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.

At least twice before I have spoken about the role water can play in maintaining body weight. I don’t mean the natural requirement of water as the very basis of our survival and existence. Such a large portion of our bodies is water that life without good old H2O is well nigh impossible. I do mean using water (the only thing that can truthfully be said to be 0-calorie) as a means to keep our temptations for higher-calorie foods in check.

The first was the weirdly named quick tip “See a tempt? Attempt to preempt!” (you’ll have to forgive me - I had just started writing FM then and thought writing cute-sounding titles was the way to attract attention - believe me, it’s not). In this I urged using preemptive techniques to thwart everyday temptations and one of he methods was to down a couple of glasses of water before hitting a buffet, the idea being that you’ll automatically eat smaller portions.

The second, titled “It might be thirst” (already my title-writing skills were greatly improving!) was a related tip that showed how pangs of hunger we might feel at times could simply be the effect of thirst and what we probably really need is a glass of water.

Well, “Can you sip your way to skinny?” begins with the ominous sounding “Chugging water is healthy for your cells, but your thighs are another issue”. Researchers have found find that water leaves the stomach too quickly for it to have any effect on the food consumed even if you drank it during a meal. I find this hard to believe since I have certainly felt a lessened impulse to gulp down food after a couple of glasses of water just before a big meal. Infact the article does concede that this could be an individual thing:

If you strongly believe that drinking helps you control eating, it may just work for you. Our minds have a powerful influence on our eating behavior.

Surprisingly, the article also hits on my second tip about signs of hunger possibly being thirst:

What really happens is people sometimes think they’re hungry when they’re actually thirsty. We get thirsty because the level of salt in our blood becomes high or because our blood volume decreases. We get hungry because we need nutrients … it is possible for people to confuse them. As a result, people will snack when a few sips of water is all they need.

Barbara Rolls, the author of this article, also wrote The Volumetrics Eating Plan (yeah, I couldn’t believe that yummy-looking sundae has the same number of calories as that ordinary-looking cookie, either!), which shows us how we can lose weight by eating large volumes of food that have lower calorific density (think fruits, vegetables, soups).

So you also find recommendations to literally eat your water instead, by focusing on things like casseroles with extra water used for cooking, pasta with more vegetables and so on.

Think that was a lot to digest in one sitting? Here, get a load of this …

1. Huckabee warns of obesity epidemic: “We weren’t raised eating right in the South. But the good news is we can do something about it.”
2. A Crisis of Great Magnitude: “Thou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty.”
3. The skinny on spicy foods: Adding spices to your diet can curb hunger, strengthen muscles, boost your brainpower and improve mood, new research shows.
4. Can you sip your way to skinny?: If only it were that easy. Unfortunately, that’s one of the biggest diet myths out there. In my lab at Penn State, we have found in four separate studies that drinking up to 16 ounces of water either before or during a meal did not impact food intake.
5. Overweight moms likelier to quit breast-feeding: The heavier a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the less likely she is to stick with breast-feeding long-term, a new study from Denmark shows.
6. The 10 best foods you aren’t eating: Of course, there are many superfoods that never see the inside of a shopping cart. Some you’ve never heard of, and others you’ve simply forgotten about.
7. Waist fat in ethnic groups tied to health problems, B.C. study indicates: Canadians of Asian descent in the Vancouver area are more likely to carry fat around their middle, making them more prone to obesity-related heart disease and adult-onset diabetes
8. Want to be a skinny bitch? Diet book tells how: “A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous”
9. Stomach stapling leads to longer lives: The first long-term studies of stomach stapling and other radical obesity treatments show that they not only lead to lasting weight loss but also dramatically improve survival.
10. High blood pressure often undiagnosed in kids: High blood pressure among children and adolescents, a growing problem linked to increasing juvenile obesity, often goes undiagnosed in the United States
11. Looking past blood sugar to survive with diabetes: .. in focusing entirely on blood sugar, Smith ended up neglecting the most important treatment for saving lives - lowering the cholesterol level. That protects against heart disease, which eventually kills nearly everyone with diabetes.
12. Middle-age spread ‘happens twice’: The findings challenge the wisdom of relying solely on Body Mass Index (BMI) to assess whether a person is a healthy weight.
13. Death from heart disease twice as likely for diabetics: Since diabetics are at higher risk of death from heart disease than non-diabetics, doctors need to aggressively identify and reduce risk factors for diabetics.
14. Obesity ‘may be linked to virus’: Scientists believe a virus may play a role in obesity, raising the possibility that medication could be used to tackle the condition.
15. Snacks That Pass the Test: Snack time. Those two simple words can strike terror into the hearts of parents who often provide food for classrooms and after-school practices and games.

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Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us, volumetrics, water, diet

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• Can I get a medium size?

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!

Technorati Tags: health, nutrition, serving size, almonds, walnuts, nuts

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