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For those hoping to shed cold-weather weight gain, research suggests that going vegetarian or even vegan can help.

When scientists looked at the body mass index of more than 37,000 Britons of all ages in 2003, they found that while the average male meat-eater had BMI of about 24.4, just shy of overweight, the average vegan had BMI of 22.4. Among women, the patterns were similar. A 2009 study of Seventh-day Adventists in North America showed an even greater difference in BMI: more than five points between those on an omnivorous diet (28.8) and those eating only plant-based foods (23.6).

You could attribute such findings to lifestyle differences between vegans and meat-lovers. People on plant-based diets tend to be more health-oriented than others: Vegans drink less, smoke less and tend to exercise more.

Yet experiments randomly assigning people to different diets suggest vegetarianism helps in dropping extra pounds, regardless of philosophy or attitude toward treadmills. Most were done on small samples, however, some as few as 16 people.

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The randomized controlled trials were not very conclusive. But when you do a meta-analysis you can look at the evidence base as a whole and really understand whats going on, says Wendy Bennett, a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

A meta-analysis of 12 trials involving well over 1,000 adults found last year that people on vegetarian diets lost an average 4.4 pounds more than those following other nutritional plans. Those who ate exclusively plant-based foods a vegan diet slimmed down the most, 5.5 pounds on average.

Studies have shown that vegetarian diets lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease, even cancer.

Why would plant-based diets be better at keeping us slender than other weight-loss regimens, such as the low-carb Atkins diet?

Nothing is as important, in my opinion, as energy density and the fiber content of such diets, says Jim Mann, a professor of nutrition at the University of Otago in New Zealand. A strict vegetarian has to eat a mountain of food in order to have enough calories. Experiments focusing on fiber noted that nutrients propensity for keeping people thinner.

There are two different types of fiber insoluble fiber and soluble fiber, says University of South Carolina nutritionist Brie Turner-McGrievy. Insoluble fiber is just bulk, so it physically fills you up, whereas soluble fiber has low glycemic index, so it doesnt spike your blood sugar really high. Its digested slowly, and so ... it keeps you satiated.

On the other hand, compared with what many American typically eat, vegan diets arent loaded with protein, which is often touted as a great aid in weight loss because it can help you feel full longer.

According to Mann, protein has little long-term significance in shedding extra pounds and keeping them off. In experiments, high-protein diets do help with faster weight loss and keeping appetite under control, but these effects tend to disappear after a year.

In high-protein diets, Turner-McGrievy says, you are depleting your glycogen stores and the water that goes along with them, so you are going to lose a lot of weight. For some, thats very motivating but thats not really body fat you are losing. Vegetarian diets contain adequate carbohydrate, so they wouldnt produce the glycogen and water loss.

Mann cautions against obsessing with mechanisms by which veggie diets might help you lose weight.

Its very important not to try to identify just one factor, he says. Because then people ... will just take a fiber pill. Its a great risk to oversimplify nutrition.

The most important thing in a diet is sticking to it. The idea of going meatless may be off-putting to those who havent tried it.

We usually tell people to try the vegetarian diet for three weeks. Its less scary that way ... but that gives you a chance to try it out and get your taste buds adjusted, Turner says.

New, familiar-looking products can help the switch. There is vegan cheese, Hellmanns vegan mayo, vegan Ben & Jerrys ice cream, vegan pizza and vegetarian burgers.

Its worth noting they may not all be good for you, though.

There is a fine line between having enough choices versus making food that was once an unhealthy animal-based food into a similarly unhealthy plant-based version, Turner-McGrievy says.

See the original post here:
Vegan diet may let you lose a few pounds - The Macomb Daily

Diets are inherently contradictory. They demand you to fit a new set of instructions (the diet itself) into your old lifestyle.

Instead, you should be working toward building a new lifestyle.

Diets promise short-term solutions: Try our 10-day quick-fix, magic elixir, ultra-secret, fat-scorching solution!Well, thats great, but what happens after 10 days?

