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In a controversial article appearing in the April issue of Vogue magazine, author Dara-Lynn Weiss writes about the strict diet she imposed upon her daughter after a pediatrician suggested she was clinically obese.

Bea, who stood 4-feet, 4-inches tall, weighed 93 pounds was not necessarily obese, but fat, according to Weiss, who admits to having issues with food for the past 30 years.

- Dara-Lynn Weiss, writing for Vogue Magazine

Growing up in an affluent, achievement-driven suburb, I had suffered through my own issues with food, eating and weight, Weiss wrote. Though the rest of my family had a seemingly healthy relationship to food, I was constantly battling weight gain and asking my mother to lock-up the peanut butter jar. Whether I weighed 105 pounds or 145 pounds hardly mattered. I hated how my body looked and devoted an inordinate amount of time to trying to change it.

Weiss added that she once even begged a doctor to write her a prescription for appetite suppressant fen-phen, even after it was found to cause heart valve defects and pulmonary hypertension.

Weiss article talks about the increase in childhood obesity in todays society and cites a survey that revealed parents are more comfortable talking to their kids about sex than weight.

The author admitted she wasnt very consistent with how she served Bea food sometimes Beas after school snack was a slice of pizza or a chicken gyro from a street vendor. Other days I forced her to choose low-fat soup or a single hard-boiled egg. Occasionally, Id give in to her pleas for a square of coffee cake, mainly because I wanted to eat half of it.

Starting the diet

When a kid at school called Bea fat and made her cry, Weiss took matters into her own hands, scheduling an appointment with child-obesity specialist Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, who assigns a red light to bad foods and green light to good foods. Weiss said she joined her daughter in dieting, and the two embarked upon a low-fat, low-cal, and reduced-portion diet.

Bea had to start exercising too she joined karate and in the summer, swam once a week.

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Mother’s strict diet for 7-year-old raises controversy, criticism

For more than a decade, overweight Americans have been looking for a drug what some health professionals sarcastically call "the magic pill" to help in the never-ending battle with the scale.

The federal government next month may give a diet drug that it once rejected for its side effects a shot at becoming that magic pill.

But whether the new drug, called Qnexa, can perform weight loss wizardry depends on your definition of the word "magic."

Is the pill the missing ingredient for people who desperately want to shed weight as much as 10 percent of their body weight but lack the will or ability to lose excess pounds and keep them off? Or is it a temporary and potentially dangerous solution to a problem that really requires a lifestyle change?

One thing is clear: The nearly 30 percent of adults in Pennsylvania and about 36 percent nationwide who are considered obese need something to help them shed the extra pounds that threaten their health.

Linda Shumberger has been struggling with her weight all her life and is enthusiastic about the thought of a drug that could help her lose pounds.

The 48-year-old Center Valley woman's weight went up and stayed up 22 years ago after the birth of her son. She tried everything the Atkins diet, Nutrisystem, grapefruit. "You name the diet, I tried it," she said.

But then she started to lose control of her diabetes. That's when she knew she had to do something about the extra pounds.

"I wanted the band surgery," she said, referring to a procedure in which the stomach is constricted, limiting the amount of food a person can consume and making them feel full sooner. "But my diabetes was out of control."

She took another route. Working with Lehigh Valley Hospital weight loss specialist Harpreet Singh, Shumberger began taking phentermine, a drug that curbs appetite, and following a low-calorie, high-protein diet. She lost about 50 pounds, she said, and would like to lose more.

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First new diet pill in 13 years nears FDA approval

Washington, Mar 24 (ANI): Salt beef, sea biscuits and the occasional weevil - the food endured by sailors during the Napoleonic wars is rarely considered to be tempting.

Now a new chemical analysis technique has allowed archaeologists to find out just how dour the diet of Georgian sailors really was.

The team's findings, also reveal how little had changed for sailors in the 200 years between the Elizabethan and Georgian eras.

