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Metabolism is oxygen and oxygen comes from breathing, most of us have come actress this quote at some point in our lives. We can't deny that good metabolism is a key to overall well-being. And, we have met a lot of people, in our social groups, who have been blessed with a good metabolism. But are you among those, who are struggling to find ways to boost their metabolism? Well, you would be surprised to know that there are some food items that can help boost you here. And, to make things a bit easier, we have prepared a list of easy diet tips.

Load up your meals with protein-rich food items. It may help burn calories and boosts your metabolic rate. Eat eggs, broccoli, nuts, or even kidney beans that are high in protein. In fact, you can also munch almonds and walnuts. Now, if you are confused about where to start, try these spinach pancakes with walnuts and oats for your next breakfast.

If your meals don't have enough lentils and whole grains, it is high time you include them in your diet. The variety of dal you eat on daily basis goes a long way when it comes to enhancing your metabolism. Not just proteins, lentils and grains are rich in carbohydrates and fibres that help you with digestion. Masoor dal, also known as red lentils, is a delicious way to include the powerhouse of nutrients in your body.

The green leafy vegetables have iron, an essential mineral that may help to speed up the metabolism rate. You can include green vegetables like beans, broccoli, spinach in your diet. So, without much ado, give a healthy punch to your daily meal and quickly make roasted bell pepper and broccoli salad for yourself and your family this afternoon.

You may not know this but studies have suggested that spicy food can help in increasing the metabolism level in the body. For this, include chilli and pepper in your daily meals. For those who are new to the world of spicy food, try this chilli pepper with mushrooms. You can also include kidney beans, bell pepper while making this.

This tip would surely interest coffee lovers, if not anyone else. If you are a hardcore coffee lover, you must know that the caffeine in your coffee is helping you burn extra fat for energy. It increases the metabolic rate in the body. So, what are you waiting for? Quickly head to the kitchen and make a cup of cappuccino for yourself.

Include dairy products in your diet. Milk has calcium that's good for the body. Similarly, curd is a natural probiotic that will help you stay cool and is a good source of vitamin D and protein. Hung curd has numerous health benefits. You can make it at home easily.

It is advisable to drink plenty of water if you want to increase your metabolism. Make a small lifestyle change and add more to the amount of water you are consuming already. This will speed up your metabolism.

Follow these tips that can help to improve metabolism!

See the article here:
Want To Boost Metabolism? Here Are 7 Quick And Easy Diet Tips To Follow - NDTV Food

If you are feeling tired on a vegan diet, there might be something off with what you are eating. Tiredness is a common issue among new vegans, but it doesnt have to be! With just a few tweaks to your diet, you can start to feel energized and ready to go.

With the right balance and understanding of what the body needs, a vegan diet can be just as, and probably more, realistic and nourishing as any other way of eating. There is usually a simple solution to help get your energy levels back where they should be. But first, you have to find out why you are tired to start with!

The most obvious problem that you might be having is that you simply arent eating enough. This is a common problem, especially if you lept straight into veganism, due to vegan portion sizes being way different than what you may be used to

Because a vegan diet is often lower in calories, protein, fat, and carbs. You need to consume more food to make up for those losses. This means ignoring conventional portion sizes and eating until you are full.

This is a very important adjustment to make in your diet if you want to maintain a vegan diet.

Another common reason why you are tired on a vegan diet is that you are deficient in a vitamin or mineral.

This is a common problem, especially if you have not started to eat a balanced vegan diet full of a wide variety of plant foods.

Without animal products in your diet, you will have to get your nutrients from different plant foods. If you only eat a limited amount of plant foods, you could be missing out on important vitamins and minerals.

If you are feeling very tired on your vegan diet it might be because you arent eating enough protein.

This can happen if you are eating too many light foods, like tomatoes, celery, fruit, or cucumbers. You have to branch out from produce into more food options, such as grains, beans, and tofu.

Without a variety of different food groups, it can be very easy to miss out on the protein that your body needs.

If you arent getting protein, your body can start to break down muscle, resulting in tiredness, weakness, and a loss of muscle mass.

Carbohydrates are another thing that could cause you to be tired on a vegan diet. This is because your body needs carbs to turn into energy. Without carbs, your body doesnt have enough fuel to keep you feeling good and active.

This is a common issue on a vegan diet, so you will need to work your meals around a healthy source of carbs. This can be potatoes, bread, beans, or whole grains.

Fiber is what often helps to keep you full. Our body can quickly burn through protein and carbs, but fiber is there to stay until you eat your next meal.

If you are feeling overly tired and sluggish, you might not be getting enough fiber in your diet. A lack of fiber can cause you to be hungry all of the time and give you dips in energy. It can also make you constipated, which can result in tiredness.

Fiber also helps your body to better digest food, making the process harder when you are not eating enough fiber.