Think of it this way: diets are like cramming for a test. You might pass the test but what did you get out of it? Do you really think that youll be able to override an entire lifetimes worth of habits with a new set of rules in a snap of the finger?

The answer is No.

If youve ever tried and failed a diet before, thats proof.

And yet, thats what all these commercial diets promise. They expect you to read the manual (the new instructions) and somehow learn how to integrate these new choices and habits to meet your lifestyle. What youve found, inevitably, is that life always wins. Its too hard to cram in this new diet without first changing your lifestylewhich means changing your habits.

If so, isnt it finally time to try something different? The definition of insanity, after all, is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

If youre up for it, there are some questions below that I want you to be honest about. Theyll challenge you, yes, but theyre designed to help you.

1. How many times have I tried to lose 10 pounds in 1 month, or 20 in 2?

Lets be real for a minute. How many times? How many times have you tried dieting? 5? 10? Maybe youre always sort of on a diet. Maybe the past 5 years have been one great big perpetual diet.

2. Are my dieting attempts a race against the clock, rather than attempts to learn something?

Ill say it again and again because its my job: the goal is not to lose weight quickly. The goal is to master your diet.

I never talk about cutting portions, reducing calories, or hopping on the scale every morning to track how much weight youre losing. I talk about changing the kinds of food youre eating. I talk about your relationship with food, how to take back control, and how to master yourself through your food choices. This is not about losing weight, specifically. This is the process to master your diet. Mastering your diet is about your mindset, your attitude toward learning, your willingness to sacrifice immediate results for long-term success, your motivation, and your habits.

3. Do I think I have to earn my calories when trying to lose weight?

Dieting makes food your enemy and makes you believe you have to earn your calories.

This is wrong.

Meet cravings with real food. If the afternoon lull hits, dont try to resist, ignore, or outwill feelings of hunger. Instead, meet your craving head on and feed yourself with real food. When you change your lifestyle, the first few weeks will be tough. As your blood sugar levels even out, its far less important how much youre eating and far more important what youre eating. Eat more than enough of the good stuff.

I dont care if youre having five real meals per day. You want to feed yourself with MORE than enough of the good stuff to overcome cravings.

I repeat: the ONLY objective for you is to overcome the cravings. I cannot tell you how many times this has helped my clients overcome temptation in the beginningmerely eating healthy food whenever tempted otherwise. (As opposed to trying to push through and starve themselves when theyre either hungry or their blood sugar is out of whack and making them feel hungry.

The only thing that matters is that you develop a new relationship with food.

4. If I make a mistake and eat something off plan, do I believe the day is ruined and sabotage myself even further?

Often our emotions can sabotage our greater goals because change is hard and our emotions dont respond well to hard. Thats fine. We pay you respect, dear emotions, but you arent our king!

Anchoring the day with healthy habits that do and dont have anything to do with eating will domino and, over time, compound into sweeping change. Once you notice yourself doing things that are healthy for you, that support your health and greater goals, that you imagined yourself wishing you could accomplishyoull begin to see yourself from a new perspective, and youll feel inspired by seeing yourself change.

5. Do I believe that the only way to succeed is to be absolutely perfect?

My clients have tremendous success when we strategize together how theyre going to get through a particular challenge, such as a business lunch at a restaurant theyre not familiar with, or a board meeting in which lunches are ordered for themBEFORE THEY GET THERE.

Its important to note that Playing to Perfect wont serve you here and that Good Enough is the way to go. If there isnt an option thats 100% on our plan, the strategy is NOT to starve yourself. Be at peace with your imperfect choice; make it as close to our plan as possible, and move on. This is not an opportunity to go entirely off plan, but rather an opportunity to prove that you can live in-between the extremes in the gray.

6. Do I believe that to be successful, I have to restrict my choices to foods I dont enjoy, or weight-loss plans that allow for little variation?