The research, led by Professor Mark Pollard from the University of Oxford, focused on bones from 80 sailors who served from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries and were buried in Royal Naval Hospital cemeteries in Plymouth and Portsmouth.

"An isotopic analysis of bone collagen from the recovered skeletons allowed us to reconstruct average dietary consumption," said Dr Pollard.

"By comparing these findings to primary documentary evidence we can build a more accurate picture of life in Nelson's navy."

In the late 18th century the Royal Navy employed 70,000 seamen and marines.

Feeding so many men was a huge logistical challenge requiring strictly controlled diets including flour, oatmeal, suet, cheese, dried pork, beer, salted cod and ships biscuits when at sea.

The team's analysis shows that the diet of the sailors was consistent with contemporary documentary records such as manifests and captain's logs.

As well as validating the historical interpretation of sailors' diets, this finding has implications for the amount of marine protein, which can be isotopically detected in human diets.

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Diet of Nelson's Navy remained 'virtually unchanged for 200 yrs'

March 22, 2012

The once thriving captive-born southern white rhinoceros population is being threatened by their diet, according to new research. San Diego Zoo Global researchers predict that phytoestrogens in the rhinoceros food may be causing reproductive failure in the females.

In a press release detailing the research, Christopher Tubbs, researcher with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research explained the importance of the study.

Understanding why the captive white rhinoceros population has been dwindling for decades is an important part of protecting the future of this species. Our work is the first step toward determining if phytoestrogens are involved in this phenomenon and whether we need to reevaluate captive white rhino diets.

Zoologists have only recently found the northern and southern white rhinoceros to be different species rather than a subspecies of the African white rhinoceros. As such, conservation efforts have been specifically designed to increase the population of the southern white rhino.

According to SanDiegoZooGlobal.org, The San Diego Safari Park has had great success in conserving the southern white rhino population and has bred more than 88 rhino calves since the Parks establishment in the early 1970s.

While there have been successes in conservation efforts, scientists at San Diego Zoo have noticed a decline in reproduction in females born into captivity.

Reproductive issues such as cystic endometrial hyperplasia; cervical, ovarian, and uterine cancers; and ovarian cysts have placed the sustainability of the captive rhinos is jeopardy. In trying to find the cause of these issues, San Diego Zoo scientists began to look at every aspect of the rhinos daily life, such as social experiences, animal density, enclosure size, premature copulations, and diet. Their research suggests examining the rhinos diet as a starting point for unlocking these reproductive mysteries.

The captive southern white rhinoceros eat a diet of alfalfa hay and soy-based, commercially made pellets. Scientists believe that these foodstuffs may contain phytoestrogens such as isoflavinoids. Previous research has shown abnormalities to occur in livestock exposed to these phytoestrogen-rich foods. The abnormalities occur particularly during embryonic development and are similar to those found in captive-born rhinos. The phytoestrogens activate estrogen sensors in the female southern white rhinos, making it difficult to conceive and reproduce. As the southern white rhino is genetically different from other species of African white rhino, the phytoestrogens affect them much differently than other rhinos, such as the one-horned rhinoceros.

Second only to elephants, the southern white rhinoceros is one of the worlds largest land animals. While captive-born populations now face the threat of reproductive difficulty, wild rhinos face the threat of poachers and sport hunting. These factors have placed the southern white rhinoceros on the International Union for Conservation of Natures near-threatened species list. According to the San Diego Zoo, there are currently 17,500 southern white rhinos in the wild, with 500 rhinos in captivity.

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Rhino Diet May Affect Reproduction

When a psychiatrist sets out to write a diet book, he doesnt have a slimmer waistline in mind. Drew Ramsey, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and coauthor of The Happiness Diet (Rodale, 2011), believes good health and happiness are achieved when the brain is consistently fed all the nutrients it needs for optimal cognitive and emotional functioning.

Drew Ramsey, coauthor of The Happiness Diet, believes happiness isachieved when the brain is consistently fed the proper nutrients.