Fiber is good for many aspects of your body and can easily begin to cause tiredness if you arent getting enough of it.

If you are not eating enough, what are you fueling your body with?

Our body relies on food for the ingredients needed to make energy for you to live off of. A vegan diet is already lower in fat, protein, and carbs, so you have to eat more food to balance it out. While some people thrive off a few larger meals during their day, others do better with smaller meals and plenty of snacks, or some combination of this.

One great way to do this is to eat small snacks throughout the day. This way you arent stuffing yourself at mealtimes but still eating enough.

Snacks are an easy way to get in some extra nutrients that your body can turn into energy. Some great options are nuts and seeds, sugar from fruit or dates, or some form of complex carb. These are great snack options that your body can transform into energy.

If you are new to veganism, you might be relying too much on vegan substitutes, such as meats, cheeses, and milks.

This is a common problem for new vegans as they feel like they need these items in their diet. But you really dont, at least not in a day-to-day way. These foods are great occasionally, but they should not make up the bulk of your diet.

These foods, though vegan, are highly processed. They may be healthier than their non-vegan counterparts, but its still good to eat more whole foods.

These kinds of heavily processed foods can actually become very unhealthy if eaten too much. They can start to drain your energy instead of giving you more.

For more Animal, Earth, Life, Vegan Food, Health, and Recipe content published daily, subscribe to theOne Green Planet Newsletter! Lastly, being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please considersupporting us by donating!

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7 Reasons Why You Are Tired on a Vegan Diet - One Green Planet

Lets face it, Americans have never been famous for their healthy diets and slender physiques. Now a new study out of New York University published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that the diet of the average United States citizen is including more ultra-processed foods than ever.

Ultra-processed foods are defined as industrially manufactured, ready-to-eat or heat foods that include additives and are largely devoid of whole foods. These ingredients form an equation that leads to obesity and heart disease.

The overall composition of the average U.S. diet has shifted towards a more processed diet. This is concerning, as eating more ultra-processed foods is associated with poor diet quality and higher risk of several chronic diseases, said Filippa Juul, an assistant professor and postdoctoral fellow at NYU School of Public Health and the studys lead author. The high and increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods in the 21st century may be a key driver of the obesity epidemic.

The study looked at 41,000 adults who took part in the Center for Disease Control and Preventions National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2001 to 2018. The survey asked the participants about their diet in the previous 24 hours. Despite movements to decrease intakes of processed foods and transition to a diet with more whole foods, the results didnt appear to show any such trend towards healthiness.

Ultra-processed food consumption grew from 53.5% of calories at the beginning of the period studied (2001-2002) to 57% at the end (2017-2018). The intake of ready-to-eat or heat meals, like frozen dinners, increased the most, while the intake of some sugary foods and drinks declined. In contrast, the consumption of whole foods decreased from 32.7% to 27.4% of calories, mostly due to people eating less meat and dairy.

Processing food changes it from its natural state. Processed foods, for the most part, only have two or three ingredients. They are also essentially made by adding substances such as salt, oil, or sugar. Examples include canned fish or canned vegetables, fruits packaged in syrup, and freshly made bread.

Some foods go a step further in their unhealthiness. These are highly processed or ultra-processed foods. These most likely have many added ingredients such as added sugar, salt, fat, and artificial colors or preservatives, as well as substances extracted from foods, starches, and hydrogenated fats. They may also contain additives like artificial flavors or stabilizers. These are your frozen meals, soft drinks, hot dogs and cold cuts, fast food, packaged cookies, cakes, and salty snacks.

Juul says that one of the best and maybe only ways to improve diets is to implement policies to reduce their intake, such as revised dietary guidelines, marketing restrictions, package labeling changes, and taxes on soda. The political landscape being what it is, however, it would be a very curvy and pothole-filled road to implement any of those changes.

In the current industrial food environment, most of the foods that are marketed to us are in fact industrial formulations that are far removed from whole foods, said Juul. Nevertheless, nutritional science tends to focus on the nutrient content of foods and has historically ignored the health implications of industrial food processing.

The study didnt see any correlation between income or ethnicity. The one outlier was Hispanic adults, who ate significantly less ultra-processed foods and more whole foods compared with non-Hispanic white and Black adults.

The study took into account diets pre-COVID-19, and Juul says that diets probably only got worse throughout the pandemic.

In the early days of the pandemic, people changed their purchasing behaviors to shop less frequently, and sales of ultra-processed foods such as boxed macaroni and cheese, canned soups and snack foods increased substantially. People may have also eaten more packaged comfort foods as a way of coping with the uncertainty of the pandemic. We look forward to examining dietary changes during this period as data become available.

See the original post:
American diets consisting of even more ultra-processed foods than thought - ZME Science

Lenny Henry is a well-known British comedian. The actor impressed fans after he went through a dramatic body transformation. But how did he manage to lose so much weight?