Diets, generally speaking, are restrictive, absolutist, and quantified. Which means, your relationship with food is one in which youre constantly measuring against how much youre not allowed. Thats not on the plan, or Ive had too much, or Im at my points limit for the day. The food is shit. The process is torturous. The whole thing incongruous to your actual lifestyle. Youre always hungry, and youre always thinking about food in an unhealthy way.

And you wonder why your dieting attempts havent been successful?

7. Do I believe that eating low-fat/low-calorie is the best (or only) way to lose weight?

My job is to make sure that you never go hungry. We do this by eating enough protein and fat.

Fat! OMG! Calm down. Fat doesnt make you fat.

But I thought this was a diet!? Doesnt that mean I need to starve myself and be unhappy?

This is not a diet. This is a way of life. Life is not meant to be restrictive but to live in harmony. Were interested in energy, not depletion.

8. Do I come home at night and look to food for relief, either from stress or boredom or loneliness?

For many of us, we have emotional attachments to foodwhether or not we know it, whether or not we think of it that way. These are deeply ingrained, and they cause cognitive biases that are VERY hard to detach from.

For example: Do you often feel like eating when youre bored? How about if youre stressed, or sad, or lonely? Do you pair food with relaxation? Do you often say you work hard, therefore you deserve this treat or that outlandish meal,etc. ?

Those are all cognitive biases that you now consider to be truths. Theyre loosely defined operating principles that condition how you treat certain situations. Theyre not inherently bad or wrong. Its simply that theyre emotionally-based.

They generate from a place of vulnerability. I deserve it means that whatever is in front of you isnt enoughand therefore you need more. More of what? More fulfillment? So, is that what it is? Is the food FULFILLING YOU? Is it honestly expanding your worldview, pushing you to grow in your business, create great art, or helping you to feel more social or be a better lover?

9. When I go off plan, can I stop myself from binging or is it more like permission to binge?

If youre finding yourself binge-eating, here are three quick and highly-actionable tips for the morning after:

If you cultivate a growth mindset, theres always something to be learned, something to be gained.

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Photo credit:Getty Images

Daniel is the CEO of EvolutionEat, where he'll teach you how to master your diet, stop overeating, and take control of your health.

Daniel is exceptionally good at high performance coaching, as it pertains to diet and lifestyle. As a world class motivator, lifestyle designer, and dietary strategist, he specializes in unpacking motivation, disentangling emotions and distractions from intentions, and getting to the bottom of what really influences our choices.

Sign up today to access his free, 3-hour online training program designed to help you master your diet once and for all. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

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9 Questions You Should Ask Yourself If You've Ever Gone On A Diet - The Good Men Project (blog)

Gluten-free diets are popular these days, but a new study finds that avoiding gluten won't lower your risk of heart disease.

In fact, the researchers say that gluten-free diets could pose health concerns because people who go gluten free tend to lower their intake of whole grains an ingredient that is linked with a lower risk of heart disease.

For this reason, "the promotion of gluten-free diets among people without celiac disease should not be encouraged," the researchers concluded in their article, published today (May 2) in the medical journal BMJ. Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that makes people sick if they eat gluten.

Still, for people who have gluten-sensitivity meaning they don't have celiac disease, but they experience abdominal pain or other problems when they eat gluten it is reasonable to restrict gluten intake, with some precautions, said study researcher Dr. Andrew T. Chan, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "It is important to make sure that this [gluten restriction] is balanced with the intake of non-gluten containing whole grains, since these are associated with a lower risk of heart disease," Chan told Live Science. [7 Tips for Moving Toward a More Plant-Based Diet]

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. In people with celiac disease, the protein triggers an immune reaction that damages the lining of the small intestine.

Some people without the condition adopt the diet in the belief that gluten-free diets are generally healthier. But no long term studies have examined whether gluten affects the risk of chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease, in people without celiac disease, the researchers said.

