… that you heard for the first time today!

At the outset let me begin by saying that if you ever hear someone tell you “Eat This To Lose Weight”, then you should ask that person to wait for a minute while you replace your regular ears with a pair of “skeptic” ones! Note that the operative word in “Eat This To Lose Weight” is “To” which implies that eating that particular food by itself can cause you to lose weight.

Here’s something that is so painfully obvious that it hurts me to even write it: If you put something in your mouth other than air or water and swallow it, it will (repeat: will) add to your weight. Obviously at the end of the day if you have eaten a total number of calories that is less than what you have expended (by exercising, walking around, doing your chores and even just plain breathing) then you would have lost weight compared to what you weighed yesterday; but the first statement still stands: food itself will (always) add to your weight.

OK, now that I have that out of my system, let’s get onto the topic at hand! Last week saw the announcement from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which also oversees product advertising, that ads suggesting eating dairy will make a person lose weight are finally coming to an end. The FTC said that although it did not actually enforce this, the dairy industry behind the ads finally gave in to a group of doctors called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (disclaimer: this purportedly vegan group promotes the absolute abolishment of animal based foods) who claimed that such a cause-and-effect relationship simply did not exist.

The two marketing campaigns at issue involve the “Milk your diet. Lose Weight!” ads on television, Internet and in magazines, and the “3-A-Day. Burn More Fat, Lose Weight” ads, which are now mostly Web-based.

- Lose the ads, not the weight, say doctors

Now when Yoplait features a plump girl lose weight by simply gobbling down loads of yogurt with the song “It Was An Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” playing in the background, you just have to know there’s something wrong with this message. Heck, they even built a website around this fallacy!

Granted, the site has the mandatory “As Part Of A Regimen Of Exercise And A Low Calorie Diet” (or some similar phrase) tagged on to the bottom, but who reads disclaimers anyway? All viewers see is someone losing weight as they eat something sweet. And they think: Sweet!

And so I am sure we have hordes of people at home wasting away on their couches, gulping down yogurt and wondering when they need to weigh themselves again so they can see the pounds drop off. Well, here’s some news folks, it ain’t happening. You eating, you gaining. You use more energy than you take in, you losing. Simple.

This site itself has twice before commented on the benefits of milk, but in both cases I have always been particularly wary of calling milk a “weight-loss food” (there’s no such thing). Got Milk is my first post on the topic of dairy and although I have mentioned studies that show calcium plays a part in preventing the body from easily storing food as fat, nowhere will you see outlandish claims that milk will actually help you lose weight. Infact, I said (and i quote):

Believe you me: It is; but don’t get me wrong: If you really drink milk all day (especially the “whole” kind), you will not only not lose weight but add some artery-clogging saturated fat in the process.

In the very next paragraph I mention the milk study that only shows that adding calcium to an already planned-out calorie-restricted diet helped in reducing fat stored – but there’s obviously no way the calcium (or the dairy products themselves) can cause weight loss.

Even when I gave you “5 Reasons You Should Drink A Glass Of Milk Before Bedtime” not one of the reasons was anywhere close to “Milk will help you lose weight!”.

What can we learn from all of this?

• If it sounds too good to be true it probably is (the only itsy bitsy bikinis I see these days are on lifeless store mannequins – and I know they don’t eat a lot of yogurt)
• Just because you discovered people were attributing outlandish magical powers to good foods does not mean you should stop eating those foods in protest. Remember, dairy products (especially the low-fat and fat-free varieties) are still excellent sources of whey protein and function as good snack fillers (in lieu of other fatty snacks).
• Keeping the attributes “moderation” and “common sense” uppermost in our minds will enable us to see through the hype on either side of this issue (No, Yoplait – we are not going to believe that eating your yogurt alone will help women get into itsy-bitsy bikinis – not until your ad shows that woman burning some calories as well! And No to you too Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – granted milk may not have weight-loss powers, but that does not mean you ask people to become vegan!)

Let’s hope we are all granted the wisdom to understand the motives behind the actions and comments of others and, more importantly, figure out for ourselves what is best for our bodies and ourselves.