The modern American dietor MAD, as Ramsey calls itfails to nourish the brain. Heavily processed foods loaded with sugar and toxins have given rise not only to Americas obesity epidemic, but also an epidemic of depression, which Ramsey contends is even more dangerous. Studies show that obese peoples brains actually age faster than those of people at a normal weight, and excess weight has been linked to dementia.

The Happiness Diet focuses on nutrition from the brains perspective with a primary goal of improved brain health, said Ramsey, 37. While weight loss happens on this diet, the main goal is brain growth.

Ramsey and his coauthor, Tyler Graham, a journalist who specializes in health and fitness, based their diet on nutrients they deemed the essential elements of happiness. They include vitamin B12, used in the production of brain cells, as well as magnesium, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, said to improve memory, counter seasonal depression and promote strong neurons. Even cholesterol, which forms a crucial protective layer around the brain, gets a nod.

Ramsey, a practicing psychiatrist on the Upper West Side, always asks his patients what they eat. He believes this is the closest thing to primary prevention in psychiatry. When people eat too few calories, they can be depressed and irritable, so when patients are willing, he helps them overhaul their diet.

Just eating kale and salmon wont give you bliss, but by promoting stable, positive moods, better focus and concentration, and improved energy, people will engage in their lives in ways that promote feeling their best, Ramsey said.

Today, an average person on MAD eats three pounds of sugar every week. In order to make the switch to the Happiness Diet of organic and whole foods, Ramsey said carbage and bad mood foodsprimarily sugar-laden foods, industrial fats and factory-farmed meatmust be cut. He also urges readers to steer clear of artificially flavored foods and foods labeled low fat and fat free. When fats are extracted from foods, theyre usually replaced with refined sugars, which are less satisfying and have no nutritional value. Basically, dont eat stuff out of a package, he said.

Ramsey devotes a portion of his book to the origins of MAD and the advances in industry that brought processed foods to the mainstream. Though the Happiness Diet is not a diet in the traditional sense, the book does include a number of diet recommendations.

The good news is that the Happiness Diet is made of foods you already like, he said. Its a plant-based diet, though meat is an important component. He says its important to eat a wide variety of organic vegetables because conventional vegetables, depending on how they were farmed, are diminished in vital nutrients. A diet of whole foods naturally contains less fat and sodium.

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Key to Good Health? A Proper Diet for the Brain

Legislation to partially roll back the postal system privatization is expected to sail through the current Diet session because the ruling Democratic Party of Japan will join the two major opposition parties that agreed Thursday to jointly submit a reform bill to this end, lawmakers said.

Earlier in the day, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito agreed on a bill to overturn the postal privatization spearheaded in the early 2000s by then LDP Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that would have had the government sell off its stockholdings in Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance Co. by 2017 to achieve full privatization of Japan Post Holdings Co.'s financial units, the lawmakers said.

Senior DPJ lawmakers, including Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi, said the ruling party will endorse the accord.

The bill agreed on by the LDP and New Komeito states that the sale of all shares in the postal banking and insurance units should be realized "as early as possible" by taking their financial conditions and roles in the postal business into account.

The wording means Japan Post Holdings will decide when shares in the two units should be sold, the lawmakers said.

The bill, which the LDP and New Komeito will jointly present to the Diet next week, also envisages merging Japan Post Network Co. and Japan Post Service Co. to reduce the number of companies under Japan Post Holdings to three from the current four.

As the postal privatization reform would lift a freeze on the government's sale of postal shares in line with a 2009 law, New Komeito hopes to use proceeds from the sale to finance reconstruction work from the earthquake and tsunami disaster of last March.

But the bill is opposed by a considerable number of LDP lawmakers who want the current privatization plan, which would completely remove the two postal financial units from government control, to stand.