"Well, its eating broccoli and not much else.

"It has worked!" the star explained.

Lenny also admitted his secret was not only a healthier diet but a consistent workout routine.

"Ive also been running a lot," he said.

DON'T MISS

The actor explained that after being diagnosed with diabetes in 2014, he realised he had to change his lifestyle completely.

Im a bit diabetic, so I was put on a very strict diet.

Ive lost between two and a half and three stone.

"I was big.

"You cant Hobnob your way through the day, he explained.

He also decided to cut out sweet treats like biscuits during his weight loss journey.

Its lots of greens, lots of juice and lots of walking.

"Swimming is good, he added.

Read the original:
Lenny Henry weight loss: Actor lost 3st by adding one thing to his diet - 'it has worked!' - Daily Express

Four weeks on a diet of highly processed food led to a strong inflammatory response in the brains of aging rats that was accompanied by behavioral signs of memory loss, a new study has found.

Researchers also found that supplementing the processed diet with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA prevented memory problems and reduced the inflammatory effects almost entirely in older rats.

Neuroinflammation and cognitive problems were not detected in young adult rats that ate the processed diet.

The study diet mimicked ready-to-eat human foods that are often packaged for long shelf lives, such as potato chips and other snacks, frozen entrees like pasta dishes and pizzas, and deli meats containing preservatives.

Highly processed diets are also associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, suggesting older consumers might want to scale back on convenience foods and add foods rich in DHA, such as salmon, to their diets, researchers say especially considering harm to the aged brain in this study was evident in only four weeks.

The fact were seeing these effects so quickly is a little bit alarming, said senior study author Ruth Barrientos, an investigator in The Ohio State University Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health.

These findings indicate that consumption of a processed diet can produce significant and abrupt memory deficits and in the aging population, rapid memory decline has a greater likelihood of progressing into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers disease. By being aware of this, maybe we can limit processed foods in our diets and increase consumption of foods that are rich in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA to either prevent or slow that progression.

The research is published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

Barrientos lab studies how everyday life events such as surgery, an infection or, in this case, an unhealthy diet might trigger inflammation in the aging brain, with a specific focus on the hippocampus and amygdala regions. This work builds on her previous research suggesting a short-term, high-fat diet can lead to memory loss and brain inflammation in older animals, and that DHA levels are lower in the hippocampus and amygdala of the aged rat brain.

DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, is an omega-3 fatty acid that is present along with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in fish and other seafood. Among DHAs multiple functions in the brain is a role in fending off an inflammatory response this is the first study of its ability to act against brain inflammation brought on by a processed diet.

The research team randomly assigned 3-month-old and 24-month-old male rats to their normal chow (32% calories from protein, 54% from wheat-based complex carbs and 14% from fat), a highly processed diet (19.6% of calories from protein, 63.3% from refined carbs cornstarch, maltodextrin and sucrose and 17.1% from fat), or the same processed diet supplemented with DHA.

Activation of genes linked to a powerful pro-inflammatory protein and other markers of inflammation was significantly elevated in the hippocampus and amygdala of the older rats that ate the processed diet alone compared to young rats on any diet and aged rats that ate the DHA-supplemented processed food.

The older rats on the processed diet also showed signs of memory loss in behavioral experiments that werent evident in the young rats. They forgot having spent time in an unfamiliar space within a few days, a sign of problems with contextual memory in the hippocampus, and did not display anticipatory fear behavior to a danger cue, which suggested there were abnormalities in the amygdala.

The amygdala in humans has been implicated in memories associated with emotional fear and anxiety-producing events. If this region of the brain is dysfunctional, cues that predict danger may be missed and could lead to bad decisions, Barrientos said.

The results also showed that DHA supplementation of the processed-food diets consumed by the older rats effectively prevented the elevated inflammatory response in the brain as well as behavioral signs of memory loss.

Researchers dont know the exact dosage of DHA or precise calories and nutrients taken in by the animals, which all had unlimited access to food. Both age groups gained a significant amount of weight on the processed diet, with old animals gaining significantly more than the young animals. DHA supplementation had no preventive effect on weight gain associated with eating highly processed foods.

That was a key finding: Barrientos cautioned against interpreting the results as a license for consumers to feast on processed foods as long as they take a DHA supplement. A better bet to prevent multiple negative effects of highly refined foods would be focusing on overall diet improvement, she said.

These are the types of diets that are advertised as being low in fat, but theyre highly processed. They have no fiber and have refined carbohydrates that are also known as low-quality carbohydrates, she said. Folks who are used to looking at nutritional information need to pay attention to the fiber and quality of carbohydrates. This study really shows those things are important.

This research was supported by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. Co-authors include Michael Butler, Nicholas Deems, Stephanie Muscat and Martha Belury from Ohio State and Christopher Butt of Inotiv Inc. in Boulder, Colorado.