[tags]health, fitness, nutrition, dairy, milk, yogurt, yoplait[/tags]

(Part 3 of the Glycemia series: Glycemia | Glycemic Index | Glycemic Load)

If you have been following along with the series, by now you should be having a pretty good idea of the effect that certain foods have on our immediate energy levels. In the first, Glycemia, we discussed how cells require glucose for energy and the narrow range in which our body needs to maintain its blood-glucose concentration (or glycemia) in order to function normally. We also wondered why a banana seemed to provide athletes with instant energy.

Part Two, Glycemic Index answered that question by showing how certain foods are able to more quickly give up their glucose content than others. We also discussed the actual numerical attribute named Glycemic Index that is assigned to each food indicating how quickly they tend to raise glycemia.

Sure, the mystery of the banana was solved, but that only raised more questions: OK the banana has a GI of 52, but how come a vegetable like the carrot has a GI of 47? And a watermelon is 72! Can Maria substitute a bag of carrots or a large slice of watermelon for her banana? She can but it won’t do her any good. This is because, while Glycemic Index ranks foods by their effect on glycemia, the actual effect is based on how much you consume (serving) and how many carbohydrates (the sugar carriers) are in that serving. Remember this definition from the second post:

Technically, the glycemic index of a food is defined by the area under the 2 hour blood glucose response curve following the ingestion of a fixed portion of carbohydrate (usually 50 g).

…

The glycemic index can only be applied to foods with a reasonable carbohydrate content, as the test relies on subjects consuming enough of the test food to yield about 50 g of available carbohydrate.

Think about it: glucose has the highest GI, but if you pop just a pinch of it in your mouth how much of a glycemic effect is it really going to have? Compare it with the effect of a cupful of carrots and you can understand where we are heading: not all of our serving sizes have 50g of carbohydrates in them and the GI number is valid only if we eat enough of the food to get 50g of carbs from it!

The “true” meaning of the Glycemic Index – what we should really be concerned about – is: “I am about to eat a single serving of this food – what is it’s Glycemic effect?”. The term that describes this attribute is:

Glycemic Load: Glycemic Load is a method to rank foods based on both their Glycemic Index values and their serving sizes.

Since it is the carbohydrates in a single serving we are concerned with, Glycemic Load (GL) is simply calculated by multiplying a food’s GI by its carbohydrate-per-serving and dividing by hundred.

Once we apply this formula, our doubts should be cleared forthwith: with just 5g of net carbs per serving, “47 GI” carrots have a low GL of just 2! And those pesky “72 GI ” watermelons have just 11g of net carbs per serving bringing down their GL to just 7. You can find more Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load values on NutritionData. With a more moderate GL of 14 and also packed with an excellent vitamin and fiber profile, the banana is close to being the perfect food to eat after physical activities.

I hope this series has been useful in answering some questions you might have had about the Glycemic Index, how it’s calculated and why certain foods show abnormally high values for GI although they don’t seem to have that effect when you eat just a single serving (their GL might be low).

I would also like to hear back from you about your thoughts on my decision to split this post into three parts so I could focus on each topic individually and do it full justice. Do send me your feedback in the comments section.

(Part 3 of the Glycemia series: Glycemia | Glycemic Index | Glycemic Load)

[tags]health, fitness, nutrition, glycemia, glycemic index, glycemic load[/tags]

(Part 2 of the Glycemia series: Glycemia | Glycemic Index | Glycemic Load)

When we last left Maria Sharapova in part one, Glycemia, of this three part series, she was sitting in her chair sulking over a dubious line call and chomping on a banana. The question uppermost in our minds – why a banana? Wouldn’t an apple or some other fruit do? And why not some of those so-called energy drinks?