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Diet passage likely of postal privatization partial rollback

Researchers are still fleshing out exactly how the Mediterranean diet benefits both mind and body, but one thing is certain: the ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats is ideal.

barbaradudzinska/Shutterstock

The Mediterranean diet is well-known as a key ingredient in a healthy life. But researchers have been unsure why it's so beneficial both to body and mind. The diet has widely been shown to reduce the risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease, particularly when coupled with exercise. Now researchers are finding that its mechanism may be through the tiny blood vessels of the brain.

Researchers quizzed almost 1,000 healthy seniors about their diets over the years, and ranked them in how closely they followed the Mediterranean diet, which is high in fruits, veggies, whole grains, fish, olive oil, nuts, and beans, and low in red meat, refined grains, sugar, and high-fat dairy. A little red wine is often part of the diet, but in moderation.

Participants underwent MRI scans to determine the health of the small blood vessels that serve the brain tissue. This "white matter hyperintensity volume" is a known marker of chronic damage to the blood vessels.

The people who stuck closely to the Mediterranean diet had less damage to the brain's blood vessels than people who followed it less closely. This connection was found even after researchers pulled other variables out of the equation, like blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking.

One component of the diet stood out: the ratio of monosaturated fats to saturated fats the participants ate. The higher the ratio of mononunsaturated to saturated fats, the better the blood vessel health. The study points to a mechanism through which the Mediterranean diet could exert its effects. Nevertheless, there is likely more at play than monosaturated fats alone, like the amount of antioxidants or other phytochemicals consumed with the diet, or other factors. Even though researchers are still fleshing out exactly how the Mediterranean diet works, one thing we know for sure is that it works, in many areas of our health.

The study was carried out at Columbia University Medical Center, and published in theArchives of Neurology.

This article originally appeared on TheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.com, an Atlantic partner site.

The rest is here:
How the Mediterranean Diet Works

Diet.com announces the winners of their annual New Year's Weight Loss Challenge, which drew over 500 participants who lost a combined total of over 1,400 lbs.

Brookline, MA (PRWEB) March 22, 2012

The Grand Prize winner, a Diet.com member named Tasha, lost 17 lbs during the 6-week Challenge. The 24-year-old mother of three, who goes by the username Tasha23 on the site, tells Diet.com that she started off 2012 with a new resolution - to focus on getting healthy, not getting "skinny."

"This year, my New Year's resolution wasn't to get skinny - it was to be healthy, stop drinking pop, exercise," Tasha tells Diet.com. "Not just set an image goal for myself, but set a life-changing goal... I want to be the same girl on the outside as I am on the inside."

Tasha wrote a blog about her Challenge experience that can be read here.

"Our Challengers are people from all over the world who want to lose weight, become healthier and reach goals," says Bailey Apple, Diet.com's Marketing Manager, who oversees the operations of each of the site's Weight Loss Challenges. "Our Weight Loss Challenges give participants a boost of motivation to help them do so."

Tasha agrees, attributing her weight loss success to the Challenge and Diet.com:

"Because of this website I am well on my way to a healthier life, a new me, a whole new start on life!"

For being named the Grand Prize winner of the Weight Loss Challenge, Tasha has been awarded a prize package to help her continue on her journey towards healthy living: a $250 Visa Gift Card, 3 cases of Vita Coco all-natural coconut water, a 12-pack variety case from Colby's Kettle Corn and a variety of diet and fitness books.

Three runners up were also named in the Challenge, each of whom were awarded a Visa Gift Card, case of Vita Coco, a variety case of Colbys Kettle corn and a variety of diet and fitness books. These runners up lost a combined total of 28 lbs during the 6-week Challenge.

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Diet.com Announces Winners of Weight Loss Challenge, Awards Over $1,000 in Prizes

Public release date: 21-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Christina Simmons csimmons@sandiegozoo.org 619-685-3291 Zoological Society of San Diego

Southern white rhinoceros populations, once thriving in zoos, have been showing severely reduced reproductivity among the captive-born population. San Diego Zoo Global researchers have a possible lead into why the southern white rhinoceros population in managed-care facilities is declining: phytoestrogens in their diet might be contributing to reproductive failure in the females.