In the new study, researchers analyzed information from a long-running study of more than 110,000 U.S. health professionals. The participants periodically answered questions, over a 26-year period, about the types of food they consumed. Based on these questionnaires, the researchers estimated how much gluten participants' consumed in their diet. The researchers also collected data on whether participants experienced a heart attack during the study, which was considered a proxy for the development of coronary heart disease.

When the researchers divided participants into five groups based on the amount of gluten they ate, they found those in the group that ate the most gluten were at no greater risk for a heart attack than those in the group that ate the least gluten.

The researchers also found that gluten intake actually initially appeared to be linked with a lower risk of heart attack. But this link wasn't due to gluten consumption itself, rather, it was due to the consumption of whole grains associated with gluten intake.

"These findings do not support the promotion of a gluten-restricted diet with a goal of reducing coronary heart disease risk," the researchers wrote in their paper.

The researchers noted that they did not specifically ask participants whether they followed a gluten-free diet, but rather, calculated their gluten consumption based on the estimated proportion of gluten in wheat, rye and barley. The researchers also noted that they were not able to determine whether trace amounts of gluten were present in certain foods, such as soy sauce, but this would likely have only a very small effect on people's overall gluten consumption, they said.

Original article on Live Science.

See the rest here:
Gluten-Free Diets Don't Lower Heart Disease Risk - Live Science

CBS Detroit

Could This Diet Prolong Your Life? 5-Day Fast-Mimicking Plan May Help Healthy Aging CBS Detroit A special diet may be the answer says WWJ health reporter Dr. Deanna Lites. ProLon is a five-day fast-mimicking diet (FMD); meaning you're eating while getting the benefits of fasting like slowing the aging process of your cells to keep you living ...

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Could This Diet Prolong Your Life? 5-Day Fast-Mimicking Plan May Help Healthy Aging - CBS Detroit

If youre a consumer who struggles with obesity or being overweight, then one of the first suggestions youre likely to hear is that you should restrict the number of calories you consume each day. However, this can be a major test of willpower for some, and different fad diets have tried to come up with ways that allow consumers to lose weight while letting them eat what they want.

One of the newest strategies is called alternate-day fasting, where consumers are encouraged to eat whatever they want on one day and follow it up with a day of fasting where they only consume up to 25% of their usual calorie intake. This approach has increased in popularity and has even made its way into several diet books, with proponents calling it a superior way to lose weight. But does it work?

Researchers from the University of Illinois atChicago set out to answer that question and found that the diet might not be all its cracked up to be. After conducting a one-year randomized clinical trial, they found that participants who followed an alternate-day fasting diet did not experience any additional weight loss when compared to those who dieted normally.

"The results of this randomized clinical trial demonstrated that alternate-day fasting did not produce superior adherence, weight loss, weight maintenance or improvements in risk indicators for cardiovascular disease compared with daily calorie restriction," the researchers said.

The study included 100 obese participants between the ages of 18 and 64 that were assigned to one of three groups for one year. One group followed an alternate-day fasting diet where participants consumed only 25% of their calorie needs on fast days and 125% of calorie needs on feast days; one group restricted their calorie intake to 75% of their caloric needs every day; and one group was given no intervention.

At the beginning of the experiment, the researchers expected that those following an alternate-day fasting diet would be able to adhere to their diet more easily, achieve greater weight loss, and reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease. However, the end results showed that these participants had the most trouble following their diet plan.

Participants in the alternate-day fasting group ate more than prescribed on fast days, and less than prescribed on feast days, while those in the daily calorie restriction group generally met their prescribed energy goals, the researchers said.

In addition to not losing any more weight than participants in the calorie restriction group, the researchers found that those in the alternate-day fasting group were more likely to drop out of the study.

Alternate-day fasting has been promoted as a potentially superior alternative to daily calorie restriction under the assumption that it is easier to restrict calories every other day. However, our data from food records. . . indicate that this assumption is not the case. Rather, it appears as though many participants in the alternate-day fasting group converted their diet into de facto calorie restriction as the trial progressed, the researchers said.