To answer these questions, let’s quickly recap what we discussed in the first post:

1. Glucose (sugar) is the primary source of energy for the cells in our body
2. Glycemia is the concentration of glucose in the bloodstream
3. A fixed range of glycemia (typically 70-100 mg/dl) is required for the body to function normally
4. The hormone insulin acts as a regulator to enforce this range and does so by carrying off additional blood-glucose to the cells that need it for energy
5. In case there’s even more glucose than is currently required for the cells, the excess gets stored as fat

It is the 4th point above that is of concern to us now. While the ultimate digestive process in the intestines also causes glucose to enter the bloodstream, certain food sugars enter the blood stream directly from the stomach by a process called absorption. So if we are ever in need of a quick burst of energy, guess what kind of foods we should choose? That’s right – we should look for foods that give us that much-needed glucose ASAP! And how do we find such foods? Why, of course by looking up the …

Glycemic Index: Glycemic Index (GI) is a method that ranks foods based on how fast they raise glycemia.

Wikipedia explains …

Carbohydrates that break down rapidly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes. Carbohydrates that break down slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have a low glycemic index.

Technically, the glycemic index of a food is defined by the area under the 2 hour blood glucose response curve following the ingestion of a fixed portion of carbohydrate (usually 50 g).

Generally, glucose is given the Glycemic Index value of 100 and all other foods are given numbers based on their effect on glycemia compared with glucose. I say “generally” because some scales use white-bread as a base reference (giving it 100) – in which case glucose becomes 140. This type of scale is useful for those who like to keep a food they see and eat everyday as a ready reference rather than pure glucose which we almost never get a chance to see in our daily lives. For the purposes of our discussion, we shall use glucose as the base (GI=100) – so no food shall have a GI greater than 100.

Here are the Glycemic Index values for some common foods (glucose=100):

Peanuts 14
Pizza 30
Lowfat yogurt 33
Apples 38
Carrots 47
Oranges 48
Bananas 52
Potato chips 54
Snickers Bar 55
Brown rice 55
Honey 55
Oatmeal 58
Ice cream 61
Raisins 64
White rice 64
Sugar (sucrose) 68
White bread 70
Popcorn 72
Baked potato 85
Glucose 100

For more information about GI, you can also visit GlycemicIndex.com, the “home of Glycemic Index and the GI database”. The site includes numerous resources such as a detailed description of how GI is measured, a monthly newsletter containing information about the latest developments in the world of GI and, most useful of all, a GI database with the current GI values of almost any food you could think of searching for.

All these features are available as links on the home page of GlycemicIndex.

Some reasons to eat low-GI foods:

• Low GI diets help people lose and control weight
• Low GI diets increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin and improve diabetes control
• Low GI carbs reduce the risk of heart disease and blood cholesterol level

Essentially, since low-GI foods release their energy slowly to the body, they provide the body with a more uniform and continuous supply of energy preventing drastic fluctuations in blood-glucose levels (which in turn would wreak havoc on insulin production and utilization)

So when are the best times to eat high-GI foods? Pretty much right after exercise or strenuous activity. The high-GI carbs help re-fuel carbohydrate stores in our bodies.

Now that you are familiar with the term Glycemic Index and know the effect of high and low GI foods on our bodies it is becoming clearer why our tennis ace prefers bananas on the court as a mid-game snack. With a GI of about 52, it’s an ideal energy-booster. Also from the table listed above it is probably the most convenient to stash in a gym bag (try carrying a bowl of raw cooked rice!) and compared to a Snickers bar it is lower in fat and more healthful because it also contains vitamins and fiber with very little fat.

But wait, you say? You are not completely convinced with this explanation because you have been studying the table carefully and are starting to notice some strange things: apples have a GI of 38 (not too bad in comparison) and the good old carrot, a vegetable, has a GI of 47?

To get a quick energy-boost, wouldn’t Maria be way better off with an apple or carrots since these have similar GI profiles (and carrots actually have much less sugar and tons of vitamins to boot)? Actually she wouldn’t; but if you are having these doubts, then you are on the right track.

Stay tuned folks: this series wraps up with answers to this final conundrum in the last part of this series: Glycemic Load.

(Part 2 of the Glycemia series: Glycemia | Glycemic Index | Glycemic Load)

[tags]health, fitness, nutrition, glycemia, glycemic index, glycemic load[/tags]