Read more:
How highly processed foods harm memory in the aging brain - The Ohio State University News

image:Regular cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet improved health and lifespans in mice that otherwise ate a high-fat diet (illustration by Jonathan Haase/University of Southern California) view more

Credit: Jonathan Haase/University of Southern California

In a newUSCstudy on thehealtheffects of alow-caloriedietthat mimics fastingin the body, researchers found regularfive-daycycles of the diet in miceseemed tocounteractthedetrimentaleffects of theirusualhigh-fat, high-calorie diet.The study, published today inNatureMetabolism, analyzedthe diet,healthand lifespan of three different groups of mice over two years.

The findingspoint tothe potentialofusingafasting-mimicking dietasmedicine, according to the researchers.A fasting-mimicking diet, or FMD,is a low-calorie diet that tricks the body into a fasting state.

One group of mice ate a high-calorie, high-fat diet(with 60% of their calories from fat)and became unhealthy and overweight.Asecondgroup of mice atethe samepoordietas the first oneforapproximately 4 weeks, followed byfivedays where they were fedan FMDand two days of a normal, healthy diet.

Study authors saythose brief diet interventions weresufficient for that second groupto return to normal levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and weight. Notably, the mice who ate the fasting-mimicking diet forfivedays out of each month livedas long asathirdgroupof micethatwas consistently fed a healthy diet.

In humans, obesitycaused by ahigh-fat, high calorie diet is a major risk factor for metabolic syndrome,diabetesand cardiovascular disease.

The study indicates that its possible for mice toeata relatively bad diet that is counterbalanced by five days of a fasting-mimicking diet, saidstudy seniorauthorValterLongo,thedirector of the Longevity Institute at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.Our major discovery is that intervening with this diet made theirheartsmore resilientand better functioning than the mice who only ate a high-fat, high-calorie diet.

Thestudy authorssay cycles of FMDappeared to preventobesityin miceby reducing the accumulation of visceral and subcutaneous fatallwithout causing lean body mass loss. FMDcyclesalsoappeared to improveheart function andpreventhigh blood sugar and high cholesterol.

According to researchers, theeffect of FMD cycles on gene expression indicateda role for fat cell reprogramming in obesity prevention.Specifically, the diets impactonfataccumulationand cardiac aging could explainprotection from earlydeath caused by a high-fat, high-calorie diet.

Theresearcherscaution these results should not be misinterpreted.Theyemphasize that they dont recommend that humans should eat a high-calorie, high-fat diet thats mitigated by periodic fasting.

They say, however, the potential benefits ofcounteractingpoor diets in this way should befurtherstudied in clinical trials.These strategies could providepotential health benefits for people who may not be willing or able to change their diets on an everyday basis.

Themost effective dietsat preventing or mitigating obesity in humans, includingthe ketogenic diet,require oftenradical and daily changes in dietary habits, the study authors say. Those requirementsresultin very low long-term compliance.

Longo said the study may indicate a sweet spot for the FMDin miceof five days a month.

Even after the mice in experimental group went back to their high-fat, high-calorie diet, the improvedfat breakdownin their bodiescontinuedforafairly long period,Longoexplained. Isthere a similar sweet spotfor humans,whereyou canintervene for a few daysand stillkeep breaking down fatfor several weeks?

Early FMD trials indicate potential health benefits for humans,headded.Several clinical studies published byLongoandcolleaguesindicate thata monthly FMDcaused loss of fat masswithout loss of muscle massandimproved cardiometabolic risk factors,especiallyinoverweightorobesehumans.They say this newmouse study showsthat these monthly FMD cyclescanactually restorenormal heart and metabolichealth and lifespan in animals fed a high-fat andhigh-calorie diet, a lifelong study that cannot be done in humans.

###

Additional authors includeAmrendraMishra, Hamed Mirzaei, NovellaGuidi,Gerardo Navarrete, Min Wei, SebastianBrandhorst, Stefano DiBiaseandTodd E. Morganof theLongevity Institute andtheUSCLeonardDavis School of Gerontology;ManlioVinciguerraof theInternational Clinical Research Center, St Annes University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic;Alice Moutonof theDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biologyat UCLA;MarinaLinardicandMatteo Pellegriniof theDepartment of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biologyat UCLA;Francesca RappaandRosario Baroneof theSection of Human Anatomy, Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostic (BIND), University of Palermo;S. Ram Kumarof theDepartment of Surgeryat theKeck School of Medicine of USC;Peter S. Contiof theMolecular Imaging Center, Department of Radiologyat theKeck School of MedicineatUSC;Michel BernierandRafael de Caboof theTranslational Gerontology Branch, Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Agingat theNational Institutes of Health.