Moreover, the dropout rate in the alternate-day fasting group (38%) was higher than that in the daily calorie restriction group (29%) and the control group (26%). It was also shown that more participants in the alternate-day fasting group withdrew owing to dissatisfaction with diet compared with those in the daily calorie restriction group. Taken together, these findings suggest that alternate-day fasting may be less sustainable in the long term, compared with daily calorie restriction, for most obese individuals.

The researchers point out that some individuals may still prefer alternate-day fasting over more conventional dieting techniques, but their study does put into question whether or not this new technique truly is superior.

The full study has been published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Originally posted here:
Why the alternate-day fasting diet might not be right for you - ConsumerAffairs

The City Commission unanimously requested Monday that the Florida Department of Transportation undertake a rigorous study of an ambitious plan to alter South Florida Avenue.

LAKELAND The City Commission unanimously requested Monday that the Florida Department of Transportation undertake a rigorous study of an ambitious plan to alter South Florida Avenue.

Commissioners opposed to the most controversial part of the plan, the reduction of South Florida Avenue from five lanes to three from Pine Street to Ariana Street, assured residents speaking in opposition that they were not consenting to the change, but rather to study and potentially test it.

"By approving this, we are not approving the reduction in lanes," Mayor Howard Wiggs said.

The commission requested the study be programmed into FDOT's 2018-19 budget. As part of that study, FDOT may close two of the lanes for one year to demonstrate the feasibility of the "road diet."

The intent of the lane reduction would be to expand the remaining lanes and widen the sidewalks to encourage pedestrian use of South Florida Avenue through Dixieland and downtown.

Until that test happens, the transportation issue that has sharply divided the city and its commission will likely take on a lower profile.

City staff members assured commissioners there would be another "offramp" if the solutions proposed by FDOT to make South Florida Avenue safer and more open for development are undesired.

By the time the state road agency would be seeking the commission's go-ahead to build, every commissioner but two, Jim Malless and Bill Read, will have been term-limited from the board.

Malless said he supports the plan, not only for Dixieland but to connect the area west of downtown into the district that is divided by a road some planners have called hostile to all users.

Commissioner Don Selvage agreed.

"This corridor connects with every district in the city," he said. "I make no equivocation that I support this project."

Selvage said he understood the opposition, which is worried the lane reduction would cause traffic mayhem along the major north-south thoroughfare and divert more cars into residential streets.

"Try to keep an open mind and look at these in a factual, objective manner moving forward," Selvage told opposing residents. "I think we're trying to keep an open mind and listening to both sides."

Lakeland Transportation Planner Chuck Barmby said the commission's approval will allow FDOT to perform a detailed analysis of the entire "complete street" plan for South Florida Avenue, even if the lane reduction isn't ultimately supported.

During the FDOT study, there will be multiple public workshops and forums, Barmby said.

"I'm a little hesitant but I think something needs to be done to make that area safer, spur some economic development," Commissioner Justin Troller said.

Commissioner Bill Read concurred, adding, "at this point I am opposed to the dieting of South Florida Avenue."

Christopher Guinn can be reached at Christopher.Guinn@theledger.com or 863-802-7592. Follow him on Twitter @CGuinnNews.

More here:
Lakeland City Commission OKs Florida Avenue 'diet' study - The Ledger

Pippa Middleton is an English socialite and the sister of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. Her good looks, chic style, and frequent appearances at Londons hottest clubs thrust her into the public spotlight and earned her many admirers, as well as critics. In May, Pippa will be marrying her financier fianc, Jordan Matthews, and to really wow on her wedding day, she is turning to a questionable weight-loss routine the Sirtfood Diet, based on a book of the same name published in January by British nutritionists Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten.