"Understanding why the captive white rhinoceros population has been dwindling for decades is an important part of protecting the future of this species," said Christopher Tubbs, researcher with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. "Our work is the first step toward determining if phytoestrogens are involved in this phenomenon and whether we need to reevaluate captive white rhino diets."

After elephants, the southern white rhinoceros is the world's second largest land animal. This rhino species also occupies another listthat of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "near-threatened" species. Wild populations face poaching and sport hunting, but captive populations of this animal are declining due to reproductive problems in the females. These include cystic endometrial hyperplasia; cervical, ovarian, and uterine cancers; and ovarian cysts.

San Diego Zoo researchers believe the diets of the captive population offers much concern. Specifically, phytoestrogens, such as isoflavinoids found in the alfalfa and soy that they eat, activate their estrogen receptors more than those of the greater one-horned rhinoceros, another captive population that receives a similar diet but has better reproductive success.

The study, published in the March issue of Endocrinology, compares populations that are doing well with populations whose reproductivity is placing them at risk, citing diet as a key difference between the two.

###

The San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research is dedicated to generating, sharing and applying scientific knowledge vital to the conservation of animals, plants and habitats worldwide. The work of the Institute includes onsite research efforts at the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (historically referred to as Wild Animal Park), laboratory work at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Conservation Research, and international field programs involving more than 235 researchers working in 35 countries. In addition to the Beckman Center for Conservation Research, the Institute also operates the Anne and Kenneth Griffin Reptile Conservation Center, the Frozen Zoo and Native Seed Gene Bank, the Keauhou and Maui Hawaiian Bird Conservation Centers, Cocha Cashu Biological Research Station and the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. The Zoo also manages the 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which includes a 800-acre biodiversity reserve, and the San Diego Zoo. The important conservation and science work of these entities is supported in part by The Foundation of the Zoological Society of San Diego.

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Diet may be affecting rhino reproduction

The question: I dont have celiac disease but am thinking about going on a gluten-free diet. Good idea?

The answer: Gluten-free diets are certainly on the rise. In part because gluten intolerance, or celiac disease, is on the rise. But theyre also becoming fashionable as celebrities and professional athletes are dropping gluten from their diets. A gluten-free diet is often hyped as a way to increase energy, lose weight or deal with certain health problems.

The truth is, though, that a gluten-free diet isnt necessarily a healthy one if you dont need to be on it.

So who does need a gluten-free diet? For starters, its a necessity for people with celiac disease. Following a gluten-free diet is the only way to treat the condition. People with celiac disease avoid obvious sources of gluten such as bread and pasta but they also eliminate gluten hidden in foods such deli meats, salad dressings and condiments.

Its estimated that 1 in 133 Canadians have celiac disease. Its a lifelong, genetically based disorder that occurs when gluten a protein found in wheat, rye and barley triggers an abnormal immune response that damages the lining of the small intestine interfering with the absorption of nutrients.

Symptoms can include diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss and, in children, delayed growth. But most people have symptoms that are more subtle, such as bloating, excess gas or fatigue.

People who have non-celiac gluten sensitivity will also benefit from a gluten-free diet. These people test negative for celiac disease but react poorly to gluten and may report abdominal pain, headaches and fatigue.

Theres no evidence, however, that following a gluten-free diet will promote weight loss or offer any health benefit beyond helping gluten-sensitive people.

If you decide to drop gluten from your diet, be sure to include gluten-free whole grains such as brown and wild rice, quinoa and millet to help you get fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Dont fall into the trap of filling up on gluten-free breads, bagels, cookies and snack foods. Many of these foods are refined and have been stripped of fibre and nutrients. And unlike wheat flour, these products are not fortified with vitamins and minerals. Many are also higher in carbohydrates and sodium.

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Is a gluten-free diet a good idea?

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