Funding for the study was provided by the USC Edna JonesChair fund and National Institutes of Health grant P01 AG055369-01 to Longo. The work was also funded in part by the Intramural Research Program of theNational Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health. The researchers also acknowledge support from the USC Molecular Imaging Center and USC Leonard Davis School Aging Murine Phenotyping Core Facility. Mouton was supported by UCLA QCB Collaboratory Postdoctoral Fellowship. Computational and storage services associated with the Hoffman2 Shared Cluster were provided by the UCLA Institute for Digital Research and Educations Research Technology Group.

Longo is the founder of and has an ownership interest in L-Nutra; the companys food products are used in studies of the fasting-mimicking diet. Longos interest in L-Nutra was disclosed and managed per USCs conflicts-of-interest policies. USC has an ownership interest in L-Nutra and the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra. USCs financial interest in the company has been disclosed and managed under USCs institutional conflict of interest policies.

Nature Metabolism

Experimental study

Animals

Fasting-mimicking diet prevents high-fat diet effect on cardiometabolic risk and lifespan

14-Oct-2021

Longo is the founder of and has an ownership interest in L-Nutra; the companys food products are used in studies of the fasting-mimicking diet. Longos interest in L-Nutra was disclosed and managed per USCs conflicts-of-interest policies. USC has an ownership interest in L-Nutra and the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra. USCs financial interest in the company has been disclosed and managed under USCs institutional conflict of interest policies.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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USC researchers find that interrupting a high-fat, high-calorie diet with regular cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet helps mice live a longer,...

Is it OK to just stop eating meat overnight or do we have to do more if we want to move to a plant-based diet? We got some top tips from a nutritionist about what you need to do.

In research conducted by IPSOS Mori, it was estimated 2% of the Scottish population, around 108,000 people, considered themselves to be vegan in 2019.

Since then, plant-based diets have gained a lot more popularity in Scotland and more people are transitioning towards this way of eating.

But, just how easy is it to move to a plant-based diet and is it OK to just stop eating meat overnight?

We spoke to Blairgowrie-based nutritionist Catriona Ronald for her advice on moving to a vegetarian or vegan diet.

The first thing is that people really need to ask themselves why they want to go to a plant-based diet because therell be so many different reasons, says Catriona.

For some people its just because they want to help the planet and have sustainable diets, other people it might be for ethical reasons or religious reasons.

Do your research. What do you want to change your diet to? Know what you want to become and know the implications associated with it.

There is a wide spectrum of plant-based diets that Catriona refers to, from pollo vegetarian to fully vegan.

Start as a flexitarian by including one or two plant-based meals a week then increase at your own pace to two days plant-based per week and so on, adds Catriona.

For every level you go to towards a purely vegan diet you have to plan, think about it and do your research more.

The more you move towards a plant-based diet, the higher risk you have of missing out on certain nutrients.

Other tips that Catriona recommends include experimenting with a variety of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, pulses, beans, nuts and seeds to ensure that those moving towards a plant-based diet get all of the nutrients they need.

Try to avoid processed foods as well, though thats the same for everyone, continues Catriona.

As veganism becomes more popular, more companies are jumping on the bandwagon with ready-made meals and other processed vegan products, but they arent better for you.

Becoming vegan or vegetarian requires planning to ensure that our diets contain the right amount of nutrients.

Having a plan, and even writing out a meal plan, will be very beneficial in ensuring you are getting the right nutrients into your diet.

It is important research is carried out before moving to the more extreme end of the plant-based diet spectrum.

Catriona said: Above all plan the change to your diet. There are some great resources available through vegetarian and vegan societies which have vegetarian and vegan versions of the NHS Eat Well Guide, plus recipes and other advice.

Its also worth looking at the resources available through the British Dietetic Association and One Blue Dot.

Just because you are vegetarian, or vegan does not necessarily mean you are having a healthy balanced diet.

Somebody could just go I want to be vegan now and if they planned it and knew the problems they might face and the nutrients they have to supplement or they can get fortified food for, they could become vegan basically overnight.

It really is dependent on the person themselves and how much research they do.

Cutting out entire food groups and moving to any kind of diet means that some nutrients that come from these cut foods wont be getting into the body and often have to be supplemented.

Catriona says that everyone should eat a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds for a healthy diet. And that most meals should be based around the vegetables and wholegrains.

While some nutrients can be sourced from other food groups, others, like vitamin B-12, are commonly taken as supplements.

Certain nutrients like vitamin B-12 in particular is only available from animal products, so cutting this out requires fortified foods or supplements for B-12.

Its a similar case for iodine which is from seafood. If youre not eating seafood then youve got to think about the sources of iodine you can get fortified milks and things like that.

Selenium is another one and even vitamin D, although generally people tend to take supplements for vitamin D with government guidance over the winter anyway.

It really depends on what people are eating. If they are eating the right vegetables and theyre still having a little bit of fish, chicken and meat then you dont actually need a huge amount of seafood and meat to get the nutrients that you need.