Click here for The Sorta Weird Diet Habits of Your Favorite Celebrities Slideshow

So where does the Sirtfood Diet rank in terms of fad diets adopted by wealthy social elites? Researchers believe that a special group of polyphenol-rich foods help activate sirtuins a class of proteins that have been implicated in a range of cellular processes such as aging, inflammation, and stress resistance. Sirtuins are also believed to affect the bodys ability to burn fat, which is why theyve suddenly received more attention from the diet/weight-loss community. In an ideal scenario, the Sirtfood Diet leads to a seven-pound-per-week weight loss while preserving muscle mass.

If youre wondering which foods you can eat on this diet, the answer is not many. The ten most common sirtfoods are green tea, dark chocolate, apples, citrus fruits, parsley, turmeric, kale, blueberries, capers, and red wine. These foods are undoubtedly healthy and contain a number of beneficial antioxidants, flavonoids, and other nutrients, but nutritionists are skeptical that they provide enough protein and carbohydrates to make up a healthy eating regimen. The Sirtfood Diet is one part calorie restriction and one part juice cleanse.

The diet involves two distinct phases. The initial phase lasts one week, requires that participants eat no more than 1,000 calories for three consecutive days, and usually involves three sirtfood juices (celery, kale, and lemon are common juice components) and one low-calorie meal per day. For the next four days, calorie restrictions are increased to 1,500 kilocalories, with an extra solid meal added in place of a juice. The second phase is where consistent weight loss takes place. For the next two weeks, dieters eat three meals per day of only sirtfoods and one sirtfood juice.

If this diet stinks of starvation, then your nose is spot on. Registered dietitian Brigitte Zeitlin explained to The Cut that although its true that a person can initially lose weight on this diet due to its overly restrictive nature, theyd be starving themselves in the process. Zeitlin argues that eating fewer than 1,200 calories per day is potentially dangerous, and youll lack the necessary energy to get through the day. Rapid weight loss is usually just water weight, not fat, meaning that after you get off the diet the pounds come right back.

Link:
Pippa Middleton's New Wedding-Day Diet - The Daily Meal

Fasting diets are trendy these days, but they may be no better for weight loss than traditional diets, according to a new study.

Researchers looked at a weight-loss method called "alternate-day fasting," in which people drastically reduce their calorie intake every other day, but eat more than usual on nonfasting days.

The researchers randomly assigned 100 obese adults to one of three groups: an alternate-day fasting group, a traditional diet group and a group that did not diet at all. Participants in the alternate-day fasting group consumed just 25 percent of their typical calorie intake about 500 calories on fasting days, and 125 percent of their typical intake on nonfasting days. In contrast, those in the traditional diet group consumed 75 percent of their typical calorie intake every day.

After six months, the people in both the fasting group and the traditional diet group had lost about 7 percent more of their body weight, on average, compared with the group that did not diet. And after a year, the participants in both diet groups had maintained a weight loss of 5 to 6 percent of their original body weight. There was no significant difference between the group that did the alternate-day fasting and the group that followed the traditional weight-loss method, the researchers said. [Lose Weight Smartly: 7 Little-Known Tricks that Shave Pounds]

What's more, 38 percent of the participants in the fasting group dropped out of the study before the one-year mark, in most cases because they were dissatisfied with the diet, compared with 29 percent who dropped out in the traditional diet group. Participants in the fasting group also tended to "cheat" on fasting days by eating more than their diet allowed, and they consumed slightly less than they were allowed on nonfasting days, the researchers noted.

"Alternate-day fasting has been promoted as a potentially superior alternative to daily calorie restriction under the assumption that it is easier to restrict calories every other day," the researchers, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, wrote in the May 1 issue ofthe journal JAMA Internal Medicine. But the new findings show that this is not the case. "These findings suggest that alternate-day fasting may be less sustainable in the long term, compared with daily calorie restriction, for most obese individuals," the researchers said.

The study also found no difference in blood pressure, heart rate, triglyceride levels, blood sugar levels or insulin levels, between the two diet groups.

Fasting diets such as the "5:2 diet," which involves fasting just two days a week and eating normally on the other five, have risen in popularity in recent years. Some previous research suggested that fasting diets lead to just as much weight loss, and are easier to stick with, than traditional diets. But these studies have tended to be small and short term. The new study is one of the largest and longest-running trials to look at the effects of alternate-day fasting, the researchers said.

Still, some obese people may prefer this type of fasting diet over a traditional diet that restricts calories every day, the researchers said. Future studies could examine traits that make alternate-day fasting more tolerable for some people than others for instance, it may be that some people find it easier than others do to go for long periods without eating, the researchers said.

It's also important to note that the study involved obese people who were "metabolically healthy," meaning they did not have any of the typical risk factors for heart disease or diabetes. It's not clear if the findings would be the same in other groups of people, the researchers said.

Original article on Live Science.

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Fasting Vs. Traditional Diet: Which Is Better for Weight Loss? - Live Science

You may be hearing a lot about the ketogenic diet as a way to slim down while noshing on butter and heavy cream. This way of eating is suddenly hot among venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, who believe it will help them live longer and healthier,CNBC reports.

Some praise the high-fat/ultra low-carb plan for helping them to lose weight and have energy all day long. Otheradvocatessay it finally helped them to get control of their body.

How does it work and could it help you?

We askedBonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietitian nutritionist and author of Read It Before You Eat It; andKeri Glassman, nutritionist, registered dietitian and TODAY Tastemaker.

To start with, both said they would never advise the ketogenic diet for weight loss.

Cutting out carbs is usually an invitation to overeat them at another point, Taub-Dix said. For a diet where youre looking to lose weight, look good and feel good I would not recommend a diet like this.

For safe and effective weight loss, the carb reduction is too extreme, Glassman added.

Heres what you need to know:

Its a diet fine-tuned in the 1920s to help treat epilepsy. It does help to control seizures in some children, but its not recommended for adults mostly because the restricted food choices make it hard to follow, theEpilepsy Foundationsays.

The diet has just recently begun to be touted as a weight loss plan, Glassman noted. She described it as eating mostly fat with a teeny bit of protein and carbs.

Your body normally relies on carbohydrates for energy. It breaks them down into glucose, which is your main source of fuel.

If thats not available when you stop eating carbs, your body turns to fat for energy in a process called ketosis. Fat becomes your fuel.

In a word: fat. Lots and lots of fat.

The desired ratio in the ketogenic diet is consuming 3 or 4 grams of fat for every 1 gram of carbohydrate and protein, which amounts to getting about 75-80 percent of your daily calories from fat.

You can eat foods like butter, heavy whipping cream, mayonnaise, and oils, the Epilepsy Foundation notes.

Its putting butter on your butter, Taub-Dix said. A sample daily menu might include eggs with olive oil and avocado on the side for breakfast; leafy greens, salmon, nuts and olive oil for lunch; and steak, greens, vegetables and oil for dinner, Glassman added.

Its all about that fat to carbs/protein ratio, so even though youre not really counting calories, the meals have to be planned very carefully to adhere to the strict formula.

Carbs. That means all breads, pastas, grains, sweets and more. You have to be extremely careful because even toothpaste may contain sugar, the Epilepsy Foundation warns.

The ketogenic diet restricts the intake of carbs to as low as 2-4 percent of calories. As a point of reference, a standard diet provides about 45-55 percent of calories from carbs, Glassman said.

Yes, you can lose weight on the ketogenic diet. One reason is that the body burns fat for fuel. Another is that you cant eat many of your favorite foods, like crusty bread, potato chips or sugar-laden pastries. Plus, all that fat keeps you full, so you may just skip your usual 3 p.m. snack because youre not hungry.

But the nutritionists were adamant that if you want to slim down, this is not the way to go.