Catriona also highlights some nutrients that may be missed by those who have opted for the more extreme end of the plant-based diet spectrum, by transitioning to a vegan diet.

Iron is another nutrient that we need and its best source is from red meat, she says.

Iron-rich plant options include kale, raisins, dried apricots, figs and cooked spinach. Iron absorption can also be boosted by adding vitamin C sources to meals, such as including pepper, broccoli, cabbage, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple or lemon juice.

For calcium, the best sources are dairy and tinned fish with bones such as salmon and sardines.

Plant-based diet sources usually come from fortified plant-based milks, yoghurts, tofu and is also available in foods such as sesame seeds, chia seeds, chickpeas, kale and almonds.

Vitamin D and magnesium are also important as they are required to work with calcium for bone health, which can sometimes be an issue in the vegan diet.

Vitamin D advice in Scotland is to take a supplement of at least 10 micrograms per day between September to April.

See original here:
A nutritionist's top tips for moving to a more plant-based diet - The Courier

Highly processed vegetable oils made from corn, soy, sunflower, canola, and other plants are easy to find in home kitchens and grocery stores these days, but theyve been around in human diets for only a short time, relatively speaking. It wasnt until the early 1900s that the technology required to process these oils was invented, resulting in a product still found on grocery shelves: Crisco. Introduced in 1911, it was a cooking fat derived from cottonseed oil that resembled lard, but was manufactured by Procter & Gamble through a chemical process. After bringing Crisco to market, the Ohio-based company went on an advertising blitz selling the notion that its oil was more healthy than the saturated animal fats typically used for cooking at the time. It worked: In a matter of five years, the company was selling tens of millions of pounds of Crisco. Other refined vegetable oils followed over the course of the 20th centurythese days they're often referred to as seed oils as a catchall term.

In recent years, however, seed oils have become something of a nutritional bogeyman. While most mainstream nutrition experts don't consider them particularly unhealthy, many doctors and nutritionists claim that the specific fatty acids found in processed vegetable oils lead to inflammation and chronic health conditions. Last year, Joe Rogan talked to doctor and carnivore diet evangelist Paul Saladino about this for more than three hours. On another podcast in 2020, board-certified family physician Cate Shanahan referred to the most common seed oils on the market today as the hateful eight, to be avoided at all costs. So what gives? Should we forswear all seed oil?

Acid Test

All cooking oils are combinations of fatty acids, but its the generally higher levels of polyunsaturated fats found in seed oils that make them undesirable in the eyes of some dietitians and health professionals.

A healthy person has about 2 percent of polyunsaturated fat in their body fat; on average, however, people contain as much as 30 percent of polyunsaturated fat in their body fat. The cause, Shanahan notes, is due to seed oils. Higher-than-normal levels of polyunsaturated fats can lead to reduced energy and bodily inflammation, which in turn can contribute to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Furthermore, the highly processed nature of seed oilsthere are multiple steps and chemicals involved in their productionmakes them ultra-rich in omega-6 fatty acids, a key contributor to inflammation. According to Chris Kresser, co-director of the California Center for Functional Medicine, the human body works best when its ratio of omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids (the ones you see on any bottle of grocery-store fish-oil supplement) is balanced.

Many Americans diets, however, have thrown this balance way out of whack: We generally get far too much omega-6 than we do omega-3 thanks to our food choices and how were cooking our meals. [S]eed oils are perhaps the most significant contributor to the imbalanced omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio, Kresser writes, and thus play a significant role in chronic inflammatory diseases.

In short, one main argument against consuming seed oils is that the fatty acids they contain promote inflammation, the follow-on effects of which are chronic diseases that wed all like to avoid. There are studies out there that bear out this conclusion, several of which call out omega-6 fatty acids specifically for the roles they play in increased risk for obesity and long-term disease. The Sydney Diet Heart Study from the 1960s also shows that participants who replaced saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats high in linoleic acidanother fatty acid also found in many seed oilshad a higher risk of death from coronary heart disease, as STAT reported several years ago.

Read more from the original source:
Seed Oil Is the Latest Thing We're Being Told to Eliminate from Our DietsHere's Why - GQ Magazine

Watch what you eat as it affects your brain and heart 

Dementia is an illness usually associated with old age, often characterized by a progressive decline in cognitive functions from the previous level. Loss of memory for recent events is a classical feature. According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Public Healththat cites various epidemiological evidence, it has been reported that the prevalence rate of Dementia in India ranges from 2 per 1000 to 35 per 1000 people.

This assumes scary dimensions as India is currently undergoing a phase of demographic transition wherein the aged population is rapidly growing. With life expectancy having increased, India currently has an elderly population that ranges around 104 million compared to 5.63 million in 1961.

Simply put, we need to be aware of how to lower or avert this dementia epidemic that looms.

According to a report published by the British Heart Foundation, experts acknowledge that what you eat can affect your physical health and by that logic, what affects your heart affects your brain too. Theres now some evidence that the right diet could reduce your risk of developing dementia as well as being heart-healthy. Having heart or circulatory disease can raise your risk of dementia, so it makes sense to look after both your heart and your brain.

The MIND diet to prevent Dementia:The acronym MIND stands for a diet method called Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.

Here again, DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) meant to help patients combat and beat hypertension or high blood pressure through sensible, heart-friendly eating choices.

The DASH diet lays emphasis on the intake of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans and nuts are a part of the DASH diet that limits foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats and full-fat dairy products.

The MIND diet plan was created by researchers at Rush University in Chicago, to help prevent dementia and slow age-related loss of brain function.Its a combination of two diets already known to reduce the risk of heart and circulatory disease: the Mediterranean diet (based on whole grains, fish, pulses, fruits and vegetables) and the DASH diet.

5 foods to AVOID to reduce chances of onset ofDementia:

WHAT can one eat on thebrain-friendly MIND diet?

(This list is courtesy of Express.co.uk)

Disclaimer: Tips and suggestions mentioned in the article are for general information purposes only and should not be construed as professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor or a professional healthcare provider if you have any specific questions about any medical matter.

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Dementia diet: Limiting this food item every day to just a tablespoon can reduce risk, shows MIND nutrition plan that protects brain and heart health...

Looking for a little more protein with your grains? Look no further than sorghum, which may be the most healthy, protein-packed, fiber-filled, and overlooked grain in America. For anyone seeking to avoid wheat, get more nutrients from their meals, and power up the protein, sorghum is the answer.

With 10 grams of protein in a half a cup of sorghum, along with 6 grams of fiber and a host of healthy nutrients such as: Potassium, Niacin, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, and Magnesium, and Maganese, sorghum reads like a multivitamin of whole foods and it definitely deserves more respect.Anancientgrain believed to haveoriginated in Africa, sorghum is a staple the world over: It's the fifth most commonly growncrop in the world after wheat, rice, corn, and barley and across the globe, some 500 million people rely on sorghum as a staple of their diet.So why are Americans still not familiar with it?

Outside of the Southeast US, sorghum is relegated to animal feed, or as an ingredient in packaged or processed foods, as a syrup or alcohol to fill out the nutritional value. Yet sorghum is a versatile plant food: It's gluten-free, easily grown, andinexpensive. The sorghum crop is known to withstand drought and extremely arid conditions as easily as it can grow in the wake of floods, and sorghum is better for the environment than most other grains. Still, it's most commonly added to our foods across categories as "cheap filler" from cereals to beverages but is largely passed over as a staple in Western diets.

Worldwide, there aremore than 30 different species of sorghum grown invarious regions. Other names for sorghum are great millet, Indian millet, and jowar. In many parts of the world, sorghum is a popular animal feed and more recently, an emerging biofuel.

The main applicationfor sorghum in the USis as animal feed or used as a syrup added to processed grain products. However, in other parts of the world, sorghum is a household grain often used to make bread, couscous, and a delicious popped snack. It can also be fermented andadded to beverages. The versatile grain isa great alternative to wheat amonggluten-free consumers since it is safe for anyone with a gluten allergy.

Sorghum is used in more than 350 productsinthe US market, across food categories.But most commonly sorghum is used in agricultureas an environmentally friendly option that is lessimpactful to grow than wheat. Sorghum is both cheap and healthy packed with plant-based protein.

But when looking at the future of food, it has one other benefit: Sorghum captures carbon released into the air and sends it back down its stalk and root system to replenish the soil and create a more enriching environment for crops to grow in. Unlike most crops that require rotation and allowing the soil to replenish, sorghum does this naturally, and now the Salk Institute with a grant from the Bezos Global Fund is looking into ways to further enhance this function and grow super-sorghum crops that will help the world's climate crisis by sucking carbon emissions out of the atmosphere.

Consumers worldwide look for antioxidants in their foods, beverages, or just about any way possible. One key highlight of sorghum is that it's rich in antioxidants.Sorghum contains several phytochemicals including flavonoids, tannins, and anthocyanins. In short, sorghumdelivers several active nutrients that help reduce oxidative stress in the body. Diets high in antioxidants have been connected to a lower risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more.

Sorghums bran layer contains higher levels of antioxidants than fruits, including blueberries, plums, and strawberries.

Specific varieties of sorghum contain even rarer nutrients that are difficult to find in nature. Sumac sorghum contains condensed tannins known as proanthocyanidins that help protect the cardiovascular system. Black sorghum contains 3-dexoanthocyanins that are the purple, blue or deeply pigmented antioxidants that give berries their color but once eaten, they help fight free radicals in the body. Studieshave found that eating sorghum can help combat the development of malignant cells associated with certain cancers, such as melanoma.