Generally, whenever you do something like this, its extreme. Most extreme things, you lose weight, but that doesnt mean its good that doesnt mean its healthy, Glassman cautioned.

Its not really sustainable, nor is it good for you, Taub-Dix added. In most cases, youre just dying to have a cracker so the weight gain is usually pretty quick as well.

Since this diet doesnt provide all the essential nutrients, youd need to take supplements and multi-vitamins, Taub-Dix said. Youd also need to make sure your digestive system works properly because the diet is very low in fiber.

The ketogenic diet is a very restrictive plan that most people cant stick with and shouldnt try for weight loss, the nutritionists said. People with heart disease or diabetes should especially stay away, Taub-Dix warned.

There is one healthy takeaway, though: In general, reducing carbs and incorporating more healthy fats, like nuts and avocados and certain oils, in your diet without going to extremes is a good idea for most of us, both Glassman and Taub-Dix said.

Im a big believer in having a lot of healthy fat in your diet, and many people skimp too much on healthy fats, Glassman said.

If youre eating a more well-balanced diet eating carbohydrates that are high in fiber, whole grains, and combining it with fats, you feel good, too, Taub-Dix noted.

Go here to read the rest:
Is the ketogenic diet right for you? Nutritionists weigh in - KVOA Tucson News

The City Commission unanimously requested Monday that the Florida Department of Transportation undertake a rigorous study of an ambitious plan to alter South Florida Avenue.

LAKELAND The City Commission unanimously requested Monday that the Florida Department of Transportation undertake a rigorous study of an ambitious plan to alter South Florida Avenue.

Commissioners opposed to the most controversial part of the plan, the reduction of South Florida Avenue from five lanes to three from Pine Street to Ariana Street, assured residents speaking in opposition that they were not consenting to the change, but rather to study and potentially test it.

"By approving this, we are not approving the reduction in lanes," Mayor Howard Wiggs said.

The commission requested the study be programmed into FDOT's 2018-19 budget. As part of that study, FDOT may close two of the lanes for one year to demonstrate the feasibility of the "road diet."

The intent of the lane reduction would be to expand the remaining lanes and widen the sidewalks to encourage pedestrian use of South Florida Avenue through Dixieland and downtown.

Until that test happens, the transportation issue that has sharply divided the city and its commission will likely take on a lower profile.

City staff members assured commissioners there would be another "offramp" if the solutions proposed by FDOT to make South Florida Avenue safer and more open for development are undesired.

By the time the state road agency would be seeking the commission's go-ahead to build, every commissioner but two, Jim Malless and Bill Read, will have been term-limited from the board.

Malless said he supports the plan, not only for Dixieland but to connect the area west of downtown into the district that is divided by a road some planners have called hostile to all users.

Commissioner Don Selvage agreed.

"This corridor connects with every district in the city," he said. "I make no equivocation that I support this project."

Selvage said he understood the opposition, which is worried the lane reduction would cause traffic mayhem along the major north-south thoroughfare and divert more cars into residential streets.

"Try to keep an open mind and look at these in a factual, objective manner moving forward," Selvage told opposing residents. "I think we're trying to keep an open mind and listening to both sides."

Lakeland Transportation Planner Chuck Barmby said the commission's approval will allow FDOT to perform a detailed analysis of the entire "complete street" plan for South Florida Avenue, even if the lane reduction isn't ultimately supported.

During the FDOT study, there will be multiple public workshops and forums, Barmby said.

"I'm a little hesitant but I think something needs to be done to make that area safer, spur some economic development," Commissioner Justin Troller said.

Commissioner Bill Read concurred, adding, "at this point I am opposed to the dieting of South Florida Avenue."

Christopher Guinn can be reached at Christopher.Guinn@theledger.com or 863-802-7592. Follow him on Twitter @CGuinnNews.

Read more:
Lakeland Commission OKs Florida Avenue 'diet' study - The Ledger

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