Among the grain family, sorghum is among the leaderswhen it comes to protein content. The grain contains approximately 22 grams of protein in one cup of cooked whole grain sorghum. Other grains such as rice contain 6.5 grams; quinoa contains 8.1 grams; Kamut contains 11.1 grams. When looking toboost yourprotein intake, sorghum is an easy substitute forother grains, especially mixed into salads, soups, and cereals.

Sorghum is a key example of how a plant-based grain can be eaten to supplement this protein value. The recommended daily protein intake ranges from 46 grams (for women) to 56 grams for men, and about 10 to 20 grams more if you are active. So one cup ofsorghum contains approximatelyhalf of what women need daily and about one-third of what active men require.When looking for plant-based sourcesof protein, sorghum is a key source thatis similar to other grain sources in its amino acid profiles.

Sorghum offers arich source for dietary fiber, containing 12 grams per cup, orclose to half the dailyrecommended intake for fiber (which should exceed 24 grams per day). Sorghums fibercontentsurpasses several other popular grains: Quinoa is a high fiber grain, butone cup of quinoa contains 5 grams of fiber, whereas sorghum has more than twice that. This is one reason sorghum isbeneficial for digestive health.

Sorghums high fiber helps regular blood sugar levels and slows the absorption of nutrients, making you feel fuller longer. The fiber in sorghum can also prevent kidney stones, lower the risk of hemorrhoids, and help to lower LDL (or so-called bad) cholesterol.

Researchhas found that the activenutrients in sorghum have been linked in lab studies to preventing or at least reducing thegrowth of certain cancer cells, including gastrointestinal cancer and skin cancer, specifically melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Thephytochemicals in sorghum have been associated witha lowerincidence of cancerous cell development in the lab. Still morestudies have linked eating a diet high in sorghum with suppressed rates of esophageal cancer in countries where the population lives on sorghum: South Africa, India, China, Iran, and Russia. The study points out that othergrains such as wheat and corn have been linked to elevated esophageal cancer levels. Yet another lab study showed that sorghum haled cell growth in breast cancer cells in animals.

Sorghum contains vitamins that are often lacking in a standard American diet, such as iron, B vitamins, and phosphorous. A single cup of sorghumprovides8.4 mg of iron, which is 47 percent of the daily recommended value for iron; 55 percent of the recommended amount of phosphorous, and large quantities of magnesium, copper, calcium, zinc, and potassium. Sorghum's profile of micro-nutrientsis a list of powerfulvitamins and minerals known tohelp boost overall health.

Sorghum is an excellent source of niacin and thiamin, two B vitamins that help the body maximize metabolism and help get more nutrients from the food you eat.One cup of sorghum contains 30 percent of the recommended daily amount for both these B-vitamins. Along with metabolic support, niacin and thiamin help convert calories intoenergy easier so that anyone who eats sorghum is likely to feel energized and burn off their food rather than store it as fat. These important B vitamins also benefit skin and hair health, and neural development.

Sorghums value has beenenhanced beyond nutritional value to human health. The Salk Instituteis betting thatsorghum can become aclimatehero, and is funding a project to investigate sorghums ability to store atmospheric carbon.Sorghum essentially vacuums the carbonout of the atmosphere and delivers it back into the soil to help create more nutritious crops in the future and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Salklaunched its Harnessing Plant Initiative to develop a strain of sorghum thatpumps up this natural ability, making its carbon retention as efficient as possible. The five-year, $6.2 million campaign plans to test sorghum strains and determinehow to best utilize the cropone of the reasons sorghum is enjoying renewed attention.

Our research community has the opportunity to use cutting-edge science and innovation to help change the course of climate change, Nadia Shakoor, the senior research scientist at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, which is working with the Salk HPI, said. Sorghum is an incredible plant that holds great promise as a carbon-sequestering crop

For many consumers, this is their first time hearing about sorghum. Sorghum has a mild taste withearthy and sweetnotes. The texture is most closely associated with wheat berries. Even though the grain is commonly grown, many of its applications are unknown. When cooking sorghum at home, theres plenty of ways to prepare the ancient grain. The common crop can be cooked and boiled into a substantive base for any grain bowl or even grain salad.

The grain works perfectly as a substitute for many mixed dishes including couscous, risotto, and farro salad. To get more experimental, sorghum syrup is a perfect base for a dressing, providing a natural sweetness that can make for a delicious marinade or possible salad dressing. Finally, there is the classic popped sorghum. Similar to popcorn, the grain can be popped to produce a similarly textured snack, but full of the nutrients and health benefits that sorghum brings to the table.

Read more:
5 Reasons to Add Sorghum to Your Diet, Starting with Protein - The Beet

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